Zhang Ziyi at Hong Kong International Film Awards Ceremony

And by madness – I just meant I was going to post a few pictures from the event. haha!

Nadia Hatta at the Asian Film Awards

A ton of AnDers and other people I knew all happened to be at this event. It was very fun.. and I wasn’t even planning on going… I just kinda ended up there. It was great meeting all the people behind the blogs. =P

A few notable attendees of the night included – Sammo Hung, Chow Yun Fat, Zhang Ziyi, Aaron Kwok, and Feng Xiaogang.

Sammo Hung sat 2 rows ahead of me.. he seemed startled when they announced he won best supporting actor for Ip Man 2… not sure if that was his acting skills though.

AnDers at the Asian Film Awards Afterparty

My Dinner at the HK Film Awards

So with my remaining days in HK I’m hoping to be able to meet up with a few other people that I met up from last night. It was good (an unexpected) gathering for me.

Oh and I might as well comment on some of the victories at the awards ceremony: Sammo won for best Supporting Actor in Ip Man 2, a Korean film Yellow Sea’s lead won best actor, Taiwanese film Monga’s lead won best new actor, ‘Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives’ won the Asian Film award for Best Picture, and best-actress award went to Xu Fan for her role in ‘Aftershock,’ from Chinese director Feng Xiaogang. Aftershock also won for top grossing film for 2010. It pulled in US $101.3 million.

Veteran Hong Kong producer and co-founder of Golden Harvest Raymond Chow received a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Hong Kong cinema, which includes classic films starring Bruce Lee (Enter the Dragon), Jackie Chan (Police Story) and Jet Li (Once Upon a Time in China).

Here is some more info in case you’re curious:

BEST FILM

* Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Thailand)

BEST DIRECTOR

* Lee Chang-dong / Poetry (South Korea)

BEST ACTOR

* Ha Jung-woo / The Yellow Sea (South Korea)

BEST ACTRESS

* Xu Fan / Aftershock (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

BEST NEWCOMER

* Mark Chao You-Ting / Monga (Taiwan)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

* Sammo Hhung Kam-po / Ip Man 2 (Hong Kong)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

* Yoon Yeo-jeong / The Housemaid (South Korea)

BEST SCREENPLAY

* Lee Chang-dong / Poetry (South Korea)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER

* Mark Lee Ping-Bin / Norwegian Wood (Japan)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGNER

* Hayashida Yuji / 13 Assassins (Japan)

BEST MUSIC SCORE

* Indian Ocean / Peepli Live (India)

BEST EDITING

* Nam Na-young / I Saw The Devil (South Korea)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

* Phil Jones, Zhang Yan-ming / Aftershock (Mainland China/ Hong Kong)

BEST COSTUME DESIGNER

* William Chang Suk-ping / Let the Bullets Fly (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

The Asian Film Award for Outstanding Contribution to Asian Cinema

* Kim Dong-ho

Source: http://alhambrasource.org/stories/wushu-world-champion-who-spars-jet-li-and-calls-alhambra-home Here is a re-post of a recent article on Alfred from the Alhambra Source. Thanks to staff writer Tim Loc and the editors at Alhambra Source for the enjoyable interview.

It’s every working stiff’s fantasy: saying goodbye to the daily grind and embarking on an exotic journey involving movie stars and occasional bodily harm. That’s exactly what Alhambra resident Alfred Hsing, 27, did two years ago. He left his finance job to focus on wushu, an athletic sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts.

So far, the risk is working out. In 2009 Hsing became the first American to win gold in the taolu (??) category, which focuses on form, at the World Wushu Championships. Now he’s jet setting around the globe to choreograph fight scenes for feature films (he’s even landed a small role in Jet Li’s latest project). He’s incurred a few bruises along the way, sure, but as he tells The Alhambra Source, it’s all part of a hectic life spent in airports, foreign countries and movie sets.

It doesn’t seem like a lot of people are familiar with wushu. What makes it unique? Physically and philosophically, what sets it apart from the other martial arts?

First I would like to clarify the definition of wushu. Directly translated from Chinese it means “martial arts.” In the definition most used today, “wushu” or “modern wushu” is a particular style of martial arts created by China as an athletic sport. Modern wushu as a style is characterized by speed, grace, and power. The art form requires high acrobatic ability, flexibility and precision.

