I think the last time that Vancouver was this cold, for this long a period, was way back in 1983 when I vaguely remember blizzard-like conditions.

However, I was a small kid then and I loved it because schools were closed and I couldn’t drive anyways. Nowadays, I hate it.

Especially with my Mustang being terrible in the snow I simply can’t do anything.  The summer performance tires turn into hockey pucks, further worsening my car’s winter handling capabilities.

I took it out yesterday afternoon and the Stang’s rear end was pretty loose on acceleration.

The sub-zero temperatures are supposed to stick around until next week, but we’re getting another dump of snow this weekend.  With a daily high of -1 degrees Celsius I’m looking forward to rain and anything above zero.

The many fountains in my neighborhood have almost frozen up and some have turned into mini ice volcanoes.

Such a change from just two months ago.  Brrrrrr!

After a brief hiatus with some of the Dot Com crew out of town and one Dot Com Dim Sum at Pink Pearl, we went back to our regular Dot Com Pho this last Saturday.

We shook things up a bit by changing the venue from Pho Lan’s in Richmond to Pho Thai Hoa in Vancouver. Vancouver is far more central and we didn’t have to brave the horrific drivers and traffic in Richmond.

In attendance were John Chow, Michael Kwan, Scooter Fung, Greg Morgan, Jeff Kee, Tyler Ingram, Ray, and Bonnie Sainsbury.

The food at Pho Thai Hoa was much more flavorful that Pho Lan and the round tables, with the lazy susan, allowed us to more easily get everybody on film. One of our regular members, Ed Lau, is currently exploring Japan in an effort to find Tom Cruise. So we took the opportunity to insult him over pho

It seems like Youtube is not only the domain of the average kid with a camcorder anymore, now celebrities are getting in on it big time with their own brand of viral videos.

And why not? It’s free and takes on a life of its own, word of mouth advertising is the best form.

Case in point is todays Hump Day Video demonstrating the ACDC’s (Adam/Chu Dance Crew) self-proclaimed Biggest Online Dance Battle against Miley Cyrus and Mandy Jiroux (M&M Cru).

This video features a lot of celebrity cameos, most notably Adam Sandler and Lindsay Lohan, as well as some of the USA’s best dancers.

Here’s a little bit of the history from their site:

April 10, 2008
Jon M. Chu and Adam Sevani challenge Miley and Mandy to “The Biggest Online Dance Battle in YouTube history”. The rules are…there are NO rules. both crews are allowed to do whatever they want, however they want. Jon and Adam name their crew the ACDC (Adam/Chu Dance Crew). They release their first battle video.

April 15 2008
Miley and Mandy respond with a giant video to Madonna and Justin Timberlake’s song, “4 Minutes”. In 24 hours their video gets OVER A MILLION hits and become an instant YouTube classic. It gets posted on Perez, Access Hollywood, Yahoo News, Ellen etc. They even recruit one of Step Up’s own to be in their video (Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan).

April 28, 2008
Adam and Chu release a teaser for their response to the Miley and Mandy video. It sets a date and time for the release of their next installment, “April 30th 9pm PST.” Buzz grows.

April 30, 2008
There is an ONLINE frenzy on the ChuPictures youtube page where the fans have gathered for the live release of the battle video. Chu’s youtube triples it’s views in twenty minutes before the video has even been uploaded. Technical difficulties lead to the delay of the video release for 1 hour. Frenzy only gets bigger.

April 30, 2008 10pm
This video is released…now who knows where this story goes from here….

Here’s the latest video, let’s see what M&M Cru come up with in response.

Although it hasn’t been particularly busy in the film industry it is amazing how fast the time passes and you feel like there’s still so much to do.

I’ve only been working on set one or two days a week but I’ve also bought a new condo so I’m in the process of settling in and still moving over some of my belongings. I also have to get the old place repainted and carpet cleaned before I sell it.

My new condo is phenomenal, it is a large two bedroom, two bath with two patios. It has overheight ceilings and doors, stainless steel appliances, granite counters in the kitchen and marble in the washrooms. I’ve converted the second bedroom into my home office. The view from my living room is a two and a half acre manicured French garden with a large fountain. Until I sell my old place, I’m in financial limbo.

It’s also tax time in Canada, so getting all my receipts and tallying up my expenses is a task I never look forward to.

Looks like May will start to be very busy as several films and television series are starting to go to camera, rumor is many more productions are fast-tracking their shoot schedule to get as much done before the June 30th negotiating deadline in case the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) decides to strike. After suffering the three and half long Writer’s Strike, I hope another strike doesn’t happen.

Yes, where has the time gone?

Star Wars Gangsta Rap

Welcome to another Hump Day Video. This video has been floating around the internet for a while now and the song has been around for even longer. I still get a kick out of it though.

