 | [JAPAN] TELEVIEWS / Friday night TV lineup a mixed bag |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
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In a recent Televiews column for Daily Yomiuri, Wm. Penn wrote, “My plan for a nice, relaxing Friday night in front of the TV was moving along on schedule. Having just savored an episode of the witty South Korean romantic comedy Something About One Percent on satellite TV, I was feeling pretty cheerful. But then, it was time to come back down to Earth and collect some material for this column from the terrestrial Friday night lineup.”"First stop: Bakusho Mondai’s Political Talk Variety (8 p.m., NTV). Proposals to improve the archipelago are floated, discussed and voted on by an in-studio potpourri of talents, politicians and commentators. On Jan. 25, actress Chizuru Azuma discussed the widening income gap and the many pensioners who are barely surviving on 66,000 yen a month or less. She proposed those making over 20 million yen a year pay more into the pension system to support those less fortunate.”
“Several wealthy, well-dressed female panelists protested and displayed little sympathy for the “Japan on 2,000 yen a day or less” crowd. Growling at the TV, I had a great desire to divest these well-coiffed women of their designer duds and sentence them to walk a day in a pensioner’s mompe work trousers before they earned the right to an opinion.”
“My South Korean drama “high” was fading fast so I zapped over to TBS at 9 p.m. for SMAP Nakai’s Variety, where they are currently conducting a campaign to improve women’s lives. The candidate requesting help Jan. 25 was A-san. She had lived with her sister and widower dad in a small house. One day he arrived home with a surprise announcement. He had married C, 20 years his junior, and they already had a child. It was not to be a happy full house. Dad and his wife eventually moved out. A-san married, had two kids, divorced her philandering, debt-ridden husband and moved back home to discover her sister, not fond of cleaning, had turned the place into a garbage bin and Dad, who now had a lung ailment, was moving back too with C and their three kids.”
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| [JAPAN] THROUGH OTAKU EYES / ‘Boys love’ a vicarious escape for girls |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
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In a recent article on Daily Yomiuri, writer Ishida Kanta wrote about the film ”
Ishida wrote, “In Tokyo last month, I watched an unusual movie, Moso Shojo Otaku-kei, directed by Teiichi Hori.”
“The lead character is a high school girl, Rumi Asai (Asami Kai), who loves manga and anime. She often feels excited by imagining a forbidden romantic relationship between two ikemen (good-looking) boys, who are her classmates.”
“However, one of the boys makes a romantic overture toward her, resulting in a complex love triangle–or possibly quadrangle–involving another girl in their class who loves the boy and gets jealous of Rumi.”
“Without prior knowledge, you can enjoy the film, which is based on the manga of the same name by Natsumi Konjo, as a comedy featuring young boys and girls.”
“However, it’s an epoch-making movie in terms of its direct portrayal of the world of girls and women known as “fujoshi.”
Tags: Moso Shojo Otaku-kei
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| [MANGA] Manga review “Real” |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
In a recent manga review for the Daily Yomiuri, Inoue Takehiko reviews the manga “Real”.
Inoue wrote, “Turning to the last page of Vol. 7 of Real, I found myself saddened and disappointed. Takehiko Inoue, the artist and writer behind this manga, seemed at first to be cashing in on his hugely successful Slam Dunk series, which was about a basketball team, by having Real be about a wheelchair basketball team. Sensing a retread, I had opened Vol. 1 of Real with lowered expectations.”
“Boy, was I wrong. And so was the publishing company for promoting this as a sports manga.”
“Yes, the story (which has sold 9 million copies so far) centers on the Tokyo Tigers, a wheelchair basketball team struggling to become the top of its division. Despite this being the setting, though, the story is much more of a so-called human drama in which the characters deal with their disabilities, be they physical, mental or–in the case of character Nobuhisa Takahashi–personality-based.”
“The award-winning story bounces between three main characters: Kiyoharu Togawa, a wheelchair-bound 19-year-old who is a talented and passionate–some would say too passionate–basketball player; Tomomi “Kobe Bryant” Nomiya, a high school dropout who starts the series off by attacking Takahashi; and Takahashi, an arrogant high school superstar who excels at sports, grades and girls.”
