So naturally, I've been watching pandas.
Pandas are big business here in Hong Kong now, thanks to Beijing doubling the number of them at Ocean Park to four as a tenth anniversary gift. The two new ones, Ying Ying and Le Le (not to be confused with An An and Jia Jia), went public July 1, and the lines at Ocean park to check them out have extended as far as the floating seafood restaurant in Aberdeen. (That's a joke.)
They're not just any pandas, though. They're 21st century multimedia multiplatform Web 2.0 fixed-mobile convergence pandas. O yes.
They're blogging pandas, for starters. They post their own entries and everything.
And and AND they have their own 24-hour TV channel courtesy of PCCW's NOW Broadband TV that's available via IPTV, fixed-line multimedia phone, the Web (IE 5.0 or above only) and mobile TV. With four (4) camera angles to choose from.
Exciting, no‾
Well "&brkbar; all right, no. Unless live footage of pandas sleeping and eating bamboo is about as much excitement as you can handle. Then it's compelling as hell.
Okay, I'm being a little snotty. I know that even panda fans aren't going to tune in around the clock for panda programming. And I'll confess something here in front of all of you: I do find the TV channel strikingly mesmerizing. Granted, this may be because I typically watch it while drinking Lucozade Extra spiked with bourbon at 2:30 in the morning. But you get what I mean.
Still, the mobile channel isn't really working for me. Apart from the fact that changing camera angles takes longer than the effort is worth, panda-induced mesmerism isn't that conducive to the mobile lifestyle. I need anime, kung fu, news packages and music videos for that.
Unless Ying Ying and Le Le go medieval like Lan Zai reportedly did in Lanzhou. Then you'd have something. But no one wants that. Except Rupert Murdoch, maybe. And we all know about Rupert.