Sep 30: 'Our World Champion - Alain the Panther - Did It Again'
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IMPAKT Martial Arts and Fitness Centre (press release): |
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Since his last loss here in Hong Kong, our world champion took some time off in order to rethink his strategy. First he changed trainers and gym and joined the IMPAKT TEAM where he became partner to Damien Roche, the director of IMPAKT MARTIAL ARTS AND FITNESS CENTER. His training is going well in a nice environment. He travelled a couple of times with the team to Japan and Singapore to do some sparring sessions and compare his own level with other champions. Back in HK he has had many fight proposals that he all refused, taking his time.
His teammate and girlfriend Jo-Anne Timothy - who is also a WORLD Champion in Full Contact Karate - and his partner Damien Roche were all successful in this tournament. The Panther is planning to have a fight here in HK in Dec before fighting for HK in France. Stay updated! |
Here's a photo taken by myself on YSW Main Street the other
night (outside the VV Parking Lot, vis-a-vis the Deli Lamma, click to
enlarge). No photos are available yet from the NY City fights, but a video's
been promised pretty soon.
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This full-page ad was posted in HK Magazine for moral support before the NY City championships.
Say hi when you see these two Lammaites stroll through Main Street! These two world champions are both very friendly, fun, approachable and not aggressive in person at all. They're a most welcome addition to our multi-national, multi-racial and multi-cultural community. Congratulations for their recent victories and best wishes for many more soon!
Sep 29: 'Hi, This Is Filthy Mike, Old Lamma Guard'
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Filthy Mike (Lamma Oldster = ex-Lammaite = Old Lamma Guard): |
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Many of you might know me. I lived on Lamma in the 90s. I played in two bands, The Filthy Flute and Bongo Band, and Mothership. My dog Parker was born on Lamma Island and is still living. I live here in Portland Oregon with Sue, my wife, and our 4 dogs. I make movies now and am working on making my first feature film. My most recent film Exile From the Sun was 30 minutes and played in Europe and the US. Jon Lowe of Mothership, along with Mike Brophie and Andrew Macdowal helped on the music for the soundtrack. If any of the Old Lamma Guard who know me wish to contact me, please do. P.S. We love Lamma and miss it dearly. |
Filthy Mike quickly got replies from other Lamma Oldsters in our dedicated & active "Lamma Oldsters" forum, which is being moderated by a most (in)famous Lamma Oldster: Keith (Cheshire k@) Hassett!
"Lisa, the tall English bird"
in London, "Jon (Old Lamma Guard) Dillon" in Paris, Phil "Nobby"
Keep in Chiang Mai and several others responded quickly to Mike. Some of
them are already plotting & planning their return to our fair isle.
But it's not just the "Old Lamma
Guard" who's secretly home-sick for their former Lamma home, some of
their children feel the same way:
Many Lammaites might remember
Robin, Roz & Phil Keep's kid. Roz sends this photo and writes:
"What's on the computer, Robin? Looks like a cat? She looks like she is
reading Lamma.com.hk? One for the Lamma kids to see their old pal Robin who
left Lamma two years ago, but regards it as home, as we are HK belongers."
Sep 28: 'Benign Space Aliens, Murmuring in the Wind'
Lamma's
wind turbine is currently THE hot topic popping up in so many local chats
around the village. It has really touched a nerve with Lamma's tree-huggers,
eco-warriors & holistic gurus, but also with our many world-weary cynics and
Mochaccino-slurping, wannabe-sophisticates.
But quite a few Lammaites seem to suffer already from news overload about the Magical Spinney Thing, probably calling me a windy windbag behind my big back for writing about it frequently. Well, tough luck, guys! Let me add even more blowback about Lamma's newest landmark & future icon, as it seems to have inspired some of our abundant & fertile local creative talents to come up with new names and uses for the MST.
For example: Quixotine. Pit has been mixing "Don Quixote" - the famous literary tragic hero, who liked charging windmills on his horse - and "Guillotine for birds". Short'n'sweet, very clever and literary-minded with its mix of French and Spanish, kind of sophisticated, but with a very cynical, dark edge (literally) - a really worthy Lamma nickname. Do YOU like it?
But let's hear a view contrary to my own eager & overly enthusiastic support of the Quixotine. I love to publish contrary viewpoints, so send me yours!
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Oliver (dragonboater - a very windy sport): |
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Here they are with one poky 800kW (if that) turbine while the Danes are now busy building offshore and onshore wind farms with dozens and dozens of 6MW (8x more powerful) turbines hooked straight into the grid and expected to produce 10% of their national demand soon. It certainly looks like a public relations exercise from here. It is a toe clipping’s-length step in the right direction, while at the same time they take the long jump in the opposite direction by building that horrible extra chimney and generators next to our lovely local coal heaps. Now let us all bow
our heads and say the SAR Prayer Our landfill dug from mountains Amen |
HKE and the government regulators are behaving as if no one
in the whole world has ever built a wind turbine before!!! (Ooh, we must
be careful!)
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Photo of the Week - Windmills, Northern California (posted on Sep 10, 2005 on www.ConnectedTraveler.com). "I shot this scene at sunset, flying over Altamont Pass, between Livermore and California's Central Valley. From the ground they seem almost alive, like benign space aliens, murmuring in the wind." (C) Copyright 2005 Russell Johnson |
To illustrate Oliver's point about windmills being commonplace in other parts of the world, here's a photo shot by my friend Russell Johnson who runs an excellent travel blog/podcast/ radio channel/video website.
Is this what Lamma's rolling hills will look like in the not too distant future? Unlikely, but we never know and we love to speculate:
Yogesh reported that a "red light was installed on the top of the windmill tower yesterday" and this caused a wild flurry of speculation about Lamma's future Red Light District!
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That hole looks a bit
like a bird's nest inside a hollow tree, no? The two orange-chested,
white-crested creatures seem to live there? Our Flora & Forum expert moderator Zep identified these rare birds perched precariously on the so-called "Nacelle" of the Quixotine: "A nesting hole for the Vertiginous Flycatcher (Muscicapa dizziensis)" Photo (C) 2005 HK Electric |
You might have heard of Le Moulin Rouge in Paris, the red windmill, the world-famous nightclub/topless show on Montmartre, in the middle of its own Red Light District? Great place and great show (learnt from a bit of personal research during a few business trips to the City of Lights). So Lamma is getting Le Moulin Blanc now, the white one with a red light! We've got enough extras running around YSW to create a really exotic, weird & wonderful show, potentially even rivalling the original Le Moulin Rouge show!
But is one red light on top of the windmill enough to
start a Red Light District? We need a lot more lights, preferably blinking,
animated neon, no? But what kind of entertainment does HK Electric
have planned for Le Moulin Blanc?
The announced touristy "info displays on sustainable energy" won't cut it.
We'll expect a lot more fun, entertainment & excitement from Lamma's Red
Light District! YOUR suggestions, please!
P.S. Lamma's new superband and fast-rising star Red Star Rising even interpreted the red light in their own honour & glory! A Red Star Rising on the windmill. Harrumph! Maybe we should let them play at the official inauguration of Le Moulin Blanc early next year - together with all other Lamma bands, of course - if they promise to behave nicely & modest till then?
As their music video (8MB, only 40+ seconds to download & play) has already been downloaded an incredible 217 times, they might be a worthy choice to open up Lamma's new Red Light District!
Sep 27: Welcome to Lamma.com.hk!
If you're new to this website or haven't looked at it in quite a while, a warm welcome to you! I've been doing a bit of on- and offline marketing recently, having some youngsters put up big colourful posters and distribute handout flyers around YSW, to tourists and locals alike. A promotional email shot just went out to my almost 2,500 email addresses of registered members, subscribers, friends & media. This promo email was quoted extensively live on RTHK Radio 3 by my long-time, loyal propagandist DJ Peter King. Thanks a lot, Pete!
I also find more & more incoming links to this
site from other websites & blogs all over the Internet. This week's HK
Magazine lists this site as a "A guide to local
events on Lamma Island", but it's so much more than that, I hope.
So if you're new on this website and you're interested in news, events, photos & stories from the Lamma Island community & its fascinating inhabitants, then you've come to the right place! This daily Blog with many contributors has stories about food & festivals, events & gigs, people & pets, nature & environment, travel & tourism, plus loads of other silly & serious stuff about our quirky community, plus all-local photo galleries, events calendar, magazine & forums!
Have a look & see if you like it, hopefully forwarding it to friends & maybe giving me some feedback, by clicking on Comments in the header of this story or by clicking on Send to Friend. Thank you for spreading the word!
Sep 26: Comments ~ Permalink ~ Send to Friend
Standardising this all hand-made blog and adding functionality found in many of the millions of blogs out there in the so-called Blogosphere, I'm introducing 3 new functions to this blog, starting yesterday. Every single article will have 3 new buttons added to the weekday title from now on (see above):
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To
post your own comments in our forums
or to read other people's comments on this article, if there are
any. |
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This opens up a new browser window with just this article, also showing you the direct, permanent web link to this article. Just in case you might want to link to the article from your own email or web page. |
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Email a direct web link for this article. This will open up an email for you & automatically fill in the basic info. You'll just have to enter your friend's email address. |
Sep 25: 10 New Uses for the Power Station Chimneys
With the 4th
chimney of Lamma's "major landmark", the Power Station, just completed, it's
time to have another look at how to make them either less conspicuous or
more attractive. Our Chinese forum members had quite a few good ideas a
while ago, suggesting to redecorate or repaint them. Active member
bunnyrabbit even suggested to
build
2 golden arches to bridge the chimneys. Michael came up not with just
one or two, but TEN new uses for the chimneys! Read below...
To add your own ideas, click on TALKBACK!
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Michael Grimes (Always looking for work as a freelance copy writer. Contact him at words@hk.com (great email address!) or tel. 6071 8056): |
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Those of you who've lived in Hong Kong for a while may remember Fat Pang - the custard bun-loving last British governor Chris Patten. Once when he was negotiating with Beijing over the Basic Law, he referred to "The elephant in the room". What he meant was the thing that was so obvious, so enormous, that bizarrely, no one even acknowledged it - that China was a communist state, and that democratic Britain was negotiating to give Hong Kong to communists. Well, in its own quiet way, the power station is the elephant in LAMMA'S room. When you first arrive, you can't quite believe it, and after a few weeks you don't even notice it - much. So with the WTO meeting and the Olympics coming to Hong Kong soon, here are a ten ideas for raising its profile.
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Sep 24: Beer & Babble & Best Western Food
I got a serious complaint from
B&B's new management this week.
