"Not a panic, not a crash, but ugly" - an insider's comment about today's stock market
drop (the Dow fell about 150).
Absorbing a new CD I got at a used record store - it's actually a "Not For Resale"
CD-ROM for the current Yo-Yo Ma PBS Inspired By Bach - I believe this
is the 'electronic press kit' for the mini-series. It's great - not only does it
contain the tune I wanted, but it comes with its sheet music on-screen, each measure
highlighted as it plays.
The good songs by a group called Wire:
- Used To
- the 15th
- Outdoor Miner
- French Film Blurred
- I Am The Fly
- Blessed State
- 40 Versions
- I Should've Known Better
- A Touching Display
Just before I started this journal I was trying to get more information
about Kowloon Walled City - an area on the mainland opposite Hong Kong
Island. It was originally a walled fortress from the Qing Dynasty which was
left out of Sino-British leasing agreements: a 7-acre
gray area. "Known as 'the Cancer of Kowloon', it housed criminals for nearly
a century, notably Triad gangs that ran the opium dens, brothels, casinos
and live sex shows that flourished in its maze of rat-infested alleys and
dark stairwells." <1>.
Eventually the walls were replaced with buildings built out to the perimeter
of this 'free zone', estimates approximate 350 buildings with 50,000 people
living there - it was near the end of the Kai Tak airport runways. In 1992
when I visited Hong Kong it had already been evacuated and was being
demolished. The big fights in that Van Damme "Bloodsport" movie happen
there, maybe even filmed inside? It was supposed to be really grim earlier
than the 50s, but then lightened up to some degree in the 70's & 80s - for
example you could find the good dentists there - real ones from the PRC,
but black market because not licensed to practice in Hong Kong. The closest
I got physically was at the airport, where I leafed through a postcard book
in one of the myriad gift shops: Goodbye Walled City. I should've
bought it, but all the color photos were brown. You can find some amazing
material about it at this site,
and there's a virtual reconstruction in the latest
Gibson <2>.
For me, Hong Kong was a place I'd always wanted to go to, but once I arrived
I discovered that I really couldn't stand it.