文摘：健吾~"日本格差社會"

雖然日本有最低工資法，時薪最少六百五十日圓但關西和九州很多老板都盡法不發最低工資，如加班時間不計在內、較快卡鐘令員工遲到、掛名經理(日本通過管理層不必發加班費等。 / 在快餐店工作八年得到的所謂經驗，根本是場夢。/ 日本不少公司受到成本上升壓力，放棄"年功序列制度"，日本赤貧人口急增，每五個年輕人便有一個每年收入在一百萬日圓以下的貧窮層。 / 1992 - 2004日本經濟冰河時期，很多年輕人只能做工資低或兼職，日子一久便變成離開跑道的冰人(媒體稱為LosGene = Lost Generation簡稱或Worpoor = working poor) / 安倍晋三前首相曾提議廢除正社員和臨時工的差別待遇，但遭到正社員的反對，因威脅他們既有的權益。

May your force be in line with your will

i recently thumbed thro' a book named "me to we" by the founder of a philanthropic organization "me to we", inside the text it mentioned in 2002 a lecturer of US University spared $350 every month for helping any person in short-termed need, a pair of glasses for a disabled mom/ bills-settlement for a recently laid-off manager,etc. so he made a web site to let related people to post their requests to him - www.modestneeds.org
what a creative idea! so it doesn't matter how little ability you have, your determination does matter, no matter which aspect you are aiming.

南方選讀：(田中康夫)百無聊賴的水晶生活

社會在變，人心在變。田中康夫在其小說"百無聊賴的水晶生活"獨有洞見地概述社會環境如何影響人 民的思想趨勢。文中解釋社會經濟怎樣跟人心從奮鬥型進入滿足型再到資訊型的相互關係(我的心態或多或少也跟田中康夫所述的吻合)。

John William Waterhouse & Raf Simons

The recent hit fashion designer - Raf Simons not only got the bull horn of the big brand "Jil Sander" but also the label of his own name drew attentions from the whole fashion population. i appreciated his items on stage and i have come across his retail products in LaneCrawford that also align my expectation for him. In his retail outfits, i most liked his use of colours of blue and green -- that kinds of blue and green (also his grey in A/W'08) i felt manifested the main tone of English Artist - John William Waterhouse (1849 - 1917). The "in" of Mr Waterhouse's blue & green i felt is related to natural evolution of the former (1853 - 1890)Van Gogh's blue-hit in fashion field. But i dun know if the fashion trend would go further to the blue period of Picasso later.

John Willaim Waterhouse


Vicent Van Gogh
Raf Simons S/S'08

南方選讀

上周南方周末摘取了2篇文章供諸同好：
橫稿："福利國家的限度"~ 在整個老歐洲，國家的福利開支佔GDP比例：英國21%、意大利24%、德國27%、法國29%、丹麥28%...... / 歐洲一體化導致大量的福利移民。 / 今年7月英國工黨政府受美國'新自由主義'影響發布一個(福利改革綠皮書)向那些癮君子、大白天喝啤酒的人、沒病裝病的人開刀。 / 英國人口約6000萬，540萬適齡人口沒有工作，其中200萬根本就不應該享有福利。
直稿："中國出口的附加值 " ~ 以中國出口的iPOD為例，在生產過程中，所需的鋼材也許從澳大利亞進口，機械、電腦芯片可能來自美國、台灣或者韓國，硬盤可能日本，再由中國勞動力組裝起來從而間接增值，iPOD在美售價420美元，其中僅有4美元的價值來自中國。 / 根據中國的數據，2006年中國對美國出口額為2010億美元，其中有1130億美元來自其他國家，只有880億美元是在中國創造。

衛詩 JILL - JILLYMPICS

solely form the disc cover, already no mistake i know do i take to like Jill, not to mention her music. i agreed with the Leon Lai's statement : janice (not Janice Man) as well as Jill are treasure of HK music industry (in fact i feel Jill is more valuable as compared in roundup.)

企盼已久 - 黃子華嚟喇！黃子華好嘢！

應該係2006年，那夜欣賞完現場，就開始望佢出碟。差不多3年，終於等到。(好彩唔洗3年又3年啫。) 容我人心不足，旋即喊：『愈大鍋、愈快樂』已經等咗就嚟2年，點解重未出？