Slight Jolt in the South Island, But I'm All Right...

In case you didn't get my last update, I've been in New Zealand for travel trip, and yes, there was a massive earthquake that shook the South Island of the country, but I am perfectly fine.

I'm currently in Auckland, NZ, which is located in the northern part of the North Island of the country, a few hundred kilometers away from the earthquake site. Luckily, the tremor occurred in a remote part of the South Island where barely anyone lived, so that was a blessing. A few bottles and some glass broke, but other than a few frayed nerves, the Kiwis continue to go about their lives as usual. Most are more concerned with the current Cricket and Rugby games that are happening than anything else.

The only thing I've been worried about is earthquake ordinances for buildings in NZ, which apparently I can't seem to get a straight answer about. People talk about it being a wake up call, but without the building foundations to back that up, they might as well be ready for a Sichuan-Earthquake-like disaster in the near future. I would really hate to see that.

I'll have some pics to post when I get back, and I'm thinking that maybe I should post some shots from the other places I've been lately. You guys want that?

In any case, I will post the pics from my visit to Hobbiton, the film set from Lord of the Rings, since so many people were wondering if I would do any LOTR stuff like that on this trip -- Stay tuned... ;)

Happy 4th Of July, And Another Life Update...

Hello Peeps!

Instead of trying to explain why I've been absent for so long, I'd rather just tell what's been going on.

I've been to San Francisco, Washington D.C. and just recently got back from Shanghai. This has all been in the span of the last 3 months and my jet-lag is killing my soul, but in a good way. I think.

I've also been very sick this past week, forcing me to take antibiotics that made my heart thump like a race horse, and my head pound like a 3-night bender at Mardi Gras. But it looks like I'll live to slack another day.

We celebrated the 4th of July at my house this year, which means tons of food, and good company to share it with. I was hoping to have some leftovers, but it seems my relatives had other ideas and ate up half the cow we bought. So much for prime rib sandwiches.

I even went out and saw some fireworks. I live close to my old university, and it so happens to be on a bluff that overlooks all of Los Angeles. Watching fireworks explode up close, far away, and somewhere in between all at the same time is quite the panorama. It's also a lot of smoke so you gotta take the cool with the not-so-cool. It's also a cheaper light show than having to drive across the city to see such spectacles at the various parks. I'm glad our city still has a fireworks budget.

I took a friend home, and he doesn't quite live in the best part of town. However, there's something you don't see everyday: low-income families splurging on illegal fireworks for their kids so they too can have a show of their own. Sure, it's dangerous, and I hope the kids dashing through sparkler-puddles don't set their hair on fire. But there's something about a father helping his son shoot some sparks into the sky that seems all right with me. It's their right to break a few rules on a day that celebrates independence with a little bit of rebellion.

Fireworks on the freeway, flashes in the sky at 80 mph driving home -- dangerously distractive, but I keep my hands at 10 and 2. That's just how LA does it...

Hong Kong March April 2009: Just a few snaps...

Between bouts of jet lag and watching EVERYTHING that's been saved on my DVR, I'm only now summoning enough energy to post my latest trip pics. I don't know what it is, but something about two weeks in such a high-octane environment has really left me spent, more than last year when I was there for over a month. Could be the season?

This time, staying in the city, we're right in the middle of it all. The bad news? We're ALWAYS right in the middle of it all. It's not uncommon to walk in crowded streets for over 18 hours of the day, and only getting a bit of space in the sidewalks during the wee hours of the night/morning, which I got to experience first hand. Yes, I'm a semi-party animal in the Far East -- whoda thunk it?

Hong Kong is always rushed and packed, with people deep into their headphones since the only space they really have control over is their own minds. Sometimes it's music that keeps the population from going postal, believe me. Makes you wonder what kind of coping mechanisms they did have before the invention of the Walkman. Or even the radio! I dare not ponder...

Anyhow, here's my random snapshots - enjoy!

Slacker Vacations: Photos from the Grand Canyon...

Sometimes I travel for work. Sometimes I travel for fun.

And in that most rarest of occassions -- sometimes I travel because, it's, well, Monday.

Last week I took an impromptu vacation with my folks to the Grand Canyon, specifically to see the Grand Canyon SkyWalk -- a multi-million dollar project that's supposed to help boost tourism to the great natural wonder. If you've never heard of it, don't worry -- a story about it made the news a few years back, and that was pretty much it.

Basically, it's a giant sky walk that has glass for floors, so you can see right through to the bottom of the canyon. Seriously, if you have a fear of heights and or falling to your death unexpectedly, you strongly need not apply. The semi-circle walkways of glass and steel beams is pretty sturdy, and the view is worth it if you don't freak out.

My only gripe is that between the glass sheets there are small gaps. Something about that made me think twice about stomping up and down. But again, it's a totally cool rush without having to bungee down to see the canyon floor. My mother held on for dear life on the railings when she made her way around. My father and I were most entertained.

Anyway, below are the pics from the trip.

Looks like I'm heading out the door again soon. Any guesses where to?... ;)

My Oscar 2009 Guesses...

It's about 15 minutes before the awards show starts, and I'm calling the following:

Mickey Rourke will win Best Actor, and best song and best picture will be Slumdog Millionaire. But overall, I'm sure Hugh Jackman is gonna be a darn cool host...;)

UPDATE: Hugh Jackman did do a fine job -- he didn't botch the music numbers once. And I TOTALLY called the Slumdog Millionaire stuff, yet sadly disappointed I didn't get Mickey right. Then again, I didn't see Ben Still coming out as Joaquin Phoenix either, so I guess I'll call it even.

South America 2009: If Only I had the Argentinian Beef...

15 Days at sea, countless meals later, and a whole lot of sightseeing adds up to what you see below. Unlike my usual trips, I didn't have a lot of time in each South American port, but whatever time I did spend ends up being a snapshot of each location. Think of this trip as a "tasting menu", so if you decide to go, you'll get a feel of what it's like.

For the most part, the countries seem prettier than Mexico, and the tourist traps are pretty mild. The touristy snapshot places are fairly safe, given the amount of police that patrol the plazas, famous landmarks and open air markets that exist in every stop. I think they just figured that safe tourists are good for business -- what a concept?

When I wasn't out on land, I ended playing A LOT of trivia, drawing games, and basically trying to win prizes to keep myself occupied on the ship. I even read 3 books cover to cover, just because they had a library aboard. But make no mistake -- living on cruise ship time is a whole other life, where the clock can pass quite quickly if you don't look around. That, and the booze on the sea days make the journey that much smoother in rocky waters... ;)

Well, at least my sightseeing doesnt require Wi-Fi...

Dear All, To make a long story short, yes, I did have a great time in South America, and the cruising around the Atlantic was pretty spiffy. I'm sorry for the lack of updates for the last 15 days, since apparently the Internet at sea required a house mortgage along with an arm and a leg to use. But in 16 hours I'll be home, resuming the usual broadcast schedule. And yes, photos will be coming at ya in one giant photo blog, and I'm debating about whether to post up my chronicles aboard the ship or not, since most of the entries seem a bit touristy without all the usual bite I provide in the usual posts. Then again, it would be my thoughts, acapella style. I'll think about it on the flight.

Supa Winkers ;)
--Albert

All My Bags Are... Packed?...

Dear Pip,

I'm heading out the door again -- this time to South America.

14 Days. 3 Countries. And maybe see some penguins, depending on how far down we go.

I'm taking along still cams -- Sorry, no HD this time around because I'm trying to travel a bit lighter on this journey. But I'll shoot mini-vids if something cool happens.

I'll also be bringing along an iPod Touch, so bloggers keep blogging -- 'cause I'll be reading. And posting text when I can.

Now, where did I put that toothbrush?... ;)

Travel Flashback: Hong Kong pix...

Wow, talk about long overdue. I'm not exactly sure why it's taken me so long to post this up -- probably because I thought it'd take forever to sift through over 500 pictures of Hong Kong alone.

Actually, it only took about 30 minutes. Go figure.

Anyway, here's my fave shots I took there -- it's got landscapes, travel, people, and of course food from all over Hong Kong. Though, anytime I keep posting more often usually means I'm about to take off to somewhere... right? Hmmm... ;)

Scenes from Guilin: A Cruise Along the Li River...

As promised, here's the other video of my journey down the Li River. Hope ya'll enjoy the ride as much as I did. Though, the first hour was pretty cool, but by hour 3 I couldn't wait to get off the ship. Here's to the magic of editing:





The link to the HD version is here

Scenes from Guilin: The Long Haired Women of Longshen...

Hey there, it's your fave slacker blogger finally getting off his ass and doing some editing of some travel footage. Below I've got two movies for your amusement -- the first is of the Long Haired Women of Longshen, doing a demo of what it's like having "Guinness Book of Records" length straight hair. Going through an entire bottle of Pantene is not uncommon in these parts:

***One more thing: If you want to watch it in High Quality, just click the little "HQ" on the right bottom corner of the video (recommended). And if you want to watch this stuff in HD quality, well, I'll mention the links at the bottom of each clip***




link to HD version here



And the second one is of Me with the Longshen Women, participating in something that I still kinda regret doing, but, well... just watch it. You'll get what I mean.



link to High Quality version here



I'll have one more by tomorrow, just in time for Chinese New Year season! Woo-Hoo!... ;)

Cayenne...

I keep a glass of milk
right by the bedside --
"it's not for you baby,
it's for me"

We take each other in
and salsa in the horizontal
bevel -- I, nibbling
into your shoulder

Setting my tongue on FIRE,
dousing the FLAMES with
cow juice I had made
ready just for this --

You smile, realizing what I
meant all along, as I wait for
feeling in my tongue to return,
to go at it again...

o.g.062408

CES Day 2, Over and Out! Bring Me Back To The Masses...

I am completely burned out.

It's now Day 3 of CES and I'm still only writing about Day 2 because frankly, I really can't take any more of the floors, the peddling, and the crowds. Again, seeing a lot, but not seeing a lot, that's the problem...

As the CES experiences comes to a close for me, I continue to reflect upon things I stumble upon while exploring. It seems that CES is probably the only time where you'll find a group of guys staring harder at a set of CPU processors than the lovely booth girl that's standing beside it. In fact, if a booth girl is in the way, it only makes the guys stare harder because they think they can develop X-ray vision that will see right through her, and onto the merchandise. Of course, there's always exceptions to this rule.

Like the fact that the AVN Adult Expo takes place at the EXACT SAME TIME as the CES, and they co-mingle in particular at the Sands Expo Center where the Adult Expo is being hosted. Ah, where YouTube meets Boob-Tube, and "is that a harddrive in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" takes on SOOOOOO many different meanings. Suffice it to say, there were a lot of guys that "accidentally" stumbled into the wrong conventions. But hey, if anyone can make sense of glass dildos having anything to do with new OLED sceens, it's these geeks.

So is the dilemma of the photographers working both events. Do I take pictures of the semi-nude models dressed as porn angels ascending a flight of stairs, or should I get that shot of the new Sony Cybershot camera? Or, can I do both? And talk about feminism -- There were probably more women taking pictures of pornstars than their male colleagues. I don't know if that's progressive, but it seems like everyone's in on the joke, all genders included.

And of course, my favorite distraction was playing the game "Pornstar, or not a Pornstar." Some women you see wearing nothing but a thong, pasties, and clear platform heels? Probably in Adult entertainment. Of course, it's also a business conference, so the nerdy-looking female in the powersuit is probably trying to sell GangBang Pussies 7 onto the masses. So as vision blurs, so do the lines of what is business and pleasure.

So, what can we surmise from all this convention madness? Technology continues to get better, but computer batteries are still crappy. 3D TVs are on the horizon, but they're gonna be hella expensive. Robots may not rule the world, but by middle 2009 they will mow your lawn automatically. Apparently, you can have too many video screens in a car -- I say putting one right on the gas cap a bit over the line. And as always, sex sells everything. Sex sells itself. Sex is in the microchips and on a woman's hips.

