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Anime Expo 2010 Videos
Hey yo yo yo I thought it was about time that I put up some of the videos from Anime Expo. tenkei and I attended the first two days to mostly cover AKB48 activities such as the concert and autograph sessions. I've been working on editing the videos and I've finished a few of them. I'm not done with all of them yet, but I thought I should share them becase it's been more than a week since the event.
The red carpet was early in the morning and was attended by most of the Guests of Honor. AKB48 was last so there was a lot of time for pictures and all that jazz. I got pretty close so I was able to get video of them waving and doing random stuff before getting into the venue for the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony was quite entertaining. AKB48 didn't stay for the whole ceremony as they had to prepare for their concert later in the day, so I pretty much only got video of them.. and Danny Choo the Tokyo Stormtrooper cus he was busting moves up on that stage like a baller.
The concert video is just a highlights, if you will, of their concert. Quality isn't incredible, I had to stand way up in the back to get video and digital zoom just sucks ballz.
The panel wasn't that great to be honest, lol. Only took a few questions for the video.
This was the second autograph session right after their panel. There was a first session after their concert the previous day, but I was only allowed to take photos, no video.
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| AX 2010 Red Carpet | |
The red carpet was early in the morning and was attended by most of the Guests of Honor. AKB48 was last so there was a lot of time for pictures and all that jazz. I got pretty close so I was able to get video of them waving and doing random stuff before getting into the venue for the opening ceremony.
| AX 2010 Opening Ceremony Danny Choo, AKB48 | |
The opening ceremony was quite entertaining. AKB48 didn't stay for the whole ceremony as they had to prepare for their concert later in the day, so I pretty much only got video of them.. and Danny Choo the Tokyo Stormtrooper cus he was busting moves up on that stage like a baller.
| AX 2010 AKB48 Concert | |
The concert video is just a highlights, if you will, of their concert. Quality isn't incredible, I had to stand way up in the back to get video and digital zoom just sucks ballz.
| AX 2010 AKB48 Panel | |
The panel wasn't that great to be honest, lol. Only took a few questions for the video.
| AX 2010 AKB48 Autograph Session | |
This was the second autograph session right after their panel. There was a first session after their concert the previous day, but I was only allowed to take photos, no video.
Wonder Girls 2010 Tour - Vogue Theatre Vancouver June 29, 2010
Hello All, it's your late nite radio host OpsMonkey here. I was recently in Vancouver for the first Canadian date of the Wonder Girls 2010 World Tour. It was their only stop in Western Canada and it was sans Jonas Brothers (praise Jebus!). Here's my very long report on the concert, hope you can keep up. 
The flight to Vancouver was uneventful; in fact it was really boring. I no longer being a morning person was really tired from getting up to make my 9:15 flight. Good thing is that there were a lot of other tired people with me on the plane and it was quiet.
I spent part of the flight sleeping and when I woke up I refreshed myself on the Wonder Girls catalog. You know, just so I sort of had a clue about what I was going to see later in the evening. I arrived in Vancouver just as I had finished listening to all of the Wonder Girls songs. Good timing I guess.
I decided to take the train from the airport to downtown Vancouver. I was trying to save money on this trip so that was my only real alternative as a taxi ride would have cost $30 or more. Vancouver transit has a strange zone system in place so it made buying a train ticket kind of complicated. One confused tourist asked me how to buy a ticket. I helped her as much as I could but I wasn’t sure I was even doing it right.
Once that was sorted out a 30 minute ride to downtown Vancouver and the quest for my hotel began. I was given rough directions by the hotel staff on how to get to their building. I decided to input those directions into my phone and see if I could get to the hotel on foot. The result of that was me wandering around in circles for about an hour and a half. Eventually I found my hotel but a word to those who use Google maps for walking directions. Don’t. It sucks. Find a more capable app like Mapquest or something like that.
Anyway, here are a few pics of my hotel room for those who are interested in that sort of thing.
After recovering from the long trek to my hotel I looked up where the nearest Japadog was and went on another quest. It wasn’t too far from my hotel, but of course I ended up going in the opposite direction and had to go back to my hotel and start all over again. Yes, my sense of direction sucks. But the bonus was on the way back the right way I stopped for bubble tea.
Eventually I found the Japadog stand and got myself a spicy cheese terimayo dog and a bottle of Ramune. For those who followed my Anime Expo 2009 adventures you know that Ramune is like my crack so I was a very happy dude. Speaking of happy dude while I was hanging out by the Japadog stand I noticed a leggy Asian woman standing in line.
Becoming rather entranced I didn’t notice I was sitting next to a sprinkler system and was getting sprayed. Some random dude nudged me and that’s when I noticed I was getting wet. But from what I was looking at it was totally worth getting soaked a bit. Too bad I couldn’t get any pics as I was holding a hot dog and a bottle of Ramune. It would have looked kind of creepy so it’s a good thing I didn’t whip out the phone camera or anything.
Once my small lunch was done I headed to the Vogue Theatre which wasn’t too far from the Japadog stand and proceeded to stand in line with the other Wonder Girls fans. At first it was a small line that got bigger and bigger as time passed. Eventually the VIP ticket holders were moved to the other side of the building leaving the commoners behind. There are a couple of things I noticed about the crowd outside. The fans there were mostly there to see either 2AM/PM (whoever was supposed to open) and not the Wonder Girls. So the majority of fans were girls/women. Screamers are what I believed they are called.
Second, those who were there to see the Wonder Girls were a mix of men and women. Most people were Asian (mostly Chinese, Filipino or Korean) and were of different age groups. Third, there were a lot of hot Korean girls around. It was like sensory overload. Of course I couldn’t tell how old many of these hot girls were and I ballparked that majority were younger than me. Still, they were nice to look at.
At random times a JYP cameraman would come out and film the crowd. There was also an unofficial filming crew from some K-Pop site that was making a YouTube documentary or something. I was praying they never came my way as I really had nothing of value to say and would probably just try to pimp JPH!P or Selective Hearing instead of talking about the Wonder Girls.
They did catch some group of dudes who were convinced to do the Nobody dance in the middle of the street while they filmed and took pictures of it. I found that funny.
So there I stood somewhere on Granville Street with other Wonder Girls/K-Pop fans impatiently waiting for the staff to let us in to get our 5 second picture with the Wonder Girls. The front office was selling the 2 Different Tears CD and people were rushing to get a copy hoping to get one signed. I asked a Filipino girl who was standing next to me to get one for me while I hold her place in line. Even though I had already bought the album on iTunes I figured it would be nice to have a physical copy.
She came back with my copy and I struggled to remove the wrapping from the CD. Is the plastic wrapping around CD’s intentionally made to make one suffer? Eventually I got the wrapping off and I was impressed with the package. First thing I noticed is that the CD case is huge because there’s a nice big book with the lyrics and liner notes and lots of pictures of the hotness that is the Wonder Girls.
Around 16:30 some dude from the venue came out and yelled out instructions to us VIP people. First off, no autographs (suckage!), and secondly only 1 picture per group of people. So if you were next to some random stranger or something there was the potential to like get grouped into their picture just because you look like you know them.
Once we got our pic we were to go back outside and line up again. Simple enough I guess. Well around 17:45 or so (15 minutes late) we VIP people were allowed to pass by the commoners and line up for our pictures. This is how it worked. A staff member asks if you’re alone or with a group. Then you get up to the room where the pictures are being taken. You turn on your camera, set it to the right setting and give it a staff member.
That staff member hands it to a photographer and then you’re allowed to step into the room with the group. You’re allowed to say hello or whatever to the group and get into position. The photographer preps you (say cheese or whatever) and takes your picture with the group. You leave, go back outside and fangirl/fanboy with everyone else.
So how did my session go? Well I made sure that I said I was alone first off. Hey man, I flew a long way and I wasn’t gonna have some random stranger in my pic. After that I set my camera to automatic mode. You know, the default dummies mode where the flash goes on or off and the focus is automatic. Simple and clean.
After that I walked in, said “Hello ladies” and got into position between Sunye and Yubin. Then I whipped out my JPH!P sticker and held it out in front. The photographer and the other staff members laughed at my obvious shameless self promotion. But it was all good. After which it was like click and done.
I probably broke protocol but before I picked up my camera I turned and shook every members hand and thanked them. So I can say I touched every Wonder Girl (not anywhere fun you pervs), yay me! It went by very fast but I remember looking Yenny right in the eye as she told me to enjoy the show. After which I picked up my camera and headed back outside. As I walked out a staff member handed me a tour photo. It wasn’t autographed but whatever.
So now you're wondering, dude where's your pic? Hahahah.. Just ask me for it via PM or via Twitter and I'll send you the link to it.
So back outside comparing pictures with the Filipino girl I chatted up earlier and then at 18:40 or so we were allowed back into the building to pick our seats. Again, passing the commoners as they angrily mean mugged us (just kidding, sort of) as we rushed into the building jockeying for position. I had already made up my mind that I was going to be as far away from the screamers as possible so I decided to sit further back on the lower level.
After 30 minutes or so they let the commoners in and a mad scramble for the remaining available seats started. During that time I put my bag on my seat and proceeded to merchandise booth where I picked up the black tour t-shirt and the track jacket. Expensive but totally worth it I believe.
Then about an hour of waiting as there was no opening act for this show. Yes, the screamers were disappointed but at least there would be no ear piercing shrieks for this outing. I think I would have ended up deaf because there were a lot of young girls around me who looked like they could scream pretty loudly.
While I was waiting I scanned the crowed again. There were lots of couples and families. Of the couples I noticed a trend. Beautiful girl and ugly dude. No offense to you ugly dudes who can score hot girlfriends, I’m just making an observation here. And when I mean beautiful girl I mean like “ damn, how the hell did you convince her to stay with you?” type hot. Again, no offense.
Next to me was some big (like muscular big) dude and his girlfriend. Probably closer to my age I think but the dude fell asleep and the girlfriend just held his hand and let him doze away. On my right was an excited couple who were making a video documentary about the concert. They were saying stuff in Korean so I have no idea what they were talking about. Further down the row were families with excited kids.
Just after 20:00 the house lights dimmed and the show started with a cool silhouette kind of intro where the group shadow danced as their names flashed across the curtain. Then the curtain dropped and everyone stood up and the place got loud. Now being the K-Pop and Wonder Girls noob that I am I can’t recollect the entire set list perfectly. But if you’ve seen the set lists from previous concerts in the U.S. then you pretty much know what they’ve done here.
They did start off with a song I know, I Wanna. This is a perfect display of the group’s vocal capabilities and the fact that it’s a House track makes it one of my favorite Wonder Girls songs. It also set the pace for the show as a high energy affair. The other song I remember from the start of the show was their cover of the Pussycat Dolls Don’t Cha. Their version had a slightly sparser, bass heavy beat and unlike the Pussycat Dolls all the members sang on the song. It was also hot.
The explanation for no opening act was during the first MC segment. The Vancouver stop was the first of their headlining shows. For me that was awesome, I don’t mind 2 AM/PM but the more Wonder Girls the better.
Anyway, the majority of songs they performed were in English but there were also a few performed in Korean as well. The highlight of the Korean versions being Saying I Love You where the group was dressed in all white while one played the Piano. During apex of the song what looked like white glitter or fake snow descended on to the front row.
I had heard about the solo performances for this show with each member taking on popular American songs. The best solo’s for me were Yubin’s Black Eyed Peas cover. As much as I hate the current Peas songs Yubin rocked that shit and made it sound good.
The other one I liked was Yenny’s version of Mercy. Man that woman has like crazy diva like pipes. It was crazy. Lastly, Sunye’s Lady Gaga cover also showed that the Wonder Girls are more than just pretty faces who sing and dance. There’s some real talent behind all the glam.
I believe this was a great choice for my first K-Pop concert. Probably because it was screamer free. =) But I left the show extremely impressed. You can see that all the investments that labels make in training groups like the Wonder Girls pays off big time.
The only complaints I have are that the sound crew needed to monitor Sohee’s mic more closely because her levels were kind of low during parts of the show. You couldn’t hear her sometimes. The other beef I have is that the show was simply too short for a headliner. 1 hour is nice, but I was craving for more.
But if you have the chance to see the Wonder Girls I say take it. You won’t be disappointed.
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The flight to Vancouver was uneventful; in fact it was really boring. I no longer being a morning person was really tired from getting up to make my 9:15 flight. Good thing is that there were a lot of other tired people with me on the plane and it was quiet.
I spent part of the flight sleeping and when I woke up I refreshed myself on the Wonder Girls catalog. You know, just so I sort of had a clue about what I was going to see later in the evening. I arrived in Vancouver just as I had finished listening to all of the Wonder Girls songs. Good timing I guess.
I decided to take the train from the airport to downtown Vancouver. I was trying to save money on this trip so that was my only real alternative as a taxi ride would have cost $30 or more. Vancouver transit has a strange zone system in place so it made buying a train ticket kind of complicated. One confused tourist asked me how to buy a ticket. I helped her as much as I could but I wasn’t sure I was even doing it right.
Once that was sorted out a 30 minute ride to downtown Vancouver and the quest for my hotel began. I was given rough directions by the hotel staff on how to get to their building. I decided to input those directions into my phone and see if I could get to the hotel on foot. The result of that was me wandering around in circles for about an hour and a half. Eventually I found my hotel but a word to those who use Google maps for walking directions. Don’t. It sucks. Find a more capable app like Mapquest or something like that.
Anyway, here are a few pics of my hotel room for those who are interested in that sort of thing.
After recovering from the long trek to my hotel I looked up where the nearest Japadog was and went on another quest. It wasn’t too far from my hotel, but of course I ended up going in the opposite direction and had to go back to my hotel and start all over again. Yes, my sense of direction sucks. But the bonus was on the way back the right way I stopped for bubble tea.
Eventually I found the Japadog stand and got myself a spicy cheese terimayo dog and a bottle of Ramune. For those who followed my Anime Expo 2009 adventures you know that Ramune is like my crack so I was a very happy dude. Speaking of happy dude while I was hanging out by the Japadog stand I noticed a leggy Asian woman standing in line.
Becoming rather entranced I didn’t notice I was sitting next to a sprinkler system and was getting sprayed. Some random dude nudged me and that’s when I noticed I was getting wet. But from what I was looking at it was totally worth getting soaked a bit. Too bad I couldn’t get any pics as I was holding a hot dog and a bottle of Ramune. It would have looked kind of creepy so it’s a good thing I didn’t whip out the phone camera or anything.
Once my small lunch was done I headed to the Vogue Theatre which wasn’t too far from the Japadog stand and proceeded to stand in line with the other Wonder Girls fans. At first it was a small line that got bigger and bigger as time passed. Eventually the VIP ticket holders were moved to the other side of the building leaving the commoners behind. There are a couple of things I noticed about the crowd outside. The fans there were mostly there to see either 2AM/PM (whoever was supposed to open) and not the Wonder Girls. So the majority of fans were girls/women. Screamers are what I believed they are called.
Second, those who were there to see the Wonder Girls were a mix of men and women. Most people were Asian (mostly Chinese, Filipino or Korean) and were of different age groups. Third, there were a lot of hot Korean girls around. It was like sensory overload. Of course I couldn’t tell how old many of these hot girls were and I ballparked that majority were younger than me. Still, they were nice to look at.
At random times a JYP cameraman would come out and film the crowd. There was also an unofficial filming crew from some K-Pop site that was making a YouTube documentary or something. I was praying they never came my way as I really had nothing of value to say and would probably just try to pimp JPH!P or Selective Hearing instead of talking about the Wonder Girls.
They did catch some group of dudes who were convinced to do the Nobody dance in the middle of the street while they filmed and took pictures of it. I found that funny.
So there I stood somewhere on Granville Street with other Wonder Girls/K-Pop fans impatiently waiting for the staff to let us in to get our 5 second picture with the Wonder Girls. The front office was selling the 2 Different Tears CD and people were rushing to get a copy hoping to get one signed. I asked a Filipino girl who was standing next to me to get one for me while I hold her place in line. Even though I had already bought the album on iTunes I figured it would be nice to have a physical copy.
She came back with my copy and I struggled to remove the wrapping from the CD. Is the plastic wrapping around CD’s intentionally made to make one suffer? Eventually I got the wrapping off and I was impressed with the package. First thing I noticed is that the CD case is huge because there’s a nice big book with the lyrics and liner notes and lots of pictures of the hotness that is the Wonder Girls.
Around 16:30 some dude from the venue came out and yelled out instructions to us VIP people. First off, no autographs (suckage!), and secondly only 1 picture per group of people. So if you were next to some random stranger or something there was the potential to like get grouped into their picture just because you look like you know them.
Once we got our pic we were to go back outside and line up again. Simple enough I guess. Well around 17:45 or so (15 minutes late) we VIP people were allowed to pass by the commoners and line up for our pictures. This is how it worked. A staff member asks if you’re alone or with a group. Then you get up to the room where the pictures are being taken. You turn on your camera, set it to the right setting and give it a staff member.
That staff member hands it to a photographer and then you’re allowed to step into the room with the group. You’re allowed to say hello or whatever to the group and get into position. The photographer preps you (say cheese or whatever) and takes your picture with the group. You leave, go back outside and fangirl/fanboy with everyone else.
So how did my session go? Well I made sure that I said I was alone first off. Hey man, I flew a long way and I wasn’t gonna have some random stranger in my pic. After that I set my camera to automatic mode. You know, the default dummies mode where the flash goes on or off and the focus is automatic. Simple and clean.
After that I walked in, said “Hello ladies” and got into position between Sunye and Yubin. Then I whipped out my JPH!P sticker and held it out in front. The photographer and the other staff members laughed at my obvious shameless self promotion. But it was all good. After which it was like click and done.
I probably broke protocol but before I picked up my camera I turned and shook every members hand and thanked them. So I can say I touched every Wonder Girl (not anywhere fun you pervs), yay me! It went by very fast but I remember looking Yenny right in the eye as she told me to enjoy the show. After which I picked up my camera and headed back outside. As I walked out a staff member handed me a tour photo. It wasn’t autographed but whatever.
So now you're wondering, dude where's your pic? Hahahah.. Just ask me for it via PM or via Twitter and I'll send you the link to it.
So back outside comparing pictures with the Filipino girl I chatted up earlier and then at 18:40 or so we were allowed back into the building to pick our seats. Again, passing the commoners as they angrily mean mugged us (just kidding, sort of) as we rushed into the building jockeying for position. I had already made up my mind that I was going to be as far away from the screamers as possible so I decided to sit further back on the lower level.
