Ever since I began watching A Shot At Love, I’ve been completely addicted to Tila Tequila. She’s so different from all the other artists that I’m used to, and her reality show really opens our eyes to who she really is, especially when it’s so personal and having her as the center of attention really makes us know her better. I’m a big fan of her music, and she said that her music does come first, she became a model to begin her career, but she really wants to focus on her music. With the help of a vocal coach to make sure her voice is in top condition, with a talent for songwriting and musical background, Tila Tequila is a great and original singer. I’ve been downloading some of her singles, and her first EP, Sex, is just awesome. I love it and I’ve been listening to it the whole day. It’s really that good.
I began listening to her music by listening a lot to her single Stripper Friends, the theme song to season 2 of her reality show, A Shot At Love. I can’t stop listening to the single until today, and in her official website, she stated that the remix single came out on iTunes. I listened to some samples and they’re really good! When you think a song can’t get any better. I’m not a big fan of remixes, so I’ll stick to the great original version.
Tila has this great variety of songs, ranging from bubble gum pop to rap and hip hop. I’d rather stick to some of her R&B tunes, since I’m not a big fan of rap and hip hop, and the rockish vibes of Sex make it a great single even for the ones that aren’t big fans of rock (Like myself).
Sex isn’t all about what the title suggests, at least most of the time. The tracks consist of:
1. Intro
2. Sex
3. Little Brat
4. Rat Room
5. Summer Nightfalls
6. Lipstick Flavored Cherries
So far, my favorites are Sex and Lipstick Flavored Cherries, but I also love Rat Room and Little Brat. Nothing against Summer Nightfalls, but this album is so lipsticky, with fun lyrics, and this really girly vibe to it, and Summer Nightfalls is kind of a love ballad, and it falls out of place a little, but it’s still an awesome track, and I’d recommend it just as much as the rest, it just falls out of place here.
Tila captured the fun essence of being her in this EP, and even though there is a little bit of a bubble gum rock vibe to the album in general, the lyrics and the melody of the songs are so much fun that it’s contagious. I rate this EP a 10/10, just as good as a full-length album!
Speaking of which, Tila announced that she is working on her debut full-length album! It’s due out this winter, and her song Hideaway is expected to be in the album, for it leaked into the internet and the response was really good! So there’s a big chance it’ll come around again!
I would recommend it to everyone, but there is explicit content, not as much as there seems to be, but there is some.
On the later episodes of Last Friends, things begin to get really heated between the characters. After Michiru gets back together with Sosuke, everybody gets worried, and Takeru goes to Sosuke’s apartment to check on her. He finds her like a dead zombie in the lightly lit apartment, with a patch on her eye. Not only had Sosuke beaten her up, but he beat up the life out of her as well. She admits that she does things wrong, even though she hasn’t. Things like going to the market and arriving after Sosuke caused a black eye. Takeru becomes really worried and decides to run away from Sosuke with Michiru. It took some time for Ruka to trust Michiru again, but with a little time and effort, they returned to being the great duo they always were!
Takeru had been developing feelings for Ruka, and he told her he loved her. This may be a sign that he’s ready to get over his childhood trauma of love and sex now. She got confused, since she is in love with Michiru, and can’t respond to his feelings, and things got even more awkward when Ruka was trying to push him away by pretending her motocross coach was her boyfriend and going out with him. As Ruka discovers more and more about her identity and sexual orientation, she drifts apart from the others, and decides to move out from the share house. Everybody was shocked and against it, but Ruka had no choise, for she didn’t want to be around her family and friends if she were to have her sex change. She wanted to start off clean.
After the revelation of moving out, (That was discovered by incident by Takeru) Ruka bonds more with her ex-roommates, and it becomes harder to move out, she still does, but visits the share house a lot, but who wouldn’t after the emotional “Don’t go!” goodbye that Takeru expressed to Ruka. It was really moving, and it tied her even more to her ex-roommates.
