December 31st. Someone's birthday. A day which will make you feel like a sore loser if nobody asked you out (Am I talking about myself...?). Anyway, this year is been a pretty exciting, fulfilling year for me, I think. Did alot of things which I wanted or never imagined that I'll do it.

Even though the japanese music scene went downhill this year (see the top 10 bestselling single, *speechless*), and jdoramas were kinda suck, many big shows with big names turned out to be a flop.
However I just watched last episode of Nodame Cantabile, deeply touched by the last scene.........

Listed down some 'remarkable' things I've done this year, to make me feel better, that I didn't wasted that much time on 'stalking people' =x

For the first time: (I'll try to make it chronological lol)

1. Learned guitar. With a professional teacher and what not. Now this had been part of my life I suppose lol, planning to memorise the fretboard soon, soon.


Pening. Still struggling on the barre chords though Zzz.

2. Went to Singapore, alone by train just to bought my lil Iaudio x5L lol.

Stayed in my uncle's house though. And got myself a 'tour guide'.

3. Entered National Service. Bare in mind Malaysia's NS is like high school camping trip. You 'stucked' in a camp thingy with dormitories, attending classes, 'mild' training, doing 'community services' aka shopping and lots of free time. But this was one of my most memorable moments, because.....
- went to Terengganu and Kelantan for the first time.
- stayed with people from different background and different culture for the first time.
- discovered the 'scandalous', 'bitchy', 'promiscuous' side of people.
- made friends with people different races + younger than me, being the so-called big sister (even though only one year difference), kak Teo~ kak Teo~ *swt* It's fun though haha. Because at school I'm the younger one, at there became the older one.
- discovered how fate can be something really great. Never saw/ knew that person before even though stays in the same area, almost had the same background, ended up in the same camp.
- read the most books in a period for the first time, even finished Gone with the wind' which was like 1000+ pages??? Guess I'm pretty bored during NS.
- normal ones such as flying fox, ab-ceilling, marching (endless hours under the sun), 'acting', sms like nobody's business, watch tv like nobody's business, early cold shower for the first time etc etc etc, tons of it.

There are even more bad ones, but we prefer to think about the good ones normally.
1 great >>>>>>>>> 1000+ awful ones

3. Entered University, switched from Science to Arts. One of the most 'important' decision I've made (erm not really literally since I don't have many choices to choose from at the first time lol). I still remember the orientation week. It was like the WORST week of my life. Words cannot describe how torturous that week was. Well it wasn't that BAD after ended though. And the hostel life, everything is 'cool' =P except the freaking internet connection.

4. Learned Japanese formally. Used to pick up words/ sentences here and there, and now really learning it from beginning, especially grammar. Oh and have a japanese teacher for the first time as well hee.

5. Learned French. Not really that proud of it since I almost forgot most of it. It's widely used here and there so I'm kinda glad that I know most of the simple stuff, le la les, monsieur madamme, mon ma mes moi lol.

6. Created a blog, of course. And wrote lots of stupid stuff in it. And a freaking long ass entry which took 3 days to complete.

7. Lastly, celebrated YUI's birhday at some forum (it was crazy actually lol, all of us counted the correct time in Japan and decided to spam her message board at exactly 12 am) along with it's 1st year anniversary and kinda spent Christmas with it as well. I'm pathetic I know.


A very nice aniversary banner made by forum admin Aditz.

That's all I can think of right now. Might update it later lol.

Till then, Happy New Year~

And,



*where should I go to celebrate it then......

Album: Fukuyama Masaharu - 5 Nen Mono

All of the music shows in Japan, this gotta be one of my fave. Music Station Super Live is the best year end show in japan as well imho (screw kouhaku lol).

Anyway, the other day James Morrison appeared in Music Station. (I'm writing this for someone actually)



He really looked like Chris Martin (Coldplay), the haircut and what not. Except when he starts singing, he got a different 'aura' . His live performance, woah perfect~ just like listening the CD. Somemore a singer-songwriter + playing acoustic guitar, definately a +++ woot I'm so biased.



This 'constipated' look reminds me of SOMEONE...



Since I learned guitar, I always had a thing with guys + guitar. Like this one lol. What a sexy Les Paul~



Dreaming that someday I can do a duet with my future *ahem*, using DEPAPEPE's song LOL. Ok maybe I'm aimed too high, still can't even play YUI's Tokyo smoothly......*sigh*

Speaking of YUI, the other day she performed at MSSL as well.


Wear so casual =x

HDTV greatness~!!! Can even see the black eyebags clearly. (Thanks Reset for the file) I'm so gonna get that yellow guitar strap......



Singing in the middle of the crowd, with her signatured 'look' of course. The drummer mentioned that during rehersal her condition was not so good, it turned out alright I guess.



The talk part was hilarious roflmao. she said うん(un) instead of はい(hai), and quickly corrected it in a goofy way lol, that's YUI =D Both words means 'yes' in English anyway, something like 'yea', 嗯 (not so polite) and 'yes', 是 (polite). Don't get it nevermind =x



School starts adi. My sensei changed her hair cut + dyed her hair again. I still haven't cut my hair =/

Today I met a car-stalker (路霸). It was freaking scary, I just sorta accidently 'stared' at him at the highway and he started to chase me, hon-ning me from behind. Luckily managed to escape his 魔掌 when queuing up for the tol. Wonder if I'm gonna get a speeding ticket because of this......

Bah, till then, アジャ～

*Oh yeah, Happy 1st year anniversary YUI LOVER~

Album: Shawn Colvin - These Four Walls

Just came back after chatted with some old friends for a whole night, I must admit that this was actually the first time did this, so thanks for the 2 of you for giving me such experience. Now I can understand why people can stay at mamak stall and what not and 8 about stuff till morning lol. Nice talking with you people, it's rare 3 girls chatting about the greatest movies and so on, it's been a long time since such topics appeared in conversation lol, I'll go and watch Lord of War and Memento if I really have the chance haha.....

Anyway, watched Curse of the Golden Flower　（满城尽带黄金甲）　the other day. 2 words to describe the graphics, GOLD + CLEVAGES, visually 'stunning' I should say. And it was in CANTONESE!!! WHATTHECK!!! Even Chow Yun Fat speaks chinese in the movie but why cantonese??? I only realised it 10 minutes before we entered the cinema. If I knew it I won't watch it for sure (blame myself for not reading newspaper zzz), rather switch it to the movie by Tony Leung and Kaneshiro Takeshi instead =/ As for the movie, Gong Li was superb (as usual, one of the best thing in the movie), Jay Chou, am I the only one who realised that he pouts alot? Can't take my eyes off his lips lol......I'm sure there are alot of cheaper + better acting skill actors around, maybe it's for publicity, gotta admit that at least he tried. The theme song was not bad though. Storyline wise it was quite interesting I should say, but I think I like Zhang Yimou's earlier works more, My Father and Mother, Hero heck I even kinda liked House of Flying Daggers (ok maybe all 3 of them got Zhang Zhiyi, sorry I'm biased, maybe I'll like it if the gong nu/ female servant was played by her LOL). It's just too OVER budget, and it doesn't mean that it's good. Just that for me I don't recall any 'memorable scenes' after stepping out from the cinema except the great acting by Gong Li and thought that the war scene was better than Eragon's lol. Just like the proverb Gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay on the inside ‘金玉其外，败絮其中’ quoted by Zhang YiMou, literally. Maybe it's just me.......seriously the 'best'movie I've seen in cinema this year will be The Prestige. Blame myself for picking those commercialised movie zzz......

After watching we stopped by The Guitar Store at Cheras. Since I just 'earned' 150 bucks for 'babysiting', thought of pampering my guitar and buy some accessories I wanted to buy long time ago. Ended up buying a Kyser Capo (expensive =/ ) and a cheap guitar stand. I'm gonna get guitar strap on my next visit because I saw the same strap that our dear YUI uses in that shop wahahah.....



Congrats on her for winning the Rookie of the Year award in The Japan Academy Awards (equivalent to the Oscar from what I heard) for the role in Taiyou no Uta. Didn't expect it at all well at least she got 100k from it lol. Total winners are 8. So no big deal actually just......she won something haha, better than nothing. So congrats~
*Still waiting impatiently for the freaking MSSP file to finish download*

Finished watching 14 sai no haha. Might write something about it once I saw the subbed version.

