A halloween ad for 'kinder bueno' candy bars. Not sure what he's supposed to be exactly - a horned vampire? A dapper fanged devil? A new hazelnut cream fueled devil/vampire hybrid? Nice fangs though, perfectly adapted (note how they line up exactly with the bar sections) to suck said hazelnut cream from defenseless kinder buenos. Makes me want to go out and become a suave devil vampire myself...

Tags: disturbing mascots, oddity, halloween

Another one of Ocean Park's Halloween characters, this one complete with her own funhouse at Times Square. I guess an undead 'tai tai' (slang for a rich housewife of a certain age with money and time to burn) amassing huge credit card bills from beyond the grave is truly horrifying by HK standards. And that purse - so last season!



And here's her 'house' - filled with Ocean Park Halloween memorabilia from yesteryear and funhouse mirrors. NIce touch with the coffin-shaped door...



There's also this geriatric vampire; he really looks like he's 500 years old, shuffling along behind you. "I'm a-comin' to drink your... blood? yes blood goddamn smart ass whippersnappers... just let me get a-goin' here... no respect for your elders..."

Tags: disturbing mascots, oddity, snide, halloween

A public service(?) poster for eating healthier via the 'eatsmart restaurant' program. Apparently eating healthier starts with giving customers access to silverware, or at least cutting their chicken into manageable portions, thus saving desperately hungry (and time-constrained) businessmen the arduous hassle of rending their own chickens by hand...

Tags: funny, oddity

An Eyedontist (clever name) poster in Causeway Bay. Looks like someone actually went to the trouble of assembling an entire corset made from high end sunglasses. One of those ads that looks compelling at first, then leaves you scratching your head; what is this trying to say (or sell) exactly? Anyway I hope for the model's sake they included a liner of some sort, otherwise the discomfort of actually wearing this hard plastic contraption must've been incalculable...

Tags: fashion, oddity

A web ad from CNN's sports page, which reminds us that Asia hardly has a monopoly on bizarrely named products (and unintentional sexual innuendo). The name 'anytizers' is ridiculous enough for inclusion here, but 'meaty good man food?' And it looks much more like dog food than 'man food'; I love how they are literally tumbling of the plate, a veritable cornucopia of pre-chewed meatballs (which I assume - as a Tyson product - taste vaguely chicken-ish). Definitely on a par with the 'beefy cheesy glory' McDonald's billboard posted a few months back. Maybe its the same ad agency...

Tags: super english force, oddity, snide

The poster below is for the inexplicably well-received "Planet of the Lang Mo", a show by HK comedian Jim Chow, the guy responsible for those annoying Giordano 'cheer u up' t-shirts. If you haven't seen these, they have the classic round yellow happy face motif, but with x's for eyes. In the US at least this signifies being drunk or knocked senseless, which is appropriate for anyone wearing this stuff...



Anyway Mr. Chow has put all his considerable comedic talents (and craaazy facial expressions!) into his latest vehicle, a critique of the 'lang mo' phenomenon here in HK. According to one fawning website, ”Lang Mo” is a slang term used to describe “a teenage girl who is prepared to dress and show off her hot body at public functions in a way that, in previous years, could only be seen in adult magazines”... Hmmm. It seems Mr. Chow has come up with several hilarious incarnations, ranging from 'Cheapy Queeny' to 'Hallow Kitty' to "Banana Baby' (the less said about the latter the better). Mr. Chow has no doubt pulled HK comedy (and crossdressing?) down a few levels closer to hell in the process...

Tags: super english force, snide, disturbing mascots

A bus-side ad for the Creation Dance Academy, headed by the dynamic - and excitingly coiffed! - Kenji





Actually the name is rather tame by HK standards, but as a graphic designer I am blessed/cursed with noticing logos far more than most people. I have to say this is one of the worst I've ever come across; I love the tango couple's oddly morphed bodies, but the head-exploding magic emanating from the woman's swooping hand really takes it up a notch. I'm guessing Kenji commissioned this logo to represent the dramatic demise of CDA's founder; his dance partner had generated so much passion that as she swept her hand up to touch his trembling cheek, it accidently arced and ignited his hair spray (producing a fabulous if tragic finale to an otherwise magical dance creation).

Tags: super english force, snide

This is a poster for the upcoming halloween celebrations at Ocean Park, a local (and quite successful) theme park. In the past their decorations have been way overboard, especially considering their main clientele are families; impalings, blood and mutilated bodies are a bit much for kinder.

This is more along the lines of traditional Chinese ghosts, a spurned woman returned from the grave with a vengeance. If you've seen the famous 'Chinese Ghost Story' movies (which I highly recommend by the way) you've seen the deadly 'hair extension' motif before. This one takes that even further, with a nasty single braid lashing out from the enraged ghost's head. No idea why her head is backwards, but perhaps that's why she's so pissed off. I love the street sign as well; I guess she's famous enough to have a whole road named after her.

Tags: disturbing mascots, humor, halloween

While waiting for my web provider to recover my (now lost) old files, I stumbled on a few pictures from our first month or so here. This is from a now-defunct store near Harbour City. Pretty much speaks for itself - "Bags! Shouts of Bags!" Don't know if that should be said with an excited carnival shout, or like a despairing anchor reporting live outside a raging boutique fire." ..Now we're hearing shouts of 'bags! bags!' All those reasonably priced yet edgy purses going up in flames... Oh the horror!"

Tags: super english force, fashionique

A few more brand names for the eagerly awaited mall in Causeway Bay. I was struck by 'L'Homos' - that does mean 'the homos' in french, correct? Nothing wrong with a gay-only brand of course, but a hard sell as a t-shirt moniker for straight men, even metrosexuals. I was also taken by the flow (alliteration?) of the three names combined - l'homo johnbull tabloid news - interesting ring to it. Of course 'tabloid news' doesn't exactly scream 'quality' either...

Tags: fashionique, super english force

Apologies for the downtime. It seems my web provider's server - ironically named 'crunchy' - had one of those 'twice a century' crashes, losing all of their clients websites, accounts and emails. Honestly if I had an actual business site with them I would've been truly f**ked. But alas I decided to stay on as a customer, if for no other reason than they are a small business (wind powered to boot!) and I'd rather use them than yahoo etc etc.

Anyway thanks for checking in and hope to have some new stuff up very soon...