Edshugeo The GodMoor

You gots to be fucking kidding me. As of this writing the second volume is $150. The first is more reasonable at twenty four and change to thirty six bucks.

These three volumes (about 1500 pages, total) translates Louis Cha's (AKA Jin Yong) final novel (completed in the very early 1970's into English. There are a number of TV productions (often titled Duke Of Mount Deer) as well as Stephen Chow's 2 Royal Tramp movies.

Too bad they're not available as eBooks. If sales are the main issue keeping them out of print, eBooks could rectify that while keeping the few of us into this sort of thing satisfied.

Labels: kung fu, online retailers, readin' an' writin', ripoffs, wu-xia

Way of the Mantis - thesis film from joe daniels on Vimeo.

Labels: Animation, Awesome, independent film-making, kung fu, youtube and other video

Push and Knowing hit video stores tomorrow. I recently got to watch both (not in one sitting).

Push is a superhero thriller much like Jumper (from last year or so), which I also didn't like too much. People with powers running away from government (or whoever) thugs, blah blah blah. Especially annoying was the young actress Dakota Fanning, who even though only ten or something, insists on acting like she's forty. Somehow, I can't help but suspect the screenwriter is not totally at fault here. I'm sure she'll be a fine actress when she grows up (assuming she's not burnt out at 15). That Amy Poehler skit from SNL was on the money.

Anyway, the movie just wasn't that interesting. The Hong Kong location had me hoping that things would go batshit crazy at some point but that never panned out. Funny then, to see Bosco Lam's name during the closing credits (2nd unit director or something) as he directed one of my all time favorite and batshit crazy movies, Chinese Torture Chamber Story. Ten years ago or so, a short clip, sometimes called Crouching Tiger Porn was kinda popular on the internets. Basically it was a Chinese couple fucking while flying through trees doing kung fu and stuff. That was from Chinese Torture Chamber Story. Lam was working for Wong Jing at the time who was probably responsible for making sure the movie was as batshit crazy as possible.

Another digression: Push was also the title of a novel written by Sapphire about an abused girl fighting illiteracy and caring for her baby who has "Dow Sinder". It was made into a movie recently and called Precious (didn't see it), probably because some douchebag had to make a (not that) crappy movie with her title. Then again, there are a bunch of other movies called Push, also.

Knowing is little more than an unacknowledged remake of Signs with traces of Dark City creepiness (it was directed by Alex Proyas). There are some awesome scenes of destruction; Planes crashing through traffic jams, trains plowing through crowds of people. But aside from disaster porn (a genre I'd like to see more of), the movie was just awful. I do have a new appreciation of M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, though. Not that I didn't like it before.

Labels: DVD, kung fu, movies

CrunchyRoll.com is an online video site kinda like Hulu, but older and geared towards Anime and other film and TV genres from Asia. They've recently put up some Chinese dramas in an agreement with Tai Seng;


Legend Of The Condor Heroes (1983 Hong Kong version) The site currently has 29 episodes, which is less than half of the series. I guess more are coming.

Return Of The Condor Heroes (2006 mainland version) mis-titled Legend Of... on the site, sold simply as Condor Hero on DVD in the U.S. According to the comments, the version on the site is dubbed in Cantonese (from it's original Mandarin).

The two above are among my favorite wu-xia series. I plan on getting and watching the 2008 version of Legend Of... and maybe following it with the 80s version of Return.

and

Duke Of Mount Deer (80s version) I've seen the 2000 version with Dicky Cheung, but not this one. It stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Andy Lau when both were very young and is remembered fondly by fans. As of this writing there are 20 episodes, which must mean it's incomplete so far. Don't know how frequent the updates are.

There's more coming. As I wrote this two, more entries appeared on the Tai Seng page, The Academy, Twin Of Brothers and New Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre. The videos are probably on the verge of being uploaded.

As seen on Ain't It Cool.

Labels: dorama, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube and other video

Kidney Failure at the age of 96.

Shek Kin is most known to westerners as the villian Mr. Han from Enter The Dragon. Older Chinese probably remember him as the antagonist (did he always play the same guy?) opposite Kwan Tak Hing in many Wong Fei Hong movies. I never saw any of those (from 1950s- early 70s). The Ain't It Cool article states that he appeared in later Wong Fei Hong movies like Drunken Master and Once Upon A Time In China. If so, I don't recall.

I used to think that Mr. Han was played by a white dude. He looked more like a made up (Dr. No) Chinese to me than actual Chinese. It was many years later when I found out who he was.
He was great in a couple of 80s TV dramas like Legend Of The Condor Heroes and Demi Gods And Semi Devils with Leung Kar Yan.

A Couple of demonstrations from 1984:

Labels: death, kung fu, movies, nostalgia, tv, youtube and other video

From Reuters

BANGKOK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s U.S. television show "Kung Fu," was found naked and hanging dead from a rope in the closet of his luxury Bangkok hotel room Thursday, Thai police said.

No signs were found of other people in the room and the body of the 72-year-old actor was sent to a hospital for an autopsy, police said. Results are expected on Friday.

More here

Labels: death, kung fu, movies, tv

The Chinese Drama Series Of The Month over at D-Addicts.com.

The series is based on a novel hundreds of years old, also called Outlaws Of The Marsh and All Men Are Brothers. I'm aware of two Shaw Bros. films made; The first called Water Margin (released in the U.S. in the early seventies as 7 Blows Of The Dragon), and the sequel, All Men Are Brothers.
Another martial arts film came in the 90s, All Men Are Brothers: Blood Of The Leopard.

It's been adapted for television many times (in Japan as well). I haven't linked to a Youtube vid cuz I don't know if any of them are from this particular production. The creator of Gigantor, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, also created a famous comicbook version. Thus a few characters who appear in Giant Robo originate in Water Margin (as well as his other works).

I haven't read the novel, though it has existed in English translations for a long while. I even spotted a battered copy titled All Men Are Brothers at my local library many moons ago (I doubt it's still there), but never checked it out. Amazon has it under the name Outlaws Of The Marsh.

Series info
Torrent here.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a brilliant and beautiful film based upon the fourth* part of Wang Du Lu's Iron/Crane Pentalogy** is finally being released on Blu-Ray. Not (yet) knowing what the picture quality will be like, that is probably the good news. The bad news is that the movie is not being released individually, but as part of a "trilogy" set that apparently includes Sony's surplus inventory of blu-rays for two unrelated films, House Of Flying Daggers (great movie, bad disc) and Curse Of The Golden Flower (dreadful movie, good disc).

Not buying Crouching Tiger until it's sold individually. Not buying House Of Flying Daggers until a proper Blu-ray is made. Not Buying Curse Of The Golden Flower at all. Ever.




* always thought that CTHD was the third book in the series, previously.
** which I've never read - like most Wu-Xia fiction, the novels aren't available in English.

Labels: bullshit, DVD, kung fu, movies, wu-xia

Available as D-Addicts Chinese Drama Series Of The Month (torrent) and also through Netflix (DVDs, not streaming).

I rented it through Netflix and found the forty episode series to be among the best in it's genre, so far. Based on Louis Cha's novel, also called Smiling Proud Wanderer and a few other things, it's way more faithful than the movie versions from the nineties ( Sworsdman, Swordsman 2 (U.S. title - Legend Of The Swordsman), and sequel/spin-off, The East Is Red. I base this only on a few chapters of an online (uncompleted) translation. The book, like most of Cha's (AKA Jing Yong) work, is unavailable to the English speaking world save for TV series, and movies like these.

The story's mostly about the hypocrisy of those who would proclaim themselves righteous, and also that friendship (like righteousness) transcends partisanship. It's interesting that the word party is used in the subtitles (on the DVD), where sect, or clan would traditionally be used for groups like Shaolin, Wudang, Hua Mountain, and others portrayed in this series. Gives it what I would imagine to be an unintended relevance to modern political situations, considering this show was produced on the Chinese mainland.

Labels: Awesome, downloads, DVD, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube and other video

As reported on Ain't It Cool News.

Here's the first episode:



Now to find a way to download these....

Labels: Awesome, fun, japanese, Japanese Spiderman, kung fu, nostalgia, That's what I'm talkin' about, tv, youtube and other video

Don't know how long that'll last. This price drop follows Best Buy who had it on sale for this price. I've already placed my order (and also added Chocolate).







update: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is also on sale for $14.99. I haven't seen it before, but know it through it's reputation. I'm not fond of movies that take place in asylums, I Am A Cyborg, And That's Okay, being a recent example, but I'll try this.

Labels: Awesome, DVD, good deal, kung fu, movies, music, The Sell Out?, youtube and other video

Cablevision's Voom "Network", a suite of channels that included Kung Fu, Monsters, Gameplay, Filmfest, Rave and a few others in Hi-Def finally got shut down yesterday. Cablevision plans on replacing them with multiple premium channels in HD because some people apparently don't have enough channels called HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc.

Perhaps there just isn't a big enough market for a Kung Fu channel. If that's the case, so be it. I have less use for Cablevision now, as a result. Right away, I've cancelled the IO package of channels that the Voom suite were a part of. Currently, this is what the basic Io package consists of:
History International
Investigation Discovery
Logo
Military Channel
MLB Network
MLB Network HD†
MTV Hits
MTV Tr3s
mun2
The N
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel HD†
Nicktoons Network
Noggin
Planet Green
Science Channel
Science Channel HD†
Toon Disney
VERSUS
VERSUS HD†
VH1 Classic
VH1 Soul

I don't watch any of that shit. So why would I pay an extra ten bucks a month for it?
I don't subscribe to the premium channels, so that leaves broadcast basic and Family cable, and I'm thinking of dumping family, which does include stuff I watch like CNN, FoxNews, Comedy Central for The Daily Show and South Park (neither of which needs to be seen in Hi-Def).

News I can, and do get on the web (through Cablevision, mostly, though sometimes even on my cheapie little Virgin Mobile phone). The Daily Show is just as accessable. South Park hasn't been very good in a while. I don't think I'll miss it.

So what replaces the rest of it? Blu-Ray and DVD movies (I buy more than I have time to watch), Netflix on Xbox Live, TV on internet video (such as The Daily Show, Hulu, etc.) via the Ps3s web browser, and of course streaming hard drive content (downloaded movies and whatnot) from the PC to both consoles using Windows Media Player 11 or if I'm on Ubuntu, to the PS3 using MediaTomb.

I've been trying out the XBox/Netflix thing for about a week or so and am very impressed despite some issues. The two week trial is free but then goes into a regular membership. I chose the basic one disc at a time membership which is like eight or nine bucks a month. An extra dollar if Blu-Rays are to be included. At the moment my disc queue does not include movies available on Blu, so I'm holding off on that.

My first experience with streaming Netflix was the Johnny To movie, Exiled. It started out in Hi-Def (which in this case is really decent DVD quality) but at nearly the hour and a half mark, the image froze up and a message appeared on the screen saying that my internet connection had slowed. Playback was gonna adjust to accomodate the current speed. I then ended up with something that at the time looked to be Youtube quality. There was another freeze and I called it a night. The next night I watched the rest of the film without incident (if I recall correctly).
I liked the movie. Kinda (intentionally?) silly take on John Woo's bullet ballet thing, which To may've done before on Heroes Never Die. Sorta.



Next movie was Harold, a silly indie film about a kid with male pattern baldness. Video quality was just below DVD (not seeing what the actual DVD looked liked), but quite a bit better than standard def cable. I don't remember if this was supposed to be Hi-def or not. Kinda liked this one, even though it's a bit stupid and clichéd. Speaking of stupid, they pulled the trailer off Youtube.

Kiltro was billed as a Chilean Martial Arts film and I guess it is, but it felt like more. This one froze up a couple of times, but didn't drop in quality the way it had when I watched Exiled.
Really enjoyed this one.



My first disc from Netflix was The Bodyguard, a Thai movie that claims on it's U.S. release to star Tony Jaa, but clearly does not. I assumed this might've been an old movie dusted off 'cause Jaa had a small role of some sort and avoided it and it's sequel when I sighted them on a store shelf. As a rental, it was not a risk at all when you consider the bang for the buck you get with this deal. I thought it was a surprisingly and often funny action comedy. Jaa does show up in a cameo, but it appears the film was made after he was famous, not before.



I only sent it back the other day, so my next disc isn't due till like tomorrow (according to an email). Another Spanish language action film, The Nest. I know nothing about it, but look forward to seeing it.

My queue includes a number of films and series I might not normally try. Plus I just noticed there are a number of Shaw Bros. films available through Netflix as well as some wu-xia and anime series I've yet to sample.

You know what? who needs Cablevision (aside from internet service)?

And I'm returning their DVR as soon as I watch all the stuff I got stacked on it. That's another ten dollars a month.

Labels: bullshit, DVD, Fucking Idiots, good deal, HDTV, kung fu, movies, PS3, ripoffs, Shaw Bros., tv, wu-xia, youtube and other video

New Jackie Chan flick with no kung fu or comedy. And I don't mind. Derek Yee (a former Shaw Bros. kung fu star, himself) is directing. Of his films (as director), I've only seen Protege which I liked, but isn't one of his best. Or so I've heard. Hopefully this'll be good enough to negate whatever evil comes out of Jackie's pairing with Billy Ray Cyrus and a possible role as Mr. Miyagi in a Karate Kid remake. Worse than either of those possibilities, is that he might even work with Stanley Tong again. Ugh!



Via Twitch and Kaiju Shakedown.

Labels: Anticipay-yay-shun..., kung fu, movies, youtube and other video

It appears to be so. Kung Fu HD is part of the Voom network of HD channels, and Voom is gettin' the axe in late January. This is quite upsetting to me as much of what I watched outside of CNN and The Daily Show resided on Kung Fu and a few other Voom HD channels.

There has to be sanctions! I may not cancel my service completely, but there will be a downgrade of some sort.

Labels: bullshit, HDTV, kung fu, movies, tv

Kaiju Shakedown calls this a Mind-Melter. That works, too.

Labels: Anticipay-yay-shun..., Hooray For Bollywood, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, youtube and other video

Also called Huan Ying Shen Zhen and God of Illusionary Needle. Looks interesting. It was tough to find a video that had fighting in it, though. Wonder if I should worry about that?






At D-Addicts.


Currently, I'm watching Young Zhang San Feng AKA Taiji Prodigy. Starring the always enjoyable but unfortunately named Dickie Cheung as the founder of Wu-Dong (Wu-Tang) temple and Tai Chi martial arts (I think).

Labels: downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube and other video

While browsing the list of upcoming Blu-Rays at DVDTalk, I spied a pair of curious titles; Life Gamble and Opium And The Kung Fu Master.

Why, these are Shaw Bros. movies. On Blu-Ray. Coming out in a month. And I knew... Nothing! A Google search showed it wasn't a big secret, but still, I was shocked. These are being released by BCI, which has a shady past (released some crappy quasi-bootlegs a while back), but recently released some quality product; The Tiger Blade which I (in the minority) thought was awesome, and Vengeance, which was okay as a (B) movie, and decent as a blu-ray disc.

Opium And The Kung Fu Master is a bad movie with a great premise. Ti Lung plays the title role, a kung fu master who's on the pipe and has to get the monkey off his back to reclaim his dignity. Chen Kwan Tai and Lee Hai Seng (Lee Hoi San) are villians. The fight choreography is obviously sped up in places, the acting not so hot (even for a kung fu movie) and the inevitable scenes of Ti Lung dealing with his addiction are a weird mix of painful to watch and hilarious. Still, I may buy this, if only to help encourage more such releases. Plus, it isn't expensive, nor is it all that bad (not to the point of being completely unentertaining).



Life Gamble, I know little about. I have it on my DVR as it (and OATKFM) were among the many Shaw films to air on Kung Fu HD over the last few months. I may just erase it and wait till I have the disc to see it. I watched a few minutes and it looked pretty solid.



Also available on Blu-Ray is Behind The Yellow Line, an early (1984) film featuring the late Leslie Cheung (committed suicide a few years ago on April 1st), Maggie Cheung, and the also late Anita Mui (cancer). This one appears to be a drama with no kung fu in it, and it's like thirty-five bucks (it's an import), so I'll pass. While the others don't come out till January, this one's been out for a little bit.

All three films are available at HKFlix cheaper than they are at Amazon, though I will still post affiliate links to the martial arts films.

Labels: DVD, HDTV, kung fu, movies, online retailers, Shaw Bros., The Sell Out?

A new trailer for a film I've been waiting half a year for. This one appears to be a different film than the one for which a trailer appeared back in June. Similar dialog and ideas, but different footage. I'm guessing that the original trailer was shot specifically as a proof of concept, to get the financial ball rolling on the actual production. Or maybe we're gonna see a bunch of these, different trailers for different versions of the same concept. Either way, I can't wait for this and I hope this actually surfaces as an actual movie.




As seen on Ain't It Cool News

The official Black Dynamite Site

Labels: Anticipay-yay-shun..., Awesome, funny-ass shit, independent film-making, kung fu, movies, nostalgia, youtube and other video

From: Threadbombing
Hat-tip: James Hudnall

Labels: Art, funny-ass shit, kung fu, politics

The simultaneous Cantonese/Mandarin suggests that this video was encoded from the VCD, which in HK would separate the Chinese languages into the left and right channels. The preferred language would be selected by isolating one or the other. I have this movie (Legend Of The Liquid Sword) on DVD and the picture quality is so bad it might as well be VCD (a pre-DVD, movie on 2 CDs format).



I first saw this on VHS (probably a bootleg), and I think the subtitles were slightly different, with the bearded man (not actually Jesus, but a disciple) threatening to use his Jesus Fist, rather than Jesus Punches. One of my favorite scenes, ever. The movie itself? I vaguely recall it being fun, but that's about it. Also, it has a short appearance by Gordon Liu (Lau Kar Fai).

Labels: DVD, funny-ass shit, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, religion, youtube and other video

Lai Ying used to be the spot I'd go to for my Hong Kong DVDs and VCDs in Manhatten's Chinatown. Every few weeks or so I'd make the one hour Long Island Railroad trip to the city and stock up on a handfull of HK movies, and this was the place to go. After years of buying bootleg VHS tapes at various places like a mall on Jamaica Ave. in Queens, and The Karate Center across from the Port Authority terminal as well as tape trading through the mail. A friend of mine hipped me to rental shops in Chinatown. I visited a few (owned by U.E. Enterprises, I think) and rented some tapes, but the trip for me made that option a little on the expensive side unless I needed to be in the city 2 days apart. My friend was working out there, so for him it was no thang.

About ten years ago as I prepared to purchase my first DVD player, I'd discovered a small string of video stores on The Bowery. I don't remember if by chance or if I'd read about them on alt.asian-movies (a usenet discussion group). Or maybe it was while I was searching for the last remaining (not for long) Chinese movie theatre in Manhatten, The Music Palace, which was also on the Bowery.

Anyhow, knowing that the VCD format worked on some DVD players as well as PCs, I started to build up a collection of VCDs, so I'd have a selection to play once I got a player, but could watch right away on my computer.

Lai Lai was the first store I became a semi-regular at. I'd tried a store closer to or on the corner of Canal and the Bowery, and felt like a complete foreigner there. While Lai Lai was a lot smaller, it was a lot less intimidating as well. I'm pretty sure that's where I first met Michelle, who had helped me out when I had to return the DVD of Tai Chi Master. Twice, I think. It wouldn't play, and then another copy was tried in-store and that didn't work either, so I opted for some other movie. I still don't have Tai Chi Master on DVD, and I won't buy Twin Dragons (the U.S. release), though I've seen it.

Lai Ying opened up next door and when I went there was surprised to see Michelle, who I guess was running this operation. Lai Lai might've been her aunt's shop, but I don't remember for sure. Lai Ying was the greatest place for movies for a while, and there was a dude selling HK comics in the back as well. These came packaged with toy swords, which were the main reason I was buying them.

Over time I visited with less frequency due to a lot of factors (the internet, not that interested in Jonhny To movies and the like, not enough new kung fu movies, less time for long trips to buy movies, etc.), but always expected it would be there for me, if I needed it. But no more. It's been razed to the ground by some bastard.

Swiped from Kaiju Shakedown:

The legendary Lai Ying in New York City has been HQ central for Asian film fans for years and years now. Run by Michelle, this DVD/VCD/CD store was located one door down from the Music Palace, one of the last Chinatown movie theaters in the US, near the corner of Bowery and Hester and it was the place to pick up the latest Hong Kong and Japanese movies. They had an extensive stock, would find anything you were looking for, and their bargain bin ran a "3 for $20" special pretty much non-stop. Michelle and her co-worker Paul really stepped up their game to help serve non-Cantonese-speaking fans and their prices were usually the lowest in town. They were also one of the few people to stand up to Tai Seng's "piracy" raids that were once the bane of Chinatown video stores.

A few weeks ago, the owner of the building in which Lai Ying was located told them that they had to move, despite the fact that they had a couple of years left on their lease. Given 15 minutes to vacate the store, Michelle managed to find a new location at 75 Chrystie Street around the corner. Two days later, however, the building owner reneged on his promise to Michelle to let her staff back in to get her inventory out and he had the building demolished along with her entire stock of DVDs and CDs. He told her to file an insurance claim if she wanted her money. On the one hand, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." On the other: holy cow! This is a massive blow to a small business owner, and Michelle has lost all of her money. More details in the next few days.

That... Is fucked up. I had read that they moved, a little while back at the Kung Fu Cinema forums, but this bit with the 15 minutes to vacate and later on all of her stock being destroyed like that...

RRrrgh!!

I'll have to make it a point to visit the new spot some time in the next few weeks.

Labels: bullshit, DVD, Heroes, kung fu, movies, odd

Spoiler alert! This scene is from the end of the movie.




The two Princes are Ti Lung and Derek Yee. Yee's a fairly well known director nowadays and has an upcoming drama with Jackie Chan coming up, The Shinjuku Incident. I don't know his stuff, though I have a copy of Protege around here somewhere.

This movie, Shaolin Prince is awesome, though I haven't seen it in almost (more than?) a decade, on a VHS tape called Death Mask Of The Ninja. There are no Ninja in this film, though there is a scene of a guy sneaking around dressed in black. Aside from the sedan fight, the highlights are the antics of the Three Holy Fools. Kinda like the Three Stooges but Buddhist, and Chinese. Also a great fight with a bunch of monks with large brass rings.

Labels: Awesome, fun, HDTV, kung fu, movies, nostalgia, Shaw Bros., wu-xia, youtube and other video

There's a number of things to complain about Cablevision, a local (?) provider of cable, broadband internet, and phone service; High prices, loud ass commercials which make it unsafe to leave the TV running in the background while doing other stuff, high prices, occasional issues trying to access my bill online, the DVR which every now and then forgets to record The Daily Show on Mondays. My brother lived in a building in which many people were using Cablevision for internet, and that severely slowed down his online access, forcing him to switch to Verizon (not a problem in my building).

They do get some stuff right, which should be noted.

Kung Fu HD - which I keep mentioning around here. Cablevision sees their competition coming from satellite and now from phone companies. Many of their HD channels were added with them in mind. Kung Fu HD is a far better channel than I used to fantasize about. Hi-Def, a decent selection of movies (including a lot of Samurai flicks and some vaguely related genres), a whole load of Shaw bros. films, no commercial interuptions (as of this writing) and best of all, no episodes of Kung Fu, the slo mo western series starring David Carradine. I assumed any 24 hour Kung Fu channel wouldn't be able to avoid that shitty ass show. I'm glad to be wrong (as of this writing), but I would've put up with it for the good of the cause. Not all the movies are good (Bruce Li), and they play about 3 films play per day, to be repeated throughout. That's fine. I only have so much time to watch and so much space on my DVR.

Note - Kung Fu HD is long gone. Bastards!

Free Wi-Fi - Long Island was supposed to build an island wide free wi-fi network. I don't know what the status of that project is, but in the meantime, Cablevision has stepped up and waived the $30 (I think that's what it was) monthy fee it used to charge it's customers to log in when outside. Hotspot access is still somewhat spotty, but continues to grow. It's even available in my neighborhood (though not when I'm inside). I have limited use for this currently since my PSP has barely enough internal memory to go online before I get a "not enough memory" error message. Sony won't allow the PSP to use the memory stick for such purposes. Newer versions of the PSP has more internal memory, but I don't know how well they fare online. In any case, this is pretty cool. I have audio issues with my current PSP and instead of upgrading to a newer model, as I was considering, I may get some other gadget altogether...

Usenet Access - Andrew Cuomo, son of one of New York State's favorite Governers, recently convinced a number of internet providers to drop usenet service so he could pretend he was doing something about child pornography. Any action taken that does not end up with child molesters/pornographers in jail is actually no action taken against child pornography. It's just a pretence that will be repeated during Cuomo's inevitable run for the Governorship or some other high office in the near future. Not getting my vote, Andy.
Cablevision has so far continued to provide usenet access, to my surprise. While many usenet users responded to this news, noting that their ISP had sucky usenet service (and their preference to commercial usenet providers), I feel that Cablevision's usenet service is actually pretty good. Not as good as commercial usenet servers (which are unaffected by Cuomo's pretentions), but I happen to think that approximately 90 days retention (based on a couple of recent downloads) is more than adequate. Of course, it may be that they've outsourced usenet access, and are continuing service until a contract runs out, like at the end of the year or something. Until then, I can continue my own illegal activities of downloading movies, television shows, and music. Yay.

All three of these things add value to Cablevision's service, and would make me reluctant to go to the competition. I might be inviting a fare hile by admitting that in public, though.

Labels: Awesome, good deal, HDTV, kung fu, Long Island, movies, technology

The story of Hung Sei Quan (Hung Hei Goon)! The fate of Abbot Chi San! Pai Mei (The White Brow Priest) and his receding balls! The marriage and offspring of Tiger and Crane!





I neglected to mention that 8 diagram Pole Fighter was on last night. There's always re-runs.



This bit wasn't part of the broadcast;

Labels: Awesome, feats of strength, HDTV, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, nostalgia, Shaw Bros., youtube and other video

The schedule

Labels: Awesome, HDTV, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, nostalgia, Shaw Bros., youtube and other video

I didn't know I could embed tunes from Vox. Convenient for songs I can't find on Songza.

Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龍一) and Latasha Natasha Diggs, from his 1994 album, Sweet Revenge; Interuptions.



10 Interruptions from http://edshugeothegodmoor.vox.com/

Labels: Awesome, blogs, kung fu, movies, music

I've been waiting for some of these classics to hit the Kung Fu HD channel, since getting this service on Cablevision. This made sense as James Dolan, who was (is?) owner of Cablevision at the time was apparently involved in the Miramax aquisition of a fraction of the Shaw library a few years ago. Miramax eventually gave way to The Wienstein Company and a number of Shaw Bros. classics have been released on their Dragon Dynasty label. A number of movies on Kung Fu HD (and a few other Voom HD channels) still sport the Miramax logo, which again made me wonder when they'd get to some Chang Cheh goodness.

