I've been pausing to take a breath on the fannish activity front. Which basically translates to.... I'm learning to let go of not seeing every single tumblr and twitter post that passes through my dashboards. Because trying to is just crazy-making, even with the tiny lists of people I've followed. How do people handle the overload of info? And how do you deal with the niggling feeling that you've missed or overlooked something awesome? OMG! Noes! it will disappear forever! ..and I will never see it again! ;)

But, I am still watching kanjani8 shows and various jdramas. Shiwake has finally moved on from the naming of various veteran actors/comedians/whatnot. I just finished up the 2011.08.03 episode - this one has an actress come in and then they bring on 5 "friends/acquaintances/co-workers" in the industry, and kanjani8 has to figure out based on their interactions, which of the 5 is actually someone that the actress does not like. Clearly right up my alley, what with having to do with interpersonal relationships and their perceptions of them. :D Maru-chan's pick was really interesting - since he picked the person she's known for 20+ years... because when asked whether they spend time privately she said that they'd gone golfing once, but not really anything other than that.... and his take was, maybe she didn't enjoy hanging out golfing with him... Which is a rather negative take on things no? :P Subaru went with the more "obvious" choice of the guy who was practically crying during their interaction because he thought he wasn't liked. lol.

They also introduced another type of challenge which I really liked - the Slot 7 thing -- where they ask questions and the members try to all come up with the same answer ie, to show that they understand each other, have teamwork, etc. they totally give Yoko a hard time XD; ...but he's totally the right person to put into the last position. XD

Oh, and I finally finished off Maru's graduation recomen episode and have started on back episodes from when he first started. I also want to listen to some of the even older ones with Yoko in them too, but. gotta prioritize somehow ;) The graduation ep was nice because they did a lot of reminiscing and they also played a few of maru's solo songs :3 2013.04.18 ep has some interesting "love advice" type talk from some relationship expert. from what I can understand, I don't necessarily agree, but then again I wouldn't recommend taking relationship advice from myself either.. so who knows.

Hmm, what else... oh right. I'm watching drama.

I finished up Ouroboros, which was awesome. Seriously one of the better jdramas I've seen. And I'm plodding my way through Samurai Sensei, which I'm having trouble with. It's cute and decent -- but believe it or not, I find Ryo-chan's inability to keep from laughing, distracting. Because it takes me out of the story, and makes Hanpeita a less believable character (because all I can see is Ryo-chan trying not to laugh. >_> ) .... perhaps Ryo-chan should stick to more serious stuff? Kamiki-kun on the other hand is mesmerizing. His Sakamoto Ryoma is darling and complex. ...it was really bad luck on Ryo-chan's part to be acting against Kamiki-kun in this. Anyhow, I just finished ep 6 and it looks like there's finally more backstory coming about what Sakamoto Ryoma's been doing in this time period. yay!

I'm also watching Naku na, Hara-chan which is cute, funny, and touching. Nagase's Haru-chan is solid, and I'm also happy to see anything with Maru-chan in it. His character is weak, but cute. ...which he is good at playing.

...and lastly I have started chinese drama. Because I can no longer ignore all the glowing raving recommendations. Nirvana on Fire. So far, it truly is as good as people have said. The intrigue is interesting and it feels smart. It's fun to guess what's happening. I'd imagine that fans of Ravages of Time would really like this.

And that's it for now~

So as part of their news segment, they talk about some juniors ranking grand prix thing.  It's like the 22nd time this ranking has happened.  I'm guessing it's something like the myojo ranking thing I talked about in the post before.

( random notes on them reminiscing on the rankings etc )

I also loved the bit where they're talking about cassette tapes/mix tapes, etc.  Because it totally IS nostalgic ....and I can identify.  But they talk about cassette tapes and making mixed tapes for people and Maru says he's never made a mixed tape for a girl he liked, but he's apparently made some kind of hora? (is this horror?) tape for a friend of his .... which was like 4 hours long or something.  lol.  Not exactly sure what kind of tape that is but I had the same reaction that Hina and staff had, which was like (?!  XD;;  )  

But Hina supposedly made one of those mixed tapes where somewhere within the tape he tells the girl that he likes her.  ^^;  I can't remember if it was because he was moving soon or something or maybe she was moving? and so he decided to do it.  But that's so cute!

 ....and then Maru's like, probably the listeners are like, wtf are these ossans talking about?  ...cause they're being all reminiscent of stuff which a younger generation doesn't get or care about.  XD;  ...and so I have to wonder if the makeup/distribution of their fans/listeners really are a lot younger?

Anyhow, I usually listen to these during my commute so when I finally get around to writing stuff down, sometimes I forget stuff.  >_>;;  But I'm really going to miss having these to look forward to.  ...although I'll probably go try and find older ones to listen to.  I'm not likely to listen to the newer JWest ones sadly.  I have mixed feelings towards them and honestly I'd rather focus what little fannish time I have on the group/idols I'm most interested in, even if it is watching/listening to their old stuff.  After all, I survived for years scrounging around for old V6 stuff :P  And Kanjani8 has plenty of activity to consume (way more than V6 did when I was really into them)

btw I am so so sad that they don't put out dvds for butai.  How the heck am I supposed to watch Maru's Macbeth?  *sob*