MM in Paris, part three

Well, while I was queueing up overnight for a 'first come first served' autograph session, I started to do the 3rd in my Paris Japan Expo blog updates, but ran out of internet access before I could finish it, but I did save it, so here it is, unedited...;


"Well, today was the day of the concert, and it was fucking awesome.

I'll get to that later, first, a bit of the run up to it.

I set off from my fathers house at midnight, to get to the FNAC signing, for around 4am, which should have been enough time to guarantee a spot for myself at the very first signing session in Europe.
As it was, after a fun night of queueing, meeting many friends like Dran, Laa'Kea, .Brian and Chibilolli - all from H!O, It finally came time to go in for the signing.

I got down into the shop, and bought my CD (A copy of Kimagure Princess - for 11€), and was then told that the signing tickets had run out! I was understandably livid!!!

Anyway, I didn't get to the Expo yesterday, so today was my next chance for a signature...and yep, I failed again, ffs.

For the first time, I met Blu-Cherri outside the H!P stall, who had been frantically looking for other H!O members, and so she tagged along with us for the rest of the day, and we headed over to the signing first - to see our good friend GinaRAWR get her first signature (she was the only one of out intepid band to get a winning ticket) and so, during the signing, a gap in the queue for Aika appeared, so I shouted Aika's name out, as she was right infront of me, and doing nothing, so I blew her a kiss, and she made a gesture of snatching it out the air, and putting it to her lips, so I pretended to faint, which made her laugh.

I hope to do a repeat of the event, today but while actually being signed - she will remember me!

So after the signing event, we headed over to queue up for the concert, after gathering up Maoh-san, our good friend from Japan, who came to Eurowota, and there we sat in the boiling sun for a good hour or two....but it turned to rain and thunder, which was actually a blessed relief, as the heat was very opressive!

The security guard opened the door to the concert hall a couple of times, which drove the crowd wild, as Momusu were warming up in there, and other in-queue stuff happened, including a couple of Japanese Wota who were selling photocards in the queue - I couldn't resist a couple of Chisato, a couple of Miyabi, and a Momo card...

Also, Blu-Cherri showed off her dancing skills, to Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance, and Jankenpyon - she rocks at the dancing!!"

That's as far as I got - so I'll briefly sum up the concert again, then get on to a bit more about that & the following day.

Concert:

When we finally got in to the concert, I managed to get a spot around 7 rows back, with Dran, Maoh, Blu-Cherri and -Kitsune-, and we got all glow-sticked up, and the girls came on.

They sang alot, danced alot, and to be honest, I can't remember what songs they did - except that they started off with Moonlight Night. The rest of the concert was a blur of beautiful faces, chants, glowstick waving, jumping up and down, and sweating alot - all while feeling very light-headed and euphoric.

If this is what it's to be like at an H!P concert, then it's a drug I was instantly addicted to! God knows how the REAL events in Japan will take me!


It's funny, looking back to that night of queueing, how excited I was about getting an autograph, and how that excitement was to be dashed, as the full night of queueing was screwed over by badly timed bad weather, and the inability of people to have a scrap of courtesy.

The rain came down while we queued, and came down hard. Several people left the line to stand under the canopy at the entrance to the Expo hall, and these people weren't the first to have arrived, but the security people let them in, in front of us, and it went downhill from there. The VIP ticket holders had got in 1/2 an hour before us, and virtually cleared out all of the 150 tickets for the signing, and so I had no chance, as I'm English. So I queue. I'm good at it, I'm even bred for it, some would say.

I'm not bred to be rude, pushy and aggressive - sometime I wish I was, but anyway, water under the bridge, etc.... I don't really care that I didn't get a signature, as I actually managed (along with Dran, Nimrod, -Kitsune- and Mnhuik from H!O) to bump into Morning Musume, just outside the Trocadero Metro Station, overlooking the Eiffel Tower

Yep, I know these pics have been bandied about a bit already, but they were from MY camera, so I'm going to put them up for myself - two not very well taken pics of some of the MM girls as I saw them...





We stayed well back, and tried to not interfere too much with their visit, but when Reina noticed Nimrod's tattoo of herself on his arm, she got excited, and took a photo of it (which later appeared on her blog - the lucky fella!), and a few of the other girls took pics of us with their phones, sadly none of these have yet come to light.

I got to catch Aika's attention again, and once more blew her a kiss, which she caught, and ate, then she blew one back! She blew it in a slightly different direction though, so I ran after it, and caught it, and ate it myself - before joke fainting again :D

As they were leaving, the staff came over to us, and asked us if we wanted to be in a photograph with the girls (like we'd refuse!!) and so we lined up with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, and the girls in a line infront of us, and we all gave peace signs to the camera, while they took a couple of pictures - and they also videoed it, so I am hoping against hope for a DVD to come out - even if it's only a FC DVD (I have friends in the FC - I'll get a copy if it comes into existence!!)

Nimrod snapped this awesome pic of me blowing my kiss to Aika, as she spots me doing it, and waves. So sweet!!



Well, there may be a 4th update, there may not - I've pretty much said it all, apart from complaints about certain aspects, but I really don't want to spoil my memories by remembering the bad things.

I'll sign off by thanking all my friends for making it a memorable event - that's friends both old & new - you all rock my world!

peace out!

MM in Paris, part two.

I finally got to my fathers house, and spent a couple of days recuperating, and getting ready for my night time trip to Paris, to get to the FNAC store, as early as possible, so I can queue up for the autograph session there.

Well, tonight is THAT night, and so I have packed, and it's time for the 3rd of my 4 different transports of delight, that are to take me to see the glorious Morning Musume in the flesh for the first time.

Here is my next mode of transport, loaded up, apart from my huge rucksack, that will complete the ensemble.



It's gonna take me around 4 hours to get to Paris, I think, and I hope all goes well - strange country, wrong side of the road, night time etc...

And the worst thing happened, one of my headphones broke, so I will only have music in one ear - nooooo!!!!!!

Hey ho, I'll update again soon (maybe from the queue if there is WI-FI available outside the store, but i doubt it.

MM in Paris, part one.

Ok, I know MM aren't even in Paris yet, so why am I blogging about it already?

Do I have some kind of amazing time machine I used to skip ahead and tell you how the concert went?

Maybe.

(By the way, the surprise guest was Tsunku, and he even danced on stage with MM, and did some of his backing vocals live, and an old Sharan Q number, can't remember which one, but refused all requests for autographs.
Also, if Chibilolli EVER does that to Gaki again, I think she'll be getting a restraining order :P )

Seriously, I'm blogging now, because my journey to Paris is an epic quest ranging across half of England, and half of France, using 4 different forms of transport, all very (well, a bit) different, all for the chance of seeing Morning Musume live!

It all started the day the tickets were to be sold online, I had stayed up all night, to guarantee I could get one for myself, and shortly before buying it, I booked my flight with EasyJet (only £70 return from Liverpool), and had organised hotels, and then the tickets became available, and I leapt on them like, erm, like, well, like a wota after a Morning Musume ticket.

Only about an hour after I got my ticket, my father came online, so I spoke to him in MSN (He lives in France) and he said he'd been trying to get hold of me, because he was bidding on a van on eBay, and could I bring it down to him, and he'd pay all my costs.

Yeah, you guessed, I didn't realise until the next day, that my airline ticket wsn't refundable after 24hrs, so I was left with a flight that wasn't needed, and a wasted £80 inc insurance.

So, to cut a long story short (too late!!) I am now driving this van for him, still all expenses paid, and it now has my motorbike in the back, for me to go to Paris on, and my ferry out is a Fast Ferry, and it's a normal one back (or maybe the Channel Tunnel, I haven't bought my return ticket yet)

Anyway, here is the battle bus in all it's glory, on the carpark of the Cathedral of despair I am writing this from;



Yes, I am mad....yes that is a 16 year old Window Licker bus, converted into a motorhome....and yes, I am driving it all the way to Flers in France.

