TripDingo

Stephen Chow, a relatively recent (to many Westerners) Chinese funny-man famous for Shaolin Soccer (er, football, yeah) and Kung-Fu Hustle, made an appearance in Shanghai today to promote his new film, ??7? (”Chang Jiang Qi Hao” in Mandarin, “Cheung Gong 7 Hou” in Cantonese, or CJ7 for the non-Chinese inclined). I wouldn’t have known had I not literally walked into the premiere’s red carpets, barricades, security guards, and the gathering crowds at Shanghai’s Daning Plaza on my way to a very late lunch dinner at the plaza’s local Ajisen Noodles.

Despite onsetting frostbite and emaciating starvation, I decided to wait around to catch a glimpse of Stephen Chow after being told by a security guard that he’d be arriving at 5:00pm. After all, my watch was reading 4:59pm and it’d be nice to add Stephen Chow to my list of “famous people I’ve been in close-proximity to” (which includes thus far includes Leslie Nielsen in a Minneapolis elevator and William Shatner at a Hollywood cafe and…uh…yeah). Plus, while Kung Fu Hustle was a bit of a letdown, I thoroughly enjoyed Shaolin Soccer (watch the original, do not watch the American bastardization) to the point where it is definitely on my Top 10 Favorite Comedies list. I mean, the goal keeper got his knickers blown off. That’s 100% awesome.

Judging by the lack of human density at the time, I knew it would be a while yet before Stephen Chow would show up. Walking down a red carpet with the cameras recording and without a respectable throng of humanity crowding around to get a peek at your precious mug would be pretty embarassing for any celebrity. However, when you’ve managed to get a spot right by the carpet and more and more people are gathering about, you feel obliged to stand your ground despite better judgement (or a growling midsection). The event organizers also do silly things (albeit not entirely intentionally) that always gives you the false hope that something is going to happen soon…anytime now…like turning on the lights or amping up the music or having someone semi-important looking walking by and gesturing to the guards that it’ll just be a few more minutes more, shit like that.

I waited there for over an hour. Snow began falling. I was so hungry.

At about 6:12pm, Stephen Chow showed up, long graying hair and all. As short as I imagined, he walked by with his co-stars as I repeatedly snapped lousy blurry cell-phone pictures in futility when I should’ve just savored the moment and gotten a good look (or reach out and grope him for extra points).

Over one hour of waiting with frozen fingers and toes and all I got was a bunch of lousy blurry pictures. Fantastic.

He and the stars were due on a nearby stage but I couldn’t really be bothered to go watch. The mass of congregated humanity had already started migrating towards the stage and I wasn’t at an optimal section of the red carpet to ensure that I’d get a nice viewing spot. So, as the tide surged towards the stage, I clawed my way in the opposite direction…like the mighty salmon swimming upstream towards the promised land of survival (for food, not for reproduction in this case).

CJ7 looks to be another fairly humourous Stephen Chow production with plenty of family-entertainment appeal.