Artist & illustrator, part time sweet seller and full time obsessive fanatic.
I like drawing, making things, Japan, Japanese things, wrestling and animals (especially puppies). I take too many screen captures and I shamelessly crush on celebrities.
grrrr I wrote this post yesterday and then closed the tab and lost it all, what were you thinking autosave?? how could you let me down like this?
I came across these Japanese TV commercials (i'm a few months late, I think this was september time) for Shiseido Uno hair product "Fog Bar" (some kind of spray wax ... I have no idea, all I know is my brother uses "dressy trick" and he could have oopted for "ultra sour") featuring Tsumabuki Satoshi (*shrug*)+ Eita (cuuute) + Miura Haruma (dreamy dreamboat) + Oguri Shun (smoldering hotness) TOGETHER, in suits, in LONDON !!! (London, seriously, what?? its probably for the best I didn't know about this or I would have been totally on for the hunt)
witness the cuteness:
Come on Japan, give me a break, how am I ever meant to stop being such a creepy crush obsessive when you do things like this? and then put them in shorts and have them speak in weird one word hair styling language? and the bearskin hats? and I can't believe I shrugged over Tsumabuki before when he's clearly crush material. YOU'RE KILLING ME, i'm dying, I can't even type, I can't stop watching, oh god, wait , nope thats it, I'm dead. How come Japan is so awesome at these collaborative moments of wonder? Like, I was really impressed the time we discovered the Hokkaido X Hello Kitty X Gloomy Bear 3 way crossover goods, but this is like 4 x hot guys X fun X asian babes in London crossover. Its like Oguri X Mizushima X Arashi you know? or Shokotan X Akanashi Jin X Cosplay (I havent written the post about that one yet...its a good one). London, DAMMIT! Is this better or worse than the time I found out about Oguri Shun appearing in the RSC play at Stratford in 2006 :( not sure. Thank you Shiseido hair products promotional department for your unexpected budget stretching jaunt to London.
BRB. just going to nip to London to touch a handrail that Miura Haruma once slid down...
*imagines being in a pod on the London Eye with Oguri, Miura, Eito and Tsumabuki*
Following on from my TOP 5 songs called "Heartbreaker" I just joined 8tracks and made a mix from it with a few more songs thrown in. I think I might love 8tracks so you can expect a lot more to come. You can go here to find me, or just listen here:
This seems like a good excuse for a G-Dragon GIF. OH NO! I haven't made one yet, lets borrow this one from a nice person on photobucket for now:
It completely slipped my mind until now but my vintage trading cards are featured in the December 2009 issue of ..... GAMESMASTER MAGAZINE. Amaaaaaazing:
"Got. Need. Got. If you've ever had a trading card habit, these genuine packs from the '80s are, frankly, awesome. They're all cool but gamers should check out the Video City and Nintendo packs that include stickers and scratch card 'games' featuring the likes of Mario, Link, Frogger and classic Sega coin-ops. Just leave the bubblegum - its 25 years old" awww thanks GamesMaster ^-^
All the retro gaming related trading cards and many many more are available over at my shop: WWW.WONDERLEAGUE.BIGCARTEL.COM
When I got an email that started "Hi there, I'm the Editor of the UK's longest running videogames mag, GamesMaster..." it really blew my mind, this is GamesMaster we're talking about, sure its just a magazine now but, c'mon its GamesMaster... you know? GAMESMASTER:
I really wanted to embed THIS VIDEO but it disabled by request so just watch it on YT. it's my FAVOURITE!! you click below to watch if you didn't already take me up on the link \/
"Games Master I've heard that you can change the track on Chequered Flag on the Jaguar, please enlighten me.."
"Noooo. However I will be able to darken your view of the entire game.."
We just spent a magical power recharging day and half together involving late night diners, milkshakes, animal swooning, therapy, walks by the sea, ice cream, worthing, best cafe, photoshoots, crush talk, special owl love and making my boyfriend sleep on the sofa. We were traveling at about 5000 swoons per hour.
Loulou, here's some friends with a special message for you:
Anyone who isn't my special birthday girl, you should really know LouLou (of LouLouLovesYou fame) by now, she even has her own tag.
Oh dear, its a bit worrying that I left my blog with that subtle emo MCR "I'm Not OK" post 4 days ago? Was anyone worried? maybe you should have been, maybe not though. I'm OK now.
I'm still working through my backlogged lists of posts, i'm a bit obsessive about it, I don't like messing with the order I intended. They're not all Japan related.
