Monthly Archive

I have been robbed!! Some no good thief in Emeryville stole my car’s front license plate.

Before I left to visit friends on Friday night, I had a front license plate. The following morning, after driving to my Saturday kick-boxing class, I discovered that it was missing. After careful inspection of the remaining license plate holder, the tears and scratch marks made it very clear that the plate did not just merely fall off as some have suggested. No, no, it was taken by force.

Now the real question is —Why the hell would anyone want my front license plate. It would make more sense if this no good thief had stolen my registration sticker or my back license plate as indicated by the two news articles that I found below.

• ABC News: This article indicates that in areas where you pay for gas after you pump, people are stealing back license plates so that they can steal gas without getting into trouble. Basically, the thieves will attach the stolen license plate to their cars, go to a gas station, fill up the tank then drive off without paying. I suppose this “strategy” insures that if a video tape or camera captures their license plate number, the no good thief will not be caught since they are using a stolen plate. However, since I live in the state of California where every gas station that I have ever patronized has been a prepay pump, this surely can not be the reason why I was robbed.
• Santa Rosa Press Democrat: A few days a go, a man accused of stealing car registration stickers in Sonoma County (which is a part of the San Francisco Bay Area) was caught. In this case, the man stuck the stolen sticker on his own car. Unfortunately for him, a local police officer was quite diligent when he looked up his license plate and found that the car’s registration was last updated in 2006 despite the 2008 sticker. Lucky for me, I still have my 2008 registration sticker. However, this still does not explain why my front license plate was stolen.

So what’s the benefit of stealing a front license plate? Clearly, it is worthless without the registration sticker (Any cop that notices a missing registration sticker or an out of date sticker will quickly pull you over for that offense, especially since they have their ticket quotas to meet.) Whatever the thief’s intentions, my poor front license plate is now probably an unwilling accessory to crime.

Or another hypothesis that I have is that some stupid artsy kid decided steal my front license plate to make a map of the U.S.A with stolen plates or some other worthless art project.

Public Relations Notes: In publicizing this crime that has been committed against me, I am hoping to find other victims so that we can all rally together and find this SOB, beat him and leave him covered in tar and feathers in the town square……or not. No really PR notes on this, I am just complaining.

Is is just me or have the local Bay Area radio stations been getting some interesting guests this week.

• Jeff Ma - Original member of the MIT Blackjack Team
  Monday, March 23rd | Alice 97.3 | Sarah and Noname in the Morning

Not sure how they got him as a guess, but my guess is that Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures’ PR teams have signed him on to promote their new movie 21, which opens this Friday (3/29). Based on the The New York Times bestseller, “Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions” by Ben Mezrich, it’s the story about MIT Blackjack Team, six MIT students that would go to Vegas every weekend to make bank playing Blackjack by counting cards during the early 90s.

The title character, Kevin Lewis was based on Jack Ma. Apparently Jack had originally attempted to pen his story but gave up quickly after writing one sentence. He then asked his friend Ben Mezrich to write the story and the rest is history.

One interesting tidbit that I remember from the show was about a site called DoublePlayTV.com where Jeff Ma has published instructional videos that teach you how to count cards. If you’re heading to Vegas soon, it’s recommended that you check it out.

If you want to hear the whole interview, here’s a link to the podcast.

Sub-note: I had first learned about the MIT Blackjack Team from a documentary about the world’s greatest heists and thieves that was included as a special feature in the Ocean’s 13 DVD/BluRay. It’s a pretty interesting feature and some of the other heists (including a woman who would steal jewelery but simply walking out of the store with it on her finger).

• Jennifer 8. Lee - Author of “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles”
  Wednesday, March 26rd | KQED Radio (NPR) 88.5| Forum

If you are a foodie with a special interest in China and Chinese/Chinese American culture, then you might want to read a new book by New York Times reporter, Jennifer 8. Lee (Yes, her last name is actually the number 8). Named “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles” the book (I hear….as I have not yet read) is a anthropological study about Chinese food in America.

As part of a fairly typical but very successful publicity/PR book tour in nine U.S. cities. While I am not too familiar with book/publishing public relations, her publicist, Cary Goldstein has been scoring some amazing media placements—NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Reader’s Digest, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Newsweek, AOL’s Home Page, Maxim, Glamour, etc.— with the book only out in less than a month and not yet in wide distribution.

Though my only thought is that it would be nice if she clip those placements and posted on her site, instead of listing them. It would be interesting to read different reviews, especially considering how diverse her placement has been and it would have saved me the trouble of trying to find all of those articles myself (click on the media outlets listed in the paragraph above to see their views on this book).

I had noted her appearance in the San Francisco Bay Area a couple of weeks ago but forgot to save the date and missed her talk at a local book store. On wells. But fortunately, I did tune-in to NPR/KQED Radio at the right time tonight and caught her interview on Forum.

Jennifer share some interesting facts and tidbits about specific dishes, but she raised a few interesting points that had never occurred to me:

• Chinese food in American is actually highly regionalized. For example, there’s a dish called velvet chicken that is very popular in the Chicago/Mid-west region but is largely unheard of in the New York region and California. Likewise, another Chinese American dish called cashew chicken was originally developed in Springfield, MO first and later grew in popularity around the country.
• Chinese Cuisines at the Tipping Point: Several listeners called in during the show to share their experience with Muslim Chinese food or Western Chinese food (i.e. not westernized Chinese food, but rather cuisine from West China) from the Kunming region. Many of them lamented that they were unable to find restaurants that served those styles in the U.S. and asked if she knew were they might be able to find it. Jennifer pointed out that these styles have yet to really become introduced in the U.S. in a very mainstream way, much like Sichuan and Hunan cuisine, though she did note a couple Muslim Chinese food in the Bay Area.
• Traditional Chinese American Cantonese Cuisine is best found in Mexico. This seemed a bit over the top, but Jennifer had an interesting explanation. The Chinese American cuisine that most Americans were first introduced to was a Cantonese style (not to be confused with traditional Cantonese food from China and Hong Kong). In the 60s and 70s, this style in the U.S. became influenced by the influx and popularity of Sichuan and Hunan food (probably coinciding with new waves of Chinese immigration). Meanwhile, the Chinese restaurants in Mexico remained largely untouched by this influence and in some sense could be considered a more traditional Chinese American Cantonese food.

If you want to hear the whole interview, here’s a link to the podcast.

Sub-Note: I first heard about the book from my cousin’s blog and have been trying to locate the book in a brick and mortar bookstore ever since. I was later told to order it from Amazon, which I will once I get around to it.

Hollywood Trends of Days Gone By…..

• Oxygen Bars - Strange, but I let I ignored it and it’s a dead fad now.
• Botox Parties - Can rich women be anymore vain? It will pass.
• Detox Diets - Adding a health stamp to the act of self-starvation for work. Only for the strong willed.
• Heiresses - As if the silver spoon that they were born with wasn’t enough, now they want the fame and glory that most starving actors spend years fighting to achieve, though most don’t.
• Buddhism - I can’t begin to count the number of actors who have jumped on this bandwagon, but what every helps fund the Free Tibet cause, I suppose….

Hollywood trends, no matter how bizarre or insane, usually achieve some level of household name status with most disappearing into a distant afterthought. But the the latest and greatest from actress, Demi Moore is just down right disturbing, disgusting and dumb.

Apparently, she announced Monday on national late night TV, NBC’s The Late Show with David Letterman, that in her quest to find “cutting edge of things that are for optimizing your health and healing” she has discovered leech therapy in Austria.

Last time I checked, that’s not new, that’s just backwards medicine from the 16th and 17th century. That’s how they treated George Washington when he was on his death bed, along with everyone else at the time because they believed that bloodletting via leeches was a method of cleansing the blood and stimulating health.

Personally, I believe that allowing a parasite to suck your blood has no medical value, but not to be entirely dismissive I found an interesting article from The New York Times about the revival of age-old cures via maggots and leeches. (However, it was published in 2005,…..perhaps this means that Demi’s a little late to jump on this bandwagon).

To top it off, the “therapist” who convinced her to try the treatment has also led Demi to believe that treatment uses “highly trained medical leeches” …… supposedly a far cry from your standard swamp leeches. Good grief! A leech is a leech, a backbone-lacking parasite that sucks your blood. It ain’t no freakin dog or monkey. (Sorry folks - no links in this paragraph. I dare not Google leeches for fear of having to look at one, please look them up yourselves if you are interested. I am sure that there is plenty of information on Wikipedia.com).

Public Relations Notes: Either that leech therapist has a very good public relations agency or she is just insanely PR savvy to secure Demi Moore’s endorsement for this wacky health treatment on national television. If more people jump on this bandwagon, I just may be sick (but very amazed). At the same time, if public reaction is pretty negative (as it should be), then I just may have more faith in people’s ability to think for themselves rather than following Hollywood’s lead on everything.

What’s next? Perhaps a facial in which you let a live jellyfish suck on your face.

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This weekend at Barnes and Noble, I think that I may have found my new favorite magazine, Craft: Transforming Traditional Crafts (www.craftzine.com).

Introducing CRAFT: The first project-based magazine dedicated to the renaissance that is occurring within the world of crafts. Celebrating the DIY spirit, CRAFT’s goal is to unite, inspire, inform and entertain a growing community of highly imaginative and resourceful people who are transforming traditional art and crafts with unconventional, unexpected and even renegade techniques, materials and tools; people who undertake amazing crafting projects in their homes and communities.

If only this “renaissance” in the world of crafts had happened 15 years ago when I was at my peak as a crafter (i.e. I was in elementary school and had all the time in the world to devote myself to glue guns, crochet needles and sewing machines as school work wasn’t that important to me at the time and work was a thing for grown ups to stress about). I suppose I might be thinking too much into it but I can’t help but wonder if I had Project Runway and all the other “hip” design/crafting resources at my finger tips as a child, rather than needing to dig hard and deep for teachers and pattern books that didn’t look fudy-dudy, if I would have gone a different route, career-wise……

Okay, enough of that.

What’s interesting about this relatively new magazine (launched in late 2006) is the sheer range of topics that count as a “craft.” In additional to typical crochet, sewing and gluing projects, there is a recipe for natto (fermented soy beans) and instructions on brewing your own beer. I guess that this might count as cooking, but it sure ain’t the cupcakes and candy on Family Circle.

When I first saw this magazine sitting there on the magazine stand, I thought that it would be another typical hipster crafter magazine, with “edgy” craft designs (personally, just sticking a skull and cross bone in the knitting pattern doesn’t really add much if the basic item still looks kinda fudy-dudy). What I found instead was a more intelligent publication. It has features about different crafters and crafting styles in addition to some really cool and off beat projects. The magazine is short and stocky, that uses a thicker paper with rough texture…..a nice change of pace from more typical crafting magazines (i.e. It feels like it’s of higher quality).

