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.

important lesson in dating

if you treat your girlfriend more important than you're friends, make sure she knows it. that's my lesson from yesterday. i mean i thought that's what i was doing for the past two weeks. nope! i was way off! and sometimes the problems can all boil down to the words you choose.
"ok babe I'm gonnna go see my friends now."
"why do you put them ahead of me?"
"i don't. i just haven't seen them in two years."
"whabout me?"t a
"i see you a lot. we live together." (this is a very bad thing to say. expect something bad from her now)
"maybe we shouldn't live together."
At that point consider your night over. Either you'll blow up and call out the threat or try to get really, really comforting to make her feel better.
It's tough. It really is. Every guy wants to be a nice guy ( well most) but there is always the inner battle between that and the guy who doesn't get pushed around. You never know where to draw the line.
I guess the toughest thing i've had to learn about the whole relationship thing is the compromise. you just can't win every battle. and i'll admit i'm usually never the first one to give up in any disagreement. that's not really a good thing because i'll contradict anybody about anything, even the dumbest, minute deal. that attitude really helps in comedy, but freakin sucks for girlfriends.

Right on time

Here I am writing a blog after 10 days just like i said i would. Maybe it's not that hard after all. 10 doesn't come around too quickly and leaves just enough time for stuff to happen that can write about.
Anyway today's post comes from San Francisco where I'll be for another two weeks. I was really looking forward to come out here for a number of reasons like visiting family & friend, and showing my girlfriend around my hometown.

But one thing I was really looking forward to do was perform some comedy out here and I did that last night a cool little place called the Clubhouse (clubhousecomedy.com). This place is the comedy club extension of the San Francisco Comedy College. I was suprised by how nice it was. With a nice big stage and capacity to hold up to 180 audience members I can tell this place is great to perform.

Probably the coolest part of being on the show was being able to perform with some real talent in the comedy world. Two of my favorite comics named Reggie Steele and Kevin Avery were there and I was kind of in awe that we were sharing the same stage. When talking to them I have to remind myself to act normal and gush over how awesome their skills are.

As for my set I was pretty happy with it. It was short as hell but I didn't want to risk going over on my first time at that club. And as for the audience I give them an "A." They had that infectious lingering laugh that I like a lot, really helps me relax.

Now that last night's show is over I'll probably only perform at open mics the rest of the time I'm here. That's not the best but it's a hell of a lot better than doing nothing. And I'll at least be able to meet some other comics in the San Francisco scene.

Also I'll need to keep on top of my writing while I'm here. In Hong Kong it's easy because it's part of my regular routine. But while I'm on vacation I'll need to make a special note of it because I have no schedule here to keep me on track.

getting a bit serious

Ok. I have to be honest and admit that I’ve have been very bad about keeping up this blog. There is only one thing to do about that. Get serious with it. I usually read a blog by a friend named Vivek Mahbubani (It’s easy to spell his name. I don’t know why many people have a problem with it) If there is anything I’ve learned from him it’s to wear deodorant. The other thing I guess I’ve learned from him is to make a plan and stick to it. For example he does a blog entry every 10 days so I think I’ll try something like that myself. So starting today, that’ll be my new rule (I’m actually scared that I won’t follow this one. Wait and find out!)
I do feel a little self-conscience about writing this blog, although I probably shouldn’t because nobody is reading it anyway. If you are then please leave a comment so that I know that you were here. And as long as your doing that you might as well tell me what you liked didn’t like about my blog. Believe it or not I’d like to improve this a lot so that I actually get some readers.
Why do I want a blog you ask? You probably didn’t do that but I’ll answer since I’m rudely assuming you did. Well I want a blog because I’d like to do some regular writing that can be viewed by the public.
“But Chris” you say, “Why the hell would you want to do that?” Well I’d actually like to be a professional comedian someday and I think one good thing to help with my popularity would be to keep a blog that is updated all the time.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not putting everything into comedy. I think that for the next few years I’ll be fine just doing my regular teaching job while performing stand up on the side. Regardless, it would be a good idea to get started in the habits of what a comedian should be doing. Such as regular joke writing (30min a day for me), as much stage time as possible, and trying to build a name for yourself (blogs help).

In the meantime though I’m just concentrating on having fun with comedy. I don’t want to lose the love I have for it. Cuz then what’s the point?

1 year and counting

well, i've been doing stand up comedy for one year now and i feel pretty good being up on stage now. when i first started i felt so stupid. i hated everything. my jokes, the way i acted the, audience. no i never hated the audience, but i really hate it when they don't laugh. especially if it was a joke that worked for the last 20 times in a row. when that happens i want to tell them that the jokes funny- that they just don't know it and that's their problems not mine. but obviously you can't say that and you just have to smile and move on to the next one. it's kind of weird how when a joke bombs and you just move on. after a while that becomes so easy because you're basically used to getting embarassed so after a while you don't feel bad about it.
take the last gig i did. i did 5 minutes of english for a mostly non-speaking english crowd. i knew they weren't going to understand let alone laugh. but i did the 5 minutes anyway, and some people did laugh and that really made my day. anyway the point i'm trying to make it don't do drugs. unless you can afford it. cuz it sucks to be in debt.