From the monthly archives:

February 2008

Buono! – Cafe Buono!

February 27, 2008 · 4 comments

Ok since Buono is my second favorite group in H!P at the moment I think I should make a short review their first album.

1. Cafe Buono!
I’ve heard people say it’s boring but I really don’t think so. I love how they shout “buono!” in the background, it’s a bit childish but it makes me happy! This is one of my favorites from the album.

2. Nakimushi Shounen
I love upbeat songs and this one is definitely one of the best. This song is slightly more “rock-ish” and I like that. I think this song is a favorite among many Buono fans.

3. Renai Rider
Well, it’s their second single and it’s the song that got me interested in Buono. So you could say it’s my #1 favorite song, and the PV is great too!

4. Honto no Jibun
This is their first single, and I can’t really say that I like it as much as Renai Rider. It wasn’t enough for me when they first released it, but now with the new album I’ve started to like it more.

5. Baketsu no Mizu
So far not a single bad song! This song is not in the same style as the first four, and it’s probably good because it would be boring if they only had those upbeat rock-ish songs. It’s a good song anyway but it’s not in my top 5.

6. Garakuta no Yume
It’s not bad, but it’s definitely not one of my favorites… I kind of like it but it’s not as good as the first five songs.

7. Internet Cupid
What happened here? Sounds like they got influenced by Perfume! And that’s good because Perfume is awesome, though this song isn’t as good as Perfume’s songs… However, it’s not bad and it’s good that they made something… new.

8. Last Forever
Very good song, though it doesn’t fit in the top 5. I’m not sure what else to say about it :P.

9. Kokoro no Tamago
This is also a good song but not good enough for the top 5… but… a top 5 for this album isn’t really fair.

10. Hoshi no Hitsuji Tachi
I love this song! There’s just two really slow songs in this album and this is one of them. I must say, I didn’t think their slow songs would be this good, I was definitely surprised!

11. Rock no Kamisama
Back to the upbeat songs again! I really love the lyrics in this song and well… I love everything in this song, and it’s definitely in the top 5. Miya’s “crazy cool” part is the best!

12. Kimi ga Ireba
The last and the second slow song. This one good too but Hoshi no Hitsuji Tachi is better. However, it’s a good ending song!

So to sum up…

Top 5:

Renai Rider
Nakimushi Shounen
Rock no Kamisama
Cafe Buono!
Hoshi no Hitsuji Tachi

Buono! 1

Buono! 2

Overall this is a GREAT album and it’s well worth buying! It’s very rare to find albums with only good songs like this. Buono! beats C-ute and BK easily and they’re definitely the best from H!P in a while, Morning Musume is loosing it, kind of and their songs is not as good as Buono’s nowadays.

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“Doodle While You Doodie”

February 26, 2008 · 0 comments

in Design, Fashion & Architecture

According to the designers of this toilet paper/pen holder, your “best ideas come to you when you’re in the bathroom.” I always thought the best ideas came while influenced by certain “herbal remedies,” but who am I to judge? “WCNotes” by designers Marc Graells, Miquel Monfort & Victor Viñamata, is a simple mash-up design of pen holder and toilet paper holder. Featuring silhouetted pen-shaped die cuts and made of 2mm thick stainless steel, this brain fart design is perfect for when nature calls and inspiration strikes. – Yanko Design™

I must say, this is one of the greatest inventions in a long time! I totally agree on that the best ideas come to you when you’re taking a dump, but you always forget about them when you’re done :P. Actually though, the invention isn’t really very special, it’s just a normal paper holder with a hole for a couple of pens, haha! But you never think about writing stuff down while you’re at it, and most of us doesn’t keep a pen in the bathroom…

So what do you think of this? Is it a good idea? I mean, every time you’re doing something hard and can’t find the solution for something, go take a dump, it seriously helps! The only problem with this is that it’s not very easy to write on that type of paper… but well, who cares when it’s such a good invention?

