Archives For musical/choreography

It’s 35 films this year! Woohoo! Well, not much to celebrate since some of those were really REALLY bad, but they count for the movie countdown~~~
In the meantime, I’ve decided to put my list of Best 2001 films.

It was really difficult to choose some, as I seem to not have seen many 2001 films, so many of my nominees are the same as the Oscar, I feel. Remembering the films made me remember about the first time I actively waited for the Oscar. I mean, the event in itself was something I did, but that year was the year I said I’m gonna watch the Oscar to see who will win. American Beauty won that year, as did Kevin Spacey and The Matrix. 1999 Films, wow~~~ I was 13 going on 14.

Anyway~ without further ado~~~

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I was looking back on music videos this past weekend (which, by the way marked amy-wong.com’s 4th anniversary) because I was watching Michael Jackson music videos and thinking “wow, how come I don’t like watching music videos now” – at least I don’t watch videos of most music I listen to in English, though I’m generally impressed with Asian Pop Music Videos.

When I was little, well… a pre-teen and teenage girl fuzzing about the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears with my friends at school, I began to notice director’s names. MTV (which I pretty much used to watch almost 24/7) used to show the Name of the Song + Name of the Artist + Name of Album + Name of Director. They did this until the beginning of 2002 or 2003 when the Director’s name suddenly disappeared from the credits. I dunno if it’s back, and I dunno if it was because I just went to Canada. LOL

One of the first names I noticed was, of course, Nigel Dick.

If I could describe Nigel Dick’s style of music-video-making when I was a kid, I would say “simply brilliant” – not because I was naive and didn’t really know much about the business, but because his videos were simple, but yet so full of life. Perhaps, the easiest way to show it is with a simple video such as Oasis’ Wonderwall.

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WOOOOOO!! A freakin’ year~~~~

Yu Aoi - Year One

Today a year ago, I was introduced to Yu Aoi’s work on Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou, and the Shunji Iwai-related Rainbow Song. Little did I know that the characters that interested me the most in the films were played by the same actress. Nine days later, I watched Hula Girls, and a month later I was completely hooked with Yu Aoi, and yet another Shunji Iwai film… Hana & Alice.

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Hmm… debating on what movie I should write about next. Need some time to ponder~~

In the meantime…

I’ll leave you with this cute CM for Shueisha, with the little kiddo with the bunny ears!!! Wahhhhhh, bunnies!!! I want those bunny ears hahaha. Oh yeah, also… Yu dances. I love it when she dances~~~ xD

https://youtu.be/K_rLpVUMfsE

Hana & Alice – Arabesque
Hula Girls
Hana & Alice – Not exactly dancing… but Relaxation method!!! LOL

kotoba, kotoba koto no ha
tada kotoba ga narande iru dake nanoni
sore wa namida o kobosaseru
sore wa ikite ikoukanatte kimochi ni saseru
sore wa atataka katari suru tada kotoba ga
narande iru dake nanda kedo
kotoba, kotoba koto no ha
natsu no owari ni sabishiku naru ryuu ga wakatta
kanashi sugite warattari suru ryuu ga wakatta
natsu ichiban, natsuichi
natsu ichiban, natsuichi
watashi wa sekai o tabisuru
kotoba o tsurete
watashi wa watashi o tabisuru
kotoba o tsurete
itsuka deau anata ni
itsuka deau sono toki
anata ni ageru kotoba o sagasou

I just found this~~~

The Go! Team’s Huddle Formation WB’s Popular Fan-vid xD

I never realized how much dancing was featured on the show~~ April Tuna and Mary Cherry kill me with theirs though.

TotalFilm.com has ranked Natalie as one of their best Sesame Street appearances xD Yes, the one with the elephant… cute as a button. I always thought Sesame Street (aka. Plaza Sesamo) was a pretty good kid’s show… and I always thought Elmo was cute, plus! he doesn’t speak like a stupid Teletubbie. “nuff said.

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/4y-b9cjaxVs?rel=0″]

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Okay, if you haven’t read the Quickie one, do so here

I needed some time to find the setlist, which I couldn’t really find so you’ll have to rely on my memory and how it connects the online videos of the concert. Lucky for you, Wikipedia did a fairly good job… I think.

Here’s the songs that were played:

  1. Larger than Life/Everyone/Any Other Way
  2. You Can Let Go/Unmistakable/I Want it that Way
  3. She’s like the Sun – Howie’s Solo
  4. Show me the Meaning of Being Lonely
  5. More than That
  6. Spanish Eyes
  7. Trouble Is
  8. Incomplete
  9. Drive by Love – AJ’s Solo
  10. Panic
  11. Blow your Mind/I Got You – Nick’s Solo
  12. Quit Playin’ Games (With my Heart)/As Long as You Love Me/All I Have to Give
  13. Nunca te Hare Llorar/I’ll Never Break your Heart
  14. Inconsolable
  15. Welcome Come – Brian’s Solo
  16. The One/Treat me Right/The Call
  17. Everybody
  18. Shape of my Heart (Encore)

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A little about the film:
(from Wikipedia)
It’s a 2006 Japanese-award-winning film based on true events of a small coal mining town facing the shut down of the mine, and looking at the loss of +2000 jobs. While all the grownups seemed to be fuzzing about the future of their coal-legacy, a young group of girls see a gleam of hope in the opening of The Hawaiian Center, and hula dancing.

Genre: Drama, Comedy and dancing!
Starring: Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Yu Aoi, Eri Tokunaga, Shoko Ikezu & Shizuyo Yamazaki
Duration: 2hrs

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When I watched Memories of Matsuko, there was one scene when Matsuko’s life was already going to the gutters, she was lying on the garbage bags, and she was watching TV. I immediately recognized the song as an Okaasan to Issho song… today I decided to look for it, and found it!

Okaasan to Issho 1999 song, at first I thought it was a Takoyaki Mambo song, but I was lucky enough to find it on a website listing all the songs. Video and Romaji after the break!
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Dancer in the Dark by Lars Von Trier remains my favorite film since the day I first saw it at the movies. I was still in high school, and it marked a totaly shift on the way I watch films… you know? Before this film, I was your most ordinary teenager… I was all about Romantic Comedies, Teenage Comedies, and did totally dismiss many other films~~ Until this film.

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