teh foine

Nodame Cantabile

I need to stop watching doramas. Makes me wish there was a better selection of good looking AzN men up on my coast. Shoot. Usually, you get your basic Queens boy with that fucked up haircut...all spikey with the gel and the possibility of fang-like bangs, yeah? The bowling alley type. (The one who still battles internal choices like LETTING THE JNCOs go.) You know? Or people who are in grad school, just moved to the city, and are trying to develop the limited cute they've been dealt. Ok. Let's stop there.

Blah blah blah, Nodame Cantabile is a lighthearted dorama about some classical music players. A tad slow, but you know whatevs...I'll watch anything with some fine Asian guy. GO to the drama addict wiki if you are seriously expecting a synopsis. Otherwise, I present to you, HIS FACE!

Hello, Tamaki Hiroshi. Totally did NOT recognize you from Water Boys!






I'm working on Tokyo Tower next.

the broke-ass time/space continuum

Long Love Letter, 2002


I think my biggest peeve was that I was trying to see my man, Tosh (that's my nickname for him, y'all!) all up on the screen. However, his part was pretty minimal, and I'd seen all the expressions he's used in delivering lines at this point. I think he only has 7 "acting" faces. But whatever, I'm there to learn things from the show. Onward!

As big a fan I am of quantum physics, time travel, and parallel universes, there's just always something broke as hell in the plot that uses these concepts as fundamentals in its storyline. Either there's a hasty mistake written somewhere in the continuum, or it ends a little too conveniently. Such was the case for Long Love Letter. While terribly entertaining, its open-ended conclusion leaves much to be desired. OKay, that's not entirely true, but it comes from the school of "hey, this is quantum physics. parallel universes means that we can entertain EVERY POSSIBLE OUTCOME." So, yeah, no. I'm too linear for that kinda shit.

It is billed as sci-fi, but take heed, there are some love stories throughout the plot. (I mean, when ISN'T there one?) It's eco-angle, and dip into the metaphorics are also a little heavy handed, but it was a nice break from the sap romances I've been all about lately. Anyway, it takes place in a school (surprise, surprise! School must be awesome in Japan!) and you have your reality show archetypes, resulting in your basic trials, tribulations, mutations, time travel, and ghosts.

TAAA-DAAA! And that's the end of the story.

Hana Kimi

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
Is great and my sisters and I loved this one. Nakatsu iss pretty funnnnnnnnnnnny! He is also in this other series I started called Akihabara@Deep.

I'm trying to get back with my boo!

Home with hives, so off to tidy up some DORAMAS! <3
Given those facts, despite our falling out, I just couldn't resist Satoshi's gentle tug at my heart strings!



Slow Dance
I'll be honest, I stuck with this one because I LOVED the intro (@3:20 using this link)? Does that make me lame? It used a similar method as that one hyped up "pavement artist," Julian Beever (I assume they didn't use "street artist" as that has a different connotation?) Anyway, those associations made me feel good. Lots of comedic relief, and opportunities to note cultural differences. The pacing seemed more realistic and mature, which allowed the old biddy in me to enjoy it in a different way when compared to the previously mentioned doramas. I like that it questioned the role age plays in a relationship dynamic, and how is was a little more vague in determining the state of people's romantic relationships. (I know, I know...totalllllll contradiction to what I said earlier in possibly enjoying the linear outcomes.)

Based on this series, there seems to be a lot of hasty-pace walking going on in Tokyo. Also, people are all about checking their caller ID on teh cellulars. (I swear, I must have seen 12 ways cameramen have shown one checking his/her phone to aid plot progression...)

Notes on booboo: he has a good nose cringe and confused face! I think that's cute. It's kinda like when a guy has a good head nod during a hip hop show. Anyway, having seen Satoshi do these romantic (sometimes, comedic) roles, I'm trying to pick out the subtle differences in all the love hungry characters he plays. It seems he's made a name for himself in the longing late-bloomer department. When I realized this, I knew that it rendered the man a little too needy for my tastes, but then I reminded myself that none of those observations were based on real people. Ha! For a second, I was totally that dumbass fan who would insist actors are the role they play as I bump into them, IRL, eating a bagel somewhere in Central Park (that shit happens all the time, most of the cast of all Law & Orders live in the UWS!) So, to make use of those subtleties, I turned them into notes I scribbled into my noggin, as I am trying to understand the art of acting, anyway.

