Hot Rep Sexy Girl Japan
Roseanne Gennett
There were a lot of girls having fun at SS: The Pipettes, with their choreographed retro girl-group pop; The Long Blondes, with their Blondie update for the 21st century; Tilly and The Wall, whose percussion parts are handled by a tap dancer rather than a drummer; the pan-Asian female members of the Australian reggae group Blue King Brown, who exuded more soul than anyone else all weekend; the irrepressible Brazilian girls in Cansei de Ser Sexy and Bonde Do Role; and local lass Anna Tsuchiya, with her punk fashionista act.googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); );
The new makeup trend was sparked by this fall and winter's fashion: Victorian-inspired clothing adorned with lace, frills, and embroidery, and boleros, coats, and military-style jackets made of fur and other luxurious materials. These fashions lend themselves to a defined, upturned eye line rather than the wide-eyed look popular in recent seasons. Another factor in the cat's eye craze is a book titled Koakuma na Onna ni Naru Hoho (How to Become a Little Devil), which came out in May 2004. This book has spawned a growing population of aspiring koakuma (little devils): women who captivate men with their cute yet sexy looks and their guileless, uninhibited ways. The ultimate embodiment of the little devil is French actress Brigitte Bardot, who expressed her innocent sex-kitten persona in films like And God Created Woman (1956). A growing number of Japanese women are emulating this model of womanhood, complementing it with cat's eye makeup. Current headline-making actresses like Shibasaki Kou and Ito Misaki are fueling the craze with their almond-eyed looks.
Mascara, liberally applied to both the upper and the lower lashes, makes the eyes stand out even more. Extra coats of mascara on the outer lashes make them look longer and bolder - a key element of the cat-eyed look. Some women achieve this by applying mascara only on the outer lashes. Completing this year's look is eye shadow, which is applied to the lower lids, too. Color variations abound. Greens, blues, and grays project a mature, intellectual air; purple is sexy; while coarse-flecked gold lame sparkles at parties. To keep the emphasis on the eyes, blush and lipstick are used only sparingly.
While the Xbox itself can't even remember the time without being plugged into the mains continuously, the latest doohickey to emerge from the far east will hopefully perform somewhat more accurately. Introducing .. the Xbox watch! Yes, it seems that you too can now strap a reassuringly chunky lump of metal to your wrist to proudly display your allegiance to Bill and the boys. Coming in a sexy foam padded presentation tin with a big Xbox sticker on the top, the watch itself is somewhat more modest, with a traditional silvery metallic look and the word Xbox printed in green on the face, sitting alongside the usual bewildering array of meaningless dials. The watch is apparently part of a summer campaign to push the Xbox in Japan, with five hundred lucky punters set to win one of the limited edition timepieces from stores that are part of the Game Retailers Association. The contest will run at some 1,500 stores across Japan between this weekend and September 1st, with anyone who buys an Xbox console or game able to enter. Sadly though the competition is only open to Japanese residents. Sadly our Japanese isn't up to scratch, and Babelfish bizarrely translates one part of the story as "the watch that comes at once". Which might help to explain the racey advertising posters for the competition, featuring the naked torsos of a burly bloke and a girl with her arms strategically crossed over her chest. Or it could just be a mistranslation. Either way, if you're curious you can find out more in a news report on Japanese site Game Watch (appropriately enough).
A handful of other previously GRAMMY-nominated artists received their first nominations in new categories this year. 2022's Best New Artist, Olivia Rodrigo, earned her first in a Rock category for "ballad of a homeschooled girl" (Best Rock Song); 2022's Album Of The Year winner, Jon Batiste, has his first in the Song Of The Year ("Butterfly") and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("Candy Necklace" with Lana Del Rey) categories; Brandy Clark collected her first in the Best Americana Performance ("Dear Insecurity" with Brandi Carlile), Best American Roots Song ("Dear Insecurity") and Best Americana Album (Brandy Clark) categories, as well as her first in the Best Musical Theater Album category for "Shucked."
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