Today is the last day of the Olympics and the finals of one of my favorite sports, basketball. Today Lithuania took on Argentina for the bronze and Spain vs. USA for the gold. Argentina won easily but the highlight of the day was watching Spain give the US a run for it's money. I thought The Dream Team 2 was going to blow out Spain and was expecting a boring game. But right after the tip off Spain turned it up and had Team USA struggling to keep them back the whole game.

Although the Gasol brothers were a dominant force for Spain with their NBA experience. I was most impressed with point guard Ricky Rubio. At only 17 he had an impressive game, dishing out some nice no look passes that left Team USA stumbling. 3 more years and this kids in the NBA for sure.

The half time show was done ala NBA with the Beijing Stunt Team doing crazy aerials. Here's the Olympic mascot doing an old Michael Jordan move.

In the end Team USA won as predicted but I'm sure they were worried the whole way though. As the score came within 2 points at one point, they managed to fend off Spain for an impressive finish and the gold medal. Finally after 8 years of embarrassment, the best in the world finally showed their stuff.
Both teams celebrating their respective Gold and Silver finishes.Two of my favorite players, Jason Kidd and Dwight Howard heading to the locker room.

This Olympic experience has been so amazing. The whole city, or rather the whole country had Olympic fever in a serious way. I have been coming to Beijing since 1978 and have seen it slowly grow to the present day. I know what China was like before and even as recently as my 1994 trip I would have never thought China could have done what they have done. As a Chinese American, I'm proud of the strides and leaps China has made. There won't be an Olympics like this for at least another 50 years. Chong Guo Jia You!!! I will remember this experience forever.
On a side note I've decided to stop trusting the western media. Outlets like CNN and others obviously have their agenda by trying to play down the amazing feat China has pulled off by dishing off nothing but criticism. I spent a month prior to the Olympics watching CNN broadcast nothing but negative news about China. It scares me because they are running the same fear machine that the US government pulled against Iraq. But what do expect from the conservative right? That's why we Americans need to get Obama in the office and stop this bullshit. China should be a good partner to the US, why make it an enemy?
If any of you were there please leave comments below about your experience!

Add a comment – Edit entry

Athletics

Went to the Athletics event last night at the Bird's Nest. Where did the name Athletics come from? I thought it was called Track and Field? How is Athletics a better name? To me it sounds like high school P.E., physical education. What was I being physically educated about? We were just playing sports.
Anyway, I got tickets for this event to see Liu Xiang show the world that he wasn't an anomaly, and that Chinese can succeed at sports dominated by westerners. Unfortunately as we all know, Liu Xiang wasn't around to show the world that. I wonder where he was and what he was doing? Here's his rival and current 110M hurdles champ Dayron Robles doing his victory lap. Couldn't help but cheer him on even though he didn't break Liu Xiang's Olympic record.
We had awesome seats, right down in front of the sand pit for the triple jump. As I watched the triple jump finals, I couldn't help but think, "this is the least cool event for athletics". I mean getting a medal in the 100M dash means your fast, the high jump shows you got hops, the 10,000M means you've got endurance. But the triple jump? All you do all year round is do three hops and land in a pile of sand. I'm not saying it's easy but visually, it's an awkward looking sport and it would probably bore my brains out if that's all I did. Look at the photos below and you'll see what I mean.
British triple jump contender.
China's triple jumper. He came in last.
cWinner of the triple jump, Nelson Evora

The other big surprise of the night was the men's and women's 100X4 relay qualifiers. The US was favored to win both, actually all they needed was to make it into the top four and they'd be in the finals. But I guess it wasn't in the US's favor this year because both teams dropped their batons and came in last. What's even weirder is that they both dropped it at the third pass off. Crazy. I felt sorry for them.
The Women's javelin finals were last night as well. Russia took home the Gold and Silver. But the coolest thing about javelin was this little remote controlled car that carries back the javelin after it's been thrown.
Jamaica's 200M champ Veronica Cambell-Brown
The Jamaicans are making a strong presence this year in all of the raw speed sports. My favorite athlete of the games is this guy Usin Bolt, The Lightning Bolt. This kid is fast. If you saw the 100M and 200M finals you'll know what I'm talking about. He was way ahead of everyone else, broke the record and did it all without the slightest grimace. Easy. Plus his little dances are funny. I wish I could have seen him up close. Last night was his 21st birthday and the whole stadium sang to him.
My best photo of the night. Again Cuba's Dayron Robles celebrating his win.

Men's and Women's Olympic Gold

I wrote a nice long blog about my first Olympic event but when I tried to upload it, it disappeared so all your going to get from me here is the photos. Congrats to Nadal for the gold!
On another note my heart goes out to Liu Xiang for pulling out of the Olympics. I don't think any single athlete in the world had as much pressure as he did. I can only imagine the dialogue going on inside his head for the past few weeks. I hope he gets through this all right.
Elena from Russia took the gold.
Russia also took silver and bronze.
A victory lap for Russia.
World #1 and now Olympic Gold medalist Nadal smashes in a serve for Spain.
Gonzales from Chile put a good fight with some monster serves.
But he couldn't fend off the power of Nadal and was beaten in three straight sets.

