Category: Films

  • Joseph Chang, Why So Sexy?

    joseph-chang-hsiao-chuan

    You know, I can’t really remember him from Au Revoir Taipei, but after seeing Gf*Bf and having just checked out Eternal Summer, I have a mad mad crush on him. Funny thing is… I had a hard time searching for a goooooood photo to use, but find that he looks good on film.

    Having said that- the 2013 LGBT Blogathon starts on Monday over at YAM Magazine!

    Don’t miss it!


  • From Tokyo with Chulpan Khamatova for Chivas

    I’ve been on a Chulpan Khamatova binge for a while, but since Russian is such a foreign language to me, it seems hard to come by with simple googling since Google Translate doesn’t do so well with the language either. This time, though, I was browsing Khamatova.ru and was looking at the Filmography page and noticed that she had a fairly recent short film.

    Titled From Tokyo (Из Токио), this short film also serves as a commercial for Chivas Regal. Directed by Aleksei German Jr., the short follows a Russian businessman on a return flight from Tokyo to Moscow (I suppose), where he’s unable to sleep. When approached by the flight attendant, they begin talking about his reasons to be in Tokyo right after the Tohoku Earthquake and the Tsunami, where he’s rescued a survivor.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAbV6Nep4Q

    Though I really liked the short by the end, even if that might be my Khamatova bias showing~ there were some things that irked me for no reason. One- the dude is a rescuer flying on Business. Two- he refers to Miyagi Prefecture and Sendai City as “a village” because we did not see the Tsunami literally crushing miles and miles of road, bridges, highways, while sweeping tons of cars and other city-related debris.

    Having said that~ Yes! Khamatova! I finally learned how to pronounce her name correctly. I was doing it SO wrong. LOL I’m a little embarrassed.


  • Dream Collaboration: Ang Lee + Nicole Kidman

    I don’t know how this didn’t come to me before this photo.

    168709769BG00009_Nebraska_P

    After her collaboration with Bong Joon-ho, and that she so wanted to work with Wong Kar-wai — it only makes sense that she wouldn’t mind working with Ang Lee, after all~ he’s won two Oscars for director. He hasn’t actually made his actors win anything, even though Heath Ledger should’ve won for Brokeback Mountain as Best Actor instead of Supporting for Batman.

    Kidman has a great selection of director’s on her filmography. One of the very few with really REALLY interesting choices [1].


  • Ninja Turtle Nostalgia~

    This just doesn’t seem quite right :/

    tmnt-then-and-now-ninja-turtles


  • The Wonders of 3D Printing

    It’s crazy how technology has developed in the past 20 years. The latest consumer craze? 3D printing, of course! It hasn’t only been featured on shows (with a special mention on The Big Bang Theory), but it’s been used in a broad variety of ways [1]. Miniatures of yourself [1], your face in chocolate [1], miniature of yourself in gummy [1], or candy [1].

    Its most striking use, because of its practicality, was how they used 3D Printing in the making of ParaNorman. Technically speaking, it was that usual “wow, why didn’t anyone else think of this before?” Printing the many faces needed to be able to animate your stop-motion movie. It gets the consistency so your animation doesn’t get blotches, and you get incredible detail (I LOVE THE LIGHT GOING THROUGH NORMAN’S EARS).

    The question that arises is- if they print the faces needed to animate, once they’ve done the movements in a CG environment. Is it stop-motion? Mixed media is more common than ever. There was a lot of special effects in ParaNorman, especially in its incredibly visual last arc, but the film is still considered stop-motion. So how much use of the computer do you need to have for it to not be stop-motion?


  • UMPH! Carmen Dell’Orefice

    I’m not much into fashion, but I ran into this documentary called About Face: The Supermodel, Then and Now, which featured (besides Isabella Rossellini and Christy Turlington) Carmen Dell’Orefice. I was immediately struck by the shape of her face, the lines that form when she’s posing.

    carmen-dell-orefice-004

    Some photo credits go to: Urko Suaya for Rouge.


  • Real Women Have Curves on Telenovelas

    Mother (Lupe Ontiveros): Ay, Estela, Ana, de la que se perdieron en la novela, Los Pobres Lloran Más.
    Ana (America Ferrera): Mom, I don’t watch Spanish soap operas.
    Mother: It’s not a regular novela; it’s a Brazilian. Esas son mejores. ¿Verdad, Don Miguel?


  • Oscar 2012-2013 Prediction and Watched List

    I didn’t do one last year because… because I didn’t care. I probably care less this year, since I have less films that I liked, and my watching colored-coding has been reduced to “watched” and have no desire “to watch” anything. Let alone “dying to watch” [1] [2]

    But here it is- what I’ve watched and some of my rough predictions.

    oscar-2013-ballot-prediction-list

    Also attaching [1] my Watched List from last year.


  • Mika Ninagawa

    mika-ninagawa-sakuran

    I ran into two really cool posts on Mika Ninagawa- one sort of talking about her work — mentioning her style and her work with the likes of Shiina Ringo, Bjork and- of course, Anna Tsuchiya — and the other a quite rare (and insightful) interview in English.

    I’ve been kind of dying to see Helter Skelter. I haven’t even checked if there are subtitles available yet.

    I guess people can’t stand true stars because they are so different, they’d rather watch some stupid proxies they can sympathize with.

    I guess we do live in the era of the dying movie star. :\