Hey, you're always asking me where I find stuff...
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Little Link List 23
Video editing to make music - Amateur;
Great - Hong Kong now has its own Seafood Guide (shark fin still on the menu though);
Nice review of a film I really like - Rushmore.
Great - Hong Kong now has its own Seafood Guide (shark fin still on the menu though);
Nice review of a film I really like - Rushmore.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Three Odd Things
It's been an odd week here in Hong Kong - three odd things have happened (or are about to happen).
The first odd thing is that Hong Kong's serial dog killer, the Bowen Road Dog Slayer, has struck again. This unknown individual has made a habit of leaving meat laced with pesticide by the side of Bowen Road, where inevitably dogs who are being walked 'off-leash' by their owners find the meat, eat it and invariably die a gruesome death. Actually, the person responsible has been doing it since 1989 and still hasn't been caught. This week four dogs have been poisoned, two of which have died.
After every reported slaying a tide of letters praising or excoriating the Slayer are published in the local (English) paper (don't click the link - they won't let you in). The two main arguments are "dogs and their owners are filthy and get what they deserve" or "dogs are wonderful and the Slayer should be force-fed his own medicine". Meanwhile the killing continues.
The second odd thing is a great racing crime - on Wednesday morning at the Happy Valley Racecourse an official found explosive devices planted in the ground, just hours before Wednesday's night horse races began.
This story is great - 15 devices were planted in the ground, each located exactly where the starting gates would be for each horse. Each device was capable of launching a syringe filled with some kind of liquid into the air via a blast of compressed air.
It's such a wonderfully crazy crime - presumably the liquid would be a drug designed to hinder or help the performance of a particular horse. So if they wanted horse #3 to win, simply press the remote control marked "3", a syringe flies up out of the ground and jabs the horse in the belly, and next thing you know the horse has romped home in record time and keeps on asking for some chocolate biscuits.
Ingenious and yet impossibly stupid at the same time. You'd think that after a while people would start to notice all the horses running around with syringes hanging out of them.
The third odd thing, and it won't happen until Sunday, is that there will be an election to decide who will be the next Chief Executive. This is very very odd, because the last two Chief Executives were elected unopposed. It's kind of tedious to go into detail but here's a brief run-down of how I understand the system works. There are about 800 people who are eligible to vote. Some of them are directly elected by sectors of the public (e.g. doctors, lawyers). The rest are appointed, which means they are acceptable to the Chinese Government and can be relied upon to vote the right way.
The previous two times no other candidate got enough nominations to run in the election, so Beijing's choice was elected unopposed. However this time Alan Leong, a lawyer who campaigned on a platform of universal suffrage for Hong Kong, received enough nominations to run. So on Sunday the 800 people who get to vote will actually have to make a choice.
There's no danger of Beijing's man losing of course, but it's been an interesting few weeks here.
The first odd thing is that Hong Kong's serial dog killer, the Bowen Road Dog Slayer, has struck again. This unknown individual has made a habit of leaving meat laced with pesticide by the side of Bowen Road, where inevitably dogs who are being walked 'off-leash' by their owners find the meat, eat it and invariably die a gruesome death. Actually, the person responsible has been doing it since 1989 and still hasn't been caught. This week four dogs have been poisoned, two of which have died.
After every reported slaying a tide of letters praising or excoriating the Slayer are published in the local (English) paper (don't click the link - they won't let you in). The two main arguments are "dogs and their owners are filthy and get what they deserve" or "dogs are wonderful and the Slayer should be force-fed his own medicine". Meanwhile the killing continues.
The second odd thing is a great racing crime - on Wednesday morning at the Happy Valley Racecourse an official found explosive devices planted in the ground, just hours before Wednesday's night horse races began.
This story is great - 15 devices were planted in the ground, each located exactly where the starting gates would be for each horse. Each device was capable of launching a syringe filled with some kind of liquid into the air via a blast of compressed air.
It's such a wonderfully crazy crime - presumably the liquid would be a drug designed to hinder or help the performance of a particular horse. So if they wanted horse #3 to win, simply press the remote control marked "3", a syringe flies up out of the ground and jabs the horse in the belly, and next thing you know the horse has romped home in record time and keeps on asking for some chocolate biscuits.
Ingenious and yet impossibly stupid at the same time. You'd think that after a while people would start to notice all the horses running around with syringes hanging out of them.
