Posts from — May 2007

Does product placement get any further in your face? The Japanese have taken phone boxes to a new level with these booths that you can’t really ignore. But just so you know that there’s a telephone inside, a prominent sign has been placed on the door. The owl booth below is a bit creepy though..

From WeirdAsiaNews.com

Technorati Tags: Japanese, phone booths

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Brazilian Graphic Designer and Illustrator Carlo Giovani has a super-cool Samurai paper sculpture in his portfolio. Excellent use of textures, colour and materials! Check out his other paper sculptures and work created in different media on his website.

CarloGiovani.com

Technorati Tags: Carlo Giovani, crafts, design, Japanese, paper sculpture

Here’s how you pretend that all that junk in your flat is actually part of the decor. These take out boxes are actually lamps that come in a variety of flavours : broccoli green, eggplant purple, hot and spicy chicken red, vomit yellow (in that appetizing order?).

But I guess this would work more in the US, where these boxes are more common. UK foil container lamps anyone?

From Gizmodo.com

Technorati Tags: Chinese take out box lamps, cuisine, gadgets

Download some fantastic character icons for your Mac (not sure if the Windows Vista icon links work..). Tamas provides different characters designed in their stylised way, for download from their blog. Various characters are available from Ninja’s and Samurai to pirates, workers, the police and mythical legends.

Tamas Characters

Technorati Tags: characters, icons, illustration, Japanese

This ninja clock is purely here for kitsch value. Unlike the art, sophistication is not key here, so just enjoy the inventive use of the ying-yang symbol for the full circle of time, the shuriken base (in case you want to throw it), the nunchuka hands and the action-packed suspended ninja figure.

Buy a Ninja clock at DannaBananas.com

From Gizmodo.com

Technorati Tags: gadgets, Japanese, martial arts, Ninja clock

This book was first published in 1997 (symbolic?) and contains a superb collection of 16 short stories that serve up slices of British Chinese culture.

If you’re British Chinese and grew up in the UK, you’ll easily recognise the scenarios that the diverse authors have placed their characters in. In fact, the book will probably reach out to anyone who has experienced the meeting of two (or more) cultures and offers itself as a thoroughly entertaining read.

I bought a copy when Dim Sum was first published, and only recently stumbled upon it again when going through my things. I didn’t hesitate to post about this, as to me, the book stands as a valuable record of the British Chinese cultural experience.

“Dim Sum will open your mind and open your eyes to a new vision, a new voice of the British Chinese.” David Yip - British Chinese actor, best known for the lead role in the 1981 BBC drama The Chinese Detective

Get Dim Sum: Little Pieces of Heart at Amazon, before it goes out of print!

Technorati Tags: Books, British Chinese, dim sum, short stories

British Chinese playwright (and behavioural neuroscientist) Benjamin Yeoh has a new play, NAKAMITSU,  at The Gate Theatre in London from Thursday 24th May to Saturday 16th June.

I was lucky enough to catch his previous, excellent play Yellow Gentleman, in 2006 at The Oval, which was directed by Bronwyn Lim. A quirky set, sharp direction and crisp, clever dialogue are things that I remember from that.

If you’re a blogger and you visit Benjamin’s blog, you can request free tickets for the night of Tuesday 29th May. More info on the play below:

The Gate Theatre presents
NAKAMITSU
in a new version by Benjamin Yeoh
24 May – 16 June

Directed by Jonathan Munby & Michael Ashcroft
Design by Mike Britton
Lighting by Hartley T A Kemp
Sound by Paul Arditti
Original Music Composed & Performed by Ansuman Biswas
Cast Peter Bankolé, Matthew Burgess, Richard Clews & Daniel Williams

Ignited by a sudden act of violence, Nakamitsu must make a choice: love versus honour. From the shadows of a seedy underworld, his story unfolds. East and West collide in a startling new version of this classic Noh play, often attributed to Zeami. Benjamin Yeoh’s adaptation of Nakamitsu is a modern ensemble piece performed with live music by Ansuman Biswas.

Nakamitsu is winner of the Gate Theatre & Oberon Books Translation Award 2006. This award was set up to encourage and reward the vital contribution translation and adaptation makes to international theatre. The judges for the 2006 award were Samuel Adamson (playwright and translator), Penny Black (playwright and translator), Jack Bradley (former literary manager of the National Theatre), Simon Callow (actor, writer, director), Christopher Hampton (director, writer and translator), Nell Leyshon (playwright), and Jatinder Verma (Artistic Director of Tara Arts).

Press Night 30 May at 7:30pm
Performances 24 May – 16 June
Mon– Thurs at 7:30pm, Fri 7:00pm & 9:00pm, Sat 5:00pm & 7:30pm
Tickets Full Price £15, Concessions £10 (full-time students, over 60’s, equity members, unemployed – subject to availability)
Happy Mondays A limited number of seats are pay what you can on the door
Box Office 020 7229 0706

Technorati Tags: Benjamin Yeoh, British Chinese, entertainment, Nakamitsu, theatre, United Kingdom

I first saw this clip a few years after it was made and just loved the little package for what it was. It was completed in 1997, which is even more amazing if you check out the movements they’ve recreated of Bruce Lee’s techniques.

Complete realism, lip synching and facial gymnastics are not the best but I find even the slightly mechanical face effects add to the quirkiness of the piece. The Enter The Dragon soundtrack together with voice clips from the previously posted Pierre Berton Show Bruce Lee interview create a short but entertaining snippet of Bruce Lee..

Bruce Lee 3D Animation

Technorati Tags: animation, Bruce Lee, martial arts

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