CNN’s TALK ASIA Interview
with Hong Kong Film Director Andrew Lau
http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db ... p?idx=5376

Gigi Lai's Younger Brother Seriously Wounded in Traffic Accident
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/06/02/1042@234088.htm

Zero's no hero (when it comes to sizzling scenes) - Spider Lilies
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story ... 94,00.html?

Sammi, why so skinny?
Under pressure to make smashing comeback, pop icon SammiCheng goes on crash diet. But some say her reed-thin looks are scary
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story ... 96,00.html?

Lou Ye Forging ahead after Summer Palace
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story ... sec=movies
Sixth Generation filmmakers
http://star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp ... sec=movies

Japan: 'Hamlet' lost in translation in Chinese film - The Banquet
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/ar ... Y19002.htm

Canada to ban camcording in theatres
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007- ... 188565.htm
Canada moves to ban movie piracy
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007- ... 176672.htm


China's favorite daughter - Soong Ching-ling
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/weekend_n ... r=20070602

Hong Kong boom belies wealth divide
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiap ... iwai.reut/

Singapore: BYE BYE SLEEP, BUY BUY
NOW THAT WE CAN EAT ALL NIGHT AND PARTY TILL DAWN, WHY DO THE SHOPS STILL SHUT AT 10PM?
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story ... 11,00.html


Sally Yeh Concert Poster

I came across this photo of Benny Hill at the Shaws Malaysian studio:



And a young Run Run Shaw with Otto Preminger (left) (1958)


http://www.shaw.sg/sw_abouthistory.aspx ... 20125%2096

Not so sure I want to go to one of my favourite haunts any more. Well, at least not the karaoke parlours!
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/220927

Cool find on that Benny Hill item, by the way! Always a favourite growing up. Entirely for the comedy, of course...

Canada to ban camcording in theatres
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007- ... 188565.htm
Canada moves to ban movie piracy
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007- ... 176672.htm

From one of the articles above:

The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association says movie pirating in Canada accounted for 20 percent of camcorded copies of DVDs worldwide

So, who wants to guess where the other 80 percent come from, not to mention all the ones that are exact duplicates of real DVDs made after hours using the original components in factories in...oh, where was it again? Such a wonderful bit of misdirection that these two articles would appear on Xinhuanet!


EDIT: Just noticed another cleverly worded quote in one of these articles:

Ottawa has drafted a bill to combat rampant movie piracy in Canada following some Hollywood company's decision to cancel preview screenings of their movies in Canadian theaters.

The "company's" in question was Warner Brothers, and they pulled the plug on preview screenings hoping other studios would follow suit. None did. Considering a preview is the night before a Friday opening, most of them probably knew delaying the bootleggers by a day was not exactly going to solve the problem. But kudos to Xinhuanet for this clever diversionary tactic!

Brian Thibodeau wrote:Cool find on that Benny Hill item, by the way! Always a favourite growing up. Entirely for the comedy, of course...

Of course! Of course! But not sure if my parents understood it's all just comedy so had to watch the show stealthily back then...

Of course! Of course! But not sure if my parents understood it's all just comedy so had to watch the show stealthily back then...

Good thing a lot of his skits were dialogue-free! Chase comedy is fairly universal at least!


.

Brian Thibodeau wrote:

Canada to ban camcording in theatres
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007- ... 188565.htm
Canada moves to ban movie piracy
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007- ... 176672.htm

From one of the articles above:

The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association says movie pirating in Canada accounted for 20 percent of camcorded copies of DVDs worldwide

Well, it gives the Canadian pirates a goal to try to hit in the coming year--at least 25%.

I would like to see the real numbers since, as you mention, the percentage of pirated discs that originate in a camcorder recording may well by very small compared to the overall number of pirated discs produced and sold.

That 20% (all these numbers seem made up, at least to me) may be 20% of 20% of the universe of pirated DVDs.

Or something like that.

Just for the record, nobody in the UK understands why Benny Hill is popular overseas... we all think he was an embarrassment!

MrBooth wrote:Just for the record, nobody in the UK understands why Benny Hill is popular overseas... we all think he was an embarrassment!

Really? What about Blackadder...I just found these 2 UK comedies amusing....

Oh, Blackadder we understand - well, except the first series!

Nobody in the UK likes Mr Bean though... definitely made for export!


I should probably acknowledge that I'm not a very reliable barometer of British tastes

MrBooth wrote:Oh, Blackadder we understand - well, except the first series!

Maybe it's because of Blackadder's haircut.

Nobody in the UK likes Mr Bean though... definitely made for export!

But not for me.

I should probably acknowledge that I'm not a very reliable barometer of British tastes

I found it funny but never thought about whether it's popular in UK or in HK as at that time I felt it's for letting people know I watched it. Instead I claimed I liked watching Bill Cosby.... Anyway, I noted that many HK local comedians or comedies are actually taking Benny Hill as "reference".

Perhaps Benny Hill was a bit before my time... I was more of a Kenny Everett fan

MrBooth wrote:Perhaps Benny Hill was a bit before my time... I was more of a Kenny Everett fan

Ahhh, the eternal debate. Hot Gossip or Hill's Angels. Thank heavens YouTube allows us to properly scrutinize the performances for technique, level of difficulty, etc..

Believe it or not, they actually showed the Kenny Everett Video Show on PBS over here around the same time as Benny Hill was on everywhere. Despite a once-prevailing British notion that we North Americans only knew 70's/80's British humour via Benny Hill and Are You Being Served? there was a surprisingly wide cross section of British shows imported for our consumption before BBC America did things proper. Speaking of Rowan Atkinson, I spent a good three years watching NOT THE 9 O'CLOCK NEWS when I was around 12 or 13, which probably shaped my taste for political/pop culture satire to this day. But, sadly, I must confess to enjoying MR. BEAN as well.

I noted that many HK local comedians or comedies are actually taking Benny Hill as "reference".

I'll say! The first two IT'S A MAD MAD MAD WORLD films repeat his sketches so heavily they should have given him an "inspired by" credit.

Well, it gives the Canadian pirates a goal to try to hit in the coming year--at least 25%.

Yeah, I'm tired of this country not trying hard enough! We're just so damned....Canadian!

I would like to see the real numbers since, as you mention, the percentage of pirated discs that originate in a camcorder recording may well by very small compared to the overall number of pirated discs produced and sold.

That 20% (all these numbers seem made up, at least to me) may be 20% of 20% of the universe of pirated DVDs.

I suspect your numbers are close, Ed. That's just what I was thinking: 20% of 20%. The camcorder stuff is the junk they usually sell to undiscriminating rubes from little makeshit "tables" here in Toronto's Chinatown, tables that can be easily folded and carried should there suddenly be a need to run, and where the operators seem really, really jittery and paranoid of everyone that comes near them! Once the real deal is out on DVD, I suspect a lot of these camcorder rips are suddenly replaced with "upgrades." And those are produced in much higher numbers. Some in Canada, but many more someplace else.