They've taken over on June 1st and strongly disliked a negative message
posted by a member (not myself) in our Restaurants & Bars forum. They
complained about the message (an alleged food poisoning complaint 2 years
ago) not to me personally, but to their friend Lammadonna who escalated it
to Lamma-Por. Everybody was blaming me, as usual, of course.
The owner asked me for a meeting over dinner to discuss the issue seriously, incl. legal implications. For the sole reason of them having just taken over B&B on June 1st this year and not being responsible at all for the incident, I agreed to remove ALL messages up to the date of the new owner taking over. No threats, bribes or sweet-talking were involved at all and it was all settled amicably.
It's nice to get some rare attention (even though negative one) from a local, Chinese-run restaurant/business who takes seriously what's being posted in our free-speech-for-everybody forums. But us forum moderators will have to watch messages being posted more carefully in the future, checking for potentially libelous, false and/or extremely damaging comments.
But this little, initially unpleasant
story has a very happy ending. Not having eaten in B&B for quite some time -
after a really disappointing meal - we discovered that a new chef had taken
over the kitchen in the meantime, just one month ago. Lamma-Por and I - both
of us wannabe-but-can't-afford-to-be-gourmets - have to say that this new
guy is five-star! Ramond is his name and he's been cooking in the
American Club HK, Hyatt Beijing, in Sanya and other famous places, learning
from Swiss & American chefs. A very personable, cheerful fellow, fluent in
English, his focus on high quality, low price & customer service is unusual
& refreshing. And, oh boy, he can really cook!
Some of the best, tenderest, juiciest lamb chops and most tasty, crispy, flaky, moist salmon and sole fillets I've ever enjoyed in almost 20 years in HK, at some of the lowest prices ever. Even baked curry chicken rice or simple pasta dishes are just perfectly prepared and spiced. Up to 5 different, well-cooked and -spiced vegetables accompany even the great-value & daily-changing set lunches, some of them displayed outside the restaurant (from $35, including soup & drink.)
Simply the best Western food in Yung Shue Wan at the moment, in our humble opinion. Let's pray that Ramond will stay on for a long time! As he's on duty 7 days a week and has trained 2 sous-chefs, you'll always get his food quality.
It's not just our own opinion as some newspapers have already discovered the same good news. See the restaurant review and interview above, from Hong Kong Daily News. Click to enlarge to read or watch some of Ramond's signature dishes close-up.
Since the new management took over, B&B has redefined its name as "Beer & Babble" and is opening its well-stocked, cozy bar till 2pm on weekends. With young-Gong Li-lookalike Queenie behind the bar they might attract some regulars away from other bars or get some diners to stay behind for a drink or 2 or 3...
Lamma-Por
& I have become happy B&B dining regulars again. By the way, they're NOT
advertisers on this website, in case you're wondering! Maybe someday, but
very unlikely...
Sep 23: Finally! Late Ferries from Tue, Sep 27!
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HKKF announcements at the YSW and Central ferry piers (camera phone photo of notice by Samson, Official Court Monthly Ferry Ticket Reminderer. Ferry & pier photos by L-G; click to enlarge): |
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Details of the trial are as follow: 2:30am - Central to Yung Shue Wan 12:30am - Yung Shue Wan
to Central |
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A two-month long trial after which HKKF will evaluate the
results and will be free to apply for some permanent changes to the ferry
schedule, or not. So it's up to all of us ferry customers to prove to HKKF
and the Transport Dept. during the next 2 months that some of these new
sailings on some weekdays can be commercially viable for them and they
should apply to make them permanent after the results of the trial have been
made public (we hope).
In the
meantime, I'd say: credit where credit is due! To my understanding of the
entire saga do far - after talking to most of the key players extensively &
repeatedly - it's Fun Tse's (Lammadonna) success and accomplishment to make
this trial happen. It would not have happened at all without our District
Councilor bugging the ferry co. for YEARS. Only when she came up with the
idea of a limited trial the ferry co. finally stopped resisting the idea for
now and applied for the trial to the Transport Dept.
Let's see how it goes! The ferry co. is already threatening to pull out after the trial - see notice - but let's hope for the best. Let's take full advantage of these new sailings as long as they'll last!
Late ferry
parties, anyone? Out on the 12:30am and back to YSW on the 2:30am?
Or join just the return leg, after staying out in town till 2am!
Playing "Last Ferry
to Lamma" from Red Star Rising at high volume over and over, the
official theme song of this 2-month trial, I'd suggest!
First pictures from the 2:30am ferry will be published in this blog!
Sep 22: Mr 4K & Co. Cleaning Up Candle Waste
Last Monday, Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, I've received another press release from the extremely hard-working Public Affairs team at HK Electric:
"Hongkong Electric & Green Power Partner to Encourage Waste Reduction"
HEC volunteers remove a total of 51.2 kg of wastes from the Aberdeen Country Park
From a mere handful of press releases per year in earlier years, HEC issues at least one every few weeks nowadays (last one: 3 days ago). Under new leadership, HEC's Public Affairs Dept. has become much more active, media-savvy and outward-oriented, organising numerous public events, open days, various environmental & ecological campaigns with schools and green groups, like the recent Green Lamma Green tree planting.
They've also just re-launched their corporate website with a rainbow-coloured, animated, interactive new look. They're working hard on increasing the goodwill and image of HEC in the HK business community, the HK Govt, their stakeholders and also with their customers, but not necessarily in this order.
