From the film Another Earth, here is the beautiful story of the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the first human in space. It’s embellished greatly, but still amazing. See video below, and the cosmonaut’s portrait. Read more about Yuri Gagarin here.

Email me at michalgarcia@gmail.com or just call me +852 9154 4837 if you want to talk or meet up. I am going to spend less time online and more time connecting with people in real life. I will do this by using mostly Gmail and to a lesser extent, Google+ for my communications. Facebook will be reference only. Email me if you want a Google+ invite.

This isn’t really an endorsement for Google+, I just need to spend less time online so I can work more effectively and live my life.

PS – I will also be using Soundcloud, so watch out for me there

Here’s a followup to the Shark Savers event I posted about recently. To increase awareness about how Sharks are treated when they are hunted, a performance artist hung herself by shark hooks for 20 minutes while being interviewed by the press.

Today I visited the Jockey Club Creative Arts Center for a an anti-sharkfinning event held by the Shark Savers. The highlight of the day was a performance artist suspending herself by shark hooks for 20 minutes while being interviewed by the press. Strange, yes. It was. It’s been a surreal day, especially after a 7-hour trek yesterday that turned into an unintentional night hike at stages 7 & 8 of the Maclehose trail in the New Territories of Hong Kong…but I digress. The video below lured me to the event, and the artwork featured at the Arts Center by Kozyndan is astounding. They both show us that we (as humans) need to renegotiate and rethink our relationship to nature, especially with the animals automatically assumed to be violent.

Today, I’m inspired by Nico Muhly a composer of awesome music, cheeky character and witty blogger. I just watched a film called The Reader (don’t watch the trailer, just watch the film!) and was intrigued by the music, did a bit of research and found his site. Funny too how small the music world is – we even have a mutual friend on facebook.
He has a way of bringing music into the colloquial/present tense that the general population might not listen to normally. It’s great music, wonderfully composed, engaging. His own music is the same. The way he works with his orchestra(s) is so fun. You should really read his blog. Even if you don’t know music you’re going to laugh. How can you not laugh with excerpts like this: “These elements work with, and against, one another in a satisfying, loosely erotic ballet, and Reich, at the end, adds a cryptic but so fucking satisfying coda” and “If your venue is freezing cold before people come in, do not adjust the thermostat. This is good. When people come and start drinking, they will make it hot in there, and then you will wonder why it is so hot. It’s very much like resting steak. It seems counterintuitive (“I want hot meat!”) but everybody knows that you have to do it, except sometimes people don’t, and wonder why everybody thinks they steak is fucked up. The same applies to the Temperature up in here almost universally. My flat has an aircon unit and fans and a system of windows and shades; anybody who wants to come over and see how it do is welcome at The Campari and Dubonnet Masterclass in Ventilation and Temperature Regulation, weekdays, from 6:45 to 7:30, in my heezy. Closed on bank holidays, and for four random days on either side of the bank holidays, with auto-responders put on all forms of communication.”

Funny guy, really reminds of why blogging and podcasting is so cool:

The Bauhinian City’s graffiti artists have a refreshingly boastful disregard for authority, especially that of Beijing. A brilliant young artist who goes by the name Cpak Ming projected the words “Who’s afraid of Ai Weiwei” onto China’s army barracks located on Hong Kong’s harbor front. Ming could be in a lot of trouble soon, but we’re all in a lot more trouble without freedom of speech, movement and other freedoms that China’s most prominent artist Ai Weiwei is currently being deprived of.
A recent article by the Scientific American inspired me to utilize the internet and write this post. The article said “The Web is now more critical to free speech than any other medium. It brings principles established in the U.S. Constitution, the British Magna Carta and other important documents into the network age: freedom from being snooped on, filtered, censored and disconnected.” Ai Weiwei’s detainment is – in the flesh – what is happening to the internet. Voices are being crushed, opinions stifled. Finland recently made internet a right of citizens. Their value on openness will move their communities forward in education, innovation and social advancement more quickly than the rest of the world. I wish China could have the foresight to trust its own people to make good decisions. Maybe they will. Either way, let’s hope Ai Weiwei gets free soon and let’s celebrate Hong Kong graffiti artists!

These images shot on my Nokia 6700 Classic mobile phone

Life is short, so I went camping at Sai Kung’s Big Wave Bay. Easter weekend well spent! If you’re ever on the fence about doing something potentially awesome, just reread this post and say “Yes, I’ll do it!”
A good friend of mine is traveling the world right now – starting in Portland, last stop Hong Kong. She’s going to get a high five and a big hug when she arrives. You don’t need to travel the world or climb the highest mountain (sometimes it’s expensive!), the point is that every day is special and when you do something with your days,  your life becomes special.

(And if you go camping at the beach, wander in the water in the dark and watch the bioluminescence go in and out of the waves and between your toes)

Kevin Spacey presents a strong case for financially supporting the arts in the United States. His view is more community and economically focused, though I have been reading books and articles and watching videos on neurology that suggest music as a cross-training for the brain (to make a sporting analogy) for virtually any subject or endeavor. All interesting and extremely helpful whether you go for the community view or the scientific one. Probably because of the art’s difficulty to quantify and justify its existence, funding often gets cut before other seemingly more practical things. I hope this will change with the advent of better data analysis and advanced brain imaging techniques.
Kevin Spacey in a related television interview mentioned that Winston Churchill during the Second World War spoke with his finance minister who said Britain should cut arts funding to support the war effort. Churchill’s responded: “Then what are we fighting for?”

My neighbor Michael Leung is a product designer and urban beekeeper. He lives about a block away from me in Yau Ma Tei. This is a video profile about him and his organization HK Honey. I already knew he was awesome, now you can share in the awesomeness.

This morning is preparing for the Noughts & Exes show here in Hong Kong on March 19th as well as being excited about the Industrial Light & Magic workshop I’m attending this afternoon as part of Semipermanent.

Pictured below, violinist at Hidden Agenda at a CD-release show with Noughts & Exes.