河國榮, An Aussie in Hong Kong

Meet at Peet's on Saturday

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:48:00 +0800

I'll be leaving L.A. on Saturday, Sep 4, heading back home to Hong Kong. It wouldn't be fair though to leave without giving those of you who live in L.A. a chance to chat.

So, I'll be at Peet's Coffee in Studio City from 1:00 to 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. Feel free to drop by.

12215 Ventura Boulevard
Studio City‎, Los Angeles

Stay well people.

Coming home. Empty handed? Not quite.

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0800

I've been in L.A. for just over 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do what I came here to do, and that was a very big let down, but I may be leaving with something much bigger.

Shortly after arriving in L.A., pressures from multiple sources combined with past injuries and bad habits led to serious muscle strain in my throat. It was so bad that I had to see an ENT specialist. After prodding from Peisha and another newly discovered friend, I made an appointment to see Dr Nasseri.

Dr Nasseri is not cheap, but when you find the right person, when you find the person with the answers, the cost doesn't matter. Major muscle tension dysphonia was the diagnosis, and the doc promptly informed Peisha over the phone what I needed to correct my problem.

Muscle memory is a stick in the mud, a problem that is very difficult to eradicate, but it is possible and necessary in my case. For the last week or so, and for the coming months, I won't be taking normal voice training. Instead, I'll be concentrating on muscle relaxation exercises, exercises that gradually teach me to relax as I sing and eventually forget the strain that was once part of my singing technique.

In classes with Peisha, we've already seen improvement, and we've seen glimpses of my voice's potential. Every breakthrough is an exciting moment, and there are more to come.

Patience is the key. Muscle memory is a pain in the neck (literally in my case). If progress is rushed, or if I try to sing something tough or beyond the middle of my vocal range, the muscles will remember the strain and reconfirm it. I cannot allow that to happen, not now that I have the chance to eradicate this problem once and for all. It may take weeks. It may take months. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that the problem is solved.

So, Project S continues but now at a slower pace. Only time will tell when Project S can finally be revealed to the world. Until then, we will all have to wait. Believe me when I say there is no one more impatient to see Project S become a reality than me.

But the prospects are good :-)

Stay well people.

(listening to Sara Bareilles' Gravity. Wow. This girl can sing!)

iPad Reflections

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:38:00 +0800

Before leaving home for L.A., I took possession of a new iPad. I knew I'd be carrying my computer with me wherever I went, and the MacBook Pro can get heavy after a while. I should clarify that when I'm in L.A., I invariably walk everywhere, only taking the public transport when I have to travel longer distances. It's not unusual for me to walk 4 to 5 miles in a single day while I'm here. Needless to say, my waist is getting smaller :-)

So, I brought the iPad with me. Right from the beginning, it has been a great help to me, especially allowing me to communicate with others when I couldn't speak (I can speak now btw). It's small, light, and the display is great. I have no idea how the PC companies are going to beat it except perhaps in I.T. and geek communities where access to everything under the hood is preferred.

It does have its flaws however.

Typing is difficult to get used to. You cannot rest your hands downward between taps because every contact with the screen types another character. It's also difficult to keep your hands in the right place positionally when you're typing. With a physical keyboard, you're calibrating your hand positions every time you press a key. It happens automatically. It's not possible with a meta-physical keyboard though.

To make things more difficult, I usually type using the Dvorak keyboard layout, and Apple has not provided that layout on the iPad. I hope it arrives with iOS 4.

Speaking of omissions in the current iPad OS, there's no Traditional Chinese on the iPad. Ouch! Hopefully, we'll see it with iOS 4 too.

And if you're a touch typist, the iPad might not be able to sense your fingers on the 'keyboard' when you're typing very quickly.

But all of those problems aren't overly difficult to deal with. There is one problem however that is potentially very serious. Ergonomically, the iPad is a nightmare.

