i admit i am bit of a b|tch, my idealism sometimes makes me very petty and
pedantic. oh well, if it makes up for anything, i do mean for the best/no harm. 

peachey inspired me a little for this blog, although i'll probably do it better. :D

they say a picture speaks a thousand words and in that respect i will hence forth attempt to create a mammoth of an entry.

note: there is no story, they were taken at uncherographed times, there may or may 
not be  correlation between each piece, i actually quite like taking pictures, yet i don't take them as often as it would look, i have many many many other pictures that might be of
random interest, show some love and i might carry on.

i can talk straight sense grammatically speaking but that wouldn't be fun, though really i can't be bothered.



a mobile phone pic taken at england, london, regent's street; late day-turning night, the cheesey, cliche red laterns as a mark of acknowledgement/respect/celebration for chinese new year.



as youngster, i suppose as a craze originating from hong kong, whilst i was in belgium, my friends introduced me to "4x4 cars". little model cars that you built 
and then raced. pretty fun they were. picked this up in hk 2 years ago just to relive
some memories; it looks the shizbiz.



also 2 years ago, i went to a michael lau exhibition and to my initial dissapointment the place was closed as the man himself was about to do an interview. my friend 
cited the truth that i was from abroad and exaggerated that i came all the way just to attend. i ended up 1) having the whole exhibition to view myself (with the crew there setting up stuff) 2) managed to get myself a figure 3) get michael lau to sign + draw on it 4) chat to him for a while 5) got invited to do a mini interview about my thoughts on his work by the film crew there.



not my doing. a friend of a friend did this with his brother and got it featured in several 'lad's mags' like fhm, loaded etc. i renamed this pic '3 knobs'..



quite an honour to be able to witness the most original and probably first graffiti artist ever; hong kong's 'king of kowloon'. it was pretty awesome in person.



nice. very nice.



tiananmen square. an absolute memerising magnitude of public space. 



leaves and panda - you gotta rate this picture right?



sweeeeeeeeet. along the way to hong kong's lan tau island 'big buddha'.



found in a random folder on my computer. a still cap from the hk cinema classic 'swordsmen 2' with sam hui (not pictured).



the acture figure/shoe is plain, the drawing is by michael lau, which is actually of himself - talk about vainity eh? there's sort of a semi-funny reason to why i call this the poo shoe but i can't be arsed to elaborate now.



sha tin hk. kids nowadays eh.



i don't usually do cliche arty 'oh interesting contrast of colours/patterns' but erm yeah.



i named this picture 'night bj'.



hk, ngong ping, 360 cable car ride. the view was rather amazing as you can tell from my expression.



one for the girls. seriously cute.



you can't really top off the finale with a kid pic can you.

that's all folks, cheers.

signing off at the artist formerly known as the artiste.

so i'm back home now. overall it was fun and chilled, so much so that i felt it wasn't long enough and wanted to stay on; i suppose it's because i didn't really do much of the things i had set out to do..

i got in my fair amount of shopping, browsing, checking out pre-researched things (you know that feeling of setting out to do something..and you actually do it?), eat decent food, chillax with other ppl but i'm disappointed with myself.

because of cheap tickets (my brother works for an airline), including this time, it's been 3 times in 3 summers. it was starting to bear on me that i was getting a bit bored of the hong kong that i was seeing so i wanted to experience another side of it. my answer was to see the indie music scene, the live music joints, see other vibrant creative sides..

yet in the end i didn't attend any gigs or do any of the 'alternative' things i wanted to do - sigh. although, because of personal reasons i enjoyed this trip (a lot more than aticipated). i've come to realise that all the things i want to do can only be fully appreciated
in my ideal situation - which is when i am there pernamently (or long term).

anyways that wasn't the topic i intended for this entry.

look who i bumped into:

(minus my ultraman impression and unintended hilarious camp pose, spot the odd one out)

so there i was as i walked into 852 (http://www.8five2.com, in my 2nd trip there), where from the entrance you are looking down the whole shop and the till; i instantly noticed the gleam of light shining off the shaved head of this dude who was sitting down at the counter. 

straight away i thought it could only be one person - the owner of 852 aka 
brian aka sir eats a lot aka one of the mcs of 24 herbs. a minute later, he was chatting to someone and from the words 'dope' and his accent i was pretty sure it was him.

(i saw the interview videos for the 'let's fight' concert and read up a lil about the 24 herbs crew so i recognised him from there) 

so i was like, ohh pretty cool but baited my time walking around the shop, 
doing originally what i had intended to do (check out some cool tees heh) 
and then about 5 minutes later another guy comes in and start talking to brian:

'blah blah i was in china, it was cool man, got to play with soler blah blah' was what i heard. 

again i recognise the face, his words (having read his blog before) and i
was like, ohhhh prettttty coool.
so this is how the pic goes from left to right:

kenny (?), i think he just works at 852 but he seems like a cool dude, not over bearingly friendly and pushy salesperson (rather rare in hk i suppose)

brian, myself and ryan hui, yup this one:
http://www.alivenotdead.com/23277

i continue browsing around and naturally it could only be one tshirt that i wanted:
http://www.8five2.com/Products_070515/24HERBS_LetsFight_Blk.jpg

(having on the previous occasion getting the 24 herbs tee!)

so i walk to the counter, getting ready to pay when i seize my opportunity so to speak:

- all in english -
"yo er hey guys mind if we take a pic?"
*shakes ryan's hand*
"dude i've like been trying to find your cd all over hong kong (slight exaggeration there..). i mean your cd is out right?" - me
"yeah it's an ep, you could probably find it at hmv or rendezvous" - ryan
brian takes the camera off my companion and i'm thinking *haha bet he thinks i'm there to take a pic with mr. idol ryan hui*, so i'm like:
"nah i mean like how about we all take one? sir eats a lot right? haha"
"ha ah yeah cool" - brian
"yeah 24herbs rock man, they are much better live" - ryan
"yeah so i've heard, it's a shame cause i wanted to come back for the let's fight concert but couldn't make it. i overheard you guys, something bout 24herbs doing a gig in england?" - me
"yeah it's not definite but diesel are organising something and it depends
on them" - brian

so yeah he asks where i'm from, how long been in hong kong etc just
chat a lil bit.

"yo it was cool meeting and talking to you guys.." - me
"yeah it was dope man" - brian.

and that was it, both seem like really cool dudes, so a lot of respect to that!

oh yeah 24herbs album should be dropping in sometime july - brian's words.

later that evening in hmv:



so erm watch this space, i might do an unprofessional review or something.

oh and here is the unedited r- rated version of events that what really happened at 852.



brian started to get a bit touchy feely and i was like
"whooaa easy there..did your mom buy your shirt or something?"



and then all hell broke loose.

(ryan was bewildered by it all and kenny wanted to make sure his hair looked good in the photos).

the end.

ya know it's kinda funny peachey (below) reminds me to write a new entry..

because i was going to anyways and it wasn't even by my own accord as choice but something i need to report (read: brag) by coincidence..

so here it goes:



(in case you haven't noticed i've editted the pic a little..)

how awesome is that?!!

for those who don't know the guy on the right is none other than mc yan - former rap vocalist of lmf and now solo artist in his own right; not just a  musician but come graffiti artist, semi political activist etc.

www.chinamantaggin.com
www.nsbq.org

now i ain't gonna build him into some fanboy idol-god status but his work, actions and philosophy is something i have a lot of respect for. like for a lot of others, in hong kong music, it was beyond and then lmf that really got me interested in the scene so to speak. from their music and various collaborations, connections relations, i got to find out about a lot of other bands and musicians.

i have the equal amount of praise and things to say about beyond but to keep it on topic, lmf has been undoubtedly a major influence in hong kong's counter-pop-culture. what's so more important is even with the (shock) disband a few years ago, each of the members have diversified and continued their independent mentality; at the same time bringing us really original projects and creative offerings that continue to widen the range of hong kong music.

for example:

DBF - Unbreakable
http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-c/section-music/pid-
1003319439/

War is You mv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ecMDZu64eQ

the war is you mv comes originally from the josie ho 'sickid' cd, which really was masterminded by davy chan (as producer) - from bringing in the musicians to recording to recommending the home-grown animation artists for the mvs. his solo cd is an exciting fusion of genres like house, techno, hip hop, rap, break beat, dance etc, where he brought and used a wide range of talents (how from janice vidal to seasons lee).

i can say a lot more but just get it, highly recommended.

jimmy - with jun kung and paul wong form the 'jam band' hann.

phat + kit - hardpack, 24 herbs.

dj tommy and mc yan - now a few ppl say they 'sold out' here by working with edison chen (who apparently had asked/begged lmf to help him do an album and got rejected haahha..) but actions speaker louder than words and to me it's clear, at least with mc yan's involvement that he has collaborated with edison as a medium to spread hip hop to the mainstream. even so it's not so much as to spread 'hip hop' but communicate the positive and constructive messages..

戰爭
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAgkKdavgdI

Hong Kong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bnybwgDMi4

口徒氣
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeC_duhyIbM

(han jin plays a big part here too of course)

great meaning with great intent and great songs to boot, what more could
you ask for?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

anyways i'm going off on a tangent.

i was walking around mong kok around fa yeun street (i believe) and all of a sudden i recognised this dude with his distinctive beard, dimunitive frame and army camo hat..he was talking to some french guy, who i later found out is part of a (break) dance group, that was going to perform in macau (shame i couldn't see it). so i walk round the front, caught his attention, butted in and was like

(in cantonese)
"hey mc yan?" *shakes hand* - me
"yeah" - yan
"what ya doing round here?" - me over-thinking that he was doing some
street project or something
"just walking around" - yan
"cool man i like your work a lot, what kind of projects you been up to?" - me
"well i'm gonna be doing my own solo project.." - yan
"like ning si bu qu? i heard edison was doing his mandarin album so i take
it you're not gonna help out on it?" - me
"nah he's doing his thing and my solo stuff is gonna drop this summer" - yan
- forgot what i/he said -
- asks and takes picture -
"yeah here's something for you, you can write 'my name is' and iron it here
on your shirt"



"ohhh pretty cool, that's really creative man. so you've got any
recommendations for events etc to go to these next two weeks?" - me
"next two weeks?" - yan
"well i'm from abroad.." - me
*points to guy next to him "i she's doing a show in macau, other than that
don't know but you can keep in contact with me on our website"
*writes www.nsbq.org on back on label* - yan
"cool i'll call myself mong kok danny so you'll remember me haha" - me
"hah just post our picture up init"
"ah well thanks for the label, well cool seeing you, laters!"

how cool is the clothes label?!
100%
NO MACHINE BRAIN WASH
DO ALOT BIATCHEzz
DO NOT DIE CLEAN
DO NOT SHOOT UFOz

and that was it. ok so maybe not so colloquial but very casual, he seems like a cool guy and was geniunely pleased that i took an interest rather than be annoyed.

anyways that was it and i must say i was pretty chuffed.

p.s i'm not in the best of moods for writing concise and detailed (even when i am it's only so so) so forgive the plain narration etc.

here's some joke mock art i did that is rather inspired from some of yan's work.



think what you want.

i really like the idea of alivenotdead.com

it's something i've wanted to do in a similar fashion before..but then realised i was really lazy and couldn't be assed.

anyways my plan was to have this really hip website where i would review hong kong music and films. however, this wasn't supposed to be just any review site, where any new release by whatever artist would get coverage. nah it was gonna involve artists in my opinion that have credibility/talent.

in many ways it would be a fan's page but it wasn't idolising, it was education. stuff like did you know in the 1991 beyond concert, after the last song ka kui credits a bunch of ppl, which included: johnny, davy, ah paul's younger brother (aka kk). if you know your stuff these familar names plus ah wah form the band anodize; years later they had a mass orgy fest with other bands and created something called the lazymuthafuckaz.

so you know there's a reason why ppl respect paul wong, although he may not have directly influenced ppl to create bands like anodize, he was there when it happened (maybe helped them?). he was definitely there when he helped as 'double bass' on one of the songs on the lmf ep and the guitar solo of the infamous 'lazy clan' song..

anyways i've rambled on a bit. hopefully i can keep enough interest (read: be assed) to continue browsing and contributing to this site.