There was a Lamma article, "Rainy days and night walks", in
the dead-tree version of the
JoongAng Daily
in Seoul, Korea. It was written by ex-Lammaite Michael Gibb, now
their Deputy Editor. It's a really very nice story, written in a humorous
tone from the insider angle of a former resident, well befitting our
lifestyle and attitudes. Congratulations to Michael, a former Lamma-zine
contributor, for a very suitable promotional piece! Here's the
full story (jpg format) from July 25, TRIP section, page 7; plus the
link to the story on the newspaper website.
All the photos in the article are mine, they picked them from
our huge and growing
Lamma Photo of the Day archive from many photographers. Send me YOUR
photo(s) for some prime exposure on the home page! Click below for the
archive:
It's also interesting which of my Lamma pictures they asked
for in high-resolution print quality, but then the designers didn't use them
in the article. Here they are:
  
From the web page of the
Lamma Business Owners
Group (BOG):
Fourth Meeting: Thursday morning, July 31, 8:30 AM!
Lamma Activities Centre (behind Ice-Cream Express,
opposite Deli Lamma)
"10-minute presentation by Lamma-Gung about his favourite topic
and labour of love, Lamma.com.hk. He's promised to answer all, even
embarrassing questions.
Carole Lewis will lead a discussion on "Networking for business -
especially when you live on Lamma."
|
Parksy - Senior Lammaite & Laudable Lamma
Luminary |
|
I write
with great sadness after the loss of 2 of our
puppies because of
Distemper. I wish you to publish our
story.
This
saga started on 30th May 2008, when one of the
puppies (Sandy Brown) had followed my daughter into
the playground that is in front of my house. The HK
dog catchers from Ag & Fish (Agriculture & Fisheries
Dept.) had been hiding nearby and had been bothering
other residents with dogs on leads in the
playground.
They
grabbed our dog and refused my daughter's pleading
to release him. She came running home distressed,
saying that some men were trying to hurt him. My
wife ran after them, but they would not listen to
her either.
The
puppy spent a few days at their kennels in Sheung
Wan, Hong Kong Island. They demanded payment of
HK$885 for his release, saying that if we did not
submit to their demands they would sell it, a
registered dog.
My wife
collected the dog from their kennels on 6th June as
we were on holiday that weekend. The place I am told
smelled disgusting and was very unclean for a
government department with no separation between
animal pens or different areas for different
animals, the floor encrusted with all their feces
and urine, a breeding ground for disease.
 A
few days later, Sandy Brown (see right)
started coughing (like a hairball) and looked very
sad, tired, sleeping a lot, not eating. He then
developed symptoms like a cold or flu.
This
got steadily worse until he could hardly stand or
walk, his breathing was noisy, lots of green mucus
was running from his nose. All our time was taken up
trying to feed and care for him.
We woke
one morning to yelps Sandy Brown was having a fit.
All his muscles were convulsing, the top of his head
was pulsing with every breath and his legs were
twitching and curled. It was horrific to watch. He
died later the same day on the 23rd June. At this
point we did not know what was wrong with him.
 A
few days later, another puppy (Red, see
right) started getting the same symptoms. The vet
diagnosed it as Distemper and the same heart-rending
process started again. She was put down on the 10th
of July after many vet visits, jabs and medications,
which just prolonged the agony.
My
children are devastated with what has been happening
to our pets.
Five of
our friends' dogs have since developed the same
symptoms. Two of them have died this week.
I
understand this is the first instance of Distemper
in 6 years on this island and I believe it was
caused by Ag & Fish! Aren't they responsible for the
health and safety of animals in their care?
Other
civilised countries I understand give automatic
inoculations to admitted animals and charge for the
shots. This would be an acceptable demand,
considering the price we paid to them and for this
whole pitiful affair.
The
least they could do is review their practices,
cleanliness, standards and employ people who
actually care about animals, not dog snatchers and
abductors.
Yours
sadly, JM Parks, Lamma Island |
TV broadcasting antennas on top of Ling Kok
Shan, the hill behind Sok Kwu Wan, serving Lamma Island and Hong Kong Island
South.
Lamma-Por is in digital TV Heaven...
We just got a digital, high-definition TV and she can't stop smiling and
marveling at the extremely good picture quality, as compared to the former
snowy, blurry, analogue TV signal we've had to put up with for years.
Lamma-Por's Chinese soap operas never looked so good and she's REALLY
looking forward to the Olympics, being the REAL sports fan in our family.
There's one new Plus TV English channel besides ATV and TVB, plus 7 new
Chinese channels (mostly promotional stuff, sports and lifestyle programs
showing off the amazing digital picture quality).
There IS NOW TV available on Lamma, but only a few dozen people
subscribed a few months ago, despite massive marketing efforts with flocks
of salespeople swarming all over Yung Shue Wan. But due to the maximum 3Mb
bandwidth on Lamma, only around 30 fixed channels are available at all,
mostly sports-related, at high cost and not including the most popular
English channels.
There are legal satellite options - Thai satellite, Cable TV, a TVB
satellite package - but they're very expensive, offer a very limited number
of popular channels and so are not common at all on Lamma.
Illegal satellites are your best option, especially the Philippine Dream
satellite very widely used on Lamma. 42 channels, mostly English, but no
Chinese. There are loads of other illegal satellite options. One person here
has SIX different satellites at home, pointing in different directions,
receiving hundreds of channels from all over the world.
Saving money, we got a nice, little Korean LCD screen in Sham Shui Po for an
amazingly low special-offer price, "HD Ready" only, not the 50% more
expensive "Full HD" version, plus a well-reviewed, low-price digital TV set
top box. They delivered, installed and set it all up the next day, Sunday! Two more remote controls to learn, but what a
great picture. Anybody wants to buy a second-hand Sony 29-inch TV for $800?
[Editor: SOLD within a day!]
The English news and some US series, feature films and documentaries are
shown in HD, similar to wide-screen DVD picture quality, so I'm happy, too.
