Gaki N Me If you love to talk about the world, love Asian idols, this is the place.

One day a friend passed a news clip to me and when I opened it, my eyes were riveted at a very feisty looking man pushing another person around on stage, then the next second, he was twirling around with his foot hooked upside down to a rope mid air.  Before I could understand what I was watching, he was rolling down a flight of 20 steps or so. Who was this guy?

My friend only said it was some Shock show and they announced that it would continue next year. Next year? what about this year? and last year? A long running show?

I was running around with my hands on my head, I need to find out about this guy...I need to find out about him. That fire in his eyes and the passion in his body language....

Then I found it.  Endless Shock. The day my Japanese friend brought her DVD to our house, our eyes must have become saucer like.  The choreography of the dances were superb, and every time he flew around, I kept trying to find out where was the wire hooked from, not knowing that he used pure muscles to hang on to the fabrics as he flew around. When we got to the samurai battle parts, our jaws dropped.  It was so good.

I finally bought my own DVD and with the little description in the front, I could understand it's about a musical group trying to launch their musical but as to the exact ending, I don't understand at all. Perhaps one day, they would come out with a Taiwan version and I would have to buy that too.

Ever since Endless Shock, I have never been the same again.  My interest in SMAP dropped so dramatically that I am not even watching SMAP shows anymore.  I used to like Goro Inagaki of SMAP the most but I have lost the fervor of before.

Now I am looking at all the Kinki Kids items that I would have to buy.  Since Shock, I have watched a few drama series by Koichi and am totally smitten with him. No, it's not the same foolish idol love as before that I once had for HK artists, Kimura Takuya and Goro Inagaki, but a very sensible admiration of him and his works.  Perhaps I have gotten old in the last 3 years of idol chasing, no longer spending wildly on every piece of work of an idol that I happen to like for that period of time.  But with Koichi, I realized for once how quality and high standards really count. I no longer watch the dances of other singers, not even Koreans except Rain for his smile and energy.  Koichi represents grace, passion and elegance.  I listen to his songs because with a heavy nasal tone and a sad orientation, it's very moving.

If I had known about him before, I wouldn't have spent so much on all the others. But then, after sorting through the riff raft, I find the treasure and I value him even more. Of all the purchases I have made in the last 3 years of over 600 CD's, DVDs, VCDs of Asian artists, I have to say that apart from the Jet Li library of films, and a few Leslie Cheung movies, Endless Shock is the most precious item I have.