tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post2156440956797414430..comments2024-03-27T18:23:34.322+08:00Comments on WEBS OF SIGNIFICANCE: Less Mao, more Sun?YTSLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-12396592884068448612008-08-19T12:15:00.000+08:002008-08-19T12:15:00.000+08:00Hi a. --I was reading comments on The Guardian tha...Hi a. --<BR/><BR/>I was reading comments on The Guardian that voiced similar sentiments to yours about London 2012 vis a vis Beijing 2008. Someone suggested going the other way and going for an austerity style Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. That would make for quite a change, don't you think? ;bYTSLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-12633158159390328432008-08-16T23:14:00.000+08:002008-08-16T23:14:00.000+08:00I didn't watch the ceremony live, but what I did s...I didn't watch the ceremony live, but what I did see made me wonder just how London was going to manage in comparison. I'm dreading it :S<BR/><BR/>To get back to your original question, yes I do still think of Mao associated with China, and I would have assumed the sculpture was somehow referencing him.A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04709794851766685322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-39016565181705499902008-08-15T10:48:00.000+08:002008-08-15T10:48:00.000+08:00Hi once more Glenn --Re "Red Sorghum": Like I wrot...Hi once more Glenn --<BR/><BR/>Re "Red Sorghum": Like I wrote before on this thread, I'm not really a fan of the early Zhang Yimou (and not a fan of Chen Kaige in general). Nor a fan of Gong Li. So Zhang Yimou-Gong Li and Chen Kaige-Gong Li combinations are generally off-putting rather than attractive for me -- and, in all honesty, there just are a whole lot more Chinese language movies that I YTSLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-31194382329383127852008-08-14T23:06:00.000+08:002008-08-14T23:06:00.000+08:00Wow, you're such a movie person I am a bit surpris...Wow, you're such a movie person I am a bit surprised that you have not seen Red Sorghum. I don't think it's on DVD in America -- still -- and the video is a bit rare too but it's definately worth the search -- I don't want to say too much about it because I think I'd diminish its impact. I'm sure it's on VCD over there somewhere. And it is heavy on showing off Gong Li but that fits her role inGlenn, kenixfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00735095946077123391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-64512487619168550262008-08-14T12:00:00.000+08:002008-08-14T12:00:00.000+08:00Hi Willow --Wow, you sound like quite the Olympics...Hi Willow --<BR/><BR/>Wow, you sound like quite the Olympics opening ceremony watcher. Me... I think the Beijing one was the first that I pretty much watched from beginning to end. (Goofed re the beginning time: Thought it would be 8:08pm rather than 8pm! ;D)YTSLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-61133520464394426662008-08-14T07:54:00.000+08:002008-08-14T07:54:00.000+08:00I enjoyed the opening ceremony. Very different and...I enjoyed the opening ceremony. Very different and innovative than openings past. RE the music, I felt like I was waiting for the BIG number. I thought it was a little too serene.Willowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08180535915452293414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-16199207932542334792008-08-13T10:32:00.000+08:002008-08-13T10:32:00.000+08:00Hi once more Glenn --Re "Hero": My problem with it...Hi once more Glenn --<BR/><BR/>Re "Hero": My problem with it was the music. More specifically, it was too similar to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"'s and often times, I started seeing scenes from CTHD in the mind's eye upon hearing "Hero"'s music -- very distracting really!<BR/><BR/>Confession: Have never seen "Red Sorghum". (Like I wrote before, get the feeling you've seen more Zhang Yimou YTSLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-81002131980604148542008-08-13T06:43:00.000+08:002008-08-13T06:43:00.000+08:00ytslEnjoyed the sculpture. I read the article on S...ytsl<BR/><BR/>Enjoyed the sculpture. I read the article on Siu Jianguo in the South China Morning Post ( I think it's free for August) and liked his other works too. Did you see the red dinosaur?<BR/><BR/>I thoroughly enjoyed the Olympics Opening Ceremony as did several of my friends. Such a wonderful spectacle! I liked Zhang's "Hero" for it's visualness. Also I thought "Not One Less" told an sarah bailey knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08748376721447408580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-37140771063338039922008-08-13T01:44:00.000+08:002008-08-13T01:44:00.000+08:00I think a large part of what made Hero work for me...I think a large part of what made Hero work for me was that, when I saw it, I had gone to great lengths to get the DVD since the Miramax people had already clamped down on it and were holding it hostage for another year or so. That probably made it seem better than it is -- though I still think the Yen/Li fight is amaing and the calligraphy school sequence still takes my breath away.<BR/><BR/>I Glenn, kenixfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00735095946077123391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-19079269743043690282008-08-12T23:26:00.000+08:002008-08-12T23:26:00.000+08:00Hi again Glenn --Before anything else: Thread dera...Hi again Glenn --<BR/><BR/>Before anything else: Thread derailing is okay -- appreciate your comments! Also, have to say that I get the feeling you have seen -- and liked -- more Zhang Yimou works than moi...<BR/><BR/>Re government approved: I'm thinking of "Not One Less" (1999) on. Actually, that -- and the much maligned "Curse of the Golden Flower" -- are the Zhang Yimou films I've seen and YTSLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-46473023411689545742008-08-12T23:18:00.000+08:002008-08-12T23:18:00.000+08:00So government approved would be the mid-to-recent ...So government approved would be the mid-to-recent stuff, right?<BR/><BR/>I did like The Road Home quite a bit and I'm not a huge fan of Zhang Ziyi.<BR/><BR/>And Happy Times -- at the time -- seemed like a little masterpiece to me but I'll have to rewatch to reassess.<BR/><BR/>And the first time I watched To Live, I found it profoundly moving -- Gong Li's final crying scene in the hospital was Glenn, kenixfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00735095946077123391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-79902567801501749092008-08-12T23:09:00.000+08:002008-08-12T23:09:00.000+08:00Hi again Glenn --Looking back, I think that "Shaol...Hi again Glenn --<BR/><BR/>Looking back, I think that "Shaolin Soccer" was the first of Stephen Chow movies that were aimed more at the larger Mainland Chinese than Hong Kong market -- with "CJ7" especially exhibiting this trait.<BR/><BR/>Looking back some more -- this time in Zhang Yimou: I know where you're coming from. But even without it meaning that I am pro vs against the Communist ChineseYTSLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-80375212764704836972008-08-12T13:48:00.000+08:002008-08-12T13:48:00.000+08:00i like......<B>i like......</B>goooooood girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04966967530389712531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-67285730789263422912008-08-12T04:51:00.000+08:002008-08-12T04:51:00.000+08:00Shaolin Soccer was not shot in Hong Kong? Now you...Shaolin Soccer was not shot in Hong Kong? Now you're going to tell me there's no Santa Claus! What gives? So those scenes of Chow courting Zhao Wei were not shot there?<BR/><BR/>I was as impressed as I can be by spectacles like that; I did find myself thinking that if not for Zhang Yimou's hand in the festivities, I would not have turned them on at all.<BR/><BR/>Do you ever stop and pause and Glenn, kenixfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00735095946077123391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-20656198876857047932008-08-12T00:17:00.000+08:002008-08-12T00:17:00.000+08:00Hi Glenn --I take it you were generally unimpresse...Hi Glenn --<BR/><BR/>I take it you were generally unimpressed by the Olympics Opening Ceremony? If so, wonder whether it had to do with you -- and your fellow Americans -- not getting to see the spectacle unfold 'live'. (And if you're wondering, I was more enthralled by it all than I expected to be.)<BR/><BR/>As for your movie question: Don't think so as, from what I've been given to understandYTSLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09930487923185001591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289278000277019122.post-27526776154163783292008-08-11T22:52:00.000+08:002008-08-11T22:52:00.000+08:00It was weird watching the largely empty Zhang Yimo...It was weird watching the largely empty Zhang Yimou spectacle Friday night to not see any visual reference to Mao or his era; for all the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and other events in the Mao era, he *did* pull the world's largest population together after the war with the Nationalists; watching the Olympics ceremony would be like watching an American version that didn't mention the Glenn, kenixfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00735095946077123391noreply@blogger.com