Last Tuesday I attended a Motorola event for the launch of their new mobile phone - the MOTOKRZR. The venue was Cuisine Cuisine, a large restaurant sometimes used for fashion shows in IFC2. Other brands such as Moussy and Shanghai Tang have used the same space in the past. It’s divided into two sections, and is quite large.

Walking into Cuisine Cuisine, the production team had done a good job transforming the dining room into a sleek club for the night. There were mirrored walls and blue lights echoing the design and colors of the new phone. Looking around for the d.j. booth I discovered that there were two - each built into identical towers nearly reaching the ceiling. One tower per d.j.!

Why would a phone company invest so much in launching a new phone? Hong Kong has the highest mobile phone penetration rate in Asia - with 95% of the population between 15 to 59 owning a phone. In order to make a splash, and grab immediate market share, they are looking to differentiate themselves with a celebrity-studded, launch party.

The event kicked off at nine. At ten there was a short fashion show with models pretending to use the phone (see top photo.) By the time the fashion show began, the place was packed to capacity, and you couldn’t even walk through the space.

The d.j.s moved the music along from genre to genre throughout the night. With the crowd slightly older than normal, they played a long 80’s and Rock set, that went over well and kept the place packed til nearly the end at 1am.

Last night I stopped by a Chivas event titled ‘One Nite In Ibiza’. The party featured two big name d.j.s - Joyce Mercedes and The Jinks - who are both Ibiza regulars. The venue was the Exhibition Centre in the China Resources building in Wanchai. It’s a large open space used for raves, concerts, and luxury brand events.

The party didn’t get crowded til late when the foreign d.j.s took the stage. The performances by local acts were early, so unfortunately no one was there to see them. For some reason the police showed up around midnight, and that stopped the flow of alcohol for about an hour - to the organizers dismay. At least the police didn’t stop the music and turn on the lights - which is the normal procedure for a license check.

Last year during ROCKIT music festival I bumped into actor Daniel Wu and he was sporting some really long hair. He told me that he’d been busy filming a movie with Zhou Xun and Zhang Ziyi in China and that he had been learning new martial arts techniques for the role.

The director of the film turns out to be Feng Xiaogang, the same guy who did A World Without Thieves, which I enjoyed very much. I’m excited to check out the new film, which should be opening in Hong Kong this week.

I’ve seen a lot of cool birthday cakes in my day, but this one, well, takes the cake!

Made by the dessert chef from Dragon-i to celebrate the owner Gilbert’s birthday, this was truely a masterpiece. Gilbert is a huge music lover and a d.j., so this was an excellent personalized design.

The turntable is nearly 100% anatomically correct. I love the white chocolate tone-arm. The only thing that’s missing is the cartridge, and perhaps the chef only saw it without the cartridge anyway. I’d give it top marks on creativity and vision!

I recently attended the opening of Maison Margiela - clothing designer Martin Margiela’s first shop in Hong Kong. The location is On Lan Street, Central - also home to high-end retailer D-MOP and the Deep Anger store. The shop occupies a very unique building.

Maison Margiela is housed in an old stone low-rise. There are very few old buildings of this type left in Hong Kong. Particularly rare are stone buildings from the early 1900’s. Nearly all of them are gone. Due to the scarcity of land, smaller buildings have been razed to make way for skyscrapers - a trend that happened in Central decades ago.

The interior of the shop is completely white. Everything is covered in white colored paint. The monotone environment of the interior helps the clothes on the rack to standout even more.

Click on the photo below to see a larger view of the building exterior.

Click on the photo below to see a larger view.

I had heard about a library on the 55th floor of IFC2, the tallest building in Hong Kong with 88 floors in total. The library is owned by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, but open to the public. On a whim I decided to investigate one day.

To get there, you must first register and then take a special elevator from the ground floor of IFC2. Once upstairs you walk down a hallway and into a large gallery space with an exhibit about the history of Hong Kong’s monetary system. The exhibition is interesting, but the real attraction here are the amazing views.

From its vantage point, off slightly from the pack of skyscrapers in Central, IFC2 has incredible views of the thick jungle of buildings around it.

Click on the photos below to see a larger view.

A few weeks ago I ended up leaving the safety of my normal club-going experience, and crossed the harbor to check out a massive new club that opened up in the New World complex in Tsim Sha Tsui.

From Central, on Hong Kong island, the club is just a short ride away. After going through the Cross Harbour Tunnel from Causeway Bay, you end up in the Tsim Sha Tsui neighborhood, also referred to as T.S.T. It’s actually located very close to the harbor-front, on the very edge of T.S.T East.

The club’s been open for a few months, but I haven’t had the opportunity to check it out. This night a friend happened to be spinning there, and several other friends were interested in going, so I tagged along.

In comparison to the more upscale spots I normally frequent, the club itself is enormous in size. It’s got high ceilings and a huge open space in addition to a large private booth section. The D.J. booth is on a lengthy elevated stage and there are security guards everywhere. At one point, an M.C. was rapping in Cantonese, trying to stir up excitement with the crowd.

I ended up chilling on the stage at the d.j. booth for most of the night. I stayed until around 5:30 am, and then headed home.

The place wasn’t packed, but due to how spread out it is, and the fact that the police had stopped by earlier, it still had a significant crowd. AND, this was on a Wednesday night!

Kowloon clubs, tend to be more like discos - large open rooms with thumping sound systems and lighting displays. Similar clubs in Kowloon are 348 and Cyber Disco. The crowd tends to be young, the music a combination of Cantopop remixes (think trashy Trance-beats with local songs mixed on top,) in addition to commercial hits, and the substance use is heavy.

After returning from a long trip I recently got a chance to catch up on my Hong Kong movies! Dog Bite Dog, the new film starring Edison Chen and Sam Lee was on the top of my list. Several people had mentioned good things about it to me and I wanted to catch it before it left the cinema. It wasn’t playing on Hong Kong side, so I headed over to the Mongkok neighborhood of Kowloon to catch it at a theater on Sai Yeung Choi Street, one of the area’s main thoroughfares.

I had been given a free pass to check out the film, so there was no way I was going to miss it! When I got to the theater I saw an alternative poster for the film. The tattoo poster, as I call it, makes it look more like a gangster flick. The original poster, seems to imply the rivalry between the two main characters. It’s darker, more intense, and it captures the vibe of the film over the tattoo one.

Dog Bite Dog is classified or rated as a category III film. Category III films are Hong Kong’s equivalent to the U.S.’s NC-17 rating and many of the ultra-violent or softcore exploitation films that are made here fall into that niche.

Dog Bite Dog is violent, gritty and extreme. One complaint I’ve heard about the film is the ending. It seems to have a false ending, meaning it could end at a certain point, and then continues for about twenty minutes more. Although I can understand that criticism, I can see why the director chose to keep it. The transformation of the two main characters wouldn’t be complete without the ending the way it is.

Dog Bite Dog is worth a watch if you’re a fan of old Hong Kong films from the 80’s, or category III films in general. Exploitation movie fans will also find it appealing. Sam Lee and Edison both give more adult performances, outside of their typical youth-oriented roles.

A few weeks ago Baby Bam from the legendary New York group, the Jungle Brothers played at Dragon-i. It almost seemed like he didn’t bring any of his own music, because his song selection was purely comprised of commercial, mainstream Hip Hop that can be found anywhere. His former group, the Jungle Brothers made ground breaking music that borrowed from a wide variety of musical genres, and it frequently lead them in interesting directions. Baby Bam is also descended from Hip Hop royalty - Afrika Bambatta - one of the music’s true pioneers. Hearing a full set of ordinary music from someone with his pedigree was a disappointment. However, as a pioneer himself, and someone who has contributed to the very best of Hip Hop music, I’ll give him another chance!

Illustrious Hip Hop producer Just Blaze was back in Hong Kong recently to play an event for Diesel. The party took place on a Thursday at Volar. During his set, it was cool to hear Just depart from the commercial Pop / Hip Hop standards, and play some older Hip Hop, as well as some classic House music from the 90’s. His scratching was solid and matched his choice of beats.

One of the top producers in Hip Hop and R&B today, Just Blaze has created several tracks for local Pop star Edison Chen’s upcoming album. I’ve heard a sneak preview and the beats are strong - with Edison rapping in Mandarin. This is a very significant trend - a Pop star focusing on the China market, looking beyond the region to enlist a top international producer. Look for more of these combos in the future. Apart from Japan, utilizing the talents of a top American producer rarely happens in H.K. and China, and we are sure to see more of this in the near future. Props to Edison and the CLOT crew for again thinking ahead of the curve and putting their assets to good use.