Archives For English

Which Student Are You?

June 23, 2009 — Leave a comment

Funniest post here.

From there, I’ve concluded I’m…
A dirty anime 1.0 student with strong geek and brown noser (?) tendencies. LOL
I also had one or two from the hip hop, metal, goth/emo, gamer, loner.

DIRTY STUDENT
– glasses or sunglasses depending upon what they smoked, drank or ate last night
– paint, food, and god know what else splattered all over ripped up jeans
– tragically hip retro t-shirt
– messenger bag: markers, old bag of potato chips, cds, crayon, broken watch
– designs but usually wrinkled, bent, spit on, folded

ANIME STUDENT
– Glasses, wai-wai!
– buttons with witty sayings about nothing in particular, gasp!
– chews on weird flavored asian gum simply coz it’s asian.
– backpack filled with art supplies, and with asian candies, yum!
– sketchbook with story ideas, whee!

STUDENT 1.0
– Up until 5am on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and various forums.
– External harddrive (full of illegaly downloaded movies)
– Always plugged into the internet.
– shoes have lasted 4 years

COMIC BOOK/GEEK STUDENT
– Knows everything about every movie.
– professional blue pencil is the only way to draw – anything else is foolishness
– full of supplies, various inking pens

BROWN NOSER STUDENT
– always has a smile and a hellow for everyone.
– always on time
– wears overalls

HIP HOP STUDENT
– Huge enormous headphones to block out teacher’s instruction.
– No watch to tell what time to come to class

METAL STUDENT
– Band T-shirt (black)
– Oversized droopy pants

I’m off to do this Meme – will post my doodle when I’m done.

In English, Fun
permalink

Ponyo Gets a US Trailer

First, see it for yourself~~~

https://youtu.be/TCg1RYahEG4

Now, I wasn’t to OMGWTFGOD when I saw the film. I liked it… I thought it was okay. The thing that I loved was singing that Ponyo song with the little girl – Ponyo, Ponyo sakana no ko!!! – Plus, Juri sings it too and that made me laugh so hard. I just had to mentioned that… just so you could see that part of the charm of the film is THAT song. This is why I think this trailer fails, makes it look all epic and sh!t… it is kinda, but it’s mostly cute.

People will feel mislead. I can feel it in the air… and critics will bash it as childish.

Posted on June 23, 2009 In English, Films, Sharing, Trailers , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink Leave a comment

Lucky Thirteen – Watch Over Me

Fan-made video! And new video posting testing!! LOL

First, a little about the video.

I began this… when this episode (Lucky Thirteen) aired back in Oct. 2008 – so it’s been sitting on my computer forever. I worked on it one weekend, and sort of left it there – until this weekend. I’ve begun working on another music video (on a less fan-made side) and thought I should at least finish this one.

I found Thirteen (I refuse to call her Dr. Hadley or Remy LOL) interesting from the beginning. It was a certain spark, and well… Olivia Wilde is pretty hot – which my friend Mob would be glad to agree on. And I also have to say that I’ve always found Foreman boring, so Foreteen makes me roll my eyes.

That aside… the song is by Hanson from The Walk, and it immediately brought images of Thirteen and her out-of-control behavior, so I just had to do it.

On a rant side… YouTube has removed already 2 of my fan-made videos, and I’m expecting them to remove the ones that are left, so I’m now forced to not use it. So please help out by linking back to this site =D

Posted on June 23, 2009 In English, Fun, Jobs, Music, Music Videos, Rants, Sharing, Television , , , , , ,
permalink Leave a comment

First Look at Burton’s Alice

June 22, 2009 — Leave a comment

*passes out*
this just in (okay, maybe a few hrs. ago) via InsidetheGold

To just break off a little of all the Japanese films on the front page~~ xD

Tim Burton - Alice in Wonderland - Red Queen

First, I must tell you. These are fantastic, and now I’m just dying to see it. Even more so than when I wrote my brief article on horrorific films~~~ Bonham Carter looks abso-bloody-lutely crazy  good on that with the big head… the eyebrows or lack thereof, the lips, the hair… and that look, man!

