About
2009
March 31–April 11: Nanchong and Chengdu, China
September 26–30: San Francisco, California
October 24–27: Chicago, Illinois
December 10–19: Paris, France
2010
April: tour all over Taiwan, or Santiago, Chile
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e-mail: wmcisnowhere [at] gmail [dot] com
facebook: Ruckus, the dog; his mama
twitterings: I am full of Tweets.
flickr: I am playing with my Canon.
goodreads: I am reading good.
June 23, 2009 at 11:03 am
btw, re your “bit news”: our review of 24 city is here:
http://www.gochengdoo.com/en/blog/item/906/24_city_chengdu_factory_workers_star_in_film
June 23, 2009 at 11:25 am
Thanks, Jane. I enjoyed the review quite a bit, as it points out the issues that make me nervous about writing about China from my Western perspective. Still, I admired the movie; there’s no other way for me to experience the film except as an outsider, and it’s fascinating for me to watch the conversations (Eastern and Western) that arise. There’s going to be a Jia Zhangke retrospective here next year, and I’m determined to catch all the movies then.
June 23, 2009 at 12:09 pm
to be fair, we couldn’t find an edition with english subtitles so we might have missed some of the finer points; however, as enjoyable as it was to indulge in this rare opportunity to view chengdu through a filmmaker’s lens, the film was certainly not without its flaws–from an insider’s or outsider’s perspective–i think, and the absolutely uncritical response of most english-language reviewers was rather absurd.
jia zhangke retrospective should be cool.
June 24, 2009 at 8:17 am
Again, this is so fascinating to me. Yes, I too wondered about the Dongbei-accented Mandarin. And I was distracted by the professional actors; aside from identifying Joan Chen straightaway, I could tell who was an actor and who wasn’t. If Joan Chen had been the only trained actor in the film, perfect. I was also put off by the last story; tonally it was completely jarring; I’d rather have the camera just follow her around silently, if her story needed to be told at all.
Still, I’m utterly enamored of the film for the fact that the world of 24 City is similar to the world I’m writing about. What a silly bias!
August 16, 2009 at 1:10 pm
(it’s hyowon)
Wah-ming, you’re a genius. I couldn’t figure out how to put Emily on FB and gave up, and here you are, 10 steps ahead.