Ordinary Gweilo

It's not big and it's not clever, it's just a Brit in Hong Kong writiing (mainly) about Hong Kong

recent posts

about

  • Up the prices

    Up is a perfectly decent movie – very good in parts – and Pixar maintain their tradition of well-developed characters and interesting storylines, whereas others in the digital animation world settle for far less (yes, this means you, Dreamworks).

    The bad news is that it is in 3D.  That means you have to pay more (higher ticket prices and  normal discounts do not apply), and you have to wear stupid plastic glasses.

    So why the 3D?  Toy Story II was not a great movie because of the digital animation, it was great because it used that technique to tell a story with engaging characters.  No need for silly gimmicks, thank you very much.

    Unfortunately, the film industry seem to think that 3D is the answer to their prayers – here’s something you can’t get on pirate copies (or on the DVD) of the movie.  If you want the 3D effect you need to go the cinema to get it.  And pay more for the privilege.

    Except I don’t want 3D.  If it were possible, I would have watched the normal (non-3D) version.  No need to pay higher prices, no need to wear silly glasses.  But I wasn’t given that choice. 

    Of course, I’d be quite happy to watch the film on DVD in boring old 2D, and I bet it will cost less than two cinemas tickets.  Which begs the question – is this really the answer to the film industry’s problems?  I’m saying no. 

  • East meets West (Rail)

    Today West Rail is extended, through the new Austin station and the existing East Tsim Sha Tsui station, to terminate at Hung Hom, where it finally links up with East Rail (the original KCR line from Kowloon to the border with mainland China). 

    This means that East Rail trains have stopped running to East Tsim Sha Tsui station, and once again terminate at Hung Hom, as they did from 1974 to 2004 (though the destination shown on trains then was always the slightly ambiguous 'Kowloon').  

    Prior to 1974, the terminus for the KCR (Kowloon Cantoon Railway) was near the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the original clock tower can still be seen close to the Cultural Centre.  

    I still don't understand why the station is called East Tsim Sha Tsui (rather than the official English name for the area – Tsim Sha Tsui East).  In Chinese the area and station have the same name (尖東 – the second character being 'East'), so this is clearly part of the ongoing campaign to confuse non-Chinese people. 

    There's also the puzzling romanization (which prompts visitors to call the area/station something like "Chim Shar Chewy") and the the official English pronunciation, which is similar(ish) but not the same as the Cantonese.

    Eventually, both East Rail and West Rail will be extended beyond Hung Hom (East Rail will go south to Admiralty, and West Rail will join up with Ma On Shan Rail).  Until then, passengers changing trains at Hung Hom will sometimes find the next train on the adjacent platform, and sometimes not.  Also, there are shorter trains and longer intervals on West Rail, so passengers who were previously persuaded to use East TST station may well switch back to the Tsuen Wan Line.

    Today there are vast numbers of MTR staff around at East TST and Hung Hom stations holding sign boards and explaining to passengers about the changes.  Presumably these are the same people who have been holding boards at Tseung Kwan O line stations for the last few weeks, to inform passengers about the new service to the inelegantly named LOHAS Park station.

    Which reminds me that recently the MTR has taken to announcing that trains will "stop service at xxxx", which sounds as if there is a problem.  What they actually mean is that this is the destination.        

  • Spurs nil

    It's all about money, innit?

    Tottenham didn't come to Hong Kong for any other reason.

    The problem is that a friendly match against South China doesn't suddenly become important because it is for the "Panasonic Cup".  They probably won't be the slightest bit concerned that this fine piece of silverware is now in the hands of South China rather than on its way to North London.

    Which is why Spurs started with the likes of Jonathan Obika, John Bostock, Danny Rose and Jake Livermore.  Not exactly the stars that people had paid their money to see.

    Ironically, although Harry Redknapp did bring on Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon in the second half, it was South China who scored – first with a rather clever chip by Chan Siu Ki, and then with a highly dubious penalty. 

    At least the second half was better than the dire first half, but it was clear for all to see that this was a game that Spurs simply wanted to get out of the way, and frankly they never looked like scoring.

    Maybe they don't care, but Spurs will not have won over any neutrals with the way they approached this game.

