Archive for March, 2012

• VIDEO – The Birth of the MTR (Documentary)

  Date: 2012.03.30 | Category: Architecture & Infrastructure, History & Abandoned HK, Video | Response: 3

  Here’s a great documentary from 1986 – it’s available in full on YouTube, split over 5 videos. It’s testament to one of the most efficient subway systems in the world in a city where 95% of journeys are made by public transport.

  Also note the highly authoritative and unnecessarily epic soundtrack – documentary makers didn’t fuck around in the 80s…

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• BLOG – Shut Up and Take My Money #2

  Date: 2012.03.28 | Category: Shut Up and Take My Money | Response: 0

  Roll up and head over to Groupon HK for a product that may come in ‘handy’ for anyone looking for an egg-related Easter gift…  Join the 300+ adventurous batchelors who purchased yesterday’s festive hot deal – a “Hygienic, one-time-use, manually-manipulated product that comes with a packet of lubricant“. Bringing a new meaning to ‘cracking’ one out, this unbeatable product comes with free ‘discreet delivery’.

  Buyers will be relieved to learn that Tenga eggs accommodate all sizes (although the ‘twister’ egg looks postiviely painful!)

  

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• EVENT – Art HK 2012

  Date: 2012.03.26 | Category: Events | Response: 4

  This year’s ART HK kicks off on May 17th (Thurs), continuing until May 20th (Sun). There are 266 galleries exhibiting at the Wanchai Exhibition Centre – roughly half of the galleries are Asian, half are Western. Next to Clockenflap, it’s the one event in HK I look forward to the most. Below are a few highlights from the previous two years.

  • Official website, Twitter feed and Facebook page.

  

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• BLOG – Hollywood Destroys the Bank of China Building

  Date: 2012.03.24 | Category: Blog | Response: 2

  In what is undoubtely an act of very poor Feng Shui, Hollywood has given an approving nod to the Fragrant Harbour’s splendid architecture by blowing it up. Due for local release on April 11th and with scenes set in downtown Honkey Donkey Land, ‘Battleship‘ is a romantic comedy following an American woman (Rihanna) who attempts to adapt to life with her Chinese boyfriend with hilarious consequences terrible CGI-ridden action film. We haven’t been this flattered since Hong Kongers wiped out half of the human race in ‘Contagion’.

  Check out the Bank of China footage in the new trailer here and from another angle below (at around the 1-minute mark).

  

  Occupy Central’s new tactics get a little out of hand

  

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• POLITICS – ‘Election’ this Sunday as Popvote.hk is Hacked

  Date: 2012.03.23 | Category: Politics: All Posts | Response: 0

  On Sunday the new leader of Hong Kong will be anointed in a ‘small circle poll’, and it appears Beijing  have decided in favour of CY Leung. His full manifesto can be found here (PDF).

  Residents angry about the territory’s lack of universal suffrage are being encouraged to vote and make their voice heard at popvote.hk. However, this morning, the site came under DDOS attack, presumably from (government-sponsored?) mainland cyber hacktivists.

  

  Links:

  • Bad Canto blog on netizen’s reactions to CY Leung.
  • Hemlock on how Beijing dumped Henry Tang in favour of the least hated candidate.
  • TIME Magazine feature on the elections.
  • Wall St Journal on last week’s TV debate. and the full debate on YouTube (adjust your speaker balance to isolate just the English audio (it is broadcast like this in NICAM stereo).
  • Reuters article predicting big protests on election day.
  • Detailed Wikipedia low-down on the election thus far.
  
  Above is the queue in Tai Wai at the Popvote polling station. (via HK Magazine)

  Below is a Cantonese viral video urging the candidates to address the real issues facing Hong Kongers (translation below)…

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• PHOTOGRAPHY – ‘The Part of Hong Kong Foreigners Never See’

  Date: 2012.03.22 | Category: Photography & Wallpapers | Response: 1

  Few photographers venture beyond the glittering neon to Hong Kong’s gritty underbelly, but investment advisor Jonathan Van Smit made a deliberate effort to document some of the city’s poorer neighbourhoods. I wouldn’t agree that most foreigners haven’t seen this side of HK, though perhaps some tourists haven’t…

  A set of 24 mostly monochrome shots are now up in a gallery at Business Advisor, and many more on his Flickr feed. 

  

  

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• PLACES – Abandoned Villages in HK’s Wild South West: Shek Pik to Tai O

  Date: 2012.03.21 | Category: History & Abandoned HK, Photography & Wallpapers, Places & Attractions | Response: 0

  This hike traces the south western coast of Lantau from Shek Pik Reservoir to Tai O. Here is a full-resolution gallery of the pictures below. It’s a relatively flat hike of around 3-4hrs or 20km.

  Catch bus 11 from Tung Chung, alight after the bridge over the reservoir. Continue from the reservoir for around an hour/5km and take the first trail on the left after the waterfall. If you trace the coast, it continues through woods, abandoned villages, old farmland and empty beaches. Fan Lau Tsuen is a ghost village at the mid-point that was once home to 200 people.

  Towards the end of the hike are some abandoned salt plains where you’ll now find mangroves (and a terrible amount of washed-up litter).

  A 30 minute detour takes you to the 300-year old remnants of Fan Lau Fort.

  • GPS Runkeeper track of the hike.
  • Time Out article

  

  

  This is a preview. Read the full post (148 words, 19 images)

• EVENT – Tomorrow at The Wanch: 4 Bands and a Bake Sale.

  Date: 2012.03.20 | Category: Art & Music, Events | Response: 0

  Charity gig(s) with bake sale tomorrow (Wendesday 21st) at The Wanch in aid of The Arkh Project. Below is the line-up, as per the FB event page, scroll down for an interview with the HK’s finest – 9Maps…

  9 Maps: Achingly beautiful acoustic folk with some pensive sadness and creepy vocal harmonies straight out of the voices in your head thrown in.

  Tigerbombers: Rollicking Rn’B, stomping surf wax cool, and vice-addled punk rock shambles never sounded (or looked) this damn good.

  Sun Eskimos: Barely legal and braceless, Janice Ngiamcat leads the charge to bring some upbeat and delightfully summery goodness to this shit fucking sickening and miserable weather.

  Dude Law: Bottles aloft and high fives at the ready! Punk rock that’s less leather and spikes and more flannel and beards.

  

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• BLOG – Hidden Agenda Raided Again Over the Weekend

  Date: 2012.03.19 | Category: Art & Music, Blog, Politics: All Posts | Response: 1

  Hidden Agenda was raided again on Saturday (March 17th, during this gig). Hailed by Time Out as the best music venue in the city, it has been under constant harrassment from the police.

  The photos below are from two open pages on Facebook currently going viral (here and here)

  

  

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• BLOG – Nanny State Much?

  Date: 2012.03.19 | Category: Blog | Response: 0

  Your tax dollars at work. Funnily enough, the feature opposite – dealing with weapons of mass destruction – is deemed perfectly suitable for our innocent eyes…

  

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