Foxymoron

Museology

For those of you outside of Hong Kong, this is a picture of what West Kowloon, the government's proposed HK$40 billion (US $5.2 billion) cultural center might look like if it is finally built in a million years. The highlight of the conceptual design is a glass canopy by Norman Foster. It's pretty, eh? Yeah well, pretty comes at a price and it could cost more than HK$10 billion (US$1.2 billion) alone. The cost (and some argue, the impossible design) of the canoopy was part of the reason the government's original proposal for the cultural hub was scrapped in February.

So they're starting all over, this time with a consultative committee and advisory groups which will recommend what core arts and cultural facilities should be in the 40 hectare district. One is the museums advisory group which has the difficult task of deciding which museums, if any, will be built. I personally, think it's inevitable that there will be museums in the cultural district but the government spokeswoman I spoke to was reluctant to say anything.

That said, given the Audit Commission's critical report of government-run museums which cited severe operating deficits for the past four years with little revenue (and some say, little interest), the museum advisory group and consultative committee should look at the audit report for some important information.

Here's my artilce in today's paper about museums in West Kowloon.

Silver lining

My first reaction to the Canadian election was to cry. Then I got angry. It would be easy to continue lamenting and talk of denoucing my citizenship but I've had almost a full day to digest the news and that's just ridiculous. Yes, friends, it's ugly. But, as a still proud Canadian, there are some things to be happy about:

1) It is a Conservative minority government: With the Liberals, NDP and Bloc adding up to 183 seats vs. the Conservative's 124, it'll be hard for Harper to slip anything radical through parliament. (At least, this is what I'm counting on.)

2) Martin resignation as Liberal leader is a good thing. He didn't help his party in terms of public relations and I think if the Red Team wants to win the next election, they'll need change. This can only help the Liberals — and in turn, Canada — in the long run.

3) Jack and Olivia: together at last. In 2004, Jack was like totally bummed that Olivia wasn't invited to Ottawa but now that people are pissed off with Tony and all his friends, they're like "Oh, Olivia, we totally want you to come hang out" and she's going to. Jack and Olivia are so perfect for each other. They're so hot together. If that's not a love story, then I don't want to believe in love.

4) Canada is still a democracy and the beautiful thing about that is that there is always the possibility for change. Don't turn your back on it now. I may not love the new prime minister, but I still love Canada.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

With a week before Canada goes to the polls again, other parts of the world seem a little more hopeful with the election of two female political leaders: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia and Michelle Bachelet in Chile.

On the home front, things, at least from my eyes, look a lot less progressive.

Junk WTO!

I felt like I had already been apart of the scene in Wan Chai today when WTO protesters had their first march Sunday afternoon. Everything from the face paint, bright t-shirts, coordinated cheers/chants, speakerphones and mood felt familiar. It was almost just like Frosh Week.

I think many were dissapointed that the turnout wasn't more than the approximately 3,500 (depending on who you ask) people. Some groups were somber but most marched with a festival attitude. Excitement overshadowed the nervousness of the 9,000 officers watching from all angles. It will be an interesting week.

I'll post pictures later.

Read The Standard's coverage of the WTO.
My article about the WTO's affect on Wan Chai's business.

Vote because you can

For those of you back home in Canada: the next time you complain about the Canadian federal election or the chore that is your right to vote, think about the above image. Today, tens of thousands, some say up to 250,000 people in Hong Kong marched just to fight for the right to vote.

Don't waste your vote. No matter how cynical you are, how much you hate all the candiates, or how much laziness might prevent you from getting to know the issues, don't let it stop you from being informed and voting. I won't let hundreds of kilometers stop me. Go vote on January 23rd!

Links:
a) My article in The Standard about the conflicting attendance figures
b) The Standard's story about Donald Tsang, our Chief Executive's reaction to the march
c) Reuters's article on the march
d) Local blogger, Glutter's written and photographic account of the day

The Most Diverse, Tolerant and Open-minded Place on Earth

I'm proud to be Canadian today, more so than other days as our federal government passed Bill C-38 to legalize same-sex marriage last night. The majority of Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs voted in favour 158-133 of changing the definition of marriage from "The union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others" to "The union of two persons to the exclusion of all others."

It seems like the debate has taken forever to settle and although Senate still has to vote to make it really, really official, I'm glad that Canadian men and woman can live happily ever after no matter who they want to live happily ever after with.

John Ibbitson wrote a very nice column in today's Globe. Here's some of it cut and pasted together:

Healthy conservatism promotes the continuity of civilization, the importance of community, the dangers of thoughtless change. It does not, or should not, assert the right of white, Christian heterosexual males of a certain age to limit the rights of everyone else. The past 100 years of social history has been dedicated, on good days, to constraining the dominance of this minority. Yesterday was a good day...So, enjoy the summer while it lasts. And congratulate yourself. You are part of the most diverse, tolerant and open-minded place on earth.

If you're curious about how your MP has voted on bills related to the rights of GLBT, please visit the Egale Canada website.

The new H(omo) bomb

Back in 1984, the U.S. Military considered creating an "aphrodisiac" to make its enemies gay, leading to lowered morale. The proposal, which was part of a $7.5 million non-lethal chemical weapons initiative, was rejected, but let's just pause to imagine what could of been...

An aphrodisiac to turn heterosexuals into homosexuals? Isn't that exactly what every gay man and lesbian who has had a crush on a straight person wanted?

And to quote George Stroumboulopoulos on This Hour, "Lower morale? Have seen gay pride?!"

Finally, something interesting in Ottawa

I wonder what Richard Addis thinks of this Carolyn Parrish thing. The former editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail thought Canadian politicians sure were boring when he came from Britian. In Chris Cobb's book, Ego and Ink: Inside the Story of Canada's National Newspaper War, Addis says:

"I met Paul Martin and Allan Rock formally in their officies, Stockwell Day, Brian Tobin, Preston Manning, and other minor figures. Apart from Chretien I found them all rather boring. They are much less articulate and confident than British politicans. They seem to have less need to be interesting and would bore you to death with details. British politicians meeting journalists always try to be witty, sharp, and pugnacious and get across some kind of character. Canadian politicians, other than Jean Chretian, reminded meof bureaucrats. I think Paul Martin may be the world's most boring man. Chretien may be wrong and infuriating, but he is a great character."

And it is my opinion that Parrish falls along the same line as Chretien. I don't think Martin was out of line when he fired her from caucus, he was dissed and he had to step up but at least the woman is interesting. Martin, on the other hand, makes me yawn no matter how many rock stars he claims to hang out with. For once people normally bored by politics are paying attention and that can't be completely bad. Not for politics or newspapers like The Globe.

(x-posted in RRJ)

Parrish for the People

Liberal backbencer Carolyn Parrish is pissing people off again. She has taped an appearance on the CBC satirical show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes where she throws a doll of George Bush on the ground and smushes it with her boot. She has been a vocal critic of U.S. President George Bush and Prime Minister Paul Martin and her comments have caused some Liberals concern. They fear she will heckle Bush if he addresses parliament on his Nov. 30th visit to Ottawa, embarassing the party and threatening relations with Canada's closest ally.

Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan is quoted in today's Globe saying, "He is a visitor in our country. I don't know about you, but my mother brought me up to belive that when we had visitors we always treated our visitors in a polite, respectful way. And I would presume that my colleagues will treat President Bush in that way."

I think McLellan makes a valid point, however, I can't really blame Parrish for being a vocal biatch to Bush. The majority of Canadians do not support him as president, in fact, I think it's fair to say most of us really, really don't like him. While it's rude to heckle guests, when else is the American president going to listen to what Canadians have to say about him? While Martin tries to improve Canada-U.S. relations (as he should) and acts as the ass-kisser, I think we need to have someone like Parrish act as the ass-kicker.

"I hope your drinking daughters are gay"

I have purposely avoided political discussion. It's mainly because there's more than enough of that on the Web now. Exit polls. Ohio. New maps of northern states joining Canada. Yadda yadda yadda. It's boring and I'm sick of it. I suppose if I was actually expecting or had hope that Kerry would win the election I would want to discuss my shock and awe, but the fact is I never had faith in the American population. I'm not anti-American, I'm anti-Bush and anti-Republican. Unfortunately that means I'm anti 51% of Americans. There's really not much to say two days after the election. It's simply four more years of Bozo the Clown. So here are a selection of my favourite election-related blog entries:

From Emm Gryner:
I take the results of this election personally.
The President of the United States sees a woman as a second-class citizen.
The President of the United States saw to the needless murder of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans.
The President of the United States has no respect or rights for you if you are in love with someone of the same sex.
The President of the United States has raped the words liberty and freedom for his own personal gain.
The President of the United States exploited and continues to exploit 9/11.

From Matt Good:
Prior to this moment I held the American people apart from the actions of their government, believing that if they had the chance to reverse what has been done that they would. Unfortunately, I now find that difficult to do.
My children will inherit a more dangerous world because of the outcome of this election. What am I to tell them when they ask why anyone would willingly support such a reckless, tepid, and bigoted man?

From the other side, Adam Yoshida:
The Democrats are now talking about how this is a signal that Bush should “bring the country together”. Translated into American, this means “now that you’ve won, you should surrender to us.” The hell with that. We’ve won. Winning means not having to say you’re sorry. Bush already brought a majority of Americans together: they voted for him. He doesn’t need to reach out to them: they need to reach out to him.