Environment

-- Wuxia --

The crew, including director Peter Chan, and cast, Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tang Wei, for Wu Xia have been arriving on the set in Tengchong, Yunnan in the past few days to get ready for production of the film, which has been held up due to extreme weather conditions, such as storm that causes mudslide, flood, brought about by climate change, further fuelled by El Nino effects. Director Peter Chan says they are beginning production soon so as not to eat into the schedule of Donnie Yen's next film Monkey King.
 

Peter Chan indicates that Wuxia is an original script which marries action, physics, medical science with special effects to look at martial arts, such as how powerful a blow could be, and how different the impact would be when a fist lands on a martial arts exponent versus on a regular person. While Wu Xia is set in Manchu dynasty, Donnie Yen, who is also serving as the action director, and Takeshi Kaneshiro need not shave their head.

In Wuxia, Donnie Yen, who hides a dark past, lives in a small village. When an unthinkable homicide was committed, Takeshi Kaneshiro comes to investigate, only to discover a more sinister conspiracy, with Donnie Yen being the prime suspect. It's speculated that Tang Wei would play Donnie Yen or Takeshi Kaneshiro's wife.  Chuncheng Evening News, Chongqing Times, MTimes

If we really want to reduce the human impact on the environment, the simplest and cheapest thing anyone can do is to eat less meat. Behind most of the joints of beef or chicken on our plates is a phenomenally wasteful, land- and energy-hungry system of farming that devastates forests, pollutes oceans, rivers, seas and air, depends on oil and coal, and is significantly responsible for climate change. The way we breed animals is now recognised by the UN, scientists, economists and politicians as giving rise to many interlinked human and ecological problems, but with 1 billion people already not having enough to eat and 3 billion more mouths to feed within 50 years, the urgency to rethink our relationship with animals is extreme. Continue reading "10 Ways Vegetarianism Can Help Save the Planet"

 Press conference announcing production of 《海洋天堂》 Sea of Heaven/Ocean Paradise (tentative), to be filmed in Qingdao, was held in Beijing on August 26. Continue reading "Jet Li Explores Parental Love and Autistic Kids in Sea of Heaven"

-- 2012 --

Full trailer for Roland Emmerich's 2012 is has just been released and may be viewed either on Yahoo or 2012 movie official site. The film's release date has been pushed back from July 10 to November 13, 2009.

 

The eco-disaster film starring John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Amanda Peet, Morgan Lily, Chiwetel Ejiofor is about an academic researcher leading a group of people in a fight to counteract the apocalyptic events, as a result of climate change, that were predicted by the ancient Mayan calendar.

Continue reading "Trailer for Roland Emmerich's 2012"

 On 11 June afternoon, press conference for Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame was held in Hengdian. Tsui Hark worked through the night to rush out a teaser trailer, which does anything but teases. It shows nothing more than a brooding atmosphere, with barely anyone in sight. To quote Tsui Hark, "Kept under wraps." Continue reading "Detective Dee Press Conference in Hengdian"

A letter that a VSS member sent to a local newspaper Today.

I REFER to “When Meat Really Is Murder” (April 29). This article highlights the harm done by factory farming of pigs and other animals. Factory farming refers to the modern and rapidly spreading practice of raising animals in buildings similar to the factories in which we produce objects such as watches or plastic furniture.

These factory farms reduce the cost of meat by providing the highest output at the lowest cost via machinery, biotechnology, global trade, and economies of scale. However, by confining thousands of animals in one building, factory farms create a breeding ground for pandemic diseases, such as swine flu and avian flu. In a vain attempt to combat such diseases, antibiotics must be used on a large scale. In fact, one expert estimates that livestock production accounts for 50% of U.S. antibiotics use.

Factory farms also damage the environment. For instance, the involuntarily confined animals produce huge amounts of manure and other wastes which foul the air and water. This waste also emits methane and nitrous oxide, two greenhouses gases more potent than carbon dioxide.
 

But perhaps the most important reason to end factory farming lies not in the danger of pandemics or in the damage to the environment, but in the living hell suffered by our blameless fellow animals trapped on factory farms and deprived of the social and physical characteristics of a natural life. Recent research is documenting that other mammals, such as pigs and cows, and even birds, such as chickens, have the capacity to think and feel. (See, for example, the March, 2008 issue of National Geographic.) Indeed, they are not objects to be produced by us in factories.

We can reduce the threat of pandemics and show kindness towards other animals by moving away from factory farming, reducing our consumption of meat, and enjoying more fruits, vegetables and other plant foods.

-- Junior Soldiers --

Junior Soldiers has begun production on Feb 3 in Yuanmo county, Yunnan. The movie, which has been in Jackie Chan's mind for 20 years, is produced and written by Jackie Chan who also stars in it. Juniors soldiers is described as a period arthouse movie set in Qin dynasty that focuses on the journey of three people and a horse.

With the earth being threatened by climate change, Jackie Chan advises the production to be more concerned about the environment, encouraging everyone on the set not to smoke, and not to litter. Anyhow, it helps most to change to a vegetarian diet.

