Hallelujah
Behold.. I present to you - The Ultimate Toilet.
Cue Beethoven's 9th!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The Red Detachment of Women
Click pic for link
from Wikipedia
The "eight model plays" (Simplified Chinese: 八个样板戏; pinyin: bā gè yáng bǎn xì) were the only operas and ballets that were permitted during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976). Although they were limited in number, there were in fact more than eight. They all have communist or revolutionary themes.
These works were created under the patronage and supervision of Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao Zedong, and the purpose was clear: to serve the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The official versions of the operas were all Beijing operas and were produced by either the China Beijing Opera House or Shanghai Beijing Opera House, although many of them were subsequently adapted to local provincial species of operas. The ballets were produced by either the Central Ballet Troupe or Shanghai Ballet Troupe.
And you said Opera sucks!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Chinese Handbills
Check out these cool Hong Kong handbills over at my buddy Colin's site Kung Fu Fridays, then check out everything else over there.
Real Life RPG
For anyone who wasted their youth playing old-school RPG's like Final Fantasy, Mark Leung has put together this awesome series of videos called 'College Life'. It's good stuff.
By the way, my fave old school was Chronotrigger. I still play it every now and then... mostly for the music!
You missed a spot, love
Ger, I quite fancy that... Anyway, link goes to a quite lovely flash presentation of vintage erotica. NSFW... if you actually have a job, and if you do...why are you reading this? Hmmm?
Now here's how you sell a fibre beverage! Spaghetti!
also from the hugely entertaining TV IN JAPAN
Kewpie makes many different types of sauce for noodles. This is a popular type called Tarako - Now! with Salmon Roe! - whose ad campaign swept Japan earlier last year. The song is rocketing up the charts - it's been in my head for weeks, and now it will be in yours! -
Here's a full version, with Dance moves. It's the dance sensation that's sweeping the nation!
And finally this version of the commercial (there are dozens), which is my favorite. I admit to getting a little verklempt at the start... but don't worry.. it all works out in the end!
The song itself reminds of the golden age of 70's euro-ballads a la ABBA's "Those Were The Days" and "Fernando". I dunno, call me weird.
from TV IN JAPAN
Now here's how you sell a fibre beverage!
I don't know about you, but I just shiat myself watching the commercial! Who needs Metamucil?
Memorable Moments in Hacker History
On 22 November 1987, Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW was broadcasting an episode of Doctor Who, when something very strange happened...
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Cheng Pei Pei
from Hong Kong Cinema - View from the Brooklyn Bridge
Cheng Pei Pei. The name has such a ring to it. She was the first modern day action film heroine and is revered by many to this day. Though her major films were in the 1960's, she still acts from time to time and just had a major part in the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the evil Jade Fox.
She was trained in dancing more than the martial arts (as of course were many of the action heroines - Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Khan and Moon Lee) but was interested in acting and graduated from the Southern Screen Experimental Theater in 1963 and was hired by the Shaw Brothers. Under the Shaw Brothers she acted in musicals and dramas until she was chosen by a little known director (at that time) named King Hu to star in his film Come Drink with Me.
(After seeing the deliriously fun 'Hong Kong Nocturne' I lament the fact that she didn't do more musicals. -Ed.)
King Hu was of course to completely revitalize the martial arts genre over the next 10 years and like Tsui Hark who was to follow enjoyed giving prominent action roles to females. In Come Drink with Me, Cheng Pei Pei plays Golden Swallow, a remarkably swift and deadly swordswoman and her performance is simply dazzling. She is so graceful and charismatic that you get totally swept up with this lone woman taking on and defeating much greater forces. The scene in the inn and the one at the temple are the stuff of legend.
Pei Pei reprised this role in the film Golden Swallow (a.k.a. The Girl with the Thunderbolt Kick) but under director Chang Cheh the focus shifted to a male (as was his wont) Jimmy Wang Yu. Some other action films of hers are: Shadow Whip, Whiplash, Kung Fu Girl, Jade Raksha and Flying Dagger. By the mid-70's she had basically retired from the film business and at one time even had a cooking show on TV in Los Angeles during the 80's. Some of her rare film appearances afterwards were - a small cameo in Wing Chun as Michelle Yeoh's sifu, as the competing head of a Peking Opera school in Painted Faces (1988) and she had a terrific part in Stephen Chow's Flirting Scholar.
Cheng Pei Pei has a daughter who has recently decided to follow in her mother’s professional footsteps.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Hipster Death Mobile
I'd fancy scooting around the posh areas of town in lovely little number! People would be getting out of my way for sure!
Apparently these bad boys are real! I'd imagine recoil would be a real problem, but maybe they found a way to negate it? Definitely not shooting while driving, I wager.
Now you know what to get me for next Chrimbo!
more details at the excellent Dark Roasted Blend
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