It is … the Most Interesting Domain on the Internet

An online prank 5 years in the making surfaced over the weekend as J-pop fans and otaku discovered that a seemingly obvious web address led to some not-so-obvious places.

Come into Mayu's deep love core ... oopswrongfandom

News sources reported that the domain “akb48.com” was up for grabs on Yahoo! Auction Japan, with a starting bid of OVER 9000 10 million yen, or about $120,000 IN AMERICA. Now, I’ve heard of some AKB48 goods selling for crazy-ass prices (one would need to put down around $200 to legitimately own the ENTIRE contents of No Sleeves’ 1st album—seeing as the A, B, C and Regular editions each have individual exclusive tracks) but it would take a stupid ass wota of an entirely different financial caliber to make this purchase.

Not that this has anything to do with official AKB48 management—the group’s actual site, as even the most BEGINNER of fans should know, is found at akb48.co.jp, using the traditional Japanese domain suffix. The .com location, on the other hand, is a much stranger entity, as curious visitors found out when they tried to access the site. Anyone who types akb48.com into their browser window … ends up in enemy territory.

Love and Pop at LoliCon / SNSDcon / Pacific Media Expo

THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Dateline: Friday, November 12, 2010 well actually, Saturday November 13 by then
12:30 am

Another late-night violin practice session. Nights before conventions always get a little bit hairy because that’s when I actually have to choose my repertoire and polish it up, instead of chewing through scales and etudes like I usually do.

(Except the night before Anime Expo 2010 where I stayed up watching ANGEL BEATS! instead of prepping interview questions for AKB48 LIKE I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE.)

Pre-convention rehearsal also means having conversations with myself that go something like this:

“Hay so I herd u like mudkips you do a pretty decent version of ‘Gee’ by Sonyeoshieedaehh Shoujo Jidai SND48 HOT KOREAN CHICKS.”
“Yeah, I think it’ll go over pretty well, especially since Pathetic Pacific Media Expo is supposed to be all about ‘general [East] Asian pop culture’ (even though 80% of the attendance is still anime dorks).”
“It would be even cooler if you added one of their more recent songs like ‘Oh!’, don’t you think?”
“Buuuuut I have to be at the con in 12 hours (and spend 6 of those hours sleeping).”
“Oh come on, you already know how it sounds, you just have to know how to play it.”
“Let me see what I can find…”

>> Google for 'snsd oh sheet music'
>> Download
>> Sight-read
>> skritch skritch skritch [fingering] [bowing] [expression]
.... .... .... 30 minutes later .... ....

OPPA OPPA I’LL BE I’LL BE DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN