I think it’s really important to acknowledge when you get something wrong. So here is the story of doing just that.

Thursday night was ONO (One Night Only) 2 in Hobart. Matt and I missed the first one due to being overseas and were both thrilled to be asked to contribute to the next.

The premise of ONO is to use (through negotiation with the property owners) abandoned/derelict spaces around the Hobart CBD as one-off exhibition spaces. These spaces remain a secret closely guarded by instigators/curators Pip Stafford and Kate Kelly until artists are let in close to the time of exhibition to scope it out and then audiences informed where to be in the days leading up.

At some point, not long after the last event, it impressed (wrongly) in my brain that the next space would be an old motel or some kind of unused acommodation. I decided to that if given the opportunity to ONO, I would re-perform something I developed as part of my second year sculpture submission in 1994. The installation I performed it in was pretty rubbish but the performance itself, only ever seen by an assessment panel of four at the most, I thought could be worth a revisit.

An animatronic fetus (actually a motorised hot water bottle gored up with red latex) on a long umbilical cord that disappears up my nightie flaps between my feet at the end of a bed to which I am bound. Between my teeth is a rope that goes to a pulley in the ceiling and suspends an elephant over the hot water bottle. The whole thing is a scene of intense tension in sustaining a surreal balance. Never let elephant crush foetal-hottie.

I wanted to take it out for a spin again anyway – but…

When the offer came up of course I now have a very real fetus of my very own and the idea of doing this at this time seemed… unsavoury… well… not right anyway.

Keen to use the op to jump back into live performance I thought I could do another pre-conceived one in a bathroom – singing and playing my ukulele under a stream of running water like a shower for the duration. A bit of an endurance thing.

But the space was not accommodation but an ex-department store and to hijack either kitchen or bathroom was impractical.

So when I saw the space I was rather desperately looking for some part of it to click with me.

What did click was an unused staircase – a stairway to effectively nowhere but in actuality to the offices above and it needed to be blocked off anyway. I decided I wanted to use projection to transform it into a waterfall.

Initially I had decided the waterfall would be made up of nude shower scenes but after playing around on a very small scale with projection on tinsel (The tinsel, on minute scale, gave of flickers of mini-projection reminiscent of water reflection), I decided to fill the stairs with sparkle and thought the imagery would be lost on it. Instead I elongated some very high contrast rain footage.

On the bare stairs the projection immediately disappointed me from whatever angle I sent it. You know the old art event standby? Project scratched black waste super-8 into dead spaces to activate them? It looked like that. Poo.

I invested in a wee $10 worth of test-tinsel but couldn’t replicate the effect I was getting at home and to fill the stairwell would have cost me in excess of $100 that I didn’t have.

The end result came from Kate happening upon me chewing the whole thing over, and she mentioned the (unintentional) reflections that had resulted from the plastic I used in a work she had seen earlier this year.

After some of Matt’s help to wiggle the projector into a few other awkward angles, I got some cheap cellophane and we rigged it on a couple of clothing racks that had been abandoned on site.

I felt much better about responding to the site with this version, using the debris of the site as well as the actual architectural space and the cellophane reminded me of the crisp packaging that was once used there.

Hard as it is to photograph projected stuff – here is kinda what it looked like…

So… It’s fine. It turned out OK… but it just seemed to not at all suit the event.

The waterfall audio of rushing water and birds with an ominous thumping bass line underneath was really loud but the work still seemed too… quiet.

When folks asked me where my work was and I told them I kept hearing “oh yeah I saw that… that thing with the… lines…”

Installation FAIL.

On the day of the event, having finished my install two days before, I was thinking with some regret about the performances I wasn’t doing. I was thinking about performance artists I admire and particularly Yoko Ono. I decided that if given the opportunity to do it again, I will be the ONO Yoko.

A half hour before it all kicked off I went through the site with some sticky letters and tagged the place in her name (apologies to the person on whose projection surface I tagged… I didn’t realise the projection was due).

This gesture accomplished in 15 minutes gave me infinitely more satisfaction than the waterfall I agonised over for 2 days.

Bummer.

(Incidentally it will come as no suprise to hear that my favourite work in ONO was by Leigh Hobba. A speaker wedged in an exisiting hole-in-the-wall and playing the sounds of someone hurling their body into the the walls of a very live room. But I was lucky to see it before it all kicked off. I think it may have suffered the same fate as the waterfall throughout the event and been just too… quiet.)

[Hawaiian dictionary: Ono=good, Ohana=family]

Aloha readers! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I love its universality. No matter one’s race, religion, or creed, you can give thanks. Unfortunately, this is my second Thanksgiving away from home (I spent last year’s Thanksgiving in Belgium). But it was perfectly alright, because I am lucky enough to have such a generous, welcoming ohana right here in Hawaii.

That is what I am thankful for today. Ohana. I don’t think I could have moved to Hawaii as a nanny had it not been for Sophie’s family. As I am not in school it was through Sophie’s family that I was able to meet other people here on the island. For my first two months here it was so nice to spend my weekends at Sophie’s house. As I was so far away from my family, I loved having a family just across the island.

You know you’re family when you can be be absolutely ridiculous in photos as such:

Usually my family has large Thanksgiving dinners, wherein everyone scatters across the house because there isn’t enough room at the table and we spend hours and hours cleaning up. Sophie told me her family usually does, too, but this year’s dinner was quiet and just the 7 of us, which, as much as I love large Thanksgiving parties, was kind of nice.

Sophie’s mom prepared most of the food, and made the most delicious pies (apple and pumpkin) and fluffy rolls. I contributed my favorite Thanksgiving food, sweet potato casserole:

and cranberry sauce with crystallized ginger and orange zest:

I did miss my mom’s roasted chestnut stuffing and corn pudding. Classics.

We took lots of pictures:

I call this look: we [aka the team, aka Sophie, Trine, and I] decided to dress up at the last minute, so I grabbed a dress from Sophie closet, threw up my hair that had been nice and humidified with the day’s off and on rain, and hoped my bra wouldn’t show as it was not the right fit for the dress. At least it was just a small family dinner!

Trine et moi.

Of course, we had to use everyone’s camera and compare pictures.

Sophie was pretty excited about the wine.

And I have to admit, so were Trine and I.

My favorite dinner companion was of course, Sophie’s dad, the Frenchman Jacques.

He’s lived in the U.S. more years than he has in France, yet still has an accent. We believe it’s out of pride.

Trine, the Bargiel family’s exchange student from Norway made an adorable card expressing her gratitude.

After dinner, the team walked down to the beach and enjoyed the salty ocean air for a while. Beautiful.

Even if I were at home in Maryland, this Thanksgiving would have been a difficult one. As I’ve posted before, my parents are getting divorced. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, and filled with the most traditions for my family (see aforementioned chestnut stuffing!) and I know if I were home it would have been a stressful day.

If you have a divorce in your family, how do you cope at the holidays?

But let’s end this post on a vocabulary lesson, shall we?

The Norwegian phrase is pronounced “fawn tye dye” and it means…um…f you. To me, if you say it quickly it sounds like cursing in an Asian language. Love it.

PS: Check out my guest post on Whit’s Getting Fit! Whitney is also preparing for a marathon, and I love checking in on her progress.

Also check out Marathon Val’s awesome giveaway! I’ve got my eye on the runner’s package!

Have a happy shopping/gym/tree decorating day!
Maya

oh my, the story telling thigie is just a great failure!!!! ive got the 2nd place, cause the judges said my story is shorter than the winner!!! THATS TOTALLY UNFAIR!!! but anyways, its the experience that weve brought back, to develope ourselves right??!! (maybe not, no im just kidding) yeah.

ONO testará en Santander en la primera semana de febrero la comercialización masiva de su servicio de comunicación convergente de fijo y móvil, será el primero de estas características en España, bajo la marca ONO io, ahora ahora lo ofrece a sus clientes con mas de 2 años de antigüedad que tengan contratado telefonía, internet y televisión.

Galdón, afirmó  en el Foro Sociedad en Red, que el objetivo de esta prueba es combinar un test horizontal y vertical en una sola ciudad, con el objetivo de obtener resultados sobre este servicio a finales de marzo o principios de abril.

yesterday’s, yesterday at night, i was downstairs sitting ( actually i was going to play with the kittens ) then, i went outside to play with them, i saw all of my kittens are all wet. So i went to take a towel to dry them out, and then send them back to their home (my neighbours kittens but they dont really take care them properly, so they came to my house ) and the next day, when i carried them with my hands and pat them softly, it hissed very loudly and ran away, that was strange!!!! 

muy goood ned!!!!! one of my teacher in my school send me as a competitor for the STORY TELLING CONTEST!!!!! it is sooo hard, and they just gave me the topic yesterday and i need to compete on friday.( soooo fast )

Tras participar en campañas publicitarias para Coca Cola, Adidas, Cruz Roja y Ono, entre otras marcas, Marta Sánchez ha sido requerida por la empresa Tassimo para ser la nueva imagen de una cafetera.

Y es que ¡hasta los fabricantes de electrodomésticos se la rifan!

Reading today ONO’s performance indicators of the last quarter, I wanted to share some of this info in this post.

The Spanish cable operator reported third-quarter revenues of EUR 371 million, down 6.2 percent from EUR 396 million in the year-ago quarter. The decline was mainly as a consequence of the reduction in telephony and variable consumption and the reduction in the residential cable customer base in line with the strategy of acquiring quality customers implemented during the last year.

The EBITDA decreased 0.8 percent year-on-year to EUR 178 million and the EBITDA margin improved 2.6 percentage points to 48 percent. The gross margin grew to 78 percent from 76.7 percent previously. The company moved to a net profit of EUR 15 million from a net loss of EUR 4 million in the same period of the last year.

ARPU went down 4.4 percent versus the last year, to EUR 50.2. Net churn fell by 1.4 percent in the third quarter versus second quarter, but showing a decrease of 2.3 percent versus the third quarter of 2008. The company served 1.82 million residential customers at the end of September, down 2.7 percent year-on-year.

ONO won 1,000 telephony customers, up by 1.5 percent versus the year-earlier period. At the end of June, the company had 1.65 million telephony customers. The company served over 1.30 million broadband users, up 2.4 percent year-on-year. The residential internet penetration remained flat at 18.6 percent versus the quarter before but it experienced an increase of 0.3 percent versus the third quarter of 2008. ONO had some 977,000 pay-TV subscribers at end-September, down by 7.6 percent year-on-year.

As explained in previous posts (here and here), it’s difficult to play face-to-face against Telefonica. However ONO maintains a profitable operation in the market.  Current EBITDA margin unveils more than 700M of yearly EBITDA. Not bad. However, current profitability levels are not be enough for stakeholders that see that there’s still EUR 4,175 millions of debt and that at this growth rate, it will take time to reach their EBITDA expectations that might be around the EUR 1Bl per year. Let’s see how does the operator finish the year.

