It’s not like I want Morning Musume to be on the decline, you know? I ‘m not saying that total sales aren’t important. I was just trying to tease out the different factors influencing those sales a bit. I thought I explained my logic there, and I thought the results were interesting.

and I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, but you are being rather mean, or at least disrespectful, especially with the title

While I’m happy to see Berryz being a success, Morning Musume is still Morning Musume, and you aren’t exactly including all factors or being very biased in this. I have to side with CJ on this one. You were being just as mean as you accuse him of being.

*or being unbiased/neutral xD my bad.

RAWR. NEED CAFEEINE.

but..but… I LIKE morning musume much better than berryz. if anything my biases should work the other way.

and i didn’t call anybody’s work “pointless”, I just reported some numbers, so I don’t really see who I was being mean to. CJ? Morning Musume?

My goal when writing the post was NOT to diss Morning Musume, but if the general consensus is that this is offensive and stupid then I guess I can take it down? I thought that at least the results of the post 1st week sales made a lot of sense.

sigh. it’s bad form to be so defensive, I know, but i really do find that title to be quite disrespectful. =(

I don’t really want to get involved, but screw it, I’ve got a big mouth.

First of all, blogs aren’t always unbiased and neutral, and most people (bloggers included) look at the Oricon charts as their source of sales anyway. It’s not like Celestia’s trying to convince us all that Momusu’s going down. She even hopes that Momusu will make a turnaround.

And even if she was, I find it incredibly rude to call her graphs pointless and criticize her blog on an unrelated matter (the quality of the music.) Maybe that’s not what her blog is about, hmm? You say “not to be mean”, but the whole wording of this entry (saying she “conveniently” left certain factors out) is pretty mean.

Hey, does anyone remember a time when everyone respected each other and was constructive in their criticism? Man, those were the days…

oh but can you really blame me for being defensive when I’ve been called both biased and mean, accused of being hell-bent on insulting Morning Musume (my favorite band) and had it announced to this entire community that not only is this particular entry pointless but also had it implied that my entire blog is pretty worthless since I don’t tend to do a lot on analysis of the quality of the music, and all within the space of like an hour?

ack. I need to calm down, don’t I?

Sorry, all, but Celestia has a point, and a good one. However, Morning Musume’s “decline” is in reality a rise on everyone else’s part.

The “Bomb Girl” concert was a typical Morning Musume show, and with Aika and Risa rising to the occasion, it was actually an excellent show. But it remains overshadowed by:

1. C-ute’s stunning 49th Japan Music Award for Best New Artist the following month.

2. C-ute’s three astonishing 2007 concert tours, topped by an awesome rip at the Yokohama Blitz just two months before “Bomb Girl.”

3. Berryz’ almost-forgotten Saitama Arena epic in April, and a string of resurgent Berryz singles, with the “Khan” sizzler exploding most recently.

4. The Wonderful Hearts and Hello Project arena concerts in January in which Morning Musume’s contribution, though substantial, was upstaged by Buono! and both of Gatas’ electric singles.

In short, Morning Musume is not declining. Everyone else is racing past them.

‘Declining’ is an opinion, Momusu wouldn’t be holding a tour in Taiwan if it was going to be a waste of money. They still have just as large of a fanbase as ever.

I’m with Celestia on this one. As someone who’s posted pointless stuff myself (and who hasn’t actually discussed quality of music very often, if at all), I don’t think IntlWota is the place to reflect negatively (and nonconstructively) on the nature of specific posts. Every blog has its own style; that’s what makes this whole community great. As for this specific post, I found it not pointless or biased at all, but a potentially useful assessment of existing raw data. So maybe the conclusions aren’t expected, but the purpose of science isn’t to do experiments and then throw out the data you don’t like (reminds of me of a hearing a physicist say “Look … you just have to ignore the data.” … *shudders*)

Someone needs a Wu hug

any takers???

Yes???

No???

Too late, I’m hugging! and it’s extra girly, too.

*awaits a beat down by other members*

Ray, were you just in a bad mood when you wrote this write-up? :\

FWIW, I’m with Rad (whut.) on the general assessment that MM’s quality is not declining, other groups are simply getting better. Stepping up the game is necessary at this point. MOAR DANCE*MAN.

*hugs celestia* It’s okay, I made you a cookie but Wu ated it.

~¡hugglemuffins!~

I mean seriously, if anyone has the pointless post award this week, it’s me. WTF. :B

@Vee: CJ posted the entry. Just to clarify is all

hang on, if there’s an award for pointless topics or posts, I want in too. *Wipes cookie crumbs off face*

@Kawaiirrhea: you win! the ‘hugglemuffins!’ out kawaii’s my girly thing I had goin’ on

kk, need to go to bed. Back from night shift and why am I still up O_O. I’m just posting silly things now.

*falls off desk chair*

@Wu and Everyone: Sorry, *facepalm* CJ, not Ray. Man, Ceej, HARSH.

are the hugglemuffins for me?? Because if so, they are appreciated. Especially since Wu-san ate my cookie…

anyway, thanks guys. I feel a bit better now

You shouldn’t let this get to you - CJ is a grumpy old man *ducks flying vinyl discs* and we’re all awesome bloggers here in our own right. Write. Right? Right!

Maybe for irony’s sake you should right a “quality-of-the-music” centric review next!!!

Yeah, harsh, perhaps, and yeah, I have been a little grouchy the past few days. Not mean, though - if I wanted to be mean I would have said something like “The only point remotely related to Celestia’s post is the one on her head” but that would have really, really, been uncalled for.

As for the title of the post, a lot of the titles here at IW are snarky around here, and that’s what I was going for - it probably doesn’t help that Celestia has for the “Or” option of her title “Look! Pretty graphs!”.

And Vee, darling? Even though you called me a grumpy old man, I still love you anyway.

@Ceej: Grouchy? For you, that’s uinheard of!

@Rad: Seriously?

@Ceej: Am I ever serious?

@Rad: With you its hard to tell.

@Rad: Well that explains EVERYTHING.

[...] in light of recent debates about the role of “quality of music” in H!P blogging, I think this is my first time [...]