BUT IT'S ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE!

I'll update when I get to my Fathers house - sayonara!!

it's good news week!

Firstly, this morning, it was confirmed on Ogawa Saki's blog, that there will be at least one show of their upcoming debut tour, in Tokyo, while I am there later this year!

I had been dreading for weeks, that they would have their shows in early October, before I hit the country, so I am so relieved that I will get to see them - hopefully twice (early show, and late show - well, as late as they can perform anyway!)

Also, to complete the week of good news, it was announced yesterday, that Arihara Kanna, ex-C-ute member, and good friend of Umeda Erika, has her own blog at last, so I need never lose contact with her again (she was my 2nd favourite in C-ute, before leaving)
It also appears she is off for a photoshoot today, and the rumor-mill is grinding out stories that she has signed with some Idol Agency - no one seems to know which - so I'm hoping her career is about to take off again. Please gods, let it be true!

Anyway, if you are sensible enough to want to watch her blog for yourself, either go there thru my Blogroll, or check it out here

A little trip to London and one last thing....

This week, I took a few days out of my hectic work schedule, to go down to the big smoke, and see Hangry & Angry perform in a dingy little box of a venue, called the Camden Underworld.

Travelling down with my good friend Pete (sswishbone from H!O) on National Express, was made somewhat easier by the cunning use of a Laptop to watch We Are Buono 2010 winter show, followed by C-ute's Cutie Circuit 2008 - 9gatsu 10ka wa c-ute no hi, followed by the Hello Project 'Huge Battle in Hawaii' TV programme, filmed way back when Kago Ai had recently joined in 2000, where they took Morning Musume, Coconuts Musume, Melon Kinen-bi, T&C Bomber and Heike Michiyo to Hawaii and ritually humiliated them! A good vid, well worth watching.

We dropped our stuff off in our hotel, and went off to meet up with as many people as possible (turned out to be only 2 others, lol, X5-2000 from Norway, and Cdevil4, but we eventually became 5, when we met up with Caradoc from H!O in the Trocadero.

It became time to go home shortly afterwards, but the next morning - after a fantastic fry-up breakfast at the local cafe (full of builders, of course) - the day of the gig, we headed straight off to the venue - to see if anyone had started queueing yet.

Lo and behold, even at 11am, there were 2 girls sitting on the steps, who we later spoke to, and found to be a decent bunch - and only 2 of a larger group (I think).

Anyway, we wandered round Camden for a bit, and went for a coffee in the same Starbucks as Rika had been photo'd in, the previous day, before going back to the venue, where more people had appeared (CDevil 4, Chronik & X5-2000 included) and being true northerners, me & sswishbone persuaded them all to give up queueing and get into the pub next door, where we downed a couple of pints before going off to meet up with KRV, MarkRAWR & GinaRAWR, along with associated others - who included the infamous Chibilolli and Shirow.

I got my lovely Autographed Koharu Kusumi poster off MarkRAWR (which will have pride of place on my bedroom wall, when I can get a frame) and an A4 pic of Umeda Erika from GinaRAWR, which will also need framing ASAP, before Pete went off with KRV to collect Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!, then we all set off for the concert (well, we may have stopped off for food on the way, in Tokyo)

The concert its self was the next location, and we got there, with plenty of time to spare, and crashed 1/2 the queue, meeting back up with all the people mentioned earlier, along with Madlandyman and his lovely wife, and we finally got into the gig.

Right, from this point on, for the next hour and a half, it was all a blur, I can't remember the playlist, I can't remember the temperature or anything else, except the fact that the gig was totally awesome.

Yossie and Rika (or should that be Hangry and Angry) we utterly divine - even better in the flesh than in any photo, and they really rocked the joint.

I spent a good 10% of the gig not in contact with the floor at all, as I got the urge to jump in the air as high as possible, as many times as I could, whenever one or another of the girls looked my way, while thrusting the correctly coloured glowsticks in the air as high as they would reach, while chanting 'hai hai hai', or 'hey hey hey', or even just shouting their name - it was like a fever overtook me, I just couldn't stop!!



