Browsing the SCMP
Everyone in Hong Kong seeks a bargain. Mr. Jason Cheung of Hung Hom figures that since the plastic bag tax, stores are providing less plastic bags to their customers, therefore saving money, which is probably true. Mr. Cheung suggests that the savings should be passed along to customers. But how much does he think that shops pay for these bags anyway? He singles out Toys R Us (because they had a letter published a few days ago). They buy bags by the thousands, if not tens of thousands. What are they paying per bag? 10 cents? A dollar? A penny?
Meanwhile Mr. Roland Guettler of Wanchai argues that democracy is over and that we shouldn’t “force it down the throats of unwilling societies.” In support of this theory, he says that the global financial crisis was created by democracies and not by rogue states or dictatorships. Brilliant thinking there! Using that kind of logic, I surmise that since Mr. Guettler lives in Wanchai, he once enjoyed a bowl of gumbo in New Orleans.
Oddest headline today is this one: Teacher hired by school guilty of upskirt pictures. Well, he’s a teacher, of course he’s hired by a freaking school. Ah, the article says that a teacher found guilty of taking upskirt pictures was subsequently hired by another school. That’s somewhat different.
Here’s why it’s sometimes a benefit to live in Hong Kong and not speak Cantonese or read Chinese. You fall prey to fewer scams. The SCMP reports that some mobile phone operators have contracts with some content providers who sign you up for “free” text message services that end up costing people thousands of dollars. “The Consumer Council received 470 related complaints in the first 11 months of last year. In one case, a man paid HK$8,000 for a ‘free’ friend-seeking service.” See, I’ve never even heard of these, much less signed up for one.
The group Soler lost a lawsuit filed against them by their old management company, Hummingbird Music. They walked out on the contract in 2007 – the contract expires this year. Soler claimed that they were bullied into signing in the first place and that they were unreasonably restricted from signing other third party deals. The label sued them for HK$24 million and the judgment against them was set at $5 million, which Soler says it does not have and cannot pay immediately. As always, someone is making music in the music business – just not the musicians.
Another crappy Soho restaurant? SCMP reviews Singaporean restaurant Sh!ok. “Several of the dishes lacked flavor.” One dish “was so flavourless we sent most of it back untouched.” They did like some of the dishes though. Even so, I can’t recall the last time I went to Soho for dinner – it was one thing when I lived in Mid Levels but now that I’ve been in Sai Kung for almost two years, I find it’s simply not worth the trip. It strikes me as some kind of theme park, HK’s own version of Epcot Center? – all these restaurants owned by mega-groups that try to figure out what the next “in” cuisine will be and then design the place by buying some books at Page One and create the dishes in a similar fashion. There are some long lasting stalwarts there, others seem to change every six months. I’m sure they don’t all suck. But I’m equally sure that there are very few there that would be worth going out of one’s way for.
