The Stage: Short Documentary

So here's a little short documentary, Kim Chan, put together for me about the creation of "The Stage", the design project that Edward Huang and I put together for the HK/Shenzhen Biennale. If you don't know what I'm talking about please refer to my previous blogs on www.alivenotdead.com. As you can probably tell I'm pretty proud of this project. It's interesting to me personally because what was once meant to be my career has now come back to me as a hobby. One of the main reasons why I didn't want to do architecture as a career was because I had worked in many offices but still could not find the creative freedom and energy that I had in school and I found that quite depressing. I wanted to affect the world with my creative energy, not sit in front of a computer all day drafting up other people's half-assed designs or dealing with office politics. Luckily the Hong Kong film business found me and I was able to find a whole new environment that allowed me total freedom to be creative. The two fields may seem totally different but they are more alike than you can imagine. They are both arts and art is about the ability to speak to an audience using your own creative skills via a medium. One is through buildings and one is through film. Both require the public and an audience in order to be successful and when people are touched by your work, that sense of satisfaction is beyond words.

The Stage: Short Doc from Daniel Wu on Vimeo.

If you haven't been over there yet and you live in Hong Kong, you have until Feb 26th and then it all comes down and will nothing more than an awesome memory in my mind. If not enjoy the video. Thanks again Kim for all your hard work on this video!
To learn more about the Biennale click here.

Chinese Jamaicans

Have you eve noticed that no matter where you travel in the world there are Chinese? This subject has always interested me and I always try to find out about their history. This woman here with the crazy Jamaican accent is a perfect example. Her accent is so rad! She has obviously been in Jamaica for a long long time, most likely born there as the way she laughs as well as attitude are imbibed with Jamaican culture. As I recall the earliest Chinese settled in Jamaica because it was along trade routes from the east and the Chinese are a prominent part of Jamaican culture. In fact many of the most influential producers of reggae (one of my favorite types of music) back in the 70's and 80's were Chinese Jamaicans. Before I moved back to Hong Kong, I used to think Chinese women with British accents were sexy, now after living here for so long I've kind of gotten used to it but a Chinese woman with a Jamaican accent? Now that's sexy! I love everything about Jamaica and it's culture but I still haven't been. Now I gotta go soon!

Prisonyard workout

Eddie "Dor Yuk" from 24 Herbs sent this over to me the other day. Damn these guys are strong but I bet my hands are smoother than theirs! I like working out but I hate pull ups. These two have 'em in spades. They either spent too much time in prison or spent too much time on the playground.

Prisonyard workout

Eddie "Dor Yuk" from 24 Herbs sent this over to me the other day. Damn these guys are strong but I bet my hands are smoother than theirs! I like working out but I hate pull ups. These two have 'em in spades. They either spent too much time in prison or spent too much time on the playground.

G.I. Joe

Since G.I. Joe the movie just came out I thought I'd post these little "modified" public service announcements from the old G.I. Joe cartoon. I used to watch G.I. Joe everyday after school when I was growing up. At the end of each episode they would tag on these public service announcements teaching kids what to do in emergencies. I actually saw these "modified" versions years ago before youtube and websites and you had to download it off a bbs server, remember those? Anyway, they crack me up every time I see them.

This has to be fake

Does anyone know?

John Hughes R.I.P.

John Hughes died last week of cardiac arrest while taking a stroll in New York. One of my favorite films as a kid was The Breakfast Club. Actually it's still probably on my top ten list. It's the story of a bunch of kids from totally different backgrounds and social circles that slowly begin to realize they are all just lonely kids looking for acceptance while spending a Saturday in detention. I used to want to be like the "rebel" played by Judd Nelson. I wore lots of flannel and even had my own pair of fingerless gloves. I think my first cigarette was because of him too. I have seen this movie dozens of times and it still doesn't get old for me. One of my fondest memories is of my two sisters and I, 80's dancing to the movie's theme song, Simple Minds "Don't You Forget About Me" in our living room as the end credits rolled. John Hughes was the king of 80's youth film and although his films have been criticized for not portraying a realistic version of adolescent life, they were entertaining and captured the zeitgeist of that era nonetheless. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Rest In Peace dude!

Tooth Fairy is coming tonight!!

No those are not some new kind of drug. Those are my bulldog, Buddy's, teeth. We took on an 8 year old dog from the Hong Kong Dog Rescue a few months ago and she (Renee) and my old dog(Buddy) are still trying to figure who's the boss of the house. This results in periodic fighting. Yesterday while I was eating breakfast they went at it again and after I stepped in and pulled them apart, I noticed some white things on the ground. When I got a closer look, I realized it was a shattered tooth. Renee knocked out Buddy's bottom front tooth!
I have some friends who have had their teeth knocked out for various reasons and I have even had a tooth chipped but i've never heard of a dog getting it's teeth knocked out. The tooth was small to begin with but the vet said she would have to have it removed. Upon closer inspection we noticed the others were loose so he took out a total of three of her bottom front teeth. In the pic above what you're seeing is mostly root, the little white tip on top is the actual tooth.
I don't think she cares at all since she didn't really use them but she looks kind of funny without them. Although you can only see it when she opens her mouth it's hard to not feel sorry for her. I'm gonna have to teach her a couple of better defensive moves.

Little David and Christian Bale mashup!

I blogged about little David a while back and his video has got to be one of my favorite youtube vids of all time. Now someone's taken the video and done a little mash up with the Christian Bale incident. Love it!

Jun Kung

Here's a little clip of my boy Jun Kung's recent show for Agnes B in Taipei. As one of the artistes in my management company, Revolution Talent Management, we are working hard on getting his long awaited album to release this year. This song was a collaboration with the Godfather of Taiwanese rock, Wubai and is Jun's first Mandarin song. Enjoy!