Halloween Speical: I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy

自己民族差勁是不需要別人陪葬的

2010 年大概近聖誕後的時候，有位美國姊妹自掏腰包買下廣告位，宣告和宣傳她對神的愛和她的烹飪事業。由於是買廣告位的關系，整件事看來有點奇怪，加上那位姊妹沒有什麼天分，讀她的文字怪不舒服。半年後她已然遠去，感謝主我沒必要再接觸她的出位廣告了。年年月月日日也可遇上話不投基半句多的人與事，沒什麼大不了。況且她的廣告或文字再奇怪也不及那些低級趣味。我怎樣也不明白那個幾名小童互相吹噓自己父親是誰的手錶廣告是怎樣過關出街的。 

我閱讀另一位美國姊妹的文字，兩人同樣是母親，同樣照顧家庭，同樣讚美神，另一位姊妹的文字活潑得多了，那姊妹有種小朋友的陶氣和真誠少了某些成年人的虛偽。虛偽是不是很差的事情？我認為虛偽是那些硬漢子或缺乏女性賀爾蒙的女強人應有的態度，他們自己知自己事，反正語氣和態度也騙不到人，他們做人還是虛偽點好。Hi Bye 人生總好過橫衝直撞的硬來。

由於很喜歡那位姊妹並認為她跟孩子的關系能代表新一代的家庭，於是我把她故事的情感引進我某些工作項目內，效果理想。聖經說：But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17) 我擅于尋找和運用純潔的意念。很感謝那位姊妹，她的文字媲美很多流行作家的作品。我那項工作進行也順利。不過，我向來都工作順利，沒有驚喜，所謂最差總會有辦法順順利利解決。我感恩並把榮耀獻給上帝。那工作是否完美？ Teamwork 是沒有完美這回事的，只有集體快樂和有一定的收穫就可以了。有些人一生困在一腳踢的自我表現行業，追求完美莫視他人就永遠無法悟出或明白Teamwork的真正意義。不過，我也認識不少在 Teamwork 內追尋完美的怪胎。實不相瞞：怪胎人人得以諸之，有錢出錢有力出力，他們通常也會學乖，因為工作只問進程並不會理會個人的怪癖。

那位姊妹非我朋友也非知交，但從她文字裡我認為她應是個值得交往的靈魂。如果我介紹媽媽給她認識，我會很放心的。事實上我會邀請朋友出席我的家庭聚會。我媽媽並不是什麼夫人，但我所有朋友都會稱她為伯母或 Auntie。 

夫人是淑女的稱號。有些人喜歡在非官方場合稱政客的老婆為夫人，我懷疑他們給電影書籍洗了腦。還是覺得中國和台灣的臭政治連累中國人不夠？香港的政治實況再壞也及不上中台的萬分一。國共內戰的死亡人數居然多於日本侵華，我覺得很可笑。然而還有人可以形容國共內戰是兩夫妻打交，情況不能和日本侵華相比。由於中國人實在太可笑了，我是沒有國家包袱的，對於有人可以接受兩夫妻打交殺自己兒女事情也感到相當驚訝。以台灣政治威脅大陸政治？一轉頭那兩個契弟政治體系又可以稱兄道弟賣你豬仔了。就是因為國共的政治畸形，才張開一個安全網給香港和台灣人。我也相信中國有良知的上一代全在文化大革命時死光了，剩下來苛且偷生的不多不少都是壞人，他們的下一代我無意理解。OMG，你看中文多壞。我明明花了數個月時間把母親節父親節的光環循環再用，一下子又談到國共的事情了。

美國人才沒有你中國人那麼討厭。他們一大班 Peter Pan 娶了一大班 Wendy，然後又生了一大班 Peter Pan 和 Wendy。頂多是一大班 Ken 娶了一大班 Barbie，然後又生了一大班 Ken 和 Barbie。你說我偏見又好 Stereotype 他們又好，我就是不忍心叫醒他們。自己民族差勁是不需要別人陪葬的。

So long? Farewell

I would love to put this song, “So long, farewell” in my blog for a long time. First, I like it very much. And, it is such a beautiful way to say goodbye in a song with kids. Originally it was a song from the movie, The Sound of Music. The children from the von Trapp family sing a song to all guests at a party as goodbye. Can you find a better way for farewell than this? Of course I might be criticized again by pursuing something seemingly noble. But, who cares? It is such a good song and God won’t punish.

If he does, I would “argue” with him and I know he will grant my wish. Why? Because I can be very annoying. Oh, Father, please forgive me, it is just a song, grant your children a song, please please please. So I get the song. See, it’s easy to talk with our Father in heaven. And I don’t have courage to imagine the facial expression of Lord Jesus. Lord, I know your big day is coming and I try my very best not to think too hard on your sufferings before you were crucified by a crowd of Jews. Yes, Lord, Pope told us that not all Jews crucified you. He said it is impossible. But, Biblemen feed us The Passion of the Christ again. It is category III and not for children. How could we bear the violence and torture vividly presented in that film though the situation might be worse than presented. Lord, you were brave because you knew the tough task before you went into Jerusalem. I try to think of some other happy matters to distract my focus on your torture and sufferings. We can talk about the donkey you rode when entering Jerusalem. Is there any particular reason you chose a donkey but not a horse? Is it because horse is bad? Yes, we have to tame horses before they can give a ride. I’ve never heard people give donkey a training. She must be very very good and smart. If you choose her, you must love her very much.

Sorry I can talk non-stop with him. Are there any side benefits of the song, “So long, farewell”. Sure. It demonstrates that the old school stuff is cool. See, this video, young people just love to adapt the song for their performance. Second, it tells we have different ways to say goodbye in English. You can put it into “so long”, “farewell” and “goodbye”. Not to mention we have other ways such as chao and adios. But we would never appreciate if people put it in a way presented in the film, King’s speech. It is like:

Equerry: I’m very sorry, Mr Logue, the Dukeis terrible busy.

Lioneli: I’m happy to wait. Or I could comeback later.

Equerry: As I said, the Duke is busy.

But, the world is fair because Prince William and Kate Middleton are now waiting for public attention on their wedding but we are terrible busy.

Lastly, the song serves as a graceful way to protest against people who write unnecessarily long with the intention to suppress others and arouse unnecessary competition. Competition is not always good for health and we should respect other people’s writing talent be it long or short. So, so long, farewell do do do do do do do…

Can Lady Gaga fight for Arab Women Hijab?

When you read interviews about people for a long time, you can foretell their fates with a social context. Lady Gaga wisely use the social media and inevitably  her album Bad Romance was a success. After that, her songs just doesn’t have glitz.

She just follows Madonna’s old route. Firstly their song’s direction are similar. Secondly her gay, lesbian and minority groups support is predictable. We already have Madonna, why do we need Lady Gaga? Gaga, keep it up, we want a new born star, we don’t want a copy cat. So, be a super star! Her new song, Born this way, is lack of something. At least, she should name her song “Born this way” as  “Born that (dead) way” for a better result. She should pull a breakthrough and be unpredictable.

During the Grammy (Granny) Award, her creative director Lauri Ann Gibson tried to leverage people compassion and said, “It was necessary to incubate her for a certain time, because tonight she is actually birthing a new race. A new race that doesn’t have the ability to judge or hate in their DNA, so she is incubating right now so she goes through that process.”

Gibson is incorrect. We have been fooled by John Lennon or Madonna once, we are not easily to be engaged in a similar saying twice. Gaga, we just control ourselves. If you think big, you should put your effort for Arabian women because the Arab society is easier to dissolve. To liberate a gender (50% population) of impossible is much more interesting than to liberate the minority groups. The debate of Arabian women’s hijab can go on and on. You could choose A) To protect their tradition  B) To protect women freedom C) To beat Arabian men who insist for their tradition D) To protect your own culture etc.

Truly we need a perfect creative goddess to fill the market and we are so tired of the ordinary! We need extraordinary!

Valentine’s Day Special: When You Wish Upon A Star

A dutiful Valentine’s Day is a hardship. No wonder people shot Cupid dead in recent years. But, he is just a child and performs his duties. It is not funny to put him on death. Can anti Valentine’s day activists come up with something more interesting for their campaign? It is very unpleasant to look at a dead baby every time I search information for Valentine’s Day.

According to Greek mythology, Cupid was the son of goddess Venus. He shot arrow to make people fall in love with each other. One day, he threatened his mother not to shoot his lover arrows and asked her approval for his lover, Psyche. Good Boy! That’s a love story. Cupid is in two forms – a baby and a young man. Most of the time, he was in baby form for work tasks. The only time he became a young man was for his love. Why anti Valentine’s Day activists choose to hurt a weaker form? I don’t understand.

On top of the activists, we still have a technical problem for Valentine’s Day celebration. Some argue that we shouldn’t stress on Valentine’s Day and should perform a perfect lover year round. It’s true but we just can’t rule out that there are people, who don’t have romantic DNA, have to do something to make his or her lover happy and they might need help.

May I suggest to work with Disney for the magic? It is excited to make the impossible possible.

For years, Disney has been bullied by people. They comment Disney’s productions unsexy and cliche. The comments are fair. The disaster area is princes and princesses. People just can’t associate themselves (or their kids) with them. So, why would they be engaged in the romance presented? Almost every new launch Disney production says goodbye to romance. It is partly because they have to take care the mass and feed everyone a standard love. But love just can’t be standardized and commercialized. Sorry I can’t spoil the day by suggesting classics like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. They are perfectly alright in books but they just don’t have the chemistry with Disney.

So, in what way Disney can be Valentine’s Day rhymes?

For new releases, put them in databank for aging and we should wait at least 40 to 50 years for the magic. Then we retrieve the magic dust for the celebration. Close your eyes and listen to Disney theme song, When You Wish Upon A Star.

I got some sweet childhood memories. My family was there. It would be very nice to enjoy a Disney classic, Peter Pen, with your love during Valentine’s Day. You two are home. It starts with a familiar theme song and then together you lost yourselves in the story written by Scottish novelist, J. M. Barrie. The story is about anti gravity. When two people are deeply in love, I think they should fly rather than drowning. Unless you just break up with someone, I don’t think you should go for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

The song, When You Wish Upon A Star, is beautiful. Your heart shall be melted like grilled marshmallow. It is a 1940 song written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington for the Disney production, Pinocchio. It has become Disney’s theme song and they open their films with it. Every time I hear the melody, I am ready for a movie. The original singer is Cliff Edwards but you will be impressed by the performance of an orchestra.

If you are looking for special experience, book a small theatre for the movie. For party animal, you can work on a checklist for a charity movie party. What if your lover or spouse  is still looking for candle light dinner and flowers? Congratulations and you should thank God because He gives you an easy life partner. Amen.

The Fate of Salty!

The government of United States of America plans to unveil new dietary guidelines that urge people to eat less salt. According to them, people with a history of hypertension, diabetes or kidney problem should reduce salt consumption. So, what is the destiny of salt? I am concerned.

Yet, we have an inspirational message from our friend, DDB. They created a character, Salty, for Knorr. Knorr tried to foretell the destiny of salt.

In a commercial, people consume Knorr salt with 25% reduced in sodium. Salty is unhappy because the family he serves doesn’t consume him. In fact, salt might shorten the loving moments they should be together. Therefore Salty leaves them. He walks out and looks back into the window of the family he once served. He lowers his head and the tears pour out like two salt pillars. Although it is a commercial, we weep like a kid.

Salty, however, is a brave boy and he faces it. He finds a new home. He has to serve a single man who loves pepper. Therefore, he goes to a shop and buys a mask from an Indian woman. He puts on the mask and makes himself a pepper. Still, the man gets the pepper. Fate is cruel to Salty. He is just a boy. How could he live without love? He therefore goes to a jewelery shop and presents a love note to a shop keeper. Then all we hear is the sound from an alarm clock for security.

DDB is bad. Knorr is no good. They are very naughty! They build happiness on other people sufferings. Therefore, a stranger who can’t control himself said, “We gotta do something to support Salty, damn it! C’mon people. EAT MORE SALT! To hell with hardened arteries.”  Why be so violent like that stranger? Jesus said, “Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Is Knorr 25% less sodium campaign successful? On the surface, it is not. It is strange though because the creative is okay. Sometimes, I really don’t understand Americans, what is wrong with it?

Is it the end of the world without it?

What do you think about Chupa Chups? Is it a prop for brainstorming alone? Is it a lollipop you like to see but not to eat? Is it a small gift to kids for big smile? They are all true. But it is not the end of the world without it, isn’t it? That said it is good to take a look this Chupa Chups print series from South Africa.

Kid, don’t jump, it is just a lollipop and I’ll buy you 10 boxes of it.

And, you, it is not Tequila Pop. It is milk.

Sweetheart, trust me, you don’t have to see psychologist for just a lollipop.

Some people say advertisements are lies. But, I don’t see why we should put on armor for hilarious scenarios presented by Chupa Chups. Perhaps, this is why every city needs comedy.

But if you are very special and would like to endure sufferings and martyrs. You might be interested in a programme presented by Discovery Channel. It is about a massive tomb found by the Catholic Church in Rome. Our beloved brothers and sisters were tortured to death by King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel. Under this condition, I think you might need Chupa Chups during advertising interval every 15 minutes. Suddenly this lollipop becomes angel. “Lollipop? Angel? Why?” you scream.

Chupa Chups is a lollipop company founded by the Spanish Enric Bernat in 1958, and currently owned by the Dutch-Italian multinational corporation Perfetti Van Melle.

In its official website, they say Chupa Chups was born in the same year of:

• YSL launched his first collection, Trapecio.
• US President Eisenhower offered to stop nuclear arms test.
• The first four women took their seats in the House of lords in Great Britian.

No, you won’t think of Chupa Chups with the historical events they chose. But you will need Chupa Chups with:

• America launched its first satellite Explorer I.
• USSR launched Sputnik III.
• Mao Tse Tung started “Great leap forward” movement in China.

It is because Chupa Chups gets you away from grand and significant historical moments. It saves you from boredom.

I was aware of Chupa Chups couple months ago. There was an eye-catching display at a convenience store. Then, I bought some for kids. I found they had a lovely Chupa Chups mug for redemption. It looked nice and I got one. Afterward, a Hong Kong shopping arcade collaborated with Chupa Chups for Christmas decoration. They set a Chupa Chups Christmas Tree and Giant Chupa Chups Vending Machine. It was very  impressive.

But, as a matter of fact, I don’t eat Chupa Chups.

Why would unwanted gifts bring so such happiness?

There is an unwanted gift shop in the UK. I think it is alright in the UK market because the concept of “vintage” or “garage sale” is well developed in the west. When the concept goes big, it could be a business idea such as  e-bay. How about Chinese? In general, they don’t like old and obsolete goods. They are eager to buy everything new. If they like antique, the main reason is for investment. Among all Asian nations, Japan follows the west and well developed the concept of vintage. Even their teen welcome vintage fashion.      

If family and friends send me unwanted gifts, I will give the items to people who find those gifts useful. That’s doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate my family and friends. I just want to minimize the wastage and I hope they’d understand. What if they have bad feelings? You don’t have to tell your beloved every single details of your life. Right?

Of course, you can put all those items on a bidding site such as e-bay or taobao for cash. But, you are rather creative and money is not the first priority for your action. You have some gifts and can’t find their owners.  Ages ago, my respected ex-boss inspired us an unwanted gifts party. Each of us should bring an unwanted gift for exchange. Imagine the laughter and joy when you open the gift. You can’t help but ask, “Why would unwanted gifts bring so such happiness?” If your party is blessed, you would have an 8 feet tall wooden peacock. With it, the joy and excitment of your unwanted gift party is beyond measure.

Absolut Emergency: Water not Vodka

The community worth1000 organized a lot of creative contests in different themes for our pleasure and appreciation. Here are some selective works. The project Absolute: Play on Absolut Vodka creative platform, artists came up with fresh ideas which make us smile. Absolut water, not vodka for Absolut Emergency.

The feeding bottle won’t be able to pass responsible marketing but it’s really interesting. A similar creative worked by Absolut  Guinness was banned. If this kind of creative comes again and again, what does it mean? It says law is too harsh and exceeds its limit. Life can be a lot more interesting without awful laws. I’m not trying to boost people who have aesthetic sense but I do appreciate their abilities to break the laws with wisdom and eye-candies.

   

Other creative include strawberry, madness, lamp, war, old, city etc. The list could go just on and on. Would this create a universe? Theoretically yes but who would spend time for all? Just like we read bible, we fix our eyes on the author, our Lord Jesus Christ. Do I find the Lord boring? It’s very much depends on which verse you read.

What we can do for Africans?

If we want to build up Africa without charity group (old fashion + usually reinforce their bad images) and politicians (African is a burden for them). Here is the successful list exclusive for Africans:

African x Conservation between Grandparents / Parents / Children => Very warm very  touching especially when you find that they are like you and me.

African x Babies => Babies cute

African x Hit Topics (for example First Ladies, Football) => It shows African are not far from us.

African x Stunning Landscape => It’s a project for NGO or Movies.

African x Christian AIDS Project  => It’s very impressive and solve the root problem.

African x Kids + Coke => Cute

What doesn’t work & why?

African x Fashion => Fashion is not their expertise

African x  Entrepreneur => Business is not their expertise

African x Poverty => It is just another African poverty story

African x Western African discimination story (Again, it’s just another discrimination story and can you tell me how many people go to that shity movie, Precious, would care about Africa or black skin? They just watch, laugh and read some stupid entertainment news. That’s it.)

It is sad to hear that a child  interviewed in Shanghai’s Expo saying something bad for Africans. Luckily she is not my daughter. The relationship between South Africa and World Cup is similar to Shanghai and World Expo. During the festival, people tend to eye on candy rather than their poor side but it doesn’t mean they do not exist. The list looks easy but it is not that easy especially with bureaucracy. If we have it, it’s like we build an altar up in the sky and sing a beautiful hymn to praise our Lord. It also proves that there is something beautiful deep in our souls and those qualities are the reflection of our Creator. Salvation is free and it is never too late. But, I don’t understand why people chase beautiful qualities of the Creator without accepting Him. May I ask: What do they want?