Someone I know did one of those silly FB test application things on numerology, which made me revisit mine. As you probably know, I did a bit of numerology back in my fandom years – which was pretty accurate, if I may say so~
Anyway, here is mine as a quick result ;)
with links after the break, so you can quickie check yours too~
and a half~~~
I just read over NipponCinema that the Japanese Cinema Blogathon has started. (yesterday, really…)
What is the Japanese Cinema Blogathon?
Someone over at Wildgrounds.com thought it’d be a cool idea to unite forces in order to promote Japanese Cinema. Write, share ideas… anything goes as long as it’s about Japanese Cinema. Check their list of on-going activities…
I’ll start off with something simple…
My history with Japanese Cinema isn’t as broad as other people’s. I don’t watch too many older classics, because they are harder to get~~ I mean, it’s just easier to get contemporary stuff. ;P but there are some really great films that I’ve been able to watch this past year.
1. They can be about nothing at all, yet hold so much meaning or be so entertaining.
I saw Kore-eda’s Aruitemo, Aruitemo (Still Walking) a couple of days ago. I think that’s perhaps my favorite Japanese film from last year *laughs* – besides from the fact that I really like Hiroshi Abe *laughs*. That film felt so right to me, from the moment we saw Ryo’s sister and mother discussing and trying to cook in the kitchen, to the very last scene of Ryo’s family walking. There was no big reveal of someone having another kid, or someone getting kidnapped or killed, someone having an affair – none of that. One of the things that just stands out was Ryo and his mom finally remembering the name of the Sumo wrestler… and always being late. Heartbreaking.
A similar thing I can tell you of Linda Linda Linda, which I saw and liked, but LOVED after repeated viewings. Nobuhiro Yamashita’s story of a group of girls trying to make it on time to play on the school festival. Nothing at all! But add to that Doona Bae as non-Japanese lead singer, and rock!!
2. They can be bizarrely good.
From high-on-drug-styled film Survive Style 5+, bike-riding rococo lolita adventures on Shimotsuma Monogatari (Kamikaze Girls), Moulin Rouge!-meets-Amelie-meets-Sin City-esque dramedy musical Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko) – or even high-school-hardcore-Survivor Battle Royale. They are not your typical film, they can only be Japanese. LOL
3. They don’t treat animation as if it’s only for kids.
Yes, Japanese Cinema is not only Anime – to the dismay of some of my friends – but they do a pretty darn good job animating films like Paprika, Tekkonkinkreet, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies. Since the day I discovered Hotaru no Haka 6 years ago, it’s become my favorite animated film to date. LOL
LOL’
Does that say enough to you? Really, read the editor’s note. Lots of things on this new issue… new problems, new films, new music…
Reviews of films from the blockbuster season… Star Trek, Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, Up~~~ Brothers Bloom. Short film reviews, concert reviews… of Kiss in Lima. Music reviews of The Sounds, Green Day, Shiina Ringo… a bunch of K-pop courtesy of Julz~~~ off you go to Japan!!! WOOOOO – there’s Life on Mars, House M.D. and my more “professional” review of Yu Aoi’s Portugirl.
SUPEINgo Hayakusa Kotoba for Nihon Jin. xD
Spanish Tongue Twisters for Japanese.
I always think Japanese people would have an easy transition to Spanish (pronunciation-wise) – and to sort of prove it, I wanted to type some tongue twisters in Spanish in Katakana~~~ LOL’
Let’s see how that goes~~~
Just a couple of them
Plus, Jugemu is wayyyyy more difficult than any of these, I think~ xD
I’ve taken photos when I was studying… ~~~ Now, if only my school days had looked like THAT.
has been satisfied this weekend!!
I had just discovered the Chinese Music Blog~~~ while reading this post – on also one of my new Chinese entertainment stops. – I got interested on the term “Zhong Guo Feng” which is to be translated as Chinese Style, or Wind… Vibe… etc etc. so I googled and ended up there~~~ I really like the term a lot more than the Chinked Out (nicked by Wang Lee Hom) though.
A lot of people seem to have a lot of different opinions on what music is what style, and so on~ I tend to think Chinked Out style is more of what LeeHom does, which is combining a lot of Hip Hop with very strong Beijing Opera elements (or other Chinese elements) … I really enjoyed that. *laughs* His latest album wasn’t so Chinked Out style, I thought, but I still liked it since I really also enjoy Rock N’ Roll and Elvis style *laughs*
Zhong Guo Feng… I dunno if the term was nicked by Jay, but I got introduced to it through him (and my friend Diana, of course *laughs*) – I really do enjoy his Chinese-oriented songs a lot more than his faster Hip Hop dancing tracks. The more piano he’s got in the album, the less he raps in them… the more I dig. xD
I do enjoy a whole lot more Zhong Guo Feng than any regular nasal dance pop.
And I love LOVE these new additions to my library. ^^
Milk@Coffee – Don’t let the name fool you (I foudn a lot of Starbucks related sites on my search) , after all… who can resist good Pop music?? Pop with an Umph! That electronic-y, quirky vibe. I love!!! Some of the songs remind me of Clazziquai in a way, which I also enjoy xD – They’ve got a bunch of great songs like Yi Qi Lai (Together), Space Cake or Lunar Garden~~~
Yuguo – I think this is by far the most “rock” band [MySpace] I’ve heard in Chinese. You know? We often hear of soooo many Pop acts, it gets a little bit boring. Their 2nd album, Babel, has just been released. It’s a great rock album with bits of electronic… and I think it’s a “themed” album~~ at least, it seems that way from the titles of the tracks. xD
Cheer Chen – *shrieks* How in the name of insert-God-name-here did I not hear about her before? She’s just recently released her fifth studio album Immortal (Tai Yang, as in Sun), and it’s pretty great… so I’m looking forward to her previous work.
[Simply Said][Floral Posture][Shou de Yu Yan]
If I ever go to Taiwan to study, she’s got a brand new stalker. *laughs*
Add to that debut albums by Vae (linked above) – before there’s any complaints~~~ he’s a doctor. ’nuff said. LOL
[You He Bu Ke (Why Not?)][Ru Guo Dang Shi (In the Event that)][Duo Yu De Jie Shi (Superfluous Explanation)]
and LaLa (Xu Jia Ying) – like I said~~~ I enjoy my Zhong Guo Feng, and also good guitar driven songs.
[Export (Chu Kou)][Oh, Easy (O Yi Xi)]
Hmm… I seem to be listening to a lot of chick music lately O.o
That is a photo of Carey Mulligan looking a bit different, but a pretty cool photograph. Who’s Carey Mulligan, you say? Well, I first spotted her as Elsie on My Boy Jack (starring Daniel Radcliffe), but truth be told~ I couldn’t pay much attention to it until her scenes came up.
Where else have you seen her? She was also Kitty on Pride & Prejudice (the one with Keira), and Doctor Who as Sally Sparrow. And she seems to be having a pretty busy 2009~~~ with The Greatest (with Susan Sarandon), Public Enemies (with Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard~~~ Ooh la!), Brothers (with Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman~~~ another Ooh la!), and An Education (by writer Nick Hornby) – in fact, I was checking out The Awards Circuit, and turns out they have her listed for this film as a Best Actress Nomination until now!
Now that’s pretty impressive.
Next-next up for her? Never Let Me Go (by Kazuo Ishiguro… with Keira, and Sally Hawkins) and The Electric Slide (with Ewan McGregor).
Ooh la~~~
Woh~~~oh~~~!!
Freaking bouncers… *note to self* always kick around to get a photographing wristband so bouncers don’t bug. I went to shoot Brett Anderson last night, and well – I actually had never heard of him before I heard he was coming over.
It was pretty good… though I liked the guitarist better. LOL – He was a great subject tonight, and his shots are some of my favorite of the night… which is running long. I really need to go to sleep, but I wanted to post the set =D
I’m sorry I couldn’t get a clear shot of the drummer… no lights pointing at him whatsoever!
and~~~ I dunno why I like this shot so much. xD
Who would hack the portfolio of a lame freelancer??? Really.
Any self-respecting hacker would go on and hack Twitter to frak everyone up! Make all the celebrities say eevn more stupid things, I would get that… I would get hacking Disney, or any important website. Hack the Obama sites – but why would they hack me??? I mean, who am I?
Heck! Even hacking a fansite makes more sense, after all… they get a couple hundred thousands visits a day – that makes sense, their “look at me, look at me” attempts wouldn’t be in vain. But my portfolio? Do you really have that much time to just have fun hacking into a poor freelance’s portfolio? Do you get thrills from deleting an index page? Do you even know me? Ugh, completely utter waste of time… wasted my afternoon.
… you realize you spend all your time watching movies in your room with the lights off, while ignoring any form of communication, including real people.
You’re tears well up and hear heart jumps into your throat when you walk into a store with more than a hundred dollars ear marked for Criterion.
90% of your friends haven’t even heard of any of the films on your top ten, aside from you ranting about them. – Except the cool ones, of course ;P
you realize you like fictional people more than real ones.
everything in the world is seen as a film to you.
You spend more time on a certain film site any given day than you do talking to any member of your family.
you lecture people on what to watch and what not to. – Of course!
you tell people about the inner working of film and they look at you like your a circus performer. With awe and confusion… and keep talking of how hot such and such looked.
You start to notice the names of directors… – You are lost. xD – *sighs* ever since I was a kid, even with music videos. what can you do, eh?
you come off like a pretentious jackass, even though you aren’t. when the subject of favorite films comes up.
You use your lunch break to buy movies instead of actually eating. – Oh man, I used to be that person when I began living alone hahaha.
you go to browse DVDs on a weekend night, and spent over 1hr just browsing through them even though you’re only picking three or four… a week. LOL – BAWWW I miss my friends.
the numbers of movies you own equals or surpasses the number of movies your entire other five family members own (combined). – SNAP! Guilty! I probably can put my whole family and friends “collections” and I would still have more.
you want to shoot yourself because you accidentally purchased a “full screen” version. DOH!
you would rather spend the evening sitting in front of the big screen with a good DVD than go out dancing with the significant other.
someone asks you what would you do if you had a million dollars, and you say “Buy every Criterion DVD” and an old drive-in theater to fix up and show nothing but the great films. – though I also want this sweet bike, but it turns out the bike is from a film… so~~~
your DVD collection suddenly has become too large for your set of shelves… – seriously~~~
everything on your Birthday list is a movie, or movie soundtracks~~~
LOL, many more reasons over at TheAuteurs.com! Come and join me =D
