travel

The last couple of weeks found me in the Abandoned Warehouse District of Brooklyn (you know the one — it’s where all the superhero vs. supervillain battles take place in 1960s Marvel Comics), a bonsai artist‘s nursery in Milwaukie, Periscope Studio in Portland, Gas Works Park in Seattle, an unnamed and snowy trail near Mt. Rainier, and, finally, TLC Forge in Eatonville.

The first stop was for an unusual, whirlwind, and cold freelance gig which I don’t think I can talk about yet, and the rest were mostly pleasure with a little comics-related business mixed in for seasoning. Amy, Dan, Michael, Sara, Steve, Carolyn, Jim, Billy O. (and Neeko, Kanika and Bear), Terry, Louise, and everyone else: Thank you!

p.s. I didn’t correct the red-eye here because sometimes you shouldn’t.

A misleading title. But this is about Xian, and this is about a movie.

In 1986 I spent the summer in the People’s Republic of China, about which I have written (depending on when you read this) and will write (almost certainly) more. After spending most of the summer in and around Nanjing, studying Chinese and working in a machine shop, the group I was with did some traveling as well. And one night, in the city of the Terra Cotta soldiers, my friend Keith and I did some pool hustling and saw a movie, both outdoors as I recall. What I don’t recall is the title of the movie, so if the collective wisdom out there can help me out I’d be grateful.

What I wrote down is Disciples of the Shaolin Temple, but when I rented a movie with that name it was clearly not the one I remembered. It’s possible that we saw Hong quan xiao zi (1975) aka Disciples of Shaolin/The Invincible One or Shao Lin gu di zi (1983), for which IMDB gives the same translated titles.

I have no idea, and all I remember of the movie is that we loved it, and it ended with the heroes in a river (or a pond?) being splashed by some lovely women.

Does this sound at all familiar to anyone?