China 2013 Part VIII: At Cannon Bay

Back in March, I entered "Shanghai best secrets" as a late-night assignment for the Google search engine. The top result was a CNN Travel article entitled "5 ridiculously beautiful places right next to the Shanghai metro." Ever felt, when a trip's become near enough to not ignore any longer, that it's somehow one's responsibility as a traveler to go where tourists aren't driven to by their air-conditioned buses? The thrill of discovery is not the most accessible pleasure.

Number two on that list was a farm, so by virtue of country of origin, that was quickly crossed off. Number three was a wetland park beside the Science and Technology Museum, but both of us had already been to Beijing's on separate occasions, so no trip to the museum meant no wetland park. Number four was a wheat field, like are you kidding me? And number five was a tulip garden that, according to the guide, was beside the Expo site, but turned out to be across the river, which really dampened our mood for a bit.

So we went with number one: Wusongkou Paotaiwan Wetland Park. Paotaiwan means "cannon bay," and that's because the park was artificially constructed out of a seaside fortress.

Above: Descriptions and details on stone. Below: Pond!

But really, what you go to this park for is the chance to see the meeting point of Shanghai's puny Huangpu River and China's almighty Yangtze River. Below: From the left, the waters of the Yangtze, and from the right, the Huangpu estuary.  

Trivia: A relatively large amount of Shanghai cut off as a circle centered on the Lujiazui financial district in Pudong will fit on the Yangtze estuary, where it joins the East China Sea, with lots of room to spare. Because everything must be big in China.

Ships exiting the Huangpu for greater seas, and seaside corridors.

A wreck! We asked ourselves: Was the park built around the wreck, or was the wreck built around the park?

Fisherman!

Hanging bridge!

The Shell Theater. It plays with echoes and the elements.

The Stone Garden. A layer of dirt or whatever semi-solid had formed over the pools, and I thought it was ice, so I touched it and fed my finger with muck.

A museum (that, one can only assume, receives who-knows-how-many visitors a day).

Shanghai's Corregidor, yea?

Magnolias!

Okay, here's a nice heartfelt confession: Our visit to this place fulfilled my lifelong ambition to visit a wetland park. Long live Earth! Next stop: The Serengeti!

PREVIOUS: China 2013 Part VII: In Shanghai, A Piece of Paris

Oscarthon Year Three II: The Results

In the previous post - right here - we tackled the eighty-five films we saw as part of our third annual Oscars marathon. Now it's time to play Academy member and/or film critic extraordinaire: These are the films and performances that appealed to us, touched our souls, displayed some semblance of truth and humanity. Opinion, all of them, and opinions are welcome. Everything is listed in descending order, but as Ebert said, how indeed does one "rank" movies or acting? For consideration: 85 films, 74 male leads, 50 female leads, 93 supporting males, and 84 supporting females. We're proudly sort of obsessive-compulsive.

I. SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

2. Michael Peña, End of Watch

3. Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

4. Eddie Redmayne, Les Miserables

5. Simon Russell Beale, The Deep Blue Sea

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln; Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike; Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained; Samuel West, Hyde Park on Hudson; Francois Cluzet, The Intouchables; Javier Bardem, Skyfall; Domhnall Gleeson, Anna Karenina; Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook; Ben Whishaw, Cloud Atlas; Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild; Michael Shannon, Premium Rush; Tom Wilkinson, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty; Rory Kinnear & Cillian Murphy, Broken; Samuel Jackson, Django Unchained; Christopher Abbott, Hello I Must Be Going; David Strathairn & James Spader, Lincoln; Michael Fassbender, Prometheus.

II. SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Doona Bae, Cloud Atlas

2. Helen Hunt, The Sessions

3. Emily Blunt, Looper

4. Samantha Barks, Les Miserables

5. Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Sally Field, Lincoln; Amy Adams, The Master; Diane Kruger, Farewell, My Queen; Olivia Colman, Hyde Park on Hudson; Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect; Kristin Scott Thomas, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen; Alice Englert, Ginger and Rosa; Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Kerry Washington, Django Unchained; Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Alicia Vikander, Anna Karenina; Kelly Reilly, Flight; Olivia Williams, Hyde Park on Hudson; Gina Gershon, Killer Joe; Moon Bloodgood, The Sessions; Allison Janney, Liberal Arts; Kylie Minogue, Holy Motors; Megalyn Echikunwoke, Damsels in Distress.

III. LEAD ACTOR

1. Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

2. Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

3. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour

4. Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

5. Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe; Tom Holland, The Impossible; Paul Dano, For Ellen; Denis Lavant, Holy Motors; Jack Black, Bernie; Chris O'Dowd, The Sapphires; Jung-jin Lee, Pieta; Richard Gere, Arbitrage; Martin Freeman, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; Alan Cumming, Any Day Now; Jake Gyllenhaal, End of Watch; Jared Gilman, Moonrise Kingdom; Jesse Eisenberg, Why Stop Now; Denzel Washington, Flight; Matthew Goode, Burning Man; Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi; Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths.

IV. LEAD ACTRESS

1. Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

2. Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone

3. Nina Hoss, Barbara

4. Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

5. Juno Temple, Little Birds

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook; Juno Temple, Killer Joe; Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice; Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea; Saskia Rosendahl, Lore; Kara Hayward, Moonrise Kingdom; Naomi Watts, The Impossible; Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister; Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed; Michelle Williams, Take This Waltz; Amy Adams, Trouble with the Curve; Rachel Mwanza, War Witch.

V. THE TOP TEN FILMS

1. The Master

2. Cloud Atlas

3. Lincoln

4. Argo

5. Life of Pi

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

7. End of Watch

8. Zero Dark Thirty

9. Burning Man

10. Amour

THE NEXT SIXTEEN: Skyfall; Django Unchained; Liberal Arts; Moonrise Kingdom; Your Sister's Sister; Headhunters; Looper; Killer Joe; Silver Linings Playbook; Seven Psychopaths; Pieta; Why Stop Now; Jeff, Who Lives at Home; The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; Prometheus; Little Birds.

SEE ALSO:

1. Oscarthon Year One Films and Results

2. Oscarthon Year Two Films and Results

Oscarthon Year Three I: The Films

This had to be one of the better Oscars seasons in recent memory. Eight of the nine nominees actually deserved their spots in the Best Picture roster. (The subject of Les Miserables is hugely debatable.) Tomorrow, Cannes paves the way for another season, another 365 days in celluloid paradise.

We saw a record 85 films for our third Oscars marathon. That's far from complete (The Hunt, A Royal Affair, and Beyond the Hills, for example). Roger Ebert's gone, and no word, no phrase will ever be able to capture how sad that is. Who's to guide us now?

We had the visually vibrant (Prometheus) and the vapidly visual (Marvel's The Avengers); the eloquent (Lincoln) and the pretentiously eloquent (Cosmopolis). Compliance, which attracted walk-outs when it first screened at Sundance 2012, yielded from us a similar reaction. Holy Motors simply left us with stiff jaws.     

And then there were the ones that had us going, "What the flying eff is this?!" (For example, Berberian Sound Studio, or the sound department's successful coup d'etat against the rest of the crew.) 

Young talent was all over the place, but apparently, none of the American voters felt secure enough to nominate any of them for the major awards (Tom Holland in The Impossible, Logan Lerman in The Perks of Being a Wallflower). Could any of them, as February arrived, even remember what Perks was about, this movie that signaled hope for the increasingly hackneyed American coming-of-age genre? 

Speaking of February, that was a rather weak foreign language category. Sentimentality from War Witch over honest, manipulative fun from Headhunters? And Cloud Atlas - oh do we still weep at its fate, this biggest snub of the season. Did anyone even listen to its score? (That said, Life of Pi was undoubtedly the deserving winner.)

