I love this XD

Good news first, then not so good news...

First off, I really want to congratulate saa_ai on getting hired!!!!!!!! AWESOME JOB GIRL!! I knew you'd get it =D!


Another day of depression about medical school. Was depressed yesterday too, but I felt better after doing my oral presentation for case-based learning seminar. I don't know....maybe I'm just tired of academia (this probably already started when I was a junior and I didn't really acknowledge it...)? I get depressed whenever I get home and then I don't want to study...and then I fall further behind....which makes me more depressed. Today I spent time looking at English tutoring jobs in Asia and the Reach to Teach program in Taiwan seemed to have a lot of good reviews. I just want to get out of my current lifestyle somehow :/. There's just too much pressure to get good grades and be involved/do research/publish papers in order to get into the competitive residency programs like dermatology (avg publications/presentations is like 7 for each applicant =.=).

I'm not dropping out of medical school...yet. I will wait and see how this semester goes. I do realize that if I do drop out of med school, that will close a HUGE door for me. Not to mention the shitload of debt that I'll have to pay off.

Wah, I'm just whining....but I really need to let it out. I just want to die sometimes.

SO Much better than U Chinese version!

oh~oh~ my love, my love, my love~~~

I wish there more scenes of them in dancing without the suits. And LOL Dong Hae and his aviator sunglasses XD

And dammit I lost my mp3 cord at the library so I can't charge the batteries or add new songs to my mp3 player T__T

I realized I miss the days of crazed fangirling.

I was looking through my old entries yesterday looking for a picture of shirtless Jaejoong from a HiYaYa MV photoshoot and I realized how FUN it was to just rant with other gals on the internet about these celebrities. Unfortunately, it seems the crowd I used to proverbially "hang out" with has moved on with their lives/gotten to busy/lost interest in the fandom, myself included. I still love these male groups with questionable singing/dancing talent, but I've just been too busy to keep up. Not only that, but the groups that I've been into, particularly DBSK, have lost that sweet innocent sparkle from their earlier days, I feel. Even sweet little Kim Jeong Hoon from Goong is going to the army T____T.

I miss writing like this http://imolestjyanniz.livejournal.com/21771.html :(.

So it's not really the fandom that has changed, because there will always be new ones for new upcoming groups like Shinee, 2pm, Big Bang, HeySay, etc., I feel that both myself and the idols I have adored both have grown up and moved on. I can't keep up with the new songs and everyone's LJs (I'm not even sure if anyone on my f-list still fangirls)

There are so many people on my friends list that I miss, although I have also been MIA for quite a long time. Particularly, marcasitevah, emi_no_nasime, nicky87, pulang_tala, sappherine, sers_sers,shokizuki,starry_, garasu_dama and many more.


If any of you still fangirl at your LJ, please leave a comment and let me know you're alive XD!

So I've just survived my second week of medical school.

And to be quite honest, almost every single day, although with varying degrees of intensity, I have thought to myself, "what have I gotten myself into, this is not what I want to do with my life." I got into the medical profession in hopes of traveling around and "saving the world," but it seems more and more that once graduating from medical school, I would have to "settle" down in order to pay off my $160,000 worth of debt (probably more than that, I'm just too scared to actually see how much I've had to take out in loans this semester alone). And once you settle down at hospital, I feel like you would HAVE to be stuck where you are because you already start having established patients that you can't just leave. Basically, I feel like I'm forced to work in the US because this is simply where the job opportunities are and I don't even know if I can even practice outside of the US because I was educated here with a US medical degree.

It's worse because I feel like I can't quit school because of the debt I have already accumulated, which is probably around $23,000 (14,000 in school fees, 9000 for living expenses...hopefully I won't have to use all that up), and the fact that I've screwed myself over by limited myself by having a near worthless major for the job market (Japanese major...).

It's not even a matter of making friends, which I was struggling with for the first week. I have at least one person I can talk to and sit by during class and another girl who is sort of between her M1 and M2 years and was really sweet and offered to help me with stuff.

