Archives For Fun

Well, I think it’s time, no? This has been my Chulpan Khamatova’s journey so far. Surprisingly, most of the films that remain hard to find (and hence are not subtitled in other language) have been my least favorite. It could be a case of lost in not-translation, but I’m confident in my non-subtitled watch experience to trust my instinct.

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When I translate things, I usually go from Spanish into English, so when I listened to (and obsessed a little) over Neil Patrick Harris at the Tonys, I thought that it’d be good practice for a quick English to Spanish translation exercise.

Lyrics in English taken from Playbill.com

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Is this the resurrection of Broadway?

Neil Patrick Harris just pulled off a massive introduction for last night’s show, not only including fellow show nominees, but they also included some snarky blow at Shia LaBeouf, whose theater scuffle made it outside Broadway circles. I have no idea about Broadway news and the who is who, but I knew about it. Go figure.

I know tickets have been down for Broadway shows- all shows across all media, I believe. So I hope last night’s award show boosts the popularity, because if the numbers keep going down, there’d be no place for…

There’s a kid in the middle of nowhere who’s sitting there living for Tony performances. Singing and flipping along with the Pippins and Wickeds and Kinkies, Matildas, and Mormonses. So I might reassure that kid, and do something to spur that kid. Cause I promise you all of us up here tonight. We were that kid.

learning-russian

Guess who took her first dive into Russian? That deserves its inclusion on the language category, as well as a “russia” tag, no? ‘Coz I’m suspecting there will be a lot more Chulpan Khamatova postings around.

First impressions on the language? I thought it was easier and less scary than Hebrew (which I once tried to learn, I don’t know if I ever confessed to that). The new alphabet seems to be quite straight forward (though a bit weird to write). Anyone wants to tell me the proper direction and how I should be writing the following letters: ц, г, ш, щ, з (is this like a 3?), ъ, ф (can I write it like an “o” with a line across it?), п, л, д, ж (especially this one), э, я and и (when I write this, I feel like a 5-year-old that can’t write, though I read the inverted “N” should look like a script “U” when handwritten), ч, б, and ю.

Pronunciation-wise, you guys have soooooo many diphthongs. It might be unsettling to my Spanish brain. I also noticed that because of the inflections of voice and the use of so many “y” sounds, my voice sounds different when I repeat Russian. It’s weird.

I also can’t tell the difference between  ш and щ. And I also can’t figure out how to pronounce ы properly. And the Russian keyboard is freaking me out. I might need to put stickers on my keyboard now. But then I would have to consider adding a Korean one as well. Sighs.

Numbers are already scaring me.

Well, Hyori has earned her “Comeback” title alright- she’s been absent for… like, what? Four or three years maybe? Since her 4th bad luck album was such a bust, she’s been sort of hovering on our lives as Kpop seemed to rise and leak into the worldwide pop culture subconscious.

Since those days, LOADS of rookie groups have debuted — all trained vocally and in dance ability, which puts them ahead of Hyori. But you know what? Who cares. Hyori is what I wanted Britney to be at some point. I wanted Brit to be well adjusted and charismatic, even if she had gradually lost her voice and, ultimately, her dance ability. One thing I never wanted her to lose was her ability to engage.

Hyori engages with her audience. At the end of her celebratory comeback presentation, she brings back 10 Minutes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and then she performs U-Go-Girl, with no post at ALL O_O You can hear her laugh while singing through the almost-bare and casual arrangements of the song, while she’s been squirted with water guns. And she tells them (and us) that she’s missed us. Or that’s how I’ve interpreted her bogoshippoyo.

The water gun squirts borders on a wet t-shirt contest, but Hyori is wearing silver leggins throughout the whole show, which really surprises me — I mean, she could’ve been wearing black hot pants like her over-exposed back-up dancers, but she isn’t. She’s actually quite casual through the whole segment until the water squirting gets ridiculous and she laughs. I love that.

Apparently the show lasted nearly 50min?