dysemevas

Green Roofs on Grey Walls: Killing 3 Birds with 1 Stone

            The reason I was initially attracted to a green roof was simply because a green roof is green.  We were looking for a way to promote greenness within our company’s community—a way to make a statement about our commitment to the environment.  My biggest memory of the factory was that it was SO GREY.  What better way to bring in a green statement than to actually SHOW people what we meant?  I had a vision of these mini-oases—amidst a sea of grey factory blocks, roofs that were covered in lush vegetation.  This is where my fascination with green roofs, and now living walls, began.  It came about with a simple image—grey versus green.

            As I did my research I realized that when you put in a green roof or a vertical garden, it really becomes green and grey, working together.  This was not just another playground—these things actually work.  To make it clear, a green roof is a roof that is covered with vegetation and which grows naturally due to the addition of soil or some type of other growing medium.  A living wall, or a vertical garden, is the exact same thing but built against a wall.  These structures are not only beautiful, they are ecologically beneficial.  They insulate buildings, reduce the urban heat island effect, filter pollutants from the air, act as a haven for biodiversity…  They help protect the building while enhancing the natural environment, and, very importantly, they look pretty.  Yay! 

            All of a sudden, I realized that green roofs and walls were turning up everywhere.  Patrick Blanc, probably the world’s most glamorous builder of such projects, did walls for Stella McCartney’s SS08 show, the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, and Marc Newson’s Qantas first class lounges in Australia.  More locally Sevva, in Hong Kong, boasts a green wall, and HSBC has just launched a Green credit card to fund the building of such roofs on top of schools.  Here in China alone we have over 500,000 square meters of green roofs (ok, maybe not a lot given the total square-meterage of rooftops in China, but still).  Not bad, huh?  If nothing else, this is a formidable beginning.

            Still, look out your window—what do you see?  If you are lucky, you probably have a view of a set of immense skyscrapers, all steel and glass, reaching towards the skies…  If you are unlucky, you might see blocks of concrete—buildings that maximize plot-land ratio and very little else…

            Think about this for a second—how narcissistic and economical have we become?  While I’d still rather live next to Bergdorf’s than to Lake Wononscopomuc, it’s rather depressing that all around us is a built environment that either professes our mastery over nature or our desire to want and have more.  Other than in the dredges of bars and nightclubs, where are we supposed to play?  And, more pressingly, where are we supposed to dream??

The issue of how we are going to live in the future is central to the green movement.  We ask this question not only insofar as how are we going to sustain our lifestyle, but furthermore as a vital or possibly humanistic critique or opportunity.  It is just as the term “危机” purports—the time of danger is also a time of opportunity.  And thus the question really is given the situation, what do we want to change? Or, given the need to change, what more can we do to make life better as well as just sustainable? 

            Look, I’m a city girl, through and through.  When I was little, I even found sand dirty and refused to go to the beach.  The idea of living more than ten minutes away from everything basically scares me.  There is no way I could give up city life.  No way.  But we live in a time where we have options—a time where so long as we can conceive of it, it can happen.  And yet we still treat life like a zero-sum game—if it’s not mine, it’s yours, or, if it’s not this way, then it has to be another…

            The green movement and, if I might say, life in general is now about finding new solutions that fit into and improve upon our lives as we (want to) live them.  The world today is one where anything is possible.  For me, the green roof or living wall is a symbol of exactly this.  It is a green “technology,” an urban oasis, and an aesthetic statement.  It has the power to reconfigure the way we live while not requiring us to change anything in our way of life. It’s Shrek, Fritz Lang, and Rousseau’s Reveries all in one.  Who said we can’t have our cake and eat it too?

Green is the new G.O.D.-- Plastorexia and it's Discontents...

            Have you read the book “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman?  Read it.  A giant thought experiment imagining what would happen to the world if humans just disappeared, each chapter takes a look at how nature might (or might not) re-emerge in a particular context when people are taken out of the picture.  BBC’s “Planet Earth” shows you the world as it is?  This book shows you the world as it was and as it might be. 

