Ichigo to Yume

Last night I went to the Neoromance Summer Live Event!!
I had so much fun!!  Seki was so funny!!
And I love Toriumi's voice live!! I've never seen him perform live before so I was amazed at how great he sounds even live.
Itou Kentarou was so sweet!! He got interested in learning the piano because of his role in Kiniro no Corda!  So he especially learned how to play the easy parts of Tomorrow on keyboard just for the event!!  He was so cute! You could tell he worked hard to be able to play.^^  The cast talked about how nervous he was too.   And I totally understand...I mean he had to try to sing on key and play at the same time which is difficult for anyone who isn't a professional singer/musician.
This was my first time seeing Hino live, too!  I dunno why I love that tsundere Etou so much, but I do!  He sang MOVE.  He struck me as being very serious compared to the other seiyuu.  But then again, he WAS on stage with a bunch of vets.  I heard he sang YOU CAN MAKE IT in the earlier show.  Wish I could've been there to see that, too since it's my favorite Etou song.

And is it just me, I mean I could just be partial, but I often feel the Harukanaru and Kiniro songs are better than the Angelique songs.  It could also be because I don't really know much about Angelique and the characters from there tho.

If I had the money, I would've wanted to attend today's lives too.  They were actually selling tix for today too so it wasn't completely sold out.
I'm definitely gonna check out the dvd for this because I wanna see Irino, Taniyama and Okiayu' s performances, too.

I'm up at 4 in the morning watching the memorial for MJ.
It's so beautiful.  The eulogies make me smile and cry. T___T

You will be missed, Michael.

Wow, just found out that Michael will get a resolution to be recognized as a humanitarian that will be remembered as a legend forever and ever.

"They say the sky's the limit but for me that's really true." - Michael Jackson

It's been a long time since I've actually been into a telenovela.  And I definitely didn't expect to get hooked on another Mexican telenovela.  I thought I'd grown out of them.  But then I saw Sortilegio.  And then I saw the brilliant acting of William Levy!  There's no turning back now as long as the storyline and characters keep up with this pace, I'll keep watching.  And as if the romance and love scenes aren't enough to keep you watching, there's even some cool action scenes.

William Levy has an awesome stage presence.  Everytime he comes on screen, all my attention goes to him.  And then man whenever he takes off his shirt..whoo....everytime he takes off his shirt and I'm not exagerrating, I start sweating because it gets so hot.  This man is irresistible!!  Alejandro aka Alex (his character) is totally my kind of hombre..well minus how scary he can get when he's jealous or has doubts about his lover. But dude, I wanna find a guy who'll kiss me passionately like that and call me his vida and amor the way Alex does to Maria Jose. XD

Last night they finally aired the Opening of Sortilegio which theme song is sung by IL DIVO.  I like it a lot!!  You can see the chemistry between Jacky and Will just by watching the OP and it captures the relationship between all the characters very well.

Sortilegio OP

Can't deny that Michael was a music legend and inspired people all over the world. May he R.I.P.



[Diddy talking]
I remember the first time i seen you moonwalk,
I believed I could do anything,
you made the world dance,
you made the music come to life

[Chris brown - Chorus]
This the type of song that make the angels cry,
i look up in the sky and i wonder why?
why you had to go, go
I know its better on the other side,
you were chosen from the start
never gon let you go,

[The Game]
Whos Michael Jackson,
Your Michael Jackson,
Im Michael Jackson,
We all Michael Jackson,
I guess what Im asking is everybody bow their head for a legend dont breathe for a second,
now let the air out, grab the hand of somebody you care about,
so you can hear my message, my confession,
someone tell Usher, i seen the moonwalk, i guess the young thriller touched him, like he touched me, like he touched you,
so carry on his legacy, something i must do, so i trust you lighting candles, concrete visuals, me and my brothers listen to jackson 5 in the living room,
first thing i did when i heard was call puff,
cos him and Mike tried to stop the beef between us,
who was us? Me and fifty, that beef is dead, him and Mike Jackson gonna take us to the ledge.

