A Flick I Won't Be Watching

"Look at the cast: Cage and Voight and Helen Mirren and Ed Harris and Diane Kruger and Harvey Keitel and Justin Bartha and Bruce Greenwood. You could start with a cast like that and make one of the greatest movies of all time, which is not what happened here." --Roger Ebert, in his review of National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Yeah, in case you were wondering, I'm not seeing this movie. The first National Treasure movie came out shortly after DaVinci Code, but I still managed to catch it on the plane. It turned out to be crap anyways. From the trailer, this sequel seems as preposterous and boring as the first one; plus, Nicolas Cage is in it.

I'll pass.

The War on Sales

I mentioned a while ago how I used English to win in the meaningless war on sales. Well, I'm still winning, but I found that once in a while there's a brave soul who tries to fight the power by attempting to sell me something in English. Usually when these sales people discover I "don't speak Chinese", they pretend to have called the wrong number (kind of funny actually. Why would someone bother to ask if I spoke Chinese if they called the wrong number?).

One time, upon discovering I was a "foreigner", this guy responded by reading his sales pitch from a written statement. I decided to listen on and see how bad he butchers it. Normally, if you say you're not interested, these guys might make an attempt to convince you otherwise. This time, the guy read his pitch, and just politely hung up when I said no. It was like pressing the easy button.

Unfortunately, there is also collateral damage in the War on Sales. Sometimes I'll get a call from my bank, or my mobile provider, or a restaurant I made a reservation at. Though these calls are legitimate, they don't immediately identify themselves, so I naturally give them the "no Chinese" treatment. When I find out who they really are, its too late to turn back. I can't say "oh ha ha just kidding I actually do speak Chinese". So we both have to suck it up. The service rep has to use often broken English to try and convey the message to me, while I have to focus really hard to understand what he/she's trying to say. Collateral damage.

The Year in Review Meme

Includes invisible commentary. Highlight the commentary after the sentence to read it. This entry is John's idea.

January
January First Two Thousand and Seven marks the day Hong Kong banned smoking in most indoor public places. (Finally!)

February
My first time on the slopes was a blast. (This was to be the first of many vacations I took this year.)
March
Oscars 2007 came and went. (...and all I cared about was Al Gore's film about the environment.)
April
Doesn't it seem like so many of China's internationally recognized people are in prison? (The Chinese are punished for exposing their nation's flaws.)
May
Sports journalist Gary Thorne alleges that Curt Schilling's bloody socks in 2004 during game 6 of the ALCS and game 2 of the World Series were fake, meaning the blood was painted on. (...and Thorne does this for a living, how?)
June
6.4 不忘

July
Back from a relaxing weekend in Bangkok, followed by a hectic yet enjoyable week in Singapore. (Another vacation... unbelievable.)

August
First it was Randy Moss, then Kevin Garnett, and now Eric Gagne. (Yeah, Gagne turned out to be a really good acquisition, not.)
September
Just got back from a relaxing trip to Hokkaido. (I'm a bum... a bum that goes on vacation.)
October
I think its really dumb how Chinese people are superstitious. (How has superstition contributed to society? Ugly buildings? Unnecessary spending?)
November
It seems strange calling the Patriots underdogs in the match-up against the Colts just a couple hours ago. (Pats still going strong. I won't jinx them by announcing the record.)
December
I was shocked to discover last weekend that the "Ramen Street" in Causeway Bay has turned into an electronic shopping mall. (Even more shocking as to how this sentence has become the centerpiece for December.)

Alex Roy: Hero or Menace

Alex Roy just last month announced that he broke the record for travelling across the United States. He achieved this by using every bit of modern technology available to man (see video). This includes having a friend fly a plane above him to scout ahead for speed traps. Ambitious? Perhaps insane is a better word to describe this young, racing enthusiast. Enthusiast is perhaps the perfect word to describe Roy, as he is well known for participating in semi-illegal rallies such as the Gumball 3000. Roy is also known for his hilarious antics during the rallies. He is easily recognizable from his car (mostly the BMW M5), which he dresses with labels and paints and sirens identical to the elite traffic police cruiser of a certain country (different every time). He even dresses in full uniforms of the corresponding country's law enforcement to complete the look. Enthusiast indeed.

HSBC: Armchair Quarterback

The World's Bank? Maybe. The People's Bank? Certainly not. By attempting to raise the minimum ATM withdrawal limit in Hong Kong to HKD300 (almost USD40) last week, HSBC demonstrated that it is utterly oblivious to the lives of Hong Kong people. What they didn't understand is how much $300 is actually worth to the lower class of society. Furthermore, they didn't understand the value of $300 to the middle class.

For Hong Kong's low income workers, $300 could be 10% of their pay. Just think about it in that sense. If you made USD50,000 per year, would it be reasonable to ask you to withdraw USD400 each time at the ATM? You'd have to crumple those twenty $20s into a gangster roll and hope that you don't get mugged. As for the middle class folk, its not that withdrawing 300 dollars would inconvenience them, but they still value that amount as too much.

Despite all the information HSBC had (ATM records, bank account statements, credit card statements), they were unable to foresee the public strongly vetoing this move almost immediately. Why? Because it was a business decision to cut cost via shortening ATM lines (a higher minimum withdrawal = less withdrawing = shorter lines). HSBC probably never for one minute considered the thoughts, feelings, and habits of their most important asset: their customers.

Childish China

(Because of fools like Tsang, no one can take China seriously)

Indeed, the world has been forced to recognize and respect China as a superpower. Yet, despite all of China's success, why is she still looked down upon? Why can't the world take China seriously?

When China gets mad, it reverts to the behavior of a 13 year old. No kidding. Look what's happened in just the last two months. China turns away USS Kitty Hawk at the last minute for no apparent reason. Wu Yi storms off after Peter Mandelson criticized shoddy Chinese products. Tsang Tak-sing spouts rude nonsense during a legislative meeting because he's pissed off at anything non-China.

Why can't China hold her temper?

With the Kitty Hawk, it was rumored to be in retaliation for Bush meeting with and honoring the Dalai Lama. Why this pisses off China is a whole other story (I personally think China has bigger fish to fry than the friendliest, most famous Buddhist monk in the world, but oh well). However, punishing the US by not allowing the Kitty Hawk to dock at the last minute was an extremely childish behavior. This was not like a quarrelling teenage couple skipping out on a movie at the last minute. This was a nation rejecting the aircraft carrier of another nation after meticulous arrangements had been previously made. China decided to derail months of planning ahead because they were pissed at the US. The actions of a high schooler at best.

Wu had a spat with Mandelson because he criticized China's food safety issues. At the time, this seemed like quite a valid comment. Yet, whether it made sense or not, Wu shouldn't have pouted like a child. Being a top Chinese state official, she should have kept her cool. Instead, she acted like a whiny teenager.

After Anson Chan was elected to the Legislative Council, Secretary for Home Affairs (and extreme left winger) Tsang, decided to insult her during a Legislative meeting by calling her "suddenly democratic" and "suddenly caring about the people" in a snide and sarcastic tone. I don't know whether Tsang was bitter about Chan getting elected, or whether he was bitter about his imprisonment in 1967. Either way, his name calling during a Legislative meeting from someone of his stature was completely inappropriate. It caused an uproar among the Hong Kong people to such a degree that the media is still talking about it one week later.

I guess my questions are, what happened to China's composure? What's with all this immaturity? How does China expected the world to take them seriously when they treat international level issues with a child's demeanor? Someone needs to send out a memo telling the Chinese government to please grow up.

All Good Things...

I was shocked to discover last weekend that the "Ramen Street" in Causeway Bay has turned into an electronic shopping mall. The "street" is actually an indoor food court of some sorts. It had five or six restaurants. Most served ramen, and they all served Japanese food. Each shop had its own style of ramen. The most popular being the "pork toro ramen" shop.

Its disappointing how many restaurants that I feel comfortable going to are closing one by one. It is my own undoing, as I'm not very adventurous when dining alone. I'll find places I like, and simply won't go anywhere else... most of the time. Which is also why I don't look forward to people asking me where to eat. The answer for me is simple: I'll always suggest the places I like and always go to. However, that answer is unlikely to satisfy the person asking. "***** again?", is usually the response.

So all I'm left with are memories of some above average ramen and a now useless 20% off discount card, which I often forgot to use.