y nos decimos adiós
Jan. 6th, 2006 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arishaI began this entry at 7:53pm and it is now 10:07pm. Ridiculous! But anyway, here is the entry where I ramble about my four favourite songs of 2005, in alphabetical order by artist. :D
Berryz Koubou - "Special Generation"
I avoided listening to Berryz for the longest time. A mini-MoMusu? How disgusting! But then I realized that I like Aa! (Reina + Miyabi = AN IMPOSSIBLE FORCE OF COOLNESS) (also "First Kiss" is another song I have read way too much into, s'all good), and I liked ZYX (but not their PVs, which are SO VERY FREAKY), so maybe the H!P kids weren't altogether an awful idea. And then I remembered I liked Berryz's "21ji Made no Cinderella," and then I felt dumb, and so I listened to "Nanchuu Koi wo Yatteruu You Know?" and I thought it was so awesome. I listened to "Special Generation" at around the same time but it just didn't grab me in the same way. Sure, I liked it enough (especially the "ai!"s -- haha, I dunno), but it seemed sort of generic. Like, it was hard for me to remember how it went. But then I saw the PVs, again at around the same time, and where "Nanchuu" was boring, "Special Generation" was THE BEST THING EVER. I don't know if I would have latched onto it so tightly had it not been for my one awful November weekend, where I couldn't concentrate on anything and so watched this PV over and over and over again for hours at a time. I think as a result of that I will always get a sense of some sort of darkness lurking in the back of this song. I don't know if I would hear it there otherwise or not.
There isn't really an obvious reason that I think this PV is so great. It follows the same basic pattern that all 2005 H!P PVs followed. But MoMusu's "Osaka" followed that pattern too and I love it. Well, I am bored with this paragraph, so let's move on.
My most favourite things about the PV -- The beginning. At first when I downloaded this I only got about the first twenty-five seconds, and already I thought it was fantastic. I think one of the things I love most about this PV, besides its awesome colour scheme, is how they dance in close-up shots, and I don't know why but it looks so incredibly awesome. It's so fun and so cool! I'm not a Momoko fan but she gets the first close-up shot where she is dancing and that is awesome. I think it's like ... you see the group shot where they're dancing, and they go through one set of motions, and then you see Momoko close-up and she goes through the next, and then it goes back to the group and then to Risako, and it keeps the song moving and it separates the movements and I don't know why but it is just so cool, and I adore it. In SweetS' PV for "Love Raspberry Juice" there's a moment where Haruna dances in a close-up shot but it's just not as cool, not as noticeable. Maybe the greatness that is the "Special Generation" video owes part of its success to H!P's special brand of dancing, which is really just an elaborate set of poses awkwardly strung together. I mean, that description sounds awful, and sometimes the dances are too -- but in "Special Generation" the dance and the camera and the cuts all work together and it is brilliant.
Any PV where they make heart shapes with their hands is fine by me! Also, Miyabi is cooler than you. XD!!
I love at the start of the second verse, where it looks like they have to punch the screen open. My favourite part of the song itself is at the end of the second verse, that swell of "dakishimete~~~," the release at "ah!," and then Miyabi's "Hold on my love!" <3 <3 I LOVE how in the beginning of the second chorus how Miyabi walks towards the camera like that, but it's still more of a dance than a walk, and I love how it cuts from her to Momoko and then right back again until that line is finished. So good.
I love all the different motion during the bridge. Mostly I think Yurina is awesome during the bridge. I like how Miyabi and Momoko power up to do their poses at the end, and then everyone joins Yurina in swinging their arms like they're about to blow, and then Miyabi and Momoko turn and pose while everyone behind them keeps going. Okay so my description sucks, but the actual thing? SO COOL.