I've begun the hard task of cleaning up my hard drive and external hard drive (its clogged up with 10 million episodes of Japanese TV Shows, MVs and full length concerts, pictures of Arashi and animated GIFs of Taemin) and I found some real lost and forgotten bits and pieces in my sorting, like the really weird 15 minute film I made in 2005, lots of odd screen captures of 80s wrestling and some old old photos, including some so old they must have got scanned in at some point. Here's little me: I want to wish belated happy birthday to my friend Verity Keniger who is lovely, wonderful and extremely talented, here is one of her illustrations:
and you can see more of her work at www.veritykeniger.co.uk. Also I have Verity and her blog to thank for getting this song stuck in my head on repeat:
Although I'm a little disappointed I checked out some of there other songs and nothing compares to this one. Oh well.
In other news:
I'm in love with my friends ♥ I can barely contain it.
I'm getting super excited about going to Memorabilia this weekend, although reliving the sad regret of missing out on the Troll 2 opportunities will be torture.
My brother is back in Japan and I miss him already :( I guess i'll just have to go back to Japan :)
I waited patiently by my letterbox for weeks until ... finally ... it came ! A letter from the NHS ... at last I finally would know MY BLOOD TYPE!!!
I don't remember when I was first aware of this but I've known about this for a long time, and its not really something most Western people know anything about (unless they are Japanaholics of course) so I'm going to give you a heads up here today. You see over there in that amazing country called Japan, they believe that your personality is linked to your blood type. Its kind of like horoscopes, you have a zodiac sign and you have a blood type and in Japan, your blood type is way more important to everyone, and I mean pretty much everyone (not just hippies and lunatics). They take it suprisingly seriously, it might mean getting segregated at kindergarten, being bullied at school, make or break a job offer and most commonly play a big part in who you should and shouldn't be dating. Of course i'm generalising somewhat, not everyone believes this stuff, but i'm really not kidding when I say A LOT of them do. Blood types are talked about everywhere in Japan, all the time, on TV shows, in books, magazines, stationary sets, most celebrity bios will include name, date of birth and blood type, its the norm, think i'm kidding? check out this article. So, what's to believe? you might be thinking, 'blood has nothing to do with personality', hmmm maybe that's true but then doesn't it seem a lot more plausible that our blood group might lead to personality traits and characteristics rather than the sun the moon and the planets and all that atrological stuff? (please note disbelief of "astrological stuff" is an example and not the views endorsed by B Bissoux, i'm a totally daydreamy sensitive Pisces and am pretty certain the the universe and cosmos are capable of fucking with my life, so I have no beef with the zodiac). So anyway, blood types, this is fascinating stuff right? so what can our blood type say about us? and for the real beginners out there, what is a blood type? and how do you know what your blood type is?
Here in the UK, or America, or "the Western World" or basically anywhere outside of Japan and few other small parts of Asia, the average person on the street probably doesn't even know their blood type / or blood "group" (if you will). The only reason we would know it would probably be for some medical reason and if someone randomly asked you what it was you'd be like "uh? why? what do you want? a transplant??", well over in Japan it's a common thing "Hi what's your name? and your blood type? ... oh I see, that explains a lot...". I'm skipping ahead already and forgetting to answer my own questions, ummm, what is a blood type? Well everyone has one, and there are 8 different possible blood groups A+ A- B+ B- AB+ AB- O+ O- separated by things they may or may not contain and the + and the - refer to whether the blood is Rhd positive or Rhd negative depending on whether or not the blood carries certain antibodies, the nice National Blood Service website probably explains it a bit better and also tells us that 84% of the population have Rhd + blood. The most common blood type is O+ and the rarest is AB- if you want to know more about percentages or see a chart or compatible blood for tranfusions you can head over here. So what blood type are you? You don't know? then the easiest way to find out is to GIVE BLOOD ! or check your medical records, ok you've done that, you know your type, you can actually discard the + and - bit for the sake of the post because that doesn't seem to come into the Japanese theory at all, so lets get back to that...
Type O: Type O's are sociable, and very outgoing. They are initiators, even though they do not always finish what they started. Innovative and popular, they like to be the center of spotlight and appear very self confident.
Type A: While outwardly calm, type A people have such a perfectionists that they are likely to be balls of nerves inside. Type A people are the most artistic of the blood groups. They can be shy, conscientious, trustworthy, and sensitive.
Type B: Result oriented and strong minded, type B people will start a job and continue until it is completed, and completed well. Type B people are the individualists of the blood groups and find their own way in life.
Type AB: Type AB people are the split personalities of the blood groups. They can be both outgoing and shy in the same time, confident and timid. They are usually responsible, but too much responsibility will cause problem. They are trustworthy and like to help others.