[Chorus]

As Im pouring out this liquor candles start to flicker,
when list (?) my air ones, MJ was my nier.
Not the one that play ball, the one with the hollywood star,
and since im a hollywood star imma tell you my story,
[Courtesy of KillerHipHop.com]
never had a family that close, never see Barry Gordy walking through interscope,
just like me they always had Mike in a scope,
no matter what you say,
imma love him and hes still dope,
let me take you back to 85 when i was in a zone, dancing for my momma thriller jacket with all the zippers on,
now im doing 90 bout to crash in this Aston,
listening to Outcast, Im sorry Mrs Jackson [Damn - Dope line from Game - KillerHipHop.com]
anything i can ever do to better you your son was our king so we wont Corretta you,
Im writing this letter to all the Jackson kids, we all Jackson kids, time to let us through.

[Chorus]

[Boys II Men]
This the kind of song that make the angels cry,
look up in the sky and ask God, why o why why
Do we live and let die
This the kind of song that make the angels cry,
look up in the sky and ask God, why o why why
Do we live and let, live and let die.
[Lyrics courtesy of KillerHipHop.com]
[End]

 出不精でごめんなさい。

I was just flipping the channels and watching one of those afternoon dramas just now.
Oh gosh....so cheesy.  One channel had this girl crying and talking to her dad and thanking him for being such a great dad and then telling him the bad news about how she's unable to bear children. It was so overdramatic...I just couldn't take it anymore so I flipped the channel.
And the next channel had this like 9 year old kid apologizing and repeating how he's a bad kid to some older women standing around him as they cried.  The kid was cute but once again more melodrama and OA from the older cast.

All that just reminded me of why I used to have cable when I was in Akita.       (= .  =)


Spotted this at Saizeriya the other day.  Couldn't get a shot of the whole painting but it was an interesting interpretation of The Last Supper.

I spent all night out last night.  I actually went clubbing in Shibuya for the first time.
I felt like I got a good workout from all the dancing I did.:p  I would go again just to get those calories burning!  
Not only did I get to dance, but I also got to meet some people as my friends and I were relaxing in the ladies section. 
I felt bad for the one guy who was with us because he wasn't allowed to sit in the section and he must've been just as tired as we were.

Some of us decided to leave the club around after we had about all we could dance and well, it was loud and nearly impossible to hear anyone talk and the smoke from people's cigarettes was getting not only to my contacts but to us.  It made my voice all scratchy...ick.  So we wanted some fresh air.

We went to McD's to rest a bit before going to a cybercafe. I didn't order anything.  But my friend ordered a smile.  Haha... Yeah McD's here sells smiles for free.  But the clerk guy didn't look too amused to smile. He gave such a quick fake smile.  Next time I'll have to try it on the younger college age clerks.

After that,  when our friends couldn't get access to the station lockers because the JR station was closed. The plan was to spend the night at a business hotel and split the charge at 1000 yen a pop but the business hotel was booked up. So we decided to crash at a cybercafe.  But all the booths were full and they charged you to sit and wait for one to open...tho, for the fee you were welcome to use the drink bar and read the magazines and manga.  But, we decided it would be more comfortable just to go ahead and find a family res or cafe to sit.


Luckily, we got to a cafe that was open. The cafe was fancy and had comfy seats.  And the price of the menu items matched the fanciness.  We decided to get food because the 500 yen toast was a lot cheaper than the 980 yen coffee.  But that plan was quickly shot down when the waiter told us we had to order at least one drink each.  So us commoners asked if it was ok to scratch the food orders and relunctantly placed our drink orders.><

But it was a nice chat over tea.  We talked about so many things and before we knew it, it was time to catch the first trains out of Shibuya.  Surprisingly, I felt wide awake all night so when I got home I didn't even go to bed until about 7ish. But then again, I didn't get back up until noon.

 

I'm a little behind on Hanasakeru Seishounen. So I decided to watch ep.8 before going to bed.
And dang, that Kajika is a little tramp!
I'm sorry but what American teenage girl gives kisses as seals to promises??
I thought we usually do that whole "Cross my Heart "or say "I swear" or something...oh Japan and it's Western stereotypes.
So I thought that part of the episode was pretty funny and further shows how loose Kajika is...I guess her mission is just to lead every male character on, huh....:p

It's amazing to watch (Holacaust survivor) Elie Wiesel speak at the camp he was freed from so many years ago.   I still remember reading his book back in high school.

＿| ￣ | 〇
Uso...
No way....
No way...!!
This can't be! ;___;


As if Himi wasn't enough...now Asari too!!??

So I pick up this issue of Dear+ so excited to be able to see an arc about Shoui x Asari start up again but wow I never expected to cry so hard in this first chapter of the arc.  Really, my lips tremble thinking about what happened.

( Spoilers for ZE Chapter 42: 感動されたAsari )

Why Shimizu-sensei?  Why did you leave us with this cliffhanger??  I cried so hard.
And this month she's taking a break so no Ze. ;__;

"I'm sorry Hirosue-san but I'm not like the woman you're hoping for. I don't want to meet you looking like this any more than this."

Somebody PLEASE save me from my tears!! ;___;
I just listened to the most Beautiful and Dearest Thing ever...the drama cds for the Utsukushii Koto and Itoshii Koto novels by Konohara Narise whose other novels Cold Sleep, The Man With No Clothes, Don't Worry Mama, etc..I have also read.  I want to read more of the Cold Series by the way.
.

Actually, I listened to UK a few days ago but only listened to IK today.  So the cold ending that UK left off at was still fresh in my mind.  And I love when touching series like this have sequels.  I'm glad that Utsukushii Koto didn't end with a solid conclusion and totally left with the listener wanting to hear more.  Luckily, I didn't have to wait long to hear the next cd. But wow, the ending was great and much happier than the first cd...but still I want more!!  I want to Matsuoka and Hirose dating again and living in the same town....and possibly live under the same roof!!

In case your curious here's a short summary of Utsukushii Koto.
Matsuoka Yousuke (Suzuki Tatsuhisa) is a very capable guy who like most salarymen gets stress from work.
While most people are satisfied with a drink...Matsuoka likes dressing up like a woman to relieve his stress.
But it's not that he wants to be a woman or is interested in guys or anything.  There's just something about wearing a dress and putting on makeup as well as getting attention from guys for his prettiness that makes him feel relaxed and lifts his mood up.  
Unfortunately, one day he runs into a guy he deals with for work who mistakes him as being a woman and picks him up.  Thinking that he can benefit from getting to know about the guy's hobbies and getting info about his company, he goes along with the guy and pretends to be a woman.  In an effort to sound like a woman, he changes the pitch of his voice as well.  Matsuoka is so convincing, that the guy attempts to seduce him and takes him to bed and undresses him before Matsuoka can stop him. When Matsuoka is found out, he runs away leaving his purse containing his wallet and shoes behind.  With no way to get home he pitifully sits on the ground in the pouring rain without an umbrella.  He sees people from work who might be able to help but not wanting to be seen dressed as a woman, he refrains from calling out to them.

Fortunately, one man approaches him with an umbrella and offers help.  His name is Hirosue Motofumi (Sugita Tomokazu)  and he happens to work at the same company as Matsuoka.  He's very kind to woman-Matsuoka and offers him his shoes to wear.  He also calls a taxi for Matsuoka and pays the fare--5-6000yen (!!).  I should also mention that Matsuoka bothered by the fact that the creepy guy from before said his woman voice was strange...decides to pretend to be mute in front of Hirosue.

( Utsukushii Koto Summary continued )

And so ended Utsukushii Koto.
And I thought I cried quite a bit during Utsukushii Koto.  But the amount I cried then doesn't even come close to how much I cried during Itoshii Koto. I was bawling at the end of that one.  I'll have to talk more about that tomorrow because woah this entry is way long and I need to get to bed now.  