Also, Miyabi is cooler than you. XD XD XD;;;;;
Morning Musume - "Osaka Koi no Uta"
By the beginning of 2005, my embarrassing MoMusu obsession had come back in full force. It all started with the "The Manpower!!! (Alternate Edition)" PV, which was the first MoMusu PV I had seen since "AS FOR ONE DAY." I feel like such a n00b for saying that my favourite MoMusu singles is one of their most recent, but "Osaka Koi no Uta" is so awesome I can't even tell you. The lyrics are not fantastically originally, but the music is definitely a darker style for MoMusu (I like to think it's sort of on the edge of techno, but I know zilch about musical styles so I could be wrong), and I know I am the only one who thinks this but I think the music video is fantastic fantastic fantastic. Well, that's probably because I've watched it so many times that I've read all these ridiculous themes into it that probably aren't there at all. Well, even if you don't like the PV, maybe all the shininess will distract you and you'll forget you don't like it. Awesome!
My most favourite things about the PV -- I love the shots of the girls standing in black and white against a backdrop of storm clouds, the image going in and out of focus, but most of all I love the way the camera rushes towards Miki and Sayumi matching exactly the first beat of the (synthesized) drum. I get a kick out of the "Ah!"s at the end of every chorus. How Rika bounces back and forth on the line "suki wa suki nan yo" as if to equate the two "suki"s. Asami staring so calmly at the camera, when the song is about a heart-wrenching break-up. Admittedly my favourite part of the song is after the final chorus, when all that's left is background voices with "aa~"s and the endings to lines; I really think that is awesome to the max. But my favouritest favouritest part of the entire PV has got to be how the ending ties back right into the beginning -- a Writing 12 trick we were taught in order to make the story feel whole, like it all belongs together. I love how you get the black and white scenes, then the final "koi no uta" against the rolling storm clouds, and then it's right back to Yossie like in the beginning. The ending of this PV is just. so. good. <3 <3
I loved the song before I saw the PV, but now I have watched it so many times that I can't help but think of the both of them as one.
Another MoMusu song I fell in love with this year is "Dokusenyoku" (I love that it translates to "Desire to Monopolize," the coolest name for a pop song evar), off their otherwise bland sixth album. It was released last year so I'm not going to give it its own space on this little list here, but it is an awesome awesome song and I super embarrassingly wrote its lyrics all over my binder during a boring study break last semester. Whoops.
I have apparently lost my copy of the performance of "Dokusenyoku" from Rika's grad concert. This pretty well makes me want to cry. ;_; My favourite part of that performance is Miki, actually -- a rare thing. I am sort of indifferent to Miki outside of "Boogie Train '03," which rocks my socks (and which Kago destroyed during one of W's concerts -- she honestly does not have the voice for it), but in this "Dokusenyoku" performance she spends half the time dancing like she doesn't care (that's Miki for you I guess) and half the time singing like she is heartbroken (the final cry of "samishii" where her voice almost breaks -- so good), and it is teh awesome. So basically -- who deleted my copy? AND WHY DO YOU DO THINGS THAT YOU KNOW WILL HURT ME???
Rob Thomas - "This is How a Heart Breaks"
I guess this song is sort of an oddball on this list. It is the only one sung primarily by a guy, it is the only one by an artist I don't follow, and it is the only one whose PV I thought sucked eggs. Rob, I'm glad your legs are intact and you are not pushing yourself around on a skateboard.* You don't need to show this off by making us watch four minutes of you running, kthxbye.
I first heard the song on the radio either on the way to or from work. I thought it was weird and I didn't much like it. It seemed like it was trying too hard. But this is what I first thought of David Usher's "Black, Black Heart," and now I think that song is awesome. Well, to be honest I like the music video version of the song better, not the weaker version that got all the airplay. By the second time I heard the song, I was starting to get attached to it. "This is how a heart breaks" -- such a plain thing to say, so detached, like an instruction manual. And yet it's strangely poetic. One of the things I like best about this song is the lyrics. I always feel like I'm just about to understand them, but I never do. (Which is almost comic, seeing as how this is the only English-language song on the list, hur hur hur.) And so the verses are weird like that, sort of on the edge of being twisted ("now won't you do what I told you" reminds me of the lyrics for Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe"), you're not ever quite sure what they mean. And then there are the chorus lyrics -- sort of a mish-mash of pop song convention made to match the tone of the song itself.
"Oh, this is it now / Everybody get down" -- I love that. I love that in the first half he's throwing his hands up, he's giving up on the relationship, and then straight from that he goes into "Backstreet's Back" mode, telling everyone to move. It's such a bizarre contrast. I'm not sure what to make of it but I think it's fantastic.
"Make you stay, while I wait" -- see? I have no idea what this means but it's almost like the first draft of a poem, where you can write whatever comes into your head just because it sounds good, even if the pronouns are mixed around and the verbs aren't what you really mean. But it's okay, because it has such a snappy sound to it that for now you're gonna keep it there and see how it develops.
I love how he sings the song, his voice twisting around the words, going from vulnerable to stylish, making "I" into "hai" and making all his vowels sound so round. But I think my favourite part in terms of the singing is the bridge. It starts of slow, and then he starts to rush it, like there are too many words than will fit. And then back to slow. And then the up-and-down of "all the time," which reminds me of Rika's "suki wa suki nan yo." "Never get / What I want / Never get too close to the end of the line" = <3 <3 <3 And then a swell into the guitar solo, which I adore, even though I usually am completely indifferent to things like that (well, either indifferent or rather frustrated because it's hard to sing along to a guitar solo XD; ).
But I just love the entire song. And I have listened to it so many times and it has yet to get old -- which I suppose could be applied to any of the songs on this list, because otherwise they wouldn't be on this list. I love the start with the drums, I love the quiet start to the music, I love the twisted singing, I love the bizarre lyrics, I love the depth and variety of the music, the strange tone that it comes with, sort of dark but sort of sour, sort of subdued but sort of in-your-face, I love how it builds and builds and then collapses, I love how it inspired me so much for my NaNo 2005 and the only thing I can think of to hate is how bland the music video and all the performances are, because they really do not do the song justice at all.
Another song from 2005 that was fantastic until it was destroyed by its PV and performances -- Def. Diva's "Sukisugite Baka Mitai." The only part of the PV I like is Aya sitting in the corner asking "asa made nemuranai?" Because holy man, it could have been so. much. better. That dance and those costumes were pretty well a joke. And for goodness' sake, Nacchi, STOP SMILING!!!!!
Shakira - "La Tortura"
I am still not quite sure what to think about Shakira's album Fijación Oral. Considering it's been out for half a year, that's probably not a fantastic recommendation. But the first single off the album? Is awesome. When I first heard this song I couldn't stop listening to it. It is very much Shakira, comparable to songs like "Suerte" and "Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango)" in its style, but with a little bit more of a Spanish flair and some modern twists. Definitely very danceable, haha. And bonus! I don't hate the PV! ^_^;;;
My most favourite things about the song -- I really like the lyrics, but for whatever reason one line that I really think is great (other than "no sólo de pan vive el hombre, y no de excusas vivo yo," which is not only a good lyric but which has a really good spot in the song, as an indifferent statement sandwiched between two pleas) is "mejor te guardas todo eso." I don't really have anything to say about that, but I like it. In Shakira's final section of song, where her lyrics run together as if they're part of a rambling monologue, I love the doubling of the voice at "me duele tanto que sea así," I love how the "me" is drawn out and the rest is sung all together. I'm not a huge fan of that part of the song because it means the song is drawing to a close -- how sad that I have to get up and press "back" on my CD player! XD; --, but it's still really fun to sing. XD!
My most favourite things about the PV -- How it is very easy to understand their basic story. Well, it's not the most intricate storyline ever, I suppose, but shut up. Anyway. I really like when he sees her crying, matching the line "ay, amor, me duele tanto," and then you see she's cutting onions. I know I mention this part all the time, but man. I just really hate cutting onions (or dealing with wasabi, but that's another story), and so I can relate. XD;;; I like after the rap, just at the end of the line "yo sé que no he sido un santo," when she does the jump to match the drum. Such a wild sort of dancing! And after that in the close-up shot when she swings her hair all around and all you can see are the whites of her eyes against her skin all painted black. I think one of the reasons I like this video despite all of the fanservice is that not only do you have Shakira doing her usual thing of rolling around on the carpet and sliding across a table, but you also have this darker Shakira, who is untouchable, who doesn't want you. I mean, yes, it's still fanservice, but it almost seems like there's something deeper there too, which is echoed by the ending where she reveals (on the line "sigue llorando pero yo no voy a llorar por ti") that she knows he's watching, she's perhaps known he's been watching the whole time. And then they both smile! I get such a kick out of that and probably without it I wouldn't like this PV half as much. It's like, yes, she's being objectified, but she's okay with it, and she still has a certain power -- like, she's not completely an object, she's still a person, she's still intelligent. And perhaps it's still not right, it's not ideal, but it's a lot better than it could be.
This is sort of interesting to me because I see themes of power running through MoMusu's "Osaka" as well. Of having power, of having to be ready to use it, or of trying to regain it after it's been taken away. Of trying to remain attractive and desireable at the same time as trying to be your own person. And this is interesting to me because two of the themes we're going to be looking at in my Japanese film class this semester are "feminism" and "power." They're not themes I would expect myself to be thinking about, but they seem to keep popping up in whatever I watch.
* lol malcolm
Berryz Koubou - "Special Generation"
I avoided listening to Berryz for the longest time. A mini-MoMusu? How disgusting! But then I realized that I like Aa! (Reina + Miyabi = AN IMPOSSIBLE FORCE OF COOLNESS) (also "First Kiss" is another song I have read way too much into, s'all good), and I liked ZYX (but not their PVs, which are SO VERY FREAKY), so maybe the H!P kids weren't altogether an awful idea. And then I remembered I liked Berryz's "21ji Made no Cinderella," and then I felt dumb, and so I listened to "Nanchuu Koi wo Yatteruu You Know?" and I thought it was so awesome. I listened to "Special Generation" at around the same time but it just didn't grab me in the same way. Sure, I liked it enough (especially the "ai!"s -- haha, I dunno), but it seemed sort of generic. Like, it was hard for me to remember how it went. But then I saw the PVs, again at around the same time, and where "Nanchuu" was boring, "Special Generation" was THE BEST THING EVER. I don't know if I would have latched onto it so tightly had it not been for my one awful November weekend, where I couldn't concentrate on anything and so watched this PV over and over and over again for hours at a time. I think as a result of that I will always get a sense of some sort of darkness lurking in the back of this song. I don't know if I would hear it there otherwise or not.
There isn't really an obvious reason that I think this PV is so great. It follows the same basic pattern that all 2005 H!P PVs followed. But MoMusu's "Osaka" followed that pattern too and I love it. Well, I am bored with this paragraph, so let's move on.
My most favourite things about the PV -- The beginning. At first when I downloaded this I only got about the first twenty-five seconds, and already I thought it was fantastic. I think one of the things I love most about this PV, besides its awesome colour scheme, is how they dance in close-up shots, and I don't know why but it looks so incredibly awesome. It's so fun and so cool! I'm not a Momoko fan but she gets the first close-up shot where she is dancing and that is awesome. I think it's like ... you see the group shot where they're dancing, and they go through one set of motions, and then you see Momoko close-up and she goes through the next, and then it goes back to the group and then to Risako, and it keeps the song moving and it separates the movements and I don't know why but it is just so cool, and I adore it. In SweetS' PV for "Love Raspberry Juice" there's a moment where Haruna dances in a close-up shot but it's just not as cool, not as noticeable. Maybe the greatness that is the "Special Generation" video owes part of its success to H!P's special brand of dancing, which is really just an elaborate set of poses awkwardly strung together. I mean, that description sounds awful, and sometimes the dances are too -- but in "Special Generation" the dance and the camera and the cuts all work together and it is brilliant.
Any PV where they make heart shapes with their hands is fine by me! Also, Miyabi is cooler than you. XD!!
I love at the start of the second verse, where it looks like they have to punch the screen open. My favourite part of the song itself is at the end of the second verse, that swell of "dakishimete~~~," the release at "ah!," and then Miyabi's "Hold on my love!" <3 <3 I LOVE how in the beginning of the second chorus how Miyabi walks towards the camera like that, but it's still more of a dance than a walk, and I love how it cuts from her to Momoko and then right back again until that line is finished. So good.
I love all the different motion during the bridge. Mostly I think Yurina is awesome during the bridge. I like how Miyabi and Momoko power up to do their poses at the end, and then everyone joins Yurina in swinging their arms like they're about to blow, and then Miyabi and Momoko turn and pose while everyone behind them keeps going. Okay so my description sucks, but the actual thing? SO COOL.
Also, Miyabi is cooler than you. XD XD XD;;;;;
Morning Musume - "Osaka Koi no Uta"
By the beginning of 2005, my embarrassing MoMusu obsession had come back in full force. It all started with the "The Manpower!!! (Alternate Edition)" PV, which was the first MoMusu PV I had seen since "AS FOR ONE DAY." I feel like such a n00b for saying that my favourite MoMusu singles is one of their most recent, but "Osaka Koi no Uta" is so awesome I can't even tell you. The lyrics are not fantastically originally, but the music is definitely a darker style for MoMusu (I like to think it's sort of on the edge of techno, but I know zilch about musical styles so I could be wrong), and I know I am the only one who thinks this but I think the music video is fantastic fantastic fantastic. Well, that's probably because I've watched it so many times that I've read all these ridiculous themes into it that probably aren't there at all. Well, even if you don't like the PV, maybe all the shininess will distract you and you'll forget you don't like it. Awesome!
My most favourite things about the PV -- I love the shots of the girls standing in black and white against a backdrop of storm clouds, the image going in and out of focus, but most of all I love the way the camera rushes towards Miki and Sayumi matching exactly the first beat of the (synthesized) drum. I get a kick out of the "Ah!"s at the end of every chorus. How Rika bounces back and forth on the line "suki wa suki nan yo" as if to equate the two "suki"s. Asami staring so calmly at the camera, when the song is about a heart-wrenching break-up. Admittedly my favourite part of the song is after the final chorus, when all that's left is background voices with "aa~"s and the endings to lines; I really think that is awesome to the max. But my favouritest favouritest part of the entire PV has got to be how the ending ties back right into the beginning -- a Writing 12 trick we were taught in order to make the story feel whole, like it all belongs together. I love how you get the black and white scenes, then the final "koi no uta" against the rolling storm clouds, and then it's right back to Yossie like in the beginning. The ending of this PV is just. so. good. <3 <3
I loved the song before I saw the PV, but now I have watched it so many times that I can't help but think of the both of them as one.
Another MoMusu song I fell in love with this year is "Dokusenyoku" (I love that it translates to "Desire to Monopolize," the coolest name for a pop song evar), off their otherwise bland sixth album. It was released last year so I'm not going to give it its own space on this little list here, but it is an awesome awesome song and I super embarrassingly wrote its lyrics all over my binder during a boring study break last semester. Whoops.
I have apparently lost my copy of the performance of "Dokusenyoku" from Rika's grad concert. This pretty well makes me want to cry. ;_; My favourite part of that performance is Miki, actually -- a rare thing. I am sort of indifferent to Miki outside of "Boogie Train '03," which rocks my socks (and which Kago destroyed during one of W's concerts -- she honestly does not have the voice for it), but in this "Dokusenyoku" performance she spends half the time dancing like she doesn't care (that's Miki for you I guess) and half the time singing like she is heartbroken (the final cry of "samishii" where her voice almost breaks -- so good), and it is teh awesome. So basically -- who deleted my copy? AND WHY DO YOU DO THINGS THAT YOU KNOW WILL HURT ME???
Rob Thomas - "This is How a Heart Breaks"
I guess this song is sort of an oddball on this list. It is the only one sung primarily by a guy, it is the only one by an artist I don't follow, and it is the only one whose PV I thought sucked eggs. Rob, I'm glad your legs are intact and you are not pushing yourself around on a skateboard.* You don't need to show this off by making us watch four minutes of you running, kthxbye.
I first heard the song on the radio either on the way to or from work. I thought it was weird and I didn't much like it. It seemed like it was trying too hard. But this is what I first thought of David Usher's "Black, Black Heart," and now I think that song is awesome. Well, to be honest I like the music video version of the song better, not the weaker version that got all the airplay. By the second time I heard the song, I was starting to get attached to it. "This is how a heart breaks" -- such a plain thing to say, so detached, like an instruction manual. And yet it's strangely poetic. One of the things I like best about this song is the lyrics. I always feel like I'm just about to understand them, but I never do. (Which is almost comic, seeing as how this is the only English-language song on the list, hur hur hur.) And so the verses are weird like that, sort of on the edge of being twisted ("now won't you do what I told you" reminds me of the lyrics for Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe"), you're not ever quite sure what they mean. And then there are the chorus lyrics -- sort of a mish-mash of pop song convention made to match the tone of the song itself.
"Oh, this is it now / Everybody get down" -- I love that. I love that in the first half he's throwing his hands up, he's giving up on the relationship, and then straight from that he goes into "Backstreet's Back" mode, telling everyone to move. It's such a bizarre contrast. I'm not sure what to make of it but I think it's fantastic.
"Make you stay, while I wait" -- see? I have no idea what this means but it's almost like the first draft of a poem, where you can write whatever comes into your head just because it sounds good, even if the pronouns are mixed around and the verbs aren't what you really mean. But it's okay, because it has such a snappy sound to it that for now you're gonna keep it there and see how it develops.
I love how he sings the song, his voice twisting around the words, going from vulnerable to stylish, making "I" into "hai" and making all his vowels sound so round. But I think my favourite part in terms of the singing is the bridge. It starts of slow, and then he starts to rush it, like there are too many words than will fit. And then back to slow. And then the up-and-down of "all the time," which reminds me of Rika's "suki wa suki nan yo." "Never get / What I want / Never get too close to the end of the line" = <3 <3 <3 And then a swell into the guitar solo, which I adore, even though I usually am completely indifferent to things like that (well, either indifferent or rather frustrated because it's hard to sing along to a guitar solo XD; ).
But I just love the entire song. And I have listened to it so many times and it has yet to get old -- which I suppose could be applied to any of the songs on this list, because otherwise they wouldn't be on this list. I love the start with the drums, I love the quiet start to the music, I love the twisted singing, I love the bizarre lyrics, I love the depth and variety of the music, the strange tone that it comes with, sort of dark but sort of sour, sort of subdued but sort of in-your-face, I love how it builds and builds and then collapses, I love how it inspired me so much for my NaNo 2005 and the only thing I can think of to hate is how bland the music video and all the performances are, because they really do not do the song justice at all.
Another song from 2005 that was fantastic until it was destroyed by its PV and performances -- Def. Diva's "Sukisugite Baka Mitai." The only part of the PV I like is Aya sitting in the corner asking "asa made nemuranai?" Because holy man, it could have been so. much. better. That dance and those costumes were pretty well a joke. And for goodness' sake, Nacchi, STOP SMILING!!!!!
Shakira - "La Tortura"
I am still not quite sure what to think about Shakira's album Fijación Oral. Considering it's been out for half a year, that's probably not a fantastic recommendation. But the first single off the album? Is awesome. When I first heard this song I couldn't stop listening to it. It is very much Shakira, comparable to songs like "Suerte" and "Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango)" in its style, but with a little bit more of a Spanish flair and some modern twists. Definitely very danceable, haha. And bonus! I don't hate the PV! ^_^;;;
My most favourite things about the song -- I really like the lyrics, but for whatever reason one line that I really think is great (other than "no sólo de pan vive el hombre, y no de excusas vivo yo," which is not only a good lyric but which has a really good spot in the song, as an indifferent statement sandwiched between two pleas) is "mejor te guardas todo eso." I don't really have anything to say about that, but I like it. In Shakira's final section of song, where her lyrics run together as if they're part of a rambling monologue, I love the doubling of the voice at "me duele tanto que sea así," I love how the "me" is drawn out and the rest is sung all together. I'm not a huge fan of that part of the song because it means the song is drawing to a close -- how sad that I have to get up and press "back" on my CD player! XD; --, but it's still really fun to sing. XD!
My most favourite things about the PV -- How it is very easy to understand their basic story. Well, it's not the most intricate storyline ever, I suppose, but shut up. Anyway. I really like when he sees her crying, matching the line "ay, amor, me duele tanto," and then you see she's cutting onions. I know I mention this part all the time, but man. I just really hate cutting onions (or dealing with wasabi, but that's another story), and so I can relate. XD;;; I like after the rap, just at the end of the line "yo sé que no he sido un santo," when she does the jump to match the drum. Such a wild sort of dancing! And after that in the close-up shot when she swings her hair all around and all you can see are the whites of her eyes against her skin all painted black. I think one of the reasons I like this video despite all of the fanservice is that not only do you have Shakira doing her usual thing of rolling around on the carpet and sliding across a table, but you also have this darker Shakira, who is untouchable, who doesn't want you. I mean, yes, it's still fanservice, but it almost seems like there's something deeper there too, which is echoed by the ending where she reveals (on the line "sigue llorando pero yo no voy a llorar por ti") that she knows he's watching, she's perhaps known he's been watching the whole time. And then they both smile! I get such a kick out of that and probably without it I wouldn't like this PV half as much. It's like, yes, she's being objectified, but she's okay with it, and she still has a certain power -- like, she's not completely an object, she's still a person, she's still intelligent. And perhaps it's still not right, it's not ideal, but it's a lot better than it could be.
This is sort of interesting to me because I see themes of power running through MoMusu's "Osaka" as well. Of having power, of having to be ready to use it, or of trying to regain it after it's been taken away. Of trying to remain attractive and desireable at the same time as trying to be your own person. And this is interesting to me because two of the themes we're going to be looking at in my Japanese film class this semester are "feminism" and "power." They're not themes I would expect myself to be thinking about, but they seem to keep popping up in whatever I watch.
* lol malcolm
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-07 06:50 am (UTC)osaka koi no uta is kind of great because what, the osaka lover's song? xD the pv however, is just as disturbing because of their get-up. the only momusu girl i will ever midly like is that really pretty one who dated gackt on a tv show. i think her name started with "ai"?
also, i do love those rob thomas and shakira songs. :D do you happen to want to teach me spanish, by the way? PUSHING MY LUCK HERE, EVIDENTLY. still. i'm dying to know some of the basics and to form some simple sentences would you would you would you? :D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-13 09:26 am (UTC)Oh I am an awful LJer!!!!! *weep*
¡hola!
Date: 2006-01-20 08:06 am (UTC)I don't think the Berryz have fantastically big heads. ^^;; But even if they do, it is okay, they are still growing! Miyabi only recently grew into her chin, for example ...
"Osaka Koi no Uta" = 大阪 恋の歌 = "Osaka Love Song." Well, I don't know if you can call it "Osaka Love Song" since there's no "no." Like, shouldn't it be "Osaka no Koi no Uta"? But I don't know. I call it "Osaka Love Song" whether or not it's right. XD;;;
Ai Kago is the one who did the date with Gackt on PopJam. She's not in MoMusu anymore, though, she graduated in August '04 and she and Nozomi Tsuji started their little duo, called W (Double You). She's cute, for sure, but she kind of frightens me a little, just because sometimes she's so nice and adorable and other times she's going around punching people or making horrible fun of them, and no one gets mad at her for it because she's so cute. Also, the older she gets the younger she looks, which weirds me out. XD;;;;
Re: Spanish. I will be super glad to help you, but I wouldn't count on me to be your main source of information, perhaps. :X Well, let me reccommend this site (http://www.studyspanish.com/), which has vocab drills and grammar drills and all that ... admittedly it's kind of hardcore and might not be quite what you're looking for. There's also this site (http://spanish.about.com) which has more in the way of sound files, if you can dig around and find them ... Hmm. Well, what do you want to learn first?
Here is a mini-mini-mini-lesson, although I have neglected the pronunciation and other important stuff. ^^;;
Me llamo Sam. = "I call myself Sam." (a better translation being "My name is Sam.")
¿Cómo te llamas? = "What do you call yourself?" (= "What is your name?"), informal
WE LOVE SPANISH! XD! XD! XD!!!