As this was my first proper H!P (or loosely based) event, I don't think I was really prepared for the full impact of my Idols being so near, and the frenzy it would send me into. I guess this is what it is to be wota - and after this event I can say that I am at last at home!

The gig ended much to soon for me (mentally that is - I wanted to carry on being hyper, but I was physically exhausted by the end, and was glad of the chance to stop before I keeled over dead), and then the chanting of 'encoru' started - I think I was one of the ones to start it - or I like to think so, anyway - and they came back on, and did The Peace - and I was at it again!! Boing Boing Boing lol.

After the song, came the Q&A session, and the chance for some lucky bastards to get a 3-shot, or a signed poster. I'm not a lucky bastard, it seems.

Finally it was all over, and everyone headed to the pub, and there we chatted for another couple of hours, people from just about everywhere in the UK, and a few fans from Japan all met up for what should have been the real Eurowota 2010 meet!

The whole evening was a triumph, I made new friends, and met old ones, and had a bloody good time, and I really can't wait for the Morning Musume concert in Paris, and especially can't wait for my trip to Japan in october. The whole thing is going to be a revelation for me.

Anyway, the next morning, several of us met up again, and hit London for a spot of shopping at the Japan Centre, then we wandered to Tokyo Toys (again walking in the footsteps of Yossie & Rika), and then off to our seperate destinations, which meant Victoria Bus Station for me & Pete, and another long bus ride home (ending up being 7 hours, due to traffic problems) once again made easier by concerts, and PV's on my Laptop (thank Maasa the battery lasted all 7 hours on my Laptop!)

I expect my next update will be in a month, when I come back from Paris.

One last thing - S/mileage released their Major Debut Single this week, titled 夢見る15歳 - and I must say, it's bleedin' amazing.
These girls are going to go a long way!! They hit No5 on their first days sales, and sold out in many places, which sadly affected their 2nd days placement I expect, but for a first non-indie single, it has done well.



Thanks to GauBan2501 for the video of Hangry & Angry, and smileages for the PV of S/mileage - Yumemiru 15 Sai

slight change of schedule

I said my next update would be another serious one, about Wota & Kimoi, but I interrupt my regular schedule, to just say that today, Umeda Erika, who left my favourite group, C-ute, last October, today published a picture on her blog, of her and my favourite ex-member, Arihara Kanna (of whom no one had heard a peep, in over a year, since she went on hitaus because of a bunyon, then her departure was announced a few months later).



This makes me very very happy - especially coming as it does, on Suzuki Airi & Yossie's birthday! Today has been a triple whammy of fantasticness!

What is a wota?

Well, yesterday evening a discussion flew through the electronic-ether that is Twitter, about what it is, to be a Wota, or what (if any) 'boxes' you have to tick, to be recognised as a Wota, so I thought I'd put a few more points in to express my point of view, about the things people think 'make' a Wota - with a final summing up (probably stolen from someone else because I'm too indecisive to make my own conclusion)

This will be a bit of a ramble, so you may want to skip to the end now :P

A lot has been said on the subject of what it is to be a Wota, and from what I can gather, the 'generally approved' viewpoint is that a Wota is someone who obsesses unhealthily with one specific Idol, or group (or sometimes more - like an umbrella group like the Hello!Project), to the point of wearing photo's of their Idol of choice pinned to their clothes, doing crazy, choreographed dancing called 'Wotagei' and chanting during songs, making 'shrines' of their houses/rooms dedicated to their Idol, buying multiple copies of the same single/album/photobook, going not only to concerts, but to specially planned 'handshake events' where, for a fee (normally the purchasing of a new single/album), they get to shake the hand of their Idol, and say a few words to them, making cakes dedicated to their Idol on their birthdays, and covering their cars/vans in murals or paint jobs showing off their Idol to every passer-by who cares to stare in stunned shock.

Ok, lets break all this down into it's component parts, and look at each one seperately.