Best, CVA

Rodrigo Cortés ha dirigido una nueva campaña publicitaria, en este caso para el anunciante Cinfa con el lanzamiento de su producto antigripal Pharmagrip Dúo. La agencia Tapsa ha sido la responsable de dicho lanzamiento, bajo la coordinación de Julián Zuazo, director general creativo de la agencia, y con creatividad de Manuel Pérez Camino y Antonio Botella y dirección de producción de Jesús Becedas y Andrés Talegón, con Augusto Vázquez en la dirección de la cuenta.

Los spots de Pharmagrip han supuesto el retorno a la publicidad de Rodrigo Cortés tras unos meses dedicado a dirigir su segundo largometraje: “Buried”, la apasionante historia de un contratista estadounidense secuestrado en Irak y enterrado vivo en un ataúd. El protagonista de la película es el actor Ryan Reynolds, esposo de Scarlett Johansson, y el film ha sido rodado íntegramente en inglés para su exposición en el mercado estadounidense.

El rodaje de su segunda película ha supuesto un alto en el camino publicitario del prometedor Rodrigo Cortés, autor de spots muy interesantes, como el “Sheriff” para Kia o varias campañas para Ono, pero su reincorporación ha sido muy rápida, con la dirección de los citados spots para Pharmagrip.

ONO

Una comunicación de resultados que puede ayudar a entender el estado financiero de Prisa, por no hablar ya de Unidad Editorial. La compañía de comunicación por banda ancha Ono ha anunciado que cerró los nueve primeros meses del año con un beneficio operativo (EBITDA) de 541 millones de euros, superior al de todo el Grupo Prisa (que se situó en 506 millones de euros). La cifra representa un incremento del 3,5% sobre el registrado durante el mismo periodo del 2008, que fue de 522 millones. El beneficio neto registrado de enero a septiembre de 2009 ascendió a 41 millones, un 144,7% más con respecto al cierre del mismo ejercicio en 2008.

En los primeros nueve meses de 2009, ONO contabilizó un total de 1.819.000 clientes, lo que supone un 2,7% menos con respecto al mismo periodo del añoanterior. En esta evolución ha influido -además del actual contexto macroeconómicoy de la introducción de gastos de instalación como barrera de entrada para asegurar la fidelidad del cliente- la aplicación de la nueva regulación de los derechos de los usuarios de agosto de 2009, que incluye políticas de reducción del tiempo de desconexión del servicio de 15 a 2 días desde que el cliente solicita la baja, hecho que ha impactado negativamente en la contabilidad de las bajas con un impacto en 5.000 clientes.

Ingreso medio por cliente: 50,2 euros
Los clientes continúan apostando por la contratación de servicios combinados de comunicación y entretenimiento en diferentes paquetes según sus necesidades. El número de servicios por cliente o RGUS se incrementó en un 2,2% en un año,pasando de 2,11 a 2,16 y sumando un total de 3.929.000 millones de servicios contratados. No obstante, el ingreso medio por cliente residencial –ARPU- descendió de enero a septiembre de 2009 en comparación al mismo periodo delaño anterior, pasando de 52,4 euros a 50,2 euros a cierre del periodo, puesto que se han visto disminuidos los consumos en minutos del tráfico telefónico de fijo a móvil y en las llamadas internacionales, así como en un menor consumo en la compra de eventos en televisión.

Crecimiento en telefonía
Por productos, ONO captó un 1,5% más en clientes de telefonía de enero a septiembre de 2009 en comparación con el mismo periodo de 2008, hasta sumar 1.648.000. El 90,6% de su base de clientes poseía este servicio a cierre del ejercicio.

Crecimiento en Internet
El operador logró sumar en el periodo 31.000 nuevos clientes de Internet, hasta un total de 1.303.000, un 2,4% más que de enero a septiembre de 2008. ONO sigue potenciando la captación de clientes hacia la contratación de paquetes de servicioscombinados de telefonía y banda ancha, con velocidades superiores de 6, 12 ó 50megas. Un 71,6% de su base opta por este servicio, lo que supone un aumento de3,6 puntos porcentuales con respecto al 68% que sumaban a 30 de septiembre de 2008.

80.000 abonados menos al servicio de televisión
ONO ha visto como en el periodo ha descendido el número de clientes de televisión de pago, de 1.057.000 a 977.000, un 7,6% menos con respecto al mismo periododel año anterior y un descenso de 14.000 clientes de junio a septiembre de 2009.

Durante los últimos meses ha influido la decisión del operador de centrarse en la captación de clientes con paquetes de telefonía y banda ancha que cuentan con ratios menores de desconexión en un entorno de dura crisis macroeconómica. En julio de 2009 ONO cerró un acuerdo con Mediapro para contar en su oferta de televisión con el canal Gol Televisión y poder ofrecer partidos de fútbol de la Liga Profesional, la Copa del Rey, la Champions League, así como otros importantes encuentros de ligas extranjeras y partidos en pago por visión. La acogida por parte de los clientes ha sido muy favorable y el operador suma ya 100.000 nuevas altas en este canal.

Datos financieros
Los ingresos de ONO de enero a septiembre de 2009 se situaron en los 1.140 millones de euros, un 5,1% menos que en el mismo periodo del año anterior,debido al entorno desfavorable del mercado, la reducción experimentada en el consumo variable en televisión y de minutos en telefonía, así como por el filtro de entrada que el operador aplica con el objetivo de formar una cartera estable e invertir en aquellos clientes que tengan vocación de permanencia dentro de la compañía.

El Capex (inversiones centradas en el despliegue de red, instalaciones,actualizaciones de red, adquisición de hardware y software y otras inversiones) ha experimentado un descenso del 49,1%, desde 295 millones de euros a 30 de septiembre de 2008 hasta los 150 millones en el mismo periodo de 2009, debido a la reducción en el despliegue de red y la decisión de preservar liquidez para hacer frente al entorno macroeconómico.El flujo de caja operativo aumentó de enero a septiembre de 2009 en un 72%, desde 227 millones de euros hasta los 390 millones de euros al cierre del periodo. También aumentó el flujo de caja neto, alcanzando los 19 millones de euros a 30 de septiembre de 2009. Asimismo, el margen bruto creció en 1,2 puntos porcentuales,pasando del 76% en el tercer trimestre de 2008 al 77,2% en el mismo periodo de2009.

Los gastos operativos decrecieron un 13,1%, hasta los 340 millones de euros de enero a septiembre de 2009, comparado con los 391 millones de euros del mismo periodo de 2008, debido a los ahorros por el plan de reducción de empleoacometido en enero de 2009, un mayor foco puesto en los canales de venta más eficientes y las diferentes campañas de marketing centradas en el marketing directo.

Para Jonathan Cumming, director financiero de ONO, “el difícil entorno macroeconómico en el que nos encontramos provoca que los ingresos disminuyan, principalmente debido a la caída del consumo variable de telefonía y de televisión.No obstante, ONO ha podido contrarrestar dicha situación gracias a nuestroenfoque continuo en optimizar los procesos de la compañía. Y de nuevo, ONO demuestra que es capaz de adaptarse a la adversa situación económica de un modosatisfactorio sin impactar en la alta calidad de servicio que queremos seguir dando a nuestros clientes”.

Esta gente de ONO se lo está currando si lo que buscan es que hablen de ellos… ¿ves? lo estoy haciendo ahora mismo. Aqui les dejo una serie de anuncios que creo que son de lo mejorcito que se puede ver ahora mismo en la tele:

Vale, mi humor es básico pero el del Mono Fracasado es lo máximo!

Le Cube, terminal HD de Canal+ Group

El pasado mes de abril Canal+ Francia inició la transición de su servicio analógico al digital. Lo más llamativo en el caso del grupo Canal+, a diferencia de su versión española, es que el canal, sus variantes y los servicios que tiene asociados, se pueden contratar a través de todas las tecnologías existentes: TDT, cable, ADSL y satélite.

De hecho, en Francia, por ejemplo, Canal+ se puede contratar en TDT incluyendo los canales Canal+, Canal+ Cine, Canal+ Deportes, el acceso al servicio de Canal+ bajo demanda (que se presta a través de Internet) y a la alta definición. Y todo ello por 30 euros al mes.

Un segundo paquete se ofrece a través de cable, ADSL y satélite. Se puede contratar Canal+ y otros cuatro temáticos de Canal+, una oferta multicanal que incluye más de 80 canales de televisión, el acceso al servicio de Canal+ bajo demanda (que se presta a través de Internet) y a la alta definición, por 35 euros al mes.

Y un tercer paquete incluye todo lo anterior más el terminal PVR de Canal+ en Francia, llamado “Le Cube”, por 45 euros al mes.

La opción combinada de Canal+ más CanalSat (la oferta multicanal de Vivendi) oscila, según los paquetes, entre 39,90 y 66,90 euros al mes, ofreciéndose igualmente, según qué paquetes, a través de TDT, cable, ADSL y satélite.

Exactamente todo lo contrario es lo que ha hecho el grupo Prisa con Canal+ y con la plataforma Digital+. En lugar de aprovechar nuevos canales de distribución para los que está autorizado, caso de la TDT, o de llegar a acuerdos con terceros, ADSL y cable, mantiene la exclusiva para la plataforma vía satélite, sin ofrecer nuevos servicios de valor añadido más allá de la recién implantada alta definición. ¿Para cuándo una opción equivalente al “Canal+ a la demandé” francés en España, sin pasar por Imagenio u ONO?

El grupo Canal+ mejora su EBITDA y gana abonados en Francia
La facturación del grupo de televisión Canal+ creció un 1,1% en los nueve primeros meses del año con respecto al mismo periodo de 2008, hasta los 3.368 millones de euros.

Su resultado operativo entre enero y septiembre fue de 754 millones de euros, lo que representa un aumento del 21,4% con respecto al año pasado.

Este incremento responde, entre otras razones, a las subidas tarifarias y las iniciativas de reducción de costes, según el comunicado difundido por Vivendi, la compañía matriz del grupo, que hoy también dio a conocer sus resultados en los nueve primeros meses de septiembre.

En los últimos doce meses, entre septiembre de 2009 y el mismo mes del año pasado, el crecimiento real de la cartera de abonados de Canal+ France se elevó a 177.000, cifra que representa una mejora con respecto al crecimiento de 94.000 abonados, registrado a finales de junio pasado.

Este crecimiento se debe, en parte, a la compra por parte de Canal+ Group de la compra de una plataforma multicanal en habla francesa en África Central, lo que ha aportado al grupo 39.000 nuevos abonados.

Canal+, que aún mantiene emisiones en analógico y digital en Francia, ha migrado 348.000 abonados a su servicio digital entre enero y septiembre, un 78% más que en el mismo periodo del año anterior. Los abonados del grupo que reciben la señal digital alcanza ya el 90% del total.

