Astonishing Little Feet from Maegan Houang on Vimeo.
Starring Celia Au, Perry Yung, Robert Lewis Stephenson, Brian Wallace, Max Faugno and Robert Brettenaugh
Written and directed by Maegan Houang
Produced by Pin-Chun Liu
Executive Produced by Glenn Kaino, Lauri Michelle Firstenberg, and Elaine Sir
Cinematography by Christopher Ripley
Production Design by Terry Watson
Edited by Gus Spelman
Composer: Robert Ouyang Rusli
Costume Design by Anne Valliant
Hair & Makeup by Moung Park
Casting Director: Tanya Giang
Co-EP: Brooke Baker
Sound Design & Mix by Grant Meyers
Lead VFX Artist: Jeff Desom
Animation & Title design by Laura Nasir-Tamara
Production Manager: John Lozada
1st AD: Ted Keffer
2nd AD: Kat McArdle
Associate Producer: Po-wei Su
Script Supervisor: Merina Seidel
Language Consultant: Alice Ko
Set PAs: Ferran Molina, Slava Makarov
Production Intern: Max Hickman
Art Director: Jay Dizon
Scenic: Alexandra Papoban
Art PA: Le Quang Nhan
Lead Man: Angel de La Rosa
Set Dressers: Franki Wujcik, Vincent Quintana, Yingxi Wan
1st AC: Jacob Perry, Felipe Larrondo
Loader: Darrell Ham
2nd AC: Mohammed Samra
Still Photographer: Peter Yung
Gaffer: Chase DuBose
BBE: Vahagan Gukasyan
Swing: Tanner Johnson
Key Grips: Luke Poole, Lance Gegner, Brandon Diaz
BBG: Myles Evenson
Swings: Erik Gold, Ricky Ramon Velazquez
Production Sound Mixer: Gabriel Linkiewicz
Key Makeup & Hair: Akihito Sawada
Healthy Safety Supervisors: Loreto Rodriguez, Wayne Landry, Joowan Bosco Kim
On Set VFX Supervisor: Cooper Vacheron @coopvchrn
VFX Artist: Matthew Wauhkonen
ADR Recordist: Mauricio Escamilla
Astonishing Little Feet from Maegan Houang on Vimeo.
Starring Celia Au, Perry Yung, Robert Lewis Stephenson, Brian Wallace, Max Faugno and Robert Brettenaugh
Written and directed by Maegan Houang
Produced by Pin-Chun Liu
Executive Produced by Glenn Kaino, Lauri Michelle Firstenberg, and Elaine Sir
Cinematography by Christopher Ripley
Production Design by Terry Watson
Edited by Gus Spelman
Composer: Robert Ouyang Rusli
Costume Design by Anne Valliant
Hair & Makeup by Moung Park
Casting Director: Tanya Giang
Co-EP: Brooke Baker
Sound Design & Mix by Grant Meyers
Lead VFX Artist: Jeff Desom
Animation & Title design by Laura Nasir-Tamara
Production Manager: John Lozada
1st AD: Ted Keffer
2nd AD: Kat McArdle
Associate Producer: Po-wei Su
Script Supervisor: Merina Seidel
Language Consultant: Alice Ko
Set PAs: Ferran Molina, Slava Makarov
Production Intern: Max Hickman
Art Director: Jay Dizon
Scenic: Alexandra Papoban
Art PA: Le Quang Nhan
Lead Man: Angel de La Rosa
Set Dressers: Franki Wujcik, Vincent Quintana, Yingxi Wan
1st AC: Jacob Perry, Felipe Larrondo
Loader: Darrell Ham
2nd AC: Mohammed Samra
Still Photographer: Peter Yung
Gaffer: Chase DuBose
BBE: Vahagan Gukasyan
Swing: Tanner Johnson
Key Grips: Luke Poole, Lance Gegner, Brandon Diaz
BBG: Myles Evenson
Swings: Erik Gold, Ricky Ramon Velazquez
Production Sound Mixer: Gabriel Linkiewicz
Key Makeup & Hair: Akihito Sawada
Healthy Safety Supervisors: Loreto Rodriguez, Wayne Landry, Joowan Bosco Kim
On Set VFX Supervisor: Cooper Vacheron @coopvchrn
VFX Artist: Matthew Wauhkonen
ADR Recordist: Mauricio Escamilla
Han Ying-jie (center) in A Touch of Zen (King Hu, 1971)
Cast: Hsu Feng, Shih Chun, Bai Ying, Xue Han, Roy Chiao, Tien Peng, Zhang Bing-yu, Wang Rui, Han Ying-jie. Screenplay: King Hu, based on a story by Songling Pu. Cinematography: Hua Hui-ying.
I'm not an expert on or even a devotee of Asian martial arts films (wuxia), so I come to A Touch of Zen with more than a touch of naïveté. It's a celebrated film for its elevation of the genre into the realm of art, and that part of it I can appreciate, even as it often baffled and sometimes irritated me: Why did the battle with the "ghosts" have to be shot in the dark? Its sometimes oblique narrative puzzled me: The first two characters we meet are the scholar-artist Gu (Shih Chun) and his mysterious customer, Ouyang Nian (Tien Peng), and I felt a bit lost when Ouyang turned out to be a bad guy and Gu's reticent neighbor Yang Hui-zhen (Hsu Feng) became the protagonist, as well as Gu's lover (after declining the marriage proposal Gu's mother insists on). But we're clearly working with a director-screenwriter who wants to keep us off-balance, and succeeds. Best, I realized, not to attempt to unravel the plot but to pay attention to the gorgeous and often exciting images that King Hu gives us -- the more than three-hour length of his epic flies by if you do that. The mixture of martial arts and religious philosophy is something the skeptic in me can only gaze at disinterestedly, so the ending, with the dying abbot bleeding gold, eludes any attempt I might make to find coherence with the political struggles that inform most of the film's action. But perhaps if I educate myself better in wuxia, I'll come to a fuller appreciation of why A Touch of Zen is so widely and enthusiastically admired.
AND LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT IT
SCI is based -or heavily inspired if you will, after all that's where the characters came from- a novel written in the Qin Dynasty (1644-1911 more less) in the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1825-1908) attributed to Shi Yukun and Yu Yue.
I won't say much bout it rn, except:
The novel went to several names and hands but ended up with the names '7 heroes and 5 gallants' and '3 heroes and 5 gallants'.
It began as a collection of stories of the real person that was Bao Zheng, Bao Qingtian, a judge of unbreakable character known for being fair to all. It mixes both real things and fiction, tho it's mostly fiction.
In the novel, Bao Zheng shares protagonism with the heroes and gallants, all which are:
The heroes:
Hero of the North, Ouyang Chun.
Hero of the South, Imperial Cat, Zhan Zhao.
Black Fox, Zhi Hua.
Twin heroes, Din Zhaolan and Dong Zhaohui.
Xiao Zhuge, Chen Zhongyuan.
Young Hero, Ai Hu.
And the gallants:
Sky Rat, Lu Fang.
Earth Rat, Han Zhang.
Mountain Rat, Xu Qing.
River Rat, Jiang Ping.
And Sleek Rat, Bai Yutang.
Other characters include:
The four warriors:
Ma Han, Zhang Long, Zhao Hu and Wang Chao.
Bao Xing, Bao Zheng's page boy.
Gongsun Ce, Bao Zheng's secretary, sometimes also doctor.
Zhao Zhen, the Emperor (also a real person, he was an Emperor of the Song dynasty, in which the story takes place)
And, the Prince of Xiangyang, the Emperor's uncle, Zhao Jue.
The novel covers how Bao Zheng became a Judge and the many wacky and not so wacky adventures of those who would end up working for and/or with him. Not all the heores and gallants start working for the government, in fact, those who end up as officials, do so because the Emperor orders so and you can't just say no to the Emperor.
When it comes to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang... Their relationship goes from one-sided rivalry to rivals to coworkers also maybe friends, and well, there are many reasons (dont expect much tho, better put on the pink tinted glasses to help) why they're a popular ship, not to spoil but the first time Zhan Zhao sees Bai Yutang he finds him to be so handsome that he can't help but put down his wine cup.
I won't go into details but I REALLY TRULY LOVE this novel, is 120 chapters long, divided in 3 volumes. Its stories work both as a whole story and as independent ones, all protagonist get their time to shine and it can be so SO funny.
I may make more posts about it, cuz I LOVE it, but also not just about it, but also in relation to SCI, as one of its MANY adaptations/derivative works.
Ouyang Chun (欧阳春), The Rave. 2001-2015. Oil on canvas.
Contemporary artist Ouyang Chun was born in Beijing in 1974, and left the education system in middle school to explore his surroundings on his own. After graduating from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Art, Ouyang established a distinctive artistic style through which he displays his opposition against academic institutions and skepticism towards the greed of urban life. The Rave features a quilt-like collage created entirely from oil paints, depicting both amorphous patterns and explicit portraiture.
