The Curse of “Mak Tae Returns”

Most of you might have heard of the news about "Mak Tae" a.k.a. "Lucky Loser" – the controversial Thai movie about football that stirred Thai-Laos relationship back in May 2006. However, after some discussions with Laotian officials and hard efforts from everyone involved, the movie is back to the cinema with everything regarding Laos was totally removed and replaced with a tiny, fictional country called "Arvee."

There is a practical joke saying that the name "Lucky Loser" is a bad omen for the movie. This might be true. Yesterday, I bought a comic book version of the movie and took it with me to read at my friend’s. We were playing cards, well just for fun, and whoever read, or even touched, the book bearing the name "Lucky Loser" lost the game.

Is it a "curse" or just a coincident? Who knows? Let see how much the movie could earn at the box-office.

デスノート a.k.a. Death Note – from comic to movie and animation

Originally "Death Note" is a Japanese series of comic illustrated by Takeshi Obata based on a well-defined plot and story by Tsugumi Ohba. There are totally 108 chapters in 12 volumes of graphic novel reprinted from Weekly Shonen Jump (Japanese weekly comic book) which serialized from December 2003 to May 2006. The comic is a huge success and could be considered as a phenomenon when it was banned from the school in Shenyang, China because the authorities feared that it could poison and create wicked hearts in the students.

The story of "Death Note" is centering around a young high-school boy named "Yagami Light." One day he found a mysterious notebook called "Death Note" which is a tool of the God of death to kill anyone with the name written on it. Soon after he realized that this supernatural notebook is real and the God of Death do exist, he decided to use it to get rid of all crimes and criminals in the world. It might be a good intention but it’s impossible to be a god. After some unexplainable deaths occurred, he is hunted down by the police with the help of "L", the world’s top-rated detective. A wit-testing cat and mouse chase is about to begin…

Later, a set of 2-part live-action movies is released in Japan – the first part on June 17, 2006 and the second part on November 3, 2006. The movie is a huge success at Japanese box-office. The success of the comic spanned to TV animation and there is a plan of 37 episodes animation airing on Nippon Television from October 4, 2006 to July 13, 2007.

Let’s see what’s next for "Death Note" franchise. An American remake of the movie? Who knows?

The Devil Wears Prada

A fresh college graduated girl comes to New York. She dreams of becoming a journalist but ends up getting a job as the assistant to one of the biggest fashion magazine editors, the famous and ruthless Miranda Priestly. Nevertheless, a year’s experience with "the Devil" would guarantee her dream job at any newspapers. Could she survive this crazy and frantic job?

The movie is adapted from a bestseller book with the same title written by Lauren Weisberger. The theme of the story about a boss and a subordinate with the struggle to cope up with extraordinary order touches the heart of the working class because it helps lifting up the spirit and will-power in the workplace.

Meryl Streep has yet again delivered her finest performance as Miranda "the Devil" Priestly. Anne Hathaway’s portrayal of a naive girl who ended up working for Miranda adds up a spice to the movie. The ensemble of the cast is one of the best feature of this film. The dialogue is sharp and vivid while the storyline is somewhat okay, however, the ending is too good to be true. I guess it suffers from the "Hollywood" effect which keeps the story far from reality and drifts it to the realm of "imaginary" world.

4 stars out of 5 – just watching the acting of Meryl Streep and the dresses of Anne Hathaway is enough.

OK Go – Here It Goes Again

OK Go is an American rock band consisting of 4 members, namely, Damian Kulash (lead vocals and guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass), Dan Konopka (drums) and Andy Ross (keyboards and guitar.) The band gained popularity mainly because of its unique low-budget, one-take music video. In fact, it caught my attention when I saw 4 guys (later known as the members of the band) dancing choreographically on six treadmills in their one-shot music video called "Here It Goes Again." You have to see it to believe it. I have to admit that these guys are brilliant and whoever come up with the idea and direct this dance is bloody genius.

Take a look at the video by yourself at YouTube <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI>. In fact, this video was viewed by over 1 million people on YouTube in the first 6 days and currently it can be seen on various music channels including MTV and Channel [V].

Visit OK Go‘s official website at <http://www.okgo.net/>