Living in Japan offers a lot of perks yes, but also a handful of drawbacks. Chief among them, no Thanksgiving. That means no obnoxiously large amount of turkey, stuffing, corn bread or pie (oh how I miss it!), a trip to McDonald’s serving as a substitute for “American food.” No lazily sitting around watching football, unless refreshing ESPN counts. Hell, I’d settle for the parade at this point. So, all you folks who live somewhere they do gorge on poultry and athletics, be thankful you can do that instead of watching Japanese game shows like a zombie while munching on a Quarter Pound.

Positives to no Thanksgiving? Well, I have nowhere to be on a Friday night…so that means Music Station! Let’s get to this.

8:00 – Here we go! Before the swirl of bright graphics, though, Japan’s treated to an ad for “Romantic Christmas,” a compilation of, well you know, performed by J-Pop stars. The holiday season is finally here…even the creepy voice introducing the performers references it!

8:01 – The star of Buzzer Beat, Tomohisa Yamashita, gets to appear on this show for the second straight week, apparently to play the same song he did last week. These things happen when the audience is 99 percent female.

8:03 – GIRL NEXT DOOR perform their song “Orion” in the Peanuts Christmas tree lot with just enough room carved out for a violin section and a piano. The song itself starts up slow, the piano and vocals all but assuring we will be treated to a big emotional ballad. But then! A minute-so into the song a dance beat charges in to make this a slightly more hoppy affair, joined by some cheesy electronica squiggles far off in the back. “Orion” settles into this get-up for the next few minutes. The song’s got a great chorus that allows the lead singer to show off her impressive vocal chops, but that could be said for a lot of J-Pop songs so don’t get too excited. Ultimately forgettable, though the Christmas trees looked pretty!

(Video of song here. There is another, much worse Euro-technopop song tacked on in the second half, exercise caution.)

8:05 – Single rankings of the week pop up. One song is called “America” from a CD about…America? The case had some goofy anime dude flying out of the Stars and Stripes to hug the world. The rest of the chart features much more familiar names…EXILE, Arashi, Funkey Monkey Babys. The top three feature the Buzzer Beat guy at three, followed by…huh??? Two songs I actually like? The second spot goes to Bump Of Chicken for “R.I.P.” while the pole position belongs to LANDS, and their enjoyable dance-rock number “Bandage.”

8:12 – Tomohisa Yamashita wearing what appears to be a glitter coated snow cap stuns the audience by performing a song he sang on the same program last week. This programming decision forces me to rehash the exact same sentiments I had last time I listened to this tune (it’s not good), so I’ll spare you the leftovers. My only new insight into “Loveless” is that it must be full of emotions and feelings and stuff because Yamashita keeps touching his stomach with his hand like he’s about throw up.

(Video of song here)

8:17 – This week’s Music Station montage focuses on the rock acts of Japan’s yesteryear. I realize it’s seriously easy to rip on a generation for their fashion choices…but geez, the people from this montage are hilariously dressed. If the Whitesnake tour bus smashed into a ska concert, you’d see better fashion results. OK, cue up the video of Michael Ian Black deadpanning to the camera about Blind Melon.

8:25 – Montage still going strong. Hey, you guys remember Rainbow Brite? The ’80s, crazy am I right?

8:32 – Seeing Music Station live must be one of the most boring ways someone could spend their Friday night. “Next up, this singer will watch some old video clips and then answer some laborious trivia questions!”

8:33 – Ahhhhh, the next performer is up, and she offers the perfect opportunity to expand on a point. Read Becky’s Wikipedia page. Note how little music factors into her celebrity unless her appearances on Pokemon Sunday include busting out the Pokemon Rap. A fair share of J-Pop artists exist in a similar situation where they exist as “talents,” a vague term best translated to “shows up on a lot of variety shows,” who hitch their flashy wagons to whatever will sell best.

I think it’s safe to say Becky isn’t someone who loses sleep over the artistic merit of her music, which would explain why her Music Station numbers a Christmas-by-numbers song. If the bells joining her mid-tune weren’t clue enough, the set folks made it start snowing her performance to remind us “hey, the holidays are right around the corner, and here’s Becky with a new Christmas tune for y’all! She needs a new coat.” “心こめて” is a great reminder that one shouldn’t get to caught up in a J-Pop singer’s personality when said personality is all about selling product. At the very least though, the people behind these songs could give us something more lively than this.

