Glutter

Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong

I am listening to RTHK Radio 1 in Hong Kong streaming and they just discussed Mr. Ching Cheong's press conference and so far he's thanking everyone for his release.

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They are playing part of his statement.

(I was translating real time with the feed, so not exact but very very close)

"After thanking everyone, I just want to say some simple things about my situation.

Number 1: I have never done anything to hurt the country or its security. I have no shame and regret, and I honestly say I deserved the out pouring of support by the public without shame in my heart.

I have never spied on China. I have never had any intentions of spying on my country. I have never intended to hurt the country's security. I have never touched any classified documents and never given classified information to Taiwan.

To me the country's security is very important to me personally. I take the idea of spying very seriously. It's not something I would consider. It is the complete opposite of my personal belief.

As I said in court. Since university graduation every major decision I have made is for the best of the country. When this situation happened, I first thought of what was important for this country's security before myself, my own safety. Which is why I handed over my computer. This showed I have nothing to hide and did not have any question and fear.

Today is the 30th Anniversary of the opening up of China. Mr. Ching Cheong hopes that China will be more open in democratic and human rights issue.

Ching Cheong a Journalist Jailed without Proof, is Freed.

Wikipedia: Ching Cheong

Glutter's Hong Kong.

Wah. www.8810903.com just announced that Edison Chen is going to quit the Entertainment "Circle." Poor guy. They are talking about it on RTHK Radio 1 as well. Maybe he will come to the US where people aren't so upset about grown people having sex..

I wonder what the whole statement is. They said he said he's really sorry for all the people who have hurt and that he is not a role model for the youth in HK.

Oh more importantly Mr. Ching Chong who was the HK journalist for Strait Times and was jailed for three years by the Chinese government will have a press conference in half an hour as well.

The radio hosts are saying that today there have been two really important press conference that can be summed up by a phrase. For Edison Chen, it's "Sorry" "Sorry to the family, Sorry to everyone" and for Mr. Ching Chong it's "Thank you." "Thank you for his family's support, the support of the city, and the government of HK helping his release, and the journalistic community for again, supporting his family and helping to secure his release.


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I just heard it. Mainly Edison apologized to the "ladies" (Not the best choice of word I don't think), and their family, his own mother and father, and the WHOLE of HK society because he feels it's led the society astray... (Actually I can promise that most people had a rollicking good time downloading the photos.) and he's sorry he was unable to live up to his role as a role model which is what is expected of him in the HK entertainment industry and he's made the decision to leave the HK entertainment "Circle" after fulfilling his obligations.

Which means he's heading this way to Hollywood. He can now be the Asian version of Paris Hilton! This town loves it!

Glutter's HK

I have been writing this extremely long winded post about the whole Edison affair. Anyway, still haven't finished, and as with all gossip, it keeps changing. Edison is in HK and will have a press conference at 3pm HK time. It's an hour to go from the time of me writing this..

Wah. I can't wait.

It's been a long time that there is some HK stuff that I can really get my teeth into.....

I miss home!

Okay. I decided I still have SO MUCH more to write about.. You know the police aspect, the censorship aspect, the fact people are being arrested in HK, Taiwan and China over this incident. I might as well split it in different sections. So I am posting the first part of the Edison Chen Writing as (1) which is mainly purely gossip...

Glutter's Hong Kong.

I admit it. For more than a week now, I have been obsessed with the "sexy photo gate" scandal of the pictorial renditions of Edison Chen's Sex Life. I have discussed it with my mother: "no mum, I really don't think you should look at the photos, they are really naughty."

My classmates: "I know you don't know who these people are, but it's HUGE! It's not like Paris Hilton at all, because they are already famous before they got naked! It's like Justin Timberlake's computer got hacked and in it was pictures of a Britney (who still claimed she was a virgin who happened to be dating his classmate), Cameron Diaz who happens to be married also to Justin's classmate, some retired star whose about to marry a really really rich man and a bunch of starlets with a underage girl whose uncle owns the record label, management company some of these women are in, plus he is a bona fide gangsta all at once!!"

My brother: "Yeah, they want to hack his hands of for $50, 000!!!" My brother replied, "That's rough, if I was him I would just say, "It's not my fault, they got naked themselves! He needs to stay here."

