Went for "brunch-time" dim-sum with Reni and Master G this morning, at the classic Tai Woo 太湖 restaurant on Caine Road, in the Mid-Levels ...

With baskets of  tasty, steaming hot char-siu buns, black-bean chicken feet, har-kaus and preserved clam sauce fishballs whizzing across the table, our light-hearted chat ended-up being a full-on Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) appreciation session .... the conversation topic moving onto the fantastic version of "Whole Lotta Love", which he performed with Leona Lewis at Sunday night's Olympics Closing Ceremony in Beijing..... it was a sorta surreal feeling for fatboy urs truly, to be listening in on a deeply passionate discussion on heavy-duty rock guitarists, over traditional Chinese dim-sum, with a bald, casually dressed kung-fu master and a menacing looking fuzzy haired genius artist (R-man, u know i love ya) ..... weird bliss!

on the way out  of the restaurant, Reni cheekily quipped ..... "so Sifu, can the so called "Eagle Claw" grip really be lethal?" ..... in a flash, his question was answered ...

OUCH!!!

OOH!!!

China have done so well in achieving 43 x Golds (with 10 more competition days to go) .... but the real "over-achievers" at these games are the Brits, sitting on an amazing haul of 16 x Golds, as of the end of  today .... Coming into these games the only "safe" Gold they were expected to win, was in the Triple Jump with Philips Idowu .... .. for which he has not even won yet!

With Idowu waiting to compete in his Triple Jump finals on Thursday,  his compatriots have sensationally delivered, converting from being silver or bronze medal hopefuls at best, to being crowned Olympic Champions in Cyclying (8), Rowing (2), Sailing (3), Swimming (2) and the latest and biggest shock winner was in the women's 400M Hurdles tonite, with Christine Ohuruogu defeating the red-hot favorite Sanya Richards of the US.

Being a Chinese blooded Brit, I sincerely hope that these amazing results are just the start of better things to come from British sportspersons over the next four years, running-up to the 2012 London Olympics ..... back to greatness days of the 70's and 80's and the likes of Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, Daley Thompson, Alan Wells .....

The Brits are currently 3rd in the medal standings ahead of the traditional Olympics heavyweights, such Germany, Russia and Australia ..... wow!

In these times of dual nationalities and upbringings for many of our generation, with many of us having confusing multiple alliegencies ..... enjoying watching these Olympics, i'm feeling rather proud in being a Hong Kong-based Chinese Briton.

introducing the Official 2012 London Olympics logo ..... hmm, i hope it will grow on me over time!

"life is like a box of chocolates - Forrest Gump aka Winston Groom" ..... expect the unexpected and take nothing for granted ....

RESULT UPDATE 1 Aug 21, 10.25pm: Philips Idowu takes Silver medal in Triple Jump ...... RESULT UPDATE 2 Aug 22,, 12,20pm: Britain wins 17th Gold in "Star Class" - Sailing

FINAL BRITISH MEDAL TALLY - 47 Medals: 19 x Gold, 13 x Silver, 15 x Bronze ... super!!

As some of u guys know, I'm a bit of a tennis geek ......and an underdogs lover too ....

GO GO GO ....... for double GOLD!  -- China's Women's Tennis ..... LOVE CHINA!

China are in the semi-finals in both the Women's Doubles (Zheng Jie & Yan Zi) and  amazingly in the Singles (Li Na) too!

Zheng Jie 鄭潔 & Yan Zi 晏紫 were expected to do pretty well, but a Gold would be fantastic ..... to win it,  they will have to beat the Williams sisters in the final tomorrow - it's tough, but can be done.... fingers crossed!

Li Na 李娜 is playing in her Olympic's fairytale ..... she played the game of her life to beat Venus Williams in the quarter-finals 7-5, 7-5 .... the other three girls in the semis are all top 10 players from Russia ...... for me she is playing the toughest cookie Safina first ..... if she can get thru this match, it should be an easier match against either Dementieva or Zvonereva in the final ... i hope the strongly partisan Chinese crowd can pull her through -- haha!

the semis are starting in less than hour's time at 4pm Beijing (HK) time ..... and the Men's 100m final is tonite at the bird's nest too ....... geez, I'm enjoying the Olympics!

freezy beers, sofa, blasting aircon, TV and remote control, Olympics ........ nice weekend!

RESULT UPDATE 1 - 6.25pm 16/8 : Li Na lost to Safina 6-7, 5-7 ..... very brave in defeat!

RESULT UPDATE 2 - 10.55pm 16/8  : Yan Zi & Zheng Jie lost to Pascual & Garrigues (Esp) 5-7, 7-6

RESULT UPDATE 3  - 3.20pm 17/8 : Li Na lost to Zvonereva 0-6, 5-7 in Bronze Medal match

RESULT UPDATE 4 - 3.29pm 17/8 : Yan Zi & Zi Zheng wins BRONZE defeating Bondarenko sisters  (Ukr) 6-2, 6-2

Just digged out some pics of me and Master G from a couple of years ago, visiting Neuschwanstein Castle, Mad King Ludwig's "Castle in the Clouds" in Bavaria, just outside the town of Fussen, Germany.

For me, Neuschwanstein, and the view from the swinging Marienbruck (Marion Bridge) overlooking it, is the most beautiful castle in the world ...... it is believed to be the inspiration of Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

One of the most beautiful places this fatboy has been to around the world ..... memorable!

I was kindly invited to watch the new X-Files movie on opening nite (thank u Irene) at Times Sq. Myself not really being a die-hard Scully & Mulder fanatic, actually i was quite surprised how much i enjoyed it ......  a low-budget TV-movie style produced flick, it had its moments of tension, spooks and still had a movie-ending that keeps the die-hard fans pondering the possible existence of the paranormal .... let alone if another X-Files sequel is to come or dare i say a new TV series being spawned .... Duchovney and his dry humor rocks as it always does, Gillian Anderson ain't looking bad for her age and Billy Connelly as the psychic pedophile priest was quite exquisite casting .....

As Mama Mia - the Movie and its vibes draw closer and closer, I found myself surfing the net away and down ABBA memory lane ....and onto the bands that have done good covers of their songs .... this eventually leading me back to ERASURE who in fact did covers of "Take A Chance On Me", "Voulez Vous", "SOS" and "Gimme Gimme" in the 80's .... maybe even a couple more that i have forgotten ...

Take A Chance On Me - Erasure

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJu4aH2JAPw&feature=related

S.O.S. - Erasure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-FG_EpWdig&feature=related

to be honest, in the early 80's as a prudish homophobe teenage nerd, Erasure were definitely not my cup of tea , as they carried the stigma, along with the PET SHOP BOYS of being the first couple of openly gay UK bands ........ looking back now, what a stupid prat i was, and how way ahead of the times Vince Clarke, Andy Bell, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe were ..... genius!

Go West - PSB (sensational music video - cutting edge CG at the time)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39KZ2afBtLU

Luckily for me, in the late 80's I fell in love with Sythn and Electro-pop wave and its music took me through college life.... naff i know, but the world was a wonderful place with the radio waves playing the likes of PSB, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins, Yazoo, Eurtyhmics, Human League ..... and of course Erasure!

Oh L'Amour - Erasure (a lovely song ..... cover version of the 70's Dollar UK hit)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JARax3VTPdQ&feature=related