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BY HELENA CHAOEpoch Times Staff

Featuring an all-star voice cast and helmed by Tim Burton (“Nightmare Before Christmas”), Shane Acker (director of the Academy Award nominated short film “9”), and Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”), “9” is an astonishingly original and creative satire on the ever-popular theme of man versus machine.

Director Shane Acker was nomi-nated for an Academy Award in 2005 for his “9” animated short film and has spent the past four years working on the feature-length ver-sion. Dazzling animation and origi-nal storytelling will enthrall viewers in this post-apocalyptic world.

The story begins when a scientist is ordered to create a machine that would help build more machines to relieve humans of their daily tasks. This machine, called the B.R.A.I.N. (Binary Reactive Artificially Intelli-gent Neurocircuit), is apprehended by the tyrannical Chancellor to build battle machines to help him seize control of the world.

However, the B.R.A.I.N. eventu-ally is pushed to its limit and begins turning on humankind, killing the Chancellor and building horrific machines whose sole purpose is to wipe out mankind.

Along the way, we’re intro-duced to a “stitchpunk” character called 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood.) Stitchpunks resemble dolls made of burlap sacks and old clothing zippers. Then 9 discovers that he

is in a post-apocalyptic world, de-void of humankind as a result of years of war between humans and machines. He accidentally comes across eight other “stitchpunks” (voiced by an A-list cast including Christopher Plummer, Martin Lan-dau, Jennifer Connelly, and John C. Reilly) each with their own number, distinguishing features, and repre-sentation of a unique human qual-ity—courage, loyalty, fear, knowl-edge, curiosity, invention, strength, creativity, and leadership.

These stitchpunks are mankind’s

remaining hope. Under the leader-ship of 9, they forge a daring and dangerous war against B.R.A.I.N. and its evil creations (including the Cat Beast, the Winged Beast, and the utterly frightening Seamstress).

The Movie “9” entertains and challenges on many levels. Plac-ing the brilliant animation aside, “9” skillfully cautions against the danger of over-dependence and reli-ance on computers and machinery while reminding us of the beauty and magnificence of the human spirit.

Machines battle humanity in animated satireMovie review: ‘9’

RUN FROM THE MACHINES: (L-R) Elijah Wood and Jennifer Connelly voice characters in the animated film "9." Focus Features

the Grapevine

Ludacris gives away carsRapper Ludacris has given away 20 cars to winners of an essay contest sponsored by the art-ist’s foundation. Approximately 4,000 contestants submitted essays explaining their employ-ment difficulties and how a lack

of personal transportation has contributed to their challenges. Ludacris told the AP, “To be ef-ficient, you need some transpor-tation of your own to get there. That's why I wanted to give back to those who need it."

Gibb brothers ready to be Bee Gees Again

In a recent interview with BBC Radio, musician Robin Gibb dis-closed that he and his brother Barry, are preparing to perform live again, six years after the tragic death of their brother and band mate, Mau-rice. He explained that the two re-maining Bee Gees had “got through

the breakwater of emotions.” The Bee Gees were one of the most pop-ular bands of the 1970s, and many of their hits such as “Stayin’ Alive” are considered classics.

Compiled by Barbara Danza, Epoch Times Staff

By HELENA ZHUEpoch Times Staff

NEW YORK—As a little girl, Li Yan was completely enamored with the piano she received as a gift on her first birthday. “I just adored the sound of it,” said Li, who grew up in the city of Dalian, in northeast China.

“At such a young age I did not have a deep understanding of the arts, but I had a very natural love for the piano. As I sang with my piano, I felt that we were connected. It was like a child-hood friend to me. When I was young, I liked to be alone with my piano and live in the world of music.”

Li, now a virtuoso classical pianist who cultivates her art at the renowned Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, won the silver award in the 2008 New Tang Dynasty Televison (NTDTV) Inter-national Chinese Piano Competition. She formally began her studies at age four with a Chinese-Canadian piano professor from Liaoning University. She was the youngest student of the well-known professor. Just a year later she won first prize in a children’s piano competition in her home town.

As Li’s pursuit of music intensi-fied, her grandparents, with whom she lived, became resistant; both were university professors who hoped she would take a more “orthodox” career path.

But Li’s persistence gradually proved to her grandparents that piano was her talent. Not long after she won her first competition, she was admitted to the Dalian Northern School of Music and Dance to study piano. Soon her grand-parents took pleasure in watching their young granddaughter perform once a week.

At age nine, Li’s mother decided to bring her daughter to Moscow to pursue her musical education with world-renowned Russian pianists. She studied at the Moscow Chopin

Conservatory of Music, one of Rus-sia’s most prestigious music acad-emies. Her instructor, Kira Alexan-drovna Shashkina, had taught Mikhail Pletnev, founder and artistic director of the Russian National Orchestra.

Li then went on to study at the Cen-tral Music School of Moscow Tchai-kovsky State Conservatory—one of the oldest music institutions in Russia. Studying under pianist Schmitt Alexei Mikhailovich, she finished the four-year curriculum within 18 months.

“Classical music is both pure and sacred,” said Li, adding that Mikhailov-ich, one of the best organists in the world, was an avid researcher of Bach.

“He told me that contemporary peo-ple are no longer incorporating Bach’s

original inner meaning while playing his music. He said that Bach’s music came from above; therefore, the pianist needs to have a virtuous heart, classy personality, and a clean soul in order to express the pure beauty of that era.”

Coming to AmeriCAAn opportunity presented itself in 2007 when Li received an invitation to perform as a soloist in “Holiday Wonders,” a premiere Chinese dance and music show in New York bring-ing together leading dancers, choreog-raphers, and musicians from around the world.

The following year she revisited the United States to participate in the 2008 NTDTV International Chinese

Piano Competition, bringing her to the world’s stage. She played reper-toires by different composers includ-ing Beethoven’s Sonata “Pathétique.”

“She played the beginning chords of Beethoven’s Sonata op.13 with such well-trained skills and tech-niques,” said Becky Yao, a judge in the competition.

“Li Yan’s music is very deep and strong. I think the sound can be even heard from very far away. This power-ful sound is a sign of skill, as well as a characteristic of Beethoven’s style. And she wasn’t banging the piano—it was coming from her inner force, which is linked to her personality.”

Yao also noted Li’s demeanour, considered an important aspect of a musician.

“Her stage presence matches the qualities of the composer of the rep-ertoire—very upright and virtuous. When a musician is upright, his or her spiritual realm would also be high, which enables him or her to have a bet-ter understanding of the piano pieces.”

All the judges were deeply im-pressed by Li’s extraordinary talent.

After the NTDTV competition, Li decided to remain in the United States to attend the Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, an advanced school and training center noted for grooming professional Chinese artists in accelerated training.

“Although I gained very great fun-damental skills under the strict train-ing of renowned piano pedagogues, I learned most of the real meaning behind music from Fei Tian,” said Li, who has studied at the school for a year now. “Fei Tian holds that tech-nique alone doesn’t do it—that a per-son’s upright qualities contribute to the influence and deep understanding of music.”

At Fei Tian, she was introduced to classical Chinese music along with the essence of traditional Chinese culture and arts, connecting her back to her ethnic roots.

“I learned that music is meant to en-courage people to pursue good things,” she said, adding that she hopes she “can help revive this great culture for my U.S. friends.”

From China to Moscow to New YorkThe path of piano virtuoso Li Yan

YOUNG VIRTUOSO: Li Yan (R) accepts her International Chinese Piano Competition silver award from Lijuan Ma, chair of the organizing committee for the NTDTV Global Competition Series. Dai BinG/the epoch times

Jerry Lewis’s telethon a successThe 44th Annual Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon aired over Labour Day weekend and raised an impressive $60.5 million for Jerry Lewis’s famous charity organization. The 21 1/2 hour event reached an estimated 40 million viewers and featured celebrities such as Jann Carl, Nancy O’Dell, Allison Sweeney,

Dolly Parton, Reba McIntire, Joshua Bell, and many more. Jerry Lewis said, “Right now, the only thing I can think of to say, other than thank you, thank you is, ‘love conquers all.’ So many people, ev-erywhere, even with cares of their own, dug deep to show their won-derful compassion for others who need their help.”

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