The bottom line is listen/read this series it's so good.  I want to collect the novels now.  I so adore it!

Sneaked a pic on the train of all these people on one side of the train wearing masks.There are more people wearing masks that you can't see in the pic but couldn't manage to get a shot of the whole car without being noticed since I only had my keitai on me. 

Well, it was only a matter time but yes the Miss Piggy Flu has arrived in Tokyo.
I don't know whether to be amused by how paranoid some people seem to be about the flu or join in the latest fashion trend of wearing a mask in this hot summer-like weather. 
BTW, this is the BEST time to be a foreigner in Japan.  Watch as people avoid you on the train for fear of catching something and you better hold in those sneezes if you have allergies..and man the countless jokes going around my office told by Japanese coworkers about avoiding certain touristy places because they're dangerous with all the virus-carrying foreigners around.  +__+  Hello, guys. I'm in the room, too.  And newsflash I'm one of those gaikokujin you're talking about.><

Well, actually I don't mind the jokes too much.  I think they're kind of funny Only thing is I think some of them might actually not be joking and actually think what they're saying is true.U__U . I should mention I joke around about the flu myself whenever someone, Japanese or not,  coughs or sneezes but I don't go around telling jokes about staying away from Mexicans or anything..that's just ____________.

Anyhow, I wonder how long this flu hysteria will last.
Maybe I should start wearing a mask, too.  Not only will I prevent catching the virus but I'll also save myself from having to smell funky body odor and bad coffee breath during rush hour. yay.

A picture from Inaguration day with an Obama quote in front of Takashimaya in Shinjuku. It was funny how short and simple the Japanese translation was compared to the longer and more poetic original English.

Today was another day off even tho, I had a lot to do.
And man I went outside to take a walk and got stuck in a sudden pass over storm.  
So one minute it was sunny and the next minute a huge downpour and then sunny again. ><
Well on the bright side, at least it was so hot outside that the cool rain was actually quite refreshing.

Daba Raji
Oh yeah, I listened to Daba Raji earlier.  It was so funny.  This 7 unit group whose one common point is that they're all born in the year of the horse (1978) is such a great idea!  Not only are a bunch of my faves in it but two of the seiyuu who I wanted to get to know a bit more about are in it, too.  ie. Tachibana S. and Hino S.

It was so hilarious during the show when they were all trying to figure out what they had in common.  And of course FukuJun said we're all Kansai-jin!!  <--Of course, not true. lol  
And then someone said everyone's gay!  And then there was a pause before everyone bursted out laughing. LoL....Then I think it was Fukujun who was like Eh, Really?  Everyone's gay, all this time I hadn't known. And then someone brought up that they've all done BL.XD
It was hilarious.

Then the guys were trying to figure out what they want to do as a unit.  They had all these big dreams like making a movie and going overseas to Las Vegas to gamble.  But their dreams were all so huge and they realized they'd need money to realize those dreams. XD

They're all so funny together.  This radio show sounds like it's gonna be really fun!!

Sengoku Basara

I also watched more Sengoku Basara today.  Hoshi still amazes me as Sanada.  I felt bad for Tadakatsu.  That was a good guy.
And it was cute to see how faithful Nagamasa was to Ichi even after he found out about her.:[  And Masamune's so brave.  I dunno, when I see the good guys with the guns I think they're so cool but when I saw the army of baddies with guns I was like damn the Westerners for ever introducing guns to the Japanese. ><

Ahhh!!
LUMATIIIIIIIIIIIII!  WTF, how could they end the episode there??  That was just cruel!!
I wanna know what happens next!

Man, I feel Lumati's  pain.  That's gotta hurt having loved and respected your brother so much only to find out he wants you dead. T__T
Poor Lumati.
It looks like in the next episode he's gonna be pretty depressed.
He's still my first pick out of the guys.  Or at least he's tied with Li Ren at the moment.
The Fang family has so much power, it's amazing.  That's so cool that Li Ren is in charge of  that kind of powerful family.

So are we gonna find out Lumati is Maria's reincarnation?  I'm kidding.  That's impossible.  Maria's incarnation would surely be giving proverbs and advice all over the place if there was one.  It's just that Kajika keeps mentioning how Lumati seems familiar to her and yet when would they have had the chance to meet since she was living on an isolated island for most of her life. Well, guess we'll find out next episode.

I think it's funny how I'm more caught up to these  24min anime than I am to a simple 5min anime. ?__?

Anyhow, I watched Hanasakeru Seishounen 5, wonder if anyone calls it HanaSei for short.
So up to now, I've been rooting for Li Ren.  I mean I think Eugene's story is touching but yeah, I can only seen him in the role of the loyal pet.
And I probably don't think like Kajika but damn, if I were her at this point, I'd pick Prince Lumati.  I like his independent modern attitude.  And how he loves his older brother and then that whole "I'mbetterthanyouandthereforeyoudontdeserveformetotellyoumyname." attitude.  It's so cute..He's so cute! ^o^  So yeah, I'm rooting for him even though I know he doesn't stand a chance in a shoujo story.  He'd have more success as an uke chara in BL.:p

Today was the Linebarrel event at Mielparque Tokyo.
nerfracket  and I had a fantabulous time.  And you should really go to her lj for any and all juicy details of  the event. :p
(nerf is awesome!  leave it to her for the best of the best of event reports!)

Really this event was awesome. Of course, if you don't know anything about Kacky and his usual interaction with his seiyuu co-workers, you'd think by the end of the show he'd be crying alone in a little corner somehwere.  This was really the bully Kacky festival!!

Seriously from beginning to end he was teased.  Even the female seiyuu didn't spare him.
But it was all in fun!! Good good fun!

One of the most memorable things was when Kacky was recalling how nice of a guy Nakamura Yuuichi is. After recordings, You-Can would wait for Kacky to finish recording and they'd go out together for drinks and food.  But right after saying this, You-Can denied these claims and called Kacky a liar. A shocked and befuddled Kacky wondered how he could say that when for half a year he'd always admired You-Can for being so kind to him.  But You-Can coldly said he wasn't waiting for Kacky, he was waiting for everyone else.  And if they ever went out it was only maybe 3 or 4 times. 

Haha..You-Can was definitely the coolest of the guys there.  His whole demeanor during the event just exuded coolness.

FukuJun and You-Can both spared no moment to make fun of Kacky.

One of my favorite moments was when everyone was making fun of Kacky's kanji reading skills. I can't remember exactly what they said now but FukuJun was clever and made a joke that Kacky not only kanji yomenai but kuuki yomenai, too.
Kacky's poor kanji reading skills were especially made apparent when the cast played the Linebarrel PSP Game and were adding their voices by reading the script of what the characters were saying in the game.  When Kacky was reading, he had to get close to the screen to see the kanji and was evidently struggling to read.(<--This made me feel a lot better about my kanji skills.)

Kacky talked about how he had alot of lines as a lead character.  The cast teased him asking who he was.."What's your name again? Kaki--...Kaki...???" They had him go centerstage and introduce himself as some of the cast joked about not knowing him.

Later he also took stage as the entire audience told him: Anata wa saitei desu.

There was an original episode all focused on Rachel's character and how she went around each character's room and found them doing crazy stuff.  The funniest was when they caught a serious Reiji, playing the suika-wari game alone in his room.
At the end of this episode, during the credits Nakamura Yuuichi's name caught everyone by surprise as he was listed as playing five minor characters. :p So half of the screen was full with his name.