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Officiating guests trimming the size of rubbish collected to encourage waste reduction throughout Hong Kong. |
Part of this ongoing public relations effort is trying to increase their green credentials with frequent mentions of Lamma's spanking-new wind turbine up on Mt. Panorama, widely visible from all directions as a potent symbol of HEC's newly greening credentials. They're also financially supporting various local green activities, community groups, charities, tree plantings, the Lamma Fun Day and even this community blog for which I'm most grateful, of course! Hongkong Electric, hip, hip, hooray!
But sometimes they might get carried away a little bit in their newly-found corporate enthusiasm for environmental & ecological causes. It can sometimes be quite a source of amusement to read their releases and view the accompanying pictures & their captions. Let me demonstrate by quoting from this new press release about this cleanup operation into which a lot of work, unpaid holiday overtime and volunteer effort by over 100 HEC staff has been invested. It's one of my recent favourite releases, showing that the well-meaning, community-minded HEC staff really put their heart and time into these corporate activities, even though the achieved results might not always be in direct proportion to all their valiant efforts:
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Hongkong
Electric press release (Sep 19, abridged,
full version is here. |
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Hongkong Electric & Green Power Partner
"Let's reduce waste" is the appeal made together by Hongkong Electric (HEC) and environmental group Green Power as they held "The 13th Clean Up the World in Hong Kong" today at Aberdeen Country Park, where more than one hundred HEC staff volunteered to help clean up part of the park after Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations... Mr. Keith Kwok and Ms. Audrey Eu were both pleased to attend the activity, which called for the community to pay attention to public hygiene. Ms. Eu, however, regretted that the wish she made last year – "Hopefully, there is no need for me to come to any clean-up activity next year" – had yet to be realized. Mr. Gary Chang noted that this was the 10th consecutive year for HEC to support this meaningful event reminding people to keep the environment clean. Capitalizing on the hot topic of "slimming", the Campaign is open to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong between 26 September and 21 October, 2005. The school that reduces the largest amount of waste will be crowned "The Super Clean School" and win a "Chinese White Dolphins Eco-tour" organized by Green Power... The amount of waste collected at Aberdeen Country Park today was:
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Sep 21: Wanted: Lamma Fun Day Poster Designer
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We're looking or a poster designer for this year's Lamma Fun Day on Nov 20! Message from Sonya, co-leader of our Fun Day organisation committee: "We're desperately & urgently looking for a graphic designer who is proficient in Illustrator and who would be willing to work for free on the Lamma Fun Day poster. "Most of the designers of the former posters are very busy with work. In return, we can put their logo - if they have one - on the poster. But apart from that it's another thing in their portfolio and some recognition. "If you can give me any names of suitable designers that would be great!" Click on the posters of the last 5 years for some inspiration and contact Sonya directly by email! |
Sep 20: Restaurants & Bars: Reviews & Ratings Reset
This entire large section of our forums has just been updated and cleaned up this morning. It covers almost all restaurants on all of Lamma Island. Recently opened restaurants have been added, with lots of new photos, name cards and dishes. New polls have been set up for most restaurants & bars, especially the ones who came under new management this year, giving them all a fresh chance to get good grades from our forum members. Check it out, click below and then let us know your favourites eating & drinking establishments!
Index of Lamma Bars & Restaurants (including Reviews & Ratings)
Excellent!
Good!
OK
Fair
Not recommended
Sep 19: Birds, birds, birds
While most of us were relaxing, partying &
stuffing our faces with moon cakes over this long Mid-Autum
Festival weekend, what has Lamma's Bird Photographer
Extraordinaire been up to? Taking more amazing bird photos, of course.
See above and right, all taken over the last few days. Click on the photos
to go to our long-running "Lamma's
top 10 birds" forum to see large photos and find out their names.
I also managed to receive an exceedingly rare shot of Guy
Miller himself, taken by his bird-watching buddy. The intrepid bird-o-
grapher is perching very quietly & camouflaged in a Lamma estuary at low
tide, waiting for many hours for birds to get close enough to have their
portraits taken. Click!
Great photographic skills, amazing dedication and infinite patience are absolutely mandatory for shots of this professional quality!
Sep 18: 'Hong Kong Rocks'
With a new helipad being built in Yung Shue Wan next year, will we get direct helicopter flights between Central to Lamma? Long-term Lammaite soundbydesign has already enjoyed a test flight, it seems? See his pictures of a helicopter flight over Lamma and beyond. Or was it just another little promo flight for the company he's a partner in, together with several other current and former Lammaites: Heliads?
They're
specialising in "helicopter towed aerial
advertising" and you might have seen them over HK harbour with
their very unique and highly effective advertising.
Click on any of the 
pictures to
see a musical QuickTime slide show of this recent helicopter flight over
Lamma (over 8MB, please be patient, over a minute to download). But don't
contact soundbydesign
for your reservation yet. It might take a while till these heli tours might
become available commercially, if ever...
Sep 17: Windturbine Countdown
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Hongkong
Electric press release (Sep 16, abridged,
full version is here. |
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...Hongkong Electric’s installation of its first commercial-scale wind turbine, located on Lamma Island, earlier this week. Chief Engineer (Projects) of the Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HEC), Mr. Cheung Nai-yik, today said functional testing of the facilities would be conducted in the next two weeks while the remaining site works, including road construction and landscaping, would take place in the ensuing months.
