Word: bamboos
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...rocketmakers stage secret gatherings near Si Sutoh Temple at Kam Chanode three or four times a year, usually on important Buddhist festivals. Secret, that is, until the first blastoff, which can be heard for miles around. Kilograms of home-cooked explosive are packed into PVC tubes strapped to bamboo poles, fuses are connected to a car battery to provide an ignition spark, and then?whoosh!?the rockets shoot up into the stratosphere. It's illegal, and very, very dangerous, but that doesn't deter the moonshine-lubricated spectators crouched near the launching platform from placing bets on whose rocket...
...prescribed to spiritually cleanse the island after a mortal enemy attack. Priests plan to slaughter a deer, a bull, a cow, a goat, a turtle, a pig, a white swan, a red swan and a black dog with a black tongue, and each household on the island will erect bamboo poles laden with fruits, flowers and palm fronds. Rituals may vanquish ghosts, but they aren't known to scare off terrorists...
Director Robert Longbottom (Side Show) skillfully adds Asian seasoning to a gourmet spread of Broadway showmanship. In the opening scenes, Mei-Li's escape from China is pantomimed simply, with the help of bamboo poles manipulated by actors. In the big production number Chop Suey, the chorus girls are dressed as Chinese-takeout boxes. Even that delightfully retro standard I Enjoy Being a Girl, which starts in Linda's dressing room and ends as a number at the club, comes roaring back as if it were brand...
...below. An ancient Citro?n spun its wheels on the muddy track, in a scene that would bring Fowler to a rebel leader's camp in the Vietnam of 1953. Suddenly Noyce shouted and pointed at a tree line: "Somebody do something about those kids!" Two boys had climbed some bamboo trees and were swaying at the top, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style. Very cute, but it ruined the shot. A translator pleaded for the children to come down. Noyce folded his hands on top of his bowed head. Then he looked up and pointed again. "There's another one behind...
...same time, it’s all part of a history that was never mine. My life starts in the United States, with the advantages of a childhood spent in school and a house made of bricks instead of bamboo. My mother’s situation is far removed from the life I lead, and until recently I’ve let it remain this...