:: Sixtwentyseven ::

For those who lives around the Asia-Pacific region, you should not be surprised that this movie is already in all major cinemas and it was first shown in Japan in December'09. It opened in Singapore 2 thursdays ago and so far the review from the newspapers is positive.

For me, the movie is more like an extended addiction for me as it continues the story after the drama which was first aired in 2006 followed by a 2 part 2 hour special. In fact, it can be said that this movie is like an extension of the 2 hour special and they need to earn the cash to justify the on location shooting in Paris, Wien and Prague.

To be frank, although I liked how the story progressed from the the special, I was a bit disappointed in the sense that the sub plots that the director created wasn't well concluded. I couldn't describe more as it may spoil your viewing pleasure. However, it may be answered in the 2nd part of the movie which will be in cinemas in April (Hooray!!).

As usual, Nodame is at her crazy best but I thought the effects for some scenes was worse as compared to the drama. In conclusion, although I fully enjoyed the movie, I felt that it can be done even better. But Nodame Cantabile fans shouldn't miss this movie AT ALL!

Go catch it at a cinema near you!

This is a bit peculiar to me as I remembered watching this show before but when I (re)watched it again, I didn't find any parts familiar to me. And besides I've heard of this show way back and managed to complete it just recently. But it still bugs me: why I managed to miss out on such a great show?

Kiritani Shuji (Kamenashi Kazuya) is a popular guy in school who can gets along with everyone. However, to him getting popular is just a game to him, thus he doesn't have any real friends in school. However, he has one person he can't stand in class and that's Kusano Akira (Yamashita Tomohisa). To Shuji, Akira is plain irritating. He laughs, talks and acts fuuny. Things change when a new transfer student, Kotani Nobuko (Horikita Maki), appeared. She's a girl with no self confidence and is content to be bullied around. Shuji, unable to accept bulling, eventually teams up with Akira to "produce" Nobuko, to change her to become the most popular student in school. Together in the journey about friendship and youthfulness, they changed themselves as well for the better.

Again, how I managed to miss this show is at best bewildering. This show is like 5 years ago, with high rating of close to 17%, almost quite impossible to miss. However, I'm glad that I managed to watch it. Especially important is that I'm able to see the improvements made by Yamapi and Maki in terms of their acting through these 5 years. I could really say they have matured in their acting, especially for Yamapi.

Do catch it if you missed it out like me!

Yes!! At last Olivia's new album under taiwanese label group 華研國際音樂!! Just sampled her first single "You and Me" which you can hear it in my playlist.

Do support her as she's a great singer!

I just realised I haven't been giving reviews for Jap drama recently due to being on par with the current season's shows; being lazy/busy that I have no time to blog; and I didn't clear my stockpile of old shows to catch up.

Also due to the distraction of taiwanese dramas for the past 2 months, I sort of neglected my old jap drama stockpile as well. But I did managed to finish this classic from 2005. If you find the title familiar, it's because this title has been adapted onto the big screen as well, with the irresistible Takeuchi Yuko. The show is adapted from a novel of the same title by Takuji Ichikawa who also wrote 2 other novels that was adapted into movies and dramas.

The story starts with Takumi and his son Yuji struggling living their lives properly from the death of his wife Mio a year back. Being the doting mother, Mio has wrote a picture book telling Yuji to be strong upon her death. When she die, she will be far away at another planet to live. However, she promised to him that she will return when the rainy season comes. Yuji believes in this story and thinks that his mother will come back when the rainy seasons arrive. One rainy June morning, Yuji runs out into the forest to the special place where he used to play with his mom. His father chases after him to get him to go out school. However, when they reached the place, they saw his mother Mio seating in a corner and alive and well. However, she has completely no memory of them or any incidents regarding their lives.

I have watched the movie version before and I remembered crying buckets. Now I watched the drama version and I still cry buckets about it. As compared to the movie version, the drama version may be longer, and for some people they considered it to be draggy. But I would beg to differ as having longer hours will enable certain parts of the story to be better explained. In this case, the story I feel is better explained, but of course they did change certain parts so that they can explain why certain incidents happen in the show. I won't drop any hints so that at least you could find it out yourself how the differ for the drama and the movie version.

Overall I was pretty surprised with the cast. Mimura looks absolutely pretty in this show! As compared to Call Centre no Koibito, I would consider it to be completely different in terms of style. I was also pleasantly surprised with Narimiya Hiroki's acting in the drama as the roles he usually portray is not the serious kind of roles as Ima Ai ni Yukimasu.

For a show that let me cry buckets load, it has to be a good show. haha! Just give it a try and you'll be touched by it.

有些戲看了一次就不會再想去看;有些戲再看也不膩. 偶然讓我發現<下一戰,幸福>的製作特輯,也讓我再一次的深深愛上<下一戰,幸福>.

<下一戰,幸福> 之所以能深深達動我的原因是她精緻,但絕不乏味,更不會讓我覺得她的拍戲手法誇張.另外一個我喜歡的原因是每個演員的演技都很專業,甚至讓我覺得他們的用心,他們的汗水.故事不會被刻意拉長,小細節都管理得很好.


我無意中再重看<下>最後一集的時候才發現一直有製作特輯,就馬上在youtube搜搜,一連3小時把所有的製作特輯看完.我之有所感觸再blog<下>的原因是因為看到他們的辛苦,看到他們的努力,而且看到他們的認真.我尤其對小小彬非常佩服.他雖然只有5歲,但演起戲來非常專業,尤其是那段他追著光唏的車時,真的會感受到他的傷心與牽掛.

雖然Vaness在戲里有出色的演出,但我覺得最讓人引人注目是飾演花拓也的吳慷仁.在那段慕橙告訴花拓也她已經跟光唏結婚,而且只是把花拓也當成她最重要的朋友那一幕,我真的為花拓也流眼淚.那一幕可說是<下>最重要一幕之一. 在這裡讓你們回味一下:



這些美麗的照片都是來自<下>導演的部落格.點擊這裡就可以遊覽導演的部落格.看到他們愉快的照片,真的覺得他們的努力是值得的.他們親切的笑容,就有如一家人的開心照,給人一種心暖暖的感覺.

<下一戰,幸福>真的完了.真的希望會有另一部台灣劇能給我這樣的感動. 

就像<海角七號>,<聽說>和<下一戰,幸福>.

credits: Tim Wallace @ fotoviva.co.uk

I thought of this word suddenly when I decided to pay my blog a visit at the main page. I don't know why but the current song playing in my playlist never fails to invoke a sense of blogging. Most likely, I remembered the part the song has played in Autumn's Concerto (下一戰,幸福). Speaking of which, Autumn's Concerto has just finished it run last sunday.

Was a bit disappointed with the ending. Although it's only half an hour, I just felt it's a bit rushed. The perpetual problem with Taiwanese drama is that they know how to make a great story, but they have no idea how to end it. Sadly for a great drama, the ending is so abrupt and it's like this half an hour can be incorporated in the last episode shown the week before. I know they need to draw viewers to the next show airing at the same time slot, but please make it more entertaining and meaningful.

The reason why I thought of the word is because I was having an image in my head regarding tranquility and I thought what results would google churn out. I didn't feel most of the picture depict tranquility and certainly not one picture that featured somebody's asses. Tranquility is like the extension of my last post; the stillness of the air. But tranquility is much more. It's about the peace of the inner self, being in balance inside.

I don't think I'm in balance, but living life as it is, I guess, is a good expression of tranquility: finding the balance in the chaotic world.