Breaking News: 2010 Winter Olympics CTV Report

Last I left off, my friend Audrey and I were running into Olympic athletes by the Olympic Village. Well, it just so happens that we ran into a few more.

Canadian Olympic Aerialists

There were a whole bunch of street performances and we bumped into a couple of athletes on their day off. The guys above represented team Canada in skiing and aerials.

My old roommate Matt also kept raving about this delicious hai nam chicken at his friends restaurant so Audrey and I went to check it out.

It was in fact the most delicious Hai Nam Chicken I have ever had!

Hai Nam Chicken

Just looking at it makes my mouth water… =P

So crazy story- The crazy friends I ran into decided to invite me over to their apartment (right over downtown/robson st) to watch the US vs Canada hockey game. This was a huge game. The US started off with a lead and then the score tied, but right before each break the US would be up by 1. As you all know Canadians LOVE hockey and the streets were filled with Canadians (by the way I got love for Canada, but of course we were thrilled to be supporting team USA). We decided to run down to the local bar downstairs with blazing Red White and Blue cheering amongst the “Go Canada” cheers.

USA vs Canada Hockey Game

Well some drunk fans decided to follow us home after we drank our beers at the bar. At first no one else in my party noticed that people were running after us (2 guys and 1 girl.. and the girl was like the first to get aggressive with us) and then as we got to the apartment gate I said hey turn around guys.. as we turned around they slowed their run and then said.. “oh hey, u live here?.. umm you must know the score right?” Anyways, as the conversation progressed it got more heated. In the end the last part of the game was about to start and I told them to relax and and we decided it wasn’t worth it to argue with some drunk people who were looking to start shit. In the end the US won 5-3 and it was an exciting game. My friends had to go catch another game live so right after they packed up and head out. I think if we ran around the streets in hardcore USA gear after that game there definitely would’ve been more heated confrontations. haha all in all exciting day though!

The last day of my trip was a little more calm. Lydia’s mom works for Fairchild Media Group on a radio station FM96.1 and also has a TV show on channel 180 that broadcasts throughout Canada so when we met and she found out about what I’ve been up to lately with wushu and acting she decided to have me on air as a guest.

Here’s a clip of me in the studio.

The interview was mainly in Chinese and it made me continue to realize how important it is for me to practice my Chinese. We also did a separate taping for a TV show where she has guests come in. She has interviewed hundreds of celebrities including DONNIE YEN.. so yeah, I was excited to be a guest on her show! =)

Here is a pic of me and aunt Carmen.

Fairchild Media Group

If you’ll notice my shirt.. it’s pretty funny. I bought it in Vancouver, but its apparently a US brand – called David and Goliath. I bought some shirts for a few friends. Here is a really funny one that I didn’t  end up buying, but I had to take a picture.

gold digger

My return to LA was quite smooth because they check all your immigration information over on the Canada side. That was quite interesting. I’m back in LA for the third time this year and been getting back to work.

Upon my return I immediately jam packed my schedule and met up with a producer friend to watch a rough cut of a pilot we worked on. I was a little afraid of the outcome because it’s supposed to be funny and if I didn’t think it was funny, I would be pretty let down. It’s not done yet, but I was definitely laughing so I am looking forward to the finished version. We have to do some pick ups and film more next weekend, but then it should be done and ready to pitch to some networks in a month or two.

Lastly as a favor to my buddy Andy (CEO of an online gaming company), he asked me to help him get some professional pictures that he could use for newsletters and press releases. I wanted to put my Nikon D60 to use so I snapped away. He seemed pretty satisfied with the results and I feel a lot more comfortable getting the shots that people want and finding a look that people want to see. This is not the final profile shot he chose, but it’s a picture that I could imagine in some entrepreneur magazine, so I went ahead and slapped this picture together for fun.

Alright, that’s it for the epic last minute Olympic Adventure. I will update you on the latest work and business developments next time! Cheers!

2010 winter olympics vancouver

Well, I’m going to keep this entry short but sweet. I’m off to the 2010 VANCOUVER HOSTED WINTER OLYMPICS!! WOOOT! I will be flying in to vancouver Wed. night. Anyone around the van area give me a holler before I head out.

My friend has a business called Beard Head and due to various circumstances was unable to go sell his product in vancouver, so he is having me and a few other friends help manage the sales in vancouver. Meanwhile we should be staying at a pretty cool condo near the olympic games and hopefully checking out some cool events and parties. This will be my first olympics and its also been quite a while since I was in vancouver… though I was just in Toronto not too long ago.

As I said, short but sweet. See you all at the games!

beard head

Cheers to Beard Head for making this awesome trip possible. Please check out these awesome beard caps at www.beardhead.com.

So if yall remember my previous post with the Pacific Rim interview and wushu challenge for the awesome Heavy Impact you might remember seeing a little move at the end that was featured on their live show at ABDC America’s Best Dance Crew Season 5.

Here was the interview done a few weeks back.

Then… here is their performance for the West Coast Regional part of America’s Best Dance Crew.

Awesome performance!

and lastly we got the POST DANCE PERFORMANCE INTERVIEW by the lovely Angelica Alumia

Feels awesome to have made an influence on this awesome dance crew’s choreo and performance on America’s Best Dance Crew!

Hope my boys Heavy Impact continue to rock the rest of the season! H.I.!!

Alfred Hsing with Pacific Rim Press put on a little first challenge for the West Coast Reps of ABDC America’s Best Dance Crew (Season 5) Heavy Hitters aka Heavy Impact! This was a really fun interview that we did after the Lucratif Street clothing shoot!

ABDC Americas Best Dance Crew Heavy Impact Wushu Challenge!

Check out Heavy Impact’s first wushu challenge!

Some more pics from the day.

Pacific Rim Press, Alfred Hsing, ABDC Heavy Impact

Another group pic.

Pacific Rim Press, Alfred Hsing, ABDC Heavy Impact

I taught them some wushu so they had to teach me some dance moves.. aka how to groove it out. (That’s my groove it out face.)

Gettin some dance tips from Heavy Impact on how to Groove It Out

and now some pics of the Pac Rim Correspondents…

Pacific Rim Press New Correspondent Team Goofin Around

Cheezin it!

Pacific Rim Press Team

Alfred Hsing signing off!

get lucratif street

I did a photoshoot over the weekend for a street wear company called LUCRATIF STREET. Their motto is “making something out of nothing”. I met and interviewed the owner of this brand through Pacific Rim Video. It was a very laid back shoot. I actually taught some dancers some wushu right before the shoot. I will post the video soon! But anyways, the shoot was fun and that grey jacket I’m wearing is quite comfortable. I like the material it’s made out of. Here’s some more of the pics. You can also find them on their blog: http://getlucratif.wordpress.com/

get lucratif air!

get lucratif wushu kicks

get lucratif aerial

get lucratif pacific rim interview

New Boyz get lucratif for their single "Tie Me Down" feat Ray J

Hey wsup yall! It’s Alfred Hsing with Pacific Rim Videooooo! Haha, that’s my intro to this video / blog session.

I recently connected with Pacific Rim Video - an online channel that promotes asian and latino artists in entertainment, fashion, and that whole industry.. Let me give you guys the story on how we all met in the first place.

I was performing for Jackie Chan at The Spy Next Door demo and then one of the correspondents was there interviewing Jackie, Billy Ray Cyrus, George Lopez, etc at the red carpet. Then a day later after the event I was browsing some videos online and came across their channel.. and long story short we realized we were both at the same event and they thought it would be cool to do an interview with me. I said yes and then… here’s what happened..

Watch!

I gave a little shout out to CMAT the “Cal Martial Arts Tournament” which is probably the US’s largest wushu tournament in terms of numbers of attendees and the scale of the organization. Aside from the official US National Wushu Team Trials, the CMAT tournament probably has the highest caliber wushu athletes overall. As for the entire interview- correspondent Angelica Alumia who used to work for MTV was too cool and fun to get along with that I couldn’t resist joining on board as a correspondent. It just so happened we ended up doing a couple of other interviews that day.

…one of which was totally unexpected – Singer T Lopez came in to the office building we were at to meet up a fashion designer Delise Ana who was giving her a fitting for her dress that she is going (or currently wearing this second) at the Grammy Awards. A quick little background on Cash Money Records Artist T Lopez – She says she is a latino influenced pop singer. She is coming out with an album that’s got T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Colby O, and many other artists featured on her tracks. She was pretty cool because we asked her to sing on the spot and she just busted out into song straight up… and when she hit those high notes.. anyways check it out for yourself.

Here is Delise Ana talking about her fashion spread magazine and her thoughts on her inspiration for her dresses that will be seen at the Grammy’s.

Here is my Adventures with Jackie Chan video blog. My video blog shows my thoughts the day I am meeting Jackie Chan, our actual encounter, and my thoughts afterward.

Later that evening I flew straight back to the bay area and did another demo. Here is my brother and I working on some fight choreography that was incorporated in the performance.

I had a dream 3 weeks ago that I would be working with Jackie Chan – my childhood martial arts idol and inspiration to learn martial arts. 15 years later that hazy mist of a dream clears and seconds count down in my heart. I see a light green dressed figure in the distance. With each footstep that dream grows clearer and clearer until finally that dream becomes a reality. Before me is Jackie Chan – the man who made me want to crash through windows after watching Police Story – he has his hands in his pocket, well postured, attentive, and ready to watch us demo to promote his newest movie “The Spy Next Door”.

I have performed countless times in any makeshift demo setting you can imagine; I’ve even competed at the largest world wushu tournament and won, but today seconds before my turn… I thought of a million moves I should do / could do – which would be the best to show the one celebrity I’ve wanted to meet for so long?

There is not enough space to do everything I want and there are too many people around to wield weapons… I decide on a short section of longfist. As I finish up the last part of my form I do a butterfly twist which happens to be only a few feet short of Jackie Chan. He doesn’t flinch. I cleanly land on my knees with one hand touching the ground. My moment was over. I stand up and salute indicating to the crowd the completion of our group’s demo. Jackie comes over and shakes all our hands. He is pretty much how I expect him to be – jovial, good humored, and filled with presence.

Everything happens so fast at this point. He came in to greet us, shake our hands, and take some photos to promote the movie. There really wasn’t a moment to chit chat. I had so many things in my head I wanted to say. I wanted to sit down and have even 5 minutes to just say “thank you for pushing yourself to the limits to inspire me to want to learn martial arts and action choreography. thank you for giving me that passion to do martial arts which led me to wushu and ultimately many huge accomplishments in my life.” Instead between the cheese smiles and waving I squeeze in the first thing I can think of “Hey, I just came back from Hong Kong and saw your son there.” There are many other things I would rather have said, but the situation we were in was not really suitable for the kind of conversation I was looking for. I didn’t even get to tell him the story of my 3 close encounters with him. Anyways it was a great experience and I am hopeful that I will meet him again.. but next time it will be working on a film with him. =)

Here is the video of us demoing as Jackie Chan watches a few feet away:

300 NT = about $10 All you can eat Vegetarian / imitation meat buffet!! woohoo!

Then later – MUCH LATER – that day I crave real meat after a night of partying at PRIMO in Taipei and we end up at the world famous McDonald’s. Here I accidentally discover a special trick to get an EXTRA free meal.

Please do not try this at home.. or at McDonald’s. It was actually just an accident that I got an extra meal. =P

Then the next day Co-Host and Video-grapher Sarah and I head to the “Fu Hua Fan Dian” or Howard Plaza Hotel and I bring you along on an exquisite display of floral and panda art work. It is quite magnificent! Please remember the pandas!

We enter the Art Gallery!

Enjoy my Taiwan Adventure Series and more at www.casualiscool.com

We begin this part of the adventure outside of 7 11 where we somehow end up playing a game of truth or dare before heading to the club – Luxy. In this part of the video.. I lost our game so I had to drink a packet of sauce.

Then the girl in the group loses.. and is forced to “holla” at the store clerk and get his number.

The next clip is after the entire night of partying.. we went to eat and I am groggy and stumble to meet up with Kevin.

Later that day .. Sarah, Kevin, David, and I head over to say hi at Annie’s bday party!