Hong Kong: City

For a few days of my stay in Hong Kong I kept roaming about the streets of that super city and could not help but strike dumb. During long Easter holidays I’ve sorted out my archive files and processed a few dozens of Hong Kong photos. For convenience, I will divide them into three posts which will be entitled as “city”, “people” and “suburb”.

The central part of Hong Kong reminds an anthill made of glass and concrete. High-rise buildings in new districts grow like mushrooms. In China, people like adjectives in the superlative, for example, a building is the highest and the tunnel is the deepest and the longest. That love for the superlatives is deeply rooted in the tradition of Great China.

Those, who have been to such megalopolises as New York or Tokyo, must be familiar with the feeling of reverence for human engineering achievements. One is seized with awe when, throwing back one’s head until the jugular vertebrae crunch, he or she tries to figure out how many floors there can be in this or that building. The tempo of life certainly depends on the city size and on the population density. In Hong Kong, everybody is in a rush exactly like in detective stories of Darya Dontsova (“I rushed to the police station”, “I’ve done my shopping in a rush” or “I rushed to work”).

For a long time Gaulung (Kowloon) have been considered one of the most densely populated area of the world. The population density here is about 40 000 people per km2. I counted one day that if the population of that district is to be arranged on plane there would be a man every five meters. There would be no room to move. Regarding the size of the megalopolis, Hong Kong is fifth in the rank nowadays (graph).

The post is continued with photos of Hong Kong city labyrinth. All the photos are clickable.

Balconies and windows are hanged with air-conditioners. Nothing saves people from heat and dampness but air-conditioning only.

The height of the International Commerce Centre 2 is 417 meters.

Traditionally: where there is the rich there is the poor.

In the distance, one can discern a small fragment of a green hill hidden from view by the buildings and the smog.

My favourite picture of the series. This is how the Asian city jungle looks like. The piece of live greenery is lost among the reinforced concrete constructions. This is a city for those who are organized, active and accelerated. No doubt that it can be considered one of the centers of our civilization: you can find here all things that are the newest, the most beautiful, the most technical, as well as the dirtiest and the poorest.

Next time I will show Hong Kong suburbs (it will be Lamma Island) which strongly differ from the cement boxes of the city.

Don’t miss the post with photos of Chinese twin city Shenzhen which is just “across the road” from Hong Kong, on the Canton side.

Keep abreast with the updates, or “stay tuned” as Sergei Dolya says, there will be two more posts of the series.

Поиск работы за рубежом, не выходя из дома

Здесь в Окленде одним из самых популярных вопросов, которые я нередко получаю в письмах читателей, является: «Можно ли найти работу за рубежом удаленно?»

Иногда он видоизменен и выглядит вот так: «Можно ли найти работу за рубежом, не покидая РФ?» или «Стоит ли вообще пытаться искать работу вне РФ пока ты сам в РФ?». Привязка к России тут не обязательна, пишут из Лондона. Основное, наверное — русский язык и менталитет, которые мешают кандидату в поисках работы.

К сожалению, почти всегда остается неизменным один факт — сопутствующей информации в подобых письмах поступает крайне мало. Я даже как-то писал саркастический пост на эту тему, где собрал все идиотские и не очень вопросы в одном квазипослании, и частично на них ответил.

Запрос «смогу ли я найти работу за границей» — такого вот общего характера — он схож с «есть ли бог» или «кому на Руси жить хорошо». Как вы сами понимаете, сие вопросы риторические, и ответить на них не представляется возможным — именно по причине недостатка этой самой информации о вашей конкретной ситуации.

Тем не менее, найти работу вне РФ, постоянно проживая при этом в РФ, возможно и реально — такие случаи даже не единичны, они встречаются сплошь и рядом, с людьми разных возрастов и в самых разных жизненных ситуаций. И это не всегда означает возможности только для айтишников — я лично знаю представителей множества простых профессий, которые успешно устроились на новом месте. Скорее всего они просто меньше сидят на форумах в «интернетах».

Другой вопрос, что продолжительность и сложность этого процесса зависит от того, какую именно работу вы планируете искать, по какой специальности, в какой сфере, как у вас с английским, какова ваша доступность для потенциального интервью, сможете ли вы уложиться с переездом в разумные сроки и так далее, и тому подобное. Чрезвычайно много нюансов, как можно заметить.

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Kiwi men and Kiwi women at the festival “Big Day Out”. Part 4

It is the last post with thirty photos from the festival “Big Day Out” which was held in the end of January in 2011. I am not going to tell about the participants and the festival again. I am just going to show the pictures and to comment some of them in an acrid way.

The first post from the festival starts with the photo of that very young man. He was relatively sober then.

Closer to the evening the rain drove faster. There were sticks “I  CSS” on the breast of the girl in a raincoat, (HTML designers will be pleased to see them.)  The schedule of group performances was dangling around her neck on a red tape.

The girls saw that I was out in the rain making photos of passers-by. They came up to me and asked to make their photo. Real kiwi youths in awful footwear but very sociable. I left them a visiting card for they could write me but no one did.

As for kiwi guys, they look like common teenagers – thin and wild. While dancing they shake their heads wildly. The photo was made at the border of the Boiling Room which was an electronic-music marquee.

While Auckland people having visited the rock-festival were keeping the rain out and taking shelter under the awning roof, we started to move in the direction of main stages.

 

We decided to walk round the field and make ourselves comfortable in the opposite stand to better see the Orange Stage where the Iggy Pop group was just about to start their performance.

In the remote stands, no one was sitting in the modest “hands on the knees” way. There was one more “alcohol area”, so people were very active  after they had almost “killed” themselves with beer.

 

So we had to wander around the field for some time. All seats under the awnings were engaged and the wet spectators were waiting for Iggy.

To the great disappointment of all the spectators, the quality of sound left much to be desired. (Perhaps, somebody will comment if I am not right but it seems to me that during the rain the propagation of sounds is bad because they interfere and transform into a porridge-like cacophony.)

Spectators could hardly make out the words of the songs. Iggy looked well and brisk as usual, though. When I was younger I perceived him as tall and thin. It turned out that he was my height. 

A couple of older guys. It probably was the fifteenth “Big Day Out” for them.

A nice Kiwi boy.

I used to meet that art-boy on my way to work every morning, he resembled one of the characters of the film “Almost Famous”. It looked like he had guessed to make a raincoat out of a refuse sack.

Wet girls were seeking for somebody in the crowd. (I am sure this page will be linked to from various search engines and visited by “wet-girls” lovers. Who does not like them, though?)

Rammstein is out on the stage.

As usual, their performance happened to be a noisy show with a lot of pyrotechnics and stage properties.  It was done quite simple and tastefully. The spectators were stricken.

I liked Germans very much. Their performance  was efficient, steady and well co-ordinated.

After the sunset, it became dark very quickly. The fellow behind my back vomited almost onto my yellow plastic seat back, so I had to change the place and sit two rows farther from the stage.  I was used to look for something good in every situation and soon realized that the view of the stage and the people from my new position was much better. I made a photo of that girl.

That was an epic ending of the performance: paper pieces, flame, guitar notches and the crowd chanting “You got a pussy, I got a dick”! Quite spectacular.

At the time, everybody was waiting for M.I.A. and listening to the LCD Soundsystem in the Boiling Room. In the picture you can see a construction made of tennis balls with colored light-emitting diodes inside. It was good interactive three-dimensional son et lumière.

A hipster as it is: glasses, a shirt, torn jeans and sneakers.

LCD Soundsystem surprised me with their soloist who happened to be of a very unpleasant appearance and sang out of tune, perhaps, because of mistakes of the audio-control engineer.

The last chance to buy two useless alien junks at the price of one! Stalls worked until the last customer.

We were waiting for M.I.A.’s performance and went to the Silent Disco room to dry out and have some rest. Every person there had headphones with music played in and  was dancing in silence. Soon people started to leave the Silent room, too. It was after 9 PM. 

At the time, there was the group Tool on the Orange Stage. The field was hardly lit with weak, even disgraceful, rays from the empty eye holes of skulls raised by the paws of construction site engines. After Rammstein’s fireworks it just could not look in the least bit seriously. So the crowd was breaking up without spirit.

Tired festival spectators were waiting for the heavy rain to stop under the roof of the stadium pavilion. They were waiting for their friends and preparing for going home.

The more resolute sellers kept selling disgusting hot-dogs and something like burritos. But people were not squeamish even about that kind of food after the whole day of roaming from stage to stage.

A nice girl with a pink iPhone, she was not very wet.

M.I.A. happened to be aggressive and noisy. Perhaps, it was not what the tired spectators wanted at the time because their reaction was rather inert. The music gave the kick to those heavily drunk only — like the guy from the first photo of the post. I didn’t like M.I.A. almost at once and we decided to go to the exit. 

On the way, I’ve made some photos of unknown people. This is the last photo of four posts about the annual musical festival “Big Day Out”.

The links to previous posts: 1, 2, 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Какочтото

Здесь в Окленде все русские знают и посмеиваются над названием одного городка в центре Северного острова. Что удивительно, местные жители тоже без особого труда понимают, откуда берётся повод для насмешки. Какахи (Ссылка на Google Maps) — любому ясно, что имечко «попахивает».

Посмеявшись вместе, давайте вспомним относительно недавний материал в русском «Esquire» о товарно-денежных отношения в России. Автор философ Глория Ориджи, сотрудник парижского Национального центра научных исследований (CNRS), основатель портала www.interdisciplines.org, автор книги «Введение в Куайна» и редактор сборника «Text-e: текст в эпоху интернета». Так вот Глория в одном из своих трудом описала тип экономики, в котором люди стремятся не только производить плохой товар, но и покупать его! И назвала его, легко догадаться — «Какономика».

Вкратце это состояние описывается следующим образом: «Я верю, что ты не выполнишь свои обещания в полной мере (наебёшь), потому как хочу быть свободным от того, чтобы выполнять мои и не чувствовать себя из-за этого неудобно (наебу тебя)». «Кακός» — от греческого «дурной».

Странность и интерес ситуации заключается в том, что во всех какономических обменах обе стороны, кажется, ведут двойную игру: есть официальное соглашение, в котором две стороны заявляют о своем намерении проводить обмен на уровне высокого качества, и одновременно молчаливое согласие в том, что скидки на качество не просто допустимы, но и ожидаемы. Это превращается в своего рода молчаливое взаимное попустительство. Таким образом, никто не «паразитирует» за чужой счет: какономика регулируется негласной социальной нормой скидки на качество, взаимным принятием посредственного продукта, который удовлетворяет обе стороны, при условии, что они публично продолжают заявлять об обмене на уровне высокого качества. — подробнее в исходной статье

Наверное, не зря относительно недавно певец-юморист Слепаков разродился песней «Купи говно». Состояние это витает в воздухе.

Сегодня мне снилось, что где-то в заросших полях русской деревни, где оводы и пахнет травой вперемешку с навозом, мы с Сергеем Удальцовым, которого я знать не знаю и в целом считаю товарищем крайне неоднозначным, искали в долгом разговоре слово, которое наиболее полно описывает, сложившуюся в политической системе России ситуацию. Сергей, так и был во сне, каким я вижу его на фотографиях с митингов — с непокрытой бритой головой и в гоповской своей чёрной осенней куртке. Через два часа мытарств по задворкам мы, наконец, пришли к консенсусу. Началась гроза, и я проснулся.

Когда-то давно, глядя извне пузыря с пропутинским телевизором, меня буквально вырубало от абсурдности происходящего. Уже не раз давал ссылку на пост под названием «Информационная голодовка«: с 2010-го года это состояние лишь многократно усилилось, будучи мультиплицированным очередными циклами ротации власти. Даже таксист на грязном Бали, который два слова по-английски связывает с трудом, пошутил, вращая кистью руки, как в русском народном танце: «Putin, Medvedev, Putin, Medvedev, Putin!».

Лишь несколько часов назад вымышленный лысый гопник в куртке сумел расставить всё по местам. То, что происходит в России и официально называется демократией, на самом деле ни что иное, как «какократия» («говнократия», если кому так удобнее). Собралась головоломка.

Социальной нормой считается, что по закону скорее всего не будет, но обе стороны понимают, что нужно лишь сохранить видимость. И предпочитают такую, кхм, в обе стороны эластичную систему заявленным в конституции правам и свободам.

Так получаются, например, свобода слова и собраний. Выходить на митинг можно, но, если захотят, то найдут к чему прицепиться и посадят. И обе стороны об этом знают. Удивительно, что от безысходности, наверное — идут: одни с ленточками, другие с дубинками.

На выборах обе стороны обещают действовать честно: голосовать по совести, честно считать. Камеры вон даже поставили. Однако, теперь, думаю, очевидно, что и те, и другие с самого начала понимают: качество голосов будет низкое (карусели, выслуживание нижних чиновничьих ярусов), и посчитают их как-нибудь. Но в конце мы все назовём президента законно выбранным, а Чурову дадим медаль.

