No more Johnny’s = more Pain
by Kamichan | July 30, 2010 |
And no, this is not a post about Jin or KAT-TUN. It’s about somebody else, but before I get on with it I have something else that I’d like to talk about first. Something important. Yeah, this is another epic post inspired by comments from some of my readers.
You see, I’ve bee in this fandom for over 6 years now, and every once in a while I’m approached (usually by email or private message) by some obscure people who claim that they have inside information on Johnny’s that they want to share with me but not with 5000 other fans. I always feel kinda flattered when that happens, and the information those people have to share ranges from utter crap to really interesting little details, and I really appreciate the trust people put in me when they share things (true or not) with me that they don’t want to share in public for whatever reason.
So far, so good.
Then there are people who claim in public that they have inside information. And when I say “in public” I don’t necessarily mean that they post it in a community or on their blog or LiveJournal. Comments you leave to my LiveJournal are public too. Everyone can read them, and a lot of people do. Supposedly secret information conveyed to me in this manner is something that I do not appreciate, for one very simple reason:
It’s completely useless.
Now let me be very clear on this. I’m not saying that this kind of information is false or made up or anything like that. Let’s face it, nobody lives on an island. I mean figuratively speaking. Actually a lot of people live on islands, especially a lot of Japanese people. My point is, all our favourite idols are real people who have real lives that they share with real family, friends, school mates and non-celebrity people they work with. No doubt about that. There are, obviously, lots of real non-famous people who deal with our idols on a daily basis, and who know things about them that we don’t. And of course some of these people sometimes share these things with family and friends, even though they probably know that they’re not supposed to. And there’s nothing really wrong with that. Many years ago I used to work for a bank, and I had access to all sorts of customer data. One day I came across the account of a somewhat famous TV personality and I saw a couple of rather interesting transactions that would have made some interesting tabloid news. But of course I didn’t sell this information to the press because it would have cost me my job. However, sharing it with a friend or two didn’t run the risk of costing me my job, so that’s what I did. Hey, I’m only human, okay, and humans love to gossip. But there’s a difference between privately chatting to a friend and climbing onto a box in the middle of a crowded market square and shouting out what you supposedly know.
Now back to those people who work in the entertainment industry or have friends who work in the entertainment industry. I’m sure some of you have some really interesting insights to share. HOWEVER, I don’t want to see any of your information discussed in public in my fandom, again for that very simple reason:
Your information is completely useless. Because it’s not verifiable. Simple as that. Things that are not verifiable are, by definition, rumours. Let’s stick with the golden rule of fandom: don’t believe rumours, wait for an official confirmation from Johnny’s.
Again, I’m not accusing anyone of lying. If you claim that you have a friend who works for Johnny’s and who told you that Yamapi has irregular bowel movements then I’m in no position to question your integrity or that of your friend. Your information may be true. It may be 100% accurate. But I can’t verify it. And you can’t or don’t want to prove that you’re right because if you did you’d risk your friend’s job and possibly your friendship with that friend.
But as much as I’d like to believe that Yamapi‘s bowel movements are irregular, I simply can’t. Because if I believed you it would mean that I’d have to believe everybody else who claims that they have a friend who have some top secret inside information on Johnny’s. If I give you the benefit of the doubt then I have to give everybody the benefit of the doubt, even people who deliberately and knowingly spread fals information. And that’s where it gets really really dangerous.
The average age of this fandom is very low. A lot of people are very susceptible, even gullible. I guess we’ve seen that last week when I made my posts about those fake Johnny’s blogs. If we start believing in things that somebody heard from a friend who works for Johnny’s then we’ll start believing in all sorts of things from all sorts of people, some of which may be true, most of which, however, will be complete and utter bullshit, and we will never ever be able to tell the difference. I don’t want to see this happening in my fandom because the only result that will come from this is chaos.
So, if you know someone who works for Johnny’s and you have some really interesting inside information, by all means keep it to yourself or at least to a close circle of trustworthy friends. Because you’re not helping anybody if you talk about it in public. If you say something in public like “I know for a fact that Yamapi has irregular bowel movements because a friend of mine is a toilet lady who works in the backstage area of Yokohama Arena, but I can’t really talk about it” then you’re not only not helping anyone, you’re also making yourself look like someone who just wants to be important when you’re really not.
If you can’t or don’t want to talk about something then you probably shouldn’t, so don’t bring it up in the first place. Because if you do then some people won’t believe you and think you just want to be important (not in your interest), and other people will start believing every single piece of crap they hear or read (not in anyone’s interest). No good can come from this for anyone.
And that’s that.
Now back to the real topic of this post as announced in the title.
Anyone remember Pain Dante Shonosuke? He was the half-English, half-Japanese kid who used to be on shows like YOUtachi and Shonen Club for quite some time. But his career never really got anywhere while he was with Johnny’s. I last mentioned him on my blog almost exactly two years ago. I kinda liked him, because he seemed so… strange. Very strange actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had Asperger Syndrome or something.
Anyway, I have some secret inside information on him, and I know for a fact that it’s true. He quit Johnny’s. I know that because he’s got his own official YouTube channel now, and that obviously wouldn’t be the case if he were still with Johnny’s. One of my dear readers linked me to his channel (thanks again!) and I looked at all his videos. Oh well, what can I say, I always thought he was a nutcase (and I mean that in the best way possible) and it looks like I was right.
This is probably one of my favourite videos of his:
I don’t know, but I think that’s just hilariously funny.
Yeah, I know, he’s wearing a mask, so it could be anybody really. But check out his other videos, it’s really him. There’s a lot of silliness and also a fair amount of nudity to be found.
Anyway, it’s always good to see people move on from Johnny’s, and it’s kinda ironic that today alone I’ve seen more of him and learned more about him than in the whole three or four years he was on TV on a more or less regular basis. I don’t know why he left or was made to leave, but I think Johnny’s lost a very interesting personality and decent enough talent here.
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