00-002 Adapting a novel is like building public transport for a city

00-002
Adapting a novel is like building public transport for a city

I am a transport enthusiast. And I also like movies. I got an idea to link up both. I explained it to my 7 years old son, and he told me that it is plain stupid. But I still want to share it here.

Maps of medieval Bologna

I think a novel is like a settlement. Depends on its length, it can be a village, a town or even a city. And an adaptation is like granting the settlement a public transportation system. Just like metro lines or buses allowing people to maneuver the city easier, adaptations enrich a novel and let it reaches out to more people.

Movies are Metro systems, or U-Bahn

Think about a metro station. Normally it is grand, staffed with ticket offices and shops inside. Many have escalators to the platforms. And some of them even linked to a shopping mall. But metro lines won’t serve every part of the city. You can only find it in the busy areas. The platforms are normally 50 feet underground.

Delhi Metro

Movie adaptations are like metros. Normally, they are grand, made with a large budget. But it won’t cover every detail in the novel. And a 3-hour running time is more or less a maximum.

TV films are Suburban trains, or S-Bahn

Just like metro, stations of suburban train normally won’t be right in front of your doorsteps. A few minutes’ drive to get there is a norm. And the stations are mostly no-frills.

Melbourne Suburban Train

TV films are normally made with a lower budget than featured movies. Their length is more or less the same as of a movie. It also can’t cover every part of a novel. And because of their low budget, TV films are normally not great.

Miniseries are Light rails, or Stadtbahn

Light rail runs closer to your home. And if you are lucky, you can find a station within your walking distance. And it not only covers the city center but also the suburbs. More stations can be placed enroute, with a scarify on speed.

Munich Stadtbahn

Miniseries is like light rail. As a longer running time is allowed, more details of a novel can be squeezed in. Budget is generally lower but with the advance of those new era broadcasting channels, such as Netflix, it is not always the case now.

TV series are Trams, or Straßenbahn

Compare to Light rail, tram is even slower and no-frills. But you can find stops at every few lampposts. And for some smaller settlements, tram is the only thing they can afford.

Melbourne Tram

TV series can adapt every bit of novel in details. However, the budget is low. Before the digital era, TV series are normally filmed by video tape, limiting its resolution.

Shorts are Shared taxis, or Marshrutka

Shorts or Amateur films is more like shared taxi or marshrutka. It is rough, unprofessional, unofficial, and sometimes illegal. But in some areas, it is the only mean of public transportation.

Red minibus, Hongkong's Marshrutka

Let us take Stephen King as an example. Several King’s short stories were only adapted by his “dollar baby” program. Amateur films are the only screen adaptations available for those short stories.

Video games are Ferries, or Fähre

Unlike railway or motorways, there are no markings on the water surface. Ferry can travel freely between 2 locations. However, the piers are fixed. So, no matter how far a ferry has detoured, it needs to find its way to dock with the pier.

Ferry in Hongkong

Some novels are adapted as video games. They provide freedom for the players to explore the game. But the goal is fixed, if you want to complete the game.

Stage Performances are Cycling Festivals, or Cyclothon

Cycling is a quick and cheap way to navigate a city. But it requires a bit of muscles and glucose.

Shared bike of Hongkong

Stage performance are like cycling festivals. Normally, stage performance won’t be recorded for later viewing. It is more like a special event. And effort is needed every time to make it happen.

Go back to the Rathaus ...

00-001 Definition of culture

00-001
Definition of culture

Welcome to My Multi-culture Universe. As the title said, this blog is about culture. But what is the definition of culture?

Recently, I have attended a tutorial on culture and its impact on doing business with people from different cultural backgrounds. To be honest, I didn’t get much out of the tutorial. Most probably because culture is not an easy topic to understand in just 3 hours’ time. Moreover, the tutorial is on zoom, making it more difficult to digest.

But the tutorial somehow gave me an “official” definition on culture. And it is something I would like to share with you. 

Definition of culture

This diagram is from a professional. So, no question, okay?

Go back to the Rathaus ...

04-008 Warriors of Future

04-008
Warriors of Future

In August 2022, a movie premiered in Hongkong has created a vast among of discussion locally. The name is Warriors of Future, a science fiction action film produced by a local company One Cool Film Production. Production started back in 2017. Filming took place in Hongkong and the nearby Shenzhen. Production suffered from several delays and the movie finally reached the big screen in August 2022, first in mainland China, then in Hongkong, and then overseas.

