Archives For Chinese

What Are Good Lyrics?

October 5, 2010 — 4 Comments

Ah… English, such a direct language. I often have discussions with people about the nuances of the different languages. Friends tell me that French and Italian are great for flirting, and my mom keeps telling me that different dialects in Chinese have so many words to describe food flavors, impossible to describe in Spanish or English.

The Beautiful Language.

However, what about songs?

My favorite songs, my favorite artists in English — 99% of the time, I try not to find the lyrics any longer. Whenever I have enjoyed the songs, looked for the lyrics, 90% of the time I’ve ended up disappointed.

My first language is Spanish, however, I often find myself thinking in English – so, whenever I listen to music in Spanish, my brain begins translating lyrics into English. The repertoire of songs that I actually like in Spanish tend to be songs that are hard to translate literally into English.

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Moi et le funky musique~~~

October 3, 2010 — 1 Comment

So… today it’s voting Sunday. And I’ve also setup my About page… and got rid of my Favorites page because… well, it seemed redundant to have two pages about me. LOL

In case you missed the post in which I talked about my taste in film, this is a similar post that talks about my history… or lack of history with music.

When I was about 7, my dad opened a Karaoke bar (how Asian, non?). But by then, I had already grown up with the likes of the music of La Nueva Ola (the new wave) — you know, the type of Rock n’ Roll from The King… Jailhouse Rock or Houndog but in Spanish. My favorite tunes were probably La Plaga (the plage, the Spanish version of Little Richard’s Good Golly, Miss Molly), and La Mantequilla (the butter, the Spanish version of Cliff Richard and the Shadows’ Move It).

Of course, I was a little kid going to Chinese/Peruvian school, so my repertoire also included the Cantonese Counting Song Yat Yi Sam, as well as the counting Elefantes song… as well as the Sukiyaki song. So from the very beginning… I had a predisposition for all types of music in many different languages.
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I was waiting for the official Leehom upload. UMPH.

There’s nothing wrong with some groping in artsy black and white.

[iframe src=”https://www.yinyuetai.com/video/player/80494/v_0.swf” width=”480″ height=”334″]

Check out the YouTube version, though it might be blocked by Sony in your country.

I don’t know if anyone’s noticed this, but Leehom’s been looking ageless for a few years now. Of course, you can attribute this to the Asian genes – you know we Asians look ageless… at least until we hit 60, or so Lainey says. I am waiting for my aunt to turn 60 in a couple of years, and test her theory.

I met my friend after year and a half, with her new beau. Me and her beau are the same age, and she’s a bit younger – he asked, how old I was and we figured we were the same age to which my friend said “she doesn’t seem her age, does she?” I still get carded, and last time I renew my ID, the woman there asked me whether I was getting a new ID or a minor’s ID. LOL

And alas~~~ I read Lee Hom says he prefers older women, so my cousin has better chances xD

A little about moi

October 1, 2010 — 8 Comments

Other than not having anything to post, I thought I could write a little about me (maybe add an “about page”) – who knows… I mean, other than having the seldom post with an anecdote related to the post, what do most people who visit know about me other than the fact that I like to post about Yu Aoi, I post weekly on Glee, what I watch or what I listen to.

What about me?

My favorite genre is tear-jerking dramas… of the art house foreign kind. The more I cry, the more I feel satisfied with a film. For two hours of my life – or how many films or shows I get to watch in a day – I like high-tension dramas that will get my heart beating faster, and feel so much pain for the characters. I often like to put myself in the position of the main character, and pretend I can be them — making me cry even more. So as I grow older, the movies I tend to watch have less to do with the younger crowd. LOL Sometimes I think I could be an actress. LOL

Anyway, in real life? I’m the complete opposite. I like my life tension-free. I hate drama, and I live a simple life enjoying art and eating. I avoid high-tension situations, I avoid big crowds, and avoid meeting too many people at once. I prefer a dinner for two on a weekend at home with a good film to watch, than partying in a room full of people I see less than twice a year.

So while I love super dramatic dramas xD my life is more like an artsy fartsy film in which nothing happens. xD

In my life, a lot of people speak Spanish… then someone mixes in Cantonese. We also speak English… and sometimes… only sometimes, we end up a bit snobbish with some French. See, very artsy fartsy.

Symphony of Lights, Hong Kong

My home life was very much like some quirky Asian film – queue Hong Kong film – maybe a reason why I have a soft spot for them despite some of their lacking points. My grandfather was a character, out of World War II, telling me how in China he was relatives with someone of Royal blood. LOL I never really believed THAT but it’s one of those things that’s funny to remember.

