Monday 9 January 2012

News: Disliking Dolce & Gabbana @ Hong Kong!


Article 1 on Singtao Student Page:

Image from The Standard
Definitely the news of the day and a new week, Dolce & Gabbana's "Hong-Kongers Photograph-me-not" triggered off a more-than-15,000-"like" protest / demonstration last Sunday in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

Image from The Telegraph UK
It all began with a news report in which the local Hong Kong shoppers received a No-Photographing ban  and the local Hong Kong reporters threatened to have their cameras destroyed by the security guards of the renowned luxury brand D&G while mainland and overseas shoppers are free to do so. Anger flared up on Facebook over the discrimination evolving into a mass D&G photo-taking day for the right-stripped Hong-Konger at the flagship branch in Tsim Sha Tsui, the origin of rage.

Detailed transcriptions of the protesters' voices appeared on multiple media sources across the globe including Reuters, Straits TimesThe Telegraph (UK), The Wall Street JournalSCMP and The Standards, with negative comments for D&G no less than "shameful", "shame on you", "regrettable", "go home".

Passing vehicles sounded their horns and protesters chanted "Open up!" and offered their boos and thumbs down.

On moving pictures, it looked like this.


From this incidence comes numerous questions on human rights, poverty and values of this city. Worth our thinking.

But instead of making some really formal logical thinking procedures, I like to sound cunning!

No matter how tight the margin of the window display market is, it is never right for segregation of any kinds or any forms. Following D&G's thread of logic, if barring the local Hong-Kongers from photographing protects the brand's Intellectual Property (IP), then their IP needs no protection against non-Hong-Kongers.

Are Hong-Kongers in a much harmful position to the brand than all other human beings on Earth? Will Wall-E be harmful if Wall-E has a camera installed on his head? Will dogs be harmful if they have cameras on their necks? What if Hong-Kongers no longer use smartphones or DSLRs to take photos of the shop but use secret cameras such as the contact lens optical scanner in Mission Impossible 4? Can D&G actually stop any of these?

Contact lens optical scanner @ MI4
Image from the Moshers go to the Movies: December 2011
They might need Tom Cruise to be their security guard in the future.

What if I have the disguising skills of Tom Cruise in MI4 or Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes 2 that I disguise as a Russian or a foreign woman?
Tom Cruise as Russian General
Image from cdn.screenrant.com
Robert Downey Jr. disguising as a woman in  Sherlock Holmes 2
Image from Jessica Who? 
Haha! That should be real fun!!! I'm no master of disguise, but I am a bit of hacker.

Man! I really enjoy referencing my previous movie review entry (Movies: Sherlock Holmes 2 & MI4 Reviews ) in this article!

Don't forget to "Like" this entry and the English Playground!

Vocabulary:
trigger (off) -- (vb) [Tto cause something bad to start
flare (up) -- (vb) [I] (also flare upWhen something bad such as violence, pain or anger flares (up), it suddenly starts or gets much worse
right-stripped -- (adj) from strip (vb) [T] to remove, pull or tear the covering or outer layer from something
flagship -- (n) [C] the best or most important product, idea, building, etc. that an organization owns or produces
rage -- (n) [C or U] (a period of) extreme or violent anger
globe -- (n) [S] the world
boos -- (n) [C] (boos) when someone boos
thumbs down -- informaused to show disapproval of something
segregation -- (n) [U] to keep one group of people apart from another and treat them differently, especially because of race or sex
bar -- (vb) [T] to prevent something or someone from doing something or going somewhere, or to forbid (= refuse to allow) something
disguise  -- (vb) to give a new appearance to a person or thing, especially in order to hide its true form
hacker -- (n) [C] someone who hacks into other people's computer systems




Resources:

Dolce & Gabbana @ Canton Road @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HN2REtolUM




Hundreds protest D&G photo 'ban' in Hong Kong @ Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_753234.html


Dolce & Gabbana Photo Ban Sparks Protest @ The Wall Street Journal
http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2012/01/09/dolce-gabbana-photo-ban-sparks-protest/

Rally over 'photo ban' shuts retailer @ SCMP
http://topics.scmp.com/news/hk-news-watch/article/Rally-over-photo-ban-shuts-retailer

Get the picture? @ The Standard
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=118644&sid=35006726&con_type=3&d_str=20120109&fc=10

One thousand protest Dolce & Gabbana Hong Kong store over photo ban @ The Telegraph UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/hongkong/9001001/One-thousand-protest-Dolce-and-Gabbana-Hong-Kong-store-over-photo-ban.html

Movies: Sherlock Holmes 2 & MI4 Reviews @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/01/movies-sherlock-holmes-2-mi4-reviews.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/trigger_3#trigger_3__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/flare_2#flare_2__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stripped-down?q=stripped
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/flagship_1?q=flagship+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/rage_1?q=rage
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/globe_1?q=globe
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/boo_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/segregate?q=segregation
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bar_6
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/thumbs-down#thumbs-down__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/disguise_1?q=disguise++
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hacker?q=hacker