Actor Idris Elba collaborated with fashion brand Superdry on a collection
Apologies for not blogging for the past few days -- I was in Guangzhou on an assignment and was quite busy coupled with jetlag, that I didn't have time to write anything.
I'd like to mention one more documentary I saw on the plane and that's Cut From Different Cloth. Did you know the casual fashion brand Superdry is actually from the UK? Many assume because it has Japanese writing on its clothes that it's Japanese, but it's not!
It was started in 1985 and its appeal was its combination of Japanese-looking American preppy wear. The company does admit the Japanese writing doesn't have much meaning in English, but it misleads customers into thinking the brand is from the Land of the Rising Sun.
In 2015, Superdry did a collaboration with actor, musician and DJ Idris Elba to create a capsule collection. And Cut From Different Cloth follows this journey of how the collection came together.
Elba is seen in the back of a car talking about how Superdry started sending him clothes to wear unsolicited and so he did. He enjoyed wearing the clothes and later on they pitched the idea of a collaboration.
Julian Dunkerton and James Holder watch Elba being fitted
Early on there are scenes of him going through all the possible pieces from T-shirts to shirts and coats. He puts on many of them and makes comments, picking out the ones he likes, and there are tons of swatches, zippers and buttons to choose from on the table.
There are also scenes of the team picking out male models to wear his clothes and Elba's personal stylist is saying how it's important to find models who have the Idris Elba look -- not too skinny, not too young. There are calls to model agencies looking for models who are 30 years old and up.
Then there is the fashion shoot with Idris Elba in co-founder and then CEO Julian Dunkerton's home, hiring one of the top fashion photographers to do the job. He too gets to put on a few of the clothes to get an idea of what they feel like.
In between these key scenes are explanations of how Dunkerton does business (he stepped down at CEO in 2016). He says landlords always want to show you spaces they want to fill, but they aren't necessarily the space you want. He says it's important to be where the foot traffic is. He also waxes on how flying on a private jet allows you to do business in three countries in one day.
Ah the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Models wearing the collection on the day of the launch
Meanwhile Dunkerton gives a lot of credit to the company's success to co-founder and head designer James Holder, who is known for his attention to detail -- to the millimetre. At one point in the documentary, an employee who is in Turkey to check out a textile company producing items for them, gets a text message from Holder saying he doesn't like the designs they have and wants to redo them all.
The employee is flabbergasted and doesn't know what to say, knowing he's on camera.
But the campaign pulls through down to the wire, from the clothes, to the models, the look of the store and the fans who come out for the launch.
It's interesting to watch because Superdry doesn't actively seek publicity, so there isn't much known of what goes behind the scenes with this brand.
Well-researched and beautifully executed documentary mixed with animation
Another wonderful documentary that you can tell the filmmaker has poured their heart and soul is Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators that was released in June last year.
For the past 75 years, millions have loved reading Curious George books as children, but not many know about the couple who created the lovable simian character.
Margaret and Hans Rey created Curious George
Filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki gives a pretty comprehensive presentation of Hans and Margaret Rey not only through interviews with their literary executor, Lay Lee Ong, some academics, and even the Rey's neighbours in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, who back in the 1950s were young children that Hans would play with and entertain.
These interviews are interlaced with historical footage and -- even better -- animation of Hans and Margaret that are dropped into the black and white film to illustrate they were there.
They were both German Jews and Hans was originally dating Margaret's older sister when they met -- Margaret was only around nine years old. But they later kept in touch and while he went to Brazil to work with his entrepreneurial brother-in-law, Margaret later paid a visit to see him and decided they should get married and start an advertising firm.
Hans was always an artist, and even his studying medicine could not keep him from doodling. Margaret saw his talent and incorporated his cartoons with her copywriting and photographs for ads.
They left Paris by bicycle with only some precious items
They tied the knot in 1935 and moved to France, but this was just as Adolf Hitler was making his plans to take over the continent. By using cartoons of Hans and Margaret, Yamazaki is able to illustrate how the Reys were able to escape the Nazis in June 1940.
Hans built two bicycles out of spare parts and together they rode hundreds of kilometres south of Paris, to get to a town where they sold their bicycles to catch a train to get to the southwest coat to take a ship to Lisbon.
While they were in Paris, they had started writing a book about Fifi the monkey who later became George. They took this manuscript with them, and just before they escaped the French capital, they received an advance for the book that helped fund their journey.
The couple in their later years in the United States
They managed to get on a ship to the United States and thanks to one of Margaret's sisters who lived in Long Island received a letter from an editor who was familiar with the monkey book and gave them an advance for more Curious George books.
There are seven in total and each of them are a collaboration between the husband and wife.
It's so interesting they would spend their summers in Waterville Valley in the 1950s, at the time when anti-Semitism was very popular in the United States. The children neighbours, now in their 70s, remember Margaret as being scary, while Hans was very nice.
So while much is discussed about the Reys and how Curious George came about, there isn't much information about the Man in the Yellow Hat. Guess he will continue to remain a mystery.
Nevertheless the animation really makes Monkey Business an endearing film, inserting the couple into the story to "reenact" scenes in their lives and definitely adding a humorous touch.
Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators
One of the "factories" that churn out copies of famous paintings everyday
On my flight back to Hong Kong, I watched several documentaries, which I much prefer over movies, mostly because I can learn new things about different people, cultures, companies and countries.
A very interesting documentary I saw was China's Van Goghs that was released in 2016. Directed by Yu Haibo and Kiki Tianqi Yu, it focuses on Dafen, in Shenzhen that is the world's largest oil painting village.
Apparently it was started in 1989 by a Hong Kong artist and entrepreneur by the name of Huang Jiang, but with a name like that, he most probably was originally from the mainland. German media outlet Der Spiegel reports he was an errand boy in Hong Kong before he started copying art work and then went back to China to find cheaper space and labour.
Zhao Xiaoyang paints a large version of Van Gogh's portrait
When Huang started there were 20 painters -- now there are over 10,000.
China's Van Goghs focuses on two artist-entrepreneurs: The main character is Zhao Xiaoyang from Hunan province. He, his wife, brother and his brother-in-law have painted over 100,000 copies of Van Gogh's works.
Another character is Zhou Youngjiu from Guangdong, who has a mini factory of his own, where his employees have churned out over 300,000 copies.
There are numerous scenes watching these artisans at work all day, painting the same famous works over and over again. It looks like grinding factory work instead of something that should seem spontaneous or have more artistic merit. But hey, it's a way to make a living.
Zhao has been painting Van Gogh's works for 20 years. He feels that having copied his works for so long that he believes he knows the Dutch artist -- even seeing him in his dreams.
Incidentally Zhao has a client in Amsterdam who he has painted copies of Van Gogh's works for over four years. Apparently their professional relationship is so good that if Zhao can pay for his return plane ticket, this client will host him -- pay for his accommodation and food.
Zhao paints his version of Cafe Terrace at Night
This prospect makes Zhao very excited -- not only would it be his first time going outside of China, but also see Van Gogh's originals up close to help him further appreciate the works he copies daily.
His motivation is very strong because he admits (after having copious amounts of alcohol), that he didn't even finish elementary school education -- it was too expensive for his mother to pay for, making Zhao ashamed of his background. But perhaps this trip will make up for it.
Once he's there Zhao is shocked to discover his client is hardly a gallery owner, but has a souvenir shop where they sell hundreds of these fake copies per month -- at eight times the cost he charges for the paintings.
It's a sad realization for the Chinese artisan, which makes Zhao question his desire to be a so-called artist.
Zhou on the other hand is too busy to go on this trip of a lifetime. In one scene, he berates one of his employees for getting the proportions of a Van Gogh self portrait completely wrong. It had been corrected three times, and now it's almost looks finished, but doesn't look like a decent copy at all.
It is not clear how it got to that point at such a late stage, but the young painter throws down his brush in frustration saying he won't paint anymore, but Zhou ignores him and orders him to fix the painting.
Both Zhao and Zhou realize that if they want to become true artists, they need to follow their own calling -- not copy someone else's works.
The documentary is so interesting because it not only reveals the mundane lives these artisans live, but also delves further into their aspirations not only for themselves, but for their children. They are careful to make sure the next generation "eat bitterness" too so that they know it's not easy to make a living.
Dafen is also a microcosm of China's factory industry and mentality -- that the artisans need to find other ways to make money other than copying others.
Following Zhao in Amsterdam and Paris was fantastic seeing Europe through his eyes, how his preconceived ideas about big cities weren't the same as in China, in particular how clean Amsterdam was. He was also thrilled to see people's appreciation for his original art, when he spontaneously painted in the same spot Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night.
These little observations are what make China's Van Goghs a wonderful documentary, and it's a reminder of the wage and education disparity in the country that has so far to go before there is more equity in society.
A highlight dish -- crispy Pacific octopus under the ribbons of kohlrabi
Last night friends took me out to two restaurants last night across from each other on Carrall Street in Vancouver's Gastown, just east of the downtown core.
We met at Blarney Stone, an Irish pub at 4.30pm for a drink before heading across the street to L'Abattoir, a very hot restaurant that's been around for a few years but I've never tried until now.
The funky-looking bar set up at L'Abattoir
For Happy Hour, from 5.30pm to 6.30pm at the bar, all of the appetizers are 50 percent off, except for the spiced foie gras and baked oysters.
Almost everything looked great on the menu and we decided to try four dishes to whet our appetites because one of my friends had a brain wave to try another restaurant nearby afterwards.
The dishes came in pairs. First out of the gate was the confit Albacore tuna (CAD$19/$9.50). It was light and refreshing with guanciale, a cured meat, with turnip, mustard and tonnato sauce.
But things were even better with the crispy Pacific octopus (CAD$20/$10) that wasn't too chewy, with good flavours from the lemongrass and fermented chilli and topped with long ribbons of kohlrabi.
Delicious pan-fried veal sweetbreads on toast
After a short break came the other two dishes. First came the popular dish of pan-fried veal sweetbreads on toast (CAD$17/$8.50). Admittedly the sweetbreads don't have much taste, but it's the garnish that's interesting, like pickled shallots, sauce gribiche, a kind of mayonnaise, and some veal tongue.
The last plate was veal tartare (CAD$21/$10.50), a beautifully presented dish with bits of crunchy bacon, grilled cabbage, horseradish and rye. It was light, but didn't have much taste.
Afterwards we headed back across the street again and next to Blarney Stone is Tempranillo. I heard it used to be Japanese izakaya and then last year was turned into a Spanish tapas bar.
Chorizo sausages braised in Basque cider
The place was empty when we walked in -- owner Bill Robitaille blamed it on people having thin wallets after the New Year, or trying to keep up their New Year's resolutions in the first few days of 2018.
No matter, we had the restaurant to ourselves for practically the entire evening. I got free rein of the menu choices.
First off was the sardines that were stored in oil and then topped with a tomato sauce. It went well with crusty bread that was heated up.
Next came chorizo sausages braised in Basque cider with garlic and shallots. Now that was delicious and perfect for a cold day. It was hearty and warm with lots of flavour.
Wet rice dish featuring duck confit, pear and walnuts
The main dish was the highlight of the evening -- a wet rice dish featuring pieces of duck confit with chunks of pears and walnuts that was absolutely divine with the flavours and textures, and again ideal for the weather we were having.
Very memorable, both in terms of the food and company.
