Arashi is a Japanese boy band from Johnny's Jimusho, a very large company that churns out extremely popular boy bands. This particular band debuted in 1999. Somewhere around that time, they had a PV (promotional video, otherwise known as a music video) for their self-titled single directed by Takizawa Hideaki, a member of the Johnny's band Tackey & Tsubasa. While the official PV for the song (not directed by Tackey) was clean and bright, the Tackey version was dark and had the boys dancing around in plastic see-through pants. Somehow somebody somewhere thought it would be a good idea for the boys to perform in the plastic see-through pants. I'm not sure that was a good decision.
A third season of Gokusen!
I absolutely loved the first season of Gokusen. The second season wasn't nearly as good. Despite that, it has been announced that there will be a third season premiering in April. I hope that they don't make the same mistake they did with the second. Maybe they will change things up a little instead of making it a direct rehash of the first season. (Though it wouldn't hurt if they brought back MatsuJun!) Luckily, Nakama Yukie will be back in her role as Yankumi.
Music review: Ken Hirai - Miracles
Artist: Ken Hirai
Album: gaining through losing
Release date: 7/4/01
English translation: Ah I love the whispered voice right by my ear mmmmh... You cast a spell on the overlapping lips
It always starts in a dream and the fear of the light coming in It's as though you'd disappear when I open my eyes
If I hold you, the more I do so this heart is about to tear apart I want to hold you Hold me longer until this pain subsides
I feel miracle when I see you when I kiss you (feel miracle) My spirit will go when I touch you when I hold you (when I kiss you baby) There's no miracle when I miss you when I lose you You're my miracle
If I hold you, the more I do so this heart is about to tear apart I want to hold you Hold me stronger so that this miracle can last longer
If I hold you, the more I do so this heart... I want to hold you Hold me longer until this pain...
You're my miracle About the song: When I first started listening to Ken Hirai, I didn't like anything other than POP STAR. However, his songs have grown on me. Miracles is the type of song that you would make love to. Ken's voice is silky and smooth while the music wraps you up in loving feelings. He may be a little odd in concert but his music definitely makes up for it.
Game review: Dirty Dancing
When I first saw the Dirty Dancing game on Big Fish Games, I shuddered. What sort of game could they make based on an 80s movie? Would it be any good? Despite my worries, I downloaded the trial to see for myself. The game is basically a bunch of mini-games thrown together in the Kellerman's setting. You go between the various cabins playing all sorts of games. There's a hidden object game where you have to not only find the objects on the list but also find keys for drawers because some of the objects are hidden are even more hidden. Another of the mini-games is a sort of matching card game. Instead of being a typical memory game, you have to figure out the pattern for matching the cards or you'll still have cards left in your hand. There's also a difficult time management game. You are given four employees that have to help the customers in all aspects of checking into the hotel. Everything from walking them into the hotel, checking them in, showing them their room, cleaning the room afterwards and showing the customer to their car. It's really difficult to keep everything going with just four employees and the flood of customers that walk in. If you don't get to the customer IMMEDIATELY, they get pretty ticked.
I think there are 10 mini-games total. While I played most of them, the games just aren't very interesting. You have to play each of the games over and over in order to "win" that particular cabin so you can move onto the dance lessons with Johnny. Unfortunately, the game just isn't as much fun as it should be. There's nothing dirty or dancing about it. They could have named it Camp Kellerman and the vibe of the game wouldn't change any.
America's Most Smartest Model - Episode 10
Angela. VJ. Andre. The final three. At the start of tonight's episode, they pack up for an overnight trip to Palm Springs. The three are treated to an evening with Mary Alice. It basically devolved into a night of "My life is so much worse than yours!" Though I'm not sure that Andre participated in that. He seemed to be pretty quiet through most of the dinner while Angela and VJ compared stories of why their daddies left them. For once, I think Andre had the right idea in keeping his mouth shut. After dinner, Mary Alice revealed the first challenge. The finalists would be doing a photoshoot bright and early the next morning. A group of models were brought in to meet the contestants, who had to choose which of the new models would be in their shoot. The group got to know each other and the contestants were ready to pick their models. The next morning, Mary Alice brings in a troupe of stylists and a world-class photographer and just a ton of people, which wakes up Andre and VJ.
Once again, VJ is sleazy and I think Mary Alice shows her favoritism. Individually, she asks each of the models which of the new models they are picking for their photoshoot. VJ, who had originally picked one of the female models, overhears Andre telling Mary Alice that he's going to use the other two women. (I forget the names of the new models. I think VJ's was Heather and Andre had Jane and Lisa but I'm not sure about that.) Angela went with the two male models. When it came down to the official picking, VJ decides to take two female models, basically stealing one of Andre's. I'm not sure why Mary Alice let this happen since she knew beforehand who Andre had picked. Andre went with the flow and headed off to his shoot.
Andre, as always, did amazing in his shoot. He has a very intense look so he can pull off these crazy intense pictures. VJ tried to copy his poses but came off totally wrong. Mary Alice told him that his pictures weren't coming out and to try to be more natural. So VJ hops in the pool with the girls and gets some OK shots but nothing spectacular. Angela's shots all look the same. Same poses, same look on her face, same everything.
At the end, Andre wins the challenge and Angela gets booted from the show. Mary Alice did make a comment about how some of VJ's shots look almost exactly like Andre's. This, of course, makes Andre chuckle. Since Angela was singing through the entire music-themed photoshoot, Mary Alice told her that she would probably make a better singer and that she is not really cut out for photoshoots. She might make a good runway model but not much else. After hugging everyone, Angela leaves saying that she wanted this more than anyone. I'm sorry but just wanting something isn't enough. You have to work really hard and I don't think Angela did.
So now we're down to VJ and Andre. For their final challenge, they each have to make a media-based presentation on why they should be America's Most Smartest Model. Since Andre won the Edge Challenge, he is given a cell phone with picture and web browsing capabilities. Each of the boys get a PowerPoint expert to help them. We get a few inklings of what is to come but then.....To Be Continued. I hate those words!
I'm really hoping Andre wins this. Granted, I actually wanted Australian!Rachel to win but she fell short. I will be ecstatic if VJ loses to Andre. I can't wait for the finale!
Music review: Barenaked Ladies - Alternative Girlfriend
Artist: Barenaked Ladies
Members: Steven Page, Ed Robertson, Jim Creegan, Tyler Stewart, Andy Creegan
Album: Maybe You Should Drive
Release date: 8/16/94
Video link: Via YouTube
Lyrics: You're in an all-girl band Your futon's second hand Your parents understand but you don't care
I have a job in a shop I'm an undercover cop I make sure the customers aren't thieves
Old at being young Young at being old Everything's on hold within our evolution
Chorus:
You're my alternative girlfriend I love you, and now you cannot pretend There's nothing left that won't cross over
Last night we slept on the lawn you woke up and I was gone Back to the dream I dream to leave My life with her is a bore
A worn-out metaphor No more surprises up its sleeve We're old at being young Young at being old Everything's been sold to other's revolutions
Chorus
You live above your dad's four-car garage With your vinyl and imaginary entourage if I pull up in a U-Haul, pack up quick So we can get out of this town 'cause it makes me sick
Chorus About the song: I fully admit that I am pretty biased toward Barenaked Ladies songs. They have so many great songs. This is another one. Alternative Girlfriend is fairly straight-forward lyrically. It's a song about a young couple who have grown bored of each other. I think it's the background music that really makes this song. There isn't anything 'new' or 'fresh' about it but that's the point. It sounds like a whole lot of other 'alternative' songs from that time period which points out the fact that while you may think you are different, you're pretty much the same as everyone else.
Favorite Friday
No, I didn't forget today's Favorite Friday video. This one comes from the video game, Portal. It came bundled in the Orange Box with Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Team Fortress. While Half-Life was the "main" game in the bundle, Portal was much more interesting. Here is the song that plays during the ending credits of Portal. Yes, there are spoilers for the game in here but if you don't know them already then you aren't a real geek!
Game review: Fashion Craze
About a month ago, I talked about Fashion Fits!, a game that sounded it would be about fashion design but was more of a time management game. I recently played Fashion Craze, which is a lot more like a designer game even though it is still a time management game. In the game, you play Maria, a young woman helping out at a clothing store. There are the normal time management game objectives: seating customers, making sure they are happy and taking their money. The customers tell you which color fabric they want and which clothing item they want. So, this time around, instead of just picking out pre-made merchandise, your character is cutting the specified color fabric and taking it to the sewing machines for the seamstress to put together.
I think this makes the game a lot more difficult. Instead of just having a couple of things for your girl to do, there is tons more. You have to seat the customer, get toys for any kids, get the fabric they want, take it to the seamstress, get the accessories the customers want, put the customers in the dressing rooms then take their money when they are happy. When you have more than two or three customers at once, it can get extremely difficult to juggle everything while making sure their happiness bars still have life in them. It's still a very fun game. I enjoyed seeing the different looks that the customers picked out. There were a lot of funny ones. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes time management games but might be looking for something a little bit different.
Tin Man - Part 3
After what seems like forever, I finally got to watch the ending for Tin Man. While the miniseries started out slow, I enjoyed the ending. There were a lot more references to the musical Wizard of Oz movie in this part. I think the biggest downside for the series was SciFi's marketing of it. In all of the commercials I've seen for the past few months, they've been calling it a "re-imagining" of The Wizard of Oz. Meanwhile, it's closer to a sequel than anything. Not a direct sequel but a sequel that takes place a long time after the original story ended. So I imagine that a lot of people were disappointed and there's probably a lot of people that didn't stick around to watch the third part, where they make a direct reference to the Dorothy of the first book. I think I would have preferred to see this as an actual series though. Perhaps with a one-hour timeslot. It would have been nice to have a bit more information on the Queen (I don't think she ever gets a name) and Raw and even Glitch. We learn a lot about Glitch but we only see a little bit of who he was before his brain was stolen. It would also be nice to see where things will go now. What will happen to the three friends? We get a pretty decent ending for DG, Az and their parents but we get nothing on the others. I doubt that we will see any sort of sequel to this so we'll just have to imagine what happens to them.
Need help finding a nursing home?
Recently, my mother had to look at nursing homes for her father. It took awhile to find someplace that had the proper care for the elderly but wasn't extremely expensive. Luckily, my mother is a nurse so she knows exactly what to look for. I don't know that I would have known what questions I should have asked or what would constitute "proper" care. Both my mother and my grandmother worked in nursing homes when I was younger but that wouldn't make me an expert on the subject. I really would need someplace like Bettercaring.com where I can get tips from experts and talk to people who have had to look at homes before. If I'm lucky, my mother will stay healthy for a very long time so I won't have to try to find someone else to take care of her. While she's still too young for it now, the years seem to pass so quickly and I'm dreading the day that she will be "old."