Hong Kong magazine 1953 Monroe cover

Chinese Caribbean Cookbook

http://eshopjamaica.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=56
I will endeavour to get a copy of this and try out some recipes. Stir fry jerk chicken perhaps?

Dirty Ho

Recently I went to see Dirty Ho at the NFT (or should I say BFI as it has all changed now). The film is shwoing as part of the Heroic Grace : the Martial Arts Film Part II season. I went to Part I some years back and saw the Cheng Pei Pei classic Come Drink with Me.

Part II is 1970's - 1980s period of HK martial arts cinema. Dirty Ho is a Run Run Shaw classic starring Tarantino's favourite Gordon Liu (inscrutable face, amazing kung fu). Directed by Lau Kar Leung, legendary martial artist and director (most recently seen acting in Tsui Hark's Seven Swords). The bright, gaudiness of the early scenes set on a floating brothel are wonderful.

Links:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/dirty_ho.htm
http://www.dvdcult.com/rev_DirtyHo.htm
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0514904/ (G Liu)

SAVE ORIENTAL CITY CAMPAIGN E-PETITION

Despite receiving 10,000 objection letters opposing the development as
it currently stands, the Mayor approved Development Securities planning
application on 15 March 2007 to demolish Oriental City with no
provisions on the relocation of businesses or community facilities.

The Save Oriental City is taking the matter to the Secretary of State
for Community and Local Government to hold a public enquiry on the
application.
Oriental City Tenants Association will take the battle to the next
stage to get this planning application overturned.  After the Mayor’s decision,
the Secretary of State for Community and Local Government Ruth Kelly MP
will now consider this application and reach her decision by 22 March 2007.

We launched an e-petition to call upon Ruth Kelly MP to ‘call in’ the
planning application for a public inquiry, you can sign the e-petition
at
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/save-oriental-city-campaign.html. 
For more information please go to the Save Oriental City Campaign SOCC
website at www.saveorientalcity.co.uk.

London Chinatown Celebrates the Year of the Golden Pig

The Duelist

Loosely based on an original manga by Bang Hak-gi and set during Korea's late Chosun Dynasty era, acclaimed Korean filmmaker Lee Myung-Se's (Nowhere To Hide, Bitter And Sweet) innovative and visually impressive reinvention of martial arts genre conventions, DUELIST is a ravishingly shot and brilliantly choreographed tale of intrigue and romance. Taking visual inspiration from the works of artists Matisse and Mondrian (specifically the pieces "Dance" and "Manhattan" respectively) and basing the fight choreography on rhythms and movements more associated with the tango and ballet than with kung fu and swordplay, in DUELIST Lee Myung-Se has created a uniquely artistic and visionary martial arts film unlike anything seen before.

Well, that's what the blurb says. Decide for yourself when it is released on 9th March in the UK.

Save Oriental City

The Asian themed shopping centre 'Oriental City', on the outskirts of London in sunny Colindale, is under threat from developers!

I have been to the centre a few times and it has an excellent food court with outlets selling food from all over Asia. Thus you are able to sample dim sum turnip cakes, Vietnamese pork and sushi all at the same time! Not to mention the delicious range of teas on offer. There is also a large supermarket and some shops selling Chinese dresses, DVDs, pottery and of course Hello Kitty and Doraemon goodies. When you're done shopping you can kill some zombies on the House of the Dead game in the arcade. The first time I went to Oriental City I spent 5 hours in there! Managed to fit in 2 meals. Yum. There is a large Chinese restaurant on the top floor which I have heard is good but I haven't tried out.

It seems to me it would be a great shame to get rid of it. It needs refurbishing if anything and some good publicity. Our mayor seems to have a penchant for all things Chinese at the moment perhaps he should intervene?

Check out info. on dimsum.co.uk:
http://www.dimsum.co.uk/viewpoints/oriental-city-protest.html

Blog of interest:
http://british-chinese.blogspot.com/

Wong Kar Wai style

The sumptuous colours remind me of a Wong Kar Wai movie. His first English language film My Blueberry Nights should be out here in the UK this year. It is a road movie with Norah Jones in the lead role. Jude Law also stars, hmmm that does not make me leap about the room with enthusiasm. A remake of The Lady from Shanghai is apparently Wong's next project. I had heard rumours he was to make a martial arts film with Tony Leung (The Master), now that is more like it!

The magazine pictured also reminds me of the Thai movie Tears of the Black Tiger, a technicolor melodrama/cowboy film. Very good. The director Wisit Sasanatieng's second film Citizen Dog previewed at the London Film Festival 2 years ago but never got a general release. Shame as it sounded interesting (people with tails). Korean site with nice animated trailer:
www.citizendog.co.kr/
Watch an extract on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdS1poPa4SM

Podcast of show on Hip Hop & Martial Arts

Happy New Year!

