News Links - 8/2/06

[dleedlee]

Hong Kong director Tsui Hark at the production site of his new movie 'Jigsaw,' in Hong Kong Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Charlie Young Joins Cage in "Bangkok Dangerous" Hollywood Remake
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/3086/2006/0 ... 121907.htm

China's new epic "The Banquet" to premiere at Venice film festival
http://english.people.com.cn/200608/02/ ... 89300.html

Possible stake in HK's TVB causing concern
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/deta ... 7020&GRP=B
CCTV may buy stake in TVB
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2 ... 655117.htm

Gathering Storm -- A 'Typhoon' of Regional Asian Films
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_art ... c9ffdbf2c5

Chinese Film The Exam Enters Tokyo Film Festival
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/3086/2006/0 ... 121806.htm

Jackie Chan, Jet Li in Action Movie Pairing
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/3086/2006/0 ... 121622.htm

Fox releases 4 Mr. Moto films on DVD
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/10495

Jolin Tsai to Kick off World Tour Concert
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/3086/2006/0 ... 121642.htm

Vicky Zhao's photo album
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006- ... 906364.htm

Young Girl Chugs a Liter of Beer in 34 Seconds
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/3100/2006/0 ... 121731.htm



Animation and Comic Fair in Hong Kong
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/3100/2006/0 ... 121322.htm

[Brian Thibodeau]

Animation and Comic Fair in Hong Kong
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/3100/2006/0 ... 121322.htm

Soooo, can anyone tell me if the youngsters and not-so-youngsters in Asia who dress up as their favourite characters are as socially maladjusted as the ones over here in North America who do the same? The Asians I've seen in pictures (JUST pictures) don't seem to look it, but that could simply be due to the absence of eyewear ten years out of date. I can certainly understand the concept in countries with deeply-entrenched histories of manga and anime (like Japan, obviously), but I don't know, it still kinda gives me the creeps...although, that blue wig is kinda...NO Brian!!...BAD Brian!!...look away...must...look...away...

(I ask this presuming, of course, that no one here is into "cosplay" )

Brace yourself....
http://www.fansview.com/2001/animazement/az25c0008.html



.
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[dleedlee]

re: cosplay

I understand the Cos part (I guess), is there any actually Play? Or do people just dress up?

[Brian Thibodeau]

Well, at the last convention I went to, we did try to....AHEM...ummm..errr...uhhhh...cough-cough...

So anyways, uhhh...HEY look over there!

(clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp....SLAM!)


Seriously, though, from the looks of the pictures at that site I linked to, (some of which may now have to be chemically peeled from my memory), there appears to be some role playing involved in addition to the usual showing off of embroidery skills.

Mind you, I suppose on a scale of creepiness, I don't really know who's worse, the cosplay folks, or the Society For Creative Anachronism (http://www.sca.org), a rather deluded outfit to which (I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit) no less than THREE of my cousins belonged many years ago, in spite of no end of teasing from myself. These weirdos hold "medieval faires" around North America because group functions in street clothing scare them. Like the cosplay gang, a LOT of time, material and effort are put into the costumes, with just as much attention to detail given the events that take place during their gatherings.

Here in my city, they used to put on these little presentations in the local shopping mall when I was about 12, and even then, as they bounced around in their elaborate velour-and-felt costumes and running shoes, waving about their plastic swords and speaking in tone-deaf Shakespearean english, the FIRST THOUGHT that crossed my mind was "Good LORD that's creepy."

The second thought that crossed my mind was "Why are so many of them wearing glasses that are, like, ten years old?" Then I realized that they spent all their free money on their costumes and they couldn't afford proper eyewear!! Or at least contact lenses to help create the illusion that they were actually IN the past!

Getting back to social maladjustment, according to the tale I was told some days after one of these big medieval nerd-a-paloozas, one of these chaps "won" one of my female cousins, who was playing a "maiden fair" or some such goofiness, in a jousting "competitions." Apparently, he didn't didn't realize it was all a fantasy and spent the better part of the rest of the day trying to get into the pants of his prize with increasing urgency and zero success. Completely, utterly, predicatable.

Oh well, everyone needs a hobby.

[dleedlee]

Yeah, we have that Renaissance Fair with jumbo turkey legs, mead, jousting and cavorting wenches. But that's passably 'historical' like Civil War reenactments. And some Trekkies build their own phasers, I've heard, but where do manga anime cosplayers (especially the Lolitas) do their thing outside of a convention?

And I'm afraid to even think about what might 'furries' be/do.

[Brian Thibodeau]

but where do manga anime cosplayers do (especially the Lolitas) there thing outside of a convention?

I suppose live re-enactments of favourite scenes from LA BLUE GIRL would be out of the question (and probably too much to ask* ), which might mean the costumes themselves, and the affectations that go along with them, are really the whole point of the exercise.

Now, let the cosplay girls FIGHT the Civil War reenactors and that's something I might just bring a lawn chair to watch!

That whole Lolita thing is a puzzler, although I can't say I'm surprised that it originates in the Japanese culture...

http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/lolita.html

There's even a movie about it, KAMIKAZE GIRLS, which you might find in your local Best Buy, provided you can stand the odd looks from the cashier as you pay for it...











*although maybe not considering the seemingly strong influence of fetishized cosplay in Japanese adult films. Not that I'd know, of course...really,

[Brian Thibodeau]

Oh yeah, and speaking of "furries," the CBC up here recently did a strangely fascinating and mostly non-patronizing half-hour radio show that looked at the culture of the "Furries" in British Columbia. Bizarre bunch, to say the least, but for the most part, the dress-up seems to consist of sticking a tail on your ass and pretending to "be" that particular animal. Or something.

No audio of the program seems to be available, but here's the link anyway. I'll give the CBC credit for seeking out fringe dwellers on shows like this one, which is called "Subcultures"
http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2006/07/Subcultures-V-Furry-Fandom

[bkasten]

Society For Creative Anachronism (http://www.sca.org), a rather deluded outfit to which (I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit) no less than THREE of my cousins belonged many years ago, in spite of no end of teasing from myself. These weirdos hold "medieval faires" around North America because group functions in street clothing scare them. Like the cosplay gang, a LOT of time, material and effort are put into the costumes, with just as much attention to detail given the events that take place during their gatherings.

Getting back to social maladjustment, according to the tale I was told some days after one of these big medieval nerd-a-paloozas, one of these chaps "won" one of my female cousins, who was playing a "maiden fair" or some such goofiness, in a jousting "competitions." Apparently, he didn't didn't realize it was all a fantasy and spent the better part of the rest of the day trying to get into the pants of his prize with increasing urgency and zero success. Completely, utterly, predicatable.
.

I am not sure about deluded. Social maladjustment and nerd-a-palooza, maybe. At times. But one should be careful about overgeneralizing or stereotyping...in all cases.

You'll like this, though: my ex-wife was a SCA 'involvee' before she met me...and one condition on our "getting together" (mind you, this was nearly 20 years ago) was: no more SCA. She wasn't exactly tethered to the organization, and agreed. Nonetheless, back in theose halcyon days, I definitely learned a bit about the SCA.

Like any large organization, there is a wide distribution of personalities and motivations.

One cannot overplay the social maladjustment aspect on the far end of the scale--points at which the members have essentially dropped out of "society" altogether and cannot not in even the most remote sense be considered "normal." An entire sub-society, basically. But, again, mainly at the far end.

The other end of the curve are the adolescent males living out D&D fantasies...not realizing the disconnect between 'fantasy' and 'history'.

In the middle of the curve, however, are a lot of reasonably normal folk--some of whom are middle-class professionals and academics simply hanging out or partying with other history geeks and medievalists. Note more geekdom than nerddom here.

A lot of the disagreeable aspects involve the role-playing, fighting and title garnering. Let's face it, the lord/vassal/fief aspects of feudalism are pretty ridiculous, and it makes the SCA members appear highly overromantic about the period.

On the positive side (which indeed, there is) they produce a lot of very well-researched practical publications on virtually all aspects of medieval life--of which they make use at their various events and guilds, etc. In a sense they are living examples of history; real history, not fantasy. The historian in me finds this all quite commendable.

For that reason, these days, philosophically at least, I actually have a fairly positive opinion about the SCA...although it has been years since I have even spoken to anyone involved.

By the way, please note that these SCA events are not to be confused with the various "Renaissance Festivals" (mentioned above) held around the country which have very little or nothing to do with anything (particularly involving history). They are basically themed outdoor shopping malls.

[Brian Thibodeau]

In the middle of the curve, however, are a lot of reasonably normal folk--some of whom are middle-class professionals and academics simply hanging out or partying with other history geeks and medievalists. Note more geekdom than nerddom here.

Despite my rantings, I generally agree with you on this. Even when the local SCA branch would put on their little demonstrations and such, you could usually spot the people who were more...uhhh...restrained in their approach to the material.

Unfortunately, too often these groups are sometimes identified - much like Star Wars and Star Trek fans - by their less stable/more extreme members. Just seems to happen, but I suppose we can thank deliberately slanted media coverage for that, too, such as this legendary clip of Triumph The Insult Comic Dog interviewing Star Wars fans, which still beings tears to my eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PZlGGl08uM&search=triumph%20dog%20star%20wars

My oops to for mixing up the SCA events with Renaissance fairs. For the most part in my previous posts, I've been referring to the SCA events, although sometimes, at least up here in Canada, the SCA people have been known to put on their shows at Renaissance fairs.

For that reason, these days, philosophically at least, I actually have a fairly positive opinion about the SCA...although it has been years since I have even spoken to anyone involved.

So did your ex dust off her old costumes after she became an ex?

[bkasten]

So did your ex dust off her old costumes after she became an ex?

Damn, I sure hope so...