Prodip’s characters, with bizarre monster / alien features, always seem to be stylishly dressed!

Imagine Where The Wild Things Are meets retro Sci-fi, and you’ll have a good idea of the art of Prodip Leung. His last solo show, held in a raw space near the Medical Sciences Museum, was a major success, with every painting sold.

This time he’s back with “Abstract Dimension,” a continuation of his interest in aliens and other-worldly creatures. The exhibition will take place at Future Industries gallery, which is located just off Hollywood Road on Square Street. (Close to Man Mo Temple.)

According to the press release: “Prodip’s new work combines figurative and landscape elements, making use of a variety of mediums – from wood and paper to acrylic on canvas – to explore mythic transformations and the ‘interdimensional’ qualities of the everyday.”

Prodip is a multi-talented guy, who is also an accomplished musician and the bass player for the legendary group L.M.F. His artwork is instantly likeable, and his aliens are of the fun, friendly, variety, rather than the scary kind.

Browsing his work, you can sort of imagine the characters hanging out at the cantina from the first Star Wars film!

For Friday’s opening, expect interesting art, and a fun, friendly crowd.

Recommended!

Prodip Leung “Abstract Dimension”
6pm to 9pm
Friday, May 24th, 2013
Future Industries Gallery
21 Square Street
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Runs until June 24th

Hong Kong has over 18,000 taxis, including 45 new electric cars

Hong Kong taxi drivers, love them or hate them (actually, mostly just dislike them). They’re not ALL bad, perhaps 50% are adequate. Here are a few of the reasons why they’re not popular. Feel free to add your own reasons in the comments!

10. They curse non-stop, and complain about where you want to go

9. They don’t help you with your suitcase, or even offer to

8. They drop you off at the wrong place, and then insist that it is correct

7. They always try to keep the change, despite giving you poor service

6. They smell bad, or the interior of the taxi does

5. They take the long way to get to your destination

4. They ransom, or simply just keep your mobile phone if it falls out of your pocket

3. They (illegally) want to know where you’re going before they’ll open the door (Which is why one person recently tried to Gangnam Style dance their way into a taxi… it didn’t work!)

2. They price-gouge, asking you to pay an exorbitant flat fee to get you someplace. It’s illegal, but commonplace in the Lan Kwai Fong nightlife area

1. They keep. Stepping. On. The Accelerator. And Then. Stepping. On. The Break. Which is. SUPER Annoying!

Bonus reason: they try to adjust their mirror so that they can look up girls skirts! Ewww!

H.K. taxi drivers bad reputation was once the subject of a Hong Kong movie titled “Taxi Hunter“, starring Anthony Wong Chau-Sang!

A stone staircase leads up to the large fourth floor area

Celebrating the opening of their new IFC store, Givenchy held an after-party at a fascinating new restaurant / exhibition space called Duddell’s on Thursday night.

Walking around inside, the venue succeeds at being sophisticated, contemporary, and elegant, all at once. Not yet open to the public, if the quality of the design is any indication of the cuisine, it will be a worthy new addition to the city’s growing circle of world-class institutions.

Is Hong Kong getting more sophisticated?

Historically, Hong Kong didn’t do elegant or contemporary very well. For many years it went over the top in both directions, either trying to be overtly affluent, which ended up being gaudy, or too space-age slick, which frequently left places feeling too cold. The interior of Duddell’s however, which consists of two floors and a series of separate dining rooms, avoids both of these cliches.

Multiple private dining rooms can be found throughout the venue

Predominantly a mixture of natural materials such as stone and wood, with excellent lighting, the space has clean lines and art hanging throughout the interior. Designed by Elle Decor founder Ilse Crawford, Duddell’s comes across as both warm and timeless.

A large open dining room occupies the third floor

Located at 1 Duddell Street, it sits between Queens Road (just opposite the Landmark Mandarin Oriental,) and Ice House Street. The lower floors of the building are home to Shanghai Tang’s new flagship store. The dead-end block is anchored on one side by a grand old stone staircase that is often used as a backdrop in photo shoots.

Duddell’s, which has yet to officially launch, is the latest project by a dream team of three of the city’s serial entrepreneurs, Alan Lo, Yenn Wong, and Paulo Pong. You can expect to be hearing a lot more about this space in the very near future.

Duddell’s has a large fourth floor patio, which is ideal for events

The following is admittedly, not a great video(!), however, it quickly shows the main dining room, and a private room on the third floor.

Duddell’s is meant to go beyond being a restaurant and to occupy a role more akin to a contemporary creative space.

Recommended!

Duddell’s
3F – 4F, 1 Duddell Street
Central, Hong Kong

Girls had no fear and surfed all night!

Last Friday’s Hardpack concert featuring special guests such as L.M.F. and Mastamic was one of the city’s best.

The enthusiastic audience crowd-surfed, stage dived, and slam danced throughout the night. (And for the record, there were almost as many girls stage diving as boys!)

At one point there were three people crowd surfing at the same time!

The audience participation was at an all-time high!

One poor guy even lost his pants while crowd surfing! It was that kind of incredible show!

The concert packed the ground floor venue at Kowloon Bay’s Kitec and drew big names in entertainment backstage including Eason Chan and Daniel Wu.

The show packed the ground floor venue at Kitec

The night was bitter-sweet, as it also marked the last album release from Hardpack, who have been a mainstay of Hong Kong’s band scene for over a decade. Various present and former members of the punk band rotated up on stage to perform over the course of the night.

The music was tight from all the special guests starting with Josie Ho, and continuing through the duration of the show. Mastamic performed an astonishing feat of speed rapping over a Hardpack beat that drove the crowd wild.

L.M.F., who have shared band mates with Hardpack, also performed, getting the crowd hyped up. L.M.F. had explosive energy on stage and played their set with skill and passion.

The crowd participation was at an all-time high with stage diving, crowd surfing, and even a mosh pit during the show. A general good vibe permeated the audience and people gladly helped each other crowd surf.

Watch as the crowd passes this guy towards the back!

The Hardpack ‘Never Be The Same’ concert was a memorable show and an appropriate send off for a great band!

Part of UNIQLO’s Creative Filmmakers t-shirt series

Passing through the Causeway Bay MTR station on Thursday night, I happened to notice an ad for the new Uniqlo flagship store in Lee Theatre Plaza. Being inherently skeptical, I wondered just how much better it could actually be than the previous Uniqlo store in the same building. Well, I was totally wrong!

Walking inside, the new store is a massive three-level shop with a much greater selection than any other Uniqlo store in the city. The special T-shirt section, called UT, is alone worth a visit, as it has a futuristic design.

The UT T-shirt section is part gallery, and part sales floor

Rows of t shirts include premium graphics featuring classic Disney characters, as well as The Peanuts, and a very cool Creative Filmmaker’s series. They even had a few Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring t-shirts!

Just in time for the upcoming Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition!

A big plus is that their offerings are all very reasonably priced, many at just $79 HKD for guys, and $59 HKD for girls!

Here’s a quick view of the special UT t-shirt section:

One level down there’s a huge space devoted to mens and women’s basics, with a large number of fitting rooms and products that are all new to Hong Kong.

Doing a little further browsing, there are discounted prices on many everyday items, including special deals for two-of-a-kind purchases.

The flagship is located on the ground floor of Matheson Street inside Lee Theatre Plaza, where Esprit and California Fitness used to be, (adjacent to Times Square.) A second ground floor entrance can be found on Percival Street, not far from the tram stop. A map of the store’s exact location is available here.

The entrance on Matheson Street, Causeway Bay

Recommended!

Uniqlo Hong Kong flagship store
Ground floor, Lee Theatre Plaza
2 Matheson Street (enter along the side of Times Square)
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

The ground floor entrance on 99 Percival Street

Paintings were spread out inside Joyce Boutique and upstairs in On Pedder

Brooklyn-born artist JM Rizzi (aka JMR) exhibited a series of new work at Joyce Boutique in Central on Thursday evening.

The artist, whose work combines influences from graffiti, as well as abstract expressionism, displayed essentially two types of paintings. The first have a sort of post-graffiti look that amplifies the swirl and movement similar to aerosol art; the second are made up of more deliberate, abstract expressionist patterns that somehow feel in the vein of geometric shapes by Miro, Kandinsky, and Calder.

Depending on how he filled them in, some of the canvases remained almost like a swirl of graffiti tags, while others, which use heavy color blocks, become almost like details from a Pop-Art piece.

The interior wall of Joyce had a large pattern painted by JMR facing Queens Road

Guests mingled amidst the canvases and clothing

The colorful, filled-in works are more decorative and pleasant, with vibrant hues, but somehow the raw, monochrome patterns have a more interesting quality about them.

Also on display upstairs in On Pedder, were two bags that had been decorated with JMR’s original art.

The two bags and several smaller canvases are on display at On Pedder

JM Rizzi at Joyce Boutique
16 Queens Road Central
Central, Hong Kong

“Excuse me, are those ‘har gao’ sneakers you’re wearing?”

Hypebeast, the pioneer sneaker culture and street fashion blog recently collaborated with Puma to create their own signature shoes.

Based in Hong Kong, Hypebeast created the two models as a nod to the city’s ever-present dim sum, specifically the translucent ‘har gao’, and the yellow colored ‘siu mai’.

People familiar with dim sum will immediately recognize the two inspirations.

Real dim sum made a good backdrop for the shoes!

The launch at JUICE in Causeway Bay featured the sneakers displayed in bamboo steaming baskets branded with the Puma logo.

Though a rainy night, the collaboration event drew a large crowd that packed the store.

Guests congregating inside JUICE, Causeway Bay

Hypebeast managing editor and designer of the shoe, Eugene Kan, was joined by his Puma counterpart to give a brief speech.

Eugene Kan in glasses, center

Eugene is a well known foodie as well as a footwear aficionado. He’s involved in two interesting side projects: That Food Cray, a food blog, and SMAAT, a minimalist footwear brand.

Yellow colored sneakers are inspired by ‘siu mai’

The dim-sum sneakers are custom variations of Puma’s Blaze of Glory model shoe. The Hypebeast x Puma shoes are now available at select retailers for $155 USD a pair!

Used electronics signs come in all shapes and colors

You may have walked past them for years and never truly appreciated the lowly used electronics sign. As Hong Kong hosts Art Basel this week, we’d like to draw your attention to our own local art form!

Gadget-crazed Hong Kong is always upgrading to the latest tech. This goes for mobile phones as well as home electronics such as TVs, stereos, and computers. When you combine a population with a predilection for the new, with the city’s lack of space, you have a continual need to dispose of perfectly fine electronics.

Seeing a business opportunity in this cycle, an ecosystem of enterprising middlemen have stepped up to take your old equipment off your hands.

Walking around any of Hong Kong’s neighborhoods you may have seen a sign, or perhaps a person perched on a stool waiting near a sign. They typically maintain a sidewalk-level presence in residential areas and are ready to purchase and remove goods from you immediately.

Signs offering their services come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Recently, one sign in particular struck me as a masterpiece. It’s well balanced, has legible handwriting, and seemingly fits an astounding number of Chinese characters in just the right amount of space.

A masterpiece in efficiency and design!

Approaching the track and field from the Stubbs Road entrance

Grass is so rare in Hong Kong that when you stumble across a patch in the city it’s sort of like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert. The Green Lane sitting out area is a place that few people use or know about.

A little hard to get to, and slightly hidden, it’s a good-sized field surrounded by a running track – the perfect place for a private run, or for kids to play on.

The area has two entrances – one from Green Lane, which is just off the top of Blue Pool Road in Happy Valley. The second is a small doorway in a fence with a staircase that leads down from the triple intersection of Tai Hang Road with Blue Pool Road, not far from Stubbs Road.

It doesn’t look like much, but after a few short staircases you’ll soon arrive at what they call the rather wordy “Green Lane Service Reservoir Sitting Out Area.” Someone actually made a video of where the second entrance is!

Similar to most beaches and parks in Hong Kong, there’s a long list of (perfectly normal) things that you can’t do, such as no bike riding, roller skating, etc.

The long list of don’ts

The Green Lane Sitting Out Area has a newly surfaced track that provides a great place to run. Perched at the top of Happy Valley, the track and field have a scenic view.

Kids will enjoy the open space as it’s well maintained and fun to play on. (Although a friend indicated that they recently put fertilizer on the grass.)

A young law-breaker!

The sign indicates that the Green Lane Sitting Out Area isn’t open late. The hours are generally from 7am to 6pm (or 6:45pm May through August.)

Green Lane Service Reservoir Sitting-Out Area
Green Lane (take Blue Pool Road and turn onto Green Lane, then follow to the very end)
Happy Valley, Hong Kong

Looking down at the Green Lane field from high above Tai Hang Road

A track with a view!

The soundtrack to the Hui Brother’s 1976 classic ‘The Private Eyes’

For decades, Hong Kong movies captivated audiences around the world with a magical combination of action, romance and comedy all rolled into one. But another important trait they often shared were amazing soundtracks!

Browsing the selections on YouTube, here are a few of our favorites!

Ching Siu-tung’s – A Chinese Ghost Story (song by Sally Yeh)

John Woo’s – The Killer (song by Sally Yeh)

Johnnie To’s – The Heroic Trio – (song by Anita Mui)

Tsui Hark’s – Green Snake

Johnnie To’s – The Mission

Sam Hui’s – The Private Eyes


Stephen Chow’s – Kung Fu Hustle had great music all around!

Bruce Lee’s films had all sorts of interesting music. The soundtracks typically included musical elements that were inspired by Westerns and Blaxploitation movies. Check out how a song from his film The Big Boss was sampled by Hip Hop group Dilated Peoples.

The original song from The Big Boss

Dilated Peoples – Work the Angles

Bruce Lee even had soundtrack music composed by Lalo Schifrin (the same guy who composed the Mission Impossible theme!)

Bruce Lee’s – Enter The Dragon (by Lalo Schifrin)

Original soundtrack album from the H.K. movie ‘Jumping Ash’