Turning Japanese...

Not that I wasn't already excited to check out the Land of the Rising Sun later this year, but Kirsten Dunst just upped that giddiness.

The erstwhile Mary Jane Watson gets a gold star for pulling off a fun, if obvious, little cover of a classic '80s piece of pop magic!

Warning, there is Japanese comic book cleavage involved, so you may want to check this out away from nervous coworkers:



Arigato!

I look forward to checking out Akihabara for myself soon!

Hibi no Neiro

Discopop Directory, who discovered this, says "this is the best video I've seen this millennium - no exaggeration."

So I, myself, wouldn't quite go that far with the hyperbole, but this video by Japanese band Sour is pretty low-tech fantastic.

Hibi no Neiro (Tone of everyday)

Giving Thanks in Turbulent Times

A few quick thoughts about Thanksgiving 2008.

The past week is a case-study in contradictions. There was another huge terrorist attack, in what may have seemed like an unlikely place. Family members were forced to reassess their travel plans when protestors shut their final destination down. And I meanwhile, in a different world, I discovered, that of all things, there are wineries in Nebraska.

1) India:

That this happened this week should really come as no surprise. Islamist militancy has long looked for weaknesses when planning their attacks, and last week's attacks throughout Mumbai were proof that there will always be vunerable targets.

It serves us well to remember that India itself was carved out as a Hindu homeland, with the majority muslim areas spun off into Pakistan and, eventually, Bangladesh. While we may yet find that these horrible attacks were connected to the regional tinder box that is Pakistan, you cannot ignore that just as we learned in Oklahoma City, sometimes your own worst enemy can be your neighbor.

There was a time when I could very well have been in a lobby like the Taj Hotel's, with family worried sick the moment they heard gunmen were looking for people with American passports.

My thoughts are with the families around the world who lost nights of sleep worried about their loved ones this week, and, in particular, with those whose worst nightmares came to pass.

2) Thailand:

Usually when news of social unrest in a foreign land hits, you note it with a distant eye, hoping a country finds its way somehow.

I say that with the perspective of having once been barricaded inside a hotel watching the city around me go up in flames. The power of ordinary people to bring a nation to its knees is impressive.

With Bangkok now shut off from the world, it turned into a much more personal story this week as I realized that I had family in the region, expecting to land back in Thailand shortly after anti-government demonstrators shut down the nation's main airports.

Luckily they were still in Cambodia and able to rearrange their travel plans home. Their suicases weren't so lucky. They are still sitting hostage in a kept-baggage closet at their hotel in Bangkok.

I'm thankful that my family is home safely, now.

3) Nebraska

The Thanksgiving holiday, this year, was spent with family, as we're supposed to.

And while the incidents in Mumbai and Thailand were clearly in my head all weekend, I couldn't help but note that they seemed a world away from the old fraternal order club where we shot some pool, the lake on the side of a highway where we had turkey and homemade apple pie or the odd little winery on the hill overlooking some dams.

While our world is ever shrinking in this unsteady era of terrorism, upheaval and economic wariness, I was struck by the resiliency of family and community in the smaller world that is Nebraska.

I was jarred one night watching the local Grand Island news that they didn't even bother to mention the attacks in Mumbai, while the national news networks were on the story 24/7. It proves the point that sometimes what's local doesn't reflect what's going on around the world, and that's comforting, in it's own way.

My own personal world view definitely found contrast this past week with a world in which hunting season was a bigger topic of conversation. And in a week full of bad news, on top of the economic mess we're muddling through, it was nice to be easily distracted by the small things that really matter.

Thank you to everyone in Nebraska for welcoming me so warmly as always. I love you all very much.

As this Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close, I give thanks for all of my friends and family here in Colorado, across the United States and around the world. I am thankful for having you all in my life.

A Chinese Blockbuster in the Making

Invariably when an foreign movie director wants a serious budget to develop a bigger vision, eyes usually turn towards the Hollywood machine and movies geared towards a western, if global, audience.

So it was with John Woo.

His stylized Hong Kong gangster flicks including A Better Tomorrow and the cult classic, The Killer, drew fans the world over. So it wasn't long before the sheen of blockbuster appeal pulled him across the Pacific for a while. It has been hit or miss for him, but his unique style has given him longevity in an industry known for throwing out the latest trendy director for another.

Now it's payback time for the Chinese director.

I had been hearing rumblings for a while about a new John Woo flick, set in China, but I had little idea of the epic he is undertaking. The most expensive motion picture ever made in Asia -- Red Cliff will sprawl a romanticized era in Chinese history known as the Three Kingdoms over two movies to be released later this year throughout Asia. While a U.S. release is expected, we may get a single condensed version, instead.

Here's an early peek at one of this year's most anticipated releases worldwide. It's a reminder that while Hollywood still controls the blockbuster market, there's a whole different world out there waiting for their stories to be told as well:

Ashes of Time Redone.

Long known for leisurely shoots and last minute re-edits, Wong Kar-Wai is a meticulous visionary, rarely content with the final cuts of his films. In the past, this has led to slightly different versions of his movies being released in different parts of the world.