Beijing 2008!!!

The picture above is why I never liked wrestling. I did it for a summer as a kid and didn't like having a sweaty guy in tights rubbing all over me. At least this never happened to me. I think his family jewels are sitting on top of the other guy's forehead. Nasty!
Anyway, after six weeks of relentless work in Taipei, I've finally made it out alive and to Beijing to catch a bit of the Olympics and give my support. The city looks great. Better than I've ever seen it before and I've been coming here since 1978. I am really surprised that the pollution problem was actually solved. It's so much better than when I've been here in the past. Too bad in less than two weeks, the factories will be cranking up and the construction will resume, bringing all that pollution back.
More from here in later blogs.

Chen Family Cold Noodles

Ok, here's another great food item from Taiwan. It's a cold noodle dish that is simple and cheap. That's my favorite kind of food. I mean, the fancy stuff is great but when you enjoy the taste of something that is simply and humbly made, it just tastes that much better. I'm not exactly sure what's in it but the power comes from it's perfectly made sauce. There is certainly lots of garlic, some chili and maybe a peanut or sesame sauce with shavings of cucumber lightly sprinkled on top. They are open 24 hours, so when in Taipei, do remember to visit the Chen family. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

Xiao Lung Bao, The World's Most Perfect Food

If you're in Taiwan, you must stop by Din Tai Fung. World famous for their soup dumplings or Xiao Lung Bao. Although they have outlets in China, Hong Kong and La, the best dumplings can only be had in the original Taipei outlet.The key to Xiao Lung Bao is the skin. It must be delicate, thin and almost transparent. I think the reason why they are so good in Taipei must be the local water used to make the dough. I guess it's similar to a New York bagel, you just can't find a better one anywhere else.
Great food is not just about taste but about the experience of eating it. The aroma, the texture and the way it's eaten are all really important factors. I think soup dumplings are one of the world's most perfect items of food in that sense. Once you dip it in the vinegar and ginger sauce and bite through the tender skin, the soup inside gushes into your mouth providing the perfect amount of moisture for the succulent meat inside. Your taste buds experience so much in such a tiny little package. Although most prefer their dumplings with crab roe added to the pork, they are a bit more oily and fishy tasting, I prefer the plain pork ones.

This is where the magic happens. The guy in the foreground is breaking off the pieces of dough that will make up the fine, delicate skin. The guys in the middle ground are wrapping the skin around the little bud of pork on the inside. In the background you can see the steamers piled high to the ceiling next to the guy working the steamer. The turn over is incredible. Hungry?

Taiwan Shaved Ice

Tired of reading about Eric and Martin's Hawaiian shaved ice stories, I decided to get my own while here in Taipei while working on a new movie, Like a Dream, directed by Clara Law. While on a break from promoting John Woo's Red Cliff, Chang Chen took us to this place that had an interesting list of toppings. Unlike the brightly colored fruit squirts you get from the Hawaiian style, in Taiwan they cover the ice in a brown sugar type syrup followed by your choice of unrecognizable but tasty little tidbits piled into a hole dug out of the middle. The addition of the solid matter filling gives you a nice variety of different textures to balance out the ice. Kinda like a Donutman donut but in ice. Above was my concoction. Under that strawberry jelly is some chewy boba cha type balls. As Borat would say, "Very nice!"
Chang Chen had peanuts and a flan like custard in his. A very strange combo indeed but it actually tasted quite good.
Antonio opted to have the sweet tofu instead but by the look on his face here, I bet he was thinking, "Damn, I shoulda had the ice."

Chinese Country Hip-Hop

I guess this is the equivalent of Southern Rap in China. A little like Nelly's Country Grammer. If you can actually pick out what he's saying thru his country accent, it's hilarious.

11 years on....

Sorry for the sentimentality but I am just taking some time to reflect. I arrived here in Hong Kong exactly 11 years ago today. Above is a tiny little entry from my journal/sketch book that was written exactly 364 days and 23 hours ago. What crappy hand writing! Looks like I gave myself 1 year to find my path. I wouldn't have guessed that less than three months later I would be cast for my first film, Bishonen and my life would change forever. Isn't life interesting. I was dealt a good hand and have been rolling with it ever since. I'm well aware others don't get chances like mine and I am so so appreciative of this gift I've been given and all the support I've received along the way. Thanks for all the love!

Book of the Month.

So I was inspired by Oprah to start my own Book of the Month club. And here is my first book:

What's Your Poo Telling You? by Josh Richman and Dr. Anish Sheth
Ring of Fire, Shart, No#3. If you don't know what any of those three names stand for, then you must read "What's your Poo Telling You?". This insightful little book is a quick and informative read. Perfect for when you're doing a Number 2. It tells you everything you need to know, and then some, about your lower digestive health. Don't like poo? Disgusted by poo? Well everyone does it and you'd die if you didn't so get over it and read this book.

I think that's exactly how Oprah would introduce it.