Friday, August 8, 2008

my johnny's jr. school calendar / Enthralling fansite is closed! / toma's popularity dying down?



(*CLICK ON THE PICS 2 SEE THE PIC BIGGER*)

toma-ism #33:
toma-kun...the coolest guy EVER--period.


it's MAOU / MONK / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS day!
what a fantastic friday, huh? *__*
so. today i'm wearing red to support all 3. (but still mostly 4 Monk!! haha~ remember to watch! u can even watch the newest episodes online. "you'll thank me later.")

not much ppl have voted in the toma b-day poll, so i'll wait till next friday to post up the results so far. i also need time 2 find toma pics 2 use 4 that.

today's a long post!


.......................... my johnny's jr. school calendar arrived!

yesss! it came on saturday. i was so happy to get it!
the packaging is very nice. =)

BUT!
BUT!!

Toma is NOT on the wall calendar, only the big photo booklet/desk calendar! aiya...oh well. still some VERY VERY lovely pix of toma and they're so so big and clear and PRETTYYYY!! =P and some more small pics of toma that R very kawaii, of course. this is 1 of my fav set of toma photos, cuz it's the perfect combination of awesome hair/clothes/location!! really, i still like this hairstyle the best of all his recent hairstyles. i hope he'll change back to this one soon after Maou ends!
...anyway, though i know no1 on the calendar, just those beautiful photos of toma makes the price worth it!! i'll set it up next 2 me on my desk so i can look at toma anytime & it's like he's looking at me as well. hee hee~ and though i don't know ANY of the JE boys on the calendar, i'll still use it. 2 make it worth the $$, and after all, it can't hurt 2 have smiling, good-looking guys looking out at u! xD 2 be honest, a lot of them look the same 2 me, and many of them REALLY look a lot like girls, though. lol~

oh. i was curious what the small text on his t-shirt says, on top. and it's the first thing i looked 4 in the pics. and it was a violent threat! wow, i didn't expect that! i bet toma doesn't know it says that. but it's got a skeleton on it, and we all know how toma loves clothes w/skulls on it. =P



........................... Enthralling is closed. ='(

wait,
before i forget, did u know that August 1 was the one year anniversary of the Tomalicious forum? well, it was, and i only noticed then that i joined the forum exactly 1 month after it opened, on Sept. 1! haha~ i'm member #154 there.
it's still only been about 1 year since toma got super popular ne...

but toma's only fansite in eng. (that i know of), Enthralling (the title has become ironic now! -__-), has closed. i didn't go there much except to read tomagoto and some other interview translations, but amazingly, on 1 of the days i remembered to come, i saw the webmaster's (Izm's) message that the site is closing. because she (i'm guessing, my apologies if it's he) says she's too busy with school and is no longer obsessed with toma/no longer likes toma as much as she did at the height of her obsession with him. but thank goodness, she will keep the site up as long as possible.

this got me thinking... (and also after seeing a number of toma LJ members that posted in 2007, but have since then been deleted cuz of inactivity)

that toma's popularity is maybe dying down, right?

i mean, i know his popularity shot up after playing nakatsu in hana kimi. and he won awards for it, got recognized in the streets cuz of it. =) ....but then if so, why did H&C still do so bad in the ratings? i think all the drama/sadness of the story and tough competition f/other series might have done it. but it must have also been cuz many ppl only like toma as nakatsu. They don't like toma for himself so much that they would continue watching him in other roles. =/

this may be why i used to get at least more than 70 hits at this blog each day, but ever since around june (almost 1 year after hana kimi ended), it dropped down to around 30 or less a day. of course, end of the school year exams, ppl going on vacation, and me not updating much/not posting much interesting stuff all could have caused the drop. but i think a large part of it is that not as much ppl f/all over the world are interested in toma or looking him up as much. cuz i always got the most traffic f/ppl that searched for toma at google or yahoo...
and now, seeing Maou getting low ratings (at least a little higher than H&C, though.), too!! o_0
i know he's very busy these days, what with filming Maou, appearing in magazines, and he'll be in the Grease musical in october. but still...(sigh!) i'm a little worried that toma's popularity will slowly go down again, back to like it was before. that would really be terrible!!

i can understand fans that only like an artist a lot for a short time, then they start losing interest... it was like that for me with a couple of stars... and those times, too, it was mainly cuz i only liked them in a certain role... i didn't like them enough as themselves in real life or their roles in other series/movies after that...i didn't like them enough 2 keep putting in the time & effort to keep up with news about their life/their work/talk to their fans in forums/read their blogs/ yada yada yada. i didn't like them enough to continue caring about them or all this other stuff.

but i'm telling you now--

with toma, i could never stop caring about him!!
it's just impossible. i love him too much! even if i was so busy that i'm not getting enough sleep, not eating right, not so healthy, barely have any free time, I WILL NEVER FORGET TOMA! I WILL MAKE TIME FOR TOMA! AND I WILL CONTINUE BEING TOMA'S FAN AND UPDATING THIS BLOG!!! seriously! i definitely will!

