慶祝的理由

就在23周年前一天，地球的另一邊舉行慶祝英女皇登基60周年的大型慶典。

我忽發奇想，想著如果香港還是英國的一份子，將會是個怎樣的光景？我們又會如何慶祝？

從來，香港都是孤兒仔。以前我們尚且可以掹車邊叨米字國的光，現在的香港人，對中國(很多人會稱之為「祖國」，但是我還未說得出口)沒有太大的歸屬感(在每年那個黑色的日子前後更尤其反感)，國慶都不過是多一天假期而已，英國的甚麼甚麼，自從十五年前那個下著滂沱大雨的晚上之後，就已經與我們毫不相干了。

我一直很羨慕其他國家的人興高采烈地歡度自己國家的慶節(例如國慶、國家傳統節日/巡遊、皇室人員大婚、體育選手凱旋回歸等)。在他們臉上，我看到他們對自己國家和民族的優越感。那些守候在泰晤士河畔觀賞巡遊的百萬民眾、在街上舉行派對狂歡的市民，還有聚集在白金漢宮希望一睹女皇風采的人，皆表露出他們對於身為大不列顛子民感到光榮和自豪。

 (圖片來源：Guardian 及 Daily Telegraph)

相反，每當幾萬、十幾萬，以至幾十萬香港人團結起來聚在一起時，都是基於令人遺憾的原因，例如每年那個黑色的日子，又例如每年的七一。純粹為香港/國家的緣故令全城哄動，盡情歡樂的場面，印象中似乎沒有。

明天又是那個一年一度黑色的日子，又到了香港人「出動」的日子。但願某年的這天，我們不須再帶著沈重哀傷的心情參加集會；但願某年的這天，我們再次聚在維園時，是為慶祝堅持民主抗爭的勝利。

至少，給我們一個慶祝的理由。

Football Family

There are much bigger things on a football pitch than rivalry and the game itself.

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2116638/Fabrice-Muamba-news-Gary-Cahill-reveals-Pray-Muamba-t-shirt.html)

(http://www.inthestands.co.uk/news/real-madrid-wear-t-shirts-in-support-of-fabrice-muamba-eric-abidal.html)

Draw Something II

A bit disappointed with the drawing this time. Proportion is a bit wrong. But nonetheless, a good practice. 

(Burano, 17 March 2012)

 

Draw Something

Butterfly, 16 March 2012

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

How this book is acclaimed to be one of the best spy novels is completely beyond me!

I was really excited to read this book as the movie is coming up soon. Turns out it was such a pain to read and I am so disappointed. The main plot was so simple – a former secret service agent searching for a mole in the service. Yet, there were, in my opinion, so many unnecessary characters, descriptions and sub-plots that diverged my attention and confused the hell out of me.

While I was reading, I kept asking myself if my English was up to understanding this “masterpiece” because I got so lost. I thought it was my problem. But then after reading a lot of reviews on the Internet afterwards, I realised at least I was not alone. Also, once you put the book down, it was so difficult to pick it up again as you would then lost the characters and/or the plot. So it actually took me quite some time to revisit some previous episodes before I could continue once again. Thankfully I read it with my Kindle and could easily make cross-references to the earlier parts of the book. Otherwise, I can imagine it would take so much longer for the process and my suffering would hence be prolonged.

Many a times, I was on the verge of abandoning the book because I thought I would never comprehend everything. But I hate so much to give up on books in the middle I kinda bite my lips and finished it – painstakingly if I might add. Even after I’ve finally completed the whole thing, there were still so many episodes dangling in my mind for they were not concluded / explained properly – loose ends not tied up. It was so irritating when I didn’t understand something, kept dwelling on it and couldn’t move ahead. Other times I just presumed what the author was trying to say only to find myself so wrong in the later pages. Pretty discouraging!

I wish I could like this book but it’s just never to be. Hopefully the movie will be better – I was told the movie presented the whole story in a more comprehensible way.

生日

人越大，生日似乎越不重要。小時候總是很期待生日的到來，大了之後開始有點抗拒這個特別的日子。也許是心魔作祟，不想承認自己「又」大一歲吧﹗

生日前一星期，媽已經問我想到哪裡慶祝，但我總是提不起勁，甚至覺得沒有甚麼必要。當然，有人問起會感到窩心，不過我在意的不在於慶祝生日的地點和形式，而是和我慶祝的人。所以如果有朋友問我要到哪裡吃飯慶祝，我多半都會說沒有所謂，希望不會冒犯了他們。

自從社交網絡變得普及之後，大家都會在朋友生日當天留言祝賀。就這個現象，我大概歸納出幾點： 

*** 千萬不要對號入座 ***

1.      最要好最知心的朋友，通常都不會在社交網絡留言。有時我都有這個心態，對好朋友的關心或祝賀，無須「公諸於世」，朋友之間私底下問候就好。

2.      有些相熟的朋友在社交網絡留言，雖然有點「例行公事」，但你仍會因為他們的祝福而心存感激。

3.      有些泛泛之交／很久沒有聯絡的朋友，你沒有想過他們會記得這個日子，但多得透過社交網絡的提醒功能，他們仍願意花丁點時間在留言版送上祝福，給你帶來驚喜。

4.      有些朋友準是忘記了，沒有留下片言隻字，但你會乾著急。(這些人大概在你心目中佔有一定的位置，可惜這種「關係」並不是相對的。)

5.      有些朋友雖然沒有祝福問候，但你不會生氣，也不會因此影響你們之間的友誼。(這些人大概是認識了很久但又不常見面／聯絡。你應該已很清楚他們的為人，以致你不會因這次「疏忽」而怪責他們。)

6.      有些「朋友」雖然沒有祝福問候，但你也不覺得有甚麼大不了。(該說明了這些人在你心目中的地位(如有)。)

* 

自從2011年起，我的生日便註定變得不一樣。珍惜所有，平安是福！

Nostalgia

Somewhere along the Great Ocean Road, South Australia, Jan 2006

My first and only helicopter ride, The Twelve Apostles, Australia, Jan 2006

Politicians - East meets West

Hong Kong’s leading officials don’t talk. They read aloud.

I really really dislike the fact that they fail to talk properly without referring to their iPad or a slip of paper. I acknowledge that sometimes one needs to quote statistics, or to get across a complex idea and that’s when you need something to help you. But why would you need to read from a script, for instance, while delivering an apology or merely telling people something that you have done? It’s absurd.

Take the Budget Speech earlier this month as an example. Why would any Legco member want to sit there and listen to the monotone of the Financial Secretary? He stood there like a statue with his eyes focusing on his reading stand. His delivery was lifeless and emotionless. Honestly, I don’t blame those who couldn’t resist and doze off. What’s the point anyway - when everyone was given a copy of the “speech” at the beginning of the meeting, one might as well read it at their own leisure.

On the other side of the world, President Obama was giving the State of the Union address. From what I can tell, he did not read from a script. There could be a teleprompter, but I can’t tell. It didn’t show anyway. He was poised. He kept looking around while addressing the congressmen. He controlled and varied the pace of his delivery. He enhanced his speech with appropriate gestures. Overall, he was natural and confident. It was such a joy just to listen to him.

I often wonder how politicians in the West can be so charming and charismatic, whereas the ones in Hong Kong, most of them anyway, are just drop-dead dull. Is this something to do with our upbringing – that people in the West are encouraged to speak up while Orientals are taught to be more reserved?

Somehow, you really cannot help but ask why there’s no Winston Churchill, or Martin Luther King, or Barack Obama, to name just a few, in our part of the globe. 

Sad but true.

There is only 1 St. James' Park

RIP - 119 years

St. James' Park, Newcastle, June 2007

Concert YY

嗯，是時候寫一寫YY。

*

在機緣巧合/誤打誤撞的情況下，終於去了2月14日作品展的尾場。完show後，我腦海中只浮起「夢幻」兩個字。

 
*

當晚的話題應有盡有：出席的流行歌手在香港樂壇都算是數一數二的(還有一些久未露面的)；唱的歌又真的是耳熟能詳(響起前奏已知道是甚麼歌的那種)；場面感人演繹真摯(甚麼泯恩仇之類)；激情惹火的一刻(!!!)……250元得到的滿足實在難以一一細說。如果可以再來一次，一定要買更貴的飛坐得更前!!

*

我得承認，之前一直沒有太留意Wyman，知道這個人，知道他填詞，但實在沒有太刻意打聽他的作品。雖然，近年聽歌開始越來越留意歌詞，但即使遇到好的詞，也不會特意去探究填詞人是誰。直至當晚才赫然發現，原來我是聽Wyman的歌大的!小玩意再見露絲瑪莉痛愛漩渦奇洛李維斯回信好心分手葡萄成熟時木紋可惜我是水瓶座最佳損友囍帖街陀飛輪等等等等……作品展中響起的每一首經典，每一首都表達著不同的心路歷程和意境，每一首都是那麼到肉窩心，每一首都帶我回到小學中學大學的自己。

*

音樂的感染力真奇妙! Thank you, Wyman!

Photography

(I am not an expert in photography.)

I believe one does not need to have a professional camera and advanced digital software to take/produce good photos.

Two observant eyes, imagination and your heart are all that you need.

Vatican Museum, Oct 2011

Race

You have to wonder why Rio kept being booed by Chelsea fans throughout the game. Last time I checked, it was his brother who might have been racially abused by JT?

What's wrong with these people? Are they for or against racial discrimination?

This City is Dying

Recently, two incidents have given me a terrible wrench and kept me wondering what has become of Hong Kong.

A District Council member was allegedly punched in the face by a Legislative Council member at the headquarters of Kuomintang, Taipei. If I were not mistaken, the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan and its members were synonymous with violence and brawls only some 10, 15 years ago and Hong Kong people used to regard that sort of barbaric behaviour with sneer. Just last week, when the Taiwan presidential election finally drew to a close, the world, Hong Kong included, joined in a chorus of admiration for the giant step forward by the nation of 23 million. Yet, amid the highly-applauded poise and composure of the Taiwan President-elect and the losing candidates came the despicable altercation, and possibly scuffle, among Hong Kong’s so-called “politicians”, more appropriately radicals nowadays. How Taiwan has improved. How Hong Kong has deteriorated.

I don’t remember when the use of violence, both verbal and physical, started to emerge in the once solemn and dignified LegCo. Somehow, this contemptuous culture has seeped through, gathered momentum and spread like cancerous cells in the community. What used to be a rarity has sadly become a norm. What used to be an alternate form of expression is now getting out of control. Why has our society evolved to be one of disputes and commotions? Aren’t these so-called “public figures” supposed to set up good examples and be role models in society? Why do these people think they need to resort to force to make their voice heard?

Another incident involves Times Square’s 18-year-old UA cinema making way for a French luxury fashion brand. The monthly rent of the premises is reportedly to be skyrocketed from the current 1.1 million to a whopping 20 million. The movie theatre’s manager shed some light on the grim reality – the gross revenue generated from the presumably-all-day-every-day-full-house theatre will not even be enough to cover the jaw-dropping rent, not to mention other costs and expenses.

Such is the depressing scene on the streets of Hong Kong nowadays, especially in the CBDs. Small-scale, and often family-run, businesses are gradually edged out by leading international enterprises thanks to the continuous influx of big spenders mainly from the Mainland. The immense financial resources of distinguished multinational corporations are unmatched by the modest capital of micro-businesses, whose ruthless elimination from the market not only endangers the livelihoods of the ordinary and self-sufficient owners and workers therein, but also slowly nibbles up the hard-fought image that Hong Kong has strived to establish throughout the years – the harmonious integration of east and west. Sooner rather than later, Hong Kong will merely turn into another metropolitan without its own distinct glamour and charisma as global high-end brand names flood our streets in another form of totalitarianism.

One of the candidates of our upcoming Hong Kong Chief Executive election maintained that his core value was to defend Hong Kong’s core value (Yes, it’s a tricky tongue-twister, I admit!). I wonder if he, a prominent entrepreneur himself, realises that Hong Kong’s core values nowadays have diverged from those our population was once so proud of. Camaraderie, perseverance and acceptance of diversity have been replaced by a certain degree of violence, a distorted interpretation of Darwin’s survival for the fittest and the domination of influential tycoons and mega-enterprises.

Indeed the Hong Kong I grew up in has declined in a certain sense. It is now a city where our government splashes out on new headquarters and extravagant high-speed rails while shelving plans for upgrading its medical institutions. This is a world renowned metropolitan where some people can afford to indulge themselves in lavish lifestyles while others live in “cage homes” and earn their meagre living by selling scrap paper and aluminium cans.

Hong Kong is sick and is getting worse day by day. 

台灣總統大選

上星期每次轉到新聞台，都在報道有關台灣總統大選的激烈戰況：從藍綠對碰、民調走勢，以至參選人在各縣市拉票、電視辯論、造勢大會等等，各媒體對是次選舉的報道可謂鋪天蓋地，應有盡有。
 

我曾在家中多次抱怨：怎麼又是台灣總統選舉的報道？台灣與香港明明算不上親，人家選總統，怎麼香港傳媒也要湊起熱鬧來，直擊採訪，幫人家宣傳造勢？台灣選舉跟香港有關係麼？

然後，上星期六晚，新聞台直播大選結束後的點票情況，看著每隔一兩分鐘便更新一次的得票數字，我也開始著緊起來。再然後，兩位一直旗鼓相當的候選人出來宣布勝選／敗選。我在電視螢幕目睹台灣選民望著當選／落選人發表演說時那殷切的眼神，或激動，或感動，或笑中有淚，或淚中帶笑，我看到台灣民眾那份執著、熱情，我方才明白，「民主」原來可以如此扣人心弦，觸動人的心思情緒。

我雖然沒有緊貼台灣總統選舉的報道，但是從我在新聞或報紙聽到讀到的片言隻字所得的印象，今次大選工作非常嚴緊，所有細節均一絲不苟，例如在選舉前十多天不准媒體再公布民意調查的結果，以免左右選情、最後的造勢晚會／宣傳活動必須在競選前一晚十時之前結束、選舉當日不准在票站外拉票（就連香港特地到台灣感受選舉氣氛的「觀選團」在票站外大合照時，團員舉起「V」字的勝利手勢，也因為涉及「變相表達支持」2號候選人的「意向」而被勸諭）等等。

哥感嘆說，在一人一票的選舉中，即使輸了，也雖敗猶榮。是的，有600萬人支持自己的信念理想，即使當不上總統，但對於從政的人，也可以說是於願足矣，無憾了。如果台灣的「雙英」對決是君子之爭，我們香港的「雙英」豬狼會，又該怎樣形容呢？各懷鬼胎？利慾薰心？還是笑裡藏刀？我們這群隔岸觀火的等閒之輩，除了唉聲嘆氣，還可以做些甚麼？只見我們的特首參選人每天（我重覆，是每天！）隔空唇槍舌劍，互相攻擊，開出大量不知當選後會否兌現的支票，實在令人很膩。再想深一層，這些「參選人」所謂的政綱究竟對誰人交代呢？是中央政府嗎？理性清醒的你會想，他們明明是競逐香港特首一職。是選民嗎？可笑的是，在七百多萬人的香港，選民只有一千二百人。是廣大香港市民嗎？對不起，大部分「廣大」市民都無權直接參與選舉，只有透過那間接得不能再間接的選舉委員會「代表」我們。This city is dying, you know？

香港傳媒密切關注這次台灣總統大選，算得上是自憐嗎？還是自慚形穢？抑或是預演一次「希望有朝一日會降臨香港的普選」？噢，我想多了，該是為今年三月舉行的「不用選已知結果的浪費資源超小圈子選舉」來一次熱身。香港爭取一人一票普選的道路崎嶇漫長，由最初的2007年，到後來的2012年，到近來「疑似」有機會成真的2017年（雖然一直未有明確證實），不知道我們還要等多久。
 

民主並非必然，也得來不易。現時，香港就只有羨慕台灣的一份兒。但願終有一日，香港人都可以像台灣人一樣，一人一票選出自己的代表，實現真正的民主。

「你可以哭泣，但不要洩氣。你可以悲傷，但是不要放棄。」放諸香港現時所處的困局亦同樣適用。

共勉之。

Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea

I first read about this book in the Daily Telegraph in early 2010 and was instantly hooked. I have long been interested in North Korea, a mysterious, secluded nation with a repressive regime notorious to many.