  • All the news we found by reading yesterday’s paper

    Today’s SCMP has a big story on the front page of the City section informing us that Cable TV would like to provide a free-to-air television channel.  They say that it’s unfair that TVB has a Pay TV service and free-to-air terrestrial channels, but no-one else is allowed to do both.  Which seems like a fair point.

    Indeed, it was a point that Cable TV’s very own spokesman put forward in a letter in Tuesday’s edition of the SCMP – though you wouldn’t know this from reading the story in today’s paper. 

    If anyone at the SCMP actually read the letters before they publish them, they would presumably have had the wit to put the story in Tuesday’s paper and not make themselves look like idiots by running it 24 hours later.

  • We call it a term – get over it!

    In Hong Kong, you often find the UK and US versions of books sitting next to each each on the shelves.  And generally the US version is significantly cheaper, but for many books from the UK I don't want the US version.

    Because they change stuff. 

    I remember reading the first of the Charlie Bone books and being really confused because it seemed to be set in the UK and yet it talked about semesters rather than terms.  Had I really got the wrong idea?  No, the US publisher had employed someone to go through the book and change all those pesky UK English words to their American English equivalents.

    Is this really necessary?  Wouldn't it be possible to have a brief glossary to explain a few of the terms that are different?

  • Eat more, eat less

    A recent study showed that being "overweight" can be good for you (Study: Overweight People Live Longer):

    There is more evidence that people who are overweight tend to live longer than people who are underweight, normal weight, or obese.  In a newly published study, people who were underweight and those who were extremely obese died the earliest.

    People who were overweight, but not obese, actually lived longer than people whose weight was considered normal, based on body mass index (BMI).

    This seems counter-intuitive because we are always told that we should be losing weight.  But wait – monkeys who are given 30% less food appear to stay healthier and live longer . 

    Over 20 years, monkeys whose diets were not restricted were nearly three times more likely to have died than those whose calories were counted.

    Writing in Science, the US researchers hailed the "major effect" of the diet.

    It involved reducing calorie intake by 30% while maintaining nutrition and appeared to impact upon many forms of age-related disease seen in monkeys, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy.

    It seems as if there is a study somewhere out there that will support almost any theory.

  • B&Q moves out

    I see that B&Q are closing their only store in Hong Kong, in the lovely Megabox in Kowloon Bay.  The SCMP rather ridiculously compares this to Carrefour’s withdrawal from Hong Kong a few years ago, but somehow doesn’t have the space to explain what actually happened. 

    B&Q simply had the wrong type of shop for Hong Kong (and in the wrong place, probably), whereas Carrefour found that several key suppliers were reluctant to do business with them – having been sent a clear message by the PnS/Wellcome duopoly that competition is not really such a good thing after all.   

  • Damp squib

    Another weekend, another typhoon signal. 

    Looking at the predicted direction of Tropical Storm Soudelor it never looked likely that it was going to come anywhere close to Hong Kong.  Yet the Observatory raised the no.3 (strong wind) signal – and on the basis that you can never be too careful the management here closed our outdoor swimming pool and applied tape to the windows of the clubhouse.  It was a bit windy, certainly, but it was never going to anything more than blow rubbish around.

    A few hours later the Observatory abandoned the no.3 signal.  Thanks, guys.

  • Chrome

    After the browser, the operating system.  As with the Chrome browser, it would appear that Google’s main interest may be in prompting Microsoft to respond.  If Microsoft can offer a cheaper (and smaller) OS to run on Netbooks, then that will bring down prices and encourage more people to go online more often – and click on more Google ads.

    In other Google news, GMail is no longer in “beta”, a mere ten years after it was launched.  Oh, alright, it’s only just over five years.

    Just recently they announced a few more minor improvements, the best of which is that you can ‘hide’ labels that you don’t use very much.   There are a still a whole big pile of things they ought to do, such as label hierachies and allowing you to add or remove emails from conversations (there’s a list of some of them here).  One day.

  • Panic?

    A 76-year-old man gets the flu, and is now in a "serious condition".  It's swine flu, so this is news.

    People get flu.  Unfortunately some of them do die, especially if they are elderly or sick.  This is nothing new – flu is much more serious than a cold (even if most people get them confused).

    Do not panic.  Do not close all schools (oh, they did already?).