Teaser posters of The Promise.
Can't. Wait.
Friday, December 30
Whoa!
What was that?
Woke up at 2 p.m. Groggy. Pinned head. And no cigarettes. So by 2:02 p.m. I was out of the house. First time in 5 days. To buy cigarettes.
It was like a battlefield out there. Hudas-whipped. Bawang bomb raid. Whatever happened to those nice firework fountains, and those swirly things. And lusis?
Pucha. Gyera na ito.
And on that note. More like high-pitched eeek, really.
Happy New Year to all!
Woke up at 2 p.m. Groggy. Pinned head. And no cigarettes. So by 2:02 p.m. I was out of the house. First time in 5 days. To buy cigarettes.
It was like a battlefield out there. Hudas-whipped. Bawang bomb raid. Whatever happened to those nice firework fountains, and those swirly things. And lusis?
Pucha. Gyera na ito.
And on that note. More like high-pitched eeek, really.
Happy New Year to all!
Ho!
So that was Christmas. Spent it in Bulacan with the family, including our seven dogs.
Signal was lousy, so if you didn't get a greeting from me, please be comforted by the fact that I was thinking of you all while I was gorging down impossibly juicy, well, oily chunks of bagnet.
Signal was lousy, so if you didn't get a greeting from me, please be comforted by the fact that I was thinking of you all while I was gorging down impossibly juicy, well, oily chunks of bagnet.
And ...
because it's pretty.
Pretty sad.
Hur Jin-ho's April Snow. Lately, I've been picking up movies that should have been romantic starry-eyed giddy, but, no. How easy is it to make things complicated? Very. Four a.m. and I'm blogging. I secretly treasure these moments though. When I allow myself to be sad, to be --- what's the word?--- melancholic, just because. Thoughtful, even. Without having to explain, to assure anyone that I'm pretty much doing great.
Though beer would help right now.
Fuck you, April Snow.
because it's pretty.
Pretty sad.
Hur Jin-ho's April Snow. Lately, I've been picking up movies that should have been romantic starry-eyed giddy, but, no. How easy is it to make things complicated? Very. Four a.m. and I'm blogging. I secretly treasure these moments though. When I allow myself to be sad, to be --- what's the word?--- melancholic, just because. Thoughtful, even. Without having to explain, to assure anyone that I'm pretty much doing great.
Though beer would help right now.
Fuck you, April Snow.
Friday, December 23
Warp 9
Feels like it. Time anomaly or the momentum of Landmark shoppers? I think there's a collective push to let's just get it done already. Last year was crazy, but this one, everything's just moving way too fast.
Was in Metrowalk doing last minute DVD shopping. Might as well catch up with Miyazaki. Hunting for Lady Vengeance. And Cora of stall 16 was shaking her head in disbelief. Not with my violent erotica leanings --- Bakit ho puro patayan na R ang hinanahanap nyo?, to which I answered, Pang-regalo lang. Hah! --- but because it's gonna be Christmas in a day. Pang-regalo? Oo nga no. Pasko na bukas. And she shook her head, and the store owner shook his head, and I shook my head. There was a lot of head-shaking before we said our anyongi gasehyos.
Walking around aimlessly for what felt like an hour, I suddenly had a thought:
Coffee!
And really, in bold in my head. Ended up in Starbucks and saw Champ sitting under one of the green umbrellas.
And then another thought:
Pogi!
Then I thought of the Da Vinci-decoding, pogi-rock listening demographic and felt really low for the country's future. So I just went home.
Was in Metrowalk doing last minute DVD shopping. Might as well catch up with Miyazaki. Hunting for Lady Vengeance. And Cora of stall 16 was shaking her head in disbelief. Not with my violent erotica leanings --- Bakit ho puro patayan na R ang hinanahanap nyo?, to which I answered, Pang-regalo lang. Hah! --- but because it's gonna be Christmas in a day. Pang-regalo? Oo nga no. Pasko na bukas. And she shook her head, and the store owner shook his head, and I shook my head. There was a lot of head-shaking before we said our anyongi gasehyos.
Walking around aimlessly for what felt like an hour, I suddenly had a thought:
Coffee!
And really, in bold in my head. Ended up in Starbucks and saw Champ sitting under one of the green umbrellas.
And then another thought:
Pogi!
Then I thought of the Da Vinci-decoding, pogi-rock listening demographic and felt really low for the country's future. So I just went home.
Friday, December 16
Golden Promise
It's sad that we didn't submit any entries to the Golden Globes or the Oscars. I read in the Philippine Daily Inquirer a month ago (I think) that the Film Academy of the Philippines (I think) did not receive the usual annual invitation to participate in the Oscars. And the group never inquired? I don't know. It's not that we have to, but it would be great for the morale of local cinema, which has hit rock bottom. Our indie flicks seem to be the light at the end of a tunnel, but it's turning out to be a long, long, long, dark tunnel. Have you seen the Filmfest entries? Fluff. Redundant. Ewan. Exodus may be a tad too prophetic.
But as Asians, we have a lot to be be proud of. Stephen Chow's epic-ly hilarious Kung-fu Hustle and Chen Kaige's The Promise both received Golden Globe nomination nods for Best Foreign Film. Here's a bit of info on The Promise which stars Korean actor Jang Dong-gun (Te Guk Gi) and Hongkong's Cecilia Cheung (One Night in Mongkok). Lifted from English.chosun.com:
Jang Dong-kun in Bid for World Stardom at Cannes
Jang Dong-gun at the Cannes
Jang Dong-kun, the winner of last year's Blue Dragon Award for best leading actor, stepped on the international stage when “The Promise” by world-famous Chinese director Chen Kaige premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival to a packed house. The promotional party for the pan-Asian fantasy epic on Friday at the Chateau de la Napoule gave guests a 15-minute video sneak preview that triggered a storm of applause from some 300 film distributors from all over the world.
Jang is in the spotlight along with director Chen Kaige and co-stars Cecilia Cheung, Hiroyuki Sanada and Nicholas Tse. Guests said Jang showed international caliber and with his charisma proved himself a perfect fit for the starring role.
Dubbed an Asian “The Lord of the Rings,” the epic film of a fateful triangle between legendary slave Kunlun (Jang), imperial concubine Qingcheng (Cheung), and General Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada) unfolds across vast battle fields in ancient China. Three years of planning and production costs of US$ 30 million have been invested on the film, a joint production between Korea, China and the United States. Korean producers Showist put up 10 percent of the total.
If the film had been made in Hollywood, it would have cost more than US$ 140 million. But thanks to support from the Chinese government, which even built roads for the shooting of the film, the production crew were able to save both money and time.
Jang suffered sunstroke several times during filming but displayed great enthusiasm for the movie until the very end, learning Chinese to record his dialogue himself. “The Promise,” a thrilling story on a grand scale, is scheduled to debut in Korea and China simultaneously in December.
But as Asians, we have a lot to be be proud of. Stephen Chow's epic-ly hilarious Kung-fu Hustle and Chen Kaige's The Promise both received Golden Globe nomination nods for Best Foreign Film. Here's a bit of info on The Promise which stars Korean actor Jang Dong-gun (Te Guk Gi) and Hongkong's Cecilia Cheung (One Night in Mongkok). Lifted from English.chosun.com:
Jang Dong-kun in Bid for World Stardom at Cannes
Jang Dong-gun at the Cannes
Jang Dong-kun, the winner of last year's Blue Dragon Award for best leading actor, stepped on the international stage when “The Promise” by world-famous Chinese director Chen Kaige premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival to a packed house. The promotional party for the pan-Asian fantasy epic on Friday at the Chateau de la Napoule gave guests a 15-minute video sneak preview that triggered a storm of applause from some 300 film distributors from all over the world.
Jang is in the spotlight along with director Chen Kaige and co-stars Cecilia Cheung, Hiroyuki Sanada and Nicholas Tse. Guests said Jang showed international caliber and with his charisma proved himself a perfect fit for the starring role.
Dubbed an Asian “The Lord of the Rings,” the epic film of a fateful triangle between legendary slave Kunlun (Jang), imperial concubine Qingcheng (Cheung), and General Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada) unfolds across vast battle fields in ancient China. Three years of planning and production costs of US$ 30 million have been invested on the film, a joint production between Korea, China and the United States. Korean producers Showist put up 10 percent of the total.
If the film had been made in Hollywood, it would have cost more than US$ 140 million. But thanks to support from the Chinese government, which even built roads for the shooting of the film, the production crew were able to save both money and time.
Jang suffered sunstroke several times during filming but displayed great enthusiasm for the movie until the very end, learning Chinese to record his dialogue himself. “The Promise,” a thrilling story on a grand scale, is scheduled to debut in Korea and China simultaneously in December.
Friday, December 9
See you in 2007
Korea's most popular tourist attraction.Won Bin, real name Kim De-jin, joined the Korean army last November 28. Military service is a given for Korean men in their twenties, and for actors, this means disappearing from the limelight for 2 years.
730 and 1/2 days. 17,532 hours of ajushi Won Bin-lessness.
There are a couple of TV dramas to go back to, the sluggish first installment of Endless Love, but nothing really great. There's Tae Guk Gi, but how many times can one actually watch a war movie (exploding skulls, flying torsos and that maggot bit which is eww, argh, aaah!) without turning psycho or trigger crazy, and to be trigger crazy, there has to be a trigger to pull and before I realize it I'd be smuggling guns into the library, and all because of this guy who joined the army.
The Korean tourism board actually offers a tour to the military camps, a "meet-and-greet your favorite Korean actors" tour but it seems kinda freaky. See who assembles AK-47s the fastest. Watch them do push-ups, all sweaty and dirty and WHOA!
So yeah, I am weirdly feeling his absence. I really have to go out more.
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