Pukman @ WinK: the community that time didn't forget

I finally got to see Kung Fu Panda. It was very funny, with great action scenes. One of my favorite pieces of dialogue:

Yesterday is history

Tomorrow's a mystery

That's why they call it the present.

You may be interested to hear that the PUK Library has just obtained the 15 books in the Primary Classic Readers series. Check them out in LibraryThing! (You may need to log in to view this page.)

All the books are retellings of traditional tales. They offer you a good chance to read any stories you don't know, and also an opportunity to re-read stories that you already know.

It's been a long time since I was so excited about movies. As I mentioned before, Forbidden Kingdom was great, and apparently the Terminator series isn't dead. And I'm still waiting for the chance to see Kung Fu Panda. And in just a few days, the Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie will start playing. By many accounts, it's the best of all the Batman movies. It's noted especially for the performance as the Joker of Heath Ledger, who sadly died not long after filming was over. As usual, I recommend watching the trailer at the Apple movies site, but I recommend that you also explore the official movie site, which has downloads, games, and a photo gallery.

I like Earl Grey tea very much, and recently came across Earl Grey tea from the East India Company. The East India Company is famous for its trading, political, and military activities in the 17th to 19th centuries, but I hadn't realised it still existed, so I bought the tea with interest. I later found out that the makers of this tea are actually a company founded in 1987, with no link to the original East India Company. But that doesn't matter because the tea was great!

Most Earl Grey tea gets its distinctive flavour from bergamot oil. According to the company's research, however, that oil wasn't known in the early days of Earl Grey tea, and they suggest that neroli oil (oil from the flowers of the bitter orange tree) is likely to have been the original flavouring, so that's what they now use in an attempt to recreate the original tea.

It looks like the best place to find out about different kinds of Earl Grey tea is the Tending Towards Tea site.

Do you know Minnie Driver? She is one of my favorite actresses, but, after starring in Good Will Hunting, she doesn't seem to have been in many movies. But on the Apple Movie Trailers site, I just came across a trailer for a new movie, Take. It looks interesting. I've no idea if it will ever come to Kumamoto, but I assume it will at least be available on DVD at some time.

Do you like martial arts? If so, I think you'll enjoy Forbidden Kingdom. It stars both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as well as Collin Chou, another kung fu star. Jackie Chan's movies usually include a lot of slapstick humour, and it's a long time since I saw him fighting in a conventional way. But in this movie he fights a lot, including a duel with Jet Li. For a preview, I recommend trailer 2 at Apple's movie trailers site. I also recommend exploring the movie site, which has a timeline and free downloads.