it wasn't me!!

upside:
last night I went out to this photo session thing for Drumline Live, which is a stage show along the lines of Blast! or Stomp. Anyway, they're touring Japan and last night was opening night, so of course they had a bunch of J-celebs show up for it. We photogs were all camped out by the entrance so that we could take pics of each of them as they came in, then we got to go up to the balcony and sit and watch the whole show--and take pictures of the show if we wanted!!--and then there was an interview bit after. So it was all super fun, tho I didn't get home until about 11pm. EX. HAU. ST. ED.
でもね、大体こんな感じだったの:

Former sumo wrestler Konishiki and his wife--believe it or not, this is him *after* having lost about 150 pounds. 

Ai Takahashi, current leader of girl super-group Morning Musume. I was seriously shocked to see her in person, I mean she look like she's about twelve years old!

And Nozomi Tsuji, former member of Morning Musume--only she "graduated" from the group when she had to have a shotgun wedding a couple years ago. Yes, that's right, she's married and has a kid. .......

Not-so-up side:
i sort of kind of broke the flash on the office camera. well, i didn't exactly break it and it SO wasn't my fault! see, it's one of those external flashes that attaches to the top of your SLR, and you flip the switch to lock it in place. well, i did that like i always do, and took my pictures, only when i went to unlock it and take the flash off, it was stuck! the lock is broken or something, and now even when you flip it to unlock, nothing happens. and everything still works fine, except for the teensy minor detail that the flash is now permanently attached to the camera.  and they're not sure if there's any way to get it off again, short of breaking the flash and having to buy a new one!
*cries*
i didn't do it, i swear!!!  -_-;;

in other fail news, clearly I'm not the only one who's having a really really bad day of it. *cough* Kusanagi *cough* I kind of thought the SMAP machine was too big for them to punish him in any serious way, but now I'm not so sure. I mean--making the international news?!--this is getting to be waaaay big. I know lots of people (and lots of people I know) are going to be seriously upset about this, esp if it gets him blacklisted or put on hiatus by the Jimusho, but...I mean really...
The man was found in the middle of a public park at 3am, buck naked, drunk out of his mind and reportedly shouting SHINGO!!! at the top of his lungs.
....it's hard not to laugh.

Lastly, finally and forthwith-- hi mom! I finally got my new twins CD in the mail last night!! with accompanying dvd (said dvd containing the PV for their latest single--finally!!)
also, since Yuzu/Aitai got a bit short shrift cause of this (only 3 days) I'm leaving them up too, as the second song in the playlist.

btw

I've added an RSS feed to the Metpod, our weekly podcast where you can hear the radio stylings of yours truly. Trying to figure out how to add a player here instead of just the feed, but you'll have to make do with this for now.

the wack-ness

So remember back last year when I went to go see the Fuma stageplay? (actually, you probably don't, but I did). anyway. it was absolutely hilarious and the most crack-ed out thing I had ever seen. seriously. and i thought at the time that it wasn't possible to make anything more wtf than the Fuma stageplay. ...oh, how naive I was...
This past Saturday! went with Nermie and Laura to go see two performances of this stage show thing featuring Jealkb (you remember them, right?) and Condors--who I had never heard of, but it turns out are this awesome comedy/contemporary dance troupe. Anyway, the show was called B.L.~Ballad of Lip~ and it was over in sunshine city, in Ikebukuro.
It was ridiculously amazing and hilarious and I am entertaining serious doubts about the mental stability of whoever actually came up with it. There was sort of a plot, all about how because of the Lehman shock, the London Visual Arts Academy (jealkb) and the 近藤建築学園 (condors) merged together and made this new department called the ビジュアル土木課, but of course it's a totally random combination, the teacher can't teach, and they're not getting any new students (就職ないから) so the department is going to be dissolved, and the "students" all band together to save it. Anyway, that was ostensibly the plot. and it sort of went like that, only they kept sticking in all these random comedy sketches and dance performances and skits that were absolutely hilarious but had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with...anything at all, really. The sort of thing that makes your head hurt if you try to hard to understand it, so it's just better not to.
Seriously tho, I was laughing so hard I was practically in tears.

And afterwards... we did purikura! haven't done that in ages... teehee. Me, Nermie, Laura and two of their JAL friends. It was fun times, and they were all going out after, for like drinks and karaoke and stuff, and I really really wanted to go (karaoooookeeeee!) but I'd already made plans to get together with Jason and Felicia over at his place, so I left to go there, which was fun. We ordered in pizza, Jason bought some good Belgian beer, and I supplied Iron Man on blu-ray.

P.S. we also took pics out in front of the BL poster in Sunshine City. got some nice lady to take it for us, as well as got a lot of stares. it's a little blurry cause we had to take it without a flash--the glare from the flash was blanking out Haderu-sama! can't have that ;-P

lastly... PV time! i think this week I shall supply Yuzu's new single, "Aitai." which incidentally is the theme to Nissy's new drama Ghost Friends --which we're subbing. lol. tho by we this time, I don't mean Doremii--or Gekiuma actually--this I'm helping out as a guest trans over at Resie's group, Ikemen. anyway, that's not really the point. the point is, enjoy the PV!

rites of spring

Forget about that flower nonsense--this week, as I was getting my usual Starbucks on the way to work, I ordered my very first iced latte of the year! Now it's official.
seriously, tho, it has been crazy warm and beautiful weather lately. and it's almost golden week... which means vacation days (yay) and also crazy-extra-super-fast-work-so-that-we-can-actually-take-a-vacation days (not so yay). starting next week and for the next three weeks, we're shortening the production schedule by a day every week, with the eventual result that by the time the holidays roll around, we'll be going to print a full three days early. *shudders* i foresee some crazy hectic days ahead. makes me exhausted just thinking about it.
but I've been having some fun, too. on Monday went to interview Nakata Daisuke, professional trampolinist, Olympian and star of Muscle Musical (which is a sort of Cirque de Soleil-esque gymnastics/rhythmic/feats-of-strength type stage show). MM are clients of ours, so Niki-san at work arranged the interview, which'll be a star struck sometime in May. It was a really neat interview, very easy to talk to (Niki was smitten, lol). Even better news, looks like I can score some comp tix to see the show whenever I want! Now, just to find someone to drag along with me...
Then today was the press conference for the new Disney on Ice show that's starting up, so that conf was over in Shibuya (at A-X, right next to the MM theater as well as Boxx where I went to see Dustz show, coincidentally). Of course they brought out Mickey and Minnie, and the obligatory guest tarento was Hirayama Aya, a.k.a. the cute younger editorial girl in Hataraki Man. So that was kind of cool. Will be a Tarento Watch piece in 787, but for the time being see here.
Then I've got another conference tomorrow afternoon, for the opening of the new Uniqlo UT store in Harajuku. *phew* (And I wonder why I'm so busy all the time. actually, I don't wonder, I know)
Oh, and last nite after work I went to the opening of the new Song Bar Street in Akasaka, which is a sort of recreated yokocho style street of bars (i say "street" but it's indoors). sposed to have a sort of nostalgic feel to it. There was a tachinomiya, a new half/owarai bar, an 80s-themed bar, a cool-looking 40s/traditional Japanese bar, plus some others. I wandered around a bit and peeked into several of the places. Couldn't find anyone to go with me, but I didn't mind, and actually ended up exchanging meishi and chatting with several people, so that was cool.

anyway, I should go to bed soon since I have to be like "go! go! go!" all day tomorrow. (thank god it's friday)
PV is Breakerz again, with their new one. It's pretty cool, but I like their old stuff better than what they've put out since leaving indies. oh well, what can ya do.
oh, and speaking of music, Amazon confuses me. I went to order the twins' new album (yes mom, there's more... *evil laugh*) and of course this being japan, there's several versions of the album, some 2-disc with a dvd, some just a cd, varying numbers of songs-- cause (duh) they need to make each person buy as many versions of the album as possible, cause that's the only way you can get all the songs and extras. anywho. i was trying to decide which (one!) i wanted, when lo and behold the CD+DVD version with 13 songs is on sale..... making it actually cheaper than the CD-only version with fewer songs.  @.@  go figure. but hey, i'm not complaining, certainly helped to make the decision-making process easier. lol.

色々

OK, I officially have a new favorite band--and they're not even Japanese! (lol)
so on Tuesday for the podcast recording (www.metropolis.co.jp/podcast for those of you not in the know about where you can hear me every week) we had a special live performance. The band Vinyl Soul, out of L.A., came to our office to perform some songs! You can hear it at the very end of the Wed, Mar 25 podcast. Anyway, they gave us copies of their CD as well, which I have been listening to nonstop. I'm totally dragging some friends with me to go see their concert on Sunday, they're playing at this little cafe over in Okubo, near Shinjuku.

