ikenai hodo

[arisha]

New excerpt which I have written just now in the past five minutes, but I must warn you it is less than fantastic. I am woefully behind. It is kind of exciting.

I have decided perhaps that one of the novel's themes perhaps is (involuntary?) corruption, and I would never want to be friends with any of these characters in real life, ever. Unlike my current novel project, where I think it would be hilarious to hang out with everyone. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I have actually been able to stick with this novel for going on three years now. (I hate admitting I have been working on this one novel for so long because I have mad woman friends who I'm sure churn out twenty-five novels each per year.)

Anyway, yay NaNo, boo PACI which I don't want to go to at all. Haha, I have spent like half of today sitting here in the school computer lab reading MoMusu forums. I am absolutely convinced that one day this is going to get me into trouble. I don't think it's a brilliant move to look at pictures of underaged Berryz Koubou (their 2007 calendar pwns MoMusu's, how distressing) in a place where people can see what you're doing. Ahaha, I'll have to come up with a clever excuse. "But I'm writing an essay on rorikon, you don't understand!"

Comments

[teru-teru-bouzu.livejournal.com]

I've found out some interesting facts about you Sarah ~

I'm shocked you look at those pics in school ~ LOL
How's ur essay on rorikon going? LOL

Morning Musume scares me with their super cuteness/ and sometimes rather stupidness

but I'm sure that's how many people feel towards Johnny's
I thought the guy who thought of MM was going to do one with a male group?
My friends and I joked it was going to be called Morning Musuko ~ What happen to that rumour? I guess it never panned out eh ~

How's ur Japanese presentation? I don't know what to do? I'm a BIG HUGE PIECE OF BLANK SLATE. SIGH _ㄇ○

[arisha.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I was wondering when you were going to comment on MoMusu! XD Maybe one day you'll find me in the computer lab and you'll catch me looking at this stuff, hahaha!!

How's ur essay on rorikon going?
Hahahaha, I know you're jealous! XD XD

What do you mean by MoMusu's "stupidness"? Do you mean on TV or more in their music? I'm curious to find out what people think of MoMusu even if they don't like them that much. I have a bunch of friends who I've forced to watch MoMusu videos and yeah, their reaction is usually "WHAT THE HECK AM I WATCHING??" XD

Johnny's to me seems kind of similar to Hello! Project, although you're allowed to correct me if I'm wrong. Just that they have all those groups of all one gender and so I imagine there must be a lot of history to it all and a lot of good songs and interesting dances and infamous clips and in-jokes shared by fans. I think it's interesting that both Johnny's and H!P exist. And maybe it's just an accident of fate that I'm all interested in H!P and not in Johnny's? Because I kind of feel like I could be if introduced to it properly. (Though to be honest, I've always been drawn to songs sung by women more than songs sung by men, I don't know why.) Like I told you, I have KAT-TUN's best CD, but I still haven't even taken the plastic off ... I keep forgetting I have it ... ^^;;;;;;

Yeah, I definitely heard that rumour too, about "Morning Musuko," haha. I remember reading a whole thread about it and it seemed like it was more than rumour ... but I don't remember what happened to it. Was there auditions? I don't even remember. H!P likes to audition people and then ignore them for years before letting them debut. I had totally forgotten about that story until you reminded me, haha. Yeah, I wonder what happened to that ...

Ugh, my Japanese presentation. I think I'll be okay writing it, I think there'll be enough stuff for me to write about, but I don't know if it's going to be what she wants. I don't even know WHAT she wants anymore. I have a book from the library that's going to be a lot of help, it's about Tokyo Disneyland but it's also about how people think it's an American intrusion into Japan. I haven't read the book yet though, haha ... oh gosh. I don't know what to do. You're doing Studio Ghibli, right? You could talk about whether you think the English dubs are good or bad. That's cultural! :D

hahahaha, sorry for the long comment!!

[teru-teru-bouzu.livejournal.com]

I think I will catch you one of these days ~ LOL

I actually I have never heard their music ~ I've heard bits and pieces of it on performance ~ but I've never liked it, cause their well ultra cutisness has freaked me out and I also end up skipping their parts.
Oh ~ Well that "stupidness" kinda feeling comes from when I see them answer questions when asked. Sometimes they answer wierdly ~ When people ask them ~ They give me and my friends the asian version of the sterotypical blond bimbo, boke-ness if that's even a word. LOL

There was one when three girls were on Love Love Aishteru and I went -.-; when I heard their answers. Ayaya used to freak me out with her cutsyness but she no longer acts all that cute as much anymore.

Well I think Johnny's is the male version of the Hello! Project. But JE has become infested with little chibi Jrs ~ It's kinda gives you a feel that we're pedophiles cause these kids are like 12, and if you flip through the magazines it's filled with little kids as they have started not posting pics of the idols who are past 30 ~ like 20th Century is no longer in these magaziens only Coming Cen is.

For me ~ It depends ~ I listen to songs sung by females and some of them have great music like Ito Yuna, Hikki, Namie (although I've found her music recently really American popish). Someone sent me Koda Kumi's MM audition. I can never imagine her all cutsy and stuff. LOL ~ But I guess it was a good thing she never got into MM or else she'd never be as popular as she is now.

Yeah but we have to do a presentation right? What kind of presentation are we talking about????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

part 1

[arisha.livejournal.com]

Not all of MoMusu's music is cutesy, although you do kind of have to dig to find the more serious stuff. If you're at all interested to hear a song of theirs that isn't cutesy, I found a couple of their more serious PVs on YouTube. I mean, I'm not ordering you to watch these or anything, haha, but they're there if you're curious. And if you think there are some Johnny's PVs that I just HAVE to see, then please let me know which ones! I don't think I've actually even seen a PV by any of them ... well, unless you count Shingo Mama. XD Though I have heard some stuff by V6 and some stuff by SMAP, including their "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" over and over and over again ... (I have a friend who for a whole semester was OBSESSED with that song, hahaha.)

I once saw a peformance by SMAP and MoMusu together that was a medley of MoMusu songs. It was cute but nothing special. I actually don't think I really like listening to medleys ... hahaha!

Anyway, serious MoMusu PVs!
1998: Memory青春の光 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ-gZTTeVgE) (maybe this song doesn't count; it's from before they went all cutesy in the first place)
2002: Do it! Now (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLn7tjMp1WY)
2003: AS FOR ONE DAY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44LmbSvOzjQ)
2004: 浪漫 ~My Dear Boy~ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMgDcb4U80g)
2005: 大阪 恋の歌 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy7kyNX3jIw)

(Hahaha, I've sung two of those songs at karaoke ...)

Of course, even if you like those songs I don't think it'll turn you into a full-blown H!P fan or anything. You'd need to be able to stand a fair bit of cutsiness for that. ;)

It's true that various MoMusu members often act like real girly girls, or are terrible at trivia questions. There's a show, I think it's called Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!, and in early 2003 (I think) they did a MoMusu episode where they gave the girls exams that were of an early high school sort of level, and not a lot of them did that well. A couple of the graduated members did drop out of school entirely in order to become an idol. Once I saw an entire thread that was about all the dumb mistakes MoMusu have made about things they should know - Risa saying the capital of China is "Chan Pon Chan," Yuko drawing a map upsidedown, Kago and Tsuji unable to complete simple proverbs or write proper kanji. So yeah, I can't defend them and say they are the most brilliant students in the world. But at the same time, I dunno ... should it make me think less of them? Because it really doesn't. I think with American celebrities I'm much more bothered by ignorance of everyday matters (eg. Paris Hilton claiming not to know what a paycheque is or what she should do with it). Maybe the lack of knowledge displayed by some Japanese celebrities bothers me less because it's farther away, and so it seems less like reality? Or maybe it's like: an American celebrity unable to tell the difference between "your" and "you're," that bothers me because it's something I see every day and it's pathetic! But when someone fails to remember how to write the kanji for "tsubasa," man, I can relate!

