Lets run towards the sunset!

lilalienations: i lent my GTO drama set to someone(whom i can't remember) and realised it hasn't been returned...:( oo. sad....if any of you find an unidentified owner GTO pls return.:) haha...
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"Lets run towards the sunset!"

"Fight-oh~oh!"
"Yankumi!"
"Lets play kick the Can!"
If any of these quotes come familiar to you...then you must be a fan or have catch Gokusen before, but definitely, all these quotes in the show were in Jap...they are just english translations....except for the two in the middle....

Last week...(?) jy and I went down to catch Gokusen...Yayness!:) i was wondering who to call to catch this show with..because not many people i know watch Jap shows and i definitely know of no one who has told me they have watched Gokusen drama series.....so i was cracking my head whoooo to call....because I was sooooo wanting to watch the movie finale to the series. I've been wanting to watch it ever since i was studying for my exam.....So i was absolutely relieved and very happy when Jy told me she was intending on catching the show when i asked her about it. She was one of the few people who go for J-stuff...so yay! she agreed!:) and i could happily watch the show i've been wanting to catch!

Here's a little background info.
Gokusen originated from a manga. Theres a anime series and then drama seasons 1,2,3, sp and the finale with a movie. You can read more from the wiki site.

For more movie info you can go here*

Though some would argue that the running storyline for this drama is all the same, idealistic teacher saving her students, teaching them the good from the bad...blah blah...but that won't make it any of a lesser good show, would it? It has in the running for around 7 years starting out the drama in 2002, and it won quite a few television awards....The main lead Yankumi acted out by Yukie Nakama won quite a few awards on her own for the portrayal of the role as a Yakuza descendant teacher.

For me, i have to admit...i'm a sucker for shows like this...haha...Let me run through the theme for all 3 drama, special and movie finale.
Kumiko is a descendant of a influencial Yakuza family, everyone hopes she would be next to take over from her grandfather, but she has other plans of being a teacher and her grandfather (not portraying any of those scary yakuza-ness) respects her decision. Thus she goes all out (as some say a idealistic teacher) to teach students, and she happens to only be good with handling deliquent classes.

she thought in 3 different boys school. i wonder why boys school only though? :p
first season leads in 2002, have all come a long way since then...Oguri Shun and Jun Matsumoto two of the leads then have also done Hana Yori Dango and were big hits just recently...
first season screens.
all of her students are delinquents and do not (that's a mild word) trust teachers, and she being a yakuza granddaughter having to keep her family background a secret...all the many obstacles which gives a lot more juice and comedic moments to the movie.
second season of students.

Her respect for each individual makes them learn to trust and respect her....something like that runs throughout all the seasons....but it still just makes me wanna catch it all....:)) not to mention all the handsome guys. ;P right jy? i think she catches it more for the cute guys...? opps...lol. she's happily enjoying the series now after catching the movie with me...she's catching it backwards...haha...never too late to catch nice stuff. ;)

so many different hair colours....

students from the third season who also play a big role in the movie.

wide range of cast being used for and from different seasons.

GTO....female version? a little? maybe? but each have their own merits. :) i still do recommend it. i love both of it GTO and Gokusen...won't wanna compare them;)

One of the biggest difference they have taken out from the manga is that they took out the love story bit. In which is kind of a bittersweet thing...for fans they do hope to at least see something happen or a sort of ending in the finale as the manga does emphasize quite on it, but on the other hand, i thought it was a good thing to not digress the main focus of what the movie (and drama) is trying to emphasize. The spirit of true friendship and learning to be oneself. Two awesome themes in the movie, money is important, cause everyone needs it, but it doesn't make the loyal man stay, you can't pay your way into people's heart.

And the most important bit of the movie i took away was when i heard of Kumiko/Yankumi protecting her students and saying a whole line of what would be a cheesy line if delivered by the unpractised, but she did it touchingly.

two of the main leads in the movie.
yankumi-kumiko.

Once her student, always her student. In life many of them were past delinquents, they have changed for the better, true, they still fall, still fail, still get into trouble but so what if they fall down and fail? It's ok. It's ok to fail, once, twice, thrice, more, as long as they look around they know they have friends and close people to stand by them, dust them and learn how to carry on again.
ahhh. when she said that i was going *awwwwww*
perhaps reading it does it no justice...you may just think some idealistic crap. you should just go catch the movie yourself...;) Teachers to be should catch shows like this...;) heh. Mr Chen are you reading this? hee;P
showing at all GV theatres only...official movie site. kinda useless, unless you understand jap :P

Good things must be shared right? :) So let me share where to find manga scans and anime..:)) for the drama...i watched them waaay back so i can't really remember...jy say its all around..just go search..;)

Here's the trailer!:) there's one with eng subs, but i found the subbing distracting, so i put up the one without it...if interested can click on the one with subs.;)

Go have a little laugh with Gokusen the movie.
^-^
Hope you'll have a good laugh just as i did with this feel good comedy.
;)

...........
hee. me and jy after movie...:D
round face round face! hahaha.
will send you the pics soon:)

jy filled up the empty space with a hand sign. smart!
xie xies:)

lalalalala~

Forget to remember.

