Archives For Clips

If I’m not mistaken, I’ve been listening to Daiqing Tana (黛青塔娜 / Дайчин Тана) for quite a few months, so total surprised to find out that they’ll be performing in the latest season of I Am A Singer (我是歌手). Strange on its own, because we all know that Chinese people’s music taste is all sorts of conventional love ballad. And I love LOVE LaLa with all my bobo heart, but come one~ COME ON!

Now THAT’s a fuckin’ performance!

Also~ the mysterious Guan Zhe (关喆), who performed that catchy Beijing, Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing (北京,北京,我爱北京) number, will also be participating. Both he and HAYA Band (HAYA乐团) placed last.

If you’re interested, the performances (sans interruptions) are available on Xiami. Including the clean version of HAYA Band.

Also check out HAYA Band’s albums Migration (迁徙) and Crazy Horse (疯马), which are available on Xiami and iTunes. Apparently, you can also buy Migration on CDBaby, and there seems to be an up-to-date-ish Facebook page. However, the best place -always- is Weibo + DaiQing Tana’s.

You probably know I’m excited for Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor, of course, mainly because of Tabu xD but also because of the whole tortured emo broken-heart soul of the story. Plus, it’s Amit Trivedi’s music. I was (and usually always am) less excited about the leads… even less with Katrina “I can’ts but I tries” Kaif. Like- I don’t even know why I sat down to watch Phantom, because that’s hilarious.

But I’m always surprise to hear people saying that Katrina sucks at dancing… because I’ve never seen that. I think the first time I saw her was in YRF’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and — okay, I was mostly in love with Saans [clip] because that’s a damn good sexy song. LOL — but I don’t remember her sucking in the Ishq Shava [clip] number at all. In fact, I remember I actually said she wasn’t a bad dancer.

And I know everyone EVERYONE loves to hate and hates to love Sheila Ki Jawani [clip], but it appears on so many movies I’ve come to accept its catchy qualities despite movie and content. And even then when it appears people say she’s not a good dancer, she dances alright.My Kaif knowledge ain’t extensive, but even in Dhoom 3 [Kamli][Dhoom Machale Dhoom], she does totally fine. I can’t picture her at all doing Indian dance, but she totally nails modern and contemporary.

They looked pretty good doing this. Who choreographed it?

Oh, hey! I somehow missed this on my YouTube timeline- Yu Aoi’s 2016 New Year greeting xD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytkL0LaH_BM

I’ve lost most my Japanese powers in the past two years of no Japanese movies, music and television. LOL I can only make out the greeting xD I feel deflated because -crossing fingers- I may be heading to Japan for the holidays in a couple of months and scares the crap out of me because no one speaks Japanese in this trip~~~

My dream is that I’ll meet Yu-chan and tell her how big a fan I am/was. xD Must also remember to stock up on movies (hopefully with subs) and/or Shiina Ringo concert DVDs and discography.

Indian Cinema of 2015

December 29, 2015 — 2 Comments

I already published my list of 2015 Best Films, now I’m just segregating all the content from each other. I even have my Top10 Films Directed by Women.

The journey, you guys, the journey is two-and-a-half years old [1][2][3][4][5] already and counting. I’m no longer tracking what I’m watching because it got way too complicated. And though the number of Indian films I get to watch is minuscule to the actual output; at 38 films this year (of 203), it’s the most I’ve seen in a year. It’s almost one movie a week (!!) and it almost reaches my mark of 46 (of 274) of last year. And it totally surpasses my 33 mark in 2013 when I started it all.

*Note: Though 113 films (over 55% of the list) is English-based, not all of them are Hollywood movies. The number also considers UK, Canadian, Irish and Australian productions and some other mix-and-match co-productions.