(Video of song here, and it sounds slightly better. Video also has a really cute bunny in it, so big points.)

8:40 – See, this is cool design! Tokyo Incidents lead singer is surrounded by digital clocks counting down the duration of the song. Even better…the song is pretty good! “能動的三分間” starts off with some disjointed electronics before dropping in drums, guitar and (most importantly) a very smooth bass line. It’s a surprisingly funky affair that never overdoes it. And I say this for half the artists featured on Music Station., but the lead singer’s got a great voice.

(Video, featuring the Moonwalk, here.)

8:46 – The last performance of the night belongs to Remioromen. This one starts out incredibly intriguing – the group swirls various strings around before introducing a slightly off-kilter guitar. This blanket of backing music sounds downright dreamy, especially when the lead singer’s Ed Droste-ian voice falls onto it. The chorus, though, feels much more grounded, going for a sort of Coldplay-lite thing that ends up spilling onto the rest of the track. Remioromen promise a lot more than they deliver, but “恋の予感から” ends up a still solid song.

(Video here.)

Winner of the Week – A close race between Remioromen and Tokyo Incidents, with the consistently solid swing of the latter winning out over the inconsistent prior. Video below.

Orion, released on 11.25.09, is GIRL NEXT DOOR’s 7th single. Orion is used as the theme song for dorama Untouchable.

Title song 「Orion」 is a mid-tempo winter ballad that Chisa begins to sing immediately, her vocals strong and moving. The lyrics continue until around a minute into the song where a short instrumental-only section plays before Chisa comes back in. One of the good things about this song is that Chisa isn’t yelling as she was in the previous title songs, so it doesn’t annoy the listener as much. The song follows a pattern but overall it’s a nice, fast song.

「時の雫 (Toki no Shizuku)」 takes things a little slower as it is another wintery ballad, albeit not as fast-paced as Orion. It’s a beautiful ballad and Chisa sings really wonderfully here – it has a different sound and feel to previous songs like Be you wings or Infinity where most of the time Chisa sounds like she’s just yelling into your ears.

The in-your-face 「Drive away (GOGO’s remix)」 is last and after listening to it for a few seconds, I don’t really like it. The instrumental completely envelops Chisa’s vocals and the song itself is a generic Chisa-yelling GIRL NEXT DOOR song.

A PV was made for Orion. The PV features Chisa and the other members in a winter-like setting complete with snow and bare trees. There are also different settings where mainly Chisa, but also the other two members, wander around in different areas. Along with those scenes are also some of other people (who I’m guessing are from the country-side from the looks of it?).

I liked both of the ballads, particularly Toki no Shizuku, and those types of songs is where Chisa can really excel. However, there is a generic-ness to Drive away, somewhat the same to Orion, which is an issue that I’ve noticed from GIRL NEXT DOOR for a while now. Hopefully they’ll be able to bring something completely new next time.

~Single~

GIRL NEXT DOOR – Orion

1. Orion

2. Toki no Shizuku

3. Drive away (GOGO’s Remix)

4. Orion (Instrumental)

I’m so glad this single is finally out because 1. I have wanted it to for a while and 2. I haven’t reviewed anything in quite a while, mostly because there hasn’t been anything coming out to review. Regardless, on with my review.

I was very pleased with “Orion” since piano and strings are the main instruments in this song. It’s a mid-paced winter ballad that has a lot to offer. I thought Chisa’s vocals were really great and on point and I really liked the guitar solo in the bridge. It’s a little short and I would have liked a slightly stronger emphasis on certain instruments but it’s a strong track overall.

“Toki no Shizuku” starts off pretty calm and sets the tone of the whole song, which at 7 minutes long makes it a bit of a bore. At some points it just feels like it should have ended somewhere and hasn’t yet. Forgetting about the length for a second, the song isn’t that bad as much as a bit unremarkable. It’s forgettable and sometimes Chisa’s vocals sound a bit odd.

