Leglessbird leisure guide

Leglessbird Guiding Principles

• Value Health 珍惜健康
• Experience Life 体驗生活
• Pursue Knowledge 追求知識
• Respect Environment 尊重環境
• Help and Inspire Others 幫助和啟發他人

Our Vision

To be the preferred social and service platform for the community of people who support the Leglessbird Guiding Principles

Our Core Values and Beliefs

We believe in

• Balanced healthy lifestyle
• Positive impact
• Self-improvement
• Unlimited potential
• Global prospective
• Helping others is the source of happiness

Our Mission

Create online and offline platforms to provide attractive contents and social services in selected interest areas to the Leglessbird community

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce that Leglessbird now has a new look and a new structure equipped with a membership system, it provides a much better user experience for our friends to share their travel trips, restaurant experience, movies review and beyond. Thus, we wanted to wait for the new site to be up and running before sending out this month's sharing.

We are organising a travel sharing on Discovering Nepal on Wed 15 Nov at 7pm. Details can be found here. We are going to Nepal in Dec, anyone wants to join us can find out more detail about our package here.

Irene and Dominic

What are we up to?
Well, apart from more wedding banquet in Oct and more to be expected in Nov, I participated in an event jointly organised by HK Cambridge alumni club and St James Settlement to have fun together with mentally handicapped adults at the "Music Farm".

We enjoyed a very nice boat trip organised by the Warwick alumni club, visiting Grass Island, Tung Ping Chau and Kut O.

8 day Kathmandu, Pokhara, Dhampus Trek and Nargarkot
by guest write - Bonnie

Dhampus trek ? is one of the classic Himalayan trekking regions. We get through Hindu villages where we will be assured of a warm welcome; follow trails through oak and forest where the sound of the bird calls fill the air and camp in serene locations that afford magnificent views of the Annapurna Range. During the fall will allow us to see farmers harvesting rice and millet. We will climb couple of Himalayan hills up to over 1700 m for exceptional views of the Annapurnas and Machhapuchhare. All this in the company of our magnificent crew whose friendship, sense of humour and caring nature ensure that your trek is a memorable one.

Highlight of the tour:

This month, we want to share, not nice restaurant, good movie or good book, but a message on environment.

59th Minute

Dr. Jane Goodall recently came to Hong Kong again to deliver her lecture "Reason for hope", I once attended her talk in Hong Kong in 2005 on a similar topic. The message is loud and clear, we human are harming the very planet that we live on, the very precious resources that we depend on. The damage is now so extensive that we must do something to reverse it and we must act now and not tomorrow or wait for the next generation to suffer and take action.

Sharng the same message is David Suzuki, a Canadian environmentalist. I watched a TV program by him recently. He used this analogy to illustrate his point (a question that I used to use as a brain teaser)

• Imagine that you put one bacteria in a test tube full of food
• Such bacteria divides and doubles every minute
• Let's say, the test tube becomes full after 60 minutes

When was the test-tube half full?

The answer is 59th minute. And in fact, at 55th minute, the test tube was only around 3% full. If someone raises a question at 55th minute and talks about the danger of over-population and shortage of resources when they only occupy 3% of the space, most people would think that he is crazy and worries too much.

Today, if you ask around, many people believe we have passed the 59th Minute.

What has gone wrong? Is it already too late? Regardless of the answers to these questions, let's take action today!

Upcoming event - organised by Warwick Alumni Association
Art Appreciate Tour on 18 Nov 06 (Sat)
似與不似?遼寧省博物館藏齊白石精品
Likeness and Unlikeness: A Selection of Works by Qi Baishi
Date: 18 November 2006 (Saturday)
Time: 2:15pm- 4:15pm
Gathering point: B/F (Lecture Theatre), Hong Kong Museum of Art, Tsim Sha Tsui
Admission Fee: HK$10 (HK$7 for group ticket with over 20 people)
Mr. Marco Szeto, curator of Xubaizhai Gallery of the Hong Kong Museum of Art will give a 20-min briefing session.

Please contact Irene by Wed 15 Nov.

