Eshin Direct

Been a bit busy these past few days over Easter. Who would have thought since this period sees the majority of expats vacate Hong Kong en masse. The bright side is that the holiday periods turn into what I affectionately call spawning season in Hong Kong. It part of the ritual that has developed with a country that sends its youngest and brightest (erm, richest) overseas to study. The young intelligensia, so eager to demonstrate how far they’ve come in their new found homelands, are all out to wear the latest clothes and tart themselves up. And of course, why do we tart ourselves up?

That’s right, it’s part of the human mating ritual. Much as you might deny it, it’s all designed to impress and to make you more attractive. Anyway, in Hong Kong, it seems that the gals and guys are out to impress each time they are back home. You have to remember overseas folks often have strong social networks at home that need impressing. So the best times to go out on the prowl in HK are during these spawning seasons since you’ll probably see some of the best (well, heavily made-up) looking gals (or guys if your up for that). And with the summer approaching, the clothes are getting scanty too. Always a bonus.

So did I go fishing in HK during this Easter holiday, I hear you ask. Surely, testosterone-charged Eshin was in some gal’s panties, making the most of spawning season? Nope. I actually ended up painting on Friday. There’s this great place just next to Backroom where you buy a canvas for upto 400 bucks and they provide all the brushes and acrylics for you to use. And to boot, there’s free refreshments and music too. So it’s just like going to yer favourite bar. Well, there’s no alcohol since you’ve got to bring that yourself. Anyway, the details can be found here Hobbies Central.

My painting started off okay but then again all I did was create a blue background. I had an idea of what I wanted to paint and it sort of came out alright but ended up a little different from what I expected. I think it’s because I was constantly trying to add detail and screwing it up. In the end, my painting turned into a waterfall scene. Which, of course, requires a little more skill and talent than I actually have since you have to get the texture of the water correct. Anyway, the staff had the courtesy of not laughing in my face or my painting, nor did my friend Greg. I’ve never painted before in my life so for a first (and probably only) attempt, I was pleased with it.

Anyway, ended up spending yesterday afternoon in Mongkok buying a new lense. Then met up with a mate who needed to look for these anime models for his friend. At first glance, most of these models look quite perverted, being of famous anime characters in some dodgy poses and skimpy school uniform characters, but upon closer inspection, one does really need to admire the craftmanship that goes into actually painting them. I used to paint smaller 25-55mm scale models for wargaming but that was relatively simple, given that the miniatures were all made up in armour or the like. The toughest part was the flesh and getting that to be believable. These anime models seem to have an abundance of flesh on them (it would help if they had more clothes on) yet the mastership of the flesh tones was actually quite superior.

I might actually start taking my interest up again in painting models again. The trouble is I don’t know how to paint these anime models since my experience only lies with smaller versions for gaming. But I reckon the technique shouldn’t be hard to learn. It’s the skill that’s the killer as I learned with my painting on Friday.

These model shops were in some centre where the two top floors are dominated with Category 4 films (XXX rated) from the US and Japan. The mind boggles at the sheer volume of pornographic films that are out there and also wonders just how many women there are that partake in this industry. The quality of material out there would make even Gweilo Diaries look tame (it’s already pathetically tame but I guess the author is not quite a porn peddler just yet). I guess that’s the capitalist system at play for you. It’s worth a look at this centre ’cause they have quite a few celebrity pictures for sale too (not x-rated) and I found a few of my angel, Boa, there too.