Kim Hyun Joong - Unbreakable MV

It's so wrong to fangirl over an MV like this in the middle of the night. I was seriously getting sleepy but after watching it, hell no, I'm so wide awake.

Lots of fangirls probably got nosebleed after that huh? Well, can't say I blame you. 

Sakurai Sho in Singapore

Well, not only Sho but Kitagawa Keiko is also in Singapore right now for the premiere of Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de (aka Nazodi).

Lots of Arashi fans were waiting at the arrival lobby of Changi International Airport with their handycams, cellphones and banners/posters on hand to greet Sho. The plane reportedly arrived a couple of minutes before 5pm but it took more than an hour for Sho to show his face to the fans. (Got held up in the immigration perhaps? ☺)

Thief (Love Me With Lies #3) by Tarryn Fisher

"She will be your destruction. She's not healthy."

"Then let her destroy me."

“Maybe our souls touched underneath that tree. Maybe I decided to love her. Maybe love wasn't our choice. But when I looked at that woman, I saw myself differently.” 

The Blurb:

Note to Self

Love is patient; love is kind.
Love doesn't boast or brag.
There's no arrogance in love;
it's never rude, crude, or indecent-it's not self absorbed.
Love isn't easily upset.
Love doesn't tally wrongs.
Love trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what.
Love will never become obsolete.
I'll fight for her.

Thief

Caleb Drake never got over his first love. Not when he got married. Not when she got married. When life suddenly comes full circle Caleb must decide how how far he is willing to go to get the aloof and alluring Olivia Kaspen back. But for every action in life there is a consequence, and soon Caleb finds out that sometimes love comes at an unbearably high price.

Itazura na Kiss ~ Love in Tokyo

 "The probability of getting hit by a shooting star is ten-billionth, 

meeting you is more of a miracle than that."

The Plot:

At a high school entrance ceremony, high school student Aihara Kotoko, who isn’t that smart, notices pretty boy Irie Naoki. She falls in love with him immediately. Kotoko initially doesn’t express her feelings to him, but finally has a chance to tell him how she feels. Unfortunately, Naoki turns Kotoko down, saying “I don’t like dumb women.”

One day, Kotoko’s house is severely damaged by an earthquake. Until the house is rebuilt, Kotoko Aihara and her father decide to live with her father’s friend. When Kotoko moves to her new temporary house, she is surprised to learn that Irie Naoki lives there as well.

                                       

IMO:

This story can be comparable to Hana Yori Dango in the sense that its manga has been made into different versions. We have the 1996 Japanese version with the same title as the manga, the 2005 and 2007 Taiwanese versions: It Started With a Kiss and its sequel, They Kiss Again, the 2008 anime version, the 2010 Korean version: Playful Kiss and finally, Japan made a newer version by giving us Itazura na Kiss~Love in Tokyo.

I still believe that the Taiwanese version was the closest to the manga but then again, they had 50 episodes in the 2 dramas to insert a lot of elements from the manga. Having said that, ItaKiss made a decent manga adaptation with the fewer episodes (16) they had. ItaKiss has only covered up to the wedding.

Honoka Miki played the lead character, Aihara Kotoko, who after their house was hit by a shooting star, went off to live with his father's friend's family whose son is the person who rejected her love letter a few days back. Talk about an awkward yet interesting situation. Miki is only 16 during the filming of this drama but she handled herself quite well. Her acting seems childish and a bit unpolished at times but she did pretty well despite her age. Some scenes are overacted but at least her portrayal can be stupid and clumsy without being irritating and annoying (Sorry, Ariel Lin and Sato Aiko!)

Irie Naoki was played by Furukawa Yuki, yet another unknown face to me. On the outside, he is almost the perfect Naoki. He has the looks, he appears really intelligent and speaks surprisingly fluent English (apparently, he lived abroad for a while). I say almost because in terms of acting, he could do better. But I understand the difficulty. Irie Naoki is a character who seldom speaks and his emotions are rarely on display. It doesn't require much acting but most of the time, this character has to be acted through the eyes. Unless the actor was Ninomiya Kazunari, it's really quite difficult to act only with your eyes. And FuruYuki most of the time looks like he is just staring blankly off into space. He is definitely not a bad actor because I've seen some of his plays and he's okay so I just chalked it up to Irie Naoki's character.

Yamada Yuki played Ikezawa Kinnosuke - Kotoko's long time admirer. I must say he played this character the best. Other times, Kin-chan (or versions of him) was just irritating. In this version, Kin-chan was actually endearing and sweet that when Naoki was being so cold and mean, it was easy to root for the other guy.

The chemistry of Kotoko and Naoki was palpable. Who would've thought that 16-year-old Honoka Miki and 25-year-old Furukawa Yuki will be able to pull it off so well. Though I deduced that Miki is much younger than him, I just didn't think that there is a 9-year gap between them. 

The story pacing was good but the relationship pacing was slow. I read somewhere it was being described as something like, every time Kotoko and Naoki made one step forward in their relationship, the next episode will make them take 2 steps back. And I can't help but agree with her about that.

Nevertheless, I really like this adaptation. And I'm so hoping for a second season. The next chapters in the manga are exciting and I want to see their own take on it. I also want ItaKiss to actually end the way the story ended in the anime. You know, using Tada-sensei's vision for the manga's end.

Conclusion:

The writing was good and it made the show sweet without being overbearing. The characters are not always two-dimensional and not one of them is irritating. 

P.S.

The original Aihara Kotoko (Sato Aiko) and the original Irie Naoki (Kashiwabara Takashi) made a special cameo in this drama. Isn't that so cool??? 

Veronica Mars Movie Teaser and Behind-the-Scenes

I'm so happy and excited for this! I wish I was in San Diego to attend the Comic Con. Wow, the fans who were there were so lucky. They get to meet the casts, they were able to join the panel and they were the first to see the movie teaser. Sometimes, it sucks when you live on the other side of world and you're a fan of things in Hollywood. You lose the experience of getting to participate in these kinds of things. (Unless, you're super rich and you can fly over there just to attend stuff like this.)

Nevertheless, thanks to the power of the Internet, I may not be there but I get updated through the people I follow on Twitter and through different entertainment blogs. And as a backer of Veronica Mars on Kickstarter, I also get to watch the teaser before the production released it to the media. (Obviously, this post is late but that's another story.)

                                

I might have been a bit emotional when I first saw the video above because I remember there were tears. ☺ It's just that I couldn't help it. I love this show so much and even after all the Kickstarter madness and all the email updates from Rob Thomas, I can't still believe that it's really happening. I might be dreaming for all I know. It's just so so so good to see the whole gang on screen again. All those feelings just came rushing back. I love Veronica Mars! I don't think I'll ever get tired of saying that. 

I'm not sure how these shots will be in context in the movie. 

These seem more like some gratuitous fan service to me. But I'm not complaining. XDDD

The video started with some behind-the-scenes shots with the casts commenting about the movie and the experience. There were also some Kickstarter backers on the set acting as extras. How cool was that???

Ahhh, LoVe. I miss you so much.

"It's one for the history books. The fact that these people loved the show so much that they are literally handing us their hard-earned money and being like, 'we wanna see this movie so bad.. here!' It's an incredible feeling." - Tina Majorino, Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie

 "What made it conceivable is how rabidly addicted the fans were to the show." - Chris Lowell, Stosh "Piz" Piznarski

"Fans are cool. But Veronica Mars fans are awesome. Just that kinda the way it works." - Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars 

Around 3:08 mark, the video turned into a movie teaser and the eagerly awaiting fans were treated to a first look of the movie. And wow, what a sneak peek that was! It was freaking AWESOME!!! I've never been more excited about anything. 

2014 seems so far away!

P.S.

For those like me who wasn't in the SDCC, below is a video of the Veronica Mars panel courtesy of RabidMovieFan. By the way, I want a Team Logan t-shirt. 

Rurouni Kenshin Live Action Film to become a Trilogy

Wow, this is such a good news!

After the successful run (both critically and commercially) of the latest adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin last year directed by Otomo Keishi and starring Sato Takeru, it has been announced that on 2014, the series will be getting 2 new movies. 

The sequels will be covering the popular 'Kyoto Arc' of the manga. In here, primary antagonist Shishio Makoto will be introduced. I can't wait for their take on the The Great Tokyo Fire and Legend's End storyline!

According to Jpopasia, it has also been confirmed that Takeru Sato will be reprising his role, Himura Kenshin, in the next two films.I wonder who'll play Shishio?

This is sooooo exciting! I hope SM Cinemas will once again handle the distribution of the films here so we can get them on theaters.