Posts from — February 2007

I’ll be taking an inspirational 3 week trip to Hong Kong from today, so updates may trickle on less than daily, depending on my net connection there. If I can snag some wifi, I’ll continue with updates, otherwise, be assured that they will return in full force by March 20th!

Meanwhile, One Inch Punch has now been online for only 2 months and its been a great start to touch on inspirational, East-Asian related things. Ideas are in the pipeline for future development of One Inch Punch, but it would be great to hear of what you think so far, both good and bad! Please do contact me via email or simply leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading so far!

Shanghaiist.com have picked up on a poll by Chinese site 163.com to find the best Chinese movie and movie lines.

Chinese netizens were asked what their favorite movie line or dialogue from a Chinese movie was as well as what the best overall Chinese film was. Voting has not yet closed but preliminary results so far are:

The best movie dialogue is from the Wong Kar-wai film, Days of Being Wild, and goes something like this:

“Did you know that there’s a kind of bird that has no legs. They spend their whole lives flying around, and when they get tired they sleep on the wind, and the only time they ever touch the ground is when they die.”

The best overall movie so far is Farewell My Concubine

Runner-up so far is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

What are the best Chinese movies and movie lines?

Technorati Tags: China, film

Check out this super-sized hotpot from Chengdu! It measures 12 metres in diameter, weighs 15 tons, and takes about 5 tons of hotpot “soup” to fill, and can cook enough food for up to 60 diners. It was set up for a hotpot party on the 16th February for the Chinese New Year celebrations.

From Shanghaiist.com

Photos by huaxia.com

Technorati Tags: China, Chinese New Year, cuisine, Chengdu

Film and media organisation, Firecracker have relaunched their website with a new streaming TV channel, Firecracker TV.

Haven’t tried ordering anything yet, but it all looks promising with the natural progression into streaming on demand being a step up from their previous offering of features, interviews and reviews.

If anyone has a go, it would be good to hear in the comments on how this service shapes up!

Visit Firecracker TV

Technorati Tags: entertainment, film, Firecracker, streaming east-asian tv

Josh Spear has a post on a couple of shop interiors designed by Franklin Azzi Architecture, in Tokyo. The Red Tent (below) is modeled after a military tent utilising archetypical WWII military inspiration.

JoshSpear.com

Technorati Tags: fashion, Japanese, Red Tent

“In this secret society, the competition is brutal and the stakes are high. It is the unsanctioned, underground, and utterly unhinged world of clandestine Ping-Pong tournaments.”

If that sounds OTT, it is! Watching the trailer, “whatthef***”" sprung to mind. A deadly ping-pong tournament? It looks like oriental-cliché mashup, “held together” with a storyline that seems like a parody of Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. However, there are 2 reasons to watch this. Maggie Q and Maggie Q - sorry, Christopher Cool Walken.

Balls of Fury at Apple’s trailer park

Technorati Tags: Balls of Fury, entertainment, film, Maggie Q, puppy

The BBC have a great little module for learning a bit of Mandarin. There are interactive click through screens, with both audio and written words which you can toggle between English and Chinese. Look out for the “challenges” which can be fun if you want to test your basic Mandarin.

Modules include:

• For starters
• Introducing yourself
• Family introductions
• Saying a bit about yourself
• Ordering drinks
• Ordering a meal
• Doing some shopping
• Asking for directions
• Public transport
• Finding and booking a hotel

Mandarin Chinese on the BBC website

Technorati Tags: learning Chinese, Mandarin

Gary Gehiere has a great set of “Feng Shui” icons. Mac OSX only. Impressive - he’s researched heavily into the designs and has drawn them all by hand in Photoshop. Make sure you have a look at his “read me” file for his personal notes and a bit of background on each icon in the set.

Pixelpressicons.com

Technorati Tags: design, icons, MacOSX, oriental