Results tagged “thedavincicode”

Another week, another edition of Shanghaiist Reads. SH and Shanghai Talk are on the clock …

How many times have you found yourself sitting around your living room just itching to attend a local expo? Didn't think so. Well, for those out there who are interested, get those reading glasses ready. If the previously mentioned Sex Expo ("Sexpo"?) isn't quite your cup of naughty tea, then perhaps this might better suit your uptight needs. As reported last week in Shanghai Daily, the 2006 Shanghai Book Fair will be held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center (the former site of Jewish millionaire Silas Hardoon's Old Shanghai garden estate) from August 5 to 11.

Shanghaiist was never a good cheater -- we raised the hand that had the history of the American Civil War scribbled on it to hail the teacher over. Chinese students, on the other hand, are much more adept and much more high-tech about it. However, remember that these things do backfire.

LAist is flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with their new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other.

Something's definitely afoot in the smoky backrooms of Zhongnanhai and the smoke-free and spooky chambers of the Vatican: China is pulling The Da Vinci Code off screens nationwide. So far, there is no official reason, just conjectures. The Scotsman said that it had something to do with Beijing's relations to the Vatican:

This unhealthy obsession with movies is going to stop soon ... but first, we just have to tell you what we just heard.

It's been an eventful few weeks on the movie front as we dodge the shitty movies that get thrown at us left and right. Chinese audiences weren't too keen on The Da Vinci Code, in part because most of the people who had gone to see it had already read the book, and the plot of the movie hewed so closely to the book that there was little suspense as to what the conclusion would be. Oh well, at least we have the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival (Jun 17-25) to look forward to. Or not -- we've never been before. Several years ago, we went to buy tickets, but quickly lost heart after we saw the huge lines. Movie theater etiquette aside, we see no real point in spending that much dough when films like The Passenger are readily available at your local DVD shop -- every day is a film festival in Shanghai!

Getting paper tickets has always freaked us out a bit since we're pretty forgetful -- and e-tickets are so much more convenient anyway. Now it seems all we have to worry about now is forgetting our phone, because Shanghai has gone ahead and decided to sell movie tickets on mobile phones. These tickets will include the time, place and name of the movie that you're going to watch, and you just have to bring your phone and have it scanned in order to enter the movie theater. The report says that this service started on May 16, so it's not likely that you know anyone who has done it yet, but one thing's for sure -- all these high tech conveniences won't really matter to the 200 million people living on less than 1 US dollar a day in China. Anyway, here's one of the websites where you can buy tickets -- and they seem to have The Da Vinci Code tickets for sale for the release of the film on Friday.