Although it's gotten better everyday, the thought "I want to quit medical school. WHY am I here" still passes through my head. EVERYDAY. But on the other hand, I can't think of any other job that I would rather do other than becoming some Asian music celebrity XD (yeah, like THAT's going to happen :P). Or opening a chocolate shop/maid cafe, I would TOTALLY be up for that (I'm not even kidding. I would have SO much fun with that...if any of you business-savvy people are interested in entrepreneurship stuff, let me know XD). I try to tell myself, "it's only 2 years of studying, it will get better when I do clinical rotations." But what if it doesn't? I will have wasted so much money and time just to be miserable for at least 7 years of my life.

And I feel worse because I know I'm lucky to be in the position I'm in, being accepted to medical school and all, and I feel like I'm betraying everyone who has supported me in getting into medical school (this is why I'm posting here rather than my real life journal. Only saa_ai will be able to read this I guess, but I've already whined a ton to her, so she kinda knows how I feel XD).

I probably won't end up quitting medical school because I don't think I have to courage to do it and I have so little knowledge of the "real world." I'm just so sick of academia and the couple of uninspiring physicians I've met here.

Do you know what song is being sung starting at 2:54? Apparently it's a DBSK song, but I've never heard of it before.



(If you watch the whole video, btw, you can listen to some ridiculously awful karaoke by nerds lol XD)


I wanted update with something more interesting, but the journal entry I wrote got screwed up and I'm too lazy to fix it :P. Also dealing with a lot of stress right now, and so I've been really depressed for the last two weeks.

I'm liking Rain is Falling a lot more, but Hybrid Dream PV is very nice to watch. Again, SO happy they're done doing the ballad/adult contemporary type songs.


w-inds. -- Hybrid Dream PV



Speaking of w-inds. I LOVE this clip of Ryuichi bullying this little kid. Especially when the kid was like "uaauaa mou ii no!" (wah, that's enough already!). Even though I'm usually on and off about their music, w-inds. is the only group where I feel "ah these guys are really nice genuine people in real life." Whenever they interact with each other on TV, it never feels forced or exaggerated like with Johnnys.





obscurefruit posted this clip of a Taiwanese duo, by2 or something (yeah I don't know who they are either), which I found amusing for some reason. obscurefruit mentioned them giving off Golf and Mike vibes, which I completely agree with. And is it just me, or do they look really Korean??? I think they both must have had plastic surgery. Anyway, they're both super cute nonetheless. Oh yeah! Their one shoe white, one shoe black thing is frickin' awesome.



Also I think TOP from Big Bang is extremely attractive. I think it's because he looks like love child of Spock from Star Trek + a vampire (no, I do not like Twilight, I just have really strange tastes).

( a couple of Big Bang booze photoshoot pics )

Yes? Yes? New w-inds. single release is quite similar to their Can't Get Back song from their last double A-side. Which is such a relief, because Everyday (I don't think I listened to this song all the way through), Ame Ato, and Beautiful Life were boring as hell. It's stuff that 30+ year old artists would sing, not kids in their early 20s.

Anyway, new single features G-Dragon from Big Bang who also appears in the PV. I'm not sure how I feel about it since Ryo and Ryu already get no lines as it is, and the only times they actually got lines in the past were through the rap sections (which pretty much disappeared after Yume no Basho e). The 2nd A-side is HYBRID DREAM.


Rain is Fallin' PV


MAJOR *HEARTS* for the dancing in the RiF PV!!!!!!!!!!


EDIT: One thing I wondered, though, was if they ran out of money doing all those special effects. Because the last minute or so is just one camera angle, one take lol.




Model-turned-singer Kuroki Meisa debuts (again) with mini-album Hellcat. Actually she appeared in Koichi's SHOCK musical some years ago as the lead actress and I didn't realize it until recently when I was rewatching parts of SHOCK. I remember her Japanese pronunciation to really strange, so I kind of wonder if she's bilingual? Although from this album I want to say "no" 'cus she sounds completely like a Asian speaking English. It's also kind of weird seeing her so tan on the covers because she's so SO white in the SHOCK musical.