After 30 minutes or so they let the commoners in and a mad scramble for the remaining available seats started. During that time I put my bag on my seat and proceeded to merchandise booth where I picked up the black tour t-shirt and the track jacket. Expensive but totally worth it I believe.
Then about an hour of waiting as there was no opening act for this show. Yes, the screamers were disappointed but at least there would be no ear piercing shrieks for this outing. I think I would have ended up deaf because there were a lot of young girls around me who looked like they could scream pretty loudly.
While I was waiting I scanned the crowed again. There were lots of couples and families. Of the couples I noticed a trend. Beautiful girl and ugly dude. No offense to you ugly dudes who can score hot girlfriends, I’m just making an observation here. And when I mean beautiful girl I mean like “ damn, how the hell did you convince her to stay with you?” type hot. Again, no offense.
Next to me was some big (like muscular big) dude and his girlfriend. Probably closer to my age I think but the dude fell asleep and the girlfriend just held his hand and let him doze away. On my right was an excited couple who were making a video documentary about the concert. They were saying stuff in Korean so I have no idea what they were talking about. Further down the row were families with excited kids.
Just after 20:00 the house lights dimmed and the show started with a cool silhouette kind of intro where the group shadow danced as their names flashed across the curtain. Then the curtain dropped and everyone stood up and the place got loud. Now being the K-Pop and Wonder Girls noob that I am I can’t recollect the entire set list perfectly. But if you’ve seen the set lists from previous concerts in the U.S. then you pretty much know what they’ve done here.
They did start off with a song I know, I Wanna. This is a perfect display of the group’s vocal capabilities and the fact that it’s a House track makes it one of my favorite Wonder Girls songs. It also set the pace for the show as a high energy affair. The other song I remember from the start of the show was their cover of the Pussycat Dolls Don’t Cha. Their version had a slightly sparser, bass heavy beat and unlike the Pussycat Dolls all the members sang on the song. It was also hot.
The explanation for no opening act was during the first MC segment. The Vancouver stop was the first of their headlining shows. For me that was awesome, I don’t mind 2 AM/PM but the more Wonder Girls the better.
Anyway, the majority of songs they performed were in English but there were also a few performed in Korean as well. The highlight of the Korean versions being Saying I Love You where the group was dressed in all white while one played the Piano. During apex of the song what looked like white glitter or fake snow descended on to the front row.
I had heard about the solo performances for this show with each member taking on popular American songs. The best solo’s for me were Yubin’s Black Eyed Peas cover. As much as I hate the current Peas songs Yubin rocked that shit and made it sound good.
The other one I liked was Yenny’s version of Mercy. Man that woman has like crazy diva like pipes. It was crazy. Lastly, Sunye’s Lady Gaga cover also showed that the Wonder Girls are more than just pretty faces who sing and dance. There’s some real talent behind all the glam.
I believe this was a great choice for my first K-Pop concert. Probably because it was screamer free. =) But I left the show extremely impressed. You can see that all the investments that labels make in training groups like the Wonder Girls pays off big time.
The only complaints I have are that the sound crew needed to monitor Sohee’s mic more closely because her levels were kind of low during parts of the show. You couldn’t hear her sometimes. The other beef I have is that the show was simply too short for a headliner. 1 hour is nice, but I was craving for more.
But if you have the chance to see the Wonder Girls I say take it. You won’t be disappointed.
JPH!P Interview: Carl Jones (author of Here Come the Kung Fu Clones)
Recently Masa sat down with Carl Jones, author of the new book "Here Come the Kung Fu Clones" and they kicked knowledge about Bruce Lee knock-off movies of the 70s known as Bruceploitation
Hello Masa and all Japanese Bruceploitation Fans!
How did you get involved with a project about Bruceploitation?
I've been interested in both martial arts -real and movies - for over 35 years. This is my first book but I did briefly write a column( 'Fists from the Past') in a UK magazine called Jade Screen. I also wrote reviews and articles for a number of websites.
The book HERE COME THE KUNG FU CLONES grew out of the many reviews I was submitting to the now defunct 'Bruceploitation' website. I thought they would look much better in book form and fortunately managed to convince my publisher; John Overall too!
How long did it take you to complete the book?
The genesis of the book began as far back as 1997! The current product took shape over 18 months, which is pretty fast in hindsight as amny books take years or never get published at all. Yes. I have a collection of research materials and other fans helped along the way .
Did anything in your research surprise you?
Not really. Remember, we are talking of films that feature fighting Gorillas and Midgets!
How do you feel Bruceploitation contributes to Bruce Lee's legacy?
It all adds to the mystique of the real Bruce Lee. He almost becomes a fictional character like James Bond played by different actors. Of course there are those who hold these films as blasphemous and I respect their opinion too. I was once like that.
What audience are you aiming for with this book?
Anyone who likes to laugh as well has having an affection for the films. After all, they weren't meant to be over-analysed.
Who is your favorite Bruceploitation clone and why?
It has to be Bruce Li. He became a good actor and great screen fighter, much like the man he was portraying.
Which Bruceploitation movie is your favorite and why?
I really like a lot of them : FIST OF FURY 2 (a Quentin Tarantino favourite), BRUCE LEE THE MAN, THE MYTH, ENTER THE GAME OF DEATH etc. The best one for me though is THE LAST STRIKE with Bruce Li, Lo Meng and Carl Scott (aka SOUL BROTHERS OF KUNG FU).
With the current state of Bruce Lee related movies (biopics, series and Ip Man sequels) on the horizon - how would they stack up with the Bruceploitation movies of the 70s?
Technically they are very good however, they are just as exploitive as those filmed in the 1970's. The recent TV series is proof of that, butagain adding to the mystique.
If you were to direct a Bruceploitation movie for today's generation, what would be your outlandish plot and who star in it?
Ha! That's a good question. It would have to be set in the 70's and made EXACTLY as those films where. Cheap and cheerful in other words!
What are your plans for the upcoming 70th anniversary of Bruce Lee's birth?
I always have a thought for Sifu Lee on the 20th July.
What's next on the horizon for you? A Book Tour perhaps?
Too busy mate! My family, job and my Karate club take up a lot of my time. I'm looking to finish my next book on basic techniques of Shukokai Karate sometime soon. Enjoy life and take time out to relax. Life is short but it all works out in the end!
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions Carl, and best of luck with the book!
Thank you Masa, it's been a pleasure.
- June 4, 2010
JPHiP.com would also like to thank Publisher John Overall of Woowums Books for setting up this interview!
ORDER THE BOOK!!
Available for only ÂŁ19.99 at Amazon UK or PM Publisher John Overall at the forum
Check out the Bruceploitation Thread in the Asian Movies & TV forum for more!
shi's Report on hANGRY&ANGRY in Helsinki 2010
It's long!
DAY 1, SUNDAY (no h&A stuff here)
This trip was actually fucking exhausting, but more about that later I guess. It didn't help that on Sunday, I woke up at 5am to catch my train, and didn't get any sleep on the train. Awesome! Some seven hours later I was in Helsinki. The first person I met was NAzu, and we waited for Masa together. Some dude caught us standing silently (haha FINLAND MOTHERFUCKERS YAHE) and forced us to take one of his philosophy books, then made NAzu give him 3 euros. Haha. We'd barely been an hour in Helsinki and already got pwned. I guess we looked too much like tourists haha.
Then Masa and Stryfe arrived, and Space for Trees (on the forum U.S.S. John E. Badass; I'll just call him Space cuz it's easiest) joined us. I love it how *I* had everyone's number and was the person whom everyone called, when I absolutely suck at giving directional advice and talking on the phone haha. Then when I told Space to come to one place, the guys decided to go look for a place to chill out/have a snack, and I was like "noooo where are you going I just told Space to come here WHAT ARE YOU DOING" and they were just wandering off. But we did all manage to get together in the end! PHEW.
A milkshake later I think we already went to get daigong from the central train station. We were at first waiting on the wrong side of the building, obviously, LOL. And then.. BAM IT'S DAIGONG OMG. Dude is bigger than life. JPHiP!!!!! Fricking slamhugged everybody. Then we could finally head for our hotel to leave our stuff in, and go out for kebab. FOOD!
AH! At the kebab place we also met the lovely Japanese fan Mae-chan for the first time
There were still lots of Finnish silences at this point, but I'm sure the guys fixed that later with alcohol LOL. So yeah... After kebab everyone went back to the hotel in daigong's room, dudes were drinking and watching motherfucking hockey and I was bored to death ROFL. SORRY!!!
Finally after 9pm it was time to go pick up twissie <3 Of course, again we were waiting for her on the WRONG SIDE OF THE BUILDING. And some fucking drunk Justin Timberlake fan joined the guys so I just stayed the fuck away haha. But twissie did finally locate us and I was so happy to see her that I hugged her twice. I was just apologizing to her for the guys being drunk and obnoxious. XDDD Actually the others weren't so bad, but fucking Masa and NAzu were SO LOUD LOL WTF and Masa kept repeating the NO HOMO stuff to the point where I felt like smacking him.
I STILL WUB YA BOSS JUST NOT WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK!!!!
The guys apparently continued drinking till 4am, whereas twissie and the tired me just had some tea and Finnish tv and nice relaxation before going to bed at... midnight? I was still awake at 1am, but whatevs. Haha. I'm so glad that twissie was there, because had I been alone I probably would've felt so disconnected to the whole thing after all the drinking on first day LOL.
DAY 2, MONDAY! AKA, BEST DAY EVER (this has all the h&A stuff)
Me and twissie got up around 8am as the super girls that we are, had nice breakfast at Kamppi and then started working on the banner that we would use for greeting the girls at the airport. Thanks to twissie for bringing a marker, daigong for bringing pink glitter paint and brushes, Masa for bringing scissors and me from bringing the old bed sheet TEAM EFFORT WHAT THE HECK! Making the banner was fun and at the same time there was a British show with naked women on TV, so what's better than that? lol.
Soon enough it was time to head for the airport. At first we were about to wait in the wrong place, but luckily the guys asked the info where to go and found the right place with lots of spare time left. Kio_ joined us there WHAT'S UP GIRL! As did our new member fairytale Sorry I didn't officially greet you, I think I was too excited to see h&A...
When the girls first appeared tho, WHAT A FLOP HAHA! Well, we got pics and video so it's nice, but it's funny how we had waited for them for so long and were really expecting them, but when they finally popped up we seemed so surprised or taken aback Slowest reactions ever!! Had no idea what to do! I was like... Is that Rika?? And kind of waved a little, saw that Yossi was wearing her hair on a ponytail and thought "ah it's Yossi and she looks good"... and in half a second they were already walking away, I think I shouted "hangry angry!!" or something. Also, as they were walking away Masa said something like "That was it? It's already over?" and I said "there's still time to take bum shots!" and as I said that I just kept staring at Rika's bum haha, and for a while the only thing I could remember from the airport was indeed that Rika was wearing grey pants. LOL! What can I say, it's a sweet ass.
We then proceeded outside, saw the car that they were getting on and decided to walk to some place where they might be exiting with the car. And in just a moment they indeed started driving away, we showed them our banner again and waved like crazy. Twissie says she saw someone wave back, but I have no idea, I just waved. It was over so fast and so random and weird, but FUN too! I liked that I saw one of their staff smile and look surprised when she noticed our banner. Yeah, there was Rika and Yossi and for some reason I was looking at some staff member, what the fuck shirenu!
After that we split into girls and guys: I guess the guys went to rest at the hotel or something because they had a HANGOVER... And us girls went to eat. Kio_ took us to this store that sells Japanese goods, so we bought some Pocky haha weeaboos. I got double chocolate and almond crush, yummy! Then just back to the hotel to get ready for the concert.
While waiting for the concert I was fricking FREEZING, but it was so amazing to see everyone! Trad joined us in the line, as did Fushigidane, Kimuuu, Fuyumi and her friend Laura, and I'm sorry if I'm forgetting someone haha. It was weird as hell to have a couple of people come to me like "shirenu? Hi it's ____" I ALMOST FELT FAMOUS. I was getting people to sign our Moomin card to hANGRY&ANGRY and daigong & twissie were handing out and pimping glow-in-the-dark bracelets/necklace things and glow sticks, cuz that's how pro we are haha. It was nice to see the line get long. I think it was a decent crowd, tho I have no 'official' numbers :3
Once we got inside it was time to talk to Yaz so that I could ask a question from h&A, as planned. She was very nice I like that the wrist thing I got was Angry's colour, too. Then had to get inside the concert room and locate my crew yo. Not many people were in yet, so I was in 2nd row right behind this giant girl - which wasn't that bad for most of the concert because she moved, but during the last song or last two songs she was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME arrrrgh lol. OH WELL. I was able to see one of the girls most of the time so I guess it was ok
Everyone's already said that they showed H!P stuff before the concert so.. I'll just say it again haha. Kimuuu, Mae and Fushigi were discussing the girls/vids to my left And twissie was watching the videos like "what da foook" because most of it was new to her, haha. I had a really great place during the concert really, because to my right I could see twissie joyspazzing and to my left Mae!! Behind me I could hear Fushigi shouting, which totally got me in the mood to get concert crazy as well, and of course all the guys yelling behind us. It was like a bubble of love and excitement!
OK and then Rika and Yossi got on stage. O.M.G.
I have to say that these two are the Most Beautiful People I've ever witnessed with my own eyes. They were like Goddesses on stage! And so close to us! Ahh... No high quality video makes up for it. They were beautiful, gorgeous, perfect, flawless! GODDESSES
Most importantly, I don't think a single person left that concert feeling like they hadn't connected with either of the girls. Both of them looked at EVERYONE in the eye in the audience, even me hidden behind a giant girl haha. It was so amazing!! I hope I'll never forget the moment when I first realized that Rika was looking at ME. I just tried to smile to my best ability to give them both as much love as possible, wave my stick and arms and whatever was appropriate! Jump up and down! It felt like it was all over so fast, but the entire thing was very intense.
I have to give props to all of the audience, I wasn't looking around much but I'm pretty sure everyone was really into it, singing/shouting the lyrics etc. What a blast!! The aim was to make their Finland gig a great experience for them and I think we did a good job. Let's hope it made them want to come back another time!!!
I don't really have separate comments on each song, but one image I have imprinted into my memory is Rika doing the crazy hair mashing move during The Peace. It just looked so smoky and cool and beautiful and amazing. For some reason it seems to play in my head in slow motion though, haha. And I had the most random thoughts, like looking at Rika's arm and going like "omg, that's Ishikawa Rika's arm. Real arm. OMG!" I realized at one point that I was kind of on the wrong side of the stage as I was on 'Yossi's side', but they switched it around in every song for a bit so it was all cool. And I didn't fricking mind looking at Yossi either. They were seriously both so amazing!!! <333
Yossi did this one great bit where she was singing to some girl to my left (not sure which one). She locked her eyes on the fan, reached out her arm, smiled and sang, that was fricking gorgeous. Whoever that was, LUCKY BITCH!! Haha EMBRACE IT FOREVER.
After the concert it was time for me, Masa, Kio_, Kimuuu and a few others to get ready to ask some questions. I didn't realize that +u+u was +u+u so I'm sorry I didn't say hi D: LOL!
Before the concert I was super nervous about asking my question, and daigong just told me to think of Rika and Yossi as old friends that I'm talking to. "You've known them for so many years", etc. And I couldn't really understand his advice then... But when it was time to ask the questions, the concert had already taken place, I had had eye contact with the girls, we had connected through music... So actually when it was time to ask my question, I wasn't nervous about it! I kind of did understand what daigong had told me before the concert!
Another thing was that during the concert people were yelling Yossi and Rika-chan's name, and I knew Rika would never be able to hear my voice because I'm such a mouse. So then sort of out of the blue I decided to do the Charmy Ishikawa signature move "happy~!" before asking my question! AND BOY AM I GLAD I DID! Rika returned it and I GOT MY VERY OWN HAPPY!!! She looked at me and smiled and was THE CUTEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL SIGHT EVER oh my god I have been blessed by the goddess of pink, joy, happy and hotness. I think I curtsied a little and put my hands together when she did that because SHE WAS SO CUTE!!! ACKKKKKKK I'm sorry but her smile, HER SMILE, HER SMILE HER BEAUTIFUL SMILE. And her voice D: Oh god, her voice!!!! CRAP!!!! I'm never gonna get over this... AHHHHH
...So yes, that happy made me very happy!!! FOR GOOD!!! Every time I remember it, I still can't believe it really happened, and I get this ridiculous smile on my face. Seriously that made my 10 years of interest in Japanese culture and 6 years of H!P fandom all worth it by times billion like what! WUT DUT DOOD DUUD.
OK... MOVING ON...
SO I did actually also ask a question. *shocking* I got the word order a bit wrong, but basically my question was "Hangry & Angry have a special version of The Peace. What other classic song do you think would make an interesting special version for Hangry & Angry?" And Rika with her cute voice was like "Momusu...?" and I just went like "any" but they answered MM songs anyway, which was fine because another question resulted in other performers yahe. Anyway, Yossi said Shabondama (fuck yeah!) and Rika started doing the Sexy Boy dance, SO CUTE!!! Haha.
Don't want to get into other people's questions too much, but I liked the one about covers or sth that resulted in Rika going like "Lady Gaga" and doing "po po po pokerface" hahah SHE IS SO CUTE. Oh god. I'm sorry, she's just ridiculously adorable. Also FUCK YEAH RIKA MENTIONING LADY GAGA!!
She also mentioned Moomins, during the 1st question or something? And I was like holy fuck girl I'm holding a Moomin card for you right now!! But I was about to ask my question.. or was it after that? Anyway it was no time to give the card so I had to postpone it.
Oh oh... I actually did feel a bit bad about doing Happy because I felt like I was snubbing Yossi a bit :/ But I hope my smiles during the concert let her know that I admire her as well, haha. Sometimes you just have to give up something to be able to get something great, so I had to give up focus on Yossi to be able to get something great from Rika... kyaha.
ANYWAY then there was lottery, Rika was a bit upset at this guy whose number got called out but he hadn't dug out his lottery ticket, and she let out the cutest disappointed sound ever (I'M SORRY SHE IS SO CUTE). And ah, ah ah. After the concert daigong reached out to give them our Moomin card and the reindeer horn necklaces, and I think it was Yaz who took them so I'm pretty sure they got to see them, yay!! I hope they went like MOOMINS
I wasn't planning on buying merchandise at first, but I ended up buying 2 Rika photo cards and a wristband. EPIC! T-shirts were sold out except for one XL, and the fans were all sold out as well. Pretty cool! I hope they consider it a "demand for more" haha. The T-shirts are awesome btw, I think Masa got one and it's so cool.
