Blockbuster, a well-known United States video rental franchise, will cease its operation in Hong Kong soon. I received a letter from Blockbuster yesterday, informing me to get my deposit back (if any).

Blockbuster entered the Hong Kong video market in summer 1999, taking over the liquidated business of KPS, the then largest video rental chain in Hong Kong. I was living in residential hall (R. C. Lee Hall) at that time. Many hallmates, including myself, tried to use all the KPS rental coupons as soon as possible (which we called “coupon burning”) during the summer vacation.

The VCD / DVD and disc-burning technology obviously sealed the fate of the video rental business. Everyone would prefer getting their own copy, whether authorised or infringed, rather than renting from video stores. But then we have another problem: where could we get all the space to keep our collection of DVD?

Teen idol Britney Spears applied for annulment of marriage with her childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander, just 2 days after they got married in Las Vegas at 5 a.m. last Saturday, the Reuters reported.

It is just a trick to get media attention. Come on, try to get an annulment on the grounds that they “did not know each other’s likes and dislikes”? File your divorce petition instead, Mrs. Alexander.

The news report did not even say that Britney asserts intoxication by alcohol or any other situation which rendered her unable to know what she was doing. How can she prove her lack of “understanding of her actions”? I have no idea of matrimonial law in Nevada, but this annulment application seems like a joke to me.
Continue reading →

The United States Mars exploration rover Spirit (image) successfully landed on Mars today. It has already sent back a panorama and an overhead image.

Opportunity, the twin rover of Spirit, is expected to reach Mars 3 weeks later.

It has been good time for NASA recently. Its Stardust program made a successful catch of the “tail” particles of the comet Wild 2 (pronounced as “Vilt-2″). It seems that the misery associated with the explosion of Columbia space shuttle has finally left NASA alone.

The Europeans are not that lucky. The British-built Beagle 2 was scheduled to land on Mars on 25 December 2003, but contact has not been made with it.

Some relevant links:

• Mars Exploration Rovers Flash and HTMLsites
• Download Maestro, the program which operates the rovers
• Stardust Mission News: 2 January 2004

When everybody thinks that this horrible year of 2003 is going to be behind us, another bad news hit us this morning: Anita Mui passed away at the age of 40 due to cervical cancer.

When will the bad luck leave Hong Kong alone ?

The crocodile in Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long has been on the news for more than a week. Mr. John Lever, the crocodile expert from Australia, left Hong Kong today for private matters and will return on Sunday to continue his hunt of the reptile.

I am not interested in the search, or any action scenes in relation to it. But it seems that the wetland of Nam Sang Wai needs our protection (from pollution) rather than the crocodile.

Learn more about this rare wetland in Hong Kong: photo gallery, description in Chinese and annotated map.