Kawaii

The College Cycle.

nobody@vox.com(Virna) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:43:41 -0700

I saw this in my friend Cat's blog, and it's soooo cute (not to mention, true), I just HAVE to repost it. Teehee.

Every new semester:

after first week:after second week:before midterms:during midterms:after midterms:before finals:after knowing schedule of final exams:7 days before a final exams:6 days before final exams:5 days before final exams:4 days before final exams:3 days before final exams:2 days before final exams:1 day before final exams:night before a final exam:1 hour before a final exam:during the final exams:after walking out of the examination hall:after the final exams, during the holidays:

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Arashi's..."One Love."

nobody@vox.com(MorningBerryz) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:19:45 -0700

Arashi "One Love" LE & RE singles

Some groups are just truly blessed with great songwriting where you can never find a mediocre track and while taking center stage on this plateau, Arashi continues their stroke of pop genius with their latest offering "One Love." The appearance of the singles themselves has a distinct aura of elegance about them and while the title track lives and breathes a beautiful melodious wave of Irish/Scottish bagpipes lending themselves to a memorable composition which immediately immerses the listener in glee, it's the accompanying pv which reveals a picturesque landscape of wedding perfection...that which is ultimately symbolic of this release.

Arashi "One Love" LE (jacket scan)

I was a bit late in recognizing the "wedding" white doves which are traditionally released at ceremonies as they adorn both covers. :P The only thing perhaps that I would've liked to have seen differently about this release are the somewhat much too similar looking covers and while both are great looking covers in their own right an added incentive to collect both in addition to the bonus offerings would have been something a bit more diverse appearance wise.

Arashi "One Love" LE (inner jacket scan)

The LE's inner jacket does offer an additional photo of each member while the RE includes only the lyrics however much like other Johnny's Entertainment releases the draw for fans to collect both lies in the bonus add ons.

02 FINAL Remix

Arashi

Included with the LE is a bonus track "Final Remix" featuring a medley of previous hits "Wish", "Love so sweet", along with "One Love" all of which are nicely bound together with a wedding inspired (wedding bells are ringing) and at times jazzy track (love the walking bass arrangement!) which also touches upon the nuances of a hip hop beat, all in a seamless musical marriage of sorts. The DVD however is the greater incentive here as it includes the title track's pv! ^-^ And with the cost of this LE being only 1155 yen I can only wish that Hello! Project would take a cue from this release and follow suit by releasing both their audio CDs & pv DVDs in a single neatly packaged release. How that would help uncomplicate things and help fans with space saving in mind! And while this particular Arashi pv DVD doesn't contain any making of footage, I find it much more favorable just having both the audio and video releases on the same day!, rather than having to wait 1-2 weeks which has been UFA's trend for some time now.

02 Ｈｏｗ　ｔｏ　ｆｌｙ

The incentive in owning the RE lies in the inclusion the bonus track "How to fly" which isn't included on the LE release and in addition to that there are also karaoke versions of both tracks included as well on the RE.

Arashi "One Love" RE (jacket scan)

"One Love" is immediately inspirational in its melody and the tracks beautiful softness is nicely wrapped with harmonious hooks all being led by a well paced flow of lyrical perfection....to say I loved this song from the very first listen seems almost understated although such a notion is absurd I know! :P From the light raining of piano notes....a nicely modest orchestral arrangement....to the lively tempo....the positive projection of the bagpipes....and a perfectly arranged vocal ensemble taking full advantage of the nuances of each member in solo (Riida's powerful and mesmerizing vocals in particular are always so well placed in their songs!) as well as grouped vocals, "One Love" once again brings Arashi to the forefront of all male J-Pop groups setting a beautiful musical standard. "One Love" also topped the Oricon chart giving Arashi their 18th #1 hit as first week sales have reached an impressive 313,976 units!! ^-^

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Arashi "One Love" pv

Truly one of Arashi's best pvs yet! The meticulous work put into illustrating Arashi into a wonderful pastel world...that which resembles a framed canvas brought to life!..is really amazing to watch!! The look of the pv is a heavenly match for the title track's elegant brand of sweet pop and from the very opening which follows the path of white doves down the bridal walk to the imaginative world of pristine landscapes and picturesque architecture all which ultimately ends with the image of a beautiful wedding cake with Arashi in and around it giving the viewer a feeling that the entire pv took place inside the frosting laden delight! (funny I don't even like cake! :P)

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The whole look and feel of this pv is so perfect and see how great Matsujun looks here in watercolored art form! Love this pv sooo much!! Here are a few more beautiful images from the music video...

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Now you could really imagine a painting of this image on your wall!! The flying doves really add a nice tough to everything!

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Just click on any of the smaller pictures for a larger image...so many of these would make perfect Arashi posters! ^-^

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And now my favorite members in order....#1 Nino...

