Archives For Celebrity

Juri Ueno - Nikkei Entertainment MagazineAwww, Juri-chan! I was reading a post over at the boards, and found that Yuuki provided a link to an English-translated  Juri Ueno interview for the latest issue of Nikkei Entertainment Magazine. Juri can be so charismatic~~ LOL’ but apparently it only works on girls. Let’s face it, girls~~~ Boys or most of boys have RUBBISH taste in women… case and point all those guy magazines, such as FHM. Here’s the chart~

Juri Ueno - Boy and Girl Charts

It’s a really insightful interview in which she discusses her latest film (GuGu), her acting in Nodame, Last Friends~ Here are some quotes;

“Rather than films, I grew up watching variety shows most of the time (laughs). Refining or adorning myself, I still don’t have much interest in that area. But in this era, the scope of what being ‘an actress’ is have widened greatly haven’t they? In the olden days, being an actress means you have to be beautiful and ladylike else it won’t be possible. Now, there are even roles like Nodame, and because of that, even someone like me is able to be one (laughs).

[…]

Being married probably won’t effect my focus towards work but at the moment the image of being alone is stronger. […]

Scans and complete article translation, here. ^^

hayato-ichihara-personal-photobook

So… Hayato Ichihara also has a Photobook of his own. It came out in 2006 and it features photos by Yoshiaki Sugiyama of a 19-year-old Hayato… there’s even an image reminding us of his debut of All About Lily Chou Chou (in which he shared the screen with Yu Aoi)~~

Well, you can get his Photobook in here:
beNippon.com [minimum shipping $8 I think…]
YesAsia.com [free shipping when reaching $90 for International orders, and cheaper for US, Canada, etc]

The book features 90+ pages of Hayato being silly, included rabbit costume photos (like the one on the cover), making faces with an oba-chan, and even a naked butt…. LOL’

But don’t worry, it’s not only fun and games~~ there’s also some artistic shots of Hayato wearing his traditional Japanese clothing, some with a tux, and some very cool black and white shots. And I will be posting a teasing image… no, it’s not the butt. It’s a really nice shot of Hayato in Japanese outfit running up a stony set of stairs~~~

Hayato Ichihara - Personal Photo Book Scan

As with Yu’s Travel Sand scan, I’ve added some photo and PB credits~~ It’s a wallpaper sized 1680x1050px, there’s also a more ‘squarer’ version of it (fullscreen one sized 1280×1024) if you are interested. Just leave a comment either here or Flickr.

Kobe Collection - Juri Ueno - Aug 2008xD Oh yesh, they do~~~

Now that Olympics are over, I can slowly return to my current obsessions… so I stopped by the forums, and *le gasp!* How did I not find out about this sooner????

Juri-chan won Best Supporting Actress at the 57th Japanese Drama Academy Awards.

YAY! GO FOR JURI! OMEDETTO GOZAIMASU!!! ^+^~~

Also, seems like Last Friends swept awards by winning Best Supporting Actor for Ryo Nishikido (WTF? I need some Eita lovin’), Best Directors, Best Script, Best Drama, and BEST THEME SONG~~~

Go Utada Hikaru!!! Hope you have a fun party with Kuma-chan xD

You can read a little bit more about the results in the Juri Ueno Live Journal Community. They also have the awesome photos of Juri’s last public apperance at the Kobe Collection, which happened yesterday in Japan… just click over here.

OMG, are you watching?? I can hear millions of Asian girls swooning~~~ Wang Lee-Hom and Bi singing Beijing Beijing Wo Ai Beijing!!!! Poor Kelly Chen… who? Where was Guan Zhe, though??

Wo Ai Beijing - Lee Hom Wang and Bi Rain

American-Chinese musician Wang Lee-Hom, and Korean musician Bi (Rain) perform together Beijing Beijing Wo Ai Beijing in the Closing Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

Are you waiting for London? Eh, No~ What the heck was that, London? That looked more like a Superbowl half-time entertainment than an Olympic closing performance. We all love some Beckham… and some people love themselves some Leona Lewis and then some Led Zeppelin… but that was just so anticlimactic.

Anyway, going back. Closing ceremony was not as HOLY-CRAP-CAN’T-BELIEVE-THAT-I’M-SEEING-THIS, but it was pretty good. LOL’ I am still swooning over Wang Lee-Hom and Bi together….

I think one of my favorite parts was when the performers made the Olympic logo, because I’m so-oh-in-love with Dancing Beijing… unlike the ‘unnamed’??? 2012 London Logo. While watching the whole London Olympic sequence, I couldn’t help but think about school Motion Graphics. Yes, sure… aim at young people, but don’t alienate the older viewers. My mother sure didn’t appreciate that~~

Dancing Beijing - Memory Tower

Performers make the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics logo, Dancing Beijing, on the Memory Tower.

Moving on… again! Placido Domingo made an apperance! He sang alongside Song Zuying (which the dude on TV made sound like ‘Son Su Jin,’ which made me think she was Korean).

Hmm… will look for photos. Photos are everything… or at least a video clip. Did you swoon? Lee-Hom Wang and Bi deserve my swooning~~~ I hope you swooned!! xD

**EDIT** 8.54pm – Found some photos!
Continue Reading…

3 of 3!

This time with lovely Juri Ueno~~ Rocking photos by Kentaro Shibuya. First time i find a portfolio online…

Anyway, as the name suggests… A Piacere, is a pleasure… a delight. It’s got 50+ photographs of Juri-chan visiting Kodaira (Tokyo), Okinawa, Yokohama and Ebisu (Tokyo). Moreover, Juri’s photobook is western. LOL’ It begins from the left to right like any regular books you buy in America or Europe, and there’s a lot of easy-to-read info (like the cities, and people involved names).

Juri Ueno - A Piacere

PLUS, there’s an interview with Juri and Kentaro Shibuya. I didn’t get much of what was going on… since they didn’t talk much about food (and the interview is in Japanese), and food talk in Japanese is what I’ve been practicing. But they did talk about Juri’s musical projects, relating it to some of the photos of Juri playing the guitar. So a little bit of Swing Girls talk, then some of Nodame Cantabile… and they even get to talk a little bit about Niji no Megami (Rainbow Song)…

If you doubt whether to get this or not, photos are REALLY worth having, many of them have a natural lighting style that remind me of some Mario Testino photographs. Anyway… some photos of the photos ahead!! You know the drill!

Continue Reading…

#2 of my 3-part order!

Yu Aoi - Kaiten TABURU wa Mutsukashii

Now, don’t ask me what the name of the book means because I haven’t the faintest idea. From what I could find out is something about a Rotating Table… which kinda makes sense ‘coz of the food rotating tables, and the whole food take on this book. And apparently, Mutsukashii means ‘difficult’ – a title that makes no sense to me xD…. Difficult Rotating Table?? xD

If I read correctly… photos taken by Ivy Chen, who apparently was the on-set photographer in Yu Aoi’s participating films All About Lily Chou Chou, as well as Hana and Alice.

This time around, Yu goes to Taipei (Taiwan) for a full-on Foodie trip. Yup, that’s right… if I thought her Travel Sand, and Dandelion photobooks talked a lot about food~~ well, I read a lot more food paragraphs and saw a whole more food photos on this one. There’s also a WHOLE lot more text, which would be ubber cool if I could properly read. LOL I read… I tried to read. I swear~~

Also… I was ‘reading’ and noticed Peru. Can someone help out? Plus, I’m looking for a reliable Japanese translator to have on call for projects (maybe even paid) ~~ So it’ll be good if you can drop a line~~ Here’s the text, I hope I typed correctly~~

フィアンセ の ”ペルー” を 呼んで、 みんあ で ご飯  を 食べた時 は、 幸せな 気持ち に なりました。

Sorry, don’t wanna transcribe everything, takes me too much time. LOL So, does it say something like Ivy Chen’s fiancee is from Peru? And that they were calling out for lunch time, and that they’re happy? LOL Just wanna make clear, coz I get giddy each time I read Peru in something not remotely Peruvian.

Who else thinks Yu Aoi should visit Peru for some Foodie trip??? Anyway, photos of the photos ahead!

Continue Reading…

Sorry that I didn’t post last night! Olympic fever is madness~~~ My YesAsia order arrived yesterday! Sugoi NE! Photobook Fever at its MAX~~~~~ I devoured Dandelion, you wouldn’t believe it. I saw the photos, swooned over many of them, and went mad with super concentration to try to read. Because, as you know, Amy doesn’t read Japanese.

Yu Aoi - Dandelion Photobook

Photos of the photos ahead! Like before, I doubt I will be posting scans… support Yu, people! ^^

Continue Reading…

Jena Malone fans! Jena made an appearance at the Tropic Thunder premiere (which I’ve got no intensions of watching, LOL) – But Jena made her appearance with… is that a Mohawk? Kind of… like, yeah? Kinda like what Natalie Portman had right after V for Vendetta?? Take a look yourself~~~

Jena Malone - Tropic Thunder - 2008 Jena Malone - Tropic Thunder - 2008 Jena Malone - Tropic Thunder - 2008

Anyway, when did you first spotted Jena? I think I was a kiddo when I first saw Bastard Out of Carolina, because her face was already familiar when I saw Stepmom, which was probably in 2000. Because back in the day, I didn’t use to go to the movies… so it is likely I didn’t watch her films at the movies, but on Cable~~~ OR, even on regular TV.

I saw Cheaters before I even learned about For Love of the Game (with Kevin Costner). But my favorites are still probably Cheaters, and Donnie Darko~~~ I’ve also seen Life as a House, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The United States of Leland, Cold Mountain (though I saw this one for Natalie Portman! LOL), Saved!, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Pride & Prejudice, and Into the Wild~~ Wow, I’ve seen quite the number of films… which is kinda nifty. However, I admit from all those films, I’ve only seen Saved! for Jena Malone.

I leave ya with some other photos of a younger Jena~~

Jena Malone - Stepmom Jena Malone Jena Malone Jena Malone

Have you got Beijing Olympic fever yet? I’ve noticed many are searching for “Wo he Ni” (aka, You and Me) Lyrics, so I decided to do another Olympic music post because I didn’t see many blogging about this.

Besides from You and Me, there’s the album, The Official Album for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which is a double-disc album that includes “Beijing Huan Ying Ni” (aka. Beijing Welcomes You), We Are Ready, and One World One Dream, Beijing Beijing Wo Ai Beijing… among other songs, performed by a broad variety of Chinese (and some other Asian) singers like… Jay Chou, Wei Wei, Joey Yung, Lee Hom Wang *dokidoki*, Jackie Chan, Coco Lee, Nicholas Tse and Andy Lau just to name a few~~~

Of course, the double-disc is filled with ‘patriotic’ and very Chinese-feeling songs, which is great because the Beijing Olympics are being held in China, damn it! LOL’ So what’s the need to create a mediocre ‘western’ version?? Yes, on my search for the Beijing Olympic songs, I came upon The Olympics Album – One World One Dream, which features singers like…. Avril Lavigne singing Keep Holding On (from the average, if not mediocre soundtrack of Eragon), the 2002 (yes, I said 2002) hit Get the Party Started by Pink, Backstreet Boys singing Helpless When She Smiles (what does this have to do with the Olympics??), Westlife singing Us Against the World, Waiting for the World to Change by John Mayer… and other artists.

You can see for yourself in YesAsia.com
Beijing 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Music Album
The Olympics Album – One World One Dream

OMG, Are you watching? Countries are showing up at the moment. I woke up at 6.30am to watch at 7am. And did the Chinese disappoint? No, they didn’t~~ The Chinese did not disappoint with their first hour. All orchestrated by Zhang Yimou, it was the stuff (suck it up, Spielberg… suck it up.) – Yes, love Zhang Yimou’s visual style… flying performers, lights~~~ LOTS of lights, people with lights on their clothes, projections… human-Chinese-painting…. that was amazing!!! The loads of drummers, the dancers, the giant canvas… the representation of the Road of Silk, the calligraphy, the Taichi demonstration with the uber cool banners with digital displays in synched with the movements of the choreography. The human Bird’s Nest stadium surrounding Lang Lang… the stuff~~

If I find a digital file, will do captures~~~ *EDIT* (12.36pm) video should hit the net soon~~~

And the rumors of Jay Chou with Celine Dion? Dunno… I was super surprised to see Sarah Brightman and Chinese singer Liu Huan singing You and Me. Maybe Jay and Celine will sing later on. We will see~~

Could you have imagined a duet between Sarah Brightman and Faye Wong??? Orgasmic performance of eclectic energy that would’ve been, would’ve taken you to the Ether~~~ Sarah Brightman singing was the hotness, she looks so young, and her voice was so powerful. And was she singing in Chinese? *scribble: must find lyrics and song*.

Word has it that Brightman is the sole international star performing in the event, so that would mean Celine and Jay was just a rumor, or that Jay will be holding it on his own.

Stay tuned.

Holy crap! Did you see???? Did you see the final race for the Olympic flame????? DId you see the digital projection of the race above all?????? How awesome was the igniting of the flame? Like a super gigantic firework *WOOSH* and then all the fireworks.

China delivered, China was the shit to watch today. Craziest, fanciest, exhuberant Olympic Opening EVER. Art, art, art, art *SWOON* – Now… London’s got tough competition. LOL Beijing Olympics are just beginning, but will London deliver next????? Could they deliver more?

I found photos! Nifty photos than the ones being used by the press~ xD
Continue Reading…