After the concert was after party, but before that we were like "ohay guyse, that is totally their car, they're going to come out the same way so let's wait for them". There's a vid of that, maybe y'all have seen it already. It was nice to see them one more time and to say thank you ^__^ Yossi was very cute waving to us!! Ah I love her hair on ponytail.
AFTER PARTY! Daigong, Masa, NAzu, Space, Kimuuu, Fushigi, twissie, me, and a bunch of Epic Japanese Fans went to a Chinese restaurant nearby. So much fun!!! Everyone was so friendly and fun, we had an introduction round and all kinds of lovely things. HENTAI
I really want to see one or all of the many group pictures that were taken that night!
I felt very lucky and honoured to be able to meet some of the biggest Japanese Rika/Ishiyoshi/Yossi/H!P fans who would travel all the way to Europe to watch them! Just one of the many things I wouldn't have been able to do if it wasn't for daigong and Masa. I think I got a bit shy again though
After the restaurant some of us went to chill for a bit in daigong's room, I abused daigong's account, we chatted about the concert, just nice and relaxed hanging until it was bed time.
DAY 3
OK on this day I was physically knackered and emotionally spent. I don't even know why, maybe I didn't sleep well or something. One of the first things we did was to take Mae to the Finnair bus, and already at that point I almost cried haha. So I knew it would be a tough day!
SO I just want to say this, if at any point anyone felt I snubbed them or was bitchy or too quiet or didn't answer their question or anything like that, I'm sorry! I was just so tired and overwhelmed by everything, I wasn't able to function 100% all the time. But just know that I really loved meeting all of you and I want to meet all of you again one day. Hopefully there will be an opportunity for that soon enough
On day 3 we went to Linnanmäki, the amusement park, and after that to some stores and some burgers, and filmed some things. Then people started leaving and I became increasingly depressed and omg, it was quite horrendous for a while haha. I was able to relax more back at the hotel where me, twiss, daigong and Space watched Eurovision semifinals among other things, LOL.
And then on Day 4 I left on an early train, it's getting late so blah blah blah haha
ACTUALLY I THINK IT'S TIME TO WRITE SOME PROPS, THANK YOUS, ETC.
Sorry if some of this repeats something that someone else has said, I haven't had time to read everything lol
DAIGONG!!! You're just the awesomest guy ever. We were so pimp'd at the concert and everywhere we went, it was great. The shirts, the glowing things, and most of all the ATTITUDE. And you were always looking out for me, asking how I was doing haha. Sorry I sucked at the camera stuff so much, I can't get rid of shyness so fast, and did I mention I was tired??? LOL But seriously you're amazing, MUCH LOVE!
MASA LOL I guess we didn't talk that much (well as much as I had expected), I blame your bromances, but you're still awesome and it was great to finally meet you! Sorry I didn't say any goodbye stuff but I was seriously about to burst into tears. Which I did later, but whatever. >_> At least there was one less pair of eyes to witness it haha. SO EMBARRASING
TWISSIE I love yooouuu and I loved to share all of this experience with yooouuu!!! It was about time we met and I felt like I could be myself around you and not feel like a complete doof, even if I was a doof at times, haha. UNTIL NEXT TIME!!!
KIMUUU you were so chillax and instantly easy to talk to, there should be a Kimuuu at every meeting. Haha. It was so great to meet you!! Hope I can hear more fun h&A stories ^o^
SPACE I was pleasantly surprised how you showed up to every meeting, really made an effort to be there for everyone and everything! And even if you hate music (LOL) you came to the concert. Just mad props!
STRYFE it was good to see you again and I'm glad you weren't as trashed as some of the others when we went to pick up twissie LOL. Well at least it seemed that way. Wut? Dut.
NAzu - you weren't a Debbie Downer in real life at all You were actually quite positive and all the good stuff. I was really impressed by your contribution to the experience and the bromances LOL
KIO_ Really nice to meet you! I'm shy too so I know it can be difficult to come hang out with a bunch of weirdoes, but I'm very glad you did!! Thanks for showing us to some places and ah your hair accessories were so cute ^o^
FUSHIGI you crazy gal!! You said you are awesome and I totally agree with that. You're so much fun to hang out with, so random. YEAH!! BRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLL <-- that thing you do
FUYUMI lol you're so cute ^_^ We didn't get to talk that much but it was very nice to meet you after all this time! I hope you had a great time at the concert!!
+u+u dangit I saw this blonde girl in the question asking line but I didn't realize it was you so I didn't come say hi OH POOP!!! Next time okay?! Oh yeah and your question was good! Any question that leads to potentially hilarious answers is great. LOL
MAE-CHAN You would call Rika and others "so cute" but you're also SUPER CUTE yourself!! So cheerful and always smiling, you bring great energy. I'm glad I got to meet you
HOLY SHIT I have to stop writing this thing. IF I FORGOT SOMEONE, FUCK ME, I LOVE U, LET'S BE FRIENDS!!! JPHiP!!!!
Gotta sleep now...
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DAY 1, SUNDAY (no h&A stuff here)
This trip was actually fucking exhausting, but more about that later I guess. It didn't help that on Sunday, I woke up at 5am to catch my train, and didn't get any sleep on the train. Awesome! Some seven hours later I was in Helsinki. The first person I met was NAzu, and we waited for Masa together. Some dude caught us standing silently (haha FINLAND MOTHERFUCKERS YAHE) and forced us to take one of his philosophy books, then made NAzu give him 3 euros. Haha. We'd barely been an hour in Helsinki and already got pwned. I guess we looked too much like tourists haha.
Then Masa and Stryfe arrived, and Space for Trees (on the forum U.S.S. John E. Badass; I'll just call him Space cuz it's easiest) joined us. I love it how *I* had everyone's number and was the person whom everyone called, when I absolutely suck at giving directional advice and talking on the phone haha. Then when I told Space to come to one place, the guys decided to go look for a place to chill out/have a snack, and I was like "noooo where are you going I just told Space to come here WHAT ARE YOU DOING" and they were just wandering off. But we did all manage to get together in the end! PHEW.
A milkshake later I think we already went to get daigong from the central train station. We were at first waiting on the wrong side of the building, obviously, LOL. And then.. BAM IT'S DAIGONG OMG. Dude is bigger than life. JPHiP!!!!! Fricking slamhugged everybody. Then we could finally head for our hotel to leave our stuff in, and go out for kebab. FOOD!
| daigong vs Kebab | |
AH! At the kebab place we also met the lovely Japanese fan Mae-chan for the first time
There were still lots of Finnish silences at this point, but I'm sure the guys fixed that later with alcohol LOL. So yeah... After kebab everyone went back to the hotel in daigong's room, dudes were drinking and watching motherfucking hockey and I was bored to death ROFL. SORRY!!! Finally after 9pm it was time to go pick up twissie <3 Of course, again we were waiting for her on the WRONG SIDE OF THE BUILDING. And some fucking drunk Justin Timberlake fan joined the guys so I just stayed the fuck away haha. But twissie did finally locate us and I was so happy to see her that I hugged her twice. I was just apologizing to her for the guys being drunk and obnoxious. XDDD Actually the others weren't so bad, but fucking Masa and NAzu were SO LOUD LOL WTF and Masa kept repeating the NO HOMO stuff to the point where I felt like smacking him.
I STILL WUB YA BOSS JUST NOT WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK!!!!The guys apparently continued drinking till 4am, whereas twissie and the tired me just had some tea and Finnish tv and nice relaxation before going to bed at... midnight? I was still awake at 1am, but whatevs. Haha. I'm so glad that twissie was there, because had I been alone I probably would've felt so disconnected to the whole thing after all the drinking on first day LOL.
DAY 2, MONDAY! AKA, BEST DAY EVER (this has all the h&A stuff)
Me and twissie got up around 8am as the super girls that we are, had nice breakfast at Kamppi and then started working on the banner that we would use for greeting the girls at the airport. Thanks to twissie for bringing a marker, daigong for bringing pink glitter paint and brushes, Masa for bringing scissors and me from bringing the old bed sheet
TEAM EFFORT WHAT THE HECK! Making the banner was fun and at the same time there was a British show with naked women on TV, so what's better than that? lol.Soon enough it was time to head for the airport. At first we were about to wait in the wrong place, but luckily the guys asked the info where to go and found the right place with lots of spare time left. Kio_ joined us there WHAT'S UP GIRL! As did our new member fairytale
Sorry I didn't officially greet you, I think I was too excited to see h&A... When the girls first appeared tho, WHAT A FLOP HAHA! Well, we got pics and video so it's nice, but it's funny how we had waited for them for so long and were really expecting them, but when they finally popped up we seemed so surprised or taken aback
Slowest reactions ever!! Had no idea what to do! I was like... Is that Rika?? And kind of waved a little, saw that Yossi was wearing her hair on a ponytail and thought "ah it's Yossi and she looks good"... and in half a second they were already walking away, I think I shouted "hangry angry!!" or something. Also, as they were walking away Masa said something like "That was it? It's already over?" and I said "there's still time to take bum shots!" and as I said that I just kept staring at Rika's bum haha, and for a while the only thing I could remember from the airport was indeed that Rika was wearing grey pants. LOL! What can I say, it's a sweet ass.| Rika Ishikawa and Hitomi Yoshizawa (Hangry & Angry) Arrive in Finland | |
We then proceeded outside, saw the car that they were getting on and decided to walk to some place where they might be exiting with the car. And in just a moment they indeed started driving away, we showed them our banner again and waved like crazy. Twissie says she saw someone wave back, but I have no idea, I just waved.
It was over so fast and so random and weird, but FUN too! I liked that I saw one of their staff smile and look surprised when she noticed our banner. Yeah, there was Rika and Yossi and for some reason I was looking at some staff member, what the fuck shirenu!After that we split into girls and guys: I guess the guys went to rest at the hotel or something because they had a HANGOVER... And us girls went to eat. Kio_ took us to this store that sells Japanese goods, so we bought some Pocky haha weeaboos. I got double chocolate and almond crush, yummy! Then just back to the hotel to get ready for the concert.
While waiting for the concert I was fricking FREEZING, but it was so amazing to see everyone! Trad joined us in the line, as did Fushigidane, Kimuuu, Fuyumi and her friend Laura, and I'm sorry if I'm forgetting someone haha. It was weird as hell to have a couple of people come to me like "shirenu? Hi it's ____" I ALMOST FELT FAMOUS.
I was getting people to sign our Moomin card to hANGRY&ANGRY and daigong & twissie were handing out and pimping glow-in-the-dark bracelets/necklace things and glow sticks, cuz that's how pro we are haha. It was nice to see the line get long. I think it was a decent crowd, tho I have no 'official' numbers :3Once we got inside it was time to talk to Yaz so that I could ask a question from h&A, as planned. She was very nice
I like that the wrist thing I got was Angry's colour, too. Then had to get inside the concert room and locate my crew yo. Not many people were in yet, so I was in 2nd row right behind this giant girl - which wasn't that bad for most of the concert because she moved, but during the last song or last two songs she was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME arrrrgh lol. OH WELL. I was able to see one of the girls most of the time so I guess it was ok Everyone's already said that they showed H!P stuff before the concert so.. I'll just say it again haha. Kimuuu, Mae and Fushigi were discussing the girls/vids to my left
And twissie was watching the videos like "what da foook" because most of it was new to her, haha. I had a really great place during the concert really, because to my right I could see twissie joyspazzing and to my left Mae!! Behind me I could hear Fushigi shouting, which totally got me in the mood to get concert crazy as well, and of course all the guys yelling behind us. It was like a bubble of love and excitement!OK and then Rika and Yossi got on stage. O.M.G.
I have to say that these two are the Most Beautiful People I've ever witnessed with my own eyes. They were like Goddesses on stage! And so close to us! Ahh... No high quality video makes up for it. They were beautiful, gorgeous, perfect, flawless! GODDESSES
Most importantly, I don't think a single person left that concert feeling like they hadn't connected with either of the girls. Both of them looked at EVERYONE in the eye in the audience, even me hidden behind a giant girl haha. It was so amazing!! I hope I'll never forget the moment when I first realized that Rika was looking at ME. I just tried to smile to my best ability to give them both as much love as possible, wave my stick and arms and whatever was appropriate! Jump up and down! It felt like it was all over so fast, but the entire thing was very intense.
I have to give props to all of the audience, I wasn't looking around much but I'm pretty sure everyone was really into it, singing/shouting the lyrics etc. What a blast!! The aim was to make their Finland gig a great experience for them and I think we did a good job. Let's hope it made them want to come back another time!!!
I don't really have separate comments on each song, but one image I have imprinted into my memory is Rika doing the crazy hair mashing move during The Peace. It just looked so smoky and cool and beautiful and amazing. For some reason it seems to play in my head in slow motion though, haha. And I had the most random thoughts, like looking at Rika's arm and going like "omg, that's Ishikawa Rika's arm. Real arm. OMG!" I realized at one point that I was kind of on the wrong side of the stage as I was on 'Yossi's side', but they switched it around in every song for a bit so it was all cool.
And I didn't fricking mind looking at Yossi either. They were seriously both so amazing!!! <333Yossi did this one great bit where she was singing to some girl to my left (not sure which one). She locked her eyes on the fan, reached out her arm, smiled and sang, that was fricking gorgeous. Whoever that was, LUCKY BITCH!! Haha EMBRACE IT FOREVER.
After the concert it was time for me, Masa, Kio_, Kimuuu and a few others to get ready to ask some questions. I didn't realize that +u+u was +u+u so I'm sorry I didn't say hi D: LOL!
Before the concert I was super nervous about asking my question, and daigong just told me to think of Rika and Yossi as old friends that I'm talking to. "You've known them for so many years", etc. And I couldn't really understand his advice then... But when it was time to ask the questions, the concert had already taken place, I had had eye contact with the girls, we had connected through music... So actually when it was time to ask my question, I wasn't nervous about it! I kind of did understand what daigong had told me before the concert!
Another thing was that during the concert people were yelling Yossi and Rika-chan's name, and I knew Rika would never be able to hear my voice because I'm such a mouse. So then sort of out of the blue I decided to do the Charmy Ishikawa signature move "happy~!" before asking my question! AND BOY AM I GLAD I DID! Rika returned it and I GOT MY VERY OWN HAPPY!!! She looked at me and smiled and was THE CUTEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL SIGHT EVER oh my god I have been blessed by the goddess of pink, joy, happy and hotness. I think I curtsied a little and put my hands together when she did that because SHE WAS SO CUTE!!! ACKKKKKKK I'm sorry but her smile, HER SMILE, HER SMILE HER BEAUTIFUL SMILE. And her voice D: Oh god, her voice!!!! CRAP!!!! I'm never gonna get over this... AHHHHH
...So yes, that happy made me very happy!!! FOR GOOD!!! Every time I remember it, I still can't believe it really happened, and I get this ridiculous smile on my face. Seriously that made my 10 years of interest in Japanese culture and 6 years of H!P fandom all worth it by times billion like what! WUT DUT DOOD DUUD.
OK... MOVING ON...
SO I did actually also ask a question.
*shocking* I got the word order a bit wrong, but basically my question was "Hangry & Angry have a special version of The Peace. What other classic song do you think would make an interesting special version for Hangry & Angry?" And Rika with her cute voice was like "Momusu...?" and I just went like "any" but they answered MM songs anyway, which was fine because another question resulted in other performers yahe. Anyway, Yossi said Shabondama (fuck yeah!) and Rika started doing the Sexy Boy dance, SO CUTE!!! Haha.Don't want to get into other people's questions too much, but I liked the one about covers or sth that resulted in Rika going like "Lady Gaga" and doing "po po po pokerface" hahah SHE IS SO CUTE. Oh god. I'm sorry, she's just ridiculously adorable. Also FUCK YEAH RIKA MENTIONING LADY GAGA!!
She also mentioned Moomins, during the 1st question or something? And I was like holy fuck girl I'm holding a Moomin card for you right now!! But I was about to ask my question.. or was it after that? Anyway it was no time to give the card so I had to postpone it.
Oh oh... I actually did feel a bit bad about doing Happy because I felt like I was snubbing Yossi a bit :/ But I hope my smiles during the concert let her know that I admire her as well, haha. Sometimes you just have to give up something to be able to get something great, so I had to give up focus on Yossi to be able to get something great from Rika... kyaha.
ANYWAY then there was lottery, Rika was a bit upset at this guy whose number got called out but he hadn't dug out his lottery ticket, and she let out the cutest disappointed sound ever (I'M SORRY SHE IS SO CUTE). And ah, ah ah. After the concert daigong reached out to give them our Moomin card and the reindeer horn necklaces, and I think it was Yaz who took them so I'm pretty sure they got to see them, yay!! I hope they went like MOOMINS
I wasn't planning on buying merchandise at first, but I ended up buying 2 Rika photo cards and a wristband. EPIC! T-shirts were sold out except for one XL, and the fans were all sold out as well. Pretty cool! I hope they consider it a "demand for more" haha. The T-shirts are awesome btw, I think Masa got one and it's so cool.
After the concert was after party, but before that we were like "ohay guyse, that is totally their car, they're going to come out the same way so let's wait for them". There's a vid of that, maybe y'all have seen it already. It was nice to see them one more time and to say thank you ^__^ Yossi was very cute waving to us!! Ah I love her hair on ponytail.
| Rika Ishikawa and Hitomi Yoshizawa (Hangry & Angry) leave Tavista in Finland | |
AFTER PARTY! Daigong, Masa, NAzu, Space, Kimuuu, Fushigi, twissie, me, and a bunch of Epic Japanese Fans went to a Chinese restaurant nearby. So much fun!!! Everyone was so friendly and fun, we had an introduction round and all kinds of lovely things. HENTAI
I really want to see one or all of the many group pictures that were taken that night!
I felt very lucky and honoured to be able to meet some of the biggest Japanese Rika/Ishiyoshi/Yossi/H!P fans who would travel all the way to Europe to watch them! Just one of the many things I wouldn't have been able to do if it wasn't for daigong and Masa. I think I got a bit shy again though
After the restaurant some of us went to chill for a bit in daigong's room, I abused daigong's account, we chatted about the concert, just nice and relaxed hanging until it was bed time.