1) Wearing of Photo's of their Idol on their clothes.
Ok, to many people, this would be a very wierd thing, and to me, coming from a western background, I must admit that it does seem a little strange, but also, with me being a little older than many people who are fans from the west, and having more life experience (sorry youngsters - but you will get it, eventually!), I can actually see why they do it.
Here, let me explain in my wierd tangential way.
In the past (we are talking Medieval times here, folks - yes, even before I was born!), in the west, anyone who worked for a specific Household would wear their 'House Colours', i.e. a specific uniform, showing their allegiance to their household.
Even on the field of battle - of which there were lots in those time - soldiers of each household would also show these, and in some circumstances, small banners with the house colours/insignia on it would be displayed on the shoulders or over the heads of these troops.
This helped them be distinguished in battle from the enemy, or by followers of aligned houses.
"But what has this to do with Wota wearing pictures of young girls around their necks, and having photo's clipped to their Hapi's" I hear you all cry.
well, it is this.
It wouldn't surprise me if Japan had a very similar thing (I'm not a student of Japanese history - but I do know that the country did have a strong military history, and different colours or logos on your uniform help with identification - so it stands to reason that they would do this), and in a way, the photos can be seen as a 'house' colour - with the house being their favourite Idol.
You see it in streets in this country too, in all walks of life.
People will wear clothes of one specific brand, because they think they are better than all other companies - so proudly display their colours, or a shirt of a specific football team. They are fans of this team, and want to show their fanaticism off - so where is the difference? The obsessive football fan will have a car with stickers in the windows of their team, they will be wearing their teams shirt, and so on. The Wota will have the same, just with a different target of obsession.

2) Wotagei & Wota chants.
Again, to draw from the world of football fandom, is not a large group of Wota doing wotagei very similar to a large group of football fans all pointing at the referee of the game, as a certain thing happens in the game, and they all chant "the referee's a wanker"? The movement of the hand is normally in time with the chant, and they all do similar movements as goals are scored (or so I've heard - I hate football, so really don't know) Or the chants that are made to inspire certain players to better themselves and their game?
Ok, it may look very different, and the chanting for Wota matches whoever is singing at that point in the song, but it is a very similar situation, except Wota are chanting for a pretty girl, rather than a sweaty man (mark up on for the masculinity & normalness of wota vs football fans there!)

3) Making shrines of their rooms or houses.
Right, not much to explain here. It's bloody obvious, and if you can't reason it out yourself, then you are thick.
They have a house, they like the girls (alot). The house is private - what better place to have lots of pictures of your favourite piece of eye candy?
And if you hadn't worked it out already, please go and kill yourself. Now.
Seriously, it's extremely logical that the home is the best place for anyone who is obsessed with anything, to show their true colours, and so they do. Alot. god knows I do too (but then again, I do class myself as Wota - and as far as I know, I am also classed by others in the know as the same).
And yes, my room in my (shared) house is a shrine to my Idols, containing all my CD/DVDs, photocards, photobooks and posters, although with me being older, I frame all my posters, lol.
Yes I even have a few photos in frames by my bed of Ishikawa Rika (god she's so sexy!)


4) Wota buying multiple copies of the latest release.
Again, it's not really rocket science to understand this one. Everyone wants their favourites to do well, and it's a well known fact that - especially in Hello!Project circles - alot of groups have lost alot of their former fanbase, so the hardcore, dedicated fans buy lots of copies of the latest single or album...TO HELP IT GET UP THE CHARTS!!...Also, people have been known to buy multiple copies of photobooks too - again, I'm sure this helps boost the Iol's profit margin and certainly sends her up the merchandise sales charts, but there are other sides to this multiple purchases thing that many might not be aware of, which ties in with;

5) Going to special 'Handshake' events
To promote the latest release, the Idol industry has special events where the fans can 'meet & greet' their Idols, and here's the sales trick... in exchange for purchasing a CD!!
So, if you want to shake the hand of your fave Idol twice (you only get 3 - 5 seconds with them each time), then you have to buy two copies. get it yet?
Since a CD single isn't that expensive, and holding the hand of a beautiful girl - especially a famous one who you adore more than anything else in the world, while she looks into your eyes as you struggle to think of something coherant to say - is always of a greater value than that of the cost of a CD, it makes sense to buy lots of copies!

