Farewell 1up
Wow. With the buyout of 1up.com and many Ziff Davis properties by Hearst, scores of Ziff employees have been suddenly laid off. A very harsh reminder of what a volatile and shaky industry videogame journalism is. I wish the best to all their staff. I’ve personally met only a couple of their writers years back when I was writing for GamerFeed/GameDaily, but I’ve long enjoyed the articles and podcasts by the group. They have a talented ensemble over there. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the staff banded together and created a GiantBomb.com-like resurrection.
Coincidentally, I was giving a classmate a ride home literally this afternoon when he asked me completely out of the blue whether I still worked for “that videogame company”. I could only wistfully reply, “Nah, that was in a former life.” Writing about videogames was never a serious career I had considered for a second and I did it only for my own entertainment, but nonetheless I still spent many hours dedicated to the company and got to enjoy many very cool experiences as a reward. It had provided many unforgettable memories. I’m sure the 1up.com staff are now feeling the same way looking back.
1st Prince of Coffee House
During the summer, I worked with a Korean Ph.D. candidate on a research project. He is an awesome person and made time at work pass by very quickly because we would talk constantly about Korean dramas and music. He had hooked up a stereo system in the lab and would introduce me to new artists and songs everyday. Having Epik High and Wonder Girls pumped at full volume in a lab has a very surreal quality. Research has never been so fun. Good times.
One of the shows he recommended to me is 1st Prince of Coffee House, a 2007 Korean drama. Japanese dramas are my mainstay because as I’ve stated previously, they seem to have much more variety. Korean dramas, while in general featuring better acting, tend to be too melodramatic for my tastes, even for the shows with a comedic focus. Plus, Korean dramas are quite long, averaging 16 episodes compared to the typical 10-12 for Japanese dramas.
I don’t watch too many Korean dramas for these reasons, but based on his heavy recommendation, I decided to watch this show. I think I’ve stumbled across the magic recipe for Korean dramas: two good-looking guys and two good-looking girls, each guy likes both girls and each girl likes both guys. Instead of a love triangle, they have love squares. 4 main characters is the perfect number to introduce enough plot points to sustain a 16 episode long series. Throw in some complications and misunderstandings for everybody to agonize over, wrap it up nicely, and there you have it, a Korean drama!
Nobuta wo Produce
This is number 2 of my “forgotten blog entries”. First off, a disclaimer: I saw Nobuta wo Produce almost two years ago and took a couple screen captures for a blog post that never happened. I’ve forgotten most of the details about this drama, but since I had the screencaps lying around, I figured I might as well dust them off and get them online.
Nobuta wo Produce is a high school drama and a coming-of-age story about several students. Kiritani Shuji (played by Kamenashi Kazuya, center in image) is the most popular kid in school and respected by everyone, but his friendly and cool personality is a deceptive one that he uses to get whatever he wants. Kusano Akira (played by Yamashita Tomohisa, right in image) is the wacky class clown who talks a lot and makes a lot of noise but seems to be largely ignored by everybody, as far as I can remember. He looks up to Shuji and wants to hang around him, but Shuji wants nothing to do with him.
One day, a shy new student shows up at the school: Kotani Nobuko (played by Horikita Maki, left in image). She quickly becomes an outcast and is bullied by the other girls. For some reason I have forgotten, Shuji and Akira decide to have some fun together and begin a project to help Nobuko get out of her shell and make her popular.
Papa to Musume no Nanokan
I’ve had the drafts of a few drama reviews saved forever so I figured while I’m at the airport waiting for my flight back to school, this would be a great time to finish them off and get them online. I had intended on posting two of these in the summer/fall of 2007, that’s how long I’ve been putting these off.
The premise of Papa to Musume no Nanokan is hardly original. A salaryman named Kawahara Kyoichiro (played by Tachi Hiroshi) is troubled with problems at work, where he’s been reassigned to a new project in the company, and at home, where he has difficulty connecting with his teenage daughter, Kawahara Koume (played by Aragaki Yui). One day while coming home on the train together, there’s a train accident and the two wake up in the hospital, where they realize that their minds have mysteriously swapped bodies!
Cue lots of crazy hijinks as Kyoichiro and Koume are forced to live each other’s lives, ultimately leading to a greater understanding of each other’s problems and a better relationship between the two. Were you expecting anything else?
DJ Max Portable Black Square Limited Edition + DJ Max Technika Ultimate Collection
Special New Year’s Eve delivery from the mailman! I’m a huge fan of the DJ Max Portable series on PSP, made by a Korean company called Pentavision. It’s a rhythm game series similar to Beatmania and has great soundtracks and slick presentation. I own the Limited Edition prints of DJ Max Portable 1 and 2, both limited to 1,000 copies each. With the newest installment in the series (titled Black Square), Pentavision outdid themselves again and produced a stellar Quattra Limited Edition. This set is again limited to a scarce 1k run. Being the fanatic that I am, I made sure to reserve one the moment Play-Asia started accepting pre-orders.
Beverly Hills and A Bathing Ape: Los Angeles!
As I’ve mentioned previously, visiting A Bathing Ape stores is always a treat in itself. The stores showcase the talent of interior designer Masamichi Katayama and his company Wonderwall. The Los Angeles store just opened in April 2008, and while I knew there weren’t any recent releases that I wanted to buy, I decided to stop by for the first time and check out the store since I was spending the day in downtown L.A. anyway.
Perfume – Attack of the exploding balloons
In the most amusing performance in recent memory, Perfume appeared on Music Station’s Christmas special, where the producers thought it was a good idea to roll out giant balloons into the crowd. The balloons bouncing around the stage created an attractive visual, but as they were batted around by the audience, they started exploding, flinging debris onto the stage. I thought it was hilarious.
The Perfume Music Station performance is on Youtube so you can check it out for yourself. Perfume is one of the biggest success stories in the past year and a half, vaulting from obscurity into a very popular group in the Japanese music industry. I’m a big fan of their electropop music and their inexplicably hypnotic and bizarre dances.
I’ll walk you through the performance. Perfume begins with an abridged “Polyrhythm”, the song that made them a household name. Before you ask, yes they’re lip-syncing, as they do in pretty much all their performances because of the vocoder use in their songs. At 2:10, they transition into “love the world”, which is when the balloons start rolling out. The balloons explode throughout the song, but the best part is around 3:55 when… well, Kashiyuka gets attacked.
Amazingly, aside from a quick flinch, she was unfazed and continued her dance without a break. A true sign of a professional!
Images from Jpopmusic, you can find a high-res copy of the performance at Jpopsuki
