Alias

I think I've found a new TV show! Well, it's not exactly new... I've been meaning to watch it for a while, just never got around to it. I love the Princeton network. So I'm going to watch Alias now, I think. It seems like a nice, fun show. Not as well-written as Buffy, most likely, but at least it'll be fun. And Sydney kicks ass.

So the pilot was pretty cool. That's all I've seen so far, but it had nifty spy tricks, death of kind of beloved characters, and enough plot twists in an hour to make my head spin. Poor Danny =(.

Although I had one major quibble with it. They messed up Taiwan! For the first time in forever, Taiwan (!!) was mentioned in a TV show! Yay! My island is in pop culture! *jigs* But when they showed the big street shots of Taiwan, it wasn't Taiwan at all! It was Hong Kong! I can tell. I watched the scenes some 20 times to make sure. First, all the neon signs stretching across the street is definitely a Kowloon thing. Second, they had a shot of Maxim's Restaurant, which is definitely a Hong Kong thing. So there. Take that Alias people. You thought you'd get away with it? And not only that, but all the Chinese actors they hired were speaking Cantonese! Well, I'm not so sure about this one. It sounded a lot like Cantonese to me, and I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference between Cantonese and Taiwanese. I guess it could have been Taiwanese, but that just wouldn't have made that much sense. Mandarin is the official government language of Taiwan. *sigh* But then, the really weird thing was, the shots of Sydney in the streets really looked like Taiwan streets. The cars were driving on the right side of the road (as opposed to Hong Kong, which still does things the British way), and all the cars had Taiwan lisence plates. I'm so confused.

So then I got into a discussion with the boy as to why Hollywood can't seem to tell the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese. Goodness. You'd think they'd try to get a language right, especially one spoken by so many people. At least Buffy managed to figure this out, thank you Joss. Even though Firefly the ship speaks Cantonese and all the characters speak Mandarin. *sigh*. And knowing one does not mean knowing another. Cantonese is very closely related to Mandarin, but it's still a lot more different that, say, British English vs. American English. People also don't seem to know that written down, Cantonese and the other Chinese dialects are basically Mandarin, although they do have some words that are different. It's mostly the pronunciation that's completely different. And people in Taiwan speak Mandarin and Taiwanese. And Taiwanese is not Cantonese, even though they're both southern Chinese dialects. And the potential from Shanghai? Who was speaking Cantonese? She sounded like she was from Hong Kong. And people from Shanghai usually speak Shanghainese. Well. I guess I will just be happy that they even mentioned Taiwan, even though they got it totally wrong. It didn't look like Taiwan at all!

And at least Alias didn't do the same horrible thing Spy Game did. Spy Game moved an entire province and placed it on the coast of China. My parents thought it was a very stupid movie. I think it's kind of silly that a major Hollywood movie couldn't even bother to check their geography.

Another meme

Gacked off an LJ somewhere....

1. Are there any classes of food you won't eat?

Good question. Many people have asked me that after watching me eat ^_^. For real? I generally avoid inner organs, although I eat blood, mostly avoid joint or cartilage like things, and bird feet. I've also tried to swear off fast food after reading an interview with the author of Fast Food Nation.

2. Are there any whole genres of TV you won't watch?

Reality TV. I avoid it like the plague... because it is the plague! And soaps. Actually, I avoid most TV unless it is done by Joss. Or Alias right now. Or X-Files, before season 6.

3. What colors will you never wear?

Orange. Although occasionally I will do so as a school pride thing. And that bright yellow. Although occasionally I will do so as a Charter thing. Anything army colored.

4. Music styles?

Boy bands. Although I am forced to subject myself to them because my sister went through a brief period of time when she had ALL of them. Ugh.

5. Actors whose movies you refuse to see on principle.

Der. People do this? Oh wait! Tom Green. There.

6. Categories of film that you avoid like the plague.

Those stupid gross-out teen comedies. Slasher flicks. Most romantic comedies nowadays, although I actually like that genre. It's just that everything made in that category has sucked in the last five to ten years or so. I try to avoid the stupid aimed-at-teenager girl-meets-boy movies. I avoid most stupid-looking action movies. Mostly I don't watch anything that looks stupid. But if it's animated, I can probably be suckered into it anyway.

7. Types of cuisine you won't eat.

Er. See question 1? Let's just say there's very little I WON'T eat.

8. Breeds of dog or cat you would never own.

Chihuahuas? I like dogs and cats.

9. Household chore you hate enough to offload on the innocent and unsuspecting.

All of them! Especially if the innocent and unsuspecting consists of the boy or my mom.

10. Most hated sport, either to play or to watch.

I hate playing all sports. Unless they involve no physical activity whatsoever... oh wait, yeah, all of them. I hate them all. I don't like watching most of them too, because I don't know the rules and bother people by asking annoying questions. Don't ever watch the Superbowl with me. I will watch figure skating and gymnastics, but that's about it. And those are very borderline sports.