A Frighteningly Wet Dream of Edinburgh
It was perhaps the lack of intonation in Al Gore’s voice, or perhaps the way Heroes and The Day After Tomorrow always tries to paint a different world for our future, or maybe it was the recent scarring of Princes Street recently for the anticipation of a greener and cleaner future.
A combination of the above meant that I would have a frightening dream for the future of Edinburgh.
And it was pretty wet.
And so I was making the familiar transition from Old Town to New Town via the North Bridge. The sudden opening after a cluster of tightly packed medieval streets to an immense opening with a wide panoramic view that stretched to the seas to my right left me awe stricken. I felt that this is one of the those rare moments that the camera is rendered useless because it is like walking out of a tightly packed metallic elevator and breathing in air that is not undergoing a battle of the smells of Armani perfume, wet paint and body odour from all shapes and sizes.
I however, like many others ignored what lies beneath, and regrettably I peered down from North Bridge and saw my reflection. The lost Nor Loch was looking back at me. Whether Waverley station has entirely disappeared or whether there is now a river on top of Prince’s Street Gardens was beyond me.
City Nightclub was no longer a clubbing venue, but a place where baits and fishing rods were sold so that people could fish on either side of the banks. Swans, seagulls, ducks and people flocked to the scene as the University of Edinburgh Rowing team received our cheers from top of the bridge. It was as I descended towards my new found hobby of sailing boats out to Portobello did I wake from this dream and realized that it was after all, another rainy day in Edinburgh.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Monday, 15 December 2008
Understanding TIanmen Square protests (documentary in mandarin)
If you want to understand historical facts holistically, this is a great documentary.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=r7ou2-Kv4UA
(纪录片天安門 六四事件 Tiananmen Square protests)
The power struggles between students
The power struggles between politicians
The definition of democracy in China
The underlying factors that culmiated into the night of June 4th, 1989.
And more importantly, for our generation of people who care about our countries politics and wish, rather than to blindly shout out slogans like
DEMOCRACY!
or
JUSTICE!
Do look at what one is saying before clothing yourself with such problematic terms.
http://youtube.com/watch?v
(纪录片天安門 六四事件 Tiananmen Square protests)
The power struggles between students
The power struggles between politicians
The definition of democracy in China
The underlying factors that culmiated into the night of June 4th, 1989.
And more importantly, for our generation of people who care about our countries politics and wish, rather than to blindly shout out slogans like
DEMOCRACY!
or
JUSTICE!
Do look at what one is saying before clothing yourself with such problematic terms.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Yeller Zine November Issue
My new found hobby is writing articles for the art magazine of University of Edinburgh Art Society. So here's the one from November. And some amazing pictures from edinburghlook.wordpress.com
Art for the oldHow many times have you walked down South Clerk Street and saw old pensioners wandering around with walking sticks and wheelchairs. This may sound a bit of a cliché, but without them, there would be no peace and prosperity as we know it today. Yet what we are seeing in our society today is that after they retire, they become an unproductive unit in the economy and their value in society becomes obsolete.
There are many services by the government and charitable services which provide the elderly with the essentials needed for a comfortable life after retirement. I am not suggesting that these efforts are not of importance. These are noble acts by charitable people. But perhaps we could extend our hands further by engaging them with what we think should be the furthest from them – Art.
What immediately comes into mind when I think about accessible art spaces around Edinburgh is the graffiti wall which connects Potterow to South College Street. Being educated in the East. I was taught to behave properly in public places and never to draw anything on walls, not to mention spray cans of paint on a big scale. Graffiti art seemed to me a form of vandalism, as a space for young rebels to voice their anguish against the rules and guidelines of society. It was a wall for the forgotten, for the marginalized and for the minority. A graffiti wall seemed to create chaos and disorder and reflect the government’s inability to keep things in order.
What about old pensioners and graffiti? What would an elderly who have lived through the perils of famine and war think of the society we are living in today? How would he represent his views through graffiti? How would he perceive graffiti as an art form? Can graffiti create a dialogue between the rebellious youth and the respectful old?
Just when I was thinking that I was probably stretching a bit too far to have old pensioners work on the graffiti walls at the corner of Potterow, I came across this news of an elder man doing, you guessed it right, graffiti art!
Juanjaime Lam
P.S. Enjoy old pensioners enjoy fencing!!
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Music in the streets, Obama wanted to be an architect and addiction
1) Since around the age of 19, I started to abandon any portable music devices. The reason being: I find the sounds in the streets create a mood that fits the streets more so than any other music that I possess. And as a foreigner studying abroad, it is easier for me to understand and sync in with the rest of the crowd by observing and eavesdropping.
And so I was in line queueing up in Baguette express (a more authentic healthy alternative choice to Subway) and overhead two students talking.
The girl asked, "So what do you study?"
The guy replied, "Architecture, and you?"
The girl replied, "Anthropology."
And that made me into thinking how similar the two disciplines actually are. At least for me, Architecture is the study of urban rituals and create a building to accommodate such rituals. Anthropology is the study of rural and urban rituals and understand social trends through such rituals.
To me urban rituals are performances with us being either the audience or performer (which are non-exclusive), they are also performances which gives us joy and a sense of togetherness with those around us.
This then lead me to think of what urban rituals are to us city dwellers.
- friday night clubbing (it always puzzles me when people think that staying at home on a friday night means you don't have friends)
- drinking
- movies
- shopping
- public holidays
- work from 9-5, given you like the work
Perhaps I'm not such a bad kid after all, when I go out drinking and clubbing, because I am merely performing an urban ritual to fit in with the norm.
2) I came across this article that mentions Obama's 50 facts you might not know article. Sorry I'm a big fan of him, the last time I turned a big fan of any politican was when Clinton patted the shoulders of then Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat. Here's a nice picture of the love between the three great men.
Anyways, I found out that Obama's alternative choice of occupation to being a politican was being an architect! So I told a friend of mine and she asked me this question.
"What's the difference between an architect and a politican?"
I responded, "They both lie."
And she said "they both have projections for a future."
It would be interesting to see what Obama would've created if he was an architect.
3) If you had to choose one thing that was the most addictive thing on earth, what would it be? I gave an answer that probably has to do with the current mood I am in. But still it was close enough. The 'official' answer is here.
Oh yeah, my answer is the word above and beyond Arafat's head, slightly to the right. Still don't get it?
Love.
And so I was in line queueing up in Baguette express (a more authentic healthy alternative choice to Subway) and overhead two students talking.
The girl asked, "So what do you study?"
The guy replied, "Architecture, and you?"
The girl replied, "Anthropology."
And that made me into thinking how similar the two disciplines actually are. At least for me, Architecture is the study of urban rituals and create a building to accommodate such rituals. Anthropology is the study of rural and urban rituals and understand social trends through such rituals.
To me urban rituals are performances with us being either the audience or performer (which are non-exclusive), they are also performances which gives us joy and a sense of togetherness with those around us.
This then lead me to think of what urban rituals are to us city dwellers.
- friday night clubbing (it always puzzles me when people think that staying at home on a friday night means you don't have friends)
- drinking
- movies
- shopping
- public holidays
- work from 9-5, given you like the work
Perhaps I'm not such a bad kid after all, when I go out drinking and clubbing, because I am merely performing an urban ritual to fit in with the norm.
2) I came across this article that mentions Obama's 50 facts you might not know article. Sorry I'm a big fan of him, the last time I turned a big fan of any politican was when Clinton patted the shoulders of then Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat. Here's a nice picture of the love between the three great men.
Anyways, I found out that Obama's alternative choice of occupation to being a politican was being an architect! So I told a friend of mine and she asked me this question."What's the difference between an architect and a politican?"
I responded, "They both lie."
And she said "they both have projections for a future."
It would be interesting to see what Obama would've created if he was an architect.
3) If you had to choose one thing that was the most addictive thing on earth, what would it be? I gave an answer that probably has to do with the current mood I am in. But still it was close enough. The 'official' answer is here.
Oh yeah, my answer is the word above and beyond Arafat's head, slightly to the right. Still don't get it?
Love.
Sunday, 2 November 2008
Enough said...
Got this interesting cartoon from the Economist.
... very fortunate for me my parents are still able to support my lavish life style, so I have not yet gone mad and can still wonder how Africa is doing.
... very fortunate for me my parents are still able to support my lavish life style, so I have not yet gone mad and can still wonder how Africa is doing.
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Economist.com, how bored are you?
Was surfing the net aimlessly and came across this article on Chinese Zodiac signs offering some hope for John McCain. The logic goes that since a lot of former presidents who are of the rat zodiac sign have made it to the top position in the white house, so McCain might have some faint hope over Obama.
I mean, come on. Even newspapers in the East (where the zodiac sign comes from) aren't this entertaining. If you've got no good news to run, sometimes, it's better not to run random news (it's good for laughs though).
I mean, come on. Even newspapers in the East (where the zodiac sign comes from) aren't this entertaining. If you've got no good news to run, sometimes, it's better not to run random news (it's good for laughs though).
Sunday, 26 October 2008
...looking down from above are robots, not angels...
Just spent the morning watching a programme called Britain from Above on BBC iplayer. (For readers not from UK, you will be unable to view it because you do not subscribe to the overly charged UK broadband network).
This programme is about comparing aerial photographs taken by German planes in World War II, as they slid into the British skies to find targets for bombing jets that would later scorch the landscape, with that of contemporary aerial photos.
I came across this poetic line when the Scottish, Glasglow born narrator Andrew Marr talked about weathermen gathering climatic data from outer space:
"...looking down from above are robots, not angels..."
That sentence totally took away my concentration from the programme as I pondered about how even space now is taken over by technology and how our lives revolve around technology. We are thrown into this age of technology and it embraces us disregarding our preferences.
But again, how many relationships (be it love, friends, business, research-based, creativity-based) are started over email, text messages and instant messaging. Humanity now runs in the veins of optical fibers and the music of frequencies bonuces off our own building walls.
I couldn't help but think of the great forces at work here. Perhaps,
Looking up from below are angels, not humans.
The rain is coming at the window from all sides while the sun shines high above, another typical day for Edinburgh.
This programme is about comparing aerial photographs taken by German planes in World War II, as they slid into the British skies to find targets for bombing jets that would later scorch the landscape, with that of contemporary aerial photos.
I came across this poetic line when the Scottish, Glasglow born narrator Andrew Marr talked about weathermen gathering climatic data from outer space:
"...looking down from above are robots, not angels..."
That sentence totally took away my concentration from the programme as I pondered about how even space now is taken over by technology and how our lives revolve around technology. We are thrown into this age of technology and it embraces us disregarding our preferences.
But again, how many relationships (be it love, friends, business, research-based, creativity-based) are started over email, text messages and instant messaging. Humanity now runs in the veins of optical fibers and the music of frequencies bonuces off our own building walls.
I couldn't help but think of the great forces at work here. Perhaps,
Looking up from below are angels, not humans.
The rain is coming at the window from all sides while the sun shines high above, another typical day for Edinburgh.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
A bit restless
I should be writing my essays which is due in 2 weeks. But my mind is restless because I cannot answer questions. (Excuses....)
Questions that doesn't concern the wealth of nations, but the wealth of humans.
My question is simple.
What is our epoch?
I struggle to find a definition for it. Maybe there's an article floating somewhere out there that attempts to answer this question.
But as creation itself is brought under trial, is there anything that cannot be questioned or achieved by us? And how should this madness be stopped? If ever it should be stopped.
Or is it more like America dropping the atomic bomb into Hiroshima, it's a new weapon, so we use it and then learn from that mistake, that happened with the gas attacks in world war I, so why not stop inventing and experimenting?
What about our moral ethics? After the Death of God, after the emergence of culture relativism, what governs our land, is it law, is it personal conscience?
How should society be organized? The rivalry with capitalism has failed because our greed and the invisible hands do contribute to the wealth of nations. But it is, afterall, the wealth of nations rather than the wealth of humans. Would freedom, prosperity, a lack of worry in society be the ultimate goal of a government? If so, why does so many people kill themselves in Scandinavia?
This is an age of non-rebellion, of timidness, of numbness (I'm writing this article, when there's a war being waged on another continent, but we keep on living our lives, read the news and do nothing about it.)
Our perhaps we are at a transitional period of a great pendulum, anticipating, waiting for the coming of a new age.
Our is this the final balance we have struck after thousand years of struggling?
Or maybe I am just moaning when there's no pain 無病呻吟是也
Questions that doesn't concern the wealth of nations, but the wealth of humans.
My question is simple.
What is our epoch?
I struggle to find a definition for it. Maybe there's an article floating somewhere out there that attempts to answer this question.
But as creation itself is brought under trial, is there anything that cannot be questioned or achieved by us? And how should this madness be stopped? If ever it should be stopped.
Or is it more like America dropping the atomic bomb into Hiroshima, it's a new weapon, so we use it and then learn from that mistake, that happened with the gas attacks in world war I, so why not stop inventing and experimenting?
What about our moral ethics? After the Death of God, after the emergence of culture relativism, what governs our land, is it law, is it personal conscience?
How should society be organized? The rivalry with capitalism has failed because our greed and the invisible hands do contribute to the wealth of nations. But it is, afterall, the wealth of nations rather than the wealth of humans. Would freedom, prosperity, a lack of worry in society be the ultimate goal of a government? If so, why does so many people kill themselves in Scandinavia?
This is an age of non-rebellion, of timidness, of numbness (I'm writing this article, when there's a war being waged on another continent, but we keep on living our lives, read the news and do nothing about it.)
Our perhaps we are at a transitional period of a great pendulum, anticipating, waiting for the coming of a new age.
Our is this the final balance we have struck after thousand years of struggling?
Or maybe I am just moaning when there's no pain 無病呻吟是也
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Architect's responsibility in the 21st Century
Just read a nice article on Renzo Piano's new California Academy (he was the one who co-designed Pompidou Center in Paris with Richard Rogers).
My favourite part of the article was Piano's view of archhitect's responsibility in our contemporary world. His view is that "19th century was about new kinds of construction...Steel and so forth. And the 20th century created a language for that. Now architects must develop an aesthetic for our discovery about the fragility of nature."
I have always wondered whether there will be a coherent movement around the globe that would lead all architects to design buildings that reflect the concerns of our time.
I have a childish dream, a dream of the co-existence of nature and city. As taller and bolder skyscrapers are built, the community living or working in the skyscraper will take turns in helping in farming at the grounds (or different floors) which would create a sufficient amount of produce to sustain those living within.
I don't see how people can be harmful to their land if they cultivated their own.
My favourite part of the article was Piano's view of archhitect's responsibility in our contemporary world. His view is that "19th century was about new kinds of construction...Steel and so forth. And the 20th century created a language for that. Now architects must develop an aesthetic for our discovery about the fragility of nature."
I have always wondered whether there will be a coherent movement around the globe that would lead all architects to design buildings that reflect the concerns of our time.
I have a childish dream, a dream of the co-existence of nature and city. As taller and bolder skyscrapers are built, the community living or working in the skyscraper will take turns in helping in farming at the grounds (or different floors) which would create a sufficient amount of produce to sustain those living within.
I don't see how people can be harmful to their land if they cultivated their own.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Things and nothings
There were a lot of things and they have become a lot of nothings.
I spent the day cleaning up my room and came across a lot of old photos and letters. A lot of exchanges from the bottom of our hearts when we were young and naive.
Things that I treasured so much, things I used to swear on my life to safeguard suddenly became dreams of the past. Nothing of the present.
It is perhaps time to wake up from a long slumber and be young and naive again.
I spent the day cleaning up my room and came across a lot of old photos and letters. A lot of exchanges from the bottom of our hearts when we were young and naive.
Things that I treasured so much, things I used to swear on my life to safeguard suddenly became dreams of the past. Nothing of the present.
It is perhaps time to wake up from a long slumber and be young and naive again.
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
A Break Like No Other Breaks Before, But Many To Come
This entry is prompted by a friend accusing me of not doing anything constructive and should organize events since I have so much free time. This entry is written on the MTR on the way to China, because this is probably the only free quality time when I am alone, event free and able to clear my mind a bit. So here is what I did this Christmas Holiday.
21st
0600: Flew into Hong Kong
1200: Unpack and sleep
22nd
0800-1100: Wake, do laundry, clean up room
1300-1700: Bring my vista (which I hate) to Wanchai and downgrade to XP. Cannot downgrade, so I got a macbook instead (it will take over the world pretty soon)
1900: Family Dinner at Rosedale
0000: Home, Sleep
23rd
0730: Wake
0900-1100: Import music to itunes (1120 songs and countless hours- Cats, Les Mes, Phantom, Joseph, Planets, 4 Seasons, Mozart, Bach, Lion King, Jay Chou, Ivanna Wong, Kay Tse, Chicago, Kenny G, Frank Sinatra, Olivia, Louis Armstrong, Titanic, Tchaikovsky, cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof.....)
1200: Playgroup Lunch
1500: Star Ferry Art Buffet Exhibition Show (mainly includes works of Taiwanese and Korean artists), talk about art with an art undergraduate.
1900: Still talking about art
2200: ...Still talking about art...
0000: Home, Sleep
24th
0630: Wake
0915: Movie (Persepolis)
1130: Shum Shui Po to fix my external hard drive, thanks to my flatmate for breaking it
1200: Tsim Sha Tsui running errands for Via Vai Travel
1400: Lunch at V's
1530-1830: Afternoon nap at High school mate V's (was so sleepy, I just feel asleep on the sofa)
1930: Christmas Eve with family friends
0200: Home, Sleep
25th
0900: Wake
1230: Lunch at home
1900: Christmas Dinner with family friends at Hong Kong Country Club
2300: Home
0200: Drink with High schoolmate S at LKF
0600: Overnight at S's, Sleep
26th
1030: Wake
1200: Home
1400: Wan Chai Shopping (Wii~!!!)
1900: Belyndia's 21st Birthday at Regal Hotel CWB
2300: Overnight karaoke at CEO
0600: Home, Sleep
27th
1030: Wake
1230: Lunch buffet at Tsim Sha Tsui Shangrila
1400: Hong Kong History Museum (The Development of Banks in Shanghai and Hong Kong)
1700: Fortress Hill, high school mate E's Home
1830: Dinner at CWB
2330: Poker at High school mate W's flat
0300: Home, Sleep
28th
0900: Wake
1230: BBQ at Tai Mei Tok with Uni mates
1600-1930: Cycle from Tai Mei Tok to Tai Po
2030: Home, Dinner
2300: Sleep
29th
0930: Wake
1230-1400: Lunch with Primary school mates
1400-2300: Hot Pot Dinner at Uni mate K's flat
2300-0300: Wonder around LKF, South Horizon
0330: Stay overnight at C's flat
30th
0830: Wake, head home
0900: Arrive home
0905: Parents persuade me to go to Mainland China, leaving in 10 minutes
0920-1200: Traveling to China
1300-2200: Lunch, massage (finally!!!), shopping
0030:Home
0200: Sleep
31st
0930: Wake
1100: Kennedy Town (prep. for flat party)
1200: Cyberport, Home (same as above)
1400: Kennedy Town (same)
1600: Causeway Bay, Wan Chai (same)
1800: Kennedy Town (same)
2200-0330: Flat party
0400: Sleep
1st
1000: Wake
1200: Family lunch
1400: Hong Kong History Museum (The Story of Hong Kong exhibition)
1800: Movie (Tokyo Tower: My Father and My Mother)
2300: Home
0300: Sleep
2nd
0900: Wake
1200: Karaoke Lunch with High Schoolmates
1600: Badminton with Primary Schoolmates
2000: Family dinner near airport
0000: Home, Sleep
I love my life, but I am finding for the very first time, I actually have to choose who to see and whom I really cannot see simply because I have too little time, but too many to see. Imagine what's going to happen when I start working.
Treasure your time with your family and friends, job and responsibility is knocking on our doors.
Wishing you all a very happy and fruitful 2008.
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