When commissioned in three months time, the 800-kW wind turbine will run automatically and generate electricity when wind speeds are in the range of 3 to 25 meters per second. The triple-bladed wind turbine stands 71 meters tall and is located on the hilltop of Tai Ling. The turbine has been color-coordinated to blend into the local environment. The facility will include an educational centre to promote public interest in and understanding of wind power and other forms of renewable energy.
Once the station is up and running in 2006, the public can visit the centre and see up-to-the-minute operational data for the wind power station... "For example, special considerations had to be made in the planning stage regarding the transportation of turbine equipment along steep slopes and vegetation en route to the site. As a result, we divided the 50-tonne tower into three sections for easier transport and assembly at the site," Mr. Cheung explained... In addition, the turbine would attract visitors to Lamma Island...
"Notwithstanding these complexities, the $15 million project has offered us valuable experience in the application of wind energy in Hong Kong and allowed us to study the feasibility of developing renewable energy projects on a larger scale," he added. The project offers a unique educational attraction for HK. The turbine will be connected to the existing power grid and remotely controlled and monitored by engineers at the Lamma Power Station... |
Sep 16: Windturbine's Up!
Within just the last few days, the tower of HK's first commercial windturbine has been erected and the triple-blades installed. It was quickly followed by another wind turbine press release from HK Electric, of course!
But even before that, Alert Blog Reader, "Cristobal de Lamma", has already submitted a photo, shot from a Tai Peng rooftop which is close to this new Lamma landmark (see right).
The online discussion about Lamma's "Magical
Spinney Thing" (local nickname) has been raging on for over 160 messages
in our forums already. Click on
TALKBACK! to check out local opinions, maybe even post a message
yourself!
Sep 15: 'Last Ferry to Lamma' Music Video!
Red Star Rising just had their debut gig in the
Island Bar on Sep 3 and they've already got their first music video out. It
takes other bands YEARS to get to that stage in their careers! John
Palmer videoed the concert and created a QuickTime Movie of Lamma's new
unofficial anthem "Last Ferry to Lamma"!
Click on the video still shot on the right to watch it. You'll need to wait just 40+ seconds to download the entire 6-minute, 11MB QuickTime video first before it starts playing (if you're in HK and on Broadband!).
In the meantime, RSR has already been performing again:
Steve Cray of Red Star Rising writes:
"It was great to play The Venue in Wanchai on Monday night, and
really nice to see some Lamma faces there. A big thanks to the Lammaites who
turned out to support us!
"Monday night at The Venue is a kind of open showcase, although pro band Yomama are residents, and well worth seeing. They had a three-piece brass section last night and were amazing. I thoroughly recommend anyone at a loose end on a Monday to pop down there. It was a top night and I think everyone in the band (myself, Kev and Mark from Nude and Hugh from the Donkeys) had a great time.
"We're now looking forward to doing DickStock, a Rockit audition and another local gig soon, probably at the Deli Lamma."
Here are some photos of this RSR gig @ The Venue, shot by Santi Sunarmah:
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Sep 14: Crown Green Bowls - a Spiritual Relation of Tai Chi?
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Michael Grimes (He's looking for work as a freelance copy writer. Contact him at words@hk.com or tel. 6071 8056. I sweet-talked him into promoting himself with a little illustrated article written specifically for this blog. "Photo usage is by permission of copyright holders"): |
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One of the delights of living in Hong Kong - as opposed to just visiting - is seeing beyond all the concrete and glass and discovering its people. As a new resident on Lamma, I've already heard several stories about the so-called 'Lamma effect' i.e. that if you're a westerner and you live here, Chinese people think you're either a hippy or a bohemian. Yet I've met westerners on Lamma who are extremely astute about money, and I've met Chinese and other Asian people who like a party. There are generalisations about cultures that are broadly true, but so often what divides us as human beings is less than what unites us. One thing that seems to unite people everywhere is a desire to help others, or at the very least co-operate if only in the name of profit. Would Yung Shue Wan be able to support so many small grocery shops without a large number of reasonably affluent residents? Probably not. Would we fancy hopping on the ferry to Central every time we needed a five litre bottle of water? I don't think so. The truth is, we need each other, both at a local level and globally in an increasingly complex world. As a Briton I confess I felt a little smug when my compatriots raised nearly GBP 200 million (HK$2.8 billion) for last year's Asian Tsunami victims in just one week. But even in my short time in Hong Kong I've been struck by the large number of Chinese people who give up their time and money to do voluntary work to help others.
A good example of this is Lifeline Express. It's a Hong Kong based charity raising money to equip and maintain a hospital train that tours parts of rural China. Medical staff aboard the train perform cataract and other eye surgery to restore the sight of thousands of mainland children and adults whose lives would otherwise be blighted by disability and poverty. One of its fund-raising events here is a sort of tai chi Olympics. Tai chi masters of different styles and their students from all over the SAR attended the latest event on Sunday at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai. I counted precisely two other westerners at the event out of an audience of six or seven hundred. In Europe, we tend to think that tai chi is for old people - a sort of kung fu for geriatrics - but after attending a warm-up session in Victoria Park at the invitation of a Chinese friend just before the event, I can testify this is not the case. I won't bore those of you who have lived here for a long time or who have tried tai chi, by giving a long commentary about it, but essentially it seems to be about form and control of energy. In other words, it's quite physically demanding because you have to control your limbs and hold them in unnatural positions in order to get the movement to be graceful and accurate. In the process of doing that, you leave a little bit of the humdrum world behind and enter into a mild state of meditation.