But seeing Lamma-Por so very happy and smiling for hours is truly a sight to
behold.
See our
High-definition TV on Lamma forum and get your questions answered!
Local Hong Kong band Open Day (aka The
Beatles) –
composed of Teddy (aka John) and his aka pals Paul, George and Ringo –
entertained an appreciative audience Saturday evening at The Island Bar.
|
Mrs Santa Claus -
The Island
Bar (Photos by Lamma-Gung) |
|
The Island Bar
Welcomes The Beatles:
'Open Day' Entertains the Masses
Saturday night followed a very hot
and humid day on July 26th in Hong Kong. With the doors wide open
and the gentle and welcome sea breeze wafting through, The Island
Bar was definitely the place to be on Lamma, as copycat Beatles band
"Open Day" set up to play some very old favourites. True, the
members of the band were probably not even born when The Fab Four
originally shook their mops, but nonetheless those in the audience
were very familiar with the songs and even had, dare we say it, for
the most part, grown up with the tunes of "Love, Love Me Do" and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand!"
Whilst the young musicians did not
perhaps engage the audience in the same way that IB veterans such as
the Curs and Shep Woolley do, they held their own and produced a
healthy mix of old hits as well as presenting a few of The Beatles
lesser-known lyrics and melodies. Playing to a smaller than usual
crowd (July and August are the months for family holidays and
consequently, a number of regular customers were conspicuous by
their absence), the young singers held it together and produced some
lively music for their audience.
Chris Wong, Business Development
Officer of Carlsberg, (who is becoming a familiar face at The Island
Bar, supporting events like this one and the Laracy Gall Dragon Boat
event in May), had been personally involved in setting up this
particular gig by introducing Open Day and producing some of the
promotional material. Other Carlsberg folks not directly involved in
organising the evening, like PR doyenne Samantha and her husband
Mike, himself a respectable musician of another genre, were
accompanied by Samantha's mother, came along to enjoy the
frivolities and even stayed overnight to continue sampling the
delights of Lamma on Sunday as well.
Organised this time by Carlsberg,
Open Day (and the Beatles) will certainly be welcome to play again
at The Island Bar when no doubt a larger and even more enthusiastic
crowd will be on hand to give them a big hand.
Singalong
participation from the audience with smiles, nodding
of heads and tapping of feet
all around, and applause for
an effort well made. |
 |
Like so many Lammaites, I welcomed the family of one of my brothers "back
home" visiting HK this summer. Playing the tour
guide is a quite fascinating experience, visiting sightseeing spots and
aspects of HK I've never or only rarely experienced before, despite living
here for 20+ years. When was the last time you've
visited the Museum of History in TST, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, Cafe Deco
on The Peak, the revolving restaurant on 62/F Hopewell Centre in Wanchai at
sunset or gazed at the crystal-clear HK Island skyline from the 38/F while
sharing a yummy 3-layer teatime set? Well, they were duly impressed by HK's
skyline, being so lucky to visit during the clearest weeks of the year,
before the perma-smog will blanket most of HK once more...
Also, playing the Lamma tour guide is part of the stressful duty, eh, great fun of
showing relatives around in our home and get their fresh, first-time
impressions of our home. Well, frankly, after seeing HK Island they weren't
too impressed by Lamma, one of them even daring to disrespect my rooftop
garden, "You call this a garden?" Well, he's family, so I refrained from
throttling him...this time...
Here are a few mostly off-island photographic memories of our touristy
exploits and discoveries. I'm totally exhausted now and they didn't even tip
me after all my tourguiding!
It's been many years time since I've seen a
clear view like this from The Peak
while descending in the Peak Tram
My Mezze Platter in Cafe Deco on The Peak on HK
Island.
Way too much food for my tiny stomach, but what a view!
First-time visitors to Yung Shue Wan. While I
took this picture, Bob Davis was walking by, exclaiming "It's not nice to
shoot tourists!" ;-)
  
Museum of History, HK exhibition
  
R66 Revolving Rest. in Hopewell Centre - Hotel Panorama, TST East
View from Santa Lucia Rest. on 38/F of Hotel Panorama
Inside the MTR underpass from YSW Shopping
Mall, eh, IFC to the Central station.
No Hong Kong experience would be complete without the MTR Rush HourTM
Ride!
Old Media vs. New Media (like the Lamma-zine), from the excellent
Daryl Cagle's Professional
Cartoonists Index.
But as there are no old Old Media at all on Lamma Island, like a local
newspaper, this Placeblog is not competing with or damaging any Old Media, I
hope.
New Media makes small local news websites like this one possible with their
very low production and distribution costs. And they're usually free of
charge!
I've been hiking up to our cute little sightseeing attraction, Lamma Winds,
during one of my irregular, early-morning constitutionals. The forest is full of these amazing Woodland
Spiders, making beautifully intricate webs of often more than 10 sqft in
size. Bright red, yellow and black in colour, these most beautiful of local
spiders can reach up to 1.5 inch in body size and more than 5 inches across,
including their 8 legs!
But they're non-aggressive to humans, usually completely stationary even
when you get very close; slowly, of course. They're patient enough to sit still as photo models,
even when flashing them close-up and repeatedly. Some can be as high off the
ground as a Village House is tall, spinning their webs between tree
branches, even between neighbouring trees. Looking up, you can often see
several spiders against the currently clear & cyan skies (click to enlarge):
   
Territorial fight? - 2 close-ups - The tiny
red male spider of the same species
  
 Front - Back - Front
While our forums may sometimes look quiet and even idle on the surface, with
just a few registered users being online at the same time, posting the
occasional message, there's so much more going on behind the surface. A
Cyberwar is raging and vile spammers are constantly, 24/7 attacking the
forums with their vile spambots and trying all kinds of ways to get in and
flood the forums with spam messages and link spam. See below for a
website-administrator-only snapshot of yesterday's activities in all our
forums at 17:46:
All these Guests are unregistered forum visitors, looking at various forums,
which is all fine and good. But about half of the Guests are trying to post
new messages and view Private Messages, which they're definitely not allowed
to do. All are unsuccessful, of course, but they keep on trying, Internet
programs attacking any forum they can find on the Internet. I had to secure
each of our forums long ago, so only registered members can post messages;
this keeps the spam attacks above from doing any harm at all. This
particular spam attack above - all originating from IP Address
220.181.19.162 - was traced by Senior Moderator Alan to "IDC, China
Telecommunications Corporation", probably in Beijing. The spammers are
probably anonymously abusing their servers for these attacks.
Last year, we were flooded with spam member registrations - up to 90% of new
registrations - and our moderators were being kept busy by deleting the
all-spam messages this fake members posted. To keep almost all spammers out,
I've had to do some research and then insert a new question into the member
registration, a simple question that automated, non-human spambots cannot
answer correctly. It has worked very well so far. So all is at Peace! Love!
Lamma! in our spam-free forums for now, till the next successful spam attack
or, even worse, another virus, worm or Trojan killing the entire forum, like
it happened 2.5 years ago, taking me a week to repair and clean up.
But occasionally, a human spammer will register manually and post messages
promoting their goods and services. These will be deleted as soon as a
moderator sees them and I'll kill the spammer's registration as well. But
messages from Lammaites promoting something useful and specific to our
needs, especially local services and leaving/moving sales, are always
welcome and can be posted for free in
our classifieds.
So please be aware that a constant Cyberwar is raging behind the surface of
our peaceful-looking forums. Many thanks and cheers to our great volunteer
moderators who are working quietly and patiently behind the surface to keep
all our
registered forum members safe and comfortable.
Looking at the property agents' windows along Main and Back Street, they are
advertising so many flats for sale, but very few for rent. What's going on?
So many new Village Houses are being built, but they're usually all for sale
only. A lot of existing flats are being renovated and then put onto the
market at significantly higher prices.
Occasionally, I get hired for a photo shoot by a flat owner or property
agent, to create a big advertising poster for a renovated flat. Nice, quick
pocket money and I quite enjoy doing it, getting a bit of insight into the
current local property market in the process.
Latest case in point:
This just completely renovated, friendly sun-yellow & green 700 sqft G/F
flat and patio with swing chair in Yung Shue Long, 5 minutes from the ferry.
At HK$1.85 million asking price, this Lamma property is definitely very nice
but far far beyond my price range. Look for my poster in a shop window at
Nick's Corner to have an inside look at the flat.
In the meantime, our free
Rent & Let forum has become a very busy place this summer for people
offering and looking for short-term flats, housesitters and moving sales as
well. If I'd get any commissions, I'd be well off, but small local
classifieds like ours work well only if they're free for sellers & buyers.
|
Dofi - Graffiti Artist (photo
above & Photoshopping by L-G,
other artwork & photos by Pest5, click
to enlarge) |
|
 Hello
Lamma-Gung,
Long time no speak. Yes, the
work on Fountainhead was done by me and
some good friends, one from New Zealand and one
from US.
The NZ guy (Pest5) is on
a world tour, so has already left HK for Europe.
The US guy (Bose) has also left HK for
the summer, going to US and Europe as well. So I
can't get any comments from either. But here is
the link for the
Pest5 site. Scroll down to bottom and
see the painting they did on my roof top:
Thanks for reminding me again
for the Lamma-zine logo. I will keep it in mind
and do some sketches for your roof top as well.
I was hoping to come over to Lamma this weekend
and maybe paint for you. However, it may be
cutting it too short. I'll send you an email
ASAP when I have some sketches ready.
Pest5
writes in
his own blog about the Fountainhead job:
"Lamma Island:
Yesterday, Me, Dofi and local kid Bose went and
painted a bar on a lil' island called Lamma. We
got well drunk in the process! The ferry ride
was intense, lol!"
A few more of Pest5's amazing artworks, from
his website:
 
  |
 These
junior Lammaites are amazed about the antics of their frequently upside-down
teacher, but show great eagerness of copying at least some of his less fancy
Street Dance moves. A really great and cool workout for Lamma's youngsters!
The Lamma Activities
Centre welcomed me to take some pictures of a Street Dance demo
class by incredibly fit'n'flexible dude Meynard, a founding member of the
Streetboys and an international dancer in the "Miss Saigon" & "Peter
Pan" musicals.
The classes for 7-11 and 12-19 year-olds start on this Monday, July 21, for
five mornings, but there are still a few free slots available. Click on
poster for details and hurry up to
contact Gary.
Let's have a look at a few more extreme moves, but most of the class are
simple active dance moves, seen in many MTV music videos, definitely doable
&
safe even for moderately fit youngsters.
 
  
  
Finally, a few days ago, I've reached my intermediate weight loss goal:
100 pounds lost since I've joined the new bariatric program of Queen Mary
Hospital last Sep as a public healthcare patient. Most of the overweight has
been lost since my operation on Feb 25, when they permanently removed 80% of
my stomach (vertical gastrectomy only, no gastric bypass.) A still pretty
dangerous operation (just below 1% mortality rate) which makes overeating
physically impossible for the rest of my life.
According to my Weight Loss Ticker above, I've still got "67 lb to go"
till I'll reach a Body Mass Index of just below 30, reducing my medical
status from the charmingly named "Super Morbidly Obese" to mere
"Overweight", a lofty goal I have reached the last time as a teenager. Check
your own status via a
BMI Calculator.
It's been a real voyage of self-discovery and a major lifestyle change:
-
learning so much about health, medicine and fitness,
studying the latest medical research and reading
touchy-feely weight loss forums with personal
experiences, before-after pictures, special diet recipes
and lots of support;
-
watching and evaluating almost everything I put into my
tiny stomach. Is it high-protein, low-fat, low-carb and
low-calorie? The operation was only the beginning of the
hard work; with a bad diet I could stop or even reverse
my weight loss;
-
joining a gym for the very first time in my life, slowly
building up my strength, fitness and energy levels with
cardio and circuit training;
-
getting on a bike for the first time in 30+ years,
endangering myself and my fellow Lammaites, but also
exploring new areas of Lamma Island.
-
attending the comprehensive post-operative program of
Queen Mary Hospital, meeting regularly and individually
with the surgeon, dietitian, clinical psychiatrist and
various outpatient specialists.
-
becoming so much healthier and fitter, improving most of
my former medical problems almost miraculously, stopping
almost all drugs, bringing my diabetes and blood
pressure under full control without any medication;
-
changing my former clothes to all-stretchy, sporty
outfits now. No point buying any new stuff now as I'm
still shrinking constantly. Major personal makeover
(hair, teeth, glasses, clothes, etc.) coming up step by
step later this year...
Quite a few people have been asking me about the 100-pounds-off party
I've been mentioning a while back. Finally, the right time has arrived! Our
many forum moderators will be the first batch of invited guests, but there
needs to be a second party for sponsors, advertisers and major Lamma-zine
contributors, of course. Probably on two Aug weekends in my rooftop garden.
But beware, it'll be a HEALTHY party, not the usual orgy of debauchery of a
typical Lamma party! ;-)
Currently still losing 2 pounds every week, it might take almost another
year of my strict eat-half diet and frequent exercise to get as close as I
possibly can to my target weight and then to maintain it long-term. Wish me
luck!
Click to enlarge the posters above from the
GreenLammaGroup.
Fantastic jobs and many thanks to all the great participants!
Sorry, no English translation available this time, but you
get the message
by simply looking at the pictures above...
Another entry from the long-running Lamma-Slur-of-the-Month campaign in
HK Magazine
(THE
GREAT HONG KONG QUIZ - Section Five: The Tourist
Twist):
This is one of the 3 worst things that can happen to tourists stranded in HK
after their hotel has foreclosed and they need new accommodation quickly.
The other two worst accommodations are: being deported or stuck in
Disneyland forever:
One could argue that these tourists would actually be the lucky ones and it
could be one of the best things that could happen to them, free
accommodation, healthy organic food, quiet, Peace, Love,
Lamma! IF there were
any hippie communes left on Lamma, having been completely extinct since at least
the Handover 11 years ago.
But a few hippies have fortunately remained
living happily on Lamma. Most of them congregated at the Sitar & Tabla concert last Saturday,
often professionals with stubbly bold heads, running their own
highly successful
companies by now. Personally, I never evolved past the long-haired "wannabe
pseudo hippie" stage in my teenage years, never really
turning on, tuning in, dropping out or running a highly
successful company...
As I wrote in my
CityLife HK magazine interview, the hippie commune
cliché is ancient, last-millennium and wholly inappropriate
nowadays, perpetuated ad infinitum and ad nauseam by the
SCMP, HK Magazine and quite a few Chinese dailies and
weeklies, despite the huge number of journalists, editors
and photographers living here, or maybe BECAUSE of it.
But writing and publishing daily about the
"Lamma Island Community & Its Interesting, Intriguing
Inhabitants" (as it says in the subtitle of this page), I
might contribute unintentionally to this ancient cliché,
despite being irked by it occasionally.
But maybe this cliché might actually be a
very good thing for Lammaites, as foreign body writes
in our long-running
FAQ for Lamma Newbies forum, making some really good
and valid points, I think:
"If we want to keep enjoying Lamma as it
is, low rents, etc., I think it makes sense to reinforce the
stereotype rather than debunk it.
"When people ask me what Lamma is
like...I never fail to mention poisonous snakes, mosquitoes,
very aggressive stray dogs, no PARKnSHOP, no Wellcome, no
prestigious schools, and yes, lots of hippies. This
combination is guaranteed to put off the majority of HK
people and thus protect our peace and tranquility.
"If you take the hippies out of the
equation, some daring HKers might be willing to brave the
snakes and the mosquitoes to enjoy lower rents. But just
mention long-haired, barefoot, pot-smoking hippies with
dogs...they immediately run for cover.
"If hippies were to disappear completely,
we would need to invent them...create computer-generated
images to feed to the media...a bit like what they did with
the Chinese tigers."
It sure looks like an advanced-class yoga
pose, way beyond a mere sun salutation, karmic pretzel or
the famous ouch!-just-threw-out-my-back Yoga pose. But it's
actually Street Dance, inspired by Break-dance (so named
because you'll easily break a bone or two trying to do it
yourself).
Soon we might see this ultra-flexible guy
doing his thing on Main Street or in the nearby
Lamma
Activities Centre. He'll be teaching great new
skills to 7-19 year old Lammaites to impress their friends
and parents. Main Street should become an even more fun and
interesting place soon.
Gary
the Actively Centred writes:
"We have a celebrity dancer coming to
Lamma, teaching 1 week of street dance for kids and teens.
Everyone I spoke to has heard of The Street Boys,
Asia's top street Hip Hop group who have lots of videos on
YouTube."
 |
"Andy
is a true renaissance man, talented photographer,
fine artist and cutting edge human being.
Always a delight and pleasure to be around. An
insiration. Happy to have him as a friend."
- Russ
Mooney, Creative Director, Toon City Animation Inc.
A "professional
recommendation" on
LinkedIn - another huge community website.
Doesn't this great photo look so much
like
Andy Maluche, after a late night in The
Island Bar? |
I conducted a little email interview with our
former
Official
Court Artist, before he recently returned to a
corporate career (Operations Director for Leo Burnett
Manila), leaving his five wild, careless, free-wheeling years
as a wandering artist well behind him. We'll miss his
formerly very frequent Lamma stopovers, his almost inactive
Art Blog and his innumerable, creative, usually
hilarious
Lamma-zine contributions over the years.
 Wow,
how do you get a LinkedIn recommendation like that? It must
have been after many a beer! And what's an "insiration"?
Something to do with siring more children? Sounds kind of
seedy...
 Who
wrote that? Couldn't have written it any better.
So
you went back to gainful employment in advertising, another
fine artist selling out, eh, succumbing to the commercial
pressures of survival. What's the art world coming to?
The
problem is when you are ready to sell out and nobody wants
to buy anything. I have been following your little operation
and stuff. Saw you walking the pier from afar and it seems
to work. Good luck with that. I looked this morning at your
great blog.
Almost
got enough material now for another long-overdue story about
the Official Court Artist who has been missing in action
from the Lamma-zine for far too long!
I
wish I could provide more.
But my life has been so boring. Actually, not really. I
started cross-stitching and soon I will have a large
picture of dogs playing billiard. So cute.
And
what are you up to these days, art-wise? Creative pause,
artist's block or the pure joy of enjoying so much more dosh
than you've been able to spend in quite a few years?
I
am still doing art. Actually, since I kinda stopped doing
art I have earned most of my money with it. Just another one
of those little ironies in life.
I still do art
occasionally (a few times in Hong Kong in shopping malls)
but the corporate world is quite consuming. Does having an
affair with an art student count as art?
I have a a couple of artworks lined up and if my client and
I can agree on a price I'll be doing Greek sculptures in HK
next months. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to create
Greek sculptures in HK.
Attached a latest picture
of me (see above), slightly stressed but happy.
P.S. After seeing this story, Andy
emailed:
Thanks for the excellent coverage. :-)
See
http://www.dont-touch-my.com [July 22:
Featured in Lamma-zine]
I feel honored.
Unfortunately by now the picture is exceedingly inaccurate.
Since I was able to blue myself again.
And, following your lead, I lost already
6 pounds in the last three weeks.
Facebook
is still spreading on Lamma like wildfire, like a highly
contagious virus. My own infection rate, eh, number of
Friends is increasing alarmingly and is increasingly
alarming. There's so much I can spy, eh, learn about my
Friends, things they might not tell me F2F (face to face). I
can view their
personal photos they might usually only show their closest real-life
friends, fearing embarrassment.
But it's a great research and communication tool for
the Lamma-zine, so I'll be spending more time up there,
exploring all things Lammaite-related, trawling and sifting
through the avalanche of trivia tidbits flooding Cyberspace,
trying to find an occasional little nugget for the
Lamma-zine readers:
 Did you know that:
Frank "is thinking of
lunch. But what?",
Kevin "is enjoying being a father",
Gavin "is
taking the kids to Disneyland",
Annie "spoke too soon. It is too hot already!",
Elizabeth "is painting the final
stages of HK Island smog, Kowloon neon lights & deep fried
street food in Wanchai",
Katie and Scot "are now friends, having found each
other through the People You May Know tool" and
Lamma Gung "is just publishing another
Facebook-related story on his website at Lamma.com.hk."
Also, Facebook just reminded me that it's
Tamara the Artist's birthday today, so I emailed her a Gift
picture. Awww, ain't I sweet and oh-so-generous (and Facebook-addicted, maybe?)
I didn't know any of these factoids and infolets about my real-life
friends = online Friends till Facebook told me so! Who needs to meet people
in real life anymore if I can so easily and
cheaply socialise on Facebook, sitting on my air-conditioned
big ass staring blankly into my irresistible, multi-coloured
window into Cyberspace instead of ever going out into this
horrible, humid heat!
 Hey, want to help me in my almost hopeless
quest to catch up with SheiLAP the Many-Friended
(1,509 Friends as of today, up 47 since a week ago; the
current Lammaite record holder, I believe.) Any Lamma-zine
readers could become my Friend, too! Just search for Lamma
Gung, but give me a good reason (like knowing me in person
or at least by email) to accept your Friend-liness. Let a
flood of "X added you as a friend on Facebook" emails
fill up my Inbox, making me feel ever-so-popular even though
I'm spending all my days sitting on my air-conditioned big
ass staring blankly into my irresistible, multi-coloured
window into Cyberspace...
Last but not
least, here are a few digitally doctored photos I found in
Saheb's
MacMix Photo Booth photo gallery (created with his
Mac, of course!) He's a very popular Lammaite and member of
the digital generation, making somebody like me growing up
without even a TV feel sooo ancient! These great photos feature himself and some of his school friends
(and Facebook Friends.) Of course, I had to ask for his
permission before posting them here and he courteously
granted it via a typically curt, concise and casual
Facebook message: "yeah sure go for it..."
 
 
 
 
 
These images
remind me so much of how I got into computer graphics
myself, 27 years ago, in the dark and distant pre-Mac, even
pre-PC age, feeling like the Stone Age from today's
youngsters' perspective. I had to
use a multi-million-US$ IBM Research Lab mainframe
computer to do my first modest little image manipulation
programming experiments, nowhere near as fanciful, colourful and
cheerful as Saheb's artworks...
Do we have another worthy, budding Lamma
Artist of the Month here, an emerging talent soon to
make headlines in the HK art scene? YEAAAH! I think
so!
SAHEB -
Lamma Artist of the Month - July 2008!
Congratulations! In his typically modest
fashion, Saheb declined to comment on his art, letting the
pictures speak for themselves, in the time-honoured
tradition of other more senior Lamma Artists. He's the
second-youngest Lamma Artist of the Month ever and wasn't it
just yesterday that we celebrated him turning
Sweet 16? He's turning 18 next month! It seems more
proof that a new generation of artists is growing up happily
and healthily on Lamma, using New Media to express their
creativity. Let's see more from Lamma's young artists!
By the way, digital artists of all ages are
most welcome to be featured prominently and for free in the
Lamma-zine, like any other local artist working in any
non-digital media!
Contact me!
July 10,
2008: After another rainy-musty day, sunsets smell so
fresh'n'sweet...
|
Peter Lloyd -
Holistic Hong Kong (who also
re-published
this story):
(Peter wrote this feedback just a few hours
after the concert, with the impressions still
fresh in his mind. The organiser, Narayanmoorthy
of
Palghat Cousins, wrote: "Wow .. Very
quick work, Peter... the speed not compromising
for comprehensiveness or for correctness.")
(Pictures & captions by L-G and Elizabeth the
Cyanotypist. Click to enlarge.) |
Indian
Music on Main Street
Saturday night on Main
Street, Yung Shue Wan. Behind the chatter of
HK Island couples returning home and
Lammaites letting their hair down, is the
faint sound of Indian classical music
drifting past Emily's and the Deli Lamma.
It's a warmish
night and mercifully the deluge of the
evening (among the worst in 7 years of my
stream's high water marks) has abated and
one of those beautiful clear and sparkling
post-rain South China Sea sun-downs present
themselves.
The evening is
a classical Indian music evening with sitar
by Kengo Saito and tabla by Jorge Ramiro.
Its one of those uniquely Lamma evenings
which feel like they couldn't happen
anywhere else, where Lamma is inimitably
Lamma – or as the old t-shirts used to have
it 'Planet Lamma'. A Japanese, France based
sitar player with a Mexican, New York city
trained tabla player together studying in
India and living in Hong Kong. Both with
impressive classical education and in my
limited knowledge sincere students of Indian
music.
A multiracial
crowd enjoying uninterrupted performance, no
mobile calls, no drunken interludes, no
crying babies (with a few present), no
clumsy entrants, just maybe 40 people
savouring an hour and a half of heartfelt
music. And to give it a Lamma touch all on
donation with envelopes provided, as is the
Indian tradition.
 
 
Kengo is
leaving Lamma so this concert was a good-bye
to his island of 5 months. Put together at
short notice by Narayanmoorty of Palghat
Cousins who had organised a previous concert
on HK Island and with the help of Lamma-Gung
of the Lamma-zine and Gary of the
Lamma Activities Centre.
There is an
intoxication to Indian music for me, a
transcendent quality that without much
effort takes me to a place of spacious
pleasure in listening. It can be a very
reflective internal space. As with many, I
closed my eyes and was transported back to
the holy city of Varanasi in India, during
another wet monsoon season 21 years ago
where the smell of incense, the chant of
ghats and meandering cows all added to an
atmosphere of sensory joy.
Kengo chose
Raag Yaman, a melancholic offering to mark
his sadness at leaving Lamma. [Kengo
described it as a bright and hopeful mood
yet slight melancholic.] They started
with a short introduction and then followed
up with the Raag, with Kengo playing the
sitar and after a while Jorge joining in.
It's difficult to describe, especially if
like me you don't understand the intricacies
of a 16-beat rhythm. But there is a
timelessness to the music, befitting Mother
India herself. It was easy to let the music
play and dance its way through me.
Thank you,
Kengo, and bon voyage, and thanks, Jorge,
for your tabla playing. Thanks to
Lamma-Gung, Gary and Kumi for their part in
organising the evening. The first of many I
hope. |
Pictures by
Elizabeth Briel:
Pictures by
Lamma-Gung:
Deep in trance...
Current & former Lamma hippies: bald head &
stubble are in fashion these days.
Babies congregate outside, fathers inside...
High-tech lighting system |
(Click to see entire poster)
A simple poster announcing a concert, right?
But, quite frequently, getting a poster like this into the
Lamma-zine can involve, like in this case, a dozen emails
with 7 people over more than a week, advising the organiser
and musicians on finding a local concert venue, getting the
poster, converting the file format, Photoshopping, posting
event info and links in our forum and Events Calendar,
discussing in person and preparing a concert photo shoot...
End result of all these time-consuming
efforts behind the scenes: just another poster in the
Lamma-zine. The most simple-looking things often take by far
the most effort and time...
See you at the concert, making it all
worthwhile, I'm sure!
 Accepting
another
LinkedIn
invitation (increasingly popular with Lammaites, in addition
to the vastly popular Facebook), I came across a fascinating
info nugget in an ex-Lammaite's profile. He won one of the
top 5 prizes amongst 2,300 entries in the
Novel of a Year competition by the
Telegraph newspaper! Do you recognise the guy on the
right?
The last time we've heard from this former
Lamma-zine regular (click
here for a story list) was his Lamma farewell story
in
Lamma-zine #32 (when it was still just a monthly
publication, Sep 2004.)
Doggy was one of the very first Laudable Lamma
Luminaries, awarded by Lamma.com.hk for his founding and
organising the
Lamma
Fun Day. His legacy on Lamma lives on, thrives and
still grows year and after year:
Lamma Fun Day on Sunday, Oct 26 this year and
they're looking for Sponsors right now! Here's the
Sponsorship Package. If you know any company or
individual maybe willing to sponsor this wonderful yearly
charity event, either by cash or gifts for auction,
contact the Child Welfare Scheme!
After this little digression,
back to the main story, Doggy's top-5 prize win with the
first
1,000 words of his novel, Wee Davy! One of the
judges
wrote:
"Andrew Doig's "Wee Davy"
has an irresistible opening, as a young Glaswegian,
back-packing in Australia, rescues a malevolent, miniature
old man from a washing machine on a banana plantation.
"There was some discussion
among us about how this magical aspect would work through a
whole novel but the writing was so fresh and witty we just
couldn't bear to let it go."
I've been
emailing Doggy for news on the aftermath of
his major win - any accolades, admiration, cash and
freebies? - and the progress of his novel and what he's up
to these days. Fortunately, he replied right away and none
of my usual violent arm twisting, ass kicking and death
threats were necessary for this frequent and eager
Lamma-zine contributor. Thank you, Doggy!
|
Doggy - Laudable Lamma Luminary & Lamma Fun
Day Founder:
(Cartoon by Emily the Ice-cream Lady, photos by
L-G, 2004) |
|
 I
left HK in 2004 with the family so that I could
study my Creative Writing Masters at Glasgow Uni -
my novel, Wee Davy, was born out of that. I finished
the degree in '05 with about half of the novel
written, and finished the first draft of it in about
April 2007, then quite surprisingly winning the
Daily Telegraph competition in June with just the
first 1,000 words of the book. It was quite a
surprise because I had been told about the
competition, sent in my work by email, then
completely forgot about it until I got an email from
a literary agent who was one of the judges on the
competition saying 'congratulations on winning, and
can I see your manuscript?' Yahoo.
