Mars Upclose…

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a trove of almost 100,000 images of the red planet. Captured by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard the Mars Express orbiter the images were taken between 2007 and 2020.

There are also images of the release of the Beagle 2 lander in 2003. While the images have been released for scientific study, the public can browse them as well.

The image archive has hundreds of photos of Mars taken from orbit, showing the huge range of geographical features and diverse formations found on the planet. In the collage of images here, you can see everything from dust and water over the north pole (first image, top row), to an unusual cloud formation called the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud (second image, top row), to a double cyclone raging over the planet’s north pole (fourth image, top row), to the enormous structures of the Tharsis Volcanoes and Olympus Mons (third image, second row), to the Valles Marineris canyon system (third image, third row).

The VMC was originally intended to observe the release of the British Beagle 2 lander, transported to Mars by ESA in 2003. However the lander disappeared after its deployment and its exact fate remained unknown until 2015, when NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera captured its location. From the images, engineers could see that Beagle 2 landed safely but failed to deploy two of its solar panels, meaning it was not able to communicate with Earth.

Despite the failure of the Beagle 2 mission, the VMC was repurposed in 2007, and has been used to capture images for various scientific papers about Mars.

Note that the images have been adjusted for sensor ‘noise’ and variations in pixel sensitivity and the results are stunning.

Image: ESA Planetary Science Archive

Ruby Tuesday HK Unaffected by US Announcement

Following the announcement in the United States that Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain was entering what’s known as Chapter 11 Bankruptcy to ‘restructure’ it’s business.

Managing Director of Ruby Tuesday in Hong Kong Leslie Bailey released the following statement today 8 October:

“Ruby Tuesday Inc. in the US has filed for bankruptcy protection as it seeks to stabilize its finances during the pandemic. Do know that this does not affect Ruby Tuesday Hong Kong, we are an independent franchisee, and although we all share the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, this event in the US does not impact our restaurant operations in Hong Kong.

We opened two new restaurants last year, and one in January this year. In addition to this, and to underscore our commitment and belief in Hong Kong, we continue our expansion and, we will open a new flagship restaurant before CNY.”

Ruby Tuesday Hong Kong have five restaurants in Hong Kong: Causeway Bay, Quarry Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Tsuen Wan, Kowloon Bay

Digital Only…

A broadcasting era ends on 30 November as analogue TV signals are switched off at midnight and from 1 December Hong Kong TV broadcasting becomes digital-only.

The government has advised that people still using analogue TVs  (around 68 000 households based on a recent survey) should obtain digital TV receivers, or they will not be able to access free local TV programmes.

Analogue TV households who are on social assistance programmes can apply at digitaltv.hkcss.org.hk/en/ for a free digital TV set.

James Suckling Great Wines of the World @ Grand Hyatt – 31 October, 2019

Over a thousand wine lovers descended on the Grand Hyatt for the James Suckling Great Wines of the World tasting event on the 31 October.

Click here or on any image for the full gallery of images

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Afternoon Tea with La Perla and Sino Jet

In a celebration of feminine power, beauty, and timeless elegance, and as part of their 65th Anniversary, La Perla in conjunction with Sino Jet hosted afternoon tea at their Causeway Bay store.

Click here or on any photo for more images

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Sixteenth Hong Kong Asian Film Festival

The Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (HKAFF) returns this month, now in it’s sixteenth year the film festival will run from the 29 October – 17 November and feature a wide range of modern and digitally remastered Asian films with numerous directors in town to talk about their work.

Opening and Closing Films: Local Directors’ Outlook on Life and the City

HKAFF2019 will open with two films. Lion Rock, Nick Leung’s second feature, is a fact-based story about how a top rock climber finds his way back on the peaks after losing his ability to walk.

Patrick Leung’s Ciao, UFO is a charming sci-fi comedy that revolves around the urban legend of a UFO hovering above Wah Fu Estate in Aberdeen. It marks the reunion of Tsui Tien-you, Wong you-nam and Charlene Choi.

Closing the festival are films from two local female directors. My Prince Edward is winner of the First Feature Film Initiative launched by the Film Development Fund. Norris Wong’s directorial debut is a lighthearted story about the struggles a woman faces as she prepares to get married.

Starring Dada Chan and Kevin Chu, The Secret Diary of a Mom to Be is a comedy about the lives of contemporary career women and the unexpected surprises in life. It is the second feature film by writer-director Luk Yee-sum.

