Nirvana in Fire

I wrote an essay about a Chinese TV show I have been watching because I wanted to share my thoughts about the themes about patriotism and governance.  I have several shows, and some of these themes have shown up before so that now I feel that I more fully understand the context behind them.

 

The acting is really good.  There are so many great bromances, and it's also really cute that the actors are friends in real life as well.  It's really helped me to improve Chinese, too, since I'm motivated to read Chinese articles about the actors (尤其是胡歌!) and the show.  太好看了但是我的中文也太差了。也没办法了，学到什么就算什么。

 I am also trying out Fold as a platform for interactive blogging. I think I like it! It seems like the feature in Medium where people can comment in your text would be useful, though.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms probably wouldn't count as a pillar of Chinese culture, but it should be at least a gargoyle.  It's a novel from the 14th century attributed to Luo Guanzhong.  It is a dramatic retelling of the struggles between the three kingdoms in the 2nd and 3rd century in China.  There are many many Chinese movies and TV shows and other adaptations about this period of time based on this novel.  Sometimes they decide to be more accurate than the novel, sometimes less accurate.



I've heard the names of various characters for years but never really knew what they did or the whole story.  I've recently watched several movies based on this period of time, the most notable of which is Red Cliff, and read about the Three Kingdoms on Wikipedia.  I found that the prevalence of the story in Chinese culture is kind of like the Trojan Wars and the rise and fall of Julius Caesar.  Now I feel that learning about history and classic stories such as this is actually an essential part of learning the Chinese language if the primary goal is to communicate with Chinese people.  These stories illustrate the Chinese thought process as well as values, which in many ways is more important to communicating than words.  I wish this was a greater focus during Chinese school when I was growing up.

Romance With Chinese Characteristics

I went to see the Shanghai Ballet at the Zellerbach perform the Butterfly Lovers this weekend, which is the classic Chinese love story originally from the Tang Dynasty.  The girl, Zhu, pretends to be a boy so she can go to school where she falls in love with a boy, Liang.  She is arranged to be married to someone else, though, and then they both die of sadness.  Heaven takes pity on them and turns them into butterflies.  

I've also been watching another Chinese drama, the Legend of Lu Zhen, which is mostly an epic love story.  http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Female_Prime_Minister

I'm seeing a lot of common themes in Chinese romances.  One is that the romance often starts when they don't fully know each other's identity.  Usually the poorer one doesn't know the other is rich since it means they really love each other for who they are, not because they are gold or power-digging.  Another is that the romance often takes place over a longer time frame where they are friends first.  Finally, the girl is often smart and capable, and that is actually important to making her attractive to the boy, and vice versa.  

To me, the first two themes are about trust.  Someone who likes you for your personality is less likely to move on to the next pretty face or next richest person.  Someone you know very well for a long time is more likely to be someone you can trust.  I thought that the last theme was a more modern theme to relate to modern Chinese women, but then again, it's also in Butterfly Lovers which is from the 8th century or so.  

Now I realize I've been influenced by Chinese romance themes my whole life.  "Love at first sight" and "happily ever after" princess stories never seemed that romantic to me.  Even though it was exciting that Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast liked to read, the Beast didn't really care about that.  And anyway, her favorite book was some other princess story.  

Green China Rising - September 2011

Really interesting documentary. Maybe China will be the place to work on environmental policy because of the receptiveness of its politicians and citizens.

Their website at www.RedHotGreenChina.com

Inception

Last week we watched Inception, the new Christopher Nolan movie, and it was very good. In some ways it's similar to Avatar and other Matrix-like movies in that there is an alternate "virtual" world. In this case it is the dream world. It may start a new trend for movies just as the Matrix did when it first came out. Since Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in it, I've been watching 3rd Rock From the Sun this past week. I forgot about that show, and I realized that I didn't even understand the full premise of the show, particularly the fact that Sally was supposed to be the military officer of the bunch. The people who made it also made Wayne's World. Wow!

Gigi

yesterday I was watching TV, and I watched Good Night and Good Luck again, and also this old musical Gigi.



Gigi was about a French girl being trained by her grandma and great aunt to be a courtesan. It was a look into early 1900s French society, which was interesting because I don't know anything about it. I had no idea being a courtesan or mistress was such a profession. It's more like being a professional girlfriend.

Both of these movies had some moral contradictions. On the one hand, Gigi and her family of courtesans are wholesome, but on the other hand, she is being trained to be a girlfriend and sell her body. Gaston is a gentleman, but also kind of a sexual predator in another lens. Then again, I guess all women are trained to be girlfriends and then wives, and nowadays people divorce when they tire of each other, which is like changing mistresses.

In Good Night and Good Luck, it's not really that ambiguous since McCarthy's methods were really ridiculous. At the same time, I think it turned out that perhaps some of the people on his list, perhaps maybe even a majority, did have some ties to Communism, although that doesn't mean they were a security threat. In the case of Annie Lee Moss, there is evidence that actually she probably did join the Communist Party briefly inadvertently, although it's unlikely she did anything to help. At any rate, it was a very interesting episode of public opinion vs. news media vs. politicians vs. corporate interests.

