(Hi Dr. Nick!)
eh... bad joke.
I'm currently in a little Malaysian island called Labuan. It's a three hour trip from Luzon, full of sand, beaches, plants... and stuff. The population here is mixed Malay, Chinese, a few Hindus, and some people from other places, such as the Philippines. The last time I went here was around 1994, and a lot has changed since then.
Here's just a few things I noticed while vacationing here:
There aren't much TV stations here, but there is a satellite thingy called Astro that broadcasts a large number of great channels. For an Asian Film Fan like myself, one of the channels even screens Korean films on a daily basis.
The only major fastfood joint here is KFC. Maybe a little Pizza Hut, but only a little. For starters, the sandwiches in Malaysian KFCs are around 20-30 % smaller than in the Philippines. Imagine a Zinger with a bun the size of a Burger McDo. Yep, you got it, it's that small. The equivalent of a Chicken Fillet has an even smaller bun, just a tad larger than your average pandesal.
The taste of KFC in Malaysia is very different from Philippine KFC. For one, it is reminiscent of Canadian KFC, it's only a little more subdued. I'm guessing it must be the breading. Plus, they have these regional dishes like Curry Crunch (I haven't tasted that yet, and I want to!) that look tasty. There is one thing that I'd love for Philippine KFCs to have: Potato Wedges with Cheezy Sauce on them. Droooool...
Also, almost every afternoon the sky darkens and looks mighty threatening, as if it would rain down any minute. It didn't for three days, but now it did.
Anyway, knowing that a large Chinese Population = Chinese VCDs (at least) I went Movie Hunting today.
I was pleasantly surprised.
The thing here is that unlike the Philippines, there are no franchise stores like Video City or Astrovision selling optical media here in Malaysia (or maybe there are, but they haven't reached Labuan.) Every store here is seemingly privately owned, usually by the Chinese.
In my search of three stores. I found a preponderance of various movies from China, Korea, Malaysia, possibly Indonesia, Thailand, India, Japan, and some other countries that I don't know. The titles were predominantly VCD format, which seems to be the standard here.
I managed to pick up the following movies: One Night in Mongkok, a decent HK movie, the recent A World Without Thieves, the Korean romance/art film Art Museum by the Zoo, one of Takashi Miike's rarer films, The Bird People in China, the Vicki Zhao starrer Goddess of Mercy, and the joint Japan - S.Korea project Asako in Ruby Shoes.
In my search, I had seen a copy of Shunji Iwai's Hana and Alice- one of my most eagerly sought-after films of the year - but unfortunately it only had Chinese Subs. Sigh...
Also, I found a 9-cd set of the entire season of GITS SAC 2nd GIG, but I no longer had any cash. Double Sigh... maybe next time.
I'll be looking for an English-subbed Hana and Alice and and English-subbed version of the Malaysian movie Sepet:
It's a love story about a Chinese boy and a Malay girl who fall in love. It's pretty controversial over here; Malays moved to have the film banned because I don't think they like interracial relationships.
In other news, I heard that Star Wars Episode III is going to be rated PG-13. Excellent... everything is going as planned.
That's about it. I'll be island-hoping for three days starting tomorrow, so tune in soon...
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