Yowazzup: A Directory of Happening Things

Tattooed goldfish

Tattooed goldfish is the new goldfish. If you think only humans can have tattoos, you’re wrong. Someone has come up with the idea of inscribing tattoos onto goldfish and voila, a major commercial success! Tattooed goldfish has becoming a major demand in Chengdu, Sichuan province in China that prices has shot up to 100 yuan from the initial 20 yuan.

(Via China Daily)

Popularity: 1%

China’s cosplay scene is evolving with ChinaJoy, also known as China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference. ChinaJoy, at its 7th year was held in Shanghai recently. Like E3 in the United States or the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, ChinaJoy is a convention where people from all over the world gather and talk about digital entertainment and global game industry. Also, ChinaJoy held a cosplay carnival at the Shanghai International Expo Center.

Cosplay carnival at ChinaJoy

More photos at PChome.net

Popularity: 2%

Xiao Fang, a 14-year-old boy from Xingwen in eastern China has been drinking gasoline for five years in the hope of becoming a Transformers, a report has claimed. The boy consumed the petrol to obtain energy and become a “valiant fighter” like Optimus Prime, after watching the animated version of the successful film franchise, his father told Shanghai Daily.

The drinking pattern began in 2004 when the teenager’s mother owned a grocery stall, while she noticed that lighters were going missing from the stand.

“He began to drink gasoline five years ago, when we found (out) he liked smelling lighter fuel,” his dad said. “Afterwards, we found our motorcycle’s gasoline was always disappearing, and one day when we found the boy had drunk a half bottle of gasoline stolen from the motorcycle, we were too shocked to say anything.”

“Since my son started to drink gas, his IQ has dropped sharply and now he can’t figure out simple addition and subtraction. Before that, he was a very smart boy, and he could even repair the television. But now he does not know the answer of 7 plus 17.”

“The gasoline contains a lot of lead, which can do harm to people’s brains. To make things even worse, the boy is in the physical development stage, and the lead has caused serious damage to his body,” Dr Peng Houquan added.

Popularity: 1%

China’s New 10 Yuan

China’s 10 Yuan used to have Mao Zedong’s face on it, not anymore. With the Olympic Games’s hype (and for decades after that), China have replaced Mao’s face with with its infamous Bird’s Nest Stadium on its 10 Yuan note.

Popularity: 3%

Despite the fact Beijing 2008 Olympic is already taking place, there are still many signboards in China that use direct translation from Chinese to English, and they are surely funny.

"Sucker" — Yes, we use a "Sucker" to suck our drinks.

"In Order To Keep Fit No Spitting" — We should not spit if we want to keep fit.

"No Louding"

"If you are stolen, call the police at once" — How am I supposed to do that if I am stolen?

"Please Don’t Throw Rubbish Away" — Let’s keep them.

"Slip carefully" — Thanks for the warning, I’ll do it carefully if I ever slip.

Popularity: 3%

The spectacular 2008 Beijing Olympic fireworks show broadcast to the world in the opening ceremony was prerecorded. It was altered and done digitally in 3D computer graphics, according to several news reports (view the reports here, here and here.)

Lin Miaoke, the lip syncher and Yang Peiyi (inset), the original singer

Meanwhile, the girl in the red dress with the pigtails, called Lin Miaoke, 9, and from a Beijing primary school has become the talk of town after she performed the anthem, a patriotic song called “Hymn to the Motherland”. But, the truth is she just lipped sync. The actual singer was Yang Peiyi, a 7-year-old girl who has buck teeth and is deemed unsuitable to go on air.

Faking it in the opening ceremony will surely bring us to other questions? What about their athletes?

Popularity: 3%

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which also known as The Mummy 3 is the sequel to The Mummy and The Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser reprising his role as Richard “Rick” O’Connell.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Jet Li as the Emperor Han in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor "

Emperor Han (Jet Li) is a tyrannical emperor who wants to dominate the entire world and has managed to conquer everything except his age. As he is slowly aging, his mission is to find immortality. Han commands his general, Ming Guo (Russell Wong) to bring a sorceress called Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh) who happens to know the way to immortality to him. When Zi Juan says she doesn’t have but only know where to find it, Han warns Ming Guo to escort her but not to touch her as she belongs to the emperor.

During the search for immortality, Ming Guo betrays the emperor’s trust by having an affair with Zi Juan. When Ming Guo and Zi Juan return to the emperor, the emperor punishes Ming Guo by having his arms and feet tied to the horses. Han suggests to Zi Juan to give herself to him if she wants to live, but she promptly refuses. As a result, Han commands his armies to tear Ming Guo apart while he stabs a dagger onto Zi Juan. Before long, Han and his armies turn into statues as a result of the curse cast by Zi Juan earlier.