Movie poster of Warriors of Future

To produce a science fiction action film requires a large budget. Normally, local market size is not large enough to support such a project. Even counting the market size of mainland China, such investment is still risky. Because of all these, local produced science fiction movies are not common. And a science fiction movie in such a scale is really rare. Probably, Warriors of Future is the one and only one in Hongkong movie history.

A large investment does not necessary lead to public interest. It is all because of an audience in mainland China posted a photo on social media. He bought a ticket of Warriors of Future, but his ticket showed Moon Man. The ticket agent assured him that the ticket has no problem. “Just told the usher that you are watching Warriors of Future and he will escort you to a different screen.”

Moon Man is another science fiction film produced solely in mainland China. Both movies were premiered at the same timeslot. The reason of printing a ticket with the wrong name is because by doing this, the cinema will receive a higher commission. Apparently, Moon Man is willing to pay more to cinemas. This kind of cheating is quite common in China. However, that also means the money from Warriors of Future audience will end up in the pocket of the production house of Moon Man. Box office would also not reflecting the truth. 

So, it comes to a situation that a mainland Chinese movie defeated a Hongkong movie through a dishonest way. And after all those happened in 2019, you can imagine how local Hongkongers would react. People are roaring, saying that they will fully support Louis Koo, the producer of Warriors of Future, by all means.

Almost all local cinemas were showing Warriors of Future in August, including the Sunbeam Theater which normally only shows Chinese operas. Social medias were flooded with photos of Warriors of Future ticket stubs. Many people were watching the movie more than 1 times. Some were buying 20 tickets, just to support. Local box office soared up to 82 million HKD finally. Just bear in mind, the local population is only 7 million here. This also includes kids and babies. And an average movie ticket price is less than HKD 100.

Uprising emotions can be irrational. Now, Warriors of Future is available on Netflix. More rational critics started to arrive. The movie is now scoring only 5.7 on IMDb.

What is the movie about?

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

The prologue of the movie states this:

Technology has been developing rapidly in the past century. The ambition of mankind brought along the war. Since the development of military robots, wars have been skyrocketing all over the world. I thought after the battle two years ago, people would learn and rebuild a better world. Instead, now is the time for mankind to pay the price. Natural disasters, industrial overdevelopment, and never-stopping wars worsen the global ecological environment. Diseases and famine shroud the world. The air is filled with high levels of toxins. Many babies were born with dire illnesses including my daughter, Sissy.

In order to restore the environment so that human development can be back on track, governments around the world started building Skynets that could purify the atmosphere. But while the Skynets were being built, a giant meteorite fell onto B16 and a giant alien plant began to grow out of it. This plant thrived when in contact with water, wreaking serious havoc. The irony is that it can actually purify the atmosphere. Scientists have named it Pandora. What end Pandora will bring to mankind remains to be seen. But as a friend once said, “We write our own ending.”

Warriors of Future is about an alien plant landed on Area B16. The plant, Pandora, can purify the polluted air but its growing also caused damage to the city. The local military force ACU is going to carry out a very difficult task, to genetically alert the plant to make it stops growing but continue to help purifying the air.

Where does the story take place?

Opening scene of Warriors of Future

The movie was filmed in Hongkong and in a studio in Shenzhen. The first few scenes give an impression to the audience that the story happens just in Hongkong. The scene in the Victoria Hospital enforces this impression. The floor directory is in the same format as those in local government hospitals.

Floor directory in Victoria Hospital

However, this is merely an impression. The movie has never mentioned Hongkong. The place is called Area B16. The landscape is also different from that of Hongkong.

When does the story happen?

The Earth was still in good shape until at least 2028

In Wikipedia, a year is given with a screenshot, 2055. But I cannot find that scene in the movie. Probably the screenshot is from a deleted scene. But I can find years mentioned in some other places. First, the opening scene told that the Earth was still in a good shape until at least 2028. And the completion of genetic study on the alien plant was also given a year, 2053.

A year is given, 2053
Note the country border shown on the world map

Anyway, the story takes place in a distant future. Country borders are still shown on the world map, but it seems that the world has become united under a joint government. So, the movie technically leaves all the current political conflicts behind.

How is the movie?

The movie is quite enjoyable to watch. It is a fast action movie with a lot of fighting. Computer graphics are in Hollywood standard. However, the storyline is not very rich. The plot is simple and straightforward. Story begins with a risk. The heroes sacrifice themselves, fight to the very end and finally eliminate the risk.

