The Poetry of Mortality

A friend of mine recently said, to the ultimate questions in Life, only Art can provide the answers.

Death is the ultimate question we all have to confront. Many great literary works have been created in attempt to cope with the fear of Death.

I find quite moving, therefore this tribute to the Swedish poet and writer, Siv Cedering who has just died of cancer.

CRITICAL MASS: A Tribute and a Celebration: Siv Cedering’s Last Book,”Vixen”

Jane Ciabattari who penned the tribute, fashioned a poem from a voice mail that Siv Cedering left for her, informing her that she has a relapse of cancer.

MESSAGE

Hi darling friend, it’s me.

I don’t know what you’ve heard…

So I’m reluctant…

To tell you…

I have bad news…

The cancer is back.

It’s not good.

I’m sorry.

Whatever you’re doing today, have fun.

Orioles are everywhere. Can you hear them?

I’m back, at home.

It would be great to see you.

Call me. I love you.

Write a beautiful poem.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Powered by ScribeFire.

BBC goes web 2.0

Personalization. Customization. Localization.

The British Broadcasting Company has launched a beta version of their new homepage.

BBC – Homepage

You get to drag and drop content modules as you wish. Sounds familiar. The homepage cites as its sources of inspiration, Netvibes and iGoogle.

It is another piece of evidence that traditional media companies are taking more cues from Web2.0 than ever more.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Leaning Towers of Beijing

Keel over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Move aside, the Twin Towers of Kuala Lumpur.

Here come the Twin Leaning Towers of Beijing. The new CCTV (China Central TV) building is one of the growing number of icons designed by international architects in the city of Beijing.

I passed by this building almost every day while I was filming my documentary about the Beijing Olympics. I always felt bemused by the seemingly impossible structure of the towers.

The building is clearly part of the city’s efforts to lay claim to its status as an international metropolis by building futuristic and foreign-looking landmarks.

Call it odd or a show-off piece, it is definitely identifiable. In fact I used it as backdrop to one of the scenes in my film.

This week, the news is that the twin towers finally join, with a walkway connecting the two parts.

As usual, a plethora of ironic observations have surfaced in the international media:

China’s impossible leaning towers join : December 2007 : Richard Spencer : Foreign : Telegraph Blogs

Orwellian architecture in China | The Ministry of Truth | Economist.com

Powered by ScribeFire.

Baidu vs Google: Chinese vs English Internet Users

What we search for online might well reveal our deepest desires.

In fact, one can attempt to construct a hierarchy of values based on the most frequently searched keywords and questions.

If so, this China Digital Times story, contrasting the top ten most searched questions on Baidu, China’s top search engine and Google, is sobering.

Top Ten Lists: Differences Between Chinese and English Internet Users – Keso :: China Digital Times (CDT) 中国数字时代

Original Chinese article can be found at:
http://blog.donews.com/keso/archive/2007/12/14/1236576.aspx

Mutual fund, warrants, stock-index futures, stocks, e-commerce top the lists for Chinese internet searches.

While the English users show a greater concern about health and emotional issues, with words such as ‘love’, ‘autism’,'lupus’ near the top of the list.

Unfortunately, these lists play into worst stereotypes of China and the West. The Chinese seem to be preoccupied with money and wealth while the Westerners are obsessed with health.

While they say, there is a grain of truth in every cliche, I certainly hold out hope that the softer , more human side of China can be found if you dig just a little deeper.

After all, “what is love?” is number 6 on the most searched list on Baidu, sandwiched right between “what is e-commerce?” and “what is 3G?”

There is hope yet.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Ming Pao Monthly and Chinese Intellectual Tradition

I have been amazed by how much my reading habits have changed over the past two years.

I no longer read hard copies of daily newspapers and magazines on a regular basis.

Instead I subscribe to news feeds using the Google Reader. I scan through hundreds of articles electronically on a daily basis to imbibe the latest trends of our Web 2.0 era.

But I was recently reminded of the pleasures of reading a hard copy of a magazine when I bought a copy of Ming Pao Monthly in Hong Kong.

Yes, I could read some of the articles online for free at the Ming Pao Monthly website but there is something about reading a literary and scholarly magazine slowly, on the train, in the hotel room, while waiting for a friend at a cafe…

The key word is “slowly.” Because pondering on the dilemmas of our times takes time and attention, both rare commodities these days.

Only then, will the pleasures of the essay on the encounter between ailing Chinese scholar Ji Xianlin (季羡林） and famous actress Lin Ching Hsia（林青霞） come to life on paper. So will the weight of the burden of China’s environmental crisis be truly felt.

Perusing the pages of Ming Pao Monthly, I am reminded anew of the responsibilities of the Chinese intellectual. They have to bear the burdens and sorrows of our times before everyone else. 先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐。

And that certainly takes time,attention and heart.

Powered by ScribeFire.

My First Film Festival Poster

I recently presented my documentary about the Beijing Olympics at the Guangzhou International Documentary Festival.

Boomtown Beijing is my first independent film and making the festival poster for it was a big thrill. Mainly because of how last minute it all was. I got them printed the day I arrived in Guangzhou at a little print shop near the

Sun Yat-Sen University.

A big thank you to Carrie Dee Cao Zhen Zhen, a graduate student at SYSU who helped me pull it together. She also coordinated and publicized my guest lectures at the university.

Talk about useful local knowledge!

TV 2.0 Content in a Micro-audience World

I love this term that has been coined to describe the future of multimedia content — “micro-audience” world.

TV 2.0 — a micro audience world? « Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger

It succinctly describes the immense opportunity and the intractable difficulties confronting content creators.

A micro-audience world implies that anyone can create their own media platform, using a combination of tools that are widely accessible– YouTube, Flickr, blogging and the web.

But it might also mean that the audience base for each segment is so small that the content creators cannot profit from it.

How will the economics of the “micro-audience world” differ from that of traditional media?

Powered by ScribeFire.

NBCC’s Best Recommended

In an era where even TV is becoming passe, I find it real cool that the National Book Critics Circle has its own blog.

http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com

The web seems to be a perfect means to spread the word about a good book.

Now the NBCC blog is asking award-winning novelists, historians, poets, critics and biographer to vote for their favourite books every month.

Find out what books these distinguished individuals have really loved in 2007:

CRITICAL MASS: Introducing the NBCC’s Best Recommended

Powered by ScribeFire.