Freddie Hubbard

Jazz trumpet great Freddie Hubbard has died. The NME, among others, has the details.

I can't think of the man without thinking of the time I saw him perform with Coltrane pianist McCoy Tyner in either 1988 or 1989 -- my memory fades but I think I've narrowed it down to those two years.

It was one of the first times I had been to DC's Blues Alley and I was prepared for a good show; I had already seen McCoy Tyner once, I think, and I knew his work with Coltrane, obviously.

As for Hubbard, I knew a bit about his Blue Note work at that time but was still new to his genius.

So McCoy plays a few songs with his band and then Freddie comes out.

I spot a yuppie couple in the front with their freckle-faced son sitting with them. I could imagine the parents telling the kid what legends these two performers were, that kind of thing; how this was going to be real jazz, not that Kenny G shit, and so on.

Freddie plays -- I'm being generous here -- probably half a song until he just stops and launches into this stream of invectives I probably shouldn't type: "Goddamn waitresses serving drinks when a motherf***er is trying to play!" and so on.

Like Fred Sanford with a horn or something.

Then, he storms off the stage, leaving McCoy and his band to continue the show.

I tried to get a glimpse of the kid's face after that. He didn't look too wide-eyed anymore.

So kid, here's the lesson for the day: McCoy Tyner is the exception; a lot of the real jazz legends are and were temperamental geniuses, which is to say assholes sometimes.

But, in the end, Freddie's albums on Blue Note *are* downright magnificent and so what if he stormed off? That doesn't change or diminish his musical talent which will live on long after he will.

Rest in peace, Freddie.

Prince Charming

It's weird reviewing a film that neither Kozo or Brian has already reviewed.

1984's Prince Charming is a pretty weird and sometimes dreadful Wong Jing feature that has the distinction of being -- correct me if I'm wrong here -- Maggie Cheung's first feature.

The film is a kind of mistaken identity romp reminiscent of 1930's screwball comedies in America -- but I think I'm being too kind!

Kenny Bee and Nat Chan are two young guys in Hawaii looking for love. Kenny's father is a big businessman and Nat is from a poorer background. Kenny is unlucky with girls, getting the hiccups when he is around them, and Nat is such an expert that he is going to help Kenny find a woman, get married, and thus please his family.

There are some Benny Hill-style shenanigans on the beach and the two fellows meet Cherie Chung and Maggie Cheung.

The plot abruptly shifts back to Hong Kong where Kenny is now set to investigate one of his father's shady business underlings who is apparently embezzling or something. In a lot of nonsensical zaniness, Nat is somehow mistaken for Kenny's character and Kenny is left to pretend to be Nat's chauffeur.

What follows is probably the most enjoyable part of the film with Kenny trying to woo Cherie and Nat trying to woo Maggie. Kenny and Cherie's date at the movies is cute in a kind of slapstick way, bringing to mind similar very low budget comedies from the same era in America.

Rosamund Kwan shows up with a very 1980's hairdo -- I think she actually got better looking as she got older -- as a woman hired to seduce and marry Kenny, I think.

The ending of the film dissolves into the typical Wong Jing mindlessness -- it's almost like they ran out of money and had to figure out a way to wrap up the plot. The end bits of action are so out of place and odd and nonsensical that comparing them to the Benny Hill Show would be a major compliment.

Look for Wong Jing himself in a small cameo as well.

For fans of the Hong Kong actors involved, this film is probably an essential viewing experience; Maggie Cheung in her first role, Cherie Chung looking impossibly gorgeous in just about every shot of film, and even Kenny Bee managing to make the pastel fashions of the 1980's look good.

And Cherie's brother-in-law in the film is played by Hong Kong film veteran, Chan Wai-Man.

And Kenny Bee's mother is played by HK veteran actress Ouyang Sha-fei.

The DVD

The Celestial Region 3 DVD is anamorphic widescreen -- a nice touch -- with a pretty good picture that looked just a trifle grainy in some scenes. It has both Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks -- I'm guessing by this era that most films shot in Hong Kong were released in Cantonese. Additional extras include the original trailer and some stills.

You can order the DVD from YesAsia here.

Wong Kar-Wai DVD News

I don't really have much news beyond what's listed on Amazon.com but it appears that there are a few Wong Kar-Wai DVDs about to come out -- some new editions and one re-editing of an earlier masterpiece.

Ashes of Time Redux hits DVD the day before my birthday, on March 3rd, 2009. The link is here.

And on March 31, 2009, Happy Together and Fallen Angels hit in new "special editions" from Kino.

Here's hoping that the packaging is better than those earlier cardboard snapcases -- at least the cover art is now more interesting on both titles.

Irma Vep

The Film

You know, I was hoping that since I've now seen quite a few Maggie Cheung movies that my 2nd viewing of Irma Vep would make more sense. It didn't.

Maybe that's the point. The film seems to be about itself rather than about anything else.

Poor Maggie Cheung -- playing a version of herself adrift in a French film world where the actual work seems to be secondary to the drama *around* the work.

It's almost comical that Maggie shows up actually looking to work -- a comment on the real hard work and efficiency of the Hong Kong film world? -- and yet the cast and crew all seem intent on other pursuits.

And then, just when the viewer thinks that Maggie is the "normal" one, she turns into a cat burglar just like the character she is playing in the film within the film (which is also a remake). Is Maggie now suddenly trying some Method Acting-style of preparation for her part?

It's an infectious set of images that collide in this sequence: the sleek Maggie in her catsuit -- a reference to the Catwoman of Batman Returns according to the director of the film within the film -- burglarising while Sonic Youth's "Tunic" plays loudly -- a song about Karen Carpenter "disappearing" into herself -- all while director Atom Egoyan's wife's kind of saggy nude body in the hotel room contrasts with Maggie's sleek perfection in the latex costume of her film within the film. Maggie is playing out a film for her own amusement and ours in this sequence.

The vampirism of the film's anagram title is seen in the way the crew members are draining Maggie or trying to seduce her and in the way that the film's original director -- Truffaut star Jean Pierre-Leaud -- seems to have been the victim of a psychic vampire as his energies dwindle and he is removed from the film. His replacement wants to make the film more French.

And the final sequence as the crew watch the rushes of the film, with its primitive scratches and handmade special effects on the actual frames themselves, seems to suggest that the film is the vampire and it has consumed the director and perhaps Maggie as well by turning her into a burglar for a brief spell.

The DVD

This edition of the DVD is almost of a Criterion Collection-level of quality! A fabulous booklet with some nice esssays as well as a pristine anamorphic presentation of the film.

The Extras

Along with the nice booklet, there is a director's commentary and a silent 5-minute short film that the director made of Maggie on the set.

There are also a few minutes of silent black-and-white rushes of Maggie as "Maggie" in her Irma Vep catsuit on the rooftops of Paris.

Additionally, there is the vibrant original French trailer for the film and a 30-minute on-set "documentary" of background footage of the film being shot.

My favorite moment in that was the part where we are seeing the film crew film a film in the film while Maggie is on the set being interviewed and filmed by a film critic who is enamoured with John Woo.

Then camera in this background footage zeroes in on Maggie on the monitor in the sequence.

You start to get a headache when you try to figure out all the layers of what you are seeing.

You can read more about the film at Zeitgeist Films.

You can order the DVD at Amazon among other places.

This is a very nice release and I recommend it heartily even if I still find the film inscrutable.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Not sure why my eyes are closed in this pic -- was I wishing for some wonderful toy? G.J. Joe-with-the-kung-fu grip perhaps? -- but I am sporting my usual new pajamas on Christmas Eve. My best friend the exact same age in the apartment next door would get new jammies on Christmas Eve -- usually some cartoon thing -- and we'd spend Christmas Eve talking about what we hoped Santa would bring that night.

Then we would spend Christmas Day opening presents with our families and then go to all of the other kids' apartments in our building to see what Santa brought them.

It was like a little benevolent gang.

And then I'd have another Christmas at my grandparents' or my father's since my mom was divorced.

Happy Holidays!

Celebs -- Sammi and Rainie and more!

I think the Sammi Cheng movie has been released -- or is about to, at least in Hong Kong? Grady has some news on that front here.

But Sammi has released some stunning photos which I'm sure is a sign of the promotional machine kicking up into high gear for this much-delayed film with Eason Chan.

I prefer Sammi in romantic dramas and comedies but Lady Cop and Papa Crook looks good to me and Eason is on a roll.

And Sammi always looks fantastic, naturally.

Well, I'm almost sorry to see that Rainie Yang has changed her image. Gone is the sickly sweet Teddy Bear-clutching, cutesy-poo stuff and in the place of that we have just another pop star -- a supposedly more mature image.

Her acting in Spider Lillies was laughable though.

In this week's sign that the apocalypse may be averted, Stephen Chow is now saying he may not even star in the Green Hornet film with Seth Rogen. This report has the details.

I would be so happy if Chow came to his senses and didn't do this film. Not only is Kato *the* stereotypical Asian role in many ways -- akin to Tonto -- but the whole project is beneath Stephen's talents as both a star and as a director.

In China and Hong Kong, Chow is a legend; why go to Hollywood just to play the sidekick of a superhero that hardly anyone remembers? Not to mention playing second fiddle to the mastermind/star of so many dick-joke comedies!

New films from Tsui Hark and Feng Xiaogang are in theaters in China now -- with the Feng film doing quite well at the box office -- but I'm most excited by the upcoming Andy Lau and Shu Qi film, Look for a Star which will be released in early Spring.


I can't say that the film looks much better than Yesterday Once More or similar features *but* Hong Kong film is in such a sorry state, that star-powered features like this are enough to get my hopes up.

And was that George Lam I saw in the trailer?



[Photos: Crienglish]

"The light pours out of me!"

The big music news of the day for me is the reunion of Magazine. The NME has the word here.

Christ, The Specials and now Magazine? Two of my favorites from that post-punk era in England with Magazine always being criminally underrated by the masses -- now reforming!

(Unbelievably, they were on "Top of The Pops!" -- Check out the first clip below)

The reunion will be bittersweet without the amazing guitarist of the band, John McGeoch (who died on my birthday in 2004). The guy played in every band that mattered for a brief span of time. His riffs were essential to what Magazine was trying to do.

And I'm assuming that the reunion will include bassist Barry Adamson who really has had an amazing career as well.

As a rule, I'm a bit skeptical of this kind of reunion but I have to be honest and admit that I would indeed try to get tix for this show if I was going to be in England at the time.

The band's Peel Sessions just got reissued and that release is even available as a download from Amazon, here.

Magazine - "Shot By Both Sides"



Magazine - "The Light Pours Out Of Me"

Celeb News -- Brigitte!

Screen icon Brigitte Lin (Lin Ching-Hsia) made yet another appearance recently, this time at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards with director Ang Lee. It is quite exciting for this fan -- and I'm sure for Webs of Significance's YTSL and perhaps SBK as well -- that Brigitte has decided to break her retirement for a few occasions this fall.

Crienglish has news on her appearance at the Golden Horse Awards as well as a few nice career overview photos.

YTSL has posted on this here as well.

The new film from director Feng Xiaogang, If You Are the One, premieres this week in China. Crienglish has a preview. There is also a bit more news about further projects from the director here following this week's premiere of the film.

The film premiered on Sunday, December 14, 2008 with Shu Qi and actor Ge You on hand. You can read the story and see the pics here. Ge You forever associated with Zhang Yimou's To Live in my mind at least.

This week's sign of the apocalypse: Fan Bing-Bing having dinner with Oliver Stone in Beijing.

Yeah, great move. He cut Gillian's scenes from W so I'm sure he can make Fan Bing-Bing a star in Hollywood. (Heavy sarcasm)

And following on from an earlier post, Jolin Tsai has indeed signed with with Warners music group. The ceremony happened Tuesday in Beijing.

Charlene Choi now says that Twins are not still friends but no word on if the group still exists as a performing entity.

Blogging Question

This is a dumb question but I just found a comment that was dated two days ago sitting here waiting to be moderated.

Normally, I check my gmail account and the comments are there, similar to e-mails, and I just click through to publish them here.

But this comment was not in my gmail account but was visible here and waiting to be moderated when I logged into Blogger.

So I need to login to both?

I'm still new to this whole thing.

Celeb News -- Golden Horse Awards/Music/Clinton

The Golden Horse Awards occurred last night in Taiwan and A TON of stars were there! The red carpet photos are great -- certainly more interesting to me than the Oscar ones here. More pre-awards news is here.

Details on all the winners are here with some surprises in there for me. The Warlords?

And, apparently I missed this, but The Golden Rock did a live blog of the event. Even if it's not live, it still makes for a quite enjoyable read and you can find that here.

Last Tuesday, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Daniel Wu, Karen Mok, and -- ahem -- Coco Lee attended the Clinton Global Initiative in Hong Kong.


I guess now that his wife is going to be Secretary of State -- and I predict a probably decent one -- we'll never be rid of the good old boy Bill. (Yes, his conduct during his wife's campaign, among other things, has soured me on the guy who was a pretty decent Prez. But I'm pretty sure Obama will be better anyway.)

Also on Tuesday: Gong Li signed some kind of endorsement deal with an appliance company.

I'd probably buy that. And if this gig keeps her from making Miami Vice 2, then consider it a blessing in disguise.

Leon Lai was honored with his wax statue in advance of new film from director Chen Kaige. There's a joke there, comparing Leon to the wax Leon, but I'm not going to make it; besides, maybe Chen Kaige found some hidden acting talents in the guy.


Gillian Chung delivered supplies to quake-ravaged areas of the Mainland on Wednesday.

How much public penance does this poor woman have to do? As I said before, Kim Kardashian has no discernible talents, makes a porno and gets multiple TV and film projects and, yet, in Hong Kong, a once talented actress and pop singer has her scenes cut from films and very few gigs of any kind lined up? Some would say that US society has progressed to a point where we can overlook a star's so-called transgressions but I think it's really just marketing and money; there was enough Disney money behind Vanessa Hudgens to quickly and rapidly squelch the controversy when that pop starlet had a similar photo leak.

I still can't explain how Kardashian has a job though.

And Taiwanese pop star, and sometime collaborator with Kylie Minogue, Jolin Tsai is now set to sign with Warners according to Crienglish in this article.



[Photos: Crienglish/Tunstar/Xinhua/Sina]

R.I.P. Forrie!

Well, it was only a matter of days given the reports on his health, but Forrest J. Ackerman has died. News is here

I'm not going to elaborate on his life story, or why he's important to so many, but I will reference my meeting with him, briefly touched upon in this recent post.

That convention in 1997 was probably the first sci-fi or film convention I had attended since a shabby one in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1978 that I begged my parents to take me to.

And I really didn't expect to see Forrie at the convention; my friend and I were attending for Caroline Munro and the other Hammer luminaries in attendance.

So it was a totally unexpected sight to round the corner and suddenly see Forrest J. Ackerman manning his own booth that cloudy Sunday, eating a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizza.

In fact, it took me a second to process the fact and I was probably a bit awestruck much like when I met Ackerman friend Ray Harryhausen at another convention a few years later.

I mumbled my thanks and got an autograph -- Forrie even had cool postcards of himself ready to hand out.

And when thinking back to the first 10 years of my life before the arrival of Star Wars, I can't think of many people in film who influenced me as much as Harryhausen.

And I knew of him because of Ackerman's magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland.

I got my first issues, when I was probably about 7, at this old drug store whose name escapes me in District Heights, Maryland while my grandparents babysat me before my mom picked me up after work.

That would give me a few hours to enjoy the mag before my mom would cut out the scary pictures; I can still recall pleading me with mom, "That picture doesn't scare me!" Or: "But the picture on the other side of that page is of King Kong!"

That kind of thing.

And that may sound silly but, in that era, Famous Monsters was the only magazine I can recall that actually covered the making of monster films, specifically classic ones.

I learned about Jack Pierce, for instance, from that magazine.

That magazine, my grandfather's stories of working in a movie theater in the 1920's and 1930's, and a few books from the library were the foundations of my education -- what made me a movie fan.

And I will be indebted forever to Forrest Ackerman's work.

Nasi Lemak

I'm still in that phase of trying new dishes when I go to Penang restaurant in Bethesda. I may already have some serious contenders for "favorite" in my mind but the menu still challenges me and I still feel like I should take a chance when I order during each visit.

Little did I know that today's lunch-time choice would prove to be not only delicious but the national dish of Malaysia? (Maybe YTSL can shed some light on the veracity of that claim.)



The Nasi Lemak was just great. I should buy a camera phone because the Wikipedia-sourced picture doesn't really do justice to what a nice lunch the dish makes.

The coconut flavored rice is on one side of the plate with the hard boiled eggs and the anchovies and curry chicken on the other. Thoroughly delicious and a nice mix of flavors, this could indeed be my new favorite dish at this restaurant.

My friend got the Hokkien Char Mee which was good as well.

The menu has a few other challenges awaiting me still.

(And, yes, we did also enjoy a baby oyster omelet and Bobo Cha-Cha for dessert!)