Month: May 2004

Film Review: 2046 (The Guardian)

The long-awaited (5 years, 3 different locales, random plot and actor-switching) Wong Kar Wai movie 2046 finally opened on Thursday to acclaim. It had to postpone its press showing Wednesday because Wong was flying with the last 20% of the film with him, and he missed his connection to France from Bangkok. It’s a sequel to In the Mood For Love, which I just watched on Netflix. In the Mood is about unrequited love set in 1960’s Hong Kong (my father was there until 1965), and it is really interesting to see what life was like in that time. From the press photos, the new movie continues its luxurious rich reds and blues, but incorporates sci-fi themes. The movie continues in the late 60’s with Tony Leung’s character dreaming about love and riding a train to the future. “2046” is the main character’s hotel room number, as well as the year Hong Kong’s special administrative status with China will end, both of which are examined in the film. Of course, a movie with Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Faye Wong and Maggie Cheung — four of the hottest Chinese actresses today — can’t be missed. I hear that it will open in Asia in October — can’t wait to see it, maybe at the SF Asian Film Festival?

On the train last night, the group conversation was about “What were your worst train experiences?”. I seemed to have the record. For worst train experience not personally impacting me, there was the time the train I was riding ran over someone in the tunnel. They didn’t let us know what was happening until we got lead back to the station through another train that they hooked up to the back of the one we were on. Then there was the time I was randomly punched in the mouth by some dude getting off of the train. I think it was a racial bias thing, but the upshot is that it chipped a tooth. Then the worst one was when I was followed off a train and was stabbed with a machete. That was like almost 15 years ago when the City was still Dodge. That being said, the City and the subway are a lot better than it used to be.

I’m going to Philadelphia with P– on Saturday, and then seeing Shrek 2 in NY on Sunday.

So it’s kind of big news around here. The after shocks of the recent Presidential elections is still being felt. Today was the inauguration of President-elect Chen Shui-bian even though the recount is on-going. He won by 30,000 or so votes and 40,000 votes are in dispute. Meanwhile, China says, that it will invade Taiwan if it decides to “go independent”. See the fun rhetoric here at the NYTimes and CNN where apparently, China is reiterating its intention to use force to keep Taiwan a part of China.

I don’t know… with $100 billion dollars worth of Taiwan investment and $8.5 billion in bi-lateral trade, I hardly think it’s worth all that money to flush down the drain. Even so, the bark is worse than its bite as China simply doesn’t have the military capacity to invade Taiwan successfully (see Normandy and do a comparative analysis). 15 years ago, I was part of the Taiwan Independence debate on SCC (soc.culture.china USENET group) and feel that things are a bit different then than now. Taiwan is a de facto independent nation and Taiwan should call China’s bluff. You can read what Chen Shui-bian feels in his inauguration speech.

AJ and I were musing today on some fun work related events. It’s directly related to the on-going Taiwan development — namely, those who are most capable, have already left Taiwan for other places. Those who are left are well, direct empirical evidence contrary to the stereotype that Chinese people are smart. MIT doesn’t mean what it used to a couple of decades ago.

Anyways, I’m just continuing on my journey here and see where it leads.

=YC

The Iliad: Saw Troy with P- and her sister on Saturday. Wow, talk about Ishtar on the Aegean! OK, it wasn’t that bad, but paraphrasing the review from The Onion — it turned a 10 year war into a really bad spring break fling. Oftentimes, you just look at Orlando Bloom playing Paris and think that you’re in The Lord of the Rings – Frodo on Growth Hormones. Not value for money unless you’re channelling Brad Pitt.

The Odyssey: walked the length of the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival from 39th to 57th Street– wow, what great food! We had lobsters at Central Fish Market for $7 each. Jerk Chicken: $5 ea. Soft shell crab sandwiches. Tamales. Polish pierogi. Cupcakes from the Cupcake Cafe. Passed up on paella, BB Sandwich Bar’s cheesesteak sandwiches, corn cakes and mozzerella, Greek desserts, and much more because we just didn’t have room to eat them. Definately recommended next year.