On the Bridge

Well guys, I know it seems like I've taken my sweet little time but Grad School does tend to suck the time out of your life in general. In fact I haven't played an MMO in ... I lost count. Anyway, last weekend I made a trip to Japantown here in the lovely San Francisco. I did the usual browsing in Kinokuniya, Daiso...

and let's not even mention the model kit store, I still have two model kits to build...

That Reminds me that I want the new 00 Quant[T] ...

So where did I go new? This restaurant called "On the Bridge", which is literally on the bridge in Japantown by the way.

Yep you're seeing right, I took the photo in the restaurant, they've decorated the place with many anime and manga decorations. Including J-pop playing and a TV with some Anime. Not only that but... -drumroll- Manga! Yep, while you wait for the delicious food, you can help yourself to catching up on that volume of Nana you've just had bad luck finding in any Borders!

So yeah, this almost the closest you'll get to a manga café here in Japantown. But what about the food? Well like the advertising says, Japanese food is not only about sushi, ramen, and anything teriyaki. The Japanese like reinvent a lot of Western food, take for example, pasta!

Even the gyoza I ordered was quite different, but nonetheless delicious, and was certainly a mix of Italian and Japanese cuisine. The food was delicious, and you'd be amazed at the variety they have here. It is a small restaurant though, from what I heard it's pretty much a family run business. The owner is a chef, and from what my friends tell me he's a really friendly person. Considering it's a small place, you got to be patient sometimes with the waiting time, but hey, you're not only here for the food right? Otherwise if you're in a rush, don't go on a weekend afternoon that's for sure.

Well that's all for today's entry, hopefully I'll be posting a bit more regularly.

Till next time,

りんごしゅ

新しい時代が来る。。。 ー A new era is coming...

It's definitely been a while since we'v updated the blog, but what can I say, Life is a mess. So the hyperbolic subject pretty much means we'll probably be seeing some more content flowing in here about stuff Japanese. Being in SF certainly helps me with some good access to a lot of things Asian and I think it's time I exploit that in the blog.

じゃあ皆、ちょっと待ってくれる？

9th Gen Morning Musume Auditions?

I was searching around and for some reason wandered into the Hello! Project website and noticed news posted a couple of days ago that, correct me if I'm wrong, says that THERE IS GONNA BE A NEW AUDITION! 9th Gen! Which is a chance to finally add some new talent... Well hopefully they'll add someone with actual talent or charisma. Not like that impostor and usurper Aika. Man I hate that bitch. Her being chosen in the audition like killed Momusu for me, and left me with a huge gaping hole in my heart. But enough of that, I have faith that this travesty will be fixed. Finally a new chance to breathe life into Morning Musume. I will be watching for this closely, stay tuned!

Sawajiri Team Jacob?

THIS JUST IN! Sawajiri in photoshoot with what appears to be a wolf-man in mid transformation! As one can clearly see, the hair is starting to grow on the back of his hand and he's doing this as he grabs Sawajiri's boobies, which are about to itch like crazy! What appears to be his tail is also wrapping around her body. What will become of Erika now!?

Some Jpoop love, defending Sayumi, and some more stuff

Jpoop Love - It seems that I am so out of the loop with jpop and dramas that I missed on a drama with Yuko Oshima and Eiji Wentz called Angel Bank, and I would've watched cause not only it has an AKB48 girl in it, but also has one of the WaT dudes. I never really liked WaT's music, but I saw them on a couple of shows and they were retty cool dudes. Anyway the two of those seem to be quite chummy, which obviously is fueling rumors that they're together. Because, you know, in the celebrity world, much like the real one, boys and girls can't JUST be friends.

Defending Sayumi - Apparently AKB48 fans and Momusu fans hate each other. I was reading a post on jpopfun when I ran into this article about Sayumi getting hate from fans cause she said she liked AKB48. I wanna tell you, I am a Momusu fan since 2004, and a general H!P fan too. I'm not sure if I voiced my love for the AKB48 product too, but I LOVE IT TOO! Way before it was all "H!P fans can never be Johnny's fans!", but those boybands are awesome! Why have a war if the product is kinda different and is meant for people to have fun and be entertained? Furthermore, why hate on Sayumi for saying she likes the competition? She's showing there's no hard feelings there, instead of saying she hates it cause she's so much better(actually that sounds like the old Sayumi I know lol). Speaking of the boybands apparently she insulted a couple of the Arashi members, namely Jun. Which I think her honest-to-God what her thoughts on their fashion was, but voicing your criticism of Arashi(or anything related to Johnny's) is a baaaaaaad move. Why? AKB48 has fanboys who are cut-throat. But freaking Arashi has "I'll-blow-up-your-house-you-bitch" type fanGIRLS. I shudder to think of the wrath I will bring upon myself for criticizing them. lol

Kenshin Live Action - What? Kenshin? Live Action? Well jpopfun seems to know about some rumors, but till I get some hard info I won't say much. When and if I do... I think I'll foam at the mouth...

