Album: Chemistry - All The Best

Just finished Kekkon Dekinai Otoko. Definately one of the best this year (so far). There aren't many good jdramas this year, Unfair was one of the better ones, the rest just either heavily commercialised to target fangirls (with so-so acting), or the script just failed to capture my attention. I still haven't finish Saiyuuki, plain cheesy with boring fighting scenes, even Fukatsu Eri can't save the show. Some of the plot was recycled for the 1xxxx times, caused me to switch to American dramas at certain point lol. Luckily this season we have a bunch of exceptional ones, such as 14 Sai no Haha and Nodame Cantabile, it won't be 'that' bad afterall.

Back to Kekkon Dekinai Otoko.



If a man after 40 still single, there must be something wrong about him. See, making+eating sushi alone. And enjoying the hell out of it. This is just one of his 'hobby'. Still, throughout the drama, there are a few 'candidates' who might have the possibility to be with him.

The loyal working partner, the doctor



The cute young neighbour, or perhaps......her dog? (the pug is damn kawaii in the drama, never thought that pug can be so adorable)



The reason why I love this drama is because of it's subtleness. The characters use alot of metaphors to convey their thoughts. It's fun to see the intereaction between Kuwano-san (Hiroshi Abe) and Hayasaka sensei (Natsukawa Yui). They always ended up arguing with each other, in a 'civilised' manner. Their face expression are priceless, not to mention great acting by both the lead. This goes to the rest of the cast as well. The script was well written, with excellent dialogues and funny one-liner, in a sarcastic way =D I love it. This is how a comedy should be, and not those exaggerated actions. And it's realisticness definately connected the viewers. Sometimes I did things like Kuwano-san, the 'won't allow ppl cincai touch around my stuff' part, the 'willing to search through net first without asking ppl for direct assistance' part, you gotta watch it youself. It's basically a debate between being single or not most of the time. I find it really refreshing, at last a drama without stereotype lead who's dying to get married.

And for the setting part, you gotta look carefully at the details. Heard the floor lamp in Kuwano-san's house cost 2000+USD, plus his leather couch, hi-fi system, the model of his works bla bla. Japanese people really pay alot attention in these details (reminds me of Hana Yori Dango). I like the manga kissaten (manga cafe) in the drama as well, why we don't have something like this in Msia?

So, if you wanna see a drama with Dr.House-ish/ Mr. Bean-ish/ The guy from Monk/ Jack Nicholson in As Good As it Gets type as main character, this might suit you. It's more on the developments of the characters gradually, it doesn't really need a big twist or lovey dovey scenes. Seriously I hope that there's a sequel or special for this drama, to wrap things up. Did I mention that this drama won Best Drama, Directing, Script and both the lead won best actor in the 50th Television Drama Academy Awards? Well technically there's not much competition since most of the contenders sucked.

At noon I watched this movie, starring my beloved Shibasaki Kou and another great actor Oda Yuji:



Purposely took the screenie when they're in the lingerie section haha. Kencho no hoshi. It's a manga adapted movie if I'm not mistaken. It's more directed towards drama style so I kinda like it. About how a politician 'changed' his attitude/ prospect whatever after working in a supermarket that kind of stuff. Learned abit about the management of supermarket in the end haha. As usual, Kou-san is cute in the salesgirl outfit, but why she always has to be with men in 30s???

Then I saw the trailer of her latest movie Dororo at YouTube:



Fantasy flick wei, so my genre haha. It will be shown in 20 countries world wide on Jan 2007 so hopefully Malaysia is one of it. Gonna watch Japan Sinks soon, it's rare to see Japanese movies showed here. The action director is 程小东 (think you know who he is), the fighting scenes must be very cool then. Shibasaki Kou and Tsumabuki Satoshi kicking @rsses, can't wait.

Album: Hamasaki Ayumi - Secret

This album leaked. Well we're the ones who's getting the benefit from it so I ain't complaining. So far I've listened twice, I have one word to describe the latest album from our dear diva Ayu - Noisy. It's getting more and more rockish since she first sang rock songs in her I am... album. Overall the album was quite nice, since I've forgotten the songs in her previous album, (miss)understood, can't really compare both of it. The thing that will make me 'avoid' this album is lack of better singles. I hated ALL of her 2006 singles lol (esp Beautiful Fighters, no idea what she's 'yelling' at the background). Jewel is not one of it actually (I like this song though). To sum it all:

New songs: Good (Current fave - Momentum)
Singles: Sucked (ruined the flow of the album, have to forward 3 times at once lol)
Instrumental: Previous ones better. Still good I suppose.

Wonder whether I should buy it or not......didn't buy her last album too (dissapointed with it).

Saw this entry at Kenny Sia's blog, damn hilarious. It suppose to be a joke but some of the comments by the readers can be really funny but freaking ignorant at the same time.
Adopt-A-Rempit

The moral of the story is: Don't read newspapers, you'll ended up being dissapointed with your own country more. Or you can treat it as the jokes section, bet these are much more funnier than Garfield.

