Well, I think it’s time, no? This has been my Chulpan Khamatova’s journey so far. Surprisingly, most of the films that remain hard to find (and hence are not subtitled in other language) have been my least favorite. It could be a case of lost in not-translation, but I’m confident in my non-subtitled watch experience to trust my instinct.
Category: Films
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Joseph Chang, Why So Sexy?

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!
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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.
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Dream Collaboration: Ang Lee + Nicole Kidman
I don’t know how this didn’t come to me before this photo.

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].
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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?
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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.

Some photo credits go to: Urko Suaya for Rouge.
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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?
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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.
Also attaching [1] my Watched List from last year.











