Category: Japanese

  • Tartaruga Folding Bike!

    Tartaruga Folding BikeAmy WANTS. xD

    You know, ever since I was little, my mom used to say she will win the lottery. I remember she asked me what I would want when she won, and I told her “A bike.” – LOL, Am now 22, and I still haven’t gotten my bike… but I found a pretty nifty choice of bike, if my mom ever decides to win the lottery~~

    I was watching Cha no Aji (The Taste of Tea), and fell in love with the bike there. With a little googling about the net, I found what I was looking for~ Tartaruga-ew.com!

    Apparently the bike in the film is the Tartaruga Folding Bike v. 1.5 – Priced *only* at ¥139,650 – or just a little bit more than $1300USD (duh!) ~~ But apparently there’s a Tartaruga Folding Bike v. 1.55 ~

  • Amy’s Ramblings

    Random post of no fix topic ahead! Well, it’s been about a month or so since Olympics… and I’m kinda glad they’re over even if it brough thousands of hits, because… well, it also brough a lot of spam~ which sucks. So I’m kinda happy with the couple of hundreds that visit the site each day or so…

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  • MixTape – Japanese-a-Mix

    Just found Mixwit.com – Coolest $hit EVER. LOL’ Well, actually, can’t really say much about it YET… because I just discovered it 20min ago, but I already made my first tape and I already registered xD – at the moment it’s a nifty tool, but let’s just wait until it becomes popular and begins taking down songs. *knocks on wood*

    So my first tape! Japanese-a-Mix~~
    Enjoy!

    1. Miyavi – SELFISH LOVE
    2. Shiina Ringo – Konoyo no Kagiri – Limits of this World
    3. Salyu – Arabesuku (Arabesque)
    4. Miyavi – Aishiteru kara Hajimeyo
    5. Kobukuro – Yell
    6. Shiina Ringo – Identity
    7. Salyu – Yoru no Umi Tooi Deai ni – Night Meeting in the Distant Sea
    8. miyavi – Kimi ni Negai wo
    9. Shiina Ringo – jazz a go go

  • Subtitles Vs. Fansubs

    The amount of films that are not in a language I can speak have increased at least 90% this year… thanks to the internet of course, otherwise I will be waiting for them to either arrive at the cinema, hit the small screen on satellite or cable, or just by finding some Region 1 distributor… but none of that!

    Anyway, because of this reason, I have been focusing a lot on subtitles, and I finally have 3 films that I saw with fansubs and now I watched with the subtitles on the dvd. And the results are in… 3-0 in favor of fansubbing.

    It’s not because the subtitles on the dvd are bad… they just lack on something. A little UMPH… a little personality… a little common sense?

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  • Osen-san Will Keep on Going…

    OsenBut she made me cry. LOL’ What started as a funny (almost goofy) ride about yummy-looking food from Isshouan, ended up as something that made me cry xD No? Weren’t the last two episodes of Osen so nostalgic?

    Maybe it is because my family owns a restaurant as well… and I’m so not-very-much like Osen-san T-T Sadness, NE?

    But I do! I do appreciate GOOD food! I appreciate good everything… taking the time to do something~ I do with design… I may not be the Osen-san of design, but I worry for it… and am scared of ‘the times’.

    Because now I have to compete with $100 websites, and have to convince and fight for a client that websites are only for them. Okay, I may not call a button “Button-san,” and I certainly can’t drink as much Sake as Osen… and oh yeah, did I mention I can’t cook to save my life? LOL’ But I treat each of my projects like an Isshouan dish~ With time, and dedication.

    In the end, is all about learning… connecting, and passing it on. Please, don’t let good things go by just because other things seem more convenient. Hontou onegai shimasu. *bows*

  • Ueno on Acting, LF, Love + Marriage

    Juri Ueno - Nikkei Entertainment MagazineAwww, Juri-chan! I was reading a post over at the boards, and found that Yuuki provided a link to an English-translated  Juri Ueno interview for the latest issue of Nikkei Entertainment Magazine. Juri can be so charismatic~~ LOL’ but apparently it only works on girls. Let’s face it, girls~~~ Boys or most of boys have RUBBISH taste in women… case and point all those guy magazines, such as FHM. Here’s the chart~

    Juri Ueno - Boy and Girl Charts

    It’s a really insightful interview in which she discusses her latest film (GuGu), her acting in Nodame, Last Friends~ Here are some quotes;

    “Rather than films, I grew up watching variety shows most of the time (laughs). Refining or adorning myself, I still don’t have much interest in that area. But in this era, the scope of what being ‘an actress’ is have widened greatly haven’t they? In the olden days, being an actress means you have to be beautiful and ladylike else it won’t be possible. Now, there are even roles like Nodame, and because of that, even someone like me is able to be one (laughs).

    […]

    Being married probably won’t effect my focus towards work but at the moment the image of being alone is stronger. […]

    Scans and complete article translation, here. ^^

  • 2008 Films Seen This Past Month

    Trying to figure out a better way to keep updated with films I watch, some are not on Flixster or IMDb, which makes it hard to figure out which ones I’ve seen by the end of the month.
    —
    Wow, a month already~ This post began Aug. 10th xD just because I couldn’t find some of the short films, ha! It’s a really not so fun way to keep track of films…

    Anyway! I know I don’t blog DVDs, so I’m gonna do now! Can’t really remember which was the last DVD post I made of DVDs that I’ve bought, so these are the films in my last buy~~ which hasn’t arrived yet.

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  • Some Teasin’ from Hayato Ichihara

    hayato-ichihara-personal-photobook

    So… Hayato Ichihara also has a Photobook of his own. It came out in 2006 and it features photos by Yoshiaki Sugiyama of a 19-year-old Hayato… there’s even an image reminding us of his debut of All About Lily Chou Chou (in which he shared the screen with Yu Aoi)~~

    Well, you can get his Photobook in here:
    beNippon.com [minimum shipping $8 I think…]
    YesAsia.com [free shipping when reaching $90 for International orders, and cheaper for US, Canada, etc]

    The book features 90+ pages of Hayato being silly, included rabbit costume photos (like the one on the cover), making faces with an oba-chan, and even a naked butt…. LOL’

    But don’t worry, it’s not only fun and games~~ there’s also some artistic shots of Hayato wearing his traditional Japanese clothing, some with a tux, and some very cool black and white shots. And I will be posting a teasing image… no, it’s not the butt. It’s a really nice shot of Hayato in Japanese outfit running up a stony set of stairs~~~

    Hayato Ichihara - Personal Photo Book Scan

    As with Yu’s Travel Sand scan, I’ve added some photo and PB credits~~ It’s a wallpaper sized 1680x1050px, there’s also a more ‘squarer’ version of it (fullscreen one sized 1280×1024) if you are interested. Just leave a comment either here or Flickr.

  • Cinemax Latin America – Tekkonkinkreet and Yu Aoi!

    What are the chances… really~~~ to become a fan of Juri Ueno and having the chance to watch Swing Girls at Centro Cultural Peruano Japones???

    And now, what were the chances of watching Tekkonkinkreet not long ago… buying it online just a couple of days ago, and learning that it will be playing all throughout September on Cinemax Latin America??? So rejoice television surfers~~~ the zapping will end when being able to watch this, ‘coz it’s totally worth your viewing. Plus, it’s Yu Aoi… once you know Yu, her voice is very recognizable. Here’s what the Cinemax-LA website says about the film….

    En la Ciudad del Tesoro, donde la luna sonríe y los niños pueden volar, la vida puede ser tan apacible como brutal. Allí dos huérfanos tratan de sobrevivir, mientras intentan proteger a sus habitantes de la mafia yakuza.

    The two orphans, named Kuro (Black) and Shiro (White), make perfect compliments. Amy loves herself some compliments because it reminds her of symbols, and Amy loves symbols… for OBVIOUS reasons. xD Okay, maybe not so obvious… but whatever, that’s why they’re called “symbols” because they’re not obvious. LOL’

    Anyway, knock yourselves out~~~ Here are the times for Cinemax Este and Cinemax Oeste – If you don’t have anything fancy (meaning just Cable Magico) you have Cinemax Oeste.

    Cinemax-E 11:15 Sab 30/8/2008 | Cinemax-O 13:15 Sab 30/8/2008
    Cinemax-E 15:45 Jue 4/9/2008     | Cinemax-O 17:45 Jue 4/9/2008
    Cinemax-E 17:30 Vie 12/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 19:30 Vie 12/9/2008
    Cinemax-E 14:15 Lun 15/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 16:15 Lun 15/9/2008
    Cinemax-E 07:15 Dom 21/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 09:15 Dom 21/9/2008
    Cinemax-E 14:00 Jue 25/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 16:00 Jue 25/9/2008
    Cinemax-E 11:00 Mar 30/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 13:00 Mar 30/9/2008

    Oh yeah, they are also showing (more…)

  • People Love’em some Juri!

    Kobe Collection - Juri Ueno - Aug 2008xD Oh yesh, they do~~~

    Now that Olympics are over, I can slowly return to my current obsessions… so I stopped by the forums, and *le gasp!* How did I not find out about this sooner????

    Juri-chan won Best Supporting Actress at the 57th Japanese Drama Academy Awards.

    YAY! GO FOR JURI! OMEDETTO GOZAIMASU!!! ^+^~~

    Also, seems like Last Friends swept awards by winning Best Supporting Actor for Ryo Nishikido (WTF? I need some Eita lovin’), Best Directors, Best Script, Best Drama, and BEST THEME SONG~~~

    Go Utada Hikaru!!! Hope you have a fun party with Kuma-chan xD

    You can read a little bit more about the results in the Juri Ueno Live Journal Community. They also have the awesome photos of Juri’s last public apperance at the Kobe Collection, which happened yesterday in Japan… just click over here.