Done!
Earlier mocks. David couldn’t explain why he didn’t like the first one. I prodded a bit. The guy’s into Heavy Metal. It’s something we share in common. Maiden, Slayer, AC-DC. I didn’t go as far as pushing the type like these bands but I got the horns in and Dave’s a happy man, me too as I like what came out in the end.
Initial concept. Still like this one, might use it for something else in future.
Sold as an open-world action role-playing video game, but in reality it’s everything but. I was super happy to give Nier: Automata a miss despite the rave reviews (people out there literally calling it a masterpiece, 9-10/10’s and reviewers saying they were literally brought to tears with the storyline, or at least very deep in thought about it post game.
Man have these guys played Fallout 4?! To me, Nier: Automata feels very Japanese in an old school Indie Sega Mega Drive game kinda way. It’s story is cool, but nothing new in the post-apocalyptic gaming world. The soundtrack is getting HUGE praise, but I always turn music off in games, that’s just how I play. The graphics are really low definition and over-stylised, it’s such a low saturation and hazy environment which doesn’t look good despite running in 4K and on max graphics settings. I suppose it’s just not that kind of ULTRA high res textures gaming experience (with a full screen bug and laggy cut-scenes I’d say it Nier would have been better on the PS4 than the PC).
The gameplay is super arcade style. The game goes from 3rd person to 2D side and overhead like old school coin operated games like 1942 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which I sank lots of 20c coins into as a kid!). It’s hilarious that Nier is blowing people’s minds as it’s just old turned new again. Think iPad, and how Angry Birds blew minds (but in reality it’s a really simple game). Old platform games came back to star on “new” technology (tablets). I see it as a low-tech, going back to go forwards kinda thing.
A quick dip back into Ghost Recon had my PC’s fans on full blast minutes in, and I found myself in the dying light, in the rain, gawking at the detail on my Ghost’s wet backpack.
Maroubra Beach.
Meow! Angry Mia is angry!
Rest? What’s that?! Welcome home party!
I came home to Ocean views, and a couple of very vocal and affectionate pussy cats; Mia and Star. :) It’s fucking awesome to be home!!!
Goodbye HK, train to airport.
OMFG YES! Blew me away in the US last December, had to have some!
Cathay Lounge.
No number 13, or 14, super superstitious!
We had to check out at 11AM, but our flight wasn’t until 9PM so we had plenty of time to kill. We ended up getting to the airport pretty damn early as we trained it to avoid HK traffic (being a rainy day we thought it would be the smart thing to do despite never having done it before).
Mum & I got to the Cathay Lounge (as we were flying Business Class on the way home too), I got into a bottle of red, Mum had a nap. At some point mum said to me “hey the screen says our gate is closed”. I got up and asked the front counter about our flight, as we hadn’t heard any announcement that it had been delayed, or anything.
The lady behind the desk kept telling me us go upstairs, unable to communicate simply that “we had missed our flights”, this bad communication sent both mum and I into an instant state of panic and shock.
I got upstairs and the guy up there spoke much better English. He explained that we missed our flight. I let it rip that we’ve never once missed a flight in our lives, and that with Qantas Lounge we’re used to them calling us late, so that we can just enjoy and relax in the lounge until the time came to board. He let me know that’s not what they do at Cathay so that customers in the lounge can relax (although PA calls for delayed flights were going off as he was explaining this to me).
Fair call, so it’s not their policy. I acknowledged that. We asked about the next flight, but unfortunately there wasn’t one until 8am in the morning. What made matters worse was that we would have to pay extra for a booking fee, and we would also have to get out of the lounge, as it shut at 1, but then would re-open again in the morning.
I then asked why didn’t they just call us call us, from Cathay gate to Cathay Lounge, knowing we were in the lounge? He said they called at the gate, in the airport, but not the lounge. Doesn’t make sense to me as it would have taken them at least 20 minutes to get our bags back off the plane and back into the airport.
At this stage I was pretty desperate to get home, really desperate. I’m a dick, so I dropped “UNITED”. I just had to. At this stage some other attendant jumped in. He managed to calm me down, though I wasn’t really that worked up as I was already half defeated. He asked us to have a seat and come back to the desk in an hour to see if they could get us on another flight home, even if it wasn’t business class, and we couldn’t get a refund on the tickets, it was still worth considering in the moment (despite mum insisting we fly business home as she did fork out $5k/ticket!!!).
Whilst Mum prayed to God, I cussed loud enough for others to hear. I’m sure I went to the desk a couple of time before the hour was up, but on the hour, Cathay came good and amazingly, somehow got us 2 Business Class tickets on a flight home, within 2 hours of missing our flight. We literally had to piss bolt to the gate as the flight was taking off right then. The seats were right next to each other too so I’m assuming they might have pulled the same trick, leaving another couple in the lounge without a call?!
Lucy, who got on the right plane home without Mum and I then tells us, when we land, that the staff contacted her on the plane to ask us where we were, she told them we were in the lounge. The staff then told her they called the lounge, and apparently we were not there. The plot thickens!
Goodbye Hong Kong!
Teleporting back home soon! SO homesick! I can’t wait!!!
THRASHER. Have run out of clean underwear and T’s, having to wear new stuff I’m buying now which kinda blows lol!
Kurt would be turning in his grave.
Clean R33 4-Door.
Decided not to shop with the crew, and instead check out the markets.
Street meet. No ice, no refrigeration and Hong Kong weather is super hot, sweaty and sticky right now too. Buckets under the tables to catch the dripping blood, and I literally saw the shop keepers resting meat on the filthy wet footpath, next to our feet, then hanging it back up again to sell. Chinese stomachs must be tough as nails!!!
Exotics everywhere in HK.
Goose! Wasn’t quite as gamey tasting as duck, much more like pigeon rather than chicken.
Lucy’s been heaps of fun! She’s still got plenty of fire in her belly this woman!
LOL Julius!
I’ve been hanging out with this guy for the past week in HK. He’s a tenor who got all the way to the finals in Australia’s Got Talent in 2013. I’m sure he’s gay (or bi as he says he has a gf) as he’s suggested more than a few times this trip that I should probably give guys a go! Love his gentle nature, we’ve had some great D&Ms, big laughs too. Sad that he’s put his dreams of singing for a living on hold to run a restaurant back home in Indonesia, but he can’t discount that he truly does have talent, and who knows, the stage might be ready for him later on in life. Check out one of his performances here.
Thrills Scrambler sold at Zen Garage Leichhardt 2011.
We had contacts a few years back, and made moves to try and get our gear in General Pants Co. We hit a wall though and left it at that.
A little while back I had dinner with my relos and one of my aunties was wearing a Thrills T-Shirt. I asked her about it and she had NO IDEA who Thrills were, she just liked the design and bought it from General Pants Co.
Thrills are a small label from Byron Bay, think Deus, they were more a small bike gang than fashion label and they even approached Zen to sell their gear in our store when they were starting out (and we did sell some of their stuff in the end). So it was a surprise to see such a small young brand make it into General Pants SO quickly.
I’m just glad the people who buy Zen get it. And when I see someone wearing Zen I can wave, or beep my horn and get smiles and waves back. That FEELS good! I hate the idea of aunties and whoever wearing Zen, but not understanding what Zen is about. So here’s cheers to being unsuccessful with getting the Zen brand out there in the big shops. #fuckthatshit
Hung out with young car obsessed 14yr old Anthony today. We dropped past Reinart Design unannounced, which is how we like to do things at Zen. IE: We don’t like workshops ‘preparing’ for our visits! #keepitreal !!! Justin at Reinart was super chill, he even moved this beauty into the light for me to shoot. Dead set legend!
Also caught up with Jim, who answered a callout I put up on Facebook the other day. Jim moved from Sydney to HK 10 years ago, how time flies. He runs an automotive workshop here in HK and he gave me an all access pass to shoot whatever I liked, over all 4 floors! I’ll be writing up a feature on Zen Garage soon!
Import Model: “Hey, let’s collab!”
Me: *Checks her instagram page, lots of followers, USA, cool, why not?!* “Sure! What’s your FULL address? It might take some time to get to you though, we’re in Australia!”.
Import Model: *didn’t know we were based in Australia* “I charge $50 for a promotional post”.
Me: “Ah yeah sorry not into that shit. All the best!”.
Import Model: “No need to make it unprofessional. In all honesty why should I promote a clothing company or any company for free? Merchandise is not payment”.
Me: *goes to neck myself*…
A SINCERE THANKS TO ALL ZEN BABES (guys and girls!) WHO REPRESENT ZEN PROUDLY. You guys rock my world. It’s not about the money, never will be. We promise to never ever pay someone to wear our gear, ever. #keepitreal #findyourzen
