Hongkie Town

Drummer George "Buddy" Miles died yesterday at age 60.

My friend Barry Goldberg found Buddy in 1967 and brought him into Electric Flag, the short-lived "supergroup" that included Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites. After the Flag broke up, Buddy became the drummer in Jimi Hendrix' Band of Gypsies. Following that, he formed the Buddy Miles Express and had a global hit with "Them Changes." Buddy had another hit of sorts when he sang lead vocals for the claymation "California Raisins." He also toured and recorded with Carlos Santana.

I met him once around 1973 or 1975, when the Electric Flag were doing a reunion tour and appeared at NYC's Bottom Line club. I went backstage after the show and was first struck by how freaking huge he was. And then by how nice he was.

Buddy is one of those journeymen who may never have achieved superstardom but whose contributions definitely pushed the art forward.

One would think I have little right to complain these days, what with Bjork, Carlos Santana, Maroon 5 and Ornette Coleman all gracing our stages shortly.

But did you know that this week in New York City, Nueva York, the Big Apple, the City So Nice They Named It Twice, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood have been sharing a stage at Madison Square Garden for three shows? They played 4 of the 6 songs from the Blind Faith album as well as healthy chunks of each others' hits.

The funny thing is, this guy at Huffington Post has some major complaints about the ticket pricing and pricing for "refreshments" at the show. $250 top ticket price. Bottle of water $4.25. I suppose if I was still living in New York, I'd share those complaints. But living here, all's I wants to stay to dis guy is "shut the fuck up, at least you had that concert and got to see it."

"Mommy. what's the definition of 'irony'?"

SCMP: "A proposed incinerator in Tuen Mun ... is facing opposition from Shenzhen over concerns that it will aggravate air pollution..."

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Went for my first acupuncture session today. Now I know why they call it acuPUNCTURE because they actually puncture you.

(rim shot)

Exactly how accurate is, I cannot say. There are no lasers involved. The guy just feels around and then jams a pin into your flesh. Speaking as someone who has six tattoos, trust me, it fucking hurts anyway.

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Question of the day .... if you are a Hong Kong blogger and you have a list of links on your blog and for one of those links you put a person's real name rather than the name of his blog as the link, how would you like others to link to you?

Last night, dinner at Tai Ji, the Shanghai place that has opened on the 4th floor about Joe Banana and Bulldog. Tai Ji was formerly in Causeway Bay. I'm told by a friend who works in the area that this is the new Northern Chinese place of choice for local people who work in the area - first because the previous place of choice had too many roaches skittering around and second because that previous place has an all-Northern Chinese staff while Tai Ji has an all-Cantonese staff.

There were three of us and I think we had 8 dishes. This is not a formal place with an expensive (or expansive) menu, but there is an English menu and a wide variety of small dishes. The xiao long bau was about as good as I've had anywhere - very thin wrapping, very nice soup inside. Deep fried spare ribs. A prawn dish. A tofu dish. A soup with vegetable dumplings and some chicken and herbs. Dan dan mian. Can't recall the rest now. All of it tasty, all inexpensive, and a very friendly staff. I will go back.

Today, three movers coming over to sort through the ton of stuff I've got and give estimates on the move. I've discovered another use for Google Earth - zoomed in on the house I'm moving to so I can show the movers how they get from the carpark area in the village to the front door of the house.

(To answer some of the previous comments on the moving topic, I'm not sure how long it takes to get from there to Central. I don't work in Central so that's not an issue for me. I can say that - with no traffic - I can get to Sai Kung town in 5 minutes, my girlfriend's place in about 10 minutes and my commute to the office should be about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. Although there are dogs in the village and they do bark when they see strangers, I've been there at night and it's quiet enough. As opposed to right now - I've had six months of daily pile drivers from three nearby construction sites.)

Tomorrow is the day that I try acupuncture to see if I can quit smoking, having previously tried hypnosis and the Allan Carr method with no success.

Jimmy Kimmel responds to Sarah Silverman. With Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Cameron Diaz, seemingly everyone who has ever appeared on his show ....



A movie I'd like to see but I think the DVD will be out long before this ever plays in an HK movie theatre

I'm told ... a story in a local Chinese newspaper on Sunday about a man who spent HK$18 million (roughly US$2.3 million) at auction to get the license plate "18". The man isn't famous, merely someone who owns factories in China where he likely pays his workers the equivalent of US$100 per month. The kicker to the story? His car is a HK$300,000 Mini Cooper. No word on how much this man donated to charity last year.

I'm told ... people sitting around in dai pai dongs and cha chan tengs are gossiping endlessly about Edison and the women in the photos. Stories overheard in these places include the one about a certain billionaire sharing a three-way with Joey Yung and her mother. And the one about a certain billionaire shoving a loaf of French bread into one of Gillian's orifices (not her mouth) and her needing to go to the hospital afterwards to get all the crumbly bits removed. (I emphasize - these are stories overheard in restaurants only.)

Hmmmm .... some commenters seem to think that by posting a specific name I am letting myself in for trouble. Even though I would think that I am beneath that person's notice. But no need to bring the wrath of the emperor down on little old me, so I've made some edits to the preceding paragraph.

You may enjoy this mash-up from Saturday Night Live. New show on the Food Network - I Drink Your Milkshake, hosted by Daniel Plainview, with his son HW and with special guest Anton Chigurh. If you didn't see There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men, this won't make a lot of sense to you.

(click on images for larger versions)

With all my self-induced craziness over the apartment hunt, forgot to mention that my new BC column is up, this one is Oscar predictions, in about 12 hours we'll know how well I did or didn't do.

Briefly noted ....

Michelin guide gave more stars to restaurants in Tokyo than New York and Paris combined; Japanese say they picked the wrong places and gaijin aren't qualified to rate Japanese food.

Ralph Nader is running for president again. Sigh.

Some members of my family photo-blogging their trip to Antarctica.

Good article from Canadian newspaper on why Sony and Blu-ray won and why it probably doesn't matter.

Maxim magazine publishes a review of a new album - except the reviewer never bothered to listen to the album.

In 2001, the heads of the oil companies held a secret meeting with VP Cheney and lied about it ever since.

A true giant, Teo Macero, died at age 82. Macero "assembled" some of Miles Davis' most influential albums via a unique approach to cut-and-paste. He also produced the seminal Take Five by Dave Brubeck.

and some other stuff that I forgot to bookmark and it's too late for me to start digging back for it now so .....

For those who are wondering why I have been obsessing so much over my upcoming move and this one particular place ....

For the past four years I've lived in a great flat in Mid-Levels. Old low rise building which means thick walls, good layout, high ceilings. And that rarity in Hong Kong - a considerate landlord who has responded quickly in those rare times when I've had a problem in the flat.

But for the past four years, the only view from my flat been the car park in the building next door.

Beginning next month, and for the next two years, this will be my view when I wake up in the morning, when I come home from work at night, and when I'm sitting around at home on the weekends:



Enough said?

Three weeks to go and I still don't have a place to move to.

I finally figured out what happened with that first place. Communication gap and not entirely sure who's to blame. It seems that the tenants who had been there for 7 years moved out. The landlord put the place on the market. Then he had relatives move to Hong Kong. He put them into that house until they could find a place of their own to live. And then spent all his time taking them around to realtors and looking at places with them. Latest word is that they found a place on Friday, are negotiating today, and if negotiations are successful he would be willing to sign the lease tomorrow. As to why he wouldn't multi-task, wouldn't assume that they'd be safely in a new place within the next three weeks and be willing to take my money now, I can't say.

I do have two other places lined up if he reneges on this place again. Neither of the two is anywhere near as nice but are okay. I figure I have to make my decision by Monday so that I can get a mover, send change of address notices, get appointments for telephone and broadband, etc.

In the past week I've looked at dozens of places. And have been obsessing over the "lost" house and finding something decent within my price range to an extent that, according to at least one person, has made me unbearable to be around. Sincere apologies. This will soon be over.

The house hunt continues. I've got it narrowed down to two choices. The more expensive one is much nicer inside, has a much nicer garden, and you have to go up a single lane very narrow dark country road with a dozen speed bumps. The less expensive one is near the main road, has no oven or bathtubs inside and the front lawn is owned by someone else. So which compromise will I make? Stay tuned.

One place that I didn't take is still worth noting. A government owned house. The ground floor was two small bedrooms, a ridiculously huge kitchen, and a sitting room that was three glass walls and a tin roof - probably hot as hell in the summer. The first floor was the master bedroom, a small bathroom, walk in closet and balcony. The maid's room was a completely separate building ten feet away from the main house. All surrounded by an 8,000 square foot garden right at the edge of a cliff with a panoramic view overlooking the Hebe Haven marina. Asking price $40k, I was told they'd probably accept $35k.

Okay, so you're asking, 8,000 square foot garden, incredible view, why didn't I go for it? To park, you had to jump the curb on the main road to get to this little concrete patch for the car. Then you had to walk up 73 steps to the house. 73. I counted. No way to drive up to there. The movers would have to carry all my furniture, electronics, appliances, CDs, DVDs and books up 73 stairs. 73 rough, uneven, slippery stairs. And if my mother was to ever come back to HK and visit, there's no way she'd make it up those stairs. It was tough enough for me! The place was so wacky and the garden so nice that I spent a few minutes trying to think of a way to make it work but in the end I passed.

Two nice meals today ...

For lunch we went to Hebe One Oh One, at Hebe Haven/Pak Sha Wan. I'd noticed the sign that said they were offering a 2 course set lunch for $88. It was a bit distressing that between 12:30 and 1:30 we were the only customers there. But the food was quite nice. For me, a starter that was a sort of prawn and crab salad, with mayo, arranged in a tower, the "wall" was a thinly sliced cucumber; my main was a blt with a fried egg on inch thick fresh bread and a salad. For her, the starter was smoked mozzarella cheese and tomato; the main was stir fried sliced pork with lots of veggies and rice. No service charge. Hebe One Oh One has live music on Friday nights and the manager says they get quite busy then. We'll try it for dinner one night.

For dinner, as we stood looking at the menu outside of Firenze in Sai Kung town, the manager came out and said "satisfaction guaranteed - if you don't like it you don't have to pay." How could we resist? I'd eaten there once six years ago and thought it was unremarkable. The current owner bought the place two years ago. (He used to own a place called Portofino.)

We shared a starter of bruschetta with slices of smoked salmon and tuna salad - the tuna salad a weird touch and the bread itself unremarkable but the salmon was fresh. Her main was a special order - angel hair pasta with mushrooms and tomato sauce, which was nice, a good balance. Mine was scampi with mashed potatoes, roasted veggies and a salad. Picture below, taken with iPhone - it didn't look quite as chaotic when it was in front of me as it does in the picture. Three king prawns, nice sauce with lemon and garlic and mushrooms.



We were too full for dessert but they brought us a free one to share as we paid the bill - some super rich chocolate thing with some cream sauce. We'll go back here again too.

Toshiba has confirmed the rumors. They are exiting the HD-DVD business. And, despite losing probably billions of yen in this venture, their stock went up by 6% on the Nikkei today. Investors are probably happy that Toshiba is cutting their losses earlier, rather than try to hang in and just lose more money. It was just one month ago that they were blind-sided by Warne Home Video's decision to go Blu-Ray only, followed by similar announcements from Wal-Mart, Best Buy and NetFlix, among others. (Toshiba also announced a joint venture with San Disk to build more flash memory plants.)

Paramount and Universal, the only two major studios currently supporting HD-DVD, will undoubtedly have to switch to Blu-Ray. And what about Microsoft, in particular the XBOX360? Will Microsoft now provide an add-on Blu-Ray box? How long will they support the existing HD-DVD add-on? Watch this space. Or any other space you feel like watching.

Just did a quick check - I have 56 Blu-Ray discs and 33 HD-DVD discs. Well, it's pretty clear I'm not buying any more titles on HD-DVD - though it may be tempting to change my mind when Amazon and others launch blow-out sales to get rid of existing HD-DVD stock.

Still without a place to live and getting ever more frustrated.

Dinner last night at the new-ish Anthony's Ranch, the only "real smoke bbq" place in HK, or something along those lines. I think someone recently commented here that this place was the best American or western food he'd ever eaten in Hong Kong. I assume that commenter was either someone who never ate other American food in HK or was Anthony himself.

The decor is quite nice and they must have gone to a lot of trouble to get all that cowboy-looking stuff. The staff is efficient and attentive. But the food is another story - decent enough but quite a long ways off from great. I had a half rack of ribs - now normally I expect this to be tender, slow cooked meat falls off the bone kind of thing, and in this case I was glad I was supplied with a huge steak knife. The BBQ sauce was okay. One friend ordered his steak medium rare and it was quite raw in the center. The menu said my girlfriend's bbq chicken was smoked with apple and pear wood but you couldn't tell because the sauce overwhelmed everything else. The crabcakes looked too smooth, too perfect, and were average at best. The chili was nice, made with shredded beef instead of mince. And a word about the hot sauces on the table - Original Death and Sudden Death. I had one drop of Sudden Death on a bit of crabcake and, I'll tell you, they're not joking with that name. Mega powerful stuff!

So over all not bad, but just good, not great. Since it's a new place, one hopes that things will come together better as they gain more experience. I'm told they might shortly be adding theme nights early in the week to attract more of a crowd - quiz night, poker night (how they would do that, I don't know), etc. I give credit for the guy trying to bring something different to the Sai Kung dining scene and hope that things improve and that the place succeeds.

Followed by dessert at Honeymoon Dessert, and of course that's terrific. A place that deserves its famous reputation and the huge crowds it attracts on weekends.

Then over to the new Steamers. They're going to have a soft opening next week but don't have the liquor license yet. The official opening is tentatively March 12th. The new space looks great, much nicer than the old place, and their outdoor seating area is also much better. Also, as one of the owners noted, they're now on a street with a few other bars, so there can be a whole nightlife, pub crawl kind of scene there. I wish them luck.

Over in the SCMP today, a VP of HKUST is quoted as saying that "... local students don't pay attention to international affairs, they tend to read only entertainment news."

Over in the letters to the editor, a Mr. Philip Keung in Kwun Tong writes in to say that "the recent nude photos saga exposes how ugly we are." Mr. Keung, presumably a former HKUST student, goes on to say that "we should stand up against those who uploaded and spread these photos across the globe, making Hong Kong a laughing stock and damaging our reputation."

If anything, it wasn't the photos that damaged Hong Kong's reputation, if such damage has indeed occurred. Those pictures may have impacted the people in the photos and their families, but what made Hong Kong a laughing stock was the police response to these photos. Arresting people for distribution of "obscene" items (before they were ever reviewed by the Obscene Articles Tribunal, which concluded that they were "indecent" but not obscene) only goes to show how the HK police are really just the private security force for the very rich and that the so-called rule of law goes out the window at the whim of the HK Billionaire Boys Club.

Chung Yik-Tin, who had been held for two weeks without bail for this charge of distributing obscene material which isn't obscene, was released from prison yesterday, the charges against him dropped. A senior government counsel was quoted as saying, "After a thorough review we found the possibility is low that the tribunal will make a [final] classification of the photo as obscene. For justice to be seen to be done, we've decided to withdraw the charge." Mr. Chuk receives HK$18,000 to cover his legal costs.

Or perhaps Hong Kong looks like a laughing stock because Gillian Chung appeared on a televised charity show and more than 2,000 idiots called in to complain. Apparently people who have had sex should not be allowed to donate their time to charity and especially should not be allowed on television.

In regards to some of the comments here, and particularly the most recent one (as of this writing):

Call me an arrogant expat but why should I care about anyone's opinion in sham shui po (or California). Maybe if the person lived on the peak and was calling me out I could respect that but someone calling me out from the gutter for having a good life, I am not going to worry about it.

I just think people should understand that this racist attitude is still prevalent in Hong Kong. Obviously not everyone feels this way but a certain percentage of people do. It may be a throwback to the colonial years but the core is always the same - someone jealous because they perceive that a foreigner has taken away "their" job or their girlfriend or their parking space or whatever. It is an attitude of resentment that manifests itself in subtle ways.

It's not just a Hong Kong thing. You see it in some Singapore blogs too.

(And is it entirely racial or is it just a "them" vs. "us" and here it comes down to skin color? I was watching the excellent movie Gone Baby Gone last night, and in it Casey Affleck calls out Ed Harris for originally being from New Orleans, and Harris responds that he's lived in Boston since before Affleck was born. I have no doubt this attitude exists there - I lived in Boston more than 30 years ago and knew people from the area depicted in the film.)

To many, it doesn't matter that we live here, have put down roots here, own property, have children, pay taxes, we are always perceived as being foreigners, outsiders, "ghost men" or (as SSPB euphemistically puts it) "guests."

I got hit with an example of that yesterday. I wanted to rent a place, the new landlord was dithering. Keep in mind that I have been in Hong Kong for more than 10 years. I have lived in the same flat for almost four years. My landlord's contact information was given to the prospective new landlord, and I know that my current landlord will tell him that in four years my rent was never late and that I never made any unreasonable requests for repairs or bothered him by telephone at odd hours.

I was told by the realtor that since this would be a personal lease and not a company lease, it would be helpful if I could have my employer provide a letter guaranteeing my rent should I default.

I am considered a local hire by my company. I do not receive any "expat benefits." Theoretically the only way that I would default on my rent would be if I lost my job and didn't have the money to pay. Why would my former employer then want to assume responsibility for this debt?

And the question that also occurred to me: if I was local, would the landlord have made the same request? I seriously doubt it.

A lot of negative things today. Distractions while sitting in front of the computer are many, while lying in bed none. And so ....

The Sleaze Behind the Sleaze of Hong Kong's Sex Photos - The Asia Sentinel digs a little deeper:

The real scandal likely cannot be told because it lies buried in the obscure but crucial relationships between Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, organized crime, the government and police.

Top 5 Ways to Hack the Surface of the Earth - over at io9 ... I always thought they were crazy to build Taipei 101, such a tall building, in an earthquake zone. Seems that in 2005 scientists reported that the tremendous weight of this building is destabilizing the surrounding area and might have "reopened" an old fault.

Also note that it is expected this week that Toshiba will announce that they are shutting down production on HD-DVD players and discs, following blu-ray only announcements in the past month from Warner Home Video and Wal-Mart, among others.

Oh well ...

I've had better weekends. Not just the house hunting, other stuff that I won't go into. Sitting here at home trying to distract myself in various ways.

Anyway, first, via Gizmodo, I'm sure Edison was glad he didn't use this with Cecilia.


Second, also via Gizmodo, I'm sure this is a put on, but it's a pretty good one.


Third, years ago Jackie Chan did a bad movie called Rumble in The Bronx (which was shot in Canada of course). Here's a review of a new bad movie called Hong Kong Bronx.

More to come, I'm sure.

Sometimes it's hard to imagine how scummy HK landlords can be. While there are a few good ones (like my current landlord), most of the small ones are just as evil as the billionaires here, just on a smaller scale.

Realtors are often no better. Since there are almost no exclusive listings for properties, the competition is cut throat. An example - a friend owns his flat in an area sometimes referred to as "Wanchai Mid Levels." Given the explosion in the real estate market, he called a realtor he knows to ask, out of curiosity, what his place might be worth. Two days later, he sees an ad in the SCMP real estate section listing his flat for sale.

But back to the landlords .......

A chronology:

Feb 13: I see an ad for a village house, asking price of X. I go to the realtor. He tells me the asking price has changed to X+3, which is still within my budget. We go to view the house. The landlord's wife tells me that if I am willing to handle painting myself, the price would instead be X-4. Later that night I call the realtor and tell them I will take the place at the quoted price, no need to even submit a lower offer. The thing is - they are the ones who offered X-4. I would have been happy to pay X for this place.

Feb 14: I ask the realtor if I can come up and sign the lease and pay the deposit today. He says the landlord is not available but that it can be done the next day.

Feb 15: I go to the realtor's office. He says the lease cannot be signed that day because the landlord wants a day to look over the lease first. He gives me a copy of his agency's standard lease, which is in English and Chinese and looks like every other standard lease I've ever seen here. We go back to the house. I take photos, measure the rooms, ask the landlord's wife final questions about what they will leave, what will stay, what needs repairs. My girlfriend asks her why the price is so cheap and she says it's because they want to rent it quickly. We agree that I can get the keys on March 3rd and have 10 days rent-free at the start of the contract, giving me time to get the place painted, get curtains made, etc. before I move in.

Feb 16 morning: The realtor says they are not ready to sign the lease. I remind him that I am leaving on a business trip on Monday and must get this done before I leave.

Feb 16 afternoon: Since the realtor doesn't have very good English and my Cantonese sucks, I ask my girlfriend to call him and find out what's going on. She calls me back and tells me that the landlord doesn't like the lease. He wants to use the standard lease that you buy in shops, which is Chinese only. And that he's not ready to sign yet. Maybe, maybe some day next week. He tells the realtor, "there's no rush." I realize that someone is playing games and that I am probably not going to get this place, that I am back to square one. I am forced to cancel my business trip as I assume I will need to start looking for a place to live again.

Feb 16 evening: Looking at real estate web site gohome.com.hk, I see the same house, newly listed today by a different realtor, now at an asking price of X+6, which is $10,000 per month higher than the price quoted to me by the landlord's wife and that I'd agreed to.

So here is what I believe happened. Some other realtor saw the listing for this house, called the owner, told him he was crazy to let it out at that price and that he could get him much more money. The owner has decided to try to string me along for awhile until he sees if he can get more money from someone else. He has no concern over the fact that his actions could potentially leave me without a place to live when my current lease runs out in less than a month.

donkey-raping shit-eating uncle-fucking scum. But that's just my opinion.

Many of you have come across a racist site called Hong Kong Blogs Review written by one "Sham Shui Po Boy."

He describes himself this way:

Sham-Shui-Po Boy was practically born and raised on the sidewalk of Hoi Tan Street, a street in the district where his ex-girlfriend still works at her family's business, and the nearby famous Apliu Street was part of his boyhood playground. His god-grandmother in her youth was a vegetable hawker at the Sham Shui Po street market.

Right or wrong or somewhere in between, the view expressed here is Sham-Shui-Po Boy's, from his humble perch where he was reared.

Curiously, he only writes about English language Hong Kong blogs. There are no mentions of Chinese language blogs. He refers to non-Chinese as "guests," even those who have lived here for more than two decades. That's the tip-off, because if you don't live a lifestyle that he approves of, you're a "carpetbagger."

The tones of their blogs are more or less the same, irreverent, sarcastic and arrogant. The contents of these blogs abound with disparaging remarks. Some of them are pornographic. They're generally dismissive about the natives, their culture and language, or pay only lip service to them, or ignore them altogether. Some of these bloggers are consistently talking about cars and driving. In Hong Kong, owning a private vehicle is a status symbol, not a necessity.

What glues these expats to Hong Kong is money, a lifestyle they cannot afford back home, and to some, it's sex(Asian women), or both. They have minimal emotional attachment to this place. Socically, politically and culturally, they might as well living in a different planet, they couldn't care less what the natives really think about them.

The blogs he lists as "bottom of the barrel" include Fumier, Shaky Kaiser and all of the ones run by See Lai. Apparently I am so bad that I don't even rate a mention.

There are some more ungrateful guests as those mentioned above, however, they are not listed in this review. Expat bloggers of their ilk and the worse ones deserve to be on the same list, but they do not deserve the world-wide publicity that Hong Kong Blogs Review provides.

It is interesting to note that this web site is maintained by someone using the IP address 69.147.83.147 which is based in the U.S., not Hong Kong. The domain is owned by KOW WOO, who provides a P.O. Box in Emeryville, California, as his mailing address.

This is someone with an agenda.

I take it as a badget of honor that I have not been "reviewed" by SHAM Shui Po Boy.

Now, based on the opinion of some others, not mine, let me ask a simple question ... which former Hong Kong blogger, now based in California, has a name that includes the word "Sham"?

Oh what a tangled web we weave.....

It seems to me that many restaurants in Hong Kong, even ones that are run by "groups" which should know better, fall apart when they are full. I've seen this happen many times at lunch at the place I frequent most often.

It also happened to us on Valentines Day, when we went to Cru in Sai Kung. Cru is owned by the same folks who own Jaspa's. We've eaten there several times and find that it's nice - not exceptional but nice. This night, even though we had booked a table, we were given the worst table in the place. One right in front of the huge open doorway. No heater, those were all at the outside tables. And no lights so we couldn't read the menu.

One of the waiters recognized us and said we would get a better table as soon as people left. When people left, that waiter was in the kitchen and another couple was about to be seated. I complained and had to ask about 5 times before the waitress would go into the kitchen, find the waiter and confirm that the table was promised to us.

We ordered, two glasses of wine and two main courses. The wine came quickly and then nothing for about 45 minutes. No food. Not even bread. We just sat there watching people scurry around us. On asking for the third time, the waiter apologized and said he would bring us bread - which incidentally didn't arrive until after our main courses finally showed up.

We had both ordered surf and turf - a thick chunk of beef tenderloin and two king prawns. I asked for both dishes to be done medium. And can you guess? Even after waiting 45 minutes for our food, once it arrived, I cut into the beef and found it was raw - not rare, raw - inside.

For all of this misery we received apologies but nothing like a free glass of wine, cup or coffee or dessert.

I told this story to other people today and they all reported similar experiences at the restaurants they chose.

Next year, I think just stay home and get a pizza delivered.

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Went up to the house today, did a second walk through, noted all the stuff that I want the landlord to fix up, she agreed instantly to all. But she wants one day to read through the lease before signing, so back up tomorrow to take care of that.

I'm getting seriously excited about moving to this place!

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Tonight was a bloggers night out of sorts. Went out with See Lai, Fumier and Ulaca. I'm sorry that I can't report on our conversation. Hong Kong law does prohibit uploading obscene material to the internet.

But I will mention that Ron has started another blog, Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong (Memories). The blog consists of videos made by Ron and a friend of various landings at Kai Tak. For people who never experienced a landing here, one of the most dramatic in the world, here's a cockpit view of what it was like. And for those who have done it, a nice bit of nostalgia.

Seismic Shift to Smartphones - anyone shocked by the chart below? Actually I'm surprised LG did so well.


Today's SCMP is filled with things related to Edisongate that just piss me off.

First there's Donald Tsang writing a letter that states "a serious issue, which demanded further follow-up." Why is it serious? Who should follow up? Why should we waste taxpayer money on this crap in a box? It's only important in that it diverts public discussion away from issues that really matter (kind of like organized sports). Or important in that it lowers the value of Emperor Group's toys.

Then that idiot Police Commissioner Tang King-shing who previously suggested that even possessing copies of these photos might be a crime, something so stupid that it was publicly disputed by an underling, Assistant Commissioner Vincent Wong Fook-chuen - and how often does that happen? Moron Tang, in an effort not to lose face, goes on to say, "Everyone has his or her own view. Some people think I was right, while some don't." Schmuck! If there ain't no law against it, it ain't fucking illegal! (Except, I suppose, if some Hong Kong billionaire picks up the phone and orders the police to take action.) I think this guy got his police badge in a box of crackerjacks.

Then that 2nd letters page in the city section. Two people write in.

Emily Kong writes in to say that "we have to control indecent material on the internet." How does she suggest we do that? By not looking at it? By not letting children go to those web sites? By installing parental control software on computers? No, Big Brain Kong says "we must take measures to control the uploading of this material. All website owners wishing to display any obscene material in Hong Kong should have to register first." Yeah, that'll work? Uh, let's see, how to decide which sites have obscene material or not? How to decide what is or isn't obscene? How to get web sites outside of HK to register? And once they're registered, sfw? I suspect that Ms. Kong works for the civil service and is just trying to create more jobs with high pay and nothing to do.

Second genius Michael Leung says "It seems that many people in Hong Kong have very low moral standards, and this exposes the failure of our moral education." While I might agree that our "moral education" is lacking, I'm not sure how viewing a photo of the human body represents a low moral standard. That's because Mr. Leung has set himself up as the arbiter of what constitutes "high" versus "low" moral standards, apparently. Bite me, Mr. Leung.

Checked the newsstands today. These pictures are on the cover of every local weekly Chinese magazine. Even one magazine that has the word "family" in its name has a huge picture of Gillian in a state of semi-undress. Next magazine published a special section with all 100 photos, naughty bits pixilated. Some people are saying that it should have been wrapped in plastic with an "adults only" warning. Too late now, it was an instant sell out everywhere.

Others are up in arms about how newspapers and magazines are publishing these photos. You want to put a stop to it? Don't buy the freaking magazine or newspaper. If it didn't sell, they wouldn't do it. Duh.

By the way, any one anywhere have any hard figures on sales of Twins CDs or Edison Chen DVDs in the past two weeks? What about sales at CLOT? Have they collapsed? Or have they actually increased as a result of this, ahem, media exposure? Enquiring minds want to know.

Searching for flats is always an exhausting experience in Hong Kong. I've lived in six different places in my 10-1/2 years here and each time I've moved, it's been painful. Searching. Dealing with non-professional realtors. Greedy landlords.

For this search, I've been hampered by the current explosion of the real estate market. Prices are now higher than 1997, the previous peak. What that has meant for me is that when I go in to meet agents, they initially are quite attentive, figuring I must be some gweilo expat on a company contract and that they're gonna move a six figure place and make a huge commission. Then they find out my budget and many of them won't even return my calls. A select few have been very professional and helpful. Like anywhere else in the world, it's hit and miss.

An example of the problems in the market can be found in a new development in Nam Wai, near Sai Kung. Someone has built several rows of village houses and dubbed the complex "The Mangrove." These are your bog standard 3 floor, 2100 square foot village houses. From the outside, the design is appealing. I've haven't been inside to check. While some of the houses are on the waterfront, most are not. There is very little space in between houses, no gardens or patios that I can discern from outside the development. And the selling price for each house is HK$17.8 million.

I have been told by more than one agent that news of the the 17.8 million price tag has spread like wildfire through Sai Kung. Owners who previously thought their homes might be worth 10 million are now putting them on the market for 15 and up. And while these houses might previously have rented for reasonable rates, the owners are jacking up rental prices by 100% or only interested in a sale.

So you can imagine my surprise today when the man whom I thought was the worst realtor I'd seen, the grumpiest, sloppiest guy with the worst English, showed me two places that were each closer to perfect than anything I'd seen in the preceding two weeks.

The first house is just off the main road about 10 minutes past Sai Kung town. The house itself was unremarkable, except that the price was a bit lower than usual. The kitchen was stripped bare and I was told the landlord was not going to supply any appliances. And the rooms had been chopped up so that instead of 3 large bedrooms there were five small ones. But it had a nice fenced in front yard area, complete with fish pond. And then in the back of the house .... a swimming pool! Certainly not olympic sized but not too shabby either. The price was just slightly over my budget but the thought of my own pool, of throwing barbecue & pool parties in the summer, was certainly attractive. Also the idea that it would be about a 5 or 10 minute walk to take my dogs down to the beach. I started working the numbers in my head.

And sometimes you just gotta say that you can't have everything. I don't need my own pool. It would be nice. Strike that - it would be fabulous, but I've lasted this long without one. Okay, stick to the budget.

Then the second place he showed me .... the house was perfect. High on a hill and very remote and secluded, it has one of those roads going up that's just a single lane with a few places for cars to pull over to make room for cars going in the opposite direction. There are some blind, hairpin mountainside turns to boot. Not something your average Hong Kong driver would care to negotiate on a daily basis, I suppose.

But the house has this magnificent unobstructed sea view even from the ground floor. Huge rooms. An honest to goodness garden, as opposed to a fenced in concrete covered area.

And then the piece de resistance - the asking price was at the very top end of my budget. But then the landlord told the realtor that if I didn't want them to paint the house (inside and out) but would either leave it as is or arrange for the painting myself, they were willing to drop the price by 20%.

That put the price at less than what I'm currently paying for my Mid-Levels apartment (which I'm renting at SARS-era prices).

Unless something goes terribly wrong (and it often can), I'll be signing the lease on Friday. If everything goes right, I'll be posting pictures of the amazing view over the weekend.

And now, anyone who wants to leave recommendations for reliable moving services, please do so. Not expat ones like Crown. Local companies.

I believe I would find it preferable if people stopped focusing on Edison Chen's or Gillian Chung's morality (or the unsightliness of Cecilia Cheung's nether regions, for that matter) and instead focus on what I believe are the important issues here. People had sex, they lied about it, like that's the first or last time this is going to happen. It's a tempest in a teapot. Everyone knows that most Hong Kong stars have no real talent outside of being able to sing on key, memorize dance routines and wear silly clothes. Compared to them, Britney Spears is Billie Holiday. They have very short careers and are quickly forgotten.

The real issue is an attack on our freedom of speech and expression, which are clearly expendable when they conflict with the interests of the uber-rich and their toys. And the disgraceful behavior by Hong Kong's finest, aka the police. They are arresting people for possessing and uploading photographs that the police have said are obscene before the government made any such declaration. The police should not and do not have the power to make this kind of determination!

They are holding people in prison without bail.

They have asked Interpol to shut down web sites outside of Hong Kong that contain these pictures. (I'm sure Interpol hung up the phone, laughed its collective head off, and then went and looked at all the pictures themselves and then called the HK police "wankers" and decided to spend time hunting terrorists and international jewel thieves as opposed to these jokers.)

In other words, they are acting in the best interests of the billionaires and the triads without regard for the majority of Hong Kong people.

By the way, I believe that the person who leaked these pictures was probably David Li, or Sir David Li, who is still entitled to use the "Sir" even though he renounced his British citizenship. The CEO and Chief Executive of the Bank of East Asia, Mr. Li has been convicted of insider trading and now has to pay that $8 million as a fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S., still retains his seats on both the Executive Council and the Legislative Council. And he remains Pro-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, setting an excellent example for the youth of today. "Get really stinking rich then do what you want because an $8 million penalty is petty cash."

Perhaps he arranged for these pictures to to be made available to divert attention from his own crimes and to prevent a public outcry for his resignation.

Oops, I forgot, this is Hong Kong. He'll be rewarded, not punished. In 2001 he got a Gold Bauhinia Star from the government. In 2007 he got the Grand Bauhinia Medal. In 2008 he'll probably get the Titanium Bauhinia Swiss Army Knife.

16 gig iPhone in hand. Took less than 5 minutes to unlock and jailbreak.

The 8 gig iPhone was probably the best mobile phone I ever owned, and I've owned lots. Now, just two months after buying it, I've "upgraded" to the 16 gig edition. I know I'm crazy.

But now I can fit 1,000 songs, a couple hundred photos and the video of the entire Led Zepp reunion concert and there's still plenty of free space to spare.

Look, I know people always say that the Grammy voters are out of touch with the modern audience. Their votes are too mainstream and skew towards older demographics. I think the mean age of Grammy voters is around 87.

Here are the nominations for Album of the Year, the big kahuna of the Grammy Awards:

• "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace," Foo Fighters
• "These Days," Vince Gill
• "River: The Joni Letters," Herbie Hancock
• "Graduation," Kanye West
• "Back to Black," Amy Winehouse

And the winner was .... Herbie Hancock.

Now I like Herbie Hancock as much as the next person. He's been recording for 45 years. He's one of the great jazz pianists of all time. He's written at least a couple of tunes that will stand the test of time. Atypically for a jazz artist, he's had hit singles. And "The Joni Letters" is a nice album. Nice. It's got Joni herself, Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne Bailey Rae.

But album of the year? Just seems weird.

The album never cracked the top 100 on Billboard, so one certainly can't say that they were giving the award to the best seller. And it's the first jazz album to take home the album of the year prize in more than 40 years (Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto for Getz/Gilberto)(unless we're counting Sinatra albums).

Record of the year, the other big kahuna award, went to Amy Winehouse for Rehab. It also got Song of the year (a songwriters' award). She got 5 awards in all including "best newcomer" (because her first album didn't get released in the US until after the 2nd album, I think).

The Good - Had to get out of the house for a little while this afternoon. Went over to Wanchai. Some shops were open but my favorite char siu place was closed. So there went my idea of bringing home a bucket of the best ribs in HK for dinner. I was walking around the side streets of Wanchai market, looking for a place that might be open where I could get a new lightbulb for my fridge. On one of the side streets off Johnston Road (sorry, don't ask me which one but it seemed filled with small Filipino and Thai grocery shops), I passed an open fast food shop. The English name on the sign was, roughly, Bau Dim King. I figured that by "bau" they meant buns, like char siu bau. I knew that "king" in this case was a Chinese word, but I decided to interpret it as king of buns.

Their menu along the wall was individual removable plastic signs, as you see in so many shops, posting what's fresh, taking down a sign when something runs out, but no English anywhere. It looked nice though. There was a huge glass case of hot steamed buns of varying types. I asked if any were char siu bau but no luck. What was I going to do? I had no idea what was in the various buns. But on the other side was one of those huge open fryers, with big pan fried dumplings, 4 for 10 bucks. So I went for those, with some soy sauce and some chili sauce and yum! It seemed pretty clear that the filling (minced pork and spring onion or chive) was freshly made, they were piping hot and really hit the spot. I just stood in the street outside the shop and devoured them. I will need to find this place again.

That's one of the things I love about Hong Kong. Evn after all these years, I turn some corner, I go down some street I've rarely been down, and there's something really nice just waiting to be discovered.

The Bad - it's day three of Chinese New Year. Lots of businesses are still closed. Lots of people are still out visiting families and friends and enjoying the holiday. But commerce never quits. 6 PM on a Saturday, a marketing phone call from Smartone-Vodafone. A woman who spoke okay English but with such a heavy accent that I could barely understand her. Something about how I had gone over my monthly amount for barfing? surfing? somethinging on my mobile phone and did I want to upgrade to the next level?

I wonder if they are only calling their western clients today, figuring that they wouldn't want to upset Chinese families on one of the most important days but asssuming that gweilos wouldn't care?

The Stupid - Oh Fumier, if only you had been out tonight with me walking my dogs, you would have enjoyed this soooooo much! There's a little side street off Conduit Road that cars use for making U-turns. They make a left into this street, curve around at the opening, and still need to back up a bit before they can make a left back onto Conduit.

So this taxi does the first move, curving into the street. He still needs to back up though. But before he can, some woman driving an tiny economy recent model Nissan goes to pull the same move. She pulls up behind him and waits, not giving him room to back up. The taxi driver could go forward across the street and then back up in the main road but he doesn't want to. They both sit there, neither going to budge an inch, neither looking at the other, playing the usual game of chicken. Finally, with more cars coming down the street, the taxi driver decides not to make the U-turn but to continue straight along Conduit in the direction he had originally been headed.

At the exact time that he made that decision and takes off, the woman in the Nissan also backs down, throws her car into reverse and, in a fit of exasperation, rather than slowly move backward she drops the pedal to the metal. The Nissan flies backward, goes up on the sidewalk and smashes into a metal guard post. The car hadn't traveled more than 10 feet. I'm sure she didn't get it up to more than 15 kilometers per hour. But it was enough to not only smash the rear lights on the car, it put a huge dent into the rear bumper and also caused part of the rear fender to crumple. In an instant, in a flash of anger or exasperation or frustration, the woman caused what looked to me to be thousands of dollars of damage to her car.

She then threw the car into drive, smashed the accelerator again, drove 10 feet away from the post and stopped the car. Blocking the entire side street, she got out, inspected the damage, and whipped out her cell phone to make a call. She stood there in the street talking on the phone, her car continuing to block access to the street.

At that point, all I could bring myself to do was walk away. There was nothing for me to bear witness to. She hadn't been hit by another car. The taxi driver hadn't been doing anything erratic to make her have an accident. She did it to herself. I walked the dogs around the pile of bits of glass and plastic that were covering the sidewalk and back home for some heat and maybe a movie before going out to dinner.

Kung Hei Fat Choy y'all!

Sitting around not doing much of nothing. Ripping CDs, which are bringing back some memories. Perhaps this will be the seed for a future BC column. Some of this I may have blogged before, some I haven't. Let's see how it comes out.

The first rock band I ever saw live was the Al Kooper Big Band. It was at some bizarro proto-rock convention at the New York Coliseum, I guess around 1968. It wasn't a proper concert per se. But Kooper had just left Blood Sweat & Tears and was about to release his first solo album. All that I really remember about that show was being incredibly impressed by legendary drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie.

The first proper rock concert that I attended was at the Fillmore East. I suppose this would have been 1969. $3 for a ticket in the balcony. The opening act was legendary bluesman Albert King, with his Flying Vee Gibson guitar. The next act was Chuck Berry, and that was the show at which he recorded "My Ding-A-Ling," which oddly enough was his only #1 hit single. The headliners, added to the bill at the last minute, was The Who. After running through several of their singles, they announced that they had a new album coming out soon and that they were going to play some of it - and to my recollection they then played all of "Tommy" about a month before the album was released.

Until it closed in 1971, I saw some amazing shows at the Fillmore East. I saw The Mothers of Invention, the original line-up, on their final tour. And then saw the Mothers line-up with Flo & Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of the Turtles), though I was there the night after the Fillmore East album was recorded.

I saw the Grateful Dead there twice. One night I can remember that the show started around 8 or 9 PM. The Dead came out and did about three hours of acoustic. (That's because they seemed to take about 15 minutes to tune up between each song.) Then New Riders of the Purple Stage came out and did a couple of hours. Then the Dead returned, electric, and played all night. And I mean all night, too - when we came out of the theater the sun was shining.

I also remember seeing Leon Russell, Taj Mahal, Donny Hathaway, Jefferson Airplane, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells.

But the best show I saw at the Fillmore was undoubtedly one that kicked off with Wilbert Harrison, doing a hokey one man band thing and still riding the success of "Kansas City" about 20 years later. Next came Seals and Crofts, long before "Summer Breeze" became a hit. Doesn't sound very impressive, does it? But the headliners that night were Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, the "friends" included Eric Clapton, enjoying some relative anonymity after the disaster known as Blind Faith. Bonnie Bramlett was, to the best of my knowledge, the only white Ikette and her voice was amazing that night. To top it off, we had 8th row center seats, and some incredibly cute blonde girl who had seats in the back asked if she could sit on my lap during the show - I wasn't gonna say no.

From 1973 to 1975, when I was going to school in Boston, I managed to get hired by Don Law, Boston's version of Bill Graham. Not only did I get to see almost every show that came to town in this two year period, I got paid for going. I'll never have such a good job again. As one of the head ushers at the Orpheum Theater, they'd rent a tux for me to usher when the Boston Opera played. And I got to go around my dorm, especially on the ladies' side, and ask things like, "who wants to go see Linda Ronstadt tonight?"

The oddest pairing at the Orpheum, in fact the oddest concert pairing I've ever seen, was when Roger McGuinn did a solo acoustic set opening for King Crimson (Larks Tongues tour). Kiss was definitely the loudest act I saw. Also saw Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Little Feat, well, basically you name it. At the Orpheum, the security guards would go through the crowd confiscating drugs and booze, and then we'd party like crazy after the shows. At the Boston Garden, I'd often work backstage, and so we'd raid the dressing rooms of the stars as soon as they hit the stage. Eric Clapton had cases of vodka stacked up.

But those who know me know that my all time #1 is Bruce Springsteen. And it just occurred to me that the first time I saw him live was just over 35 years ago. Holy crap! His second album had just been released and the NY Times did an article on him. I got his first two albums and thought they were okay.

In January, 1973, he was going to be playing at Joe's Place in Cambridge, Mass. I went to that show, which turns out to be the night he met Boston's premiere rock critic (and his future manager) Jon Landau. I don't have strong recollections of the night but I know I must have enjoyed it because after that I ran around the dorm pulling people into my room to play Springsteen songs for them.

In May, 1973, Bruce was opening for Bonnie Raitt at the Harvard Square Theatre, also in Cambridge. Two shows. I got tickets for the late show. Everyone in my dorm was also going because everyone simply loved Bonnie Raitt and she was not to be missed on her home turf.

The late show was supposed to start at 10 but started an hour late, at 11. Bruce came out and audaciously opened with a slow ballad, a long version of New York City Serenade, with just piano and violin backing him up. The entire audience was transfixed. He got a standing ovation after the first song, and the rest of the E Street Band came out and the audience remained on its feet throughout the rest of his set. Most public transportation stopped in Boston around 12:30 AM, but at 1 AM Bruce was still on stage. Bonnie Raitt could be seen dancing on the side of the stage. Every time Bruce tried to end his set, you could see Bonnie urging him to stay on and keep going. She finally came out around 1:30 and even she was exhausted from his set, doing just a half hour of mostly slow blues. The next day, everyone was in my room asking me to play those Springsteen records for them again.

From 1973 to 1995, I never missed a tour, sometimes going to multiple shows on a single tour since he'd never do the same setlist twice. I saw him so many times at the Bottom Line, a 500 seat club in New York. And at New York's Central Park, when he opened for Anne Murray, and the entire audience walked out after his set, not sticking around for her bland versions of country pop. I've seen him in venues ranging from 200 seats at Joe's Place to 80,000 plus at Giants Stadium. And I've never seen anyone else come close to what he does on stage.

I got to meet Bruce in 1981. He was in town to take place in a rally in Central Park. I was driving a taxi down 57th Street and saw him standing on the corner, arm outstretched. First of all I couldn't believe it was him. Then I couldn't believe there was no other taxi between me and him and that I was going to be the one to pick him up. So by the time I stopped in front of him, I managed to convince myself it wasn't him. I just didn't have that kind of luck. But when he got in and I heard his voice, telling me his destination, all I could do was turn around and scream, "It's you!!!!!!"

He was in a chatty mood, too. Looking to say something that wouldn't come off as completely stupid, I believe what I told him was that one reason I liked his music so much was because even though I was down on my luck at the moment, his songs told me to hold on to my dreams and keep trying to make them happen. I took him a slightly longer route to his destination to keep him in the taxi longer, to talk with him more. I told him he needed to release his concerts on video so that everyone could experience them. And when it was time to drop him off, the meter said $4 and I told him he didn't need to pay me money, just give me an autograph. He gave me that, handed me a $10 bill, paused for a moment and then told me to keep the change.

The last time I saw him live was in 1999. I'd moved to San Francisco and saw him play 2 of the 3 nights at Oakland. Can't believe that was just about 9 years ago. I'm miffed that his "world tours" rarely include Asia - he gets to Japan and Australia sometimes but I suppose his audience in this part of the world doesn't make it economically feasible for him to play here. Or might he one day bring the E Street Band to the Venetian? I doubt it.

Well, I've still got gigabytes of concerts spread across bootleg CDs, mp3s, flac. Have a shelf load of video tapes of complete concerts traded on the underground circuit that one of these days I'll convert to DVD. And with the internet, have downloaded audio of every show from the current tour and even a couple of complete videos as well.

Actually, after 1984's Born in the USA, after his decision to break up the E Street Band for so many years, I've certainly liked all his albums, but never as much as the stuff he released from 72 to 84. Yet since then, no one else has come along who has so consistently written and recorded music that has meant as much to me as his has.

As for me, well, once I did get to play onstage at Carnegie Hall (I was 15, the Bronx Borough-wide Symphony Orchestra, woo-hoo!). I think I was all of 20 years old when I realized that as a musician I would never be better than mediocre, that if I chose to pursue it I was looking at lifetime of playing weddings and cruise ships, so I chose a different path.

But I still love music. And sometimes it's a little difficult living in a town where the live music scene is so abysmal.

I was sitting in Bulldogs the other night. The Filipino cover band was doing a Bangles song, trying as hard as they could to sound like the record, and even though the singer had a good voice, she was never going to be as good as Susanna Hoffs. And then I noticed that on the TVs around the bar, they had the Bangles video playing, and the live band was in almost perfect sync with the video. What's the fucking point?

Have never seen the Police but didn't feel like schlepping to Macau for them. Maybe I'm not quite the fan-boy I used to be?

(Which reminds me of the days when I worked for CD Hotline. One of the owners of the company was Trev Huxley, grandson of Aldous Huxley. The Grateful Dead were one of the early investors in the company, via the Grateful Dead Pension Fund. And they used to joke about how Trev never went to any of their concerts. They even offered to put a reclining chair on stage for him if he'd come. I don't think he ever took them up on the offer.)

Okay, that's it for now ....

Went through my blog roll list. I've deleted all the stuff that doesn't work or blogs that haven't been updated in at least 4 months. Corrected a few that had moved.

But have not gotten around to adding in links to stuff that's been more recently added to my RSS. Will get to it soon.

Odd combination of movies today ....

David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, which I mostly liked but didn't feel much of the "Cronenberg touch" on this.

Cougar Club - yes, incredibly stupid. Kept meaning to turn it off. But aside from enjoying Joe Mantegna and Jon Polito clearly enjoying themselves for an easy paycheck, well, former Bond girl Izabella Scorupco was very easy on the eyes.

Al Franken: God Spoke - too much preaching to the converted. But I do hope he wins his senate campaign.

What with ripping and re-ripping CDs to iTunes, the "recently added" playlist goes back to January 29 and lists 3,747 song titles. Yes, I'm leading a full life during the holiday break.

With my girlfriend out of town and me behaving, there's not much to do in this cold weather aside from sitting in front of the computer, heater at my feet, ripping CDs and watching movies.

I watched three movies so far today (and at the moment taking a break from a 4th).

The King of Kong - Yeah, so maybe a documentary about the competition for the world record score for Donkey Kong doesn't sound terribly exciting. But it's well made and really sucks you in to its world. If you ever played a video game or were obsessive over some hobby, you will really enjoy this.

The Alibi - A clever and entertaining film. Steve Coogan plays a former grifter who now runs an agency providing alibis for people who cheat on their spouses. But his past is catching up with him and his present isn't looking promising either. Supporting cast includes James Brolin, Rebecca Romijn, Selma Blair, Sam Elliott, Henry Rollins, Jerry O'Connell, Jon Polito, Deborah Kara Unger, John Leguizamo, Debi Mazar.

30 Days of Night - If you don't know the plot, there's a small town in Alaska that is so far north, every winter they have an entire month with no sun. The sun goes down and the town is attacked by a whole bunch of vampires. It is exceedingly bloody. The thing is, it's not terribly different from others we've seen before. You know a lot of people are gonna die. You know at the end the humans will beat the vampires. It's just how they handle the variations and specifics in between. And it was all done okay but I've seen better.

In other "news," the iTunes ripper definitely needs some work. Set for VBR, quality at highest, maximum bit rates 320. If you like pop music and own actual CDs, then you'll know that there are a couple of Robbie Williams CDs where the last track on each runs about 30 minutes. He has 25 minutes of silence before the final song, without a track mark so you gotta let the thing run out to get to it. What a freaking pain, right? Anyway, ripped on iTunes, those tracks are resulting in 70 meg files. Ripped on CD-DA Xtractor, with the same settings, I get 20 meg files. Sheesh.

If you ever had any doubts about how weird the commercial sex scene is in Japan, check this item from Asian Sex Gazette about a recently closed club in Osaka:

"You immediately get a drink, but it's a hostess's urine served on the rocks. They also serve tidbits sprinkled with cuttings of the workers' pubic hair," the employee of an adult entertainment introduction service tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "They also had a service where the ice served in drinks is first inserted into the hostess's private parts. They just kept on getting wilder and wilder and I think they went too far in the end."

Ewww. I think I can refrain from "Waitress, there's a hair in my soup" jokes.


I'd written up a long post about my hunting for a new place to live. But for some reason, I'd decided to give the history of all the places I've lived in HK (6 in 10.5 years) complete with prices paid. And posted it. And changed my mind a little while later and deleted the post.

But to keep things in context, let me tell you about two of the places where I used to live.

From '98 to '99 I was on Kennedy Road, an area that creative realtors like to refer to as "Wanchai Mid-Levels." I had a flat that was 1800 square feet, with a huge balcony with a partial harbor view. The owner had ripped out the maid's toilet and converted the area into an honest-to-goodness sauna. (His wife told me they'd be sitting at home watching TV and randomly her husband would suddenly blurt out, "I'll bet that gweilo is sitting in my sauna right now." Actually the wife was friendly and also not unattractive. My wife would invite her to parties, my friends would get drunk, hit on her and then find out how much she knew about martial arts. But that's another tale.) For all this goodness I think the rent was about $36k per month.

From '02 to '03 I was living in Marina Cove near Sai Kung. A gated community, I had a 2550 square foot house right on the water. Backyard garden, rooftop, jacuzzi in one bathroom, 2 balconies. This was $40k per month.

So I started looking for a new place last week and found it so disheartening that I sent an email to my landlord asking if I could change my mind and renew for another year. But the answer is no. He is returning to HK and needs the flat.

And real estate prices are going through the roof. The Kennedy Road place now goes for around $60k. The Marina Cove one is now around $75k. Full houses around Sai Kung seem to start at 40 or 50k and go up into six figures. And the agents all tell me that the demand for 1400 square foot duplexes in village houses is far exceeding supply. So there are no bargains to be had at the moment. Unlike my current flat, far below market rates because I moved in when the market was still recovering from SARS.

The nicest place I saw was just about within walking distance to my girlfriend's place. 1400 square feet - ground floor and first floor in a village house. Nice large front yard. Oven, bathtub, some closets, nice view, neighbors on both sides who speak English. Slightly above my budget. But the landlord is a flake. He told the realtor that he would not negotiate on the price because he doesn't want to rent to someone who has pets and I have two dogs but he'll rent to me. And if I say yes I have to take it immediately (meaning paying rent on two places for one month, a serious non-starter). And he told me that I was very handsome. I can just imagine what it would be like dealing with this guy if I need some repair - he'll say no to everything and then try every excuse in the book not to refund my deposit when I move out.

The second nicest place was also 1400 square feet. No oven, no bathtub, but within my budget. I asked who lived in the top floor and was told "some girls." As if on cue, a taxi pulled up and the girls upstairs came running out to get in the cab. They looked up, saw me on the balcony, smiled and waved. Both 20-something. Both cute. In my head, I could hear my girlfriend scream. But a male friend said to me, "Take it! All your male friends will love it!" Yeah. Could do that. As long as they agree to pay for some closets, cause the place had zero.

At any rate, even if any realtors are open this weekend, there are no landlords in the mood to turn up with keys and let you inspect places till Monday. I'm hoping I will have secured some new place by end of next week, so I'll have a month to get ready for the move.

Oops, just saw, Romney dropped out of the presidential race. This is a good move for Republicans. If Romney endorses McCain, Huckabee will be so far out of the running that he can basically be ignored. And if McCain is crowned now, he can sit back and coast until the summer. Meanwhile, the close race between Clinton and Obama will probably turn nastier than it has been to date. And as they go at each other, the public will get turned off and the Republicans will come out smelling like roses.

The gossip blogs are of course filled with snarky updates about what I see as the seriously sad situation with Britney Spears. Tales of drug use. Her first breast implants while still a teenager. One can simply write this off as "trailer trash" but there's something more going on here - and the question is can anyone turn this situation around before it's too late. There's a big article coming out in Rolling Stone shortly, appropriately titled The Tragedy of Britney Spears. A persuasive excerpt here:

She pulls herself up, mustering the strength to tap Britney's shoulder. "Um, I'm from the South too," she mumbles, "and I was wondering if I could get a picture with you for my little sister."

Britney turns to Ghalib and grabs his arm. "I don't want her talking to me!" she screams. She whirls around and stares the girl deep in the eyes, her lips almost vibrating with anger. "I don't know who you think I am, bitch," she snarls, "but I'm not that person."

I see it's 3 AM. Guess I'm not gonna finish movie #4 tonight. So one last thing. This bit over at Engadget notes that in a recent poll, 7 out of 10 Americans who have bought HDTVs have said they don't plan to upgrade to Blu-Ray or HD-DVD because they think regular DVDs are good enough. Kind of supports what I said in my last BC column.

Which is good because sometimes I myself wonder ... I mean, I have both HD DVD formats. And I have a Sony Bravia 40 inch that does full on 1080p. And when I watch HD discs, they do look good. They look better than standard DVDs. But not that much better. Kung over at Rock Gallery tells me that most of his customers who have switched say they won't go back, it's HD or nothing. But for me, the difference is not that huge. I feel no desire to replace existing standard def discs in my collection with HD ones (unless they come from my own company and I can get them for free). And in terms of new releases, unless the discs include some HD-only bonus material, I think I'm okay to continue buying the less expensive standard ones for the most part.

Another reason is that I only have the HD set-up in my bedroom. In my home office, aka my study, I am only set up for regular DVD. And at the moment I can rip regular DVDs to my Archos and iPod, I can't rip the high def stuff. So I'm not feeling terribly motivated.

Just curious if I have any readers who have upgraded to HD and are feeling similarly ambivalent or are you finding the differences to be huge and unsubtle?

Seems as if Edison Chen isn't quite the thickest brick in town, even if it turns out that his broken computer was a pink Powerbook. After viewing the photos, one thing no one has accused Mr. Chen of is being gay.

No, the thicker brick is clearly the computer technician who found the photos, as is made clear in this article on Asian Sex Gazette by Justin Mitchell:

The technician accidently discovered photographs and videos of Chen and "more than a dozen Hong Kong celebrities which he downloaded onto his own computer. Sing Pao reported that that the technician said he "only intended to keep the material for his own enjoyment". Then he invited some friends over to his apartment to play mahjong and casually mentioned that he had some "good" stuff to show them.

When his friends saw the material, they were "astonished", the paper reported. and urged him to post them on the Internet. He was reluctant because he knew Chen had his contact information, so finally a female friend agreed to do it.

This unnamed technician is dumber than a doornail for two reasons. The first being agreeing with his friends to post the photos publicly, apparently with no regard for what impact they might have to those in them. The second being that by allowing a friend to post them for him, he thought that would mean that it couldn't get tracked back to him. As if dozens of other people might have also had them and posted them.

The computer shop was subsequently raided by police officers in a widening investigation across the territory, which has led to eight arrests for infringement of obscene material laws, and the seizure of more than 1000 explicit images, including four women whom were public figures, the police said.

A "widening investigation"? That strikes me as seriously bizarre. Public money is being spent on a widening investigation? To what end? Are police soon going to be going door to door, inspecting the hard disks of every computer in Hong Kong?

Responding to Hong Kong media questions, a police official said they were still trying to determine whether the pictures were real or fakes. He said if the pictures were found in servers overseas, they would call on international enforcement agencies to get involved and contact the relevant service providers.

Thick brick #3 would appear to be this "police official" who seems to think that Interpol or the FBI have nothing better to do with their time than protect the images of minor local celebrities.

People who had only transferred the obscene picture files to friends had not violated the law, but those who transferred them to the public - for example via internet web pages - were breaking the law, he said.

"The police are trying to prevent the spread of the pictures, but we are having some difficulties as the pictures have been spread around for some time," the police official said. The pictures, which have not yet been classified as obscene, will to be forwarded to Hong Kong's Obscene Articles Tribunal for classification.

Ex-squeeze me? If the pictures have not (yet) been classified as obscene, then how is uploading them to the internet against the law? People are going to be arrested for having something that might later be classified as indecent?

Yes, the so-called Rule of Law in Hong Kong is a selective thing. There is one law for the public and a second law for the billionaires and their toys.

I actually enjoy when a post here erupts into a spirited session of back-and-forth comments. And I'd like to thank Phil and Peter not just for commenting but behaving like civil human beings - I'm being genuine here, by the way, not sarcastic.

Anyway, a co-worker has directed me to a web site based in the US that has 20 of the uncensored pictures online. I realize that other people who read this blog might be interested to see them as well. However, with the bizarre censorship rules in Hong Kong, if I was to post a direct link to that site and in particular those images, I could be subject to prosecution. Yes, that's right folks, my not posting the pictures myself but posting a link to them could land me in jail.

And while there are some who might take pleasure at the thought of me in the hoosegow (ex-wives, ex-girlfriends, etc.) it's not some place that I'm ready to vacation in just yet. So all I can tell you is that if you google the word "blemish" and then look for the word "gossip" in the description of one of the sites in the result set, you should be able to figure it out yourself pretty easily.

As rumored, yesterday Apple announced immediate availability of a 16 gig iPhone and a 32 gig iPod Touch. Given the difficulty I've had cramming what I want into an 8 gig iPhone, 16 gigs (which will translate out to 14.something of actual usable space) should solve most of the problems.

And as it happens, I have a friend flying to New York today, returning next week. So I added one more item to his shopping list ....

(UPDATE: oops - someone has correctly pointed out to me that picture #3 is Daniel Wu. I could delete it but it's just so silly that I'm gonna leave it anyway.)

Let's say you are a Hong Kong star. It almost goes without saying that you will have more looks than talent and, in some cases, more talent than brains. So you're famous, you're good looking, you're rich and you get beautiful women to sleep with you, some of them also famous. And while in the throes of passion, they agree to let you take photos of their lovely young naked bodies. And you store these pictures on your computer. And then your computer breaks. And you give your computer to a complete stranger, someone whose monthly salary is perhaps 1% of your own.

How stupid do you have to be to not be able to figure out that this person, knowing he has a star's hard disk in hand, won't scan the disk to see what's there, won't gasp in surprise and delight when chancing upon naked pictures of celebrities? What sort of faith in human nature must you have to assume that once found, said person wouldn't make copies and share them around?

Here's his presumably self-written profile from his old blog:

Edison Chen was born on October 7th, 1980.
Raised in Vancouver and NYC he has now moved to Hong Kong and currently works in Asian Cinema, Music and Fashion.
He owns a lifestyle company named CLOT, which works with labels and artists from all around the world gathering them all together in unison in the Greater Asian region, although they are based in the Hong Kong region.
Seemingly this is the first venture of this sort of cause in Hong Kong. GOOGLE him if u don't know him.
He is just a normal everyday guy like you, but only his job is to entertain.

And here's how he describes himself on his current blog:

edc is edison chen ........... hate the game and dun hate the player .......... i am all bout unity ............ but if u fucks wid me i gotsa fuck wid u ........... in clot edc's role is the FRONTLINESOLDIER.... ACT LIKE U KNOW.......

Yes, that's right, he's gotsa fuck wid u. The beauty of the infinite variations of the English language.

Here's a picture of his credit card that he's posted on his blog. Given that the last 8 digits are 1234 5678 perhaps it's just a mock-up, perhaps not. Perhaps he's put it there so that he can pre-qualify for future dates with the next generation of up and coming HK celebs.

In the movie The Bank Dick, W.C. Fields plays Egbert Souse (accent grave over the e), perpetually drunk and rewarded for accidentally foiling a bank robbery with a hearty handshake and a job as guard in the town bank. He gets his prospective son-in-law, Og Oggleby (portrayed by the wonderful Grady Sutton) to embezzle money from the bank to invest in Beefsteak Mines, a sure thing which of course turns out to be a scam and poor Og is wiped out. With the bank about to undergo an audit, Og confronts the Great Man.

Og: Mr. Souse, I was a perfect idiot to listen to you!

Egbert: Now listen here young Og. There's absolutely nothing in this world that's perfect!

And to the list of things that aren't perfect, add the New England Patriots.

And for more on Beefsteak - a type of party popular in the 1930s that still reigns supreme in Northern New Jersey, check here.

The term refers not to a cut of meat but to a raucous all-you-can-eat-and-drink banquet with a rich history in Bergen and Passaic Counties. “You’ve got the tender beef, butter, salt, French fries, beer — all your major food groups. But it’s very unique to North Jersey. I go to other places and nobody’s heard of it.”

For more on spoilers, go here to read Google's official response to Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo.

So Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

One thing seems clear. Yahoo as we know it today will not survive. They are desperately seeking someone else to place a bid on the company, discussing a partnership with Google, and there is even talk about splitting up Yahoo and selling off its various pieces bit by bit.

The NY Times weighs in here:

“The potential concern would be that Microsoft, if it acquires Yahoo, could do on the Internet what it did in the personal computer world — make technical standards more Microsoft-centric and steer consumers to its products,” said Stephen D. Houck, a lawyer representing the states involved in the consent decree against Microsoft.

The question is - how could a company like Yahoo, once not just the darling of the internet world but the business world as a whole, fall so quickly and completely? Stay tuned, there will be tons of articles and books featuring 20/20 hindsight available soon I'm sure.

Noms for the 27th annual HK Film Awards have been announced. You can see the entire list at blog The House Where Words Gather. Best picture nominations are:

• THE WARLORDS
• PROTEGE
• THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT
• MAD DETECTIVE
• EYE IN THE SKY

I've only seen two of these. Warlords, which I thought was fairly well done, and just yesterday watched Mad Detective, which was a major disappointment. Johnny To is one of the only good directors working in HK today and Lau Ching-Wan is one of the few actors in HK who can actually act. The film had a somewhat derivative but ambitious concept that was confusingly developed and a very predictable sentimental ending.

Also noted, an excellent interview with Quention Tarantino over at BFI. A vigorous defense of Death Proof, a progress report on Inglorious Bastards and more.

Sarah Silverman is fcuking Matt Damon. Hysterical.

Bits and pieces, too cold to think ...

Nice birthday party for Hong Kong Phooey last night at Goccia on Wyndham Street. Someone told me their pasta is excellent so may need to go back and try one night. Following the party, we went down to Rat Alley for some cheap n' cheerful Vietnamese (too late to go to Nha Trang).

In case you haven't seen elsewhere, following a spate of bad news for Yahoo, including news that they intend to lay off 7% of their staff, Microsoft has put in an unsolicited bid for Yahoo, at US$44.6 billion. The question is, if Yahoo turns them down (can't imagine otherwise), will Microsoft go for it anyway. And if they get it, would it be approved by US and EU authorities?

Of special concern today is that hackers are getting closer to figuring a way for spambots to recognize those images of letters that we have to type for authentication when posting comments, opening online accounts, etc. They say at this point they're at the 35% success rate. They will improve. And spam will increase.

The big annual camera trade show is going on now. I've been really happy with my Canon G7 and Nikon D80 for the past year, but some of the stuff they're showing looks really spiffy, including:

Panasonic Lumix TZ5 - very pocketable camera with 10x optical zoom, capable of shooting video at 720p, list price US$350.

Sony Alpha 350 - 14.2 mega pixel DSLR with two way tilting 2.7 inch LCD screen and Live View, can do continuous shooting at 2.5 fps, retail price for body US$800.

Canon EOS Rebel XSi - 12.2 mega pixel DSLR with 3 inch LCD and Live View.

Insane project that I will probably never get to complete: Re-ripping my CDs at 160 AAC for things I want to squeeze into the limited space of my iPhone. And while I'm at it, ripping at 320 VBR for regular iPod and home listening. The 320 VBR seems to give me a 30% smaller file size than 320 CBR and I'm sure my ears can't tell the difference. However, it confuses the fcuk outta iTunes, which reports some of the tracks as having a sampling rate of 32 and a playing time of 10 hours.

Moment of panic last night - removed headphones from iPhone, it thought the headphones were still in and so no sound through speaker. Thought I was gonna have to spend the day looking for a shop that could pop it open and repair the headphone socket, but a helpful person over at ModMyiFone let me know that it would probably fix itself if I just inserted and removed the headphones a few times - and it did. But how many more times is this gonna happen? Never happened to me with a regular iPod.