Help me PLEASE - If anyone out there reads this and has a way to get Music Station and CDTV and is kind enough to re encode it to a smaller size and upload it to my FTP, I would be really grateful. Anyone? :D

Exploring new horizons - Ipad and new places

[ The picture represents in some way the topics I will be discussing in this post, besides the fact that it's super cute ]

Well nothing is completely official till it happens, but one of the members of the Rubuska team will be undergoing some significant lifestyle changes that will, in my opinion, result in a positive effect on this blog, or at least I hope so. Not going to go public yet about it until it happens but I'll probably be going somewhere else in the summer. Nonetheless, what did I say in the blog post title? You read correctly, Ipad. Interestingly enough, let me take the opportunity to quote myself from the last post:

• "Now with the HTC Evo being released soon, I am already considering changing phones since the Android + HTC Sense combination has worked out so well. Not to mention that cameras in phones are a great plus for me because I dislike having to carry a digital camera with me, so the fact I can record in 720p is quite a treat. Having the phone work as a mobile hotspot is also attractive, and I might just get such data plan if I get a higher specced netbook/laptop/tablet later on."

• "
  Who knows, maybe I'll even get an Ipad too... though I have a feeling that if I do that, Uska will get an Android powered tablet..."

To be honest, I've been let down by what the Android tablets have had to offer, or more precisely, the lack of things to offer. Not only have they've been slow to appear on the market (Notion Ink Adam anyone?) Android's fragmented nature does not support it's case in the market as well. Considering it is a mobile OS, you can not really compare it to something like other mobile operating systems like Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Jolicloud and even Meego that have a higher support for software variety and development. Truth be told though, on most of these tablets it's probably not hard at all to install the mentioned options, but at what price and hassle? I was a big follower of the development of the Notion Ink Adam for many reasons, considering that it offered a lot in terms on specifications, competitive price, and even features. Ever since I've made a full switch to a Linux distro for my everyday computer use, I can't help but realize the irony of it all that I am considering a device that is by all means a product from one of the most - software-wise and hardware-wise - closed companies. But what has convinced me to I prefer the Ipad over the Notion Ink Adam (other than the fact that the Adam is nowhere to be seen or heard of and it's June)?

After using the HTC Hero for two months now, I have become better acquainted with the Android OS in a deeper level. Putting aside the version fragmentation dilemma that I don't doubt Google will solve, there's still the problem of apps. Android is still an infant OS unlike the Iphone/Ipad OS which has been polished considerably over the years. Not only does it look better, but the OS is indeed very smooth, but beyond that there's also something very important: app development. I am not saying Android can not in a year or two catch up on Apple's lead on app count, but the fact still remains that by being an open mobile platform, it is not unified. If it is ported to tablets, they will not have the same marketplace as a smartphones. It will be up for the developers to take care of that front. That is due to the fact that most, if not all Android tablets will be running on custom versions of such OS. Unlike Linux though, where there exists more unity in the propagation and programming

of software among different distros, Android does not have what we could call the modern and completely open package/repository system. I am no expert software analyst, but such a model would greatly diversify app options on android but would break to some extent the consumer micro transaction model of buying apps. My experiences with Ubuntu, Fedora and more traditional Linux distros support this idea, which is one of the reasons I'm a strong advocate of Open Source Operating systems like Linux and my favorite flavor: Ubuntu or more precisely, Debian derivatives.

So yes, the Ipad indeed does exceed in what I would call a strong foundation despite its shortcomings regarding hardware specifications, and probably my biggest gripe is the lack of built in camera for video conferencing, which I have no doubt that it will be solved more sooner than later through an add-on, and the Apple development community is quite active and imaginative to when it comes to overcome many of the OS's imperfections.

So deep down my decision to choose the Ipad over an Android powered tablet is simply the fact that I don't think Android is ready to enter such market. That does not mean Android is an excellent choice for smartphones as it has proven till now. I prefer the more open oriented nature of the OS, such as the ease of use as external storage, freedom to transfer media without the need of obligatory software unlike the Itunes - Apple product relation, better notification system, widget system, greater integration to social networking among other features. For me Android, as does WebOS, show great promise in the smartphone market and are more to my liking than the Iphone OS. The good thing is we have variety, and I think that's good since everyone uses phones differently.

Another reason why I've taken a liking to the Ipad is because it reminds me of the first months I had my first netbook, the Eee PC 701 2GB Surf with the custom Linux Xandros OS. The ease of use, fast connectivity to the world wide web, instant messaging and voice/video chat were all things that seemed pretty ahead of it's time since it felt like it was all there right now at my fingertips, and I have to hang it to the Apple promo guys that make a strong point of this concept that's similar to that of the Xandros OS example and Ubuntu Netbook remix (and it's many flavors). Apple's OS is stable, smooth, aesthetically pleasing and has that instant feel to it. Not only that, but probably what I most like about tablets in general is that I consider them a step forward from netbooks in terms of portability and instant access to web content and productivity tools. That does not mean they'll replace laptops anytime soon, but the market is changing as technology advances, and it's hard to deny it.

What I think we should all be looking forward to is the day tablets advance hardware-wise to the level of current day laptops. This would give a greater amount of freedom in the selection of Operating systems we could use without worrying of being tied to one option. You may have noticed I have not mentioned at all the interest in a Windows 7 based tablet, simply because Windows has proven again and again that it is not quite there in the sense of accommodating itself to tablets, and with the death of the Courier concept, I don't see Windows becoming more predominant on tablets anytime soon. Not to mention that I simply do not use Windows at all with the exception of gaming given the Direct X empire (would be interesting if something happened in that area similar to the current Flash vs. HTML5 debate).

As a final note, depending on how things develop, I will probably be pretty busy this summer but I will make an effort to keep posting on the blog, especially when I get my Ipad :)

Till next time,

Rubi

Into the world of Smartphones, Netbooks and Hybrid mobile devices

I recently switched to Sprint's network after getting tired of AT&T's "GoPhone" service and it was the result of a greater interest in mobility concerning online connectivity on the go. Unlike Uska who's experienced the conveniences of mobile internet for more than two years now, I on the other hand have had little experience, but I would like to share some thoughts on what I think of the current mobile market and my experiences.

I am a big fan of portability and mobility in anything technological combined with a strong pragmatic idealism towards my mobile devices. My first start was with the Eee Pc Surf 701 2gb which was around the time Uska began his journey with a mobile device when he got his first smartphone, the Blackberry Pearl.

At that moment a line was currently drawn between me and him as we debated on the pros and cons of each device. My experiences with the Eee Pc 701 were quite delightful, but like with Uska's Blackberry Pearl, we both quickly felt that the devices aged quite quickly. Rim quickly started releasing higher specced phones and more competition began to emerge as the smartphone market began to expand. On the other side of things the Netbook market/mania had just begun, with higher specced machines rolling out the year after. Nevertheless I enjoyed my netbook fully for like a year and a half, and saw my productivity shift from predominantly being a desktop user, to switching back and forth without much effort. Some people have experienced this change as well when they got their Ipads this year. Mobile computing of this sort is incredibly practical in our lives, and for students and some professionals, having a computer that's so light, inexpensive, small and practical became a great help in everyday tasks. From notetaking to idle internet browsing in Santa Rosa mall, from writing essays to watching the latest remix of Chocolate Rain, the netbook quickly became a device I found myself connected to constantly. As for Uska, his addiction (note: heavy dependence) to his Blackberry became quite clear and his computer habits changed a lot as well.

After calling a truce in our sometimes heated debates on smartphone vs netbook, time passed and that brings us to today's increasingly mobile market: Netbooks being sold by phone carriers with 3G connectivity as well as Smartphones like the HTC Evo pioneering 4G in cellphones and serving as a Hotspot at the same time. Last but not least, the new tablet mania that seemed to have become the highlight in the beginning of this year.

The first smartphone I owned was the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic. I have to admit that I was amazed as to how practical having a smartphone could be, and like Uska foretold, it would feed my growing need to obtain a contract based agreement with a carrier and have an unlimited data plan. By this time I had stopped using my Eee PC greatly, mostly due to the fact that browsing the internet now is not the same as 2-3 years ago. Modern websites rely heavily on Flash, and browsing on an low specced netbook has become quite a hassle. The Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic was a refreshing take on mobile computing for me, offering me the advantages of a smartphone and the portability I wished. Despite Symbian's shortcomings, I still consider to this day that it's an excellent phone. In fact, it supports Skype and supported the Google Buzz layer long before the HTC Hero, which I find pretty ironic. It does not change though that the OS is quite aged and is by no means flashy. So it finally came down to my switch to Sprint and being and open source linux fan, I was naturally leaning more to an Android phone than an Iphone.

The HTC Hero has proven to be an excellent phone as well. Though I do miss having Skype for long distance calls and I found the wait for Android 2.1 quite annoying. The phone lags quite a bit sometimes but the advantages of the Android OS are great. Now with the HTC Evo being released soon, I am already considering changing phones since the Android + HTC Sense combination has worked out so well. Not to mention that cameras in phones are a great plus for me because I dislike having to carry a digital camera with me, so the fact I can record in 720p is quite a treat. Having the phone work as a mobile hotspot is also attractive, and I might just get such data plan if I get a higher specced netbook/laptop/tablet later on. Surprisingly, Uska got an Iphone 3Gs not too long ago and now I have an Android powered device, we just love being on opposite sides... He was in CDMA, I was in GSM and that switched as well.

To this day I still don' t use my netbook half as much as I used to due to the performance issues I mentioned. Not to mention the smartphone I have can do a lot of the things the netbook can do and it has internet all the time. But I do feel inclined on getting a new netbook or tablet to complete my mobile device arsenal and the trinity of a geek: Smartphone, laptop/netbook/tablet and desktop. Like I said in the beginning, I'm a big fan of portability and mobility, so tablets quickly became quite the attraction for me this year, and more importantly, the line between smartphone and netbook has been blurred. Who knows, maybe I'll even get an Ipad too... though I have a feeling that if I do that, Uska will get an Android powered tablet...

A Sawajiri Summer Story

So after 3(or 4) jobs, full time studies, and gym hours getting in the way of Rubuska postings and me following the world of Japanese Entertainment, I am finally free and have something worthy of posting. Remember way back in 2007 when our little Erika, who was starting a cool and promising career in music and acting, was probably a bit moody from a little PMS? Well if you don't she basically looked a little moody and answered the press questions at an event with short answers. Either everyone loved her and were extremely disappointed, or were envious and didn't want her in the entertainment circuit cause they just freaking jumped on her! Subsequently she made some bad choices and married the wrong person she was put on hiatus and went to learn English in London.

Well after the Japanese people broke her career due to PMS, and broke our hearts with it, Sawajiri is reportedly making a come back! Japan-Zone reports:

"Actress Sawajiri Erika (24) will perform her new song "Treasure" on Saturday, as she also makes a formal return to work. In her first professional engagement since the recent media attention around her divorce plans, she will appear at the "GirlsAward2010" fashion event in Tokyo."

About FREAKING time!. It also says the new song is available for free on the site but I got a 403 Forbidden error. Wonder why. I wanted to listen and support her! :(

Anyway, an Erika Sawajiri blog, Erika-fantasy translated this snippet from Yahoo! News Japan:

"On this evening Sawajiri exited her mother's apartment wearing a leopard print camisole which emphasized her breasts. [...] Within a myriad of camera flashes, Sawajiri waved to about 80 reporters with a smile. Questions like "Did you really break up with him through e-mail?" were met with only her sunglasses and a smile from beginning to end. She then boarded a black Mercedes driven by an avex official which confirms the contract with the management."

Well she got it right! I can imagine she was irritated by the press, who kept trying to make her look like a total text message break-up bitch. But the fact that she learned from her mistake isn't the important thing that Yahoo! reported on, by far it's not. It's not even the fact that we pretty much have confirmation of her having a contract. Of course, it has to be the fact that she was wearing a leopard print camisole! And get this(which is my favorite part): IT EMPHASIZED HER BREASTS! Oh Japanese press, you're Japanese Entertainment as much as the stars are.

Anyway, I'm keeping track of this, I'll post if the site gets back up. WELCOME BACK ERIKA! We sorely, deeply missed you!

This Just In- Maimi cut her hair!!

D: omg she did something that I could only conceive in my worst nightmares. I knew a day like this would come, the day that my favorite idol, who’s amazing beauty fits my idealist view of what I like in a girl’s looks, changes her image. I always thought it would be worst if she dyed her hair brown or something, but I also didn’t want the cut to happen. Nevertheless, she did it and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Here are some pics of her with her awesome amazing long hair:

 

Ahh she just makes me melt…. <3

So how does she look with her shorter hair?

