30 Day Idol Challenge: Days 1 Through 10

On Facebook I have a group of friends who are into idoldom like myself. (Typically called "Wota") and they're all doing a 30 day Idol picture Challenge and I've decided to take part. Since it would be a bit crazy to do all thirty days in one post here, I'll break it up into three posts!

Here is the list of each day's labels:

Day 1: Your Favorite Idol
Day 2: The Idol you hate or dislike
Day 3: If you are or were a boy who would be your girlfriend?
Day 4: If the Idol was a boy, who would be your boyfriend?
Day 5: Favorite Group?
Day 6: Favorite Sub-Group?
Day 7: Favorite Couple
Day 8: Your favorite voice
Day 9: The voice you dislike
Day 10: The idol you used to hate and now like (or vice versa).
Day 11: The one who's not your type but totally won you over eventually.
Day 12: The evilest idol.
Day 13: Favorite Berryz Koubou member.
Day 14: The idol with the best body.
Day 15: Favorite Morning Musume member?
Day 16: The sweetest idol.
Day 17: The n00b trying to burrow their way into your heart.
Day 18: The best actress.
Day 19: Who would you like to be for a day?
Day 20: The most charming idol.
Day 21: The idol you have the most respect for or admire?
Day 22: Your favorite costume.
Day 23: Past H!P member you miss the most?
Day 24: Idol that is not one of your favorites but you think is really good.
Day 25: Past group you miss the most.
Day 26: Idol with the best personality.
Day 27: Idol that you have special feelings for?
Day 28: Idol that brings you special memories of something or somebody?
Day 29: Your favorite idol leader.
Day 30: The idol you'd like to go on a vacation with for a week.

Day One:

Day one is my favorite idol. This was a tough decision because four stand out strongly in my mind. I eventually settled on Yaguchi Mari for multiple reasons. One: She's been my favorite since I first had found out about the group, quickly winning me over for being as cute as she is. Secondly, after watching more of her English lesson videos she quickly proved to be witty, charming and hilarious and in a very mature way. (Aika Mitsui, one of my other choices for this spot was quickly eliminated due to the fact that she wasn't in the group when the English Lesson videos were filmed.) Finally she won out over Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago simply for the fact that while they are wonderful and hilarious in their own right Mari Yaguchi has continued to be a prominent singer and television personality. So Day One, my favorite idol is Yaguchi-San.

Day Two:

 Day Two is the idol that I dislike. This spot took no debate whatsoever. Kusumi Koharu is by far my most despised idol. It all boils down to one reason. Her VOICE! It's horrid! It would make the devil cry! It's by far the squeakiest and most high pitched thing out there and her speaking voice was the same! I'm not sad she's graduated from Morning Musume, and it appears that a lot of my friends are of the same opinion. Nothing personal against Koharu however, I'm sure she's a sweet girl but her voice makes me want to scream.

Day Three:

 Day three is the idol that I would want as a girlfriend (ya know, if I was into that). This couldn't go to anyone but Nozomi Tsuji, she's now known as "The Charming Housewife" and in truth she really is! Her husband is constantly treated to heart shaped meals, and I know her recipes are to die for! (Her cookbook is firmly in my possession.) She has two adorable children and when she does appear on television it's very apparent that she still has her sass and spunk of her younger years. She's charming and amusing, how could I not want her for myself?

Day Four:

 Day Four is the day that if the idol was a boy who would I want as my boyfriend. Hitomi Yoshizawa is the simplest choice. She's beautiful as a woman and as a man. (As she's shown in many joke sketches on random shows.) She's strong and brave and has shown wonderful leadership as her stint as a leader for Morning Musume. She also has an amazing sense of humor. She was the best choice for this day.

Day Five:

 Day Five is my favorite group. Simple. Nobody can compare to Morning Musume. I love them from Morning Coffee to Only You, throughout the changes and graduations and auditions I love Morning Musume through thick and thin. Nobody else compares! Viva MoMusu!

