Archives For ueno juri

Juri Ueno - Shiseido Cosmetics

Wet hair, that is…
minds of the gutter, s’il vous plait~

You can check all hi-res photos over here.

Once again,
another sneak peek at Juri on the Ivan Simeon collection~

Juri Ueno - Myth and Realities by Ivan Simeon

More Juri and Nodame!!

July 7, 2009 — 1 Comment

December 19!!!

Of course I will have to wait a little for it… with luck, it won’t be too long.

Nodame Movie 2009

GYABO!!! xD

btw, sounds like a very fun European tour…

Last month on the 16th, they already started filming in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. They continued in Brno, the Czech Republic and after that they arrived in Vienna, Austria. After Vienna, they went back to Brno also filmed a few scenes Prague. Right now they are in France and about to start filming in Paris.

More photos and videos via the Juri LJ Comm xD

Chiaki-sempai!!!! Gyabo~~~ xD
Oh, man~ I love Nodame-chan xD – Onara Taisou!!

I thought I was being a smartass by calling this a Twitterview, but FRAK! I’m late… this is what happens when you think Twitter is not for you. ANYWAY!

The Juri Ueno LiveJournal community just posted a brief Twitterview – more like a casual chat – with Ivan Simeon who is the photographer for the newest Juri-chan photographic adventure titled
The New Green Deal.

The New Green Deal by Ivan Simeon

As far as I’m concerned, this community ROCKS major Yen. xD – They scan, translate… sub and even conduct Juri-related interviews!!!

And hooray for Happy Accidents!!!

My assistant messed up and the b&w pictures became green! She throwed it away and I fished it out of the bin and thought: Wouawww! That looks great. Than we worked hard to find again the combination which by accident gave this strange colour!

While there’s on-going filming in Europe, there’s more news about Juri’s brand new WOWOW drama titled Ueno Juri and the Five Bags – though I wonder if there will be a title change or addition~~

Juri Ueno and the Five Bags

WOWOW is quickly positioning on my to-watch list (now, if only they decided to release their subbed dramas and films) – and on the vein of series like Camouflage, which I still haven’t watched subbed – comes this mini-series (since it’s only 5-episodes long) telling the story of 5 different characters and directed by 5 different directors, including Nobuhiro Yamashita (Linda Linda Linda, Camouflage), Michael Arias (Tekkonkinkreet) and Takuma Takasaki (Honokaa Boy).

Continue Reading…

First, see it for yourself~~~

https://youtu.be/TCg1RYahEG4

Now, I wasn’t to OMGWTFGOD when I saw the film. I liked it… I thought it was okay. The thing that I loved was singing that Ponyo song with the little girlPonyo, Ponyo sakana no ko!!! – Plus, Juri sings it too and that made me laugh so hard. I just had to mentioned that… just so you could see that part of the charm of the film is THAT song. This is why I think this trailer fails, makes it look all epic and sh!t… it is kinda, but it’s mostly cute.

People will feel mislead. I can feel it in the air… and critics will bash it as childish.

This is my last post for this blogathon, unless I can come up with something on time for tomorrow~

I was reading this post on Japanese Films and Women in Cinema– now, female in cinema is a big BIG subject. I’m not in the position to point out feminists or non-feminists films across the decades or countries. However, I have to admit that looking back at the films I’ve seen the past year, it feels like many (if not most of them) have a female protagonist. In general, I don’t know the reason – if there are more films about women, or if I’m watching them because I’m looking for them. What I do know is that I watched many Japanese films with female leads because I had been on the hunt for Juri Ueno and Yu Aoi projects – so that’s got to be at least 10 films led by a female, right?

So here it is… some~

Japanese Chick-centric Films or with Female Leads~

  • Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
  • Kiki’s Delivery Service
  • Hula Girls
  • Swing Girls
  • Hana to Alice (Hana & Alice)
  • Gaichu (Harmful Insect)
  • Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu (Turtles Swim Faster than Expected)
  • Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)
  • Quiet Room ni Youkoso (Welcome to the Quiet Room)
  • Linda Linda Linda
  • Kamikaze Girls
  • Shinku (The Deep Red)
  • Love Letter
  • Sakuran
  • Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters)
  • Rinne (Reincarnation)
  • Tenshi no Tamago (Angel’s Egg)
  • Wool 100%
  • Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
  • GuGu Datte Neko de Aru (Gu Gu the Cat)
  • Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
  • Nishi no Majo ga Shinda (The Witch of the West is Dead)
  • Blood the Last Vampire
  • Pikunikku (Picnic)

Of course, there’s many animated films asides from the ones I’ve mentioned above like Paprika, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The Milennium Actress or Perfect Blue. And yes, there are films in my list that are not quite remarkable… and we can also point out that there aren’t many female leads of over 30 or 40 (in some way, Matsuko which chronicles her life, The Makioka Sisters, GuGu, and The Witch of the West – who knew Shirley McLaine’s daughter spoke Japanese?), but then again… that’s a problem that seems to be common in Hollywood too. Does it happen much in Europe? Countries like France or Germany? Are there many films with female leads, or are they as hard to find??

In the end,  it was good to see Meryl Streep (Doubt),  Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Laura Linney (The Savages), and to some degree Kate Winslet (The Reader) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) getting recognition these past two years.

— EDIT June 21 —

I thought this was a great post on the subject. =D

Continuing with this Blogathon (hmm… I’m finding it harder and harder to write) – I read the following post by Ulrik about Japanese subtitle distribution on blu-ray~ sad, sad indeed~

But the question is… would you buy blu-ray/DVDs with English subs?

Many of us, who watch through torrents and P2P, would probably not buy. I know a LOT of people who think they have the right to not buy a film they love – I get a little pissed when they say that. Not because they do not pay for films… but because they don’t WANT to pay for things they supposedly LOVE. I really can’t stand that.

You will always find me with little money on the wallet or my bank account (depending on where I do the buying…) because I literally spend whatever I get to cash in on the films I love (and used to be films I liked, LOL). It’s really depressing, if you think about it economicaly~ but my love for certain films make it worth the while. Really, watching films and talking about films make me forget about my surroundings hahaha.

[so please, ads my clicking. oh yes, i did again~~ LOL]

So I yearn for English (or Spanish… or even French as of lately) subtitles, so why aren’t they getting subbed? And even sadder (but not as sad as others…) – Why do some films take over six months to get fansubbed?? I worship fansubbers, because they provide something so very useful. But it would be nice to get DVDs with subs, right?

So let’s see… Hmm… I dunno if I can make it to 10 films, so we’ll see~~

The Japanese Films I’ve Bought with English Subtitles

Not including Region 1 releases
Hooray for multi-region players! Yes, because I still haven’t made the change to Blu-ray xD

  • Memories of Matsuko 2-disc Special Edition [Hong Kong]
    I bought this one right away after watching the film. I loved the film so much, that I didn’t even cared that the only version I could find online was a Region 3. This also happened to be the first Region 3 disc I ever bought. I ended up really happy with the product because everything came subtitled (including extras), and at a descent price.
  • GUU GUU Datte Neko de Aru 2-disc First Press Limited Edition [Japan]
    I have to admit. It hurt me to pay~ LOL – Specially because the Korean version is half the price, but I also must admit that I was curious to see the difference between Japanese DVDs and the rest… so this became my first ever official Japanese DVD.
  • The first Inuyasha Movie (Toki o Koeru Omoi, Affections through Time)[Japan?]
    hahaha, I know~ – I used to watch Inuyasha when I was in school. It was during those years that my friends had tried to anime-fying me, so I went to this “specialized” in anime shop in town, and bought a copy of the film. Though I’m not entirely sure now if it was a real copy or a bootleg, because to tell you the truth… it doesn’t compared to my copy of GUU GUU.
    And in the end… I bought a Region 1 copy. LOL
  • Love Letter 10th Anniversary Version [Hong Kong]
    I can’t remember right now if the Japanese was available for purchase, when I bought this. I really, really love Shunji Iwai’s work (part of the reason I want to watch New York, I Love You now~), so I just couldn’t help myself from getting a copy of Love Letter… because I’m a sap. I was slightly disappointed on this release due to some issues with the sync of subs, but I can live with that. If I come around some more extra cash, I would consider getting a better copy though~~~
  • Niji no Megami [Hong Kong]
    Truth be told… I wish this film had a better release, but since this is the only version I found with subs – this one it is! LOL’ – Again, it’s got Shunji Iwai on it as a stamp, so I couldn’t help myself. Add to that Yu Aoi and Juri Ueno. I’m lost. Plus, Hayato Ichihara is a cutie. He’s weird here, but he’s so so pretty.

Some other films, I’ve found on Region 1. But I only wish someone would release Hyakuman-en with subs – and I know they aren’t films but I would love someone would release Camouflage (this one doesn’t even have complete fansubs!) and Osen with subs. LOL

Come on WOWOW~ Get on with it! You’ve already licensed Hito no SEKKUSU as a Free Region with Subs in Taiwan! Which I’m so thinking of buying… but really, I’m more interested in getting Camouflage subbed/fansubbed… okay, and maybe Hyakuman-en.

WOOOOOO!! A freakin’ year~~~~

Yu Aoi - Year One

Today a year ago, I was introduced to Yu Aoi’s work on Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou, and the Shunji Iwai-related Rainbow Song. Little did I know that the characters that interested me the most in the films were played by the same actress. Nine days later, I watched Hula Girls, and a month later I was completely hooked with Yu Aoi, and yet another Shunji Iwai film… Hana & Alice.

Continue Reading…

I just posted YAM 003 over at my portfolio~~

There’s a lot of international flavor in it… all by chance actually. It really wasn’t planned, it all just came together like that. There’s a couple of rant articles on movies and music, loads of reviews including complete non-fanatical reviews of Ao Akua, Utada Hikaru, DBSK, Hathaways, U2, Madeleine Peyroux, and Michel Gondry/Bong Joon-ho’s Yu Aoi’s Tokyo!

ALSO! A special on the Peruvian film winning the Berlinale’s Golden Bear top prize~~ The Milk of Sorrow, and some of the discussion regarding the original name “La Teta Asustada”.

YAM - Issue 3

Head over there now!