Protocol Snow

This is very awesome, GameDaily has been nominated for a Webby award in the gaming category. Even if you haven’t heard of the Webby Awards, you might be familiar with their famous five word requirement for acceptance speeches. I’m currently not as involved with the website/company as I used to be, but this is a cool honor and I’m really proud of all the hardworking guys at GameDaily. Start thinking of a snappy speech, just in case…

Quick update on this blog: school projects have become my life as my senior year of college winds down. I’ve got about half a dozen topics I want to write about that I reluctantly have to put on hold until things get less hectic. So stay tuned!

Even though I think The Apprentice peaked with its first season, when it was a show genuinely concerned with business matters rather than the endless parade of weekly corporate sponsors that it has now become, I haven’t missed a single episode in 6 seasons. Tonight’s episode was definitely the best of this season and had probably the best boardroom showdown of the last couple years. Wow, what intensity, and an amazing pay-off. It’s a shame how many people will miss this episode because nobody watches this show anymore.

I’ve received a surprisingly high number of google hits to my blog from people searching for recommended Asian dramas. To satisfy the demand, I’ve created a page ranking all the dramas I’ve seen so far. There’s barely any information on the page at this time, but I’ll flesh it out when I find the time. I’m currently swamped with projects and probably won’t have much free time until next week.

While creating the page, I realized how Japanese-centric my viewing habits are. My explanation is that Korean dramas as a whole are generally epic love dramas that involve a whole lot of crying. They’re also fairly long and so involve investing quite a bit of time into them. Japanese dramas on the other hand are short (most are only around 10 episodes), and there’s a much greater variety. I would love to get some Korean drama recommendations, since pretty much everything I’ve heard about are either weepy melodramas or “My Sassy Girl” clones.

As for Chinese/Taiwanese dramas, those don’t attract as much attention as the more popular K/J dramas. However, I do have the first episode of the Taiwanese drama “It Started With a Kiss” on my hard drive that I need to watch sometime…

The long-awaited DJ Max Portable 2 for the PSP released in Korea last week, and I got my deluxe copy in the mail today. The full name: DJ Max Portable 2 Orpheus Package ~Night Black~ [Limited Edition]. Only 1,000 of these were made! This was a tough item to snag, but it’s a nice collector’s item for sure. There’s also a ~Metallic Silver~ of this set that’s essentially the same thing, but with a silver box and a different jigsaw puzzle design. Only 1,000 of those were made as well.

For those unfamiliar with DJ Max Portable 2, this is the sequel to last year’s sizzingly hot Korean music game. It’s very similar to the music game Beatmania, where you need to push buttons in time to the music. Or as a friend called it: “DDR for your fingers”. Check out last year’s version in action to get a feel for the game.

I haven’t tried playing the sequel yet, but in the meantime, here’s a look at the Limited Edition box. I also own the LE of the first game, and the production values of this set are MUCH better than last year’s. The box closes very smartly with a magnetic strip on the flap, as does a smaller box included inside that contains the jigsaw puzzles, art cards, and calendar. Other items in the set are a 3 CD soundtrack, the game, and an art book. The set overall has a very satisfying weight to it. Quality item all around.

Two new singles to keep an eye on, both releasing May 30th:

melody. – Love Story
1. Love Story
2. BoRn 2 luv U　[melody. loves m-flo]
3. Lovin’ U～Deckstream Remix～
4. Love Story（instrumental）

Leah Dizon – 恋しよう
1. 恋しよう♪ (Koi shiyou)
2. Could you be that one?
3. アイシテル～ Love Story (Aishiteru~ Love Story)

The “BoRn 2 luv U” track is particularly interesting: another collaboration between melody. and m-flo? That’s what I’m hoping for, but I’m betting it’ll simply be an alternate version of the “STUCK IN YOUR LOVE” track on the latest m-flo album. I finally got that album in the mail today, I’ll post something about it when I get a chance.

m-flo recently announced m-flo Tour 2007 COSMICOLOR, which will be hitting 6 venues:

6.16 Zepp Osaka
6.17 Zepp Nagoya
6.22 Zepp Sendai
6.24 Zepp Sapporo
6.30 Zepp Fukuoka
7.21 Yokohama Arena

I’ll be in Taiwan this summer for a few weeks, so in an ideal world, I would be able to stop by Japan sometime and catch one of these concerts. However, I have no idea how I’ll be able to buy tickets from the U.S., plus Eugene tells me that m-flo is a very tough ticket, which comes as no surprise to me. Unless I can figure something out, I guess I’ll just have to catch the tour on DVD. Like always.

In other news, I also found out that BoA will be in Los Angeles performing at the Hollywood Bowl as part of a Korean festival. However, that takes place on May 5th when I’ll still be at school getting ready for graduation, so that doesn’t help me either.

At first glance, Dragon Zakura seems to be the typical drama about a gangster-turned-teacher who brings an unconventional style of teaching into the classroom and changes the lives of his students. But starting from the very first episode, it’s quite evident that Dragon Zakura is anything but ordinary.

Abe Hiroshi, who starred in Kekkon Dekinai Otoko, plays a failing lawyer named Sakuragi Kenji who is hired to liquidate a bankrupt high school for creditors. The high school is called Ryuuzan and is home to left-behind students who are hopeless for the future. Upon walking onto the campus, Kenji spies an opportunity to make a name for himself by turning the school around. He brashly promises that in exchange for keeping the school open, he’ll create a special class that will successfully train 5 Ryuuzan students to pass Tokyo University’s entrance exam in one year. Tokyo University is essentially the equivalent of Harvard University in the U.S. so all the teachers are against this impossible plan, but they are forced to give in to keep the school (and their jobs).

Sure, Kenji has an unusual teaching method and makes an impact on his students, but what’s different about Dragon Zakura compared to other similar teacher dramas like Gokusen and Great Teacher Onizuka is that Kenji isn’t actually a teacher. He is a lawyer who has undertaken this project to advance his own personal career goals. Rather than being a protective teacher who looks after the best interests of his students and will go out of his way to protect them, Kenji won’t hesitate to kick students out of the class if they aren’t willing to turn their lives around. As a former hooligan who has experienced the bitter reality of the real world, he often is quite harsh with his students as he disciplines them.

Yamashita Tomohisa left, Aragaki Yui right

Dragon Zakura focuses on a small group of students who I won’t all name. The main student is Yajima Yuusuke (played by Yamashita Tomohisa). The cute Aragaki Yui, who starred in My Boss My Hero, has a supporting role as Yuusuke’s jealous girlfriend.

Aragaki Yui left, Koike Teppei center, Yamashita Tomohisa right.

There we go, now she doesn’t look as pissed off. These two guys are members of Jpop groups; Koike Teppei is from WaT, while Yamashita Tomohisa is from NEWS and actually sang the drama’s ending theme song called “Colorful”. I imagine these pretty boys were responsible for attracting a sizable female audience. Also of interest is that the opening theme song is “Realize” by melody., who I’m a fan of. This song selection was odd though since I don’t see how it’s applicable at all to the drama.

While I enjoyed Dragon Zakura from the 1st episode, it was merely in “pretty good” status until the 5th episode. That’s when it rocketed up into the “awesome” category. Once I was engrossed by the story, I couldn’t help but be inspired. And just like how this isn’t your typical gangster-turned-teacher drama, the ending might not be as predictable as you expect. Dragon Zakura is well worth watching.

Facts
11 episodes
Aired Summer 2005
Genre: School, Drama & Comedy

Links
Official site
D-Addicts Bittorrent download page