(Aside: One time this crazy person was offended because I wasn't aware of the work involved in becoming an actor, with my background in spoken word. S/he insisted she was "classicly trained." I insisted s/he was on some high-horse, elitist, self-glorifying shitface. We don't talk anymore.)


Next up:
B*G (hee hee!)
Princess Princess D
Tokyo Tower
Brother Beat
and maybe another go at Densha Otoko?

more tears in yaw uuuureaaa!

total waaaaaaahmbulance!

Nada Sou Sou / Tears For You

Man, what a tear jerker! My sister and I watched this one night hoping for some light fare. Well, damn. We were wrong! I am still trying to shake off this habit of mine to fall for the awkward, earnest kid, and the haircut our homie is rocking, helps those feelings! (It looks too close to something your older second cousin rocked during the Chicago Bulls' Dynasty in the 90s.) Recommended, but she also says, "NiiNIIIII" too often. It kinda gets on the nerves, in between the CROCODILE TEARS, after a little bit!

Really glad I watched this with my sister! Or else I'd look like a fool crying alone in my home...

The best part is: my sister is now involved!

To spread out the shame a little more evenly, I got my sister addicted to the series:

Zettai Kareshi / Absolute Boyfriend


ABSOLUTE BOYFRIEND absolutely killed our faces! There was not a dry cheek in the house, nor was there a tissue unmarred by our tears! A great and lighthearted attempt to entertain. Basically, lonely cute girl, Riiko, is selected to participate in a research experiment where she receives a ROBOT BOYFRIEND, programmed to meet her preferences. The major conflict: IS SHE TRYING TO BE IN LUUUUUUH WITH A ROBOT FORREAL, FORREAL?

It's rumored that the ROBOTBF, Mokomichi Hayami is 1/2 Filipino, but it might just be on some "tanner than your average Japanese male" type thing. I hate to admit it, but I am pretty partial when I hear crap like that. I am secetly hoping it's not on some inaccurate Foxy Brown/Jay-Z tip (yet HOVA is neither quoted confirming nor denying his alleged Filipinoness, but my instincts tell me he is not.)

Anyway, back to the doramas!You saw it coming, just NOT LIKE THAT. The love letter scene KILLED ME! It made my sister and I want to save up 100million Yen, and wish that we too can have relationships with highly functional appliances, that ultimately evolve to develop feelings and their own will. A better piece of investment than certain lifelike plastic and latex technologies reported for similar purposes.

But it's cool that the ending theme is super cutesy-like. Helps lift the spirits!

Killed it!

Again, my boy, Satoshi


At 0:12, and during the dance that follows, my boo kinda looks a lot like my college bff, J. Unfortunately, due to a squabble, J and I aren't on speaking terms anymore, so those loose links between those two Asian men kinda ruined the magic wonderwall that is SATOSHI! WAAAaaAAAaaaH!

So, now I'm moving on: Im finding me a new dorama boyfriend, and I'mdoing this by watching a show that doesn't star him AT ALL!

FWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT! Doth thine ears deceiveth you?

Satoshi had better hair in this one...

Orange Days



I became really invested in this series because the plot represents deaf culture, and that shit hit home for me, as one of my fave aunts was born deaf. Some really great scenes, and a lot of that opposite sex tension. Which is okay, since this series really made me appreciate the importance of "formal courtship." Seemingly, there are only three options presented so far in the series I've watched. When one "confesses" love, the confessee (?) says yes or no. If it's a yes, then the couple is a GO until someone "gives up." In getting older, I think I can really appreciate this kind of straightforwardness, given limited expected outcomes. SPOILER: But, you know Sae and Kai (played by my boo, Satoshi) get together in the end, right?

Let me not play, though. Some of the instrumentals on the OST are quite CORRECT. We're not talking Amelie quality, but still worth a listen!

How I learned to love the STALK

What I have learned about myself: Anything in a series, I will attack with full force. Trust.

