From Blind Detective to Attraction & Demons: Rants

I finally had the chance to watch 'Mad Detective' and 'Blind Detective', both of which are by H.K. director Johnnie To. Watching these types of movies not only is for entertainment, but also is to aid in my 'research'. However, I must say, Mad Detective is too bleak for my taste and it's unlikely I will watch it again anytime soon. Blind Detective on the other hand is some light humored fun, of course focusing on the chemistry between Sammi Cheng (Ho) and Andy Lau (Johnston).

The scenes I love most were when Ho and Johnston were discussing his lost love  --

Ho: "Maybe you will find a better woman."
Johnston: "Such exquisite beauty is hard to come by!"
Ho: "You're blind, can't see her anyway. Doesn't matter even if she looks like Susan."
Johnston: "I will loose face in front of friends!"


...Johnston's confession of love to Ho in the car:

J: "I suddenly realise... I like you"
H: "But I look like Susan!"
J: "I'm blind, who cares!"
H: "But you will loose face in front of friends?"
J: "I don't have friends anyway, except for that bastard Fabo..."


...and when Fabo and Johnston were outside the operation room:

F: "What's wrong with you?"
J: "I'm screwed...in my desperation I told her I like her..."
F: "She doesn't like you?"
J: "Fat chance, you don't know how much she likes me! She fell for me first"
F: "So what's the deal?"
J: "She looks like Susan...that masculine female cop with an Adam's apple!"
F: "So? You're blind."
J: "I thought so too! Then I realised, with the advancement of medicine I'll probably recover some day, then...how could I face her?!"


The reason I love these exchanges is not only because they are funny, but also Johnston tells the truth of most relationships -- to attract the opposite sex (in this case), you must look attractive to them.  I know this seems like stating the obvious, but I've seen mainly Asian girls (or guys) failing to find love because they do not want to wake up to this simple and obvious fact.

From personal experiences and observing friends I've found that no-one is interested in looking beyond your appearance if your appearance doesn't attract them in the first place. You can of course dress down and use this to your advantage in the workplace but in most dating scenes that's a recipe for disaster. If a single heterosexual woman cannot display their heterosexuality or even look like she's interested in men from the outset then who's gonna know that she is single, interested, or even desperate to find someone?

I find this particularly true with one heterosexual friend. In the case of my friend, her physical appearance does unfortunately look like a small version of Susan. It also doesn't help her cause that her favourite outfits are soccer uniforms or anything that's as far removed from feminine as possible. In addition, although she is funny, kind, and honest, she is also quite straightforward; if she were more 'feminine', this personality would be of benefit, unfortunately she is not, so this only emphasises her 'masculinity'. To add oil to fire, she is Asian in an Asian country. I say this because based on my shallow observations, 'Westerner's seems to have a more liberal view in that regard; Asian guys on the other hand, are mostly quite fixated on their girlfriends' femininity and other people's opinions.

As a friend it is difficult to know where the boundary lie -- I've attempted to tell her as much as I can without offending. In addition, I don't want to insult a friend by being patronising: either by abruptly telling her what's fact of life or not; or thinking that she does not have the heart to handle this 'confrontation'.

This then, ends in facing my own demons (too eager to help, too eager to please).   

Oblivion (2013)

Oblivion is one of the best films I’ve seen in cinema in a long time. 

I love reading about films which often leaves my boyfriend baffled (to him, thinking of the meanings in films, let alone reading about it, is a pointless act).

To me it's a very interesting process. Sometimes by reading about a film I like it more, sometimes vice versa.

Oblivion is definitely one of the top films in 2013 on my list.

Nostalgia 另一種鄉愁 [Mandarin song, English translation]

"Nostalgia / Another kind of Homesickness"
Mandarin version sung by Feng Fei Fei;
Original music Subaru ("Star") composed by Tanimura Shinji

The Killer (1989) [SPOILERS]

Sydney: "Don't you want to check the weapon?"
Ah Jong: "There's no need. I trust you."

Chow Yun Fat is the confident and elegant hitman Ah Jong. He is unlike any cold-blooded killer -- he is the ideal image of a man. He is heroic and has a strong sense of honour and loyalty that's becoming a hindrance in this ever changing complicated world.

The Killer is a romantic film centred on friendship, redemption, and honor.

