Interview on Bedrock Games Podcast

Recently I was interviewed for the Bedrock Gaes podcast…

Brendan from Bedrock Gamesrecently interviewed me about my book for the Bedrock Games podcast. We did the interview via Skype and struggled with the internet connection somewhat (like most Aussies, I was quick to lay the blame on our woeful internet speeds) but otherwise it was a really fun conversation. Brendan really knows his wuxia and shared some great questions and insights.

If you are a fan of the martial arts movie genre then the Bedrock Games blogand podcast is really well worth checking out.

If you want to listen to the podcast, then you can find it here.

Brendan is a big fan of Cheng Pei Pei, as I am. This illustration by Rebecca Stewart was for the chapter about ‘Come Drink With Me’ in my book.

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Why ‘Ask for the Moon’?

I have been neglecting this blog because I have been busy researching, writing, and now promoting a book on Shaw Brothers called Ask for the Moon. Check out the blog I wrote about it.

“The good thing about working for big studios was that you got classy, quality support. Even if you asked for the moon, they could get the moon for you, which was amazing.”
~ Shaw Brothers Studios director Chor Yuen

Someone recently asked me why I called my book Ask for the Moon.

Cover design by Rebecca Stewart

Ask for the Moon is part film criticism, part history, part musings on the nature of innovation. It describes a daring adventure in filmmaking, both creatively and in terms of business and production models. Entrepreneurialism, as demonstrated with such flair by producers Run Run and Runme Shaw, and martial arts movie making, as demonstrated with equal flair by the likes of filmmakers like Lau Kar Leung and Chor Yuen and others, might seem like odd bedfellows, but at Shaw Brothers these two seemingly disparate things came together in a venture that saw benchmarking…

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“The good thing about working for big studios was that you got classy, quality support. Even if you asked for the moon, they could get the moon for you, which was amazing.” ~ Shaw Brothers Studios director Chor Yuen. “Strange things happen in the night fog. This is ‘Moonlit Sky’, a well-known scenic place by […]…

Donnie says: “This is action filmmaking”

Since March 2016, around the edges of my day job, I have been writing a book about Shaw Brothers studios and some of their directors, framed against the theme of innovation. As you can imagine, this has been a lot of hard work but also highly enjoyable. It has been particularly interesting to track down…

‘Monkey’ – Kung Fu Movie Podcast

Hello dear reader! I see that the last blog I posted was 3 April. Yikes! I have sort of been caught out, with my lack of blogging progress this year now being highlighted, but in the very best and nicest way, by the Kung Fu Movie Guide's latest podcast. The reason for this is that…

How Princess iron Fan Burnt Down the Heavenly Gate (1959)

You can find a list of cast and crew on the Hong Kong Movie Database here. This old black and white film hasn’t aged well, I am afraid – compared to the lively and lovely animations of the Wan Brothers about the same set of characters, and compared to the live action kung fu films…

The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven (1961, 1964)

Mainland China. Directed by Wan Laiming (Northsiders in Melbourne:) available to loan from City of Darebin Libraries, Everyone else: can be bought on YESASIA. Made by the same brothers who made Princess Iron Fan in 1941, this film features absolutely beautiful animation – the colours are glorious and the shapes and lines are graceful and…

Princess Iron Fan (Mainland China, 1941)

I dutifully watched this old animated film revolving around the Journey to the West stories about Princess Iron Fan in the interests of research, allowing for the fact that the film is so very old and such an early example of animation from Asia*. Before watching I assumed that I would find the film dated and that I…

Men Can Be Flowers Too: Asian Masculinities in Popular Culture

It’s been so long since I have blogged myself; I have been extraordinarily busy chasing an income and haven’t had the time or creative and intellectual energies. I do miss it, though, and intend to come back to it. Meanwhile, enjoy this blog that Dr. CeeFu has written about masculinity in Asian pop culture.

High Yellow - Asian Popular Culture

Nicholas Tse as Hua Wuque, The Proud Twins

Every time I see articles about young Asian actors leaving behind their “flower boy” roles for more “manly” characters, I feel some kind of way. Such articles act like attractiveness and masculinity cannot go hand it hand. They might if their authors were watching what I watch.

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The Clones of Bruce Lee is a Paean to the Commodification of the Human Body

The opening scenes of The Clones of Bruce Lee dramatize the attempts of medical staff in casualty to revive a dying Bruce Lee. The story swiftly moves onto showing us how a secret service agency appropriates samples from Lee’s body in order to clone him. “Professor he’s all yours now. I only hope that what…