Another action-packed (and themed) edition of The Apostrophe (Issue 7) has dropped on Substack! It can also be read and downloaded as a pdf here!
This one features incredible photography by Anthony Roussel (cover artist) and Philippe Joly, and spectacular art by Julien Pantz. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
Submissions for our next issue on the theme of ‘Character’ are open now!
Thank you to the curators of TEDxLPCUWC Youth for inviting me to speak at their TEDx event at Li Po Chun United World College yesterday! The best thing about doing a TEDx is meeting and listening to the other speakers interpret the same theme in their own unique way. The theme for this one was A Fractal of Perspectives, which meant the first thing I had to do was google ‘fractal’ and the second thing I had to do was google ‘how to use fractal in a sentence’. (The speech kind of wrote itself from there.)
I’m so grateful to have had this experience that was inspiring, uplifting and often hilarious! Congratulations to the student organisers and volunteers who did such an incredible job, coping with technical difficulties, and thanks to the amazing audience! This included my pal Philippe who had travelled all the way from DB to remind me “Just remember to stand in the big red box!” Unfortunately, I have never managed to stay in the box my entire life – and this experience proved no exception.
Most of all, thanks to Joanna Jayalakshman Mohan for coming to the WiPS launch of Imprint 22 at the HK Lit Fest, which kickstarted my TEDx interlude, and for bringing it to a fitting conclusion with the following conversation:
Me: Hey, we should meet up for a drink some time!
Her: Sure, that would be great as soon as I turn 18!
Me: 😮
(If you want people to guess you’re underage, here’s a tip: don’t use words like ‘fractal’! 😂 I had just assumed they were young-looking PhD students…)
So, that’s how my first TEDx ended. Not with champagne but with the creeping realisation I had been caught corrupting a minor. 🤣🤣🤣
https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/56987
The Hong Kong Writers Circle‘s 19th anthology, Lost in Transition, will launch at the 2024 Hong Kong International Literary Festival March 6! The event will be held 7.30pm – 8.45pm in the Jockey Club Studio at the Hong Kong Fringe Club. This year’s anthology contains 30 short stories and poems inspired by Hong Kong’s underground life-support system – the MTR! (I also set my own theme of ‘Yakult’.) Tickets are FREE but you must book now as there are very few left!
As well as contributing, I assisted Stewart McKay to edit this anthology, which is the thickest yet! (That’s thick in terms of width, not talent.) It contains many weird and wonderful poems and stories by local writers so please support and if you write, join us! HUGE thanks to my good pal Philippe Joly for helping design the cover and my nephew Kaz for taking the cover shot!
So stand back from the platform door and please don’t find yourself lost in transition…
https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/book-launch-lost-in-transition-tickets-821645061497
My latest humour column for RTHK Radio 3 just got tutted up on VYP! It features a funny turn by my partner in crime Philippe Joly. This one’s the stuff of nightmares and called Dream On…
Sharp Pains will be back with a few new bells and whistles in the Lunar New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi, amigos!
My first skewed humor column of 2022 for RTHK Radio 3 aired Jan 25 as the final segment of the 123 Show! Featuring actor Philippe Joly, this one’s the stuff of nightmares and is called Dream On…
Sharp Pains will be back on RTHK Radio 3 earlier than usual in just over a week’s time!
Links!
My last Sharp Pain of 2021 broadcasted on RTHK Radio 3 Dec 30! Featuring a cameo by actor Philippe Joly, this one’s a jittery one and called Caffeine Free…
Sharp Pains is back on RTHK with its first episode of 2022 Jan 25! Meanwhile, Post Magazine has spotlighted my 3 terrifying short stories as one of its must-read features of 2021! Thanks to everybody who’s followed my skewed humor columns on RTHK Radio 3 and recently VYP!
Links!
Caffeine Free on Apple Podcasts
You can watch the 2020 AIBs live TOMORROW (Fri 13 – ha!) and next Monday (Nov 16) in a 2-part virtual awards show webcast at 11pm HKT/ 3pm GMT! My cheeky little Mental Ideas Podcast for RTHK Radio 3 is a nominee in the Factual Podcast category. As rank outsiders go, we are the rankest. (The program booklet below certainly provides evidence of that!!!) But I am giddy with bewildered awe just to be a nominee!
#2020 AIBs #Association for International Broadcasting #Mental Ideas #RTHK
Crazy is a cheeky little fiesta of madness and the last episode of the first series of Mental Ideas so DON’T MISS IT!!! You can download all the episodes from this series here!
A HUGE thanks to all my mental guests: Mat Ricardo, Christina Yung, Larry Feign, Florence Wong, Ruben M, Josh Walters, Dan Davies, Kiki Wong, Jackie Chan, Philippe Joly, Eugenia Kim, Raffaello Degruttola, Ifat Hyndes, as well as to Nick Samuel for composing the mental music, Angie and Noz for all the support!
Mental Ideas will be back! Until then, you can catch me presenting my new humour column on RTHK Radio 3 from September 29!
One type of podcast guest that’s proved easy to secure in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic is grounded airline cabin crew. Bipolar is a condition that’s often been associated with mad creative geniuses, like Van Gough, Beethoven, Mozart, Theresa May and Carrie Lam. But what if you work as a first class bathroom assistant for a living and don’t have a creative bone in your body? The Agitated Air Stewardess is a harrowing tale of triumph in the face of absurdity. Florence Wong ROCKS!!!
The Mental Ideas Podcast is back on RTHK Radio 3 this Thursday (April 23) @ 2.30 HKT, where I’m talking psychopaths in The Psychopathic Actor with French actor Philippe Joly who isn’t one (allegedly). Don’t miss it!!!
The Mental Ideas Podcast lifts off TODAY – April 2nd – on RTHK Radio 3! (Sorry about the short notice, but I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I posted this on April 1st.) Tune in LIVE on RTHK Radio 3 @1.30pm or download the podcast on the RTHK and Mental Ideas websites!
HUGE thanks to my mental guests and especially to composer Nick Samuel for creating the mental music, zingers & stingers!
Depression. It’s no laughing matter. Or is it? Why are so many of our best loved comedians depressed? I trance in and out exploring this tragi-hilarious topic with award-winning cartoonist (creator of the SCMP’s iconic Lily Wong strip and the first cartoonist to have a full-page spread in Time Magazine) depressed humorist (at least he seemed a bit disappointed by the end of the interview) and best-selling author Larry Feign!
In a Mental Ideas Podcast exclusive, I am rewarded for all my bad work with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview a living legend live on RTHK Radio 3! JACKIE CHAN is on the podcast!!! No, I am not making this up!!!! She works in banking and has bipolar disorder!!!!!! Oh. But she could kick THAT Jackie Chan into 2050!!! (It can’t be any crapper than 2020.)
One type of podcast guest that’s proved easy to secure in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic is grounded airline cabin crew. Bipolar disorder is a condition that’s traditionally been associated with mad creative geniuses, like Van Gough, Beethoven, Mozart, Theresa May and Carrie Lam. But what if you work as a first class bathroom assistant for a living and don’t have a creative bone in your body? The Agitated Air Stewardess is a harrowing tale of triumph in the face of absurdity. And I know I’m not supposed to have favorites but Florence Wong ROCKS!!!
Psychopathic actor and entrepreneur Philippe Joly attempts to explain to me why psychopaths make such great CEOs and movie stars. But since I usually meet Philippe at the studio to improvise sketches, the interview quickly deteriorates. He also has the gall to bring up his experiences working with Jackie Chan. No, not the bipolar banker I interviewed in Episode 2. The other one.
I’ve got a criminal record as long as your arm, but most of my heinous crimes were committed while I was in Nod. At least that’s what I told the popo.
A deadly podcast about Death by Anxious Showman Mat Ricardo is poignantly paired with American actor Dan Davies presenting the weather forecast… in Wisconsin. It may be Spring, but Winter is Coming…
Virtual Reality dance-maker Eugenia Kim joins me on the podcast and explains how her bipolar disorder has fuelled her creativity and inspired her latest VR film! It’s called Lithium Hindsight. And yes, it IS better than Avatar.
She banks. She cares for her Mum. She writes books and takes magical photographs of Hong Kong old shops. She’s in tears twice during the interview and has the most infectious raucous laugh I’ve ever had the pleasure of developing tinnitus from. She’s Christina Yung: the Positive Depressive!
Mat Ricardo reminisces about the time he was starting out as a street performer and a member of the public walked onto his pitch and took a dump. Left to raise the tone (uh-oh) Dan Davies gets trollied in Wisconsin and gives a moving account of his own experiences with internet trolls. Only he has another word for them (and he uses it a lot).
I coin a new catchphrase from an interview with wellness entrepreneur Ifat Hyndes and test it out on a taxi driver. Mat Ricardo talks about the power of acceptance. Frankly, it’s unacceptable.
I talk dirty. Great big wads of dirty money. You can’t use banknotes anywhere in Hong Kong since the first wave peaked. Too dirty. Toilet paper is our only currency now.
I’ll leave this one to your imagination…
