Archives For Japanese

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!

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, adaptation of the novel by Gabrielle Zevin of the same name, or Dareka ga Watashi ni KISU o Shita (literally translated to I Kissed Someone) is the Japanese adaptation of said American book starring popular Japanese actors/idols Horikita Maki as the lead Naomi Sukuse (in the book Naomi Porter) who falls down the stairs, hits her head and loses the memories she’s recollected for the past 4 years, including her best friend Mirai Hasegawa (in the book Will) played by idol Yuya Tegoshi from boy band NEWS, and her American boyfriend Ace Zuckerman played by Anton Yelchin.

Gasp! Say what? Americans and Japanese young actors together in a Japanese film of an American book? Yes, that’s right. Because Teenage Amnesiac also includes actor Kenichi Matsuyama (recently seen in Norwegian Wood), and none other than the young Emma Roberts. So yeah, the roles have inverted. And how do American fans of the book feel about their beloved book being made in Japanese? Well, a lot of them aren’t happy about it… or at least, they weren’t happy about it. Talks about how “pointless” it is to change the setting, or how not “into Japanese” they could be. Even though the one involved in the making of this was the book’s author herself, and it was probably done because the book was such a hit in the country.

Sure, it’s just internet talk. However, it reflects the sentiment of *insert nationality* whose film/books of their home country get remade/adapted in America/etc. not-a-language it’s supposed to be. So we do understand your sentiments, and here’s to hoping you guys understand when it happens the other way round again and again… and again.

As for the film… well, suffice to say that I feel too old to be watching this. Kenichi Matsuyama should feel too old for this too. Maybe if I were 10 years younger – OMG, I’m that old – I could have maybe connected more. No scratch that, I felt like the characters were Mary Sue’s or Marty Stus… or whatever the male form of a Mary Sue is. Surprisingly, in a bad way, Anton Yelchin is a bit of a jerk in here. He’s literally your typical American jock… only he plays tennis. LOL Poor Naomi’s lost her memory, and all he can think of is getting laid for Prom?

Naomi’s other suitors are the Martys Stus, one playing the best friend from the yearbook commission. Mirai is dorky, well-natured, cares for Naomi… and well, that’s just telling you straight in your face that he’s the one. Then there’s the dark brooding opponent Yuji (Matsuyama) who rides a motorbike, works at a projection house where he watches foreign art house films, photographs Naomi for a play, and actively pursues her as she ends her relationship with Yelchin’s character. Yuji is what you know it’s bad but you still want to see what’s going on with him. In a dark indie film, Naomi would have pursued Yuji and ended up badly. In a fairly mainstream drama, she’d pursued Yuji and ended up fixing him. This is a romantic drama for teenagers, so you’d do the math.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Horikita Maki in anything else, but she seems like an average lead in here. And Emma Roberts is terribly underused in this.

2.5/5

Also can you believe Yelchin is the youngest in the cast? Gosh these Asians genes. Wait till we turn 60~

Ehhh???? Atami no Sousakan End

September 24, 2010 — 7 Comments

I need someone to discuss this. LOL That ending, I did not expect THAT ending. But I like what I’ve been reading around. I like it a lot, without revealing too much – I like the concept of duality. Even more so considering how it ties with Tokyo Jihen’s theme, which let me tell you – could blow your mind.

[iframe src=”https://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMzgxMzIxNTky/v.swf” width=”480″ height=”400″ /]

— EDIT —

All the YouTube uploads are going missing (THANK YOU, SONY >,<), so I’m just going to embed this Youku no-so-sync version because it’s the only one I’ve been able to find. In any case, here’s a Portuguese subtitled version on YT.

Please, let the explanation of the # mean that there will be a second season~~~

Also, Japan! WHY NO OFFICIAL SUBTITLES? The 8eps DVD collection is priced at over $150USD – considering the Yen’s so high compared to dollars now – and no subs? Oh, really?

Sponsor of Heiwa Fansubs will have to do – google “atami no sousakan” and watch the show – they did a great job at subtitling this… in a time when I was uncertain this show would get picked up by any group, they were our saviors! Thank you Heiwa Fansubs~ Please, don’t stream the groups’ subtitles.

It’s supposed to be the short version – remember this? – Well, it’s here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu2aVWvP__o

Have I told you that MAIKA reminds me a LOT of old school Shakira in her Donde Estas Corazon and Donde Estan los Ladrones days? You know, before she turned blonde on me and began doing that thing she calls Shakira music in English? Kind of like Alanis when she became happy. Shakira was the Latin American Alanis.

So I approve of Maika. Must now find if she’s got an album – hmm… kinda reluctant to get a single. But, anyway… remember Masaki and Yu were going to lip-sync? OMG, it’s the cutest thing ever. I hope there’s a long version of just the two of them lip-syncing because that was the highlight of the video.

Perhaps the UK Music Video Awards is doing something better than the VMA. Why? Well, they nominated OK Go’s This too Shall Pass. That, I believe, is an automatic win in nominations~

Highlighted nominees?

Florence and the Machine, Plan B, Massive Attack, MIA — though I’m not exactly sure Born Free is a Dance Video exactly — and surprise! SOUR’s Hibi no Neiro, which won my Breakthrough last year. xD

Check all the nominations over at Promonews.tv

though I’m sure there’s better Dance videos in S.Korea, non?

Obviously, not so safe for work.

We’re talking about The L Word here. Better safe than sorry.

You really should know that I have nothing to post right now. So this is mandatory posting. What can I say about this? I can’t remember how long it’s been since the end of the show (2 years?), and I can’t remember what it was about. I was watching this video, and I kept saying “oh, yeah… I remember that”.

The more I think about the show, the more I not-so-secretly wished that they could make a Japanese version. LOL And you know Meisa Kuroki has won me over with the ‘tude. I can now totally picture her as Carmen.

You’ve named them… some of you voted multiple times, I know. And some of you only voted for one actress instead of one actor and one actress. But the votes are in. And winning, with a boost from the running of Inception on theaters, with 23% of the votes is none other than dear Joseph Gordon Levitt. Despite leading the poll at the beginning, Natalie Portman ended up with 19% of the votes with a late boost from the screenings from Black Swan… but I guess the people that saw Black Swan don’t visit the site, thus that didn’t translate into votes.

Your Favorite Top20 to Watch Between 25-30

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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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Ahh… this still makes me laughs. Specially the 180/360 degree shot of Juri’s frozen-falling snot and the face of Shihori Kanjiya as she sees the impending snot falling on her. LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHnaP88VYS0

Where are they now?

Juri was in S.Korea promoting Nodame Cantabile, of course. However, I’m getting excited for her turn on her first NHK Taiga drama — I thought about it today as I watched Ryomaden xD which brings me to… Shihori Kanjiya who was also on Ryomaden… and Yuta Hiraoka who still can be seen on Ryomaden xD