August 2006 Archives

Milenium Park Fountain

Chicago is a cleaner version of Manhattan. I can't help to think of it as a LA version of Manhattan in some way. Streets are wider, Trains are cleaner, and Parks are newer. I am glad I made this trip, because I love walking in a pedestrian friendly city, by that I mean a city with a well developed public transportation system. LA and Beijing deprives me of that. Thanks to Adam for the invitation, I am glad that I've made this trip.

Dragon Tiger Gate (龙虎门）
The film poster for this movie had got to be the gayest film poster I have ever seen. I mean, they really used photoshop to the max, the g5 computer probably exploded after handling the air brush job. The movie opening sequence is a 100% identical copy of US. DC comic's version, where the pages of comic illustrations flipping through. The plot is half assed story about three brothers defying the mystic mob boss. Other than the fight scenes, there's absolutely nothing in the film worth talking about.

Crazy Stone (疯狂的石头)
I had high hopes for this one. It was supposedly created by one of the up and coming directors in China, with a fresh cast, and produced by actor turned producer Andy Lau. The story is about different groups' struggle to retrieve a precious jade found in a factory's public toilet. First 10 minutes into the movie, It is already apparent that the movie is a duplicate of Guy Richie's Snatch. I don't want to put the movie down too much, after all, it is a credible attempt at some new ways of story telling. However, it is more like a A+ final film school project than "creative film making" because Guy's Richie has already done it. Disappointing in originality, The Si Chuan accent dialogs is only funny some time and annoying at other, it is not as clever as Brat Pitts' indistinguishable irish trailer trash accent. I didn't like the movie, but for people who haven't seen Snatch or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, this movie would be somewhat enjoyable.

Xin Jie Kou (新街口)
This is the only cool Chinese flick I saw. The movie is about a love story in Beijing during the early 80s. The acting is wonderful and honest, some of the bad exagerations and cliches actually works really well together. I enjoyed it very much. Also in the film the director had put in a lot of cheesy played out commericals and clips of programs EVERYONE in china watched during that time. The jian wu stereo commercial everyone loved so much has been brought back. I only wish this movie had the big promotion budget as that Dragon Tiger Gate's.

Miami Vice
This film is very very "style over content". Its about a cop falling in love with a drug lord's cuban chinese decent lover. I liked the acting, but the story is boring. The whole thing is shot on digital, and unlike Collateral, the "digitalness" is so obvious it hurts your eyes to watch it. Its a glorified "Cops" episode.

Little Miss Sunshine
This movie is funny, witty, and the story is rich, I loved this movie, and was surprised how clever and moving it is.

Idlewild
I always loved outkast, the movie is entertaining, soundtrack is solid. I felt the story is a bit bland, but enjoyed Bryan Barber's direction, as always. Its definitely worth going.

Unknown sculpture, Chicago Art Institute.

So how long does it take for US federal government to issue its citizens a passport? Before I answer that, I want to clearify that Americans do not have to go back to their birth state to apply for a passport, he or she can just apply at a local post office or federal office in the state of his or her current residency.

Normally, it takes 3 weeks for the passport to arrive in the mail, but, if you really want it fast, the turn around time is 24 hours.

That is something China can learn.

Lincoln Sculpture, Chicago Art Institute.

5,000 people became US citizens on Aug. 18th 2006, I was one of them. There are two sessions, 2500 per session, I was in the second one.

A convention center became a temporary courtroom, and 2500 of us took the oath, swearing to defend The United States from enemies foreign, and domestic.

Top 5 nationalities of the 5000 people that day switching their citizenship were:

1. Mexico
2. El Salvador
3. Philippines
4. Viet Nam
5. Iran

As I leave China this time, as this time is different than any others before, I want to say this: If a nation tries to constantly monitor, patrol, limit, and regulate the freedom its own citizens, especially freedom of expression. Also purposely discourage one's ability to live in equal status and standards with other fellow citizens. Then this nation will forever rely on other culture's ideas and ways of living rather than on its own will power and creativity. A nation of robots will forever be stamping duplicate versions of whatever their masters dream up.

I will be in the States from 16th to 28th

Here they are, enjoy, and leave comments. :)

Matthijs the director singing on set

Well, 90% of my pictures have came out, and some of them look fantastic. I will have them posted in my pictures section in couple of days as promised previously. Mean while... enjoy these.

So before my big TVC shoot, I have to be on a very important photoshoot going on in HK as well. Dimitri Daniloff, one of my favourite photographers I always wanted to work with is there to shoot my ads. It was a surreal moment, here I was, a small nobody, exchanging photo tips and equipment recommendations with one of the world famous photographers. He's really patient, telling me what kind of lense to use and thing of that sort. He'll be on holliday in tokyo soon, and when I asked him what kind of camera he uses when he's on trips, he took out a small optio, saying... I try not to think about work and strive for the most touristy pictures I can take. I... then.. quietly put my hasselblad away.

First impression of Hong Kong -

1. People are polite.
2. The cab is roomy with air conditioning.
3. The cab driver won't ask YOU for direction, nor "how do you want to get there?" They call their headquarters if they don't know where to go.
4. The cabs don't smell.
5. Great infrastructure with night lighting that actually light up roads rather than looking like its about to go out.

I stayed in Intercontinental, global jobs offers a bit nicer amenities such as executive suites for people involved, I absolutely loved my room.