Johnny's grab bag - no, this entire entry is not just an excuse to use my Hina shaving icon!

[guingel]

So, I hope everyone downloaded Wilson Pickett. :D Except I know you didn't because I can see my download count! ::deep sigh:: No, it's ok. XD I'm terrible about taking music recommendations. But I chose Wilson Pickett cos I think his music is just good, fun stuff that anyone can enjoy, even if he doesn't become your favorite artist. I'm not uploading the Clash or the Ramones or anything because I know that people won't necessarily like it. Actually, I might upload some Clash someday. But you don't have to download it.

Anyway! I'm listening to Recomen with Shige guesting, as translated by enshinge (also, look at the number of that entry! neat!). (She does a good job, but I still really miss ttthhbbbtt's translations!) Yoko isn't there, which is sadditude, but Shige and Hina hosting a show together is a bit like a dream for me. XD Especially because they have two of my favorite speaking voices in Johnny's. Also especially because they're two of my favorite Johnny's. But yeah. Shige has a very sexy voice, and Hina. . . I could just listen to him talk forever. It's funny to replace Yoko with Shige, though, now that I think of it. Shige is more of a Hina fill-in - not that they're similar, but they play the same role, y'know? Shige's more tsukkomi. Anyway, I adore Recomen. One of my favorite JE productions. Yoko and Hina are amazing!

edit: Dude. Just listened to a little more of it and I felt compelled to comment again on how amazing it is having Shige and Hina talking to each other. It's like earporn. Major earporn.

I've also been watching the MMA Rowing Specials, as subbed by taijiproject, who kind of remains one of my favorite people in fandom, and have been greatly enjoying having my emotions toyed with. XD Here are my thoughts, roughly as said in a comment to the subber:
The feeling I get, my theory, is kind of that the whole thing was extremely difficult - not just that it was difficult for the boys, but also for the producer and director and everything. Because the show they've put together feels a little raw. We can see the parts where we're being deceived or emotionally manipulated to a much greater extent than usual - and we can also see it being filmed to a much greater extent. Like, that we get to see Arashi going to buy lunch and having to borrow from an AD, or that the coach yells at them for filming. Which is all stuff I love seeing! Even, like, when we get to see the boys being called away, all the acknowledgment that they have other work to do, mentions of them coming in on their own, stuff like that.

I don't know if it's because the situation was difficult to control in a neat, television way (although MMA always goes on location) or if it was because they were unable to get a lot of really acceptable footage and had to use footage that included the director or what, but yeah. Maybe they decided to do it like that so it would seem more realistic, so we'd believe whatever they were telling us about Arashi's feelings at the time, I don't know.

But that's why I'm enjoying it so much! I'm really finding it interesting, seeing this more raw state! And of course, it's so fascinating to see the boys doing manual labor, and to see them working so hard together. Actually, the only thing I wish they'd change is that it feels the chronology of events has really been adjusted, and I'd like to know when different events actually happened relative to each other. But yeah. I don't actually know much about TV show filming, so I try to stay skeptical, but anyway. The rowing episodes have been really interesting so far and I got strangely sucked in. At first Katie and I couldn't even bring ourselves to watch them, then I ended up marathoning. Seriously, them on the bus to their training camp? Precious! I also go mad for mentions of Nino's tiny hands.

Aaaaaaaaaand I'm in love with Question? now. SO IN LOVE!! I want Akun. HOT. But they're all totally adorable. Even the ugly bassist is adorable. I have trouble saying their name with the appropriate question mark, though. XD I'm always "I was watching a clip of Question. . . Question? . . . and it was so cute!" Cos Katie and I feel compelled to pronounce it.

Also, young Yamapi needs to stop making me a huge pervert. DX He's. . . just so pretty! Ugh.

On the subject of people who make me a pervert, Young Nagase. Before he got his teeth fixed, in their first concert!! I'm still amazed that that got posted and I got to see it. Oooh, little teef. Oh, but what I wanted to say about Nagase is actually about older Nagase, and that is. . . what the hell sort of genetic material must he have?? Who are his parents? He's, like, physical perfection, and even his dimness is just incredibly endearing. I crush on him with a large crushing!