And like every year, we're gonna want to have this stuff and not want it all at the same time... ;)

CES: It should be short for "Can't Even Sit!"...

I guess you can say that I've seen a lot and NOT seen a lot at CES so far. Seen a lot in the fact that I've roamed most of the convention center already. But not seen so much 'cause it's hard to keep my attention at any one thing for very long. My brain is on complete overload from all the gadgets and flashy TVs that inundate me left and right. Seriously folks, my head is drowning in a sea of tech-induced euphoria.

Though I've been keeping up with CES coverage online and basically following whatever the heck Gizmodo and Engadget are posting up, it is an entirely different thing to walk around with a mass of people all pushing and shoving in an orderly fashion to check out tech that they might not purchase, but drool over all the same.

As always, I'm learning a lot from this experience. For instance, no matter how super-flat that HDTVs are this year, someone in the crowd always asks "Is THAT really how thin they can get it? I thought it'd be thinner."

You find out that the "Booth Babes" aren't only pretty, but they know EVERY product that they are demonstrating. At least they sound like they know what they're talking about, which I can't quite say the same about the sales guys on the floor.

Places to sit down are scarce. Sure, they have couches and chairs smattered about somewhere, but they're never around when you need them. And when you do find a chair, albeit missing an armrest and looks like the Incredible Hulk left an imprint of his ginormous ass-cheeks in the cushion, you collapse in it anyway, relishing in the fact thay you're off your feet for the briefest of moments.

Some gadgets have unusual selling points. Samsung has created a camera that can withstand hot desert climates up to 112 degrees. That's great, 'cause It's good to know that if I'm trapped in Death Valley while on a shoot, I'm sure to die long before my camera does.

And most of all, I've discovered that for a technology convention that is forward concious about the environment and trying to be as "green" as possible, it sure as hell goes through A LOT OF PAPER! For maps, maps for the maps, books, the CES Daily report, Starbucks cups, and even paper printouts for registration, someone is printing and collating enough tree material so supplement a small industrial nation. There's also the electronic maps that people download, don't get me wrong, but don't think they aren't grabbing a dead-tree edition as a backup.

And there's 3 more days of this.

I'm putting in 2 more days myself before I cut-myself off cold turkey. Though I'll continue to explore the convention floor, I will probably leave this event still wondering:

Do we really need any of this junk?

Well, I guess a 90 inch flat plasma HDTV could be swell for "some" things... ;)

In 2009...

Most of us will live,
some will likely die,
but life will move forward
in 2009

Change will come slowly,
it happens over time,
expect so in small steps
in 2009

Divorces will be final,
with new marriages divine,
love's still a mystery
in 2009

Rain will pound down,
as deserts run dry,
the Bushmen make do
in 2009

War looms above,
though Peace fills the sky,
may the trigger pull less
in 2009

Our taxes increase,
with jobs in decline,
Obama will fix this
in 2009

These are just thoughts,
I'm having in my mind --
the predictable uncertainty
of 2009...


***Happy New Year! And may we brave another year together, dear friends... ;)***

It Came To Me After The Garter Toss...

As I told y'all a few days ago, I was heading to the Bay Area for my cousin's wedding.

They kept a large glass near the bridal party's table where you can drop love notes to share with the newlyweds. Inspiration hit me with this:

Keep each other close,
In the moments that matter most -
So let your lives be filled with bliss,
Sweetly marked by many a kiss...

I don't know if I'm really back, but something tells me it never left... ;)

Heading Northbound on the 101...

Hey Bustling-Billies!

I'm heading to San Francisco for the weekend to attend a cousin's wedding.

Then I'm off to Vegas for Xmas.

And oh yeah, where the hell are those blogs I promised? They should be coming in when I return. I've been battling illness for a few weeks now, and just starting to get my strength and motivation back. Perhaps I should start writing poetry again...

But for now, the poetry of the road beckons, and I'm not one to keep the lanes of spoken word empty... ;)

Bette Midler: A F--king Diva (She said it!)...

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be uploading Hong Kong pics and working on Guilin vids, but hey, can a slacker get a break?

I realize I haven't officially updated this blog since before I came home, so let's just start right here:

I was back in Los Angeles a few days, and now I've been in Las Vegas for about 4 days.

Sorry kiddies, but this trip is also without Hookers and Blow since it's kind of "work related."

However, I did go and see Better Midler yesterday, and I'll say this:

She is Fucking aWesome.

In fact, she herself used the F-word about 20 times - sometimes as a punctuation mark, sometimes as a verb, and sometimes just to shout it out to the 3,000 screaming fans in attendance.

The entire show was a huge spectacular production: Dancing, singing, and I don't want to give it away, but there was even a full-on, mechanized portion where Bette and a full chorus line of dancers are doing an entire routine in electric wheelchairs. Seriously, even I was impressed.

Though, I'm not sure what I was more entertained by: The Divine Ms. M belting out the best of her hits, or the 6 women sitting in front of me that were going ape-shit the entire time. It was like watching a live-version of the Golden Girls, except it had more drunk dancing, alcohol schluging and at one point, one of them waiving their cellphone as if it was a lighter.

But hey, I'm just glad she sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" and of course, "The Rose", which brought me to an uncontrollable fit of laughter because of this rendition of it:







All that aside, she is a consumate entertainer, and can still give Britney Spears a run for her money... ;)

Bye-bye For Now, Hong Kong...

I'm sitting at an airport lounge, hogging the bandwidth while eating ham and cheese finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

Yeah, I'm a poster child for the jet-setting slacker.

Anyhows, I guess by the time you read this folks, it'll be Thanksgiving day, and I hope you all find yourselves with people you can share it with, or, at least heading to places where the turkey is moist and the mashed potatoes are plentiful.

Most immediately, I'm thankful that I'm not stuck in Bangkok nor near anywhere in the vicinity of Mumbai. I'm also grateful that this year I survived my birthday without any bus incidents.

But most of all, I'm grateful to have the time to travel with my folks, and share all this with you all. For as always, you guys make it worth the effort to bring the camera along and show you how I'm viewing things at the moment I'm in them.

Speaking of which, I took a butt-load of pics in Hong Kong this time around on the extended stay, so if anyone has any particular things they want to check out first, let me know. Or, I'll just splurge them out throughout the month and into December to close out the year.

THE SHORT LIST:
Things I will miss about Hong Kong:
1. The Food
2. The subway, buses and light rail travel
3. The Peak at sunset
4. Cute girls wearing fake Uggs
5. All the latest tech gizmos

Things that I won't miss about Hong Kong:
1. The People's "Go F--k Yourself" attitude
2. The Gunk of air pollution on my skin
3. Electronic bus signs that don't work
4. Automatic toilets that flush at the wrong moments
5. The crazy mini-bus drivers

But will I be back?

Yeah.

Next entry will be back in LA, where I'm sure the current rainyness will welcome me with open arms... ;)

Daytrip: Macau -- It's All About the Egg Tarts...

Greetings, fellow Chill-axers!

Looks like yours truly will be heading home very soon, so the Asian adventures will be coming to a close -- for this year, anyway. No need to panic, I think I have other adventures in store for next year already, so until then, I guess I'll be returning this blog back to writing and poetry -- if that's all right with everybody...

We made a quick stop to Macau last week, where, if you last recall from last year, I didn't get to do as much walking around because of the Macau Grand Prix (silly us, we should have checked the schedule). This time around, I was determined to get some new pics of old things, some more panoramas, and of course, eat one of the famous Portuguese Egg Tarts. Not that they don't sell them in Hong Kong, but it really is about eating it where it comes from, like drinking Tuscan wine in Tuscany, or having a Fatburger in Fatburgerland, California.

Need not worry, this slideshow is pretty short, but I hope you like it anyway: