Tag: fandom

  • Yu Aoi and Satoshi Tsumabuki for Wakamonotachi

    Ugh, I love these guys together.

    wakamonotachi-2014-ep01-yu-aoi-satoshi-tsumabuki

    Soooooo much.


  • 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.


  • 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


  • Why Can’t We Have More of This: Yu Aoi + Kim Soo Hyun

    I didn’t realize this was THIS old, but why isn’t anything else happening with this much perfection together? Seriously. Nearly three years after the launch of Madfory magazine in October 2011. Three freaking years!

    madfory-oct11-yu-aoi-kim-soo-hyun

    You know you want it- another quirky romantic dramedy by Park Chan-wook starring these two.


  • Congratulations on your Happy Wedded Life, Zhou Xun and Archie

    A couple of hours ago Zhou Xun updated her Weibo page with a photo that currently has more than 150k likes, over 90k forwards, and a little over 40k comments… and that’s only counting on her page without other people’s forwards (I’ve seen Leehom and Shu Qi well-wishing) and other media.

    zhou-xun-archie-kao-wedding

    So Zhou Xun got married without fuzz [1], just like Gao Yuanyuan did with Mark Chao. Or maybe it seems without fuzz because I don’t bother reading celebrity gossip in Chinese… but I’ve seen people who do follow Chinese gossip surprised.

    In any case… congrats Zhou Xun and Archie!


  • I Need This in my Life

    Chris Li Yuchun, Amber, Jing Chang and BiBi together one one stage for once in my life. Not even performing together, just standing one next to the other.

    chris-li-yuchun-amber-jing-chang-bibi-zhou


  • BiBi with Dreadlocks for Unlock

    So apparently BiBi held a concert in Chengdu recently, and I went on a spazzy search because- Dude, BiBi in dreadlocks. Apparently, some of the wardrobe worn (at least the two more androgynous ones) were Yohji Yamamoto designs, including the one she’s wearing while in dreadlocks. It’s like- too many things are perfect in that combination.

    bibi-unlock-2014-dreadlocks-003

    There are loads of other photos and snapshots of the concert in this Weibo hashtag: #周笔畅unlock成都演唱会#

    All photo credits too all the people with their watermarks. All you lucky sons of guns.


  • From the Vault: Rani and Tabu

    Two of my faves… in an almost optical illusion snap with Yash Chopra, no? I remember I ran into this picture when I read someone freaking out at Sonam Kapoor’s feet size. Then someone mentioned Sonam is really tall and mentioned other tall people in Bollywood, that’s when I googled Tabu’s name + giant xD and ran into this:

    yash-chopra-rani-mukerji-tabu

    My first thought? “She IS a giant! She must be like six feet tall~” Then I remembered Rani is short, and all was well.

    This is how me and my friend must look like to other people. I even have the freshness to wear sneakers and flats all the time, my tininess had never bothered me for some reason, as I’ve always been one of the smallest kids in a class.


  • Khamatova for June’14 SNC Magazine et More

    Admittedly, I haven’t been hunting enough Chulpan Khamatova news, but I ran into this photoshoot she did for the current issue of SNC Magazine. Apparently there’s an interview to go with the photos (that feature kids from this agency), but I haven’t been able to find a translatable (or scanned) transcript of it.

    I also found out them Khamatova fans are really active on VK.

    Interestingly enough, I couldn’t find a photographer credit even though I did find the “assistant photographer” Pavel Vedenkin (Павел Веденькин).

    khamatova-snc-jun14-002

    Also, I ran into this kinda awesome (except for all the clips of The Sword Bearer) Chulpan Khamatova’s scattered filmography clip that’s not on YouTube. Nothing beats Khamatova dancing… specially in that veggie suit. PLUS! This animated short titled Anya by Damien O’Connor to support Irish charity To Russia With Love, which features -albeit for just a line or two- Khamatova’s voice. Both voices, if you know what I mean [1].

    Here’s the rest of the pictures I found: