Archives For dandelion (photobook)

Is It Yuuuuuuu?

November 29, 2013 — 8 Comments

I noticed a few people popping by searching for Yu Aoi, so I went looking for news on her tonight and I ran into this photo tagged with her name on Pinterest.

is-it-yu

If it is, in fact, Yu Aoi. This is the first time I haven’t recognized her in a photo. Not like I’m like an expert or anything (though I do daydream someone calls me for a documentary on her life LOL).

First- the hair throws me off. So it may be one of those rare instances. The themes and styles seem to fit, and the whole shoot gives you strong Dandelion vibes for some reason. But one of the reasons, I don’t think it is Yu-chan is because I don’t see her freckles. She has three particular spots that always show up on her photos: the two marks on the right side of her right eye (the ones that looked like Shiro), and the mark on her left cheek near her nose.

Top suspect? One of them Korean look-alikes [see also and this]. At first, I thought it could be Hwang Seung Un [1][CM], but after a quick read, I decided it’s more likely Son Soo Hyun [1]. Seriously, some of their similarities [check the Busker Busker MV] are uncanny.

I wouldn’t mind one of those crazy comedy projects in which the two of them play sisters but speak completely different languages when speaking to each other. Specially directed by Satoshi Miki.

DSC_0099

I know that except from my 5th Year Anniversary Wiki Update [1], things have been usually pretty quiet on the Yu front. It usually is pretty slow during these months, as Yu’s activities tend to pick up by August all the way into December, January and February.

Though my fandomess (that’s not even a word) has diminished, Yu still has a special place in my fangirly heart. I would totally be giddy with a new movie, and specially with starring on a new jdrama (as a lead, not guest). I’m not as an ardent fan of Yu’s passion for shaved ice, so those books are missing from my collection, as well as her first few photobooks. But as you can see, I’ve kept on supporting her any way I could.

I’m still waiting to catch Vampire. The Shunji Iwai Festival team on Weibo told me it would be “soon” when I get to catch it on a proper online channel, so I’m crossing my fingers.

I do miss that doki doki feeling I used to get when this fandom started. Maybe I’ll re-watch Osen to recapture that feeling. LOL

Yu-chan will be gracing the cover of H Magazine… again. She was previously on the cover with Ninomiya for a Tekkon photoshoot… and then she was on the Futari no H cover. I have never been able to find high quality scans of that Futari no H shoot… so if anyone has, let me know.

Also, a quick reminder~ Uso. has officially been released. You can get it through HMV Japan… though I pre-ordered it, and they emailed me with a delayed message. BAW~

On the Futari no H link, they mention Travel Sand and Yoko Takahashi. They say Yoko and Yu make up a dream team. xD They do create magic together. You can still buy Travel Sand [YesAsia][HMV JP][Amazon JP], and Dandelion [YesAsia][HMV JP][Amazon JP].

I think both books are pretty big sellers… it always goes out of stock, and if I recall correctly, my Travel Sand book (or is it my Dandelion one?) is already a second print.

Sep 11

Pimp the Blog!

From time to time, I link back to Julz blog, even though most her postings are now locked. What’s up with that, Julz? xD Anyway, I think it’s time to pimp blogs from time to time because, well… some blogs have simply good taste.

So I’m here to PIMP murmure*

murmure* is a Japanese blog in Japanese – don’t worry, you can still try to read it with Google translate – that talks about some different things, among those things are 3 mighty fine topics~~~

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Tsk, Tsk~ Photoshop…

August 17, 2009 — 2 Comments

I am a geek!
I use Photoshop like crazy.

Nowadays, I take loads more photographs than my student days, but to be honest, I hate re-touching photographs to get rid of wrinkles… or how I like to call them, expression lines.

I love funny faces, big smiles… but then again, I also delete minor things like distracting marks (if it’s too distracting) and choose over-exposed for light purposes, as well as soft light to decrease the hard shadows that make wrinkles pop out~ after all, women don’t like to see their wrinkles

black and white also works wonders~

one of the reasons why I love this photo of Heidi Klum, though this photo of Marion Cotillard is also a good one of a different type~ and just for the sake of crazy good looking faces, here’s Carmen Kass.

and Greta Garbo during her 1945 days~ I’ll love you forever, Greta xD

Anyway, what’s up with this post you say?

Well, photographer Peter Lindbergh speaks a bit about on this article by The New York Times – Smile and “Say No Photoshop” –  and I have some pics to illustrate his views… of not-retouched models! *legasp!*

“My feeling is that for years now it has taken a much too big part in how women are being visually defined today,” Mr. Lindbergh said in an e-mail exchange. “Heartless retouching,” he wrote, “should not be the chosen tool to represent women in the beginning of this century.”

Cindy Crawford by Peter Lindbergh

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A friend just forwarded me this link to
Polyvore~

Polyvore - Folk Contest

popbarb got inspired by Yu on Dandelion earning 3rd place.

Polyvore - Yu Aoi Folk

prefere fake-fur by popbarb.

Found this MTV – inside: Yu Aoi, that they probably aired for the release of Dandelion back in 2007 with photographer Yoko Takahashi (aka. Yoko-san) who photographed Yu on Travel Sand (USA, and a bit of Mexico) and Dandelion (Russia).

No subs, does anybody know what they are talking throughout all the video? After the break~

— June 18th 2009 EDIT —

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Okay, to make up for my badness (I am trying to make time here) I made another simple wallpaper. This time with a photo of Dandelion. Currently made it my wallpaper last night, and since the other became so popular… I decided to share this one too.

Aoi Yu - Dandelion

This is just to make up for the delay, while I find the time to re-watch Gaichu (Harmful Insect), which is the next film I will be adding to the “Yu Aoi Film Discussion” (which right now contain 3 films in watched-order). Since then, I decided to begin doing it on a more chronological order… except for the ones I haven’t watched, or am not so interested in watching, but probably will in the end~ who knows!

Enjoy  the wallpaper which is 1680×1050, but I’ve also got a fullscreen one sized 1280×1024, in case you want one…

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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Teehee, I was a bit out of the loop over the weekend, especially on Sunday when my cousin came over for a visit… and that’s when I quickly checked my email and found out that YesAsia had shipped my order!! Sugoi NE!

Best of all??? Someone has crossed their fingers for me, because Dandelion – Rhythmedia by rockin’ on publishing, which is another travel journal like Travel Sand but for Russia, has become available once again. If you have been following, I ranted a little bit because I had received an email saying that they couldn’t find the books in my order… but now, a week later~~~ here it is! Available once again!