Category: Fun

  • It’s End of the Year Voting Season!

    Oh, who am I kidding. What I love about the end of the year is all the Best Of lists, rankings and voting. Expect my annual Top50 Songs of 2014, My fave movies of the year, and My fave local 2014 releases. I might even have enough material for a 2014 Music Highlights.

    We started voting early on the YAM Magazine lounge because we are all lobbying for our favorite films, and prepping our personal End of the Year lists. I’m the most serious of all because lists can only matter when you grab the biggest possible sample. Not watching Indian movies meant that I wasn’t watching roughly 30-35% of the worldwide output.

    So this is my first year online voting for Indian movies! I actually kinda like how MANY categories there are for actors to get a nod. LOL They don’t always make sense (Superstar of Tomorrow, hahahahaha and the Male Thriller/Action is quite rubbish), but I’m generally happy when I get to vote for Tabu, Madhuri and Rani without much conflict. So~ YEAH!

    stardust-votes

    You can vote here.

  • Guan Hu + Huang Bo’s Winning Cow Combo

    A country bumpkin (with a heavy Shandong accent, I suppose… with my level of Chinese, I can’t tell.) and a cow are the only survivors of a terrible Japanese airstrike during the Sino-Japanese War. I never thought I would ever say this, but that’s the best damn cow performance I’ve ever seen in my life. Alongside Dolly (the dog performance in Korean film Blind), it might be one of my favorite animal performances on film.

    guan-hu-cow-2009-huang-bo

    Even though it didn’t slay in any categories in my Best of 2013 post, The Chef, The Actor, The Scoundrel (厨子‧戏子‧痞子) was one of my favorite movies last year. After Cow (斗牛, Dou Niu), I’ve become a Guan Hu and Huang Bo fan.

  • Palak: Ohhhhhh~ Comedy Nights with Kapil

    kiku-sharda-palak-cnwk

    I started watching Comedy Nights with Kapil a couple of months ago, despite the language barrier and the lack of subtitles. I gotta admit that the funniest thing has to be Kiku Sharda’s Palak despite (or maybe because of) the language barrier. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, he generally makes me laugh. Okay, Palak and Ghutthi.

    I cackle when I see Madhuri teaching Palak dancing. Laughed so much when doing the acting demonstration for Tabu, KK and Shahid, and even made me NOT hate Kareena Kapoor (oh, look! She actually HAS a sense of humor!). Plus! They’re improving my hindi xD Win-win!

    The only thing that pisses me off is that Colors isn’t uploading the episodes on YouTube as quickly anymore, the episodes on their website are region-restricted (FML), and some of the episodes have been having the music edited out, which ruins the mood/joke completely.

     

  • Experiment Awards: Best of 2013

    I’m terrible with timing, aren’t I?

    I’m always dissatisfied with my end of the year lists, but I supposed a WHOLE year of catching up is good enough for me to have a proper idea of what I like, right? I managed to squeeze in 227 movies, the rest is history. I hope you like it, that you don’t hate on me for not including some of your faves, that you celebrate that we loved some of others, and that you love me for introducing you to one title you missed.

    experiment-awards-2013

    Do your thing.

  • Filhaal: That’s Not Subtext at All~

    filhaal-sushmita-sen-tabu-010

    I remember I was watching Filhaal… and thinking to myself that I obviously didn’t have any amazing great female friendships -despite my support for female friendships on film- because I didn’t know anyone that I would mother a baby for nor be comfortable enough to ask to mother one for me. When Sushmita Sen’s character tells Tabu’s that she’ll mother her baby, I was saying “oh, girl~ you’re just asking for trouble.” xD However, through all the complications in their relationship and interaction, I kept saying “I gotta admit, that’s pretty gay.” LOL

    Though Wikipedia or IMDb don’t list it as a connection, according to this (sometimes grasping-at-straws) list of 100 Queer Films of India [Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4] calls it a -sorta- adaptation of Chutney Popcorn, except Filhaal… takes (or tries to take) the gayness out of it. It’s like Pre-Code films all over again, but I gotta admit- kinda fun. Plus, Tabu looks really REALLY good on the Le Chalen Doliyon [clip] number, which also features pretty flashy cinematography even if it doesn’t reach Meenaxi levels.

    And despite not warming to Sushmita Sen over Main Hoon Na or Biwi No. 1 (come on, you can’t expect me to fall for that, right?), I did enjoy her chemistry with Tabu here enough to watch her episode on Comedy Nights with Kapil and actually get to like her.