В какократической стране, где власть принадлежит говну, пишутся дурные законы, назначаются (не выбираются, нет) дурные губернаторы, заминаются неугодные дела. Я спрашивал недавно у свежеприехавшего из России человека: поймали тех, кто бил журналиста Кашина; осудили тех, кто убил Магнитского; кто взрывал в метро нашли; кто поезд Мск-Питер взорвал — их поймали; в аэропорту бомба была, с этим разобрались; выследили настоящих убийц Политковской? Нет вроде по всем пунктам. Но, невзирая ни на что — власть и народ верят в ненадежность друг друга и закрывают глаза на взаимовыгодный слабый результат.

Москву, я слышал, скоро переименуют в Нью-Какахи, или это приснилось.

 

Kiwi men and Kiwi women at the festival “Big Day Out”. Part 3

As I have promised, now I continue to post photos from the musical festival “Big Day Out” which was held in the end of January, 2011. In the photos you can see people caught unawares. They are different: young and not very young, extravagant and very common. In the whole world they are called “Kiwi”.

There are about thirty photos with comments. The photos are clickable.

A heavy metal fan of the “sisadmin” type, whitish-pink due to the sun burn, is resting after jumping in the “heavy” sector.

A woman  is selling ice lollies and smiling in a confused way. The weather was expected to be hot but it happened to be rainy and wet so there were no lines in front of her stall.

Policemen sometimes asked people if everything was OK. That Indian seemed to be OK.  As for policemen, they always had guarded looks but that was their job. Last year, as I remembered, everybody wanted to be photographed with them, and people, drunk and drugged, really had the pictures taken.

You, young man with long hairs and in a long T-shirt, the girls from the posters keep their beautiful eyes on you!

There was nothing to do at the festival but listen to music, seek  for the friends lost somewhere and do shopping in dull stalls. All open amusements were popular and there were lines of people interested until dark.

As one can notice, a person in the background is selling plastic raincoats and polyethylene ponchos at the price of 5 dollars. In the foreground, there is a New Zealand format of pear-shaped girls.

The inscription on the yellow trailer, where fatty-and-sugary products were sold, said, “Over 14.75 billion sold worldwide”.

A non-drinking man is communicating with his friend who is by no means averse to a couple of bottles of beer in the “alcohol zone”. The sale of alcohol products at the festival was bounded not only with regard to age but to festival areas, too.  Special people checked IDs and put colored bracelets on people’s hands. Alcohol was to be bought in special enclosed areas (cigarettes were not sold at all). The alcohol purchased was to be consumed in the same area. There were several stages with music for “alco-people”, but the music  was, I’d say, indistinct.

The lady without the dog but in a hat. (By analogy with «The Lady with the Dog» (Russian: Дама с собачкой, Dama s sobachkoy), a short story by Anthon Chekhov, which was first published in 1899. It tells the story of an adulterous affair between a Russian banker and a young lady.)

 

Some guys protected by an unworried guard are resting in the alco-area.

Nice people. While being at the festival, I’ve met them several times here and there. It is up to you to decide whether they are hipsters or not.

Two hippies on the grass. One of the girls is wearing the very poncho which has been sold a few photos up.

Kiwi-boys are staring at kiwi-girls and at their knees.

As for the girls, they are dancing around a microscopic bag.

A brutal woman of the style of the 1980-s. A large area of her bogy is covered with tattoos. I almost collided with her as she was barging through the crowd in a very resolute way.

To promote various Halloween goods, the guy was dressed as a monster and made to frighten the girls passing by. But the girls happened to be brave and wanted to be photographed with him by all means.

A girl in the style of Woodstock with wet hair looking thick. The Article. Which means she is younger than eighteen.

And again minutes of worried waiting. As I have repeatedly said, much time was spent on seeking and waiting for friends and acquaintances.

A nice blond is waiting for her boyfriend in the alco-area. It is his bottle there in the right part of the frame.

As you can notice, I like the umbrella and its faint colored reflection.

A small group of children-flowers in the alco-area. I think that my attention was focused on the blond with a blue headband.

He was looking into my lens and I was looking into his glasses and thinking, “Permed or not?”

What was the man in a blue hat short of? Some footwear, I guess.

A Kiwi girl under a tree.

A thoughtful man in lowered pants and black trunks is filling his rucksack with water.

Perhaps, it is one of the best photos of today’s set.

The rain drove faster, the sun was setting.

That girl-ghost did not like that I was making her picture. Then we talked, smiled to each other and exchanged calling cards. Still waiting for her to write.

This is the end of the third post about a musical festival “Big Day Out”. I hope the blog’s readers have got the idea what the local youth really is at rest. I think you will admit that young people look rather civilized. 

I believe there are enough pictures left for one more post. I will post the fourth part after I will tell about Cook tropical islands where I have spent a short vacation lasting for 10 days.