It's my anniversary . . . with a boy band . . . and a happy birthday to Mr. DoS
It’s been a year! A year of sparkly rainbow ghei! A year of member-ai! A year of my husband and I getting catchy Jpop stuck in our heads and infecting each other. A year of small packages arriving from Japan and of consequently lighter wallets. In other words, a good year.
In other words, it’s been a year since I first discovered Arashi.
So late last summer, I was in a pretty rough spot. I was engrossed in finishing my dissertation, and getting ready to defend said behemoth and then put myself through the joys of an academic job search, which in my discipline is a 6-8 month ordeal better left undescribed. Being an inveterate procrastinator, I was wandering through Veoh when I ran into Hana Yori Dango files-I thought they meant the anime, and since I had enjoyed the anime and the manga, I thought I’d blow and hour or two watching an episode or two.
My first reaction when I realized there was a live-action show was ‘wtf? How the hell are they going to convey the crack level of that series in a drama?’
Obviously, I had never seen Jdorama before; cut me some slack. How was I supposed to know?
Anyway, HYD I and II sucked the next three days of my life away, much to the bemusement of the Boy, and one of my friends actually called me to go shopping since I had turned into a hermit.
I-I might have a slightly obsessive personality, and talked her ear off about the show and the cute actress they had playing Makino and the strangely hot boy who played Domyouji.
Wherein she confessed an obsession with some random Japanese guy in Gokusen.
I dragged her to the house to watch a couple of episodes of HYD, and we realized we had the same guy.
I have to admit, this still a) makes me laugh and b) kind of wigs me out a little. Obviously, it was meant to be.
At this point, we did what any two rational academics would do: research. DramaWiki gave me the name of the actor. From Wikipedia, I learned that Matsumoto Jun was the member of a popular Jpop idol band called Arashi. So I went to YouTube, Crunchyroll and Veoh, where my journey into crackdom was really born.
*****
I think I had an amazingly fortuitous introduction to the band. Pretty much the first video of the band that I saw was Shukudai-kun 13, the Christmas episode with Aiba’s game.
Mind, I had no idea who anyone was, and kept referring back to Wikipedia to figure out which was which.
Needless to say, the stockings didn't help with that.
Roughly, my reaction to the show was: wtf??? I thought they were a band. What the hell is this show anyway??
And . . . um . . . nipples?
OK, is it really a good idea to do these things to someone whose face is a major part of their career?
These guys are the biggest dorks ever. ^^"
O__o
I-I can't imagine American celebrities going through this crap. B-but I guess they look like they're having fun? ^^"
MUST HAVE MOAR
The next thing I saw was MMA 11, the one with the cows. Which if you haven't had the good fortune to see, stop everything, and go watch this immediately. I am not kidding.
Umm . . . since I didn’t see the introduction, only clips . . . I actually thought that these people were Ohno’s grandparents. I felt so bad for him when he had to work his ass off and Sho got to go bowling. Thus began my infatuation with Ohno. ^^”
Oh right, wasn’t this supposed to be a band?? They must have concerts, right?
. . .
I found concert clips from the Dome concert. Specifically, I found La Tormenta.
Oooooooh . . . pretty!
Which one was that, anyway?
Wait a minute, is that the sleepy guy who was picked on with the cows??
. . . holy crap.
Again, go watch this now. Search for "Arashi, Dome, Ohno, Rain."
So I obsessively watched this concert over and over. I thought the costumes were hilarious and ridiculously over-the-top. Ironically, I later realized that this is pretty much the classiest concert yet in terms of what they wear.
Don't believe me? Check this out:
Dome:
. . . lightsabers, wtf??
. . . just go with it. It's awesome; it's crack; it's less painful that way.
A brief saunter through some other concerts' sartorial forays (not for the faint of heart or the humorless):
. . . gay rainbow tribe, whut?
this is so not happening
. . . Okay, so that was actually pretty awesome--Arashi Around Asia (Taipei) Cool and Soul. If you haven't se-- you know the drill.
