I got my 'Hadashi no Mirai/Kotoba yori Taisetsu na Mono" single!!! Yesterday, I was out at Bugis with my mum (we went to the Kwan Yim temple, it was the 15th of the lunar month) when the HMV ppl called my handphone. Rushed down there right away--it wasn't even on the shelves yet!!! $18(of course, it was the Japan version), and worth every single dollar!!! The 'hidden' track where the guys talk about stuff is longer than the other hidden tracks in their previous singles. It was almost 10 minutes long!!!
Now I'll have to keep saving...for the Jap version of "Here We Go!" and the Pika*nchi soundtrack (which is back to its original $68...sigh...)
Might be going out with Aunt and Elvin-kor tml. It's been a while since we last went out together. I saw Elvin-kor (my older cousin) only once since he returned and that was when we went to the temple on my grandfather's death anniversary. Strange, his slight American accent was heavier than it was when we visited him in the US 2 years ago. He's graduated and now he's back! After a whole 2 month tour of Europe with his gf Catherine (who looks a little like Karen Mok! She's a Canadian-Chinese). Wonder what's going to become of them as he's working here and she, in the US, but I'm not going to pry. But oh, boy, he's one of the few who can help me with my awful A Maths!
I'm closer to my male cousins on my Dad's side than my female cousins on my Mum's side XD Don't ask why, I don't know either...
Celebrities...I used to be a great fan of Hollywood celebrities but now i find the Asian (especially the Japanese) media industry more appealing. You don't get as many scandals, and even if there are scandals they're much tamer than those that make the news in Hollywood. I've seen enough about how sleazy and tainted things can get in Hollywood and I'm sick of it. The Asian industry is cleaner. I can't stand those cheating celebs, the sex scandals, the violence, the multiple marriages. It just...doesn't appeal. They think they can do anything, and become too full of themselves, just because they are famous. It's the rule rather than the exception in the western industry--diva behavior, abuse, affairs, tantrums...fakes. What kind of example are they showing? If I were a celebrity I'd do my best to set a good example, knowing that fans would copy what I do etc because it'd be cool to them...
The Asian industry is different. Sometimes the media isn't too kind and write all kinds of rumours, but I still feel it's much tamer than in the west. In the west, you get Ben Affleck's stripper scandal, in Japan maybe the biggest scandal was the Johnny's sex abuse scandal around a decade back, but even that was a one off thing. What makes the news there: Goro Inagaki's arrest for traffic violations, Kimura Takuya's shotgun marriage to Shizuka Kudo(Johnny's idols are not supposed to date openly or get married while still active), Tomoya Nagase and Ayumi Hamasaki's relationship and them breaking up...What makes the news in Hollywood: Ben Affleck's Stripper Scandal! Leo DiCaprio and Naomi Campbell's naked romp! (That was in 1998, on National Enquirer)! It's sickening. Maybe it's the media's fault. No respect. But still?
In Asia, the Johnny's idols at least, try to get closer to their fans. They're friendly to them, respect them. Most show the media respect as well. In return, the media respects them (either that or Johnny's is too powerful and the newspapers don't dare to write anything defamatory). In the west? Swearing. Fan abuse.
I used to really like American culture etc, but now I just feel that morals are declining. It's disgusting. Why isn't swearing in English as impactin and shocking as swearing in other languages? Simple. Becuase swearing has become a habit. Swear words are used so often, it's lost its power and isn't as strong. And people in Asia, idolising the western culture, forget their own roots, their own culture, their own morals, copy their swearing western idols, and start swearing as well. They may or may not know how strong the word is, or how offensive it can be. In any case, they don't care, becuase swearing is what their idols do, and whatever idols do is cool.
The idols in Asia seem so much more human. They may smile in front of the camera, but there are times too when you know when they're upset...Sho nearly broke down in tears during an interview when he disclosed that fans camp outside his house, call up his university wanting to speak to him, trail him around, and how he feels that he's losing his privacy...they make us feel that they, too, are people just like us.
I'm just sick of certain aspects of the west...:P I used to think it was so cool,but now i feel sick whenever i read of it. Sure, stuff like that happens in Asia too, but it isn't publicised, because at least they know what shame is. I just feel that the media is more respectful here. I'd rather have a star who's a good role model despite human faults, rather than one who has affairs, takes drugs, swears, openly goes to prostitues and strip clubs, abuses ppl, bitches...Media personalities have a responsibility, and that is to teach the right things.