I’m not an expert, but there seems to be a whole genre of Chinese historical-fantasy-war movies (wuxia). At any rate, that’s what this was. It had a dose of romance in it, too. Big budget. Nice effects. Entertaining. From my standpoint, actually, not that weird. It was good practice for me to listen to the Mandarin.
Seriously?
This just seems unnecessary.
Here’s a Google Streetview image of the same corner from another angle.
I guess it’s supposed to keep cars from driving over the corner? And I guess it probably effectively does that. It just looks absolutely ridiculous.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
My husband and I agreed that this movie was okay but not… spectacular. Which is ironic, because of course the whole thing is nothing but spectacle. It’s an amazing, long, fancy, expensive spectacle, and my reaction to it was more or less a shrug.
See below for why. Beware SPOILERS.
‘There’ is a noun.
In English, ‘there’ is an adverb. In Chinese, ‘there’ can be a noun. Or at any rate, can be analyzed as one.
那儿很热吗?
Nàr hěn rè ma?
There very hot [question particle]?
Is it hot there?
Same with ‘here’.
是的。 这儿很热。
Shì de. Zhèr hěn rè.
Is [particle]. Here very hot.
Yes. It’s hot here.
If that isn’t proof enough, then observe that you can apply the possessive to ‘here’ and ‘there’.
这儿的菜很好吃。
Zhèr de cài hěn hǎo chī.
Here’s dishes very good eat.
The food here is delicious.
I am not sure whether ‘hǎo chī’ is considered a word or a phrase. I don’t think it matters.
If you translate and as ‘this place’ and ‘that place’, they make perfect sense as nouns. Then you have to account for the fact that these phrases are used without prepositions as if they were adverbs and not nouns.
他在那里。
Tā .
He is [located] that place.
He’s there.
But in fact is not a noun meaning ‘place’. It is a noun that means ‘in’ or ‘inside’, or it’s the preposition ‘in’. So ‘‘ is ‘this inside’ and ‘na li’ is ‘that inside’.
‘Sure’ is an adverb.
In English, ‘surely’ and ‘for sure’ are adverbs and ‘sure’ is an adjective:
If you ask, you will surely get a discount.
If you ask, you will get a discount for sure.
If you ask, you are sure to get a discount.
In Singlish, ‘sure’ can be an adverb even without ‘for’, and you would never put the adverb at the end of the sentence; it goes before the verb:
If you ask, you will [for] sure get [a] discount.
No MSG?
Let this banner teach you to quit while you’re ahead.
“No MSG added” is fine, but “in all our food” doesn’t make sense. In fact it almost makes it sounds like there is MSG… in all the food.
Original:
No MSG added in all our food.
Recommended:
All our food is made without MSG.
No MSG added to any of our food.
No MSG in any of our food.
No MSG.
Genuine if totally opaque multiculturalism
Haq-Insaf’s Eating House is a good place to get Indian food at West Coast. This is the back wall of the inside of the eating space in their shophouse unit.
Three things about it struck me.
- It’s really festive. You can’t visit this place and not feel cheerful. The whole place is always decorated for some reason or other.
- Those squiggles are all words, but I can’t read any of them. Wait, no, actually, I know two of the Chinese characters (‘spring’ and ‘fortune’). Yay.
- Hang on, why is there Chinese and Arabic? Oh, right. Because this is Singapore. Everyone celebrates Chinese New Year here. You don’t have to be Chinese, or East Asian, or Asian.
So yeah. This is multiculturalism at its best… and most opaque.
Salt Water Giant Arachnoid
The front of the box says:
Children may be awesome and scary to this direct but simple eight-feet reptile animal. After the fuel battery is activated by the salted water, the metal magnesium plate (3PCS) can successively provide the spider with 4-6 hours of power. Do to it is too real-like, the player may stop it during the time of playing. You can simply remove the fuel battery module and just clean it with running water, hang and dried it. All the material applied on this toy are environment-friendly, safe and clean. There is no any other toxic substance or waste. It won’t produce heat as well, which makes it absolutely safe for the children.
Unfortunately my picture of the side of the box was out of focus, so I can’t show you what it said. I’m sure it was hilarious.
The giant arachnoid is also available on Amazon.
As you might imagine, reviews are mixed.
Hook (1991)
I loved Hook when I was a kid. I am so, so, so glad I didn’t hate it when I watched it again. If it’s cheesy, then at least it’s still my kind of cheese.
I remember the terror of Peter returning home to find the house broken into and scarred by a rip in the wall made by Hook’s hook.
Probably when I saw Hook as a kid, it was about the evergreen joy of flying and the dubious joy of slapstick, whereas now it’s more about Peter’s relationships with the other characters.
The plot, an exploration of fatherhood and missed chances, reminds me of the song “Cat’s in the Cradle” sung by Harry Chapin.
Happy year of the Caprinae!
According to the Chinese zodiac, most of 2015 is the year of the 羊. The word 羊 (‘yáng’) can refer to both sheep and goats, hence the confusion over what to call this zodiac year in English (sheep/goat/ram). Wikipedia kindly informs me that the most accurate translation of ‘yáng’ would be Caprinae, a Latin word corresponding to the biological subfamily that encompasses sheep and goats.
Therefore, I wish you a happy year of the Caprinae.
