Category: Moving Media

  • Yu Aoi and her 15 Years in the Business

    There’s an interview with Yu Aoi on (I guess, Japanese?) Woman Mangazine, where she mentions that she’s celebrating 15 years of work… so here’s a snapshot from some issue of ku:nel Magazine of Yu Aoi just chilling eating plain yogurt.

    yu-aoi-kunel-magazine

    Random enough? LOL, in the interview she talks about what she’s learned from other more experienced actors, like they’re not people of expressions, but people of labor. Then later explains how that played into her “training camp” experience for the shooting of Haru wo Seotte, which was shot at over 2500m above sea level in the snowy mountains.

    You can read the whole interview here.

    In the meantime, lets take a look at some oldies of Yu’s career, because~~~ WHY NOT? Some good old fashioned All About Lily Chou Chou screencaps via buta-neko.net, and some rare Oha GARU screencap via this blog.

  • Rina Takeda Kicking Ass in the Morning, Taking Names in the Evening

    High-Kick Girl! was a really really poorly-edited movie with a very weak script, but Rina Takeda makes a lasting impression because, well… in their words: “No wires. No stuntmen. Literally really kicking. Seriously… I get kicked.” is their selling point.

    If Scarlet Johansson gets to be an action star. Why shouldn’t Rina Takeda get to do it? Please, Luc Besson and Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan. Take notice!

    SO.MUCH.POTENTIAL.RIGHT.THERE.

    Karate Girl was already an improvement. Imagine the possibilities with a strong director, first class action choreography and a proper project surrounding the girl.

  • Satine, the Sparkling Diamond vs. Chandramukhi – FIGHT!

    The other day I caught a rerun of Moulin Rouge! on tv, and this is the first time I’ve lived it — I not only sing out loud, but recite as well as cry during the whole show… so, yeah~ I LIVE IT — since I started watching Indian films. The only thing that would make that movie better is to have had Urmila in there for the Chamma Chamma [clip] sample.

    You can’t really get any more Indian -near masala levels- than this, and of course my mind had to have a Battle of the Courtesans between Satine, The Sparkling Diamond and Chandramukhi. It’s a visual battle between Baz Lurhman and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, a flawless duel between Nicole Kidman and Madhuri Dixit, and a fight for the dramatic between Moulin Rouge! and Devdas.

    satine-moulin-rouge-chandramukhi-devdas

    On one side, you got the courtesan manipulated to stay that falls in love with the mistaken penniless writer, until she finds out the evil duke will kill her loved one- oh, and she’s dying of tuberculosis. On the other, the courtesan lives in a mysteriously super posh and luxurious whorehouse, and is the most sought after until she falls in love with the rich lawyer who’s suffering of a broken heart and likes to get drunk to forget his sorrows… that is, of course, until he dies of liver failure after a long period of continuous intoxication.

    Jesus, Chandramukhi. Forget, Devdas, and elope with Christian.

  • Xiami + Chinese Indie Music Compilation Xun Guang Ji

    xiami-xun-guang-ji-seeking-light-collection

    Xiami had been pimping a new project they had going on for the last couple of days, and they’ve just revealed that it’s a 2-disc compilation featuring Chinese-Taiwan-UK Beijing-based indie artists. It’s a pretty good set that I’ve freely translated as the Seeking Light Compilation (寻光集, Xun Guang Ji) or in Español- Colección Buscando la Luz.

    See, this is what happens when you have no official ‘christian’ name.

    Check my English and Español announcements for translated group names and songs. Looking forward to exploring everyone’s discography.

    You can get the album on Xiami.

  • What I Like About Bollywood Movies

    It’s been a few years since I did a “what I like about” post [1][2], and considering that it’s been one full year since I officially started watching Indian films, I thought it’d be great to look back to see What I Like About Bollywood– pardon me, Indian Films.

    what-i-love-about-bollywood-indian-films

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  • In Progress: 2014 Film Count

    This is the first time in my movie-counting life that I’ve seen over 50 movies by the middle of the year. As a general number, I picked 48 a year, to make sure I -at least- watched one film a week for my end of the year list.

    amys-2014-film-count

    There’s a LOT of bad and meh movies so far, but there’s also a decent Top10. Not unbelievable, but decent. It’s a working one that would do for a Dec.31 or Jan.01 publishing date. LOL

  • Hyde vs. Beto Cuevas vs. Sanam – FIGHT!

    We got a triple FIGHT!

    It was the second half of 2003 when I was listening to La Ley quite non-stop, since it was only one of the handful CDs that I had taken to Canada, when my friend grabbed my headphones and told me, “Do you know l’Arc en Ciel? It sounds exactly like him, but in not-Japanese.” I’d always kept that at the back of my mind until today when I found this new Indian band called Sanam, and had a similar thought.

    Of course, l’Arc en Ciel has over twenty years of history already, so it’s an obvious imbalanced fight. Though I do kinda chuckle whenever people refer to lead vocalist Hyde as a “chibi” person, as well as measuring other people as “one hyde and one inch tall” LOL

    Note: Also love how the fans sing as a prelude.

    Of course, if La Ley hadn’t decided to split mid-noughties, they’d have a couple of years into l’Arc en Ciel, and the image that I have of Beto Cuevas wouldn’t be so quite embarrassing.
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  • Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno, Seduce Me and Mammas

    Finally got my full fix of Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno web series, as well as Seduce Me, the following Green Porno series, and this year’s Mammas. It’s all worth it, though I felt that Green Porno – Bon Appetit got a little bit preachy and lost the consistency of the other shows.

    mammas-isabella-rossellini-green-porno

    Sometimes I wonder why region restrictions still exists. It’s definitely taken me too many years to watch this.

  • Tabu vs. Tabu – FIGHT!

    ruk-ruk-vijaypath-pattu-cheera-katti-idhi-sangathi

    Tabu made a Telugu movie released in 2008 called Idhi Sangathi (sometimes romanized Idee Sangati or other variations without the ‘h’), which has been nearly impossible to locate even though Telugu movies are usually on YouTube (though sometimes dubbed in Hindi). In the case of this one, they haven’t even uploaded a single clip of any of the songs nor a trailer (in YouTube).

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  • These Are My Movie Dads of 2013

    … or maybe I’m just projecting too much, but I thought 2013 had a lot of Father/Son-Daughter relationship movies. Even when it wasn’t literally a blood-relation, like in the more clear case between Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi (et Ashida Mana) in Pacific Rim, or the more blurred relationship between Jiao Xu with Mr. Go in Mr. Go.

    movies-dads-of-2013

    I cried in a couple of these ones, but I won’t tell you which. LOL

    From left to right, top to bottom: Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son; Miracle in Cell No. 7; Metro Manila; Pacific Rim; Saving Mr. Banks; Silent Witness; About Time; Police Story 2013; Instructions Not Included; and Mr. Go.