DVD Review: Together

In Mandarin this charming and strong film is He ni zai yi qi and was directed by Kaige Chen. It was released in 2002. We just saw it on our new DVD player after I bought a DVD at the local Blockbuster in Chetumal, Mexico. It promised it was in Ingles with subtitulos en Español (titled El Violinista in Latin America). Someone didn't know the difference between Chinese and English. It was in Chinese with Spanish subtitles.

That has importance only to introduce some of the strengths of the film and film-maker. It is a wonderfully visual film for another story of a child prodigy(ies) and competitions. This one is not Fame. The photography moves the story as the story moves the pictures.

The characters are strongly drawn and forcefully acted. The plot is not really complex (at least until the twists at the end) but it moves you along. The dialog is well-done and sparse which was appreciated given my slow reading level in Spanish. But the sparseness is real and appropriate.

The story is of a 13 year old violinist of prodigious talent who travels from the Chinese hinterlands to Beijing for a music competition which would catapult him into a different class and change his future. He travels with his father who is a simple, working man trying hard to find the means to advance his son and must travel another road to understand the differences that such advancement will mean to their relationship.

The boy has the adventures of a boy that somehow are the more moving when he changes everyone with whom he comes into contact. There is a young woman he admires/befriends and her dysfunctional love affair, two music professors of widely different styles, the violin he carries and its' story and, most of all, the shifting of relationships and classes, the unfolding of secrets and a few lessons in love.

Did I make it sound appealing? I hope so. This is a fine, well-seen and well-crafted film that is happy, sad, loving and charming without ever being sappy or clichèd.

See it. Preferably in your native language. 116 minutes. Written by Kaige Chen and Xiao Lu Xue

Immigrant Foods Threaten America

I published today an article on Blogcritics titled "Immigrant Foods Threaten America". It was to be light and satirical but became too political and cynical. In the end I was not too pleased with it although it remains fun -- just as pizza is usually fun. It is also included in Eric Olsen's compendium, "Blogcritics on Immigration".

A growing cataract has been making computer work, photography and even reading more tiring and difficult. This may be one of fewer articles on Blogcritics so I would have wished it better.

I also added a comment later from Newsweek today which presented a column by Dr. Dean Ornish on how America needs to export healthy foods. He goes on to write of a study that showed that most immigrants are healthier when they come to America that after they have lived here in spite of their lack of medical resources and affluence in the "old country". It does not say much for the American diet.

Poets' Walk, Barrytown, New York

Waxing nostalgic I found some of my old architectural shots on the net (these were lost to me when out New York house was sold).

The site is by the the architect and his firm, Optimus Architecure. David Souers and his wife are former clients who I hated to have to stop working for. David is now based in Rhinebeck, New York.

Having lost the originals it was great to see work that I was proud of and that would have grown better if I had skipped the heart attack and wasn't disabled. I would like to share some with stories, slowly.

More later about this shot from Poets' Walk on the Hudson River in Barrytown, New York. It is a magical place and David Souer makes it more so with deceptively simple shelters, paths and wonderful views.

More on Poets' Walk by Scenic Hudson Foundation later.

Asteroid Fragments Found

A discovery in the Kalahari desert in South Africa unearthed pieces of a 3-6 mile wide asteroid that hit the Earth. It is an interesting article.

Scientists Discover How to Measure Happiness Exactly

This article was just posted on Blogcritics.org. It is a silly piece about a sillier "scientific" study.

The photo in the article is of a fruteria worker who might make $US 8 or 10 a day. He is not rich but doesn't look too sad. Just to support that old hypothesis that money doesn't make you happy.

On the other hand my cousin recently sent me an aphorism I did like: "Happiness can't buy you money".

The Large Cloud of Magellan

This is not to do with the voyages of Admiral Zheng He decades before Columbus.

It is a wonderful astro-photograph of the Large Magellanic Cloud © Wei-Hao Wang, astrophotographer. He works with the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.

I was re-reading my own recent article, "Will Blogging Make You Blind? (see my post of 6 April and the link to Blogcritics.) I am not sure if it is the culprit for some vision problems but, still, I have not been writing enough and posting enough and I miss it. I do like sharing these especially successful astro photos.

The source for the photo was, as is often the case, The Astronomical Picture of the Day from NASA.