However, like the redemption which Ah Jhong seeks was never fulfilled in the end, the friendships between the characters are not without some sort of power struggle either.

I love every aspect of this film, especially the stand-off sequence between Ah Jhong and Lee (an obsessive policeman) in Jenny's apartment. However, the more minor storyline between Ah Jong and Sydney (Ah Jhong's manager and friend) is what I would like to focus on.

Foreigners speaking Mandarin

Mr. Leung's blog post on "Foreigners speaking Cantonese" inspired me to do some further research to assist my own little ongoing 'project' which started sometime last year.

Earlier this year while I was back home for the first time in three years, I noticed an increase in foreigners (by this, I mean mostly white people). There's foreign exchange students around TWTC, Caucasian men (teachers, sons-in-laws, expat...), and even Muslim girls at the supermarket.There's a popular nightly talk show which features "foreign brides" as guests on TV, and even a Taiwanese (Min Nan/Hokkien) language teaching program co-hosted by an American.

It may not seem like such a big deal in this multicultural society, but bear in mind that I'm talking about a country with 23 million people (similar to Australia), of which 98% are ethnically Han Chinese and 2% Aboriginal. Rarely could you spot a white guy on the streets outside of certain areas of Taipei City (excluding Mormon missionaries. Many of them travel to Taiwan around 18 years of age).

Anyway, back on topic.

I've gathered some videos found on YouTube for my own reference and anyone else interested. For the moment, I did not include the many videos of people practicing Mandarin songs (some of them are quite interesting). I also did not include videos of people from language backgrounds other than English.

I will continue to update further info/delete dead links whenever I can be bothered to.

My notes are written primarily for myself just as a reminder, so there's absolutely no offense intended even though I may comment on some speakers' pronunciation...etc. (From a general linguistics point of view, there are no right or wrong anyway).

It never Terminates (Yes, like wikipedia, this also includes ending spoilers)

Once again went to the movies when I 100% absolutely definitely needed to work.

But who cares when it was the last day of semester and the first day of release for Terminator Salvation?!

Live long and Prosper

Went to see Star Trek this Monday, despite the fact that the semester finishes in two weeks and I've still got tonns of work to do. This is just some random rants, nothing much about the actual movie.

Smokin’ Aces (SPOILERS incl. Alternative Ending)

After a few months of busy no-life without movies and DVD rental, I finally got around to watching Smokin’ Aces.

The basic elements of this movie were very entertaining. It had a well chosen cast with surprisingly good acting, and a bizarre yet funny mix of characters.

DMC 4

I am such a sucker for slasher/mindless action games, and have been waiting to buy DMC 4 (PC version) for ages.

However, when it was finally released, I was stuck in the usual dilemma of weighting cost against entertainment.

But...my compulsive buying habit once again took over rationality.

Bought it this Saturday, and had a long, painful wait for installation.

When all essential items for the game-playing ritual were prepared (i.e. beer, chips...the usual stuff.), I happily took my position to start.

Then, it happened.

Pure Lady 非常女 [Taiwanese song, English translation]

This is a song sung by Fay Huang in Taiwanese, a dialect similar to the Hokkien dialect of the mainland. It's the theme song for a Pili Glove Puppetry (Budaixi) TV series character.

The character is a tragic young woman, whose name literally means "Extraordinary Lady" (translated as "Pure Lady", to signify her lovable, innocent, and courageous character).

Pure Lady first entered the underworld full of curiosity and spirit. However, she was naively deceived and raped by an evil guy while trying to reform him. Pregnant with the reincarnation of the Evil Lord, She was hunted down by both the righteous and evil sides, and was killed in the end.

[Pure Lady]

Giovanni Ribisi & Perfect Stranger

'Perfect Stranger' was rated only two out of five stars by SMH. Not that I'm interested in proving critics wrong (although at times they do appear to be brain damaged, ie the time when they gave out spoilers), rather, the sole focus of my attention and renting this film was Giovanni Ribisi.

I’m in love with Renee Zellweger

8/25

I am attracted to Renee Zellweger ever since I rented ‘Miss Potter’. After I’ve seen ‘Chicago’, I am interested in her even more. Despite the fact that her character in the musical film was what my friend called “a dumb, phoney bitch”, I decided Roxie was too cute to force upon accusations of any kind.

Ain't she gorgeous?