Yeah, I changed my blog name again...
Idolgasm: The exact moment when a J-pop fan crosses over into full-blown Wotadom
That is exactly what I experienced last week when I first heard Momoiro Clover's first single. You might say "But CK, you are already a Wota". However, as Morning Berryz pointed out to me tonight it is always possible to have "multiples". (Hehehe)
Momoiro Clover's popularity has been skyrocketing over the past week. And they have been getting some notice in the "West" as well. I think that's great. It all started for me late one night in the middle of last week when Jasey from Stage48.net asked me if I had heard of this group. I was sold after the first video. Now everywhere I turn bloggers are talking about Momoiro Clover. SolarBlade from Kurayama Monogatari was talking to me about his review tonight, Annie from Sweet Japan has been regularly featuring them on her site. Oh, and they happen to be the covergirls at CDJapan today!
But my real coup de grâce came when Morning Berryz commented that she has purchased the group's discography! So in celebration of Momoiro Clover's rising popularity, here is a mini-picspam to enjoy!
I really liked this series although they were taken before Momoka had joined. I posted Reni and Sayaka's pictures on my last post. Great photography work!
Hahahaha. When I saw the masks I immediately thought of the robbery scene in Matsuura Aya's Sukeban Deka movie!
And I just love the back cover of the new single for obvious reasons! Hehehehe :)
CK in California
I just love this group!!!
But who the heck are these girls? Momoiro Clover??? Sometimes I forget that there are a lot more than three female idol organizations in the universe. You always hear (insert SKE girl) was in some group, and (insert Idoling!!! girl) was in some other group. I never really pay much attention, and it's a good thing because my Amex would never get a rest!
But I like this group's gimmick. H!P has their fru fru Prom Dress flamboyant look. AKB have the naughty seifuku style. Idoling!!! are the sporty girls. And here's Momoiro Clover with the kawaii Yukata look. Their music seems to have a traditional Japanese flair to it, especially the first single which was released this past summer...
And here is a live version of Momoiro "Punch-y" for ya!!!
They are so adorable!!! Momoiro Clover has been around for about a year and a half, releasing two singles over the past 5 months. And like a traditional idol group, they have already gone through a multitude of lineup changes. They are currently a 6nin ensemble, with five graduates. The most notable graduate being Takai Tsukina who went on to be an original member of SKE48 before graduating from SKE this year.
The oldest current member is 16-year old Reni Takagi, who reminds me a lot of C-ute's Yajima Maimi (when she had long hair...bahhhhhhh!) The youngest member is 13-year old Ayaka Sazaki, because she has an adorable smile and looks like a cross between Maasa Sudo and Kana Kobayashi. Yes, there is always one member of an idol group that will captivate me, and for Momoiro Clover...Ayaka is the one, just adorable!!!
By the way, you can check out their profiles on the official site...
One of the big reasons I am so drawn to Momoiro Clover is their gimmick. The outfits are great, and I am especially diggin' on the music. I love the tradtional sound mixed in with the pop. I really hope they don't lose that, because I think it will make them stand out as a group and possibly be a key to big success! I did notice that their second single, Mirai He Susume! sounded a little more like straight J-pop...
I bought both CD's, which are available in multiple versions on all of your favorite J-music buy sites, as well as their 2010 calendar which releases this week. But what really kills me is that they were doing appearances all over Tokyo while I was there this month, and I didn't know them...I MISSED IT, DAMN!!!
Oh well, thank you to my buddy Jasey from Stage48.net for turning me on to Momoiro Clover, definitely a group to watch out for in the coming year!!!
CK in California
Hi again!
I'm trying to get lots of blog posts in here and on IW as Thanksgiving break's finally given me the chance to do so.
I heard Lady Marmalade on the radio yesterday, and I looked up the music video. Then it hit me. Why shouldn't Morning Musume cover it? There's no reason not to, so why should they do it? I'll explain here.
3. They've already done a cover song, and this one is more of a contemporary AND a disco hit.
Sure, sure. They've done a cover album, a cover version of a Japanese pop hit, and I think they've covered enough other songs to last a carrer on TV, but this would be a cover that they hadn't done: a cover of a cover that was a HUGE hit worldwide, and won a grammy. By covering Lady Marmalade, they could not only get more Japanese fans, but it's highly likely that they'll get more publicity in other countries too, even it's only just a small 20-second segment on the news or a 2-sentence mention on an entertainment blog. Any publicity of any amount is good publicity, right? Considering how popular this song is, a Japanese cover could also boost sales for the single in Japan.