And he's not even my favorite in TOKIO. Although it really is silly for me to talk about a favorite.

Speaking of teeth (why do I feel the need for segues all the time?) I've made a list of Johnny's who have had their teeth fixed.

I think the following pretty definitely have had some work done:
Taichi (OK, he talked about it, so I feel pretty sure about this one)
Ohno
Nagase
Jun
Shige
Tegoshi
I'm also pretty sure about Maru, although my memory could be messing with me. Also, has Ohkura had anything done?

The following seem pretty obviously not to have had anything done, or if they did, they should get their money back:
Tsubasa
Hina (WOLF TEETH FTW!)
Sho
Yamapi (Cos I'm assuming if he had, he would SMILE IN PHOTOGRAPHS! YOU DID WHEN YOU WERE TINY! DO YOU WANT ME TO LUST AFTER YOU OR NOT??)
Go (right?)
Nino (He's just on the list because I love his tiny perfect teeth, and if they aren't natural, I don't want to know.)

Katie and I also made a list of people who we think come from some sort of "broken home" - generally single moms. Just gakked from interviews and tidbits:
yamapi
takki
nino
yoko
koyama
okada

I think? I could be wrong about any of those. Some of them definitely seem to have both parents, still married, like Shige or Ryo or Jun, but I didn't make a list of confirmed "traditional families". XD


I guess with that I will return to my Computer Science homework and watching Countdown 05-06 and listening to Recomen! Ahh, a productive day. I slept for much of it. I'm in the horny phase of my hormone cycle and that leads to many naps, and also a general jitteryness. XD

Comments

[ilanala]

I listened to Recommen with Hina and Shige last week and it was quite entertaining. I wouldn't have expected it to go so well, but I guess Hina can make conversation with anyone if he has to.

Somebody was saying recently that Yamapi had his teeth fixed, but I don't know. I don't pay much attention to this stuff unless it's really obvious (see for example: Hina's lack of fixed teeth XD).

Are there that many people with "broken homes"? I knew that Takki and Yamapi both had some kind of family drama in their past, and I think I heard something like that about Nino too, but I didn't know about the other three. I don't really remember this kind of stuff unless it comes up a lot or in a particularly memorable context, though, so that's not saying anything.

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Hina is amazing. ::swoons:: I seriously love him so, so much!

Yeah, I dunno - I first noticed it with Ohno, when i watched stuff from 2003 and he had all his crooked little teeth and it was so adorable, and then it seemed like everyone got their teeth fixed, but then when I made the list, it didn't seem like as many as I'd thought. Yamapi. . . I don't know. As of the Hoshi wo Mezashite PV filming his bottom teeth were very crooked - and young Yamapi had straight top teeth, at least. People have also been mentioning that he doesn't really smile in photoshoots these days, and I was looking through my magazines and it's true. I don't know why, maybe he thinks he looks better pouting, or maybe he's really sad and refuses to fake a smile for ideological reasons. But maybe it's because his teeth are still crooked and he's under the impression that he looks bad. If someone said he got his teeth fixed, I'd ask them how they knew, but I'd believe it. Still, that's what's going on with my assumption.

The families are another thing that I started noticing seemed to be a trend (also, twin!Katie and I joke a lot about Takki being Yamapi's father figure). XD elyndys confirmed Yoko below, which is good because I couldn't remember where I'd heard about him - just, I think, about his mom working a lot or something. And Koyama's mom runs the ramen shop, and he talks about her and his sister quite freely but never a father. I'm not sure if there's confirmation beyond that, there might be. And Okada I think I just saw it mentioned somewhere that he grew up with just his mom.

[ilanala]

Well, maybe Yamapi's teeth are crooked or maybe he's just going through another phase of trying to be cool. He seems to smile more when he's not trying to look cool and is being his usual dorky self instead, and he has been being cool more lately.

Everyone talks about Takki being Yamapi's father figure, I think. XD I've never heard Yoko talk about any family but his brothers, but I'm sure elyndys knows what she's talking about. I noticed that Koyama mentions his mother a lot and not his father, but I didn't know if that meant anything or not. And all I know about Okada's background is that he left home at 14 anyway. I do find it interesting to know this kind of stuff, even if it feels sort of like prying.

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true. Cool Yamapi is boring. DX Then I watch Nobuta or hear a story about him being wacky and it's like "awww, that's why he was my favorite for the first few months" and then I see his lips and there's a whole spiral. His smile is pretty, though. I miss it.

Mmm, Papa!Takki is just hilarious. And not only do we get to perv on young Yamapi, we get to joke about Takki doing so as well - I feel in good company. If Takki did it, I can too!

Yeah, I'm torn about their families because I love hearing stories about them and where they come from and stuff - in general, I like to know intimate details. But I also, yeah, it feels like prying. And I want them to have normal lives. I guess if the information is out there already, I want to know it, but if they don't want to share it, that's fine and I wouldn't want them to be plagued by reporters about it and stuff. I also, like. . . don't like when fans act like they know what the boys are really like, I guess? I love to theorize, but I don't presume to know their innermost thoughts and desires.

[elyndys.livejournal.com]

Hina and Shige sounded like they ended up having a great time, despite a slightly uncertain start! I was a bit worried Shige wasn't going to get past the rabbit-in-the-headlights stage, haha. (The time when half of K8 invaded his show is still classic. *snerk*)

Hmm, I suspect I'll have to dl those MMA things. If I make a point of dl'ing the Arashi things people mention on my friends list, especially if they link to them, that'll save me having to make decisions about where to start by myself...

I used to find Akun a bit weird-looking, but that's always a sign that I'll end up being fascinated with them, haha, and he was no different! I think Question? are awesome, and I'm glad they're getting to do more stuff. My friend went to one of their lives recently! I found myself getting all excited!

I didn't realise Nagase had had his teeth fixed! I thought they'd always been perfect! And I do believe he has the best teeth in Johnnys, haha. I agree with your crushing sentiment! XD I don't know whether Ohkura's had work done on his teeth, but he definitely had to grow into them. ^^' I think it's sweet how he still puts his hand over his mouth when he talks, and rarely shows his teeth when he smiles - I think that must be a habit born of self-consciousness about them, bless him! (I always make my friend laugh when I say that I think Subaru has "good teeth", lol. I think it reminds her of horses...)

Yoko definitely didn't grow up with his dad, I think he talked about it when he was talking about his grandad. He's the oldest brother, though, so he must've known his dad for a little while at least. I think these things are really interesting too, I really enjoy it when they talk about their families.

Phew, what a long comment! :D Sorry about that!

[guingel.livejournal.com]

If there's anyone to whom you don't need to apologize about long comments, it's me! :D That would be somewhat hypocritical. . . Anyway, I love them.

I love when other people have to interact with Yoko and Hina (although in this case just Hina). The one where Koyashige are guests is also hilarious - normal people just can't compete, especially not little Shige! Like when they're on shows and they just interview themselves and the hosts are like "What just happened??" I can't remember who I mentioned this to before, but I am seriously waiting for Downtown to retire (much as I love them) so Yoko and Hina can take over HEY!x3. My dream!

Ahh, there's so much Arashi out there! But I want it all. XD I'll have to remember to link to anything particularly good in the future. The MMA things are pretty awesome - definitely different from your usual JE production. You'll have to friend (http://taijiproject.livejournal.com/8048.html) taijiproject (and leave a comment saying you've read her rules) to get access, but it's well worth it. Especially for someone like me who needs subs - cos she's also subbing D no Arashi, all of which are amazing! If you don't need subs. . . I'm not sure where you can get the raws. Ah, Arashian Files (http://arashianfiles.orgfree.com/mma.htm) has them - starts at episode 28.