So the next time you’re taking a dump, bring a pen and paper unless you have bought one of these already! ;)

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Monday Michiru

February 26, 2008 · 0 comments

in Music

Many of you people out there probably have heard of Monday Michiru before. She’s a Japanese-American singer and songwriter, and I think she’s an actress as well but I haven’t seen her in any movies or anything, at least not that I know of. Anyway she’s well known for featuring a lot of different artists, mostly in genres like Jazz, House, Chillout etc. Her style is acid jazz, her songs are very relaxing and it’s just a real pleasure to listen to her. If you’re interested I’d recommend you to listen to her albums, moods, My ever changing moods and routes.

So what’s been up lately? Well, yesterday I spent some time studying… That wasn’t fun but I had to do it and it feels really good now when it’s done! I also spent about 1.5 hours cleaning my room, since I have a new computer I had to fix a lot of cables and stuff that was just lying on the floor. So now everything is really neat and clean!

Today I went to school, didn’t do much at all. I arrived at 10 AM and sat in the cafe with a couple of classmates till 11.30, then we had to answer some poll question, stuff like “what do you think of this school?”. That was basically it, I had a meeting with my supervisor about my project and after that I spent about 30-40 minutes talking with the receptionist about traveling! The receptionist in our school is a very good person :), I wonder if she reads this haha!

Other than that I don’t have much to talk about when it comes to the personal stuff. Coming up next on my blog is a review of Gal Circle and Buono’s new album, so stay tuned!

Later!

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Google Analytics

February 25, 2008 · 1 comment

in Technology & Games

So while updating a bunch of things on my blog I found a great tool for tracking your blog’s stats. Google Analytics is the solution and here’s a guide for you to get started:

Quoted from Infektia.net:

How to set it up

Go to Google Analytics to sign up or log in.
When logged in, choose to create a new account and follow the steps. When you get to “Add Tracking“, open up a new window and log in to your Blogger account.
Go to your blog’s settings and choose “Template” and then “Page Elements“
Have a look at the footer (it has to be the footer!) of the design and choose to “Add a Page Element“.
Find the “HTML/JavaScript” element and then “Add to blog“.
Don’t write anything in the title column. Copy and paste the code from Google Analytics in the content box and “Save changes”.
Then continue the steps on Google Analytics and you’re done!

They should’ve included this in the Blogger settings, maybe they will in the future!

For H!O users, you can probably track your H!O blog with this tool too.

Later!

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Mac

February 19, 2008 · 2 comments

in Technology & Games

Today I got my new computer, a MacBook c2d 2.0GHz. So yes, I’ve finally managed to switch from Windows to OS X. How am I feeling? It’s already godlike! I’ve now confirmed that the quote “It just works!” is true, it really is! Everything I’ve tested so far works great, except for one thing and that’s the external hard drive. Well the hard drive works, but since I’m using NTFS on it, I can not write to it. But I’ve downloaded a program called Paragon which gives me the ability to write to NTFS partitions too!

Another positive thing is that it’s waaay faster than my school’s IBM Thinkpad. Well maybe that wasn’t a surprise since you would know that just by comparing the specs. But the wireless network is also much faster on this machine, somehow. And that’s just great because now I don’t have to use any cables! When I use a cable I can download in about 1.1mb/s and with the wireless about 700kb/s when I’m in my room (the router is in the living room), and I’m totally okay with that.

I don’t have any pictures of it right now but I’ll put some up tomorrow! What I do have on the other hand is a screenshot, so that’ll have to do for now.

Didn’t change a lot so it’s not very special.

I was using iTunes on Windows before I made the switch, but of course I’m running iTunes on OS X as well. But it’s just sooo much faster on OS X, especially when adding music into the playlists.

Well anyway, this is just the beginning so I bet I’ll have problems on OS X too! maybe… ^_^

Later!

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Morning Musume – Aki 2007 "~Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! Bomb~"Concert DVD

February 17, 2008 · 6 comments

in Music

So after reading gordiehowe’s blog post about the new concert DVD I thought I should tell everybody what I think about it. I’ll probably make the review a bit shorter though!

It all started off with a instrumental remake of Onna ni Sachi are, which was really cool. Though I didn’t realize that it was OnSa first, I kept thinking “where have I heard this song before?” :P.

Anyway, on to the first song!

Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! BOMB GIRL
I like this song, it’s full of energy and happiness! Though I’m not so keen about the little shouts Reina, Aichan and Gaki makes. Anyway it was a really good start so I would give it a 5 in each category (dancing, singing and clothing), though because of those shouts I’ll give singing a 4. Someone was booing before they continued to the next song (Mikan) which I didn’t understand at all.

Mikan
The only thing I want to complain about is Mittsi’s and Koha’s singing, it just doesn’t work out. Other than that it was all good, the dance moves aren’t very special but they did them well. So 5/5 for dancing and 4/5 for singing.

Hand Made CITY
Never heard the song before but I really like it! I liked how they were swinging around those red ribbons ^^. Eri did her lines surprisingly well and Gaki had a funny line, what I didn’t like was Aichan’s “come on” shouts, they really annoyed me. Koha and Mittsi did ok in this song though. It’s worth a 5 in all categories! I’d give clothing a 4 if they didn’t have those ribbons though.

For some reason there’s a guy booing again?? It sounds like the same guy as before, maybe he just has a really weird voice, but it does sound like booing.

(Kacchoii ze! JAPAN) – Morning Musume & Biyuden
The song is pretty good but I don’t like Biyuden and I definitely can’t stand Rika sometimes, she reminds me of Koha. Morning Musume did well though and I’ll give a 4 for the dancing, 3 for the singing and this time a 4 for the clothing since they dropped the red ribbons :(.

Please! Jiyuu no Tobira – Morning Musume
I’ll give this a 4 in all categories. This song is definitely not one of my favorites but this was probably the only song that everybody did good in, and Eri and Reina keeps on shining like never before.

Kanashimi Twilight
Now it’s getting really sweaty on the stage, Aichan even scared me at some parts! Cred to Reina who was the only one who actually did good in this song. Mittsi’s line was totally HORRIBLE, she just can’t pull it off like in the studio version. Anyway, I love the outfits, that’s definitely a 5. They were tired so the dancing wasn’t perfect, it’s worth a 3. Singing 2/5, 5/5 for Reina!

Chance! – Kusumi Koharu
I actually thought the song was OK this time… But then I realize that she’s lip syncing, seriously, her mic wasn’t even turned on, I just laughed at her in the end. 1/5.

Suki na Senpai – Jun Jun & Lin Lin
Cute outfits, good dancing but I was a bit disappointed by JunJun’s singing. LinLin was totally awesome though! Clothes 5/5, dancing 4/5, singing 3/5.

Shanimuni Paradise
5/5!! I’ll say no more!

Ikimasshoi!
Everything went black, there was a short intro, I was thinking “what happens now?? PARA PARA?”, but unfortunately that was not the case :P. I love this song anyway and they pulled it off perfectly, 5/5!

Biyuden x5 (+ Mittsi once)
I actually skipped most of this, I Just couldn’t stand it =/.

Gyutto Dakishimete – Takahashi Ai
Finally something that fits Aichan much better! More of this for Aichan please! 5/5!

HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN? ~Nihon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?~
Haha I think Gaki is so funny with her lyrics sometimes, at one part (01:12:44-01:12:48) it sounds like she’s singing “NIPPON CO*K”, I lol’d xD. Overall it’s good though, they keep on shining, especially Eri. And Gaki keeps on shining in her own way, “I like Tokyo SANKYU!” haha! 5/5 for clothing and 4/5 for everything else.

Shabondama
Just like with Shanimuni. 5/5!! I’ll say no more!

NATURE IS GOOD!
They perform it very well but I wouldn’t give the song itself more than 3/5. Everything is done perfectly though.