I have a weak heart for films that deal with Alzheimer disease – I literally spent half of Away from Her crying every time she didn’t remember a thing. And I cried my heart out watching Ken Watanabe on Memories of Tomorrow struggling with living with the disease as he begun forgetting his own wife. Another reason why The Notebook affected me as it did… LOL

I also have a soft spot for Family dramas… less prominent in America or Europe, but oh so popular in Asia. I wonder why? LOL Asian and Latin Americans are similar that way. Despite all the arguments I may have with my family — not only parents, but extended family as well… uncles, aunts, cousins~~~ we poke fun at each other in good spirits. We actually do love each other.

wyk4p-2-c318

In light entertainment? I literally haven’t enjoyed a silly comedy since I saw Zoolander at the cinemas, though The Sweetest Thing is a good one. My humor tends to be either silly — as in Asian gag-related — or really bizarre… which I only use with members of my family, because we all get each other. That’s political humor, religious humor, race humor… and so on. We sometimes poke fun of dead people on the news LOL

I love musicals – sometimes I think I’m a gay man trapped in a little girl’s body? LOL – I love hipster films, I like romantic comedies… but I tend to avoid Jennifer Aniston. I like animation (can you imagine how much I enjoyed Happy Feet? LOL), and I think female comedians are funnier than male ones. Romantic comedy Dan in Real Life with gorgeous Juliette Binoche… and a surprisingly good Steve Carell (and zing! Emily Blunt) was great… except for the annoying experience to see Dane Cook on screen. I despise Cook. It’s something I can’t explain. xD

Some very exciting news – First, it seems I’ve seen more than TWO of the Foreign submissions this year LOL. Of course that’s without considering the 9 films that will go through the other stage, and the 5 that will be chosen. I’ll probably get a 1/5 ratio at the most.

Second of all… China chose Xiaogang Feng’s earthquake drama Aftershocks to represent them. *jumpy claps* Now, this is my weakness. I love tear-jerking dramas. Anyone who’s lived through an earthquake should and will be affected by the story, anyone who’s lived through a hurricane, typhoon, any catastrophic natural disaster. Aftershocks is for you. But this is not to say that Aftershocks is exploitative of the tragedy, because this “earthquake” film is little about the earthquake and all about the people affected by it.

Considering the technical achievement this is, and how human and audience-friendly this drama is, I think this might have high chances of passing to the “chosen 9”. *crosses fingers*

Here are some of the submissions I’ve seen and reviewed:

The updated titles via Indie Wire!

You know, the first time I listened to the album via mp3, I didn’t feel it… at least, most of the songs. My favorite was and still is The Daily Necessities, but now I’ve warmed up to a couple more. One of them is Mei, which sounded kinda weird at first with the autotune and the piano, and the tinge of Chinese traditional. However, once I got the album — which I was regretting of having pre-ordered — I found myself singing to the song LOL

In the video, Leehom is pimping… and dancing a bit a la JTimberlake or a la Usher against a shot of backlight. He plays the piano, and even dares to hablar un poco de espanol. Actually, the video is pure eye candy if you like him. ;P

I think that’s pretty much my 2010 album collection. And I’ve kept it 2010 to be fair. Today I bought a bunch of albums from Latin American artists that I found cheap and wanted to add to my collection – one was even released in 2000 LOL – and then I thought “Well, this is a poor CD insert.”

From left to right, top to bottom – the contestants are:

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Aww, Bibi~

You really should use a stool [1][2]… or a chair. And a nice old school microphone – instead of just standing there in front of your teleprompter. You remind me of school and how we did awkward presentations moving up and down. xD We didin’t have teleprompters, so we had a piece of paper that we rolled in our sweaty palms. xD

Having said that, I’m glad the audio was fixed after your first song. You sounded so much better afterwards, and I’m glad you sang some songs from Time. Especially Season. I’m also glad that I get to have an opinion on how you sounded because that means you don’t sound exactly the same as in the album, and that you’re singing live. I’m also glad you don’t sound like a robot.

Hugs xD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbM9-Qo19qs

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Bam! I’m into making lists now. xD

To push distributors, and tickle their curiosity, as well as showing them it can also be good business to bring Asian flicks. Plus, cinephiles would love a little more variety in their local theaters, and I bet regular moviegoers wouldn’t mind one or two non-Hollywood blockbusters… after all, we already watch everything subtitled! We don’t have an issue with them like some… other… people.

If Americans (and Canadians) complain about the little variety of Asian films outside martial arts, or auteur cinema – well, really. Stop complaining. It’s even worse down here. If you got 5 releases a year (just an assumption), then we get one… if we’re lucky. Sorry, I’m not so campy with J-horror… I’m a little tired. I must be too old for it now. LOL

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Beautiful photoshoot on China’s Oct2010 edition of Harper’s Bazaar featuring actress Li Bingbing, who was in Venice to support the film Detective Dee, the only Chinese film at the festival.

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