Now.

Tired of whatever was on CNN (last night), I flipped channels to Kung Fu HD. The info bar said I was watching Seven Samurai, but I clearly wasn't.* I was watching The Water Margin, an early seventies epic directed by Chang Cheh. Odd thing about this was that, it isn't among the Dragon Dynasty releases. Image Entertainment put it out. Hmm. Wonder what's going on here?
The picture quality was quite good, but HD cable isn't as good as Blu-Ray for the most part. I compared the picture to the Image DVD and found the cable version to be a significant enough improvement.

According to the TV listings (which may or may not be accurate),* We'll see more Shaw pics on Thursday, Sept. 4th;

Shaolin Handlock



Shaolin Abbot (dunno if I've seen this one, but Lo Lieh is Pai Mei again and something unfortunate is gonna happen to Fung Sai Yuk/Fong Si Yu).



Kung Fu Vengence



The aforementioned Water Margin (aka Seven Blows Of The Dragon) and hopefully more to come.



I don't know if my DVR can take this (assuming there is more to come). I might have some difficulty in erasing some of this content, especially as none of it has been even announced for Blu-Ray, yet (that I know of)
(I can't seem to link to a specific day, so after a while it'll be just the current 4 day cycle after a few days)

*there's some incompetence at Cablevision that causes either the wrong programing, the wrong info, or both. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen often.

Sept. 6th, 2008 - KungFuCinema.com posted the press release yesterday. Sixty movies. Holy shit! Way to go Cablevision.

Films include;

THE WATER MARGIN (1972) - Rated R
U.S. HD Premiere on 9/1 @ 8PM ET

This sprawling affair based on the true legend of how 108 rebel heroes successfully defeated invading Sung armies on their mountain headquarters stars David Chiang, Lily Ho and Ti Lung.

VENGEANCE (1970) - NR
U.S. HD Premiere 9/2 @ 8PM ET

In the first of Cheh’s Blood Brothers movies pairing the deadly duo of David Chiang and Ti Lung, a brother seeks justice against a crime boss who killed his brother. Vengeance was a watershed movie of Hong Kong martial arts cinema that defined Cheh’s cinematic approach for years.

THE BRAVE ARCHER (1977) - Rated R
U.S. HD Premiere 9/5 @ 8PM ET

Following his father’s death, Kuo Ching (Fu Sheng) is raised and trained during the Sung dynasty by a group of kung fu experts. This film, the first in the Brave Archer series, was one of the first to usher in Cheh’s “Venom Mob,” a group of actors/choreographers/weapons experts who would go on to star in many of his films.

GOLDEN SWALLOW (1968) - NR
U.S. HD Premiere on 9/13 @ 8PM ET

Golden Swallow (Pei-pei Cheng) finds her peaceful life shattered when an unrequited suitor starts a killing spree in her name. As she tries to clear her good name, the two men in her life also race towards a final showdown. Hsin-yen Chao and Lo Lieh also star in this swordplay epic, a follow-up to King Hu’s wuxia classic Come Drink with Me, which was originally known as The Girl with the Thunderbolt Kick in the U.S.

THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972) - Rated R
U.S. HD Premiere on 9/15 @ 8PM ET

After heading to Shanghai for a better life, a boxer quickly gains fame and fortune and falls into a ring of corruption and gang warfare. Ching Lee and David Chiang star in this film, one of the first on which John Woo served as assistant director.

BLOOD BROTHERS (1973) - NR
U.S. HD Premiere 9/17 @ 8PM ET

Blood Brothers tells of one of the most sensational scandals in Chinese history, the assassination of a provincial governor (Ti Lung) by his lieutenant and sworn brother (David Chiang).

THE NEW ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1973) - Rated R
U.S. HD Premiere on 9/23 @ 8PM ET

David Chiang and Ti Lung star in this sequel to Cheh’s classic The One Armed Swordsman. Here, the revenge plot which forms the basis of nearly every Cheh film receives particularly vivid treatment, with the crippled Chiang out to avenge the murder of Ti, who has been viciously murdered.

THE ASSASSIN (1967) - Rated R
U.S. HD Premiere on 9/26 @ 8PM ET

Yu is a two-armed swordsman who is betrayed by a jealous rival, but initially seeks a life of simple pleasures until an accidental meeting with another patriot sets him back on the road to bloody, brutal vengeance.

FIVE SHAOLIN MASTERS (1974) - Rated R
U.S. HD Premiere on 9/28 @ 8PM ET

Shaolin renegades fight against their Manchu oppressors and traitorous collaborators. David Chiang, Ti Lung, Meng Fei star.

Other Shaw Brothers films premiering in high-definition during the month of September include SHAOLIN HAND LOCK (9/3), SHAOLIN ABBOT (9/4), THE BRAVE ARCHER 2 (9/6), BRAVE ARCHER 3 (9/7), SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS (9/8), THE DUEL (9/9), SHAOLIN MANTIS (9/10), FIVE ELEMENTS NINJAS (9/11), ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS (9/12), CHINATOWN KID (9/14), SHAOLIN TEMPLE (9/16), INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN (9/18), THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (9/19), THE HEROIC ONES (9/20), HEROES TWO (9/21), MEN FROM THE MONASTERY (9/22), THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (9/23), THE DEADLY DUO (9/24), LIFE GAMBLE (9/25), FOUR RIDERS (9/27), DISCIPLES OF SHAOLIN (9/29) and THE DELIGHTFUL FOREST (9/30).

As with all films airing on KUNG FU HD, these premieres will all be presented uncut, in high-definition, and commercial-free in their original aspect ratios. KUNG FU HD is available in the U.S. Cablevision’s iO digital cable service (channel 776).

Labels: Awesome, HDTV, kung fu, movies, nostalgia, Shaw Bros., tv, youtube and other video

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

This shit is gonna be epic! Too early to tell with under a handful of movies (seen by me), but is Thailand gonna be the next 80's era Hong Kong?




I saw Chocolate the other day and loved it. A story about an autistic girl who has nothing but kung fu, and a mother with a gangster past (along with other issues).

Crunchyroll has the entire movie on their site (in four parts), though a fansubbed DVD can be "found" on usenet, and possibly other online resources. Neither option is legal, though the site appears legit. The DVD is PAL video (European), which won't won't play on many NTSC (U.S. & Japan) players. XBox 360 will, PS3 won't. Funny, that.

Labels: Anticipay-yay-shun..., Awesome, DVD, kung fu, movies, PS3, XBox 360, youtube and other video

Also features Arsenio Hall and Tommy Davidson as Tasty Freeze and Cream Corn.
I'm assuming this is an indie production.
Can't wait for this.

Busy time for MJW. A role in The Dark Knight, a new Spawn animation, it seems, and also playing a guy named Ali (surely not Mohammad?) in the new Bruce Lee TV series coming out of China. All of which I am looking forward to.

Labels: Anticipay-yay-shun..., Awesome, fun, independent film-making, kung fu, movies, nostalgia, youtube and other video

Very, very impressive. I envy them.
More stuff and info here.

Official page and one for Loose Cannons.

Even more strange and fun stuff via Ain't It Cool and Twitch.

Labels: Awesome, fun, independent film-making, kung fu, movies, youtube and other video

Another Leung Tsang* related movie not mentioned in yesterday's post, probably cuz I've never seen it, believe it or not. I'm aiming to fix that. I think Leung Kar Yan is playing Leung Tsang this time. Here's the trailer...



*Spelling varies.

Labels: DVD, kung fu, movies, youtube and other video

Last week I finished watching Real Kung Fu, a 20 episode TV drama series starring Yuen Biao, Gordon Liu, Leung Kar Yan, Lo Mang, Yuen Wah and Lee Hoi Seng.

The story seemed to revolve around an unambitious middle age man (Yuen Biao, who I assume is playing his age) who gets caught up in a murder mystery. When Leung Kar Yan (who used to be nicknamed "Beardy") appears as an effeminate ex-opera performer (and kung fu expert) with asthma, I figure it's just a nod to a character played by Lam Ching Ying in Prodigal Son. Even knowing that Yuen played the lead in Prodigal Son, I thought nothing more of it, since the lead character here seemed completely different.

It wasn't until an article on Kung Fu Cinema about a newer series called Wing Chun, did I start to make a connection. I was still in the middle of Real Kung Fu (from 2005), when I read that Wing Chun (2007) was a direct sequel to Prodigal Son that re-united Sammo Hung, the film's director with Yuen Biao who played Leung Jan.

Soon I'd figure out that Leung Tsan from the series I was watching was the same, though the story was different.

Leung Chan (spelling varies) was a Wing Chun expert from the 1800's/1900's. He taught the man (Chan Wah-Shun) who taught Yip Man who was Bruce Lee's teacher in Wing Chun, which I guess makes him Lee's Grand teacher. Had I not been a kung fu school drop out, I would have known this and not had to find this out on Wikipedia, but there it is.

Here's the trailer for Prodigal Son:



The opening theme for Real Kung Fu:



and a scene from Wing Chun:



The article says that Wing Chun (a 40 episode series) will be released on DVD in May by Tai Seng for a suggested retail price of sixty bucks, but it's available now from YesAsia for about forty eight bucks. Of course, it can also be found online, *ahem*. I look forward to watching it.

Labels: Awesome, downloads, DVD, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, tv, youtube and other video

Here's a new film premiering in July in China. Starring Sammo Hung and introducing some impressive young talent.



And more about it at Kung Fu Cinema...

Labels: kung fu, movies, 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

"Condelicious, is that you?"


Well, now I'm ordering Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle. It can be gotten cheaply on Amazon. Close to the price of a rental from a few of the 3rd party vendors.

Also on the stupid but probably good list? Kung Fu Panda. It's the sequence with the chopsticks that sold me. I'd sworn off mixed animal CGI movies after Over The Hedge (and all the ones that came before). It was alright, but enough already. However I can't pass on a mixed animal CGI movie with kung fu, can I? Not if there's any actual effort being put in the fight choreography.

And Jackie Chan voices the monkey, though I don't think he can be heard in any of the trailers, yet.

Labels: Awesome, DVD, funny-ass shit, good deal, kung fu, movies, youtube

Old news, but new news to me. And great fucking news at that.
In addition to the releases by Dragon Dynasty and Image Entertainment (not to mention PC only rentals* from Jaman), Classic remastered Shaw Brothers movies will be made available on DVD in the U.S. by Media Blasters.

The titles;

Five Elements Ninjas AKA Super Ninjas!
Heroes Two
The Master
Challenge of the Masters
Martial Club (Oh, Hellz yeah!)
The Deadly Duo
The Brave Archer
The Ten Tigers of Kwangtung
Black Magic 2
Flag of Iron

Great selection of titles. As mentioned in this interview with Linn Haynes, it's a wonder they hadn't been hoarded by DD or Image. Martial Club (sequel to Challenge Of The Masters) is one of my all time favorite kung fu movies. Certainly the best movie starring Gordon Liu Chia Hui and Wang Lung Wei. "Fei Hong! Use your family's kung fu!"

Apparently they start coming out in the spring and will be released one per month, beginning with Heroes Two. No plans for Blu-Ray yet, despite the using Hi-Def masters.

Labels: Awesome, DVD, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, nostalgia

Happy Year Of The Rat. D-Addicts has another series up for torrent download. Genius Physician Ti Ying AKA Miracle Healers.



This in addition to the usual Chinese Drama Series Of The Month. Three Musketeers with Shu Qi (torrent link). As far as I can tell, it isn't based on Alexander Dumas' novel, though that wouldn't be a bad idea.

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

The Forbidden Kingdom with Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Liu Yi Fei (Crystal Liu) and some unknown (to me) White kid for local (Hollywood) flavor.



I take it that this movie is gonna be acted in English, which may or may not be kinda awkward to listen to, since there's only about one native speaker (I think) throughout most of it. Then again, some Chinese had that issue with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I'm just gonna hope for the best.

Labels: kung fu, movies, wu-xia, youtube

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

is really The Banquet which really sucks all kinds of ass just like The Curse Of The Golden Armor did. In other words, I don't recommend it.

Labels: bullshit, kung fu, movies

I like this version better than what was previously posted.

Labels: kung fu, movies, music, Songza

The theme to one of Jet Li's Huang Fei Hong movies (Once Upon A Time In China series), sung by a one time Master Huang himself ( Drunken Master movies), Jackie Chan;

Labels: Awesome, China, kung fu, movies, music, Songza

Not this blog. I've just been lazy chillin'.

DRM for music downloads.

The last major label will throw in the towel on digital rights management and prepare to fight Apple for valuable download revenues.

Sony-BMG are dipping their feet in the waters of the DRM free market by starting to offer some of their music.

About iTunes and their competition, it is said;

Still, no service has yet been able to offer DRM-free music downloads from all four major labels. Amazon could yet become a contender.

If a store becomes a popular place to shop, then of course it makes sense to have your music available there, if you can. However, it isn't necessary for the consumer to have only one website to get all our downloads. It's not like having to travel a few miles to another store. Most of what I buy comes from eMusic, everything else is either "found" or bought on CD, though that's more of a rarity for me nowadays. Though I still think 99 cents is too much for a MP3, I have come close on a couple of occasions to buying music on iTunes (Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon) and Amazon (a compilation from Nine Inch Nails, Still), both of which are priced at about eight bucks. And both DRM-free.

If, as a record company, one doesn't like iTunes, there's no reason why Sony, Warners, or any other big company can't sell DRM-free music on their own sites, as long as they aren't stupid about it (there was that Sony site a while back that only worked on Internet Explorer). Plus they would make whatever change that would normally go to iTunes/whoever.

Also Dead?

HD-DVD

As prices started to come down, I came close to getting an HD-DVD player, but came to my senses. Now it appears that Warner's is supporting Blu-Ray, leaving HD-DVD with about 30% of the Hollywood studios on their side. A while back, I was rooting for HD-VMD, but they were a long shot even before the price drops.

Folks are declaring the format war over, though it might be best to wait and see. Also Blu-Ray player prices are not where they need to be, yet. Especially for full spec players. Many of the players on the market only contain few of the features of the Blu-Ray spec. Typical of Sony in the last few years to release hardware that does a little bit of what it's supposed to do. Some would say, all it really needs to do is play the movies. Sure, if it was a machine costing less than 200 bucks, but right now they're much more expensive than that.

PS3 is still a non-issue for me. I'm not exactly starving for games for my XBox 360, so until Sony's "superior technology" actually does something interesting on the gaming front, I'll have no need for it.

Speaking of the XBox, I rented the movie, Ratatouille from XBox Live last week. I was curious as to what Hi-Def content looked like on the console, especially since the sizes of their movie files (4-6 GB, generally) would fit on a standard dual layer DVD. The resolution of Hi-Def on XBL is 720p vs. 1080i for most hi-def on Cablevision (sports on cable tends to be on 720p, though). The movie looked very good and I noticed no quality difference between this and a movie on Hi-def cable. Except for the lack of pixelation. There was none of it during Ratatouille. On a hi-def channel on cable, there's plenty of it during fast motion action, or during scenes that contain flickering lights. I initially thought this might be a limitation of my relatively cheap Olevia TV, but I doubt that now.

I'd been using HDMI on my Xbox and component cables on the HD cable box/DVR. The tv has only one HDMI input. Today (Jan 5th '08) I switched the HDMI cable to the set top box and watched a little bit of Yuen Wo Ping's Tiger Cage 2 (which was on the DVR) and noticed an improvement on motion scenes. Just a tiny bit of pixelation in one scene and they (the pixels) were much smaller. It was a worn film print, so I wasn't able to notice any picture improvement, and more time will be needed to see if HDMI really has reduced the pixelation issue. Jury seems to be out as to which is clearly better, but it seems to depend on the equipment. I may have to get an HDMI switch, but I'll wait till I get a Hi-Def player of some sort. Now to see if the XBox 360 suffers from component cables...

I won't be downloading much in the way of movies from XBL, though. 480 points, translates into about six dollars and change, plus tax. I didn't time the 5 Gb download, but it took a while.
Downloading to hard drives is great for rentals, but bad for owned content (and the only good use of DRM). If they bring it down to 3 bucks, I'll do a lot more of it.

Standard DVD still wins. Until a decent Blu-ray player (not the half ass shit that's out there) hits at 300 bucks and below.

Labels: kung fu, movies, music business, PS3, technology, XBox 360

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

Lot's of Katsu Shintaro's famous blind swordsman (and masseuse), Zatoichi showing up on the Kung Fu HD Channel over the past couple of weeks or so, and for a little while longer. Seeing how often they repeat movies, I'll have some time to catch up. I usually catch a flick already in progress, but I've caught a few of these already and they're just great.
Katsu in this role is a lot like Peter Falk in Columbo; kinda clumsy and sloppy looking, but still cool, because unlike the characters around him, we know about the badass lurking beneath the surface.

The second film looks much better than it did on DVD, but that's because the dvd was downright crummy. I didn't check the first which I also have on disc. So far, all of the samurai flicks on this channel have used decent film transfers. Some of the kung fu movies as well, though some of the lower-lower budget stuff (Bruce Li, etc.) was obviously deemed unworthy of re-masters.

Labels: Awesome, HDTV, japanese, kung fu, movies, youtube

From The New York Post...

By ALEX GINSBERG

December 4, 2007 -- He didn't "kirr" anybody.

Accused serial killer Stephen Sakai made a bizarre spectacle of himself on the stand at his trial yesterday - affecting a farcical Asian accent and claiming to have flown to the Far East on a private jet for martial-arts competitions.

The 32-year-old Sakai, who is not Asian and whose birth name is Sanders, wore a Charlie Chan-like mustache and pronounced his "L's" as "R's" as he testified to deny any role in the three killings he is charged with.

"Rast name, Sakai," he told the court clerk.

The former bouncer at Sunset Park strip bar Sweet Cherry and Chelsea club Opus 22 faces life in prison for allegedly stabbing to death a one-time buddy, Wayne Tyson, and fatally shooting fellow bouncers Irving Matos and Edwin Mojica in 2005.

He also faces separate trials on charges that he killed one man and injured three in a shooting rampage in May 2006.

On the stand, Sakai pinned the three Brooklyn killings on an NYPD detective, Christopher Breslin - which he pronounced "Bresrin" - who was apparently angry that Sakai had refused to share bodyguard work with him.

"Wayne Tyson was a good person," Sakai said. "He was a friend of mine. He supported me when I needed him most. Irv Matos did the same.

"He referred to me as his rittle brother. These two people didn't die because there was someone running around killing. These two people died because they supported me, collecting evidence against a dirty cop.

"During this trial, I've had to sit there and listen to rie after rie."

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Tim Gough, Sakai - who was born in Queens and has never held a passport - claimed that since the age of 5, he had been flown to Cambodia and Vietnam by a mysterious Asian businessman interested in martial arts.

"The rast time I went overseas was in 2006," he said.

He also alleged cops had force-fed him poison, then injected drugs into his neck before forcing him to confess to the three killings.

alex.ginsberg@nypost.com

Labels: funny-ass shit, kung fu

A little over a year ago, Blogger added labels to the functionality of their blogs. Blogspot bloggers who hosted their sites on ftp rather than on blogspot itself, couldn't list their categories on the side of the webpage the way everybody else could.

I found some html code that now allows me to do just that. Now I'm in the process of going back through all the posts that didn't have labels and tagging them. Might take a little while.

Also filled that area on the top right that used to be empty, with a YouTube video. Right now it's LMF's Bruce Lee tribute, 1127. I'll change it once a week or whenever I feel like it.

Labels: blogs, kung fu, music video, youtube

There's a great gallery of comicbook covers that accompany an article on the truly legendary Tony Wong. Most of the work represent early issues of Dragon Tiger Gate (Oriental Heroes). Dragon Tiger Gate was recently made into a not so good movie and Kaiju Shakedown laments what could have been (while linking to the above article in the first place and allowing me to find it).

Labels: comics, fun, kung fu

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

Archive.org makes a number of public domain titles available for viewing and download, as well as other media with various copyrights and whatnot. I'm not sure this movie belongs here, but a number of films like this tend to show up on supermarket and discount shelves from multiple dvd labels, so the copyright on the English version is probably not being enforced at the moment.

I haven't seen this one, yet, but it looks entertaining by the looks of the first few minutes.

You can stream it here, or download the mp4 which may or may not work in your portable media player. I haven't tried it in my PSP, yet.

Enjoy...

Labels: downloads, good deal, kung fu, movies

I can't believe I have the Kung Fu Channel. In HD even. I'd noticed a couple of new HD stations a couple of weeks ago, but never fully explored what was available. I was flippin' channels a little while ago and found something called The Samurai Saga (haven't watched it yet), an old Japanese film with subtitles. The channel ID puzzled me.

"KFUHD? What's KFU? Wait...

No way! No Fuckin' Way!"

So I check online, and yes Virginia, there is a Kung Fu channel (766 on IO in Nassau County, NY), and I got it (along with some other stuff) without even asking. Me so happy.

I know it won't be perfect. For instance, they're showing The Defender instead of it's original version, The Bodyguard From Beijing. There's sure to be a fair share of crap (sometimes I like crap), but there's also a bunch of flicks listed I either haven't seen, never heard of, or have seen, but never on a decent DVD. Awesomeness.

Shit. Am I gonna have to get a Tivo-like box?

Labels: good deal, HDTV, kung fu, movies, tv

Swiped from Kung Fu Cinema;

007.06.26 | Upcoming | by Mark Pollard

This news is a month old but definitely worth mentioning. Wong Kar-wai has been hard at work re-editing his sole wuxia film ASHES OF TIME for a big-scale re-release. Back in May it was announced that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired what is now tentatively known as ASHES OF TIME REDUX for distribution in the U.S. It has also sold to several European territories at this year’s Cannes.

Originally released in 1994, ASHES OF TIME is Wong’s loose adaptation of wuxia author Louis Cha’s “Legend of the Condor Heroes.” It stars some of Hong Kong’s hottest talents of the past 30 years including Tony Leung, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, and the late Leslie Cheung. Wire-assisted action choreography is directed by the great Sammo Hung. Award-winning cinematography is provided by Wong’s long-time collaborator Christopher Doyle.

The original film was a complex, moody and non-linear tale of self-absorbed and lovelorn knights wallowing in their sorrows out in China’s barren western frontier. Coupled with arresting visuals and exceptional acting from its superstar cast, it was a fascinating, yet difficult film to digest, particularly for audiences accustomed to typically less sophisticated Chinese-language swordplay adventures. It was also a movie plagued by an overlong production schedule and Wong’s own spontaneous filmmaking style, which didn’t lend itself very well to feature filmmaking on this scale.

As such, it is not surprising to learn that one of the changes to be applied to the REDUX version will be the addition of new scenes. What isn’t clear is if new footage has been shot expressly for this release or if unused 1994 footage will be used. Wong is also re-editing other scenes and applying a new score.

The timing for a re-release of ASHES OF TIME couldn’t be much better now that broader international audiences have had a healthy sampling of more artistically-minded wuxia films like CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and HERO. Although enthusiasm for Wong Kar-wai’s works have cooled some at film festivals, he still remains the darling of the Asian arthouse cinema crowd.

There are relatively few wuxia films that could receive a similarly high-profile reintroduction to worldwide audiences. Yet, a successful run of REDUX could at least encourage the reissue of other neglected wuxia classics such as Tsui Hark’s THE BLADE and King Hu’s DRAGON GATE INN.

Work on REDUX is expected to be completed late this year.

Source: Variety

Labels: kung fu, movies, wu-xia

Great amateur short Kung Fu film. No martial arts experience between the lot of them. I'm impressed as a muh-fug.

Found via The Martial World.

Labels: downloads, funny-ass shit, independent film-making, kung fu, youtube

As reported on Kung Fu Cinema;

Online digital download site Jaman.com is currently offering up to three free downloadable rentals on select Shaw Brothers classics such as TWIN BLADES OF DOOM and THE 14 AMAZONS when you create an account.

All you need to do to take advantage of this feature is have a broadband connection, visit Jaman.com, register for free, download the Jaman player, and start downloading up to three digital titles specially-marked “Free Rental” from among 50 Shaw Brothers classics in Jaman’s online library.

Once you’ve finished watching your free rentals, you can continue to rent movies for $1.99 or purchase them for $4.99.

I'm not a fan of watching movies on my computer, but I'm gonna have to try this.

Out in video stores this week are the first of the Dragon Dynasty releases of the Shaw Bros. line; 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (Master Killer), My Young Auntie, King Boxer (5 Fingers Of Death), and The One Armed Swordsman. If these movies contain the original English dub tracks (where applicable), then the time has come to throw away my old supermarket bought bootlegs.

Labels: downloads, good deal, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, nostalgia, Shaw Bros., wu-xia

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

After seeing Kung Fu Friday's post of a YouTube clip from Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, I submit...


this bit from Martial Club AKA Instructors Of Death. A few of my favorite films are sequels featuring portrayals of Wong Fei Hong; Drunken Master 2, Once Upon A Time In China II, and Martial Club which followed another Shaw film starring Gordon Liu Chia Hui, but whose name escapes me right now.

Labels: kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, nostalgia

Went to the movies today to check out 300, the digital movie adaptation of Frank Miller's comic book. I caught an Imax showing in NYC, not expecting that a Tuesday afternoon screening could be so crowded. Getting a bad seat at any movie theatre sucks. Getting a bad seat at an Imax theatre really sucks, and as I sat there trying to watch the Spiderman 3 trailer, with every body's faces stretched thin at the top, because I'm sitting way too close to the screen, looking up, it occurs to me, "this was a really bad idea." And what's the fucking point anyway? Do I need to see the images that big? No. Though, once I caught an interesting editing glitch at the end of Matrix Revolutions, that I might not have seen on a normal but decent sized movie screen.

I thought the movie was great. Screen issues didn't hurt at all, though I'd noticed some distorted big heads or figures every now and then. Though it's making more than enough money at the box office, I'm thinking of seeing it again (getting to the theatre earlier, this time).

Much is being made of the parallels between events in the film and current events, and why not? I think it works well as pro-war propaganda, and we've needed a good pro-war film (as opposed to just a good war film) for a long time.
It also works as a critique of our weaknesses. The politics and perceived self interests that hold us from doing what must be done (mentioned by numerous others), on the side of the Spartans (or maybe not so much on their side), as well as the overconfidence and arrogance that ultimately hinders our ability to truly be victorious, represented by the antagonists. Despite Xerxes origin in a familiar eastern locale and the fight against "mysticism and tyranny", our enemy is ourselves, as Pogo may've been quoted.

None of this was likely intended by the film-makers or by Miller himself, as far as I know. Like most critics, sometimes I like to bring my own baggage to the table.

Did I mention it was a good movie? It is. Go see it.

I also watched The Host and Curse Of The Golden Flower on DVD.

The Host is an amusing black comedy about a dis-functional family (of course they're dis-functional) who hunts a monster that took their daughter/niece/grand-daughter from them. The special effects in this movie from Korea are surprisingly good, and for the most part would've impressed me in much larger budgeted Hollywood flicks. There's a subplot I didn't quite get, that appears to be suggesting that America sorta pulled the whole bird flu scare out of it's ass, and for no reason. Despite that, I enjoyed it a whole lot.

I didn't like Curse Of The Golden Flower. I thought it was a depressing and pointless piece of shit. Kinda like The Banquet (which also sucked), but more colorful. The kung fu wasn't bad, but more of it wouldn't have helped.

Labels: comics, DVD, kung fu, movies, politics

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

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

The only team I'm rooting for is Prince's band. He better kick ass tonight.
The picture above is of the late Kwan Tak Hing, the actor who portrayed Wong Fei Hong from 1949 'till about 1972 or something (not counting cameos in Magnificent Butcher and Dreadnaught). I put it up because I think he kinda resembles Prince in this photo. Also it's been a few days since I've mentioned kung fu movies.

Labels: kung fu, music, Prince, tv

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

Looks like Wong Kar Wai is going back into the editing room for his classic film, Ashes Of Time. I look forward to seeing a decent DVD of this. Hopefully, this time we can actually see some of Sammo Hung's choreography. Why did they hire the guy if they weren't gonna use his stuff?

Kung Fu Cinema calls it "one of the greatest wuxia pian ever made." I can't agree with that, though I did enjoy the film on my second viewing.

Ashes Of time provides some backstory to the world of Louis Cha's Condor Heroes.

Labels: DVD, kung fu, movies, 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

As the folks at Dr Master Books* prepare to launch their remastered version of Ma Wing Shing's classic comicbook epic, Chinese Hero (published in the U.S. as Blood Sword and Blood Sword Dynasty) sometime in 2007, their website has prepared a presentation going into the backstory.

Publishing this story from it's awkward beginings could turn off readers before the series gets running, so the early adventures are presented in a brief recap on the site and the new publications will jump off at the point where the backstory ends. I guess.

I'm mucho excited. There may be some holes in my collection of the Jademan comics run, I should probably fill before this comes out.

*The Dr Master website has quite a few comics on sale, including some early Comics One volumes that are worth checking out if you're into stuff like that.

Labels: comics, kung fu

Kaiju Shakedown is reporting the near iminent release of the first batch of remastered Shaw Bros. DVDs from Image.

Black Magic (September 12th) a horror film that played locally when I was in middle school. never saw it myself, and when a friend of mine described some of the happenings in the movie, I figured I never would. Of course, now I want to see it.

Super Inframan (October 3rd) what Ultraman would be if he was Chinese and knew Kung Fu. Danny Lee (The Killer) is a superhero who fights guys in rubber suits. I have the region 3 DVD from Celestial. I don't think this warrents a second purchase, unless this disc contains the original English dubbing (The HK Shaw Bros. discs does not).

The Water Margin (October 17th) I haven't really seen this one before. There was an English version called Seven Blows Of The Dragon that aired on TV. I couldn't stay with it at the time cuz all the fight scenes looked kinda weak to me. This movie was from the early seventies, and everything I liked at that point was from the mid to late seventies.
It's a Chang Cheh film (I think) and the style of fight choreography hadn't developed yet, into what I recognized as the Shaw style. My horizons have expanded a bit, though, so I'm looking forward to this. I have a download stashed somewhere, but I'll be getting the actual release.

The Magic Blade (November 11th) I have the HK disc, so I can probaly skip this. However I can be tempted if the English dubbing is not newly redone, but the original from the seventies. The Magic Blade is part of a series of adaptations of wu-xia stories by Gu Long. This and at least one other (there may be more) features Ti Lung as a swordsman with the resources of a James Bond, or perhaps Batman. Good stuff.

The Boxer's Omen (November 21st) Never heard of this one. From the same director of Killer Snakes would be just what I need to hear to keep me from buying this. On the other hand, Wang Lung Wei is in this, and the description (click the link) is enticing. I'm getting this one.

Intimate Confessions Of A Chinese Courtesan (December 5th) I've read about this film in a number of places. I always thought it was just a cheesy sexploitation film. That was enough to get my attention, but the trailer indicates there's kung fu, too! I was getting this anyway, and now I'm definately getting this.

Except for Boxer's Omen, each movie page has a trailer (newly edited, not originals) as well as disc details. I'm still wondering about the English dubbing. I normally prefer subtitles on foriegn films, except for Hong Kong movies made during the seventies. Those voices are classics. Until they can be preserved on decent DVD releases, bootlegs of the classic Shaw Bros. films will always have some value.

Labels: DVD, kung fu, movies, Shaw Bros., wu-xia

A mini banner type ad which ran on Newsarama last week seems to promise the return of Ma Wing Shing's classic comic book, Chinese Hero in 2007 (I've since found a discussion about it on the DrMaster site). The series was previously translated and released in the states as Blood Sword (also the name of a TV series adaptation) and Blood Sword Dynasty. There were some translation issues, but overall these were great comics. I'd been slowly collecting those issues missing from my collection. Blood Sword Dynasty nearly complete (there were only something like 42 issues) and Blood Sword itself needing a bit more. The U.S. comics were cancelled before the story was completed. Thought I wonder if it ever was. Ma left Jade publishing to start his own company, and Chinese Hero (Chung Wah Ying Hung) was continued after he left. At some point after that (I think) the publisher of that series, Tony Wong found himself imprisoned for something or another.

Also unknown (to me) is whether or not Ma's run on the title is being reprinted, and from what point. Early issues would be a tough sell for a number of reasons.

It's not a great movie, but the film adaptation, Man Called Hero is worth looking at.

(note: I started this post on the 19th, but didn't publish it till today, the 24th. Not important. It just bugs me that it shows up as the 19th.)

Edit: didn't see this in any of my searches last week.

Labels: comics, kung fu

Actually I just realized "Qi" would be a cooler spelling, but then some people wouldn't know how to pronounce it. Oh, well.

The PSP (PlayStation Portable) can now be used as a songwriting tool, or at least a beatbox with a homebrew program called PSP Rhythm. Excited about this, I decided to give it a shot and write this weeks song with it. Actually, I'd been playing around with it for the last coupl'a weeks.
I've been using Audacity on XP for most of my song demo recordings and this week's no different, except I've never multitracked on it. I exported the wave file from the PSP and then recorded two vocal tracks.

This week's song is a Wu-Xia fantasy. Why not?

A wave of my hand
sword energy
a quickening
of pulses
countered by palms
Shaolin techniques
my body
convulses
I gather my chi,
energy
from the forces of nature
around me
Focus my will
till I'm at peace
and ready to
release

Chi
Energy

My enemies fall
scattered throughout
like waves
in the water
The cracking of bone
spilling of blood
chaos from
order
I gather my chi,
energy
from the forces of nature
around me
Victorious
a stroke of my beard
I laugh
in pride

Chi
Energy

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Labels: downloads, kung fu, lyrics, my music, PSP, PSP Rhythm, PsychoVoyager, song of the week, wu-xia

I think I spelled that wrong. Whatever. Anyway, here's Frank Miller on video discussing his work in progress, Holy Terror, Batman! Looks good. Look at the size of those pages, though. I love Miller, and probably would've stopped reading comics in 1980 or so if not for him. Actually, I did for a minute, I think. His stuff often looks like it could be drawn with Sharpie markers on 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper. Not sayin' that's bad, just that he makes it look that easy.
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Unconfirmed reports at Aint it Cool News about Keanu Reeves possibly playing the Silver Surfer and Yuen Wo-Ping directing an Ang Lee film production of Shang Chi (Master Of Kung Fu) got me thinking about ideas I used to have about about these characters.

First, let me start with Spiderman. I never thought a faithful adaptation of Spiderman could work, but it did, and the first two Sam Raimi films were great. Before he proved me wrong, I had this bizarre concept of Peter Parker being a Haitian-American student played by Will Smith (who basically has Spiderman's personality down) who goes through the traditional origin and then becomes a modern day incarnation of one of his ancestral gods, Anansie, which is what Spiderman basically is. Anansie/Edshu to Brer Rabbit to Bugs Bunny to Spiderman to assorted loudmouthed, charismatic black wiseguys popular in Hollywood cinema today.
I understand that to some, that's possibly the worst idea they will ever hear. Anansie, however is a god in the form of a spider and sometimes spider-man. He predates Marvel's character by possibly thousands of years and is therefore public domain. Somebody is gonna eventually exploit this idea if Marvel itself doesn't do what they've already done with their other spider-related franchises from Spider-Woman to Arana, and get there first.

Where was I? Okay. The Surfer and MOKF.

Lee and Kirby reunited (with Joe Sinnot) near the end of the seventies to produce a graphic novel (not so-called, if I remember the times correctly) which remains among my favorite comics of all time. This is close to equaling a Beatles reunion (not the one that produced Free As A Bird, though). I recall that at some point (late 70's, very early 80's?) a movie based on this book was considered. A musical with a prominent role for Olivia Newton John, but still, I was excited. Never happened. I still consider this story the only one featuring the Surfer and Galactus that matters. The Fantastic Four "trilogy" where the stretchy guy scares the big guy off with that little gun? Nope. Liked it when I first read it, but... nope.

The only place where my ideas veer off a bit is that Zenn La is not Norrin Ladd's home. Norrin, the Surfer is a figure created wholly from Galatus' subconcious. Sorta like the angel that sits on a person's right shoulder in those old cartoons. His memories of home are actually those of his host, Galactus. Everytime Galactus comes across an inhabited world, he does battle with himself, because in spite of what he says, he knows there's not that much difference between him and his food.

Master Of Kung Fu was an attempt to cash in on Bruce Lee by having a martial arts hero be related to Fu Manchu. I dunno, is that kinda like having Luke Cage be related to Rochester from the old Jack Benny show? Dude's name was Shang Chi and he wore the same red pajamas all the time and hung out with some British folks who were trying to take down his father. Now, I'm not Chinese, but I have a feeling this wouldn't play that well in Beijing, Hong Kong or even Taiwan. Still, it might be cool. I know Yuen's not gonna actually direct the film. They'll have him do the action (at most) and let some hack do the rest.

Had an idea for the comicbook, that Fu Shang-Chi was working for his father all along or at least for the organization that he would eventually inherit. The series would pit him against Nick Fury who would always be a step behind the son of Fu.

Labels: comics, fun, kung fu, movies

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

Here's episode one of the 1970's Japanese Spiderman series that I've mentioned before. This one has occasionally jokey English subtitles that, while not funny, doesn't interrupt the fun of what you're seeing. If I'm doing this right, you'll be able to play it from this post. If not, click on the title above to go to the youtube.com page that hosts it.
Thanks to Kaiju Shakedown.

January 18th, 2008 - The original video was deleted, so I've instead embedded the opening credits above.

Labels: Awesome, comics, dead links, funny-ass shit, japanese, kung fu, tv, youtube

This may've been out for a while, but there's a teaser trailer for the next Jet Li film, Fearless. As I understand it, Li portrays a real life, historical martial artist, Huo YuanJia. Kung Fu movie fans might remember that Huo's death set off the bloody rampage of a fictional (I think) martial artist, Chen Zhen (sp?), portrayed first by Bruce Lee in Fist Of Fury (AKA Chinese Connection) and later on by Jet Li in the remake Fist Of Legend. Donnie Yen also plays him in the TV series version of Fist Of Fury. A trailer can be found on the movie's website. I remember those films of course, but not the teacher's name. I only know of the connection cuz I read it somewhere. I normally don't care for martial arts films based around tournaments. Until The Matrix, western film-makers who wanted to do Kung Fu films emulated Enter The Dragon about 80% of the time. Still, this looks like it could be good.
Kung Fu Cult Cinema is reporting that Fearless will be Li's last Kung Fu film. He wants to make more philosophical, family oriented films. That can't be good. I guess I'd heard it before. On November 16th (or thereabouts) I read the following on Kaiju Shakedown:

JET LI BRINGS PEACE TO THE GHETTO

Much has been made about Jet Li's decision to give up martial arts movies in favor of less violent fare, but that doesn't necessarily mean the movies he's making in the future are better. In fact, they might be a whole lot worse.

According to the Shanghai Youth Daily, Jet Li has two projects for 2006: a sequel to his video game, RISE TO HONOR, and A MONK IN NEW YORK.

A MONK IN NEW YORK is a project that Jet Li developed with KISS OF THE DRAGON screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen back in 2001 with Corey Yuen doing the action duties. At the time, Miramax reportedly paid Jet Li $10 million to appear in the film, but later they dropped out and the rights reverted to Li. Now it looks like he's going to really do it and he has full creative control of the project.

The story? It's about a Tibetan monk played by Li (so far so good), who wins a trip to New York (still going strong) and brings peace to an inner city neighborhood. Okay, maybe I'm jumping the gun when I say "Argh!" but maybe not.

(Thanks to Wu Jing.org for the tip off)

I don't think it sounds *soooooooo* bad, but if there's no kung fu...
Li's acting has improved a little bit in Unleashed (Danny The Dog), but not enough for him to carry a film in English (or even in Chinese) without some acrobatic hijinks, I think.

Labels: kung fu, movies

This could be interesting. Hell, even if it's bad, it'll be interesting. Sam Jackson as a Samurai??? Sheeit, negro. That's all you had to say!!!

Here's a bit swiped from Variety.com:

Black belt warrior
Jackson drawn to 'Afrosamurai' adaptation

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

NEW YORK -- Samuel L. Jackson is attached to topline and co-produce a live-action feature to be adapted from the Japanese comic franchise "Afrosamurai," created by Takashi Okazaki.

Pic is a joint production of Japanese animation studio GDH K.K. Gonzo, Fuji TV and Mosaic Media in Los Angeles. Jackson is already signed to lend his voice to an "Afrosamurai" TV comicstrip set to bow on Spike TV next year.

"Afrosamurai" is the story of a warrior in feudal Japan who roams the country trying to avenge the death of his father, whom he saw murdered. His nemesis is a three-armed gunman.

Production of the pic is set to begin in 2006, with a U.S. release targeted for 2007.

The television strip, from Gonzo and Fuji TV, will bow in Japan after airing on Spike. Mosaic Media's Charles Roven and Alex Gartner are producing the feature film, along with GDH K.K. prexy Shinichiro Ishikawa and Fuji TV motion picture department topper Chihiro Kameyama .

The Firm's Eli Shelden and Julie Yorn exec produce. Mosaic's Gloria Fan is the creative exec on the project.


Date in print: Wed., Aug. 3, 2005, Los Angeles
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There's also an AfroSamurai website.

Labels: Anime, kung fu, tv

Sin City is at the top of my list for this years upcoming and unseen films. Based on a series of great Noir comics by Frank Miller, It stars Jessica Alba (above), Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke (who doesn't need the extra make up, but if they told him that, he'd probably walk), Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen and a number of others.



The film is directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez and is meant to mimic the look and feel of Miller's work.



The trailer looks f**king great! You might be able to see it at apple.com or download it at "Dave's Trailer Page".

I imagine that Alba's performance here will redeem whatever bad karma may result from her involvement in another comic book film, The Fantastic Four.



Next up is "Kung Fu Hustle", the latest blockbuster by Stephen Chow Sing-Chi. Chow is a certified comic genius. I recommend his previous films like Forbidden City Cop (The first Chow film I saw, and still my favorite), Flirtong Scholar, Shaolin Soccer, King of Beggars, Royal Tramp 1 & 2, God Of Cookery, and King Of Comedy (not the one with Jerry Lewis and Deniro).

The trailer is available on the official site (www.kungfuhustle.com) and also on "Dave's Trailer Page".




Last and maybe least (who can tell?) is the Korean monster film, D-War, an epic that takes place both in modern day New York, and in Korea, hundreds of years ago. Lots of CGI. Perhaps not on the level of Lord Of The Rings, but it looks pretty cool.

Some footage and a trailer can be found "here".

Labels: fun, Korean, kung fu, movies

(No longer available) These are newly edited trailers for the following classic SB films: The Lotus lamp, Angel With the Iron Fists, Crazy Shaolin Disciples, The Deadly Duo, and Spirit Of The Sword. I like it when the DVDs contain the original theatrical trailers, however the few that I've seen are better viewed after the movie as they give away a bit too much. The new trailers, then, serve their intended purpose; to get you excited about the upcoming dvd. Click on the title link to get to the trailer page.

I also happened upon a great article on the Shaw films in this month's ArtForum, Made in Hong Kong: The Films of Shaw Brothers Studio by Geoffrey O'Brien. Great stuff.

If you're into collecting trailers, then I suggest Dave's Trailer Page. If you only need to watch them, then quicktime.com will do the trick.
I love trailers. Sometimes they give you all you need out of a cinematic experience in less than 2 minutes. The first trailer I saw for Pearl Harbor is my favorite. Seriously had me teary eyed, especially seeing those planes fly by that baseball field. I had and have absolutely no interest in ever seeing that movie, though. Everything I needed was in the trailer. Maybe that makes it a bad trailer? Or maybe calling a movie Pearl Harbor is a bad idea if you're really spending 2 hours on Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. Having a love triangle take place during Pearl harbor is one thing, but having Pearl Harbor take place during a love triangle just won't do it for me.

Labels: kung fu, movies, Shaw Bros., wu-xia