Sunday 21 January 2007

JUMP - a famous korean martial art comedy


went to Queensbay Mall for Korean Air Fair. managed to watch a famous comedy specially performed for tourist other than 'Nanta' Show.

here you go ..... share with u guys the videos ........

A martial arts master stamps so hard that the foundations of his house shake; a wizened old man with an apparently crippled back suddenly leaps into the air and performs a series of flying somersaults, and in the midst of an athletic ruckus, a walking stick is rammed into a posterior.
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These are just some of the elements of Korea's nonverbal comedy martial arts performance "Jump" — a show that its creators hope will leap onto the global stage next year and gain the international plaudits earned by another Korean nonverbal performance, 1997's "Nanta," (known internationally as "Cookin"').
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"When I was in Italy, someone suggested, 'Why not make a show about tae kwon do?"' said Choi Chul Ki, the creator of "Jump," who was then directing a traveling production of "Nanta."
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"Nanta," a "Stomp"-inspired performance that added traditional Korean percussion beats to a frenetic comedy set in a kitchen, became a surprise hit at the Edinburgh Festival in 1999. More than 1.5 million people have seen the show in 15 countries; it now runs at two theaters in Seoul and is playing at the Minetta in New York.
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"Jump" marked its 500th Korean performance at Seoul's Sejong Cultural Center in December, and its creators are now looking abroad: Yegam, the company that produced it, is planning a Japan and China tour in April, has been invited for a run in Israel in May, and has booked the show into the Edinburgh Festival in August.
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The plot is simple. A family of zany martial artists inhabit a traditional house — the set — where they are subjected to the discipline of "grandpa," the idiosyncratic family patriarch, who insists on daily training sessions. As the show begins, the family is engaged in testing out a nerdy potential son-in-law who hopes to wed the pretty daughter, when two bumbling burglars enter the home.
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Neither set nor plot, however, is the performance's raison d'être. Nor is genre: While 2001's "Tokebi Peung" (Goblin Storm) is still running, it has not matched the smash success abroad, and other Korean nonverbal performances, such as "UFO" and "Colorbar Show" have tanked. The creators of "Jump" are banking on the core elements of their show — physical comedy, martial arts and gymnastics — to seize international attention.
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"We want people to see 'Jump' as a kind of live-action Jackie Chan movie," said a cast member, Lee Sang Jun.
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That ambition could be an Achilles' heel. Before moving into modern action films, Chan's slapstick-heavy kung fu comedies, while huge in Asian markets, never gained anything beyond a cult audience in the West, and it is unclear how Western audiences will react to the yelling, buffoonery and exaggerated facial expressions that Koreans howl at in "Jump."
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But Jump's core differentiation as a show — its intensely physical blend of martial arts, gymnastics and Harold Lloyd-esque stunts — is stunning. It is here that the cast shines, in a range of exuberant physical set pieces ranging from gun fights and slow-motion fist fights to aerial acrobatics.
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The cast trained for two years in gymnastics and a variety of martial arts — tae kwon do and hapkido from Korean, wushu and Drunken Fist from China, and capoeira from Brazil. The exhausting physical regimen requires a host of doubles: "A lot of actors have injuries, so we need two and a half casts," said Kim Kyung Hoon, the producer.
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"Jump" places Korean marital arts in a new cultural context. "Traditionally, Korea's ruling class were scholars, and looked down upon martial arts," said Steve Capener, who has written widely on tae kwon do.
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In addition, while Chinese and Korean martial arts are found in both traditional and modern performance culture, Korean martial arts are not. Despite the international popularity of tae kwon do as a self-defense system and a competitive sport, it is not culturally ingrained. Furthermore, Korean martial arts films have failed to develop a style of choreography distinct from Chinese or Japanese cinema.
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For aficionados, the show's biggest draw may be the style used by "Grandpa": taek kyun, Korea's traditional fighting art and a predecessor of tae kwon do. The art, which mixes graceful rhythmic movements with kicks high and low, has undergone a renaissance in Korea after being within one practitioner of extinction in the 1980s. But despite its new-found popularity here, it remains relatively unknown abroad.
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The varied combative moves and gymnastics routines in "Jump" are blended in the spectacular finale. As the actors ditch slapstick to display a series of choreographed routines in a darkened theater — then take turns literally running up the walls — audience jaws could be hitting the floor as hard as the tumbling actors' sinewy bodies. A martial arts master stamps so hard that the foundations of his house shake; a wizened old man with an apparently crippled back suddenly leaps into the air and performs a series of flying somersaults, and in the midst of an athletic ruckus, a walking stick is rammed into a posterior.
.
These are just some of the elements of Korea's nonverbal comedy martial arts performance "Jump" — a show that its creators hope will leap onto the global stage next year and gain the international plaudits earned by another Korean nonverbal performance, 1997's "Nanta," (known internationally as "Cookin"').
.
"When I was in Italy, someone suggested, 'Why not make a show about tae kwon do?"' said Choi Chul Ki, the creator of "Jump," who was then directing a traveling production of "Nanta."

The plot is simple. A family of zany martial artists inhabit a traditional house — the set — where they are subjected to the discipline of "grandpa," the idiosyncratic family patriarch, who insists on daily training sessions. As the show begins, the family is engaged in testing out a nerdy potential son-in-law who hopes to wed the pretty daughter, when two bumbling burglars enter the home.



Pix with grandpa

Pix with daughter in law
Pix with uncle









Monday 15 January 2007

Friday 12 January 2007

Hong Kong 2005

Maiden Trip of my Annual Vacation Plan

This is my 1st trip to oversea using my own pocket money. My hard earned money .... swear ......
I had dreamed to travel around since I enrolled to the University of Community.
Well, of course my main purpose to Hong Kong is to meet my darling hubby, Andy Lau!!!

Planned to go alone (more chi kek - hokkien) but my mom insisted of following me ..... haizzzzz ........ she beh pang sim - hokkien). As the air tickets were fully booked, my mom has to take Cathay Pacific ~ direct flight & poor me by MAS ~ connection flight. she very lucky 1. Long time didn't travel by airplane, sit until buttock got numb. 4 hrs flight i think.

When I reached the HK airport, there were no sign of my mom, every1 from the same travel agency were there di ...... shit! where did she go??? is she lost? or don't know where to claim her luggage? 20 min later she appeared. ooohhhhh ....... her flight has to stop at KL to take more passengers. So off we go ......................

The weather was humid with rain pouring occasionally. just like M'sia lo ........ everywhere there are Andy's pix ......... yes! i mean everywhere!!! roadside, shoplots , subways, ad billboards ....... fuiyoh ....... siok man. there were no sign of Jacky, Leon or Aaron ........ funny?! At that time I didn't own any camera so i bought the disposal ones. Terrible quality!!! But still I was like a crazy girl, posting in front of Andy's poster here & there, taking photos. I don't care passerby laughing at me. Can't take my eyes off him ........



As it was a free & easy package, I get to follow a 1/2 day tour to few places of interest. Some are very far away from where I stay, we get discounts on entry fees ........ ok lah ... worth it also la ..... Then the rest we explore by our own ....... by looking at maps & asking people ......... sounded adventurous? ya ....... it was! we walked the whole day (safe cost ma) & some we had to take LRT to reach la ........ so I'm quite familiar with the roads di .... who wants to follow me next time? [ Planning a trip again this mid-year]

Hong Kong old Police Station
Clock Tower at the peir
Half Peak (finger pointing to the highest building in HK)

The Peak
Avenue of Stars (all the famous artists' handprints along the walkway)

New Promising Director from Penang

wah ....... my mom also want to be a director ah??!!

YES!!! i found Andy!!!

Hand in Hand with my darling .......



The monument for 1997 China - HK thingy
Kinda small botanical garden in the middle of a busy city...... cool huh

Jumbo Restaurant boat ride
my tour guide said that this boat belongs to Jackie Chan
familiar leh ....... still remember 'God of Cookery'? where Stephen Chau fly while tapping on water to the restaurant for the final round of the competition.
a place where lots of god statues are there for tourist to pray .........
Andy has got a song ..... 月老 他看不道 他听不道 ........

Did I see any artist during the trip? Yup .... i saw Robin (the humpback guy), Director Woo & few other artists sitting at a 6 star hotel coffee house discussing some matters..... didn't dare to approach them to take picture as they all looked very serious ......

Coming to the prime point of visiting HK ........

couldn't sleep well as I'm going to Andy World Club to try my luck on meeting Andy. the trip took us about 30 min by LRT. very far if you look at the map. Reaching that area, we were lost! nobody seem to know where is Andy's fan club located. stupid me ..... lost the address ........ no choice, I had to ask my cousin, York Tee, to check out the address at his website & sms me. after a 40 min search up & down the streets, finally i reached the building! shit ..... it was just behind the LRT station. aiyoyo ........ doink .......


did you notice that im posting just outside the office & not inside? yup ... beacause i was not a member at that time so i was not allowed to look around the club. after taking pictures (siok sendiri) we had no choice but to go ........ & silly me .... i cried at the ground floor, just couldn't hold back my tears ....... Andy was not in HK at that time, & thinking how tired I was looking for his fan club, flying thousands of miles to meet him with my backpack so heavy with all the CDs that I have bought to let him autograph ........ (*#&@) Mom asked me to write a note for him saying that we came by to visit but I didn't do so coz i was so dissapointed ........ im so distress at that moment u know why?! IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!