Still pondering the personal post. Something that caught my eye today in the SCMP is an article on Page 3 titled “Last-ditch bid to prevent Al Gore’s climate crisis film being frozen out.”

In the article, it says that the distributor has been trying to “prolong the life of the movie on Hong Kong cinema screens.” The film has grossed almost HK$2 million in two weeks, a respectable showing for a documentary here. The distributor was hoping that corporations would buy tickets for staff, that schools would buy for students (and 7,000 seats were purchased in this way). However, grosses are dropping off and it will probably be out of cinemas soon.

The article makes no mention of the fact that the movie was legally screened on HK’s flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, more than a month before it appeared on HK movie screens. I watched the movie when flying to Sydney in September. This scheduling mishap represents clear incompetence by either the local HK distributor or the global rights owner.

The article also doesn’t mention that the DVD will be released in the US on November 21st, which means it will be available in HK in a fair number out outlets starting on or about November 7th, just two weeks away.

But the funniest bit is a quote from Regent Lai, local manager of Intercontinental Film Distributors. No, the funny bit isn’t that some woman thought that “Regent” would be a good English name for herself. The funny bit is where she is quoted as saying, “… it doesn’t really help a film that fundamentally lacks entertainment and content for the masses.” When the person in charge of distributing a film can’t work up enthusiasm for it herself, how does she expect to successfully market it?

The City section also has an interesting follow-up article on a recent tour guide scandal – a guide abandoned a group of mainland tourists after they did not purchase enough garbage at some shop. The article says that the tour guides, who are working for tour agencies, are not paid a salary and frequently have to pay in advance for bus drivers and meals, and that the only way they can earn this money back and make some income is by conducting tours that consist primarily of taking people to places to shop where the guides receive commissions.

A guide confesses that he has told tour groups things such as “no accommodation for the night, or no meal, or they will be left in the middle of nowhere” if they don’t each spent a certain amount in these stores, and that he did this on orders from his “employer” (is it really an employer if it doesn’t pay you a salary?).

So apparently people are so hard up for work that they are willing to work for nothing in the hopes that they can bilk innocent people out of their hard earned money. And this is all legal.

And Hong Kong, a territory where the tourism industry represents a huge chunk of the economy, is now getting a reputation in China, our number one source for tourists, as a place that routinely rips off tourists.

And apparently the Travel Industry Council is okay with this, because when a tour guide abandoned his tour group, there was no fine, the company was not shut down; they “issued a warning letter.” Fuck me sideways.

Hongkie Town
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