Archive for 'Movies/TV' Category
Holy Blast From the Past
10 June 2008When people were talking about the drama Full House on TV, I thought they were talking about some Japanese drama that happened to be named the same thing as the drama I knew. Not that it was actually goddamn show from late 80s & early 90s.
But sure enough, it has been dubbed and is playing on Japanese television.
Outstanding. What will they think of next?
My Neighbor Seinfeld
5 January 2008Japanese TV doesn’t please me. I love Stand Up! but $200 for a set of 11 episodes doesn’t really do it for me. DVDs are hella expensive here.
But while perusing a used book shop in Osaka yesterday, I stumbled across the first set of Seinfeld for, well more than it costs in the States, but a reasonable price for Japan. So I figured what the hell? How about a show I love alrady in the language I’m trying to learn?
So I picked it up and am watching Season 1 right now. It’s… interesting. The translation is pretty straightforward. If I remember an ep well enough, I can follow along pretty well, and I have actually chuckled a few times at the Japanese. No idea if Japanese folk would find this funny, though.
The biggest thing is the voices. Japanese voices aren’t yet familiar enough to me that I can tell what “style” they have. George’s voice is whiney enough to fit, I think. Jerry’s voice is a little too deep, Elaine a little too traditional Japanese woman but Kramer does have a little touch of crazy. We’ll see if it’s enough. What was hilarious was Jerry’s parents who had really stereotypical old Japanese folk voice actors. That might have been what was cracking me up the most so far.
Oh yeah, and the Japanese title of the show is “となりのサインフェルド” [tonari no saiferudo] which, if you know some Japanese movies, is very similar to the Japanese title of the Ghibli classic “My Neighbor Totoro.” This also brings me much laughter.
A Beautiful Quote from a Japanese Drama
28 December 2007“Hey kid, did you now Mozart was a scatologist?”
Dragon Fighter - AWESOME!
18 November 2007
Dragon Fighter is dogshit. I think DOOM is a better crafted film. In fact, the entire time I watched Dragon Fighter I couldn’t help but think that when the Doom movie was created someone said “I want to take what was started in Dragon Fighter and escalate it to the awesomeness of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson yelling ‘Semper Fi mother fucker!’ And put in a titty.”
Not unlike the singular titty of DOOM: Der Film, as it is known in Germany, there is naught but one dragon in Dragon Fighter, making the title’s accuracy the least of your worries. On second thought, there are multiple “fighters” so to speak, as the main character doesn’t even slay the beast at the end. So even the title is shitty. Fuck.
(more…)
You encounter a newborn. Run?
16 November 2007Thanks to Japanese television I just learned that Japanese women look approximately the same while giving birth and during sex.
Anyway, the point of this television show was to “interview” the women right after birth and rank their first words to their child based on frequency. Basically, what got said the most. Out of 78 women, the top five were:
５位 おつかれさま (otsukaresama)
I say this after working with someone on something. It’s hard to get an exact translation, but basically it’s equivalent to the phrases we’d say when we want to say thanks for the hard work.
４位 がんばったね (ganbatta ne)
This is one I always get asked to translate to English. There’s no real “good” translation, ’cause it highly depends on the situation. But it’s basically used when you root for someone.
３位 こんにちは (kon’nichi wa)
“Hello!”
Cute.
２位 やっと会えたね (yatto aeta ne)
I thought this one was the most touching. Basically, it means “Finally, we can meet.”
１位 ありがとう (arigatou)
Yep. Thank you.
Maybe this country is making me a more sensitive person.
Didn’t see any titties during the whole show though. Boo.
The Proverbial Tube of Boobs
16 October 2007What does it say about Japanese television if I tend to flip in order to watch commercials? I guess I can only watch so many people eat different foods and answer questions about Russian flowers or the deep drama about which old woman can get angrier. I’m not even entirely sure what’s going on in this one.
Then again, the commercials are starting to advertise The Good Shepherd which is apparently coming out here Saturday. Fantastic!
Late edit: This game show is using an instrumental of “Owner of a Lonely Heart” on loop right now! Chock full of Yes Orchestral Hits.
Yippie Kai Yay You Fine Outstanding Gentleman
3 July 2007Tonight I saw Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0/Die Hard 4/Die Hard 4: Die Hardest/Die Hard: Reset/Die Hard: Tears of the Sun/Get Hard and Die Happy or whatever its official title is in your neck of the world. I guess I can only say “Yay censorship!”
Well, it wasn’t really that bad. So no one said fuck. Big deal. They made up for it. In fact, I enjoyed it immensely. Here’s a list why:
The Top Ten Spoilerific Reasons I Enjoyed Die Hard 4
10. Maggie Q’s sexy, sexy voice.
Seriously, they now how to start of a movie. Mmm.
