eveninghawk’s links

I have a new culinary hero. Anyone who knows me knows that I like the Food Network, and I’ve scrubbed many a good recipe from their resources. I think that last amazing success I had was a mango glazed stir-fry that was pretty spectacular, and that was back when I was still at Hampshire.

Well, currently I am frustrated with tv. I know I sound like I’m whinging, but I can’t be bothered to find much of anything on tv. It’s a hassle. Instead, I occasionally stick on a channel I know to get me through a meal.

Alton Brown struck me as a tv show host who is funny and nerdy, and communicates in a why that I identify with, and on top of that his recipes are straightforward and easy, and he talks about the science of the whole thing. That’s what i want in a cooking show! Less culinary mysticism and more scientific insight into why and how. That way when I want to tinker with a recipe I have an idea whether i am screwing up the elasticity, or sacraficing butteriness for more airiness. Good Eats recipe list is available online, but I highly recommend checking out the show.

Josh pointed me to howtofoldashirt.net, and all I can really say is I’m amazed. I almost want to do a load of laundry…

Today has been most exciting. First off Randy has made his goal and can quit his job to do Something Positive full time. That’s just too neat for words, and says a lot, to me, about the power of fans as well as the wonder of webcomics.

He also got mentioned in Neil Gaiman’s journal, which is neat and only enforces my point above about the wonder of webcomics.

What Neil also mentioned, if you go through that post, is some info about Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki’s up and coming summer or fall movie. For me, this is bigger than any Hollywood movie news I could hope to see, so I’m pretty excited.

I will certainly be keeping an eye on nausicaa.net’s news updates to see what is going on.

Funeral March (2001)
is a great, if overlooked, movie. Hong Kong is known for action flicks, gangster flicks, cop flicks, and comedies. I too enjoy a good laugh over many of the vapid romantic comedies, but this movie isn’t that. This movie is great, and interesting, and dramatic, a great examination of the human spirit.

Not too long after this, I realized that Eason Chan (陈奕迅) is a pretty neat musician, and lots of his music is also pretty intriguing and original.

If you have anyway of checking out this movie, I highly recommend it. I saw it back in 2001, which is ancient history today in Hong Kong movies, so I am having trouble tracking it down.

I recently watched 少年啊虎 (English title starrunner). It was an interesting foray onto the big screen for one of the F4 boys. I had never thought the F4 phenomena would last, and apparently their management is smarter than most, since the boys are all doing independent music, tv, and movie pieces on their own. It makes them stronger individually.

The movie I watched is the prequel to an interesting movie from a few years ago about a washed up martial artist, and that movie (阿虎 or Fighter’s Blues) starred Andy Lau. This foray shows us the abilities of Vanness. His acting is ok, and even though the script was weak, the hip-hop fan has decent moves.

The movie is yet another lover/fighter exploration, only the whole thing doesn’t seem quite comfortable with itself since it’s supposed to be a tragic teacher-student love story. While the movie was playing on a lot of overdone themes, the mixing of styles and fight sequences were fun to watch, and I like surly heroes. So it all worked out well in the end. Overall opinion: good popcorn material, bad investment.

It is my belief that the freakiest horror movies come from Korea and Japan. The Ring was a remake of one of the creepiest Japanese movies I’ve ever seen, and the US version pales in comparison. These horror movies manage to get in your head and under your skin while using pieces of everyday life. There is very little jumping and screaming or excessive gore that Hollywood seems so fond of. This is the art form that creeps you out through subtle hints, leaving your mind to do the rest.

301 302 is a 1995 film from Korea. The story focuses on two women, one an anorexic writer, the other a slightly more plump divorcee. They are neighbors and the ex-housewife sets about fattening up her neighbor. Though a little neurotic, you can’t help but like her. The writer is quite physically repulsed by food, and they confront each other about their myriad issues. This leads the two to a deeper relationship. It might be called a friendship, but I’m not sure. You’d have to see the film to see what I mean. Though the movie moves more and more into the surreal, I was drawn in, duped by the story.

The movie peaks with a death, and the ending is quite creepy. This is the kind of story that gives you shivers and bad dreams because it takes things we find unacceptable and makes them understandable, even merciful.

I realize that I have seen many movies and written nothing about them. This post is dedicated to my Christmas viewing this year.

Cell Phone (手机) was a pretty interesting movie starring actors I really like. Here is much info and shots from the movie in Chinese. I like Fang Xiaogang, the director of this film. He manages to make movies about issues that are pressing for today’s mainland residents. Having been here for 4 years, I can seriously say this man has his finger on the pulse of China. This movie features a tv personality and how his cell phone manages to get him into trouble: he has an affair, and his wife finds out about it. They separate. He has a new girlfriend who also finds out about this mysterious lover. Being bleeding edge technology cell phones, his lover sends some racy pictures to his cell phone, and the girlfriend now knows exactly what’s going on. The construction of the plot and life of the characters is very believable, and I found myself yelling at the guy mentally through many parts of the film.

The other movie I saw was Sound of Colors (地下铁). It’s based off of a Jimmy book, and if you haven’t seen any of them then check out the pics etc here. This movie is based on an excellent book, but definitely runs away from the book, instead branching out into the story of two couples. It’s definitely a pretty feel good movie with excellent music planning. I’ll remember the book 10 years from now, though maybe not the movie, but it’s still a good way to spend a couple of hours.

Ok, I was a Johnny Cash fan, and this is the sweetest tribute I’ve seen. Hope y’all enjoy!