Evaluating The Babes of Studio Ghibli Films (Part 1)

Sometime in late April, Walter of Quiet Bubble announced his intention to call for a Hayao Miyazaki blog-a-thon, which I had initially wanted to participate, until I had to suddenly take over the production of my last short film Vertical Distance (originally just the screenwriter, I ended up directing the damned thing). As I had to work on my own film for weeks, I had to miss Quiet Bubble's actual Miyazaki Fest when film blogs around the world were writing articles dedicated to the legendary Japanese director.

I first discovered Hayao Miyazaki back in 1992 when I was eight. Laputa: Castle In The Sky was the first film I've ever watched by him, and until this very day, it occupies a special place in my heart, it's unlikely that anything can supplant its position as my all-time favourite Miyazaki/Ghibli film. Laputa: Castle In The Sky definitely changed my life then, I spent four consecutive nights watching and rewatching it, too blown away by its flawlessness and greatness. Since then, I collected every single other film Miyazaki did after he formed Studio Ghibli (most of his pre-Ghibli works are too obscure for me to find, though I do own a considerable amount of them as well). He is a part of my life, through the years, from a child til today, where I have embarked upon a filmmaking path of my own.

This entry could've been a nostalgic look at the list of Miyazaki films I've seen that helped shape and redefine my beliefs and views in life, of how I grew to love Porco Rosso, of my personal indifference towards My Neighbour Totoro, of my unexplainable affection towards Kiki's Delivery Service, or my mild sense of disappointment with Howl's Moving Castle. It could even be detailed articles or reviews of these movies, where I attempt to articulate my readings and interpretations of them.

However, this isn't such an entry.

Re-cycle 鬼域 by the Pang brothers

Re-cycle (鬼域) marks the reunion of the Pang Brothers (Oxide and Danny Pang) and Malaysia's own Angelica Lee Sinje since their 2002 breakthrough hit The Eye.

There had been numerous accusations against the Pang Brothers for constantly flogging the dead horse because their collaborative efforts after The Eye consist solely of, well, sequels to The Eye that are of varying qualities (The Eye 2 and The Eye 10, both I didn't see). But these two guys are really pretty good at what they do, and that's building tension, adding suspense, creating an ominous atmosphere, and well, wringing an effective performance from Lee Sinje.

Of course Zidane's headbutt becomes a massive internet phenomenon

Mark my words, this incident will inspire a tidal wave of mashup videos similar to what the 'Bus Uncle' clip (read the Wiki entry about the incident here) did few months ago. Already, there are mashup videos in Youtube like this and this (the latter video's kinda gross) in Youtube. So expect to see many variations of this incident, possibly an 'epic version', a Brokeback Mountain version, an orchestra version, a fake prequel with dubbed voices, etc etc. We are living in an age where everyone can be creative, and anything they create can be distributed around easily over the Internet.

The above quote came from my Salute to Zidane entry two days ago. It's incredible that my prophecy is fulfilled almost instantly, and Zidane's headbutt has totally become an internet phenomenon. Insanely creative animated GIFs, parody videos are already spreading around like wildfire across cyberspace. Yep, this incident has invaded pop culture around the world, much more so than Italy's supposed glory and victory it had attained during the World Cup.

'Trio And A Bed', Malaysia's First Chinese Interactive and Integrated Media Programme

Being placed under house arrest is an excruciating experience for a wandering artist like me. Due to the fact that my house is under renovation, I had to stay at home and help look after the place while parents and little sister aren't around. By being chained, my brilliant bursts of creativity are hindered, thus my output in this blog became sporadic.

Besides going through endless marathons of Hong Kong dramas, I have been surfing the net aimlessly, and sifting through the newspapers. I have wireless connection had home, so I'm usually doing all three at once: listening to HK dramas (during the draggy bits), surfing the net on my laptop and then reading The Star, and the entertainment sections of Chinese papers, China Press and Sinchew Jit Poh.



One piece of news that attracted my attention most recently is the soon-to-be released Trio and a Bed, which, according to The Star today, is Malaysia's very first Chinese interactive and integrated media programme, it's also referred to as an idol drama by the Sin Chew and China Press. Starring Miss Astro Chinese International 2005 winner Annabelle Kong (whom I've unfortunately never heard of until my recent return to Malaysia), Amber Chia and Carmen Soo, each episode is around 5 minutes, can be viewed not only on television, but 3G mobiles and the Internet (I wouldn't have cared until I read the latter).

I salute you, Zinedine Zidane

No, I'm not really a football fan. Hell, I can even go through life without watching a single game of football. The English Premiere League, loved by all football fans in South East Asia, bore the crap out of me. But for social reasons, I tend to follow the results just so I won't be left out during conversations. Things changed after moving to Perth for my studies two years ago since Australians are just as indifferent towards football as I am (their obsession is the Australian Football RocLeague, and no, their football is NOT soccer), I didn't even have to make an effort to know what's going on at all, thus being completely oblivious to whatever's been happening throughout the world of football, hell, I didn't even know that Ronaldino had been crowned FIFA player of the year in the past two years.

(In case you're wondering, I'm a NBA fan since I was 9, when Michael Jordan got his third championship)

Welcome to Dongmakgol

Welcome to Dongmakgol was South Korea's 2005 representative for the Oscar's Best Foreign Film at the 2006 Oscars. It also became the fourth top-grossing film of all time in Korea. However, I barely knew anything about it when I first popped it into my DVD player a couple of nights ago, remembering only vaguely a raving review from Lovehkfilm.com. All I've wanted was some quick laughs, and from the quirky-looking film poster (I thought the girl was riding on a mecha), this seemed to be one. I was pleasantly surprised when the film ended up delivering much more than just laughter, it's actually pretty good.

I'll Call You 得閒飲茶

It's unfortunate that I couldn't write my review for this Hong Kong film much earlier because by the time you are reading this, its theatrical run in Malaysia has most likely ended. And this unheralded romantic comedy will most likely languish within the pits of obscurity, not getting the kind of attention it deserved. No choice, two of my aunties were here, along with my tiny cousins. So hadn't had the time to write anything in the past few days.

This romantic comedy, I'll Call You, is part of Andy Lau's Focus: First Cuts project, launched last year aimed at producing six features films shot on high definition. The First Cuts project involves filmmakers from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia (whose representative is Ho Yuhang, whom I met last year, along with fellow filmmakers James Lee and Tan Chui Mui, whose Chinese blog is here, at a seminar organized by local Chinese paper Sin Chew Jit Poh), Singapore and Taiwan. I'll Call You is Hong Kong's representative, and it's written and directed by Lam Tze Chung. If I'm not wrong, this is his directorial debut. If you are not familiar with his name, well, he's the fat guy in Shaolin Soccer (the one who levitates) and Kungfu Hustle (Stephen Chow's sidekick). Long before he was spotted by Stephen Chow, Lam Tze Chung was hired by Hong Kong's TVB to be their screenwriter at the tender age of 18!