Actually, on the back
of being a GU graduate - the Mlitt Creative Writing
from there is quite well known - and then following
the competition win, I've been able to get the
manuscript of Wee Davy into the hands of several
agents and a couple of publishers, who all rejected
it! Not such good news. However, the feedback I
received on it, both positive and negative, was
consistent enough that I have been able to return to
the book and edit it quite heavily, making the most
of what has been liked about it (principally the
character of Wee Davy, and his general foulness and
strangeness), and do away with what has not been
liked. In a lot of ways, this process has been an
extension of what happened on the Mlitt course - a
lot of critiquing and rewriting. I finished that
process in May and now again I have two agents
reading it at the moment and another I'm waiting to
hear back from whether she would like to see the
whole novel or not. I feel very upbeat about it now
- I've certainly taken Wee Davy as far as I can, and
I think it's ready to fly now - off the printing
presses and off the shelves.
 Please
stick the link to the first 1,000 words on the Lamma
site, as i would love people there to read it. The
book does end up on Lamma, of course, though not for
the bulk of it - that's a whole other novel. Debbie,
Kaia and I miss Lamma a lot, and very often
(especially as the dreadful British summer sets in),
much more so than HK itself - Finn was just a bit
wee to remember anything much of it, though he's
seen the vids, and would love to visit, which I'm
sure we all will do in the not too distant future. I
would really love to be back on Lamma at the time of
the Lamma Fun Day - I've followed it on Lamma.com.hk
and it just gets bigger, better, bolder and much
better at fundraising... superb.
When Wee Davy gets its
publishing deal, I will let you know and will be
expecting everyone on the island to be Amazoning it
- and then to see multiple copies being sold by Nick
the Book, for sure. |
|
Wee Davy
- Chapter 1
-
By Andrew Doig
This is the story of
a black-hearted wretch. A nasty, dirty, selfish
narcissist. A user. A bastard abuser with a foul
mouth and a twisted, lecherous, unquenchable lust.
This is the story of the incubus, the night prowler,
the leach. This is the story of Davy and it's the
story of me. This is a wretched tale that needs to
stop. I am the wretch, but I'm not. Davy is the
wretch. All I need is to get rid of Davy. The end of
Davy; the end of the wretch. The end of that
wretched little man...
Read more...
I've asked Doggy for
a recent photo.
Yes, that's Finn today, the baby
in the cartoon and photo above, 4 years ago. |
Click for Chinese translation (Thanks, Yogesh!)
Click for
forum discussion on this topic, incl. a complaint
letter to the AFCD.
Dragonboat races in Sok
Kwu Wan on July 3, 2008:
The
Lamma.IslandHK.net website has the photos, click on
their banner below. This very quiet website's motto is
"Understand Hong Kong, Eye On The World, Preserve The
Nature!" and it features extensive photo galleries of
most of Lamma's areas and villages. All the fine photos
of the very local, virtually Gwailo/Gwaipo-free Sok Kwu Wan
Dragonboat festival by Mike3:
CityLife HK Magazine recently did an email interview
with me about Lamma. The article should come out Aug 1,
together with a few of my photos. Here are their questions;
my replies have been copied to our
FAQ for Lamma Newbies forum.
Afterwards, the editor wrote,
"You are a great ambassador to Lamma Island. I envy the
contentment you have found in your living situation."
{*Big Blush!*} No way! But
the contentment part is definitely correct...
CityLife Magazine questions:
Where are you from?
What is your profession? Do you work from
home?
How did you end up settling on Lamma Island?
How long have you been living on Lamma
Island?
What is it like living on Lamma Island?
What's great about it? Any downsides?
What are the best places to eat?
Any suggestions for visitors?
Anything else you'd like to add?
How do you feel about the reputation of
Lamma Island residents being hippies?
Click here for my replies...
|
Stine Baska - Children photographer and
former Artist of the Month
(text & photo) |
You can eat so fresh and
healthy for next to nothing here on Lamma.
I thought I'd share some
easy dinner ideas with your readers. Today,
walking through the village, I got a nice
bunch of fresh snake beans from the lady
selling from her trolley for $5. The lady
next to Deli Lamma had broccoli for $5, and
$7 for a head of cauliflower.
I steamed them for about 5
min. Meanwhile, I mixed equal amounts of
plain yoghurt and mayonnaise. We buy the
Japanese Doll mayonnaise available here on
Lamma. It's a lot like European mayonnaise.
Use your favourite.
This is the dipping sauce
that will make even the most resistant into
vegetable eaters. I can prove this!
This could well be dinner on a hot night.
Try to mix canned tuna into the yoghurt for
a bit more protein. Enjoy! |
Veg &
yoghurt/mayo a la Stine |
 Another
heart-warming story about many Lammaites' great love for
pets, the story of Eleanor - Lost & Found. It all
started with Laudable Lamma Luminary SheiLAP starting
a new topic in our forum
"Puppy LOST at Ferry pier in CENTRAL" and putting up
posters around the village:
"LOST in HK, near Lamma
Ferry Pier 4.
"Little Eleanor was lost
as she was getting on the Ferry. She is now lost in Central!
She was seen around Wing On department store and then this
morning she went into Wing Lok bank then headed in the
direction of Worldwide house along Connaught Rd.
"She is only 5 months old
and had been de-sexed that day. She hasn't had anything to
eat for 2 days. We are very worried about her. She is
unfamiliar with Central as she lives on Lamma Island. She is
a lovely dog. Please keep and eye out for her & if you see
her call her, and she will come to you and please call
Sheila..."
Then it spread to
Sheila's Facebook group, generating more than an
incredible 200 messages from well-wishers and people looking
for Eleanor. And then came the good news, the happy ending
needed for a great doggy story like this one:
Sheila:
"Yes, this is where she was found. The photo is taken after
Helen and Alice had spotted her and I managed to coax her
out from where she was hiding, dehydrated, weak and in pain
... but still happy and beautiful!"
Eleanor was found in HK Park,
pretty far away from the Lamma Ferry pier in Central, on
June 29, after 9 days! A triumphant
photo gallery "Eleanor is back!" went online quickly
on
Sheila's Facebook pages. You can add on to her
currently 1,463 Friends (a record for a Lammaite? Anybody
got more?) to view the entire, almost epic Lamma Drama and
major doggy saga.
Finally, even the SCMP
finally took note and published a small story today,
"Runaway dog safely home but without a wag". Sheila:
"She was hit by a car, which skinned her tail and broke it.
Her tail has been amputated and she is happy now."
Congratulations to all the people involved in finding her,
the rescuers Helen & Alice and all well-wishers. We love
Happy Endings!
To help Sheila, you could either send cheques made out to
"Lamma Animal Protection Charity Ltd"
to Room 1101B, 158
- 164 Queens Rd, Central,
or donations can be put into
the Lamma
Animal Protection Charity account:
HSBC
400-399978-838.
Please let
Sheila know the details and she'll send you a
tax-deductible receipt.
P.S. Sheila writes:
"Wow, L-G, thank you for
the lovely story about Eleanor! She is back on Lamma and
bringing a smile to my face every time I see her. Actually,
it's hard to believe but the vet costs alone were over
$7,000. Thank you so much for including that important
point.
"She can still wag, but it
is more the tick-tock of a metronome."
|
Nick the Bookman and Official Court Main
Street Correspondent
(and expert in
moving all your stuff on/off Lamma, click above
to email him!) |
|
Ferries
I don't know about anyone else,
but the new ferry schedule is working out
fine for my moves. We had a job on 2-7-08,
the first day after The Hangover Anniversary.
Had to move about 40 bags, boxes and about 8
large pieces of furniture. Bit of a panic when
we realised we needed to book 48 hours ahead,
i.e. 30-6-08. Told the HKFF staff the problem at
09:30 Wednesday and they had a large freight
ferry assigned to us for midday. It arrived at
11:30. Half an hour to load up. No delay in
departure. Future jobs we can now stagger
between the 11:20, noon (if pre-booked) and
13:00 ferries if necessary and depending on the
size of the move. Less stress all around. This
is a good thing.
As for the fare hikes:
They're now $14.50, up $2.70 from the old slow
rate of $11.80. But they're cheaper than the
previous fast ferry fare of $16.80. I'd gladly
pay the new fare for the privilege of NOT
sitting in the plastic seats anymore.
Apparently, those old ferries have been "given"
to Peng Chau.
Prices may still go up, but not
yet. Oliver from Pak Kok told me the tariffs
were calculated on the basis of $80 barrels of
oil - not $140 and rising. The HKFF is still in
deficit... Maybe it's time to consider steroid
hamsters inside wheels churning out the power.
Or natural gas. No shortage of that in Legco.
New (un)Improved Poli-Power!
Guaranteed to run (at the mouth)
longer then the Energiser Bunny!
A Handy Tip: When you buy
stock from IKEA, ask them to deliver on the
earliest date they can GUARANTEE to be at the
Central Ferry Pier by 11:00. It's worked for the
last 5 deliveries we've picked up. Of course, it
still gives IKEA about 50 minutes to screw up,
but so far it's been pain-free. Of course, I
don't have the pleasure of writing rude notes to
the IKEA Board of Directors criticising their
lack of piss-up/brewery interface skills. Or
asking them to De-Evolve for the Benefit of
Mankind, but it's a small loss...
And remember: Don't Drink And Drive! Do
Think And Thrive!
Amen (or Apeople for the
Politically Correct Absurdists among us).
And
if there's "person", why not "perdad/mum/sis/bro,
etc"? These little things do keep me awake at
night. |
View from the publicly accessible rooftop. Great spot for
sunset or night shots. See
The Waterfront photo gallery.
Inside The Waterfront, a great place to
meet up with friends, day or night
(All photos by L-G)
A warm welcome to our new
advertiser, The Waterfront Bar & Restaurant, helping to
maintain and upkeep this website. I'll always have a soft
spot for this place with the unrivalled location and view.
I've known one of the owners, Dan Peterson of The Island Bar
(same management team), since he moved to HK 20 years ago,
when we worked in the same int'l ad agency.
The Waterfront was also the
last place I've enjoyed my very last ever regular-size meal
before my permanent stomach reduction operation; and what a
truly fine dinner it was. And they didn't even let me pay
for it, to my great surprise! These days, I share a very
affordable single set dinner there with Lamma-Por and
usually still have enough leftovers for my lunch at home the
next day. 3 meals for the price of one, a great deal.
To find out more check out their new web
page (by yours truly) with a menu overview, "Where to Find
Us..." and loads of photos:
Welcome to The Waterfront Bar & Restaurant
Diesel's Sports Bar has new
owners and they're doing away with the historic bright green
of the place. Lammaites walking by were amazed about the
repainting job in progress, not completed yet (see below,
old and new). Diesel's has been bright green since most
Lammaites can remember. More about all the other exciting
changes soon, including a potential renaming of this
favourite sports bar...
Missed a spot! -- Wet paint!
Diesel's
BEFORE it turned bright green, over 10 years ago --
The
formerly bright green bar. One of their free buffets, those
were the days...
Diesel's has been featured
many times in the Lamma-zine, especially when it was a
happening party place. A few historic photo galleries:
Lucy's 40th Birthday Party - Sexy Pets
Alain's Party @ Diesel's
Sexy Biaatch of Boracay Party
Read last month's stories...
|
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
