I haven't been posting much the past couple of days and for a very good reason: Stardust is moving to a new server! Ray, the owner of intlwota.com, offered to host my blog on his website and thus I've made the switch from blogspot to wordpress. Along with all this comes a brand new layout, which I hope everyone will enjoy, and lots more features which I hope to be able to implement once I figure out what everything does :P

A few people helped me but you can read all about that in the introductory post at the new blog. For now check it out and let me know what you think. The url for the site is intlwota.com/stardust - so update your bookmarks and blogrolls please.

This blogger site will no longer be updated but I'll leave it intact for now.

NEWS: They've done numerous TV appearances and press conferences, have tons of articles about their debut plastered all over the Taiwanese media ... so what next for Ice Creamusume's promotion for their album 1st Best!? Why! Street performances, of course!

The girls hit the streets with megaphones to promote their debut mini-album which was released yesterday in Taiwan. Watch the girls below as they perform their title song Lian Ai Deng Chang in all their megaphone glory!

PREVIEW: co・no・mi・chi, Buono!'s newest single, is released in just 10 days and the PV is finally here (curtosy of everyone's favourite Dohhh Up!)

While I wasn't really optimistic about this song from the LQ rip I'd heard, I do actually really enjoy this PV. The theme of walking/travelling is portrayed really well and I love all the little costumes and settings. I particularly like the Safari theme where the springbok comes running past them lol. Ok so the animals all look pretty fake and silly but I'm pretty sure that's what they were going for, it's not meant to be serious (which means I can take it WAY more seriously).
The PV makes me enjoy the song much more and I think it can grow on me. The dance is also really cute - I think I'll like this performed live. All in all - a great PV.

Two good H!P PV's in two days - what is the world coming to!? LOL

PREVIEW: Kusumi Koharu is back with another single as Kirari Tsukishima, titled Happy☆Happy Sunday! I'd already pointed out from her profile pic and the concert pics that her outfit for this single is incredibly cute so I couldn't wait for the PV and it was released early this morning ^^

AHAHAHA!! This PV is so frekin strange and Koha just acts weird the whole time - but that's what makes her so endearing ^_^!! I love the Chance!-like costume alteration towards the end. She looks like a transformer :p I'm not sure I like the song but Kirari songs rarely spark much in me. It's cute and kinda catchy which I guess is the important thing. I'm just glad Koha's still releasing after the selling disaster of Papancake (which I actually liked). Happy☆Happy Sunday! isn't the new Balalaika but it's a cute song. It's already growing on me *is scared*

PREVIEW: I was tempted to title this post How NOT to Make a Good Idol PV but I decided that would be mean :P I was pretty disappointed with the PV of Lian Ai Deng Chang and thankfully they've revamped it slightly for the Japanese version of the track, Debut! ~Koi Suru Kado ni wa Fuku Kitaru~.

Things I prefer in this version are the solo shots of the girls singing and the fact that there are more shots of the dance. This however comes at a price, less shots of the girls acting all silly which was the highlight of the Taiwan PV for me. Can't win em all I guess!

Regarding the Japanese version of the song, it's really great. The girls all sound surprisingly good and, as somebody who isn't Japanese, I wouldn't really be able to tell they were foreigners (though I'm sure Japanese people probably would).
The song has grown on me so much, not that I didn't love it to start with, but I just think it's terrific now. Sure, it's extremely idol, but it's a fun catchy track.
Shenshen gets a lot of screen time in the PV which she totally deserves. Her solo lines are incredible and I'd go as far to say that she out sings Linlin (I love Lin but I find Shen's voice much easier on the ears). She also exudes charm which always helps.
Lots of ReiRei in the PV too - it seems like she's being pushed as a front girl, front and center on the album cover etc. She seems kind of nervous about this and she does come across slightly awkward in some shots of the PV but it's altogether nothing horrible, she is a cutee.
PeiPei also shines in the PV with her crazy faces and silliness. I'm glad they kept in the scene where Youko pops Pei's bubbles and Pei gives her a glare lol.
The other 3 girls are unfortunately sort of pushed back slightly. It would have been nice to see more of Youko and the others. Guu-chan seems very confident and I'm sure she'll shine in the live performances. Anchii is a bit of a manigma for me. She seems like the mysterious beauty, it's hard to read what she'll be like, especially since we haven't seen much of her (she wasn't in NEW STAR much).

Reading the comments regarding ICM on H!O totally brings me back to the whole Jun & Lin hate when they were first announced. Some people totally disgust me; If something isn't 100% pure Japanese they just totally write it off. I can understand people not being impressed with the PV (or even the song... but that would be crazy ^^) but to just say something like "nup, don't like them" or whatever a lot of them said ... yeh, that annoys me ... ^^; The girls have been thrown into recording and filming a PV for a Japanese song with little training and no prior knowledge of the Japanese language - they're trying their best and they've totally impressed me so far. They don't deserve to be written off just because they're not Japanese. I was a big supporter of Jun & Lin when they first joined and I'm a big supporter of ICM!

Somewhat good news (though somewhat bad) is that the Japanese version of the mini album will be sold exclusively at the Hello! Project 2009 Winter Elder Club Graduation Memorial Concert on January 31st. This leads me to believe that the girls will be performing which is great, but not getting an actual nation wide release isn't so great. Oh well, I'm buying the Taiwan version anyway.

I also watched Ice Creamusume's appearance on AzioTV the other day and it was a lot of fun.
The girls each got to do their own little thing. PeiPei was very cute singing Morning Coffee while Youko surprised me with her rendition of Scramble. She was actually very good and her voice even reminded me of Maki's a bit. ShenShen did a bellydance to MM's Do it! Now and it was really good lol. She did the chorus and the rap bit and it was very cool. They also played charades and ReiRei was a master at guessing - Her and ShenShen did very well. A few of the girls showed off some silly faces too.
I'll do a full review of it if it ever gets upped to youtube.

I've just realized my last two posts have been pretty long. I tend to ramble without thinking and since I type pretty fast, it ends up an essay before I know it ^^; Do you guys like reading the longer posts or do you prefer shorter, more to the point posts - or even a combo of both? Let me know and I'll keep writing accordingly ^_^