HK awards a blessing for 'Curse'
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111795 ... id=19&cs=1

ASIAN POP
Indie Jones - Grace Lee's "American Zombie", Justin Lin's Finishing the Game"
Janet Yang's "Dark Matter" and "Year of the Fish"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1/apop.DTL

EUR FILM REVIEW: China Blue
http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur31188.cfm

Tokyo's dark side - Starfish Hotel
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 201i1.html

Twins Celebrate Six Years Together
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/02/01/1261@191729.htm

Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li Make World's Most Desirable Women List
Lucy Liu tops both
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/02/01/63@191623.htm

Joey Yung Releases Cover Photos for New Album
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/02/01/1301@191613.htm

Fans Parody RMB Note
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/02/01/63@191626.htm

Hong Kong's hottest pop duo Twins pose for a series of photos, in which they imitate a wedded couple.

There's a movie in this; someone get Wong Jing on the phone! Quickly!

... and the list of 'things to see before I die' grows one item shorter

dleedlee wrote:Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li Make World's Most Desirable Women List Lucy Liu tops both

Now that is pretty f'ed up, right there...

MrBooth wrote:... and the list of 'things to see before I die' grows one item shorter

Ah, but sadly they stop short of actual snogging, I note .

China bans 'Lost in Beijing' from Berlin
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... 75c30386d5

Official: China needs outstanding film producers
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007- ... 688625.htm

West Virginia to use Dance Dance Revolution to Slim Kids
http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20070201/tc_ ... NlYwM5NjQ-

Justin Lin gets the credit for making Asian American cinema hip, but some recent DVD discoveries provide concrete proof of our cultural amnesia
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/070130/art ... ntID=61988

CAPE celebrates 15 years
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/070130/art ... ntID=61936

Video: Justin Lee, Maggie Q, Bobbie Lee
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/videobin/CAPE_gala_wm.wmv

Now that is pretty f'ed up, right there...

Considering these rankings come from a website where people apparently still believe in the "mysteries of the Orient," and furthermore considering the consistently one-note characterizations of the American actress to which they apply the label, I suppose we shouldn't really be too surprised at the f'ed-up-edness of another silly Maxim-style list!

American-born Chinese actress Lucy Liu's ranking rose from last year's 93 to 47. The website describes Lucy Liu as "combining the mysteries of the Orient with the sexy elegance of the Western lady, sending our heads spinning halfway around the globe with a single piercing look."

Brian Thibodeau wrote:

Considering these rankings come from a website where people apparently still believe in the "mysteries of the Orient," and furthermore considering the consistently one-note characterizations of the American actress to which they apply the label, I suppose we shouldn't really be too surprised at the f'ed-up-edness of another silly Maxim-style list!

I went to the site and glanced through the Lucy Liu pages--couldn't find anything that would have translated that way although I could easily have missed it.

Such lists are published to create controversy and drive people to the website which worked in this case. I think the sexiest woman around now is Monica Bellucci who finished 18th. Will post some pictures of her with Zhang Ziyi from Cannes on a new thread.

Brian Thibodeau wrote:Considering these rankings come from a website where people apparently still believe in the "mysteries of the Orient," and furthermore considering the consistently one-note characterizations of the American actress to which they apply the label, I suppose we shouldn't really be too surprised at the f'ed-up-edness of another silly Maxim-style list!

Absolutely spot-on.

I went to the site and glanced through the Lucy Liu pages--couldn't find anything that would have translated that way although I could easily have missed it.

You wouldn't find it there, anyways. Looks like there may have been some judicioous editing. Regardless, it's still my contention that Lucy Liu is typecast on a regular basis but may not be aware of it, lacing up (sometimes literally) again and again to play some cunning, aggressive and/or deadly vixen, all ethnicity aside, each character unfailingly written by men who can only see her as a sassy little bundle of hipness and condescension with metaphorical claws who inevitably looks good in something tight and black (OK, maybe I'm not complaining about everything here). That could be one reason why these websites and magazines can usually only focus on the "mysterious" side of her, since her resume doesn't provided an awful lot of range.

Give her a shot as the female lead in some silly romantic comedy or suspense drama—hell, even a horror thriller—made by people who aren't using her because she's sexy, sassy and Asian, and I'll be the first in line to see if she can manage the stretch.

But until then, give me Sandra Oh anyday. You'll find many of the same characteristics in her portrayals in everything from DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA to GREY'S ANATOMY (sassy, sexy, determined, overconfident, competitive, violent), but in nearly every case, we get to see a lot more of the fragile layers behind the character's armour, where with Liu, the armour is usually the whole character.

But you can blame the writers of ALLY McBEAL. They started it.