...#2 Matsujun...

...#3 Shokun...

...#4 Riida...

....and #5 Aiba, but when you love a group as much as this there really are no low ranking numbers....all five members are favorites! ^-^

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Lifted

nobody@vox.com(DoriDori) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:54:20 -0700

I was laughing so hard in the cinema! This is Pixar's short film that came together with Ratatouille. Enjoy! They have one too for Wall.E. Not gonna be a spoiler this time. LOL. Pixar rules!

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Korean Attack!

nobody@vox.com(Virna) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:17:09 -0700

There's nothing like a movie-marathon to remove (or reduce) stress, don't you think? Korean Movies (here in the Philippines) are a big hit right now, that's why I'll probably watch the Hollywood version of My Sassy Girl when it hits the theaters.

Anyway, if you also love Asian (preferably Korean) movies, like me, and already tired of watching "The Sassy Girl" or "My Little Bride" for the nth time, then check out my top 5 favorite Korean movies of all time:

Innocent Steps (Standard Edition) DVD

5. Innocent Steps

If you loved "My Little Bride", you'll also love this. It almost had the same plot - young bride, older guy, fell in love - but with a musical twist! It also stars Moon Geum-Young, (most of us in the Philippines remember her as the young "Jenny" in the Korean drama, Autumn in my Heart).

When her sister backed-out of a marriage she didn't want, Chae-Ryn went to Seoul to impersonate her sister and save her. The said 'groom' however, only agreed to get married in search of a new dance partner.

He was shocked at first to see a really young 'bride-to-be', but eventually, he agreed to the terms. Chae-Ryn didn't know how to dance, so he trained her first ( a lot of cheesy moments here, teehee). Eventually, he fell in love, and they lived happily ever after. I'm a lame story-teller, sorry.

The King and the Clown (aka: The Royal Jester)

4. The King and the Clown

ART FLICK! Yup, very nicely made. The scenes - breathtaking, the actors - i didn't notice they were acting, the plot - weird, and interesting.

I think it's true-to-life, although, I'm just not sure. The king had very serious mental problems, he's really weird. All of his officials don't respect him for that fact. He actually was traumatized when his mother was killed in front of him while he was still a kid. Then these group of entertainers came, and he loved them! Everynight, he would call the gay court clown to visit him in his room, and they would play puppets (or just about anything) the whole night!

The story gets more interesting when the king's concubine got really jealous, the corruption of the king's court got exposed, and the palace being attacked by its people.

The Classic a.k.a Love Story (Standard Edition) DVD

3. The Classic

Love tearjerking-happy-ending movies?

This may be entitled "The Classic", but it's definitely not one of those traditional love stories you've ever seen. Ji-Hae discovers a box of memories that belongs to her mother. The whole movie actually focused on two love stories - Ji-Hae's and her mother's. War, strict parents, third guy, Ji-Hae's mom had an unsucessful love-life. They gave way to all the forces against them and went with the bitter flow of their fates.

At the present, Ji-Hae, and her mother's ex-boyfriend's son, continues, and finishes the love that their parents didn't finish. I love the story because it is very poetic, and it gives you the "once-upon-a-time" experience.

3-Iron

2. 3-Iron

As you may have noticed, i love movies with really weird plots. The ones that make you go "wait, what happened again?! *pushes the rewind button*", and you're still left mouth-opened and stunned.

Tae-Suk (a really weird person, haha!) posts flyers on people's gates, and returns at night, breaks-in to the houses that didn't remove their flyers, thinking that they must be empty. He enters, takes pictures of him (as souvenirs), washes the unwashed clothes of the residents and even fix their furnitures! Weird, eh? He stays there for as long as the home owners are away. One day, he broke-in a big house and met the battered-housewife, Sun-Wha. She runs away with him, and they fell in love in a really strange way. They got caught eventually and Tae-Suk went to jail, but he manages to escape by "being invisible". It's up to you to discover how he did! The story ends with Tae-Suk living in Sun-Wha's house, with Sun-Wha's husband not even knowing he's there!

Moment to Remember (aka: The Eraser in My Head)

1. A Moment to Remember (Director's Cut)

I still cry my heart out, even if I already saw this movie a hundred times. That's a really tough job for film-makers, don't you think? To keep you crying, over-and-over again.

Su Jin fell in love with the (super hot!) really cranky architect, Chul Soo. They got married and were very happy. Their happiness was almost perfect, unbelievable even, when Su Jin starts getting sick of Alzheimers. At one point, Chul Soo filled up their house with post-its and posters, "This way to the bathroom", "How to tell time", and others of that sort. It gets really heartbreaking when Su jin forgets his name, and starts calling him with another guy's name.

This is my favorite movie of all time, so I won't spoil its ending, It's already up to you to find out. Teehee.

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