Oooh, a Question? live! That's so neat! :) There's something very, like. . . The Little Engine That Could about them. I dunno. They're cute. :D

I know, I was totally surprised about Nagase's teeth! I took some caps of them (http://pics.livejournal.com/guingel/tags/teeth/) so you can check it out for yourself - I think they must have fixed them fairly early on. (For slightly fuzzy comparison, here (http://pics.livejournal.com/guingel/pic/0003kbg8/g37) he is in Magic Channel, from early 2006, and more clearly (http://pics.livejournal.com/guingel/pic/00082ada/g37) in 2004 and 2006 (http://pics.livejournal.com/guingel/pic/000a2zc5/g37). I went slightly crazy looking through my Nagase caps for teeth. XD) Now they're completely gorgeous, as is the rest of him, of course! (For the record, I was looking at Mabo in the 1994 concert and his teeth looked same as ever. I can probably put him in column 2, cos he was pretty young then.)

Yeah, I love hearing about their families!! Speaking of Recomens, I loved when Yoko called his brothers on the show! Amazing! And any stories about Hina's family kill me a little in a good way.

[iverin.livejournal.com]

I am a huge huge huge pervert for Young Nagase, and I almost feel bad about it but not quite.

Maru had braces, so his must have been adjusted... But I don't see too much of a difference.

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Young Nagase really tricks me. Cos he doesn't look that young and I go all into full-on lust and them I'm like "Fourteen! Fourteen! Pull out!!" >.< SO ATTRACTIVE, though. Ugh. I'm totally with you.

That's right, the braces! So cute!! But yeah, his teeth don't have the perfect, clean lines that most of the others on that list seem to have (Jun seems to have been somewhat beyond repair as well). I think, though, when I look at old pictures it's sort of "Ahhh, right. Yeah, he's had braces" cos his teeth were even more. . . Maru-ish.

[aello-lime.livejournal.com]

Akun. HOT.
Yesyesyes!
the ugly bassist
Aww, I love Fujiie! He's like a tiny hilarious lemur.
And I have the same problem with their name - I was trying to describe them to my family and kept saying "Question question mark".

Little!Yamapi makes EVERYONE into perverts - Takki was only the first step, next is THE WORLD.

I'm up to episode five in Tiger & Dragon and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH for telling me to watch it. More coherent thoughts later.

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Akun, oh my god. I just watched the SC appearance that newshfan subbed (and they're SO CUTE in it!) and he just looks incredible! Ugh.

I love Fujie too! The more I see them talk, the more I love him! Tiny hilarious lemur indeed. XD Actually, he's twin!Katie's favorite. Or second-favorite. We're both big Akun fans. But they're all so adorable!

I was just on the phone with her, and I can't remember what we were talking about, but she actually did want to ask me if Question? was involved in something. So she was like "Question? ?" And I wanted to say Question? in the affirmative. . . which is impossible. XD Good times!

Ooh, little!Yamapi. ::drools all over everything:: This is something that there should be more fanfic about. XD Although I guess there's a lot of paranoia on LJ. Whatever, he was still idol-worshipping Takki at 18! Just fast-forward a little.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES TIGER AND DRAGON!! I'm glad you're watching! :D Dude, I still haven't watched the SP! I fail. I just slept all day instead. XD

[acidae.livejournal.com]

Nino's made references in his Jweb about going out with his whole family before, so I'm not really sure about the single mom thing. As for Okada, he just doesn't talk much about his family in general, so... not sure about that either XD It's also just possible that the fathers haven't been much of a presence as they were growing up, since most traditional Asian families leave all the child rearing to the mother while the father works, so they naturally have way more things to talk about when it comes to their mothers. :/

[guingel.livejournal.com]

I mean, yeah - I can't be sure. And it's not like I'm going to post the list in a comm or anything. XD But apart from Koyama, all the guesses are based on outside evidence - not just radio silence on the father front. I wish I could remember where, and hearsay doesn't mean it's true, but I know I've heard somewhere about Nino's parents being divorced and Okada being raised only by his mom (Wikipedia corroborates on Okada, not that that's a great source).

Although I've also heard lots of different stuff about Nino's family - on Hanamaru Cafe and stuff like that, about his grandparents owning a factory and I don't know what? So he is hard to pin down. But I think it is a definitely possibility that his parents are divorced, and I remember pretty much believing it when I heard it, so I'm guessing it was a fairly good source. XD So yeah, I'm aware that all this information may be wrong, but it is based on slightly more than just me culling together clues!

