LET’S CRITICIZE THE GOVT

We had a day off today, as it’s July 1 – which in Hong Kong is when we celebrate the anniversary of our handover from Britain back to China (12 years ago) by holding an all-purpose parade to criticize the HK govt.



Oh sure, we also have pro-govt parades with floats and speeches and flag ceremonies and local A-list celebrities. But mostly we bitch about the govt.

Let’s put it this way: about 40,000 people showed up for the pro-govt parade. About 76,000 turned out for the protest parade.

Which is all the more impressive when you consider it was 34ºC and sunny today. But with the economy in the tank and unemployment on the rise, what do you expect?

Still, while 76,000 is a pretty good turnout, it was well short of what organizers were hoping for, especially after the huge June 4 turnout. And it's still nothing compared to the 500k people that showed up in 2003.

Anyway, the bridal unit and I didn’t go. We spent the day cleaning our new flat and then moving some stuff into it. The Big Move will be this Saturday. Details forthcoming.

I gotta move,

This is dF

POPEYE VS THE MUMMIES

So it seems I’ve managed to pick up a few new readers via the wickedsin  friending frenzy. Welcome brangwaine  and dferguson . Thanks for the add – you won’t be sorry for long.

To give you an idea of what yr in for, here’s a clip from a film in which Bruce Lee goes to Hell and meets Dracula, James Bond, Zatoichi, Clint Eastwood, The Godfather, The Exorcist, Emmanuelle, Caine from Kung Fu and Popeye.

This is the bit where Popeye beats the snot out of mummies.

The film is called The Dragon Lives Again. It was made in 1977 and is possibly the most bizarre Bruce Lee tribute film ever made.

And in case thelastaerie  is wondering, yes, that IS Eric Tsang playing Popeye.

Eat yr spinach,

This is dF

IF THE FOX NEWS CG GUY SAYS YR A DEMOCRAT, YR A F***ING DEMOCRAT, SO SHUT UP

ITEM: The Democrats suffer another major wife-cheating scandal as Gov Mark “Argentina” Sanford is magically transformed into a Democrat via the Fox News CG guy.



Naturally it’s a typo. Just like all those other typos. And funny how they don’t make typos that work the other way.

I’m just saying.

Tenacious “D”,

This is dF

MADE IN MACAU PART 1: THIS IS TAIPAAAAAAAAAAAA!

So the bridal unit and I spent Monday and Tuesday in Macau, which we’ve been to a several times before – it’s only an hour down the Guangdong coast by high-speed jetfoil, after all – but my last few trips were mostly job-related. So it was a chance to take a few hundred pictures and dump them on Photobukkit for yr amusement.

For beginners, Macau is comprised of three parts: the main city and two islands (Taipa and Coloane), as well as the Cotai Strip that sits between Taipa and Coloane where water used to be.

Macau looks the way it does because it was a Portuguese colony until 1999 when Portugal gave it back to China under a similar “special administrative region” arrangement as Hong Kong (which basically means we get to run our own affairs but China owns the pink slip). It also looks the way it does because the major industry in gambling – Macau is a casino town, and ever since Stanley Ho lost his monopoly, Vegas bigwigs have moved in to establish familiar-sounding names like Sands, Wynn, The Venetian and the MGM Grand.

The result: half the city looks like a Portugal/China mashup, and the other half looks like the set of Ocean’s 11. Or a Hunter Thompson novel.

Anyway, I’ll break it down into three photosets, starting with this one: shots around Taipa Village, a stone’s throw away from the hotel.



Pretty self-explanatory, more or less. Except for the panda, which I’m not too sure about.

PRODUCTION NOTE: Clicking the mosaic takes you to the entire photo set. So, you know, make plans.

Up next: Fear, loathing and dragons in the Hard Rock Casino!

Village idiot,

This is dF