Guilty Pleasures

We all have little addictions that we indulge ourselves in. My vice is CDs and DVDs and I have been more careful recently in not going overboard. A few months back, I decided not to join my fellow VAMPires for an encore of last year's visit to Japan for Akina's concert. I am totally at ease with the decision now, though I had to admit that there was much struggle and anger then. Together, we managed to work things out and I am very happy that I am still going to live through the experience from them who are attending.

Akina has been very active recently, co-starring in a drama 「プリマダム」 and singing the ending theme "花よ踊れ". The new single will be released on the 17th May and all of us Akina fans on VAMP have decided that we are disappointed with the ugly cover and apparently Akina was too, because she replied "不思議" when asked about her first impression. It was a drawing of her when she was dancing at the age of 5/6 years old, but the scale is rather uneven and the colour unflattering. The style of drawing is apparently a big hit in the US right now and as fugly as it is, it will not stop us from buying the CD single.



Her first original album in almost 3 years "Destination" is also due a month later on 21st June, and hopefully, the cover art will be better. Her first record company, Warner Music", is also releasing a limited release deluxe box set "Akina Box", which includes all her albums from her Warner years, from her debut "ﾌﾟﾛﾛｰｸﾞ" to "Cruise".



At the price tag of ￥37,000, I have given up on this fancy idea and will settle on the individual limited releases that I don't own, which is from "ﾌﾟﾛﾛｰｸﾞ" to "Possibility". These special re-releases will replicate the style of the original LPs with a deluxe paper cover and album sleeves, which should be most interesting.

Coupled with the two new releases, I will also get three other re-released for the umpteenth time, concert DVDs that I don't own:

(a) East Live 23
(b) Bitter and Sweet 1985 Summer Tour
(c) Live in '88: Femme Fatale

Today, I received an email notice from HMV, that 堀ちえみwill be releasing a DVD of her special concert last year "Memorial Live 2005" at the end of July. I was quite amazed that her record company is rather actively releasing new works considering that her works last year did not sell very well. Her collaboration with 松本伊代 and 早見優 to form the disturbingly named group キューティー★マミー (Cutie Mommy) with their first single 「ミッキーマウス・マーチ（ファミリー・パラパラ・ヴァージョン）」 (Mickey Mouse March) - theme for "Disneyland" (Yes, it's the M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, Mickey Mouse Yah yah yah! song that I grew up with), only sold 1661 copies on its first week's debut at #72 on Oricon.



They are re-releasing the single on the 3rd May including a CD and DVD, and you can watch a cute preview of them dancing on their Avex homepage and download a video of them from the site as well. It's a homage to high camp, but they look great for their age, though thinking of them as 40 year old women and their combined 9 children, dancing in such teenage fashion causes some concern.

Their first performance and meeting fans session:

In Cold Tokyo:

Even 柏原芳恵 is releasing a new single " Ma-Ma/みえない翼" on the 24th May, but I wil give that a miss because I am not interested enough. HMV does not mention "Ma-Ma" as the A-side but her fansite indicated so with the cover (pointed out by Hamu). Thanks!

Lastly, the mother of all these "Let's look younger with every year we grow older" "trend", 松田聖子 is also releasing a box set "Seiko Matsuda", and as much as I enjoy her albums in the 80s, the exhorbitant ￥100,000 price tag is impossible. Her new single and album both titled "Bless You" is due for release in April and May, and surprisingly, the single cover is rather mature, but still non-innovative.



Looking at all these makes me feel really happy that Akina is more comfortable with her age and is allowing herself to age gracefully instead of trying to dress and act cute. To listen to her new Latin influenced dance single, you can visit our site specially dedicated to Akina Nakamori - VAMP, which I am immensely proud to be part of a wonderful and supportive team of VAMPires. Borrowing from my wonderful fellow VAMPire 乱火 who is currently milking his stay in Japan, here are some captures of Akina on television, which I think she looks so beautiful.




So, here are my guilty pleasures that I will be indulging in the next few months and I certainly hope to be squeezing some time for a trip back to Singapore, which I have yet to decide on, because I wanted to time it with Leslie's visit. However, my family has been asking me when am I planning to visit them again, and they don't usually do, so it's a little bitter-sweet because of my current indecisiveness.