I am watching a Ustream featuring C-ute's Hagiwara Mai....
Now I haven't followed her as much as the other former Kids...
But heck, she....looks....effing...hot.
Since when did she go from a tiny munchkin to a pretty young lady? I really should try updating myself on them a little more.
But she's still a kid though. Yep, she's just turned 15. And I, turned 28 3 days after her...
Strange world...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Rambling again......
After promising myself that I will make regular entries on my blog, I found myself procrastinating from making the next one.
---
It's not that I have a "writer's block" but I find it hard to finish some entries I've already started and by the time I
could drag myself into finishing them, the issues which made me make the entry in the first place is already old news. Part
of this is because I keep changing some of the paragraphs to make the over-all entry more "neutral". The last thing I wanted
is to get flamed because I made a comment regarding an idol or celebrity. Instead, the entry becomes stale and loses its
original focus. I end up deleting it completely.
---
I'm not really afraid of people who have different opinions from mine. But I am wary of people who violently react to the
fact that my opinion is exactly different from theirs. For some reason, as technology and the internet goes more and more
advanced, you seem to get less and less intelligent people online. I longed for the days that you go to online forums to have
a nice intellectual exchange regarding common interests. Now if you say something that contradicts an established belief, no
matter how accurate your views may be, you get spammed. In fact if what happened to Mano Erina was any indication, people
will troll and spam your online accoutns just because they don't like you.
+++
Mano Erina seems like a sweet girl. Her singles never reached Goto Maki proportions but you cannot deny that she works hard.
While her sales rarely show it, she has a strong following. Not bad for someone I used to call 'boring' because her
peformance during the Wonderful Hearts Winter Tour 2009 made me sleep.
---
The attack on her Twitter account is an embarrassment to all wotas whether they like it or not. It is given that the girl may
not please everybody and may even annoy some but trolling and spamming is the work of people with lots of personal issues.
It's really simple: if you don't like the girl, then leave her alone. She is not doing this to offend you and if you haven't
noticed, you can just simply forget the fact that she exists.
---
Like Mano Erina, many Idols have to bear with fans and wotas who both think and act like they know better. While it is a
given that fame makes them a prime target for things like these, one must ask: should this be the norm or the exception? Many
times I read stuff that are justified only by the old trusted line "That's my opinion. Deal with it". Well my response to
that is this: "I also have mine. Deal with it".
---
Sometimes, we fans forget that our Idols are people too and that our words sometimes get into them, affecting them
emotionally. Sometimes, we only think of what we want because that is what we want to see. When the Elder Club graduated,
people just cancelling their fanclub memberships, boycotting merchandise and started supporting other Idol agencies. They did
not even consider the fact that most of the Elder Club were already at an age when they would like to stop doing "cute"
things because, well, they just aren't cute anymore. They also did not realize that these ladies cannot do the things they
did when they were younger. Sure they can still sing those songs but it would be very difficult for them to maintain the Idol
image at that age.
+++
Berryz Koubou will be restarting their blogs again. They used to have one which was connected with their Berikyuu Tour late
last year. While the frequency of the entries depended on each member, it nevertheless gave a lot of fans a feeling of
'closeness' to their Idols.
---
My personal favorite is Tsugunaga Momoko's blog wherein she personally made drawings connected to what she did that day.
While some of her meanings are pretty hard to decipher, it feels great knowing the amount of effort she is putting on it. The
other members also update their blogs as often as they can (well, except Chinami. It seems the girl is allergic to making
blog entries).
---
Things like these help these Idols to establish a connection with their fans. Mano Erina has relatively low album sales but
she is mostly loved by wotas because of her accessibility. Part of the original Morning Musume's charm was in fact their
'accessibility' to the common Japanese (in other words, they are something that any Japanese girl can actually relate to and
not some goddesses you can't reach).
---
I guess this is part of the reason why Hello! Project has stayed generally wholesome and does not tolerate rule-breaking of
Aibon proportions. Because as Yoda once said "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."
+++
People are asking why Dream Morning Musume was formed.
---
For the grossly uninformed, Dream Morning Musume consisted of former members of Hello! Project's flag-ship group Morning
Musume. From first generation members (Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, and Abe Natsumi) to the more recent ones (Kusumi Koharu).
It is not a reunion group (since Morning Musume still exists) but more of an All-Star group under UFA (the original groups
remains in Hello! Project). The group already has 2 upcoming Tours and will release a 2-disc album featuring remakes of
Morning Musume hits along with 2 new songs.
---
Already, people are both excited and critical of the group, or rather, the motives behind the formation of the group. Some
people feel that Dream MM will undermine the main group seeing as it is composed mainly of the same persons who made Morning
Musume the institution that it is. Personally, I feel that those fears are unfounded. Dream Morning Musume are composed of
former idols with an average age of 25 years. They all have their own committments outside the group and if news directly
from fanclub members are to be believed, the group won't be long term anyway. Just a place where all girls who called
themselved Morning Musume can go to after their tenure in the group.
---
Another criticism is the track-list for the upcoming album. Many feel that this should have only new material. For me, Dream
Morning Musume was formed because both the old members and their loyal fans have a collective dream of seeing the Old
Generation perform the old hits onstage once again. Because of this, it is only natural that the first album of Dream Morning
Musume consisted of the very tracks that helped create the legend of the group throughout the years. This isn't your usual
Greatest Hits album: the songs were all re-done. That alone gave me enough reason to want to buy the album.
---
To put it simply, I can't wait to hear Love Machine and Morning Coffee again.