Another Jpop rant: Downloaded this PV the other day, Chatmonchy's Shangrila. Don't ask me how they got their name.



There aren't many girl bands around these days, Japan ones I only know MARIA and Nakanomori Band (which I kinda like but they are more commercialised, pretty girls mah). As for western......hmm....I should watch more MTV lol. More into alternative rock bands hee. I really liked the arrangements of this song, started with drums, then bass, finally electric guitar to 'spice' things up. It's an upbeat song which is nice to start off a day =D Looking forward for their next releases (The lead singer so tiny xD ).

PS: I'm doing Kekkon Dekinai Otoko marathon now, really loved it so far, one of few dramas that can made me watch few episodes non-stop. If you wonder why you're still single, watch this.

Album: MISIA - Hoshizora no Live ~The Best of Acoustic Ballade~

Have you ever try to record your singing voice??? I did one just now, and it was complete disaster. I tried to record my version of YUI's 'Tokyo' just now, and the result was: There's huge difference between singers and commoner. Okay maybe I'm the one who can't sing, since it's 1 am in the morning I shall better hide my singing voice some other places.

For those who's learning instruments, you can try this too. After you listened to your playing, you'll discover/ realised your flaws and improve your technique from it. It takes ALOT of practice just to do the freaking short performance =/ . Guess from now on I should refrain myself from dissing other artists. Cannot just see from one angle. Fangirl rant: After compare my version with YUI's, I think I like her voice even more now lol, that's just so......different or 'soothing' (sorry weird vocab). Singing needs huge amount of skills as well. As for the guitar part, I'm still a thousand years behind to shamelessly post it here. It's been almost a year since I first took guitar lessons, now stopped adi (due to finance problem). The biggest discovery I've found from it was pay more attention to the 'structure' and arrangements of the song, how they played it, it'll make you appreciate the song more, down to the roots.

Suddenly became so sentimental, starting to talk a bunch of crap. Wonder why.


Switch topic. Saw Ayu's latest PV, Jewel and my gosh, diamonds everywhere!!! So shiny, heard that Avex spent hundred millions on this PV, well as expected from a diva. Those 'Jewels' gotta be REAL, not some computer-generated counterfeits (clearly there's CGs involved in this PV, not to mention HEAVY usage of Photoshop lol). The song was good, much better than last year's Heaven, the arrangments abit plain though, just piano and abit of sound effect here and there. The piano did matched well with the song, was kinda hope that it can be more 'Grand', with orchestras and things like that.



Photoshop!! Photoshop!! Use the mighty 'eraser'~



I should stop this.

Single: YUI - Rolling star, I remember you, Good-bye days, Tokyo, LIFE, Tommorow's Way, Feel My Soul. (lol almost all of her singles while typing this entry =P )

Behold, the arrival of Rolling star PV by dear YUI:



We have flying guitarist (who's using Fender Telecaster as well)


Flying bassist


Yaya I know your red Tele is nice


But I like your Strat more


In red colour though (anyone wish to sponsor me???)


Don't know why, I sorta like this camera angle (even though it's kinda plain)


Signature YUI 'constipated' look is a must


Best shot (who knows what headphone she's wearing??? Sorry can't help being a gadget geek)


Who made this freaking cover??? Change the font damnit!!! (Seriously I still hope that this isn't the official cd jacket zzz......)


That's all. Personally I think this pv looks kinda low-budget, and her make up was abit heavier than usual. However the more I watch it, the more I like it, the rock-ish side of YUI lol. Fender should edit this pv to be a cm or something hee. Kinda short though, only 3 mins long. Oh yea did I mention that this is the 5th (latest) OP of Bleach??? The day I searched through Youtube looking for YUI's video, found out that lots of people using this song to make AMV's (discovered another phenomenon lol, alot of ppl do like to make these stuff). 'Discovered' this perf as well hee, really made my day =P .

Since they're giving out stickers for the limited version, dunno whether I should buy it from YesAsia or cdjapan. One free shipping fee, plus I bought 'From Me To You' from them before, although the cd was slightly damaged and I have to send it back bla bla bla In the end I still managed to get to a unscratched, nice cd. But then recently I heard alot of complains from dissatisfied customers. Cdjapan is cheaper (before adding the shipping fee), and comes in boxes and not packages like YesAsia did. Maybe I'll try buying 'Taiyou no Uta' dvd from them first see how it turns out. Damn why these things freaking expensive zzz, there goes my 'extra' budget from my core 2 duo vista lappie =/ .

PS: Sorry for being such a fan-girl.

Off-Topic: Going back to hostel later, still got one japanese paper on friday. And I have to 'redeem' my free japanese meal from someone. Plus I have to study my JLPT level 3 (been procrastinating these few days, wonder if I'm gonna screw up my tests or not). Till then, adieu. (YUI likes to use this word in her diary entries as well xD )

EDIT: The identity of the headphone revealed~ Thanks to Rakukojin @ YUI Lover. It's a Audio Technica AT 701.



Since it's a vintage headphone, you can buy it from ebay.

专辑：戴佩妮 - iPenny, Just Sing It


一九八六年。

那年，我十三岁，一个不吉利的年纪。
那年，张雨生还没死，王杰正红，方季惟还是军中最佳情人。
他们的歌整天挂在我的房间里。
那年，我遇见了他。
那年，功夫。



会买下这本书，一方面是因为便宜（才10零吉，中国出版有够便宜的），但最主要的是被它的简介给吸引了。这本书讲述一名13岁的小子如何在误打误撞之下练成了一身武功，凭着自己所持着的‘正义’，开始了不归的旅程。想象一下，19世纪了这些东西还存在吗？打的是武侠小说，作者九把刀打破了传统，把现代的价值观，注入这本‘现代武侠小说’中。相当年自己也看了不少金庸和古龙的小说，‘功夫’内所提到的，都会让我有一股冲动想再重新回味这些经典著作。不过作者也颠倒了一般传统武侠小说内的‘专有名词’，所谓的招式，穴道，门派，并不是我们想象中的。这也是作者所厉害之处。

每一本武侠小说都会有个大反派，这也不例外，可是万万没想到‘功夫’内的尽然是那么的可恨，多么的邪恶。看我还是别透漏那么多，否则就失去看这本书的意义了。到最后还真的是差点流下泪，没想到结局竟是如此。难道就这样完了？

看完了之后还意犹未尽，赶快搜索了关于九把刀的一切，期待着续篇的存在。原来这是「都巿恐怖病」系列第五部，看来自己为这次的假期找到了一堆书来消磨时间，除了塞满了硬盘的日美剧之外 xD 。

如果你也是武侠小说的粉丝话，不妨看看这个现代版的，有别一番滋味哦，强力推介。

作者介绍

It's weird for me to type in chinese =/ Yea go read it if you like Wuxia flicks. Gotta dig more titles from this author during my next trip to bookstore. =D Time to watch V for Vendetta now, ciao~

Album: SE7EN - vol.4 Se7olution, 24 SE7EN



Linda Linda Linda is a japanese movie about 4 high school girls planning to play a gig during school festival. There are alot of problems of course within the band, you know, teenage girls thing. Then the group leader, Kei (guitarist) decided to recruit a korean exchange student (Son) to be the vocalist of the band.

What so interesting about this movie then? Well I've said before I'm not a fan of j-movies (although i watched alot of jdramas), because the pace is very slowwww, and I'm not that used to their shooting style. This movie made me realised the main reason most of the j-movies were filmed that way: To be more realistic. In real life we don't actually talked that much or response that fast (that's what i think), that's why j-movies usually have less dialogue imo (Try Taiyou no Uta, the first sentence came out after 7 mins). Recently there's quite a number of j-movies with music as theme, Taiyou no Uta (YUI YUI YUI~), NANA, Swing Girls, Tokyo Friends the Movie (Otsuka Ai), and the latest gotta be NANA 2. I've watched most of these, however I like Linda x3 the most (sorry YUI-sama T_T ).



Back to the movie, even though it's kinda long (2 full hours), I don't know why, I seemed to have the patience to watch the first half of this movie without skipping or multi-tasking at the same time. Maybe this movie reminded me of my wasted high-school days, when you can just do whatever you like and don't have to worry about anything. Technically I never really did any of those girls did in the movie during my school life, since I'm not that outgoing, can't even play flute well (so feel free to compliment me abit if you think my guitar skills are acceptable now haha), the only thing I'm proud of myself regarding my high school life was joining Tai Chi club for 7 years that's all. You might think the vocalist looked familiar, her name is Bae Doo Na (裴斗娜), think I saw her name before somewhere in chinese paper. The drummer played by Maeda Aki, apparently she's in Battle Royale but I can't recall it at all xD . And the bassist, played by Sekine Shiori, who is the bassist of a band in real life called Base Ball Bear.



It's a screenie from their latest pv, Matsuri no Ato. Cool song, really liked it's arrangements, esp the guitar part, made me wanna play electric guitar now, never really touched one before =/ . Actually it's plain coincidence that I watched this movie. I knew Base Ball Bear beforehand, since the name so weird, plus it's rare to see a female bassist (can't help kept noticing interesting girls, sorry). When I saw the description of this movie I downloaded it straight away hee. So, if you like music, or japanese girls playing instruments in uniform, this might suit you. In the end you'll hum 'Linda Linda Linda~' all the way after watching it.

Lastly, here's another screenie. Fergie visits Japan part 2: This time they censored the f-word when she went to SMAPxSMAP:



The collaboration between Smap and Black Eyed Peas (Smap Eyed Peas) were......painful to watch. Oh this was the 'Oh Smap' version for your info.