Bob Dylan: Ain't Talkin'

National Public Radio's latest all songs considered programme features the last track of Dylan's Modern Times: Ain't Talkin'.

My take? Ain't Talkin's subdued soundscape made me think of J J Cale. What else? A lot of people are going to be covering that song.

The link goes to Latest Show. But if Modern Times doesn't show up? Go to Archives (episode 118) : npr

The air-conditioned nightmare

A brief history of air-conditioning, by James Fergusson: Prospect




Photo is from Hong Kong Lost Laundry: Michael Wolf

Bob Dylan: A-Z

It's a weighty tome -- 832 pages. But it has an accompanying and searchable CD-rom: Guardian
Thanks, Gavin!

Hong Kong: out-of-court settlements

Hong Kong is one of the safest places in the world. Absent local debt collectors and the gambling industry in nearby Macau: (registration-free link) NYT

Hong Kong: Ho. Ho. Ho?

Last Sunday afternoon, Democratic Party vice chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan walked into the crowded McDo's in Queen's Road Central. Mister Ho, however, got more than a McDo fat-laden junk food Happy Meal: three men set about the Legislative Councillor with baseball bats and batons.

By the time the trio had finished (three-five minutes), Ho had a broken right arm, badly broken nose, damage to the right eye, and sundry other head injuries. He's in Queen Mary Hopital, Pokfulam.

The emerging consensus is that the attack is linked to Ho's work as a lawyer. To wit, his representing Winnie Ho Yuen-ki (no relation). The aging Ms Ho is embroiled in ongoing legal battles -- fourteen in Macau, four in Hong Kong. At stake are vast oceans of money (see link, below). Another lawyer working on behalf of Ms Ho has already been attacked and sustained head injuries.

Two Hos, one to go. Sister Ho's brother, Stanley. For it is he that she is in dispute with. Stanley Ho, you will recall, held the monopoly (along with his partner the sinister Henry Fok) for forty-five years to own and operate (until 2002) all the casinos in Macau. Stanley got inordinately rich on other people's greed and bad luck. An octagenarian and polygamist, Stanley Ho is also a Latin American ballroom dancer, money launderer (a casino in Pyongyang, North Korea), airline, shipping and property magnate, medal emblazoned holder of honoray doctorates, and backroom political operator. He denies any connection with triads. Well, he would, wouldn't he?






Stanley Ho
Hung-sun's
last
erection?

338 metre
Macau
Sky
Tower



Another turn of the wheel: asiaweek

You are what you search?

Mister B is an Omnivore. And you? The seven ways people search the Web: slate
Search history, the records of AOL customer No. 16006693: slate

Dial M for Murder?

Legal and illegal covert government phone wiretapping? Phone the telecommunications companies! Without their help, it ain't going to work. But given the telcos co-operation, covert wiretapping can also be put to all manner of other uses, including partisan political advantage or financial gain.

Unintended consequences? Whatever. In the grimy layers of spookworld lurk real cloaks and real daggers. When high stakes are at risk, murder becomes an option. In Europe, there have been at least two strange deaths: one in Greece, and more recently in Italy. Both 'suicides' are connected with major wiretapping scandals: AlterNet Thanks, Gavin!

Salaam Bombay! The aftermath.

How was Peter M and family's going-away party on Sunday afternoon. Mister B regrets to announce he doesn't know; he didn't go.

It wasn't the heavy rains and violent thunderstorm which started around two pm and lasted a good three-quarters of an hour that caused the absence. Perhaps hardier, healthier souls who made it to the party will report in the Comment box?

Weather causes death and injuries: (Hong Kong) Standard

Mr Al Kyder to the whte courtesy telephone, please

What happened when Mr Al Kyder and Mr Terry Wrist bought tickets for Austrialia's airline Virgin Blue: Flight Global

Iraqi peacekeepers sent to Scottish border

Tigris troops swap sunshine for fog on the Tyne: Guardian

Magnum photographers

Magnum has a fifty-year history of producing outstanding photographs. Now: Magnum in Motion

In the Mood for Love: Wong Kar-wai

Hey! This is Mister Bijou's post number one thousand! To celebrate, a clip from one of Mister B's favourite films:



In the Mood for Love, directed by Wong Kar-wai. The cinematographer? Chris Doyle. Maggie Cheung wears the cheongsam as she and Tony Leung politely and discreetly edge their way toward an affair. The music? Yumeji's Theme, by Umebayshi Shigeru. Thanks, and enjoy!

A plum job

Currrently on sale on a little island in the South China Sea are fresh plums. Mister B's fruit and veg lady says they are from California.

Mister B has tried at least five varieties including the oval and spherical ones with blue-black skins (very, very juicy) as well as some spherical green ones (juicy, with a soupçon of tartness). Are the latter damsons? Ah, no, they're not. Wikipedia to the rescue: Reine Claude, aka greengages

Salaam Bombay!

Peter M and family are having an official farewell to a little island in the South China Sea this coming Sunday. Next stop? Mumbai, the city formerly known as Bombay.

Everyone, wish them well!

Meantime, for your viewing pleasure, Bollywood does
The Beatles: youtube
Or, Bollywood does the "hello mista, how do you do?"
with the infectiously foot-tapping Chin Chin Chu: youtube

Oh, Salaam Bombay? More info: Amazon

Watching Lebanon (part the second)

CNN interview with Sy Hersh: youtube

Bob Dylan: Modern Times

Dylan's album Modern Times is due out on 29 August 2006. Stand by your TVs, the previous Dylan album came out on September 11, 2001.

Meantime, we have the cover photo and title to mull over.

Modern times, eh?

Yeah, right.

The photo was, it turns out, shot in about 1947 by Ted Croner. Ted Croner obit (August 2005): Guardian
Ted Croner gallery and prints: Embrace your Space

The title? Was that inspired by Charlie Chaplin's timeless Modern Times (1936)? Almost certainly. Chaplin's film Modern Times: Amazon

Watching Lebanon

Washington's interests in Israel's war, by Seymour Hersh: The New Yorker

Jack Edwards: RIP

Jack Edwards died last night in Prince of Wales Hospital. He was 86.

Following the surrender of Singapore during World War II, Mr Edwards became a prisoner of war -- first in Changi and then Taiwan. After the war, he played a major part as a member of the War Crimes Commission in bringing Japanese war criminals to trial.

Starting in the 1980s, Mr Edwards became well known to Hong Kong's English-language radio listeners as he doggedly lobbied for financial compensation for Hong Kong's war veterans as well as for justice for the territory's war widows, the latter having been particularly disrespectfully treated by a series of British governments.

Thanks to Mr Edwards, the post-Thatcher British government under John Major finally buckled under in 1996: the war widows were given the justice and respect that were their due. And the right to British passports, a matter of some importance in the run up to 1997.

Mister B is no fan of the Armed Bodies of the State, but doesn't Jack Edwards merit major repect for his principled fight on behalf of others? Sure does. Stubborn. Determined. Thanks, Jack.

Terrorism: you can get it in a can

The narcissism is astounding. Lebanon is actually being terrorised by Israel, Iraq is actually being terrorised by America, and this merciless, cruel, sadistic, reckless destruction is easily subsumed into the fabric of daily life - the first allegation of a threat of a potential attack in Britain at some unspecified point in the future, and suddenly we are encouraged to luxuriate in the fantasy prospect of annihilation. Knowing full well that the building next door is not about to be flattened under several tonnes of explosives, we are encouraged to pretend it's World War II and evince the stoicism of Blitz survivors. The Blitzkrieg is upon Beirut, but we are supposed to imagine that little Nazis are flying over our heads. Don't be complacent. Look out your windows. Keep an eye out. Don't forget to cast a nervous glance over your shoulder. Take notes. Tell the government everything. Root out the evil within. Question your own motives. Telephone the terrorist hotline if you suspect yourself of possessing the slightest nihilistic impulse. Oh - and do try to go about your daily life as normal.

More: Lenin's Tomb

Hand luggage on a plane