Rumble in the Bronx: Martial Arts Movie Saturday 2

Even the tagline highlights
the fact that Jackie Chan
does his own stunts

Rumble in the Bronx has Jackie Chan rumbling in the Bronx.  That's really all you need to know about the plot.  If you need a little more detail, Jackie Chan comes to the Bronx for his uncle's wedding and suddenly keeps running into trouble.  Jackie Chan manages to witness more robberies during his first two days in America than I have witnessed in my whole life.  Jackie's uncle then goes on his honeymoon and leaves his nephew in charge of sewing up the loose ends as he transfers ownership of his store to one of Jackie's two love interests in the film.

The action in the movie is amazing.  Even twenty years later, I don't feel like it has an equal.  One of my favorite things about watching this film was knowing that Jackie Chan did all his own stunts.  It's flat-out amazing.  Jackie Chan jumps off buildings, kicks people in the face, water skis behind a hovercraft, and so much more.  I could go on for a few more pages, but you really have to see the action in this film to believe it.  Despite all this awesome kung fu action, Jackie Chan is still incredibly down-to-earth.  He's a kung fu champion version of an everyman.  Amazing considering he spends a good portion of the movie disarming the bad guys and throwing them through windows.

Team Glasses/Mullet

Team reformed criminal

The two love interests were one of my favorite parts of the movie.  I found myself thinking, who will Jackie choose.  Will he choose the smart, entrepreneurial Chinese woman or the wild, criminal, racially ambiguous Chinese woman?  I seriously wanted to know....well guess what.  You'll never really find out.  This movie just sort of ends......too early.  I honestly think they just ran out of money.  

Anytime you see pinball machines in a kung fu
film....assume someone will be thrown into them

The last 15 minutes of this film's plot makes absolutely no sense.  But by that point in the film doesn't matter.  You've already bought into the film so much that you don't care what happens.  It's sort of like blowing up the shark in the end of Jaws.  It's completely stupid, but the movie is so good that you really, really don't care.

Make sure to checkout this classic from the 90's and enjoy memories of a time when New York was dangerous but affordable.

P.S. Chan is the man

Paulson on China

None of us could ever love Henry Paulson as much as he loves himself.  I came to this conclusion early while reading his book Dealing with China.  That being said it's a really good read, and I recommend it for anyone interested in either Chinese or US politics.  For me, the most interesting thing about the book was Paulson dancing around the subsequent histories of some of the people he dealt with in China.  Gao Yan, Bo Xilai, and Zhou Yongkank all feature in the book.

Where in the world is Gao Yan?

Gao Yan - One of the PRC's most famous and wanted fugitives.  He fled the country with millions of dollars earmarked for power projects in 2002.  His location is still a mystery.  Paulson met with him shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and says that he was not apologetic and showed no sympathy for America's loss.  He took time in his book to highlight his personal dislike of Gao.

I found this very short section of the book fascinating.  Gao Yan worked for the State Grid Corporation of China, the mysterious and very politically powerful state power company.  Little is known about the inner working of this State Owned Enterprise (SOE).  Many of the nation's most important princelings spend part of their careers there, including the daughter of Li Peng who was implicated in the Panama Papers earlier this year.

Just like an episode of House of Cards

Bo Xilai - Paulson mentions Bo's larger than life persona.  The book also contains an aside about Bo's downfall and the earthshaking scandal that shook the Communist Party of China to its core.  The scandal surrounding his downfall contains many larger-than-life details, including his wife murdering a British businessman by poisoning him.  Supposedly the British businessman, Neil Heywood, served as the Bo family's "white glove", helping the family move illicit money out of China.  Some also speculate that he had a relationship with Bo's wife, dubbed the Chinese lady Macbeth.

Zhou Yongkang was famously
denied hair dye in prison

Zhou Yongkang - Zhou remains the largest "tiger" snared in President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption crackdown.  He was arrested a little less than a year before the book's release and convicted a few month's after its release.  Paulson doesn't have much to say about Zhou's character.  Interesting considering that the two probably had a ton of interaction and a relationship going back over two decades.  Paulson even arranged a meeting between Zhou and then-President George H. W. Bush.  It's likely that Paulson doesn't touch on Zhou's character or their personal friendship because Paulson knew he wouldn't be doing the disgraced CPC politician any favors.  Paulson also probably didn't want to link himself too tightly to someone who is rumored to have arranged the murder of his first wife and who has become the scapegoat for China's forced organ harvesting of prisoners of consciousness.

What Paulson doesn't say about these three rouges tells us just as much as what he does say.  His book is good and no one would dispute the fact that "Hank" is one of the smartest and greatest businessman of his generation.  Just be prepared to be constantly reminded of his environmentalism and altruism.  Basically, the only problem this book had is the same problem most autobiographies suffer from which can be summed up in one phrase: "I was right"

Martial Arts Movie Saturday 1: Enter the Dragon

The Film Poster

Enter the Dragon is the definitive Bruce Lee film.  The last film he completed before his death, Enter the Dragon cemented his place as a Hong Kong film legend and a global iconic.  Since its release in the 70's, the film has become a must-see for generations of action film fans.  For many it represents Hong Kong action films at their best.  It's tragic that Lee died before the release of the film, because they managed to put lightning in a bottle with this one.

Very much a product of its time, the film is also worth noting because of the global events occurring during its production and release.  As the Mainland was deep in the grips of the Cultural Revolution and the British economy tanked after decades of nationalizations and socialism, Hong Kong continued to boom.  Caught in the middle of two global powers with uncertain futures, Hong Kong culture began to blossom and the films made by its production companies showcase this.  This attracted foreign audiences to action films and launched a genre of films still popular today all over the globe.  The result is a true blend of east and west.    

The man, the myth, the legend

The plot of the Enter the Dragon resembles a mashup of early James Bond films and Mortal Kombat.  A bad guy has an island, and Bruce Lee must go to his island and compete in the his diabolical kung fu tournament.  The result is awesome kung fu action.  I don't think I need to say much more about it than that.  The action is awesome, the stunts amazing, and Bruce Lee makes us all wish that we'd taken karate classes as children.

A few characters of note are the extremely British government official who approaches Lee with the mission.  His OxBridge accent and dress make the character border on the edge of parody.  Bruce Lee is joined at the tournament by two Americans, one white and the other black.  Between the British guy and the Americans from two different races, it was likely that the production company was trying to appeal to the widest range of demographics possible.  Not surprising considering that this movie was the first Hong Kong action film financed by a major American studio (Warner Brothers) and the increasing popularity of kung fu films outside Hong Kong and China.    

Bruce Lee and a young Jackie Chan

According to the extras on the DVD, Jackie Chan worked as a stunt double on the film and appears in a few scenes.  I didn't notice him during my initial screening of the film.  Likely because the scale of the production is epic.  Yeah...in case you didn't know it, Jackie Chan is way older than he looks.

If you only see one 43 year old, dubbed, kung fu film this year, make it this one.

Keep a lookout for future Martial Arts Movie Saturday reviews. 

Blue Girl Beer: Hong Kong's Iconic Brew

No trip to Hong Kong would be complete without heading to Club 7-11 for a can of Blue Girl beer.  The stuff is ubiquitous in Hong Kong.  It's sold in every convenience

 store and some restaurants even feature the logo on their signs.  For me, the beer has become a sort of representation of Hong Kong, especially considering that I have never seen it anywhere else.  According to the always reliable source of Wikipedia, the beer is brewed by a South Korean company.  However, the story of how it became such an ingrained part of Hong Kong culture is beyond me.

Blue Girl stacked in a
restaurant window

Most Chinese restaurants in the city carry the beer.  In the fishing village of Tai O on Lantau Island you can see boxes of Blue Girl stacked to the ceiling in some places.  I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the beer is more prevalent than bottled water in some parts of the city.  Blue Girl has that wonderful, easy-to-drink flavor that makes these kind of beers perfect for drinking with food.  No trip for dim sum in Hong Kong would be complete without having at least 1 (or a few) Blue Girl beers.  

Advertisements abound

It's interesting to think about how a brand can represent a specific place and/or time.  As I wonder around New Orleans, I constantly find old Dixie Beer advertisements plastered on the sides of buildings or on bar signs.  For those unfamiliar with Dixie Beer, it used to be the New Orleans equivalent of Budweiser or Miller Lite before the brewery was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.  Following the closure of the Jax and Falstaff breweries, Dixie had a large portion of the local beer market until 2005.  The beer is still available, but it is now contract-brewed in Wisconsin.  Also, the price now places it in the "craft beer" category.  No longer the cheap, local option, Dixie has slipped from its place in the psyche of the city.  However, it's brand identity still remains strong.  Even today, despite its relatively hefty price tag, you'll still see people at restaurants chowing down on crawfish with a Dixie Beer in hand.  

So the next time you're in Hong Kong, head over to Club 7-11 and pick yourself up a Blue Girl beer.  Your trip isn't complete without one!  

Please post in the comments section if you have any information on this Blue Girl beer's history.