Tags: Real
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| [JAPAN] Masked Rider rides again: This time, he’s half man, half vampire and you scare him |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
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In a recent article on Daily Yomiuri, writer Saori Kan writes about “Kamen Rider Kiva”.
Kan wrote, “Superheroes usually reflect changes in society. The hero of the new Kamen Raida Kiva (Masked Rider Kiva) is a young violin maker who is a little antisocial, choosing to avoid dealing with people.”
“While past heroes of the long-running series have been fully human, Masked Rider Kiva gives its lead an interesting twist: He’s half vampire, but doesn’t really know anything about this part of himself.”
“The first Masked Rider series debuted 37 years ago, and many more series have followed. Masked Rider Kiva, which airs Sundays at 8 a.m. on the TV Asahi network, is the ninth of the “Heisei riders” series produced in the current Heisei era, which began in 1989.”
“In Kiva, Wataru Kurenai (Koji Seto) is human on his father’s side, while on his mother’s side, he’s of the Fangire, a clan of vampires who feed off human life energy to survive. “Kiva is all about self-discovery,” TV Asahi producer Atsushi Kaji tells The Daily Yomiuri.”
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| [CHINA] Jet Li’s charity fund helps victims of snowstorm |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
CRIEnglish.com reported, “Jet Li’s disaster-relief foundation is doing its part in helping people who have been hit by the current snowstorm havoc.”
“The One Foundation, co-founded by Jet Li and the Red Cross Society of China, has set aside 950,000 yuan (US$132,039) to purchase food via the Red Cross, the Beijing Times reported Thursday.”
Tags: Jet Li
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| [CHINA] CCTV’s Luna New Year Gala to focus on snow disaster |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
CRIEnglish.com reported, “
“The ice and snow disaster is hogging most of the headlines in the news, and we will definitely put it in this year’s gala,” said Zhu Tong, the director of CCTV’s art department, at a news briefing Thursday.
Tags: CCTV
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| [KOREA] How the Samsung Scandal Gave a Pop Artist a Boost |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
Chosun reported, “The American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein innocently made headlines in Korea a decade after his death when his work “Happy Tears” appeared on a list of artworks that were allegedly bought by Samsung with money from corporate slush funds. The scandal, it seems, has sparked fresh interest among collectors.”"Two Lichtenstein prints will go under the hammer at Seoul Auction today. One is “Crying Girl,” a similar image to “Happy Tears” and valued at W40-50 million (US$1=W944). Shim Mi-sung, the general manager at Seoul Auction, said, “We were delighted when we were asked to auction a Lichtenstein work similar to ‘Happy Tears.’ Many visitors to a preview showed interest in the item.” Galleries say they have run out of Lichtensteins.”
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| [OFF-THE-HOOK] Looking to profile collections or drawings of Tohoshinki from fans worldwide |
January 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · 161 Comments
Greetings everyone,
The outpouring of e-mail from Tohoshinki fans is simply incredible and I decided that I would like to do something similar to our L’Arc~en~Ciel article back in 2004 by showcasing the fandom worldwide in North America, Europe, Asia and South America and possibly other countries as well.
And this is where I will need your help, I am currently looking for fans who have their bedroom decorated with Tohoshinki pictures, fans with Tohoshinki drawings or even a shrine of merchandise of Tohoshinki and even has a dance group learning choreography of Tohoshinki and even cosplay or hairstyles.
I would love to feature you in this article and to showcase how the fandom is all around the world and I need your help.
What I need is:
Photos of your collection, drawings or choreography. You will be given credit for your photography.
For those that are chosen to be featured in the article (this is outside of the fan question part of the interview), I need the following:
YOUR NAME, CITY (Province) and COUNTRY
And for you to answer the following questions:
- How did you become a fan of Tohoshinki?
- What is your favorite CD single and album from Tohoshinki and why?
- What is it about Tohoshinki that you like about their group.
- Then talk about your interest and if you did anything in regards to Tohoshinki (ie. collecting images, magazines, learning choreography, doing similar hairstyles, etc.)
That is for one section of the article.
