One of the things I love to photograph when I'm wandering around Hong Kong is its down and dirty street art. Here are some examples I've found in Causeway Bay and Central over the past couple of years. I really love how the pieces — some by premeditation and some by chance — engage with their surroundings. Like unruly urchins, Hong Kong's street art offers a sly and subversive counterpoint to the oversize consumerist canvases that dominate the cityscape.
From Sex in the City: HONG KONG (FormAsia Books, 2010)
Some of you have asked how come I haven't posted anything yet about my recent trip to Hong Kong. Bear with me — I'm still working on it, but have been unusually exhausted and distracted since my return.
In the meantime, let me draw your attention a new book that I recently read about (and might pick up on my next trip): Sex in the City: HONG KONG, a coffee-table collection of the bold advertising displays that dominate the city's visual landscape.
Here are a few of my own examples, taken during this past and previous visits:
A 21st-century Shanghai beauty gracing the historic Pedder Building, home of — you guessed it — Shanghai Tang.
I've been told that folks work hard and play hard in this city of unfettered capitalism. Which is one reason (besides the pollution) that I will never live in Hong Kong. Sorry, you can keep your cherries! I like to work soft — and play soft.
What are you waiting for, guys? Delay No More! Sounds like "F*ck your mother" in Cantonese, but it's actually a brand name marketed by G.O.D. (Goods of Desire), a sort of Ikea for Hong Kong hipsters. Just do it — as you gaze upon slender Charlene Choi pimping the "body shaping" services of Marie France Bodyline beneath a fatty fried egg!
I'm flying to Hong Kong in a few hours so I can watch the one and only Connie Chan perform Cantonese opera at the HK Coliseum this weekend. I'll be back to my regular blogging late next week.
The above photo dates from 1958, when Connie — already a rising opera star — was just eleven years old. (Thanks to Oldflames for the wonderful bon voyage!)
UPDATE: I just heard the sad news that Connie's mother, opera star Kung Fan-hung, passed away last night after collapsing at the Hong Kong Coliseum during Connie's first performance. Please join me in extending heartfelt sympathy to her at this time.
Nicknamed "Little Lark", Carrie Koo Mei is one of the great Chinese songstresses of the 1950s and 60s — and is still fondly remembered today for singing the title song of that classic tearjerker Love Without End (1961) — but did you know that she is also a remarkable painter?
When I was in Hong Kong I had the rare opportunity to see an exhibition of her amazing work at the University Museum and Art Gallery. Believe it or not, Carrie has been painting since 1963, back when she was still singing and acting at Shaw Brothers. Her teachers included Chao Shao-an, master of the Lingnan School of Painting; Hu Nien-tsu; and Lui Shou-kwan, founder of the Zen-inspired New Ink Movement.
After learning from some of the best Chinese ink painters of the 20th century, Koo Mei charted her own course and developed a unique style that combines the realism of the Lingnan School with the free form of the New Ink Movement. The title of the exhibition, "The Cloud and Mist Weaver", perfectly describes the effortless and ephemeral beauty of Koo Mei's paintings. As Yeung Chun-tong, the director of the University Museum and Art Gallery, writes in his introduction to the exhibit:
Landscape painting offers a medium for Koo Mei to seek her personal ideal. All her compositions, be they depictions of actual mountains and rivers or of imagined scenery, reflect the beauty of nature as she sees it in her heart. Without deliberately painting abstract pictures, nor transforming majestic mountains and flowing streams into mere brush strokes and symbols, she simply expresses her emotions in the free-form clouds, haze, mist and fog, transporting her audience to the highest heaven, unrestricted by form, shape and colour.
Indeed, as I looked at the landscapes delicately woven by Koo Mei, I was transported from the hustle and bustle of one of the world's densest cities to a place of blissful solitude.
Here are two paintings from the show that I scanned from the exhibition brochure.
A Morning Rehearsal by Koo Mei
Cool Lighting by Koo Mei
If you'd like to see more of Koo Mei's paintings, you can visit her online gallery at the Hong Kong Art Archive.
P.S.: Did you notice Carrie's Spiderman shirt in the photo above?!
Hong Kong is without a doubt a "Shoppers' Paradise". Even someone like me, an obscurely specialized bottom feeder in the chain of consumers, can satisfy their materialist cravings. Check out these cool CD reissues of three classic LPs from Hong Kong's Diamond Records label. Established in 1960, Diamond was known for producing albums that mixed Mandarin versions of English songs, English versions of Mandarin songs, and ‘bilingual’ songs featuring both English and Mandarin lyrics. Like hot coke with ginger, the Diamond sound is a reflection of the unique East-West mix that makes Hong Kong such a fascinating place.
For more information about the pop music scene of Hong Kong during the 1960s, I encourage you to peruse the following fantastic websites: QUESTING Bandstand and Hong Kong Pop: English Style. And click on the links below for more information about the singers or to buy the CDs, which are a steal at $7.99!
I must confess that after visiting Macau for the first time four years ago, I didn't plan on every returning. I don't gamble. I'm not much for glamor and glitz. And I'm often unimpressed by the obligatory tourist attractions. So when Glenn told me that he wanted to go to Macau, I wasn't really jumping at the bit. But I thought I'd give it another chance and try to make my way off the beaten track this time around.
We started our day — like all good tourists — at the Largo do Senado, the UNESCO-designated "Historic Centre of Macau" that features such traditional shops as Bath and Body Works, Bosinni, MANGO, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Feeling a little peckish, we ventured into a nearby cha chan teng for a bite to eat. It wasn't as cool as Hong Kong's Mido Cafe, but it fed my fried-egg sandwich fix. I also ordered hot Coke with ginger, something I've been wanting to try for a long time. Unfortunately, because of a communication snafu I ended up with the cold — and consequently less gingery — version, but I'll get it right the next time!
Refreshed, Glenn and I set out under the blazing sun in search of some antique shops that I'd read about. After wandering around a bit, we found a tantalizing (but closed) shop that beckoned with promises of rare movie treasures.
I never found out what riches lay waiting in this antique shop near the Ruins of St. Paul's
We then made our way back towards the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral, which still managed to impress me in spite of the crowds and the heat. The ruins are emblematic of the old world atmosphere that makes Macau such a picturesque place for both visitors and filmmakers.
The Ruins of St. Paul's in the Shaw Brothers film I, Murderer (1961)
After watching Isabella (2006), you'll definitely want to visit Macau
After ascending the steps of St. Paul's, we journeyed into the less touristy part of town, looking for the "El Dorado" of our visit: the Cinema Alegria, known in Chinese as the Wing Lok Cinema. Built in 1952, it is allegedly Macau's oldest surviving movie theater.
The Art Deco–influenced front of the Cinema Alegria
According to the Macau Government Tourist office, the Cinema Alegria "existed on a staple of classic patriotic films in the early days", which I take to mean leftist films. Check out this tantalizing snippet of history I found via Google Books.
On March 1 [1955?] a party of Portuguese policemen and troops surrounded Wing Lok Theater, which was showing a Chinese film, "United for Tomorrow", and forcibly stopped the showing of the film. The Portuguese policemen and troops brutally beat up employees of the theater and some of the audience. Three persons were arrested.
Wow... things sure have changed since then. Nowadays, in this post-colonial, post-communist era, the Cinema Alegria screens movies like Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction and On His Majesty's Secret Service.
Art for the Masses: On His Majesty's Secret Service (2009)
The theater was renovated a few years ago. And while I could bemoan the fact that the original balcony was converted into a second screening room, I must admit that the new sound system rocks and the venue still retains its old-school charm — not to mention these cool hand-marked tickets!
Old-school tickets with row and seat hand-marked
Spending four hours inside the Cinema Alegria was a memorable experience for a movie fan like myself and definitely one of the highlights of my trip. As I sat in my seat waiting for the films to start, I daydreamed about the flickering ghosts of moving pictures long vanished and felt grateful that places like this still exist.
In spite of record heat and coming down with a cold, I had a fantastic time in Hong Kong: good company, good food, good movies, good shopping. On the down side, my camera stopped working three days into my trip, but I managed to take a few photos before then. (If you're interested, I also have three sets from my 2008 visit.)
Stay tuned in the coming week for some movie-related posts about my recent trip!
