TEDxHongKong is Live

I am watching TEDxHongKong Live. It is live for the next few hours until 5pm HK time, Tue Aug 31st. (3am MST/Calgary time, Aug 31, 2010).

Live-ish blogging (in reverse time order, latest first)

- Check out my live Twitter updates until I get a chance to put them here in this article.

- Martin talking about the Bamboo movement. Seems cool.

- Martin Tam is on the stage. Check out his articles “Industrialising Bamboo (2009)” and “Living Building (2007)“.

- Interesting “Stop reclamation” poster in Christine Loh‘s speech. Changing people’s mindset.

- Listening to Christine Loh speaking about Creativity live at #TEDxHongKong

***

Here are some info from TEDxHongKong,

“In the spirit of TED, we at TEDxHong Kong aim to convey to the community, businesses and institutions “ideas worth spreading” by putting together local and international speakers to inspire action and make a difference towards a sustainable Hong Kong. Through TEDxHong Kong and TEDxYouth Day we will engage the people of Hong Kong; challenge conventional wisdom through “creative action” and change the way we view the world through motivational, intellectual and entertaining experiences. The theme “Creativity in Action” will be used to highlight the role of innovation in tackling environmental, social and corporate sustainability issues critical to Hong Kong’s future prosperity.

What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxHong Kong, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxHong Kong event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.“

一家五口 一萬四千公里單車遊北美

Calgary family completes 13-month, 14,000-km cycling trek across North America, Calgary Herald

“A family of five pedalled back to their home in southwest Calgary on Aug. 23, 13 months after rolling off to bicycle around North America.

Rick and Tanya McFerrin cycled 14,000 kilometres through Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with their sons Sampson, 9, Markos, 7, and Tarn, 5.”

For more info check out the McFerrin Family Blog and the charitable organization Two Wheel View.

卡加里唐人街 – 台灣壁畫

I had a lot of fun chatting with Calgary artist Dean Stanton about his latest art project, a Taiwan Wall Mural he is creating with the help of Calgarians for the Calgary Chinatown Centennial. Dean‘s Taiwan Wall Mural is a wonderful idea that gets Calgarians to paint something meaningful to them and possibly related to Taiwan, and it also helps reclaim a backstreet in Chinatown.

For the years I’ve been living in Calgary, I have never ever once walked in the backstreet of the building until I interviewed Dean. And now I will definitely try to check out the final Wall Mural when I next visit Calgary Chinatown. (more info about Dean here)

Here is my video interview with Dean about his Taiwan Wall Mural Art Project.

加拿大的搞笑試飲

Few days ago, I posted the following challenge and hoped someone would notice what was going on and we could have some fun in the discussions.

Try to state what you see in the video clip and explain why.

Bonus points: explain what you don’t see but can imagine happen.

Well, it is time to post my observation/solution.

Points noted in Haricot’s & hevangel’s comments.

- it was a “free” sample tasting.

- The girl gave money (pennies, nickels, or dimes) to people for them to give the coins right back to her before they take their drinks.

Additional points not covered in posted comments.

- To me, the key issue not covered in the comments was why the girl gave people (I will call them the “samplers”) the coins, so they can give the coins back to her before taking the drinks?

- To me, what was happening was the artificial creation of a contract and the money (a penny/nickel/dime) was the “consideration“. I bet some “smart” lawyers must have cooked up this “contract” to try to solve some “problem”.

- You may ask, what problem?

走路要看風景啊… – Life is in the journey…

Life is in the journey, you won’t care about the number of zeros in your bank account when you die.

走路要看風景啊… by 侯文詠 Houwenyong on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 9:13am

小時候常想，要是能想小學生一樣，有零用錢買糖果，一定很幸福。

讀小學想，要是能像大哥哥一樣長那麼高，可以打籃球，一定很幸福。

讀中學時想，要是能像大學生一樣談戀愛，一定很幸福。

當實習醫師時想，要能像住院醫師那麼威風，一定很幸福。

當住院醫師時又想，要能變成主治醫師，穿自己的白長袍，一定很幸福。
……

一路走過來，等終於變成了心中想望的角色時，有了這個角色的煩惱，又開始努力，等待、盼望另一個角色。

有個臨終病人告訴我，他一輩子都是這樣，以為下一個角色會更幸福，但現在他的人生快走完了，回頭一看，他浪費了這生大部份的時間在等待。

是啊，等待，

很多人認為幸福是外在的擁有。等我有錢，有權、有名、或等我有男朋友……我就幸福了。

但幸福實在是一種內在的能力，像走路那麼簡單，學會了馬上可以成立，並且一生都可以用的能力。等待的人總愛把人生際遇當成幸福本身，殊不知那其實只是路況，對走路的人來說，不管情況如何，路總是走著，而真正的幸福還在一路的風景啊。

Hong Kong film hopes to break new ground with 3D porn

Well, someone has to try to milk as much money from people before we got completely sick and tired of being robbed and with horribly made movies. Who can blame them for trying when they can charge so much more for movies with the “3D” regardless if it is any good in 3D?

The recent bunch of rubbish hollywood-made 3D films have certainly make me sick of watching them and don’t feel like paying the premium anymore.

And porn in 3D? Is it really that new? Don’t you get much better stuff in red-light districts already? With a vibrant and institutionalized prostitution (一樓一) industry in Hong Kong, is 3D porn really needed?

Hong Kong film hopes to break new ground with 3-D porn.

On the leafy fringes of Hong Kong in a shabby film studio, a nude ponytailed actor stretched out on animal-skins with his lover as the cameras rolled in a set evoking a subterranean sex lair in ancient China.

Turning away from a slightly blurred high definition TV screen as the actors writhed, director Christopher Sun shouted “cut” whilst yanking off his 3-D glasses. “Good” he yelled.

No ordinary porn flick, “3-D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy” is being touted as the world’s first IMAX-3-D erotic film.

3D film backlash starts, but porn could save the day – Cinema-goers don’t want to pay for mediocre 3D films. Someone should tell the porn film makers

Has the backlash against 3D films begun? A glut of mediocre 3D films flopping at the box office has raised fears that cinema-goers are no longer prepared to pay a premium to watch these movies – many of which weren’t actually filmed in 3D but were converted in post-production.

The success of Avatar, which was released at the end of 2009 and quickly went through the $1bn box office sales mark, led many to believe that a new age had dawned. People would be persuaded that it was worth making a trip to the cinema – at an inflated price – to see spectacular 3D films rather than waiting for them to be released on DVD. And all Hollywood studios had to do was add the tagline ’3D’ to their movies.

Tim Burton quickly announced that his ‘re-imagining’ of Alice in Wonderland would be released in 3D, one of many movies that were converted to 3D in post-production, with mixed results. (Avatar was actually filmed in 3D with special cameras).

智力挑戰：搞咩鬼？

Can you guess what is going on in the clip? Try to explain what you see and why.

公審與公義 – Amina Mariam Bokhary

早幾天我想以公審為題寫篇談Amina案的文章，但因事忙而不了了之。現在看到李柱銘的文章，我看來可以省了幾個小時。Yes, Amina’s actions were despicable but it is not worth damaging HK’s judicial independence.

公審與公義 – (李柱銘) – 2010年08月12日

如果裁判官阮偉明覆審時，雖明知原判正確，卻因輿論壓力而加重判刑，這樣才是嚴重傷害法治精神。
法治——是筆者最為着緊的範疇，實在不少港人亦跟我一樣，期望特區司法制度能如回歸前般公正、獨立。近期，一宗司法案件備受香港社會關注，就是 Amina Mariam Bokhary（ Amina）被控不小心駕駛及襲擊執行職務警員罪一案。輿論幾乎一面倒的認為，原審裁判官阮偉明判刑過輕，疑惑何解被告已第三次犯案，仍毋須坐監，繼而有評論上綱上線的認為，此乃基於被告出身富貴，兼是「特區終審法院常任法官包致金的姪女」。
然而，強調「法律面前，人人平等」的香港司法制度，真的如這些評論所言般，讓某些人比其他人更加平等嗎？
傳媒與公眾皆以「包致金姪女」來稱呼案中被告 Amina。這個稱呼已意味阮偉明是因包官的關係，才會輕判。可是，單純基於有法官與被告是親屬，便作出上述假設，根本不負責任，對兩位司法人員亦不公平。
案件惹起輿論譁然後，律政司旋即申請覆核刑期，公眾普遍認為，阮偉明應「打倒昨日的我」，從善如流的加重判刑，以彰顯公義。可是，法官的判刑，如真的是受制於輿論，那他不僅背離了法官的本分——依法裁斷、無懼無偏，同時也會嚴重損害公義和法治精神。
事實上，無論案件怎樣哄動，群情如何洶湧，為了維護法庭判決的公正、平等與公義，法官也絕不可因而提高或減輕判決，否則，那便與公審無異。
歸根結底，我們之所以要將案件交由法官判決，就是因為凡事不是非黑即白，故需要法官審慎考慮、衡量許多因素，包括控罪與案情的嚴重性、被告錯失程度、是否有前科、個人及家庭背景、相關的病歷紀錄和辯方求情陳述等。然後，法官再憑着其經驗及良知，依法處以最恰當的刑罰。其實，判處入獄，往往是法官最後的一個選擇，因為坐監很可能會對被告帶來負面影響，如學壞、嚴重精神打擊，所以法官會先考慮其他懲處方法，如無合適者，才會判被告入獄。設身處地，若你或你的親屬是被告，難道你想見到法官並非根據上述因素判刑，而是因顧慮判決會遭公眾非議，或是為博得市民掌聲，故意重判嗎？

阮偉明覆審時，若確認自己原來的量刑決定無誤，而又能夠力排眾議的維持原判，這樣，才真正體現了法治精神的真諦。其實，對於刑罰的輕重，總會有可能出現不同的看法，畢竟法官都不過是人。因此，香港司法制度設有上訴及覆核機制：被告如認為刑罰過重，可提出上訴，不過一旦上訴被駁回，而上訴庭又認為判刑過輕，那便有可能加重；律政司如認為判刑明顯地不足，或法官原則性犯錯，亦可要求覆核，藉此來確保被告得到法庭公平、公正的判決，務求不縱亦不枉。以此案為例，律政司認為阮偉明的判刑明顯過輕，已向上訴庭提出覆核。既然司法制度已有機制，盡可能排除裁決的人為失誤，而且有關司法程序，還是在進行中。為何仍然有人要急不及待的宣判「法治已死」呢？

孔雀哥

看到短片後有點感動。但因為清楚這種電視節目的製作”方程式”，所以只是”有點”感動。

[HT 侯文詠]

Cinematic iPad storytelling app review: “The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross”

“The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross” is a beautifully designed cinematic iPad storytelling app published by Moving Tales. Make sure you check out the enclosed promotional clip of the Pedlar Lady app so you can see some samples of the beautifully rendered images/animations.

Apple iPad app:  ”The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross“

Price: US$ 4.99

Star rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Pros:

* Beautifully and cinematically 3D rendered moving images that go along well with an engaging story. Matthew Talbot-Kelly, producer and director of the iPad app, is also a very experienced animator and you can totally tell from the stunning animations. Even the “cover” of the story app contains a 3D fly through to the Pedlar Lady’s house. (see clip)

* Beautifully recorded sound effects and narration.

* Users can also select the Spanish text and Spanish narration option. And the Spanish narration also sounds great. Potentially a great tool to teach children Spanish.

* The narration can be turned off so the story can be read by a parent or grandparent out loud with the sound effects playing in the background.

Cons:

I subtracted 0.5 star for the following:

* At the moment, the app doesn’t have interactive elements. Some of the pages (e.g. one page has many bottles hanging on the tree) are perfect candidates for adding interactive elements for user to touch/move and make sound or interact. (According to Moving Tales, this combination is technically not possible yet.)

* As part of this review, I discovered and reported a bug that stops the animations. Restarting the app may fix the problem, and rebooting the iPad should fix it. I’ve reported the conditions that can trigger this bug to Matthew, he has promised a bug fix and possibly some additional enhancements in the next update. (see my Skype video interview with Matthew, to be posted later).

[latest update from Matthew: a bug fixed version (v 1.01) was submitted to the app store last week, they are now waiting for Apple to approve it.]

[Aug 16, 2010 Update: version v 1.01 has been approved by Apple. The above identified bug has been fixed. Added new sound effects. Improved application stability.]

Recommendation:

Highly recommended. Great experience for much less than the price of almost all children books. Moving Tales, a Gibson BC based Canadian company, has done a wonderful job in creating a Cinematic iPad storytelling app for all to enjoy. Of local interest, the iPad app programming for the Pedlar Lady is done by a Calgary based programmer.

The official site of Moving Tales says it well, “How does Moving Tales bring stories to life?

• sophisticated 3D animation on every page
• original music, voice over and sound effects
• animate the text using the iPad’s accelerometer
• Cover Flow-like navigation
• page swipe or tap for page turning
• auto page turning option
• sound effects only sound option
• compelling narrative
• randomly selected alternate views and extras to ensure no two viewings alike
• sophisticated and dynamic typographic layout
• evocative poetic language
• Spanish option—choose to hear and display the story in Spanish as well as English”

兒子和老朋友的批評

你可以接受批評嗎？

請批評 – （林燕妮）- 2010年08月10日

自我反省有時是省不出什麼來的。那便叫真正在乎你的親人和老朋友代你思過吧。
比如心中老覺得有些事兒不對勁，有些人的臉口也不對勁，到底自己做了什麼事會這樣？
兒子問我：「媽媽，你可不可以接受兜頭兜臉的批評？」我答道：「最歡迎這樣，別太曖昧的讓我猜上半天。」
那末他便把他和他的朋輩的共同意見說了出來。聽了，想了一夜。
翌日兩個老朋友打電話來，我問她們同一樣的事。她們各自說了。
兩撮年齡不同的族群的意見竟然不謀而合，那便不是不同年齡不同看法的問題，而是我一些路線走錯了。
知道了便得馬上更正。找好友代思己過挺不錯。
兒子問我：「媽媽，你到底想做名媛還是想做作家？」我答道：「作家。」兒子說：「名媛的身份冲淡了你作家的身份，你最好別再出席 ball場。」
那些要曝光的社交活動我已經不出席很久了，即使有必須去，把自己包個密實便包管沒照片見報。訪問亦不再接受了。
上天對我仍算好，給我諍友，給我機會，好感激。……喔，原來又不盡然，今年兒子又改變主意了：「媽媽，你去書展簽名，還是穿得漂亮些好。」終於我穿了一身 Chanel，那傢伙應不覺得媽媽失禮了吧？

紙包不住火，保鮮紙包不住榴蓮

昨天第一次自己買了榴蓮開來吃。好吃得像雪糕。吃不完的放進雪櫃，但紙包不住火，保鮮紙也包不住榴蓮的氣味。哈哈。

摘自【不乖——比標準答案更重要的事】

What a great story teller. Enjoy.

