“… it fractures you as a human.” – New Quote I Love

Interview – #EmiliaClarke ‘The best place in the world is backstage at a theatre’
by #KathrynBromwich @kathryn42

Reading this #CoolInterview of #EmiliaClarke: ‘The best place in the world is backstage at a theatre’ by @kathryn42 //Ahead of her British stage debut in The Seagull, the Game of Thrones star talks about her self-doubt as the hit show took off, her decision to write about her brain aneurysms – and showing her love through baking//. And I’m adding a new addition to my collection of Quotes I Love.

“In stage work, it’s every cell of your body, it’s a 360 feeling. On screen, it’s so often your left eyeball, your right shoulder – it fractures you as a human.” – Emilia Clarke (1986- ) (interview)

WWIII #covid19 – Thanks Sir Dyson for your CoVent

Thanks Sir Dyson for your inventive and entrepreneurial spirit in our WWIII against covid19! May your CoVent ventilators save thousands and thousands of lives in UK and around the world soon!

Reports from 20200325 Guardian: “Dyson and Airbus expect green light to start making ventilators – The companies will start making up to 30,000 ventilators from next week to help the NHS fight Covid-19”

“Dyson has been working on a completely new model of ventilator with The Technology Partnership, a Cambridge-based group of science and innovation companies with expertise in medical equipment.

Work is going on at Dyson’s Hullavington laboratory in Wiltshire, where it was designing an electric car until the plan was abandoned last year. Dyson believes it can meet the government’s requirements by deploying knowledge in areas where there is some crossover between its products and ventilators. These include digital motors, battery packs, expertise in airflow, and HEPA filters, which block fine particles but not air.

Sources familiar with the two schemes said they were in a position to start work but have been waiting on the government to give its blessing to one or both of the projects. The government is expected to provide further details on Thursday.”

From Fast Company with a reprint of Dyson’s internal email to employees: “Dyson plans to build 15,000 ventilators to fight COVID-19 The company will donate thousands of ventilators abroad.”

“As the world faces ventilator shortages in the growing COVID-19 pandemic, Dyson—the U.K. company known best for making vacuums, air purifiers, and hair dryers—is collaborating on a ventilator in coordination with The Technology Partnership (TTP). Dubbed CoVent, it’s a bed-mounted, portable ventilator that can run from battery power in field-hospital conditions.

Working under a grant from the U.K. government, with oversight from the U.K. National Health Service and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Dyson has agreed to produce 10,000 ventilators for the country. On top of that, it will produce another 5,000 ventilators for donation. One thousand of those will go to the U.K. The remaining 4,000 will go to other countries. CoVent will need to receive regulatory approval before receiving funding and going into production.”

Disclosure: Years ago I sold ads in a blog post featuring you, your biography and vacuum! I’ve yet to own any Dyson products myself. May be I should find something Dyson to buy to celebrate IF (a big if) and when our WWIII against covid19 is won. It is way too early to tell…

UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension (prorogation) hearing

Here are videos of the UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension hearing over three days from Sept 17-19, 2019 and some links to news reports.

UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension hearing – Day 1 – Part 1

UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension hearing – Day 1 – Part 2

UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension hearing – Day 2 – Part 1

UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension hearing – Day 2 – Part 2

UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension hearing – Day 3 – Part 1

UK Supreme Court Parliament suspension hearing – Day 3 – Part 2

2019, Sept 18, Mother of parliaments shut by ‘father of lies’, supreme court told – Scottish lawyer at prorogation hearing says Johnson government has proved itself unworthy of trust

xxxx

THR Podcasts (Sacha Baron Cohen, Gal Gadot, Ricky Gervais, Jessica Chastain, …)

 

THR Podcasts (Sacha Baron Cohen, Gal Gadot, Ricky Gervais, Jessica Chastain, …)

Here are a bunch of interesting podcasts from Hollywood Reporter (THR) starting with Sacha Baron Cohen, one of my most favourite and insightful comedians, and the one that started me on this interesting journey. Have a listen of any one or more of these podcasts as I copied and pasted from THR. Enjoy!

* ‘Awards Chatter’ Podcast — Sacha Baron Cohen (‘Who Is America?’)

* Ricky Gervais, Jessica Chastain, Gal Gadot, Stephen Colbert, Aaron Sorkin, Kate Winslet, Emilia Clarke, Lin-Manuel Miranda,

* Helen Mirren, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Lawrence, Margot Robbie, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone,

* Lady Gaga, JJ Abrams, Julia Roberts, Trevor Noah, Jerry Seinfeld,

* Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, Matthew McConaughey, Natalie Portman,

The moral is to have [no referendum] at all. – New Quote I Love

Recently retired UK Supreme Court justice Lord Jonathan Sumption has been giving the 2019 Reith Lectures in the last few weeks. BBC Radio has broadcasted two out of five episodes so far. Check out my earlier post “2019 Reith Lectures by Jonathan Sumption” for links to the lectures.

Here is a particular section that I got a new entry to Quotes I Love from (Lecture 2, In Praise of Politics, timecode 40:01)

BH: (BBC radio Host): If representative democracy is so effective as you argued that it is.

JS (Jonathan Sumption): I accept that it is not always.

BH: But parliament decided on a referendum when it came to Brexit.

JS: Yes, parliament can do many things that are unwise, that are inconsistent with the way democracies ought to work. I’m certainly not suggesting the referendum was unlawful. I’m simply suggesting that it was extremely unwise and that the last three years are an illustration of quite a lot of the reasons why.

BH: OK, you are not a fan, I get that.

JS: I’m not a fan of referendums, full stop.

BH: Well, that answer the second thing. To get us out of this mess, do we need a second referendum.

JS: Well, I don’t think we should have the first.

BH: But we had it now. So now how do …

JS: Let me finish my sentence. I don’t think we should have the first. But having had the first, it may well be that the only way that we can get out of the mess created by the first is to have another one. But the moral is not to have as many referendums as possible. The moral is to have none at all.

 

2019 Reith Lectures by Jonathan Sumption

 

I’ve been looking forward to listen to the 2019 Reith Lectures by Jonathan Sumption who recently retired from the UK Supreme Court. Lord Sumption “argues that a decline in the willingness of politics to engage with divisive subjects has been accompanied by an unwelcome rise in the power of the courts.”

While I may not agree with everything Lord Sumption says, the ideas he expressed are almost always thought provoking and worth considering even we may come to agree or disagree with him. Incidentally, the Q&As after each lectures contain some rather interesting questions so make sure you listen to that too.

BBC is putting up the 2019 Reith Lectures by Lord Sumption one lecture a week, here is the list of lecture(s) already posted:

(21 May, 2019) 1/5. Law’s Expanding Empire – Jonathan Sumption argues that the law is taking over the space once occupied by politics (~56 minutes)

(updated: 28 May, 2019) 2/5. In Praise of Politics – Jonathan Sumption explains how democracy can accommodate opposing opinions and interests (~41 minutes)

(updated: 4 June, 2019) 3/5. Human Rights and Wrongs – Jonathan Sumption argues that courts have usurped power via human rights law (~41 minutes)

(updated – 11 June, 2019) 4/5. Rights and the Ideal Constitution – Jonathan Sumption assess the pros and cons of written and unwritten constitutions, comparing the US and UK. (~42 minutes)

(updated – June, 2019) 5/5. Shifting the Foundations – Jonathan Sumption argues against Britain adopting a written constitution (~42 minutes)

Above links for all five insightful episodes have now been updated. What an enjoyable series!

Life and times via Valedictory Remarks

Biography and auto-biography are types of non-fiction books that I enjoy a lot in reading as I get to learn from the life and times of interesting people. I recently discovered and learned to love Valedictory Remarks from the UKSupremeCourt YouTube channel. Here are two video remarks I enjoy (Lord Sumption, Lord Neuberger, Lord Clarke) and I hope you will too.

Lord Sumption’s Valedictory Remarks

Lord Neuberger and Lord Clarke Valedictory Remarks

Inside Black Mirror from co-creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones

Black Mirror is one of the best anthology science fiction television TV series on air (on Netflix) right now. I just LOVE it. Now thanks to UK Guardian, we get to look deep inside Black Mirror with insights from co-creators, awesome master class with Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones!

Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones: Inside Black Mirror – (87 minutes)

Nov 5th, 2018 Correction: While I wish Charlie and Annabel are co-creators, I should correct and state that they are co-show runners while is Charlie the creator of Black Mirror according to the book info of Inside Black Mirror (available Nov 20 2018) they are plugging.

//[via Amazon] About the Author
Charlie Brooker (Author)
Charlie Brooker is an award-winning writer, producer and broadcaster whose career has spanned television, radio, print, and online media.

