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We Are More by Shane Koyczan

February 15, 2010 — 3 Comments

One of the most “proud to be Canadian” moments at the Winter Olympics Opening, even if you’re not Canadian, was the moment Canadian slam poet, Shane Koyczan, took the stage with his “love song” to Canada “We Are More.”

CTV took some time to catch up with Shane after his presentation.

How does that feel?

I’m honestly flabbergasted. I don’t know how to react. All I can really say is thank-you, and those words never seem to suffice because I want to express the totality of my gratitude, but I don’t have much more to offer than thank-you. I guess it’s like I said in the poem: please and thank-you.

In English, Screencaps, Sharing, Television canada, interview, sporting events

Vancouver Olympics – Opening 2010

February 13, 2010 — 2 Comments

Did you watch the Vancouver Olympics Opening? Sadly, Peru… especifically America Television, even though they’ve got the rights, they’ve only done a 1hr cap of the whole opening. So I ended up watching on ESPN, which wasn’t much better. One, it’s fullscreen instead of wide. Plus, the guys couldn’t shut up on the first part of the show.

I will post cool photos if I find them.

The show was nice. Living in Vancouver, I did get a bit emotional, but not as emotional as I got on Beijing 2008. However, Vancouver did a pretty great show, even though there were some things people point out.

One thing I hated was Nelly Furtado, Bryan Adams and the song. It was cheese, I can take cheese but not at the almost beginning of the show. They should have closed the show instead.

Sarah McLachlan was pretty great vocally, as was KD Lang… but does KD Lang need to sing that song again? She does it perfect, but isn’t there another song? Oh yeah, what’s up with the pop-version of the Canada anthem? It just felt not very patriotic, in my opinion.

What I loved the most? The digital displays, beginning with the ice cracking, the killer whales swimming — skipping the yellow fields and the flying dude — and continuing with the punk rock celtic tappers. Because they were punk rock, right? They had tattoos, mohawks, dark eyeliner, leather, jeans and Converse Chuck Taylor Low-Top… and they had plaid fabrics, and they were playing celtic music. I’m pretty sure they did a bit of Riverdance too… plus the tap dancing. With the red maple leaves digital display. It was my favorite.

Check back later in the day. In the meantime, check out the Vancouver2010 website.

In English, French, Misc., Reviews, Sharing, Television canada, nelly furtado, sporting events

2 Comments

Best Songs of 2000-2009 – Part 2/5

December 28, 2009 — 2 Comments

To keep things interesting, I’ve decided to switch to the newest songs that made the best 100 songs of the decade. Just the heads up, it turned out to be very Asian. Is it trying to tell you something?

One of those examples was the Welcome to Beijing song, which had a HUGE bunch of Asian (mostly Chinese, Taiwan and Hong Kong) stars. The scale of the project is probably similar to (or even bigger than) Michael Jackson’s We Are the World song… which in its time was epic. To me, and to many Asian (and non-Asian) people who keep track of the Asian music industry it marked an important time. Not only did the Olympics opened China to the world… and the world to China, but it also felt like a huge switch on everything from basic economics, industry… and entertainment.

It’s as if Chinese musicians had been enclosed all those years while the economy started to pick up, and have exploded with a huge fireball of creativity. It’s amazing at the amount of talent coming out from there, especially now that they can upload their music through the many Chinese music websites like douban.com and haoting.com, and the amount of blogs and communities that are reporting on them.

Some really awesome music, which I have already blog in this place. This is the reason, I want to get over these ones first, before I post many other songs from 2002-2006 when I didn’t blog that much (or at all).

Together – Adidas’ Beijing Olympics by PSYOP

October 19, 2009 — Leave a comment

Overall, the marketing campaigns for everything that had to do with the Olympics was pretty awesome. China outdid itself with everything from architecture, urban design, print campaigns, tv campaigns, etc.

This particular commercial (the series of commercials, and print ads) was very moving to me. I remember the first time I saw it, it kinda made me all fuzzy inside especially when we reach the volleyball sequence, with the music and the people behind them. Very emotional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=droY_91s5cU

commercial series + making of + print ads after the break~

In Chinese, Commercials, English, Posters/Artwork, Sharing adidas, china, commercial, design, gorgeousity!, print, sporting events

Emmy 2009 Afterthoughts and Winners

September 20, 2009 — Leave a comment

Sorry I didn’t Live blog the Emmys, but come on. It wasn’t that interesting, was it? Coolest moment? xD Dr. Horrible taking over the broadcast – hint, irony? – Whatever you say about streaming, still… downloading episodes/on demand beats watching things on tv. And as for resolution? There are big enough files that you can watch. Great HD quality. xD

As for winners?

I haven’t been able to read about all the winners, but some highlights!

Toni Collette FTW!!!! United States of Tara also won Best Main Title! Who else won?!? Kristin Chenoweth for Pushing Daisies!!! FTW II!!!! xD

The Beijing Olympics Opening also won (though I dunno if it won more than one) But it did win for Director for Variety, Music or Comedy Special – BUT! WTF!! Award given to Bucky Gunts? I think not. If the award should be given to someone it should be Zhang Yimou (or the Republic of China) because from what I’ve heard about the NBC Olympic Broadcast… it was… NOT pretty.

The Olympics was a gorgeous event, but the NBC broadcast was a chop-fest.

Grey Gardens also won Best Actress (Jessica Lange) in a Made-for-TV-Movie (and Best Supporting Actor), and Best Made-for-TV-Movie. Mad Men won Best Drama (again), 30 Rock won a bunch of awards – HBO won a bunch too. You can read all about… I mean, those “main” categories here and here.

In English, Fun, Rants, Sharing, Television dr. horrible's sing-along blog, emmy awards, neil patrick harris, pushing daisies, sporting events, toni collette

Han Hong – The Woman with the Wonderful Voice

I know I’ve tagged this with “new talent” and “new music” when in fact it’s not.

First, a little about Han Hong – according to Chinese Wiki – She’s won the award for the Most Popular Female Singer, as well as the Best Female Artist Award (in mainland China). That means she’s critically acclaimed, and popular among the public – which doesn’t happen often on this side of the world. LOL

Her voice is often compared (by the fans) to Sarah Brightman for her unique style… music and lyrics. – and everyone loves Brightman… she was even on the Beijing Olympics Opening.

Now, a little on my story. I first noticed her at the Beijing Paralympic Opening Ceremony – with Andy Lau singing Flying with the Dream – but I didn’t have much luck getting her name or clips back then, so I kinda forgot about it until the day I was watching those music concerts on CCTV back in April and she appeared on stage. My mom thought what an amazing voice! While I added I had seen her in the Paralympic Ceremony… totally forgetting she’s also featured on the Beijing Welcomes You music video (thank you, whoever did those annotations! It’s hard to keep track of so many singers…) – Anyway, that day… I ended up discovering Chris Lee instead of Han Hong… but the wait is OVER!

Since the beginning, I’ve always thought she had an amazing voice, but the video above moved me so much. It gave me shivers, and almost brought tears to my eyes. No, really. It’s THIS video in particular… this performance. She’s an amazing vocalist! I would love to see her perform with Sarah Brightman herself, or maybe even the lovely women of Celtic Woman – or Meav *tsk tsk*

I’m not completely sold on her videos – like on most vocalist I follow – but her live performances are so much more worth it. Here are some of her other performances…

Ommani
Qinghai Tibetan Plains

Posted on June 26, 2009 In Chinese, Clips, English, Fun, Music, Sharing big vocal chops, celtic woman, chris lee (li yuchun), concert, han hong, meav ni mhaolchatha, new music, new talent, performance, sporting events

2 Comments

I “Kick like a Girl” Too!

LOL’

Kick like a Girl is a 30-min HBO documentary of a team of girls that play (NOT soccer) football that totally creamed the boys in a match… or something.

Back in my school days… I played football. I think I rocked it~~~ as a hobby of course. Back then, girls didn’t rock like this. I wish I had a girls football team T.T

When I was 10-ish, there was a school match… between girls, but I’m pretty sure I was the only one taking it ‘seriously’. I even had my friends over for a practice. You know, I used to play with my cousins… one of those things you do when all your cousins are guys you see~~~

Best in the trailer? The boy admitting getting creamed (in the field) by a girl. And the girl saying “I’m not going to be one of the girly girls, who put on lipgloss everyday, dresses in tutus and goes to ballet.”

What’s wrong with tutus and ballet?

You know… you can still end up like this~

Just in case you don’t know, that’s the same person. ;)

Posted on June 1, 2009 In English, Films, Sharing, Snapshots, Spanish, Television, Trailers documentary/making-of, hbo, huzzah, short film, sporting events, yu aoi

Beijing Olympics – Closing 2008

August 24, 2008 — 3 Comments

OMG, are you watching?? I can hear millions of Asian girls swooning~~~ Wang Lee-Hom and Bi singing Beijing Beijing Wo Ai Beijing!!!! Poor Kelly Chen… who? Where was Guan Zhe, though??

Wo Ai Beijing - Lee Hom Wang and Bi Rain

American-Chinese musician Wang Lee-Hom, and Korean musician Bi (Rain) perform together Beijing Beijing Wo Ai Beijing in the Closing Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

Are you waiting for London? Eh, No~ What the heck was that, London? That looked more like a Superbowl half-time entertainment than an Olympic closing performance. We all love some Beckham… and some people love themselves some Leona Lewis and then some Led Zeppelin… but that was just so anticlimactic.

Anyway, going back. Closing ceremony was not as HOLY-CRAP-CAN’T-BELIEVE-THAT-I’M-SEEING-THIS, but it was pretty good. LOL’ I am still swooning over Wang Lee-Hom and Bi together….

I think one of my favorite parts was when the performers made the Olympic logo, because I’m so-oh-in-love with Dancing Beijing… unlike the ‘unnamed’??? 2012 London Logo. While watching the whole London Olympic sequence, I couldn’t help but think about school Motion Graphics. Yes, sure… aim at young people, but don’t alienate the older viewers. My mother sure didn’t appreciate that~~

Performers make the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics logo, Dancing Beijing, on the Memory Tower.

Moving on… again! Placido Domingo made an apperance! He sang alongside Song Zuying (which the dude on TV made sound like ‘Son Su Jin,’ which made me think she was Korean).

Hmm… will look for photos. Photos are everything… or at least a video clip. Did you swoon? Lee-Hom Wang and Bi deserve my swooning~~~ I hope you swooned!! xD

**EDIT** 8.54pm – Found some photos!
Continue Reading…

In Celebrity, Chinese, English, Fun, Korean, Music, Photographs, Reviews, Screencaps, Sharing, Television china, gorgeousity!, jackie chan, lee hom wang, sporting events, wang feng, zhang yimou

3 Comments

Cuentos Chinos? En los Medios Occidentales~

August 23, 2008 — 2 Comments

Chinese stories? Yah, in the Western Media.

Last week or so, my mother woke up to some news reporter, what else, talking about the Olympics. Such news report, title Cuento Chino (Chinese Story, as in Tall Tales?), broadcast sometime on Sunday (probably Reportajes) in Canal 2 (Frecuencia Latina).

Furious, my mother wrote a letter to one of those so-called opinion columns, for Somos magazine that is part of El Comercio newspaper.

Here is the copy of her email to them.

In English, Rants, Screencaps, Spanish china, musings, peru, special effects, sporting events

Music Before Olympics End~

August 23, 2008 — Leave a comment

It is almost a month… >almost< since the last music post. Since then, my iPod is in danger of permanently dying… I can’t think of all the Last Played/Play Count data that will be lost, add that to the fact that some backed-up music doesn’t have the correct song information such as year, track number or even album. BUMMER.

ANYWAY! Thanks to Olympics week, I have added a few albums to my collection! Most importantly… Chinese music. I am loving me some Bibi Chow music, as well as some Lee-Hom Wang music~~ And apparently many have been enjoying listening to Guan Zhe singing Beijing, Beijing Wo Ai Beijing, making that post with the lyrics the most popular in here. Alongside that post, Beijing Huan Ying Ni and Wo He Ni join the list of most popular posts… O_O

In Chinese, English, Fun, On Rotation, Sharing, Torrents & Digital Streams cd, itunes, mp3, new music, sporting events

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