Monday, May 30, 2011

Japanese Lesson: Pronunciation (and beginner's words)

So I finally posted my FIRST actual Japanese lesson! I've been giving a ton of tips on how to go about learning Japanese, and now, I'm actually teaching you the language itself. This first one is very basic with a focus on how to pronounce things in Japanese. I use some beginner's words to illustrate these pronunciation rules, so by the end of it, you know how to say - and correctly pronounce - a basic introduction!

Hope to make more of these (there will be more intermediate lessons in the future as well), and I hope they were helpful. Happy learning!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Arashi: Lotus

I've reviewed Arashi's album Boku no Miteiru Fuukei before, but now I plan to write my thoughts on all of their CD's as they come out. Although it's been a little while since Lotus has come out, since it is their latest CD, that's where I'll pick up!

Here's the video version of this review by the way.



There were 3 songs on this single: Lotus, ever, and Boom Boom.

Lotus

This was the main song and it was used as the theme song for Aiba’s latest drama, Bartender. It also has its own music video where they group is dressed in all white and they do a lot of dancing. The song itself is really epic and makes you want to dance really dramatically - I loved it! It’s not a happy-go-lucky song, but it’s not super dark or anything either. When I listened to this at first, I felt like I had heard similar stuff from Arashi before, but when I thought about it, I had trouble comparing it to any singles, so it's actually pretty different for them (but in a good way!) It's nice to hear something so epic from them.

This is just a side note concerning the drama Bartender - as much as I enjoy the show, I personally think that Lotus doesn’t really fit with it too well. Something about just doesn't fit with the pacing and the tone of the drama. The show itself, or at least the first couple of episodes that I’ve seen, is a little bit slow. I like it, but it’s not particularly exciting, and then when the song comes in at the end really dramatically it kind of throws me off. It might just be me, and it really doesn't matter, it's just something I thought was a little odd. ^^

ever

This is the second song of the CD. Ever had to grow on me a little bit at first, but I really like it now. It’s a slower, romance-y ballad type of song, but at the same time it’s not too sappy, and it’s still kind of bouncy and happy too. It sort of reminds of One Love or Love Rainbow. Simple, sweet, adorable – Arashi’s really good at that.

Boom Boom 

This is the third and last song on the CD, and while I’m not really sure why, I was obsessed with this song. I want to describe it as kind of... sassy? Rebellious? Something about the tone of it is just really fun. I love the melody and the beat a lot. Also, one way I really decide if a song is good is if it’s fun to sing along with, and this one is definitely a lot of fun to sing. And it also has a bit of Sakurap in there, so yeah, I thought it was different and it ended up being my favorite song of this single.


Alright, so there’s what I think about Arashi’s latest single – overall I loooved it. Let me know what you thought of it! Soon as they come out with another CD I’ll make another one of these.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Arashi Radio Shows

Here's the Youtube video I made about Arashi's radio shows. Enjoy!