Cuisine: French in Causeway Bay
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3

Price: $250-300 per person

Shop 1, G/F, 111 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel.: 2577 2718

We order Onion Soup, Seafood Soup, Mussel, Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, French Fries, Creme Brulee and drinks etc

Bread is great as they have special chef for bread.
Creme Brulee is highly recommended for the super crispy caramel at the top.
The restaurant is rather small & the tables are set too near to each others, a bit noisy, the waiters were too busy in walking around.
We had been waited for 45mins for food after finished the soup.
Generally I would recommend the tea set which is good value for money - one piece of cake + coffee with refill at just $75.

Leglessbird means a bird with no leg

"我聽人講呢個世界有種雀仔冇腳嘅，佢只可以一直咁飛呀飛，飛到攰嗰陣就喺風入面瞓覺，呢種雀仔一世只可以落地一次，嗰次就係佢死嘅時候。" ("There is a type of bird that has no leg, it must keep flying and flying, when it is tired it sleeps in the wind. It only lands once that's the day it dies.") - Leslie Cheung ( 張國榮 ) in a Wong Kar Wai( 王家衛 ) movie called "Days of being wild " ( 阿飛正傳 ).

I quite like the idea of keep flying and flying to see what's out there in the world, "never stop" being fascinated about new things, make everyday count!

Leglessbird is about "never ending" pursue of healthy balanced lifestyle. Leglessbird is a platform for the other "Leglessbirds" out there who agree with the principles below to meet each other to share their experience, joy and fascination of life. In doing so, we hope to inspire more people to pursue the same lifestyle.

Value Health, Experience Life,
Pursue Knowledge, Help & Inspire others

- Dominic Chan

Type: Comedy Drama Suspense, Japan 2000

Director: K?ji Makita

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Yukie Nakama .... Naoko Yamada
Hiroshi Abe .... Jiro Ueda
Katsuhisa Namase .... Kenz? Yabe

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Yukie is a bad magician, no one watches her show. Her father was a magician too. One day she was asked by a couple from a very strange village to go to their village and pretend to be god. She is so down and out of luck that she decided to take this assignment. Her friend Hiroshi who is a professor who is also going to the same village trying to unearth some hidden treasure. The villagers believe that the village is cursed and every 300 years there will be a big disaster and this is the year. Yukie and Hiroshi are going to meet with some strange people, some of the them like Yukie are here to pretend that they are god...

My review:
A funny black comedy, quite entertaining. There is a TV drama of the same name. This is the movie edition.

The Dinner Game (buy from Amazon)
Type: Comedy, France 1998

Director: Francis Veber

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Thierry Lhermitte .... Pierre Brochant
Jacques Villeret .... Fran?ois Pignon
Francis Huster .... Just Leblanc
Daniel Pr?vost .... Cheval
Alexandra Vandernoot .... Christine Brochant

Story:
A bunch of friends play a dinner game every Wednesday, each one brings a guest and whoever's guest is the most stupid idiot wins. So they all look out for idiots. With a little help from a friend, Pierre finds at the last minute an idoit called Pignon, Pierre thinks he has a winner! Pignon arrives at Pierre's place and they are going to leave for the dinner party, the problem is Pierre hurt his back and he is going to miss the dinner. Pierre soon realises his nightmare has just begun from the moment he invites Pignon

My review:
A very funny storyline and carefully crafted script, highly entertaining!

The Russia House (buy from Amazon)

Posted by Sigrid

Type: Drama, USA 1990

Director: Fred Schpisi

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Sean Connery... Barley Blair
Michelle Pfeiffer .... Katya

Story:
Barley (Connery), a hard-drunking, middle-aged London publisher, became friends with a dissident Soviet physicist on a drunken evening. He soon found himself being drawn into the espionage business. During his mission, Barley came to know Katya (Pfeiffer), the physicist's former girlfriend, whom he had to save from the Russian military intelligence.

My review:
Based on a spy novel by John Le Carre, this movie set out to capture the age of glasnost in the former Soviet Union. It was filmed mostly in Moscow and Leningrad, with some beautiful scenes shot in Lisbon.

The plot itself is intriguing and Connery turned out a masterful peformance as a hard-drunking, middle-aged, book publisher who managed to outwit both the British secret service and the CIA. One memorable scene showed Connery playing the saxophone at a Moscow book fair.

Unfortunately, the subtlety of the spy novel did not play well on the movie screen. Perhaps the editing could have been done better as well. I would think that most moviegoers got lost initially towards the end. As a result, some time had to be spent to recapture what happened -- and the entire effect was dumbed-down.

While some would call this a thriller, the movie was strongly reminiscient of "mini-series" produced by the major (American) TV networks in the late-1980s.

See also:
http://www.allstarz.org/~seanconnery/russia.htm
http://members.tripod.com/rossiya_david/id170.htm

Belphegor: Le Phantom Du Louvre (buy from Amazon)
Belph?gor - Le Fant?me Du Louvre (Widescreen - Original French with subtitles) (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama Suspense, France 2001

Director: Jean-Paul Salom?

My rating: 2
Key actors/actresses:
Sophie Marceau .... Lisa/Belph?gor
Michel Serrault .... Verlac
Fr?d?ric Diefenthal .... Martin
Julie Christie .... Glenda Spender

Posted by Dominic
Story:
In 1935 a French archaeologist brought back an unnamed mummy from Egypt to France and stored it in Louvre, little did he know that this mummy has been condemmed and shall be stuck in the in-between worlds. The mummy becomes known as the phantom of the Louvre and has killed many guides and it is trying desparately to get to the next world...

My review:
I must say the initial story line looks quite interesting but the actual movie was not that exciting.

Himalaya (buy from Amazon)Type: Drama, Nepal 1999

Director: Eric Valli

My rating: 3
Buy it now:
Barnes And Noble online
Key actors/actresses:
Thilen Lhondup .... Tinle
Gurgon Kyap .... Karma
Lhakpa Tsamchoe .... Pema
Karma Wangel .... Passang
Karma Tensing .... Norbou/Urgien

Other similar movies: more
Search again for
Country: Nepal
Type(s): Drama

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Tinle, an aging chief of one of the tribes on the Himalaya mountain just lost his eldest son in an accident, reluctant to give up his position to a young man who is strong and with leadership skill named Karma, because Tinle accused Karma of causing his son's death. The tribe is divided and they set off at different times to do the important trade on the other side of the mountain. The old and young, the tradition and modern are in conflict, soon they find they have a lot to learn from each other and they have a lot of respect to each other.

My review:
An interesting movie that shows off some of the beautiful scenary of the Himalaya and also give the viewers some ideas of the life and tradition of the tribes in Himalaya. Nicely firmed.

Whale Rider (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, New Zealand 2002

Director: Niki Caro

My rating: 4
Buy it now:
Barnes And Noble online
Key actors/actresses:
Keisha Castle-Hughes .... Paikea
Rawiri Paratene .... Koro
Vicky Haughton .... Nanny Flowers
Cliff Curtis .... Porourangi
Grant Roa .... Uncle Rawiri

Other similar movies: Bungee jumping of their own 情约笨猪跳, more
Search again for
Country: New Zealand
Type(s): Drama

Posted by Dominic
Story:
On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe that their ancestor named Paikea, once rid on the back of the whale to survival after his canoe was capsided. Since then they believe the first born son should succeed as the Chief of the tribe. In modern day, the current chief Koro whose eldest son left New Zealand after the death of his wife when she died after giving birth to twin babies (a boy and a girl), the baby boy also died at birth. Koro now left with only a granddaughter, refused to let her to inherit the position of the chief. The baby girl is delibrately named Paikea by her father, same as their ancestor, in protest to Koro. Soon, Koro and the young Paikea realise it is her destiney to become the chief, while Koro tries very hard to look for his successor out of the boys and she fights very hard to win the approval of her grandfather.

My review:
A very interesting movie that shows some tradition of the Maori. A complicated relationship between the grandfather and granddaughter, a love relationship with the struggle of the old tradition. Thoroughly enjoyed the movie, taking a nice break from the traditional commercial movies.