The Fountain: spiritual love odyssey through time, space and philosophy


November 22
Granville Cinemas
Vancouver, BC
pre-screening event

(view trailer)



Darren Aronofsky has
written and directed an incredibly beautiful movie about love, death,
spirituality, and eternal life beyond death.  This movie ties
together metaphysics, ancient Mayan beliefs and
juxtaposes them against the physicalities of life and death in the
early 21st Century.  This movie belongs to the category of spiritual drama that inclu
des What Dreams May Come, and Peaceful Warrior.  Many people will not understand this
movie, and simply shake their heads and mutter words like
“bizarre.”  But life is not linear nor a monoculture. 

Epoch Times: 

No Luck Club on the Road to Prosperity 
- Interview with Trevor Chan of No Luck Club

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-11-9/47998.html

No Luck Club on the Road to Prosperity
Hip-Hop artists tour Canada
By Ben Taylor
Epoch Times Vancouver Staff Nov 09, 2006


PHOTO: Vancouver based Chinese Canadian Hip Hop instrumental group No
Luck Club (From R to L) Trevor Chan, his brother Matt Chan, and Paul
Besen AKA Pluskratch. (Rebecca Blissett)

Vancouver-based Chinese Canadian hip-hop instrumental trio No Luck
Club are setting out for the far east - of Canada that is, sharing
"Prosperity" with the people. Consisting of brothers Trevor and Matt
Chan and master turntablist Paul Belan (a.k.a. DJ Pluskratch), the
group's super-fresh album, Prosperity, which just hit the stores, has
already caught the attention of the most unlikely of listeners.
Ninety-something surviving head tax payers have been tweaking their
hearing aids to tune in to NLC's "Our Story," a powerful track which
was in part inspired by the experiences of the Chan family; the
brothers' great- grandparents were separated for decades by the
discriminatory 1923-1947 Exclusion Act.

NLCs busy Trevor Chan made time for a chat with The Epoch Times ,
covering everything from racial discrimination to the future
probability of turntable battles between DJ robots and humans.

ET - The name No Luck Club was formed partly because of the lack of
luck in the industry, true?

TC - That wasn't the intention but unfortunately it's turned into a
self-fulfilling prophecy! The NLC name was a spur of the moment
decision - we needed to call our project something when we sent out
our demo. I guess it was an ironic, pseudo-hipster take on the Joy
Luck Club. A regrettable decision, but what can you do?

ET - So do the titles of your albums reflect where you are at
artistically and/or in the industry?

TC - The album titles simply refer to the Chinese gods of good
fortune: Happiness, Prosperity & Longevity. We had a 3-album recording
deal so we decided to make a trilogy. This was more of a writing tool
to help us structure the themes and organize the sound bites we use in
our songs.

ET - How has the track "Our story" been received so far?

TC - The reaction has been great. CBC Radio 3 got behind it really
early when we played them a draft version of the song right before the
federal election. But things really picked up right before we
performed at the Vancouver Folk Festival this summer. I believe Sid
Tan (Vancouver head tax redress activist) told a bunch of people in
the Chinese language media about our song - next thing you know we're
being interviewed by all the Chinese dailies and appearing in Ming
Pao's weekend magazine.

Our album comes out Nov 7 and early reviews from Eye Weekly & the
Globe and Mail have all mentioned the song. G&M in particular seemed
to focus in on the head tax issue which is great because the article
appeared in the entertainment section - not the usual stomping ground
for redress discussions. It'll be interesting to see how people react
to the song with the latest round of media attention.

ET - What do you make of the Chinese Canadian Community groups, like
the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) winning the battle
against the Chinese Communist affiliated groups in Canada such as the
National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC)?

TC - I'll be honest - I don't keep up to date with the politics
involved in CCC groups. However, I did manage to wander into the NCCC
redress event when they were in Vancouver last November, 2005. I
needed a break from working on our record so I thought I'd see what
was going on with the redress movement since we were making a song
about it. I wasn't too impressed when I found out that the people
holding this meeting was in favour of pooling all the redress money
into an "education" program. My . radar was on high alert when I
noticed that more than half the meeting was wasted on photo ops and
people patting each other on the back. It definitely had an air of
cronyism. No wonder the Liberals lost the election-who in their right
mind would form an alliance with these clowns from the NCCC? I read
about their fishy background later on but at the time I just brushed
it off as the usual Chinatown political tomfoolery.

