Bathroom Soprano

holla Róisín, holla

2011-01-18T13:43:00.000-08:00

Róisín Murphy defines awesomeness! Yes, I have been putting the same tune on replay the whole day. She's irresistibly addictive. Feels familiar, huh? Actually, the best single to play on 10 times is Sing It Back. There is a whole album that guarantees to fill up your desire of sticking up to the same song remixed in 10 versions. So when you are indecisive, just sit back and let your itune decide for you. The great thing is it's still Sing It Back, but feels different at different times!

Lately, I developed a theory - zoning out at a danceable tune is the best way to chill when waiting has become a common practice. Give me a job, will you? Waiting = slow suicide @ utterly boring TV shows. It is for people who don't expect anything but a rather unexciting life. I don't know what to do. I just want to put on my dance shoes and dance to the sunrise!

Take me, job!

NOW

a little bit of love called glory

2011-01-16T03:28:00.000-08:00

Since 3am this morning, I realised that the world is only made for believers. A little half-hearted confession on a Sunday noon: I surrender. Make a move, messy brain. It's time for a new perspective of romance to grow. Scotland is a pretty funny place where you find imposed traditional value constantly battling with human intuition from time to time. I guess, in this war, we shall pray that the angel wins the devil.

birthday again

2010-12-01T05:43:00.001-08:00

Today is my birthday. Can't believe I'm so old now. But the song playing in McDonald's a few years ago sang always 21. At least I will be asked to present my ID once and once again at clubs, I would be 21 year after year until I reach 22.

That makes me feel fabulous like this.I decided that everything I do today must only be good for me. I'll smile to people who I've held a candle for, talk to homies that I miss much, forget about people who have deliberately or indeliberately hurt me, cook seafood for the lovely friends I am fortunate to have met in Glasgow.

Especially many thanks to Barbara for the surprise breakfast! Needless to say, you are sweet as heaven! May only the best things happen to you!

shanghai 2010

2010-11-29T08:54:00.001-08:00

This is my friend Dave from Shanghai. I have not been in close touch with him in the past year since I relocated to Glasgow, United Kindom to chase my dream, promote Chinese culture, study marketing, make more international friends, and to totally open up myself and let life take me somewhere.

A while ago he told me he formed a band called Grand Flower Children. Holding the spirit of a young Bob Dylan, he wanted to experiment different possibilities to express his musical experiences. The band has then successfully covered MGMT Kids on Earth One Hour @ Mao Live House Shanghai. Mao is currently the hottest indi music playground for Shanghai's curious kids. I obviously missed it out because of the relocation.

This is the wonderful year of Shanghai, when Shanghai Expo took place and many new facets of Shanghai developed, Dave's band being one of them. It feels like an aspiring place. Once I left home I could look in and look more clearly.

I'm proud of the changes. I'm proud of my culture. Right now I can feel my blood boiling. And I'm glad I'm not the only Chinese youngster who feels the urge of giving our country another great reason to change. Less self-centred, more daring to face the challenge, willing to open up, fight the spirit vs money system, change the world's opinion on Made in China to Design In China. This may take a decade, or a generation. Who knows? But most importantly it's happening now! So, you, the western world, be kind to us now, accept our learning curve being long and winding, because it is the yielding of an entire nation!

Click here to watch this brilliant video created by Shanghai's indi music label Split which showcases 2010's achievements in art and music where my friend Dave was featured in an interview. Find out how Chinese youngsters react to the conflicts between dream and reality in the hurricane environment a modern China provides.

God, I'm home sick now. :)

best Lanvin x H&M parody ever!

2010-11-28T07:10:00.000-08:00

The funniest Lanvin x H&M parody. Courtesy of the flamboyant Bryanboy.

diet day IX

2010-11-27T06:55:00.001-08:00

Lost in oriental cooking.

hair cut

2010-11-26T14:56:00.000-08:00

No dead ends.

diet day VIII

2010-11-24T10:20:00.001-08:00

Favourite chicken stew.

age of pop

2010-11-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge from ISO FILMS on Vimeo.

Best wake up tune ever. Banana, sneakers, drinks, fruit jelly.

tired

2010-11-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

Woke up after 4 hours power nap with a reserving headache...I must be very very tired.

bachelorette

2010-11-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

I'm a bachelorette;
wandering on the hills of Scotland;
looking for stones that shine;
collecting pieces that are fine;
picking memories that are mine;
making sweet sounds all the time;
could not believe it is already nine.

all the time

2010-11-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

New video by wonderful Spike Jonze.

it sways, sometimes stays

2010-11-22T08:57:00.000-08:00

That Go | Röyksopp 'Senior' from Rokkit on Vimeo.

not quite, but still

2010-11-22T02:47:00.000-08:00

ROCKING

Introducing budding wannabe mountain biker Weij. Her 3rd complete 3-hour run out with the warriors a while ago was indeed lovely and full of spirit building moments. She loves the variety of choices this country offers and she decides to keep practicing.

new week

2010-11-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

Kisses for all the hard working hard playing kiddos.

diet day VII

2010-11-21T18:43:00.001-08:00

Well earned mulled wine and nibbles after a full day working on Sunday.

Edinburgh Art Fair

2010-11-21T18:12:00.000-08:00

Finally the 2010 Edinburgh Art Fair brought to an end with lots of expected and unexpected gains and losses, highs and lows, and a great feast for the eye. Edinburgh is such a magnificent Scottish city of history. However having my duty of promoting our London based gallery, it did not allow me to sneak out of the exhibition centre. All I can show you here is a glimpse of the fair.

nude shoes
fin. don't like the end.
new found like: Neil Kelly

love strategy (in Weij's mind)

2010-11-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

She does not make any moves because she believes it's the counterpart's job.
If the counterpart doesn't do anything, then she will.
Because she's impatient.
Why play patience?
She's busy.
She believes other people must be busy too?
Apparently so.
That's how nothing ever happens.
And people are easily scared off...They think she's a tiger...while indeed she's a kitty with shadow of a tiger...
Is there any way to send the message without being taken wrong?!!
Isn't it a miracle that people do walk together?
Finally, time to go to bed...

about a girl

2010-11-20T19:55:00.000-08:00

Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-1748) said, 'Lips only sing when they cannot kiss.' Such a beautiful saying. Such a sad picture.

accessorise for high tea

2010-11-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

To be a hot girl at hot high tea you simply need some sizzling hot stuff from fantoosherie! Every single piece is handmade by the lovely designer Jennifer, who knows how to make girls go nuts with unconventional fabric accessories. I'm in love with my new embroidered feather necklace.

trains are slow

2010-11-19T14:21:00.000-08:00

Anybody who spends 5 hours every day traveling between places is hero. I've been this hero for 3 days now. Wow, I can't stop thinking how brave I am fighting with sleeping hours. Soon I will need 2 alarm clocks and snooze both of them. So you can imagine, I am quite sleepy on the train.

And there were those 2 American guys sitting next to me and sharing the air around me. In case you do not meet many Americans in this country, they are very talk-active, especially on their own, while they could obviously see me trying to sleep. If anyone who is not that dumb enough not to be able to read body language, it means I am tired, I want to sleep, I don't feel sociable, and especially not with you, strangers.

But what can you do...There are people slower than trains.

A: Why pretty girls always sit next to you? (Come on, dude...)
B: Maybe because of my beard...(Hey I don't think it's gonna work. I'm happy with my eyes closed and I have no intention to open them.)
A: Well, I don't think she's very happy. (Well, you saw me frown. Can't you be quiet? Can't you see I try to sleep?!)
B: Do you think she's not happy with us? (Ha you finally got it dude...Shut your mouth now?)
A: Can't you do something about pretty girls ever? (OMG you are really dumb, aren't you?)

As a matter of fact, thanks dudes, if it were not you I wouldn't move to the first class and enjoy the rest of my trip, coz it was really really awesome, peaceful, harmonious and beautiful, with imaginary stars in the sky.

watch me grow

2010-11-11T17:46:00.001-08:00

Higher, and higher, and higher.

diet day VI

2010-11-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

Tom yum goong soup had my stomach warm up instantly.

diet day V

2010-11-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

Call this diet? Well, it's all about eat healthy and appropriate, right?

diet day IV

2010-11-09T06:12:00.000-08:00

Quick bruschetta and ham with marmalade dressing - getaway from heavy winter meals.

in between colourless diet days

2010-11-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

I miss the colours flying out of rainbow's end from those shimmering electric guitars at T in the Park.

diet day III

2010-11-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

I have totally lost count of what I ate. I recall there were a lot of nuts involved in the past 48 hours, but they were no good for my diet. Instead, I made a stop motion commercial about nuts in order to address a challenge from an ad agency ykcr y&r. I'm very pleased that the whole production went unbelievably smooth with the support of an amazing team. There is definitely gonna be a screening party very soon to celebrate the glory of one more step closer to Cannes Lion. Until then, I better stick to my diet!

Video will be available very soon! Hang on there!

diet day II

2010-11-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

I've been really really bad. I have eaten quite a lot of chocolate the whole day instead of anything else. Chocolate is the best cure under certain circumstances.

diet day I : after

2010-11-02T05:45:00.000-07:00

It requires a killing effort to have a healthy diet to keep your stomach happy as well as to make some actual progress.

On the first day I don't think I'm gonna push myself too hard. My strategy is to take it easy and see how it goes. Given the World Vegan Day promotional opportunity, every vegetarian restaurants in town seems to grid their loins to sell sell sell. This is how I found myself hiding in a cozy corner of Bar 78.

Sadly the penne dish is rather a disappointment. Oily, dry and tasteless. Not a pleasure for my palette at all!

This is Barbara. She looks contented with her risotto. She also enjoys blah blah blah and her effort keeps a travel blog worth reading. At the left side above her confused head on the wall the poster says: sing and drink. This probably translates into her deep thoughts right now.

diet day I : before

2010-11-02T04:48:00.000-07:00

Well, after a hard week's eating and drinking, yesterday is my official Diet Day 1! How exciting! I've got a little 10-day project going on! Everyday loose a half kilo and 10 days later I'm ready for my skinny jeans.

Let's be realistic.

It's not gonna happen.

But I will try so that this wee blog will look a bit more lively.

This is the sin I committed the day before the diet day. Check out this little heaven in the hidden lane - an absolute shinny pearl, just 5 mins from my home and I never realized it was there for an entire year! It's a perfect cozy little house for girlfriends to nibble sweet and socialize in an absolute feminine atmosphere. For guys probably they'd put on an indifferent face in order not to be wrongly associated to gay, but secretly we know they're also loving it.

When the sun went down, kitchen became our playground. We ate charcoaled marshmallows on candles and died on Rome.

Now you know why I need a diet!

diet day I

2010-11-01T00:54:00.000-07:00

Today's World Vegan Day...That's an annoying vegan acknowledgment as it lures me into my Diet Day 1, that is a healthy whole vegetarian dinner at the bar 78. Otherwise I'm a hardcore carnivore.

bike loving day

2010-09-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Today I love my bike! It's an official bike loving day in my new flat. Because not only I got on a bike, my new flatmate also got on a bike. And the most wonderful thing is we did not talk about the idea and we happened to both use our bikes on different routes. I'm just hell excited, even my bike is 1 inch too low that I just could not straighten my legs. Perhaps I have grown an inch unconsciously! Because now I'm living in Britain. I eat British beef, drink British milk, eat British cheese. They are the essentials for a healthy growth in bones and they might have helped me! Why not think like this.:)

Today I wanted to buy a new lock for my bike. My bike was a cheap second-hand sort of in a status that nobody would want, but it's never too careful to lock your bike. And when I got out on the road, I realized today is Sunday and on Sundays shops all close ridiculously early. No way. God fools me. Because I'm on my way to a cafe and later I've planned to bike to my grocery supplier - where I can buy juicy sweet fresh Scottish salmon. I don't particular like to give up my plan so I decided to ride to the cafe and park it where I can see it anyway. Fortunately just a few shops away the cafe I found a bike shop open. I love those bike people. They have good work ethics. Why don't all British shops open on Sunday afternoon to make more more money? The truth is, since it is the only shop that's on my way and I'm pretty late for the cafe already, I had to buy whatever I can get, which is a fancy lock for 15 quid. I'm pretty sure giving such a fancy price the lock is gonna lock all tempting chiefs away. The end of the story is, I got my bike a fancy accessory. I got to ride it on Scottish roads all the way to my supermarket with a gym bag. I shopped till I drop. I filled my gym bag with crap and got home safely.

Who says money can't buy happiness? Sometimes it is just some number disappearing on your bank account, digitally. I'm gonna ride my bike. No matter what. Till forever and ever. Till the day it dies do we part. Me and my bike!

no blood in my food I

2010-09-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

Lately I'm pretty much hooked up with the sense of righteousness. I guess it's the strong existence of friends of politics studies around me that got me into thinking. Hell yeah, time to be serious about stuff (Let's make my blog a wee bit more serious than it looks like, although at the moment I'm still trying to promote the 'lightness of being').

This morning when I still was dreaming about the massive seafood dinner in due course, this following story got me almost electrified and totally forget about my appetite.

Every little bowl of shark fin soup points right to the ugly shark catching and processing industry. British photographer Alex Hofford revealed in his book Man & Shark some shocking images of tons of sharks being processed in the Japanese city Kesen-numa, Japan's secret shark fin capital. Sadly these dirty businesses exit for the prosperity of us Asian's eating ritual. It is our weird eating habit and excitement of trying out luxurious food that stimulated this industry, causing secret blood shed in the world's water of Mozambique, Yemen, Japan and China.

Well, culture is not to blame on as it is what it is, however once we are shown to the facts, something within our human nature will surely change the way we act and eventually be responsible to any yes or no we decide.

No shark fin soup please.

tunnocked

2010-04-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

I'm tunnocked and iran brued in Scotland. Now I want new music, new books, new sun, new adventure!

Here is a little background of the 120 years of the legendary tea cake baking.

romance

2010-04-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here comes spring, and it got me all sentimental. The sun's bad. I started to watch romance again. I used to dodge them like avoid plague. I thought there were more important things to worry about, but it is important. I was proved all time wrong. Now I need some tears. They might distract me from my back pain.

Today I watched Young Victoria. I was kind of trying to avoid this film because I've a feeling all films about past queens of Britain are somehow associated with love stories. And I avoid love stories. Interestingly how, I always wonder, frequently this specific human emotion, is chosen as a cause to portrait the queens. After all, all we women are sentimental, I suppose. And guess what? It is not particularly a marvelously done film. (Speaking of a marvelously done film, I'm referring to latest ones as Shutter Island (Scorsese is still Scorsese), Whatever Works, Inglorious Bastard and Burn after Reading from last year. And you know what I mean.) However, contradicting to my little logical brain, I am touched with tears crossing my cheeks; yet such natural reaction ashamed me, as if I am caught in the middle of a crime. And I'm not sure why. The only explanation is I know human beings, and all women are capable of complex emotions and we all have a soft bone. So are the film directors.

Cinema Paradiso 1988
Gone with the Wind 1939
Breakfast at Tiffany's 1961
A Room with A View 1986
Love Story 1970
Camille Claudel 1988
When Harry Met Sally 1989
Boy Meet Girl 1984
The Science of Sleep 2006
Betty Blue 1986
Leaving Las Vegas 1995
Pretty Woman 1990
Love Actually 2003
The English Patient 1996
West Side Story 1961
Suzhou He 2000

daft. shock. death by gaga. one more time.

2010-02-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

Second round. Death by the fan of Gaga.

Today I woke up in the rare Glasgow afternoon sunshine, lazily browsing over the almighty internet and all of a sudden something like a thunder penetrated me and made me freeze like a corpse.

The 29 year-old Beijingnese Lu Weikang loved Gaga so much that he decided to recreate Gaga in miniature dolls. By the finished looks, we'd say he's pretty (damn) good at it. His hard work had finally paid off. Telegraph London paid noteable attention to his amazing collection and now the Beijingness aims to sell his barbie clothes worldwide. To the ones who also wants to hands on themselves, he generously gives detailed tutorial on producing the outfits and accessories.

How many die-hard Gaga fans out there? At the rate of the fame of Gaga raises, it won't be long we'll see real Gaga incarnations in clubs all over the world.

Death. A weird snow storm came out of no where howling at my window. I'm paranoid.

fred perry boy

2010-01-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

Neighbour wears Fred Perry. He's a complete psycho who ran out half naked wrapped in a duvet when the fire alarm rang off. But it has nothing to do with Fred Perry. Fred Perry is inconceivably perfect.

On lifestyle. I wish I could learn French. Coz it's nice. Or I wish I could anyhow learn a language I don't need to care about what the heck I'm saying when I'm saying, that nobody else understands. That'd be beautiful. Not Gaelic. I need something more feminine. Or at least nice to write.

On fair trade. Why people bother? Why people do not be the best themselves? Why a country would interfere in another country's business? Why can't we live a simple life? All I care about is nothing but a lovely little sunshine that makes me glow and cheers others up. But I really don't know what a farmer, far away from me, can benefit when I buy a fair trade coffee.

On Fred Perry boys. Maybe they look good, until they start to speak. I'm not so sure. I can appreciate them from far away. I genuinely enjoy people watching. Fred Perry is inconceivably perfect.

The best. xo

youth is a fragile silhouette, beneath hides the rave

2009-11-21T03:36:00.000-08:00

Whatever it is, faith keeps me going.

I always love the concept of every Prada's project. From the Trembled Blossoms to the latest miraculous 6 months installation Prada Transformer in Seoul. The idea of Prada Transformer was generated 2 years ago when Prada decided to do an attention-getting project in South Korea, a growing market for luxury brands that is often overshadowed by nearby Japan and China. It is a creative space integrating Prada's 'waist down' exhibit, contemporary Korean cinema and art projects. In its next stage, the reconfigured Prada Transformer designed by Rem Koolhaas/OMA and situated next to the sixteenth-century Gyeonghui Palace, will host a contemporary art show as part of its transformation cycle.

make it bigger

2009-11-21T03:26:00.000-08:00

Dell's new campaign Amplichoir is such a fantastic idea!
Mother London worked with The Sweet Shop digital sister company The Rumpus Room to create Amplichoir, a cultural initiative that could potentially become the biggest online choir in the world. The Dell Amplichoir begun with one little question: how could we create something cool that would combine Dell's technological expertise with MTV's community of music lovers and general music know-how? Our idea was to build a place where, in theory at least, the whole world could come together and sing the same song.The new campaign for Dell and MTV invites visitors to upload videos of themselves singing The Chordettes' classic pop song "Lollipop," which is then integrated into a massive chorus performance of the tune.To compile the crowd-sourced choir, the Amplichoir site grabs hold of your webcam and allows you to record yourself singing, karaoke style, from the comfort of where ever your computer calls home. Your clip is then automatically comped and audio mixed into a massive grid alongside hundreds of other singers. Choir members share their videos with friends in order to earn votes. A jury will decide on the best of the biggest vote getters and two lucky singers from Germany, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria will win VIP tickets to the MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin.

design in china

2009-11-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Chenman, the Beijing chick is chic, bizarre, full of power, full of youth, and obvious talents that pushes her to be one of the best contemporary photographers in China. I've thought of talking about her for a long time but never got down to it seriously. I love her commercial work which is in great balance of noble art form and cheap poster and the often associated bold aphrodisia that's keeping pushing your limits. All this is from an early 20 something girl who started to take cover page photos for China's leading design and culture magazine Vision since university grade 2, now a mum and a reputable Chinese visual pioneer.

weekend recap

2009-11-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

2 months settling down in Glasgow, I've spun around hundreds of missions. This city starts to have its influence flinging on me. It gives me hope and sorrow. Nowadays the day becomes shorter. The night felt long, golden leaves on the ground.

I came back from the trip to Loch Lomond with my new best friends Celine and Pratik this weekend, the greatest weekend I've ever had since coming to Scotland. Loch Lomond is a beautiful highland lake 30 minutes away from the city. On the way we stoped by Dumbarton Castle, from where we could overlook the different part of Glasgow in a bit of nature. We got accomodated in an absolutely beautiful and mysterious castle where I thought I was ghost haunted. We woke up in the morning totally stunned by the breath-taking scenery. And the highland games kept us warm running around on the damp lawn. We were having muddy fun until the sun went down. To conclude the weekend, we had to thank the waiter boy from Chinese Buffet King and my new favourite band Sleepercurve playing in Box. All was so perfect because I deserved it from the crazy assignment working session. It is difficult to drag myself back to the study again and I know if ever I'd start burying myself in the books again, I'd start from munching at home-made French cakes from Celine's wonderful Mum.

Too much love. Too much love.

cheering

2009-10-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

The night of madness is the night of happiness. To collect all the souls of wonders, we had the ice-breaking party for the class on a clear and chilli night where we were warmed up by soup, alcohol and laughters and secrets as the night went on. How much ice we've broke? Let's see. At least we thought we knew some of others' secrets and we knew we've had a good time together.

to sing an encouraging song

2009-10-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Winter is almost here. It's in the air, the wind, the trees, the temperature of people's faces. I get more and more sleepy as Glasgow's precious day light shortens and the night prolongs.