. . . A-amazingly, that particular monstrosity is not the most infamous of the questionable concert-wear. That dubious distinction is shared between these two:
Oh. My. God.
In case you can't tell, or are in denial, those are clear plastic suits over white boxers. I kind of think this is when they should have formed a union or something.
and then . . .
*whimpers*
A-anyway.
I-I’m kind of glad I saw the AAA Dome concert first-I needed to be eased into the crack a little^^”
So this is how I learned to tell them apart . . . pretty much by hairstyle and rewatching La Tormenta, where they are kind enough to introduce each other:
OK, the guy who played Domyouji; that one’s easy to remember . . . MatsuJun, got it.
Pretty, hot goofy guy with the striped scarf, floppy lightened hair and . . . OMG he was in the Rudolph costume!! (I had a lot of trouble making that connection) Aiba.
Skinny dude with dark short hair and doing the Richard Nixon pose: Nino. ‘Kay.
Kind of zoned-out guy with the bleached gravity-defying hair, amazing voice, and holy crap can he dance . . . Ohno . . . check.
OK-hot rapper guy, according to Wikipedia is the Keio boy-dark longish hair is . . . Sho, check
Smart is sexy^^ So is dorkery, sometimes. Go figure.
Soon I was to discover the utter stupidity of trying to recognize them on hairstyle and color:
How is it even possible I can't find a picture right now of Jun with the Domyoji curls??
Aiba's hair&hearts
Anyway, I pretty much mainlined Arashi for the month or so leading up to my defense. Utaban, Shukudai-kun, MMA, D no Arashi, the concerts, LJ, Vox.
I . . . began to read fanfic. A lot.
Once the defense was over, I was still hooked.
My friends started talking about the conditions for an intervention.
I developed a taste for certain JDramas.
I became a fan of fanservice.
shut up. I can squeal and squee over grown men feeding each other and hugging if I want to.
I lurked shamelessly on both lj and Vox. I DLed. I squeed.
My husband got sick of me making him watch endless clips of random Japanese idols and set up an LJ in attempted self-defense so that I could talk to someone else about the band. You know, other people who might care.
His attempt was . . . futile. He now watches Shukudai-kun and MMA with me, is a huge YTM fan (we're watching it again), cried during an episode of HYD II (when Domyoji bonds with Susumu (boys)), and watches Maou with me every week. He even encouraged me to buy the DVDs! You know, to support my happy band who makes me happy.
I . . . really love my boy&hearts
I started randomly posting picspams, mostly of Shukudai-kun, but expanding to concerts and other shows.
I made awesome friends from at least 3 different continents&hearts We chat about pretty Japanese idols, linguistics, teaching, parenting, politics, lighting, and literature.
I learned how to rip audio from video, how to convert files from different formats, and I gained a fairly wide Japanese vocabulary regarding food.
I did my best to convert my friends, with a few small successes and one notable convert who has been steadily working on all the members of her inner circle (the movement advances apace, my friends).
I spent the better part of an academic conference showing Arashi off to other academics.
I became obsessed with the reactions of a group of Japanese men to some of the most interesting and terrifying foods I had ever imagined.
I bought a 750 GB hard drive so I wouldn't have to keep deleting files. I have plans for when (not if) I fill it . . . with videos of a boyband.
Videos of boyband members
. . . dancing the hula
. . . being flogged on national TV
. . . engaging in cosplay
. . . playing with pandas
. . . getting molested by drag queens
. . . tormented by small children
. . . and generally being dorks and abusing each other&hearts
When the job market was over this year, I jokingly told my husband that Arashi had saved my sanity and probably my marriage, as I was in much better emotional shape than expected. I thought he’d laugh at me. Instead, he agreed.
It’s been a good year for me: I completed my degree, got a great job in my field, moved across the country, and yet somehow, the thing that has probably made the biggest difference in my day-to-day life is a boyband. From Japan. They make me happy.
. . .
Watching HYD was the best damn mistake of my life ^^
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch me some Maou ^^
*hugs*
Much love and thanks to my awesome flist! You've made the last year brighter, easier, and happier . . . and filled with the sparkly!
x-posted to arashistory. So how did you fall into the sparkly rainbow trap of addiction happiness? C'mon, don't leave me hanging out there all alone^^"
In other words, it’s been a year since I first discovered Arashi.
So late last summer, I was in a pretty rough spot. I was engrossed in finishing my dissertation, and getting ready to defend said behemoth and then put myself through the joys of an academic job search, which in my discipline is a 6-8 month ordeal better left undescribed. Being an inveterate procrastinator, I was wandering through Veoh when I ran into Hana Yori Dango files-I thought they meant the anime, and since I had enjoyed the anime and the manga, I thought I’d blow and hour or two watching an episode or two.
My first reaction when I realized there was a live-action show was ‘wtf? How the hell are they going to convey the crack level of that series in a drama?’
Obviously, I had never seen Jdorama before; cut me some slack. How was I supposed to know?
Anyway, HYD I and II sucked the next three days of my life away, much to the bemusement of the Boy, and one of my friends actually called me to go shopping since I had turned into a hermit.
I-I might have a slightly obsessive personality, and talked her ear off about the show and the cute actress they had playing Makino and the strangely hot boy who played Domyouji.
Wherein she confessed an obsession with some random Japanese guy in Gokusen.
I dragged her to the house to watch a couple of episodes of HYD, and we realized we had the same guy.
I have to admit, this still a) makes me laugh and b) kind of wigs me out a little. Obviously, it was meant to be.
At this point, we did what any two rational academics would do: research. DramaWiki gave me the name of the actor. From Wikipedia, I learned that Matsumoto Jun was the member of a popular Jpop idol band called Arashi. So I went to YouTube, Crunchyroll and Veoh, where my journey into crackdom was really born.
*****
I think I had an amazingly fortuitous introduction to the band. Pretty much the first video of the band that I saw was Shukudai-kun 13, the Christmas episode with Aiba’s game.
Mind, I had no idea who anyone was, and kept referring back to Wikipedia to figure out which was which.
Needless to say, the stockings didn't help with that.
Roughly, my reaction to the show was: wtf??? I thought they were a band. What the hell is this show anyway??
And . . . um . . . nipples?
OK, is it really a good idea to do these things to someone whose face is a major part of their career?
These guys are the biggest dorks ever. ^^"
O__o
I-I can't imagine American celebrities going through this crap. B-but I guess they look like they're having fun? ^^"
MUST HAVE MOAR
The next thing I saw was MMA 11, the one with the cows. Which if you haven't had the good fortune to see, stop everything, and go watch this immediately. I am not kidding.
Umm . . . since I didn’t see the introduction, only clips . . . I actually thought that these people were Ohno’s grandparents. I felt so bad for him when he had to work his ass off and Sho got to go bowling. Thus began my infatuation with Ohno. ^^”
Oh right, wasn’t this supposed to be a band?? They must have concerts, right?
. . .
I found concert clips from the Dome concert. Specifically, I found La Tormenta.
Oooooooh . . . pretty!
Which one was that, anyway?
Wait a minute, is that the sleepy guy who was picked on with the cows??
. . . holy crap.
Again, go watch this now. Search for "Arashi, Dome, Ohno, Rain."
So I obsessively watched this concert over and over. I thought the costumes were hilarious and ridiculously over-the-top. Ironically, I later realized that this is pretty much the classiest concert yet in terms of what they wear.
Don't believe me? Check this out:
Dome:
. . . lightsabers, wtf??
. . . just go with it. It's awesome; it's crack; it's less painful that way.
A brief saunter through some other concerts' sartorial forays (not for the faint of heart or the humorless):
. . . gay rainbow tribe, whut?
this is so not happening
. . . Okay, so that was actually pretty awesome--Arashi Around Asia (Taipei) Cool and Soul. If you haven't se-- you know the drill.
. . . A-amazingly, that particular monstrosity is not the most infamous of the questionable concert-wear. That dubious distinction is shared between these two:
Oh. My. God.
In case you can't tell, or are in denial, those are clear plastic suits over white boxers. I kind of think this is when they should have formed a union or something.
and then . . .
*whimpers*
A-anyway.
I-I’m kind of glad I saw the AAA Dome concert first-I needed to be eased into the crack a little^^”
So this is how I learned to tell them apart . . . pretty much by hairstyle and rewatching La Tormenta, where they are kind enough to introduce each other:
OK, the guy who played Domyouji; that one’s easy to remember . . . MatsuJun, got it.
Pretty, hot goofy guy with the striped scarf, floppy lightened hair and . . . OMG he was in the Rudolph costume!! (I had a lot of trouble making that connection) Aiba.
Skinny dude with dark short hair and doing the Richard Nixon pose: Nino. ‘Kay.
Kind of zoned-out guy with the bleached gravity-defying hair, amazing voice, and holy crap can he dance . . . Ohno . . . check.
OK-hot rapper guy, according to Wikipedia is the Keio boy-dark longish hair is . . . Sho, check
Smart is sexy^^ So is dorkery, sometimes. Go figure.
Soon I was to discover the utter stupidity of trying to recognize them on hairstyle and color:
How is it even possible I can't find a picture right now of Jun with the Domyoji curls??
Aiba's hair&hearts
Anyway, I pretty much mainlined Arashi for the month or so leading up to my defense. Utaban, Shukudai-kun, MMA, D no Arashi, the concerts, LJ, Vox.
I . . . began to read fanfic. A lot.
Once the defense was over, I was still hooked.
My friends started talking about the conditions for an intervention.
I developed a taste for certain JDramas.
I became a fan of fanservice.
shut up. I can squeal and squee over grown men feeding each other and hugging if I want to.
I lurked shamelessly on both lj and Vox. I DLed. I squeed.
My husband got sick of me making him watch endless clips of random Japanese idols and set up an LJ in attempted self-defense so that I could talk to someone else about the band. You know, other people who might care.
His attempt was . . . futile. He now watches Shukudai-kun and MMA with me, is a huge YTM fan (we're watching it again), cried during an episode of HYD II (when Domyoji bonds with Susumu (boys)), and watches Maou with me every week. He even encouraged me to buy the DVDs! You know, to support my happy band who makes me happy.
I . . . really love my boy&hearts
I started randomly posting picspams, mostly of Shukudai-kun, but expanding to concerts and other shows.
I made awesome friends from at least 3 different continents&hearts We chat about pretty Japanese idols, linguistics, teaching, parenting, politics, lighting, and literature.
I learned how to rip audio from video, how to convert files from different formats, and I gained a fairly wide Japanese vocabulary regarding food.
I did my best to convert my friends, with a few small successes and one notable convert who has been steadily working on all the members of her inner circle (the movement advances apace, my friends).
I spent the better part of an academic conference showing Arashi off to other academics.
I became obsessed with the reactions of a group of Japanese men to some of the most interesting and terrifying foods I had ever imagined.
I bought a 750 GB hard drive so I wouldn't have to keep deleting files. I have plans for when (not if) I fill it . . . with videos of a boyband.
Videos of boyband members
. . . dancing the hula
. . . being flogged on national TV
. . . engaging in cosplay
. . . playing with pandas
. . . getting molested by drag queens
. . . tormented by small children
. . . and generally being dorks and abusing each other&hearts
When the job market was over this year, I jokingly told my husband that Arashi had saved my sanity and probably my marriage, as I was in much better emotional shape than expected. I thought he’d laugh at me. Instead, he agreed.
It’s been a good year for me: I completed my degree, got a great job in my field, moved across the country, and yet somehow, the thing that has probably made the biggest difference in my day-to-day life is a boyband. From Japan. They make me happy.
. . .
Watching HYD was the best damn mistake of my life ^^
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch me some Maou ^^
*hugs*
Much love and thanks to my awesome flist! You've made the last year brighter, easier, and happier . . . and filled with the sparkly!
x-posted to arashistory. So how did you fall into the sparkly rainbow trap of addiction happiness? C'mon, don't leave me hanging out there all alone^^"