Monday, May 11, 2009

Trek II: CNSA Logo, and "My Friend is Obviously Chinese"


So, two connected thoughts before my weird, re-invigorated Trek madness evaporates and I incriminate myself and this nascent blog further. 

1. "My Friend is Obviously Chinese" 

Episode: The City on the Edge of Forever (Aired April 6, 1967)


Spock: "You were saying you'll have no trouble explaining it..."
Kirk: "My friend is obviously...Chinese. I see you've noticed the ears. They're actually easy to explain...."
Spock: "Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child...."
Kirk: "The unfortunate accident he had as a child....He caught his head in a mechanical...rice-picker. But fortunately there was an American...missionary living close by who was actually a ...skilled plastic surgeon in civilian life...."

2. Was Spock Obviously Chinese? 
After an embarrassing run through my Baidu skills, I was finally able to run searches on Spock [史巴克] and Vulcans [] "Live Long and Prosper"? "Only Nixon could go to China"? That Confucian combination of altruistic ethics and repression? Striking of the gong before Pon Farr? Plausibly impossible at the height of the Cold War, yet see The Journal of Cold Warstudies, even, for their treatment. 

3. Final exhibit of evidence, the Chinese National Space Administration Logo, as pointed out by this blogger
My mind is burnt from work - updates on thoughts on Ai Wei Wei and Mei Lan Fang ASAP.  

Read Full Post

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The World of William Shatner: Oriental Sex (Playboy)

After a terrible hiatus, and in celebration of the forthcoming disaster of the resurrection of the Star Trek franchise (sex'ed up Vulcan grips and all!), here is a tidbit from Playboy 1959 feature "Oriental Sex."

Covered are productions of The World of Suzie Wong - where Shatner headlined as the love interest of that hooker with a heart of gold (left, not looking so fun now) -  and the Flower Drum Song (below, Nancy Kwan singing in the 1961 film). The news hook
"Gone, happily, are the days when the showbiz idea of Asian beauty was Myrna Loy with upswept eyebrows as the Daughter of Fu Manchu. Now, the legitimate stages of Broadway and the desert casinos of Las Vegas have become truly oriented to the Orient and are featuring Far-East femininity which is (if we may be allowed to shift gears and invoke the name of another Irish gentleman) the McCoy."
Let it be said: UHURA HAD IT BETTER. 



Read Full Post