She was born September 5, 1990,  and began skating at 7,  then went on to win the Junior Grand Prix Finals for 2005-2006.  She was the World Junior Champion in 2006,  and a three time Grand Prix Final champion,  for 2006-7,  2007-8,  and 2009-10,  and is currently the 2009 World Champion and the reigning Four Continents Champion.  She is also a four time South Korean Champion,  and is ranked # 1 in the world by the ISU.  How ” perfect ” can you get?

Kim Yu-Na is still maturing, and has many more championships ahead of her, though even after her skating career is finished, I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of her on magazine covers, in commercials and endorsements, she is the new face of skating.

Miki Ando (her nickname is Mikitty) was born Dec. 18 , 1987, which makes her rather mature by figure skating standards, though her talent, beauty, and exuberance  should keep her on skates  for a long time to come.  She was the 2007 World Figure Skating Champion, and the 2004 &  2005  Japanese National Champion.  Prior to that,  she was the 2004 World Junior Champion.  Her jumping is a thing of beauty to behold, in fact,  she is the first and only female skater to complete a quadruple jump.  She accomplished this at the 2001-2002 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Last Sunday,  as I was waiting to watch the New England Patriots play football on tv, I decided to watch some skating before the game.  I am very glad I did .  A few minutes of Miki Ando is well worth being late for the game.  She’s  much prettier too! I highly recommend that if your schedule permits, to postpone the football for awhile, and enjoy the beauty,  grace,  and sensuality of the lovely ladies on ice.

It is not for kids or even faint-hearted adults. It is jarring, intense, dismal, taut to the breaking point, and one of the best horror movies I have ever seen. This film breaks the mold and sets a new standard for horror.

It has gore, but not splattered all over the screen. It has pretty girls, but no sex, It has ghosts but not the soft eerie kind that go bump in the night. No, this movie’s ghost’s intent is not to scare, but to destroy, and destroy it does; consuming everything in it’s path, this ghost does not boo!, it groans.

“Ju-On” was written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. There are four in the series,including two short films prior to this one, and then followed by “Ju-On 2“, but each movie stands on it’s own. So it is not necessary to see them all or in order, and don’t even bother to see the Hollywood re-make “The Grudge“, because it is nothing compared to the original.

The film begins with volunteer social worker Rika, played by Megumi Okina, visiting the home of an elderly client, who has not been heard from for awhile. Upon arrival, Rika discovers the home is filthy and in disarray. The woman is almost catatonic and staring into space, as if she has seen something too horrible to describe and is still seeing it. Rika hears creaking noises and feels another presence in the house, so she goes upstairs to investigate. The noise turns out to be a cat in a closet, but she sees a small boy, pale and forlorn, and uncommunicative.

Rika reports her discovery to her superiors and the police, and learns that the house was previously occupied by a man, his wife, and their son. The man murdered his wife in a jealous psychosis, believing she was having an affair. He even killed her cat.  The little boy has been missing ever since.

Misaki Ito

The premise of this movie is a haunted house, but that is where the similarity between this and other ghost movies ends. This ghost is angry, hateful, vengeful, relentless, and infectious. It is a black plague of evil that destroys everyone who comes in contact with it, and the investigation  has now unleashed it’s fury.

All in all, this film is a very unpleasant experience, which is exactly what a well-crafted horror movie should be;  with it’s images and stark sound effects lingering in the viewer’s imagination for a long time after the movie is over.

“Ju-On”, 2002, was written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. The large cast had stars like Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito,  Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa, Kanji Tsuda, Kayoko Shibata, Yukako Kukuri, and many others in supporting roles.

]]> http://blog.scanlover.com/archives/3089/ju-on-not-a-friendly-ghost/feed/ 4 http://blog.scanlover.com/archives/2709/robotrix-is-a-treat/ http://blog.scanlover.com/archives/2709/robotrix-is-a-treat/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:56:22 +0000 bigmak http://blog.scanlover.com/?p=2709 “Robotrix” is a 1991 Hong Kong film, directed by Jamie Luk, and starring Amy Yip. Billy Chow, Chikako Aoyama , and David Wu. It is a combination of genres:  sci-fi, HK action,  soft-core porn, and has even achieved “cult film” status.

What makes it so much fun is that it does not take itself seriously by trying to pretend it is more than it is: a Class III film, meaning grade B, but with sex, nudity, and soft-core elements.

I confess that the main reason I bought it was to see the beautiful Chikako Aoyama and her spectacular breasts in motion, and she does not disappoint. But it is such a quirky and action packed movie, that I found myself watching every scene, even the ones that did not include the charms of Chikako.

The movie takes place in a futuristic Hong Kong where cyborgs are now part of society, and as always, technology can be used for good or evil,  while  creating a lust for power. A mad scientist named Ryuichi wants to create an army of androids to advance his own evil intentions, but this requires a lot of capital.  He wants to partner with an Arab sheik to form his legion of cyborgs. After a gala extravaganza to demonstrate the robots’ capabilities, the sheik is still not convinced,  so Ryuichi kidnaps the sheik’s son to persuade him.

Now the plot thickens.  Chikako Aoyama plays Linda, a police officer assigned to protect the sheik. She is shot and killed by Ryuichi during the kidnapping. A cyborg is made from her body by Dr. Sara (Hui Hsio-Dan) and her colleague Anna (Amy Yip).

In the meantime, the evil Ryuichi has killed himself, and transplanted his twisted brain into a homicidal android, played by Billy Chow,who goes on a violent rampage. The police department enlists Dr. Sara, Anna,and the now robotic Linda(Eve-27 is her cyborg name) to assist them in stopping the murderous Billy Chow.

This is an entertaining movie, and a strange one too. Extreme violence is juxtaposed over campy fun.  So while some scenes are brutal, it is hard to be offended by them in such an unreal environment, though they’re likely to be shocking against a light-hearted background as well.  However, the CSI franchise on TV, has more violence in the beginning of every one hour episode,than this movie has throughout it’s entirety.

The lovemaking scene with Chikako Aoyama and David Wu was tasteful and erotic, though it could have been more comprehensive and longer. But it was intriguing because by this point, Chikako Aoyama was a cyborg,and she  seduced David Wu with her robotic body.  He thought he was making love to her as a human. This was ironic too, because it was their first time.

There is another scene, a funny one, where Amy Yip is recruited by the police to pose as a prostitute to lure the evil Billy Chow into a trap. But some of the police got word of  Amy’s assignment, so they pose as customers, because they all want to make love to the sexy android Amy Yip. As you might imagine, the news spreads like wildfire, that there is a great time to be had upstairs, so the line of customers grows so long, that had she not been a robot, she never would have been able to handle so much business.

This was funny in another way too, because while the police wanted to make it with the super Amy Yip, she wanted to know what it felt like to have sex with a human!

All in all, an enjoyable film, and it is available at Amazon,Yesasia, and other outlets, and I think it is available for download too.

If “Charlie’s Angels” met “Robocop”,  and was directed by Russ Meyer, this might be the result, but better, because of Chikako Aoyama and Amy Yip,who were making this movie a  Robotreat!

Though it also holds true that no matter how many sexy girls we might meet,our first encounter will always be the one we remember most fondly, and this is how I feel about Yuko Aoki, my first guilty pleasure! She’s the girl who first got me hooked on Asian models and actresses for life.

I first came across her about 13 years ago, while perusing Muzi,the “English-Chinese Bilingual Portal” for news and celebrities. I forget my reason for first going there, because when I set eyes on Yuko Aoki, she had it all, a cute face and voluptuous body, naturally endowed.

She was built like a woman, not like a twig. Her air of accessibility made her even more appealing, beautiful and sexy, yet friendly and approachable.

She was born February 5th,1977 in Takahata, Yamagata prefecture, and began modeling professionally in 1995. Considering her popularity and her volume of work, her career is remarkably short, spanning only from 1995-1998, though she did not officially retire until 2000. She was the Fuji TV Visual Queen of 1996, and graced the cover of the Weekly Playboy for March 12th of the same year.

As with many celebrities, her first love is not what she is most famous for. Yuko Aoki’s heart is in music, she is the lead vocalist in the band Icy Blue, and she has performed in some benefits and charitable concerts.

I have not heard her sing, but if her singing is even a fraction as beautiful as her appearance, then I am all ears! 

Her physical attributes measure B-37,W-23,H-34, in inches,and 5’3″ in height. In cm, she measures B-93,W-57,H-87,and 163 cm tall.

Would there be a Yoko Matsugane without a Yuko Aoki? Probably so, however, Yuko Aoki set the standard,and raised the bar higher for the girls who followed her.

Though her swimsuits seem modest by today’s standards, she fills them as beautifully as any of today’s girls, in fact, better, because these days, there is less swimsuit to fill! There were pretty girls before her and will be pretty girls after her, but in my eyes, none as adorable as Yuko Aoki, the “Visual Queen” for all time!