Art Gallery Gone Wild

Lambie has covered the entire rotunda is a riot of colours

This afternoon I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery to check out its latest exhibitions. There's a comprehensive examination of Emily Carr, her life and work on the ground floor that I'll talk about in another post, and in the rotunda is a wild almost psychedelic art installation!

The rotunda area is usually neutral, grey to complement the marble, but the curved staircase and foyer are covered in a riot of lines and colours.

It's called Zobop (Colour-Chrome) by Scottish artist Jim Lambie, who is also a DJ and musician.

Zobop is his floor-based installations he has done since the 1990s that mesmerise and attracts visitors to interact with the space.

Lambie uses inexpensive, ready-made materials for this work, and here he uses industrial vinyl tape to contour the space, so each one is site specific.

The concentric patterns amplify the geometry of the space, resulting in a playful yet disorienting effect.

Placing this work in this particular area of the gallery is ideal, because as visitors go up or down each floor they get a different perspective on the space and colours.

And of course people can't help but take selfies here!

Dallas Stars has Asian Talent on Fire

Robertson celebrates after his goal against the Oilers tonight

The Stanley Cup playoffs are on and last week the Vancouver Canucks were sadly eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers, now the only Canadian team left vying for the giant trophy.

However, in the third round of the playoffs, the Oilers are wondering what hit them tonight as they were winning 2-0 in the first period and then by the end of the second period it was 3-2 with their opponents, the Dallas Stars catching up.

By the third period the Oilers tried to regain the upper hand, but the Stars clinched two more goals, including an empty netter to win 5-3, leading the series 2-1.

Three of the Stars' goals were from Jason Robertson, who scored a hat trick for this game.

Robertson looks Asian and yes he is -- half Filipino and half... Scottish!

The 24-year old is from Arcadia, California and his younger brother Nicholas was a second-round draft pick for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There are currently four players of Filipino descent in the NHL -- Robertson, his brother, Tim Stapleton  and Matt Dumba. 

Stapleton is the first player of Filipino heritage to play in the NHL, and is half Filipino and half Irish, while Dumba is Canadian and his father's background is a mix of Romanian, German and Russian.

Tonight Robertson was on fire and it was impressive watching him play. His teammates call him Robo. I was rooting for the Oilers, but now things are looking interesting with Robertson on the ice!

More Babies Born in UK than HK

Fewer people having babies in Hong Kong these days

In another sign that Hongkongers are leaving the city in droves is the birth rate... which has increased in England and Wales. Almost 2,000 babies were born in these two places as opposed to the parents' hometown, due to migration using BNO pathways.

"When the young people left, they also took their fertility to other places," said Paul Yip Siu-fai, a population expert at the University of Hong Kong. "We are very likely to fall into a low-fertility trap and have little chance of escaping it."

The red line shows birth rate, black death rate

Britain's Office for National Statistics revealed the number of newborn babies with at least one parent from Hong Kong rose from 1,568 in 2019, to 1,602 in 2020, 1,665 in 2021 and 1,953 last year.

The figures were for England and Wales, while Scotland and Northern Ireland record their own statistics.

The BNO migration pathway came into effect after the national security law was implemented in 2020. Successful applicants and their dependants can live, work and study in the UK for up to five years, and then are eligible to apply for citizenship. 

Between January 2021 and June this year, 176,407 Hong Kong applications were approved, a 97 percent success rate.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the number of births plunged from 52,900 in 2019 to 43,000 in 2020, 37,000 in 2021, and only 32,500 last year, a decline of almost 40 percent over four years.

Yip urges govt to help families

In addition the total fertility rate, the number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, also fell to 0.8, the lowest in the world. The rate should be 2.1 for a population to replace itself.

Yip says Hong Kong's falling birthrate is due to "a basket of reasons."

He urged the government to give baby bonuses and provide families with more childcare support, and emphasised the need to improve the education system.

This is not news... Yip has been sounding the alarm for years, while Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu says he is looking into it...

Car Museum Revs up Excitement

Car fans will enjoy wandering Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. It was formerly a department store and converted into place to display the world's largest collection of cars.

It was founded in 1994 by Robert E Petersen who made his money in magazine publishing and his wife Margie. Seven years ago it had a facelift, including a stunning facade featuring a stainless steel series of ribbons wrapped around the building.

The first electric car in 1839 made in Scotland

Inside it's a car fanatic's dream, from those interested in automotive history to racing cars, vehicles featured in pop culture and movies to electric vehicles (failures and successes).

There's an original 1918 Ford Model T car, one of less than 10 in existence, and the first electric car built in 1839 by Scot Robert Anderson.

It was called Columbia and apparently the technology improved so rapidly that by 1900 electric cars exceeded both steam- and petroleum-powered cars in popularity. And wouldn't you know, the car was highly prized by taxi companies and the wealthy because the electric car was free from noise, vibration and noxious odours. How come it took us this long to figure that out?

There is a Japanese car called Fuji Cabin that has three wheels. It was built to provide cheap, economical cars to people after the war. The three-wheeler was built on readily available motor-scooter parts, and was powered by a one-cylinder engine with a kick start. It only had three forward speeds and reverse. However in the end only 85 of these cars were built.

The Fuji Cabin was made in post-war Japan

We had fun going down memory lane with a series of cars featured in movies. These included the DeLorean from Back to the Future. It looks so old now, but at the time the movie came out in 1985 it was considered quite cool. The Batmobile from Batman Returns starring Michael Keaton is featured in the exhibition, and of course the car Lightning McQueen from Pixar Animation Studio's Cars.

Another section had a show called "Bond in Motion", featuring the official collection of cars featured in James Bond films. It was fun watching clips from the various movies with Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig that had the chase scenes with the vehicles in it. While the older films don't necessarily age well since technology has advanced so much, the dialogue and the acting are still priceless. 

There really is something for everyone at this museum. Pleasantly surprised.

James Bond looking suave with his Aston Martin

Petersen Automotive Museum

6060 Wilshire Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 

90036

323 930 2277