"The Kite Runner"

Last night I watched the DVD of "The Kite Runner". I am interested in this movie not because of the famous novel it based on, but rather, I had a "bad relationship" with this

Old Town in Kashgar

movie -- the Afghan scenes in the movie were filmed in Xinjiang province in China, in particular, in the Tashkurgan (塔什库尔干) county and the city of Kashgar (喀什). When I traveled in Tashkurgan back in year 2006, the movie was being filmed in the area. Tashkurgan is a very small town, on the borders of both Afghanistan and Tajikistan, as well as Pakistan. Almost all hotels/inns were occupied by the production team. Even worse, they "took over" and blocked all access to the famous "Stone Fortress" outside the town (the kite fighting and kite running scenes at the beginning of the movie were definitely filmed in the Stone Fortress hill and

Golden Tashkurgan

its nearby "Golden Meadow" grassland). The Stone Fortress is the landmark of Tashkurgan, in fact, it is the meaning of the name "Tashkurgan" in Uighur (language). You can imagine how frustrated and angry I could be at the time! :) Indeed, I cursed the movie many times in that day...

Back to the movie. In short, I like it, and like it very much. It is a very moving movie, and beautifully shot. What struck me, after watching the movie, was not the plots or the story, rather, it was the culture, the Muslim culture, and the people. I don't remember since when, we were given, directly or indirectly, some sort of impression that Muslim = bad = inhuman. The government and the media certainly have done a great job of playing the fear factor. I am glad that this movie reminds us once again that there are always good in people, and we are all human alike, just live in different circumstances.

Read some of the good quotes from the novel/movie:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Kite_Runner

ok, something light this time. :)

read these pictures, make you laugh, and make you sad... :)
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/200804a.brief.htm#019

then watch this video, a really light moment:
http://www.chilloutzone.de/files/08040701.html

Those Olympic torch protestors are f***ing annoying!

屌你老母! If you don't want to go, then don't f***ing go, no one from China welcome you. If you want to boycott, then just do it, no one can stop you from exercising your right!

Yes, i am totally fed up with those sillyheads, especially those people from the West and think they are superior than others because of, what? Civilized? -- they forget how many dirty things their ancestors have done to people on the Earth in the past several hundreds of years, for the benefits of their own selfish interests. In fact, this "tradition" is still happening even today -- just look at what happened in Iraq. More informative and knowledgeable? -- they are too arrogant (or stupid) to realize how biased their medias are. Full of humanity? -- yes, that is true, but please also shed your humanity to those poor and pitiful people living in places where governed by your allies. Last time I check, there are still millions of Palestinian were displaced 30+ years and denied to go back to their home and build THEIR OWN COUNTRY. Also, more than 100 thousands of Nepali speaking Bhutanese were still denied their right to go back their home, which they were forced to leave since 1980, under the campaign of "one nation, one people", conducted by the Naglop people, an ethnic group (of 65% population) in Bhutan which is closely related to Tibetan.

That is!


p.s. Last night I received a fund raising email from Hillary. This is what I wrote her back:

Dear Hillary Clinton,

Today I finally decide to stop supporting your campaign any more. I have been deeply upset by some stupid acts your aides and you had done in the recent months, but what hammers the final nail to the coffin is your decision to support the idea of boycotting the open ceremony of Beijing Olympics. That is, I can't take it any more. Although I have many disagreement with Chinese government and many policies they take, include some of their Tibet policies. However, any boycott to the Olympic Games is an insult to Chinese people, not the government. Recently, I have been deeply annoyed by those western sillyheads whose only existence in this planet is to disrupt and destroy the Olympic Games in Beijing. It is an offense to me, and it is completely out of touch of the reality. I am very disappointed by your judgment on this matter, and start to question how good your 3o+ year experiences are. I simply can't continue my support to you. Therefore, start from today, I am not going to contribute any single dollar into your campaign. In addition, I will work my best to persuade my friends to do the same. (by the way, can I ask for a full refund for all my previous contributions?)