hair style: movies

Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Có một cô gái tôi yêu - Triệu Vy

Nàng. Đó là cách gọi âu yếm dành cho Triệu Vy của những người yêu thích nàng. Đó cũng là từ tôi thường dùng để nhắc đến nàng. Cũng đã hơn 10 năm rồi, nàng có lẽ là tình yêu lâu nhất của đời tôi.
*For back up purposes

Tôi không muốn gọi bản thân là fan, và cũng không muốn gọi nàng là thần tượng, ít nhất là không phải là với ý nghĩa hiện nay của những từ này. Trong một thế giới giải trí của những "diễn viên thần tượng" và "phim thần tượng", thì hai chữ thần tượng dường như đồng nghĩa với sự "xì tin", nhí nhảnh dễ thương, sự nổi tiếng chớp nhoáng, và sự quan tâm cũng chớp nhoáng đến thế.

Từ bé đến lớn, tôi có nhiều thần tượng: diễn viên, nhiều ca sĩ, cả nam, cả nữ. Họ đều là những người khiến tôi chỉ quan tâm khi các tác phẩm của họ đang thịnh hành, nhưng rồi dần trôi vão lãng quên trong tâm trí tôi. Năm đầu tiên tôi biết rằng mình đã yêu nàng, tôi cũng không dám tin cho rằng sau đó hơn 10 năm, tôi sẽ vẫn còn yêu nàng, với một tình cảm thậm chí còn mãnh liệt hơn. Tôi không dám tin tình cảm của một con bé 11 tuổi có thể kiên định đến thế. Không phải lúc nào tôi cũng dõi theo từng hoạt động, từng nhịp thăng trầm trong cuộc sống của nàng, nhưng từ lúc đó, trong tôi luôn có một tình cảm đặc biệt dành cho nàng. Mỗi lần tôi nghĩ đến nàng, đó là một sự trìu mến. Có lạ không, có điên rồ không, khi tôi đã dành một nửa cuộc đời để yêu nàng?

Trong nhiều năm, tôi dành tình cảm cho nàng một cách vô tư, không nghĩ ngợi. Nhưng rồi lớn lên một chút, tôi phải hỏi, tại sao? Vì thành thật mà nói, đối với tôi, phim của nàng được chia ra làm ba loại: phim tôi xem và thích, phim tôi xem và thấy chán hoặc không thích, phim tôi chưa xem. Và cũng thành thật mà nói thì hai danh sách sau dài hơn danh sách trước.

Dù hay hay dở, tôi thường đo độ ảnh hưởng của phim đối với bản thân bằng cách phim đó có tạo cảm hứng cho tôi viết về nó hay không. Phần lớn phim của nàng không đủ để thúc đẩy tôi phải đặt tay lên bàn phím và viết cảm tưởng về nó. Giờ nhìn lại, nàng mới làm đúng hai bộ phim thật sự có khả năng làm tôi cảm và nhớ mãi sau khi xem: Hoàn Châu Cách Cách và Đêm Thượng Hải. Tôi không muốn nói rằng tôi ghét tất cả những bộ phim khác tôi từng xem. Đơn giản là chúng không làm tôi muốn xem lại, như Tịch dương thiên sứ, hay Tình nhân kết. Với những bộ phim đó, tôi hiểu tại sao người khác lại thích chúng, tại sao chúng nhận được giải thưởng, nhưng tôi không...quan tâm(!). Những phim khác như Trà xanh hay thậm chí Hoa Mộc Lan , tôi hiểu nàng thấy những yếu tố nghệ thuật gì trong đó, nhưng chúng làm tôi buồn ngủ và khiến tôi muốn tắt phắt TV/máy tính sau chỉ mấy chục phút.

Thật ra tôi không thích nhiều phim của nàng không phải do diễn xuất của nàng không đạt. Không, phần lớn tôi thấy nàng diễn đạt và nhập tâm. Những vinh dự và sự tôn trọng từ những người trong ngành mà nàng nhận được trong suốt sự nghiệp của mình cũng đủ chứng minh nàng là một diễn viên tốt. Tôi không thích nhiều phim của nàng đơn giản vì kịch bản, hay chủ đề, hay một cái gì đó trong bộ phim không thực sự chạm được vào trái tim tôi. Có nhiều phim, vì nàng, tôi rất muốn thích, nhưng cuối cùng lực bất tòng tâm. Nói ngắn gọn là nàng và tôi có khiếu thưởng thức phim quá khác nhau, hay cũng có lẽ nàng chọn kịch bản vì những thử thách về chuyên môn, còn tôi muốn xem phim vì những gì tôi thích.

