Edshugeo The GodMoor

Yong Chun (I watched it in Mandarin w/subs) is now my least favorite Chinese drama series edging out the dumb Zorro-ish comedy Hero In Black, which was at least very short, and still mostly entertaining.

That the drama to kung fu ratio favored drama sooooo overwhelmingly is an obvious issue for a series named after a martial art*. It's just that the drama was just so fucking bad, I almost couldn't take it. When I got to the second half of the series I found myself fast forwarding through that shit. Sure, some of this stuff comes with the territory; A loves B, but B loves C, while D, and E are secretly in love with A etc., etc. Fine! I can take a little of that, but it's so badly done and then layered with so many other bullshit subplots; Liang Chan's a widower whose sister in law has the hots for him, and somehow he's a dick for acting like there's something wrong with her. Meanwhile Gordon Liu only appears in one episode! What?



I'd seen articles where this series was touted as a sequel to the film Prodigal Son, but I see little connection aside from Yuen Biao reprising his role as Leung Jan (spelling varies) which he had also done recently in the much better series Real Kung Fu (though it was kinda silly). Sammo Hung also appears, and while we get a bit more of him than we do of Gordon Liu, it's not nearly enough. It's great to see him do his thing on the Wing Chun dummy, though. The series is worth watching for scenes like this:



Worth a purchase? No.


*The martial art is named after a person and had the series been about her, that would have been different. More drama, less kung fu might've been okay. However, the people who wrote this series would not be capable of writing drama worthy of Wing Chun herself. Didn't care much for the movie with Michelle Yeoh, either, which deviated very far from the legend (as I understood it, anyway).

Labels: China, dorama, downloads, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, tv, youtube and other video

D-Addicts Chinese Series Of The Month for March is the excellent 2006 version of Louis Cha's (Jin Yong) Return Of The Condor Heroes. It's available on DVD in the U.S. as Condor Hero.

I eagerly await the long delayed update of Legend Of The Condor Heroes, which may show up this year.



The Unofficial Wuxia Series Of March are two shows: Young Zhang San Feng and Young Warriors Of The Yang Clan.

Young Zhang San Feng is also known as Taiji Prodigy. This looks promising. Plus, it's Dicky Cheung.




I may skip Young Yang Warriors. I just finished Warriors Of The Yang Clan, and while I thought there was a good story or two there, I was generally annoyed by how badly those stories were told. It was still enjoyable enough to watch and the cast, led by Ti Lung as General Yang Ye were pretty good, as were most of the fight scenes.



The movie Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (starring Gordon Liu and Alexander Fu Sheng) is based on the same legendary family, but was centered around a different son, than that series.





Nah. Actually, I'm gonna check out Young Warriors, too.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, Shaw Bros., tv, youtube and other video

And I almost forgot to check D-Addicts for the Chinese Series Of The Month.
This month, it's Tian Long Ba Bu (Eight Steps Of The Heavenly Dragon), also known as Demi Gods And Semi Devils and also State Of Divinity.

I recently watched an 80's HK version of the Louis Cha novel starring Lueng Kar Yan, Felix Wong, and Shek Kin (Mr. Han from Enter The Dragon). I liked parts of it but disliked others, mostly the first third of the series before Lueng Kar Yan shows up and starts throwin' around beatdowns. This one is a newer production. Looks to be from within the last couple of years. Guess I'll add this to my download list.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube

Two TV series up at D-Addicts this month (among others) are Drunken Kung Fu, the Chinese Series Of The Month and Fox Volant Of Snowy Mountain.

At the moment, I know nothing of Drunken Kung Fu, but I'll be downloading it for sure.



Fox Volant is a 2007 series based on a Louis Cha novel. This novel is available in English, but has been criticised for a bad translation. Perhaps it will be re-done by Oxford University Press at some point. I hope they're still translating his works. I'm almost finished reading The Book And The Sword, which is absolutely wonderful so far.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia

Pretty much what I've been doing for a while. This is like my theme song. Comes from a relatively recent album by Sparks, called Hello Young Lovers, which is badass in a Bohemian Rhapsody meets Meatloaf, though not really kinda way. I thought those guys were just a new wave group from the eighties, but there's way more to them than that. I vaguely recall an old Saturday Night Live appearance, where I thought the keyboardist was named Roland because of the prominent logo on the instrument. I also recall they had the movie rights to Mai, The Psychic Girl, and they were gonna make it a musical directed by Tsui Hark. The idea frightened me at the time, but now I wish it got made. Wonder if they went ahead and wrote any songs for it.

I'm still digging Bad Brains' Build A Nation. I used to like the idea of Bad Brains more than I did their records. Now they've made a album worthy of a Punk/Reggae band, though now it's more heavy rock, than punk, in my opinion.

Video Games.

Played through Me And My Katamari on the PSP. The controls are painful compared to We Love Katamari on the PS2, but I love the 8 bit version you get at the end. Sorry if that's a spoiler. Also love the theme, Katamari on the Funk. I doubt I'll get the 360 version (Beautiful Katamari) unless it's cheap and I have nothing better to do, which, I guess, is inevitable. Starting Killzone Liberation on the PSP. Demo was cool so I picked this up a week or two ago (I know it's been out for a while).

Still have to finish We Love Katamari on the PS2. I want to be done with all my games on the PS2 and then say goodbye to them. There's a bunch. I'm bad at finishing games, but lately I'm a bit more into it. Having the XBox 360, it would be easy to move on, but I can't. I won't. Grand Theft Auto 3 was a birthday present dammit! So was Dynasty Warriors 2, I think. And I just bought two or three PS2 games like 6 or 7 weeks ago (Shadow Of The Collossus, Socom II - Socom was used - 5 bucks, and one other?) in addition to a few other decent titles just sitting around like War Of The Monsters. So I will finish them and maybe pass them on to friends.

Finished BioShock and Halo 3 on the XBox 360. Bioshock is the better of the two games, though I've yet to try out the online multiplayer function of XBox Live. I actually let my free one month gold membership lapse without trying it out. Wanted to be a better player first. I can barely shoot straight even at this point, but I'm gonna join up next week or so.

I also play various demos, or Burnout Revenge if I want a quick gaming session. I just bought The Orange Box, primarily for Portal, but it includes Half Life 2 and Team Fortress. Looks like fun. Haven't opened it yet.

Movies.

Transformers was fun, but got annoying during the second hour (I think) with the comedy bit with them searching for glasses while the robots try to hide from the parents and the big bad government goons showing up. Turned into E.T. for a little bit. I was never a fan of the cartoon, though the animated Transformers: The Movie was pretty decent.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang was awesome, though. Picked it up at the supermarket a while back for six or seven bucks and finally checked it out. Funny as a muh-fug. Really looking forward to Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.

Also went to see Jodie Foster's Death Wish movie, The Brave One. I liked it. Not great, but good enough. Really looking forward to seeing Terrence Howard in some kinda armor in Iron Man or maybe it's sequel.

TV?

Finished Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre (2003), which finishes up the Condor Heroes Trilogy, though it's not really a sequel, in my opinion. In the order I watched them, this followed the 1983 version of Legend Of The Condor Heroes and the 2006 Return Of The Condor Heroes (simply called Condor Hero in the U.S. release).

After the 2007 Legend Of is released with subtitles (fansubs perhaps), I may revisit the trilogy, following with the anime version titled Legend Of but which is actually Return Of (I have some but not all of this series) and then cap it off with the 1986 New Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre. I also have a few volumes of the comic book adaptations of Louis Cha's novels. Legendary Couple by Tony Wong is based upon Return, and Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre was adapted by Ma Wing Shing. Both were published in English by Comics One, which went out of business before completing either story.

I've got Heroes stockpiled on my cable DVR, but haven't watched any of this season, yet. I will soon.

Audio Books.

eMusic has a audio books subscription service separate from their music downloading site. I joined, but will probably cancel after my second month. Listened to After Dark by Haruki Murakami and started A Briefer History Of Time by Stephen Hawkins. The first was a novel and was a breeze to get through, despite some audio glitches here and there. The second, not so much. Though meant to be lighter reading (listening) than Brief History, it requires a bit more of my attention than I can give it during a morning commute, or while shopping. I have to take a different approach, and will, later.

My previous experience with audio books was limited to Al Franken's Lies and The Lying Liars That Tell Them. A great audio book, but I didn't hold it up as an example of the medium, because it's a collection of funny stories delivered by a comedian who knows well how to perform his work. I've been told that normally, one should avoid audio books read by the authors themselves. Consider Al Franken an exception to this rule.

Comics.

Blood Sword back issues and the new re-translated, digitally enhanced volumes (Chinese Hero - Tales Of The Blood Sword). I'll talk about those another time, but I'll say the new volumes are great, mostly.

My creative endeavors?

All I do now is dick around, but when I get back to recording, I'll use the Vox page to blog about it rather than only using it for audio links and writing a separate blog.

Labels: comics, dorama, DVD, kung fu, movies, music, music video, PSP, tv, video games, wu-xia, XBox 360, youtube

I vaguely recall this being the title of a barely watchable movie from, maybe, the 1990s, but I won't let any such preconceived notions get in the way of checking out a new Wu-xia TV series.

I don't know what it's about except that it's based on a Louis Cha (Jing Yong) novel from the mid 1950s. What's likely are kung fu mayhem, defiance of gravity, romantic complications, and perhaps yet another attempt by some evil bastard to infiltrate the Beggar Clan. Well maybe not the last bit, though it's been attempted in three series I've seen already, Demi-Gods and Semi Devils (1982), Legend Of The Condor Heroes (1983?), and Return Of The Condor Heroes (2006), all based on Cha's works.

The thirty episode series (fansubbed) can be sampled over at D-Addicts via a torrent. The download includes the soundtrack. It's a bit hefty at 16 GBs.

I actually have 2 more eps to go on Return Of The Condor Heroes.
I should be done tomorrow, at which point I continue watching the Anime, Jubei-Chan 2: Counterattack of Siberian Yagyu, before moving on to Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre (2003-ish), the third and final (?) part of the Condor Heroes trilogy.

Labels: Anime, bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube

On TV

Craig Ferguson
is what David Letterman was like, about twenty years ago and Conan O'Brien was less than ten years ago (before Andy Richter left). Funny. A guy trying to make the best of what the network will spring for.
Apparently, multiple shows are recorded on the same day (which ruins the topicality of some shows). Also it's not shown in HD, which might be a good thing as Hi-Def has made Conan harder to look at (Dude looks ghastly).

No complaints about Jay Leno's show which is a solid, entertaining late night show in the tradition of Johnny Carson, whom he replaced. I have way more respect for the guy now than I did when he first took over The Tonight Show. I don't really make it a point to watch the show, though. If I think I can stay up, it passes the time till CF comes on.

The Showbiz Show With David Spade
here's where showbiz news belongs, aside from Entertainment Tonight, which isn't quite as funny. He should be on five nights a week.

The Sopranos
Do I keep HBO now that it's done? Hmmm. Maybe, if not, I'll need another HD movie channel. I thought it was a great ending. It won't please everybody, though.

The Daily Show and sometimes The Colbert Report.

House M.D.
I normally come in during the last ten - fifteen minutes. There's no way I'm gonna guess what's wrong with the patient anyway.

On PSP

Return Of The Condor Heroes (2006)
The box set in U.S. stores is simply called Condor Heroes, but it's based on the sequel to Legend Of The Condor Heroes, a serialized novel by Louis Cha. The anime, which is titled Legend Of... pulls the same trick, though in that case it isn't only the U.S. version, but the Japanese version as well that's mis-titled.

Anyway, it may not be completely necessary to see the prequel to enjoy this, but if you don't, you might get the impression that West Venom, Ouyang Feng is simply a crazy, funny old guy as I did when I first encountered the character in The Legendary Couple (only read the first four volumes), a comicbook adaptation of Return from a few years back (It only lasted 8 volumes in the U.S.). It remains to be seen (by me) whether his true colors re-emerge.

Prior to this, I watched the fifteen disc (59 episode) 1983 version of Legend, and decided to follow with the 2006 version of Return, instead of the eighties version with Andy Lau (which I don't have, anyway). I was gonna wait for the 2007 version of Legend, but said eff it, and bought the DVD set of the 80s version instead. Great series, but it didn't need 59 episodes to tell that story.

