Stormy Waves

This is an experimental blog. Currently it is restricted to friends only. Please comment to be added. I've not decided what I want to do with this yet. It would most probably be for uploading and sharing my Arashi clips, music and other stuff related to Arashi.

Arashi being a boyband from Japan.

If I decide to expand on that, I'll think about it. Please let me know if you have added me to your neighbourhood. Since most of my posts are friends only, I'd like to know who is reading. Even if I'm in your  neighbourhood, it does not mean that you'll read my friends and family posts which 80% of them are so categorised.

If you're in my flist, as a courtesy, you may share the files I have but do not claim them as your own. The copyrights to the files belong to Arashi, their labels, the TV stations, Radio Stations and J-Storm. If I  do post files that are shareable they are most probably found in my clubbox.

All watermarked files belong to the person that watermarked it and is not shareable. I may share them with my friends at my discretion. Unless stated otherwise, please observe the general posting, crediting, unofficial rules.

Please introduce yourself, I don't bite. Thanks.

Also, This is the original Arashi Fan's Location map which was started by Baby Pixie and few of us in IRC a couple of years ago. Do add yourself in there if you haven't done so already.

If you have a yen to travel with no obligations and responsibilities, how could you be a modern day gypsy?

There are many obstacles in the way. No money, no skills. Can you rely on your own 2 feet to travese the globe? I've been thinking how to make this work.

In the first place are there any modern day gypsies? Not the ones who are from the Romanov bloodlines of old but ordinary people who actually travel from place to place earning their livelihood where ever they chance to be.

In one of my whimsical weird days, I've been thinking. In today's world, one have to think about all those travelling passports, visas and such nonsense even before one can start a journey. Such a chore. Aside from that, what else is essential to be a gypsy?

My list as to what is essential:

1. A hydro/solar powered caravan to move from place to place. Walking or cycling would take far too long to travese.

2. At least 1 year's supply of instant noodles as emergency rations. At other times, one needs to be rely on the ingenuity of ones brains to trade for other wants.

3. As long as one has enough change of clothes, there is no need to carry more than is neccessary.

4. A laptop, a satellite internet connection for communication.

5. 1 digital video camera to record the passing activities for posterity and of course to upload to your personal blog.

6. 5TB of hard disks containing all the Arashi files, JDoramas, Animes and E-books to while away the boring travelling hours.

With that, I think one is all set to be a wanderer. What do you think? Can it work?

It seems there was a tiny snippet of Jun doing a promo on TVBS-G a Taiwan TV station. He spoke a bit of Mandarin in his introduction.

Anyway, I've uploaded the file to this file hosting website that seems to be legit. They offer unlimited storage and unlimited time line. Please click on the banner above for referrals. Thanks.

And the file link for download here:
http://bitroad.net/download/d314a0553666/20080513-TVBS-G-Dream-A-Live-Promo---Matsumoto-Jun.mpg.html

I've been looking for more streaming TV programs. This program works like SOPCAST. Lots of channels and the 4 TV stations from Japan is broadcasted here too.

http://pages.tvunetworks.com/downloads/index.html <-- download the latest version here.

This file is free of course. One feature that I like about this program is that it can go to full view which is in fact quite clear in comparison to KHTV. Since KHTV sometimes logs a person out, having a few more programs as backup is a good thing. 

Firstly, my account in Youtube have been permanently disabled. *shrugs* Not that I have many vids on it but it's kinda sad to see Arashi files being deleted. So all the free advertising for the guys are slowly but surely being eroded away. Most fans these days I know have come to know of Arashi due to the influence of Youtube and the sharing of these files which showcase their many talents. It is a sad fact that copyright infringement is illegal. Although it is so, there is no way else that we can get to know of these wonderful guys other than these "underground" methods.

Without the sharing of files on the Internet, I doubt that they would be that hugely popular outside of Japan. I am not being biased here but the marketing of Japanese artistes is very limited overseas. It is not enough for them to cater just to the Japanese population residing in other countries. If they are to curb these free advertising and marketing from fans then it would be difficult to gain more fanbase. Looks like there will be a need for another source of sharing soon other than YOUTUBE. *let's see what we can find a bit later*

On to MediaMax. For those of you who have a free account in Mediamax, I hope you are aware that they are going to delete all your files when they migrate over to another platform and service called THELINKUP. If you don't, please read it here http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/ They have stated their intentions on this blog.

I have a paid account with them and they will migrate my files over as well. I'm offering to save the files of those of you who are in my flist. All you need to do is to send me the files and I will save the attachments into the different folders. You can have them back after you have signed up onto the new service. I will then re-transfer the files to you under your new id. I think that it is very silly and stupid of MediaMax to allow for such restrictions. They seriously have to re-think their business model.

For those of you who have my access list to the files, please be aware that there will be some changes once the migration is complete. In the meantime, if you can't download any file, please be patient. 

Okie, Keyhole TV is great! Now there is another program that I've been using. It's called SOPCAST. Currently it's ver 3.0.1.

You can download it here : http://www.sopcast.org/download/

Some screencaps:

Sopcast01

A few things to note for SopCast, it has more international appeal as it's got a whole lot more channels. Which is good. The bad thing about it is, it takes a lot of bandwidth. I notice that my browser tends to lag when streaming from SOPCAST, but I can live that as I have more than one computer where I can watch online TV and surf at the same time, while downloading files on another. The screen is bigger than Keyhole. It's more stable and not so pixelated.

Anyway, have fun with it.

I could also embed SOPCAST in this post!! YAY!! This is FUJITV:

 And NihonTerebi:

And TV Asahi

I tried to get TBS but it's not being broadcasted right now. Hopefully someone will broadcast it in the near future.

Reading is one of the many pleasures that I enjoy. From young I've always had a fascination with the written word. Truly I admire the great story tellers. These days I seldom have time to join the library to borrow books. Neither do I have time to read the books in the specified time for the loan of the books.

Over the years I've accumulated lots of books to read in my leisure time, but ever since moving to my present location, I've not been able to read the old books that I love. Luckily for me there is the Internet. I've been visiting sites that provide free books and I've also been downloading lots of e-books and audio books. I've yet to finish reading all the books I've downloaded.

Currently, I'm uploading all the books in my cyberlibrary to mediamax. As I like to share the written wealth, here is the link to it: http://www.mediamax.com/arwenna/books

There is no passwords on this link. Feel free to download the books and spend many happy hours travesting the works of all the authors. Some you'll need the Microsoft Reader, Adobe Reader or DJVU reader to read. Others you'll need Stuffit to unpack before reading. I hope you'll have lots of fun reading. Some of my favourite authors are Louisa M Alcott, Emily Bronte, Anne McAffrey, Robert Jordan, Tom Clancy and many more. In time I hope to update this cyberlibrary with more books.

Being a fan of a group of guys who are multitalented is very hard. It's difficult to buy goods and well nigh impossible to attend events unless one is prepared to go to great lengths to do so, for example overnighting it to queue for tickets, travelling miles to reach the place and sitting in front of a computer to ballot/bid for items.

This happens not just for Johnny's but it also happens for other talents. The talent agencies that manage these groups definitely know the power of mind control. Tie the carrot in front of the donkey and the donkey moves forward. The psychology of a fan is in a way the same. Tantalise with something and reap the rewards.

Much as I love the guys that make up the group called 嵐, I have a distinct abhorance for the way the upper management of J-Storm is handling their publicity. Case in point is Ohno Satoshi's Freestyle Exhibition. Yes, it is free but that does not mean that anyone can attend. Although no admittance fee is charged, they are selling "souvenir" goods that is coveted by the fans. Only those that attend gets to buy them. That is fine, very understandable but it's causing an inconvenience to the other patrons.

Why did they not anticipate the number of people that would be attending the exhibition? Some coming from overseas too. In this case the exhibition is too short a time and after all the publicity they had garnered, it is such a waste that the general public is not allowed to view the exhibition because now it has become an exclusive event meant for J-Web members only.

Being a fan, I am very proud of Oh-chan's talents and his debut in the Art world. It is really magnificent that his talents are show cased in such a manner. It would be even better if the general public can view his works and not think that it is just another Johnny's gimmick. He deserves so much more than being used as a commercial for the merchandising of the "souvenir" goods.

For me, I am not envious at all of the fans that got to view his art in minute detail and leisurely time. Neither am I envious that they could buy the "souveniers". I am just very proud that Oh-chan's works are appreciated and I do want more people to appreciate it. Art in any form is only valued if it can be appreciated by the beholder. Why can't Oh-chan's works be exhibited permanently somewhere, admission need not be free, but it is there and people will know of it and can appreciate it over time. Who knows one day "Satochi" maybe as valued as the "Mona Lisa"?

I've been searching for so long for something like this!!!

Go here: http://www.v2p.jp/video/

Click on the download and install the program! It's version 2.13 now.

It's a direct online streaming program to watch Japanese TV in REAL TIME!!!

The programmer is SAIKOU! 

or = Fuji TV
= NTV
= TBS
= TV Asahi
= TV Tokyo
= Tokyo MX

Just experiment with the channels everyone.

It supports mobile content too, so if you've got a cell phone that have that feature you can install it there too.

For the last few days I've been busy at work, and tried to find time to convert my existing vob files into mp4 files for my ipod. After I've done that, I've also uploaded them to divshare for gelyn. Angel, sorry it took so long.

Anyway, the files are also uploaded to my clubbox. I wish that vox would let me upload it properly since divshare does not allow for mp4 embedding.

Arashi PVs links:

A.Ra.Shi , Sunrise Nippon , Typhoon Generation , Kansha Kangeki Ame , Kimi no Tame ni Boku ga Iru , Jidai , A Day in Our Life , Nice na Kokoroiki , All or Nothing , Pikanchi , Michi , Tomadoinagara , Hadashi no Mirai , Lucky Man , Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono , Pikanchi Double , Hero , Hitomi no Naka no Galaxy , Sakura Sake , Wish , Kitto Daijoubu ,  Azora Pedaru ,  Love So Sweet , We Can Make It , Happiness

I've also converted HYD and HYD2 files from the SARS subbed files into mp4 formats. If anyone wants them, just drop me a line and I'll see where I can upload it to for you.