Ambitious! Yashinteki de Ii Jan
I like the song and they perform it well. I don’t like the outfits though so I’ll only give 2/5 for that, Eri’s is a little bit better than the other’s though. A 4 for the rest.

Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~
Still don’t like the outfits (2/5), a 4 for the rest though, just like with Ambitious.

Love & Peace! Hero ga Yattekita
Get rid of the outfits already! xD 3 for everything anyway, I don’t like it very much.

HELLO TO YOU – Morning Musume & Biyuden
Again I don’t like the outfits. A 4 or maybe even a 5 for everything else though.

Onna ni Sachi Are
Go girls! I’ll give everything a 5, but compared to the studio version it wasn’t very good. My favorite line by Eri is from OnSa and she didn’t pull it off here but I don’t care cause she given me more than enough already.

I loved this concert! Eri, Reina and Gaki were amazing, especially Eri! Eri was a bit scary in Shabondama though, she was mad! :O I’ll probably include this DVD in my next purchase, as well as Buono’s new album which is totally awesome!

Anyway, I feel like I’m gonna die any second now, this took me way too long to write xD It’s frikkin 5 AM!

LATER and good night!

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Proposal Daisakusen

February 12, 2008 · 3 comments

in Dramas & TV

Iwase Ken and Yoshida Rei have been friends since elementary school. Ken, is obstinate and unskilled in love, but he fell long ago for the lively and cheerful, Rei. But Rei is about to get married to another man. While Ken and other friends from high-school attend the wedding ceremony, a fairy appears and sends Ken back in time, giving him a second chance to win the girl he loves.

So, I’ve just finished watching Proposal Daisakusen, another YamaPi / Masami drama. I liked it… though it wasn’t as good as Nobuta wo Produce. Even though YamaPi was good and all in this drama he wasn’t my favorite. For the first time I actually think he didn’t do as good as some of the other actors, but I guess it was because of the character he played rather than bad acting. Hamada Gaku on the other hand never disappoints me, that guys is just hilarious! Masami was great, as expected, she played her part really well. Another girl I found out about in this drama is Eikura Nana. I really like her, she’s a great actress so I’ll definitely look for more from her. Overall I think this drama is good, it’s not great but it’s definitely worth watching. The first two episodes were kind of… slow, but it got better!

One thing I didn’t expect to see (or hear) in this drama was a really great song by MONGOL 800, Chiisana Koi no Uta. I’ll post a video with with it in the end of this post. Check their album “MESSAGE” out, good old punk rock!

Here’s the correlation chart anyway:

I have no idea why YamaPi’s picture is animated…

I’ve been lazy on the dramas lately so I finished this one in 2 days! Well… I haven’t just been lazy, I have a cold too so I’ve been bored to death.

Anyway, here’s the MONGOL 800 video. I couldn’t find a real PV, cause I don’t think they have one so I’ll go with a Proposal Daisakusen slideshow.

Later!

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Hotelier

February 10, 2008 · 1 comment

in Dramas & TV

So I’ve just finished watching Hotelier, a Ueto Aya drama (which you should know if you’ve read my older posts!). So what should I say about it… It was definitely not as good as Attention Please, but that’s one of my favorites so it’s hard to beat it. Overall it was really good anyway, what I liked the most about it was that it made me happy most of the time cause Odagiri (Ueto Aya) and her co-workers had such a great working spirit and they were always smiling. The story was great, even though some stuff makes you go like “no way! that would never happen” afterwards, but that’s pretty usual in doramas. The only ones I actually knew in this dorama before I started watching it was Aya, Nishida Naomi and Saeko, but of course since Aya is in it I didn’t expect it to be anything but amazing. I liked this dorama a lot anyway and I’d recommend it to all Aya fans out there, and to every else too I guess.

It was a little short though, only 9 episodes so I felt like they rushed it a little, but that’s just me probably. Here’s the correlation chart anyway, maybe you’ll find someone you know! (click to enlarge it)
So what’s up next, let’s see… Oh yeah, another YamaPi dorama! Proposal Daisakusen, I’ll probably watch the first 2 episodes later tonight.

Anyway, I have to go make myself some tea now since I have a sore throat. Talk to you later!

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NANO-MUGEN

February 8, 2008 · 0 comments

in J-Rock,Music

Yesterday it was announced that AKFG (ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION) is bringing back the NANO-MUGEN FES.. And that’s just awesome in my opinion! It’s scheduled for July 20-21 in the Yokohama Arena, the lineup will be announced later on their official website. Some of my favorite bands participated in that festival in the past, for example ELLEGARDEN, BEAT CRUSADERS, Straightener and AKFG themselves of course. I really want to go there this summer, if anyone would come with me to Japan for a week I’d definitely go there, I just have to attend that festival sometime in the near future.
So, if anyone is interested, let me know!

I haven’t done anything special today, I’ve mostly just been sitting here or in front of the TV. At least I found out about a new interesting feature on Gmail which I’m now using, it’s kind of like synchronizing 2 different email addresses. I’ve also watched Chris Pirillo a bit, damn that guy is hilarious, and smart!

A friend of mine blocked me on MSN sometime this week, I’ve been blocked for several days now for a really lame reason. He was being really weird, like REALLY weird… So I asked him “why are you being so weird today?” and he was like “I’m not weird, I’m being myself!”. And then he got mad and called me some really bad words, I don’t know why he took it so serious. I hope he’ll unblock me soon.

I realized a good thing today by the way! I haven’t had a sip of alcohol since New Year’s. 2 months! I think that’s pretty good for someone who drink occasionally. The reason may be because many of my friends are doing their military service, and those who aren’t are using this as an opportunity to drink less often. And of course I’m using this opportunity myself, I’m going to work out more often and reduce the time in front of the computer. I’ve ordered my new laptop and getting rid of this computer which will help me to make my life healthier.
Why am I doing this? Well, not because my lifestyle isn’t healthy enough, cause it is OK. But the reason is because I’m bored and I need a change. I spend so many hours in front of the computer doing nothing at all, so I need something else to do besides it. That makes sense, right? I mean, you can be bored of the Internet!

I’ll end this post with a nice PV by LAST ALLIANCE.

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Dogen

February 6, 2008 · 0 comments

in yonasu

I’ve been studying quite a lot lately (for someone who don’t usually study much ^^). I finished an exam today in IT-communication or whatever it’s called, I think I did good! I’ll get the results tomorrow. Also, tomorrow I have a final in business economics, which I’m not very confident about but hopefully I’ll do OK.

Anyway, new month and what does that mean? Wait a second… *click*
New Aya picture in my calendar! Nice eh?

Yesterday I ordered my new laptop! A MacBook 2.0GHz, can’t wait to get it! My gaming days are over, I just don’t find games very interesting anymore, and I get bored really fast so I have no need for a better computer, this one will be more than enough!

Oh yeah, today when I was working out (jogging on the treadmill) my neighbor was annoyed by the noise I made (or well, the noise that the treadmill made :P). Apparently the neighbor living under me called my father and argued about it, he said that his roof was going to fall in, haha. I guess I just placed the treadmill on a bad spot since he has never heard us using it before. Anyway, it was my first time working out in months so I’m not in shape, but I’ll continue working out on a regular basis now since I need to get in shape before I start bouldering (rock climbing) with my friend.

Lastly, I’d like to recommend this site, dogentricks.com. This guy (Dogen) is really something, he’s been in Japan now for about 4.5 months studying Japanese. He makes really interesting video blogs about his life and everything that happens around him in Japan. And damn that guy is just living his (and also my) dream! Anyway I think you should check it out cause he’s a really nice guy and another thing to check out while you’re there is his forum which has some really nice threads about health and conditioning (besides Japanese and tricking topics). He has a good taste when it comes to music too! I’ll just post this PV by bonobos which he posted on his blog a while back. Enjoy!