Though I don’t think that I’ll every return to my former glory as a crafter, crochet has definitely made a come back into my life. I am making my first piece of clothing that is not a scarf, a sweater….wish me luck. This may take me many, many days. At the same time, I have also discovered amigurumi. See below:

While I haven’t read through the whole magazine, I think I am sold on purchasing a subscription.

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival is done, closing its run in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. While this was not my best year in catching all of my top picks, I did fall in love with two of the films that I did watch.

Friday, March 14th

The Princess of Nebraska | Directed by: Wayne Wang

Recap: I bought the ticket, but I didn’t make it to the show. As you may recall, I was pretty sick last week so I made a choice between my two Friday scheduled films, The Princess of Nebraska and the short program. I choose the short program because I really wanted to watch Anti Sex (….it also helped that my film festival buff friend (CK), had given the film a thumbs down). So, that’s that.

ANTI SEX | Directed by: Ryotaro Muramatsu

Recap: This not-so-short, short film (It was about 30 minutes long, most shorts are only 5-10 minutes) was such a charming, funny, adorable and very unconventional love story. The premise of the story is about a young Japanese high school girl named Ai who inherits her father’s love hotel after his sudden death. As some of you may know, “love hotels” are rent-by-the-hour rooms, that are predominately used by couples (in both open and secret relationships) for sex. While this film could have take a variety of directions given this premise, it’s underlining story is actually about finding real love and falling in love.

***SPOILER ALERT***

As the new manager, Ai grows increasingly disgusted by the idea of sex as well as by her guests who are having sex in her love hotel. In her eyes, sex is just some dirty thing that everyone one around her is doing all the time (there’s a funny scene where Ai just stands amazed at all the cars parked at the hotel in broad daylight, while she asks in a voice over, why all these people aren’t at work).

Meanwhile, one of her employees has a secret crush on her. In his youth he was “typical guy” who frequented the love hotel with as many women as he could, until one strange incident when one girl tried to jump out of the hotel room window to force him to “love” her. After that, Ai’s father pulled him aside and lectured him about difference between sex and “making love”. He becomes so inspired that he has worked at the love hotel since while secretly crushing on Ai. His problem though is that he doesn’t know how to express his love to her because all he’s known is how to bed women.

Long story short, both of these two characters are falling in love for the first time. As he learns the way to a woman’s heart, she lets her “disgusted” guard down and lets herself fall in love as she begins to understand why her father and mother had opened the love hotel in the first place — they had (rather strange) ideals about love and making love. the ideas of love, sex and making love, all while falling in love herself for the first time. It’s all very, very cute.

***END OF SPOIILER***

On another note, here’s an interesting article about “fantasy” love hotels from Wired Magazine. It’s features a photographer’s collection of images these love hotels that cater to people’s fantasies no matter how strange they can be.

Saturday, March 15th

Panel—Crossing Over: Asian Americans and Asia

Recap: I knew that Daniel Wu was coming and so being the star-gazer that I am, I was planning to go. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my movie/panel list when I went to buy my tickets and forgot to buy this ticket. By the time I could make it to the box office again, everyone would have already found out that Daniel Wu was coming and the tickets would have been sold out, which it was.

My friend, TT, who did attend the panel told me though that while the topic was interesting, pretty much all of the questions became directed to Daniel Wu only and often would not even touch on the panel topic, but on Daniel Wu’s work and life. That’s unfortunate, especially for the other panelists.

The Killing of a Chinese Cookie |Directed By: Derek Shimoda

Recap: While this documentary really sounded interesting to me, I had to make a choice in the interest of time, The Killing of a Chinese Cookie or Gentle Breeze in the Wind. I choose Gentle Breeze in the Wind. So that’s that.

A Gentle Breeze in the Village | Directed By: Nobuhiro Yamashita

Recap: I can’t being to say how much I adored this film. In telling the tale about falling in love for the first time, the story captures all the nuances of youth and growing up.

The story follows a young girl, named Soyo Migita, who lives in a very unpopulated part of Japan where she is one of six children in the entire village. This group of kids ranges from a first grader to a ninth grader (Soyo). The story begins when a transfer student, a cute boy from Tokyo named Osawa Hiromi, enters the school and becomes Soyo’s first classmate. The story then follow the relationship that forms between them. Their bond though is pretty circumstantial — For Soyo, Osawa is her first peer that she’s ever had that her own age; For Osawa, he’s new in the village and becomes gradually drawn to Soyo since she’s is his only peer in the village. In the end, the two become insepratable as they come to relay on each as friends and as boyfriend/girlfriend.

The story is based on a supposedly popular manga by the same name, Tennen Kokekko. (I say supposedly because I spent a good part of my weekend searching for translations/scanlations and found pretty much nothing, all I know its an 18 volume manga and I have seen one image of the art.) If I can find this at Kinyokineo, I just might try to translate it because I am so in love with this story. [UPDATE: Kinyokineo does carry the manga and I'll soon be en route to purchase volume 1, ISBN # 9784086181044]

While it would be a bit much to try and type out a summary of this story, I did want to highlight all of my favorite scenes (careful now, there are a lot of spoilers):

• When Soyo first lays eyes on Osawa, indicating her immediate attraction; this scene subsequently leads to her utter humiliation and deflated attraction, when Osawa asks if her hands are clean since the fruit she handed him smells like pee; She was earlier washing the underwear of the 1st grade student who had wet her pants.
• When Soyo is greeted with a hug by the 1st grade student. This scene is great because Soyo is anticipating that the little girl will be angry and in pain because of her bladder infection, which was cause by Soyo asking her to hold it as long as she could.
• When Soyo negotiates to let Osawa kiss her in exchange for his jacket. This is the funniest and most awkward first kiss sequence I have ever seen on film.
• When Soyo is shunned by her friends at the summer festival after she puts her foot in her mouth and unintentionally insults her friend. It was heart breaking to watch her as she tried to make it up to her friends, only to be repeatedly rejected and abandoned at the festival, though in the end, her friends come back and they all make up.
• When Osawa’s mom asks if Soyo is his girlfriend. The puzzled and speechless looks on their faces are priceless, since neither of them have really called each other that, nothing officially that is.
• When Soyo goes to Tokyo with Osawa as part of their 9th grade school trip. The actress, Koho is great as a fish out of water, looking at Tokyo as a foreign country almost.
• When Osawa smashes the large rock in order to Soyo a smaller piece to take home; Soyo had insisted on keeping the “souvenir” that Osawa’s friends gave him as a practical joke.
• When Soyo and Osawa are hand in hand on the train to go take their high school entrance exams; This is when we realize that Osawa has decided not to apply for a school in Tokyo but rather stay in the village with Soyo.
• When Soyo drinks some “juice” that the first grader gives her after she returns from her high school entrance exams. Though it is not spelled out, I think that every member of the audience can discern that that is pee and that the first grader has learned to go to the bathroom on her own.

While I loved this movie, its definitely not for everyone. As expected, I saw DL doze off at one point. The pace is a bit slow (and goes on for 2 hours) and the story is rather anti-climatic, but I think what makes this film great is its details to each scene and how the cinematography and acting capture the story’s vision of youth being simple, awkward and exciting.

I think that I related to the film because I was from a small town in the “countryside” (though its not that small anymore). It reminds me of my own childhood (at some points), going with the neighborhood friends to the “creek” (more like a ditch by an underpass) to look for frogs, moving on to high school from an elementary-middle school where you and your 30 classmates have been together since Kindergarten and all the awkwardness of young love.

Here’s the trailer:

Sunday, March 16th

Traveling with Yoshitomo | Directed By: Koji Sakabe

Recap: This documentary sounded very promising, but as CK had put it, “You don’t know any more about the artist then before you had watched this movie.” There were some very touching parts about Yoshitomo Nara’s 7 years old fan from Korea who adores Nara’s work and wants to become an artist one day herself.

But most of the movie follows Nara as he builds many, many little houses. You see, when he displays his works for gallery exhibitions, he displays them within these intricate little houses.

I could see that the underling story about the artist, who is notorious for being a loner (working, living, etc all alone), learns to be more social as builds more and more little houses with increasingly larger teams of people, as he is forced to make friends along the way. You see that he begins to work on his art in the presence of other people and he becomes less recluse.

The film also suggests that this transformation has also transformed his art, making the little pouty girls a little less sad. Overall, I wish that the subject was

more engaging, because this movie really dragged on. It was like LOTR ROTK where the movie just would not end even though there were so many instances where it could have ended.

West 32nd | Directed By: Michael Kang
Recap: Again, this was a movie that I forgotten to purchase a ticket and before I knew it, it was sold out. Oh well, though it did summary sure sounded intriguing.

So after days of being sick (mixed with being tired and laziness), I quickly had to switch gears into study mode for some power studying. You see, for the past few weeks, I have been taking a Japanese class at Soko Gakuen (which by the way is a great place to learn Japanese if your not in college and live in the San Francisco Bay Area) and I had a final. Eleven weeks worth of material in three days for a three hour final.

Now that that’s done, I can get back to blogging. Stay tuned, while we return to our regularly scheduled program.

Just in case anyone was wondering why I have yet to write anything on former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer and Tang Wei (or anything for that matter), I have been in denial of my cold until today. I called in sick and have been sleeping for 14 plus hours. After this post, I’ll be off to sleep some more once the TheraFlu kicks in.

On another note, the big question that my cold raises though is how is it possible to fall ill when the weather has been just lovely (very sunny and bright) and the office plague has long since passed!?!?

Additionally, the only contact that I have had with sick people has been through the Internet. So unless a report comes out that human viruses can be transmitted virtually, I’ll just remain at a loss of words (literally….I have a horrible sore throat).

As a cautionary note: Stock up on real Vitamin C and not AirBorne or Emergen C. So far, nothing has been reported about Emergen C having had mislead the public through false advertisement, but having noticed that people at The Agency who believed in these two miracles the most were the ones with the most compromised immune systems. Still ain’t no cure for the common cold yet, no matter what they say on the box.

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It has been confirmed. I’ll be heading to New York City in early April on official company business to attend the BlogHer Business 2008 Conference.

Wow. I really feel lucky to be paid to travel, learn more about blogging & social media for businesses and meet fellow bloggers. FYI: BlogHer is a very large and influential network of women bloggers. Since 2005, this organization has hosted an annual blogging conference. This is the first year that they will be hosting a conference especially for companies looking to learn more about applying blogging and social media to their businesses.