Type O You are the social butterflies. Often popular and self-confident, you are very creative and always seem to be the center of attention. You make a good impression on people and you’re often quite attractive. Organized and determined, your stubbornness will help you reach your goals. You make good leaders. Lovewise, O is most compatible with O and AB. Common career choices: banker, politician, gambler, minister, investment broker, and pro athlete.
Type A Type As may seem calm on the outside, but inside, you’re filled with anxiety and worry. You’re perfectionists and often shy and sensitive. Usually introverted, you’re stable and thoughtful. You make good listeners and are sensitive to color and your surroundings. You like to be fashionable and are up on the latest trends, but never flashy or gaudy. You like romantic settings and often shun reality for fantasy worlds. A is most compatible with A and AB in the love department. Common career choices: accountant, librarian, economist, writer, computer programmer, and gossip columnist.
Type B You can be very goal-oriented and often complete the ambitious tasks set before you. Outgoing and very charming, you’re good at reading people and providing support. Though critical of appearance (but not your own), you aren’t picky and are unlikely to dwell over the little things. Type Bs are impulsive individualists who often create their own path in life. You are very strong and optimistic. B is most compatible with B and AB lovers. Common career choices: cook, hairdresser, military leader, talk show host, and journalist.
Type AB Not surprisingly, ABs can be quite dualistic, possessing both A and B traits. You may be shy and outgoing, and hesitant and confident. You often stand out from others, don’t like labels, and are nice and easy going. You are logical and determined to do things correctly. Usually trustworthy, you like to help others. You often speak in a serious manner. Your patience, concentration, and intelligence are admirable. AB can find a soul mate with any other blood type. Common career choices: bartender, lawyer, teacher, sales representative, and social worker.
Let's witness some blood type proof in action, here we have Aiba doing an experiment with Kindergarten children. How will the different blood types react when Aiba accidentally breaks a special vase? Are A's really the worriers? What do they mean by type O's strong sense of justice? watch and see (make sure you have your youtube annotations turned on for the subtitles!):
Some other facts/generalisations i've picked up from TV shows and around the internet are that a lot of celebrities and showbiz people are type A, everyone in Japan want's to be a balanced average O type and nobody there wants to be a crazy unpredictable AB type and B type boys are no good cheaters.
I'm type A- by the way, and i'm totally sold on this. "cooperative, sensitive, passionate and smart ... they may hold in their emotions until they explode. Many are tense, impatient and unable to sleep well ... the stress is not good for their tightly wired systems" WELCOME TO MY LIFE.
I can't say I agree with every word of it (accountant?) feel free to scroll up and believe you're getting the inside scoop on my inner workings. Its pretty hard for me to carry on with this post and not end up with a bit of an overshare incident when I start harping on about how I'm so artistic it hurts and how I am now desperately clinging to a new found personality trait description that many of you might be thinking may as well have just come out of a christmas cracker. Yeah yeah theres a billion other Pisces out there and a billion other Pisces with type A blood, but I still think there's something in it. Whether you want to believe it or not, at the very least isn't this fun? like in a fortune telling machine or working out your "love compatibilty" in a the back of a school notebook kind of way?
Let's cut to the good stuff, compatibility. After years of curiosity what was it that finally pushed me into action of registering as a blood donor and getting some blood drained just for fun and the 6 week wait for the results? Of course it was my new found Asian crush-stravaganza and the potential sleepover esque crush matchmaking party for one I could spend checking my compatibility with each and every babe who'd ever looked my way (from a magazine page or computer screen...), bring on the Johnny's! Every issue of my Johnny's magazines will remind me what blood type all my favourite Japanese guys are, sometimes there's even some blood group themed photoshoots, and if I need to know some actors then drama wiki is sure to include their zodiac sign and blood type in their stats so I was all set for hours ... literally hours of fun!
So who are those A and AB boys to be my potential soulmates? Well the good news is all 5 members of Arashi are welcome to take me out anytime, as is Mizushima Hiro. The bad news is dream boy Ken'ichi is a bothersome B type but that crush is so strong i'm willing to break my compatibility boundaries, so i'm sure we could work something out. But that wasn't enough for me, I started to think about horocopes to, I mean before I was meant to be looking to get cosy with a Cancer or have some hot Scorpio love so does this mean If I should be hunting for a A type Scorpio now ? (this is all hypothetically speaking of course, my incompatible Gemini of unknown bloodtype knows he's the only man for me) Well I finally found a site that considers my star sign and my blood type! So all you A type Pisces ladies out there "Good Match: O-type and AB-type Cancers, Taurus and Capricorns are people that will bring you a lot of bliss. These three signs are able to guide you in amazing ways. Partners who will not betray are A-type Taurus, O-type Scorpios, and AB-type Pisces. Bad Match: B-type Sagittarius and Gemini easily break promises and don't even feel guilty about that. They are trouble for you because what you will feel is betrayal." OK so cross reference my dreamboats and who am I left with?
