Hong Kong

The following is a combination of 2 transcriptions of the film that I found on the Internet. Both transcriptions were excellent and close to being word-for-word. Still there were some spelling errors that I noticed and corrected. I took the liberty of adding my descriptives to some sections I found were not explained clearly enough in the original transcriptions.

Once, when I was at a Wong Kar Wai forum, a guy posted a DVD cover that he had made for an amature design competition, as an alternative to the official Hong Kong DVD release of Ashes of Time. Seeing his work, I was also inspired to produce my take, the film being one of my all-time favourites. Around that time, I had ordered and just received a copy of the Japanese edition of the official soundtrack (gorgeous, lush soundtrack I might add).

The CD cover and inserts were printed on rough porous paper, which was lovely. It reminded one of the desert. Wanting to maintain a consistant look between the CD and the DVD, I decided to scan one of the images found in the the CD inserts, and digitially edited and blended it with a official still of the movie, together with a series of small photos to create a translucent rice-paper effect. I tested the print on some high DPI inkjet paper and found the result quite pleasing.

The experience one gets from sleeping on one side of the face the whole night is a disconcerting albeit temporary case of double-vision when one wakes up. This is attributed to the slight misalignment of the eye. However, the body usually recognises this problem and restores balance in a blink of an eye, literally - I apologise for the pun. A similar but worse situation is when that double vision occurs not from two eyes out-of-sync but in one eye alone, no thanks to the slight swelling of eye tissue, being a result of Grave’s Disease. Sadly to say, this condition isn’t as temporary as the first case mentioned and I can attest to this from personal experience. You know the line from the Book of Corinthians that says that as we grow up we see through a glass darkly? Well I see now not just darkly (at least that’s what I think) but doubly too (ouch that was so not funny). Thankfully, only one eye is afflicted so with both eyes I can still read and see things almost the way they should be seen.

Damnit, it’s late and I’m tired. Tried to sleep but somehow that didn’t work. So I go online. This is going to sound retarded but I just wanna say (and I really mean it): I miss Hong Kong!!! waahhhhhhhhhhhh…….

This is just a short post to say that I’m alive now. I’ve survived the 3 week long torment of sleep deprivation and constant programming. Right now I’m back in the computer lab again after a weekend long break following the submission of my web portal project. This time, I’m starting on my final project of the semester, this film media project. It will be due on October 30th, just before my 21st birthday which really is a good thing, the former I mean.

Anyway, just a declaration of my latest two obsessions. Collecting Hong Kong (or generally Chinese) art house DVDs (think Wong Kar Wai, Stanley Kwan & Chen Kaige) and purchasing Zara clothing.

Just watched the 1994 Hong Kong film “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man” (HK title: Gam Gee Yuk Yip; Chinese Title: Jing Zhi Yu Ye) on TV starring Anita Yuen, Leslie Cheung and Carina Lau. Excellent show and great acting. The story delves into the delicate issue of homosexuality, weaving comic elements into tense drama.

The story: A straight man finds himself falling in love with another man who, unbenownst to him, is really a woman in disguise. Homosexuality is taboo in Hong Kong society and the man is conflicted as he understands that the love he has is illicit according to the moral principles that have been embedded into his mind. What choice will this man make? To follow his heart’s desire and embrace the forbidden, or deny this love and conform to his principles.

Interesting isn’t it?