Archives For musings

Look at Han Chaeyoung’s Face, tho~

I mean, really.

You can tell I’ve been watching a lot of Sister’s Slam Dunk lately; like- I’m not even waiting for subtitles to watch, and I re-watch the episode once again with subtitles once it’s uploaded on the KBS YT channel. I’m following Unnies on VLive LOL

Han Chaeyoung is so interesting ‘coz she’s so out of her element. I mean, everyone’s hilarious. Somi’s giraffe impression was so on point, Yewon’s dancing levels are top-notch (and her improvement levels is off the chart), Jinyoung’s levels of charisma is crazy, Kim Sook and Jinkyung continue being hilarious (Kim Sook continues to surprise), Minzy’s levels of professionalism and talent are apparent. However, the level of difficulty for Chaeyoung is very noticeable, which makes her the most endearing.

I mean, we all wish we could have Hong Jinkyung levels of confidence when singing and dancing LOL but we’re all so self-conscious, Chaeyoung is all of us. I mean, she’s Korea’s Barbie Doll, sure, but she’s all of us in the show, no?

Posted on May 2, 2017 In Celebrity, English, Korean, Photoshoots, Sharing, Television , , , , , ,
permalink Leave a comment

April Blessings~

April 17, 2017 — 2 Comments

It’s no longer Whee-in’s birthday in S.Korea, but it still technically is here— so, Happy Birthday Wheepup! You Spongebob-laughing tripe-and-raw-liver-eating laughing machine you. I still haven’t check out the recent Bday Vapp, but bless you, Mamamoo kids.

April started with blessings of Shiina Ringo releasing her concert DVD/Bluray Hyakkiyagyo 2015 (百鬼夜行2015) [which is the term used for onis, yokais, monsters and spirits whatevers doing a conga line through the night (LOL)]; then Gesu Kiwami are finally releasing their Daruma Ringo (達磨林檎) [which was supposed to released last year], which are set to be released in May. There were also announcements of a new BiBi album and a Mamamoo comeback.

Mamamoo, of course, have been blessing us all year— I’ve sorta lost track of the many song releases, but I’m pretty sure it was like this: LOVE for the Goblin OST, Solar’s collab with Luna and Hani for Honey Bee, Solar’s Emotion Part 4, San E’s collab with Hwasa in I Am Me, Jungkey’s son with Whee-in Anymore, Double Trouble Couple for the Strong Woman Do Bong Soon OST, and now eSNa’s collab with Hwasa Love Comes. Bless and poor, yo!

I’ve also just discovered DADARAY, Residente (otherwise known as the voice of Calle 13) released his new album [1]… and so did La Vida Boheme [1], Mary and the Witch’s Flower (メアリと魔女の花) LOOKS FREAKING AMAZING, I’ve been watching Sister’s Slam Dunk Season 2 and loving every minute of it, and Minzy’s made her official comeback with the release of Minzy Work 01 UNO and NINANO, as a main single.

Last night, of course, started with Minzy’s comeback, but got so much better with the announcement that Shiina Ringo did a CM for a Luxury Mall, but the song they did expanded into a digital single called Menukidori (目抜き通り), which is set to be released on the 20th, which is the day of the mall’s inauguration [1]. And then I found out that Jambinai released a new song called Damdamhi Jeogsigona (담담히 적시고나), which translates to “slightly wet,” which features the voice of folk singer Park Min Hee (박민희) [1].

Then I went to bed, and Mamamoo was in it. I talked (and laughed) a lot with Whee-in [this is the first time I interact, in broken English, with Mamamoo]. It was a party, and Shahrukh Khan was also there hahahahaha, so I got to shake his hand xD and then I went to talk to Hwasa, and she was telling me she was planning to come to Peru to visit Machu Picchu, so I was like- giving her tips. Sting was also there (so random!), and he had hair. HAHAHA.

Bless my Wheesa dream, though. Wheesa’s not my bias OTP, but bless them.

In Celebrity, Chinese, DVD/BR, English, Fun, Japanese, Korean, Music, Photoshoots, Sharing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Ginger Here, Ginger There, Ginger Everywhere~

January 3, 2017 — Leave a comment

Happy new year~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YO!

For the last couple of months, and ever since I started making my own chai at home, I’ve been obsessed over ginger. I’ve always been a fan of commercial ginger ale, but it was on my trip to Japan this past March when I had a cold bottle of Asahi Wilkinson Ginger Ale at Itasoba Kaoriya (板蕎麦 香り家) in Ebisu (Tokyo), a place for soba suggested by uzaigaijin. :P After that, I spent my whole trip having ginger ale in Japan, on top of bottled Kirin Milk Tea, lol

Since then, I’ve been having ginger tea, and now— my cousin has started making ginger ice-cream as per my request xD A couple of weeks ago, my mother came over with half a bottle of Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer, which is just carbonated ginger water with some sugar. They also offer a Ginger Ale, as well as a Light Ginger Beer, so maybe the spice flavor is more intense on this one. I loveeeeee it.

The only bad thing is that it’s imported, so it’s kinda expensive~ considering there’s tons of locally-grown ginger, but the food industry (as an industry, not small commerce) is so lacking. It pains me to see snacks, ice creams and sodas of the same flavors churned over and over again with a different name.

In English, Japanese, Products, Sharing, Spanish , , , ,
permalink

Kamathova, Mamamoo and Cranston! Oh, My!

December 9, 2016 — Leave a comment

What do Mamamoo and Chulpan Khamatova have in common? They all came together in a weird dream I had last night— now, the details are getting murkier, but I was walking down the street of the house where I used to live, which magically turned (I’m supposing) into some street/random place in Russia where I met Chulpan. What makes it all the more weird is that I haven’t seen Chulpan-related movies or series lately.

Suddenly we were at some high building which feature, I suppose, an incredible view of the city. It felt like we talked a lot in English… and French. I don’t even think Khamatova speaks French xD Mamamoo comes up over the fact that I, for some reason, tell Chulpan about Mamamoo. LOL AND Bryan Cranston comes up because he somehow got mad over the fact that I was talking to Chulpan about them. Hahahahaha. The dream made so little sense that the moment I woke up, I did so laughing.

In Celebrity, English, French, Fun, Korean, Photographs, Russian, Sharing , , , , , ,
permalink

Evan Rachel Wood Appreciation~

November 11, 2016 — Leave a comment

I had this picture stored for a couple of weeks already, and forgot to post. Over 13 years ago, I was a really REALLY big fan of Evan Rachel Wood xD It was probably during one of the seasons of Once & Again, I remember I’ve rented a whole bunch of her movies, so when I moved to Vancouver, I was ecstatic to be actually able to watch Thirteen on the big screen. During my time there, I probably watched all her movies at the cinema :P

evan-rachel-wood-600x800

It was on and off after leaving Canada, I still managed to watch a whole bunch of her films, but there was a period when I didn’t know anything about her. I didn’t know I missed her until I caught Into the Forest, and I was super psyched to hear that she was gonna be in HBO’s Westworld. Usually, HBO and I are not that compatible, but I caught the first episode [and read that list of actors, phew!], and I liked it quite a bit, so I’ll definitely catch the whole season when it’s done.

In Celebrity, English, Films, Photoshoots, Sharing, Television , , , , , , , ,
permalink

1000 Days of Xiami

October 10, 2016 — 1 Comment

I’m about to clock 1000 days on Xiami logins xD

xiami-1000-days

Sad for this excitement, I know. LOL But I get obsessive-compulsive over these things easily. I took a screen grab because I don’t know whether the count will reset to zero or continue. Back in March when I went to Japan, I told my friend to login for me, so I don’t lose my clocked days, and there was a weird bug that made the counter go back to zero, so we thought for a while that it was done. A couple of days later, it went back to normal :P

I’ve been using Xiami for a lot longer, of course. And gone are the days when you could find everything on the site for stream and download :P Though you can still find stuff and download, it’s often the case when albums are empty. Recently, Xiami has taken to just be able to stream music (which is better than having blank albums), without download capabilities— Faye Wong’s most recent track is only available for stream, so you gotta find it elsewhere if you want it. The site is still a great source for Chinese music, especially from the independent scene. However, now Xiami-approved artists are allowed to mark their music as only-Mi tracks, meaning that you have to have Xiami credit on your account and not download music from your VIP free-tracks perk or use your red envelopes (points).

Having said that~~~ I have like +500 points (you get points for single days and months counted, albums added and music shared, etc.) and haven’t used them in so long. What the heck~ What are the perks of the VIP account if you still gotta pay for the Chinese music that you download; at least make it so that you use twice or thrice the # of downloads for those.

I still haven’t figured out what the note reputation is (eg. Re*), but I’m just a few hundred away from reaching the other level. Increasing my stars is a little trickier because English reviews don’t get as many likes or comments. lol

Also~ OMO! 1000 days on the 10 of 10. xD

In Chinese, English, Music, Screencaps, Sharing , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

The Pop Cultural Relevance of Shunji Iwai’s Love Letter

September 20, 2016 — Leave a comment

Shunji Iwai’s neo-classical romance, Love Letter, about the woman who wrote letters to her deceased lover and got responses back, is over 20 years old now since its release. However, its mark as a pop culture reference across Asia is undeniable. In its time, the film made actress Miho Nakayama a household name, and it launched Shunji Iwai’s filmmaking career (and hence has given us: Ayumi Ito and Yu Aoi).

The film’s style and cinematography, courtesy of Noboru Shinoda (RIP) has inspired countless of filmmakers across East Asia who have headed to Otaru (小樽市) or other similar snowy places to capture the essence of the film [cue: 张一白 Zhang Yibai’s segment in Run for Love (奔爱), which featured Eddie Peng and Zhang Ziyi], and the classic (though simple) quote of “o-genki desuka?” (お元気ですか？) [1] has been referenced in various places…

Just look at the members of -relatively new- Kpop group G-FRIEND, who played a round of movie quotes to decide who would be the host of that specific One Fine Day episode’s segment (10 months after their debut). The group is formed by 6 young women, all who were born post-95. In fact, eldest member (and leader of the group), Sowon, was born almost 8 months after the release of Love Letter. But it is member Yuju (’97) who first references the movie with the knowledge of all the group.

one-fine-day-ep3-gfriend-yerin-sinb-yuju-shunji-iwai-ogenki-desuka-love-letter

So if you put your hands close together to shout out the words “o-genki desuka?” and the person in front answers back the same way with a “atashi genki desu.” That’s a Shunji Iwai shout-out to ya~

In Celebrity, English, Films, Japanese, Korean, Screencaps, Sharing, Television , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

September Fandom Crossover Musings~

September 12, 2016 — Leave a comment

Mina-san! Genki? Ha!

Forgive the complete absent from the blog recently (two entries last month, and this is the first one this month!), I’ve been generally “more busy” updating the MUBI (the site formerly known as The Auteurs lol) database than even actually keeping up with news (trailers/music) on YAM Magazine or watching movies and shows. I’ve also been occupied watching Korean shows, which tend to make everyone procrastinate. And it’s not like it was priority-watching, either~ I’ve been watching Solar and Eric Nam’s We Got Married episodes, but my favorite watch and re-watches was Mamamoo x GFRIEND’s Showtime.

I don’t actually stan GFRIEND, and I already have biases. Bless.

moonbyul-sinb-new-girl-crush

Bless, SinB. Bless SinB with Moonbyul, Bless New Crush Star. LOL

Continue Reading…

Pages: 1 2
In Celebrity, English, Films, Graphics, Japanese, Korean, Music, Screencaps, Sharing, Television , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

The Polite Fight for the Bill~

July 6, 2016 — 4 Comments

I just finally finished catching up to Fresh Off the Boat, and though it seems like there were a lot of filler episodes, there were actually a lot of more meaningful moments too. Of course, Chinese New Year celebrations was a major thing, but I also enjoyed the episode of Lao Ban Santa, which focused on Evan’s loss of innocence… alongside the development of his OBVIOUS gambling problem. First the bunny he lost to grandma in poker, now his Pogs. And his totally Machiavellian plans in the Jessica Place Melrose Place spoof.

And Emery gets his own development too! Loved that he was so devastated to find out his parents’ definition of romance, how we got to see him dealing with his anger and frustration, and his best moment having to deal with puberty.

I think I may have to write a review. xD

Anyway~ this post is because my life is literally the “polite fight” every single time we go out for lunch or dinner with my aunties.

Continue Reading…

In Chinese, Clips, English, Fun, Graphics, Screencaps, Sharing, Television , , , , ,
permalink

I could watch 2 hours of Mamamoo rehearsals~

I know it’s horrible to say this, but I’ve been wasting a lot of time watching (and re-watching) Mamamoo clips on YouTube — thank you, Mamamoo Trans, Mamamoo Comedy and Rara Dish. You’ve reduced my productivity hours. You guys are awesome and hilarious.

I’ve just re-watched this re-upload of MMMTV from 2014 near Xmas. It’s glorious, I could watch Mamamoo rehearse all those two hours without editing.

My dream is that Marca Peru, who has -for a number of failed years- tried to lure Asian tourist into the marvelous sights of our country, will get in touch with Mamamoo, pay them their sponsor fees on top of 3 months to tour the WHOLE country. Eat (weird things, among others)… because turns out Mamamoo girls love choncholi~ though they say they love “intestine soup” (it sounds to me like ‘desang tang’ but I couldn’t find the actual name of the dish) and we eat intestines more like their Gopchang Gui (곱창구이) counterpart.

Imagine three months of Mamamoo travel adventures sailing the Amazon river, sand-boarding, visiting the sea lions of Paracas, visiting Machu Picchu; eating anticuchos, choncholi, picarones, all our varieties of ceviche (conchas negras ‘black conch,’ paiche), Arequipa soups, Juanes, Tacacho with cecina, high on sugar of perfect manjar blanco, suspiro a la limeña, and enchant them with a their daily dose of Queso Helado (‘frozen cheese’ that is not literally frozen cheese, but just milk and cinnamon ice cream). Just feed Mamamoo and let them be hyperactive, record it and present it as a 15-episode variety program of cross-cultural integration between Marca Peru and the Visit Korea program.

End the thing with a small unplugged concert. Ta-da! Broadcast tourism program~

Or we can just get Donnie Yen.

Posted on May 9, 2016 In Celebrity, Clips, English, Fun, Korean, Music, Sharing, Torrents & Digital Streams , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink 1 Comment