NOTE ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY (posted on 2.15.08): The only thing I need though is to make sure the photos are large for me. Reason is because our articles are magazine style format (8.5 x 11 inches), what you see on your monitor screen that looks big is actually very small for the article. So, some photos we have received are 1 inch and too small to use. Also, some are compressed too much for us to use. The majority of you sent good size photos but if you think you submitted one that is very small, please send us a larger version. I also will contact you if you have a larger version if possible, when we start on section 1.
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The second section is asking fans around the world “WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT “T”? (their latest album)
NOTE: SECTION 2 DEADLINE IS CLOSED!!! Thank you everyone for participating in Section 2. We have received the maximum amount of submissions for this section.Please e-mail us at: info[at]nt2099[dot]com or nt2099[at]gmail[dot]com with your answers and photos! THANK YOU!!!!
* NOTE: You can still submit to question 1.
SECTION 3: I am looking for information on fan-based events. I hear there are Tohoshinki fan events in Thailand, Philippines, Peru, etc. If anyone can send me photos that I can use in the article, please e-mail them to me. I will give you credit for your photos but if you attend these events, If possible, I would love to use the photo. Also, just a summary of what the event is about and just information about it. Thank you!
SECTION 4: Where in the World are the Tohoshinki Fans?
- You or you and your friends hold something Tohoshinki related (A sign, poster or whatever) but you must take a picture somewhere in your country. Be creative or be somewhere near your city or town’s landmark. The goal is to create a collage of photos of showing the fans from all over the world but I want more photos of the fans holding a sign or something Tohoshinki related in their part of the country somewhere outside of their bedroom. (Example: Holding something Tohoshinki related outside and show anything that is from your country – for example, a fan from France and their fans holding a sign for Tohoshinki but behind them is the Eiffel Tower or something cool to let Tohoshinki know they are in France. Or a group of students gathered together in a group holding a poster or something of Tohoshinki and posing in front of their school..
- Just a brief sentence of where the photo was taken, who the photo credit should go to and that’s pretty much it. Very easy.
- E-mail photo to nt2099[at]gmail[dot]com or info[at]nt2099[dot]com.
AN EXAMPLE OF HOW SECTION 4 WILL BE, CLICK HERE
SECTION 5: MINI FAN REVIEWS FOR TOHOSHINKI ALBUMS, CD SINGLES AND DVD’S
Typically in my articles, I review the CD singles, albums and DVD’s but because I know Tohoshinki are passionate and could tell who sings what part and so forth, I would like to do a mini fan review with a page dedicated to each and every CD single, album and DVD (one page only). All, I need is you to submit a mini-review (one paragraph or two), your name and what country your from. No photo needed. That’s it. E-mail your review(s) nt2099[at]gmail[dot]com or info[at]nt2099[dot]com. And most importantly, please focus on the positive not the negative!
UPDATE (2.18.08): Review page for “PURPLE LINE” and “Together” are closed. Reviews for “T” are not needed since it was covered in Section 2. Still need mini fan reviews for CD singles, albums (including Korean albums) and DVD’s.
AN EXAMPLE OF HOW SECTION 5 WILL BE, CLICK HERE
Deadline: March 2nd (Pacific Time Sunday, California, USA)
Purchase Tohoshinki CD’s or DVD’s
Tags: DBSK, Dong Bang Shin Ki, Dong Bang Shingi, Tohoshinki, TVXQ
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| [YouTube] Video Game Segment Pick of the Day – Disgaea 3 – for the PS3 Promotional Video and CM (Release Date: 1.31.08) |
January 30, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
Our Video Game Segment Pick of the Day goes to the CM and Promotional Video for “Disgaea 3″ which comes out for the PlayStation 3 in Japan on January 31st.
‘DISCLAIMER: YouTube.com videos are courtesy of YouTube and are not on J!-ENT servers
Tags: ディスガイア3, Disgaea 3
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| [YouTube] Music Video Pick of the Day – mihimaru GT – Diverge |
January 30, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
Our Music Video Pick of the Day goes to the mihimaru GT song “Diverge” which debuted at #3 on the Oricon Daily Chart.
DISCLAIMER: YouTube videos are courtesy of YouTube.com and are not on J!-ENT servers
Tags: Diverge, mihimaru GT