Christmas soon....means school starts soon zzz......new year soon.....must do a list about it hee.

Till then, アジャー

Album: Yaida Hitomi - It's A New Day

I'm using someone else's computer to type this entry, since I'm staying at their house for the next 4 days.

Friday PC and I went to Times Square and watched Eragon. Since I've read the book and kinda like it, this movie is a must watch though most of the adaptations these days just kinda meh/ bla. The majority of the audience were below 18 youngsters and kids (feeling so old). Maybe I should go and watch something more 'matured' next time. No I should pick thriller or non-fiction to read and not some 'young adult' fantasy flick =/

Anyway, back to the the movie, reminded me of Narnia, some young hero epic catered for young viewers. I didn't read Narnia so that time after watching it I was like wtheck wasted my 8 bucks. Just another predictable fantasy flick. However this movie got pretty high ratings, that is because it remained loyal to the actual storyline. As for Eragon, the choice of the characters were abit......'shocking', Ajihad is a black guy??? (no offense) and the daugther, ahem......Arya and Brom were fine though. Actually this is my first time comparing between the book and the movie (for movies in english, didn't read that many books hee). Overall it was too fast paced (just like Harry Potter, alot of things unexplained and skipped), and practically another 'hero saves the day storyline'. The lack of details made this movie seemed normal =/ The uniqueness of the elfen language, the bond between Saphira and Eragon, the training regime were 'dropped' to meet the time limit.......oh and the acting were just mediocre as well. Hmm...don't have high hopes on this if you love the book. This is not Lord of the rings.

I still will watch the sequel though. See how they can make imagination into reality, the graphics were fine actually. Little Saphira was CUTE~

Been flipping through TV channels (rare sight, at somebody else's home ma) all day. Watching all those food program lol, because no HBO nor MTV channel, not even NHK (cannot watch Popjam). Mythbuster was cool, I like Discovery channel haha.

As for reality shows, I watched Xiaxue's Girls out Loud on Youtube the other day, when was the last time I watched reality tv??? It was fun though (in a 'mou lei tou' style). After seeing Rozz's attempt on acting, maybe YUI's acting not so bad afterall bwaha =D Why she chose to sing Good-bye days on Music Station Super Live.....

Nicole David did it again~ Yay~ See you guys at Guangzhou then.

No pics, they are using old version of Internet Explorer, no mood to browse websites, so troublesome without tabbed browsing. I miss my own computer =(

Album: Aqua Timez - Kaze wo atsumete

Tot of writing something before I left to 'babysit' someone.

I was watching episode 10 of 14 sai no haha, and someone appeared as guest actor in this episode.



It's our Great Teacher Onizuka~ in white coat. No wonder in the preview of this episode they had to 'hide' his face. I think the last drama of him I've seen was Hotman 2, which he played a caring father. His choices of characters (in drama) apparently soften down (playing nice guys) since he married with the 'queen of jdrama' dear Nanako. It's great to see back all those 'old faces' in jdrama again, even if it's a small role. Brings back all the good'ol memories of the great jdramas you used to watch =D Looking forward to see Nanako san in Hana Yori Dango 2 soon......(is she gonna play Domyouji Tsubaki again???)

Tommorow gonna watch Eragon with PC~ Hopefully it won't sucked. I kinda like the theme song though, by the 'model' miss Avril Lavigne (learning to play one of her song now, still cannot figure out the strumming pattern......)

Lets see whether our athletes can achive the 9 gold medals goal (now 7), as for the remaining, mostly depend on our world champion Nicole David......

Someone is going to Netherlands (ki HO LAN la zzz). Wonder whether I should take Dutch next semester.......

Base Ball Bear rocks.

Warning: This is a highly biased review written by a YUI fangirl. *might contain spoilers*

Before we go in further, here's some useful links in case you are confused.

Movie Version

Showing date: 17/06/2006
119 minutes
Debuted no.6 first week
Theme song: YUI for Amane Kaoru - Good-bye days
Official Website Wikipedia

Drama Version

Airing date: July ~ September 2006 (TBS)
10 Episodes
Average Ratings: 10.3% <--- Not very good
Theme song: Shibasaki Kou - Invitation
Official Website Wikipedia

Other useful links:
Japanese Wikipedia
Jdorama

Lets begin~



The main actress for movie version is our dear YUI and drama version is Sawajiri Erika.


