Yellow Blaze Tattoo Studio, Yokohama, Japan

My tattoo artist friend Case-K recommended this website to me: The Yellow Blaze Tattoo Studio in Yokohama, Japan. You think you've seen all kinds of tattoos? Wanna see some jaw-dropping work in modern tattoo design? Finished works from this studio will guarantee to open your eyes .... again and again!

My Tattoo: Session 6: The Last Details

My tattoo session: Last Touch-Up
Date: July 11, 2009 (1 hr.)
My tattoo artist friend Case-K thickened some lines around the splashes, the outline of the fish and the chrysanthemum. This session was free of charge. Voila!! All done. Not bad at all. I like it.

It has been a small life-changing experience. I started to look at myself differently, or I started to pay more attention to the way I behave because I'm not as invisible as before. Still adjusting to being seen in public. Always feel like people are watching me and judging me, but on the other hand, it's teaching me to be vocal and face up to criticisms. It does toughen me up a little on the inside.

That's just one of the objectives of the experiment....

The other objective...where are the people with my kin-spirits hiding? I'm still waiting for you to come up and say hello!

But of course, this is just a test. I chose to have this tattoo at an easily hidden place. Maybe one day I'll make that dive into a deeper end and get another one....this time some where I cannot hide. But first.....um....the right shoulder is starting to look off-balanced, um....

"I'll still grow old, but I won't grow old and .... boring." .... SpyMonkey

Last night playing with Photoshop again....

Hundreds of Stories Haven't Been Told

I've always been interested in the history of Chinese immigrants in North America. We've all heard stories about how early Chinese immigrants came to North America to work on the railways, but rarely do we hear about their contribution to the American entertainment industry. I didn't realize that Chinese Americans performed in all Chinese vaudeville clubs as early as the 40s until I watched a PBS documentary about twenty years ago. That documentary stayed on my mind ever since.

Just today, my friend David Wells at softfilm.blogspot.com just posted a very interesting article about the Chinese American vaudeville duo Ming and Ling from the 1940s.

So here is my dream for the day: one day I'd love to see a film on the story of these early Chinese American entertainers. There's got to be many wonderful stories that haven't been told. Amy Tan, Wayne Wang, anybody interested?

Getting your first tattoo can be a spiritual kinda thing.....

My Tattoo: Session 5: Final Shading

Session 5: June 6, 2009 (2 hrs.)
Finally finshed!! Last session... to finish the Koi scales, fins, and tail. Took no time to heal. My skin reacted very well to the entire tattooing process. No scabs, skin just flaked off like a sun-burn. Three days later, all healed. Next month I'll go back to have a final touch up. Free of charge. It's part of the service. Very nice indeed! Later I'll take some pics of the back of my arm.

It's quite an experience to walk around downtown in a sleeveless shirt showing the tats. People looked but were afraid to stare. It's not that unusual to have tats these days. I noticed a lot of people, men and women, having whole arms tattooed. However, it's actually not that common to see traditional Japanese style tattoo. Most tats are either old-school of tribal style. I'm very happy with this design. The Koi means "courage" and is a good luck charm. You think my life with change this year? If it does...it will be for the better I hope!

My Tattoo: Session 4: Shading

Session 4: May 9, 2009 (4 hrs.)
Almost there! Intense 4 hrs. of shading done yesterday. Made much progress. Background all done. More than half of the Koi is done. Looks more and more like a Yakuza tats now. Just one more session next month to finish the fish and touch-ups..... in time for summer.

KEYHUNTER!

While I'm on my Japanese kick......this Japanese detective action TV series from the 60's stays on my mind for over thirty years! A little known TV series to North American viewers, Keyhunter was a hugely popular series that was on air from 1968-1973. Even my Japanese tattoo artist remembered the series fondly from his childhood days.

One of the reason for it's popularity was the cast, an ensemble of young talented actors led by the veteran Japanese movie screen legend Tamba Tetsuro ("You Only Live Twice").





And to round up the exciting cast ..... the one and only Sonny Chiba ("Kill Bill")!

The catchy Keyhunter theme song played in the closing credits every week was sung by the leading lady of the series Nogiwa Yoko, who also happened to be Sonny Chiba's wife from 1967-1994. (Click here to watch the action-packed series opening sequence on Youtube).

The Premise: Banded together by Japan's Kokusai Keisatsu (Universal Police i.e. INTERPOL) branch to tackle those crimes and cases that go beyond the scope of Japanese Law Enforcement, the Keyhunter are a group of former police officers and amateur sleuths. They are lead by the dapper, fedora wearing former Police Inspector Kuroki played by Tetsuro...how could I resist?

Unfortunately I have never seen this series released on DVD.

ICHI....the new blind swords(wo)man!

It's been awhile since my last entry. I have been distracted by a new hobby.....digging for images posted by bloggers around the world. This hunger for images is totally addictive. I've been spending hours and hours at home just searching for images, after images, after images. Not totally a waste of time really. There are literally millions of images (besides porn) out there on line. Many of them are beautiful, many are thought-provoking. It's a great way to escape.

OK...back to my own personal blog. I have been a huge fan of the Zatoichi movies ever since the 60's. I was too young then to go to the cinemas to see the original Zatoichi movies. They were considered too violent for kids of my age. However, my parents were loyal fans of the movie series also. I always heard their reviews when they came back from the cinemas. In fact the original movies with Shintaro Katsu playing Zatoichi were an immensely popular franchise in the 60s. They were publicized so much it was hard to miss them. So when the original movies became available on VHS in the 80's, I watched almost all of them. Then again on DVD when they came out in the 90's.

There were originally 26 Katsu Zatoichi movies made. Unfortunately only 25 of theme are available on DVD now. Apparently the rights for number 14 of the series "Zatoichi Pilgrimage" was tied up with the Miramax company. It's like the holy grail for Zatoichi collectors. It has never been released in NTSC.

Then in 2003, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano recreated the character in an updated version of "Zatoichi". There are hundreds of reviews out there on line. I personally thought it was a good but not outstanding remake. Nobody can beat the coolness of the one and only Shintaro Katsu. Just like Sean Connery created the screen version of James Bond. Shintaro created the screen version of Zatoichi.

Not too long ago, I found out that there was yet another re-incarnation of the Zatoichi character recently released in the form of a young blind girl. Haven't seen any DVDs of this new movie yet. I can't wait to see it one day. Theoretically the premise works. A young blind girl in the chaotic male dominant Samurai period of Japan. One can easily imagine the dangers that the girl must have to encounter. Anyone who has already seen the movie please feel free to add your review or comment.

Hard To Resist ....Gotta Post It .....

My Tattoo: Session 3: Shading

Session 3: April 18, 2009 (3 hrs.)
More shading done. Finished the chrysanthemum underneath and the chevron of ripples linking the flower to the front of the upper arm. Shades are very dark because the ink is still new. After the scabbing, colours usually go one shade lighter. Getting more like a Japanese tattoo now. Two more sessions: one to finish the rest of the background (waves, rocks, etc)...then one more session to shade the Koi itself. Hopefully the entire tattoo will be completed and heal in time for summer.

My Tattoo: Session 2: Shading

Session 2: March 7, 2009 (3 hrs)
Shading started. Still hurt, but less than outlining two weeks ago. Starting to look more like a tattoo. Ink is still dark. Later colour should settle down one shade. Next sessison, more shading. One month later.... Still can't believe I'm doing it!

'Los abrazos rotos' (aka "Broken Embrasses")

Pedro Almodóvar's upcoming movie, starring Penélope Cruz. I'm a huge Almodóvar fan. Can't wait for this new movie to be released in North America on ..... November 6!

This is the synopsis I found on ropesofsilicon.com:

"Broken Embraces is a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of ’50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray’s “In a Lonely Place” and Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful,” with signature Almodóvar themes such as Fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers."

Here is the trailer.

TRANCE-FORMATION

Art by French artist Bruno Richard - A friend introduced to me this artist from Paris. I like his art. They are thought- provoking, frantic and intense....not for the "faint-hearted or minors". Pretty well says it all.

My Tattoo: Session 1: Outlines

Session 1: Feb. 21, 2009 (2 hrs.)
Outlines done. Took two hours. Yes it hurt, but I think it turned out OK. Can't wait to go back in two weeks to start filling in with shades.

Happy Valentine's Day .... From Paris!

This just arrived in the mail yesterday .... in time for Valentine's Day !

Slave to Her Rhythm

Latest cover of the V Magazine. Any magazine who can bring Grace Jones and Jean-Paul Goude back together for one more feature cover is worth checking out. Miss Grace Jones.....what can I say? Now I believe in the legend of the Phoenix. MISS Grace.....just when I started to give up looking for your news....here you are......BANG! Right between my eyes with this HURRICANE CD. Knocked me right out! William's Blood.... already a classic before it hit the American shore. Did you realize you made us wait one-third of your life before you let us see this happen! You're my Torturer....Rumour said that you recorded 27 new songs?!.....There are only 9 on HURRICANE.....ummmmm......the rest....????? (.....SUFFER! .....drooling...... SUFFER!..... more drooling!!)

Heroines in Hong Kong Martial Arts Movies (I)

The 50s

Any kid who grew up in Hong Kong in the 60s knows who Miss Yu So Chow is. She is the daughter of the Martial Arts teacher of action stars such as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. She is also the Big Sister of Martial Arts movies in the 50s and 60s, a unique genre of movies initiated from Hong Kong and has subsequently became a world famous symbol of the little island's entertainment industry. When people think about India, they think of Bollywood, when people think about Hong Kong, they think of Martial Arts (or Kung Fu) movies. However, most movie audience around the world had their first experience of Hong Kong Martial Arts movies from the 70s when Bruce Lee entered the scene, not too many realize that the history of Martial Arts movies started two, three decades before Bruce Lee was even born.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Hong Kong in the early 60s. Like many parts of the world, television was a new medium for us then. For the first time ever, entertainment such as early Martial Arts movies made in the late 50s were brought right into our homes. Kids around my age started to be exposed to a great deal of these early black-and-white action adventures that were combination of Western cinema techniques, Chinese opera choreography, special effects and sometimes even opera singing. These movies became part of the childhood of my generation. 

Most of these action movies were primitive in today's standards, but they were full of fantasies and imagination. Heroes go off to icy North Pole in search of certain elusive plants to save his loved ones who are injured by the evil villains, monstrous giant creatures like eagles or cranes that would guard sacred treasures from trespassers, heroes often get thrown and left to die in deep valleys only to be saved by the secluded Martial Arts masters who later pass on the superior Martial Arts techniques to the heroes. And upon their return, the heroes would defeat the villains (hey wasn't that the story line for "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"?). Basically always about good and evil. However, just telling the stories straight wasn't entertaining enough for the movie audience back then. Some smart Hong Kong movie-makers in the 50s (probably even as early as the 40s) thought of a new way of kicking the story-telling up a notch...they added skillfully choreographed action sequences into the formula. The most logically way of doing that in a relatively safe and economical manner was to incorporate already trained Chinese opera performers into these movies. Unlike Western operas, tradition Chinese operas often tell epic historic stories that involve battles between warlords. Most of the Chinese opera performers, male or female, would have already received their basic action training. It's part of the curriculum. People usually go where there is money to be made. These performers entered the movie industry naturally and became the pioneers of future stuntmen and stunt-women.

Incidentally in Chinese history there are old legends of women fighters who would go to war against invaders in order to protect their country and families, eg. Mulan. With this background in mind, Chinese movie-goers in the 50s and 60s were familiar with women who could fight and protect themselves. When movies told stories of female action heroes, the audience embraced these characters as part of their culture, their history, without any doubt or suspense of disbelief.

Strangely enough sexual discrimination wasn't prevalent in these action movies. Female heroes were just as important to the plots and were adored by the audience just as much as their male counterparts. Usually the male heroes had their certain unique Martial Arts skills, the female heroes would have just a different set of Martial Arts skills. In quite a few of these movies, the male and female heroes need to collaborate in their Martial Arts skills at the end to form the ultimate power to defeat the villain. The man couldn't do without the woman, and vice versa. The philosophy of "Ying" and "Yen" was widely applied and accepted. Compared with the mentality of Western cinemas, Hong Kong Martial Arts movies were way ahead in the concept of political correctness in this regard. 

Anita Mui (1963-2003)

Not too many entertainers from Hong Kong captured my attention like Anita did. When Anita won the singing contest that jump started her to stardom in 1982, I had already immigrated to Canada. I never got to follow her career locally. The only opportunity that I learnt about Anita was mainly from the songs she sang, from movies she participated in or occasional gossip columns in newspapers from Hong Kong. In the 80s, there was no internet. Movies, CDs and entertainment news from Hong Kong always arrived in Canada at least two, three weeks late. And yet, Anita still stood out as an unusual talent.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, I listened to Anita's songs off and on. I thought her voice was good, but I always reserved my loyalty to U.S. entertainers like Madonna, Whitney Houston who always grabbed my attention before Anita did. I was actually more impressed by a few screen performances that Anita made in a handful of Hong Kong movies. In "Rouge" (my audio clip is the title song Anita sings for the movie), she played a ghost looking for her lover, in "Kawashima Yoshiko" she played the legendary Japanese spy who allegedly infiltrated China in WWII. In comic book-like "Heroic Trio", she played a detective's wife during the day, and a super-hero at night. These three movies showcased Anita's acting dynamics. She can be strong, she can be fragile; she can be plain, she can be glamorous. She could play any character and still demanded the same attention from her audience.

When I heard of her untimely death in 2003, I was shocked at first, and then deeply saddened. The only thought that came across my mind was...."how many songs Anita hasn't sung, how many good movie roles Anita hasn't performed." The first thing I did... I went out to search for the many Anita's songs that I had missed. I looked all over CD shops in Toronto. Surprised to realized that only approximately twenty to thirty of her most popular songs were available. Quite a few of her other CDs were out of print. A few of her original CDs I found on eBay, the prices went up to as high as US$2,000! Fortunately also thanks to the internet, by now I have collected almost her entire repertoire, approximately 300 songs Anita sang in her career. Many of those I never heard and are now very hard to find.

Unlike any other pop singers from the Cantopop genre, Anita sings her love songs like she actually lived those stories in the lyrics. Her passion is contagious. Her technique is incomparable. Her voice is strong and sultry, and yet extremely feminine and fragile. How many times did I enjoyed the way she sang a word with that extra little "twist" in her voice that she made it her unique style? Or how many times was I surprised by the lightness that she ended a phrase or a note? That fragility is what made Anita more powerful than other singers of the same genre. Every love song Anita sings is like a mini movie. She interprets the music like an actress playing a role. Simply amazing!

I still spend many nights listening to Anita singing through my headsets at home. She has totally conquered a tough critic like me over and over again. I dare say the world wouldn't have been the same without Anita Mui. She set a new standard in performance in the entertainment industry in Hong Kong, but in a selfish protective way, I don't really wish to see another performer who can replace Anita. I doubt if I ever will.

Miss you Anita.