I was trying out my new brushes and doodling and got quite happy with the results. bhb. lol...so i made a poster with it....should have made it verticle so it can be used as a wallpaper...but o well, heck. i still used it as a wallpaper because i got kinda bored with the old one...haha...

Blogger didn't let me upload the original from the comp (its turned up in the wrong colour, like real ugly. -_-) thus i had to get this through flickr...wonder what went wrong....

But but. i'm not putting this up here because i like the colours, ok partly just a lil....:p but it's more because i would like to share the quote in the poster...

"Forget to Remember How To be Afraid."
-this was a quote from the character 5 from the movie 9.

think about it...hope you like this quote too. ;)
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Since, I am on the topic of the movie "9", let me do a mini short review on it. Why 'mini'? because i didn't really enjoy the movie......

tim burton's "9" opened on 9 sept 2009.

Cite Tim Burton's name and most people would think of "The Nightmare before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride". These two are just a tip of his many good works. Another few to add on to the two which i just mention and which i enjoy very very much from Tim Burton are " Edward Scissorhands", "Charlie and the chocolate factory" and "James and the Giant Peach" i'm sure most of you would have at least heard of or catch the first two...if not more....
I always loved tim's works, the witty story lines, the techniques (for many of it like nightmare,corspe bride and edward scissorhand german expressionism style is seen as a influence) he use to bring out the movie's characters.
But when i went to watch this movie with my classmates i felt kinda dissapointed with it.
Very frankly the only plus point of the movie for me was the quote which i used above. Other than that, i really wasn't too impressed with it. The story wasn't really of a strong plot for me, it was just so-so. i was looking hard for a place to laugh, cry or something, non hit me, it was all done in one tone, half way through i was wondering....is the movie ending?Maybe....you could say the visuals were good?

But overall, if you were to ask me, i would say....if your looking for entertainment that is not the movie for you....well, unless your too free and have a little spare cash. I was wondering, if it was because i was too biased because it was a partly set in a more 'dark tone' after thinking...naahhh. i really just do not enjoy it i guess. couldn't find a excuse for it....haha...

But still, i would recommend the other movie i watched some time back.

Aliens in The Attic.

No stella cast, no big director to boast.
But, i think it's one which makes you come out from the cinema feeling alot more light hearted.
Not a sob sob family movie, more of one full of laughter. If you had been having a stressful week and just need a good laugh, go for this.
The plot is simple, aliens coming to take over the world and it's up to the kids to save our world.
Why not the adults? Who are these kids? Aliens@-@?
Go enjoy the movie to find out more.
Simple plot, but good enough for this 86min movie.
warning. leave your brains and prejudice outside the theatre if you want to truly enjoy the movie, go with a child-like heart(if you want to be a stern old boring adult, i suggest skip all these kind of shows altoghether. haa.) o, and bring your kids, little sis or bro, trust me, they'll thank you for it. :)

9 wasn't a big hoo-haa for me, i hope the next tim burton movie would be good.
alice in wonderland.
i wonder how he would remake this well known tale?
wootx.

Blood the last vampire.

Blood the last vampire. Has anyone catch this movie yet...?Well i did, and let me share my review for this movie....

I just learnt that this movie was made into a live action from the original anime of the same tittle; Blood the last Vampire not Blood+ as many have had this mixup. Honestly speaking, i have not heard nor seen the anime series thus can't make any comparisons. But just basing on the pictures i see of the anime version of Saya and the real version play by Jeon Ji Hyun. It's quite nicely done.

Sailor uniform- Check
Blade in hand- Check
Plaid Pigtails- Check
Frown on the face- Check
Not that bad a resemblance, to me that is.

*a little digression*
Who is Jeon Ji-hyun?
You must be thinking...damn. she looks soooo familiar but i can't put a finger to where i've seen her from..
If you are a fan of k-movies, you might be familiar with the very original sassy girl.
Yesh, shes the girl, the main lead from My Sassy girl. If you asked me, I feel shes the one who started the whole trend of other 'sassy fierce girls' kinda movie trend in Korea.
*end of digression*

From this sweetie pie image to the devil may care attitude below. Thumbs up.

