South Sea Greetings
Fingers Broken Long Ago
And it's only doubts that we're counting
On fingers broken long ago
I read with every broken heart we should become
More adventurous
And if you banish me from your profits
And if I get banished from the kingdom up above
I'd sacrifice money and heaven all for love
Let me be loved, let me be loved
And if my brain quits, well I guess then that's just it
And if my hands stop working you can call me lazy
And if I get pregnant, I guess I'll just have the baby
Let it be loved, let me be loved
I've been trying to nod my head, but it's like I've got a broken neck
Wanting to say I will as my last testament
For me to be saved and you to be brave
We don't have to walk down that aisle
'Cause if marriage ain't enough
Well at least we'll be loved
I felt the wind on my cheek coming down from the east
And thought about how we are all as numerous as leaves on trees
And maybe ours is the cause of all mankind
Give love to make more, try to stay alive
I've been trying to nod my head, but it's like I've got a broken neck
Wanting to say I will as my last testament
For you to be saved and me to be brave
We don't have to walk down that aisle
'Cause if marriage ain't enough
Well at least we'll be loved
(More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley)
Answers
A little while ago I wrote a slew of seemingly unanswerable questions in a post--it was one of those "woe is me, the world is out to get me" kind of posts--totally annoying. Well, I'm happy to report that not too long after I gave up the desire for control God came in and gave me some concrete answers! His direction is the only one that works.
Sidenote: I think I am going to do this to one of the walls in my new place (is that ok J?), what do you think?
Here are the questions with the comforting answers:
up in the air/what i don't know/what i wish i knew/why can't i know it?!!? (as of Sunday July 11th, 2010)
where am i going to live in four weeks?
Country Club apartments. I am actually moving there in two hours.
who am i going to live with?
The lovely, exquisite, dreamy Jessica Drake.
where did all my money go?
To my landlord and coffee shops. Oh and the police (both Italian and American).
why can't i stop watching movies?
Because I had to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The End of the Affair.
why is coffee so good?
The smell, the taste, the feel in my throat, and the satisfaction of avoiding a headache.
why do i watch gilmore girls every day?
Because I need to hone my dazzling wit and infinite charm and Lorelai helps me do that.
who will i end up with?
It doesn't matter.
do i want a boyfriend?
Apparently I did.
will i ever want one?
Apparently I did.
will someone love me again?
I think so.
why does starbucks brew decaf in the morning and not at night?
I don't even think God knows the answer to this one.
who invented the vuvzela? why did they do such a thing?
God gave me Wikipedia and Wikipedia told me:
South African Kaizer Chiefs fan Freddie "Saddam" Maake claimed the invention of the vuvuzela by fabricating analuminium version in 1965 from a bicycle horn and has photographic evidence of himself holding the aluminium vuvuzela in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.[7] He also claimed to have coined vuvuzela from the Zulu language for "welcome", "unite" and "celebration."[8]
what will i do when i graduate?
Get a job, pay some bills, love a lot, and be inspired.
will they offer the classes i need to graduate? omg...will i even graduate? will i be able to handle everything next semester?
Calm down. Yes. Thanks to Jessica, my whole next year has been scheduled, penciled in and planned. I will graduate on time, with the right credits, and I will be able to handle it because I always do.
Thanks (God) for carrying me when I felt I couldn't even walk.
Giraffrica
what is a giraffe? is it a horse-type? why did the neck get so long? remember that one crink-neck giraffe at the santa barbara zoo? that was really depressing. i would like to name this guy norman. the sun looks warm on his head.
C'est La Vie
(the way i am)
I have an interview for an internship in about 20 minutes. I completely forgot.
I hope it goes well.
Be You Blithe and Bonny
(etc.)
I really love the concept of this tattoo--spindly, lovely script on the forearm.
I'm trying to come up with what I would have the words say, but it's proving exceedingly difficult. Maybe--sigh not so--eh...I don't know, maybe not. It's hard!
If you were going to get this tattoo, what would you have it say?
Too Hot, Too Hot
Please check this out my fashion and art loving friends:
Art inspired outfits :)
Also, if you know where the title of this post is from I will be most pleased!
