This is likely the last post of 2024, breaking a dry spell of the last few years with a record 20 posts since 2018 when I posted 38 times.
This last post of 2024 is dedicated to Kenji Nakamura’s Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain (劇場版「モノノ怪 唐傘」), which crowfunded a while ago and has recently fulfilled orders. What an adventurous journey! We got a special credit for YAM Magazine!
It is an honor that we get to put our name in one of the team’s favorite series.
Let’s all look forward to what 2025 may bring!
I hope you all had an incredible 2024, and that you all were able to achieve what you set out to do (or close to achievement, anyway).
I stumbled across a vinyl version of Meenaxi – A Tale of Three Cities, and I’m almost disappointed it’s just a generic pressing of one of A.R. Rahman’s most underrated soundtracks and, of course, one of Tabu’s most underrated gems.
For a while now, I’ve been lamenting the death of physical media in India. The movie collection is really really suffering from it.
The world is also suffering from lack of high definition promo materials and HD transfers for M.F. Hussain’s Meenaxi. The world deserves multiple color vinyl editions to play on the Yeh Rishta [MV]/Rang Hai [MV] color palette themes of the movie. Blue, yellow, orange, purple, besides the red one.
I’ve started buying some vinyl editions of music I’ve been listening to and things I love. I’ve got a few Regina Spektor albums, definitely some Dirty Projectors, Kishi Bashi, and Mamamoo’s Solar Yeba Sunbaenim’s Solar Emotions vinyl (which was my first). I was bummed BUMMED when I signed up to VMP (Vinyl Me, Please) because I had been dying to get Fiona Apple albums on vinyl (I settled for CD) and found out they don’t do shipping down here.
I found a couple Kpop related releases on vinyl, including from Wheein-ah, and it’s just really frustrating RBW hasn’t done a vinyl print of the perfect album for vinyl- Mamamoo’s Melting.
My mockup skills are awful now, so now this will have to do. Why aren’t we getting Melting on vinyl? Black cover and spicy swirly orange vinyl would be cool as design, though.
I was going down memory lane in regards of learning languages (BBC’s The Big Muzzy Story), and had visions of a Disney game I had when I was very little. I just had a vague memory of an orange tablet-like machine that you used punch-cards with. It was obviously “interactive,” and was used to learn English. With this description, I ended up finding this thread on Reddit, with this one thump-up random link that was reprimanded for just being the link. But it was THE link we were looking for.
The Mickey Mouse Disney “Touch & Discover” by Texas Instruments.
Other than remembering Mickey Mouse English gibberish (I, of course, didn’t speak English as a child), I remember the Jungle Book card and the sound that you got when you pressed the Bagheera Panther and Shere Khan Tiger!
The options that seem available online are everywhere in terms of prices— from $25USD (no shipping) up to £285GBP.
I have vague memories of some of these cards— the Bambi one about forest animals, the Winnie the Pooh about the weather and seasons, the Mickey Mouse Apprentice about number memory, definitely the Mad Hatter one with his laughter. As I said before, the Jungle Book one with the jungle animals, the Snow White music fun one, the Peter Pan directions one, the shadows one, the Pinocchio one about telling the time (in clock needles!), and maybe the character order memory games.
Isabella Leong has been on and off since she made her official film comeback back in 2015 with Murmur of the Hearts, which is an amazing film. Se also had small roles or almost cameos on 12 Golden Ducks that same year, and got back together with Pang Ho-Cheung for a small role in Missbehavior in 2019.
From her recent interview on A Date with Luyu (鲁豫有约), you can tell that she enjoyed or had fond memories of her debut film Isabella, which Pang directed almost 20 years ago— which also amazes Leong when she realizes how fast/much time has passed. I was also amazed at how she remembered the tracking of the shot, all the more amusing when both clips were put together for contrast.
In 2020, she appeared on Ann Hui’s Love After Love, which was available to watch on MUBI in some territories, and might be available on places like Netflix or Prime, depending on your territory. Now, she’s part of the most recent Dante Lam HK film starring William Chan and Nick Cheung, titled Bursting Point (爆裂點) [Trailer], which I’ve mostly heard positive things about.
Since her teenaged (!!!) sons already give her enough time to move about life, she’s been a lot more active at events and, if you follow her on Instagram, photoshoots. Which finally gets me the reason I was writing this post- she’s the first cover of 2024 for the Condé Nast Traveler China edition, which is a luxury travel magazine based in New York.
I checked their website to see who was the photographer of the shoot, but it looks like they haven’t updated that since their May 2023 issue was published (relatable). Editorial director Shawn Ong only mentions their collaboration with Eastern & Oriental Express Southeast Asia in prep for the launch of their luxury train in two different seasonal routes. The train interiors look (and photograph) amazing. They’re elegant, colorful and textured without looking overwhelming [1][2][3].
However, this is not a travel blog. I took these bad screencaps of some of my favorite shots.
Oh, wow. Look at this ridiculously good-looking photo of Dita Von Teese. What a face. What a shot. Bless Beau Nelson for this shot.
credits to Dita Von Teese’s FB, who -by the way- won’t let me access her Linktree because it says it goes against community standards. Facebook has become insane. It was bad before, now it’s worse. It’s almost nearly unusable now.
No, it’s not a joke either, despite all the people doing double-takes when we all saw her name and her now-husband’s name, comedian Yamasato Ryota (山里亮太), trending worldwide on Twitter.
After apparently two-months of dating, Yu Aoi and Ryota Yamasato submitted their marriage registration on June 3rd. They were apparently introduce by Yu-chan’s Hula Girls co-star Shizuyo Yamazaki (山崎静代), who is also Yamasato’s comedic partner in their comedy duo [1].
Here’s a picture of the both of them on some variety they did not so long ago.
Verve Magazine has a wonderful cover this month featuring Tabu — shot by Bikramjit Bose [Website][Instagram], because the promotions for Andhadhun [Trailer][1][2] are on full steam. I hope someone gets to scan it, ‘coz lol where to get a single issue.
Rajeev Masand also just posted a +40min. interview with Tabu, and has her overview her 10 favorite roles in her +80-film filmography. Her long-time favorite roles make it, of course. It makes for a great Beginner’s Guide to Tabu, except I’m not a big fan of Biwi No. 2 lol — Don’t judge me, I laughed so much more to Saajan Chale Sasural xD, and I was quite lukewarm with Cheeni Kum.
I’m a Ni Ni stan now, have I mentioned it before? No? I really REALLY enjoyed watching Mo Zhang’s Suddenly Seventeen (28岁未成年). The ending is a bit straight rom-com, but Ni Ni— Woah. She was amazing.
Cfensi has always loved Ni Ni, so she’s also gushing about this new photoshoot for The New York Times Travel Magazine by photographer Yin Chao (尹超), centered on Nanjing Girls and also featuring actresses Hai Qing, Yang Zishan and Mei Ting, as well as model Bonnie Chen.
The favorite shot, tho, the watermelon one~ xD
You can also follow Yin Chao’s activities on his studio’s Weibo— SUPERSTUDIO.
Also, I haven’t even gone through 5 episodes of Lost in 1949 (脱身), but I’m looking forward to Rise of the Phoenixes (天盛长歌) :)