The “GOGO’s Remix” of Drive away was a bit annoying and I couldn’t really listen to it. Although this is to be expected since I’m not a fan of traditional remixes.

Love Orion, Toki no Shizuku is a snooze fest and, oh… a remix…

Aquí os dejo el último single de GND. Orion es una balada preciosa. Por fin algo más distinto a todos los singles que han ido sacando este año x_x.

01 Orion
02 時の雫 (Toki no Shizuku)
03 Drive away (GOGO’s Remix)
04 Orion (Instrumental)

Descargar.

¡Comentar!

¡Comentar no lleva ni medio minuto!

Track Listing

1. Orion
2. Toki no Shizuku
3. Drive away (GOGO’s Remix)
4. Orion (Instrumental)

1. Orion

It took GND long enough to finally change their game up.  Unlike all of the previous singles, Orion (how original) is a ballad more than anything, but sadly you can still feel that if they added guitars, it would’ve fallen under another bland GND.  Sadly, that does happen once we get into the 2nd chorus…oh well, so much for getting better at their music.  Though I’ll admit that CHISA sounds better here than she ever did before. 

2. Toki no Shizuku

Then we get into the lone B-side, Toki no Shizuku.  It’s another ballad, but it’s more like “If” because of it’s dangerous length of 7 minutes.  Though right now, I think it’s leagues better than “Orion” becuase I don’t feel that “Daisuke Suzuki” issue that’s been plaguing the group since their debut.  So, right there this is original.  Really pretty song.

3. Drive away (GOGO’s Remix)

Damn, why are we getting another remix of “Drive away”?  I really love the original cut, so any remixes IMO are just secondary to it.  Basically, the remix is a heavier trance version of the song.  Take out the main melody, leave the lyrics and up the energy and you get this song.  After a while, the sheer loudness of the song will take over and just bother you to no end.

While this is GND’s 4th single of the era, I’m expecting album news pretty soon from them.  Orion is a much lighter view on the winter season unlike the winter songs from “GIRL NEXT DOOR”, but it’s a nice track, but a little too formulaic because of the group itself.  Toki no Shizuku is really pretty and since it lacked the reason why “Orion” was somewhat of a bust, it should’ve easily been the A-side.  The remix, fail!

Then of one cover is hyper beautiful and of two it’s an excellent single!!!
“Orion” is so beautiful and I find that since a time their style one changed. It’s not any more the ELCTRO/DANCE but the POP/ELECTRO which we hear and it’s a pleasure for my part, because songs are more pleasant to the listening.

Release : 2009.11.25
Genre : Pop, Electro, Dance
Debit : 320 kbps

01 – Orion (MV)
02 – 時の雫  (Toki no Shizuku)
03 – Drive away (GOGO’S REMIX)
04 – Orion (Instrumental Version)

Download (don’t forget the pass : orion)

AAAA!! Me encanta su nuevo single. Recomendado 100% ^^

トラックリスト

１．Orion
2. 時の雫  (Toki no Shizuku)
3. Drive away (GOGO’ｓREMIX)
４．Orion　（Instrumental Version)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XFQTQ2WP

Los scans tambien estan en el rar ^^

Ya se han publicado los participantes del Kôhaku Uta Gassen 2009, y aquí están:

Equipo Blanco (Chicos)
Arashi
ALICE
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS
Masaharu Fukuyama
Akira Fuse
Porno Graffitti
Kenichi Mikawa
Shinichi Mori
Yusuke Kamiji
flumpool
Hiroshi Itsuki
EXILE
NYC boys
Saburo Kitajima
Takeshi Kitayama
Kobukuro
Jero
SMAP
TVXQ
TOKIO
Hideaki Tokunaga
Kiyoshi Hikawa
Takashi Hosokawa
Yuzu
Remioromen

Equipo Rojo (Chicas)
AKB48
Ai Otsuka
aiko
Ayaka
Ikimonogakari
Mika Nakashima
Ayumi Hamasaki
Perfume
Nana Mizuki
Kumi Koda
Sachiko Kobayashi
Fuyumi Sakamoto
Akimoto Junko
Angela Aki
Sayuri Ishikawa
Miyuki Kawanaka
GIRL NEXT DOOR
Mitsuko Nakamura
Ayaka Hirahara
Kaela Kimura
Natsuko Godai
Yoshimi Tendo
DREAMS COME TRUE
Kaori Mizumori
Akiko Wada

El evento tendrá lugar el 31 de diciembre a las 7:15 (Hora de Japón) y se retransmitirá por NHK.

GIRL NEXT DOOR – Orion

Release: 2009.11.25

Nou release les trio amb vocalista femenina (kawaii kawaii) GIRL NEXT DOOR,  en aquest cas ens ofereixen la seva primera balada que dona tema al dorama “Untouchable” de la TV Asahi. Una canço per als més romàntics xD

Tracklist

1. Orion
2. 時の雫 (Toki no Shizuku)
3. Drive away(EURO BEAT REMIX)
4. Orion(Instrumental)

PV

PV Download

Orion

Após terem lançado o super single “Be your wings / FRIENDSHIP / Wait for you”, ocupando a quarta posição no oricon com 22,801 mil cópias vendidas em sua primeira semana, o trio GIRL NEXT DOOR lançará mais um single para o dia 25 de novembro, intitulado “Orion”.

A banda que recentemente se apresentou no a-nation 09 deste ano, confiram a performance do GIRL NEXT DOOR com a música “Be your wings”.

“Orion”, o sétimo single da banda, está sendo usada atualmente como música tema do dorama “Untouchable (アンタッチャブル)”, protagonizado pela atriz Yukie Nakama que faz o papel de uma repórter chamada Narumi Ryoko (dorama que estreiou em 16 de outubro pela TV Asahi).

Confiram o site oficial de Untouchable onde tem um trailer  tocando a música “Orion”.

Versão Regular CD

Versão Limitada CD+DVD

CD Tracklist

1. Orion
2. Toki no Shizuku (時の雫; Drops of Time)
3. Drive away (GOGO’s Remix)
4. Orion (Instrumental)

DVD Tracklist

1. Orion <MUSIC VIDEO Monochrome Version>

Fonte: JpopStop

Créditos: Jstation

Tsutaya online has released another poll, “What 2009 drama theme song are you looking forward to?“

Here are the results:

10 Lecca – My measure (Gine Sanfujinka no onnatachi)
09 MISIA – Aitakuteima (JIN)
08 Misako Sakazume – Kitto Daijobu (Real Crows)
07 UVERworld – Kanashimi wa kitto (Shokoshijo Sarah)
06 TOKIO – Asa ga mata kuru (ROMES Kuukou bougyou system)
05 Arashi – Tokei jikake no umbrella (0 goushi no kyaku)
04 GIRL NEXT DOOR – Orion (Untouchables)
03 Arashi – My Girl (My Girl)
02 EXILE – Futasu no kuchibiru (Tokyo DOGS)

and #1 goes to….

BIG BANG with “Koe wo kikasete” (Let me hear your voice) for the new drama “Ohitorisama” starring Koike Teppei and Arisa Mizuki.

source: tsutaya

image from facebook group

Wanna hear the newest track from the Japanese trio Girl Next Door? Avex has released a teaser video showing over 2 minutes of the “Orion” single and tacking on part of the Infinity single to the end of the video. Why? I don’t know, because Orion is a beautiful song and the company should just promote the whole single by showing the whole video.

Anyway, Orion comes out on Nov 25th, 2009 and contains 3 new songs and a 4th instrumental track. Preorder it at yesasia.com

You can learn more about Girl Next Door and their catchy j-pop music by visiting their official website. Check out most of Orion in the video below:

<via avex network youtube page>

So…I’m awake…again. I was kinda hoping to fall asleep at a reasonable time tonight but that didn’t happen. I should blame myself and my weakness but I have to say part of the fault lies on my roommates R & J who kept me from my XBox all day. I’m not angry about it, I just need time most days to sink into another world. It’s either that or I pick up smoking and I hate the smell plus I can’t afford it. Really though, the fault lies on me because instead of going to bed after the 9 o’ clock showing of Dexter I decided to stay awake and play L4D. I don’t regret it, let me just put that out. I just know that tomorrow/today at work I will be severely regretting it.

