^ Thanks, simone. It's a mad, mad world, it is, but already it feels like home, hahaha.

Walshie, Gahhhh, you actually posted it!!! Kanpai!!!

I'm in no way, shape or form a SMAP fan, so please excuse my presence in your thread. I just wanted to say that I read Ender's Girl's review on that site, and it has to be one of the funniest things i've EVER read

Anime Dad wrote:

I'm in no way, shape or form a SMAP fan, so please excuse my presence in your thread. I just wanted to say that I read Ender's Girl's review on that site, and it has to be one of the funniest things i've EVER read

EG does have a way with words.

Hey guys, those were some of the nicest things anyone's said about... my online persona, lol. Your words of encouragement are much appreciated. Thank you! (Or, to be true to JDorama, I guess I should say... "SanQQQQ." )

Anime Dad wrote:

I'm in no way, shape or form a SMAP fan, so please excuse my presence in your thread.

Lollllzzzzz Good thing you prefaced your post with that disclaimer, lest you get lumped in with all these SMAP groupies and Kimura-worshipping weirdos, tsk tsk... I hope you remembered to disinfect (and fumigate!) your PC upon leaving this thread! <J-Pop Idol wave> Bye-bye! Mwahahahahaha

Ender's Girl wrote:

Lollllzzzzz Good thing you prefaced your post with that disclaimer, lest you get lumped in with all these SMAP groupies and Kimura-worshipping weirdos, tsk tsk... I hope you remembered to disinfect (and fumigate!) your PC upon leaving this thread! <J-Pop Idol wave> Bye-bye! Mwahahahahaha

Yeah... I mean, if anyone read any of my other posts they might still think that LOL. All that worship of wooden JPop idols

bmwracer wrote:

EG does have a way with words.

Totally agreed.

E.G., looking forward to your new works/projects.
_________________

T.K Online // a Takuya Kimura Fansite
http://kimuratakuya.jimdo.com/

Anime Dad wrote:

All that worship of wooden JPop idols

Hee hee hee!!! Don't you just looove funny puns... and punny fun!

Oh, but don't you know? These so-called "wooden JPop idols" (carved out of Japan's finest... pine logs, ehhh? MatsuJun? ) have been whittled with painstaking precision by the downloading-numbed fingers of a hundred-thousand fan girls, and then lovingly varnished to glossy perfection with the tears of a hundred-thousand Japanese housewives. So better take a good look around you before posting a reply--'cause you're treading on holy ground, my friend.

Ender's Girl wrote:

Hee hee hee!!! Don't you just looove funny puns.. and punny fun!

I do... very much

Quote:

Oh, but don't you know that these "wooden JPop idols" (carved out of Japan's finest... pine logs, ehhh? MatsuJun? ) have been whittled with painstaking precision by the downloading-numbed fingers of a hundred-thousand fan girls, and then lovingly varnished to glossy perfection with the tears of a hundred-thousand Japanese housewives. So better take a good look around you before posting a reply--'cause you're treading on holy ground, my friend.

I have an anime - style giant robot suit, so i'm safe.

But don't you mean whittled with painstaking precision by the gnarled fingers of Johnny Kitagawa?

It's a shame Tu isn't around at the moment - he would be loving this

Ender's Girl wrote:

I hope you remembered to disinfect (and fumigate!) your PC upon leaving this thread! <J-Pop Idol wave> Bye-bye! Mwahahahahaha

We wear gloves and irradiate before and after use.

Anime Dad wrote:

I have an anime - style giant robot suit, so i'm safe.

bmwracer wrote:

We wear gloves and irradiate before and after use.

Wow... that was just... six different kinds of geeky, lol.

Anime Dad wrote:

But don't you mean whittled with painstaking precision by the gnarled fingers of Johnny Kitagawa?

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Damn, but it's so hard to keep your poise in a cafe when you're spraying coffee through your nose and involuntarily regurgitating your chicken salad sandwich. )

This is one of those "I wish I had thought of that, dammit!" moments. Could not. Have said it better... I hope you're feeling pleased with yourself!

Oh gawwd, the mental images that line has carved into my brain... *cries blood*

HappyBirthday to My Favorite Smap Member Nakai

Just a few idle remarks re SMAP.
Was never sure why they were ever called a 'boy band' since they don't play instruments as a group.
Quite understand the name...the original programme was made up of Sports events and contests, lots of Music and singing, Assembled assorted people from many walks of life and People with something to say or do that was interesting.
Hence S.M.A.P obviously correct.

This is a group of guys who started out twenty years ago knowing very little about show business. They were put together and taught everything from scratch. Sing. Dance. Be funny, Be everything that will interest an audience. After that learn to act. Learn martial arts. Learn acrobatics and anything that would be considered professional enough for any musical production on any stage in the world.
Takes a lot of talent and very hard work to stay together and improve for so many years. They are still a group but they are now individuals within that group. Quite a feat for such a varied ensemble.

So..now they are AGING????? Please....They can still do the things they did with great ability. No-one can move the way Kimura moves to a beat.
They give everything when they are live on stage and it takes something pretty good to make fifty or sixty thousand people thrilled and happy. From infants brought by parents to grandmothers who love those performers they all come back again and again. They must be doing something right....

There is no reason they can't keep on making us laugh and applaud for many more years.

Have you every heard of 'THE BEATLES... MICK JAGGER... AEROSMITH

ERIC CLAPTON ( who writes for Kimura and SMAP at times)....

Really could go on but just would say these people are in their SIXTIES now and still making great music and prancing about a stage.(Have you seen the concert where Kimura did his JAZZ solo and made us all think of Mick Jagger with every move??)

Michael Jackson was FIFTY when he died and he admired SMAP.

It is easy to poke fun at the ones on the top of the mountain, but maybe they should be admired and given credit if only for hard work and tenacity in the face of constant, but unavailing critics.

Just a few thoughts ... a happy SMAP admirer.

Peggy

Happy Birthday, Nakai-kun!
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Hi there, Peggy, happy SMAP admirer!

Enjoyed reading your take on the matter, always do. Actually, in-between my Jdoramas I've been watching random clips from SmaxSma, plus their music videos (called "PVs", apparently), and a smattering of Pop Up! SMAP performances. And I say this with all honesty: I am having a blast! Favorite SmaxSma sketch so far: Tsuyoshi's Midsummer Night's Dream-- ROFL!!! (Tsuyopon 4 Lidah! Lidah! Lidah! Tsuyopon 4 Prez!) Favorite guestings: When Michael Jackson visited their studio (hahahah those dudes were reduced to barely coherent fanboys! "Mai-kel... Jak-son? Mai-kel... Jak-son?" ), and Josh Hartnett and Lee Byung-hun's Close Encounters with Shingo Mama, lol. Favorite out-of-town trip: When Goro sent the SMAP 4 off in search of the perfect wine, and they ended up drinking it themselves... I could go on and on, but I just wanted to say how much I've come to like the SMAP dudes just being themselves. Nakai is really the perfect host/emcee: he can deftly steer an interview in any direction, plus he's affable and funny to boot. Tsuyoshi is the sweetest guy ever, Shingo's this big, fun-loving kid, and Goro surprised me by doing comedy pretty well. SMAP isn't a group you'll appreciate at face value; it's when you've come to know them as individuals that endears them to you.

As for the "boy band" label, it still makes sense because a band is defined as a "group of people who have a common interest or purpose," so it doesn't necessarily have to involve instruments. Besides, the usage of the term didn't start with SMAP, so it's really a moot issue. Boy bands as a legitimate, full-blown trend (in Western music, at least) were spawned in the late '80s, with NKOTB as the "first commercially successful modern boy band" (Wiki). (Ah, NKOTB... I remember liking them as an eleven-year-old, haha.)

As for the SMAP acronym, I'm not disputing the semantics of the words used--I'm sure there was a complete thought there somewhere (lol) that dribbled down from Johnny Kitagawa's desiccated brain when he first coined the name, but I just find the syntax to be terribly funny. That's why Engrish is so bloody entertaining: you get the main idea, but the phrasing is all screwed up. Case in point: Over at www.Engrish.com there's this recent post showing a children's t-shirt spotted in Tokyo, with this printed on the front: "Fantastic Dream! Miracle Happy days It's really nice time always with you."

