It was a lot of fun meeting Michel Hazanaviciu, director of Academy Award Nominated film The Artist, in a LA Fox11 Hangout and having a chance to ask Michel a question about his creative process in directing actors in a silent film.

Michel said a lot of work were put into crafting the script well to make it so that the images can tell the story instead of through dialogues. The actors do say the lines even we don’t hear it and we were told John Goodman loves to improvise his lines. It was a lot of fun meeting Michel. I will post a video of the hangout when LA Fox 11 posts.

Here is a beautiful trailer of The Artist.

Thanks to Maria Quiban and Tshaka Armstrong from LA Fox11 for inviting us to the hangout!

For the record, two film reviews from industry respected sources. Excerpt from The Hollywood Reporter review (emphasis added),

“The filming is much of the point: Like Warhol 2.0, Ai documents his surroundings obsessively and views Twitter as a necessity. Through a constant online presence, he has become “Teacher Ai” to a legion of followers, and some of his most important art/politics hybrid projects — like one intent on uncovering facts about the Sichuan earthquake that the government wants buried — rely on their participation. As we spend time with him in his studios and home, Ai seems authentically driven by a need for more freedom than China is currently offering.”

Excerpt from Variety review (emphasis added),

“Rather than dwelling too heavily on his museum shows, much of the film expands upon Ai’s key tweets of the past few years. Hence, the incidents that take precedence include the wrenchingly unjust demolition of his Shanghai artist’s studio and his confrontational attempts to seek justice for a police raid that left him with a bleeding head wound — both major events for Klayman to have caught oncamera.

Among Ai’s better-known work is a series of photographs that feature his extended middle finger superimposed over Tiananmen Square and other iconic sites. Whereas many contemporary artists question authority via their work, Ai does not confine his criticism of hegemony to galleries and museums. Instead, he takes the assault directly to the powers that be, which in turn expands the scope of his work to a form of pseudo-performance art, providing Klayman with a handful of lively “happenings” to include in her film, such as Ai’s heated confrontation with the officer who allegedly beat him.

Though the docu provides occasional insights into Ai’s personality, China serves as the more interesting character here, a complex adversary capable of inspiring a range of creative reactions from the artist. By opening with a metaphor about exceptional cat that has learned to open doors, Klayman stresses the one-in-a-billion odds of someone like Ai existing. The film is a good start, but such an important artist deserves a more rigorous portrait.”

As I tweeted, I am very much looking forward to watch Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. Alison has captured some very important moments and stories in Ai Weiwei‘s life and it is about time more of us get to know him.

One day when the time is right and I become a better story teller, I want to tell an untold story of love. Until then, let me write about the exterior beauty and mysterious story of Millefiori Cucchi.

To find out more about the delicious 30 years old Millefiori Cucchi, I turned to internet search engines, first Google and then Bing. note: If you can help by adding more info or personal pictures, or see any errors big or small in this post, please kindly leave a comment.

Millefiori Cucchi – The Lovely Name

Millefiori is Italian. Millefiori means Thousand Flowers. What a lovely name, even more beautiful when you know whats inside!

Millefiori Cucchi – The Mysterious Look of Love

You see, inside the bottle of Millefiori Cucchi, there is a twig of erica embellished with crystals of sugar. Wow, how cool is that! Beautiful and thoughtful! (ref in Italian, translated English) Photos credit: Benjamin (L) and Gheghevic (R).

Millefiori Cucchi – The Mysterious Brand/Lovemark

Interestingly, after finding some more pictures of Millefiori Cucchi, I wasn’t able much information about the wine, the wine maker, etc until I found the reason via it trademark registrations! You see the Millefiori Cucchi trademark was filed in Dec 1, 1953 in US/USPTO TARR but now declared dead and filed in Jan 15, 1958 in Canada and expunged on July 29, 2004!

Even now Millefiori Cucchi is not made any more and the trademark is officially no more, in my mind, it is a lovemark! In fact, Millefiori Cucchi may be the first ever lovemark named posthumously by any one! This is the power of love! Have I just created and defined the idea/concept of a posthumous lovemark!? Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy, well, the posthumous lovemark Millefiori Cucchi has it all! In my heart and mind, Millefiori Cucchi is alive and well!

Loving Transformative Repurposing

Finally, I plan for this article to help remind me of the loving transformative repurposing of two bottles of Millefiori Cucchi by a loving mother and two wonderful daughters. It was a fun night and we had a great time!

According to TorStar, “Aviation experts worry about Lego man copycats“

“Most weather balloons are launched from known sites, according to Capt. Barry Wiszniowski, chairman of Air Canada Pilots Association’s safety division. If other balloons are being sent up, it could pose a concern to aviation. [...]

A pilot might not have enough reaction time if such a balloon popped up unexpectedly, he said. With the speed of a plane, the impact could be similar to a bird strike and could cause damage, especially if something was sucked into an engine, he said.

Unmanned balloon flights are not governed by the Canadian Aviation Regulations, but Transport Canada should be informed ahead of any such launch to ensure aviation safety is not threatened, said spokesperson Kelly James.”

OK, no one want any plane accidents and I am not disputing Air Canada Pilots Association’s safety division’s and Transport Canada’s concerns. I especially respect their job and duty to worry. But at the same time, I do think there may be a bit of too much worrying here. May be with an added dose of just-in-case cya.

I am not an expert but here are some of my unscientific “justifications”:

* Planes’ engines are designed to withstand the impact of a flying bird or two. In fact, I think aircraft engine manufacturers are required to test their engines to ensure flying birds may destroy an engine but the engine enclosure should hold up, localizing the damage.

* I believe planes are designed to be able to fly and land with lost of one engine. So even in the unlikely event of losing an engine, the plane can and should still be able to land.

* Don’t know if I am close in this guestimate but, in terms of probability, we may be talking about throwing a rock to hit a speeding bullet thousands of feets away. It is possible (like me winning a lottery) but it might be very very unlikely.

* Finally, are we going to have hundreds or thousands of kids rushing out to fly stuff up into near-space? I don’t know but I kinda doubt it. I guess I will worry more when there are many more cases of such attempts.

P.S. I am glad I don’t work for Air Canada Pilots Association’s safety division or Transport Canada! Otherwise I will likely have the same worry and issue the same warning!

Jan 29, 2012 update: TorStar, “The science and engineering behind Lego Man’s balloon voyage“

In the age of instantaneous news/media, the name of game unfortunately is to report something quickly. Writing CYA words like “according to XYZ” (in this case, according to WSJ) is as good as, if not better than, doing your own reporting and facts checking! Well, it doesn’t cost you a cent plus writing the words “according to XYZ” almost absolve yourself from responsibilities. If the report was later found to be false, well, it is XYZ that f*cked up, not you. At least it is not like you mistakenly reporting someone’s death or something!

According to WSJ “Facebook IPO: Morgan Stanley Close to Reeling In a Giant ‘Like’“

“WSJ says the IPO could come as early as Wednesday with a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion.“

When thousands of media outlets all are reporting the same piece of information, it must be true right?! Isn’t echo chamber fun? In case you missed it in the above quote, the echo chamber is going as far as quoting itself in Facebook IPO. Yes, WSJ is quoting WSJ. Why not?! The media outlets are stuck in a “no-win” commoditized news game and I would much rather be in games that are “win-win“.

As a business and technology geek, Facebook’s IPO will come when it comes. What I am more interested in is to read Facebook’s IPO filing prospectus if and when it is available.

P.S. Let me be clear that I don’t have a solution to our echo chamber yet but I don’t know if this reporting of news “according to …” is helping anyone.

“Ai’s cell phone rumbled and he answered the call. He smiled. Mary Boone, the gallery owner, was on the line. It was late at night in New York, but she wanted to tell him how his show was going. On the floor of her Chelsea space on West 24th Street, she had Ai’s hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds, three million of them, which had been crafted by ceramic artisans in the pottery town of Jingdezhen. (The show is open until February 4th.) They are part of an ocean of seeds, one hundred million in all, that he originally unveiled in a 2010 installation at the Tate Modern in London. At the Tate, they formed a vast gray swamp, filling the cavernous Turbine Hall, but in New York, after two eventful years, they have taken on a different meaning. They are arranged in a rectangle with severe, angled corners. In the Times, Roberta Smith wrote that the “unruly ocean has been downsized to something more like a reflecting pool. It also suggests a kind of memorial plinth, a monument to the palpable absence of Mr. Ai.”

As is often the case for Ai Weiwei, his work and his life have become hard to differentiate. The seeds have found their way into the tax case. “When the seeds began to show, people started to ask: Can we have some? I responded very casually, ‘Whoever wants some, just give me an address and I’ll send them to you.’ We received about a thousand requests. And, since then, it has become a kind of movement. We’ve sent out several hundred thousand. This is amazing. They call it the ‘Sunflower Seeds Party.’ The party can be read as a party or a Party. And young people love it. They say, ‘The girl at school I loved for so long, and I could never really speak to her, I made an earring out of a seed and gave it to her.’ Another one said, he gave it to his parents. One said the seed will be the first gift to my unborn kid. And someone else said, by the year two-thousand-and-something, the seeds will have life coming out of them. They call them seeds of freedom. It’s very interesting that people need something to carry their fantasy.”

Online, the seeds became a proxy for Ai himself. “They talk about seeds and it moved like a wave. They couldn’t talk about me and they couldn’t talk about the government, but when they talked about seeds, nobody could do anything about it, because they aren’t talking about anything—just sunflower seeds!””

United States v. Jones (2012), Court ruling (PDF)

United States v. Jones: Privacy in Public Space? Piece it all Together and You Get 5. – By Priscilla Smith, Nabiha Syed & Albert Wong, Information Society Project at Yale Law School

Wired, “Supreme Court Court Rejects Willy-Nilly GPS Tracking“

This TorStar report (with video) of what Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad achieved is really cool, “Toronto teens send Lego man on a balloon odyssey 24 kilometres high“. Excellent report and interview by Kate Allen at TorStar. (photo credit: TorStar and Lego man pix by Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad)

Equipment used: One Go Pro HD video camera (main camera for Lego Man footage), two Canon cameras (programmed to take a photo every 20 seconds), one Sony (GPS enabled mobile phone?).

CBC News (with video), “Lego man sent to space by Toronto teensEye-catching video shows plastic astronaut’s entire journey“

Lego Man in Space

Global National (great report with video) – Toronto teens send LEGO man to space

UK Telegraph, “Lego man sent to space“

UK The Sun, “Lego man launched into space – Figurine is launched into space“

* CTV, “Toronto teens launch Lego man into space“

Jan 26 update: * TorStar, “Lego Man creates a stir in public“

* TorStar, “Lego space man puts the spotlight on Toronto teens“

* New York Times, “Canadian Legonaut Returns From the Stratosphere Bearing Remarkable Images“

* PC World, “Lego ‘Astronaut’ Takes One Giant Leap for Brick-kind“

* TorStar, “PHOTOS: Legonaut hits the town and makes some celebrity friends“

* Vancouver Sun, “Former VPD detective Kim Rossmo testifies bosses nixed serial killer warning“

* Texas State University, “Rising Star Dr. Kim Rossmo“

* Dr. Kim Rossmo’s Texas State University Bio

Watch President Obama Deliver the 2012 State of the Union Address

Some excerpt from Obama’s State of the Union address: Full text [HT CBS]

Trade Enforcement Unit

“I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products. And I will not stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules. We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration – and it’s made a difference. Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires. But we need to do more. It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated. It’s not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they’re heavily subsidized.

Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China. There will be more inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing our borders. And this Congress should make sure that no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing finance or new markets like Russia.”

Reemployment system

“Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic. Then Siemens opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, and formed a partnership with Central Piedmont Community College. The company helped the college design courses in laser and robotics training. It paid Jackie’s tuition, then hired her to help operate their plant.

I want every American looking for work to have the same opportunity as Jackie did. Join me in a national commitment to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job. My Administration has already lined up more companies that want to help. Model partnerships between businesses like Siemens and community colleges in places like Charlotte, Orlando, and Louisville are up and running. Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers – places that teach people skills that local businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing.

And I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs, so that from now on, people like Jackie have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help they need. It’s time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work.”

* “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. And I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.

The development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don’t have to choose between our environment and our economy. And by the way, it was public research dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock – reminding us that Government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.”

* “When Bryan Ritterby was laid off from his job making furniture, he said he worried that at 55, no one would give him a second chance. But he found work at Energetx, a wind turbine manufacturer in Michigan. Before the recession, the factory only made luxury yachts. Today, it’s hiring workers like Bryan, who said, “I’m proud to be working in the industry of the future.”

Our experience with shale gas shows us that the payoffs on these public investments don’t always come right away. Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. I will not walk away from workers like Bryan. I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits and create these jobs.”

