Okay, I’m slightly impressed.
While posting the trailer of The Puppet Syndrome, I found it a little bit difficult to distinguish between gorwn-up Liza (Khamatova) and the actress that was playing her younger self. Khamatova’s face is peculiar — to me, it’s like trying to cast a young version of Bjork — but Young Liza, played by Alina Gvasaliya (born 1992) comes close.
For the latest volume of MEKURU Magazine [Facebook][Official Website], they are holding a special on Yu Aoi who will be turning 30! I’m not sure what’s gonna be in there (Japanese being rusty and all), but there’s gonna be an interview and (maybe?) photos by Kawashima Kotori (川島小鳥) [Portfolio], who apparently is an Ihei Kimura (木村伊兵) awarded photographer for his book Star (明星) [Amazon JP].
It’s titled Aoi Yu, Saisho de Saigo ni Ren’ai o Kataru (蒼井優、最初で最後に恋愛を語る) — you’ll have to forgive my des and nis translations.
They’re totally selling it like a direct sequel to Travel Sand. xD
There will also be a poem by Shuntaro Kanikawa (谷川俊太郎) titled Aoi Yu (あおいゆう). Among other stuff I can’t make out, it’ll include 128 pages and will be listed at Y907 Yen. It’s available on Amazon JP and HMV JP.
Spain vs. Canada – GO!
The birth of the Road Music Video~ or maybe it’s just the Warner re-purpose.
Will keep this list updated here.
I’m trying to wrap my head on the fact that Mario Testino photographed these Chinese perfections- (From Left to Right) Zhao Wei, Liu Wen, Carina Lau, Fan Bingbing, and Tang Wei. Li Bingbing, Du Juan, Zhang Ziyi, Chris Lee (Li Yuchun), and Zhou Xun.
Celebrating 10 years of Vogue in Mainland China.
Note, though, that Carina Lau (sitting in gold on the far left) is turning 50 this year. I’m just saying. She’s at least 8 years ahead of Li Bingbing (sitting in gold in between Tang Wei and Zhang Ziyi) and 10 years ahead of Zhou Xun and Zhao Wei. And Carina is sitting below model Liu Wen, who is 27. I’m just saying.
Carina Lau deserves our respect.
Yu Aoi is old enough to have a daughter… from the future for this latest CM.
For some reason, her daughter has her same hair-styled bun and that adorable fuzzy hairline that everyone loves. Otherwise~ good casting! Why need a dad when your kid looks just like the mom!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOGL8z-g7v0
Also, I hope this doesn’t disappear because Japanese brands have this crazy idea that they can delete videos and accounts once the commercial’s season is over. No, people, these stay.
Cry tears of regret with me.
Evgeny Mironov and Chulpan Khamatova live, right in front of your faces.
This whole week, starting today until Sunday. Check the Lincoln Center site for more info.
I, of course, also ended up finally watching Peter Chan’s Perhaps Love (如果·爱), which is China’s -possibly- only formal foray into the musical genre. They were probably so into Moulin Rouge! and Chicago at some point, they got Farah Khan to whip some of her Bollywood 90s magic. You can see all the influences.
But, of course, Chinese people don’t believe in happy endings… even in musicals! Farah Khan probably watched this and was bored out of her mind because she probably doesn’t get us tortured East Asian souls. I did buy into all the grown-up lamenting love story.
To misquote Ron- I want to suffer, but I want to be happy about it.
I’ve been hearing Ellen Loo’s name very often for the last three years, but I never ever really took the time to sit down and listen to her albums until this weekend… and wow- I’ve just finally gone through her 2nd album You Quietly Hide Away (你安安靜靜地躲起來), which is a tremendous improvement from her debut Ripples (掀起), which isn’t all that bad either. I particularly liked Wait (等等), Hey Boy, Summer of Love, and Satellite Lover (人造衛星情人).
Ni An An Jing Jing De Duo Qi Lai comes as a surprise. I’m also surprised she sings in Mandarin so much, since my Hong Kong friends are the ones talking about her, I expected to listen to a lot more Cantonese.
I haven’t caught up with Dr. Rintaro since the first episode, but Yu-chan’s name has been going around on Twitter. Apparently — according to Twitter/Google/Bing translation — Yu is one of the actresses/actors who smoke. You know Japanese magazine rags, though, all text no images xD If anyone is shocked/surprised/following this, please do let me know. Otherwise, disregard. If Yu is, in fact, smoking… for years, hats off. Gurl, how do you keep yourself so young? Genes, I tell you, GENES!
In other news… The Case of Hana & Alice is (finally) coming out on DVD/BR disc in August.
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ジャケット写真ã®ãƒ‡ã‚¶ã‚¤ãƒ³ãŒå…¬é–‹ï¼ã‚¹ãƒªãƒ¼ãƒ–ケースã¯åˆå›žé™å®šâ˜†ç‰¹å…¸æ˜ åƒã«ã¯ã€å²©äº•ç›£ç£ã€è’¼äº•å„ªã•ã‚“ã€éˆ´æœ¨æã•ã‚“ã«ã‚ˆã‚‹ï¼“Ｓインタビューã®"完全版"ç‰ãŒåŽéŒ²ã€‚ã©ã†ãžãŠæ¥½ã—ã¿ã«ï¼ pic.twitter.com/jRd1Ytxn6P— å²©äº•ä¿ŠäºŒæ˜ ç”»ç¥ Iwai Shunji film festival (@iwaiff) July 7, 2015
There’s also news that Yu-chan will be voicing a character (I suppose the female robot) in an upcoming Disney Channel Lilo & Stitch SP. Complete with Yu & Stitch photo [picture][link].
… and finally~
