Music review: Gackt - Mirror

Artist: Gackt Album: Mars Release date: 4/26/00 Video link: On YouTube

English translation by Mina-P: You're never around during the crucial times You're not sure what's important to you Someone's sick of you

You only chase after novelties "Where did those good old days go!!" You have no right to lament things like that

Reflected in your eyes, my face doesn't return anything From the beginning you must have known...

Rush down underneath these heavens By yourself... I wonder if your arms can catch my fostered body

"I'll save the things I believe in" you say The angels are good at excuses with their nonsense, but god's also good at lying

Reflected in my eyes, your tears are all phony In the end I knew you must be smiling...

Embrace each other underneath these heavens The two of us... Your voice shouts, like it's reaching out to my broken heart... And then Hold me tighter

In order to get something, you have to lose something and someone will be hurt

Fall in love underneath these heavens Just a little bit... Because your voice lit a fire in my shyness

Because if these great emotions don't reach out Courageously... Your finger will strike the last blow to my shattered heart About the song: I love this song. It's extremely upbeat and it tells people to GO for what you want. Stop whining about things that happened in the past, look forward and find what it is that you want in life. It's a little annoying when Gackt performs this song because he always stops in the middle to yell with the audience. He runs and jumps around for the beginning of the song so I guess he gets tired and that is the closest he gets to a break. At least he looks like he's having fun performing it. I recommend this song to everyone. It's great to listen to when you're feeling a little down about life or even when you're happy and just want to listen to an awesome song.

JDorama review: Akihabara@DEEP

Title: akihabara@DEEP Broadcast date: 6/19/06 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Action and Adventure Cast: Kazama Shunsuke, Ikuta Toma, Himura Yuuki, Hoshino Gen, Matsushima Hatsune, Kosaka Yuka, Honjou Manami, Kitamura Kazuki Plot: A group of otaku come together to form a troubleshooting company. They try their best to solve the problems of the people in Akihabara. What is good: Kitamura Kazuki is an awesome villian What is bad: Maybe it's because the concept of Japanese otaku is so foreign but they seemed to overreact to just about everything. Letter rating: A+ Overall: I went into this series expecting something along the lines of Densha Otoko. However, I think this is so much better because it doesn't revolve around the life of one person. You have six people, each with some sort of oddity. Each of them turned to a website, Yui's Lifeguard, in order to help them live their daily lives. It's through this website that they come together and become friends. It was really awesome to watch these people grow into something more than just otaku. They really become close friends.

On the other side, you have Nakagomi Takashi (Kitamura Kazuki) as the bad guy. Kitamura played the bad guy in the latest Densha Otoko special. I think he may be getting a little too close to his otaku side! While Nakagomi is a creepy character, Kitamura plays him perfectly. He really was my favorite character here.

I would recommend this series to anyone interested in the otaku culture. You may not understand a lot of things if you don't have at least a tiny grasp of what otaku means to the Japanese people. "Otaku" in America is very different from "otaku" in Japan. If you can make that distinction, I think you would really enjoy the series.

Entertainment News From America

I'm sure a lot of you out there watch 24. The seventh season of the show will be starting early next year and Janeane Garofalo will be joining the cast this time around. She will be playing a government agent assigned to assist Jack Bauer. Madonna is in talks to part ways with her record label, Warner Music Group, after her current contract ends. The contract will end after she releases two more albums on the label. It is rumored that she is considering heading over to LiveNation, an Los Angeles-based promotions company and venue owner.

Speaking of music news, The Violent Femmes are heading to court. Bassist Brian Ritchie is suing lead singer Gordon Gano, claiming he was denied credit for some of the group's songs and the earnings that go along with it. There are also accusations of Gano trashing the band's reputation by allowing "Blister In The Sun" to be used in a Wendy's commercial. Ritchie seeks a ruling that will name him half-owner of the band, an accounting of past and future royalties, as well as unspecified damages.

Finally, Lionsgate has filed lawsuits against several companies for selling merchandise with the phrase "Nobody puts Baby in the corner" from Dirty Dancing. They are claiming that 15 companies are using Lionsgate's registered trademark without permission. The suit alleges that the unauthorized merchandise, which is mostly baby apparel, has created a likelihood of confusion with official Lionsgate merchandise. They are seeking a court order requiring the defendants to pay restitution, a myriad of damages and stopping the sale of all merchandise featuring the famous phrase.

