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Evening, folks, and welcome back to our lessons. Tonight we're starting coverage of the Zhou Dynasty. !teacher, !historian, !responsible for your grade, you get the idea.
( Here goes nothing. )
( Here goes nothing. )
Mar. 19th, 2002
More brain badness.
Mar. 19th, 2002 03:48 pmSince I get no sympathy whatsoever from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cadhla - who is of the opinion that Fang is actually my equivalent of Jane - for having a brain that flat-out refuses to drop the topic, I'm going to infect you all with this stupid meme.
Beauty and the Beast as HK gangland thriller. Notable parts include Belle, Belle's dad, Belle's gorgeous but greedy and therefore spiritually empty sisters, a thoroughly rotten cop who's out to make himself a reputation by stepping on anyone who gets in his way if necessary, Gaston the swaggering in-your-face gangster, and Beast, his rival. Trouble is, Beast got roped into the guns-and-money life without really meaning to, and now finds himself stuck with it. Can't seem to find a way out that doesn't involve bleeding from about twenty or thirty bullet holes and assorted exit wounds. He's really good at what he does, which makes Gaston proud- Gaston's the one who dragged him into it in the first place. Gaston's getting a little suspicious of his sometime protege, though, mostly because he thinks Beast is too ambitious for Gaston's position. In point of fact it's more in the nature of Beast trying to provoke someone into killing him so it all can stop, but that's a concept Gaston doesn't understand...
Neither does the cop, who's an utter rat-bastard. Humanity in the enemy is a weakness to be exploited, not a thing to be nurtured and appealed to. The cop is trying to crack Gaston's gang open and has come to the conclusion that Beast is the best way to do it. He's managed to track Beast down once or twice, but can't seem to find his lair - that's all right, though, the cop has other ways of putting the screws to Beast and is trying to provoke him into betraying Gaston without letting Gaston know he's been betrayed until after the cuffs are on. Of course, once the cop has what he wants, Beast is gonna get screwed 'cos the cop can't offer him anything concrete - just a lot of lying promises and a less painful end than the gangs would give him.
Of course, there's Belle and her family. Mom died ages ago. Belle's dad is a well-meaning but not very well paid clerk of some kind who gets an opportunity to go somewhere overseas on business. He asks the daughters what they want for souvenirs. The two older ones ask for expensive, exotic items; Belle asks for something small and simple, some tchotchke that you could get in any gift shop. Off Dad goes. Unfortunately he's so hard pressed to do his work and fulfil his greedy daughter's wishes that the bauble goes unpurchased until he's back in Hong Kong. He goes looking for the item - finds it - and winds up a witness to a particularly bloody gun battle involving Beast, who takes him hostage. Finding the expensive presents for the other daughters, Beast assumes Dad can be ransomed and sends a message to the family. No ransom is available, but Belle volunteers to go and stand as a hostage for Dad's good behavior - among several other implications. Beast agrees.
The rest of the movie progresses as per spec with Belle getting a clearer concept of what the world is really like, without being necessarily corrupted by it. Her father tries going to the police eventually, but contacts the wrong one - the corrupt cop of earlier. Her sisters, who were not that fond of Belle to begin with but who want the whole mess over with, do some nosing around of their own and wind up getting in bed with the cop and Gaston respectively. Beast discovers that there are certain advantages to trying to be a respectable human being, even if you're surrounded by rot and filth, and puts effort into it in the hopes he'll be able to impress Belle. The cop senses this as weakness and starts making more pressing moves on Beast, setting a deadline he has to meet otherwise it'd be a real shame if something went horribly wrong with Beast's girlfriend's family, wouldn't it? Gaston gets wind of the cop's attention and decides Beast has already ratted him out. The sisters discover this and start trying to cover their own butts, succeeding only in making things worse. Belle finds out last of all and starts pushing as hard as she can to get Beast to at least redeem himself before he gets blown to smithereens. The day of the deadline Belle does what she was forbidden to do - telephones her father. The cop and Gaston both intercept the mobile call and converge on Beast, and each other. Belle gets cut down first, and we get to see exactly how Beast earned his nickname...
To borrow from Rinkworks.com's Movie-A-Minute review of Face/Off, 71,842,397 bullets later, everything is FIXED. Funny how easy it is for someone whose enemies are dead to walk away - and funny how people who really aren't used to gangland gunfests tend to crumple up and look really, really dead at the first little hint of being hit by a bullet, innit? Vancouver's an awfully nice place for two young people who've just given an awful lot of information to the government on the surviving gang members' operation to retire to...
The casting call stands open. I'm inclined to put Andy Lau in as Gaston and make him sing the actual Gaston Song, but the rest is up to you.
