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This is a wuxia info dump of epic proportions. Having rewatched and newly watched some remakes recently (it all started with Jade Empire, which gave me a hankering for more grandiose Chinese historical fantasy), I'm back on a wuxia kick. It happens once every couple of years. It's been killing me for years that I haven't been able to share my love of wuxia series with the rest of my non-Chinese speaking friends. Omi and I used to watch Shen Diao Xia Lu/Return of the Condor Heroes together downstairs in my basement, and I used to have to explain what was going on to him. Well, no more! People have subbed the most recent remakes into English. Hooray for the subbers, who've made this giant linkdump possible.
What is wuxia? Wuxia is the Chinese cross of historical fiction and swords-and-sorcery fantasy. It originated first in the Ming Dynasty with novelized forms of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "The Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh" with a heavier focus on history, politics, and war (and less of the fantasy aspect), and emerged in its modern and most popularized form in the 1960's with novels by authors Jin Yong and Gu Long. For some good summaries of the genre, please see the Wuxiapedia and Wikipedia articles.
Why does Skuld care about wuxia? I grew up on this stuff. If it weren't for the fact that my parents realized that I had a preference for asskicking, I'd be yet another one of those American-born Chinese kids who can't speak or understand the tongue of the Motherland. For as long as I can remember, my parents have sat me down in front of the television, and told me to learn some Chinese from badass mofos killing people with swords or even their bare hands. I used to love every minute of it. Now I'm trying to pass that love on.
Since the late 1970's, it's been fairly commonplace to shoot live-action versions of modern wuxia novels as television mini-series, the most popular of which are derivatives of the novels of Jin Yong.
Jin Yong's most famous and popular novels are The Condor Trilogy which encompasses: The Legend of the Condor Heroes (LoCH), The Return of the Condor Heroes (RoCH), and The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Saber (HSDS). Two other notable popular Jin Yong novels are The Smiling Proud Wanderer (aka. Xiao Ao Jiang Hu) and Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (aka. Tian Long Ba Bu). All of the aforementioned novels have been made into multiple television mini-series by various powers that be (Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore) spanning roughly 30 years.
Anyways, without furtherdo, onto the dump!
NOVELS
Wuxiapedia has some complete translations of some of Jin Yong's and Gu Long's novels. The greatest disservice I have ever done to my ancestors (besides slashing them) was to fail at being able to read Chinese. Well, to remedy that, some nice people have translated my favorite wuxia pieces in English, so I don't have to learn literacy anymore. Hooray! Now I just need the time to actually sit down and do the reading.
- Legend of the Condor Heroes (LoCH: She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan)
- Return of the Condor Heroes (RoCH: Shen Diao Xia Lu)
- Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre (HSDS: Yi Tian Tu Long Ji)
- Xiao Ao Jiang Hu
- Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (Tian Long Ba Bu)
- complete list of Wuxiapedia translated novels
TELEVISION
LoCH:
- HK TVB 1982 version (DVD, Eng Sub, Cantonese and Mandarin), starring Felix Wong and Barbara Yung. The classic.
- CCTV 2003 version (streaming, Eng Sub, Mandarin), starring Li Ya Peng and Zhou Xun. Not the first one that Skuld saw, but probably the best. It gives the 1982 version a real run for its money. Great cast, great cinematography.
RoCH:
- HK TVB 1983 version (DVD, Eng Sub, Cantonese and Mandarin), starring Andy Lau and Idy Chan. People consider this a classic as well, but I'm more fond of the version the Louis Koo version. I will admit, seeing Andy Lau as Yang Guo was pretty cool.
- HK TVB 1995 version (streaming, Chinese Sub, Cantonese), starring Louis Koo and Carmen Lee. Skuld's favorite version, maybe because it was the version she watched first, maybe because Louis Koo looks so goddamn hot when you're 14 years old, maybe because Carmen Lee is perfect and has such good chemistry with Louis Koo. Wrongly billed on the page as LoCH, it's actually RoCH. Skuld never lies.
One of these days, Skuld is going to encode and sub this entire version. Okay, maybe none of these days. Still, if you're of a mind, all her favorite scenes have been uploaded to YouTube by some cool dude. And they're in Mandarin, which means she can understand them! How great is that? WARNING: SPOILERS! Not that you'd really understand unless you can understand Chinese.
- CCTV 2006 version (streaming, Eng Sub, Mandarin), starring Huang Xiao Ming and Crystal Liu. The newest version. Great cinematography and music. Acting leaves something to be desired, and Skuld isn't fond of Crystal Liu as Xiao Long Nu. Still, well worth watching. (Also: torrent here)
HSDS
- HK TVB 1986 version (DVD, Eng Sub, Cantonese and Mandarin), starring Tony Leung, Sheren Teng, Kitty Lai, and Maggie Siu. Skuld's favorite of all the HSDS versions she's seen. It might be the Tony Leung factor.
- TCS 2003 version (streaming, Eng Sub, Mandarin), starring Alec Su, Alyssa Chia, and Gao Yuan Yuan. Not the best version Skuld's seen. Graphics kind of over-the-top, casting is only so-so, and boring-ass fight scenes. Better cinematography than the old Tony Leung version, and I guess to the people reading this entry, the English subs are a draw.
