#Hong Kong Sevens

[asiarugby]

Asian Sides on Showcase in New Melrose Competition at the Hong Kong Sevens

In its final staging in the iconic Hong Kong Stadium before a move to the new Kai Tak Sports Park stadium in 2025, the renowned Cathay / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens returns to its roots in welcoming teams from across Asia to the world’s biggest rugby party from 5-7 April 2024. Continue reading Asian Sides on Showcase in New Melrose Competition at the Hong Kong Sevens

[rugbypodbg]

Защо турнирът Hong Kong Sevens е едно от най-великите събития в ръгбито

Защо турнирът Hong Kong Sevens е едно от най-великите събития в ръгбито Следващата спирка от HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series е точно зад ъгъла и на нея едно от най-популярните ежегодни спортни събития в Азия ще се завърне в пълния си блясък.

Ето какво трябва да знаете за перлата в короната на Ръгби 7 Следващата спирка от HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series е точно зад ъгъла и на нея едно от най-популярните ежегодни спортни събития в Азия ще се завърне в пълния си блясък. Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2023 стартира на 31 март на стадиона в Хонконг за три дни ръгби от световна класа, забавления и костюмирани фенове. Перлата в короната на…

[chernobog13]

Two buds hanging out.

[sleeping-dogs-archive]

Sleeping Dogs key art done by French studio Two Dots

[firethatgrewsolow]

Press conference in Hong Kong, October 7, 1972

[quotesfrommyreading]

The auditory version of the blank sheet is, of course, silence. Protesting wordlessly was a technique employed by Black Americans in July 1917, when an estimated 10,000 citizens, organized by religious groups and the NAACP, marched down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to protest racial violence and discrimination. As the New York Times reported, “Those in the parade represented every negro organization and church in the city. They marched, however, not as organizations, but as a people of one race, united by ties of blood and color, and working for a common cause.”

In September 1968, tens of thousands of students staged a silent march calling for greater democracy in Mexico. Contradicting the Mexican government’s accusations that they were resorting to violence, the students protested by simply carrying flags. (Around this same time, civil rights activists in the United States wielded flags with similar goals in mind.) “You’re taking the symbols of the regime and exposing the illegitimacy of the regime at the same time,” says David Meyer, a sociologist at the University of California, Irvine.

Other protests have employed more obvious symbols of repression, including handcuffs, blindfolds and gags. The last of these became widespread as a political prop following the trial of the Chicago Seven (originally eight), antiwar protesters who were charged with inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. During the 1969 trial, the judge ordered defendant Bobby Seale to be gagged and chained to his chair.

Decades before football player Colin Kaepernick created a stir by kneeling during the national anthem, Black athletes silently used their status to fight oppression. At the awards ceremony for the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos each raised a clenched gloved fist in a call for global human rights.

The operating theory behind silent protests is that when the cause is clear and righteous, there’s no reason to yell about it—a principle demonstrated by more recent examples of silent protests, too. In 2009, a peaceful rally in Iran against unfair elections ended in gunfire and explosions. To vent their fury, hundreds of thousands of Iranians met at Tehran’s symbolic central roadway, Islamic Revolution Street, and marched quietly to Freedom Square, hoping to avoid a police crackdown. In 2011, protesters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, stood quietly in solidarity with activists detained without trial by the country’s regime. Multiple times in Hong Kong, lawyers have marched in silence to protest Beijing’s incursions into the city’s constitution and legal affairs.

  —  The History Behind China's White Paper Protests

[hervench]

leaving tmrowwww!!! been such a weird trip loved and hated it :)

[richardtheteacher]

The Rise of Private Tutoring: Why IB Teachers in Hong Kong are Making the Switch

Private tutoring is on the rise globally, with a particular surge in Hong Kong. In 2021, the HK private tutoring market was estimated to be worth USD 3.2 billion, and demand continues to rise. Read more, here:

An article by Richard James Rogers (Award-winning author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management).  This blog post has been beautifully illustrated by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati. Private tutoring is on the rise globally, with a particular surge in Hong Kong. According to a report by Statista, the private tutoring market in Hong Kong was estimated to be worth HK$ 25 billion (US$ 3.2 billion)…

[richieantonace96]

Qi jian [Seven Swords] (Tsui Hark, 2005)

Ispirato a un classico della letteratura cinese, è l'ennesima conferma del talento supremo di Tsui Hark nel mescolare l'avventura da "cappa e spada", le suggestioni western, l'omaggio al cinema classico (Akira Kurosawa) la fiaba e un pizzico di action digitalizzato occidentale che non guasta mai. Il film straborda di spettacolarità e complessità narrativa, tant'è che per affrontare la visione è assolutamente necessaria una certa conoscenza del wuxia, delle sue regole e dei suoi tropi. Certo, ci sarebbe molto altro da dire sulle meravigliose coreografie in ambienti ristretti curate dallo stesso Tsui Hark, sull'esaltante resa dell'azione (mai un rallenty di troppo) in scenari mozzafiato, sul retrogusto epico dei valori di fiducia e superamento dei conflitti, ma... ma no: questo è un gran film, di quelli in cui forma e sostanza si fanno intrattenimento raffinato ed epica in movimento.

[outragedtortilla]

In terms of characterization, I wasn’t disappointed. There were some rich characters included in this show that really helped me reflect. Come join me in licking up the weird, weird reactions I had to characters that you should like (but didn’t like) and should hate (but didn’t hate).

#quotes

[eggwhiteswithspinach]

Battle of the Seven Sisters is a comedy produced by Hong Kong production company TVB back in 2021. I was drawn to watching it by the cast made up of predominantly women; it’s been a while since I’ve fallen into one of those stories.

#quotes

[asiarugby]

Fiji continue winning ways at Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens

Day one of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens men’s tournament followed the formbook with the leading teams winning their opening game. (more…) “”

[rugbypodbg]

Шотландия даде Sevens на света… така че защо преминаваме към Team GB?

Шотландия даде Sevens на света… така че защо преминаваме към Team GB? #Ръгби #ръгби7

Мисля, че мъжете и жените на Шотландия дадоха своя принос в един отличен турнир по Ръгби 7 на Игрите на Британската общност, като и двата отбора завършиха на шесто място. Подозирам, че и двата отбора по Sevens може да са имали различна мотивация, предвид ужасното решение на Шотландския ръгби съюз по нареждане на Световното ръгби да напусне Световните серии по Sevens и да се слее с Англия и Уелс в…

[easternmind]

The weird and wonderful history of Kowloon as a digital interactive space - Part I

The Kowloon Walled City was one of the most emblematic locations in Hong Kong due to its irregular, fast-paced and largely ungoverned growth within a minute parcel of land. During the occupation of Hong Kong Island by the British in the mid 18th century, the Qing authorities surrounded the area with walls, turning it into a strategic position from where to closely inspect the foreign nation's covert activities. Almost a century later, during World War II, the area was seized by the Japanese, who tore down the walls and repurposed the stone for the construction of a nearby airport.

After the war, China would eventually regain possession of the city, though the disinterest of local authorities in addressing its increasing social disturbances placed it in a downward path to a state of utter degradation. By the 1970s, Kowloon had become the epicentre of Hong Kong's criminal underworld, dominated by a handful of its most vicious Triads.

Towards the last years of its existence, the ancient settlement was as a precarious heap of concrete, sheltering nearly half a million people within less than seven acres of land. Cultural and political changes in China made it increasingly difficult for this urban anomaly to remain unaddressed. In the late 1980s, an action plan was put together aiming to relocate its inhabitants and reconvert the real estate into an inner-city park. Stories about residents refusing to leave their unsafe and unsanitary homes were featured prominently in newspapers, baffling readers all over the world. Once the single most densely populated area in the world, this enclave was an architectural aberration whose disconcerting aesthetic influenced numerous works of art in different fields of creation; including a small yet consequential number of video games that briefly reference or prominently feature this abominably transfixing space.

九龍島 (Kyu-Ryu-Tou) - Starcraft - 1986

The year is 2025. An arms dealer escalates the tensions between East and West by developing a genetic weapon in a secret base at Kowloon Island. The United Nations react by sending in their best man, Jamie Starr. Unrelated to the Walled City itself, the first game to be located in the Kowloon peninsula - and indeed include the name as a part of its title - is this obscure turn-based RPG, Kyu-Ryu-Tou for the NEC PC88 and FM-77 machines. The game is a sequel to Shangai, released the year before, featuring the same protagonist. Starcraft would also go on to produce a third instalment in 1987 named TO.KY.O. Clearly there wasn't much regard here from the developers part for geographic accuracy, as Kowloon is depicted here as being an island. While Hong Kong's southern territory is composed of an actual island, all the different areas named Kowloon are located in the mainland.

Riot City - Westone - 1991

One of the most shameless specimens among a relatively long list of Final Fight clones, Riot City contains subtle references to Kowloon, though never referring to it by name. Two narcotics detectives are assigned with the mission of dismantling a cartel running a crime-ridden located in fictional Riot Island. This recurring yet geographically nonsensical notion of Kowloon as an island comes up here, yet again. The final moment of the introduction sequence for this minor Sega arcade success shows both protagonists approaching a tight cluster of buildings whose source inspiration is quite unmistakable. Because Westone maintained ownership of most of this production's intellectual property, a later port to the PC Engine entitled Riot Zone was made possible with the help of Hudson soft. Kowloon's Gate - Zeque - 1997

Reviving the Walled City through the lens of cybermystic surrealism, Kowloon's Gate is a dense, daunting adventure masterfully capturing the slum's dark and narrow recesses. This 1997 Japanese Playstation exclusive spans across four discs of unparalleled full motion 3D CGI spectacle, alternating with real-time 3D dungeons brimming with outlandish characters and concepts deeply inspired by Chinese history, geography and cultural traditions.

Ironically, Zeque managed to embed the theme of Feng-Shui, the ancient geomantic art seeking harmony between the individual and their surrounding space, into a story set in the world's most historically untidy district.

SaGa Frontier - Square - 1997

SaGa Frontier takes place in a solar system named The Regions, composed of multiple inhabited worlds for the player to explore, each with its different degree of civilizational development and culture. One of these planets goes by the suggestive name Kūron. Its pervasive neon light signs, food stalls, makeshift cabins and rooftop scaffolding instantly evoke the memory of China’s so-called city of darkness.

Shadow Hearts - Sacnoth - 2001

Shortly after the release of Koudelka, Sacnoth's initiated the development of Shadow Hearts, the first episode from a cult RPG trilogy exclusively designed for the Playstation 2. In good Japanese fashion, the game proposes an anachronistic yet visually suggestive depiction of Kowloon, portraying its architectural style and degree of decay as it existed in the late twentieth century, despite the fact that the game's events take place during the nineteen twenties.

Just as noteworthy is the almost complete absence of any inhabitants, which inadvertently make this portrayal of the quarter eerily reminiscent of the state in which it was found circa 1993 or 1994, as local authorities brought the long, arduous eviction project to a close.

Shenmue II - SEGA AM2 - 2001

Shenmue II exhibits the most complete and period-accurate video game representation of Kowloon to date. While more recent games featuring this area may represent a number of its aspects with the aid of improved visual fidelity, none features it with such depth as this masterpiece of masterpieces. More than mere background decoration, Kowloon exists in the Shenmue series as a crucial, climacteric element of its modern epic narrative.

It is a well known fact that Yu Suzuki and his team conducted extensive research of the region so as to achieve a result that impresses even to this day. It must be noted, however, that they have similarly taken a fair share of creative liberty when converting the area to best align with the themes they wished to explore. Further reading is required for a more complete context in this regard, namely how this area ties with an early Dreamcast tech demo design which fans lovingly named Tower of Babel. Ostensively, technical limitations did curtail the degree of precision in which the surrounding area could be replicated. The aerial view from the cutscene in which Ryo Hazuki arrives on location places Kowloon at an imaginary degree of elevation over surrounding vegetation. In the year of 1987, during which the game is set, the actual enclave stood perfectly levelled with a myriad of other modern buildings, undoubtedly more than could be reproduced under the circumstances. These trifling considerations aside, Shenmue II entirely succeeds in capturing the vibrant life and mesmerizing beauty of the destitute and decayed urban agglomeration, in a way that it was deemed entirely impossible at the time of its release.

For reasons entirely related to per post content limitations imposed by Tumblr, this article will be continued in PART II.

[camlannpod]

Episode 9, Smoke on the Horizon, is out now. It's our final episode. Thank you for listening.

Here's a message from Ella, the creator of our wonderful story, to you, our wonderful listeners. Keep the fires burning.

Video description under the cut.

[Video description: a video of Ella, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, speaking to camera. In the background of the video is a bi pride flag and many framed pictures. Ella is saying: "Hi, this is Ella, I'm the writer and director of Camlann. I just wanted to say thank you for listening, it means so much to me. Camlann is a really personal story for me. I have moved house 34 times in 30 years. I've lived in Australia and Hong Kong and all across the UK. And as a result I've always had a very complicated relationship with identity. It means a lot to me that that story seems to have resonated with people, and that you all seem to find as much joy in folklore and medieval stuff and nerdy jokes as I do. In terms of Season 2, if we get the chance to make one, I've already get plans for where the story goes! Morgan and Gwen's relationship will develop further, Gwaine and Dai's relationship will grow and change as they get to know each other on more eve footing, and Dai is going to go on a jouney of self-discovery which...will mean more to you if you've heard the end of episode seven, but if you haven't I don't want to spoil it for you. So uh yeah, that's gonna be a whole project. I would love to make season 2 but honestly it's enough, more than enough, that we have made a first season, a season at all, that the podcast exists and thst people have listened to it. So really, truly, thank you."]

[hclib]

James Hong, The Main Man

Chances are, if you've watched movies in the last seven decades, you’ve seen or heard Minneapolis native James Hong. With over 650 film and television credits, he is one of the most prolific actors of all time. His latest accomplishment is a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was released on March 25, 2022. The film also garnered 7 Oscars from 11 nominations at this year’s Academy Awards, which Hong attended wearing a bowtie with googly eyes—a nod to the film. In 2022, at age 93, he became the oldest person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

James Hong was born in Minneapolis to Chinese immigrants in February, 1929. His father, Frank W. Hong, managed the Golden Pheasant, one of the first Chinese restaurants in the city (it opened in 1919 next to the more famous Nankin, which opened the same year). The Hong family later owned a business in what some considered to be Minneapolis’s Chinatown. Sent away to Hong Kong for elementary school, James returned to Minneapolis for middle school, where he had to re-learn English. He attended the old Bryant Junior High and then Central High School, where he graduated in 1947.

Learn more about the Hong family and Minneapolis’s Chinatown in this MinnPost article from 2015.

If you enjoyed Everything Everywhere All at Once, or are waiting in the queue for the DVD, check out more books and films featuring the writers, actors, and directors of this Oscar-winning film.

Images of James Hong from the 1946 and 1947 Minneapolis Central High School yearbooks. See more yearbooks and restaurant menus in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.