DAY 3
OK on this day I was physically knackered and emotionally spent. I don't even know why, maybe I didn't sleep well or something. One of the first things we did was to take Mae to the Finnair bus, and already at that point I almost cried haha. So I knew it would be a tough day!
SO I just want to say this, if at any point anyone felt I snubbed them or was bitchy or too quiet or didn't answer their question or anything like that, I'm sorry! I was just so tired and overwhelmed by everything, I wasn't able to function 100% all the time. But just know that I really loved meeting all of you and I want to meet all of you again one day. Hopefully there will be an opportunity for that soon enough
On day 3 we went to Linnanmäki, the amusement park, and after that to some stores and some burgers, and filmed some things. Then people started leaving and I became increasingly depressed and omg, it was quite horrendous for a while haha. I was able to relax more back at the hotel where me, twiss, daigong and Space watched Eurovision semifinals among other things, LOL.
And then on Day 4 I left on an early train, it's getting late so blah blah blah haha
ACTUALLY I THINK IT'S TIME TO WRITE SOME PROPS, THANK YOUS, ETC.
Sorry if some of this repeats something that someone else has said, I haven't had time to read everything lol
DAIGONG!!! You're just the awesomest guy ever. We were so pimp'd at the concert and everywhere we went, it was great. The shirts, the glowing things, and most of all the ATTITUDE. And you were always looking out for me, asking how I was doing haha. Sorry I sucked at the camera stuff so much, I can't get rid of shyness so fast, and did I mention I was tired???
LOL But seriously you're amazing, MUCH LOVE!MASA LOL I guess we didn't talk that much (well as much as I had expected
), I blame your bromances, but you're still awesome and it was great to finally meet you! Sorry I didn't say any goodbye stuff but I was seriously about to burst into tears. Which I did later, but whatever. >_> At least there was one less pair of eyes to witness it haha. SO EMBARRASINGTWISSIE I love yooouuu and I loved to share all of this experience with yooouuu!!! It was about time we met and
I felt like I could be myself around you and not feel like a complete doof, even if I was a doof at times, haha. UNTIL NEXT TIME!!!KIMUUU you were so chillax and instantly easy to talk to, there should be a Kimuuu at every meeting. Haha. It was so great to meet you!! Hope I can hear more fun h&A stories ^o^
SPACE I was pleasantly surprised how you showed up to every meeting, really made an effort to be there for everyone and everything! And even if you hate music (LOL) you came to the concert. Just mad props!
STRYFE it was good to see you again and I'm glad you weren't as trashed as some of the others when we went to pick up twissie LOL. Well at least it seemed that way. Wut? Dut.
NAzu - you weren't a Debbie Downer in real life at all
You were actually quite positive and all the good stuff. I was really impressed by your contribution to the experience and the bromances LOL KIO_
Really nice to meet you! I'm shy too so I know it can be difficult to come hang out with a bunch of weirdoes, but I'm very glad you did!! Thanks for showing us to some places and ah your hair accessories were so cute ^o^FUSHIGI you crazy gal!! You said you are awesome and I totally agree with that. You're so much fun to hang out with, so random. YEAH!! BRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLL <-- that thing you do
FUYUMI lol you're so cute ^_^ We didn't get to talk that much but it was very nice to meet you after all this time! I hope you had a great time at the concert!!
+u+u dangit I saw this blonde girl in the question asking line but I didn't realize it was you so I didn't come say hi
OH POOP!!! Next time okay?! Oh yeah and your question was good! Any question that leads to potentially hilarious answers is great. LOLMAE-CHAN You would call Rika and others "so cute" but you're also SUPER CUTE yourself!! So cheerful and always smiling, you bring great energy. I'm glad I got to meet you
HOLY SHIT I have to stop writing this thing. IF I FORGOT SOMEONE, FUCK ME, I LOVE U, LET'S BE FRIENDS!!! JPHiP!!!!
Gotta sleep now...
Saiks' Report on Utada Hikaru Concert - Paradise Rock Club in Boston
Saiks here reporting from the East Coast!
Out of request from Daigong, I'm posting this here too. 
I know I was supposed to do this when I got home at like... midnight, but I was fucking tired.
; So here is my report of Utada Hikaru in Boston at the Paradise Rock Club February 5, 2010! First, we got to Boston around 2:30, and got some food after finding a parking meter that didn't have a max time limit that it could be used on. The food was good, flat bread pizza, but enough about that, because obviously this isn't about food.
Got in line around 4, doors opened at 6. It was really cold! By the time we got into there, my legs felt like they were going to fall off, but it was so worth it. Brandie had to bring our cameras back to the car because they had a big "no camera" policy. Boo. (Yet, it doesn't surprise me to see that footage still got leaked on youtube.)
The opening act, DJ Mike something was...no offense, he just didn't know what music to play for the crowd. Honestly, think about it, we were all there to see UTADA fucking HIKARU, and he was playing Brittney Spears. I mean, come on! I was hoping/expecting some jpop. The crowd was basically dead minus a couple groups and the boy in front of us. Now, I have a bone to pick with this boy, thank goodness I will never see him again, because he made me VERY uncomfortable. He was obviously gay, and his boyfriend was in front of him/beside him, both of them were probably the tallest people in the entire club, and they were in the front row, which was RIGHT in front of me. I was struggling to see around them, but it wasn't a bad view in general, but my issue was that the guy directly in front of me was basically humping his boyfriend while dancing and stuff. I have no issues with gay people (obviously, considering I'm a lesbian) but really!? Was that necessary? He was doing it basically throughout the entire concert and it was just really awkward for me. ^^; I was tempted to ask him to stop (nicely) but, yeah... I didn't.
The tech crew there was having issues after the DJ went off and we were all waiting for Utada to come on. Apparently they didn't learn to check everything before the concert (that's like, the first thing we learn in tech...)
ANYWAY! I feel bad because I'm making this seem like a negative experience, but it was probably one of the best days of my life!
So she ended up getting on a little late, but from that, it was AWESOME.
Opening (track from Exodus)
When she first walked on stage, the crowd went wild, even though there weren't very many of us there (the club was really small, but packed full!) I was expecting her to use this as her opening, because a friend I made in line was talking about it. I honestly don't remember much about this song because I was so excited to actually just see her. Seriously, I was waiting for this moment to happen for almost half my life, and I was just shocked about it all. ^^;
On & On
I really enjoyed this song! I love it on the album, but nothing compares to seeing her live! This is around the time I realized that this was all real. LOL. She got everyone to arm wave and whatnot.
It was pretty awesome. She had the mic on the stand for this and she was doing that cool thing where she touched the mic stand during the...sexy parts. ^^; And I'm not gonna lie, she was hot.Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI
Now, this song was just fun! She really interacted with the crowd for this song, we were all her backup singers, haha. Instead of saying "NYC, NYC, NYC" she said "Boston, Boston, Boston!" (I imagine that she did this for every city she was in) and we echoed (along with all the other parts like, for like Tokyo and stuff.) And this is probably one of my favorite performances for this concert because of how much we were all just kinda going nuts, but also...!!! I locked eyes with her!
I know, I sound like a crazy fan girl, but it really happened! She was scanning the crowd and, for some reason she just kinda paused on me, and our eyes locked for about three seconds before she looked away! I felt kinda dumb after I thought about it more, because I realized my jaw was left hanging open with a really dumb grin on my face.Poppin'
This is one of my favorite songs on her new album, I'd have to say. I don't know why, I just really like the way it sounds. All the girls kinda went crazy for this song, because of the line "Girls, you know we have it better than the boys" we would all just go "YEAHHH!!!!" and get more pumped about it all!
I was also pleasantly surprised to find that she added a swear. ^^; I dunno, it just made it more fun. For the line "We're fine~ Sooo fine~" Utada changed it to "We're fine, so damn fine!!" Haha.After Poppin' she did a bit of talking, which was pretty wicked. She was excited that we finally made it to the East coast, to which we all cheered, probably because she totally should come back to Boston more often! She talked about how everyone seemed so young because most of us were students, and how she saw a lot of students when she was walking around and shopping in Boston. She also mentioned how this was the smallest concert on the tour, which just meant everything felt more intimate, and it was true, the smaller crowd just made us feel close to her. OH! And she talked about how there was a very inconvenient huge ass pillar right in front of center stage.
She gave the guy who got the spot right in front of it kudos, and then was like "Oh...and kudos for you guys behind the pillar too! Someone has to do it!" She's cute. She also spoke Japanese to all the Japanese-speaking fans that were there (Boston has a Japanese college, so there was a group of Japanese girls who were just awesome and really cute!!)This One (Crying Like A Child)
Obviously this is one of her sadder songs, and this is where I just really felt her emotion. I was shocked, because a lot of artists, it seems, don't put out the emotion for sadder songs. Hikki really looked like she was going to cry, which really just put this song up on a higher level. I don't know if this has anything to do with her recent break-up (which I'm sorry to hear about :/ I wish her all the happiness in the world!) or if she just remembers the feelings that she had when she wrote the song. Hell, she could've been acting for all I know, but I was impressed and moved.
Passion/Sanctuary
For this song, she started out in Japanese and did a really smooth transition into English about half way through. The crowd was crazy for it because it's from Kingdom Hearts, and that's probably how most of the fans found out about her. She did an awesome job, as expected. <3
Sakura Drops (on keyboard)
Before she started playing this song, she brought up how she was actually kind of embarrassed because the crowd was so small and close! It was really cute, because she seemed excited about it but actually kind of scared, like we would judge her differently because we were a smaller group.
These songs she had a keyboard set up for her and she actually thanked the techie who was setting it up for her (I think he was the stage manager or maybe TD). So this is my little thank you for giving the techies credit! THANK YOU, NOBODY ELSE DOES IT!! ^_^ This is one of my favorite songs by her, so I was really happy to hear her play and sing it. I liked that she did the two songs on the keyboard, it was nice to watch her play! She did an amazing job at it, too!Stay Gold (keyboard)
For some reason, I don't remember too much about this song. o__O; I think I was really trying to pay attention to her facial expressions and her playing keyboard. I wish I remembered more, but I do remember thinking it was good.
While they were putting away the keyboard and stuff, she started talking to us again~ She brought up how most of us were students again and how it was good that we were all going to school, because of all the creative tension and sexual tension it brings. (Yes, she really said sexual tension.) She explained how she dropped out of Uni, and how that was a bad example of her, but she had already had a career, but she wanted to know if it was what she really wanted, so she went to Uni. Clearly, she liked being a music artist instead, haha. Which I'm happy to hear (but lesson of the day: don't drop out of Uni, it's bad!) She said that she did miss Uni though, because she really likes learning, and how she's a bit of a geek. We all cheered for that one.
Then she had us all chant "Books! Books! Books!" ext. Then Utada went on to tell us her future life plans LOL. She said how when she can't make it as a music artist anymore, she'll just be old and go back to Uni so she can study and graduate. Devil Inside
I knew it was going to be this song as soon as the lighting changed red. She did a shortened version of it, but it was still pretty badass. This is the song that got us all bouncing and fist pumping/arm waving again because it was more upbeat that the last few songs she did. I think this song was prefect to bring the audience back into a hyper mood.
I think she did some headbanging, which was wicked. <3Kremlin Dusk
I knew that she had to be playing this song sometime, because it's really popular for her English songs, and I'm glad it did get played because it's my favorite English song of hers. <3 As soon as the band started the song, everyone went wild. Seriously, who doesn't like this song? Haha. We were all basically going nuts and stuff. For some reason, she looked extra-beautiful while singing this, especially some of the slower parts. I think it had to do with the part of the fact that this is a really meaningful song, and she really put her emotions into it, and I felt like I understood almost? I dunno, haha.
You Make Me Want To Be A Man
I think everyone was more amused than anything about this song. Of course, we all know it, but that doesn't stop it from being a bit funny. She seemed to have a lot of fun with this, pointing at people in the crowd during the "you make me want to be a man!" lines, haha. Also, she paid a lot more attention the the people in the way back on the side, which I was glad for, because although I was in the front, it was only fair.
The Bitter End - Placebo Cover
I had actually never heard this song before, and had to look up a set list to figure out what it was called, haha. But, Utada did an awesome job at it, it actually got me to download the song! Although, I personally like Hikki's cover better, but I think I'm a wee bit biased.
Apple & Cinnamon
This song was another one of those sad songs where she put a LOT of emotion into, it looked like she was going to cry again, and just...I can't explain her facial expressions or anything well, but the look in her eyes just showed the pain...It was almost hard to watch, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. It was just...I don't know...intense? Not to mention beautiful.
Come Back To Me
Having Come Back To Me after Apple and Cinnamon was just...wow. Way to rip my heart out LOL. At least, that's what I thought at the time, she really ripped my heart out in First Love. Nonetheless, once again, she just was flooding with emotion. I think I figured out a way to describe it, but it doesn't really do it much justice. It seemed like she was admitting everything/singing it for the first time, like she never admitted it before, and it seemed so real.
First Love
Now as soon as this song started playing, I was in a bit of a shock. I actually didn't expect it, because I didn't read any past set lists because I wanted to be surprised. And my god, I really was surprised to hear this song. This song has so much history with me, I was just overwhelmed. I actually got teary eyed (I can't believe I'm admitting this, heh) and started to cry, just a little bit. Now, I have a little boring story for you all so I can at least explain why I cried. When I was 9/10ish, my parents were getting a divorce, and I had a hard time with it, as would any other kid, but I also found out that I was moving back to Maine with my mom, which was 3,000 miles from my home in Hillsboro, Oregon. I really was having issues with the idea of leaving basically my entire life behind to move to Maine. But then a friend of mine gave me a CD of music on my last day of school in Oregon for me to listen to to try and make me feel better. I didn't know most the songs, but one of them was Utada's First Love. I didn't understand the lyrics or anything, but her voice really just made me feel better. I listened to it everyday, and I honestly think it helped me get through my parent's divorce. I didn't know it was Utada until I was probably 14. By then, I had misplaced the CD, or it got damaged, I can't remember, but I just stumbled upon her music by chance. So when I found it again, I was thrilled. So when I heard it in concert live, watching her sing it, it just kind of brought back all the memories (both good and bad), and I was just touched. Yeah, so that's my story explaining why I cried. This was my favorite performance of the night, because I can honestly say I have been wanting to hear this song live for half my life.
Can You Keep A Secret?
Everyone was excited that she was playing older Japanese music, and when Can You Keep a Secret? came on, everyone cheered. This had me bounce back from my little trip down memory lane, and back into my cheering, bouncy mood. A lot of people (including me) were worried that she wouldn't play any Japanese stuff, so everyone was excited for this. Even though this song is old, I still love it, and she did an amazing job at it! <3
Automatic
Automatic is probably one of the best old school Hikki songs ever.
During the "It's automatic" line, we always yelled out the lines with her, and she seemed actually really happy that we were doing that, because for most the songs we didn't sing along or anything because we wanted to hear her sing (duh, that's why we all went.)Boku Wa Kuma (Out of audience request)
I think she was a bit shocked that we wanted her to do this song LOL. But she did say "Well, you know I'm having a good time if I sing this!" Haha. Everyone sang along with it because well... it's Boku Wa Kuma.
We all had our hands in the air like a bunch of hippies and it was just a good time. Utada was actually worried that the band didn't know the song well enough to play it, but they did fine and she messed up on the lyrics in a part! She apologized for that, but we all forgave her anyway.Dirty Desire
When she announced that she was about to sing her last song, we all kind of "boo"ed
; None of us wanted it to end. Hell, my feet were killing me and was hot and sweaty, but I would've been there all night. She asked us all to request the song on the radio if we liked it and "if you don't like it, then just don't bother." But this is the one song that is actually doing somewhat well in America. I think I read somewhere it made it on the top 100 list. YAY! Although, I'm always a bit shocked whenever I hear this song because I just...it's dirty and I still picture Utada as that cute little geek. ^^; But, hey, we all have that perverted side, including her. She did an awesome job with it, I think I like the live better than the original, actually. She did a really good job at making it look hot, not gonna lie there, haha. She also started headbanging!! THAT was awesome, haha. She also did a lot of headbanging in another song, but I can't remember which song it was for the life of me. T_T But Hikki, please, keep up the headbanging, it was wicked! Oh, and did I mention, I was a little bit jealous of the microphone stand in this song?Encore:
We were all shouting for an encore like crazy, it was to the point where I actually was having trouble breathing while keeping up with it. We started stomping and clapping and everything, and when she came back on she said she was afraid that her dressing room ceiling was going to come down on her because we were so loud and stomping so hard
Simple & Clean
Of course she had to play this song, I mean, it's the original Kingdom Hearts theme. I still like the song a lot, even after all these years from when it first came out. <3 I think it was a good choice for it to be an encore song. ^_^ Awesome beat, not to crazy to get us all hyper and dying for more, but also not too slow.
After this, she introduced all the band members and techies by name and stuff. <3 Once again, thanks for giving the techies credit! She almost tripped over a wire during the intro of the drummer, and, she turned to the guitarist (because she tripped over his wires
) and said "If I fell, it would've been your fault and my fans would've killed you!!" in a joking sort of way. Of course, we all cheered like crazy for that line. Me Muero
I was curious if she was going to play this song or not, because it was on her new album. She said before she started it that it was probably her favorite song on the new album. Kinda cool that she saved her favorite of the new album for last, what a good way to go, amiright? Like Simple and Clean, it had the perfect beat for it to be not too hyper but not too slow, awesome choice for the last song, I'd have to say. Once again, the live is much better than the original song for this. <3 (actually, I think all the lives were better!)
She then threw out some balls that had a little bear drawing on them and her signature into the audience, I ALMOST caught one! The tall guy in front of me totally snatched it just as my fingertips touched it, he also accidently elbowed me in the chest really hard, but I don't think he did it on purpose. I was tempted to offer him all the money in my wallet for that ball, but I doubted he would've given it to me anyway, so I'll just have to deal with the memory of the concert. ^_^ That's more important than a signature anyway (even if I wanted one really bad
)Overall, the concert was awesome! If she's ever in Boston again, I am totally going again, and making sure I get front row this time in case any more tall people feel like waiting in line before I get there. ^^; I'm excited to say that Utada Hikaru was my first real concert, and I'll definitely keep the memories with me forever. <3
This has been a review brought to you by Saikami. Over and out!
