Saturday afternoon – watched part 1 of Steven Soderbergh’s Che.   It’s far from a perfect film and yet I thought it was a terrific accomplishment, not the least of which was because of the epic scope compared to the budget and amount of time in which it was shot. It was digitally shot using a prototype of the new RED camera system.

Based on Guevara’s own memoir, the film plays out more like a police procedural than a political diatribe.  Want to know how the revolution went from four guys sitting around a table having dinner in Mexico City to victory in Cuba?  You get this, step by step, very detailed.  The battle scenes seem to be staged very authentically and as a result, there are very few really emotional moments in the film.  This is the idealistic version of Che, the revolutionary who is honestly trying to do something for the masses no matter the personal cost.  But why Cuba?  The film never tells us.

The 1955-1958 action is intercut with grainy black and white footage restaging Guevara’s visit to New York City and his address to the United Nations.  One could called this “Years of Triumph” I suppose – Part 2 covers the attempt to bring revolution to Bolivia that ended in his death.

Benicio Del Toro is in almost every shot of the film and gives an amazing performance.  He definitely deserved the acting award he picked up at Cannes.  The entire project was so controversial that it never received distribution in the US and that’s a shame.  As controversial a figure as Che remains, idolize and vilified, an icon on t-shirts around the world, the film deserves to be seen.  Hopefully will get to part 2 by next week.

Saturday night – wasn’t really in the mood to go out.  My ankle was still achy and I’d never gotten around to eating dinner.  Plus for the past week I’ve been going to bed really early – 10 PM early.  But 10 PM rolled around on Saturday night and we got in the car and headed into town to check out The Blue Deuces at the Bridge in Wanchai.   I’m friends with one of Bridge’s owners and besides, I always try to show support for anyone trying to do anything a little different for the local live music scene.

The Blue Deuces come from Taipei – one guy on guitar, another on drums (well, a snare drum, and mostly he held a brush in one hand and shook a maraca in the other).   I caught one set, a selection of mostly classic blues tunes as well as one song from Dylan and, somewhat incongruously, a Dr. Hook song.  Here’s a small selection of photos from the evening.

Couldn’t stay for more than one set.  Simply too tired at that point and the two drinks I had hit me quickly, probably because I hadn’t had dinner.

Sunday we watched It’s Complicated,  a rom-com starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.  Suffice to say, this is a true “chick flick” and one that had only a few moments that appealed to me.  Earlier in the week watched Whip It, the first feature film directed by Drew Barrymore.  Barrymore assembled a great cast – Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon – for a movie that is horribly predictable but mildly entertaining.

I’ve also been enjoying Durutti Column’s “A Paean to Wilson,” a mostly instrumental double disc set paying tribute to Factory Records’ founder Tony Wilson – lovely and haunting.  And Hot Rats, named for the Zappa album, two guys from Supergrass do a broad collection of covers and it’s mostly wacky fun.  Cheryl Cole is depressing because it’s so fucking ordinary and seems to be selling well.

Tomorrow, I think my ankle’s in good enough shape for a trip to Macau.  Haven’t decided if we should stay for two nights or three, have basically decided on staying at the Star World Hotel – the MGM Grand is looking mighty appealing but also costs noticeably more.  I’ve got maps of walking tours printed out, the Michelin guide packed away, I’m ready to go!

Oh, Kathryn Bigelow just won the Directors Guild award for Hurt Locker.  I think she’s the first female winner of the award.  And she beat out her ex-husband, one James Cameron.  Well deserved, we’ll be seeing her at the Oscars.

TweetDeck, the client I use for Twitter, has a special version that they call JobDeck which builds on top of a site called Twit Job Search.  All this really does is skin TweetDeck and add in two columns, one for Twit Job Search and one is tweets from “Job Search Experts.”  I’ve gotten a lot of good links this way – no leads for actual jobs but lots of good information on job hunting, resumes, interviews and of course utilizing social networking sites in your job search.

Here’s a few things I found today.

Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010.  If you’re going to directly target companies rather than relying purely on recruiters, why not target the best places?  Checking out the web sites for 100 companies, seeing which ones have decent presence in the region, seeing if any have any currently open positions that are a fit, sending them tailored resumes and cover letters – yes it takes time but hopefully could lead to an interview or two.

Another category is scams that appear on the job search boards, even the legitimate ones like Monster.  I can tell you from first hand experience that my resumes on these boards generates a lot of junk responses – especially from JobsDB, where I get about a dozen offers to train to become a financial investment manager each time I update my CV there; and from Monster, where I get those “too good to be true” offers that undoubtedly originate in Nigeria. Here’s a good summary of the various kinds of scams a job seeker may encounter.  It makes sense from the criminal perspective – people who are desperate for work may more easily fall prey to some of these.

Aside from those unscrupulous companies that advertise fictitious jobs in order to build up their resume database, there is another class of job listing that I didn’t know about, again jobs that most often are advertised as “Financial Manager” or “work from home” and that are actually fronts for money laundering organizations!  Two web sites that focus in on jobs, What Would Dad Say and Diggings have more details on this “money mule” scam.

Diggings also has a link to a good post on Ask The Headhunter regarding job sites that charge the job seeker to post his or her resume on their site or to search their listings, in this case a site called The Ladders that charges you US$180 to search listings of jobs paying over US$100k – you pay the money, search the listings and only then find that a significant number of the posted jobs pay far less than that or that the advertised job doesn’t even exist!

So people, if you’re in my current position or unfortunate enough to find yourself here in the future, beware.  Job searches on the web are every bit as scam-prone as everything else.

The collapse of a 55 year old building in Hung Hom is a tragedy, with at least 3 dead.  And now we are finding out that flats in the building had been illegally partitioned into smaller cubicles and that remodeling efforts had included removal of structural walls and columns.  The SCMP tells us that “Director of Buildings Au Choi-kai said a repair order had been served on the owners earlier this month. However, the block’s condition had not been bad enough to require its closure.”  Um, hello?  And there are untold more buildings in the district and throughout Hong Kong that have been “improved” in this manner. This is not the first such collapse in HK history and, fortunately, it is not the worst, but unfortunately it will probably not be the last.

Unscrupulous landlords in Hong Kong are not news.  Crappy inspections and lax enforcement of building codes are also not news.  Why does the government wait until after people have died to do something about it?  That’s assuming that they will do something about it; it’s not a given.

Unrelated and yet related, a story in the SCMP yesterday about Sai Kung’s “village of the jammed” gives an update on the situation in Ho Chung New Village, where it turns out that the road that led into the village wasn’t public and is now permanently blocked as someone has decided to build a new house in the middle of it.  This is, we are told, the only access road for more than 1,000 residents.  And next week it will cease to exist.  “The Lands Department says its hands are tied, this being the New Territories. The Home Affairs Department says it can’t build a road because some residents object.” Recent purchasers of properties there claim they were not told by either their own lawyers or the realtors about the potential issue with the access road, although the village head claims that this information is stated in the title deeds to the properties.

The thing is – this is not a recent development.  The road was closed last September, people protested, the government got the land owner to temporarily re-open the road, various government agencies stepped in to negotiate … and nothing happened, nothing changed.

“The Lands Department says that under the small-house policy, there is no guaranteed right-of-way.”  Why isn’t there?  Shouldn’t that be considered a fundamental right?  Shouldn’t there be some sort of planning to ensure that people have some way to get to their homes?  Shouldn’t there be stronger disclosure laws?

Here’s another one – in Ho Sheung Heung village, near Sheung Shui, the government planned to demolish two illegal structures standing on illegal landfill in a so-called “priority conservation area.”  So the village chief bused in 200 protesters – mostly elderly people who had no idea what was going on but got on the bus to spend a day in the countryside and get a free lunch.  And the demolitions did not take place.   Meanwhile a vacant building in the area was illegally converted into a food shop and it seems that the government is also powerless to shut this down.

It’s all a fricking joke, isn’t it?  What kind of “world city” allows these kinds of shenanigans?

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Good meeting with a recruiter yesterday.  Being submitted for a position with an MNC for which he says I am almost an exact fit.  Sounds promising.  Just one thing – the job’s in Singapore.  Well, it’s early days, I’ll continue down the interview path if they’re interested in me.  I see both pros and cons to Singapore.  What to do with the blog should I actually emigrate?  “Singie Town” doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it, does it?

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Carrying a ladder down a flight of stairs in my home yesterday, the stairs decided to play a trick on me and added an extra step at the bottom.  I missed it, came down hard and twisted my ankle nicely.  Some swelling, some pain, not great but not the worst I’ve ever had.  But I guess I have to see how this goes for the next couple of days – was planning to do some major walking around Macau early next week, hope this doesn’t screw up the plan.

J.D. Salinger died yesterday.

Miramax Pictures dies today after coughing up blood for several years.

Philip K. Dick’s been dead for 25 years, give or take a couple of years, and he now has the same agent as Martin Amis and Philip Roth.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews watched Obama’s State of the Union address and opined, “I forgot that he was black tonight, for an hour.”

Newsday is a major newspaper from Long Island that is widely distributed within NYC as well.  They decided to make their web site subscription only, charging $5 per month.  After three months, they’ve signed up a total of 35 subscribers.

Peter Gabriel’s comments on each track of his new all-covers album Scratch My Back.  Yeah, it’s an all-covers album.  I also think it’s essential listening.

For some reason, up until this morning, Apple’s HK web site was not aware that the iPad had been announced.  Last night’s “major headline” was the Magic Mouse.  This morning the iPad is finally there.  Go here to put your name on a mailing list to be notified when you can pre-order this in Hong Kong.  (HK availability predicted to be June or July.  Note that at least initially, the iBook shop will be US-only.)  I was thinking that if I really decide to spring for this, I should plan a trip to visit my mom some time around March or April.  Or I could ask her to line up at the Apple store and get one and ship it to me – she’s 88 years old and doesn’t have too much to do these days, right?

Just a reminder, these two guys are playing live tonight and tomorrow night at The Bridge.  I have no idea if they’re any good or not.  But I’m going because I want to support another venue dipping its toes into the treacherous waters of presenting live music in HK.

Every morning, our neighbor’s helper brings their puppy over to play with my dogs.  I’d guess she (the puppy, not the helper) is about 3 months old and tiny bundle of energy and joy.  Generally I’m rushing out in the morning so no chance to take pictures of her.  But I do stop and give the dogs a snack and try to train the puppy a bit.  I’ve got her sitting pretty well, both voice and hand signal, but we’re not quite there on “stay” yet.

Another interview tomorrow – my 4th this week, 2nd with a headhunter.  This guy sounded a bit more promising on the phone than Wednesday’s wash out.  We’ll see.

A nice deal today – the Nikon MB-D10 battery grip sells for about $2,100 at Tin Cheung.  I was able to pick up a used one today for just $1,000. It’s nowhere near as heavy as I was expecting.

First listens:

Massive Attack – Heligoland.  I have to admit, I completely don’t understand what they’re doing here or why they’ve gone here.  But then again, I realized that I haven’t truly liked them since Tricky left the band after the second album.  I’m not feeling any urgency to return to this.

Four Tet – There is Love in You.  Lovely minimalist dance beats and electronics.  I’ll listen again, but I don’t see this becoming the soundtrack to any portion of my life.  Then again, it could be that I’m currently so into the noise of the Fuck Button’s “Tarot Sport” that something more minimal like this eludes me just temporarily.

Pat Metheny – Orchestrion.  Lots of hype about about Metheny “jumping into new territory” via some studio wizardry and invented instruments.  But on first listen, I’m hearing the same melodic patterns and riffs he’s always given us – which is okay by me since I’m a fan.  I suppose a closer listen will be more revealing.

Ray Wiley Hubbard – A: Enlightenment.  B: Endarkenment.  (Hint: There is No C.)  Holy crap.  I haven’t paid attention to Hubbard for 30 years, since he was one of the mainstays of the original alt. country scene in Austin that circled around Jerry Jeff Walker.  I don’t know if he’s always been this good or if this represents some sort of return to form for him.  But this album is the real deal.  Country.  Blues.  Rock.  Gospel.  A ragged voice and lyrics that alternate between funny and touching.  I’ll be returning to this one a lot.