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Ouyang Zizhen was always the friendly sort. That's why he got along so well with all of them. Jin Ling (zi Rulan) looked at his younger brother Jin Shào 少 (zi Rusen 如森) and they shared a shrug. The Lan boy in question was named Lan Jingyi, and frankly, didn't seem to fit in with the rest of his own crowd.
Especially since Lan Jingyi's got such an easy smile for a Lan.
Lan Jingyi sat down and a round of introduction was made over wine - which... they weren't technically supposed to have. Mother was very clear about that when they'd set out on the night hunt, but Mother wasn't around, and there's only so much the great Jiang Yanli can do when it comes to underage drinking.
"And this is my cousin, the eldest daughter of the Chief Cultivator." Jin Ling gestured to the next table over, where Jiang Chun and Wen Yuan were sitting together, the two chairs next to them empty.
"This one is Jiang Chun 淳, zi Leshi 乐施." Jiang Chun placed her fist in her hand and gave a diplomatic smile. "Pleasure."
"And Wen-zongzhu, you no doubt know of already." Jin Ling introduced the oldest member of their little team.
"We are tongbei, there's no need for formalities here," said Wen Yuan, magnanimous as ever, and smiled pleasantly. [tongbei 同辈 - people of the same generation]
Jin Ling found his own eyebrows rising in interest as a blush came over the Lan boy's face when Wen Yuan set his dark gentle eyes on him. Really? He glanced over to his cousin and saw Chun'er's little finger twitch where it laid close to Wen Yuan's wrist.
His little brother Jin Shao kicked him under the table, the roll of his eyes perfectly reminiscent of their jiujiu. Fucking seriously?
"Where's Jiang-xiong?" Ouyang Zizhen inquired after gulping down a cup of plum wine, obliviously cutting through what was bound to be an awkward collision of teenage crushes.
"Not sure," said Jin Shao, jumping on the change in conversation. "He's gone off with Zhao-da'ge."
~~~
"Da'ge."
Zhao Chen looked up from his cup to the younger boy trotting up to him. Jiang Zhe (zi: Yong'ang 永昂) was the heir of Yunmeng Jiang, but unlike his older sister who took after their father in temperament, Jiang Zhe was a mild orderly young man with his sharp cleverness tucked close to his chest.
Zhao Chen sighed, sipping his wine half-heartedly. "You're not supposed to call me that, you know this."
Jiang Zhe shrugged, "Nobody's around. Who's to know?" He plopped down on the bench next to Zhao Chen at the road side tofu soup joint, far away from the inn where the rest of their friends were dining.
"A-Zhe," Zhao Chen admonished.
"A-die and Wen-yi act like the rest of us are idiots, as if we don't know..." Jiang Zhe mumbled, stealing his brother's chopsticks and feeding a couple of spicy peanuts into his own mouth. [Wen-yi 温姨 - Auntie Wen]
"Even so, the optics are bad," countered Zhao Chen. "- Hey! Get your own chopsticks. Dianjia - another set of cutlery, and -" He turned to his little brother, "Did you eat yet?" [dianjia 店家 - a name for the owner of the food stall]
"Nope."
"Another bowl of soup and two meat buns."
"Hehe," Jiang Zhe snickered and stuck out his tongue sheepishly. "Thanks, da'ge." He took a big bite of the meat bun. "Hm..."
"What, you've got that look on your face again. What are you thinking?"
"That man we saw today, that rogue cultivator who stopped us from exterminating that fierce corpse, a-die seemed to know him. Who do you think he is?"
"Who do you think he is?"
Jiang Zhe pursed his lips in displeasure. His brother always did this - all broody and mysterious and pushing questions back at him. "There's a story - a rumour really - of a disciple who left Yunmeng Jiang sixteen years ago. He was father's shixiong, and quite famous back in his days. Da'ge, you've...heard of him, right?"
Zhao Chen clutched his chopsticks tightly but was not quick to reply. The words he overheard outside his mother's study echoed like dark omens in his mind:
"Furen, most recent reports from our outpost."
"Wei Wuxian...sixteen years, he's finally resurfaced. Any sign of the Yin Iron?"
"Not yet, but we're keeping a close watch."
"Do not underestimate him. Wei Wuxian was an excellent cultivator in his youth; having been gone all these years, we would be fools to assume he's been idle. Instruct your men to be vigilant. Do not engage with him unless absolutely necessary."
"Yes, furen.'
"Our zongzhu is young. He has much to learn. There is no need to trouble him with this news. And lastly, find my brother."
"Understood."
"Da'ge... what's wrong, da'ge?" Jiang Zhe knocked him lightly on the arm with the back of a fist.
Zhao Chen shook his head, unable and unwilling to divulge anymore to the younger boy. That woman in his mother's study, she wasn't the mother he knew, the mother who was always firm but never harsh, who praised and punished fairly and raised him to be strong. He knew his mother had her secrets - hell, he was one of her secrets - but he never thought them to be dark, unseemly. He could have never dreamed that her secrets could be someone else's demise, and he was starting to fear that all this time, he was standing on the wrong side of power.
Zhao Chen squeezed Jiang Zhe's shoulder. His little brother, half brother, but not his mother's son...
Mother wouldn't...she wouldn't hurt the Jiangs. She wouldn't hurt A-Zhe or Chun'er, she practically raised them....she wouldn't, would she?
Wen Qing was a fierce leader and stern mother. She had her rules and no one broke her rules. Zhao Chen was never allowed to address Jiang Wanyin as anything other than Jiang-zongzhu (or, in very rare, very private cases, Jiang-shushu). He was just his mother's friend nothing more, Zhao Chen was told, even though Jiang Cheng showed up to every single one of his birthdays, and appeared at his bedside every time he so much as broke a toe or came down with the sniffles.
Sometimes life was so comfortable he forget that Jiang Zhe and Jiang Chun wasn't Wen Qing's blood. After Jiang-furen Qin Su passed, Wen Qing became a frequent guest at Lotus Pier despite the gossiping tongues and slanted gaze. Jiang-zongzhu has a willful daughter, more of a rose than a lotus, vibrantly beautiful and full of thorns and hard to handle. Lotus Pier - and to an extent the busy Chief Cultivator Jiang Cheng himself - needed a strong woman to mind the helm.
Chun'er worshipped the ground Mother walks on. A-Zhe knew no other mother but her, I -
Zhao Chen prayed that she hasn't steered them into a maelstrom.
Note:
The Jin siblings:
1. Jin Ling 陵, (zi:Rulan)—— ling {mountain peak; ascend} ; rulan {like orchids, the gentleman's flower}
2. Jin Shào 少,(zi:Rusen 如森)—— shao {young, youthful}; rusen {like forest}.
3. Jin "Keke" 珂珂,(字:Man'ni 曼霓)—— ke {a type of shell} most girls have a "guiming", a nick name that is only used by their family; man {full of} ; ni {the colour of light as it refracts through water}
The Jiang Sibling:
1. Jiang Chun 淳,(zi:Le'shi 乐施)—— chun {pure and good of heart} ; Le {happiness, joy} ; shi {to do, to exert}
2. Jiang Zhe 哲,(zi:Yong'ang 永昂)—— zhe {logic, philosophy} ; yong {eternal} ; ang {hold one's head up high}.
Summary: Jiang Cheng gathers up his determination in both hands and goes to the Cloud Recesses to embark on one of the most difficult endeavors he can imagine: Repairing his relationship with his brother.
To his surprise, he discovers he's become an uncle again... several times over.
Wei Wuxian, what the fuck?!
My comments: In which Jiang Cheng, motivating himself to reconnect with his only family... discovers that he’s got FAR more family than he’d thought. (Witness Jiang Cheng’s bumbling attempts to communicate with adults, fabulous avuncular powers, and shamelessly petty blackmailing of his oldest nephew.) This is a family romp, and it’s utterly adorable. Each of the kids has a very strong personality.
Now enjoy far too many excerpts, because this story was chock full of laugh-out-loud gems.
Excerpt 1: Lan Chun blows carefully on her tea to cool it, sips a little, makes a little squirm of happiness, and says again, “You’re from Yunmeng!”
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng says. “I am the Sect Leader.”
“Wow!” She beams at him. “I’ve met three sect leaders, you’re the fourth! Do you know Zewu-jun? He comes to see us every month--he’s the leader of the Gusu Lan sect,” she adds helpfully, as if he doesn’t fucking know that, even though he is a grownup sitting in the middle of the Cloud Recesses guest house , drinking their tea. But kids just talk like that sometimes when they want to show you that they know that information, so he says nothing. “And I’ve met Sect Leader Jin of Lanling, who is ten whole years older than me, I did the math all by myself, I’m very good at math--”
“A-Chun, arrogance is forbidden,” Lan Hao whispers to her.
“It’s not arrogant to say I’m good at math! I’m better than you are, er-ge! And I’ve met Sect Leader Ouyang, because he’s Ouyang-gege’s dad, and Ouyang-gege comes to visit da-ge sometimes. And now I’ve met you. What’s Yunmeng like? Did you bring lotus seeds? Do you like them? I like them. Can I see your sword? Can you fly on your sword? Did you bring your whip? Can I see that? Have you ever used your whip to decapitate somebody ? I think you should try decapitating somebody with your whip, because that would be cool .”
Shit. He hasn’t ever used the whip to decapitate somebody, but that would be cool. Fuck. He sips his tea sternly. “Ask one question at a time.”
Excerpt 2: “Wei Wuxian!” he snaps. “How dare you? Are you disowning me?”
“Eh?” Wei Wuxian has half pulled out of Jiang Cheng’s grip, but at this he pauses, alarmed.
“I’m your brother!” Jiang Cheng shouts at him. “Are you a moron? You can’t impose? What impose? I’m family, there’s no such thing as imposing on family!”
Wei Wuxian gives him a stricken look and goes red in the face. “Listen, you don’t--”
“I come all this way, I discover out of the blue that I’ve got seven nieces and nephews that you didn’t tell me about, I find out that there’s a giant demon boar that can knock over trees wandering around near your house, and you’re declining my help just to be fucking polite? What’s the matter with you!”
“We can handle it ourselves!” Wei Wuxian objects. “It’s only one giant demon boar! Between me and Sizhui, it’ll be fine! We can take care of it!”
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you have to,” Jiang Cheng snarls. “I’m not leaving. Go tell Hanguang-jun. Ask him if he wants me to stay here or go fetch the components for you.”
And with that he sits back down facing the path, crosses his arms, and glares into the woods as if that could make the giant demon boar menacing his family turn around and wander somewhere else.
Excerpt 3: She pouts, looking eerily like Wei Wuxian even though it’s both physically and temporally impossible for her to be his blood daughter. She recovers just as swiftly. “So how’d you make her sleep, huh?”
“I recited tongue twisters."
“Aren’t your arms already getting sore?”
He shifts Her Ladyship a little, very carefully so as not to wake her up, and shakes his head. “I’m strong. It’s from decapitating so many people with my whip.”
Wei Wuxian snorts, covering his mouth with his hand, but A-Chun’s big eyes go even wider. “Wow! Really?”
“Absolutely,” he says gravely.
Excerpt 4: “He has a boyfriend,” Jiang Cheng says, aggrieved. The stern uncle aesthetic is not going to be much fun if no one’s going to take him seriously. ... “It’s Jin Ling.”
This makes Wei Wuxian open his eyes and turn on his back, frowning at the ceiling. Finally! Success!
“Hm,” says Wei Wuxian. “On one hand, what good taste, going after shijie’s son. On the other hand, what poor taste, going after Jin Zixuan’s son.” He shrugs and curls back around the cushions. “Can’t be helped. Lans all have wretched taste. If it’s not noisy and embarrassing and, preferably, a murderer, they don’t want it.” Without opening his eyes, he raises one finger philosophically and says, “That’s what happens when you’re a repressed bunch of virgins. But well done, Sizhui, picking a boy who’s only fifty percent a total disaster. Lan Zhan did such a good job raising him. Gonna kiss him about that when he gets back."
****
I made a list of the kids, so I could keep them sorted:
Lan Yuan (Sizhui, M, 19) • Lan Shu (Siyuan, F, 11) • Lan Hao (Sixia, M, 9) • Lan Chun (Sihan, F, 7) • Lan Ding (Siyue, F, 5) • Lan Que (Siyong, M, 2) • Lan Ying (Siqing, F, baby)
post canon, humor, reconciliation, brotherly feels, accidental baby acquisition, adoption, adopted children, lan wangji is a good dad, wei wuxian is a good dad, jiang cheng’s avuncular powers, jiang cheng POV, family feels, fluff, kid fic, family drama, light angst, adorable juniors, not the usual group, jiang cheng needs a hug, REALLY BADLY, self worth issues, this is a not-at-all-disguised Family Romp, giant demon boar, lan sizhui is the best boy, and also a schemer, feel good fic, comfort fic, favorite, @ariaste
(You may wish to REBLOG as a signal boost for this author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)
Below are the CN + pinyin lyrics, also posted on my blog (radishtears.home.blog). If and when I get to making an English translation, I’ll update it there as well.
(Also, how are we translating the song title? Any suggestions?)
... ... ...
Vocals: 朱梓溶 Angelina (Zhu Zirong)
Lyrics: 未见钗头凤 (Wei Jian Chai Tou Feng)
Composition: 李涵 Hank (Li Han)
Arrangement: 欧阳箐宇 @TalentUnion (Ouyang Qingyu or maybe Jingyu)