From time to time Glasgow awes me. Up in the north, Glasgow, such a small scaled city of 620,000 population has become the financial centre of Scotland, being the home to many nationalities - Polish, Indian, Italian, etc, while all ethnic groups seem to live their own way of life. If you are an Indian, you might even find your community centre to worship your god. In the day time the golden Z of city centre is so quiet whereas at night it becomes another world. Glasgow is a party town, every westerner says so. However, judging from the size, design, music, I'm not so sure how to come up to their opinion. This is indeed an interesting subject to study. It seems to me that while the western cities don't necessarily 'wow' us any more, the east becomes more of an increasily growing pleasure ground.

Am I going to be ok with Glasgow? Time will tell. Although life is not about the result but the process. I hope the good process will bring good result. To live a real independent life, I have to be stronger.

woodstock

2009-10-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

Mark it on your calendar! This November Ang Lee is coming back! What he's gonna do to surprise us all? You'd never get it why he'd chosen Woodstock Festival but it's obvious he's putting enough thoughts on it, just as much as I do. I'm curious how he's gonna depict the legendary music festival first took place in 1969 in a no-man land in America. Check out Taking Woodstock videos here. If the history failed to awe you, the cinematography and fantastic costumes would save your hope.

By the way, people say it's a comedy.

Schooling

2009-10-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

Life continues, on the other side of the earth this time.

Now that I abide the motto Via, Veritas, Vita, in English it translates to The Way, The Truth, The Life, I'm under the wings of one of the oldest higher education institutions. I'm going to live the way, the truth and the life under a series of exams, essay writings and staying up late (being paranoid about tomorrow's school).

Scotland is cold, much colder than I think. But I'm excited to see the snow in winter. I probably would make a snowman and it's all promising.

beast & witch

2009-05-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

Also from MIDI. We can see at some point the festival is pretty sophisticated, for every thing, anything really.

post-MIDI report

2009-05-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

The sun shines, birds twitters, music rocks, rain pours, mud sticks, satai guy dances, beer cap opens, we party. Basically, that's my conclusion for a music festival. My first, sounds just like fun.

Thanks to the fantastic organizers who came up with the brilliant idea of going by bus to the destination - Zhenjiang, we then had a beautiful bus fully decorated with ENO sticks, a lovely bus hostess who strip danced humming "zhong nan hai, zhong nai hai, chou yan zhi chou zhong nan hai", a generous goodie bag including an energy drink, an apple (an apple a day keeps the doctor away), bus itinerary and notice and a ticket to Paris (ok, I'm just dreaming on the last one), and a group of 50 on-board passengers who love to be part of the 10th MIDI music festival (who has nothing to do during the May holiday so we just might as well do something to kill the time :P ). So here we go, on the mission "n0g0". I'm not so sure if it has anything to do with Nasa, but according to reliant source the word was evolved from "logo", which makes sense to me.

No matter how many people showed up, what bands came to play in comparision to Strawberry Modern Sky taking place same time in Beijing, it was still an event that made me proud of. I'd love to be there and I'm happy I had. The impression is a rapidly increasing amount of Chinese young people are showing more interests in Chinese sub-culture and support with efforts. Social acceptance grew to tolerate more musicians who only focus on the lifestyle rather than the beaten track of choosing a proper career.

The change might not only happen over night but it's actually happening and I'm the witness. 15 years ago there were no bars in Shanghai. Nightlife to Chinese equals to debauchery. 10 years ago bars started to settle on Hengshan Rd. Now we have cool venues where welcomes all musicians as logo, yyt, shelter, zhijiang, artlab...90's rock stars sing about school and love, 00's rock stars sing about lost and found. It's an change society and I'm excited to be the part of the evolution. As to the music itself, I'm sure it will improve given time.

BTW, I don't like Deerhoof. I love some songs of Carsick Cars and Dingma. I want to check out Banana Monkeys and Boys Climbing Ropes.

(Damn, I feel like writing on an IELTS paper)

gold legs

2009-04-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Laziness has conquered me. I'm not confident in writing something constructive today because all I've been thinking is gold metalic leggings today. Unbelievably I already had 60 posts throughout all these months. I'm gonna celebrate this by posting some of my favourite (innovative) styles of shinning up your legs.

door gods

2009-04-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

Lunch time. I decided to sneak out of office again to see how people edit films. It is a nice day, sunny and blue. It smells of spring. While I was waiting, I had a sugary cigarrette, made a few phone calls and drew a cigarette in hand on a piece of crumpled paper. As usual, I made some ridiculous conversation with people again, this is all about communication.

The short film that I've been helping on seems to be brewing very well, soon it will be out of the egg. May 16, according to the rumor.
Tonight, I'll have 2 fashion shows to run to. I'm especially looking forward to the show by local fashion house La Vie , run by beautiful and talented Chinese twin sisters came back from Italy. Their commercial shoots of brochures are all so fantastic. I'm accessorized with a futuristic-looking rosy La Vie handbag today, a plastic one, plastic is fantastic.

Indeed, all I wish is to stop running around and spend peaceful time at home. Yet it will not be. My weekend will be schedule-running again, including hugging and loving my friend who's leaving to France in one week.

Life is all good having gods guarding my door.

noir babies

2009-04-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ah my dark angel, if by midnight you haven't found what you are looking for, let me gently feed you a spoonful of strawberry sorbet and we'll sit by the cliff watch the starry night.

more underground than underground

2009-04-17T01:47:00.000-07:00

It takes time to get my hands on things. At the far corner of Shanghai (Where's Baoshan? I have the worst sense of directions so please excuse me) there's also a bar more underground than Logo, Shelter, C's, YYT, Zhijiang Dream Factory...where you normally go for weekend's gigs: Shanghai 021 Bar. It's so under-ground that I thought it might just be under-water. The website is all in Chinese, I suppose it means the population should be quite local then. My eyes sparkle with joy ,would be worth another adventure, one day.

if i could, i would

2009-04-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

BUY THIS! Coz it's brutally amazing! If you are patient enough, only within 472. 2 days you are able to travel from SH to BJ in this crazy moving house. Yes you are so smart, it moves at 60 meters / hour, as slow as a slug. Extrodinarily, the technical specification also includes "polycarbonate plates." Now we can hold a great house party! Hoooray!

"Walking House is a modular dwelling system that enables persons to live a peaceful nomadic life, moving slowly through the landscape or cityscape with minimal impact on the environment. It collects energy from its surroundings using solar cells and small windmills. There is a system for collecting rain water and a system for solar heated hot water. A small greenhouse unit can be added to the basic living module, to provide a substantial part of the food needed by the Inhabitants. A composting toilet system allows sewage produced by the inhabitants to be disposed of. A small wood burning stove could be added to provide CO2 neutral heating. WALKING HOUSE forms various sizes of communities or WALKING VILLAGES when more units are added together. WALKING HOUSE is not dependant on existing infrastructure like roads, but moves on all sorts of terrain."

