Sunday, February 25, 2007

Appearing Again in the "Internet Forest"

Welcome to 聚言莊 (The House Where Words Gather). I've set this place up as a temporary Internet home while I figure out what to do about my old site: Hong Kong Entertainment News In Review. For those of you who don't know me, here's my story -- presented wuxia style (so please allow me some dramatic license and pardon my referring to myself in the third-person):

Day in and day out, day after day, the Hong Kong entertainment circle winds through the lives of its followers by majestically producing projects, personalities, rumours, and, sometimes, titillating scandal on its quest for profit and fame. For years, Sanney Leung -- the Short-Haired Webmaster of the Western Plains -- would use his "Ten Fingers Conquering Dragons" writing kung to chronicle events and happenings for entertainment circle fans around the World. He started out by writing a few article translations for friends by e-mail. Soon, the e-mails grew larger and larger so he established a website where his friends could see the articles with greater ease. After many years and many transformations, the website evolved into Hong Kong Entertainment News In Review -- an online fixture of the HK entertainment scene with a modest but respectable following.

Things were going fine until the Short-Haired Webmaster of the Western Plains was stricken with nasopharyngeal carcinoma --
a cancer common among the people of South Eastern China. Suddenly, he was forced to abandon the website and concentrate on fighting for his life. Following a bitter struggle of many months, the Short-Haired Webmaster won the battle with cancer (though the war continues) and returned to his online home only to discover that a dishonourable opportunist had invaded and seized his domain, holding it hostage in hope of being paid a ransom. Exiled, the Short-Haired Webmaster wandered the Internet for weeks before deciding to set up 聚言莊 (The House Where Words Gather).

So this is where I am today, unsure of how to proceed with my role in the HK entertainment "Internet Forest". Do I go down the road of Mo Yung Fuk (Murong Fu; 慕容復) and try to restore my "online empire" or do I go down the road of Fung Ching-Yeung (Feng Qingyang; 風清揚) and retire to living out my days in seclusion in the backwoods of Mount Wah? As with any life decision, it's a complicated one. I'm still recovering from my cancer treatments but, when the healing is done, it will be back to the world of paycheques and bill payments so I don't know what the time, energy and passion situation will be for me then. Much will depend on what kind of work I end up doing, how my health ends up shaking out and what the Cold Hand of Fate has in store for me.

In the meantime, the House Where Words Gather will serve as a place for me to practice my writing and scrape the rust off my brain by sharing my thoughts on things related to the HK entertainment circle and re-connecting with friends and former readers. Right now, I'm slowly plugging in the 14 month gap in my HK entertainment knowledge. I'm hoping to use this place to talk about things I discover during the process and solicit comments from people on what events I should catch up on and what movies and things I should see. Don't worry, I won't be boring you with minutiae like what I ate for breakfast or the color of the shirt I'm wearing today.