E-Day Countdown Special – Double Daily

My apologies for missing a post yesterday. ;__;

Eyes & Lips

As most of you know, there’s something really extraordinary about Eri’s eyes and lips.

Her lips curve up at the ends. [Totally, totally shaped like a turtle <3]

E-Day Countdown Special – Kakkoi Kamei

Jordan told me to stray from the serious postage and do some Eri fangirling lol. So in celebration of Eririn’s 19th birthday coming up next Sunday, I have prepared a new series called “E-Day Countdown Special.” It really isn’t anything that extraordinary on my part…Eri is what makes it extra special. <3 But basically, there will be seven countdown posts, with each post having a different Kamei theme. Then on Sunday, I will post my brain scan stuff for Eri.

Kakkoi Kamei [7 days]

Let’s begin with the killer shot in Onna ni Sachi Are PV:

My Biggest Pet Peeve

Apology: I’m going to get really complicated…

Every forum has its own reputation, and like many, I think Hello! Online is one of the friendliest H!P spheres. Reality is, things get difficult if you get your daily news from forums other than H!O. You browse through those forums, and if you just happen to read something unpleasant concerning your favorite member, you might do one of a few things: (1) Whatever, keep scrolling, (2) BASHBASHBASH, or (3) Defend your favorite member constructively.

I’m okay with certain types of bashing, so if I see something blunt like “Eri is annoying,” or “Ai is boring” I scroll over it. BUT there are exceptions. If the post is not only unpleasant, but clearly contains some sort of error which I will explain in a moment, I get all defensive about it. I don’t want to leave that comment hanging there as if I’m OK with it, neither do I want to start a war and put myself under the danger of virtual exile, so I try to write up something as unbiased as possible with back-up evidence.

Most Commonly Made Mistakes
It’s crazy how I read forums at night trying to think of a reasonable response, then go to Sociology the next morning receiving the exact definitions I need. So let’s get educational for a little bit:

Attribution error- when we attribute characteristics to someone because those characteristics stand out to one person but are not necessarily their dominating traits

Confirmation bias- when we lean toward an opinion, looking at one evidence that supports our belief while overlooking the bulk of evidence that disconfirms it

My pet peeve, as you can probably guess already, is seeing anything that contains attribution error and/or confirmation bias, especially when it concerns a favorite member. It’s misleading. What if other readers who have had no prior knowledge actually comes to believe that it’s true? Ouch, her reputation’s ruined right there. But I’ve tried stopping it.

MM Brain Scan ‘07: Takahashi Ai

Sigh, where to begin? I’ve been drafting the intro of this post on paper for nearly three weeks, and still I’ve been rewriting ever since. So I decided to start with a topic I touched on very lightly two posts back.

MM Over Everything

There’s a reason why I will always favor MM over every other J-Pop group or solo artist. MM is what changed my critical perspective on the J-Pop world into something completely different. I can no longer see idols as perfect, unreachable figures, but rather I see them as who they are, and MM is as girl-next-door as you can get. Girls who can sing well are great, girls who can dance well are great, and as for girls who can sing well and dance well? Even better. However, there’s nothing in these girls that is more attractive to my eyes than genuine, authentic personalities. It’s because I love them that I would naturally want to accept their shortcomings and poke fun at them; it’s because I love them that I would naturally feel disappointed if they get involved in a heavy scandal.

Ai is Love, Literally, and All of the Above

Usually, I have to get wordy when it comes to explaining my favorites, but I’m thinking you would probably hate to read a reiteration of the same exact stuff you have been reading on International Wota for the past few weeks, so I’m not going to make a list of reasons to love. I’m going to throw you an OPV that caught my attention right-on as soon as it began to play.

To tell you the truth, when I figured it was entirely composed of PB making-of clips, I didn’t expect much. But there was something about this OPV. She captured my undivided attention from the start. I wish I could deliver exactly how I was feeling as I was watching it, as I thought non-Ai fans would probably feel something different, or nothing at all, but I really don’t know how to start. I sensed a conglomeration of emotions gathering, slowly, and everything I feel about Ai-chan was coming together. It was like water being drained from the tub, with the last few liters immediately passing through the hole and making that sound, except in slow motion.

So I thought I could probably explain my feelings by answering my own question, “What is it about Ai-chan that makes you love her so much?”

…Then I realized that’s almost like trying to answer “what is it about your mom that makes you love her so much.” I just don’t know how to do it.

This is weird because I can answer that about Gaki-san and even Kame-chan (the next and final one in this blog series). I thought I might receive some inspiration by watching the OPV a couple of times, but all it did was leave me speechless. Sometimes I get a writer’s block, but I know this time that words just won’t do the deeds. Wu-san once wrote to me, “Sometimes, keep it simple.”

Perhaps I’m beginning to learn my lesson: Just leave it to that OPV up there! Nah, I didn’t mean that exactly…but what I’ve been meaning to say without sounding biased is, I love everything about her. I see her face, and it makes me look like an idiot smiling at my own monitor screen. It’s because I love her that I don’t mind her shortcomings – she admits them and tries hard. And what’s better than poking fun at bokeboke Ai? (poking fun at bokeboke AiEri, maybe)