But what i didn't get was wouldn't it be easier to find a japanese to act this role? Maybe, they couldn't find anyone suitable for it. No faults there. But i could clearly hear that a certain part she was struggling with her japanese, but she managed to pull it off quite well. So, i guess maybe because I knew she was korean, I was paying special attention to her speaking the dialougue. But otherwise, it was quite smooth.....

When watching a movie like this, i always remind myself before stepping into the theartres that i should leave my rationality aside and enjoy. So that was what I did, I went in and enjoyed most of the movie, squirmed at some of the graphics, not because they werre gory, just because, it wasn't of great quality...O..and the fighting scenes. !!. Let me speak more on that behind. But leaving all those behind, I wanted to label it as a interesting movie to watch....UNTIL. the ending came about, and from a movie rating of, woah. it suddenly dropped to, what the. ...
Even if they wanted to end it that way, do it properly. It somehow seemed to me like a very hard sudden ending as if they had no more ideas as how to shoot it, were eager to wrap up, or suddenly realised budget was not enough when filming those scenes. I'm not attempting to put up too much spoilers, so i'll just say, the ending was too abrupt and the mysterious ending, was kinda done in bad taste. If you ask me that is.
The fighting and flying scenes was something i felt a little off about too...the wireing made the actions very stiff. It kinda felt like those old old chinese action gongfu flicks at some part where because of the wireing their actions become a little awkward. and because, they are not stunt people some of the actors moves could be very clearly seen as not powerful enough. Not the fault of the actors though, i can see the main lead doing a incredible job with so many action moves to attempt. Maybe the director could have helped them out a little there.

The bad.

1. the ending.
   
2. the stiff fighting scenes
3. telling it from the point of alice
4. not a strong plot, but hey. its just an hour and a half movie
   
5. the vampires which look like the monsters from alien vs. predator. -_-

The good.

1. A close Saya(main lead) resemblance
2. ji hyun's acting, she's spoke english and jap, comeon, give the girl some credit.
3. The silhouette(d) fighting scenes.(creates mood w/o the cheesy wiring jumping around,but there were too many of it) (got a little one too many right after i realised i like it-_-)
   
4. i like heroines saving the day. my personal bias. bleahs. =P
5. i'm into the whole vampire slaying thing. ask me. i caught all 3 seasons of my date with a vampire(我和僵屍有個約會) another personal bias. =P
   
6. at least. the director had the decency to get an asian to act as saya to lookand sync like the original anime character. unlike some other movie...
7. there were some very cool fighting scenes of japanese warriors.
   

the front suspense-ful start was good.

Overall, if you asked me is this the movie of the year? an obvious no.but!definitely Not the worse too. if your looking for a Sunday entertainment movie. Yes, this would make a good one, despite some bad stops, it is still full of flavour and actions.

Would i recommend this movie...? I think i would actually...:P Because, I like the whole, girl in sailor uniform saves the day kinda stuff...lol.I didn't regret watching it. And ji hyun's acting here is pretty good remembering this is her first take on a english film. :)

If you catch the film,let me know your take on it. :)
enjoy!

red bean. dual versions.

lilalienations: No matter how many times i've seen the show Hero not to be mistaken with Heroes. I still catch it as if its the first time...just love the show. Takuya kimura! XD
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I'm sure most people would have heard of the song 紅豆. It was very popular when i was a kid, even though i didn't know the name of the song then and didn't know who sang it, I thought the song was pretty good. And mind you, my chinese wasn't known to be exactly at its best then...i wasn't frequently listening to chinese songs (*digress* but i did manage to pick up a few nice songs from way back then which i liked. I only became a advid listener to chinese songs and the radio station 933 when i was passed down my home's old spoilt cd player, but radio works and still is like a charm!:D) as I am right now...mayday wasn't out yet. XP haha!:P

Recently I heard a cover version done by Khalil fong...but before that let me share with you the original first....Here**
Mv not much of a show stopper...so unless your a big fan you can just catch the song while surfing around....
Not too long ago or recently i should think mr方大同 did a cover of this song...



No original mv...so i also suggest listening while surfing the rest of my blog! lol.:P unless you want the lyrics....

