I always got confused about American and Canadian thanksgiving~
I know a lot of people who visit are from the US, so Happy Thanksgiving guys! Hope you eat a lot — that’s me wishing you the best in Asian-talk — and that the crazy cold or hot (depending on where you are) doesn’t get to you.
Don’t have any Thanksgiving-y photo~
I won’t be posting daily because I found that posting so much online makes it impossible for me to work on the YAM Magazine website. I will still be tweeting for the YAM Mag Twitter account, the YAM Mag Facebook Group, or you know… you can follow my movie-watching on MUBI.
I know a bunch of people were watching the American Music Awards on Sunday – does anyone care about the AMA once we grow older? I actually complained there was no broadcast, when there actually was… I just didn’t know there was, because I guess I didn’t care.
Also I rarely have the TV on in anything other than CNN, NHK, or CCTV LOL
Anyway, the New Kids on the Block and the BackStreet Boys performed together – which they’ve done before, only the video leaked that time was just a bunch of women screaming. So this one is an actual broadcast performance bringing oh so many memories.
They sang a mash-up (Glee fan-mode on) of Hanging Tough with Everybody, which then turned into I Want it that Way, which turned into Step by Step with The Right Stuff, and they finished off with Larger than Life.
Please, I was a teenage girl once – I know every single track name from any pop song of any pop idol prior to 2002. I know the choreography to those music videos. LOL
But now? Now I work on YAM, and I’m all about WORLDWIDE stuff.
The 14th Sydney Japanese Film Festival is showing FLOWERS and Otouto.
As I rant that every film festival gets more up-to-date stuff than my local festivals… I also read a sweet quite glowing positive FLOWERS review, which resembles uzaigaijin‘s thoughts on FLOWERS.
But the single biggest thing that makes “Flowers” so remarkable is the authenticity of its feel from a cinematic viewpoint. It is an experience tailored to the psychology of moviegoers as a class. As such, it functions as a tribute not only to the growth of Japan as a society, but to the development of movie-making in general.
And I love that they mention that Yu-chan is one of the most talented and bankable actresses. (see Why Raiou Needs to Reach #1, which it didn’t)
Koizumi-san, at least, shares his vision of the 1930s in gorgeous antiquated tones as he beautifully captures Yu Aoi, one of Japan’s most talented and bankable actresses, in crisp black and white. Aoi-san comes across delightfully in vintage; the part well suits her subtle and subdued acting style. She flawlessly looks the part of the Yamato Nadeshiko, resplendent in various kimonos and decked out in traditional bridal regalia. One of the most memorable scenes in the film sees Aoi-san running through a sakura (cherry tree) grove in full bloom with mountains visible in the distance, a wide shot reminiscent of some old time silver screen epic.
Then there’s Mavis Fan 1999 album, I Want Us to Be Together – so SO freaking-tastic. Frak! This type of albums is what makes me wish I could understand Mandarin, and makes Chinese music all sorts of awesome.
I could be wrong, but streaming in different sites is not that good for hits, right? Why not just show it in MUBI? After all, don’t you want people to sign up? Anyway, it’s nice that MUBI YouTube lets you embed a whole movie! xD
Alright, alright – I am hardly not biased… but since going on my Joan Crawford marathon with DVDs and books — yeh, I’ve spent a bunch of $$$ on Crawford stuff this month — I’ve been thinking that Crawford’s life would make one heck of an interesting movie.
Crawford’s biopic would begin from her mysterious childhood, not knowing when exactly. Her biological father abandons her family, and later her stepfather is gone. Her life affected by it, and then her short experience at school. Not being an educated person would mark her life in that she feels not good enough. She’s not a sex bomb like other actresses, or seen as good as more talented actresses like Bette Davis — we can even bring Leslie Bibb for it. Crawford needed to prove she belong in that MGM lot, and she knew she only had her on street smarts to get ahead~~~
We gotta admit Crawford pushed women away… especially threatening to her career because she was insecure. With failed marriages, no biological children, her only “baby” was her career which started slipping away with the years. However, she was a survivor… changing to what the public needed her to be, and what she needed to be to survive.
A film with the struggles to reach the stars… from flapper to Hollywood diva, her marriages, and lovers~~~ including an on/off affair with Clark Gable, her friendship with him… what would have happened if both their love lives had finally met in the middle? Her miscarriages, her ultimate decision to adopt kids, her tormented relationship with the first two… until the final announcement of the release of Mommie Dearest, and her cutting her first two kids off her will.
Hollywood, make it happen. Her life is material for even two films… but considering we know so little of her beginning years, you can cram it into one, right?
Not really the best of captures, but we’ll take what we can with YouTube removing stuff. Once again, YouTube users~~~ contact me in order to figure out how to keep the videos online. Your upload credits will be kept.
Thanks hirokisakurajima for the upload~
OMG, Yu-chan plays the piano!!!
I had read about that, but never actually believed it… you know, it is the internet.
By the way, her last Ongaku appearance… which was uploaded by rocking user aoinohoho is gone because YouTube deleted the account – understandable. Aoinohoho, if you still visit the site would love to get hold of those videos.
Which leads me to a rant. Seriously Japan broadcasters, REALLY? As if you’re going to release interviews for sale. Even the likes of Letterman, and all those night shows have clips online. What’s up with that!?
I’m not entirely sure when my parents first decided to take me to the cinema, because my parents worked a lot so most my outings were with my aunts and cousins. And my parents think little kids who don’t behave themselves shouldn’t be taken on too many activities, so it is likely we didn’t properly go to the movies until I was 5 or more… so Jurassic Park it is.
I saw it with my aunt and little cousin, who’s now… 20 xD
3. First film purchase:
VHS: None
DVD: She’s All That and Loser
When I grew up, it was a troubling time for the economy. We didn’t buy tapes – my dad, however, used to bring a lot of rentals from a place who used to watermark its videos with “videorama” – of course my dad taped all those Disney shorts and old movies.
Sometimes when my uncle would visit Miami, he would bring a tape or two of Disney’s Sing Along Songs. I also remember my auntie gave me an X-Men tape (the one were the color palette is earth colors – Cyclops head is all covered and Wolverine is all brown), and my uncle gave me the tape of Winnie the Pooh’s Wishing Star story.
My first two DVDs, I bought when I turned 15, so you can’t hold me accountable of the purchase. It was on my bday trip to California, and bought those discs thinking they were VCDs for some weird reason, and having to wait a couple of months before my family actually bought a DVD player.
4. First Crush:
Carly Pope and Christopher Gorham
Weird, huh? They’re not really Film crushes, though both have done films.
I mean it is rather silly to be a 11-year-old girl watching Titanic and swooning over Leonardo DiCaprio. First, I wasn’t THAT interested in film back then – TV was everything to me… and pop music, so it’s only fitting that my first “crushes” weren’t Film crushes.
Once I get a crush, I am rather faithful. My interest may wain, but it will never truly disappear unless said object of imaginary affection does something truly bad.
And god, Carly Pope’s striking face — and those eyebrows! Hmm.. I might have an eyebrow fetish (Crawford and Garbo, anyone?) — and Christopher Gorham’s sexy nerdiness. It’s killer to me. And they both supposedly speak more than one language? It’s a killer combo for me.
It’s begun. The beginning of the end. After the 7th book came out, and left me unsatisfied — a feeling carried over the 6th book and the 5th film — I swore to never see Harry Potter at the cinema ever again. A promise easy to keep with the 6th film, but then… it was hard to keep it when the first promotional materials for HP7 were released.
Well played, Warner. Well played.
Deathly Hallows is perhaps Yates’ best attempt at a Harry Potter adaption, but considering the other two – it isn’t saying that much. In the greater scale of things, it might follow on Azkaban’s footsteps as an interesting film filled with anguish and desperation… of I guess, the teenage sort. If the book didn’t work for you, the film seems to improve on action and characters. It’s also of great comfort to say that The WB’s decision of splitting the film in two parts was hardly a bad commercial or creative choice… at least for the fans of the books, who will savor each an every detail.
But then again, considering how many chapters were crammed into this first part, one has to wonder what’s left for part two if not only the “last battle” which, in the book, happened off-page… and that epilogue that’s ripped out of the most poorly written fanfiction.
For the non-readers or those who haven’t seen HP6… well, you’re screwed. It really doesn’t work without the background, and you’re better without watching it, if you’re going to start complaining. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows feels like made for the fans of the series only.
