Today’s song of the day comes from Juno Mak, the once-hated pop star that was criticized of being only in the business because of his family connection and for singing crappy Karaoke-friendly pop songs, much like Edison Chen when he first joined the business. Since his contract was up with Universal (where he sang said crappy Karaoke-friendly pop song), he remained in the business because of his family connection. His brother, the publisher of Hong Kong fashion magazine Milk, formed his own record company, and of course Juno would become the first one to join.

However, he actually used his money to do good - his music since then has gradually improved, starting with first Silly Thing album Proto. I haven’t heard his latest album, the three-year effort Chapel of Dawn, yet, but I know that his 2005 EP Otherside was among one of the best of 2005. That’s where today’s song of the day comes from, it’s “Androgyny.”

Why? Because it’s the best track out of that EP. It’s a trippy and atmospheric piece that uses vocals to create the mood set by the title. Hell, it showed that this Juno guy might have some talent.

- Hong Kong films are going through a bit of a slump in Japan. From the weak box office of Battle of Wits to the recently-released Rob-B-Hood, the latest casualty is the number 8 highest Hong Kong grosser last year Dragon Tiger Gate. On about 40 screens nationwide, the film grossed only 5.9 million yen. That’s 11% of Seven Swords and 23% of Rob-B-Hood’s openings. Even The Queen managed a 5.59 million yen opening on one screen. Ouch.

- In good news for Hong Kong films, Johnnie To’s Triad Election (better known worldwide as Election 2), opening next Wednesday, got a really good review from Entertainment Weekly. Too bad it’s also a really short review.

- Earlier in the week I mentioned the Singapore Film Festival and the possibility that the Singaporean gay film “Solos” may be banned from the festival. In a compromise, the film will not be screened publicly at the festival, but will still be eligible for the awards because it will be screened privately for the jury instead.

- “The Good, The Bad, and the Weird,” the highly-anticipated new film by director Kim Ji-Woon (A Bittersweet Life, A Tale of Two Sisters) starring three of Korea’s biggest actors, is going to start shooting on Wednesday. Yay.

- This weekend at Japan Times, they have three new reviews - one for personal favorite (but also equally hated in other places) Babel, one for the limited-release Japanese comedy Tsukue no Nakami (it’s so limited that it’s only playing once a day at one theater), and for the equally limited-release Australian film 2:37.

Also, they have two interviews to go with the reviews - one with Babel star Rinko Kikuchi, and the other with Murali K. Thalluri, the director of 2:37 who won Un Certain Regard last year at Cannes.

- Speaking of Rinko Kikuchi, Hoga News also has more news about her first Japanese film since she shot to stardom with Babel, a strange little comedy about bugs.

Still keeping it short. More news coming up tomorrow, and a short review of Derek Yee’s Protege as well.