The Banana Times reporting from Hong Kong!

I have decided to continue the nerdiness and write another post about Anime and Manga because.. Well. Why the hell not?

Since I returned to Hong Kong from Beijing, I made sure I had my Canon Digital IXUS 75 in my pocket ready to capture some interesting images for myself and for the blog at any given moment. Ever since Hong Kong allowed unlimited customization on license plates, its been a lot easier to not only catch Anime/Manga references, but also easier to make fun of the locals and their English (I guess I used to be one? Not anymore? I’ve been Bananaized).

Helo Kity? So its hee-low kai-tee. Looks like something from Engrish.com

D…Gary-Man?! Another lost child of Engrish. Satoshi Tajiri is gonna be piiissed. Or rather, whoever came up with the English names for the Pokemon characters is gonna be pissed. How the fuck does Satoshi become Ash Ketchum? (ZOMG EVA REBUILD 1.0 DVD!!!)

Okay, this isn’t Anime or Manga related (a Winnie The Pooh manga would be kinda cool?) but its pretty post-worthy. Look how he judges us with his ignorant smile..

Okay. WSJ means Wall Street Journal, but it can also stand for Weekly Shonen Jump! The most popular manga magazine in the WORLD? Duh. I know its a stretch, but hey, it works. And what’s the deal of releasing the Wall Street Journal on September 11th..

Yamada! Hermes is EVERYWHERE in Hong Kong!
I know its a popular luxury fashion brand and its in a lot of places,  but the train man inside of me just had to take picture. And to end it off:

Suneo from Doraemon says FOK!

I have a few more days left in Hong Kong, so the search for more Anime/Manga references continues! Until next time.

Yes. This is where I am, where I grew up, where The Dark Knight was filmed (and yes, I did take this photo).

-phibz.

Also known as ACGHK, it is Hong Kong’s annual comic, animation, games and book fair held every summer. The games and comics fair were separate but merged in 2008. The day before we flew to Beijing, The Banana Times took the opportunity to catch the last day of the fair with hopes of seeing what was left of manga and anime awesomeness. First things first, I had to find the Alchemist.

I was watching some Hong Kong television and I managed to catch an episode of FMA:B in Cantonese, and they were only ONE episode behind the Japanese release schedule. But they translated the new series as “Fullmetal Alchemist FA”, which is just saying the title twice..

The Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood stall:

The Hong Kong Convention crowd:

Hey, that’s a pretty cool-looking action figure. It kinda looks like a – no way…

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is some sort of manga character made out of a shoe. Remember that great South Park episode with the Chinpokomon? Someone took it way too seriously (0:34 mark).

One Piece x Dragonball Z Cross Epoch! Son Luffy! Awesomeness! And my nerdiness would not be complete without wearing a t-shirt that had “manga” written printed on it (or man hua/man hwa if you’re Chinese or Korean).

I wish I could compare the atmosphere, structure and fandom of Asian conventions and North American conventions but unfortunately, due to my ignorance and inexperience, I have yet to attend an Anime or Manga convention in the West. But I can say one thing for sure. Geeks, nerds and Otaku are everywhere, and we’re only growing. Hell, the term “Densha Otoko” has crept its way into contemporary Hong Kong culture already.

Anime North 2010, I’ll see you soon.

-phibz.

We’re in Hong Kong!!

Actually, as of right now, I’m in Beijing doing some volunteer camera and editing work for the International Nature-Loving Association‘s Fifth International Youth Dance Festival. We did two shows, one on August 10th and the other on August 11th, and overall it was an unexpectedly awesome experience.

Before I started working, I had the mentality of just getting it done and over with as I was in Hong Kong for only two days before I flew to the North City of China. But once I started working, getting more responsibilities and meeting new people, not only did I start to like being in the Communist Capital (no Facebook, YouTube or Twitter – it sucks, I know) but it renewed my passion for film, television and media productions.

I’ll post more about my Beijing trip once I return to Hong Kong and get actual rest. For now, turn your attention to a great photo I took during the two days I was in Hong Kong:

What is he holding? What is he doing looking down the drain? This was taken after an Anime and Manga convention, more on that later as well.

-phibz.

Ah! Feels good to be back. Hiatuses suck, but it was for good reason. During the few weeks we were absent from the blog, projects with The Banana Times Productions has been keeping us busy.

The Banana Times Productions has begun production on their upcoming online weekly sketch-comedy series with two skits filmed already. The title of the series has yet to be decided. We’ve also been lending our hands to Lemon Meringue’s The Awkward Compilation.

We’ve also been working with CineFocus Canada and their Green Heroes project. We proposed to help them produce a webisode/short film for their multiplatform project and they gave us permission to even shoot in Hong Kong and Beijing.

We are busy but we find time to have fun. I went to Canada’s Wonderland, a big theme park Northwest of Toronto, and this the fruit of my labor.

After a death-defying match of Whack-A-Mole, I finally found the missing piece to The Banana Times – a banana with eyes, nose, mouth and freakishly bulging cheeks. Speaking of talking bananas, please go to the post above and check out our latest stop-motion animation short called Craft Tempura: Prologue.

As you can see below, I wanted the giant banana but that would look scary in anyone’s bedroom.

We all wanted the prize below, but the game was rigged. Adventureland taught me so much about the conspiracies of theme parks.

-phibz.

The theme this week seems to be ignorance, for lack of a better word:

Thank you chaoz golem for the link.

HA! Okay, despite the incorrect labelling that was pretty funny. But really, Korean characters mistook for Japanese, lady silently accuses a Chinese person to drive badly when there’s snow and now this (still laughing). I’m not judging. Rather I am showing how some members of the Western world are misinformed. Much like how members of the Eastern world are misinformed.

I remember I saw a video of a caucasian lady in Beijing asking locals what their English names were. A lady said her name was Angelina.
“Why that name?”
“A good looking man gave that name to me”
“Why did he name you that?”
“It sounded pretty”

I rest my case. Maybe Angelina Jolie needs to steal adopt a Chinese baby for them to recognize her.
Time to shoot a duck.

-phibz.

edit:
I found it.

Don’t you know who the fuck I am! I’m the SMACKER bitch!