Posts Tagged: Beijing

Film/Video — No Comments
24
Jan 12

What About The Hobbit?

I’m a minute twenty-two in, and I’m already disgruntled. I remember how much I was looking forward to The Fellowship of the Ring when it came out. I even flew all the way from Beijing to Hong Kong to watch it on opening weekend. But I also remember being pissed off as soon as I heard the movies were being made. Why didn’t Jackson start with The Hobbit? The Hobbit is and always will be my favorite of the books. It just seemed to be the best starting point. Then we wouldn’t need this voice over introduction to the ring at the start of the movie. We’d already know, because we started at the beginning. Oh well. Maybe I’m being unfair. I’m not trying to criticize the decision to make the movie. I just want to look at what makes these movies bad movies, in and of themselves.

Minutes Watched: 1.22

Photography — No Comments
20
Jan 12

What They Say Is True

20120120-220157.jpgA picture really is worth a thousand words.

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This work by @thebeautythatstillremains is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 China Mainland License.

Novel / Writing — No Comments
20
Dec 11

Don’t Be A Pansy

I’m reading another Murakami book, this time What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. It is a memoir about…well, running.

I’m only three chapters in but I felt compelled to write my review now rather than wait till i’m finished, because I just have to write about this immediately. I was particularly struck by this quote on p. 46*:

Whenever I feel like I don’t want to run, I always ask myself the same thing: You’re able to make a living as a novelist, working at home, setting your own hours, so you don’t have to commute on a packed train or sit through boring meetings. Don’t you realize how fortunate you are? (Believe me, I do.) Compared to that, running an hour around the neighborhood is nothing, right? Whenever I picture packed trains and endless meetings, this gets me motivated all over again and I lace up my running shoes and set off without any qualms. If I can’t manage this much, I think, it’ll serve me right.

I have the same sentiment about biking in Beijing. Every time I think it might be too cold to bike, I think about the old people who have no choice but to bike every day**. So many people are out biking in subzero temperatures, and they don’t even own gloves or hats. They must be dying, especially when the wind gets up, but there they are, biking along as stoically as can be.

If these people have to bike every day, then I certainly can too, with my expensive winter coat and gloves. Don’t be a pansy. That’s my motto. Except when it comes to Disney movies. And Harry Potter trailers.

Please Note, this blog does not mean to suggest that Murakami is a pansy. You on the other hand, probably are.

*All things being relative, citing the page number is relatively useless.

** They don’t have any choice about being old either. Cold and old. Is there a worse combination? If there is, I bet it doesn’t rhyme.

Film/Video — No Comments
1
Dec 11

One Day In Beijing

I’ve noticed you’ve been absent for a while. I think it’s been two entire months since I’ve seen you around here. I was starting to think that you didn’t care for me anymore. The fact you were trying to blame me for your absence only made it worse. Tears were shed.

I hesitant to welcome you back, but here you are, and before it gets any more awkward, let’s move on to new business.

While you were away, we participated in the One Day On Earth film project. This year’s event took place on 11/11/11, and across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and other inspired citizens recorded the human experience over a 24-hour period. The organizers will compile the footage and edit it into a final documentary.

There’s no guarantee our footage will be used, but you can see the raw footage here:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3

There is more footage to come, which will be uploaded in the next few weeks as it becomes available.

Please Note, this blog is not responsible for any error messages you may have received while visiting us in the past two months. Everything was working fine, as far as you know.

Photography — No Comments
12
Aug 11

POTM: Sit Long Talk Much

So I have a new camera and a new hobby. If you haven’t heard of lomography, it’s a new movement of photography that emphasizes analogue methods and experimentation. You can buy lomograph cameras for cheap, less than $100. I recently picked up a La Sardina 35mm film camera, and it’s been awesome. I’ve taken more pictures in the past two weeks than I have in years.

The only frustrating part is having to wait for the film to develop. But I guess the anticipation is part of the fun. Fortunately, when you take it to the lomograph shop, they scan in the film after they develop it, so you’re able to post the photos to the web or share them with friends. All in all, pretty cool. I guess nothing really becomes cool until it goes out of style at least once.

This shot was taken on a hutong adventure the other day, and I don’t think you can argue with the sagacity of the advice.

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This work by @thebeautythatstillremains is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 China Mainland License.

Photography — 2 Comments
1
Aug 11

POTM: No Smiling Allowed

I finally found some time (and space on my computer) to upload photos. Expect more in the coming weeks.

This one was taken while adventuring in Song Zhuang, the most remote of the artist villages around Beijing. Don’t let Zoey’s smile fool you. She hated every moment. I think she’s just enthralled by her own image here. She’s somewhat narcissistic.

The rest of the time, we spent traipsing through condemned buildings, getting told where we can’t go, and looking at books and art. All in all, not a bad way to kill a few hours.

Here’s the link to more of the adventure.

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This work by @thebeautythatstillremains is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 China Mainland License.

Photography — No Comments
6
Feb 11

New Wank, New Look

Actual sign in an actual shopping mall in actual Beijing. I would really like to know what the person who designed this sign thought that it meant.