Day Six:

 Day Six is my favorite sub-group. This was a very difficult decision for me because I don't really pay as much attention to them (with the exception of Buono!) I wasn't sure at first if I could really call them a sub-group but I feel confident that they are since they are all part of bigger groups (C-ute and Berryz Koubou) The combined voices of Miyabi, Momoko and Airi is like heaven and I think that as a subgroup they are almost the perfect size! My second runner up with this was Guardians 4, but they only contended because they had Aika as the leader.

Day Seven:

 Day seven is my favorite "couple." I knew automatically that Yoshizawa Hitomi would be up here but I didn't know who would join her. It was a tough call but I decided that Kimura Ayaka was the best choice. The two of them are best friends and were even in the last incarnation of Petit Moni. They work together wonderfully. Overall they're gorgeous and wonderful together.

Day Eight:

 Day eight belongs to my favorite vocalist. On Facebook I had originally had Yaguchi Mari but I've changed my mind mostly because I wanted to spread the love around a bit more. Goto Maki is by far my favorite soloist to have come from Hello!Project. I adore her vocals and continue to support her on Avex.

Day Nine:

 Rainbow. Pink. Today is the day for the voice that I hate the most. This is a very simple decision. Not only is Koharu Kusumi in here, she's dragged poor Michishige Sayumi down with her! This ball of cuteness is cute to watch, murder to hear. They squeak and squeal and make me wish I'd hired a bear to claw my ears clean off. I can only take SECONDS of that whimpering bit Koharu does. Why Miki and Hitomi handed over this group to them I'll never know.

Day Ten:

 The final part of my blog for today is day ten, the idol I used to hate but now love. This belongs to current Morning Musume leader, Ai Takahashi. I used to hate her because I was completely sure that her goal was just to steal the spotlight from all the other members with the exception of Tanaka Reina, but I was wrong. She's truly a talent, and her voice is one of the strongest in the group right now. I know that when she graduates this August she will be sorely missed and I hope that she'll be a soloist and great singer on her own.


So I'll wrap up this for now and look forward to the next 10 days of my Idol Challenge! Feel free to comment to ask questions or to berate me for my choices XD

Eurovision 2011 Dusseldorf!

So I'm a bit late on this post since the competition was so long ago but I really wanted to do a major post for this and so here it is.

The Eurovision Song Competition this year was my first time actually viewing the contest live and I was blown away at how amazing it was. I had seen other performances before on youtube and the like but watching something live seems that much more impressive.

So this year the Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Dusseldorf, Germany (due to the fact that Lena Meyer-Landrut won the year prior in Oslo, Norway with her song "Satellite".) The stage itself was phenomenal, with the main stage on a round platform and a large screen behind it. The hosts this year were delightful and I thought Anke and Stefan's banter was hilarious. Whoever thought it'd be a good idea to bring in Anke's comedic genius and pair it with Stefan's status as the entrant from Germany's 2000 Eurovision artist should be given a medal. Even though those two were the true faces of Dusseldorf's hosting of Eurovision, Judith did a good job of keeping up with the others, although she did seem to fall off to the wayside being more stern and serious.

This year was a strong year for the contest and ended with only a few points ahead of second place. The won went to Azerbaijan, with the song "Running Scared" sung by Ell and Nikki.

I personally thought that their win was a well deserved one, and had been rooting for the country since the preliminary videos were released! Their performance live just further impressed me with the stage's versatility by showering the background with sparks and the elegance of the whole performance was truly beautiful.

I had a few favorites this year (a couple which were disappointingly cut early) but I'll put the videos from my top three favorites from the contest and I'll make note of the ones that I thought were flops that somehow made it through the final.

Daria - Celebrate (Croatia)



Though this song wasn't very strong the two costume changes on stage were amazing (especially the last one where there was a change with just a puff of smoke!) The studio edit of this song is much better vocally but it's still upbeat and catchy! I understand why it wasn't chosen for the final but I still like it a lot!

TWiiNS - I'm Still Alive (Slovakia)



This was one of my disappointments. I LOVED this song. The girls singing can actually belt it live and are wonderful performers. The stage was beautiful and classy, and it was truly one of the better performances in my eyes. Of course I have heard other songs from TWiiNS and this is truly unlike their normal sound which further impressed me (even though I wasn't really a fan of it before...) But this should've been in the final and done a lot better than it had. But at least they had one solid performance.

Emmy - Boom Boom (Armenia)



Another disappointing loss! This song is what Eurovision is for me. Upbeat, slightly cheesy, catchy pop songs. Not only is it catchy but the performance was truly a performance. I can see where it went wrong however, because her vocals were a little shaky but overall, I think it deserved a better fate than it got.


Now for the bad and ugly. These are the ones that I couldn't help but groan at just from hearing the first few notes.

Jedward - Lipstick (Ireland)



There are no words for how much I disliked this song. It was like listening and watching a train wreck. All in all though I couldn't help but watch. My eyes couldn't be more assaulted by their on-screen hijinks but all in all it was actually entertaining and I can understand why it made it as far as it did but I suppose I just fall on the "hate'em" side with the Jedward phenomenon.

Loucas Yiorkas feat. Stereo Mike - Watch My Dance (Greece)



Honestly, I just didn't get it. The guy singing had some pipes on him, sure but the random rap interlude and the whole feeling of the song just seemed jumbled. So confused as to what everyone heard in this song.

Alexej Vorobjov - Get You (Russia)



Really? Was it year of the boy bands? Between U.K.'s Blue (Another song that I wasn't a fan of) and Sweden's Eric Saade and this well it was just "pretty-boy overload". This one finds itself at the bottom of that ladder however simply because it's strange opening and the creepy stalker-ish lyrics. However, it's still catchier than Blue's song.

And now the last part of my post!

Lena Meyer-Landrut. There's so much to say about her. She was amazing last year, she was great this year and was a very ballsy choice from Germany! I'm glad she didn't win but I'm glad she returned. I did notice however, that during her performance she was getting sassy close ups and looked drop-dead gorgeous. I don't want to say it was because she was in her home country or she had won last year but in any case she was great and I don't care if they were trying to boost votes.

Italy's return to the ESC was a welcome one and it looked like it was well received placing firmly in the top 5! Congrats on the return Italy, I'm excited to see what they bring next year in Baku!

So all in all, I'm excited to see what Azerbaijan and the other competing countries bring to the table next year for Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan!

Goto Maki - Nee...

Maki Goto was originally part of the Third Generation of Morning Musume, and after a while being a solo artist under Hello!Project actually struck out on her own. When she started out on her own she was selling sex, sex and more sex, but now she's seemed to mature into a more natural vibe where she still retains her good looks and charms but has balanced it with a softer more ballad side.

This song "Nee" is off Maki's newest mini-album "Love" and is already one of my favorites. I didn't pay her much mind when she was in Morning Musume but now that she's on her own she's really blossomed into her own artist I'm really seeing her in a new light. I look forward to when she releases a new full album under her new Avex label!

And since I can't get enough Gocchin I'll leave another video here from another of her mini-albums "Maria"

Only You - Morning Musume

For those of you paying attention, this makes the 46th single of supergroup Morning Musume. I'll put the video first and my comments second.



First, I'm in love with the visuals, the white dresses (or shorts and shirts in some of the cases) and crystal theme is really pretty. The background, while fairly simple reminds me a bit of the Kimagure Princess setting, which is a good thing for me. The song itself is simply perfection for me, it's proving that even with the younger girls in the group it can still have a more mature song. I loved Aika's hair, reverting back to Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game.

The negatives: Poor Kanon's hair! Seriously that was not a good look for her all pulled back as it was.

Tsunku, still milking Tanakahashi's vocal duo but at least Gaki is getting plenty of screen time and vocal time (even if they autotuned it but I think it fit nicely into the song so I'm not complaining. And being the next leader it's good to get her out in the front more.)

Really? Riho? She's as cute as a button but why give her all of the lines out of the kyukkies? Maybe this is just my favoritism to Kanon but where were the rest of the kyukkies? Or Aika for that matter? Anyone seen Sayumi? Beuller? Beuller? I think it's great that Tsunku is giving one of the kyukkies a chance to shine, but let them all show off. Here's to hoping that the rest of the girls will get a chance to show off when Tanakahashi is seperated.

