Worst Commentary EVER!

Last night was the highly anticipate match between USA and China in men's basketball. Of course the US went on to totally smash China in a pretty lazy effort. I wonder if anyone will really challenge them this year.

Anyway, the best/worst part of the game was the garbage spewing from the mouths of the two Pearl TV commentators. (Pearl TV is one of HK's local channels) It's kind of hard to describe, it's one of those 'you had to be there' moments. The commentary was so bad, I can't give it justice by bitching about it. It sucked. It blooooowed. It was garbage. Total waste of breath...etc...etc...etc.

I can't believe these guys are actually being paid to talk. They should be paid to shut up. Two drunken Aussies in Wan Chai would do a better job than those two did last night. If was GAAAAAAAAAWD AWFUL!

They were much worse in the moment, but here are some zingers from last night,

"There's something about Carmello Anthony...he just makes me...uncomfortable." Thanks for letting us know you racist.

"You know why, it's physcological, he looks a lot like Alan Iverson." So you think he's a goon also, thanks for letting us know you racist.

"I wish they wouldn't have so many tatoos." Thanks for letting us know you racist.

"Chris Wade plays for Miami, he is also from there." It's Dwayne Wade, and he's not from Miami.

"Yao Ming looks like he sprained his foot. Yup he's hurt his foot. I think he's hurt his foot." Um, why is he walking perfectly fine then.

There's so much more I can't go on, it makes me angry/laugh too hard. The fact Pearl TV cut out numerous bits of the game because they were late getting back from commercial also didn't help. Next game I think I will watch on the Chinese channel.

Ya, it was THAT bad!

CBC blocked in China

"The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has formally complained to China's ambassador to Canada about the continued blocking of the broadcaster's websites in China.

CBC president Hubert T. Lacroix outlined his concerns in a letter to Ambassador Lu Shumin on Friday.

Access in China to CBC's French-language website Radio-Canada.ca has been blocked for six months, while access to the English site CBC.ca has been cut off since January, Lacroix said. " - cbc.ca

This is hilarious. Is AirFarce getting too racy? Maybe they just don't like Don Cherry.

Edit: no longer blocked, fire away chicken cannon!

Slow News Day

Q: What do MC Hammer and Winnipeg have in common?

A: They both made the main news on CNN International tonight!


MC Hammer is just a buffoon, enough said.

Actually Winnipeg is always on during the weather, it shows up as one of only 2 cities in Canada on the North America weather map. The other city is Toronto (of course). They usually say nothing about the actual cities, rather just commenting on what region is having rain etc. or snow in this case.

Tonight they were talking about how cold it was everywhere, and they said Winnipeg was #1 with a temperature of -32 C. The mentioned how Miami were being babies turning the heat on at + 11 C. Anyway they continued on to Europe and how rainy and crappy it was in England etc., but before they cut away to other world new, the main anchor again mentioned how it was really ugly everywhere, but he was glad he wasn't in Winnipeg at -32 C. Reminds of an airmiles commercial >

...goin' to Winnipeg...

Buying Electronics in Hong Kong

Anyone used to the open-air environtment of Best Buy or Future Shop might be a little intimidated shopping for a new tv or mp3 player in Hong Kong. This photo is from the big chain 'Broadway' and this particular outlet was in Mongkok, the busiest place on Earth.

The funny thing is that even though this store was jammed packed side to side with hundreds of people, I still had two sales associates ask me if I needed any help within 2 minutes of walking inside. The guys are efficient. Another amazing thing is the variety of products found in a typical store like this in HK. The shop may look small my North American standards, but I bet there is more product on the floor than in a big box 'air-hanger-like' Best Buy.

My quest for a new tv had still not reached a conclusion, I'm set on getting a Sony Bravia but there is some new offer through my cable company that might get me one cheaper. With the release of Halo 3 a new XBox is almost certainly in order. Someone I work with is married to someone who works for the company that distributes Microsoft etc. in Hong Kong.

Back to the store above - I would never ever buy camera gear from them. There are a gazillion other photo stores in Hong Kong with much better gear and prices. But for larger appliance type things and tvs the larger chains seem to be a good deal.

Thumbs down to NowTV

I am being forced to watch 'unlawful,' 'copyrighted,' 'broadcasts' over the internet of the 'Rugby World Cup' because my 'cable provider' didn't fess up enough dough to secure the event. It boggles my mind how the arcaic iCableTV got the rights here in HK. No one has iCableTV anymore, it sucks! Unless you want to camp out at a pub all night for 40 nights there's no way to watch it on TV.

Our TV is still in pink-vision so it doesn't matter too much because it is painful to watch the screen anyway. 1 more month until new Sony! mmmmmm....HDTV!

On a side note Mai and I went to the mega mega Megabox Mall yesterday. It's damned MEGA! I have never seen such a huge mass of retail space in my life. It is a total of 18 floors dedicated to mostly shops and restaurants. They also have a full size ice-hockey rink, an IMax, a regular movie theatre, and this store called B+Q. Anyone who knows what B+Q is will already be scratching their heads as to why it is in Hong Kong. It is pretty much the equilvalent of HomeDepot meets Ikea. And guess what? It's on the 4-5 floors! You can imagine the fun people have in carrying full sized sheets of plywood down the elevator and onto the MTR. This store makes no sense in HK. Even if you paid for the delivery why would anyone shopping on the 4-5th floor of a hi-tech shopping mall need a huge 26" circular saw or buzz-grinder? Lucky for them they also have many other departments other than lumber and power tools. You can also get a bathroom fixture the size of our living room. In case you don't mind walking through the shower on your way out it might make sense.