It’s well written and funny as hell. If you’re a sci-fi fan like myself, you’ll appreciate the time and effort put into this little project. My favorite is the Lando part

NSFW warning, remember this is still gangsta rap, so the language may not be appropriate for playback for the office or in the company of little kids.

On January 22nd, 2008. Leo Chiang DOT COM celebrated its one year anniversary. Originally I had no plans for a blog, I just wanted to reserve this domain name in case my film career took off and use it as an online resume. After much goading from Stephen, I finally went ahead and made this blog.

After just over a year, I have seen some nice growth with this site and its online community. I never intended for this site to be a “make money online” venture, nor have I chosen to pursue a particular niche.

I’m very happy with the friends I’ve made along the way and very happy with the hundreds of people who choose to visit my little part of the blogosphere everyday. Thank you all!

That being said, it’s due time to recognize the Top Commentators for January 2008:

All familiar faces to this site:

• Neil Duckett continues to share with us an Aussie’s view of living in Japan. He makes a living selling used schoolgirl underwear.
• Christopher Sharpe, a writer and director, just finished his first feature film, Sex Machine. Nuff’ said.
• Tyler Ingram is a fellow Vancouver blogger and a web developer. You can find him sitting in “gyno row” at the local strip club.
• Gdog continues to share with us his experiences teaching in Korea, even though he’s now teaching in Vancouver. Faker
• Thomas De Maesschalk is a young online mogul from Belgium, but they speak Dutch where he lives. Go figure.

Other news is that, after a long three months, the Writer’s Strike appears to be at an end. The union endorsed a deal and the members ratified it over the weekend. Final approval could take another week or so but it looks like I’ll finally be back to work real soon

Last night I wanted to revive my food reviews, it’s been a while since I’ve done one on this site. So I called up SUCCESS 101 beauty Karen Pang and we went out to Coast Restaurant in Vancouver’s trendy Yaletown. So there I was with a beautiful date in a fine dining establishment, I go to take the first photo and . . . I realize I left the camera battery on the charger at home
So much for my food review, looks like I’ll have to go back and do it again

Okay, so I’m a little tardy in getting this out. I also completely missed November 2007′s Shout-Out due to shifts overtime on night shoots. As I recall, Gdog was tops for November.

I’m usually pretty good at giving out my thanks in a timely fashion but December had me on my toes in the work department. Despite the Writer’s Strike slowing things down in the television productions, feature films like “Watchmen” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” kept me readily employed.

In January, I got an email from my Crossfit trainer, telling me to get my ass back to the gym. I haven’t gone to Crossfit since the summer and she wants me to do the 300 Workout on April 1st. I hope it’s a joke, but just in case I’ve been working on my cardio so I won’t puke too soon

As you can see, December was a slow month for comments, but that is entirely proportional to the number of posts I made. I only made seven posts for the whole month . . . sorry. However, I still managed to get an average of five hundred visitors a day, with a couple of spikes into the 1000+ range. Not bad for a sleepy, little blog.

That being said, I must once again show my genuine appreciation for those who not only visit but deem my blog worthy of their comments. The Top 5 Commentators are:

• Swollenpickles – I hope his nickname doesn’t have some phallic meaning.
• Neil Duckett – An Aussie in Japan. Hide your daughters, Mama-san.
• Sean - Whose site doesn’t seem to be working right now (now fixed).
• Gdog - He’s almost as busy as I am . . . ALMOST!
• Michael Kwan – This bastard is enjoying himself at CES 2008 with Stephen. I hope Vegas steals your inner child!

January 27th will also mark the first anniversary of this blog. My how time flies! Interesting to think that I will fondly look back on all that has accumulated over the years, with almost everything documented online. My birthday is also coming up and it will coincide with the next UFC 80 PPV event on January 19th

I wish you all the best for 2008!

It’s been a while since I last posted a Hump Day Video, simply because I haven’t found anything worth posting

Over the years I’ve been increasingly impressed with the performance and abilities of Will Smith. From his early days as the Fresh Prince, to his transition to television with “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, to the award winning performances on the big screen, Smith does not disappoint. More impressive is his flourishing relationship with his wife, Jada Pinkett, and the raising of their son, who is a budding actor himself (Jaden Smith in “Pursuit of Happyness”).

His latest film, “I am Legend” (Release date: December 14, 2007), looks like the latest in original zombie/vampire films produced by Hollywood. I’m sure it won’t disappoint, Smith has an uncanny knack in finding great scripts.

SYNOPSIS - “Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague — The Infected — lurk in the shadows… watching Neville’s every move… waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind’s last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered… and quickly running out of time.” Written by Warner Bros. Pictures