Another Concert Picspam + mp3 Extravaganza! AAA Taipei. Enjoy!
I have conquered the Zoo, I-80, and 12 hours of rainy driving, and have returned safely to NJ, with most of my pride intact. This calls for a celebration. I bring you AAA Taipei:
( As always, be aware that there are gratuitous numbers of screencaps behind this lj cut. I have no self-control. )
( As always, be aware that there are gratuitous numbers of screencaps behind this lj cut. I have no self-control. )
Ah, you don't know me, but I've recently started reading your journal. Ahhhh, I love Arashi fandom so much, your picspam posts are kinda like my cup runneth over with Arashi love sort of, and wow that doesn't make any sense but I don't know how else to phrase it, hehe. I really admire your dedication to take the time to cap and render and upload and post about it, I'm such a bum I content myself with reading other peoples' posts and flailing in comments. :P
Heee, your comments really make the post. I showed it to my brother and he just about died (I've converted him into an Arashi fan too, unfortunately he's my only convert, everyone else is standing firm against jpop and rps, haha)
Oh Arashi. After all this time (and the theoretical taste at least one member is supposed to have) your concert outfits are really really questionable sometimes. Yet it's a kind of (Aibalike?) horrifying genius that we've all gotten used to the sparkles enough that it's only the most egregious offenders (gah, like those ruffly things in Time concert) that cause comment, haha. I actually thought the black suits with the rhinestones were in fairly good taste. o.o
Haha those gay clown outfits from hell! I love them, in a trainwreck sort of way. I'd been introduced to them from mousapelli's Five Times Ohno Enjoyed Being Captain and was compelled from that fic to download the AAA Taipei concert just to see. Jun's is the scariest I think. XD
Cool and Soul foarjoaigjlarjoiaf I love that performance so much. It's so full of energy and Ohno being all gravelly and Nino trying so hard to be deep-voiced and still obviously being a tenor while rapping and Sho being incredibly hot and Jun being adorably fail because he's trying sooo hard to be sexy (argh, if he never does the huge sunglasses and tongue sticking out thing again I would be so happy haha) But I really, really love the Dome concert version of it, with the 'atarashi message' and the repeats where the members switch off on the rap at the end. That performance is incredibly hot and I wish I knew how to rip audio off video because it sounds so much better live compared to the studio version.
ER, wow I flaily ridiculously all over your journal, feel free to kick me off (I'm not a stalker, really, I'm just going to be going through a bunch of your posts because reading them and the comments just make me really happy) and yeah. Thank you for posting! ♥ *shuffles off*
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Hi! I'm very glad you like my journal and said hello (^_^)/
♥♥♥♥♥
'Stalking' is fine! Though comments are wonderful, too. I'm honestly just glad someone is reading and likes it. It makes my day:) I really only got this journal about a month ago (my husband presented me with it in a vain attempt to stop me from always trying to convert him--but he's stuck watching hours of Arashi TV a week on my laptop anyway ^__^hee hee.
Anyway, you're very welcome to hang and be silent or to say hi and fangirl more actively with me. I lurked a lot only a month ago (and still do sometimes), and sometimes it's more comfortable, and if a journal isn't flocked, one should sort of expect it, right? Either is OK with me. Again, I just get happy that it's being read and enjoyed ^_^
I love that fic! And it actually made me sort of fonder of those costumes if you can believe it.
*goes back through Memories to read*
Though not the wigs. Dear God, no fic however wonderful, could make me love those wiges. THIS IS NOT A CHALLENGE, YOU GUYS. I pretty much tore through the Arashi rps about a month and a half ago (before I had an account, so it was almost all lurking). I converted a friend from college to Arashi, but she remains firm on the rps 'it's creepy' she says, but them when my awesome flist occasionally make comment fics, she thinks they're cute . . . oh well; she will flail with me abut a few of the band members (mostly Aiba and Ohno), and that's definitely something!
I wish I knew how to rip audio off video because it sounds so much better live compared to the studio version.
