Kusumi Koharu Sotsugyou Shimasu

When I hear that (the title), I understand what it means. Because I know what  sotsugyou, (卒業) means. Literally, I was introduced to this Japanese word long before I even knew of Hello! Project. But ever since Hello! Project the word means so much more. It’s a phenomenon that every Hello! Project fan has to contend with. Yes, I’m talking about the almighty banhammer that UFA wields, graduation!

For those who don’t know what this particular “graduation” is you can read below for a brief explanation, otherwise I assume anyone reading this already knows what this is about and can simply read more for the full article.

Graduation: By definition is a process in which one receives acknowledgement and his/her/their status is changed. Students graduate from high school when they have finished their required coursework. In Hello! Project, the groups have a graduation method in which a member leaves the group, having run their course, to do other things, to go back to living a normal life. These graduations to the fans mean a lot, very much like a school graduation means a lot to the parents of their respective child(ren).

Meeting Kago Ai

In my current lifetime, I’ve had the chance to meet several people who mean something to a great number of people. What they do is what fascinates us to the point where we celebrate them. This is of course, a celebrity. There are all kinds of different celebrities in so many fields: sports, music, acting, writing, science, being but a fraction of the possibilities.

I have met several “celebrities” over the past years. When I went to Video Games Live, I had a short 2 minute conversation with Jason Hayes, the composer for the popular game, World of Warcraft. It’s funny, I noticed his badge and just initiated casual conversation. He was a very nice guy and he really wanted me to play the game so that I could listen to the music. But I still haven’t nor plan to get around to doing it. Really, Jason Hayes was not a celebrity for me. I didn’t know who he was before being introduced (looking at his badge). In this sense, celebrities are very subjective.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting for all intents and purposes, my first TRUE celebrity, the one and only…

Kago Ai, ( 加護亜依 )

Read on further for my thoughts and recap of the event. You may skip the next paragraph, as I assume you already are familiar with Aibon.

For those who may not know who Kago is, here’s a short rundown. Kago Ai joined the popular J-pop girl group, Morning Musume, at the young age of 12. She was a very popular member throughout the years until she graduated with fellow 4th generation Morning Musume member, Tsuji Nozomi, to continue singing together as W. In 2006, a scandal broke out revolving her smoking underage. This caused her to go under arrest and a subsequent scandal caused her to be fired altogether from Up-Front Agency (the agency managing Hello! Project). She has since returned to show business.

The Chronicles of Mitsuwa: Kago Ai Edition

So, this past Sunday was a landmark in my life. I met the one and only, Kago Ai. Not only that, I shook her hand!! But I’ll leave the thoughts and coverage for another post as it is way too much for what I may want to say.

I spent a good portion of my time there taking random footage for updates and memories. After about 2 hours of cutting and editing (and creative decisions) I produced a condensed 15 minutes (including credits) of the footage I got.

Halloween

Although yes, Halloween is well half a month past, I finally got the pictures. I wish I had more pictures but don’t really. Then again, I didn’t have that many more opportunities for pictures. Anyway, for Halloween I dressed up as a “wota”. For those who don’t know, you can consider a wota to be a fanboy. In particular, a fanboy of Japanese idols and/or music.

Mitsuwa

This past Wednesday I was over at my friend’s place for a mini-vacation. While I was there I got the opportunity to go to the Mitsuwa Japanese marketplace in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Now you may be thinking this sounds suspiciously like something I’d write in a real blog. Well, it certainly does, but there’s one part of the trip that pertains to my hobbies/entertainment interests.

The Karaoke Effect

The other night I went to Duet48 (which makes me think AKB48??). For people who don’t know, it’s a karaoke place in New York City, somewhere… At any rate, I went with a housemate of mine and our circle of friends.

Given my taste in music, I have virtually no reason to pick any English songs. But alas, since I cannot read Japanese reliably (and quickly) I am stuck having to sing songs that I just know. Unfortunately, after hearing SO many songs, I don’t know any. It doesn’t help that I can’t really sing well either XD.

But being in that Karaoke room, for just a moment made me wonder what it was like at Hello! Party. On the couple of times I got to pick a song, I picked songs that I would want to sing or at least attempt.

I picked:

• Perfume – Dream Fighter

I REALLY like the chorus and KSYK’s solo part in the song. But really… I don’t know the rest of the song after that XD. It was just mumbling and trying to go by what I remember, oh and watching the PV cause they actually had it on screen with the karaoke lyrics. But I just wanted a chance to sing that awesome chorus.

