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Richard ducks into a drab, sparsely furnished house nestled in a back alley, as three wiry men following him charge toward him like vultures, with guns in their hands.
Shutting and locking the door behind him handily, Richard takes a cover near an angular-shaped table piled high with dust and pulls out a gun from his left pocket, taking aim at the door vigilantly.
"Chill, Richard," he tells himself, his heartbeat picking up.
For his part, it's really odd that a hot-blooded tough guy like him will be fearful of getting caught or will become antsy like this, since he has gone through knots of hairy or even horrid situations and treacherous missions. But he has never been in a snit because he used to think he's a lone wolf, a plucky cowboy willing to take on whopping and scabrous challenges.
Nevertheless, things are different now. He has Bolinda. He has the duty to protect and take care of her. Thus, he has to be alive because he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. ONLY YOU. BOLINDA. And he doesn't know why, but he often becomes a mischievous, fragile, and rapacious kid when he thinks of her. I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU. HONEY. YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING.
"You are my man, right?" Bolinda once asked Richard when they snuggled together in a dimly lit room, hearing the wind whizz through the rustling leaves as trikcles of moonlights danced on the floor and the walls, flashing a motley of glittering shapes like a razzle-dazzle kaleidoscope.
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With current crude oil prices hovering around 7 a barrel today, you might think nations like China and America are being ripped off by oil-rich nations like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Well, perhaps you are spot on because future oil prices may skyrocket to 0-a-barrel, according to Matt Simmons, who holds the helm at a boutique investment bank; what makes he standout, however, is that he is the author of a controversial book called "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy," a book arguing that Saudi Arabia's oil supplies are much more limited than everyone thinks.
"Today he is more convinced than ever that we've reached peak oil. If he's right, current world oil production- 86 million barrels a day- is about as high as we're going to go, writes Brian O'Keefe, a senior editor of Fortune magazine, in his recent article featuring Matt Simmons, who has become a punching bag for people taking issue with him on the future supply of oil; these people opine that oil supply will not have hiccups at least in recent years.
Additionally, by his account, an across-the-board change in terms of how we live should take root now. ""We should basically be going back to creating a village economy, so that we really reduce the energy intensity of how we live," he says. "We need bigtime conservation, not feel-good conservation. Make things where they're used. You'll end long-distance commuting, and we have the tools to do that now with webcams. Grow food locally. Grow food in your backyard. If they're not commuting, people will have time to do that," he told Brian O'Keefe.
I will throw my support behind Matt Simmons because there are indications that the oil production will reach peak in 2030, and a full-scale energy crunch will surely crop up once most nations can't afford buying high-ticket oil.
But that's not the chilling part of this story. In effect, for a resource scarce developing nation like China, our energy use, if unchecked, will be in the suds if we waste energy by bringing more energy-guzzling automobiles to China, or if China neglects those acute lessons and energy crisises gripping Western nations. Similarly, it will be fatuous if Chinese think that those oil-rich nations will treat China differently when it comes to buying oil from them; one of daft consensuses shared by some Chinese people is that Arab nations will provide oil to China at any cost, since they are friends of China.
That's so naive. Basically, for China, at the heart of the problem is how to cut buck on oil consumption while finding alternative sources of energy, namely wind power, solar, and other energy resources wrought by tidal waves, and sketch out systematic measures designed to fine-tune our energy system and build up a functioning green economy.
That is, albeit China has to take on energy crunch eventually, China can find a way to minimise all the effects of energy shortages by putting forth stringent rules aimed at regulating our energy use more efficiently. In the meantime, our government should plow bushels of money into projects and programs seeking to find alternative energies, well, before oil prices jump through the roof again.
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A Chinese website reported few days ago that Yaoming threw a tantrum in the restroom of Houston Rockets, after the team got walloped by another NBA team. Since then, bloggers in China have written pecks of article to glorify Yaoming and his seemingly gritty behavior.
By contrast, Mcgrady, who's the only powerhouse in Rockets, has been under gun for being selfish and bleary-eyed. "Macgrady only thinks himself," writes a Chinese blogger. "Yaoming is the real leader of this team," adds this blogger.
That's not the case in my view. Sure, Yaoming figures big in current Rockets and will make great contributions to Rockets. But Macgrady is the driving force of rockets, since he's more versatile, steady and aggressive than Yaoming, who's an angular player making Boeotian blunders on the court. And that's what Rockets need now.
More to the point, it's no exaggerated to say that Rockets will go into the tank if Macgrady bolts to another NBA team. Why? Because if you have watched performance of Yaoming and games of Rockets, then you would notice who's the player turning the tables when Rocket nosedived in the former seasons and draw the same conclusion as mine.
That is, if Rockets want to take off and Yaoming wants to snare a NBA championship from his imposing rivals, then Yaoming had better clam up and work with his team teams in earnest. If not, Rockets will go astray and keep chugging along.
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Ever since Yao Ming vent his spleen on his teammates in the restroom of Rockets, the tension between Yao Ming and his teammates will only wax. Worst of all, Yao Ming's flashy behavior will rend the relationship between him and Macgrady. For this reason, it's fair to say either Yao Ming or Macgrady will bolt to another team any time soon.
So, who will make this move first?
In my book, considering Yao Ming's immense brand influence among Chinese as well as the fact that Rockets cut a deal with Anta earlier of this year--a Chinese Sports Wear Co, Rockets will hardly jettison a milch cow like Yao Ming and a sizable Chinese market. Therefore, Macgrady might be the one who bails.
Sure enough, I'm not saying Rockets will be pleased to rid Macgrady, who's the engine of Rockets. The thing is, the friction and distrust between Yao Ming and Macgrady will rock Rockets and send the team spiraling down. Besides, I bet Macgrady, a highflying, go-getting player, will not be stupid enough to play ball with a rambunctious, abrasive player from China for more years.
For fans of Rockets however, that really hurts if T-Mac can't patch up their once chummy relationship and. After all, like the old saying, it takes two to tango.
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What''s your first reaction when you see two underaged kids kissing on the street? Phew! I don''t know how will you react to it, but I was gutted by a picture that shows two underaged kids kissing on the street when I was checking a website out.
Can you believe it? To tell you the truth, you can find many young people doing such cheeky things in the city where I live, and some of them even touch each other in public places without feeling ashamed about it. But this is the first time I have seen a gut-wrenching picture like this one, a picture that sets you thinking about what''s wrong with our society.
"I want to cry after seeing this picture. Please save our children," writes a Chinese blogger. “I can''t believe what I see. It sounds too precocious to be true," another blogger adds.
But not every Chinese frowns upon such absurd behavior. Asked about what's her take on this picture, a friend tells me that it's a just a child's play. "I gather the kids must have been influenced by TV or they just emulate what they see on TV. And that''s why it''s safe to say that children’s behavior will be shaped up by adults, she says.
Such views are shared by other Chinese people, especially experts working in sex education for children. An expert told the press that China is still lagging behind in terms of sex education for childrean, and parents in China often hem and haw when it comes to sensitive topics related to sex. "The current debauched culture atmosphere in China only exacerbates this problem, says he.
By comparison, smatterings of Chinese have questioned the motives of this picture, arguing that this picture has been staged by a scruffy photographer. “I think this might be a set-up used by a wily photographer to attract eyeballs or wangle fame.
For my part, I think this is the most cockamamy picture I have seen this year, and worst yet, this picture sheds a light on how vulgar and skin-deep our society has become, especially if this picture is a brainchild of a grifter angling for some fame and attention.
What's more, if this picture can be trusted, then it reveals a truth about the current Chinese society-that is, unchecked, the degradation of our society will reach new heights, and Chinese people will be nonchalant about such bawdy stuff if they are steeped in such tacky cultural atmosphere, as it were. More worse than that is the consequences of having such gummy culture; which is to say, kids will not grow into eutrapelia or well-cultivated people if they live in a society ridden with voluptuous and low-taste; and they have to be enlightened than corrupted by grown-ups like us.
