memory of the future

My obligatory VIFF film of the year is Love Lies (我談的那場戀愛), a comedy about an online romance scam victim and her scammer. It’s a cleverly constructed film, mixing police interviews, flashbacks, and daydream sequences seamlessly. The cinematography on the daydream sequences — translating the uncanniness of Google Streetview into a film with real actors — was particularly inspired.

( Read more... )

Wow, it does not seem like nearly the end of the year at all.

( Wrote this to procrastinate on shovelling snow )

( quick thoughts, no spoilers )

( Posting early because I haven’t started the albums one yet )

Decided I might as well do this! I’m posting these in sets organized by theme, since I don’t think anyone wants me to post 26 times in a row. Grabbed from naye.

Full list, if you want to do this yourself:

A: Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed. B: A pairing – platonic, romantic or sexual – that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind. C: A ship you have never liked and probably never will. D: What was the first thing you ever contributed to a fandom? E: Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what? F: What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it? G: What was your first fandom? H: Do you prefer live action TV shows or animated TV shows? I: Has online caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? J: Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over the internet. K: What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc? L: Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. M: Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend. N: Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice). O: Choose a song at random, what ship does it remind you of? P: Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas). Q: A fandom you’ve abandoned and why. R: Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom? S: Show us an example of your personal headcanon. T: Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? U: Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites. V: Which character do you relate to most? W: A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom. X: A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom. Y: What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)? Z: Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go!

( A, B, C, O, R )

I checked out yahyel last year because “TAO” popped up on my feed, but since its music video is psychological horror with very unsettling implications I noped the hell out. Because of this I didn’t check the rest of their discography out until this month and they’re not on my 2018 albums list, but Human is incredible. I’m obsessed with “Pale” and “Hypnosis”.

Another album I missed last year was cali≠gari’s 14, but it’s disappointing for a cali≠gari album. However, 2017’s 13 is cali≠gari in top form, up there with Dai 6 and Dai 7 in jazz rock and post-punk messiness along with the regular eroguro dissonance. I also missed a XA-VAT EP last year (közi of Malice Mizer fame & cali≠gari’s Shuuji being fashion), but it was limited release so good luck I’ll ever hear any of that.

As for this year, my top albums are shaping up to be CHAI, Sakanaction, and Tempalay. EPs currently only Gozensanji to Taikutsu. Also, because this is Japan and several CDs are unavailable unless I buy a physical CD possibly at a physical concert, I’m trying to get my hands on: mol-74, mol-74; Gomess, Teru; cali≠gari, 0; and Hector, Heisei Kyounen EP (Metronome’s Sharaku and cali≠gari’s Ao are involved; it’s a reboot of Cuckoo).

*

I am back on the Ben Whishaw wagon like I never left summer 2012. It’s a good chance for me to watch all those TV shows I meant to watch seven years ago; I still haven’t finished The Hour. I think the last English TV show I watched prior to this bout of frenzy was either The Thick of It, In The Flesh s1, or possibly No Heroics. Maybe Grandma’s House or the first episode of London Spy? Anyway, Whishaw and Peter Capaldi will reunited in Armando Iannucci’s David Copperfield, starring Dev Patel and out later this year. That’s something to look forward to that won’t be a complete shitshow like Bond 25—even Phoebe Waller-Bridge can’t save that.

(Speaking of reunifications, I’d missed that Ben did another cameo in another Years & Years video, mostly because Palo Santo bored me as a concept and an album. Also Hugh Grant really seems to like working with Ben these days.)

*

RIP KyoAni staff. Hearing that some of them were in their twenties and had just started working in April….