Wednesday, February 21, 2007

London Chinatown Celebrates the Year of the Golden Pig

The Duelist



Loosely based on an original manga by Bang Hak-gi and set during Korea's late Chosun Dynasty era, acclaimed Korean filmmaker Lee Myung-Se's (Nowhere To Hide, Bitter And Sweet) innovative and visually impressive reinvention of martial arts genre conventions, DUELIST is a ravishingly shot and brilliantly choreographed tale of intrigue and romance. Taking visual inspiration from the works of artists Matisse and Mondrian (specifically the pieces "Dance" and "Manhattan" respectively) and basing the fight choreography on rhythms and movements more associated with the tango and ballet than with kung fu and swordplay, in DUELIST Lee Myung-Se has created a uniquely artistic and visionary martial arts film unlike anything seen before.

Well, that's what the blurb says. Decide for yourself when it is released on 9th March in the UK.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Save Oriental City

The Asian themed shopping centre 'Oriental City', on the outskirts of London in sunny Colindale, is under threat from developers!

I have been to the centre a few times and it has an excellent food court with outlets selling food from all over Asia. Thus you are able to sample dim sum turnip cakes, Vietnamese pork and sushi all at the same time! Not to mention the delicious range of teas on offer. There is also a large supermarket and some shops selling Chinese dresses, DVDs, pottery and of course Hello Kitty and Doraemon goodies. When you're done shopping you can kill some zombies on the House of the Dead game in the arcade. The first time I went to Oriental City I spent 5 hours in there! Managed to fit in 2 meals. Yum. There is a large Chinese restaurant on the top floor which I have heard is good but I haven't tried out.

It seems to me it would be a great shame to get rid of it. It needs refurbishing if anything and some good publicity. Our mayor seems to have a penchant for all things Chinese at the moment perhaps he should intervene?

Check out info. on dimsum.co.uk:
http://www.dimsum.co.uk/viewpoints/oriental-city-protest.html

Blog of interest:
http://british-chinese.blogspot.com/