Brooker is the creator and writer of Black Mirror, whose fourth season launched on Netflix at the end of 2017 and won a BAFTA Craft Award and has recently picked up three BAFTA TV Awards nominations. The critically acclaimed, mind-bending anthology series originally launched on Channel 4 in 2011 and over its four seasons has collected awards including Primetime Emmys® for Outstanding TV Movie and Outstanding Writing for a TV Movie, Producers Guild of America, Rose D’or, BAFTA, International Emmy® and Peabody.

Annabel Jones (Author)
Annabel Jones is a long-term collaborator of Charlie Brooker’s. She serves as co-show runner and executive producer on Black Mirror. Previously Jones executive produced a number of shows presented by Charlie Brooker including three series of the BAFTA-nominated BBC Two satirical review Weekly Wipe; all seven editions of the annual shindig Charlie Brooker’s End of Year Wipe, which won a BAFTA for its 2016 edition; How Video Games Changed the World; Newswipe, which won the 2009 Royal Television Society Award for Best Entertainment Programme; Gameswipe; and the How TV Ruined Your Life series for BBC Two.

Jason Arnopp (Co-author)

‘Reflections on the Rule of Law in a Dangerous World’: The 2018 Sir David Williams Lecture by The Rt Hon. Beverley McLachlin

On Friday 19 October 2018, The Rt Hon. Beverley McLachlin delivered the 2018 Sir David Williams Lecture entitled “Where Are We Going? Reflections on the Rule of Law in a Dangerous World“. (more info: downloadable audio, photos)

If you’re the smartest person in the room – New Quotes I Love

It has been more than a month since I added new quote to my long list of Quotes I Love. Here are a few from Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper (twitter, tweet & source: FT article “My life tips for graduates: embrace your ignorance – ‘Avoid all house-price talk, diet talk and name-dropping. It will save you years’”),

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” – Simon Kuper

“When you discover you were wrong about something, don’t fight it. Treasure the moment: you’ve learnt something.” – Simon Kuper

I like the following quotes in My life tips for graduates very much as well but not quite in the “LOVE” level so I’m including them here in this post for now (I may change my mind later),

““Just shut up and listen. Whenever you think, ‘I know about that’, you don’t. When you hear yourself saying something you’ve said before, don’t bother. When someone worthwhile tells you something about North Korea, don’t sit there waiting till you can interrupt with your one factoid about North Korea. Pre-rehearsed anecdotes will keep you dumb.”

“Also avoid all house-price talk, route talk, diet talk, name-dropping and current-affairs clichés. Over a lifetime, this can save you years.”

“Listen hardest to people younger than you. They are ignorant and generally have lowly jobs, but their fragments of knowledge will be more cutting-edge than yours. If you’re ever tempted to kid yourself that your knowledge will hold good over time, listen to aged relatives recite the race theories they picked up in the 1940s.””

J.K. Rowling’s writing advices

Keeping track of these inspiring writing advices by the very awesome J.K. Rowling. So cool that Rowling would reach out to people she doesn’t know at all.

Mashable, (2018/01/27) “11 times J.K. Rowling tweeted awesome writing advice”

Love these tweets: 20171112 “Don’t write me. Write like you. Nobody else can do that. Finish that book x”

20150815 “Don’t you dare let their laughter extinguish your ambition. Turn it into fuel! Big hugs from one writer to another x”

20150815 “Do what I did: pretend you want to do something else and write on the sly until you’re free to do whatever you want!”

20180122, “When rereading last week’s work, the trick is to stop for a biscuit just before your blood sugar levels drop to ‘every single word of this is worthless.’”

20160325, “I pinned my 1st rejection letter to my kitchen wall because it gave me something in common with all my fave writers!”

20160325, “By popular request, 2 of @RGalbrath’s rejection letters! (For inspiration, not revenge, so I’ve removed signatures.)”

20160325, “I wasn’t going to give up until every single publisher turned me down, but I often feared that would happen.”

Read this tweet chain in full: “10. The time she replied to this tweet about the importance of completing a writing project.“

Mashable, (2018/01/30) “J.K. Rowling revealed how she plans her books on Twitter. Take notes, people.”

2018/02/01 Update: Add this to my list of Quotes I Love!

20171112 “Don’t write me. Write like you. Nobody else can do that. Finish that book x”

Amy & Rory introduce 13th Doctor – Jodie Whittaker!

Wonderful Doctor Who news! I created a video of Amy & Rory introduce 13th Doctor – Jodie Whittaker! Enjoy!

Amy & Rory introduce 13th Doctor – Jodie Whittaker!

 

The Death of Jacintha Saldanha, Kate Middleton’s nurse – My Lessons Learned

Everyone were shocked when hearing the tragic news of the suspected suicide of mother-of-two Jacintha Saldanha, one of Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton’s nurses prank called at the King Edward VII Hospital. I feel the pain from reading the statements & reactions from the key parties including Jacintha’s family, King Edward VII Hospital, St James’s Palace. The beautiful occasion of an expecting birth is now forever remembered along with the tragic death of Jacintha.

To me, every human life on earth is precious and I feel we must try to find some lessons to learn from this tragedy. I will group my observations & lessons learned into three categories: Media, We the Public, and Us as Individuals.

*** Media ***

After the tragic news was announced this morning. Many people online went up in arms to demand the Australian DJs who prank called the hospital be punished and even fired. To me, prank calls to the royals or famous people (click to hear the Australian DJs’  call & read the transcript) happen around the world regularly (including a Canadian DJ prank calling the Queen). The prank calls are usually treated as silly fun. And sometimes the unfortunate victims would even laugh along with the prank callers afterwards.

With the worldwide report of the initial prank call and the knowledge that Kate’s private health information was released, I can understand the tremendous pressure and embarrassment Jacintha must have felt inside her. Once the prank call was made successfully revealing Kate’s private patient information, the media at large had no choice but to report it.

To be honest, I did question in my mind why private patient information was released so easily but I am not trying to lay blames here. (note: If I have time, I may write about how Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily and magazine Next Magazine have been crossing some serious and harmful “journalistic” lines in recent years in a future article.)

My lesson learned: I don’t know if Jacintha was ever singled out directly by any press in UK or anywhere for the hospital’s releasing private health information to an unverified caller. In hindsight, it is a tough call for the press to make. Whether to single out any individual? Or to put the focus on the system instead? More importantly, would the public be better served by laying out the challenges and some possible improvements? These are bigger freedom of press issues. Coming back to the prank calls, while we have a tragic death today, I would not blame the prank callers.

Note: By the way, for private financial or health information, stop short of not release any sensitive information over the phone to anyone, one solution is to restrict the release of information only to confirmed & verified registered phone number by dialing out. Call out by using a confirmed phone number on file (e.g. the patient’s home/work number on file, or calling the bank at its number on the back our credit/bank card) thus avoiding prank/fraud.

*** We the Public ***

By “We the Public“, I mean us as a collective, as a group of people. How “We the Public” react to the original prank call and the tragic aftermath of the prank call. (timeline) When I heard the hospital released private patient’s info so “easily” to a prank caller, I felt a bit angry of the hospital. And now, I am deeply saddened for the death of Jacintha. I can also imagine the guilt the two DJs must feel now. And the expecting parents Kate & William being saddened by this tragic news.

My lesson learned: Be more forgiving of others’ actions/mistakes. If we didn’t criticize the hospital as much, would nurse Jacintha felt less pressure? Of course, I am not blaming the media on reporting the breach of privacy, but I have to wonder. We are all humans and sometimes our actions have unfortunate or even tragic consequence that are out of our control.

*** Us as Individuals ***

I want to state clearly that neither the expecting parents nor the hospital has blamed or want to punish Jacintha. St James’s Palace stated that,

“At no point did the palace complain to the hospital about the [hoax] incident. On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved at all times.“

And the hospital stated that

Jacintha “was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time.“

My lesson learned: Ultimately, we are sometimes our own worst critique and we, collectively, have to learn to be more forgiving of ourselves (our own actions/inactions/mistakes/words ... etc etc) A big part of me think, only if Jacintha had forgiven herself more, this wouldn’t have happened.

*** Concluding thoughts ***

Every single one of our lives is precious. Talk to your parents, friends, talk to anyone, call a suicide help line in your area for help: UK (via NHS), Canada (via gc.ca), US (via cdc.gov), or wherever you are!

Killing yourself is NOT a solution. Remember the friends, families, communities you will hurt and leave behind.

P.S. I read that Jacintha is a mother of two. Jacintha’s children are in my thoughts tonight.

Cantonese chat re Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to lead Bank of England

(廣東話) 經濟分析師陳心田與獨立記者林錦堂講一講加國行長Mark Carney空降英倫銀行

(in Cantonese) Economic Analyst +Wallace Chan & Independent Reporter Kempton Lam chat re Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to lead Bank of England.

Interviewing Sir Salman Rushdie from Calgary – Who is Joseph Anton?

