モーニング娘。新メンバーに関して、つんく♂より皆様へのお知らせ。

Decided to give a update because of a major update from the Jpop industry. As for my own update, nothing much happening this week. A good time for a breather perhaps, so I actually started watching a few new anime series recommending by friends from GotWoot. Will do a introduction to these series in the next update. On with the news....

In a shocking announcement from H!P producer Tsunku (the man who gave us Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou, Matsuura Aya, and wrote almost all the songs) has added in 2 more members into the current 8 member Morning Musume group. These 2 members will join Mitsui Aika as the Generation 8 members. So, what's so shocking about this announcement? New MM members are introduced every year. Last year we had Kusumi Koharu, and the year before we had Gen 6 members Tanaka Reina, Michishige Sayumi, Kamei Eri, and as well as solo singer Fujimoto Miki. This year..... 2 more new members from China. Yes, I'm not kiddy. 2 new Chinese girls are going to be in Morning Musume!

Here are the profiles of the 2 girls from the official H!P website.

ジュンジュン本名：李　純　Li Chun　（リー・チュン）
生年月日：1988年2月11日　19歳
出身地：中国湖南省
身長：168cm
得意な楽器および年数：ピアノ　2年
趣味および特技：歌、演技外国語：英語（初級レベル）
好きなアーティスト：林俊傑、王心凌（シンディ・ワン）
芸歴：2006年"超級女声Super Girl"長沙エリアベスト50入賞

Her real name is Li Chun, but will be called Jun Jun as a member of MM. A little dumb but fans will find it easier to chant during concerts. She's 19, and comes from Hunan in China. Guess what, she's a fan of JJ Lin Jun Jie and Cindy Wang. 19 years old, which is surprising as the new girls are usually around 15 when first enlisted, while the typical age to leave is around 21 or 22.

リンリン本名：銭　琳　Qian Lin　（チェン・リン）
生年月日：1991年3月11日　16歳
出身地：中国杭州
身長：153cm特技：司会、演技、ものまね、歌唱、ダンス、ピアノ、ギター、水泳など
芸歴：小学校２年生の時、テレビ局にスカウトされ、その後テレビドラマ出演やテレビ番組の司会など、中国での芸能活動をスタート。

Second girl is called Qian Lin, known to Japanese media now as Rin Rin. 16 years old, and comes from Hang Zhou, China. Plays the pian0 and guitar, and apparently can sing and dance well. But of course, Tsuku has groomed many girls to be super stars in Japan, such as Goto Maki, Abe Natsumi, Ishikawa Rika, Matsuura Aya, and so on. There is no denying his power to make any girl into a su star. Just look at last year's Koharu. So unimpressive at the auditions, but is now one of the most popular newcomers ever in the group.

I'm having very mixed emotions about this announcement. I'm more disappointed actually. I want MM to be a all Japanese girl group. Although it wo uld be interesting to see how things turn out. In the recent Hello Morning show, the members were introduced to the rest of the MM members through current leader Yoshizawa Hitomi. In reality TV fashion, the expressions on the other girls were priceless. I could only image the cold stares from the rest if they can't mix well with others. Remember, these 2 girls can't really speak Japanese well and is currently taking lessons. Here is a clip from the show featuring their first meeting with the 8 current members.

And naturally, the inclusion of 2 Chinese girls would invite some inevitable racism comments, from Japan, China, and other parts of the world. I read that there were spammers which were flooding Jun Jun's blog with negative and harsh comments. Here is an extract from her blog.

From Jun Jun's blog:

我删除了所有的文章。但是我不会删除大家的评论和留言。我会将好的话语作为鼓励和动力。不好的我会作为告诫与警惕。不管外界怎么样，我想我现在唯一能做的只有努力去学习去做我现在该做的。
还有一点我想我必须说，大家可以侮辱我，诋毁我，贬低我！但是请大家不要侮辱中国！

This is plain cruel, and I sincerely hope the 2 girls are able to be strong and focus on the upcoming concert and new single. I have confidence in Tsuku, and we'll just see how well the 2 girls do in Morning Musume. I'll be updating more on their progress, so check back soon.

世界のために、新世紀の神になる。俺は正義だ！

Work has been increasing lately, and it's rare these days that I drive home with the company of sun light. I've been given a big project, one that would take years to see through and massive funds to support. I see this as a challenge, and one that I can learn much from working on. Still, there is always time for a few episodes of anime every now and then, not to mention a few game sessions on the PSP. Sadly I don't think I'll ever have time to return to my PSP 2 games.

I've got my copy of the Death Note movie DVD. I thought that there were going to be some special features on the 2 disc set, but to my disappointment and even disgust, the movie was broken into 2 halves, similar to how VCDs were split into 2 discs. To me, this was nothing more than a ploy to trick people into buying the DVD. The packaging was poor, and so was the internal menus, etc. I should have gotten a Japanese import instead of a crappy Asian code 3 version. Still, I'll buy the second movie DVD for the sake of completion. The movie's still great, and getting to watch it at home is something I'll definately enjoy.

