It’s appropriately titled ‘android dreams‘ after the novel written by Philip K. Dick which inspired the original movie. Although it’s in a similar vein to his previous videos (below), I can’t get enough of these amazing portraits of Tokyo which is as close to the science-fiction as it is fact. They make my own attempts at doing similar to Hong Kong very tame!

inter // states

floating point

(autumn)

static : pulse

remanence : variance

I’m a bit disappointed that I haven’t managed to re-visit Japan this year after my 2010 visit but hope to return soon. Speaking of androids and Tokyo you may want to checkout the new CNNGo app for Android which was designed by yours truly - it’s great for finding the cool lesser-known spots in some of Asia’s biggest cities (more on this in the near future).

Related posts you might like:

1. Electric Akihabara & Tokyo Transport
2. Tokyo – Finally
3. Photogenic

Except for the second segment on the economy of China the script is pretty much 100% taken from my series of articles and while I have no problem with my work being reused non-commercially, since I put a lot of hard work into researching it, I do object to:

1. Not being asked – it would have been a common courtesy to ask if it was ok to use my work
2. Not being given credit – at the end Eno Jin only credits him/herself and Wikipedia

I’ve not yet been able to track down whoever Eno Jin is but would ask that s/he contact me since I find it very disingenuous behaviour. I guess since it’s all about China I shouldn’t really be surprised!

Update: Eno contacted me and said it’s an honest mistake that he didn’t credit me. C’est la vie.

Related posts you might like:

1. Which Video Platform?
2. China 101 | Why Outsource to China?
3. My Love-Hate Relationship With China

The first three parts of the series (watch here) are great but what I really loved are the deep dives into two of my favourite films; The Matrix and Kill Bill which were both heavily influenced by a plethora of other works which came before them.

The Matrix is a film which simmered in the minds of the Wachowski Brothers for many years before it was made and it shows in the numerous references to films, literature and philosophy. In many ways it could be said that the film brings a Hollywood sheen to that which came before it, in particular another great favourite of mine – the anime Ghost in the Shell (which I’ve explored at length before).

Films you might like if you love The Matrix:

• Alice In Wonderland (1951)
• Dr. Who: The Deadly Assassin (1976)
• Philip K. Dick Speech (1977)
• Drunken Master (1978)
• Koyannisqatsi (1982)
• A Better Tomorrow (1986)
• Akira (1988)
• The Killer (1989)
• Total Recall (1990)
• Once Upon A Time In China (1991)
• Tai-Chi Master (Twin Dragons) (1993)
• Iron Monkey (1993)
• Fist of Legend (1994)
• Strange Days (1995)
• Ghost In The Shell (1995)

Books you might like if you love The Matrix:

• Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
• The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campell
• Hard Boiled by Geof Darrow
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
• Neoromancer by William Gibson
• Out of Control by Kevin Kelly
• The Invisibles by Grant Morrison
• The Allegory of the Cave by Plato

The amount of “borrowing” that Quentin Tarantino does is unprecedented, with many of the themes and visual elements in Kill Bill being directly lifted from 1970′s Hong Kong martial arts flicks, Japanese samurai movies, spaghetti westerns, and his own work. Below are a few key ones mentioned in the documentary but a Tarantino fan site mentions many more.

Films you might like if you love Kill Bill:

• Citizen Kane (1941)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presens: Breakdown (1955)
• Sanjuro (1962)
• Navajo Joe (1966)
• The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
• Death Rides A Horse (1967)
• Django Kill! (1967)
• Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell (1968)
• Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
• The Mercenary (1968)
• Twisted Nerve (1968)
• Fists of Fury (1972)
• Lady Snowblood (1973)
• Gone In 60 Seconds (1974)
• Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974)
• Deep Red (1975)
• Carrie (1976)
• Black Sunday (1977)
• Circle of Iron (1978)
• Game of Death (1978)
• City of the Living Dead (1980)
• Shogun Assassin (1980)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• Resevoir Dogs (1992)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
• Jackie Brown (1997)
• Samurai Fiction (1998)
• Battle Royale (2000)
• Ichi The Killer (2001)

It strikes me that the ability for audiences to peel back the layers with each viewing is, in part, what adds to the longevity and popularity of the films. They create connections through popular culture, which while we may not always realise consciously, is the fabric upon which our society evolves.