The ideal posture for someone on a computer is to sit with the screen just below their horizontal line of sight, and with the keyboard lower than the wrists which are in turn lower than the elbows. That's not possible when the screen and keyboard are one and the same. The result is significant back strain and pain if you type for any length of time. I spent 4 hours today editing and updating my web site and I can certainly feel the pain in my back.

The solution is an external keyboard. The iPad supports Bluetooth keyboards, so I'm going to have to get one soon. Another advantage of having an external keyboard is that I'll be able to use the Dvorak layout again, because while the iPad doesn't provide a Dvorak meta-physical keyboard, it does support the Dvorak mapping on external keyboards. And incidentally, when using an external keyboard, you get to see all of the screen rather than just half.

There is one disadvantage to using an external keyboard though. The iPad by its very nature is interactive. If you have the iPad in front of you and the keyboard near or on your knees, the distance between the keyboard and the iPad will be a long way to move your hands every time you need to interact directly with the iPad. Oh well. You can't win them all.

Last note. Trying to edit a web site on the iPad is extremely challenging. None of the code editors available for the iPad are even close to being capable and useful editors, unless you're someone who can code with one eye closed. CSS and HTML editors on the iPad have a long way to go. If only we had something like Espresso on the iPad.

I need to stop now so my back can relax.

Take care all.

Mute, not deaf, but thank you for caring.

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0800

The Friday before last, I did one of Peisha's lessons at home and then a few hours later sang again in a different kind of vocal training at a friend's place for another hour. This particular lesson of Peisha's was a hard one with close to 45 minutes of gruelling workout. Not long after beginning the other training session, my voice was already feeling tired.

The next day, I was made very aware of my error. I had developed something known as Supraglottal Muscle Tension Dysphonia. The muscles around the voice box had tensed up making speech difficult. The only remedy is rest, vocal rest. So I've not spoken anything since last Wednesday.

Here in L.A., I get around with my newly acquired iPad. Before coming over, I purchased a popular painting program for the iPad called Brushes. Now when I need to communicate with someone, I pull the iPad out and write the words on the iPad using Brushes. It's quick and effective.

The people here are great, showing understanding and patience. There have however been two unexpected reactions. The first is that many people respond by also speaking very softly. Perhaps it's a learnt rule when being polite that you respond in a conversation in a similar volume to your partner. Some of the people talking to me can get very soft though.

The second reaction which I've seen at least twice is that the other person immediately looks for paper to write their response on. The assumption is that since I can't speak, then I'm also deaf. They are of course unaware that I'm not mute, simply on strict vocal rest, but it's an interesting response anyway. What is bizarre is that I've also seen this reaction from my wife who is very very aware that I'm not deaf!!!

I'll be in L.A. for another week. Take care all.

Gary 譚偉權史上首個個人音樂會

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:28:00 +0800

I'm off for L.A. in a couple of hours, but before I go…

We're going to see Gary's show in September. We have our tickets.

Are you going?

譚偉權史上首個個人音樂會

Inconvenience with an unexpected bonus

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:58:58 +0800

It's complicated.

Flying to L.A. was supposed to be relatively easy to arrange. We booked the flight with our agent in mid-late July, a full three weeks before the scheduled date of departure. The return flight was confirmed, and I was put on the waiting list of 4 flights from HKG to LAX. Going online to zuji, every flight of every airline was pretty full. Apparently, people were returning home after visiting the World Expo during the Summer holidays.

I stayed on those four waiting lists until the booking's deadline, and then my agent tried to keep me there because the return flight had been confirmed. It was only a few days ago that I discovered that Cathay doesn't allow someone to remain on a waiting list past the deadline. The rules are that you either 'publish' the ticket by the deadline or lose it, but you're not permitted to 'publish' a ticket if the seat hasn't been confirmed. So, your agent is forced to rebook your ticket each time the deadline is reached, effectively putting you at the back of the line every time. Cathay needs to do something to improve their system.

So, by August 8 just 5 days before I was scheduled to leave, I was still without a ticket.

At the same time, I developed a personal disability over the weekend. Without a ticket, and with this personal disability, I contemplated delaying my trip to L.A. until the end of August. If so, I realised that I would have more time to prepare for Project S and decided to take advantage of it. We would do more than originally planned! I contacted the team in L.A. and notified them of the planned change.

Then on August 8, we were having lunch with a large group of friends and acquaintances and discovered that one of them might be able to help me get my ticket anyway. On Monday, he confirmed the ticket for me, which was a good thing because it turned out that my friends in L.A. were not available to help me in late August anyway, so I'm leaving for L.A. on Friday as originally planned.

But what of the 'extra' I had planned? Well, when I informed my friends in L.A. that we were returning to the original schedule, two of them told me that they could still prepare the extra for me in time for my arrival!

So what do you get when I can't confirm an air ticket to LAX? You get something extra.

As for that disability, I'm working hard to temper it and hopefully have it completely subdued by the time I begin work on Project S in L.A. next Wednesday.

By the way, the 'S' in Project S stands for… ;-)

Project 'S'

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0800

For more than a year, I've had this project in my mind, thinking about it, planning it, sometimes writing it down. Now however, Project S has become an actuality.

We've been working on Project S for several weeks. Next week, I'll be flying to L.A. to continue work on it, and you'll begin to see more about it soon after.

Part of Project S will entail a re-design of my web site. I have a basic design in mind, but need to find a talented graphic designer to implement it for me. As with all things, the beauty of the design will be in the small touches that the designer adds to my ultra-simple design.

Stay tuned.

Interesting times

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:08:38 +0800

Hello people.

It has been a long long time, but I'm still around. Just needed to let you know that.

Things are interesting, and getting more interesting.

Last week, I was in New York helping a group of people to develop and fine tune a Broadway play. It was extremely challenging and tiring but very satisfying. It's not possible to say whether I'll be invited to perform in the public release of this play, but there is a chance nonetheless. We'll see.

This week, I'm in L.A., visiting with my favourite singing coach Peisha McPhee. Last Christmas, I performed in China and a variety of circumstances colluded to cause serious damage to my vocal chords and muscles. For six months after, I had to speak and sing only when absolutely necessary. Fortunately, my vocals are almost 100% now, just in time for my lessons with Peisha.

I'll be arriving back in Hong Kong on June 22, but the interesting times don't end there. More to come. Much more to come. :-)

Stay well people.

Now 5 domains in 1

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:50:00 +0800

Our new friends from 北川中學 were here for a week. They left this morning. I printed special oversize name cards for them last night, and while doing so, realised that my domain names would not be memorable for our 普通话 friends on the other side of the border, so I registered another domain ;-)

My site is now accessible at all of the following domains: www.gregory.hk, www.hokwokwing.hk, www.heguorong.hk, www.河國榮.hk and www.河国荣.hk.

My email addresses all come to me so you can choose whichever is easier for you to remember: me@gregory.hk, me@hokwokwing.hk and wo@heguorong.hk.

還有啦。今年內，我的網站將有更多中文內容，包括翻譯的和原創的文章。

Take care all. I'll write more later.

Good intentions. Disastrous results.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:00:00 +0800

Back in 2007, I was helping a friend with their computer in their home, which I had done on multiple occasions in return for their friendship and the occasional bowl of noodles. They trusted me and I valued that trust, so much so that I made an effort to not see anything on the computer that was private including messages, photos and passwords.

At the time while testing their printer, I came across a great sporting photo of their spouse. We have a semi-professional printer at home and I thought I'd surprise them by adjusting and printing the photo, so I emailed the photo to myself and deleted the email from the computer to keep it a surprise. Unfortunately, the photo completely slipped my mind and I never got around to printing it out for them.

