Archives For reality tv/variety

April Blessings~

April 17, 2017 — 2 Comments

It’s no longer Whee-in’s birthday in S.Korea, but it still technically is here— so, Happy Birthday Wheepup! You Spongebob-laughing tripe-and-raw-liver-eating laughing machine you. I still haven’t check out the recent Bday Vapp, but bless you, Mamamoo kids.

April started with blessings of Shiina Ringo releasing her concert DVD/Bluray Hyakkiyagyo 2015 (百鬼夜行2015) [which is the term used for onis, yokais, monsters and spirits whatevers doing a conga line through the night (LOL)]; then Gesu Kiwami are finally releasing their Daruma Ringo (達磨林檎) [which was supposed to released last year], which are set to be released in May. There were also announcements of a new BiBi album and a Mamamoo comeback.

Mamamoo, of course, have been blessing us all year— I’ve sorta lost track of the many song releases, but I’m pretty sure it was like this: LOVE for the Goblin OST, Solar’s collab with Luna and Hani for Honey Bee, Solar’s Emotion Part 4, San E’s collab with Hwasa in I Am Me, Jungkey’s son with Whee-in Anymore, Double Trouble Couple for the Strong Woman Do Bong Soon OST, and now eSNa’s collab with Hwasa Love Comes. Bless and poor, yo!

I’ve also just discovered DADARAY, Residente (otherwise known as the voice of Calle 13) released his new album [1]… and so did La Vida Boheme [1], Mary and the Witch’s Flower (メアリと魔女の花) LOOKS FREAKING AMAZING, I’ve been watching Sister’s Slam Dunk Season 2 and loving every minute of it, and Minzy’s made her official comeback with the release of Minzy Work 01 UNO and NINANO, as a main single.

Last night, of course, started with Minzy’s comeback, but got so much better with the announcement that Shiina Ringo did a CM for a Luxury Mall, but the song they did expanded into a digital single called Menukidori (目抜き通り), which is set to be released on the 20th, which is the day of the mall’s inauguration [1]. And then I found out that Jambinai released a new song called Damdamhi Jeogsigona (담담히 적시고나), which translates to “slightly wet,” which features the voice of folk singer Park Min Hee (박민희) [1].

Then I went to bed, and Mamamoo was in it. I talked (and laughed) a lot with Whee-in [this is the first time I interact, in broken English, with Mamamoo]. It was a party, and Shahrukh Khan was also there hahahahaha, so I got to shake his hand xD and then I went to talk to Hwasa, and she was telling me she was planning to come to Peru to visit Machu Picchu, so I was like- giving her tips. Sting was also there (so random!), and he had hair. HAHAHA.

Bless my Wheesa dream, though. Wheesa’s not my bias OTP, but bless them.

Here it is! My final list of 2016~

I usually post my Top50 right after my Music Highlights, but my schedule has been all wonk this year. I know I’m very inactive on this blog, but I still hope the very few of you that still visit the site had a wonderful holiday week and that you are having a blast this New Year’s Eve. I wish for y’all’s good fortune this coming 2017 because we know we’ve had a rough 2016. Let us all recharge, and cross fingers for some very need good vibes~

Leave y’all with the link~

Shunji Iwai’s neo-classical romance, Love Letter, about the woman who wrote letters to her deceased lover and got responses back, is over 20 years old now since its release. However, its mark as a pop culture reference across Asia is undeniable. In its time, the film made actress Miho Nakayama a household name, and it launched Shunji Iwai’s filmmaking career (and hence has given us: Ayumi Ito and Yu Aoi).

The film’s style and cinematography, courtesy of Noboru Shinoda (RIP) has inspired countless of filmmakers across East Asia who have headed to Otaru (小樽市) or other similar snowy places to capture the essence of the film [cue: 张一白 Zhang Yibai’s segment in Run for Love (奔爱), which featured Eddie Peng and Zhang Ziyi], and the classic (though simple) quote of “o-genki desuka?” (お元気ですか?) [1] has been referenced in various places…

Just look at the members of -relatively new- Kpop group G-FRIEND, who played a round of movie quotes to decide who would be the host of that specific One Fine Day episode’s segment (10 months after their debut). The group is formed by 6 young women, all who were born post-95. In fact, eldest member (and leader of the group), Sowon, was born almost 8 months after the release of Love Letter. But it is member Yuju (’97) who first references the movie with the knowledge of all the group.

one-fine-day-ep3-gfriend-yerin-sinb-yuju-shunji-iwai-ogenki-desuka-love-letter

So if you put your hands close together to shout out the words “o-genki desuka?” and the person in front answers back the same way with a “atashi genki desu.” That’s a Shunji Iwai shout-out to ya~

Mina-san! Genki? Ha!

