28.1.07

happy bamboo

For many exciting reasons we've decided to pick up the hard core sport of yoga. Our process began this morning with our very first hatha vinyasa 'basic' class, located in a beautiful studio 33 stories above the bustling streets of Shueng Wan (pictures coming soon). The class itself turned out to be a perfect fit- challenging but managable, and encouraged us to return soon. Misha's yoga pants, however, weren't exactly what he'd term 'the perfect fit', as he discovered about 30 seconds in to Warrior 1 pose. His super short nylon swim trunks just weren't cutting it, or were cutting it, if you catch my drift. Alas, this prompted a hunt for a new yoga outfit. We combed the mall, stopped into a few athletic-paraphenelia shops, and nearly settled on a $400 ($50 USD) pair of Puma pants. The yoga-outfit spirit wasn't with him, however, so the search continued on until nightfall, whereupon we came across a store that sold tons of women's athletic pants for only $39 ($5 USD). 2 hrs later, the tranformation was complete: Misha-the-YogaMaster was happy bambooing all over the apartment.



"Fancy" Italian

Last night we went on an expedition to find a book store at one of the many local malls. Things went as they usually do, having not eaten all day we wandered the mall for hours looking for something to eat, finally we gave up and went to the really fancy Italian place on the top floor. By the time we had finished our meal, the mall was closed, so we went back again today and got the books. I just wanted to take a moment to comment on our meal. The food was actually some of the best Italian we've had since we got here, buffalo mozzarella is hard to find here, and this place had really yummy fresh stuff. The decor was nice, their wine selection seemed impressive enough...Only one thing bothered me about this overall very classy establishment. While mel had a view of the fine winery, the majority of my range of vision was occupied by the giant 10 foot projector screen hanging in the middle of the dining area. Restaurateurs here seem to think the more screens the better when it comes to interior design. We ate dinner at an Indian place last week which was screening soap operas set in feudal Japan. Anyway, this Italian place, which shall go unnamed, had one of the largest screens I've seen indoors, and I really must say their choice in programming made the investment in the screen completely worthwhile. WWF. World Wrestling Federation -- literally large sweaty under clad men hitting each other (and the refs) with chairs. It complemented the San Pellegrino quite nicely.

27.1.07

Let the topspin begin...

The past few days have been pretty interesting. Things at MERECL have started to pick up a bit, and I've been keeping busy working on writing the abstract for a soon to be paper on religion and video games. To start my background research I made a monk avatar on Second Life, and have spent a few hours now wandering the virtual hot spots looking for advice on digital enlightenment. I had hoped to find temples, churches, and other places of virtual worship; However, to my dismay (and to my avatar's as well) all the hot spots were nude beaches, strip clubs, or casinos. I even wound up at a sex club where someone invited me to 'Strap on a **** and join in the action.' I explained I was celibate, and he seemed to understand. The patrons of these establishments advised me that 'This is enlightenment'. Perhaps they're right, but for now I'm going to keep on looking, so there is surely more on the wandering monk to come.

In other news, I have found a Table Tennis coach. His name is Eric, and he's a very compact, slightly serious, though mostly friendly man. I've included a picture of him here. My first lesson is Tuesday at 9am, and I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm not sure what a Table Tennis lesson consists of, but I'm sure I'll be pretty bad at it. At $30 (US) an hour I better get something out of it. There is actually a Table Tennis Cup coming up at the place where I go to work. If coach thinks I'm up to it I might have to join up. I guess we will see.

-Misha

23.1.07

IKEA wonderland aka Apt. photos

Richard, our roommate finally moved in a day ago, and before he did we sorta cleaned up the apartment. The only thing that was left was putting up a curtain rod to hang a curtain to give Rich a little more privacy. Unfortunately the walls of our apartment are made of cement coated in very flaky plaster. Getting any sort of curtain rod attachment into them was a real challenge. But after borrowing a drill, buying a cement drill bit, and taking advantage of Rich's stature (he's got to be at least 6'2") the curtain was finally up. This event marked the completion of our apt, and so I took some pictures. Here they are.

Our bedroom, complete with furniture names:
The living room:
check out the bottom of wine on the table, it's Mel's, and it cost $9 (US). Take a look at Rich's beautiful curtain. You can't see where the curtain rod attaches, but there are big gaping holes there where we messed up a number of times with the drilling. The xbox, is thankfully still working. Rich and I played our first game of Table Tennis on it last night. He showed pretty good potential, hopefully he'll turn out to be a good virtual partner. We also watched our first movie in the apartment two nights ago. A Hong Kong film named "Infernal Affair". AND GUESS WHAT, The Departed is a total remake of it, a brilliant remake, but still a remake. I had no idea. The film was actually better than the departed in a few ways, but like most Hong Kong action movies there was a lot of long melodramatic sequences with the cheesiest music. Anyway, here's the kitchen:

Nothing fancy but it works. It actually has the best view in the whole place. At night you can see all of the other side of Hong Kong lit up real pretty.

Ok we're off to the grocery store. As you can see the kitchen is a bit empty.

-Misha

22.1.07

Pimp my Aphard

Sorry for the lack of posts. The past weekend was really busy, we all Saturday night playing a board game called "The Transformation Game" -- the woman who invented it over 30 years ago actually facilitated the game which lasted from 11 am until 9pm. I'll leave the actual game experience for another post, but overall it was a pretty enlightening experience. I'm going to be working on a digital version of the game as a project here, so there will be lots to report about that.
Anyway this post has been a long time coming. So as I've said cars are a bit deal here, it seems everyone's ride is super shiny, and Hong Kong must have the most BMWs and Mercedes percapita of any city. It's the minivans though that really stand out. Not only are they everywhere (and not an SUV in site) but they are by far the most commonly pimped out type of vehicle here. New rims, body kits, exhaust, it's like people think they're sports cars. So far it seems as though one model in particular is a popular choice for modifying: the Toyota Alphard. It's a little bit of a weak name, but after doing some researcher I found out why this model in particular is so coveted. It's not sold in Hong Kong, the Alphard is Toyota's premiere Japanese market only minivan. It comes in a number of versions including a luxury 4 seater version, I'm not sure what goes where the other seats should, but I'm sure it's something real fancy. Anyway, it's possible to bring Alphards to Hong Kong as "grey imports" but from what I've read it's sorta shady. The other day I was lucky enough to find one parked right in front of our building. I snapped some pictures, and by the time I was down gawking the driver had returned. To my surprise he offered to take our photo in front of his van...how sweet. I'm going to continue to document the minivans here so stay tuned for more photos of these fascinating vehicles. Wow that sounded like the conclusion of a nature show. Cheers.


-Misha

19.1.07

School of Rock


While walking around the other day Mel and I encountered some live music. Not only was the band made up of uniform clad children, but they were playing a very subdued rock cover of a recognizable classical composition. I can't say they played with much feeling, but the quality was good. The Suzuki method must be working for them.

-Misha

Panda eats Bamboo...

This is something that is really quite ubiquitous here, so I'm sure most people who have grown up here don't appreciate it. As far as I can tell all scaffolding here, whether for minor construction or the laying the foundation for a skyscraper, is made from bamboo. I'm not sure if this is common throughout Asia ( it very well maybe given the plenitude of bamboo) but here in Hong Kong it's everywhere. Not only is scaffolding made from bamboo, but it seems as though they tie it all together with a only very simple sort of lashing.

The building directly across from our apartment was recently under construction, and just a day or so ago they began removing the complex lattice of bamboo. This was a pretty amazing process, three or four men positioned themselves at varying heights along the scaffolding. The building they're working on is at least 20 stories, so I assume they were spaced about 5 stories apart. Note: they weren't wearing harness or using any sort of safety system. They simply climbed up, or went down from the roof, and then began cutting segments of bamboo out from the top. They'd be standing on a piece one moment, then the next they'd be dropping it down to the man bellow. In a matter of hours they had disassembled 20+ stories of scaffolding using nothing more than exacto knives to cut the lashing. Anyway, took some pictures, I hope the scale of the construction is clear. I just wish these guys would build me a tree house...

-Mish

17.1.07

Why I'll never understand YouTube

As some of you know, for a few months now I've had most of my video work up on YouTube. I take a lot of pride in my work and I've been happy to get what I, up until a day ago, considered a respectable number of hits. The Perfect Human video has been viewed 447 times; the trailers for my film, 757 and 447 times respectively. My other films have had a bit more meager turn out: 40 viewings for "Apt 421", and a very low 34 hits for my documentary "Outsported". Only a day ago I posted on YouTube a video my friend Andy recorded of me receiving a painful foot massage. In the past day this video has amassed a over 1,400 hits - it's also received honors for being one of the "Most discussed videos in the travel category". WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I put my sweat and time into videos I actually care about, and no one watches them. Then, I post me being tickled and the next day "DRTICKLES" has subscribed to my video stream. I think to moral of the story is that YouTube is not really a place for filmmakers. It's a place for people with weird clips of random shit that people in the tickle fetish circles will find and latch onto. Sorry to rant. That's all for now. Go watch my real films or something.

-Misha

XXXbox 360


This giant billboard deserves its own post. I took this picture the first day we were here, it's literally in the middle of one of the busiest shopping areas of the city, Causeway Bay.
And here is a close up. Look how small the XBOX 360 logo is in comparasion with those...um, girls.

-Misha

Please don't take my Kodachrome away...

I'm here sitting in the apartment. I wish I had the camera, but it's at Cyberport with Mel (who has, for better or for worse been enlisted to redesign and code the MERECL (the lab where I'm working) website in 72 hours) (Wow, nested parentheticals). The reasons I wish I had my camera is this: Our entire IKEA order has arrived along with three jolly men who are assembling everything with great haste. I have never seen someone build anything, let alone confusing furniture this fast. Alas, I have no means to capture this wonderful experience. I'll take some shots if Mel gets home before they leave.

In other news, well it's photograph related, I've posted all of our pictures from the trip (so far that is) on flickr, the album can be found here: CLICK ME NOW!

I hope you enjoy the photos, there will definitely be some blog posts relating to some of them in particular down the line.

Damn, they've already finished 2 more chairs and a bookshelf. Props to the IKEA men.

-Misha

16.1.07

I didn't buy a $5000 TV

OK, so when I talk about how much things cost over here, I'm talking Hong Kong dollars, so divide whatever I say by 7.8 - in other words... I DID NOT buy a $5000 (US) Television. Just thought I'd clear that up.

-Misha

bone doctor my FOOT!

Sooo, we went to see this 'bone doctor', a highly-recommended vertebra-realigner of sorts, in hopes of fixing our ailing backs. Before the back-fixing-part commenced, we had the pleasure of:

Plunging our feet into scalding hot tea, and then surprise! leaving them there for 2 hrs on vibrate mode

Dunking our heads into a plastic bucket/bag number of tea steam and surviving near-suffocation for 45 minutes


Watching the bone doctor scrape a raw knife blade along the bare bottoms of our feet in order to remove the 'impurities' that had filtered out during the 2 hrs of tea soaking. this is how misha took it:



and finally, ending with a 5 minute deep-tissue massage that, in the end, made mel's back feel better and mish's back feel the same.

-meL

Ten Things

my sister rebecca wrote me this morning with a list of questions, ten in fact. I thought I'd answer them here, as they might as well be in the public domain.

1. i love your blog. i passed the url along to some folks who i thought would like it (dan, paul, my friend sarah). hope that's okay.

Of course it's ok. Pass it all around, we like to share adventures.

2. what is your address?

Flat A 21/F Victor Court, 14-28 Wang On Road, North Point Hong Kong.
We can definitely receive mail, I'm not sure about packages. I should check.

3. what is your vonage #? is that working? or not so much.

The number is 609-945-1722. Everything is working, except for the telephone we brought which is 110 voltage only. I'm scared if i plug it in it may suffer the same fate as the xbox (internal combustion). I should have it all set up by the end of the day.

4. rasonic should be the name of an evil video game villian.

It probably is. I'm sure Rasonic (the Electronics company) doesn't give a hoot about patents, copyright, or trademarking; as all their products are copies of Panasonics.

5. does mel have internet access, or is it mostly you running across the street to starbucks? is there a way i can ask her about the wedding website without being totally annoying?

We actually have internet in the apt now, I just got it all working yesterday. I think mel's almost done with the site, it should be up in a day or so.

6. my favorite subway station name is "prince edward." have you been there?

I've been through there, but I haven't been there, if you get my drift.

7. have you seen the movie "chinese box?" it is about hong kong. as i remember, it is extremely depressing. but maybe you would see the ikea or other meaningful landmarks in the background shots. and i think jeremy irons gets naked in it. not sure if that is a plus or minus...

We've actually seenJeremy Irons naked in front of Ikea twice already, but since I finally got all the TV related electronics working, maybe I'll check it out. There is a video store bellow the apt, it costs as much to buy a dvd here as it does to rent one at home. Sucks to your netflix.

8. what is the time difference there?

We're GMT+8. Which means 12 hours ahead of the east coast, which would be 15 hours ahead of California...But it's day light savings now, so maybe it's 16? I'm not sure exactly. All I know is it's 10:33am here.

9. are you working/schooling?

I went to school yesterday to register, but since I'm still waiting for the visa to go though I had little luck. It was nice to be on a school campus though. I met some other exchange students (real official ones) they were so much more clueless than I was, that felt good. Today I'm going to work. So both really.

10. do you miss your car?

Do I ever. The cars here are amazing, so many Skylines (I hope at least one person knows what that is) even the minivans are awesome (a post on that later). I've seen the Japanese version of my car a few times, it's so much nicer looking...Ah well. Did you know Hong Kong is the densest concentration of Rolls Royce's in the world?

-Misha

My Mastercard Tab

32" Rasonic TV...........................................$5000
240 volt to 110 volt converter................ $400
Subway fare...............................................$40
Replacement Xbox Power Supply..........$500

Finally playing Gears of War in Hong Kong?...Priceless

15.1.07

Little America


Having slept off yesterday's woes, I woke early today and returned to the pit of eternal darkness (aka the TV/DSL/Wireless/Vonage/Dead Xbox area of the apartment). An hour later, after speaking to a customer support man, as well as meditating for 20 minutes, everything was all working. I named our wireless network "Little America", unfortunately "Two Dumb Americans Living Abroad" was too long. Nonetheless I'm feeling much better.

-Misha

14.1.07

I KEAled Over

Today I was not a winner. The morning began happily enough, we got up in hopes of getting a few errands done before the TV delievery man showed up. We stoped for an early lunch, and by the time we finished the TV guy had called to say he'd be there in 20 minutes. In a mad scrammble to get something done, we bought some metal rods from a local store to use as curtain rods--however when we got them home we realized they were way bent. Now we don't know what to do with them, or even where to throw them out. The TV arrived in one peice which was good, but in my excitement I forogt to check the input voltage on the XBOX and when I plugged it in something inside of it exploded. No joke, ask mel, we both heard it. We went on a journey to find a 240 Volt -> 120 Volt converter in hopes that with the right power input it would come around. He had a few more things to pick up at Ikea, so we hopped on the MTR at Fortress Hill, where we live, and headed to Causeway Bay. I luckily found a power converter at the first shop we stopped at. It weighed about 10 pounds and cost 3 times that, but I figured it was worth to play xbox (what an addict). Down into the depths of ikea we ventured once again. We'd been there at least 4 times in the past 2 days, and by this point meL had learned all the shortcuts through the showroom floor. I can't remember what we purchased, but each time we go it seems like we wind up spending about $1000. We made it back just in time to meet the Cable guy, who setup the broadband etc. When I went to hook up the wireless though I realized I forgot the power adapter for it at home in the States. I also tried the xbox, but again, no luck, it wouldn't turn on. The converter looked OK, but I thought it might be generating to little current. After cleaning up a bit, off we went back to Causeway Bay, back to the same store that we bought the converter from. I tried to trade it in for a bigger one, but "Peter", the guy who helped us before was missing. We bought a plug for the wireless instead, and headed back to Ikea again, this time for pillows I think. Oh, and a TV stand. A few hours later we emerged, pillows and TV stands in hand. When we got home, I made a last ditch effort to improve my mood, I decided I would setup all the electronics (everything but the XBOX) and call home to say hello on our new vonage phone. I threw together the new TV bench, hooked up the wireless, the vonage, and everything else, and tucked it all neatly into a wicker basket I had bought just for that purpose. The cable for the TV worked, but try as I might, the wireless just wouldn't function. Neither would the vonage. I messed with it for over an hour, but finally gave up and decided to write this all down instead of just digging myself deeper into a state electronic appliance induced depression. Hopefully I'll get this it all working, but for now I'm paying $90 (US) a month for 10 channels of game shows in Cantonese and HBO (it was free with the package).

-Misha

The $10 Picture


While sitting on the curb snapping pictures the other night, this nice gentleman walked up to me and struck this pose. Having photographed him he fled, only to return minutes later with 10 Hong Kong dollars, and his a little piece of paper with his address. People are just very cheerful here and very friendly. Very photogenic as well.

Glorified Yoga Mat

We spent our first night in the new apartment last night. It may look as though we're sleeping on the floor...But we're not! We bought a Chinese style mattress from a department store down the street. $60 US seemed like quite the bargain, but when we realized it was basically a yoga mat, and sized for miniature people. Live and learn.

-Misha

13.1.07

High-Fi Wi-Fi

So, we're here, Mel and I. A week in and things are going pretty well. We have cell phones (which will work everywhere but in the States) a bank account, an apartment, and the low end of the ikea catalog is arriving on Wednesday.

I also bought a Rasonic TV. It looked just like the Pansonic one sitting next to it (same font even), but it cost half as much. AND it came with a free "high-fi" audio player. Not a CD player, or even a tape deck, just an audio player. You actually have to transfer your music onto a SD memory card, and then stick it in this thing in order to play anything. It is quite possibly the most useless peice of music technology ever conceived. It was destined to be a give away.

We're also getting broadband put in tomorrow. There wasn't any internet in the apt, when we got here, so I've been drinking my way through Mocha Frapachino's in order to share in Starbucks' wi-fi.

I take that back. There is in fact Internet in the apt, but you have to sit in the window sill, it's coming from the huge office tower directly outside our window. I only figured that out just now, some 12 hours after starting this blog, running out of batteries, going back to sleep, getting lunch, going to the hardware store, going to ikea, going out to dinner, and then coming back home to find a cockroach.

It's been a long day, but more bloggin' on the way. Just got to transfer me over some pictures.

-Misha