Been listening to a lot of Ian Dury lately but I think I’m about to shift into something else from that era, going for a Two-Tone marathon tomorrow I think.

Despite the crap weather right now, predictions are that early next week should be gorgeous.  If I don’t have any interviews lined up, thinking about going to Macau for a few days.  The casinos still hold no appeal for me but perhaps we’d take in a Cirque Du Soleil show; my gf’s never seen one and I’m sure she’d love it.   Also, in 15 years, I’ve never spent any time walking around the villages or any of the historic areas aside from the streets around St. Paul’s.  Any recommendations for areas that are good for walking around and taking photos?

I decided not to stay up to follow live blogging of Apple’s event last night.  Looking at the news this morning, I’m glad I made that decision.   I mean, get real kids, even if you’ve completely swallowed the Apple Kool-Aid and want to line up to buy one now, it won’t be available in Hong Kong til at least June or July, so waiting an extra six hours to read about the damned thing won’t make a difference in your life.  It’s not as if you could watch the announcement at 2 AM and then run out at 3 AM to buy one.

After reading the  descriptions this morning, I’m underwhelmed.   My favorite comment so far comes from uber-producer Tony Visconti, over on Facebook, where he described the iPad as “an iPod Touch for Flava Flav.”

First … like the iPhone, no Flash.  Next, no camera.  Next, no expandable storage (you can buy extra dongles for USB and SD, but if they have any functionality beyond loading photos from cameras is an open question so far and besides, my Nikon D300 uses CF and not SD).  And worst of all, still no multi-tasking!  So it is just a bigger iPod Touch, really.  And pretty damned far from revolutionary.

The prices range from US$499 to US$829, depending on internal storage and if you go for WiFi only or WiFi + 3G.  (If I did get one, I’d do without the 3G option since I’ve already got the Netvigator Everywhere MiFi device.)

So what would it be good for?  What uses might it have that would earn it a spot in my backpack?

Displaying my photos nicely – yes.  My MacBook can already do that, though it weighs a lot more.

Writing?  Not with that virtual keyboard and if I’m gonna rely on that add-on keyboard, might as well just go with a laptop.

eBooks?  More expensive, no eInk screen (bright screen means more eye-strain), lesser battery life, smaller selection of books that are more expensive than Kindle versions – though I suppose it would be better for magazines, newspapers, PDF files – but I’m gonna pay $700 for that?  Especially when the reader app will be available for the MacBook?

Gaming?  I’m not big on games.

Honestly, for now, between my iPhone and MacBook, I don’t need anything that this provides.  It is very possible that some developer will come out with some irresistible killer app in the near future.  But until then, I’m not lining up to buy one.

Oh, in case you haven’t already noticed, while you can now find the iPad on the US Apple web site and online store, there is still no mention of it on the HK site.

And there was no “and one more thing”?  Color me under-whelmed.

You wanna know what’s painful?  I’ll tell ya what’s painful.

Some recruiter sees your resume, calls you up to come into his office, you put on a suit, you schlep all the way from Sai Kung to Times Square and then the guy gives you 15 minutes.  Actually it might have been closer to 12 minutes.  “Well, I’m not really sure you’re what my client is looking for but I wanted to meet you.”  Oh, and I got a glass of water.  I suppose I should be grateful.

Oops, sorry folks, haven’t been home sitting in front of the computer so blogging is light and may continue that way a bit longer.  Job interviews yesterday, today and tomorrow; I’m on a roll or so it would seem.  Probably any reasons for my current irrational exuberance will evaporate within a week.

Andrew Bird at Grappa’s Wednesday night.  Gonna try to be there.  You should try too.  And then you can come home and stay up all night to follow those who are blogging the Apple event live to find out just what it is the tablet actually does or doesn’t do.  Though all true Apple fan bois and grrls are gonna buy one regardless, right?

