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3 of 3!

This time with lovely Juri Ueno~~ Rocking photos by Kentaro Shibuya. First time i find a portfolio online…

Anyway, as the name suggests… A Piacere, is a pleasure… a delight. It’s got 50+ photographs of Juri-chan visiting Kodaira (Tokyo), Okinawa, Yokohama and Ebisu (Tokyo). Moreover, Juri’s photobook is western. LOL’ It begins from the left to right like any regular books you buy in America or Europe, and there’s a lot of easy-to-read info (like the cities, and people involved names).

Juri Ueno - A Piacere

PLUS, there’s an interview with Juri and Kentaro Shibuya. I didn’t get much of what was going on… since they didn’t talk much about food (and the interview is in Japanese), and food talk in Japanese is what I’ve been practicing. But they did talk about Juri’s musical projects, relating it to some of the photos of Juri playing the guitar. So a little bit of Swing Girls talk, then some of Nodame Cantabile… and they even get to talk a little bit about Niji no Megami (Rainbow Song)…

If you doubt whether to get this or not, photos are REALLY worth having, many of them have a natural lighting style that remind me of some Mario Testino photographs. Anyway… some photos of the photos ahead!! You know the drill!

Continue Reading…

#2 of my 3-part order!

Yu Aoi - Kaiten TABURU wa Mutsukashii

Now, don’t ask me what the name of the book means because I haven’t the faintest idea. From what I could find out is something about a Rotating Table… which kinda makes sense ‘coz of the food rotating tables, and the whole food take on this book. And apparently, Mutsukashii means ‘difficult’ – a title that makes no sense to me xD…. Difficult Rotating Table?? xD

If I read correctly… photos taken by Ivy Chen, who apparently was the on-set photographer in Yu Aoi’s participating films All About Lily Chou Chou, as well as Hana and Alice.

This time around, Yu goes to Taipei (Taiwan) for a full-on Foodie trip. Yup, that’s right… if I thought her Travel Sand, and Dandelion photobooks talked a lot about food~~ well, I read a lot more food paragraphs and saw a whole more food photos on this one. There’s also a WHOLE lot more text, which would be ubber cool if I could properly read. LOL I read… I tried to read. I swear~~

Also… I was ‘reading’ and noticed Peru. Can someone help out? Plus, I’m looking for a reliable Japanese translator to have on call for projects (maybe even paid) ~~ So it’ll be good if you can drop a line~~ Here’s the text, I hope I typed correctly~~

フィアンセ の ”ペルー” を 呼んで、 みんあ で ご飯  を 食べた時 は、 幸せな 気持ち に なりました。

Sorry, don’t wanna transcribe everything, takes me too much time. LOL So, does it say something like Ivy Chen’s fiancee is from Peru? And that they were calling out for lunch time, and that they’re happy? LOL Just wanna make clear, coz I get giddy each time I read Peru in something not remotely Peruvian.

Who else thinks Yu Aoi should visit Peru for some Foodie trip??? Anyway, photos of the photos ahead!

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Sorry that I didn’t post last night! Olympic fever is madness~~~ My YesAsia order arrived yesterday! Sugoi NE! Photobook Fever at its MAX~~~~~ I devoured Dandelion, you wouldn’t believe it. I saw the photos, swooned over many of them, and went mad with super concentration to try to read. Because, as you know, Amy doesn’t read Japanese.

Yu Aoi - Dandelion Photobook

Photos of the photos ahead! Like before, I doubt I will be posting scans… support Yu, people! ^^

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OMG, I’ve got it!! I’ve GOT IT!! On the mail today. Pretty photos *drools* Now I am ready to recommend where I bought this one. If you’ve been following… I blogged Photobooks at the beginning of the month…. I only lasted three days before I hit clicked and bought. LOL I mentioned I had purchased Travel Sand from another online store other than YesAsia.com – Well, I placed the order on July 6th (Paid with Paypal) and by July 14th I received confirmation that the book was on the way =D

So… beNippon.com is good. A bit on the pricey side, but good~ In case you don’t find an item, and you find it there… the site was prompt, and un-insured item made it to Peru. Now you know…

Well, TODAY was the day!!! I got it on the mail. Instant LOVE! I love it when it feels like Christmas when it’s not Christmas… actually, Christmas doesn’t feel as good.

Yu Aoi - Travel Sand Photobook

Now, I’m posting a few photos of the photos (just so you can feel the texture of the photo on this paper)… sorry guys, but my scanner won’t do good with this book. Continue Reading…

Hahaha, the reason we love Nodame Cantabile is because Juri Ueno as lovable Nodame. Now, if you don’t know the series, you will still love this behind the scene of Juri Ueno singing Nodame’s Fart Exercise song.

It turns out that the song was so popular, Juri recorded a small album with kids songs. You can find the lyrics in Japanese, Romaji and English translation of the funnyness in here. (also includes imeem link)

Continue Reading…

Apparently there’s a manga based on Fuji TV’s Last Friends, it’s set before the show… so I suggest watching the show before this. Anyway, ^Yuuki made some lovely scans (but I won’t post those because they are in Japanese), and suketeru (who also makes the subs for the show uploads, DOMO!) made a translation for it. I took the liberty to make some nice text inclusion, and some changes in phrasing. I think it looks pretty good, almost like it’s real. Take a look yourself! Continue Reading…

Just got back from watching a screening of the newest Narnia flick, and let me tell you, I enjoyed watching The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but this one is far more better than that. Sure, purist might be a little ticked off by switching lines from characters to characters, but I’m telling you that I enjoyed Caspian a whole lot more.

Continue Reading…

Golden Compass hits Lima!

December 6, 2007 — 3 Comments

Northern Lights - Golden Compass - PosterOh, yeah! And Amy was there for the 4.20pm show~~ Amy needed her fix of Northern Lights. There weren’t many people then, and even though it was a subtitled version, there were a few kids… one of them was annoying! Talking all throughout the film… kinda cute (bordering on ‘I want to kill that kid’), but really bad-looking on the parent there who couldn’t shut him up.

Quick facts about Amy and His Dark Materials Trilogy:

  • Northern Lights (aka Golden Compass) was suggested by a friend who knew I liked Harry Potter.
  • After a while, I finally got the books at the beginning of the year.
  • Couldn’t control myself, and had to read one after the other.
  • Amy’s not a die-hard fan of HDM Trilogy, but it’s become her favorite series overall.
  • Amy liked the series so much, she gave her friend the trilogy as a gift. She liked it too.

Overall, the film was pretty good, except for the Flash pace. It is not as much as an editing fault because the film is not jumping, but many of the scenes don’t really flow… as, let say – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban artistically flows… or how Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is so choppy it makes you feel there’s a whole scene missing in between.

Now, onto the good stuff. Effects are pretty good. Iorek is great, though I think Ragnar (aka in the book as Iofur) looked better. The bear fight had me gasping, even though there was no blood… if there had been blood, I would’ve been even more so. I loved Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala… and oh! the Witches are so cool!! They flew and fought with such elegance, it left me in awe. I also loved Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter… evil or not, you have to love her. Dakota Blue Richards did pretty great as Lyra, there were times I thought it was not as good, but scenes like the one in Bolsvangar were very dramatic.

I enjoyed the confrontation at Bolsvangar, even though it’s not quite epic… it was quite thrilling. The kids running, about to be attacked then Iorek shows up and BAM! SNAP! The Witches show up, arrows begin flying… golden sparkles, SWOOSH! And the Gypsies SNAP SNAP!

Would love to watch that again… or wouldn’t mind some blood on the bears, uncensored version, non? x’D How about a Director’s Cut?? Because I would’ve love to have 30min more of it… especially since the film didn’t include the OH SO OMG ending chapter (or chapters…) but I guess it would’ve been unfair to have movie-goers wait for The Subtle Knife to hit theaters in 2009… or maybe even forever if GC bombs at the Box Office. Better leave this with no cliff-hanger…

Grade: 3.5/5 – (docked a whole point for fast-pacing)

Witches!

October 13, 2007 — Leave a comment

Witches is on Boomerang right now! And it’s official, Angelica Houston has to be the most wicked and most horrifying witch there ever was in the history of witches on screen.

I remember when I was a little kiddo and caught a glimpse of this film on Panamericana Television, and I got like major nightmares with that one scene of all the women turning into bald scary looking witches with long fingers. Freaks me out still. I just saw that bit again, and it looks so freaky… even when I have it on mute haha.

I haven’t gotten around to reading the book, which I have researched for the sake of getting a decent-sized picture of WitchAngelica Houston, but no such luck. I remember the film had a happy ending, though the book doesn’t… this caused like a breach between the author and the production – I thought that was worth mentioning.

I miss the good old days of puppets and animatronics.

**EDIT**

I thought it was worth to mention Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust. She was pretty freaky in that movie too, but doesn’t come close to Angelica Houston. Michelle Pfeiffer plays an evil very very old witch – but Houston plays an evil old and deformed monster… lol – I tell you, freaks me out.

Y: The Last Man

August 11, 2007 — 1 Comment

Been re-reading Y: The Last Man, pretty much addicted thanks to Kyle. And now, Cammy is addicted to it thanks to me. If you wanna be addicted to it too, PM me. lol’

Here’s a little image:

Y The Last Man