Forgive the complete absent from the blog recently (two entries last month, and this is the first one this month!), I’ve been generally “more busy” updating the MUBI (the site formerly known as The Auteurs lol) database than even actually keeping up with news (trailers/music) on YAM Magazine or watching movies and shows. I’ve also been occupied watching Korean shows, which tend to make everyone procrastinate. And it’s not like it was priority-watching, either~ I’ve been watching Solar and Eric Nam’s We Got Married episodes, but my favorite watch and re-watches was Mamamoo x GFRIEND’s Showtime.

I don’t actually stan GFRIEND, and I already have biases. Bless.

moonbyul-sinb-new-girl-crush

Bless, SinB. Bless SinB with Moonbyul, Bless New Crush Star. LOL

Continue Reading…

Just got the chance to watch Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol and have gotten properly acquainted with Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf— I was impressed. He’s got a great voice, and he’s quite good looking! He’s also got the grace of God on his side, coz’ gosh~ really.

Full album is available on iTunes.

So I started watching We Got Married for the first time. I had previously just watched clips when GaIn used to be on it, but never got into it full on. But since I’m in my complete Mamamoo fan mood, I just couldn’t miss Solar (my bias, though… this keeps changing) in all her dork splendor!

I was not disappoint~ xD

solar-we-got-married-stuffed-dragon

I mean, when has Mamamoo failed to make me crack up? I wonder how this went when editing the episode, they probably laughed their butts off because…

Continue Reading…

*dies*

Oh, hey! I’m back from my trip! And as I work on the photos (+1k) I took, I wanted to share these quick perfections~

These are pictures I took on the plane on my way there and on my way back, during perfect break of dawns across the Americas — one was near landing time in Los Angeles and the other in plain flight across Central America — to the most beautiful soundtrack moments~ Su Yunying’s Ming Ming 冥明 and Strong Sky People 空人得坚强. That album is certainly topping my favorite album list this year, LOL.

Anyway~ Su continues her perfection with a performance of Mayday’s Contentment (知足) [MV] in this year’s season of I Am Singer (我是歌手), which I thought I was done with. LOL I don’t get how this show works. But Su Yunying made another appearance and her presence just makes things better. I didn’t realize it was the Mayday song until the last moment or halfway through. xD Her version is so hers and so unique, makes me appreciate the original even more.

But if I thought that was it? Turns out HAYA Band also did a rendition of Bjork’s Joga [MV], which is also life itself. They topped it off with more chants. I’m not entirely sure why they call it 英格玛.

So I’m late to the party (as always), and just started watching this year’s season of Sing my Song (中国好歌曲), which has been airing for a couple of weeks. It’s honestly my favorite of these many music contests because it’s new songs. I never ever stay through the actual contest, but… I do enjoy their blind auditions for the surprises!

Episode one, so far, has given me that awkward moment when Laurence Larson 罗艺恒 sings better Mandarin than me… nobody turns for blues singer 黄晓宁 Huang Hsiao Ning which makes David Tao cry (and reminds me of my dad, hence also making me teary), and gives us the meta moment of the night (and probably of the season) when Liu Wei 刘维 sings Because You Are Mavis Fan (因为你是范晓萱), using many Mavis music and lyrics cues, to make Mavis herself cry.

I’m a Mavis fan and I love I Want Us to Be Together to bits, so of course I loved it.

The song is available for download over at QQ (apparently, officially), but you gotta download their APP, sign up for an account (maybe pay to get the 320kbps version)… and for sign up, it’s asking for a mobile number to send a verification code, and I don’t use a phone, so I can’t sign up [Hipster First World Problems]~~~ so I only got myself a 128kbps from somewhere murky on the net LOL. If you happen to get the 320kbps one, do share it with me pretty please.

And it’s not like EVERYTHING is available on iTunes. On time.

Don’t ask me how I Am A Singer (我是歌手) elimination works xD, I thought I wouldn’t see HAYA again… but here they are with a version of Silent Sky (寂静的天空)… from their 2009 album.

Also making a surprise appearance~ the Wild Child, Su Yunying~

Continue Reading…

Well, that was quick.

And don’t give me that excuse that the voting audience doesn’t like World Music because Han Hong is pretty much World Music too. Shaking bad vibes aside, HAYA Band’s sound fills me with energy. It’s the show’s loss. CoCo loves them too, you can tell. Anyone who loves music could feel their passion and energy.

I usually don’t watch the show myself, just the clips, and wait for the recap that just lists the final ranking~ but, my gosh~~~ is the ranking section annoying as f*ck! Why does that have to last like 30min?