Archives For Fun

Gigante PosterGigante (2009)
Genre: Subtle Drama with Romantic Comedy Moments
Starring: Horacio Camandule & Leonor Svarcas
Directed by: Adrian Biniez

Gigante (Giant – literal translation) tells the story of Jara, a big security guard that works night shifts at a supermarket, who begins having feelings – maybe a bit of stalkery feelings – for the pretty floor cleaner.

This is the thing about films, your characters can do anything and you can feel whatever you want~ In the real world, having someone secretly following you around would totally freak you out, but it doesn’t happen in Gigante.

Jara sees the floor cleaner through the security cameras, and as days go by he checks on her without her ever knowing. One day he decides to see where she goes when she’s not working only to find out she goes to the Internet cabins, after that he sort of makes a habit out of following her and “watching out” for her, in the process knowing about her likes. He even saves her a couple of times at work, and even defends her honor when some cab driver shouts obscenities/pick-up lines at her – It’s cute in the film, but I don’t recommend anyone trying his moves in the real world. Moreover, I don’t know~ I didn’t feel her. Especially at work, she was absent-minded, and a bit clumsy… actually she exasperated me a bit during her supermarket scenes.

The film has its good moments, even though I saw people sleeping, don’t get me wrong. However, if I wanted to feel good about stalking someone, I’d watch Faye Wong on Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express stalking Tony Leung. LOL – 3/5

Huacho PosterHuacho (2009)

Genre: Drama
Starring: Manuel Hernandez, Alejandra Yañez,
Clemira Aguayo & Cornelio Villagran
Directed by: Alejandro Fernandez Almendras

Huacho tells the story of a low-income family in central Chile, following the point of view of each member – grandparents Clemira and Cornelio, daughter Alejandra, and her pre-teenager boy Manuel – for a period of 24 hours, as they deal with the overlap of modern and rural life.

The film starts off early one morning, as everyone gets ready for a new day, and have breakfast, when suddenly the lights go out. Manuel checks if the fuses blew off, but they didn’t, so Clemira asks her daughter if she remembered to pay the electricity bill – Alejandra says she did, but of course she didn’t.

The story breaks off as Clemira leaves for work selling cheese on the side of the highway, Alejandra goes to work at a touristic hacienda, Manuel goes to school, and Cornelio goes to the field he is fencing. It all paints a realistic description of a family that is trapped between a modern society where you need to pay your bills, but still find yourself getting a new dress or wanting a brand new video game, and a rural lifestyle where you struggle for the price of milk to make your own cheese to make ends meet.

The film has a lot of scenes that are devoid from any dialog, and has characters wandering around or just standing there, which either makes you wonder what they’re thinking or gets you to feel gloomy. My favorite segment was probably grandmother Clemira’s as she struggles to sell the fresh cheese she’s made, and all her seller “friends” begin leaving one by one. In the end, Clemira is at the bus stop alone waiting for Manuel to pick her up.

No big climactic big bang booms, Huacho will slowly show you a seemingly average day of a normal family trying to cope with the changing times. It actually reminded me of some slow-paced Japanese films, and those pawn! – 3.75/5

I just needed a reason to post Salyu’s videos. xD
Her newest PV, Extension~~~ She’s changed a lot since her days
as Lily Chou-Chou xD – you can see some of the most obvious changes after the break~
from newest to oldest…

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This will be a double-review post. The Lima Film Festival begins this Friday, and I will be reviewing a couple of films this week… and maybe even next week.

On this post, we will review the Argentinean film Excursiones (Hikes – literal translation) released this past March (Buenos Aires Film Festival), and the Brasilean film Feliz Natal (December, or literally Merry Christmas) released October last year (Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival).

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I want more McDull!

August 1, 2009 — 2 Comments

LOL’

I confess, I saw “McDull, the Alumni” because I saw a clip of Bibi, and thought it was hilarious. My first thoughts? To tell you the truth, the film is really really REALLY weird. Firstly because it starts out with some peeing contest bathroom humor – because it’s supposed to be a “double feature” but whatever~

If you actually skip that part, the film is better.

Then they tell you the story of George Washington, played by McDull and his mom. George Washington liked to chop stuff, so one day he chopped the soy chicken!!! Guilty he went to his mom and told her “Mah, I chopped the chicken.” His mother in return told him that what he had chopped wasn’t chicken, but duck. LOL ~ Turns out, McDull is a series… and this is what happens when you just watch the films. LOL

McDull, the Alumni is the third film in a series of McDull stories~~~ starting with My Life as a McDull, and followed by McDull Prince de la Bun. LOL But of the three, Alumni is the one that has to do less with McDull. Moreover, a 4th McDull film titled McDull, Kung Fu Kindergarten is set to open in Hong Kong in two weeks time (though apparently it already opened in Mainland China).

McDull… or Mak Dau (in Cantonese) is the main character. Mak Dau is a little pig with a dark spot on his right eye. On the day of his birth, his mother wished for him to be intelligent… no, no~~ a businessman – no, no~~ how about as handsome as Chow Yun Fat or Tony Leung? xD But in the end, she only wishes her son would be lucky in life.

So that’s how McDull starts the journey of a pretty unremarkable life. He’s not the most handsome, he’s not bright, but he gets by~~~ dreaming, trying, failing, and trying once again.

On Alumni, McDull does a crossover with real life, as the Spring Blossom Kindergarten is celebrating it’s almost 50th anniversary, in which they will be celebrating almost 50 years of educating almost 50 years worth of graduate students who have now become pillars of society.

McDull, the Alumni

Awwww, aren’t they cute?

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I thought I would also post this today, beginning of August!
Crap! Does time pass by f aster as you get older??
Or is the Earth turning faster than before? xD

I made this wallpaper sized 1680×1050 with calendar and Yu’s 24th B-day
all marked and really, with cheesy Japanese scribble by Amy included~~~

Also, hopefully… in two weeks time, YAM005.
If you haven’t read previous YAM issues, do so over here.

Yu Aoi - Aug Calendar 2009

Woah, long time no Yu posting! LOL
xD

I dunno if anyone’s seen this, but it’s a discovery for me.
Je detest lire, et ecrire en francais aussi.
Les accents, je les detest!
lol

Anyway! From H Magazine~~~
KOMIKKU06
Manga mitai ni Ikitai

Something like Comic’06 – Living (or I want to live) like Manga –
or Manga-looking Life. LOL’ Japanese is all about interpretation xD

Tekkonkinkreet is one of my fave Yu projects~

H Magazine - Tekkon

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First, Bibi (who loves David Tao, and now shares record company with)
Then Seo Taiji~~~
Now turns out David Tao’s about to release a new album called Opus 69-
I’m lacking the oxygen to process any spazz~

Three years in the waiting!! LOL

David Tao - Opus 69

And I love the almost pretentious name explanation, Ha!

David Tao comes back with his new album in three years titled Opus 69. The number in the title references a number of things, among which is that it’s the singer-songwriter’s 6th album and 9th CD. Besides, David was born in the summer of ’69, and the symbol of his zodiac sign, Cancer, resembles “69”. Moreover, in the ancient text of I-Ching, 6 and 9 symbolize “change” and “rebirth”, and the numbers when pronounced in Japanese are similar to “rock”, which is what this highly anticipated album is about!

Damn! Check out the pre-orders in YesAsia.

Have you noticed I’m very Chinese at the moment? xD

me too, me too.
though it’s always a love/hate relation with any city I stay in.

I’m headed to bed early tonight. “big” day… er… today.
let’s see how it goes~
in the meantime~~~

Here’s Carly Pope!

Carly Pope by Shea Pollard

What are your fondest memories growing up in the city?
My parents used to always take us down to Granville Island on the weekends.  Kids Only market was my hotspot, no doubt.  We’d also take drives along the Seawall, and I would be nothing short of fascinated with the Girl In a Wetsuit Sculpture sitting out in the sea.  I tried (every time) to convince everyone she was actually the Little Mermaid…my version, anyway.

I actually thought it was a mermaid too. LOL Granville Island pawns.

What’s the most awesome restaurant in Vancouver?
How do you choose?!  Vancouver’s seriously got the most awesome restos.  I’m practically a pundit for anything and everything Japanese. Hapa Izakaya, Kingyo, Miko, Bistro Sakana, Tojo’s (kind of preferred the days of old there though…something more unruffled about their former setup, but I get it), Shijo, Yuji’s, Yoshi’s, Daikichi (for takeout).  Asian fare, though, across the board, makes me a happy girl.

Bolding, mine. ZOMG~ She’s so awesome. xD
I’ve been to Hapa Izakaya once, it was pretty nice. Loads of people. Pretty nice food.
But double ZOMG! Daikichi!!!
I did most my Jap takeout from there since I lived right across the street. xD
I did hang out with the Asian crowd. We went out to eat almost every weekend…

Read the whole interview at Vancouver Is Awesome.

Teaser tease!
This gave me the chills, and it’s only the teasing part before the trailer. LOL

[iframe width=”560″ height=”349″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/LjMkNrX60mA?rel=0″]

Looks abso-bloody-lutely fantastic~
We know the story… but it’s all about the vision,
and the Cheshire Cat looks freaky O.o

*EDIT*
damn, will get back to you when they re-post this.

*EDIT*
Disney’s finally letting the teaser do its magic again. =D