Psst--If you want the live mp3s from the concerts, they're what the links are to on the concert pages. I wanted them too, so after I went through the *&^&*&^%$%$###@@@^# process of ripping/isolating/converting/cutting/converting again, I figured other people must want them too, like i did, so I uploaded them to share. I hadn't seen much of the live around, except for solos . . . So there are mp3s of each of the songs from the How's It Going, Iza,Now Tour, Dome, Taipei, and the Time concerts for downloading. It's 160 tracks of live Arashi love! It's all Mediafire, and I know some people don't like MF, but . . . you're very welcome to them. It took me pretty much an entire 3 day weekend to rip the audio and cut the tracks loose from each other and convert and upload, so please take them and enjoy! Hmm . . . if that is confusing on the posts, I should probably be slightly more obvious about it on each site, especially if people run into them on the later posts and I've pretty much left it implicit. I occasionally check how the downloading is going, and there's less activity than I would have expected . . . hmmm.
See, I kind of whined about the pain it was on the first one, and then felt a little ridiculous for whining on my lj for something so completely voluntary . . . so I didn't really mention it again.
Oh, if you have a Mac, I can tell you how I went about it. I did it all with freeware, but It is much easier if you have a newer Mac. I got a new one in Jan, and it was 800X easier than on my older Mac which just couldn't deal with 3 hour long tracks in GarageBand. It balked at 20 minutes, so this was a huge improvement.
So anyway, you commented about Arashi♥ who are individually and collectively awesome in pretty much every way.
I will really mourn on the day I can watch these concerts and not go WTF all over the place. For the most part, I'm willing to ignore minor infractions like 2 inch rhinestones, because, really, it wouldn't be Arashi without some subtle reminders of the utter crack.
And yes, the Dome Cool & Soul where they trade off and then repeat bits of the rap is . . . just amazing. It lives in my car's cd player. Friends hostile to Jpop (they refuse to know enough to realize that 90% of the Jpop in the car is by the same band) can still sort of sing along with it. I consider this a small victory ^_^ Because sometimes, I'm petty like that. hee.
Ooh--gotta get ready for work (>_<)
Thanks for your lovely comments, and feel free to hang around, visibly or not ^_^ And go dl the Dome Cool & Soul! (and anything else you like.)
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Hahaha the wigs. I didn't know until I saw How's It Going that the disco outfits had appeared before, though I saw a gif icon floating around with the whole wig ensemble. It was kinda awesome and sad that even though I didn't know if the colors matched up or not, and I couldn't see the faces, but I could tell who was who by their hip wiggles. DX? Dear God, no fic however wonderful, could make me love those wiges. THIS IS NOT A CHALLENGE, YOU GUYS. *snickers* ...I dunno, it certainly *sounds* like one. :D :D :D
I...Thank you!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥♥
I think I was under the vague impression that the links were to video clip downloads, and as I've got the concert downloaded already, well. I know how to read the notes, really. >.> Ahh, I love love love that song so much in concert, with the high energy and the back and forth. It's going to live on my Shuffle now. ^____^ Isn't that performance so incredibly hot? Especially the part at the end with the "xxx rekishi xxxx darou" everyone saying it together, and there's a cut of Ohno swing his arm out (mmm his profile) followed immediately by Aiba bringing his arm into his chest and looking kinda sidewise at the camera, all sweaty-- unf. :P
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:O
W.T.F.
And then I saw the actual concert, and it was even more cracked than I had thought. I'm glad I was already completely invested at that point, because . . . If that particular revelation had been first . . .
*shakes head*
whew.
Whatever moment are you talking about??
*shifty eyes*
hee. hee. I love that moment, btw. I find completely gratuitous reasons to insert it places . . .
oh right! I just finally bought a basic image-manipulating software . . . I think I will make an icon of this . . .
*grins*
I think I was under the vague impression that the links were to video clip downloads, and as I've got the concert downloaded already, well
hmm. Clearly I will have to be more explicit then ^_^;; After all, I want people to find them and take them, right?
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Ahh, I need to make myself some icons. I've only used 4 of the 6 slots we get for basic, and I haven't gotten around to having any Arashi icons yet, which is a sad thing. Especially as Arashi's the fandom I've stuck around the longest consistently with, I think. Come June it'll be my one year mark o.o Usually I'm 'active' (or rather, until jpop, actively reading) in a fandom for about 3-7 months and then something else grabs my attention. Anyhow, your icons are cute, the one you used for the post made me giggle. ^_^
Yes! Share the Arashi love! Especially considering how much work went into ripping and encoding all that! Which, thank you for, I'll be going through and downloading more...
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I will be playing with icons tonight, but probably textless for now because I'm not feeling particularly witty(>_<)
Aiba's ability to make that switch is part of what makes him not only squee-worthy, but interesting to me. When I first saw this concert, I had only seen some of his Shukudai-kun persona, which, is entirely adorkable, but .. . well, very close to the caricature-version of him you occasionally see in weaker fics (I'm very picky about my Aibas) . Whe he gets all . . .focused and sdajflkajlkjdal;jkf hot like that . . .
it made me reevaluate him. And I just skjdfajsdfjajfj love the boy. I had a somewhat similar experience with Ohno. Seeing him in concert as opposed to his bangumi persona . . . and then some of the footage from the butai .. . . and then noticing how he can be almost as sneaky a little rat as Nino sometimes. . . it just makes you both recognize how they are constantly both performing personas and at the same time very complicated people who are interesting beyond the particular personae they put on for different situations. And yet there still seems to be a sense of sincerity or authenticity. I know I'm getting all paradoxical and self-contradictory . . . I go shut up now.
E-except to say that I can't wait for Maou. I want to see him play the switch from friendly kind guy to seriously vengeful badass genius. I just hope they don't kill him to badly *winces*
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Yes! Part of what I really enjoy about Arashi is that, despite the fact that Johnny's are marketed personalities, their personae don't feel all that divorced from how they actually are. There isn't as strong of a fake or mask feeling compared to other celebrity personalities. I mean, yeah, they're clearly playing up certain aspects of their personalities because they've learned over the years that it's *funny* and makes for good entertainment, like Ohno's space cadetness, Aiba's overenthusiastic 'natural idiot'-ness, Nino's sarcastic evil to pair with Aiba (OMG the two of them as a comedy pair with slapper and slapee, hahah I would pay to see that), Matsumoto's DoS and prissy persona, and Sho's attempts at maturity and dignity and being 'the sane one.'
But I definitely am with you on the genuine feel to their personae and their interactions with each other. It doesn't feel like just an act. Have you seen the Gakkou e Ikkou (V6's variety show) episode where they prank Arashi with hidden cameras and crossdressing high school boys? It's really rather revealing of how awesome and genuine Arashi is (are? orz) when they aren't 'on', so to speak.
Re: Ohno and Aiba in particular, I remember reading somewhere (I think in several translated articles, actually) the members talking about Ohno's gap. Something about how a gap between one aspect of a personality and another is attractive to people? It's sad how a lot of people reduce Ohno to space cadet and Aiba to spacey ditz, when there's definitely that gap, that switch point. I read elsewhere that Nino says he's friends with Ohno because they have a similar sense of humor. Read that how you will, haha. Ohno is the more subtle evil, or somesuch.
I can't wait for Maou. I want to see him play the switch from friendly kind guy to seriously vengeful badass genius.
Mmmm indeed. I'm very curious, because the couple of shots and pictures I've seen of him, he seems more serious, but I'm having trouble getting past the baby face, haha. From what I've heard he's a good actor in his plays, and the concert switch is full of whoa!hot; on tv I've only seen him typecast as the bumbling sort of guy. I'm excited, this is shaping up to be such an Ohno year, hee.
Okay, I've rambled on a ridiculous amount. Seriously, stop me if I'm clogging up your inbox, because I'll go on and on otherwise because I love hearing other people's takes on things and analyzing things since there's a lot in shows etc that I don't notice unless other folks point them out. I'm a comment stalker that way, haha. :P Best!~
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OK, babbling much?
Back to Arashi so much more interesting :
RE: Maou--I think they're playing off the baby face,so that the switch is that much more shocking--Aren't they promoting it with some sort of 'behind the face of an angel . . .?'schtick? I thought I saw that somewhere. But seriously, a coupl;e of the promo shots and pr clips--
*shivers happily*
I'm not at the home computer, or I'd upload some random icons I made from them --they're not great, but the pictures are!
Umm . . you don't have to or anything, but if you wanted, you could friend me and not have to worry about stalking ^_~
Though you may get sick of posting spam ^_^;;
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No such thing as a too long flist! Plus, mine is cozy and manageable:DDD Flail away \(^_^)/
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