Game review: Little Shop of Treasures

Little Shop of Treasures is a hidden object game from GameHouse. The object of the game is to raise money to open your own shop by helping other business owners with their customers. Each day you will help a different type of business and at the end of the week, you get to upgrade something on your own store. I love this game. The list of objects to be found is at the bottom of the screen next to a picture of the customer wanting to buy said object. There are five objects listed at once until you finish the list. When you find one of the currently listed objects, another customer pops into that space with something else for you to find.

My favorite part of the game is the help function. If you can't find something, the text will turn into a picture when you click on help. This makes it a great game for kids. It will help them learn to recognize words yet it doesn't give them the answer as soon as they get stuck. I found that the pictures were extremely helpful in a tough situation. To renew the number of 'helps' you have, you simply need to find the two question marks within each picture.

The down side of the game is that you don't get to customize your store when it comes time to upgrade. After each level, a specified part of the store is automatically upgraded. You don't get to choose which part or what colors that part will be. It would have been nice to get to have a little more say in what the shop would ultimately look like. Despite that, I think this may be my favorite hidden object game I've played so far.

TV review: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody is another of The Disney Channel's live-action 'tween' series. However, unlike Hannah Montana, this show is terrible. The main characters are Zack (played by Dylan Sprouse) and Cody (played by Cole Sprouse), twin brothers living at the Tipton Hotel with their single lounge-singer mother (played by Kim Rhodes). Rounding out the cast are Brenda Song as London Tipton, Ashley Tisdale as Maddie Fitzpatrick, Phill Lewis as Mr. Moseby and Adrian R'Mante as Esteban.

While I'd normally be cheering for a show with a strong single mother raising twin boys on her own, the mother is anything but strong. She is frequently shown as incompetent as the boys run rampant in the hotel. There are few times that the boys are punished for their behavior. As characters, the boys are annoying in themselves. Zack is the typical geeky yet somewhat effeminate one that always ends up cleaning up after Cody, the typical lazy yet somewhat macho one. In everything they do, Zack goes for the gold despite having to make up for Cody's lack of enthusiasm over anything that requires more energy than changing the channel on the TV.

The supporting characters aren't even interesting. London is the insipid daughter of the hotel. She throws money at whatever she wants but doesn't actually know anything. Literally. Somehow this stupidity is supposed to be funny. It's not. On the other side we have Maddie. She is the brilliant candy stand salesgirl. It almost seems like her entire reason for being on the show is to off-set London's stupidity because whenever London gets herself into a mess, there is Maddie to help her out of it. Meanwhile, Mr. Moseby is trying to keep the hotel running.

I think that The Suite Life may have had some potential at some point. However, they ruined themselves by making half of the characters so unintelligent that it is painful to watch them. Then they put Zack in a stereotypical homosexual role. (C'mon, how many straight men know the songs of Gilbert and Sullivan?) The one redeeming episode I have seen is "Lip Synchin' In The Rain" where the characters' high school is doing High School Musical for the school musical. All of the jokes about Maddie not looking like Sharpay, despite both roles being performed by Ashley Tisdale, are quite funny. However, once again, Maddie has to bail out London. In my opinion, you should just skip this show altogether. Maybe one day The Disney Channel will learn that this isn't a good show for kids to be watching.

Music review: L'arc~en~Ciel - Flower

Artist: L'arc~en~Ciel Members: Hyde (vocals, guitar), Tetsu (background vocals, bass), Ken (guitar), Yukihiro (drums) Album: True Release date: 12/12/96 Video link: On Veoh

English translation: Yes, you'd noticed that in the afternoon sun I was still sleeping The scenario that won't go as I plan Just causes me confusion

Because I can't meet you today I'll just stay in bed and close my eyes Until the morning after the next I'll be fascinated by the you I see in my dreams

Always shaken up by your smiling face I want to blossom strongly, like the sun Because my heart hurts, hurts so bad it's about to break If it's an unreachable dream, at least let me wither!

I can't smile any longer Even in my dreams, you tell me the same thing Beyond my window I wonder what the real you is doing now

In that far away day called yesterday Holding an empty bird cage As I walked on I was probably searching for you

Even though I'm tempted by the vivid wind I'm still chasing you in a daze The sky, even now a blue that looks ready to rain down Embraces me as I gaze up at it

Carrying countless seeds to that hill I'll lay down a bed of beautiful flowers Hurry and find me, find me 'cause I'll be right here I'll wait to be awakened by you

Always shaken up by your smiling face I want to blossom strongly, like the sun Because my heart hurts, hurts so bad it's about to break If it's an unreachable dream, at least let me wither! About the song: Flower is a sweet little song about waiting for the one you love to return to you. I like the harmonica solos peppered throughout the song. While L'arc is usually a rock band, they manage to kick out these almost-ballads with touching lyrics and a catchy tune. Whenever I make a mix album for myself, this song is almost always on it.

Jdorama review: Kimi wa Petto

Title: Kimi wa Petto Also known as: You're My Pet Broadcast date: 4/9/03 - 6/18/03 Number of episodes: 10 Genre: Romantic Comedy Cast: Koyuki, Matsumoto Jun, Tanabe Seiichi Plot: Journalist Iwaya Sumire (Koyuki) has had a terrible day - her longtime boyfriend broke up with her and she got a demotion at work. On the way home, she finds an injured boy (Matsumoto Jun) in a cardboard box. After nursing him back to health, the boy claims that he will do anything in order to stay with her. So Iwaya takes him in as a pet and names him Momo, after the dog she owned when she was a child. What is good: MatsuJun is pretty cute as Momo. What is bad: The "ideal" man that all the girls want (Tanabe Seiichi) is a huge dork, whereas everyone calls him "cool." Letter rating: B Overall: Kimi wa Petto is a very cute show. However, there isn't a whole lot of depth to it. While you like the characters, there isn't anything to make you really feel for them. Iwaya seems to be stuck in this sadness, even when she's supposed to be happy. Takeshi shines when he takes on the Momo personality but is fairly dull as himself. This is something that you'd watch when you have nothing else to watch and you don't want to turn on your brain.

Music review: Gackt - Dybbuk

Artist: Gackt Album: Crescent Release date: 12/3/03 Video link: On Veoh (video also has White Eyes on it)

English translation by Mina-P: A silver dream, the sweetly spun sound of the rain Who's that standing behind you? Once more, close your eyes so we can meet

My burned out heart is bound in chains My torn wounds are embraced by the sun The light and shadows piercing my body, watching...

"Still, you can't change... so, close your eyes"

I can't wait until you find your way here Don't stop, the rain will tell you when it's over Don't cry, until the wishes you've drawn out have been granted

"Still, I can't let go... so, hold me tight"

"That wish won't be granted... so, raise your hands"

Burned by the sun break my body Pain and separation kill time Yearning for the sun entrust my body Embraced by loneliness kill me About the song: I didn't like this song until I watched Gackt perform it as the opening song for his Diabolos concert. Something about that performance left a powerful impression on me. The song is fierce, yet it has a soft side as well. A dybbuk is a piece of Jewish folklore. It is basically a soul that can't fulfill its duty while alive. It will attach itself to a living body in an attempt to accomplish its goal. Once the goal has been completed, it will leave the body and move on. These are not considered good souls and are often known as tricksters. Taking that knowledge and applying it to the song, we come up with a person that died but their soul could not move on. The soul probably could not let go of the person they loved while mortal. So now they beg for release yet they are stuck until their love has been fulfilled. This is a marvelous song that shows how much thought Gackt puts into his music, his lyrics and his performances. (Seriously, how many of you knew what a dybbuk was before I told you? ;) )

Video game review: Snowy Lunch Rush

I know I stated earlier that hidden object games are my big weakness. I also have a fondness for time simulation games like Diner Dash. This time around I tried Snowy Lunch Rush. The Big Fish Games description of the game reads: "Do you have an appetite for fun? Then join Snowy the Bear as he sets out to run the best restaurant in town! Using nothing but your drive to be rich and famous, send Snowy scampering all over his shabby restaurant to seat customers, take orders, serve food, collect money and clear tables. Combos and other special feats can help you earn enough cash to keep the restaurant open, make repairs and upgrade to swankier locations."

This is such a weird game. It has all the typical Diner Dash-type pieces. Customers come into your restaurant, you seat them (preferably according to their color) then you wait on them. To try to keep it interesting, there are a few additions. Now there is a drive-through for you to keep an eye on and important people can make phone reservations for a table. However, it's rather difficult to get over the fact that it is a couple of bears running the restaurant. Snowy is a white bear that handles all of the customer interaction while Browny does the cooking. If the customers were also animals, it might not be so difficult but they are a variety of humans. Still, the game is enjoyable. I would like it better if you had some choice in the upgrades for the restaurant but it doesn't really detract from the game too much.

More HanaDan on the way!

It has been announced that the movie for the Jdorama hit "Hana Yori Dango" will be released in the summer of 2008. The title of the movie will be "Hana Yori Dango Final." All of the main actors will be returning and the project is being described as the last chapter of this adaptation of the manga. Set one year after Makino's graduation, the film will focus on a major incident involving the main characters. Of course, we we also get to see some more ups and downs in the relationship between Makino and Tsukasa. Filming will begin overseas in January.