Tim Burton - Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton - Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton - Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton - Alice in Wonderland - Mad Hatter

Tim Burton - Alice in Wonderland - White Queen

is it just me, or is Johnny looking very Elijah Wood right there??? LOL

In English, Films, Fun, Sharing, Stills , , , ,
permalink

CinemaOnline Ike-chan Interview

June 21, 2009 — 2 Comments

With the release of Ike-chan to Boku this weekend, there should be articles and reviews on it – if anyone would care to hunt for them and briefly translate them. It would rock.

In the meantime, I found this 5-question interview on CinemaOnline – a proper translation would be appreciated~ – it also comes with a couple of photos…

Yu Aoi - Ike-chan Interview

This is my quick I-don’t-speak-or-understand translation

Continue Reading…

In Celebrity, English, Films, Japanese, Sharing , , ,
permalink

Japanese Cinema Blogathon 2009 – Day5

June 20, 2009 — 1 Comment

This is my last post for this blogathon, unless I can come up with something on time for tomorrow~

I was reading this post on Japanese Films and Women in Cinema– now, female in cinema is a big BIG subject. I’m not in the position to point out feminists or non-feminists films across the decades or countries. However, I have to admit that looking back at the films I’ve seen the past year, it feels like many (if not most of them) have a female protagonist. In general, I don’t know the reason – if there are more films about women, or if I’m watching them because I’m looking for them. What I do know is that I watched many Japanese films with female leads because I had been on the hunt for Juri Ueno and Yu Aoi projects – so that’s got to be at least 10 films led by a female, right?

So here it is… some~

Japanese Chick-centric Films or with Female Leads~

  • Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
  • Kiki’s Delivery Service
  • Hula Girls
  • Swing Girls
  • Hana to Alice (Hana & Alice)
  • Gaichu (Harmful Insect)
  • Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu (Turtles Swim Faster than Expected)
  • Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)
  • Quiet Room ni Youkoso (Welcome to the Quiet Room)
  • Linda Linda Linda
  • Kamikaze Girls
  • Shinku (The Deep Red)
  • Love Letter
  • Sakuran
  • Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters)
  • Rinne (Reincarnation)
  • Tenshi no Tamago (Angel’s Egg)
  • Wool 100%
  • Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
  • GuGu Datte Neko de Aru (Gu Gu the Cat)
  • Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
  • Nishi no Majo ga Shinda (The Witch of the West is Dead)
  • Blood the Last Vampire
  • Pikunikku (Picnic)

Of course, there’s many animated films asides from the ones I’ve mentioned above like Paprika, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The Milennium Actress or Perfect Blue. And yes, there are films in my list that are not quite remarkable… and we can also point out that there aren’t many female leads of over 30 or 40 (in some way, Matsuko which chronicles her life, The Makioka Sisters, GuGu, and The Witch of the West – who knew Shirley McLaine’s daughter spoke Japanese?), but then again… that’s a problem that seems to be common in Hollywood too. Does it happen much in Europe? Countries like France or Germany? Are there many films with female leads, or are they as hard to find??

In the end,  it was good to see Meryl Streep (Doubt),  Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Laura Linney (The Savages), and to some degree Kate Winslet (The Reader) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) getting recognition these past two years.

— EDIT June 21 —

I thought this was a great post on the subject. =D

In English, Films, French, Japanese, Rants, Sharing , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Monkey Majik!

Just saw them on J-Melo! My first thought… what are these two white guys doing on NHK? I was pretty impressed, actually. They are fun to listen to… almost like having fun while listening to the Barenaked Ladies, only better. So I did a quick search, and found a list…

Monkey Majik is a group of two Canadians and two Japanese dudes singing in Japan-glish xD
give it a listen~~~ check out the song Fly, and their song Aishiteru (I Love You)
actually… both those videos are pretty good. I liked Aishiteru quite a bit~

Posted on June 20, 2009 In English, Japanese, MixTapes, Music, Music Videos, Sharing, Television , , ,
permalink Leave a comment

Japanese Cinema Blogathon 2009 – Day4

June 19, 2009 — 13 Comments

I’ve hated #4 this past weeks. That number is an unlucky number…

Anyway, this is my 4th contribution to the Japanese Cinema Blogathon, if you haven’t been reading… which I hope you have had~~~ because that’s the whole point of this blogathon, right? To promote J-Films…

Which brings me to today’s topic.

