Sometimes I forget to share some of the short films I find online that I love. I was working on some of the MUBI film submissions and this came, which has just won the Irish Film & Television Academy Award for Best Short Film, which shows Emmet Kirwan doing some slam poetry to tell the story of a teenager who gets pregnant and raises her child, struggling to be an unwed Irish mother from a poor household in modern day Ireland.
I came to know about slam poetry via Shane Koyczan and his sequence at the 2010 Winter Olympics [1]. xD
I also love saying ‘Shweta‘ xD I’ve had Salt N’ Pepper on my queue for a while, but I think I’m also gonna go hunting for her movies. This picture seems to be a still from Thaaram, which I cannot find much info on xD At the moment, I might begin looking for Akkaldhamayile Pennu and Rathinirvedam, which are some of her most recent… and should be the easier to find. LOL
And her husband, yo!
Not only is my husband the most encouraging partner, he is more demanding than me when it comes to films, wanting me to do better roles. If I come across a character which is against the so-called ‘samskaram’ he would be the one pushing me to take it up. ‘You are an artiste and your job demands it’, he would say.
I usually post my Top50 right after my Music Highlights, but my schedule has been all wonk this year. I know I’m very inactive on this blog, but I still hope the very few of you that still visit the site had a wonderful holiday week and that you are having a blast this New Year’s Eve. I wish for y’all’s good fortune this coming 2017 because we know we’ve had a rough 2016. Let us all recharge, and cross fingers for some very need good vibes~
They’re up! It took forever to put together because I expanded the list from 10, coz I couldn’t make up my mind, to 20 (and bonuses!) LOL! The funny thing was that when I expanded the Top10, the positions changed! If that makes any sense. I had only been able to put together half the list, when some work-related business came up, so went back to it last evening and had to stay up until 6AM to be able to post today ASAP. My Top50 Songs post is still a work in progress, though~ I got enough songs (too many), so it’s just a matter of cutting down.
Oh, my gosh~ I just found this out while browsing Yu’s IMDb, and has left me incredibly disappointed with what used to be my English-based sources of Japanese cinema news- Yu’s shooting a movie, Geek, with Italy’s Giuseppe Tornatore, who’s obviously most known for his classic Cinema Paradiso.
Interlinea Film reports that the first section of shooting in Venice was done back in March, while shooting in Japan would be at a later date. I’ve seen people on Twitter posting about Yu Aoi at some recent shootings [1][2]. I wonder if it’s related to this.
Just got the chance to watch Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol and have gotten properly acquainted with Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf— I was impressed. He’s got a great voice, and he’s quite good looking! He’s also got the grace of God on his side, coz’ gosh~ really.
The first episode/short film, The Road Trip, for Ankur Tewari’s Y-Films web series, Love Shots, has finally been released. And it’s awesome. It’s kinda sad that YRF has to put so much great talent on the web and not on the big screen, but it’s great that they put together such a great list of talent. The first episode has Nimrat Kaur, so we all can get our fix there, alongside Tahir Raj Bhasin who crept everyone out in Rani’s Mardaani. Their chemistry sizzles here. They’re both great.
Promising start for the series~
A new episode will be released every Tuesday until all six shorts are out.
I ran into this video on YouTube from the Off the Great Wall channel, and they got a bit of flack over the fact that a vast majority of their picks (3 picks for each of the four speakers) were East Asians xD — only one South Asian pick, because Aishwarya has to be everywhere xD, and then there were the Asian-American (Lucy Liu, I don’t think she’s mixed… is she? And she makes it twice~), the Euro-Asian (but basically) Asian-Americans (Maggie Q + Olivia Munn), and (off the official list) the Euro-Asian (Thai-Swede Praya Lundberg).
The thing is beauty is such a subjective element- whatever floats your boat depends on who you are, cultural background, upbringing, etc. But I do agree with Dan (though he doesn’t apply his own rule when it comes to Munn) — especially when making lists — Staying Power is important.
So I do agree 100% that Gong Li deserves that spot. She’s fabulous and continues to be even more fabulous… In Bollywood talk, Gong Li basically started her career doing de-glam roles in banned Zhang Yimou movies. She was a villager so often, wife of gangsters; and in her 40s, she became an Empress. That’s the complete opposite of the typical Bollywood heroine. She hasn’t been acting much, but a couple of years ago she romanced Andy Lau in a sick powersuit, and just a year or two ago broke everyone’s heart as the wife of a writer during the Cultural Revolution. This year? She’s the baddie in one of the blockbusters on this season- The Monkey King 2. And yeah~ she still looks as fabulous as ever at 50 years old.
Besides staying power? Talent, especially when it comes to celebrities, you know? Someone that can do their job like no other? Interview (variety show appearace) perception is a big plus, but CV is important.
But sometimes, so it happens, I also break my own rules~ lol
Also~ my Pakistan, South East Asian, Middle East and Russian games are not strong. Neither is my Asian-Latino game. So forgive the lack of names there, and I do take suggestions (especially if they come with great movie recommendations~~~).
I also enjoyed the Inner Mongolia [1][2][3] and minorities medley In the Great Embrace of your Hometown (在你伟大的怀抱里) numbers xD In turn into a bit of a Red Song somewhere there by the end, but it wasn’t even the Reddest song of the night. LOL But I enjoyed it.
Tan Wei Wei’s (谭维维) number, though, featuring Zhang Ximin (张喜民) and Huayin Lao Qiang performers (“华阴老腔”演员) floored me. So much damn fun and energy. I loved it. The song was presented under the titled “the Huayin old tune in high tone shout” (华阴老腔一声喊, huayin lao qiang yi sheng han). It also teaches us all about Huayin Lao Qiang (Huayin Old Style “Chinese Rock’n’Roll)!