the number indicates the order of the autograph I got

apparently Chester once said, “I’ve never been one of those kids that waits to hang out with the band - I’ve always been too afraid. There’s no way in hell I would ever walk up to somebody’s bus and ask for an autograph, no way would I ever do that. I would be afraid that one of the crew would come out and beat me up. The kids who have the balls to hang out, I’m going to make sure they have their stuff signed, because that takes guts."

^O^ yeah, come to think of it now, we were quite brave! haha~ hilarious. all thanks to the friend tho, for figuring out their itinerary and for wanting to go chase them down. I mean, I would've never wanted to do that. I wonder if it's like a culture thing. a lot of the fans in Asia, regardless of which band they support, seem to feel it's "once in a lifetime" that these bands would come to their country... so they all go really out of the way to see just a little bit more of the guys outside of performance time, like going to the hotel and airport to welcome them and send them off... they'll just jump at every chance they've got. whereas in North America, it is somewhat relatively easier to see bands perform, you could always go to a nearby city or something, so while fans do still gather around tour bus, you don't see them trailing all the way to hotels or something.

anywayz, I saw a few instances in which an individual fan would ask the guys to sign for 2 album booklets, which I guess they all did it for their friends who were not there? but then, I'm not so into getting autographs in the first place... like, it's just a signature~ I'm not sure what's the big deal?

for me personally, I'd rather have photographs with the guys, or at least, of the guys themselves (but not candid ones)... because that means more to me than autographs since well, a photo lasts forever (even tho yes, technically speaking autographs do too... hah).

but what's more important and interesting is the actual process you go through to get the autograph yourself. that's the memorable part. otherwise, you'll just end up with a booklet with all these signatures you can't really recognize and don't really mean anything? well, at least, that's my take for the whole thing ^O^;;;

as for photographs, I think years ago I had already heard of something like Linkin Park only allow photos at Meet & Greet sessions, and that must have been the reason why I joined their fan club back then... but I guess photos are also just something I've come to take granted for already seeing how easily approachable my beloved Canadian musicians are, haha~

but still, I understand perfectly if there's a big group of fans there all wanting to take photos, of course you'd have to say no cuz it'd take a long time to go through so many people... and it'd be unfair if you end up having photos with only a few of them and not all... but if there's only the two of us, I don't understand why they had to keep rejecting...

that's why I think it all comes down to the guys themselves, whether they wanna do it or not... just because you're the so-called "big act" American super band, it shouldn't have been any different. but I guess there's just something about a band that sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, in which I do suppose that is a rather astonishing achievement that's to be revered to. and they still signed for us, so I'm not complaining or anything. I still love them~~~

and sucker I am, I actually ended up joining their fan club *again* cuz haha, I'm not giving up that easily! I still want photos! so I'm trying out the M&G thing again! next year, when they do the North American tour~~~ and crazy as I am, now I'm completely fixing my date of return (to Vancouver) on their tour dates! hahaha~ cuz I won't miss it for the world~~~ or else what, wouldn't it be so incredibly tragic, when here I was, kept saying to them how much Vancouver misses them and yet in the end I may not be able to see them in my own city!!! so there, nooo way in hell would I miss that show!!!

that is, if they do put in a date for Vancouver... *PRAY* ^O^;;; or else I'm definitely travelling to the nearby cities to see their show again!!!

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Sunday, November 11, 2007  (11.11.2007   Bangkok, Thailand, Aktive Square, Asia Tour)
thai food

i love thai food, but that has almost nothing to do with the following. funny story: we went out to eat last night. the restaurant was at another hotel. we pulled up, and there were over a hundred girls waiting around the hotel with autograph books and photos and whatnot. our first reaction was, "crap. this is going to be a nightmare getting in here."

then we found out the girls were all waiting at the hotel for some korean boy band.

we got in and ate dinner, and only a couple of them even noticed we were there. it was great.
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007 
singapore

found some great spots in singapore today. it was a good day...checked out orchard rd. where all the big name shopping is smashed right up against the bootleg shops and crazy little market type places. lots of bargaining going on. haji lane was by far the best stop of the day--joe and i met mark from SBTG (who, incidentally, had just sent out the pair of sneakers i had ordered. i wish i had known i was going to see him, so i could have worn the shoes at the show tonight HAHAHA...oh well). that reminds me, i should shout out the guys at "know it nothing" and "surrender" who we also met today.

here are some shots of our wandering, plus a new "lost in translation" photo (i guess this is part 2 in the series, if you count the australian construction company i saw in sydney called "hooker cockram."

enjoy:
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Thursday, November 15, 2007 
weeds, triple threat, taiwan

taipei! got hit up by the paparazzi airport. chester said their footage was on the nightly news as soon as we got to the hotel....those guys work fast. don't have much to say yet, except it's rainy. looking forward to the show.

next, the show "weeds" always has different groups do the theme song...we like the show, so we did a version of the theme:
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Monday, November 19, 2007

shanghai to hong kong pics

here's a little taste of the last couple days:
we played hong kou stadium in shanghai yesterday. they said it was the first time in shanghai history a "rock band" has played a show this size. police and government soldiers were at the ready for a potential riot, standing all over the venue...simply because they had no idea what to expect. everything went great, no problems to report it was a pleasure to give shanghai a little taste of what we do. we're excited to come back and do it again sometime. we got tons of cool video footage...you will be able to see that on youtube at some point.
today, we travelled to hong kong. the flights were delayed, but on the bright side, this was the view as we approached the plane (we got the special drive-to-the-plane treatment). i took this from the minibus window.
i hate when people put pictures of their dinner on their blogs...but i had to include it. we had an amazing dinner in HK tonight...and this little fella wanted an autogram.

so i ate him.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2007 
hong muthaf*ckin kong

i walked around hong kong today and did a little shopping. checked out Juice, D-Mop, I.T. and a few other places that were really dope. if you're american and you like lacoste or adidas, you HAVE to get stuff from overseas. they carry way better stuff than in the states. i also ate sushi at one of those places with the little conveyor belt thingys.

the "worst find of the day" was a g-star tee that had (check this out) a white background with black standing silhouettes on a horizon. sounds like a familiar image...don't know where i've seen it...hmm

seriously, i looked on the internet for a pic of it just so i could make fun of how bad they were biting our album artwork, but i couldn't find one. if anyone gets a pic up online, post it here so we can all make fun.

the "best find of the day" was an in4mation/8five2 tee that i saw that said "hong mutha fuck'n kong" on the front in flower print. i found out i'm a little late on this one (it's been out for a while) but i hadn't seen it. although i couldn't rock it, i wanted to shout them out because it made me laugh.
we also got platinum plaques for MTM in HK...this is a pic of the presentation, not the plaques...but check out delson being a cornball. love that guy.

by the way, we won an american music award for best alternative band. thanks for the support!

next stop, TOKYO!

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007 
AMA - Thank You from Brad

Wow!!!  We always say that this kind of recognition is icing on an already incredible cake (the opportunity to write, record, and perform our music).  But the icing sure tastes good!  Thank you so much for all your dedication and support---without it, we know we wouldn't be able to continue doing what we love.

Much respect,

BBB
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Friday, November 23, 2007 
tokyo

went to harajuku yesterday. no pictures to share from there, but we went to the good spots: neighborhood, bounty hunter, supreme, etc...and i got a haircut at a place called shima. i didn't make it to original fake (dope) or the bape store (which, although i think it's overhyped, it's still a cool thing to see).
i took this at asakusa today. it was "worker's thanksgiving" which is different than american thanksgiving--people don't eat turkey dinner, they go shopping. today they also celebrated children of ages 3, 5, and 7 (i think).
this guy was at the temple...he had a trained monkey (baboon?) doing all kinds of tricks.
today was the first of two shows at the saitama "super dome"...once we got to the venue, it was meet and greet time and press time. BTW, the show was amazing. very special; i think one of our best on the tour.
PS: happy thanksgiving to all our folks at home. hope you had a lot of stuffing and turkey.
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Sunday, November 25, 2007 
tokyo2/nagoya

show 2 went great. another good one in tokyo. had a day off, and went to mt. fuji. here are some i took pics! tonight is the nagoya show...
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007 
last days in japan (for now)

first of all, i went to the tsukiji fish market (best sushi in the world). at the sushi place, this picture and caption was on the menu. life is rough for some halibut.
next up, the following artwork is currently on the side of the dr. pepper cans here. i think they hired artists to decorate their cans...but if you look closely, you'll see that this character has her own style when it comes to pouring you a drink. i'd file this under "lost in translation" but i think it translates just fine...
thanks for all the support at the shows. the japan leg of the tour has been exceptional.