Phải chăng tôi yêu nàng vì giọng hát của nàng? Không hẳn vậy. Tôi đã nghe hết các album của nàng, và tôi công nhận nàng biết hát. Tôi thích nghe giọng hát đó, nhưng có ít bài làm cho tôi phải trầm trồ, phải dừng lại để nghe.

Tôi và nhiều người yêu nàng mà tôi biết sẽ thẳng thắn tuyên bố rằng nàng không có khiếu ăn mặc và nhiều khi nàng cũng không quan tâm mình có ăn mặc đẹp hay không (thật ra nàng và tôi có điểm tương đồng ở hai chỗ đó). Đã bao nhiêu lần mà tôi dành ra nửa tiếng đồng hồ để tìm ảnh, chia sẻ ảnh sự kiện của nàng, và những câu bình luận đầu tiên nhận được là, "Nàng hôm nay mặc xấu quá, già quá!" Chúng tôi yêu nàng, rất yêu, nhưng nhiều khi cũng phải đập đầu vào bàn phím vì những bộ đồ nàng mặc trên thảm đỏ. Chúng tôi thừa nhận, đến lúc này, nàng phải cố gắng thì mới có vẻ bề ngoài xinh đẹp, và nhiều khi nàng cũng chẳng thèm cố gắng.

Đến giờ chắc hẳn bạn cũng đang hỏi, vậy tôi yêu nàng ở điểm nào?

Trong một thời gian dài, tôi cũng chẳng biết nữa. Chẳng lẽ tôi hoài cổ đến nỗi cứ phải ngoái mãi lại và yêu nàng vào thời Hoàn Châu?

Điều lạ lùng là câu trả lời đến khi những tin đồn về chuyện nàng mang thai, lấy chồng (hay chưa lấy chồng) ập tới. Chúng ập tới như một cơn bão từ tất cả các nguồn, với những sự đồn thổi khó chịu.

Khi bất cứ một trang web nào liên quan tới giới giải trí châu Á cũng đều bàn về việc "bầu bí chồng con" của nàng, tôi bỗng cảm thấy phải bảo vệ nàng khỏi những lời đồn đại đó, dù một phần trong tôi biết rằng có nhiều khả năng chúng chứa sự thật. Tôi tránh những bài báo tin đồn đó như tránh bệnh dịch; thậm chí tôi còn bảo người khác đừng mang chuyện đó ra bàn tán, vì tất nhiên, đến khi tự nàng lên tiếng, thì đó là những tin vớ vẩn. Tôi bám vào mọi chứng cớ có thể tìm được để chứng minh những lời đồn kia không có thực.

Không phải tôi không muốn nàng lấy chồng, hay vì tôi vẫn còn vấn vương giấc mơ một ngày nàng sẽ đến được bên "Ngũ A Ca" Tô Hữu Bằng. Không, hoàn toàn không. Tôi yêu Ngũ A Ca và Tiểu Yến Tử, nhưng tôi khó chịu với những lời gán ghép nàng với Tô Hữu Bằng (hay bất cứ một ai khác) một cách mù quáng. Tôi mong nàng yên bề gia thất từ lâu rồi, và tôi biết người mang đến hạnh phúc đó cho nàng sẽ không phải là Tô Hữu Bằng. Dù người đó là ai đi nữa, tôi cũng không muốn tin vui của nàng trở thành thứ nuôi sống báo lá cải.