It reminded me of crown green bowling - a sport practised in the UK, parts of the Commonwealth and I suspect one or two clubs in Hong Kong. The under arm action of a good crown green bowls player is accurate, economic and above all graceful. Even when the bowl has left his or her hand, a player will often stay frozen in the delivery position, bowling arm straight ahead, palm up, with one knee bent forward, the other leg trailing, eyes trained on their projectile as it trundles along the well-rolled turf towards the jack and their opponents' bowls. If it was happening anywhere other than a working men's club in say West Yorkshire, we'd think it was some kind of religious ceremony.
Line up sixteen bowls players in two rows of eight (never four rows of four), add some music, and hey presto, you have tai chi. As I say, what divides us is less than what unites us. So next time you hear a story about Cantonese families dumping their unwanted dogs on Lamma because the softie westerners will look after them, just bear in mind it may be true. But remember how many of your Chinese neighbours out here keep dogs too and love them just as much. For more information on Lifeline Express visit www.lifelineexpress.org.hk. |
Any more professional Lamma writers (or photographers or artists or ...) out there who'd like a bit of free publicity in this blog?
Sep 13: Check Out Lamma's Daily News
This blog has now been published on an almost daily schedule since Sep 1, 2004 and its predecessor Lamma-zine magazine since Sep 4, 2002 (3 years!). But I still meet local residents on Main Street occasionally who have never heard of it or haven't looked at it recently! This is absolutely intolerable and totally unacceptable!
This dire situation has to change...and it has to change RIGHT NOW! How can my top secret plan for world domination by media saturation ever become reality if not even EVERYBODY in my home village knows about this still small online media! There are over 2,000 weekly readers of this blog, but Lamma has over 6,000 residents. Admittedly, most can't or don't read English at all, but that's no excuse!
You can start helping to improve the all-important readership figures by telling your friends about this blog, especially the many new arrivals and anybody with any interest in "News, photos & stories from the Lamma Island community and its fascinating inhabitants."
A worldwide integrated marketing campaign is being launched this week! You'll see big posters on the walls soon, flyers being distributed around the village, emails going out to all 2,300+ Lamma-zine subscribers, promotions at DickStock & Lamma Fun Day... Plus HUGE adverts in SCMP, HK Magazine and commercials on all major local & regional TV stations. Well, maybe someday, if this website ever goes IPO or is being bought out. Google, Skype, could Lamma.com.hk be next? Don't worry, even if I'll become a US$-billionaire someday, I won't abandon Lamma and buy you all a drink or two...I think...
In the meantime, some feedback on my new poster/flyer would be most appreciated. You can see it by clicking here or on the big red banner above!
Sep 12: Magical Spinney Thing:
Progress of Erection
New photo of the Lamma Windturbine pole being erected, viewed from the Trig Point, the highest point on North Lamma. It was taken at my request by minibeast, our new Official Court Correspondent on "Above Hung Shing Yeh" Matters. This is a new class of local Correspondents reporting from the area they live in or are most familiar with. Would YOU like to become a local correspondent for YOUR area?
The first picture with the 3 turbine blades
installed will also be published in this blog! For more pictures of this
construction and links to more detailed info (and to see a spinning wind
turbine animation), click on TALKBACK!
Sep 11: Fertility Island...
This is the cover picture of the
GoodSchoolsGuide supplement of the SCM Post yesterday - © SCMP, Sep 10.
It didn't give any info besides that this great photo was taken by Lamma's
photojournalist extraordinaire & Laudable Lamma Luminary Steve Cray.
In fact, ALL of these cover girls and boys live in or around Yung Shue Wan!
Clockwise, from left:
Sascha (Vietnamese, daughter of Island Bar's Dan
& Sharon),
Rajin (Indian/Filipina, son of Kumar & Anna),
Callen (British, son of Louise & Keith) and
Izza (Nepalese/Filipina, daughter of Zin & Marianne).
This photo is actually a pretty good representation of Lamma's non-Chinese population and the amazing multi-cultural variety of races and nationalities that live together (quite harmoniously) on our "Fertility Island".
Almost a child per week is born here, according to the Director of the Northern Lamma School. So they won't be in danger of being closed down due to lack of children, like the Lo So Shing school near Sok Kwu Wan last year, unfortunately.
Want to see YOUR children and their friends onto this home page which is viewed by many Lammaites daily? Send me photos of your birthday parties, outings, school excursions, hikes, celebrations, etc.
Sep 10: X-Plosion Photo Gallery
in progress...
Sep 9: DickStock 2005: Decide the Date!
Mr DickStock would like feedback from the readers of this blog about the date of the next DickStock concert! Saturday, Nov 5 or 12? Other dates?
Weekend of Nov 12 is Rockit! 3 and Sun, Nov 20 is Lamma Fun Day, by the way...
Click
on TALKBACK! to cast your vote. But you'll have to login to the forums
first. If you don't have a password yet, register here.
P.S. The final decision will rest with the host, Mr. DickStock, and depends on the availability of the Lamma bands, of course.
P.S. II. The date has been voted on (5-0) and confirmed by Mr DickStock! Nov 5, '05!