On the other hand, this picture might do some good for our society if it could alarm our society about what kind of China do we want. It''s a decision that will make or break the China.
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Macgrady has been respected and lionized as the spark plug of Rockets for Chinese fans of Houston Rockets, but that's no longer the case now. Instead, Chinese fans are chafing at Tracy Macgrady because HE ALLEGED SAID YOU WILL BE ISOLATED to Yao Ming, according to a Chinese website--take note: Yao Ming denied such rumors yesterday in a TV interview. What's more, more and more Chinese have jumped on the bandwagon of pinning blame on Macgrady, calling him as the gremlin of why Rockets got trounced by Nets.
Such sentiments are widely heard in Chinese websites, including those NBA-related blogs written by hard-headed people, who have fanned such off-the-wall animus toward Macgrady by finding fault in any misstep Macgrady has made in recent games.
That partly explains the mounting revulsion Chinese fan now feel toward Macgrady, since such hatred has been instigated by other Yao Ming-loving Chinese for-paid or professional bloggers masquerading themselves as mavens and seers like editors of Sports Illustrated magazine, slamming Macgrady in over-the-top words.
It's not fair for Macgrady in my view. Clearly, Macgrady is not at the high noon of his career, since sometimes he's driven by his personal ego when he plays. But, In a way, that's what Rockets need now-that is, Rockets need a scrappy, hard-driving player like Macgrady to join forces with Yao Ming,when they are faced with biggies like Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas Mavericks, LeBron James of Cleveland Cavaliers, and Kobe of Lakes.
Furthermore, I think the reason of why so many Chinese have jumped into the fray of trying to tarnish the reputation of Macgrady by spawning rumors lies in the fact that Macgrady is American than Chinese. For them, it's okay to make an American as a scapegoat than a timid Chinese player.
And that's why Chinese bloggers have expressed sympathy after a picture showing a distressed, crest-fallen and beaten-down Yao Ming sit on bench crying. Come to think of it, would Chinese still be such generous and supportive if Yao Ming were American?
I guess the answer is not, and that's why the current animosity toward Macgrady is beyond the pale, especially if it will only cause more rifts among Yao Ming and Macgrady, who will be more discontent after hearing such harrowing rumors.
Besides, what boots will such rumors and resentment serve for a beleagued and ailing team like Rocket? Why don't Chinese sports writers just come out urging their readers to cut Macgrady loose than second such stupidity? Moreover, can't we face up to the truth that Macgrady has played a key role in Rockets than Yao Ming? Let me put in this way, who really has the aptitude and gumption people often find in wunderkinds like Michael Jordon and LeBron James in the current Rockets? Macgrady or Yao Ming?
In other words, Rockets still have the chance to turn the tables if T-Mac work together to tackle all the troubling issues facing Rockets. Besides, Yao Ming should learn how to be a diplomat in NBA as a foreign player when Rockets are in the doldrums-that is, he should not just grumble it like a fishwife, but stand with his teammates when Rockets hit skids. Otherwise, it will alienate him from his teammates and take heat from American press once his career is in the soup.
After all, as a foreigner player, Yao Ming should wise up one stark truth-that is, Americans will not pat him on his back anymore when his career reaches the low watermark.
They will just show him the door.
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Do you know that Amie Lynn Spears, younger sister of Britney Spears, is pregnant with the child of her boyfriend? Oh, so what? You might shrug such garden-variety news on a celebrity off , since you have heard so many times about similar news. But wait, do you know she's only 16 years old?
What? Just 16 years old? Yeap, guys, and she told the OK magazine that "now that it’s in my lap and that it’s something I have to deal with, I’m looking forward to being the best mom I can be."
What? 16 years old kid says she will take care her upcoming baby? Yeap, guys, just lighten up and wise up to one hard truth-that is, the time has changed and young people don't take sex that seriously as before. Worst yet, even you will get the racket if you say I want to get married with a virgin, as a Chinese young man has found after writing a letter to a consultant on SEX.
"I have fallen in love with a young cute girl, and we had a romantic tonight few days ago. But since then, I'm been in a stuma, since I found that she has had sex before meeting me. I do love her, but I'm bedeviled by the fact that I'm not her first man. So, please tell me how to cope with it," he writes in a letter to that so-called consultant.
So, how will that consultant answer that letter?
"It's really a ridiculous thought, but such deep-seated and jaundiced thoughts are embedded in our culture and values, and personal resistance to such stodgy ideas is so weak. But we have to ditch such prejudices against women, since surveys show that the average age of people having sex is 17-19 in China and 15 in America," the consultant replies, suggesting that he has to condone her past.
Well said, huh? But hold on, seems to me that the consultant doesn't touch on another sensitive issue that sends shudders to Chinese society on the question of teen pregnant or early sex for young people. In a survey run by a Chinese research group, it finds that more than half of Chinese high-school students are receptive to teen sex and 32% students say they will be snubbed if they tell their classmates that they are still virgins.
Really? If it's true, then how come we still shoot so many bawdy and rancid movies featuring sex like Lust, Caution or Apple? How come our government allows such lewd movies to run before the eyes of young kids and become hot numbers online?
The reality is, the reckless way people are dealing with this hot potato issue will only aggravate the already mounting adolescent sexuality and fan worries about the future of our kids.
So, how can we tackle this and help kids facing this ticklish issue?
Sex education. In effect, a report shows that any sex education works in delaying sexual behavior among teens, according to ABC news. "Formal sex education also seems to lead to safer sex. Moreover,"Formal sex education was particularly beneficial for youth who are traditionally considered to be at high risk for adverse sexual health outcomes, such as sexually transmitted diseases or unplanned pregnancies," says lead study author Trisha Mueller, an epidemiologist at the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health. "Sex education should be continued to be supported in formal settings, such as schools, and to be the most effective, should occur before youth engage in sexual intercourse for the first time". says ABC news.
Indeed, in most of cases, kids, like most of grown-ups, will be driven by human libido and their their burning desire to have sex with girls. But as Judy Kuriansky, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dating" puts it, "love can wait if teens learn about sex."
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Before I move on to dole out my suggestions on how to rout TVB, I have to make clear that I don't keck at watching TVB nor I'm avid fan of that struggling TV station called ATV. The real motivation that drives me to write this blog imputes to the fact that I'm just flabbergasted by an article saying Hong Kong and mainland TV viewers are soft on watching TV series produced by TVB, albeit they often cast doubt about the rampant formalarities and inanities projected by TV series of TVB.
Oddly, on the flip side, according to a recent survey, Hong Kong and mainland TV viewers steer clear of watching ATV and often pick holes in any shake-up initiated by the brass of ATV in revitalizing this ailing, flabby TV station.
"I guess I just reluctant to switch channels," says an online friend living in HK, referring to her long-held believe that it doesn't make sense to switch channels to ATV from TVB; however, she doesn't elaborate on why she shrugs ATV off, except to say its dull.
How could this be? How can TVB corner the HK TV market such long? Anyway, there must be some secret sauce for TVB to take in order to one-up TVB. With that in mind, I have read mountains of info and articles about both TV stations as well as recent video clips of their TV stations in my spare time, as it is. And here are my suggestions to ATV on how to spread-eagle TVB. Here we go.
For starters, ATV doesn't lack actors and actresses, but they lack tantalizing stars cracking with talents and charisma. For another, acting skills of most ATV actors and actresses are really under par, looking either boot-faced or gauche on TV. Solution: cast a wider net and bring in more mainland-born fresh-faced but odds-on actors and actresses. What's more, ask their own actors and actresses to shoot TV series produced by mainland production companies as a way to train their acting skills and become famous in mainland. After all, it will help ATV crack the sizable mainland market.
But having can-do and skillful actors and actresses is not enough for ATV to nab TV audiences and buttonhole them if writers of ATV can't roll out arresting scripts. And that's another obstacle that refrains ATV TV series from being hip. In fact, like I said, most of TVB TV series too are rife with namby-pamby scenes borrowed directly from zany and run-of-the-mill Korea TV series, featuring the polyester story line and even the same caste.
On this score, ATV is even worse compared with TVB, because they often follow suit and just resort to the Jurassic storyline that only turns TV viewers off. Consider this, who will have the patience to watch infantile dialogues and slow-going scenes? Solution: poach TVB and hire away few ace-high and gifted writers and producers currently working for TVB than their big-name stars. Sure, that will not be easy for ATV, since they will be wary of working for a lagging TV station like ATV. But I gather ATV, flushed with doses of cash infusion, can find a way to wheedle some of them into working for ATV.
Make no bones about it, that's another suggestion I want to hand out to ATV-that is, what's the point of shelling out top dollar for few aged stars who have worked for TVB? Indeed, they have been TV hot tamales, but current TV viewing habits of TV audiences have changed, especially for people marinated in Internet world, where provides more choices for TV viewers to choose and select by clicking its way into way-in websites like You Tube or Yoakum. Given that, it might not wise to waste money on few old TV stars in this content-is-king world.
Granted, the ditto suggestions might sound naive and pasteboard, and you might even nibble at the suggestions I ladle out for ATV. But the basics of producing enchanting TV series are not that byzantine and heavy as some critics say in mainland. In a sense, it can be boiled down like this-give TV viewers a good story acting by able, passionate actors and actresses, and most of all, get this, those main squeezes of ATV, make it a human-interest story than a slapstick stuff gaited for underaged kids.
Okay, I admit that ATV might not outstrip TVB before 2050, even they follow up my advice. So what? At least TVB will not leave ATV in the dust forever if movers and shakers of ATV listen to the suggestions offered by disgruntled TV viewers on why most TV series of ATV whiffed.
That is, for ATV, it will be a long-hauled and frustrating challenge in its attempts to unseat a formidable player like TVB. In other words, ATV can only pull off such feat if it becomes a customer-friendly organization, like Virgin Group, Disney, or Google.
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As a Chinese, I'm supposed to sing the praises of Yao Ming like most of Chinese bloggers, painting him as MR Bottom Line of Houston Rockets while ripping into Macgrady , calling Macgrady as good-for-nothing. But I won't.
I won't do this not because I dislike Yao Ming, but I just feel that Macgrady has become the victim of rashes of runaway false accusations lobbed by a bevy of Chinese bloggers and even journalists, who are taping into the current hubbub to amp up page views of their blogs and websites. Call it insane attention-getting syndrome tantamount to irrational exuberant coined by Alan Greenspan, who uses this word to describe the once booming but nutty American stock market during the Nasdaq hoopla.
In effect, in one way or another, such coocoo bloggers and journalists remind me a character from a movie called Borat. During that movie, Borat, a Kazakh journalist played by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, makes many funny and rancid booboos when he lives in America. In one scene, he walks up to strangers and asks them to shake hands with him. But he gets a cold shoulder from Americans, since they just scurry away to avoid his hands. In another scene, he lets loose a chicken from his luggage when he rides on a train, chasing after that chicken like mad before a roomful of American passengers, making them unease and browned off. In other words, just like Borat, these Chinese bloggers and journalists do not care about the facts, but they just want to make fun of others while netting attention by hawking absurd and infantile thoughts and views on issues that can trigger a debate.
Against this background, it's safe to say that the current row concerning Rockets and its players-mainly Macgrady and Yao Ming-has nothing to do with journalism or even patriotism; sure, some of radical and inflammatory remarks are driven by nationalism. To the contrary, the current brawl is the fallout of such fame-chasing as well as the byproduct of tabloidization that's all the rage in current China.
What's more, to this end, they will cook up groundless news, wrench the words of other people, play up some facts and cash in on it if it can cause a rumpus in blogging world or Internet. Take their criticism on Macgrady. Do you think that they hate Macgrady or write him off as dorky and inept? Nope, you are all wet if you think so. In reality, the reason they keep pecking at Macgrad aside from the fact that he's a foreigner than Chinese is they know it's a red-hot news that can attract eyeballs in China. For good measure, what's the point of not to jump into the fray because shoals of Chinese blogged have already leaped at the chance of getting props by becoming detractors? After all, your blog will click if you say something most Chinese love hearing it or just pretend that you are supportive Yao Ming because he's Chinese too.
That explains why seas of Chinese keep laying into Macgrady, since it will make fans of Yao Ming happy and let them read their illin' blogs. And that's why many journalists often chastise some people in spades without digging into the facts, what with their guts tell me most of Chinese will take the same stance toward such "annoying", swinging people.
Bottom line, I think such Chinese bloggers don't really care whether Rockets will lift off or how Yao Ming fares, as long as they find ways to goose page views of their blogs by turning out bedlamite, in-your-face stuff gaited to youngsters anxious to read no-brainer and provocative articles.
That is, in a sense, I'm a Borat too.
Right? 
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A rash of complains erupted here in Shang Dong among soccer fans after their oft-cited and attention-grabbing Soccer team --Lu Neng soccer team-- got clobbered both by a hard-hitting soccer team from South Korea and Da Lian Soccer Club.
Worst yet, this humiliated defeat has riled some fans who cast doubt on the ability of Lu Neng coach, and it elicits debate on whether Zheng Zhi should return to Lu Neng or not.
"Zheng Zhi will lead Lu Neng club out of the woods and cement Lu Neng reputation as an aggressive team," a fan of Lu Neng told the host of a sports call-in radio program during the program, arguing that it will only clip Zheng Zhi's aspirations of making waves in a European league if he keeps playing in a draffy league like our domestic league.
"We should look beyond the parochial lens of localism. Instead, we have to see things from a national angle-that is, to see benefits of having players play in a cutthroat and gnarly league like British Premier League for China soccer industry as a whole," says a full-throated man, getting hopped up as he ticks off the strengths possessed by Zheng Zhi.
As to Zheng Zhi, the man at the epiccenter of this row, he has expressed hopes of staying in British Premier League, which is seen as the most influential league on earth aside from Italy League.
In the meantime, Bolten, another Premier League team, now mulls the possibilities of pocketing this competent player.
Well done, Zheng Zhi. I think you have made a shrew decision, and your career will be in the suds if you return to Lu leng Club, since you can't upgrade your skills by playing in a second-tier club.
For good measure, it's so naive to think that Zheng Zhi alone can right the ship when the"ship" is docked at a wharf clogged with thrash and minefields.
Henceforth, Zheng Zhi alone can't turn around the current embattled and distrait Lu Neng Club, even though he elects to stay in Lu Neng.
More to the point, the roots of the current debacle facing Lu Neng can be traced back to the Club's early years of ill-considered and arid plans(call it as a road map if u like) regarding the development and nourishment of youth players, which appear grandiose but yield little results(unless you are gleeful at notching impressive achievements in a ho-hum domestic youth league or turning out rafts of sneaky and inept young players whose minds are sodden with dough and sex than high-flying ambitions.
Anyhow, let me put it bluntly, for Lu Neng Club, there is no way out of current quandary if they don't retrofit its own training and management systems, and the team will get caught in another stalemate even they wrest Zheng Zhi from the hands of any foreign club clamoring for "downloading" this guy. And Lu Neng Soccer team and its fans will face heat after Zheng Zhi retires.
Sure, I might just cry wolf because deep-pocketed and domineering Lu Neng Group has whereital to reel in gild-edged foreign players, if their execs decide to shell out top dollar to scoop up those highly priced players.
Question is: who will really play the bill?
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