The movie fast forward to 1940, which Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife, Evelyn O’Connell (played by Maria Bello as Rachel Weisz has dropped out) are retired from their exploring jobs. Their lives now are boring and simply monotonous. When the opportunity to go to Shanghai to return an ancient artifact to the government of China, the O’Connell takes the chance without a second thought Evelyn’s brother, Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah) runs a nightclub in Shanghai.

The O’Connell are tricked into General Yang’s (Anthony Wong) plot of resurrecting Emperor Han and his terracotta warriors and are forced to prevent Yang’s absurd ambition. Coincidentally, it was their son, Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford) who has earlier discovered the terracotta warriors. Lin (Isabella Leong) shows up and tells Alex that she’s the guardian of the tomb, but when a fight ensues between General Yang’s men and the O’Connell, the resurrection potion falls and it has awakened Emperor Han.

Anthony Wong and a Yeti in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor "

Then, come the part where the O’Connell family chases Emperor Han and General Yang in order to stop them from reaching to a place called Shangri-La, where Han will be able to resurrect his armies. The cat and mouse chasing is quite fun but the plots are predictable.

Lin even summons the Yetis to fight along side the O’Connell as they are outnumbered by General Yang’s armies.

But, despite all the efforts to stop Han, he finally manages to find Shangri-La and after he jumps into the pool of immortality, he emerges as a three-headed dragon and flies back to his base in order to resurrect his terracotta warriors. In order to fight back, Zi Juan and her daughter sacrifice their immortality to bring back the undead who are buried by Emperor Han during the construction of the Great Wall of China.

Although the fight between the terracotta warriors and the undead are impressive, the movie is brought to an abrupt ending when Han is easily killed by Rick and Alex who fight hand-to-hand combat with Han. Overall, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is quite disappointing especially in terms of plot and fighting scenes where the real actions are missing. Perhaps, like The X-Files, people are already bored with Rick and his adventures of killing mummies. Somehow, in the last scene, Jonathan is seen holding the valuable piece of diamond artifact to Peru — hint us the next Mummy movie will be set in Peru. After all, after having done with Egypt and China, Peru’s ancient Moche pyramid is very likely the next target.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

Popularity: 3%

Red Ink looks at the evolution and changes occurring in Chinese culture by examining the development of Chinese Contemporary Art.

Popularity: 1%

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third installment of The Mummy franchise starring Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh.

Popularity: 1%

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon is a movie based on the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. The film is directed by Daniel Lee, starring Andy Lau, Sammo Hung and Maggie Q.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

Three Kingdoms occurred during 220 – 280 A.D. when the country is split into three kingdoms namely Wei (also known as Cao Wei), Shu (also known as Shu Han), and Wu (also known as Dong Wu or Eastern Wu) Kingdom. When Shu Han needs a hero, Zhao Zilong (Andy Lau) joins them and he meets a senior soldier named Luo Ping An (Sammo Hung) who gives him a map. Zilong acknowledges Ping An as his “brother” since Ping An has joined the armies for five years. In the initial battle in the battlefield, Zilong does not take any credit by helping Ping An to kill one of the enemies’ leaders. When Luo Ping An and his comrades are out of ideas as Wei armies prepare to invade, a man named Zhuge Liang (Quanxin Pu) join them as a war adviser. Zhuge Liang’s brilliance in the art of war helps Shu Kingdom to win many battles.

When Wei armies are invading, the Shu kingdom plans to close the main gate. Somehow, due to carelessness of Ping An, the royal families including the emperor’s son are left outside the gate which later on become the victims of Wei relentless armies. Somehow, Zilong manages to save the emperor Liu’s son from the armies of Wei. He manages to fend off, escape and even steal Cao Cao’s (Damian Lau) sword despite being trapped by hundred of Wei armies to become the hero of Shu Han.

After many years of battles, Zilong is finally promoted to the rank of General to join the other four as one of the infamous Five Generals. As the other Generals perish in battle, Zilong becomes the only one left standing, winning battle after battle. After more than 35 years in the armies, Zilong and Zhuge Liang have reached old-age. Zilong’s so-called brother, Ping An is always watching him and they fight in the battlefield together.

One fine day, the ceaseless armies of Wei Kingdom has a final plan to invade Shu, it is up to Zilong who takes a last stand against the invading forces from the Kingdom of Wei. Cao Ying (Maggie Q), the granddaughter of Wei warlord Cao Cao leads the battle for Wei Kingdom. Both Zilong and Cao Ying try to outsmart each other but in the end, it is revealed that Zilong’s so-called brother Ping An has betrayed him as Cao Ying promises to recruit Ping An as Wei’s General. All these years, Ping An is envied of Zilong’s success as a top general while he feels he gets nothing by going into the battlefield.

The movie ends as Zilong charges into the battlefield all by himself, as all his armies are already dead before fading into the credits.

Overall, the movie is intriguing and comparable to The Warlords despite the controversy caused by Andy Lau’s costume and the casting of Maggie Q because of her non-Chinese and Eurasian appearance.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

Popularity: 2%