Not gonna lie and say I haven’t been obsessing over the trailer for Crew since it dropped, and looking at the clips for Ghagra [1] and kinda giddy at the cover remix of Choli Ke Peeche [1].
I even finally re-watched Idhi Sangathi (with synced subs!) because of it.
Tabu finding riches in highly unusual places!
My only grip with the film, currently, is that my suspense of disbelief is dropped when I see them carrying kilos of gold. Autistic.
Other than that, I’m a super fan of potty-mouthed Tabu (I hope the announcement that theatrical was edited only means we get the potty-mouthed version on Netflix), and I want someone to ask them how much of the funny bits were ad-lib and improv, because that scene where they tell Kriti to sell her assets and the reaction to it was hilarious.
Buying physical media has been a chore lately, you gotta keep an eye out so you make sure you don’t miss your delivery because, for some reason, people cannot just leave your package any longer.
Plus, distributors are doing physical media less and less. The whole of the Indian Cinema industry has decided to phase out physical media in favor of going all in on OTT and VOD. Even enormous hits like RRR are left with no physical release, even in the West. Even Disney is letting Sony handle its physical media, which seems like the end of an era. Then there’s the whole thing about editing and disappearing media from libraries.
So these are some of the most recent -and not so recent- films that have been added to the physical library. I wish I had more disposable income because there are a bunch of titles (and upgrades) that had been added to the wishlist.
These on top of some Bluray upgrades like Sion Sono’s Love Exposure, Kalatozov’s The Cranes Are Flying, brand new Criterion’s for Los Otros and Laberinto del Fauno. Some random BR UK release for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Also, this post makes it so that this year is the most I’ve blogged since 2020. I’m coming for you 2019. Four posts in Feb’24 is the most continuous blogging since Aug’18.
Isabella Leong has been on and off since she made her official film comeback back in 2015 with Murmur of the Hearts, which is an amazing film. Se also had small roles or almost cameos on 12 Golden Ducks that same year, and got back together with Pang Ho-Cheung for a small role in Missbehavior in 2019.
From her recent interview on A Date with Luyu (鲁豫有约), you can tell that she enjoyed or had fond memories of her debut film Isabella, which Pang directed almost 20 years ago— which also amazes Leong when she realizes how fast/much time has passed. I was also amazed at how she remembered the tracking of the shot, all the more amusing when both clips were put together for contrast.
In 2020, she appeared on Ann Hui’s Love After Love, which was available to watch on MUBI in some territories, and might be available on places like Netflix or Prime, depending on your territory. Now, she’s part of the most recent Dante Lam HK film starring William Chan and Nick Cheung, titled Bursting Point (爆裂點) [Trailer], which I’ve mostly heard positive things about.
Since her teenaged (!!!) sons already give her enough time to move about life, she’s been a lot more active at events and, if you follow her on Instagram, photoshoots. Which finally gets me the reason I was writing this post- she’s the first cover of 2024 for the Condé Nast Traveler China edition, which is a luxury travel magazine based in New York.
I checked their website to see who was the photographer of the shoot, but it looks like they haven’t updated that since their May 2023 issue was published (relatable). Editorial director Shawn Ong only mentions their collaboration with Eastern & Oriental Express Southeast Asia in prep for the launch of their luxury train in two different seasonal routes. The train interiors look (and photograph) amazing. They’re elegant, colorful and textured without looking overwhelming [1][2][3].
However, this is not a travel blog. I took these bad screencaps of some of my favorite shots.
Oh, wow. Look at this ridiculously good-looking photo of Dita Von Teese. What a face. What a shot. Bless Beau Nelson for this shot.
credits to Dita Von Teese’s FB, who -by the way- won’t let me access her Linktree because it says it goes against community standards. Facebook has become insane. It was bad before, now it’s worse. It’s almost nearly unusable now.
I’m shook. For some reason SBS Catch has just uploaded the September 2017 episode of Law of the Jungle (정글의 법칙) featuring GFriend’s Yerin. I wasn’t expecting to sit through the whole episode, but I was really impressed with Yerin’s survival skills.
I was even more surprised to see how she handled the Monitor lizard, killing it, skinning it, and preparing it. I can’t relate. LOL She reminded me of Savage Yejin on Family Outing.
It’s unbelievable how quickly the year has come to an end. And though there’s still so many hours of un-watched films, we must all begin sharing our End of the Year lists.
As per tradition, here’s my 2018 music highlights. As Jocelle pointed out, might change drastically midway through 2019. LOL Remember when Su Yunying released an album on December 31st? Chinese people got no chills.
I’m a Ni Ni stan now, have I mentioned it before? No? I really REALLY enjoyed watching Mo Zhang’s Suddenly Seventeen (28岁未成年). The ending is a bit straight rom-com, but Ni Ni— Woah. She was amazing.
Cfensi has always loved Ni Ni, so she’s also gushing about this new photoshoot for The New York Times Travel Magazine by photographer Yin Chao (尹超), centered on Nanjing Girls and also featuring actresses Hai Qing, Yang Zishan and Mei Ting, as well as model Bonnie Chen.
The favorite shot, tho, the watermelon one~ xD
You can also follow Yin Chao’s activities on his studio’s Weibo— SUPERSTUDIO.
Also, I haven’t even gone through 5 episodes of Lost in 1949 (脱身), but I’m looking forward to Rise of the Phoenixes (天盛长歌) :)
I’m about to finish watching Stories By Rabindranath Tagore, which has some episodes directed by Anurag Basu— an anthology of some of Tagore’s short stories. One of my favorite episodes has been Mrinal ki Chitthi (ep19), which stars Amrita Bagchi. I’m usually really good with faces that I see in other movies, but I honestly just vaguely remember her face in Phobia and Meri Pyaari Bindu. I must be getting old.
I’m a stan. I have decided to stan forever. LOL Well, at least a few years. A few years in this day and age is an awfully long time, which is practically forever. I’ve seen relationships that have lasted less than my two and a half years as a moomoo. xD
I’ve been a fan of Yu Aoi for a decade now [1][2]. I’m expecting my moomoo status to be just as long.
If they ever do an event here. I’m done for. LOL I’ve been wanting to feed them my whole moomoo life, as the Grandma Radish that I seem to be turning into.
