陽奉陰違？

眾所週知，香港電視台一台獨大，也是建制的護航者；不過所謂上有政策下有對策，間中也有節目內容諷刺政府，就如幾個月前的劇集《翻生武林》；而早前播出的一集《學是學非》，梁嘉琪的角色就對由麥美恩飾演的機械人拒絕回答其母語是甚麼而作出批評，明顯就是針對五月份特首林鄭指詢問其母語的議員問題太無聊一事！

亂世.強權

沒有最黑暗，只有更黑暗。有人說女方丈更小器，果然不幸言中，得罪她的小朋友都罪加一等；來一首應景歌曲：
 
這個「官方」上載寫道：

地球人在這個大地上用上種種藉口互相廝殺, 各自的歪理今日愈來愈令人類良心道德撕裂

諷刺的是歌手曾被批評轉軚愛國賺維穏費。

金庸論政

再承接上帖講金庸、笑傲江湖及他的修訂，對其小說略有認識的讀者都知道他的寫作背景適值文革，所以魔教「領導層」之獨裁及霸道是反映那個政府，實在很明顯。其實值得更深層的研究，港台學者就發表了這篇；我才知道教主為甚麼姓東方，魔教為何在第一版名為「朝陽神教」！大家都聽說過那個年代有首很「紅」的歌曲名為東方紅吧，著名文學家（但人格亦有名低下）郭沫若就曾奉承領導人為紅太陽呢。金老在第二版及其後的修訂就把這些影射收歛了一些，我不敢說是明顯為媚共，不竟出色的文學作品應該含蓄一點。（雖然金老後來在九七政權移交時代曾因提出保守的「雙查方案」被視為親共人士，現在看來，該方案中的「公投」，今時今日根本不容進行！香港政制是進步了還是倒退了呢？）

Archaeology of Ancient Greece and US Politics?

I found that the "establishments" in Hong Kong these days like to use the term "politicized" whenever their behaviors were (rightfully) criticized. And they like to blame it on US influences. Well, they actually might have a point. Consider a Smithsonian magazine article I read recently about the discovery of the "Griffin warrior" at an ancient Greek site, which gave rise to new theories about the beginning of the Greek civilization (and the whole Western civilization in general) Before its discovery, when artifacts from the island of Crete (which were more well-developed before the mainland Greece did) were found in the latter, historians believed they were robbed by the mainland Greek and moved there. The new theory is that two culture might have co-existed peacefully and influenced each other. And the people at those days might not see a clear distinction between them. This is certainly a plausible theory. However, the author added his comments on how this is related to the current political situation: cultural influences from immigrants are beneficial to our society! Yeah, I think this story is politicized.

Music and politics

香港近年經常有人說不要把事件政治化，也有人說在社會發生的事和政治不可分割，以下所講發生在美國一事相信就見證了後者。美國著名搖滾樂手「波士」Bruce Springsteen一向被不熟悉音樂的外國人誤以為是大美國主義者，連他唱的名曲也名為Born in the USA！其實相反：該曲正正批判退伍軍人不被美國社會及制度善待，也有其他作品關於藍領勞工階層遭遇的不公；是不折不扣的liberal政見人士，當然不支持候任美國總統杜林普！杜林普上台慶典自然不會找到波士來表演，不過演出名單卻有一隊波士的cover band（我想中文可稱此樂隊為專演出波士的音樂的致敬樂隊）他們解釋主辦單位早於數年前已和他們簽約，本來不想事件政治化，只想履行合約，其實支持及反對者都有；不過最終決定毀約，已有賠毀約金的打算，因為波士不會同意用他的音樂去慶祝杜林普上台。

作出這樣的決定，又引起更多議論紛紛，不少指他們在整個派對只是小角色，有更多大牌歌手樂隊；也有人認為，靠波士的音樂揾食，還是順順他的意比較好吧。無論如何，我覺得他們出來講這幾句有百利無一害：相信面對輿論壓力，主辦單位不敢要求太多毀約賠償金吧。政治這東西，不是想避就避得到的！

Acceptance speech for Oscar's Best Original Song

... and the Oscar's went to the track "Glory" from the movie "Selma" Next? Controversy!

(Source: watch the video at Time.com)

In his acceptance speech, Common linked the civil rights movement to similar movements in France and Hong Kong. “The spirit of this bridge connects the kid from the South Side of Chicago, dreaming of a better life, to those in France standing up for their freedom of expression, to those in Hong Kong, protesting for democracy,” he said. “This bridge was built on hope, welded with compassion and elevated with love for all human beings.”

John Legend got more explicitly political in his speech. “We say that Selma is now, because the struggle for justice is right now,” he said. “We know that the Voting Rights Act that they fought for 50 years ago is being compromised right now in this country today. We know that right now, the struggle for freedom and justice is real. We live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under correctional control today then were under slavery in 1850.”

Well, by supporting Hong Kong's democracy movement from last year, Common has pissed off a lot of pro-establishment folks in HK and China.

And John Legend got his share of criticism too. His stat regarding jailed men was correct in terms of absolute number but he should have compared the percentage of population instead.

Guitar diplomacy

40 years after the historic ping-pong (a.k.a. table tennis for American) diplomacy between US and China, John Kerry wrote a new chapter: guitar diplomacy. Check out this article with a video showing John Kerry playing guitar after his big meeting with Chinese officials. The article also included reviews of his playing by some experts, including THE instructional video guru Esteban! I agree that he played at the level of an amateur who were once a competent player. In any case, that's gutsy.

BTW, this is post #700 on this blog!

Why Did Obama Ever Win (the 2012 election) in the First Place?

Here were some opinions gathered by a journalist from 8 people in the Southern states. (Yeah, they didn't like Mr. Obama)

「假鷹爪」與「豬籠草」

香港濕地公園的「春日賞花」活動甚為政治正確，既有花瓣外形貌似鷹爪的「假鷹爪」，又有常見於沼澤濕地的「豬籠草」。

Topic of the day: teleprompter vs handprompter

Republican superstar Sarah Palin criticized President Obama for using teleprompter before. Now we all know why. She uses the more environment friendly handprompter instead! Please check out the picture in this link.

Topic of the day: Facebook and Hong Kong politics

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a Communist China leaning political party in Hong Kong. A Facebook group named 《我相信可以召集１００，０００ 個厭惡民建聯的人！》(which means I should be able to find 100000 people who dislike DAB) was established in July 2008 to condemn the questionable practices of this party. Facebook removed this group this morning, when the group has over 84k members and inching closer to the 100k goal.

The membership of this group has been growing steadily since it was established and it grew rapidly from 30k to 84k since last October because of the hi-speed rail controversy.

A lot of Hong Kong netizens are wondering why Facebook did this. It would be absurd if it was pressured by the party itself or even the Chinese government.

A new group has been formed as a replacement.