The more I watch SMAP the more I admire all that hard work they put in day after day. The dramas, the rehearsals, the recording sessions, the concerts, their 1 million TV shows, the radio shows, the promotion work, the movie premieres, the on-location shoots, etc. etc. It's a charmed life I'm sure, but an extremely demanding one, too. So I appreciate all their hard work, really I do. That being established, I still have to say I'm not quite impressed with ALL their singing/dancing/acting skills. Kimura is a first-rate dancer, that's a given. He has that amazing bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and coordination that all naturally talented dancers and athletes possess. Nakai has good moves, but he's not great. As for the other guys, I guess all those years in a boy band haven't quite turned them into Dancing Gods. And I'm not exactly holding my breath.

As for the singing, they can all carry a tune (except Nakai, lol), but their limited singing talent becomes more conspicuous when they perform alongside a much better singer--one who can actually stay in tune. But I totally agree that they sure know how to entertain. I used to wonder why all of freaking Japan loves them so much, but now I understand. They may have their flaws and shortcomings as performers and, er, tarento, but the bottom line is they're great entertainers, period.

(It wouldn't be fair for me to pass judgment on their acting skills, because aside from Kimura, I haven't seen the others act. And I'm not counting the 1994 SMAP movie SHOOT! / HIT THE GOAL, because that was sooo long ago and (who knows?) the SMAP 4 *may* have improved since.)

About The Beatles/Aerosmith/The Rolling Stones (let's throw in my ichiban U2, as well), er... these guys play instruments, so it's easier for them to keep rocking it well into their 60s (the U2 gents are hewing close to the 50 mark). Musicians can just stand there on the stage and do their thing. Not so if you have several dancing and singing routines on your lineup, eh? It's not hard to imagine The Stones doing their nth world tour at 75, because all they'd need to do is play their instruments, but I can't imagine SMAP performing the same choreography to "Dangan Faita" as geriatric J-idols 30 years from now. I'm sure SMAP still have a good 5-8 more years left enjoying their exalted status as dancers/singers/sex icons (okay, just Kimura, lol), but if they want to stay in the business they'll need to seriously rethink their packaging as artists--soon. Maybe concentrate on acting and hosting, cut a couple more albums perhaps. But certain things will have to go--like the flashdance choreography (lol) and the grueling concert tours, even the time-honored tradition of taking their shirts off on their final gig, hahaha. But, well, that's life. Everybody grows old, idols and fans alike.

Hi there darlin,
You are surely into SMAP hook line and sinker. I am so pleased with your digging into their talented lives beyond the singing routines.
They are all interesting people and I often wonder how they stayed together so long in a mostly harmonious group. Of course there is always the contract and the money aspect of it all. However, not many groups stick together doing so many varied productions. It's a really great work ethic at the bottom I think.

Nakai is the one who will never retire from what he is now doing. He is the quintessential HOST and M.C.

Kimura will surely deal more with the acting side of his career but I imagine he will always have an interest in songwriting or music in one way or another. If he is surfng when he is fifty which I would expect, then he will stil be able to move to music...

They all can do so many things in the artistic events. They can draw and paint. Even they can attempt serious ceramics They surprise me still at times with their efforts.
They put across their songs and at times they do all sing the right word at the right time and in tune. Actually Kimura can sing 'Wonderful Tonight' (in English no less,) for me, any time any where.
That reminds me of a song.

"Somehow dear, when you're near, All my cares disappear,
Anytime is summertime with you......"

It's all SMAP and it's all Good, E.G.

Peg

http://smap.softbank.jp

I love this series of cm...
_________________

Kinki Kids were on Smap x Smap? That's the first time a Johnny's kouhai has been a bistro guest, right?

Yeah,, I'm dying to watch this episode soon...

LivNagisa wrote:

Kinki Kids were on Smap x Smap? That's the first time a Johnny's kouhai has been a bistro guest, right?

_________________

The one aNd only SMAP
sUppOrT SMAP, bUy oRigInaL
nAkAi mAsAhIrO aI sHitEru yo~~~

LivNagisa wrote:

Kinki Kids were on Smap x Smap? That's the first time a Johnny's kouhai has been a bistro guest, right?

"For the times they are a-chayyyyynging..."

SMAPxELAINE wrote:

Yeah,, I'm dying to watch this episode soon...

This should be lovely! I don't care so much for the kouhais after KinKi to be on the show but I'd love for TOKIO and V6 to be on it too!
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Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!

colorbar credits to nannandesuka@LJ