Articles from the original happyjelyfish.com website

Gagging To Go

Hi people! I’m going to take Adventure Trip off my new website as there wasn’t a big market for going into Guangdong province (weird) but the trips still go on, of course. There are so

New Service!

Ah – so beautiful, so civilised. Doesn’t she look like an advert for a particularly expensive brand of tea? But guess what, she’s not. She’s just having her weekly dose of lovely Cantonese, right in

Good Old Aluminium Man

Yesterday we finished shooting In A Whorehouse – The Sequel, so soon there will be a brand new Canto extravaganza on YouTube. About time, some would say, as the last one, ‘Romeo and Juliet –

Hono Begging For Your Patronage (Writing Course This Saturday)

I’m not kidding! After my book launch on the 6th of October where about 60 or 70 people descended, drinking hundreds of bottles of beer in the quiet time of the restaurant, the owner of

A Little Proddie Placie

Wei wei, it’s finally happening: I’m launching my new book Don’t Joke On The Stairs on Blacksmith Books this week. I actually wrote most of it four years ago and had signed a contract with

Joke-share

Here’s a joke that I’d like to share with all Cantonese speakers/learners – well, not all. It only works if you’re caucasian. In Norway we have a saying: Beloved child has many names. So it

Preview of Documentary

This is 54 seconds of our three week trip. More later in the documentary you can download from this site!

On The Road Again

Yes, although this isn’t strictly about language and certainly not Cantonese as I’m Mando-jabbering all day long, I want to put these postings from my blog www.chinadroll.com here as well. Travel broadens the mind, narrows

Farewell Naked Cantonese, Well Hello There … Name?

SO! That was the end of Naked Cantonese. Four years of laughter and tears, trying not to say “crap” on live radio, trials and tribulations, toilets and twits. Although I’ve only ever listened to one

Summertime, And The Living Are Busy

Wei wei, everybody! Summer has descended with quite blue skies and the accompanying 34 degrees, and my students are leaving town in droves. This clears up space and time for you. But you don’t have

Hainan Rolling on

Hainan, Hainan, day and night, edit film, edit film…

Film is coming soon! Meanwhile check the trailer.

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New Podcast! (From Sober to Drunk in 10 Minutes)

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Last weekend saw me in Guangzhou with the ridiculously handsome and delightful Kendall, a Guangzhou resident (above) to shoot my new Cantonese-worshipping movie ‘In a Whorehouse – The Sequel’. I will say no more about that film, except it does contain whores and it will premiere soon.

After the strenuous and mentally challenging shoot, we repaired to a nearby Sichuan restaurant to make the podcast Like A Kendall In The Wine (see below) a heavily edited journey from sober to drunk, with lots of Cantonese thrown in, naturally.

During the meal it was revealed that Kendall didn’t play Cho Dai Di (鋤大D) or any other games
for that matter. Yes, in the podcast it sounds like I’m just saying “let me teach you after we finish this dish” but in reality I was gagging discreetly on my 乾煸土豆條 (dry-fried potato slivers). Can’t play Cho Dai Di! Not even after having watched my instruction video! (See below)

It didn’t take long for Kendall to pick up the rules of the game, but as we were only two, it wasn’t as wildly exciting as it could have been. We needed 腳,geuk, or legs. (Like a table, you need four legs for Cho Dai Di.)

Fortunately the area near the Guangzhou East Railway Station has developed to include quite a number of bar-like restaurants, where we soon found geezers who were bored just talking to each other for hours and who immediately welcomed two media-weary foreigners into their midst. They didn’t know the game either, but being mainlanders they started thrashing us after two minutes of instruction. It was always thus. No gratitude.

Talking of which, the Kendall was hooked on Cho Dai Di as I knew he would be, but now he is taunting me by sending me emails and texts every night about how much fun he is having playing cards. I’ve created a cruel monster.

Like a Kendall in the Wine

SUNDAY: “Cold”

Hong Kong is in a frost frenzy! The temperature has crept below 10C – the temperature in my living room, that is – and everyone is busy posting, of all things, screen shots of their iPhone temperature updates.

Yawn! I say. So it’s a bit cooler than usual. So what? In two or three days it will be warm, probably hot, again, and everyone will be complaining about that.

Have a coffee and brandy and wait for tomorrow, is my advice. OR go somewhere where it’s really cold:

凍 – dong (cold)
涼 – leung (cool)
暖 – luen (warm)
熱 – yit (hot)

A terrible happening from ah-Mok’s past

A terrible happening from ah-Mok’s past comes back to haunt him. See episode 22 first!