Category: Television

  • How Jdrama Made me a Lazy TV Viewer

    I have been ruined by Jdrama xD

    Can you believe it’s been three years since?

    It’s probably the longest fictitious relationship I’ve ever had with anything. LOL

    You can read all about it on YAM Magazine.

  • Ten Actresses that Should Move to Cable

    Re-pimping this old list~ xD

    It’s always been tough to be a working actress on the big screen, as you turn a little older, offers often seem to be linked to “being someone else’s mother,” but cable television seems to be becoming more and more attractive to not only writers – because they get to write more challenging stories and skip censors – but also to women who were movie actresses and have found new complex roles to take on.

    you can read the whole thing on YAM Magazine~

  • Music Video Director: Zhong Ping Huang

    I just finally burnt Zhong Ping Huang’s (黄­中平) name in my head.

    Because of A-Mei’s latest MV.

    Having realized that he’s made my favorite Faye Wong video, I just spent all night “curating” a list of 77 MVs of some of the music videos he’s directed since 1997… but only of the artists I follow… otherwise the list is just endless~

    Most of the time, his style is described as just about style, emotion and composition. Though, I have seen a few of those that have something resembling a plot.

    Faye Wong – Bu Liu/ Nothing Left

    I think that video captures what I essentially love about Faye Wong.

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  • Ryomaden Goodbye Interview

    I told you there were a few posts…

    Anyway, did any of you watched Ryomaden last season? I did try to watch it at the beginning but wasn’t that into it, so it was really troublesome to gather the energy to find a subtitled version of it. Plus, there weren’t any small files, and I didn’t feel like download HD versions.

    So I watched on TV with no subs.

    Until the very last episode that Yu was on… and then till the very last of the year.

    I remember that when I saw the preview of episode 44 with Yu’s character Omoto saying goodbye, I thought to myself — well, what bad number of episode to leave the show xD and it ended up being her 13th guest appearance — pretty sure about that.

    Anyway, for those who didn’t watch the show — Yu played Omoto, a geisha who’s a closeted Christian (oh, the irony!). She plays the shamisen, does some traditional dancing and performing, and has some non-explored sexual tension with Ryoma. She was good in it, but I understand that Taiga dramas are a long-term commitment.

    Here’s the capture of the interview with photos for those of you who won’t touch a Taiga with a stick xD

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  • Where You’ve Been, Erika Eleniak?

    I have another confession to make.

    As you may have already figured out, I grew up in a time when there was barely any stability. When things settled down, we had about 4 or 5 networks, usually broadcasting local productions.

    But there was also syndication.

    American television loves syndication, they ensure making a living with it. What’s a better example of syndication than… Baywatch. Yup, that’s my confession. I grew up with Baywatch. Especially the first season and the second… maybe the third. They re-ran those seasons a lot those years, so I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them more than once.

    So when I was like 5 or 6, we would all watch the show — most likely for different reasons LOL — since we kids liked going to the beach, we would always joke that our local lifeguards looked like they had floatability devices inside them. We would laugh, and move on.

    Then there was Shauni. Before there was Stephanie Holden… Shauni was the only girl in the cast — pretty sure, I could be wrong. I was Team Shauni! As a kid, I don’t know why I thought she was awesome. She seemed nice, no problems — I’m seeing a pattern here — and she had Eddie xD

    I just realized I’m a crazy shipper… almost since I was born. LOL

    Anyway, time passed. Country got better, we got cable. Sony had just launched their signal, and were re-running Baywatch. Browsing channels, there was this episode – or was it a movie? – of Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood. Ha! I didn’t know what a bordello was at the time. I didn’t speak any English, all I remember saying was “Hey! That’s Shauni!” And I watched it. The memory of it — me watching that — is hilarious.

    So yeah, I like Erika Eleniak.

    Very much like on the other tales, I was browsing channels and ended up on Sony. What a surprise it was to see Erika Eleniak on the latest season of Desperate Housewives. Color me surprise. Even if I have stopped watching the show, I… for a split second or more, considered watching the show again. Then I didn’t when I found out it was a one-ep gig.

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  • Why Juri Ueno Cast as 10-Year-Old Gou Doesn’t Matter

    There’s been a recent item talking about Gou’s lowering ratings, and mostly pointing out Juri Ueno’s miscasting or her lacking experience in period dramas.

    Of course, I cannot form an opinion on whether Juri’s use of Japanese is appropriate for the era or not, and neither are most of us. However, I do understand why it would turn people off.

    I cannot for the life of me, however, understand why would people say they don’t understand Juri Ueno playing a 10-year-old version of Gou, when for the past few Taiga dramas it’s been used. I just began watching Taiga dramas just a few years ago, and I do understand why it would throw people off. It’s weird to you, I get it.

    You cannot say Ueno is miscast as a 10-year old when Masaharu Fukuyama played a much MUCH younger version of Ryomaden at the beginning of the show, Satoshi Tsumabuki played a much younger version of his character in Tenchijin, Hideaki Takizawa (Tackey from Tackey & Tsubasa) played pre-teen Yoshitsune when he was 20-something…

    and obviously, Aoi Miyazaki (and Eita) played little kids early on Atsuhime, as well as playing them as 40 or 50-ish year-old people.

    Also, I want to admit it. I don’t feel passionate enough about Gou. I love Juri, Asami Mizukawa and Rie Miyazawa, I do. But I’m not feeling the story. The three sisters, though they married very important people, feel like simple pawns in the story instead of being the players.

    It felt different in Atsuhime.

    They made Atsuhime interested in history, learning, and go strategics. She was constantly sent to places, and did things on her own to change her purpose in there. In the show, she was sent to be able to control the Shogun, to disintegrate the Ooku… yet, when she marries into the family, she sets to protect her new family. It’s conflictive.

    It was engaging. It was good.

    And this is me telling you I like Juri Ueno more than Aoi Miyazaki.

    Plus, you don’t need to be a kid to play a kid convincingly.

  • Had forgotten how passionate fandom shipping could be…

    So says the girl that wrote an essay on Numerology and a certain Harry Potter subject. *cough* LOL Anyway… moving on! You know I’ve got fandoms… I’ve gotten into shipping fandoms, but never got as “bad” as those HP days.

    I was browsing the web, and ended up in LiveJournal — the place where all fandoms seem to end — and I found Rachel/Quinn shippers? How did that happen? Well, you need not to wonder. They will explain to you episode by episode… in a rather very detailed and impressive way.

    I’m even a little converted. Though, I attribute many of those moments to Diana Agron letting go off Quinn’s bitchiness in a musical number — some may call those character inconsistencies — but they work in a very ironic kind of way.

    I love love love Ryan Murphy with all my heart because of Popular, but he’s really not the King of Subtleties… if you must know. How can you not know that? It must have hit you in the face by now that Murphy likes it big and loud. Those Quinn/Rachel moments are too subtle to be meant to. Attribute those to happy accidents.

    But they work. My gawd, Quinn/Dianna stares a lot at Rachel/Lea. And it had never crossed my mind that all of Quinn’s musical numbers, real or in her imagination, have her surrounded by females. Plus, the number with the cheerleaders in football uniforms.

    If slowly developed, I can totally buy it.

    —

    The dedication of that post, however, is what made me write this post. I miss that crazy passion that fandom can create. I don’t know if that crazy passion should come with the crazy disappointment, though. I don’t think I can take another fandom heartbreak.

  • The Best Mistake I’ve Ever Made: Sholly

    Ahh fandom… NSFW fandom.

    Shane and Molly have Asian fans! It figures~ I wonder if some pairings are more popular in each region just because of cultural preferences. The fact that Shane wanted to become a better person… more studious, more knowledgeable for Molly is what sold me on the pairing. I also think it’s a very Asian thing xD

    Plus, they’re hot… but Shane and Carmen was hot– but too much drama.

    I liked they used a song by a Taiwanese singer called Joanna Wang. She reminds me of the style of those easy listening tracks by Kendal Payne, or those tracks used so often in Grey’s Anatomy xD And the ending of the video, so sad.

  • Wow, That Was Good Casting: Grilled Cheesus

    I really meant to post this sooner.

    Remember that Glee episode in which we have a flashback of Kurt as a kid with his dad? That was amazing casting, and just to test my theory, I screencapped some bits and showed them to my mother. Her verdict? She thought it was really Chris Colfer as a kid!

    So kudos with the casting on this one:
    Eric Dawson, Carol Kritzer & Robert J. Ulrich ~~~

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  • The Best Performance on NHK’s 61st Kouhaku? DREAMS COME TRUE

    I’m not even a fan, but woman knows how to work that stage. She certainly knows how to close a show! On a very VERY long new year night… imagine having to download 11Gb to watch a roughly 6hr show, Jpop duo DREAMS COME TRUE was the most memorable number of the night — which includes a giant tsuru (crane), and a rock n’ roller tongue-wiggling ojiisan,

    [iframe src=”https://you.video.sina.com.cn/api/sinawebApi/outplayrefer.php/vid=44605592_1463781897_Z0LkG3M5B2LK+l1lHz2stqkP7KQNt6nkjWy3vFqlLQdeQ0/XM5GdZtsH5SzfAtkEqDhAQJw5dfsj3h8/s.swf” width=”480″ height=”370″]

    Are you kidding me? A marching band (the Kouhaku Marching band) with a lead singer jumping in a kimono? That’s an automatic win. xD Plus, Ikite yuku no desu (生きてゆくのです) is super catchy, the performance just brings it to the level of memorable.

    This is the best I can do for the moment, the only clip I’ve been able to find. If/when I find something better, will re-post. Now, if NHK was smart, they’d be posting the Kouhaku performances on their own site for embedding, instead of taking down the performances that make it online…