'A professional smolder'

Guess who's on the list of Salon.com's Sexiest Men Living 2007? E di sino pa? My one and only Lust (Caution!) Tony Leung! (Pant! Pant!) Says this fab web site:

"Martin Scorcese's Oscar-winning 'The Departed,' a remake/rip-off of the nail-biting 2002 Hong Kong thriller 'Infernal Affairs,' turned off fans of the original for one unavoidable reason — and it wasn't Jack Nicholson's scenery-chewing. It was the absence of the smoldering Tony Leung in the role of the undercover cop lost in a convoluted game of spy vs. spy. As good as Leo DiCaprio's Boston honk and flinty rage are in the remake, he just can't hold a candle to Leung.

But then, of course he can't. Leung is a professional smolderer; the guy's a virtual human Duraflame. Throughout the past two decades, in 'Hard-Boiled' (1992), 'Chungking Express' (1994), 'Happy Together' (1997), 'In the Mood for Love' (2000), 'Hero' (2002) and '2046' (2004), he's left only glowing embers in his wake. In this year's 'Lust, Caution,' he added a sadistic streak we'd never seen from him before that caused us to recoil — and still come back for more." (Read on at Salon.)

How sad that NYT didn't get the point of Lust, Caution.

Guys like travel buddy Pangs, also didn't like the film and can't understand why we ladies are going gaga over Tony. He says he doesn't know what we see in this guy. Simple. The girls call it the "paso" factor.

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Here's a good read though, still from NYT, about how PepsiCo is trying to green their production of Frito-Lays. While some companies are harping about minor environmental changes in their operations as a marketing strategy, PepsiCo appears bent on implementing wide-ranging changes. For the sake of Mother Earth, let's hope this move by one of the world's largest food and beverage firms, jumpstarts a radical industry-wide, global revolution.

Read on at Low-Guilt Potato Chips.

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Back in Manila, there's news of World Bank's cancellation of a $232-million road improvement project due to ehrmmm, "anomalies."

Why so surprised? Monkey see, monkey do.

More on Tony Leung

THANK you Francine for clueing me in on Tony Leung interviews on YouTube. I spent a good part of this rainy morning half in bed and cradling my iBook just surfing YouTube for videos of this delish actor.

It amazed me to find out that he started his career like many of our own artistas here, in some That's Entertainment-like variety show in Hong Kong (or was it Taiwan?). No wonder he sings and dances too. Pang-Dats talaga hahaha! Anyway, I'm also posting one of his MTVs here. (Yeah, yeah, that's how hooked I am on this guy. Couldn't understand a frigging word of Cantonese or Mandarin but hey, it's still those eyes that mesmerize that makes me pay attention.)

But aside from being a great actor, Tony is really intelligent. He thinks and knows his characters inside out. This is not a bobito like some of the present crop of the artistas here and abroad. No wonder a lot of famous film directors want to work with him. Magaling sya talaga! Sana ma-discover na sya ni Martin Scorsese and uses him in a really fabulous movie. (Frankly, I don't know what Marty sees in Leonardo. He's just a pretty face...not much of an actor though.)

Shet...I wanna go to Hong Kong and stalk Tony Leung! Sigh...

An interview for Lust, Caution (www.movieweb.com)



Photos of Tony Leung by a fan



An interview in 2001 on working with John Woo and Kong War Kai...grabeh, he's so smart!



Bonus MTV...sappy but Tony really looks yummy! Haay!

Don't torment me, Tony!

Why Lord, why? (sigh)

I DIDN'T realize that all this time, I've seen Tony Leung in a few other movies before Lust, Caution, until I read Gerard's piece. This Chinese actor, often dubbed the Clark Gable of Asia, certainly did not look as ruggedly handsome as he was in Lust in the other films I've seen him in. Errr...must have been the business suit and the pomaded hair this time, hehe. Lust, Caution is a film by Ang Lee, the genius behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain. (Damn! lots of tortured souls in these films!)

Leung was brilliant in the role of Mr. Yee, portraying a man so consumed by passion, and unleashing his frustrations and suffering as an intelligence agent, killing enemies of the Japanese, in his trysts with Mrs. Mak (played by newcomer Tang Wei). For Mrs. Mak, she is torn between her loyalty to China/her role as a spy in setting up Mr. Yee for the kill, and her realization of how deeply he has affected her emotionally and physically. Their lovemaking was so total, a complete surrender...as in sagad sa kaluluwa. Their situation is something I can relate to, yet do not relish reliving. (Oo mga kapatid, super-affected ako sa movie na 'to! Grabeh!)

But there, I'm a jill-come-lately fan, and very eager to see Tony Leung sizzle once more on the big screen. As Jessica says, "Mmmm..." (Instead of Clark Gable of Asia, I think I will call him the male Ate Guy. Them there eyes! )

P.S. Was it just the makeup or does Joan Chen look really old na?

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BTW, I checked out the Landmark Department Store at Trinoma after watching the film and picked up a few goodies. Whenever I'm in Makati, I try to pass by Landmark because I'm a real cheapo when it comes to clothes. I'll hunt for the perfect jeans, slacks, top, even pantulog, but make sure I purchase them at really bargain basement prices.

Landmark QC has a section called Great Bazaar where I bought a real sturdy yet fashionable pair of jeans for less than P300. I saw it on the rack, liked its deep midnight blue color, simple design (don't you just hate it when all the jeans are either stone-washed, acid-wash, etc. which simply will not do when you have fat thighs?!) and best of all, it's low price. I slipped it on, and the pair seemed tailor-made for my roundish figure. Fabulous!

There lots of other items for sale in that section, you just have to be really choosy and patient when going through the racks one by one. There are nice tops less than P200, mostly made in China (see, a hangover still from Tony Leung!), but some were really made of thin fabric they ought to be priced at P80 instead!

Only thing though, Landmark's owners still seem to be stuck in the 1950's when intercoms in department stores were still unheard of. If you want to make your goods move faster, make sure it's easy for customers to check if their item in some other color or size is immediately available. But noooo, the customer has to wait at least 15 minutes for the sales lady to return from the faraway stock room. (C'mon these girls aren't even paid enough to walk that far!) If I were in a rush, I would have left my items pronto! In fact, even the guard on duty told me that customers have been complaining of the length of time they have to wait just for the sales ladies to check on the items they need in the stock room. So if you're in a hurry, Landmark is not exactly the greatest place to shop in.