2. The musical style is something new for Morning Musume, and it could lead to a new type of music for them
Morning Musume hasn't really done anything truly sexy music-wise. Sure, they do put out suggestive photobooks, and they often don't wear more than miniskirts or short-shorts on the bottom, and some of those dance moves... But, something that's mature and sexy anyway you put it, like Lady Marmalade might help them get into the sexy music. Because Kimagure Princess was a really sad attempt at trying to look sexy. They have to learn that you can't just say you're sexy and think that it will work. You have to dress in what looks like corsets and short-shorts, look the part of sexy, and sing sexily. They've already got the sexy look down from photobooks, so why can't they get a chance to master the art of singing sexily. It's not like their youngest member isn't almost 17. They're old enough to handle that sexy music, so give it to them.
1. The Fan-Factor
Oh, come on. What wota of the male gender wouldn't want to see their favorite Musume singing what essentially means: "Why don't you come sleep with me tonight?" And the wotas would probably be intensely happy with the whole "I'm sexy" act that actually worked. Also, AKB's strategy of getting their girls dressed up in what would normally be called accessorized underwear has been working very well. Hello Morning Musume, you only have one girl under 18 now... Also, I'm sure that the female fans can appreciate Momusu doing a cover of a song sung by one of the biggest tween sensations of the '90's. There's also an Takahashi Ai and Linlin to belt, which I'm sure all fans and non-fans of Momusu can appreciate thoroughly.
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-Midori
Hello!
Yes! The winner of the Amulet Diamond audition has been announced! And the winner is this 4th grade cutie-
Nanani Tanabe!
And here she is with the rest of the new Shugo Chara egg:
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-Midori
Truth be known, I'd rather have an MB photobook! ;)
So it is time for me to once again do my duty and hold the drawing for the winner of MB's cool Aichan PB prize. I could do the old tried and true pulling of the sheets of paper from my awesome JunJun cap. But I thought I would mix it up a bit. Did you notice anything interesting under the tree?
In honor of MB's new found interest in the group I love, we will be picking the winner of this awesome prize using a deck of totally awesome AKB48 "Team A" playing cards. Yatta!!!
I picked these up on my second trip to Japan back in 2008. For those of you in the know, these are circa A3. So there are quite a few graduated members in the deck. Oh, and if you look closely you will see a little package on top of the Kimagure Princess CD. That is the Halloween candy given to me by SDN48's Sayaka Kondo when I saw them perform on Halloween night! So the way this will work...I am going to use the Hearts and Spades. And you may have noticed there are two Jokers in the deck...
For no reason whatsoever, I chose maiZe to be the white Joker, and Ada xD to be the grey joker. The colors correspond to the outfits they are wearing. BTW, this is the first time I have ever had them out of their original order. And there is no way I am going to shuffle them the traditional way.
Okay, I will keep drawing until I pull a joker, and that will declare the winner. First draw out of the box...
Continuing on...Yukarin of Hearts, Michiru of Spades, Queen of Hearts (team shot), CinDy of Hearts, Mariko of Hearts, King of Spades...
Congratulations to maiZe. I am sure you will love the photobook as much as I love my AKB Poker Deck!
And Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! :)
CK in California
Heres an idea of what had just come out when I first became a fan.
I was a fan as Waracchaou yo Boyfriend had JUST came out. So I've welcomed 10 of Berryz releases.
Wakkyanai (Z) had just came out not too long before hand. So with C-ute I've welcomed 11.
Although Ambitious! Yashinteki de Ii jan had come out not long before the other groups songs, I didn't really become a Morning Musume fan right away. At least the more current gens. I was more into the Happy Summer Wedding Golden Years, than what was coming out. It did take me about 4-5 months, but I did fall in love with Aruiteru, and have loved Morning Musume ever since. Yay! I've welcomed 10 singles with them as well.
I fell in love with W so quickly as the first Hello Project group I ever looked up. I own all their singles and both their albums. The sad part, I fell in love with them during "The Suspension of Kago." So the were in limbo then.
Anyways, to end on a happy note.I try so hard not to love H!P but its such a guilty pleasure. I can never hate it.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
It's too bad that Ohori Megumi is born in August, because so many of my favorite idols celebrate their birthdays in mid-fall. And I am proud to celebrate the birthday of one particular Idoling!!! member who captivated me from the moment I saw her...
So what better way to celebrate than with a mini-picspam of Erika looking totally hawt and showing off one (actually two) of the biggest reasons why she is such a great idol!!!
As much as it is a big part of her appeal, Erika has a lot more to offer than what sits on her chest. She is one of the funniest idols in the business. Her quick wit and playfulness go a long way in making her a must watch member on Idoling's television program...
During my recent visit to Odaiba I couldn't get over the fact that I
was treading in "Yazawa's neigborhood". One of these days I will finally get a chance to see Idoling!!!, and my favorite girl Yazawa live. Until then I will just have to collect as much of her stuff as possible.
CK in California
I have made it back to California, but not before my traditional last-minute dash into Shibuya to find the newest releases to take home with me. I had three items on my shopping list. Fortunately I found two of the three, the only elusive product being Kojima Haruna's new photobook. "Sold Outo" was the response I usually got. I guess that is good news for Kojiharu, but bad news for CK...
Yes, I added the new CD/DVDs from Berryz Kobo and Watarirouka Hashirtai. Each one had multiple versions to choose from. Since I am not a big believer in buying multiple versions of the same CD, I chose version A for Watarirouka because it had the girls on the cover as opposed to the associated anime. For Berryz I chose the Watashi no Mirai no Danna-sama cover since I prefer that song to Ryuusei Boy. I always like to see what the big push items are at the stores on Tuesday. In front of Tsutaya was a booth with a girl carnival-barking for the new Mr. Children.
In front of Tower Records was a display for the new Otsuka Ai. When I walked into the store a familiar song was playing. But I am embarrassed to say I didn't know who it was. I was wracking my brain and finally asked the clerk who pointed me to Ai's CD. That's it, it is Sakuranbo!!!
I was torn whether or not to invest another 4000 yen on her new CD, which was a "best of" Instead I decided to pick up the old cd/dvd single. I headed back to Shinagawa for one last meal in Japan and my shuttle to Narita Airport. I always get choked up when I leave Japan. I'm not exactly sure why at this point as I visit often enough. I'm sure I will be back in the next six months or so. I think it's just that I am so happy while I'm there. It's like "This is where I belong!" Going back to California is such a letdown.
At risk of sounding like a broken record, this is the best trip I have ever been on in my life. I know I have said that on every trip I have gone on. But if you read my day to day activities you would have to agree this one was pretty special. Per usual I squeezed a ton of fun into 11 days. Again I found new areas to visit and new activities to do...
I saw 9 concerts/events, which is one less than my last trip...
SDN48 was the greatest find I had while in Japan. I saw them three times, and watched a fourth show on the AKB48 Cafe Monitors.
AKB48 Team Kenkyuusei: I managed to win two AKB48 shows, although they were for the "research students" I was slightly disappointed I got shut out on Teams A and K (Team B never performed) But Team RS has lots of cool girls in it, and they performed B4, Idol no Yoake which is the current stage I have seen the least. I did watch one Team A show in the cafe.
AKB Infinity: I am so thankful that I got to see both versions of this super play. My seats were great, and it gave me a chance to explore the amazing Tokyo Dome complex, complete with it's stadiums, shops and amusement parks. My only regret is at the end of the day I should have gone to meet Tanabe Miku instead of Sayaka. Oh well, next time!
Berryz Kobo: This show was so much better to me than the Berikore show I saw last year. My seats had something to do with it. But give the girls credit, they were on fire that night and it was a super setlist. And Maasa, oh baby!
Morning Musume: All I can say is Reina's Birthday show...awesome! I have to be honest, I have been getting a little bored with MoMusu as of late. I'm not sure how that will manifest itself in the future. But I am glad I got to see my favorite wonky-girl celebrate her birthday, and it was one last chance to see Koharu perform. Plus I always have a great time when I am with Celestia!
In addition to concerts I got to visit some great places and eat some amazing food. My visit to Tokyo Tower was amazing. The view from up there is incredible, especially while listening to to soothing DJ stylings of AKB48's Umeda Ayaka. I loved having manja dinner with my new friends in Ueno. Odaiba was tons of fun, hopefully they will have more Yazawa collectibles at the Idoling!!! store when I return...
