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I’ve been trying to come up with a theme for a photo project for awhile and finally I have it – Hong Kong Women With Tattoos. HKWWT? Probably there’s a better name out there. Maybe Hong Kong Ink? I kind of like that! Hong Kong Ink™®©. (or is that already taken? The URL is registered but redirects to a tech company. hkink is also taken. Hmmm.)

The first lady in this series is Chris B, known to all as the tattooed godmother of Hong Kong indie rock. I shot her at PASM a couple of years ago and we’ll probably do another shoot this spring.

The second in the series is Faye Wan, whom I met when she was singing lead with HK indie band Hazden. Loved her voice, loved her look and was thrilled when she agreed to come to my studio to pose for some portraits.

I used this shot of Faye in a recent group exhibition in a gallery in Soho:

I shot the third lady in this series just this past Saturday, a woman named Hui.

This photo of her is my highest ranked photo on 500px to date:

As always, more photos can be found over at Spike’s Photos.

So … if you are a woman in Hong Kong, of any age and of any ethnic background, and you’ve got tattoos, I’d love to shoot some portraits of you and your ink. (If you’ve got a friend who fits the bill, please pass this info along.) Preferably you can come to my studio, PASM Workshop, but if not other arrangements can be made. Please get in touch via the email link found on the upper right corner of this page.

How I Started Smoking Cigarettes

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Just a coda to my previous post, Maybe interesting for some.

I never smoked cigarettes as a teenager and I never thought I would start. I did sometimes smoke a pipe, but rarely. I can remember being 19 years old and in this girl’s dorm room and the deal was pretty much sealed and then she lit up a cigarette and I told her to put it out or I was leaving and, well, the deal was unsealed. So how did I end up a smoker just one year later? It’s a long and maybe a funny story. I blame Mickey Jackson.

My first two years of college (university to you Brits) was spent at NYU. During my sophomore year I met David Peel in Washington Square Park. He liked the photos I took of him and so I ended up hanging out with him and his crew a little bit. If you know anything about David Peel, it may not come as a surprise when I say that I don’t remember a lot of the time that I spent with him. Here’s one of the photos I took of him as it appeared in Mojo Magazine just last year.

Anyway, I left NYU after the second year and transferred to Emerson College up in Boston. In retrospect, I probably should have stayed at NYU, but at the time I felt I really needed to get away from NYC and living with my parents. At Emerson, I lived in a co-ed dorm and the partying was pretty much non-stop.

So one day in my senior year I’m walking into this room and there’s this party and in this party there’s this HUGE black guy who stands up and walks over to me, very slowly, with this look on his face that said, “what did you just call my mother?” and I thought I was a dead man. And he finally stood in front of me and the look changed to a huge smile and he stuck out his hand to shake mine and said he knew me from David Peel. His name was Mickey Jackson (and people who called him Michael Jackson didn’t last long on this earth).

Mickey was well over six feet tall and at least 250 pounds. He had a huge black Great Dane named Shaft. We’d go on the Boston trains with the dog and he’d walk in and yell out, “Sit, Shaft!” and everyone would scatter – we’d get seats every time.

By this point I had my own room in the dorm and Mickey would stay at my room a lot. The room was long and narrow and he’d sleep on the floor next to my bed … and he’d bring women back to my room and have loud and smelly sex with them on the floor next to my bed while I was in my bed. Yeah, not really a lot of fun for me.

Anyway, you get the picture. Mickey was a big guy and people who didn’t know him were usually scared of him. Mickey was the kind of guy who’d go up to people and ask for a cigarette and they’d give him their entire pack and run away. And he’d smoke one from the pack and decide he didn’t like that brand and leave it in my room. I had enough packs of cigarettes sitting by my bed to open my own tobacco shop.

So many nights I’d be sitting there, studying, alone, and I was trying to stop smoking weed. So I’d reach over and grab one of the packs and light up. And pretty soon I was a cigarette smoker. I was hooked before I even had a chance to realize it.

(Whatever happened to Mickey? One day he just took off and didn’t return. And apparently he’d taken stuff from just about every other room in the dorm except mine. I never saw or heard from him again.)

Coda to the coda. I credit cigarette smoking with helping my career. In 1990 I got my first suit and tie job, as a database administrator at Barclays Bank in NYC. Back in those days, you couldn’t smoke at your desk but there was a smoking room on every floor. The guys around me didn’t smoke. They sat at their desks for 8 hours a day, heads down, working hard. I got up every hour or so and went into the smoking room. I met everyone from every department – well, at least the smokers – from secretaries up through VPs. And when it was time for the bank to start on its first client/server project (remember those days?) and they were trying to figure out who to assign to this project, I was the one everyone knew and everyone asked for. So I was the one who got to be DBA on the project and got to spend huge chunks of time in a company service flat in London (according to the guest register, the previous occupant of that room had been J.G. Ballard), which is how I got the idea to become an expat and get out of the U.S. (I tried for London first, almost got moved to Manchester, and all of that fell through and somehow I eventually ended up in HK instead of the UK. No regrets on that one.)

I never thought I’d smoke for decades, as I have. And I still think about quitting, for many reasons. Maybe this is the year when I’ll give it another shot.

The Smoking Gun

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(A late-night-I-can’t-sleep-so-I’m-gonna-blog-but-make-no-sense-rant.)

I smoke cigarettes. A lot. I know that many of my readers are anti-smoking and some of them may feel impelled to leave comments about how bad it is for me and everyone around me and how I should stop, but there is no need. I know I should stop. You don’t need to tell me. I’ve tried hypnosis, acupuncture, the Allan Carr method, going cold turkey. Nothing has worked, at least so far.

For those of you not in Hong Kong, up until yesterday cigarettes cost HK$50 per pack. That’s roughly US$6.50. In the U.S. and Europe, cigarettes cost well over US$10 (or the local currency equivalent) per pack. In many other places in Asia, cigarettes cost far less.

The word was that the HK 2014 budget would raise taxes on cigarettes so that they would cost as much as HK$84 a pack – which would bring the pricing in line with most other developed nations. Now that might have got me to stop, or at least cut back. Instead the price increased to HK$54 per pack (I paid HK$55 in a 7-11 tonight). HK$5 is US$0.65. Do you think that would have any impact on smokers at all?

You don’t have to search too far to find articles about how incompetent HK Financial Secretary John Tsang is. I’ll leave that criticism and analysis to people who are far more knowledgeable than I when it comes to financial matters.

The point is, this increase makes no sense whatsoever. “I wish to emphasise that this is not a budgetary measure to increase revenue,” said Tsang when he announced the new budget. So if it’s not enough of an increase to be a deterrent to anyone and it’s not meant to raise revenue (something HK has plenty of), then what exactly was the point of the increase?

Well, one can make a guess. Tsang probably was going to raise the taxes higher. But those who earn their living from cigarette sales protested loudly in advance. All those people with corner newsstands said that such an increase would put them out of business. I’m sure that 7-11 (which in Hong Kong is owned by Dairy Farm which is in turn owned by Jardine which is one of the six companies that really owns and runs Hong Kong) complained, as did the various cigarette companies that operate here. More than likely Tsang bowed to pressure but figured he had to do some kind of increase since it was expected and he’d lose face if he kept the price flat. That’s my guess anyway.

I know, there’s worse things to get upset about, not the least of which is the violent attack on former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau – regardless of what motivated that attack or who paid for it (and someone surely did), it is a horrific blow to the rapidly declining freedom of the press in our little SAR. (In one index, Hong Kong is now ranked at 71, alongside East Timor. In another, a smidge better at 61, putting HK in between Mauritania and Senegal.) The thing is, this kind of thing is just too depressing for me to contemplate this late at night, this sober.

Or what about the report earlier this week that says that key urban areas of Hong Kong had dangerously high levels of air pollution for 184 days last year – the worst in 18 years, since they started measuring? What about the fact that our fearless idiot leaders make empty promises while things just keep getting worse and worse? It’s one of the reasons I live in the New Territories, I suppose, where the air is noticeably less sucky.

“Asia’s World City.” It’s a fucking joke, right?

So with all this depressing shit, I choose to rant about the prices of cigarettes? Well, I don’t wanna be up all night, I’m hoping I can get some sleep.

A Handy Torrent Trick

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Maybe all of you reading this already knew this one. I certainly didn’t – until this week.

Usually I don’t do any torrent stuff until after I get home from work in the evening, which can be as late as 9 PM. But what happens if there’s something to download that I’d like to have available as soon as I get home? I found the answer (sorry, can’t provide a link/credit as I don’t recall where).

Many torrent clients can be set to watch a specific directory and automatically start downloading any torrent that shows up in that directory. So set it to watch your Dropbox (or Google Drive or Sugarsync or whatever you have) folder. The next step is to set the torrent client to start downloading immediately – mine (I use µTorrent) would always pop up a little confirmation window, so it took me a few seconds to find the setting for that and disable it.

So now … let’s say I’m in the office and it’s lunch time so I’m on a break and I’m doing a bit of browsing on my own behalf and I come upon an interesting torrent. Rather than save it for later, I immediately save the torrent to my Dropbox folder. (And yes, this does mean that you need to leave your computer running when you go out, and your torrent program as well.)

And when I get home, voila!, it’s done and it’s there and it’s ready for me whenever I’m ready for it. Really I should have thought of this on my own. Facepalm.

Smart Watches?

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Wearable tech is the big thing for 2014, or so the pundits tell us. The jury is still out.

Right now the stuff that’s doing well in the market are wrist bracelets that provide a variety of health and exercise related functions. I’ve got the Nike Fuelband, a gift from a friend, I wore it for about a month and since then it’s been gathering dust. Jawbone and other companies are doing okay in this space as well.

Of course there’s Google Glass, which right now costs US$1,500 and is only available in very small quantities to an invited audience. It will become more widely available at a more reasonable price.

And there’s smart watches. The most successful company in this space so far has been Pebble. They launched a couple of years ago via Kickstarter with a $149 watch that could link to either an iOS or an Android device via Bluetooth. The screen is a backlit eInk screen and it runs several apps. This year they’ve released the new Pebble Steel at $249. It’s a fine looking watch, at least as far as smartwatches go, and I was momentarily tempted to order one.

The thing that stopped me is that it’s $100 more for what is now two year old technology – they updated the case and the wristband but the tech inside the case is still the same.

The most disastrous smart watch launch to date has probably been the Samsung Galaxy Gear. It only pairs with Samsung devices – but considering that Samsung phones are outselling just about everything else, the potential audience is wide enough. However version one received almost universally horrible reviews and reportedly returns were running well over 30%.

Samsung has just announced version two, and interestingly enough it will no longer be an Android device.

It will use something called Tizen, a new Linux open source OS backed by Samsung and Intel. (Samsung is also expected to announce its newest flagship phone, the Galaxy 5, this week.)

Of course the 800 pound gorilla in the room is still Apple, which is expected to announce their own watch at some point this year. It seems like anyone who has Photoshop is working overtime to create images of what the iWatch might look like.

I have both an iPhone 5s and a Samsung Galaxy S4. I still prefer my iPhone by a wide margin. That’s the one I use all day long. The Samsung mostly sits in my pocket, only getting pulled out for business related use and left plugged in at home on the weekends.

So I will wait and see what Apple comes out with. The way I figure it, I don’t need all the apps I’ve already got on my phone on a smaller screen on my wrist that I probaby won’t be able to read without glasses. But the extra notification of incoming calls and texts would be useful. I keep my phone on silent most of the time and very often won’t notice it go off even though it’s in my pants pocket as I’m walking down the street.

The wrist watch is another business that has probably been disrupted by smart phones. The luxury watch business is doing fine, and probably always will. But a lot of people around the world who will never buy a Rolex are asking why they should wear something around their wrist when there’s already a clock on the phone that’s always in their pocket (or in their hands).

For now, I’m sticking with my Casio G Shock.

My All Time Favorite Albums (U through Z)

My All Time Favorite Albums (R through T)

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Previous posts in this thread here, here and here.

R.E.M. – Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life’s Rich Pageant, Document, Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People

Radiohead – The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A

Randy Newman – Sail Away, Little Criminals, Born Again

Ray Charles – Singular Genius

Replacements – All For Nothing

Richard & Linda Thompson – I Want to See the Bright Lights Today, Shoot Out the Lights, Pour Down Like Silver

Richard Thompson – Walking on a Wire

Rickie Lee Jones – Rickie Lee Jones

Robbie Williams – I’ve Been Expecting You

Robert Fripp and Brian Eno – No Pussyfooting

Robert Palmer – Sneaking Sally Through the Alley

Robert Plant – Principle of Moments, Now and Zen, Fate of Nations

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs, Twice Removed From Yesterday

Robyn Hitchcock – I Often Dream of Trains, Element of Light

Rockpile – Seconds of Pleasure

Rod Stewart – An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, Gasoline Alley

Roger Ruskin Spear – Electric Shocks, Unusual

Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street

Ron Nagle – Bad Rice

Ronee Blakely – Welcome

Rory Gallagher – Irish Tour ’74

Roxy Music – Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, Stranded, Country Life, Avalon

Roy Harper – Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion, Bullinamingvase

Roy Orbison – Black and White Night

Ry Cooder – Paradise and Lunch

Sade – Best of Sade

Saint Etienne – Casino Classics, Words and Music By

Sandy Denny – North Star Grassman and the Raven

Santana – III, Welcome, Lotus

Scott Walker – Scott, Scott 2, Scott 3, Scott 4

Seven Worlds Collide – The Sun Came Out

Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks

Shamen – Boss Drum

Shel Silverstein – Freakin’ at the Freaker’s Ball

Simon & Garfunkel – Bookends, Bridge Over Troubled Water

Sir Douglas Quintet – The Mono Singles

Sly & the Family Stone – Dance to the Music, Stand, There’s a Riot Going On

Small Faces – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake, Autumn Stone

Smithereens – From Jersey It Came

Soft Cell – Non Stop Erotic Cabaret

Soft Machine – Third

Soundtrack – The Harder They Come, O Brother Where Are Thou

Southside Johnny – I Don’t Want to Go Home, This Time It’s For Real, Hearts of Stone

Spider John Koerner & WIllie Murphy – The Running Jumping Standing Still Album

Spirit – 12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus

Squeeze – Cool for Cats, Argybargy

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied, The Royal Scam, Aja, Gaucho

Stephen Stills – Stephen Stills, Manassas

Steve Forbert – Alive on Arrival, Jackrabbit Slim

Steve Goodman – Steve Goodman

Steve Miller – Children of the Future, Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace

Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians

Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Couldn’t Stand the Weather, Texas Flood

Stone Roses – Stone Roses

Stooges – Stooges, Fun House, Raw Power

Style Council – Collection

Sugar – Copper Blue

Supertramp – Crime of the Century, Breakfast in America

T. Rex – Electric Warrior

Taj Mahal – The Real Thing

Talk Talk – It’s My Life, Colour of Spring, Spirit of Eden

Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense, Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues

Tedeschi Trucks Band – Everybody’s Talking (maybe too recent to put on here)

Television – Marquee Moon

Terence Trent D’Arby – Introducing the Hardline, Symphony or Damn

Thin Lizzy – Dedication, Live and Dangerous

Thomas Dolby – Aliens Ate My Buick, Golden Age of Wireless

Thompson Twins – Into the Gap, Quick Step and Side Kick

Thunderclap Newman – Hollywood Dream

Tim Buckley – Happy Sad, Blue Afternoon, Starsailor, Greetings from L.A., Sefronia

Tindersticks – Working for the Man

Todd Rundgren – Runt, Ballad of Todd Rundgren, Something/Anything, A Wizard a True Star

Tom Petty – Damn the Torpedoes

Tom Waits – Nighthawks at the Diner, Small Change, Foreign Affair, Heartattack and Vine, Big Time, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers and Bastards

Tracy Nelson/Mother Earth – Bring Me Home

Traffic – Mr Fantasy, Traffic, Last Exit, John Barleycorn Must Die

Tricky – Maxinquaye

Tubes – Tubes, Young and Rich, Now, Remote Control

Turtles – Battle of the Bands

This adds another 162 albums, total now stands at 602. One more ought to do it.

My All Time Favorite Albums (M through Q)

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And the madness continues. Previous posts here and here.

Madness – One Step Beyond

Mahavishnu Orchestra – Inner Mounting Flame

Manic Street Preachers – This is My Truth Tell Me Yours

Mansun – Attack of the Grey Lantern

Marianne Faithfull – Broken English

Marshall Tucker Band – Where We All Belong

Martin Mull – And His Fabulous Furniture

Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

Massive Attack – Blue Lines, Protection, Mezzanine

Matthew Sweet – Altered Beast, Girlfriend

McAlmont & Butler – The Sound Of

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell

Michael Chapman – Fully Qualified Survivor

Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells

Miles Davis – Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, On the Corner

Mink DeVille – Spanish Stroll

Moodswings – Live at Leeds

Moody Blues – In Search of the Lost Chord, On the Threshold of a Dream

The Motors – 1, Approved By

Motown – Complete Motown Singles (yeah, kind of a lazy cheat, but 1848 songs, pretty much all one would want)

Mott the Hoople – Mott the Hoople, Mad Shadows, Brain Capers

The Move – Something Else, Shazam, Looking On, Message from the Country

Muddy Waters – Fathers and Sons (in lieu of any one of hundreds of compilations, cause this is the first Muddy album I ever bought)

Nazz – Nazz, Nazz Nazz

Neil Young – Neil Young, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Goldrush, Harvest, On the Beach, Tonight’s the Night, Zuma, American Stars ‘n Bars, Rust Never Sleeps, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon

New Order – Singles

Nick Drake – Bryter Lyter, Five Leaves Left, Pink Moon

Nick Gravenites – My Labors

Nick Lowe – At My Age, Jesus of Cool, Labour of Lust

Nils Lofgren – Nils Lofgren

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Nuggets – Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era

Oasis – Definitely Maybe, What’s the Story Morning Glory

The Orb – Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, U.F. Orb

Orquestra Was – Tomorrow’s a Long Time

Otis Redding – Otis Blue

Parliament – Tear the Roof Off