Magic Johnson and Lethel Weapon II (on videocassette)

it's not the weirdest commercial i've ever seen. but i really have no idea what magic johnson and the video cassette release of lethel weapon II have in common. was the lakers star a big fan of mel gibson or danny glover? 

i don't imagine them calling up magic and him responding with "that's something i want to get the word out on."

i think is was something more like

"Hello Mr. Johnson."

"Yes?"

"Money."

"I'll be right there."

i'd take the money too. who wouldn't? but it still seems weird to pair sports with movies. what you'll see below is a bit unusual. but i'd still like to see an updated version of it say with kobe bryant promoting the dvd release of inception. enjoy!

ripped off in taipei

our first night out in taipei and already getting scammed. me and melody tried this little amusement park style game where you shoot small pellets to pop balloons. i figured i love guns and absolutely hate balloons so this was perfect for me.

before we started the girl asked us for $100(US$3.50) which was already a little steep. you can get a good dinner for 1 person here for $150. but we we're on a trip so thought "why not?" we paid first and then played.

when we finished the ammo (10 shots) the girl said we could keep going. so we just kept shooting again and again. after every round she would give us a little card which she led us to believe was a prize that enabled us to keep shooting. we had no idea that we were being suckered.

after about 3 or 4 rounds of shooting the girl made her play and asked for $600 (US$20). we were shocked. the whole time she led us to believe that we could keep shooting for free. i didn't have gullible written on my forhead after all, I checked.

she had to bring her boss over and try to get our money. before we played at all we already payed $100. Why was is that the second payment was asked for only after we played? I don't see a reason to change the payment pattern unless their goal was to deceive us. Does anyone ever go to McDonald's and pay after eating or go to a sit down restaurant and pay first?

anyway the boss wasn't budging and i new we were getting scammed but i wanted to get out of there. so i took a $100 bill and put it on the table and just stared at him. he waited for a bit but then took the money and i knew we could go with no trouble.

the worst part was the feeling after we left. all that trouble when we're on our trip and out $200. plus it doesn't really help my image of the city that the first taiwanese people we met scammed us.

lesson learned. check the price before doing anything. don't rely on the honor principle. and oh yeah, if i'm worried about getting ripped off while traveling, i should probably be more careful about wearing my damn camera around my neck. it was there the whole time!

I got the Kobe Zoom VI

Yeah I got the new Kobes. At US130 bucks they're the most expensive shoes I've ever bought. But I like 'em. They're extremely lite to wear but mostly I like that snake skin look on 'em.

They even made a video for the shoes with Bruce Willis and Kanye West. I wasn't too into the video but I watch pretty much any clip on kobe I can find.

kindness in hong kong

i couldn't believe how painful it was. just lying on the ground there thinking "damn this hurts."

i sprained my ankle playing basketball again and there was nothing i could do but just lie there. then some locals surprised me with their kindness. two of the guys i was playing with picked me up and carried me to the sidelines. one of them checked my injury as the other went to get me an ice pack and some water. another of the players brought a stool over so i could elevate my leg and keep the swelling down. when the guy with the ice pack came back he made sure i used it properly to prevent my injury from getting any worse.

then the most surprising part of the evening took place. an old lady saw me on the ground with my messed up ankle and asked me if i needed a tourniquet. that's when she pulled out her own scarf, handed it to me and walked away. i was shocked.

after allowing some time for the swelling to go down and decided i leave i began to make my way out of the playground. but not without saying thank you and goodbye to the people who helped me. one of them even offered to help me walk out to the street to catch a cab although i declined.

i didn't know any of these people but i was really impressed by their kindness to a total stranger. honestly speaking my memory of that night is mostly positive because of their behavior. hong kong people can be very kind.

Why we should admire Michael Jackson

I've always been a bigtime Michael Jackson fan. When I wash the dishes I only wear one dishwashing glolve, and yes it's sequined. But I've found that every fan is a bigtime fan, they have to be. After all the terrible stuff that's surrounded the King of Pop's history (real history, not the album) only the big fans have the ability to stay loyal. Let's face it, we went through a lot. Going from black to white I don't really care about. But the pedophilia stories are disgusting. Or how abourt the inteviews? They're downright disturbing. What is that he was saying about running off with his baby, right after it was born, and it still had the placenta?! Yuck Gross! What the hell is that about? If anything I've learned not to watch a Michael Jackson interview while at the dinnertable, unless my mom is cooking. No offense mom. But there should be no surprise there. Her cooking, and Michael Jasckson's behavior are both weird, wild stuff.

So the King of Pop made some mistakes. So what? In most cultures holding a baby out the window of a multi-story hotel is at least...frowned upon (remember I'm a big fan). Clearly he was not the teach by example type of role model. But this is his life not his music, and certainly not his legacy. Just take a look at what he left behind. Then you'll see we lost a legend that could easily be the greatest performer the world will ever know.

The Thriller music video. Dancing zombies? Werewolves? Sure we're used to that idea because it came out in the early eighties. But look at the other videos that were around at the same time as Thriller. Not much to compare with it really. Usually it was just someone recording an artist performing a live number on a variety show. There wasn't really much in the way of music videos. But thriller is a movie. It has dialog, acting, costumes and choreographed dance. And not only does it have those things, it accomplishes those things to perfection.

Compare it to music videos of today. Many of them consist of a guy in a club trying to be sexy. And then the songs are played in in a club with people trying to be sexy. What an original idea! Where do they get the inspiration? Some songs are so vile as to list the anatomical parts of reproduction and how they work, a sort of "how to" guide right there on the dance floor. Sure people like these songs in the club, but they don't capture anyone's heart. However put thriller on in that club and everybody screams with excitement, 25 years after the song came out.

Not only Michael Jaskson's music videos great, there was also his dancing. It inspired copycats all over the world. Popular Hip Hop and R&B stars in the US admit to being heavily influenced by him. And people like Rain from Korea or Aaron Kwok from Hong Kong can be seen to adopt some of Michael Jackson's techniques. He wasn't just a great dancer; he created a whole new type of dance. Whenever someone does his moves people recognize where they came from. Who else can claim that kind of recognition? No one's ever came up to me on the dance floor and said "Hey that's my neighbor Bob's move!"

It's clear that Michael Jackson's music videos and dancing set a new standard in the industry and there is a lesson in this for all artists, writers, performers and everyone else. Push yourself to your creative limit and make a true contribution to your medium. Michael Jackson didn't live off the fat of the music industry, he changed it. Is it any wonder why he was loved by so many? The Moonwalk, his unique scream, these are things that he created to push forward his vision. Sometimes he even made up words like "shumon" and "mama say mama saw mama kusa." Yeah he could do that because he made us expect it from him. We should do the same.

MTR waste

Look at all the lights that are on at this MTR exit in Kwun Tong. I took this photo at 3 in the afternoon. It's a beautiful sunny day, extremely bright. So why are there so many lights on?

You know it's a little hot on that covered walkway, why don't we put AC there too? As long as we're being wasteful right?

little late

well i'm a little late on this one. at least that gave me a little more time for me to think about what i want to write. and something actually happened the last couple of nights that i'd like to write about.
of course, this blog will include me talking about comedy. but before i get to that i just wanted to mention how cool it was to have my friend joseph visit from the US and show him and his wife around. they got along pretty well with my friends and my girlfriend. and we even went to a place i've never been before, temple of 10,000 buddas. what a long walk up that hill! after the first few hundred i was like "ok. i get it. there are a lot of buddas." but they just kept on going. i don't know what the point of that is.
anyway it was fun being host.
as for the shows this weekend, they were interesting to say the least. first off, on friday i tore it up. i killed the audience and that was fun. it's nice to go up with the kind of confidence when you know you can deliver. at least i thought it was until last night, which was the exact opposite from the show where i could do no wrong. saturday night i hosted and to say the audience loved me would definitely be a lie. they kind of hated me, but in a really good way. i don't really know how to explain it but i think ryan put it best when he said that i was the guy "they loved to hate." and its true. they weren't really laughing at my jokes, or anywhere i wanted them to laugh. but they seemed to love it when i made fun of myself not being funny. they ate that up! and then as soon as i'd get down every comedians first joke got a great response! never felt that before. i don't hate the feeling, don't get me wrong. it's just not the goal in your head when you're goin up to perform.
that said, i did the hosts job. the comedians looked good, and the show was held together. i felt like i was the only one pattin myself on the back for a while until a couple people pointed that out. one audience member even made a point of telling me that i did a great job. i don't think she was just talking crap either because she went out of her way to tell me that. taught me that you can't always judge and audience by their laughs.