Demi-gods and Semi Devils

天龙八部1996 was this Chinese TV series I watched while in China when I was in middle school. Found a site that has it online. Whoo

Video of Nature Before It's Too Late

New documentary coming out. Looks awesome.

Bad Hippie Good Hippie

recent hippie movies.

One about dolphins


And another one about ocean fish going extinct by 2050.



The dolphins one is probably a better movie, while the ocean fish one is more of a conventional environmental awareness movie about doomsday. At the same time, the whole dolphins problem is only a small part of the ocean ecosystem problem. Dolphins are not even endangered.

The fish issue is really worrisome, actually, since it has wide economic and societal repercussions. Apparently bluefin tuna is endangered and so is yellowfin tuna! I wonder which one I eat at the sushi places around here.

Pixar Tugging at Heart Strings So Well

Smark and I went to see Disney's Pixar's Up over the weekend. The first 10 min is so sad, everyone cries. But then after the movie, I went home and cried some more. While the rest of the movie wasn't sad, the movie as a whole was poignant in a sophisticated way. They really did a good job putting things in that elicit emotion without doing it really overtly the way the usual Hollywood drama is.



SPOILER ALERT
The older I get, the more I can relate to things in movies. I've also been getting soft and sappy. The protagonists in this movie was a nerd couple, too, which was really touching to me, especially since Smark and I are a nerd couple. I'm not used to feeling like the character in a movie is me except for maybe a supporting character. As they show them growing old together, making a house together, it was kind of eerie watching my vision of my own future on the big screen. When they got married, not only did it feel happy and right, but it felt important. I don't think I ever realized how big of a decision it is to get married or understood why it's so emotional. Before, it just seems like a rite and a piece of paper. I felt invested in their marriage. So then it was ever more tragic and personal when the girl gets a miscarriage. I never really considered how terrifying of a prospect that is. On the other hand, sometimes when I am indulging my emo sensibilities, I like to think about dying and leaving someone behind, or what if I am left behind. So seeing that always strikes a chord. They also portrayed all of this in about ten minutes, but I think it was in the style of how we all reminisce or dream about the future so it was more emotional without ruining it by filling it in with bad dialogue.

The movie also made me think of how your understanding of sad situations develop throughout the years from when you're a child to when you're really old. Some things seem so important to you when you're young and you overreact, but at the same time, sometimes there is an underlying situation that is really sad, but you don't even realize how sad the situation really is. As you grow older, you start to foresee the vast and complex implications of things that happen, and suddenly everything is more poignant, and you feel very sensitive and vulnerable.

And...then you're like, eh, the show must go on! Dwelling on sad things is bad for your health.

Star Trek Updated

Really, Star Trek never looked very good when it was on TV back in the day. or perhaps I was too young and immature to understand it, or perhaps my english wasn't even good enough. At any rate, the 2009 movie is really good! And while Spock is still portrayed as a nerd, he is an athletic nerd with a hot girlfriend. I think the times are changing.

Tropic Thunder

I saw Tropic Thunder last night. It was actually really good!! In fact, you should go see it without watching any trailers or reading any reviews. The first 20 minutes feels a little slow and boring, but it turns out there is a lot of stuff going on that can catch you off guard.

Iron Man

Finally got to see Iron Man the other day, and it was like the "Joy of MechE/EECS" movie. The main character is a genius engineer and MIT alum who has the most awesome CAD software ever. Pretty entertaining, even though the plot is predictable. Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor and lots of fun to watch.

WALL-E

was a great movie! although, really, i think the whole point of being a robot is not having emotions so...that's kind of uncool, but of course, you can't really have a movie for humans without emotions. but anyway, the irony is part of the point, too.

Black Cat Policeman

I used to watch this cartoon show when I was little. Shen said she did, too. WOW. It's about a black cat, who is a cop, and the villain is a one-eyed rat, and another good guy is a big praying mantis.

with lyrics

眼睛瞪的象铜铃,射出闪电般的机灵.
耳朵竖得象天线,听着一切可疑的声音.
磨快了尖利的爪到处巡行,你给我们带来了生活安宁
脚步迈得多轻捷,露出侦探家的精明,
虎视耽耽察敌情,留下威武矫健的身影
磨快了尖利的爪到处巡行,你给我们带来了生活安宁
啊哈啊,啊哈啊,黑猫警长森林公民向你致敬 向你致敬.

Is Dexter Ill Is Dexter Ill

is dexter ill today? mr kirk, dexters in school
i'm afraid hes not, miss fishborne
dexters truancy problem is way out of hand
The baltimore county school board have decided to expel
dexter from the entire public school system

that's from Frontier Psychiatrist by the Avalanches. that clip is actually from 1981 John Waters movie called Polyester

it's about a suburban middle class mom, who is played by a man in drag, hahaha! and her son dexter turns out to be the "baltimore stomper" because he has a fetish where he breaks women's feet.

Cat Soup

This is an award-winning Japanese animation from 2001.

Monkey King!

from 1961
first Chinese animated feature film or something at the height of the animation industry before it shut down in 1965 by the Cultural Revolution.

Can't Get What He Wants

This one is just random. I can't figure out where it is from.

Crossing Monkey Mountain

A Chinese animation from 1958.