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letterboxd · 3 years

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Dream Chasers.

Mark Harris and Alicia Malone—two of the hosts of this month’s TCM Film Festival—tell Jack Moulton about Nichols and May, West Side Story, classic lockdown discoveries, and the films that make you feel like everything has changed when you walk out of that cinema.

For a second year in a row due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the TCM Classic Film Festival is being hosted virtually. Its program screens across TCM and HBO Max from May 6 to May 9. The festival, which began in 2010, was held at Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the nearby Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, a move designed to allow classic movie fans to retread the footsteps of glitzy premieres from the glamorous past.

Ahead of Steven Spielberg’s upcoming remake, the festival opens with West Side Story’s 60th anniversary screening, featuring new and exclusive interviews by living legends Rita Moreno, George Chakiris and Russ Tamblyn. The complete festival lineup includes classic programming and talent highlights, from Michael Douglas introducing his Best Picture-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Scorsese on Goodfellas, to a comedian-heavy table read of Edward D. Wood Jr.’s infamously bad Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Journalist and author Mark Harris, who published the biography Mike Nichols: A Life earlier this year, is presenting the 1996 American Masters documentary Nichols and May: Take Two, covering the Oscar-winning director’s legendary comic partnership with Elaine May. It features iconic sketches that will recontextualize the way you think about Nichols if you thought his career started with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate.

TCM host, feminist cinema expert, Australian expat and Letterboxd member Alicia Malone is also a presenter at this year’s festival. (She admits she’s slacking on her Letterboxd logging this year, but used it to track her viewings over lockdown, topping over 500 films.) Neither Harris nor Malone have been able to go to the cinema since they closed over a year ago, but both are eager to return to their local arthouses in Maine and the Upper West Side of Manhattan as soon as they’re ready.

We caught up with Harris and Malone shortly before the festival commenced for a classic edition of the Letterboxd Life in Film.

‘The Poseidon Adventure’ (1972).

What’s your fondest memory of seeing a film in the cinema? Mark Harris: This is embarrassing, but for me it’s The Poseidon Adventure. At the time, my parents were a bit stricter than other parents so the other kids were already getting to see so-called ‘adult’ movies. The Poseidon Adventure was the first ‘not-kids’ movie that I ever got to see in a theater and at the age of eight, I immediately thought ‘well, clearly this is the best movie of all-time’. Everything in it was new information to me, such as how adults talked to each other and Stella Stevens playing a prostitute—I had no idea what that was. I found it so scary, I believed everything I saw on the screen. The joy of taking in something I hadn’t seen before has never left me.

Alicia Malone: It would probably be seeing Amélie. I was living in Canberra but my older sister had moved to Sydney, which to me was the big smoke, I really wanted to live there when I grew up. I got to visit her by myself and stay in her flat which she was renting by herself and it seemed so cool. She took me to the local arthouse cinema where Amélie was playing and I was so swept away. I know that film gets a bad rap now for being overly sentimental and quirky, but I just felt like I was being seen. I had such a kinship with the character of Amélie because she’s a dreamer, always in her own head and that’s how I was. I was always comparing my life to movies and playing movie scenes in my head. I remember walking out of that cinema and it felt like everything had changed—the color was brighter, it was special.

MH: We have to talk Turner into an Amélie-Poseidon Adventure double-feature!

AM: What a double! That would be amazing.

John Garfield and Ida Lupino in ‘The Sea Wolf’ (1941).

Which classic films that you discovered during lockdown had a major impact on you? MH: I wanted to dive into some directors that I really didn’t know well so I started watching all the Luchino Visconti movies, because Italian cinema is not my strongest area. That was an incredibly rewarding experience. I also saw the big seven-hour Russian War and Peace, which completely blew my mind. Those were probably my big pandemic discoveries.

AM: Something I really loved was getting to do the TCM Star of the Month for John Garfield because he’s such an interesting character and was a pre-cursor to Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro and those types of method actors. I’d seen him in various films—such as The Postman Always Rings Twice—but I’d never sat down to watch a lot of his filmography and learn more about his personal story. To see films like The Sea Wolf and Body and Soul, I really gained a newfound respect for him as an actor. You can see some of the beginnings of that kind of tough-guy, everyday-man archetype with a brilliant actor putting his emotions right there on his sleeve.

MH: I should also say that the Women Make Movies Festival was huge for me. All those movies are on my DVR and I’m still going through them and discovering them. I recorded everything and that was and continues to be a gigantic education for me.

AM: Yes! Thanks for that reminder. That was such a fulfilling experience to get to be one of the hosts on that with Jacqueline Stewart. What was so brilliant about Mark Cousins’ documentary is that there are so many clips of films that you think how have we not seen this? How are we not studying this film? How do we not know about this particular filmmaker?

Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in ‘Heartburn’ (1986).

