Kempton & 張婉婷 給十九歲的我 (National Treasure) To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self – Mabel Cheung 2.5 hrs chat

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Related: “多謝《給十九歲的我》的參與者。 #終身學習 Thanks Participants of “To My 19 Year Old Self” #LifelongLearning”

Related: “回應張堅庭導演 #給十九歲的我”

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• 10 years in the making, 300,000 hours of footage, and 3 years editing
• Calling 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self a “National Treasure“
• What good can documentaries do? Can you imagine documentaries changing lives or society?
• Director Mabel’s “Final Cut” & Ying Wa’s “Final Decision”
• re Mabel and her filmmaking & loving life partner the late Alex Law 羅啟銳
• Has Mabel thought of donating Alex’s and her creative archives to her alma mater HKU or NYU like Canadian author & living national treasure Margaret Atwood had donated 600+ boxes to create the Atwood archives at U of T?
• Sending my thanks & love to Mabel & team, student interviewees, and Ying Wa Girls’ School 英華女校 staff
• Concluding thoughts
• Postscripts 後記

10 years in the making, 300,000 hours of footage, and 3 years editing

It was my great honour and pleasure to have an extensive ~2.5 hours four parts insightful video interview (watch here) with Ms. Mabel Cheung 張婉婷導演 , an award winning director from the start of her career including her first student film (the famous “Migration trilogy“: The Illegal Immigrant 非法移民 (1985), An Autumn’s Tale 秋天的童話 (1987) and Eight Taels of Gold 八兩金 (1989)). My previous “record” of longest film interview was ~2 hours with Taiwan director Mr. Shen Ko-shang 沈可尚 to talk about his documentary LOVE Talk 幸福定格 which he took 7 years to film 8 couples.

Mabel and I chatted last Sunday Hong Kong time (2023/01/15) to talk about her documentary (10 years in the making, 300,000 hours of footage, and 3 years in the editing room) 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self (in short 給十九 ToMy19). And then the film won 2022 Best Film from Hong Kong Film Critics Society 香港電影評論學會 one day later on Monday (2023/01/16). Perfectly timed for Mabel‘s words of thanks to be appended to Part 4/4 of the interview clips.

My extensive ~2.5 hours chat with Mabel covers many topics, including scenes I love in 給十九 ToMy19 from the perspectives of movie viewers and also things that documentary filmmakers like myself or aspiring filmmakers want to know. Some viewers and filmmakers maybe curious how Mabel worked with 300,000 hours of footage to create a film that is loved by many? Or when the student interviewees didn’t want to be interviewed anymore, what did Mabel & team do to keep things going? What kind of advices does Mabel have for documentary or drama filmmakers or aspiring filmmakers wanting to create their first film?

Have a watch of all four parts of the interview. Mabel & I were originally scheduled to chat for 2 hours and those time flew by in the blink of an eye. And Mabel was so kind in giving me a 30 minutes extension. I used my additional time to ask questions I previously collected from a photographer friend interested in filmmaking and three questions by Norris Wong 黃綺琳 (note: Norris 黃綺琳 is Mabel’s former university student and current filmmaking project mentee 香港電影發展基金「薪火相傳計劃 ((2022?)-(3) 張婉婷 / 黃鐦 黃綺琳)」).

Calling 給19歲的我 To My 19-Year-Old Self a “National Treasure“

Right from the start, I mentioned to Mabel that I’ve watched 給十九 ToMy19 6+ times and I love it. In the same way that many Brits now love the Up (film series) (a series of docs featuring group of ~14 people in UK when they were 7, 14, 21, 28, … all the way to 63 years old) and consider Up (film series) a National Treasure, I love 給十九 ToMy19 a ton and also consider it a National Treasure.

Love is hard to explain. In some sense I started falling in love with longitudinal documentaries in 1988 as I was lucky to discover and watched the first four Up (documentary series) when the subjects/interviewees were 7, 14, 21, and 28 years old, at the SigSam audio-visual library of my alma mater University of Toronto. To my knowledge, the Up (film series) produced by Granada Television for ITV is the oldest, most famous, and most successful longitudinal documentaries of all time. Hoop Dreams (1994) is another longitudinal doc I love. There is also longitudinal dramas like director Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood (2014) (same actors filmed from 2002 to 2013) and the Before trilogy (Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013)) of romance films featuring the same leads.

And now you see why I’m primed to LOVE Mabel’s 給十九 ToMy19 which has become my latest favourite. Yes, a National Treasure. If I were a betting man, the 2022 Best Film mentioned above may just be the first of many awards. Of course, “winning awards” should never be any good filmmaker’s goal and definitely wasn’t Mabel’s as she told me. But a good film about HongKongers should be watched by more HongKongers.

What good can documentaries do? Can you imagine documentaries changing lives or society?

Many documentarians (good and even bad ones) aspire to capture their times for history. You may ask what good can documentaries do? Is it even possible that documentaries can change lives or society? Let me share two examples to illustrate.