Lunch Queen / Lunch no Joou



Maybe it's part of my undiagnosed OCD, but for the most part, if there is some kind of "To Be Continued" marker, I will watch that shit until it ENDS! It happens with any list, novels (how I became an HP reader,) and the scariest: the teleseries...(applies to J-dramas, too!)

It started with Lunch Queen / Lunch no Joou , where we met Junzaburo Nabeshima, the fumbling late bloomer leaning to make his father's demiglasse! Oh, yes! This was my introduction to Satoshi Tsumabuki! (Whose one headshot kinda looks like my one v. beautiful friend...) Sure, as a screen shot, it may not look like much, but Jun is an absolutely lovable character in this series! I guess I was really taken by the quirkiness and the lightness of the love plot. I don't really know how to write without spoilers, so I'll keep it all it. But the lead lady role, Natsumi, was a super cute woman who reminded me of my fave girls in my IRL, so I kept watching...til it was OVAAAAH!



I really like the format of the J-teleseries. A commitment to 11 or 12 episodes, maybe a special with an alternate ending. It demands brevity, and limits overinvolvement! But yes! It allows the story not to drag too far into a mindfuck (ie: LOST)


Waterboys
So, of course, I googled my huuuuuusband, and ended up watching Waterboys --- where he plays another endearing geek! Wow! That man, so lovable! Good for him! And having been a swimmer back in the day, as well as an aquarius all my life, the movie really appealed to me. Too bad everyone is scrawny up in there. BUt that's okay, for the film itself is quite entertaining!

the luxury of convenience!

My Sassy Girl


The above is a random googled find of the cutest scene in the film: when she wants to relive her high school days to celebrate her birthday. That's pretty cute. (Trailer for the American version below, how unfortunate to see Cuthbert's wonky-ass face as the mid-freeze youtube image for the video!) But I must admit that I am not that impressed with the original version. Therefore, I'm pretty shocked to see that folks decided it's high time for an American release? (Ok, not really too too surprised at this wack attempt where the US market goes and adapts anything good elsewhere. OPPORTUNISTS!) Is that not pretty insulting? I mean, it's like copying homework, and Hollywood continues to do it perpetuating this cycle of boring art, exercised without a focus on craft! The capitalism in Hollywood pushes all these weak films, and I'd be totally offended as the OG director (prep yourself for the upcoming contradiction) unless I got a superfat paycheck!

Anyway, in an attempt to better understand the dynamic between the two leads in my sassy girl (as it was just getting ridiculous to me,) I looked up the story they alluded to in the movie, "Sudden Shower" by Hwang Sun-won. The translation isn't that moving, but the gist of it is quite sad; the common class hierarchy narrative that floats around and about in various tales of Romeo and Juliet type lovewoe. For the most part, the characters in the Korean version (man, I already forgot their names, MY BAD!) really have this fucked up, manipulative, abusive thing happening. It's almost like Something About Mary, but less charm and more strange emotional abuse (according to my societal standards.) But there is an interesting line where she contextualizes his birth the year before her as this:

"Well, Peter came first to prepare for the birth of Christ, didn't he?"

Well then, that just fascinated me!

You decide. Watch it. Report back. Then check out the trailer below that I mentioned earlier. My verdict: things are 1/2 forgiven as homeboy (Jesse Bradford) is cute! He's all mysterious and gentle looking, and that's just how I likes them! But still, watch out for Elisha looking hurt right under the play button below! OuCH!

Summer looks like:

Filipino films
(to work on my Tagalog, sonnn!)

Doramas
(We have no cable...so HALLO, INTERWEBz~! I've been warned not to start on the Korean dramas, so I'll ease in with the J-dramz!)

my never ending booklist
(I think I'll just write my impressions of the books/media I go through on this here blog.)

some short story submissions
(DEADLINES! Argh! It seems to be the only way I know how to write?)

cutting up a family movie of teh vacay
(bc that's always fun! I've been told I have a good eye!)

some phone calls I've been avoiding
(dun dun DUNNNNN!)

getting in the right mindset
(how to get there? i have no clue.)