I think it’s one of the most physically challenging martial arts styles in terms of basic training. In competition, a standard form must be at least one minute and 20 seconds and have a combination of jump front kicks, aerials, jump inside kicks and more. These difficult moves must be performed precisely and without any extraneous movement.

My philosophy on wushu is that it has pushed me in regards to physical limits, but it has also helped enhance my mind. I believe that when you train in a repetitive motion—the same punch or kick a hundred or thousand times—it is a form of meditation and helps you grow. Wushu’s focus on rhythm and flow help make it a physically challenging martial art, as well as a meditative art.

You’ve recently landed some roles in action movies and short films. When you’re performing your own stunts and fight scenes, are you put in a lot of dangerous scenarios?

I have done high falls, wirework, fight choreography, et cetera, but I don’t think my response can do justice to the situations that many working stunt men and women face. There are many dangerous scenarios out there and that’s why the stunt profession is not for everyone. I have had bruises, fractures, and occasional injuries from my 15 years of martial arts and film work, but I believe I have been very lucky to have remained relatively safe.

I think the important thing is to know what you are capable of and have good control of your body. If you know how to control yourself and minimize risks then I think it’s possible to maintain your health in the field.

You’ve worked with the likes of Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Did anything about them surprise you when you met them? Or were they what you’d expected them to be like.

Yes and no. There are elements of their on-screen characters that really seem to match their real life personalities, but movies are still movies.

One thing that was surprising: Although I knew they were both incredibly successful and hard working people, until you see it in person, it’s hard to fathom the charisma, intensity and drive of both Jet Li and Jackie Chan. They have their own personalities, but one thing they both have is a special drive. Although they are of course physically skilled at martial arts, there is something special they have that has made them standout among the millions of other talented martial artists out there.

Do you follow a certain regiment in diet and exercise?

I don’t have a strict diet. In general the food I like just so happens to be relatively healthy. I am pretty much always happy with chicken and vegetables. I don’t have a strict rule with this either, but I usually avoid soda, red meat, and sweets.

As far as exercise, I used to work out twice a day six days a week when I was training for competitions, but now that I am working in Asia with a demanding schedule I work out whenever I have downtime from work.

You had a job in finance before switching to an entirely different career. Were you hesitant while making that transition?

Leaving something stable is not easy, especially considering that I had great co-workers and a good paycheck. At the same time the stability made the answer very clear to me. One path I knew exactly where I would be 10 years from now; the other path was uncertain—it offered opportunity, hope and excitement. I knew that I didn’t want to be behind a desk my whole life with a couple extra dollars in my pocket when I died. After that became clear, the decision was simple.

You travel a lot, but it seems like you return to Alhambra for downtime. Do see the city as a safe haven? Does it help you retreat from your hectic career?

I fly on average almost once a week—sometimes short flights, sometimes long flights. Traveling wears a person down after a while. It’s definitely nice to have some consistency and a home base. Even though I currently work in China, Alhambra is where my home is and it’s nice to look forward to coming back home. I really think Alhambra is a perfect blend for me—a combination of local businesses, good Asian food, proximity to main street, good location to downtown and Hollywood without being too close to the traffic, and great neighbors.

Follow Alfred’s journey through his personal website www.alfredrocks.com, and his business website www.wushukicks.com.

Sometimes things are better the second time around.. just like when you finish an essay and sleep on it and then read it again the next morning with renewed eyes, you think.. I can make this better now. Well with that said, I took a good look at my previous showreel and came up with a cleaner and shorter version. I think most will agree that in this regard simpler is better.

Alfred Hsing 2010 Theatrical Reel (Re-edited)

I also cleaned up my site a little today and uploaded my latest vids. Check it out when you have a moment: www.alfredrocks.com

The Team

Well… we did it!

In my previous post I mentioned I was going to produce a short film while I was back in the states. I was in LA for less than 2 weeks, I personally only had 5 available days to film not even mentioning other people’s schedules.. but… well…. we did it!

I’m not even sure I can express my excitement for this project. I guess I’ll start with how difficult and unlikely this project was to shoot so you can understand where I am coming from with my excitement. My friend Dave and I had this concept a year back while getting some delicious Taiwanese food for lunch.. suddenly at the blink of an eye I get whirlwinded to China to work for Jet Li and Dave discovers that editing the pilot he had finished filming was going to take more work than he had expected. We are both pulled in separate directions so the idea gets pushed to the back of my mind. Though in the back of my mind.. it was always there and I thought it would be a fun idea and an interesting challenge so… practically A YEAR LATER when I discover that I am coming back to the US for a few weeks, I immediately call up Dave.

Mind you, I was only sure that I was coming back to the US 2 weeks beforehand.. Dave and I know we want to shoot something fun while I’m back, but he is not 100% sold on our original idea. We fiddle with a few concepts.. all pretty cool.. but eventually come back to the original one.

Now let me give you the time crunch countdown. We know we want to work on THIS project 1 week before I come back from China. I fly back to LA for about 3 days, then nor cal to visit my family for 1 week, then back to LA for about another 7 days. That gives us 1wk+3days+1wk.. roughly 10 actual days in LA.. but some of which I have to run errands, see family/friends, etc. Also I sold my car so for part of the trip I had no transportation to even get to and from set (just cuz I didn’t want things to be TOO easy u know)… and jet lag? That’s not even part of the equation.

The Stunt Crew

Pre-Planning Pre-Return
So although we had a cool premise in front of us.. it was purely a concept. Dave and I started off big with an entire feature length movie before us with spectacular characters and hyper realistic fx and the whole nine yards. After many 3 hour long conversations it dawned on me.. we had to be precise and narrow it down to a key moment in our story – suddenly the entire short visualized in my mind. We remained practical to our timing and budget limitations, but not in any way that would short change what needed to happen in the movie. I yapped away with Dave and told him what I saw the beginning of the film to be and after I finished he said.. he felt relieved because now we had a more solid grasp on the direction we were going.

In my mind, this is when everything started moving… kinda like in the opening credits of Fight Club.. you knew you were going to be taken for a wild ride. With the specific scenes in mind, Dave went to work on the script and I started planning the action sequences. Yep, I just spilled the beans that there will be some action in this.. is that a surprise? =P

This is all while I’m in Asia. One week passes and it’s time to return to the US of A.

(1 week – 1week) + 3 days + 1 week = 3 Days and 1 Week Left
I’m only in LA for 3 days before going to Nor Cal. Draft 1 of the script is ready and draft 1 of the fight concept is ready. We meet up and discuss. When it comes down to details everyone is going to have their own vision and subtleties… we go the distance on our thoughts for EVERYTHING and it’s good because a day later I have to go back to nor cal.

Bonus Week – Nor Cal
I wouldn’t really call this a bonus week.. this is the heavy lifting week for Dave and Al – our other producer. While I go back to nor cal, I work on revising aspects of the script, revising the choreography going in line with what elements we agreed to add in, and work on getting various equipment and stunt actors. Meanwhile Dave and Al are casting for additional roles, picking up props, dressing sets, and revising the script.

Game Week – 7 Days Left
“You can get a good night’s sleep the night before the shoot.. when you’re well-prepared”. – Al Brocca

Day 7 – I get back to LA in the evening. I’m able to jump start my bike and it starts running after sitting idle for 8 months. I have wheels now.

Day 6 – I go to the studio and we hammer out the final kinks to the script, characters, and to the choreography. Al films the action blocking for reference. We make functional adjustments to the set. Call times go out!

Day 5 – We film! I know, yet I don’t know how these guys did it, but in that 1 week we managed to get 2 camera operators, 1 sound, 1 super-grip (lighting, sound, slate, etc), 1 makeup artist, and all the actors/actresses. We were cautiously pessimistic, but somehow we got through the first day.

Day 4 – Action day! I mean.. it was all action with how much running around we did for the shoot, but today was the heavy lifting in terms of a lot of the stunt work and action choreography. Though I gave all my energy each day to my performance and work, I was the most daunted by this day because all of the action choreography was my responsibility… and everyone was working at such a high level in all other areas that I could definitely not disappoint. We got off to a rocky start.. and at some points I wanted to kill someone more than my character did. haha… but in the end we wrapped for the day and pretty much got the shots that we needed without too many casualties.

Day 3 – Could it be that we only had 1 more major day of filming left? People were feeling a little worn down by Day 3 of filming. The actors were on set for a while, but even after they left we stayed behind to plan for the next day. This week we had probably consistently been doing 15 hour days. With a little Emergen-C, coffee, zipp fizz, and fresh & easy we made it through our last major day of filming. I slept at the studio this day.

Day 2 – Backing up the footage and just getting some much needed rest. We felt pretty pumped that something purely in our head was captured in a digital box now. I asked Dave if it was possible that everything worked out? We had such a crunched time frame and had 1 thing not gone right the project would have been on hold indefinitely or never finished. I would’ve had to go back to China and we would have to wait until I got back and then try to get EVERYONE back maybe 6 months to a year later. He said sometimes you just get pumped and everything happens and it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. You capture the energy of everyone around you and that essence hopefully can be felt in the film.

Day 1 – I come in to the studio for some voiceover and sound work. This is a couple hours worth of work and its an opportunity to come off our high.

Countdown Over
I pack up and fly back to Asia. There will be more thanking to come, but for now let me briefly thank Jeff our super grip, Jacqui our talented actress, double Brocca time, Nelson runnin the 1s and 2s or more like As and Bs, Pej for the equipment, and Phil and Yanwei for taking hits and doin it in style.

So if you ask me what this film is.. I can’t even respond right now.. not because I don’t want to but because… I don’t even know. It’s like what Sean Parker in “The Social Network” says.. we don’t even know what it is yet.. we just know it’s cool. For me, I just know we wanted to make a short and it all came together. There is still going to be a lot of editing, filming inserts, sound, and other work.. but we know it’s cool and we had fun.

Welcome Back

This post is just for myself to vent so if you don’t want to read about venting you can just skip this post. haha..

So I returned back to the US after being away for over half a year! I was imagining all the fun, sun, and relaxation I would have when returning to Cali.. unfortunately there was something else waiting for me in Cali… – my mail.

What was in my mail?

Tons of things.. not good things.. bills, past due registration, notices, taxes related, etc.

I’m essentially back in the US for 2.5 weeks, but with the amount of things I have to do and with the time I have I am getting majorly overloaded. This is also in part my own doing so no one’s to blame but myself.

Just because I left for China does not mean all of my life and debt over here stops.. and just because I am not in China does not mean I don’t have work from over there as well.

So far my work has consisted of the following 4 categories:

Personal
Property taxes, mortgage payments, switching statements to e-statements, insurance, vehicle registration, reversing bank charges, opening/closing bank accounts, working out, shopping for things I need to bring back to China, selling my car, making payments…. and even blog posts.. yes believe it or not there are many things I’ve had in mind that I wanted to write about and journal, but haven’t had the time to sit down and capture in writing.

My Business
Bank fees, dealing with attempted fraud, chargebacks, shipping, renewing licenses/permits, accounting, paying taxes, paying contractors, processing custom orders, sorting refunds/returns, tracking orders, etc..

Overseas Job Duties
Though I am in the US I still have to maintain communication with certain business that is in motion. I have been scheduling meetings, playing tetris with flight times and events, tallying up expenses, responding to requests, reading scripts, and so on…

Film
I am making a short film. I know it’s pretty crazy to jam this in in an already busy schedule and on relatively short notice.. but its happening! This is so happening. This has been the excitement in my return to LA. I am working with a friend/director and we are putting together a concept we had 10 months back. This is going to represent just a taste of what we have in mind.. but it should be pretty exciting. For this I have been helping with my part in the casting, story, script, and direction. Where most of my responsibility falls though is on the action choreography and my acting. The audience will essentially be following my character’s narrative.

Now aside from the above 4 things.. I have of course wanted to and needed to hang out with my family, have new years dinners with family/relatives, meet up with friends I haven’t seen in over 6 months, grab drinks with my brother, and… sell my car.

I got the chance to hang out with Andy, Eliver, Jurka, E, hue3, my bro, Hurricane, Mcflyii, Connie, and my cousins since I got back… but there are so many other people I’ve been meaning to see but just not enough time.. plus selling my car didn’t make transportation an easy thing.

Last Day with Lisa

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that… I am grateful and thankful for seeing all my friends and being back in the states, but I just have sooo much to do (a lot I put on myself) that I am feeling pretty overwhelmed right now. Also I wanted to post a sample of all the things that are going on and kinda express the strain it’s putting on me because there’s ALWAYS the good and the bad. Right now I feel kinda stressed, but I’m sure when the film I’m putting together is finished I will post about it and feel really good.

The other point I want to make is that when you see something really cool and awesome, keep in mind, that there is probably another side to that coin.. which is that you have to give up something or some things to get that result.

The last thing I want to remind myself and it was a good friend that recently mentioned this point – “stop and smell the roses”. It sounds sooo played out to say that.. in fact, what does it even mean?? …and yes, I know it means ‘take the time to enjoy the journey’ or ‘calm down and realize what is truly important’. However… it’s easy to spit out those regurgitated words without truly internalizing what it means. So for me, in my life today, I especially need to stop and smell the roses and stay passionate doing what I’m doing.

If you’ve read this far… thanks for reading and sharing in a part of my spouting for today.

- Alfred

So I guess I finished off 2009 with a bang by quitting my desk job, winning gold at worlds, and then taking off to live in Taiwan for 2.5 months. I finally broke free of this “path” that seemed carved since birth. Once I had walked this path of getting good grades, graduating college, and getting a corporate job, I felt I could finally venture into what the rest of the universe had to offer. I just started truly discovering the endless possibilities of life towards the end of 2010.. but 2011 was the year that I would start learning more, questioning more, and pushing the envelope on what is capable in life.

Let me take a look back at the fruits of my labor for 2010.

It was definitely a year of meeting people! Not that I ever cared too much about merely “meeting people” but if there were ever celebrities or idols that I wanted to meet, I more than definitely got that out of my system this year. So to start out.. right after watching the fireworks at Taipei 101 I finished my enjoyable trip to Taiwan and headed back to LA. I headed straight back to LA just in time to rehearse and perform at a demo for Jackie Chan!

Jackie Chan at the Lionsgate's Movie The Spy Next Door Premier

Immediately after the demo before my body had even cooled down I caught a flight back to SF bay area to perform with my brother at an event my mom was helping out with around the Civic Center in San Jose.
Here I am with my brother working on our fight choreography for the performance.

Aside from all these demos, 2010 was also a new year for “wu shu” for me. Taking a gold at the world games was as far as I could have ever hoped to go with competitive taolu wushu. Immediately when I got back to LA I started training with world games sanda medalist Jason Yee. I was really excited to hear that he had moved to LA and was also working in entertainment. Including some wushu private lessons that I started teaching, I basically trained every day of the week – sometimes 2 times a day. My training would consist of sanda with Jason, wushu at LA wushu, tricking at white lotus, and gym time at LA fitness.

Me and Jason

A little sampler of my training at White Lotus.

For me, it was also a really meaningful year for wushu in another sense. 2010 was my last year doing competitive wushu. I was invited to the 2010 Sport Accord Games in Beijing, China based off of placing top 6 in a qualifying event at the world games.

My Last Wushu Competition

After more than 10 years of training wushu and competing, part of me looks back and thinks, it’s hard to believe that this part of my life is over. A couple years ago I couldn’t imagine a day where I wasn’t focusing on making the US wushu team. Of course everything has it’s time and place. I am so happy to have finished off my final competition at the Sport Accord Games. It was a high level first of it’s kind event recognized by the IOC to be held like an olympics for martial arts. I got my chance to compete in Beijing – a birthplace of modern wushu. Best of all I got to spend this trip with my US wushu teammates Sarah Chang and Peter Dang as well as my Canada wushu buddies. =)

Plus I finally got some espn-like wushu coverage with one of those high flying dolly-ing cameras. Check out my final performance.

Jackie Chan even congratulated me after the tournament. He ended up being an honored invited guest performer for the 2010 Sport Accord closing ceremony. You can still see my competitor badge below.

Alfred Hsing and Jackie Chan

It’s amazing how things are all connected. Before getting a job in Beijing, I was going to fly to China anyways because I was invited to compete at the Sport Accord games. Then I happen to attend the games to compete AND for work because Jet was an honored international wushu ambassador. Meanwhile Jackie Chan was singing as an honored performer.. and I had just happened to perform for him earlier on in the year for his movie premier at The Grove in LA.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a year of meeting people – part of that was because I became a News Correspondent / Interview Host for Pac Rim baby!

I had the opportunity to interview a lot of artists and performers that I have a lot of respect for.. such as: Mike Shinoda, Cung Le, Tia Carrere, ABDC dance crews, and many others.

Cung Le Interview

Mike Shinoda

Outside of meeting some awesome peeps on the Pacific Rim team and on the red carpets.. my celebrity streak didn’t end there… but first! let me do a little summary on my business developments.

2010 was actually a very interesting year for WushuKicks.com – my online martial arts business. Aside from acting projects and training all my other time was focused on WushuKicks. WushuKicks went through some good clean ups. The site design and functionality was improved; it was the first year we were incorporated; sales increased month to month; vendor relationships developed; and I grew new lines of business. WushuKicks was also a sponsor of CMAT this year. Overall the scale of WushuKicks definitely grew.. and in fact I am looking for another person to possibly join the team to help out in a learning and assisting capacity (contact me at alfredrocks(at)gmail.com).

WushuKicks sponsors CMAT 18

Martial Arts Complete

One of the new lines of business under WushuKicks was Martial Arts Complete. My good homie and buddy Adam McArthur and I had this idea to promote martial arts nutrition. I started talking to him about this in 2009. Finally in 2010 our idea came to fruition and was finalized. We set up the site www.martialartscomplete.com (after being scammed by some guy who only half finished our site). Then we finished the designs, product pictures, legal work, certifications, and got our first sale not too long after our product was completed. =) Look forward to more development for 2011.

I guess the most interesting part was that in the middle part of the year I ended up moving to the other side of the world and still fully remotely managed WushuKicks. With less time spent I even noticed sales continued to increase! Life is good!

NOW.. why did I move to the other side of the world? I guess most know by now. I got a life changing email (and skype call) that landed me a job to work for my childhood role model Jet Li.

andy alfred jet clinton

The job has had it’s ups and downs in terms of how draining and demanding it can be… but I never regret making this decision to up and move from LA to China. Oh yeah, so the picture above is with Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Hong Kong. Also the reason I shaved my head is because I landed a small role in a movie WITH Jet. I shaved my head to play a monk. I actually got lines, a close up, and some work with the stunt team as well. I mean.. wow.. from driving hours in traffic just to audition for scattered roles in LA to working with China’s most famous directors and being in a scene interacting with Jet Li… this alone made 2010 an amazing year for me! Unfortunately I’m not allowed to post up pics from the set yet, but when the movie comes out I will definitely post up some news.

Some other good memories on the job include: meeting other celebs like Rob Cohen, Ekin Cheng, Jay Chou; working with top entrepreneurs and philanthropists like Jack Ma, Wang Shi, Ma Hua Teng; emailing Bill Gates and Warren Buffet; shaking hands 6 times with Bill Clinton; helping choreograph Jet’s Adidas Q4 clothing line poses; hitting up movie premiers; changing history (watching the One Foundation achieve status as a public NGO in China).

Jack Ma and Alfred Hsing

adidas front kick pose

Despite all the cool people and fun sounding events… moving to China and working for Jet was one of the most draining and demanding jobs I have ever had in my life. For the first 3 months, every day I passed out from exhaustion. Within the first 3 weeks on the job one time in Shanghai I woke up in a hotel and didn’t know which city I was in for about 2-3 minutes. When I got here, I couldn’t read Chinese as well and I was much more unfamiliar with how everything works. I am so thankful that my reading ability has improved and my listening comprehension for business and philanthropy terminology has increased as well. I still feel I have a ways to go, but I sincerely want to make a push to improve my Chinese to a near-native level this year.

It has definitely been a year of accomplishing goals. I got the chance to work with both Jackie Chan and Jet Li this year.. and that’s a goal I had set upon achieving since the 7th grade. Also I had always wanted to move to Asia and live here for 6 months – 1 year and now I’ve made that happen as well.

I rounded up the year and made everything come full circle as we finished up 2 movies by the end of December and I took a short vacation to Taiwan. So again, for the second time I spent my New Years Eve watching the fireworks at Taipei 101. This year was a 100 year celebration for Taiwan and it was also 2010, a nice round number, so apparently double the money was spent on fireworks. The firework display was in fact AMAZING this year! Fireworks zigged and zagged and flooded up and down the 101 building. It also lit the sky with all kinds of shapes and lights! I think this was a great great great way to kick off 2011.

Taipei 101 2010 NYE

New Years in Taiwan with homies

It was great to spend the end of 2010 in Taiwan with friends. Ngan, Sarah, and I joked about all the former US wushu team members moving to Asia and kicking it in Taiwan. It was a fun vacation and my Taiwan trip will surely have it’s own post.

Overall this year I think I reached new heights in my understanding of the universe. If last year I pushed physical limits of the human body (training and training and more training till it hurt all over) this year I started to push the limits of the mind… my mind.. human minds.. and questioning more deeply on how our human minds limit ourselves. I hope and sincerely believe that the relationships I have developed this year were many and far reaching. I believe the fruits of labor that will be sown in 2011 will be seismic!! even in comparison to past years. I hope for success in the acting and entertainment field for 2011. Even beyond acting developments.. I think I am growing in knowledge around spirituality and life’s truths. I know there will be further developments in this area as well. If 2010 was pushing boundaries.. 2011 is where we break the tipping point for goals and possibilities.

I hope you enjoyed my recap of 2010. Welcome 2011!
- Alfred Hsing

Barry Baz and Hu Wang

I guess I can finally let everyone know about The Barry Baz show – the tv pilot I worked on last year. Barry Baz is a delusional sex crazed ladies man who set sail from Australia to make it out in Hollywood. I play the role of a documentary filmmaker that follows the main character Barry wherever he goes. The show’s concept is pretty cool because it is filmed from my (Hu Wang’s) point of view, but it’s interlaced with exaggerated flashback films of Barry Baz’s life in Australia, which Hu Wang edits into a reality type show.

Check out the trailer and please share with friends if you like it!

We’ll be at about 10,000 views in 5 days. Please help promote Barry Baz!

For more info check out the official site: www.barrybaz.com

our movie storyboard artist drew his version of monk alfred

On November 11, 2010  I got my acting debut in China. It has always been a dream of mine to work with amazing actors and directors that are world renown and on 11/11 my opportunity came. I was promised the chance to pop my head in this upcoming feature film and on Wed 11/10 I was suddenly told to shave my head… so of course without hesitation I jumped in the makeup car and said “shave away!” because I knew that meant the next day I would get to play a role.

The next day I had no idea what was up. I got dressed in wardrobe and thought that I would get to walk around as a monk and just be in the background for a bit. Turns out I was sitting down amongst 100 other monks.. with my eyes closed praying. (woopee) I was hoping something more awesome would happen, but either way I was still happy that I got to be in the movie with the people I look up to.

Lo and behold though! After lunch I had another part and this time it was me and 5 other monks and I was way more featured…. THEN…. to top of it off the script guy gave me dialogue to say! and what’s more.. they were cool with my dialogue and the director decided to give me a close up! Wow! This made my day! =)

To top off topping it off, the next day I was around set just helping out when the director himself saw me and told me to go get in wardrobe and continue helping out in a few other scenes!

This was the first time I had dialogue in a major feature film, the first time acting in China, and the first time speaking Chinese in a feature film. I am so happy and grateful – this is something I’ve always wanted to do! =)

Thank you!!

Hey! Haven’t written much in the past few days/weeks. We’ve been on set for 2 films – Dragon Gate and White Snake. I won’t go into too much detail.. but it’s been busy and not the most comfortable of filming environments. We are filming in the desert and near some mountains meaning the weather has been COLD to say the least… and there’s always sand in your eyes and mouth. =P bleh! Everyone is wrapped head to toe with hats, scarf, big jackets, glasses, waterproof boots, 5 layers.. and its still not enough! Regardless it’s been cool to be on 2 films at the same time because I can easily compare and contrast.. and see how each production works differently…. not to mention one film is in 3D so I am essentially getting a super crash course in action films, wu xia, 3D, choreography, acting, filming, production, scheduling, etc etc..

The hotels we have been staying at our basically really “roughin it” style since the shooting locations are far from the city and there aren’t really any 5 star hotels. Although when I am in the situation I am complaining.. looking back I’m always happy to have gone through it because only when you go through these tough times can you be truly grateful for the comfortable times. Helps remind me of how fortunate I am.

Couple days ago we had the One Foundation Annual Meeting which was wrapped around a full day event. Tony Blair came as a guest speaker. In the evening awards were handed out to top philanthropy groups that met various standards in their operating processes. Overall good event. Yesterday we went to a YangLan 10 year anniversary event which congratulated Jet on his achievements in philanthropy.

Updates aside I edited a clip of some tricking. I played around with iMovie on my macbook pro. I’m looking to get final cut but for now iMovie will work. I had edited some of these clips before on Windows, but the software made the video quality pretty poor.. so I made this remix.

If watching from China:

This has been out for a while but just never got the chance to scan and upload it. This is my first major appearance in Inside Kung Fu Magazine – a magazine that I used to read weekly when I was a kid. =)

Click the picture to expand and read.

I’ll still have to properly scan it someday, but for now I guess a photo will do. You can also see that the cover has good ol Mr. Billy Blanks on it. I was kinda hoping the cover would be featuring my boss, but I guess we can’t have everything all the time. haha =P

Enjoy!