It’s rainbows and puppies with S.H.E — I think, they’re prepping for their tour (2gether 4Ever?) — but the girls have released a new (spec) music video for the song Hereafter, Hereafter (後來後來) from their last album, which is all about them growing up and being apart, not like they used to be. It’s all about friendship and fluff. You can check a decent translation here.
I didn’t know Doona spoke English this great, but I’m more delighted to see how expressive she is when she talks. xD
No wonder she placed on #2 on my list three years ago, and I lvoe her even more so than I did then. If I were making that list again, she would be my #1.
Back in 2012, during the CCTV Spring Gala, I was marveled watching Chinese dancer/choreographer Yang Liping (杨丽萍) doing her Peacock Love dance. First, I know it was totally not intended considering how visual a male peacock could be, but I loved that figuratively it was two male peacocks dancing a “dance of love” while literally it was a male and a female. ;P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F54YqlUa60
Then I was shocked that Yang Liping (after I learned her name, of course) was in her 50s. Just looking at the video, I could have thought she was in her late 20s or her 30s. It was definitely a stretch to find her no in her 40s, but her 50s. In a world where people think 30 is too old, I was even more shocked.
CCTV is doing a special these coming weeks, I think she has retired or something? She recently did a Weibo Talk, so I went on a Yang Liping YouTube binge, where I found this fabulous video, and discovered the amazingness that is Dynamic Yunnan (云南印象).
Except for that 3-year break MTV took off the Breakthrough Music Video category, they had continued giving away the prize — which had been given to the likes of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham — until 2010, when they officially removed the category.
So I ask again, what happened to Breakthrough Music Videos?
As a reminder, I put together a list with all the winners.
[iframe width=”580″ height=”326″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLE88395EDFAA954B7″ /]
If I had been picking winners (from that past post), I chose:
For the other two years, you know I’m probably partial to SunnyHill [1], but I’ll go with Salyu’s Tadano Tomodachi [1] concept because it’s much more a production concept than a music video concept. For 2012, despite its serious hard-hitting concept [1], I would have to go with Graham Coxon’s What’ll It Take [MV] due to its imaginative execution using fan footage.
So what are some of your favorite music videos?
It’s crazy how technology has developed in the past 20 years. The latest consumer craze? 3D printing, of course! It hasn’t only been featured on shows (with a special mention on The Big Bang Theory), but it’s been used in a broad variety of ways [1]. Miniatures of yourself [1], your face in chocolate [1], miniature of yourself in gummy [1], or candy [1].
Its most striking use, because of its practicality, was how they used 3D Printing in the making of ParaNorman. Technically speaking, it was that usual “wow, why didn’t anyone else think of this before?” Printing the many faces needed to be able to animate your stop-motion movie. It gets the consistency so your animation doesn’t get blotches, and you get incredible detail (I LOVE THE LIGHT GOING THROUGH NORMAN’S EARS).
The question that arises is- if they print the faces needed to animate, once they’ve done the movements in a CG environment. Is it stop-motion? Mixed media is more common than ever. There was a lot of special effects in ParaNorman, especially in its incredibly visual last arc, but the film is still considered stop-motion. So how much use of the computer do you need to have for it to not be stop-motion?
I’m in the mood for some Sally singing Susan, The Happy Trotting Elf~
Though, moment starts exactly at 1:11
I’m Susan the happy trotting elf! I trot and trot, and bounce and bounce, and smile a lot, and that’s what counts! I’m Susan the happy trotting smile a-lotting elf! I’m polite so just for clarity, when I’m cross I say “Apparently!”
Vancouver-based motion graphic studio, Giant Ant, took part in the making of an animation collaborative effort centered on the poem titled To This Day by Shane Koyczan, who was in charge of the We Are More poem used for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics [1]. To This Day focuses on the lasting impact of bullying on its victims, and though it feels heavy-handed with a +6min of running time with a narrative of negative lows in contrast to Koyczan’s climbing monologue, it’s still a project worth checking out because of…
it’s animation.
Giant Ant (which includes work by Jorge Canedo Estrada [1]) asked animators and motion designers to come up with 20-sec sequences to go along to Koyczan’s spoken poem, developing a wonderful mismatch of styles within its narrative.
You can check out more of the To This Day project on:
I want this (Dutch???) toilet paper!
The best toilet paper commercials we ever got in Peru were of Suave, featuring Luis Miguel’s hit song, Suave [MV] — that’s the only one that ever stuck in my subconscious anyway. That one, for the song, and there was another one of a little girl who wanted to go to the washroom at a mall or something, and she was only with her father. Obviously, he couldn’t go it to the ladies room, so she went in with her father staying by the door giving directions, where he spurts “ahora limpiate tu potito.” (now clean your tushy).
We aren’t any remotely close to having this kind of toilet paper commercial.
I just began listening (truly listen) to Mayday’s discography pre the Born to Love days, finishing off titles/pinyin/title translations, when I ran into this song titled Masquerade (Male, Female, One Body) from their 2003 album, Time Machine (時光機). The thing is, the title of the song is Ci Xiong Tong Ti (雌雄同體), which is the term used to refer to “hermaphrodites” (which, by the way, isn’t longer a term accepted for people, who are now referred to as “intersex”). Perplexed, thinking that Google Translate was giving me a wonky translation, I checked the dictionary to double check.
On a quick google search, I found a pretty terrific (singable) translation of the song.
Rather than you understand me—I’d rather be a mystery
A puzzle you just cannot solve, of what’s false and real, it’ll play at your heartstrings
I’ll play you, or play your opposite form; partake in this game of love that you’ve borne.
via NoStarWords @ LJ + starriheavens
My mind was melted. I mean, it’s not VERY often you get playful duality in music, playing on gender-role conventions and completely avoiding the titillation that seethes from… well, everywhere now.
I don’t want to say “POWERFUL!!!” because I will feel like the captioning person on Korean variety programs. However, I just stumbled upon this video of TINY-G doing the choreography of their debut [MV], which I liked more than the actual music video. For one, you can actually see what’s going on without much distractions, and you can appreciate that they’re bringing a lot of HMPH! to their dancing in the way that 90s pop music used to have women dancing in not-high-heels and stomping their feet looking that they’re dancing instead of seducing you.
There’s still a long LONG way to go for TINY-G, and we still need to see if their management ever dares to push the girls for a super girly concept for a comeback single like they love to do in Korea — which, sadly, seems like a huge possibility from the few comments I’ve been able to read asking why these tiny girls need to wear such baggy clothing when they’re so minuscule. Apparently people have issues with baggy clothes. Is it not feminine enough?
Would you rather see them stomping with high heels and minis, so they can eff up their kidneys… just so they can look feminine and show their slender bodies to you?
Looking at TINY-G, it brings back memories of me rooting for Britney.
