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Best Songs of 2000-2009 – Part 3/5

December 29, 2009 — Leave a comment

We are still going backwards with this listing of songs…

I think 2006 and 2007 marked my shift of Asian focus in music. It’s weird, I don’t think it’s about lyrics as I most often than not don’t search for lyric translations. I have just found Asian music to be more “musically” interesting than their Western counterparts.

I once had a throughout conversation with a friend online who lives in Morocco, and is a huge fan of Asian entertainment, and has lost all notion of Western entertainment. I asked him why his interests shifted, and he told me it was because there was a point in his life where everything looked and sounded the same to him.

Others have commented on the topic with regards of idols’ image and the degradation of the business.

With the turn of the new decade, we will see how big the Asian entertainment industry gets. Many will be watching… I will keep an eye on this.

at Cinencuentro again!

This time around pointing out some experiences while watching those films, which doesn’t necessarily reflect what I consider the best… keyword, necessary.

Sorry, only in Spanish.

check it out here.

Posted on December 28, 2009 In Films, Sharing, Spanish 3d animation, alfonso cuaron, amy wong, ang lee, animation, ayumi ito, bjork, blog, by amy wong, canada, carly pope, daniel radcliffe, documentary/making-of, eita, emma watson, eric bana, france, harry potter, japan, kou shibasaki, lars von trier, marion cotillard, miki nakatani, musings, peru, pixar, quentin tarantino, rankings, salyu, shugo oshinari, shunji iwai, sweden, tetsuya nakashima, toni collette, yu aoi

3 Comments

Best Songs of 2000-2009 – Part 2/5

December 28, 2009 — 2 Comments

To keep things interesting, I’ve decided to switch to the newest songs that made the best 100 songs of the decade. Just the heads up, it turned out to be very Asian. Is it trying to tell you something?

One of those examples was the Welcome to Beijing song, which had a HUGE bunch of Asian (mostly Chinese, Taiwan and Hong Kong) stars. The scale of the project is probably similar to (or even bigger than) Michael Jackson’s We Are the World song… which in its time was epic. To me, and to many Asian (and non-Asian) people who keep track of the Asian music industry it marked an important time. Not only did the Olympics opened China to the world… and the world to China, but it also felt like a huge switch on everything from basic economics, industry… and entertainment.

It’s as if Chinese musicians had been enclosed all those years while the economy started to pick up, and have exploded with a huge fireball of creativity. It’s amazing at the amount of talent coming out from there, especially now that they can upload their music through the many Chinese music websites like douban.com and haoting.com, and the amount of blogs and communities that are reporting on them.

Some really awesome music, which I have already blog in this place. This is the reason, I want to get over these ones first, before I post many other songs from 2002-2006 when I didn’t blog that much (or at all).

Best Songs of 2000-2009 – Part 1/5

December 26, 2009 — Leave a comment

Ever since the internet began playing a bigger part on what is music today (with places like MySpace, YouTube and Peer to Peer), I said it… there will never be a fuly 100 Greatest Songs for this past decade. You will watch a VH1 (or MTV) Greatest Songs of 2000-2009, and you will always feel they will be nothing compared to their list of Greatest 90’s songs, or Greatest 80’s songs where you would sit, listen and say “Wow, I remember this song. It brings such memories” – Those days are over, and it’s kind of nostalgic.

With the internet, the market for music was open in such a way that you do not need to listen to the radios. You are not obliged to listen to what the record companies decide to send the radios… you simply do not need to listen to anything they produce as there’s a market from pretty much any small artist willing to put themselves out there. With the internet, you do not need to restrain yourself from listening to something just because it’s not sold on your region. You can find out about any group around the world, singing in any language, and you can most likely get their albums digitally or through online stores.

And so my list of 100 Best Songs of the Decade doesn’t reflect what was supposed to be popular in America… or America Latina… or Europe… or China… or Japan, but it reflects the best of everything that was available anywhere in the world. There is most likely you will find something here that will bring memories to you.

In Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Music, Sharing, Spanish alejandro sanz, alicia keys, best of, bjork, canada, cheer chen, coldplay, eminem, fatboy slim, japan, korea, latin america, nelly furtado, rankings, shiina ringo, spain, taiwan, u2

Best Albums of 2000-2009

December 23, 2009 — 7 Comments

Well, I’ve found it easier to narrow down the number of albums for this Top100 Albums of the Decade, than to narrow my list of songs to 100. LOL I have around 350 songs at the moment. This is gonna be difficult… and also in every possible language xD

Anyway, I’m sure that I had to take out some albums to include other albums. It was all a very difficult process to figure out what to include… going from “do I really have to take this song out?” to “OMG, I really love all these songs from this artist!!! Which one should I choose!- So please, bear with me, and comment what to add.

In Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Misc., Music, Sharing, Spanish, Swedish alejandro sanz, alicia keys, andrea echeverri, best of, bibi chow (zhou bichang), bjork, brad paisley, brokeback mountain, canada, cheer chen, china, coldplay, crowd lu (lu guang zhong), darren hayes, dixie chicks, eminem, fatboy slim, faye wong, france, franz ferdinand, gianmarco, glen hansard, gwen stefani, hanson, independent, japan, jay chou (zhou jielun), juanes, justin timberlake, keith urban, kent, korea, latin america, lee hom wang, les chansons d'amour, marit larsen, marketa irglova, maroon 5, mayday (taiwanese band), medula, miyavi, mtv, nelly furtado, norah jones, olafur arnalds, pink, rankings, red hot chili peppers, regina spektor, salyu, seo taiji, shiina ringo, sigur ros, sodagreen, soundtrack, spain, sweden, taiwan, tegan and sara, the ting tings, white stripes, yeah yeah yeahs, yuguo

On my search for 2009 released albums, I stumbled across this post by Layabozi listing 60 Chinese Albums to Show Off — I so need to affiliate with them for YAM. Once Nate gets his crap sorted… Anyway, I digress~~~

They got some people working as musicians or music PR peeps~ to choose the albums to show off as a way to commemorate the 60 years of the Republic of China. Though, there seems to be a glitch on their list because a Hedgehog album seems to be showing more than once there~~~ xD

The ones on the list that I could already be showing off are:

Hedgehog – Noise Hit World
don’t mind the no-sense English. It’s a really FUN album.
Faye Wong – Restless
Khalil Fong – This Love
Chang Shi Lei – Niu China
Faye Wong – Fable
Carsick Cars – Carsick Cars

And I could be adding to my Show Off list…

Faye Wong – Faye Wong (2001)
Faye Wong – To Love
Yuguo – Babel
Zhou Bichang – WOW

Though I’m sure choosing a Wang Leehom album would get me some minus points.

Posted on December 1, 2009 In Chinese, English, Music, Sharing best of, bibi chow (zhou bichang), chang shilei, china, faye wong, rankings, taiwan, yuguo

To Watch Until They’re 30 – Paul Dano

October 24, 2009 — 1 Comment

I thought I would post both #1 spots on one day to not make them one more important than the other. So on the #1 position of the Actors list is none other than Paul Dano!

Paul Dano

If we talk about astounding CVs, then we should note that Dano has a pretty impressive one. He did L.I.E in 2001, and has shared the screen with fellow The 20 to Watch Emile Hirsch on The Emperor’s Club (with Kevin Kline), and The Girl Next Door… but unlike his colleague, Dano hasn’t shown off the asshole inside — so he’s safe.

Dano also appeared on The Ballad of Jack and Rose with fellows who didn’t make it Jena Malone and Camilla Belle, as well as Daniel Day-Lewis who would later kick the crap out of Dano on There Will Be Blood. He’s shared the screen with William Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal on The King, and also co-starred on the successful Little Miss Sunshine alongside Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Steve Carrel and Greg Kinnear.

Add all of that to the fact that he’s also been part of films like Explicit Ills, Gigantic (with Zooey Deschanel), directed by Ang Lee (with Hirsch once again, and Imelda Staunton) with Taking Woodstock, and can be heard on the latest Spike Jonze film Where the Wild Things Are. For the coming years? He’s got The Good Heart with Brian Cox, The Extra Man with John C. Reilly, Katie Holmes and Kevin Klein directed by Shari Springer Berman of American Splendor fame~~~ Then there’s Meek’s Cutoff with Michelle Williams and directed by Kelly Reichardt of Wendy and Lucy fame, and finally Knight & Day with Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, and Viola Davis directed by James Mangold (Girl Interrupted, Identity, Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma). So clearly, we’ve got exciting things to watch and keep watching~

Interesting projects, seems kind, not pompous, works hard~~~
he really deserves to be the number 1 actor, right?

In Celebrity, English, Films, Photoshoots, Sharing, Stills actor, discovering new actors, new talent, rankings

To Watch Until They’re 30 – Ellen Page

October 24, 2009 — 4 Comments

So we freaking made it! #1 on the List of Actresses~~~
None other than Ellen Page!

ellen-page

Wait, I know. I’m very well aware that many people hate her. Whatever. You know why? Because I’m being quite objective here, and Page has made it to the top with merit. She was pretty freaking scary as Hayley on Hard Candy — my friend told me her now X was scared to his balls in fear. LOL — Anyway, she was also part of a franchise, though a very small role, she was Kitty Pryde on X3.

She later left me scared to death with American Crime, and Tracey Fragments proved to be a very interesting and bizarre film choice. She was later Juno with all her Junoness, won a bunch of awards and was nominated for an Oscar. Next up will be Peacock with Susan Sarandon and Cillian Murphy… and there’s freaking Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, and again Cillian Murphy — directed by the one and only Christopher Nolan~~~

That’s a crew to die for!

Plus, if you ask my father, he’ll tell you she’s the one. LOL

If Inception proves to be successful, there will probably be more role choices… more interesting projects. Unless Page gets bored with acting, I don’t see her boring us with some crazy films…

In Celebrity, English, Films, Photoshoots, Sharing, Stills actress, canada, discovering new actors, ellen page, new talent, rankings

To Watch Until They’re 30 – Kenichi Matsuyama

October 20, 2009 — 2 Comments

We are also closing in the #1 spot of our 10 choices for Actors we should be checking out until they’re 30~~~ But first, on the #2 spot is Japanese actor Kenichi Matsuyama.

Kenichi Matsuyama

For those not familiar with Japanese films, Matsuyama is an unknown face that you should be knowing. He’s only 24, and has over two dozen films on his filmography, among them? Worst by Chance (with fellows The 20 to Watch actors Hayato Ichihara and Yu Aoi), The Taste of Tea, Linda Linda Linda, Nana (with fellow The 20 to Watch Aoi Miyazaki), Yamato, Don’t Laugh at my Romance (with fellow Yu Aoi again). He also has the Death Note manga franchise, so he’s got a franchise under his belt ;P

He plays quiet, he plays weird, he plays heartthrob, he does drama, he does comedy. He does it all.

Next up for him, he’ll be on Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood adaptation alongside Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi. With such variety, we can’t just stop watching~~~

In Celebrity, English, Films, Japanese, Photoshoots, Sharing actor, discovering new actors, japan, kenichi matsuyama, new talent, rankings

To Watch Until They’re 30 – Evan Rachel Wood

October 19, 2009 — 1 Comment

Only ONE spot missing! On the #4 spot is Evan Rachel Wood~~~

evan-rachel-wood

Back in 2002 and 2003… and maybe half of 2004, I was the hugest Evan Rachel Wood fan on this side of the world. I mean, I used to watch every weekend Sony’s reruns of Once & Again, so when I moved to Canada and saw that I would be able to watch Thirteen at the cinemas, I was thrilled. I probably should still have my used ticket somewhere.

Anyway, after Thirteen came and went, Wood began to be cast oftentimes as the Lolita of the films she chose to make. They weren’t bad films, but her choice of roles seemed to be getting boring. Down in the Valley (with Edward Norton) wasn’t a bad film, but it was a pretty average role of the young girl that sleeps with the older guy and stuff happens. Then came Running with Scissors (directed by Ryan Murphy, and working alongside Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin and Gwyneth Paltrow) which wasn’t really a bad film either.

It wasn’t until King of California (with Michael Douglas) came out that I started to pay attention again. That was followed by The Life Before her Eyes (with Uma Thurman, directed by Vadim Perelman of House of Sand and Fog fame), and eventually ended up working as Lucy on the dramedy/musical Across the Universe. I’m pretty much sold right there and then~

Last year, she showed up on a bit of The Wrestler, so any Aronofsky film on anyone’s filmography is cool on my books, and then showed up on Woody Allen’s Whatever Works with a pretty hilarious southern accent. She is currently working as an over-sexed (most likely) vampire lady on the HBO True Blood with fellow actress Anna Paquin.

Next up for Wood, The Conspirator directed by Robert Redford with James McAvoy, Robin Wright Penn, Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson and Alexis Bledel. Worth to keep an eye on her ;P

In Celebrity, English, Films, Photoshoots, Sharing, Stills actress, discovering new actors, evan rachel wood, new talent, rankings

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