Overall I thought the album was pretty bland Pop R&B. Very boring (although I could use it as study music). It's like Britney Spears' Blackout album, only far less catchy. And it's very obvious she can't sing even after all the computer effects. But at least she's pretty so there are probably some nice PVs out there now that I should check out.

So I came across a transcript of the MC portion of one of NEWS's concerts from "Winter Party Diamond" tour when I was googling who 'Kojima Yoshio' was, and was oh so very amused and disturbed by the contents.

Full transcript by lilprox at this post. I'm just highlighting the part that amused me the most, but please check out the original post.

Shige: ...today, when I was eating abura-age (fried bean curd), there’s your abura-age in front of my eyes, I mean your ‘frank and beans’. (T/N: In the Japanese text, Shige directly said “chinchin” and “balls”, but I substituted ‘frank and beans’ instead.)In the shower room too, Tegoshi danced to me like “wow wow wow wow” (“Love Revolution” Morning-Musume), and his privates shook as well. “wow wow wow wow”

(Audience screamed “Kya~~~~~!!!”)

Koyama: What do you guys “Kya~~~!!!” about!?

Shige: Then Tegoshi disappeared to go to the bathroom, and I started feeling that I didn’t want to lose to him, so I waited for him as I stood straight like a naked king. But somehow Massu came in. He took a look at me and said “Oh, sorry”, then he just closed the door.

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AHAHAHAHAHAHA POOR MASSU

I don't blame him for being the loner in NEWS.

I'm totally loving this song~. I kind of wish they featured the girls more since it's supposed to be their big break, but the song is so addictive!! (BTW, what in the world is "F-E-R-S-K" ? Or am I hearing it wrong?)



I am also loving the ghei ghei disco dancing in NEWS "Koi no ABO" PV previews! If only they had ugly granny costumes to go with it, I would be SO in love right now. I'm type "O" so I guess that means I'm a "romanticism leader"? lol. Oh but Yamapi, please get rid of you Akanishi-esque hairdo....it's gross.

Just did major updating (and by major, I mean copying pre-made layout codes made by other fans and deleting stuff from my profile page) to my LJ. Now featuring...Massu! Hopefully, I'll be more active now that I'm graduating and taking this semester super easy! Although I tend to say that and then not update regularly anyway...

So, mainly because saa_ai mentioned a NEWS clip in one of her comment replies, I decided to rewatch SUMMARY DVD (yeah, circa 2003 or something). Actually, I was originally going to watch SHOCK (this is Domoto Koichi from KinKi Kids' annual musical for you younger fans) to see Tsubasa do his apron dance, but my one of my DVDS HAS MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED!!!! D= D= D=. That set cost me $80 (damn you Koichi), so I kind of really want that DVD....Well, since I couldn't watch SHOCK, I watched SUMMARY instead.....and OMG I forgot how RIDICULOUSLY LAME AWESOME GHEI IT IS!! Anorexic boys in semi-drag/tranny gear....uhhh, WIN. Seriously, one of the best things Japan has ever invented (made?). As a consequence, I am once again inevitably been sucked down the ruffly sequined black hole of doom that is Johnnys after quitting fandom 3 years ago.

Darn.

but it feels oh so good

It doesn't seem like message boards are so popular now for fandom compared to when I used to be online, although I've only been back to a-baka (Absolute Baka) which is absolutely dead now.

So I've spent the past week or so catching up on everything NEWS related because KK doesn't really release anything interesting these days and T&T doesn't release anything period (poor Tsubasa T__T...). So far I've listened to Pacific and color and watched their Never Ending Wonderful Story (f'ing long name...I'm just going to call it "Story" from now on) and the performance part of Pacific Tokyo Dome concert DVDs. I may or may not make an screen cap commentary on them in the future :P. My comments so far are:

