If you’re like me, chances are you have a shorcut or bookmark on your browser for Facebook. And if you work a 9 to 5, you probably click the link at least 5-10 times a day. Key words: “at least”. Facebook is an addiction. It’s a fact. But why?

I was thinking about this today. Why exactly do I feel the urge to open Facebook whenever I sit down at my computer? I summed up a few key reasons:

1. Gossip. I succumb to gossip (like you) and want to know the very latest about my group of friends. ‘Hot damn… ____ is engaged???’
2. Convenience. Facebook makes it much more convenient for me to check up on (ahem, stalk) the status of friends rather than having to make a phone call or send and instant message (especially to those I don’t communicate much with).
3. Forums and conversations. If you participate in fan groups on Facebook, it’s fun to congregate and talk with other people that share similar interests as you. And these conversations are pretty active. Heck, President Obama’s voting day event was streamed and discussed live via Facebook.
4. Blog your life. i.e. update your status. C’mon, you know you do it. You’re emotional or you just found out something super awesome …or maybe you just watched an amazing movie… gotta update the status to let the world know! ;)

I think it would be a fun challenge to stop using Facebook for a week if you are an addict. Cigarettes or Facebook abstinence = more difficult? ;)

Did I miss any reasons above?

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Tags: Facebook

So I visited Las Vegas these past few days with Chuck, Teresa, and my bro 12/27-12/30. I’m waiting for the flight back to SFO right now at the Vegas airport. Overall, it was a pretty awesome trip. As expected (I guess…), I ended up down $$, but not too bad… so i feel neutral right now ;) I think I spent a total of at least five to ten hours total at the tables haha

A list of the casinos we hit:

• MGM Grand
  - i stayed at MGM Grand the last time i came to vegas. it’s still pretty much the same inside. i like the layout of the building. there’s a central circular area where you play poker or bet on games. also there’s a big cage area where you can watch lions. and the cirque de soleil show, ka, is inside the building as well. one of my favorite casinos.
• Rio
  - pretty nice environment, nothing special but nice.
• O’Sheas Casino
  - really old, quality of players and dealers lower than those of the newer casinos (e.g. Wynn).
• Harrah’s
  - old, vintage. needs renovation to match up the vibe of the newer casinos.
• Venetian
  - really nice, i won the most money here so i’m biased. ;)
• Palazzo
  - average, pretty good. not bad.
• Wynn / Encore
  - encore is pretty new, it’s like the sister casino of wynn, they are connected by a walkway area. the encore environment was pretty nice. good design and very new / modern.
• Planet Hollywood
  - this used to be Aladdin, the inside of the casino still feels and looks the same as Aladdin back in the day. whoever designed the casino was pretty clever by having only ONE cashier area way in the back of the casino. hot, scantily clad dancers on stages and also as dealers, really nice vibe.
• Palms
  - kinda dead. although i didn’t really gamble there much, ate buffet there which was also kinda weak (see below).
• Bellagio
  - this is where the classic skyhigh water show that shows up at the end of ocean’s eleven takes place. very nice casino. great shopping mall to pass time in between gambling too. beautiful inside, especially during holiday season. must visit.
• The Orleans
  - nice architecture, live band inside. mediocre.

Buffets we dined at:

• Bistro Buffet at Palms
  - not recommended, cheap (less than $20) but food is mediocre. not a long waiting time though.

• The Buffet at Wynn
  - good buffet, lots of variety and the vibe / setup is pretty inviting and warm. costs about $40-50, we waited in line for a little over an hour.

Show we watched:

• V - The Ultimate Variety Show
  - some really awesome moments, but overall mehhh. not worth the price in my opinion, $45 at half price for the ticket (go to the half price ticket place on the strip near mgm grand / across from new york new york for cheap tickets).

Clubs we visited:

• Tryst at Wynn
  - pretty awesome interior setup, lots of people and big dancing area. didn’t end up staying that long, but i’ve heard that this nightclub and Tao at The Ventian are the two must-visit clubs in vegas.

I guess it’s those special attractions in casinos that make you remember the name. After these few days of constant gambling at so many casinos, it’s hard for me to remember unique traits of specific casinos. But MGM’s lion cage for instance sticks out in my mind. Or the scantily clad women at Planet Hollywood. All the others are a blur. Good food for thought when creating a business… Overall it was a pretty fun-tastic trip. We stayed at a friend’s apartment, it was really nice and new. 29th floor view of Vegas = priceless, photos to come!

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Tags: Las Vegas, MGM Grand, Wynn, Encore, Planet Hollywood, Bellagio

One of my favorite quotes.

Earlier tonight, I was looking through some old files on my hard drive. Listening to some music that I wrote a long time ago and watching some videos of early dance performances. I’m not gonna lie. When I watch those dance moves, I can’t help but cringe (not to mention goosebumps). Or listening to earlier tunes when I was screwing around and didn’t really know how to write a decent song. Perhaps you’ve had a similar feeling looking through old photos of yourself… During those moments of reminiscence, it’s actually a pretty nasty feeling and your only impulse is to press ’stop’ or close the file altogether. You think to yourself… ‘WTF was I thinking???’

But before I closed the file and shoot myself, I realized something…

I gave it a shot. I went for it. Sure, it may have been sub-par, but I did it. Yea! That’s more than most people can say really. It’s true, if I had never written those tunes or performed in those videos, then basically I have nothing to ever regret and life is good. Stable life, no crappy history. But that’s pretty boring. I feel. As long as I tried my very best in my previous works, no regrets and no hard feelings when reminiscing or hearing negative feedback from others. In fact, the very fact that viewing previous works gives me a cringe effect is proof that I’ve improved. If I didn’t improve, those works would seem awesome to me right now. Ya dig?

I’m still on my life’s journey of finding 10,000 ways that don’t work. If I have a question and it sounds stupid or the answer is obvious, I’m still gonna ask it. Eventually, things will fall into place and success will be achieved.

For your enjoyment, here are some photos from my journey thus far of finding 10,000 ways that work AND don’t work ;-) - I hope you get a good laugh from these:

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Sometimes when I watch TV shows or films these days, I try to jump out of my position as an audience member and instead imagine myself in the roles of interesting characters. Ari Gold’s role in ‘Entourage’ is a great example.

I’m a big fan of the HBO series ‘Entourage‘, I’ve watched pretty much every episode (and some more than a few times). If you’ve ever seen the show, you’d probably agree with me that Jeremy Piven’s character, Ari Gold, steals the show. His character is incredibly believable and totally entertaining.

In the TV show, Ari Gold represents Vinnie Chase, a famous and aspiring actor in Hollywood. Ari is one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood and this is totally evident in his high-energy dialect and actions. I think there is so much to learn from the way Ari Gold presents himself and the way he pursues (and achieves) success.

1. High energy level 24-7. Ari Gold is alive and thriving at all times. If he’s not thinking, then he’s executing. Period. His energy is totally infectious, it carries over to those around him and even the audience members haha.
2. Staying fit and healthy. There are many scenes in the show where he is doing push-ups or other exercises during phone calls or at home. The guy dines well too. I think his strong health also attributes to his high energy level at all times. Also infectious.
3. Clever strategies to escape or solve problems. Ari always figures out a solution to any problem, whether it be a tricky and unethical scheme or dodging the problem altogether. The interesting part is that despite his deceitful tactics and offensive dialect, you know that he is a good person deep down inside. Life is all about solving problems.
4. Charismatic, people simply listen to and obey him. The way he talks, walks, dresses, jokes, etc. It’s all very damn charismatic and amicable. It’s hard not to like the guy. Being charismatic and likable goes hand-in-hand with people choosing to respect and listen to you.
5. Filtering out the bullsh*t. Whether it be unqualified business partners or idiotic interns, Ari Gold won’t have it. And he makes it blatantly clear. He only works and associates himself with those that reach his standards. The extremity of his bullsh*t filter results in a lot of people thinking of him as an asshole. But even those people respect the guy.
6. How to be as credible an actor as Jeremy Piven. Self-explanatory. Apart from Robert Downey, Jr., I think Jeremy Piven is one of the best usually-non-lead-role actors in Hollywood. He’s like a Scottie Pippen (if you follow basketball). Socttie Pippen was Michael Jordan’s right-hand man in their most successful years on the Chicago Bulls. Even though the spotlight was on Michael Jordan, Pippen always did an amazing job as a supporting role in so many ways.

I’m actively applying some of these points to my lifestyle and character as Tony Chung. ;) I think we should all choose a few fictional characters that we love in TV shows or films, and try to apply those traits to our own character. It will make us stronger and more successful…

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Tags: Ari Gold, Entourage

The above statement is actually my personal reflection on Taiwan. I noticed recently one thing that Taiwan has been executing quite successfully (besides the High Speed Rail — which is awesome and very well done). What is it Tony? Well, Taiwan has been doing an excellent job of attracting international first tier artists to perform in Taipei. A superb job. Some artists that visited (or are visiting) this year include:

1. Diana Krall
2. Linkin Park
3. Paul Potts (of European Idol fame)
4. Vitas (Russian opera singer)
5. L Arc en Ciel (Japanese band)

Seeing posters of these global acts around town really enhances the image and reputation of Taiwan. It’s almost like seeing a highly reputable list of clientele on a company’s website. Given that Taiwan is not one of the very well-known or often mentioned spots in the world, I think it’s awesome that these highly influential artists are paying a visit to Taiwan. It actually benefits both parties because both the visitng acts and the Taiwanese people are exposed to new culture and language. I patiently await the day when the word ‘Taipei’ brings up as positive and vibrant an image as ‘Tokyo’ does. The act of inviting important people to Taiwan is definitely a good first step.

Bottom line: If you are creating a brand or company (or any service for that matter), first do one thing exceptionally well. Then, sustain and expand. Case in point: Google.

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Tags: Taiwan

Upon request by one of my readers, I’ve decided to post an entry about how to record music with a computer. I have been recording music in the form of vocals, live instruments, and synthesizers for well over ten years. I started when I was 12 years old by recording on a dual cassette deck boombox with my parents’ karaoke microphone (good times). Today, the power of technology has enabled any one of us to set up a decent recording platform in the comfort of our homes at a very affordable price. For instance, if you sing and play the acoustic guitar, you could record decent quality demos of your songs with a microphone and recording machine at the cost of less than USD$200. This was definitely not the case ten years ago.

Here is a basic visual of my recording setup along with the prices of the individual components:

There are four primary components that you will need to record decent quality music with your computer:

1. Whatever it is you want to record (e.g. guitar, vocals, synth, drums, strings)
2. Recording hardware
3. Computer
4. Recording software

Explanation:

To understand this setup easier, try to imagine a river between the Yamaha synthesizer and the Mac Mini computer in the above image. In order to travel from synth to computer, you must cross a bridge that is the Mbox2 Mini recording hardware. Still don’t get it? Then think of the keyboard at the top as a Japanese speaker and the computer at the bottom as a Spanish speaker. The recording hardware between them is the translator that will enable the two devices to communicate.

The Pro Tools software on the computer is the interface you use to record music. The software interface usually consists of several tracks like this:

Here is a sample piece of music I recorded using the above setup, an Ode to Street Fighter song:

All editing of the above song was done in Pro Tools software and 75% of the instruments you hear are from the Yamaha Motif ES 6 synthesizer. And of course I used a Mbox 2 Mini to record it.

One key point to remember is that there are many, many alternatives to the products used in the setup above. For instance, the synthesizer can be replaced by any instrument or microphone:

Also, there are several choices for the type of brand you would like to use for the recording hardware, computer, etc. Below is a list of some choices for each part of the recording setup:

Synthesizer:

• Yamaha Motif - great string sounds, interface is harder to use right off the bat but very powerful
• Korg Triton - great synth sounds
• Roland Fantom - great organ and piano sounds
• Alesis Micron - great fat synth sounds

Recording Hardware:

• Digidesign Mbox
• M-Audio Fast Track
• Alesis iO
• Edirol UA

Computer:

• Apple (OS X)
• Dell (Windows)
• Toshiba (Windows)
• HP (Windows)

Software:

• Nueno - MIDI and wave recording
• Fruity Loops - MIDI recording
• Propellerhead Reason - MIDI recording
• Logic - MIDI and wave recording

Obviously, there is ongoing debate about which of the above products are most superior. But it really boils down to your personal taste and the type of music you are creating. Some people love Pro Tools for its simple interface, others love Nuendo for its amazing plugin sounds. And of course we have Apple fanboys and loyal Windows users. There is so much out there in terms of tools and sounds. I advise you to start with the basics (a cheap setup), and work your way up. At least that’s the way I did it. In the meantime, keep researching and stay up-to-date with the latest information and products. That way, when you are ready to upgrade your setup, you know exactly what you want and how much it will cost you.

Good luck!

P.S. If you enjoyed the Street Fighter song above, you can hear more of my music at tonychungmusic.com.

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Tags: record music, music, recording, synthesizer

Day 4 (Friday, 7/27)

Total money spent (in USD):

$45 - Round trip, ferry from HK -> Macau
$10 - Lunch at The Venetian
$XX - Money lost in gambling at Macau
$5 - Dinner at the airport

Net expenses: ~USD$60 + $XX ;-)

On our last day in Hong Kong, Wei and I headed to Macau to try our luck at the blackjack tables. We checked out of our hostel around 11am and took the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Macau around 12pm. There are two types of ferries, Turbojet and First Ferry. I took Turbojet the last time I went to Macau from Hong Kong, so this time we took First Ferry. Seeing the two of us walk around was quite a sight, Wei’s backpack was basically the size of an adolescent lol

When we got off the ferry at Macau, we were uber excited to get our gamble on, but then… we witnessed mayhem:

This was what we saw as soon as we walked off the boat towards customs. We waited for about one and a half hours in that crowd before getting past customs. It was absolutely ridiculous. I’m not sure if that day was an exception (it was a Sunday BTW) or if it is First Ferry service, but it totally sucked like crazy. Bleh. After we finally got past customs, we headed straight to The Venetian and got some food at the food court (we were starving like mad). Venetian is probably the most high class hotel in Macau, this was my third time there.

Then we got down to business. Wei and I headed to the blackjack tables and did our thing. I ended up …donating… some money to the Venetian fund, but it was fun nonetheless. It was Wei’s first time gambling and if I remember correctly, his luck was not too shabby! Since our flight was 9pm that night, we took off from Macau via ferry around 6pm. Little did we know that we hadn’t allocated enough time for our trip back to Hong Kong. LUCKY we were to run into a small group of girls that were really helpful in getting us to the airport on time.

We ended up missing our flight by a few minutes but were lucky enough to hop onto the next flight at 12am. It was a pretty hilarious slash pathetic situation for Wei and I when we were buying dinner at the airport. Collectively, we only had a bit of pocket change left due to our luck in Macau. Luckily (again), we had JUST enough to buy ourselves Burger King hamburgers. lol

Conclusion, Hong Kong trip:

This was no doubt a really fun trip and a breath of fresh air from my Taipei life. It was also a reminder that it really does matter WHO you go with on a trip or any outing for that matter. I think it’s safe to say that both Wei and I had a blast from cracking a slew of esoteric inside jokes to speaking with an English accent to Hong Kong folks. Hong Kong is a great place to visit for anywhere from a few days to a week. If you enjoy shopping, nightlife, or sight-seeing, all of the above and more are do-able in Hong Kong. Set the date! ;)

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Day 3 (Saturday, 7/26)

Total money spent (in USD):

Net Expenses: ~USD$65

Wei and I left our hostel around 11am and went our separate ways. I went to have lunch with my dad and Wei went to Hong Kong Island to have lunch with his buddy Doug. Lunch with my dad was nice, I hadn’t seen him since the last time I visited Hong Kong in February. We had some traditional Hong Kong dim sum at Tsim Sha Tsui.

Afterwards, Wei and I rendezvous-d and headed to Mong Kok. BUT before we did so, we loaded up on some vitamin C ’shots’ at the local Watson’s store:

Yes, super nerdy galore, but we had to try it. The bottle form and label of these little badboys had made us curious since day one. Seeing that we were lacking in energy, it seemed the perfect time to try them out. I don’t think it did much for us in the end :p We got to Mong Kok via MTR around 2pm, it is basically the biggest street market area in Hong Kong, I did a video about Mong Kok on my last visit. We shopped around for a few hours, bought a few items here and there. We encountered a super rude and very low-class street vendor there. She basically got upset when we tried to bargain on a pair of sunglasses (which is a totally normal practice at street markets) and started insulting us left and right. I was close to telling her off in Cantonese but resisted. :p

After a few hours of perusing Mong Kok, our legs were pretty much begging for mercy. So we began what became a surprisingly long search for a coffee shop or cafe (hence the title of this post). I kid you not when I say that we searched for a cafe for an hour. ANY cafe would have worked for us at that point, but there were absolutely none in sight. So we decided to head to Causeway Bay, because we remembered seeing some cafes there yesterday. Unfortunately we still didn’t find any cafes there either. But just as we were about to give up, Wei saw a random sign that had the words “coffee shop” in its title. Without thinking, we headed towards that shop. Turns out it is a very unique hole-in-the-wall bookstore/cafe with a very cool vibe:

The place is called “People’s Recreation Community (PRC)”, they have a lot of Mao ZeDong posters around the shop, it seemed to be their theme. We chilled and ate dinner there for an hour or so, then my buddy Sherman met up with us. We then headed to Lam Kwai Fong to see a jazz band perform at The Fringe Club. It was super cool how everyone was jammed inside a small venue just watching a 15-piece jazz band perform (as opposed to treating them as background music). Six or seven us then headed to Half Past Ten, a lounge in Lam Kwai Fong. We chatted and had some drinks and then Wei and I headed back to the hostel.

Bottom line:

• Mong Kok = street market galore, get cheap stuff there
• PRC = only cafe in Hong Kong haha just kidding, but cafes are damn sparse in HK

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Tags: Hong Kong, Mong Kok

Day 2 (Friday, 7/25)

Total money spent (in USD):

Net expenses: ~USD$100

We left our hostel at around 11AM and took the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Island to have lunch with Wei’s Stanford buddy Doug. The view on the ferry was amazing as usual and the weather was bright and sunny. Since we were going to eat inside the IFC building (tallest building in Hong Kong as of now), we shopped around there a bit and checked out this cool CD store with very aesthetically-pleasing listening booths. We met Doug at a restaurant called Isola Bar and Grill. It was on the third floor and we dined outside, amazing view of Kowloon:

Lunch was nice, a bit expensive but pretty reasonable given the awesome view. Doug recommended that we check out Causeway Bay, so that we did. We headed there via MTR and came across a cool Japanese candy store along the way. I’m a sucker for candy, both Wei and I bought some candy we’ve never seen before. We got to Causeway Bay around 3PM and shopped for a few hours there. There is a Times Square and Sogo area over there, basically a modern shopping center with lots of stores and restaurants. We bought some clothes at a G2000 store because the deals were simply too good to be true.

At around 7PM, we met up with my friends Queena, Winnie, and Cliff at Causeway Bay. Cliff drove us all to a very authentic Hong Kong style restaurant in Happy Valley. Wei and I discussed this name ‘Happy Valley’ quite a bit ;) It’s actually a very high-class, expensive area on Hong Kong island and also where the horseracing arena is. The name is a bit funny, no? ;) Anyway, we had a really nice meal there, it was totally packed. Even though Queena had made reservations, we still had to wait 10-15 minutes to get our table. Well worth the wait though!

During our dinner, we had a long discussion about the Thailand fruit, durian, that is very popular in Hong Kong. If you are not familiar with durian, it is this super stinky yellow, slug-like fruit that is IMO disgusting. We had a long debate about durian because Queena and Winnie love it while the rest of us are not such big fans. It really is a hit-or-miss food. I had actually never tried durian before, smelling it was enough for me. But as you know, I’m always up for trying new things. So after dinner, we headed to a popular dessert place called Lucky Dessert and ate some durian. My long-time Hong Kong buddy Sherman also met up with us. Along the way, Wei and I tried some shaomai, which is very well-known in HK:

Wasn’t that great, I guess there are two primary types of shaomai: fish and shrimp. We had fish, which was …ok. The durian was pretty disgusting as I had predicted haha but it was definitely worth trying. Winnie and Queena were quite delighted with the dessert, here’s Winnie with her scrumptious and stinky durian ;) :

After our durian session, Wei, Sherman, and I went to Lam Kwai Fong (the nightlife area) for some drinks. It was fun chatting with Sherman, hadn’t seen for about half a year since the last time she visited Taipei. We went to a bar called ‘D26′ which was pretty nice, there was a jukebox there so Wei and I invested a few coins and chose some tracks. If I remember correctly, we chose four songs: 1) Jamiroquai - Cosmic Girl, 2) David Tao - Airport song, 3) Blur - Song 2, and 4) Oasis - Don’t Look Back in Anger. We stayed there for a few hours and then took a taxi back to the hostel. Me and Sherman in Lam Kwai Fong:

It was an awesome day!

Bottom line:

• If you want to shop at a cluster of modern stores, Causeway Bay it is.
• Dining at IFC = expensive but phenomenal view of Hong Kong.
• Durian is disgusting. lol

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Tags: Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay, durian, Hong Kong, Lam Kwai Fong

We just arrived back from Hong Kong late last night, departed at midnight on Sunday and arrived around 2AM this morning. I must say that this trip was really fun and we certainly made the most of four days i.e. we did in about 80 hours what a lot of people would probably need a week to do. Since 1) we did a lot of things and 2) I want to give you all a play-by-play, I’m going to split the recap into four separate posts, daily recaps if you will. So here we go:

Day 1 (Thursday, 7/24)

Total money spent (in USD):

Net expenses: ~USD$174

Wei and I took off from Taiwan around 4PM that day. We spent most of the plane ride either sleeping or vigorously competing each other in electronic trivia games courtesy of China Airlines. ;-) We arrived in Hong Kong at around 6PM that night and took a bus to our hostel. The bus ride from the airport to our hostel was about USD$4+ and took about an hour. We stayed at New Garden Hostel for about USD$15-20 per night (yes, dirt cheap), it’s located at Tsim Sha Tsui right next to Victoria Harbor. It’s the ideal location for traveling to Hong Kong Island and back. The hostel is on the 13th floor of a typical somewhat broken-down building and our room was as small as a room could be for two people. Here’s a photo we took:

Basically two beds, a small bathroom with a bath and toilet (no shampoo or soap), and a mini, inoperable TV. But despite the small size of the room, it was very clean and equipped with air conditioning. Again, I think the key is its location because we only spend minimal time resting in the hostel at night anyway.

We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and made our way to The Peak on Hong Kong Island. We took the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Island (also dirt cheap, about USD$0.20), in my opinion, it is probably one of the best ways to spend USD$0.20 in this world. ;) The view of the lit skyscrapers at night is quite amazing. From Hong Kong Island, we then took a bus and tram up to The Peak. The tram was somewhat expensive and very crammed. I think the line-up system for the tram is quite inefficient, because it basically is a free-for-all, push-and-shove session to get on the tram. Some ruthless tourists don’t mind pushing others out of their way in order to secure a seat on the tram. Maybe it was due to my high expectations, but the tram ride was pretty average. The view from the tram towards the top was quite nice, but that’s about it.

The Peak, however, was awesome. It was my second time there (but first nighttime visit). Luckily the sky was totally clear that night and we could see all the skyscrapers very well. Here’s a photo Wei took:

As you can see, there wasn’t a lot of smog that night. The Peak is a must-visit spot if you are visiting Hong Kong, I definitely recommend a night visit. Our first day culminated in a delightfully scrumptious meal at The Peak of Hong Kong at… McDonald’s. We had Big N Tasty burgers with a side order of chicken mcnuggets. Yum. lol We ended up eating McDonald’s simply because it was late and most restaurants had closed already. Plus we were starving like mad. After The Peak, we headed back to the hostel and called it a night. We took a double-decker bus with no roof on the top level back to the pier. That ride was actually more fun than the tram for only about 1/4 of the price of the tram. We were exhausted and hit the sack at around 2AM.

Bottom line:

• New garden hostel = good place to stay, super cheap price at acceptable quality
• Tram ride to The Peak = expensive and crammed, but decent view
• The Peak = must-visit, beautiful view, go at night

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Tags: Hong Kong, hostel, Tsim Sha Tsui, The Peak