DVDs
AKB48 Budokan Box Set
AKB48 Team K 4th Stage
AKB48 Team K 3rd Stage
Ohori Megumi Pre-AKB Gravure DVD
Erika Yazawa "Yazapai School" DVD
CDs
AKB48 Team A 5th Stage
AKB48 Team K 5th Stage
AKB48 Team B 4th Stage
AKB48 Team A 2nd Stage
AKB48 Team A 3rd Stage
AKB48 "River" Reg. Version
AKB48 "River" Theater Version (x2)
AKB48 "Iiwake Maybe" Theater Version
AKB48 "Namida Surprise" Theater Version
AKB48 "Sakura no Hanabiratachi" Original Version
Watarirouka Hashirtai "Ganpeki Guu no ne" Ltd Version A
Berryz Kobo "Ryuusei Boy" Ltd. Danna Sama-Version
Morning Musume "Kimagure Princess" Ltd. Closeup Vers.
Otsuka Ai "Sakuranbo" Ltd. Version
Idoling!!! "Kokuhaku" Ltd. Version
PBs
SKE48 Complete Book
Erika Yazawa "7ban Second Yazawa" (autographed)
Idol T-shirts
AKB48 NHK 2008 AKB-SKE
Idoling Yazawa #7
Berryz Kobo Fall 09 Tour "Maasa" (w/ Bandana)
Tanaka Reina 20th Birthday T-shirt (w/ wristband)
Misc.
AKB Infinity Playbill (x2)
AKB48 2010 Calendar (x2)
Ohori Megumi Biographical Book (Autographed w/ 2 personal pics)
Nissin Soup Mugs w/ AKB Autographs (x3, Tomochin, Tomo-mi, and Myao)
Ohori Megumi Ameba Pigg Uchiwa (2 versions)
Hatakeyama Chisaki Futsal Uchiwa (autographed)
Assorted Magazines and Newspapers Featuring AKB48
Then you have the pics. This is dangerous territory for me. I have never been much of a pic collector. But I have found people have given me so many that I have started to develop a collection anyway. Most of these were given to me as gifts, and many of them come with the DVDs and Calendars. But I also found myself purchasing a few on my own...Oh no!!!
Pics
Iwasa Misaki x2
Tanabe Miku x2
Komori Mika x1
Ishida Haruka x1
Ohori Megumi x12 (1 autographed)
Infinity Cast A (2 pics)
Infinity Cast B (2 pics)
Akimoto Sayaka "Infinity"
Iwasa Misaki "Infinity"
Tanaka Reina (3 sets of 2)
Sudo Maasa (2 sets of 2)
Takahashi Ai (1 set of 2)
AKB October Team A (1 set of 5)
AKB October Team K (2 sets of 5)
AKB48 Budokan Set (5 pics)
AKB48 Calendar Set (6 pics)
Errr, that makes 62 pics in total. No, I'm not a collector of pics. Really I'm not. You believe me, don't you?
Most of the AKB48 fans have always said to me that the handshake events are the best thing about AKB. And now I think I see why. What made this trip so extra-special was that I got closer to some of my favorite idols than ever before. Most of you know my favorite idol in the world is AKB48's Ohori Megumi. And to be able to "high-five" her three times. And each time it was a warmer experience because she then knew who I was. Seeing some of the AKB girls reaction to my being a fan, like Urano Kazumi, Iwasa Misaki and Nakaya Sayaka was awesome! And the fact that Hatakeyama Chisaki was wondering why I wasn't at her promotional futsal event just made me even sorrier I couldn't attend. I had never seen Chisaki before, and in just a few days she rocketed to the top of my idol pecking order. That's how incredible she is!
At the end of the day I am just a happier person when I am in Japan. I keep hearing the echoes of my friends "You are here often enough, why don't you just move here", "You should have an easy time finding work here". Obviously it would be different if I lived there. Life can't just be about seeing concerts and buying stuff. But the fact is that I have been home for slightly more than 24 hours, and I am already counting the days until my return....Sigh
Pardon me while I go check the flight prices
CK in California
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Yep, the “secret project” CK hinted about in his IntlWota...
My AKB48 Blog
