An Afternoon at the Top

I need to start this entry by conveying immense thanks to AnD's Patrick (Rottendoubt) and Jenn Tse for making this possible, and to Kevin "The Golden Rock" Ma for his assistance and enthusiasm.

Today I got to see Hong Kong from a new perspective. I went  to Sewa (Sevva?), which is on the 25th floor of the Prince's Building in Central. 

Shocking as you may find it, this is not generally the kind of place I am found. Or find myself.

But today was different.

Today was special.

Today I had a really good reason to be there, and I was very glad to be there.

Today, I got to meet one of Hong Kong's iconic stars.

Thanks to the kindness and generosity of his daughter Jenn (and an assist from Rottendoubt), I got to interviewPatrick Tse Yin(謝賢) for my research about gambling and mahjong films.

It was a surreal and thoroughly great hour of my life to sit at a table across from a man who has been in over 200 movies, many of which are among not only my favorites, but also very important  Hong Kong films, like Story of a Discharged Prisoner 英雄本色, which was remade by John Woo as A Better Tomorrow. Or Shaolin Soccer, or Challenge of the Gamesters, or... you see my point.

I was most interested (today) in his Gambler persona from his Shaw Brothers era. He talked about his roles, his acting, the movies, and lots of other stuff.

Like all the Shaw Brother alumni that I have met, he is a composed, dignified, and thoroughly realistic person. It is nice to watch someone entitled to be a bit full of themselves be anything but: He laughed at his real-life gambling record and said it was impossible to uphold the image of the perpetually triumphant characters he portrayed.

The other thing I noticed about him was something you see in almost all his films: he carries himself with grace and composure such that he is always poised while completely relaxed.I told Jenn that I marvel at it if for no other reason than I have always been thoroughly incapable of it.

She says he is always like that. While taking this photo, Jenn pointed out his arm; see what she means?The Chinese word for suave is謝賢.

In the dictionary, it has his picture, too.There's no way I could be even a quarter as smooth, funny, and, charming as Tse Yin. I'm just lucky I got to meet him.