Oscar winning director Errol Morris‘s documentary The Thin Blue Line (1988) was instrumental in Randall Dale Adams‘ (wrongly convicted of murder) exoneration the following year. Dear Zachary (2008) is a documentary that is instrumental in changing the legal system (specifically, bail reform) in Canada which I had the heartbreaking honour to video interview David & Kate Bagby when they attended the 2008 Calgary International Film Festival screening.

I hope a good documentary like 給十九 ToMy19 can lead to self and collective reflections, follow by positive changes in minds and actions of Hong Kong students, parents, teachers, school admins, education system, and even Hong Kong society in general. I wonder can and should 給十九 ToMy19 be screened at Ying Wa for all incoming new students in future years? Or will other Hong Kong schools want/plan to screen the film for teachable moments and learning purpose? I think the film contains many universal truths and can be used as good teaching aids in the hands of wise and loving teachers, vice-principals and principals. I think. I hope.

One scene that breaks my heart into a million pieces is the one that Vice-Principal Siu-Fung 小鳳 talked about some school where students (and their parents?) were thrilled to burn their school books after public exams were over. How tragic? Joi Ito (伊藤 穰一), former director of the MIT Media Lab, said this in a cool TED talk which I love, “Learning over Education. To me, Education is what people do to you. And Learning is what you do to yourself.”

For the books burning students, their cheering teachers & parents, I wonder what were they thinking? Do they think all their learning were “finally over” once they got accepted into university or graduated and got their undergrad degrees? Have they ever heard of or aspire to the idea/ideal of “Lifelong Learning“?

I want to especially thank the student interviewees and their families for their open sharing of a wide range of topics, including public health topics like mental health, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and many other topics that we can all learn more about and become better members of our communities. Be kind, be caring, and be loving of others.

Director Mabel’s “Final Cut” & Ying Wa’s “Final Decision”

As Mabel told me in our chat, she has the Director’s Final Cut on the documentary so that means anything that is on screen (or not on screen), the length, etc were all her decisions to make and her decisions were final. And “luckily”, the Hong Kong film censor did not have to cut one frame off her film.

And if my memory serves me, Mabel in one of her many interviews with media directly said (or implied) that it is always Ying Wa‘s “Final Decision”, in it I took it to mean that Ying Wa could have nixed the whole documentary after Mabel had done all the hard work. But Ying Wa did not. And for that, I thank the higher-ups at Ying Wa for letting 給十九 ToMy19 have her own life with us HongKongers and viewers around the world.

re Mabel and her filmmaking & loving life partner the late Alex Law 羅啟銳

My heart was broken into million pieces as I watched hours & hours of YouTube videos of insightful interviews of Mabel and her filmmaking & loving life partner the late Alex Law 羅啟銳. (see links below) The sudden passing of Alex last year came as a shock for Mabel and HongKongers and deeply saddened us all. Many in the film industry and media lovingly call the duo “雌雄大導” (for directors) drawing parallel to the saying “雌雄大盜”. To me, Mabel & Alex were 形影不離, the duo were actualization of the word inseparable for their creative & personal lives (see this 美紙 Art & Piece 2022 Nov cover (FB link)).

Some day I would love to ask Mabel about her & Alex’s creative process. Hopefully Mabel will let me interview her again in the future. Will see.

Recommended YouTube videos: a) 書展2013：移民3部曲 – 羅啟銳、張婉婷 (2013, 76 minutes), b) 影談系列——張婉婷 · 羅啟銳《秋天的童話》映後談Movie Talk—Mabel and Alex “An Autumn’s Tale” Post-screening Talk (2022, 105 mins), c) 影談系列——張婉婷 · 羅啟銳《玻璃之城》映後談 Movie Talk—Mabel and Alex “City of Glass” Post-screening Talk (2022, 88 mins)

Has Mabel thought of donating Alex’s and her creative archives to her alma mater HKU or NYU like Canadian author & living national treasure Margaret Atwood had donated 600+ boxes to create the Atwood archives at U of T?

Knowing how precious Mabel’s and Alex’s creative archives can be of inspiring values to filmmakers of this and future generations, I asked if Mabel had thought of donating Alex’s and her creative archives to her alma mater HKU or NYU like Canadian author & living national treasure Margaret Atwood had donated 600+ boxes to create the Margaret Atwood Papers at U of T that anyone can access digitally and freely?

Mabel thought who (no one really?) would be interested in Alex’s and her creative papers? I promptly said I would and think many people would too! And I suggested the papers should be digitized for easy and free global access. (Yes, I’m selfish and thinking of making sure me in Canada can access easily.) Mabel wasn’t thrilled of the amount of work involved. Of which I said it would totally be the receiving institution’s job (in fact, a pre-condition) to make sure these precious papers and creative materials of Mabel’s and Alex’s are as easily, digitally, and freely accessible for research purpose as the Margaret Atwood Papers at U of T that people can access and have a look anytime, like now.

If and when Mabel has decided to donate more of their creative papers, I would love to chat with Mabel to talk more.

