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UPFront<br />
HongKabulary<br />
Street Talk<br />
Mutually Assured Decoration<br />
(muːtʃəliː æʃO:rd dɛkəreɪʃn), n.<br />
Phenomenon by which Christmas shopping mall decorations<br />
become increasingly insane year on year, as no single mall<br />
is willing to back down and do a sensible display.<br />
“I just came back from a mall in TST that has a centerpiece where a robot Santa<br />
is interfering with a clockwork Rudolph. What is going ON”<br />
“It’s a tragic case of Mutually Assured Decoration.”<br />
Caption This<br />
HONG KONG—A bailiff posts an injunction order in Mong Kok. (Felix Wong/SCMP)<br />
➢<br />
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Cultivating Christmas spores for maximum infectious jollity.<br />
Hanging combustible stockings precariously close to over-clocked<br />
electric heater.<br />
Five golden rings for five stashed-away mistresses.<br />
Prophylactic tinsellectomy.<br />
Googling “nog.”<br />
Modern Day Martin Luther Paves Path Toward Freedom<br />
Urban Bureaucrat Travels the World, Tagging Surfaces with Triplicate Paperwork<br />
City’s Bailiffs ‘Simply Overwhelmed’ With All the Attention<br />
Fast Facts<br />
Ho Ho Ho<br />
How are we preparing for the festive season<br />
Weapon House is an online shop specializing in medieval<br />
swords and armor. Owner Rei Tsang has been collecting<br />
weapons for over 12 years. He tells Yannie Chan about his<br />
collection and making leather armor for his cats.<br />
HK Magazine: Why medieval weapons during house parties—my friends and I all<br />
Rei Tsang: In most cartoons and movies, gear up and take loads of photos.<br />
men have weapons that feel like<br />
extensions of their personalities. I like HK: Which one is your favorite<br />
the sense of justice the weapons carry: RT: A sword even taller than<br />
they’re used to kill monsters and villains. a person—the Dragon Slayer<br />
I have about 300 weapons, and I have Sword from the manga “Berserk.”<br />
some custom-made equipment that only I loved it so much I decided to<br />
exists in manga. My collection is all cold actually produce it. I drew the<br />
weapons, meaning they do not involve design and had a factory make<br />
explosives. These older weapons are like it. It’s smaller than it is in the<br />
art. A machine can churn out hundreds of manga, but even so, I can’t<br />
guns and rifles a day, but it takes months hold it properly. Creating<br />
and years to create a sword.<br />
something that only exists<br />
in the fictional world into<br />
HK: How do you feel about the<br />
an actual weapon gives<br />
violence inherent in all weapons me intense pleasure.<br />
RT: Many do say that to me, and they think<br />
of weapons as vicious objects. Firstly, I only HK: What’s the craziest thing<br />
collect and sell unsharpened weapons. you’ve ever done<br />
That basically makes them safer than fruit RT: Aside from opening Hong Kong’s first<br />
knives. But more importantly, unlike modern weapon shop That would be making leather<br />
weapons, archery and the art of wielding a armor for my cats, so they can be battle cats.<br />
sword take years to perfect. That trains your I spent days making the armor, and they<br />
mind as well.<br />
hate it! You have no idea how many photo<br />
attempts it took to get a nice shot. They were<br />
HK: Is it legal to sell weapons<br />
begging me to take the armor off.<br />
RT: I was worried about this, and I consulted<br />
my lawyer friends. It turns out that you can HK: How have these weapons<br />
sell sharpened Japanese swords—weapons changed you<br />
that can seriously injure someone—and RT: This might sound a bit dramatic, but it<br />
it’s perfectly fine. But you can’t own or sell teaches me patience and determination.<br />
weapons that are smaller in size and therefore Designing and making a weapon from scratch<br />
easily hidden. Things like knuckle dusters, is a pain in the neck. It can get tedious, and it<br />
butterfly knives and extendible batons are takes many attempts. My current project is to<br />
prohibited, but many people still ask about create a true-to-size Dragon Slayer Sword:<br />
them. I only stock unsharpened weapons and I’ve already bought several machines to make<br />
if I come across a customer who seems off, the curvature.<br />
I only sell him decorative weapons.<br />
HK: Zombies take over Hong Kong.<br />
HK: What do you do with all<br />
What’s your game plan<br />
your weapons<br />
RT: Since all of my weapons are unsharpened<br />
RT: Unfortunately, I do not know how to use and some are unrealistic, I’m not sure they<br />
them. It would be cool to learn the different would help very much. But chainmail, an<br />
sword styles and martial arts, but I’m more armor made of small metal rings linked<br />
into looking into the history behind each together, protects the body very well. I’d<br />
weapon. I used to publish a free magazine, immediately put that on and run away.<br />
called “Weapon House: Weapon News,” about<br />
the weapons’ designs and lesser-known facts. Check out Weapon House at www.facebook.<br />
I sometimes take out my weapons and admire com/WeaponHouse.<br />
them. My collection also comes in handy<br />
12 HK MAGAZINE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014