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Saturday, January 21, 2023
The Year of The Rabbit 🐇
People born in a year of the Rabbit are called "Rabbits" and are believed to be vigilant, witty, quick-minded, and ingenious.
As kids, most of us at one time or another were taken to a Chinese restaurant. If you hit the right one, it could be a magical experience. Many were decorated in vibrant colors, lanterns hanging from the ceiling, huge memorizing fish tanks. Best of all, there were those place mats.
For many of us, this was our introduction to Lunar New Year and the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac. Before even ordering your food, you scanned that place mat, looking for the year of your birth, hoping you were maybe a horse, a tiger, or a dragon. Most were not, which led to snickers from your brothers or friends about being a snake or a cock.
2023 is the year of the Rabbit 🐇 and to celebrate, photographer John Mar shot these original images of Dawn Tang celebrating the holiday, and animal which represents it. Individuals with the zodiac rabbit sign are usually highly determined people. They possess impeccable planning skills and prefer to live an organized life.
The rabbit Chinese zodiac compatibility analysis says that Sheep is their perfect match. Sheep and Rabbit blend well as a couple. Natives of both zodiacs are romantic and passionate individuals. They know about each other’s needs and requirements, which helps them live a happy couple’s lives.
Rabbits also have their struggles. They tend to be reserved, even secretive and can be very sensitive and easily offended. They also like their 'me' time, often choosing to spend time alone rather than with other. As for the male species, these rabbits can be randy as their zodiac sign is one of the most sexual signs on the calendar. Rabbits are capable of being downright libertine in their debauchery and perversions. These traits sometimes make it difficult to maintain relationships for long periods of time.
Check out more of John's work with Dawn below, and check a brand new shoot from John with Tyler celebrating the holiday on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
An fei ta ming (Amphetamine)
Amphetamine: a strong central nervous system stimulant. The highly addictive and mood-altering drug is used legally to treat children with ADHD and illegally as a recreational drug.
Byron Pang (l) and Thomas Price (r)
I first discovered the work of writer and director Danny Cheng Wan-Cheung, (Scud) a couple of years ago. Born in Guangzhou, he later moved to Hong Kong with his family when he was13. Scud attended the Open University of Hong Hong obtaining a degree in computers. After working close to twenty years in IT, Scud decided he need to refocus his life and his career. He then moved to Australia and decided to focus on his passions for music and literature.
After moving back to Hong Hong in 2005, Scud established 'Artwalker Limited', and independent film company and the rest as they say, is history. It was just a few years later in 2008 that Scud wrote and co-directed his first feature film, Mou ye chi sing. (A City Without Baseball) I featured both the film, and it's star Ron Heung last year on FH. (HERE:) Given Scud unabashedly explore gay issues, with plenty of male nudity, it's not surprising that many of his films evoke controversy not just in Hong Kong and Asia but around the world as well.
I've been making my way through the directors films and most recently watched 2010's An fei ta ming (Amphetamine) 安非他命 focuses on the complicated relationship between openly gay banker Daniel, (Thomas Price) and Chinese fitness and swimming trainer Kafka. (Byron Pang) Kafka's identifies as straight, but addiction, mental health struggles and trauma have left him broken and sexually damaged and confused.
Check out more of the film, including caps and videos on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
Fortunate & Blessed: Dawn Tang by John Mar Photo
'I'm so glad the Lunar New Year idea was brought up and I am loving the theme and the result as well!'
When it comes to holidays on FH, I'm always thinking ahead. It takes awhile to find just the right images, and some planning if a photographer is shooting original imagery. When I featured the work of photographer John Mar this past Christmas, (HERE:) I immediately starting thinking of Lunar New Year.
John's images of model Dawn Tang, especially in the second part of the shoot were so colorful and celebratory with Dawn decorated in fashion and flowers, headpieces and jewels. I knew the images would be perfect for January 22nd, and asked John if he had more from the series I might use for Lunar New Year.
John indeed had other shots of Dawn from the shoot, but went even a step further. He had recently completed a shoot with Tyler, a model and acrobat. John felt the images they captured, (which you can check on the NEXT PAGE HERE:) would fit in perfectly with the theme. He also suggested a new shoot with Dawn to shoot specifically for the theme and the year of the rabbit. Given the weather in California lately, it was a challenge scheduling, but John and Dawn were able to get together last weekend for the shoot.
Dawn shares that for this shoot, there was a lot of collaboration with set up and ideas. Given Dawn's Chinese himself, they incorporated the use of Chinese Characters in one of the themes, using body paint as calligraphy, painting on the characters for 2023. Dawn loved the results, and enjoyed teaching John how to write each of the characters. Beyond just the shoot, Dawn loved that the theme was also helping to spread his culture to those around him, as well viewers of FH. Speaking of sharing, I also asked Dawn about his own celebrations and family traditions.
'As for our tradition in celebrating LNY as a Chinese family, we always have to have everybody sitting around the table, getting even extended family members together. We play mahjong, eat a lot of snacks with shell (i.e. shells left symbolizes you have leftovers, more than enough for the year), sweets, candies, and we also eat big meals with bones like fish and chicken, similar token as the shelled snacks so we have leftovers for the coming year. Leaving the leftovers until the next day indicate that we will be wealthy and have money left, more than enough for the next year.'
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