Category: Moving Media

  • Cinema Firsts for Top 10 Films

    In honor of Top 10 Films’ 1st anniversary~~~

    1. First Film: Enter the Dragon

    I figured it must be one of my dad’s favorites, since he’s the one who got the tapes and did the recordings on the Betamax from tv broadcasts…

    I literally know the dialog to Enter the Dragon ;P

    2. First visit to the Cinema: Jurassic Park

    I’m not entirely sure when my parents first decided to take me to the cinema, because my parents worked a lot so most my outings were with my aunts and cousins. And my parents think little kids who don’t behave themselves shouldn’t be taken on too many activities, so it is likely we didn’t properly go to the movies until I was 5 or more… so Jurassic Park it is.

    I saw it with my aunt and little cousin, who’s now… 20 xD

    3. First film purchase:
    VHS: None
    DVD: She’s All That and Loser

    When I grew up, it was a troubling time for the economy. We didn’t buy tapes – my dad, however, used to bring a lot of rentals from a place who used to watermark its videos with “videorama” – of course my dad taped all those Disney shorts and old movies.

    Sometimes when my uncle would visit Miami, he would bring a tape or two of Disney’s Sing Along Songs. I also remember my auntie gave me an X-Men tape (the one were the color palette is earth colors – Cyclops head is all covered and Wolverine is all brown), and my uncle gave me the tape of Winnie the Pooh’s Wishing Star story.

    My first two DVDs, I bought when I turned 15, so you can’t hold me accountable of the purchase. It was on my bday trip to California, and bought those discs thinking they were VCDs for some weird reason, and having to wait a couple of months before my family actually bought a DVD player.

    4. First Crush:
    Carly Pope and Christopher Gorham

    Weird, huh? They’re not really Film crushes, though both have done films.

    I mean it is rather silly to be a 11-year-old girl watching Titanic and swooning over Leonardo DiCaprio. First, I wasn’t THAT interested in film back then – TV was everything to me… and pop music, so it’s only fitting that my first “crushes” weren’t Film crushes.

    Once I get a crush, I am rather faithful. My interest may wain, but it will never truly disappear unless said object of imaginary affection does something truly bad.

    And god, Carly Pope’s striking face — and those eyebrows! Hmm.. I might have an eyebrow fetish (Crawford and Garbo, anyone?) — and Christopher Gorham’s sexy nerdiness. It’s killer to me. And they both supposedly speak more than one language? It’s a killer combo for me.

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  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1

    It’s begun. The beginning of the end. After the 7th book came out, and left me unsatisfied — a feeling carried over the 6th book and the 5th film — I swore to never see Harry Potter at the cinema ever again. A promise easy to keep with the 6th film, but then… it was hard to keep it when the first promotional materials for HP7 were released.

    Well played, Warner. Well played.

    Deathly Hallows is perhaps Yates’ best attempt at a Harry Potter adaption, but considering the other two – it isn’t saying that much. In the greater scale of things, it might follow on Azkaban’s footsteps as an interesting film filled with anguish and desperation… of I guess, the teenage sort. If the book didn’t work for you, the film seems to improve on action and characters. It’s also of great comfort to say that The WB’s decision of splitting the film in two parts was hardly a bad commercial or creative choice… at least for the fans of the books, who will savor each an every detail.

    But then again, considering how many chapters were crammed into this first part, one has to wonder what’s left for part two if not only the “last battle” which, in the book, happened off-page… and that epilogue that’s ripped out of the most poorly written fanfiction.

    For the non-readers or those who haven’t seen HP6… well, you’re screwed. It really doesn’t work without the background, and you’re better without watching it, if you’re going to start complaining. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows feels like made for the fans of the series only.

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  • Joan Crawford vs. Mario Vargas Llosa on Straight-Jacket?

    I was watching my newly-purchased copy of Strait-Jacket with my father, having a blast — seriously, that movie is a hoot! Can’t really wait to take a look at the extras, and see Ms. Crawford with that ax.

    But then, almost at the end of the film when Crawford is wrapping up, my dad goes on and says “Look, it’s Mario Vargas Llosa!” Freezing the image, we burst out laughing.

    do you see it? I mean this photo of Crawford in the film isn’t really it. You must see her with her not-a-wig hair from where she is normal. It’s uncanny.

  • Guilty Pleasures Regarding Reality TV

    It is common knowledge that I’m not really partial to un-scripted television. I grew up with things like MTV’s The Real World in the background of my mind, sometimes watching it quietly when I was a teen. But then it just exploded, and it’s not like I’m bothered by the actual programs… what bothers me is that contestants later become “celebrities”. It’s like being a celebrity means nothing. You can eat crap (literally) for money, win and become a “celebrity”. That’s sad.

    Having said that, I have a few shows that I do watch. It doesn’t have to do with who’s in it, or who’s going to be in it… who says it’s what, or if it’s hot or not to watch it.

    It’s simply 3 things I would like to be able to do.

    First, dancing.

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  • Shunji Iwai Fake Criterion Collection

    I was re-watching the DVD for Swallowtail Butterfly that I bought after watching the film on YouTube xD – and Because I’m cheap, I bought the Hong Kong version, when the Japanese version comes with English subtitles. I don’t think it’s the DVD per se, but the way it was shot. I don’t really know what it is, it’s scratchy, and it could certainly be because the film is kinda old. However, I would like to see a clean better release by Criterion… of all of Shunji Iwai written and directed films~

    Fake Criterion Collection: Shunji Iwai Collection - Love Letter

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  • Florence + the Machine @ VMA 2010

    Considering I didn’t think the Latin Grammy was anything special, I thought I’d give the search for my favorite performance of the Video Music Awards.

    The initial shot works perfect, despite some problems with the camera zooming out. Moreover, the cuts when everyone shows up dancing work to show the whole stage, and closer shots for all the jumping.

    The song is catchy, and the performance is different enough from the rest of the performances of the night to be memorable, and perfect to stand out. I hope Vimeo doesn’t delete it because it’s the only good version I’ve found.

    [iframe width=”580″ height=”334″ src=”https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xet2b8″]

  • Main Titles that We Love: Desperate Housewives

    Continuing with posts on main titles, this is Desperate Housewives by yu+co

    Check the yu+co link for a better resolution one.

    What’s so cool about this title sequence is that it’s simple. Women from famous paintings as housewives. At the time, it was giddy for anyone taking an art history class. Plus, it captured the essence of the show.

    Frankly, I’ve stopped watching the show… and I think they’ve stopped playing the intro last last season. But it still brings back memories of better Desperate times. The last season I bought on DVD was when they did the 5 year jump. I’m going to pretend the show ended there.

  • Why Kurt Hummel is Important

    This week’s episode of Glee created a bit of a ripple. Some of my friends said “intense” because people were surprised that the football (?) – let’s just call him jock – that he smack one on Kurt. At first I was like Kurt, kinda quiet, but then thought to myself “Oh, okay… I’m not really surprised.”

    I went to the ever present IMDb boards to read some of the things people were saying, and was surprised at the amount of people that have begun to hate Kurt… or should I say Kurt’s gay storyline. Okay, I’ll concede in that Glee’s not doing a great balance of the funny, the cheesy and the drama — Popular had a bit of that plus more — but I don’t have a problem with that. I usually like Glee’s cheese, I can handle my drama fine, and I like the funny. But I know what you mean when you guys talk about Glee not being the same.

    However, some of the comments left me perplexed with things like “I don’t have a problem with Kurt being gay, but why does his story need to revolve around him being gay?” People saying that Will & Grace was a better representation of homosexuals, and other programs that do the “gay thing” much better.

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  • Emma Watson by Mario Testino for Vogue UK

    Is this the 2nd or 3rd time Testino has photographed Watson?

    I’m not exactly jumping up and down for Emma Watson film projects, but I am glad she’s grown up to be a well-rounded adult that doesn’t feel the need to rebel against “the man”. Rebel for the sake of rebelling.

    Thank you, Emma, for showing us that there’s child stars like you.

    A lot more photos via Fashiontography.

  • Where You’ve Been, Laura Harris?

    A lot of people were mad at the Dead Like Me straight-to-dvd movie, but to be honest~~~ the film wasn’t that bad, except for maybe replacing Daisy with someone other than Laura Harris.

    There was this quality about Harris interpretation of Daisy Adair that made you just want to hug her… while strangling her. That quality was missing from the film.

    I’m on my Roxy stage, though. I laugh at everything she says.

    Did I tell you I finally got time to watch my Dead Like Me collection? I can finally say my Bryan Fuller collection is complete. I went through the first season over the weekend, and I’m going through the second one today. Makes me miss Vancouver.

    I didn’t know Laura Harris was from Vancouver xD

    My mother knows her as “that girl from 24” xD

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