There was also a live script reading featuruing a new original story in which Kouichi is determined to discover Reiji's weakness.  He invades Reiji's room and after double-entendres finds the key to Reiji's weakness where most men stash theirs...under his bed.  It's Reiji's diary...Kouichi reads the diary aloud for the other characters and they discover the lonely life that is Reiji's.  Apparently he went to a deserted island where he enjoyed a life without people and had a bbq all by himself.  Everyone can't help but pity Reiji and read on to find a fun entry.  They find an entry in which Reiji talks about going out for drinks with Masaki and Hisataka. Reiji ends up debating with Hisataka about whether cats or dogs are better.  Reiji is for cats and Hisataka is for dogs.  Kouichi-tachi are shocked that Reiji hung out with the Katou-Kikan crew.  Soon after, Reiji catches everyone in his room.  He is questioned about Katou-Kikan.  He tells Kouichi to read the page behind the cover.  It turns out the book wasn't actually Reiji's.

 At the end of the show, everyone prepared to throw autographed balls to the audience.  To make throwing easier all the male seiyuu took of their blazers, and sweaters/jackets.  FukuJun, YouCan and Chiba Susumu shocked the audience with their nicely toned arms.  I would say most girls in the room were pleasantly surprised.  

BTW, I'd say at the end when everyone was making their final comments,  Nakamura Yuuichi was the most popular amongst the girls but Kacky had the most variety in popularity as a mix of both guy and gal fans were calling his name and cheering him on.

Well, that's the end of my report.  Forgive me for any typos or memory lapse...I'm doing my best at 2 in the morning.  Time for bed! 

I'm back from a pretty fun day out and about in Tokyo.
Will post about Linebarrel sooner or later.
Also for anyone who is worried about me and my sister, don't worry.
We are fine.  Like any siblings we have our fights and get over it soon afterwards.
We don't hold grudges or anything.
Some of you guys seemed seriously concerned.  But don't worry my sis and i fight all the time...even over what channel to watch on tv.
But an hour later we are friends again.  Just think of it as if someone read your locked diary and then hid it and pretended not to have it . I don't think youd be happy that someone read it without your permission or hid it for that matter, right.  So, that's how I felt.  But I wasn't really THAT mad.  Just wanted to vent...  
And posting about it on my lj is my way at getting back at her.  People who know us IRL, know we are friends and always together. So just wanted to reassure everyone. hakuna matata. ^o^

Wooh the Korean Lotte Duty Free MV is one of the hottest promos for Duty Free that I've ever seen.
I almost didn't recognize Kang Ji Hwan at first. I know him best from Hong Gil Dong which he did an awesome job acting in.  But wow, his singing voice is cute, too. 
I'm surprised that SSH is still looking as young as ever.
And Bi!!!  Yay. 

 A Raspberry Latte

Today I met the loverlynerfracket  in Ikebukuro.  We had lunch at a French cafe in Sunshine City.
We chatted over some lattes and tarts.  Then headed to karaoke.  But on the way, we stopped at Animate so nerf could pick up some seiyuu mags.  It took every ounce of my being to resist purchasing some, too. 

At Animate, I noticed an ad for Hiiro no Kakera's play.  It's prolly sold out by now, but we're thinking of checking for at least toujitsuken.
We're also hoping to watch the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann movie together as well.  I'm so glad I can watch it with someone.

Looks like my Golden Week will be pretty packed, except for tomorrow.  So if anyone wants to hang out, drop me a line.
Otherwise, I'll just spend my day at home doing souji, playing otome games and gorogoro-ing.
I could do some burabura-ing somewhere but that does take up more energy than nonbiri-ing.  LoL. I'll shut up now.

EDIT: Looks like the Hiiro no Kakera event is a mix of a talk event and a live.  So they'll be singing songs from the show I guess and talking about behind-the-scenes stuff.  Wish it were the actual stage so I may sit this one out.

I just saw that color picture with all the grown up babies and ...O.o...WOW!!!
Colonello is so freaking hot!!
He totally upstages Reborn in that pic for me.><
I feel bad because I haven't been reading Reborn since I got back from the States.  
Now I really wanna catch up...that is, I ESPECIALLY want to catch up now!

I'm super tired right now.  Unfortunately, Golden Week hasn't quite started for me yet. I had work today and there wasn't a free period to be had.  So now I'm just exhausted.  But this video cheered me up and hope it'll bring some sunshine to everyone else's day.