It's interesting that you mention liking Ayaya a bit better after she let go (for the most part) of her cutesy image, because a thing there's a fair portion of H!P fans who liked her better before and miss her wacky antics now she's toned them down a bit. (I'm the same with Rika; once she graduated from MoMusu she started acting more normal and it bores me. :( ) Well, also the fact that she's been releasing ballads for the past two years, ugh, what happened to her fun songs? :P

Haha, I thought it was just H!P that was recruiting pre-teens! The last concert I watched, the youngest singing member was ten years old. It's kind of weird, but at the same time I think H!P realizes this and is trying to counteract it by giving the younger groups the best songs and the more expensive PVs ...

Re: part 1

[teru-teru-bouzu.livejournal.com]

HOLY S*** it's long ~ that's answer one by one.

But I know that being cutsy really does fulfill the fantasy's of many people.

Just like JE PVs have to be you know HOT/SEXY guys and or little young kids trying to act all HOT and SEXY which I find it very very very WRONG!!!!!

I was watching Sarujie ~ where they were testing the age of your brain. One of the girls from MM had a brain age of like 68 and she was only 16/17.

But I think JE has done some really ummmmmmm interesting Interviews so yeah it just really doesn't fall on MM ~ and well I guess i'm just being bias. LOL

part 2

[arisha.livejournal.com]

I guess one difference between H!P and JE is that H!P only really has one member who is over thirty (that being Nakazawa Yuko, you might know her from the first Gokusen ^_~ ). But she barely even gets to release anything anymore. I think H!P started as a collective with members that were the average ages, for a J-pop group, but since 2002 they have started getting younger and younger. MoMusu now, I think the cut-off ages for auditions is twenty-two or something like that, I'm sure it used to be older.

I like Hikki a lot, although whenever she puts out a new song I have to listen to it over and over and over until I'm used to it enough that I can like it, haha. I do like a couple songs of Namie's, I haven't heard that many. Admittedly I really am unable to tell whether a song sounds more Western pop or more J-pop, unless it has, like, traditional instruments in it or something. I'm really bad with telling genres apart, or so it seems to me. ^^; Yeah, I saw Koda Kumi's audition, too! I wonder what would have happened if she had joined MoMusu? I don't even think she'd be happy there. I remember her talking about how she wouldn't be happy in the back, she'd want to be right up in the front singing all the lines. She would definitely be a lot different if she had joined and stayed with MoMusu. But I imagine she would have dropped out and run off to avex anyway, hahaha. Or what if she had gotten into MoMusu and Maki (who did get into MoMusu at that audition) was picked up by avex? Man, that would be a strange alternate universe, hahahahahaha ...

What do you think of Hamasaki Ayumi? I like a lot of her stuff but I'm always really slow when it comes to listening to her new releases, haha.

Yeah, I know I like really girly music, hehe. :) <3

Yes! The presentation! All I know is that it is to be five minutes long. I'm not even joking, that's all I know about it, and I only know that because leaf_green told me this morning. I don't recall sensei going over this presentation at all and it is really frustrating. I expect I'll just read a rough draft of my paper, and maybe pass around some pictures to distract everyone from what a junk presentation I am doing. Good idea?

Siiiiigh ...

(Man, this is the first time I've written a comment so long it had to be split into two. You got me talking about MoMusu and when I get talking about MoMusu I write books. For realz.)

Re: part 2

[teru-teru-bouzu.livejournal.com]

On to part 2. LOL

Actually I've heard Nakazawa Yuko's one song ~ It wasn't too bad ~ a friend told me it wasn't a cutsy super girly song. So she sent it to me. (BTW: Apprently she was dating Sakamoto Masayuki from V6 ~ and were rumoured to be getting married but I guess that rumour never panned out eh. LOL)

I liked Ayumi's older stuff but recently i've started to like HEAVEN.

