Plurk and Twitter

For those people who is in Plurk and Twitter and would like to follow all the opinions of THOR RENTZKY and MOERU HIME about Japanese, Korean and/or Taiwanese Drama they are currently viewing, just add us.  It’ll be handfull and spoilery, but they have fun opposing sometime similar opinions on the relevant show.

These Plurks and Twitter can be found at the side bar.  You may also follow theme here:

http://www.plurk.com/ThorRentzkyome

http://twitter.com/moeruhime

Thor Rentzky has a hard time blogging, but promises to do so even after flooding Plurk.

Thor got to get a better picture

Music Pimp: Indie Rock Covers

 After days of tediously uploading my Indie Rock Covers album one by one (which by the way is still not complete) — I’d like to share with you my favorite of all of them.  Welcome to thefirst ever MUSIC PIMP segment.

Remember George Michael?  Remember when he was still a straight (or straight-acting) guy?  Remember that infamous music video where all they covered was the girl’s legs that ran from Apari to Jolo? 

The Boy Least Likely To released their cover of George Michael’s popular song FAITH through limited edition download in 2007.  It’s been floating around the net ever since.  Their version is a fresh take from George Michael, making it as their own little baby.  It’s easy to listen to and calms down your spirit.  The guitar’s upward strumm makes you follow the beat by shrugging your shoulders or stomping your feet — closest thing to make me dance, anyways.  Adding the claps and whistles, its pseudo-country-sounding acoustics and its Irish Folk Song arrangement to it makes it sound like an entirely new song.  

Listen to it and tell me I’m Wrong.

Boy Least Likely To - Faith (George Michael)

The Boy Least Like To is an indie British rock duo composed of composer/multi-instrumentalist Pete Hobbs and lyricist/singer Jof Owen.  I keep on making a mistake of putting an ‘S’ at the end of ‘Boy’ in their name — for obviously there are two of them, hence they’re plural, hence they should be “Boys” instead of a singular “Boy.”  But who am I to tell them how to grammatically compose their band’s name?  Whether their name is grammatically correct or not, I like their version of FAITH. I’ll be looking for their original songs next and listen how they really play.  I have a certain obsession on British music, whether indie or mainstream.

Know more about them by visiting their official website and reading their blogs and news about their music.  THE BOY LEAST LIKELY TO .

There are more interesting songs in the playlist. CLICK ME and listen to all of them.  Songs to take note of as well are the following:

(more…)

SUMIMASEN DESHITA!

Dear friends,

Tomodachi gomenasai!

We are very sorry for the pix not showing up in our first ever FASHION VERDICT.  My sister, Brattyneelah, forgot to take out the private lock on the album where we placed the 2009 Oscar pictures.  We have changed the permissions to public viewing and so if you try again the images of the lovely dresses at the 81st Academy Awards red carpet is now viewable.

Please visit Red Carpet Fashion Awards [dot] com for more pix and fashion verdicts of their own.

Domo arigatou gozaimasu to all of your patience.  We promise to not let this happen again — definitely not intentionaly.

Domo,

Moeru Hime

!(~__________~)v

2009 Oscar Fashion Verdict Part 2

And so we continue our Fashion Verdict Special …

Brattyneelah and Moeru Hime continues to tell us what they like and they don’t like even if they really don’t know who the dress designers are (most of the times) and their fashion taste are limited to Goth Punk and Japanese Lolita …

 
   

(more…)

2009 Oscar Fashion Verdict Part 1

Welcome to Brattyneelah and Moeru Hime’s first Fashion Verdict!  Today we’re going to talk about the 2009 Academy Awards red carpet.

As it is image heavy, will cut here and those really interested to read on click here … images borrowed from Red Carpet Fashion Awards …

(more…)

Academy Awards Congratulations

Sitting in instead of Brattyneelah for the moment to talk about the talk of the town — The Academy Award … 

ACTORS

Most people thought Mickey Rourke would get it — but I knew, it’d be Sean Penn.  Why?  Because they’ve bypassed Sean Penn quite a few times.  It’s about time they honor Sean Penn’s genius talent, even if I think he was better in “Dead Man Walking” more than “Mystic River.”  As for Mickey Rourke, I do believe he deserved the win — Oscars just doesn’t work that way.

Kate Winslet has the most nominations at her age.  She’s already being compared to Meryl Streep who has the most nominations for an actress.  In fact, Winslet has more noms at her age compared to Le Streep — Winslet :  6 at 34; Streep : 6 at 36.  Winslet  is also one of the few who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for a title role (IRIS 2000) a role she shared with Dame Judi Dench.  It’s about time, they gave her an Oscar for a Lead Role … a role she won the Globes for Best Supporting Actress.

Penelope Cruz is the only viable winner for this category.  Though I was rooting for Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).  2 Exs of Tom Cruise won post relationship … could there be a third?

Heath Ledger’s post-humous award — again — wasn’t a surprise.  Everybody knew he’d win.  I’ve been a fan since “Ten Things I Hate About You” and I surely am proud that he was given the award.  However, it’s just sad that he’s gone from us now.  And it still makes me wonder, would he have won if he didn’t die?

TECHNICAL

Director: After Trainspotting, I thougth Danny Boyle would be like a one hit wonder.  It took some time, but thanks for proving me wrong.  I love it when artist prove me wrong.

Screenplay:  I would be in a more joyous mood if Wall-E won.  However, we can’t really judge the award committee’s decisions just based on the movie itself. I haven’t read the screenplays, so maybe they did deserve the win.  I think Slumdog Millionaire deserved it — I think Milk’s win was a political one — and I’ll always wait when Oscar gives the best writing to an animated or sci fi movie.  Good thing Lord of the Rings already won, or I’d still be waiting for a fantasy win.

Cinematography:  It was no contest.  Slumdog Millioner — shooting on location — was a hard feat for a cinematographer … and it delivered.  It was the right decision to give it to them.

Theme Song:  Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s the first time that a foreign language song won right?  It was a foreign language song, right?  I coudln’t remember.

Best Animated Feature: No contest, Wall-E had to bag it.

Best Foreign Language Feature: Okuribito sounds interesting.  I couldn’t find a copy though. Thor is giddy about Ryoko Hirosue though.  Apparently, he’s seen her in one of her J-drama.

Best Feature Film:  As it was the underdog of this year (or rather 2008) — Slumdog Millionaire has proven that darkhorses really do exist. And I believe one day, a Filipino Dark Horse will claim the top prize.

Congratulations to all the nominees and the winners.  Greatly played.

… And We’re Back In The Game …

After almost a week of waiting for I.PH to return (and this after a few days offline while painting Los Banos red) we’re back online and ready to blog.  But most likely, after this one, we’ll be posting Monday again (parties left and right — and tomorrow is a hectic day for us).

So many things have happend.

Thor finished watching a handful of shows and is ready to write his endless thoughts about them.  In fact, he has been spamming his PLURK account about these shows telling us that’s his little way of using the interwebz as his notebook.

Brattyneelah, on the other hand has acquired quite a few mp3s to share with everybody and has been raving about the song “FAITH” originally by GEORGE MICHAEL and covered by Indie band BOY LEAST LIKELY TO.

Ms. Annie Mae has now taken the handle MOERU HIME just because she thinks she’s a princess and a Moe at that (she’ll explain what a Moe is soon).

Flicker Flip is in hiatus but wants to write something about REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA one of these days as well as LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.  He just saw HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU and thinks he’s like the character ALEX played by JUSTIN LONG.

Capt. Retcon is still waiting for a meeting with his other comic book geek friends to discuss certain issues about and from DC’s FINAL CRISIS and we hope to hear his thoughts on this one day.

But for now, after a long day and a long wait, we’ll rest and hold our breath to see what happens next to this tiny little starting blog about the geekdom and their loyal followers.

In His Defense

LEAVE CHRISTIAN ALONE!!!

Just the way Britney’s greatest fan said it.  I wish I could have recorded myself saying the same thing.  Unfortunately, I have no decent camera.

Everybody’s in on the first scandal of 2009.  I’ve heard jokes, seen skits and of course the songs.  Flicker, who’s not really much into music, seems to be enjoying the The Mei Shi Bale song.  Weeks have passed and still people are talking about it.  Look at me, I’m still blogging about it.  But I blog in his defense.

Christian Bale has already spoken his apologies for his tirade on this set through the Los Angeles radio show last Feb 6.  It’s still in Yahoo news, i believe.  And for that I respect him  more.  Not just because he’s Bruce Wayne — well mostly because he IS Batman.

Bale, it seems, is one of them method actors.  He explains in the radio show that when the incident happened, he was in the middle of shooting a “crazy” scene — where his character, John Connor was supposed to be going crazy.  And when Shane Hurlbut (the DoP) inadvertently step into the set while the camera was rolling, as Bale have said it “I took it way too far, and I completely mixed up fact and fiction — I’m half John Connor and half Christian there….” This is common knowledge in the entertainment industry (stage, TV, Film — probably even in the AV), you don’t mess up a method actor’s scene.

So many people out there started blogging (my brother included) about this and lashed out on Bale’s “lapse on judgement” (that line never grows old for me).  For one, we only have an audio recording of the incident.  We really do not know what happened before and after the recorded incident.  I’ve read quite a number of blogs who condemed Bale when they didn’t even understand who Bale was talking to at all.  I mean, not to be too arrogant here, I knew when Bale was saying Bruce, he was talking to (I pressumed) Bruce Franklin, the associate producer of Terminator 4.  BRUCE IS NOT THE DIRECTOR OR THE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY BALE WAS LASHING OUT ON.  Shane Hurlbut is the DoP and McG is the Director.  

Secondly, Hurlbut did the deed twice.  The recording came from the second time Hurlbut distracted Bale’s performance.  Once is an accident.  Twice, you’re just trying to piss off people.  Also, apparently Hurlbut isn’t a squeeky little guy as we can hear in the recording — in fact he’s a former football player, as Bale told the radio announcers.  That’s why Bruce reprimanded him in the end as well. 

He who has no sin cast the first stone.

It’s not exactly accurate, but it will do in relevancy.

In any workplace, everyone is stressed and pressured.  Everyone is bound to make a mistake, and it usually starts a domino kind of downfall. Hurlbut made a mistake which promted Bale to make a mistake that promted the producers to make a mistake — their mistake being sending out the recordings for insurance purposes which TMZ got through some obviously devious researching (I love TMZ — unfortunately I just can’t stand TV — and I don’t actually believe the producers, IMHO they might have been the ones who sent it to TMZ).  Nobody is perfect.  I myslef am just ALMOST perfect.

So leave Christian Bale alone!

I also liked how he addressed the jokes, the songs and the skits …  Bale said, “Feel free to make fun of me at my expense; I deserve it completely.”

I believe that makes him a bigger man. 

Go Bruce Wayne!

CAPT. RETCON

 XS — Thor will be talking about Hana Yori Dango, Meteor Garden and Boys Before Flowers next time.

XXS — EDIT — did a few edits just to clean up … it was hard writing with a bad light.

BALEful Temper Tantrum Re-Mix

Christian Bale is a cult icon especially after leading the Batman movie franchise.  Both brothers of mine — Retcon and Thor — shower him with adulation.  As an actor, I respect and admire him.  With his impressive filmography, who wouldn’t?  Empire of the Sun, Swing Kids, Little Women, The Machinist, The Prestige — I can name a few more, but these are the ones that made me consider putting him up on the pedestal (well at least I could name more than Retcon and Thor can — which are just Batman and The Dark Knight).  However, for a few months now — maybe a couple of years(?) — reports of his intractable temper have been floating around the interwebz — and these made me consider. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I still admire him as an actor.  But there are facts that an actor should have a critical understanding:

1. An actor’s job of acting doesn’t stop when the director says cut.  They are paid millions because they have to take their job of acting home until they sleep and again when they wake up in the morning and all through out the day.  It’s just like every executive officer, CEO, COO, etc, who take home their work.  If they’re a jerk who happens to be packaged as a poster child of nicities, then they act the part.  If they’re a nice kid packaged as a badass, then they don’t have to be nice.  I always thought Bale was one of the former.  But then, I may be wrong as news like these travel a lot slower than a 16-hour flight from U.S.A to the Philippines.
2. An actor works hand-in-hand, not only with the director, but with the entire crew — yes even the Production Assistants — to create a great movie as a team.  In any working environment, politics, misgivings, misunderstandings and conflicts ruin the dynamics of a team.  Screaming at your Director of Photography puts you at risk of a — ooops! the red heads fell on top of your head — predicament (I’m not saying they’d do it, it’s just that they can — and a lot more).  And again, it makes you look like a jerk.
3. An actor — however good you are as an actor or however popular you are to your target audience — will only be as good as your last movie.  If you throw a tantrum on your last set, and the producers and the crew had enough of you, you’ll never see work again.  Not even if you have a good agent.  Look at Robert Downey Jr.  He’s been in and out of rehab before but still everytime he was out of it, he has a job because he’s professional annd knows how to treat his mates nicely (this I heard from Biography channel — unless I remember differently).

*(That last bit is just my theory as I’ve never been in a professional or mainstream production set)

Retcon and Thor will be defending Bale’s honor for sure.  But for me, I’ll see his good movies — maybe even rave about it — and forget him as soon as he fades away.

But that won’t be anytime soon.  Publicity is still publicity, whether it’s positive or negative.  Nothing beats bad publicity to keep your limelight shining even when you’re not doing anything productive.  Ask Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton or Mischa Barton.  With the exception of Ms. Spears, what are these ladies doing these days?  I mean no disrespect, these lovely ladies are still a feast to my eyes — I just honestly don’t know what work they’ve done lately.

With TMZ’s tenacious procurement of pernicious scoops, Bale falls prey to the interwebz’s creative flair.

You can hear the original in this TMZ recording.  There have been a few remixes already,  I don’t know who started it (anyone care to educate me?) but I found this one at Brooklyn Vegan.  It’s a song composed and performed by The Mae Shi.

Enjoy … I sure did.

peace!

Flicker Flip

Watchmen’s Final Poster

I am one of those skeptics who don’t take comic-book-turned-movie all too well.  Lately, they’ve been releasing great adapatations.  In fact, I’d say, last year was the peak of all comic-book-movies.  With that I meant, there were more hit than miss.  I don’t care much about box office success.  Sometimes, it’s all in the marketing.  Like Watchhmen.

We’ve been seeing and hearing the Watchmen publicities for quite sometime now.  The trailers look good, and even though I’m not one of them Billy Corgan fans, his song added to the effect.  The initial character posters were enticing, made me look for other characters.  My brother, RETCON, was a bit giddy when MTV Splash Page came out with the supposed Final Poster — It’s the same as the cover of their OST. 

Suddenly, somehow, I lost all interest.  I expected better artwork or better layout.  IMHO, LJ and Deviantart artists can do better.   The IMAX poster looks ok.  Though it still doesn’t work for me.  Although, whether it works or it doesn’t work for me, I’ll be there on or after March 6, 2009 at IMAX watching this thing with Retcon.  As for my reception of the movie, I won’t base it on my thoughts on the posters.  And since I haven’t read the graphic novels, it will surely be different from them all fans.

On LAST AIRBENDER Live-Action Movie

     VS   

Round 1

Fight!

FLIKCER FLIP (FF):  Hey, Annie … you watch AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, dont you?

MOERU HIME (MH):  Yeah, why?

FF: M. KNIGHT SHYAMALAN is making a live-action movie of it.

MH:  To my detriment, yes I’ve heard.  The only good thing about it is JACKSON RATHBONE is playing SOKKA.  Those cute boys of TWILIGHT just make everything right in this world.

FF:   I just read that DEV PATEL of SLUMDOG MILLIONER will be playing ZUKO instead of JESSIE McCARTNEY.

MH: Nooooo!  Wait, who’s he again?

FF:  The guy in Slumdog Millioner.

MH:  Sorry, don’t know him.  What’s a Slumdog Millioner?

FF:  It’s a movie.  Just won the GOLDEN GLOBES?

MH:  Not an anime.  Not my interest.  Besides, has it been shown here in the Philippines?

FF:  Not yet.  Unless your friendly neighborhood pirate has it in your list, or Thor has it in his download list.

MH:  So what made you think I would know something about it?

FF:  Nevermind.  So what do you think of the live-action movie plans?

MH:  Have put it in my list of things to disappoint me in the future.  Right now, it’s still KEANU REEVES signed up for SPIKE SPIEGEL on top.  Now, that’s the reason why I don’t watch live-action movies.  Whether it’s in Japan or in Hollywood — most especially in Hollywood.  Suspending disbelief just won’t work anymore.

FF:  I don’t know.  I think Shyamalan is a good director.  I remember you being scaredy cat of the 6TH SENSE.

MH:  And after that, what other movies of his can you really say that you liked?

FF:  I liked UNBREAKABLE.

MH:  Wasn’t that, like, direct to DVD or something?

FF:  No, it wasn’t. 

MH:  Well, here in our country it was.

FF:  Well, LADY IN THE WATER was pretty good.

MH:  You say that in anything that CHRISTOPHER DOYLE is credited. 

FF: I’m the eldest, you should listen to me.

MH: A stupid idea is still stupid.  Am young and have a impressionable mind.  Don’t impress stupid things on my mind.

FF:  I’ll never win this argument, am I?

MH:  Nevah!

wins!

INTRODUCING

Special thanks to “THE 58 GEEKS” creator Scott Johnson(www.myextralife.com)  

geek  

It’s sad that the word geek is still defined by old standards in a very negative light.  Circus?  Really?  Seriously?

I’m a proud geek.  And I know I’m a cool geek, along with my friends who are proud to call theselves geek as well.  But this isn’t about them or about me.  This is about the HOUSE OF GEEKS.  Let me introduce the happy brood of the Geek family:

Flicker Flip Geek
24 years old
Movie buff who critizez each and every movie that passes his eyes through his computer’s desktop or friendly neighborhood wide screen.  He’ll hit all genres, of any nation, of whatever size or length. He’ll rant if he doesn’t like it.  He’ll rave it he likes it.

Capt. Retcon Geek
21 years old
The usually confused comics collector.  These days, he’s become DC Zombie affected by the Anti-Life Equation (not for long).  Having spent most of his time figuring out what’s happening in DC Universe and it’s 52 worlds, he badly needs a guide in his journey as well as tutor on the Marvel World.  He is waging war against DD-EIC of DC.

Thor Rentzky Geek
20 years old
You’ll always see this one in the in front of the TV — or in front of the computer waiting for his downloads to finish — watching every possible live-action show he can find, irregardless of language.  His challenge right now?  Battle Star Galactica and Star Wars Clone Wars.

Brattyneelah Geek
18 years old
The emo Riot Grrrl brat who adores fashion and worships indie-rock music.  Usually, garbed in black and/or Neo-Victorian clothing, she aggresively advocates feminism.  She contradicts herself a lot — from her opinions to her preferences, and even about her sexuality. Her ambition is to eventualy become a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother.

Moeru Hime Geek
15 years old
The sweet and innocent self-declared otaku who swims in the sea of vibrant colors of animation and cute-ness of all Lolita.  She’s competing for the title of Queen of Cute. Everything about her is super pink. She’s currently busy completing her Ranka Lee cosplay, hoping she could sing the same way.

 Look out for the rest of these geeks’ appearances.  

Live long and prosper…

Our Living Language  : Our word geek is now chiefly associated with contemporary student and computer slang, as in computer geek. In fact, geek is first attested in 1876 with the meaning “fool,” and it later also came to mean “a performer engaging in bizarre acts like biting the head off a live chicken.” Perhaps the use of geek to describe a circus sideshow has contributed to its current popularity. The circus was a much more significant source of entertainment in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries than it is now, and large numbers of traveling circuses left a cultural legacy in various unexpected ways. Superman and other comic book superheroes owe much of their look to circus acrobats, who were similarly costumed in capes and tights. We also owe the word ballyhoo to the circus; its ultimate origin is unknown, but in the late 1800s it referred to a flamboyant free musical performance conducted outside a circus with the goal of luring customers to buy tickets to the shows inside. Other words and expressions with circus origins include bandwagon (coined by P.T. Barnum in 1855) and Siamese twin.