So, as some of you may have noticed, I was away from the studio for a good 5 days or so to hit Anime Expo 2010~!

It's been about 6 years since I had last attended and BOY have things changed. It's the 2nd (or 3rd?) year at the Los Angeles Convention Center and that entire area has really developed over the past 6 years. New theaters, new restaurants, new everything. o_o; I got lost too many times to count. I think I only got my bearings on the last day. :O

So here's the run down of my days in attendance!

Continue reading "[Report] Anime Expo 2010!" »

So... I met Ai Kago on Thursday. o_o;

Continue reading "[Random] Ai Kago in Hawaii" »

It's not much of a secret -- for some reason, I really like J-idol music. The cuter, the better? XD;

The latest <3? Watarirouka Hashiritai's "Akkanbe Bashi."

This is a sub-unit from the larger entity of AKB48 - which was originally 4 members, but recently expanded to 5.

Yes, it's a children's folk song and the accompanying dance is really cute.

In fact, the participants at the end of each dance cycle end with either a bow and a shrug or an "akkanbe" - a :P face and a pull of your lower eyelid - and a cheer... denoting their like or indifference to their partner. (BTW - "akkanbe" signals your like for your partner.)

Continue reading "[Random] Akkanbe :P!" »

First Scott e-mailed me about this cute amigurumi pair, then TempleDog -- It's such a good thing that I had to pass it along. :D

兎野U / Usagino U and 熊野900 / Kumano 900 make up U900, a terrific ukulele duo.

Find out more about them in this video:

For locals familiar with Hawaiian music may recognize some of their licks in some of their videos, but they also have a CD out with their covers of Ventures songs: Ukulele Ventures.

In the meanwhile, you can watch more at Yosuke Kihara's youtube channel or befriend the duo at their MySpace page!

It's my hope that one day Anpan and Nemu will meet this pair and jam out. :D

Now, just how many American folk have heard of Eyeko?

I certainly wasn't familiar with it until recently, and it was thru a couple randomly found youtube reviews when looking for new lip balms/lip glosses to try. (Again, I love lip balms, glosses and treatments. I have quite the growing collection... If you have a glowing recommendation, please send it my way~ :D)

Upon first hearing the name, you'd think the brand was Japanese with some weird spelling... but in fact, it's a London-based company. The spelling is intentional, but if you check out their site, you'd know exactly whom their target audience is.

Like the Bonne Bell and Wet n' Wild, Eyeko is aimed at the younger teen crowd with cute and bright packaging and budget pricing. Most of the products are basic - eyeliners, mascaras, nail polishes, lip glosses, and creams. Also, most have a bit of shimmer to them.

Because the prices were so affordable and they had a free shipping offer, I jumped at the opportunity to try a few things out.

So I'll be detailing my haul behind the cut~

Continue reading "[Reviews] Eyeko London Makeup Haul + Giveaway [Closed!]" »