And one night, Pieter said, "I can't really believe you're sitting in bed surfing for porn and making me look at them."

"It's not porn." I replied, "Think, this girl who is sprawled naked and sucking, was representing your company over Chinese New Year before they pulled the ad! It won't be in the new employee Disney Magazine would it? Anyway they didn't make it for money, I mean it's not intended to entertain."

"Doesn't it tell you something?"

"Yeah, I shouldn't look at it. But I am just waiting for the next Kira installation coz maybe there will be pictures of Maggie Q!! That would make me happy."

"And why?"

"Coz she wasn't very nice to me once, so it would be funny... but really that was a long time ago, and she's really I am sure she is a very nice person now and we were all pretty immature, so really, no reason what so ever at all."

But yet, I can't help it. I am compulsively seeking more news, the next installment, more gossip. Is Cecilia and Nic really going to divorce? They have a baby! Is it true she was cheating on Nicolas Tse her soon-to-be-hubby in these photos? If she was why would she allow photos to be taken? His parents Tse Yin and Dicboli don't look too pleased in the photos. I am sure they thought all the scandal is over now he's married and has a kid. No more crashing one's Ferrari on garden road drunk, and then getting his driver to take the blame. How long did Nic end up in prison? Was it two months?

And what about poor Bobo, playing the smart not very talented actress card of nabbing a rich man. Is that done? Will Bobo's investment banker finance from a good family stand up to his mother and marry her anyway? After all those photos were taken before he met her but a man from such a family, really shouldn't have a wife where everyone has seen her bits especially only a few months before the wedding.

Who is this Mandy Chan person? I can't believe she's licking.. a plastic toy. Is that really Jody? She actually she seemed sweet. I actually fell for the facade!! And who are the other people, and how come some of the not-so-famous starlets all look so similar when they are naked. I can't tell one from the other! Thank god for Cecilia who seems to have a bit of personality! She looks great drunk and in a police uniform. Isn't it funny she's wearing that when her dad was in jail? Ah, mocking the profession.

Best of all... Gillian, the pleasure of seeing Gillian from the really truly deeply awful "Twins" in compromising positions after watching her blubbering over a magazine showing her back and a bit of her bra, saying "I don't know how to face the fans, the public. The idea that the image I tried so hard to create is shattered by these images taken without my knowledge." Oh, the pleasure of seeing a real hypocrite exposed. I always thought she over reacted with the hidden camera situation, considering absolutely nothing was shown, and now.. all she said was that she was "young and naive and have grown up now." Is that all she can muster? No tears, no overwrought emotion of being taken advantage of? No apologies for letting her fans "who are mostly school children and their mums" down? How come she could put on such a big act when she showed nothing and have such a reaction when everything is out?

So are the others terrible rumours about her true? Did she sleep with Albert Yeung (owner of Empire Entertainment Group and Edison's girlfriend's uncle) along with her bandmate to get the "Twins" contract? Does he "hire" them out for $10,000 a night to his friends? If she's not as innocent as she had made herself out to be, what else is she hiding? Could those vicious rumours be true? I never would have thought for one moment they were anything but cruel hearsay. And the ironic other rumour that has been proven to be untrue? Unlike what the message boards were saying. Gillian has never been a spokes person for abstinence of premarital sex, and she never turned up to any Christian Youth Rally.. at least that was confirmed..

That's just the women. What about Edison? How come he's such a stud? Do you think it's true about the rumours of him being cheated on when he was 15 and that's why he acts that way? Or do you think it's because his dad is purported to be gay that he needs to prove his masculinity? Really Edison, Edison Chen from HKIS? What did they see in him?

And now with this blowing up is his life really in danger? Was there really $50 000 bounty given for his hand? Left or right? Does it matter? And why not his face? Did he really threaten to commit suicide if his girlfriend Vinny didn't marry him? Did he slit his wrists? Did he do that, just so her uncle won't hurt him or stop the people who want to get him? I mean you can't hurt the Empire Entertainment group's president's niece's husband? He's powerful with the triads, he's powerful with the Chinese government. And who the hell told him to do that apology video in English?? Then put it on youtube? Did he honestly think that anyone would delete photos of naked women and him off their computers because he urged them to? Sadly the funniest "translation" video in youtube has been pulled probably because of the explicit language. Mainly it was him admitting, bragging and insulting the women who appeared in the photographs. If one makes a video of explanation and apology to scandal in a foreign language to most of it's spectators, you're asking for trouble.

