Korea Special 01 - Friends

This is the first pic that I took with Eunvy when we met on the plane~

Her name is Eunvy and I met her in a very interesting way...............we met at the plane!! She was sitting next to me in my flight to Seoul. She start asking me if I am Korean and we started talking. One thing lead to another, we exchanged details and she kindly offered to show me around Seoul City and of coz she did.

We went to the Han River and spend the whole afternoon there. The main reason I want to visit this river so much is because of the movie the host, its one of my favourite korean movie about this mutated monster which was hiding in this river and starts capturing and eating people!! 

Anyway, I dont want to off topic too much~ she is very nice and kind and I thank her for showing me the city and came to my screening with her bf~

This young man....i cant even remember his name....he show us where the train station is when we finished having a walk at the han river. He reminded me of Luigi when he was young~....all so fat and cute.

Now, he is really the main main in my trip!! Junni is the guy that has been showing me and arranging all my hospitality needs and he has done a really great job!! He was assigned by the film festival to show me around and at first when I am communicating with him I thought he was Korean and I was worried that I can't communicate with him properly....but when I first see and talk to him at the airport.....all my doubts are gone as he is actually british. He was originally from Manchester~ I basically talk more english than most of my days in HK...which is great!!

His background was very interesting. His father is korean and he decided to come over to Seoul and studied Korean language for two years. Now, he speaks fluent korean and got himself a very nice korean gf...how cool was that!!

This again supports my theory is that to learn a language proper, date one of the girls that talks that language.

During the 8 days we spend together, we chat a lot....from korean history to customs and from his dreams to desires. He also show me how to order food which is very important in Korea as most of the restaurants there do not have english descriptions and of coz the people who work there can hardly speak any engish, so it is really hard for tourist who dont understand korean to order the food that they really want. But Junni show me this restaurant which is just right across the street from the cinema and its like 5 minutes away from my hotel and this restaurant soon became my canteen of this trip! 
This is Boek Heun Oh, he is a projectionist for the film festival and he asks questions in every screening! We became friends after the closing ceremony as we both drank a lot. And he keep buying me drinks and dont let me pay as he says it's "korean tradition" to treat tourists this way....i like this custom a lot haha! He is really friendly and he also agrees to have an adventure with me in Seoul. We ended up walking up the Seoul Tower and he tells me a story about the film industry in Korea.

Chloe is a volunteer at the film festival and she is very shy to me at the closing ceremony dinner and we started chatting. I ended up calling her on my last night in Seoul and take her to dinner~

I met a lot of local people in this trip and I am very proud of it. As I think it is terribly hard to meet local people when you join a tour or you are in a very tight schedule. But for me, I got the film festival as a base for me to meet new people and of coz the film festival is very kind enough to allow me to stay back for 5 days even after the film festival is a very generous gesture to me and this allow me to relax and chill out and feel Seoul like no other trip that I have ever experienced in my life. Understanding one's culture is always a very interesting subject to me and I really look forward to my next long holiday........I wonder where should I go next? Well...I got plenty of time to think about it.

Lost in translation? not really.....

last night was the closing ceremony of the film festival and it was much fun. I go have dinner with all the staff of the festivals and then all the crews decided to go to have a drink and dance at a local club called Ska.....

I 've always wanted to experience one's culture and of coz i decided to join them.....
the whole vibe of the club was so nice and everyone was having a great time. I experienced the strong friendliness in korean teenagers and this raises question in my head....

can Hong Kong teenagers be this kind to foreigners ? I seriously doubt that!!

I think koreans are really shy about speaking in english, but this do not apply after they have a few drinks of alcohol...well...they speak in broken english but it is more than enough for me to understand and being ab le to communicate with them. They are very curious about me and at the same time I am very curious about them. We ask each other really silly questions and I think this is the most enjoyable part of really understanding one's culture.

After the night club, the boys took me to have traditional pork intestine soup which apparently they said that it is good for one after they had consumed much alcohol~ taste nice and yea~

but the only thing that I have regretted is that it is the last day of the festival and I just hesitated to take a picure with this really cute volunteer which after I have a brief chat with her,.... I know that her name is candice and she studies radio frequency engineering and has been unemployed since. She is really tall has a really "Doll face" and during each screening I gets really excited because she will talk to me in korean....a bunch of words which i can't undedrstand but she say it really beautifuly with her tones and all.

I ended up going back home at like 6am in the morning and prepare for another big day at the electronic market.

** I went to the han river with Euncy ( the girl that I met at the plane) and it was again another fun night. You guys that havent seen the movie, please go download it or get a dvd.....i took lots and lots of funny photos and i even have friend octopus and drink beer along the river.....all so very nice!

I am now feeling a bit sad because holiday is about to end very soon!!

until next time

Tom

From HK to Seoul

hi there,

I am now in Seoul doing this blog entry:

Feelings so far:

I just dont know what to order in restaurants as all their restaurant menus are in Korean and there are not many restaurants with english translation menus~

I got into this sort of western style korean restaurant last night and I decided to just point at what people eat and then order, but luckily, they have an english menu and I have myself one hot meal in this cold winter day....

yes the weather is extremely cold!

I met this girl on the plane (korean) and she game me her phone number and suggested that she will show me the city. I emailed her yesterday and I 've just got a respond from her!! She has also promised to come to my screening to day so that doubles the excitement!! I wonder where will she take me.

Have a look at my hotel room it is super luxury! I wish I can live like this when I am in Hong Kong. Look, there are so many beds there....with kitchen and all. I wish I can fully utilized it but u know I can't.

I am planning to visit the "Han River" the river that was highly featured in the movie, "the host"
Also, I am going to a lot of screenings tomorrow, not to mention my own screenign with the post screening questions and answers section. I wonder what the korean audience would ask me about~....

I am also planning to visit the demilitarized zone which is also featured in another movie, "JSA". Yes....I am a crazy movie fan!! Which also means I can have a taste and get to see a little bit of north korea~ Also, I think I will also do some more research after I go back to HK as it really fascinates me with all the history about korea and all~

I should really go back to bed as there is a very long day ahead of me.

Until next time!

Alone again naturally

me on panel in studio

I call cams and direct the hosts( see those blinking buttons??)

me having a go with the camera

Alfred - my main man

one big cable eye family!!!

But sadly this show is coming to an end on the 31st OCT~ I would like to dedicate this song to the show~ I suddenly have a great emotion shift as I am about to go on a long holiday in Korea in a couple of days 

Alone again naturally by Gilbert O'Sullivan

In a little while from now,
If I'm not feeling any less sour
I promised myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower,
And climbing to the top,
Will throw myself off
In an effort to make it clear to who
Ever what it's like when your shattered
Left standing in the lurch, at a church
Where people 're saying,
"My God that's tough, she stood him up!
No point in us remaining.
May as well go home."
As I did on my own,
Alone again, naturally

To think that only yesterday,
I was cheerful, bright and gay,
Looking forward to, but who wouldn't do,
The role I was about to play
But as if to knock me down,
Reality came around
And without so much as a mere touch,
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt,
All about God and His mercy
For if He really does exist
Why did He desert me
In my hour of need?
I truly am indeed,
Alone again, naturally

It seems to me that
There are more hearts
Broken in the world
That can't be mended
Left unattended
What do we do? What do we do?

(instrumental break)

Now looking back over the years,
And what ever else that appears
I remember I cried when my father died
Never wishing to have cried the tears
And at sixty-five years old,
My mother, God rest her soul,
Couldn't understand, why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken
Leaving her to start with a heart
So badly broken
Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever spoken
And when she passed away
I cried and cried all day
Alone again, naturally
Alone again, naturally

Memory Flashback

Accidentally saw an old website and saw a line of text describing me, here it goes:

" If I am a cookie from Mrs. Field's, I would be the Coffee Toffee Flavour "

......

Countdown to Seoul

Details of the 1st Seoul International Family Film Festival:http://www.sifff.org/sub_program.asp?pno=32

My films will be showing in Seoul during the festival and this is really exciting as its going to be the korean premiere~

Living in the Dark:http://www.sifff.org/sub_program_view.asp?no=60

Sukki's Story:http://www.sifff.org/sub_program_view.asp?no=61

Life in Cable~

My video shoot kit (ipod, my 4 color pen, my canon ixus camera and my hand drawn storyboard)

nice view from the 13th floor of the building of cableTV at Tsuen Wan

nice sunrise view from home~

my new pair of new balance~

me and Huby (host of my own cableTV show - Cable no.1 Eye)

a lonely night at the studio floor (video shoot of korean entertainment news with Vivian Lau)

Director in focus - Francois Truffaut promo

My New Speaker!!

Mstation Orb (Green)...goes well with my green toy on the left~

National Day Gala Promo

latest work~

Anti-Drug storytelling competition Promo

latest work~

me in optimus prime helmet

its not just a helmet, its also a voice changer. I am having much fun with it!!

my first on screen performance

its a MV production for cable's upcoming drama "Tutor Queen".....

Transformers

My first video shoot with adult.....a very beautiful adult

me and beautiful Vivian Lau

entertainment news promo

me at work

thanks to Leong for taking this photo with his new Canon Ixus 70 camera~

children of HK walkin PROMO

Another set of promo for the children of Hong Kong 2007 Campaign.

my new mac setup

Mac Pro: http://www.apple.com/macpro/

Specifications:  

processor: 2 X 2.66 GHz Dual Core Intel Xeon

Memory: 2 GB DDR2 ram

one nice piece of machine!!

2007 Children of Hong Kong Promo

Hi guys,

as you might have known, I started working at cableTV since April and it has been great fun so far.

Although a lot of hours but they are exciting, educational and enjoyable at the same time. Attached is the first project that I was assigned for the 2007 Children of Hong Kong Campaign. Again, I animated the whole thing and this promo took me around 3 to 4 weeks.

enjoy!!