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This work by HHH is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 China Mainland License.

Photography / Short Stories / Writing — No Comments
14
Jan 11

In Which A Photo Tells A Story

So I took this photo on the streets of Beijing with my iphone. It led to the following story:

Institutional Negligence

They found her body–tattered, ripped open at the seams with the fluff bleeding out–in the middle of the sidewalk. The authorities labeled it accidental murder; she was the victim of circumstance.

But murder is never an accident. It takes nerve and planning and years of resentment piled on top of envy and systematic failures. Triggers don’t just pull themselves.

Neither of the authorities wanted to hear about it. They refused to own the fact their institutional negligence had allowed Mrs. Cassidy to be chewed to death by Chocolate, the cocker spaniel. Her parents were always skirting the blame.

If you’d like to see more stories like this, check out A Story In 100 Words, our collection of micro fiction.

Entropy Squared is currently hard at work at producing an e-book based on our 100 words stories. In addition to collecting some of the best works that have appeared on our blog in the past, there will be at least 40 brand new stories, exclusive to the e-book. Please stay tuned. We’ll be making more announcements in the near future.

Writing is awesome!

Please Note: This blog was written with you in mind.

Creative Commons License
This work by @thebeautythatstillremains is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 China Mainland License.

Writing — 2 Comments
2
Dec 10

In Which I Get To Be Hector

An actual gchat conversation. All names have been changed to protect the guilty.*

paris: you watched the wire recently?

ive seen it like 5 times

hector: all five seasons five times?

or five episodes?

paris: all seasons 5 times

lol

hector: yeah, well it’s fantastic

i just watched the final episode

paris: if you look at daniels face when he’s around rhonda, he has that “i love white girls” look all the damn time

the pink nipple fascination

final montage is the greatest

but yes, i agree, the wire is the greatest

imdb gives it a 9.7, higher than sopranos

making it the best show ever, behind david attenborough narrated planet earth

hector: i’ve never watched the sopranos.

i assume it sucks

paris: sopranos? lol

it’s also excellent

required watching, in my book

quintessential mob drama

hector: well, i might give it a try now.

paris: it’s like watching 6 seasons of the godfather

hector: i’ve got nothing to do with my life now that i’ve finished the wire

paris: hahaha

except watching it 4 more times

also, i liked inception

i didnt care about the plot holes at all

the ending was just a blur of nonsense

hector: don’t get me started on inception.

it’s dead to me

paris: however, the movie itself is the dream, and the audience is the dreamer

movie theaters = dreamlike

dark, nothing but you and the screen

hector: if that’s the case, i’m having a dull dream with a crap story and no character development

paris: dream within a dream within a dream! ten layers of dreaming!

hector: i totally understand your point. it could very well be nolan’s intention, to say the whole movie is a dream

but the movie is still crap story telling

paris: yes, but to say that is to say that over 95% of all movies are crap story telling

which they are

so it’s a redundant point

oh im a father now, too

more crap story telling

hector: i heard

paris: babies start off at level 0

hector: congrats

paris: total n00bs

my baby probably has like 10 xp now

hector: babies are stupid. good luck with yours

paris: had to teach him how to suck at my girl’s nipples

i thought they knew automatically, but no

also, i didnt know babies cant smile

until like… 1+ months

hector: that’s a true fact.

it’s learned behavior

paris: lol

interesting, to say the least

my kid takes like ten shits a day

mroe than that

im changing diapers half my non-work hours

im fucking wiped out

hector: thanks. i always enjoy reminders of why i don’t want kids

paris: how are things in gayjing

hector: gay

less gay now that odysseus left

paris: lol

his gay gene is recessive, but still awkwardly present

hector: so true

paris: i saw him in nyc a couple of times this year

pretty magical

hector: is he really going to school?

paris: yeah

hector: i always expected he was lying.

paris: postbac premed shit

hector: it was a front for something

paris: trying to get into med school

i saw him organic chem books lying around

hector: but i couldn’t figure out what it was a front for

paris: haha he’s trying to get an MD i guess

it’s going to be a magical day when he can prescribe me things

hector: oh, everything makes sense now.

paris: he’ll be in school for another year or two

hector: he’s in school to get you meds sometime in teh distant future

paris: and IF he gets into med school, another… 6?

he’ll basically be 40 before he finishes

not to mention residency and all that

wish my dad was willing to send me to school for another decade

that would be the best

Please note: All gchat conversations are the exclusive property of Google, Inc.

*Fuck the innocent

Photography — 1 Comment
13
Jul 10

POTM: Autobots, Deploy!

I have decided photo of the week is no longer appropriate, since I rarely get around to posting photographs that often. Instead, we’ll just call it photo of the moment.

This past Saturday, I saw a band here in Beijing called Autobots, Deploy, and luckily brought along my camera. If you are interesting in seeing more shots, I have posted them to Flickr. You can follow my Flickr stream here.

Creative Commons License
This work by @thebeautythatstillremains is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 China Mainland License.

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