Copy. Transform. Combine - Creation requires influence. 

“Perhaps it’s because movies are so massively expensive to make. Perhaps it’s because graphic novels, TV shows, video games, books and the like are such rich sources of material, or perhaps it’s just because audiences just prefer the familiar.”

Everything is a Remix.

Related posts you might like:

1. Filmic Reflection
2. Battle Royale
3. Matrix DVD Boxset

When asked why Hong Kong was chosen as the backdrop for the film Mamoru Oshii and his art designer, Takeuchi Atsushi, had the following explanation:

[Oshii] When I was in search of an image of the future, the first thing that came to my mind was an Asian city. At first I did not think it was possible to create a perfect cityscape for the future; and what was done in the past seems unconvincing to me now…. The only way, if one is to be true to the methodology of animation, is to use real streets as models, so I thought of Hong Kong. It is like the Los Angeles of Blade Runner; what has been achieved in that city set will be of use to later films.

[Atsushi] Ghost in the Shell does not have a definite chosen set, but in terms of street scenes and general atmosphere, it is obvious that Hong Kong is the model. Such a choice has, of course, something to do with the theme: on the streets there flows an excess or a flood of information, along with everything this excess brings out. The modern city is swamped with billboards, neon lights and symbols…. As people live in this information deluge, the streets will have to be depicted accordingly as being flooded…. There is a sharp contrast between old streets and new ones on which skyscrapers are built. My feeling is that these two, originally very different, are now in a situation where one is invading the other. Maybe it is the tension or pressure that is brought about by so-called modernization! It’s a situation in which two entities are kept in a strange neighboring relationship. Perhaps it is what the future is.

[Atsushi] In the midst of the profusion of signs and the heat of the messy urban space, the streets are remarkably chaotic. Passers-by, shouts, cars, all kinds of mechanical noises and human “sound pollution,” all merging into one, forcing itself into humans’ central nervous systems through their ears. But why do people succumb to this “destructive” environment? Now that the artificial has replaced the natural, humans are like animals in the past, deprived of the characteristics of being human as a whole. Pulled directly into the whirlpool of information through the stimulation of visual and auditory senses, their feelings are henceforth numbed. On the other hand, countless mutually interfering and uncertain data pass through cables at light speed. This is the way informatics continues to expand its domain.

While the real Hong Kong may not be literally submerged in water (despite being surrounded by it), in nearly every other respect both the imagery and soulful mood depicted in the film mirror reality very closely – especially when contrasting the modern skyscrapers of Central with some of the older neighbourhoods in Sheung Wan and Kowloon. There is simply no other city like it.

After getting my new Lumix GF2 earlier in the year I went out on a number of evenings (spanning March – June 2011) to shoot various scenes of everyday life in Hong Kong (mostly around Mong Kok) and have tried to assemble them in as a simple homage to Ghost in the Shell. Bear in mind that I’m not a professional videographer but I hope it evokes a similar atmosphere…

In many ways I feel that the intensity of living in Hong Kong has a numbing effect on its residents who try to insulate themselves from both the physical and mental demands of a city where money rules and personal space comes at a high premium. It’s no wonder that young people here struggle to get a foothold on happiness despite economic prosperity.

Hong Kong is the ultimate abstraction whereby our lives are no longer dependant on mother nature but on artificial life-support systems which feed off mass-produced assemblies of raw materials processed out-of-sight and out-of-mind. As a vision or model of a future city it’s both enthralling and frightening.

More Comparison Shots

Update (7/8): The reaction to this has been fairly overwhelming – many thanks to Tim Maughan, io9, Crunchyroll, Reddit, and Gadżetomania for the support!

Related posts you might like:

1. The Screen Traveller: 1930′s Hong Kong
2. Hong Kong Moments III
3. Hong Kong Nights

Episode 1 – The Universal Exposition

Episode 2 - In the heart of the city

Episode 3 – A lifestyle

Episode 4 – Nightlife

Episode 5 – Eat!

On a related note Shanghai was featured in Andrew Marr’s Megacities, a documentary about how some of the world’s biggest cities feed, protect and move their citizens recently produced by the BBC – while a bit clichéd it’s worth seeing if you can get hold of it.

I’ll be in Shanghai mid-August for a few days – I can’t wait to be back in the mainland again and hopefully explore a few interesting spots.

Related posts you might like:

1. Shikumen Residences in Shanghai
2. Shanghai Here I Come
3. Shanghai by Night

Yowayowa Camera Woman

Natsumi Hayashi lives in Tokyo with two cats and posts daily self-portraits of herself levitating in various places and poses (cats not levitating). The combination of her almost comically natural expressions and well-framed surroundings create such a surreal feeling that brings a smile to my face every day:

Adorable.

World Order

Genki Sudo is a former Japanese mixed martial artist and kickboxer who after retiring became a singer, dancer and actor in Japanese dramas (like you do). His group, WORLD ORDER, has a marvelously choreographed hypnotizing robotic dance style which has to be seen to be believed:

The music is also pretty catchy!

Totally awesome.

The video above was made especially to show world solidarity with the people affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It’s quite a marvel of synchronized precision.

Meywa Denki

Meywa Denji is a Japanese performance group, an art collective, and an educational organization created by Nobumichi Tosa. He makes nonsensical instruments from random electronic parts which he deems ‘products’ that are then used in live ‘product demonstrations’ (or performances to you and me). Check out this BBC report on what they do:

Sadly most of the ‘product prototypes’ are not for sale although you could pick up a Otamatone.

Love Exposure

WARNING: The video below is not for children, Catholics, or the morally sensitive. If in doubt do not watch.

Every now and then the Japanese create a film that is so outrageous that it almost defies belief. Directed by Sion Sono, the premise of Love Exposure (愛のむきだし) is quite simple; a Catholic priest has an affair which causes him to force his son, Yu, (from his previous wife who died) to confess his sins daily. The priest gets mad if Yu doesn’t confess anything so he commits increasingly bad sins to provide him with something to say to his abusive father. To make matters worse the boy falls in love with an equally messed up girl who he mistakes for the Virgin Mary. At four hours long this is just the tip of this crazy iceberg.

Phew. Now for something completely different…

Nyan Cat

While not technically 100% from Japan, Nyan Cat, also known as Pop Tart Cat, is an 8-bit animation depicting a cat with the body of a cherry pop tart flying through outer space in a repeating loop. The animation and music were separately produced by different artists but it wasn’t until they were combined together that it really took off:

Addictive right? The cat reminds me of a certain friend of mine

I hope you’ve enjoyed this short trip from the top to the bottom of Japanese artistic endeavors, hope you’ve not been too badly shocked!

Related posts you might like:

1. The Japanese Tradition
2. Japan – The Strange Country

Virgin Atlantic – ‘Your airline’s either got it or it hasn’t’

In homage to an opening sequence of a 007 film Virgin have clearly spent a pretty penny on the high production values. If it weren’t tongue in cheek I bet there would be an uproar in certain circles but I’m sure Richard Branson wouldn’t mind a bit. Having flown Premium Economy on Virgin recently I’d say they’re miles ahead from the competition in terms of presentation.

Cathay Pacific – The new Business Class

Cathay Pacific give a convincing take on the classic Q gadget talk when introducing their new business class seats with a femme fatale thrown in for good measure! Less glitzy than Virgin but more in keeping with their rather more traditional brand. Well executed and having tried one of the seats (on the ground) I’d say worthy of attention.

They’re very cool commercials but pretty weird that both airlines happened to choose upon the same theme – one has to wonder how much of a coincidence this is and whether MGM, who hold the rights the James Bond franchise, are very happy about it.

What I find most amazing about the film are the images of a much greener Hong Kong which wasn’t nearly so densely built-up as it is today. While the sedan chairs and Chinese-style clothing may have gone many vestiges of the past remain, most noticeably the Supreme Court Building and Peak Tram. The narration provides a quintessentially British commentary on “oriental” life from the perspective of a then confident empire - I’ve transcribed some of my favourite parts below that give a glimpse into what life was like 80 years ago:

On British rule:

The city’s name is Victoria, in honour of England’s great queen. Hong Kong, the name of the island upon which it stands. Under tolerant and wise British rule, with willing oriental assistance, has grown a modern western city in an eastern setting where more than a million contented Chinese dwell in harmony, merging their ancient civilisation, culture, and manors with those of the 20 thousand Europeans who guide or minister to them.

On shopping:

Hong Kong, one of the few free ports in the world, with an always-bountiful supply of cheap, yet highly skilled labour, is to the shopper a paradise of bargains. Not only is the economy a lure, but there is a fascination in rambling through the crowded oriental streets.

On housing:

The crowded tenements of the colourful Chinese quarters are not the only homes of the Orientals, for some live in costly and magnificent castle-like residences surrounded by all the luxuries of wealth. Others live in smaller villas and roomy flats around the famous happy valley racetrack, reputedly the most beautiful in the east.

On The Peak Tram:

Perhaps the most popular residential sites are those situated on the verdant slopes overlooking the city… To reach the various levels requires but a few minutes by the electric cable tram… The peak cable tram travels to the top station, 1300 feet above sea, in 7 minutes and inhabitants of the colony call this gliding climb a shortcut to fairyland.

On Junk boats:

Junks, scores of junks, picturesque traders of the china seas from time immemorial and perennial homes of countless thousands upon thousands of hardy water folk whose livelihood and heritage is on the seas and rivers they serve. Everyday fleets of picturesque junks find shelter and safety in the friendly harbours of Hong Kong, Britain’s pride of the east and for nearly 100 years the greatest trading centre of, and gateway to, south China.

Short travelogues like this were a forerunner to the modern travel documentaries we see today – perhaps Michael Palin’s work will be seen in a similar light a century from now.

Related posts you might like:

1. Hong Kong Moments
2. Hong Kong Moments IV
3. Hong Kong Moments III

Click for a larger version.

Places where no definitive answers are given to the audience are marked with a question mark (?). The biggest question we’re left with is whether “reality” is just another dream or not – searching online will provide you with plenty of theories. The times were a little difficult to work out so I based them on these calculations. If you think I’ve made any mistakes of have suggestions how to improve it feel free to leave a comment below.

A couple of others have also created cool infographics of the timeline – both are more pretty perhaps but I think mine is easier to read!

From legendary director Park Chan-Wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, I’m a Cyborg…) the film premiered earlier this year but has only recently come out on DVD so I finally had a chance to get hold of a subtitled copy. Anyone who’s watched his previous works will know that you’re in for a brutally visual tour de force and although it’s not nearly as extreme as Old Boy it does not disappoint. From the outset it’s a beautifully crafted narrative with excellent acting, a stirring soundtrack, luscious backdrops and a few good stunts which are genuinely exciting (unlike most of the todays CGI-fests).

As with all Mr. Chan-Wooks films it’s a bit difficult to know where to begin when explaining the story. Perhaps I could best sum it up as Catholic-vampire-noir but with very adult overtones which go way beyond your usual sharp-teeth blood-sucking clichés. At this point it’s worth pointing out that about one-third of South Korea’s 45 million population are Christian and numbers are growing faster than in any other country (in stark contrast to its decay in the west).

The story revolves around a troubled priest, Sang-hyun (played by Song Kang-ho), who works in a small hospital but is unsure about his vocation which is amplified by the death he sees around him. He volunteers to take part in an experimental drug trial in Africa with fails, leaving him with a particularly nasty and fatal disease but miraculously after a blood transfusion he recovers.

Returning to his home he becomes a local hero (a “bandaged saint”) and devoted parishioners, thinking that he has the gift of healing, flock to his services. One of the visitors is his childhood friend who invites him to his house to play mahjong with his family. There he meets his friend’s wife, Tae-ju (played by Kim Ok-bin), who he finds himself dangerously drawn to. We discover a particularly dysfunctional family with an overbearing mother who treats her grown son as a baby and his wife as their servant.

Suddenly one night Sang-hyun relapses and violently collapses only to wake up the next day a changed person with an increasing taste for blood (which he initially steals from comatose patients at the hospital). His personal demons return full force and from here on in things start to get crazy. He begins an affair with Tae-ju who is also pretty messed up, having been forced into her marriage, and the intensity builds with both willing each other to deeper extremes until finally murder is committed.

I wont give the rest away but sufficed to say it gets pretty horrific with much lustful blood-letting and general insanity. There’s also a hint of Shakespeare in here with multiple layers of subtext which will take repeat viewings to unravel. It adds a whole new dimension to the Catholic sacrament (whereby it’s actually believed that the wine is turned into Christ’s blood)!

Trailer (Korean Version):

Trailer (International Version):

Overall a unique take on the vampire concept with some thrilling twists but imperfect in its execution (7/10).