+++
I am disappointed to see Buono's "Zassou no Uta" performing poorly in the charts. It is a good single, reminiscent of Avril
Lavigne's "Girlfriend" and continues Buono's traditionally strong discography. I haven't heard "Juicy Heart" yet but Zassou
alone is a good song. I guess UFA still has not learned to promote its singles well.
+++
---
It's not that I have a "writer's block" but I find it hard to finish some entries I've already started and by the time I
could drag myself into finishing them, the issues which made me make the entry in the first place is already old news. Part
of this is because I keep changing some of the paragraphs to make the over-all entry more "neutral". The last thing I wanted
is to get flamed because I made a comment regarding an idol or celebrity. Instead, the entry becomes stale and loses its
original focus. I end up deleting it completely.
---
I'm not really afraid of people who have different opinions from mine. But I am wary of people who violently react to the
fact that my opinion is exactly different from theirs. For some reason, as technology and the internet goes more and more
advanced, you seem to get less and less intelligent people online. I longed for the days that you go to online forums to have
a nice intellectual exchange regarding common interests. Now if you say something that contradicts an established belief, no
matter how accurate your views may be, you get spammed. In fact if what happened to Mano Erina was any indication, people
will troll and spam your online accoutns just because they don't like you.
+++
Mano Erina seems like a sweet girl. Her singles never reached Goto Maki proportions but you cannot deny that she works hard.
While her sales rarely show it, she has a strong following. Not bad for someone I used to call 'boring' because her
peformance during the Wonderful Hearts Winter Tour 2009 made me sleep.
---
The attack on her Twitter account is an embarrassment to all wotas whether they like it or not. It is given that the girl may
not please everybody and may even annoy some but trolling and spamming is the work of people with lots of personal issues.
It's really simple: if you don't like the girl, then leave her alone. She is not doing this to offend you and if you haven't
noticed, you can just simply forget the fact that she exists.
---
Like Mano Erina, many Idols have to bear with fans and wotas who both think and act like they know better. While it is a
given that fame makes them a prime target for things like these, one must ask: should this be the norm or the exception? Many
times I read stuff that are justified only by the old trusted line "That's my opinion. Deal with it". Well my response to
that is this: "I also have mine. Deal with it".
---
Sometimes, we fans forget that our Idols are people too and that our words sometimes get into them, affecting them
emotionally. Sometimes, we only think of what we want because that is what we want to see. When the Elder Club graduated,
people just cancelling their fanclub memberships, boycotting merchandise and started supporting other Idol agencies. They did
not even consider the fact that most of the Elder Club were already at an age when they would like to stop doing "cute"
things because, well, they just aren't cute anymore. They also did not realize that these ladies cannot do the things they
did when they were younger. Sure they can still sing those songs but it would be very difficult for them to maintain the Idol
image at that age.
+++
Berryz Koubou will be restarting their blogs again. They used to have one which was connected with their Berikyuu Tour late
last year. While the frequency of the entries depended on each member, it nevertheless gave a lot of fans a feeling of
'closeness' to their Idols.
---
My personal favorite is Tsugunaga Momoko's blog wherein she personally made drawings connected to what she did that day.
While some of her meanings are pretty hard to decipher, it feels great knowing the amount of effort she is putting on it. The
other members also update their blogs as often as they can (well, except Chinami. It seems the girl is allergic to making
blog entries).
---
Things like these help these Idols to establish a connection with their fans. Mano Erina has relatively low album sales but
she is mostly loved by wotas because of her accessibility. Part of the original Morning Musume's charm was in fact their
'accessibility' to the common Japanese (in other words, they are something that any Japanese girl can actually relate to and
not some goddesses you can't reach).
---
I guess this is part of the reason why Hello! Project has stayed generally wholesome and does not tolerate rule-breaking of
Aibon proportions. Because as Yoda once said "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."
+++
People are asking why Dream Morning Musume was formed.
---
For the grossly uninformed, Dream Morning Musume consisted of former members of Hello! Project's flag-ship group Morning
Musume. From first generation members (Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, and Abe Natsumi) to the more recent ones (Kusumi Koharu).
It is not a reunion group (since Morning Musume still exists) but more of an All-Star group under UFA (the original groups
remains in Hello! Project). The group already has 2 upcoming Tours and will release a 2-disc album featuring remakes of
Morning Musume hits along with 2 new songs.
---
Already, people are both excited and critical of the group, or rather, the motives behind the formation of the group. Some
people feel that Dream MM will undermine the main group seeing as it is composed mainly of the same persons who made Morning
Musume the institution that it is. Personally, I feel that those fears are unfounded. Dream Morning Musume are composed of
former idols with an average age of 25 years. They all have their own committments outside the group and if news directly
from fanclub members are to be believed, the group won't be long term anyway. Just a place where all girls who called
themselved Morning Musume can go to after their tenure in the group.
---
Another criticism is the track-list for the upcoming album. Many feel that this should have only new material. For me, Dream
Morning Musume was formed because both the old members and their loyal fans have a collective dream of seeing the Old
Generation perform the old hits onstage once again. Because of this, it is only natural that the first album of Dream Morning
Musume consisted of the very tracks that helped create the legend of the group throughout the years. This isn't your usual
Greatest Hits album: the songs were all re-done. That alone gave me enough reason to want to buy the album.
---
To put it simply, I can't wait to hear Love Machine and Morning Coffee again.
+++
I am disappointed to see Buono's "Zassou no Uta" performing poorly in the charts. It is a good single, reminiscent of Avril
Lavigne's "Girlfriend" and continues Buono's traditionally strong discography. I haven't heard "Juicy Heart" yet but Zassou
alone is a good song. I guess UFA still has not learned to promote its singles well.
+++
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