Where we're from, we have a fine and vibrant Chinatown. Not huge, but you can certainly get anything there that you can get here (well, except in the produce department). Still, we drop by Chinatown every Christmas to pick up the kind of trinkets, doodads and gewgaws that you can get for less than five bucks and hand out to that friend you run into from high school that you totally forgot to get a present for. We're loving the little embroidered purses which you can slide a mix CD, some tea or a box of nice incense in. Gift and wrapping in no time and for less than the cost of lunch.

So wandering amidst the Buddhas, jade, slippers and collared dresses we were looking for something for our bros. So we grabbed a bubble tea and dropped by Asiastar Entertainment on Grant between Broadway and Pacific. The place was packed to the gills with VCDs and DVDs from your favorite Cantonese stars. This is the kind of place we imagine our friends who always seem to be two years ahead of Quentin Tarantino get their flicks. What's really nice is that along the north wall, they have discs arranged by actor -- making it super easy to find your Maggie Cheung, Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li and Stephen Chow favorites.

Of course they also have all the latest Hollywood movies dubbed into Cantonese and Mandarin. We wonder what Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise sound like in Collateral. They carry mostly VCDs, which will play in a lot of DVD players and in almost any relatively modern computer. The DVDs they carry are usually region-locked for Hong Kong, but we didn't have any trouble playing Iron Monkey in our Playstation 2. Check the back of the discs to make sure they're at least dubbed and/or subtitled in English. We also saw no evidence of piracy, many of the discs having been shrinkwrapped with hologram bands and other security features. The cheapest disc we bought was Stephen Chow's God of Cookery VCD at a whopping four dollars - two copies, please! The most expensive was a Jet Li Martial Arts of Shaolin DVD that topped out at $15. Five awesome, unique gifts for $40? We'll be going back soon.

Asiastar Entertainment
1126 Grant Avenue
415-956-2090