Now he is going back to Ashes of Time, his 1994 wuxia classic, to spruce things up for a definitive version, premiering this week in Cannes.



Hopefully this redux will make it to a screen around here, later this year. It premieres at the Cannes Film Festival, currently underway.

As with anything he does, Wong's take on martial art spectacle is already unique. I look forward to seeing what he does to take it to a new level!

Another Katrina, Far From Home

It's easy to suffer myopia when calamity hits on the other side of the world:

Flooding in the outskirts of the Burmese capital of Yangon

In the shadow of the media slam that was Hurricane Katrina, the relative murmur with which we have reacted to Tropical Cyclone Nargis that slammed into Burma this week has been disappointing.

Admittedly, with a military dictatorship that did little to warn the Burmese people of the oncoming storm and that is now hampering international aid efforts, some might say there is little that can be done right now.

That does not diminish the fact that more than a million people are now homeless with death tolls ranging in the tens of thousands already.

Before and after satellite imagery of the devastation in Burma this week.

This devastation is quite simply another Katrina, if not worse, even if it is as far from home as you can get.

UPDATE 5/7/08: U.S. diplomat: Cyclone toll could be 100,000: Officials say corpses are floating in the water as Myanmar disaster grows

Storm Riders Reunite

Back in my global days, I had the really neat opportunity to visit Centro Digital, a special effects house based in Hong Kong. I was like a kid in the dvd-extras section of a candy store as the owner showed us how cinema magic is really done.

At the time they had self-released The Storm Riders, a martial arts epic, as a canvas for the type of work they could do. A giddy popcorn effects extravaganza, it was really cool getting to see first-hand how they made that kung fu world full of mystic powers and wide panoramas come to life.

Needless to say, my The Storm Riders dvd is an old favorite of mine that I still pop in from time to time.

Now, from Monkey Peaches, comes news that there is a sequel filming as we speak. Centro seems to be out of the picture, but the project is in the respected hands of the Pang Brothers, part of the new generation of Hong Kong directors.

This is a very neat surprise!

I look forward to the continuing adventures of Striding Cloud and Whispering Wind in Storm Riders II!

Comfort Drink

Last summer when we got back from Vietnam, I went on a quest to find some Tiger Beer.


One of the big liquor stores flat out told me I would never find it here. My local store gave it a shot, but never quite tracked down a local distributor.

Honestly, I am not sure why I love it so much. A basic, easy-to-drink lager, it is a bit lighter than the darker or more robust beers I gravitate towards. I chalk my love for it to the fond memories I have from all my time in Southeast Asia.

There I was, resigned to the fact that my next Tiger Beer would have to wait for the next trans-pacific jaunt, when the familiar feline bottles found me instead. A few weeks ago, accompanying someone else on a wine run, there they were, just waiting for me.

I finally popped open a bottle or two tonight, and for a quick second there I was back in that fantastic dive of a bar where we played backgammon all night to escape our tragic hotel in Hue. I was back in Singapore at a plastic table on the street in China Town devouring dried chili chicken. I was back on a Kuala Lumpur balcony, overlooking the city at night.

It is amazing how something so simple as an imported beer can make you smile.

Happy Year of the Rat!

Gung Hei Fat Choy!

Swatch Takes Upscale Urban Retailing Vertical

When Swatch Group Japan was faced with building a new headquarters and showcase for their various upscale brands in Tokyo, they apparently rose to the challenge.

With a small footprint in which to highlight the Swiss watchmaker's various brands including Breguet, Blancpain, Glashütte Original, Jaquet Droz, Léon Hatot, Omega and, of course, Swatch, the company turned to Shigeru Ban to find an elegant, open solution.

Using significant greenery, dramatic lighting and innovative technology, Shigeru Ban seems to have achieved an iconic Tokyo flagship building, in a city swamped with modern buildings. Indvidual hydraulic elevators rise out of the open lobby to the boutiques and office space above, giving the designers an elegant solution to the limits of tight urban streetfronts in a congested urban metropolis such as Tokyo.

Thanks to my friend David for the heads up on this neat intersection of modern design and architecture!

Hop Alley in the shadow of Lodo

Did you know that Denver once had a thriving Chinatown district?

In typical Denver form, our Chinatown was razed completely in 1940 to make way for warehouses and industrial buildings.


Known locally as Hop Alley, it was the epicenter for a community of as many as 3,000 Chinese immigrants brought into Denver to build the western railroads. Originally found between Market, Blake, 16th and 20th Streets, a race riot in 1880 scared much of the community away. Twenty years later, amidst Chinese community divisions, Hop Alley renewed itself with a smaller population a few blocks away between Blake and Market, from 20th to 21st Streets.

At its peak, Denver's chinatown was a dense mix of shops, residences, laundries and saloons. There was even a Chinese Theater on Market St. Over time however, the area became dilapidated, and the area was condemned due to urban blight.

It's tough to judge the needs of the city in 1940, considering the dilapidated state of the area. Cities invariably build upon themselves, and so it was with our Chinatown. In the shadow of today's Coors Field and the Lodo sports bars, Hop Alley once stood as a bridge between exotic China and our then wild-wild West.


I discovered this on the A View from the Rockies development blog HERE. The city of Denver website also has some great information in the Ballpark Neighborhood Summary Report HERE.

You must be my lucky star 'cause you shine on me wherever you are

After making the egregious mistake of buying a lousy album tonight -- damn you Apple for making it so easy to download bad music -- I found the tonic to make me forget that $9.99 sin.

Here is a little morsel of bubblegum pop joy from a Taiwanese girl-band found thanks to Dont Stop The Pop:



I have no clue what I.N.G. are really singing about (other than something about being a Lucky Star), but does it really matter?

This is pure happy pop, with dance moves!

Put aside the artificial sweeteners: This is pure sugar, Mandarin style.

茶 (otherwise known as tea)

Tea and I have a history.

As a kid I drank Chamomile. Growing up, before the Starbuck's era, I switched to Lipton black. Later on, Asia introduced me to the joys of green and jasmine aromatics. I still believe there is none better than Jasmine pearls gently unfolding when hit by a splash of just-boiled water.

If you're like me and you're going decaffeinated, you quickly realize that drinking coffee suddenly becomes silly. I like the taste all in all, but in the end, the only reason I ever really got hooked on coffee (along with Coca-Cola, which we'll save for another day) was for it's jittery effect. That gone, what's the point?

For a while teas got shuffled out unfairly, along with the coffee. If I couldn't have my Jasmine tea, what was the point. Most purely decaffeinated teas are fruity herbal concoctions that aren't for me, I scoffed. I've always gravitated towards simple clean flavors. The Brits could keep their milk, thank you!

Tea, however, didn't give up on me.

I soon rediscovered the soothing effect of an occasional chamomile tea enough to actually buy some extra bags for the office. I now have decaffeinated black and green teas galore at home. I've even been, heaven forbid, playing around with milk to cool my tea, even to the point of exploring different Indian chais (the caffeine free bags from Stash are pretty darn good, the red-tea based Oregon Chai concentrate, not-so-much).

All these teas, I've discovered, now have a mellowing effect on me. I've always believed in their medicinal value, but only recently have I come to understand and value the actual ritual of making and drinking it.

With their elaborate tea ceremonies, this is something Asian cultures have long understood. I'd experienced such ceremonies while travelling, but as with many things, I don't think I was at a point in my life where I could internalize that lesson.

suddenly, though, making a cup of tea feels different now for me than making a shot on my espresso machine. It's an active process that demands attention to get it right.

For starters, you have to boil the water. For a proper cup, there is no instant gratification. You have to stop, nurture the tea, steep it. Only when the leaves have given up their essence can you drink it. It's something you have to sip gently. It forces you to slow down, even if just for a few moments.

In my newly decaffeinated world, teas no longer live to keep me awake. Their calming powers seem to be much more powerful anyway.

Bird's nests and animated exteriors in a sports palace world

With millions upon millions of dollars spent on shiny new sports palaces here in the States, it amazes me how few are truly iconic. They are little more than expensive excuses for corporate boxes in an era of diminished design expectations.

Not so in Barcelona or Beijing.

Spanish soccer club, FC Barcelona recently announced bold plans for a major stadium renovation "meant to become an international architectural reference point for the 21st century." A bold claim backed up by cutting edge lighting and materials intended to create an iconic building adaptable to the needs of rabid soccer fans on one day, and other civic events the next day. The new Camp Nou Stadium is meant to become a landmark in a city already full of them.

Similarly, the Chinese have pulled out all the stops with their bird's nest design for the new National Stadium being built for next year's 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Throwing out the rules on how stadiums should be built, an inhabitat review explains "the structure itself is composed of a grid-like formation that serves as both structure and facade, integrating the stairs, walls, and roof into one cohesive system. Instead of form being dictated by function, [the] design effectively removes the distinction, making function and form one in the same."

Somehow both of these make Invesco Field here in Denver look very minor league. Don't get me wrong, I do get the value stadiums provide for cities like Denver. Their impact in developing a sense of community spirit goes well beyond the tax revenues they generate.

But, if you're already spending hundreds of millions of dollars, can't you at least make them look pretty?

What happens in Macau stays in Macau?

I have fond memories of working in Macau.

A year before the Portuguese handed over their Pearl River Delta colony back to the Chinese, it was still a sleepy, dense little city overshadowed by the flash and sizzle of Hong Kong next door. There were plenty of cute alleys full of old antiques, an odd mix of Portuguese and Chinese traditions, and a general discord between the tacky, supposedly crime-ridden, casinos and basically everything else.

The seeds, however, were already being planted for a drastic reinvention. Fast forward to today: With the Chinese government's smart decision to break up the old gambling monopoly it is quickly en route to becoming Las Vegas' biggest rival. Seedy old casinos are giving way to big brand new palaces from the exact same people that have made Nevada a global destination.

The New York Times has a great snapshot into the new Macau here.

I'm not sure I would recognize it.

One of these days I'll wander back to see if any of the old Macau is still there.