Archives For Celebrity

*sighs* I am truly tired.

I just spent all afternoon, and apparently… night, so~~~ I spent all day writing Yu’s Wikipedia entry. Unless you’re reading this at the proper time, the entry might have gotten edited or deleted by now. Man~ writing a bio is tough, and worse of all is that Wikipedia markup language. It sucks, SUCKS! I tell you! It actually took hours because of that Wikipedia format~~~

I also had to search for references… and try to read Japanese. LOL’
Also, that damn table… I still need to work on it, at least for the TV work and Awards.

So~~~ in case it gets deleted. Yu’s complete bio by Amy below the break ;P
Also, planning a Spanish version *laughs*

Aoi Yu (born Natsui Yu August 17, 1985) is a Japanese actress and model from Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. She made her film debut as Shiori Tsuda in Shunji Iwai’s 2001 film All About Lily Chou Chou. She became widely known for playing Tetsuko Arisugawa in Hana & Alice (2004) – also directed by Shunji Iwai, as well as Kimiko Tanikawa in the hula-dancing film Hula Girls, and Hagu in the 2006 live action adaptation of the popular Honey & Clover manga series.

In 2009, Aoi was named Rookie of the Year in the field of Films in Media and Fine Arts by The Ministry of Education , Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

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Ooh la~~~ looking at Marion walking in those heels hurt me. LOL

Marion teams up for a viral/short film/commercial… but I can’t help but swoon. *swoon* – She does look gorgeous… total gorgeousity in those shots of her face. And wait~~~ wait for the ending. 3P

Dior's Lady Noire - Marion Cotillard

Video and captures below the break~~~
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I spent nearly 3 hours photographing my cousin today, so I spent yesterday looking at some photos, many of them belong to Richard Phibbs

Richard Phibbs

The whole page belongs to him LOL… so I ended up shooting Black & White. ;) – Celebrities included there are Tobey Maguire, Tim Robbins, Christian Bale, Rihanna, Peter Dinlage, Lenny Kravitz, Jude Law, Jimmy Fallon, Jason Schwartzman, Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller, and Adrien Brody.

62e Cannes Film Festival - 2009

If it’s Hip, it’s Here has a great post taking a look at Cannes Film Festival, which is about to finish over the weekend… loads of films, some apparently extraordinary… others dividing the critics with controversy, just another year in Cannes~~~ If you really wanna know some of what’s been going on (celebrity-wise), head over to Lainey’s ramblings on what’s been going on there~

Anyway…

Check out some of the Hollywood classic photos after the break, including Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood, Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, and Geraldine Chaplin.

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Who rocks? Well, commenter aoinohoho~~

He found the interview I was looking for… almost half a year ago. O.o
Only it’s divided into two, and has Chinese subtitles instead. Video embeds after the break!

Show is called Jounetsu (Passion) and they followed Yu around when shooting some Hula Girls, promoting Honey & Clover, getting her driving license, renting/buying films to watch, kid Yu, etc etc… the segment aired on September 2006.

Yu Aoi - Jounetsu Profile

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WOOOOOO!! A freakin’ year~~~~

Yu Aoi - Year One

Today a year ago, I was introduced to Yu Aoi’s work on Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou, and the Shunji Iwai-related Rainbow Song. Little did I know that the characters that interested me the most in the films were played by the same actress. Nine days later, I watched Hula Girls, and a month later I was completely hooked with Yu Aoi, and yet another Shunji Iwai film… Hana & Alice.

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Let’s start with what the film is about:
Tekkon Kinkreet is an animated film adaptation of the Black and White manga series by Taiyou Matsumoto, directed by Michael Arias (Animatrix). The name of the film is a pun on “Tekkin Concrete”, the Japanese term for reinforced concrete. It tells the story of two street kids, tough Kuro (Black) and innocent Shiro (White) living in a fictional city known as Treasure Town, a city that is filled with crooks and the yakuza.

Genre: Animation, Drama, Comedy, Action with violence.
With the voices of: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yu Aoi, Yusuke Iseya, Kankuro Kudo
Duration: nearly 2hrs

Spoilers ahead! Of the film and manga~~~

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Hey, people!! For those of you just beginning to read this blog, the 6-Month-Mark refers to how long my interest seems to last.

I’m sooooo happy to say that it’s almost a year since I first saw All About Lily Chou Chou, and Rainbow Song. In fact, I’ve got my timeline all figured out (thank you, FB hahaha) – It will be a year on the 16th… since I got Asian (Japanese) cinemaphiled… a year of complete Yu Aoi also.

I’m preparing a ‘special’ post for that day, hahaha ‘coz it’s been a long time since I had found a subject to last this long… 3 years, give or take of fluttering fandoms. And because Yu Aoi fandom seems scattered, or very idol-craze sometimes… I have taken as my ‘job’ to create a place where we focus a lot on projects, and work less on icons, banners and graphic making. A place to discuss films, the seldom ‘crazy good’ photoshoots and NOT focus on personal life. LOL

As much as I love reading Lainey every weekday… I will not be blogging about Yu’s personal life. I have decided~~~ Now, you can blame that on two websites I visit (two actresses… one I’m a frequent visitor, and the other I’m even ghost staff almost hahaha). I’ve been taught to respect their privacy, and so I will. *sighs*

I will not be re-branding my site… this will still be my blog, and I will post about any other subjects that I want (specially during Award Season)… but hopefully I will have a good amount of Yu Aoi postings monthly. You may have also noticed that some links to Yu Aoi films are not working anymore, and I doubt I will be posting any film on my own… they are quite easy to find through Google.

I’m not against downloading stuff for distribution sake, I’m also in favor of fansubs… but if you love one of the films, and a release with the subtitles of your liking is officially available, go ahead and buy it. Buy photobooks… and other merchandise you feel like getting as long as it is to support an actor and their work. Don’t go around saying you support someone if you haven’t ever bought one of their films (in any region), or haven’t even gone to the theater to watch their films (in case the film is distribute theatrically), or even spent $20 to buy their ‘official’ calendar.

Yes, I know. Photobooks are pricey, so are Japanese region DVDs (and some don’t even have subtitles!!), but there are other ways you can support someone. American fans can go watch Tokyo! in theaters… they can buy Hana & Alice, or All About Lily Chou Chou, they can also buy Hula Girls. They can also support Yu projects by buying TekkonKinkreet on DVD and Blu-ray… or buying Honey & Clover which seems a pretty popular Yu Aoi film, or the Tetsujin 28 which I haven’t even dared to watch.

As a final note, you can pre-order Tokyo! (if you liked it, I’m not making anyone buy anything against their will) on DVD and Blu-ray discs, which will be released on June 30th.

Portman Dorkability

May 14, 2009 — 1 Comment

Natalie Portman on the set of the recently announced Hesher directed by Spencer Susser, and also starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Portman will be playing a character standing up to a bully… of a 9-year-old, or something.

Awwww… the glasses, man! It’s the glasses!!! LOL’

Natalie Portman - Hesher Set Natalie Portman - Hesher Set Natalie Portman - Hesher Set

For all the photos (some of her trying to take on the bully, and falling on her ass hahaha~~~ Those panties!!!) head over to the NP.com Gallery~~~ Dorkability~~~ xD

I found a pretty cool list of photos of actresses ranging from Emily Blunt to Keri Russell, to Scarlett, to Amy Adams… from Evan Rachel Wood to Freida Pinto doing pin-up shoots. Not especifically one shoot, but a collection of different shoots~~

My favorite? Alexis Bledel… tough and badass in this classic~~~

Alexis Bledel - Pin-up

A few other pictures after the break

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