Of course, I’m way more comfortable navigating mainstream Hindi cinema than I am Tamil or other industries. But Anupama Chopra has just released her video of the Best and Worst of Hindi Cinema in 2015, so I got inspired to have my own segregated list. xD

The Best of Indian Cinema 2015

  1. Dil Dhadakne Do (dir. Zoya Akhtar)
  2. Talvar (dir. Meghna Gulzar)
  3. Piku (dir. Shoojit Sircar)
  4. Masaan (dir. Neeraj Ghaywan)
  5. Dum Laga Ke Haisha (dir. Sharat Katariya)
  6. NH10 (dir. Navdeep Singh)
  7. Margarita, with a Straw (dir. Shonali Bose)
  8. Bajrangi Bhaijaan (dir. Kabir Khan)
  9. Baahubali: The Beginning (dir. S.S. Rajamouli)
  10. Angry Indian Goddesses (dir. Pan Nalin)

The Worst of Indian Cinema 2015

  1. Dirty Politics (dir. K.C. Bokadia)
  2. Badlapur (dir. Sriram Raghavan)
  3. Phantom (dir. Kabir Khan)
  4. Katti Batti (dir. Nikhil Advani)
  5. Hawaizaada (dir. Vibhu Puri)

Haha, Kabir Khan in both lists xD

Still Pending~

  • Aligarh
  • Ayal Njanalla
  • Bajirao Mastani
  • Charlie (dir. Martin Prakkat)
  • Dilwale
  • Dhanak
  • Kothanodi
  • Main Aur Charles
  • Orange Mittai
  • Premam
  • Shaandaar
  • Tamasha
  • Thani Oruvan
  • Thoongaa Vanam
  • Umrika
  • Zubaan

 

Anupama Chopra’s Film Companion just published their interview with Anushka Sharma, where she talks about being an actress in the Indian film industry, Hollywood gender numbers, being a producer and a public figure. It all comes down to the simple~

At the end of the day you want respect.

It’s a big on the long side (33min. long), but it’s worth it. Anushka is really outspoken and it’s great to listen to with her back and forth with Anupama.

I ran into this clip of what seems a rehearsal of Yevgeny Mironov and Chulpan Khamatova dancing for the sequences of The Puppet Syndrome. If you do get a chance, do check it out.

Yup~ no typo there.

They do have indeedy a song called Warm Hole (웜홀, womhol), which everyone’s trying to pretend it’s Wormhole. Considering the song, I wonder how that was gonna fly on a ‘live’ performance, but they did.

The only minus? Lipsync. I’m sure they can come up with a way that JeA doesn’t have to do a choreography and just focus on the vocals, no? Music Core performance of Hot Shot, anyone? She was even great with the Sixth Sense bit. Nothing tops that Music Core performance. Legendary.

…that Brown Eyed Girls’ comeback is just around the corner~

New album comes out in like- one day, Nov. 5th.

And this one sounds like a winner track.

Looks like brand new management, brand new image.

Yeh Dil Vole! xD

Anyone who’ve seen both Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 1996 directorial debut Khamoshi: The Musical (Silence: The Musical) and last year’s Belgian-French La Famille Bélier -by Eric Lartigau- can spot the similarities between the two (as well as the 1996 German film Beyond Silence (Jenseits der Stille) by Caroline Link). You can even spot the similar plot points by either reading the outline or watching the trailer.

In the pivotal emotional punch of the movie, the daughter (played by Manisha Koirala and Louane Emera respectively) auditions to the coveted singing position, when her (deaf) parents -who had been against the idea- show up to see their daughter perform both vocally and in sign language. Koirala (voiced by playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy) doing Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hain (This Heart Is Listening), and Emera singing Je Vole (I Fly).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM5SDobPdi0

Though Lartigau’s more modern take is much more musically accessible (let’s be honest, the film starts out with 2008 staple That’s Not My Name [1]), it’s also lighter. Bhansali’s story focuses a big chunk of his running time to tell the story of Manisha’s parents, also incredibly played by Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas, their struggle to raise a (hearing) child in near poverty levels, to the point that Patekar goes door to door with his daughter to make a living selling things.

Of course, both also have a love interest, and both Salman and Ilian Bergala are the weakest link.

I declare- DRAW!

It doesn’t matter how many people perceived Kidman’s films to be bad, I’ll still watch any of them- I mean, not for nothing she placed #2 in my list of favorite actresses. She and Doona Bae keep crossing paths in my fandom life~

So, Nic is back in London and back on stage. People who get to go to London to actually watch her perform live are mad excited… for the rest of us, we’re just damn jealous.

The Guardian also has a lovely 3min. clip where Nicole talks about who Rosalind Franklin was, the relevance of the story, the female voice, and “the sell” culture.

The Independent also has an interview with director Michael Grandage, who talks about the story, why it attracted Kidman, and attracting a younger audience.