The third odd thing, and it won't happen until Sunday, is that there will be an election to decide who will be the next Chief Executive. This is very very odd, because the last two Chief Executives were elected unopposed. It's kind of tedious to go into detail but here's a brief run-down of how I understand the system works. There are about 800 people who are eligible to vote. Some of them are directly elected by sectors of the public (e.g. doctors, lawyers). The rest are appointed, which means they are acceptable to the Chinese Government and can be relied upon to vote the right way.
The previous two times no other candidate got enough nominations to run in the election, so Beijing's choice was elected unopposed. However this time Alan Leong, a lawyer who campaigned on a platform of universal suffrage for Hong Kong, received enough nominations to run. So on Sunday the 800 people who get to vote will actually have to make a choice.
There's no danger of Beijing's man losing of course, but it's been an interesting few weeks here.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Brief Roundup
Oh dear - quite some time since I gave this any attention. So better get back to it. Here's a brief round up of what's been going on.
1) Left Hong Kong for Italy.
We went to Italy on our honeymoon (only about one year late). On the way I...
2) Found out my Hong Kong visa had expired
I neglected to renew it and only realised it when the customs official at HK airport pointed it out to me and then took me off to one of the small rooms where you feel like you could be made to have a cavity check at any second. Fortunately he just fined me HK$160 and told me I'd have to renew the visa after my holiday.
3) Arrived in London
Where I discovered that London is pretty big and quite grimy. And then I found out that budget air-travel Euro-style is a very depressing experience. But no matter, because...
4) Rome, Florence, San Gimignano and Cinque Terre are very very good
Really, Italy was a fantastic place for a holiday. Even though the place was packed (in the off-season!) it was great.
5) My favourite Italian word is:
"Treno". For "train". I don't know why, it just is.
6) Too much Jesus and Marble
Really, it seemed like there was a a good thousand or so years in Italy where the only thing anyone could paint was either Jesus or his Mum. Or possibly a Pope. Even though it was incredible to see all the wonderful pieces of art, in the end I was screaming for a simple picture of a horse, or a dog, or something.
7) The Tate is great
Back through London on the way to HK - we visited the Tate Modern art museum. It was fantastic - "Ooh look, there's a Picasso, hey there's that Elvis picture by Warhol, that row of bricks, the can of the artist's own excrement, a Braques or two, Duchamp's urinal etc." Really, really incredible overview of 20th century art.
8) Had a quintessential UK experience
Got smashed in a pub on a Friday with a mate, then stumbled off on the Tube and had a kebab on the way home. According to an English colleague the thing only I missed out on was getting beaten up.
9) Arrived back in HK in time for the next Bone Table gig, which is this Saturday night at the Fringe Club, with the Shotgun She-ras, get down there if you can!
1) Left Hong Kong for Italy.
We went to Italy on our honeymoon (only about one year late). On the way I...
2) Found out my Hong Kong visa had expired
I neglected to renew it and only realised it when the customs official at HK airport pointed it out to me and then took me off to one of the small rooms where you feel like you could be made to have a cavity check at any second. Fortunately he just fined me HK$160 and told me I'd have to renew the visa after my holiday.
3) Arrived in London
Where I discovered that London is pretty big and quite grimy. And then I found out that budget air-travel Euro-style is a very depressing experience. But no matter, because...
4) Rome, Florence, San Gimignano and Cinque Terre are very very good
Really, Italy was a fantastic place for a holiday. Even though the place was packed (in the off-season!) it was great.
5) My favourite Italian word is:
"Treno". For "train". I don't know why, it just is.
6) Too much Jesus and Marble
Really, it seemed like there was a a good thousand or so years in Italy where the only thing anyone could paint was either Jesus or his Mum. Or possibly a Pope. Even though it was incredible to see all the wonderful pieces of art, in the end I was screaming for a simple picture of a horse, or a dog, or something.
7) The Tate is great
Back through London on the way to HK - we visited the Tate Modern art museum. It was fantastic - "Ooh look, there's a Picasso, hey there's that Elvis picture by Warhol, that row of bricks, the can of the artist's own excrement, a Braques or two, Duchamp's urinal etc." Really, really incredible overview of 20th century art.
8) Had a quintessential UK experience
Got smashed in a pub on a Friday with a mate, then stumbled off on the Tube and had a kebab on the way home. According to an English colleague the thing only I missed out on was getting beaten up.
9) Arrived back in HK in time for the next Bone Table gig, which is this Saturday night at the Fringe Club, with the Shotgun She-ras, get down there if you can!
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