The Cure

Went to The Cure show here in Hong Kong last night and what an impressive show it was! I went in thinking it was going to be a fat and old Robert Smith playing a couple classics then mostly a bunch of newer stuff that no one really knew for 45 minutes. To my surprise, however, their set lasted almost three hours and was chocked full of the old school goodies! And although he is old and fat now, his voice sounds as good and strong as ever.
I hobbled in on my crutches to the standing room floor area of the Asian Expo Arena excited to see the band I never got to see in high-school and was surprised to see such a huge turnout. I didn't think too many locals were into The Cure. It was definitely a much more mature affair. Not many people under 25 and there were a lot of balding white guys dancing around reminiscing their college days. About half an hour into the show a security guard offered me a chair near the sound booth. I'm glad I took him up on the offer because my one good leg was already getting sore however, I did have to jump up to get a little groove on when songs like "Friday I'm in Love", "Lovesong" and "Just Like Heaven" came on. The crowd was also one on the best I have ever seen in HK. Usually local crowds are quite dead but last night the whole arena was dancing and singing along. Their double encore was finished off with "Boys Don't Cry", a perfect end to a great show. Robert Smith got so hot at one point he turned into a giant fireball right there on stage!

R.I.P. Edward Yang

I went to the Hong Kong memorial service of Edward Yang yesterday. I didn't know him too well but the few times I got to spend with him were always inspiring to me. Although considered one of Taiwan's great filmmakers, winning Best Director in Cannes, he is also probably one of the most underrated and least known in the international film community.Always kind, warm and generous he will be greatly missed. Click on the blog title to learn more about Edward, then go and watch one of his films.

Bored...

Went through some old photos in my iphoto albums. Here are a few from a couple of movie sets. I drag this big digital SLR camera around with me when I'm shooting a movie and I take it out whenever I remember. I'm usually better about it when we go out on location.

Went to the Golden Triangle in Northern Thailand to film some scenes for The Protege.

Rooftop in Kowloon. The Protege
Interior set. The Protege.

Stuck indoors

My broken leg combined with the unbearable heat and all the god damned mosquitoes are keeping inside where the air is cool and conditioned. I normally hate air-con but it is just too humid outside right now to deal. Took one of my dogs to the park the other day and got around 20 mosquito bites. Stuck indoors, I've just been spring cleaning, trying to get my new Blackberry to sync properly with the Mac and shopping itunes.

The day before I left NYC I was surprised to see a poster for the new Bad Brains album. I used to listen to ROCK FOR LIGHT all the time in highschool and it is probably one of my all time favorite punk albums. After not hearing about them for so many years, I assumed they had broken up for good, or maybe just too old to rock out like they used to. So when I got back home I bought the new album right away off itunes. This album was produced by Adam Yauch(MCA of Beastie Boys) and although although HR's voice can't hit those highs any more, it still rocks harder than any of the so called punk acts out there today.

And speaking of Beastie Boys, check out their new instrumental album. Lots of fun funky vibes that you can play in the background while working on your next craft project. If you're in SF in August you can check out their show at the Warfield. It'll be instrumental only, so all Brass Monkey requests will be denied.

Good Bye New York

Sadly, my two months in New York are over but at least I can't say I had an uneventful time. I'm back in Hong Kong now and am already missing the place. It really truly is a great city.

We spent our last day in NY chilling out. Thinking about how sad we were to go but also glad to go back home because of this damn broken leg. Being in NY with a broken leg can be quite a drag. My maximum range was two avenues. After that my wrists would hurt and I would get sore in the underarms, not to mention soaking in sweat.
Saturday started with brunch with our roommate, Sabrina. She had been extremely tolerant of me taking her spot on the sofa and the tv remote control for the past three weeks.
On the way to the restaurant I gave the skateboard to some kid from the projects nearby. I thought he would be stoked to get a free skateboard but he was reluctant to accept my offer. I think he didn't trust me at all. Like I was trying to frame him or something.He was also didn't really want to take a picture with me. Later in the day Lisa saw him ride by on it so I guess he was cool about it.
For dinner we went to our favorite Puerto Rican take out place, Casa Adela. I had been ordering delivery from them in my awful Spanish for the past few weeks but had never been to the actual restaurant. So I decided to make the trek and hobble down there to check the place out. I'm glad we made it down to have the chicken with red beans and rice, it tastes much better straight out of the kitchen. I like how the beans come in a coffee mug.
We then went to bed early and got up early Sunday morning so I could have breakfast with my buddy Dan, then we said our goodbyes, hopped in the car and left for the airport. New York rules and I hope I make it back soon.

MoMa

Went to the MoMa yesterday with Lisa and my good ol' friend Dan and his wife Michelle. I've been friends with Dan since we were 12. 20 years is long for anything these days, specially a good friendship. We started a band together our Junior year in highschool. Dan played drums and I played bass. Our name was Guy Smiley after the gameshow host that sometimes appeared on Seseame Street. As you can see we have no problems being jackasses together..

...or on our own.

The Museum of Modern Art is a beautiful space in the city. I have two friends from architecture school who worked on the building. I really liked the courtyard in the center with the two Serra pieces in it. The undulating steel inspired us to do an impromtu photo shoot for our next album cover.

We are still called Guy Smiley but now were an electro-funk duo.

but we also do underground trip/hip-hop .

The Jaguar E-type is one of my favorite cars and I was happy to see it on the design floor of the museum.


Helvetica is 50 years old. Happy Birthday to arguably the best font ever.

Super rad design. I think it's for SARS.

I'm glad we finally got to go to the MoMa and I'm glad I got to spend some time with an old friend.

Neil Leifer

Went out to dinner with my friend Neil Leifer on Tuesday. Neil is a legend in the world of photo journalism. He took this iconic shot of Ali when he knocked the shit out of Sonny Liston back in the day. Pretty much any awesome photo of Ali was taken by him. The photgrapher between Ali's legs standing there with a blank expression on his face was THE sports photgrapher of the time but he was on the wrong side and missed one of the most important shots in boxing history. Neil got the shot and became THE sports photographer from then on.
After checking out his extensive collection of photgraphs by other iconic photographers at his apartment uptown, we went out for Italian with his girlfriend Randy.
This was the biggest Veal Parmegean I've ever seen. You can check out Neil's work at: www.neilleifer.com and if you got some extra dough you can own your own piece of Ali. I've got two autographed prints myself.

Air Guitar

I don't know if you've seen this already but I'd never even heard of this before. US Air Guitar Championships. Nice.

Hey Martin, isn't this the Asian dude in Dragon Force?