The Huntresses (조선미녀삼총사)

Like your all girl, historical action flick to have a wee bit of tongue in cheek?
Look no further. The Huntress teaser

  

Set in the Joseon period of Korea (a rather large slab of time of 500 years or so?) it features 3 bounty hunters Jin-Ok (Ha Ji-Won), Hong-Dan (Kang Ye-Won) & Ga-Bi (Son Ga-In) who form a group to thwart a power play against the royal throne.
Are they Musketeers? or more probably Ninjas?, possibly three Stooges? or even Charlies Angels....Nah. Directed by Park Je-Hyun, set for release in May 2013, it is a martial arts romp that has a good dose of the comedic. However the few comedies that I have seen from Korea always seem to run deeper than the silly and stupid that we have come to expect from Hollywood so I'm expecting interesting at the very least.
Maybe this is along the lines of what Maria Tran is doing with her filmmaking in Sydney?
I shall wait and see.

Ha-Ji-Won

     

Son Ga-in

Kang Ye-won

Synopsis

As a child, Jin-ok witnessed the murder of her father and narrowly escaped death. She is taken under the wing of Mu-myeong, the man who saved her life, and trains in martial arts alongside two other girls. 10 years pass and the girls are now Joseon's best bounty hunters. One day, Jin-ok is asked to take on a case for a handsome reward. Against their master's wishes, the trio takes on the job, not knowing it will eventually lead them to the man responsible for the death of Jin-ok's father 10 years before.

 

Battōsai - from Manga to Live Action

directed by Keishi Ōtomo, and staring Takeru Satoh and Emi Takei
Samurai with the most integrity.
Kenshin, once Battōsai, carries a 'backward sword' to remind him of his vow to never kill again.
Most noble, especially with what is thrown at this now retired assassin.

 

Being no expert in Manga and Anime I wasn't sure what to expect from this live action adaption of the very well known Rurouni Kenshin. 

It's a great Samurai tale with some fabulous action and fight sequences and a great sense of the fantastical. Sometimes the camera work and the shots very much reminded you of watching a cartoon but it was so OK and very cool because you realised how well made those Anime are and that they are the perfect shots and moves for the story at that time. In fact it was rather delightful!

The film was released in Japan last August 2012 and it went a bit gang busters at the box office. It premiered in South Korea at the Busan Film Festival and also went a bit nuts in the Phillipines.
It has been praised as a pretty spot on live action adaptation and has since been released around the world. Not so sure about Australia but it was certainly shown at the Japanese Film Festival last year and I got to see it through Madman's "cultography' screening at the Cinema Nova

It is certainly available on DVD & Blu Ray

Kinoko Hotel

Meanwhile somewhere in Japan...

Nylon Pink - K POP gets Rocked

Coming out of LA, California USA all grrrll band Nylon Pink have been honing their skills in the Dark Art of the cover song. Not just any song but.
They have been picking the cherries of the 'go nuts' music phenomenon of K-POP.
Pop Music in Korea.
Sounds odd? maybe, until you look at the size of this industry.
Sometimes slightly twee, usually quite epic, love it or hate it, knowing Psy is just scratching the surface.
There is Sistar, Girls Generation, 2NE1 (twenty one), T-ara (tiara) and a whole lot more.
PS these are just the girl groups, plenty of boy ones too.

I don't really get the highly manufactured looks, choreographed performances, the miming but caught wind of this whole thing through the epic film clips of the band T-ara.
Day by Day is an epic 20min, big budget post apocalyptic/sci fi showcase video clip from T-ara that is more film than music clip. Check out the costumes, the sets, the camera moves etc. OK the story may not be great but it is narrative.
This outfit seems to have laid claim to the filmic music video promotion title but the others also plough plenty of bucks or Won (KRW) into their clips too.

But the music always got in the way for me, good songs but a bit too froth and bubble for me.
That is until I stumbled onto Nylon Pink.
For starters they hold and play instruments, they translate the lyrics to english but most importantly they rock the froth and kick the bubble. Oh yeah they kinda look good too. (smiley face emoticon)
They describe themselves as Hello Kitty on Acid!

Here's a couple of of their versions along side of the originals so the comparison can be yours.

I am the best - 2NE1


I am the best - Nylon Pink


Gee - Girls' Generation


Pretty light on eh?

Gee - Nylon Pink


There are others  like Hyuna's Ice Cream and Big Bang's Blue (they're a boy band) but these girls also do their own music.
They aint just a cover band but the covers are a clever way to raise ones' profile.
Nylon Pink are a self funded, Indie rock/pop outfit and they've been at it for over four years.

Now if you are in Japan you can catch them as they will be touring at the end of March and early April 2013 and to help cover the costs of such a tour they are running a KickStarter campaign.
So if you wanna get behind them you can check em out live, or maybe pitch in some bucks ($US) or even join their global army of Ninjas (social media promoters)

They could sure use your help at this stage with only 3 days to go

Back on the Bike!

Some food for thought

$ave with a Bike Lane infographic by pasteinplace.