I was a huge fan of some of Mel Gibson’s movies. All three Mad Max films, the first two Lethal Weapon movies, Year of Living Dangerously, even Braveheart. The fact that he’s one of the few major stars in Hollywood to be a conservative Republican and a deeply religious Catholic did not put me off.

When he made The Passion, a lot of tales made the rounds about his father, a prominent lunatic Holocaust denier. When people accused Gibson of being an anti-Semite for making The Passion, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

However, if you believe that in vino veritas, then the truth is out and Gibson is scum. TMZ got their hands on a transcript of Gibson’s comments when he was arrested last week for drunk driving in Malibu.

Gibson repeatedly said, “My life is f****d.” Law enforcement sources say the deputy, worried that Gibson might become violent, told the actor that he was supposed to cuff him but would not, as long as Gibson cooperated. As the two stood next to the hood of the patrol car, the deputy asked Gibson to get inside. Deputy Mee then walked over to the passenger door and opened it. The report says Gibson then said, “I’m not going to get in your car,” and bolted to his car. The deputy quickly subdued Gibson, cuffed him and put him inside the patrol car.

Gibson told the deputy, “You mother f****r. I’m going to f*** you.” The report also says “Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he ‘owns Malibu’ and will spend all of his money to ‘get even’ with me.”

The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: “F*****g Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked the deputy, “Are you a Jew?”

In other words, Gibson is flagrantly breaking the law by speeding and driving under the influence (Fumier would have a ball with this, no?) and when a police officer does his job and treats Gibson like a law-breaker and not a star, Gibson accuses the cop of being Jewish! Back at the station house, Gibson seemed like he was going to pee in his pants and addressed a female sargeant as “sugar tits.”

Now the Malibu police are under fire for attempting to cover this all up:

Deputy Mee was then ordered to write another report, leaving out the incendiary comments and conduct. Sources say Deputy Mee was told the sanitized report would eventually end up in the media and that he could write a supplemental report that contained the redacted information — a report that would be locked in the watch commander’s safe.

But there’s more. Gibson was stopped in Malibu two other times in the past three years for reckless driving and each time got off without a ticket and without being arrested. It seems like most of the police there are star struck:

At one point at the Sheriff’s station, sources say Gibson was “jumping like a monkey” on a steel cage and told the arresting deputy, “I’m not going to hurt you physically. I’m gonna hurt you. I’m gonna make you lose.”

We’re also told that deputies at the Sheriff’s station were star struck by Gibson and a number of them went to Gibson’s holding cell to get a look of the star. The problem for the Sheriff’s department — there’s a mounted camera in the station and the deputies can be seen fawning over the actor. Sheriff’s officials have called some of the officers who were caught on tape in and warned them they might be subject to discipline.

There’s another piece on TMZ by TV lawyer Harvey Levin which will hopefully fan flames that deserve to be fanned.

Let me just say, I am privy to incontrovertible evidence that he did indeed try to bolt. It will come out, and it will shock you.

But even worse is that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has become a shill to celebrities. I knew this 11 years ago with Tony Danza, who beat up a photographer and stole his camera. The Sheriffs were ridiculous — they merely asked him to return the camera, which Danza did after removing the film. That was just fine with the Sheriffs.

Well, it’s gotten a lot worse. In the Mel Gibson case, I called the lieutenant who was on duty Friday, who told me that Gibson’s arrest was “without incident.” And I asked her about the anti-Semitic comments around mid-day. She said, in the phoniest of ways, “Oh, I’m just sure that’s not the case.” It was such a lying comment — I just felt it.

Well, turns out that this time I was right on target. The lieutenant who gave me the bogus statement is the same person who told the arresting Deputy to 86 the truth and create a bullshit explanation for what went down.

The Sheriff’s Department is so screwed. They thought they could protect their celebrity resident who did not deserve protection. What they didn’t know is that we’d get a copy of the report that they tried to censor. And what’s worse, there’s evidence that I’m not allowed to report that will nail them to the wall.

UPDATE: My previous closing comment was a bit extreme so I’ve removed it. Gibson has checked himself into rehab. I expect in two months that he will appear on Oprah and all will be forgiven – by some – and his career will not go into the toilet.

I’ve turned on “moderate comments” which doesn’t mean that you can only post moderate comments, it means I get to see them before they are on public display. I understand that the situation in the Middle East is an emotional issue and that there is validity to a wide spectrum of views. However I do not see the need to let this blog be a forum for juvenile hate messages; there are plenty of other venues for that. If you want to believe that by my doing this, you have riled me or gotten to me in some sense – well, you haven’t, but I know you will believe what you want to believe, so go ahead and believe that, and if it gives you some satisfaction in your sad life, then I’m happy you’re happy.

A letter received from Dah Sing Bank:

Please be informed that we highly suspected your card information has been illegally captured by fraudster at the time of your some purchases.

Those of us who blog in HK in English may (or may not) forget that there is a huge Chinese language blogging community here. And I suspect many of those are attracting far more readers on a daily basis than us gwei lo and gwei pah mui.

Anyway, still can’t sort out what I want to do for dinner. With my dogs sleeping at my feet, I’m cruising through the blogs I regularly. Many have not been updated in a long time.

DGNYHK – a bit about music.

ESWN – more on Taiwan.

Expat@Large – says people he knows in real life shouldn’t read his blog, then he changes his mind.

Flagrant Harbour – no update since the 24th.

Fumier – veers from driving tips to restaurant reviews.

Glutter – in her “just a grrl” mode

Hemlock – anxiously awaits Krispy Kreme

Madame Chiang – off on holiday and deciding to have a life rather than sitting in a hotel room and writing about having one.

Milton J Madison – takes a break from attacking the NY Times because he’s found something he hates even more

Shenzhen Zen – dispensing sage advice to our visiting military

Simon World – Saturday night palsy?

Babe in Toyland – no update since July 10

Asia Pundit – some links, including one to a news story on Mahathir opening a “bakery and bistro” that surprisingly will not be called The Bread Nazi.

Cha Xiu Bao – discovers there are scammers in Nigeria!

Far East Cynic – trainspotting

HKMacs – giving out Mac advice

Lost Horizons – a night out in Wanchai

Nude King on the Blog – thinks Tahiti needs to be more like Hong Kong

Ordinary Gweilo – bemused by letters in the SCMP

Piece of Mind – no update since July 5

See Lai – some new nudes

Shaky Kaiser – a friend’s tattoo

A something or other Mia – claims to have resolved some life issues and said “bye” a week ago

Walk the Talk – no update since July 17

Chopped Onions – no update since July 20

Natives Are Restless – more happy with his running

Outside Looking In – off to the UK

BWG – recycling

Singabore – no update since June 17

HK Foodie – finds good chicken rice

Spirit Fingers – time saving tips

Chakrahongkies – getting Biblical

Sailinghome – funny football club names

HKClubbing – six new ways to poison yourself lunch specials at Dozo

Another Day in Hong Kong – decides to quit blogging

Friskodude – No update since July 22

Ordinary Gal – wonders where the year went, but at least her mood seems to have improved?

Exordinarily Ordinary – a cyber best friend she has never met

Fai Mao’s Sandbox – sad that Patten and Tang didn’t have a fistfight

And me? Still no idea what I wanna do for dinner ….

Not a horrible weekend, all things considered.

On Saturday, I purchased the Mediaman, a splendid bit of Korean technology. Basically it’s a hard disk enclosure with all sorts of outputs and firmware. Once you drop in a hard disk (in my case, 300 gig) and fill it up, you can then disconnect it from your PC, carry it into another room and hook it to your stereo and TV. It will output HD level picture quality and 5.1 surround sound and play AVI, MP3, MPEG, JPEG and a whole host of other media formats, complete with onscreen menu and a remote control. I filled up the drive and it works as advertised – finally I can lie in bed or stretch out on the sofa and watch downloaded movies in DIVX and XVID formats on a big screen and with surround sound. The cost for all of this goodness was a relatively modest $2480 (300 gig drive included), that’s roughly US$325 or so. In my case, well worth it.

