Back in 2009, a group of French animation students did a short taking on Peruvian culture (and doing it better). This year, a fresh new batch of French animation students are taking on China with their short, A Fox Tale.
Animal spirits are mischievous little creatures… and humans can be idiots. xD
Directed by Thomas Bozovic, Alexandre Cazals, Julien Legay, Chao Ma.
Music by Guy-Roger Duvert
Sound Design by: Nicolas Titeux
If you follow Tony Leung’s career… or the Chinese movie scene in general, you’d know there’s a movie coming up called The Silent War (聽風者 or 听风者) — actually, it has just come out — featuring Leung alongside Zhou Xun and Mavis Fan (these two are in everything together??) xD.
Anyway, BiBi was at the movie’s premiere~
And she sang the theme of Infernal Affairs [MV] in Mandarin ‘coz Tony is there. xD
She did good :) She’s been sounding good lately despite audio problems generally found in CCTV broadcasts. Seriously, it’s like… no matter how good a singer you are, all CCTV performances sound like crap. Not even Leehom or Faye Wong can escape.
Also, Mavis is the only one truly enjoying the performance. xD
And Tony Leung’s left side looks super old compared to his right side.
No effing WAY.
And the most important thing:
The Cardboard Bicycle can withstand water and humidity, coated with a strong layer of brown and white material, making the finished product look like it is made of hard lightweight plastic and can carry riders weighing up to 220 kilograms. The cost to make the bicycle is around $9-$12 and the manufacturer expects that the cost to the consumer would be around $60-$90 depending on what parts they choose to add on. – source
Water-resistant, light, and cheap? O_O
I’ll pay $90 for that bike. xD
Not only is China conquering Olympic gold, but apparently animation school over there is taking huge leaps compared to what actually was/is — Legend of a Rabbit, I’m looking at you [1].
Until I ran into this link to YinYueTai on Weibo.
Here comes Zhang Zhe (张喆) — I can tell these Mandarin classes are paying off — whose animation, titled Paper War (纸片战记), is of the mixed media kind and took 9-freaking-months to make at The Animation and Digital Arts School of the Communication University of China (中国传媒大学).
You can check some posts on Peruvian animation~
Dudes, so they finally released a finished version of the music video [1] xD which has atrocious rainbow-colored English lyrics xD But you can check some funny remarks and a quickie English translations from Beijing Cream.
You can also check a slightly better quality version of the video on YinYueTai — but still not crisp enough to be able to read the tiny English caption xD
I’m rather surprised I only know a little over +30 names xD and a little more of the faces, including a brief apperance by Ajia [1] and Li Yu Gang (李玉刚) whom… you know, you can’t totally tell from just the audio. I’m also rather SHOCKED that I didn’t get Song Zuying from early on the song but her later bit xD
Judging from the song alone (okay, and a bit of the video), Sa Dingding did great. This was her Beijing Welcomes You [MV] 5-sec Bibi moment for me. xD The song is no Beijing Welcomes You, though. And I love some of Chang Shilei’s stuff. His 2008 Niu China album was my favorite that year, and he does produce some great songs like I Would Say to Them (对他说我愿意) [1] or HIGH歌 — OMG, are you watching The Voice of China [clip] [1]? xD
Also, the video is pretty cheap. Walking down a shelves of book of… what I supposed is the Beijing library or something. xD And also the people that weren’t in Beijing and obviously couldn’t be flown to shoot for the video because of budget. I’m looking at you guys, Eason and Aaron~~~ and Kelly Chen xD
Just saying.
There is an 80% chance that I’m gonna love this movie even if everyone else hates it, because Doona Bae cries in the movie. And whenever she cries, I cry coz she’s amazing like that [1].
If I was pretty pump before, I’m super eager to watch this as soon as possible in the best quality possible. There are big BIG chances that I will buy this in Blu-ray. And I haven’t bought an “American” product in quite a while. Remember when Natalie Portman was attached to this?
You can check some more info here.
Liu Huan, Na Ying, Harlem Yu, and Yang Kun. I mean, dude- Liu Huan alone would trump Christina Aguilera. LOL And I have a soft spot for Christina Aguilera [1], but imagine participating and singing in front of Liu Huan, and having HIM picking YOU to be on HIS team.
His pitch-perfect and perfect-toned-singing-Mandarin.
I would maybe… MAYBE… change Harlem Yu over someone like Wang Feng. But that’s just me. These are all seasoned singers and vocalists (I can’t label Liu Huan as just a singer, sorry).
So the Chinese version of The Voice, aptly titled The Voice of China (中国好声音, Zhong Guo Hao Sheng Yin), has made its debut about two weeks ago. I’ve only seen the first episode, but I already like the judges selection better because you’re being judged by people already in their 40s or 50s who have been working in the industry for years — not a bunch of people in their 30s who have been barely working for 10 years.
And Liu Huan has been working as a music teacher for the past 10 years, besides still being a music icon, so he’s perfect. Plus, I’ve already taken a strong dislike to Adam Levine, whom I used to find so attractive. LOL I can’t stand him EVER again. xD How people change.
My dad is going to be crazy about this one.
Flavorwire.com made a video titled 135 Shots That Will Restore Your Faith in Cinema, after asking their readers what were “the most beautiful movies ever made.” The result is okay, I guess. I still don’t think that I’m as moved by Terrence Malick films as others are…
There was also some Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-wai added in there, alongside Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain — which was one of my picks for most iconic movie images. xD
In any case, there was some Noboru Shinoda (and therefore, Shunji Iwai) missing. The Hana & Alice ballet scene [1], just as Love Letter, as well as EVERYTHING on Picnic [1], and every single frame in All About Lily Chou Chou — they’re all perfect. LOL
YouTube had been conspiring against me showing me a series of videos of my childhood over the weekend, making me feel older than I should. One of these videos had to do with one of Nubeluz‘ host — aka. a Dalina — her name, Monica Santa Maria.
Her tragic ending in a bizarre high profile case of suicide wasn’t really registered in my subconscious. Maybe I was too little to understand, but I don’t think I realized she killed herself well into my years. Watching the videos of the case, looking back at those times with my grown mind, all one can really infer is that she had a deep troubled mind… one way or the other, it was going to end up bad. It’s terribly ironic that she never did what she preached — to enjoy life, embrace it… whatever small beautiful things you may get because life was short.
It’s such a sad thing to see.
ANYWAY. I remember that Nubeluz was celebrating their 20 years — GOSH! — and I ran into this clip of Almendra Gomelsky and the whole cast of the show back together. EVERYONE came back, however big they became… actress Daniela Sarfati, actress Rossana Fernandez Maldonado, twin hosts Anabel and Antuanet Elias, host Maria Pia Copello, and etc. Phew.
They sound atrocious, but it was damn fun. I don’t think Peru has ever developed as good a show as Nubeluz ever was. It has nothing to do with nostalgia. I don’t particularly think the show translated well into English, but I think they had a really good deal with the concept and songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82p_YH-I5TA
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Part of the Time Machine: Back to the 90′s Blogathon
I really REALLY REALLY am loving Chochukmo, and not because I interviewed them. I actually accepted to interview them because I really liked their first album, which you can listen to on Xiami or Bandcamp ;O
Don’t forget to check out my interview with Mike Orange from the band.