If you could only pick one, which is the most overlooked film by Mike Nichols? MH: The most under-appreciated film to me is Heartburn. That was a real rediscovery when I was working on the book. I remember liking it, but I didn’t remember how sharp the performances were, how funny the comedy was, and the really acute social observations. I was so surprised when I was coming across the reviews—almost all of which were by men—and all of them said some version of “Why is he wasting his time with this? Why would he tell this woman’s story? Why doesn’t he tell the other half of the story?” Surely no-one would leave this character unless she gave him a good reason to leave! It was really shocking to me how dismissive and contemptuous a lot of the critical reaction was. I’m so happy that I’ve gotten to stick Heartburn under a lot of people’s noses because it’s a movie they seem to be really liking once they find it.

AM: I’m obviously not as deep into his filmography as Mark is, but I have to agree that Heartburn is a film that I can’t believe has been so overlooked. I came to that movie through Nora Ephron, who I just adore. [Heartburn is adapted from a semi-autobiographical novel by Ephron.] I rewatched it recently and I was blown away by it. Of course, Meryl Streep is amazing, but just getting to be in those characters’ worlds again and watching it after I had listened to the audiobook—which features the voice of Meryl Streep—about a year ago added a whole new experience. I loved how in her book how she has all these recipes dotted through it that you see in the movie as well.

MH: That’s one of the great audiobook readings of all time. It’s great to listen to [Streep] do that.

John Cassavetes and Peter Falk in ‘Mikey and Nicky’ (1976).

Where do you recommend film lovers start with Elaine May? MH: It’s only a four-movie body of work as a director so I think it’s perfectly fine to go in chronological order. A New Leaf is fantastic and feels 100 percent her. You really get a great deal of her sensibility in that movie. I would just start there and go to The Heartbreak Kid and then to Mikey and Nicky, which is not the place to start but is a fascinating movie, and then you’ll be ready for Ishtar.

AM: See, I would say Mikey and Nicky straight out of the gate.

MH: Really?

AM: I love subverting expectations of what a female director can do and that is such a masculine movie. It’s a film that you wouldn’t expect for a female director to make. I love the back and forth, the rapport between [Cassavetes and Falk]. I find it really compelling and exciting every time I see it. So I say, go hard, go in with Mikey and Nicky then, yeah, A New Leaf and The Heartbreak Kid, but maybe skip Ishtar.

Iconic comedy duo Elaine May and Mike Nichols.

Thinking of Nichols fleeing to New York City from Germany, and Alicia moving to Hollywood from Australia, which ‘American Dream’ film resonates with you the most? AM: This answer is going to sound quite cheesy since it was a recent film: La La Land. I understand all the criticism about it, I agree with it, but I don’t care. I feel like it was made for me as a redhead in Hollywood, chasing her dream, and coming up against all the obstacles. I also love Singin’ in the Rain, which I know is not necessarily strictly about the American Dream but is about Hollywood in general. That is a film that really started the idea of moving to Hollywood as a young kid. It’s the idea of a magical place where you could do anything and make your dreams come true and have dignity—always dignity.

MH: This time I’m going to go hard and dark and say the first title that occurred to me, which is The Godfather: Part II. It’s a great immigrant story, though it’s a strange version of the American Dream. The whole saga is about coming to America, becoming an American, and deciding what American values are.

AM: I should say that during our TCM Film Festival on HBO Max, we have a section on immigrant stories. We have America, America, which is a great one by Elia Kazan, and Stranger Than Paradise, which I would recommend as well. It’s a warped view of the American Dream but I love the way they think they get rich and all their dreams can come true. Also Black Legion, which is a darker version of the immigrant story with Humphrey Bogart going to the darker side of ‘foreigners should not take American jobs’.

MH: I’ll just throw in a plug for another Mike Nichols movie, Working Girl. He really saw that as an immigrant story—the first shot is of the Statue of Liberty, even though they’re [emigrating] from Staten Island! I think Mike thought it was as distant of a land as the old country, I’m not sure he spent a lot of time on Staten Island.

Katharine Hepburn in ‘Woman of the Year’ (1942).

What are some of your other problematic faves? The classics we acknowledge have not aged well, but you love anyway. AM: I think My Fair Lady is one of those. I’m a sucker for make-over movies despite all of their problematic ways of showing how women need to change if you don’t fit into the mold and you should sand down all your edges. But I get worked up in the whole transformation myth and making your life better. Even though it’s got Audrey Hepburn and you want to see Julie Andrews in that role, My Fair Lady is still one that I enjoy and I can see all of the problems with it.

Another one, that we featured during our Reframed series on TCM, was Woman of the Year, which is a great example of one of those women’s pictures that, as Professor Jeanine Basinger has pointed out, is so empowering for most of the movie and then in the last five minutes it undoes everything. It’s still a great film to watch when you want to get ahead of feminism and see Katharine Hepburn in a wonderful role, but you just have to ignore the breakfast scene at the end.

MH: I was just talking the other day to some people about the movie Network, which is one of my all-time favorite movies, but if you look hard at Network, it’s very possible to read that as a story about a woman who can’t be a professional in a workplace without hollowing herself out and becoming sort of less-than-human. [Diana Christensen] is talked about terribly by the other characters and you’re supposed to learn a hard lesson about what a monster an ambitious woman can become and that does not hold up well. It’s also a movie that features some of the wittiest dialogue and some of the greatest performances of any movie of the 1970s and I’m always going to love it for that.

