Because the access to books isn't as great as the access to DVDs, my movie watching has gone through the roof since moving to China.

Starting in alphabetical order then changing to viewing order:

1. The Banquest - loosely based on Hamlet
2. Black Hawk Down - so good, yet so depressing
3. Bulworth - a movie that really aged well
4. The Chronicles of Narnia - loved it
5. Citizen Kane - one of my favorites
6. Constantine - love it more than I probably should, since it's really not that good
7. Devil's Advocate - sucks ass
8. Doom - yes, based off the video game
9. Eragon - so disappointing, if you like the book DON'T watch the movie
10. Freddy vs. Jason - this being China, the DVD quality sucked and we couldn't watch the last 10 minutes, but with that said, it's a fun movie
11. Hellboy - another favorite, I need to read the comic books
12. The Illusionist - Edward Norton's hot, hot, hot
13. The Ladykillers - the Cohen Brothers rock
14. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - I can't stand Jim Carrey, but I love this movie
15. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
16. Lost in Translation - I think it's usurped Henry V as my favorite movie
17. MoTzu
18. Pan's Labyrinth - brilliant
19. Der Rauber Hotzenplotz - a German kids film, it didn't have subtitles so Niels had to translate for me. It was quite funny.
20. Shaun of the Dead - hysterical
21. Starship Troopers - brilliantly bad
22. Wallace & Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - better the 2nd time around
23. Walk the Line
24. Little Miss Sunshine - sad & funny at the same time, Alan Arkin's awesome.
25. Strings - my only complaint was that they didn't pan out at all so you couldn't see the intricacies of the puppet strings
26. Who Killed the Electric Car? - be prepared to be depressed afterwards, yet more uplifting than "An Inconvenient Truth"
27. Casino Royale - Daniel Craig is hot hot hot as the new James Bond
28. Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny - sooooooo funny
29. Flyboys - It started of really well and then about half way through the movie it changed direction and just ended up to be a very disappointing film.
30. Children of Men - while watching it I thought "a world like this could become reality"
31. Flags of Our Fathers - so good, so sad - don't know what's up with picking depressing fims lately
32. Thank You for Smoking - I love satire
33. Stranger Than Fiction - Will Farrell is really good in this
34. Beerfest - SO FRIGGIN' FUNNY
35. The Last King of Scotland - really intense and Forrest Whitakker is brilliant
36. Match Point - horrible, and a shame too because it had a great cast
37. Wedding Crashers - it started off pretty funny, but then seemed to be a little forced by the end.
38. Running With Scissors - pretty sad, but there are some laugh outloud moments
38. Bringing out the Dead - I know Nicholas Cage isn't that great of an actor, but he's still so fun to watch
39. All the King's Men - the remake, Sean Penn's brilliant
40. The Usual Suspects - one of my favorites 
41. Moonstruck - I always forget how much I love this movie.
42. Alatriste - I've seen better movies but the costumes are amazing, plus it's got Viggo Mortensen talking in Spanish for over 2 hours.

Zhengzhou is dry. Dry. Dry. Dry. I can count on one hand how many times it's rained since coming here. To help combant the dryness in our apartmentment we bought this:



Meet Mr. Penguin, or as I like to call him, Mort.

Since coming back from Yichang I've been pretty lazy about writing up what happened while we spent 10 work filled days there. I have a rough draft of it all written up, I worked on it ever day during the morning session to help keep myself from dying of bordeom. But now that I'm home, I've no desire to do anything with it.

That & I'm missing home wicked badly today.

So instead I leave you with this:

Niels, L & I got together today to go to the Foreign Bookstore (yes, that's what it's called) and so I could be shown the Yarn Market. We didn't stay long at the market because most of the shops were still closed due to Spring Festival and well, I didn't bring enough money with me.

Next time I go, I will take photos because it is a sight to be seen. I did get these beauties while there and it only cost me 32 RMB for all of it ($2.45). So cheap it's no wonder so many people make their kids sweaters.



They're 70% wool/30% acrylic, (I'm hoping to find yarn with no acrylic next time) and there's about 1000 yards there. Most shops sell yarn by the kilo, not by yardage, that will take getting used to.

Niels and I returned to Zhengzhou at 5am this morning.

One of the things I love about China is their amazing railroad system. Niels & I, along with the other foreign teacher L, were in hard sleepers, which made me feel like I was in summer camp. While not as comfortable as the soft sleeper (four people to a cabin instead of six), they're surprisingly nice. The downside is that if you're taller than 6'2" , like Niels, or are pudgy, like me, they can be a bit cramped. But they're a much much nicer way of traveling versus being stuck in a hard seat with five other passengers.

This evening we celebrated Spring Festival with one of our teacher friends V and her parents. It was a last minute invitation for which were very grateful. I had gone to the store too late this morning and came home empty handed so had it not been for V's invitation Niels and I would have had a very sad meal of noodles.

Dinner with V and her parents was really really nice. Her parents are very easy going, warm people. V did a wonderful job as our interpreter and we all had a wonderful conversation and delicious food. Niels drank a lot of baijio with V's Dad. For every shot he poured himself he would pour Niels two. So he's currently sitting on the couch getting his hurt on and quaffing lots of water so he's not ill later this evening, while we listen to the B-52s and the sounds of the various fireworks exploding in our neighborhood.

Happy Spring Festival!!!!

Greetings from Yichang! Niels and I have been here for the past 12 days working at an English language training camp. We've been so busy we've not had anytime to sight see or do much of anything but work.

Although there were two evenings we were able to go out with one of the teachers we became friends with and who was also our go between. 

The camp ended a couple hours ago and we now have until 6pm to chill out before heading back to Zhengzhou. Unfortunately, it, along with the weather, doesn't allow us enough time to go visit the Three Gorges Dam. 

I'm off to lunch but will write more once we return home.