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I blame my inability to speak Cantonese on waitresses in Chinese restaurants. My wife would say it’s all on me. To be fair, I should have kept it up. I should have practised more. You are getting better every day,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “On Learning to Speak Cantonese” by Jeff Beyl](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cantonese.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Liang Wern Fook (author), Christina Ng (translator), The Joy of a Left Hand, Balestier Press, 2023. 144 pgs. When my youngest child was about two years old, I noticed…
![[REVIEW] “Humans in All States of Emotion: Liang Wern Fook’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑜𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑑” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-joy-of-a-left-hand.jpg?w=880)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ricky Lee (author), Noelle Q. De Jesus (translator), For B (or How Love Devastates Four out of Every Five of Us), Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2023. 230 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Processing Love in Ricky Lee’s Novel 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝐵” by Frances An](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/for-b-or-how-love-devastates-four-out-of-every-five-of-us.png?w=987)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jun Ichikawa (director), Tony Takitani, 2004. 75 min. Tony Takitani is a film about loneliness and its unwavering cloudiness—the way it makes you want to lie down in a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Human Loneliness: Jun Ichikawa’s 𝑇𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑖” by Yimin Huang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/takitani.jpg?w=345)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tania De Rozario, Dinner on Monster Island: Essays, HarperCollins, 2024. 192 pgs. Tania De Rozario’s Dinner on Monster Island is a lyrical and multi-faceted speech act. The fourteen essays…
![[REVIEW] “Despite Loss, Magic Persists: Tania De Rozario’s 𝐷𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐼𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑” by Lydia Kwa](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/dinner-on-monster-island.jpg?w=995)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Jee-woon (director), Cobweb, 2023. 135 min. Song Kang-ho (best known for Parasite and A Taxi Driver) in Cobweb Kim Ki-yeol (Song Kang-ho, best known for Parasite and A Taxi…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “In the Tradition of Film-set Comedy Dramas: Kim Jee-woon’s 𝐶𝑜𝑏𝑤𝑒𝑏” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/first-poster-for-cobweb-starring-song-kang-ho-centers-v0-nlwknv9ea1za1.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILM Eddie Tay, Hong Kong as Creative Practice, Palgrave, 2022. 110 pgs. The Palgrave Macmillan series that Eddie Tay’s Hong Kong as Creative Practice is part of is a platform…
![[REVIEW] “One Senses a Quiet Revolution: Eddie Tay’s 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒” by Marsha McDonald](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/hong-kong-as-creative-practice.webp?w=827)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILM Ken Provencher and Mike Dillon (editors), Exploiting East Asian Cinemas: Genre, Circulation, Reception, Bloomsbury, 2018. 234 pgs. In the early 2000s, unless you lived in a city in the…
![[REVIEW] “Extreme Asia—A Review of 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑠: 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑒, 𝐶𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/exploiting-east-asian-cinemas-genre-circulation.jpg?w=568)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Satyajit Ray (director), Branches of the Tree, 1990. 130 min. Made and released in 1990, Satyajit Ray’s Branches of the Tree arrives as an artefact of a bygone sensibility,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “An Artifact of a Bygone Sensibility: Satyajit Ray’s 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑒” by Toshi Tomori](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/mv5bndfmztg0mdetytrhzc00mjvilthlywytmdm2mta1ownkzjuxxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynjm3mdiwnjc40._v1_.jpg?w=1024)
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Also read Akin Jeje’s tribute to Reid Mitchell. I wrote two sonnets for Reid Mitchell (1955-2023); one a couple of years before he died and one, at Reid’s own instigation, some fifteen years ago. Reid had told me a story…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Two Sonnets for Reid Mitchell” by Andrew Barker](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/reid-michell-impression.jpeg?w=1024)
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Header artwork by Annysa Ng 茶 First Impressionsclick for information 茶 Essays click for information 茶 En Routeclick for information 茶 XI XI—Can We Sayclick for information 茶 Write to Powerclick for information 茶 Auditory Cortexclick for information
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