Archives For Life

Guess who’s #10 on the list of The 20 to Watch Between 25-30?

But it’s, of course, Eita!

Born in Tokyo, Japan on December 13th 1982. He might be unknown to almost everyone, unless you are already familiar with Japanese films and series, but this 27-year-old actor has proven that you should keep on watching him.

His list of films include Aoi Haru (Blue Spring), Azumi, Densha Otoko, Su-ki-da and Memories of Matsuko. Of course, Matsuko as a film works because of so many different aspects including Eita’s ability to make you want to connect with the brilliant Miki Nakatani.

Last year, Eita worked on two films that seemed to be in many of the “best of lists” in Japan, including the acclaimed Dear Doctor — by famous director Miwa Nishikawa, who wrote and directed Yureru (Sway) — as well as the seemingly popular April Bride, directed by indie acclaimed director Ryuichi Hiroki.

Add to that his recurring role as Mine on the Nodame Cantabile franchise [headed by fellow 20 to watch Juri Ueno] which sprung not only an 11-episode series, and two television special, but also two theatrical films opening on December 2009 and this month.

There is a certain softness in Eita’s aura that translates well whenever he’s on screen, making him perfect to play the sensible young man. He doesn’t even need to speak a single word, even though you probably would need the subtitles to actually understand what he is saying [unless, of course, you speak Japanese], but whenever he’s in a dramatic scene… all of that doesn’t matter. He’ll deliver the goods in a way that language would really not be a barrier.

Very few [men or women] can captivate you like this.

I. Love.

Continue Reading…

Isn’t this the coolest? xD

More info over at ArchDaily.

Next Wednesday, TalkAsia will be interviewing Epik High.

In the meantime… you can enjoy past interviews that you may have missed:
AI [clip]
Buyi and the Beijing Rock Scene
Anna Tsuchiya
Lang Lang
Lee Byung-hun [clip]
Zhou Xun [clip]

Also! Heads up [at the bottom of their page]!
You can write to TalkAsia and request they interview someone.
Hello? Yu Aoi is waiting for TalkAsia xD and TalkAsia is waiting for our questions, I have decided to leave the questions opened until the end of April. =D

Would you recognize the symptoms on you?

You probably do.

You know how it feels when they build it up with trailers and promotional images. Little mentions on forums, and ripped videos on YouTube. Obviously, from there you could go to completely hating it or falling in love with it.

Oh, love! Isn’t it wonderful? You must know each and every little spoiler… you can probably quote random lines from your favorite pop culture addiction. Must get each and every photo you can find online and save ti on your hard disk. Everything is bliss…

Then your perfect pink-colored glasses break with a silly celebrity gossip post, or an incriminating photo… or maybe an enraging statement made on the news. Your idols turns out to be a douche, or a total bimbo… or maybe a total bitch. Or maybe the other way around, as in holier-than-thou?

*sighs* fandom… what to do with fandom. xD

I swear to kamisama that Hyori-unnie has been watching a lot of films. Last time she did Black Balloons and creepy clow in a gloomy beach, which was totally arthouse. This time around she’s totally District 9 meets The Fifth Element meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I love it. xD Thanks for the Hyori video-bombarding, Julz.

Hyori in the yellow feathery coat looks like a little pollito. LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzAHCDBXRM0

While presenting their new fancy television screen, Philips is showing 5 very different short films that were made with the same piece of dialog. The visions are varied, but my favorite was The Gift ^^

You can check them out at the Cinema Philips website.

The first time I saw Let the Right One in [LtROi], I was left with a shivering tingle. Obviously, it became my fave film of 2008, and I have seen it seven times already… loving the slightly unconventional love story, and presenting a wonderful character such as Eli.

This is why I don’t have to tell you how mad I was when I heard about the remake, right?

Well, not long ago… in fact, just after I commented on The Auteurs about watching it again, someone asked me what I felt about the remake. After a few minutes thinking about it, I concluded that I wasn’t as mad as I was when the news broke. I still don’t think Let Me In could be as good as LtROi and/or bring anything new to the genre.

Possibly, the best thing that could make me sway my decision is the casting of not only Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass, (500) Days of Summer), but also Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road). A moody and beautiful trailer would also help.

However, there’s still the fact that they probably won’t tackle certain topics by changing Eli’s name to Abbey, which makes her a full girl unless I don’t know any guy names that could be shortened to Abbey… you know like sometimes Ashley is a guy or girl name? Add to that the fact that Richard Jenkins’ character is called “The Father” – weird.

I’ll quote someone on IMDb who seems to explain it better…

By having Abbey being a girl, they’ve already killed one of the things I love about the original book, its not a conventional love story, it’s more about the idea of what love is and what it means. There is something so strangely touching about how Oskar is willing to still accept Eli in his life even after everything he finds out about Eli, I just found that really touching in the original novel. – damann861

I will probably watch the film… if it comes to local theaters, and if it doesn’t… well, I will probably take the time to download it. I mean, it all comes down to the trailer and the production stills. I want to see how it looks like before…

What are your thoughts on American remakes of foreign films?

Should they have waited a few more years to remake LtROi?

*Sue Sylvester*
*Will Schuester, I Hate You*
Vogue!

Nicole and Sue should have a Vogue-off.

Glee is back!

And so is Brittany with her many one-liners!

Did you know that dolphins are  just gay sharks?

Oh~~~ Hello, Shark Tale?