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• Alicia Keys live!

  Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008 9:32PM / Standard Entry

  I went to the Alicia Keys concert last night in the HK Asia-World Arena, and I gotta say... that girl has such an AMAZING voice, so soulful and powerful! If you listen to her songs, you can tell that she truly gives it her all. She's beautiful, and of course so talented, she played on a grand piano for many of her songs and she sounded incredible live.
  
  She really made the crowd work hard for the encores, both of them, each time only coming out for one song. Of course we all went wild though when she came back out for the first encore with "No One", everyone in the crowd was really into it even those of us way in the back of the arena. We were all up on our feet singing along and rhythmically throwing our hands in the air to all the "OH OH OH OH!"'s of the song... :) What a blast! Then she came back out with a strong, powerful final performance of "If I Ain't Got You"... preceded by her graciously telling the crowd that she knows that she wouldn't be where she is, here playing in Hong Kong, if it weren't for all of us.
  
  In her song "Superwoman", she has some cool lyrics encouraging and celebrating the strength of woman out there. I love the following lines:  :)
  
  "Even when I'm a mess
  I still put on a vest
  With an S on my chest
  Oh yes
  I'm a Superwoman"
  
  Our seats were pretty far back and on the ground level though. So me being the shorty that I am and it being just my luck to sit in back of the tallest guy in the row in front of me (of course, Murphy's Law, grrrrr!), I couldn't see the stage at all. :( I spent the entire concert watching the performances from the big screen next to the stage. But it was DEFINITELY worth being there and hearing her sing live, even if I couldn't actually see her. I even ran into quite a few friends at the arena... Marsha, Terence, Steph... lots of Alicia Keys fans. =D
  
  Being so far from the stage, I didn't get to take any photos or videos that were decent enough to post. But here are some YouTube videos (no official videos though, they've disabled the option to embed) of some of my favorite Alicia Keys songs performed live.
  
  "Like You'll Never See Me Again" (my new favorite song!)
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/dpj9XbwU-bM&hl=en&fs=1
  

  
  
  "Superwoman"
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/zv58O2mqWS0&hl=en&fs=1
  

  
  
  
  
  "No One"
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/ZTXPyBoIRuU&hl=en&fs=1
  

  
  
  "If I Ain't Got You"
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/OhJNnxChi70&hl=en&fs=1
  

  
  
  
  

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• Photo exhibit @ Triple J

  Monday, Feb 18, 2008 8:17PM / Standard Entry

  Yesterday evening was the opening of the photo exhibit with images by four AnD photographers, Berton Chang, Chris Lay, Ohm Panhiroj and myself. Some of us made a trip up to Shenzhen to catch the opening party, which included a fun musical performance by Dirt Star. The exhibit runs for two weeks at Triple J Cafe, a cozy and cute little art cafe in Shenzhen, China. I had a good time and it was nice seeing familiar faces there and meeting some new folks including Chris (thanks for inviting me), the cafe owner JiaJia, Dirt Star (Ron), Jesse, and others.
  
  A few random shots from the evening...
  
  
  Unfortunately I can't read Simplified Chinese. Anyone wanna translate to English? :)
  
  
  (mine's on the right)
  
  
  
  
  
  The Triple J and AliveNot Dead present "On the Road",  a photo exhibit with images by Berton Chang, Ivy Lam, Christopher Lay, Liza Lebeda and Ohm Panphiroj, with live music by Dirtstar. 
  
  Opening Sunday, 17 Feb @ 7-11pm
  Photo Exhibition 17 Feb - 1 March
  Triple J Cafe, Shenzhen, China
  (behind the roller coaster, Culture Palace Park, Dongmen, Luohu)
  +86 134 1064 5216
  www.triplej.wordpress.com.cn
  

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• Support a small bookshop!

  Monday, Feb 11, 2008 11:44AM / Standard Entry

  First of all, Happy New Year! May the Year of the Rat be a great year for you all!
  
  For anyone in HK who likes books and artwork, let me tell you about a cute little used bookshop in Central (LKF). It has a colorful, cozy setup with sofa and armchairs, a nice livingroom-feeling to it. Sadly, since it's on the second floor, it's sorta hidden so most people don't even know it's there. Other than books (English), they also sell original paintings and photos, which is displayed all around the shop.
  
  *ahem* As a matter of fact, I have some of my travel photo prints for sale there, both framed and non-framed... (shameless plug... haha)
  
  Seriously, I wanna spread the word about the bookshop because I got to know the owner and she's a real cool gal, but due to financial reasons, she may be shutting down the shop by end of next month! It's sad cuz she's put all her time, money, and energy into running the shop which opened a year ago. Since I'm a huge booklover and enjoy browsing in bookstores, I'm gonna miss having a used bookstore in HK that's so cozy and comfortable.
  
  So for HK book-lovers or art-lovers out there, support a small local business and check out the shop for some quality, discounted books and artwork if you have the chance... before it closes down soon! Thx for reading~
  
  MUSE BOOKSHOP
  2nd floor, 12 Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong
  (Entrance located between the bars Club97 & Whiskey Priest. Go up 2 flights of stairs)
  Open daily 11am-8pm
  Tel: 3620-3399
  

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• my lucky week of concerts :)

  Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 4:02PM / Standard Entry

  I feel like a lucky girl... In one week, I got to attend two big concerts... and best of all, both for free!
  
  On Sunday, I got to see the Jacky Cheung concert again for the second time. It was the same tour as the concert I attended back in August, which I had blogged about here. This time it was held in a large outdoor venue, and our seats were a little better. The only thing was that it was outdoors on one of the few icy-cold evenings in HK, so our little group Raffi, Stephen, Boon, Kit, Phat, Tung Tung and I were sitting out there freezing our butts off for 3 hours... but it was worth it, at least for me... His voice was amazing, and I loved listening to all his old classics from the 80's & 90's. Thanks to Raffi, who had an extra free ticket and invited me. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Jacky live, again, for free!
  
  Then last night, I got to attend the My Chemical Romance concert cuz I won a contest. (Thanks, Beats Mag!) I was pretty happy cuz I NEVER win anything, much less anything this cool! I met up with Stephen, Patrick, Duc and some other folks who also planned on going, and we got to be in the same standing section in the front. I'm pretty new to their music, but I really enjoyed the concert and actually knew about 4 songs.
  
  Here's the MV for my favorite MCR song, "I Don't Love You" (which sounded great live): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duTBl5JH7pg
  

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• This one's for the children....

  Saturday, Dec 22, 2007 12:09PM / Standard Entry

  Yesterday, I joined my husband's office in their sponsored Christmas event with a local children's organization called Heep Hong Society, an organization which provides services for children with disabilities and their family members. As both sponsors and volunteers, we joined the staff, 40 of the children, and their family members for a day at a ranch where the kids were able to ride horses, ride in a cow-cart, play games, have a BBQ dinner, and receive presents from Santa.
  
  The children, ages 2 to 6, suffer from physical, mental, and behavīoral disorders such as Autism, Down's Syndrome, and Cerebral Palsy, so for most children there (if not all), it was their first time riding a horse or even seeing a live horse, and they were all very happy and excited. Apparently, one father was so happy that he cried when he saw his young autistic son ride the horse so well and so calmly for the first time.
  
  During the BBQ dinner, one young girl was really cute. In seeing the adults holding the long metal forks BBQ-ing meat over the grill, she wanted to hold her little plastic fork with a meatball on it over the grill too... and her mom laughingly told her "You can't grill with a plastic fork, silly girl". It was really cute and funny. :)
  
  It's amazing to see the family with their children. Even though it must be difficult for them, you could still see how much the parents/grandparents love their child/grandchild. I'm sure it's hard enough raising a kid as is, but so much more difficult raising a kid with mental and behavīoral disabilities. Even harder would be raising them as a single parent... which is sadly not uncommon. We met a handful of single moms doing their best to raise their autistic child on their own.  :(
  
  I think it's wonderful of my husband's office to not only donate money to such a meaningful organization, but actually volunteer their help and spend the day with them. According to the director of the center, there aren't many corporate sponsors who'd actually make this effort to get to know the children and their parents. This is the second year that his office has sponsored and volunteered at Heep Hong's events, and some of the children and parents actually recognize my husband and some of his office members, and I'm sure they all appreciate how much they really care about the children.
  
  It felt great to be a part of such a special experience. I spent my time taking photos of the children on horseback. As it's such a rare opportunity for them, I wanted the family members to have photos to remember it by. For some it may even be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
  
  At the end of the day, the children presented each of us volunteers with these cute handmade drawings... :)
  
  

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