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Dear reader, may the days and nights go gently for you [and those you love].

Happy New Year.

Blue Moon on New Year's Eve

Blue Moon over a little island in the South China Sea on New Year's Eve: NASA

Also, partial lunar eclipse at New Year: Hong Kong Obervatory

Local weather forecast -- windy, mainly cloudy and misty, with one or two rain patches on New Year's Eve: Hong Kong Observatory

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Street cheung fan

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Awning

Weather report

A cold weather front has swept down from the northeast . . . since when the temperature has fallen precipitously: at lunchtime it was a balmy 19C, it is now 9.5C.

Hong Kong Observatory predicts the temperature will drop several more degrees overnight.

Now that darkness has descended, it is time for a cup of hot chocolate . . .

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Cafe

Robert Earl Keene: Merry Christmas from the Family

For Christmas, a guilty pleasure.



Feliz Navidad!

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Christmas Eve angels with day-glo sticks

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Back street

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Little Egret

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Lunchtime

Reading mattters

Tiger Woods is the reason Americans cannot get universal health care, by Lee Siegel: daily beast

Ray Davies + Chrissie Hynde + Crouch End Festival Chorus: Postcard from London

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

On this the Saturday before Christmas:

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Waterfront

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Village square

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Wanchai

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The Other Side

Pier 5 boarding gate

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Waterfront

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Sunday afternoon

Shigeru Umebayashi: Yumeji's Theme

For the weekend, a guilty please.

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung pass each other by in Wong Kar-wai's gorgeous In The Mood For Love:

Reading mattters

i thank you God for most this amazing, by e.e. cummings: american poems

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First back street

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Prelude to a cuppa tea

Seasonal consumer guide

New Device Desirable, Old Device Undesirable: the ONION

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Waterfront

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Sunday afternoon

Bill Bailey: Foreign Ambulance Sirens

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

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Village square

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Waterfront

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Grace

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Late afternoon

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Air-dried prawns

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Patchwork

Grace Chang: Habanera

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

From the Hong Kong film Wild Wild Rose (1960), Ms Chang offers a spicy version of Habanera from Bizet's opera Carmen:

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Croquet

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Village square

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Wall

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The Other Side

Kennedy Town

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Public pier

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Village square

Victoria Spivey: T B Blues

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Ms Spivey on vocal and piano, Willie Dixon on bass. . .

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People carrier

One day at a time

Another helicopter medevac, another hospital bed, another absence. . .

Anyway, it's good to be back!

Anna Ternheim: Summer Rain

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

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Bamboo scaffolder

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Village square

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The Other Side

Pier 5, waterfront

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Waterfront

Reading mattters

If MSG is so bad for you, why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache? By Alex Renton: guardian

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Village square

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Public pier

Portsmouth Sinfonia: Also sprach Zarathustra

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Cosmic. . .

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Cooked food stall

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Roast meat shop cash bucket

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Carlsberg jug

Reading mattters

Professor J N "Jerry" Morris. . . the man who invented exercise.

By Simon Kuper: Financial Times

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First back street

Chung Yeung Festival

Today was Chung Yeung Festival. It was also the ninth day of the ninth moon: Double Nine Festival.

Hereabouts, that means a public holiday.

Pity the air pollution doesn't take a holiday, too:























Air? A 30-year-old lament:

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Fashionable hats

Joe Tex: The Love You Save

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Some very cool Southern soul:

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Late afternoon

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Waste paper collector

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The Other Side

Eastern Island Corridor

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Pak Tai football pitch

Reading mattters

Robert Glatzer writes::

The quintessential Foley artist story comes from the Brian DePalma film "The Untouchables," where we see Robert De Niro as Al Capone whack somebody on the head with a baseball bat. So how do you create a sound to match the visual, and make it believable, without actually doing someone bodily harm? After many experiments and many failures, the Foley artist found the right tools: a bowling pin hitting a raw turkey. You could try it yourself

Film credits 101: salon
Who is Alan Smithee: salon

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Noodle place

Amy LaVere: Killing Him

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Amy on vocals and double bass:

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Awning