I downloaded the 2006 Return of... from usenet, and the 2004(?) version of the third part of this story, Heaven Sword, Dragon Sabre, from D-Addicts, which I'll watch next. I also have a 1986 version of HSDS starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, but I'll save that for another time.

I'm up to episode eight (of forty-one). I stopped for a bit, and re-read the first four volumes of the comicbook, 'cuz I remembered some other stuff happening near the begining that didn't seem to be covered here, particularly, Yang Guo's relationship to Guo Jing's and Huang Rong's daughter, the Wu brothers, and his first meeting with Ouyang Feng. I'm seeing some of that stuff pop up in dialog and flashbacks now. Also, I found watching Yang Guo (Yang Gor) as a young boy annoying with all the crying and what not. I thought we'd be past that when he grew up (end of ep 3), but at this point he's still wandering around yelling for his Gu-gu. Otherwise, it's starting to get pretty good, though confusing with all the characters popping up outta nowhere.

I'm concerned about what's gonna happen when he finds out who killed his father, the douche-bag, Yang (Wayan) Kang. Also, that thing that happens to Gu-gu/Mistress Dragon is pretty disturbing both here (ep 6?) and at the end of vol. 4 of the comic.

The effects are very well done, but the action is a bit floaty.

Demi-Gods & Semi-Devils (1982)
TV series also based on a serialized novel by Louis Cha. A few of the episodes I had of Return Of The Condor Heroes were found to be corrupted (particularly the subtitles), so while I searched for replacements and re-read The Legendary Couple (the four volumes I had), and started this series. I now alternate between this and Return.
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a prequel the Condor Heroes trilogy, but the Beggar Clan figures prominently as well as their two well known techniques, The Dog Beating Stick and The Eighteen Dragon Repelling Palms (passed on to Huang Rong and Guo Jing in Legend Of). It clearly takes place during the Song Dynasty, where Condor is close to the end.
Wikipedia places Demi-Gods at the 11th Century, Legend at the 12th, Return at the 13th, and Heavenly Sword at the 14th.

Initially, I wasn't sure if this show would hold my interest, but now that Leung Kar Yan has shown up (as Beggar chief Master Kiu), things have gotten much more interesting. Especially the fighting.

Tuen Yue who was the focus, up until recently (I'm somewhere around ep 18), is a bit annoying to me. He does have a fascinating dilemma, though; His father was such a player, any girl Yue meets is potentially his half sister. This has only ruined one relationship, so far, but I doubt it'll be the last...

edit: I should mention that the above shows aren't available for the PSP (that I know of). They had to be converted from the DVDs to MP4s using XviD4PSP by Winnydows. There are other tools out there. This is the one I use.

Labels: comics, dorama, downloads, DVD, kung fu, PSP, tv, wu-xia, youtube

I tried out one of my cable provider's international channels over the last three months, iO Chinese. It was a mix of news and entertainment, including movies and dramas. Save for a few episodes of Wu Dang 2, I didn't really watch much. The target audience for these various foreign channels are people who speak English as a second language, so subtitles are rare (I haven't checked out the others: Russian, South Asian, etc.). Since I can easily download Chinese dramas with subtitles with relative ease, there was little this channel could offer me, so I canceled. I considered the Japanese station to supplement my on again/off again attempts at learning the language, but at nearly 30 bucks a month, that just ain't happenin'.

Cable already offers a lot of Spanish stations, one or two are bi-lingual, I think. A few years ago, just before or just after Charlie's Angels was made into a film, there was a Spanish language remake of the old series broadcast on Telemundo or something. Anticipating some crossover interest, the show was subtitled, which allowed me to enjoy a couple of episodes. It seems to me that subtitling Spanish language programing would be a great service to immigrants who should be encouraged to learn to speak and read English, as well as to natives, who could gain some insight into the various South American cultures.

Anyway, I replaced iO Chinese with HBO, for almost the same price (12 bucks HBO vs. 10 bucks Chinese). There's a crapload of HBOs, but I'll only need the Hi-Def one (regular cable sucks on a 38", probably worse on larger screens). The Sopranos are starting back up, so I need to be ready, though I may've missed the entire last season.

Labels: dorama, HDTV, tv

Alt.binaries.multimedia.chinese has a trio of English subtitled TV series being uploaded. All encoded for the iPod, but should be playable, as is, on the PSP. Official firmware 2.8 and up, or custom firmware 3.02* and up is required. The mp4 file, which doesn't have to be renamed, would be placed in the /VIDEO folder (in the root directory of your memory stick), instead of one of the various folders found in MP_ROOT. I haven't watched these series yet, but a previously uploaded shows that was iPod encoded, Face To Fate, played with no problem, other than three or four episodes (out of thirty) didn't have English subs.

Okay, so what I see being uploaded at the moment are:

The Brink Of Law - Looks like some sort of legal/cop drama. No kung fu, but some action is involved. Here's a YouTube clip.

The Heavenly In-Laws - Weird (to me) supernatural comedy. Yuen Wah's in it (I think that's him), so maybe there's some kung fu. A YouTube clip.

The Devil's Disciples - Here we go! Now, this is more like it. Looks like Eddy Ko as the bad guy. Flying swordsmen and CGI. Hope it's actually good. Preview below:



How does one download the great stuff to be found on alt.binaries.multimedia.chinese and the thousands of other groups on usenet? I'm never good at explaining how it works, so I'll just point towards TimDoc's page, and let him explain it (his downloading guide has been a great help to me over the years). There are other guides on the net as well. You can use a premium server like EasyNews, but your ISP may provide access to usenet at no extra cost, so find out how this whole thing works before paying extra.


*I can't remember if there was a custom firmware between 2.71 and 3.02, but any PSP firmware (official or custom) 2.80 and over would enable the /VIDEO and /MUSIC folders (in the root directory of the memory stick). Not all MP4s work in that video folder however.

Labels: dorama, downloads, kung fu, PSP, tv, wu-xia, youtube

I don't think there's any kung fu in this one, so I'll pass.
If I do download it, I won't watch it in public (PSP).

Info here.
Torrents here (first 10 episodes, with the last 5 coming soon, I think).
YouTube preview below (as of this writing)...

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, tv, youtube

This series is shorter at ten episodes than most of this genre (Wu-Xia), which tend to go on for about 30-50 eps. Don't know anything about this one (cast, story, etc.) except that it's widescreen, which will look good on my PSP. I also notice it's available (with English subtitles) at quite a few online retailers, at around twenty bucks, which isn't bad.

Speaking of interesting online deals, I noticed a price difference for the 1983 series, Legend Of The Condor Heroes at the global and U.S. site for YesAsia. The global.YesAsia site, which in this case mentions "United States - English" at the top of the page, lists the series at $162.50 for the fifteen disc uncut set. (I get to this site through a link at Kung Fu Cult Cinema).
The US.YesAsia.com site lists the English subtitled set (also as "uncut" and fifteen discs) at $73.50. I normally wouldn't spend $75.00 in one shot on a single DVD series, but this is sounding like a good deal to me. I may have to pick this up...

02/17/07 - ordered it a few days ago. The prices on the global.yesasia.com site adjusts once you setup your location.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, DVD, good deal, kung fu, online retailers, tv, wu-xia

Don't know much about this series, except it has Raymond Lam from Twin Of Brothers, which I liked as well as that guy from John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears. Eddy Ko (Thanks imdb).

Torrent download and info at D-Addicts. Opening theme below via YouTube.




I've probably got enough of these Wu-Xia series that I could watch an episode a day (on my PSP, of course) and still not be finished in a year. Currently I'm watching Hero In Black AKA Wo Lai Ye (Here I Come), a Zorro like comedy that features Cheng Pei Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Come Drink With Me) as an overbearing mother. I've recently downloaded 35 episodes of a Monkey King series that has Sam Lee in it.

This isn't all I watch. Before starting Hero In Black, I watched the first season of The Wire (My brother hooked me up with the first two) and I'll probably check out the second season next. Also recently bought the final season of Angel, and season one of Smallville, so I'll be looking at those eventually as well.

Update 01/24/07: I finished Wo Lai Ye last week. While not completely bad, it's the worst of these dramas I've seen, yet. I just didn't like the characters or their relationships to each other. Especially Song Dou's affection for the owner of the Top Chef restaurant. It contradicts his hatred for the greed of corrupt officials and the wealthy who live at the expense of the poor in his town.
She appears to share this sentiment, yet also shares the characteristics of Wo Lai Ye's sworn enemies. I found the ending unsatisfying as well.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, PSP, tv, wu-xia, youtube

Available over at D-Addicts.com. A great, great series, though I've not read the Jin Yong novel (aslo called the Deer And The Cauldron), nor seen previous versions like the series starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, and Andy Lau. I did see Royal Tramp 1 & 2 starring Stephen Chow, but that was a long time ago.

Here's a synopsis from wiki.d-addicts.com/;
This production is a more recent, and somewhat more loose adapation of Jin Yong's last and most unique Wuxia novel "The Deer and the Cauldron". The story is centred around an uneducated street urchin Wei Xiao Bao, who was born and raised in a brothel by his mother. Through a series of misdaventures, he managed to make his way from the southern playground of Yangzhou to Beijing, the seat of Manchurian imperial power, and bumbling accidently into a fateful encounter with young Emperor Kang Xi. By hook or by crook, but also through a genuine concern and fierce loyalty towards his "mate" the Emperor, Xiao Bao found himself in the greatest of confidences and a complicated friendship of one of the most eminent monarchs of Chinese history. -- more can be found at Spcnet.tv

The complication comes primarily through his association with the anti-Manchu insurgent group, The Heaven And Earth Society. Wei Xiao Bao must weigh political (ethnic?) ideology and one set of friends against another as well as consider what's in the best interests of the country. Also, he'd like to accumulate seven wives. Hilarity and Kung Fu abounds. And there's also Chen Kwan Tai in a villian role...
Hi. I'm Chen Kwan Tai. You may know me from such films as Executioners Of Shaolin, Heroes Two and Iron Monkey (not the one with Donnie Yen).

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia

The upcoming TV series remake of the Jin Yong (Louis Cha) novel that gets remade every now and then. Here's a trailer from YouTube;



There's an anime series with the same title, but it's been misnamed as it's actually Return Of The Condor Heroes. A sequel by the same author. That story has also been published in comicbook form by Tony Wong as The Legendary Couple (at least in it's U.S. release). The English volumes were canceled before the story concluded.

The subtitled 1982 series Legend Of the Condor Heroes; Iron Blood, Loyal Heart can be found here (the torrents can anyway). As of this writing just the first four episodes are up, but more should be arriving, probably over the next coupl'a months. I've previously mentioned watching the first two episodes without subs. If you're into old school Shaw Bros. action, you'll want to check these out.

Not known to me til just now; Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre is the third part of the Condor Trilogy. Something I'll keep in mind as I have that series stashed away for future viewing (as well as the 2006 Return Of The Condor Heroes). I've read some of Ma Wing Shing's comicbook adaptation. That too was canceled early.

Labels: bittorrent, comics, dorama, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube

D-Addicts is a torrent site devoted to drama series from parts of Asia (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic Of China).

I go there mostly for the period kung fu/wu-xia series like The Duke Of Mount Deer (2000), Chinese Paladin, Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre, and more, but the site mostly hosts modern day romantic fare.


I recently finished watching Twin Of Brothers, which is the usual mix of flying kung fu (mostly arms flaying wildly and quick edits), special effects, romantic triangles, rectangles and what have you, and just a touch of tragedy. Highlights included Waise Lee (Bullet In The Head) as one of the villians, and a one episode appearance by Gordon Liu (Master Killer/36th Chamber Of Shaolin) AKA Liu Chia-Hui.

Romance Of The Three Kingdoms is not Wu-Xia, but is a historical drama based on an old novel. I would recommend it as a great story, but also as something that is often referenced even in fantasy based stories (including most of the ones mentioned above).

All this is to mention that this month's Chinese Series Of The Month over there is The Proud Twins. Don't know anything about it as I haven't watched it, yet. You could read this and that
for more info and then go here to download it (scroll way down).

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia

I finally got homebrew running on my PSP (2.6 firmware), thanks to this article. Once that was done, I had to look for stuff to play with.

Among my favorites, so far...

KETM - Kill Everything That Moves: To me it's a pretty version of Space Invaders/Asteroids/Galaga, etc., but actually a port of some other game I've never heard of. Lot's of fun, though.

Art Of Fighting 3 - this requires a Neo Geo emulator called NeoCDPSP to run. There are a number of game ROMs available. I've only tried this one (which I like a lot) and Sengoku 2, which is okay, so far. I also have a GBA emulator, but it's slow and apparently soundless.

PSPRhythm - this one has me giddier than a schoolgirl. Here's a quote from it's creators:

Inspired by classic drum machines such as the Linndrum and Roland TR-series, PSP Rhythm has been created to use the simple, yet effective 16 step style drum sequencer. PSP Rhythm incorporates the use of audio sample playback instead of drum synthesis. PSP Rhythm has been directly influenced by one of our favorite modern drum machines, the Elektron MachineDrum. The most significant is our use of "parameter locks" (as used by the MachineDrum). Parameter locks enable you to change the pitch, volume, balance, start and end time per step to create moving, changing melodies and effects. This control over your sounds will give you much more creative freedom and allow you to not only use drums, but to use instruments in your music.

I've barely gotten started with this, and there's still much for me to figure out, but so far it sounds great. There's a great deal of potential here. My portable video game system/movie player/mp3 player/e-book/e-comicbook is now also a pocket song writing tool.

It also means that when Sony releases the next firmware update, I'll have to pass.

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Other stuff on my PSP...

Andy Richter Controls The Universe - why the FUCK isn't this on DVD, yet? I'd downloaded a bunch of these a couple of years ago. I saw a few, but stored the rest. I watched the first ep from the second season, yesterday. Brilliant!

Romance Of the Three Kingdoms - The kung fu isn't all that great and the male bonding a bit over dramatic, I still find this entertaining so far (I've only watched 3/4 of the first episode).

A few bizarre Golden Age Comicbooks that are apparently in the public domain. A few of these characters have appeared in Alan Moore's Terra Obscura. I may lift a few myself.

Super Spy - I've read the first two and I have the third. There are four more up as of this writing. Got some catching up to do, and I still haven't finished MPD Psycho.

Various mp3s from Hello Gina - standouts are
The Man Machine by Kraftwerk. Do I remember this song, or the song that sampled it in the early to mid eighties?
Catch My Disease by Ben Lee - there are some songs that cause these feel good secretions that I can sometimes feel happening in my brain. Adore and She Loves Me 4 Me by Prince, and Europa And The Pirate Twins by Thomas Dolby are among those. So is this. I love it.
Unite by Tiger Tunes - They can make you dance.

various mp3s from wherever, including:
Battle Without Honor Or Humanity by Tomoyasu Hotei - the fight song from Kill Bill.
Slave by Nadir - I still love this song.
American Woman by Lenny Kravitz - don't look at me like that.
Take Me To The River by The Talking Heads

Prince stuff like Black Sweat, S.S.T./Brand New Orleans, Beautiful Loved and Blessed as well as his recent performances on SNL and the Brit Awards.

and some of my own recent demos and projects as well as the originals to songs I covered by Cry For Life and Sinister Dexter.

Labels: comics, Crystal Walters, dead links, dorama, downloads, fun, music, music making, possibilities for creative expression, Prince, PSP, PSP Rhythm, video games

No.

Vongo.com is a movie on demand site by the Starz cable channel. You can pick out pay-per-view content for about 4 or 5 bucks a movie, or choose a subscription of about 10 bucks a month and have access to over 1000 titles to watch when you want. The subscription also allows you to watch the Starz channel on your computer. The service allows the movies to be downloaded to a limited number (3?) of computers and external devices. The PSP is not among those devices. I had some hope that might change in the near future, because I kept reading about Sony's involvement in this venture, but an email reply to my question on this matter squashed that. seeing that I had no practical use for the service, I uninstalled it from my computer and will wait to see what develops next.

Watching full length movies on a portable isn't something that's neccesary on a daily basis. It's a nice option to have should you have to take a long trip, or wait on a really long line, say, for your passport or at the DMV. On a daily basis I prefer lighter entertainment and TV shows are perfect. Especially anime or wu-xia dramas. TV dramas can get pretty emotional though. A few weeks ago, on the bus to work, I was watching an episode of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex that had to do with a dying pet and I got a little misty eyed. Luckily I was wearing shades. I don't need to be seen crying in public. Laughing's okay. Around here, nobody notices someone who seems to be laughing for no reason, but crying's a no-no.

I'm currently watching episodes of 24 (I'd downloaded VCD's of the first season years ago) and Kodomo No Omocha on the PSP. While I plan on continuing 24 to it's conclusion, it's a little intense to be watching during my breaks at work. Perhaps I'll get used to it. Kodomo No Omocha is a cute but weird anime about a child actress who copes with both her school and professional lives. I don't mind viewing it at work where people know me, but I do admit I'd rather not be seen in any other public space watching this.

Eventually I'll convert Romance Of the Three Kingdoms and start watching those. I also have some episodes of Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan (Legend Of The Heavenly Sword And The Mysterious Xia AKA Chinese Paladin) to download and I'm working on getting the 2003 version of Heaven's Sword, Dragon Sabre. D-Addicts.com in case you were wondering.

Labels: Anime, dorama, downloads, kung fu, movies, online retailers, tv, wu-xia

D Addicts has an entire 58 episode series available as 11 torrents this month. Romance Of The Three Kingdoms is based on the novel of the same name which has also inspired a number of war strategy and fighting video games, including Dynasty Warriors 2 (which I have, but never finished) for the PS2. I haven't watched it yet, aside from a quick peek, nor have I read the source material, available here for reading or download. It looks like a mainland production (could be wrong) and I'm not sure there's any kung-fu. The vcds which are subtitled will eventually be transfered to my PSP (one by one) once I've run out of Chinese Paladin episodes, though I may watch the first season of 24 before I get to ROT3K.

To download torrents, You will need a Bittorrent client like this one.

Labels: bittorrent, China, dorama, downloads, tv

Text: The Smiling Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong (AKA Louis Cha) chapter one - I haven't really gotten started on this, yet, but I just realized this is the story that the Swordsman movies were based on. The second one can be found on U.S. DVD as Legend Of The Swordsman or some such nonsense. I don't know if it's a good release or not, I believe it's edited, though. The original HK DVD release of Swordsman 2 has really bad subtitles and pratically ruins what I thought was a great film. I originally saw it on tape with the burned in subtitles from the theatrical print. Swordsman (which I saw on the big screen) is also great and the HK DVD is pretty decent as far as DVDs released a few years ago are concerned. That one starred Sam Hui, who I think retired afterwards. The second finds Jet Li taking on the lead role which explains the US release. Like I said, I haven't really started on this one beyond the first couple of pages.


Comics: MPD Psycho Vol. 1 & 2 - a "scanslation" or fan made translation of Japanese manga. There's a short TV series based on this manga by Takeshi Miike, which I have on disc somewhere, I think. Haven't watched it yet. I have read up to chapter 4 of this comic book about serial killers. Pretty good so far and I'm getting used to navigating the graphics.

Music: NIN: The Downward Spiral deluxe edition - The remastered album plus a collection of B-Sides and demos. I'm liking it.

Video: Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan (Legend Of the Heavenly Sword and the Mysterious Xia AKA Chinese Paladin) episode 4 - Live action Wu-Xia TV series. More of these should be subtitled for the enjoyment of the English speaking world. Tai Seng has started, but they heavily edit their releases. This fan release was found on a Bittorrent site. One of my fears was that subtitles would be hard to read on the PSP, but that has not been the case.

Prince - an eight minute acoustic set from VH1 a couple of years ago.

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex episodes 15 & 16 - I didn't like the first movie, but this series has been great. GITS: Innocence is pretty good too, as is the comic book which is the source material.

Condor Heroes episode 2 - Live action Wu-Xia TV series from the eighties, based on a work by Jin Yong. There's currently an anime out that I think might be adapted from Tony Wong's comic book adaptaion of The Legendary Couple, the second novel (I think) from the Condor Heroes series. I only have two episodes and they're in Cantonese without subs, but that's fine. The kung fu is good and any Black male my age has likely seen Kung Fu Warlords (Brave Archer) starring Alexander Fu-Sheng back in the 70's or on TV in the 80's, so the story's not hard to figure out. If you've seen Ashes Of Time or Eagles Shooting Heroes (also based on the source material) then you've got good reason to be confused. I've got some of the anime so I'll be watching those pretty soon.

Labels: Anime, comics, dorama, downloads, movies, music, PSP, tv