I'm just a boy trying to find my place in life. This is my personal blog where I blog about my personal life. If you are so inclined to get to know me, you can also find stalk me on tumblr or twitter. ;)
Life is like a hot bath. It feels good while you're in it, but the longer you stay in, the more wrinkled you get. — Robbert Oustin
Do you know that feeling you get after watching a powerful and meaningful movie that speaks to you? One that would leave a mark on your perspective and forever change you? Rak haeng Sayam, or The Love of Siam, is one such movie. Despite it being out for almost nine months, I have just heard about it from Chris when he visited last week. I briefly looked it up online and made the mistake of judging it as a cheesy teenage drama from its sappy looking poster, but the charmingly good-looking protagonists were enough to get me interested. Without much to lose, I decided to download the director's cut version, which is about thirty minutes longer than the original with a three hour running time, and give it a try. It was as much a pleasure as it was a curse to have watched this film. It hit something tender and lonely in me, and I have so deeply immersed in the story that I have already watched it three times in the past few days. I'm a sensitive and emotional person, but I don't remember when was the last time a film has made me cry. ... more »
Chris, a friend from UCLA, came visit this week and stayed with me for 4 days. He was doing a summer study-abroad program in Shanghai, so he decided to stop by Hong Kong and check out the city before heading back to the states. I took the last three days off work so I could show him around town. I picked him up from the airport on Sunday morning. We did a bit of shopping at the Ladies’ Street in Mongkok in the afternoon and checked out the Avenue of Stars in TST and watched the harbor view laser show. We went to the Island side on Monday and took the tram up to The Peak that night. The next day we went to ACGHK and checked out a few bars in LKF at night. Since it was typhoon signal 8 on Wednesday, we just went to a mall and took it easy during the day. We were cutting it tight though so Chris almost missed his flight that night, but we got him through the gate eventually.
I think I have been to more places in Hong Kong in that 4 days than I had in the past 10 months since I came back, which is good I guess. I haven’t taken any time off for so long, and it’s good to have a few days off after a long, stressful month. But I don’t think I have gotten much rest though. In fact, it was actually a lot more tiring than working. We basically woke up relatively early and stayed out way past mid-night for 4 days straight. Who would have guessed doing tourist stuff could be so exhausting. I still had a great time though, and I sure hope Chris did too.
Radiohead has always been known for their environmental and political activism. Recently they have teamed up with MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) to produce a music video to raise awareness of human trafficking. The video for the song “All I Need” was filmed in Australia by Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale and director Steve Rogers.
I guess no one can describe it better than Radiohead‘s lead singer, Thom Yorke:
They’ve produced a video of two parallel stories running, one of a little boy in the West and one of a little boy in a sweatshop in the East, and the boy [in the West] ends up buying the shoes from the sweatshop. It’s actually quite powerful.
I think it’s important for everyone in the West or on High Street to understand the consequences of our economic activity. You must be aware of the level of exploitation that’s going on. It’s part of our Western life, and one we should accept responsibility for. There’s no such thing as a free lunch or a free ticket to another country.
Do you know that feeling you get after watching a powerful and meaningful movie that speaks to you? One that would leave a mark on your perspective and forever change you? Rak haeng Sayam, or The Love of Siam, is one such movie. Despite it being out for almost nine months, I have just heard about it from Chris when he visited last week. I briefly looked it up online and made the mistake of judging it as a cheesy teenage drama from its sappy looking poster, but the charmingly good-looking protagonists were enough to get me interested. Without much to lose, I decided to download the director's cut version, which is about thirty minutes longer than the original with a three hour running time, and give it a try. It was as much a pleasure as it was a curse to have watched this film. It hit something tender and lonely in me, and I have so deeply immersed in the story that I have already watched it three times in the past few days. I'm a sensitive and emotional person, but I don't remember when was the last time a film has made me cry. ... more »
