家鄉年華 Happy 80th mum.

民主; Please Vote For Me (full feature)

'Please Vote for Me's Chinese title is 民主 which means democracy. '民主' is an experiment in democracy seen thru the eyes of 3rd graders at Evergreen Primary School as they encounter a class monitor election. Evergreen is located in Wuhan, a city in central China about the size of London.

Elections in China take place only within the Communist Party, but recently millions of Chinese voted in their version of Pop Idol. Weijun Chen's film explores how democracy would be received if it ever came to China.

民主; Please Vote For Me.

葉問‧IpMan

Grandmaster Ip Man—the man who ushered Wing Chun kung fu out of obscurity, and presided over the instruction of a young Bruce Lee—is the subject of an exciting new Hong Kong biopix. It stars cuzzin 甄子丹, portraying the petite but powerful Ip in early adulthood (pre-Bruce Lee) during the Japanese occupation.

Thanks to the influence of Ip Man and his disciples, Wing Chun is one of the world’s most widely practiced Chinese martial arts today. Its sparse representation in kung fu cinema has been attributed to its preference for short, straight forward, simple, non-theatric, no nonsense but practical & efficient movements.

Watch for North America Spring release.

The Dragon and the Crown:Hong Kong Memoirs

                                     I had to miss the Dec.11 Dim Sum Lunch launch which fell on my students' last class & exam day, but caught up with Stanley Kwan @ his TO home for an interview today...A fascinating account of 20th century Hong Kong Identity with stream of consciousness passages reading viscerally like scenes out of a Wong Kar Wai flic.

http://thedragonandthecrown.com

恭喜发财! HAPPY 牛 NIU YEAR ! 萬事如意,身體健康 !

World economic crisis doesn't seem to have much affect on the most important Chinese tradition as citizens carry on with usual shopping frenzies in Fuzhou, capital of south China's Fujian Province. The celebration activities of the Chinese Lunar New Year have reached high tide today as the Chinese Spring Festival draws near. Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important traditional Chinese festival of family reunion. Even quake-hit regions of southwest China's Sichuan Province have found their resilient way to celebrate as these 4 girls rehearse for a show celebrating the Spring Festival in Pengzhou.    恭喜发财 ! HAPPY 牛 NIU YEAR ! 萬事如意 ! 身體健康 !

一无所有的花房姑娘 ; Nothing To My Name

I first heard 一无所有 the summer of '89 during the Tiananmen Square protests when it became anthem to the Pro Democracy Movement worldwide.

Summer of '97, I was back covering the Handover for NewsWorld. It was also the eighth anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre. I remember standing in Tiananmen Square for the first time and finding myself in uncontrollable tears for no apparent reason as 一无所有 echoed from a distant boom box. It was emotionally a very moving moment for me. My only logical explanation for my reaction was that “I am Chinese” no matter how far I’ve transcended my ethnicity and cultural boundaries. But I've 'Nothing To My Name'.

While shooting 女书 after the '97 Hand Over, I saw 老崔 (pinyin: Lǎo Cuī or Old Cui as he is affectionately call) unplugged in a small Beijing venue playing 花房姑娘. I luved his Rock N Roll sound of Chinese orchestral instruments (Xiao, Suona & Pipa).

The Pipa in this live version of 假行僧 Fake Monk is 1 of my favs.

第一场雪 '09 1st Snow

...1st snow of 2009 covers my NDN kar in the middle of the road tonite. A roadside soothsayer appears assuring me that a windfall is on its way. Although I should be happy with the prospects of the coming year, I'm becoming paranoid instead.

As I slowly unwound, I wonder if a past betrayal could be catching up to me. Are our individual fates sealed, or can we alter them by changing our behavior? In trying to shape our destinies, are we just bringing them on? Is knowing the future a blessing because it allows us to plan ahead and make amends, or is it the devil's curse that can’t be shaken?

I begin coming apart as winter approaches and the staticky radio warns of a blizzard. The landscape is charged with a sullen foreboding. As the weather turns colder, I can't help but fear the mysterious seer's other prediction... that there'll be no tomorrow after the first snow...

视觉诗回顾 ; Poesía Visual Revisited

...some yolda-like dude once told me that memories were just that. "Like a zipper...once zipped, it was all over with. And you should never turn around to see if bus is coming once you've jumped in that cab. It'll just piss you off with unnecessary regrets".

...this is as close to NY rez as it gets...or just my way of emptying cup to taste new tea...which can be uplifting.

...but Shelley Saywell & her husband's hook up story proved it wrong & inspired me to revisit some of those buses...pondering whether they might have been worth waiting for...

无腿鸟的冥想损失 ; Legless Bird's 2008 Meditations Lost

We were just 0.01cm from each other at the high point of our intimacy. I knew nothing about her. Six hours later, she fell in love with another man & is pregnant with child. The harder you try to forget someone, the more it will stick in your memory. If you have to lose something, the best way is to not keep it in your memory

You'd think one minute just flashes by...but it really lingers on. I glance at the clock and tell myself that I have to forget her starting this very minute
... on the 8th day of August, 2008...we were together one minute before 8pm. I remember that one minute because of her. We were friends for one minute from that moment on

She ask me to take her home when I was about to leave. I haven't ridden a motorbike with a woman so close for a long time. The ride wasn't that long. I knew she'll be getting off soon, but I wanted that warmth to linger on...into the night

I didn't really think she'd call. But I still hung around every time I pass that telephone booth. It was possible that she only wanted someone to chat for one night...a sexless one night stand if you will



I've heard of legless birds that can only fly and fly, then sleep in the wind when it is tire. The bird only lands once in its life time when it's time to die...she said I was like 1 of those birds that once born, would keep flying until death. Funny thing was...those birds never went anywhere. It was dead from the beginning

The best thing about my gigs are the simple organic reacts in the absence of over intellectualization. I like things arrange for me. Who's to be shot... when... where... a mirror of my life has all been destined to unfold

I look at the footage over and over again...Watching her cook again in my make-shift kitchen, I felt all warm & fuzzy inside. I'll never forget the taste of her stir fries but I'll never taste her food again...if memory of her has an expiry date, let it be 10,000 years 

Go ahead. Despise me if you like... but at least you won't forget me

...if eventual seeker is "In The Mood" to ride "Chunking Xpress" on "Days Of Being Wild" at station "2046" for some "Blueberry Nites" & non-computer-generated xchange with "Rebel Of A Neon God"...send message along with legless bird

HAPPY '09...peace & rice for every1!

순두부 찌개. Soondubu, soft tofu stew.

Soondubu jjigae from Maangchi on Vimeo.

Ingredients:

12 dried anchovies,1/3 cup of kelp, half onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 3 shiitake mushrooms
100 grams of beef, 1 cup of mixed seafood, 3 shrimp
2 green onions, 1 green chili pepper, 2-5 tbs of hot pepper flakes, olive oil, sesame oil

2 tubes of soon du bu (soft tofu), 2 tbs of fish sauce, and 2 eggs

Prepare stock to make tasty Soon du bu:

Pour 5 cups of water into a pot and add 12 dried anchovies after removing intestine part. Add half onion, some dried kelp (about 1/3 cup), 3 dried shiitake mushrooms, 5 cloves of garlic and boil it over high heat. Approximately 10 minutes later, lower the heat to low medium heat and boil it for another 20 minutes. Set aside the stock and take out the mushrooms and chop them into small pieces. Heat your earthen ware (or ceramic pot) on the stove and put 2 ts of olive oil. Chop 100 grams of beef and put it into the pot and stir it. Add the chopped shiitake mushroom and stir it. Add 2 tbs – 5 tbs (1/4 cup) of hot pepper flakes and keep stirring for 1 minute.

* Tips:
2 tbs—mild
3 tbs—medium
4 tbs—hot
5 tbs (1/4 cup)—suicidal hot ! : )

Pour 2 cups of the stock you made. It should be sizzling. Add 1 cup of mixed seafood and 3 shrimp. Add 2 tbs of fish sauce. Cut the 2 tubes of Soon du bu (soft Tofu) in half and squeeze it out into the pot and break the tofu with a spoon several times in the pot. When it boils, add 2 chopped green onions and 1 green chili pepper. Crack eggs and drizzle some sesame oil before serving. Enjoy hearty winter comfort food!

咸鱼妹;Salt Fish Gurl

First in a trilogy of integrated arts stage productions based on the novel Salt Fish Girl by my friend, Larissa Lai (Van based writer). Cum check out my video installation part of dance performance @ Winchester Theatre on 24/25th.

大佛，你玩我呢？Buddha, r u testing me?

I've only been back in town for a week & it's been 1 too many senseless tragic deaths around me. First Kyle was taken away by Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) essentially Mad Cow...now this: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/06/13/toronto-killings.html

Got word today from Dylan's cuzzin that he was gun down last nite while sitting in his Jeep with engine still idling, innocently waiting for a friend just down the street from me! If there is a superior being somewhere, tell him no one is allow to die around me no more dammit!...give it a rest @ least for the rest of this remaining year!

Didn't wanna let all this get to me...So I stopped by crime scene en-route to Thai food tonite shaking my fist in dee wind & shouted out 'f-u!' as I rode my iron horse against dee odds of straying bullets & had myself a hunk of cow 4 dinner in defiance! (of Mad Cow)

Crime scene had police shell case markers everywhere. It looked like Al Capon's St Valentines Day Massacre. They were obviously hit by a spray of gunfire! The black Range Rover was still there & you could still clearly see where bullets had smashed through the windshield and the metal body of the vehicle! But Police investigation is still claiming it as "innocent victims of a car jacking that went wrong". I don't buy that. Why would any1 spray a "marketable" vehicle with bullets if they were trying to jack it?

I don't get Jetlag & was doing fine with the sleep...now i'm all fucked up stayin up all nite listening to Ethiopian rock n roll wide awake.

...maybe afraid to sleep like I might not wake up again...

In memory of Kyle & Dylan. May you journey to a better & more peaceful place than ours.

'Opening Shot' revisited...中餐館首播.

My mom said seeing my Chinese name roll up the credit at 7:30 pm tonight on OMNI 2 was dah best Mother's Day gift I've given her so far ! Even though she secretly wishes the broadcaster had gone with
牛仔國... She has put her prodigal son back on dah WILL !

The Chinese version of Chinese Restaurants series debut this weekend on OMNI 2 Television, broadcasting one episode a week for the next 15 weeks. Starting May 10, each half-hour episode will be shown at 7:00 pm Saturday, and repeated at 11:00 pm Saturday and 9:30 pm Sunday. The series is narrated in Cantonese by John Sham, with original language dialogue and Chinese subtitles.

Join us this summer on an epic global journey, travelling from The Canadian Prairies to The Arctic Circle Oceania; stopping along regions in The Carribeans, Latin America, Middle East, The Indian Sub-Continent, Sub-Saharan Africa; bringing you into the lives of extraordinary families as they share moving stories of struggle, courage, displacement and belonging, and what it means to be “Chinese” today.

For information about OMNI 2 schedule, see http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/schedules/omni2.shtml
For information about Chinese Restaurants & Clips, visit http://www.ChineseRestaurants.tv/production/production%20diaries.html

We don't do Chinese Food deliveries if you get dee munchies for Chicken Balls with dat glow in dah dark florescent orange sauce, but please spread the word for huddles around dah telee....

《中餐館》中文版將於本周末在OMNI2首播

關卓中編導的《中餐館》系列中文版將於本周末起在OMNI2電視台首播。 自5月10日起，連續15個星期，每個星期六晚上7點至7點半播放一輯，並於當晚（星期六）晚上11點及次日（星期日）晚上9點半重播。本系列所含方言均配有中文字幕，並由岑建勳擔任粵語旁白。

欲知...

I gave dis HOTTIE 12" on National Telebision!

"So I just found out from the Slice website that you and dah boyz will be on next Tuesday's episode airing May 13th @ 9:00pm sharp on Slice TV, Channel 41. Looking forward to re-living the moment when I hacked off your mane. My new favourite men's look: Asian Urban Cowboy!  xox Kel."

Superstar Hair Challenge II. See link for multiple air times: 

http://www.slice.ca/Shows/EpisodeGuide.aspx?Title_Id=116176&Root_Title_Id=109979

"I considered rocking the faux hawk & lost my locs to this Biker Chic on Slice !"

背叛. Nerakhoon

Great Film! Check out Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath's repeat screenings on April 22 & 27 @ HotDocs.

"NERAKHOON (The Betrayal)" is the personal story of a Lao family who survives the ordeals of the Lao secret air war. This ordeal starts with the father joining the CIA, the forced exile of the family to America, continuing after the split of the family. It is an epic immigrant drama, full of humanity,wit and tragedy, poetry and ancient philosophy. Its form is unique, merging the documentary and narrative in a poetic memoir with the viseral edge of cinema verite that unfolds over 23 years.

年纪老是他妈的！Gettin Old Sucks!

we were spoil...pushy wild. now we're bored...tubby mild.

狗!他们正在日本佬,而不是漢人! Jiggah not Chiggah DAWG!

if nigga dont get good grades nigga not gonna go to college if nigga dont go to college nigga cant get job if nigga dont get job nigga dont make money if nigga make no money nigga cant get BMW7series nigga...
...wonder if phucker who posted this is from RFK (Rob Ford Klan). He seems to think all Asians are Chinese.
Asians in video are Japanese dawg! title credit even says JAPAN TV dawg! There're Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Singaporean, Thai, etc. in Asia. Not all the Asians r Chinese, DAWG!...even Russell Peter knows better.

...& not all Han Chinese r anti-Tibetan...not all Chinese r part of BEIJING REGIME! many of us that got slaughtered during TIENNANMEN were HAN CHINESE! DAWG!
Not condoning nor excusing BEIJING REGIME for Tibetan oppression, just want to point out that Chinese r also victims of BEIJING REGIME. Peace & Rice.

阿婆爆粗. Cursing Grannie.

笑死我呀! This video was apparently posted solely to entertain and not to insult grandma according to the maker. Every1 so far thinks it's my mom but it's not. Although my mom would curse with that same vigorous intensity, but she would also kill me with the same vigor if I ever did this to her online.

Having been shot in Guangdong, I highly doubt that Cursing Grannie would ever have an opportunity to insult any English speakers...my mom on the other hand does so quite effectively on her own in TO without any lessons from me!

客家市区牡蛎! HAKKA BALL & Urban Oysters!

Thanx y'all for dee bIRphdAY wIShes...& TINA TURNER's bright red Pomegranate lips w skin tight hugging spandex. Especially to Helen for closing dah nite with me @ late nite Persian Vodka Bar (http://banu.ca/) on Queen West dat served Dom balan - ‘Urban Oysters’ (lamb testicles marinated in vodka)! 

I tried gettin photo...but 'em horny buggers run away quick! I guess I would too if some1 was tryin tah have my balls with their vodka!

I tink dis officially qualifies me an 'OLD FART' status update!