WOOOOOO!! A freakin’ year~~~~
Today a year ago, I was introduced to Yu Aoi’s work on Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou, and the Shunji Iwai-related Rainbow Song. Little did I know that the characters that interested me the most in the films were played by the same actress. Nine days later, I watched Hula Girls, and a month later I was completely hooked with Yu Aoi, and yet another Shunji Iwai film… Hana & Alice.
Hmm… debating on what movie I should write about next. Need some time to ponder~~
In the meantime…
I’ll leave you with this cute CM for Shueisha, with the little kiddo with the bunny ears!!! Wahhhhhh, bunnies!!! I want those bunny ears hahaha. Oh yeah, also… Yu dances. I love it when she dances~~~ xD
Hana & Alice – Arabesque
Hula Girls
Hana & Alice – Not exactly dancing… but Relaxation method!!! LOL
kotoba, kotoba koto no ha
tada kotoba ga narande iru dake nanoni
sore wa namida o kobosaseru
sore wa ikite ikoukanatte kimochi ni saseru
sore wa atataka katari suru tada kotoba ga
narande iru dake nanda kedo
kotoba, kotoba koto no ha
natsu no owari ni sabishiku naru ryuu ga wakatta
kanashi sugite warattari suru ryuu ga wakatta
natsu ichiban, natsuichi
natsu ichiban, natsuichi
watashi wa sekai o tabisuru
kotoba o tsurete
watashi wa watashi o tabisuru
kotoba o tsurete
itsuka deau anata ni
itsuka deau sono toki
anata ni ageru kotoba o sagasou
LOL, that’s how I felt watching episode 1 (out of 6) of the TBS drama Godhand Teru starring Yuta Hiraoka, whom I totally recognize from Swing Girls. LOL But, honestly, I’m watching this because of Asami Mizukawa~~ I just ran into it, saw her and well… let’s give it a try~ After all, I did enjoy the last show I saw with her.
Also, when di Hiraoka Yuta get kind of hot? LOL’ he was totally working the dorkability alongside Juri Ueno back in Swing Girls… and he’s also sporting a bit of a dork vibe~~~ I mean, I did recognize him for it!
The drama seems interesting, and probably will finish watching it… unlike Voice (even Eita couldn’t push me to finish that show) ~~ after all! Godhand is only 6eps, I can deal with that…
As for the Power Rangers reference? Well, Teru (Hiraoka) has sort of a superpower (to simplify things a bit) that was handover by his dad when he died on a t errible plane crash… this power takes over Teru each time there’s a life or death situation, and it’s totally Power Rangers that sequence~ LOL’
Yu with braces!!!
Ok… moving on~~ Portugirl is in my hands!! Or actually, on my desk now, otherwise I wouldn’t be typing. HMV Japan is pretty good~ even though they delayed my order, they sent it 5 days ago and it’s here already! And considering I don’t get Free Shipping with YesAsia anymore… also noticed? Prices are higher in YesAsia now, for example Portugirl would have cost $20ish bucks more with them. Should you be doing YesAsia now?
Anyway! Here it is!!!
Proper fan-ish review, after the break~~~ For a ‘pro’ review, you’ll have to wait. LOL
Shiina Ringo’s new music!!!
One thing for sure… HMV.co.jp Newsletter Updates > YesAsia Updates.
I just got the email from HMV listing Shiina Ringo’s new upcoming album. Sanmon GOSHIPPU, which translates to ‘cheap gossip’ or as CD Japan puts it “Superficial Gossip”. This is Ringo’s new material since she began collaborating with other musicians, and performing with Tokyo Jihen. Last year, she released a bunch of compilations commemorating her ten years in the music entertainment business…
The album includes 14 tracks, but apparently the first single is not there which is called Ariamaru Tomi (Superfluous Fortune) [HMV Japan], main theme of the Jdrama Smile, and will be released on May 27th.
The album is set to be released on June 24th.
[HMV.co.jp][Amazon.co.jp
I just posted YAM 003 over at my portfolio~~
There’s a lot of international flavor in it… all by chance actually. It really wasn’t planned, it all just came together like that. There’s a couple of rant articles on movies and music, loads of reviews including complete non-fanatical reviews of Ao Akua, Utada Hikaru, DBSK, Hathaways, U2, Madeleine Peyroux, and Michel Gondry/Bong Joon-ho’s Yu Aoi’s Tokyo!
ALSO! A special on the Peruvian film winning the Berlinale’s Golden Bear top prize~~ The Milk of Sorrow, and some of the discussion regarding the original name “La Teta Asustada”.
Ao Akua arrived this afternoon! – Book is the cutest thing ever. LOL’ Tinier than I expected really~~
Though, I don’t love this PB as much as I love A Piacere, mainly because I was a tad bit disappointed on the photographs. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few great shots, but a lot of snap shots too~~ What I love about this one? I like the concept, and the fact that there’s a companion DVD.
More after the break.
In October last year, I posted an extra from the Hana & Alice DVD, in which the cast did a rhyme or a “rakugo” – which by the way wasn’t on Wikipedia back then – and I took a while to get what they were saying, but now there’s information!
The rhyme is called Jugemu, and it’s one of the most popular rakugo for its featuring on NHK’s Nihongo de Asobo segment… which was the program I quoted last February, when I posted a comment with the romaji for it. Jugemu tells the story of a man picking a name for his newborn baby. When the priest gives him a list of auspicious names, the man decides to use all of them to give his child a lot of luck in life, resulting in a super long name.
The Tikki Tikki Tembo story is also kind of funny~~
xD – Just found me, while looking for times at the NHK Premium website – yes, ‘coz I still haven’t figured out if I will be able to see Yu talk about that book I mentioned posts behind… – not sure it will air in NHK Premium. What I did find, however, the times that Top Runner airs~~~
Wednesdays 6am GMT-5 – if you recall… Top Runner had Yu a while back. Check back on it here.
But yeah, on the J-MELO business… I emailed them once to thank them for the Miyavi introduction, as well as the Kobukuro one~~ And being the geek that I am, I sent a picture coz there was a field~ xD – I wonder if they ever read my email on the air… hahaha.
Woah… my Japanese reading is most improved hahaha. I still suck at it, but not as badly. At least I sort of ‘get it’. Still can’t get the times though… is it 24hr time instead of PM, AM?
Yu Aoi will be in the show/segment… whatever it is talking about her favorite book. 10min!! 8am – 13hr = 6pm?
BS2 2月23日（月）8：00～8：10
BSハイビジョン 2月23日 8：45～8：55／2月28日（土）7：45～8：35
?
So, to catch those 10min you will have to tune in NHK on Sunday at 6pm GMT-5 – Then what’s BS HighVision? Another channel? Confused. haha.
My Favorite Book, Japan’s 100 Favorite Books is listing a 100 people (including Yu’s)’s favorite books. Yu’s choice of book is Michio Hoshino’s essay 旅をする木 – if you can write Japanese (dunno if non-Japanese entries will be accepted), you can send them your favorite book!
I dunno if I will be able to catch this… conflicts with my Oscar watch!