ET - The Epoch Times is banned in China and its editorial series Nine
Commentaries on the Communist Party has sparked over 14 million
members to quit the Party. What are your thoughts on the state of
Chinese communism today and the Chinese people living in Mainland
China now?



NLC's Brand new albulm "Prosperity" (David Order Wong)TC - I wouldn't
know, I haven't been to China in over 10 years and I'm sure much has
changed. I don't go out of my way to seek indie Chinese news sources
and I certainly don't trust the "mainstream" press coverage. Seems
like most of the news you hear about China relates to its economy.
It's like the rest of the world views China in one of two ways: either
as a mass consumer market to which to sell goods or a cheap labour
market that will take away manufacturing jobs everywhere else. I don't
think Mainland Chinese are really viewed as individuals - they're just
this abstract concept of 1 billion persons.

As for the communist government, I figure they finally got a clue over
the years. They probably realized that they should follow America's
example: by bringing economic prosperity to the masses, those at the
top will have that much more to skim.

ET - Is there a Chinese hip-hop scene in Canada/ North America/
globally and have you connected with some of them?

TC - There are artists of Chinese descent creating hip hop but I'm not
sure if there's necessarily a "scene". Even if there was one we'd
probably stay away from it. It's the Groucho Marx philosophy: we
wouldn't want to be a part of any group that would have us as members!
We've always wanted to work with the best people possible, regardless
of race. However, it's always great to hang out with other Asians who
create music - there's this unspoken "knowing" of the struggles
involved in convincing our families that we're not going to ruin the
lineage with our "career choice".

ET - Are you guys known in China? What do you think of the hip-hop
scene in China?

TC - No... but we'd very much like to play there one day and then
hopefully we will be known in certain places. However, I'm not too
familiar with China's hip hop scene. The only people I've heard of are
from Hong Kong: LMF and DJ Tommy the turntablist. But I've always been
curious about the underground music scene. I just want to know what
the kids are into - irrespective of genre. Although I've heard for
years that there's a big punk rock scene in Beijing and that's where
we should go to discover the more edgier arts & indie scenes.

ET - What do you think of turntablism and sample-based music? Has it
peaked? Where is it going? Do you think it will lead to computers
winning most of the Grammys in 2010?

TC - Sample-based music isn't going anywhere. It's getting much easier
to create and the tools are widely available. If anything, I figure it
will become more ingrained in the creative process. As for
turntablism, it has nowhere to go but up! After all, it is a pretty
marginal art form to begin with. Turntablism has always been more of a
performance art and there really aren't that many artist records when
you compare it to other sub-genres of music.

Besides, the music business is undergoing an unprecedented seismic
change and only a fool would predict what the future sound will be.
However, I seriously doubt a computer will produce the hits of the
future - I've got more faith in humanity and the listening audience.
The only thing I'm willing to say is that the Grammys will probably be
even less relevant in 2010 than they are today because music audiences
will have fractured that much. There are already enough artists and
good music outside the established system; what is changing is the
ability to help people find that music.

ET - Will Human DJs have to battle robot DJs in the future? Have you
ever had to battle Robo-DJs yet? Are you training for this now? What
is the training like? Gong-Fu? Chin-ups? Special Diets? Secret
weapons?

TC - Probably not and I'll tell you why. No robot could have
envisioned the use of a record player as a musical instrument in the
first place - it's too impractical and illogical! Does not compute.
Only crazy humans could come up with something so wacky. I'll place my
bets on the human spirit any day of the week.

For tour dates and other NLC info visit: www.noluckclub.com


-- 

Remembrance Day in Chinatown: City Councillors show respect to pioneers and veterans

Vancouver
City Councillors Raymond Louie and George Chow clean bird poo off the
monument prior to Remembrance Day ceremonies – photo Todd Wong

More pictures at Remembrance Day 2006

It was the biggest ceremony yet at the Chinese Pioneer monument in Vancouver Chinatown.

City of Vancouver has decided to make the Chinatown Remembrance Day an
official celebration and sent wreaths from the various city
departments.  This actually has forced the Pacific Unit 280
veterans to mobilize to create an official ceremony now.  The last
two years have been very informal, often making things up as they went
along.  It was very intimate and friendly.

On Saturday, many Chinatown organizations such as SUCCESS and Vancouver
Chinatown Revitalization also showed up to place wreaths. 

A minor crisis occured prior to the ceremony, when photographers
lamented that bird poo was very visible on the monument statues. 
The monument is now three years old and looks like it is never
cleaned.  I had earlier bumped into Parks board commissioners
Loretta Woodcock and Spencer Herbert, and invited them to attend the
Chinatown ceremony.  They weren't sure if Keefer Triangle was part
of the parks system, but suggested sending a truck to hose down the
monument. 

 

Raymond Louie,
Vancouver City Councillor, cleans the helmet of the Chinese Pioneer
Monument statue.  George Chow, fellow City Councillor gives some
fresh napkin and pours some water on it for Louie.. – photo Todd Wong

Raymond Louie and George Chow, Vancouver City Councillors, took matters
into their own hands and climbed up onto the monument to help wipe off
the bird poo on the heads, helmets and body of the statues. 
Kleenex and napkins were quickly rounded up and given to the
councillors for the cleaning process.  Photographers quickly took
advantage of seeing the councillors in action.  One person
jokingly shouted out to Raymond, “Councillor, I believe there is a fine
for climbing on the monument!”

The ceremony went ahead when the cleaning was finished… 


Unit Pacific 280 group photo with
City Councillor Raymond Louie – Wesley Louie encourages some more
military guests to join the group. – photo Todd Wong

The traditional lunch for the veterans followed at Foo's Ho Ho
Restaurant.  I have joine them for the past four or five years, as
I like to go and support my Grand-Uncle Dan, and the veterans. 
Inevitably, somebody hands me a camer to take pictures for them. 
I'm getting to know a lot of them by name.  They like Foo's Ho Ho
Restaurant because it is cosy, and it specializes in the home-style
Cantonese cooking that they grew up with.  As a young boy, growing
up in the 1960's, my family would often go to the Ho Ho Restaurant.

Col. King Wan, John Ko Bong, Todd Wong (me) and my Grand-Uncle Daniel Lee

Christine Chin, veteran Gim Wong, Donna Green – photo Todd Wong

Gim
Wong is the now 83 year old head tax redress campaigner who rode his
motorcycle to Ottawa to ask then Prime Minister Paul Martin for an
apology for the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act.  The Prime
Minister's Office never responded to the inquiries by the Chinese
Canadian National Council, sent on Gim's behalf.  Gim was invited
to the July 1st (known formerly to Chinese-Canadians as Humiliation Day
because the Exclusion Act was passed on July 1st, 1923) ceremonies on
Parliament Hill.  When Gim stood up and started walking to where
the Prime Minister was sitting, seven RCMP officers gang tackled the 82
year old WW2 veteran, and carted him off the hill. 

Since January 2007, Paul Martin
is no longer Prime Minister.  But Gim Wong witnessed Conservative Prime
Minister Stephen Harper's apology for the Chinese Head Tax and
Exclusion Act on June 22nd, from the visitor's gallery in Parliament. 
Gim Wong saluted the Prime Minister and several MP's saw him and
saluted back.  Last month on October 20, Gim Wong fulfilled his promise
to help his friend Charlie Quan, as Quan recieved the first cheque as a
symbolic redress for paying the $500 Chinese Head Tax prior to 1923. 

Strangely, the Canadian born Gim Wong won't be seeing a head tax cheque
for his family, because his head tax paying father and mother are
predeceased.  Wong now wants Prime Minister Harper to see symbolic
redress payments for all head tax certificates, not only if the payer
or spouse are still alive.

More of my pictures at Remembrance Day 2006
See my friend Nick Lum's pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/24064901@N00/sets/72157594371300409/

Remembrance Day Service at Victory Square Cenotaph, Vancouver BC.

Lots of Army, Airforce, Navy, cadet,
veteran and even RCMP uniforms at Victory Square, Vancouver BC along
Hastings and Cambie streets, stand at attention. – photo Todd Wong

The rain held off for the Remembrance Day ceremony at Victory Square,
Vancouver BC.  With the war in Afghanistan, there is special
significance… but for the Chinese-Canadian veterans
there is a very
special significance because of the head tax apology by Prime Minister
Harper and the government of Canada.  For many many years, the
veterans asked for an apology for the head tax, without a
response.  Each year they saw their numbers dwindling, as more of the veterans passed on.

But in the “Year of the Veteran,” they wrangled an
“acknowledgement” and community funding from the Liberal
government.  Although there was no “apology” or “head tax refund,” this subsequently turned into an election issue, and
the newly elected Conservative government promised an apology for the
Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act.



The Chinese Canadian veterans of
Pacific Unit 280 are lead by past president Ed Lee.  92 year old
John Ko Bong walks with a cane now. Alex Louie (with beige sweater and
6th from left) was featured in the film documentary “Unwanted
Soldiers,” about how Canada originally did not want to have Canadian
born Chinese as soldiers.  – photo Nick Lum

Rememberance Day services are always special for the
Chinese-Canadian veterans because by enlisting and serving for Canada,
they helped to ensure that Canadians born of Chinese descent had the
right and enfranchisement to vote.  This was given in 1947, the
same year that the Chinese “Exclusion Act” was repealed.  I have 4 grand uncles and one uncle that served in WW2.  All returned to Canada safely.  My maternal grandmother's younger brothers Daniel, Howard and Leonard Lee, plus their cousin Victor Wong, are all grandsons of Rev. Chan Yu Tan, who came to Canada in 1896.  My father's elder brother James Wong also served, and was sent to the Pacific Theatre.  Their father Wong Wah arrived in Canada in 1882.

Here
are close ups of 92 year old John Ko Bong, and Ed Lee of Pacific Unit
280. They are good friends of my grand-uncle
Daniel Lee, currently president for PU 280. – photo Nick Lum. 

But this year, I also knew many more ceremony participants. 
Cameron Cathcart is chair of the 2006 Rememberance Day Observance
Committee, and was also commentator for the event. Andre Greenwood or
the Vancouver Fire Department Band sang “Land of Hope and
Glory.”   A wreath was laid by the Canadian Club Vancouver
president Dr. Jean Watters and vice-president Renee Popov.  It was
just last Friday Nov. 3rd when we celebrated the Canadian Club
Vancouver’s 100th Anniversary at the Westin Bayshore, with Cam Cathcart
presideing as MC, with the first public presentation of the Richardson
Bagpipes.

This year the Canadian
Club of Vancouver laid a wreath to acknowledge it's 100th
anniversary.  CC member Cam Cathcart chaired and commentated the
Victory Square ceremonies – photo Todd Wong

Seaforth Highlanders posed with
Christine Chin and Todd Wong.  Of course, we invited these two
fine men in kilts to our “Kilts Night” events at Doolin's – photo Sean
for Todd

While the ceremony can be sombre and thoughful, there is much pageantry
with the pipes and drums of the many participating organizations. 
After the official ceremonies, we examined the wreaths that had been
laid, and we wathced the regiments march out.  We even discovered
a bagpiper of Asian descent…. playing in the BC regiment of Irish
Pipes and Drums.  Hmmm…. maybe we will have to invite him to
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner.

Look!  Chinese (or Asian) bagpiper! – photo Todd Wong

For more pictures taken by my friend Nick Lum
see http://www.flickr.com/photos/24064901@N00/sets/72157594371337538/

Play about British internees in Japanese POW camp finds humanity in the middle of WW2

Gonzo
written and directed by Gordon Pascoe
November 1-12, 2006
Norman Rothstein
Theatre

World
War II was a terrible time in history.  Our Canadian perspective
is torn between the wars in Europe and Pacific.  But WW2 was also
fought  in Asia, Northern Africa, the Australasia archipelago, the
Alaskan Islands.  It was the first war where non-combat citizens
were devastatingly affected – from the rape of Naking by Japanese
soldiers, the Nazi concentration camps of ethnic European Jews, the
atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima by the USA, and the massive
internment of ethnic Japanese descendants in both Canada and the USA.

