If you spend any time watching Japanese television, you’ll have seen this slinky songstress apearing in commercials advertising not just her latest single but also cars, makeup or a host of other products. Starting as a teen-fashion magazine model while still in school, hitomi (she dropped her family name, Furuya, and went all lower case - very hip!) has been around longer than Hamasaki Ayumi, who in many ways she resembles, but has only lately started to catch up in the popularity stakes.

She married a design company employee in November 2002 and went “into hiding” for a year and a half. In May 2004, she started her first tour in almost two years. She got publicity for the tour by playing an unannounced “secret live” in the departures lobby of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

One of the many artists discovered and raised by J-Pop super-producer Komuro Tetsuya, hitomi got her start in music with the avex trax label in 1993. She made her debut with Let’s Play Winter in 1994 and the next year sold 400,000 copies of Candy Girl, her third single. She released three chart-topping albums and had considerable success under the guidance of Komuro, who encouraged her to write her own songs. But she really hit the big time after she went her own way in 1999.

 Like Hamasaki, she is more independent than the closely-guarded “idols” and chooses her own look, which has made her one of the fashion leaders adulated by teenage girls across the country. Her skinny frame and come-hither expression have also ensured her a large male fan base. This broad-based popularity have enabled her to make the leap from recording artist to “image” girl, with all the lucrative comercial deals that brings.

hitomi is not afraid to use her sexuality, and indeed looks up to Madonna as one of her role models in this respect. Even when dressed, she tends to leave plenty of skin showing. She has appeared nude, with strategically placed long golden locks, on an album cover (right), released a single called Sexy, and her last release with Komuro was a greatest hits album simply called H. The double entendre is lost unless you know that the letter is pronounced “etchi” in Japanese, which is slang for sex.

She knows the right names to drop to establish her credibility, listing Beck, Bjork and Radiohead as her favorite western artists and Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg and Vincent Gallo as her favorite actors.

Harry Potter Author Talks About Ending

The Associated Press
Thursday, July 26, 2007; 10:40 AM

NEW YORK — Less than a week after the release of the final Harry Potter book, author J.K. Rowling is giving hints about its conclusion.

Before publication, Rowling pleaded for secrecy about the ending of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." But in an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC’s "Today" show and in one published Thursday in USA Today, she discussed Harry’s fate.

THOSE WHO DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ALL TURNS OUT FOR THE BOY WIZARD SHOULD STOP READING HERE.

"I’m very proud of the fact that as we went into this book, many, many readers believed it was a real possibility that Harry would die. That’s what I was aiming for," she said on NBC.

In the book, Voldemort meets his end and Harry lives. But Rowling said Harry’s survival was not always a certainty.

"In the early days, everything was up for grabs," she told USA Today. "But early on I knew I wanted Harry to believe he was walking toward his death, but would survive."

The last volume of Rowling’s fantasy series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," was released Saturday to international fanfare as millions read to find out whether Harry lived or died. More than 10 million copies sold over the weekend.

In a prerelease interview with The Associated Press, Rowling acknowledged that she had no control over discussions about the book once it went on sale. But she said that she hoped readers would finish the book to find out what happens, rather than to peek at the ending.

"It’s like someone coming to dinner, just opening the fridge and eating pudding, while you’re standing there still working on the starter. It’s not on," she said.

She also told the AP that after finishing the last book, she "felt terrible for a week."

"It was like a bereavement, even though I was pleased with the book. And then after a week that cloud lifted and I felt quite lighthearted, quite liberated," she said.

"It was this amazing cathartic moment _ the end of 17 years’ work," she told NBC.

When asked if she felt like she had to say goodbye to Harry, she said, "Yes and no. He’ll always be a presence in my life, really."

She acknowledged that the final Potter installment leaves some loose ends.

"It would have been humanly impossible to answer every single question that comes up," she told NBC. "Because, I’m dealing with a level of obsession in some of my fans that will not rest until they know the middle names of Harry’s great, great grandparents."

Rowling, whose seven Potter books have sold more than 335 million copies worldwide, said she plans to take time off to be with her family and will continue writing. She told USA Today she has two writing projects _ one for children and one for adults.

But whether she will write about her young wizard again, she said: "I think I’ve kind of done the wizarding world. … I have done my Harry Potter."

The Kids love it!

I don’t remember where I found this anymore, apologies but it was a really cool artist rendition of the famous Shibuya district where OIOI and OICITY was at the crossing.

Not normally a topic of interest, but as a fan of both Rainbow Six and Naruto, the fact that the team that made R6 is now making a Naruto game could be an awesome combination!

Viacom has taken down 100,000 Videos, including videos not even associated with Viacom.

While previous arguments have always been focused on the issue of Viacom  and the copyright fight, this post makes a hypothetical case that the bigger pictures is not about Copyright, but about defending a way of doing business (meaning traditional media) that is perhaps becoming outdated. It’s a fight for eyeballs and attention, if you can diminish traffic from the competition you end up winning somehow.

Other opinions state that Viacom should just simply stay out of this because they don’t understand the medium at all….

Click on the slide number to go to the next Starting Video track.

I got a few requests for it, so here you go (click on here)for you impatient ones….since it wasn’t available on narutofan for some reason.

Gotta figure out what to do….if anyone has any novel ideas outside of the usual fancy restaurant, meal and after dinner activities, I’m all ears!

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