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.

Sprout Ep2: Screenshots, Music

 Hey guys! Last week I posted about my new found love for a Jdrama called Sprout, starring some of my favorite Johnny's, Chinen Yuri and Jesse Lewis, as well as Hashimoto Ryosuke, Yasui Kentaro and Tanaka Juri as side characters relevant to the drama.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't Johnny's baited into this drama, and while the drama may run at a pace too slow for most, I find it oddly refreshing.

The drama has taken a long stride away from the manga it was based off, taking liberties in actually giving roots to the main character's feelings. I'm glad they did so because now her jealousy makes sense. Is it justified? Nope, it still isn't, but at least it makes sense now haha.

I was excited for this episode for two main reasons:

1) I actually wanted to see Jesse get some lip action LOL. (Don't worry, he does).

2) I wanted to see what other Grouplove songs they'd manage to fit in.

Not to my disappointment, they craftfully managed to fit in another Grouplove song in addition to Betty's a Bombshell from last week. Awesomesauce.

Cruel and Beautiful World - Grouplove


Go ahead and close the door
I'll stand outside in the rain
A little bird just told me so
It's time to start over again

So I'll run out and take this boat
Far away from these shores

And I'll reach behind an enemy line
and find my curable cure

(Chorus)
Cause it's a cruel and beautiful world
and I got my girl
and if it seems like we're falling behind
or just slipping on top from the mouths of our mind

I buried a treasure
far off near the desert
I'm trying to find my way there
It's been too long since I've been myself
And my eyes can't see anymore

and there's a song inside of this hard of mind
and I'd like to sing it to you
Cause there's an earthquake shaking inside my country
Now what am I gonna do?

(chorus)
Cause it's a cruel and beautiful world
and I got my girl
and if it seems like we're falling behind
or just slipping on top from the mouth of our mind (hey)

Cause it's a cruel and beautiful world (cruel and beautiful world)
and I got my girl (he's got his girl)
and if it seems like we're falling behind (seems like we're falling behind)
or just slipping on top from the mouth of our mind

--------------------------

I'm not going to go as in-depth on this episode or this drama as I usually do with my movie reviews because I don't want this to turn into an episode synopsis, nor do I want to let out spoilers who haven't watched the episode yet. Instead, I'll post some relevant screen shots for your pleasure of viewing. Seriously - the shots in this drama are beautiful. Every shot seems like it was taken through an instagram filter *_*

Please credit if you're taking any of these - they took me ages to screenshot x_x

Lol I'm pretty sure you can tell who my Bias is in this drama based solely on sheer number of shots, but I'm also sure you can build up the story from these shots (albeit a bit imbalanced) :P

I honestly can't stop giggling at the height difference between Chinen and the other actors and actresses. It may be true that he has the freshest aura out of them all, but it's almost comical how his shoulder doesn't even match up to the shoulder fo the girl he's supposedly dating. In fact, he gets most of his height from the volume of his hair LOL. It's okay Chii, we still love you :P

Sigh. Great music, wonderful cinematography but a rather mediocre plot. Hey, at least we have cute boys! :P

Ada, signing out :P

Sprout J-drama Screenshot - Miku and Friends, Chinen Yuri, Lewis Jesse, Yasui Kentaro, Tanaka Juri, Kojima Fujiko, Morikawa Aoi. Ikenouchi Miku, Narahashi Souhei, Ozawa Miyuki, Katagiri Hayato