Archives For musings

We Need a Revamp of the Razia Sultan Story

October 28, 2014 — Leave a comment

After the Razia Sultan movie starring Hema Malini back in 1983, the story needs a modern international-money-backed re-vamp… and Tabu should play her, am I right or am I RIGHT?

tabu-for-razia-sultan-right

Tabu is practically aching to do heavy action on a film (she just wants an action film really… I would put her as Wonder Woman if I could), and though ideally you’d pick an Indian director (Ashutosh Gowariker and Santosh Sivan come close to grand-scale production without the Sanjay Leela Bhansali masala), I’d like to see a full-on international production maybe at the hands of John Woo (enormous scale and grand battles a la Red Cliff are of his fancy nowadays) or have Tabu back with Ang Lee, or go the Korean route with Kim Han-min (War of the Arrows), Kang Je-Gyu (Tae Guk Gi) or Kim Sung-su (The Warrior).

I know Tabu chooses projects at times with set comfort in mind, and I don’t know how the others are on set (you don’t want one that’s as extreme as Von Trier… or such an asshole as David O. Russell LOL), so Lee would be a safe bet. Or… we could go the American-Indian, British-Indian or Indo-Canadian way. Asif Kapadia is looking like a good choice.

Historical political action drama sounds good, avoiding to outright do a dancing sequence unless it’s a court sequence and it’s not Tabu doing it. LOL

Ever since she said she wants to do an action film, I’ve been trying to think of a project for her to do… even though she wouldn’t be my first choice of an action star. But if she wants to put in the work for it, who are we to deny her wishes, right?

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I keep seeing~

… the phrase “korea’s Aoi Yu” or its actual 韓国の蒼井優, kankoku no aoi yuu. And, no- just no. If there has to be a Korean version of Yu-chan, it has to be this one only. xD Just saying. I mean, come on~

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Yu-chan’s all fresh-faced one and only xD

I do love her hair at that length. She was also sporting it in a recent appearance on Kuwazugirai [1], where she mustered once again that she’d be probably rubbish playing poker because she can’t even keep a straight face when eating a hard-boiled egg, which she is literally suffering to do. It’s quite hilarious.

Posted on October 24, 2014 In Celebrity, English, Japanese, Korean, Photoshoots, Sharing, Television , , , , , ,
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Filhaal: That’s Not Subtext at All~

October 17, 2014 — Leave a comment

filhaal-sushmita-sen-tabu-010

I remember I was watching Filhaal… and thinking to myself that I obviously didn’t have any amazing great female friendships -despite my support for female friendships on film- because I didn’t know anyone that I would mother a baby for nor be comfortable enough to ask to mother one for me. When Sushmita Sen’s character tells Tabu’s that she’ll mother her baby, I was saying “oh, girl~ you’re just asking for trouble.” xD However, through all the complications in their relationship and interaction, I kept saying “I gotta admit, that’s pretty gay.” LOL

Though Wikipedia or IMDb don’t list it as a connection, according to this (sometimes grasping-at-straws) list of 100 Queer Films of India [Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4] calls it a -sorta- adaptation of Chutney Popcorn, except Filhaal… takes (or tries to take) the gayness out of it. It’s like Pre-Code films all over again, but I gotta admit- kinda fun. Plus, Tabu looks really REALLY good on the Le Chalen Doliyon [clip] number, which also features pretty flashy cinematography even if it doesn’t reach Meenaxi levels.

And despite not warming to Sushmita Sen over Main Hoon Na or Biwi No. 1 (come on, you can’t expect me to fall for that, right?), I did enjoy her chemistry with Tabu here enough to watch her episode on Comedy Nights with Kapil and actually get to like her.

Looking at these captures, you’d think Tabu just fathered this child, LOL and they’re all playing Hebe Tien’s Love! [MV]:

I love you
You love her
She loves her
She loves him

[1]

In DVD/BR, English, Films, Fun, Misc., Screencaps, Sharing , , , , , ,
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The Girl and Her Dad

The Boy and the World screen print that reminded me of my dad, who is ‘turning one-year old’ this week. Us, sitting together and looking up at the sky.

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But you know what takes the cake? O Menino e o Mundo opened in Brazil on my dad’s bday: January 17th. You gotta be kidding me.

Posted on September 21, 2014 In English, Films, Illustrations, Misc., Screencaps, Sharing , , , , , ,
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How Languages Evolve

It’s always interesting to see educational (short) clips about different languages; did you guys ever see the one about the guy that could speak like 20 languages? At that time, my niece (6) and nephew (5) were struggling with picking up Italian and English at school, while they spoke Spanish and Swedish at home. That was, of course, on top of their other school subjects like math, because schooling is just incredibly ridiculous nowadays.

The only bad thing about the clip is the incredibly boring tone of the voice over. In any case, I thought it was funny they lumped Mandarin, Cantonese, etc into one big chunk of Chinese language. I thought the formal label was “Sino-Tibetan language,” even though Tibetan feels more like it would be more like Indo-Aryan, no? Isn’t Sanskrit both part of Tibetan and Indo-Aryan languages? Sighs.

I don’t exactly understand how branching works with languages, how does Indo-European come about? Isn’t that like stretching things out? What would languages like Spanish, German and Hindi have in common with each other? And how does Japonic or Koreanic come about? And how do they have more in common with Mongolian than with Chinese?

Posted on September 10, 2014 In Chinese, Clips, English, French, Illustrations, Japanese, Korean, Misc., Russian, Sharing, Spanish, Swedish , , , , ,
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Yu Aoi for Chanel J12 White

September 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’m starting to feel… as a Yu Aoi fan, that I’m out of a job. Though I’d like to believe that the information I add to the Yu Aoi posts I publish have a little something extra. I mean, I really don’t have any other reason as to why I wasn’t aware of these photos (et more) from two years back. Plus, there are tons and tons of Yu Aoi related Tumblr pages [tag][1][2][3].

However, the craziest one I found was sorekara’s aoi-yu-tagged stuff. There are tons of photos of Yu with her shorter hair in shoots and ads, there’s older photos that I had only seen in tiny version, there’s old photos that I wasn’t aware of. I’m old, and I don’t have the will to get a Tumblr account to follow.

You can’t even subscribe by tags! Anyway~

I couldn’t find the photographer, but this Chanel product placement on the Special section of Vogue’s Dec’12 issue is called 『True White 白という名のモダニティ。』 promoting the J12 White Chanel watch series that costs a fraction of your car (if you use one) — priced between 3.3k pounds to 10k.

Hahaha. I mean, seriously, who would’ve thought 100 years ago that needle watches would become a status symbol.

The concept was that Yu Aoi personifies the concept of the (truthful) pure, modern woman image. And the website is still active, though I had some trouble getting the actual link. And you know what it is with them Flash-based websites, it will eventually go offline- so people took screencaps~

Plus! No one like Vogue to style your fresh short hair.

yu-aoi-true-white-shiro-toiu-chanel-dec12-003

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Revamped Indian Film Journey

August 10, 2014 — Leave a comment

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.

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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.

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In Progress: 2014 Film Count

This is the first time in my movie-counting life that I’ve seen over 50 movies by the middle of the year. As a general number, I picked 48 a year, to make sure I -at least- watched one film a week for my end of the year list.

amys-2014-film-count

There’s a LOT of bad and meh movies so far, but there’s also a decent Top10. Not unbelievable, but decent. It’s a working one that would do for a Dec.31 or Jan.01 publishing date. LOL

Posted on July 20, 2014 In Chinese, DVD/BR, English, Films, French, Jobs, Misc., Screencaps, Sharing, Spanish, Torrents & Digital Streams , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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These Are My Movie Dads of 2013

… or maybe I’m just projecting too much, but I thought 2013 had a lot of Father/Son-Daughter relationship movies. Even when it wasn’t literally a blood-relation, like in the more clear case between Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi (et Ashida Mana) in Pacific Rim, or the more blurred relationship between Jiao Xu with Mr. Go in Mr. Go.

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I cried in a couple of these ones, but I won’t tell you which. LOL

From left to right, top to bottom: Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son; Miracle in Cell No. 7; Metro Manila; Pacific Rim; Saving Mr. Banks; Silent Witness; About Time; Police Story 2013; Instructions Not Included; and Mr. Go.

Posted on July 9, 2014 In Chinese, English, Films, Graphics, Japanese, Korean, Sharing, Spanish, Stills , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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I’ve Been Wanting It That Way for 15 Years

This YouTube thing telling me I should maybe “watch” some videos that I had already watched had me clicking on the BackStreet Boys’ I Want It That Way,because… WHY NOT? — turning me into a 15-year-old all over again.

Actually, I was a lot younger. I was probably closer to 13, but you can’t really tell considering distribution wasn’t instant back then. My English skills weren’t consistent back then, and I remember we’d all share the lyrics to the song from an ex-classmate that was visiting when she’d left for the US. Printed out emails to share lyrics. xD

Up until these days, whenever I listen to songs of the 90s, it’s likely I have to stop what I’m doing and sing at the top of my lungs… even though I can’t reach the notes any longer. LOL I also can’t sing along while doing choreography either. xD I also don’t bother to learn lyrics of songs either. It’s not only because 80% of the music I listen to now it’s in a language I can’t converse in, there’s also the amount of music that needs to be heard.

It’s not because I’m old or anything xD

No~~~ ;P

Posted on June 26, 2014 In English, Music, Music Videos, Sharing , , ,
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