6) Making cakes on your Idols birthday.
This is one thing that seems the strangest to people outside the way of life, from what I have seen - apart from the pictures attached to clothing. Every time I decorate a cake for my Idols (I am crap at cooking, and I want my cake to be delicious! - but I can do decent Kanji & Kana writing with Icing), my long suffering housemate looks at me like I've lost my mind. I have noticed it doesn't stop him helping me to eat it though!
But to me, it's a celebration of that most important day of the year, for the most important people in the world to me, so I really want to share it with them, and feel joy for them, in any way I can - and since I don't think they'd appreciate a party with a couple of hundred middle aged fanatics, it's about as close as we wota will ever get (apart from when they hold special birthday events - which sometimes happens).

7) Having their cars painted to depict their favourite Idol
I first came across this one when I was a fanatical Hamasaki Ayumi obsessive, and was blown away at the amazing airbrush work done of a customised van, depicting Ayu, and I've since seen it with other artists, so I know it's a fairly big thing over there, and again, it's just another way of saying how much you adore this person.
A persons car is very like their second home - but one that is meant to be seen, and drawing from the football fan thing again (I may as well flog this horse, now I've killed it), they have special items you can buy for your car, depicting their obsession, so why not for musicians too? At least they are creating something worthwhile!

At this point, I really don't know where I'm going - I've started to ramble a bit, but to sum up, after the discussion that raged across Twitter yesterday, no one seems to know exactly what the definition of Wota really is, if there is infact one at all, but suffice to say that a friend of mine hit the nail on the head, so I will post the important part of his summing up here;

"I say a wota is someone with an 'above normal' level of devotion to idols. Other than that I doubt there are any specific conditions." :CDevil4

Bloody good response there - and it took a lot less time to read than my random and pointless waffle. I bet you wish you'd just skipped straight to it, huh?

A lot of outsiders (people who have no real idea about the drive & passion behind the Wota) seem to think that wota are disgusting perverts, (I hear the phrase Kimowota bandied about - literally meaning 'disgusting wota'), and I suppose with the Idol industry being filled with what are - and lets be honest here - very good looking/cute/pretty girls, many of who are very young (read - illegal/jail bait), it would be very easy to tag everyone with the same title, as disgusting, lecherous, perverted men.
In my next blog post, I hope to try to light a fire under that argument, and put it to the test (and hopefully to bed) - using myself, and my own wota-dom as a test subject.

A preview of the upcoming C-ute single - and it's good!

After much speculation on H!O about the upcoming release by C-ute, called キャンパスライフ~生まれて来てよかった (or Campus Life ~Umarete Kite Yokatta~ for non Japanese speakers), finally today, someone posted a concert rip to youtube, of the song*



Many people were gripeing after hearing the title - but not hearing the track, that 'it sounds like a ballad title', or 'ew, makes me thing of High School Musical'.

Well, they were all wrong. It's a decent, up-tempo pop song, where for once, ALL the girls get solo lines - a rare occurance these days (DAMN YOU TSUNKU!!!), and for me, I liked it within about 10 seconds.

This is what you get, when Tsunku get's his head out of his arse, and puts together a more balanced song, for what is the best band on the planet! They could have been huge, had he not kept f+@#ing up their line distribution. A great tune, for ALL the wota to enjoy.

Anyway, rant over, lol. Enjoy the song, I know I will!



*Thanks to KanonChii for uploading the concert-rip.

Lots of merch, and a change in style

Wow! It's been a busy time at H!P HQ recently... with the release of 2 albums that are of interest to me, C-ute's 5th album ショッキング５, and the third offering by Buono!, called "We are Buono!", along with the upcoming single by S/mileage, titled "オトナになるって難しい！！！", and Morning Musume's 42nd single "女が目立って　なぜイケナイ".

