Member David Rees Posted March 8, 2010 Member Share Posted March 8, 2010 Anybody heard of this book on Shaw Brothers, China Forever, sounds interesting am tempted to buy it.. CHINA FOREVER BOOK... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member whitesnake Posted March 8, 2010 Member Share Posted March 8, 2010 Please check URL below for masterofoneinchpunch's review of China Forever. His review is dead on. The book cover is misleading. Not that I regret buying the book. It mostly covers non-martial arts movies, some of which I've bought on DVD. http://www.amazon.com/China-Forever-Brothers-Diasporic-Politics/dp/0252075005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268061932&sr=1-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member HAZ Posted March 8, 2010 Member Share Posted March 8, 2010 It has an interview with Cheng Pei Pei in it where she says nothing really new. It's not a very good book. There's a book called Kung Fu Cult Masters that's worth checking out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sandpalm79 Posted March 8, 2010 Member Share Posted March 8, 2010 Yeah china forever. i got it the same time as a huge captain beefheart ( musician) book so its safe to say its on the backburner. but i was put off by certain things just from skimming it! the section on african americans and kungfu movies is in slightly bad taste in my opinion the one line said you can tell their obsession by the numbers of african americans signing up for martial arts classes.. is it me or does this sentiment seem uniformed and unresearched? something just rubbed me wrong about this section. yes wutang are huge fans but this idea seems overreaching to me. i checked out a cool preview page of that kung fu cult masters. looks good! in this linkyou can flip through some of the pages http://books.google.com/books?id=36vMAQPlPRoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Kung+Fu+Cult+Masters&source=bl&ots=542SRicRoS&sig=B2HSgNON29oOor7M0Uqi_YAK8gg&hl=en&ei=DXeVS7foMs2XtgfBrLnUCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted March 8, 2010 Member Share Posted March 8, 2010 ... the section on african americans and kungfu movies is in slightly bad taste in my opinion the one line said you can tell their obsession by the numbers of african americans signing up for martial arts classes.. is it me or does this sentiment seem uniformed and unresearched? something just rubbed me wrong about this section. yes wutang are huge fans but this idea seems overreaching to me. ... There has been a lot of bad information going out on this subject. Here is a Jeff Yang article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/10/28/apop102809.DTL#ixzz0VFub5MS4 that got me annoyed. My response on criterionforums Now there are two chapters dealing with African-Americans and Kung Fu in China Forever. Fanon Che Wilkins has some strange comments in his "Shaw Brothers and the Hip-Hop Imagination" essay. He has several pages dedicated to talking about "Five Percenters" which has to deal with Nation of Islam and compares it to Chan Buddism. I have some interesting quotes from those chapters if you are interested. Thanks whitesnake for the comments. Also I have now put Kung Fu Cult Masters on my shopping list (I love buying books on HK/MA cinema). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member lightning hopkins Posted March 9, 2010 Member Share Posted March 9, 2010 Be forewarned: Kung Fu Cult Masters is primarily an academic take on martial arts cinema..albeit an excellent one. Leon Hunt does a nice job covering a lot of territory, and touches on a lot of interesting stuff -- the two standout chapters, "Wicked Shapes/Wicked Lies" (on martial arts movie authenticity) and "Exit the Dragon, Enter the Shadow" (on the posthumous cultural legacy of Bruce Lee) are worth the price of admission on their own. Definitely not for anyone seeking a Videohound-style encylopedia blow-by-blow overview of kung fu movies; but for some provocative and compelling new spins on the genre, look no further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chemical Lemon Posted March 9, 2010 Member Share Posted March 9, 2010 Just paging through the table of contents, most of these topics look like they were taken directly from the Shaw Brothers conference that took place at University of Illinois about 7 years ago. I lost my handouts from the event, but many of the pieces were written by speakers at the conference, and in particular I remember the topics about SB and their influence in african american culture. Cheng Pei Pei and Law Kar were at the event. Law Kar's lecture at the event was great, just about all the others seemed lacking in substance. Poshek Fu organized the event. Most of the contributors have some association to the University or the event. The event was very unfocussed, and there were only a couple that focussed on martial arts. So it's not surprising the book is too. http://news.illinois.edu/news/03/0926filmconf.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sandpalm79 Posted March 9, 2010 Member Share Posted March 9, 2010 so what is the best book on shaws/ martial arts movies in you opinion? for me its ric meyers Bruce lee to the ninjas: Martial arts Movies and The Encyclopedia of ma movies bruce lee to the ninjas was my bible when i was 6 years old. in 1985 its all i read. and i destroyed it over the years but so thankful that half price books exists!! got it there for like 10 dollars hardback.. so happy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member HAZ Posted March 9, 2010 Member Share Posted March 9, 2010 I thought Kung Fu Cult Masters was really good. For a film encyclopedia, I think Sex & Zen to A Bullet In The Head was okay. Ric Meyers is unreliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 I have that Kung Fu Cult Masters book... just never gotten round to reading it. Currently in the middle of one called Asian Cinema by Tom Vick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted March 9, 2010 Member Share Posted March 9, 2010 One of my favorite books on Hong Kong cinema has to be Planet Hong Kong from David Bordwell. Haven't wrote a review yet, but have been rereading all my highlights, writing them down and thinking how to structure a review. I like his writing style. It is a bit academic but for fans of cinema in general it goes over the movements as well as he states: "...industry background, production practices, and above all filmic structure and style." Unfortunately went OOP last year. Currently reading China on Screen (2006) by Chris Berry and Mary Farquhar. This book is a bit esoteric and talks mostly about (as its subtitle) Chinese cinema and the nation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sandpalm79 Posted March 9, 2010 Member Share Posted March 9, 2010 I thought Kung Fu Cult Masters was really good. For a film encyclopedia, I think Sex & Zen to A Bullet In The Head was okay. Ric Meyers is unreliable. why is ric meyers unreliable? ive heard a lot of dislike towards him on boards over the years but i dont really have a problem with him. for me his martial arts movies book has the best pics and such a great insight into shaws etc. wasnt he one of the people that worked with linn to get lo mang to philly? im sure i dont know all the details but i think he's done more good than harm for kungfu movies. at least from my point of view :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsfreak Posted March 11, 2010 Member Share Posted March 11, 2010 I'm on the fence with Ric Meyers. Back in the day before the internet existed I used to write letters to him to try to get any information I could on these movies I loved so much. He always wrote me back. He used to put out a kung fu newsletter every couple of months or so, I still have a few of those stashed somewhere. When his book first came out I ordered it from him and he autographed my copy. I was so happy I finally had some information on all the stars and movies I watched. Then the internet came around and I started going on these forums and heard nothing but negative things about him. How most of his information is wrong, and he doesn't know what he's talking about, etc. So who knows. Back to the subject of books though. In addition to Ric Meyers book I have Videohound's Dragon (an excellent read), Sex and Zen and a Bullet in the Head, and Mondo Macabro which is about weird movies from all over the world but does have some info on the more bizarre kung fu movies I watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Buxbaum Posted March 15, 2010 Member Share Posted March 15, 2010 I bought the Kung Fu Cult Masters book and love it. Now a simple question Hunt mentions two books I would like to get my hands on and I wanted to know if those books exist in English and where to get them . Those two books are : A Study of the Hong Kong Martial Arts Film and A Study of the Hong Kong Swordplay Film. I know those books are old but I love classic martial arts movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 A lot of people have a problem with Meyers because he constantly shows himself up as lacking in knowledge on those Tai Seng commentaries. Also he's supposed to be bad for making up rumours and "facts". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted March 15, 2010 Member Share Posted March 15, 2010 wasnt he one of the people that worked with linn to get lo mang to philly? No, Ric was merely the MC of the event hired by the event organizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member whitesnake Posted March 16, 2010 Member Share Posted March 16, 2010 I bought the Kung Fu Cult Masters book and love it. Now a simple question Hunt mentions two books I would like to get my hands on and I wanted to know if those books exist in English and where to get them . Those two books are : A Study of the Hong Kong Martial Arts Film and A Study of the Hong Kong Swordplay Film. I know those books are old but I love classic martial arts movies. A Study of the Hong Kong Martial Arts Film was the program book for the 4th Hong Kong International Film Festival, 1980. Each chapter is in Chinese text followed by the translation in English. The format for Study of the Hong Kong Swordplay Film, for a later HK film festival, is probably the same. One of the HK film festival books showed up on eBay priced at more than $100. These two publications may also show up on eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sandpalm79 Posted March 16, 2010 Member Share Posted March 16, 2010 No, Ric was merely the MC of the event hired by the event organizer. i KNEW that dude had rap skills:biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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