Monthly Archives: May 2012

Good Old HSBC

I cannot believe that in Hong Kong in 2012 and with all the money that they make that HSBC cannot offer 24 hour telephone assistance.

It’s after 11 PM at night. I need to call HSBC and talk to a person and get some information that isn’t on their web site. It really cannot wait until tomorrow. But HSBC does not offer 24 hour telephone service (except automated services)(maybe they offer it to Premier customers, those who have more than HK$1 million with them). I mean, with all the money they make, all their ads about how their customer service is the best, how come I can’t call up at 11 at night and get someone, even someone in an out-sourced help desk somewhere in India or the Philippines?

So, I’m semi-fucked. I figure, before I go to sleep, I’ll go online to the HSBC site and send an email to customer service, on the very tiny chance that when I wake up in the morning, I’ll have a response from them.

I get an auto-response email a few seconds later, which says in part:

We are receiving a very high volume of e-mails and are sorry that it may take longer than usual for us to respond to your e-mail.

If you need any immediate assistance, please contact the following phonebanking hotlines:

(italics mine).

(Yeah, I wonder why you’re getting a high volume of emails. How is it your system is so sophisticated that it can send a different auto-response when volume is high, except if that’s the message you always send out regardless of volume? And how is it that you’re not using software like Kana that scans emails for keywords and figures out what response to send – Kana’s only been around for more than 10 years and I’m sure they’re not the only ones doing this. Or put a goddamned FAQ section on your web site.)

I mean, so what the fuck, right? To me that message is the equivalent of someone from HSBC coming to my house, ringing my doorbell and then pissing on my shoes.

Here’s a little news item from earlier this month:

HSBC’s underlying first quarter profits should come in at $5.8 billion, according to the average of five analysts’ forecasts, compared to $5.5 billion a year ago.

HSBC made a 2011 pretax profit of $21.9 billion, the largest by a western bank, as strong growth in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East offset sluggish conditions in Europe. Its underlying profit was $17.7 billion, down 6 percent on the year.

Yeah, I get it, they can’t afford a 24 hour call center.

If That’s Not Love, What Is?

The NY Times has an article on Mr. & Mrs. Zuckberg titled Facebook’s Royal Wedding (subtitled Who is Priscilla Chan). A little bit gossipy, to be certain, but also a bit illuminating. See this bit:

When Ms. Chan reunited with her old beau in Silicon Valley in 2007, having been hired as a fourth- and fifth-grade science teacher at the Harker School, a private school in San Jose, she negotiated the terms of their getting back together, including the possibility of marriage, said a person who knows Ms. Chan. Mr. Zuckerberg was reluctant, said the person, contending that his youthful image was an asset to the company.

The couple agreed that they would not live together, but that Mr. Zuckerberg would spend at least 100 minutes of private time with Ms. Chan a week as well as take her on at least one date, according to “The Facebook Effect.” Indeed, Mr. Kirkpatrick reported that Mr. Zuckerberg once left a News Corp. corporate retreat, where he was a guest, explaining to the company’s chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, that he was taking Ms. Chan to a movie. The couple also agreed to vacation for two weeks yearly overseas and have since visited Dubai, Mumbai and China.

Now, some might call this “100 minutes a week” coldly calculated. I don’t think that’s what it is. I think that’s both people being very much in love and willing to meet halfway.

If all of this seems a bit touchy-feely of me, well, it’s a distraction from other things going on in my life that are not blog-able.

Unrelated but I also wanted to comment – fans of the group Yes are probably aware that in 2008, lead singer Jon Anderson was ill and was replaced by a Jon Anderson sound-alike, who was himself subsequently replaced by the lead singer of a Yes tribute band. Now that Anderson has somewhat recovered, he wants to rejoin the group that he co-founded more than 40 years ago. Bassist Chris Squire is quoted in Rolling Stone as saying, “We cancelled a whole tour in 2008 when his respiratory problems came back. Touring is a tough business. One of the main reasons we aren’t working with him now is that he’s only able to do a certain amount of shows a week. It would limit our ability to move and make money, really.”