But our biggest, most skull-grinding issue concerned the Best Actress category - and why not? The fuss over Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild as the girl of color when Rachel Mwanza in War Witch was just as ravishing, if not more. If Jennifer Lawrence could get recognized, why not the terribly understated Juno Temple, who turned in not one, but TWO brilliant performances (in Killer Joe and Little Birds)?

We fear Oscarthon Year 3 might be the last... for now, of course. Next year's priorities will presumably be quite different. But presumptions assumptions whatsumptions.

*      *      *      *      *      *      *      *     *

THE HUNGER GAMES ~ MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS ~ PROMETHEUS ~ ROCK OF AGES
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ~ THE DARK KNIGHT RISES ~ THE DICTATOR ~ PITCH PERFECT 

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL ~ LOOPER ~ ARGO ~ SKYFALL ~ WHY STOP NOW 

PREMIUM RUSH ~ HOPE SPRINGS ~ THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY ~ END OF WATCH

THE DEEP BLUE SEA ~ TED ~ SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED ~ MOONRISE KINGDOM

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD ~ THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER ~ HOLY MOTORS 

 TO ROME WITH LOVE ~ THE INTOUCHABLES ~ KON-TIKI ~ SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN  

BERNIE ~ COSMOPOLIS ~ COMPLIANCE ~ ARBITRAGE ~ LIFE OF PI ~ ZERO DARK THIRTY
LINCOLN ~ DAMSELS IN DISTRESS ~ LES MISERABLES ~ SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK ~ FLIGHT
DJANGO UNCHAINED ~ THE SESSIONS ~ RUST AND BONE ~ THE IMPOSSIBLE ~ HITCHCOCK
AMOUR ~ MAGIC MIKE ~ SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS ~ THE MASTER ~ NO ~ WAR WITCH
21 JUMP STREET ~ ANNA KARENINA ~ THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE ~ BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO ~ KEEP THE LIGHTS ON ~ SMASHED

A LATE QUARTET ~ HYDE PARK ON HUDSON ~ TAKE THIS WALTZ ~ LAWLESS ~ KILLER JOE 

GOODBYE FIRST LOVE ~ YOUR SISTER'S SISTER ~ GINGER AND ROSA ~ HAYWIRE
THE GREY ~ FOR ELLEN ~ JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME ~ LIBERAL ARTS ~ LITTLE BIRDS
CLOUD ATLAS ~ SLEEPWALK WITH ME ~ THE SAPPHIRES ~ BURNING MAN ~ LORE
HELLO I MUST BE GOING ~ PIETA ~ FAREWELL, MY QUEEN ~ ANY DAY NOW ~ BROKEN
SOUND OF MY VOICE ~ OSLO, AUGUST 31ST ~ BARBARA ~ HEADHUNTERS

*      *      *      *      *      *      *      *     *

SEE ALSO: 

1. Oscarthon Year One Films and Results

2. Oscarthon Year Two Films and Results

China 2013 Part VII: In Shanghai, A Piece of Paris

Attention: Lovers of Culture, and also, but to a lesser extent, architecture buffs and people watchers. And might as well include the folks who feel suffocated by Pudong's overreaching steel-and-concrete denizens or blinded by The Bund's glorious but overexposed restoration.

In Shanghai, skip those who sit atop (almost) every guide book's amateurish instructional lists. Head straight to where the French once baked macarons, supped over bisque and foie gras, and reveled in the awesomeness of cheese-infested air.

To step foot on Shanghai's French Concession is to be transported to a different land - no, a different time altogether. Look at the roofs, the walls splashed red, and the angular buildings all asserting their Western origins. Down an alleyway guarded by balconies (like come on, what is this? Shakespeare?), sit outside a cafe housed in preserved shikumen, or stone gate, houses. Keep still and just... feel.