While all that took place, Sosuke was at the hospital because he was hit by a train while trying to save the child he watched over (Because of his job). He kept writing letters to Michiru, over 20 letters, then he ran away. Jealous of Takeru, (Because Michiru told him she was with someone, just when Takeru came by and offered her his umbrella) he found him and hit him with his crutches. This is was a really rough start to the continuous abuses that Sosuke makes Michiru’s friends go through. Feeling like she wasn’t ready to move out, and that Michiru needs to be more protected, Ruka moved back to the share house, while Sosuke runs away from the hospital.
Ruka went to Sosuke’s apartment, and there, she ended up making him angry, for telling him she loved Michiru, and what he feels for her isn’t love. He threw her on the ground, and with a really nerve-wracking wrestle, he seems like he is going to rape her, and Ruka throws him off of her her and runs away. This troubled her even more with her insecurities.
Eri seems to be looking at some magazines when she finds out that one of the magazines made an article made Ruka and her potential sex change. She buys the magazine and goes back home after showing it to Takeru. Ruka becomes uneasy with the news, and later, confesses her love for Michiru to Takeru. Little did she know that Michiru was listening through the other room. Eri is going to work when she sees Sosuke, and rubs the truth in his face, that he is pathetic, that he should stop trying to intimidate them and he should take it like a man, and get over it. Finally, Michiru gets a phone call from Sosuke, saying that he picked up her clothes and packed them up, that he’s ready to end this, like Eri had said. Michiru went to his apartment, and when she was going to pick her luggage, she noticed that Ruka’s good luck charm that she had made was under the bed, and she ask him if Ruka had been there, remembering the cut on her face. He said he pushed her down and hurt her pride. Michiru finally has the guts to slap him right across the face. He didn’t seem moved at all and once again, beat her like a barbarian. He brings her to the bedroom and rapes her.
Michiru is in the bed, like a zombie, she seems to be all hurt even though there are no bruises, and she cries in a still and uncomfortable position. She tells Sosuke that she will repeat what they have done whenever he wants if he promises that he will never lay one hand on her friends again. Sosuke got upset that she was crying and so upset, and he screamed at her to stop, but she didn’t. He left the room and looked at some pictures that Michiru had left on the floor. He cried the whole time, probably imagining that the innocence, purity and love in the pictures taken with all her friends had all been drenched in sickness, he ruined everything, and seeing her cry ruined him.
The next morning, as Michiru was heading out, she looked at the couch, and saw Sosuke with a white blanket. She looked closer, and the blanket was drenched in blood. Sosuke killed himself.
Episode 6 (Torrent Download)
Episode 7 (Torrent Download)
Episode 8 (Torrent Download)
Episode 9 (Torrent Download)
Episode 10 (Torrent Download)
Tila on the purple carpet
Tila Tequila is in Brazil! She’s been appearing as a guest star in a few Mtv shows here (Scrap Mtv and Descarga Mtv) and this is how I got to be more familiar with her. Later, I discovered that she is a MySpace muse and I noticed how much she’s respected for her work! She’s a singer, a model and host to her show, A Shot At Love. Tila is bisexual, and her show is about her finding true love, somebody she can share her life with. Unlike any show like the Bachelorette or anything like that, the contestants are both, girls and boys and any of them can win. I have watched the first episode of the second season (The first season winner broke up with her) and it seems awesome. Usually, I’m not a big fan of these shows, but this time it’s different and edgy and anything can happen, especially because the girls and the boys have to share a giant bed and live together. I really like Tila for being so honest to everyone, for expressing her feelings so well and for having fun the whole time and still trying to find somebody that treats her like a lady, like how she wants to be treated.
Even though she can expose herself a lot, she’s really cute and is really sure of herself. I really like that. I feel bad that both seasons of her show didn’t work out and the winners and Tila broke up soon after that.
