Iida Kaori's son passed away

This news is a few days old by now, and I'm sure you've already heard it. But I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to post about this or not. It's hard to find words to say, to be honest. But I've decided to post about it afterall. It was announced yesterday that former Morning Musume member Iida Kaori's son passed away at 6 months-old on July 27th, 2008 due to kidney failure. Back in mid-2007, it was announced that she was 10-weeks pregnant and would be married to Kenji of 7House, a now defunct band formed by Tsunku. It was a shock, but everyone was happy and supportive. People were saying, "I'm sure she'd make a great mother." And then when she announced her son's birth on February 3rd, everyone was happy for her. We all assumed that the...

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Momo Beach

Before I go on. Let's just take a moment to enjoy that picture, shall we? I dunno what it is, but there's something so "eye-catching" about that picture. Nor am I particularly sure why I think it's so sexy. Perhaps it's one of those inner answers which requires deep meditation to discover. But I can wager a guess. Maybe it's the top she's wearing, which appears, at a glance, to be a little more revealing than it really is. Or perhaps I'm just falling in love with Momoko. It will go down as one of life's greatest mysteries. That said, Momoko really is maturing, both physically and mentally, I bet. Although judging from her week of Yorosen, she's still as insane as ever, but it was more of an intellectual kind of crazy... Ah, who am I kidding?...

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Family & Friends

Well, I'm sorry for not posting up the rest of the "Stories of a Collection" posts (although is anyone actually reading them?) but here's an entirely new post, and not something I've really talked about in the blog either. By posting this here, I'm assuming that none of my family and friends actually read this blog. Oh sure, I've dropped the occasional hint, plugged my blog, whatever. But no bites. So I'm going to assume it's safe to say whatever I want. So, what do these people actually think of my J-Idol "obsession"? Well, let's start with my brother - some of you may know him as Azgaroth over at Hello!Online, I hear he's quite an active poster in the Reina thread. Anyway, I got into Morning Musume back in early 2007, which I've mentioned...

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Hello!Project - Stories of a Collection! [Part II]

So, following the concert, I'd been propelled down the path to Berryz fandom, and ultimately wotagei. And I had decided that my next purchase would be dedicated to my new favourite Hello!Project group. And my chance came when the Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance previews came out. I instantly fell in love with it, and the PV just increased that sheer volume of win.So I bought a couple of CDs...That's right. Jingisukan and Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance. Argueably the best singles Berryz have done to date (although I do love MADAYADE). So let's talk about Jingisukan first.Jingisukan was the first Berryz song I can remember hearing, no doubt I'd listened to them before, but I was still new to H!P at the time, and was still getting used to Morning Musume, I didn't...

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Hello!Project - Stories of a Collection! [Part I]

Well, the 7th was pay day for me, and so the first thing I did was put in my order for several H!P releases that are either just out or bordering on release. Just thought I'd make a little entry to talk about the H!P goodies I've bought over the last 2 years.Well... I say 2 years, but I didn't actually buy anything until the start of this year when I got my very first Concert DVD and H!P item. Hello!Project Winter 2008. This was an expensive first purchase, but worth every penny I spent. (I believe it consumed the remainder of the money I had "requisitioned" over Christmas) 4 Discs. (Wonderful Hearts, Elder Club, Haro!Pro awards, and bonus backstage footage), and the Wonderful Hearts concert instantly became my favourite concert. I've not enjoyed...

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Layout Update

Just a quick entry to tell you guys about the new look of the site.Some of you may have noticed last month that the place changed a little. Namely the position of the side-bar switched from the right to the left. This was just the first part in a (hopeful) number of changes being made to the look of the place. But now, as you can see, the banner is gone and has been replaced with an entirely new one (courtesy of Liamers over at Mayuge Madness) and a new colour scheme to match.I changed, mostly because the colours of the old look were really starting to bore me, and I wanted a bit of a change. And since white technically isn't a colour, it can't be a boring one. Also, this new theme provides a lot of room for future updates to the look, where as the old theme was fairly static and there wasn't...

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LIFE: It's all about the bullies

Have you ever been bullied? No? Well I have, and I'm sure most of you reading this have been the victim to (or cause of) bullying at some point in your lives, albeit at work or school or even at home.LIFE (or ライフ) is a story about bullying. The TV Drama was based on a manga of the same name by Keiko Suenobu. And it's not an average High School drama, in that this has slightly darker themes and plots than some may be used to with other dramas, and as such, is probably aimed at a slightly older audience. The focus is on bullying, but it does touch on themes such as suicide, rape and domestic violence.The drama follows Shiiba Ayumu (Kii Kitano) who tries to get into Nishiko High School along with her friend Yuko, whom she calls Shii-chan....

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What happened to Berryz Kyuuden?

Well, I'm slightly dissapointed in myself, to be perfectly honest. Last month was looking to be my most active month yet with 6 entries by the 14th. Then I stopped. Even despite the ocean of great topics I could have written about. So I'd like to appologise to those who actually read this blog (that's right! All 3 of you!) for the inactivity over the last fortnight. But I'll work to update, and make this month even better than what I hoped for last month!Anyway. Last week, I was in London at the London Games Festival, went to see Video Games Live on the 24th. Sadly it was the only event I had the chance to go to, as my train was leaving the morning after. But it was brilliant. And if there are any fans of games reading this, be sure to come next year if you weren't there this year. I may post...

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