    Looking at these captures, you’d think Tabu just fathered this child, LOL and they’re all playing Hebe Tien’s Love! [MV]:

    I love you
    You love her
    She loves her
    She loves him

    [1]

  • All My Male Biases Ranked

    Now it’s time for the boys~

    amys-100-favorite-actors

    Who made it and who didn’t? I was surprised myself. LOL Don’t forget to comment and share ;)

  • The Tabu Filmography in Just Music

    In honor of the release of Haider today/tomorrow and me not being able to watch it until it hits the DVD/Bluray shelves… or EROSNOW (or someone else) decides to VOD it early or *cough*… I had been curating a YouTube playlist of all the music sequences -choreographed or not- (and item songs or special apperances) in Tabu’s filmography, which has resulted in a list of over 83 clips (est: 6 hours) from Tabu’s participation not only in Hindi films, but also Telugu, Tamil… and the random Malayalam clip that I was able to find.

    The list has time to expand with rarer to find clips, I suppose, including (at least) one or two more clips for Idee Sanghati, as well as other regional movies that aren’t on YouTube. There are also clips that are included in their dubbed version (with the original title and the language they’re on), because the original audio isn’t available… as well as repeated clips in better resolutions than their “official” uploads.

  • Haider Interview for Live Mint

    Seriously, these magazine names.

    Anyway, Tabu’s heavier on promotions for Haider, and this time talks about her decision of doing Jai Ho after Life of Pi, going back to her filmi roots, the amount of work and dedication it takes to direct a movie, and sets the record straight on her image:

    Personally, I have a very boring life. I don’t have many interesting hobbies and pursuits, though I often think I should cultivate some. I travel a little bit. I don’t like to read. I write a little bit, mainly personal notes about various topics. I don’t watch TV or movies though I like going to the theatre as recreation, to eat popcorn and hang out with my friends. I am trying to figure out what my true passion is and that should be interesting to unearth.

    Livemint.com

    tabu-haider-002

    There’s also a whole lot other interviews [Mid Day, Indian Express, The Telegraph, Times Now, Absolute India, Hindustan Times] with varying degrees of back and forth on her being shy/a recluse, boring or a party-goer, not being a reader, being a traveler, and choosing projects because the people or money are good or not.

    However, this briefing with Deccan Chronicle does mention a bit of her rapport with her nephew Fateh,and her apprehension for joining social media, as well as a bit of talk on how people perceived her sister and her, and how things turned out to be. So I’m gonna go Chris Crocker for a moment and say “Leave Tabu Alone,” just let her be single for god’s sake. Seriously, and the moment she ever gets married- the moment THAT happens, people are gonna be up on her business if she’s pregnant and/or will she adopt.

    People kept pestering Rani when she’d be getting married, and the moment she does, things shift to whether she’s pregnant. Girls can’t catch a break.

    Anyway~ I do gotta admit, I’d rather prefer it when my biases don’t show up on social media, but I’m an old person now. LOL

  • Vishal’s Blue Umbrella

    Kore, nani nani nani??? Kirei~~~ xD

    the-blue-umbrella-vishal-2005

    Here’s Vishal Bhardwaj’s The Blue Umbrella. I think he’s missing a children’s film to make it a full trilogy alongside Makdee, which -in fact- would make it a Little Girl’s Trilogy. Come on, do it, Vishal. Pick another girl and pair her against another great actor. My pick is Naseeruddin Shah.

    The introduction to this movie against the snow is very reminiscent of Iwai’s Love Letter. o-genki desuka? Why the random link-up? There’s random Japanese in the movie. xD What Japanese tourist travels with their Japanese-styled umbrella? xD

  • Rani Fake Criterion Collection

    Since I got my computer back (and found a set of hindi fonts too), I’ve been playing around with a basic Rani Mukerji Fake Criterion collection. I decided to skip Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, but include Aiyyaa. I actually like the movie a lot more than I initially did. Plus, it’s not a supporting role, so it beat out roles in Yuva, Bombay Talkies, Veer-Zaara, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Talaash.

    Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Aiyyaa Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Black

    Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Laaga Chunari Mein Daag Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Paheli

    Serious dramas lend themselves out for cooler Criterion covers, though I must admit that I liked the disorder in the Aiyyaa cover. And I have to apologize for the Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, I just couldn’t think of any particular symbol from the movie… but at least I got to test out that new (tricky) hindi font.

    I think I might do a Sanjay Leela Bhansali set.