We're talking the center of Shanghainese Catholicism. This one greeted us "peace" upon exiting the train station.

We're also talking about residences that, put anywhere else in China, would probably attract the curious. Maybe not. But houses with open gates and open front doors - you can be certain they're destined attention-seekers.

And don't we all love chimneys? At least, when they're not out spewing noxious stuff.

One of our online consults yielded an itinerary that placed Fuxing Park as a starting point. Witness nature-loving, stranger-welcoming locals strut their stuff - mahjong games, choir practices, taichi demonstrations. They'll deliver arias to the world, or simply bend a brittle joint when and where they feel like it.

This is not Central Park - that would be Century Park in Pudong, if size were the basis. But Fuxing provides a nice playground for a round or two of "Spot the Terence!"

Now about that stone table in the photo below: Remember when Gimli tried to slice the One Ring with his dimwitted axe, and a magical force field hurled him backwards? The dwarf actually took an Air New Zealand flight to Pudong and tried it again (and we wonder how).

Speaking of Tolkien-dom, a few minutes' walk from Fuxing Park is a mall, and in the mall is a shop that sells this:

Not exactly a LOTR shrine, but a humble movie fan shop, though they don't have the Pale King yet. (That, I asked one of their salesmen, who are all well-versed with these mystical things they sell). (Reference: The Pale King is the half-baked-looking head orc in the recent Hobbit movie). 

If you've yet to see Rust and Bone, watch it now: Le Cotillard's marvelous in it. Then again, she's marvelous in every reel of film she appears in. And that autographed photo of hers is one of the many delights that populate Xintiandi, literally "New Heaven and Earth."

Sometime in the map of the past, someone thought it would be cool if one day, rotting shikumen houses could find new life as uteri housing Starbucks and Coffee Beans. Hence, the birth of this visionary upscale neighborhood that calls to mind the Philippines' very own The Fort (or High Street plus Serendra, to be exact), only smaller and with fewer dogs.  

Maybe it's just me, but for some reason, above photo has "Frankfurt" smeared all over it. Below photo, on the other hand, is the portrait of the shikumen house as a... museum, I think.

But red leaves in spring and corridors flanked by brick walls? Irresistible.

And next, Shanghai says hello to all Harry Potter fans. (Hi!) Welcome to the Chinese gateway to the English Ministry of Magic. This is floo powder by water.

Trust me, a day is far from enough to truly take in the French Concession, and our return on our last day proved just that. Through the kind reminder of a classmate, we dropped by Tianzifang, which, if you ask me, is just out to give Xintiandi some friendly rivalry.

But whereas Xintiandi is dressed to tackle the Oscars red carpet, Tianzifang is headed for a simple family dinner. The neighborhood's storied history is punctuated by its near-demolition and subsequent salvaging through no less than the hands of its own residents. Read about that, but suffice to say, this arts and crafts labyrinth is the product of pure love of home. 

So forget the Jinmao Mansion and the Shanghai World Financial Center, Nanjing Road and The Bund, Shanghai Aquarium and whatnot museum. Get a coffee, a newspaper, a friend. There's lots of that here.

Here in the French Concession, where Shanghai feels most foreign, the authenticity runs high. Au Revoir!

PREVIOUS: China 2013 Part VI: Suzhou in Slices
NEXT: China 2013 Part VIII: At Cannon Bay

China 2013 Part VI: Suzhou in Slices

Suzhou is a conundrum. It's what you're offered when a city gets trapped in the black hole straddling the past and present. It's a teenager facing for the first time the inevitability of hair in weird places. It's a half-eaten cake on a half-broken plate teetering on the edge of the dining table at twilight. You can say it's a second-rate, trying-hard copycat of its ultramodern neighbor Shanghai, but that would just be too unkind.

This is China's garden city - all 69 of which are designated National Heritage Sites, and eight as UNESCO Heritage Sites. This is also the Venice of the East, with its canals and prominent old city moat and the many boats plying its waters. This is the sister city of Kiev and Antananarivo, Rotorua and Riga, which is to say, a confusing juxtaposition of stone bridges and glass-and-concrete offices.

These are: (a) ducks; (b) geese; (c) swans; (d) ostriches.

At the train station, tour group operators abound like vultures hovering above a field of carcass. But they are not scammers. They would most likely be, if they were in the Philippines. But again, they are not. They happen to be legitimate local operators, and the problem they pose isn't so much about dependability as it is about quality.

The train station facade of this relatively minor Chinese city can put any Philippine airport's to shame.

Signing up on a tour means having all your transportation problems solved. So are your entrance fees to destinations of your choice - which means you have to choose carefully, which means doing your research. Our first stop was Ding Yuan - Calm Garden - which, our guide claimed, is the largest of Suzhou's so-called classical gardens; that title belongs to the Humble Administrator's Garden, according to online sources. Also, this isn't one of the eight UNESCO gardens, and that was a total blow to the heart. But statistics and titles aside, there's much to relish here, and certainly overflowing beauty to admire.

From another perspective, it's justifiable to claim that Suzhou's actually built out of its gardens, this almost insane addiction over rock sculptures and fountains, moats and canals, ponds and lagoons, temples and pagodas and endless stretches of corridors and foliage-laden walkways. Take this outcrop of bamboo, for example:

Or how about this oriental imitation of a gondola, which we took alongside two elderly visitors smoking what could only be the most noxious-smelling cigarettes:

Next stop was a boat ride around the old city moat, and it was here that we fully appreciated the complexities of joining a local tour group. The guide was very much alive and stuffed with everything we tourists needed to know about the boat ride and the sites and pieces of culture along the route. In Mandarin, of course. 

Amazing, though - and quite commendable, too - that the Chinese know their history. Everyone was quite game in answering the guide's questions concerning this site or that dead person, highlighting what can only be their educational system's emphasis on history.

Our third major attraction was the Hanshan ("Cold Mountain") Temple, a Buddhist haunt that's probably billowing with joss stick and candle smoke on busy days. The Tang poet Zhang Ji wrote about hearing the temple bells in his poem "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge."

  

We also went to the local silk and jade museums, which were totally not worth going. The silk museum is supposedly a worthier place, but actually, it's just plain rich-tourist bait. Both museums, really. It was fun looking at the demonstration of the properties of silk fabric and the preserved models of silkworms in various life stages while they lasted. Below: Fancy bedroom stuff for the beneficiaries of China's recent rise in the economic sphere.

In my opinion, however, the best part of our day came after the tour. With our train still three hours away and the sun far from setting, we asked to be dropped off at the northern end of Pingjiang ("Peaceful River") Road. Once the main artery coursing through the old city, this charming street that runs parallel its own canal is now representative of a bygone era, bustling with pedestrians, cafes and restaurants, bookshops and clothing stores and vendors selling a myriad of delights.

Restaurants get away with the old-school/new-school game.

Bookstores sell interesting notebooks while making a statement.

This is where med students would study in Pingjiang Road.

This was when we realized that the gondola-like rides only ply the smaller canals - this road's, for example. They don't come cheap, though.

Another highlight of walking down this strip was ogling at the prenuptial photoshoots. And, ehem, photographing the engaged couples. Or making epal, in Filipino conyo parlance.     

Finally, this is what one says goodbye to at night, at the train station, looking west.

And so, farewell, fine water town. Know that once, two Filipino medical students trampled upon your fresh earth for a day and became superstars to your tour guides and a bunch of local tourists - the pair of Filipinos "for whom we have to slow down our Mandarin a bit," as tour guide with the ginormous fur coat placed it.

PREVIOUS: China 2013 Part V: The Most Epic Bicycle Ride in the World
NEXT: China 2013 Part VII: In Shanghai, A Piece of Paris