good start to the day.  hopefully an indication of the kind of day its going to be..

sadly, chiaki-sempai looking rather emaciated..

that said i’m so looking forward to the first movie!  :D  time to revisit the series.. hehe.

the first

500 days of summer

so i finally watched 500 days of summer on wednesday.  and what can i say, it totally lived up to my expectations.  ok so the ending was kind of cheesy, but i suppose that added to the charm of it all.  what i loved most about it was the way the story was told.  the narrator, the “day counter” with its background changes.  everything was so much love.  when i got back from the movie, nette and i had a great time going over the entire movie and the bits we love about it (see it even brought me enjoyment beyond the cinema.  hahhaha.)  i’m most definitely thinking of getting the dvd when it comes out.  If you haven’t watched it yet, i urge you to find some time to.  :)  to entice you, here’s a short clip where the awesomeness of the leads (and the director) just shines!

the second

kamome shokudo

now this is a movie from 2006.  its about a japanese lady who opens a diner in finland.  there isn’t really a plot to it, it is simply about what happens as time passes with some rather random moments.  its a really beautiful movie about friendship and acceptance, done so at a relaxing pace.  i found myself smiling throughout.  and one thing i learnt from this movie, good food and coffee overcomes all barriers!  :)

this manga is truly short and sweet!  the art is brilliant.. so clean and well cute.  and its simplicity is absolutely charming.

reading it kind of reminded me of primary school days when every now and then we’d be asked to write a fictional biography, usually titled “my life as a [random inanimate object or animal]” or “a day in the life of…”.  what i love about the manga is that it gave me a fresh look at such biographies.  the piano depicted as a girl, is something that would never come across so well in a written essay.  ah i really can’t find the words to express how much i adore this manga, from the art to the concept!  well worth the five minutes or so it took me to read it and so much more..

made me happy.  :)

click on the thumbnails to start reading..
scans credit: pinklotus89@livejournal

so like any good fangirl, i’ve done my research..

i’ve read the manga, well until phase 1 anyway and  its pretty much full of sex, gore and violence.  that’s not to say it’s lacking in story/concept though.  in fact i think the whole concept is rather interesting, and for me, i’d probably still be interested without so much sex and gore (a bit of either is still necessary i think, the violence i don’t really mind).  However, from what i’ve gathered from trawling through the various forums, fans of the manga love it precisely because of all the sex, gore and violence, and are absolutely sure that the manga won’t be able to translate well into live action (apparently the anime failed pretty badly).  well definitely the the sex and gore are going to be tuned down in the live action in order to reach a greater audience, but i still think the movies have the potential to be awesome.

it may be my fan-biasness, but i can totally see nino as kurono.  acting wise, nino is good and he’s carried off pretty heavy roles (as opposed to most of the fluff that idols usually do) – “ao no hono” case in point.  i’m pretty sure he’ll be able to capture the essence of the character.  the only problem i can forsee is the physical aspect.  nino is really skinny and somehow i just can’t imagine him bulking up or even just putting on some muscle for the role.  nino=action film star.. nope can’t see that.  definitely interested in seeing how they can pull it off.

meanwhile, having matsuken as double lead is just icing on the cake..  that dude’s great!  again from the forums, many are unhappy with the choice of actors, but i think its mostly due to the fact that they don’t think nino or matsuken look anything like the manga characters or don’t have the same vibe, and of course not to mention that nino is a johnnys idol – now that’s a sure recipe for failure.  but seriously most of them have probably not seen either actor before, so how can you feel what sort of vibe a person gives off based solely on a picture.  hey at least they got the height of the two right.  (now i sound like a defensive crazed fangirl.  hahaha..)

ahh i wish filming would be faster, then i wouldn’t have to wait till 2011 to watch it.  oh well, hopefully there’ll be some sneaks every now and then.  i’m really looking forward to it, even if only to be able to see matsuken and nino working together on the silver screen.  of course i’ll be absolutely delighted if it does indeed turn out to be two awesome movies in all aspects.