As for my manga purchases, I've just finished reading volume 9. Yes, I did want to read in tandem with the weekly anime release, but curiosity got the better of me and I really wanted to know whether L died as in the movie. And to my horror..... (anime viewers might want to skip this paragraph), L really dies, and doesn't even stop Kira before he dies! At least the story is still going on strong, with 2 of his proteges trying to the the name of L. Light's got his hands full this time, and I'm really tempted to go and get all 4 remaining volumes of this outstanding series.

This video clip was originally sent to me from Pinkerton from the Lah forums, and I had such a good laugh that I simply have to share it with you guys. It shows Pan the chimp, and James the Dog competing in sit ups with Japanese kids! It's really awesome and I wish I can show you the translations of the captions, but it would ruin the surprises and perhaps take away the laughter as well. You don't really need to understand Japanese to understand anyway, so click on play now!

Ok, I'll be keeping my posts short unless I have new pictures to share, but I'll try and update more than once a week, and perhaps link to my video clips to make this blog more entertaining. Till the next update, take care and cya! I'll end of with one of my fave H!P related clips of all time. This is a few years old, but it features current Morning Musume member Yoshizawa Hitomi doing her impression of Matsuura Aya. Hitomi's one of the most cheerful girls in MM, and sad to say she will be graduating this coming May. We'll miss you, Yossui!

おばあちゃんは言ってた。世界は自分を中心に回っている。そう思った方が楽しいってな

"Grandma once said: The world resolves around me. It's more interesting to think this way." That's the title of this blog entry. Taken from one of Tendou's phrases which I found very interesting. Tendou Souji, AKA Kamen Rider Kabuto, always uses philosophical phrases throughout the show, and it usually starts with "おばあちゃんは言ってた..." which means Granma said. I have a whole list of Tendou's phrases, but the one which truly defines himself, which he used in episode one, has to be "天の道を行き、全てを司る", which means "Walking the path of Heaven, ruler of all". I'm getting this done as a decal for my car, so watch out for it soon.

We've recently just had SCV installed in our new home. I've not been watching TV too regularly, ever since the proliferation of online media and peer to peer downloading of TV shows on the internet. After all, why wait for week after week on TV when you can download entire seasons online. I've caught up with episode 18 of Heroes, which SCV just started screening it now too long ago. But Mabel enjoys her Taiwanese paparazzi news channels, so we had to get it sooner or later. Well, at least I got my ESPN sports channels so Saturday and Sunday nights will not be the same again. And yeah we only got a crappy portable DVD player as a bonus for signing up. Should have waited for something more attractive.....

Morning Musume's Egao Yes Nude

With the end of the Chinese New Year festivities, my fave month of the year flew by as well. February is the best month of the year to me. Not just because it's the shortest. It's because we have Valentines day in it, my birthday, and of course Chinese New Year usually falls in February as well. Haiii.... 11 more months to go before I get to eat all those mandarin oranges.

Sony Pictures has just released a new 7 min clip from the upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie, and it absolutely KICKS ASS! Freaking cool animation shown in the fight between Peter and Harry, in his new Goblin outfit. You really have to see the clip to witness how awesome this movie is going to be. Just a few more months to go, and I'm sure Sam Raimi is not going to slip up and will match, if not better the standards that he has set in the previous 2 movies. Still no official images on Venom, but we've seen more than a couple of pictures of Venom figures and toys. I've got my hands on a promotional picture of Venom, but I think I'd better not post it up in case it becomes a spoiler for some of you.

GAM's single: Lu Lu Lu, offers a marked difference in what the 2 girls have to offer in terms of vocal quality. Mikitty's voice, being higher pitched and a little nasal, some times downs Ayaya's voice. But both of them have really powerful vocals and can hit all the high notes without any problems. The official single has yet to be released, so I'm still listening to the music from the PV from either my laptop or my handphone. Like the 2 previous singles, this PV showcases the 2 girls in 2 different and provocative outfits, this time in long sleeve shirts and hats without any pants. It's not as suggestive as the last video, "Melodies", which had the word "lesbians" written all over the video. Still, fans like what they see, and most likely GAM is here to stay. Been quite some time since we had an Ayaya single or a Def Diva single....

We've finally began the detailed planning of our house warming. It's going to be either the end of this month or in April, after we FINALLY go get our dining chairs. I'm looking foward to having a little gathering at my place, especially with my present and previous colleagues. It's still a very busy period for me, but life really begins after working hours. I'll try and give mid week updates and include more pictures, especially since the connection problems have been resolved. Until the next post, do keep the tag box alive by leaving a message here. Cya!