I still haven’t been able to locate a photo of me as a child in my family’s house garden waving the yellow and lime green plastic Sword of Omens I had as a child. However, these guys are designing weapons or designing pretty awesome real props, and have made my dorky childhood dreams come true.
Its amazingness is beyond words.
And YES. Even though Thundercats aired in the mid-80s, I saw them in the early 90s in their dub version, and it was still pretty goddamn awesome.
I wasn’t too enamored by Pixar’s Monsters University even though Monsters Inc. is one of my favorites (or maybe BECAUSE I liked that one so much?), but this clip of the Japanese-dubbed version popped up in my YouTube feed, and it’s just tenfold the cuteness that the original audio track was because- well, because Japan is so damn hardcore about their dubbing [2].
Plus, Disney (and as an extension, Pixar) are the kings of international dubs [1][2].
And they also do worldwide releases pretty okay. Except when Japan has to wait AGES to get some stuff — but serves them right, when they make us wait for everything they do for ages as well.
Or, at least, you got your first steps into the door.
Yes, Shiina Ringo music videos are being uploaded on VEVO accounts, as well as Tokyo Jihen ones, at 360p or 480p- BUT, baby steps. They’re pretty good 360p videos, though. They look better than some HD versions unofficially uploaded and ripped from the net. I’m not picky as long as Japan lets me watch the music videos of the artists I like and stops me from worrying whether the video I’m posting is gonna disappear in the next few days.
Who grew up watching the Street Fighter II series?
I used to tape this every afternoon because I was never on time from school, they used to show it after Gargoyles on Frecuencia Latina, and then after we got cable for the first time- actually a few years after that, I think — Cartoon Network Latin America got all big on showing anime series, and among the Inuyasha or Rurouni Kenshin episodes they used to broadcast, they also had some of this.
I remember they also used to show Sakura Card Captor and Corrector Yui [1, with latino audio].
Around that time, it was when I was trying to google this song online but back then it was nearly impossible to find song information if you had very little info, especially if you didn’t speak the language. I did eventually find that this song was called Kaze Fuiteru (aka. The Wind Blows, 風吹いてる – by Yuki Kuroda), and that my friend had a CD with songs that were anime themes that contained the track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pOqYuKIGZo
Of course, the Spanish version they did [1] is not as good as the original. But I’m glad that they at least kept the original music, instead of changing it to something “hard rock” like in the American broadcast.
Is this the resurrection of Broadway?
Neil Patrick Harris just pulled off a massive introduction for last night’s show, not only including fellow show nominees, but they also included some snarky blow at Shia LaBeouf, whose theater scuffle made it outside Broadway circles. I have no idea about Broadway news and the who is who, but I knew about it. Go figure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danBaPWT09A
I know tickets have been down for Broadway shows- all shows across all media, I believe. So I hope last night’s award show boosts the popularity, because if the numbers keep going down, there’d be no place for…
There’s a kid in the middle of nowhere who’s sitting there living for Tony performances. Singing and flipping along with the Pippins and Wickeds and Kinkies, Matildas, and Mormonses. So I might reassure that kid, and do something to spur that kid. Cause I promise you all of us up here tonight. We were that kid.
While getting acquainted with Chulpan Khamatova’s work, I ran into this video clip of the Arbenina’s song Come to Me (ИДИ КО МНЕ) — and I’ve been polishing my non-existent Russian trying to learn how to pronounce that… Idi Ko Mne. If I apply my Spanish, it sounds like Idi Ko Mie.
The thing is… that Making Of was released back in January, and I wasn’t able to find the actual music video, which makes me think it hasn’t been released yet. I’m not used to that. Korea and Taiwan have spoiled me completely.
I did however, find these stills of the shoot.
In other news, Khamatova’s been very active these days (it seems) with her charity work.
Well, Hyori has earned her “Comeback” title alright- she’s been absent for… like, what? Four or three years maybe? Since her 4th bad luck album was such a bust, she’s been sort of hovering on our lives as Kpop seemed to rise and leak into the worldwide pop culture subconscious.
Since those days, LOADS of rookie groups have debuted — all trained vocally and in dance ability, which puts them ahead of Hyori. But you know what? Who cares. Hyori is what I wanted Britney to be at some point. I wanted Brit to be well adjusted and charismatic, even if she had gradually lost her voice and, ultimately, her dance ability. One thing I never wanted her to lose was her ability to engage.
Hyori engages with her audience. At the end of her celebratory comeback presentation, she brings back 10 Minutes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and then she performs U-Go-Girl, with no post at ALL O_O You can hear her laugh while singing through the almost-bare and casual arrangements of the song, while she’s been squirted with water guns. And she tells them (and us) that she’s missed us. Or that’s how I’ve interpreted her bogoshippoyo.
The water gun squirts borders on a wet t-shirt contest, but Hyori is wearing silver leggins throughout the whole show, which really surprises me — I mean, she could’ve been wearing black hot pants like her over-exposed back-up dancers, but she isn’t. She’s actually quite casual through the whole segment until the water squirting gets ridiculous and she laughs. I love that.
Apparently the show lasted nearly 50min?
BiBi’s doing a concert in Beijing (if she hasn’t done it by now, it’s one of these days), and my pal is attending. And even though I doesn’t feel like I’ve been an ardent BiBi fan for a bit, this rehearsal has made me giddy (and slightly jealous) to be there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3JgZQoytc0
Guess I’m gonna miss the party. xD
In other news, I had NO idea that one of the songs on Time was written by Mavis Fan. The more you know.
Also how cut does BiBi look?
I’ve been on a Chulpan Khamatova binge for a while, but since Russian is such a foreign language to me, it seems hard to come by with simple googling since Google Translate doesn’t do so well with the language either. This time, though, I was browsing Khamatova.ru and was looking at the Filmography page and noticed that she had a fairly recent short film.
Titled From Tokyo (Из Токио), this short film also serves as a commercial for Chivas Regal. Directed by Aleksei German Jr., the short follows a Russian businessman on a return flight from Tokyo to Moscow (I suppose), where he’s unable to sleep. When approached by the flight attendant, they begin talking about his reasons to be in Tokyo right after the Tohoku Earthquake and the Tsunami, where he’s rescued a survivor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAbV6Nep4Q
Though I really liked the short by the end, even if that might be my Khamatova bias showing~ there were some things that irked me for no reason. One- the dude is a rescuer flying on Business. Two- he refers to Miyagi Prefecture and Sendai City as “a village” because we did not see the Tsunami literally crushing miles and miles of road, bridges, highways, while sweeping tons of cars and other city-related debris.
Having said that~ Yes! Khamatova! I finally learned how to pronounce her name correctly. I was doing it SO wrong. LOL I’m a little embarrassed.
