Update: Bad Habits Hard to Break

Last Saturday I wrote about the intersection of Kowloon Park Drive and Peking Road. Today I received an email from the Station Sergeant explaining that they had increased checks of the intersection since the opening of the subway at the crossing, and they had “issued verbal warnings and sometimes citations when it is appropriate”. He also tells me that the Transport Department will be errecting a new divider for Kowloon Park Drive to improve the situation.

I question whether the TD will be able to come up with a design that is more affective than that is already there.

So I had asked the Station Sergeant to ask TD to post the proposal of the new divider at the intersection for citizen’s comment before they begin construction. I don’t know whether they will do as I had requested, and I do not call myself an expert in transportation or road construction, but I really hate to see the government spend money wastefully; it is of course at the end our money that they are spending.

Movie Review: Jersey Girl (2004)

Poster

My Rating: 4Stars

Today I saw the movie Jersey Girl at the Olympian Broadway theatre, it was a great movie with very good cast and tones of cameos. Another one from my Must See Movies list.

Raquel Castro played Ben Affleck’s character’s (Ollie) daughter. This movie is her first motion picture, but I can see that there will be many more to come.

The plot is simple but really makes one think about that are really important in their own lives.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Movie Review: Hidalgo (2004)

Poster

My Rating: 3Stars

Today I saw the movie Hidalgo at AMC Theatre, Festival Walk. It was starred by some of the lesser known actors, like “Viggo Mortensen”. Another late addition to my Must See Movies list.

It was a typical feel good, under dog winning out, movie, with some elements of the bad guy trying to kill the hero, a wicket woman trying to seduce the hero, the hero being blamed for something he did not do, and a woman who try to win the hero’s heart.

In my opinion, I believe the thing that was missing from this movie, was more development on all of the above concepts. There was some good development of the hero’s character, but not enough. The star of this movie was the horse, but the the viewers would not expect it coming into the movie. I guess it’s like the movie “Black Beauty”, although the viewers were expecting it in that movie.

One thing that was unexpected was the good acting by the horse. If they give oscar to animals I think this horse should win; or at least a nomination for best supporting actor.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Selfish behavior

Today I witnessed the result of the ever so common selfish behavior of Hong Kong people. As you can see from the photo below:These vehicles in the picture was stuck in the round-about for half an hour, and they did not want to let other vehicles get in front of them. Unknowingly to these drivers, their behaviors resulted in a perpetual traffic jam, which I had a bird’s eye view of. This traffic jam did not free itself until the police showed up. Mind you, the police simply stopped their motorcycles at the side of the road without having to direct any traffic.Did the mere presence of authority reminded drivers of the appropriate courteous behavior toward other drivers?

Selfish behavior

Today I witnessed the result of the ever so common selfish behavior of Hong Kong people. As you can see from the photo below:These vehicles in the picture was stuck in the round-about for half an hour, and they did not want to let other vehicles get in front of them. Unknowingly to these drivers, their behaviors resulted in a perpetual traffic jam, which I had a bird’s eye view of. This traffic jam did not free itself until the police showed up. Mind you, the police simply stopped their motorcycles at the side of the road without having to direct any traffic.Did the mere presence of authority reminded drivers of the appropriate courteous behavior toward other drivers?

Bad Habits Hard to Break

In the past I had talked about habits of Hong Kong people rushing all the time. This is unlike the hurrying that Tokyonite do. In general, people in Tokyo are polite to each other even when they are in a hurry. Where as in Hong Kong people are not as courteous.

Hongkies have this urge to saviour every seconds in their life, even if those few seconds may actually safe their own lives. Case in point is the intersection of “Peking Road” and “Kowloon Park Drive” in Tsim Sa Tsui in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

As you can see from the pictures below:

Bus Traffic 1 Traffic 2 Traffic 3 Traffic 4 Traffic 5 Traffic 6

I simply stood there for just 3 minutes, there was over 30 people of all ages and nationalities who ignored the numerous posted warning signs and crossed Kowloon Park Drive illegally.

It is not that the Hong Kong government did not try to resolve this problem as you can see from the signs posted.

Sign 1 Sign 2 Sign 3 Sign 4

These signs are in 3 different languages including “symbols”, Chinese and English, so no one should be able to complain that they do not understand the signs.

People just do not want to waste the few minutes it takes to use the subway. While taking these pictures I saw large buses, taxis, tourist buses and fast moving mini-buses slam on their brakes to avoid the pedestrians crossing Kowloon Park Drive while the lights are green for the on coming traffic.

It is like wearing seat belts in cars, governments of all countries enforce seat belt laws just for the sake of the car occupants’ own safety, but many people still do not comply. In this case the signs and barriers are to protect the safety of pedestrians but people continue to endanger themselves. Only for the sake of saving a few minutes of their lives, but never considering that their lives are the thing they should be saving.

May be the government should invest more money on enforcing the regulations rather than the passive approach of putting up more and more signs, which really do not make the area look too good.

Movie Review: Hearts of Atlantis (2001)

I just saw the movie “Hearts of Atlantis” on HBO in Hong Kong. It was a movie starring “Anthony Hopkins”, “Anton Yelchin” (young Bobby) and “David Morse” (adult Bobby).

The movie began with a man receiving a baseball glove via courier, sent by the lawyers of his childhood friend’s estate. It was willed to him by his friend. At the funeral the man found out his childhood sweet heart had also died a few years back. The story then time warped back to his childhood where majority of the movie was set.

Anthony Hopkins played a superb role as a mysterious wise man.

A must see.

My Rating: 4Stars

Rating Legend
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy the VCD
2Stars Rent it if you can
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere