Someone asked me how Caz got me to marry her

I'm saying nothing about how the ceremony went down... but hopefully this candid picture will explain all.

Are you a real man?

I do wish Mrs B would stop sending me all these emails...



You Dont like your male machine size

Girls joke at you...

Now it's time to solve this trouble.

Use our male device enlargemen,t and Chicks will adore you promptly.

I used. My wife is really happy.

http://www.sabhelesbles.com

The beast of Hong Kong Park? Staff stake out the lawns...

SCMP has this on their web site (must be a slow news day. Either that or they have given up on stories about democracy in HK. It could of course be that they are lazy buggers... Who knows.)

"The beast of Hong Kong Park? Staff stake out the lawns

from Home/News/Hong Kong
Staff at Hong Kong Park are on the lookout for a mystery animal that startled two people walking through the park."

Well I solved the crime, that would be Padstow our dog. Thank god for those well funded (if not well informed) journalists who uncovered the criminal and will no doubt report him to the police, Hong Kong anti-dog style.

Click here to see the beast in action, or just laugh at the madness of Hong Kong and life here. Its just so hard.

Luckily for him, he has diplomatic immunity!

alib.co.uk - Updated

Not really news in the grand scheme of things but my old site alib.co.uk has had a redesign. I really quite like this and have used it as a construction holding page on my main site alibullock.com which you can see an example of here

Next week, back to Cathay Pacific and my life in Hong Kong...

The Japanese are back! Boob Tube time!

I know this blog is meant to be about Hong Kong, but some thigns are just too good to be true. And this is one of those times.

I have absolutely no idea what is happening in this YouTube video (and frankly after watching it over 15 times I don't care!!) But it would seem to be some sort of news program and a load of hot Japanese girls in a hot spring. You know what I love Japan, its official. can't wait to go there next month.

Click the link here to go to YouTube and see it for yourself (safe for work, kids blah, blah)

No Excuses by Nike and Matt Scott

Again its nothing to do with Hong Kong, but this latest advert for Nike is well worth watching if you don't feel like exercising.

Either press play or read on. One thing I will say Matt Scott is one of the bravest human beings that I have ever seen. A true inspiration to us all. Now excuse me, I'm off to do exactly what he talks about. Run.

See the video here

Now Ford is at the bad PR

Is it me, or is this crazy marketing week. I am not sure.

Not that this has anything to do with Hong Kong (this time) but it is a classic case of over reaction in the web 2.0 space.

"The folks at BMC (Black Mustang Club) automotive forum wanted to put together a calendar featuring members' cars, and print it through CafePress. Photos were submitted, the layout was set, and... CafePress notifies the site admin that pictures of Ford cars cannot be printed. Not just Ford logos, not just Mustang logos, the car -as a whole- is a Ford trademark and its image can't be reproduced without permission. So even though Ford has a lineup of enthusiasts who want to show off their Ford cars, the company is bent on alienating them. 'Them' being some of the most loyal owners and future buyers that they have. Or rather, that they had, because many have decided that they will not be doing business with Ford again if this matter isn't resolved." I got some more info from the folks at cafepress and according to them, a law firm representing Ford contacted them saying that our calendar pics (and our club's event logos - anything with one of our cars in it) infringes on Ford's trademarks which include the use of images of THEIR vehicles. Also, Ford claims that all the images, logos and designs OUR graphics team made for the BMC events using Danni are theirs as well. Funny, I thought Danni's title had my name on it ... and I thought you guys owned your cars ... and, well ...

I'm not even going to get into how wrong this is.

No Santa (unles you are an AMEX holder)

Amazing PR disaster by AMEX over the Christmas period. One to learn from

An American Express Christmas promotion with The Pacific Place shopping centre has turned sour after non-Centurion card holders and their kids were barred from seeing Santa. What is shaping up to be pre-Christmas PR disaster, one outraged consumer said the Amex Santa campaign was "flawed".

Nick Sutcliffe, executive director for The Conference Board, took his kids to see Santa but was rejected as he did not have the required Amex card. "Children have no concept of Amex's marketing campaign, but for parents having to tell their children that they cannot see Santa, that's good enough reason to cancel their subscription with Amex," Sutcliffe said. "I watched countless families being sent away with children crying. If this is designed to endear me to Amex, they failed I will be returning my Amex card," he added.

Access to Centurion cards is by invite only.

A spokesperson from American Express International said the promotional period to enter the Santa House for Amex cardholders ran from 6 to 9 December and was clearly stated in all marketing collateral. Questioned over the exclusivity of the promotion, she could not be drawn on details.

The Japanese are at it again (thank god, this would be a boring blog without them)

The Japanese have some TV shows thats for sure.

I stumbled on the story of Nasubi the other day and couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Back in the pre-Y2K days of 1998 Japanese TV producers held an audition for a new show. A comedian named Nasubi (Japanese for eggplant) “won” the audition and was blindfolded and brought to a one room apartment somewhere in Tokyo. The apartment was stocked with a stack of magazines and a pile of postcards. Nasubi was told to strip naked and left with a cushion, a table, a small radio, a telephone, and some notebooks pens. He had no food.

Nasubi was told that in order to escape his prison he had to win a million Yen ($10,000) in prizes via magazine mail-in contests. This was also the only way he could eat- his first two weeks were without calories until he won some jelly in a contest (what kind of contest prize is jelly?).

Nasubi soon won a 5kg bag of rice but didn’t have anything to cook it with. He worked up a prison style cooking method using a cup of water and rice placed on the heater. He also won a TV set but didn’t have a cable or antennae. When he finally won a VCR the only videos he had were an exercise and cycling video.

The whole story is nuts. The guy was locked away for 15 months all by himself, forced into a starvation diet, and had his entire ordeal broadcast on TV and the internet. His diary became a best seller on the outside world.

At the end of his show Nasubi was placed in yet another small enclosed space, where out of force of habit he took off his clothes. Imagine the crazyness he went through when the walls fell away and he found himself in front of a large studio audience, where he was finally told the details of what had happened to him over the past year and change.

Nasubi’s adventures makes Survivor seem pretty tame. Head over to the Quirky Japan Home Page to read the whole story, if anything it’s even stranger than I’ve been able to write here.

Maybe being married to me isn't so bad after all - Mrs B take note.

I'm no Alastair Cook

A really good (well I would say that) review from hong-kong-blogs-review.com about my blog, my favorite part; "What he has to say is interesting and he says it in a friendly, affectionate way, almost as gracefully as Mr. Cooke himself. And Ali has something that Mr. Cooke was not known to have: a sense of humor."

The whole article:

"According to this blog's description for itself, it is modeled after Alistair Cooke's famed radio program, "Letter from America".

This blogger aims high, but like most of us, he lacks Mr. Cooke's grace and flair for the English language. That being said, it doesn't mean this blog, HONG KONG DIARIES is a blog not worthy of your time --- it only implies Mr. Cooke's shoes are difficult to fill, and he's not easy to emulate.

Although the blogger, Ali Bullock is no Alistair Cooke, this blog has warmth; unlike other Hong Kong expat blogs Sham-Shui-Po Boy has read, this blog gives its readers a distinctive feel of British middle-class decency and politeness. Ali's entries are often light-hearted and he steers clear of contentious political issues. He is an accomplished photographer, an animal lover, and active in Hong Kong Dog Rescue. Sham-Shui-Po Boy always has a soft-spot for artists of any media and animal lovers of all persuasions.

Sham-Shui-Po Boy says, read this blog; Ali comes across as an all around nice chap. What he has to say is interesting and he says it in a friendly, affectionate way, almost as gracefully as Mr. Cooke himself. And Ali has something that Mr. Cooke was not known to have: a sense of humor."

Many thanks for this - A little something that reminds me why I write a blog.