侯文詠 Houwenyong: 不乖——比標準答案更重要的事(上)

根據辭海的解釋，所謂『乖』指的是：孩子懂的道理而不淘氣。換句話，『乖』指的是順服。

也許有人要問：這樣的乖有什麽不好？

在我看來『懂的道理，不淘氣』沒什麽不好，問題出在這個孩子懂的『道理』到底對不對，有沒有道理。

先來講個故事吧。

我有篇文章被收錄進國文教科書裡去了。那年我的孩子正好是第一屆讀到這篇文章的9年級學生。他們班上的同學就對他說：

『你回去問你爸爸，他這課到底要考什麽？』

於是兒子跑回來問我。

我不聽還好，一聽了差點沒昏倒。我生平最痛恨考試了，沒想到自己的文章變成了別人考試的題目。我還清楚地記得自己自大學聯考（現在叫指考）之後，第一件是就是把論語、孟子這些中國文化基本教材拿去燒掉。

（望著熊熊一陣火心裡還一陣快意暢然……）

我抓了抓頭，尷尬地說：『我真的不知道學校老師會考什麽耶……』

『可是，』兒子著急地說：『你是作者啊。』

『問題是我當初寫這篇文章的目的，並不是爲了讓人拿來當考試題目的啊。』

結果我當然想不出什麽題目來。

後來學校真的以那課的課文為範圍考了一次試。

兒子考完試之後，我突發奇想，請他把考卷拿回來讓我也考一考。

本來不考還好，一考之下我發現我不會寫的題目還真多。我寫完了試卷，兒子對照答案，竟只得到八十幾分。兒子用著沉痛的表情告訴我：

『爸，你這個成績拿到我們班上大概只能排第十三、四名。』

我聽到是有點愣住了。考十三、四名當然成績雖不是很糟，

開窗說亮話 侯文詠 風趣做自己

一口氣看了很多這位不乖又有趣的作家 – 侯文詠的YouTube短片。

一個做得很好的訪問。

Two additional clips.

陌生人留言

Reading the following article simply breaks my heart. I hope the kind words from a stranger did her some good. I met Mr & Mrs Chan a few years ago in Canada and they were so loving and happy together.

陌生人留言 – （蔣芸） – 2010年08月03日

一個人佔據了四個人的卡座，有點坐立不安，尤其見到在入口處等位的人愈來愈多，平時，絕少單獨出外午餐，何況工作地點每日有兩餸一湯的午餐供應，這次臨時起意，是忽然想吃乾炒牛河，當然這家老店的瑞士汁雞翼、乳鴿都很聞名，此時卻只想獨嚐一味，於是到銀行辦完事後，好整以暇坐着等吃。
不久，只見那張公眾面孔出現了，是她的女兒送了她進門安坐之後便離去，她面對着我，素面朝天，脂粉不施，當然啦，這樣高的氣溫下，還能化粧出門的女子，才真叫人佩服，而她呢，相信是仍在守喪期的一種素樸吧，略見消瘦，目無焦點，空空茫茫，整張臉垮了下來，連五官都模糊了，隔了四張卡座，可以很仔細的打量她，也曾在其他餐館會所見過她，有一兩次，她也曾與我這桌的主人打招呼匆匆一照面，從未像此刻一樣，她甚至沒有留意到一個有心人不算太遙遠的觀望。一種安靜的、深沉的、不能抑制的悲傷與憂愁如水般流淌，仍然是靜靜的，只有生命中經歷過大悲大痛的人才會有那種無以名之的神情；薄薄的嘴角鬆鬆的下垂，此刻最是懷念她昔日四萬般的笑容，最是懷念某一年在記協晚會上，她還上台去唱過一首「何日君再來」。柳腰款擺，字正腔圓，台風恰如其份的一位政府高官，而最深入人心的還是她那如春花燦爛般的笑容，此刻獨坐的她這些都到那裏去了？
接着匆匆的另一位不知名的女士進門來走向她，打了聲招呼，她才慢慢回過神來，而我的快速午餐至此也該起身讓位了。心血來潮，只匆匆留下一頁署名 FANS的紙條託侍者轉給她；只有兩行字：或早或遲，不可避免的凡人的遭遇，請不要過份悲傷。走出館外是夏日滿眼的陽光。

只有不乖，才能確保你永不過時

高興認識到一位不乖又有趣的作家 – 侯文詠。

巨變的時代不能太乖 – （李怡）- 2010年08月02日

許多人都知道，八一三淞滬抗戰時，謝晉元率八百壯士死守四行倉庫的英雄故事。死守過程中，還有女童軍送國旗給守軍。四行倉庫離上海市中心的人民廣場不遠，它的準確位址是光復路一號。後面是以謝晉元命名的晉元路。台灣作家侯文詠說，他小時候上作文課時，老師要他們寫一篇讀了女童軍送國旗給死守國軍的故事心得。侯文詠不寫榮譽、愛國這類，他寫的大意是說：
一、如果不能打勝仗，送國旗也沒用。如果能打勝仗，國旗過幾天再掛也沒關係。二、如果打敗仗還掛國旗，老百姓會誤以為打勝仗，錯過了逃亡的黃金時機。三、國土失掉了，還可以收復，但女童軍命沒了，就無可挽回了。因此還是命比較重要……。
台灣那時正處於國家、民族情操重於一切的年代，不用說，侯文詠被老師約談了。老師說：「聽老師的話，別人怎麼寫，你就怎麼寫。」老師停了一下，又說：「大家會怎麼寫，你知道吧？」他其實知道，於是點點頭。老師說：「你相信老師，這是為你好，你聽話以後才有前途。」
侯文詠依着聽老師話的教導，一直順利地讀上了醫學院，畢業做了醫生。但他那「不乖」的基因，使他嘗試寫作。寫作需要獨特，需要叛逆，他的嘗試很成功，現在他是靠寫作維生的成功專業作家。他在想，如果他一直乖乖地當醫生，就不會有作家侯文詠了！他問年輕一代：你是心甘情願的乖、毫無懷疑的乖嗎？乖就能成功、乖就能快樂嗎？他說：現在是一個今日的標準答案很快被明日淘汰的巨變時代中，只有不乖，才能確保你永不過時……。於是他寫了一本書《不乖》。

人生要反叛才精采 -（李怡）- 2010年08月03日

侯文詠後來講起小時候作文不跟從主流意識的事，他說，他其實只是聽從自己內心的話去寫而已。當然，從父母老師的眼中看來，他就是不乖了。
從小到大我們一直被要求做乖孩子、乖學生，最好大家都一輩子照着主流價值觀活到老、乖到老！你可以選擇繼續乖下去，但人生有太多疑問，有太多挑戰，有太多刺激在挑戰我們的循規蹈矩了，「乖」可能會讓你無法適應激烈波動的時代，「乖」可能使你在遭遇挫折時選擇放棄……這樣的乖，怎麼會有進步的空間？人生怎麼可能獨一無二？怎麼會精采好玩？
依照乖不乖的定義，我年輕時也做了許多不乖的事，也許這樣才走上寫作的路。侯文詠說他第一次投稿時沒有郵資，偷爸爸的郵票。為了看電影，偷偷翻牆爬進電影院，被老闆擰着耳朵拉出來。而他辭去醫生工作去當作家，從家人眼中看來，怕是最大「不乖」了。不過，正是這種不乖的作為或決定，造就了他的人生非常決定性的部分。
有時候他不免要想，如果他一生少了這些「不乖」，他的人生會變成怎樣呢？
他相信，就像他的老師講的一樣，所有要他乖的人幾乎都是很善意地為他好。他也相信，聽話的人的確會有前途。但那時他不明白，不聽話的人，長大一樣會有前途的─差別只是，聽話的有聽話的前途，不聽話的有不聽話的前途。
回想起來，他說，如果年輕時能聽到愛他或為他好的成年人，對他這個不乖又有點徬徨的自己說：別擔心，只要相信你自己，繼續努力、用力讓自己長成心中想望的樣子，一切都會很好的。或許他會少些猶豫，多點堅定與專注吧。於是，他開始寫《不乖》這本書。