Archives For Torrents & Digital Streams

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~

[bandcamp width=580 height=340 album=3479289225 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=small]

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~

Last night, I got the chance to watch a Nora Noh documentary, simply titled Nora Noh. She is Korea’s first fashion designer to ever put on a fashion show in the country. There were some highlight comments, like when Seo Eun-young points out all these Korean celebrities are trying to ride the Korean Wave, when the wave has already been ridden by Nora. Way back when there was no wave.

There was also the comment on Korean pedigree when paying foreign creative directors, makeup artists, photographers, models, etc. more just for being foreign, when they all have talented people in Korea.

I need to gather my thoughts~

And though the docu has an official poster, I played around with some photos… because I got my computer back.

nora-noh-fanart-poster-002

That would be… a triple poster~

I preferred the single sketch poster (3), I think.

I don’t think there’s been any significant update since April [1], but since my internal hard disk got busted after a sudden power outage, I lost my last mindmap. Instead of recreating it, I revamped it with some clean-up names and added some others. The clean-up? I got rid off Aishwarya (at least, until I watch other films of her), Nana Patekar (haven’t seen him in a while), same with Arshad Warsi, Sanjay Dutt. Got rid off Kareena, Sonakshi Sinha, Abhishek Bachchan, Anushka Sharma, Ajay Devgn, Salman, and Preity.

Only filmmaker to go is M.F. Husain, because- well, no more films. Also, there’s more order, because I’m lumping all Karan Johar directed or backed projects on his hub.

indian-film-journey-aug1014

It’s been a year yo! [1]

Objectively speaking, though I love Tabu with all my fandom heart, I gotta admit that Rani Mukerji is the best movie hub to start out. The only thing she’s missing, really, is films with these other directors like Vishal or Vikramadytia Motwane. I doubt Imtiaz Ali would ever cast her in anything- besides, most his movies… though decent, are quite overvalued. Especially RockStar. And she was >THIS< close to getting to The Namesake, that really…

Rani’s got Bhansali, Hassan, Balan, Konkona and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. That’s of course on top of Shahrukh Khan, Aamir (and the other two Khans), Mani Ratnam, Juhi, and family connections aside, Kajol. And look at the times she’s worked with Amitabh Bachchan… and even son. That’s basically the whole contemporary commercial Indian film spectrum.

Tabu, on the other hand, has Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar, sure. She would also get Hassan (though not at his best), and Konkona… as well as Mani Ratnam, Amitabh, and Juhi (in her leading lady days) — probably more crossovers like Govinda and Salman. She also has Mira Nair and Ang Lee in her bag (though not strictly Indian-verse), and a whole bunch of regional films… but they’re more Telugu than anything else. Then there’s Nagarjuna. She had that symbiotic film-relationship to Madhur Bhandakar, whose career isn’t very good at the moment, though I thought Heroine improved in the horrible story treatment he had in Fashion.

I haven’t dared to watch Juhi’s earlier filmography because there’s so much early Aamir, and I’m not a fan of him in those days or Indian commercial films in general. Confession: Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! and Hum Saath-Saath Hain are pretty bad. Both the same director, a director Tabu wants to make a new comedy with. Not a comedy with Rajkumar Hirani, or a Motwane-backed project like Queen or Hasse Toh Phasee. She wants the dude that gave you Salman.

I’m becoming one of those fans that question her film choices. xD Having said that, I am still looking for Idee Sangati (or however you romanize it). I know Telugu films aren’t my thing, and not even Manam is changing my position, but I need to watch that movie.

Jenji Kohan did a very good interview for The Hollywood Reporter where she talks about her journey as a spec writer, her stints on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friends, her experience with Weeds and Orange is the New Black. All with a fabulous cover with colorful hair, because, as her mother put it “if you can’t fix it, decorate it.

jenji-kohan-hollywood-reporter-aug2014

Read the whole interview on THR website.

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.

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

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.

Good news and bad ones~

First, about a week or two ago Yuguo announced that they were finally releasing their third full studio album Sunset Strip (日落大道), which seemed like it had been in the planning for ages [1].

It’s the 23rd in China, and it happened!

yuguo-album-art-sunset-strip

You can listen to the album (and download the songs) via Xiami.

Continue Reading…

yammag-15-indian-movies-people-who-hate-bollywood

Partly translated in English~ but fully in Español at Cinencuentro.

I almost prefer that rough and tumbling Machiko Ono over the one elegantly sitting in the show. LOL Having said that, the water must be freezing, and having to swim in it must have been torture.

Who am I kidding? The NG take is hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5i2qv-hgnQ

Since I’m totally elated that Gokuaku Ganbo is legally streaming online, my review of it is already out in both English and Spanish [1][2]. If you love Machiko Ono (and maybe a bit of Odagiri Joe) don’t doubt in checking it out.