But then sometimes I think he's been punished enough, when he's been pulled from Stephen Chow's highly awaited new film Jump, some of his credit card endorsement has been dropped a la Kate Moss. Levis and Pepsi is in the wings waiting to see what happens. And he thought maybe he would make it Hollywood? He is supposed to appear in the Dark Knight, the batman movie (which has it's own share of problems now Heath Ledger so tragically died), and now his name is all over the American gossip columns with no one knowing what the hell he does.. oh, wait, maybe there are some Paris Hilton parallels. Maybe this will be the thing that propels him to Hollywood. Maybe Maggie Q is regretting she didn't make a sex tape with him coz she might become a household name over here....hmmm...

Then there are rumours that the photos were taken for his boss so he could bribe them. Did he use these photos as a "casting couch" for unknown girls with promises of chances to be introduced to the right people? Was is true that he was already been blackmailed by these photographs last year, but didn't pay up because he figured the photos will be put out there regardless? And now the reason the photos are out and about is because one of the people who were blackmailing him has disappeared and as retaliation, the blackmailers have put the photos out.

Were those pix taken for himself or his boss? Why is Edison Chen asking for not only police protection, but a promise that he will not be charged? What has he done? Did he coerce any of these women or bribe them with the photos? Was his girlfriend Vincy really underage at the time...

To be Continued.......

A Hong Kong journalist who was jailed in mainland China on spying charges has been released after serving less than half a five-year sentence. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7227695.stm

Art

Have a look at the exhibition I just went to see.

LOVE Oval Buddha sculpture... (Part Six of tour)


http://www.moca.org/murakami/

If you're wondering why some of the work looks familiar....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2250654,00.html

Just a grrl

It's been a year since I relocated to LA. It's taken a year to get into my stride and be used to the vast hugeness of Los Angeles and able to take advantage of all this place has to offer. I am still working on my cactus garden although I had to take a lot of my plants out of the ground and replant them into small pots, as raccoons seem to enjoy chewing up the more expensive (always) and exotic plants. I am starting to get used to the land more and realized that they are too small to look good in the garden.

And my off shoot project of going to a pottery studio to make some pots for my plants has grown into a full blown passion onto itself, and I started creating a style of hand building sculpture that is inspired by the South Western Landscape of rocks and canyons and the study of bones I did about six months ago. I also started collecting pieces of pottery both from my teacher and other artists. Mostly I am getting kitchen wear as the artistic space in the house is taken up by my own work.

With that I am also baking, I learned to make bread, apple pies, blue berry pies, quiche, roast a chicken, Yorkshire pudding and all sorts of daily dishes that I had not thought of before such as apricots and carrots. I challenged myself with making a ginger bread house with little ginger bread people all decorated with icing, which was a success. I resurrected old childhood favorites of scones, shortbread, chocolate chip cookies, plus added to my repertoire old family recipes such as cauliflower and cheese. I made my first full blown Christmas meal all by myself, with my mum's recipes with twists of my own. Yummi Stuffing with walnuts and Apple. Pieter got my a super duper food processor for Christmas which I am happy to put to use.

And for Christmas I got my first REAL Christmas tree, my aunts from Hong Kong decorated it all, and bought us the cutest one and half feet penguins with lights in them. We had candy cane lights in the living room windows and an explosion of tinsel. I can't wait to go to China Town and get some Chinese New Year decorations as that's coming up.

Then there is the dancing. This winter I started taking modern dance class in a local community college, plus a history of dance class which includes labs. I have tried my hand at sufi dancing, a little bit of choreography, and studied the Graham method. I love rolling around the floor and dancing across the vast studio in triplets. I love dancing, and with the far more democratic American style of teaching, a non competitive environment, I am excelling at something I loved but was never particularly good at before. I love the fact the teachers point out different moves and who they are created by. I love understanding the moves in the historical context instead of blindly following. I am going to take some free workshops of the Durham Method, a famed African American Choreographer who was also an anthropologist of dance. I can't wait. There will be African drummers, and afterwards we get to watch famous dancers and choreographers at work. Next semester I am hoping to pick up tap dancing again, which I have not done since I was a girl. The most incredible part of all this is I am doing it at junior college, and phys ed classes are only one credit. The cost per class that is twice a week that last 16 weeks? A mere $20. Incredible.