Sep 8: X-Plosive Lammaites
I was sitting in a meeting of six people a while ago, discussing the promotion & marketing of the "X-Plosion - Nite of Champions" Thai Boxing event in Queen Elizabeth Stadium tomorrow night, 7:30pm (poster, video, website).
Somebody pointed out that everybody on the conference table lived on Lamma! Yes, video, 3D animation, programme, ads, organisation, marketing, poster design (myself) and much of the production were all handled by Lammaites. This is just another clear example of how many writers, designers, artists and creative people live on our little island and the impact they have on the cultural and event scene in HK in general.
Tickets are still available! I'll be there ringside as the "official photographer" for the promotion company.
Sep 7: Final Battle - in the Nude
J from NUDE: "Greetings Nudists,
"The funk flies full in the face of Hong Kong's music scene this Wednesday, Sept. 7th @ the Hard Rock Cafe, TST. Doors open at 9:30 and NUDE will be kicking off the competition.
"Join us on
our eternal quest for jumpin' dance floors of beautiful people. It's time to
show the world that Hong Kong's got some soul, not just canto-pop and hardcore
Rock'n'Roll."
Links: WBOTB website, poster, NUDE poster, info.
P.S. If you'd like to have a look at the last big concert of NUDE, where they won their place in the final above, click on the banner below for a photo gallery:
P.S.
bbChris: "The overall winner was Qiu Hong
and the runners-up were Very Ape.
Nude played better at the Edge final in July. Shame for Lamma! Boohoo!"
Sep 6: La Femme Desperado
Going out on a normal Tuesday afternoon in Yung Shue Wan, it's really surprising what you can come across in just an hour or two in our active community life:
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Primary School notice board: Lots of photos of a school excursion to see the dinosaur exhibit and visit a museum.
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Learning at lunch in Man Kee that they've recently got Cable TV via microwave satellite - which was unavailable on Lamma till recently, I think. $6,000 installation fee, all legal, first year free, then usual monthly fees.
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Taking pictures of a school of big, healthy
sweet water fishes in the stream through
the Yung Shue Long valley. The govt. will be redeveloping the lower
part of this natural stream (from the bridge to the sea) into a square
concrete channel in the next few months. It's unlikely that this channel
will remain a suitable habitat for large fishes like these.
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Seeing the poster I designed myself (red
"Xplosion - Nite of Champions") on many
walls along Main Street. Picking up the new monthly Fit! HK magazine
outside the Deli Lamma and there's my poster full-page on the inside
cover, similar to the last two weekly HK Magazines. -
Beds are being set up behind the Full Monty. Looks like we'll have a few Muay Thai champions staying on Lamma in the next few days (click on poster on the right).
Don't pick any fights with Tony Jaa-lookalikes ("Ong Bak", "Tom Yum Goong") this weekend on Main Street, you could severely regret it... -
Getting invited to the first regular weekly dinner of a group of long-time Lammaites. Great!
-
Getting chatted up by a friendly, local
Pakistani (native tongue Urdu), telling me about his marital &
job problems. -
Accompanying Lamma-Por to the ferry pier (going
to her evening part-time job), we encounter a TVB
camera crew shooting along the pier. There have been quite a
few TV and film crews shooting in Yung Shue Wan this summer. Lamma-Por
recognises the actress from the former "Healing Hands" TV soap opera. I
follow them filming through Main Street and take pictures in Sampan
Restaurant.
Asking a crew staffer, they're filming a new
soap opera called "La Femme Desperado"
(an interesting mix of French and Spanish words, meaning "the
desperate/wild woman"). The handsome, young pair of actors are
Lam Fung & Ng
Mei Hang, locally famous. Google them for some good fan sites.
That's all, folks!
Sep 5: Cheesecake vs. Tiramisu Taste Test
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Official Court Glutton - Restaurant review #2: |
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Being a glutton, I have more than a normal
interest in desserts. Thus a gluttonous decision was made to sample two
of my favourite desserts: cheesecake and tiramisu. One lemon cheesecake and one tiramisu were
ordered. (Although I am perfectly capable of eating two desserts, I
actually shared with Lamma-Gung - who fully agreed with my comments
below - and had only one half of each.) Both dishes arrived at the same time, big plates with lots of cutlery to play with.
Tiramisu saved the Taste Test. Thumbs up for the tiramisu! P.S. Deli Lamma is a Lamma-zine advertiser, but this review was done without prejudice. |
Sep 4: 'Amazing Stuff. Just Amazing!'
Well, the debut concert of Red Star Rising yesterday night in the Island Bar was obviously a smashing success, according to all the tired and hung-over revelers this morning. Over 200 people attended the birth of this new Lamma "superband", made up of members from several other established Lamma bands.
The first written feedback I've received so far was
from Big Sausage, sent in at almost 4am after the gig! He was so
excited after the gig, he couldn't sleep: "...All I
can say is it was unbelievable! I haven't heard anything like
that in the 12 years I have been
on Lamma - what were we listening to? It was so
powerful. That's all I can say. Amazing stuff. Just amazing!"
I think that sums it up nicely! Click on the banner below for the photo gallery or click on TALKBACK! to chat about the gig:
Plus a few last words from the totally exhausted Steve-the-man himself:
"It was humbling to see so many people turn up for our debut gig . . . I’m told in excess of 200 people. We never expected anything like that. And to hear so may people singing along to the chorus of "Last Ferry To Lamma" during the encore was just amazing.
