Archives For amy wong

Oh, man~ I got it bad~~~

Look who’s totally officially a Moomoo. First time ever with a Kpop group, too!

amy-the-mamamoo-moo

Bonus of Su Yunying, though~

But I’m totally rocking the radish onesie!

Kigurumi is probably out of stock again.

My Life in Movies

February 5, 2016 — Leave a comment

Will also keep this updated.

*Updated every February 5th.

Customary MUBI list.

I know… Letterboxd is trying to get me to pay~~~

Though I’m still kinda mad that they reset my movie-view count a few couple of hours before midnight, I do kinda appreciate their stats~

letterboxd-2015-review

Being the obsessive compulsive person that I am, I was kinda disappointed that I didn’t reach my 1000hrs of movie-watching, but was also glad because it turns out I’ve spent like 11% of my year watching movies. That’s like more than a whole month during a year. I’m so glad I’ve taken up exercise while watching movies xD

According to this, my bias Zhao Wei was my Most Watched Actor –though I’m missing actual numbers, I think I saw 8 films with her (including cameos) — and about 6 Anurag Kashyap movies (without the ones he’s produced). That doesn’t match the 23 movies I watched of Tabu in 2014 (LOL), and the 13 movies prior to that.

But overall, these skin-deep newsletter shows a good reflection of my movie-watching~ a little bit Chinese, a little bit Indian, a little bit European, a little bit of animation, and some Taiwanese melancholic rom-com.

Indian Cinema of 2015

December 29, 2015 — 2 Comments

I already published my list of 2015 Best Films, now I’m just segregating all the content from each other. I even have my Top10 Films Directed by Women.

The journey, you guys, the journey is two-and-a-half years old [1][2][3][4][5] already and counting. I’m no longer tracking what I’m watching because it got way too complicated. And though the number of Indian films I get to watch is minuscule to the actual output; at 38 films this year (of 203), it’s the most I’ve seen in a year. It’s almost one movie a week (!!) and it almost reaches my mark of 46 (of 274) of last year. And it totally surpasses my 33 mark in 2013 when I started it all.

*Note: Though 113 films (over 55% of the list) is English-based, not all of them are Hollywood movies. The number also considers UK, Canadian, Irish and Australian productions and some other mix-and-match co-productions.

Of course, I’m way more comfortable navigating mainstream Hindi cinema than I am Tamil or other industries. But Anupama Chopra has just released her video of the Best and Worst of Hindi Cinema in 2015, so I got inspired to have my own segregated list. xD

The Best of Indian Cinema 2015

  1. Dil Dhadakne Do (dir. Zoya Akhtar)
  2. Talvar (dir. Meghna Gulzar)
  3. Piku (dir. Shoojit Sircar)
  4. Masaan (dir. Neeraj Ghaywan)
  5. Dum Laga Ke Haisha (dir. Sharat Katariya)
  6. NH10 (dir. Navdeep Singh)
  7. Margarita, with a Straw (dir. Shonali Bose)
  8. Bajrangi Bhaijaan (dir. Kabir Khan)
  9. Baahubali: The Beginning (dir. S.S. Rajamouli)
  10. Angry Indian Goddesses (dir. Pan Nalin)

The Worst of Indian Cinema 2015

  1. Dirty Politics (dir. K.C. Bokadia)
  2. Badlapur (dir. Sriram Raghavan)
  3. Phantom (dir. Kabir Khan)
  4. Katti Batti (dir. Nikhil Advani)
  5. Hawaizaada (dir. Vibhu Puri)

Haha, Kabir Khan in both lists xD

Still Pending~

  • Aligarh
  • Ayal Njanalla
  • Bajirao Mastani
  • Charlie (dir. Martin Prakkat)
  • Dilwale
  • Dhanak
  • Kothanodi
  • Main Aur Charles
  • Orange Mittai
  • Premam
  • Shaandaar
  • Tamasha
  • Thani Oruvan
  • Thoongaa Vanam
  • Umrika
  • Zubaan

 

Merry Christmas, everyone! I spent all day listening to Xmas music xD

During this year’s family dinner, I made a decision on my New Year resolution- I bow to try to not be a moral superior asshole in discussions. And I kowtow to those I had ugly discussions with (if any), if I ever made you scream at your screen- I’m sorry. I had an ugly discussion about food! FOOD! A discussion on food got ugly! LOL It was like being on an internet forum, and I kept feeding the troll. I’m sorry.

Anyway~

Today I decided to not stress over my End of the Year list any longer, so I finally published my list of Favorite Films of 2015~

amys-favorite-2015-films

I managed to get 195, without counting the films that I didn’t rank because I don’t rate certain documentaries. I managed to squeeze in Carol, The Revenant, and Spotlight… which did almost crack my Top10 Films in English. I wonder if I hadn’t post the list, if it would’ve placed differently.

Oh, that also means that, just like my movie collection, I’ve segregated my lists by languages. There’s a general list, but also included lists for films in English, Chinese/Mandarin, Indian, Latino and Miscellaneous languages, which includes all languages that I didn’t watch enough films for a proper Top10.

It’s out, it’s out! You know what to do~

yammag-amys-top50-songs-2015

Yup, once again~

Back in 2010, the YAM Magazine website was launched officially— it was my grandpa’s 5th death anniversary. Today, it’s his 10th year anniversary… also it’s the 5th YAM web anniversary! Numerology galore~~~

Anyway~ I posted my 2015 music highlights~ early, once again. There were a few albums of my biases, but most of these picks are new people I’ve begun following this year. So… happy listening!

amys-2015-music-highlights

Hace años luz que no escribo algo en español (o contundente) en este blog.

¿Por qué el título de “las alternativas asiáticas sin chifa“? Porque tengo cierto nivel de ética pues. Muchos de nosotros tendremos nuestros favoritos (cuando escribimos de películas, de música, de actores, etc.), si un bloguero/periodista/crítico es amigo/conocido del tema principal de una publicación, pues es ético decir “Es mi pata. Yo lo conozco.” Será por eso… o ¿sencillamente será porque no me gusta conocer gente y disfruto de ser introvertida?

La cosa es que, los que me conocen saben que tengo relación con uno o más chifas– familiares, amigos, amigo de un amigo, primos de un amigo, etc. Así que es por eso que ésta es la lista de comida asiática en Lima sin contar los miles de restaurantes chinos que hay. ¡Bada-bim bada-boom!

alternativas-asiaticas-de-lima-comida

A mi me gusta comer… no desde hace mucho— como todos (o la mayoría), era quisquillosa. Al graduarme de la secundaria, me fui a vivir a la ciudad canadiense de Vancouver (casi) por mi cuenta; primero, con una tía abuela, y luego sola. Ser quisquilloso (hasta los 17 años) para comer en una ciudad como Vancouver es difícil, especialmente si no sabes cocinar y todos tus amigos han crecido comiendo cosas distintas. Fue ahí, sorprendentemente, que creo que me convertí en foodie. Poco a poco, pero llegué.

Desde mi regreso, el boom gastronómico no solo se dio en la cocina peruana tradicional— todos le damos fuerte; los anticuchos, el ceviche, un buen shambar, o un buen juane con su presa de gallina. ¡Uy! El boom gastronómico también se dio en la comida asiática. Ayuda que el Kpop haya entrado con fuerza con el Hallyu Wave, pero también la colonia japonesa se abrió al paladar… aunque no estoy segura si atribuírselo al anime.

Así que comencemos… ésta es una lista de años de investigación. No hay ni una lista publicada que ofrezca tantas opciones, y por supuesto- como tomó tanto tiempo, muchas de las listas originales ya han cambiado. ¡Ja! Pero la mayoría se ha mantenido en un 90%.

Continue Reading…

My Life in Music

August 2, 2015 — Leave a comment

Will keep this list updated here.

One go, not much thinking and over-thinking. Yup, this looks about right.

amys-15-years-of-oscar

  • 2000 – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • 2001 – Moulin Rouge!
  • 2002 – Gangs of New York
  • 2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (because I have to)
  • 2004 – Finding Neverland
  • 2005 – Munich
  • 2006 – Letters from Iwo Jima
  • 2007 – There Will Be Blood
  • 2008 – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  • 2009 – District 9
  • 2010 – Toy Story 3 (because you HAVE TO)
  • 2011 – Midnight in Paris
  • 2012 – Life of Pi
  • 2013 – 12 Years a Slave
  • 2014 – Boyhood

I struggled a little with LotR and (maybe) Toy Story, but I’ll give it to them anyway~ I’m also a bit lukewarm about Finding Neverland and Midnight in Paris, and I totally warmed up to Life of Pi… though I don’t mind Argo. With Boyhood over Whiplash (despite me liking the other one better xD), it makes the list a lot more larger than life.