Saturday, July 12, 2008
Overrated for exclusiveness
I walk inside, and notice this spacious area. There's a DJ playing, bar, massive dancefloor area. Booths with tables line up the right hand side. Except the whole joint is totally empty. Curious we push on, to the "secret room". We're told we can only go in a few at a time.
I don't really notice the keypad access, but she opens the door and we are let inside. We wait just inside the door and there is a small bar immediately in front of us. Its dark and it looks like a smallish room. Immediately someone sets upon us and tell us its a private function. We just let my friend's cousin do the talking and we manage to stay in there.
I look around, and basically a very very small room, with another connected room next to it. The place is packed............with 15 people (if that!). Yeah, the place is going off. There's two guys wearing some kind of really really old school rich gentlemen outfits with padded shoulders and wigs. Totally random crowd of young people. Not really sure what the hell was going on.
But I know this - its definently not worth it! Totally overrrated, and built up my expectations.
In case your wondering, the place is right next to Candy's Apartment on Bayswater Road (opposite hugo's lounge). the key code for the room is 1669 but it ain't worth it. Trust!
tonite, i'm heading to "The Rebirth of Soul" at The Basement. they are playing a bunch of covers from guys like Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo. Mostly contempoary soul artists. Should be an interesting crowd. The place does't have the best acoustics, but looking forward to chilling inside to some nice music.
I'm out like exclusive clubs in Cross,
DJ Ho
Sunday, July 06, 2008
updates! updates
In the past two months, I've just been busy with my new job and settling back into normal lifestyle. Getting used to the routine of working 9 to 5, 5 days a week. Then playing basketball on Mon and Tues nights, doing a bit of advertising school part time as well.
Its seems a world away from Europe, Japan, and the rest of my travels. Sometimes, I get random flashes of memory from my travels and I laugh or reminisce about it. There might be a picture, an experience, or something that jolts my memory, and a flood of experiences come back.
I'm already thinking about my next trip, and although its prolly a long way away, I will head to India. I want go to Delhi, Kerala, Goa and Mumbai and just......check it out!
Today, I was reading the Sunday paper, and quickly glanced at the travel section. Then I thought, hmmm...this article about Sao Paulo restaurants interests me. Read some more about an article on Argentinian bus travel, comparing it to the Motorcycle Diaries movie, which was inspired by Che Gueverra's motorbike trip across the country.
When I get around to it, I will set up a travel blog to put up all my posts and also put my pics on to Flickr.
Oh, and did i mention I started up another blog? It's called inspiredworlds, which is mainly about marketing, digital media, and the like.
I'll try to keep updating this blog on a regular basis.
DJ Ho.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Sneaker Freaker

"A Bandai and Nike collaboration model limited to 450 pairs. They were sold exclusively only at the Bandai museum store in Tokyo, Japan."
Marc Liew, 2006 on his Nike Shox VC II (Bandai Edition)

I came across this exhibition that was held in Melbourne, Australia last year called "Classic to Customs". When I saw the name, I thought mad. I've picked some one of the more interesting designs that appealed to me (and shoes that I wanted as a kid). The motivations of some of the sneaker collectors are exactly that - shoes that they wore as a kid, or wanted to buy in 80's or 90's and couldn't. Then they started working, grew up and went back and bought the shoes they wanted.


"This customization is based on the 1980s cartoon Transformers and carries the name ‘Rupture’ as the pattern depicts a ruptured Transformer’s body. Inside the design is hidden text, names and even an original Transformer."
- Sekure D, 2006
"The Nike collaboration with LA sneaker boutique store Undefeated led to a sneaker that was limited to four pairs (in the Purple colourway) in Melbourne. The only way to obtain a pair was by winning a raffle that gave the winner the option to “buy” the shoe. I was fortunate enough to be one of the four winners of this exceptional sneaker and have yet to brave cracking them out of their box to wear. A true gem!"- Maria Limberis, 2006
"This is a very special shoe. It is the first mid sole running shoe and it set the benchmark for mid sole runners well into the future. Before Bill Bowerman and Nike made shoes they imported a number of models from Onitsuka Tiger to sell. This shoe was in a Nike employee’s garage and had never been worn for some thirty years. It is important not only for its rarity but also for its role within the history of the Nike and Asics/ Tiger corporations."Onitsuka Tiger Spring
1969
"I had been admiring Astoria VIII’s work for a few months before I contacted them to do this custom. The detail that they put into their customs is amazing, so I knew I had to come up with an idea to match their skill. After running through a few different ideas, I finally settled on a Yakuza theme. I had always been amazed by full body suit tattoos and wanted that translated into a shoe. I still remember the first time I got the pictures of the finished custom via email, my jaw dropped. The level of detail is amazing and every time I look I find more and more details. I still rate this shoe as one of the best customs done ever!"Brett Pooley, 2006 on his Yakuza V1 (Nike Delta Force 3/4)
If you want to check out more of the sneakers, click here. I'm also checking out these sneaker websites:
Sneaker Freaker Magazine
New Australian Brand called Hops
I'm out like sneaker collections,
DJ Ho.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
What's this Tibet fuss about?
So I thought to myself, what is all this Tibet fuss about? Our Prime Minister, K-Rudd (what a mad nickname) aka Kevin Rudd has raised the issue of Tibet with the China's Prime Minister. Using the words "serious human rights abuses" - that takes a lot of balls to do that - and in Chinese too! He didnt skirt around the issue, he raised it several times.
All this stuff raised my curiosity - I mean these people are protesting for a reason. If anything, they have at least raised the issue around the world. I knew nothing, so I did the next best thing, I googled "Tibet" and read the first couple of links.
I checked out the Wikipedia entry on Tibet, which is way too in depth because its about everything - the history, geography, etc.. But its good for getting an overview about Tibet. So I picked bits which were interesting, but still didnt quite understand what it was about. Then I checked out Tibet.com, which is supposedly the official site for the government in exile in Tibet - but the site didnt seem to user friendly. That left me with Google news, where I found some debate about whether Extinguising the flame does anything for the situation. Well of course it doesn't. Sports and politics don't mix. Or do they?

But it achieved its primary objective - awareness of the situation. To someone young like myself, who keeps up to date with world affairs but didn't know a lot, it gave me an interest. It raised the issue and made me curious. I've know looked it up. I think that's the first step to issues like this. Its about drawing the world's attention to something that is going on - that has been largely ignored. We hear news stories every day, that get buried. Another terrorist bombing in Israel. Soldiers clash with guerrillas in Kashmir. Riots in Africa.
Somehow, this issue was raised from all the dredge that we call news - because the Olympics are in Beijing, and nearly all governments don't want to piss off this big bad monster called China. Even Google toed the line with China, and limited searches only to China approved sites - they banned BBC.com, Blogger, etc.. The fact that Kevin Rudd raised the human rights abuses was in my eyes monumental and he didn't back down from his comments, despite the official chinese newspaper re-reporting those comments in a typical china friendly kind of way.
These protestors wanted the world to know about the situation in Tibet. This begs the question - so what now?
I'm out like the Olympic torch,
DJ Ho.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Rip City Rising - Homage to LA
An innovative way to campaign for Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge for Most improved player of the year. A website dedicated to him, with a cartoon setting out his season. Pretty cool.
Also, the NBA has released a new set of Ads known as "There can only be one". It shows a split screen of 2 players saying the same thing at the same time. They combine half of Kobe's face with half of Shaq's face, and also a Lebron v Garnett.
Peace out,
DJ Ho.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Search Engine Optimisation
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Best dunker you never heard of?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Customise that!

I came across this awesome website where you can customise the latest Allen Iverson sneakers. I've already spent 1/2 an hour customising a shoe. Its very addictive. It's taken sales and personalisation to a new level. Clearly designed for sneaker heads, seeking that next level for their kicks.
Check out Reebok customs.
Enjoy.
Face/off on Face/book
We are shifting away from traditional mediums and creating new ones. We used to read books, now we download audio versions on to our iPods. Comics are now uploaded page by page online. Radio is a dying format, as we can now broadcast online via podcasts, ensuring that you have not missed a beat.
Newspapers used to get old by the day, now it gets old by the minute. With RSS (Real Simple Syndication), our news is updated and feed to us every time we log online. We have dynamic content and it is tailored to our needs. Relevance has suddenly hit a new meaning.
We connect with our friends through online platforms such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Friendster or one of the other networking sites. Social networking has become the buzz word for the last year or so. We document our lives on blogs, we share our videos on YouTube, we play games on Facebook and we listen to new music on MySpace.
Each of these online platforms has unique and tailored content created by each user. These webpages we create are our online space. A space that we carve out on the world wide web. It is personal to each user. And that is the beauty of it – it is your space, your voice to the world. A place were you can broadcast, chat with friends, and share photos.
Earlier tonite, I attended a seminar titled “Building brands on Facebook and Web 2.0” held by the Australian Marketing Institute. It claimed that traditional advertising was a one way street. Advertising was directed one way, from the marketer to the consumer. Now, using Web 2.0 through online platforms such as MySpace, blogs or Facebook, the user tells the public what they are interested in. It creates niche markets and thus offers boundless opportunities to deliver advertising tailored to each user. Marketers, advertisers and corporations salivate at these opportunities now available to them.
But will this form of advertising work? Will users of Web 2.0 fight back and refuse to respond to these ads?
We look at most of these online platforms and we see that the mentality of the people running them has changed. They originally had social and interactive purposes. Then they were sold. Google bought YouTube for $1.65bn. Newscorp bought MySpace for $580m. Microsoft bought a 1.6% strategic stake in Facebook for $240m, effectively valuing Facebook at $16bn. Have these networking sites been corporatized? Have new vested interests changed these websites?
One would have to say yes. These conglomerates did not buy them to keep them as they are. They bought them with the sole intent of advertising on them and leveraging the details and the content of the users. So much of our lives are documented on social networking websites. Our favourite music, our marital status, our interests, our friends, and the charities we support. Marketers have found the pot of gold for demographics and consumer preferences. And these companies want a return on their investments.
However, this is bad news. We did not sign up for this. We signed up to share our lives with our friends, not corporations. It is both invasive and intrusive. We made YouTube what it is today. We put our original content on there. Now, if you look at the YouTube website, when you watch a video, there is a list of ads on the right hand side tailored to each video. Who knows what they might do next? Put advertisements in front of our videos? Recommend movies to us based on the videos?
Advertising is encroaching too far into our personal lives. MySpace is what it says it is “MY SPACE”. Not Coca-Cola’s space. Not Commonwealth Bank. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to advertise on my page. I do not appreciate Facebook ads on my homepage. If I write about travel or a post a picture of my travels, do I want to see an advertisement for flights? Hell no. But that is what is happening. Increasingly, we are starting to see more and more tailored ads filter into our Facebook pages. Users of Facebook like myself simply ignore this. Advertising has always been like this – we can choose to ignore or we choose to take in what is relevant.
Online advertising has become really annoying these days. I can’t go to my sports favourite site ESPN.com without some dreaded POP UP Ad suddenly appearing on the page. I don’t even see the purpose of pop up ads. That is why I installed a pop up blocker program to get rid of these monstrosities. And if it does get past my filter, I simply delete the ad anyway.
Another thing that annoys me, is that there was as case study in the seminar about how they were promoting these period pain medication. One of their subtle techniques they used was to send free samples to the top 100 women bloggers in Australia, because this would help promote the product amongst influential bloggers. The idea is that women would read about the products on the blog and this would create brand awareness and then prompt them to purchase the product.
To me this is akin to bribery. I believe I am qualified to state my opinion, as I have been blogging for almost 4 years. This is BS. I can’t believe marketers would stoop to this. Blogs are popular because they represent what real people think. They are our raw thoughts, our emotions, what we as individuals think. Bloggers are independent writers and should not be influenced by these kinds of marketing techniques. Sure, marketers have been giving away product samples for centuries. However, any blogger in their right mind, would never promote this product. Corporate blogs don’t work for this reason because they are sanitized and are fake. If I knew a blogger was given a product sample or some kind of inducement, and then promoted the product, it would ruin their reputation in my eyes.
One of the best examples of these subtle advertising is GMAIL. The controversy with GMAIL when we first signed up was that Google would filter through our email and deliver advertising to us based on what was in our emails. To this very day, I have ignored all the advertising that Google has bombarded me with. It simply doesn’t work. In fact, I have never clicked on any ad displayed by Google on its search results page. For me, as a consumer, I would rather find the website for myself with a bit of exploring.
It’s the same reason that I don’t click on any recommended item on Amazon.com. I might select a DVD or a CD, then Amazon will recommend an item based on what past buyers also bought or looked at. It tries to work me out based on mathematical algorithms, using customer purchase patterns. I feel that this is what will happen with Facebook and MySpace. I don’t respond to this type of advertising because it tries to work me out – it tries to homogenize me into a commodity. If I like a Jay-Z CD, does that mean I will also consider buy a Kanye West CD?
Online advertising on social networks has its place. But marketers have to be very careful that they do not encroach on a user’s space. Each space is personal to each user. It is a very fine line that needs to be balanced between commerciality and social function. If we become bombarded with ads and we see that these sites no longer serve the purpose of what we signed up for, then we will rebel. We will leave you with nothing but a billion dollar lemon.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The end of Euro trip
I spent two weeks in Japan and 3 months in Europe. These eyes have seen a lot of things.
I'm off to New York in the afternoon and I am really pumped up about it.
I'm out like Eurotrip
DJ Ho.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
the future is near/here
However, I am determined to stick to my original goals. Go travelling for 4 months, come back and work for 1.5-2 years and then head to London/New York/Hong Kong. A couple of good friends of mine have also targeted 2008-2009 as the time they head overseas as well.
It's a rite of passage. You gotta do it.
I'm sure its not just me, but I feel like I'm also getting older. Friends of mine are getting engaged left right and centre, and getting married. I guess its about that time huh? When your friends are 24 - 26, they start settling down and getting hitched and all that jazz.
Now is the right time for me to start taking chances in life. I'm still young, have some work experience and money, and would have travelled the world and have seen a lot of things. I'll look into starting up my own business, work overseas for 5 or so years, might get an MBA, then come back, settle down in Australia, get married, get a mortgage, 2.5 kids, etc...
I'm out like the past,
DJ Ho.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Apologies, I've been distracted!
Well I've been busy.......with facebook! It's jsut so interesting. Plus I've booked my holiday and will be leaving in 3 weeks! I've decided to go travelling around the world for 4 months.
I'm spending 2 weeks in Japan, 2.5 months in Europe and a month in U.S.
yes, one huge trip. its exciting and something i've always wanted to do. I've seen some of my friends go on massive trips, and been inspired by them and people I've met while travelling. So I thought, screw it! I'm doing it too!
I figure that it be worth the experience and it will broaden my mind. It'll be a blast and I can do it now cause I'm young and dont have that many commitments.
I'm out like around the world trips!
DJ Ho.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Validation, Baby.

Is the whole world on Facebook now? I discovered Facebook two weeks ago, and its so addictive. What is facebook? It's similar to Myspace, LinkedIn and Friendster, and Bebo. Still no idea! Well its social networking via the internet.Sunday, June 17, 2007
There's gonna be some changes........
For one thing, I got the travel bug. Ever since I went travelling to Vietnam and Thailand, I met heaps of interesting people. Young and old that were travelling for 5, 6, or 7 months. I gotta do it. Tim, a close friend just came back from a year of travelling.
I went to the travel agent, and inquired about a round the world ticket. no definite plans yet, but i want to go travelling for 3 - 5 months.
The places I want to go to?
India
Cambodia
Europe - London, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, etc...!
Dubai
US - New York, Washington, LA, San Francisco.
Lately, i've been reading a lot about demographics and about these various
countries.
Check the 7 star hotel in dubai.
I'm out like the travel bug,
DJ Ho.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
I'm the greatest........
I'm out like being the greatest
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Sunday, June 03, 2007
You are my solace
When I broke up with my girlfriend, I immediately sought your help. When I struggled with my job four years ago, I turned to you and you made it go away. After every exam, I played basketball to free my mind. When I needed you yesterday, I turned to you.
Basketball, you are my solace.
You are my comfort.
You are my rock.
When I'm there, I can be by myself. I can shoot around for hours. Pretending that I'm Michael Jordan in game 5 of the NBA finals. Or I am Kevin Garnett, 7 foot tall and unstoppable. Or I can play with 7 random other strangers in a game of pick up basketball.
I love you basketball, because you gave me a place to belong. A place to go when I needed peace. When the noises of the outside world became too deafening. When I needed to think and reflect. You've brought so much joy to my life. I've met you when I was 12, and I've never let you go.

Every day I would check up on you, to see the latest scores. To see the latest news. To hear what happened, to hear the dramas and the highlights. You were larger than life. You included me and you made me prove myself. You gave me something to look forward to on the weekends. If I look at my best friends, there is one thing we have in common.
A common thread that runs through all of us. Its basketball.
Basketball, you are my solace.
Take me to that place again.
DJ Ho.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Only in Bankstown
Last Saturday, Marie and I went to Bankstown Square. We are locals, so we are no strangers to the area. However, last Saturday had a few interesting incidents I hadn't seen before.No Man's Land
Normally, I find carparking at any shopping centre a bitch. Especially on Saturday daytime. There always more cars than carspaces. So we're doing the usual thing, and doing laps of the car park in the hopes of finding that elusive white unicorn - a car space!
Marie's driving and slows down to turn the corner. Our car stops cause we are stuck in traffic. In the corner of my eye, I see two cars stopped in the middle of the car park - they are both facing opposite directions. The two drivers have come out of the car and appear to be exchanging pleasantries. I can't hear what they are saying, but it looks a lil animated.There's a young blond Aussie guy of normal size arguing. On the other side is a Middle Eastern guy, who is stocky with broad shoulders and looks built. He has sun glasses on (an important fact!). I'm not sure what they are arguing about, but I believe they have either crashed cars or its over a car parking space.
Curious by nature, we continue to watch.
Out of nowhere, the Aussie guy shoves the Middle Eastern gentleman with a full two handed push. Suprisingly he doesn't react immediately. He calmly turns around, takes off his sunglasses and throws them through the rear window of his car. Then I know its on! I mean who wants to damage expensive sunglasses? He has that look in his face like he's about to rip a kebab in half.
The Middle Eastern guy walks up to the Aussie dude, and returns the favour with a two handed shove. Winds up the right hand and gives him the biggest bitch slap I have ever seen. But wait, there's more!
Just like E-Honda in Streetfighter 2, he unleashes the 1000 hand slap. Well its really like 5 or 6 punches in succession.

The Aussie responds and starts throwing out haymakers. The Middle Eastern equivalent of E-Honda continually forces the Aussie back with a flurry of punches until he is up against the open car door. I can only see the fight ending one way, as E-Honda has too much aggression & size and the Aussie guy is giving up too much in weight.
So I undid my seatbelt and opened the car door and was determined to step out and stop the fight before the Aussie guy gets knocked unconscious. Marie says to me "it's not your fight". Then simultaneously, E-Honda's wife steps out the car looking concerned. The Aussie guy has a mate who also steps out. For some reason, a moment of clarity strikes both parties. E-Honda backs away and the Aussie guy's mate grabs the Aussie guy and they walk away. Both cars speed off.
Then I calmly directed Marie to take the disputed car space.
Clearly, a win-win situation for all.
All purpose Hijab
The second interesting thing occured in the big park next door to Bankstown Square. Marie and I are walking around and stop at a nearby cafe. I see this girl walk out of a building, wearing a Hijab. If your not familiar with it, its like a cloth that Muslim women put around their head. This is normal to see anywhere especially in Bankstown.
This girl was talking on her mobile phone on a flip phone. Something like this:

What really caught my eye was the fact that she wasn't using her hands. Then it occurred to me that there was something unusual about this scenario. The top of the phone was actually shoved into the Hijab! Tucked in so she didn't have to use her hands. The bottom part was next to her mouth. Ladies and gentleman, it appears that we have discovered the latest invention in Bankstown:
The Hands Free Hijab.
Coming to a store near you! Marie was laughing her head off so I told her to shutup. When we turned the corner, we just burst out laughing.
And that concludes my Saturday at Bankstown Square. Only in Bankstown folks.
I'm out like fighting E-Honda,
DJ Ho.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Ultimate warriors! Golden State Rules!

The Golden State Warriors just crushed the Dallas Mavericks! How awesome! Bringing back some life to the Bay Area. I love it how the underdogs came out on top and just outgunned the Mavs. B-Diddy, S-Jack, Matt Barnes, Biederins, were just too much for the Mavs to handle. Run and gun all day baby! Bring back Run TMC!
I've included another pic of the Ultimate Warrior for your viewing pleasure.

I'm out like the Mavs,
DJ Ho.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
I'm the proud owner of................
I was looking around for a leather shoe to go clubbing - to get into those fancy places that don't let you wear sneakers. So I went shopping and basically gave up on the snakeskin, tortiose shell, half brown leather shoes. Fell back into my comfort zone and started looking for sneakers.Lo and behold, in Footlocker they had the new NBA adidas superstar series which were the subject of a previous post. They are going for $160 AUD, a hefty price tag, but I had to have one. They've only got Celtics, Pistons, Bulls and Spurs so far. In the next couple of weeks, they'll hvae the other teams. So i may end up with a New York Knicks one too!
I'm out like NBA Adidas Superstars,
DJ Ho.