Yet, apart from the rather pretentious scenes the state wants us to see in Pyongyang, what do we really know about this country and, more importantly, its people? As such, the true stories of the six defectors depicted in the book were highly revealing. It was almost too depressing to read. All the minute details of the lives of ordinary North Korean civilians, which were frequently swept under the carpet by the totalitarian regime, were brought to the surface for the very first time.

The most striking and memorable part of the book was about the death of Kim Il-sung, the Great Marshal of DPRK. It was said that any North Korean would remember the day they learnt of their president’s death, a day of immense significance in the country’s history. On that day and during the subsequent 10-day mourning period, tens of thousands of people flocked to pay tribute to their beloved fatherly-like figure at different symbolic venues and monuments, similar to what we saw on TV following Kim Jong-il’s passing. The book offered an explanation for the flood of massive grieving crowds onto the street – they were organised, or more like “forced”, by their communities, work units, schools etc. to pay their respect to the late leader. According to the defectors, everybody had to “perform their duty” several times a day due to their multiple capacities as habitant of a certain residential community, factory worker, teacher, student etc. In case you still have further doubts, mourners were said to be handed food in return for their commendable loyalty and affection which, if I may add, probably gave them extra incentives to queue and lay flowers at the foot of Kim Il-sung’s statues time and time again given the dire food shortage in North Korea at that time.

In the end, who’s deceiving whom? The government fabricates all sorts of laughable tales regarding the Kims and feeds its people with various brainwashing propaganda every single day. Meanwhile, civilians fool their state with their seemingly unstoppable tears and hysterical sorrow. A kindergarten girl was said to rub saliva all over her face and pretended to wail uncontrollably. It was also mentioned that one of the defectors, a prestigious university student studying in Pyongyang, was so troubled by his inability to produce tears he forced himself not to blink in order to make his eyes water.

In the midst of crises, people at the lowest rung of the society ladder are often hit the hardest. Such was the misery faced by ordinary civilians amid the devastating famine in the 1990s while those with a firm grip on power organised lavish banquets lasted for days. Frogs, rats, tree barks, weeds… the most unimaginable edibles became heavenly delicacies for the poor souls. They begged. They stole. They searched in deserted no man’s land. They traded in the black market. They scrambled whatever they could to fill their stomach and to survive. On crossing the border, Dr. Kim, one of the defectors, saw a bowl of rice lying on the ground in a Chinese village. It had been years since she last saw white rice. Just as she was pondering, a dog appeared and ate from the bowl. It was only then the bitter fact hit home – Chinese dogs were more well-fed than North Korean doctors.

I feel truly sorry for the North Koreans. I really do. The relentless bombardment of newspeak and their dreadful isolation from the outside world have led them to believe that they were not any worse off than their counterparts. In fact, they were taught that they were the elite race, the chosen people with every reasons to be proud. Ignorance is an insidious crime, more so in today’s globalised world driven by rapid dissemination of information. But then, to the North Koreans who are stuck in their fatherland and lead a rather miserable life, perhaps ignorance is, in a way, the best thing that God has bestowed them.

A well-known nursery rhyme in North Korea goes:

“Uri Abogi, our father, we have nothing to envy in the world.
Our house is within the embrace of the Workers' party.
We are all brother and sisters.
Even if a sea of fire comes towards us, sweet children do not need to be afraid.
Our father is here.
We have nothing to envy.”

How ironic. How pitiful.

    

I own the above two versions and have read the books in 2010 (left) and 2012 (right) respectively. Still, the stories are as shocking and captivating as ever.

More on the book: http://nothingtoenvy.com/