1. Yamapi -- eh, still don't care for him now that the "Nobuta effect" has long since worn off
2. Ryo -- this is going to sound totally lame, but I really didn't like Ryo at all way back when. But after hearing him say "Itadakimambos!" in Story DVD, I think he's pretty awesome. That's seriously all it took for me to like him.
3. Koyama -- he hasn't changed to much, so no comment. Oh but his "sexy" solo performance of Private Hearts in the Pacific DVD seriously made me uncomfortable. Sorry Kei fans. I love him too, but only when he's dorking it out with Shige.
4. Shige -- Honestly not such a big fan of him now because he now has real fans and no longer needs my pity vote. But Koyashige interaction is complete WIN and his solos aren't too bad if you ignore the fact that he overacts them (in a pretty dorky awkward way which is strangely endearing).
5. Tegoshi -- He's turned into a slut. That's really all I have to say. But I still love him in a dirty obaasan type of way.
6. Massu -- ^________^. Major *hearts* Just grow your hair out again, because it seems like it's super short now? I dunno 'cus it's still normal in the Pacific DVD, but other pictures I've seen around the fandom say otherwise and it makes me really really sad D:.

I miss Kusano, though. TBQH, I don't really care to much about Uchi 'cus he has the support of K8 fans, so I think he'll be fine. Speaking of K8, though, I re-listened to Eden and it made me wish K8 made more singles like that. Although, they really could be doing that already and I just don't know it...the last single I've heard by them in entirety is probably Obaachan Rock.

Also got into Big Bang recently. I just learned who all the members are, but I love TOP the best! And I only know Number 1 by them, but it's pretty awesome, so if you guys have any other recommendations for similar songs by them, that would be great!

Has any one seen these (click the "show" button. No nudity, but definitely NSFW, so please view these in a private area...) pictures of Kago Ai yet? I was SOOO disturbed.

I always thought Kago was milking her sob story after being fired from H!P, but I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and wished her success in her comeback.

But really???? I mean, there are ways to break out of the idol stereotype, but this is certainly not one of them considering the mass #s of gravure idols already out in the entertainment market.

So w-inds. isn't appearing in Kouhaku for the first time since their debut :(. But looking at the other lists of artists that got ousted (Morning Musume., BoA), I don't feel as bad. Maybe they are trying to get more new artists in this year. But then again, why is WaT even on there then?? (not a hater, but I don't think they've had anything big music-wise for a while...I think only one single so far this year?)

And I'm really surprised that this is the first time Mr. Children are performing on Kouhaku...did they just turn down previous invitations?

Speaking of w-inds., I can't believe their new single is doing so well :o!

x->1->1 - EXILE - 71,737 + 16,884 (x1.75) = 155,087
x->2->2 - w-inds. - 13,601 + 5,968 (x1.75) = 34,246
x->3->3 - Acid Black Cherry - 11,485 + 5,509 (x1.75) = 29,740

That's like....more than the total sales of each of their past 4-5 singles already in two days!

Too bad Yuna Ito's new single, Koi wa Groovyx2, debuted at #28 and BONNIE PINK's mini-album, CHAIN, at #25.

OMG So I found out today that one of my teachers was one of Utada Hikaru's teachers in Japan! In a class of 20-30 students, too, so not like a big lecture or anything!!!


From reikoistic

01. Put your mp3 player or whatever on shuffle.
02. Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
03. Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
04. Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
05. Looking them up on google or any other search engine is cheating!

I actually put two lines for some songs because one line is too short to be able to tell, I think. And I skipped all the songs with no actual singing of course XD. For movies/anime, you can just list the movie/anime.


1. Hey listen Mr. Boy/Jallan cheok haneun ipsullo
2. Kimi to hanarete, boku wo sagashite/Ikusen no yo wo aruite
3. Donna yume miteiru no? Wasuretaku nai/Matsuge ni kiss shita lips nemusou na smile
4. Arikitari no hiiroo nante/Mappira sa Ore ni wa naranai
(this one might be hard if since it's from the 90s, but the hint = image song from one of the Gundam Wing characters)
5. The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake
6. What you see's not what you get with you there's just no measurement
7. Furi mukeba itsumo hohoemi ga aru no NEVER WALK ALONE
8. It's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! (so obvious lol)
9. Kimi no mune de naka nai Kimi ni mune kogasa nai
10. Nee dooshite mata furikaetteru/Ashiato tadotte nee arekara moo natsu wa
11. Oh tell me/Should I love him? (also obvious..^_^)
12. shisen nusumu inryoku koboreta sono kao
13. When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are (XD)
14. Now I'm the king of the swingers, oh the jungle VIP (I think this one is hard too...from an old old Disney movie, but not one of the princess movies)
15. Zankoku na Tenshi no You ni/Shounen yo shinhwa ni nare (like...the most famous anime song ever XD)
16. senchimentaru taimu/Wild-suntan-fellow
17. Hora sukoshizutsu anata no nokoshita/nukumori ga tokedashite
18. Yaksok haeyo i sungan i/Dajinago dasi boge duwu neun geunal (I think this might be hard too...but it's from a extremely popular Korean movie)
19. Hontou ni taisetsuna mono igai/Subete sutete shimaetara
20. I woke up today/Woke up wide awake
21. The world is cruel/The world is wicked/It's I alone whom you can trust in this whole city
22. ARE YOU READY FOR SYSTEM 2000?
23. Hey Girl/Y’all know who this is/It's the princess Lee Hyori
24. Saigo no hito koto sutto hiete kokoro ni aza ga hitotsu dekita
25. I want your love, I need your touch, so much I think I'm in love (remixed version of this song)

Hmmm....I need to clean out my music banks. A lot of these songs I don't listen to anymore/downloaded only out of curiousity.

AnAn sexy male ranking 2008

01. Kimura Takuya (15th year)
02. Fukuyama Masaharu
03. Akanishi Jin
04. Matsumoto Jun
05. Nakai Masahiro
06. Yamashita Tomohisa
07. Katori Shingo
08. Okada Junichi
09. Oguri Shun
10. Kusanagi Tsuyoshi
11. Kamenashi Kazuya
12. Inagaki Goro
13. Tsumabuki Satoshi
14. Sakurai Sho
15. Domoto Koichi
16. Ninomiya Kazunari
17. Eita
18. Nagase Tomoya
19. Tamaki Hiroshi
20. Nishikido Ryo
21. Ikuta Toma
22. Kenichi Matsuyama (Go L!)
23. Takizawa Hideaki
24. Ohkura Tadayoshi
25. Mokomichi Hayami (aka sexy robot boyfriend ala "Zettai Kareshi" lol)
26. Koike Teppei
27. Ichihara Hayato
28. Narimiya Hiroki
29. Koide Keisuke
30. Miura Haruma


It always makes me sad when Tsubasa never shows up on these things :(.

I'm also sad that Matsuda Shota isn't on there. You would think at least the SMAP dudes would start dropping off the charts to make way for the new incoming eye candies.

And why the hell isn't Fujiki Naohito on there D:?!

For reals! There's already a preview of her MV "Eat you Up"

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=dCdaI6HdOGI

I don't want school to start. BOO.

Although their most recent album "7th Avenue" and single "Ame Ato" I thought were quite bland, I'm very pleased at Ryuichi's new hairstyle!




WOW~! I think it's the best he's looked for a couple years now.

They will also be performing at the 2008 Asia Song Festival in Korea this year, along with Berryz Kobo, on October 4.
http://asf.kofice.or.kr/

I was asked as a favor to post this message on my blog by love_kinki_1979. If you have time, please consider contributing to their project!


Hello~~I see you have join a KinKi Kids fans's community, i don’t know whether you have ever heard about the countersignature project of KinKi Kids' fans. That's "Let Us Say 39 to KinKi Kids". I am the main organizer, Choo Chew Yen who come from Malaysia.

The aim of this project is to thank you KinKi Kids. This project is not only open for all the fans of KinKi Kids in the world but also everyone who adore them in many ways:) It is for gathering our support, blessing and love, and then we’ll send the project to KinKi Kids, in order to thank them for being with us for more than 10 years.

If you have leisure time, please browse our website.

http://www.geocities.jp/thankstokinki/


The details and the latest news of the project are on the website. Hope that you can join this project and go to the BBS to leave your message.

Since this project had been launched for few months, we contacted Johnny & Associates successfully. On 22 March, 2008, we received a news that was KinKi Kids already know about this project~~~(^o^)/ Therefore, we can at least confirm that your message can be read by KinKi Kids. We believe that fans like you would have something to say to KinKi Kids, so please come and leave your message.

