What is this lady-boner that I got watching Frozen? I really liked The Princess and the Frog (despite Prince Naveen) and wasn’t much of a fan of Tangled (despite Mother Gothel)- Frozen, instead, achieves the perfect balance. And I love love love LOVE Elsa. AND I DIDN’T EVEN SEE the original audio, and I loved it.
Idina Menzel, though, wow. Vocal boner. I do kinda liked the Spanish latino version of the song, Libre Soy [1] performed by Carmen Sarahi, a little bit better in lyrics and meaning, but Menzel’s vocals take the song to unparalleled heights. Can’t wait to get to watch the original audio track.
Elsa… Elsa swings her hips when she walks! And she has a smirk! She feels and is in turmoil and doesn’t seek a man to fix her life. She wants to be left alone, but of course- all she needs is open up her heart to her sister! Of course I love it.
Next week, it’s crazy, will be the first month my dad has been gone. Though the shock of losing him seemed to block my mourning for him, as the days have gone by, it’s been harder and harder. Specially this past Sunday. It was my fourth Sunday without seeing him… and I don’t get along with #4s. Today I woke up thinking that maybe I could hear his ringing my intercom the way he did so I knew it was him downstairs.
Music has been my blessing and my curse. It often distracts me from wandering into sad territory, but it also reminds me of him. “He would like this,” “I saw this with him,” my mind often thinks. Trying to make sense, over-thinking about it, it seems destiny has been sending me signals throughout the year. First through a Chinese Horoscope scare, and other little bits and pieces of mementos.
Father and daughter movies, songs being played at key moments and words left as token of peacefulness. The day before my father passed away, when he was in good spirits and I was visiting him, he said he had led a good life and that if he had to go, he could go tranquil. I didn’t know then that I wasn’t going to be able to give him a mix of his favorite group [1] to accompany in his hospital stay.
After my uneasiness started that day, I looked up at the sky and told my dad that if he had to let go, he could. Fifteen minutes later, I was informed of his cardiac arrest. It wasn’t more than 20min in the trauma room, when I knew that he’d decided to let go.
I’m a little bit sad I have no one else to share this with. I think my dad would’ve loved seeing this clip of BiBi and Chris Lee together after all these years. It’s all gonna be so weird now, I have no one to share all my music with.
3D printers keep popping up in news. This time around with Yahoo! Japan developing a fancy module that includes a 3D printer that fuses the visual experience of searching for information with the tactile results of 3D printing for children who have sight impediments.
It’s called Hands on Search (さわれる検索), also read as Sawareru Kensaku.
I noticed last time [1] that she had been generally in better spirits, and Britney seems happy here. She laughs and she reminisces — and she’s made me glimpse at Miley doing that thing she’s done and I’ve been trying to avoid coz I don’t want that mental image — but Britney seems… excited about her show in Vegas.
It will never be the same for me, of course, that illusion- that chance I had to see her live the time she came over, and I had all these pent-up nostalgic feelings but was never too sure I wanted to see her show and be disappointed. I then read a lot of bad reviews on it and was glad I chose not to go. Vegas is also never a destination I would think of going coz it doesn’t call me, so it’s likely I’ll never see her show.
After watching Fanaa a few weeks ago, I thought I might continue the Indian adventure with Tabu. Then, I watched Devdas — still unimpressed with Aishwarya Rai’s acting prowess and totally committed to watching Indian films because I can write hers and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s names without googling now HUZZAH! — and was struck by Madhuri Dixit (no googling!) and her amazing “hooker with a heart of gold.” In fact, my favorite scene in Devdas is probably her dance duo with Aishwarya. And Bhansali’s films are still such a beauty to see. Sighs.
Then, when I thought I might head the Madhuri Dixit road, I watch English Vinglish and get struck by Sridevi (no google!). My first shock, of course, was realizing that I had knocked off ten years of her age right off the bat. Then while reading her wiki page (this is why it’s important to have a good Wiki page, fans), it hit me like a bucket full of cold water~
Sridevi was a successful child star, a sex symbol… and is possibly positioning herself as a MILF — my own observation here. Apparently English Vinglish was quite a hit, marking her comeback after 15 years off the screen.
I don’t think there’s ANYONE in the world of movies (or entertainment) that has been able to achieved this. I can’t think of a single actress (or maybe actor) who started out as a child, grew to be the actress made of dreams, moved on to becoming a sensible adult, apparently a great mother, and make a comeback to take all that’s “cinematically” hers.
The performance is okay (by Kpop standards, anyway), but Sridevi is totally charming in this show for the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA). I think the IIFA cameras shoot a quick reaction from Madhuri during the number, just as they showed Sridevi on Madhuri’s own performance (which rocked my socks) [1]. I could do with less Deepika reaction shots, though.
So… I am at a conundrum. Who should I go for first? Sridevi or Madhuri? And since both have sooooo many films, where do I start?
I subscribed to the KhamatovaInfo YouTube channel not long ago and they uploaded this clip of what seems to be the latest season of Lednikoviy Period (Ледниковый период) — or Ice Age, if you must. An “ice-skating with the stars” kind of TV contest. In the clip linked above, there’s a tiny appearance by Khamatova as guest (or maybe guest judge??), so I went quick-digging… and found this~
Scottish ice-skating turned ice-skating Riverdance with a totally focused Khamatova.
Apparently Chulpan was part of the first series of the show that aired back in 2007, in which she was paired with ice-skater (ice-dancer???) Roman Kostomarov, and pushed ahead to become the winner of the season. This is the moment that I grin knowing Chulpan is multi-talented — and actually remember that she used to ice-skate before an injury.
Plus, it’s really an advantage that the guy leads.
Here are the list of her performances I could find:
Hip Hop (I suppose? or Urban?) – Performance 1 – Give it to Me by Timbaland ft. Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake
Performance 2 is listed above. (Perfect Score)
50s Rock n Roll? – Performance 3 – I Put a Spell on You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Full-on Russian – Performance 7 – Love and Poverty (Любовь и бедность) from Hello, I’m your Aunt! (Здравствуйте, я ваша тётя!) [1]
Contemporary ? – Performance 8 – it’s supposed to be a piece from O Clone, the Brazilian soap unless there’s something else that’s called Clone. However, I haven’t been able to identify the name of the track.
Classic (or Broadway??) – Performance 9 – Jesus Christ Superstar
X – missing clip??
Classic Russian – Performance 11 – The Woman Who Sings (Женщина, которая поёт) by Alla Pugacheva
Russian Alt Rock (or Rock n Roll Twist??) – Performance 12 – What Do You (Что ты имела) by Neschastny Sluchai (Несчастный случай)
This year’s season of The Voice of China is a bit on the meh side compared to last year’s. Some good talents, but not as awing as some of last year’s. This battle for Wang Feng’s team, though, from Simon Chung (鐘偉強) of Hong Kong singing it out with Beijing-based Bi Xia (毕夏) with the classic Hey Jude was pretty emotional.
The whole father/daughter interaction going on, because Simon took the time to guide Bi Xia through the song and Bi Xia’s knowing what he’d done for her makes the whole elimination process all the more painful.
