Today’s song of the day is a longtime favorite. I used to do it at Karaoke to a bunch of confused and/or bored faces who didn’t (and probably still don’t) know who Jun Kung is. Jun Kung is one of Hong Kong music’s most talented musician, with the reputation of being one hell of a drummer. This was one of the singles from his debut EP, while the version I have on CD features another talented singer Maggie Ko (who has since changed back to her real name Maggie Fu) edited into the second verse. Both these CDs are out of print, and good luck actually finding a Jun Kung solo CD in Hong Kong these days. Anyway, the song is “Love Space”

Why? Because the guitar intro is soulful, the vocals are smooth, the melody is groovy. It was far ahead of its time when it came out in 1999 (at least before Chet Lam brought back acoustic music to HK pop.

If the video doesn’t work (it didn’t work very well on ie, at least), try the live version on for size

I hate to rely on sources for news, but that’s what happens when you have limited resources. This means when mov3.com doesn’t update their Sunday numbers on Monday HK time, I’m stuck Monday afternoon with no numbers to report.

- But good thing Box Office Mojo came through with their Japan numbers, which isn’t particularly hard, since they only have the top 6. Rest assured, you’re not missing much. The rankings stayed roughly the same, as all the films enjoyed only very small drops. Happy Feet actually gained more audience to beat The Holiday in the attendance rankings, but, as it is the case with kids films, it brought in less money than The Holiday because kids tickets are quite a bit cheaper than adult tickets. Such is life.

- Meanwhile, The Host enjoyed a healthy 4th week at the American box office, as Magnolia expanded the film again by another 22 screens for a small 4.8% increase in grosses. Of course, that means per-screen average has gone down to a not-very-good $2,437 (down $400 from last week), but at least it’s hanging in there.

- During Filmart last week (with the deal finalized a week later, as in yesterday), Sponge, a small Korean distributor that specializes in importing small foreign films, acquired the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse in its biggest deal ever. No word, however, on whether Sponge will split the two films up (as it was announced to be done for the international market) or release both films together.

- At the risk further damaging my credibility, I’ll admit that I’ve never seen a Kim Ki-duk film. I’ve read about quite a few, and I’ve been turned off enough by fish hooks and plastic surgeries to stay away from them. Nevertheless, I have followed his career, including his public denouncement of Korean media and Korean cinema. I guess he must’ve taken it back, because he has yet another new film coming that he shot in just under two weeks. Wow.

- China isn’t the only place in Asia with strict censorship. India has banned Fashion channel FTV for two months for indecency. This isn’t the first time, as AXN, Asian’s answer to Spike TV, was also banned for two months. Man, wait ’til they watch American TV, there’s plenty to ban there.

- When you have a soon-to-be-defunct TV tower and a huge Hollywood blockbuster to promote, what do you do? Nagoya has found the answer.

- I’m looking more and more to Yau Nai-Hoi’s Eye in the Sky. Why? Because of that review from LoveHKFilm that I just linked to and this review.

- But you can quench your thirst with teasers today - one for Eye in the Sky, and the other for Feng Xiaogang’s latest The Assembly.

- While I’m reading Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore (I’m about halfway through, thanks to my newfound discovery of the ability to read at the gym), I just found another book with a killer concept: A real-life Yakuza princess. Unlike Nakama Yukie, I don’t think she’d make much of a high school teacher.

Another short entry today, but can’t help it if the news world is quiet as usual.