You like your Japanese toys, or do you like to dress up? Unless I lived in HK, it's hard to find places to buy your favourite robot figurine, I found this though, enjoy!

Pics of Otaku shops in Hong Kong (mainly around Nathan Road).

Mongkok seems dangerous, what with acid bottles dropped intentionally from a building that's severely injured people to accidental stuff like speakers dropping from a shop seriously injuring a passerby.

The acid attack:

Last night's attack, the third in six months, injured 24 people, including a four-year-old girl, who all suffered burns to their limbs and faces.

The speaker accident:

The speaker, used by nearby retail outlets to promote business, measured one foot by three.

Maybe you shouldn't look up and just walk very fast in uncovered areas.

I know in some council flats in Hong Kong, you hear stories about glass bottles, rubbish, and even televisions being tossed out the window, given that many flats in Hong Kong are over 20 odd stories high, I would hesitate to think what some of the items would do to people if they were hit by the falling debris.

(Source: The Hong Kong Standard)

Department of Enterprise and Employment has been criticised by IBEC on the Employment Law Compliance Bill and wants it amended. Employers can face jail term and a fine:

Rogue employers will face jail of up to three years and fines up to €250,000 if they breach the proposed new legislation to protect workers. Criminal offences include a failure to put up notices on employment rights in every language used in the workplace.

(Source: Irish Independent)

More information:

* The Irish Independent - New employer law is draconian, warns IBEC boss
* The Irish Times - Ibec strongly criticises Government over employment compliance law
* IBEC - Changes to Employment Law Compliance Bill needed

I've talked about materialism in HK, this is another one of their obsessions, slim and beauty. Got this off a friend in Facebook, and from his friends comments, we all agree that it's a bad ad, and just goes to show how shallow HKers are.

Louth Contemporary Music Society in association with Louth County Arts Office and Dundalk Arts office present The Kronos Quartet with special guest Wu Man in the Irish premieres of Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera & Terry Riley’s Cusp of Magic in An Tain Theatre Dundalk on 13 July 2009. Both works were specially written for the Kronos Quartet and are available on cd recordings from Nonesuch records.

Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera
Ghost Opera is an acclaimed work for string quartet and pipa (Chinese lute) from Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera is written for string quartet and pipa (Chinese lute) and features Grammy winning Kronos Quartet with acclaimed Chinese instrumentalist Wu Man. Stephen Pettit of the London Times said Tan Dun is master of effect. Ghost Opera is a five movement theatrical work that mirrors an ancient Chinese funeral custom in which the performer engages in a dialogue between his past and future. Ghost Opera is beguiling and moving. It is a colorful as well as a touching meditation, garnished by sounds of clashing stones and cymbals, the Chinese one-stringed lute and pipa, and small bells. . .wonderfully atmospheric.”
Tan Dun’s (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) Ghost Opera is a five movement work for string quartet and pipa, with water, metal, stone and paper. Ghost Opera is written for string quartet and pipa with paper, shadow, and water gong basins placed around the performing space. The performers’ movements reflect the back-and-forth between spiritual realms that is characteristic of the ‘ghostopera’ tradition. In composing Ghost Opera, Tan was inspired by childhood memories of the shamanistic “ghost operas” of the Chinese peasant culture. In this tradition, which is over 4,000 years old, humans and spirits of the future, the past, and nature communicate with each other. The work employs elements from the European classical concert tradition, Chinese shadow puppet theatre, visual art installations, folk music theatre and ritual.

Terry Riley’s Cusp of Magic
Terry Riley’s six-movement piece, The Cusp of Magic was described by the Los Angeles Times “with its lullabies and entrancing Chinese songs and sweet disposition, brims with joy.” The Cusp of Magic was commissioned by Kronos on the occasion of their longtime friend and collaborator Riley’s 70th birthday, the piece features the Quartet joined by Wu Man on pipa (a Chinese plucked string instrument, similar to a lute) and vocals, with all musicians also playing a variety of percussion instruments, toys, and noisemakers. Kronos Artistic Director and Violinist David Harrington says, “No composer has been as much a part of Kronos as Terry Riley. We first met at Mills College in 1978, and he has written 23 works for us so far. We knew Terry was turning 70 in 2005, and it seemed like a perfect time to commission another new piece from him. I was sure he would spend the time and take the care needed to bring his knowledge of the pipa up to the point where he could write an amazing work, and over a period of more than a year, he learned about the instrument from Wu Man. “One day I was talking with him and he said he wanted this piece to be ‘magical.’ My granddaughter Emily was an infant at the time. We had little toys and noisemakers around the house, which we would play as I carried her around. Of all the experiences I’ve had, that is the most magical. ‘Why don’t you just come over, and we’ll play some of Emily’s toys?’ I said. So he brought over his computer and recording equipment, and we played all of her toys while she was taking a nap.”
Riley adds, “In this work, the different timbre and resonance of the Chinese pipa and the Western string quartet highlight the crossover regions of cultural reference, so that the Western musical themes might be projected with an Eastern accent and vice-versa. My plan was to make these regions seamless so that the listener is carried between worlds without an awareness of how he/she ends up there.”

The Kronos Quartet with special guest Wu Man are presented by Louth Contemporary Music Society in association with Louth County Arts Office and Dundalk Arts office. The performance of Ghost Opera and the Cusp of Magic is funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and financially supported by the Dundalk Arts Office, the Louth Arts Office and Fáilte Ireland.

Tickets €20 on sale from www.centralticketbureau.com
0818 205 205 UK: 0870 850 2896 International: ++353 1 8721122

An Tain Theatre Box Office Crowe St, Dundalk.
00 353 42 9392919.
Email:
antain@dundalktown.ie

Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and commissioning more than 600 new works and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos’ work has also garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and “Musicians of the Year” (2003) from Musical America.

Saw an article in the indo, Young flock back to live in capital's inner city, it's about the study from UCD about the population distribution in Dublin, how the 'burbs are losing people and the younger population are staying in apartments in the city. The following caught my eye:

Most non-nationals live in the inner city, with 35pc of Asian or Asian-Irish people living around O'Connell Street, Parnell Street and Gardiner Street

(Source: Irish Independent online)

I've never heard of David Choi, but I saw him in one of the pics from Happy Slip's twitpic, and since I know who Kev Jumba is anyway. David Choi's music is not bad at all, check it out below:-

Found this in the paper this morning, the 10 dream wedding locations and 2 Chinese locations were featured.

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

Get married right alongside the Great Wall of China on the rooftop of the Commune, a collection of contemporary villas designed by 12 Asian architects and run by the Kempinski hotel group. Exchange vows with views of the Wall tapering away from you and the mountains beyond. Receptions are held in the Club House, which can seat up to 500. Smaller parties are served contemporary Chinese food by a butler in a villa or chalet.

Where: Near the Shiguan section of the Great Wall of China, 50km, from the outskirts of Beijing.

For bookings email: reservations@commune.com.cn

INTERCONTINENTAL, HONG KONG

Say "I do" on the terrace of the newly completed Presidential Suite at the Intercontinental Hotel, which has great views of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island. With five bedrooms, Duplex living room and wrap-around terrace with a rooftop infinity swimming pool, the suite is one of the plushest in the Far East.

Where: Intercontinental Hotel, 18 Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong (00 852 2721 1211; www.hongkong-ic.intercontinental.com)

(Source: The Irish Independent online)