While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this is how it is when you work in-house (it really depends on your company and their PR budget and initiatives), it does dispel any myths that “you don’t have any opportunities to learn anything new” because you are supposedly doing the same thing everyday.

That being said, I’ll be blogging about the conference in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

Even after announcing his “retirement,” Edison Chen and his infamous sex photos continues to catch my attention. Only now, instead of making the most recent headlines of The Los Angeles Times and ABC News, he’s being “sighted” in more unexpected places and ways.

Edison Sighting #1: The other day while listening to Live 105’s The Woody Show on my way to work, a caller brought up the whole Edison Chen sex photo scandal during a long discussion about taking photos/video taping your sexual escapades and saving it unbeknown-st to other person. Though the woman did not remember the names and was pretty vague in her description of the scandal, it was obvious that Edison was now also hitting the radio airwaves in the U.S.

Edison Sighting #2: Earlier this week, a former colleague from The Agency sent me this link.

Apparently, an e-mail is circulating through out the Chinese speaking world that has translated Edison’s press conference statement (which was spoken in English) into Chinese. On top of that, key words and phrases have been highlighted and explained in further detail.

PR Notes: In my original analysis of Edison’s crisis communication strategies, I was dumbfounded as to why he use English in his first on-line plea for people to stop circulating the images. A week later, I was again perplexed as to why he would use English in during his press conference in Hong Kong.

Based on logical common sense, wasn’t it obvious that it would have been more appropriate for Edison to speak in Cantonese, since his audience (the people who have followed the scandal from the beginning and probably care the most) speaks Chinese? It almost felt like he was catering to the foreign press, which really should have been the least of his concerns.

Concluding: But in retrospect, I suppose that forcing Chinese people everywhere to learn English and translate his statement was his first “act of charity” since his departure from Hong Kong’s entertainment industry.

See below for the E-mail:
Special thanks to Thomas Crampton for his originally posting the e-mail.

冠希的道歉信, 用词准确地道，包含50多个考研(雅思)核心词汇，经改编可成为一篇高质量的考研完形填空或雅思阅读理解。

Edison这小子虽然“猥琐“，但英文用词的难度达到了考研英语（国内最变态英语考试）要求，参加雅思考试估计8分以上不成问题。

1. Today I have come back to Hong Kong to stand before you and account for myself. I have never escaped from my responsibility. During the past few weeks, I have been with my mother and my family and my loved ones to show support and care and at the same time to have them support and care for me.

核心词汇解析
account for 1) 说明，解释；2) 占…比例
escape from从…逃脱, 推卸责任
escape＝es(ex=out) + cape(catch)

2. I admit that most of the photos being circulated on the Internet were taken by me. But these photos are very private and have not been shown to people and are never intended to be shown to anyone. These photos were stolen from me illegally and distributed without my consent.

核心词汇解析
circulate = circul(circle圆圈) + ate v.循环，流通
intend to v.打算去…
illegal = il(not) + legal (合法的) + ly adv.违法地
单词组记: distribute, contribute, attribute, tribute
distribute = dis(away)+ tribute(give) = give away vt.分发，传播
contribute = con(fully) + tribute vt.贡献; 投稿 [助记]全部都给了
attribute to v.归因于
tribute n.贡品，颂词 [助记] 给国王的礼物
单词组记:consent, dissent, resent, sentimental
consent = con(共同)+ sent(=sense情感) n.赞同，同意＝agreement
dissent = dis(not) + sent n.不同意 [助记]不同的情感 = disagreement
resent = re(against) + sent n.憎恨　[助记]　相对抗的情感= hatred
sentimental[谐音]三屉馒头,失恋了只吃三屉馒头,所以是—a.多愁善感的

3. There is no doubt whoever obtained these photos have them uploaded on the Internet with malicious and deliberate intent. This matter has deteriorated to the extent that society as a whole has been affected by this. In this regard, I am deeply saddened. I would like now to apologize to all the people for all the suffering that has been caused and the problems that have arisen from this. I would like to apologize to all the ladies and to all their families for any harm or hurt that they have been feeling. I am sorry. I would like to also apologize to my mother and my father for the pain and suffering I have caused them during the past few weeks. Most importantly, I would like to say sorry to all the people of Hong Kong. I give my apology sincerely to you all, unreservedly and with my heart.

核心词汇解析
单词组记: mal-＝bad坏
malice = mal + ice(冰) n.恶意;【律】预谋, 蓄意 [助记]在路上放一块冰，想让陈冠希滑倒，这是有预谋的恶意伤害。
malicious= malice(恶意) + ious(形容词) a.恶意的
mal-function n.功能紊乱
mal-nutrition n.营养不良
maltreat = mal + treat(对待) vt.虐待
单词组记: libra天平, deliberate, liberate, liberty, libertine, libido
一直到现在，英国的法院门口还站立着古希腊象征法律精神的正义女神(DICE)的雕像，她左手拿着神圣的天平Libra，象征着权衡和平等；右手拿着宝剑，象征着裁决和力量；眼睛被布蒙着，象征绝对的公正无私。
deliberate = de(强调) + libera(=libra) + ate a. 深思熟虑的, 故意的 [助记] 把你的想法放在天平上称量，引申为深思熟虑的，深思熟虑的结果当然是故意的
liberate = liber (自由=libera)+ ate vt.解放(让人民获得自由)
自由和天平有什么关系呢？ 天平的作用是让两边重量相等，平等。解放全人类不就是让人民平等吗？人民解放军PLA：People’s Liberation Army liberation的职责就是解放全中国让中国人民平等自由
liberty n.自由
libertine这个单词叫”浪荡子”，原来就是”特别自由的人”的意思，” 挺（tin）自由（liber）的”
libido弗洛伊德的著作里面，他造出一个表示”性动力”的单词libido（中文翻译成”利比多”），表达的就是这种本源的不受控制的力量。
单词组记:deteriorate,interior, exterior, territory
deteriorate = de(down) + terior(土地) +ate(动词) v.使恶化; 败坏(风俗); 使变坏(品质等) [助记] 品格败坏的人就应该入土活埋。
to the extent 到了….程度
in this regard 在这一点上 = in this case
单词组记: 神奇的-en可以把形容词名词变为你想要的动词
sadden = sad + d + en vt.使人悲哀
strengthen = strength(strong的名词) + en vt.加强（力量）
weaken = weak + en vt.削弱
lengthen = length(long的名词) + en vt.延长
还有一个超级牛的单词前后都加en
enlighten= en + light + en vt.启蒙；（用思想）照亮
intent n.意图，打算
unreservedly = un + reserved(保留的) + ly(副词) adv.毫无保留地

4. I know young people in Hong Kong look up to many figures in our society. And in this regard, I have failed. I failed as a role model. However, I wish this matter will teach everyone a lesson. To all the young people in our community, let this be a lesson for you all. This is not an example to be set for you.

核心词汇解析
look up to 仰望，尊重= respect
look down upon/on 鄙视，瞧不起=despise
role model 榜样

5. During my time away, I have made an important decision. I will whole-heartedly fulfill all commitments that I have to date. But after that, I decided to step away from HK entertainment industry. I have decided to do this to give myself an opportunity to heal myself and to search my soul. I will dedicate my time to charity and community work within the next few months. I will be away from Hong Kong entertainment industry indefinitely. There is no time frame.

核心词汇解析
whole-heatedly 全心全意地; single-mindedly一心一意地
fulfill one’s commitment vt.履行…的诺言
dedicate to 把…奉献给,投身于…
charity = char(=care关心)+ ity (名词) n.慈善，慈善事业 [助记]关心穷人就是做慈善

6. I have been assisting the police since the first day the photos were published and I will continue to assist them. After this press con., I have obligation to help them with their investigation and hope that this case can end soon as everyone I think has the same wish.

核心词汇解析
Press con. = press conference 新闻发布会
press free. = press freedom 言论自由
press 是”压”的意思，怎么会变成”新闻”，”言论”呢？
因为最初的报纸都是油墨印刷,需要把纸紧紧的压在刻版上才能印刷出字来.所以press有了一个引申意:n.出版业,印刷业. 出版印刷业不就是发布新闻和言论的阵地吗?
obligation n.义务
investigation n.调查

7. I would like to use this opportunity to thank the police for their hard work on this case. Thank you.. I believe everyone’s priority now (and) my priority now is to stop the suffering and pain, for not letting this…we do not want to let this situation become more out of control. We need to protect all the innocents and all the young from matters like this. In this regard, I have instructed my lawyers to do everything possible within the law to protect all the innocents, victims of this case. I believe that a press statement is being issued as we speak on what my lawyers have advised me to do.

核心词汇解析
单词组记:prior to, priority
pri = pre是一个拉丁前缀表示before
[书面]prior to = [口语]before
小翻译 : 在你离开之前,请完成这项工作.
Prior to your departure, please complete this task.
小翻译: 预先警告/通知 prior warning/notice.
priority = prior + ity(名词) n.优先考虑的事情, 优先权
单词组忆: victor, victory, victim
vict中的V象征着胜利，vict-表示征服
victory n.胜利
victor =vict + or(人) n.胜利者, 征服者
victim = vict + im(我是) [助记]我是被征服了，当然就成了n.受害人，牺牲品
innocent = in + no + cent(一分钱) [助忆]兜里没有一分钱, 所以没有偷窃, 是无辜的 a. 无辜的, 天真的

8. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for coming here today and listening to what I have to say. I would like to also apologize once again to all the ladies and their families, my family and to everyone in Hong Kong and everyone in our society. I am deeply saddened by this. And I apologize to everyone (who) has to go through this. I would like to also thank you for giving me this opportunity to say what I have wanted to say all along in my heart.
I hope, after today, I can have your forgiveness. With regard to this case, with everything, everything that has happened, I am deeply sorry.. I hope you all accept my apology and give me a chance. Thank you.

[书]with regard to关于= [口]about

On the subject of fun on-line games, I recently discovered FreeRice (www.freerice.com) and I maybe one of the last people on Earth to have heard about it. See below.

Me: btw, here’s a game that i think you’ll like www.freerice.com
Cousin: ahh i love that site, i got addicted to it a few months ago
Me: haha, am i really the last person to jump on the bandwagon?
Me (in my head): damn.

But for anyone who yet to hear about this site, allow me to make the introductions.

About: FreeRice is charity site aiming to eliminate world hunger and improve English vocabularies everywhere. Launched on October 7, 2007 by John Breen, a computer programmer from Indiana, FreeRice is the sister site to thehungersite.com, therainforestsite.com and Poverty.com.

The Game: Upon entering FreeRice, visitors are presented with an English word (usually a very sophisticated and rare word often found in old novels or in SAT books). The user must then decipher the word’s meaning and pick from four options presented. If correct, twenty grains of rice will be donated through the United Nations’ World Food Programme. If you keep playing until you reach a donation of 100,000 grains of rice, you will be presented with the following message: “You have donated 100,000 grains of rice, may you have a lifetime of happiness…..” Afterwards, your donation reverts back to 0 grains of rice.

Who pays for all this rice? Advertisers, whose banners are located at the bottom of the site. When I read this detail, I thought that FreeRice is truly ingenious to have created a viral marketing campaign for world hunger awareness and on-line advertising opportunities that then successfully provides an actual charitable donation. More companies that engages in cause marketing and PR agencies with specialties in on-line outreach should take note and start brainstorming.

Possible Scam: For the skeptics and cynics out there that might be inclined to think that this site is a scam, please read the verdict by Snopes.com (an Urban Legend myth buster site).

PR Notes: For anyone that doubts FreeRice’s connection to the United Nations, it should be noted that the press contact for FreeRice is the international team of communications specialists (aka PR people) from the World Food Programme.

Additionally, for anyone wanting to know how to gauge the success of a viral marketing/on-line PR campaign/blogger engagement program, I would say that generating coverage in top-tier print, broadcast and radio is a good sign that you’re doing something right. As the team behind FreeRice can attest, they have been pretty successful so far:

• The Washington Post
• BBC News
• Christian Science Monitor
• Los Angeles Times
• USA Today
• NPR National Public Radio
• CBS Evening News

Special thanks to my former colleague from The Agency for introducing me to FreeRice and to everyone else whose been offering me story ideas and feedback. It’s nice to be on the receiving side of the pitch for once.

For a “simple gamer” like myself (which means that I rank several levels below a casual gamer), Scrabulous has been god-sent. It’s the next best thing after Brain Age 2’s Sodoku and Tetris DS, both of which are available for the Nintendo DS Lite.

But I confess, I am but a Newb (aka newbie, aka newcomer to an on-line game) having only recently started to play. I was first introduced to Scrabulous when Hasbro began its now infamous campaign to shutdown the popular Facebook application. After reading the “horrified” reports, first from PR Squared (a public relations blog I frequent) and then from Entertainment Weekly, my interest was piqued. I booked the next ticket on the Scrabulous bandwagon to see what all the fuss was about and I never got off.

This “unofficial” on-line version of Scrabble is ingenious, the brainchild of two brothers in India, Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, who just wanted to play on-line for “free.” Problem was, Scrabble belongs to Hasbro, the corporate toy-maker that owns the rights to the Scrabble trademark in the U.S. and Canada, with Mattel holding the trademark everywhere else.

Interestingly enough, The New York Times found that many Scrabulous players believed Scrabble to be “public property” like Chess or Checkers. It’s a misconception that’s easy to make, considering that there are many other unofficial on-line versions of Scrabble available, though none were as well designed, nor achieved the same rabid popularity as Scrabulous. Examples include Internet Scrabble Club, Let’s Play Scrabble, Online-Scrabble and Scrabble by GameHouse.

From a public relations perspective, it’s just an unfortunately legal move on Hasbro’s part that has left many PR professionals shaking their heads in disbelief, especially since Target and Ford spurned the blogosphere at more or less the same time. Instead of embracing these new-found fans, Hasbro brought forth their wrath–creating a viral nightmare.

With over 500,000 to 700,000 daily users and nearly 3 million registered users, many of them playing multiple games at once, you can only image what has ensued……

• Save Scrabulous Online Petition
• Facebook “Save Scrabulous” Groups (About 30 groups found)
• Many, many bloggers protesting in thousands of posts (too many to link)
• Reporters wrote to rally the masses and admit their own addictions to the game. Here are some journalists who broke from their usual neutral stance to plead for Scrabulous’ life:
  • Fortune Magazine / Techland Blog
  • Associated Press
• YouTube protest videos:

While Scrabulous has yet to be shut down, it is unlikely that it will remain in its current state on Facebook. A few recent reports, indicate that RealNetworks is planning to buy Scrabulous and work out a deal with Hasbro. Also notable, Electronic Arts is planning to create an “Official” Scrabble game with Hasbro as well. While some analysts and commentators say that this may be the only way to save Scrabulous, it feels like an unfortunate solution for fans. But, at the same time, this new development may also mark the beginning of a new golden age for classic board games everywhere.

Hasbro, Here’s an idea - On another side note, Hasbro should most definitely reallocate its marketing funds to its research & development team. It would be money better spent to create something brilliant like Scrabulous than an unfortunate boardgame-inspired Hollywood flop.

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive” –Sir Walter Scott

Apparently, a very well embellished resume can make you a Food Network star and put you on a well paved track to cook book publishing deals, licensing deals to have your own signature kitchen product line and opportunities to hobnob with the rich and famous. It’s a common career move with very attractive rewards, if you’re willing to take the risks.

So pity the fool that gets caught, especially on a very public and very national, possibly international scale. The fool of moment is Robert Irvine, chef and Food Network star of the show, Dinner: Impossible.

In Dinner:Impossible, Irvine is tasked to complete a new “cooking mission” in each episode. For example, he might be assigned to prepare a special going-away dinner for troops about to head to Iraq. The main hook for the show are its crazy 1-2 hour time constraints, coupled with an enormous number of diners (often 100-200 people) and a kitchen that’s usually filled with limited supplies and equipment. I think that people mainly tune in to see if he’ll complete the mission or crack under the pressure.

Last week on February 17th, the St. Petersburg Times published a scathing story that uncovers the truth behind Irvine’s ficticious resume and recent bad business practices. Here are the story’s key revelations:

• Knighthood - Jenn Stebbing, press officer at Buckingham Palace: “He is not a KCVO (Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order), and he wasn’t given a castle by the queen of England.”
• B.S. in Food and Nutrition, University of Leeds - Sarah Spiller, a press officer at the University of Leeds: “We cannot find any connection in our records between Robert and the university.”
• Former White House Chef - Walter Scheib, the White House executive chef from 1994 to 2005: “Irvine’s ONLY connection with the White House is through the Navy Mess facility in the West Wing … never in the period from 4/4/94 until 2/4/05 did he have ANYTHING to do with the preparation, planning, or service of any State Dinner or any other White House Executive Residence food function, public or private.”

As of March 1, this story has been picked up or adapted by many other major U.S. publications and news wires including New York Magazine, Washington Post, United Press International (UPI). All the bad publicity to Irvine’s public image has resulted in the Food Network’s decision not to renew Irvine’s contact for more episodes of Dinner:Impossible. This decision was announced this past Friday in a released statement along with an admission from Irvine. Whether Food Network has decided to cast a new host and continue the show is undetermined at this point.

Interestingly, the PR team decided to e-mail this statement individually to reporters and bloggers rather than releasing it over the wire. I suppose this strategy keep the details from manifesting on the Web in random sites and pick ups while still getting the point-of-view out to those most interested in this story.

From a public relations stand point, Irvine only has himself to blame. It’s one thing to put your best foot forward in order to get in the door; but to make such fantastical lies as to introducing yourself as a knight or being a White House chef is incredible.

Given Food Network’s star making power and squeaky clean image, it amazes me that its human resource department never ran a full background check on Irvine before cultivating him into another “face” for the Food Network brand. I am also surprised that nobody, until now, has called him out on these claims. Correct me if I am wrong, but I do recall several instances on Dinner: Impossible where Irvine would recount his past experience and name drop the White House. But I guess this just show easy it can be to get away with a fake resume.

Moral of the Story: Lying is never a good idea, especially on a resume with which you are using to apply for a job that will throw you into the public eye (aka public scrutiny). As Edison Chen can tell you, crisis communications sucks.

Side Note: Good job to St. Petersburg Times reporter, Ben Montgomery for his excellent work in “investigative” reporting. With so many cuts in editorial staff (meaning that most reporters are reduced to writing more fluff pieces and relying on PR people for all their information), it’s nice to know from a consumer stand point that there are still journalists who are in search of truth and can make the time to do their own research.

So after many days of endless procrastination, here is my finalized selection this year for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Now all I need to do is to trek over to the box office and buy my tickets…

If anyone wants to join me, let me know

Friday, March 14th

The Princess of Nebraska | Sundance Kabuki 4 | 9:45pm
Directed by: Ryotaro Muramatsu
Summary: “Asians in the Claws of Neon Lights” short program. When the owner of a love hotel passes away, his daughter, Ai, inherits rooms of illicit, explicit and complicit love affairs.

ANTI SEX | Sundance Kabuki 4 | 9:45pm
Directed by: Ryotaro Muramatsu
Summary: “Asians in the Claws of Neon Lights” short program. When the owner of a love hotel passes away, his daughter, Ai, inherits rooms of illicit, explicit and complicit love affairs.

Saturday, March 15th

Panel—Crossing Over: Asian Americans and Asia
1:00pm | Sundance Kabuki 2
Summary: Asian American actors are increasingly finding more opportunities in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Asian film companies are investing in Asian American filmmakers. This panel will discuss the unique versatility of Asian American actors and filmmakers and the opportunities that await them on both sides of the Pacific. Featuring a panel of actors, filmmakers and more.

The Killing of a Chinese Cookie | 2:00pm | Landmark Clay Theatre
Directed By: Derek Shimoda
Summary: What do Powerball, the planet Mars and sexual innuendos have in common? Filmmaker Derek Shimoda invites us to take a closer look at a little something taken for granted at the end of nearly every Chinese restaurant meal. Who invented the fortune cookie? And most importantly, what does your fortune say?

A Gentle Breeze in the Village | 4:30pm | Pacific Film Archive
Directed By: Nobuhiro Yamashita
Summary: In a small, bucolic village, the arrive of a handsome city-boy form Tokyo sets off gentle tremors in the halcyon life of a teenage girl. The director of Linda, Linda, Linda with a blissful evocation of the emotional universe of adolescence.

Sunday, March 16th

Traveling with Yoshitomo Nara | 12:30pm | Landmark Clay Theatre
Directed By: Koji Sakabe
Summary: A rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of this critically acclaimed artist and pop culture figure, the film documents Yoshitomo Nara’s greatest work to date, following him on a remarkable 240-day international road trip as he sets out to create an imaginary town populated by his iconic images and enigmatic sculptures.

West 32nd | 6:00pm |Castro Theatre
Directed By: Michael Kang
Summary: Michael Kang’s (The Motel) second feature is a sleek and stylish Koreatown noir set in the underbelly of New York. John Cho stars as an ambitious lawyer allured into the seductive “room salon” culture of the Korean underworld, where he meets an equally ambitious gangster. Also staring Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica).