Freebento Blog

“Itazura na Kiss” I haven’t finished reading this manga. It hasn’t been completely scanlated yet. I’m not sure if I will finish it. It’s quite long (23 volumes) & unfinished due the the author’s death. But here’s an idea of what it’s about. A head strong, “dumb”, idealistic girl finally works up the courage to confess to her uber smart, cold yet handsome crush. He coldly ignores her. Later, they bump lips on accident in the hall. He’s still cold & she’s still a dummy. THEN, her home is destroyed and she and her father are taken in by the father’s old school friends. Who just happen to be the crushes parents. Chaos ensues. Keep in mind this began in 1990. The manga reflects the styles of the day. Same goes for the Japanese drama, made in 1996.

The Japanese drama version is only 9 episodes long. Short and sweet, to the point. It only covers the years from high school to a little bit of college, when they get together. I’m sure if there’s a wedding in it or not (I forget the most amazing things). The opening sequences mimic the pages of the manga. The lead actress, is super cute and I shake my finger at any person who calls her monkey-girl because of her ears. It’s pretty easy to watch despite the over the top character of the girl and the pompousness of the guy. I enjoyed watching this one. It’s cute & the fashion, those track suits, omg!

As for the Taiwanese version, titled “It Started with a Kiss”, it’s a little bit longer… 30 episodes. But the styles show are a bit more current, since this one was made in 2005. Staring Joe Cheng & Ariel. It also features Jiro Wang (who was in “Hana Kimi”, he basically plays the same exact character in ISWAK). The opening theme song is super catchy “Say U Love Me”. It’s in my head and surprisingly, it’s not annoying. Okay, so… It actually conveys, overall, the same sorts of feelings as the Japanese version. Except- it’s a lot more over the top. The girl is a little extra crazy, the guy is about the same amount of cold and the love rival (if you can even call him that) is way outrageous. Would I watch it again? Dunno, there are a lot of shows I would re-watch first.

Oh yeah, there is the sequel/season 2. It finishes airing this month. The season cover the Wedding & Honeymoon & stuff. It’s 20 episodes. I haven’t watched any of it yet. It has all important original cast (not sure about the more minor parts). More chaos ensues.

more coming soon

toygirl

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ps.

Dear David Archuleta,

I noticed that you flubbed the “RENT” song last week. Please work on your ability to sing up tempo songs. I mean, your solo part was what? 3 lines? Come on. Give a girl a break. What will you do if you get an album? Sing 8-12 ballads? That’s so boring.

I could be wrong. Maybe it’s because you haven’t practiced these songs a hundred million times & sung them for years and that’s why you mess up the faster tempo songs.

Just work on it, dood. Cause, when I’m flippin’ radio stations, I don’t want to hear inspirational, breathless ballads for months on end.

Work hard, I know you can do it!

Shaunna

It had to happen.  Kidrobot has made Adult Swim vinyl toys.  An fantastic new series of  mini figures based on Adult Swim favorites is coming to freebento.com.  Harvey Birdman, Morel Orel, Squidbillies, Aqua Teen, Robot Chicken are just some of the shows represented in this set.  The figures are blind boxed, but as usual we’ll be opening box after box to allow you to purchase just the figures you need!

Adult Swim figures go on sale April 17th 2008.

Charlton Heston passed away over the weekend and there has been a lot of discussion of his later life as President and advocate of the National Rifle Association, with perhaps a mention of him as Moses or Ben Hur, so either gun nut or religious figure. But when I think of heston I am reminded by Peter O’Toole’s famous line in My Favorite Year “I’m Not an Actor, I’m a Movie Star!”.

Charlton Heston with Edward G Robinson in Soylent Green.

Heston was clearly a movie star, a Cinemascope star he was a big presence in bigger movies, who looked over the top when in the mid 1970’s method actors and everyman faces like Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall populated movie screens with nuanced performances, and younger men like Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone took over action film roles. Either by choice or due to his political views Heston never really settled into character roles that often win older actors new acclaim a la Sean Connery in The Untouchables.  It is an unfitting coda to his career that Heston’s final screen appearance was being pestered by Michael Moore in the un-cinematic “Bowling for Columbine”.

In recent years Charlton Heston was too often a punchline, but yet apart from his NRA views no one ever seemed to have anything bad to say about him. He was by all accounts a good father, faithful husband, and principled man who believed in the life he lived. Critics often, and conveniently, overlook his civil rights activism which included being part of a picket of an all white theater that at the time was showing one of his movies!

Charlton Heston was a dynamic movie star with an unmistakable barritone, chisled jaw, and undeniable presence that was a perfect fit for the widescreen excesses of the 50’s and 60’s. There will undoubtedly be some showings of his films on various movie channels over the next few weeks, do yourself a favor and check them out. You may not like the man but you’ll not be able to ignore the movie star!

Ramiele had to be the sweetest contestant on the show. Did anyone else want to pick her up and squeeze her like she was a stuffy? So cute!

She seemed so spunky at the beginning. She let it slip away. It’s sad to see her go, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t win, especially after Danny went home.

Syesha should never, ever do her hair like she had it on Tuesday. Seriously, that was terrible. Not to mention singing a song that was outrageously huge when sung by Whitney Houston. I’m not huge on Whitney, but when I hear one of her songs, I can’t help thinking, “Holy Cow, she can sing!”

Kristy Lee Cook avoids the chop once again and adds another bottom three to the montage.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned David Cook so far… So, here’s where I give him some props. The dude totally collapsed after Tuesday’s show. He was released from the hospital pretty quickly. I’m happy he seems okay. Apparently his brother is sick and he’s super stressed. You wouldn’t know it from watching him. He preforms well, and seems nice enough. He’ll stick around.

Now, to pick on Jason Castro. Dude, what’s up with the dreadlocks? As far as I can tell, he’s NOT a Rasta. I know, I know, you don’t have to be a Rasta to have dreads and vise versa. If it’s just a hair-do, those suckers need to be cut shorter, if not off. He also needs to speak up. I know he’s not stoned, he’s on American Idol for Chissake. So, certainly he doesn’t need to pretend.

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Dear David Archuleta,

Can you please, please, PLEASE sing a song next week that has a tempo of at least andante (or higher)? I would also appericate it if you picked a song because you think it is fantastic because of some musical quality- not the message. Peace and love is great, homeless people are sad, we all know this. I’m very sorry if it seems like I’m being pushy or rude, but you aren’t trying to win the Miss America Pageant.

Thank you for reading,

Shaunna

PS. Is there any way you can get Carly Smithson’s autograph for me?

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Again, goodbye sweet Ramiele! I’ll miss you!

-toygirl

I can’t see all of them putting down the game controllers…

So, will they add a text size option in the game menus? You know how the publishing companies put out special old people book with large fonts? Will the video game industry also accomodate for the old gamer?

There was a movie I had watched way back in the day. (You remember - back in the day- everyone has one.) One of my roomies would occasionally sit everyone down and semi force the rest us to watch movies. This movie was fantastic. But, since I am exceptionally bad at remembering names of movies and actors, I promptly forgot what it was called except it had the word “Fever” in the title… I found it! It’s on encore right now! woot!

Well, apparently the actual US title of the movie is “That’s the way I Like It” or on imdb “Forever Fever” on the actors’ profile page.

The main character is a Bruce Lee obsessed guy who really really wants a motorbike, who ends up taking dance lessons to win a dance competition for the money to buy the bike. In the process he becomes obsessed with “Saturday Night Fever”, watching it over & over again at the theater. They couldn’t use the actual movie but the “John Travolta” comes out of the movie screen to give meaningful & deep advice.

His sister is constantly changing her name to the name of the heroine in the current romance novel she is reading. His brother wants to be a woman.

Of course, there are more in the cast, the “girl” and friends and rival dancers.

Okay, from the little bits of info I’ve put down, it sound crazy and kind of dumb. But, I think it’s fantastic. If you have a chance, you should watch it once. If you have a sense of humuor at all, you will be amused… at the very least.

The movie was made in 1998, from Singapore.

The only sticky point in the movie is the motorbike, a Triumph… If you assume the movie takes place in the 70s. (Which I think it is safe to do. But, I don’t remember any confirmation of that and I missed most of the movie this time around) The Triumph is a new(er) model. As pointed out every time the bike was shown the first time I watched this. I wouldn’t know. As I have no idea about motorbikes. It’s been about 6 years since I’ve seen the movie and I still remember it. I wish I could have remembered the name of the move instead. So, thank you Mr. X, for pointing out a silly bit of info…

Did I mention the soundtrack? It’s super sounds of the 70s! How deep is YOUR love?

Now, I will be buying a dvd of this in the very near future.