河國榮, An Aussie in Hong Kong

Didn't see that coming, but should have! Foxconn is apparently planning to build a new factory in Brazil to build Apple products. The Chinese source article sites transportation costs as the reason for the move, but one can not discount the possibility that labour costs in China have now escalated too much to be competitive with other developing nations.

In Hong Kong, we've been hearing about the increasing costs of labour and the associated labour-protective contracts that must be signed. Now, we're beginning to see real effects of this.

Improved antenna, 4-inch screen, NFC e-wallet rumored for Apple's iPhone 5

China Times also noted that strong demand for Apple products, particularly the iPhone and iPad, has prompted Apple's manufacturing partner, Foxconn, to plan a new facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was said that the new plant will be specifically to build Apple products, and production will start in 2013.

iPhone 5 第3季現身

此外，為了解決美洲市場運輸考量並分散生產據點，外電指出，鴻海計劃在巴西聖保羅（Sao Paulo）市北方約60公里處的 Jundiai 市再度興建廠房，專門為蘋果代工產品，並計劃於2013年開始投產。 目前富士康在 Jundiai 市擁有兩座廠房，分別為Sony、惠普（HP）組裝產品。

I've been home for a week since 「中國皇后號」 finished, and I've been able to spend more time with my wife and the kids. The Chinese New Year holiday was pleasant. We don't 拜年 as much as many other people in Hong Kong, but we did manage to happily 拜年 with a few family members and friends.

Work on my web site redesign continues in the background. The specs have been finished and we're now working on the graphic design. It won't be flashy. I prefer simple and elegant. And there won't be any Flash content in the site because I've determined that the site must be iOS compatible.

Work on my new album is also continuing. My voice is not ready to record anything, but there's music to arrange, album covers and inserts to design, and content to write for the insert. This can all be done irrespective of my voice's condition. When my voice is eventually ready to record, we'll record, mix and master the album, and release it accordingly. I'm not a pop star and I don't have a pop star singing voice, so it'll require quite a bit of homework to produce something that I can feel comfortable with releasing.

In the meantime, I'm going to visit my parents in Gympie Australia for a couple of weeks to see how they're going. It'll also give my voice a chance to further relax and recuperate after performing at full voice without a microphone on stage for close to eight weeks (I used full voice from the very beginning of rehearsals to give my voice a chance to build strength for the live performance). I'll restart vocal training with my favourite vocal coach Peisha McPhee after I return, and we'll see how things go from there.

Fortunately, all of our kids are now in good health. Two of them had bladder infections, and after six weeks of antibiotics, that has been cured. Another tried to catch a hornet in his mouth and was awarded a swollen snout for his efforts. Five days of anti-histamine medication allowed him to survive that incident. Hopefully, he won't try to repeat the exercise. It's comforting to see them all in good health, especially after losing Beethoven. And it means that I can visit my parents in Australia without having to worry about the kids.

Cheers all.

Just over one year ago, I was approached by a very nice gentleman at the HKREP to meet for a cup of coffee. They were planning a new stage play which involved Caucasian actors, one of which would need to speak significant amounts of Cantonese dialog. With 20 years of Cantonese television and five Cantonese stage productions behind me, I was perhaps their best hope. It was in the coffee shop at the Sheraton Hotel that I met with this gentleman and the script writer/director Sister Joanna.

Very little happened in that short meeting. It was a quick conversation and I was treated to a great plate of Fish & Chips. There were implied promises but nothing more. A short while later, I helped the HKREP to take publicity photos for "The Empress of China" and then heard nothing from them until October of 2010 when my part in the play was finally confirmed.

Rehearsals began in December, and it was a very tough eight weeks. Days into rehearsals, our beloved Beethoven was taken ill with Acute Pancreatitis, and we lost him several days later. Later in rehearsals, issues developed at home that complicated life for a while. Then in mid January, I became ill myself with the flu and fever. Unfortunately, my role was extremely challenging and I couldn't afford to take time off from rehearsals, so I attended even with my fever. After just a few shows at City Hall, our helper's father died and we had to send her home so that she could get the care she needed from her family, so the kids became my morning responsibility. Fortunately, our shows were all afternoon or evening shows, so I had time to look after them and take them for their walks.

The shows themselves were challenging. As an actor speaking in a language learnt as an adult, my dialog was challenging. I was speaking words and grammar that I had never used in my entire life. When you're filming tv or film, you can make mistakes and re-record, but when you're on stage, that's not an option, so the pressure was real. However, I was fortunate to be able to complete all of our shows without any significant mistakes, and I enjoyed almost every single show we performed.

As I've stated in previous posts, we had a special group of people involved in this play, a group of more than 25 actors including seven Caucasians. We had different attitudes, different techniques, different lifestyles and different roles, and yet we all respected each other and worked together extremely well. And we all had one important trait; we all respected the work and worked very hard to be the best we could be right up to the very last show, irrespective of our role in the play.

"The Empress of China" is now over, but it will always be one of the most significant highlights of my life.

The HKREP was kind enough to give me permission to post this photo from our final dress rehearsal. I hope you like it. The handsome man on the right is one of our guest actors from New York, Andrei Drooz.

We spent our last day rehearsing for The Empress of China in Sheung Wan today. After a break, we'll begin technical rehearsals in City Hall on Wednesday.

After two full run-throughs today while still recovering from the flu, I'm feeling extremely tired, but nothing can prevent me from checking the flood status in my home town of Gympie in Queensland where my parents still live.

Gympie is rather unique. The Mary River is the source of flooding there, and the river bank separating the larger Eastern side of Gympie is quite high, so the Mary River needs to rise significantly to flood to the East. Unfortunately, once it gets that high, it's like watching water run out of a full bathtub with the taps turned on, and the flooding can be severe. Main Street is definitely in trouble, again!

With rain predicted to continue for several days yet, and the ground already completely soaked, deeper flooding is almost guaranteed.

Fortunately, my parents live in a very high area of Gympie, and they're still reachable by phone and internet.

The weather is cooler now. I don't know if it's the sudden weather change or if it's the air conditioning on the MTR (which for anyone over 6' tall can be a big problem) but I picked up a serious flu bug several days ago. By Tuesday afternoon, I could feel the flu hallmarks of nasal swelling, exhaustion and muscle pain all over. With so little time left until we perform for the public, I didn't want to risk not recovering quickly and dashed off to see my favourite doctor.

I was a little surprised to discover that I was feverish! I shouldn't have been surprised because I had been experiencing hot and cold all day long; i.e., my body's thermostat was out of wack. My doctor prescribed the best medicine he could (not all medicines are created equal) and suggested that I take one or two days off rehearsals to recover. I shook my head in response to indicate that taking time off would not be an option. There was still so much to work on in the play and so little time left to do it in.

Less than two weeks to go.

We, the family at the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, have been working hard on the new bilingual play 中國皇后號 for almost five weeks. During this time, my wife and I personally suffered a loss in the family with the passing of Beethoven; another actress in the group spent several days visiting her grandfather in the hospital; and yet another actress sadly lost her father just this morning.

Despite the losses and emotional hits, we have all continued to work hard on the play, which has presented us with multiple challenges due to its unique structure, something I think audiences will find very interesting.

Friendly reminder. Tickets are available now from all Urbtix outlets.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, spending time with family and friends.

For us, it wasn't a merry Christmas, having lost Beethoven only less than three weeks ago. Having just lost someone special, the joyfulness of the season only accentuates the sorrow. Between Beethoven and a busy rehearsal schedule for the new The Empress of China play, there were no decorations at home, no Christmas tree, and strangely no gifts either. (Sadly, my sister in Australia is mourning the recent loss of two of their 'kids'; one to kidney failure, the other to insect sting complications. I feel for her.)

Continue reading "Merry Christmas (2010)"

Copyright 2010 Gregory Charles Rivers 河國榮. All rights reserved.