Tian Long Ba Bu
- HK TVB 1982 version (DVD, Eng Sub, Cantonese and Mandarin), starring Kent Tong, Felix Wong, Patrick Tse, Idy Chan, and whole shitload of other people. Again, a classic. Less martial arts action than the Condor Trilogy, so Skuld hasn't actually sat through all of it.
- CCTV 2003 version (streaming, Eng Sub, Mandarin), starring Jimmy Lin, Hu Jun, Crystal Liu, and a whole shitload of other people. Skuld hasn't seen it, it's on her list. Given the show's producer (Zhang Jizhong), who is known for his good Jin Yong adaptations, this one's probably pretty good.
Xiao Ao Jiang Hu
- CCTV 2001 version (streaming, Eng Sub, Mandarin), starring Li Ya Peng and Xu Qing. Haven't seen the other versions (HK TVB '84 and '96, Taiwan and Singapore 2000), so this one will have to do. Great casting, great cinematography and fight scenes despite some serious changes in the story. Definitely worth watching.
Chinese Paladin
- Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan (streaming, Eng Sub, Mandarin) starring Hu Ge and Crystal Liu. Based off a popular RPG first made in the 1990's, with character designs by the famous Ping Fan and Chen Shu Fen. Skuld hasn't seen this, but it's on her list. (Also: torrent here)
MUSIC
Skuld has uploaded all her wuxia music (mostly opening/ending themes) from various series here, at MegaUpload (file is roughly 130MB). Some files in this folder are from back when Napster was still alive, so you can tell how long she's been trying to collect. Included are OP/ED themes from the old HK 1980's versions of the Condor Trilogy, up to the most recent OP/EDs.
RANDOM SHIT
And before I forget...one of the weirdest things about all the three remakes of Tian Long Ba Bu (Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils) is that the actresses (Idy Chan, Carmen Lee, and Crystal Liu) who have played the main female lead character, Wang Yu Yan, have also played the lead in Return of the Condor Heroes, Xiao Long Nu. WTF is up with that?
Notice: this entry will probably be updated every once a while. Suggest things for me to link to. Suggest series for me to add. I'll put them up.
Dear DeviantArt,
You give me the best desktop backgrounds ever.
Cheers!
~Skuld
PS. I suppose this should actually be addressed to one Lone-Momo and Calisto-Lynn as opposed to all of DA.
Either way, that image is orgasmically fantastic, and I just wanted to share its gayness with all of you. :3
I like to challenge myself with tongue-twisters sometimes, but I never really anticipated this kind of punishment if you fail.
:( There's something to be said about Japan and their masochistic love of the batsu-game.
Go read the latest two (August 11 and 20, 2006) Weekend Webs at Something Awful.
GO NOW.
They are hilarious.
Dude. I used to watch this show when I was in Japan. :3 It was this cute little kids program on the mornings, and I'd watch it as I drank my miso soup and packed my bags for lab. ^___^ Finding this all of a sudden makes me so happy.
Pythagoras Switch. It's even subtitled!
I even did the dance with them too when I saw it on.
Man. I NEED to be back in Japan. Curse you RIKEN, why did you reject me and not my roommate? *shakes angry fist*
The music videos were really good at Anime Boston this year. :3 Thanks, youtube, for bringing them to me. X3
Hold Me Now from Princess Tutu won Best of Show. It was under the action category. Normally, one does not find an anime about ballet under "action" but this one's edited really, really well.
Counting the Hours from Chrono Crusade won Best Romance. It's done to "Hallejujah" by Rufus Wainwright, and is one of my favorite songs. :3 Whee!
Fullmetal Hell from the FMA movie won Best Comedy. The references are HILARIOUS. And just for your information, subtext anagrams to buttsex.
That's it for now. Unfortunately nobody's yet uploaded the Berserk AMV of Gattsu and Casca set to Bon Jovi's "I'd Die For You." It was done in awesome 80's style, for which I salute whoever made it.
Japanese final tomorrow. And then con review. Promise.
It's hot chicks like this who make me:
1) love women
2) wish I was an FTM again.
Screw Ace bandage, before I cosplay as Jin, I am going to have to sit around one day and play with some tape. (If any of you guys have suggestions, drop a comment.)
I think one of the reasons I never really went through anything heavy with the whole female-to-male thing is that I realized I'm more free to do what I want as a boy in a girl's body, than as a girl in a boy's body. Hello, society double standard. I think I'm mostly comfortable with my gender identity of "tomboy."
I'd probably be more comfortable if I had a flat chest. :p
More hot pictures of this cosplayer here. Link courtesy of 4chan, as always.
Dude, why do all the awesome hacks happen when I'm gone from MIT? :( ARGH! My life sucks.
Anyways, this winter apparently MIT decided that it wanted to be retro and take us all back into the world of platformers.
ie: the infinite was turned into a Mario stage. Curses! I would've totally jumped that chasm!
Anyways, if you don't see me around tomorrow, I will most likely be found snowboarding on the Snowbird slopes. Or rather, trying to snowboard on the bunny hill and ending up face-planting myself in the snow.
JOY~!
The internet speaks truth. Look at all the remarkable facts it dug up about Chuck Norris.