AM: That’s such a trope, isn’t it? The ice-cold career woman.

MH: Right, and whoever did it better than…

AM, MH: Faye Dunaway!

Alicia Malone, Mark Harris.

Which coming-of-age movie character did you find the most relatable? AM: For me, it’s Velvet Brown played by Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet. I watched that over and over as a child when I was obsessed with horses. It was so inspiring as a young girl to see another young girl chasing her dreams—pretending she’s a boy that doesn’t speak English to win the Grand National—particularly at the time when I grew up in the 1980s, when so many of those films for kids were about young boys achieving their dreams.

MH: Haven’t seen it in a long time, but the Peter Yates movie Breaking Away meant a lot to me when I was a kid. The idea of chasing something that means something to you but trying to reconcile what your parents thought about it, and how to balance your own dreams with the expectations other people had for you. I think that’s a really lovely movie.

I still think about those performances by Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earl Haley, and of course Barbara Barrie and Paul Dooley as the parents. That movie landed right in my heart the first time I saw it. I’m almost afraid to go back now, I don’t want it to have turned into one of my problematic faves! I want it to be one of my faves.

If we could gift every Letterboxd member two hours of HBO Max to discover one film from this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival lineup, which film would you want it to be? (My pick is Bless Their Little Hearts.) AM: A film that I just adore is Cléo From 5 to 7 by Agnès Varda. She was working in the French New Wave and arguably made the first movie ever in the French New Wave. It’s one of those great movies that is close to real time as possible—it should be Cléo From 5 to 6:30 really, because it’s an hour and a half. It’s so inventively shot and edited. I’ve done the walk that she did in Paris, I’ve tried to map that out and copy Cléo. I want more people to see it and discover it.

MH: My husband [playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner] recently finished writing a new version of West Side Story for Steven Spielberg that’s going to come out at the end of the year. I think I would like to gift everybody the first version of West Side Story, which opens the festival, because you have to start there. It’s a beautiful movie and I think it’s a really instructive thing to see how this story was told in 1961 versus how it’s going to be told in 2021. Also, it’s two-and-a-half hours so if we’re only gifting people two hours… they’re not going to see the ending and they’re going to have to go to the new one to find out what happens!

Related content

Follow Mark Harris, Alicia Malone and TCM on Twitter for updates on TCM Classic Film Festival 2021

Watch the TCMFF West Side Story cast reunion, May 6 at 6pm ET

A Letterboxd list of all the films mentioned in this interview

Follow Festiville for all Letterboxd festival coverage

Follow Jack on Letterboxd

#tcm #tcmff #tcm film festival #hbo max #alicia malone #mark harris #tony kushner #elaine may #mike nichols #nora ephron #steven spielberg #west side story #letterboxd #letterboxd life in film #classic film #classic movies #old hollywood #hollywood glamour #hollywood glamor

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goldsmithfm · 3 years

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hello homies and homos ! i’m 𝑡𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑦 and this is my first time using the criminally underrated cutie chella man , i adore opossum & dani and i am so grateful they stay swinging hits at the rpc ! truly a duo that cannot miss ! i humbly present 𝑔𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑡ℎ to u all to love and shit on , my enthusiastic simp son who just wants to live his ray of sunshine life and fix ur internet router . ♡

✼:♡*ﾟ✿ ↝ chella man . genderqueer trans man . he / him / they / them . ／ goldsmith lu is blasting superfast jellyfish by gorillaz again … ugh , i swear they play that song every single day ! you’d think they’d learn how to pipe down . oh , you don’t know them ? they live in apartment 3B . i haven’t talked to them much , but i know that they’re twenty - two years old , and that they’ve been living in the complex for one year . i always run into them when they’re coming back home from ralph’s arcade , and they seem really inquisitive and saccharine . maybe you’ll have better luck with the cancer than i do . ( teddy , 18+ , cst , she / her )

* 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑠 .

- NAME : goldsmith atticus lu - NICKNAMES : goldie , gold , g - AGE : twenty - two - GENDER : genderqueer trans man - PRONOUNS : he / him / they / them - OCCUPATION : self - employed app developer and part - time computer technician . - HOGWARTS HOUSE : hufflepuff - MORAL ALIGNMENT : neutral good - HEIGHT : 5’9 - ORIENTATION : pansexual , polyamorous - ZODIAC : cancer

* 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 .

quiet childhood , uneventful , a curious child taking everything apart they could get their hands on . many lectures ( mother , chinese immigrant , father , jewish man ) were spent on why you can’t just pop open the computer or don’t break apart the tv control . his transition is uneventful to the extent his parents don’t accept it , but almost ignore it — he’s not sure if this is a blessing in disguise considering they never once bring it back up after he introduces his new names and pronouns .

one of those last names as a first name deal bc of his grandfather , wanting to honor him with the name he comes into .

he figures his sister has something to do with it , but he takes it at face value with gratitude and faces little resistance in his circle . no turmoil , no drama , just as easy of a metamorphosis as it gets .

he’s , of course , held to standards too unrealistic for any child his age , but thrives on them . skipping grades , homeschooling, duke university by the time he’s 16 .

his computer science degree with a minor in mechanical engineering is the first thing in a long time that cracks a smile out of his parents . that , to goldsmith , is enough .

a child of the wind , sensitive & inquisitive with a vigor for life , goldsmith allows himself to play to whatever whims may come his way . he’s openminded and thoughtful , willing to try everything once with an enthusiasm unmatched . he’s benevolent and invites the world with open arms , often the neighbor to offer his services in whatever extent possible .

confident in himself but with a heart perhaps too open , there’s the less - than - uncommon occasion that goldsmith allows his kindness to overcome him and allow others to take advantage . he’ll argue night and day against being called a simp but refuses to ever sleep with his phone on silent “ in case someone needs to talk . “ he’s avoidant of confrontation and would rather compromise to the benefit of others than to cause anyone undue discomfort .

ebullient and adventurous , goldsmith has an observant nature and an infectious laugh , always a question on his tongue and always a hypothesis on his mind . he adores playing matchmaker and thrives off seeing those around him in high spirits , though he’s self assured enough to not be motivated by the opinions of others . excitable , and gregarious , goldsmith wears his heart on his sleeve and steps into the world every day with a desire to help , to love , and to better himself .

#opalintro

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vivelamori · 7 years

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Donnie Yen Autobiography “All About Donnie (問丹心)” Translation Ch.1(pt 1-3)

Guess what... I have translated more of the content of Donnie’s autobiography. I’m planning to translate the first two chapters of his book, which are about his childhood and his experiences when he was early into the show business.

There are 5 parts in the first chapter “My Personal Development” and 4 parts in the second chapter “Into the Show Business”.

The previous post I made I had translated part 2 of chapter 2.

Once again, BIG THANK YOU to my dear beta Dream @evocating for her generosity and patience. My work looks legible because of you. Also thank my real life friend Asura for helping me to clear my mind and translating a few but important sentences for me.

Crappy photos of the original text taken by me are attached with this post below for reference. Baby Donnie is ADORABLE OKAY!???

Reminder: This post is so damn long with words and pictures.

Chapter 1: My Personal Development

Part 1: “The Mystery of Destiny”

In a life of a man, somehow what you do and face is destined and written by fate. For me to write a book published by Sing Tao News Corporation Limited seems to be heaven’s will as well. My father Klyster Yen had worked as an editor for the International Sing Tao Daily in Boston, USA for 30 years. With that in fact, it seems that my affinity with Sing Tao seems to have existed for a long time. Many people assume that since I grew up overseas, I would not be fluent in Chinese. Actually, when I was young, I would run over to my father’s workplace and read the Chinese newspaper published by the Sing Tao. In that way, I gradually acquired the language through such self-taught process. In recent years, I have a growing realization of the mystery of destiny. As if life has hidden the clue of who I am today, now the path unfolds and I must follow step-by-step to where destiny might lead.

“A Family Splitting Apart”

My father and mother met when they were both part of the Guangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra. My father was a violinist and my mother was a soprano. Life is however fickle. Later the family was forced to split apart during the turbulent times.

At that time, it was hard for a Mainlander to migrate to Hong Kong. At the age of two, I was approved but only one of my parents was allowed to accompany me to live in Hong Kong. Finally, my father brought me here. However, the family of three was divided: one in Guangzhou and the other two in Hong Kong. Only heaven knew the day of our reunion with my mother.

“My Favourite Show ‘Enjoy Yourself Tonight(EYT)’”

When we first arrived, my family condition was rather poor. I still remember that I lived in a squatter’s residence at King’s Park in Kowloon (a region in HK). My father and uncle shared a bunk bed. Grandmother also lived with us. And I would just sleep on the floor. I also remember that we had to share with the neighbours.

At that time, “EYT (1967-2002)”(a famous variety TV show in HK) just started broadcasting. Like many children of the time, I loved to crouch in front of the gate of my neighbour’s flats, peeking through the bars of the gate to watch the black-and-white television. Even though the signal of the TV was poor, it was the best entertainment for me as a kid. Later, my family condition was becoming better. After my uncle got married, together with my father and grandmother, we moved to a new flat in Yuet Wah Street in Kwuntong (a region in HK). Afterwards, when my father bought a flat near my uncle’s, we finally escaped the life of an over-crowded household.

“Mother Practicing Martial Arts to Combat Loneliness”

Very quickly, a few years passed. Although our living standards were improving, my mother was still staying in Guangzhou alone. I was too young to understand the bitterness of my separation from my mother. I could only remember I would receive a letter from her every few weeks. She wrote about how much she missed me, and she would use rhetoric words like “Ji Dan Chai (子丹仔)” and “Kiss you(吻您)”(*) to call me and express her love.

(*Translator’s notes: After a discussion between me and beta Dream at 3:30am, we concluded that “Ji Dan Chai (子丹仔)” was probably a Cantonese pun for “egglet/egg puff*(雞蛋仔)”, a famous traditional snack in HK. Furthermore, 吻 means “kiss” and 您 means “you” which is usually used as a polite form but his mom used it because she wanted to insert hearts to express her love towards her son.)

Can you imagine how a woman can withstand the loneliness of those long years separated from her husband and son? Due to this, she threw herself into practicing kung fu, strengthening her spirit through the movies to gain confidence and power, and also supporting herself and her mother’s family.

Later my mother told me that in those nine years, she would apply for coming to HK every now and then, only failing each time. My father knew that my mother missed me very much. When I was nine, he asked his brother-in-law(姨丈) to bring me back to Guangzhou to visit my mother. At last, I met her. As early as I can remember, that was the first time I met my mother.

My strongest memories of that one and a half weeks are of her hugging and kissing me every day. She also dragged me over to meet her master Fu Wing-fai (傳永輝) and her classmates. At that time, the mother of grand master Fu was a foot-bound lady (a cruel pedantic practice on women in old China). However, I could remember clearly that when she swung the spear, she looked very handsome and moved powerfully.

“First Experience of Real Martial Arts”

When I was young, my father loved to bring me to Yue-Man Square in Kwuntong to watch movies during weekends when I didn’t have to go to school. We watched the films produced by Shaw Brothers (HK) Limited like “The One-Armed Swordsman (獨臂刀)” (1967), “The Bloody Fists (蕩寇灘)” (1972) and “The Heroic Ones(十三太保)” (1970), etc. Though I watched them on the big screen, they really were the first time I witnessed real martial arts in action.

After those days of waiting and waiting, and then finally getting to meet my mother, everything seemed to fall back into normalcy again. My father was working behind the desk at a garment factory. Once, in the name of a business trip for the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, he went back to Guangzhou to visit his wife.

One day, the good news finally arrived after nine years of waiting. My father excitedly told us that mother’s approval of coming to HK was granted and there would be a new member of the family… It was because my father intentionally knocked my mother up during that trip, so that the first week my sister was born, she and our mother were permitted to enter and stay in Hong Kong. That’s also why my parents always regard my sister as the “lucky star”.

In life, there are times when we are together with our loved ones, and times when we are apart. During our separation, my mother became a master of Tai Chi. After the reunion, I followed her to practice martial arts. Everything seemed to be according to heaven’s will.

Part 2: “I am ‘Fong Sai-yuk’(方世玉)”

My mother had arrived in Hong Kong, so our family had reunited. During the time of waiting as she was waiting for her immigrant visa to the USA to be approved, she would go to the park located at the nearby Yuet Wah Street to teach students. In the beginning, she had only two to three students. Later, the number of students increased. At the age of ten, I was like the teaching assistant. Every early morning at 5 or 6, I would follow my mother and teach her students.

Some days before, Madame Helena Law Lan (羅蘭)(a famous actress in HK who was born in 1934) told me that her master Lee Yuen-king (李婉瓊), from whom she learned Tai Chi, was one of my mother’s students from that class. She joked that, in terms of hierarchy, I am kind of her grand master(師公/師伯)! Chinese kung fu came from China. The art belongs to everyone. It truly connects people around the world!

“The Heir of Kung Fu”

My mother Bow Sim Mak (麥寶嬋) practices martial arts. She values it highly and thus is determined to pass down her skill and techniques. Of course, she has great expectation on her son. She was like the “Miu Chui-fa” (苗翠花) and I was “Fong Sai-yuk” (方世玉)(*). Every morning before school, she would drag me off my bed at 5 and asked me to do splits, stretches and go through the forms. If I whinedo r complained or made any mistakes, she would scold me with her wooden sword immediately.

(*Translator’s note: Miu Chui-fa was a famous and highly skilled woman in martial arts in Qing Dynasty. Her son Fong Sai-yuk was also a talented kung fu master who was excelled in Shaolin boxing.)

My path to learning martial arts began after the reunion of my mother. My road towards the show business also began at that time.

My mother would teach Tai Chi in the morning and sing soprano at the Mira Hotel at night. Coincidently, people from the Yuen’s stunt team(袁家班) also performed Peking Opera there. Heroes are drawn to each other. Later, a few of them started taking lessons in kung fu from my mother. This had helped me to set the destiny of meeting my master Yuen Woo-ping in the future, getting into the show business through acting in his film “Drunken Tai Chi (笑太極)” (1984).

“Boycott by Other Schools of Martial Arts”

At the age of 11, our whole family migrated to Boston in USA. During the 60s and 70s, it was very common to open a school of martial arts in Chinatown. After settling down, my mother also opened one and named her school as “ Chinese Wushu Research Institute (中國功夫研究所)” because she took promoting Chinese martial arts to the world as her responsibility.

Nevertheless, there were a few people who were narrow-minded. They thought the name of the school was intended to include all the types of Chinese martial arts. Thus, my mother was boycotted by other schools. They even nitpicked her logo – a figure holding swords, posing and stepping on the Bagua Diagram. They said, “Bao Sim Mak, are you really that ‘good’? Able to step on the Bagua School? ” Even some meddlers came here and tried to make a fuss by throwing stones at my mother’s school.

However, it took some time, my mother’s hard work was not wasted. She proved her skills to other schools and earned their recognition. She was able to make the practice of martial arts become universal. Many Westerners came to her to learn. Her students included the undergraduates of the Universities of Boston and Harvard.

At that time, the largest and most popular martial arts school in Chinatown was opened by Master Kwong Tit-fu (鄺鐵夫) who taught Hung-styled boxing (洪拳). Every festival or celebration like the Chinese New Year, his most senior student, John Tsang (曾俊華), aka the current Financial Secretary of HKSAR, would carry a lion head and lead the kids from different martial arts schools to perform the lion dance on streets. I was about 12 or 13 at that time and I often followed the lion dancers led by this “big brother” around. I joined for fun and sometimes I would perform Chinese boxing to liven things up.

After many years, when I met the Financial Secretary again, he revealed to me that he already noticed me at that time. He said I was skilled in martial arts in a certain level with such a young age. To have received such high praise from someone like him, this Donnie really don’t deserve it!

Part 3: “Imitating Bruce Lee”

Overseas Chinese growing up in the foreign countries are often more aware of their racial and national identity than local Hong Kongers or Mainlanders. I, as a Chinese American citizen, was often belittled by others who called me names like “chink”. I thus strived to search for my identity of nationality.

“Learning Kung Fu through Watching Movies”

There were only two cinemas in Chinatown and they were smelly and filthy. There were always drunkards wandering around and they were stinky and dirty. Despite all that, I would still escape school and buy a ticket to watch the same movie again and again. After I finished watching the “Drunken Master (醉拳)”(1978) and “Snakes in the Eagle’s Shadow (蛇形刁手)” (1978), I would immediately rush back home to practice the drunken and snake moves. After watching “36th Chamber of Shaolin (少林三十六房)” (1978), I would practice the three-section cudgel immediately. I had watched the “Way of the Dragon (猛龍過江)” (1972) and “Enter the Dragon (龍爭虎鬥)” (1973) thousands of times. As a kid with some talent, my moves looked like those from the movies even though all I did was watch!

At around that time, I remember that my mother still had not found an official place for her school and so she rented the buildings of other martial arts schools to teach her classes. They had all kinds of tools and weapons. I loved to pick them up and practice.

Once, before my mother arrived, I naughtily picked up a nunchakus l to imitate the Bruce Lee’s moves. I was using it powerful enough that my every move made whirring sounds. Unexpectedly, the screw of the connecting joint of the nunchakus was loosened and one part of the pair flew across the room and hit one my mother’s female students. The girl wailed and a bruise appeared obviously on her head. I immediately knew that I was in huge trouble. Of course, my mother scolded and punished me so terribly.

“Carrying Nunchakus Everywhere”

In the 70s, Bruce Lee was very popular. I would wear his outfit – an orange sweatpants with sunglasses or black Chinese traditional clothes with kung fu shoes– to school every day. I would saw off the staff of a broomstick into two parts and connect the two with a rope to make my own nunchakus. I put it into my long socks along with me so that I could whip them out anytime, anywhere. At that time, no matter the Chinese or Western classmates, they loved to call me “Bruce”. I would sometimes perform nunchakus and show off footwork to entertain myself and others.

At that time, there was a black substitute teacher who got along with the students very well. He always asked me to show off, “Hey, Bruce, show me the kick!” Once, I joked that I could kick his face thrice and he would not be able to dodge. I hadn’t waited for the teacher’s reply, “Really?” and I kicked him. Ping! Ping! Ping! I had already left three footprints on his face. The black substitute teacher was tall and bulky. Having kicked on the face three times without warningmust have made him felt a little bit of embarrassment and anger. He threw and hanged me, who was small, onto a wall to warn me.

With regards to my relationships with the other students, I occasionally received letters daring to challenge me. Even though I was not the strongest, and both wins and losses were common in fighting, the swiftness of my body and movements meant that any opponents would have to endure my heavy punches and kicks.

My obsession towards kung fu grew to its peak as I worshipped and idolized Bruce Lee. I always focused on my footwork, wishing my movements to be as quick, fierce and precise. I would escape from school with my friends, hiding in the park practicing “sticking hands” of Wing Chun in the afternoon. Honestly, we were just messing around.

I was really obsessed with martial arts when I was younger. Looking back now, was I laughably naïve or cutely innocently?

#Donnie Yen #All about Donnie #his autobiography #my translation #his family is a legend #his parents are also the best #ragethirst #Chirrut imwe #Xiang #Ip man #問丹心

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positivepsychologyinterventions · 5 years

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When Is It Okay to Lie About Death?

This week, I sat, enthralled in a darkened movie theater watching a story unfold. Before the first scene, the line, “Based on an actual lie,” ran across the screen. The film is called The Farewell and is the story of the lung cancer diagnosis of the filmmaker’s grandmother. Lulu Wang is the director for whom art imitates life. Her alter ego is Billi, played by the actress and rapper Akwafina. Billi adores her Nai Nai (Chinese for grandmother), who assisted in raising her when her parents immigrated to the U.S. when she was a child. She discovers that her grandmother was diagnosed with end stage lung cancer and the family, spearheaded by her sister and reinforced by her two sons, chooses not to tell the octogenarian about her doctor’s prediction that she will likely die in three months. Chinese tradition is to withhold that information since they believe that it would hasten her passing and that people are more likely to die from the fear of death than the illness itself.

The elaborate hoax included the staged wedding of Billi’s cousin to a woman he had only been dating for three months. Bolstered by the belief that “benign shadows” were on her x-rays, Nai Nai takes the lead in planning this extravaganza for her grandson with a zeal and zest that belies her age and health condition.

The concept of “family first” is evident throughout as in their culture, the needs of the individual take back seat to the needs of the collective. They all carry the burdens for each other. Much of the conversation about what to tell Nai Nai happens over food prep and heaping platters of sustenance, both physical and emotional.

Even though the film is receiving world-wide acclaim, Wang has stated in many interviews that her grandmother doesn’t know the full content and focus of the movie. She does know that it is about her family. It is an amazing feat that no one has spilled the beans. At the time of this article, Nai Nai is still on this side of the veil, six years post diagnosis.

This begs the question, when is it acceptable to withhold the medical truth from someone? Is it in their best interest and will it likely increase longevity?

In the United States, it is not customary to do so and yet, in 2008, when my then 84-year-old father who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease was about to be placed on hospice, my mother asked that no one use that term with him, since she feared he would die sooner. We agreed that he would know he was receiving additional nursing care at home and he accepted that explanation. The last few months of his life were spent at home with my mother, a live-in caregiver, as well as family and friends surrounding him. When he did pass (as predicted by his doctor) three months later, I was blessed to be by his side. I was convinced that, despite cognitive deficits related to the condition, he made peace with his eventual evolution to his next stage of life. He didn’t express fear of dying, since I sensed that his deep spiritual faith had him trusting what came next for him.

A few years later, my mother was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She was cognizant and fully aware of her prognosis, verbalized vehemently that she wasn’t ready to die, and planned at least a few more years on the planet so she could see her grandchildren get married. That wasn’t to be, since by the time my son Adam married his sweetheart Lauren two years ago, she had been gone seven years. She would have adored her, as well as my sister’s granddaughter who is now a precocious 6-year-old.

Prior to her death, we had in depth conversations at all hours about her perceptions about what would happen when it was her turn to slip this mortal coil. Initially, she cried and expressed fear, but as the time drew near, humor was injected, and a sense of peace came over her. She didn’t embrace death, but she didn’t avoid talking about it either. She came to accept that it would happen sooner rather than later. Six months after entering into hospice care (and yes, she did know) she passed, with substitute caregivers (not her regular live in staff and regular hospice workers) by her side. My sister and I were not present either and it seems she orchestrated it that way. I have no regrets, since I said what needed to be shared. A slight sense of wistfulness remains coming up on nine years this November 26th, that I wasn’t there when she took her final breath, since she was present when I took my first.

I read an article this morning, that was written by a mother whose 8-year-old son died of cancer. She had to come to terms with what I have heard is the most horrific loss; that of a child. She found the courage to share three pieces of wisdom that helped him to pass as peacefully as possible, exceeding the doctor’s estimate by a few weeks, I imagine, as a result. She told him that he would not die alone; that she would be there. He would not be in pain and they would be okay after he died, although they would certainly miss him.

What if we knew our expiration date? Would it allow us the time to prepare for our exit? Would it enable us to make peace with the end of this existence? Would it help us to say what we might not otherwise have said to loved ones and to make amends for interactions we wish would have been different?

Would you want to know?

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fadingfartconnoisseur · 6 years

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AK Monthly Recap: October 2017

October in New York is fantastic. The best month of the year. And this was actually my first time experiencing an October in New York!

Last October was split between Poland, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and Australia. I think October is a fantastic month to travel, especially to Europe, but after a big Eurotrip last month it was time to sit still and spend time in one place.

It was a month of Halloween goodness, exciting opportunities, and a surprising number of visits to Staten Island. It was a month of admiring the decorations throughout Harlem and enjoying far-warmer-than-usual weather. This month rocked!

Destinations Visited

New York and Croton-on-Hudson, New York

Tybee Island and Savannah, Georgia

Jersey City, New Jersey

Favorite Destination

The new? Tybee Island. The old favorite? Savannah. Don’t worry, Jersey City — you’re nice, too.

Highlights

The other half of my dad’s visit to New York. My dad visited over a long weekend and I talked about the September half of his visit in last month’s recap. On this part of the trip, we got dim sum at Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown, walked around the 9/11 Memorial and downtown Manhattan. We cut through Brookfield Place and did a walk-through of Le District (it’s essentially the French Eataly) and I can’t wait to go back for a proper meal! Post-Whole30, of course…

We also got a trip in to Staten Island — the only borough Dad hadn’t visited. And we introduced him to one of my absolute favorite things to do in New York: drinking on the Staten Island Ferry. As on every trip to Staten Island, we walked to the Flagship Brewery and had a few beers before getting back on the ferry to Manhattan. Topping it off? Fraunces Tavern (a very cool place and one of my favorite bars in the city) and John’s Pizzeria (Bleecker Street), which I’m starting to think is my favorite New York-style pizza in the city.

And before Dad left on Monday, I introduced him to the quintessential New York breakfast: the bodega bacon, egg and cheese and a coffee. He loved it.

A beautiful beach getaway to Tybee. October is still beach season in Tybee Island, Georgia, and I enjoyed temperatures in the mid-80s. I even got a tan! I’ve written a lot about that trip already, so I won’t repeat myself here. It was also lovely to spend a day in Savannah, one of my favorite cities in the world.

Traveling to Jersey City for amazing pizza. Jersey City is a short PATH train ride from Manhattan, but I had never been before — until I read a New York Times piece asking, “Is New York’s Best Pizza in New Jersey?” The place is called Razza and it’s pretty damn good pizza. Not classic New York pizza, but I’d definitely place it in my top five for the city. Maybe even the top three.

What makes Razza pizza great? Amazing crust, a delicate thinness, and unusual and inventive toppings, many of them locally sourced from New Jersey. My favorite was the Panna with tomato sauce, mozzarella, local grass-fed cow’s cream, arugula, and parmigiano. Cream on a pizza is a stroke of brilliance. It’s like burrata. So yes — go to Razza! It’s absolutely worth the trip to Jersey City. It’s very popular and they don’t take reservations, so try to go at an off-peak time. I had to wait an hour on a Monday night.

Golden Girls Trivia at the Golden Girls Cafe. I made my first visit to Rue la Rue Cafe, the Golden Girls-themed cafe in Washington Heights, for a wild night of Golden Girls trivia. The owner, Michael La Rue, was close to Rue McClanahan and inherited much of her estate, some of which is on display at the cafe. Even the phone from the set! He gave away some of Rue’s things as prizes — things like one of Rue’s canceled checks, one of her coffee cups, and even the script from the George Clooney episode that George himself drew on!

And man, these were serious Golden Girls fans who showed up. (My sister is a hardcore fan and she aced two rounds of trivia.) I was very happy that the grand prize winner was the guy who took the midnight bus from Baltimore and showed up in Blanche Devereaux drag!

Visiting the Chihuly exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden. The exhibit is now closed, and I’m glad I made it there. I love the New York Botanical Garden and Chihuly is such a great fit for a natural environment.

Visiting The Blaze in Croton-on-Hudson. Every year, the Hudson Valley town of Croton-on-Hudson does a giant jack-o-lantern display. There were a merry-go-round, a Tappan Zee Bridge, and a Statue of Liberty all made out of pumpkins. And they’re still doing it through November!

It’s a nice little getaway from the city, and there’s a nonstop train during rush hour. Just 35 minutes from Harlem-125th and 40 minutes from Grand Central. And while the website says the walk from the train station is “not pedestrian-friendly,” don’t let that stop you — the walk is easy and the cabs are both expensive and communal. (Me: “What is this, a marshrutka?”)

Visiting Staten Island a whopping three times. Once with my dad, once to cheer my sister on in the Staten Island Half Marathon (her first half marathon ever and she did amazing!), and once with the Knights. More on the Knights below.

Halloween festivities in Hamilton Heights! This year my neighborhood’s running group, of which I’m kind of an honorary non-running member, put on a Halloween dog parade and 5K fun run. I photographed the event for them. The costumed dogs were adorable and I really enjoyed getting to know more of my neighbors. Stay tuned for a Halloween dog post next week!

And I went out in my neighborhood as trick-or-treating was in full swing. I went to Broadway in Hamilton Heights, and you guys, I’ve never seen trick-or-treating that crazy. Hundreds of kids and their parents filled the streets. In the city, they trick-or-treat at businesses, and I wouldn’t be surprised if business owners invested in upwards of 1000 pieces of candy!

Also, my friend Jessie threw an impromptu fall celebration party at her apartment with pumpkin painting. You are never too old to paint pumpkins!

Let me just say that I am so happy that I got to experience a lot of Halloween fun this year, after missing so many Halloweens due to my travels. I love this holiday so much!

A fun and creative gig with Visit Kissimmee. On the thirteenth, I spent the day with the team from Visit Kissimmee in Florida, traveling around the city with knights from Medieval Times, taking hilarious videos of them for Snapchat, interviewing people on the street, and getting people to sign up to win trips. First of all, I laughed harder this day than I have in a long time, and second, it was deeply gratifying to have so much creative control from a first-time partner.

On the professional front, very exciting things are happening. The rest of 2017 will be on the quiet side but I’ve got two big trips planned for next year. Both will be cold and snowy trips. One is to a place I’ve been before and the other is to a place I have never been but has long been a goal of mine to visit. The first trip isn’t until late January so I’ll be revealing it in the next few weeks.

One hint: I’ll be visiting a city that hosted the Winter Olympics in my lifetime, and it’s not Sochi or Albertville. Any guesses?

Challenges

My flight back from Savannah was delayed upon delayed upon delayed. I soon realized I could have gone to dinner in Savannah! Missing a meal in one of my favorite food cities made me sad. Eh, what can you do.

I had a bad cold this month. One of those help-me-I-can’t-do-anything, stay-inside-my-house-and-not-move-for-three-days, please-let-my-sense-of-smell-come-back colds. It happens once or twice a year; I hope this means I’m good for awhile.

When the challenges are that minimal, you know you are a very lucky person indeed.