Culture Club

Went out last night to find some culture in this town. First went to the Mobile Art container by Chanel in Central a top the old Star Ferry Car Park. The capsule/building is designed by one of my favorite architects, Zaha Hadid.It's amazing to see how her conceptual work, done back when I was an architecture student, can be a reality today because of new technologies and materials.

Lisa throwing up her gangster affiliation.

The art inside was ok but the capsule itself was amazing, the crazy shapes and the even crazier spaces it created looked cool juxtaposed against the ol' Hong Kong skyline.


That's Leo from Chanel. Darth Vader was there too but I was too scared to papparazzi him. I saw what he did to the admiral.

Afterwards Simon Birch and I headed over the Eddie's house for a meal with the boys from 24. I had been hearing how good a chef Eddie was but I wasn't expecting this level of culinary skills. Look at that spread. It's a seriously professional set up, Jamie Oliver's got nothing on Eddie!

Seafood Bouillabaise!

Chilled Crab with a vinnegrette dressing!


Baked Chicken with a pesto dressing. Perfection.


The food was so good it turned us all stupid. Look at Conroy and Phat.

In the end it came down to a vote and the crab one best dish of the night. Very impressive Eddie! I will have to return for another sample of your skills1

The Donger

I actually liked "Long Duk Dong" when I saw 16 Candles as a kid because he sort of epitomized all the Chinese foreign exchange students that my parents sponsored to come to America back in the 80's and 90's. I didn't really hate him because I was never made fun of by being called Donger. Maybe I went to really liberal schools. I did however come to realize much later the impact a stereotyped character like "the Donger" could have on an entire race and generation and to some degree is still perpetuated today with John Cho's nerd in Harlod and Kumar and the annoying geek(some say adorable) that Masa Oki plays in Heroes. Somebody needs to change that.
Check out this study on the NPR here. (Notice how they introduce Martin Wong as Eric Nakamura)

Race in America

I am not trying to turn my blog into a political thing. You all know I'm pro-Obama anyway, but I finally had time to sit down and listen to this speech. It is brilliant because it underlies the true problem with America that no one had the balls nor the clout to speak about before. Obama handled it brilliantly speaking straight from the heart, honest and pure, which further confirmed my support for him. You can argue that Obama's too much of an idealist, focusing on generalities rather than specifics but in this speech he nails his point on race in America as the key to fixing most of our problems. (And at least he's not lying about being shot at by snippers to prove he understands international policy like Clinton just did. What a strange way to embellish a story.) You can watch this incredible speech here.
Oh yes, and if you are an American Ex-pat working or living overseas get your absentee ballot here.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today was my Dad's 79th birthday. He looks great for 79. I hope my skin is that smooth when I'm that age...if I even live that long.
He was actually born on the March 24th, 1929 of the lunar calender. When he immigrated to America and they asked him what his birthday was, he just gave the immigration guy his Chinese birthday and never bothered to correct it. Kind of cool, I think. I'm not really sure how to calculate that far back but does anyone know what day March 24th on the Western calendar was in 1929?
That's my brother in law Andrew and my sister Greta. We had a nice little dinner in Berkeley, then we came home so I could pack. Heading back to HK tomorrow. This was an awesome trip. Went to the film fest, met up with old friends, met very nice and interesting new people, ate good food and found peace in myself. What more could I ask for?

High School Musical

Gave a talk at my high school, Head-Royce, last week. My old English and Japanese lit teacher Barry Barankin somehow found me through the SF Asian American Film Festival people and invited to me to talk about how I got where I am today. It was cool seeing all my teachers from way back when( I graduated class of '92) and to see they were still inspiring students and still looked pretty much the same. The talk was fun and the students had a lot of great questions. There were a lot more Asian kids than when I was there and some of the students even did wushu. When I was in high school, I was the only one who did any martial arts!
From left: Jeff Key my art teacher, Johnny Wang my classmate and buddy, My Mom, Me and Barry Barakin. Jeff and Barry took me and several students to Japan for a summer class trip back in 1990. It was my first time to Japan and I loved it, which is probably why I went back to study in college and have been back dozens of times since, When I was working on Shinjuku Incident, I couldn't help but think of the great times we had 18 years ago! Teachers are important people in this world and these guys definitely influenced me heavily.

Wild Turkeys!

For some reason there are wild turkeys living in the community that my parents live. You often hear them gobbling super loud but are usually hidden in the bushes or somewhere out of sight. The other day while I was cleaning out the garage I spotted some. Too bad there is no zoom on my camera but you get the picture. They are big and actually quite beautiful. Definitely something you don't see in Hong Kong. You'd be hard pressed to find frozen turkey.

GR Baby #1

Still catching up on blogs here. Since Martin doesn't want his blog to turn into a baby blog. I'll brag about little baby Eloise for him. It was awesome to be in LA and get a chance to see the first Giant Ronot baby. So cute and she has gray eyes. I wonder when they will turn brown?

Here's a pic of Martin breast feeding. He says his nipples are getting really raw. I suggested he rub some chapstick on them.

Later that night I came back and snuck Martin out of the house for a quick run to Glendora and the Donut Man. I'd been reading and hearing about the donut man for way too long not to try one on this trip to LA.
Maybe Martin got scolded when he got back but it was worth it.

SF continued

Ok, so I meant to blog more on this trip but things were much busier than expected both in SF and LA. Now I'm back in the BAY catching up on some much needed sleep, rest and blogging! I must say the SF Asian American Film Festival was very good and exciting this year! There were so many great films from so many from different places. I saw Wayne Wang's "A Thousad Years of Good Prayers" which had a really stellar performance by actor Henry O. I also saw "Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay", this film was hilarious, Kal Penn is such a great comedian! And finally I saw the documentary on one of my favorite artists, Yoshitomo Nara. Congratulations to festival director Chi-Hui Huang and asst director Taro Goto for all their great work. Very professional and well organized. Bravo.(and yes that's an Obama pin)
Dan "the automator" Nakamura and his cousin Eric2@ Yoshi's SF.

On one night of the festival Eric Nakamura(from Giant Robot), Dan The Automator and I went for a meal down at the new Yoshi's in SF. Yoshi's is a Bay Area establishment that started in Berkeley. Their idea is simple Jazz and Sushi. Although all the great Jazz people come thru there their sushi has always been soso. However, the new joint on Filmore St really did it right on the sushi front. They look bummed in the photo but those expresions don't really reflect how good the food was. Dan knows the manager Andrew and the sushi chef Sho, so we got special seats right at the sushi counter so we could watch the action.
Baby Squid was the best thing we had. Tender but not too chewy.

I'm not normally an Uni fan and I almost didn't eat it but I'm glad I did. It tasted like sweet natural spring water which made me realize most of the Uni in HK is low quality.
Sho and his personal knife collection. Apparently one knife in there cost 50,000usd!
After sushi it was time for Sho and his crew to eat so we walked down the street for Korean and continued to eat until 1:30am! As you guessed, we love to eat and when Dan, Eric and I get together...we really eat!

Gay Taliban

A good friend of mine from highschool, Elaine Chin, was in New York and came across these photos found by photographer Mark Dworzak while he spent time in Afghanistan. The above photo is his own photo but go to the Magnum Photos site here to see the very strange photos that he found of the Taliban. What's going on with the art direction and the make up? Maybe they had a gay stylist do 'em up for the shoot like THK! Actually that happens to me a lot when I do fashion spreads for magazines. Who knew Taliban fighters got emasculated too! I feel for them.
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SFIAAFF 2008

Back home for the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. Will be doing a Q&A for Blood Brothers as well as a special discussion panel entitled "Crossing Over". Any excuse to be back home makes me happy. Probably will head down to LA on this trip as well. I used to not like the Asian American films just because the subject matter quickly became very stereotypically boring. I mean i really thought Joy Luck Club was an important film but it really killed it for Asian Ams for a while. This year the fest looks to have a very interesting line up. We've got everything from Wayne Wang back to his Asian Am roots with " A Thousand Years of Good Prayers to "Harold and Kumar- Escape From Guantanamo Bay" which I am personally really looking forward to. So if you're in town and down. Swing bye and check it out!

Lithopedion

Do you know what a Lithopedion is? The definition is here. It's a stone baby! I was watching tv late the other night and there was a story on stone babies on. It totally blew my mind. This is fucking crazy! I still don't really understand it fully but it amazes the hell out of me. Read more at obgyn.net or read this article in Time.

Everyday Normal Guy

I stole this from Kanye West's blog. It's great!

Time Style and Design

Just got back from another trip to Shanghai today. Last night was the Shanghai Chivas party celebrating the re-release of their 25 year whiskey. It was a grand event with everyone in black tie. Guests included, Tony Leung (The Lover), Gong Li, Jet Li,Stephen Fung, Karen Mok, Tim Yip, Lisa and myself. Jazz vocalist Laura Fyji performed a set of classic numbers. It was also the premiere of HAIR, the short film directed by Stephen Fung starring Karen Mok and Me! The film looked great on the big screens they had enveloping the dinner floor. I'm really proud of the work we did on this little short and Stephen did an incredible job. Much props to Stephen, best work yet! Oh yeah and the whiskey is great, nice chocolate flavor.

On the plane ride back this morning I was reading Time Magazine's Spring 2008 Style and Design issue. This issue titled "Luxury For the Next Generation" focuses on the consumer shift in the luxury goods market to a much younger twenty something set. There is an article entitled "Not Your Mothers China" which talks about how the economic boom in China is breeding a new generation of Chinese youngsters who are leaning to enjoy the luxury lifestyle that their parents were not allowed to have.
Overall a pretty interesting article, but I was troubled by a section about a high end French luxury food emporium in Beijing...

'Fauchon, where everything-from glazed eclairs to the brioche-is exactly comme en France, also holds regular "how to" evenings. "We explain you don't put mustard in coffee," says Natalie Monlezun, Fauchon's marketing manager. "French tastes are so new here. They don't know what goes with what.'

What the fuck? Mustard in coffee? I understand Ms. Monlezun may be making an exaggerated joke but it was definitely an off color statement. I highly doubt that the customers who are Westernized enough to go to this store and pay for their over priced groceries are spooning Grey Poupon into their Espresso. Chinese new rich may not know the difference between a Raclette and a Fondue but they aren't retarded either. These people are paying a lot of money to learn from you and you ridicule them in Time magazine? Stupid and disrespectful comment from a "Marketing Manager".
Fauchon...I will add that to the list of places I boycott.