Jazz in HK

Being a jazz lover, one of the first things i did when I arrived in HK was to search out for a good jazz club. The choices are limited and most were concentrated in HK Island.  I did find one New Orleans- type jazz diner cum live band in Tsim Sha Tsui – Ned’s Kelly. I’d written about this place in earlier post.

On Friday, I was at the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade by chance. It was the opening gala for the HK Wine and Food Festival. There were many stalls showcasing wines and food and loads of people. But my ears picked up the sounds of jazz and was estatic to find it was live. The featured artist on was Hanjin Tan. I stayed for his hour-long show and it was toe-tapping, fingers-drumming enjoyment. I like his brand of improv jazz, putting his own twist to classics.  This for me is the best kind of pure jazz – unplugged version with just the voice, accompanied with bass, guitar and piano.  This way the focus is on the voice, which in Jazz is the key element of the music.  There are very few asian jazz artist, maybe because jazz is very much a western concept.  He hit all the right tones and carried the tunes well. 

Here’s a Youtube video of him in-motion:

Love or Lust

A movie succinctly described the difference between Love and Lust – When you’re in-Love, you want to give (to your lover).  But when you’re in-Lust, you want to take (from your lover).

Gruesome attack for the fetus

Read this news in today’s The Standard.  In the South China Post, it was mentioned that this woman suffers from mental illness.  Insanity is frequently used as a defence in murders.  This was shocking because of the effort taken to learn how to perform a cesarean and plan the attack and carry it out.  This is premeditated for sure, though not something a normal person would do.

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Fetus attack woman facing life in prison

A woman who faked a pregnancy to befriend an expectant mother and then sliced open her new friend’s stomach with a 20-centimeter knife is facing life in jail, a High Court judge said yesterday.

Nickkita Lau

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A woman who faked a pregnancy to befriend an expectant mother and then sliced open her new friend’s stomach with a 20-centimeter knife is facing life in jail, a High Court judge said yesterday.

The mother survived but the infant died in March this year.

Leung Sin-ting, 27, admits to manslaughter and intent to cause grievous bodily harm. After her arrest she told police she cut open the woman so she could “see what an unborn infant looked like.”

Leung was due to be sentenced yesterday, but judge Darryl Saw said psychiatric reports from both the prosecution and the defense were inadequate. Although they diagnosed her mental illness, they did not specify its severity, the possibility of repeating the offense and how big a threat she could pose to society.

The judge asked for more reports so he could give an appropriate sentence and treatment for Leung. He adjourned sentencing to November 25.

But Saw said there is no doubt Leung will be facing a custodial sentence or even life in prison.

Leung claimed to have been pregnant but had a miscarriage when she met the 26-year-old victim surnamed Lee on the internet. Lee was eight months’ pregnant at the time.

On September 16, 2008, the women met in Fan Ling so Lee could pick up some baby items Leung had promised her. After they arrived at Leung’s home, Leung complained of a stomach ache and Lee tried to comfort her.

When Lee was not looking, Leung used a cable to strangle her until she lost consciousness.

Leung then made a single vertical incision below Lee’s navel with a fruit knife and opened up her abdomen.

When Leung’s husband Chau Man-choi returned home, she hid Lee in a kitchen cabinet but ended up confessing to him.

The baby boy was delivered by an emergency cesarean section but suffered from brain damage due to lack of oxygen.

Police discovered Leung had been looking up information on how to perform a cesarean section, how to make someone fall unconscious and the procedure to get a birth certificate.

 

 

Shangri-La Makati responsible for Guest Murder

I found this news interesting and wanted to share it.  With this decision, it sets the precedent for hotels to take all reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of their guest.  All this while, I thought that was expected.  I travel frequently and live half the time in hotels.  Safety within the hotel is something that I’ve taken for granted, expecting that I’d be safe.  Having said that, I always double-lock my doors and never let strangers into the room (except maybe the housekeeper).  The key is to not be paranoid, take care of your own safety and be sensible when visiting dodgy places. 

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MANILA – A Philippine court on Tuesday ordered one of the nation’s most luxurious hotels to pay more than one million dollars in damages over the murder of a Norwegian guest a decade ago.

The murder of Christian Harper could have been prevented if the Makati Shangri-La in Manila had provided adequate security, the Court of Appeals ruled as it upheld a lower court’s judgment against the hotel.

“Unfortunately, records failed to show that it was exercising reasonable care to protect its guests from harm and danger by providing sufficient security commensurate to it being one of the finest hotels in the country,” the appeals court ruling read.

The hotel was ordered to pay 52 million pesos (1.1 million dollars) in damages to the heirs of Harper, an executive of a European power company who was found dead after being bound, gagged and then robbed in his hotel room on November 6, 1999.

He was aged 30 at the time.

The Makati Shangri-La had asked the appellate court to overturn the lower court’s ruling, arguing Harper had been negligent in inviting the two suspected murderers, believed to be foreigners, into his hotel room.

Both suspects, a male and a female, were filmed by the hotel’s security cameras entering the victim’s room.

But the hotel’s security officer testified that the victim’s visitors did not pass through security checks, and that other guests had reporting losing valuables in their rooms, the ruling added.

The court was told one of the suspects later tried to use Harper’s credit card to buy a watch at a jewellery store, but left the shop hurriedly when the clerk tried to verify his identity.

The suspects have never been caught.

The Makati Shangri-La is located in the business district of Metro Manila. It is part of the Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts group.

A spokeswoman for the hotel said it was expected to release a comment on the court verdict later on Tuesday.

Photolog: Cuteness

I spent part of yesterday with a friend, who has 4 cats + 1 kitten.  They are so cute and I spent most of that time with camera in one hand and a toy in the other, enticing them to look at me.  I’m a dog-person and think that cats are selfish, self-centred (do they mean the same?) creatures, who’s main motivation in life is eat, groom and nonchalantly watch the world pass-by.  That is until I spent time with my friend and her cats.  3 of her cats are a unique breed - American Curl.  Their ears are curled back and so very cute.  And their demeanor is also different from the normal cats, in that they enjoy human company, are very affectionate and good-tempered.        

Two peas in a pot - both took their afternoon nap in the wash basin

Brilliant Idea – Masculine smelling Laundry Detergent

Just had an idea – how come there are no masculine smelling detergent?  Detergent and softener all smell like flowers or sea-breeze and that smell ‘radiates’ from the person, wearing clothes that have just been washed in it. 

Imagine a manly man smelling like flowers…. hmm, I guess the remedy is to mask the smell of flowers with perfume, like “Musk” or “Cool Waters”.  Now imagine, if detergent smelt like men’s perfume, that way they don’t have to buy perfume.  And an even better benefit is, it may even encourage more men to do laundry (hooray) and do it correctly. 

I know, some of you reading this might be laughing at the ridiculous idea.  But who knows, maybe men will be more domesticated in time to come and that’s when there may be demand for “Musk” detergent.

The Soloist

I watched this movie, on the flight from Singapore to HK.  In case you’re not familiar with the storyline – its about a chance encounter between a journalist and a homeless cellist, which led to an unlikely friendship.  Both of them received something from that friendship, even though you may think that the weaker one was the homeless guy.  His name is Nathaniel, so I’ll address him as such.    Nathaniel was a gifted musician who enrolled into a prestigious music school, only to drop out before graduating.  He had symptoms typical of schizophrenia – hearing voices in his head.  Instead of getting treatment for it, he chose to live in open space and play his instrument.  And this was how the journalist – Steve – met him. 

The movie dealt with issues of homelessness and people living with mental illness.  There’s a severe lack of understanding of mental illness.  Unlike physical illnes, where we show the ‘evidence’ of being physically ill, with mental illness, it is often all in the mind.  With very little ’evidence’ of  suffering, people afflicted with mental illness are easily brushed off as attention-seeking, weird or lazy.  They are misunderstood at best and ignored, at worst. 

I remembered thinking during the movie, “how did life get so complicated and how easy it is to lose our way in life”.  Somehow it’s as-if, there are more people suffering from mental illness now, compared to say 60 years ago.  Maybe then, there was alot less diagnosis and people just carried on with life.  Perhaps now, with increased awareness and discovery of new mental illnesses (and diagnosis),  more people are coming out to seek treatment.  Although there is more awareness but people who’ve never suffered from mental illness find it hard to empathise.  In most parts of asia, there is still a stigma attached to being diagnosed with mental illness. 

I was deeply moved by the movie because it challenged a few of my preconceived notion about the homeless and lost.  It was enlightening to see self-less people (Lamp Community) dedicate their life to helping the homeless and people with psychological problem as they try to manage as best as they can.  One lesson i learnt from watching the movie is that medication isn’t the only way to treat problems.  Just like the journalist in the movie, I’d wrongly assumed that to help means to force medical diagnosis, wrongly believing that a proper diagnosis would lead to proper medication and a better quality of life.   Maybe in some cases, it will help.  But more often, this help is neither requested nor required.

Again and again, I’m reminded that Acceptance and unconditional friendship is what we need.

There’s got to be more to life than..

• slaving through 10-hour days to have recognition and a paycheck, where the former is rarely given and the latter is never enough
• accumulating wealth and material comforts
•  just praying for peace, instead of starting with our families
• thinking of what to eat for my next meal or stuffing my face in an all-you-can-eat buffet
• rushing to get ahead in the escalator / lift, just to be 1 step infront of me
• allowing our learned prejudices to determine how we view and treat others
• never-ending exploitation of the weak and less-educated

Life has to be more than just about ME and my circle of friends and family.

Photolog: Crab Art

In case you're wondering, the sand is pushed out as the crab burrows into his nest. Thus making this unique patterns.

Taxi Fare in Singapore

Although Singapore is a small country and well connected by trains and buses, the most convenient mode of transportation is taxi.  It also happens to be the most expensive.  The flag-down of S$2.80 is comparable to taxis in Hong Kong and Malaysia but what makes it painful is all the surcharges.  Peak-hour surcharge is 35% of the metered fare, surcharge for pick-up in the central business district area and airport is extra, booking fee is according to the time of call.  When all the surcharges are added up, the fare may cost more than 3 meals in the local foodcourt.  I found this really neat website that calculates the fare and gives you an idea of how much to expect.