British
internees are housed in a Japanese prison of war camp in Shanghai,
China, and cared for a Japanese soldier named Gonzo.  Written and
directed by Gordon Pascoe, who grew up in the Ash prison of war camp in
Shanghai.  This play was based on his memories of actual
events. 

It is a lovely play that celebrates human kindness amongst the horrific
circumstances of WW2.  Pascoe finds a way to intertwine the
evacuation of Jews from Europe to China, the internment of
Japanese-Canadians in British Columbia, the pivotal war battles in
Africa, Europe and the Pacific into the tiny confines of a camp housing
British women and children.

The play opens with an elderly man saluting a Remembrance Day
service.  Next we see him hooked up to an IV tube, after surviving
a heart health crisis.  He states that he must tell a story that
he should have told a long time ago.  The events of this play are
based on the true life accounts of writer/director Gordon Pascoe, as he
grew up in the Ash Camp in Shanghai.

Now the play's real action begins, as young mother Evelyn Pascoe and
young son Gordon arrive at Hut D, at Ash camp.  They soon meet
other camp residents who inspect the belongings that they have brought
with them.  Basic requirements are sparse, and the mirror that
Eveleyn has brought is treated as precious.  Evelyn is in dispair
at the tiny one-room hut that she has been assigned to.  She soon
learns from the others that while conditions are tough, they are
thankful of the Japanese soldier nicknamed “Gonzo” that cares for them.

Throughout the play, the audience learns what the residents must do to
survive through the internment.  They scrounge and trade for
food.  They put on Gilbert & Sullivan light opera to raise
morale.  They intereact with other women, mothers and
children.  They even befriend the Japanese Camp guard named
Gonzo.  He shows them pictures of his wife and daughter, back home
in Nagasaki, where he used to be a school teacher.  This segment
emphasisizes the commonalities and family values that all cultures
share, while only the audience really knows that Nagasaki will
eventually be the victim of an atomic bomb.

The children play games, and even mimic playing camp commandant, making
fun of the Japanese commandant's penchant for Japanese
propaganda.  The camp residents have secretly managed to build a
wireless radio, so they are already knowledgable about what is actually
happening during the war's events.  They hear about the liberation
of Paris, and the battle of Midway.

The play's darkest moments come when some of the women are allowed to
visit their husbands at a Men-Only work camp.  Allusions are made
to the terrible conditions, poor food, and extremely hard physical
labour that the men must endure.  The actors do a nice job of
sharing the stories, and convey the hardships.  But somehow all
the costumes look a bit too clean, and the set is still too nice to be
a horrible prison of war camp. But for the melodrama and the
Pollyannish presentations, this play touches the heart, as it recreates
and imagines the emotions that the characters must go through. 

Gonzo is soon re-nicknamed “Robert Taylor” because of his kind acts,
and good features.  Actor Simon Hayama does a good job
demonstrating the caringness that Gonzo treats his charges.  He
plays with the children, gives them treats and learns to speak English
from them.

Despite being set during a terrible time in WW2, Pascoe has incredibly
weaved together the elements that we value as human beings: Compassion
and Love.  Yes, there is war and death in this play.  It is
unavoidable for WW2 subject matter.   He takes the Big World
issues of internment, and the evacuation of Jews, and contrasts them
with the Little Word issues of surviving in a prison of war camp, on a
day to day basis.  We can understand the fear that mother Evelyn
Pascoe has when young Gordon goes missing at camp one day.  We can
feel the pathos, when camp matron Geraldine Conway-Smythe learns that
her husband has died.  We recognize that war was… and is
terrible…. that terrible things happen.  And because of it, we
are more grateful when humane deeds are revealed against this setting.