The US Navy’s in town, in larger numbers than usual, and they’ve been uncharacteristically tearing up Wanchai. The police had to be called in to Joe Banana’s to break up a fight and JB’s had to shut down for a while to clean up the mess. Clearly a night like that calls for Lan Kwai Fong.

Believe it or don’t, but in all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never been to any of the “food festivals” in Lan Kwai Fong. After checking out the one this weekend, I shall not be going out of my way to attend any others. For such a wonderful food city, a place where so many of the world’s great cuisines are so well represented, what was on offer was woefully bland and unimaginative.

You could get hot dogs from Al’s Diner, bratwurst from Schnurrbart, hummus from Beirut, another place was selling “mini satays” and fishballs, another place had samosas and other bits of Indian food. I don’t like playing the partisan New Yorker but if you have ever been to the food festival along 9th Avenue, it makes this one look weak. Hell, walk down Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok and you’ll be offered wider and more imaginative choices than were on offer here. Didn’t seem to matter much to most of the other people there, they were mainly queueing for beer. But there are so many great places to eat in LKF, and you would think they might have prepared more imaginative offerings as a way to not just make a little money but also to whet your appetite to try the restaurant. I think it made LKF look bland and boring. Then again, the streets were packed with people so what the hell do I know?

Well, I will be heading back down to LKF or Soho for dinner tonight, unless I feel ambitious enough to schlep over to Causeway Bay and walk around there for a bit. Discretion being the better part of valor, avoiding Wanchai till the fleet leaves seems like a wise choice.

In 24 Hour Party People, a wonderful film from director Michael Winterbottom that covers the early days of the Madchester scene, Steve Coogan portrays Tony Wilson. The film often breaks the 4th wall, with characters talking directly to the camera and the real people stepping into frames to comment on how they are being portrayed.

In Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, Michael Winterbottom’s latest film (apparently just called A Cock and Bull Story in the UK), Steve Coogan portrays Tristram Shandy, Shandy’s father and Steve Coogan. I have not read the book but every review of the film mentions that the book is completely unfilmable. The film effortlessly moves between scenes from the book to behind the scenes “footage” of the cast and crew interacting, planning, fighting, loving, doing Alan Partridge impressions and making fun of Coogan’s appearance in the remake of Around the World in 80 Days.

In one scene, Tony Wilson interviews Steve Coogan about the film Tristram Shandy. A voice-over announces that the entire interview will be available as an extra on the DVD.

If you praise originality in film (or if you’re just a fan of Alan Partridge, ah ha!), you must see this.

Video Mash-up – Star Trek vs. Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Here.

As promised, some pictures from the Udo Rock Festival at the Fuji Speedway last Saturday. They’re not great, not horrible either.

“Pirate radio” with the Pretenders.

The Doobie Brothers get out of their wheel chairs to go rockin’ down the highway.

All of my Jeff Beck photos are a bit blurry.

I was closest to the stage (and turned on the digital zoom, ugh) for Santana’s set.

Like I said, every shot with Jeff Beck came out blurry, here he joins the Santana band. (Note – the video I have is a 175 meg file and the youtube limit is 100 meg, so I need to figure out a way to resize it before I can upload it there.)

I never saw her from the front but that’s okay – could the reality have possibly lived up to the fantasy?
Jim Beam promo girl – she did look as good from the front as from the back.

Mmmmm … humburger. Goes great with franch frais and a Koke.

I suppose you don’t need to be able to spell it in order to cook it but I didn’t care to find out.

Special bonus shots of Ganguro Girls in Shibuya. Too many shots coming out blurry with this new camera (Sony T30) though in this case it’s probably because I was trying to be inconspicuous about taking photos of strangers. But maybe time to take another look at the Ixus.

Geek heaven – new mega Yodabashi-Akiba shop in Akihabara, floor after floor of audio, video, cameras, watches, computer hardware and software, Zippo lighters, heated toilet seats, etc.

I’m worthless, especially when it comes to women. Here is yet the latest example:

Flying back from Tokyo yesterday on Cathay Pacific, business class. One of the flight attendants is walking around, greeting customers, handing out menus. She comes to me and, as always, pauses and looks at my name on the page, trying to figure out how to pronounce it. She doesn’t come close. I give her the right pronunciation, she repeats it three times, and then says to me I have a very sexy name.

Later, when I head to the toilet, she’s standing there at her station. She notes my tattoos and rolls up the sleeve on my t-shirt to see them better. We talk awhile more.

Still later, she’s doing something for someone sitting across the aisle from me. She turns around, sees me sitting there, does a little double take. And another attendant, standing next to her, says to me, “she’s waiting for a kiss from you.”

In the past five years, I have been flying at least twice a month, often more. I have NEVER had a flight attendant flirt so openly with me.

The flight lands. I pull out a business card and figure I will hand it to her on the way out and ask if she wants to meet at Lan Kwai Fong later for a drink. But as I walk to the exit, she is nowhere to be seen. I frantically look around but I can’t find her. I don’t know what to do. Do I ask another stewardess where she is? Do I sit back down and wait for the plane to get emptier and take another look around? No, I get off the plane and head for immigration, business card still in my back pocket.

I’m worthless and weak. I will now drop and give you twenty.

I’ve been reading my way through all of Anthony Bourdain’s books and watching his TV shows on Discovery Travel and Living. How could I not love a celebrity TV chef who is a former heroin addict and lifelong Ramones junkie and who says things like “I do not work out. I have a healthy regimen of cigarettes, alcohol, red meat and runny cheese. I call that Keith Richard diet.”

Bourdain was in Beirut when the shit came down and now he’s back in the USSR US of A. He recently did an online chat hosted by the Washington Post; you can find a transcript here. He expresses a love for Beirut and Lebanese people, disdain for the way the U.S. embassy handled the situation in Beirut, and full admiration for the U.S Marines.

As it happened, I was standing with a Sunni, Shiite and a Christian when Hezbollah supporters started to fire automatic weapons in the air celebrating the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers as a few supporters drove by the three people I was with all instantaneously took on a look of shame and embarrassment as if a dangerous and unstable little brother had once again brought the whole family into peril. At no time during my 10 days in Beirut did I ever hear an anti-Semitic or even explicitly anti-Israeli statement. To the contrary, there was a universal sense of grim resignation and inevitability to what Israel’s reaction would be.

We’re trying to figure some way to show how beautiful and hopeful Beirut was before the bombing, how terrible a thing it is that happened, what we’ve lost, the pride and hopefulness and optimism that was smashed. The surprising tenderness and sensitivity of the Marines who evacuated us. We’re struggling with a way to tell that story without it being about me or about us. It will not be a regular episode of No Reservations.

Preface: In Tokyo, there are four people who report to me. Three are men, one is a woman.

Now, this is the Big Red Button of Doom:

Version 1 is the box above. Version 2 is the box above as USB 2.0 hub, and it makes various noises when you flick the switches and press the button. The link I have is from a mail order site. So I showed the page to my staff and asked them if they thought I might be able to find this in some shop in Akihabara.

Two of the men said they were not sure but gave me the name of a shop to try. One man said he didn’t know but if I could find it, would I buy one for him as well.

The woman didn’t say if she knew or didn’t know where to find it. Rather than say she didn’t know and keep quiet, she asked, “why do you need it?”

This is probably why I am single. If I was still married, my wife would have probably asked the same question. Only in this case it would have led to a fight. At least with a junior employee I can politely say the equivalent of “go away” or “shut the fuck up.”

Why do I need it? Just look at it! “Need” doesn’t even enter into the equation.