The Taiwan Journal issue with the article on Ang L…
The Taiwan Journal issue with the article on Ang Lee is out. The picture I took of Lee is on the front page of the site.
In other news, the Muddy Basin Ramblers will be playing at the Huashan Culture Park on Saturday, the 18th, at around 8:00 p.m. We had a rehearsal on Saturday at The Sandcastle and got a lot of recording done, even after a really rough start. I guess we were all a bit rusty after the Chinese New Year break. We went late, as usual, and then all proceeded down to Athula’s for rhoti afterwards. On Sunday afternoon I went down to The Shannon to see the Beaver County Rangers play, and they were good even if the accoustics were not. Many other Forumosans were there, but I didn’t really talk with many of them. There’s been a letup in the cold the past couple of days, so it was good to get out of the house, away from the near-constant fireworks at Bitan, and listen to some good music.
Movies I’ve seen recently: Seven Swords, by Tsui Hark. I was really expecting to like this movie, because I like Tsui Hark’s style, but this was a convoluted mess with no clear storyline and too much time-jumping. If the script had been cleaned up and simplified, it could have been a really good movie, but there were too many characters with too little development.
Kung-fu Hustle. I was also looking forward to this after liking Shaolin Soccer a lot, but it felt like a bit of a let down, even though I enjoyed it. The main character was overshadowed by all of the other interesting characters. Maybe Steven Chow just can’t direct himself.
Howl’s Moving Castle. I liked this as much as most of the Miyazaki movies I’ve seen, although I thought Laputa, Totoro, Spirited Away and Pompoko were better and more original. The themes in the previous movies seemed regurgitated in this one. However, cool flying ships, enormous women and pseudo-European types speaking Japanese! I wouldn’t buy it, but I’m glad I saw it.
In a tip of the fedora to recent events and other weird news, Islamic spirit is just what Taiwan needs now, president says. You have to wonder where he gets his amazing sense of timing.
