Category: Moving Media

  • Guan Hu + Huang Bo’s Winning Cow Combo

    A country bumpkin (with a heavy Shandong accent, I suppose… with my level of Chinese, I can’t tell.) and a cow are the only survivors of a terrible Japanese airstrike during the Sino-Japanese War. I never thought I would ever say this, but that’s the best damn cow performance I’ve ever seen in my life. Alongside Dolly (the dog performance in Korean film Blind), it might be one of my favorite animal performances on film.

    guan-hu-cow-2009-huang-bo

    Even though it didn’t slay in any categories in my Best of 2013 post, The Chef, The Actor, The Scoundrel (厨子‧戏子‧痞子) was one of my favorite movies last year. After Cow (斗牛, Dou Niu), I’ve become a Guan Hu and Huang Bo fan.

  • Madhuri Dixit @ Stree Shakti Puraskar 2014

    I stumbled across this performance that Madhuri Dixit did for the Stree Shakti Award, thinking it’s been the most refreshing performance I’ve seen her do lately — with the added bonus of the Gulaab Gang title song as the cherry on top — when I realize that the whole event is to honor women with exceptional achievements. Ohhhhh, so that’s why the performance was a bit out of the box. I love it.

    About a week or two ago, my friend and I got to watch Beta… and though it did change our (enjoyment) perspective of Dhak Dhak Karne Laga (Ouch!), it had my friend saying the following quote for the ages… “I love it when Madhuri holds a sword,” xD

    I think I will eventually have to watch Koyla then.

  • Palak: Ohhhhhh~ Comedy Nights with Kapil

    kiku-sharda-palak-cnwk

    I started watching Comedy Nights with Kapil a couple of months ago, despite the language barrier and the lack of subtitles. I gotta admit that the funniest thing has to be Kiku Sharda’s Palak despite (or maybe because of) the language barrier. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, he generally makes me laugh. Okay, Palak and Ghutthi.

    I cackle when I see Madhuri teaching Palak dancing. Laughed so much when doing the acting demonstration for Tabu, KK and Shahid, and even made me NOT hate Kareena Kapoor (oh, look! She actually HAS a sense of humor!). Plus! They’re improving my hindi xD Win-win!

    The only thing that pisses me off is that Colors isn’t uploading the episodes on YouTube as quickly anymore, the episodes on their website are region-restricted (FML), and some of the episodes have been having the music edited out, which ruins the mood/joke completely.

     

  • Dusting Off my Chinese Skills for Faye~

    … or dusting off my lacking Chinese skills xP, so I ask anyone reading this to 1. Take these with a big grain of salt… and 2. If you’ve got a better translation/tips/corrections/etc. let me know. But… in the age of the internet, where fandoms translate songs en masse, I felt a little “left hanging” with Faye Wong lyrics.

    So here are my tries. My mother tried to help, but she gave up. LOL

    After much deliberation, I think I like Cong Cong Na Nian (匆匆那年) a bit more, though I didn’t like Ai Bu Ke Ji (爱不可及) on the first go, it’s really grown on me as a song.

    Common courtesy for credits and/or link-ups, please.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcVZ4jVile8
    (more…)

  • Coda: An Evening with Death

    Last night I got the chance to watch a really great Irish animated short called Coda by Alan Holly, which basically unfolds after a man who dies, and whose soul gets picked up by Death. However, before he leaves, he gets to revisit a lot of what this world holds.

    You can check the trailer on Vimeo.

    coda-screencap-animation

  • Experiment Awards: Best of 2013

    I’m terrible with timing, aren’t I?

    I’m always dissatisfied with my end of the year lists, but I supposed a WHOLE year of catching up is good enough for me to have a proper idea of what I like, right? I managed to squeeze in 227 movies, the rest is history. I hope you like it, that you don’t hate on me for not including some of your faves, that you celebrate that we loved some of others, and that you love me for introducing you to one title you missed.

    experiment-awards-2013

    Do your thing.

  • I keep seeing~

    … the phrase “korea’s Aoi Yu” or its actual 韓国の蒼井優, kankoku no aoi yuu. And, no- just no. If there has to be a Korean version of Yu-chan, it has to be this one only. xD Just saying. I mean, come on~

    yu-aoi-oct2014-profile

    Yu-chan’s all fresh-faced one and only xD

    I do love her hair at that length. She was also sporting it in a recent appearance on Kuwazugirai [1], where she mustered once again that she’d be probably rubbish playing poker because she can’t even keep a straight face when eating a hard-boiled egg, which she is literally suffering to do. It’s quite hilarious.

  • Filhaal: That’s Not Subtext at All~

    filhaal-sushmita-sen-tabu-010

    I remember I was watching Filhaal… and thinking to myself that I obviously didn’t have any amazing great female friendships -despite my support for female friendships on film- because I didn’t know anyone that I would mother a baby for nor be comfortable enough to ask to mother one for me. When Sushmita Sen’s character tells Tabu’s that she’ll mother her baby, I was saying “oh, girl~ you’re just asking for trouble.” xD However, through all the complications in their relationship and interaction, I kept saying “I gotta admit, that’s pretty gay.” LOL

    Though Wikipedia or IMDb don’t list it as a connection, according to this (sometimes grasping-at-straws) list of 100 Queer Films of India [Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4] calls it a -sorta- adaptation of Chutney Popcorn, except Filhaal… takes (or tries to take) the gayness out of it. It’s like Pre-Code films all over again, but I gotta admit- kinda fun. Plus, Tabu looks really REALLY good on the Le Chalen Doliyon [clip] number, which also features pretty flashy cinematography even if it doesn’t reach Meenaxi levels.

    And despite not warming to Sushmita Sen over Main Hoon Na or Biwi No. 1 (come on, you can’t expect me to fall for that, right?), I did enjoy her chemistry with Tabu here enough to watch her episode on Comedy Nights with Kapil and actually get to like her.

    Looking at these captures, you’d think Tabu just fathered this child, LOL and they’re all playing Hebe Tien’s Love! [MV]:

    I love you
    You love her
    She loves her
    She loves him

    [1]

  • Shokuzai is Coming to Affordable DVD/BR

    Exciting news! Shokuzai will be released on DVD/Blu Ray and VOD (in the US) on October 31st, which only means affordable and subtitled Yu Aoi (et others). Amazon date says November 18th.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ehdRryYEIQ

    You know what to do, use those Amazon links~

  • Fifi Rong goes for her Next Pursuit

    I discovered Fifi Rong on the Xiami compilation, and though her track Parting Life (在离别中生活) isn’t my favorite, I did start to pay attention. So I’m all eager to listen to her new material now, which is available everywhere from Xiami, iTunes, Bandcamp and Soundcloud~

    My favorite tracks are Wishes’ Fault, and there’s a certain haunting attraction to Breathless. LOL

    Let’s see what comes off it by the end of the year~