A Quote re China I Agree With Based on My Experience.

“China is like an adolescent who took too many steroids,” said Liu Kang, a professor of Chinese studies at Duke University.
“It has suddenly become big, but it finds it hard to coordinate and
control its body. To the West, it can look like a monster.”

from: "China Hunts for Art Treasures in U.S. Museums"

By ANDREW JACOBS
New York Times

Published: December 16, 2009

Cmas Tree Three

James Cameron on Hollywood Handshakes

...Those who seek to explain Cameron's irascibility and thin-skinnedness point – as he does himself – to his working-class background and ingrained suspicion of the way the movie industry operates. "I try to live with honour," he says, "even if it costs me millions of dollars and takes a long time. It's very unusual in Hollywood. Few people are trustworthy: a handshake means nothing to them. They feel they are required to keep an agreement with you only if you are successful."...

From Wired Magazine - 2009

Cmas Tree Two

AVATAR

I just saw 'Avatar' last night at an advance screening. I believe I agreed not to write about the film. However, I believe Fox will forgive the below.

'Avatar', in my opinion, is one of the three greatest films ever made. I will not attempt to describe why here. Or anywhere. While watching the film ('experiencing' is a better word-choice) I thought that a great poem cannot be described except by another poem. 'Avatar' is such a poem. It would take another to adequately describe it.

I will say that I was reminded of my first, childhood viewing of "The Wizard of Oz" which was overwhelming. That is 'Avatar'. In fact, at one point I almost left the theater, I found the experience (visual and emotional) too much for one viewing. But I soldiered on and was glad I did. To see it in two parts would have diminished it.

It is also a highly spiritual film, and I recalled how 'Star Wars' (with its invention of the 'Force') came to redefine the religious experience one could occasionally have in a motion picture ("2001" brings this to mind as well, as, indeed, "The Wizard of Oz").

Some will not have this exchange with the film. (See Rottentomatoes where the rating is 91% currently - not 100%) but for those who do, you will, perhaps, bless James Cameron and his creative team, as I did, for this utter gift to humanity.