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Happy late holidays and New Year, everyone!

My most awaited Letterboxd e-mail came yesterday with my 2019 movie-data. Though my writing input has definitely not improved, cutting down on Mamamoo stuff has increased my movie watching habits, for sure.

Compared to 2018, I logged 480 films (though over 50 or even many more could be short films), which represents a 23% increase. In terms of hours, there was an increment of over 100hrs or 16%. This increase still doesn’t match my 2015 levels, when I reached 530 logged films (9.5% short) or clocked 959hrs (14% short)… but it’s getting there. I am still at 2017 New-To-Me level of movies, though.

My most-watched actor was Glenn Close because I went on a marathon of her movies because I really thought that she could win the Oscar, not that I wasn’t pleasantly surprised to see Olivia Colman win for The Favourite. And Francois Ozon was my most-watched director because MUBI programmed many of his films, including Les Amants Criminels, Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Young & Beautiful, and L’Amant Double.

And as my writing output has been so poor, I haven’t written any End of the Year (or Decade) posts. Gomen.

I haven’t had much time or chance to watch Yuki Tanada’s movies, and I’m still trying to catch up with recent Yu Aoi movies… BUT! Issei Takahashi has really sneaked into my Jdrama catching up. Incredible rise to fame.

And Yu Aoi Is Married~

June 5, 2019 — 1 Comment

No, it’s not a joke either, despite all the people doing double-takes when we all saw her name and her now-husband’s name, comedian Yamasato Ryota (山里亮太), trending worldwide on Twitter.

After apparently two-months of dating, Yu Aoi and Ryota Yamasato submitted their marriage registration on June 3rd. They were apparently introduce by Yu-chan’s Hula Girls co-star Shizuyo Yamazaki (山崎静代), who is also Yamasato’s comedic partner in their comedy duo [1].

Here’s a picture of the both of them on some variety they did not so long ago.

Congratulations! Took us all by surprise!

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Verve Magazine has a wonderful cover this month featuring Tabu — shot by Bikramjit Bose [Website][Instagram], because the promotions for Andhadhun [Trailer][1][2] are on full steam. I hope someone gets to scan it, ‘coz lol where to get a single issue.

Why Tabu Prefers Flying Solo.

Rajeev Masand also just posted a +40min. interview with Tabu, and has her overview her 10 favorite roles in her +80-film filmography. Her long-time favorite roles make it, of course. It makes for a great Beginner’s Guide to Tabu, except I’m not a big fan of Biwi No. 2 lol — Don’t judge me, I laughed so much more to Saajan Chale Sasural xD, and I was quite lukewarm with Cheeni Kum.

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I’m a Ni Ni stan now, have I mentioned it before? No? I really REALLY enjoyed watching Mo Zhang’s Suddenly Seventeen (28岁未成年). The ending is a bit straight rom-com, but Ni Ni— Woah. She was amazing.

Cfensi has always loved Ni Ni, so she’s also gushing about this new photoshoot for The New York Times Travel Magazine by photographer Yin Chao (尹超), centered on Nanjing Girls and also featuring actresses Hai Qing, Yang Zishan and Mei Ting, as well as model Bonnie Chen.

The favorite shot, tho, the watermelon one~ xD

You can also follow Yin Chao’s activities on his studio’s Weibo— SUPERSTUDIO.

Also, I haven’t even gone through 5 episodes of Lost in 1949 (脱身), but I’m looking forward to Rise of the Phoenixes (天盛长歌) :)

I’m about to finish watching Stories By Rabindranath Tagore, which has some episodes directed by Anurag Basu— an anthology of some of Tagore’s short stories. One of my favorite episodes has been Mrinal ki Chitthi (ep19), which stars Amrita Bagchi. I’m usually really good with faces that I see in other movies, but I honestly just vaguely remember her face in Phobia and Meri Pyaari Bindu. I must be getting old.

There’s a series of photos by Shivaji Storm Sen. This is my favorite, tho~

GINZA has just published a piece titled REDI no Shozo (レディの肖像, Portrait of a Lady) by Tomoko Kurose; and two black & white shots by Yasuhide Kuge. It’s a rare interview because it’s actually readable in Google Translate, lol. She talks about taking photos (she’s bad at it), what feelings she gets shooting movies and working on stage, how she perceives herself, a bit on her childhood, her work on voice-acting for animation… some talk on Penguin Highway and her speech for the Japanese Academy Award win where she talked about movies and being bullied.

Give it a read.

Amy the celebrity-endorsements-don’t-work-on-me is back XD and must reveal that now I drink much more caffeine than before (I blame Turkish coffee) and I’ve been drinking Soju. Damn it, Korea. And I begin talking about drinks because Yu-chan has a brand new sponsor in Asahi for their Asahi Mogitate (アサヒもぎたて) campaign. “Mogitate” means “fresh-picked,” and it’s the name of their new ‘ready-to-drink’ (RTD) product— Chuuhai aimed at women. The err… Drinks Association in Australia (?) has a really explanatory post on Asahi’s road to design the perfect RTD that women (and men) want to buy.

I didn’t know the beer market in Japan had been shrinking. This is first news to me. Recommended watch: The Birth of Sake. Also, you gotta read about the Japanese whisky market and prices. Japan and their collectors’ stuff.

Chuuhai, on the other hand~~~

I do wonder if Yu-chan still sponsors Kirin xD

Here’s the most recent one titled Mogitate and Summer Veggies Curry (もぎたてと夏野菜カレー)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QME4RowP8AU

There’s also a Making Of xD

The first one out back in early May is called Mogitate and Young Bamboo Shoots (もぎたてと白子たけのこ) after the break~

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I’ve been watching NHK’s asadora, Hanbun Aoi (半分、青い。), intermittently like I always tend to do. At first, Mei Nagano made me think of a grown-up Ashida Mana which made no sense… even though Mana-chan is enormous and the last time I saw her it made me feel like those parents who watch their children turn into teenagers in horror. lol

But now I was watching the most recent episode of Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kanpai (鶴瓶の家族に乾杯) on NHK Premium, and she was featured wearing an up-do samurai bun, white baggy clothes; so relaxed, enjoying her snacks, a dip of her feet in onsen water, greeting fans and playing other young girls. Dorky charisma, yo~ It takes a special ability to have people younger than you to “kawaiiiiiiiiii” you so sincerely. LOL

*(%&#*&$(#*&$*#&%*(
expletive~

YAS~

Any Isabella is better than no Isabella at all.