• Chen Bing for Mayday’s Eternal Summer

    Since I was kinda lukewarm with Season 2 of The Voice of China, and the format of the show seems to have expanded… and I don’t have my dad to watch with, I haven’t been following this year’s season. Just reading Cfensi’s recaps. xD

    Also, there’s not as much variety of music genres and voices like in the first season. However, I’m always game for someone who wants to sing Mayday, because as my dad would note… there is a certain flare to Mayday’s music, as well as Ashin’s voice (plus composition skills!). Nobody can really do Mayday’s music like Mayday can.

    But damn~ Chen Bing (陈冰), aka. Kiki, does it pretty well.

    I’m not sure about being Kiki Chen, though. And it can’t be plain Kiki, because there’s Kiki from Milk@Coffee.

    You can also get the clean song on Xiami, because those damn The Voice special effects can get in the way.

  • From the Vault: Tabu @ Gotham Awards

    Gotham Awards - Uma Thurman, Mira Nair, Tabu
    “So this is where that photo comes from,” was the first thing I said when I ran into this photo of Mira Nair celebrating her Gotham with Tabu and Uma Thurman. You can also get a sense of how tall Tabu is when she’s not dwarfed by Thurman, who officially is 1.81m but maybe taller (plus, heels). And it’s not because Uma is leaning to one side either, ‘coz on this pic where she’s much closer to the camera or this other more general shot, she’s not dwarfed either.

    Also how sweet is Tabu with Ang Lee?

    And… I can see where Tabu gets her stern look. I’ve seen her complain about journalists and paparazzis not picking better photographs for the posts and articles they write on her, and from the short time I’ve followed her, I can see what she means. It’s like when CCTV picks photos of John Kerry. LOL

    Having said that… Screening photos are such a waste of time coz they always look like horrible snapshots because these things are never lit, so you get all that harsh light of the flash bulb.

  • The Late 2012-2013 Music Highlights

    amys-2012-2013-music-highlights-yammag

    I think I could work more on the 2013 list, but then it will be 2015! LOL I also hate that I don’t have my font pack at hand because this graphic is UHHHH-GLAY. My Frankenstein Computer is back! I’m so happy~

    Anyway, here are 30 album picks by all different artists that released (almost) full-length albums these last two years. And here are all their covers in gallery form, and here’s a Facebook Gallery, it contains some playlists and iTunes links. And here’s a Xiami playlist, where you can (almost) access all the albums. And a Weibo post in case you’re there.

    And here’s the YAM Magazine list that contains all my ramblings, with playlist/streaming and buy links.

  • Take the Night (or Day) Off for this Laura Marling Medley

    Not so much ‘big vocal chops’ as ‘lyricist to watch out for,’ but Laura Marling’s voice is lovely nonetheless. This is a lovely medley she did for WNYC with -probably- the strongest segment in her album Once I Was an Eagle; Take the Night Off, I Was an Eagle, You Know and Breathe.

    She’s a 24-year-old from the UK… and this is hardly ‘new talent’ as she’s on her 4th album already. She’s 4 or 5 years younger than Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and 2 years younger than Rihanna.

    Whatever happened to the US music industry?

  • Revamped Indian Film Journey

    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 for Aug’14 The Hollywood Reporter

    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.

  • Huzzah Rani for Mardaani

    Though I did knocked the trailer out because I thought Rani might have been a little “too chunky” to pull off the chasing and fighting [1], her frame actually makes much more sense. I’ve never met in real life a come-hither-you sexy of a female (or male) cop, as many of them just look like the police that are played by extras, instead of them sexy male or female leads on Hollywood movies.

    Plus, Rani does look like a total badass, so what’s not to like?

    And seeing that she’s promoting self-defense classes and all, why not just lump black-belt Rina Takeda in here. ‘Coz, duh! Rina Takeda would not only take Rani (or Madhuri or Priyanka) out, she would also take down SRK, probably Salman and maybe Akshay Kumar… though I may have read he knows martial arts or something? Maybe he was just a fan of Hong Kong martial arts movies…

  • 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.

  • Candid Joan~

    I don’t think you get to see this relaxed version of Joan Crawford very often. It’s so freaking rare that she allowed someone to photograph her like that, even if it was for Life Magazine. It’s almost as if early 1930s Joan was back.

    joan-crawford-eve-arnold-oct59

    More amazing photos over at JoanCrawfordBest.com

  • 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.