"It’s very difficult to get a set of original songs to fly, but we seemed to have pulled it off. The second set – with guests doing covers - was a crowd pleaser too. We had The Bastards’ Dan doing the Hendrix classic "Hey Joe", ace musician Hamada (Over A Dogma) doing the hit-in-waiting Bambara and Wankers’ Harry and John doing a couple of real crowd-pleasing numbers.
"The reaction to the gig was overwhelming and I just look forward to the next one.
"I have to say a big thank you to Kev and Mark from Nude and the Donkey’s Hugh, It’s a privilege to play with musicians like that. Plus, our sound engineer on the night – John Palmer - did a wonderful job."
P.S. 1. Pictures above by Katherine Forestier. Additional pictures in the photo gallery by Bob Davis. Thank you both very much!
P.S. 2. The Island Bar is a long-time Lamma-zine advertiser, but we'll feature any local place putting on a free concert or event, especially when it's for charity!
Sep 3: Red Star Rising Over Lamma!
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Find out tonight in the Island Bar! This seems to be a VIP event (Very Important Party), as it has actually TWO official posters! And one of them is even by (in)famous master cartoonist Harry! Click on the posters to read the "fine print".
Island Bar, 7:30-9:30pm: Music Quiz, free
entry, all in aid of World Emergency Relief!
Quiz categories: classical, pop, indie, punk, heavy metal,
electronic, rap, etc.
After 9:30pm, you can enjoy the much-rumoured debut gig by new Lamma
band Red Star Rising playing Blues and
Rock, with members "borrowed" from several other Lamma bands: Steve Cray
from Over a Dogma (guitar, harmonica, song-writing), Hugh from
Shockin' Rockin' Donkeys (drums), Kevin
from Nude (bass), plus Mark from Nude (guitar) and Hamada from
Over A Dogma as guest stars. The first set will all be original numbers and
even includes Lamma's still-unofficial national anthem "Last Ferry to
Lamma".
The second set will be all-different and feature more guests joining Red Star Rising for some musical fun with cover versions: Hamada; Yung Shue Wankers’ Harry & John w/country classics; Kevin’s girlfriend; Shyle; Bastards’ Dan *might* do a couple of "rocktastic classics". Definitely an all-stars lineup in this not-to-be-missed major event of the Lamma Summer Silly Season! See you there!
P.S. Looking for concert photos & reviews, for
publication in this blog!
Email me at
info@Lamma.com.hk!
Sep 2: Best Blogs in Asia and Hong Kong
Checking
out other Blogs on Lamma and HK in general, I came across a
Best Blogs in Asia
list, the most comprehensive list of Asian blogs I've found so far. It has a
voting system to rank any blog from 1-10, similar to the
restaurant rankings in our forums. Checking out the
Hong Kong Blogs
list, listing the major 29 HK blogs, who's currently the top dog,
eh, top blog, #1 in HK? This Lamma-zine
Blog! Wow! Rated highest at 8.86 out of 10! {*Big BLUSH!*}
That's a huge surprise for me, as this community blog is so narrowly focused and specialised on just Lamma Island & Lamma-related stuff, not all of Hong Kong. It was never really targeted to reach a maximum mass audience. I've built and webmastered major 1-million-hits/day websites in the past, but this site with just 1+ million hits/month is still just a little labour of love in my own eyes.
Many many thanks to all the contributors who made this blog into what it has become in just one year. Yes, this blog really got started up as an almost daily edition only on Sep 1, 2004. Happy 1st anniversary!
But it's the great stories, pictures & stuff submitted so generously by so many people over the course of this year - most of them current, former or future Lammaites - that make this blog interesting & entertaining, I hope. It's our unique community and its fascinating inhabitants that power and drive this blog every day. Who'd ever want to read just Lamma-Gung's silly ramblings every day! Yuck!
Have a look at some really good HK blogs on that Best Blogs list! And while you're there, you're most welcome to rank this blog as well. It needs your votes to hold on to its #1 spot a little while longer!
Sep 1: Katrina - Remembering New Orleans
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Colette - Tai Peng, Yung Shue Wan (message posted at 3:36am): |
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Now that levee has broken in New Orleans we are very worried in H.K. It sucks that such an awesome place was destroyed. New Orleans will forever be a cross between Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and Bangkok. We doubt that it will be the same again. Hopefully it'll come out of this better than ever. A lot of the buildings there were very old. A lot of the people there are very poor and dispossessed and a lot of crimes occurred there because of that. If enough people could help out, maybe "The city that care forgot" won't be that place any more. It has reigned as the murder capital of the country for a long time. I spent six years of my life there. I taught there, I was taught there. It was the last time I left there - the land of crooked officials, greedy people, and child adults - I was tired of it and it took me a long time to visit that place again. But, many people I love live there and dealt with it. I could not and I am sorry that I could not face it all one last time and make it work. Oh yeah, it is also the land
of most of my ex-boyfriends, used furniture, my first crappy HP computer
that made me become a Mac person. And many many great and terrible
people I will never forget (including the ex-boyfriends). Most of which
I cannot call and inquire if they still breathe air. Because I eloped
with a man who is not from Louisiana (the insanity!)
Nice. |
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Six years in New Orleans from 18-24. All these things happened to me. A crazy mix of good and awful. I never lived so much, so fast, and so dangerously in my entire life.
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