Oh, and I got taken out on a sort of 接待 thing on Tuesday. The good folks over at Iichiko shochu company are trying to market their product to Americans, so they wanted to take some (American) Metropolis staffers out for a  tasting, etc. It was ridiculous. they came to the office for 挨拶 with the sales people and then they took me, Sarah N and Yui (she was like, "I'm a 中途半端なアメリカ人" lol) out to this izakaya in Gaienmae and fed us sashimi, and kara-age and nabe, and then had us drink a bunch of shochu and tell them what we thought of it.
i know, "work is rough," right? lol.

oooh, and last weekend I went to see the Dustz concert. SO much fun! lol. I'm a huge fan of theirs--mostly cause the lead singer is f&%#ing hot, but also because I like the music. and they are definitely 10 times better live, the songs come across much more rock than they do on the CD. Oh, and even better, this concert was officially their last con as an indies band--cause they will be releasing their major debut with Sony/Epic Records in May! Yay! They've (obviously, since they got signed to a major label) got a pretty decent fan base, but I felt kind of sorry for them at the concert. Nermal and I were looking around like, "have any of these people ever been to a concert before...?" Nobody was getting into it, nobody was moving, and all these girls had set their purses and shit all over the floor (hello people, that's what the lockers are for!) so that we could have been practically up against the stage if it hadn't been for all the stuff in the way. whatever. Nermie and I totally rocked out, and they definitely saw us. I mean, obvi the whole being gaijin thing makes us stand out a bit, but it was also cause we were practically the only ones who were really into it. Nermie's decided she has a crush on the drummer, lol (--this was her first Dustz concert, she wasn't really a fan before this, but I dragged her to it so I'd have someone to go with). We're going to join the fan club so we can get better tickets to the concert in June.

Oh, and in other news, I got a pack of cigarettes in the mail the other day. Well, not me, they were addressed to the person who lived in my apt before me, but still (only in Japan). It says "enjoy a special coffee break moment with Cabin"--which, caffeine addict that I am, kind of makes me want to try them...  (breathe, daddy--- I'm only kidding)

PV this week isn't exactly a PV, it's a youtube vid I found of Vinyl Soul performing their song "Could This Be Heaven," which is one of the ones they sang for us the other day.
Enjoy!

本日はこういう事をしてきました

about to go to sleep, but I just had to take a moment to say the following:

whee!  \(^_^)/

Today I got to my first one-on-one professional interview! Well, I did one with the indie film director a couple weeks ago, but we just met at a cafe and it was more like chatting than an interview (which actually I liked better, but)
this time was totally Notting Hill--went to a fancy Tokyo hotel, with K as cameraman (thank god for not having to take photos myself this time--much less nerve-wracking!). and had to call the PR person to have him come down to the lobby and take us up to the suite where the conferences were going on.
we were originally sposed to do the interview at 3pm, but then they called and said that things were going ahead of schedule, and could we possibly come at 2:40 instead, so we came early--and then 結局 ended up having to wait until after 3 anyway.  lol. but that's the way these things go, I guess.
anyway, who was I interviewing, you ask? no one you've ever heard of, but an actress named Mizuno Miki. Who I am actually a big fan of, cause she was in a drama I really like called Hatsu Taiken, which Molly turned me on to back at IUC cause the whole thing takes place in and around Yokohama where we all lived last year. Plus it's a really cute show.
Anyway, I was interviewing her for her new drama that's starting in april, called 空飛ぶタイヤ, about a recall coverup incident with a big auto manufacturer. based on reality, apparently.
it was lots of fun and incredibly nervewracking, cause I'm talking to someone I've actually heard of, and there's like 10 stylists and managers and people just standing there, watching me and listening to the whole thing, and in the midst of it all I'm trying to not sound too stupid with my Japanese, and think of interesting things to say.
I was combination giddy/frustrated when it was over. Kind of had an elated/pained "GAAHHHHHH!!" moment when it was over.  (>_<)

but still, go me!  Y(^.^)d

and now I go to bed.
and I am holding off changing the PV because while I have received my new twins cd, the PV has yet to be posted online anywhere, that I've found. so you're "stuck with the vampires" a little bit longer, mom.

多摩川

So, just thought I'd do a quick post introducing some more of my area, Tamagawa. Of course, Tamagawa is, literally, "Tama-kawa," i.e. Tama River.
We had a random warm weekend a couple weeks ago, and I spent the day out on the grass by the water, reading. It was pretty fantastic.
There's some steps, sort of, that people sit out on.

Across the river is Kanagawa (not Tokyo proper).

It's pretty in the setting sun. ^^













This is the entrance to a little temple nearby.

There's also a park by the station, with some pretty little ponds.

Last but not least, new PV. Since mom was freaked out about the last one, I figure I might as well continue the trend with more of my favorite wtf-inducing band, Acid Black Cherry, with "Jigsaw" ^_^