            Chapter 9: “Polymers are Forever.”  What happens to plastic, say water bottles or plastic bags, when it is left floating around and not properly disposed of or recycled?  It generally ends up in the ocean, where it slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller molecules, in the same process whereby waves turn rocks into beaches.  Then fish and other sea-creatures eat it.  And they mutate.  Or they die.  That plastic bag floating in the street will probably end up as tiny, tiny plastic molecules submerged at the bottom of the ocean, where they will change the natural balance of the seas and mutate fish and other sea-life.  Oh—and, being non-biodegradable, they will degrade but they will stay around forever.  Great.

            I’m not an ecomaniac but certain things scare me.  The idea that some non-conscious act of mine might lead to the death of the oceans scares me.  The idea that in our generation we will change the world more than the previous hundred generations scares me.  The idea that we have no idea how we are changing things—that we have no idea what effects of our actions will have—this scares me.  So, rather than contribute to the further development of mutant fishies everywhere, I decided to go on a plastic diet—to become “plastorexic,” perhaps.  Why not, right?

            Let me list some the things that I gave up—candy, most magazines and books, hotel toiletries, drinks at dive bars… Even after allowing myself the things that are plastic but that get used for an extended period of time, say a toothbrush or my contact lenses for example, the problem was that most things are either made of plastic, or are wrapped in plastic.  We may not all be Barbie dolls (yet), but we are definitely living in Barbie land.  Trying to be plastorexic was as hard on my life as anorexia probably would have been.  I literally faced a choice—live, or be plastic free.  I choose to live.

            Being green is probably the biggest lifestyle trend since being digital was introduced in the 1980’s or 1990’s.  (The alternative example of ubiquity—Starbuck’s and the rise of coffee, but that’s a completely different conversation…)  We have gotten to the point where most things are available in an eco-friendly option—think Natalie Portman’s Te Casan shoes, MOMA Beijing, or even the Tesla Roadster.  Green living is taught in schools and has its own television stations.  And can we even turn around without hearing or seeing a green slogan?  The Green movement has become so pervasive that people have started referring to it as our new civil religion.  Have we come this far?  Are we all back to worshipping Mother Nature?

            Most people think that green is the new god is because the eco-lifestyle has lots of followers who allow it to dictate how they live their lives.  And of course lots of people want to take part in it—the alternative is, in its most extreme form, death.  So I agree, it’s become somewhat of a religion—believe and be saved!—but not just because of the number of followers and the absoluteness of its creed. I think green is the new god because following its dictates requires somewhat of a leap of faith. 

            Look—if I am the only person who is turning off my lights and not using my air-conditioning, then nothing is going to change other than the fact that I’m just going to have lousy eye-sight and frizzy hair.  But, if I bring my own reusable bag to the store, then other people must be doing it too, right?  If there are so many of us doing it, it makes a difference, right??  Well I sure hope so, but in reality, there’s a lot of faith involved in this thought process.

            While adhering to the green calls to actions—reduce, reuse, recycle!—is one route by which certain people choose to go green, the alternative of choosing green products is another.  How fantastic—now, by buying green, we can have our cake and eat it too?!  I actually fell for this once—actually, I fall for it constantly.  And in truth, some of the brands and companies are doing great things.  But still, beware!!!  Apart from things like real technologies that, for example, turn off your lights when you leave the room or create energy out of AIR—well, what in the world is a green tennis racket?  And is it still green to buy it if you had a perfectly great tennis racket at home already which you are now going to landfill?  Welcome to the art of greenwashing: the art of marketing in the era of green. 

           Look—one day, hopefully in the not very distant future, we will live in an eco-friendly world.  Cars will run on hydrogen, water will be recycled, carbon will be sequestered—technology will save us.  But, if we want to make sure that we live to see that day, we’ve got to put in a little work. So let’s throw rationality out of the window and jump onto the magic school bus.  The green movement is the only thing to have a coolness factor that rises as steadily as Tom Ford’s and that’s by definition certain to have a life-span longer than Karl Lagerfeld.  Oh and if you don’t join in, you might be responsible for the end of the world.  So—who care’s how you do it and if it actually works?  At this point, in the words of Nike, just do it!  Or, in my words, just do SOMETHING.  We’ll worry about the details later.

- For Modern Weekly.

Everything I have Learned In My Life So Far...

Blogging is awesome because it gives me a place to say things that i otherwise would have to find someone to say to... 

About a year ago i read an article in Harper's on the decline of reading.  Other than the actually quite fascinating history of reading that it shed light upon, and the satisfaction that it gave me (yay: I read!), its main feat was leading me to an essay on the art of the aphorism.  the aphorism is the lingusitic answer to a painting.  Nietzsche said that people write badly because they write the whole process by which they came to a final thought (SOROS!!).  The aphorism, which Nietzsche was a master of, is the thought itself, or, both the hook and the bait.   What a thought - lets take out all the explaining, justifying, rationalizing ... make a powerful statement...

Am now reading Stefan Sagmeister's "Everything I have Learned In My Life So Far."  It's beautiful.  The intertwined process of writing, reading, and thinking was another cornerstone of the aphorism article.  Back in the day people would  have these notebooks where they would write, read, think, re-read, re-write, re-arrange...  I always wanted to read one of these as I wanted to be able to get inside the head of someone.  I always wanted to model my notebooks on them... Sagmeister returns to his list of things and recomposes them graphically and expounds upon them and shows how they came about and how they work...  While not in the model per-se, it comes pretty damn close and is probably a better version to live and play with... life, thinking, creativity, thoughtfulness, inspirations... the book is beautiful.  Reading it, i want to be him.

Of course I am rambling and doing exactly what i quoted as "bad" but whatever.  this is a blog.   

things i have learned so far in my life

Ugly Betty vs Sex and the City

I totally do not understand why people would want to sit around and watch four women complain about their relationship problems. I suppose there is some type of solidarity that one feels from watching it and knowing that the modern relationship is a problem that others deal with as well, but still, the show gets so REPETITIVE!!! Am totally into Ugly Betty though. While both shows deal with stereotypes of women, UB is so much more fun... Strangely enough in real life i hate people who are as deluded as B. It's ANNOYING to have someone around who seems so unjaded, balanced, and/or, well--normal... Isn't cynicism and neuroticism the new paradigm? So i guess this is my conclusion. UB is better to watch due to its lightness but if i had to choose a posse, it would probably be easier to fit into the SATC crowd...
Obviously i have had a lot of time these past few days... Yes: HK is a pretty slow place for me at the moment. I know as soon as i say that i am going to regret it but seriously--most of my productive life is away, and that's probably why i always get so excited to leave... It's so much easier to have fun when things are being thrown at you, no?? I am such an adrenaline junkie... Probably why i love caffeine so much... But whatever, when i am home, i am home.
I love the fact that i can find EVERYTHING on the internet. No i am not just discovering this today, but just thought i would repeat it cause it deserves to be repeated... I wonder if it is because i am lazy or if it is because i am a control freak that i would rather order something over the internet than buy it from a store... See with a store, you have to make the commitment to go OUT, and you get there and they might not even have what you want... It's so much easier just to surf... Especially when the retail market has given up telling stories and merchandizing properly... why bother??
Have also decided that this whole bi-lingual thing is a real nightmare. How might it be possible to bridge the gap rather than to stand on both sides???
Back to the drawing board. But I've already forgotten what it was that i wanted to do...

8 days a week?

Things i cannot live without include the internet, cigarettes, psychiatry/psychology, and my bathtub. A thought on the whole watch what you say discussion that is flaring up these days-- does anyone actually care? Actually, perhaps the issue is, who are the people who care and why do they care? I've always been tickled by the idea of idols. What exactly is an idol? If you like someone, how far might you go to be like them, with them, etc etc... Do you actually care about them? (brain dead and thus the lack of vocabulary. Sleeping without a pillow does not do wonders for the neck, back, or anything else). i am fascinated with the drama created by the modern media. Love that we can make so much out of so little. 80-20 to the next level... Whatever- love the controversy. Chomsky rocks.
I should read the Times Magazine article last week on putting your personal life onto the web. Oh - another thought-- does slash-slash success just happen or is it formulated? When you're 25 and feel "old" even though you're probably going to live to be 150, something is wrong. But perhaps old is not the right word-- out of touch is more fitting. I go between being hyper serious and hyper not. Libra's (librians?) are about balance and going between extremes allows for exactly that sometimes. I cant decide what i should be so i figure i will just let it work itself out while i consolidate myself some more in my subconscious.
I love the fact that mother's are so supportive of their children. And i love that Soros has discovered 20th century physics and is applying it to the markets...

Random:
Airplane bathrooms without sinks
American beijingers attempt to understand China
internet vandalism
Old FT quote / article on fashion in China
funeral strippers

Green as the new Black

Green is the new black. Really. By green though, I’m not referring to the colour. Nor am I talking about Shrek. I’m talking about green the concept—green as in the environmentally-friendly lifestyle, the ecologically-conscious state of mind, or the ethically-driven purchase decision.
OK I must first confess that the environment has been on my mind since I got my first pollution-caused allergy attack a bunch of years ago. Gross, I know, but still—we each have a moment where things click and that was mine. And so I am a little biased on this cause. But come on, who doesn’t love blue skies, clear water, and nature (in small doses)? The ability to breath isn’t so bad either…
The tipping point for the whole green thing was probably Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth. This was possibly the most talked-about movie of last year. Although the information is nothing new, the presentation of it to a wide audience around the world in a format that everyone could understand allowed people to begin to recognize the scope of the problem in a unified and clear way. I have that problem all the time—I know that we are doing something wrong but I have no idea what the right thing to do is or what the exact stakes are. Not that this movie is a guide to how to save the world, but it does frame the issue well. Watch it.
OK so on to the fun stuff. How is green the new black? Don’t worry, I’ll lecture a bit along the way, but talk is cheap so lets get a few examples first of how green is taking on the fashion world “by storm”.

• Barney’s New York and Loomstate—Let’s start with the establishment. By the time Barney’s is putting organic t-shirts in their windows, we can be pretty sure that the fashion establishment has taken notice. This spring, Barney’s collaborated with Loomstate on an exclusive line of organic T’s. Organic cotton is better for the environment as the pesticide and chemical free farming methods are much safer while also using less energy in the process. Loomstate’s t-shirts are also softer than clouds. What more needs to be said?
• Stella McCartney—Ms. McCartney is possibly the world’s most famous vegan. Who could forget the talk that surrounded her first accessories collection? Plastic everything? Excuse me? But still, firm to her principles, Stella’s fashions are animal and animal-cruelty free—and most people who buy it don’t even know. Come fall look out for her new organic and natural beauty line as well.
• Anya Hindmarch “I’m not a plastic bag”—Let me first tell you that this bag is already sold out world-wide. The ultimate statement bag of the season, this canvas bag brings to the fashion foreground what we’ve all seen in supermarkets for years. Bringing your own bag to the market instead of taking one of their plastic bags reduces waste and energy. Now, the “not-plastic” bag is so chic that you can also take it to lunch, to the gym, or even to a party.
• Hot new brands—Edun, Noir, and Del Forte Denim are all brands that have taken the eco / ethical pledge. Acually there are a lot more, but these are my personal favourites. Again, eco-fabrics such as organic cottons and denims or even bamboo are a major part of these lines but for the first time, the designers have not traded off aesthetics for ethics and have been able to create looks that are as forward as their lifestyles. Luxury is no longer just about scarcity but now includes responsibility.
• Carbon Offsets—More of a celebrity fixation than a fashion trend, buying carbon offsets have been embraced by artists such as Coldplay and Sheryl Crow as a way to make their tours around the globe a bit more eco-friendly. Basically the idea is simple. When we use energy, we emit carbon into the atmosphere. This contributes to global warming. So, what you can do is pay other people to either reduce their emissions or to do things that absorb carbon (such as planting trees or covering up waste sites). The science is still a bit sketchy as to which is the best method, but when the cool kids are doing it, it’s hot, no?
• Hybrid and Electric Cars—ok so the prius was big news a couple years back already but still, the following, which includes Leonardo Dicaprio, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz, has not given up. Rather, more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon and they are only making these cars bigger and badder than ever before. Last I heard one of the major fashion weeks was going to turn their shuttles into hybrids? We will see.

So—are you convinced? Green is the new black. Especially if black stands for dirt and pollution and the whole world turning into a giant commercial hub where everything is man made. How can anyone resist? But what I think is more difficult is deciding how to actually incorporate greenness in the ways we live and dress overall. Truthfully, it’s pretty complicated. When you start thinking about all the different issues that can be addressed, you start to wonder if there is anything that you can do at all. Think about it—you can worry about waste, transportation costs, energy costs in producing garments, effects on the local environments where things are produced, efficiency costs of production… And all that is just the beginning, no? The good news is at least now you don’t have to trade off looking hot with being green…
And so now—the big question. What is green fashion? Truthfully, nobody really knows. The talk centers around the multiple foci of sustainable fabrics, organic farming, fair trade, good labour practices, non-polluting manufacturing methods, and reduction of transportation and packaging costs. But how is this fashion? Fashion is about colours, styling, “looks”—you know what I mean. But at the same time, that is exactly the point. Until we see how things work as a whole—whether it be how a dress goes from sketch to store or how our actions affect the world as a whole—we won’t get it. And when we do start to look at these things, and when the information is available for us to study, then we can start to make choices that we otherwise would not be able or reflective enough to consider.
In all seriousness, green is the new “it” way to live. Back in New York and London, everyone is trying to figure out how to get a green roof, eating locally, and just overall being much more conscious about the way that they live. But beyond all of this hipness, it’s not just fashionable, it’s important—which is probably why so many people have caught on so quickly. It’s strange but for me, I didn’t realize how little of a relationship I have with nature or the “real world” until I went to Cancun last month and actually saw how beautiful the beaches were and had so much fun playing in the waves and picking up shells for my sandcastle. It was only after having had a view of Central Park for a few months that I realized how lacking my Hong Kong harbour view is. Strange, I know, but after a while, the concrete jungle starts to cave in—even on me.
The point is, the fashion world is no longer shying away from being responsible. Not that they aren’t still going to ask us all to considering starving ourselves to fit into their clothes (although that might be considered ecologically sound as we would all eat less and require less materials to dress ourselves with) or what not but rather they are looking at the world as a whole and their part in it. Every little bit helps. That’s all I am saying.

Sleep, and its Discontents...

Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day. Ten times a day you must overcome yourself: that makes you good and tired and is opium for the soul. Ten times you must reconcile yourself again with yourself: for, overcoming is bitterness, and the unreconciled sleep badly. Ten times a day you must laugh and be cheerful; else you will disturbed at night by your stomach, the father of gloom.
Few know it, but one must have all the virtues to sleep well…
- the sage, “On the teachers of virtue” from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Googling “sleep” on Google News brought up 28,245 articles. Given that we spend probably anywhere from one sixth to one third of our lives sleeping, this is really not all that big of a deal, right? I mean, there is probably no other single activity that every single one of us will invest such a large portion of our lives into. And so why should we not all be obsessed, or at least interested in, how to sleep well?
I suppose the more pressing question is why so many of us sleep badly. I hope that I am not making a grand assumption about the world here but it seems as though, jet lag aside, people do have trouble with sleep. I definitely do…
OK. So what is sleep? Sleeping might seem to be the easiest activity that we can partake in—nonwithstanding the difficulties of getting there and staying there—but it is in actuality really, really complicated. Look it up on wikipedia—simply put as being the basic restful state of mammals, it actually involves really complicated physiological mechanisms that include the secretion of specific hormones, changes in the nervous system, and lots of other things that I just don’t understand. There are different phases of sleep. And furthermore there are lots and lots of theories of sleep as well. But as you can get all that information on the web, lets just think of sleep as that state in which all things go away for a couple of hours and we get a little vacation from being awake.
There seem to be two basic approaches from which people attack the sleep issue. One approach is the body as biological machine approach. It’s all about inputs and outputs and the regulation of the mechanisms that regulate the body. So, to sleep well you need to develop a routine, exercise, see the sun, drink less coffee, stop smoking, etc etc… This makes a lot of sense. And, to a certain level, it works really well.
The other approach is more psychological. Any insomniac will tell you about at least one experience where he or she was really tired before getting into bed, but somehow, turning off all the lights and actually going to bed brings up thousands and thousands of thoughts that just won’t go away. People who have this type of experience will also tell you about vivid dreams or nightmares or waking up a thousand times a night? This approach says that ability to sleep well is all about the mind—if it won’t shut up, you aren’t going to be rested. And so you know what, bring back the sage—to sleep well, you basically have to be a good person and deal with all your issues during the day so that they won’t bother you at night.
What I find most interesting about the whole conversation on sleep though is that through the lens of sleep, we really look at every part of life. Although we are talking about sleeping, as sleep is the opposite of being awake, and as being awake is when we are really living out our lives, when talking about sleep, we are actually talking about life. Every problem that arises in sleep can in some ways be seen as a symptom of a problem that we are facing in life. And so by thinking about how to sleep, we actually must think about how to live. Here’s the crazy thing though—if we look at sleep as a function of living and if we obsess over sleep, are we sleeping to live, or are we living to sleep?
OK so that’s a silly question I hope—of course we sleep to live, but what’s quite cool is that in looking at sleep and non-sleep, we see that its really a cycle. We wake up and go to bed, wake up and go to bed, wake up and go to bed—every single day.
My point is this—sleeping and living are symbiotic. While we do rest to live in theory, you can’t live without sleep and you can’t sleep without living. And even though each night, when it gets hard to turn off your brain and get it sleep it seems like a new problem, its really the exact same thing that was dealt with the night before, and the exact same thing that will be dealt with again probably in approximately sixteen to eighteen hours.
People tend to look at life linearly. Time progresses in one direction and, apart from when we fly west, we can’t go back. So we tend to think of life as moving in one direction. But, in reality, life is both a cycle and a progression. While its never the same moment twice, we are constantly brought back to moments and places that we seen and been before—holidays, birthdays, reading the morning papers or watching the evening news—even if each time these events occur the circumstances are different.
This discussion could go on forever, which would be fun, but that really isn’t the point. Rather I think the that what I am trying to say is that more just that in general, we tend to think about things as subject and object, or act and effect. Apart from sleep (and obesity), we as a society or as individuals are obsessed with doing things and getting places. I need my sleep so that I can function during the day so that I can go to work, have a career, build a life etc, etc… But what is more often than not the case is that the degree of control we have over the entire process is not as high as we think—after each action the reaction or the effect of the action quickly becomes the cause of something else. I might have gotten to sleep last night but who knew that my phone would ring in the middle of the night waking me up? Or, who knew that I would take a nap in the car and this would inhibit my ability to sleep at night? The real world is a messy place, you know?
Not being able to sleep well at night is the worst thing ever not simply because without a good nights sleep the next day is painful but really just because it seems so ridiculous to not be able to do the one natural function that a body is most inclined to do (rest, I mean). But perhaps, if we stopped worrying about how to sleep or even how to get up and just saw everything in its larger context, it would be easier. Food for thought—that’s all.

This sage with his forty thoughts is a fool, but I believe that he knows well how to sleep… His wisdom is: to wake in order to sleep well. And verily, if life had sno sense and I had to choose nonsense, then I too should consider this the most sensible nonsense.
- Zarathustra, “On the teachers of Virtue” from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra

On kids...

It often seems to me as though kids today are as grown up as we are—either because we’re just not willing to grow up, or because they are growing up faster, or maybe because “childhood” has become a term that refers to a period in one’s life that we are not allowing people to really experience anymore… Is—or was—life ever really that simple? Probably not.
Today, we live the stages of our lives concurrently. Kids have lots of responsibilities and issues (and probably deal with them better than most adults do) and adults keep that inner child alive. Fantastic.
Anyways to say that we should help kids because they are the future doesn’t work because we have a future too. To say that they need our help because they are smaller or weaker doesn’t really work cause a lot of “grown ups” aren’t doing all that great either. And truthfully, there are lots of problems in the world—how can anyone justify helping one cause, group, or person over another without running into some type of an inconsistency?
Luckily, life is not an exercise in reason or logic and helping children does not have to be rationally justified. Kids need our help because they are kids. Truthfully in many ways they probably could help themselves but you know what? They shouldn’t have to.

On fractals...

I’m going to make a bit of a jump right now but I am really into fractals. Having skipped out on higher-level math, I don’t know much about them, but, again, according to the wiki a fractal was defined by Mandelbrot as “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced/size copy of the whole.” Basically, fractals are cool because each part is basically a microcosm of the whole and so you can look at the whole thing or the parts of it but learn about the fractal all the same. My theory is that most things are sort of like fractals—the structural similarities allow for connections to be drawn throughout different layers. So when we talk about one thing, we can then apply it to bigger or smaller things. Whether this is actually completely true, I don’t know but for many practical purposes it sort of is—try it out.

Sleep and its Discontents... ver 0.0.1

Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day. Ten times a day you must overcome yourself: that makes you good and tired and is opium for the soul. Ten times you must reconcile yourself again with yourself: for, overcoming is bitterness, and the unreconciled sleep badly. Ten times a day you must laugh and be cheerful; else you will disturbed at night by your stomach, the father of gloom.
Few know it, but one must have all the virtues to sleep well…
- the sage, “On the teachers of virtue” from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This sage with his forty thoughts is a fool, but I believe that he knows well how to sleep… His wisdom is: to wake in order to sleep well. And verily, if life had no sense and I had to choose nonsense, then I too should consider this the most sensible nonsense.
- Zarathustra, “On the teachers of Virtue” from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra

and...

life goes on.

Shopping in the kong...

OK so when Huang asked me to share a couple of HK shopping tips, it seemed like the ultimate no-brainer. I love clothes. I’ve worked in retail. I genuinely enjoy fashion. I live here. Who better to ask? And so I’ve compiled a few of what are in my opinion “must-visits.” This is by no means a comprehensive shopping list of HK. But these stores are some of my favourite shopping destinations here in the Kong and so hopefully you will enjoy them too…

Where should we start? Well obviously at the beginning. And it all started at the Landmark… No—seriously, for clothes I always start at the landmark. The Landmark is literally Hong Kong’s flagship shopping destination, given the number of flagship stores that it houses, right? Of course.
I pretty much live at Harvey Nichols. You know, I think multi-brand retail is one of the coolest but most difficult things to do. When I go to a store, I look for a perspective. You want to be able to walk in and feel the vibe, if you know what I mean. And when you have tens of thousands of square feet, its even more difficult because you have lots of little perspectives (or departments) within a larger framework…
I love Harvey Nicks because in many ways it epitomizes my way of life. Obviously its not literally exactly me, but in theory gets quite close. The store is about great fashion and not about brands. It’s luxurious and loves quality. It’s a comfortable and intimate store—one where you can literally sit down and read a book without feeling out of place. And it has a sense of humour—it’s a serious place but come on, any store that houses a restaurant that serves fried peanut-butter and banana sandwiches obviously has gotten over itself, at least a little bit.
So start with a visit to HN, give Jenny, my personal shopper, a call, and take a look around. They wont tell me what’s coming in next season but this season I’ve been obsessed with the Jitrois leather pants that I picked up. Radcliffe skinny jeans rock but I’m still hoping to see hyper-baggies or flares next season. Goyard totes of course. But most to die for? Basso and Brooke print ANYTHING and Giles Deacon dresses… But anyways. Come see for yourselves.

OK. Moving on. One of my friends has as his skype mood message “Rock is dead, go paper and scissors!!!” Maybe. But I think the exhibitionist in me—and my love of The Clash—keeps rock n roll alive in my book irregardless of trends and so the next place I would send any friend of mine is to Rock Candy.
Rock Candy is the brain-child of hong kong’s very own scenesters. Walking in—if you can actually find the door, which I never can—you basically enter a nightclub. Not surprising as the brand was created by the same people who brought us Volar, and soon, Halo. But really, the store is so dark that if it wasn’t filled with diamonds, you wouldn’t be able to see anything.
Rock Candy’s jewelry lies in a space that is sort of only known to those who frequent it. Diamond dog tags? I mean its post-bling, maybe? Ok so I can’t describe it but imagine crossing ESF, missy elliott, and maybe like the killers and creating lots of diamond objects. Its fun. And for celebrity junkies they are the people responsible for Justin Lo’s diamond earring and a new collaboration with Vanness.
But these boys are rock stars, club owners, hipsters, dj’s, creative wonders and a whole lot more by day. Rock Candy rocks cause of their ability to bring it all together and let you literally take home a small piece of the action.

I don’t think any trip to Hong Kong would be complete without a stop off a GOD (Goods of Desire). Yes, I realize that they mainly sell houseware and that their clothes and accessories are sort of obvious but I think that they rock.
GOD is Hong Kong. They’ve basically been able to grab hold of pieces of Hong Kong culture and turn them into accessible and fun things. It’s for people who are beyond trying, happy-go-lucky, and proud of Hong Kong’s local culture (yes—we actually do have some, but that is another conversation altogether). I love their tongue-in-cheek takes on the little things in our lives…

And now, back to “fashion.” Hong Kong has lots of “designers.” Some are good and some are not so good. But one “boy” has been around for a long time and has really made his mark—Barney Cheng.
Trained as an architect, Barney somehow found his way to his calling in the nineties. Having dressed basically every major actress / superstar in Hong Kong since his first days out, he is the pinnacle of Hong Kong couture. We have a love-hate relationship cause I usually call him at three pm to get a dress for 7pm, but if you are in Hong Kong and want a serious dress, he’s your man. (actually the SS07 J Mendel is fantastic but that’s another story right…).
One of the problems with Barney’s dresses is that sometimes they wear you, instead of you wearing them. I mean—if you don’t have any personality, beware, cause he definetly does. But in my book, if you just want to look “pretty” its not hard. Go to Barney if you want to look definitive. And, if you’re lucky, he’ll let you buy some of his custom jewelry as well. Seriously though—I’ve been waiting on my piece for like two years. Maybe you’ll have more luck.

I think that in the last year or two, somehow, little Hollywood starlets have become theoretical fashion icons and LA style has crept its way onto the scene. Again, LA is another conversation entirely, but for a taste of Cali, drop in through TRACE.
Trace, by Tracy, channels LA gear (no pun intended) to Hong Kong. Tracy lives between LA and Hong Kong actually, and her store carries designers like Michelle Mason, Siwy, Johnson Shorts, lots of T-shirts (I personally like plain ones) and easy cotton jersey dresses.
I love Trace cause I love Tracy. She was “not” my college roommate. We were supposed to live together, but we never did. She was the one who brushed her hair and wore real clothes to school (I used to go to school in my pajama’s). Scary but one of the things that drew me to Tracy was her Prada bowling bag—she used this as a bookbag? OK, enough reminiscing.
Trace stocks trendy and fun clothes that are easy to wear and hard to find. Swing through to get a taste of Roberston Blvd.

Alright so now for my little indulgences. I know this is supposed to be about fashion but fashion extends beyond just clothes and so here is my laundry list of other places where you can buy things.
I love music and so I have to put in a couple of record stores. White Noise Records is my new favourite place—they have the best indie selection in Hong Kong. Vinnie, Hong Kong’s premiere chic dj (although he is actually crazy cool in real life), has a record store on Star Street that is attached to the Illy Café. To turn your home into the hippest lounge or club in town, go to Vinnie. And don’t hate on superstars—visit HMV for hyper produced but fun / good pop hits.
For just sheer random objects—Kapok. Kapok is this tiny gallery / store that sells random things. Some are local underground bits and pieces, some are artsy whatevers… its hard to put a finger on. Buts its random, and fun if you have time.
And finally, drop through Page One. I love books and Page One has the best selection in Hong Kong. Nobody should go through life without reading. Books rock. Blogs and periodicals are cool, but there’s nothing like going back to basics.

I wish I had more to say on things like “street” wear or whatever you want to call it. Unfortunately I don’t. But I hear that there’s a lot of stuff going on between thinksilly, clot, greedy, and all of those people. I will get back to you if I find out more…

OK I m now out of words and battery. Enjoy shopping.