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The Magic of "Musical Vampire"
The things I do for love. "Musical Vampire" is awful. It features an unstoppable hopping vampire. Nothing effects it, not talismans, not a bagua mirror, not beheading, nothing. Its only apparent...
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Zhang Ziyi in Hero
This board deals with warrior women, action heroines, and female empowerment, and I'm not certain she fits the theme. Her character, Moon, is brave and determined; she will fight on to her last breath,...
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Wallpapers for Kim Harrison's Hollows series
I'm a big fan of Ms. Harrison, Rachel Morgan, and The Hollows series; these books are hilarious. Here is a collection of wallpapers, fan art, and foreign-language covers.
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The Nine Character Hand Seals (九字真言)
Even today, in parts of China, one can observe Dàoshi at their ritual magic. It isn't rare to see this series of finger gestures (shǒujué) and hear the accompanying chant. But what does it mean, you...
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The páo xiāo (狍鸮)
The páo xiāo (狍鸮) has a human face or a mask, and it makes a sound like the crying of infants. Its body is like that of a sheep, it has sharp claws, and it has eyes or a face below one of its arms.Over...
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Ross Alley, Chinatown, San Francisco
The inhabitants of San Francisco's Chinatown in the nineteenth century gave their own names to the alleys. Ross Alley was known as 舊呂宋巷, Jiù Lǚsòng Xiàng, or "Old Spanish Lane."
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Nemesis: Nancy Thompson vs. Freddy Krueger
From the haunting children's rhyme to the iron claws, with a striped sweater, fedora, the raw-meat of his skin, this dream-stalking murderer really brought the nightmare. Reality bent to accommodate...
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How to Become a Dog
Suppose you want to hunt down a bad guy. You might want to do some magic to give yourself a dog's sniffing ability. The magic works like this: first, cut off a tuft of a dog's fur, place it on your...
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So-Yi Yoon in Shadowless Sword
So-Yi Yoon makes a striking heroine, in both Shadowless Sword and Arahan. She is lanky and coordinated, and there is a kind of hardness in her face that really gives a sense of warriorship: this woman...
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The Painted Skin II
Painted Skin was based, albeit loosely, on a story from Pu Songling's Tales of the Liaozhai. Now there's a sequel coming out, and it's loaded with stunning visuals. Check out this fan-made trailer to...
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The Xíng Tiān (刑天)
The Xíng Tiān (刑天 "the heavens' convict") is a headless giant. He was decapitated by the Yellow Thearch as punishment for challenging him. Because he has no head, his face is in his torso. He wanders...
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Moonlight (殭屍魅影) -- hopping vampires in 2011?
Moonlight (殭屍魅影) is a 2011 movie from Hong Kong. I was interested in it because it was supposed to be an updated version of the hopping vampire movie, a Chinese film genre from the 1980s, which I love...
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The Sōu Shān Tú (搜山图)
I've never made a study of Chinese art. There's too much else, the lore and language, clothes and customs, literature, history, music, and religion of dozens of different ethnic groups with the...
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Zhīzhū jīng (蜘蛛精)
Zhīzhū jīng (蜘蛛精). Spiders that have grown old and powerful. They can change their shape.
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Hún Dūn (渾敦)
Hún Dūn (渾敦). Described in the Shān Hǎi Jīng as having the shape of a pill, the color of fire, six legs, and four wings.
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Chánchú (蟾蜍)
A chánchú (蟾蜍) -- a three-legged toad that brings riches. People devise elaborate strategies to attract them.
View Article"Smash All Old Things."
Hong Kong in the 1980s and 90s produced some fantastic movies. Now censorship threatens to erase them, and the culture they celebrated.In 2011, the Chinese government released a statement condemning...
View ArticleCHINESE GHOST STORIES
Just in time for Hallowe'en, I've published a spooky, fun, and informative article about Chinese ghost stories.You HAVEN'T seen this before.CHINESE GHOST STORIES
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Pí Xiū (貔貅)
The Pí Xiū (貔貅) is the dragon's ninth son. He has a healthy appetite for gold and silver which gives him a mystical power for drawing wealth from all directions.
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The Xiāng Liǔ (相柳)
The Xiāng Liǔ (相柳): a monster killed by Yǔ the Great. Associated with floods. It had a huge snake body and nine blue human heads.
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