Sending my thanks & love to Mabel & team, student interviewees, and Ying Wa Girls’ School 英華女校 staff

I want to send my thanks & love to Mabel & team for their hard work in the last 10 years. Without their dedicated and persistent hard work, 給十九 ToMy19 would have been impossible to make. My special thanks to the so called “師奶兵團 (義務導演) C9 Army corps (Volunteer Directors)“!

And I want to send my thanks & love to all 30+ Form 1 student interviewees, all 13 student interviewees that appeared on the film credit list that, I understood, to have participated till the end. And in particular the 6+3 interviewees that we got to know a little in the film.

In order of featured appearances

「阿佘」Britney

「阿聆」Ling

馬燕茹  Jenny

“Madam”  Karen

「香港小姐」“Miss HK” Katie

「阿雀」“Birdy” Chloe

plus

“Ken” Myra

Shirley

Angel

And I also want to send my thanks & love to all of Ying Wa Girls’ School 英華女校 teachers, vice-principals, and former & current principal.

To all who appear in front of the cameras, I again thank you for making 給十九 ToMy19 possible.

Concluding thoughts

After watching 給十九 ToMy19, a National Treasure, that took 10 years to make, it is easy for us viewers to think we, all of a sudden, “know” all of the interviewees “deeply” because we watched them “grew up” in front of our eyes for 10 years, right? 10 years flew by in the blink of an eye. Some of us may think we know something or even a lot about them, right? I’m afraid that will be wrong. I think, all documentaries, no matter how good, can only capture some very small parts of people. In fact we only know very little about our beloved student interviewees as there have been a lot of growths and changes happening off cameras. Especially since the film finished shooting in 2019 which was over 3 years ago.

If I may use a “musical tangent” of a song example to illustrate growth and changes. Do you remember in the first few minutes of the film 「阿佘」Britney sang an excerpt of “Think of Me” from Phantom ? I love it. But Britney didn’t. Britney wasn’t too happy as she told Mabel, because she thought she kinda sang off-key (走音) for a few words and would rather see her singing cut. But I (we) love it, right?

Thing is life is all about growing & learning. We all mature in time. Our singing. Thinking. Now here comes my “musical tangent” from me doing “too much research”. This is a clip of the talented Emmy Rossum singing “Think of Me” in The Phantom of the Opera (2004). And in 2012, eight years later, Emmy on a late night comedy talk show singing “O Mio Babbino Caro” impromptu and it was, to me, 20x better than her 2004 movie singing because her voice has more practices and time to mature. I’m no expert in music. Maybe Britney can have a listen and tell me? Or better, maybe we all can have a “listen” to the “music” of growth, learning and maturity with our “ears” in our hearts.

Postscripts 後記:

P1.S.) 張堅庭 Alfred Cheung’s take ===> I read from Facebook that Mabel’s director good friend Alfred Cheung 張堅庭 watched 給十九 ToMy19 in Taiwan twice in three days. Alfred shared a story of an interesting encounter with a 2x viewer concluding with the comment “這就是「給19歲的我」的另一種吸引，有時紀錄片比劇情片更讓人刻骨銘心。近期的心水推薦。”.

P2.S.) 小鳳 Siu-Fung is #cool ===> Check out this interview of Vice-Principal Siu-Fung 小鳳 shared by the movie Facebook page, “我要用上帝的愛浸死他們——訪《給19歲的我》英華女校副校長“

P3.S.) Words about translation of National Treasure and pandas 熊貓 ===> I’ve decided to keep on using the English words National Treasure and not translate it to Chinese for this article. For my generation, it feels easier to say “love you” to my parents instead of saying the words “我愛你” which feels very 肉麻. To me, the words 國寶 should ONLY be used to describe pandas 熊貓 like the adorable Jia Yueyue (加悅悅 ‘Canadian Joy’) and Jia Panpan (加盼盼 ‘Canadian Hope’). So 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self will always be a National Treasure to me. :)

P4.S.) 金成 + 張婉婷 ===> Of the many recent interview videos of Mabel I’ve watched, 金成 has done one of the most comprehensive and insightful interview and I highly recommend watching, 叔叔的愛（番外篇）：金成、張婉婷對談.

P5.S.) Unprofessional to call 給十九歲的我 “National Treasure”? ===> I can always count on my Better Half being frank with me and call my bull beep out. She warned me that by calling 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self a National Treasure, I appear rather “unprofessional” and appear to “suck up” to Mabel and others. But did I? Did I NOT ask some tough questions during my extensive interview with Mabel? Did I NOT try to correct Mabel about some minor factual info (about the Up (film series)) when I could easily have said nothing? I felt important to ask questions in a respectful manner as Mabel is an accomplished filmmaker and yet, to do a good job, good (and sometimes tough) questions must be asked. While I was typing this, I kept thinking of Alex telling Mabel that her 1st and 2nd versions of 給十九歲的我 To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self was “boring” 好悶啊. Something only an honest and loving partner can and must keep on telling each other. I continue to mourn the passing of Alex, one half of a beautiful creative duo. To expand, “雌雄大導” focus on their creative work, while “形影不離” transcend work and become encompassing of work and life with love. Me think.

