February

Su and I went to watch Ne Zha 2 yesterday. She had warned me the day before that we would need to go slightly early to get tickets which apparently were in great demand. A few brethren had watched the movie – some went as far as going to Shenzhen for it while some had watched Episode One on Netflix – and all had reported good experience. We arrived the cinema at Kwai Fong before 10:30 am, planning to go for the 10:55 seating, but it was almost full, so we bought tickets for the 11:40 am seating instead, which in the end was also a full house. It was totally different from the few shows we had gone to in the same cinema when sometimes we could count the number of people present with both hands. Ne Zha is different indeed and the two-and-a-half-hour experience was value for money, enjoyable, exciting and rather funny at times, particularly the ending – and I won’t spill the beans to keep the suspense for those who are planning to watch it. Su laughed out loud a few times during the show, as she held on to her large bowl of popcorns. Today, she posted a few cartoon stripes she picked up on the internet which were quite amusing and catchy.  We counted we had gone to the cinema at Kwai Fong for at least six times in the past few weeks, not counting the special screening of “The Way We Talk” organized by the HKU Foundation at the Elements last week and the various Studio 9:30 movies on Pearl, including Die Hard last night. I don’t think we had watched so many movies over such a short spate of time for many years.

Going to movies was my favourite pastime during my teens and the formative years. I often went with my best friend at the time, but after going to the university, I went with my fellow undergrads and sometimes by myself. Many famous box-office films were adapted from books, and famous movies typically and separately created choreographies, music and songs. It is interesting that many people had learnt about great literature or authors after seeing some box-office films, but would still never touch the books from which the films were adapted. Successive new generations had first stayed away from books and later films, and with the advent of computers, internets and smart phones, fewer people are going to the movies, so that many people, the media in particular had prophesized the demise of the film industry.

Riding on the heat of Ne Zha 2, TVB has decided to cancel normal programming on Jade during prime time tomorrow to broadcast the Cantonese version of Ne Zha 1. It’s going to be the talk of the town and I think I should change my programme tomorrow and stay home for it.

February being the shortest month of the year, but sandwiched between the Chinese New Year, Lent and Easter, it is normally a very busy month for networking and catching up with friends. Meanwhile, we are planning for some other trips and programmes later in the year. Life goes on.