Our selection for this week is an institution of a film, especially if you're from anywhere near the area Brendan grew up. Sadly, despite its critical and popular acclaim, not even this surprising gem can survive the onslaught of Star Wars anecdotes that begins shortly into the second half of this podcast, which includes Echo confusing Jedi muppets with Chinese breakfast foods among other things. If you stay on topic and recognize our mystery film, though, get your guess in to echo@popupchinese.com for a chance to win a free premium subscription to the best Chinese learning site: Popup Chinese.
 said on
March 21, 2009
The misdirection is strong with this one :-) Definitely nothing to do with Star Wars, although it is the third in a series that got progressively worse. Making sequels sure can be a rocky road.
 said on
March 21, 2009
@imron,

唉,imron啊imron,让我说你什么好...

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 21, 2009
I think that while there were some lackluster parts in this franchise, the last and most recent installment was a knockout.
 said on
March 21, 2009
I went down for the count watching the penultimate film. Much like the episode of Police Academy which involved them investigating a retirement home, it removed my will to live for about two hours.
 said on
March 22, 2009
It is indeed a rocky road!
 said on
March 22, 2009
Man, after all these clues, I pity the fool who hasn't figured this out already!
 said on
March 23, 2009
I've never seen any of the movies so I've no idea which number this one is but the clues have begun to be rather obvious.

Let me add another one myself. I once dated a guy with the same last name as the star of this movie and I'm not the only Danish girl to have like a guy with that name.
 said on
March 23, 2009
You once dated a guy with the last name Kenobi?!
 said on
March 23, 2009
@Lunetta - "Skywalker?" Or "Luftrumgåtur?"

Actually, a personal connection to both films: 'Skywalker' is apparently a distant cousin, and a friend of my mother's was the high school principal who expelled the star of *this* movie.
 said on
March 23, 2009
@Brendan, 'himmelgænger'would sound better but nice try.

Echo, I'm on your side! These guys are evil! I'm beginning to think I got it wrong.
 said on
March 23, 2009
Let's not guess movie. Imron, guess who's Echo in the following video -- http://frankfradella.com/ (the madman in beijing) made by our great and lovely film maker.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 23, 2009
@Lunetta,

谢谢支持啊!!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 24, 2009
@echo: No need to guess :-) You're in the clip at 0:44-0:46 on left of the screen standing next to David. Considering there are plenty of pictures of you here on popup chinese, that was a slightly easier challenge than Film Friday :-)
 said on
March 24, 2009
@imron,

...Popup上真的有很多我的照片吗?我怎么不觉得,呵呵。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 24, 2009
@Lunetta: That's what I get for resorting to Google Translate. You're probably right about the movie, but that doesn't mean we're going to let up on you -- we're big believers in "going the distance" with our misdirection.
 said on
March 24, 2009
@imron,

I need to make it clear that the short hair girl on the "Thank You" column is not me...

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 24, 2009
Brendan, I think that comment suits you to a "T".
 said on
March 24, 2009
@echo, I know, but presumably this is you? :-) And that is the same person in the video at 0:44.

There are also more pictures on the photo roll of the community page, and each picture has popup text that usually mentions the name of the person/people in it.
 said on
March 24, 2009
Echo 是那个可爱的!
 said on
March 26, 2009
@maxiewawa,

我就爱听这个,哈哈。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 28, 2009
Answer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084602/

I don't think this was much of a challenge after *ahem* some of the posts here. We got a lot of correct guesses anyway. Echo will pick the winner over the weekend and contact the lucky winner by email.

Also... no Film Friday this week, although we've got a podcast coming for you guys tomorrow. So enjoy the rest and be sure to check in over the weekend. It'll be a good one.
 said on
March 28, 2009
I don't think this was much of a challenge after *ahem* some of the posts here.
Haha, ok, sorry, point taken. I'll stop making posts like that in the future.
 said on
March 28, 2009
imron - No worries, mate. We were all having our bit of fun with it. :)
 said on
March 28, 2009
@Frank, @imron - doesn't bother me at all actually. Maybe keeping the actual title out of film out of the posts here might be a good idea though.

And oddly enough, there were still some people who got it wrong. Probably listeners to the RSS feed.