Category: Language

  • Happy 1000th Top Flicks Fans

    It took a while, but

    Happy 1000th fan!

    If you aren’t following the list yet, you might discover a gem or two!

  • My 2020 Letterboxd Year in Review + More!

    My only Letterboxd anticipated message came in the other day, but I took a little bit longer to post because the better side of my OCD got to me.

    But here it is!

    I went on a Stephen Chow binge, and got to watch a bunch of Hrishikesh Mukherjee films for MUBI. Not to be the Debbie Downer of the terrible 2020, but I hope 2021 picks up. This is the first time in my movie-watching history that I only have one single 4-star rating in my Year Films Ranked list. Two titles if you consider Marona’s Fantastic Tale.

    This 2021, I have decided to shut off social media and restart blogging once again. It doesn’t matter if it’s into a blackhole of information. I’ve started with this Spanish translation of a review for Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do, since the film is in rotation at the Indian entertainment channel ZeeMundo. We also have a proper Spanish title for Haider (!).

  • So Long, My Xiami

    Greetings, my fellow lurkers, if you are lurking still. Knowing that I haven’t updated anywhere and I’m hardly active on social media, I just wanted to say that I haven’t died and haven’t been swallowed by the Earth. I hope 2020 didn’t wreck you, and that 2021 finds you in a more… calm path.

    As I sit here making plans of wanting to do a lot of things, and then getting nowhere, I reminisce the days of internet freedom when roaming through websites was like the wild west. And that’s when I discovered Xiami— according to WP word search find, the earliest mention of the music site on the blog dates back to 2010… with an even older mention of forgotten HaoTing. lol Since then, over a decade ago and many an indie Chinese music discovery, Xiami had been part of my daily life for thousands and thousands of days.

    I took a screencap for posterity! My Xiami account was supposed to last until the end of the year, and then an extra 4 months.

    So it is with great sadness, but hardly any surprise, that I report that Xiami will be no more… on February 5th this year, to mark my 35ths birthday, nonetheless. End of an era for my music streaming, end of the era… of my youth, I suppose. With my only consolation prize that a lot of Chinese music is already available on not only iTunes and Spotify, but also on YouTube. I just need to re-find them and subscribe to whatever their channels are. It will be, of course, a lot more difficult to discover brand new Chinese music.

  • Oscar Ballot 2020

    I’m probably two weeks ahead, compared to my Ballot posting last year, which means my Independent Spirit Awards ballot is still halfway done, but my Academy voting ballot is pretty complete.

    I might end up watching The Two Popes, but all I’m really waiting for to open in theaters is Bombshell (which opens this Thursday), Little Women and 1917. Harriet is never going to open down here, but I really got a soft spot for this type of movies.

    I’m really REALLY surprised Girl in the Hallway didn’t make the cut. You can watch the short on Vimeo.

  • My 2019 Letterboxd Year in Review

    Happy late holidays and New Year, everyone!

    My most awaited Letterboxd e-mail came yesterday with my 2019 movie-data. Though my writing input has definitely not improved, cutting down on Mamamoo stuff has increased my movie watching habits, for sure.

    Compared to 2018, I logged 480 films (though over 50 or even many more could be short films), which represents a 23% increase. In terms of hours, there was an increment of over 100hrs or 16%. This increase still doesn’t match my 2015 levels, when I reached 530 logged films (9.5% short) or clocked 959hrs (14% short)… but it’s getting there. I am still at 2017 New-To-Me level of movies, though.

    My most-watched actor was Glenn Close because I went on a marathon of her movies because I really thought that she could win the Oscar, not that I wasn’t pleasantly surprised to see Olivia Colman win for The Favourite. And Francois Ozon was my most-watched director because MUBI programmed many of his films, including Les Amants Criminels, Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Young & Beautiful, and L’Amant Double.

    And as my writing output has been so poor, I haven’t written any End of the Year (or Decade) posts. Gomen.

  • Yuki Tanada’s Yu Aoi Romance Doll Trailer

    I haven’t had much time or chance to watch Yuki Tanada’s movies, and I’m still trying to catch up with recent Yu Aoi movies… BUT! Issei Takahashi has really sneaked into my Jdrama catching up. Incredible rise to fame.

  • La Noria by Carlos Baena

    It’s a beautifully animated and textured short. Spooky enough, but I’m not crying, YOU ARE.

  • Everlastings Queens Are Back!

    Now this is what we can call a comeback COMEBACK, not a regular Kpop Comeback. xD Years since their last album, Basic back in 2015, Brown Eyed Girls went their personal projects way— GaIn and JeA with solo music, Miryo releasing singles and participating on Unpretty Rapstar, and Narsha with varieties as well as getting married~

    It’s good to have them BACK!

    If you want to support Brown Eyed Girls’ RE_vive album cover compilation, you can order it at Ktown4u where it counts for Hanteo Sales. Album comes out on the 30th. YesAsia also carries the album with the poster tube, and without it.

  • Fin.K.L for Camping Club

    I had no idea that Lee Hyori was doing a brand new variety reuniting with Fin.K.L after all these years! I’m almost offended no one in the timeline talked about it. UNbelievable.

    Now all I have to do is find the time to sit through several episodes, but I’ve already spoiled myself with all the clips posted on the JTBC channel. Of course, feelings were had.

    Also, Lee Hyori, Queen of the Innocent concept xD~

    Bless this concept.

  • Missy Elliott for 2019 VMA’s Vanguard Tribute

    It’s been a LONG time since I shared anything here xD… but this sure is memorable. It’s also been a long time since I paid any attention to MTV or the VMAs. I have no idea who was doing what where, but since Missy Elliott just dropped Iconology [YT], there wasn’t a better time to catch up with news.

    In a decade of forgettable American/Western mainstream music, and an even more forgettable MTV music era, it’s hard to come up with a magical moment that marked this decade… but this could be IT. It’s not the best in the history of VMAs, but it could be very well the best performance VMA has offered this decade.

    Missy was, after all, at the top during the peak MTV performance years. Bless her soul. And bless her love for baby girl Aaliyah.