Today’s song of the day can be found on this album and this single. However, neither studio versions can compare to this version, which plays it at a considerably slower pace more suitable for the melody (at least in my opinion). It’s Shiina Ringo’s Sakuran.

Why? This cover is my favorite arrangement out of the 3 versions I’ve heard because it plays to the melody the most. It’s not meant to be fitted with a fast-paced big band symphonic arrangement, but rather with this type of sublime bossa nova beats. This, to me, is the definitive version of Sakuran, too bad it’s never going to be released as a studio recording.

This space represents a lost entry. It was lost when Firefox unexpectedly closed on me in the middle of an entry.

It included Hong Kong box office numbers for Thursday, why Nikkatsu announcing its lineup mattered, Japan Times reviews for this weekend (one of them is a Japanese film that opened on only one screen), how Chinese subtitling groups work, Information on Taiten no Ken, a new Japanese film investor, and how Thailand is unreasonably censoring an independent filmmaker.

Please leave a comment if you would actually like to see any of these stories, because I really don’t want to go and dig up all the links again.

The rest of the entry is my predictions for the Hong Kong Film Awards, happening tomorrow night Hong Kong time.

Overview: As always, the nominations tended to recognize established names rather than new filmmakers. All the nominees for best pics, best director and best screenplays are people who have spent 10 or more years in the industry. This points to a committee that seems to be just putting together an award that pats their buddies in the back rather than encouraging new talents. I’m not just saying this because a personal favorite Isabella didn’t get much major nominations, but also because this archaic system managed to recognize The Myth with multiple nominations.

With that said, here are my predictions for this year’s major awards (Those I want to win are in parenthesis):

Best Editing: After This, Our Exile (Exiled)

Best Cinematography: Curse of the Golden Flower (Isabella)

Best new actor: Gouw Ian Iskandar for After This, Our Exile (same)

Best Supporting Actress: Haven’t seen most of the films, can’t comment

Best Supporting Actor: Jay Chou for Curse of the Golden Flower (Simon Yam for Election 2)

Best Actress: Gong Li for Curse of the Golden Flower (same)

Best Actor: Chow Yun Fat for Curse of the Golden Flower (Lau Ching Wan for My Name is Fame)

Best Screenplay: Yau Nai Hoi and Yip Tin Shing for Election 2 (same)

Best Director: Patrick Tam for After This Our Exile (Johnnie To for Exiled)

Best Picture: After This, Our Exile (Election 2)

Results will be posted tomorrow morning, or tomorrow evening at the latest.

Today’s song of the day needs little introduction. Seriously, just go to the Wikipedia page on it and read up all you want. On the album “Faster Than the Speed of Night,” it’s Bonnie Tyler’s classic “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

Why? Because it’s the ultimately 80s pop epic that wasn’t done by a large man named Meatloaf (turns out this song WAS written for Meatloaf, according to the Wikipedia page). I know it’s chessy 80s pop, but the video is so far out, and the song is so…unnecessarily epic that you can’t help loving it. Honestly, I don’t even know what the hell it means to have a “total eclipse of the heart” anyway.