Tag: india

  • My 2015 Letterboxd Year in Review

    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.

  • I’m Ready for Yeh Fitoor~

    You probably know I’m excited for Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor, of course, mainly because of Tabu xD but also because of the whole tortured emo broken-heart soul of the story. Plus, it’s Amit Trivedi’s music. I was (and usually always am) less excited about the leads… even less with Katrina “I can’ts but I tries” Kaif. Like- I don’t even know why I sat down to watch Phantom, because that’s hilarious.

    But I’m always surprise to hear people saying that Katrina sucks at dancing… because I’ve never seen that. I think the first time I saw her was in YRF’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and — okay, I was mostly in love with Saans [clip] because that’s a damn good sexy song. LOL — but I don’t remember her sucking in the Ishq Shava [clip] number at all. In fact, I remember I actually said she wasn’t a bad dancer.

    And I know everyone EVERYONE loves to hate and hates to love Sheila Ki Jawani [clip], but it appears on so many movies I’ve come to accept its catchy qualities despite movie and content. And even then when it appears people say she’s not a good dancer, she dances alright.My Kaif knowledge ain’t extensive, but even in Dhoom 3 [Kamli][Dhoom Machale Dhoom], she does totally fine. I can’t picture her at all doing Indian dance, but she totally nails modern and contemporary.

    They looked pretty good doing this. Who choreographed it?

  • Indian Cinema of 2015

    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

     

  • New Year Resolutions and Favorite Films!

    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.

  • Top50 Songs of 2015

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

    yammag-amys-top50-songs-2015

  • Anushka Sharma for the Film Companion’s FaceTime

    Anupama Chopra’s Film Companion just published their interview with Anushka Sharma, where she talks about being an actress in the Indian film industry, Hollywood gender numbers, being a producer and a public figure. It all comes down to the simple~

    At the end of the day you want respect.

    It’s a big on the long side (33min. long), but it’s worth it. Anushka is really outspoken and it’s great to listen to with her back and forth with Anupama.

  • Las Alternativas de Comida Asiática Sin Chifa de Lima

    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%.

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  • Tabu for Filmfare Nov’15 by Vivek Bhatia

    It was Tabu’s birthday yesterday, so happy birthday!

    The web was flooded with wishing-well graphics and trivia posts of some of the same-old same-old trivia bits. The best one was Jitesh Pillai [1][2] who shared some photos of the new issue of Filmfare Magazine– Tabu has a couple of pages in a shoot by Vivek Bhatia [Facebook], there doesn’t seem to be an interview, just a photoshoot of four shots with short texts.

    — May 8th, 2016 edit —

    I don’t know why I was under the impression that Vivek Bhatia was in charge of the photoshoot. Correction: these photos were by Abhay Singh.

    tabu-filmfare-2015-vivek-bhatia-003

    She gets up with the morning’s prayer on her lips… and the night’s pleasure in her eyes.

    Is that suggestive or is that suggestive?

    And the cherry on top? The Filmfare issue also includes a short 10-trivia article on Vidya Balan with photos by Rohan Shrestha [used here][and here]. However, it doesn’t seem to be connected to this mysterious photoshoot that I loved so much. My favorite bit about that?

    If there are no subtitles in an English film, then I don’t enjoy watching it. The actors speak so softly that I can’t understand the dialogue. I hate to miss even a single word.

    There’s so many mumblers, nowadays. I do watch everything with subtitles— English, Spanish, French, Portuguese… in that order, and if there’s none available in those, I’ll try to wing it in Chinese.

     

  • Samsung Smart Convertible Refrigerator

    Holy shit!? Is this a thing? I could only find the Frigidaire that changes the freezer into a refrigerator and vice versa [1], but they’re not giving you extra space… just switching one for the other. my kitchen tech is way behind the times, since I still use the same microwave we bought like 25 years ago, and our refrigerator is -at least- 18 years old. LOL

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz7NSbaLk58

    Here’s another CM. Seems to be only available in India, for now.

    And this seems super cheap- the most expensive one (480L) is 65,000 Rupees, which at the moment is about a bit over $1k USD. That’s like half or a third of what one of those double-door refrigerators that waste a lot of space because they give you the illusion of giving you loads of compartments is. The 322L one is only a bit more than $650USD. THAT’S FRIGGING CRAZY.

    That’s like buying an iPhone, no? FML. Two 64GB iPod Touch, and maybe two 16GB iPad mini 4. For that, you can buy an appliance. Geez~

    xD

  • Konkona Sen Sharma for Nayantara’s Necklace

    I’m enjoying all these liquor short films [1] that are coming up. I don’t even drink. This time around Indian actresses Konkona Sen Sharma and Tillotama Shome are two neighbor friends despite their seemingly different personalities for a short sponsored by Seagram’s Royal Stag.

    Directed by Jaydeep Sarkar, the short seems to come as… sort of a clash with the image of a whisky brand. But I’ll take it.

    The struggle of concealing one’s self.

    Really hard-hitting ending.