Category: Fun

  • Currently Watching: So Far in 2026

    The Clown who doesn’t watch television has continued the adventure.

    Over two years ago, I wrote about my television catch-up journey. I did finish watching Jubilee with some gusto, and though I loved the first season of Pachinko (and have The Grass Roots’ Live for Today [1] on music rotation), I have yet to catch up with the second season because of reading that a third (and maybe a fourth) season are planned. My distaste for multiple seasons in American television never diminishes.

    Nine Perfect Strangers was fine (seeing Nicole Kidman in her 2nd Russian evolution from Birthday Girl was something), and just reminds me that with the many shows Kidman is doing, I’ll have a lot to sit through in my retirement years— I suppose that I owe a proper watch to Faraway Downs (I didn’t hate Australia), and I still owe Expats a watch. Then there’s Special Ops: Lioness and Scarpetta, none of which are currently on the watchlist.

    The Underground Railroad is still on the pending list, and I only went through half of Trigun, as well as only going halfway through Magic Knight Rayearth. I also made the mistake of “wanting to re-watch” Inuyasha, only to realize that’s over 150 episodes (of the original series). I’ll be in my 80s when I finish that.

    I started the year by watching WOWOW’s (ever one of my favorites) Sai, and I would’ve watched the miniseries version of After the Quake as well, if Netflix had chosen to carry that instead of the film cut. Which reminds me of the announcement that Netflix made a deal to carry NHK shows— including Taiga dramas, Asadoras and titles on there Drama 10 lineup. Starting with Mampuku, which is kinda long, but I did immediately (less than a week ago) go through Tokyo Salad Bowl, which I enjoyed. In the end, Japanese short miniseries lasting less than 13 episodes for only one season is my desired format.

    After much waiting (I had seen a couple of episodes as a teen), I sat through the first season of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack. It will obviously be an Inuyasha-type of watching, in which I’ll be much older when I get through those shows. I honestly don’t think I would even be able to sit through seasons and seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Battlestar Galactica in this day and age, and I adore those shows.

    Other anime one-shots that I sat through (or had hoped they had been one-shots) were Dandelion, with the best ending theme song and vibe. As well as Mad Bull 34, The Darwin Incident (WHAT WAS THAT ENDING), went through the second season of Dorohedoro, and I’m about to start Lazarus.

    On the non-Japanese more Western-centric side, I saw Rise of the Raven, the Hungarian series about Janos Hunyadi in the 1450s, which I loved. I also watched the miniseries version on Franz Kafka’s life, titled Kafka, which is a total different project to Agnieszka Holland’s Franz movie, which I must admit enjoyed more. Alas, I’m a movie watcher.

    I also did end up peaking at The Amazing Digital Circus.

  • Tetsuya Nakashima’s Rolling Bomber Special

    This parody short film titled Rolling Bomber Special by Tetsuya Nakashima came to my mind recently, which formed part of 2001’s SMAP Short Films collection. This 20-year-old upload by Kurea could’ve been the link I saw when I was in uni and this “clip” became viral. So many old clips gone from the internet, so many viral memories.

    According to its Namu page, it’s the third in the film series, and because the name of the Super Sentai group is “Freshman,” it’s supposed to be a pun on Flashman.

    Stunningly hilarious as it was then. Would love a higher resolution popping up.

    Cosplaying as Zarray, the Army of Evil would be hilarious.

  • Memory Unlocked: Microsoft 3D Movie Maker

    A childhood memory unlocked.

    Let’s just say I was looking some information about Encarta Encyclopedia, fell into a wormhole of Encarta languages [1][2][3], and ended up stirring this memory of Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, and my insane love of movies suddenly made sense.

    The quick ran through is decent to trigger your memories, but the retrospective by CloudConnection gives quite a good view of the whole thing. Apparently, Windows (gasp!) published the original source code back in 2022.

    The fan community has even made a Nickelodeon addon available.

    I ended up in a deeper rabbit hole, and ended up remembering Invention Studio, which also seems to be available at MyAbandonware.

  • Two Decades with Linda Linda!

    Like a rat/mouse, I want to be beautiful ♫ too, you guys. I love you so much.

    The last couple of weeks (?) [about a month and a half ago?], the Linda Linda Linda movie team has been hyping the twentieth anniversary of the movie, which includes a gorgeous 4K restoration which some lucky people might have gotten the chance to watch on a big screen. The re-release, of course, included a very much luckier event with the cast (ALL THE CAST) and director Nobuhiro Yamashita in Japan, where even Kenichi Matsuyama recreated his love confession to Doona.

    The class of Actors to Watch [2][2] from almost 15 years ago aged well.

    To celebrate even more, because this is a pan-East-Asia geek event, Marie Claire Korea included a photoshoot with the Linda Linda girls.

    Paranmaum desu.

  • Lettres de Krakovie by Clavel

    I figured I should post this music video that I discovered about a month ago while working on data for this year’s Annecy =D

    Set to French composer Arnold Turboust’s Lettres de Krakovie, it’s a stunning animation done by French collective Clavel, formed by Antoine Dahan, Clément Delaby and Rayan Takhedmit; who did this equally gorgeous short for Annecy 2023.

    The video is also available on Les Monstres’s Vimeo channel.

    From what I could find, it doesn’t seem to be a single from any current Arnold Turboust album, though it might be the first single of a yet-to-be announced one.

    Music by Arnold Turboust
    Music video directed by Antoine Dahan, Clement Delaby, Rayan Takhedmit
    Produced by : Les Monstres (Nicolas Mongin, Hélène Orjebin)

    Storyboard : Rayan Takhedmit
    Concept Art : Antoine Dahan, Clement Delaby, Rayan Takhedmit
    Character design : Antoine Dahan
    Layout Posing : Antoine Dahan, Clement Delaby, Étienne Faivre
    Layout Background : Rayan Rayan Takhedmit
    Colorscript and Layout painting : Clement Delaby
    Animation : Antoine Dahan, Sixtine Dano, Clément Delaby, Étienne Faivre, Camille Lherminier, Juliette Navarro, Chloé Niquet, Pierre Rougemont, Rayan Takhedmit, Nicolas Verdier
    Clean / Colo : Sam Bellanger, Amy Calohard, Antoine Dahan, Chloé Niquet, Rayan Takhedmit
    Compositing / Edit : Clément Delaby, Rayan Takhedmit

    Lyrics : Edith Fambuena
    Music PRoducer : Nicolas Borne
    Music mastering : Louis Mc Guire
    Publishing : Adelaide Pop Music

  • Tabu-vibing with Sai Pallavi and Saiyami Kher

    Yo, guys! I just finished a watching of Raj Rachakonda’s 8 A.M. Metro, which stars Saiyami Kher and Gulshan Devaiah, and featured poems by Gulzar, as the film centers on the friendship of two lonesome souls who have a chance ephemeral encounter… and who happened to love reading books and poetry.

    Seems like I have been in a movie positive mood lately, so it floored me.

    For the last few months, though, I’ve been thinking about how Sai Pallavi and Saiyami Kher, since I saw the trailer for this film, both strongly reminded me of my Tabu-movie journey.

    I had seen Sai Pallavi’s films since 2015’s Premam and 2017’s Fidaa, but she really just floored me with Shyam Singha Roy, which I wouldn’t have really loved without her part of the story. Then came Gargi, last year’s Amaran and then the promos for Thandel began. Besides the fact that she’s a wonderful dancer, Pallavi’s got one of the most wonderful expressive eyes.

    In between, of course, Saiyami Kher made her Hindi debut with Mirzya in 2016, which I enjoyed a lot. It seems like I’m one of the very few people that actually kinda liked that movie. Since then that OST has been a constant on my music-playing habits. Then came Anurag Kashyap’s Choked and ran into her on Wild Dog. In between films, Kher had focused at lot of her output on long-form shows, so I was so thrilled to see her doing 8 A.M. Metro, and doing well with Agni and Ghoomer, which put her together in a project with Shabana Azmi, who is a sorta x-degree aunt of sorts. lol

  • Happy Chinese New Year, Zhou Shen and Juan Diego Flores

    Wild things happened at this year’s Spring Gala. Faye Wong awoke from her hibernation for a performance of What the World Gifted Me (世界赠予我的), which CCTV only has in this pre-recorded video presentation. [Edit: CCTV did eventually post the clip.]

    Ni Ni showed up in this segment on Wuxi Scenery and National Feelings (无锡景 家国情), showcasing Jiangsu as a province. Ni Ni, and I suppose everyone involved in the segment, were born in Nanjing or other Jiangsu province cities.

    However, most shocking and most improved was the unexpected collaboration between Chinese vocalist Zhou Shen (周深), Peruvian opera singer Juan Diego Flores and Peruvian multi-instrumentalist Lucho Quequezana for a remix of Lan Hua Hua (兰花花) and the lyric version of El Condor Pasa for The Condor and the Orchid Flower (山鹰和兰花花).

    Many would remember Zhou Shen breaking through pop culture in the 2014 season of The Voice of China (中國好聲音), which led to different hits and numerous inclusions in soundtracks like his first ever Big Fish (大鱼) for the Big Fish & Begonia (大鱼海棠) animated film, which is one of my favorite Chinese animation projects.

  • YAMMag Mononoke Happened

    This is likely the last post of 2024, breaking a dry spell of the last few years with a record 20 posts since 2018 when I posted 38 times.

    This last post of 2024 is dedicated to Kenji Nakamura’s Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain (劇場版「モノノ怪 唐傘」), which crowfunded a while ago and has recently fulfilled orders. What an adventurous journey! We got a special credit for YAM Magazine!

    It is an honor that we get to put our name in one of the team’s favorite series.

    Let’s all look forward to what 2025 may bring!

    I hope you all had an incredible 2024, and that you all were able to achieve what you set out to do (or close to achievement, anyway).

  • M2M’s The Better Endings Comeback

    *Insert meme of “It’s been 84 years”*

    After much mysterious drama, Marit and Marion have decided to come back together to make M2M a thing once again. You have no idea about the adrenaline rush I got when I saw Marit’s post, after missing the original posting on- “September 22nd, Sunday, twenty-five after nine.“

    Dorks.

    I love them. I hope they saw A*Teens performing together for their reunion at Melodifestivalen back in February this year and were washed by a feeling of nostalgia that they couldn’t resist. In fact, M2M has already announced The Better Endings Tour (to change the ending of The Day You Went Away, dorks), visiting a number of places in South East Asia were much of their fandom was concentrated, especially in Manila where they are already selling tickets.

    My hope is that maybe, if they would like to increase touring chances in Latin America, they could get together with A*Teens and make it a Scandinavian thing. [Jokes on you! Who’s the dork now?] Thought I wouldn’t mind at all getting the chance to see Marit and Marion up close in more intimate venues, which are my preferred form of performances to witness live, anyway.

    In the meantime, M2M have set up a website where you can join their mailing list, and follow them on their main socials Facebook and Instagram, Tik Tok, and a kinda left over YouTube channel.

  • When you’re on the train, and you Chaiyya Chaiyya~

    I forgot to post this a while back, but this is a total feeling when you’re listening to music and the song comes up.