Today, almost 18 months later having had practically no contact with this friend, I learn that they've been upset with me since that day on the computer. They had heard the 'whoosh' sound of the email going out and questioned me about it immediately. Apparently, I balked for 2 minutes before telling them about the photo and that made them suspect that I had stolen it from the computer ('stolen' would be technically true although in my mind, I was 'borrowing' the photo, to be deleted once it had been printed). When they couldn't find the email, it only confirmed their suspicions. That I never got around to actually printing the photo, well…

On occasion, good intentions can have disastrous consequences. My friend and their spouse believe I stole the photo for personal use, no longer trust me, and are no longer my friends. Ouch! My apologies have been heard but not believed.

Trust is a delicate thing. It takes a long time to build but can be lost in the blink of an eye, or in this case the time it takes to email a photo.

Leaving for 四川北川

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0800

I'm off today to earthquake-stricken 四川北川 for five days. I've been invited as a guest photographer to accompany a charity group which is raising funds to support the children there. Eleven people in all will be going including a professional photographer, a video crew and other charitable folks. I'll let you know about the trip after my return.

Then on Saturday, one of our kids Beethoven is scheduled to go under the knife with a serious spinal operation. Three of his discs are extending into his spinal canal pressing on the nerves within, one disc taking up as high as 90% of the spinal canal. He still have several years of life left, and he's a great dog so ignoring the problem or putting him down was not an option. It'll be a very nervous Saturday for both my wife and myself as we wait for the results.

Take care all. See you next week.

The mark of a great actor?

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:18:00 +0800

I was watching a television program and they mentioned micro-expressions. Since watching that program, I've come to realise that micro-expressions could very well be one of the significant distinguishing qualities of a great actor, especially a screen actor where everything is up close and personal. Micro-expressions are extremely small expressions, perhaps lasting one fifth of a second or even less. Consciously, we don't notice them. Unconsciously, we do and we're very much affected by them.

Most actors can reproduce expressions, some better than others, but even the best expressions may not trigger an emotional response in the viewing audience. I remember one of our teachers at Lee Strasberg commenting how tears from actors in general didn't do anything for him. Without the underlying pain, crying was simply an indicator without compelling emotion.

Actors who can reproduce the emotions of their character's situation will unconsciously reproduce the micro-expressions that come with those emotions. Those micro-expressions will then be unconsciously broadcast to the audience, making their acting captivating to watch and enabling the audience to empathise with and feel for the character.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot of emotional expression coming out of Hollywood's blockbusters today. Emotion seems to have taken a back seat to action (and the associated money-making franchises), and the English seem to be producing more emotionally sensitive movies and television programs than Hollywood. If Hollywood is not careful, a big chunk of the movie industry might just find a new home in England.

Anyway, today's point is that micro-expressions could very well be the mark of a great actor.

Finally; my first showreel

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:28:00 +0800

After nine months of research, selection, editing and education in Final Cut, my first showreel is finally ready. I hope you enjoy it.

Note. It's entirely in Cantonese except for two scenes in English, and one scene in Mandarin.

If you have difficulty loading and viewing the video, it's now also available on YouTube here.

Interview on RTHK 2 晨光第一線細味歷練 2009年1月

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:00:00 +0800

Last week, RTHK 2 broadcast a multi-part (Cantonese) interview in the 「細味歷練」 segment of their morning program 「晨光第一線」.

The original recording was around 40 minutes long. Alyson 侯嘉明 did an excellent job of editing and splicing to produce the five segments.

Here it is for those of you who missed it.

晨光第一線細味歷練 2009年01月05日
 晨光第一線細味歷練 2009年01月06日
 晨光第一線細味歷練 2009年01月07日
 晨光第一線細味歷練 2009年01月08日
 晨光第一線細味歷練 2009年01月09日

Persian hurts!

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:15:00 +0800

I have slowed down somewhat for various reasons, but I'm still progressing with the five languages I set out to learn in August last year. It's not easy. My brain does tire but that's to be expected when you're trying to absorb alien pronunciations, grammar and words. There are differences in difficulty between the languages.

Hebrew has a lot of 'sh' sounds, but the grammar is very similar to English so that makes it a little easier to learn.

Japanese is going ok because I studied it for a few months many many years ago here in Hong Kong. Much of that study still exists in my brain somewhere and that makes learning Japanese now easier.

I tried to learn Spanish while I was in Durango last year. Unfortunately, I didn't have Pimsleur Spanish course material with me at the time so progress was difficult but combined with actually being with Spanish-speaking people did lay down some groundwork for when I began to learn it again with Pimsleur many months later. I was learning from Living Language, which like so many other retail language course institutions simply includes a list of new vocabulary and a 'dead' conversation with each chapter, and puts everything on CD to give it more appeal. The Pimsleur courses are very different. Each lesson introduces new vocabulary but does it within the conversations that occur during the lesson. Sentences and conversations are not 'dead' because they will alter the grammar of the phrases and sentences when it's possible so that you become accustomed to the various possibilities. Word endings and other elements that change the meaning of the words are introduced and explained when necessary and at a slower pace so that you are not overloaded with information, something which normally results in scaring the student away. By design, without realising it, students learn to assemble full sentences from multiple phrase elements simply by following the lesson. The Pimsleur people really put a lot of effort into making their courses work. It's no wonder additional levels can take so long to be released.

Italian is a little difficult because I have absolutely no background in it except for a very few similarities with Spanish; feminine and masculine objects and verbs, etc.; and because Pimsleur doesn't explain everything at once, you sometimes have to accept what you're learning at the time and have faith that an explanation will eventually come. For example, the variations of the 'want' verb take a little while to get used to. As you progress through the lessons though, patterns in the way the language works become evident and you begin to fully understand the language without realising it.

They're all difficult in one way or another but the one that literally hurts my head is Persian. It is completely different to English. Both the pronunciation and the grammar are completely alien to me. Furthermore, they sometimes use phrases and words to say things that we would say completely differently in English. Persian will take a while to get used to. Unfortunately, Pimsleur has only released level 1 of Persian. When I finish this level, I'll go through it again and hopefully soon after, level 2 will be available.

Levels is the one limitation of the Pimsleur method. I tried studying Indonesian with Pimsleur (actually while I was on set in Durango) but the only course available is the 10-lesson "compact" course. You can do very little with just ten lessons. Standard Pimsleur levels contain 30 lessons. Only level one of Persian has been released (perhaps for the armed forces and U.S. corporations working in Iran?) which is fine if you want to learn enough to travel with, but not if you really want a conversation. Fortunately, two levels of Hebrew are available so I should have a decent foundation on which to build once I've completed that course. Italian, Spanish and Japanese are languages in high demand so three or four levels are available for each of these languages.

When contemplating learning additional languages from the Pimsleur library, I now check to see how many levels are available. My minimum requirement is two levels. Other languages that I'm considering include Korean, Russian and Arabic with emphasis on the word "considering".

For those people more dedicated then myself, most of the Pimsleur courses also contain reading exercises. I haven't used them yet. I'm too lazy. Maybe one day...

Oh, and one more thing. My biggest challenge in learning these languages? Rolling r's, used extensively in Spanish and Italian.

河國榮, An Aussie in Hong Kong

Meet at Peet's on Saturday

Coming home. Empty handed? Not quite.

iPad Reflections

Mute, not deaf, but thank you for caring.

Gary 譚偉權史上首個個人音樂會

Inconvenience with an unexpected bonus

Project 'S'

Interesting times

Now 5 domains in 1

Good intentions. Disastrous results.

Leaving for 四川北川

The mark of a great actor?

Finally; my first showreel

Interview on RTHK 2 晨光第一線 細味歷練 2009年1月

Persian hurts!

Interview on RTHK 2 晨光第一線細味歷練 2009年1月