新年快乐!

It was an eclectic Chinese New Year dinner to say the least- there was Cuban mojitos, Mexican guacamole, Asian-American lettuce wraps, Singaporean curry puffs, Polish peirogis and Brazilian cheese bread. Rick, Emilee, Yong-mi and Art came over for our Asian film marathon/ Chinese New Year celebration last night, and with the exception of the food, it was definitely more of the film marathon than a Chinese New Year thing.

I miss being home for Chinese New Year of course (this blustery wind/ snow/ ice/ cold thing doesn't help)- the family gatherings, home-made snacks, a legitimate reason to get new clothes (not that Serene Koh ever needed a reason to go shopping... heehee...), and just the general bustling atmosphere of celebrating a cultural tradition. Ann Arbor doesn't have a Chinatown (although our Asian supermarket was packed to the brim yesterday- I never had to wait so long in line ever before!...) so there isn't even anywhere we can go to soak in any of the festivities even if we wanted to. It's going to be a few years more before we'll be able to be home for Chinese New Year, and till then, we'll just keep having these fusion food parties and watch countless Asian movies :)

Speaking of which- the movies we watched last night:
1) The Exiled (Johnny To, Hong Kong): Violent mobster flick meets playful black comedy meets Mexican-American spaghetti Western, it was rollicking good fun after a rather slow first hour or so. Suitably bloody yet with an almost balletic quality to the violence, Jude and I are now feverishly looking for Election I and II, for which To is better known (see trailer for The Exiled here).

2) Three Times (Hou Hsiao-Hsien): This movie received ecstatic reviews from the NYT but unfortunately, because we watched it after The Exiled, it felt painfully slow and plodding in comparison. A triptych on love, longing and loss, I think I'll have to revisit it on an occasion when I didn't just watch a bunch of men shoot themselves bloody silly...

3) Moving House (Tan Pin Pin, Singapore): I've written about this short film several times (see here and here), and this is probably the 4th or 5th time I've watched it. It never gets old for me though- every time I see it, the sad resignation of the family at having to exhume their parents' grave still always gets to me.

Anyways, Asian movies aside, here's wishing everyone who celebrates the Lunar New Year- whether you're in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Australia, the U.S. or anywhere where the Chinese have managed to find themselves, here's wishing you cherished blessings and a bountiful, joyful Year of the Pig ahead!