The show I did with my brother on Hip Hop & Martial Arts is now avaialable as a podcast online:http://luckycat.podOmatic.com

Come Drink With Me

Classic Wu Xia action from Shaw Brothers starring Cheng Pei Pei. I saw this a couple of years ago on the big screen at the National Film Theatre in London when they had a Martial Arts season on. Fantastic to see it on the big screen. Cheng Pei Pei is familiar to most Western audiences from her role as Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but she was a big Shaw Brothers star back in the 1960s. The movie features a prototype for the Drunken Master character, called Drunken Cat played by Yueh Hua.
According to IMDB Cheng Pei Pei currently has 3 films in production. Her daughter Eugenia Yuan is also an actress and had a minor role in Memoirs of a Geisha (a film which I did not rate highly!), she stars with her mother in the upcoming The Shanghai Hotel. You can see a trailer for this new movie on Youtube.

Tofu Herb Salad Recipe

easy and tasty lunch recipe

• 1 block firm tofu
  
• 1 small bunch coriander
  
• 1 small bunch mint
  
• 1 small bunch sweet basil
  
• handful of toasted sesame seeds
  
• sesame oil
  
• soya sauce
  
• black pepper
  
• 1 clove of garlic
  

cut the tofu up into medium chunks, leave to marinate for an hour or so in sesame oil and soya sauce. tear coriander, mint and basil into a bowl. toast some sesame seeds and add to the herbs with the tofu chunks, mix in. add chopped raw baby sweetcorn for added crunch. make a dressing with sesame oil, soya sauce, black pepper and finely chopped garlics and mix into salad. serve with rice. nice.

talking of tofu, check out Tofu magazine: http://www.tofu-magazine.net/newVersion/pages/home.htm

Marlene Dietrich 'Shanghai Express' poster

Chinese Jamaican Reggae part 2 now online as podcast

Click here to get your own player.

Listen to Lucky Cat shows online

At last I have set up a podcast facility for 2005-6 Lucky Cat shows. To kick things off I have put up the show on Chinese Jamaican Reggae, co-presented by Jak Ripley, from 10th Feb 2006. More to come....


Click here to get your own player.

Great Chinese LP Cover

Tom Yum Goong/Honour of the Dragon/The Warrior King/Thai Elephants In Space/Trunken Master

Review by Simon of mediapill.com

Anyone who has seen Ong Bak may be slightly apprehensive at the start of Tom Yum. Ong Bak pretty much went straight in with fast paced action and didn't let up. Tom Yum starts with a 20-30 minute sequence establishing young Kahm's (Jaa) love for elephants (platonic).

Some may find this beautiful and necessary exposition to set up the character for the events and journey he is to undertake as a young man, others may feel this is twenty minutes of cloying sentimentality that could have been better spent showing Jaa kicking heads/lampposts/windows. I'm on the fence. Hopefully a fence Tony Jaa would kick a man through whilst I watched in slack jawed amazement.

Don't worry though, after the I-Love-My-Elephants bit is out of the way, the pace picks up back to what we expect. After his two elephant friends are kidnapped, Kahm travels to Australia to get them back - and uses his Muay Thai fighting to skills battle a series of thugs, punks, scum, bodyguards, Wushu fighters, wrestlers, Capoeira fighters, BMX gangs and an evil woman. All right!

Aided by a Thai born Australian cop (Thai comedian Petchtai Wongkamlao, who appeared as 'Dirty Balls' in Ong Bak) Kahn discovers a conspiracy that involves Chinese gangsters and corrupt Australian government officials. The action is slick and spectacular, and Tom Yum even manages to squeeze a brief cameo from Jackie Chan giving Jaa a thumbs up gesture. Awesome!

Tom Yum isn't that different to Ong Bak - it's the story of a man fighting against incredible odds to reclaim his heritage - though it's still and incredibly enjoyable film. If you're a fan Jaa's previous outings then this won't disappoint, and if you've never seen any of his films you should watch Tom Yum Goong and Ong Bak in one sitting. You know. Bak to bak.

The Voice of Doraemon

Doraemon is a Japanese anime robot cat from the future. I love him.
Visit the Doraemon shop: http://www.pingmag.jp/2005/11/14/the-doraemon-shop/

Together At Last

R Kelly style RnB and Peking Opera! Stumbled across this on YouTube. It's by Lee-Hom Wang, American born Taiwanese singer/songwriter. It's not to my taste but it's an interesting product of the global diaspora.
Find out more about him at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-Hom_Wang

Operation Blue Wasp

These are a selection of lobby cards from the movie Operation Blue Wasp that I found whilst browsing ebay. Looks like a great Hong Kong B movie. I have been unable to find any information on the film online.

Jaa is back on the big screen

No wires, No CGI, No stuntman - JUST JAA!

Warrior King is the latest movie from Thai action star Tony Jaa. Titled in Asia Tom Yum Goong (a Thai soup, see my recipe here), also known as Elephant Love Soup! The UK title is slightly less eccentric. Aw. Well, I suppose no one would want to go see an action movie set in Scotland called Mulligatawny would they? Or would they.....

Check out the trailer here:
http://onlinemoviepromo.com/player.php?id=774