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The list is purely subjective. Those are not in this list would mean I haven't watched them or I haven't finished them or I dropped them or I just don't have much or enough opinion about them.

The notes... )

The list... )

Digitalian

Aug. 2nd, 2015 02:11 am
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It's been really awhile since I did caps for con DVD. Seems that it's already a norm for Arashi to do 2 different kinds of concerts in a year, thus 2 DVDs *Johnny's cash register is ringing very loudly.' Last year went with a blast with Blast in Hawaii and Digitalian. The former gives you so much feels as a fan and lots of beautiful shots thanks to the beautiful Hawaii. Then Arashi went back to their turf, a 5 dome tour, with Digitalian. Since the theme is digital, and based from the album songs, I'd imagine Matsujun had gone wild with the tech stuff for the concert, and I think he actually did that after I watched the DVD. He may do something even funkier than Digitalian in the future, but as of now, I think Digitalian is the most tech loaded concert that Arashi has pulled so far. We have the fan light (that only can be felt why it's cool when you look at the whole dome, not just yourself holding it), the real time members' heart beat, revamped moving stage (I find this one so cool LOL), and the technology for muscle movement to control sound and light (not sure the actual term but it's really cool when it's incorporated into a performance). So what are we waiting for?


Looks cool eh? Honestly at first I'm not convinced I'll like this stage layout, but Matsujun proved me wrong.

Digi digi shiyou ze! *PS: it'll be a LONG caps* )

I had fun watching Digitalian, but does Digitalian get to be my number 1 now? Hmm... that's a tough one. Though I'd say I like what I saw, but I like Digitalian purely from watching concert point of view. The feels are in the BTS DVD (that a session interview of Matsujun explaining the concert concept and the work behind what we're seeing would be nice though), I don't really feel it in the con itself, with exception of Sho-chan seems to be so engrossed with Disco Star walk. So, to me, LOVE is still the number one on my list. I knew that it'll be very hard for the future concerts to beat LOVE, from the theme, concept and fan service. But I'd want Matsujun to beat it! Ganbare!

Now that Matsujun already had his hands on LED tech, when are we gonna see those flying particle tech from Shiyagare in the concert? XD XD
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Love the lighting, and color combination that they use for the PV
Finally! After awhile, Arashi is blessing us with a single which title song I like, coupling songs that I adore, a beautiful PV that I like and easily close one eye on them just standing there looking, well, their usual cool self (the staff kept on telling them that they look too cool for this PV in the making though LOL) and off course, the making and Uraaratalk bonus. FINALLY!!! *dancing around the end of the rainbow with the leprechauns* Johnny's, this is what an Arashi single should be, full of goodies & rainbows!
Why and prettiness... )

Can't wait for the M-Station performance! The performance on VSA was gorgeous, the contrast between the costume and the stage was just mesmerizing.
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Arashi-LOVE

I thought of doing a movie review post today until I saw... LOVE is everywhere today! Off course the first instinct is to listen to it right away. As everybody knows, LOVE is Arashi 12th album, yes they've come a long way and this album adds on to the already huge pool of Arashi songs. Yesterday I complained to my friend that no matter how much I shuffle my playlist, it's always Arashi song, and no, I have other songs too, V6, NEWS, Kat-tun, K8, Yamapi, SMAP, Kinki, T&T (yeah, all Johnny's, but still, they're other than Arashi, right?), so what happen the those other songs? Then I realize that I just keep on adding Arashi songs (they're productive too!) that they ends up to be 70% of the total song list, and this album is going to increase that 70% to probably 75%. So, how this album fares? Regardless, this album will make #1 anyway, come on, it's Arashi, Johnny's #1 cash cow. They have to churn out 1 album per year, else probably Johnny's P&L will look slightly less desirable than the forecast.

Firstly, the cover cannot be cheaper looking than this. When it comes to Arashi, somehow their cover is getting more and more... Off course if we're looking from the concept, it tries to show the more mature Arashi, no more pastel cheery happy Potato, Myojo idol style covers. Nobody smiles, all try their best to look cool and suave and the graphic designer just need to paste the word Love on top of it (different color and slightly different pose for the other version). And Johnny's will make another tons of side money from the shop photos because of this. Then? If I make so much noise over the cover (I don't hate the cover, the boys definitely look good, heck Aiba-chan looks so pretty here, and definitely the shot is done professionally, but still, considering the effort, it's just so cheap, that's all), how about the content?

On the contrary to the cover, with this LOVE, Arashi reminds me to always expect the best from them. I've mentioned so many times in my other posts (I think), when listening to Arashi or Johnny's in general, never expect originality, but expect that they're here to make you happy and satisfied as fans aka customers. I LOVE every single songs (and that includes Sho-chan's solo!). They really thought through and arranged the songs neatly this time. I guess this time they have better planning, scheduling and probably a better song pool to select from. You have to listen the tracks in order, no shuffle, then you can already see an Arashi concert. The tracks show a very different side of Arashi, the mature Arashi, a bit bittersweet when I think about it again, ah, they're graduating from their pastel color idol image, but I do look forward to what mature Arashi will produce in the future. So many different expressions and emotions are displayed from 1 track to another that it feels like you're riding a roller coaster of LOVE (not so much different from watching their concert, I'd think). So imagine that you're in Tokyo Dome with your uchiwa and penlight, only there's nobody else, only you're sitting in that coveted arena seat, the lights are dimmed and bang...
LOVE celebration... )
Overall, this album just shot up to #2 in my list. My #1 is still TIME. To me, TIME is the epitome of Arashi. But LOVE shows me a grown up Arashi, the mark of adulthood and I look forward to the concert... in DVD T__T... I can almost see that this will be a REALLY GREAT CONCERT! Damn! I'll book a flight straight away to jet myself to Japan if I get a ticket (a fan girl can always dream!)... T__T
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So, we all know that Matsujun has been glowing and looking good and considerably younger from the past few years ago (even my friend who's not a fan disbelieved when she saw him on the magazine covers couple weeks ago) over the past months or to be exact since last year. From Music Station in March, he's said that he's been living a healthy lifestyle by drinking veggie juice and eating healthy and that time he shared his tofu recipe, which is yummy (I'm still making it every now and then XD). Now in Hanamaru Cafe for Hidamari no Kanojo, he's sharing his usual 'breakfast' with us.

See? Matsujun still looking good despite the huge panda eyes in this Hanamaru Cafe and you see the glow...

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Matsujun's recipe to glow >__< )

And I wonder if this healthy lifestyle also means... dropping the tabako too hahaha... slim chance, but I'd like to think that he'll do that eventually...
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OK, I just have to try Matsujun's original recipe LOL...
I think Matsujun just whipped up something from what's available in his fridge and I'd love to see what's inside his fridge...

So the ingredients are:
1 block of tofu (don't use silken tofu, the texture is too soft, use a good pressed tofu, preferably those fresh ones)
1/8 pc of onion, thinly sliced
1 box of natto (if your natto is frozen, heat it up in microwave for about 20 sec, then stir it well)
Few pieces of kimchi (I cut it to bite size)
Sprinkles of bonito flakes (I bought those cheap bonito flakes in packets and didn't even use the whole packet)
2 splashes of soy sauce (I use yuzu ponzu, it gets rid the natto and kimchi smell)
Topping: sesame seeds (I didn't bother to use this because, I don't use sesame seeds in my other dishes)

How to: all raw, stack the ingredients according to the order and... done!

Expectation:
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Reality --> my dinner:
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Taste? Surprisingly good LOL!!! And thanks to Matsujun, natto actually tastes quite good (at least the brand that I bought now). I bought Azuma natto (this brand). I think the soybeans used for this one is bigger than the regular natto.
So, surprisingly the raw onion gives out sweetness when eaten together with natto. The kimchi is just something extra to me, to add texture and a bit of sour taste, that's all. You can omit the kimchi and replace it with other pickles if you don't like kimchi.

From this recipe, I get the impression that Matsujun is really an oshare person in real life, and definitely the food he eats are delicate, careful and... definitely not cheap, and the result shows (he's getting more and more handsome this days, don't you think so?)

So, if I eat this like for 2 weeks, will I also lose 3kg? Nah... I don't think I'll survive with just raw cold tofu LOL!!!
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So, Matsujun has been eating healthy. One of them is the veggie juice for breakfast. And now he's showing off his original recipe?
Well, it's simple, take a block of tofu, add on kimchi, natto, onion and bonito flakes and some sesame on top. And Matsujun just lost 3 kg by eating like this.

Me: I'll try tomorrow, so I have to go buy all those... ugh, must travel a bit tomorrow then LOL...
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endless game

Supposed to make the post yesterday but was too tired and stress out due to business review today and now even more stress out afterwards and I got kicked off from office today because probably my boss feel sorry for me, or NOT LOL... So, what it has to do with Arashi's new single Endless Game? Well, this time I literally use this single to escape from the horrid reality lurking in my office until next month... at least... and I only will be able to do my capping therapy probably after this Friday *sobs sobs* but until then, Endless Game single will help me in keeping my sanity and not losing myself into the madness...

Why I said I can use Endless Game from reality? This is what I find the magic of this single, in my opinion. The key to this is that you have to listen the single tracks in order in combination of LE and RE version, I use this order: Endless Game --> Intergalactic --> Magic Hour --> Monokuro (Monochrome). Shuffling this single will be a taboo and should not even occur to your mind at all. So imagine that you're an Alice, walking around on your neighborhood and suddenly you slip into an endless dark tunnel and arrive at...

Let the journey begins... )

The songs ends and you're back to reality! Was it a dream? Ask Arashi!

Overall, with this single, I think Arashi just gave us another single with coupling tracks that we'll listen over and over again and adore them at the same time. Now I have higher expectation over Arashi's future singles and I hope they keep up this good work.
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arashi-calling

I haven't gotten to custom the covers so I just google for any cover out there and I use my favorite. Yeah, I like the lung vessels background and the kakkoii boys on the front. I've been listening to this single for the past 2 days now and I love this single. After the lukewarm Popcorn album (I always thought Arashi can do better, ha!), this single just brings back my high expectation on the boys. While Popcorn emphasizes on the fun, the pop and the bubbly Arashi, Calling x Breathless takes a flip side of it and voila! A darker and mature side of Arashi! And having to do OST for a medical suspense entertainment (I quote Aiba-chan on this) and a sort of Catch Me if You Can with DNA movie helps a lot in determining what kind of music that Arashi produces. As per Johnny's cash cow principle, they're optimizing their chance of making sales by doing double A side single because the drama and the movie are not that far apart. So, can we have more of this kind of timeline in the future? More PVs and ridiculous amount of Nino and Aiba-chan on the magazine covers (I'm surprise they didn't make Nino to be a cover for MORE for this round, or did they?)...
Why this single gets so much love from me... )
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I'm just one of the impatient girl, watching medical drama without english sub. So, I may not understand all those medical related terms going on except the words 'operate' and 'cancer' (yeah, I've watched lots medical drama too LOL). But, allow me to say 1 thing, Last Hope shows that Aiba-chan can act, he just need a better written drama and this is one of them. I didn't see any majorly forced expression that made me cringe, so I'm happy with this and hope he's doing better and better in latter episode. He does need to take lesson from Nino to express more angst but he definitely has no problem in looking as a kakkoii doctor though.

Off course, being cash cow machine, Arashi has to do the OST song, 'Calling,' and I can't wait to see the performance because it's a cool song!

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Proper review will be done after the whole series get subbed, until then... I'm here for the pretties... and Aiba-chan not joking with the 'medical suspend entertainment' thingy LOL...
*SPOILER* TONS of caps to commemorate pretty doctor's first episode... )

And I wish I have Hatano sensei attending to my VERY VERY bad ankle sprain now...
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I've been delaying to do this episode because to me this one is the most difficult one. Besides having lots of words that I have to look up on the dictionary, Sho-chan's talking so fast in news caster mode is not helping at all. But since, this is the last episode of the year (Nino's and Ohno's will be next year? WHYYYY???), then better clear this one ecause there's another stack of things that I want to write as well haha...

I love Johnny's plus documentary in general, but especially Arashi's. Why? Simple, because it's fun to watch and most of the time, it's easier to understand and definitely boring is out of the window. And with Arashi, the fun doubles because you get to see them interacting with general public which they're very good at.
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So here's the last episode of the year... )
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Making this just because tomorrow is HIS b'day LOL and I haven't even written anything about Mikeneko.

So, I thought Matsujun's is the first episode, guess I was wrong LOL (didn't check the date)...

Let's start!

*again, my limited Japanese will end up with me saying wrong info, do let me know haha*

This episode is quite interesting in a way, but it's a bit difficult for me to really translate in details because they use lots of specific terms, but at least, it's less difficult than Sho-chan's one.
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Read more... )
Happy 30th Birthday Sunshine Boy *though you don't look 30 at all*
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I seriously hope they do this type of variety cum documentary more often, not just once a year kinda thing. It's really a good feeling to see them interacting with general public, not just be in the studio with the rest of celebrities, and they are good in doing this as well. The whole documentary becomes much more interesting.

So Arashi no Ashita Kakeru Tabi series this year started with Matsujun's and it's about veggies.
*note that my Japanese is limited so I may made some mistakes in interpreting what they said*

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Tons of caps just because ... )

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His trip is a love story... let's see
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Porridge is a very simple dish that everybody can make, including our beloved miracle boy and this episode shows how it's done well. The only problem in porridge is that sometimes we're not sure the proportion between the rice and water, which is why this episode is really helpful.
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In this trip I went to 2 places for my Arashi excursion... my friend called it pilgrimage to be exact LOL...

Mt Takao )
NTV at Shiodome )
Yokohama Scenery )
Some random stuff... )

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This is the long overdue dish that I'd like to try out. In the segment, they don't really show the recipe so I have to do my own calculation :). But the result doesn't disappoint and now my tummy is calmed and happy. Minestrone is a tomato based soup and when the segment didn't show any tomatoes around on the pantry, my mind when '????.' And the soup color come out red and I was even more confused, so I just google out some minestrone soup recipe out there and see that they use. I also take the liberty of taking part of the Gyoza recipe from Shiyagare :).
VIP Limousine are mostly boring, but there are times that it's informative or interesting and I quite like this one because it involves food. I don't care much about ELT, but I like to see the boys in aprons hahahaha...  

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I always consider working out as a torture, especially running on the treadmill. I've tried other types of workout but none of them last that long and my gym membership is just a pure waste of money, Yeah, I may be just have lots of excuses, but the main reason why I hinder gym at the end of the day is because of the music! It's very simple. I like Johnny's music (fluffy, bubbly, pleasant to the ears and heart type of songs) but there's no way normal gym not in Japan will play those, right? And worse, no matter how good your earphones' noise cancelling feature are, you're still going to hear the blasting standard gym music. So, to not feel so bad of wasting my money over gym membership and to keep myself for not getting too fat from the cakes, I bear with going to gym and exercise for quite years... until... Arashi concert DVDs! Yeah, with concert DVD, I'm bring the gym to my dear home, buy my own treadmill and heck care with my gym membership because at least I work out, healthier and definitely happier.

But why concert DVDs?

Simple answer. Arashi concert set lists have repeated patterns that are perfect for me, at least to my workout routine. For me, the lazy girl, I only need 30 minutes to work my butt off on a treadmill, any workout after that is a plus but not a must. So, this routine fits well with Arashi concerts because they offer you:
  • Disk 1: Opening portion - they have upbeat tunes to hype up the audience for about 15-20 minutes, then about 5-7 minutes slowing down and move it up again. If you'd like to extend the routine to 40 or 45 minutes, that'll even better because the up tunes will be there for another 10 minutes until the next solos or another slowing down. The plus point for this? You don't need to cut, skip or fast forward anything, just let it run on your TV while you're spinning the wheel like a hamster. My fave Disk 1 are Time (the best because 30 minutes is about Yes? No? or Carnival Night and if you feel like it, just run for another 5 min longer until Carnival Night ends), AAA (for AAA usually I end up extending because they slow down after 20 minutes and I like to cool down with Subarashii Sekai LOL), and 5x10 (my work out usually done a bit after Aiba's solo).
  • Disk 2: About 20 minutes after it runs, they'll have a series of high dance tunes again and usually it'll last about 30 minutes including the always cool performances up to their grand dance song of the year and a bit of some cooling down song if you want to stretch a bit. Perfect, right? Again, you don't need to do anything, just let it play and you just need to start running. Example: in Beautiful World, Nino's solo ends at about 20 minutes after the Disk 2 starts, you can start from there and by the time it's aisatsu, 30 minutes has passed!
  • Encore time: Usually is about 30 minutes as well. I usually use this for light treadmill work out (not really running). Time's encore is slightly longer, but that's fine as you can stop anytime.
The other Johnny's concert DVD with similar pattern is V6's Ready, Sexy Honey Bunny and Vibe concert DVD. I like Sexy Honey Bunny concert for workout better because their have lots of upbeat dance song in their set list. V6's older concerts have lots of broken down MC, so it's difficult to just let 30 minutes playing w/o skipping, unless you feel like running while watching the boys talking. It doesn't really work for me because my running is also slowing down as the songs get slower or worse, it's MC time (which is why watching drama on treadmill doesn't work for me as well). NEWS concerts is also adopting the same breaking pattern, so I rarely use NEWS for work out.

What's so nice about this though? Well, for me, Johnny's concerts are always so colorful, full of glitters and pleasing to the eyes. And instead of just sitting on the sofa and be a couch potato, why not be more productive and sweat a little of fats off? :D.

I haven't tried non-Johnny's concert DVD because I'm satisfied with using Arashi's.

Note to Johnny's: If you can come up with proper DVD workout using Johnny's songs, doesn't matter if it's body combat or simple aerobic exercise, or even better, have the boys demonstrate the work out, this fangirl will definitely be slimmer and happier in near future and won't consider work out as a torture, promise! LOL!!!



I'm so happy to see this kind of beautiful scene when I work out, how about you? :)
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Who's not salivating when watching Matsujun's segment of the Unknown Encounter from last week's Arashi ni Shiyagare episode? That shiny Egg Benedict just lingers in my head until I decided that I just had to try to make it. It's not cheap to make it, especially when you're in a country where anything 'Western' seems to have an extra mark up on them. But I did it, and it's like what Matsujun said: 'Oishii! Oishiiyo! Chou Umai!' and wouldn't you just want to try when you see cute happy face like that? LOL



So, I managed to whip up one, try my best with the expectation image carved in my mind.



Read more... )

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