Awesome Tattoos

Circle

Human beings are animals of rules. Without rules, we don't know what to expect from others. We wouldn't know how to behave. Same goes for relationships. We "tag" or "label" our relationships, "he is my so-and-so", "she was my so-and-so".... so that when we hear those labels, we'd know how to react, what to expect, or how to criticize. It's a tool to put some sort of order in an otherwise chaotic world. We are used to rules. We feel sorta comfortable as long as we know some rules have been laid.

The funny things is .... labelling relationships create a false sense or order. He is my "husband", that's why I should tell him everything about myself. She is my "girl-friend", that's why when we spend time together, we should be happier than the next pair who are "exes". But do these labels really reflect the truth?

The older I get, labelling relationships becomes more and more futile. There is no guide book for human relationships. Following rules takes away what one feels inside his or her heart. Rules actually create anguish, false expectations and stress. Rules make humans less human.

A tragic incident happened to me three and a half years ago made me realize the best relationships are the ones with no labels. Those relationships rely totally on our instincts. Don't follow guidebooks, just what's inside our hearts. These are the "organic" relationships. They are 100% natural. Whether they work or they don't work. We embrace them with no hard feelings, no regrets.

10/10/05

Floating Into Habana

2009 has been an emotional charged year so far. ....

DonnM, my immensely talented painter friend, dropped by Monday evening and offered me his latest work as a souvenir from him. It's a four-part panel painting of a very personal perspective of Havana, the city that captured both his fascination and his heart. 

Hovering in mid-air...(try this).....it's all silent.....but you can start to smell the city air as you descend, in slow-motion, through the atmosphere .... through the clouds ..... through the smog .......then through the sheer fabric hanging on the clothes-lines.....and finally floating into the the streets where people live, play dominoes, and dance... in Havana. 

The minute I saw the first panel, I already felt the seduction....it's an invitation to enter the Havana in the artist's world.

One moment it feels like the painter is a little boy who wants to show you a secret passage that he has discovered. In another moment... I get the feeling that I am getting too deep into an unknown world ........ I can't explain it, but I was fascinated by this painting....

Now I think I can tell you how I feel about it......It's the opening shot of a thriller .... it's an opening shot of a god-damned Film Noir Thriller!! ....... my friend has sub-consciously set the stage for a brand new Film-Noir thriller in which, except the femme fatale, none of the good guys or bad guys has been cast! .....it's an adventure you have to participate if you want to know what happens next.....Brilliant!!

I asked my friend what I had done to deserve this amazing gift? He told me it's because I helped him get thru the New Year and it was the first painting he has done in 2009.... the strangest thing was that I actually felt kinda proud of accepting it. It's my way of saying "not only will we get thru 2009, we'll get thru 2010, 2011, 2012...." It's survivors' talk. 

Thank You For Taking Me Along On The Ride Sir.....

It's a Cold Cold World!

Remember guys who work in Canada, next time your furnace dies in the middle of the fucking Winter....be a good little employee that you are....book that day off as your hard-earned Holiday first.... because that's the Perfect opportunity that your boss has been waiting all year round for ....NOT to have to pay you for that one day..... Understand!?!

Yes .... Now I  t-o-t-a-l-l-y  understand!! (wink)

Tattoos

Last month just bumped into DonnM, an old acquaintance of mine. We quickly became good friends because we are both a little crazy in the head... (a long story for another day). DonnM has tattoos on both of his arms. I was so inspired that I've decided to do the same. Well not as much, maybe just a half-sleeve to start. I've always been passionate about tatttoos but never crossed my mind that I could get one on me. Hopefully I can post some pics of mine later after it's been done. But can anyone tell me why I have the urge to kiss a tattoo when I see one?

First For Everything!

Hi World...this is my first ever blog. Not a clue what Im doing... Just got invited by this blog site to create my own. Very tempted...I supposed it's fun to tell people what you did in a day. It's like writing diary or reflecting on what I did in a day. Ummmm....except in the old days, I used to sit on the toilet when I did this...now I'm sitting in front of the computer. Welcome to the HiTech Times man! This is PROGRESS!