November 28, 2004
Japanese Commercial Archives
You know, one of my favorite thing to do while I am traveling anywhere (other then eat copious amounts of their food, drink abundantly of their liquor, and hit futilely on their womens...) is to watch the local commercials. I remember my trip to Japan as being particularly hilarious in that fashion...
Archive of Japanese Commercials
November 25, 2004
Indian epic Ramayana as comic
The Indian Epic Ramayana is now online as a graphic novel.
According to blogger Avi Solomon, "This is part of the 'Amar Chitra Katha' series concieved by Anant Pai who was the pioneer in using comics to reintroduce India's mythological and historical treasures to it's alienated youth."
Jean Johnson writes in her overview of the story:
The Ramayana is one of the two great Indian epics. The Ramayana tells about life in India around 1000 BCE and offers models in dharma. The hero, Rama, lived his whole life by the rules of dharma; in fact, that was why Indian consider him heroic. When Rama was a young boy, he was the perfect son. Later he was an ideal husband to his faithful wife, Sita, and a responsible ruler of Aydohya. "Be as Rama," young Indians have been taught for 2,000 years; "Be as Sita."
Read the Ramayana Comic [via BoingBoing]
November 23, 2004
Reel Asian Film Festival
Nov 24th - Nov 28th
Toronto's Asian film fest is on again! A quick look at the schedule includes titles such as...
Not to mention the very excellent docu series, Chinese Restaurant. Can YOU resist? Someone want to fly me to Toronto?
Toronto’s Reel Asian Film Festival (Nov. 24-28) has a tendency to be ahead of the curve. Take last year’s festival, which closed with Ann Marie Fleming’s charming and moving documentary the Magical Life of Long Tack Sam and also featured films from such filmmakers as Greg Pak and Jane Wong. This year’s festival will, once again, try to cram as much Asian film (11 features and 43 shorts, but who’s counting) into five days as humanly possible.
Reel Asian Film Fest [Official Website]
November 19, 2004
Business + (Chinese * Indians) = Hilarity
Got this in my inbox today. Total hilarity from Canadian comedian Russell Peters which is just barely bordering on being offensive without ever quite being so. Eh, what the hell, can't speak for all rest of the 234,000x10^6 gajillion Chinese people out there, but yup, I for one, sure am a CHEAP ASS BASTARD.
And proud of it, too.
Watch the video clip"Chinese bargaining with Indians" [thanks Grant]
Russell Peters
More clips on the Just for Laughs website.
November 16, 2004
Live octopus anyone?
My brother was visiting Seoul last month, and had the opportunity to try some live octopus...
"this dish of raw octopus contains still moving flesh. Some pieces are hard to pick up as the suction cups are still working and they are stuck onto the plate. Not sure if my host was pulling my leg, but I was told to chew them real well before swallowing to avoid the pieces from suctioning to my esophagus. Lovely."
Read his blog entry
Watch the video clip [13 sec MPEG file, 4.73mb]
November 15, 2004
TO DO's
Vancouver's International Storytelling Festival
Nov 19th-21st
The Vancouver Society of Storytelling is committed to creating a stronger community around the ancient and innovative art form of storytelling. This year's festival looks deeply into the vibrant cultures that make up Vancouver today, and explore the stories that have been brought here by newcomers from many lands. In particular this event will focus on the middle eastern community and its rich tradition of story; you are invited to 2004 Arabian Nights. For two full days, colourful folktales from this culture will unfold in an atmosphere enhanced with Persian carpets, green tea, hypnotic music and aromatic teas. Stories will be told by immigrants, emerging and seasoned storytellers in English, Persian, and Arabic.
November 12, 2004
China: good vs bad
Ah, seems like China is everyone's favorite topic of late. CBC is producing a whole series about its rise this month, and China also seem to be on the minds of many in the blogosphere lately...
Check out these two threads goings on...
China rocks!
From cells to bells, 10 things the Chinese do far better than we do
China um... doesn't rock...
Top 10 Reasons Why China Sucks [disclaimer: liaoyusheng.com is operated by the brother of yutai]
The China Project - CBC Radio
The China Project is a weeklong series on CBC Radio and Radio de Radio-Canada that explores China's growth into an industrial giant and its ambitions to become the next superpower.
November 14th to 20th
690AM in Vancouver
Also note, they are having a special FREE screening of The House of Flying Daggers on Nov 14th
FREE screening to celebrate the launch of The China Project
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Free POPCORN included!
You and a guest are invited to attend a special, pre-launch screening of House
of Flying Daggers - a new movie by Zhang Yimou, director of HERO. Be one of the first to see this highly anticipated movie, which opens in New York and LA this December. House of Flying Daggers tells the tangled love tale of Jin
(Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Mei (Zhang Ziyi), set amongst the corruption of a
declining Tang Dynasty.
RSVP to receive tickets. Call 604-662-6600.
Tickets will be distributed on a first come first serve basis
November 06, 2004
Robot Stories Review
Review By Gloria Wong
Robot Stories, the feature-length debut of Asian American director/writer/actor Greg Pak, is a quartet of science fiction shorts about technology. In “My Robot Baby” a yuppie couple is given a robot baby for a week in order to measure their suitability for human child adoption. But when Marcia is left alone with the robo-baby for the weekend, she is confronted with her uncertainties about motherhood. “The Robot Fixer” is the story of an older woman who becomes obsessed with completing her estranged son’s robot toy collection. Pak plays Archie, an android office worker, in “Machine Love”. And in “Clay”, an aging sculptor confounds his loved ones (and his doctor) when he chooses not to digitize his consciousness before his body dies. On their surface, each of the shorts examines the relationship between technology and humanity. While the shorts may take place in a hypothetical not-too-distant future, like all good science fiction, they raise questions that obviously relate to our concrete present – most obviously, how is our idea of “the authentic” being affected by increasingly convincing digital simulation? A little too much like an Outer Limits marathon? Thankfully, the decidedly lo-fi Robot Stories stays grounded in its characters, and uses science fiction as a backdrop for its touching examination of humanity.
Showing tonight, Nov 6th, 9:30pm
at Cinemark TinselTown Theatres
88 West Pender 3rd Floor
Vancouver, BC V6B6N9
Robot Stories [Official Site]