To many readers, Sir Salman Rushdie is most well-known, unfortunately, for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), which lead to death threats made against him, including a fatwā issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in February 1989. To some film-loving Calgarians, Rushdie will also be known for his second novel, Midnight’s Children, the 1981 Booker Prize winning novel which was made into a movie that was premiered in Calgary International Film Festival last week.

So who is Joseph Anton? Rushdie answered, “Strangely enough, it is me. Because during those years, the police who were protecting me [from the fatwā] at these undisclosed locations needed to have a pseudo name to call me by so that they didn’t accidentally use my real name when they were at the local corner store. So they asked me to invent one. So I invented a name based on two of my favourite writers. Joseph Conrad. And Anton from Anton Chekhov. Put them together and that name lasted for ten years. Truthfully, I always disliked that name.” Rushdie used that name as his memoir’s title because he wants to give readers a sense of how strange it was during those ten years.

Rushdie initially wrote the book in the first person “in the ordinary” way. He didn’t like it. He felt it “too much self-regard, too narcissistic“. When he finally wrote it in the third person, he felt he could have “a little more distance” from himself. Rushdie said, “Also it was a long time ago, the story began in 1989, twenty-three years ago.” He felt there is enough of a difference between him now, and him then. So using the third person allows him to express the idea that the person he is now is different from the person he was then.

Rushdie’s new book is out, check it out from your bookstore or library, “Joseph Anton: A Memoir“.

P.S. It was an honour for me to hangout with Sir Salman. Many thanks to the wonderful Maria Quiban and the Fox LA crew for the great hangout.

Note: This article is cross-posted by me at examiner.com

Jan 22, 2013 Update: Here is the Hangout video with Sir Salman,

The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet

I love interview shows like Charlie Rose by the insightful Charlie. The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, hosted by Amanda and executive produced by Amanda and Demi Moore, since I had the pleasure to Google+ Hangout with Amanda, has quickly become one of my favourite interview shows! Yes, Amanda is that good!

In this episode (free online), Amanda interviews Lady Gaga, Portia de Rossi, Rita Wilson and Leslie Bennetts (author). Great episode to watch.

May 25, 2012 Update: Also check out the premiere episode with “Gwyneth Paltrow, Jane Fonda, Sarah Silverman, Zoe Saldana“.

Michael Bublé, 15-year-old Sam and his mom Paula Holyman

Michael Bublé is one super cool Canadian singer recently featured on 60 Minutes (the behind the scene stuff is a ton of fun to watch). Have a watch of the following GREAT video of Michael and the 15-year-old Sam singing on stage after his brave mom Paula Holyman created the opportunity.

Check out this BBC Radio interview with Sam singing, “Teenager Sam Holyman sings at Michael Buble concert – A Stafford teenager got the surprise of his life when jazz singer Michael Buble invited him to perform live on stage.”

Also see this Toronto Star piece with quote from Sam’s mom Paula “Video: 15-year-old’s impromptu performance wows Bublé“

Prime Suspect TV Series – US vs. UK Classic

I love the UK Prime Suspect series (thanks to Calgary Public Library for having all the previous series). Will see how the new US Prime Suspect series stated as a “re-imagining of the British television hit starring Maria Bello” is like. I love many of Maria Bello‘s work so I will see.

Here is a preview. I hope I will like Maria Bello‘s Jane but my first love is still the smart and cool DCI Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren) in UK Prime Suspect series which I watched all 21 hours over the years!

Another trailer, Prime Suspect – Out There

Ricky, Steve and Karl

Ricky, Steve and Karl answer BAFTA’s questions

Via Ricky “Week one hundred and eighty-four – September 2011

I’ve had one of my big ideas. (photo)

What do you think of this?

A live 3 hour podcast during The Golden Globes. Me and a few chums (like Louis CK, Chris Rock, Karl Pilkington, John Stewart, Larry David popping in and out) doing our own alternative commentary.

People at home can have the telly on with the sound down listening to us online say things that no broadcaster could get away with.

No one could do a fucking thing.

The biggest live webcast ever? Who knows? Who cares? What’s fun is the shit we might come out with. No money. No sponsor. No guide lines. Fuck me I can’t wait.

Maybe I’ll do a non-broadcast practice with The Emmys to see if it works. I’ll let you know.”

Video of Rupert and James Murdoch at the select committee

Guardian has done a great job in posting the video and transcript plus insightful commentary, “Rupert and James Murdoch at the select committee – interactive presentation – Video and text of Rupert and James Murdoch’s appearance before the culture select committee, with commentary from Lisa O’Carroll“