* “We can also spur energy innovation with new incentives. The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate change. But there’s no reason why Congress shouldn’t at least set a clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation. So far, you haven’t acted. Well tonight, I will. I’m directing my Administration to allow the development of clean energy on enough public land to power three million homes. And I’m proud to announce that the Department of Defense, the world’s largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history – with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.“

* “So if you’re a big bank or financial institution, you are no longer allowed to make risky bets with your customers’ deposits. You’re required to write out a “living will” that details exactly how you’ll pay the bills if you fail – because the rest of us aren’t bailing you out ever again. And if you’re a mortgage lender or a payday lender or a credit card company, the days of signing people up for products they can’t afford with confusing forms and deceptive practices are over. Today, American consumers finally have a watchdog in Richard Cordray with one job: To look out for them.

We will also establish a Financial Crimes Unit of highly trained investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud and protect people’s investments. Some financial firms violate major anti-fraud laws because there’s no real penalty for being a repeat offender. That’s bad for consumers, and it’s bad for the vast majority of bankers and financial service professionals who do the right thing. So pass legislation that makes the penalties for fraud count.

And tonight, I am asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans.”

* “Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Or do we want to keep our investments in everything else – like education and medical research; a strong military and care for our veterans? Because if we’re serious about paying down our debt, we can’t do both.

The American people know what the right choice is. So do I. As I told the Speaker this summer, I’m prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors.

But in return, we need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of Members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes. Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up. You’re the ones struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. You’re the ones who need relief.

Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.

We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference – like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That’s not right. Americans know it’s not right. They know that this generation’s success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to their country’s future, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility. That’s how we’ll reduce our deficit. That’s an America built to last.”

* “The greatest blow to confidence in our economy last year didn’t come from events beyond our control. It came from a debate in Washington over whether the United States would pay its bills or not. Who benefited from that fiasco?

I’ve talked tonight about the deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street. But the divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad – and it seems to get worse every year.

Some of this has to do with the corrosive influence of money in politics. So together, let’s take some steps to fix that. Send me a bill that bans insider trading by Members of Congress, and I will sign it tomorrow. Let’s limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact. Let’s make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can’t lobby Congress, and vice versa – an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of Washington.

Some of what’s broken has to do with the way Congress does its business these days. A simple majority is no longer enough to get anything – even routine business – passed through the Senate. Neither party has been blameless in these tactics. Now both parties should put an end to it. For starters, I ask the Senate to pass a rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days.”

“In one of the film’s numerous scenes of defiance, Ai describes his motivation for his art and his statements. “If you don’t publicize it, it’s like it never happened,” he said.”

*  Chicago Tribune, “Another side of Ai Weiwei shown in Sundance film“

* New York Times, Alison Klayman (with video), “Ai Weiwei: The Evolution of a Dissident“

* Reuters, “Another side of Ai Weiwei shown in Sundance film“

* WSJ, “Ten Hot Sundance Documentaries to Watch“

* Salt Lake Tribune, “Sundance review: “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry“

Jan 29, 2012 update: THR, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry: Sundance Film Review“

Variety review, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry“

Wired.com, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry Documents Artist’s Social Media Dissent“

***

Here is an Ai Weiwei quote I love,

“Q: Do you ever examine  yourself to say, why is that you are so fearless compared to other people?
Ai WeiWei Answer: I was so fearful, that’s not fearless. I am more fearful than other people, may be, then I act more brave because I know the danger is really there. If you don’t act, the dangers become stronger.” – Ai WeiWeiin PBS Frontline video “Who is afraid of Ai Weiwei?” (time code: ~17:25)

“The most beautiful make-up of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy.”
- Yves Saint Laurent, Fashion Designer from my collection of Quotes I Love.

L’Amour Fou is a greatly enjoyable film, a film that I learn not only about the man but also about the partnership, the art collection, and the magic & things that makes the man he was!

Yves Saint Laurent: L’amour fou – Official Trailer

(note: don’t know why L’Amour Fou is rated low 5.9/10 in imdb)

Even if the current incarnations of SOPA and PIPA laws are stopped, this will just be one of the many battles in a long war. The industries and lobbyists will keep on pushing. It is up to us to ensure future incarnations of SOPA and PIPA are not overreaching thus doing more harm than good.

As one of the lead Fair Copyright for Canada Calgary organizers who has written articles, sent in personal submissions for parliamentary copyright committees, and organized protests since December 2007, I try to do my part to help shape Fair Copyright laws in Canada. Given that experience, I know the anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA has to be the beginning and we should be prepared to keep up the effort for sometime to come.

See also:

* “Canadian Media Coverage of the SOPA Protest“

* Toronto Star, “Michael Geist’s website went dark to protest U.S. restrictions on Internet“

Jan 21, 2012 Update: Mashable, “The Week That Killed SOPA: A Timeline“