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Mensheng Debut Album Release Show - Live in Taiwan

Mensheng Debut Album Release Show - Live in Taiwan

June 4th Memorial Service

My Feeling for China

I believe love is the key to success in China.

I was 15 when I saw the incident on TV. I knew what's going on. Be it right or wrong, good or bad. So after 20 years, seeing the country is getting better (in some ways), I feel proud to be a Chinese. At 16 I moved to Canada and I felt that my Chinese root became less and less, to a point that I felt I was Canadian Chinese.

5 years ago I came back to Hong Kong try to find my Chinese root. Having lived in Hong Kong and visiting China in the past 5 years, I got to find my Chinese blood and root. I believe that the Chinese government needs to do something to help change the country to be a better one.

Often time we focus strongly on economy and business, but we forget the moral in one's heart. Seeing so much news about the corrupted government and the businessmen in China really make me sick. But thinking about it I can relate to them because no one person wants to be poor. However we cannot be greedy. It’s sad because I believe babies were born with naïve hearts. It was our surroundings that influence us to who we are today. With the government focusing on the economy and business, we start to think money is the most important.

So let us start to think again. Is that money or love that is most important to us?

My Dressing Up

Lucia and Tim Wedding

Here are some photos I took for my sister's wedding. If you wanna see more, check out my facebook albums. So it's good to see them married and had a great wedding. God bless them and wish them all the best in coming years. Uncle Joe soon to be? Well, I wonder when's my turn...

Conversation with J.

S J~
!!!!
前排有幾個女性舊同學搵咗我出去銅鑼灣間ruby食飯
佢哋真係好不知所謂!
我都唔估唔到睇戲先有ge劇情會發生喺我身上~

Joe Mensheng
what happened?

S J~
噢~佢哋呢..喺喥講名牌~
又話個死人銀包幾千嘢..好抵!!!!仲話咩要買死人LV.要喺法國訂..
我真係笑出嚟囉~
仲要係成班都好似睇唔起我咁囉!!!!

Joe Mensheng
ahaa... u know what... Hermes is more expensive than LV or Gucci

S J~
因為..我著得真係好普通.

Joe Mensheng
but not many ppl know about this brand
me too

S J~
佢哋係咁叫我食嘢..仲話..你都唔係成日出街啦..都好少嚟呢d地方食嘢.
唉..真係激死我嗱..我咪話其中一條女囉..美國嘢我喺美國食得多..你成日都喺hk.你食多d就真呀.
講真..出銅鑼灣就好心佢哋唔好去ruby食啦!!

Joe Mensheng
going to ruby tuesday is fine i think
as long as the dinner was happy one

S J~
唉..成餐飯我都冇咩點食呀!

Joe Mensheng
not fun mah

S J~
佢哋只係打普通office工.
佢哋就係咁曬d死人袋呀..銀包呀!!!!

Joe Mensheng
haha... only outlook loh, no inner beauty

S J~
最慘就係佢哋又講得鬼咁大聲!!!搞到我勁冇面囉!!!!
隔壁d仔係咁望囉!!!!搞到我都好似係一份子咁!!
佢哋真係可以唔食都要買袋~

Joe Mensheng
mo sau wei la...

S J~
當然冇所謂..但最後係我竟然扮係有人約我..所以走先囉~
hehe~

Joe Mensheng
hahaha... when was it?

S J~
早一兩個星期喥..
唉..我又點會計較呢..我搵得多佢哋多多啦!!hehee

Joe Mensheng
see u r rich!!!!!!!!!
haha

S J~
噢~~但我唔似佢哋喲!!不過..嗰晚真係太冇mood..結果搭的士返馬鞍山..

Joe Mensheng
well, it's good u have some friends like this... u know why?
that will only give u at motivation to be better.

S J~
噢~~

Joe Mensheng
also realize what is real people

S J~
唉..佢哋讀書嗰陣已經係咁..估唔到咁多年都係咁~

Joe Mensheng
hard to cahnge la

S J~
講真..曬名牌都算!!最過份就係..其中一個就嚟結婚..想搵我幫佢彈琴.
點知另一條女竟然話我..你到底識唔識伴奏ga!?即場彈呀..你得唔得ga!!!

Joe Mensheng
hahaha...

S J~
嘩..我咪好冷靜咁答佢..唔好意思.我未做過婚禮伴奏..我係幫開d考演奏ge學生伴奏ga

Joe Mensheng
mei liu ah????

