Just a quick entry to say Hua Mulan is my favourite film from 2009.

I loved Zhao Wei’s acting in The Red Cliff and she gives a memorable performance as Hua Mulan, the woman who dressed as a man and went to war in place of her father, raising in the military to become a brilliant and respected general.

Also a great performance from Hu Jun as the ruthless Mendu. I loved Hu Jun in The Red Cliff as the patriotic and righteous General Zilong so it was a real treat to see him as the antagonist in this film.

Super camera and editing work, spot-on period costumes, engaging character development and excellent production values all round plus some of my favourite Chinese battle scenes, classic and realistic formation style combat.

There are certainly some other good films in 2009, from all around the world, but this was a real stand-out for me. Besides, it was directed by Jingle Ma, easily one of the best director names ever.

(rahn-dum-mee-dee-ah): incongruent themes and mixed medias blended by machinistic processes; as in “that randomedia was a real bonk of bryter”.

Linguistic Futurology

Originally uploaded by HatHead Rickenbacker.

“Linguistic Futurology investigates the future through the transformational possibilities of language. A man can only understand what he comprehends, and comprehend only what he is able to put into words. The inexpressible is therefore unknowable. By examining future stages in the evolution of language we can come to learn what discoveries, changes and social revolutions will the language be capable someday of reflecting.”

Dr.Trottlereiner, The Futurological Congress by Stanislav Lem.

The Futurological Congress by Stanislav Lem is an awesome book: Hunter S.Thompson meets Lewis Carrol meets Douglas Adams meets Aldous Huxley. The main character Ijon Tichy is awoken in the future following cryogenic freezing and has, among other challenges, a particularly difficult time understanding what people are saying. Subsequently Tichy reunites with his also unfrozen colleague Dr.Trottlereiner, who is now making up totally new words for people further in the future to use.

So this is just for a bit of fun, short little made up words for the future. Those that know me from text chat know that typoneez is my first langauge.