JaezReen NaTioN

I come bearing my New Year's 2008 Gift.

This was done around June 2007.
The subs comes in a bit late, by the way.

DISCLAIMER: Translations are by nyanchan

If you haven't watch it yet, DO NOT GO BEYOND THIS POINT!
There will be spoilers.

---------------------------------

Suppin was Arashi's first ever concert.
We know that some of the boys have doubts in joining Arashi, up until Iza, Now.
And we see Sho casting his doubts aside in this clip.

This was a touching moment for Arashi.
The end of their very first concert.

Why did I choose to release this clip at the end of this year?
It somewhat reflect my life here in Vox.

The end of my very first year in this fandom!

2007 was the first year I discovered JE and got active in the internet life.

Arashi have somewhat cheered me up in times when I'm down.
They are wonderful boys that deserves the love that all of you have been giving them.
They've been through a lot and have grown mature from those tough times.

We have been touched by their stories of hardships and their tears of joy.
And not to forget their half-naked spreads on magazines.

I like those guys for their personalities.
I love them even better when they are together.
Different people but heading to the same goal- To make Arashi a success.

And in the progress, creating chaos for us all to laugh over.

And I'll never forget the fangirls.
If you refer to my previous posts, you'll know that I appreciate the fangirls very much.

Regardless whether they have contributed to the fandom or not.
'Spreading the rabu rabu' is already more than enough.

And I have expressed before that the Arashi fans that I know of are absolutely amazing.
Translating, subbing, uploading, moderating, blogging, scanning, drawing...
The list goes on.

I've met many great friends and fans from all around the world.

Although our obsessive ways are pretty ridiculous,
but most of the fans are still very much sane and mature.

I've learned how you think and I've learned from your thinkings.

Thank you very much for accepting me in your circle.

As for me,
after juggling between jobs and assignments,
JE have lost it's touch on me.
I've somewhat withdrawn myself from the fandom.

Not just Arashi, not just V6, but the whole of JE.

Although I'm not as interested in Arashi/JE as I obsessively was,
it's pretty impossible to forget the community here.

Or as Mr. Johnny might say:

"YOU! It's absolutely impossible to forget YOU!"

I've seen friends whom have been around here during the start,
but have somewhat disappeared now at the ending.
(I miss them very much)

Therefore, I'm not deleting this Vox.
I'd still be using this account to keep track with the fangirls (probably once in a week?)

Feel free to delete me off your list if you'd like.
I know there's nothing so awesome about having a dead Vox in your flist.

And YahooMail have never yet fail to retrieve notifications from Vox.
So if there happens to be any message or comments here, I'll definitely know about it right away.

As a literal meaning of MatsuJun's speech at the end of the clip,
that this is not the end and they'll be back later for another concert,
it's quite the same with this post too.

This post is not a goodbye.
I'll still be coming here probably once in a blue moon.

Now that we're all stepping into a new year, 2008,
let's just celebrate for the year that we've spent with each other (and Arashi too).

No. I'm not talking about Nino's Haikei drama.
But I'm talking about my father.

Here's a question:
What is one of the more possible awkward facts of your father that you can discover?

Yes, he spilled out that he have been following my blogs.
ALL of my blogs.

Personal blogs and... Vox.
Which is the lair of my constant fangirling on Arashi.

He reads them.
So I guess he knows that if I EVER fail my SPM exams, it would be because of Arashi.

What do you guys think?
Would you be freaked out by this?

I was somewhat surprised, but I'm too tired to start over an anonymous new blog.

So he can read all he wants.

Because I have another 340958340468 anonymous blogs around the world!

And this message is specially for YOU!

Do you know that my current TOP crush is not in Arashi?

Yes, he's Sakamoto Masayuki of V6!
(Yeah, I bet you'll research on this guy on Wiki)

He's the old fart with the age of 36.
He's old enough to be my own father, but I find him VERY VERY ATTRACTIVE!

Look look!

B-e-a-u-tiful Sakamoto with tight shirt

Don't you think he's just GOR-GEOUS?!?!
And I have half naked pictures of him too, you know?

Non-Arashi related.
Just some updates on me.

During the middle of this year,
I tried to refrain myself from posting or commenting on vox.

I was afraid I'll get too involved in this and will eventually damage my major exam results badly.

Very sorry to my neighbours!
I know I haven't been commenting often.

I've just officially graduated yesterday.

Although I've got a few months free, there's still lots more to do.
College applications, scholarships watch, obtaining driver's license, part-time jobs to look for...

I've just recently moved from WINDOWS to MAC OS.
It gets problematic with some softwares, as they're not compatible with Mac.

I was thinking of finishing the subs for Aiba cam. But Subtitle Workshop doesn't work with Mac.

Maybe I might pick up Jubler- if I can get used to it.

Anybody knows of free softwares on Mac that can be used for hardsubbing?

If there are,
I might fix up my subs for the cams in high quality.

From Tokyograph's website,

Ninomiya promotes New Year's cards for Japan Post

Thu, October 18, 2007 (4:31pm EDT)

Arashi member Kazunari Ninomiya has been chosen as an image character for an ad campaign by the recently privatized Japan Post. The tradition of sending out New Year's cards has been fading away in favor of e-mail, but the post office is hoping that Ninomiya can help persuade consumers to use its services. He will appear in commercials starting on the 25th.

The company also recently announced that it has teamed up with KDDI to offer a new service that lets users create New Year's cards through text messaging.

Source: Sankei Sports

Our Nino has such a great character that he was chosen as the image character???
Nino's image to me is more towards 'sarcastic' and 'annoying' though.
(But you all know I still love him)

If Nino have been so effective with the Soup commercials,
until they've reached their first time of the soup being Out Of Stock,

Then I see no problem Nino nailing this ad campaign!

Yeah, we've downloaded these performances- with subs!
(Thanks to the awesome translator {Nyanchan} and subbers {techniteddy & yuckie})

But there's something different about watching them on actual television.

So for those who have Astro, watch it on Animax- tomorrow!

First week is Arashi with purple costumes.
Second week is Arashi with colorful tight pants.

There's something I'm wondering though.
We all know Malaysia is really really tight with censored stuff.
(They're as tight as Arashi's colorful pants on the second week)
From violence to sexual implications etc etc.

Plus, they have English subs for Music Station.

Since the first week they're talking about Ohmiya love,
I'm wondering if they will cut that part out???

Not Arashi related.

But we have seen Nino and Ohno cheer with grandmas in MMA.
And we've also seen Arashi cheer with an All-Boys Cheer Squad- Shockers.

Come watch who's the other idols who have joined cheer-
and with an All-Girls team too!

For a clearer version, check here.

The funny part is- that these guys are old.
Like real old.

Inocchi was around 28 during this time.
And Sakamoto was 34!

But very amusing though to see these two.

Sakamoto asked Inocchi, "What's up with that beard and mustache?!?!"

To which Inocchi of course answers,

"This is the face of a cheerleader!!!"

Argh!
It just screams "CUTENESS!!!"

Watch it here uploaded by ichijiteki

Why is my attention totally on Nino the whole time?!?!
And I swear it's not a biased opinion of mine.

You can see lots of 'rabu rabu'.
especially from Nino who's sexing things up.

Honestly, I don't really mind leechers that doesn't comment.

It's annoying, but it's fine.

What I REALLY REALLY don't approve of are leechers who don't just 'leech away',
but also complain, blab, and just nag without considering the other people.

Remember how YouTube was such a grand website???

It's still grand now, but when it first started out, it basically has no limits!
but because of it's growing popularity, it have got masses of people using their bandwith to view videos.

So they had to put up restrictions.
Only a maximum of 10 minutes clip.
And THIS itself has got people crazy.

This rule don't just save on bandwith,
but it discourage copyrighted materials to be uploaded- movies, dramas (unless they're uploaded in parts).

And then there was YouTube's flagging season.
Early of this year, a lot of videos had to be taken down because they were flagged for copyrighted materials.
I was annoyed at this.
A lot of my random favorite Arashi clips were deleted.

You KNOW it is wrong to upload such copyrighted media.
They did the right thing when they flagged the videos.
They were reporting some pirated stuff.

And yet these people can be so pissed off and cursed the website like hell.

"Dude, these stuff are not supposed to even be on the internet.
So why the heck are you actually doing a petition to cancel their rights
to delete JDramas and Animes?!?!"

Yes, they actually did a petition to rebel against the deletion of JDramas and Animes.

