Jacques Martin (25 September 1921 – 21 January 2010)
雅克斯•马丁 （1921年9月25日 - 2010年1月21日）
 
 

Tibet (29 October 1931 – 3 January 2010)
Tibet （1931年10月29日 - 2010年1月3日）

哐哐哐 is a nice Flash anime, but the humor they use is a little bit surprising for a Chinese production… Violence, blood, caricature of the educational system, and even… sex!
Moreover, the official website is: http://hutoon.comic.gov.cn
It means that it’s linked to Chinese Government… Weird! But, should we be still surprised about anything in China???
Ok, just watch the first on, you’ll understand:
情人节 (qíng rén jié) / Valentine’s Day

哐哐哐 writes "口交" (kǒu jiāo) on the blackboard. 口 means mouth, oral. 交 stands for relationship. So, put together it should mean kiss the mouth… but actually 口交 also means "blow job"
In the end, it’s written:
口交你爱的人 / Do some oral sex with your lover
情人节快乐！/ Happy Valentine’s Day!
CCP gives some good advice sometimes!
 
 
炸学校 (zhà xué xiào) / Blow up the school

When the teacher asks what’s the animal on the desk, 哐哐哐 replies 鸡。。。吧 (jī ba), which means “chicken…". 吧 is just a character that people usually put at the end of their sentences. But actually, 鸡巴 (jī ba) means "cock".
Then, she says 小流氓 (xiǎo liú máng), which means "small rogue" and starts to beat him. Seems that it is a little bit like Kenny in South Park. By the way, the universe of this Chinese cartoon also reminds Happy Tree Friends. The only difference is what you can see was applied for real in China to those who didn’t want to follow the "leaders", in politics, school or life…
Anyway, the school is exploding in the end, and everybody looks like happy
 
 
一毛钱 (yī máo qián) / One cent

The restrooms are so real!!!
The scene with the 2 small bad kids with their mother is great! Here is the dialog:
The kids: 妈妈！妈妈！/ Mother! Mother!
哐哐哐: 你妈！？ / Your mother!?
The kid adds: 的 (So, together: 你妈的 becomes an insult, meaning "fuck you")
The mother: 你说谁妈的？/ You say fuck who?, which can also be translated as: You said the mother of who?
哐哐哐: 他他他。。。他妈的！/ His mother!, which can also be translated as: Fuck!"
The mother: 你妈的！我让你骂人！小王八蛋！ / Fuck you! I curse you! Small son of a bitch!
 
 
三八线 (sān bā xiàn) / Line 38

Actually, “Line 38” refers to the thirty eighth parallel, forming the DMZ border between North and South Korea.
It seems that students in primary school call the line separating their tables like that, even nowadays (most of them ignoring the origin of this name).
 
 
愚人节放假一天 (yú rén jié fàng jià yī tiān) / April fool’s day holiday

 
 
国庆贺卡 (guó qìng hè kǎ) / National Day greeting card

Danwei TV presents episode 4 of The Shanghai Beat, titled "Graffiti Shanghai" (with bilingual subtitles). Featured band: 21 Grams. You can also watch on Tudou (faster loading / higher quality in China).

Continue reading "The Shanghai Beat: Graffiti Shanghai"

 
 
Actually, 三毛 has the same qualities as Tintin: it’s a nice & smart youngster, helping everybody.
Only two differences:
- scenarii & drawing are big shits
- and 三毛 is just here to wash your brain…

 
 
Yep, because he is "so" cool & his adventures are so unfunny, that you just wanna do a thing: kick his ass and burn his book
I get "三毛新生记 （张乐平连环漫画全集）" book, that can be translated by: "Sān máo’s new life (Zhāng lè píng’s cartoon complete work)", and it’s more than 250 pages. I’ve really tried to find something interesting or funny or some pics well drawn, but I didn’t find anything (ok, I’ve to admit that I didn’t read the whole book as it was too boring!…).

 
 
Maybe I’m just a 老外 and, therefore, I’m not able to understand such kind of art/culture…
Or maybe I’m too old for such king of comics… My parents should have given it to me to read when I was a kid

But for sure, 三毛 is one of the pieces of the complex puzzle whom is China.
Try to understand 三毛 adventures and which messages it wanna deliver, and then you’ll be a little bit closer to the People around you.

 
 
This book is a compilation of all the 三毛 strips between 1956 and 1986, and as you can see it’s hard to see some change in 30 years!…

 
 
 
Vocabulary - 词汇:
三毛 = Sān máo = three hairs
丁丁 = dīng dīng = Tintin
一同 = yī tóng = together
不如 = bù rú = be not as good as
春秋 = chūnqiū = history
科学 = kēxué = science
张乐平 = Zhāng lè píng = Zhāng lè píng is the author of 三毛
漫画 = màn huà = cartoon, caricature
雷锋 = Léi Fēng = Léi Fēng (1940-1962), a model for youngsters during the Cultural Revolution.
 
 
Sources - 来源:
三毛新生记 （张乐平连环漫画全集）
Sān máo’s new life (Zhāng lè píng’s cartoon complete work)
If you want to buy it (6rmb): http://www.tushucheng.com/book/1243378.html
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
三毛 (Sān máo) on Wikipedia (censored in China)

Translation:
Pope: "I came in peace, Constantinople!"
On the pennons: Go away Benedict!  Goddamn Pope!

Source:
Published in "Le Temps" newspaper, by Chappatte.
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/061128/340/5amta.html

As I’m not a manga addict, and as news from Japan are not so well broadcasted in France (and within the foreign French community), I’ve never heard about this new chef d’oeuvre…
Firstly, I’ve tried to find this movie (composed of 24 episodes of 24 minutes each) in the DVDs stores, here at Shanghai. But, it has been released too recently (in late 2004), so the only available version was Japanese with Chinese subtitles… Not so nice So, I’ve finally decided to download it on a P2P network, where the Japanese version with French subtitles is easily attainable (it seems that there is no version with French audio).

This unique adaptation features direction by Mahiro Maeda (The Animatrix, Blue Submarine No.6), costumes by world-renowned Anna Sui, and music by Jean-Jacques Burnel (bass guitar-leader from the English 80’s band The Stranglers). The production is from Gonzo Studios (Last Exile, Samurai 7).

The tale has been shifted to the future, nevertheless the action is still mainly located in France. The characters wear some old fashion clothes, but they use space ships… Policemen drive old Citroen DS but customized like Blade Runner vehicles…
 
Here is the trailer:

(If you are in China, you won’t be able to watch it, as Google Video doesn’t have the authorization from the Government to broadcast videos. In order to see it, please go here)
 
 
In December 2005 and January 2006, an exhibition, titled "Klimt, Schiele, Moser, Kokoschka. Vienna 1900", was held at the Paris’ Grand Palais hall and has shown all the episodes of Gankutsuou. This manga was selected as a work related to this exhibition because its 2D texture representation and color palette draw strong inspiration from Klimt’s artistic style.
I guess that you know this painter born in 1862 and dead in 1918 You’ve probably already see some of his most famous paintings, like:

"The Three Ages of Woman", 1905
 

You can easily see how Gankutsuou is inspired by Klimt, by comparing the following canvas, titled "Judith II" (1909) and a drawing of Haydée & the Count:

If you want to download all the episodes (Japanese with French subtitles!), I’ve put them on my FTP server at your disposal.
In the same directory, you can also download the marvelous OST and the Classic album (if you like opera, piano and classic music, I think that you’re going to appreciate it!).
If you don’t like FTP and prefer eMule , you can download all the episodes thanks to this file.
 
 
For those who have never read the original book, written by Alexandre Dumas in 1845, you can read it here.

A complete review about the manga is available here:
http://www.heroic-cinema.com/reviews/gnktsuo

More details on the two official websites:
http://www.montecristodvd.com
http://www.gankutsuou.com

Last but not least, you can watch another -unofficial- trailer: