Reminder to Self

You're on holiday. Quit sweating the small stuff, take a deep breath, and relax. Like a still pond. Remember?

Spotted

Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles

-- Voltaire, Candide (after Leibniz) 

"Real Men Take Risks!"

Taken out from an entirely trivial context and placed into an only slightly less trivial one. Cheers.

"Something unbelievably raw ..."

I wish I could quote Schumann or Chopin at will. Words are such clumsy substitutes.

当局者迷

So the MV Rachel Corrie has been boarded and diverted to Ashdod without too much incident. It's an immense relief to see that both sides have learnt to be a little less block-headed after the sorry fracas on board the Mavi Marmara.
But you know, in a way, those directly involved in that tragic incident, who were in the heat of everything, were really the most innocent parties of all. With the "Free Gaza" sentiment having been whipped up into such a frenzy, how could the activists on board the flotilla have been reasonably restrained when the IDF started boarding their ships? And when the activists started attacking the boarding commandos so relentlessly, as the situation dictated would happen, how else could the commandos have eventually reacted other than fall back to their last resort, the use of lethal force? It was all bound to happen once the ball started rolling.
So don't blame the commandos, for doing what anyone in their situation what have done. Don't blame the activists for provoking them, because could they really have stood by calmly while their ships were boarded? After all that rhetoric and sentiment? If you really need to blame someone, anyone, blame those who set things in action. Blame the senior command of the IDF for such woeful preparation that lethal force had to be resorted to. Blame the Israeli government for trying to block the flotilla at any cost. Blame the senior leadership of the Free Gaza Movement, those who drummed up support for the cause and organized the flotilla, but conveniently declined to join the action themselves. Blame the armchair "pro-Palestinians" who think supporting the Palestinians is a mighty fine cause (and aren't shy about proclaiming that), as long as other people are willing to do the risky bits for them.
The others who were throwing plates and wielding knives, or pulling pistols and firing live rounds, were only their pawns.

We Love Civil War

The Uganda pavillion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai has a brightly-painted mural as its backdrop. A car features prominently on one corner of the mural. The car's license plate reads "AK47". For a nation that has been wracked by so much civil disorder, and continues to be harassed by the Lord's Resistance Army, it was not the best of choices.

Expo 2010

The official publicity loves to promote the Expo as an opportunity for the exchange of culture and ideas. In reality, while that might be happening at some level, for most of the 45-million and counting visitors it is not much more than an expensive but interesting circus. Many, especially those following the massive tour groups, don't really bother to read the explanatory captions or even listen carefully to what is being said; instead, they just shuffle around and gawk at all the bright new things around them. That being said, it doesn't mean there was nothing worth seeing. Not at all. In fact, there were too many things worth seeing to recount all of them. So instead only the Best (and the "Best") will be recorded here.

Best single exhibit
The animated 3D version of the 清明上河图 in the China pavilion was just cool. And to use it to showcase urban development in ancient China was rather clever, too. The violin-playing robot in the Japan pavilion would have been a strong contender, but the one time I visited it tripped and fell flat on its face when entering. D'oh!

Best visual effect

The Hong Kong pavilion was pretty nifty, but not especially outstanding compared to the myriad of other pavilions in the Expo. Still, the crystalline pavilion design was very pretty to look at, even from the inside.

Best photo gallery

Lots of the pavilions at the Expo were really nothing more than glorified photo galleries: collections of photos and media which were nice to look at and all, but weren't really very interesting. The Belarus pavilion, however, was a nicely-illustrated kaleidoscope of images. It may not have been as realistically informative as a photograph collection, but it was so much more fun to look at, and prettier, too.

Best video
Many other pavilions chose to feature prominently a video showcasing their country or organisation. Mostly, like the photo galleries, these videos turned out to be decent and showy but ultimately rather tedious and droll affairs. The one in the Iceland pavilion, though, was actually exciting and didn't come across as self-congratulatory in any way. Though to some extent, much like the winner of the Best Single Exhibit, that owed as much to the sheer power and beauty of the source materials as anything the latter-day creators have done with it.

Masterstroke

The Japan pavilion had a lot of cool exhibits. Water-purifying technology, electricity-generating floorboards, cameras with extraordinary zoom, extremely versatile multi-touch wall displays ... but there was more to it than just awesome technology. For the Show segment, the Japanese chose to express their message in the form of the prized local opera tradition of the host, 昆曲. And they didn't do it badly at all. We aren't just here to show off our best things, it says. We also understand you and what you are proud of, and respect that.

Cheapskate Award
The wall tiles on the exterior of the Philippines pavilion look pretty decent. Once up close though, you'll realise they're actually just printed mounting boards. Wonder how durable that is.
Bang-head-on-wall award
Upon entering the Benin booth in the African Joint Pavilion, you'll see nothing. Then you turn a corner, go down a passage, and there's ... a row of empty display cabinets! Oh, and a LCD screen displaying a screenshot of two random photos.

Best overall pavilion design

The Hamburg House at the Urban Best Practices Area (UBPA) clearly incorporated passive design features in an edifying way. It did add to the queues though, because the passive design called for strict crowd control in order for the house not to overheat.

The Netherlands pavilion, on the other hand, with its open design concept, maximised its capacity and minimised any queues leading into it---I never did see any throughout my 3.5 days at the Expo. The whole pavilion was designed as a "Happy Street" snaking through the air, with the ground level given to AstroTurf and plastic ruminants, and various "houses" along the street housing intriguing exhibits.

Clear Message Award

Many pavilions at the Expo tried to do too much at once, so that I walked out of them somewhat washed-out and with no clear overall impression or idea about what they were all about. There were some notable exceptions though. The Porto Alegre pavilion at the UBPA was small and not particularly impressive, but clearly brought across its message that collaboration can lead to better outcomes. The UK pavilion, colloquially also known as the pincushion, spoke clearly about the role of Nature (and greenery in particular) in cities: its centrepiece, the Seed Cathedral, was not merely a flash showpiece, but served to highlight its central message. The USA pavilion, though it didn't have too much in the way of concrete exhibits, at least clearly brought across the inspiring message of how the American values of vision and teamwork can bring about a brighter future.

Best overall experience

There were a lot of things worth seeing in the Expo ... but many of them became much less worth seeing due to the overwhelming crowds. Sometimes the queues were just too discouraging---up to 6 or 7 hours for the Saudi pavilion at one point; more often the surging crowds would be far too distracting and mar any sustained appreciation of the exhibits. The Taiwan pavilion was one of the few pavilions to implement measures to avoid this---by strictly limiting visitor numbers to perhaps 350 an hour, in groups of 25 at a time. As a result of this, plus the much warmer, more personalised reception they were able to give visitors as a consequence of it, the overall experience felt a lot better.

Maybe all the pavilions should have learnt from the Taiwan pavilion. But then I wouldn't have been able to visit nearly as many pavilions as I did either ... oh well. In conclusion: visiting the Expo can be like touring the world without leaving your own country (不出国门 游遍世界). But it's such a poor substitute. Especially when the Expo is being held in China.

The Road Ahead is Long

And far from easy. And at some point, you're going to be tired. Exhausted. Drained. You'll feel so much pain coursing through, no matter whether you go on or stop to rest. You'll wonder what you're doing. You'll wonder what on Earth you were thinking when you agreed to do this. You'll probably kick yourself for even thinking of it. 

But when that happens, remember that it's not the first time you've been there.

And remember that if you can endure and finish what you set out to do, everything will turn out pretty well.

The Infernal Hurricane

Io venni in loco d’ogne luce muto,
che mugghia come fa mar per tempesta,
se da contrari venti è combattuto.

La bufera infernal, che mai non resta,
mena li spirti con la sua rapina;
voltando e percotendo li molesta

(Dante, Inferno, Canto V)

Except I don't even know where the storm winds come from. Damnit.

Mr. Ge Shuffles the Deck

One pat-tern. [Smack]
Second pat-tern. [Shhhhh-uck]
Third pat-tern. [Wham]
Okay. Deal.

Redefining the Problem

If the circumstances required, you could very well do without a home. You only need one for familiarity and comfort. But if you can learn fast, adapt and make yourself comfortable wherever you go, you'd be good to go everywhere.
Is this an admission of defeat? Well, in a way. But only in the sense that adopting guerilla tactics in the face of overwhelming strength is an admission of defeat.

Flashback

I like your philosophy

I could have been normal / But why the hell would I want to be

Nemine contradictione

Your heart follows its own logic. For better or for worse, you'll be a lot happier if you don't try to confront it head-on.

Next stop is People's Square

You may interchange to Lines 1 and 2.
You may alight from both sides.
Please, get ready.
And ... SCRUM!

Here and Now

I'll never go home. Who told you I wasn't at home?

"How could we explain it?"

Somehow the topic of June 4th came up during lunchtime. It was a sad reminder that the wound continues to fester, unheeded and unattended.

Andante spianato

I am a still pond. No matter how many ripples the passing winds and flotsam leave on my surface, nothing, nothing, will ever perturb the serenity of my depths.

A Moment in Time

Keeping with the spirit of traveling in a rush, after Hong Kong I went to 武汉 to see the cherry blossoms.
They were still in bloom, and quite beautiful.

I realise, though, that catching a single glimpse shouldn't really count as 赏花. Rather, to really 赏花 would entail having seen the buds start to appear, and then bloom, and the blossoms finally wither and fall. Not just a single glimpse of the flowers frozen at a single point in time. Especially with cherry blossoms, which are supposed to be symbolic of transience ...

But I couldn't stay so long, even though I had awesome company. Mostly because I had to get back to skiving around at the school work.