Li Bingbing zaps zombies in Taiwan

Li Bingbing held a press conference and headlined the Taiwan premiere of Resident Evil 5: Retribution, showing some tricks of the trade for zombie slaughter while unarmed. A great smile and a lacy black dress works pretty well.

Earlier, LBB tried to think of a reason for everyone should get tickets to RE5 right away

And thanked the assembled press for the lovely vase.

Zimbio

Devil in a blue dress--Vicki Zhao Wei in Venice

Zhao Wei was one of the few Chinese actresses at the Venice International Film Festival this year and seemed to have a strange day while wearing a poorly chosen dress.

Things started out well enough with a spin around some canals--she skipped the hackneyed gondola for a more typical wooden inboard and looked relaxed and happy even though her train stayed on the dock while she climbed into the boat.

Everything remained sweetness and light while she strutted her stuff in the company of a dark-suited dandy that I didn't recognize.

Even stopping to pose like the little figures on the top of a wedding cake.

Suddenly the mood changed. Zhao Wei saw something very surprising--from her look she might be thinking anything from "Oh, no, we're late and they are starting without me" to "What the hell is she doing here".

She strode away looking ready for anything leaving her escort staring at the spot where she had just been.

Whatever it was that bothered her it led to a grim and unhappy looking actress facing the press on the red carpet.

Things seemed better later on when Zhao Wei posed with English actor Clive Owen after digging up a much more appropriate dress at the Jaeger-LeCoultre (they make expensive watches) gala dinner.

Xinhua; Sina

Karen Mok in a red dress

Fresh from cheering on Chinese athletes the London Olympics and in the middle of promoting her new English language album, Karen Mok took a break to show off some jewelry and a good bit of herself in an idiosyncratically cut dress. Since there can never be too many images of Karen Mok, here are a few:

Xinhua; Sina

Li Bingbing conquers the desert

Li Bingbing was busy saving Qinghai Lake from desertification a few weeks ago.

Suitable garbed for protection against sun and sand she took pictures to document the desert encroaching on the lake:

She checked the pots of algae being grown to spray on the sands to help develop plants that do well in changing environments:

Helped spray the algae around although, given the size of the area around Qinghai Lake (and nearby, more strategic locations) it looks like a Quixotic undertaking. The lake has a circumference of 360 kilometers:

The lake is a sacred place in Tibet and traversing its circumference a very efficient manner is one way to build up merit and be forgiven for one's transgressions:

Using algae to counter desertification seems to be scientifically accepted according to researchers at the Universtiy of Edinburgh although cynics might say that Beijing is more interested in keeping the shifting sands of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau from covering the tracks of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway than in the shores of the largest salt water lake in China. The railroad is called "the Road to Heaven" in Beijing; a looming environmental disaster and a dagger thrust into Tibetan national hopes elsewhere.

Sina; China Daily; China Dialog; Threatened Waters; TEW

A Hero Never Dies

Martin at A Hero Never Dies has been running a "10 Favorite (or Favourite, as you will) Hong Kong Movies" feature with lists and brief discussions from a lot of very knowledgeable viewers of the jade screen--and me. I was somehow included among those who actually know something. It is a fun bunch of lists, not the Ten Best or Ten Most Important, but just those liked the most for any reason at all. In addition to Hong Kong output A Hero Never Dies is an excellent portal to sites and sources for cult and action movies from everywhere.
A Hero Never Dies

Zhao Wei gets a giant key in Jilin City

Vicki Zhao Wei journeyed to Jilin City in the far northeast where they specialize in making keys and locks for really big doors, behind which live the model municipal workers that she was in town to honor. She was onstage for about 20 minutes, passed out a few autographed pictures, probably reminded everyone that Dangerous Liaisons will be opening soon and was whisked away to her next stop.

No worker came forward to claim the award nor were any identified, but one imagines that a model municipal worker in Jilin City or anywhere else in China would rank between the Stakhanovite ideal and the Beijing traffic police. Aleksey Stakhanov was the real life USSR version of the semi-mythical John Henry in the United States although John Henry was a steel drivin' man while Stakhanov was a coal miner. Beijing police officers were criticized when they wrote tickets for cars that were covered with debris or disabled by floodwaters during the recent flooding.

International Herald Tribune; Xinhua; Global Times; RT; ibiblio