This is why I was pleasantly surprised. OMG SHE LOOKS AMAZINGGGGGGGGGG!! I love her new do!! I was thinking about it and it hit me: I still love her no matter what she does <3

A review of a regular phone from a ex smartphone user

Nearly two years ago I switched from being a long time Movistar/Open Mobile customer to a Centennial Wireless one because they were giving away the Blackberry Pearl. When my Blackberry Pearl, the first phone I was ever truly happy with, died, I had to get a replacement for it so that I could continue my social life as well as business related things. Since Centennial has terrible prices for new phones and give little incentive for you to stay by not helping you at all to get a new phone. This, of course, is the biggest downside to being in a provider that uses CDMA technology instead of GSM. Anyway, the only phone in my price range that sort of looked ok was the LG Rumor 2. So coming from a phone that met all my needs for on the go communication, how would LG Rumor 2 stand up to the Blackberry Pearl, or other phones? Let’s find out.

 

First we should start by finding out what made the Blackberry Pearl so great for me. Despite having inferior hardware to other Blackberries currently available, it did have the functionality I wanted to have with my other phones. The main one was the more comfortable Suretype keyboard, and the ability to send and receive email. I also had a ton of applications that were worthwhile, such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, jIRC, Opera Mini, and a good media player. The Camera was very nice and took great night shots, and the screen was huge. The Calendar, being synched with Google calendar, made my being organized an easy task. Ringtones were also extremely easy to download straight from the phone and applications were now made easier to get via the Blackberry App World.  All in all I had a great experience with this phone, but the inferior hardware got to me.

 

The LG Rumor 2 right off the bat looks cool. I has a full QWERTY keyboard and a regular multitap keyboard so that dialing is easier and I don’t have to slide open the phone. When it comes to functions, the phone does what every other regular phone does: it sends and receives SMS, MMS, has clear call quality, and, thankfully, can store multiple numbers and emails per contacts(something that seems to me like a no brainer). The problem is that I lost a valuable function: the emails. With the full QWERTY keyboard it would’ve been amazing, but alas there’s not email support. Applications can’t be installed, and at least with Centennial there’s no support for BREW applications in the foreseeable future. This means no social networking applications, no better browser, no Google Calendar Synch. While we’re on the subject, the WAP browser is very bad and at least with Centennial it hardly works. The BB had no problems with the connection and it was always fast but I can’t even seem to connect to the internet half the time. Anyway, the calendar is a lot less useless than my old Kyocera’s calendar, but at least it’s good to use for reminders. The applications(or tools) it does bring are useful at least. MP3 Ringtones are easy to set up, but you need to download them on the PC first or have someone MMS it to you because the WAP browser says that .mp3 is an invalid file type. The hardware and software can’t multitask which makes texting, browsing, or doing anything on the phone while listening to music impossible. The media player has a long way to go too. It’s ok, but it’s nothing marvelous. There’s no video play back which is extremely disappointing too. The camera is ok, but still behind the current trends of cell phones. If I’m not mistaken it’s even VGA, no Megapixels.

 

All in all, what makes this phone good? The full QWERTY keyboard and sliding action makes texting fun. Does it make it a good phone? Well, while texting is fun it doesn’t make up for the lack of functions and the functions it does have be lacking. Is it worth it? Well if you don’t need or particularly care for the stuff I mentioned in the second paragraph and like texting then this phone is for you. If not, save money and get a good smartphone. So in conclusion, I leave you with two cute asian girls that have the phone. Enjoy!

Technologically Impared

I wanted to write the next post(which I will soon) about a new cellphone I have. It’s the LG Rumor 2 from Centennial Wireless of Puerto Rico. Thing is that I have like 4 jobs and I study, and last night I suffered through the worst technology meltdown at one of my jobs I have ever heard anyone go through. You see we fix radios there. In order to program radios we need PCs. We have 5 PCs there, all of which, not to my surprise, broke down at the same time, which happens to be the time that a client asked us to fix the entire inventory. So in attempting to fix them, I end up borking my own PC. Thankfully I was able to fix it using my Desktop, which I use my Samsung LCD TV as the monitor. However when I turn on my LCD TV, there’s a FREAKING BLUE LINE GOING DOWN THE SCREEN. So technology doesn’t like me, and my car breaks down yada yada. The only thing that didn’t happen was my cellphone melting down and my PSP’s Memory Stick auto formats or something. I’ll write my review in a bit!

Things could get a little interesting…

So I never recovered from my PC loss. Well I have now, I have a laptop and I have this newfangled Windows Live Writer that promises to make my blogging life a lot easier. Rubi and me not only have had our PC woes, we’ve also been leading a busy life which meant less time to see stuff or play games, and meant less time to blog. I, however, wish to keep the blog going and hopefully I can start a trend that will lead Rubi to keep going with me. So with my connection and my laptop I will try to keep a train going for as long as I can.

And what will separate Rubuska from other blogs you ask? What will keep you readers reading and us writing? Well, that’s something I’ve thought of. I can say this: I will keep my writing as interesting as I can. I will have certain sections that will pop up every once in awhile, and try to keep a rhythm of 2 posts per week or more. These sections will be as follows:

Random Thoughts – These are going to be random thoughts I have on new stuff that I’m watching be it CDTV, Heroes, Fullmetal Alchemist, or what have you.

Pic Wars – I will posts pics that will be win, and sometimes fail.

Tech Reviews – Technology reviews, but will mostly be on Cellphones and Cellphone Carriers(limited to Puerto Rico), but will include other things tech.

PV Reviews – I try to watch PVs as often as I can, and I will try to review them here! They won’t this time necessarily be limited to Japanese music, but they will mostly be of that.

Music Reviews – Reviews of new singles and albums will go in this section. Again, not necessarily limited to Jp music, but most be that.

Japanese Entertainment – Reviews, thoughts, ideas, criticism for shows, artists, anime, dramas, everything will be thrown into here that has to do with Japanese entertainment.

Rants – Me ranting on something I feel needs to be ranted on. While rants usually offer a lot of reading but little entertainment, my rants will actually probably be the most entertaining of the posts I will make.

Misc – These will pop up a lot most likely, but they will be on something specific that doesn’t go anywhere in those sections, which I think covers everything I want.

 

Anyway the first post will be pretty soon. So stay tuned!

Random Notes

I have a PC, but it's not mine so I haven't gotten comfortable enough in it to write reviews and all that other stuff. So rather than that I'm gonna recommend you stuff that I'm watching.

Gundam 00 Season 2 is around episode 7 or 8(if I'm not mistaken). Double O is Double Win :D

Countdown to Q.E.D. Shomei Shuryo countdown started. It airs January 8 to March 12, which means 10 episodes of Takahashi drama goodness!

Where'd the Blog Go?

Well, life hit me and Rubi pretty hard. I also wanted to write more but my drive crashed and along with it anything I could have written about. right now I'm on a 18gb hard drive, and have about 1GB left after the necessary programs I have installed. I need to write though, because without this blog I have suffered a horrible lapse, I had writer's block. I am possibly getting either a bigger hard drive soon enough, or a a sexy iMac with a 24" display and a 1TB hdd. That way, I will have no excuses. That aside, I am expecting a lot to come soon. First and foremost, the ending of Code Geass R2(which I'm sure will leave me thoroughly emo), and the beginning of Gundam 00 season 2. I think if Season 1 was pretty good, Season 2 will thoroughly own. Although, if the assholes that made the official site gave me any indication, I already know some stuff that will go down. For one, nobody really died that you saw at the end of the last episode. Setsuna is obviously not dead, and is now a 21 year old angry boy. Lockon and Alleluyah are perfectly intact, the Smirnoff guy has a son apparently, in fact almost the entire crew is alive. Saji I am just waiting to get in a Gundam and fight Exia. Otherwise he's kind of a wasted character. Hilarious as it may seem, they apparently think that some people won't know that this "Kamen no Otoko" guy they have in the official site's list of characters is in fact Graham Acre. I guess it might be entirely plausible that some new fans won't get that, but unlikely. Sumeragi seems to have gotten a breast reduction in the four year lapse, perhaps to hide herself because she's known mostly for her humongous boobs. Oh, remember at the end of Season 1 where we saw Tieria with longer hair and he was with Louise Halevy? Well apparently it's Tieria's twin sister. That's right, when you first saw Tieria and thought he was a woman till he grounded you with his manly speech, this was the bitch you were waiting for. Speaking of Louise, apparently now she has a hand. THANK YOU FOR SHARING OFFICIAL SITE! Either way these are slightly minor spoilers for what's to come soon.

In other news, since Dramas take up the most time and disk space to save, I have no idea what's going on in the drama world. I don't know what's upcoming and I don't want to until I get a bigger drive. There is ONE that I am looking forward to. I've been saying(I think even in this blog) that H!P needs to put their girls in PRIME TIME dramas, not these silly 3 part webisodes they put online. They finally did. According to Hello! Online, "It was announced on the Hello Project website that Morning Musume's leader Takahashi Ai will have her first starring role in a serial drama when "Q.E.D. Shoumei Shuuryou" (Q.E.D. Case Closed) begins on NHK in January 2009. It will be the first time a Morning Musume member has starred in a primetime serial drama." Hello! Project, I tip my hat to you and wish you the best of luck. Pepper Keibu sucked, and the last BerryZ single did you no good either. I heard Maki's newest stuff and you let go another million buy hit maker, just because you didn't want to adapt. Perhaps we're going in the right direction this time? I hope so, as much as I criticize H!P, they're still etched in my heart, so i don't wanna see them fold.

That's it for now. I hope to have something more to write about soon!

I'm high on C-ute

Lately, I've been getting back into my wota boots. Hello! Project has some things going on these days that are getting me excited. Let me explain myself. To me, decline happened a long time ago. Back in 04 when Rubi and me were first getting into Momusu, things were going great. Then things started going downhill. The songs weren't that good, Rika left, scandals left and right with Yaguchi and whatnot. W disbanding. Maki not singing as much. Aya Matsuura being her usual Aya self. BerryZ sucking. What really hit the nail in the coffin for me was the 8th Generation auditions. Now, I was really pissed with 7th auditions too. Hello! Morning was doing great, and then they made us wait like 3 weeks to tell us the results, which was Tsunku basically telling us he's made of fail and couldn't pick someone, which was good cause if he felt forced he could've picked that I Love Africa girl. Anyway, it pissed me off more that in the second part of the audition, not only does Tsunku have the audacity to let I Love Africa comeback, but he picks this Koharu Kusumi girl over the girl me and rubi were cheering for. Well, I guess it worked out cause now I LOVE KOHARU. I'll tell you what I don't love though. Mitsui Aika. Miss 8th Gen. I couldn't have been more disappointed. With so many good girls in those auditions, Tsunku picked Aika. This was the single biggest disappointment in anything I've ever been a fan of. She's even pretty wasted imo. Koharu was labled the "Miracle Girl" while not being that good, just they're milking her for all she's worth(and it's working great!). Aika's pretty much just there... Then after that, a really good single came out, Kanashimi Twilight, which featured the Momusu girls dressed all rocker like. Sexay, especially Mikitty and Ai. Mmm...anyway, GAM was also born. Things were looking up. RIGHT after that, Miki had to quit cause she got a bf(double ouch), GAM died, and Ai cut her hair. H!P was now dead to me. Then, all hope came back. I saw the Meguru Koi no Kisetsu PV. I loved C-ute, I got used to Ai's new hair cut, and Maimi is my new lurve.

Meguru koi no Kisetsu, what saved H!P for me.

C-ute to me has been, in some ways, what's now keeping H!P afloat. Don't get me wrong, the other groups aren't without merit. Onna ni Sachi Are debuted at #2 in the oricon charts if I'm not mistaken, and BerryZ along with ViYuDen have been selling moderately well. And if we talk about the girls individually, the Morning Musume girls and Rika are popular enough to sell PBs extremely well. Where it counts to me, though, is in performance ability, songs being good, and song sales. In their first week, C-ute scored a #5 in the Oricon charts, and a #3 with Tokaikko Junjou. Staying power in the charts wouldn't be fair to compare them since no other group in H!P has real staying power in the charts.

Performances count, and perform they can!

What I think is best about C-ute is that the girls seem to all have a good future in the business. The Meguru Koi no Kisetsu PV to me was refresing, because it wasn't general usual H!P PV. It had layers, the song was good, and in general it felt fun. The C-ute girls are also good at performing, from the few live performances I've seen from them, they really shine. It seems to me their popularity is also really growing with the fans, and people in general. This post is meant to be about praises, but they have their defects. Front girls are Airi and Maimi, and while I totally agree with Maimi(lol), they need to make them talk a little more. In the interviews and videos I've seen, Maimi seems to be pretty quiet and shy-ish, which to me is not good. On the last music station I saw, they had Mai speaking, and she did great. Anyway, I see a really bright future ahead for these girls, so people, pay attention!

Pic War by Uska

Oooh a challange. Here we go.

I give you Kitty pic:


Add a Nadleeh Lacus-Type Gundam:


And raise your Code Geass fanservice by 5:

Bigger, stronger and busier than ever

Ironically, Uska has challenged me to post here more often in times were my life has become amazingly busy and complicated, but I'm up for the task. So...

HITOTSU!

New Asian Kung-fu Generation Album World World World

I quickly fell in love with their new album. Favorite song being Night Diving, or is it No.9? I'm still not sure XD I can assure you though that it's much more up beat and in general, more elaborated musically. The melodies that are developed through track three and four and the transition between the two were quite impressive, and surprising. In general, I highly suggest you give it a try.

As for the pic war, I'm not at all sure how to begin it lol But I'm sure my minion can take you down D:

CODE GEASS IS MINE >:O I introduced you to it, I watched it three times, I saw the last episode 5 times, and I've even cosplayed for CG...

Yes that's me...

Plus I dare you to top my "fanserviceness"

Let me see your comeback now! >:D And yaoi won't count cause I have dibs on it >:F

Quick facts

1. Rubi is a vegetarian D:
2. G00 (Gundam 00)'s final episode was fucking awesome T_T; The very last part gave me chills...
3. Code Geass R2 is coming really soon.
4. Rubi studies French, oui c'est vrai...
5. I am hungry right now.
6. Kamei is my favorite member from Morning Musume.
7. I only use Windows for PC games, otherwise I've become a Linux user, more specifically an Ubuntu user.
8. Recently discovered Keroro D: It's amazing! XD
9. Gundam SEED is my favorite Gundam series...
10. Evangelion is already more than 10 years old O_O How old have we become....?

/me is hungry right now... ~__~ /me will have to go now...

I miss the IRC days :3

SEAMO - Fly Away

I was watching a CDTV, and I noticed SEAMO's video for the single Fly Away was shown on it. Immediately I wanted to see it, and I did, and wrote the review but I remembered this when I was watching TNA and saw Tiger Mask wrestling. Here goes:




SEAMO, as usual, released an awesome song. This time it was with Fly Away, which ranked pretty high in the Oricon charts. The song is more or less as usual per SEAMO's style, which made the song rather boring for me. The good thing though, was that I haven't heard SEAMO for awhile and that made it grow on me.



The PV was the real attraction here, and it was sure interesting.



On this PV we have several excellent wrestlers from New Japan, which is three guys who's name and I can't remember and Tiger Mask. Tiger Mask is a really cool wrestler, and I liked the style they wrestled in.

All in all, if you like wrestling, you'll really enjoy this PV. If you don't, it's still fun anyway.

Oh, and for those of you who(if there are any of you) who like and follow Puerto Rico's wrestling scene...


SEAMO SE FUE CALLE! ENCAPUCHADOS PA SIEMPRE! PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAA!!

RUBUSKA:2 Ep.01 - Rub Uska

Yes, I would like you all to rub me. Cause that's what the title of the blog suggests right? Well, not exactly. For those of you who are just joining us, it means this blog is a combination of two awesome, daring, and sexy bloggers. It's Rubesahl(Rubi) and Uska(Uska) fuzion-hah'ed together.

Now why write a blog you ask? Especially with hatred for most blogs? Well, for me a blog is like a journal. Just shit I write to get my head organized and make my way around things. Except this blog isn't for us to write about our lives. We love Japanese entertainment, and we have a lot to say about it. At least I do. Rubi has fewer words sometimes, especially because I like to go on rants. Pulling that aside, send this blog to your friends. Starting this April, we're campaigning to make RUBUSKA:2 a bigger success than it already is. Spread the word, this blog, in contrast to others, can be a very interesting read.

With that said, there's a few new sections I'm starting soon. So I'll list all the sections first, and the new ones. Here goes:

Random Thoughts- Just as it says, just random thoughts I have on a specific program. Fun to read if you're watching what I am.
PV Review- just at it says, a review of a PV.
PB Review- Same, for photobooks.
Single/Album Review- could be one of either.
DVD Review- yep.
In the News- New regular section. Will come out randomly when I find three or more interesting pieces of news.
Pic War- Will be done every saturday. Me and Rubi, Showdown of pictures.
Interesting Fact of the Day- Interesting fact you may not know, will try to do at least one every day.
Sharan Q- The best of the best of the Visual Kei band that made us sleep uneasy at night.

There will also be one temporary segment. USKA VS RUBI. Yes, Code Geass 2 is starting real soon. We're about to pee our pants from fanboyness. We love Geass, we just don't know who will write about it. Therefore, we will have to have a Pic War and a Blog war. Winnar take all.

I guess now I'll start with one of the new sections, Sharan Q.



Here we have Sharan Q trying to be good role models for the new generation. Way to go, guys!

RUBUSKA:2 - RETURN OF THE BLOG

Just as Rubi said, RUBUSKA is coming back, and now that I saved his hdd, it's gonna be with more reviews, more profiles, more random thoughts, and most of all, more SharanQ.

Oooh yes.