Archives For sweden

Yay! I’m done with the Garbo films that come on the TCM Garbo Signature Collection. On this batch there’s Queen Christina — my favorite just because of the line about being a bachelor xD — then there’s Anna Karenina, Camille and Ninotchka.

My favorite of this batch turned out to be Anna Karenina, even though it was the trickiest one to do. I wanted to use the train as the symbol of the film, but I couldn’t find a perfect train with the perfect smoke/steam. In the end, I ended up looking for smoke/steam alone… and I almost just use that by itself, but I thought it would look too much like the cover for Devil and the Flesh… so I made a composite image. LOL

Fake Criterion Collection: Greta Garbo Collection - Anna Karenina

I also sort of liked how Ninotchka turned out. It’s completely different to the other covers, except for the Criterion logo and titles, but like I told my friend JK when he asked why Anna Christie was the only one in color – besides whiskey not being whiskey without the color… Anna Christie was Garbo’s first Talkie, so to make it different in a “Garbo Talks” sort of way, there’s color. LOL, but you know… that may be total bull.

Fake Criterion Collection: Greta Garbo Collection - Ninotchka

Same with Ninotchka – “Garbo Laughs” and so the cover is completely different to the others. It’s got more color, the titles and signature are in black. You can check the whole Fake Criterion set on Flickr.

Just started a Greta Garbo Fake Criterion Collection, from the TCM Garbo Signature set. The only one I’m choosing not to do is Grand Hotel… and of course, the TCM archives. So I’m only missing Queen Christina, Anna Karenina, Camille and Ninotchka. ;P

My favorite fake cover… is between The Mysterious Lady and Flesh and the Devil.

Fake Criterion Collection: Greta Garbo Collection - Flesh and the Devil

In this one, I like the flame… which you know, I picked from the classic scene where they are lighting their cigarettes and the shot gets so awesome with the light. Of course, I couldn’t find a lighter, so decided to just use the flame. And in it, you can see a bit of that scene if you squint enough.

Plus, Flesh and Devil sounds so sinful and all about kinky passion. LOL Fire, right? xD

Fake Criterion Collection: Greta Garbo Collection - The Mysterious Lady

And The Mysterious Lady plays the whole spy thing. I’m not even sure if the gun fits the movie, it just looked like it did… it wasn’t too “period-like” and it wasn’t a modern shotgun.

It just didn’t feel right to use Greta Garbo and/or the movie stills. It seemed kind of… dull. That’s why I’m kind of disappointed on my version for Mata Hari. I couldn’t find a still of just the head piece, and I didn’t want to use Garbo’s face — as striking as it was — and I was about to use just the ring, but I guess it’s not really that striking.

And of course, Anna Christie plays on the whole “Gimme a whiskey!” line. After all, Garbo Talks! LOL

You can check the rest of the set here.

Not gonna tag this as trailer yet, because I need a graphic, and I’m gonna miss that photo of Yu-chan from Raiou… LOL but it seems like Shanghai doesn’t have a distributor in America? What? Is it because the only major American star there is Cusack and the rest are Asian? But it’s got Harvey!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmU2VcJz24

Gong Li is pure hotness here.

And though Kikuchi is not credited on this Chinese trailer, I’m pretty sure she’s in it. As well as Franka Potente. Both will probably show up in the Japanese trailer, and the International trailer.

Can I just say Noomi Rapace is really REALLY bad-ass?

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Seldom Book Talk

April 26, 2010 — 1 Comment

I don’t read as many books as I watch films, tv series or listen to albums… but I think that reading subtitles count on as part as the word count of how much I actually read… as well as reading lyrics xD

At the moment I’m reading — being trying to finish for the last month or so — Cronica del Pajaro que da Cuerda al Mundo (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, aka Nejimaki-dori KURONIKURU) by Haruki Murakami, but really can’t blame me for taking so long. It’s 900 pages long, and I know Harry Potter 5 is as long and it only took me 3 days to finish that one. But Cronica began really slow, and I left it there for a long long time until about 3 days ago, when I picked it up again. xD

I’m actually devouring any Murakami novel I ran into the bookstore. I have already bought Sputnik, mi Amor (Sputnik Sweetheart, aka SUPU-TONIKU no Koibito), and El Fin del Mundo y un Despiadado Pais de las Maravillas (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, aka Sekai no Owari to HA-DOBOIRUDO WANDA-RANDO).

I’m looking for Kafka on the Shore, which I saw at a bookstore’s listing, but when they checked… it was gone. Highly suspicious… I never believe things like books, cds or dvds ever get sold out here.

Julz will also be surprised to find out that I ran into copies of Män som Hatar Kvinnor… which wasn’t literally translated, as the book in Spanish is called Los Hombres que no Amaban a las Mujeres [literally, Men Who Didn’t Love Women for those of you non-Spanish readers] – I guess Odiar/Hate is too-strong a word? At least it beats “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” [Hardcover][Kindle Version]. Gosh. I was disappointed with the title in English when I saw the film. xD I also found a copy of Flickan som Lekte med Elden, which was translated to La Chica que Soñaba con una Cerilla y un Bidon de Gasolina [literally, The Girl who Dreamed with a Match and an Oil Drum] but the Swedish title means The Girl who Played with Fire [Hardcover][Kindle Version], right Julz? Which is exactly like the English title. Wonder who picks the titles…

However, I couldn’t find a copy of the third part. I will probably look for it after I finish all of the above, or buy it if I ran into it… – I wonder why they only had the two tomes.

Also, why are books so effing expensive here? I paid a bit over $30 for each Stieg Larsson book, and they’re not even hardcover editions. Frak, I even complained when that stupid Dan Brown book was $16 USD on Amazon… while they were selling it for nearly $35 USD in bookstores here. FRAK, I tell you!

In honor of the release of Let the Right One in here in Peru, I have put together my Top5 Little Girls on Film. It wasn’t how cute they were, it was about young girls — I’m only taking into consideration girls younger than 15 years old — dealing with not so innocent stuff. It wasn’t also about dealing with issues teens deal with normally.

These characters weren’t dealing with coming-of-age stories. These were already adults inside girly bodies.

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Cute animated blob things done in 3D for Cartoon Network Sweden.

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We are nearly at the end of our list of 100 Songs of the Decade~~~

Some really great songs on this one, with loads of variety
with music of many genres and different languages.

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at Cinencuentro again!

This time around pointing out some experiences while watching those films, which doesn’t necessarily reflect what I consider the best… keyword, necessary.

Sorry, only in Spanish.

check it out here.

Best Albums of 2000-2009

December 23, 2009 — 7 Comments

Well, I’ve found it easier to narrow down the number of albums for this Top100 Albums of the Decade, than to narrow my list of songs to 100. LOL I have around 350 songs at the moment. This is gonna be difficult… and also in every possible language xD

Anyway, I’m sure that I had to take out some albums to include other albums. It was all a very difficult process to figure out what to include… going from “do I really have to take this song out?” to “OMG, I really love all these songs from this artist!!! Which one should I choose!- So please, bear with me, and comment what to add.

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