(no subject)
Not feeling as overwhelmed now -- work seems manageable now, need to kick own butt into studying more though. Instead, practising the fine art of procrastination; what I like to do instead of reading up on my pharmacology...is read hilarious leave applications.
Sample: As my mother-in-law has expired and I am only one responsible for it, please grant me 10 days leave. LOL are you sure you want to confess that to your boss?
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Also borrowed one of the Liao Zhai translations; this was one of the translations that included some of the more R-rated stories, or at least stuff not exactly suitable for young adults, unlike the version I actually read in my school library. One of the stories I hadn't come across before was "Lust Punished by Fox Spirits" -- which was more or less what it said on the tin. A pair of scholars (De & Wang) go to a party, get their (mis)fortunes told but decide not to think too much about it and return home. Scholar De however, finds his door open, and after a quick search discovers a naked girl sleeping on his bed. He promptly helps himself, and while fondling her buttocks jumps back in horror when his hand encounters a furry tail. At this point, naked girl wakes up, laughs at his face and introduces herself as a childhood friend who had moved away and now returned to her hometown when her husband passed away, and is looking for a new protector. When De stammers something about a tail, she chides him for having had too much to drink, and guides his hand between her legs again, proving that there's no tail. The tail issue settled, De happily offers to be her new protector and climbs into bed.
Naturally, everything the fortune teller has said comes to pass, and De sickens and dies in a few weeks. Wang has barely just received news about De's death when a lady caller pays him a visit and tells him a sob story about being De's concubine and such, and Wang practically falls over himself to comfort the lady and take off her clothes. Fortunately for Wang, just as he starts to go into decline, he dreams of De, who comes to give him a warning that the girl is really a fox spirit who drains the vitality of men. He tells Wang to save himself by burning a special incense, and also adds that he has lodged a complaint with Hell's yamen (literally Hell's court) in order to redress his untimely death. Wang wakes up in horror, and carries out De's instructions. But the fox spirit is far too strong to put off by a few sticks of incense and breaks them easily, then interrogates Wang about them. Wang lies and says that his wife, noticing his ill health, had given them to him in order to pray for his recovery. But the fox spirit guesses De must have told him about her true nature, but is willing to spare him and leave without killing him. She then comments that she will need to make a journey to Hell in order to face the complaint De has lodged against her. She tells Wang to take care of her body and travels off to Hell in spirit form. Wang hastily has his servants kill and skin the fox body, and when the fox spirit returns, she chides him for being a heartless human.
After all, she had already agreed to spare his life, and she tells him the reason she was able to return was that Hell's court had decided in her favour. De's death was considered to be the consequences of his own lust, and thus they threw his complaint out of court. She then leaves Wang, who quickly recovers and is probably not too hasty about buying nubile concubines afterwards.
This was of course a morality tale about uncontrolled lusts (a common theme), but as far as I'm concerned: GO GO FOX SPIRIT! How many fox spirits do you read of going to court and winning? :p
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Parents had China movie marathon...*head explodes* which was actually pretty good.
First was a Shaolin movie, set during a time when the Shaolin temple was under persecution: Watch only if you automatically watch anything with Shaolin in the title. Clearly low budget.
Second was "Sacrifice", directed by Chen Kaige, which was really good right up until the end. Gorgeous costumes, check. Heavyweight actors who can actually act, ie. Ge You. Plot. Actual subtlety. Fan Bing Bing as beautiful vase, check. Tragic Asian Ending, check check check. If you can't tell, I hate TAEs goddamnit it totally reads to me as: I AM SERIOUZ DIRECTOR, ALL MY CHARACTERS DIE AT THE END.
It's not a new plot by any means; reduced to the basics, it is essentially a revenge play where a commoner decided that in order to revenge himself on a lord who has killed his wife and child, he will raise the lord's enemy's son. The catch is that the lord and the kid will not know they are enemies, and eventually he'll do the big reveal and the kid should at that point go "OMG YOU KILLED MY FATHER PREPARE TO DIE!" (If you recognise this plot, it's similar to Juedai Shuangjiao or the The Legendary Twins by Gu Long)
Chen Kaige handles that part excellently. You can't get that necessary tension if you don't convince people that events flowed naturally to that point, and that there is real and genuine affection between the lord and the enemy's son. It's really sad though, that the ending just fell down -- so much time was spent fleshing out the relationships and the characters that I think the director just had no time to handle explaining what went on in the head of kid when he realises the lord is his enemy instead of a beloved uncle.
"Let the Bullets Fly" was a completely different, a comedy with Ge You, Chow Yun Fat and Carina Lau. Not bad, but could do with tighter editing. Also, Chow Yun Fat's character...was he on drugs? Actually, come to think of it, the entire movie felt like a moodswing. There's a decent story in there, but you have to be patient.
Sample: As my mother-in-law has expired and I am only one responsible for it, please grant me 10 days leave. LOL are you sure you want to confess that to your boss?
---
Also borrowed one of the Liao Zhai translations; this was one of the translations that included some of the more R-rated stories, or at least stuff not exactly suitable for young adults, unlike the version I actually read in my school library. One of the stories I hadn't come across before was "Lust Punished by Fox Spirits" -- which was more or less what it said on the tin. A pair of scholars (De & Wang) go to a party, get their (mis)fortunes told but decide not to think too much about it and return home. Scholar De however, finds his door open, and after a quick search discovers a naked girl sleeping on his bed. He promptly helps himself, and while fondling her buttocks jumps back in horror when his hand encounters a furry tail. At this point, naked girl wakes up, laughs at his face and introduces herself as a childhood friend who had moved away and now returned to her hometown when her husband passed away, and is looking for a new protector. When De stammers something about a tail, she chides him for having had too much to drink, and guides his hand between her legs again, proving that there's no tail. The tail issue settled, De happily offers to be her new protector and climbs into bed.
Naturally, everything the fortune teller has said comes to pass, and De sickens and dies in a few weeks. Wang has barely just received news about De's death when a lady caller pays him a visit and tells him a sob story about being De's concubine and such, and Wang practically falls over himself to comfort the lady and take off her clothes. Fortunately for Wang, just as he starts to go into decline, he dreams of De, who comes to give him a warning that the girl is really a fox spirit who drains the vitality of men. He tells Wang to save himself by burning a special incense, and also adds that he has lodged a complaint with Hell's yamen (literally Hell's court) in order to redress his untimely death. Wang wakes up in horror, and carries out De's instructions. But the fox spirit is far too strong to put off by a few sticks of incense and breaks them easily, then interrogates Wang about them. Wang lies and says that his wife, noticing his ill health, had given them to him in order to pray for his recovery. But the fox spirit guesses De must have told him about her true nature, but is willing to spare him and leave without killing him. She then comments that she will need to make a journey to Hell in order to face the complaint De has lodged against her. She tells Wang to take care of her body and travels off to Hell in spirit form. Wang hastily has his servants kill and skin the fox body, and when the fox spirit returns, she chides him for being a heartless human.
After all, she had already agreed to spare his life, and she tells him the reason she was able to return was that Hell's court had decided in her favour. De's death was considered to be the consequences of his own lust, and thus they threw his complaint out of court. She then leaves Wang, who quickly recovers and is probably not too hasty about buying nubile concubines afterwards.
This was of course a morality tale about uncontrolled lusts (a common theme), but as far as I'm concerned: GO GO FOX SPIRIT! How many fox spirits do you read of going to court and winning? :p
---
Parents had China movie marathon...*head explodes* which was actually pretty good.
First was a Shaolin movie, set during a time when the Shaolin temple was under persecution: Watch only if you automatically watch anything with Shaolin in the title. Clearly low budget.
Second was "Sacrifice", directed by Chen Kaige, which was really good right up until the end. Gorgeous costumes, check. Heavyweight actors who can actually act, ie. Ge You. Plot. Actual subtlety. Fan Bing Bing as beautiful vase, check. Tragic Asian Ending, check check check. If you can't tell, I hate TAEs goddamnit it totally reads to me as: I AM SERIOUZ DIRECTOR, ALL MY CHARACTERS DIE AT THE END.
It's not a new plot by any means; reduced to the basics, it is essentially a revenge play where a commoner decided that in order to revenge himself on a lord who has killed his wife and child, he will raise the lord's enemy's son. The catch is that the lord and the kid will not know they are enemies, and eventually he'll do the big reveal and the kid should at that point go "OMG YOU KILLED MY FATHER PREPARE TO DIE!" (If you recognise this plot, it's similar to Juedai Shuangjiao or the The Legendary Twins by Gu Long)
Chen Kaige handles that part excellently. You can't get that necessary tension if you don't convince people that events flowed naturally to that point, and that there is real and genuine affection between the lord and the enemy's son. It's really sad though, that the ending just fell down -- so much time was spent fleshing out the relationships and the characters that I think the director just had no time to handle explaining what went on in the head of kid when he realises the lord is his enemy instead of a beloved uncle.
"Let the Bullets Fly" was a completely different, a comedy with Ge You, Chow Yun Fat and Carina Lau. Not bad, but could do with tighter editing. Also, Chow Yun Fat's character...was he on drugs? Actually, come to think of it, the entire movie felt like a moodswing. There's a decent story in there, but you have to be patient.