At last, would you mind putting part of the details of this project in your blog? That's the title meaning, the news as above and the address.And pls tell your friends about this project if they have interest on KinKi Kids or have good impression on them:) It's because we don't want any people who adore KinKi or appreciate their music will miss this opportunity. This project will ended by 31st August 2008,pls be hurry if you don't want to miss your chance & leave your message for KinKi Kids:)





If you have any questions, feel free to contact us~

kinkikids1979@gmail.com

It's been such a long time since I've watched Japanese cartoons (not including Death Note, but I got bored of watching the anime after like 12 episodes anyway), but recently I've been watching a lot. I downloaded Gundam Wing, which I watched 8 years ago. Although rewatching it makes me realize how cheesy and nonsensical it is, I still love it to death XD. Currently I've been watching Gundam 00 (waiting for season 2 to come out in the fall), Macross Frontier, and Code Geass R2 (which is extremely melodramatic, but amusing nonetheless).

But currently I'm really into....Fruits Basket!! My friend had me watch it 3 years ago, but I wasn't really interested in anime at that point (haha maybe my current interest is just an indication of my mental regression??), so I never finished it. But now I'm downloading and reading all the manga 'cus I liked the anime, but felt the ending was rather unfulfilling. I kind of wonder why they didn't make a second season, because reading the manga now (on volume 4 currently), things are starting to make more sense. Instead, in the anime they stopped the storyline at volume 6 (according to the internet) when there are 20+ volumes total....So overall, the anime ending had the same feeling as the Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances) anime because it ended so abruptly with a lot of unresolved issues.

I absolutely love the opening song to Fruits Basket. It's so bittersweet and nostalgic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zQ5ZLYS_5M

Other animes I've finished watching this year:
-Kare Kano (I finished it after 4 years! I should really read the manga, though, since apparently goes on until the characters are 30 years old lol)
-Fushigi Yugi (honestly.....I think this anime is awful. I can't believe I managed to get through the first 10 episodes of this tripe when I was in middle school ^^;;)
-Vision of Escaflowne (The ending was disappointing after the entire build up. I still don't completely understand why the evil guy did what he did and why he thought his actions would work)

Hmmm....that was a lot of girly anime that I just listed....but I also like Trigun! And I like the Gundam series quite a bit, so that pretty much balances things out lol.

I also tried to watch one of those animes for pervy guys but aren't porn. Something about an alien girl who obeys the every command of some guy because he was the one who rescued her??? I'm not quite sure because I didn't get past the first episode (I don't even remember the name of the series actually...). Probably being a girl myself didn't help with the lack of appeal, but really, it's one of those animes where the fanbase is definitely not watching it for the plot lol.

So instead I watched the girl counterpart of that anime: Gravitation. Nothing dirty happens in the anime besides some chaste kissing, but I heard the mangas are quite...."detailed" in some aspects of boy-love relationships haha. Anyway, I found the anime to be mildly amusing, but like any anime of this particular drama, it was full of plotholes and I was glad it ended after 12 episodes instead of being prolonged to a torturous 24-26 episodes.

I hope everyone is doing well :). I didn't want to do any work, so instead I'll update my journal which I haven't written in for so many months :o. And hopefully that random spammer will stop posting in the previous entry (I've probably deleted like 20 comments in that post alone).

J-pop

Amuro Namie


The release I've been looking forward to all year! I'm glad I started listening to Namie after her comeback and her image change to R&B because listening to her older material, I wouldn't have been able to stand her music. "Say the Word" is the one song I enjoy, and even then it's the remixed version on her last best album, "Love Enhanced." The first time I heard "Can you Celebrate?" I was cringing in pain lol XD. Luckily, except for "Wishing on the Same Star", BEST FICTION features R&B music she's most well-known for today as well as the songs from her hit single, 70s80s90s. I really recommend Put 'em Up, SO CRAZY, GIRL TALK, and WHAT A FEELING. BEST FICTION also includes two entirely new songs, Sexy Girl and Do Me More. I find both catchy, but nothing special. However, I did like Do Me More a lot more after the CM clips of it in Vidal Sassoon (Namie looks very hot in those CMs as well XD).

