Coca-Cola Super Bowl 2014 Commercial

Disney Movies - Fantasia [1940]

Not really one of the well-known Disney classics. Even if you were to mention "Fantasia" to someone they'd probably think of Fantasia 2000 [1999] instead.

Still Listening to That Song

So that list from yesterday's post only included songs I could find in good quality. Here's a list I created of languages I did not acquire the song in. Usually, it's because the video under scrutiny was of poor quality because the movie hasn't come out on DVD in that particular language's country.

Current Favorite Song(s) - 'Let It Go' from Frozen [2013]

I can't believe the last post I made was all the way back in May of last year. Good lawdy! All the same, let's not waste time with the 好久不见's and such. (^_^;;;)7

Books. Do You Read Them?

Well, here I am reading Let The Right One In. And, just in case you didn't know, it's a book translated from Swedish just like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

So then. What if these books hadn't been popular enough in their home country? What if they hadn't managed to garner enough attention to warrant English translations and U.S. publications? How would I have come into contact with them? Beyond wild coincidence or some Swedish language class or further forays into "it was meant to be" tosh, I simply wouldn't have.

Extrapolate how much stuff we're missing out on that's happening outside our "territories". Man, once again, I imagine how much more thoroughly I'd be able to live if I had me some immortality.
How much do I know about Swedish pop culture? Not much. It's outside my cultural territory. And only a simpleton would imagine the Swedes didn't have a pop culture at all. They have references, and in-jokes, and stock characters, and I don't have any part of it. But I wish I did.

Everyone is missing out on a lot of stuff around them. I don't think most people give it much thought, and most of those that do just take it as a fact of life and don't lament it. Maybe it's easier to get by that way.

What was the last book you read and when? Be honest now. I mean more than just skimming. And I definitely don't count any one that you were assigned or required to read. I'm asking you what was the last book you read purely by choice.

Blog Title

It isn't hard to figure out but those of you who still don't know what my blog's name means, or never gave it any thought, here's your last clue.

Acceptance of Cuteness

Have you ever seen a Japanese airline plane? Or their elementary school buses?
Check some of their school buses, for your viewing pleasure.

 As a whole, the Japanese have a great appreciation for aesthetic Cuteness that goes far beyond what we have here in the U.S.
Here, Cuteness is a quality that is linked to children and pet animals.
I am excluding the usage of the word 'cute' when applied to attractive females and males here.

According to tradition, at a certain age American boys are supposed to become 'men', symptoms of which include spurning cute stuff as childish and/or 'girly', sprouting facial and chest hair, choppin' down trees, making their own beef jerky and beatin' on their wives.

In conjunction with the increasing popularity of nerdiness/geekdom, Cuteness has gotten a massive boost in mainstream acceptance with such modern wonders as Lolcats, YouTube videos of cats and anthropomorphized pictures of other animals' faces. Seriously, it's done a lot to pave the way for guys to be able to say they find stuff cute. I attribute this to the coupling of Funny with Cute. If a guy just made a bunch of Cute stuff with kitties, I guarantee people would question his sexual orientation, but since it's a joke, it's all good.

A more recent case would be the burst of popularity for the show My Little Pony in a demographic that is most certainly not the target one: teenage to adult males. There are a lot of reasons these 'bronies' claim to like the show but since I haven't done my That looks like shit! Lemme watch it so I can talk about it routine I won't spew hate on something that I admit to knowing nothing about.
At first glance though, I suspect a healthy dose of hipsters-drinking-PBR class irony at play here.

Also, stuff like this makes it funny. Speaking of LOTR:

Idiosyncrasy #4: No Worries (Mate)

I say 'No worries' in lieu of "You're welcome" or "No problem". Unlike 'wanker' I know exactly where I picked this one up!

You ever read the children's book series Animorphs? One of my favorites while growing up; however, I don't think it ever received as much popularity as it deserves. There is still a good section of it at my local public library though.

Specifically it was book #44, The Unexpected. One of the characters ends up stranded in Australia and meets up with a local boy who said "No worries".

I thought this was an awesome turn of phrase and started using it. 'No worries' has so much more to offer than 'No problem' or 'You're welcome'. The latter two concern only the immediate situation and the action which prompted the response. 'No worries' is a sort of well-wishing for the rest of this other person's day.

<(º_________º)>

Favorite Word #2: Wanker

Another one of my favorite words for your pleasure:

Wanker - n. 

1. A contemptible person; jerk.

2. A male masturbator. 

Ha-HAA!! There's multiculturalism for yah! I dunno when I picked that up, exactly. Probably around the same time I got 'colour' and 'honour'. 

 Ah wellz, I been saying 'wanker' for years and I'm not gonna stop wanking now!

.

.

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Wait, that didn't come out right.....

J-Pop #1: Younha

To balance out all that K-Pop here's a dose of J-Pop for you. Some of you may recognize this song as one of the ending songs for Bleach (back when it was good). It was so good they made it the opening theme song for a while, too.

I love the piano in here. (^___^)

Younha - ほうき星
====OR====
Grooveshark link

Oh snaps, I didn't realize she sang a Korean version, too! Uhh... does this mean I just maintained the imbalance? (___- -)7 Woops.



She's actually Korean by birth. How interesting. I didn't know her at all! (^_^)

Multi-lingual Song Covers

Yah, yah I know I missed a post, haha.

I love listening to covers of songs in different languages. One of the reasons Dragostea din Tei will always hold a special place in my heart, but I'll post about that some other time. And I don't call it the Numa Numa Song.

Here's a nice pair of songs for ya.

Original German:


Wir Sind Helden - Nur Ein Wort by Th3-Warlords


Mandarin Chinese cover:



I don't speak German but I love it anyway hahahaha.
I'm surprised Rainie Yang has a VEVO channel.
I'm disappointed you can't find the Chinese characters anywhere on the video itself. Even the title is just the Romanized words.

J(apanese)/K(orean) Horror vs American Horror Pt.2

Nevertheless, American horror in the 2000s didn't totally reinvent itself. The slasher/gore front stayed strong with such blockbuster franchises as Saw [1 film per year from 2004-2010] and Hostel/+Part 2 [2005/2007]. In fact, a new term was coined during this period for these gore fests: torture porn, a fitting description wouldn't you say?

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a shining example of the differences between American and Asian horror. A clip from the classic Japanese film, Kairo. Apologies for how dark it is though.
P.S. I did not make nor did I upload this clip though I wish I had on both counts.



First 3 minutes
Do you see how the woman quietly appeared in the corner, quite far from where he was standing? In an American film she would have appeared directly behind him accompanied by a loud sound. Notice how she slowly walked towards him? That stumble she makes is one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. In an American film she would have walked towards him then suddenly teleport forward a couple of feet, possibly probably startling him and causing him to stumble back and fall over. Then she would lunge directly towards the camera while making a loud screeching sound zombies and other monsters find popular these days. For examples on the 'Screech & Lunge' see this at 2:10 and this at 1:51.

Rest of clip
You might have to watch the movie to get what's going on here. (O___<) *wink*
Anyhoo- DO IT (ಠ_ಠ) DO IT NOW NOW NAO
Anyway @6:57 You can be assured that in an American film something would have startled her and you, the audience, when she turned the light on. The maker of this video was also aware of this convention.

A clip from the remake, Pulse, for comparison but not for pleasure.

 

 Of particular note is the moment @1:27 when the thing with many arms jumps out at her. A typical cheap jump scare moment.

J(apanese)/K(orean) Horror vs American Horror Pt.1

Continuing from the previous post, one of Asian horror's best features is the reliance on generating actual fear and dread, whereas American films usually go for tension (which they mistake for fear) and shock (also 'fear'). This discrepancy difference (^ヮ^;;)7 becomes very easy to spot when you compare the shitty remakes with the originals. Let's run through a non-exhaustive list from the last decade shall we?

Ringu [1998] ==>> The Ring [2002]
Kairo [2001] ==>>Pulse [2005]
Dark Water [2002] ==>> Same name [2005]
Ju-on: The Grudge [2003] ==>>The Grudge [2004] This one is interesting in that the director for the original, Takashi Miike, also directed the remake.
One Missed Call [2004] ==>> Same name [2008]

As you can see, the 2000s saw a prodigious number of hit Asian horror films ported over, fucked up altered to fit American tastes and shipped out. Throughout the 90s, slasher/gore films dominated the American horror scene and I believe the attraction to these Asian ones came as a reaction to that. Hollywood executives saw that there was something different about them from the stuff they had been pumping out. What the scriptwriters seemed to have missed when they wrote the remakes was that what made these films different was what wasn't there. Shocks and blood. Not everyone missed out on these points. The Blair Witch Project [1999] and The Others [2001] both utilized the minimalist approach and, not coincidentally, I liked both those films (and mentioned them in my last post as examples of good American horror movies). On a side note I will point out that the minimalist approach is not a magic key into my treasure box of loved horror movies. Paranormal Activity [2009], despite receiving good reviews and running with the minimalist approach, was nothing special to me. I believe it would have been nothing special to the majority of the movie-going public too if they watched more Asian horror cinema like me. I will tip my hat to the series for showing Hollywood how effective 'less' can be. No wait, let me say it in a way that will make them ACTUALLY care. I thank Paranormal Activity for showing Hollywood how PROFITABLE the minimalist approach can be. There, that should do it. Almost $200 million on a budget of $15 000 if I recall?

That was quite a bit of reading so I'll split this post into two parts for you tl;dr types. How accommodating and understanding I am! (and humble!) ╮(￣ヮ￣)╭

Horror Movie Love-Hate

I love horror movies, particularly those of the J and K persuasion. Sadly, characters in horror movies have to possess a requisite amount of retardation in order for the plot to move forward, or in some cases, in order for the premise of the movie to be exist in the first place. A certain level of tolerance and a willingness to experience occasional frustration are necessities of the job.

One of the biggest differences between American horror films and Asian ones would have to be the gore levels. American films rely heavily on buckets of red corn syrup and CGI. For better or worse, films like the Hostel series come to my mind first when thinking of modern American horror films. This may not be entirely fair, I'll admit. The Blair Witch Project, The Others, The Exorcist, and The Sixth Sense were all great films that don't fit this mold.

Another thing, by far the worse one in my opinion, is American horror's reliance on what I call 'jump scares'. These are those moments when either the music stops or the violins begin to hold that one high pitched note as the protagonists approach a dark hole or prepare to open a door. AND THEN SOMETHING STARTLES THEM, whether it be the monster or, more often, someone shows up and says, "HEY!" This moment is also usually punctuated by a loud DUN! on the piano.

What I like about J/K horror? Well, that can fill a whole post by itself. Next post will elaborate on the differences between American and J/K.

Idiosyncrasy #1: Extra 'U'

I was born in the States, went to school here and learned American English in class but for some reason I always write and type 'colour' and 'behaviour'. How did British spelling get in there? (O.o)7 ??

I don't know. Was it reading Harry Potter in 5th grade? Was that it? An impressionable age to be sure, but why? I must investigate...
~~(__ಠಠ )
My mother was born in Hong Kong. The English held Hong Kong for years, right? This influence trickled into her mind and was passed on to me. She speaks English with a slight British accent sometimes. The extra vowel lay dormant for years until I came upon this children's book series, written by a British author, and BAM! Colors became COLOURS! Yes...that must be how it happened...

Theories?

And with that I am back on track. A triple post day! I realized I actually missed a Friday AND a Saturday post so this should make everything hunky-dory. Yes, indeedy.