Harmony Gold Screening:I saw Stephen Chow today!!!!

I made it to a CJ7 screening at Harmony Gold at Hollywood. CJ7 wasn't as good as I expected. Maybe i just expected too much. And some humor just didn't translate when you watch it in an American context and as a long time fan, I am convinced that the Stephen Chow that I grew up with is gone forever. The movie wasn't funny. I guess I only laughed once or twice and there wasn't even memorable moment like the Karaoke scene from Shaolin Soccer or the Roadrunner scene from Kung Fu Hassle. Maybe I was just confused. The crowd were the foreign movie fans/ film students crowd, so they weren't feeling Chow's divine presence. I wish I were at the UCLA screening, but then again, I am glad that I was not.

Stephen Chow actually had a screening at UCLA yesterday. I was being extremely nice and I told the Hong Kong Student Society about it so they could better arrange the situation and avoid some crazed fans being arrested by campus police. The last thing I wanna see on campus is crazy Chinese students stepping on each other and making Daily Bruin headlines. So y being concerned, I basically blew my chance of getting in, (hence, i end up at the Harmony Gold, lucky me.) If Leon Lai was moped at Melnitz couple years ago, Stephen Chow would never make his way to the parking lot. Like me, those kids in HKSS are all gonna have a life changing experience by breathing the same air with the King of Comedy in the same space.

The perks of being in Hollywood is that big star like Stephen comes to America as a nobody, so they become accessible like any up and coming names. In Hong Kong, no kids will ever ever dream of seeing Stephen Chow face to face, let alone a Q&A session. Finally, our international student fees pay off.


their Q&A are pretty similar than the one I've been to. Except the audience at UCLA are probably 99% Chinese student. How FOBulous!

WE ARE LIARS

10-Year Sentence Follows Life of Lies
D.C. Man Attacked Girlfriend in May

Just last night, I was talking to friends about that Chinese fob-ness is all about priviledge. And it all seems to be a rosy picture, even though we know what it is all about. And when we are alone, we find like minded people, we find comfort together doing activities that we will be doing back home, we find the Chinese restaurant that most resembled that in Hong Kong and we live as a parallel with everything American, simply not want to make life more complicated then it already is.

and here I am reading one man's tragedy stemming from lies that we all have told. We all do that, dont we? After a 5 years relationship, my mum told me that finally I met my first boyfriend, this year. I told my cousin's relative I was doing Economics. I once know what I want to do in life, and when it come to telling someone in my family, all of a sudden, my plans diminishes, they become uncategorized junk. They leaves no mark in their mind, and they become non-existent in my mind. Soon, i start telling them I don't know, maybe, that is a better answer than all those things that aren't doctors, lawyers, consultants, business?

I know it is horrible to sit on your girlfriend and smash her with a wok, a wok, picture that! and slashes her with razor blades. I wonder how much lies does someone has to tell to drive a person to such madness. The scary thing is that we have all done this. At least I have and I could relate to that. Many of us could self sacrifice to live a life that is not my own all for family sake. It all comes down to sacrafice isnt it?

I really don't understand why family do that to each other. Cant they just be proud of their son who is the best car mechanic in the Valley. Cant they even be proud of a daughter who is a struggling freelance writer who occasionally break a story? It will touch a lot of nerves if I have to dive into the mentality of Chinese family values. Yes we live for each other, and we have all make sacrifices. Why do we need sacrifice in order to feel love, to love each other? cant we just love each other like we mean it and stop saving faces and living lies?

Maybe it is not all that bad, maybe it is just me. Nobody seems to share this with me somehow and it makes me feel as if I am hallucinating. Why do we Chinese people keep so much secret? Why do we hide like we are being raided all the time by our loved ones? Why the burden? Why do we do things out of obligation but not willingness? We talk about obligation like it is honorable, we never talk about love. We are supposed to say this, but we are never allowed to speak.

Not FOBulous.

Stephen Chow new movie : CJ7

This is in fact Stephen Chow's first sci-fi debut. This time Stephen chow stars as Ti, a poor father trying to make ends meet by working at a construction site. His son, Dicky (Xu Jian, who is actually a girl)is the target for bullies at school because of his shabby clothes and dirty shoes. One night, as Ti was going through the junk yard to look for Dicky's new shoes, he stumbled upon a green orb that turns out to be an alien dog with mysterious power. This new pet, CJ7, becomes Di's secret weapon against his bullies at school. Ti had a fatal accident at the construction site and all of a sudden Dicky found himself an orphan. As the movie took an unexpected turn into tragedy, CJ7 is Dicky's only hope for a miracle. In doing so, CJ7 has to make a sacrifice that will end up costing his life.

The fact that it is coming to Hollywood makes me feel that this might be yet another sell-out. Kung Fu Hussle and Shaolin Soccer were not the best Stephen Chow movie and his slapstick is increasing lacking of depth. And if you grow up watching Stephen Chow you know that the quality of his movies is going downhill these days and the bigger the budget, the lamer the jokes. But as long as he is having a premiere in hollywood, I am gonna be tagging along. I would completely faint if he is two feet away from my face!!

The movie is going to have its North America premiere on March 7th 2008.