Sexy Girl PV can be viewed here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCV03kRgvUk
Although her hairstyle, make-up, and clothes are awful XP. But I love the dancing; lots of popping and the hand clock move is really cool! This song is also used as the theme song for the drama "Otome no Punch!", which looks rather stupid and I don't plan on watching ^^;;;.

Vidal Sassoon backstage footage with Do Me More in the background can be seen here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-msDtte87hw
I can't believe Namie is 30....I wish I could look as amazing as her at that age! I do wish the song was more edgy for such a scandalous title, though XD. I can't wait until the full PV airs!

EDIT: This was JUST added to the Vidal Sassoon site! Full CMs can be seen!!! http://vidal.jp/top.html

I pre-ordered the CD+DVD limited version 'cus it includes the PVs for all the songs. And there's a free poster that comes with it =D! The only downside is that it comes as a digipack (like the cases that KAT-TUN's limited boxset came in)....ugh. I would much rather have a regular CD case. Hopefully, the booklet will be really nice with lots of pictures. Namie's CDs usually don't come with much of a booklet (PLAY's CD supposedly was only two sheets...I'll see when I get that along with BEST FICTION), so it would be nice if avex did something special for her best album.

( Covers and tracklisting )

Maki Goto
(click for larger image)

(kind of got the Kogal vibe going on there)

After a month or so of exile in California, former H!P star, Maki Goto, makes her comeback debut at an avex shareholder's event (see news clip here and here). The former ace of Morning Musume supposedly quit Hello!Project and left UFA due to "health reasons" and her brother's robbery arrest. I personally believe she just wanted out of the type of idol image that H!P produces/wanted a break to get some more plastic surgery (as if she could get breasts like that simply from "eating yogurt" as one Chinese newspaper claimed lol. And looking at her eyes makes me cringe after seeing some pictures proving that her surgeon made a mistake she probably went back under the knife to get that fixed...) While I never really was a huge fan of her, she was probably one of the best voices from H!P, so I'm glad she was able to successfully find a new company.

Maki has joined the R&B branch of avex, Rhythm Zone, and will be performing at a-nation 08 at the August 24 and 31st concerts.

Official website: http://rhythmzone.net/maki/index.html

K-pop
Wonder Girls


(I like the two girls on either side of the center girl)
I don't really pay attention to them, but Tell Me was really catchy and was smash hit across Korea (the youtube clip of military dudes dancing to that song was HILARIOUS). It's really quite nice to see girl groups making a comeback in Korea.

Anyway, the lyrics to their single SO HOT from their 2nd album which is due to be released in September are hilarious. See the subbed version of the MV here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Zq04OMWVI. I'm not a huge fan of the sex kitten image they're going for considering some of them are under 18, but whatever.

Lee Hyori



Yeah, I only like her 'cus she's hot lol, but pretty much like Jennifer Lopez, no one really likes Hyori for her music anyway. To be fair, though, I thought Get Ya from her last album, Dark Angel, (also the song that got her sued by Britney Spears' company for being a rip off of Do Something), Toc Toc Toc (last single), and AnyStar feat. Lee JunKi (song for AnyCall CM) were really catchy. I've heard one of those songs was probably a rip-off of Pussycat Dolls, but I don't listen to their music, so I really couldn't say XD.

After a brief stint of saying how she wanted to change her "sexy image", much to the horror to her fans, Hyori is set to make her comeback with her 3rd album, which has the very sophisticated title of "It's Hyorish." Coupled with an equally classy topless cover image, I'm sure Hyori fans all over the world can safely assume that hell, in fact, has not frozen over.

The album is due out on July 16th. According to MNet Media, “The album will contain 60+ photos and they are just like the samples. It’s like a giant pictorial collection of Lee Hyori. Every photo concept will show Hyori’s unique sexiness, confidence and her bubbly charisma.”

I'm tempted to get the album just for the photos. Goodness knows it's not going to be for the music lol.

( Covers and tracklisting )






And WTH is Super Junior-H?