Many say that Warriors of Future is Hongkong’s version of Marvel. Yes, some scenes did looked very Marvel especially this one.

Isn’t that Captain American? However, the movie itself tells you otherwise. It was not inspired by Marvel but by a classic sci-fi movie from the 50s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a sad ending. Humans were defeated by the alien. But in Warriors of Future, “We write our own ending.”

The movie is inspired by a 1958 sci-fi classic
Invasion of the Body Snatchers

I believe if you like Predator movies, you will like Warriors of Future. Predator movies do not have a strong storyline neither. Movies in the same franchise are just merely linked to each other. And in each movie, humans are always put under a very difficult task. But a few managed to get through.

The only problem is, I found myself is actually a racist. I am discriminating myself! I found that if the actors were all white guys and black guys and the language of the movie was English, then Warriors of Future would be perfect. However, seeing Chinese actors becoming superheroes and speaking Cantonese while shooting the aliens, it just a bit odd to me.

At the end of the movie, we saw Captain Tyler and Captain Johnson Cheng on a mission to the moon. Also, the war happened before the movie was not explained. These provide many possibilities for the movie to be developed into a multimedia franchise. It was announced that Warriors of Future 2 is already under pre-production and an animated prequel is also underway. I am looking forward to seeing a local sci-fi movie franchise to happen in the future.

Go back to the Lobby ...

04-007 Chinese breakfast

04-007
Chinese breakfast

I remember in one of the episodes of Castle, Richard was found eating Chinese food as breakfast by his coworker. She then asked Richard, “Who would eat Chinese food as breakfast?” “Chinese eat Chinese food as breakfast.”, Richard answered.

As a Chinese myself being grown up in an ex-British colony, I would say I rarely eat Chinese food for breakfast. Yes, there is such an option but certainly this is not my favorite. 

Chinese breakfast

We call them congee shops. They mainly sell congee, fried noodles and fried dough. But I prefer eating these as lunch. Food in congee shop is cheap. But because of high rental, congee shops were moved away from central business district. Many have an additional lunch or dinner menu but keep selling congee, noodles and dough all over the day. Yes, they sell all day “Chinese” breakfast. 

Chinese sandwich, with a glass of iced lemon tea

In Hong Kong, many locals turn to McDonald’s or KFC for their empty stomach in the morning. Chinese style breakfast is not really popular. For me? I prefer a sandwich and a cup of English tea for breakfast. I eat this almost every day. But the sandwich I eat is just a bit different from the one you can get in “Pret A Manger”. It is a hot sandwich, originated in England, but fusion with Chinese cooking style.

Many people said Hong Kong is a place where “East meets West”. I would say the other way round, it is the “West meets the East” here. We are the majority. But we are culturally influenced by the minority, the Western culture, and we dare to change it. Sandwich is an example. It is easy to make, cheap and tasty. An ideal way to prepare in the early morning while your eyes are still half-opened. But they are all cold, or almost, lukewarm.

We Chinese like eating things hot. Yes, there are several cold dishes in the Chinese menu, but the majority of our food is hot. When Mr. Sandwich first came to Hong Kong, we all like him. But he is just a bit too cool for us. We started adding some temperature upon him. So instead of boiled eggs, we use scrambled eggs, fried and serve while still piping hot. And we don’t use roasted beef slices but canned corned beef, again fried.

Chinese sandwich, hot and yummy.
There is normally no sandwich box for takeaway. Only plastic bag.

How does it taste? You can try this at home. Just get 2 pieces of bread, spread some butter on them, scrambled two eggs with a little bit of salt, fried them, put them in between the breads and eat. You will love them especially during the cold winter. But there is a drawback, hot sandwiches must be eaten within 10 minutes after made. Or else, the egg will cool down and the condensed water vapor from the hot eggs will soften the bread. That would make the sandwich very disgusting to eat.

 

Breakfast menu from a local Tea Restaurant

Another menu from a local fast-food shop in Wan Chai shows how our breakfast sets look like and how much they are. We locals call the restaurant “Cha-Chaan-Teng”, literally Tea Restaurant. And we call the breakfast “western style”. But you can’t hardly find the same breakfast in the western world, except in Chinatown maybe. They are completely fusion food.

I bought the “Western breakfast” set. It came with a piece of toast and baked beans. I picked the cutlet fish, sausage and egg. There is also a drink. I picked hot milk tea. This is how it looks like.

Cutlet fish with sausage and egg

It is cheaper to take away. The set only costs HKD $36, which is around USD $4.50. Is it expensive or cheap? I want to hear your comment.

Go back to the Lobby ...

04-006 Exotic food in a fine dining restaurant

04-006
Exotic food in a fine dining restaurant

I still remember his name. He is called Larry, a colleague from my previous company. He is an American, came to China just for a project. He flew to Hongkong first and I escorted him to Shenzhen. That was 20 years ago, long before the pandemic, long before the closing of the Chinese border.

We worked in a bank. The schedule was tight so we worked from early morning till evening almost every day. He is a funny guy. He is as old as my father and a good mentor. Working together with him was a pleasure.

It happened on one rainy evening. We were eating in a Japanese restaurant in Shenzhen, after a day of hard work. He ordered a bowl of noodles, with pork. When the food came, he shouted, “Hey! Help me. Take this thing away.” It was a baby octopus, marinated in Japanese sesame sauce, cooked. “Why they put this thing here? I just ordered noodles with pork!”

I was puzzled. In my eyes, octopus is just normal food. I can’t say I eat octopus every day but octopus is such a common food that you can find in almost any Asian restaurant. And it is also a common practice for a restaurant to add some side ingredients into a dish. Just like you would find cucumber inside a hamburger.

“These creatures eat themselves when hungry!”, he explained.

When talking about exotic food, we Chinese are champion. Yes, we eat everything. China is a big country. We have Mongolians in the north who drink wine brewed inside the body of a rat. In the west, we have in Sichuan fermented pork preserved for decades, with strong smell. And people there eat it raw. Even in our capital, roast scorpions and starfishes are common street food. And bat soup from Wuhan are highly suspected as the origin of the COVID pandemic.

Being colonized by the British for one and a half decades, food from Hongkong seems to be more “civilized”. But still there are plenty of food here that are scary to many. Below is one of the examples. 

White colour soup served in CGCC Club

CGCC Club is a Chinese fine dining restaurant located in Central, the financial center of Hongkong. Location of the restaurant is very convenience. The Stock Exchange is just a 5 minute walk from the restaurant. It is a perfect place for business lunches, dinners and general gatherings. Quality of service is unquestionable. Food served there are in high quality and the price is, well, matching with what you got.

But having a pocket of cash does not grant you a seat inside. The restaurant is opened only to the member of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC). But business is still business. It was late October, 2022. At that time, Hongkong was only half open to visitors. Hotel quarantine was not required. But vaccination and PCR test were still compulsory to enter Hongkong. As most countries and regions in the world were already opted to a more relaxed travel restriction. Compare to other places, Hongkong was not attractive to tourists or even business travelers.

“I can’t give you a table on the 6^th floor as most bosses dine there. But I can give you a table on the 8^th floor if you don’t mind. Food are the same. Just the décor is not as grand as that of the 6^th floor.”, said the manager, after knowing that we are not a member of the CGCC.

Business was not good. There were only around 20 diners for the whole 8^th floor in that evening. And this is probably the reason why they accepted the reservation from a non-member.

Apart from its exclusiveness and food quality, CGCC Club is similar to most ordinary Chinese restaurants in the city. We had Steamed Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Tofu with mushrooms, Vegetable pot, and Pickled cucumbers as appetizer. All the food we ordered were just normal dishes that you can find in most Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, except this one. What is it? Let’s take a closer look.

It is soup in almond milk

The soup is in white colour. It has a strong smell of almond because the soup base is made by almond milk. It smells very good. But apart from almond, what other ingredients were inside this white colour soup? Let me show you.

Inside is chicken feet and ...

Yes, chicken feet, err. But this is only the first part. Look closer. Can you see the white lump next to the chicken feet? What is it? Fatty pork meat?

It is actually Pig Lung Soup in Almond Milk

No, it is not meat! It is lung! Can you see the bronchial tubes? This is Pig Lung Soup in Almond Milk!

Most Western cuisines exclude internal organs at all. Few may include tongue, liver or kidney. But lung is totally out of the topic.

So, how much is this soup? It is HKD $78 per bowl, which is around 10 USD. Ten dollars with some chunky lung pieces in almond soup. I hope I did not scare you guys too much.

Yes, we eat everything.

Go back to the Lobby ...