Since we were both up early and both very hungry, we dashed into Sai Kung town at 9 AM.  I finally got to try dim sum at Wing Wo.   This is a really old, old fashioned classic Hong Kong style place.  Not much to look at inside, not like some of the classic tea houses on HK island.  I had my usual nonsense trepidation – no English menu?  Staff doesn’t speak English or not friendly to foreigners?  Well, no English menu, yes.  But the staff amazingly friendly!  One guy basically attached himself to us for the meal – took me up front where all the steam baskets were to check what I wanted and offer suggestions – he even told me at the end of the meal a better tea for me to order next time (“You get so many oily food, better to try shui shin tea, green tea, much healthier!”).  Okay, he did the usual HK thing of excessively complimenting me – how good my Cantonese is!  how good I hold the chopsticks!  But it does point to how friendly people are in Sai Kung, doesn’t it?  And honestly speaking, this was pretty darned far away from the best dim sum I’ve ever had, at best you could describe it as passable.  But combine the super friendly staff with this:  5 dishes, 2 cokes, 1 pot of tea = HK$75.  Can’t beat that with a stick.

Then over to Shek Kee, the famous frozen meat shop that I’d only discovered a few days ago.  I don’t have a huge freezer like my friend does so had to limit my buying.  4 thick cut Australian Angus rib-eye steaks.  4 bone-in thick cut US pork chops.  A rack of NZ lamb.  A rack of US baby back ribs.   HK$500.   Since we were there early, we could see that this shop supplies meat to many of the surrounding restaurants – the staff was busy stacking stuff high on rolling carts for delivery.  The woman told us that they’re busy doing restaurant orders up until around 11 AM; after that things are calmer there.  I was gonna get some Cumberland sausages and some beef sausages but they only had the large packs – 40 per pack; smaller packs due for delivery later today.  Foie gras fans take note – package of 10 imported from France, roughly HK$500.   The woman says she knows her prices are at least half that of City Super “but they do such a beautiful job on the display and packing there.”   I don’t need to pay for the display and packing!

I was on the fence about the Amazon Kindle until the first time I actually saw one and got to play with it for awhile.  I went home that night and bought one.  And I remain very happy with it.  I wouldn’t say it’s perfect but the Kindle has become a big part of my life – I rarely leave the house without it and at night it’s always on my bed side table.  I bought it for the convenience of being able to get books instantly – many not otherwise available in Hong Kong and almost all at a cheaper price than in local shops. Most important, I’m reading a lot more since the Kindle came into my life.

So when Amazon came out with the international version of their larger Kindle DX and offered to loan one to me for a couple of weeks, I jumped at the chance.

I’ve now had the DX for a few days and my initial thoughts are that in comparison to the standard size Kindle 2, some things are better and some things aren’t.

First, let’s talk about the difference in size:

The Kindle 2 (on the left) measures 8″ x 5.3″ x 0.36″ (203.2mm x 134.6mm x 9.1mm).  The screen is 6 inches, measured diagonally.  It weighs 10.2 ounces (289.2 grams).

The Kindle DX (on the right) measures 10.4″ x 7.2″ x 0.38″ and weighs almost twice as much, tipping the scales at 18.9 ounces. The screen is 9.7 inches, measured diagonally.

The difference may not seem like much, but I really felt the extra size and weight when lying in bed with the DX.  It was bulkier and heavier to hold and my arms got tired much quicker.

In terms of storage, the Kindle 2 has 2 gigabytes of internal, non-expandable storage (1.4 gig available for user content), capable of storing roughly 1,500 books.  The Kindle DX doubles down on that – 4 gigs (3.3 for user content) and Amazon says up to 3,500 books.

If you want to rotate the screen from portrait to landscape modes, you have to do that manually on the K2.  The KDX can do it automatically – I suppose it has a built-in accelerometer, and this can be disabled if you find it distracting.

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Note that the buttons are laid out differently on the two machines.  The K2 has the “Previous Page” button and an additional “Next Page” button on the left hand side; with the KDX all the buttons are on the right.  Having the Previous Page button on the left felt more intuitive to me – though more often than not it actually makes for a bit more effort.  I suppose that after using the device more, I could get used to all the buttons being on the right.

The the keys for the keyboard are quite different as well.

That’s the Kindle 2 on top and the Kindle DX on the bottom.

The keys on the DX “fit” my fingers better and travel slightly more, making the DX keyboard easier to use for me.

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Now the screen – aside from the difference in size, there’s a difference in resolution.

The Kindle 2’s 6 inch screen has 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 16-level gray scale.

The Kindle DX’s 9.7 inch screen has 1200 x 824 pixel resolution at 150 ppi, 16-level gray scale.  Actually, the screen on the DX is the size of the entire K2.

When some people first get hold of the Kindle 2, they comment that the screen is too small.  Depending on the font size selected, it can initially feel as if you’re seeing less than an entire page (which you are) and that you are seeing a “window” into the book.  This feeling quickly goes away once one starts reading – most people I know don’t read a page at a time, just a phrase or a sentence.  And so the Kindle “disappears” once one gets into the actual reading. With the DX, it feels more like viewing an entire page, which may be psychologically more comfortable for some people.

The photo above displays roughly the same page of the same book on each device, same font size chosen on each.  The DX “feels” more like a full page of a book.

In terms of graphics display, the higher resolution screen of the DX provides a richer, more detailed image than the K2.  Two examples:

The first image comes from Michael Pollan’s Food Rules; the second from the Kindle’s “screen saver.”  As with all images in this review, you can click on the image to see the full sized version.

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When the Kindle 2 was first released, it could not handle PDF files.  You had to send them in to Amazon for conversion (or use freeware software such as Mobipocket Creator).  Either way, the results could sometimes get formatted incorrectly.  The Kindle DX handled PDF files from day one and eventually an OS upgrade allowed the K2 to directly display PDF files.  The problem is that there is no way to zoom or resize the PDF display and I found the results on the Kindle 2 to be unusable.   The DX also cannot resize or zoom PDFs but its larger, higher resolution screen makes reading them quite better.  Some examples:

These first two photos show the PDF of the owner’s manual for my car.  Click to see the larger versions – as for me, I can’t read this on the Kindle 2 without a magnifying glass.

And here’s one that you probably all have downloaded by now – the PDF file of the screenplay for Avatar:

Again, I find that I cannot comfortably read this on the Kindle 2 but it’s easy peazy lemon squeezy on the DX.  Perhaps newspapers and magazines also display better on the larger DX; I haven’t tried that yet but plan to very soon.

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So there are definite advantages and disadvantages to the DX over the 2.  The larger screen makes a positive difference in many situations.  But the overall size and weight can be definite drawbacks.

Finally, there is the difference in price.  The Kindle 2 sells for US$259 while the Kindle DX sells for US$489.  That’s an awful lot of money for a single-function device, making the Kindle DX more suitable for people who need the larger screen in their work and, possibly, for students who are using it for textbooks.  For most people (myself included), the price difference makes the Kindle 2 the obvious choice.

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Amazon has announced that they are opening the Kindle platform to developers.  Just what will be developed remains to be seen.  I’m sure someone will come up with something innovative.  I don’t see the need to play Sudoku on my Kindle but I suspect there could be something compelling out there.

Of course, later this week Apple will most likely be announcing some type of tablet device.  There’s a lot of speculation as to its features, and that includes as a reader for e-Books, magazines and newspapers.  It will be interesting to see the comparison between Amazon and Apple.  For me and for many others, one of the most compelling reasons to choose one e-Book device over another is the software – how many books are available and how easy are they to obtain and load in the device?   Today, Amazon has the clear lead in the industry.    Should Apple represent a serious challenge to the Kindle, that’s a good thing for all of us – competition will spur Amazon on to develop better features and devices.

I’m going to have the DX for another week to play with so if you have any questions about it, now would be a good time to ask.  I’ll do a “final thoughts” post in another few days.

In the meantime, if you are considering purchasing one or just looking at it on Amazon for further details, please show your support for my blog by clicking on the links below.

To see the Kindle 2, click here.

To see the Kindle DX, click here.