One more on the shelves...

BoA's Best & USA album is some sort of reverse marketing ploy aimed at the Japanese and Americans who like Japanese pop culture? It's a 2-CD album; the first CD being a compilation of her Japanese singles and the other CD being her english album. I guess her self-titled US album is available here (in the US) by itself. I have to admit that I like her music and foray into the US market better than Utada's attempt. She carries her own style of dance music into her english album and the lyrics sound natural. The whole USA album is club music, and her debut single, Eat You Up, is actually the weakest/cheesiest song. The other tracks are more fun. The track, Touched, sounds exactly like a Pussycat Dolls' song which is probably a compliment. My only real criticism is that they use her robot-voice 99% of the time. I guess it hides her Korean accent just like it hides Britney Spears' lack of singing voice? If it were between Boa and Utada, my money's on BoA being more successful in the US market. I'm not a huge fan of club music outside a club, but I can appreciate her USA album. It's not bad. The compilation CD is just a standard compilation of her ballads, pop and dance songs. Hey, BoA is signing at Forever 21 and Utada is signing at Sephora? I have to say Sephora seems like the upscale place, but the Forever 21 crowd has a wider reach. Yay for asian artists working themselves into the US market.

What? Jim Carrey and Ewan Mcgregor have a new gay film that is possibly too gay for the theaters? Where's oryssein?

Who's writing this stuff?

Kuroshitsuji 22-23! The anime version of the Queen is rather bland. I thought it was Angela in disguise. Ciel and Sebastian travel to Paris to see why the Queen wants to start a war. She turns out to be ‘mental’ since the loss of her husband. And she gets tossed aside fairly quickly. For someone who rules a country and the Phantomhive family, what a waste of a character. Sebastian gets pissed after Ciel chooses to retreat after giving an order to kill the Queen. As freaky and grotesque as the anime can be, it makes no sense at times. Ash growing boobs?..propositioning Sebastian?...what was that?

Skip Beat 24! Ren mopes around with Bo since being kicked off the set. So the last episode will be the episode where Ren realizes he is in love? That seems pretty anti-climactic. I thought there was going to be 52 episodes, but I was wrong.

Time for a list

I think all the shows I am currently watching will finish up within the next 2-3 weeks.

List of Distractions that may occupy my time this Spring~~~
ANIME:
Firstly, a list of anime that I'd like to finish:
Casshern Sins - sampled 3 great, but depressing episodes...would like time for more.

And the new shows:
Full Metal Alchemist ('Brotherhood' is the subtitle the overseas broadcast is giving it) - the news sites say it's planning to run as long as it takes to get to the end of the manga...soooo 3 years from now, I'll get my Armstrong sibling battle?
Eden of the East - already mentioned that I like the trailer
Sengoku Basara - just curious about this one.
Pandora Hearts - another curiosity
07 Ghost - BL fanservice
Ristorante Paradiso - it’s about old men who run a restaurant....old men...

DRAMAS:
Firstly, dramas that I want to finish:
Love Shuffle - friends with benefits and bad jokes.
Painter of the Wind - incidentally skimmed the movie version and maaan, that has a lot of sex and plain prn. I'm halfway through the tv series and no prn in sight. good.
The Return of Iljimae - skimmed some of the first episode. It looks lovely.

New dramas to taste:
Atashinchi no Danshi - 4/14 Maki Horitaka and Jun Kaname..please be funny.
Smile - 4/17 Matsujun and a woman who cannot speak...score!
Boku no Imouto - 4/19 where I hope there is no incest. Joe Odagiri leads this.