CRYPTIC TIDBITS

- Blogwar...it's on! Disgruntled Chinese media types take their grievances to the BLOGOSPHERE but that really hacks off the PRC powers that be, who want this new-fangled technology known as the "intrawub" to reflect only one point of view...theirs!

- Wong Kar-wai's luggage is an alternate source of film distribution! China's artsy films like KEKEXILI, PEACOCK and BEIJING BICYCLE are finally getting public screenings, and that auteur of movies with one word titles (SHOWER, QUITTING, SUNFLOWER), Zhang Yang, writes an essay talking about exactly how his first film got distributed overseas.

- SHA PO LANG causes crime! It does. Remember that scene where all those gang members defy the cops by smashing their beer bottles to the ground? Now it's happening in real life but instead of causing Sammo Hung to cruise onto the scene and all kinds of crazy, kung fu hi-jinx to bust forth, in real life it just caused the cops to call other cops who showed up and arrested pretty much everyone who looked at them cross-eyed. (Full story, plus helpful diagram, here on EastSouthWestNorth)

- And in shark news a stoner was, like, totally attacked by a shark in Oregon but he punched it in the nose and it let go. "As I was waiting outside I just felt this shark thing grab my leg...I felt its rubbery feeling of the shark. And I could see the little black dots on its nose just really up close. It was just crazy..." Back onshore his friends tried to carry him to safety, but the pallet they made for him broke, sending him crashing to the ground. Finally they had to carry him on their shoulders.