More than meets the eye
China Standard Time is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, which kinda sucks for things like keeping in touch with friends or calling home. It’s kinda cool when a movie comes out here the same day it does in the U.S. because it means I get to see it before my friends do. I guess that’s not all that cool since I’m not really a big movie buff, but it was cool today when we saw the midnight premiere of "Transformers 2."
The movie was in English with Chinese subtitles. I’m told the theater was in the university district, so maybe a lot of people wanted to see that version to practice their English. We were the only Americans/Westerners in there, which got us several looks. It was interesting because we would laugh about three seconds before everyone else during the funny scenes.
I thought the movie was terrible. It was full of canned lines that I’ve heard a thousand times before, tired jokes about bureaucrats, tired humor from Tyrese Gibson (actual line from the movie: “We shed blood, sweat and precious metal with these guys.” Seriously?), tired usage of Megan Fox as nothing more than a girl with supple lips… you name it. That said, it was a good summer movie, in that it had lots of explosions and good special effects. Just don’t expect to get lost in the plot… And don’t go with anyone who’s prone to seizures.
The tough part was getting home. The theater, like everything else, is on the other side of town from our place. We had five people and it was almost 3 a.m. by the time we left the movie. Not a good set of circumstances for hunting a taxi. So we walked through the streets of Beijing, which were surprisingly busy for the time of day, trying to find a taxi that would take five passengers. We walked about a mile before we even got one to stop for us. Of course, he stopped in the far left lane so we had to stand in the middle of the road to beg him to take five people. I took advantage of the situation and laid down in the middle of the street, which is something you don’t often get to do in Beijing.
By 3:30 we had to give up and split up the group. Will and Catherine went home first since the only address we’ve learned how to give to taxi drivers leaves them a 20-minute walk to their apartment. Then Joh and I searched for another taxi with our friend, Pang Li, who lives near us. We couldn’t find one anywhere until I saw one coming on the other side of the street and ran out to the median to get him to make a u-turn, which he did, passing several other people who were looking for rides. I think he liked my beard…
We finally got home at about 4:15, just as the sun started to rise. With an 8:30 start at work, it has not been a good day…
The movie was in English with Chinese subtitles. I’m told the theater was in the university district, so maybe a lot of people wanted to see that version to practice their English. We were the only Americans/Westerners in there, which got us several looks. It was interesting because we would laugh about three seconds before everyone else during the funny scenes.
I thought the movie was terrible. It was full of canned lines that I’ve heard a thousand times before, tired jokes about bureaucrats, tired humor from Tyrese Gibson (actual line from the movie: “We shed blood, sweat and precious metal with these guys.” Seriously?), tired usage of Megan Fox as nothing more than a girl with supple lips… you name it. That said, it was a good summer movie, in that it had lots of explosions and good special effects. Just don’t expect to get lost in the plot… And don’t go with anyone who’s prone to seizures.
The tough part was getting home. The theater, like everything else, is on the other side of town from our place. We had five people and it was almost 3 a.m. by the time we left the movie. Not a good set of circumstances for hunting a taxi. So we walked through the streets of Beijing, which were surprisingly busy for the time of day, trying to find a taxi that would take five passengers. We walked about a mile before we even got one to stop for us. Of course, he stopped in the far left lane so we had to stand in the middle of the road to beg him to take five people. I took advantage of the situation and laid down in the middle of the street, which is something you don’t often get to do in Beijing.
By 3:30 we had to give up and split up the group. Will and Catherine went home first since the only address we’ve learned how to give to taxi drivers leaves them a 20-minute walk to their apartment. Then Joh and I searched for another taxi with our friend, Pang Li, who lives near us. We couldn’t find one anywhere until I saw one coming on the other side of the street and ran out to the median to get him to make a u-turn, which he did, passing several other people who were looking for rides. I think he liked my beard…
We finally got home at about 4:15, just as the sun started to rise. With an 8:30 start at work, it has not been a good day…
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