Really, it would limit their ability to make money. How much money do you need to make? Aren’t you rich enough already? Doesn’t 40 years count for anything? Apparently not. I think Jon Anderson has it exactly right when he says, in the same article, “”People get into that place where they don’t care about people. To them, it’s just business.”

I saw Yes live at least twice back in the 70s. Once was the world premiere of Close to the Edge at an outdoor concert in London in 1972 (also on the bill that day were Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gary Wright, Lindesfarne). I’ve run hot and cold on them over the years but in the past year have found myself playing The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge quite regularly. I have no interest in any band called “Yes” that doesn’t feature Jon Anderson on vocals. Anything else just smacks of greed to me.

Last thing for today. This week’s issue of the New Yorker Magazine is devoted to science fiction. Among the bits there (fiction by Jonathan Lethem, essays by William Gibson, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin and others) is an extended piece that Anthony Burgess wrote back in 1973 regarding A Clockwork Orange. And there’s this quote in it:

We probably have no duty to like Beethoven or hate Coca-Cola, but it is at least conceivable that we have a duty to distrust the state.

While it may make more sense within the context of the essay, it certainly holds up well enough on its own. I may add it to the series of quotes on the right side of this page.

Some Manila and Some Whinging

I know I still owe part 3 of the NYC taxi story. And probably a lot of other posts as well. I’ve been busy. And I’ve been tired. Crazy tired. I don’t really know why but I suppose it’s long past time to get serious about dealing with my obstructive sleep apnea, especially given an article in the Times over the weekend about new links found between apnea and cancer.

Anywho, we were in Manila over the weekend. It’s summer in The Philippines and it was hotter than fuck and I think the heat got to me on my last day there. It certainly couldn’t have been that I got drunk on Sunday night – and it’s so rare for me to drink alcohol these days that it doesn’t really take much to get me drunk. We were at Cafe Havana, one of my usual spots there. They had a decent salsa band playing there. Let’s see, drums, congas, keyboard, guitar, bass, trumpet, trombone, timbales and a female singer with the requisite large breasts. (I was listening to some Fania All-Stars yesterday, the Live at the Cheetah album, it don’t get no better than that, and I was wondering why these bar bands have such a limited repertoire. Well, gotta keep the customer satisfied.) We bought drinks for a lot of other people. That’s easy to do in Manila, where the cost of a fancy concoction is about half the price of a beer in Lan Kwai Fong. And apparently at some point my gf got me to dance, which is something I never do. It ain’t a pretty sight, that’s for sure.

Anyway, we were there looking to get a place to live. It started on our last trip, when we viewed a new Rockwell development. This time a bunch of places from Ayala and Century (yes, we even looked at the joint that they got Paris Hilton to advertise). Well, I know where I want to live. It’s in the Fort, aka Bonifacio Global City. Unfortunately, the place we saw and loved and can afford won’t be ready for occupancy until 2017 and while I don’t plan to leave Hong Kong in the near future, 5 years is too far off.

Oh, should mention, a place we ate at Saturday night, I think it’s called Seconds, or 2nds, it’s in the Fort, just off Bonifacio High Street, right next to Agave. (The Agave in the Philippines is apparently not affiliated with the ones in Hong Kong. One way to know that is that the ones in Manila feature “bottomless” margaritas for roughly HK$50, if memory serves. I shit you not.) Anywho, very nicely designed place, Filipino food made high end with a tiny bit of a fusion-y twist. Comfortable place. Dinner for 4, including a bottle of very nice Spanish wine, worked out to around HK$600.

I could probably write several blog posts about my apartment-hunting experiences there. And perhaps I will, maybe better off once the whole thing is settled and done, should that ever happen.

I’ve noticed a linguistic change in the Philippines lately. Not sure if this is new or if I’ve only just noticed it. I did note that in the past few years, people went from addressing you as “sir” to “sir <your name>.” as in, “Hello, Sir Spike.” I don’t recall people doing this years ago but it seems everyone does it now. It makes me feel weird. I’ve only just gotten used to being called “Sir” and now apparently I’ve been promoting to a Knight of the Round Table. Spike, OBE. Or I guess in this case, OPE, Order of the Philippine Empire?

And now, apparently a lot of people, instead of saying a simple “goodbye,” choose instead to say, “god bless.” Not just one or two people. I’m hearing this everywhere. It’s in almost every email I get from there. The flight attendants said it on the plane as we were getting ready to “de-plane.” To which I said, out loud, “no thanks.” Really, shouldn’t we get a “god bless” before the plane takes off? By the time it lands, do we still need it?

We could have extended our trip by an extra night and gone to see Lady Gaga, who played there Monday night and I guess also tonight. She was not an instant sell-out there. I don’t think the shows sold out completely. I saw ads from one of the phone companies offering buy one, get one free deals on tickets. There are those protesting her concerts there. Not to the extent that they did in Indonesia, where her permit was revoked and the concerts were cancelled. But some bible-toting whack jobs eager for publicity spouting forth about how her “values are not their own.” Because apparently if you don’t believe what they believe, you’ve lost your freedom of expression? Or because if they think your beliefs are different from theirs and challenge theirs, then you don’t belong because they’re so insecure in their beliefs that you threaten them? Splendid. Oh, they announced that police would attend the concert so that they can make sure there’s no nudity or anything lewd. They probably just wanted some free tickets.

Louis C.K.’s got this famous stand-up bit about everyone being a crybaby about technology, how everyone complains and everything is wonderful. He includes people complaining about airlines and flights. You’re making a trip in hours that used to take years, a trip in which half the people used to die before the trip completed. ”You’re sitting in a chair in the sky” or something like that. Not sure if he really believes it or if it’s just comedy fodder. It’s funny.

But, ya know, I almost always fly Cebu Pacific to and from the Philippines these days. Okay, they’re a budget carrier. You don’t get food or even water on the flight unless you pay for it. You don’t get to check in luggage unless you pay for it. And always right after the flight takes off, just as you’re settling in for a good naps, the stewardesses (“the ladies on the plane” as George Carlin liked to call them) get on the P.A. and lead everyone in some mindless game for 10 minutes. ”Who can show me … a pencil?” ”Oh, you’ve got a pencil, you win a toy.” Yeesh.

Cebu Pacific always plays music when you’re getting on board and off. And for the past several months, the song they’ve played is what seems like an endless remix of Rihanna’s S&M.

‘Cause I may be bad, but I’m perfectly good at it

Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it

Sticks and stones may break my bones

But chains and whips excite me

Oh, I love the feeling you bring to me, oh, you turn me on

It’s exactly what I’ve been yearning for, give it to me strong

And meet me in my boudoir, make my body say ah ah ah

I like it-like it

So this is okay for a “family crowd” of children and old people boarding an airplane but Lady Gaga performing her songs within a closed arena that you have to pay to get into is a threat? I don’t get it.

I wonder if any Cebu Pacific flights ever leave on time. Our flight to Manila was an hour late. Our return flight was just under 2 hours late. We sat there by the gate, listened to the announcements, delay this, delay that and then, of course, Gate Change! 200 people standing up and having to walk all the way down to the other side of the terminal. Apparently that was easier than bringing the plane to us.

My arrival in Hong Kong was my first time to arrive at HK’s newer Terminal 2. I was thinking to myself, “Okay, the flight was late and bumpy and noisy and I’m tired as fuck. But landing at Terminal 2 is a plus because the car park is outside terminal 2 and this will save us shitloads of walking.” (Yes, I drove to the airport. Three days’ parking there costs HK$300. Add in gas and tolls and it’s still cheaper than round trip taxis from where I live, which would cost HK$700.)

Except, apparently, they don’t have immigration counters or baggage claim at Terminal 2. I know, I can’t quite figure that out either. And you know how you get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1? Get off the plane, go in the terminal, walk awhile, go down an escalator, get on a freaking bus, stand on the bus forever while it waits on the tarmac for all the planes to taxi by. Get off at Terminal 1, go up another escalator, walk a bit more, then wait on a long line because there are only two machines working at the immigration counter.

So, yeah, maybe my mood is a little off today.

By the way, in case you missed it, you do want to listen to Amanda Palmer’s latest album, “Several Attempts to Cover Songs by the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed for Neil Gaiman as His Birthday Approaches.” Yes, Neil Gaiman is also on the album (speaking, not singing, probably for the better). I loved the title and, surprise!, I love the album as well.

And I also wanna recommend the new Saint Etienne album, Words and Music By Saint Etienne, which is an absolutely joyous celebration of pop music and its importance in our lives.

And the new album from Soulsavers, The Light the Dead See. This time around the featured vocalist is Dave Gahan and it gets emotional.

And a new double live album from the Tedeschi Trucks Band called Everybody’s Talkin’ (first song is a cover of the Fred Neil classic). And speaking of Allmans, the new double live Warren Haynes is a big improvement over his recent studio album.

Oh, I didn’t get to this one yet but soon will. Lisa Marie Presley has a new album out. Yeah, Elvis’s daughter. Michael Jackson’s ex-wife. It’s called Storm & Grace. It’s produced by T Bone Burnett. Word is it’s actually quite good.

And Father John Misty, a pseudonym for the drummer from Fleet Foxes, who has left the band, and has this new album out, Fear Fun.

And Clock Opera, Ways to Forget.

Still haven’t worked up the strength to try Damon Albarn’s Dr. Dee yet but Graham Coxon’s A+E is quite worthwhile.

Facebook Dies After IPO

Seriously. One day after the IPO – in which closing price was not much changed from opening price – woke up, refreshed the screen, the above is a screenshot of what I got. Take the money and run?

Gini Coefficient

Just want to draw your attention to a fabulous blog post over at Hong Wrong – The Heartwarming Kindness of Hong Kong’s Heroes. It tells the story of Benson Tang, someone who took his HK$6,000 tax rebate and used the money to buy food (only from mom-and-pop stores) and distribute it to the needy. His actions have inspired others to follow suit.

I hope he won’t mind my quoting the final two paragraphs, they’re important and need to be seen:

At a time of deep cuts and austerity measures in Europe and the US, booming Hong Kong is enjoying such a surplus that the government is offering personal HK$6000 bail-outs to all residents regardless of income. They are also subsidising electricity bills and allowing families in public housing free rent for 2 months. However, despite producing more millionaires than any other country last year, HK also shares the more dubious accolade of ‘widest poverty gap in Asia’. According to the UN Gini Coefficient, which measures income inequality, Hong Kong society rates as the most unequal amongst all highly developed economies. The wealthiest 10 per cent of the populace control more than a third of the city’s income, whilst the bottom 10 per cent share only 2 per cent.

Our city features the world’s highest per capita ownership of Rolls-Royces – yet luxury cars are almost as common sight as the elderly people forced to rummage through bins in search of items they can sell to recyclers. With little in the way of welfare, these workers, mostly old women, have a median income of just US$40 per month and often labour throughout the intense summer heat.

In some ways, I think it’s even worse than that. Because it’s not just the poor. Maybe the middle class don’t have it as bad as the poor, but rising inflation is squeezing the hell out of the majority of the population here. Donald Tsang and his cronies apparently never cared as long as the billionaires were happy. Will C.Y. Leung change things in any substantial way? Color me dubious.

3 Cheeses Me Off

(I always find it a bit odd when someone who hasn’t blogged in awhile comes back with something trivial. ”They haven’t blogged in days/weeks/months and this is what they decide to share after all that time?” Mayhaps I’m guilty of that with this post.)

For those who don’t know, 3 is one of the major mobile telecommunications providers in Hong Kong. It is owned by the richest man in Hong Kong, Li Ka-Shing. (Incidentally, Li’s son Richard is the owner of PCCW, the major fixed line provider, internet provider and also a player in the mobile field.)

For reasons I won’t go into (but you can probably guess), I needed to pay my gf’s mobile bill. Okay, fine, there’s a 3 shop that’s right near my office so I went there at lunch time today and told them I needed to pay the bill.

“You can’t do that here,” I was told. ”But this is a 3 shop – not a reseller – an actual 3 shop, I can’t pay my bill here?” ”No, you have to go pay it at Watson’s.”

Watson’s is one of the two large chains of pharmacies that sit atop the market in Hong Kong. Watson’s is also owned by … Li Ka-Shing.

I don’t get it. I mean, I suppose that Watson’s has more locations in HK than 3 so it’s convenient to be able to pay the bill there. But why can’t a 3 shop do it? Is it some nefarious scheme, someone thinking that if I have to go into Watson’s to do it, I might buy some shaving cream or Panadol as long as I’m there, and therefore not buy it from rival chain Mannings or supermarket Wellcome or supermarket Park ‘n Shop (also owned by Li Ka-Shing).

All right, it is what it is and I’m not gonna argue with the poor schlub sitting behind the counter who doesn’t make policy, he just carries it out. So how about, can I get a copy of the latest bill on this account, because it seemed awfully high to me and I’d like to check it out?

Him – “We can’t do that here. You have to go to the internet to view it.”

Me – “But I have two registered phone numbers with 3 [long story] and every time I go to your web site, I can only see the records for one number, not the other.”

Him – “You forgot your password?”

Me – “No, but your web site is broken, I can’t view both accounts.”

Him – “You forgot your password?”

Me – “Okay, I forgot my password. Can you help me?”

Him – “No, we can’t do that here. You have to go online to the internet and reset your password. Do you know how to do that?”

Me – “You mean go online to the login page and click where it says ‘reset password’? Yeah, I can figure that out.”

Him – “Anything else I can help you with today?”

Considering you didn’t help me with anything at all, nope.

[I have been posting much more regularly at SpikesPhotos.com so please do feel free to check that site out. I've had two occasions to go out and shoot the Hong Kong harbor at night with the amazing Nikon D800 and I think I've gotten some fabulous shots so scoot over there and take a look? Aside from work and photography, I've just been extremely occupied with matters that are not really bloggable. But I am, I assure you, still around.]

Obama in Rolling Stone

The current ish of Rolling Stone has an extended interview with President Obama conducted by RS publisher Jann Wenner. In responding to a question relatively early in the interview, Obama is quoted as saying, “I’m not going to make news in this publication.” That in response to a question on marriage equality. Nevertheless, he has some interesting things to say, as always. Here’s the bit that caught my eye:

The free market is the greatest generator of wealth in history. I’m a firm believer in the free market, and the capacity of Americans to start a business, pursue their dreams and strike it rich. But when you look at the history of how we became an economic superpower, that rugged individualism and private-sector dynamism was always coupled with government creating a platform so that everybody could succeed, so that consumers weren’t taken advantage of, so that the byproducts of capitalism, like pollution or worker injuries, were regulated. Creating that social safety net has not made us weaker – it’s made us stronger. It liberated people to say, “I can move to another state, but if I don’t find a job right away, my kids aren’t going to go hungry. I can start a business, but if it doesn’t work out, I’m going to be able to land on my feet.” Making those kinds of commitments to each other – to create safety nets, to invest in infrastructure and schools and basic research – is just like our collective investment in national security or fire departments or police. It has facilitated the kind of risk-taking that has made our economy so dynamic. This is what it means for us to live in a thriving, modern democracy.

Now that made me stop and think about many things, Hong Kong included. After all, Hong Kong always gets voted the freest market or economy or whatever by some conservative think tank. HK is the free market economy taken to its furthest extreme. And yet ….

Is it really possible for HKer’s to start businesses these days? Yes and no. We have a large group of (mostly) young people trying to do things in the internet space. Very few if any will ever succeed on a global scale but plenty of people are earning a living and getting ahead.

But for those trying a more traditional path, I believe the doors are increasingly closed. Anything that has any requirement for real estate – shops or offices – seems doomed from the start. The balance of power has tipped in the favor of the landlords and in particular those few companies that basically own everything else worth owning. We don’t have a real free market any more because these people have locked up everything. Why are there only two major supermarket chains, and both are owned by real estate companies? Why are all the mobile phone companies owned by real estate companies? Why don’t we have Wal*Mart or Costco or Carrefour in Hong Kong?

The answer is because the doors aren’t really open, even for major global corporations like those, unless they’re willing to join forces with the local moguls and let them take their cut.

I’ve seen what’s happened to my weekly supermarket bill in the past year. I’ve seen how the price of the crap I buy at 7-11 every day has gone up by 50% or more in the past year.

I heard a story the other day about a retail company, they’ve got 5 branches in HK. Their branch in TST is all of 200 square feet. Their rent was $50,000 per month or 10% of their revenue (not sure if gross or net), whichever is higher. Now their “rent” has increased to 20% of revenue.

It takes million of dollars these days to start something up, at least in the bricks and mortar arena. Innovation is discouraged because it’s too expensive to take risks – it’s safer to copy others’ success than to try something really new.

Let’s not even get into the bit about the “social safety net” because Hong Kong doesn’t really have that.

Here’s a photo I took of the HK skyline yesterday (posted over at Spike’s Photos). I’m not sharing this with you because of the photo (though I think it’s pretty darned good, if I say so myself, do view it full size to get the full effect).

I’m sharing it because I also posted it on Facebook and here’s one of the comments it received: ”Really good one, showing the mood of people towards the future of HK….”

China’s Crisis

An interesting piece in The New Yorker on April 30th, titled China’s Crisis, by Evan Osnos (no idea who he is). Wanted to share a bit of it with you:

The gap between rich and poor has become so inflammatory and unsustainable that the Chinese government has simply stopped releasing an official measure of the distribution of wealth. (Unofficial studies now put China’s inequality beyond the point that a former Prime Minister once estimated would trigger social unrest.)

For now, the streets are quiet, because one thing that all factions of the Party agree on is that they could lose everything if the Bo Xilai case opens a wider schism. But do they recognize the longer-term problem: that their refusal to share the affairs of state with their own people is the greatest peril of all?

There’s an interesting point there. Sometimes it seems as if all we ever see in the media are stories about how rich everyone is in China, how many millionaires and billionaires there are, the astonishing amounts of money they spend. And yet we also get the stories about Foxconn workers working 80 hour weeks for US$300 a month. And these Foxconn workers are doing far better than at least 1/3rd of the country’s population, those that don’t live in or near the big cities, those who have yet to be “uplifted.”

So what is the truth? Are the poor and dispossessed keeping their mouths shut in the traditional hope that if they keep their heads down and work hard they or their children will one day join the ranks of the rich? Or will all these tales of massive corruption lead to unrest and instability?

Everyone has their theories, no one really knows. Least of all me. But I find this to be interesting stuff.

Headline O’ The Day

From The NY Times:

Foul Play Ruled Likely in Case of Spy Found Dead in Bag

Deepening the mystery surrounding the death of a reclusive MI6 agent found doubled up inside a padlocked duffel bag in his London flat, a coroner said on Wednesday that it was unlikely that the case would ever be solved, but that the “balance of probabilities” suggested that he had been unlawfully killed.

Really, ya think?

I Love a Good Album Title

And this is a great one:

“Several Attempts to Cover Songs By The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed for Neil Gaiman as His Birthday Approaches.” It’s by Amanda Palmer. No idea if it’s any good or not but will have to check it out given that title.

Apparently she raised $100k on Kickstarter in just 6 hours to fund her recording projects so she’s got a few fans out there already.

UPDATE: It’s really good. Seriously. Lots of onstage dialogue between Palmer and Gaiman and the cover versions are enjoyable.