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

2009-04-16T02:06:00.000-07:00

Oh our stylist from Elle Decoration is going to Milan again! I asked him to go take millions of pictures of 10 Corso Como for me, and bring back a Vogue Italia for sure. I'm soooooooooo jealous! Take me with you please! I'll squeeze into your black leather suitcase!

http://www.10corsocomo.com/

fake yuppy's shrinking purse

2009-04-16T01:33:00.000-07:00

I want to become a squirral. Squirrals are cute, harmless and swift escapers. I want to become a millionaire too, so that I'd have lots of $$ in my saving account and I can possess lots of high street fashion wear! This is really shallow. I know. I'd dream millions of noble possibilities of contributing my money, but right now, frowning at the 600RMB left in my bank account for the rest of the month, I just couldn't be bothered of being positive about money anymore. It is my basic instinct, cannot fight with it. Sometimes the idea of being a millionaire fights with which of the squirral and mostly it wins. It is a logical solution - screw the utopia, go for the feasible. Sadly true, now what I'm gonna do with my precious 600 RMB with 2 promising weekends in row? I should only eat nuts, nuts, nuts or nothing!

cash cash cash

2009-04-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

This is what happened when I went all the way to my regular ATM. My hand was already in the bag searching for purse until I looked up. Ok, I surrender. This can't be my day. I guess those intelligent bankers just want to tease us so badly, but it's already past Apr. 1!

les bien

2009-04-13T00:29:00.000-07:00

Imagine I'm facing my boss, doing a completely comprehensive research on traditional meaning of lotus flower, which is so deep, yes, Chinese culture, you know. I tried my best, but as I can see, I'm not the only one who got bored. Boss couldn't help to check her Motorola every 5 mins and fumbled with her hair. I need some gossip to keep me stay focused. Thanks to modern technology, thanks to internet, thanks to Linsey Lohan, thanks to boss who are now also taking a break sipping soup of her Japanese pot noodle, also browsing some website at the moment. So what's the news? LL is single now. What a pity coz they could be such a matching couple. Maybe she just got enough out of woman? Maybe she's going back to the normal route? How sad if LL is not lesbian any more! Noooo! I'm almost crying! No gossip no fun!

let's sing and dance and xxxxx things

2009-04-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

The mystery unfolded in the dark basement of Rock0093, where one night my friends decided to rent a compartment for crazy music exploration. We sing, we dance and we got so carried away as if we saw a rainbow in muddy grey sky. That night, the stage only belonged to us. We were the audience and the band. And we knew it couldn't feel any better.

ice stick mania

2009-04-09T01:19:00.000-07:00

An ice stick a day keeps the doctor away!

These are my favourite ice cream (ice stick, as there was no ice cream yet) feast from childhood. Vinatage yummies. Happy days.

ps. that hilarious kid is not me. I'm usually more carried away at ice cream.

48 plus daily crap feed

2009-04-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

What interests me? Judy Garland.

What interests you? Me.

midi music festial 2009

2009-04-08T03:11:00.000-07:00

Hurry up boys and girls! For ones who don't use Facebook, you have to know details of when, where, how, etc. The location has been moved. So it will be held in Zhengjiang during May 1-3 this year.

Schedule is out: http://www.chinamusicradar.com/?p=362

See you there!

ladyfreakypop

2009-04-08T01:57:00.000-07:00

LadyGaGa's style is freakily amazing, freakily chic, freakily pop, freakily graceful, in a word, unprecedentedly freaky to maximum limitation to be liked by me. She is the post-modern version of Madonna, definitely maybe.

More on LadyGaGa, she writes her own songs, designed a remarkable number of performance suits. I feel I start to be interested in her now. Ok, what's the other gossip?

henna++

2009-04-08T00:33:00.000-07:00

It is Wednesday afternoon, nothing much to do. My fabulous Macbook is left at home so that I've got no chance to edit my photos from horse riding trip last weekend. Lunch break was too short, otherwise I'd like to sneak to my secret lane on Fuzhou Rd. for old cheap magazines. If I'm lucky enough, I might find Face, or I-D at the cost of 30 RMB, by the way, hasn't Face Mag been shut down already? No matter what, it's secured that any time I go, there's always vintage National Geographic. I have a 1985 issue and a 1990 issue, featuring Afghanistan henna painting and India national railway system respectively, which was super super cool. Most amazingly to me, it IS possible that with efforts, ideas can be developed maximum to a solid status, to been seen and felt. Then my speculation is, where is the powder laid of certain transformation? How do we identify our needs and develop items to fulfill our needs? What can be stripped down to bare from these above Henna drawings and be used as elements on something else? Hmm...the possibilities...

part II

2009-04-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

I had the weirdest nightmare the other night. It was so vivid that it almost could be true, I woke up in sweat all over, neck stiff and sore.

It was not a modern world, a more cruel, barbarian 19th century would be it. I was kept in a jail, a dungeon, to be more specific. Couldn't remember what crime I have committed. Who would know? It was 19th century. I could just have been punished for having loved the wrong person. The dungeon was so cold and claustrophobic, looking around there was no one but myself. The next scene flashed to a guillotine and I was under it, shoulders pressed by two men on each side of me. I thought that would be it. I said to myself that eventually it would end my sorrow. I was even ready to take it. I closed my eyes, lowered my head, laid it on the board, thinking it was such a board that it could be the one in my kitchen that I used to use for cutting vegetables and chicken. Last minute humour? How many seconds more till my brain would eventually stop to work? Headsmen, hurry up!

Then there was a man shouting, halted the rising killing machine, followed by a series of mummering. What has decision been changed to? Judges, please just made up your stupid mind and kill me already. Then the most unbelievable crucifixion in the whole universe happenend. They have decided to keep me alive. They wanted to shallowly cut around my neck so that my warm blood would overflew to my shoulders. It all depends how deep the cut is. If some side were deeper, blood would have flown to my arms and hands. Then I could feel the knife cutting on my neck, 4 cuts, 2 on the sides, 1 in the front, 1 at the back. They did it slowly to torture me. I was sobbing quietly. I didn't know what on earch I did that I deserved this. The feeling of bloody fluid coming out of my wound was so real. I was scared. And that was where I woke up from. I reached my neck, deeply exhaled. It was a sunny day outside. But I was so wounded.

new video clip

2009-03-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my friend Martin, for people's daily pleasure and to show my faith in silly fun, check this out. Now I'm heading to bed because tomorrow I have to get up REAAAALLY early to buy carrots and green vege for my unhumanized rabbit. He needs constant nutrition supply.

Le Petit Chaperon Rouge

2009-03-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talkative today, not at all, I'd rather visualize my blog entry today. So here you go.

This is a super cool video I came across, known to many Chinese "the little red hat", in french, same version as le petit chaperon rouge. Such great work to transform childhood fairytale to such cool animation with a bit of post-modern, cold computery touch. I like the music too. Gonna do a bit of research on that later. :)

LOVE

2009-03-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

LOVE

IS

LUXURY

it is not for everyone, yet once it comes around, you feel so touched.

GIVE

ME

LOVE

Antonioni's China

2009-03-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been very patriotic. I guess we Chinese people just are, especially when we stay abroad, in my case, even 4 days count...look what have happened to me! All day long I'm blabing about China China.

