The teardrops turned into seeds And the seeds became magical From them grew trees of inspiration Suddenly there was no hesitation No need for any sense of desperation Only blue skies of Hope and imagination With stars and moonshine paving the way Here was the way to new beginnings There were no signs of any false endings Only happy new beginnings There was no need to leave There was every reason to stay Right here and in the Now and Then Copyright © Hans Ebert 2026 When the

It was almost cinematic and something kinda reminiscent of Diane Lane in “Secretariat”. And judging by the feedback received after writing about Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior winning on the Standard Chartered sponsored race day last Sunday that segued from horse sense to the dress sense of the lovely Mary Huen, this might have somehow helped sow some new seeds not planted by Captain Obvious. Watching the horse racing that afternoon on television and only intermittently, what t

I wouldn’t say that I am “besties” with Zac Purton, but we’ve certainly known each other for however long he’s been in Hong Kong. He’s someone I got to know pretty well when having him become an important part of the regular cast being put together for the Happy Wednesday brand I had created for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Wife Nicole was part of this early cast when one of four co-hosts in what really was a game changer. If still managing the kinda depleted brand today, it w

With Standard Chartered being the main sponsor of the races at Shatin on Sunday, I had already written the headline for in my head: Bank On It. Despite something of a traffic jam, many banked on Romantic Warrior not being denied winning the Group One Champions And Chater Cup, and becoming only the third horse to complete the Hong Kong Triple Crown. It was, however, a messy race with all honours to this wonderful eight year old galloper who decided to take things into his ow

Having never had to write to deadlines except when a copywriter in advertising, and these days having to meet the demands of publishers while at the same time needing the therapy of writing poetry and songs and observations on life, trying to keep track of the ins and outs of horse racing is a tricky one to fit in. There’s so much to say, but without naming names, and realising that everything needing to be said probably already has been said, or that no one cares, time spen

Though there are those in Hong Kong who have never heard of Stephen Colbert, there are enough to have followed his career, and enjoyed watching him host “The Late Show” for almost a decade before having what he enjoyed doing and which his audience found so refreshingly honest taken away from him. This happened because the person voted to be the president of America took umbrage to something said about him and made sure that parent company CBS cancel his show, or else. This

When some pretty prominent figures in the region contact you to mention just what a game changer it would be if the idea to try and have Stephen Colbert host his show in, perhaps, Singapore or the Philippines or Hong Kong, one listens and slowly exhales and hopes to hell this could happen. The highly rated CBS television show that had become a nightly fixture of sharp satirical wit under Stephen Colbert and those great hosts before him, shone a powerful light on a country no

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/racing/racing-appointed-a-new-chief-vet-on-monday-they-let-him-go-on-tuesday-20260512-p5zw1f.html Where horse racing keeps losing credibility is that when it’s time to pass the baton, there’s usually no one there, or if there is, it’s only a stand-in, whereas resorting to that tedious game of Pass The Buck solves nothing and only shows up corporate boo boos. Skimming through the recent corporate hiring faux pas in the racing industry in Austra

I was speaking to my longtime friend and business colleague Norman Cheng the other day about where we think we are in our lives and the different ways that different generations look at things. We both agreed that it’s not going to exactly be a walk in the park for the next couple of generations and how the buck stops with them. It’s all theirs with a cherry on top. We’ve done our part to set the wheels in motion, and if these wheels on fire swerve and get sidetracked, it’s

Stephen Colbert, why not keep doing your show ANYWHERE in Asia, man, and which can be streamed EVERYWHERE, even to where the Big Orange currently resides? Living here in Hong Kong and with Asia being part of my wontons and dumplings and pot stickers, THIS really could be the Art Of The Steal. Bring all your friends- Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Conan etc- and let’s just open things up in a REALLY piggly bigly wiggly way. Chinese banquets on me…

Sometimes you take a left when you should have taken a right, but those sliding door moments have their own plans and, if lucky, you go down a rabbit hole that opens up an escape hatch and you move away from everything you thought you knew- and need to get the hell out of what’s become serial predictability. It’s like how a nine year old from what was then known as Ceylon ended up in the cheongsam styled and rickshaw drawn city known as Hong Kong with his parents who had left

It's kinda irritating when discovering the hard way that those working for me or with me know nothing about music- and I mean nothing- because pretty much everything I do is built around the magic of music. It's a Duh moment and not unlike being a "creative" in advertising but not bothering to learn how to write good copy nor having an interest in what makes a piece of communication brilliant. It's also probably why some had no interest in watching the "Mad Men" television se