On the note of work, I think I am gonna sound like an idiot yet again when I speak to Chief. I had to write him an email on Friday and I rushed it, not providing nearly enough information, so I could get out of work at the same time as everyone else. I should have stayed 10 minutes late and just wrote a decent email explaining the situation that will be resolved today at work.

Anyways, tonight I do not feel like making another long post so I will leave with this. Dawn: When men of reason go to bed.

Sleep well & be well,

-SDCALS

It seems that even Megan Fox gives up from time to time to the international superstar image to embrace the image of a normal, next door girl. Famous for appearances that leave the audience open mouthed, the actress appeared in a casual outfit, with no heels, no accessories or jewelry.

In a pair of jeans, a loose shirt and slippers, Megan was accompanied by her boyfriend Brian Austin Green. Brian matched his girlfriend, wearing a pair of casual jeans, a shirt and a cap on his head.

Corny, yes?

Well I’ll say this much, I am sleepless and I do live around Seattle so it’s not as strange as you might think. I hate this town though. Dark, looming clouds constantly pelt the ground with freezing rain only to break briefly, temporarily relieving us of this overcast existence. The people themselves remain cheery but statistics claim this area to be the suicide capital of the country. I neither care nor want to take the time to prove this but even if it’s not entirely true, few can claim this place is good for the soul. The summer months are wonderful. Beauty is everywhere. The sunshine is so relentless sometimes that one almost wishes for the fall and winter months only to remember the dreariness of it all.

Anyways, I’m awake late at night once again. For some it is already morning but for me I am just now contemplating how I will attempt to fall asleep. I have to be up at noon for an appointment in the afternoon which is plenty of sleep if I go to bed now but I still have this inability to get a good amount of sleep be it a wake up call at 5:30 or noon.

I want to be like Hank Moody. If you didn’t know, he is the main character of the Showtime show Californication. He is an womanizing asshole who doesn’t apologize and always speaks his mind. I want every part of that. I don’t want to be the nice guy who never has anything go for him. I don’t want to be stuck with the affection of an overweight and overbearing girl who is so starved for attention that she latches on to me despite my lack of interest. And yes, I do not want to be with a fat girl. There, I said it. No offense to any of you out there, many of you are wonderful people and a good deal of my female friends are overweight. However, I don’t find you sexually appealing in any way, shape, or form. I want a girl that works out, has a fantastic body and knows it. I want beautiful. I don’t just want to settle for cute. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and my standards for beauty are different than most but I don’t think it is asking for too much to have the girl next door or a southern bell who looks amazing in a skirt. I’m shallow and horny on the outside like almost everyone else in the world. Inside however I just want to be with someone I love. However, if you can’t find a balance between the two in your relationships they are almost always doomed to failure.

I don’t know. Maybe I just need to give up on love, hell, on sex for a good amount of time. Apparently things just find their way to you when you stop looking. I doubt it but we’ll have to take a leap of faith in that regard.

Sleep well,

SDCALS

So my first tag experiment was an utter failure — I guess folks don’t want to look for raunchy, sleazy, on-the-fringe stuff.  I’ve had exactly zero hits on this blog since that post.

So for this post, I’m going to use as many “softcore” tags as I can think of, to see if people are looking more to *almost* see something “bad.”

download: ( 4shared )

pass: pxl22

Hey there! Ssssup! I just caught the special preview of Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani at Inox, Nariman Point. Loved it! Well its not a brilliant film but whoever said it was going to be. I love the two cutees or should I saw hotties Ranbir and Katrina. Special mention Katrina’s cute clothes. They were fab as usual. This time the look was the girl next door with puff sleeves and knee length dresses, moccassins, hair bands et al. The colors were all shades of pinks and peaches and lilacs and lovely pastels. Some of her chequered outfits were really stylish I thought. Something tells me that her favourite color is yellow or perhaps her stylist made her wear the shade way too often. Not like anyone’s complaining, for she looked like a million bucks even in the plain Jane look! Also, she did repeat her outfits and that yellow one I think it was by Shantanu and Nikhil. If you see the movie, tell me what you thought.

Go catch the movie this weekend and you’ll know what am saying. As for the movie its a complete laugh riot. Enjoy!