Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull schooled the competition last weekend as the fourth appearance of Harrison Ford in the role of the adventuring archaeologist raked in nearly US$127 million at the North American box office, contributing to an estimated US$312 million worldwide. But the film, which takes place in Peru, has many Peruvians angry after seeing the movie’s many clumsy — and often insulting — mistakes about their country. Peruvians are also angry at seeing Maya warriors from Central America speaking Quechua in the Peruvian jungle, where hundreds of native languages, but not Quechua, are spoken. The movie also shows quicksand, man-eating ants and enormous Hawaiian waterfalls, all of which do not exist in the Peruvian Amazonia.
In what is perhaps the biggest insult, director Steven Spielberg and writer George Lucas place the Maya pyramid of Chichen Itza, located in Mexico, in the Peruvian jungle.
Historian Manuel Burga, the former head of the University of San Marcos, said that Spielberg and Lucas were given bad advice.
PHOTO : AP
“Even if it is fiction there are many incorrect facts,” Burga said. “This is going to be damaging to many people who do not know our country, because it shows a Peruvian landscape that is not real.
Historian Teodoro Hampe is scathing in his view of they way Americans view the geography of Latin America: “For them Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia or Peru are all the same.”
French fashion house Christian Dior said yesterday it has dropped Sharon Stone from its Chinese advertisements and released a statement from the actress apologizing for saying the earthquake that struck China may have been the result of bad “karma” over its treatment of Tibet. The 50-year-old actress said she was “deeply sorry” for causing anguish and anger among Chinese people with her remarks in an interview last week. Stone models for Christian Dior, and the company’s Shanghai office issued the statement. A public relations manager for Dior in Shanghai said Stone would no longer appear in the company’s advertisements in China.
“Due to my inappropriate words and acts during the interview, I feel deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people,” Stone said in the statement. “I am willing to take part in the relief work of China’s earthquake, and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people.”
On TV, the fate of brutal North Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano may have been unclear when hit TV series The Sopranos ended last year, but his wardrobe is headed for a certain ending: it’s being auctioned for charity.
James Gandolfini, who played Soprano for six seasons over eight-and-a-half years, is selling his personal costume wardrobe in a Christie’s pop culture auction in New York on June 25, with all proceeds going to a charity that helps wounded US troops.
The 24 lots include a bloody outfit worn when Soprano was shot at the beginning of season six by Uncle Junior in a fit of dementia, which is estimated to fetch up to US$3,000, and his signature white tank top, light blue striped boxer shorts, striped short robe and leather scuffs that could make US$1,500.
Also up for grabs are a selection of costumes worn by other Sopranos characters, including Junior Soprano, Paulie Walnuts and A.J. Soprano.
As for the movie Sex and the City, which will be released in Taiwan May 20, the big question is: Do Carrie and Mr. Big marry or don’t they? Despite the success of the TV series, Sarah Jessica Parker said it was still a struggle to get the movie made.
“To make a movie about four women over 40 is really not the way Hollywood likes to spend their money,” she said, adding that the studio was swayed by the devotion of the show’s fans.
But there was also the problem of signing up all the stars, especially Kim Cattrall, who plays Samantha and was initially unwilling to make a film — but not because of a supposed rift with Parker, which both women laughed off.
“What a difference four years makes,” said Cattrall, who blamed exhaustion, a divorce, the end of the series, and her father’s diagnosis with dementia for her initial reluctance.
Kristin Davis, who plays Charlotte, and Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda, both said the movie was a dream come true. “We thought we were dead and we were resurrected,” Nixon said.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
Toward the outside edge of Taichung City, in Wufeng District (霧峰去), sits a sprawling collection of single-story buildings with tiled roofs belonging to the Wufeng Lin (霧峰林家) family, who rose to prominence through success in military, commercial, and artistic endeavors in the 19th century. Most of these buildings have brick walls and tiled roofs in the traditional reddish-brown color, but in the middle is one incongruous property with bright white walls and a black tiled roof: Yipu Garden (頤圃). Purists may scoff at the Japanese-style exterior and its radical departure from the Fujianese architectural style of the surrounding buildings. However, the property
RSS