A cover of red bean.What khalil never fail to do with any song is to put a stamp of his own on it. Whether he writes a song for someone else, or when he sings his own songs even when he does covers. If i were someone who had never listen to the original i would think that this song was done by him. I thought the video of the live version sounded more interesting but the video was shaky. Khalil doesn't fail to deliver because he adds something of this own to the song unlike how sometimes when cover versions are done, it seems as if they murdered the song and brought no justice to it...but i wouldn't say it was very super impressive or very distinctively different from that of the original.

Have a listen.
Which version did you like? :)

4 left feet or more.

舞林大道 just ended its grand finale tonight. Its a show about groups who join to compete in dancing to win the overall championship from Taiwan. (I wouldn't call it the Asian version of so you think you can dance, because very simply this is by groups not individuals. and the groups are given points instead of having cast popularity votes)

Ooo was it a great show. Have been catching this show from while it was still airing on weekdays till it changed till weekend nights. And yay! one of my favourite dance group won! I was rooting for them all along. :)) great job. You might be wondering, if i enjoy watching dance shows, then i should be able to dance right?wrong. so dead wrong. I love to see people battle in breaking or just break for fun or hip hop and stuff...seeing people dance is just so great but if you ask me to dance...i think i can't dance to save my own life. i'm that bad with it.

People have two left feet. I think i might have 4?

Anyway enjoy the performance of 黑角!:) their good. their really creative man.

I first noticed them in this video.
( if you don't wanna catch this few. see the last two i picked. awesome!)


舞林大道第四集 龜兔賽跑

This was the first video which made me sit up to watch them closely, from there onwards they only got better and better and the rest as they say is history. O...and i believe that if their original team members (those from lollipop, people who know me know i quite dislike this group, cux they got not much substance apart from nice packaging?[even if they do. lollipop as a band name. argh.] bite me i'm bias. who ask them to name themselves lollipop. -_-;) if they did not leave the group they would be doing even better. I mean the lollipop guys, i would think this would be better rather than be in an idol group just to look good. but i guess fame comes differently.

i've picked out a few of my favourites...for your watching enjoyment. :)


林大道第五集 黑角運動會

If you missed the rest just catch this two. :) its really good. i really liked this two clips. honest. :)
their breaking and creativity is really just snap that that good! really.


模范7棒&黑角 - 舞林大道


舞林大道 2009-02-01 黑角 - 最終樂章

Wow wow wee. :)
Yay to their winning!:)
they got a perfect score for the last performance....perfect...hmms. but Yay they won~:)

reviews reviews. nicky:不, 完美

李玖哲

Nicky's album!:)

不, 完美

Just like all his other albums. This is an album to fall in love with instantly. Well, at least for me it was. An element of surprise, apart from his usual r&b inside the album, this time there is also a song which he did for a chinese online game. 蒼天 . It hit me by surprise when i listen to the album for the first time. It was "zhong guo feng", something not in nicky's genre. But nevertheless i thought it was well done.

Yea, media review done by mypaper was quick to put down's nicky's attempt. But i thought, it was good on the contrary. It shows how versatile he is. Not bad not bad. :)

Another song which i liked in the whole album which apart the first main hit song is "顽皮鬼". Nice. :) i didn't put it up as I couldn't find the actual mv for it....but do have a listen. :) I feel that his songs apart from nice voice and tune, the lyrics arent too complicated but hits the point.

edited crop . original pic from here***

In this album he also gotten Kenji, 阿沁 & 方大同 to work together with him in some of the songs. I do not know the songs styles (though i do listen to them) of the first two artistes well, but i listen to 方大同's song alot. And, while listening to the song he and nicky work on together "不只是場夢" I nearly mistaken it to be Khalil singing. It had a very strong individual style imprinted on it. 方大同's style. One take, and you'll immediately recognise he had a part to play in this song.

It's not exactly a bad thing, just that, maybe they were hoping for something more different to come out from it. But, it came out sticking out from the crowd awkwardly. Not to say it doesn't sound nice. Nicky (in not any bias context) can sing songs very very well, and pass him 'bad' songs, i'm sure it would still sound just as good. :)

All in all, i'm sure i'll be heading out to get a copy of this and his other albums soon. :) Yesh, pinching on my penny is a must(with the bad econnomy spoiler), but to support a good artiste, yea to that too. Not all at once, but, most definitely in time to come. I'm sure to get my copy!;)

you know how i hate those groups which has good looks, but no talent as in zilch (singing, acting, composing.you get what i mean;P) I believe nicky sells his albums based on his talents, he can really sing and that makes a good artist. and (bias vote) he's cute mah!:P
cheerios to Nicky on a great album. :D

Have a listen to his songs.

nice. they are. :)