Because although seeing him as nakatsu was how i discovered him and started my crush on him, i ended up liking toma for being TOMA much much much more than for him acting as nakatsu very quickly after i became a fan. it was cuz of seeing him dance & sing with so much passion & energy, reading his random/thoughtful tomagoto entries, seeing how he's just such a sweet guy and a very good friend...and a lot more reasons... yappari, the real toma seems to resemble nakatsu a lot! but still, the real life toma also has many brilliant,loveable, refreshing qualities and talents that makes him even more cool and awesome than the already amazing nakatsu!

i know it's silly that us fans call our crushes on stars "love",
especially in japan, where i'm sure they'd never use the word "love" to say something as trivial as "i love hamburgers!" but if love is defined as the happy feeling u have for someone, when your heart beats faster and your face gets red and u feel warm when u see them (well, in this case it would be watch him in dramas/shows online/see him in pics mostly), i have certainly felt that when i watched toma's dramas and see him in all his loveliness in photos! LOVE is really the best way to describe what i feel for toma, though it's a combination of awe/infatuation for his beauty/cuteness...respect/envy and feeling so proud/amazed/completely blown away by his brilliant acting/singing/dancing, and of course, happiness/sweetness/warm fuzzy feelings whenever seeing/hearing him appear on a tv/radio show, shine in a role, or win an award, or reading his funny/random tomagoto or interviews. even just listening to him sing or talk on a radio show! toma is almost perfect in every way! (if only he would quit smoking and whiten his teeth ne!)

...sorry, i went way off track, as i often do, when praising toma...=)

so what i'm trying to say is that i don't want to call what i have now an obsession for toma, like Izm did. pls think of it as my love for toma. and i guess this is kinda what it's like to have unrequited love! i'm happy just supporting toma by keeping this blog updated and by watching his dramas, keeping up with what's going on in his life....i suppose it's true when they say if u love someone, u can just be happy knowing they're happy, though u can't be with them. of course, i'm not crazy, i know this is not real LOVE love, but u know what i mean!

and please forgive kate for being so cheesy here, but

"if there must be a time limit to this love, i hope it can be 10,000 years." (this was a famous quote from Stephen Chow's old movie from the 90's, A Chinese Odyssey (I or II). he was a monkey king and therefore immortal. he loved another immortal. so for him, that was actually literally possible!! haha~ i've heard it many times in HK tvb series since then. haha~ not anytime recently, but thinking of fans not liking toma anymore after a while made me think of this quote!)
what a great quote, right? yes, i have a good memory. haha~ and i've got proof that i can be a very loyal and devoted fan. just check out my HLID fansite for hacken lee!! i've been his fan for almost 7 years now. ~_~ i am looking forward to being a fan of toma's and hacken's for a VERY VERY VERY LONG TIME.

(pls don't read too much into what i said, i'm really quite a sensible, realistic person and would never stalk my idols or anything like that!)

so!
in conclusion. this entry is a lot longer than i thought it would be.
haha~ i'm sorry. and most of it was to make this point:

Don't worry, this blog and i are not going anywhere. we're here to stay!

thank you~ again to all the ppl that come here often. though i will still keep posting even if i'm all alone here, but of course, it's a lot more fun to update this blog when i know there are toma fans out there that appreciate it and keep coming back and reading and liking what they see. =D


whew! that was ve-ry lo-ng!
the first time 1 post came all the way down here, without a lot of pics or links.
thanks to YOU 4 reading the whole thing! haha~

like toma would say,
That's all! Till next time.

Ciao.

[EDITS:
sorry, i forgot 2 give u the links to the fansites!
http://www.ikutatoma.co.cc/
(the motto is "forever will be enchained". =( forever did not even last for 1 year, huh?) ]

http://hacken.tvbspacenews.org.uk/

(Hacken Lee ID // THE ONLY HACKEN FANSITE IN ENGLISH)]

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

ahh nice post its sad that ppl are forgetting toma even much og them didnt watch msou today... but i couldnt foget about him like you~

kate☂ said...

thx, careline!

i just got the urge to write out a bunch of things i was feeling about enthralling closing suddenly...this post was supposed 2 be much shorter...but it turned out good. =)

he's still got a ton of fans, but it's still sad 2 know the ppl that liked him 4 nakatsu might already not like him anymore... =/

Anonymous said...

Well, I have to say that like you, I just can't stop loving toma...^__^ I really don't know why, like it hurts to think that his popularity is dying down because it might hurt his feelings or even disappoint him (I do hope that it wouldn't) Well I'm watching Maou now and it looks like a good series, I'll support Toma-sama forever!!! Let's do what we can to spread Toma-love ne?^__^

kate☂ said...

subtlehints, u're right. cuz if toma is upset, we'll feel hurt too. actually, i think it won't be a very big blow to him if his popularity dies down, cuz toma's that kinda person, he's the same guy now as he was be4 he played nakatsu. =) he's so down-to-earth and sensible about being a celebrity....but toma's always really excited about his dramas and puts so much effort into it, i'm sure he'd be upset if the ratings were low, like with maou now. =( i really hope the ratings will increase!!

im_heavens said...

Hi Kate .. just want to say .. you're awsome .. really think u are .. your words really give me a thought .. you are one of the real fans for Toma .. keep it up will ya .. i wll try to support you as much as i can .. dont think i can make a blog such as yours as my English is so poor .. but maybe i can do like you using my own language .. spread Toma love mission, dont u think ? XD

kate☂ said...

ahhh~ thank you so much!!
i'm so touched by this message!!
i'm very happy!! ~_~

not only 4 your compliment, but also cuz u want to help spread TOMA LOVE, too! that's just the best!! we need more fans like this, to help get the word out about how awesome he is!

i'll keep gambar-ing!!
4 toma~, 4 the fans~, 4 myself~

ahhhh~
it's really good to get comments like this. it completely/absolutely/definitely makes all the
time/effort i put into TL!
worthwhile.

i really want to thank you,
improve43, 4 the comment!!

that comment = some energy!! 4 meeeeee.

doumo arigatou NA!! xD

kate☂ said...

oh, yes,
it's perfectly fine 2 talk about toma in any language! as long as you're spreading toma love. =)

yes, pls support me & this blog if u can! =)
onegaishimas!!