hontowa

Halfway done!

Ara Fes 9/21 Part 1

I wanted to finish it all in one go, but it's 2:30am and I get to get back on a plane tomorrow and fly to Georgia! D: I'm excited to see Kikka, but man I would really like some down time. @_@

Recently I've been scouring the internet for good Sailor Moon fanfiction. It has to exist! But so far I've only had mild success. And "mild" is being optimistic. This may also have to do with the fact that I'm in specific looking for Starlights fics.

In the process I stumbled across this:

sailormoonland

It looks like SO much fun. Someone do this with me pleaaase. ;-;

Answering the question "I'm ugly, can you talk about what I should do?"

"Here is the truth. Whatever notions of beauty you have that leave you to make that comment, those notions of beauty are probably pretty crazy. And even if they aren't crazy, like even let's say like oh it's about lack of facial symmetry or I have all these zits or I have scarring or I'm overweight or whatever it is. Here's the thing, in my opinion. The thing about your body that is really amazing is that it is capable of freaking consciousness. Like it is capable of observing the universe with a complexity that no other organism can even begin to approach, and you are one of a relatively few organisms on a world that is stuffed with life that is capable of experiencing this gift and burden of awareness and interaction and observation and everything that goes along with consciousness. That is a complete freaking miracle, and that is made possible by your body, which is not separate from yourself. And what is beautiful about you - and inarguably beautiful about you - is THAT. That you are capable of awareness, that you are capable of these acts of generosity, that you're capable of language, that you can even communicate the idea 'I am ugly what should I do?' That is a freaking miracle when you think about it, and it should be celebrated. This dichotomy that you may create between having a good personality and being beautiful, that's a false dichotomy. You are both. You are beautiful largely because of your personality which is part of and inseparable from your body."

- John Green

English Words that have very different meanings when being used in Japanese.

I want every single person in some sort of Japan-related fandom to read this and learn how certain things they say on TV in Japan all the time DO NOT mean the same thing in English. I even learned something! I didn't know about スマート. Morning Musume's "12 スマート" album has a new meaning (that makes just as little sense) now xD

I think the second most annoying thing in the whole world is when someone says in English "His tension was so high!!"

(For reference, the number one most annoying thing is lip smacking/loud chewing noises.)

...but first!

I also have a public blog, Pon Way Days. I'll be posting there about my Japan trip so if you guys are interested please have a look. I'll save the more personal photos for here though so they can hide behind a lock.

Arashi 30-Day Challenge

Day 10: A song you want to see Ohno choreograph and/or dance to and why.

I'd love for him to choreograph Tokei Jikake no Umbrella. It makes me super sad that the song is relegated to being a b-side and therefore has no PV. It makes me super sad that it never gets performed, despite having all the makings to be a great concert song. If Ohno choreographed it I'm sure it would be full of pop-and-lock moves and super hard. Everyone would bitch at him and they'd probably only ever do the dance once and then downgrade it to hand movements (see: Carnival Night Part 2) but that once would be enough. So long as it was on a DVD.

Since I'm so behind...

Day 11: Your all time favorite Arashi variety show, your all time least favorite, and why.

All time favorite is a 3-way tie between D no Arashi, Mago Mago, and Shukudai-kun. I may have to give Shukudai-kun a slight edge, because both D and Mago had awkward starts and Mago lost a lot of steam towards the end when they started doing that awful castle visiting stuff. Shukudai-kun had the luxury of inheriting the legacy of D-G and never had too many growing pains, and it ended SO WELL. It never grew old and tired, it just retired at it's height with a lot of tears. From me.

D no Arashi was amazing because they had so many established segments that were a lot of fun, and they mostly just set up scenarios where the boys could be boys. They laughed, they embarrassed themselves, they got excited, they competed. Both D and Mago gave us a chance to see how the individual members interacted with each other by pairing them off in various combinations. Himitsu isn't as successful with that because the segments just aren't long enough. They don't go on location all day anymore - just a few hours, and they spend half of that time eating and most of the rest really focusing on the guest. In Mago we got an element of human drama. The stories with the grandparents were touching, and we got to see them interact with normal people.

Shukudai-kun took the magic built up in D and G and brought it to a studio environment. Back then the show was still mostly about the boys and instead of doing nothing but be interviewed about themselves, the guests dove right in and did silly stuff along side Arashi. They got to be a little more grown up and cut down on the stress/time of location shoots, but still kept the atmosphere that made the previous shows great.

Least favorite show is by far GRA. What the fuck was that show, it was like a half hour infomercial directed at housewives featuring Arashi looking nice. Kind of. Remember how Nino just didn't shave one time? He was like oh we're filming GRA today? Fuck it. To make it worse, at the time it was really hard to find the damn thing online, and every time an episode looked promising it would be a ghost. You'd hunt that shit down and when you finally found it you discovered it was only interesting for about 8 seconds. Thank god VS came along and saved the day.

...I'm sorry my answer was so long, I'm sure no one cares xD

I desparately need some more icons. Anyone have any suggestions for good places to get them? :/

Arashi 30-day Challenge

Day 8: You can take one Arashi member with you on a trip around the world. Who do you take, where do you go, and why?

I'd take Jun to Europe, particularly the UK, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece.

Aiba would embarrass me by shouting at everyone and their pets in English. Ohno wouldn't want to do anything but fish. Nino also wouldn't want to do much of anything, and would somehow con me into paying for everything. Sho would bring way too many guide books and bore me to death reading off trivia.

Jun has just the right balance for travel. He's adventurous and enthusiastic, and would probably suggest things I'd never think of. He'd do all the proper research and learn the basic phrases in each language, but wouldn't over-do it Sho style. He at least believes in splitting the bill, but I think I could get him to treat me to a lot because well...everyone else seems to be able to do it! And Jun likes classy stuff like fancy restaurants. Also he'd probably go shopping with me. Shopping and food tend to encompass 90% of my vacations, so this is important.

First of all, I just want to take a small moment to acknowledge that in Japan, it's March 11. It's been one year since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. I'm lucky enough to have never experienced something like that first hand, but that also means it's something that's hard to truly grasp. All I can say is that I'm beyond grateful that aeslis and Mage are safe and well today. For those who aren't able to say the same for their family and friends, I can't even imagine their situation. I'm not the praying type, but every day since I've taken a small moment to wish them health, safety, and hope.

_____________________________________________


I'm behind on my own meme! Shameful. So are some of you, btw =P

Arashi 30 Day Challenge

Day 6: You have the opportunity to give each of the members a birthday present. What do you get them?

For Ohno - A year's supply of idol t-shirts. Since Ohno wears whatever free T-shirts he gets, he might as well get out there and promote all of my favorite under-appreciated groups! Included will be the "I♥ゲーマー" shirt sold by unofficial vendors in Harajuku.

For Sho - My favoritest of books, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I think he'd actually take the time to read it instead of watching the movie first. Also possibly an inspirational book-on-tape on getting over a fear of heights that he could bring with him to VS Arashi in an effort to evoke my rage less often.

For Jun - A bearded dragon. Much like Jun they look spiky and dangerous but when you pet them they're as soft as a puppy. Don't be mistaken though, they're badass and super smart.

For Aiba - One of these. There couldn't possibly be anything cuter than one of these + Aiba.

For Nino - An unlimited access pass to my bed A really nice massage chair. This way he can take better care of himself while still being able to sit around drinking beer and playing video games. Also note that these chairs have a vibrate function, which might come in handy when that guy from earlier who loves gamers comes over.

My guiltiest of pleasures is America's Next Top Model, but unfortunately I've been slacking. Somehow I missed that a new cycle had started, and it's yet another gimmick. Brits vs. Americans! And for their photoshoot next week, they're going to earn that Vogue Italia spot by dressing up...

as babies. What kind of shit is that? No major agency would ever ask it's stars to -




...Oh. Carry on then models.

YESSSSSSSSS.



Eito Rangers: The Movie.



Edit: That's what I get for stealing someone's link. Didn't realize the actual picture was the size of Texas.