Married Johnnys and Melty Bananas

On Friday, September 28, Inohara Yoshihiko of V6 announced his engagement to actress Seto Asaka. At a V6 concert the very next say, Inohara announced that they couldn't wait to get married and registered their marriage that day. Rumor has it that they had been carrying around a filled-in registration form and once they saw the reaction to the engagement announcement, they decided the time was right. Japanese rock band Melt Banana has announced their US tour. They will be performing just about every day from October 17 through December 8. You can find their schedule on their official website.

Arashi member Sakurai Sho has been chosen as the main announcer for Fuji TV's broadcast of the 2007 Volleyball World Cup. The competition will last from November 2 through December 2.

Game Review: Escape from Paradise

While browsing around Yahoo Games, I came across Escape from Paradise. The description on Yahoo is: "A luxury cruise ship crashes on an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean. Lead the survivors of the shipwreck, set up camp on the island, and build a rescue object to get your friends off the island. Escape from Paradise is packed full of different games to play. Explore the five islands surrounding the main island and unlock new games that will help you gather resources and aid you in your quest."

This is pretty much a Sims game. First you design your character then you are tossed onto a deserted island with one other character. After a bit of instruction from the Tiki Man, you are given some goals to complete. The first goal is "Gather 50 pieces of wood." So between your character and the computer-generated character, you must cut 50 pieces of wood as well as gather enough food so the two of you don't starve. The goals gradually get more difficult but it isn't anything you can't accomplish with a little bit of time. In between the main goals, you'll have the chance to play mini-games such as marbles. (Well, it's not called marbles but it's the same concept.) In my opinion, the mini-games aren't really necessary and end up being more difficult than the reward is worth. I'd rather just stick to the main goals of building houses and wells.

Overall, this game is just OK. It's not extremely difficult so a casual player would probably like it. However, it's rather tedious until you get a few more people in your village. I don't think too many people would stick with this beyond the 60-minute demo.

Music Review: L'arc~en~Ciel - Driver's High

Artist:L'arc~en~CielMembers: Hyde (vocals, guitar), Tetsu (background vocals, bass), Ken (guitar), Yukihiro (drums) Album: Ark Release date: 7/1/99 Video link: Via YouTube

English translation: A silver metallic heart that's gotten hot I'll light the fuse A mysterious feeling of a high Let's kick up a cloud of sand

A reckless heartbeat that stirs a scream Before my eyes is rain drops like missiles

Keeping adrenaline forever flowing I feel ready to overheat Even if I explode and become ashes I'll probably still be just like this, laughing

Outrunning the town, until the ends of the earth Let's let if fly and die together, so give me your hand!

To reach the horizon Let's cut loose until we reach our limit Woh! Clash! Into the rolling morning Flash! I'm in the coolest driver's high Towards the best finale! Yeah!

As far as I can count Disappearing, a pitch black morning will come Those clothes that you're fond of After you change into them, let's get going!

Let's raise our voices impossibly high And break through the atmosphere Woh! Clash! Into the rolling morning Flash! I'm in the coolest driver's high With steel wings

Let's keep racing, until time limit expires The speed is insane Woh! Clash! Into the rolling morning Flash! I'm in the coolest driver's high Let's meet again in the next world, Yeah! About the song: When you think of great songs about cars, you generally think about songs from the 60s by the Beach Boys or Jan and Dean. L'arc~en~Ciel's Driver's High starts out with a revving engine and it only gets better. The only bad thing about this song is the difficulty you may have staying under the speed limit if you happen to be driving when it comes on.

Game Review: The Scruffs

While I was fairly busy this weekend, I did take some time out to play The Scruffs, a hidden object game available exclusively at Big Fish Games. Here is the description from the website: "The Scruffs have enlisted your help to save their beloved family home from being sold. Grandpa Scruff has come up with a solution - an elaborate scavenger hunt to recover valuable artifacts, he's hidden around the house. But in a surprising twist, Grandpa Scruff also reveals that he's been hiding something else - a shocking family secret. Help the Scruffs stave off this looming family crisis and uncover the secret that will change their lives forever."

This was a really fun game. Not only is there the typical hidden object game where you are given a list of things to find in a picture but there are two other mini-games to play as well. In each level, there is a family picture hidden among the other objects. Once you find it, you can play a mini-game where you have to identify 20 'scribbles' on each picture. These 'scribbles' are really easy to find as they are bright and colorful in comparison to the picture. Also, every time you complete a level, you have to piece together an old photograph. Within that photograph is a picture of a special object you'll have to find in one of the rooms in the hidden object level.

Sounds difficult, doesn't it? It's not that hard; it's just not easy to explain. I had a ton of fun playing it and I was sad when the demo ended. Once I have a bit more free time, I think I'll purchase this one.

JDorama Review: Omiai Kekkon

Title: Omiai Kekkon Also known as: Arranged Marriage Broadcast date: 1/11/00 to 3/21/00 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Romantic comedy Cast: Matsu Takako, Yusuke Santamaria, Sato Tamao, Kubozuka Yosuke, Kawahara Ayako, Imai Masayuki Plot: Nakatani Setsuko (Matsu Takako) is terrible at choosing a man for herself. Shortly after she quits her job as a flight attendant to marry her boyfriend, she finds out that he has gotten another girl pregnant. Depressed, she reluctantly agrees to go to a marriage meeting arranged by her parents. Hirose Koutaro (Yusuke Santamaria), pressured by his boss, meets with Setsuko. Can love truly form from a marriage meeting? What is good: The love square between Tanuma (Imai Masayuki), Mika (Sato Tamao), Ohata (Kubozuka Yosuke) and Kyoko (Kawahara Ayako) is frustrating but interesting to watch. What is bad: Both Setsuko and Koutaro are extremely annoying. Letter rating: D+ Overall: Yet another show that I randomly picked from a list of titles. While Omiai Kekkon wasn't a terrible show, it wasn't particularly good either. I found myself more interested in the secondary characters than I did in the primary. After watching the first few episodes, you can pretty much guess how the show will end for them. However, the secondary characters leave you guessing for awhile. Even in the last couple of episodes, you weren't sure which couples you'd end up with. Sure, there are some good moments for Setsuko and Koutaro but there aren't a lot of them. As for the ending of the show, they should have stopped at the credits instead of doing the little bit after the names finished rolling.

I can't recommend this series to anyone and still stay honest with myself. Perhaps, if you are a fan of one of the actors, you might find a little bit of enjoyment in it but you'd probably do better with a different series.

Music Review: Green Day - Jaded

Artist: Green Day Members: Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass, vocals), Tre Cool (drums) Album: Insomniac Release date: 10/10/95 Video link: live performance from 1998

Lyrics: Somebody keep my balance I think I'm falling off Into a state of regression The expiration date Rapidly coming up It's leaving me behind to rank Always move forward Going "straight" will get you nowhere There is no progress Evolution killed it all I found my place in nowhere I'm taking one step sideways Leading with my crutch Got a fucked up equilibrium Count down from 9 to 5 Hooray! We're gonna die! Blessed into our extinction Always move forward Going "straight" will get you nowhere There is no progress Evolution killed it all I found my place in nowhere

About the song: Jaded is the companion song to Brain Stew. (See the music video for both here.) On both the album and the music video, Brain Stew goes right into Jaded without missing a beat. As a result, it'll be difficult for me to discuss Jaded without referring to Brain Stew.

Billie Joe wrote Brain Stew when he was being kept up all hours of the night by his newborn son. That song (and the accompanying music video) is about exhaustion and the hallucinations that go along with it. Jaded, on the other hand, is more about the rush of adrenaline you get when you are completely exhausted. It's a lot faster and Billie Joe slams through the lyrics at a frantic pace. The two songs are perfect compliments for each other.

Game Review: Jane's Hotel

Jane's Hotel is another time management game I downloaded from Big Fish Games. You play Jane, a woman with big dreams of owning a five-star hotel. In order to accomplish this, you start out with a two-star hotel and work your way up. Of all of the time management games I have played, this is the worst. Everything is extremely linear and there is no way to change that. You can upgrade your hotel but you are not given any choices about how to do it. Upgrades are unlocked by gaining more experience then you have to earn enough money to purchase it. Luckily, you generally get enough experience and money in each level to buy the next upgrade. While the upgrades tend to change what your customers want/need, that's all they change. You don't get a "Jane moves faster" upgrade or an "Additional Chamber Maid" upgrade. As a result, both your character and the maid character end up running around like lunatics just to make the hotel guests happy. Personally, I think the guests should be able to turn the TV on by themselves. There isn't a need for ME to do it for them.

If you are into time management games, stay away from this one. I recommend you go with Cake Mania 2 or Paradise Pet Salon.

Game Review: Paradise Pet Salon

If you couldn't tell by now, I visit Big Fish Games a lot. This time around I gave Paradise Pet Salon a try. After all, I like pets and I like when pets look pretty! The description for this one reads: This is no day at the spa! It's you versus Pet Corp in this fast paced fur flying good time. Your pet spa is competing against the evil Pet Corp. You'll turn a small corner spa into a huge success with fast and hard work. But it's not all about speed. You've also got to plan ahead. Serve hundreds of great pets and people too so you can earn more money to improve your spa by buying upgrades and special treats for your furry clients too. Fur has never been this fun or addictive.

When you start the game, you have to decorate your pet salon and buy some equipment. There isn't a lot you can afford yet so you're pretty much stuck with the free wall color and floor tile with just a bathtub and cutting station. Oh, and don't forget to buy some chairs for your waiting pet owners. They don't leave the store until you are finished with their pet and they'll get angry if you leave them standing for too long. After a couple of rounds, you'll be able to buy some new equipment. This is where the game starts to get really hard. You can only afford to buy one new station and everyone wants to use it. It gets really difficult to juggle all the pets and their wants while keeping their owners happy. I came very close to losing a couple of customers when I first got a health station.

Paradise Pet Salon is basically another time management game. Instead of waiting tables or baking cakes, you're grooming dogs and cats. It can be a fun game when it's not too difficult. However, when you can't afford to buy additional stations to help with the abundance of pets coming in the door, it can get overwhelming. So while I enjoyed the game, I don't forsee me spending the money to buy the full version of it.

Game Review: Build-a-lot

Last night, I decided to break out of my video game rut. I've been playing way too many time management and hidden object games. So I downloaded Build-a-lot from Big Fish Games. The description reads: Become a real estate mogul and take over the housing market as you construct, upgrade and sell houses for huge profits! You can flip houses for quick cash or sit back and watch the rental income pile up. Travel to scenic towns and perform special tasks for the local mayors. Buy blue prints of new buildings to build bigger and better neighborhoods! Can you build an ice rink for the Olympics? A new cinema for the local movie star? Find out in the new strategy game, Build-a-lot!

I usually suck at strategy games but what the heck. It won't kill me to play an hour demo. The game actually turned out to be quite fun! I played through the first three towns. Well, I shouldn't really count the first town since that is the tutorial. In each town, you are given a list of goals to accomplish. They vary from things like 'Build 3 Colonial Houses' to 'Build A Library' to 'Hire 5 Workers.' While each of these sounds like really easy goals, you quickly find that you have to do some financial juggling in order to accomplish them. You start out with three workers, one housing blueprint and you need to purchase materials. To accomplish the 'Build A Library' goal, you need to juggle your finances enough to buy the library blueprint, hire two more workers and purchase 1500 units of building materials. In order to get the finances going, you need to build enough houses to generate enough rental income to buy everything you need. And, of course, there is a timer. If you accomplish all your goals fast enough, you get a blue ribbon for that section.

I know that I haven't really made the game sound as fun as it is. It plays a lot like a time management game but it's more than that. I found it to be a really enjoyable game and I just might purchase the full version so I can play some more.

Playstation 3 virtual world delayed

Taking place this week is Tokyo Game Show, one of the largest video game conventions in the world. Sony president, Hirai Kazuo, announced on Thursday that they will be delaying the launch of 'Home,' the Playstation 3 virtual world service. While the service was originally intended to be released this year, it is now pushed pack to spring 2008. "Home" is an interactive world where players create an avatar in order to do a variety of things, such as setting up their own rooms, playing games with other users and watching movie trailers. Sony hopes that the service will bring about new forms of advertising as well as electronic shopping.

Source: Mainichi