blog of Joe cz Liao

I am writing this on the last day of another year.

It has been a year cruelly short yet impossibly eventful.

This year began by returning to ‘home’ home in Hong Kong, after four years in LA and six months in Tanzania.

The year has allowed me to live off of money I made by doing the trades I simply enjoyed doing. Thanks to people’s recommendation and appreciation, I was given a great share of opportunities.

The year has also taken me to many new places outside and in Hong Kong, where I thought I knew well. Every fresh piece of land I lay my foot upon gives me a sort of comfort that I am, literally, not stepping on the same ground.

The year has connected me with many friends old and new, whom are often inspiring and uplifting, and without whom to share my life would not be half as interesting.

The year has taught me many humbling lessons and helped steer my direction. I myself am very excited about this coming year.

Thanks to all of my family and friends who have cared about me even I might not have been able to tell you directly how much I care about you too. Thank you, if you are reading this, you know I am saying this to you.

Wish you a happy new year.

I settled upon the theme for my personal promotion design while I was on a plane ride about a month ago. From that point on, the business cards were printed and stamps were made in two days, the blog is now redesigned (and migrated), and I’m working full speed on my portfolio. Other stationaries to come.

First thing first,

A little more →

The cold 45 minutes bike ride in the rain after judo tonight was only good for one song.

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin’ when I hold you
Don’t you know I feel the same
‘Cause nothin’ lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it’s hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain

—Guns N Roses

Few days ago my brother and I were at a Ramen place. As we waited for our orders I noticed that one waitress, not old at all (I say early twenties), looked rather worn out. I also noticed that she dropped things twice in five minutes, and wasn’t walking particularly straight (banging into chairs). When she finally bought our meals over I was certain that her thumb was dipping in the soup; when she was putting the bowl onto the table she poured some soup onto herself, which she didn’t seem to notice.

After that, she disappeared for a while. Soon later she walked out from the back of the restaurant, changed into casual clothes, and exited the restaurant speedily. She went right towards her bicycle, which was parked right outside the large window our seat was next to. The bicycle she picked up had a baby seat at the front, and another on the back.

Through the glass, I got to see her closely (also because I was no longer paying attention to the soup). She was exhausted. There was barely a glint in her eyes…

Despite my lassitude after a long day of plentiful traveling, and my warm comfort in bed doing my bedtime reading, I was suddenly awashed with a strong urge to write. The trigger was the encountering of the word ‘magic bullet’…

I recall a few years ago, 2006 that was, while I was in LA, I went to a play/musical with a few friends called “The Black Rider – The Casting of the Magic Bullets“. My friend Yankov who, then as a master’s student at the UCLA theatre school, inspired us to all go out to the play. He had warned us about the slightly unusual style in advance, and as I was along with others also in the process of putting together a stage performance then, I paid a lot of attention to the highly stylistic stage design, lighting and directions. Occupied by all the spectacles, I failed comprehensively to appreciate the classic, well-known, (originally german) ingenious story.

Wilhelm, a file clerk, falls in love with a huntsman’s daughter. In order to marry, Wilhelm must prove his worth as a hunter and gain her father’s approval, but, as “a man of pen and ink”, his shot is lousy and his hopes of marriage worsen. That is until he is offered magic bullets by the devil, Pegleg – who assures him that his bullets will always have a sure shot. However, Pegleg stipulates that, while most of the bullets will hit anything Wilhelm pleases, one of the bullets is under Pegleg’s control. Foolish, naive, and overrun with desperate hope, Wilhelm accepts the Faustian pact. On the day of Wilhelm’s wedding, the final bullet strikes his beloved dead. He then goes mad, and joins the previous victims of Satan’s cunning in the Devil’s carnival.

—A Synopsis from our beloved Wikipedia

Ever since my childhood, I have always been curious about where one would actually find the devil to make deals with. Not that I was prepared to make one, but I was genuinely curious, or thinking ‘just in case’. Now that I am not as ingenuous as then, when I was reminded of this story tonight, I suddenly realized the (banal) fact that the deal has always been in place awaiting us to jettison our long upheld values, moral standards and integrity.

Now, who doesn’t want a few magic bullets? Thoughts anyone?

I was hoping to spend my Sunday afternoon, after the 4.3 hrs TOEFL in the morning, punching out my latest blog entry to update my friends and family about my recent idyllic life. Before I did that I tried to upload the latest pictures to my flickr page, and along the way, responded to a few emails, made a few facebook comments, skimmed through my twitter ‘correspondents’ updates, watched a video about China’s effort to fight pollution and a TED presentation. (btw, add me to your skype if you wish) At the end of all that, it was about 4am in the morning, and I needed to rest. I couldn’t help but, once again, exclaim how little time a day actually has.

My three months stay in Japan is close to half done. It is very likely that the second half will be twice as short as the first. If that is so, the next two thirds of my entire life will definitely share a similar phenomenon with my ephemeral stay in Osaka.

Being ‘Culture Day’, 2009.11.03 was a public holiday in Japan. I have decided to go to the Nagai Park (長居公園) close by to where we live with my brother and a few other friends and spend our afternoon there. The place was filled with people, mostly kids and parents, exhibiting an unaffected aura of enjoyment. We brought our guitar along, and did some singing, chatting, eating… and that was about it. All was wonderful.

See more pictures at my flickr.

A little more →

Note that my UCLA shorts’ color match surprisingly well with the curtains of my room

Best Contact, still: joe@liao.cz

If, seriously, you want to send me good stuff:

Rm. 213 J&F Plaza
4-7-16 Kire-nishi Hirano-ku, Osaka-shi
Osaka, Japan 547-0026

Here for three months, hope to learn Japanese with alacrity and become a polyglot(and they say you should use your GRE words so to bolster your learning.) The fixed schooling schedule and the pleasant bonhomie of the common room in this building is an anodyne to my inchoate, indolent life in Hong Kong.

Spent over 60% of my time last week working on the website for Match&Fusion. Soon to be released. Everything besides sushi and gogo-no-koucha (午後の紅茶) is very expensive.

Enough of being verbose. More update to come.

It took me a while to sum up my thoughts and finally conclude my own learning about the piece XLIEUX – an interactive installation art piece by the very talented Wendy Tai, in collaboration with myself. A little more →

Stephen Greenwood left the place about 30 hours ago. This place is quiet without his itunes library.

He has been a close friend, a colleague, a peer. His influence on me has been noticeable. I wish he had a good and inspiring time here.

As for myself, the to-do list is never ending. It’s been months since I last finished every item I listed for any single day. Like Mary said, we’re only paying back the interest…. and I am not even at that stage yet.

Leaving for Japan in 12 days, staying there for 3 months. I shall speak the language, and likely meet some people.

Applying to Architecture school. Preparing for the GRE. Then, look for a Design office to work at, Shanghai maybe?

Want to sing out loud something in the public, but muffled by shyness. Still waiting for that someone to come out inside me.

Want to finish the film. Want to pour my hearts and brains and sweats into it, and show it to people. Want to make it my work that concludes, for now at least, my endeavor in films.

Should travel on foot, with a backpack and a pocket knife. How do one gather mass while rolling? Has technology made this possible yet?

因為找到它，
今天開始，生活改善了。

它大概有十多歲吧。