AB type Capricorn Aiba Maski, O type Cancer Akanishi Jin, O type Capricorn Oguri Shun bringing me "a lot of bliss and guiding me in amazing ways" and of course ...
A type Taurus Yokoyama Yu who will not betray me.
I'm good with that.
Oh one last thing I'd like any possible suitors to remember when it come to courting type A girls like me, "extravagant gifts will make her well-disposed toward you" I hope you're listening Bakanishi.
If I have any readers left by now, what blood type are you? what do you think about this theory? comments please.
Aside from wanting to spend some quality time with my wispa sister goth twin Charlotte Puppy ♥ the other reason I hauled my tired body through 4.5/6.5 (on a sunday) hours of trains-a-go-go and traveled 222 miles across the country was to watch a film. This film:
BEST WORST MOVIE "a documentary about one of the worst films ever made - Troll 2"
If like me, you are a devout Troll 2 fan then YOU MUST WATCH THIS MOVIE! If that teaser trailer piqued your interest even a little bit, you should watch this movie, if you've never seen Troll 2 or never even heard of it, you should watch this movie. WATCH THIS MOVIE.
Its fascinating, engaging, hilarious, heart warming and heart breaking all at the same time. I rarely like review movies from the slightest angle of seriousness but honestly, this was sooo good, the content was great, the pace was great, the editing was fantastic, an excellent documentary. I haven't been so filled with anticipation and so thoroughly excited and blissful throughout a film screening since probably back in 2004 when I finally got to see A Dirty Shame, and you should know by now how much John means to me.
The only downside of this film was the crushing blow on seeing the epic Troll 2 based failure at the Memorabilia show in my beloved Birmingham. I was having to restrain myself from banging my head on the seat in front as I witnessed what I obliviously missed out on at the show I so nearly went to, if only I had actually seen who would have been there, if only, oh well. It just proved that Troll 2 appreciation here in the UK has a long way to go, and although I may have missed the Memorabilia event and the Troll / Troll 2 double bill at the Electric Cinema, I am making up for it tenfold by introducing anyone who will listen to me to the immaculate joy that is... TROLL 2 (remember this post).
Everyone's favorite goblin, the one with the bulging eyes.
"They're eating her ... and then they're going to eat me ...OH MY GGGAAAAWWWWWWWWWDDD"
Warning: PG13. this post will most likely lead to a disturbing mental image of Akanashi Jin naked. I haven't written anything really pervy in a while (brother, that is meant to be enough of a warning to you to skip on by this post or face some hard truths about your sister & the Johnny's love)
I was going through my blogger posts and noticed a couple of unpublished drafts I never got round to finishing. Including this post is about Akanishi Jin naked - what an earth could have distracted me from writing about that is a mystery ?! Ok here's the thing, back in September the KAT-TUN fan community was given a treat / shock when the latest "sex" themed issue of AnAn magazine hit the shelves. Full page glossies of Jin making out with a lady, fully nude is not the kind of thing that ever happens with Johnny's boys ... except about once a year in AnAn magazine, he's not the first, there's been Kimura, Yamapi even MatsuJun (which I am totally not in favour of btw, not for some creepy Arashi fan reason, just because I find pseudo sexy super skinny child face Jun totally creepy).
So anyway, Akanishi Jin proved to everyone that he isn't hiding any puppy fat under those stylishly layered flannel shirts and bared all. People seemed to be really flipping out over it and not all of them in an "OMG OMG" fangirl way, but in a baaaad way. I think it was a mix of people shocked to see a usually fully dressed modest Johnny's boy undressed (I say modest, but Jin is in KAT-TUN so...), people who don't like Jin and people who don't like any kind of racy photoshoot (the prudish still exist among us). The positive responses ranged from its hilarious to mesmerised Jin lovers drooling over their keyboards. I guess i'm somewhere between the two on those, mostly I'll go with hilarious. For full coverage of the shoot check out this brilliant flailing post over here on livejournal with 17 edits throughout the day where the girl was clearly loosing her mind everytime she found a slightly bigger picture or a better quality scan. If you ever wanted to know what its like inside the dangerous workings of a fangirl's mind (and scrolling through my blog hasn't given you enough of an idea) then read through that post, it's best if you read it out loud and punctuate every "OMG" with a hand gesture like clutching your heart or covering your mouth with your hand in mock shock. Its pretty impressive. If you're curious about seeing more racy Johnny's pictures then try this amazing post of AnAn sexy photoshoot comparison, everything you need in one place. You might want to prepare yourself, naked Shingo ahoy, somehow seems like looking at pictures of a senior co-worker naked or something, it's not for me :/
Anyway the whole Akanishi Jin naked saga got even better when I read this story translated from a Tokyo Sports article on Jin's photoshoot, and to cut a short story even shorter, or just to paraphrase it in my own words: after writhing around nude with the sexy lady on top of him for "several hours" Jin was reluctant to stand up and then sheepishly went to make his exit (to the bathroom.. their words not mine...) and his robe slipped open giving the staff a glimpse of his manhood, get ready for the punchline ... the witness described it as looking like "an extra large kyo-nasu" ( Kyoto Eggplant ) ???!?!?!?!?
