Posts tagged ‘Beijing’

NO I AM NOT PREGNANT

August 16th, 2009

It pains me greatly that I’m having to right a sort of followup post to NO I AM NOT GETTING MARRIED which still, two years later, boggles my mind. Here’s a snippet from that (an email from one of my wretched kin) and why, although I often maintain I birthed myself, I still wish I’d been raised by wolves.

“when i was in MKE, (a certain person) told me she heard a rumor that you were getting
married. i assumed (a certain sibling!) had started this rumor but he hadn’t heard bout
it, though he said he could see you getting involved in some sort of scam,
and we all kept meaning to email you to ask about it but i don’t think
anyone did. are you getting married?”

Well, I have a new shocking disclosure that seems to fly in the face of prevailing public opinion. I AM NOT PREGNANT goddamnit. I may have a gut and chesticles/man boobs/be a proud member of the Busty Boys but I AM NOT PREGNANT.

...READ MORE

Posted in Generale by fred dintenfass | 2 Comments »

PicOTD: Watching Beijing’s Only Male Belly Dancer

August 9th, 2009
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The opening of some sort of design store we got invited to by a woman that showed us a couple of apartments. What these guys are staring at with such interest is Beijing’s only male belly dancer. Actually, he may not be Beijing’s only male belly dancer but he’s definitely one of the few. A skinny Chinese guy with pointy hips and long beaded extensions which he would whip around dramatically while peeling his lycra-ed self off the ground from various bridges and executing various frightening pelvic maneuvers. If you managed to duck the helicopter rotor-like beads you would definitely get damaged by the jutting hip bones. It’s at least equally possible that they are staring at the belly dancer’s backup crew who are in fact female and, although Chinese, have much more going on in the hip section. Another classic ...READ MORE

Posted in PicOTD by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

Staring at the sun

May 3rd, 2009

staring at the sun

You can check websites, or even get the daily air pollution numberes twittered to you, but if you really need further confirmation of how bad the air is – if the heavy gray cloud and slightly smoky taste in your mouth aren’t enougth – try staring at the sun. Yup, on extremely smoggy days in Beijing you can do what your parents and teachers always warned you not to, stare directly at the sun. It’s not as cool as it sounds, because while your eyes may not be burning, your throat is.
...READ MORE

Posted in Generale by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

cctv9

January 18th, 2009
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the cctv building. waiting to go into the China International Gallery Expo ‘08. since the art market, like every other market, is tanking this year’s CIGE will probably be a whole lot sparser. the cctv tower will be fininished though and it looks fantastic. the structure is dynamic, as your taxi twists around one of the nearby massive interchanges wthe building turns with you. a steal at 700 or so million dollars
...READ MORE

Posted in PicOTD by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

me w olympic light

January 15th, 2009

the 08 olympics, i’ve just run in with the with olympic torch (gripped in my right hand) and as you can see from my pit stains, i brought it all the way from greece. steph got us tickets to see the jamaicans absolutely dominate track and field. it was awesome.

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Posted in PicOTD by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

like old country buffet

January 10th, 2009
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but arguably worse as there is a great deal of free booze and some all you can eat sushi. and because some of the free booze is soju – korean paint thinner. it’s also very cheap for an all you can. it used to be 38 yuan, i used to live kitty corner to this place and half a block away it reeks of hot peppers and close up it often reeks of the results of consuming hot peppers and alcohol for four or five hours. you’ll see people sleeping on the chairs in between surges of gluttony. endurance.
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Posted in Generale by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

jackie

January 9th, 2009
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you may not be aware of this but jackie chan, in addition to being able to climb anything, also promotes every single product in china. sure yao ming has three or four, the even more awkward seeming yi jian lian has some yogurt deal, and liu xiang had the cadillac hookup until he hurt himself, but jackie chan’s gongfu is unparalleled.

i came along this prayer meeting in a nook of the 798 art area recently as the cold crew members were shuttling the film equipment back to waiting vans. as to what they were filming, i have no idea.

...READ MORE

Posted in Generale by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

mo’blog jan 5

January 5th, 2009
american embassy, beijing

the promised land. the new american embassy in beijing. i went for extra passport pages and had to squeeze past long long lines of chinese. i do not envy them. eavesdroppin in the waiting room:

a steward from united stuck in the country because his passport had run out of pages to put new visas – he’d somehow been stuck in china for 9 days and was trying, with unfailing cheer and courtesy albeit not a lot of success, to get home.

a woman with an older relative in tow trying to arrange for the death certificate for her husband. muted conversations in english and mandarin; patiently waiting in the next line, alone, staring at something a very long ways away.

...READ MORE

Posted in Generale by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

mo’blog jan 3

January 3rd, 2009
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KFC had the good sense/connections to get into China right after reform and opening and they have been dominating ever since. McD’s is big but not as big as KFC. Pizza Hut is an upscale eatery and Taco Bell opened two outlets in Shanghai which have since closed, or so I’ve heard.

As you can see from the above bucket of chicken and dim-sum-style egg tarts, KFC has been, and continues to be, very savvy about localization.

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...READ MORE

Posted in Generale by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

mo’blog jan 1

January 1st, 2009
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2008 in china was all about the olympics (as was 07, 06, and maybe all the way back to 2000 when the bid was launched). to my surprise the world didn’t end after august 08. probably some of the government types were hoping it would end too because they (the people not the government officials) have a serious debt to pay off. the nest, cube, new subway lines, and flowers on every median on every inch of the giant ring roads don’t come cheap. except for the labor which is cheap as hell. it took montreal 30 years to pay off their olympics and they didn’t redo their whole city. read more about the chinese perspective: ‘what international event impacted you most this year’ and more.

and stay tuned for continued pics, grumping, and the solutions to all your problems. please tell ...READ MORE

Posted in Generale by fred dintenfass | No Comments »

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