Archives For Japanese

amys-favorite-actresses

Too much awesomeness into one.

What made it to the list and where it placed? Some of my biggest biases placed lower than expected, and some that I don’t want to be my bias placed high on there~

Head over there and do your thing~

Let’s give a warm welcome to child actress Hamada Kokone (濱田ここね, with English transliteration of her name “Cocone”) — I wonder if I can call her Coco-chan xD~ ANYWAY, debuting in film Oshin, she just rode the film like a pro.

cocone-hamada-kokone-oshin

According to her profile, Coco likes sea grapes (haha, with Latin name “Coccoloba uvifera,” get it?), plums, dried herring roe, Chicken nanban and Thai food. She also likes 2NE1, Lady Gaga, Cyndi Lauper, Carly Rae Jepsen and Big Bang. Like a boss~

She can also pull at your heart strings and make you cry when she’s trying to make it through her character’s life.

I’m still not sold on Netflix- never to this date I’ve ran into a film that I wanted to watch on it. At least in terms of this region, which doesn’t count with as much content as the US or Canada one. Similar issues with iTunes… and Amazon is out of the question.

I used to subscribe to MUBI for a long while (at least for a bit over a year), but eventually turned off my subscription because I wasn’t watching anything, while things I had added to my watchlist stopped being available, and the selection of their films eventually was reduced to their now curated content. I’m only subscribed to EROSNOW now, and have seen a few couple of films there, but had to turn to other mediums when found links that were region-restricted or surprisingly without subtitles.

My experience with streaming has been decent- and for as cheap as $5-9 bucks you can watch a lot in a month, and it just makes your life quite easy. Similar flawless experience with my first Vimeo On Demand watch. Thanks Joss Whedon for the heads up, and actually putting the film up there right after its premiere. To top it all off, subtitles in Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Japanese (plus English CC) were available making it the smoothest watch if you decided to watch it with any bunch of people.

Paying $5 to stream a new movie can seem like the best way possible to make it look as if you’re going to the cinema. It takes me back to those days where I would watch 2 or 3 new movies a weekend. If studios ever decided to really go off their way to online distribute their new movies almost simultaneously, I’d be willing.

Here’s In Your Eyes.

Apparently Vimeo streaming is not as smooth (or at all) if you don’t have a Vimeo account, though. Take it as a good chance to get one, or don’t complain. I really don’t know any other streaming (paying) website that would let you use their content without an account. You need one in iTunes, in Amazon, in Netflix, HBO, et all. So please, people, stop complaining about THAT.

Spanish (more serious) related note.

It’s been a long time, Yu-chan~

Just ran into this new photo of Yu, still with her shorter hair and looking very relaxed. I wasn’t so into her shortest shorter hair style, but I think this length is perfect if she’s interested in keeping it shorter than what was her usual. I’ve always been jealous of her bare-face gift. She really does look her best with minimum makeup, familiar freckles on sight and all chillaxed.

I’m not sure about the source of the image, but it could be a shot in the May issue of Soup Magazine. Ever since her website redesign, I’ve lost track of her magazine appearances.

yu-aoi-2014-magazine

I might consider writing my thoughts on the movie, but hey! Look at Kou Shibasaki wanting to break through in those frames. For a moment there I thought she might actually kill someone.

shibasaki-kou-ronin-47-001

Continue Reading…

People were commenting that her eyes sparkle… and they kinda do! And she’s got the cutest dorkiest smile/laugh ever. I dunno if I’m ever going to be able to see her outside her Ama-chan role.

But how can she be resisted?

rena-nounen-amachan-towel-001

Source

… and Machiko Ono is looking super fly!

I ran into a set of photos on Weibo of Yu-chan with her eye-patch, and voila! According to Google Translate she had conjunctivitis, though I’ve never seen someone get it on one eye… so maybe it’s a stye.

yu-aoi-machiko-ono-2013-2014-japanese-academy-awards

On a Machiko Ono note… when I ‘met’ her via Mother and subsequently saw her on Carnation, I… just didn’t see the appeal. She got that “oh, must be a really good actress” comment from me (not a bad comment to get, I might add), but after seeing her on The Great Divorce, I’ve sorta started seeing her in another light. Like- she really does look extra good in this white dress.

Also~ Is Yu wearing extensions? I doubt her hair grew this long in such short period of time.

I was catching up with all my ‘to watch’ queue on YouTube which at some point had been inundated with Shiina Ringo thumbnails. After her split from Tokyo Jihen and the celebration of her debut 15 years ago, she’s releasing this gorgeous (and pricey) concert.

I was just marveling myself with the palest of pale queens and thought to myself that if I ever get to see her show live, I would probably cry. When Bjork was here for the first and only time, I remember tearing up a bit- the others I would tear up/cry for would be Shiina Ringo, Faye Wong… and BiBi, for sure.

It’s been ages since I last bought anything on HMV Japan.

お父さんへ
元気ですか?
私は元気ですけどさびしいになった。でも、お父さんのためにエイミが幸せになりたい。約束する。

I just imagined Mana-chan (who is not so little any longer) jumping and latching herself onto the huggable Guillermo del Toro. I imagine a world where Del Toro found a tiny muse and made a movie with her. NOW! GIMME ME.

ashida-mana-guillermo-del-toro