Jaume Roures

El director general de Mediapro, Jaume Roures, ha asegurado en una entrevista concedida a la agencia EFE que su empresa facturará este año 200 millones de euros más que el año pasado y podrá rentabilizar la fuerte inversión que acaba de hacer para conseguir los derechos de los partidos de la Liga española y la Liga de Campeones.

En la entrevista se explica que Mediapro ha empezado la presente temporada con una inversión superior a 2.600 millones de euros, para conseguir los derechos de los partidos de la Liga española y la Liga de Campeones.

“El reto era ganar la posición y ya está ganada. Ahora tenemos que consolidar Gol TV, que es nuestra apuesta principal”, ha afirmado Roures, que está convencido de que podrá rentabilizar la fuerte inversión realizada. “Nuestro objetivo era tener un millón de abonados antes de que se acabe la temporada, pero ya tenemos 850.000, así que creemos que llegaremos al millón antes de que acabe la temporada”, ha añadido.

Opacidad y confusión interesada
Roures, hábil para comunicar lo que le interesa en cada momento, ha realizado estas declaraciones pocos días después de que su socio mexicano en La Sexta, Televisa, haya tenido que realizar una nueva aportación –esta vez de 35,6 millones de euros-, porque el plan de negocio no se ha cumplido y difícilmente se podrá cumplir en 2010 con las expectativas de ingresos publicitarios.

Lo llamativo del caso es que Roures alardee de cifras, cuando de su empresa no se conocen detalles financieros al no cotizar en bolsa y tampoco han mostrado el más mínimo interés en ser transparentes, e informar de su evolución real.

Aumentar la facturación en 200 millones de euros es un dato aislado que carece de valor, como lo es decir que la facturación aumenta un % concreto. Si no sabemos de antemano y fehacientemente cuáles son los compromisos de pago de Mediapro –estimados según EFE en 2.600 millones para los próximos años-, y tampoco cuál está siendo la generación de caja, difícilmente se puede dar credibilidad a lo que dice Roures.

Gol TV en TDT de pago no despega, pero lo oculta
Habla de 850.000 abonados a Gol TV… (hoy han comunicado que han llegado a 930.000) pero no cuenta que el 89% de los abonados procede de las ofertas de Imagenio, ONO y operadores de ADSL, plataformas a las que hay que pagar un peaje, puesto que son intermediarios: sus clientes ya captados no salen gratis, y Gol TV tiene su masa crítica en ellos. Dicho de otro modo, su canal en comercialización directa (TDT de pago), al menos hasta la fecha, es un fracaso. Ya hay descodificadores, tarjetas… De él depende en buena parte que los derechos se puedan amortizar adecuadamente y, sin embargo, entre Gol TV en Imagenio, ONO y ADSL , y Canal+ Liga, se han encargado de que Gol TV en TDT de pago no despegue. Dato, insistimos, que ni comenta ni revela. Del 1.430.000 hogares que recibe el fútbol en la actualidad (suma de Gol TV y Canal+ Liga), a través de TDT lo recibe el 6,99%. No se puede hablar de éxito.

Por otro lado, a pesar de haber comercializado a través de todas las ventanas los derechos del fútbol, conviene recordar que el ciudadano paga mucho menos que antes por los partidos. Hay una masa de público algo mayor, no mucho mayor, que paga menos por lo mismo. Ya no hay pago por visión masivo (los Madrid-Barcelona, por ejemplo), que era  una fuente enorme de ingresos en temporadas anteriores, y estos nuevos derechos del fútbol a Roures le han salido a precio de oro en su disputa con Prisa.

Dicho lo cual, dudamos de que Roures esté contando la realidad. Sí cuenta su verdad, tan interesada como la versión que puede dar Prisa, y esa verdad de Roures, además de opaca y carente de transparencia, se antoja difícil de cumplir. La coyuntura económica ayuda aún menos y del pulso entre poderosos, aún quedan capítulos por escribir y palabras que pronunciar. Roures da por muerto al león herido y su último rugido aún no lo hemos escuchado.

Just slightly older than my mother, Yoko Ono continues being fabulous and creative. Great article profiles her life (school with imperial family members), haiku writer at 4 and a half years old, conceptual musician and then artist. With son Sean Lennon as producer, she’s just released a new album, “Between my head and the sky.”

And, as the photo attests, she’s not shy about revealing some decolletage!

¿Tienes dudas sobre proveedores o tarifas ADSL?
¿Quieres saber si tienes cobertura o la velocidad máxima que puedes obtener?
Compara gratuitamente tarifas ADSL y descubre ahora lo que te puedes ahorrar

Encuentra las ofertas ADSL más baratas en Comparador ADSL
Es posible que tu tarifa plana no tenga todas las características que necesitas, o simplemente que haya ofertas ADSL más baratas que la que utilizas en este momento. Gracias a Comparador ADSL  puedes optimizar tus gastos en tarifas ADSL.

Comparador ADSL ofrece un servicio gratuito para comparar tarifas ADSL

Haz tu comparativa de ofertas ADSL de distintas compañías como Telefónica, Orange, Jazztel, Yacom, Tele2 u Ono; totalmente gratuita, objetiva y fácil de usar. Sólo debes elegir a qué velocidad deseas tu conexión de Internet (1MB, 3MB, 6MB, 10MB o 20MB) y si quieres agregarle televisión o llamadas ilimitadas. En unos segundos tendrás los resultados completos de todas las ofertas del mercado en el momento de tu consulta, con promociones y ofertas de tarifas ADSL actualizadas.

Mundo Mágico se incorpora a la plataforma ONO el próximo 3 de Noviembre en el dial 161 de TV Esencial, desplazando Canal Tarot al dial 162.

Mundo Mágico es un canal de videncia 24 horas que emite 16 horas al día en directo. El canal está producido por Atlántida Televisión que hasta ahora emitía como cadena local en Sevilla mediante el canal TQR Mundo Mágico y también de manera online desde el portal mundomagicotv.com.

Las emisiones en directo comienzan a las 10:00 y finalizan a las 02:00 horas de lunes a viernes y los fines de semana de 17:00 a 00:00. El resto de horas se emite programación en diferido.

Por su parte, Canal Tarot, incorporado el pasado mes de julio en el dial 161, se desplaza al dial 162.

ONOweb.net
Claudio Hernández Diesl.es

Today I’ll be looking at the Natsumatsuri Hibiyayaon concert.  It’s a favorite of mine, so I don’t have all that many bad things to say about it.

Click the pictures for the review, or you can read it all below!

MC

Today’s concert is actually done outside!  This is AKB’s first major outdoor concert, and the idea of a summer festival is present with the lanterns decorated by AKB48 members.  Also, this is AKB’s first actual concert using all three Teams.  Shibuya AX doesn’t count in my opinion.

To start off the show, Nacchinon comes on stage to talk about… whatever they’re talking about, and then they count down for the (live) overture!

Overture

This is the second time the vocalist of ‘Overture’ comes on stage for us.  The first being in AX08.  That time, I don’t think he had ever listened to the overture since he recorded it.  Luckily this time he was better: probably because he heard the overture only eight months ago.  Very little progress was made, despite his wearing of a rainbow purse and a towel over his head.  He even ended his own lyrics with “Are.”  I mean, at least finish the sentence if you decide to start it.  Oh well… On to the short skirts!

Dear My Teacher

Team A does their instructor-pleasing shuffle on stage non-nonchalantly and the concert begins!

My favorite parts of the song are the opening lines with Mai and Rina and then we they come back closer to the start of the chorus.

As you can see, it’s already raining!  I wonder if that’s the reason why there hasn’t been another large-scale concert outside…

What!?  Why are they moving?  Oh wait, does this mean what I think it means: they’re going to sing the second verse!?  Yes.  Yes, it does!

If you listen super closely, during and after the above three’s trio line, you can hear the Team K fans chant “1 + 2 = N-Nacchi.”  I love it.  Best chant ever.

Since so many girls have graduated and/or been added, the second verse has a few new additions like Mariko, Amina, and Fujie.

I definitely forgot that Acchan had lines in this song.  I need to watch A1 again, I think.

As you can see, it’s already raining!  I wonder if that’s the reason why there hasn’t been another large-scale concert outside…

Saishuu Beru ga Naru

Next up is Team K’s fourth Stage’s title song, which happens to be a new favorite in the time period of the concert.  Team K fist pumps out on stage, but with the now damp floor, it seems to be slippery as evidence of Sayaka tripping during the transition.

Natsuki’s back with an awesome hair-do!  Yay!

Please note the water on the camera lens.

I love when they get to perform all the verses of a song.  It gives the whole Team their original parts, and usually is the half of the song that my favorite member sings in.

I love how they had that whole ‘Amai Kokansetsu’ single and one of the reasons for it was the part of the stage that Ohori would often be in during songs due to her popularity.  They said that she was often in the back corner, all the while showing video of ‘Saishuu Beru ga Naru.’  What the viewer doesn’t see is that she mirrors Natsuki during the majority of the song and Natsuki is in the other corner, and that the duo get to be front and center in the first chorus and part of the bridge.

Shounichi

Team B’s most popular song gets presented for the first time here.  I used to dislike how they didn’t get to do their prayer, but in reality, that’s really not part of the song, but it’s more like it’s the intro to B3 and is just associated with the song because it’s similar in concept and immediately before the song when it was performed in the theater.

Just a little earlier that month Sasshi had been promoted, and only a little over a week before this concert, Ayarin was fired.  This kind of shows how Sasshi was given Team B front girl status immediately after she was given a full position.

Look!  A camera!

Aitakatta

Now the entire AKB gets to be on stage at the same time!  Who would have ever thought?

Natsuki gets the first real close-up.  That makes me happy inside.

Team K took off the removable raggedy parts of their costumes like in K4… if you care.

Moeno also was promoted a little while before the concert.  Since they probably only have sixteen ‘Shounichi’ costumes, she’s stuck with the ‘Boku no Sakura’ uniform that the RS wear here.  Also interesting to note: Inoue Naru has yet to graduate.

The current RS join in during the last chorus.  I find it funny that the first time I saw this concert, I had no clue who any of them were, yet now all I can think is about how I love a ton of them!

Nagisa no CHERRY

One of the perfect summer songs actually got a spot here.  I love when they perform seasonal songs in the right season.  Here, Mayuyu takes Acchan’s spot as she’s performed it the most recently.

Harugon, Haachan, and Rabutan get stuck with the back-dancing.  Nakagawa actually seems to out-dance her fellow Haruka despite her side position.

Namida no Shounen

Another fitting A2 song.  We even get a multi-Team cast!

CinDy takes Orii Ayumi’s lines as she does in B2.  It’s nice to see her with her old Team’s members.  She looks less old compared to them than she does with Team B!

Each time I watch this performance I always wonder about how Mai’s hair stays so styled dispite the humidity and rain that’s currently pouring.  I know that I should wonder this about all of the girls, but it’s only Mai’s hair that makes me wonder this.

Nage KISSU de Uchi Otose

Acchan’s unit for the night is her cowboy-costumed one from A3.  It seems like this is the wota fall-back favorite next to ‘Nagisa no CHERRY’ when it comes to Acchan.

Fujie has taken over Masuyama Kayano’s position… this is a very fitting selection.  It just sucks that I like both of them, so I never know which I’d prefer to see in this song at AX.

I love these costumes.  They’re so colorful.  And sparkly.

Gomen ne Jewel

I’ve always felt that these costumes looked a lot like ‘Nage KISSU de Uchi Otose’ and so having them right next to each other in a concert’s set list helps me confirm that they really do look similar and it may very well be on purpose.

The RS’s outfits look even more ‘Nage KISSU’-like…

I’ve heard many people complain about how they don’t like how Asuka and Yuka don’t get solos during the dance break.  While yes, that isn’t very great for them, we must remember that the other half of the unit at the time was the two most popular members of Team K and that Mocchi and Masuda got the same amount of solo lines (albeit in worse positions), so they had to loose something, which ended up being contrasting colors on their costumes and they share a dance part.  Good for them, regardless.

The stage seems to be getting even slicker.  Suzuki definitely took a tumble here.  Speaking of which, Nakanishi Yuka, Hatayama Arisa, Suzuki Nae, Oya Shizuka, Nakatsuka Tomomi, and Arima Yuka (I think) back dance here.  I might be wrong on the last two.

Glass no I LOVE YOU

I like how this song’s opening positions always tend to be sort of interesting.  Going back to the A2 roots, two girls appear on stage and the other two appear on speakers on the outside of the stage.  Very original and cute.

Why does Akimoto do this to me?  Rie, Moeno, and Sasshi are grouped so often.  I seem to always find them together.  It’s almost lucky that they will all be in different Teams soon.  But then I wonder if during a shuffle performance they’ll just take each other’s units.  Oh, and Myao’s here, too.  She gets to lead.

Junai no CRESCENDO

This is especially fitting in this concert.  I’m pretty sure the lyrics might mention rain.  And it’s raining.  Awesome.

I love how the setting matches their costumes so much.  I’m serious, this all works so well that I think it’s perfectly epic.  The blue, the pink, the rhinestones.  Sexy.

No3b looks like an actual music group here.

And again, suburb lighting.  Lovely.

Ame
no Doubutsuen

Ruining the mood like it always does comes the original song about rain.  And a zoo.

I love how dispite how unpopular Kana might be now, she still gets her part whenever Team K performs this song.  Oh, and that’s the lineless camel by Naruse in the background there.

Such coincidence.  Wonderful.

Ah!  The French revolutionaries are coming!  Quick, animals, go back to your cages!

Kagami no Naka no Jean de Arc

The choice to show this unit song so close to the time that its leader left AKB is a curious one.  They most likely had time to choose a different one or just cut it out since Ayarin had stopped regularly performing about three weeks previous to the concert, yet they decided to keep it in the set list.  Was it a diss at the original performer, or was it simply a push of it’s new one?  Maybe one day we’ll get to see Ayarin on stage with her flag.

I love Rumi’s spot in this song.  Everything about it.  She gets the same amount of lines as the center in the first verse (Ayarin/Sasshi get one solo in the second) and has the best outfit.  And she’s a perfect fit here, too.

CinDy gets to rev the audience up.

Despite the flag only really being used at the start and end of the performance, it’s so intense whenever the lead grabs it.

Blue Rose

‘Blue Rose’ half-shuffled version.  Here, Kashiwagi takes Yuka’s spot since she performed in ‘Gomen ne Jewel’ and Mika takes Ohori’s position because she’s about to have a unit song.  I love how they pushed Mikachi all of the time.

I think they chose the ‘Temodemo no Namida’ duo to substitute in just because they wanted to add in their unit, but they already filled the set list.  ‘Temodemo’ would look so amazing here, though.  I’m going to take a moment to imagine it… and yeah, it would be great.

Fog much?  I’m pretty sure that even Memolist mentioned there being a ton.  I guess that they don’t have very much practice with using it outside, let alone with rain there to contain it on stage.

Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou

One of the more famous versions of this song is here.

It used to be that there were often costume changes for ‘Oshibe to Meshibe,’ but they kind of slowed down after this time.  Off-hand I remember that there were variations like teacher/student, office ladies, gangsters, Middle Eastern-wear, and a lingerie version.  On the second to last night of K4, they performed a version wearing the ‘Kinjirareta Futari’ costumes and an ‘Original Mix’ of the instrumental featuring a melody that sounded similar to a music box and like ‘Kinjirareta.’

I wonder how it feels for them to perform with bare feet.  I’ve heard that since everyone was slippery, Nacchan came up with a great idea to save them: pouring some sort of cola soft drink on the ground, placing a towel over it, and then stepping on it.  This made their shoes a bit stickier so they could hold on to the ground a bit better.  With these two rolling around on the wet, now sticky surface, I wonder if it was a bit uncomfortable.

Romance, Irane!

After an MC (shown on the second disc), comes
AKB’s most recent original single that was distributed traditionally.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this song.  The costumes, the lyrics, the choreography, the epic-ness…

They get to do two verses again, and so we get to see Natsuki singing in the very middle of the stage.  Aren’t we lucky?

So gosh-darned cool.

RUN RUN RUN

Usually, ‘RUN RUN RUN’’s opening consists of the girls taking off their vests and running to put them on the sides of the stage before proceeding to sing.  Here, the girls who just performed get to dance about for a moment before going back.

The Team performing this song and ‘Romance’ are modified Himawari-gumi Teams.  ‘Romance, Irane!’ had H2 Team 1, minus Sae and Yuka and adding Fujie and Chikano, and ‘RUN RUN RUN’ has H1 Team 2, minus Kayano, Yukarin, and Deguchi and adding Rina, Sae, and Yuka.

It’s always interesting how they use new costumes.  Since K4 was the newest Stage at the time.  They were pimping-out the ‘Shamu Neko’ uniforms.  These girls get to wear them here, and in an important performance of Baby! Baby! Baby!, the participating girls (Team A, I think) got to wear them.  It’s a shame that I’m not really all to fond of them.

By the way, for consistency, both verses were sung here.  It seems like every Team (A, K, B, 1, and 2)gets to perform one song by themselves with two verses.

Wasshoi B!

Ah!  ‘Wasshoi B!’ and some of my favorite costumes!  Yay.

This is one of the only nearly-full-member ‘Wasshoi B!’’s I’ve seen.  I think that the 3D show that featured some B3 Team songs may have had the full Team, but I’m not sure.  At least Naru is here, though!

I found Natsuki’s lantern!  I had never seen it before, but I just caught a glimpse of something that looked like an ‘N,’ and sure enough: it was!  I had always figured that that’s what Natsuki would have done with hers, but I never had proof.  Now I do.  Of course, I technically have no clue if it’s actually hers or someone else’s, but ‘N’ is kind of her thing, so it would have to be Natsuki’s or Mikipomu’s, as she’s a Natsuki fan.

I remember the first ‘Wasshoi B!’ I saw in that 3D show.  I couldn’t figure out why a couple of the girls didn’t have microphones for a moment and then were given some a little while later.  I think I kind of studied this for half an hour before seeing that they had given them up to lift another girl.  I was so impressed by myself for noticing it!

I love Team B.  The original, the new recruits, and the New Team B.

Gokimen Naname na Mermaid

I love this song.  Why on earth did it not get into AX09?  What is wrong with the world?  The rest of B3 got in!

In B3, the first verse and chorus is done by only half of Team B, as they left during ‘Hissatsu Teleport.’  Here, they give the other half of the girls choreography and present it as though everyone is usually on stage.  Also, they’ve added a few RS for no apparent reason.

Except, they do have at least three very good performers up there: Chiichan, Sara, and Chunchun!

Korogaru ishi ni Nare

Team K pops out for their anthem wearing the red Kouhaku fringe costumes.

Yay for Natsuki!

As you can see, some how my favorite lost her amazing costume from the last time she performed in it.  She used to have the best out of the three: the shorts.  Now, she’s stuck with the conservative one.  I’m guessing Sae is wearing hers, as Sae’s was white, and they put all of Team K in red for this.

Melos no Michi

Okay, the video of the very start of the song, the battle of Sae versus Nonti, is terrible.  You can’t see a thing.  I don’t know if they thought it’d be cool or what, but it just looks bad.

See, if Natsuki had her costume, she could look as awesome (even better, probably) than Sae.

The only reason I really like this song is because of N’s placement.  Her group has very, very similar voices, and you can hear hers pretty well.   It’s also nice that it’s one of the first two groups, which have the longer lines in the first verse.

At some point, some Kenkyuusei come in the back with the blue Stage-version ‘Skirt, Hirari’ costumes on.  I’ve never understood why there are so many versions of these costumes.  I’ve only seen the blue variations here in one (small) video and one picture.  They’re just not very attractive.

And they definitely don’t match.  They could have put the RS in the white Kouhaku outfits or something instead.  Those would match Team K and the Research Students’ costumes from the Team B Research Students’ costumes.

Only Today

This is another one of my favorite songs.  It’s so catchy and cute with a nice poppy instrumental.  And the girls get to wear the ‘Ato 1cm’ outfits!  I love these so much.  Almost as much as the ‘Romance, Irane!’ costumes.  The large amount of girls in Team A makes me wonder how many costumes they have per set for Himawari-gumi.  Since there are so many girls that have weird sizes, they must have more than sixteen and closer to twenty.

I found the lantern again!  I didn’t even have to try this time!

Normal-sized hair accessories on normal-sized girls…

And Takamina-sized hair accessories on Takamina-sized girls.

Skirt, Hirari

When I first read about this performance, I was super-excited because it was Team A-only, and I heard that it put the “SukaHira Seven” in their rightful places.

Too bad this is actually an encore version of the audio, as it has the single version with added Team A voices so you hear a lot of whoever is singing, but also everyone else simultaneously.

Who is that behind Amina?  Creepy.

Only a portion of the girls are actually wearing skirts.  And those skirts can’t flutter.  The irony.

Team A sang two songs without RS in the back?  It’s almost like they’re favored.  I guess they’re shuffling Teams for a good reason.

Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008

For the last song of the night, they sing their first single.  Team A is in front for the first half.

Then Team K pops up to form a line dancing with a forward-backward motion.

And then they go into ‘Nounai Paradise’-mode and add in some of that choreography.

Team B’s turn means they bring in the thumbs up and jumping motions of ‘B! B! B! Wasshoi!’ from ‘Wasshoi B!’

Team A has no characteristics, so they just act as though they are all good buddies and rock side-to-side and then pose and wave ‘Aitakatta’-like.

Pretty…

And this is the cover of the DVD and the PB to go along with it for this concert.

(Kenkyuusei Dance)

Yay!  I love this one.  It’s short, meaningless, but a transition, and I count it as a song.  I want a studio version!

The RS get to wear Team A, K, and B t-shirts.  I wonder how many got onto the Team that their t-shirt said.  And oh look, Chiichan!

Takajo Aki gets to introduce the encore.  One would think that it would be Oya’s job since she was the un-official Kenkyuusei leader, but I guess not.

Virgin Love (Research Students ver.)

I always think that ‘Virgin Love’ is just an okay song, but since I love just about every single performance I see of it, I think I actually really do enjoy it.

Who is this?  I have no clue.  Please fill me in.

Takajo is all over in this performance.  They were pushing her before she even joined Team A.

Yuka gets to perform with SKE48 tonight, too!  She’s busy.

By the end of the song, Team A starts coming out and the ‘Virgin Love’’s start sounding better.

Baby! Baby! Baby! (Team A ver.)

For whatever reason, Team A gets to sing an extra single.  Again, they’re just that special.

All three Teams performed ‘Baby! Baby! Baby!’ as part of their Stages (A4R, K4, and B3) for a little while when it was first released, so I guess they didn’t have to stage a new version or anything.  I just wish they would have just used the selected members or something.  Maybe without Ayarin.I usually really like short over-alls, but the ones that Hiichan and Acchan are wearing aren’t very attractive.  I feel sorry for them.

And I totally love seeing Fujie and Rina on the same stage.  Yes, I’m aware that Fujie is not in this screen capture.

Also, more talk of the costumes: I usually don’t like encore costumes like these from AKB, but I really like them here.  I think that it’s because the tops are light and seem more effortless and since it’s outside, it seems more fun-friendly instead of how I always expect to be awed by concert hall performances.

The lighting during the bridge alternates side-to-side.  I’m not sure if I like it.

Kojiharu definitely just shot someone.

PARTY ga Hajimaru yo (SKE48 ver.)

SKE48 performs ‘PARTY.’  It’s of course super-interesting since I’m not that big of a fan of the song, and I can’t tell the difference between a bunch of them at this point.  They hadn’t gotten their makeovers yet.

But there’s my Rikako!

Boku no Taiyou

For the third all-AKB song of the night, we have a single that hadn’t been performed in a real concert yet, and one of their better selling due to a one-of-a-kind photo included with each CD.  Here, a double-Team Himawari-gumi performance is given with Team B in the back.

Yay!  My girls are together!

Seriously, I’m loving this hair.  If only she dyed it back…

Team A and Team B get to wear denim shorts/skirts/pants/overalls, while Team K gets to wear white bottoms, similar to the RS.

Natsuki!  You are my sun!

Ohori’s recently-published memoir mentions that her grandmother passed away shortly before this performance.  Meetan had never had much support from her parents but her grandmother was a big part of her life.  In the book, Megumi says that this is one of the songs that she really sang her heart out in remembrance of her.

AKB48

AKB48’s fight song!

Team K starts in the front row, so that means it’s an instant N attack!

And it’s still raining…

The RS jump on stage at some point.  Now, where is SKE?

BINGO!

Takamina announces this one as usual.  I don’t know if anyone other than her and Ohe have ever done so.

It’s another modified Himawari-gumi performance with the less popular girls and RS in the back.  Natsuki’s in front and she gets her usual lines.  It’s wonderful.

The audience get their little strands of metallic tape.  Soon they’ll be flashier than the AKB members!

Natsuki!

Guess who’s pretty much dead center for bows?  Yup, that’s right.  No need to ask where she for this one.

And that’s Natsumatsuri Hibiyayaon in just under five hours.  I made sure to be really quick with this one for whatever reason.  Next stop: Budokan!

Ono subirá en mayo un 5,9% el precio por minuto de las llamadas a Movistar, Vodafone y Orange, que pasarán a costar 18 céntimos más IVA (20,88) por minuto, frente a la actual tarifa de 17 céntimos (19,72 incluidos impuestos), advirtió hoy Facua.

Se trata de la tercera compañía de telecomunicaciones que incrementa tarifas este año, después de los anuncios de Vodafone, que lo hará el 14 de abril, y Yoigo, el 7 de mayo.

El operador de cable tendrá así un precio por minuto hasta un 80% más caro que el de Telefónica, que cobra 15,5 céntimos (17,98 con el IVA) en horario normal y 10 céntimos (11,6 con impuestos) en el reducido, según señaló la organización de consumidores.

It’s impressive to see how the Spanish industry has changed in such a short period and, as written before about the net adds battle, it’s amazing to see the huge difficulties that all the operators have to beat the incumbent, Telefónica, and increase their revenues’ share of the market. A market where fixed lines represent the majority of the value although the source of revenue growth lies in broadband. Some interesting figures:

1. Fixed market revenues account for ~3€ Billion, of which Fixed line revenues comprise 55%. Yet the fixed line contribution is declining by -6.7% GAGR from 2007-2009
2. Broadband fuels fixed revenue growth by stimulating line numbers and revenues by over 10% CAGR in the last 3 years
3. Future broadband growth potential remains positive with the possibility of providing BB service to the 3.9 Million PC-equipped Spanish households with only dial-up or no internet access
4. Decreases in Telefónica’s wholesale prices resulting from regulation, has allowed for the faster proliferation of higher speed connections by making them more affordable to end customer. Wholesale price reductions have reached up to 74% in some cases, yet have not fully been translated into customer savings
5. The price decreases have thus allowed operators to capitalize on revenue generation through cheaper offers and better margins from lower costs

We will soon deliver our yearly broker report on the telecommunications situation in Spain, but I wanted to publish an executive summary of it (embed presentation) and highlight some interesting facts and insights with our blog readers so that you can clearly understand the fixed and broadband market situation:

Fact 1. The Spanish fixed market is in decline.  While broadband is the only growth source it still falls behind Fixed-lines as the main contributor of revenues

• The economic downturn appears to have impacted the fixed line market. Previously growing at 10% from ’07-08 then slowing abruptly to 0.2% from `08-´09
• Broadband continues to grow and while the ceiling has not yet been hit, there are initial signs of slowdown
• The Pay TV market has been stagnate for the last 2 years and has suffered a significant revenue erosion of ~30 million € since 2008

Fact 2. Over the last three years, market players have undergone consolidation in an effort to challenge Telefónica’s dominance. Unfortunately for the challengers, Telefónica is far from being even worried.

• Since 2007, Ono acquired Auna, Orange bought Ya.com and Vodafone took over Tele2
• Ono and Jazztel may represent residual opportunities for further buy-outs although current valuations are too high for any player to consider a potential merge or acquisition.

Fact 3. The Spanish market is characterized by an increasing appetite for bundled offers and higher speed Broadband (BB) connections.

• Currently 68% of the BB market includes bundling. While players such as Orange already offer Pay TV in their bundles, others like Vodafone may find it increasingly difficult to compete without a pay TV platform
• The majority of BB connections lie in the 3Mb to 10Mb interval, with the highest concentration of offers at 6Mb. Telefónica consistently has a premium over other competitors offers, Orange has some of the cheapest offers
• The Spanish Telecom Regulator is supporting connection speed increases through wholesale price reductions. Additionally, it is encouraging further price reductions in the market by allowing Telefónica to offer naked DSL

Fact 4. Despite aggressive pricing efforts by competitors Telefónica still enjoys a comfortable leadership position in the fixed-line market

• Orange still holds only a minute market share (1.8%) of active fixed lines. Over the last two years, Orange has  succeeded in growing its share of lines but at the expense of loosing revenue share
• Telefónica has lost more ground in the highly competitive residential than in the business one. Orange has a better position in the residential segment where a strong price war is taking place

Fact 5. Telefónica has managed to hold on to its broadband market share.  Vodafone and Jazztel are capturing market share from Orange and Ono

• Orange´s position may be the weakest of the market, having lost broadband customers (~97,000 in 2008) despite the fact the market is growing.
• Vodafone and Jazztel have been the recent winners in the last years, with increases of a 159% and a 78% (respectively) of net adds as % of their customer base in 2007.

Fact 6. The Pay TV market is stagnate, but Orange has managed to grow its customer base to 2.5% representing a ~155% CAGR from ´07-´09

• Due to the current unavailability of Pay TDT services (e.g., Gol TV  – dedicated football channel), this year may present an opportunity for capturing new Pay TV customers before the Pay TDT threat appears
• Telefonic’a imagenio will end with near 680K subscribers, a number that has been nearly flat in the last 2 years. However, Telefónica reported in its latest investors meeting in October a growth up to 1.2M clients in 2012.

Fact 7. Telefónica’s dominant position has a lot to do with customer satisfaction. Telefónica has the lowest complaint ratios in the fixed market and has managed to remain the leader despite having the most expensive offers.  This is suggests that the quality of its service provisioning is positively valued by customers

• In 2008, Orange and Ya.com had the highest complaint ratios on broadband service provisioning.  Their performance has since worsened during 2009
• Additionally, Orange and Ya.com have the poorest performance rating among competitors for customers service satisfaction
• Vodafone, Jazztel, Ono and rest of regional cable operators have similar customer satisfaction rates, being the first two, the highest rated in terms of incidence calls per 10K customers.

Enjoy the reading. Best, CVA

In preparation for the next set of DVDs, I’ve decided to go through a few older concerts, this time it’s JCB Hall from December 21st, 2008.

Full-length text-only review below…

Overture

The concert begins with a completely blank stage that looks to be the same one used in the NHK Hall concert that same fall.  One interesting difference in the set here is that instead of having a screen in the middle of the backdrop, they have decided to leave that area blank and just put monitors on either side of the Stage.  I’m guessing that JCB Hall has slightly different proportions compared to a standard theater that allowed them to do this.

While I do like the idea of keeping monitors off the stage (and since I’m not watching the concert live, I really don’t ever need the monitors thanks to close-up shots on DVDs), I don’t like them here.  I feel like the lack of an on-stage screen gives the stage a really bland, warehouse-like, cheaper-than-Shibuya-AX-concerts look.

The good thing about having no monitors on stage is that it is (for me at the very least) a more visually-appealing and natural set.  Now, I really start to get irked when the girls come out.  I would prefer that they would just stand there…. but no.

The have to walk around casually and kill the possibility of epic-ness that couple possibly start the concert.  And there’s a fish-eye camera.  Who decided on that one?  Bad.

Oogoe Diamond

The first song performed is ‘Oogoe Diamond.’  I had previously not liked this placement (and you know, the fact that they still haven’t performed this school-themed single in school uniforms in a concert yet), but upon this viewing of the concert, I concur with it’s concept.

The most recent time AKB48 had all been together was at the NHK Hall 2009 concert in which they performed ‘Oogoe’ and wore these same encore party dresses.  This time, I feel like they’re echoing that last performance, but without the recent Team A graduates, SKE48, and the AKB48 Kenkyuusei.  Maybe it’s kind of a way to show solidarity and how the current AKB can totally stand on it’s own two feet?  I just wish that could be said of the King Records singles’ senbatsu…

Anyway, it’s a pretty similar performance to the NHK Hall one, just subtract the aforementioned parties.  In this one, I think Mika might actually get a solo line, or at least her voice is featured a little bit more since Jurina is gone.  I think it’s kind of nice how there are so many different versions of that can be performed of this song: Team A, Team K, Team B, RS, Team S, senbatsu members, and the AKB48 version.