Gala Presentations: The Fallen, Missing, and The Garden of Evening Mists

The HKAFF Gala Presentation features three films of distinctive styles. After making an explosive debut with G Affairs, director Lee Cheuk-pan returns with The Fallen, a gritty and stylish revenge thriller reminiscent of classic Hong Kong crime thrillers. Irene Wan returns to the silver screen and is captivating as the puppet master of the sinister revenge scheme. Inspired by a popular internet novel,

Ronnie Chau’s feature debut Missing is a supernatural thriller about the mystical gateway. Gillian Chung stars as a social worker who is desperately searching his missing father in the mountains.

Starring Sylvia Chang, Angelica Lee and Abe Hiroshi, The Garden of Evening Mists is a star-studded drama about memory, loss and the art of gardening. It is an adaptation of Malaysian writer Tan Twan Eng’s Man Booker Prize-nominated novel by Taiwanese director Tom Lin.

Special Presentations: Documentaries, Independent Films, and Romantic Dramas

In the Special Presentations section. Documentary director Wong Siu-pong turns his camera on Hong Kong’s medical system with 3CM, a documentary about Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) patients who struggle to live. Cheuk Cheung’s Bamboo Theatre is a documentary that follows ritual practices in various villages and remote islands of Hong Kong, as well as how bamboo theatres are built and dismantled.

Award-winning director Chow Kwun-wai’s romantic drama Beyond the Dream is about the relationship between a recovering schizophrenic and a psychological counselor. Benny Lau, who is known for his nostalgic youth love stories, returns with Your World, Without Me, a pure-hearted tale set in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. Memories to Choke on, Drinks to Wash them Down is a collection of short films from cinematographer-director Leung Ming-kai and partner Kate Reilly. It contains three stories about how Hongkongers bear the weight of treasured memories, raise themselves up to meet present challenges, and stand ready.

The Murders of Oiso is a co-production of Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, produced by Hong Kong director Fei-Pang Wong and directed by Misawa Takuya. The mystery-drama follows a juvenile gang who encounter a series of unsettling mysteries.

Director in Focus – Mohammad Rasoulof; Country in Focus: Cambodia

The films of Mohammad Rasoulof reflect reality, revealing to audiences hidden and uncomfortable truths about society. Rasoulof is regarded as a troublemaker by the Iranian government, and yet he never caves to authoritarian pressure or corruption. As a tribute to the director who has just been sentenced to one year in prison for defying state censorship, HKAFF presents a seven-film retrospective. Mehdi Abdollahzadeh an Iranian film critic will give a talk on Rasoulof’s films.

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the end of the Cambodian genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime. This history is very much ingrained in the films coming out of the country. HKAFF has chosen seven films to illustrate the development of Cambodia cinema in the last four decades. Directors Davy Chou and Sok Visal will attend a talk on Cambodian cinema.

16th Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
Date: 29 October – 17 November, 2019
Venues: Broadway Cinematheque, Broadway The One, My Cinema Yoho Mall, AMC Pacific Place, Palace IFC, Movie Movie Citiplaza, Premiere Elements
Tickets: www.cinema.com.hk

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 12 October, 2019

Lam Pours Fuel on the Fire

The Hong Kong government’s bypassing of Legco to unilaterally introduce a ‘mask law’ is an insult to all HongKongers and a violation of our rights under both the Basic Law and Hong Kong law.

Carrie Lam has ignored millions of HongKongers marching peacefully, she has ignored the input of the people invited to attend the community discussions that she instigated.

Instead of listening to the people she claimed to represent when elected, and looking to attempt to defuse the volatile situation she created with the Extradition Law, Lam has instead trampled over the rights and freedoms of all HongKongers.

There was no violence or masks at the original protests against the  extradition law. 

The violence was instigated and initiated by the HK Police who actively and deliberately choose to use excessive force to disperse peaceful protestors and who allowed triads to attack the public.

Masks arrived because of the police’s excessive, indiscriminate and illegal use of tear gas and pepper spray. 

The ‘mask law’ does not affect those Lam labels as ‘violent’ protestors, the penalties for ‘unlawful assembly’ far exceed those of the ‘mask law’. 

The newly instigated law looks to intimidate and shutdown the peaceful protestors who are freely expressing their opinions as enshrined in the Basic Law and allowed under HK Law.

It also appears to be worded to suppress and interfere with the Freedom of the Press and the media’s ability to cover the protests and the excessive violence of the HK Police against protestors and members of the public. It is after all hard to film and report when you have a faceful of tear gas and/or pepper spray.

The protestors violence directly stems from the police’s own actions.

The damage to the MTR stems from it’s own injunction turning passengers into criminals and from picking sides rather than remaining neutral and simply moving people around.

The only way ‘healing’ and peace can come is from the government and the new ‘mask law’ shows Lam has no interest in resolving the violent situation she created. Beijing only understands force, subjugation and repression of freedoms.

Lam will go down in history as woman who destroyed Hong Kong, we can only hope that the blood on her hands gives her nightmares for the eternity.