Tôi muốn nghe tin vui của nàng từ chính nàng, và còn hơn thế nữa, tôi không muốn báo chí đề cập tới nó. Tôi thà nàng giữ bí mật đó cho riêng nàng, để tôi không biết, còn hơn nghe nó từ nguồn báo lá cải với những lời đoán mò về cuộc sống riêng tư của nàng. Đó là mong muốn ngớ ngẩn; tất nhiên báo chí sẽ tìm ra và họ sẽ nói và bình luận, rất nhiều là khác. Đó dù sao cũng là một phần mục đích của báo chí. Tôi hiểu vậy, và vì thế tôi tiếc cho nàng, vì nàng không đáng phải chịu sự soi mói đến vậy.

Tôi cố gắng với bản thân để không soi mói vào khía cạnh đó của cuộc đời nàng. Chỉ đến khi nàng lên tiếng về việc này, tôi mới bắt đầu nhận ra tại sao tôi yêu quý nàng đến vậy. Tôi khâm phục bản lĩnh của nàng, cách nàng đối mặt với những khó khăn trong cuộc sống, trong sự nghiệp, trong khi tất cả thế giới đang nhìn chòng chọc vào cuộc đời nàng và đưa ra những lời bình phẩm.

Tính đến lúc đó, nàng đã trải qua những điều mà với một người thiếu bản lĩnh và tài năng hơn, có thể hủy hoại cả một sự nghiệp. Ai có thể cho rằng họ có thể vượt qua một scandal như vụ bức ảnh quân kỳ Nhật của nàng, hay những lời đồn đại về các mối tình tay ba tay tư để có được địa vị như nàng đang có hiện nay trong nghề, và cùng lúc đó có được hạnh phúc trong cả cuộc sống? Tôi khơi lại những ký ức buồn nhất trong sự nghiệp và cuộc sống của nàng, không phải để chỉ trích, mà để nhìn lại và cảm thấy tự hào là nàng đã có đủ sức mạnh để vượt qua những nỗi đau đó để có được ngày hôm nay.

Điều trớ trêu là, tôi biết những điều này về nàng qua báo chí. Hình ảnh nàng trong lòng tôi là sự chắp ghép của những bài báo, lời trích dẫn, bài phỏng vấn: nói chung hầu hết là những lời báo chí cho là nàng đã nói, và những lời nói của người khác về nàng.

Thật ra, ai mà biết được ngoài đời nàng thật sự là người thế nào?

Có lẽ Triệu Vy tôi yêu là Triệu Vy trong lòng tôi, khác với một Triệu Vy thật sự ngoài đời. Nhưng điều đó không có gì làm tôi buồn, vì dù nàng có thật sự như tôi tưởng tượng hay không thì bao năm qua, nàng đã cho tôi buồn vui cùng nàng, cũng như cho tôi niềm tin vượt qua những thời điểm khó khăn, buồn bã hay chỉ đơn giản là nhàm chán của cuộc sống. Nàng như nguồn động lực của tôi, vì nếu nàng có thể vượt qua những nỗi đau trong cuộc sống của mình, thì tôi, với những khó khăn nhỏ hơn, cũng có thể vượt qua. Nàng đã hiện diện trong cuộc đời tôi nhiều hơn là tôi ý thức được. Và tôi yêu nàng vì điều đó.

© Xuân Hiền @Quaivatdienanh.com

Oh, Dawn Treader, I had such great expectations for you....

I have just come back from watching The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (if this wasn't a fairly well-known franchise and a famous book series, it would never make it out of the studio with such a long name!) and found myself deeply annoyed, particularly at the character assassination of Edmund.

I suppose, by now I should be quite used to character assassination by movie makers. To name a few, Yong Qi in Tian Shang Ren Jian, Hermione and Ron in...well, all the Harry Potter movies except the first two, and of course, Peter Pevensie in Prince Caspian have all irked me over the years.

But Edmund! After his brief but awesome bouts of amazingness in Prince Caspian, how could they have destroyed "It's King, actually" Edmund in such an absurdly stupid way?!

Perhaps I should back track a bit, and start with the case of stupid Peter, so to speak, in the Prince Caspian movie. In Prince Caspian, the book, Peter and Edmund Pevensie come back to Narnia and learn they could no longer be kings, but have to put, instead, Caspian on the throne of Narnia. In the book, they do this with unfailing grace, and honestly, nothing really happens in Prince Caspian, the book, except the duel. Two third of the book is Trumpkin telling a story and then Peter and Miraz duel, then Aslan shows up and everything's great again.

So I understand why, for the sake having a plot, they have to have Peter being an arse in the movie. It also makes sense - to be going from High King to a boy again, to come back to your kingdom and find you have to put some guy you barely known and whose ancestor have invaded your country, on the throne - this is a tough thing to come to terms with. I get Peter's angst, really, I do, and I can excuse it, even if I didn't enjoy watching stupid Peter. The situation Peter finds himself in in PC also demonstrates, on a more macro level, everything that his siblings are also going through because they are, after all, in the same boat.

Some just deal with it better than others.

Some, being Edmund. At least, such was the case in PC.

I find the contrast between Edmund and Peter's journey of being kings-but-not-really-kings and accepting it in PC as much a tool to demonstrate Peter's growth as much as that of Edmund. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, of course, Edmund dreams of being made king and lording it over Peter. Yet in Prince Caspian, Edmund acts much more mature than Peter about the prospect of putting Caspian on the throne. He accepts that they must be in England now and that their job this time is to put Caspian on the throne, not to rule it themselves.

I like to think that Edmund supports Peter and gets into fights for Peter despite Peter being an arse to him is because during the course of their ruling Narnia in LWW, he had taken on that role of supporting his brother and it becomes natural to him. I like to think that the reason Edmund speaks so little in PC and doesn't speak up against Peter's idiocy or criticise him is that he doesn't want to do it in front of Caspian and diminish Peter's authority as High King in front of Caspian. But of course, when it becomes too much, such as Peter's great moment of failure in front of the White Witch, Edmund does have to come in and save the day, and vents his feelings.

The point, regardless, is that between LWW and PC, Edmund had come to accept his role by Peter's side, and accept that they can rule together, not him over Peter, and that he had earned his place as a king of Narnia, to be assured of it enough that he does not feel threatened by the prospect of putting Caspian on the throne.

So, why is he throwing a hissy fit about it in Dawn Treader?

What annoyed me most in Dawn Treader was the way the movie treated the Goldwater Island issue. The Dawn Treader book was mostly from Lucy and Eustace's points of view, and Edmund doesn't have much involvement until that moment on Goldwater. Caspian sees the island with water that has ability to turn things into gold and gets greedy, but it is Edmund who rebukes him.

This is how I read that scene: When Caspian forbids them to mention the island to anyone, Edmund snaps that he wasn't a subject of Caspian. He did this, not because he was being a prideful arse, but to remind Caspian of who he really is, and of his experience - he ruled Narnia for 15 years, Caspian only had 3 years at it. Caspian was, after all, at that moment, making a fool of himself for greed and probably would get lost in the greed. Edmund understands, from experience, the danger of temptations and he was pulling Caspian out of it. For me, that was a moment of Edmund imparting wisdom to Caspian, not a stupid boyish fight as Lewis would make it out to be.

What happens in the movie? They turn it completely around and the one whose eyes suddenly glint with greed is Edmund! I can't describe how angry that makes me. The character had suddenly gone backwards! All that development, all that growth accumulated over two movies, suddenly just gone, and he's back being a brat again. What makes it even more grating is that he's acting so Peter-esque that it's pointless.

The line of dialogue that just made me want to cry was "I want my own kingdom," not merely for the backward development of character. It is the fact that Aslan allows Edmund to say this and it is never mentioned again as a really stupid and just un-Edmund-ish thing to say. What did Edmund think Aslan gave him then, a paper model of a kingdom?

In that entire struggle of Caspian-is-now-king-not-Edmund in Dawn Treader, the vibe I got was that Caspian was the bigger man here, he knows that Edmund is being a brat but he's generously overlooking it. I thought the whole exchange between Drinian, Edmund and Caspian on the chain of command was forced, and while Edmund looked disgruntled, Caspian looked condescending and didn't even bother to stick up to Edmund as would have been courteous. Caspian's silence quite obviously declares that he thought Drinian was right to put Edmund in his place.

The whole situation of Caspian being the 'better man' so contradictory with Caspian's supposed struggle in Dawn Treader with his validity as a king. In fact, Goldwater as Lewis wrote it and as I interpreted it in the book would be a lot more demonstrative of a Caspian struggling to believe himself as king and seeking to prove it. As they insist on digging up the White Witch again, that alone should have suffice as Edmund's struggle. The memory alone should be enough; he had learnt his lessons, but the memories still haunt him.

Some plot points that bothered me or just didn't make sense:

White Witch was so obviously set up to be the Lady of the Green Kirtle - the green mist seemed a bit overkilled. We didn't need to be beat over the head with it. Also, it was confusing whether the mist was Jadis the White Witch, or she was just sort of Edmund's Dementor image slash Boggart and therefore a figment of his imagination and would not be there for anyone else.
What on earth was with that moment of Jadis' outrage at the death of the sea serpent slash Nagini Horcrux? Speaking of which, the swords sound a lot like Horcruxes in terms of symbolism.
Jill Pole mention is also a slap in the face obvious sort of foreshadowing.
Gale was a completely pointless character. I have no idea what the point of her is and why they can hire a little girl (who would then require tutors and whatnot) and not be able to hire an actor to play Ramandu.
Ramandu's Island contains no actual Ramandu and we don't even get to know who freaking Ramandu is!
The seven swords are swords that Aslan gave people in the Golden Age to protect Narnia, and yet Edmund and Lucy who ruled Narnia in the Golden Age have no clue what the swords are. The dialogue was stupidity itself. "That's an old Narnian sword," Edmund says - old to him, meaning the sword was around before his reign as king. Then Bern contradicts this with: "These are swords from your Golden Age." Lucy and Edmund look on blankly as Bern continue to info dump the fact that Aslan gave to ...someone to protect Narnia. Bern is the guy who lives 1300 years after the Golden Age, in an era that seeks to destroy all evidence that a Narnian Golden Age existed, and he yet knows all this. Gargh!!
How did the swords even come into the hands of Telmarines? Why would the Telmarines even WANT Narnian swords? And why are the swords so bloody easy to find and get?
How does Edmund recognise the knife on Aslan's table? He wasn't there when Aslan died! Also, Aslan died for Edmund, and yet Edmund points out the sacred objects of the knife that killed Aslan and the table on which he was killed with such...casualness? Do the scriptwriter recognise the significance of the knife, or did they just throw it in there because it just happened to be lying there in the book?
Edmund's torch has some awesome battery life.
No one compares to Susan for Caspian, of course, until another beautiful girl aka Liliandil comes along. I can't believe they have Caspian pining after Susan for three years and Lucy actually flirting with Caspian while he was declaring this. Sigh.
I love Carrie Underwood, but after Regina Spektor's The Call as the theme song for PC, Carrie's song for Dawn Treader just felt contrived and didn't fit. It just felt like one of those generic Disney songs that just stick nice sounding words together with a supposed message but it's so lukewarm that you can't feel it.
Oh and, Edmund and Lucy, HIGH KING AND QUEEN of Narnia?! Did the scriptwriter even READ the Chronicle? There is ONE High King - Peter and NO freaking High Queen. @%$Q#$! I cringed so badly at this line.
"Lucy, what have you done?" I somehow got the sense that this was setting up Susan's forgetting Narnia and somehow it was supposed to be Lucy's fault!
Certainly parts of the film is strangely promoting a more-than-friendship relationship between Caspian and Edmund. If you get my drift. The most obvious was the one where they lay side by side looking at stars and having a heart-to-heart. That just...freaked me out.
The appearance of Aslan as the albatross was just...pointless. If I hadn't read the book and wasn't expecting the albatross and knew what it was supposed to be, I would have thought what was that weird bird doing flying around? Also, the albatross was supposed to guide them out of the Dark Island, and it didn't do that in the movie! I'm not even sure what the point of the albatross in the movie was, expect maybe to appease fans with the fact that they included it.

In the acting department, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley both disappointed me a bit in this movie. Their acting no longer feel as natural as it was in LWW and PC. Of the Pevensies, Will Molseley and Anna Popplewell I thought was ok, but I absolutely loved Skandar and Georgie in the last two movies, especially Skandar in PC, even if he had so little chance to shine, he owned every moment that he got. Somehow, in Dawn Treader, however, there were moments when it was really forced, for both of them, Georgie more so. With Skandar, it merely felt like he was acting a character that suddenly was't his character anymore and didn't feel right to him. I suppose after awesome!Edmund in PC, going to this Edmund would be quite disconcerting.

I am amazed, however, how much Georgie looks like Anna. It was a genius bit of casting. Skandar, Anna and Georgie always looked like they could be related, but in this movie, Georgie and Anna at times look almost identical. The moment with the Book of Incantation, you can't really tell when Lucy ceased to be Lucy and turn into Susan.

Will Poulter as Eustace, I absolutely adored. He was perfect as Eustace, the opening sequence introducing Eustace was absolute gold, so perfect and I really missed human Eustace when he was as a dragon. I think Eustace really carried a lot of the film through its moments of just baffling script. I can't even tell that Will was several years older than his character when he plays this part. Eustace is supposed to be very young - 10 ish and Will was mid-teen (I think) when he played him.

The friendship/mentoring relationship between Eustace and Reepicheep was a nice touch and very moving at times.

The movie was so colourful though, and looked absolutely beautiful. I love the wide shots of the Dawn Treader sailing.

Lucy kicked ass in this movie! Finally they ceased with the infantilisation of Lucy! With PC, the scriptwriter seemed to forget or something that it was Susan the Gentle and Lucy the Valiant! (Too many exclamation marks :P)

The moment farewell, I guess it was at least good that they got the right dialogue in there. I think a lot of people would be afraid the movie makers would butcher that to keep the religious meanings well away to draw in a more variety of viewers. But it's kind of pointless to shy away from the religious overtones of Narnia - the entire Chronicle is a metaphor for Christianity at its various stages. Even Dawn Treader is a sort of pilgrimage. But overall, that moment just seemed rushed. It wasn't as moving as it was meant to be. Edmund just looked and sounded confused and couldn't wait to get out of there. Lucy...I don't know. I came out of that scene with a distinct feeling of "Meh, that's it?"

I suppose the overall verdict is that the movie was just...bland. The pacing was problematic. It was just bam, bam, bam, this happens, that happens, info dump, contrived temptations, find seven Horcruxes, problem solved, lukewarm farewell, done.

Still, I really hope they will continue making the rest of the Chronicle. I didn't enjoy Silver Chair that much, or Last Battle, but I would absolutely love to see The Horse and His Boy make it to the screen. They will definitely be able to get Skandar, Georgie and Anna (and probably would find a way to pull Will Molseley in too) for the parts. I certainly would love to see them as actual Kings and Queens.If they make Silver Chair next, I would watch it just for Will Poulter and hope they get someone decent to play Jill Pole.

The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome

This was supposed to go into the author's note for the latest chapter of The Prince and Me but then it began to feel like it's going to get longer than the fic itself.

The name of the chapter (The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome) is basically the summary of a Twilight fanfic that is currently on my favourite list (yes, I do have Twilight fics in my fav list, and often they are better than the books). That fic, called going nowhere, going somewhere by Estora revolves around an Edward who actually has a personality. This fic has very little to do with the chapter of my fic, but I liked the phrase hehe.

First of all, I have to say the chapter The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome is partly a result of my attempt at Nanowrimo this year (which I failed spectacularly, all efforts considered). Part of Nano includes a lot of procrastination time whereby I dig up all these character building quizzes. You now, quizzes that have you pretend to be your character and answer questions about each and every one of their likes and dislike.

And so The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome is a sort of an exploration of some of Xiao Yan's (and to a certain extent, Yong Qi's) likes and dislikes, but then somehow goes into a sort of reflection of my own rather odd love affair with Zhao Wei.

On the subject of some of Yong Qi's likes, in reality, Tottenham Hotspurs are not doing so badly in the Premier League as I imply in the chapter. Not that I actually follow Premier League football.

In case you did not recognise the movie that Xiao Yan and Yong Qi went to see in this chapter, it is, of course, A Time to Love, starring Zhao Wei and Lu Yi.

I just wanted to share the whole idea behind the scene where Xiao Yan and Yong Qi went to the hotpot restaurant, which on the surface seems like a pretty useless scene. Well, it is pretty useless, but it's 100% based on my experience at Hai Di Lao Hotpot.

Bei Wa Lu is a real street in Beijing (at least, I think I remembered it right), where near there is a real Hai Di Lao Hotpot restaurant. I ate there when I was recently (read, a month ago) in Beijing and I swear, it was one of the best service experiences of my life, if not the best. In Vietnamese we have a saying, "The customer is the emperor" and boy, did I feel like an emperor there.

My friend and I didn’t actually have to wait for a table when we went there, but there was a waiting area that looked pretty cool and I have heard you do actually get a manicure and a shoe shine as you wait.

Regarding the bathroom of this restaurant, it might seem strange for me to gush about a bathroom. But I swear everything I described in that scene in the fic is true. Except that, unlike Xiao Yan, I couldn't ask a waiter for direction to the bathroom from my table (because I speak no Chinese), it took me several near wrong turns to get to the bathroom. Yes, there were signs but still it was like a maze. I nearly got lost getting back to the table, which of course has no sign to direct me. But the bathroom was pretty awesome, especially compared to normal Beijing public toilets, but I won't go into that.

Of course, whether this restaurant existed in 2005 when The Prince and Me was set, I don't know and if it did, whether it looked like it does now in 2010 is debatable. And for all my awe about this restaurant, I was disappointed when I got home and realised I had taken no photo of it. I think my friend and I were too busy eating.

By the way, while I'm on the topic of my trip to Beijing, I have to say I did pass Gong Zhu Fen or the place that inspired HZGG. Well, it's a subway station. So...it's pretty unepic. But I did get a photo of the sign that said Gong Zhu Fen.

My friend and I were planning to go to the set where they shot HZGG but that plan fell through the roof. That place is supposed to be quite a way outside the city so we were actually ready to spend a whole day to get there and back. Unfortunately the day before we planned to go, we decided to go to the Ba Da Ling Great Wall near the Olympic One World One Dream sign. On a Sunday in the Chinese National Day weekend.

Well, needless to say, the combination of the destination and the date made traffic...a nightmare. We left the house at 7am and got the Great Wall at 12 noon. Yeah, I spent 5 hours standing squished on a bus. Anyway, we knew that to go to the place where they shot HZGG, we'd have to pretty much make that same bus trip, only go for even longer. After that bus trip from hell, not even the prospect of seeing Shu Fang Zhai (if it's still there, which is doubtful) could draw two massive HZGG fans to get on that bus again.

And I actually had hoped to see Jing Yang Gong when I visited the Palace Museum. That didn't happen either. Again, it was Chinese National Day holidays, so the Palace Museum was packed. I don't think it would be even that packed when people actually lived there. So basically by the time we made it from the Imperial Garden out to Qian Qing Gong, we were basically too eager to get out of the crowd (by that time, all we could actually see was people and practically nothing else.) to even want to go find Jing Yang Gong which was somewhere off to the sides. We didn't even bother to fight our way in to see Tai Hua Dian which is arguably one of the main attractions of the place.

View from Wu Men

Boy, after visiting the Palace Museum, did I feel for Xiao Yan Zi. Now I totally understand why she needed the Easy Kneeling. And now I also so understand why getting in was hard, getting out of the palace was even harder.

We sat on the steps of Yang Xin Dian, eating ice cream. I'm pretty sure Qian Long would have loved us for it if he ever knew. Then again, I'm pretty sure if ice cream existed in China in those days, Xiao Yan Zi would not be above eating it while sitting on the steps of Yang Xin Dian either.

No, I didn't make it to Heng Dian Studios in Zhejiang to check out the set of the New HZGG. But that's probably for the best. Though speaking of New HZGG, walking around the market, or the Palace Museum, or the Great Wall, there were a lot of stalls selling the Manchurian princess hats as souvenir or toys. Please tell me this is normal in Beijing regardless of the new HZGG being made. But even then, I suspect these princess hats are a result of the New HZGG since along with Manchurian princess hats, there were exact replica of the new Sai Ya's (Tibetan princess) hat as shown in released stills of HZGG. Well, looks like the drama isn't even out yet and it's already making money.

Panda Ge ge