As if that's not enough to fill one's day. I have some small mosaic projects planned, and read a lot of butterfly gardening, and native plants. I recently planted a package of butterfly mix of native wild flowers and hope due to the rain they will come up soon ready for the Spring Bloom.

There are concerts: Neil Young and BB King -the symphony. There are cactus shows. I joined the Natural History Museum so I can return without admission for a year. We joined the Autry Museum. Soon when my papers are ready I want to volunteer at Moca. There are so many art museums and galleries in LA that I realized there is no going to all of them, especially in the weekends when we would like to go hiking or drives up the mountains. It's taken me a year to just walk up and down the beautiful hill I live on.

I still keep planing to go whale watching again. This Christmas during our mini off road adventure, we saw elk, a huge herd of them. We saw a bob cat in the wild. We spent a lot of time with Inyo petroglyphs, a scale of engraving I have never experienced or imagined. I hiked in the snow, and made a snowman. We saw some Bristle Cone Pine the oldest living organism in the world, up to five thousand years old, and the oldest specimen is kept secret. We got stuck in some silt and had to be towed out. For New Year's Eve we ended up in a local bar in Bishop of Sierra Nevada and listened the thrash metal, and kissed on midnight.

We plan to go see Joshua Tree National Forest because I love the cactus there. There are free movie screenings, disneyland, universal studios, still have not gone to San Diego to the Zoo or safari. There is the Los Angeles Metro Art Tour I want to go on as I catch the train a lot. I have been enjoying using the LA public transport system as I don't like driving every day. I hate the hassle of traffic, and since Pieter can pick me up once I get back to the surrounding area, I like that I can go anywhere during the day and not worry about parking, and getting in and out of the car. There is always some "adventure" of course, because this is still dirty, rough, and strange LA. Like yesterday I had to call 911 because a passerby fell down a big flight of stairs and hurt his head and arms bleeding all over himself and the sidewalk. This being overkill America, they sent at least eight men, one ambulance and a full blown fire truck to take him to the hospital and the men were so rude. Barking orders at us and barking questions at a man with concussion.

There is more I have done, and more I want to do. And the one thing that has fallen on the wayside is writing. I would like to pick that up again a little bit this year. I would like to take a drawing class as well, and when everything is settled take more upper division law classes at UCLA extension. In March I start the LSAT process for the June Exam. I pulled up my camera again so I can record everything.

Talk soon. xoxo

Freedom of Expression

Last week I was interviewed by a journalist at the BBC, and somehow the link to parts of it was sent to me in an alert by google. I am not even sure in what context this is in, or whether I have the rights to put it up. But here goes.... (I have to say it was well edited, because it got a lot of my points across in a more succinct than I put it.

Add iPM Radio 4 - Yan Sham-Shackleton to your page

Yahoo Case Moves to Discovery Phase

"Our lawsuit against Yahoo, filed in April 2007, has now advanced to the discovery phase after the District Court for the Northern District of California granted our motion to begin initial and jurisdictional discovery. The court's order comes after Yahoo attempted to delay initial and jurisdictional discovery by asking the court to bifurcate proceedings, which would have meant that the court would have to delay addressing the merits of the case. Human Rights USA successfully challenged Yahoo's attempts to split up proceedings into multiple parts.

Human Rights USA filed suit against Yahoo in April for its complicity in handing over identifying internet user information to Chinese authorities, leading to the arbitrary arrest, long-term detention, abuse, and torture of Chinese journalists and human rights and pro-democracy advocates. Two of the plaintiffs -- Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao -- have been arrested and imprisoned in China for having expressed their right to free speech as a result of Yahoo's actions." http://www.humanrightsusa.org

Global Online Freedom Act has been passed by the house committee and will go to the floor of either the senate or congress to be voted on so it can be passed into legislation. The case against Yahoo brought by the family of Shi Tao will start in the next week. Did a short interview with BBC UK this morning...

It's 3 something am over here in LA, and I am having fantasies of calling up the World Organization for Human Rights and see if they need someone to help on the case. I have been having thoughts about that for months now, but I couldn't move to Northern California before, but now, I think maybe I should try. It would be really good for my resume if I ever did apply to law school, and it would be what I am interested in -in the first place. I helped on the first press releases on the Shi Tao case, and it blew me away when it hit the front pages. I have been watching it since the beginning, it would be so good to be able to partake in it on a legal basis. But it's just a little fantasy right now, I don't even know if I will write to them or if the organization need any help.

I am going to bed and thinking more about it tomorrow.

Forbes: Congress To Google: Don't Sell Out To Censors
Andy Greenberg 10.23.07, 2:35 PM ET

For global tech companies like Google and Yahoo!, cooperating with repressive states like China has been a public relations nightmare. Now that ethical dilemma may be slowly widening into a legal morass.

The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs voted Tuesday to pass the Global Online Freedom Act, a bill designed to penalize U.S. companies up to $2 million if they cooperate with the technological surveillance of political dissidents or share technology and information used for "Internet-restricting" purposes.

"Dictatorships need two pillars to survive: propaganda and secret police. The Internet, if misused, gives them both in spades," said Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey. "Both wittingly and unwittingly, companies operating in places like China have discovered they're a part of these regimes."

Tuesday's bill must still pass several hurdles before reaching the House or Senate floor. But it is a clear sign of the growing frustration in Congress over the tug-of-war between supporting U.S. technology companies in politically charged countries and America's long support of human rights abroad.

Companies under the congressional microscope included Cisco, which Smith accused of helping China create a "police net" database used to track and imprison political dissidents around the country. He alluded to Yahoo!'s cooperation with Chinese police, offering up email information that led to journalist Shi Tao receiving a 10-year prison term in 2005 for "revealing state secrets." Smith also criticized Google for its decision to appease China by blocking politically controversial search results on its Mandarin site.

"Google has joined hook, line and sinker with the propaganda regime of Beijing," Smith said.

While Google and Yahoo! couldn't be reached for comment, Cisco responded with a statement denying any participation in government censorship and arguing that the company "supports transparency in the way the Internet is used and complies with applicable regulations."

Microsoft faces issues similar to those of Yahoo! and Google in countries that censor search results and track dissidents. The software giant said it is "not advocating for a legislative solution" and is instead working with organizations including Business for Social Responsibility and the Center for Democracy and Technology to develop new guidelines for protecting human rights abroad.

Since turning over information key to jailing Shi Tao, Yahoo! has been called before Congress to explain its actions. Yahoo!'s general counsel Michael Callahan told Congress last February that the company was unaware China's government would use Shi Tao's email information as evidence in a politically motivated trial.

Earlier this month, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos accused Yahoo! of knowing the Chinese government's intentions in that case and lying in the Congressional hearing. Lantos has demanded Callahan and Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang return to Congress for further questioning next month.

Legislators supporting the bill contend it could help protect dissents abroad by making it illegal for companies to store sensitive information that could be used to indentify individuals in countries with restrictive Internet policies, including China, Belarus, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Tunisia. U.S. search engines and Internet Service Providers would also be prevented from filtering search results at the request of a government or for any Internet-restricting purposes.

Not every member of Congress was convinced. Though the committee overwhelmingly supported the measure, Representative Adam Smith of Washington contended the bill was "overly broad," and in its current form, would simply prevent American tech companies from doing business in many countries around the world.

"This is a very delicate area, and a very indelicate piece of legislation," he added.

Internet companies in China already face an unfriendly business landscape. Despite cooperating with the Chinese government's censorship demands, Google has lagged its competitor Baidu in China. Monday, Google confirmed reports that some users were being mysteriously redirected from Google's search page to Baidu's.

But Representative Dan Burton of Indiana countered critiques that the bill would crimp U.S. business abroad by comparing those concerns to arguments in 19th century Britain over the fiscal sacrifices associated with ending slavery.

"Some nation has to start to change what's been going on in China," he said. "Let it be us, today."