First, Your Friends~ Then the World!

How to Make People Watch Japanese Cinema

It’s all about compromise. God knows I’ve tried so hard to get my friends interested in it, because sometimes it can get boring talking to people about it just online… *sighs* I’m sure I come off as pushy, etc~ and many of them won’t budge. I even offer them films to watch for free… they only need to come over, and that’s that.

Last year I had a Foreign Film gathering (they chose the foreign theme, anyway), two of the nine films scheduled that day were Tetsuya Nakashima’s Memories of Matsuko – mainly because I’m crazy about that film, and I had just watched it a few weeks prior – and Shunji Iwai’s Hana & Alice, because Iwai-san and Yu Aoi is lurv. Sadly, no one came on time to watch Matsuko (only one friend arrived… halfway through the film), and I highly doubt they made any connection with Hana & Alice.

Needless to say, I’m setting up another film gathering, though I haven’t made them choose themes yet. I have a few lists I’ve made and they contain a couple of Japanese films. Let’s hope one of them stays this year! *crosses fingers*

Anyway… you don’t want to come off as pushy – and like I said above… it’s all about compromise.

  • You have a friend who wants to make you watch something of his own?? Maybe he wants to get you into Lost, Heroes… or Battlestar Gallactica? Give in, tell him you will watch a season (or maybe a few episodes, depending on your willingness to compromise) in exchange he should watch a film or two.

This will make your friend feel like you are not pushing him to watch something, instead you’re just exchanging interests… and who knows, you might end up enjoying both those hobbies.

  • When you blog about it, mix things up a little. We blog about Japanese Cinema, but in the end people who already like Japanese Cinema read your posts.

The point of this blogathon is to promote Japanese Cinema, but we are the ones dealing and discussing. I mentioned this blogathon to a friend, and she had no idea why she should care. *doh!* – combine the idols with your favorite Japanese Directors, and get them at least skimming through your posts. Make a western comparison… got something to write about vampire films? psych ward films? I mean Clive Owen has said that he wants to work with Wong Kar Wai and Ang Lee again… that means some teenage Owen fans would be at least be interested in checking out some more work by both directors.

How about a crazy collaboration between Johnny Depp and Tetsuya Nakashima? Or Juliette Binoche and Shunji Iwai?

  • Make a fuzz about collaborations. No matter how good or bad you may think they are.

I made a fuzz about Tokyo! – I kind of really worship Michel Gondry’s visual style… then there was Ryo Kase, and Yu Aoi. – I’ve also been making a fuzz over New York, I Love You because it’s got Shunji Iwai’s short with Orlando Bloom. Now, I don’t like Orlando Bloom (I’ve only ever liked him as Legolas LOL), but if there are people who enjoy the short… there is a small chance that a teenage Bloom fan might check out Iwai’s past work.

  • Introduced them with what they like.

My dad likes comedies… and action films, but well~ he also happens to like Asian culture, LOL’ so maybe I’m being a little unfair here. Anyway, I’ve made him watch films like Linda Linda Linda, Matsuko, Swing Girls, Tekkon, Kamikaze Girls… then one day he brought me Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams. *laughs* I was surprised myself, but my dad had a newly-found interest in Japanese films (mostly the epic kind though… xD)

and to just not have FOUR bullet points here…

  • … just keep pushing~

Keep bugging people. Someone will need to budge, right? LOL

In DVD/BR, English, Films, Japanese, Rants, Sharing, Torrents & Digital Streams , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

We are getting some Yu Aoi clips subbed~

June 19, 2009 — 2 Comments

Thanks to visitor, kitty!!

Leave a message in this post, and thank kitty for her hard work!

Let’s also leave a big shout out to aoinohoho for the information and clips he brings.

So far, kitty has been kind enough to leave translations for the following posts…
Club Keiba Quiz CM – and…
MTV: Yu Aoi + Yoko Takahashi

I love Yoko-san’s personality, LOL – You know some classic Hollywood stars worked really well with certain cinematographers or photographers?? Yu works so well with Yoko-san. Yoko-san and Shunji Iwai.

If you wanna beg and grovel for anything else you think would need translation, grovel in this post too. – I mentioned the Jounetsu interview from 2006, since it seems to be a popular interview for her Asian fanbase. I’m willing to test my luck at timing.

In Celebrity, English, Japanese, Sharing, Television , , ,
permalink

Japanese Cinema Blogathon 2009 – Day3

June 18, 2009 — 4 Comments

Continuing with this Blogathon (hmm… I’m finding it harder and harder to write) – I read the following post by Ulrik about Japanese subtitle distribution on blu-ray~ sad, sad indeed~

But the question is… would you buy blu-ray/DVDs with English subs?

Many of us, who watch through torrents and P2P, would probably not buy. I know a LOT of people who think they have the right to not buy a film they love – I get a little pissed when they say that. Not because they do not pay for films… but because they don’t WANT to pay for things they supposedly LOVE. I really can’t stand that.

You will always find me with little money on the wallet or my bank account (depending on where I do the buying…) because I literally spend whatever I get to cash in on the films I love (and used to be films I liked, LOL). It’s really depressing, if you think about it economicaly~ but my love for certain films make it worth the while. Really, watching films and talking about films make me forget about my surroundings hahaha.

[so please, ads my clicking. oh yes, i did again~~ LOL]

So I yearn for English (or Spanish… or even French as of lately) subtitles, so why aren’t they getting subbed? And even sadder (but not as sad as others…) – Why do some films take over six months to get fansubbed?? I worship fansubbers, because they provide something so very useful. But it would be nice to get DVDs with subs, right?

So let’s see… Hmm… I dunno if I can make it to 10 films, so we’ll see~~

The Japanese Films I’ve Bought with English Subtitles

Not including Region 1 releases
Hooray for multi-region players! Yes, because I still haven’t made the change to Blu-ray xD

  • Memories of Matsuko 2-disc Special Edition [Hong Kong]
    I bought this one right away after watching the film. I loved the film so much, that I didn’t even cared that the only version I could find online was a Region 3. This also happened to be the first Region 3 disc I ever bought. I ended up really happy with the product because everything came subtitled (including extras), and at a descent price.
  • GUU GUU Datte Neko de Aru 2-disc First Press Limited Edition [Japan]
    I have to admit. It hurt me to pay~ LOL – Specially because the Korean version is half the price, but I also must admit that I was curious to see the difference between Japanese DVDs and the rest… so this became my first ever official Japanese DVD.
  • The first Inuyasha Movie (Toki o Koeru Omoi, Affections through Time)[Japan?]
    – hahaha, I know~ – I used to watch Inuyasha when I was in school. It was during those years that my friends had tried to anime-fying me, so I went to this “specialized” in anime shop in town, and bought a copy of the film. Though I’m not entirely sure now if it was a real copy or a bootleg, because to tell you the truth… it doesn’t compared to my copy of GUU GUU.
    And in the end… I bought a Region 1 copy. LOL
  • Love Letter 10th Anniversary Version [Hong Kong]
    I can’t remember right now if the Japanese was available for purchase, when I bought this. I really, really love Shunji Iwai’s work (part of the reason I want to watch New York, I Love You now~), so I just couldn’t help myself from getting a copy of Love Letter… because I’m a sap. I was slightly disappointed on this release due to some issues with the sync of subs, but I can live with that. If I come around some more extra cash, I would consider getting a better copy though~~~
  • Niji no Megami [Hong Kong]
    Truth be told… I wish this film had a better release, but since this is the only version I found with subs – this one it is! LOL’ – Again, it’s got Shunji Iwai on it as a stamp, so I couldn’t help myself. Add to that Yu Aoi and Juri Ueno. I’m lost. Plus, Hayato Ichihara is a cutie. He’s weird here, but he’s so so pretty.

Some other films, I’ve found on Region 1. But I only wish someone would release Hyakuman-en with subs – and I know they aren’t films but I would love someone would release Camouflage (this one doesn’t even have complete fansubs!) and Osen with subs. LOL

Come on WOWOW~ Get on with it! You’ve already licensed Hito no SEKKUSU as a Free Region with Subs in Taiwan! Which I’m so thinking of buying… but really, I’m more interested in getting Camouflage subbed/fansubbed… okay, and maybe Hyakuman-en.

In DVD/BR, English, Films, Japanese, Rants, Reviews, Sharing , , , , , , , , ,
permalink