The Enigma of Olive Young
Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Olive Young (杨爱立) went to Shanghai and became one of Chinese cinema's earliest film stars. She died in Bayonne, New Jersey, at the age of 37 after collapsing in the dressing room of the nightclub where she was performing as a blues singer. Stay tuned for my attempt to piece together her mysterious life.
Jue Quon Tai: Pretty and Pantaletted
SHE'S CHINESE AND PRETTY AND PANTALETTED
The pantalette gown has reached the Pacific Coast. The first person to wear it in Oregon was Jue Quon Tai, the belle of Portland's Chinatown and daughter of a wealthy Chinese merchant. Miss Jue has stage aspirations.
— Evening Public Ledger, March 24, 1915
In August I'll be picking up the threads of Jue Quon Tai's fascinating story, which I started telling nearly a year ago and then left dangling in midair. Since then, I've been contacted by members of her family and have gathered more information and material about her life. In the meantime you can refresh yourself about her 1915 vaudeville debut here.
DVD Spotlight: Wild Rose (1932)
"Comrades in arms! Tell me that you love your country. Those who love China, raise your hands!"
If you find yourself irresistibly following the command of patriotic charmer Wang Renmei — shown above in a memorable scene from her debut film, Wild Rose (1932) — stop reading right now and order a copy of the recently released DVD of this silent classic. If you still need a little convincing, then read on.
Written and directed by Sun Yu, Wild Rose is an early example of the left-wing film movement that arose in response to Japan's aggression against China during the 1930s. According to the memoirs of Wang Renmei, Sun wrote the script in response to the September 18th Incident (1931) and subsequent occupation of Manchuria. Filming started at the end of the year and finished just as the Japanese army launched its attack on Shanghai on January 28th.
Knowing about these events definitely adds to the viewing of Wild Rose, but the heart of the film — a simple story of love and friendship — has a universal appeal which requires no familiarity with that turbulent era.
Korean Chinese actor Jin Yan plays an idealistic rich-kid artist who finds his muse in sassy village girl Wang Renmei. After she loses her father in a fire, he takes her to Shanghai, where they end up living in a tenement with his two buddies. Their makeshift family is broken apart by the trials of poverty, but they are finally reunited during a demonstration to save China.
Prior to her debut in Wild Rose, Wang Renmei was a member of the famous Ming Yue Song & Dance Troupe (founded by Li Jin-hui, the father of Chinese pop music). In 1931 after the group signed a contract with the Lianhua Film Company, Wang caught the eye of Sun Yu, who'd been scouting the group for new actresses. Sun wrote the script for Wild Rose with Wang in mind, and by her own admission, she essentially played herself in the film.
While Wang's ingenuous charm is enough to make her eminently watchable, she more than proves her acting chops by gracefully handling the film's many shifts from comedy to romance to drama.
She even performs a little slapstick in one of Wild Rose's funniest scenes, in which Jin Yan dresses her up and takes her home to meet his father. Unaccustomed to wearing heels and stockings, Wang makes a hilariously disastrous first impression.
It's easy to see why Sun Yu chose Wang Renmei as his own muse. She's the perfect embodiment of the vitality and optimism that characterized his films.
Known in his heyday as the "Poet Director" (and recognized nowadays as Chinese cinema's first auteur), Sun was also a meticulous craftsman who strove to raise the technical quality of Chinese filmmmaking to Hollywood standards. Wild Rose features the first crane shots to appear in a Chinese film. Wang Renmei recalls that Sun commissioned the construction of a "steel-framed, hand-operated camera crane over 13 metres high" to help him portray the crowded spaces of Shanghai's tenement buildings.
"Those kind of people don't know anything about art. They have no idea what you've achieved!"
All of these elements combine to make Wild Rose an indisputable classic of Chinese cinema. Until now the film has only been available on a poor quality VCD with untranslated intertitles and no music. But thanks to the efforts of Richard Meyer (Board President Emeritus of The San Francisco Silent Film Festival), Wild Rose can finally be seen in the manner it deserves.
Expertly translated English intertitles are presented alongside the original Chinese titles, and the film is accompanied by a beautiful score composed by pianist Donald Sosin, who has worked his music magic on such films as Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Donald's playing exhibits an extraordinary sensitivity that's perfectly attuned to the nuances and depths of Sun Yu's lyrical cinema.
The Wild Rose DVD can be ordered directly from The San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It's a must-buy not only for Chinese movie fans but also for connoisseurs of world cinema.
What... you're still not convinced? Then take a look — and listen — at the following clip.
Note: Translated excerpts from Wang Renmei's memoirs were published in Griffithiana 60/61 (October, 1997), which also includes several articles by and about Sun Yu.
When I'm Bored
When I'm bored I try to use my free time wisely--no more of those wasted days of summer...
To feel productive, I'll usually plan out schedules for the next couple months (school, work, writing deadlines, etc) or make some headway on finding a home to live in, but I can only do that for so long...
So once I've exhausted my energy in that noble work, I'll usually pull up all the blogs I follow to see what's going on in the world of fashion and culture. Here's what I've found that might interest you:
Mary-Kate is the essence of eccentricity.
I always love Sienna.
The Girls With Glasses Show
I Am A Girl - The Girls With Glasses Theme Song from The Girls With Glasses on Vimeo.
Just Hemingway kicking a can.
Next up, it's NPR, CNN and google. Check out what's going on in the world!
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's current exhibitions (from personal experience) were visually captivating and made for a wonderful afternoon in an incredible city!
Artist to watch: Alfredo Jaar
The World's First Rotating Skyscraper in Dubai
Japanese art:
And as you all know, travel is one of my many things. Here's where I'm planning my next adventures:
Pamukkale, Turkey to see the Travertines!
Oh, and thanks to my friend Alysia, we've been able to watch instant movies on Netflix. Here are the noteworthy, watchworthy, stimulating choices from the girls in the Carpinteria house:
The Machinist
The Constant Gardener
Rachel Getting Married
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Well, that's it for now...
Ce qui est connu.
up in the air/what i don't know/what i wish i knew/why can't i know it?!!? :
where am i going to live in four weeks? who am i going to live with? where did all my money go? why can't i stop watching movies? why is coffee so good? why do i watch gilmore girls every day? who will i end up with? do i want a boyfriend? will i ever want one? will someone love me again? why does starbucks brew decaf in the morning and not at night? who invented the vuvzela? why did they do such a thing? what will i do when i graduate? will they offer the classes i need to graduate? omg...will i even graduate? will i be able to handle everything next semester?
sigh, i won't bore you with the endless questions brewing in my mind anymore...because...
what i do know:
there is a plan for me that has been decided. all will work out the way it is supposed to.
i just need to accept that.
Connie Chan: The Girl with Long Hair
OK, folks! It's time to bring on Hong Kong's beloved ass-kicking, cross-dressing, opera-singing teen idol of the 1960s: the one and only Connie Chan.
Here's the soundtrack EP for Connie's 1967 film The Girl with Long Hair (長髮姑娘), in which she plays a cop assigned to capture the "Filial Thief", a righteous Robin Hood who steals from the rich who treat their parents poorly. The "Filial Thief" is played by opera star Lam Kar-sing.
You'll notice right away that these songs are more traditional than you might expect from the modish EP cover. Drawing on Cantonese opera and folk music rather than Western pop, they are an example of the grassroots influence in the early development of Cantopop.
Lam Kar-sing and Connie Chan, heroes on opposite sides of the law
* Photo comes from the Yau Leung collection 昨夜星光 (1940s-1960s)
雌雄鬥口曲
(play song)
掃蕩羣魔 ["Root out the Demons"]
(play song)
長髮姑娘賊孝子 ["The Girl with Long Hair and the Filial Thief"]
(play song)
Back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics, plus another picture of Connie as she appears during the scene featuring the first song presented above:
You're Invited
It's that time of year again. I'm going back to the start: Season 1, Episode 1 of Gilmore Girls. Every year I go through the entire 7 seasons, and I thought that this year, I'd let you know when I started so maybe we can watch them together.
If you live in Santa Barbara and want in on this, just give me a call and we can watch them on my very Gilmoresque comfy-couch--accessorized with popcorn, coffee and magazines.
If you don't live here (or can't make it over) let's try to watch them all together anyway! They are all online, so it's easy to get your hands on them :)
I think this could be really special, like un petit book club, but instead it's Gilmore Girls.
Let the coffee and junk food abound!
If You Were Any Thinner, You Wouldn't Exist
The Machinist
More than being a gripping psychological thriller that forces you to visit the deepest, darkest areas of guilt in the far reaches of your mind...this movie makes you want to eat. I've never seen quite so disgusting a case of male anorexia in my life. Christian Bale really gave himself to this role--and he wasn't even asked to. The director of the film said he was confused by Bale's choice to get SO skinny, but Bale assured everyone he was fine and he merely wanted to see if he could do it (he lost over 60 pounds for the role--185 to 1119, and he is like, what 6 foot something?!). If you haven't seen it yet, I'd say (and I'm sure my roommates would agree) it's worth seeing--even if it's terribly hard to watch.
More than being a gripping psychological thriller that forces you to visit the deepest, darkest areas of guilt in the far reaches of your mind...this movie makes you want to eat. I've never seen quite so disgusting a case of male anorexia in my life. Christian Bale really gave himself to this role--and he wasn't even asked to. The director of the film said he was confused by Bale's choice to get SO skinny, but Bale assured everyone he was fine and he merely wanted to see if he could do it (he lost over 60 pounds for the role--185 to 1119, and he is like, what 6 foot something?!). If you haven't seen it yet, I'd say (and I'm sure my roommates would agree) it's worth seeing--even if it's terribly hard to watch.
On Being Tired
(stumbleupon)
Summer, man. Actually, scratch that. Whenever...
Anytime you're working all day, you get home (maybe I should switch the point of view here...), I get home and I am so tired. Tired to the point of lacking any energy whatsoever. I can't even make myself food. I need the company of my roommates to keep me going.
In this particular scenario, I've plopped down on a couch and brought up Netflix on my computer. After aimlessly searching through the instant playlist, I decided on Brokeback Mountain. Something I've never seen but always wanted to. I started watching it and before the title even appeared I felt this weird (and totally unexpected) fear. Well, maybe fear is too strong of a word for this feeling, I guess you could call it uneasiness. Anyway, I decided it would not do for now, so I switched it to an ancient Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, but then quickly realized--it's RETARDED. So, thank heavens, my roommate caught me in my distraught state and helped me choose The Machinist and convinced me to make dinner with her.
I don't really know why I can't do things by myself when I'm tired, but it's nice to know I don't have to :)
When the King of Hollywood Met the Empress of Chinese Filmdom
Trust Clark Gable to find a stunner even in far-away Hong Kong. That girl behind the Hollywood-like dark glasses is Li Li-hwa, top glamour girl of the Chinese movie world. The stars took a cruise together around Hong Kong island, where Gable is starring in "Soldier of Fortune". — Associated Press, December 3, 1954
I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall during this historic meeting between Clark Gable and Li Lihua.
According to gossip columnist Walter Winchell, "Clark Gable left a Large Torch burning in Hong Kong. She is Li Li Hwa... Translation: Plum Blossom" (Syracuse Herald-Journal, January 3, 1955). Was there any truth to the rumor?
A previous news item suggests otherwise, reporting that "his press agents had started a story that he may marry Li Li-Hwa" (Fergus Falls Daily Journal, December 15, 1954). Evidently, it was one of many engagement rumors prior to Clark's marriage (his fifth) to actress Kay Williams in 1955.
Then again, Clark was a notorious ladies man. Were there actual sparks — and even flames — when the King of Hollywood met the Empress of Chinese Filmdom? Only the fly on the wall knows...
Chen Man: Better than Andy on Adam
A big thanks to dleedlee for turning me on to photographer Chen Man. I'd already seen, and dug, a lot of her fashion photography — especially her recent shoot for Esquire featuring actress Fan Bingbing as Che Guevara, Bruce Lee, Superman, and Elvis Presley — but never knew who it was behind the camera. After googling some of her other work, I'm really blown away by her trippy avant-pop sensibility.
Chen Man just had a show in Hong Kong, which I'm bummed about missing. But the good news is that a book of her photographs, Chen Man: Works 2003-2010, was recently published. I ordered a copy yesterday, and it's already on its way — hurray! I'll report back as soon as it arrives.
* The photos above were taken from Chen Man's blog. She also has a website.
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