Two weeks ago, I translated Professor Si-Tu Zhao Dun's words of wisdom about how film directing as a profession does not really exist shared by my friend, the Chinese filmmaker Ying Liang.
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Sunday, May 06, 2012
Saturday, May 05, 2012
BUDDYZ on Astro Ria
BUDDYZ is a series of 5-minute minisodes on the Astro Ria channel presented by Digi. It stars Alif Satar, Syed Ali, Erin Malek and Elliza Razak, with special appearances by Shaheizy Sam.
Sadly, being in Japan, I can't really watch any of them.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
When what you desire in life bleeds into video games...
A week ago, after having a rough cut of my latest short film shown to financiers and clients, I decided to take a sabbatical. (Usually, after a film shoot, I would immediately jump into putting the footage together, editing them, seeing whether what I got had been what I've envisioned, or, perhaps I got something better than I hoped. But once I'm done with a first rough cut, I would for myself to adhere to usual industry beliefs, and to take a break from the footage so that I could come back to it with fresh eyes, approaching the materials with much more objectivity and distance. Because of the freeform improvisational nature of my usual filmmaking methods, I tend to "make discoveries" of my films through post-production)
Therefore, during this break, I intended to just do some researching, finding inspiration from other films regarding the editing, finishing up a book that I was reading (currently reading: Italo Calvino's THE BARON IN THE TREES), follow the NBA Playoffs.
Oh, and maybe play a game...
So I installed SKYRIM.
Therefore, during this break, I intended to just do some researching, finding inspiration from other films regarding the editing, finishing up a book that I was reading (currently reading: Italo Calvino's THE BARON IN THE TREES), follow the NBA Playoffs.
Oh, and maybe play a game...
So I installed SKYRIM.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Film directing as a profession does not really exist
I saw this posted on Facebook by the Chinese filmmaker Ying Liang. He was passing to his students words of wisdom from his own teacher, Professor Si-Tu Zhao Dun.
The whole thing is in Chinese, so it's actually better if you can read it in its original language as my translation will be pretty shaky:
Here's the original:
The whole thing is in Chinese, so it's actually better if you can read it in its original language as my translation will be pretty shaky:
Here's the original:
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Instagram photos of the week: End of cherry blossom season
Been busy with the post-production of my new film, and also dealing with a couple of deadlines. So I'll just entertain this very silent blog with more stunningly beautiful photos that I uploaded on Instagram during the past week.
The photos I posted had one recurring theme, the end of the much-loved cherry blossom season in Japan. Usually it's signaled by some heavy rain.
The photos I posted had one recurring theme, the end of the much-loved cherry blossom season in Japan. Usually it's signaled by some heavy rain.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Thoughts on 31st Hong Kong Film Awards / Ode to Lau Ching Wan
The 31st Hong Kong Film Awards was held on Sunday night. I was following the results on Facebook and Twitter because I didn't know where else can I catch a live telecast of it in Japan.
A SIMPLE LIFE by Ann Hui ended up as the big winner of the night, winning Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and probably a few others I didn't count.
I haven't seen it, so there's not much I can say.
But I ended up writing my thoughts about each of the acting award winners on Facebook, which I'm going to share here. (and I will expand on what I wrote if I can)
A SIMPLE LIFE by Ann Hui ended up as the big winner of the night, winning Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and probably a few others I didn't count.
I haven't seen it, so there's not much I can say.
But I ended up writing my thoughts about each of the acting award winners on Facebook, which I'm going to share here. (and I will expand on what I wrote if I can)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
My (stunningly beautiful, of course) Instagram photos of the week
The past week had been pretty busy for me. I was "supervising" the post-production of the TV thing that I shot in Malaysia last month (when I said supervising, I pretty much meant "jumping into the whole damn thing and doing a lot of re-editing myself), while simultaneously doing the pre-production for a short film (that I'm shooting right now).
Anyway, you might notice that numerous photos I've posted on this page were from Instagram, a service I rather liked because of the way it could enhance my iPhone photos. Everyone's talking about it now since it got acquired by Facebook for a measly sum of $1 billion dollars, I also thought that the photos I took had been increasingly awesome, so I'm sharing the ones that I have taken in the past week.
Anyway, you might notice that numerous photos I've posted on this page were from Instagram, a service I rather liked because of the way it could enhance my iPhone photos. Everyone's talking about it now since it got acquired by Facebook for a measly sum of $1 billion dollars, I also thought that the photos I took had been increasingly awesome, so I'm sharing the ones that I have taken in the past week.
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Happy 80th birthday, Andrei Tarkovsky
I was quite surprised when Radoslav Sharapanov left a comment on my recent Andrei Tarkovsky Facebook post that today is actually Tarkovsky's birthday.
Tarkovsky died in 1986 at the relatively young age of 54, when I was only 2. He would have been 80 years old this year. Same age as my grandmother.
Tarkovsky died in 1986 at the relatively young age of 54, when I was only 2. He would have been 80 years old this year. Same age as my grandmother.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Experiencing Japan's strongest storm since 1959
3rd of April 2012. It's been 4 years and 1 day since I first moved to Tokyo.
This special event was marked by Japan's strongest storm since 1959.
This special event was marked by Japan's strongest storm since 1959.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Remembering Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui
During the last few hours, I was wondering why everyone's suddenly posting photos and videos of Leslie Cheung on Facebook. An internet meme I knew nothing about?
And then I remembered that he died on the 1st of April, 9 years ago.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Sharing some episodes of ROAD TO AFA that I directed
This is very late, since the Asian Film Awards ended two weeks ago. So you probably already knew that the Oscar-winning A SEPARATION was the night's major winner. (full results here)
But I haven't been updating this blog much these days, so please bear with me.
You might remember that I mentioned directing a series of interviews with a few major Japanese film figures last month while suffering from a hideous food poisoning as part of the ROAD TO AFA (Asian Film Awards) program hosted by Janet Hsieh. A month earlier, in January, I was in Taipei for these interviews.
I didn't exactly blog about my Taipei escapades, so I'll post up some of my old tweets related to it.
But I haven't been updating this blog much these days, so please bear with me.
You might remember that I mentioned directing a series of interviews with a few major Japanese film figures last month while suffering from a hideous food poisoning as part of the ROAD TO AFA (Asian Film Awards) program hosted by Janet Hsieh. A month earlier, in January, I was in Taipei for these interviews.
I didn't exactly blog about my Taipei escapades, so I'll post up some of my old tweets related to it.
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