She likes smarties and she can kick your arse

Here's the trailer for the new Prachya Pinkaew (Thai director of Ong Bak, Tom Yum Goong/Warrior King) movie Chocolate

Dragon Tongue Squad - Beijing Hip Hop comes to London

I am very excited about this event: Chinatown Arts Space presents an evening of East/West musical collaboration with a live performance from Beijing Hip Hop crew Dragon Tongue Squad and UK scratch master DJ Phat (Kevin Quan) and Spanish guitarist Suki Mok. There will also be a dance performance from Blazian.

When?
Thursday 21 & Friday 22 February 2008, 8pm
Where?
Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
How much?
£12 Adults, £8 Students & ROH Access List, £5 Standing

links:
www.chinatownartsspace.com
www.roh.org.uk

I hope to have Dragon Tongue Squad come on my Resonance FM show, watch this space. . .

Bitter Melon Recipe

An acquired taste, the bitter melon aka bitter gourd, draws out the sweetness of other flavours creating a harmonious balance.
I recently had a very nice Surinamese bitter melon dish in Amsterdam, unable to find the exact recipe but it was similar to this recipe for Steamed, stuffed bitter melon with black bean sauce.

For all things bitter melon see the National Bitter Melon Council's web site:
www.bittermelon.org

Stephen Chow's CJ7

Chow's alien comedy CJ7 will be released here in the UK on 21st March. You can watch the trailer here:
www.sonypictures.net/movies/cj7/
Looks entertaining. Wonder if the alien will be a big merhcandise money spinner? It is quite cute...

Playlist Tuesday 8th January 2008

• You Do Something to Me - Marlene Dietrich
  
• Quand L'amour Meurt - Marlene Dietrich
  
• The Great Pretender - Miss Yao Lee
  
• Medley - Irma Thomas (from A Woman's Viewpoint LP)
  
• W.O.M.A.N - Etta James
  
• Perfidia - Phyllis Dillon
  
• Lady Lan Hua Hua - Wong Chin
  
• Una Saratio Tokyo - Wong Ling
  
• Mystery Train - Elvis
  
• Don't Be Cruel - Laurel Aitken
  
• Mal Hombre - Lydia Mendoza (RIP 21/12/2007)
  

Dad's Tamarind Chicken

You will need either a whole chicken cut up or chicken pieces. Six
pieces to serve four people.

chicken
4 oz tamarind pulp
8 cups boiling water
six cloves garlic
finely chopped
6 shallots finely chopped
6 oz palm sugar- or any dark brown sugar will do..
1 cup dark soya sauce
good handful toasted coriander seeds ( roast in dry skillet )
salt and freshly ground black pepper

you can add a little chilli too if you like it hot

Put tamarind pulp in a bowl- pour on boiling water. Mash it
thoroughly and after five mins strain into a larger bowl
Throw in garlic , shallots , sugar and soy sauce.

Add chicken pieces. Rest the marinade either overnight or AT LEAST
FOUR HOURS.

put the chicken and marinade into a large pan on top of the cooker.
Sprinkle over the coriander.
Cover and simmer for 40 minutes- until chicken is tender and the
liquid is reduced.
This is quite a dry dish so if you have too much liquid at this
stage- spoon some off and reserve for later use.
most of the sauce should be absorbed by the chicken pieces.
Season with salt and pepper
Serve with coconut rice and a spicy coconut and pineapple sambal

Playlist Tuesday 11th December 2007

• We Met in A Dream - Poon Sow Keng
  
• It is Passed Like the Dream - Anita Mui
  
• No More Sweet Potato - The Big 3 Trio
  
• Mash Potato Girl - Girl Satchmo and the Swinging Brothers
  
• Mashed Potato - The Crystals
  
• Potato Chips - Slim Gaillard
  
• Mash Potato Party - Link Wray and his Raymen
  
• I Wanna Be a Bond Girl - Leroy Holmes
  
• Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette - Tex Ritter
  
  
• Zither fight scene from Kung Fu Hustle (The still above is from the film Lord of the Lute which is referenced in this scene in Kung Fu Hustle.)
  
• Harry Lime theme - Anton Karas
  

Yuen Qiu (pictured) images and an interesting article about the cinematic influences of Kung Fu Hustle can be found on:
www.hkcinemagic.com

Playlist Tuesday 4th December 2007

• Birth Control - Lloyd Terrell
  
• Beautiful Town - Mar Mar Aye
  
• Racist Friend - The Special AKA
  
• The Entertainer - Tony Clarke
  
• Fearless Hyena - clips from the Jackie Chan film
  
• Infernal Affairs - Tony Leung and Andy Lau
  
• Talk of the Town - Rita and Sakura
  
• Ace in the Hole - The Griffin Brothers feat. Margie Day
  
• Follow - Pat Kelly
  
• Laughing and Clowning - Sam Cooke
  
• How Long - Pat Kelly
  

Playlist Tuesday 27th November 2007

• Burmese Golden Drum - Bo Hein
  
• Police and Thieves - Junior Murvin (from the Rockers soundtrack)
  
• Audio Bongo - Monty Norman (from the Dr No soundtrack)
  
• False Rasta - Jacob Miller
  
• Ca Ba Trinkham Than - Hat Du (from the R.Crumb compilation Hot Women)
  
• Cinemascope - Count Lasher and Charlie Binger
  
• TV Mama - Joe Turner (pictured)
  
• Pata Pata Rocksteady - Milicent Todd
  
• Night Lotus Pool - Night Recordings of Bali (Sublime Frequencies album)
  
• Lotus Blossom - Duke Ellington
  
• Sa Chul Ga - Korean Folk Singers
  
• Knockabout - trailer for the classic Golden Harvest kung fu movie
  
• No Other Like Jah - Sizzla
  

Eric Tsang

The veteran Hong Kong star - actor, producer, writer, director, TV presenter and restauranteur - was born on 14th April 1953. Eric started his career in cinema as a stuntman. His father Tsang Kai wing was a professional footballer and then coach and Eric was following in his footsteps until at 23 he got fed up of being compared to his Dad and wanted to excel at something different. As a footballer he had met Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Leung and become friends with them. Although he didn't know kung fu Lau Kar Leung thought his physical skills could be put to good use as a stuntman. He began working, often as a double for women as he was short.

Eric then decided to turn his hand to screenwriting and in 1977 wrote the script for the Shaw Brothers Kung Fu masterpiece (Wu Tang Clan and Tarantino favourite) The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Industry friend Karl Maka helped him with this new career move.

"To help script The 36th Chamber of Shaolin I studied harder than I ever did in my life even more than when I was in school. I studied all the books I could find because I really wanted to put all the animal styles in the script - tiger, snake etc. I wrote about the theory of kung fu so I could put that material for Lau Kar Leung. Then the next scipt I wrote was Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog."*

Eric then got into directing, his first job was as assistant director on the Jackie Chan movie The Fearless Hyena. Instead of joining the film production company Golden Harvest like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Eric's friend Karl Maka brokered a deal with Cinema city. Tsui hark was also part of the Cinema City family. Eric directed Aces Go Places for Cinema City which became a popular series of films (he also starred in them). Eric was definitely not the matinee idol type and believes he paved the way for other fat/quirky looking actors.

In 1984 Eric left Cinema city and Sammo approached him and asked him to join Golden Harvest to star in and associate produce Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars.

In 1986 Eric teamed up with old pal Jackie Chan to direct him in Armour of God:

"I talk to Jackie. I told him he was not improving. He had now girls in his films. I told him that, even though I'm not that famous, some girls like me. I also said he had no friends in his movies. I suggested that he should begin to work with singers like Alan Tam and put some girls in his movies."*

In 1992 Eric co-founded the film production company Untied Filmmakers Organisation (UFO). Around this time Eric's career as an actor was changing. In the 1980's he starred in numerous Carry On style, cheesy slapstick comedies. in the 1990s his roles began to be more serious. Notably his role as a mob boss wooing Maggie Cheung in Comrades Almost a Love Story directed by Peter Chan. Eric's character is introduced in very brief shots as longer shots may have got automatic laughs from the Hong Kong audience.

