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the devil wears vintage

Sunday, Nov 8, 2009 10:39PM / Members only

In August’s Vanity Fair columnist Michael Wolff opens his story about the sensation of Politico with a chilling prophecy by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park anyone?). In 1993, when only geeks were using the Internets, Crichton predicted that the then-newfangled technology would make the general newspaper obsolete. The abundance and accessibility of online information meant people would just search and read about what they were interested in. Turn us all into geeks. The exposure would also make people much pickier about where to get their info.
As a result, the general journalist, the kind who knows a little about a lot of things rather than a lot about 1 or 2 things, would be outed.
Wish I'd known about that back in '93. Now..well, these last 4 years or so…the intellectual shortcomings and questionable editorial judgment of many general newspapers and its generalist journalists are starting to show (ie. the Alive prank of 2003). Even Malcolm Gladwell, a fellow general journalist (who might be filthy rich but is disrespected by his peers, academics) implied it here when he advised kids not to attend journalism school.
I think that’s why- along with internets-induced ADD- I rarely read general newspapers anymore. Instead, I kinda read them like I do magazines.. flip, flip, flip, “oh that’s a nice photo”, flip, flip, *read 3 paragraphs*. Done. I much prefer trade journals, journals written for a specific industry, crafted by specialist writers who’ve dedicated their careers to covering ONE subject. People who don’t need Wikipedia. Brandrepublic.com, Politico.com, Variety.com are a few of my faves. I'm always looking for more.

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For HK$10 a month...

Saturday, Nov 7, 2009 1:56PM / Members only

Dear Hutchison Telecom,

I opened yet another piece of direct mail from you today, and was about to chuck it out when one of your 'Additional Offers' caught my eye. Dude.. To switch to paperless billing, I'd have to pay you? Let's put aside the lack of taste in charging someone to feel more environmentally-friendly. Why, why why should I also have to pay you to help you save money on paper, postage, printer ink, and someone stuffing the envelopes?

Sincerely,
Confused

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First bite

Thursday, Oct 29, 2009 3:30AM / Members only

Tonight I interviewed Jaeson Ma about his documentary on the spread of Christianity in Asia, 10/40. It sounds promising, even for non-believers, but I can't add much until I see it.

But the reason I mention it is cuz i left the interview with a familiar sense of dread and self-doubt, thinking that I'd just wasted 1.5 precious hours forcing Jaeson to answer some pretty dull questions.

Then i read chapter 1 of Chuck Klosterman's Eating The Dinosaur, where he discusses the reasons why people answer questions...and yes, I felt better.

Klosterman is a famous pop culture columnist and author who says he's spent the last 5 years granting more interviews than conducting them. So in this chapter he describes what it's like being on both sides of the reporter's notepad. When he was a no-name journalist in the 90's, he says he thought answering questions was much easier than asking them..but now he thinks the opposite. Careerly-suicidal as this may be, I totally agree. The interviewee has a helluva lot more at stake.

"Journalism allows almost anyone to direct questions they would never ask of their own friends at random people; since the ensuing dialogue exists for commercial purposes, both parties accept an acceleration of intimacy," K writes.

True, true and true. For the first couple years of my career, even now at times, I struggled with drawing the line between friends and interviewees. After all, no matter how engaging or revealing the conversation gets, ultimately, it is forced. Because during an interview, I'm suddenly empowered with the license to ask intimate questions of a complete stranger that I'd usually need an existing relationship to ask a friend (thats how 'doggie teams' even exist).

So why should an interviewee answer any question he's ever asked? Klosterman wonders. He's not legally bound to.

The obvious answer is that he's trying to promote something, but K shows that this is reductive. After all, no matter how brilliant your answer is, you never know how an interviewer's going to interpret it. There are so many unknowns between the interview and the published piece: the interviewer's biases, the editor's biases, the sub-editor's biases, the publisher's, etc. etc.

So K turns to Errol Morris, the master interviewer who wrote The Thin Blue Line and Fog of War based on lots and lots and lots of quality interviewing. At first, E isn't sure why people answer questions at all.

EM: Do these people not realize that this interview is going to transform how they are seen by others? Transform how they see themselves? If people were entirely reasonable, they would avoid all interviews, all the time. But they don't.

K: And why don't they?

EM: Because...perhaps something interesting will transpire. They think, "Maybe this person will present me in a way that will be interesting. Maybe this person will present me in a way that I would like to be seen."

I think this goes both ways. Journalists, me, we might ask insipid questions sometimes but that's because...perhaps the response will be more interesting than the question deserves. Or perhaps the banter will be. Maybe the answer will be presented in a way that says something interesting about the interviewee.

Ultimately, K concludes that the single biggest difference between a good interview and a bad one is simply the interviewer's genuine interest in the answers. Exactly. K's on a roll in this chapter.

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Eat Eat Love

Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 2:00AM / Members only

Seriously, I don't know why Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love) had to fly all the way to Italy to gain weight. I think the food in NYC is juuuuuust fiiiiine..

Sarabeth's lemon-ricotta pancakes...ma-ma-day (but I still finished 'em)

french toast about 4 inches thick from some random deli in Soho. Plus eggs and a fat sausage. THE BEST!

NYC's "best sticky bun" according to NY Mag, from Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Building. On the way there I ran into Malcolm Gladwell leaving the building, presumably just after his interview for Time mag which I read the next day: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/20/malcolm-gladwell-aspiring_n_327161.html

One of Timeout's 'Fall Must Do's' was to sip hot cocoa from City Bakery. Meh. The best part was the marshmallow, which was a thick powder cube of SWEET.

Melissa Bakery's bite-sized red velvet, cookies&cream, and hazlenut cupcakes. Too small.

Btw, I never realised this but NY-ers are really polite, almost excessively so. Or maybe I've just been in HK too long. In fact the meanest person I encountered was this fobby Chinese woman who was cussing out some mobile phone peddler at the top of her lungs for hanging too close to her store. Hee.

OK, got a plane to catch.

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RIP Derrion Albert

Saturday, Oct 3, 2009 1:43PM / Members only

There’s a magnificent scene in 500 Days where the screen splits, and compares the EXPECTATION to the REALITY of this moment when JGL attends a party thrown by Zooey. Expectation, based on JGL's imagination, runs this sequence about 2 seconds ahead of the Reality. It shows Zooey appreciating and reciprocating JGL’s loving attention.

But the reality scene was….well, different. Rejection is harder to watch.

I watched 500 Days almost 2 weeks ago now, and although I wasn’t blown away when I left the theatre I’m still thinking about it. The film had a lotta good messages, but one of them – keep your expectations realistic – was particularly strong, especially for someone whose expectations on love, life, etc., were largely shaped by TV, books, and now the Internet.

This then reminded me of a convo I had with a Quentin Tarantino-hating colleague awhile back. I think I mentioned wanting to see IG, and she winced. She likens Q to a criminal because he glorifies violence. At first I was like ‘Come on, everyone knows it’s a movie' but to her, directors have a moral responsibility not to make violence look cool and clean. Her idea of a good film is Kinatay, which gruesomely portrays the murder of only one person (apparently it was so disturbing that another girl I know puked after watching it.)

So now I’m thinking…if I can develop expectations of relationships based on Friends, what happens when you're a kid with a semi-angsty streak and a Blockbuster card? After all, many of us learn about violence through the movies. But it's so warped, obviously. Only in a cinema can you watch someone get shot/sliced/diced right in front of you and walk out of the with a clean conscience.

If you’re a slightly more susceptible person without attentive caretakers or friends to help you keep it real, do you suddenly become numb to the idea of bashing someone's face with the back of your heel?

I mean, I don’t know how else to explain something as fucked up as teenagers beating a kid to death (caught on video) because he wouldn’t join their gang.

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rottendoubt
posted on Friday, Nov 20, 2009 12:24AM [Report]

hahahah you have to admit that commercial rocked! =D
Schokolate
posted on Wednesday, Nov 11, 2009 7:03PM [Report]

Love that "nom nom nom"!! Sooo cute!!
EmzyReal
posted on Sunday, Nov 8, 2009 8:44PM [Report]

Hey Sara,
Life keeps getting busier especially since it is my final year with MYP. Next year it's on with the IBDP. Just finished up my application form to the United World colleges but need to ask my principal to look it over since he needs to fill out a form too!
Getting really nervous right now. So what's new with you? Work busy??
-Emz
rottendoubt
posted on Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009 5:36PM [Report]

wow, why are you chewing the carpet? =D
norayin
posted on Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009 1:04PM [Report]

THE BUNNY IS SOO CUTE!!
norayin
posted on Saturday, Oct 24, 2009 2:29AM [Report]

yummy yummy yummy i got love in my tummy
Matt Hendrichs
posted on Sunday, Sep 27, 2009 6:48PM [Report]

Hey Sara, I am planing to start a business in which I develop an electronic tour guide based on a mobile device for visitors coming to HK. I am right now trying to find out how to deal with the editorial, up-to-date content....I find this part a bit challenging and wonder if you might have the one or the other suggestion for me.

Have a great evening!
Matt
norayin
posted on Saturday, Sep 12, 2009 3:33AM [Report]

write a new blog entry! it's been too long
apollotsang
posted on Friday, Aug 7, 2009 4:05AM [Report]

happy birthday to you！
rottendoubt
posted on Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 5:00PM [Report]

happy upcoming birthday! =D
apollotsang
posted on Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 4:36AM [Report]

生日快樂！
Clarence Yeo
posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 1:37AM [Report]

hey sara, thanks for droppin by! =)
Eirike
posted on Saturday, Jun 13, 2009 10:25AM [Report]

Glad to meet you
JunkieT-86
posted on Wednesday, Jun 10, 2009 1:32AM [Report]

haha yes...so random...
i saw u under the fans of khalil fong
JunkieT-86
posted on Tuesday, Jun 9, 2009 2:30AM [Report]

haha wassup sara?!?
fwei
posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:23PM [Report]

Young mike ...with shine smile....cheers
Simon Yin
posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 1:46AM [Report]

what you mean "big" brother? hahaha.
Simon Yin
posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 12:32AM [Report]

i pretty much just fanned you because of your last name! DOPE! :)
ALENZ89
posted on Saturday, May 9, 2009 6:14PM [Report]

HI..NICE TO MEET U..
norayin
posted on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 11:32PM [Report]

HAHA you're an artist.
loves it.
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