wellcome collection

For some reason i got many friends come to London for working , traveling or shopping from time to time ,i am a kind of unofficial tour guide for everyone ,booking tables , and shops opening hours are on the top of my head , er....... i also subscribe timeout , in case some good shows , gigs , sample sale ......... i enjoy it in a way , but sometime i do really out of idea , people want something very local from me , not talking about china town ,British museum or top shop , i guess friends from other country want to feel like a part-time local if i am around town . OK , guys  look , The Wellcome Collection is my number one museum /gallery . The wellcome collection , its say on their front page of their web "a free destination for the incurably curious ". so now u know it is free, and why it call wellcome collection , please read their web page . it is a place which offers visitors contemporary and historic exhibition and collection about health , humans , animals etc . It is something between an art exhibition  and a medical related show . They do a Friday night event all the time , last week  , along an exhibition call high society drug history and culture , a late event call HANDS . They do nails paint , palmistry, try out real prosthetics, meeting real surgery . try out their tools and try to sew fake wound together , a graphologist who analysing your handwriting , a palmist to read your palm, it is sooooooo fun i have to say , maybe like what the title of wellcome collection say "for the incurably curious ", i am curious in human being and body , i am never a quality to become a doctor in any way , even i was taught by a surgery to do a one hand knot , i was struggling . i am always proud of my sewing in fashion world , ok , you know what i should stay in the field i should belong to . The other things i like about the event about welcome collection are they do really try to relate art and medical and human body , late night event which call " SKIN " which do a online competition , the winner's drawing or pattern will be tattoo on a woman body , i think that is kind of crazy but i like it .

i didn' t take any picture in this HANDS event , i am enjoying myself , but do enclose the live tattoo thing from SKIN event .

can u see top right , that is a cafe ,
maybe next time they will do a surgery live !

too many fashion exhibition , too little fashion

went to see Future beauty 30 years of Japanese fashion in barbican 2 weeks ago , er ................ what can i say , i do adore all those tradition colour , craftsmanship , kimono and sushi in Japan , not so much hello kitty and Japanese fashion , right fashion to me is everything in life , but when we are talking about something what we wear on the body , ok i have to say many show pieces in fashion week are not that wearable, i can imagine you are shouting how about viktor and rolf ,castelbanjac or galliano ( no matter u like their design or not , they are just so well make and not colour blind ) , but to me they create a beauty of fantasy especially couture , to me that is a feast for the eye . i do imagine myself walking on the red carpet in couture but definitely not something i saw in barbican . right if you say they are ART , i agree everything can be art if will you want them to be .

 

i might need this in the pool

i don't want to attached to the celling , and definitely not children

i like this the best , dont mind trying this on 

this is for red carpet or Christmas ball ,
even not it is oh so inspirational !sure!


More fashion exhibition on V and A 


KENZO is doing a catwalk for the Friday late night event this month .
I would love to see this , but all ticket have gone . 
i do see KENZO show once in my life by Antonio Marras and 
got my hands on some vintage KENZO dress in a paris market . 
Accidentally my teacher Natalie Gibson from st martins got the same dress as me 
in another colour .Hers one brought  in the 70s mine one 4 years ago , 
which is a "vintage" , fashion call fashion cos it got a shelf time ,
it suppose to be out of fashion when it time up , don't know who
is the clever guy who invented " vintage " ,there for some classic 
outdated design can be save and respect , we all learn what goes 
and then back in like running a circle . In our era nothing is so "new" anymore !


also somerset house 


1: free exhibition - Matthew Williamson

Until 30 Jan 2011
Daily 10.00-18.00, Thurs 21.00
Courtyard Rooms

2: Dior illustrated : Rene Gruau and the line of beauty 
i really want to see the Dior one , i love Rene drawing , i even try 
to train myself to draw in that style when i was in school , 
of cause i am no Rene Gruau . hehehe.......

Until 9 Jan 2011
Daily 10.00-18.00, Thurs 21.00
Embankment Galleries

the master himself 



One more 


Design museum are having a fashion drawing exhibition as well 


03 November – 06 March 2011

Tell you more after my visit 

A wei wei

i am sure most people who interested in art or live in London have already read about this man , a Chinese artist call Ai wei wei . The most interested bit to me is his background and what he is trying to do with his work , Although i believe many artist would express their political view though their work ,but A wei wei does mean more to me just because i am a Chinese girl who born and grow in Hong Kong . As you may know Hong Kong now is a part of China , as i grow older i feel i got the responsibility and interest to know more about this country .I don't live in Asia anymore , so my point may not be that practical , but i think i am in a good position to have an overview picture , something between east and west . For Ai wei wei , he keep mentioning about the power of media , in my case , i find out 90 % of the news from media , for recent year "social media" . Almost all social media are banned in China , but there are still some people who can jump over the fire wall to express themselves freely on these social network .Media of cause is powerful , we believe what on news , books ,TV etc , even you don't believe it 100% it still create an inspiration. From this Ai wei wei pieces it do bring up a question to myself , i may be in the best position of seeing both side , at least i can ask and debate , i hate fantasy on people and how people project on certain country and give them too much credit when i know those are fake . Another question is that Ai wei wei bring up from his book - "what is fake , what is real "? The idea is so similar to one of my favourite book , a chinese classic literature-" Dream of the Red Chamber " .Except all this question , i do like the way he create a history , like a nature memory for the people who work in the small scale factory in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen, all craftsmen or village people do know someone working in this project .The sunflower seed sculpted and painted one by one in 2 years by over 1000 craftsmen,and here you go 100 millions of porcelain sun flower seed at Tate Modern.

male fashion

man don't talk about fashion , unless you are gay ( that is the general stereotype or at least many man think so ) . I found man are more comfortable to talk about clothes , right call them clothes not fashion . I  never understand why man are so worry or careless of what they wear , maybe they care , but in case people think they are gay if they dress nicely ,that is just pathetic. Most man will say they don't have time , or  don't really care what they wear or look , in my theory if you don't even have time to wear something "nice", that is just an excuse to being lazy .We can accept a man wearing crap much more then woman, but why ? If you are so care less on clothes , then why you bother looking at the mirror or even wear something . I do believe fashion/ clothes can reflect a certain level of confidence , simple as if u dress up , someone may look at you , are u comfortable enough to be seen ? Dressing up may sound a bit too fancy for most man , i don't mean you need to follow whats in fashion week . I mean at least we know you spend an little effort , fashion is simple and can be complex , i will definitely respect someone dress nicely especially at any social event , it also show how much your care about yourself or life . Most of us are not model , but we can use fashion/clothes to push our self to another level , it can be just an illusion , but can you tell whats real whats not in life for sure?Once you start dressing smart , there is no going back , after sometime it naturally become a part of life. By the way , i need to point out one thing , taste is another big story , it is not even related to money or how much does it worth . Many people can really able to spend a fortune to look shit .
My tip is spend what you can afford , and open your heart to play round it .

maybe wardrobe make people think about "come out the wardrobe" = gay

this is NOT nice ! 

                            

x factor

i like to watch x factor , so what , i am just being honest . some may found it sad !!! anyway it is so much fun to see who got it , and who don't , everyone got their own way of performance or expression , different type of pride and confidence .I never understand how people see what is "good " i mean real good , i understand we all got different standard , but sometime when I look at certain audition , i really want to shout out loud , what are u thinking . we all love to be seen and " famous" in a way . Seeing all those performance make me learn a little more about what we like to give and show and how the feedback will be , after some time it become like a equation , u can calculate it . Those really really good become a bit boring . I always like the unpredictable one , that is a real entertainment , it can be funny or shocking . But after all , at the end of the day  , the one who really got the whole package can last and be a real singer .

learning english

cant understand the cover design , a ball with layers of skin ?

find a copy of PRACTICAL ENGLISH USAGE at work , 

it is a very useful /interesting book than how it look .The book point out a lot of common mistake 

and misunderstanding in English writing/usage .Due to the book i start to chat away with a workmate about leaning English in this country(united kingdom ).I am a foreigner in this country , and i learn my English in Hong Kong since i born . English is always a tools /subject in my school life, i use English to take most exam for my whole life for example.Never a keen learner in language , but Hong Kong school make me learn all the spelling , grammar and writing. Learning English in Hong Kong is very academic , it is far more different way of learning compare to this country .

My workmate told me school in the UK have stop teaching grammar , i guess it is different anyway cos you use English here in everyday life , so u learn as time goes by . A language is always a language , i guess the primary idea is for communication .Further study on a language is not easy , and of cause it have its reason , for example for profession needs , and you can also learn the culture from the language . Even though i still think it is a shame that people don't start to learn English in a classic way , language is the heritage of the country , it should be pass on by generation to generation .I do think language is a important part of a history in any part on earth .

The book above sum up a small percentage of where my stress come from in my childhood .

We got a dictation every week from those story .

Word perfect spelling is also in the curriculum.

i do spell better when i was in school , i cant even spell now after i move to london.

   

gender shopping

reading a copy of new esquire mag , flipping to a section call " manual for a stylish life -shopping ".Oh whats that ? Big bold title - WHY MAN +WOMAN+IKEA=ROW . have you ever been to ikea ? i ask people around me , most say yes, and most of them went there with their "another half " . Do you like it ? most female will say yes or ok , but most man will say they are not sure or hate the experience . According to esquire ,men shop like "hunter ", they buy stuff they need .Women are " gatherers" , we buy things er  just because and buy even more when we wondering in the store . Dr Max say shopping arguments happens due to different goals between gender .They said men only want to get the shopping done and eat meatballs .Woman do most of the shopping for the household , research say around 80percents , therefore ikea is not designed for men . sorry guys !! after all this fancy showroom , measuring argument or what ever reason start shouted at each other , you reach the stock aisles , when you buy a bed or cupboard anything big , those candles and flower pot don't count, you need to go around and collect all the bits , no one will remind you if you miss any parts until you feel so depress , crying and shout out loud contain millions swear words while you are doing your flat pack DIY at home ( do you guys enjoying DIY is another story) , the only way to sort the cupboard out is going back to ikea and go through all again . btw ikea is a no shortcut , no window , dont know where is the staff store , if u need a toilet in the middle of the "shopping experience " you are going to piss yourself .

to be honest i quite like the shopping experience in ikea , ok yeah i am a girl , but i take this " i am going to beat ikea depress syndrome " attitude with me, i will say i am well prepared . Actually the secret to do ikea is go there so many times that you know the game well . My sister used to point out ikea does bring a lot of memory in a relationship , her advice is stick to one ikea , if the relationship don't work out , move on to another ikea . Well i guess she definitely play the game well .

woman love ikea so much that they make bikini out of the shopper !

clockwork orange crossover ikea
limited product for man shopper only !!!!

fashionable blogger 1

reading a pieces in es mag on Friday , it talk about some fashion blogger take over the real fashion world , that is soooooo funny , i never though about that ( i have read those blog before , but never really take any notices ) , never think about those blogger start to appear in real fashion show " front row " , sometime even blocking real " fashion people " who have fight hard their way up in the industry until they can get a sit in first 3 row in a show . All of sudden , u realise u are blocked by a 13 yrs old fashion blogger call Tavi Gevinson , wearing a huge bow in front of you . i can imagine i will be piss for sure . Tavi defend herself in her blog " i had no intentions of blocking the views of people behind me , i am short , so watching behind me would be like watching it through a regular sized adult . but better because adults heads do not have holes in them . " i laugh so hard when i read about this , fashion ........ i take fashion design in saint martins , after all these years i learn something more then fashion i guess, it is so interesting that it link to the culture ,society , money business and how u due with people and how people could separated themselves in different level / groups , or to create an image and how u want people to see and read you . For me fashion is powerful in its way , my "fashion thinking" is not only something whats hot whats not , not really about S/S 2011 or who is the head designer in McQueen , what ever. i try to apply that idea in life , i should say what is fashionable to do now to make a living , or how to be fashionable enough to fight your way up to what u want to be  .......etc . fashion is not only about clothes to me, it is the over all things happening , if something new and people excited in it or even pay money for you to do so , for me that is fashionable , nothing to do with clothes at all ,if something is out is out , doesn't matter u are wearing a S/S 2011 or pre collection .We all create fashion , and fashion is life ,if you care about it .

tavi with huge bow , pissing " real fashion people "

ladies and gentlemen , i found that blocking view somewhere ,tavi at dior show  , hehehheheehhehee.....

http://www.thestylerookie.com/

霸王別姬 farewell my concubine

My birthday are coming up soon , i will be an official mid-girl ( Hong Kong slang , mid-girl mean middle age girl , one step closer to be an old woman ) .The older i get , i am more into old / classic culture , art , history , food , music , costume , architecture even Chinese medicine .Maybe i am at the age of searching for culture roots ,i am born and grow in Hong Kong until 17 then move to London . Hong Kong used to be a colony , as i remember my childhood was quite western , although i am always into old stuff !

I was playing around my utube one night , looking for something interesting to watch , once again this film " farewell my concubine "pop up again , the story is about a Beijing opera house , opera student , gender confusion , homosexual , love , old society , culture revolution ....... the main actor Leslie Cheung , one of the best entertainer /artists in Hong Kong have pass away in real life from depression suicide , which made the film more realistic,  it almost like acting the story of himself in real life but in a different era .

The film over all , best actor/actress , beautifully done story line , costume , style , setting .One of my best film all time !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_My_Concubine_(film)

soooo beautiful , by the way just to ensure for foreign reader , this is Leslie Cheung. Traditionally Beijing
opera main cast are all male 

look at those colour

also enclose an Beijing opera performance at Vienna

my new friend

i am never a very " mordern " person , all those facebook  , twitter , myspace, blogger , i only know and use 2 of them , anyway , i am proud of my new found spotify , dont make any noice , shut up and listen .

i was introduce to spotify by a workmate , he is around errrr.......... he is using free bus pass . He send me an invite to join spotify .I think this is the best invention after facebook , i don't use mp3 and not really using my ipod , but i like music at home . The first thing i look up on spotify , i bet same as everyone , the latest, the newest  ,after sometime, i try to test the system , looking for old song , then i go further , some hong kong /foreign language song ............ wooo ..... not a huge amount , but enough for me for a little while , 80s -90s hong kong pop , also classical concert . The best of the best . having oldies and classic from my new found spotify .

i love it 

by tat ming pair 

the other good things about spotify is they enclose the cover of the album , it bring back a lot of memory !

funny album by george lam 80s and 2002

may find more classic hong kong album to post here later !!!!

oh no shit thing happen

it was so sad , and feeling uncomfortable to seeing news like this .

The gunman, a former police officer who was allegedly demanding his job back after being dismissed for misconduct, had earlier sprayed machine gun fire at the hostages, a tourists bus full of hong kong national.Me myself come from hong kong , i am very familiar to this kind of tour and the situation in the tour bus ........... cant shop myself imagine what am i going to do if i was there , shit !!!!

go here cnn new to know more 

/edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/23/philippines.bus.hostages/index.html#fbid=khfjlmXN_Dy&wom=false

i love toy shop

i was wondering around town last week after work , searching for something new in where i have to walk pass er ......around 10 thousand times per year , that is my thing .Am having dinner with friends in an hour , for no reason i walk into Hamleys , a magical shop for childeren , maybe not that magical for average adults or even some might see it as a war zone ( if you dare to walk in Hamleys during chrismas time , you will understand what i mean ) .On the 3th floor , pre-school / girls toys section i found these .........

                                                                  the sylvanian family

me and my sister used to collect the sylvanian family in hong kong . i alway have a thing about doll house , but i am not so keen on human like dolls , i am more into the miniture funture and little stuff .

i am quite a strange person i especially like something rather huge or very small compare to real life scale , i found myself super excited when i look at miniature toy food . Anyway our sylvanian family are japanese line , and the one here are European /American version , some of the animals i never seen in hong kong before ha ha ha ha ..........

                                                                           and also

                                 i especially like the idea of the toys doing something with their toys !!

something about julie

i really love her work , wonderful colour , erotic and naughty , her work is like a nightmare under a 

fancy cupcake !!!love it  

Julie Verhoeven is a multi-disciplined designer across art and fashion; from illustration and creative direction to design consultancy, her work is known for its exquisitely avant-garde quality and surreal composition.  

Julie lastest project , working with the launch of boutique by Jaeger . Works included a wallpaper feature in the 

pop up shop , and illustration throughout the shop interior .

Jaeger boutique collection 

                                                               Jaeger boutique pop up shop

                                                        
                                                                 I want to take this home


http://www.jaeger.co.uk/index.cfm?page=1467

english food

when we think about English food , ok say top 3 , no1. sandwich , no2. ready-meal and no3 .curry or Chinese take away . maybe someone could shout out " fish and chip " , " baked bean " , " English breakfast "....or...... " beef wellington " ????(this dish is like dinosaurs maybe is a myth , never seen or heard an English person made or eat before in real life)
Reading something about the big chill festival last week on the paper, they didn't mention about music and fashion this time , it is about a tasty fruit cloud to raise the awareness of fairtrade fruit . it was commissioned by big chill arts plus ad agency wieden +kennedy who has worked with the fairtrade foundation for just over a year and set up the collaboration between the charity and bompas and parr . 
it was a Ziggurat builded by 40 tonnes of steels , 2053 orange,134kg of pineapple and 12 boxes of lemon .They clarified the juice using reverse osmosis , then create a cloud of dense vapour , which the cloud sit at the heart of the ziggurat ,the deeper you went inside the denser the air become . 
for me it sound like a bonkers idea , raising the awareness by sniffing in fruity air , no matter does it make any effect to the main idea or not , it definitely bring a new level of experience of British food and art .
 having a second through , maybe the creator should create something like 5 a day for children ,base on the same skill , most children hate veggie , even myself when i am little . Sniff in different fruit and veg from games or event ,I bet the children won't mind at all.

Sam Bompas and Harry Parr together are Bompass and Parr, architectural foodsmiths. They create fine English jellies, design bespoke jelly moulds and curate spectacular culinary events.

http://www.jellymongers.co.uk/

 read a bit more about other event these guys done , a bar tander they call him
MIXOLOGIST , what is mixologist ? a person who mix cocktails .

the ZIGGURAT OF FLAVOUR.......... um nice i want to try !


plus i learn some new words from this read 
1: food architecture 
2: foodsmiths 
3: jellymongers
4: mixologist
5: ziggurat  

coca-cola chicken

I was planning what to make this week for dinner , due to i am keen on any kind of experiment and combination of food , something like salad with tuna from can will never satisfied me , i need something a bit edges or heritage from a country or memory .I got a little talent of taste and cooking , i often do this little test to myself , try to remake the taste of some thing i have eaten in restaurant or some long lost taste from childhood . All of suddenly , a friend message " got chicken tonight want to join ? " " got coke as well !!!"( he is addicted to coca- cola ) after the message , it suddenly remind me a recipes in my head , coca -cola chicken  . That is it, i through i am going to push this to the climax . i shouted at work , " i am going to make coca- cola chicken tonight but no one seems impress , may be it is hard for people to imagine , but it is actually a very common hong kong style of cooking , thus i did it .

i did do a little search online, see what come out if i put " coca-cola chicken " in googles . cant believe there are hundreds of recipes , i pick a nigerlla one to enclose here , cos it is rather special that there are no peanut butter or mars bar in it.

http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=12093

Beckii Cruel

A programme at BBC 3" schoolgirl superstar at 14 " ,talking about a 14 years old English girl call Rebecca Flint from Isle of Man have became a big hit in japan . Everything start from her love in japanese manga (comic) and japanese idiosyncratic dance , since she have more then 2 million hits of her homemake dance clip on utube , it caught the eye of a japanese manager who then help her to started her career and changing her name as Beckii Cruel .She is now a tv , pop star , starring a chewing gum ads and a photo book in japan. It is very hard for me to talk about my point of view in japanese culture here ,but if u go through the doc , with a dad with dollar sign in his eyes , and every one even Beckii herself knowing her biggest fans group are some 45 to 50 years old man , i feel rather sad then fun about this teenages playing all doll up dacing up and down in the camera . There are always a market of something we can never really understanding or even nessesary in the western world compare to japan , but that is alway there , nothing can be change ,the sadness of the japan subculture and the reaction of people around beckii bring up from the programme, it is hard for me not to think about a teenages pop puppet is going through a 10 min fame , hopefully wont see her doing a bikini photo book next year , beckii, i bet she is a clever girl , from doing something innocent just what she enjoy to a " pop star in japan " .

if you have not watch the doc yet , please go to :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tf20x/Beckii_Schoolgirl_Superstar_at_14/


beckii in uk 



beckii in japan

PLUS

 a art project by Takashi Murakami ( the guy who turn louis vuitton to juicy colour monster ) starred Kirsten Dunst  ,short film in a 80s party song " turning japanese "which call  "Akihabara majokko princess"can't show you guys the clip due to copyright, but i saw it before in tate morden , thats why i through it is art ..........