Wednesday 19 August 2009

Fame at last

So I was on the telly the other day for a whole two seconds. We did a charity screening of the DisneyPixar movie Up, and there was a TV crew there from ATV news to cover the event.

The UA cinema is over at Whampoa Plaza in Hung Hom, right opposite the shopping centre shaped like a boat.

The movie was shown to 330 kids and their grandparents, I don't know which was cuter, the 2-year olds balancing the 3D glasses on the end of their noses, or the 92-year olds balancing the 3D glasses on the end of their noses.

Here are the sacrifices I made:
  • Getting up at 7.30 on a Saturday morning


  • Missing Pilates


  • Wearing a t shirt that says "VoluntEARS" (witty pun no?)


  • Having breakfast at Maccy D's in order to gulp down my antibiotics (yes, dear readers, I've had flu, tonsillitis and an eye infection)


  • Suffering many severe (but inexplicable) tiny cuts on my fingers as a result of playing an integral role in the "Blowing up 330 balloons team"


  • Taking part in a marathon photo-taking session which became more creative and elaborate (not to mention obligatory) as time went on.

On the plus side, I learnt how to say "Would you like to have a photo taken?" in Cantonese - "Ying seung". I also met lots of lovely people from other departments at work, including Kactus, which I think you'll agree is an interesting name. Anyway, I assume the participants enjoyed the film (as well as the complimentary popcorn and water I served with my own fair hands) but the day's proceedings were very much in Canto, so I can't be sure.


The bonus of this video is that you get to see the opening credits of the news, which I love. They remind me so much of The Day Today. Or Drop the Dead Donkey. Or something like that.



After the screening I got the ferry back from Hung Hom to Wan Chai. A month or so ago, we noticed that the roofs of the ferries were all very white - I think they had their annual repaint - but the one I got on Saturday was liberally sprinkled with black dust. I don't know what the Star Ferry runs on, but it ain't unleaded. In fact, I can only assume that they have a big furnacey thing on board (like in old movies) into which they shovel some fossil fuels. Big chunks of coal, most likely. Anyway, the ferry pier at Hung Hom's nice, much more spacious than the others, and Hung Hom itself is cool too. Actually we considered living there, but that tiny (and ever-shrinking) harbour is just too much of a mental block.

Mr Moore has booked his tickets for Blighty in October, while yours truly will have to stay here, slaving away over a hot Lenovo Thinkpad X200. Boo for local annual leave!

Monday 3 August 2009

Very strange path for this tropical depression to take...it's currently heading this way (HK is the little red asterisk) but that could change at any time.

Update

We have booked our flights home for Christmas, which has helped to ease my pangs of homesickness. So we'll be back for a short while in 5 months' time - I'm sure it'll fly by.

We went out to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary on Saturday with friends. We went to Vivo for a couple of drinks, then to Cicada for supper (it's the sister restaurant to Erotica, as the Old bean likes to call it). Moved on to Gecko later, which is always dangerous and pretty much guarantess that the next day will be a write-off. And it was.

So a year and a bit in, we're pretty well settled. We still manage to motivate ourselves to do interesting stuff and discover new things, but it's hard not to be lazy when it's soooo hot. Last week I went to see a production of Antigone at the Cultural Centre, by a company called Theatre du Pif which I enojoyed very much. In fact, it was so good that I went again the next night with Ross. It was very simply but attractively staged, and after months of TV and films, it reminded me of the power that a live performance can have. Such a treat to see English-language theatre here that is good, strong and thought-provoking.

Still waiting for our next visitors - with any luck, Oliver will be next (you'd better sleep well on the plane cos I have lots and lots of plans!) followed by the Parental Moores. I just hope that the weather has cooled down by the time you all arrive because it's pretty horrendous right now. Next time we move we're going somewhere with a pool...