This is YUI's debut acting movie, I think she did a pretty decent job portraying Amane Kaoru (basically she's just playing herself). However in most her interviews she only associated herself with Kaoru merely on the can't-live-without-music part. She rarely talks about the similarities between her and Kaoru (unless people asked her). It's fun to read/ see her comments on the movie, how difficult was it to maintain the correct intonation (she's from Fukuoka, her accent was slightly different apparently), the ways to memorise dialogues (first timer), how impressed she was with Tsukamoto Takashi's natural acting skills. She really did alot of 'homework' to play this character, even though there are parts in the movie that she seemed lost, especially during emotional scenes. But then her kawaii voice and priceless expression were already suffice enough lol.


The spacesuit was integrated with 3 fans (hot ma). After the Tsukamoto guy pinched YUI's face, here comes the scene that detroys the hearts of thousands fanboys around the world. One of the most memorable scene in the movie =D (I changed the original translation, 'That's too much' seemed lack of something. She said 'hidoi' in chinese means '好过份')


As for Sawajiri Erika, I was deeply touched by her performance in One Litre of Tears, one of my all time favourite jdorama. When I read that she's gonna be the main lead in Taiyou no Uta, I was skeptical about her doing the singing part (imho Shibaski Kou is the only actress-singer who really do well in both areas), and since YUI is a singer herself she already set up a pretty high standard on it. I think she did a pretty decent job acting as a singer. Just that the way she played the guitar looks awkward. Not very convincing since she should be the girl who 'treats guitar as part of her life'. People who don't know anything about guitar said that her playing looks fine and belivable though. As for acting, well she's one of the promising young actress around so I shall say acting wise she's good. Erika is not just a pretty face.


The spacesuit comes in pink color as well lol.

They both released a single under the name of Amane Kaoru（雨音薫）.



Some information regarding the singles:


YUI for Amane Kaoru - Good-bye days
*Highest rank in Oricon Chart: no.3
*Total sales (till 2007/01/01): 227,694 (Overall no.32)
*Written and composed by YUI


Kaoru Amane - Taiyou no Uta
*Highest rank in Oricon Chart: No.1
*Total Sales (till 2007/01/01): 482,521 (Overall no.7)
*Best selling single for female singer in year 2006.
*Highest sales (debut single) for a female artist.
*Written and composed by Shiratori Maika. <--- main point lol.

Yea I know Erika's single sold more than YUI's twice =/ It's because I didn't buy lol. I know alot of people have said it before, I like Sawajiri Erika, as an actress, but I don't think this single deserved to be the Best Selling Single by Female Artist for year 2006, even Koda Kumi's 4 Hot Wave (not my fave either) sold alot less than this single. The song is nice but not great, and it didn't left a big impact like what Good-bye days did in the end of the movie. Where are all the other female singers went??? Top 20 only got 2 females =/ I can play Taiyou no Uta better than Good-bye days in guitar though lol (cos no barre chord haha).

Live performances (TV):


Sawajiri Erika only did one live performance on CDTV, but she lip-synched =/ (hate artists who lip-synch), so we cannot determine her singing skills. I'll forgive you since you're an actress, not singer. Again, why this single can sell so much but the drama ratings sucked? I think mostly because the pervert out there bought 2-3 copies at once (Erika used to be a gravure idol). Do not estimate the power of fanboys/ girls hee.

Back to the movie. Talk so much on other stuff but the movie. Besides the Kaoru Amane, we have other singers as well. (Left: Movie, Right: Drama)


Some random guy and Tachibana Asami played by Matsushita Nao, she released her debut album named Dolce few months ago. It's an instrumental album and she played the piano.

Th male lead, Fujishiro Kouji was played by Tsukamoto Takashi (movie) and Yamada Takayuki (drama) respectively.


Kouji in the movie version doesn't know how to play guitar. But in real life Tsukamoto Takashi can play quite well, he's currently looking for bandmates for his new band.

Family having dinner scene. Kaoru is the center attraction, always.



Motor riding scene, romantic-ness >.<



Performing with other musicians.


This is my favourite scene throughout the movie, with Skyline as the background music. YUI was jamming with some people she stumbled along the way. Liked the one in drama as well. Kaoru and her bandmates.



