Danwei Picks is a daily digest of the "From the Web" links found on the Danwei homepage. A feed for the links as they are posted throughout the day is available at Feedsky (in China) or Feedburner (outside China).

The retrial of Xu Ting: Two legal experts talk to The Economic Observer about the retrial of Xu Ting, who had his life sentence for ATM theft reduced to five years after a media outcry led the courts to reconsider:

When the case was returned to the lower court, the latter was under the impression that its superior was unhappy with the severe judgment, thus it started reviewing the case by arguing that the nature of "theft" in this case was unique as it was due to ATM malfunctioning. To alter the verdict, the lower court needed a legal ground, and found article 63 (2) of the Criminal Law that allowed the penalty to be mitigated based on unique circumstances of the case and with approval from the Supreme Court.

During the top legislative meets (in March), some higher court officials have openly commented through the media that the penalty on Xu was too harsh, this action is against the principle of judiciary independence, against the independence of the local court and the judge to carry out trial. Judicial proceeding should not blindly succumb to public pressure, however, it should pay attention to public opinion, this has been a practice in many countries.

The boy in the Black Hole: David Bordwell visits Martin Chappell, the sound designer for Milkyway films like PTU and Sparrow:

It’s important to have a recorder with you all the time. You never know when some drunk is going to burst into song whilst lying in the gutter. In Sparrow, Simon Yam challenges Ka Dung to steal the cop’s handcuffs when they’re outside a bar late at night. So I just pulled the recording I’d made earlier of some drunk guys singing karaoke. It was late one night, I was walking back from the pub, and I heard it echoing out an alleyway.

I feel I’m incredibly lucky. I went out one night to get fresh recordings of a minibus for Linger. I’d scouted the spot, but when I got there the heavens opened and I didn’t have an umbrella. I ran to a nearby bridge—serendipity. I realize it’s next to a tram road, so I recorded buses and trams in the rain, and these sounds feature prominently in Sparrow.

The best building in Beijing: At the Bejing by Foot blog, Eric Abrahamsen describes the history and current situation of the New World Shopping Center:

This four-story building provided entertainment in the form of music, shows and dining, and all the fanciest people were seen there. It had a rooftop garden and was one of three buildings in Beijing to sport an elevator. Its glory days were short however: a guest committed suicide here in 1918, and shortly after that the walls of another nearby pleasure-palace collapsed, killing yet more partygoers. That killed the local vibe, and marked the end of Xiangchang Lu as the Sunset Boulevard of its day.

Who to blame for empty search results: ESWN translates an account by a Qianlong reporter who attempted to show western media bias on the Lhasa riot issue by searching for keywords in the online databases of major news wires, and a response by a blogger who critiques the reporter's search skills and points out that "this page cannot be displayed" means that the keywords have tripped China's filters.

Australia, BOCOG tussle over torch security rules: The Herald Sun reports on a press conference that "descended into farce" when capital police got into an argument with the Beijing representative over who gets to guard the torch:

They were "trained security personnel with the ability to cover and evacuate the torch bearer in the case of an emergency", Mr Qu said as he read from the BOCOG relay manual. "Flame attendants are deployed alongside and behind the torchbearer to respond to any immediate threat against the flame or the torchbearer."

It is believed the BOCOG document also contains clauses, not read out by Mr Qu, stating that any security activity by the flame attendants would have to be at the behest of local authorities.

A clearly furious [ACT Chief Minister John Stanhope], sitting metres from Mr Qu, said there were "communication issues& about the Chinese guards' role."

Saving Beijing’s reservoirs: Gaoming Jiang, professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Botany, writes for China Dialogue on how Beijing can ensure an adequate supply of clean water:

Beijing could, at no great cost, change the way upstream agriculture operates and encourage the use of organic fertilisers instead of chemicals; the use of straw to feed livestock; dung to fuel methane power generation; and the by-products used as fertiliser – rather than being dumped into rivers. Beijing’s consumers could enjoy organic products produced upstream, the farmers could have a secure income and the rivers would be cleaner.

Rock fest harmonized: At Newsweek's Countdown Beijing blog, Jonathan Ansfield reports on the cancellation of the Midi Festival due to security concerns, and takes a look back at the festival's history:

Even the district government where the park is located was invested in Midi 2008. Despite speculation that clamps on non-Olympic events pre-Olympics would do in the rockfest, the Haidian District was kicking in 500,000 yuan, according to Chinese reports. But it apparently would take a lot more than money right now for Midi to hire police, who are already required to provide heavy security for the fest to get the go-ahead from police. But no security means no permit, either.

The tbjblog also has a report.

Image from Maxim-IC.