Tea and Jeopardy 10 – A Chat with Lauren Beukes
The tenth episode of Tea and Jeopardy is now live and you can find it here.
In this episode, the entirely fabulous author Lauren Beukes is invited into my tea lair. We talk about discombobulation, Fairest (set in the splendid Fables universe) and what we should all call Lauren once she has taken over the world.
If you love Tea and Jeopardy and want to join the Order of the Sacred Tea Cup, our Patreon page is here.
There’s a question at the end, feel free to leave your answer below but I’m afraid the winner has already been picked. You can find out who it was in episode 11.
We made so many mistakes there are actually 2 blooper reels for this episode (we were tired and I was stressed about going to Worldcon. Also, Pete and I are a bit silly…) You can find part 1 here and part 2 here. Warning: swearing, innuendo and general stupidity.
Credits for sound effects can be found here.
Unfortunately, my friend, I am not well versed with Hong Kong style martial arts films. I barely got a third of the references in FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, for example.
Martial arts movies! Yay! Donnie Yen is SO GOOD. Sometimes I watch Once Upon A Time In China 2 just for the bits with him being all smug and arch in.
I have some recommendations which you may have already seen, but I think mentioning them is time well spent.
Drunken Master – light on plot and even lighter on sense, this is a classic Jackie Chan movie. The fight scenes are completely overshadowed by the training he receives, which is brutal in a way that many others in the genre have tried to emulate and failed.
Brotherhood of the Wolf (Les pacte des loups) – a French film made in 2001, BotW is an absolute exercise in style over substance. Lavishly shot with a carefree disregard for the standard conventions of plot development, the film is interspersed with segments where Mark Dacascos* strips down to a thong and kicks people in the neck. Extremely notable for the bit where mild-mannered naturalist de Fronsac goes ballistic and ends up fighting Vincent Cassel in a fight that is – thematically – a straight lift from Soul Caliber II.
The Samurai Trilogy (Twilight Samurai/The Hidden Blade/Love and Honour) – these aren’t technically martial arts movies, but I think they are worth a mention because they do something within the framework of the classic samurai movie that is genuinely brilliant. All three pivot around violent confrontations, but violence is used sparingly. It is consequential – every encounter has a serious outcome – and all of the protagonists feel truly reluctant to commit themselves to the final battle. Where every other hero is built up towards the final act, the characters in these three films are stripped bare, every weakness is revealed. They are stunning pieces of cinema.
*If you have not seen Mark Dacascos in Drive or Crying Freeman, then you have not *lived*. Classics of the what-can-I-get-on-VHS-at-the-market-for-three-quid era.**
**I once got Mortal Kombat for 50p. Robbed, I tell you. Robbed.