From what I learned about her life in Scrap Mtv, Tila was born to a Buddhist family, and she was really young when she had discovered about her bisexuality. Her sister read it from her diary and called her to tell her that she found Tila disgusting and Tila’s sexual orientation wasn’t respected by her family. She grew up poor, and dated a guy with a computer, and he taught her how it worked and she got really impressed. She started her MySpace page and that kicked off her career and now she’s a really famous, in and out of MySpace! She is a talented singer too! Her YouTube account has videos that proves that no matter what, she embraces what others think, negative or positive, and I respect that too.
Tila is going to leave Brazil on the 28th and here, she’ll be promoting safe sex and appearing in more shows. I really liked her and I’m going to get myself more informed on her. I heard she’s been recording tracks for her upcoming full-length album and so far, I’m a huge fan of Paralyze.
If you’re interested on watching the first season of A Shot At Love or the second season as well, here they are:
I am yet to watch an anime series that is just as sweet (Or sweeter) as Cardcaptor Sakura, especially through the way the series ended. The 3rd season is amazingly emotional in this cute, innocent and special way. I never thought I’d ever give a chance to romantic series, but this one is special, there’s something different about it that I can’t grasp, but it’s there and anybody can notice it.
The series switches focus from Clow Reed (Powerful magician) to Sakura. We follow the story of Sakura trying to discover her own powers, and discovering the power within her, the power of her star, and that’s basically what she uses to defeat the evil forces this time. But there’s a twist. This time, the key to the book of the Clow has changed its form, and therefore, Sakura has to change the cards as well. Transforming the cards from Clow cards to Sakura cards is really exhausting, and can create lots of trouble for her in her life because she needs to rest a lot after each transformation. This season, it’s all about discovering your own powers and learning from your mistakes. Along with the warm feeling of love that only Cardcaptor Sakura can bring to us. Through this new adventure in her life, Sakura and her friends meet many new characters and a few go through transformations into completely different ones:
- Kerberos: Kero transformed into his true form after Sakura collected each one of the Clow cards and before she turned them into Sakura cards. His personality changes a little, though. He seems a lot more affectionate and kind, less selfish and angry. Kerberos looks like a tiger with angel wings.
- Yue: Yue is Yukito’s true form. Yukito is a fake identity to the protector of the Clow cards, Yue. They also have completely different personalities. Yukito is kind and friendly, while Yue can be cold, but he will do anything to protect the current owner of the cards, Sakura. Yue also looks like an angel.
- Eriol: He seems to have Clow’s presence around him. He is the causer of all the chaos that Sakura has to avoid this season. Later on, he confesses that he is the reincarnation of Clow and that he needed Sakura to turn every card into Sakura cards, or else they would become average, powerless cards, so that’s why he challenged her so many times.
- Spinarel: Just like Kero, he is a little plushie-like creature, but looks more like a cat with little wings. He is kero’s counterpart and while Kero likes playing videogames, he likes to read. He can become a really powerful panther-like creature with big, butterfly-like wings.
- Nakuru/Ruby moon: Yue’s counterpart. As a human, (Nakuru) she seems to have a crush on Touya (Sakura’s brother) and is really affectionate towards him. She’s really cute and is always friendly. As Ruby moon, she seems more serious and powerful, she takes the form of a lady with large, pink butterfly wings.
This season, there were moments where you felt the feelings of the characters and I really loved that. These were the most marking moments for me: [Spoilers]
- Heartbreak: When Shaoran told Meilin (His cousin and ex-girlfriend [Even if only she thought it])
that he loved Sakura, she walked away from their house in Japan and ran to Tomoyo’s house and cried on her lap and let it all out. It was really sad, but I loved that scene. - Sacrifice: In the last battle, (Against Eriol) Sakura had to convert two last cards that would win the battle for her, but she wasn’t strong enough. When Eriol told her that she needed to sacrifice Yue and Kerberos to convert the cards, (They would return if she had enough power and succeeded) she ran to Kerberos and hugged him and cried saying she didn’t want to take the risk.
- Distance: When Sakura listens from Tomoyo that Shaoran is leaving for Hong Kong and he never told either of them. She becomes silent and hangs up the phone. Then she tries to figure out what she really feels for him after he told her he loved her.
- The Bear Factor: Some time before Meilin left for Hong Kong, many girls were interested in making stuffed animals and giving them to whom they had a crush on. Sakura went with Tomoyo and Shaoran to the store and bought herself a kit. But she didn’t know that Shaoran had bought one as well. While she gave hers to Yukito, Shaoran saved his to give it to Sakura, but he never did, until when he was leaving Japan.
The ending of the series was really beautiful and full of emotions. It’s an ending that leaves you thinking, and yet, satisfies your craving to discover what happens between Shaoran and Sakura. Here is the complete last episode! I hope you enjoy!
The Tanabata Matsuri is a festival that celebrates the love between a princess and a peasant of her kingdom. The father of the princess did not respect the relationship, for it was all about love and they forgot to work. He got really mad and separated both of them, he put each of them in each side of the sky, separated by the milky way, and in Japanese beliefs, they encounter once a year, and that’s on the 7th day of the 7th month.
I got really excited last year when I saw one of my favorite television program hosts (Daniele Suzuki) go to the festival and show us a little about it. She went around looking at the various presentations, we saw what kinds of food they had there and a lot of the beauty in the traditional decorations set around the area of Liberdade.
This year I really wanted to go there, for it’s the neighborhood with the most concentration of Japanese citizens in Brazil, and that’s what Liberdade is known the most for. My mother and I really planned this trip, it’s too bad that I wasn’t able to contact a few of my friends and that the rest of them were traveling, since it would have been fantastic to share this experience with them. At first, it was planned that way, we were bringing some friends, but then we decided to go by ourselves, just as a family.
I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to get there in time (10:00 a.m.), since São Paulo is 1-2 hours away from Campinas
The exotic, yet urban view of Liberdade
(Where I live). Everyone was very cooperative, and the first thing we saw that indicated we were getting close to our destination was the exotic, and yet urban style of the area. It was really cute to look at the contrast between Liberdade and the surrounding areas.
We knew we were getting somewhere, then we saw the beautiful fair, with colorful
Entrance of the festival
traditional decorations, flags, tents everything all set up and waiting for the noisy crowd to arrive. We were lucky we got there just when it began, since later on, it’d be impossible to move around with so many people in one place.
We got there and we looked at all the scented foods and feasted on the beautiful decorations, for we knew people worked hard to create all these colorful hand-made balloons that so beautifully completed the Japanese atmosphere of the fair,
Beautiful hand-crafted balloons
A bamboo with a few wishes hanging from it
and even though we were really busy eating delicious foods, we all knew that my mother was looking for the tent where we purchase little strips of paper to write a wish on and then hang on a bamboo tree. This happens because each piece of paper has a color representing a theme (Yellow: money, Blue: holy protection, Pink: love, and so on), and you write your wish on the appropriate piece of paper and hang on a bamboo tree so later it’ll be burned and brought to the princess and the peasant to make it come true. They will only be able to meet again next year if they make every wish come true. My mom decided to pick the red (Passion) and blue (Holy protection) wish-paper and I picked the yellow one (money), my sister picked up a green one for peace. very happily, we wrote what we wanted on the little scrolls
Our wishes and a few others
and hung them on a bamboo tree next to a tent.
We went on, looking at the fair and my mom was having a blast. She bought lots of things for her and she loved the friendly Japanese ladies at the tents (Brazil is the second most Japanese-populated area other than Japan [Which is number 1]) and she was having a really good time. I was too, of course. The stores all had really adorable things, and I bought myself a pair of wood sandals to walk around at home. They’re really comfy. We passed by a manga shop and later on, met up with my dad that was at a meeting. We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant and we left.
