Tag: Mongolia

How to Win ‘Physical: 100’

November 25, 2025

Be awesome. That’s how! I know there’s a cash prize and that’s technically the primary motivator, but these are athletes who bring their own sets of motivations to this new, weird game: they want to win, they want to prove themselves, and in the case of Physical: Asia, they want to do right by their team. Actually, and to the consternation of some, these athletes are also sometimes influencers, which brings an additional motivation. Now, I don’t begrudge anyone who’s made uncomfortable by the very concept of influencers, the worst of whom do immoral, even illegal things for attention and money, and once we reasonably assume that that doesn’t apply to the contestants of Physical: Asia, we may still be uncomfortable that these talented, determined people don’t make enough money with their day job and need a side hustle, one subject to the whims of the heartless algorithm and the court of public opinion (itself blunted by social media). … More How to Win ‘Physical: 100’

The Conquerors: Nomad and Mongol

December 28, 2020

So, the mission of With Eyes East is to promote Asian cinema and culture, and a very easy way for me to do that is to look at movies which are already cultural outreaches, movies like The Raid: Redemption from Indonesia or Furie from Vietnam. I don’t have to crane my neck; in fact, I might only have to look as far as an episode of The Amazing Race. I’m gonna stop you right there, Phil, because I’ve had my share of tet a tet with CBS copyright lawyers in the past. Well, just one; he thought my name was Josh. But basically, Phil’s saying that KazakhFilm is one of Kazakhstan’s major studios, responsible for a Ghengis Khan movie nominated for an Oscar. And I said, “Bullshit,” because I know Nomad: The Warrior was not nominated for an Oscar. After cursory research, I discovered I’m half-correct. KazakhFilm’s first blockbuster production was Nomad: The Warrior, co-directed by Sergei Bodrov, and it was submitted to the Academy as Kazakhstan’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not nominated. Two years later, Bodrov returned with a movie called Mongol — the one actually about Ghengis Khan — and this was indeed nominated for that same award. So today, I want to take a look at what goes into film as ambassadorship, with these two Kazakh films as our example. How did they successfully introduce an international audience to the culture of… who? … More The Conquerors: Nomad and Mongol