In the 1990s Eric began to get more serious roles in dramas and in 2002 he was given a fantastic role where he really came into his own as an actor - as Triad boss Sam in the finest film of the Hong Kong gangster noir genre Infernal Affairs. Apparently Anthony Wong was supposed to play this role but they wanted someone with real gravitas (and acting awards!) to play the policeman so they gave him this role instead. Good news for Eric and it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role now. Eric's inspiration for Sam came from watching Anthony Quinn in Avenging Angelo:
"In every scene he is eating and that defined his character. I wanted to be a guy that no one could pin down. No one knew when he was happy and when he was sad. He was always different...The most important thing about playing this role is the fact that I am old enough to be the boss of Andy Lau and Tony Leung. I sa these 2 actors grow up in the film business so it was natural for me to be the boss."


As well as eating in films Eric is obviously a bit of a foodie as he has now become a restauranteur. First he opened the restaurant Eric Deli Paradise in the Hartmas Shopping Complex Malaysia - in good company Kenny Rogers has a chicken restaurant there (I suppose he does look a bit like Colonel Saunders). The restaurant serves steam boat and dim sum goodies. Pictures of Eric adorn the walls and his TV show Super Trio Series plays on a TV.

Eric opened his first mainland China restaurant this year in Shanghai. Also a hotpot place, he thinks it will never go out of style and hopes visitng HK stars will patronise the restaurant.

Eric is still busy making movies, starring in the 2007 Wong Jing comedy Beauty and The 7 Beasts and due to hit our screens in Jay Chou's Shaolin Soccer homage Kung Fu Slam Dunk in 2008.

Eric Tsang with your raspy voice, cheeky expression and limitless talents, we salute you.

* Quotes taken from this interview with Eric from 2004:
http://www.hkcinemagic.com

Links:
Eric Deli Paradise

Blog review of Eric's Deli

Playlist Tuesday 20th November 2007

• Twist Barbie - Shonen Knife (pictured)
  
• Shaking Time - Candy and the Kisses
  
• Burning Farm - Shonen Knife
  
• Dating Courtesy - Mary from The Shangri-Las
  
• Flying Jelly Attack - Shonen Knife
  
• I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones
  
• Past, Present, Future - The Shangri-Las
  
• How Long - The Kittens
  
• Walking in the Rain - The Ronettes
  
• Insect Collector - Shonen Knife
  
• Koi O Kesunda - The Napoleon (GS I Love You CD)
  
• Let's Go on the Beach - The Outcast (GS I Love You CD)
  
• Mashed Potato Time - The Crytals
  
• Vent - Moe Moe Yee (Burmese Harp)
  
• Blue Oyster Cult - Shonen Knife
  
• Gift Receiving Etiquette - Mary from the Shangri-Las
  
• Foolish Little Girl - The Cookies
  

Taiwanese Snacks

Anchovies with Peanuts
Fishy salty and delicious, serve on its own or add it to congee.

80g dried anchovies (medium size about 5cm)
100g peanuts (shelled and plain NOT salted)
2 cups oil
2 large chillies, sliced
3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
3 spring onions chopped
1 tablespoon rice wine (Shaohsing)
pinch of pepper

Deep Fry fish in wok and drain. Remove most of the oil. Re heat and add chillies, spring onions, garlic and rice wine stir fry for 2 mins, add fish and peanuts and fry for a further 5 mins. If you like it spicy add chilli sauce or if you like it sweet add sugar. Or if you like it really fishy add fish sauce, yum.

Oyster omelette is apparently the most popular snack served in Taiwanese night markets (according to the China Post). I found a recipe here:
http://hipfood.wordpress.com

Playlist Tuesday 13th November 2007

• Suspicious Heart - Miss Yao Lee
  
• Playing Mahjong - Long Ge
  
• Grandma Plays the Numbers - Wynonie Harris
  
• Through the Bamboo Forest - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon soundtrack
  
• Steal the Red String Box - Josephine Siao Fong Fong
  
• Scenery of Taiwan - Jin-Long Fang
  
• Brand New Second Hand - Peter Tosh
  
• Tsan Jo - Chung Woong Traditional Korean Music
  
• Lee Cross - Aretha Franklin
  
• Yombul T'yaryong - Chung Woong Traditional Korean Music
  
• Down by the River - Morgan Heritage
  
• Cantonese Opera
  
• Drinking Again - Dinah Washington
  

Okido Children's magazine

Lovely magazine for 2-7 year olds. See: www.okido.co.uk

Shaolin Girl

Just found out about this Japanese movie produced by Stephen Chow, to be released in 2008. It is in the same vain as Shaolin Soccer with a young lacrosse player (Kou Shibasaki) improving her game by learning Shaolin kung fu.

Thai ghosts advert

Cheers for this Simon.

Mackerel Tatsuta Fry Recipe

2 mackerel (filleted)
5 tablespoons sake/rice wine
5 tablespoons soya sauce
2" piece of ginger (peeled and grated)
cornflour
vegetable oil for deep frying
lettuce leaves
lime wedges
2spring onions (finely chopped)

Cut the mackerel into strips about 1.5cm thick. Mix the soya and sake in a bowl and add the grated ginger, put the fish in and make sure all pieces are well coated. Leave to marinate for 1 hour minimum. When ready to eat (perhaps your rice is gently cooking?) heat the veg oil in a wok (need lots for deep frying). Drain the fish pieces and coat them in cornflour (sprinkle some cornflour on a plate near the wok). Put them into the oil when it is ready and fry for 2-3 mins until golden. Remove from oil and drain on kitchen paper. You will probably need to to fry in 2-3 batches as to avoid overcrowding in the wok.
Arrange the mackerel on a plate of lettuce leaves, sprinkle with spring onion and serve with lime wedges. Delicious on its own as a starter/snack or with rice for a meal.

Playlist Tuesday 6th November 2007

• Band of Gold - Marcia Griffiths
  
• Let Me Hold You - Marcia Griffiths
  
• Here I am Baby - Marcia Griffiths
  
• Mazinga Z theme - from the cult manga series about a giant robot
  
• Half Idiot - Marcia Griffiths and Cutty Ranks
  
• Japanese Song - from Rock a Shacka volume 3
  
• Que Pasa Chica - Rock a Shacka volume 3
  
• My Boy Lollipop - The Dreamlets (Japanese female rocksteady group)
  
• I'm So Lonely - The Dreamlets
  
• Gone Away - The Dreamlets
  
• Bim Bam Boom - The El Dorados
  
• Little Girl of Mine - The Cleftones
  
• My Love - The Dovers
  
• Speedo - The Cadillacs
  
• Down In Cuba - The Real Holidays
  
• Churchbells - The Kingtones (Japanese doo wop group pictured above)
  
• Doraemon theme - classic anime about a blue robot cat from the future
  

Pumpkin Curry

small pumpkin or butternut squash

for the paste:
1 or 2 cloves garlic, chopped up
2" piece ginger, sliced
2 tablespoon tumeric
1 teaspoon coriander seeds ground up or ready ground coriander
1 teaspoon shrimp paste or yellow curry paste (optional)

1 tin coconut milk
a little water
dashes of fish sauce
1 tablespoon honey
juice of half a lime
a little oil (groundnut or veg)

Cut the pumpkin into chunks (take off skin and de-seed). Chunks should be about 2". Make the curry paste by pounding together all paste ingredients in a pestle and mortar. Don't worry about making the paste totally smooth.
Put the oil into a medium hot wok, add the paste and the pumpkin chunks and coat. Pour the coconut milk in and top up with water add a few dashes of fish sauce. Heat up and simmer for 20 mins. Then add th honey and lime - taste to check the balance is right. Serve with rice and tung choi.
If you like you can add a couple of halved crabs to the curry 10mins before it is ready. If doing this definitely add the shrimp paste to the curry paste. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander before serving.

Playlist Tuesday 30th October 2007

• Black Magic Woman - Dennis Brown
  
• Hot Rod Hades - Charlie Ryan and the Timberline Riders
  
• Loch Ness Monster - King Horror
  
• Evil Cult intro - from the Jet Li film dir. by Wong Jing
  
• Vampire - Upsetters
  
• Evil Cult girlfight
  
• Vampire - Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
  
• Werewolf - Gary Warren
  
• Ghost Dance - Prince Buster
  
• Zombie Jamboree - Lord Jellicoe
  
• Pumpkin Belly - Tenor Saw
  
• Bells of Death - Augustus Pablo
  
• Chinese Ghost Story - Leslie Cheung (theme from the movie of same name)
  
• Dracula - King Horror
  
• Uzumaki - trailer for the Japanese horror film
  
• Yaraba Shango - The Tiger