LOLLLLLLLLZ. I can't relive the thigh slapping, foot stamping might LOLs I got when I first read that quote at 8am one dreary morning over my breakfast, but I'll keep on trying.
I have a question, do they mean ... no wait, I have many questions... I just, ummm, Eggplant. OK. The final icing on the cake is this latest funfilled Jin escapade was discovering this genius and their image search find of the possible penis reference comparison chart here. Oh MY. This is why I love fangirls.
I also love how if you search "kyo-nasu" in google, aside from the top result the next 5 results are all relating to Bakanishi's own eggplant ...
hey, it doesn't take much to get a rise out of me ... tsk tsk. mwa ha ha ha ha ha.
Above is Nozomi Ohashi is the little girl who sang the adorable song from the animated film "Gake no ue no Ponyo" about the adorable little fish child who lives on the cliffs (check out my brother's blog entry about this back in July 2008). Below is someone dressed up as Nozomi Ohashi for Halloween:
and just who is this adorable Ohashi cosplay girl?
Oh. It's Daigo. As in...
DAIGO
1000 points to Daigo, its awesome. Its awesome that he posted that picture on his twitter and better still that Daigo has a twitter account, consider it followed. You might remember my brief introduction to Daigo in my post about Tensei! Shimura Zoo when he went to visit the guide dogs (it wasn't really much of an introduction to be honest). To get you up to speed, Daigo is the singer of rock / pop band Breakerz and previously was a solo artist under the name Daigo Stardust and he has his own hand gesture. I don't really like his music, so you think I like him for his looks, well no, its not that either, I pretty much only like him for his hand gesture, that and my impression of his slightly simple brain. My favourite Daigo moments, all of which seem to include Aiba Masaki (whom I love for his music, his looks and just about everything about him from his bad attempts at English to his eerie hula dancing ability and his numerous occasions of crying in public), include the time Daigo and Aiba attempted to herd sheep (sadly the video has been removed from youtuube :( ) and the time Daigo was the guest on Arashi no Shukudai-kun and he starting saying really weird stuff about him and Aiba being the the only two types of a rare species of being, it was special (again I can't find the clip anymore, so just take my word for it)
And who knew Teppei Koike was on twitter?! DO YOUR BEST TEPPEI. YOU CAN DO IT!
“I hate the ocean… (laughs) ... Well, I’m not comfortable with objects bigger than myself or wide spaces! (laughs) I feel calmer in narrow spaces like closets and stuff, rather than in the ocean.”
"When I was 18 and wanted to become a director, I told this to the management and they told me to try writing a story… So I wrote two stories, each with a motif fashioned after the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid tells the story of a mermaid who fell in love, and in order to pursue her beloved prince, paid the price of losing her senses gradually. In a bid to get her beloved to reciprocate her love, to just turn his face to her, she loses her senses. Sight, sense of hearing and taste went away one by one. In the end, when she thought that her lover had died, she cut her own body. By that time, her sense of touch had already been lost, so she could feel no pain. So in other words, although she badly wanted to die, she couldn’t. Thus she lived on eternally in despair. Looking back, that was really surreal. I wonder why I wrote something like that. (laughs)"
Ninomiya Kazunari, never ceases to amaze me.kind translation about the ocean from here kind translation about disturbing little mermaid based stories from here
I don't know why but I have an overwhelming desire to dress up like a kitten today. I am having a complete fashion identity crisis and all I am sure of is that I like to dress like animals. Its a start. Sadly I didn't find the time to actually do it, but I found the time to create this inspirational feline dressing post.
I want to be back in Japan. A land that embraces cosplay and where a selection of ears and bows are readily available. I just really really want to go back to Japan.
*imagines being in a pod on the London Eye with Oguri, Miura, Eito and Tsumabuki*
