So I've been MIA from the blogging scene for about 2 months, not for lack of things to write but just plain lack of time! 

I know, I know, its just like exercising.  If you REALLY want to, you have to make the time.

But I've truly been very busy.  I mean, when it rains it POURS. Like Typhoon 8 without an umbrella pouring styles!

Film development meetings, clothing designs, photo shoots, lions and tigers...oh my!

But one of the biggest projects has been the production of our new TV Show, "CB FRESH".  Myself and several fellow AnD artists have been grinding away for the past 3 months on this, and just now we are nearing the end of Stage 2, the post-production phase.  Next up, is the Live Event/Unveiling which we are hard at work on putting together.  The site is up now too, so you can go check it out here:

http://www.cbfresh.com

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS POST. 
During the past several weeks, we've been doing marathon editing and development meetings.  The thing is we don't have an official OFFICE.  As we are just getting on our feet, the majority of our budget has gone straight into the show, which leaves nothing much for renting office space.

Aaaah, but in this day and age, who needs to be tied down to ONE location?

With the popularity and practicality of Laptops, Wi-Fi available almost everywhere, portable Hard Drives powered by USB, a large backpack and a pair of clean Delay No More underwear, today's start up companies need not be limited to the confines of four walls.

We can literally go anywhere and plug-in to the Matrix.


UNOFFICIAL OFFICE #1 - TSUEN WAN
Our first session started in L'Hotel in Nina Tower, located in Tsuen Wan.  I had a 4 day photo gig there and the company was good enough to put me up in the hotel.  Hearing that, the boys decided to crash my room and turn it into a boiler room.  While I worked downstairs, they powered away on their comps.  Whenever I had a break, I would come upstairs and check on them, only to be welcomed by piles of rice boxes, instant 3-in-1 coffee, candy and coke.  Fun times.



UNOFFICIAL OFFICE #2 - PO LAM
Round Two saw us heading to Po Lam, literally the ends of Hong Kong and about as far east as you can go on the MTR.  Our man Rob lives there and offered his place, sweetening the deal by saying that he'd COOK AND CLEAN for us.  We couldn't pass that up!



The Set Up



Simon hard at work.



...Hour 18... (Brought to you by Oreos and Häagen-Dazs®)



We would not see the last of this little blue bar...


UNOFFICIAL OFFICE #3 - POST 97, LKF
Our third stop was at the restaurant POST 97, tucked away in LKF, Central.  We had a meeting there first with Spencer around noon.  WE STAYED TIL THEY CLOSED.  We literally had breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert there!  I think we got an honorary table named for us!



The Set Up - marking our territory.



We OWNED the joint.



Three's Company.



Never leave home without it!


UNOFFICIAL OFFICE #4 - CAFE WORKSHOP, MONGKOK
The latest session was held in Mongkok, in a cool little cafe called TC2: CAFE WORKSHOP.  I think "Workshop" says it all.  This place had very cool decor and was nice a chill, playing very soothing jazzy music.  We even bumped into a TVB actress, who for some reason, had access to a secret room in the back.  She just disappeared behind a glass wall!





Who needs a "Green" Room?

Anyway, there will definitely be more cool places to come!  Next several weeks are pretty crucial and I forsee many marathons coming soon...

Let me start off by saying that I am a HUGE Timbaland fan.  I was there from the beginning, way back in the Missy/Ginuwine/Aaliyah/Magoo days.  Ever since hearing the first 'bumpity' beat I knew that Timbo was doing something different.  The beats just seemed to go in unexpected directions and would just flow and bounce SO WELL.  It was pure originality and I would always highly anticipate the next song produced by him.

Now, in 2008, Timbaland is perched at the top, having enjoyed a highly successful resurgence into the music industry.  He's always been here, mainly residing in the genres that made him: hip hop and R&B.  But then something happened.  The tipping point occurred when he collaborated with two artists: Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. 

BOOM.

Suddenly, Timbaland was everywhere.  Not just behind the scenes but he was also appearing more and more in the videos and coming more into center stage.  He had also changed his image by shedding more than 100 lbs and appearing more like a beefed up bodyguard for his fellow artists.  Next followed with his own solo album debut, and his career went into the next gear.

Timbaland now was being approached by artists outside of his usual genre.  Madonna, Duran Duran and Bjork all came calling.  And this is where I come to my point.

Timbaland has a distinct sound.  If you've listened to the music he's made you can probably tell it was made by him.  A slight sample here, a familiar sound there.  Even though he comes up with new material, he definitely has certain sounds that he comes back too.  And that's fine because that's all a part of the 'timbaland style'.

The issue I want to raise is that after listening to the new Madonna and Duran Duran, two hugely successful 80s artists, whose music is it that we're listening too?

If you hear an old Madonna song, you can instantly tell thats a 'Madonna' song.  Now is this because we've been listening to these songs for ages and that just how we see them.  Or does Madonna have her own sound?

Its different because the hip hop and R&B genre is quite interchangable by nature.  The beats and the vocals are on separate tracks.  In fact, EPs even come with 'Instrumental' and 'Acapella' versions of the tracks so to encourage people to combine songs into their own versions.  What this does is make the beatmaker have a distinct voice in the industry.  You can tell who made a certain track if you've listen to enough songs by them.

Rock, by comparison, cannot do this.  The guitars and drums and vocals can't be separated as easily.  Can you really separate a U2 or a Rolling Stones track into pieces?

Pop, on the other hand, skirts the line and walks on the edge of the fence.  Pop can sometimes lean more towards a "Rock" sound or sometimes a more "R&B" sound.  Its a big muddled 'gray-zone' kind of a genre.  Whatever can't be distinctly defined gets lumped into 'Pop'.

So now that I've listened to Madonna's first single, I can say that I like it.  But it sounds like a Timbaland song. 

So who's song is this really?

I'm glad to see Timbaland's success and that he is crossing over more into the mainstream, but it also raises the concern of music in general.  Once a person becomes a bonefide 'hitmaker' everyone wants a piece of the action.  But if everyone is going to the same well for water then eventually will all the music start sounding the same?

Its been a long time coming...

And like a jilted lover, the very next morning everything is fine.

I wake up and now my phone works.

Seriously phone, why do we always have to fight about these stupid little things?

Ok, I'm sorry, I love you.

Ah yes, the cell phone.

Our little plastic rectangular friend. 

Where would we be without you?

You know, it surprises me how much we are reliant on this piece of technology, this pandora's box of communication.  Any and all things can happen through this device.  Careers can be made or broken; relationships can be found or lost; lives can be saved or not. 

It is through this small thing that we can talk to someone halfway around the world, or sitting just in the next room.

In fact, the cell phone has been so integrated into our daily lives that to use it, is like using an extension of yourself.  We don't think about it because It has become second nature.  Leaving the house without feels almost naked.

So when, you're working away at your desk and your phone SUDDENLY DOESN'T TURN ON... well, that's a little cause for concern.

Suddenly I was unplugged from the Matrix.

I was a free roaming agent and feeling unnaturally disoriented.  Stupid me, also forgot to back up the numbers on the phone.  I had most of my contacts business cards and emails were scattered about but there are several that I just did not write down.

Phone was plugged in and charging normally, having just worked fine half an hour ago.

AND i happened to be expecting a call, as well.

Luckily had my old trusty Samsung lying around, so I jacked the Sim Card into there and was relieved to get a text.

The next hour or so was spent scouring the net for a solution.  My phone was the Palm Treo 680, and apparently this particular problem was believed by most to be a dead battery issue.

Nothing to do now but wait til the morning to get a new one.

Damn you technology.  Can't live with you, can't live without you.