I almost forgot checking out this new video that’s popped up, by Russian alt rock band Neschastny Sluchai (Несчастный Случай) — Khamatova ice-skated to one of their songs #12 — and their new music video for the song Suyeta Suyet (Суета Сует) which translates as something like Vanity of Vanities, perhaps?
The music video is in the style of Her Morning Elegance [1] or Leessang’s Turned of the TV [MV] or maybe Monsieur Perine’s Cou Cou [MV], and it was directed by Russian animator Sergey Merinov (Сергей Меринов) [YouTube].
The video stars Aleksey Kortnev (Алексей Кортнев), whom I just recently found out voiced Jack Skellington in the Russian dubbed version of The Nightmare Before Christmas; as well as -obviously- Chulpan Khamatova. ;P
This also gives me reason to talk about other Khamatova music video projects~ Apparently, the music video for Arbenina’s Idi Ko Mne [1] still hasn’t been released. Add to that: DDT’s Gde My Lyetim (Где мы летим) [MV], which apparently translated to something like Where We Fly. I’m still fuzzy on Russian grammar.
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?
… voy a alegrar tu tristeza
vamos a hacer una fiesta
‘pa que’ste amor crezca mas.
In all seriousness, most snarky Peruvians would probably mock Gianmarco’s vocal abilities, but I don’t know any of those snarky ones that would mock his composition skills. I think there’s a strong 90% who would praise them. Hoy by Gloria Estefan is one of the most popular ones he’s written, and the video was shot in Cuzco to top it all.
And Hoy isn’t even the most complex of the songs he’s written. But it’s still a really good one.
Quickie literal lyrics translation after the break.
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)
I remember the first time I got to watch Swallowtail Butterfly and found it interesting that Ayumi Ito spoke a couple of lines in Mandarin. Later I was surprised she was in the cast of The Go Master; it just seemed like Ayumi Ito had maybe some interest in working outside Japan. Interestingly, she’s also the one Japanese actress working in Kpop music videos [1], and I know for certain she speaks pretty good English.
Then again, Japan doesn’t seem to like its actresses trying to work in other markets [eg. Rinko Kikuchi, Koyuki xD]. I wonder if she hasn’t considered working in the US or Europe, or maybe they don’t consider her Japanese enough or hot enough. After all, US and European casting seems to be so random at times.
Anyway, while googling a photo of Ito for the previous post, I ended up running into this short film she did back in 2005 directed by someone called Nomura Yasuo (野村泰夫) titled Shanghai Lian Xiang (上海恋香) or translated to Shanghai Love Fragrance… or possibly referring to the smell of incense. The short that lasts 50ish minutes sees a Japanese young woman (I don’t think they mention her name) that arrives to Shanghai to deliver her grandmother’s ashes to the bay because she had spent the 1930s in the Japanese concession of the city. In there she met a young Chinese man and fell in love… and it’s all melancholy and sadness due to the events of the time.
Ito plays both characters of the woman and the young version of her grandmother, with dialog in different levels of Mandarin and Japanese. It gets a little confusing when you have to read Japanese for big chunks of Mandarin, and Chinese characters for most chunks of Japanese dialog xD But I think you get the point across.
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.
