Year End Review: Hits and Misses

Ah, so it has come to this. Half a year of work and here I am, still alive and kicking. I booted up this blog back in June and since then I've had quite a few hits and misses with my posts. One good thing that came out of this is that I've finally developed a fine-tuned blogging tempo, so I've managed to maintain some measure of regularity. That being said, not all of my posts are a hit, and many of them are misses.

So to honor the failures, as well as the glory this year has brought me as a blogger, here are this blog's top 5 Hits and Misses for the year of 2012~ Enjoy!

The Hits

1.  Earworm: 2NE1 - I love You
Posted on July 7 || 11210 page views

By far my most popular post of the year, my review (or rather incomprehensible fangirl flailing) over the music video, music and fashion of 2NE1's I Love You somehow came up on top of the list with a staggering amount of views. I'm pretty sure recurring searches of 'Dara's new hair' or 'Dara's shaved head' were what made this post as popular as it was but there were also a few searches on the extravagant nail art and styling that the girls are so well known for. With this video being one of the most stylish this year, it's no wonder it has thousands of pageviews ahead of the rest of my posts. Read more about it here...

2. Art Post: The World Ends With You
Posted on August 29 || 2692 pageviews

One rather unexpected post to hit the top with search occurrences was my art post on one of my favorite DS games ever, The World Ends With You. In this post I present the above picture of my fanart (along with the uncolored version) of Neku and Shiki, two of my favorite characters in the game. I'm not the best artist in the world, but I'm really happy this post is out there grabbing some attention :) Read more about it here...

3. Wishlist: Avengers Inspired Fashion
Posted on June 24 || 1966 pageviews

With the awesomeness that is The Avengers hitting the screens early this year, it's no wonder one of my more popular posts comes with the words 'Avengers-inspired'. Most of this post's popularity however is attributed to the wonderful styling found at character-inspired-fashion.tumblr.com so if you guys are looking for similar posts, why not check them out? Read more about it here...

4. Jdramas, Sprout and Grouplove
Posted on July 10 || 1540 pageviews

Haha, one of my more shameful obsessions last year was with this Japanese Drama, Sprout, and the awesome soundtrack that came with it. The combination of Chinen Yuri, Jesse Lewis, a whole slew of Johnny's talents and the awesome backtracks from Grouplove probably brought most of the audience to this post. Ah, the power of music and hot Japanese boys running topless on a beach lol. Read more about it here...

5. Review: Etude House Goodbye Pore Ever
Posted on November 23 || 1075 Pageviews

And one of my prouder achievements as a beauty blogger, especially with this review just being posted a month ago is my review on Etude House's Goodbye Pore Ever Pore Primer Stick, and for good reason! It's an awesome product which still serves me well up to now. Read more about it here...

Of course not all my posts were as popular, or as well received as these. At the same time, I'll admit, I post some of the weirdest crap sometimes, and a lot of times I go a little bit overboard. Here are the top 5 Misses, not necessarily because they have low view counts, but for one reason or another haha.

The Misses (but not really)

1. OMGWTFBBQ
Posted on June 2; For the first post

Need I say more?

Yeah this marks my return to the blogosphere with what I consider to be my first real post in my formal blogging career hahaha. It leaves a lot to be desired IMO, and I think I was partially on crack while writing this haha. Not to mention I post a few videos of my horrible singing where I'm about ten pounds heavier than I am now. OH GOD WHY. Don't Read more about it here...

2. Discussion: Japan and Copyright Law
Posted on June 23; For the threat that wasn't really a threat

One of the things I'm most passionate about in life is the circulation of free information. So when something threatens that, especially if Japanese media is involved, I get all bat-crap-crazy. Unfortunately for me though, while I was making such a huge fuss over this, nothing really changed and the world moved on, because apparently the law didn't exactly make streaming pirated videos illegal, just the permanent downloading of them into your PC hahaha. What a dud. Don't Read more about it here...

3. I WON A SIGNED CD.
Posted June 12; For the most overwhelming achievement with a rather underwhelming response

This was honestly probably my greatest achievement last year, aside from the time when I was able to stay in the same hotel on the same floor as one of my favorite Japanese boybands ever and greet them every night when they came back and every morning when they left hahaha.

This CD I got from a giveaway/contest by some of my favorite youtubers, Simon and Martina. I wasn't expecting to win at all when I joined this giveaway, but lo and behold, MY SIGNED CD FROM SISTAR! Unfortunately, not very many were as excited as I was haha. It's like that awkward moment when you're bouncing around the room in a giddy fit and the people around you are just staring blankly into space haha. Well, that's life. Don't Read more about it here...

4. Experimenting
Posted July 15; For Noobish Photoshop and Makeup Skills

At the start of my transition into incorporating makeup and beauty posts into this blog, let's just say I was quite awkward with the camera and abused a few photoshop filters here and there hahaha. Just looking at this picture makes me cringe. Don't Read more about it here...

5. Sembreak Goal #2 Getting My Licence 
Posted October 22; For a thing that never happened

And one of my biggest fails this year ever. Saying that I'd get my driver's licence by sembreak and not actually doing it haha. I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON LOL. I've known how to drive this baby for ages and I can't even do it becaue I'm too lazy to go to the LTO (our version of the DMV). Damnit. By next year I should be driving and completely mobile! *resolute* Don't Read more about it here...

Haha. So that wraps up my blog's hits and misses for this year. Coming up will be a year end review of all the awesome fashion, food and music this blog has come to offer, as well as a special mention to one of the little guys who's made this blog a little more fun to read.

See you soon!
Ada, Signing out.

Discussions: Japan and Copyright Law

And now for the weekly dose of unexpected seriousness. Watch and Read

In all honesty, I'm not surprised that the Japanese Government was sneaky and cunning enough to succeed where the United States of America and other European governments failed miserably, keeling over at the of the people's power. It was a great victory for us with SOPA and PIPA, but now people are running around in a sudden panic now that Japan has been so abruptly affected.

But here's the thing. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but Japanese copyright laws have always been strict. In a sharp parallel to how Japan has chosen to isolate itself for the most part of its imperial history, the same goes for its technology, media and a lot of its culture. Hence the elusiveness of Japanese MVs, adverts, commercials and shows on Youtube, save probably those that have gone viral like human tetris and that weird passing live animals by the mouth video but as you guys have probably noticed, they're in all in LQ and those few that have withstood the tests of time have much lower viewership than those that originally uploaded but taken down. Sucks, huh?

It especially sucks to be a Jpop fangirl because while Kpop is so readily available because somehow Korean Entertainment industries have grasped the concept of social media so well (twitter, youtube and facebook) and now market their idols as if they were inanimate products for sale, which in some lights says a lot about how objectified Kpop Idols are nowadays, but I digress. Japanese idols however are much more private and the public in Japan have to abide by much stricter rules when it comes to fandom. Heck, the Johnny's Entertainment Artist Image ban was lifted only just recently. Do you guys remember the days when we'd get Japanese Drama advertisements and the main character's face was blurred out or cartoonized so ridiculously because he was a Johnny's artist?

Yehp, that's Johnny's for you. (source: dramacrazy.net)

It is for that reason that IMO, Japanese youtubers have come up with some of the most unique things to make videos about. Take for example RRcherrypie. And despite it all, Japanese dramas, music and media has still manage to reach us in foreign countries due to the continued efforts of Chinese and Japanese fans out there. So much so that we forget that technically they're risking a lot just by doing so.

Thus, this might bring people to automatically think that even as this new bill to take copyright law in Japan to a whole new level of crazy is passed, sources of our well-loved Japanese media will still always be there, and to some degree, that's correct. But that doesn't mean we should sit around doing nothing, because this bill is so much more than that.

While we may not be affected directly (because there will always be brave Chinese fangirls souls out there ready to risk it all to upload an episode of Hey!Hey!Hey! or the latest hit drama), it is the Japanese viewers that will have to take the brunt of the ridiculousness of this bill. Seriously - what if youtube actually is declared illegal in Japan, what then? And while we may argue that implementation of the law will be much harder than passing it and we have a good five years of preparing for the worst of it when the time comes that it does start to affect us, I'd like to rebut by saying this is JAPAN we're talking about. They are capable of just about anything (well, not really, but they're pretty close). If they managed to pass this new amendment to their copyright laws so discretely, trumping the U.S. and Europe's efforts in the process, they're damn sure to be able to follow through with it  much better than either of those superpowers would have ever been capable of doing.

That aside, what does this mean about all the illegal Karaoke bars out there that don't pay royalties to use songs for drunk Japanese businessmen to jam to? Kidding aside, this is a serious issue, and I guess I'm just playing my part by trying to make you guys aware.

Fangirls, advocates of Japanese Culture and all your hentai pervs out there (I know you exist. You're part of this problem too) - you're all affected.

Make yourself aware.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/258086/jail_time_fines_for_illegal_downloads_debated_in_japan.html
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/21/3105758/japan-illegal-downloads-criminal-offense

That's it. Serious-mode deactivate. Here, hava Rick Roll.

What do you guys think about this new law? Will you be directly affected? Leave a comment below.