Oh yeah the presentation i asked sensei is between 3-5 min and you just basically talked about why you choose. How you will do the presentation and whether you got any resltus from your "experiment"

part 3!

[arisha.livejournal.com]

I forgot the question I was going to ask!

You say that MoMusu comes off in interviews as looking really airheaded and not so smart. Would you say that the boys of JE fare better? Do they come off looking more intelligent than MoMusu? I've seen a couple clips from Utaban of JE groups (and Gackt, of course), and I've seen L'Arc~en~Ciel (I know they're not a JE group but I feel I have to mention) on Matthew's Best Hit TV, but I think on those two shows, most everyone comes off looking like a fool ... XD

Re: part 3!

[teru-teru-bouzu.livejournal.com]

I've actually never seen a whole episode of Matthew's Best Hit. I've only seen clips of it when he tried to CLOMP Tsubasa. And has seen one where they were doing a fortune telling of Aiba Masaki.

Well I know that Koichi acts really dumb and baka on Shin Domoto Kyodai ~ But I think one part of it is he's acting but I know apparently Koichi is really "Tenin Boke”

Than again many people act all dumb and food cause it makes the fans happy to see their fav idol's acting all silly and stuff right. FAN SA-BISU. LOL

Music rambling

[the-wykydtron.livejournal.com]

Sarah, it's okay! You're not male, you're allowed to look at pictures of scantily-clad underage asian girls!

(I feel slightly out of place commenting here, because I quite frankly have no idea what half these sentences are about, BUT I SHALL FORGE ONWARDS. Also Marcus is German, not Japanese, but WHATEVA.)

If I had looked at MoMusu before listening to them, I don't think I ever would have anticipated liking them in the least. I've seen a few interviews - mostly with you and Julie - and while I enjoy their music, sometimes they come across as ... well, silly little girls. I like listening to their music when I'm in a certain mood, but sometimes reading translations of their interviews annoys me, because I'm like, "*I* could have said that! You're no divinely-inspired artist, you can't even sing! You don't play your instuments! Get off the stage!" But that's only in my most abusive moods (and I feel like that about some of my lesser metalheads: you're just idiots with guitars, there's no substance in your lyrics, please stop sucking already).

As far as Japanese music goes (and I am generalizing horribly here) from the stuff I've heard I'd have to say that I enjoy male music more. With the notable exception of Gackt, because his voice is strange and he himself is simply nuts, I find that I can't listen to male music consistently. Like, with Arc-en-Ciel or Asian Kung-Fu Generation, I can only listen to three or four of their songs, because I find that their styles are dull and their VOICES are frustrating and mundane. (I suppose Aucifer and Orange Range are exceptions as well, but even then I only have about eight songs from each).

I DON'T HAVE TO DO A PRESENTATION. I WIN THE WORLD.

part 1

[arisha.livejournal.com]

They weren't even scantily clad! You punk!!

Actually, haha, I was going to be all "Question: is it less creepy that I am a girl who looks at Berryz pictures instead of a man who looks at Berryz pictures?" but then I was like, uhm, maybe this post sounds pervy enough already. HAHA NO I'M NOT A PERVE I just think this stuff is interesting!!! XD XD XD;;;

I love how I never think you listen to/read about MoMusu of your own accord, and then you're always like, "Oh, I was reading this translation the other day ..." Ahahahaha, eeeeeeexcellent. XD

Obviously I am well aware that, for the most part, MoMusu can't read music and don't play music and don't write music and don't write lyrics. (I say "for the most part" because Kei and Ai can read music and Nacchi writes poetry - oh sorry, did I say "write"? I meant "plagiarize.") (And also there has been speculation that Ayaya has written some of her own lyrics, but that makes me say what the heck? Just like the speculations that she's older than she says she is. I have no idea where people get the idea to say some of these things. They were trying to analyze, like, the verbs in one of her songs to see if she wrote it ... well whatever!!) And obviously I am aware that it is rare to see a H!P artist performing with a live band and if you pay close enough attention you can sometimes catch them lipsynching at their own concerts. And they don't always choose their own outfits, they don't come up with the ideas for their music videos, etc. etc. etc. But I dunno, this doesn't even bother me. I know it bothers a lot of people but it doesn't bother me and I think it's ridiculous to let things like that get in the way of your being a fan of the music, if you like the music itself enough to be a fan.

To be quite honest, I think it bothers me more to hear a junky song with stupid lyrics that was written by the band that performs it than to hear a good song with interesting lyrics whose creation the singer had nothing to do with.

I mean, in an alternate universe where I am a famous pop singer, I do think I would want more creative control. But if the pop idols who are out there are okay with the control they're allowed, I think that's just fine and it doesn't bug me when I listen to their stuff.

But having said that, if I do come across an artist I like, and if they do write their own music and/or lyrics, I think I have a bit more respect for that person. Which is weird, because I don't think I have any less respect for the average pop idol who creates nothing. But with Utada Hikaru, who writes all her own stuff, and with Hamasaki Ayumi, who has always written all her lyrics and has in recent years composed plenty of songs, and with Sakamoto Maaya*, whose lyrics are so excellent I don't even care that she doesn't write the music, I think I have more of a feeling of, oh, that's the kind of person I want to be. But at the very same time, it's not like I would turn down the chance to be your typical pop idol, I think that has the potential to be awesome in its own way. Haha, oh goodness, look at this dichotomy within me! Hahaha.

*Voice of Esca's Hitomi, if you don't recognize the name. :) She has this song called "Alkaloid" and the music itself is not amazing amazing or anything but I love the song because the lyrics are so fantastic. It's your typical pop idol love song but that the boy the girl is in love with is a total smoker. The last line is "Exhale love from your black lungs." Ahhhhh, I think I just love that she even went there.

Am I reading your penultimate paragraph right? When I read it the first time I was expecting something more, I think. Like, "I enjoy male music more ... I can't listen to male music consistently ... BUT I say I prefer male music more because of this and this and this." And hahaha, I love that you still call them Aucifer. I thought we had agreed it was Lucifer? Had we not? Is that your pet name for them? XD (Don't hit me!!)

Re: part 1

[the-wykydtron.livejournal.com]

It's pronounced Lucifer, and spelled Aucifer ("A" without the bracket, but my computer doesn't have one of those, tongue). I know because I wikipedia'd it.

Re: part 1

[the-wykydtron.livejournal.com]

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<<When I read it the first time I was expecting something more, I think>>

Okay, Miss Picky! I shall give you a better analysis after Saturday is finished!

part 2

[arisha.livejournal.com]

I have always preferred music with female voices. And I have no idea why that preference would exist. But I can remember as a very young elementary schooler, sitting by the radio in the family room, counting how many songs by male singers they played vs. how many songs by female singers they played. I have no idea why I did this except I knew I preferred songs sung by women. And in books or movies I think I usually am more easily drawn to the female characters than to the male characters. But it's not like I can think of any good reason for this. When I was younger I wanted to be a princess ... ? But most little girls want that and they grow up to love their boy bands, so I dunno. :P :P :P :P

I mean, once I find a song that I like that's sung by a man, I'll like it just as much as I like any other of my favourite songs. But it takes more convincing for me to get to like it. (If I may be so bold, athena_crikey seems perhaps to be the opposite - just because whenever we do song exchanges, she always sends me songs sung by men, and I always send her songs sung by women. ;) )

YOU HAVE TO DO A PRESENTATION. I WENT TO WEBREG AND SWITCHED ME FOR YOU SO NOW YOU ARE IN MY JAPANESE CLASS. BETTER GET TO WORK, YOU PUNK!!!!!


(Here is the second time my comment was so long I had to split it. Muktaar icon FTW!)