That movies looks interesting, I can hardly wait to hear your thoughts on it. Its very difficult to get any new chinese movies out here where I live (either translated into english or with english subtitles), and on TV they just seem to play the same ones over and over again. To see one I have to be lucky enough to catch it on the independant film channel (IFC). I wonder if Zhang Ziyi would ever do a movie (romantic comedy) over here. That would be cool.
My trip to China is about 7 weeks away and we are getting excited
Isobelle Carmody is similar. Maybe there's something about the way Australian authors deal with sci fi and fantasy - they tend to write about it quite matter-of-factly without much flowery language. A lot of the reason why I don't like a lot of sci fi fantasy books is that the authors go overboard with the fruity language, what Josephine Tey calls 'speaking forsoothly' and sometimes the Stupid Name Syndrome becomes positively distracting.
Wordy McWord. I love Carmody (I keep meaning to read Garth Nix too) because of the simplicity of her writing. There are no magical swords/capes/rings/cliches and tricky names to remember. I re-read the Obernewtyn Chronicles about 3 times every year and I'm always on the look out for the next book - I heard a rumour it was supposed to be out this year.
The naughty thing about Isobelle Carmody is she didn't finish her Obernewtyn series before she went on to write a new series and never really got back to do the old ones. I can guarantee you (I think) that if you like Isobelle Carmody you will really, really like Nix's Old Kingdom series (Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen) They are really gripping and well-written!
Psst, the last book of the Obernewtyn Chronicles is meant to come out in October this year! It was confirmed by the author herself, although if worse comes to worse, it might be pushed back to the start of 2007. It's still very exciting considering I've had to wait throughout my entire teen years for her to finish the damn series. ;)
And Koala, thanks for the heads up on this film. I hope it hasn't come out yet in Australia, making me miss its release. If it gets a release sometime in the future, I'll probably remember this post and go check it out. But I have to agree with dangermousie that it looks very depressing in a very Chinese way. I get this weird feeling that the tone of the film will remind me of that Gong Li movie, To Live. Haha, I saw that movie in Grade 3 with my parents and their friends, had no comprehension of all the history in it and did a 'show and tell' presentation on it the next day which prompted my teacher to look worriedly at me because I kept talking about these people dying. And also because I kept cracking up when
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That's good news! Make sure you check out the Garth Nix, too though. He at least had the decency to finish his series and he's from Canberra. Hee!
As to the movie, it does look depressing. These days it's not the case but there was a time when it seemed as though every single Chinese movie that made it to the West was Get Down Stay Down depressing ending either in a welter of death or insanity. These days it's much better but there is still a great deal of tragedy and angst in Chinese movies :) Have you seen Farewell my concubine? One of the best movies ever but soooooooooo depressing.
Chinese movies do seem to have a really bad habit of being miserable tragedies where the hero/heroine dies or goes mad. They are getting better these days though :D These days, Zhang Yi Mou doesn't kill off everybody like he used to ;)
for zhang zi yi to play these 3 generation of women is interesting but then again just watching an actor/actress play one or two characters in the same movie is always interesting because you can see how much make-up, clothing style, and accessories can change a person's image :) the movie looks good but it also reminds me of the joy luck club as well.
ooo you're starting the black magician series! i love those books! the plot is just wonderful so far and it sucks me in just as much as the old kingdom series does :) i cant wait until you finish ^_^
I adore the Joy Luck Club and cry every single jolly time I watch it :P How is it that you've read the Black Magician series, too! Clearly you're very familiar with Australian authors!!! :D The book is great, but can I ask you for a spoiler? I take it that there's no romantic interest in here? It's the Incurable Shipper in me, I'm always on the look out for potential love interests for the heroine ;)
hehe like the ant in your icon i just heard about it from my friend and then read it when i saw it in the library one afternoon. fantasy books are one of my favorites to read (besides mystery) so i'm always on the barnes and noble websites just to scan new book titles :) i didn't realize that the author would be australian though :P LOL
teeny spoiler i'm not very sure how far you are in the trilogy yet so i dont want to spoil anything big... but expect much deceit, misunderstandings, and a few unexpected twists :D as for romance? hehe all i can say is to keep a close eye on akkarin and sonea ;) especially akkarin ~_^
Hmm-it looks pretty darn fabulous to me. Zhang Ziyi is a great actress and I love the look of the pics. I'll make a note and make sure to watch it sometieme. In other news, I love Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series too! But I think my favorite book of his is Lirael, with the Disreputable Dog featuring high on my list of the best non-human fantasy characters ever created(along with Reepicheep and Dori(that is the name of the house elf from Harry Potter, right?)And I agree-there's something about Australian writers-they make it so down to earth and the average of good Aussie fantasy to good American fantasy is hands down much higher. Have you read Juliet Marillier and Cecilia Dart-Thornton? Although actually now that I think of it those books are a bit flowery. But so good. But for more than down to earth sci fi I read this series years ago by an Aussie author, both books featuring a pair, a boy and girl, and one featuring a pair of red-headed twins with telepathy who have to save the world. Basically there's these evil forces taking over
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I have a love/hate feeling about Zhang Zi Yi. She comes across as a pretty obnoxious person in real life so I have to force myself to separate her real life persona from her acting, but she has been in some of my most favourite movies. If you check out my movie review page there are heaps of movie reviews for Asian movies. She's in quite a few favourites
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That movies looks interesting, I can hardly wait to hear your thoughts on it. Its very difficult to get any new chinese movies out here where I live (either translated into english or with english subtitles), and on TV they just seem to play the same ones over and over again. To see one I have to be lucky enough to catch it on the independant film channel (IFC). I wonder if Zhang Ziyi would ever do a movie (romantic comedy) over here. That would be cool.
My trip to China is about 7 weeks away and we are getting excited
Bob
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Wordy McWord. I love Carmody (I keep meaning to read Garth Nix too) because of the simplicity of her writing. There are no magical swords/capes/rings/cliches and tricky names to remember. I re-read the Obernewtyn Chronicles about 3 times every year and I'm always on the look out for the next book - I heard a rumour it was supposed to be out this year.
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And Koala, thanks for the heads up on this film. I hope it hasn't come out yet in Australia, making me miss its release. If it gets a release sometime in the future, I'll probably remember this post and go check it out. But I have to agree with dangermousie that it looks very depressing in a very Chinese way. I get this weird feeling that the tone of the film will remind me of that Gong Li movie, To Live. Haha, I saw that movie in Grade 3 with my parents and their friends, had no comprehension of all the history in it and did a 'show and tell' presentation on it the next day which prompted my teacher to look worriedly at me because I kept talking about these people dying. And also because I kept cracking up when ( ... )
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As to the movie, it does look depressing. These days it's not the case but there was a time when it seemed as though every single Chinese movie that made it to the West was Get Down Stay Down depressing ending either in a welter of death or insanity. These days it's much better but there is still a great deal of tragedy and angst in Chinese movies :) Have you seen Farewell my concubine? One of the best movies ever but soooooooooo depressing.
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ooo you're starting the black magician series! i love those books! the plot is just wonderful so far and it sucks me in just as much as the old kingdom series does :) i cant wait until you finish ^_^
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teeny spoiler
i'm not very sure how far you are in the trilogy yet so i dont want to spoil anything big... but expect much deceit, misunderstandings, and a few unexpected twists :D as for romance? hehe all i can say is to keep a close eye on akkarin and sonea ;) especially akkarin ~_^
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