• TERIYAKI BOYZ – WORK THAT!

I will admit, while I usually don’t like rap music and other urban things, I have warmed up to it over the years because of m-flo and his unique approach. That being said, I am biased to liking Teriyaki Boyz because VERBAL from m-flo is in it. I was just gonna sing the song because 75% of the lyrics are in English. But it was a surprising hit among my friends. The room was just full of us yelling: “Work that!” (no lie, almost 75% of the song is simply those 2 words). That actually makes me have a lot more appreciation for the song. I only really listened to the song because, Hiroyuki Suzuki, one of my favorite 1A yo-yoers used it for his freestyle music. But, now I can really appreciate the song. Go listen to it!

• Caramell – Caramelldansen Speedycake Remix

I’m actually surprised this was in their book… But I couldn’t resist. Doing the Caramelldansen dance and singing … Swedish is it? lyrics is instant fun. It’s quite a good song actually, very addictive.

At any rate, I’m surprised at the effect karaoke has on a song. At first, I was aghast that the instrumentals were MIDI-sounding and all (I suppose because of licensing and the like). But karaoke is fun. It’d probably be better if I could actually sing songs, I memorized. Or better yet, read… -_-; But who cares, when you can just mumble like Scooby Doo, when you can’t read the lyrics fast enough.

~Siggy, who has an excellent Scooby Doo impression~

Ringtones!!!

So I finally stopped being lazy and went looking for my microSD card adaptor/adapter. Spent like 2 hours organizing stuff (I wound up deleting 75% of the ringtones I had previously done ages ago) and then cutting songs for new ringtones!

A lot of the ringtones I make are based on what I think would sound cool for a ringtone or if its quirky. There’s a pretty good variety of artists featured in the ringtones I’ve done. I love little audio bites! You know like in commercials for albums and stuff, TV-Size stuff… those short snippets are what highlight the song. Like a really good movie trailer for a really bad movie!

MOMUSU IN AMERICA

Ugh, I’m so jealous that I can’t be in LA for this…

Whilst watching Strong Machine 2 dancing, I think to myself I should write my reactions to the news and everything surrouding the fact that MOMUSU IS NOW IN AMERICA! This very moment! They landed sometime yesterday and I realize I won’t be around for the real-time access tomorrow due to work.

There have been already videos and pictures of Momusu arriving. Upon seeing some of them, I have to admit I am a bit amused by the non-Japanese accented Japanese XD. Someone said, Aichan, as if they were saying Chan like Jackie Chan, which is clearly not the proper way. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t have perfect pronounciation of Japanese. It really shows how excited the fans are.

I know if I were there, I’d go totally fangirl and probably yell out incomprehensible things. So apparently I think there’s a concert for today… let’s hope someone gets some underground recordings. I can’t wait to hear more! And see some autographed goods!

~Siggy

The Apples

Right before writing this I read about Apple’s shortages on their phone. And now I’m listening to the ridiculous “Tell Me” performance from Wonder Girls opening for the Jonas Brothers… from the first performance in Portland, Oregon.

I cannot believe they are opening for the Jonas Brothers… Seriously? I guess, that’s the best JYP can do. Then again, I guess for argument’s sake there’s no real way to just enter into the American music scene. I will applaud WG for trying their best in doing this. While they’re gone, they’re losing valuable ground that’s being eaten by SNSD and other acts. But I’m sure they’ll make another bit hit when they’re back in Korea.

I have no idea who the Jonas Brothers really are, I just happened to see them in recent years on the Disney Channel. And you know those kids, they are crazy about their Hannah Montanna and Jonas Brothers and all.

Back to WG

- Tell Me

Wow, they sound kinda funny… I can barely hear them though, so it’s hard to judge their English. I think it’s funny that they’re actually singing the stuttering Tell Me lines. So Yoo Bin got the solo dance?? Well Yoo Bin is hotter than So Hee anyway. Tell me this isn’t real… Wow, my impression of them is like they’re some amateur high school talent show…

- Nobody

Hard to hear the English in this fancam. LOL, I wonder how girls feel about WG taking up the stage… Actually sounds like there is a fair amount of people screaming occasionally, but it’s probably all the wonderfuls. It’s nice that they’re turning around to face each part of the crowd. Wonder Girls are too sexy for Jonas Brothers…. Too much screaming by that fangirl. They have much better sounding English than I expected. lmao, “Are you guys ready for the Jonas Brothers?” all of a sudden the crowd goes wild. Well, it was kinda nice to hear the Wonder Girls open for JB.