There are other movies with similar theme might be better than this (personally I like Lindax3 more hee), however if without YUI, this movie will be boring as hell (this explains why she was the production team's first choice). The first dialogue came in after 8 minutes, sometimes will have long intervals without dialogues as well, depends on how you view this movie actually. I might not watch this movie for beginning till the end for the second time, but I can watch certain scenes over and over again, especially the confession scene lol, and the ones with YUI singing of course. Didn't really pay attention on other actors, too focused on someone. Kishitani Goro (the father) really caught my eye, that's what we called veteran actor =x As for Tsukamoto Takashi, I saw alot of his dramas, he's good in most of it, very natural indeed, in Taiyou no Uta as well. In the interview he said this will be the last chance I acted as high school student, I might as well enjoy every moment of it =D




Well for the drama, it started out very good, I was waiting impatiently for the next episodes each week. As the story progresses, the producers started to add alot of other pointless side plots to it. Love triangle thing, bad history thing, media thing, it gets boring after being recycled for so many times. It went downhill as the story progresses. And the ending, *speechless* just....normal. It's not bad, just average, and the 2 main leads just delivered their usual, on the par performance, nothing spectacular compared with Sekachuu, Byakuyakou (Yamada), or the touching Ichi Ritoru no Namida. I liked the cast though. Especially the hot music producer lmao. My brother said Shibasaki Kou's theme song was nicer than Stay with me, wonder why they used her song instead of Erika's.

To sum it all, YUI = Amane Kaoru, Sawajiri Erika = Ikeuchi Aya
*Runs away*

Besides Taiwan, it will be shown in Singapore (Dec 14) and Hong kong (Jan 25) as well.



What about Malaysia?!! ZzzZzzZzz.....*Sigh*

Woot finally finished this entry, spent 3 days writing this =/ (it was dated on 8 Dec)
Sorry about the pics, some it's quite dark (most of the scenes were at night =x)
Hope to see your comments about it (please be gentle lol).

Screencaps were captured by me, and for the movie posters, video file (MellowB@Jpopsuki for the movie, tvbt for the drama) and what not, credits to whoever I 'stole' it from.

And to Sin Chew Jit Poh, please republish your review regarding this movie/ drama. It's an insult for dear YUI and for me as a Malaysian.　(yea I'm making a big fuss about it lol)

I scanned it out.


Till then, アデュー！

Album: YUI - from me to you

Today I went to UPM to have my JLPT test (Level 3). Wanted to write about this because before I took this test I did some research through net to gather more information regarding it. And I managed to find some interesting sites and experiences from different sources. The ones that really proved useful were not the tips actually (If you are not planning to study these tips also won't be THAT useful), rather than the experiences from people who took the test really matter the most. It's great to know that people around the world are taking the same test at the same day, especially it's something that you're interested in (well most of the time). And not some stupid university mandatory courses........

Before I start rambling, you may stop reading it if you are not planning to take this test. It'll bore the hell out of you. No scopes nor tips or whatever, that will be very technical-ish, not really the main purpose of me writing this, it might be slightly biased as well haha. I'm taking level 3 this year, and this was my first time taking JLPT. My test started at 8 am, I reached there (with the help of my dad) around 7.20 am. I slept at 3 am actually, doing last minute revison lol, but not very effective because I was busying indulging myself in wonderland (meeting YUI in person and got to talk to her xD ), and for THAT reason I picked up my guitar and start practicing Good-bye days in the middle of the night, in case I really met her someday ROFL.

Back to reality. When I was there I was surprised by the amount of people there. It's alot, some even came in buses. Then I met my seniors (I'm japanese major first year), since I'm such a 'shy' and 'low profile' person I just pretend that I didn't see them. I DID smiled to some of them who recognised me. Most of the examinees were chinese uni/ college students, just like me. There are some malays and indians as well, and people from 'older' generations. There's even people wearing formal clothes (hate to wear formal =x ). Went to look for my exam hall and my seat, it's A1 and located at the 2nd floor.

After 'watching/ analysing' people from a certain distance for quite some time (too lazy to study, it's interesting anyway), we were called to enter the exam halls. I shall fast forward all these (tired adi lol). The test have 3 parts, first is Kanji and Vocabulary, 35 mins. Before that the briefing guy gave a long ass speech regarding the test, you might as well try to find something to do at that time. Okla first timer must listen to it. Then I saw the whiteboard, it's written:

Reading Comprehension and Grammer
11.40-12.50pm

I was like, issit 'Grammar' or 'Grammer'???
(Anyway it's grammar).

Finally the test started (at last). If you can read chinese there's one part mostly you'll get zero mistakes, even if you don't know the kanji, you can just eliminate all those funny looking chinese characters and pick the correct ones. For this section, you just have to watch more jdrama, anime, read more japanese lyrics haha (I'm a bad student). Beware of the 'long sounds' though. I'm having hard time picking those with う and those without.

After the test we have half an hour break. Then came the listening part. Basically if you can watch japanese shows RAW then this will be your best shot to get high marks. It's tiring though, have to pay attention and jot down all the important parts because they will only play the CD once. Hopefully I can have better marks in this to compensate with the marks I lost in grammar section lol.

Then we'll have another break, should be 30 mins but time is running out that's why had to cut it short. Reading Comprehension and Grammar. The part I sucked the most (can be applied in english as well). First semester only covered until chapter 25 (minna no nihongo), some of the level 3's syllabus can up to chapter 50. Basically I was doing first person shooting, plain aim and shoot at whichever I think it's correct lol. Suddenly I miss my sensei =/ at that time I was really exhausted, having sudden flu (no tissues *dang*), half of the time I was sleeping actually, waiting for the test to end so that I can go back and sleep lol. This part have to pay alot of hardwork on it in order to score, no shortcut for this actually, must do alot of exercises (which I'm too lazy to do), get used to the different conjugations, particles bla bla.....

1300 hours, test ended (yay). Feeling sleepy now. Hopefully next year I don't have to retake it again haha.

Till then, au revior.

Rant: The guy kept on saying 'now we will correct the answer sheets' instead of collect, seriously I'll be glad to let you correct it so that I can pass this test =P

Album: Base Ball Bear - C

Yesterday I received this package from Amazon Japan.



Inside got these 2 things:



Inside of the yellow box (Taiyou no Uta Premium Edition - First Press) got these:



2 DVDs (Movie + Behind the scene and other stuff), Diary, Guitar Pick Pendant, Flyers for both drama and movie.



The other side of the pick (It's a Fender heavy guitar pick), and the last page of the diary (wonder whether YUI really drew this O: ).


Both the DVD and the single 'Tokyo' cost me 6750 Yen (around RM 211). First time buying DVD online actually, since it's a limited edition, and comes along with a bunch of nice goodies, must keep one for myself hehe. The packaging is REALLY nice, everything was placed nicely, it's a plastic (not cardboard) box, with detailed description of the cast and the movie (as well as the drama version). Japanese product rawks xD Yea I'm a bad malaysian citizen. The movie only has japanese subs, it doesn't matter because I have 'another' copy in my HD with english/ chinese/ japanese subs lol. I watched the other disc as well, it's fun to see YUI behind the scenes and saw her 'drop' a tear for the first time ^^ made you appreciate the movie even more. Been reading various interviews from different sources as well, even though I don't think I can watch this movie again without skipping (some parts really tested my patience to the max), I still recommend this to people who liked this movie or a fan of YUI, start by buying this DVD (again it's limited edition), albums or what not buy it later haha (from a cheap person point of view).

I'll do a 'battle between 2 versions of Taiyou no Uta' soon. (Just to clear things up, freaking Sin Chew Jit Poh messed up the 2 versions zzz)

Forgot to turn the date setting off =/

Random Rant:

Nicol David's world champion title (for the 2nd time) only worthed RM 20k from the government??? WTF. Stop pouring those money on soccer or that freaking Madrid Stadium, this girl seriously needs more recognition (even though money isn't THAT important at the first place, but world champion only got RM 20,000? Joking right?). People in other blogs suggested giving her a Datuk title or Ferrari lol. Really proud of her though, as a malaysian. Youngest Squash world champion wei, don't play play. Wonder how many golds (official prediction is 9) we can get in Doha's Asian Game.

Yay PC fair again~ I'm gonna go restock some stuff later =D