It’s too bad I didn’t get to see the wonderful Japanese presentations of fan-dancing or popular culture presentations. We got to see a Cosplayer, though, and it was an amazing trip. My mom can’t stop telling me how much she loved it! I’m so happy everyone loved it so much! We’re surely returning next year!
I also found out where to order an original Portuguese Cardcaptor Sakura manga. Even though it’s from somebody else, it’s in excellent conditions and I hope I win the auction since it’s really rare.
![Tomoyo [Bottom], Sakura, Shaoran, Yukito, Touya, Meilin)](http://alvycunha.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/cardcaptor-sakura.jpg?w=211&h=264)
For a while now I have been downloading and watching the Portuguese version of the Cardcaptor Sakura series, and I have already gone through the first 46 episodes of the anime, this means I have watched every episode of the first 2 seasons.
- Touya: Touya is Sakura’s older brother and is always teasing her and making fun of her, but deep inside, he loves her really much and really cares for her. He can see spirits and feel supernatural things, and that’s what caused Sakura to be so scared of ghosts.
- Yukito: Sakura has a huge crush on Yukito, and so does Shaoran. Yukito is really unpredictable and is Sakura’s brother’s best friend. He is really sweet to everyone, and maybe that’s why he has such a big fan list. Later on, it’s discovered that he isn’t real, he is Yue, another guardian of the book that Sakura had opened.
- Tomoyo: Sakura has been friends with Tomoyo long before when the story begins. Tomoyo is Sakura’s #1 fan and loves to videotape anything that happens to Sakura, especially when Sakura is collecting the Clow Cards. Tomoyo is also Sakura’s cousin, and is always loyal to her and never loses her faith in Sakura. She also loves to design and make clothes for Sakura to wear during her adventures!
- Kero: The guardian of the cards. He looks like a little stuffed animal and loves to eat and play video games. He and Sakura are a great team to stop the Clow Cards! He loves to show off and believes that he can do anything and that he is the best.
- Shaoran: In the beginning, he was Sakura’s rival. Shaoran came from Hong Kong just to retrieve the Clow Cards that Sakura released. In the beginning, he was pretty much an enemy to Sakura, questioning her powers and bringing her down. But later on, they become really good friends and collect the cards as a team. Shaoran also has a hard time expressing what he feels and can seem really cold most of the time.
- Meilin: Meilin came from Hong Kong some time after Shaoran and is his cousin. She loves Shaoran and always introduces herself as his girlfriend. She also feels like Shaoran doesn’t feel for her the same thing she feel for him. She’s really loud and extreme, but always fun and egocentric, which makes her one of the most fun characters.
Cardcaptor Sakura is one of these series that can be changed around in one episode, and then you have to fit all the puzzle pieces together and think “Right! How haven’t I noticed this before?!” Which is one of the reasons for the show having such a big number of fans. The soundtrack is irresistible and all the characters are really bubbly and cute, the anime is perfect for all genders and ages.
The show can also be really mysterious at times as well, for not much is explained. Many people suspect that Touya and Yukito share more than friendship towards each other and that Shaoran’s crush on Yukito might also hint something else. It’s really fun seeing how these hints are all put together and to notice how you were completely oblivious to that when you were a kid, so, with these subtle hints of more grown-up themes (That shouldn’t be labeled as such), it makes it appropriate for all ages.
It’s too bad that the Brazilian versions of the manga are in really limited stock, and the first manga might even be over, for I would love to have the collection in Portuguese as well.
As you watch, you feel like you are watching the characters grow and you watch them experience new things and it’s really fun to see what happens to them during these situations!
All the elements that make Cardcaptor Sakura so original are meant for everyone to watch and I hope if you get the chance to check out the Anime, you do! For it’s a completely different Anime full of wonderful characters and settings and an involving story-line!