Essentially, with the AKB48 version they take a bunch of girls that aren’t featured in the single like Saeki, Nonti, and Asuka, and throw them into the mix.  It adds much more of a concert-only feeling.  On the topic of Nonti, please notice how she’s not holding a microphone.  She had hurt her left hand during what I believe to be rehearsals for this concert.  I remember watching LODs near this time period and we were perplexed as to why she was wearing a headset.  I was thinking that maybe they wanted to try to have the girls do a few K4 songs without hand microphones and they were using Kayo to see which song(s) could be done with head sets, but alas, she had just hurt her hand.

Romance, Irane!

Okay, first off, besides one of my high school art teachers, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who liked pictures using a fish-eye lens.  This being said, why would anyone want a video that uses it?  And on idols at that!  It’s just weird.

While I love these costumes being used to perform this song, I really dislike how they added all of the straps for all of the strapless dresses.  They looked better as tube tops.

They look to be using a modified Himawari-gumi set-up with Team B and the non-Team 1 girls in the back.  I’m pleased that while yes, they are not really included in the performance, they’re still at least near the action and not ostracized like they are so often when Himawari-gumi songs are performed..

Tonight’s ‘Romance, Irane!’ seems to be rather bland compared to others.  Nothing really caught my eye at all.  Except for Natsuki and the aforementioned proximity of the girls, of course.

They did a great job capturing this part of the bridge for the DVD.  It’s one of the spots where the view has to be pretty much dead-on.

For a while I was lost because I couldn’t figure out why Naruse was in the front so much.  Then I remembered that even though she shares a birthday with Sae and has a hair style, and body type similar to Sae’s, she’s Sayaka’s sub, not Sae’s.

AKB Sanjou!

Next up is the new AKB48 fight song!  It looks pretty flashy (get it, they’re sporting flashlights?) here in their fluorescent dresses, but it still gets the point across: AKB is powered up to the “max.”

I love how throughout the song they alternate the lighting between the usual stage lights and the girls’ flashlights.  They match with the audience’s glowsticks well.

Kana somehow secured Yuko’s position next to Acchan for the night since she’s gone, but she was fidgeting with her hat most of the time.  Poor Kana…

I love it when Natsuki gets lines (or just gets to be near) Chiichan.  I like when I can hear/see my favorites in the same line.

They end the performance by spelling out their Team names.  In this performance at least, it looks like Team B has the most girls present and Team A has the least.  As usual.

In the following MC which wasn’t included on the DVD, it was announced that Natsuki had gotten into Waseda University!  That is a huge accomplishment and worthy of this kind of recognition, as it is one of Japan’s top six colleges.

Skirt, Hirari

So, this performance is apparently the seven-girl version.  Now, I’ve never seen the seven-girl Stage version from the A1 days, as the DVD shows the five-girl version (A1 was shuffled mid-way through), but I’ve heard the seven-girl Stage version from the A1 CD, which features the shuffled units.  Now, interesting to point out: it’s the same line distribution as the single.  Also interesting to point out: whenever a seven-girl version of Skirt, Hirari appears on stage in concerts these days, they use the five-girl version’s line distribution, leaving two girls without solo lines.  Boo.

Takamina looses her lines and takes Mai’s.  I’m not sure if that’s a promotion here or a demotion, but it’s nice to hear her do something different.  Jurina takes Takamina’s old lines and pretends that she’s in AKB… again.

Oh, you Team K girls… Little do you know you’ll be lineless in this performance…  (For completion, Haruna keeps her lines (and takes Rina’s) in the choruses and Mayu takes Risa’s (and Itano’s).  Acchan keeps her own.  Except, now she sounds and looks much different than a puberty-stricken teenage boy.

Goodness!  How close can a camera get to Acchan’s head before she flinches?  At least she’s having a good hair day.

Nage KISSU de Uchi Otose

With Rie, Moeno, and Miho leading (and Koaru, Gussan, and Harugon) dancing, you can tell this is a unit thrown in to push the first three.

This unit just looks really weird to me since I’ve never been accustomed to seeing Rie as the center.  Here, I almost feel as if there isn’t a single front girl.

Why did they slide the scrunchies up past their elbows?  It looks fine, but is there a specific reason?  Is it the popular thing to do?  Are they trying to make fun of the original performers and non-verbally communicate that those girls’ wrists are too fat and they stretched them out or something.  I don’t know why, but this instance of a small change in the costume confused me greatly.

It’s the RS-to-Team side… who get solo lines…

And it’s the unpopular original member side… who don’t get solo lines.

See, this is what I don’t like about the background.  It’s so drab.  I would almost say that if they got rid of the lighting and metal poles back there, it would make it seem like they wanted a simple backdrop, but then it would look even more plain and cheaper.  At this point it looks like a warehouse…. and no one wants to see that.

Junai no CRESCENDO

The fan-favorite No3b unit has been shuffled for the the first time in this concert.  I used to be really confused as to who lead the unit, as Takamina’s part actually gets less lines than the other two.  But hey, she does get the dress that dips down the back instead of on either side, so Takamina had to be the center.

Kasai’s work here actually fits in well, even though I would have thought they’d have put her in Miichan’s place.  She sounds consistently… Kasai-like… the whole song and it gives a little extra dimension to the piece.  Sae seems like a really random replacement for Haruna, but they both have a similarly nasal voice and her great dancing really complement the unit.

What is up with the boots here?  Does no one have Takamina-sized feet or something?  I don’t like that they decided to still use the original ‘Junai’ shoes, and wish they would just use the ‘Renai Kinshi Jourei’/'Oogoe Diamond’ pairs.  It looks messy like this.

Kashiyuki’s last solo line was the best I’ve heard in that position.  It was truly magnificent.  Her other solo lines here were fine, I mean, it’s her, she’s always been a pretty good vocalist, but this one was spot on.

Fans must have really liked Kasai shuffled into this song because she took the same spot in the NHK09 concert series.  Well, either that or whoever was supposed to take that spot ended up being sick or hurt, as that tends to happen.

Seneka Kara Dakishimete

Seeing this on the set list was just pure joy for me.  It’s one of my favorite AKB songs, and putting some new girls in it is great.  I hope they shuffle this up again.  Maybe a Team K-only version, since that’s never been done before?

I love Mariko as the lead because she has such a deep voice.  It’s not necessarily a really good voice, but it gets the job done and has character.

Asuka fits Maeda’s part well, too.  She adds talent and performance energy, which the original lacks a bit of.

Yuka is pretty much amazing here.  She took what seems to be a cutesy part and suddenly amped up the epic-ness.  In the build-up of vocals repeating the first chorus, she is crazy strong and ten times better than I would imagine.  I’m impressed to say the least.

The second verse would have contained Nozofisu, Yukarin, Haachan, and Kobayashi if it were to be performed.

About the costumes: I’m not sure what I think of them.  They used the Team A ‘Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru’ senbatsu costumes for Team A and B and the Team K non-senbatsu costumes for Team K from the First Concert Aitakatta series and added the B2 accessories and then wings, feathers, bows, and pom-poms.  Maybe with-out the pom-poms?  They’re just odd here.

And it looks like Nozofisu grabbed Itano’s addition in the build-up.  Interesting… I would have thought it’d be Haachan.  Anyway, lovely shuffle.

7ji 12fun no Hatsukoi

And Acchan’s A4 unit is shuffled to the Acchan of Team B, Mayuyu.  One thing I love about this unit is that while it’s not a particularly wonderful nor memorable song, it has the prettiest, most addictive chorus.  Now, ever since I became an AKB fan, I’ve never been a big fan of Mayu, but once I saw B1, I understood her so much better.  She’s not an amazing singer, but she can dance pretty darn well.  The thing that really works for her is how genuine she is: you know this this what she wants to do.  One of my favorite AKB theories is my “Acchan Series,” which goes Acchan, Erena, Mayu, Fujie, Jurina, and I guess that KII girl that I’ve probably never watched perform.  These are the five/six girls that were the first to perform the first near-solo song, ‘Nagisa no CHERRY’ and have been pushed by AKS.  I’m not sure about the sixth girl, but I’ve been impressed with the generations starting at the third.

Now, if this were a true shuffle, I think a less popular girl would get Ohe’s spot… but I guess they had to put Sasshi somewhere!  I love her to pieces, and it is kind of fun to see her in a cute song instead of her usual kick-butt unit.  Maybe this side of her will be used on the new Team A?  That way she’d fit my assumed image of the new Team.  (At this point, I want Moeno and Sasshi to switch…)

See, Mayu knows what she’d doing!  I’m glad Nacchan got picked as one of the back-up dancers.  It’s kind of fitting since I bet that’s probably what position she would have gotten if she stayed in Team A past the third Stage.  And you can tell how much she is enjoying this almost-cheesy song about first love on a train.

Aika is in the back, too.  Quite frankly, this weirds me out as she is perfect for the song and in my mind might take Sasshi’s current spot.  Maybe Sasshi was a little more popular than Aika at this point or something?  Maybe they wanted to push Sasshi a bit more since she’d be getting her own unit three-or-so months later and Aika wouldn’t?  Lastly, Oku is an interesting choice in this unit.  She’s rather out of place as the rest of the girls are Team B.  For some reason I was thinking that she was wearing Kayano’s costume, but I think it must be Risa’s considering how it fits!

Nagisa no CHERRY

Oops, I guess I spoke to soon: This is where Jurina is an Acchan.  I guess this is what happens when you decide to review the concert so long after seeing it!  One thing that’s great about ‘Nagisa’ is that one doesn’t need good vocals to sing this one… at all.  Jurina isn’t really impaired there, but her dancing is top-notch, which is one thing that might help in this situation.

In blue are Gussan, Nakayan, and Kaorin.  Nakayan, another great dancer, gets the center for the bridge, naturally.  Please note, Gussan and Kaorin already performed a unit in this concert as back-dancers, but they’re here, too.  I don’t know whether that’s a good thing for them or a bad thing… but at least we get to see more of them.  There are a few girls who didn’t get units at JCB, that probably could have grabbed these spots, though….

It would suck when the pretty bubbles get more screen time than you do, wouldn’t it?

I wonder if she thinks it’s a little weird that she’s singing about being seventeen in past tense, yet at the time of this concert, she was definitely eleven.  I know that Acchan started singing this when she was turning fifteen, so it’s still odd, but it’s definitely not a six-year age gap.

MARIA

I think the majority of AKB’s fans were hoping for this: Takamina in ‘MARIA.’  And we all got it.  With any luck, we’ll see two more girls perform the song if it’s included in the new Musical Infinity script and it’s shown on DVD (let us pray…)

Takamina of course takes over the song.  With ‘Higurashi no Koi’ we learned that Team A’s low register leader’s voice is quite a bit higher than Team K’s, but now we see that they’re just different.  While Yuka has a huge range, as can be heard in any fun or cute song she’s in, Takamina has a pretty set selection of notes she can hit… but she can hit them darn well.

First off, I love the sparkly microphone holders.  They’re so blinged-out.  Now, Miichan also did a superb job here.  I love when she is put in more hardcore units because those work with her personality a bit more.  Here she even gets a better part than Itano which is pretty exciting.  Somehow she’s also able to put on a bit lower and gravely tone in her voice which echos Ohori’s version of her part well.  The one thing I don’t like is that she’s paired with Takamina again.  This is done too much.  I am glad that she’s with Itano, though.  I love that pair together.

Itano sings her usual way, which is so similar to Kasai’s voice but so different at the same time.  It’s lower and looses the innocence of Kasai’s vocals but retains the girlishness.

Fog… I love it.  It covers the stage nicely.  And I just thought of something: it must not be fun for the audience when the girls sing units from the back of the stage because they end up being pretty far back there.  At least on DVD it looks nice.

See!  Look at that ugly set!  It’s so plain!

Okay, so sometimes it can look nice… but most ugly things look better in the dark…

Faint

A performance of the Hana song so quickly after she left?  Wow.  Remembering back to when this concert just happened, I really liked the selection of girls for the song.  An unpopular one (Umeda/Nozofisu), a fairly popular one to lead (Miho/Itano), and one that is getting more popular quickly (Aki/Hana).  Here, Umeda puts out an incredible performance with her usual great dancing and singing and Miho uses her youth to put this unit in a different league than that of Itano’s.  I’m a little unsure of Aki in the song.  Yes, her voice is somewhat similar to the original’s, but it lacks the same drive that Hana’s did here.  I guess I’ll credit it to her new-ness to the AKB world, since she was new to Team A (I think she had just gotten in recently) and she wasn’t a research student all that long.  And you know, they’re pushing her a lot lately.

It looks like Miho must not have fit in Tomo-chin’s shorts, so she got a ruffly skirt made.  And she has that pretty garter.  That might be old, though.

I swear, that fish-eye lense needs to be smashed.

Glass no I LOVE YOU

‘Glass no I LOVE YOU’ seems to be in almost every concert.  I think the only DVD-friendly ones it hasn’t been in are NHK07 and the Budokan series.  Anyway, here it’s presented by my aforementioned Acchan 2, Acchan 3, Acchan 4, and Rabutan.  An excellent line-up, if I do say so myself.  Everyone sounds just like they usually do, so I can’t really say much about their vocal prowess.

Fujie is lovely.  I want you all to know that.

Are the pink frilly trunks new?  I seem to remember them wearing their usual black shorts under these costumes… maybe I’m thinking of the ‘Nageki no Figure’ ones, though.  They’re similarly pretty.

I’m not really sure who likes this more: the wota or the girls.  For the wota, it’s a quartet of cute girls in cute costumes singing a cute song cutely.  For the girls, it’s about pink, shiny, sparkly, ruffle-y, glorious costumes.  The girls win.

This walking section gets me everytime in any song it’s done in (examples include ‘Idol no Yobanaide’ and ‘Nage Kissu de Uchi Otose’.)

I love how Mayu gets to bask in her awesomeness.

Kimi wa Pegasus

Wow, Akimoto.  Do you work at a meat counter?  Because you just butchered this song.  I’m not impressed at all.  I don’t care that it’s a great song: putting front girls in a song that they’re not ready for won’t turn out well.  This Team A version didn’t go over very well with me.

Acchan subs for Sayaka.  Yup.  That happened.  Not saying anything else.

Rie (who for the longest time I thought was Sasshi), doesn’t fit well here.  She has a perfectly okay voice, but it’s just way too high for this kind of song… or something.  It just doesn’t fit.

Haruna was the only one who improved the vocals in this song.  Sae lacks a bit in her voice, but as mentioned earlier, makes up for it in her dancing.  Haruna’s dancing isn’t quite as good, but it does get the job done.  I’d recommend her for Natsuki’s position, as they often shared lines in Himawari-gumi.  It’s kind of cute how Haruna and Sae switched parts in this shuffle concert, though.

Noro Kayo’s spot was taken by Miichan and rightfully so.  Miichan is getting better and better lately and what better way to show it off than in Nonti’s lines in this unit?  This was a successful casting.

And then we hear the choruses again and it goes down hill.  Acchan doesn’t have a very loud or powrful voice from what I’ve heard, yet you can hear it a ton in the group lines, which suggests they turned up her vocals from the recording.  Anyway, as a unit, this doesn’t work.  If Haruna switched to blue and Rie and Acchan left, this might turn out well.  From Team A, I’d suggest… Mai for Sayaka… and… Chiichan for Sae?  I think that might work better.

Junjou Shugi

Awesome shuffle right here.  Just awesome.  Maybe I just love the song, though.  Regardless, I’m happy.

Tomo-chin is Team A’s sexy member.  With ‘FAINT,’ ‘Itoshisa no defense,’ ‘Confession,’ and her everyday assortment of clothing to be scantily-clad, Tomochin ranks up there with Ohori in the sex appeal department.  Haachan is Team B’s closest thing, and she’s also kind of an amazing singer, too.  In this performance, we have the strong vocals replaced by Itano’s sultry ones, and it gives it a nice flavor overall.  Somewhat off-topic, but whoever designed that dress needs a raise… and needs to make more AKB costumes.

Amina and Sae work well here, too.  Amina’s usually bouncy voice sounds so amazing with the vocoder atop it.  I would love a techno-inspired song with that sound from her.  Sae matches a bit too much with Amina, but that’s fine.  I think I’m just too used to the difference between Matsuyuki and Inoue/Nakayan/Moeno.  Oh, and the RS back there are dancing their butts off, so great job to them, too.  Yay.  I love good shuffles… especially if they use the NHK07-like Mr Kissman glitter-y strands in the background.

Namida no Shounen

Finally.  A shuffle song with Natsuki solo lines.  I’ve been waiting and I’m very glad it’s finally happening.  The line-up is pretty good, too.

Yuko, who has recently became my new favorite front girl, takes Ayumi’s lines and of course does a great job with them.  What I love about her is that even though she’s an experienced idol, she’s really trained her voice and she’s ready for anything, be it a youthful song, or a more mature unit like this one.  And I love how short she is in comparision to the other girls, especially being right next to Natsuki.

And then my oshimen executes Mariko’s lines perfectly.  When it was first posted that Natsuki was in this unit, I only knew that Saeki got to lead, and the list of performers, so I went through every show I could find with this song in it (A2, B2, AX08, and Natsumatsuri Hibiyayaon) trying to figure out which spot she’d get.  I knew Yuko would get the other lead, so I ranked the order of the other spots, and Mariko’s was the lowest in my rank.  Oh well.  I’m just glad she got something in this concert!

Natsumi’s next and I am impressed by her work here.  I expected a higher voice like we heard in the previous concert’s ‘Kagami no Jean de Arc,’ but she went quite a bit lower and it sounded much, much better.

Mikachi grabs Mai’s part, the unit’s center.  I’ve always wondered if Akimoto wanted Mika to become a popular girl in Team B, as he always seemed to push her.  She has that certain quality about her that is really likable and she’s superb at singing.  There’s reason she was put in a duet with Kashiyuki.  Just watching her here makes me smile.

Another yay, Chiichan is in this unit!  My top two are right here!  I love it.  And she’s perfect.  We all know that, though.  I can’t wait to see the Budokan Team A concert DVD in Nagoya.  She’s leading two units and partially leading a third.  It’s going to be epic.

One great thing about the positions my girls got is that they get duet lines in the chorus against the other three.  They sound impeccable together.  I could gush, but I’m not going to.  In conclusion: I’m happy again.  (Oh, and notice the decorated mic stands?)

Blue Rose

When I began working on this review, I noticed something interesting: the three true unit songs in K2/B1 are included in the same order as they would be in the original Stages.  I’m assuming they did it on purpose, but I think it’s rather interesting.  This means that next up is ‘Blue Rose.’

The two most popular girls outside of the AKB fandom Mariko and Mai lead the song’s vocals.  Mariko is a natural choice here and I think she performed it in the shuffle version of the Aitakatta concert, but that might have been Mai.  One of them at least.

Next to Mariko’s deeper voice, Mai seems even more feminine and, with the help of her charm with a mic stand, sensual.  Any performance that includes Mai and a stick-like object in front of her tend to be great, and this one is no exception.

On the sides we have Kasai and Kohara, both rather unlikely choices for this type of song.  We’re used to seeing them in high-pitched songs thanks to their own characteristics, but I guess they really wanted to mix it up.  Considering they share a duet line, we can’t really hear them all that accurately, so I’m not going to really note their work here.

In the bridge is a very famous kicking-of-the-mic-stand.  This is done by the girl grabbing the cord attached to it and kicking it so it looks like it’ll fall into the audience, but then pulling the cord back so the girl gets it back.  Usually this works out fine, but it looks like Tomomi-chan kicked too low and the bottom nearly fell into the audience, which really wasn’t supposed to happen at all.  With a little bit of pulling and the help of a backstage guy, she ends up getting it’s legs back on stage and she’s back to her usual self.  That was a cute blooper, though.

Kinjirareta Futari

I think it’s safe to assume that Yuko’s spot in this song was supposed to go to Sayaka.  Sayaka’s the only front girl who didn’t get a unit, and Kashiyuki already performed this song for all of B1.  I think I’d prefer it if that would have happened as it’d be a compete Team K shuffle.  And it would possibly have a completely different dynamic.

Erena does a great job in Kasai’s place.  Not much to say there.  She must say something funny during the MC portion, but I’m clueless as to what it was.

I guess that they shortened the skirt for her, and in AX09, they forgot to lengthen it back to Kasai’s size, so she wore a super mini-dress for the Top 100.

Ame no Doubutsuen

The famous animal song pops up next with Jurina and Rena leading and Rumi, Nakayan, Miku, Kumi, Nakatsuka, and Naruse being the rest of the zoo.  It’s weird to have an SKE48-led unit in an AKB48 concert, but I guess we’ll have to get used to it.  I’m glad that in this show they used all eight animals, as I hate it when they use less and some girls don’t get a single part in the concert.  Now, I know there are a few who didn’t get spots in this one, but at least they’re using up all availible costumes for the units they do end up doing.

Tonari no Banana

Great shuffle.  Awesome choice of girls.  Simply wonderful.  In the last concert, this unit was done by Mayu and Aika, so this is a welcome change.  And considering their experience in AKB, this is a great boost in for their popularity.

Ohori gets the first lines and sings just like a little girl, which could be argued is the complete opposite of herself.  I love it.  Now, Megumi’s gotten funnier as time has progressed, especially with Nonti in the area.

I’m not sure what the flower-ing branch is doing, but I saw it poke up for a moment in Blue Rose, so they must be singing about it or something and it’s not a random fan’s.

On the topic of Kayo, she goes another route.  She begins her lines with her apparently booming deep voice and finishes it with the squeaky grace of the original unit.  This versitality is wonderful.  Long live the Nonti!

Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou

The crown jewel of the JCB concert is the front-girl version of ‘Oshibe Meshibe’ with two leads of Team A.  I’m not a fan of this personally, as it’s another unit of them just grabbing popular girls and putting them into positions that don’t fit well.  Neither have the natural sexiness or innocence of the original duo.

One thing about the costumes: they do not fit.  Kojiharu is a bit too large for Ohori’s outfit and Acchan is too small for Kasai’s.  I would usually say to just switch them, but then I think this performance might get worse as that’d be even farther from their personalities.

Okay, that just looks like an awkward hug.

Anata to Christmas Eve
‘
Considering the proximity of this concert’s date to Christmas, this was a very nice, unexpected touch.  I like how they saved two of the front girls who can actually sing this song to perform it.  It makes me feel like AKS does have some standards.

And there’s snow!  I love getting excited about little things like this.

And pretty lights.  Yay.

Overture (SKE48 ver.)

And SKE48 infiltrates the stage!  I just wish they would keep to themselves a bit more.  I mean, they have their own concerts and a single, so what’s the need to take over AKB set lists, too?  At least I love this ‘Overture.’  The music is almost the same as the AKB48 ‘Overture,’ but the “lyrics” are about SKE’s location in Nagoya.  The cool part of this one is that they have an actual dance to go along with it.  I think SKE might focus a bit more on dancing, as they’re audition to become a member vs. an RS concentrates on dancing.  And I like how they make the letters that go into making their name.

Doku Ringo wo Tabesasete

This is an odd song to be performed in concert like this.  It’s not very popular and it’s very old, but I guess this i a way to sort of prove that they are in fact performing A1/K1/S1 in their theater.  It certainly doesn’t stand out here, but the girls do a good job in its performance.  And I like the red and green colors used for lighting, as they match the image of an apple like in the song.

SKE48

I like how Jurina gets to lead the MC immediately before this.  It’s almost as though she’s being thrust at us.

They get to sing both verses of this song, too… why is it that SKE gets to sing the entirety of some of their (old) songs, while the Teams can’t in these sorts of concerts?  We miss out on hearing/seeing so many girls’ lines in this format.  Bleh.

And what’s with these uniforms?  Are they from something?  Are they the S2 ballad costumes?  They just seem out of place.

Tanjoubi no Yoru

I don’t see why this song is so popular… it’s about birthdays and it’s not really all that interesting.  Oh well.

This version is with Team A including it’s new members and a Kenkyuusei or two to fill up the remaining positions.  They get to wear the amazing ‘109′ (‘Marukyu’) costumes.  I love those.  We need more similar to them.

I’ve always thought that the concept within AKB that the RS-to-Team girls get to take graduated members’ spots is weird.  I mean, shouldn’t the remaining Team memembers pick those up if they’re more popular.  It ends up being that whenever a Stage is made, the girls keep their spots for all eternity, regardless of their shift in popularity.  RS-to-Team members featured in these songs always get a boost.  Lucky them.  I understand that it’s easier for the girls to learn if they already know their position in the song from past performances, but it’s all kind of off to me.  At least Chiichan and Fujie are near the front quite a bit.

Mirai no Kajitsu

Team A seems to have gotten possession of all of the Himawari-gumi songs.  Here they get what was an image song for a water campaign or something when it first came out.  (Let me add that Natsuki was one of the selected members for this.)  I honestly think the song is kind of bland, and so I think it’s a poor choice for the show.  I guess it fits with the previous song, so I’ll let it slide a little.  Just this once, though.  Team A has so many great songs in its repertory, so why choose a boring one?  Especially in those costumes, why don’t they ‘Switch’ it up a bit?

Two Years Later

For some reason, I’ve never really cared for ‘Two Years Later.’  It’s kind of monotonous and seems as though its concept was a darker-toned filler song.  I love how there are so many great solo parts in the verses, but the chorus seems to just go on and on.  Maybe it’s too slow for me or something?  Also, the costumes don’t really help the performance here.  I love those A5 opener dresses, but they just don’t belong.

Shounichi

I really dislike how everytime Team B gets to perform a song, it’s always ‘Shounichi.’  I mean, it’s a great song and it matches Team B in general so well, but it’s just over-done now.  Why not just save it for Shibuya AX?

For a moment I was all confused when I saw Chikano as I didn’t know who was missing, then I realized that I hadn’t seen CinDy in a while and (since I’m too lazy to look it up) I’ve decided that she must have not been at this concert.  I love how I’ve started to refuse to research (and spell-check) my concert reviews…

Yay for Tanamin.  She looks particularly gorgeous in green.

Again, bad costume choice.  It works better here, but still.  They should have just gone with the JK school uniforms that go overtop of these.  They’d have matched both songs much better.

I was definitely anticipating ‘Hissatsu Teleport’ to be next.  That’s how used to the B3 order I am!

Shamu Neko

I remember this performance.  I was super excited when I saw the girls pounce on stage in the white fringe outfits from their ‘Nante Tatte Idol’ performance with Nakagawa Shoko and Leah Dizon.  I happen to love them, and the fact that they’re all wearing white instead of the red from Natsumatsuri Hibiyayaon is even better.

As this is a bigger concert, they only perform the first verse, which means no Natsuki solo lines.  We do however get Nonti and a special appearance by Umeda!  I seem to always treat Umechan in these concerts as a guest because she’s missed so many over the years for various reasons.

The first time I watched the chorus from this DVD I let out the biggest wide-eyed gasp ever.  Suddenly I saw Natsuki.  And not just any Natsuki: instead of putting her in one of the empire-waisted dresses like she’s been put in ever since Kouhaku ended, she got one of the slinkiest out of the two-piece variations.  And she looks phenomenal.  She just blew my mind.

See, she’s just phenomenal.

Where’s my PB?

I’m running out of things to say…

But I just have to post these caps.

Korogaru Ishi ni Nare

And we’re back to Team anthems.  Similar to ‘Shounichi,’ I’m done with this one.  I’m hoping that since the Teams are being shuffled, I’ll only have to hear this one at Shibuya AX.

Natsuki slid up to the front line during the chorus…. I believe that’s different from usual, but I may be wrong.

See, look at that boring background.  Yes, I’m still angry about it.

Natsuki!  Be a rolling rock!

Nonti totally wins with best ending pose.

Baby! Baby! Baby!

All of a sudden the entirety of AKB comes on stage to perform their digital single.  To me, this looks ridiculous to have all of the girls crammed on such a small area.  They could have used the steps in the back at the very least!

Mayu looks a bit out of place with her colors.  You’d think they could have put Team B in the ‘JESUS’ costumes or something equally gold to match the other two Teams, but of course they needed to be randomly colorful.  Right behind Mayu and Mai is Natsuki!

She even gets to sing her usual set of lines.  I wonder if this is because of the Team K absences?  That’d make the most sense to me.  The set-up of the girls seems to be the most popular girls in the center doing the singing, while the less popular girls surround them on the sides dancing.

Dear My Teacher

Yay!  I’ve been waiting for an all-Team version of this for a while now!  The girls move into their Teams and basically do three performances at the same time.  It’s neat to see the different line-ups of girls.  Here I made the realization that anyone in AKB who has originally gotten Nakanishi Rina’s lines has had a break during their AKB career.  Rina was out for something like six months during H1 and H2, Kikuchi had her boyfriend scandal for B3 and B4, and Umeda was injured for K3, H1, and H2.  I wonder who got those lines in S1.  I have yet to see the DVD.  And does Team KII perform the song in KII1?

Nonti fidgets with her microphone.  Those headsets seem to be a lot of trouble.  Everyone seems to have to mess with them whenever they (rarely) wear them.

Have I ever mentioned that this is Natsuki’s favorite song?

BINGO!

The last song of the non-encore section of the concert is ‘BINGO!’  This one seems to be a heavily-modified Himawari-gumi format with mostly Team 1 and the more popular members of Team B taking part in the actual singing.  The rest are on the sides or risers, with the RS in the back.

Natsuki gets her usual lines with Sae, as I’ll bet that Sayaka’s absence gave her a spot.  Good for her!  She tends to fill in often.

The steps moved during the bridge.  It was quite cool.  I wish that there was a better camera angle for it, though.

(Kenkyuusei Dance)

The new RS make a special appearance in the ‘PARTY ga Hajimaru yo’ uniforms.  Takamina talks over the music and sort of introduces them.  Notably, Kikuchi is in there, but I couldn’t really spot her.

Hikouki Gumo

And a newer concert song (and now part of the ‘RIVER’ single) starts off the encore!  Team B keeps getting shoved to the back…

Midway through this performance I noticed that there was a lot of screen time for Yuko… and then I realized that she wasn’t in the rest of it, and understood what was going on.  Glad to have her back on stage.

The start of the chorus brings in the more experienced Kenkyuusei.  I hate how I actually had to work to figure out if they were either SKE48 members, old RS, or new RS.

Aitakatta

Gasp!  I would have never thought they would perform this song!  Just kidding.  It’s over-done, too, but I’m fine with it.  As long it’s all of AKB performing.  And the stage is moving again.  It’s these little things that make me excited.

This angle makes the stage look like it was made in a video game for some reason…

Natsuki!  Yay.  She got to sing in the second verse… as usual.

I love these three in the same shot.  They’re all very similar in my book.

Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka?

Finally, the seemingly long lost single makes its way into a concert!  ‘Yuuhi’ has been released for over a year, but it’s just now getting it’s large-scale debut.  I feel like this performance wasn’t as heart-warming as I would have liked.  I think they needed to make a big line across the front of the stage like they do in the H1 version.

It ends with SKE48 and all of the RS getting on stage in positions for ‘Oogoe Diamond’ with pretty lighting that evokes the image of the title’s setting sun.

Oogoe Diamond

And the gimmick of the night: a 89(-ish)-girl version of ‘Oogoe Diamond.’  I know what you’re thinking: They already performed this in this concert!  You’re wrong.  They just almost doubled the girls.  That means it’s a totally different song.  Duh.

The dynamic triangular formation is lost when so many girls are on stage…

Oh, and look!  Natsuki… stuck on the side again.  Oh well.

Yup, Ayarin’s back in town.

Go get her, Mikachi!  I believe in you!  Don’t let a child steal your spot light!

And more Natsuki!

See, just look at how many girls are on stage.  It’s getting to be a bit much, right?

And it’s over.  Yay.  Okay concert.  I’m still not a huge fan of it, but now after finally reviewing it, I feel like it was at least a little bit better put together than I originally did.