where my heart is

Everytime I come back to HK, I get really agitated. With the weather, with the fact that I'm with my family, with the people... but this time I really enjoy my time here. I see beauty everywhere, I see talented people, I see potential in this city. This is my first summer working. Working part time is difficult in Hong Kong, but I don't want to be dependent on my parents, or rather suck their retirement money out. Living by myself right now isn't as bad as people say it is; I need to train my independence!

cafe habitu

My cousin's family is going on a diet, so the three of them ordered the least fatty drink at cafe Habitu - mocha. I'm not sure whether it's actually the lowest caloric one, but I ordered a rose latte because it sounded interesting. Then they gave me a free brownie!
I'm trying to lose weight as well (because HK girls are like sticks), so I couldn't enjoy the entire piece. It was heavenly though. Definitely recommend it. Although, you should probably not go to the one in CausewayBay, the G.O.D. next door is renovating, so the entire time you would listen to loud Chinese people talking and drill sounds. :(

why can't robots drive?

Robots, despite not being humans, are, in fact, people. Being the created by humans, they harbour emotions. They feel, touch, sleep…

This is the story of Sheldon and Francesca. They are robots, who accidentally met and fell in love in a world where, it seems, that nobody appreciates their presence. Sheldon is stuck in his mundane job and she desperately wants the world to know of her existence through pasting “I’m here” papers in public places. His rigid shell implies that he is stuck in a boring life, a pattern, like a song on a loop. She’s filled with curls. By extension, she is obviously daring, adventurous, enjoys “life.” She looks almost like a crash test dummy, whether that has anything to do with the character’s ending, I wasn’t sure.

This story sets place where robots and humans are living equally. In the beginning, Sheldon saw a robot as a victim of a car accident on the bus, nobody cared about the robot as he struggles on the ground. Sheldon was the only person who noticed the robot. They made eye contact.

The scene is a strong foreshadow of what is about to unfold in this short film. Francesca died from a car accident, with her body chopped into halves. Sheldon strongly desires to “fix” him, but couldn’t as the bus continues on. Sheldon finally overcomes his inability to help when he met her.

I won’t go into details, but the story basically ended up as this:

And this:

Throughout the film, Sheldon attempts to connect with people around him. His neighbours, his work buddies… when he manages to connect with Francesca, he tries his best to save this relationship. When she is broken, he selflessly gives his body away. The director made it clear that every time Sheldon dismantles his arm, leg and finally his body, their relationship grew stronger. This film is inspired by the story The Giving Tree, but I feel that the self-sacrificing theme of The Happy Prince is also strongly portrayed. Maybe there are just too many stories of the same kind.

I didn’t like the story, really. Why does it have to be the man sacrificing himself? Why does the woman have to be so clumsy and that she literally depends on the man to survive? Why do women have to be portrayed as fragile beings? I’m guessing that if the protagonist wasn’t a male, the film wouldn’t be as marketable (something I learned in class. Apparently when you’re in film school and write a script that has no male protagonist, the teacher could give you an F). The one thing I actually enjoyed is the music. It’s very soothing despite of what is actually happening in the film – a person slowly killing himself for the sake of his girlfriend. Morbidly romantic, the film made an impression to me not because of its story, but because it gave people the idea that robots could experience the same things as we do. Not gone-out-of-hand-insane-killing-machines.

dreams do come true

After the over-hyped of the 83^rd Academy Awards, I’m pretty sure most people in the world are probably thinking about the same thing: Never let young actors or actresses host the Oscars again. I’m not saying that Anne Hathaway or James Franco did a horrible job. They simply add a different taste to the Academy Awards, a slight blissful apathy. Hathaway was giddy as a child and Franco was trying his best to level up with his academic career. I’ve must admit that both actors are eye-candies: Hathaway’s amazing multiple wardrobe changes during the night were stunning. Girl got to salivate over the pretty dresses that they never got the wear. Franco… well, he’s just Franco. The world would have a collective sigh just from his smile. They are no doubt Oscar’s hottest hosts.

The one thing that I keep hoping for every year’s Academy Awards is a host who can top off Billy Crystal’s movie montage in 2004. Hathaway and Franco’s movie montage was not bad, but Crystal’s was simply the child of comedy. One of Crystal’s successful hosting is the fact that he could interact with the audience. Audiences would be made fun of, but they all had a good laugh. I felt that Hathaway and Franco were too cautious due to their status in the entertainment industry. They were too young to make little jokes here and there. I mean, people would probably wonder “who are they to make such comments?”

I think that Hathaway and Franco did their best in hosting the Oscars. The low ratings could be due to a number of things, people are probably not that interested in watching the entire show when they could get instant feedbacks on their phones or user-content websites like twitter. People are probably not interested in seeing rich people dressed up and talk about their works when things are happening all over the world. As technology advances, people don’t need to just sit in front of the tv all day. There’s smartphones, interweb, radio &c.

One thing I realised when the hosts came out was that Franco had his cell phone in his hand. Despite the unprofessionalism, I thought he would make a joke about tweeting the entire night. Instead, he just hid his phone and went on his merry way of Oscar-hosting. His twitter, as expected, was filled with tagline #oscarsrealtime and pictures and videos of him on and off stage. Where is the level of respect?

twitter, as expected, was filled with tagline #oscarsrealtime and pictures and videos of him on and off stage. Where is the level of respect?

What is up with him and his phone?

Neither of them have made that much of an impact in the entertainment industry. Perhaps the invitation of these actors to host the Academy Awards was the industry’s encouragement to those youngsters who are struggling.

Amidst all the hater comments (once you’re on the haters train, you’re never coming down) and low ratings, Hathaway and Franco showed the world of what they’re capable of doing. Perhaps it’s not something we’re ready to see, but thank you for hosting.