Asian TV's vs. North American Crap

I have never bought a TV before, but based on the small amount of research I have done for my prospective new set, I can honestly say I am glad I won't be buying it in Canada.

The selection in HK is rediculous compared to back home, and the prices are a lot better. You get a lot more TV for your money here and a lot more options.

Most of the major brands have seperate Asian line-ups of products with much better specs. I have noticed that any HDTV you get here generally has twice as many input options compared to a similar North American tv and about twice the contrast ratio for the same price. They are also faster and have better audio.

Ever since I saw my video camera on Bill's huge HDTV I have been wanting my own. I am not going for the 50" version (it might be a bit too large for our small flat) but even the 32" ones look amazing compared to standard def.

I already knew this, but I have been reminded of how most retailers lie about what an HDTV really is. Almost all the TVs advertised as HD-Ready in Canada are not actually HD. They simply downsize the HD content to fit on a more standard definition set. It will still look better tha normal, but it is false advertising in my opinion and it won't be HDMI compliant most likely from what I have seen.

I'm almost set on the Sony TV I have been looking at as it seems to have the most 'ooooh factor' for me.

Lost...

...is an awesome show.

I have recently developed a slight addiction to the tv show Lost. At first I was skeptical of it's 'brilliance' as raved by critics, but they were very right. I can't get enough of it!

The 2nd season was on AXN Network in Hong Kong, so picked it up and started watching it. Although extremely confusing for most of the 2nd season, I think I figured out most of what had happened in the 1st season.

Then I found an awesome website that allowed me to watch all of season 3. It took me less than 2 weeks to finish it, haha. Mai and I have been watching the first season for the last little while, and we finished it last night. Now I have seen all three seasons and I can't wait for the 4th!

My love for the internet has never been stronger. There is nothing you can't do, watch, find etc. etc. on the net. Although I'm in HK, it's actually easier than ever to watch North American content, who needs cable?

CBC you suck!

I haven't cared too much about hockey this season. That stems mainly from me being in Asia and they don't even know what ice is here. Now that a Canadian team is in the Finals (again) I was quite happy to see that CBC was streaming live online broadcasts of all the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even though the time change makes it a pain to watch any games on days I work, it was cool that CBC was offering this service for those Canadians who didn't have a TV or weren't in the country.

BUT WAIT!!!!

CBC is full of shit!!!!!!!! Not only can you NOT watch live online hockey anywhere but in Canada, you can't even watch games that happened a month ago! There is NO reason why they can not play archived games other than they are being jerks to anyone who doesn't live in Canada. I can happily prance around watching Peter Mansbridge all night long, as Newsworld is shown in Asia. But for some reason, the one thing every Canadian seems to enjoy in some form, HOCKEY! noooooooo, wouldn't want to show that anywhere but in Canada, some other country might catch on and learn how to play or something.

And why would it be limited to Canada only? CBC does not hold the only rights to NHL games, TSN also shares some. It shows archived games that were originally on TSN. So how can it be a rights issue? Gaaaah! Who doesn't have a TV in Canada that they can watch hockey on? All the games are at 8pm, so no one would be watching on their work computer. It makes no sense to me to have an online broadcast for Canada only, when everyone is either at the bar or at home watching it on TV. I would even pay for it if I had to. They could make so much money. I have seen online petitions in the thousands trying to get CBC to play the games internationally.

I even went the illegal route and tried a Canadian Server Proxy. But it didn't work! AHHH!

CBC SUCKS!

Sensitivity Slaughtered

My thoughts are with those of the tradgedy from Virginia Tech.

My thoughts, however, are not currently with the insensitive bastards who run CNN, ABC, NBC, FOX and every other American news network.

I woke up Tuesday morning to learn about the VT killings with the headline 'Students Slaughtered!' Yes, it's a very touching tribute of a headline. Simply disgusting in my opinion. If you had just lost a member of your family, no matter how they were killed, would you want to see the event discribed as a 'Slaughter?' CNN doesn't even use such harsh words to describe the events in Iraq. Most of the time all you hear is __ number killed in Iraq scrolling across the bottom ticker in size 2 font. They have also done a very good job of making the whole event into a made for TV movie by constantly calling it a 'Massacre.' Even if it was, not the best choice of words for an 'advanced intellectual' society. Thank God it didn't happen in Texas.

As for the actual event, it boggles my mind how stupidity has once again reigned over safety in another American event. Everyone has asked the question, but how in the world did the University not immediately alert the entire state about the initial 2 killings. The fact it was on a school campus should have sent alarms out to all colleges in the country not just VT. It just makes no sense how a country like the US, constantly 'Living in Fear' as they say, does not have the common sense to alert its people when 2 students are killed. They just let classes continue as normal. The other killings were not only senseless, but avoidable. How can they not get it into their heads that regardless of their international problems, their own nation is even more messed up to a point where things like this happen often. Students were not even given the option to go home. I can only shake my head.

As terrible as it is, I am not surprised in the least. Anyone can buy a gun in the US, and the authorities who control the country are complete idiots. As a teacher in Asia working with many students, I have a slightly different perspective of the events than I did when Columbine happened, and it scares me that things like this still happen. The likelyhood of something like that happening in Hong Kong is very slight, but it still makes me wonder what if? Thankfully the one thing that isn't screwed up about the Hong Kong education system is security. When my students are picked up and dropped off their parents have to present an ID card, and the doors are constantly locked from the inside. It is known at all times who is in the building. To think one security guard posted at the entrance might have saved 32 lives...

Amazing Race Asia!

It's official! We've applied to be on the Amazing Race Asia II! I mailed the application yesterday.

The video turned out really well so I hope they love and it select us, it'd be totally awesome! They said interviews would be in April/May, so we should fine out soon whether we're shortlisted or not.