Category: Sharing

  • First week of Mandarin Lessons~

    Don’t think it’s too shabby, is it?

  • New Google Translate Features

    Listening and watching… and trying to keep up with Asian entertainment means that I use Google Translate often. This is why I think these are new features. I knew Google Translate could read out loud English… and German, but this is the first time that I’m aware it can read Japanese, Mandarin and Korean too.

    Of course I chose BiBi’s Just to Meet You song to test, because that’s one of the songs that I butcher whenever it plays on my iPod. And it not only “translates,” but now you can also read it phonetically…

    and you can listen to it read it out loud. O_O

    Three very important things about this:

    1. This is amazing… if you’re starting out a language.

    2. A lot of sites that dedicate themselves to pinyin, romaji and Korean romanization just got their work cut down… or have some serious competition. With this, anyone can post lyrics…

    3. This just made a whole new generation of lazy.

  • The Thomas Beale Cipher by Andrew S Allen

    A mystery colorful version of a Film Noir that meets Pythagora Switch (1).

    To be honest, this short could easily have gotten an Oscar nod… dunno if it was eligible this year, though. Maybe next time? It’s definitely stylish, and if it holds clues… worth repeat viewings xD

    The film contains 16 hidden messages that hold clues to the characters’ secrets. Eight are fairly easy requiring only a close eye. Six are moderately difficult using various encryption methods. Two are extremely difficult requiring a genius mind to decrypt.

  • Oscar 2010-2011 Watchlist

    I know, I know… I haven’t been blogging about any of the awards since I launched YAM. But hey! If you were following YAM on Twitter, you’d know I’ve been commenting on them~

    Did the Globes [Firth, Portman, Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Paul Giamatti, Melissa Leo + Christian Bale, + The Social Network wins for Movie+Score+Script+Director] Did the whole SAG Awards [Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Melissa Leo + Christian Bale (The Fighter) + The King’s Speech for Cast), and the Oscar noms aren’t really that surprising, but there were a couple of nice things.

    First, Yay Javier Bardem, Yay John Hawkes.

    Here’s my list of watched and not-watched films.

    Light blue – Watched
    Hot pink – Dying to watch.

  • Conductor by Alexander Chen

    I remember in school we studied the London subway system’s map. Simplified… easy (not really), but immensely easier than New York… according to a friend who’s been to both cities anyway.

    You can see how the New York simple (is not) the subway system works…

    [iframe src=”https://player.vimeo.com/video/19372180?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff” width=”560″ height=”315″]

  • Old BiBi Interview with English Subtitles

    I think this is the only video of Bibi with English subtitles. It’s short, barely three minutes of it… but makes me miss BiBi circa her NOW/WOW albums… which reminds me, gotta review those.

    [iframe src=”https://www.tudou.com/v/_H6cID-4vsU/v.swf” width=”480″ height=”400″]

    Her last bit singing gives me the shivers.

    From the last few performances she’s done, something is amiss. Her voice is quite not right, and I think it might be due to the production of her last album.

    *sighs*

    Forgive the lack of updates, but then again… you do know there’s YAM, right?

  • Yu Aoi – Yogashiten ~ Daisuki Sweets – Best 88 ~

    I guess I could translate Daisuki Sweets to Sweets that I Love (the best).

    There’s a new special issue by Magazine House that has just been released. My understanding is that it’s got write-ups on Yu’s favorite pastries, and stuff like that. I even read something about her grandma’s banana bread?

    Obviously, this is to promote her upcoming film Yogashiten Coin de Rue, which opens on February 11th.

    (more…)

  • Classes begin…

    *drum roll*

    Guess who’s going to begin Mandarin lessons?

    Crap, I’m nervous about it. I hope I can get the tones right. I don’t want to end up frustrated with it, and give up on all the Chinese music I own.

    Honestly, Mandarin is the most difficult — sound-wise — language to me. But then again, I know nothing about Arabic… and I’m pretty sure I will have issues pronouncing anything resembling Hebrew.

    What I hate about Chinese – any of the dialects – is that it’s like playing charade with a language.

    Wish me luck.

  • Had forgotten how passionate fandom shipping could be…

    So says the girl that wrote an essay on Numerology and a certain Harry Potter subject. *cough* LOL Anyway… moving on! You know I’ve got fandoms… I’ve gotten into shipping fandoms, but never got as “bad” as those HP days.

    I was browsing the web, and ended up in LiveJournal — the place where all fandoms seem to end — and I found Rachel/Quinn shippers? How did that happen? Well, you need not to wonder. They will explain to you episode by episode… in a rather very detailed and impressive way.

    I’m even a little converted. Though, I attribute many of those moments to Diana Agron letting go off Quinn’s bitchiness in a musical number — some may call those character inconsistencies — but they work in a very ironic kind of way.

    I love love love Ryan Murphy with all my heart because of Popular, but he’s really not the King of Subtleties… if you must know. How can you not know that? It must have hit you in the face by now that Murphy likes it big and loud. Those Quinn/Rachel moments are too subtle to be meant to. Attribute those to happy accidents.

    But they work. My gawd, Quinn/Dianna stares a lot at Rachel/Lea. And it had never crossed my mind that all of Quinn’s musical numbers, real or in her imagination, have her surrounded by females. Plus, the number with the cheerleaders in football uniforms.

    If slowly developed, I can totally buy it.

    —

    The dedication of that post, however, is what made me write this post. I miss that crazy passion that fandom can create. I don’t know if that crazy passion should come with the crazy disappointment, though. I don’t think I can take another fandom heartbreak.

  • The Best Mistake I’ve Ever Made: Sholly

    Ahh fandom… NSFW fandom.

    Shane and Molly have Asian fans! It figures~ I wonder if some pairings are more popular in each region just because of cultural preferences. The fact that Shane wanted to become a better person… more studious, more knowledgeable for Molly is what sold me on the pairing. I also think it’s a very Asian thing xD

    Plus, they’re hot… but Shane and Carmen was hot– but too much drama.

    I liked they used a song by a Taiwanese singer called Joanna Wang. She reminds me of the style of those easy listening tracks by Kendal Payne, or those tracks used so often in Grey’s Anatomy xD And the ending of the video, so sad.