Alot of people have (sadly) been slating the the C-ute album, saying it's boring, or slow, or full of too many Suzuki Airi solo's....
Personally, I have really enjoyed it, of course all the singles included (Shock!, Bye Bye Bye, Everyday 絶好調！！ & a remix of 暑中お見舞い申し上げます) have been heard before, along with the B-side to 暑中 - 「残暑 お見舞い 申し上げます。」, which is one of the controversial Airi solo songs - and damned beautiful in my opinion - but the new songs from the album are strong, and in many cases mature, and build on the increasing maturity of C-ute's recent releases.

In many ways it's a sad thing to see, as I love C-ute's young and sweet sound, of the previous albums, but you have to realise that they are growing up, so their music will grow up with them, and in that way, an increased maturity of their sound is a good thing - as you need to develop, or stagnate.


The Buono album was another exciting release, for me, and it in my mind, a very stunning album, full of strong, rocky riffs, added to the beautiful vocals of Airi, Momo & Miyabi, which gives Buono! their fantastic appeal to the old rocker in me.
Maybe it isn't as strong as some of their previous albums, but then again, it's hard to build on perfection, as only different types of perfection will do!!! and in that way, this album delivers.


Now onto the new MM single. This has seen, again, alot of negative views from the fanbase, and I have read uncomplimentary things about it, and the future of MM on the forums I frequent, which saddens me, as personally I love the way MM are heading, as with 気まぐれプリンセ, this is a vibrant and forward looking song.
Alot of people have been bemoaning the quality of the PV too, and again, i say "Bah!" It is nice, I like the 'runway' approach, it shows off the girls well, and fits the songs tempo and feel.


I have yet to hear the new S/mileage song enough times to really decide how well I like it, but from the few listens I've had time to give it, it's going to get a thumbs-up, when I once more get time to put finger to keyboard!!


Also, I may be very well changing the style of Blog post I do from now on, as I feel that just giving out a personal review of new merchandise doesn't really fulfill me, and I'm sure it bores you, the reader, so I'm going to try and start blogging like I mean it, from now on!

Witness random Idol based waffle, personal feelings on the state of wotadom, anger at public idiocy that affects wota the world round, and some upcoming info on what I'm getting upto in my personal life, and my quest to get to Japan, which is ongoing right now!

All this, and more (or maybe less) will be forthcoming, soon! As soon as I can be arsed.

Momo OK!

I recently had the fortune to get my grubby hands on a subbed version of Tsugunaga Momoko's latest solo DVD, Momo OK.

As you can guess, this is a DVD that was created while she was doing the shots in Okinawa for her latest Photobook, Momochii.

As always, Momo is not only beautiful to look at, but is also funny, and continually filled with exuberance, which is probably why I enjoyed this DVD so much.

There has been a rivalry between Momo and the leader of °C-ute, Yajima Maimi, to out do each other in sports type events, even though Momo doesn't stand a chance in any of these, as Maimi is an extremely athletic, tall woman, and Momo is small, and mildly usless at sports, yet has the energy and determination to try, even in the face of certain defeat.

In this DVD, she tries to beat Maimi's time in a 50M Medley swim, but hurts herself before she even starts.Even after severely injuring her finger in a high speed collision with the pool ladder, she is determined to carry on and attempt the battle, but I'm not going to spoil the surprise as to who won.

She also attempts to beat Maimi is a "Side Step" challenge - side stepping between 3 lines, places a meter apart. She did well, despite slipping alot, and it was a very close thing.

Apart from the fun events like those, she also gets to pick & try fresh mangoes, and has a go at designing and hand printing T-shirts.

But the most prominent parts of this DVD are the many interludes where the photographer is getting the pics for her PB, most of which are (since she's at the beach) bikini pics, and as always, she is really gorgeous!!

So, all in all, not only do you get to spend an hour in the crazy world of Tsugunaga Momoko, you also get some beautiful scenery, great laughs, and to bask in the glorious eye candy that is Momo, and you know what? she's more than just OK!

You know what? Why not go and watch it yourself, though without the subtitles....

On YouTube!!