In other news, Michael Jackson, 50, died the other day. Rest in peace, Michael. Though I’m not that familiar with your music, I do find some of it nice. I’m not as into my “shell” as some people may think I am, any good music is good music to me. No doubt, you are one of the greatest. I imagine I’ll hear more of your music in the coming years. Especially since there will probably be upcoming tributes performing in Atlantic City, someday.

With that being said, I end this post by saying:

Nocchi is hot. Why did I think of her so many times today when I was bored at work? Because she’s hot… I can’t wait for TRIANGLE! ^___^

~Siggy, watching BudokAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAn, for like the 50th time~

Justice League pt1

So I’ve been awfully lazy with my blog lately because of my job and watching things. I’ve been watching dramas and stuff and that makes me awful lazy about writing things.

So what have I to write about today. Justice League! I grew up watching the old Batman and Superman animated series. I enjoyed em actually. I especially liked the old Superman series which I consider to be the foundation for the DC animated universe. Mostly because Superman teamed up and established a lot of the other DC superheroes in that particular universe.

So, I remember actually being excited about Justice League when it was coming out during my freshmen year back in High School. For those who don’t know anything about it, the Justice League cartoon was a superhero cartoon which teamed up Superman with Batman (as usual) to fight an alien menace which led them to team up with Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Hawkgirl. I think I can assume some episodes were greatly inspired by comic book counterparts. I apologize to comic fans out there if I make the wrong references or use the wrong names for any DC things.

WARNING: Some spoilers ahead. Not too many, but some.

- Season 1

Season 1 comprised of the JLers banding together to fight the white martians. The typical formula was that not all JLers would be present in certain story arcs that were focused on one or more JLers. Aquaman, the Manhunters, Green Lantern Corps, Mongul, Grodd, among others. Some highlights:

• JL Aquaman isn’t like the pansy orange corny one. But I like orange… but JL Aquaman was actually pretty cool and the story was quite mature, not what you’d expect from a normal cartoon.
• Why the hell is Superman soooo weak? For that matter why does he look SOOO old???
• The Injustice league was a cool team-up and it would’ve worked too had it not been for cable TV.
• The season finale, The Savage Time, was actually quite good. I really enjoyed it. It shows off Green Lantern’s ability to be a hero without his ring. And we all know it’s good to see heroes without their power.

- Season 2

Season 2 had some improved animation in the form of some brighter colors. They finally fixed Superman’s “aging syndrome” and returned him to his established look. Almost all of the episodes were whole 1 hour episodes, so you could just watch them straight throughout.

• AMAZO is mad strong as hell
• Darkseid’s omega eye beams were much cooler when they arced in straight lines and not curves…
• Doctor Destiny was a nice Batman ep, it really shows that Batman can save the day without using powers.
• Savage twice! One of my favorite JL episodes is “Hereafter”, where Superman meets the future Savage after everyone died, one of the best episodes ever just because of Savage’s dialogue.
• Secret Society… shouldn’t JL be worried about the fight being at a football stadium with thousands of innocent people around them. Anyone one of them could’ve been taken hostage. Huge oversight on their part, I think.
• Flash had his big break in “Eclipsed” where he actually ran fast for once. For someone who claims to be the World’s Fastest Man, he really doesn’t run that fast at all…not till at least another episode.
• “A Better World”, another great episode which played on the heroes having too much power dynamic. Plus it was a great setup for possibly the most ambitious storyline of the DCAU.
• “Starcrossed” was a great ending. The producers really didn’t hold back and went for a quality story and ending. Funny, I think Batman disguised himself as Alfred when he was infiltrating the Hawk base. I also liked the subtle touches throughout Season 2 that made much of the finale possible.
• Green Lantern and Hawkgirl were actually kind of cute together.

Well that was the original Justice League. Way later on, the producers made Justice League Unlimited which featured a LOT of superheroes… I thought it was gonna be bad and just a bunch of random filler episodes, you know like the old SuperFriends. But they actually pulled through and had a great underlying story. More on that next time (while I finish the rest of Season 5)

~Siggy, who is watching Takahashi’s new PB making of instead of JL ^_~