Now I know I've talked down on Tanakahashi a lot but I still adore them my hope for the future is that they'll both graduate and form a sub-group of their own, because really, that would be a great duo.

Wedding Bells for Marippe!

So my favorite idol from Hello!Project of all time is Mari Yaguchi. She originally joined Morning Musume. as a part of the second generation and though she was only noted as the short one at first (Being only 4'8" is still really short compared to the other girls) she eventually made her way into the spotlight and the hearts with her loud and boisterous personality as seen on a clip from the old Hello!Project show where one of the Hawaiian members of another group tries to teach various girls English phrases.



So beyond her charming personality she is also now a great talent and has rejoined some of the graduated members of Morning Musume. in a group to honor the "glory days" of the band called Dream Musume. She also appears on many shows (occasionally to torment a fellow Dream Musume member Nozomi Tsuji) and appears as a voice actress in the Japanese One Piece anime.

At 28 years old it has finally happened, the star of Yaguchi Mari has finally found a love and has decided to tie the knot! I'm so extremely happy for her and her new husband, Nakamura Masaya. Gambatte Marippe!

And I promise not to make too much fun of the height difference...

Title Explination/Aqua's New Single

The title of my blog "Sayonara Demo" had multiple interpretations. Sayonara is Japanese for "goodbye" and Demo can be read as the Japanese word for "But" which would make the title "Goodbye but..." OR Demo can be read in the English way, being a shortened form of "Demonstration" so it cna also be read as "Goodbye Demonstration."

The words themselves don't have much personal meaning but I like the way it sounds.

Now that I've bored you with a regular explanation I'll move on to something else that interests me! Euro-Pop!

Recently I've found out that the great 90s Europop band Aqua has released a new single! How RU doin is fantastic, although most people will find it has a similar sound of most modern pop. The video is exciting and interesting but again, it's kind of similar to how other videos have been these days but from what I can tell Aqua was auto-tuning themselves long before America started? Either way, it's a great song and it deserves some recognition! Of course I'll leave the video here for you to decide for yourselves!

Introducing myself!

Welcome to my blog! I'm your friendly host, Zypher!

Since this is my first post I figured I'd introduce myself a little bit. I'm just a Midwest boy who followed his heart out to the big NYC to start fresh! I've been here for almost six months now and feel like I'm really starting to settle in fully.

Some of my hobbies involve Japanese Pop music, specifically groups from the Hello!Project banner. I'm also an avid fan of the Eurovision Song Contest. (Although I've only started officially watching since this year!) I enjoy video games and writing, although almost all of my writing involves roleplaying (and not the creepy kind that some adults enjoy but rather a form of cooperative story telling.)

More about my J-Pop indulgences, my favorite connection is Hello!Project (for those not in the know) is a record label of sorts that employees around 150 girls ranging in ages from around ten upwards in their thirties. The main group under this label is Morning Musume. which is affectionately referred to as "MoMusu" by the fans. This group takes an interesting approach to stay fresh by "graduating" members out and bringing in new faces. This keeps the songs interesting and fresh but sometimes can be heartbreaking when the girls decide to move on. In total over the years (MoMusu had been established in 1997 and is still going on right now) there have been over 25 girls but a few stand out in my heart, including Nozomi Tusji, Ai Kago, Mari Yaguchi, Aika Mitsui and Kanon Suzuki. (The latter two currently in the group.) Of course I'll spare you more detailed information on them for later posts as they are not me and I'm trying to introduce myself here!

As I said before, I live in NYC and it's been quite a change from my upbringing back in Madison, Wisconsin! The pace is different and I find myself surrounded by all walks of life, from models to bums wandering the trains asking for money. The biggest change is certainly the environment, from whitewash midwest to multi-cultural NYC, I've had to adjust a bit but now I feel right at home! I also have the support of a wonderful boyfriend to back me up.

So I'll leave this blog post here and maybe someone will come across and read which would be just awesome! In parting I'll leave one of my favorite videos from the super group MoMusu: