Mardi Gras: Made in China

Mardi Gras: Made in China is a documentary about the manufacturing of the celebration's ubiquitous, plastic beads.  The crew journeys to China's Fuzhou city in Fujian Provience and documents the manufacturing of the beads in a massive, walled factory.  The crew then travels to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, recording the beads at the end of their life cycle.  

Movie Cover

At the factory, the crew interviews many of the labors who work 12 hours a day making the necklaces, doubloons, and even plastic penises that get thrown to the crowds every year.  Unsurprisingly the conditions at the factory aren't good.  But what really makes life so terrible is the restrictions the factory puts on its employees personal lives.  Employees can be fined an entire day's wages for talking during working hours.  Also, employees can only leave the prison-like factory on Sundays.  The other six days of the week they must spend all their non-working time in the compound.

On the other hand, the owner of the factory lives large on $2 million a year, producing items for the Krewe of Tucks.  He was born in Mainland China but went to Hong Kong as a child.  He returned to China to open the factory after the initiation of economic reforms.  This isn't surprising considering the communist party opened China to Chinese from Taiwan and Hong Kong as a way to bind them closer to the mainland and use the experience and expertise of other "Chinese" to rebuild the country following communism.  Think FoxConn but on a much smaller level.

The Factory Owner

Back in New Orleans, the beads are tossed off the sides of floats.  Some make it to the spectators while others simply fall on the ground, staying exactly where they land.  At the end of the partying, most are just thrown away.  During and after Mardi Gras signs advertising bead recycling centers are posted in public places.  Apparently the beads have a high content of lead which seeps into the groundwater.  The documentary shows the bulldozers that roll down St. Charles Ave. cleaning up the beads after each parade.

I am no sandle wearing hippie, but it's an enormous amount of waste.  The documentary really doesn't do it justice.  Each night bulldozers and workmen travel down the Avenue scooping up the beads.  It's troubling to see how many of the beads don't even make it to the spectators, simply falling onto the ground.  They become trash the instant they get thrown over the sides of the floats.  I am not an innocent party in this either.  Last year I rode on float.  By the end of the parade I had tossed bags of beads without the slightest thought about where they came from or where they would end up.

Beads Everywhere!

Don't get me wrong, I love Mardi Gras, but the waste resulting from the cheap trinkets really troubles me.  That's why I snatched this documentary off the library shelves the second I laid eyes on it.  I hope that one of the Mardi Gras krewes "goes green" in the future and realizes the economic and environmental problems this worthless crap causes.  But with krewes that have mottos like "throw until it hurts," its likely that this tradition won't die easily.  

James Rolfe Revolutionized Entertainment

Does Anyone Else Remember the Power Glove?

Early this summer at the height of the Ghostbusters (2016) fiasco, a memory of the terrible Ghostbusters NES game that I had as a kid popped into my head.  The game was unplayable.  It ended up in my video game collection for the same reason it probably ended up in millions of other kid's collections...It had the word Ghostbusters printed on the front.  The first thing that came up after googling the video game was a video by the "Angry Video Game Nerd."  The video was a hilarious.  I felt like it had vindicated me and every other kid who got ripped off by crap merchandise.  In the video the Nerd plays the game and does a review while he is.....well....angry.  His character is basically that 30 year old guy that we all know who still lives in his mom and dad's basement.  He makes fun of all the crap video games that ripped us off as children.

The Angry Video Game Nerd, or AVGN as he is known, had hundreds of videos on Youtube.  He was one of the website's first real celebrities.  For the next week, I did nothing except watch James Rolfe's AVGN videos.  When I finished I started watching all of the other videos that his website, Cinemassacre, made over the last 10 years.  He did it all on a shoestring budget.  I kept watching these shows because they were great and incredibly entertaining.  It got to the point where I preferred watching Rolfe's videos to actual Hollywood produced shows.  Before this I had never gotten into the whole Youtube thing.  After watching the AVGN there was no going back.

James Rolfe and his partner in crime Mike
Matei during their amazing Batman episode.

You can find a Youtuber making their own videos about almost every subject.  I started subscribing to a few whose videos I liked.  I found a guy calling himself SerpentZA who does videos about his life in China.  Youtube completed changed the content that I consumed.  Gone were flashy Hollywood shows with laugh tracks, and in were low budget, do-it-yourself videos about subjects that I actually cared about.  I find Rolfe and others like him inspiring.  Rolfe genuinely loves what he does and comes through in all of his videos.  Just try not to laugh when he takes you back to the past to remember something as stupid as the Virtual Boy or all those crappy Tiger handheld games you got for your birthday.

Times have changed and we're no longer stuck with what the networks give us.  Now people have the ability to create and publish their own material.  It's Rolfe and people like him that are the future of entertainment.  So get out there and start your own Youtube channel or a blog.  Yes, I know that I was late to the game on this subject, but no time like the present.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVGmvmNitg  

Aldrich-Genella House: A New Orleans Haunted Treasure

Every town in America has a haunted house or two, but New Orleans has far more than its fair share.  Few are as prominent as the Aldrich-Genella House.  Situated at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Bordeaux Street, this massive mansion commands respect.  The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Its architecture style sets it apart from other mansions on "the Avenue".  Built in the Second Empire architecture style (think of Paris and its mansard roofed buildings), this house is certainly a one-of-a-kind building in America's most unique city.

I decided to highlight the property as a haunted house because it has fallen into disrepair.  I often wonder what tourist think as they role down St. Charles on the streetcar and see a mansion vaguely resembling Norman Bate's house.  Many of the windows are missing glass and the banister on the front staircase has disintegrated.  A Christmas decoration spookily spelling out "Believe" hangs in the window year round.  I'll admit, the first time I saw this place I was taken aback.  After passing by it a few times, I started to notice the cars parked in the driveway.  At least two of the three have flat tires.  The Corvette looks like it hasn't been driven in a decade or more.

Though the architecture style originated in France, you're far more likely to see a mansion like this in the Midwest or on the plains than in the Big Easy.  So how did this mystic manor land on the city's most prominent residential street?  Apparently it was part of a military academy.  I couldn't find much on the subject, but below is a link to someone else's blog that carried a piece about it.  As time goes by, I have started to worry about the house.  It's so unique compared to the other buildings in the city.  I hope it doesn't fall into disrepair and have to be torn down.  However, it'd also be weird to see it completely restored.  After all, every place needs "the house" that you cross the street to avoid.

http://neworleans.danellis.net/rugby_academy.htm

The house viewed from the neutral ground
in St. Charles Avenue

From the side.  Notice the broken window at
the top of the tower.

Broken window on the right.

At least someone is still cutting the lawn.

Flat tires on the one of the cars in the
driveway.

The stoop leading the front door.

I hope that isn't a load bearing column.

Project A: Martial Arts Movie Saturday III

Considering his currently close ties
to the Communist Party, Jackie
Chan probably regrets wearing this
Royal Navy uniform

Outside of Asia, Project A isn't well known.  Funny considering it was a favorite movie of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.  This Jackie Chan masterpiece chronicles the misadventures of the Hong Kong Police Force and Royal Navy in the early period of colonial rule.  It's notable for starring three of the "7 little fortunes" of Hong Kong cinema; Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao.  Some of my older readers might remember Sammo Hung as the star of TV's Marshal Law.  As a kid I remember ads for this show but haven't seen any the episodes.  Sammo Hung is also notable for being an overweight marshal arts expert.  That's right....overweight marshal arts expert.  His character is affectionately called "Fats" in the film.  You can see some of his moves in the film, and they are genuinely impressive.  These three actors would later go on to star together in other classic films, such as Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars and Wheels on Meals.  

The hallmark of any Chan film is the stunts, and get ready because Project A has some awesome ones.  In one seen Chan has to hang on to the hands of a clock, a la Charlie Chaplin, before falling three stories to the ground.  The final scene of the film features more grenade explosions than you can shake a German potato masher at.  It's like something out of a low budget Michael Bay film, except that here it's meant to be a little funny and outlandish.

The three main characters

The time period  and setting of the film are refreshing.  There's no "tournament fighting" motif or "shaolin masters" in this film, making it something of an anomaly for kung fu films with English dubbing.  Overall it's great to see an action film with an original premise, particularly one so funny and entertaining.  In terms of tone, the film is way ahead of its time.  It's more like some of Chan's later American movies than other early 80's films.  It fits comfortably in the action/comedy genre alongside Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon.  It certainly contrasts with American action films of the 80's, where if it moves, the lead actor just shoots it to death.    

If you're in the mood for something original and retro, checkout this little known classic.

Eat your heart out Doc Brown and Marty McFly