P6.S.) Ming Pao’s insightful interview with video ===> worth a read and watch, “花十年拍紀錄片變「老頑童」 張婉婷面對生活像快要崩潰的牆｜張婉婷專訪” [HT YWGS]

P7.S) 張婉婷想做飛機師 ==> I love this interview a ton, “(端傳媒) 導演張婉婷專訪：用十年紀錄香港千禧世代之後，她想做飛機師” [HT YWGS] I wish I had more time to chat with Mabel about her dream (or desire) to be a pilot (想做飛機師). You see, my US Wyoming based political talk show host friend Glenn is a private plane pilot and owns a small plane. With my previous CAATS – ATC (Canadian Automated Air Traffic Systems – Air Traffic Control) Software Engineering experience, we love to talk shop sometimes including topics like glass cockpit, Boeing 737 MAX tragic crashes & groundings, … and sometimes Glenn shares beautiful made-by-pilots cockpit YouTube videos like “Vancouver Island Series – Tofino, Long Beach – Can’t believe this is allowed! – Part 4 – (S3:E4)“. I would love to ask Mabel if she really wants to fly herself? Or would she be just as happy (like me) to watch beautiful clips like Vancouver Island Series – Tofino, Long Beach – Can’t believe this is allowed! and be amazed? Or Mabel really want to fly in the air?

P8) 說自己想說的話 ==> Check out am730 “張婉婷是香港的童話” as I love this line a lot, “然後，張婉婷輕輕笑一笑：「我們拍電影，不是為賺錢，是為說自己想說的話呀！」” [HT YWGS]

P9) 20230128 Ming Pao 明報OL, (with video) “《給十九歲的我》成績超乎預期 張婉婷盼成功為母校籌錢建泳池” 20230128 香港01, “優先場票房600萬　張婉婷面對負評︰不能客觀評價“

P10) 20230129 “文化誌，人物記 時日再變　樂天不變　《給19歲的我》阿雀：啲人笑我似林敏聰” (Youtube video) & “時代論壇 – 英華女校榮休石玉如校長專訪“

Update history: 20230128 6:28am Minor editorial changes + adding news links. 20230125 11:20pm Minor editorial changes + adding internet links. 20230121 12:25pm Created Internet archive saved page to properly and permanently link info to 香港電影發展基金「薪火相傳計劃 ((2022?)-(3) 張婉婷 / 黃鐦 黃綺琳 project. 5:52am Added P8 and reworded the beginning of each Postscript a little. 20230120 12:50pm Title change to match video clips and few other editorial changes. 11:22am MST Style and top picture position change. 5:18am MST – Add a pix up top which links to YouTube list of all 4 videos. Add P6.S., P7.S. and other minor updates. 20230119 10:25pm MST – Added P4S 金成 video interview recommendation. Added P5S My Better Half challenged me and asked: Did I “suck up” to Mabel and others by calling 給19 ToMy19 a National Treasure? P5S is a reply to her legitimate question. 20230119 9:47pm MST – Fixed typos and making minor changes

First published: 20230119 ~8pm MST

Uplifting #Superbugs #ThePerfectPredator #Phage #SaveTheHusbandSaveTheWorld story told by Steffanie Strathdee, PhD @chngin_the_wrld

Watch this Global TV segment and I think you will find it Dr. Steffanie Strathdee‘s experience saving his husband’s life very uplifting and yet has great potential impact to our world of #Superbugs!

Global TV, 2022 Feb 12, “Superbugs: The global health crisis that threatens modern medicine“

Here are a bunch of other resources, articles, videos, etc I found & enjoy.

Time Health Care 50 (2018?), Steffanie Strathdee, Solving Superbugs (K’s note: I added important and useful links to the following text not presence in the original article)

“In 2015, her husband contracted an antibiotic-resistant bug on vacation and almost died. But Strathdee, a University of California, San Diego, epidemiologist, saved him by appealing to researchers of an obscure treatment that uses special viruses called phages [Bacteriophage] to kill the bacteria. In June, she helped launch the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics Useful Twitters: IPATH, Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, UCSDMedSchool], which she hopes will make more superbug treatments possible. —Mandy Oaklander”

In Steffanie‘s own words in a 2017 posted TEDx Talk, “How Sewage Saved My Husband’s Life from a Superbug | Steffanie Strathdee | TEDxNashville” (ref wiki, Acinetobacter Baumannii)

What Steffanie did was kinda “#SaveTheHusbandSaveTheWorld” moment for me which is a phrase I borrowed from the “Save The Cheerleader, Save The World | Heroes” scene.

Also check out Steffanie & Tom’s book The Perfect Predator – A scientist’s race to save her husband from a deadly superbug (book website, book review).

Will try to add more over time. To be continued.

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My favourite shows on Netflix (2020)

Here are some of my favourite TV shows on Netflix in 2020. I especially LOVE the foreign language shows (Norwegian, German, etc) as they kinda open new world to me.

• The Queen’s Gambit (2020, 7 episodes) (trailer)

• Home for Christmas (Norwegian TV series, 2019-2020, 2 seasons, 12 eps) (trailer)

• Over Christmas (German, 2020) (trailer)

• Dash & Lily – 8-episode TV series (2020) (trailer)

Older series that I rediscovered in 2020

• Discovered Halt and Catch Fire (TV series) (4 seasons from 2014-2017) (trailer) on Netflix this year 2020. Turned out I LOVED it and binged it!

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Alice Wu – “The Half Of It” interviews

Alice Wu – director of “The Half Of It” (and “Saving Face”) interviews

Digital Dialogues: Alice Wu on making THE HALF OF IT | TIFF 2020

SBIFF Cinema Society – The Half Of It Q&A with Alice Wu

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Maya Lin – Great minds of our time

As I’ve been doing some #ThoughtExperiments for a “Covid19 global memorial”, I can’t helped but be inspired a lot by the amazing Maya Lin‘s design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial! After learning more about Maya Lin, I’m totally adding Maya to my long list of Great minds of our time  Here in this post, I capture some great videos, etc that I’ve come across and try to learn from.

Posted 2016, American Academy of Achievement, Maya Lin 2000 (interview conducted in 2000) (~62 minutes)

Via “The Film Archives” Youtube channel posted 2015, Maya Lin: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Architecture, Biography, Design (2000) (~57 minutes)

2017 TIME, Maya Lin On Being A Female Architect: ‘I Didn’t Want My Gender To Become An Issue’ | TIME (~3 minutes)

2018, WoodrowWilsonCenter Youtube Channel, The Battle Over a Vietnam War Memorial (~18 minutes)

2014, Maya Lin, Architect and Artist: Talks at GS

Jewel talks Art of Mindfulness and sings “Hands,” Discusses Song’s Origin

2020 April 28, great  101.1 CBS-FM radio interview by Brad Blanks, “Brad Blanks Discusses the Art of Mindfulness and Meditation with Jewel “All meditation is being constantly present””

And I googled around and found this GREAT clip “Jewel Sings “Hands,” Discusses Song’s Origin” to watch!

Here is “Jewel – Hands (Official Music Video)”

True Face of #Humanity, Deepfake of #Tedros #Covid19 #Avengers #InfinityWar #EndGame #TheEnd

In “Humanity: Infinity War” against #covid19, Humanity got exactly one out of 14,000,605 futures to defeat #covid19! And we stupid humanity is now looping, wasting valuable #time fighting amongst ourselves so badly, that the movie production of “Humanity: Endgame” is basically being cancelled because we all (you, me, the smart people who made the deepfake video of Dr. Tedros & Xi Jinping, everyone of us) do not really deserve to have a slightly happier ending remotely like what “Humanity: Endgame” could have been.

At this rate, all we deserve is “Humanity: The End” as a sequel. And you know what will that movie show? You see, “Humanity: The End” is not even a brand new movie but just a duplicate copy of “Humanity: Infinity War“, so no one need to waste time doing another deepfake video. We just need to show half of humanity dead like Avengers: Infinity War. We all happy?

I wrote my first-person narrative documentary poetry “I am the F**King Virus” (now a short film), this is how I ended my poem, no one can accuse me of sugarcoating it:

//Unless Humanity stops her infighting and work together as One to end me now
I will be back//

It turns out my documentary poetry has been written based on solid provable science (so far) and too painfully real observations of humanity and how stupid we are!

#FuckingStupid

deep fake of Dr. Tedros, WHO (merging with Xi Jinping)

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Note: I wrote this post originally as a comment for a wise friend but I like it enough to share it publicly.

“I am the F**King Virus” – a #Covid19 Pandemic Documentary Poetry short film

(the “14,000,605” reference) Doctor Strange Looks into the Future| Avengers Infinity War )

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Bill Gates foretelling TED talk on Pandemic in 2015 & his views on #covid19 now

Here are two videos where you can watch Bill Gates foresight on Pandemic in 2015 & his views on #covid19 now. If his advices were heeded in 2015, thousands and thousands of lives could have been saved from #covid19.

The next outbreak? We’re not ready | Bill Gates

2020 March 25, How we must respond to the COVID-19 pandemic | Bill Gates

And as a bonus video given by Dr. Bruce Aylward. Sadly, if his words from one month and one day ago were heeded by leaders of UK and UK, then they can certainly avoid many more daths

20200225, “Coronavirus outbreak: WHO expert says countries must shift mindset to virus preparedness | FULL”

#covid19 daily press briefing 20 March 2020 – Live from WHO Headquarters (with timecodes to Q&As)

#covid19 daily press briefing 20 March 2020 – Live from WHO Headquarters

List of timecodes to help quickly access specific sections where Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Dr. Mike Ryan, and Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove answered questions from the press:

0:00 Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus starts press conference
11:52 Q1 by reporter from China state owned Xinhua News Agency
12:28 A1 Dr. Mike Ryan answer re implication of China has no new cases since yesterday.
14:07 Q2 from Iran re Nowruz [which means “new day”/Iranian New Year, a holiday marking the arrival of spring]
15:12 A2 from Dr. Mike Ryan
17:38 A2 from Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove
18:48 Q3
19:24 A3 Dr. Mike Ryan
22:30 A3 Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove
23:38 Q4
24:16 A4 Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove
26:02 Q5 Email question from India
26:35 A5 Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove
28:08 Q6
28:35 A6 Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
29:30 Q7
30:00 A7 Dr. Mike Ryan re lack of supply globally
34:55 A7 Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
35:34 “Some countries are banning exports and that cannot be a solution”
37:00 A7 Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove re recommendations on the use of masks on an individual level.
38:18 Q8
38:44 A8 Dr. Mike Ryan 41:00 These are the healthcare systems collapsing …
42:20 A8 Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove
43:22 Q9 from Greece
44:02 A9 Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove
45:00 A9 Dr. Mike Ryan
47:38 A9 & Concluding comments from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Steve Martin and Martin Short – Brief But Spectacular

I LOVE the Brief But Spectacular series from PBS (and now also from CBC also). Because I’m a geek, there are TWO versions (in a sense) of Steve Martin and Martin Short – Brief But Spectacular.

Steve Martin and Martin Short on faux flattery and genuine compliments (4:45)

The enduring and spectacular friendship of Steve Martin and Martin Short (6:31)

Oh man, THANK YOU internet, here is “Jiminy Glick Interviews Edie Falco” (the “shhhh” comes at ~4:35 timecode)

Another bonus – Hilarious Steve Martin and Martin Short | 60 Minutes Australia

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#Oscars2020 Best Picture #Parasite #BongJoonHo

Here are a few things I collected related to Oscar winning director Bong Joon-Ho and his Oscars 2020 Best Picture Parasite!

Tweet video via @TheAcademy “#Oscars Moment: Bong Joon Ho accepts the Oscar for Best Directing for @ParasiteMovie .” (LOVE Bong quoting and thanking Martin Scorsese in his speech, “The most personal is the most creative.” And also thanking Quentin Tarantino for spreading words of his works.)

#Oscars Moment: Bong Joon Ho accepts the Oscar for Best Directing for @ParasiteMovie. pic.twitter.com/b7t6bYGdzw

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 10, 2020

The quote here.

A few words from a winner… #Oscars pic.twitter.com/q6rt98eC2y

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 10, 2020

Tweet video via @TheAcademy “#Oscars Moment: @ParasiteMovie wins for Best Picture.”

#Oscars Moment: @ParasiteMovie wins for Best Picture. pic.twitter.com/AokyBdIzl5

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 10, 2020

Oscar Winers for ‘Parasite’ Full Backstage Speech | THR (Kwak Sin Ae, Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won)

BAFTA Guru: Bong Joon-Ho on Writing Parasite | On Writing

[SPOILERS] PARASITE Cast and Crew Q&A | TIFF 2019

via Directors Guild of America (2020 Jan 25), “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award nominees Bong Joon Ho (Parasite), Sam Mendes (1917), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood), and Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) joined moderator Jeremy Kagan onstage for an in-depth discussion about their work.”

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P.S. 20191231, Nerdwriter1 “Parasite’s Perfect Montage”

“As Bong so memorably said in this clip, “We all live in the same country … called Capitalism.”” ===> Bong Joon-ho Discusses PARASITE, Genre Filmmaking And The Greatness Of ZODIAC

20200102 Guardian “Sharon Choi: how we fell for Bong Joon-ho’s translator”

“Choi – a 25-year-old Korean-American, also a film-maker, currently living in Seoul – has only been working with Bong since May, when her skills made her an indispensable part of his team at Cannes. But her scene-stealing has shone a light on interpreting, an overlooked aspect of film’s promotional circuit, especially on the arthouse side. It is a high-grade post, combining two-way linguistic expertise, formidable memory skills (good for keeping hold of rambling directorial musings) and a head for PR. Ever-present, as Choi has been as Parasite does the rounds, interpreters sometimes become a mouthpiece for certain directors. The fresh-faced young man that Takeshi Kitano had on hand during junkets in the early 00s was very conspicuous amid the retinue of yakuza-like goons who would hang around the director during his interviews.”

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#DailyPositive Bianca Andreescu vs. Jennifer Brady

#DailyPositive #GoBiancaGo #GoCanadaGo

20191003 Bianca Andreescu vs. Jennifer Brady | 2019 China Open Third Round | WTA Highlights

20191003 AP (Sportsnet), “Andreescu moves on to quarters at China Open after 17th consecutive win”

#DailyPositive Bianca Andreescu vs. Elise Mertens

#DailyPositive #GoBiancaGo #GoCanadaGo

20191002, Bianca Andreescu vs. Elise Mertens | 2019 China Open Second Round | WTA Highlights

20191002 (The Canadian Press), Bianca Andreescu wins 16th match in a row at China Open

“After the world No. 6 beat Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 7-6 (5) in a second-round match at the China Open, Andreescu said she has to focus on stressing the positives.

“Today was more of a battle mentally with myself than anything,” said the 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont. “I felt like I was getting very down on myself. I expect a lot from myself in general, but I have to realize not everything is going to go the way I want it to.”

Andreescu fought back from a 4-1 deficit in the second set and then fended off a set point to beat Mertens in a rematch of a U.S. Open quarterfinal. The Canadian also won in New York last month en route to her first career Grand Slam title.

“I can improve on a lot of things, but I think the main thing right now is definitely keeping a more positive approach to things,” Andreescu said. “Even if there are 100 positives in something, if there is one negative thing that happens, that triggers something in me and I then I totally forget about all the positives.

“I just want to think of the positive as much as I can and just work with what I have.”“

20191002 Ashleigh Barty vs. Zheng Saisai | 2019 China Open Third Round | WTA Highlights (For the record, Bibi will next play Barty, currently ranked #1 in the world.)

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

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Dream big to get big! – Bianca Andreescu #SheTheNorth – new Quote I LOVE

I have an extensive & detailed post about Bianca with links to tons of videos and articles so check that out for sure. Here I’m adding this new quote to my long list of Quotes I LOVE,

“Dream big to get big! And don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget your roots! She [Bianca’s mom] has been telling me that ever since I was a little kid.” – Bianca Andreescu (2000- )

Bianca on ET Canada (timecode 5m34s)

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Something about “The Testaments”, Margaret Atwood’s much-anticipated sequel to her 1985 classic The Handmaid’s Tale

I feel guilty and must confess that I’m one of those very few Canadians that have neither read Canadian National Treasure Margaret Atwood‘s awards winning The Handmaid’s Tale nor watch a full episode of the famed TV series. But still, I’m fascinated about “The Testaments” and here I plan to collect some radio/TV interview, news, and book reviews.

20190911, Channel 4 News, Margaret Atwood on her sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, politics of fear and the climate crisis

20190909 Waterstones, Margaret Atwood reads from The Testaments

20190904, TIME (with a short bit of reading by Atwood), Margaret Atwood On The Sequel To ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ | TIME

20190910, CBC News, Margaret Atwood unveils sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale: The Testaments

==== Book review ====

20190910, Guardian, The Testaments by Margaret Atwood review – a dazzling follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood is at her best in this Booker-shortlisted return, three decades on, to the patriarchal dystopia of Gilead

NOTE: I hope to add more in the coming days.

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Something about “Talking to Strangers”, Malcolm Gladwell’s new book

I’ve reserved a copy of “Talking to Strangers”, Malcolm Gladwell‘s new book, from the Calgary Public Library and looking very much forward to reading it. Here are some video interviews Malcolm has done on his book tour to promote his book and some links to book reviews. Enjoy!

20190910, CBC Radio The Current (23 minutes), Can a stranger’s demeanour tell you what they’re thinking? Maybe not, says Malcolm Gladwell

20190904 Channel 4, “Malcolm Gladwell on truth, Trump’s tweets and talking to strangers”

20190907 Economist, “Why we should talk to strangers, according to Malcolm Gladwell | The Economist Podcast”

Bianca Andreescu, US Open Champ #TeachableMoments

In life, I believe we can and should take stock and learn from #TeachableMoments whenever we can. I don’t play tennis but I see lots to learn from 2019 US Open Champ Bianca Andreescu (and her interaction with 23 times grand slams and multiple US Open Champ Serena Williams)!

pix 00 – 2019 US Open Bianca Andreescu vs Serena Williams

I went to a pub and it was a ton of fun watching Bianca played and won live with other Canadians! But I learned a lot more from her many post-game press conferences, news articles and off the court behaviours (who can forget her Rogers Cup on court moment (see video) with Serena?!) and desire to inspire the next generation of tennis players (especially Canadian female players).

Bianca is so talented and look at what she achieved in just one year! What an epic year! I LOVE quotes, and there have been much online talks of  attribution/misattribution of quotes involve underestimating/overestimating what one can achieve in one year or five/ten years. But another way of looking at it may be to simply give Bianca‘s visualization process (?) as mentioned in the news and her press conference a try. In fact some Twitter user pointed out that Bianca writing herself a cheque for winning the US Open when she was young and her visualization process was not unlike what fellow Canadian Jim Carrey did (see Jim’s video interview with Oprah). (NOTE: One day I may write more about why this is important to me but that can wait for now.)

For the record, I tweeted 20190811 (with video link in tweet and also below),

“My eyes were wet when I rewatched Bianca & Serena courtside uncensored talk a few times+their press conf twice each. Best in sport moments transcend technical skills, winning/losing & become #teachablemoment re how to treat other w empathy & respect, try2be better versions of us.“

I may still add/update this post to share a list of my own #TeachableMoments from these last few weeks and months from Bianca. Until then, the following is a list of most of the raw sources that I learned those #TeachableMoments from. Enjoy and have fun!

• Here is how Bianca answered a question re her immigrant parents in the US Open press conference @15m53s timecode (note that this is in light of how Syria and other immigrants/refugees have been mistreated by world politicians like US President Trump and others):

• Bianca‘s desire to inspire other tennis players (like Serena has inspired her), especially younger Canadian players! (Note that Bianca herself is ONLY 19 years old, that in itself is impressive!)
• (NOTE: I may add more in the future if I can find some time.)

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=====  References & Sources of inspirations for my #TeachableMoments =====

* 20190908, TSN (with video) “A day after US Open win, Andreescu already hungry for more”

* New Yorker, “In Her U.S. Open Victory, Bianca Andreescu Shows the Swagger That Serena Williams Brought to Women’s Tennis”

* 20190907 CBC News, Bianca Andreescu wins U.S. Open, becomes 1st Canadian to claim a Grand Slam title

* CTV News Toronto (with video of viewing party in Toronto), “The most Canadian way to accept a trophy? Bianca Andreescu says ‘sorry’”

Lee Iacocca (1924-2019)

 

My 1986 copy of “Iacocca: An Autobiography” which I used for a high school English class assignment/book review. This is one of the autobiographies that got me onto the path of lifelong learning form insightful people’s biographies.

Goodbye Mr. Lee Iacocca (1934-2019), you will be dearly missed.

Thanks to my high school English teacher for letting me use Iacocca‘s best selling autobiography for one of the book review/class assignment which got me on a lifelong path of reading and enjoying autobiographies and biographies of many people which got me to learn valuable life lessons and teachable moments from them.

CNN, “How Lee Iacocca became an American icon” (bought back so many good memories)

Jun 2017, RegularCars, “The Legend of Lee Iacocca” (hope this is good)

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NBA Champ Raptors, Load Management, Kawhi Leonard, and a whole lot more

For the record, the following are excerpts from five insightful articles I found to read re “Load Management” as used by NBA Champion team Raptors on its players including MVP superstar Kawhi Leonard. Pay attention to mentions of Alex McKechnie, Raptors’ director of sports science (hired by Raptors in 2011) who now has six, yes SIX,  NBA championship rings!

Let me start by sharing this cool bonus video that I found online:

How Toronto Raptors’ Alex McKechnie Built a Career in the NBA

Article #1 (This, by far, is the most insightful one out of the series of four)

June 1, 2019 Sportsnet, “The maestro of load management has been key to Raptors’ playoff success” Here is an excerpt (with emphasis added),

The Raptors were 17-5 when Leonard sat in the regular season but his value — and the value of Toronto’s patience — has been proven in the post-season.

The Raptors are 22 points better per 100 possessions with Leonard on the floor than when he sits, which is why Nurse has leaned on him so heavily when the games have mattered most.

That Nurse has been able to do so reflects the outsized impact of the club’s director of sports science, Alex McKechnie, a white-haired senior citizen with a Scottish accent who has as much influence in the organization as anyone other than Nick Nurse and president Masai Ujiri.

When the Raptors traded for Leonard, who had missed 73 games in San Antonio in 2017-18 due to an unspecified right quadriceps injury, a Raptors insider texted McKechnie with a simple message:

“You’re the most important person in the organization now.”

Managing the load
When Leonard arrived in Toronto, he made his priorities clear — after establishing that he was, indeed, “a fun guy” — a few minutes into his opening press conference on the eve of training camp.

He was asked: What does he want for his career?

“Just be able to be healthy, that’s my No. 1 goal,” he said. “Play a long, healthy career [and] be able to be dominant, wherever I land.”

He’s dominant. He showed it all season long as he posted career highs in points (26.6) and rebounds (7.3) and was second-team All-NBA and second-team all-defence despite playing just 60 games — missing most of the other 22 due to “load management.”

The term is a medical one, recognized by the NBA and deemed an acceptable reason for teams to sit out players who aren’t otherwise acutely injured or ill. It was McKechnie — who’s in his 19th NBA season and seventh with the Raptors — who made the term part of the lexicon and was responsible for managing the load by keeping track of Leonard’s fitness through a combination of biometric measures, outside medical opinions and feel.

Shortly after he joined the Raptors, McKechnie — who was not made available to be interviewed for this story — described his approach, honed after more than 40 years working in the field, as a blend of science and instinct born of thousands of hours of in-field experience.

“When we look at rehabilitation and training and conditioning, there’s a science to it, [but] once you establish the science the trainer becomes an artist, and so it’s really painting that individual’s picture,” McKechnie told Raptors.com in 2012.

“For example, you’re not going to do the same things you may for a post-up player as you would for a guard. Totally different approach to the training protocols. In much the same way that we look at a player shooting on his right side as a guy shooting from his left. There’s a completely different set of default postures that we look at.”

The following excerpt is also very insightful (with emphasis added) but again, I recommend you read the whole report “The maestro …“,