9. Mac Guy is not annoying.
Despite being a bonified Apple-whore myself, I find those commercials a little grating. He played the nerdy hacker role really well.
8. Just enough plot to get by.
Very few “What the hell were they thinking?”s glide us through this action-festival.
7. Over the top action that was fun, not funny.
No head shaking, just fist pumping.
6. Kevin Smith makes Star Wars references.
It’s never unnecessary.
5. Maggie Q kicking ass.
Okay, so she ended up losing. We all knew this would happen. It was still awesome.
4. Hopping-guy falling into blades.
Sometimes seeing it coming doesn’t make it any less great.
3. Maggie Q in a tight FBI suit.
Jesus christ.
2. Bruce Willis vs. Fighter Jet.
Seriously. I’m not sure how it happened, but it did. And it was awesome.
1. You guessed it, Maggie Q!
Seriously. Goddamn. I’d let her kick my ass any day.
Where Die Hard 4 Went Wrong
Why wasn’t the other hacker played by John Hodgman (best known as PC guy but a totally awesome author)? Biggest missed opportunity of awesome ever.
Rise of the Shitty - Oh fuck it, the movie just sucks
22 June 2007Seriously. If you’re a Fantastic Four fan or even if you don’t know what the Fantastic Four are, don’t go see the new movie.
See, I knew it was going to be cheesy. But damn. Damn. Outside of Stan Lee being denied entrance to the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, I couldn’t manage more than a groan to their varied attempts at humor. In its fairly bland story-line, it had plot holes that actually managed to widen the void in my heart. Not to mention rampant advertising was played to a sickening level.
Even the action was tepid at best. Really, it was devoid of anything redeeming, unless you want to see some average to good CGI.
But for posterity’s sake, I’ll give to you a brief playdown of how some of the more tender moments of the movie went.
U hav no chance to survive. Make ur time.
Wut? Noooo. Thar b choices!
Lawl, wut?
Plz. Dun b blowing ups our Earf.
Zomg, u r teh hawtzor.
O rly?
Ya rly.
But for reals, we needs our planet.
O. Well, I is needing to save my planets from teh masterz. Gurl me luv look liek u.
Lawl, wut? Y u not kill teh masterz instead?
K. Gunno go blow myself up inside of cloud Galactus. Bai.
Touching, really.
Stop All The Fighting!
22 May 2007Warning: Heroes finale spoilers below.
Last night delivered unto me the Heroes season finale. Of course, I missed it due to what is probably best called a brain fart. Oh well. I have the season pass on iTunes so I just waited for it to come up there.
Anyway, I really, really liked it. It wrapped up everything I wanted to see wrapped up, had some damn fine tense moments, and ended on a note that left me wanting to watch more. I’d say that comes off as a good finale.
Now, I venture to the interwebs to do a little discussion and find that the vast majority of my peers are not happy with this episode! Puzzled, I delved into the madness and discovered many expected a big brawl of sorts between Peter and Sylar, something that has been apparently “owed” to the fans for a long time.
I’m not sure I get this sentiment. Heroes the show is at its core a drama. Sure, it’s about people with superpowers and that leads itself to “comic-book-isms” which would then again bring you into big epic fights. But I don’t feel as if that is what brought me to watch this show. I’m relatively glad that the “showdown” as it were was brief and to the point. Overanalyzing the scene could bring up some flaws, I’m sure, but nothing seemed blatantly out of place. So I’m happy with the resolution.
Rumors are flying about what next season will bring, some say that there will be an entire new cast, putting the old characters behind us. But I’m quite curious as to the fates of four specific characters, as they definitely left it with those lives on the line. So, it would be pure cruelty to the fan base to ignore these questions. But, I have good faith in this show’s ability to keep me entertained.
It’s quite tantalizing, really.
Hot Food and Hot Fuzz
21 April 2007My bowels are already fighting back.
Had Indian food for the first time last night. Chicken vindaloo. My goodness that burns like crazy. Yet it is quite tasty. A tad too pricey for the likes of me, $11 for a bowl that didn’t quite fill me up, but good food nonetheless.
Hot Fuzz also opens this weekend, which is good news for movie lovers almost everywhere. Seems that it didn’t get much of a wide release, but Rochester had it showing in a few places, so I caught an early evening show. I was very pleased.
If you enjoyed Shaun of the Dead, go see Hot Fuzz. (Same folks behind both films.) So go. Now. Seriously, get up and go to the closest theater that’s showing it. Hot Fuzz is, dare I say it, better than Shaun of the Dead, which I never saw coming. It takes a while for the film to build up, but the payoff is amazing.