S J~
佢只係一個普通文員~

Joe Mensheng
hahahahaha

S J~
佢即時唔出聲囉~
仲要黑面囉~

Joe Mensheng
佢只係一個普通文員 -- gum yau ng ho gum say...
suen la... don't have "average knowledge" with them

S J~
!!

Joe Mensheng
hk has many "well's frog"...
they know very little but they act pro

S J~
我認同喲!!!!

Joe Mensheng
although i don't want to compare, but the 13 years i lived in Canada, i found that people know more stuffs over there
like they know stuffs with more details
here, everything is fast fast fast... u dont need to know the reason
just do it
but that's stupid
u won't learn from just doing w/o getting inside

S J~
係喲..

Joe Mensheng
but in another way, if u think of HK as a small city.. then u will know u can't compare with a big country
even though 6 million is alot of people, but compare to a county, not that many

S J~
係喲...
唉...都唔明點解會咁~

Joe Mensheng
i have a bit idea
because this is a capitalism city
it's money driven city
so we are very caught up with new stuffs
HK has ALOT of nice cars

S J~
噢~

Joe Mensheng
from our childhood, we've been told what is good standard
so everyone is chasing that "dream"
which is to make good money, buy a nice house, buy nice furniture, nice clothes and etc

S J~
噢~~~

Joe Mensheng
the city is getting so extreme that poor gets poorer and rich gets richer

S J~
係喲!!!絕對係喲!

Joe Mensheng
so we have to squeeze every dollar we can
so how are we going to get the money from the same pool
is by taking others' money
so rich corporate people with the money power also supported by our gov't is squeezing us with high priced housing
the money we earn all goes there

S J~
ic

Joe Mensheng
u know with my salary, i can't get a "gov't house" or "1/2 gov't house"
i have to buy "private" house
which is fucking expensive
now what happen in my situation is

S J~
嘩~~~~~~

Joe Mensheng
we bought a 1/2 gov't owned house at Lam Tin... with only my dad's application
w/o my name
so this way we qualified to get the house
understand mah?

S J~
我明喲~

Joe Mensheng
this is a trendy city so everyone is chasing similar stuffs
lots of business, lots of money
little art, little music

S J~
!!

Joe Mensheng
radio station, tv stations all hook up with record labels
so radio/tv stations play their songs on tv.. and record label artists go to their shows to perform
why would radio station wants to play some "so called" singer???
radio dj really don't know what's good and bad? i don't think so but they have no choice cos they were told what songs to play
u can hear same song, 7, 8 times in different program
ridiculous

S J~
係喲...

Joe Mensheng
rock music is so popular that it plays everywhere in the world
but hardly in hk

S J~
唉..係咁喲!!

Joe Mensheng
so forget about blues, jazz, country, alternative, hardcore, metal, trip hop
punk, electronica, hip hop, rap

S J~
唉...

Joe Mensheng
yeah they have some pop hiphop
cos it's the trend
and then gov't suggests us what's art or music
western opera, classical music, western plays...
not to offend u since u r a piano teacher
but there should be more than this
u know in Singapore?
their gov't supported a tattoo festival...

S J~
係咩!!

Joe Mensheng
this will never happened in hk
yea

S J~
係咁啦!!!!!性文化展覽都只係搞過兩年~

Joe Mensheng
yeah... our kids are learning sex through av... and that's why our kids are worse and worse
cos they don't know
everyone loves sex but it's about love within

S J~
1yeah


Joe Mensheng
oh well...
maybe i should copied what i said and post on my blog haha

S J~
!!!

Joe Mensheng
i should copy your story too haha

S J~
嘩...好喲!!!!

Working Hard

These days I've been working so hard! I always hope that I have more time like 32 hours a day so I can sleep more. Mensheng is getting better as a band through the recording session. A big thank to my bro Chi because he's taught us alot through his producing with us. Now we still have 3 more songs to record and hopefully we can bring along our CDs to the Taiwan tour in July. Guys from Vanish, I can't wait to see you all again! Let's add oil and rock on!

My Brothers from All Over!

What a good time to spend during last weekend. Having Chia Chia from Taiwan, Bill from Guangzhou and Mandy from New Zealand coming over for visiting. Oh yeah, and the usual Macau bros Kent and Egas. Sometimes I wonder what if all these friends are living in HK, I think that will be so dope.

We have so many plans in the future! Now it's just a matter for hard work and luck. I think we can do something great in upcoming years together as long as our brotherhood stay strong.

Guys let's go!

Some Old Photos of Tap Mun Trip

I had a very relaxing trip to Tap Mun few months ago. Soon I will need to go on another trip like that again!

New TV Tonight!

Tonight will have a technician coming over to install the tv on the wall of my bedroom! So yeah I am gonna stay home more! haha... Now with the PS3 and the HDTV I am gonna rent more blu ray to watch. I watched the Batman Dark Knight which was really great. The color the sharpness are just awesome! Oh yeah, there are couple games I want to get for the PS3, one being the new Street Fighter 4 which I think it looks super good! Oh yeah I wanna know how's the online playing for this game. It would be good to catch up some old friends and fight against each other!

Chinese New Year Trip

Finally I made a visit to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Two cities that I wanted to visit for sometimes. I wish I had more times to stay specially KL. I really enjoyed my trip there as I met so many great people. Thanks all my new friends who showed me around. One of the reasons I wanted to go to these two places is that I wanted to discover more the Chinese culture. These 2 years I am trying to find my Chinese root as I was away from Hong Kong for such a long time. Now that I have been to quite a few cities with high Chinese population, I really have learned more about my culture. Coming years I think I will like to go to China more because other than Guangzhou and Shenzhen, I really haven't been to other cities of China. My next stop should be Bejing.

Okay here are some photos that I took from my SG/KL trip, if you want to see more photos, go to my facebook album, take care!

Happy New Year Y'all

Well, It's been a few months I haven't written in this blog. I don't know why but I guess I just didn't have the motivation to write anything. I don't even know who's still come back and wish to read this blog.

But since it's a new year so I am going to write a bit here now. The last few months I guess I had some ups and downs. Good moments were the time my band Mensheng toured with Vanish in South China with other supporting bands. You know 4 shows in 4 days aren't that easy for us but it was a very good memory that will always in my heart for the rest of my life. We have met so many people during the tour and I really enjoyed being with some warm kind hearted people.

For the low part, I guess I have already forgotten them as I am not a person who always live with regrets. In the past year, I guess I had some worst times in my life and I am glad they are all gone now. So this coming year I hope everything will turn out to be great. I do have some wishes for 2009: being healthy and get well, be a stronger person who can take more responsible, my band can get to another level specially when it comes to playing live, people around me are getting happy everyday and the most important I hope that our world is going to be a better one.

So take care y'all and until next time, God bless!

Prayer

When I get more quiet, I can usually hear more.
When I try to listem more, I always can see better.

There is something I need to change. It's hard but the only way to get better is to break the habit. It's hard to have both God and devil side by side because simply it doesn't work. So since I am still believing in God, then I know I need to stay away from the devil. Although it's hard but I think the power of the Lord is far greater than the devil's.

So Lord, please give me the strength to fight my struggles and guide me through the way. I know you are always by my side and walk with me.

I pray you that you clear my mind and let me have a quiet heart, so that I can hear you better and understand the mission you have given me. Next month there will be a mission trip to Sichuan and if this is your plan, please help me to clear all the obstacles and let me serve you like how I used to.

Thank you Lord!

Going through the motion

I just remember I have a blog! I haven't written anything in here for a long long time. Over the last couple of months, I have been busy with my band. We are recording our first album and since I am the one who record and produce so I have to learn alot of recording stuffs. Here I want to thank two persons: Chi and Nam who always help me through the recording process.

These days I am learning to wait. I know I have some distance with God now. While packing to move to new house, I saw stuffs that cching gave me. I still think of her sometimes, I wonder why would we break up. It's a big lesson to learn but it's also a tough one. Then listening to the song "Moon" that Sung Ling sent me, I also thought about her and wondered how's she doing now in Taiwan. I think I really need some quiet time not to think of any relationship stuffs because for the last few years, living in HK I haven't been able to stop and think. This is such a rush city with high pace.

Maybe next month when I get to go to Beijing, I can find my own pace and try to go back to the basic.

劉翔

It's not hard to fall, but it's very hard to go back up after your fall. After reading the interview Liu made, I really respect him alot and I hope that he can soon be back to the track field. He needs our support and helping hands.

劉翔：不能怨天尤人
(明報)8月19日 星期二 10:20

中國「欄王」劉翔表示，對於昨日退出奧運110米欄預賽，感到非常抱歉，但他一定要樂觀一點。

劉翔接受中央電視台訪問時表示，有太多人關心及支持他，他感到非常抱歉，但實在沒有辦法。他表示，從準備活動開始我的腳就覺得不行，連慢跑都感到痛。

他指出，在前兩個星期的測試中自己還跑出了12秒9幾的成績，他也想頂下去，但擔心他的腳跟腱。

在要退出一刻，他說：「那個時候真的是，無法形容的感覺，我想，我真的要在北京奧運會預賽就出局嗎？但是事實就是這樣，不過我還是比較冷靜的。」

劉翔稱，他一定要樂觀一點，不能怨天尤人，現時最重要是治理好腳部傷勢，將來仍有機會。

食魚子醬黑松露 八國峰會18碟佳餚豪宴捱轟

食魚子醬黑松露 八國峰會18碟佳餚豪宴捱轟 (明報) 07月 09日 星期三 05:10AM

【明報專訊】今年八國峰會其中一個主要議題為全球糧食危機。八國領袖一邊高談糧價上漲、糧食短缺及非洲貧窮的解決之道，但另一邊卻飽嘗東道主日本安排的18碟盛宴佳餚，包括魚子醬、黑松露、北海道毛蟹等！這份極盡奢華的晚宴菜單，招來抨擊。

毛蟹宴每位耗3000港元

周二晚宴的主題是「北海道，對地球和海洋的祝福」，合共8道菜式18碟佳餚，包括魚子醬、煙三文魚海膽、燒羊肉配黑松露等；就是午餐也有5道菜，包括白露筍松露湯、杏仁油毛蟹配青橄欖醬、釀雞腿等。負責的主廚是日本首位獲得米芝蓮評級的大廚中村勝宏。周三晚上領袖會繼續享用價值逾3000港元一餐的毛蟹宴，以及約800港元1公斤的小龍蝦。

只在幾天前，英國首相白高敦才呼籲國民不要浪費食物，當局的研究小組更稱英國家庭每年浪費總計大約400萬噸糧食。救助兒童會的發言人說「在世界上百萬計人都不得安飽的時候，如此揮霍實在非常偽善」。

舉辦這次八國峰會所費不菲。會議耗資逾43億港元，這筆錢足夠購買1億個蚊帳，讓非洲人民避免染上瘧疾，單是在峰會後將拆卸的國際媒體中心，建築費也達3.7億港元，另還未計當局出動2萬警員的保安花費。

提出2050年前廢氣減排一半

八國元首昨就減排廢氣達成共識，提出2050年前將二氧化碳等溫室氣體排放量比「現狀」減少一半的「世界整體目標」，又一致同意制訂2020年的中期減排目標，惟並無任何實質路線圖。日本首相福田康夫也承認，八國集團的共識中，溫室氣體減半的基準年，已不再是《京都議定書》所定的1990年，而變為語義含糊的「現狀」。共議協議也沒觸及各國關於2020年中期減排目標的具體數字。

泰晤士報/每日郵報

Unlike the Other Gathering

Everyone showed up last night except Tap. I guess you are sad or something. My friend, I hope you are doing fine!

We had dinner at Suzuki Langham Place. The meal was good and we had a very good time. Mac came back and he will move back to HK after over a year away from HK (?!?). Actually I haven't seen them for a long time. Though our friendship always remains!

We talked about you too Cching, I expressed our situation and things happened after we broke up. Seriously, whatever I said was a past. I never regret our times together even the time we fought. If we didn't care or didn't have feeling for another, we wouldn't have fought. I just think that I wasn't mature when I met you. My love for you was so little. Anyway, I wish you all the best because after all, you treated me very good. I hope that one day when both of us can really forgive and forget, we can talk again and maybe even be friends.

Shows, Sichuan And People Around Us

For all the people who came to the Shu Yan show on last Saturday. Sorry our set was cut short due to some issues. I won't try to name names but there was a band who didn't show up at soundcheck and it caused the show to over-run. Let's give some support to the Shu Yan students because they worked hard to organize this show for everyone.

Next, our band played pretty bad that night. For my part, I was too emotional driven and I coudln't clam myself down. Before we started our set, I told all my bandmates that since it's the first time we played a show after the earthquake, so I wanted to dedicate the show to the people who died or survive. When we played "Po Liu", our last song, my head was images of Sichuan earthquake and I thought we people in HK are way too lucky to have the luxury playing expensive musicial equipments. I had this gulity feeling with me for awhile now you know?!?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy all the great bands from last night and I hope that we all remember that we can give alot to the people who need, starting the people around you.

Shan

We found this animated gif from company sent email. What more is that this cartoon character look so much like my colleague Shan. hahaha...

How to Mic and Record Drums Tutorial

Andrew (Drew) Malamud
Drew Malamud is the studio director for Studio Plateau, a recording facility based in Montreal. He has engineered records for Metric, The Dears and Defunct Death, and has produced The Lovely Feathers.