How lame is that?
It's like Paris Hilton doing her petition to free her from jail when she really have been charged guilty from her crime!

I'm not too fond of the flaggings,
but I don't have the right to complain either because I was just leeching off and watched it for free,
instead of paying for the actual media.

Then there was Veoh's policy for a 5 minute preview.

They actually made 543532 threads just to complain about it in Veoh's forum.
It's like EACH user made up THEIR OWN THREAD for their own complaints.

NOT ALL videos had that condition.
And yet, people are complaining like

"How am I supposed to watch my anime now, you a$$h01e!"

Dude, you can just download it.
And if you can't download it, the uploader will have to upload them in parts.
If you have no power to do neither of those, please go find somewhere else to leech off.

Yes, they do want to go somewhere else to leech.

"Man, this website used to be the best. Now it SUCKS BAD!
I'm going back to YouTube!"

"Yeah! Me too! That ought to teach the mod what a $h1ttY job they've done for putting up restrictions!"

... and what are you still doing in that forum?
JUST GO BACK TO YOUTUBE ALREADY THEN!

Pestering on how you'll go back to YouTube/DailyMotion...
just go ahead to the websites already.
You don't need to say it out LOUD and say it REPEATEDLY.

Then what boils me up recently,
Crunchyroll's bandwith limit.

No, I'm not mad at Crunchyroll for limiting their bandwith.

It's understandable considering Shinji (founder & maintainer) is only a college guy.

Unlike YouTube and Veoh,
Crunchyroll doesn't really have corporate sponsors to pay up their bandwith.
And Crunchyroll is not heavily ad supported like the other streaming videos either.

Meaning, Shinji had to depend on his own pocket money and donations.

There's not many donators either.

They are limiting it by the amount of information retrieved from your computer.
Approximately 5 videos.

To enjoy it to the full benefit,
you can donate a minimum of 6 dollars.

And this got leechers cursing their hearts out.

"WTF?! I really love this website because it's free. And now we have to PAY?!?!"

Dude, did you read the notice???
It only LIMITS your daily bandwith usage from the website.

It does not cut you off entirely form watching the videos.

IF you want more,
THEN you can donate.

The only reason we're still able to live happily in this community is because
there are some really generous people who doesn't mind MAKING IT FREE for us.

Prime example are free video streaming websites.
Bandwith is PRICEY.

Leechers shouldn't expect everything to be all sunshine and rainbows for the site maintainers.

So when the site maintainers decides to make a change or put up restrictions,
let it be.
It's their site and their responsibilities.

Even if you stop visiting the site,
others who appreciates it, will still be there.
It's not the end of the site when a group of leechers stop coming over.

Feedback is good.
But feedbacks are comments in a polite manner.
Not cursing the maintainers to doom's end!

I've heard about the rumor that 'they' were dating before.
But suddenly it's becoming pretty BIG.

And it's not even a 'declaration of them being together'.
It's just a news that they are moving in the same building (different doors, neighbors).

The news didn't really catch my eye though.

There were the common--

 "Really?! I didn't know this!"

"OMG! If it is true, I'm so happy for Nino!"

"I don't mind who he's dating, as long he's happy."

"They are a cute match after all..."

"I hope JE approves them!"

Yeah, we all love Nino too much.

And we'll still love him even if he's married, let alone dating someone.

----Then suddenly, out of the blues...

"Eih?! Good la... But what about his boyfriends?!"

"Poor Oh-chan."

"What is he going to tell Oh-chan? And Sho-chan? Jun-kun and Ma-chan too!"

"He had a girlfriend AND 4 boyfriends at the same time?!"

The news of Nino and his gf is NOTHING compared to all of your simple conversations!

I'm cutting down on my Arashi diet.
It's way too addictive.
Thus, no active posts until I finish SPM (which will be around the end of November)

My cousin got a 'Letters From Iwo Jima' DVD.
I've just finished watching it.

I-don't-like-blood.
That's why I didn't take Biology as a subject in the first place.

And like most war movies,
'Letters From Iwo Jima' was gory.
Real gory.

I wince EACH TIME someone died.

Especially when the whole group committed suicide with grenades.

This movie have got people complimenting on Nino's acting skills.
To tell you the truth, I wasn't concentrating on Nino.

Ken Watanabe caught my eye the whole time.
And I was more awed with Clint Eastwood's directing.
Almost everything was just right for the movie.

From the cinematography, camera angles, sound effects...
Everything was just right for the movie.

I have never watched fully any other of Eastwood's movie.
This is the first time.
Though he didn't win any directing award for this (as far as I know),
I do think that this masterpiece is superb.

I've learned about the Japanese soldiers in my History syllabus.
From how violent and strict they were... General Tojo... and even about the Kempetai.

I was learning it from the point of view of the soldiers who fought for my country when they were at war with Japan.
As a student, I learned that the Japanese army in those days were fierce and heartless.

From this movie, it just reminds me of how they would feel from the other side.
They were just the same as us.
Most of them hate wars, afraid of death.
We do think that "Dying in honor for your country" is just a piece of crap.

But what choices do they have?
The ruler of their countries wanted to dominate the other countries.

The soldiers didn't asked for it. They don't want anything to do with war.
But they are forced to go to battlefield. And forced to face their own death in front of their faces.

If you are a soldier, and you know that your troop have hopes of winning the war, then things would have been better for you.
But what if you are on the other side, and you know that there is no way that your troop can even survive the war- let alone win it?

My teacher told me a story before.
When his mother was young, she was playing in front of her house and she sees jeeps of Malay soldiers going out to battle the Japanese.
We all know that we'll lose the war.
The only reason the British put up Malay soldiers there was only to slow down the Japanese.

So there was one Malay soldier who came up to her,
"(Smiling) Selamat tinggal, dik. Abang nak pergi mati ni."
[Bye. I'm going to my grave/death now.]

That was one of the most memorable lines in my book.

But really, that was how the movie was a success.
After watching the movie, I thought more about the soldiers than I do about the story.

My mind don't really focus on the story anymore.
It was more of "What all of the soldiers have went through"
For both my country's and all the other country's soldiers.

One of it was the time when the whole troop committed suicide with hand grenades,
and it's just left Nino and that Kempetai guy.

I hate that scene! Because it was so gory!
You see body parts flying around!!!
But this is the scene that really got me sympathized with the characters the most.

You can see it from their eyes that the soldiers didn't want to suicide.
But they have no other choice. they're going to die anyway.

Then there was also the scene where that Olympic guy saved the American soldier.
(Sorry, I'm pretty terrible with memorizing Japanese names)

It's a nice scene where you can see kindness even in the midst of a war.
You don't usually get that in this movie- as most of it was about honor and death.

He told the soldiers that he will extract some information from the American soldier.
But instead he was having casual talk about interests.

And then there was the scene where Saigo gave away his belt to the dead Kempetai guy.

You were told, that if you surrender, you will survive. They will only take you in as a prisoner.
But when the Kempetai guy surrendered, he was killed.

And it was just because that American soldier was too lazy to keep watch of him.

When Saigo found him dead, he left his belt at the dead body.
The belt means a lot to Saigo, it was supposed to protect him.
But he left it there with the Kempetai guy's dead body.

I find the scene when Ken Watanabe' character wanted to die in his own homeland- very touching.

Ken: (Dying) Is this still Japan's soil?
Nino: Yes, this is still Japan's soil.

-- Ken shoots himself while Nino just looked straight ahead.

Another part of the story I like is how Saigo didn't burn the letters.
Instead he buried them nicely.
And when the future generations found it... the feeling must have been unexplainable.

The scene that got me into tears-
When they heard the Iwo Jima national song from the radio.

There won't be anymore Iwo Jima after the Americans take over it.
So there will be no more need of Iwo Jima's national song.

The soldiers were the last group of people to hear the song for real then.

Ah, Saigo was the last man standing then...
or was it that stupid officer who offered himself for suicidal bombing at the enemy's tank?

I wasn't impressed with Nino's performance here.

As a fan, I've always known Nino as a great actor.
But when you've watched Nino in 'Ao No Honoo' (The Blue Light),
no other Nino's characters could really get past that.

I would watch the movie with a confused teenager, murderer repeatedly
when compared to the movie of a soldier.

But there was really no question to Nino's acting skills in this movie, is there?
It's still superb in here.

I like it how he was still able to be sarcastic in this movie.
I would smile at his sarcastic remarks.

Kempetai guy: It's an honor to die for the country!
Saigo: Yeah, my friend, who died from food poisoning just now, also died in honor, right?