Below, I demonstrate the little known tradition of wearing a pomelo rind on one's head to ring in the new year.
Cheers!
Monday, January 30, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Taiwan/Hong Kong/China Represent
I remember in 2001, Julia Roberts presented the Oscar for Cinematography to Peter Pau of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - who proceeded to rattle off a million names in Chinese and then raised his statuette with a resounding "Xie xie!" What a brilliant contrast to Roberts - to me, so representative of White Hollywood, home of feel good liberals who pat themselves on the back for being "radical" but have No Idea.
What a marvel Ang Lee is to me. Raised in Taiwan, yet disillusioned with the Nationalist party. Conscious of his minority status, yet a class act in every way as he deftly handles Jane Austen and Annie Proulx. Hailing from a culture with conservative sexual mores but more than willing to cross the line. Self-exiled through his refusal of passionate nationalism - but making a political statement at the Golden Globes last night by hailing Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China in one breath - in a salutation that all three can understand: "Xing Nian Kwai Luh!"
What a marvel Ang Lee is to me. Raised in Taiwan, yet disillusioned with the Nationalist party. Conscious of his minority status, yet a class act in every way as he deftly handles Jane Austen and Annie Proulx. Hailing from a culture with conservative sexual mores but more than willing to cross the line. Self-exiled through his refusal of passionate nationalism - but making a political statement at the Golden Globes last night by hailing Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China in one breath - in a salutation that all three can understand: "Xing Nian Kwai Luh!"
Friday, January 06, 2006
Art Moments
This is my 47th post!
In the last several weeks, I had the opportunity to visit multiple museums. So, I thought I'd kick off the new year with some pictures.
I found this at the Harvard Sackler Museum, which I thought was fitting since I had just finished discussing masculinity with several faculty in the area:
Also at the Sackler I found some ancient Chinese metalwork that, to me, look incredibly Celtic. The two dragons are from Sackler. The tiger is also Chinese, from the Art Institute:
These look so different from more recent (i.e. within the last 500 years) renditions of Chinese dragons and tigers - those that look much like these Japanese versions (also from Sackler):
I'll end with some of the glass plants from the collection at the Harvard Museum of Natural History - and, yes, ALL parts of each plant in the collection are made from glass. They're beautiful, and the photos below don't come close to doing them justice.
In the last several weeks, I had the opportunity to visit multiple museums. So, I thought I'd kick off the new year with some pictures.
I found this at the Harvard Sackler Museum, which I thought was fitting since I had just finished discussing masculinity with several faculty in the area:
Also at the Sackler I found some ancient Chinese metalwork that, to me, look incredibly Celtic. The two dragons are from Sackler. The tiger is also Chinese, from the Art Institute:
These look so different from more recent (i.e. within the last 500 years) renditions of Chinese dragons and tigers - those that look much like these Japanese versions (also from Sackler):
I'll end with some of the glass plants from the collection at the Harvard Museum of Natural History - and, yes, ALL parts of each plant in the collection are made from glass. They're beautiful, and the photos below don't come close to doing them justice.
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