I hate my brain sometimes.
Today's pulp survival tip is #117: "Justice for all" is a relatively new concept, and is unequally applied at best. If you get arrested, don't expect a trial.
cadhla - who is of the opinion that Fang is actually my equivalent of Jane - for having a brain that flat-out refuses to drop the topic, I'm going to infect you all with this stupid meme. Beauty and the Beast as HK gangland thriller. Notable parts include Belle, Belle's dad, Belle's gorgeous but greedy and therefore spiritually empty sisters, a thoroughly rotten cop who's out to make himself a reputation by stepping on anyone who gets in his way if necessary, Gaston the swaggering in-your-face gangster, and Beast, his rival. Trouble is, Beast got roped into the guns-and-money life without really meaning to, and now finds himself stuck with it. Can't seem to find a way out that doesn't involve bleeding from about twenty or thirty bullet holes and assorted exit wounds. He's really good at what he does, which makes Gaston proud- Gaston's the one who dragged him into it in the first place. Gaston's getting a little suspicious of his sometime protege, though, mostly because he thinks Beast is too ambitious for Gaston's position. In point of fact it's more in the nature of Beast trying to provoke someone into killing him so it all can stop, but that's a concept Gaston doesn't understand...
Neither does the cop, who's an utter rat-bastard. Humanity in the enemy is a weakness to be exploited, not a thing to be nurtured and appealed to. The cop is trying to crack Gaston's gang open and has come to the conclusion that Beast is the best way to do it. He's managed to track Beast down once or twice, but can't seem to find his lair - that's all right, though, the cop has other ways of putting the screws to Beast and is trying to provoke him into betraying Gaston without letting Gaston know he's been betrayed until after the cuffs are on. Of course, once the cop has what he wants, Beast is gonna get screwed 'cos the cop can't offer him anything concrete - just a lot of lying promises and a less painful end than the gangs would give him.
Of course, there's Belle and her family. Mom died ages ago. Belle's dad is a well-meaning but not very well paid clerk of some kind who gets an opportunity to go somewhere overseas on business. He asks the daughters what they want for souvenirs. The two older ones ask for expensive, exotic items; Belle asks for something small and simple, some tchotchke that you could get in any gift shop. Off Dad goes. Unfortunately he's so hard pressed to do his work and fulfil his greedy daughter's wishes that the bauble goes unpurchased until he's back in Hong Kong. He goes looking for the item - finds it - and winds up a witness to a particularly bloody gun battle involving Beast, who takes him hostage. Finding the expensive presents for the other daughters, Beast assumes Dad can be ransomed and sends a message to the family. No ransom is available, but Belle volunteers to go and stand as a hostage for Dad's good behavior - among several other implications. Beast agrees.
The rest of the movie progresses as per spec with Belle getting a clearer concept of what the world is really like, without being necessarily corrupted by it. Her father tries going to the police eventually, but contacts the wrong one - the corrupt cop of earlier. Her sisters, who were not that fond of Belle to begin with but who want the whole mess over with, do some nosing around of their own and wind up getting in bed with the cop and Gaston respectively. Beast discovers that there are certain advantages to trying to be a respectable human being, even if you're surrounded by rot and filth, and puts effort into it in the hopes he'll be able to impress Belle. The cop senses this as weakness and starts making more pressing moves on Beast, setting a deadline he has to meet otherwise it'd be a real shame if something went horribly wrong with Beast's girlfriend's family, wouldn't it? Gaston gets wind of the cop's attention and decides Beast has already ratted him out. The sisters discover this and start trying to cover their own butts, succeeding only in making things worse. Belle finds out last of all and starts pushing as hard as she can to get Beast to at least redeem himself before he gets blown to smithereens. The day of the deadline Belle does what she was forbidden to do - telephones her father. The cop and Gaston both intercept the mobile call and converge on Beast, and each other. Belle gets cut down first, and we get to see exactly how Beast earned his nickname...
To borrow from Rinkworks.com's Movie-A-Minute review of Face/Off, 71,842,397 bullets later, everything is FIXED. Funny how easy it is for someone whose enemies are dead to walk away - and funny how people who really aren't used to gangland gunfests tend to crumple up and look really, really dead at the first little hint of being hit by a bullet, innit? Vancouver's an awfully nice place for two young people who've just given an awful lot of information to the government on the surviving gang members' operation to retire to...
The casting call stands open. I'm inclined to put Andy Lau in as Gaston and make him sing the actual Gaston Song, but the rest is up to you.
I hate my brain sometimes.
Today's pulp survival tip is #117: "Justice for all" is a relatively new concept, and is unequally applied at best. If you get arrested, don't expect a trial.