I seriously need to read Nino's jweb. I started it, but by the article/jweb reading frenzy only really lasted as far as NEWS in a big way - by the time I got into the other groups, my fandom fervor was cooled, although I liked the groups more.

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

Didn't Yamapi get his teeth fixed? Because they were pretty horrible in 2007 but I swear I saw some straight pearly whites in a recent photoshoot. XD

Okada surprised me on your nontraditional family list!

But I guess he wouldn't want Sakamoto to dominate him so much if he'd had a good father...

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

AND. Does this still work for you? I've started saving, uh, everything, but for some reason it won't load over here!

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that one only works some of the time. I have no clue why. I basically checked it a bazillion times until I got it to load and then saved it like a fiend. And then said "Now the internet can die, I have topless Mabo." But yeah, I can upload it, if you want?

I'm seriously going to need to investigate Yamapi. I thought he had totally fine upper teeth and crazy-ass bottom teeth. Because tiny Yamapi seemed to have fine upper teeth, and then I just never saw the lowers until the Hoshi wo Mezashite PV, where it was like "Whoa! What the hell is going on down there?" And then Yamapi stopped smiling. I thought this was because other people also noticed the bottom teeth that he'd somehow managed to hide and made him really self-conscious about his teeth. But now people are saying it's all been fixed recently. . . so I don't know. I'm going to try to muster up enough interest in either Yamapi or accuracy to check this out. XD

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

That would be excellent, if it's not too much trouble! I want to link it for my I swear I'm working on it Mabo pimp post, except a non-functioning link is, well.

Yamapi had those really prominent funky teeth in Hoshi wo Mezashite and Daite Senorita, but I know I saw at least one recent image with his smile all gleaming and perfect. But I've fallen out of Yamapi fandom so I don't know if that was just the magic of photoshop or what. XD

I SAW CAPS AHAHAHA. Also, Okada's house. Mm. Books.

[guingel.livejournal.com]

It is here (http://www.mediafire.com/?43ivpd23dmn). I will await the pimp post eagerly. I was just marveling at him while watching the seisyun making of. The word must spread.

Based on the eyebrows in some of the magazines I've got, there is not a lot of editing going on with these photos. You can see exactly where they pluck, and it is scary. The eyebrows that some of them are supposed to have. . . vast.

I have the Okada video, and have yet to watch it. I'm told he loves history and staying at home. I figure we're soulmates. (Although apparently he also sometimes watches children in the park. I don't really do that, but for Okada, I'll become a creepster.)

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I've seen some pretty photoshopped ones. XD THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO GLEAM, JAPAN.

Thank you so much!! I watched the making of this morning, too. Loved Mabo laughing at Leader's little jump.

Although apparently he also sometimes watches children in the park.




If this wasn't Okada...

[kegom.livejournal.com]

I'll try to keep this short, because I just got back from a weekend seminar and I'm pretty beat.

1.) Rowing Boat Club: TOTAL AGREEMENT! ^___^ It's really interesting to see it, because it does seem a lot more unscripted than the other episodes. And a lot of Arashi's emotions also seem more real than in other episodes (and - maybe a bit too real, sometimes?). I haven't seen the episodes with the subs yet, but I remember from watching the raws that at one point I just thought "Damn, Jun, get over yourself and stop bitching!" ^^" But it's interesting and lovely to see that Arashi actually does keep together even in the "uncut" (ok, lesser cut) material and it sort of fits with the way it was conceived, because while of course there's a lot of scripted stuff in Arashi shows, I get the feeling that Ohno's spontaneous offer to form a rowing club really was unexpected for the rest of the crew...^-^

2.) The fixed-teeth-list: Actually, I have a question: Are fixed teeth a big deal in America? Because I remember the reactions to the "Yamapi has fixed teeth!" post and this in addition to you saying that you'd rather not know if Nino had his teeth fixed, I get the feeling that it's something ...not quite shameful, but definitely something one wouldn't talk about.
For me that's kind of surprising, because every child I know (including me) had braces at some point and a lot of my friends (including me!^-^) had the wisdom teeth (or, occasionally, other teeth) pulled when we were teenagers to ensure that our other teeth wouldn't grow crooked from the lack of space in there. So I don't quite understand the reason why fixed teeth would be something big enough to create such a fuss as in the community where the thing about Yamapi's teeth was posted...
(This is not a cricism of your list, btw! ^___^ This I find intersting, in the same way I would find a list about who wears glasses in JE interesting.)

3.) The "broken home" list is interesting, too! I heard about Nino's parents being divorced and I heard rumours about Takki ...having problems with his family? in some way, at least and I think I heard a rumour about Yoko coming from a single-parent household (which explains why he worked on construction sites for a while after he finished middle school). I never heard anything abuout the other three, though! That's really interesting! ^__^ Did Okada come from Tokyo? I always wondered how it came that he entered Johnny's through a TV competition - I wondered whether he perhaps came from a far-away part from Japan which kept him from applying to Johnny's beforehand in the regular way...

[guingel.livejournal.com]

1) Their emotions do seem more real! And then some times, they seem more fake - like you can see where they tried to create an arc. I think that's the problem they have - like, they want the whole thing to fit into an emotional arc, a storyline for the viewer, in a really predictable variety show way. You know, there's a formula when you do this sort of "people take on an unusual challenge" thing, but because they couldn't make everything happen neatly and were trying to be honest and film things as they really happened, it didn't fit that formula. So we get to see the reality, but then we also get to see things being more fake when they try to push that formula. IT'S SO COOL.

And yeah, Arashi really are so sweet. I'm a big Hanamaru Cafe junkie, and the host is always like, "Arashi get along so well" and sometimes the member that's on is like "Do we really?" and I think that they relate to each other differently than to their outside friends, so they don't realize it, but if you watch them and then other groups, it's really obvious that they get along really well. :D

2) No, it's not shameful at all. I mean, I had braces. So do most people. I think there is a thing where stars aren't supposed to have had physical modifications, you know? They're just supposed to be perfect. My interest, however, is just because I find it really entertaining and interesting when you see someone's perfect smile all the time, and then all of a sudden you watch an old video of them and they have adorable crooked teeth.

Although I think there is also something a little more racy about the way the Johnny's boys get their teeth fixed - it seems to often take the form of extreme dental surgery to immediately transform their smiles into perfect. Maru we saw with braces, but Ohno went from crooked to straight pretty quick, I think. So the list was actually sort of made with that in mind - although I ended up including Maru as well, it was less "Who's had dental work?" and more "Who's had massive oral surgery?"

But even then, it's not shameful or anything. Only a big deal to me because of the drastic changes in appearance. With Nino, it's because I fetish his tiny perfect teeth a lot. So i want them to be, as it were, God-made, and not man-made. XD Kinda like if someone had a huge crush on Angelina Jolie and then suddenly found out her looks were due to plastic surgery (not that they are! I have no clue) or that she has fake breasts or whatever.

Oh my god, the glasses! I think about that one a lot. XD Katie and I are always "Who do you think actually wears them, and who do you think just has cosmetic glasses, who do you think has contacts but is never photographed in glasses??" XD

I haven't seen this Yamapi has fixed teeth post. XD I'm so confused about that boy's mouth right now. Was it at the NEWS comm? I miss a lot there, because I don't have them on my friends page and with only 8 entries on a page, and my lack of strong interest in NEWS, I tend to get lazy about skipping back pages, it's a pain.

3) Yeah, I've just been hearing more about Takki because Katie loves him lots, but yeah, apparently he was quite eager to move away from home, and his dad was, if not completely absent, not a large factor in his childhood. Possibly totally gone.

See, you heard about Nino's parents, too! Good, cos I've been wondering where I heard that.

Okada is from Osaka, so yeah, I guess that's why his entrance is so intense. Where he was raised by his piano-playing mom and sister. XD I get the impression that they're all kind of geniuses - you know how Okada pushes himself really hard and ends up perfect at everything he does? I think that's a family trait.