 

On that day, they were filming a scene where Jackie Chan, a general, in his drunken stupor, destroys a wooden post by the inn. The inn was built recently at a cost of around 100 thousand yuan.  Sina

On December 9, gala premiere of the romantic comedy All About Women was held in Beijing, attended by the director Tsui Hark and cast members Zhou Xun, Gui Lun Mei, Zhang Yu Qi, Stephen Fung, Eddie Peng etc.

In the film, Zhou Xun is an antiquated doctor who petrifies upon contact with any man. Kwai Lun Mei plays a rock band singer who has violent inclinations, and often hallucinates about having a perfect boyfriend. Zhang Yu Qi is a self-centred entrepreneur who doesn't believe in having a boyfriend.

Continue reading "All About Women Premieres; Tsui Hark is More Womanly Than Women; Missing Extended 4hrs Seven Swords DVD Explained"

On November 2, Sunday afternoon, a press conference for 《苏乞儿》 True Legend, directed by Yuen Wo Ping, was held in Beijing. The cast for the film includes Zhao Wen Zhuo, Zhou Xun, Gordon Liu, Michelle Yeoh, Guo Xiao Dong, Andy On, Jay Chow, Will Liu, etc.

 

True Legend official site, containing production diary, character designs, concept arts, stills, videos, news, etc. was made known, and a short behind-the-scene footage was shown. Doubts were raised by the reporters concerning Jay Chow playing a martial arts doyen responsible for raising Beggar Su's skills since he lacks martial arts and acting ability.

Continue reading "Yuen Wo Ping Unveils True Legend"

-- Missing --

The underwater ruins off Yonaguni coast are exquisite, invaluable, and captivating beyond imagination. The ruins show the advancement of the civilisation over 10 thousand years ago, before the city was flooded, remaining submerged under the sea to the present day. It makes Tsui Hark wonder why no one has given a serious thought about how the priceless treasure could serve as a warning to us on avoiding a repeat of history.

 

"Actually, it isn't in my element to do a suspense/mystery. However, as I took a keen interest on the ancient citadel, and also thought that weaving a romantic tale with it would be meaningful, I came up with the story." In Missing, Tsui Hark wishes to show the ancient civilisation, the relationships between (Wo)Man and environment, the thoughts and concerns of people dwelling in city.

Looking at the gradually evanescing remnants of the historical civilisation inevitably reminds Tsui Hark of the crisis the Earth is facing in the 21st century - global warming: melting of Arctic ice at an alarming rate that results in release of methane from the seabed and rising sea level... The Earth is facing such serious global threats. What are the causes. What would happen to our world 50 years later? How could we change our lifestyles to salvage the situation?

Continue reading "Tsui Hark Finds Missing Inspirations from Global Warming Concerns"

-- Legend of Shaolin Kungfu II: Thirteen Cudgel Monks --
Jimmy Lin plays a supporting role as Prince Li Shimin in Legend of Shaolin Kungfu 2, one who puts the welfare of the populace above everything else. In actual life, Jimmy Lin has been involved in many charity activities.

孙卉凝 Sun Hui Ning, who plays the leading lady Wang Yu Feng, the daughter of Wang Shi Chong (Leung Kar Yan). She's Wang Shi Chong's only child. Beautiful, cold, aloof, intractable. Many years back, Wang Shi Chong sacrificed his wife in order to save his own skin. This has an ill-effect on Wang Yu Feng, resulting in her lack of trust in men.

 

To make up for his guilt, Wang Shichong especially dotes on her, so, she grows up becoming very wilful, bold and impudent, fears nothing, and does whatever she wants. The only person she trusts and loves single-heartedly is her childhood playmate Zhang Tian Bao (Xie Miao), who, once, saved her from a freezer room at his own expense. However, she's torn between kinship and love as her father is responsible for the deaths of Zhang Tian Bao's entire family.

Sun Huining is a devout Buddhist in real life. Studying Buddhist sutras is perhaps her only hobby, for she can learn many meaningful things and also it has a calming effect. As a vegetarian, she says, "It takes ages before a life is born, why kill for one's own selfish desires? Imagine if you were the animal being killed for food... Let's start a vegetarian diet." Jimmy Lin concurs, "The lives of animals must be respected. We must show love towards the little animals, we should respect life, and treasure resources."

The United Nations reports have stated livestock are top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems. Raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.

Both of them echo similar sentiments on environmental issues, saying that we must do our best to protect the planet. At the behest of Sun Hui Ning to reflect his thinking on environmental care, Jimmy Lin writes, "Love and care for the environment, do it from the heart" and adds that we must not neglect the minor things around us, for every little things that you do count towards helping the planet, this is the responsibility of everyone. 

Sina

-- Zhao Wen Zhuo Endorses Wild Life Preservation --

Back in March, Zhao Wen Zhuo shot a charity commercial for Wild Aid which calls for protection of endangered species, essentially applicable to all animals, that are being hunted down illegally and murdered mercilessly for their exotic skins, tusks, fins, flesh, etc. with the message reminding everyone not to buy any of such products so that killings would stop. The commercial will soon be airing globally in either Chinese or English, usually with a run time of only 15 or 30 seconds. A full 60-seconds commercial featuring some short martial arts sequences is up on Zhao Wen Zhuo's blog.