chiseen

Moving Mural

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:55:00 +0000

My buddy sent me this link the other day. This is a seriously amazing animation made in Argentina and done mural style with still photographs. This took a lot of time, effort and big time creative skills to pull off. Respect!

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

South Africa pt 2 - Cape Town

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:41:00 +0000

So after our safari, we headed down to Cape Town for a few days. Although this was my 5th trip to South Africa, I had never been there before. One thing that was apparent immediately getting off the plane was the mix of cultures. The places I'd been before we're pretty much white and black but in Cape Town, there is a large population of what they call Malays, people who were brought over by the Dutch from places in South East Asia, like Indonesia and Malaysia, to work as cheap labor, some claim as slaves. So because of the origins of the Malays, the Muslim culture is also very prevalent here.

On our first day, we took a Cape Point tour. Which included a stop at the Cape of Good Hope. Now if you all remember your grade school geography this is the southern most point of the African continent.If you jump in the water and swim, you might make it to Antartica from here. It's also the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. The Cape is extremely beautiful terrain, with crazy rocky flat topped mountains to one side and the ocean at the other. A key feature of the Cape of Good Hope are the penguins. Thousands of them everywhere. I'm not really sure why they congregate here because it's not very cold but I guess if they want cooler weather they just take the swim to Antarctica. They are very cute but very smelly also.
There are also Baboons everywhere as well. An unlikely place for them to live but they seem to do well. They seem survive mostly by stealing food from the tourists. We were constantly warned not to carry anything edible on our bodies otherwise we might get jacked by one. Our guide had to chase after a baboon once who stole a woman's purse with her passport, credit cards and plane tickets inside.
On our second day, we did a cultural tour of Cape Town itself. Cape Town looks and feels like a combination of San Francisco(4 seasons in one day weather) and Barcelona( beach city)but it has a vastly different history than either. We checked out the Malay Quarter first, the colorful part of town that the Malays settled. .The amazing thing about Cape Town is that no matter where you are you can see the famous Table Mountain. Named because of it's flat top, the mountain looks different at all times of the day. Sometimes it is covered with a cascading blanket of fog, known as the table cloth, or sometimes it's totally clear. At sunset, it reflects the rays of the setting sun and it becomes this glowing orange color.
We also went to District Six, which was a Malay and Coloured part of town that got wiped out so the Whites could take over during the 60's, one of the most ruthless times of the Apartheid era. It was during the 60's that Cape Town was being developed as a major international city. Part of the city planning was to relocate all non-Whites outside of the city center. Although they were cleared out, the residents resisted in their own way by disrupting any attempt at the whites of redeveloping the area. So to to this day, District Six reamains a wasteland.This is Noos, he works at the District Six museum. He grew up in District Six and wrote this book about life there before it got destroyed.

Afterwards, we headed out to the townships. Most tourists don't usually go out here because these are the dangerous ghettos of South Africa but I felt it was necessary element to understanding this country. The townships are where poor Blacks who can't afford proper housing settle in their ramshackle wood and corrugated steel boxes, a stark contrast to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Cape Town City center itself. People with jobs in the city spend over 70% of their monthly income just traveling to and from work, making it impossible to save enough money to get out. Along with the poverty, comes violence as as drug running gangs and other criminals rule the streets. Although Apartheid was abolished in 1994. The effects of it still present a very real problem to the South Africans of today. Only now economics is the excuse used to explain the racial divide. Although life here in the townships is poor and impoverished, somehow there is a vibrance and vitality in the air despite . Cape Town is an amazing city. Beautiful and rich in it's history and culture. I will definitely look for a chance to go back!

Safari

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:24:00 +0000

So I've finally had some time to go through the photos I took from this South Africa trip. There are a lot so I'm gonna have to break this blog about my trip into three parts. This is the Safari part and will probably be the most interesting to animal lovers, Discovery Channel freaks and carnivores(you'll see why in a sec).
So the first stop on the trip was the Tanda Tula Lodge in the Timba Vate private game reserve on the edge of Krueger National Park. I have been on Safari before but this time I wanted to get the real bush experience. Tanda Tula puts all of their guests in tenets rather than an actual lodge. This way you are right in the bush with all the sites sounds and smells right there all around you. Animals can literally walk right up to your tent if you're lucky enough. We were taken on two game drives a day, one at 6 am and another at 4pm. These are optimal animal viewing times because they hide away from the heat of the day.
What surprises most first time safari goers is actually how close you can actually get to the animals, especially the predatory animals. My Mom almost crapped herself a couple times as Lions and Elephants passed within feet of the jeep. The rangers' explanation is they see the large topless jeep as one large and harmless entity so they do not feel threatened by them. Also these animals have grown accustomed to these jeeps following them around. That said, if you step out of the jeep,you're looking to become mince meat.
I guess the goal of every safari trip is to see the big five. The big five are Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard and Lion. My last safari I didn't see the Leopard but I did see a kill, which was a pride of Lionesses catching and killing a large Kudu, which is like a big deer. I filmed this but haven't had time to put it on the site. It was gruesome but fascinating at the same time. I'll post it when I get a chance. Here's a Lion we saw the first evening eating a buffalo. The buffalo must have been dead for a couple days because the stench of rotten meat was horrible. This photo was taken from about 20 feet away and in low light thus the blurriness.
Last time we missed the Leopard but this time we saw one the first day. He was sleeping on the edge of a dry river bank. When we came back the next morning, he was eating this gazelle breakfast.His spots were so amazing and I was lucky to get some nice golden sunlight to enhance the photo.
Elephants are amazing creatures. Usually you only see them in the Zoo or shackled down for tourists to take a ride on. But when you see them in the wild in their natural environment eating, playing and bathing, you really get to see them as the graceful animals that they are. Especially this cute little baby.
But even these guys can become fierce. This Moma got protective of her clan and made a charge for us because my Dad was talking too loud. Luckily our tracker Phillip banged on the hood of the car and stopped the charge about 2 feet from the car. When elephants stick their ears out like that, it means they're pissed off.
Rhinos are really cool too. They really look prehistoric from head to toe. On this trip, the Rhino was proving to be elusive. We spent most of our last morning trying to find one to complete the big five sighting. We had to do some serious off-roading through the bush to catch up to this one.

Also on the last morning we followed a pride of Lions that was being tracked down by this male Lion. This beautiful male was waiting for the right opportunity to attack and fight the adolescent male of the pride to kick him out and take over.
You might think this is cruel and unfair but the adolescent male of this pride is also the brother of these lionesses so he needs to go, otherwise inbreeding occurs.
Incest is not best. This pic kinda reminds me of Lust Caution.
We waited for over an hour but no fight but the tension was thick!
If you ever get a chance to go on Safari, do it. It might change your life and it definitely will change the way you look at the world and maybe even inspire you to take some measures to take better care of this planet so beautiful creatures like these can continue on living in freedom.

South Africa!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:46:00 +0000

I'm back in South Africa again for the fourth time or is it fifth? Anyway, this time I'm here to show my parents the land I think is one of the most beautiful in the world and it seems they are enjoying it. We were on Safari for three days in the Timbavale private game reserve, a one hour flight from Johannesburg. We had an amazing time checking out out the animals at literally an arms distance away. The photo above is a fresh lion print left in the sand.

Our guide Eric and tracker Philip found tons of lions for us amongst many other animals which I'll post when I get back to HK. Check out how close we were to this lioness. The blue thing in the bottom right corner is my Mom's shoulder. I think she almost shit herself as did I a couple times.
Now we're in Cape Town. It's my first time here and I must say it's nice. Kinda like San Francisco and Barcelona combined. This time I learned a bit more about aparteid which again I will blog more about when I get back. Next stop Lisa will join us and we'll head out to her secret spot where we like "to get away from it all". If you've seen The Heavenly Kings, it shows up in one of the last scenes in the film and is actually where I wrote the script for the flick.

Culture Club

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:10:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:17:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:54:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:59:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:40:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:26:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:03:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 09:36:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:59:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:22:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:00:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:33:00 +0000

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

Time Style and Design

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:02:00 +0000

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.

A Week To Remember

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:08:00 +0000

Damn! This was a hard week on Lisa and I physically and emotionally. Last Friday we took our two dogs for a routine grooming. I was working hard on a new L'Oreal commercial when I got a call saying our little chiuahua, Chiquita, had to be rushed to the hospital because she had a massive seizure. She was treated and stabilized by the time I was able to get off work and everything seemed to be under control. The next morning I was working on Stephen Fung's short film when I got a call from the vet saying that Chiquita had another seizure and the medication they used to control it had made her stop breathing. They were saving her as I rushed into the clinic. She was in dire condition and looked like she was not going to make it. My heart was broken because she is the most adorable little dog in the world and I felt horrible because there was nothing we could do. They were able to revive her but she was in a deep coma which she did not seem to be coming out of. Normally, most dogs wake up after 5-6 hours but Chiquita was still comatose after 12.
The next day was the hardest. I was working on a Canon commercial and could not get away at all. My thoughts were on the little one all day. Lisa had called in the afternoon informing me that she did not seem responsive and there was a possibility that she might wake up at all. If that was the case, we needed to decide in the next 24 hours to put her down. Again, we were totally devastated. Being confronted with making that call was hard to swallow. I told Lisa to keep her hopes up and wait till we were both finished with work late that evening to decide. I tried to keep strong for Lisa and Chiquita but it was hard not to shed a few tears in my dressing room during lunch. I finished the job and rushed back out to the clinic. It was not a good sight. She was lying on the table still in a coma and "paddling". This is an involuntary movement of the legs, that mimics swimming. They said she had been doing it every hour for the 10 mintues or so and then would go back into the coma.
Not knowing what else to do, I remembered a Qi Gong techinique that I was taught as a teenager to help my mother when she had an aneurysm around 15 years ago. I did the Qi Gong for two hours while I waited for Lisa to get off work. Just as Lisa arrived, Chiquita suddenly lifted her head. It was a crazy moment because I wasn't sure if it was an involuntary movement or was she actually trying to wake up. Over the next two hours she tried to move two more times. We were so relieved that she was coming out of her sleep! To think we almost put her down! We went home exhausted but excited to see the improvement in her condition. Over the next day I visited her a few more times and she got better and better each time. Now she is in stable condition with normal stats. She is blind, which may be caused by slight brain damage from the seizures but she may regain her sight over time. She is still in the hospital and will remain till we can get Hong Kong's only animal neurologist to examine her.
I must say this experience was extremely difficult on Lisa and I. It would have been much less stressful if we weren't so busy working. Hopefully we are though the hardest part and can now focus on how we can keep this from happening again. What a week!

Rivers of Suzhou

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:28:00 +0000

I've been in Suzhou for the past few days finishing up my last days on the movie Shinjuku Incident. Three months in Japan and the past few days out here in Suzhou have really made this project a serious adventure.
Today I had the day off so I went to check out the "Ancient town of Tong Li". Suzhou has been called the Venice of the Orient because of the numerous rivers and canal that wind through the town. The remains of snow from the severe winter storm that hit last month, made the scenery extra pleasant.
Other than the canals, Suzhou is famous for it's gardens. They are so famous that UNESCO has named Suzhou a world heritage site. That's a good thing because with China's rapid growth, places like this are rapidly disappearing due to greedy developers.

In ten years, scenes like this and old school people like this will probably no longer exist. Sad but these are the harsh realities of modernization and Westernization. Check out that sewing machine!
Had tea in the Southern Garden Tea house. Built in 1898 this place made me feel like Wong Fei Hong from Once Upon a Time in China.

Drank the famous Bi Lu Chun green tea and admired the view of the river below as they did back in the day. Bi Lou Chun is famous in the region and has a flavor that is heavier than most green teas but still equally as refreshing.

And since sex has been such a hot topic in the HK entertainment world recently....
For some reason in Tong Li Town there is an "Ancient China Sex Museum". A few years ago, I stumbled across the Shanghai Sex Museum and found it pretty interesting. Since then I been to the one in Paris, New York San Francisco and now Suzhou. Suzhou is the biggest with tons of art and paraphernalia charting the history of sex in Chinese culture.

There are captions for everything but the English translations are pretty hilarious.

This speaks for itself.

The caption for this said it was a nun's pillow with special compartment. Must be for those lonely nights in the monastary. I wonder if the nun who developed the Wing Chun Kung Fu style had one of these.

I thought this was a Buddhist swastika but upon closer look, I noticed the text was in German. Must have been a Nazi pervert who drew it.

Now if that's not graphic, I don't know what is! So my question is, if sex has been part of Chinese culture for thousands of years, why is it such a taboo subject now?
Tomorrow is my last day on the film and in Suzhou. Suzhou is a beautiful place and I'm glad we got to wrap it up here. What's next?.....I have yet to figure that out.

VOTE!

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:15:00 +0000

When I was younger, I used to think that politics and government didn't really concern me. A bunch of guys in suits rambling semantics about policy and stuff I didn't care about. But as I got older, I realized how naive I was. If you want to advocate change in this world you have to get involved, and that's politics. If you don't vote, assholes like Bush get into office and fuck the world up. If you don't vote, our medical system will fail. If you don't vote, we fight wars based on lies and thousands of Americans die.
America has never had a worse image problem and we can blame that on the way the politics game is being played now.
I've finally made my decision for '08 and I'm voting for Obama and I'm proud to say that I have just joined his support team. I firmly believe that he will be the one to shake things up for the better, which is exactly what our country needs at the moment. Someone to change the rules for the better. Watch the video above to see some more reasons why I'm for Barack. I wish I knew as much as the guy in the video.
For more info check out this site:
www.asianamericansforobama.com
or this one:
www.barackobama.com

Rats!

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:47:00 +0000

Hope the Rat year is filled with lots of cheese for everybody. Spent the Chinese New Year in Beijing hanging out with Cousin Martin and some old friends. On New Year's eve, we went out to a friends house in the out skirts of Beijing, very close to where I shot The Banquet. We went out on the frozen river to shoot off fireworks. I didn't know you could buy fireworks this big. It was insane. Since we were a bunch of naughty guys, there was no order to lighting them off. Midnight came and everyone went crazy. There were so many going off at once it felt like a war or something. Now that I think about it, it was kind of dangerous, but when the hell are fireworks ever safe? Anyway, it was a fun and exciting ten minutes of chaos and I'm happy to have made it out alive and with all my fingers. Check out the video I shot above.
Also went to check out the famous "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium as well as the Aquatics building. Pretty amazing and beautiful structures. Didn't get a shot of the Aquatics building because they shut down the lights just as I was getting my camera. But I must say it looks awesome as a giant glowing blue block at night.

ShenZhen Special #1

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:57:00 +0000

ShenZhen Special is the term I use for things that I see out there that rip off the original. ShenZhen being that booming city across the border where you can get fake anything. From Nike Pigeon Dunks to some blingass Rolexes, LV basketballs and toilet paper holders, you name it they got it. Above is the famous Wiggle chair by one of my favorite architects Frank Gehry. Designed in 1969 and now produced by the company Vittra, it is made entirely of cardboard. It is not only beautiful but comfortable as well. Many say the surface of the cardboard edges feel like suede.
This is it's ShenZhen special.

Help out if you can.

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:15:00 +0000

JC was a good friend and collaborator. We worked together countless of times for various magazine covers, editorials and adverts. He was one of my favorite photographers because he was quick, efficient and good. A talented photographer with no ego and a really nice guy at that, he succumbed to stomach cancer this year and passed recently at the young age of 34. He will truly be missed.

His retrospective book, "Awakening", is amazing. Bound in plush black velvet, it’s basically a who’s who of Hong Kong stars with everyone from Zhang Ziyi to Chow Yun Fat to 2R all beautifully shot by JC himself. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to JC’s family who were almost entirely supported by JC and could use the extra cash. As a special offer to my fans, AliveNotDead.com would like to offer the option to buy an autographed edition at no extra cost. Simply click here to purchase or to read more about the book and JC.

Weekend at Bernie's

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:19:00 +0000

I remember seeing this movie at a drive-in when I was a kid. It was pretty funny but I think those two New Yorkers thought because Andrew McCarthy and Johnathan Silverman could pull off dragging their dead boss all over the place so they could party all weekend, they could easily carry their dead friend down to the local check cashers to cash his no longer needed social security check. This story is funny and sick in just the same way pork is sometimes sweet and sour .
Read the full story here

Project After Dark

noreply@blogger.com (Chiseen) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:29:00 +0000

This is my boy, Prodip's passion project and first film. Directed by our good friend John who also helped direct our performance at the Hong Kong Film Awards last year, this film tells you everything you want to know about the UFO phenomena. Prodip's an expert so you better get your hand on this dvd soon! I think some dvd's come with this awesome alien figure designed by Prodip and crafted by Michael Lau. Nice full packaged collaboration.
I'm sure the Giant Robot store will be carrying it soon!