As anyone who’s read his biography will know, Steve Jobs was not particularly pleasant to the people around him (to put it lightly). Like it or not this seems to often be the case with people who end up in positions of power, but whatever his personality, his impact on the world was undoubtably immense.
Walk into almost any shop. Regard the tacky watches, the rip-off tablets, the cheap radios, and the clothes that fall apart after the second time you wear them. Most products today have had little thought or care gone into their design, focusing on fashion over function and cost over quality. They are marketing-driven ploys which deceive the consumer into a never-ending cycle of designed obsolescence where the value of a product has become less about what it does and more about having the latest model.
Since moving to Hong Kong at the beginning of 2011 I’ve been slowly building a bigger picture of this multifaceted metropolis and the people who live here – it’s been a fascinating year and undoubtably one of the best. In the first since 2010′s instalment of this series here are some more Hong Kong Moments – from dusk till dusk.
Located on the western edge of Hong Kong Island, Pok Fu Lam Village (薄扶林村) is one of the oldest villages in Hong Kong, dating back to as far back as the 1600s. It is said to be one of the last fully functioning villages in the heart of the urban metropolis and I paid a visit last weekend, camera in hand…
After visiting more than my fair share of Chinese temples over the past five years I have become somewhat jaded to write about yet another (as one might become with churches in Europe also). They usually have the same layouts containing similarly styled statues which makes them a bit predictable but nevertheless good places for spending a relaxing hour or so.
Samuel Cockedey, a French photographer and video artist based in Japan, has put together another ethereal time-lapse film of the Shinjuku area in Tokyo set to the soundtrack of Blade Runner in tribute to Ridley Scott and Vangelis.
This evening I came home to catch up on reading my feeds and discovered this wonderful animation giving an overview of What is China? in 10 minutes by someone called ‘Eno Jin’. As I watched it I realised something sounded familiar, then I realised that the voiceover was reading almost word-for-word a series of posts I wrote back in 2009 called ‘Chinese Culture 101‘.
While the dragon has historically served as China’s national emblem, in recent decades the panda has also come to serve as a symbol for the country; seemingly docile yet vicious if irritated. Due to farming, deforestation and other developments, the Giant Pandas natural habitat has significantly diminished and there are less than ~2000 pandas in the wild and ~200 in captivity.
If you’ve not already come across it, ‘Everything is a Remix‘ is an ambitious four-part documentary on the history and cultural significance of sampling and collaborative creation which delves into the influences behind some of the most popular works of music and film in modern history (produced by Kirby Ferguson and Robert Grigsby Wilson).
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them…