This is Chung Kuo - Cina, a documentary of China by Michelangelo Antonioni made in 1972. During the cultural revolution Chinese government sent an invitation to Antonioni to make a film about China. And this is definitely one of the earliest documentaries of real China, as no foreign director was allowed to enter China at such a time. The idea was to choose a global-famed director to tell the world what goodness was happening in China. Yet when the film was completed, Antonioni's masterpiece was detained and boycotted both in Europe and China for his unbiased, probably over vague political point of view. In his words, he wanted to use the camera as the objective eye of a tourist.

It is still hard to believe this was China (this was the China where my parents were brought up to) 30 years ago. It's not even a long time...but look what would be changed had been changed!

To view the film, click on the name of documentary above. And be patient to finish it - slow - is always Antonioni's style. :-)

fashion 7 days: Ton name "Suzie Wong"

2009-03-23T02:34:00.000-07:00

She is the first Chinese girl who earned a global fame in Hollywood history. And that was almost 50 years ago! Her name is Nancy Kwan. Look at her! Such grace, as if it's purifying. Yes, I can't help loving her! Everyone does!

Suzie Wong Revisited © The Wall Street Journal, 4 June 1990

By WILLIAM MCGURN

It was the late 1950s, it was the Wanchai district of Hong Kong, and a Chinese bar girl was explaining to a tall, puzzled American that she could not possibly be the nice girl he'd met earlier in the day. "What a nice girl you met on ferry doing in a place like this I like to know for goodness sake,", she tells him, ending with her favorite expression. Her name, of course, was Suzie Wong, and the part would launch an unknown 21-year-old named Nancy Kwan into stardom.

Three decades after she first shimmied across the screen and into William Holden's grudging heart, Ms. Kwan still looks young enough to catch a sailor's eye-- a testament no doubt to the Oriental Pearl Cream she now hawks on late-night TV.

Shortly after "The World of Suzie Wong," she put her Royal Ballet training to good use as the scheming nightclub performer Linda Low in Rodgers and Hammerstien's "Flower Drum Song." Like the goodhearted Suzie, Linda was somewhat pre-Betty Friedian in her outlook "It's nice to have outside accomplishments.... but the main thing is for a woman to be successful in her gender"); she sings the film's big song, "I Enjoy Being a Girl."

Ms. Kwan has gone on to prove herself decidely more diverse, having branched out into producing and writing in addition to acting. But she too enjoys what life's given her and thus has little time for modern complaints that the cheongsam she wore as Suzie Wong-- the traditional tight-fitting, high-collared, Chinese slit sheath-- was exploitative.

"I still think it's very feminine," she says, conceding, however, that "if you don't have the right figure, it accentuates all the wrong places."

Today home for Ms. Kwan is a modest ranch house tucked away in Sherman Oaks, Calif., far removed from the hustle and bustle of her native Hong Kong but filled with more Chinese pieces than the emperor's palace. Toward "The World of Suzie Wong" she exhibits a healthy indifference tinged with appreciation for the opportunity. It was, she says, "just a job," and indeed she tried out for the part on a lark only after director Ray Stark spied her hanging around her uncle's film studio during a school holiday from Britain. Of co-star William Holden, she has only praise for an actor who was "exceptionally generous" with others. "He was a man's man and a woman's man if you know what I mean, " she says. Her Cantonese upbringing compels her to add that he "was a good businessman, too."

For though born of an English mother and now carrying a an American passport, Ms. Kwan was raised a daughter of the Celestial Kingdom. Her Chinese name is Kwan Ka Shen, from a family that traces itelf back to Kwan Kung, a general so renowned for his uprightness that his red-faced visage adorns many a police station and shop. She relates how, as a young student, she had intended to join a demonstration against one of the many British-run Hong Kong clubs that wouldn't allow Chinese as members. Her father, a famous local architect, asked her not to, and out of filial piety, she did what any Chinese girl would have done. She obeyed.

Not long after "The World of Suzie Wong" made her a star she left Hong Kong for work reasons but returned in the 1970s to start up a production company called Nancy Kwan Films. In the interim she's also kept up her acting career, appearing in everything from the pilot for the old TV series "Hawaii Five-O" to "Miracle Landing," the recent CBS docudrama about the 1988 Aloha Airlines flight that survived losing its roof in midair. It's been three years now since Ms. Kwan's visited Hong Kong, but she eagerly quizzes a former resident about prospects come the 1997 transfer of sovereignty from London to Beijing. Like most Chinese, she is glad to see the end of colonial rule; like most Hong Kong Chinese, she has her worries. "I am Chinese and the Hong Kong people are Chinese," she says, fingering a jade bracelet. "Nevertheless, I wouldn't like to see its special identity swallowed up by China."

These days, however, her ethnic pride takes the characteristically American form of volunteer work for such organizations as the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists. Things have changed considerably since the days when Caucasians played Charlie Chan, but the orginization remains concerned about the public image of Asians. She also works on behalf of the Vietnamese boat people, as well as heading up public liaison for the Asian American Voters Coalition. Although Asian Ameriancs treasure the freedoms that have enabled them to prosper in their hew home, Ms. Kwan notes that they have been reluctant to get involved in politics, because they by and large come from "police states where politics get you in trouble." She reports proudly that the White House requested a copy of her speech to an October AAVC conference in Washington.

Too soon the interview winds down, and it comes time to ask for an autograph. Admitting to some wariness about the press ("words never seem to turn out the way I said them"), she nonetheless takes pen in hand and bends over a photo, a formal portrait of her grandfather dressed in his imperial robes. "A word is worth a thousand pictures," she writes, and a reporter suggests that while flattering, it's probably untrue. The observation draws a mischievous smile. "Of course it's not true," she says.

For goodness sake.

fashion 7 days: Men's fashion in Bali

2009-03-22T22:00:00.001-07:00

Back from Bali, I fall into the abyss of Shanghai right away...Oh...I feel that I need a life-long vacation. Maybe what makes a vacation greater than real life is it's short enough not to become a reality. People tend to complain about reality so much so that they crave for an escape. Needless to say, it's another excuse. Now I'm sitting in front of my boss' vintage laptop, having a sore neck and back and waist and arms and legs, and feeling that I'm going to fall apart at any minute. >Give me a Bingtang Beer.<

Anyway, my pursuit of fashion continues...and here comes the result of my new vision of men's fashion: localized Indonesian Quicksilver, and topless man in a manly sarong which got me and my girlfriend retarded - we can't help to show our animal side this way. So here you go, gents, dressing up in a sarong is definitely points-adding !

fashion 7 days: clueless day

2009-03-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

I'm clueless today with my poor clueless bunny.

fashion 7 days: Miss Chloe

2009-03-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Miss Chloe Sevigny,

My name is Weij and I'm from the coolest city in China. I'm writing this letter to you to express how much I worship you as a fashion icon. I personally think you are underrated comparing to Miss Kate Moss. We know Miss Kate has a prettier face and rock star boyfriends, yet her style is glamourously tideous. Her look is in such a predictable format just like UK's gloomy weather. You rock though. Your inspiring indie look makes me believe confidence is more.

And please have your fingers crossed for my Bali trip to be valid.

Sincerely yours,

Weij

fashion 7 days : 80's is back !

2009-03-05T01:40:00.000-08:00

Dragging myself out of my laziness, after cheekily breaking my rule as to keep posting everyday for the week, finally I've decided it's time to write the 3rd fashion dairy. While I was just frowning about what to blabbing about, a few pieces of colourful H&M skinny jeans saved me out of the blue! Yes, here Weij solemnly announces that 80's style is back and everyone who benefits from this message should hold this by herself or buy Weij a few drinks to pay for the priceless fashion tips. Look at the thriving colours, metallic leggings, rainbow-coloured denim, oversize blazers, huge shoulder pads, the disco look, the way of matching colourful cotton socks with sandles...It seems as if Agyness is on her way to disco tonight, only it would be greater if her chest were higher...ah well, 80's, that's the key word. Check Balanciaga Cruise ss 09 and Balmain for more inspirations.

fashion 7 days : Hussein Chalayan & Alexander Mcqueen

2009-03-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

Although greatest fashion design to me means marriage of commercial value and innovation, I still feel obliged to mention the 2 designers who are most aggressive about art regardless of the revenue of each season.

Hussein Chalayan

I see him as the most conceptual designer who constantly surprises people with his definition of fashion which usually involves experimental projects. In another word, I don't think his design is wearable NOW, maybe in 50 years people will...However, I have no doubt that there are always some souls needed to inspire the fashion industry.

famous video dress
fashion show SS 08 in format of short film

Alexander Mcqueen

I want to go to his show so badly! He holds the best fashion show in the world!

show 1
show 2

fashion 7 days : garters and "Nylons"

2009-03-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Weij realizes no words are proper for this topic. Yet this is what Weij wants to talk about in her first semi-serious fashion post, which also is the 1st of the 7-in-line-fashion posts of the week. Here Weij calls it Weij's fashion week, hoping this unfruitful indulgement will fight against the gloomy weather and win Weij a sunny mood.

So at this moment, Weij is typing in "garters and nylons" with a little blush. Weij realizes it's a little unproper to expose this unspoken personal likeness, however, Weij likes to challenge herself and believe secrets also invigorate others - I bet you are giggling your teeth out peeping at how Weij have been. So here we go, let's talk about the notorious lingerie and stockings.

A little bit education - bear with me as I'm such a lecturer! In the old times, a few decades ago actually, stockings were called "nylons" because of the ultimate use of Dupont Nylon which changed the whole era of stocking wearing phenomenon. Nylon stockings fit unbelievably well than traditional cotton ones and with the evolution of stockings, garters were fading out of the stocking wear history. However, as Weij says vintage will always shine, garters will have its spring!

Here are Weij's favourite lingerie brands, in the order of Weij's heart beat from super fast to fast:
Agent Provocateur (brand created by Vivienne Westwood's son), Beau Bra and Nocturne .

Here's also an interesting story about how Gabrielle Ross started Beau Bra.

Photos displayed are Agent Provocateur's amazing commercial shoots, including our famous Kate Moss.

sweet dreams of a cupcake

2009-02-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

This is a cute story (a little bit "yellow" as well as you will see) of a cupcake sailing to find his dream. Artist Kirsten Lepore used only dessert and vegetable to create every character and all the scenes, which just make you want to eat the whole film!

click here to see the video

ahhhhh

2009-02-24T01:35:00.000-08:00

LET WEIJ SCREAM !!!

DJs are silent

2009-02-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

I do not know him. I only know his name is Ben Huang. He's a DJ, and he's a good one. And we have met in a restaurant before. That's it. I do not care more about what he's done in the past to have become kind of the best DJ in China's DJ history, I only know that he was sitting there and that his name is Ben Huang. Sometimes you just don't realize how surprising one person would become another under certain circumstances, but as to DJs, I guess I would put them under a catagory "truely friendly people who love to play cool".

So there he was, sitting there with a beer, freezing; or a beer sitting in his hand with Ben Huang. I was a bit confused, at this time of the night, on a Wed. night, that I normally would be staying in bed moaning over my miseries to my low ceiling; however, I was in a bar. Visions gradually became stired up, looking at people, they could be some creatures with horns and beer in their hands, and they looked they've been enjoying themselves. That's good, they are creatures of the night, and tonight I became one of them.

So there he was, Ben Huang, sitting by the bar with a bottled beer. So I went up and said hi, smiling, friendly as always. As a matter of fact, I was going to talk to a DJ and I should just took the advantage, we started a rather brief and strange converstation.

Weij: So what do you think have made you become a DJ?

Ben: It is fun.

Weij: I heard you are a pineer DJ in China, why don't you also play at somewhere else?

Ben: I'll go play anywhere for money.

Weij is shocked: Oh...

Ben: I'd play at Muse, I'd play at G Plus, if they pay'd me, I'd go anywhere.

Weij: Wooh...How old are you?

Ben: 36

Weij: ...You are so honest...

Ben Huang kind of went away...After a while he came back to this corner...I started to have cold sweat...

Weij: ...Bored?...

Ben: Yeah.

Converstation was over...It was no surprise though, it lived up to my expectation - DJs are truely friendly people who love to play cool. Having this conclusion I went home, as holding a treasure that only I knew where it was at, only that I would never want to go back and look for it again.

mind torture Japanese style

2009-02-19T21:30:00.001-08:00

So this was the last scene of yesterday's business meeting, it is much easier to describe the poor guy's look by quoting Coldplay's second album "a rush of blood to the head", and I did not know if it was proper to sqeeze a compassionate smile in front of my boss.

The seemingly innocent look, grateful eyes, over-modest attitude, humble manner...the perfect conspiracy of Japanese!

So, here's a perfect example. My boss went out for dinner with 2 friends. She usually sticks with the place she trusts even it means she has to pay extra for memership fee. This time it was Xiao Nan Guo. She undoubtedly believes in the consistent dish quality. One unfortunate splash of soup poured over her coat, one waitress unfortunately did not appologize; as the night went on, they tried to distract themselves from the unhappy incident. Carrying on with the dessert, one friend all of a sudden screamed and from her mouth spit out a broken piece of spoon, sharp corners and everything. The next thing was she calling the restaurant manager over and her voice volumn increasing. Of course, according to my boss, fighting does not make things better. Thus, to reasure her friend, she was willing to step forward for her friend and show off her wicked mind torture Japanese style.

Attention. Here came my boss, short as B. The restaurant manager, short as M.

B (in a rather calm voice, higher gesture): How would you explain what has just happened? This is the second unhappy moment in the short night.

M: Mamm, we can prepare a few extra dishes for free. Or deduct a few dishes cost. (She's very professional, however, she did not appologize)

B: But we have already finished dessert, we might not have any more appetite. It is more reasuring to us that we have all expense deducted.

M: Sorry Mamm, this is all we can do.

B (still calm, really calm): Try to think that you are having dinner with your friends, you even paid the special booking fee so that you can stay in the VIP room, yet the service you get is quite out of expectation, would you be happy? (That is a wicked question - a yes or no question)

M (think for a while): Not really...

B: So would you please deduct the expense for us?

M went in to ask for her manager's permision.

M came out: Sorry Mamm, I was not entitled to give you an all deduction, but we can give you coupons. Would that be ok?

B (sharpened her mind torturing knife by now): I believe that you are a wonderful employee to this restaurant, I believe you are very capable of dealing with unexpected incident. Let me ask you one question, what do you think is the most important thing to a restaurant?

M: ...

B: It is the public praise. (pause) I came here because your dish quality is surprisingly guaranteed, every time I order the same dish and they always taste the same. It never fails me. Customer will come back if the restaurant offers good food and good service. If it dissapoints the customer, they will never come back. And this is crucial to a restaurant, the public praise.

M suffered...

B: I myself is an owner of a business. I grant my employee the certain rights to deal with customers, and I always ask them to make the customers happy, try to fulfill all their needs. I believe that if your restaurant owner is a wise person, for this I have no doubt, then she will give you the rights to deduct the costs for us. Because today we are really unhappy. My friend's life can be threatened by the broken spoon piece.

M was out of words long ago and she went back in for authority.

My boss then talked to her friend: I know she's a professional staff and what she did is absolutely correct. No restaurant owner would deduct all the cost for customers but I just want to see how she would deal with the situation.

M came out: Mamm, this is the result and I hope it'll make for your loss.

My boss took over the bill and on it the orginal 600 RMB was now merely a number of 60 something, which means they have deducted cost of all expensive dishes and have made drinks free.

How is that?! And what happened after? Of course they accpeted the solution, and next round, they went to somewhere for proper dessert feast!

Do not mess with Japanese, coz by killing you softly, they'll make you want to commit suicide.

spring film list

2009-02-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

My super good excuse to be a couch potato!

i'm da script girl

2009-02-16T22:11:00.000-08:00

In the scene, out of the scene, in the scene again!

Wow I'm the script girl! Wise man said if you put your thoughts into something hard enough, it will eventually come to you. I'm now one more step closer to Sophia Coppola! Go to facebook and join Mei Wen Ti Production. Some day we will be needing talented and passionate film geeks just like you!

killer rabbit

2009-02-16T21:42:00.000-08:00

My killer rabbit is called Bing Bing Bang. He could have been named after Bumble Bee but for some reason some one kept calling him Bing Bing Bang so I started to do the same and it never gets changed. He likes everything chewy and he does chew a lot. Last last night he killed my internet wire, before that my ipod earphone, before that my shoes, and before I foresee a lot of other unexpected damages to happen, I locked him back in his hole. He also loves graphiti papers, banana and me.

Having him around in the spring is delightful. He likes to chill out in the patio where he gets dry leaves to nibble at. He jumped around to show happiness and pushed the door open to find his way home. The only shortcoming of having a rabbit is he is just as selfish as a human, not as generous as a dog.

spring

2009-02-16T00:03:00.000-08:00

I'm listening to The Bird and The Bee and gradually everything starts to melt into the glittering water colour of Spring. One colour dilute into another and they combine and mix on the edges so eventually you'll get a big light dream full of thousands of colours, pastel of course, because that's my taste for spring. I have secretly wished there were a way that I were able to collect things by their kinds. If I had a collection book I'll sort out a section and name it as "soft and untouched".

In "soft and untouched" there should be The Virgin Suicide, Marie Antoinette, Stealing Beauty, La Fabouleux Destin D'amelie Poulin, The Bird and The Bee, Camille, a pink feather, my older painting of a two-become-one tree, photo of a flying fish, Miss Dior Cherie, the whole Nina Ricci s/s 08 collection, a French Beret and a bunch of Garden fairies. It should be light, fizzy and easy. Yes, as light as these little garden fairies, as if they would just appear from behind the stems of garden flowers and all of a sudden form up a mini orchestra!

SM rabbit

2009-02-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

I've made a new masterpiece and this piece of work is absolutely as innocent as me. There were words around about this work and all were focused on the small cabbage or carrot. So what had me doubted is if there's something wrong with it - my painting skill? The way I look at rabbits as? The theme? Is my understanding of SM correct? Never mind. As my friend has urged me to put this on, so that it can bring a bit controversy around, according to him, I feel obliged to do this, to entertain you all. Let's see if you are innocent enough to enjoy this painting. Not having a scanner, I have to do posting the rough way...pity that...And, oh, tell me your favorite posture!

teeli toolu beezi beezi

2009-02-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

These beezi beezi wheels just came up to me, it's doom, a little joyful encounter. I'm amused by the way how they tease me: You little busy human, you can't be busier than me!

perfect night out

2009-02-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

For me, a perfect night out must include a lot of oranges, a lot of nice wine, beautiful friends, beautiful dancing music, beautiful pictures, graffiti and beautiful smiles.

Toshiba & 200 camaras

2009-02-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

Toshiba Timesculpture Advert

wobbly time

2009-02-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

It's 6:13 in the morning and I still couldn't sleep. I stayed wide awake. Maybe it was the coffee, maybe I just needed a clear night and some peaceful moments. My script translation still has more than a half to go and I felt a bit hasty. I'm just waiting for the moment to come so that I can leave all my regrets behind and open new doors, be ready to face the troubles and handle them with courage. And I know that time will come. Now, though, I have to pull myself back to the translation out of this wobbly Friday dawn.

necessary transform tips for an ugly domestic man to become an astonishing office god

2009-02-04T21:10:00.000-08:00

Now, this is not Weij's propaganda, it's just totally beyond her understanding! Whoever the author is, he must be an amazing human being! (a Japanese ! $%*^&~~`@ :P ) However, as reading along, I hope this will be of some tiny help dragging you out of your dismay, for the ones who has been searching pointlessly in the dark for ages, this tip is your light!

I apologize for still being ignorant of how to make the layout more organized here, just bear with me for a second, I promise I will sort it out one day. Here, in sequence of the pictures:

a. First of first, an office glamour star must have a cheesy mustache!

b. We all have the moment of getting bored. When eating a melon, a real gentleman must carve a dragon out of the melon with teeth.

c. The weather is so hot! Yet how can a metrosexual sweat like a pig? A real prince must sweat with sparks!

d. Now, when colleague needs help, DO not just stand up and turn back, DO slide the chair all the way along!

e. When delivering a presentation, instead of clicking the mouse, DO drag the wire curvy and long!

f. In the office, when there are gorgeous female co-workers around, please DO rub the mouse against your body in delight!

g. A puddle in front of you. Now, the read gentleman must not be afraid of getting wet! He must stride over in an elegant way rather than taking the bypass.

h. To show your manlyness, please grap your chest-part shirt to form a musculine manly back.

i. In the subway, even you are sooooo tired, you have to remember you are a super model in Vogue! A model must fall asleep in a beautiful gesture, arms griping tight on your body, do not open your mouth and drool !

j. Get out the subway. An office god must pass the turnstile with his own charming way of spinning 3 times on his tiptoe, like a ballet dancer!

k. Elevator's door is shutting! How can a god abruptly keeps pressing the button and waste people's precious time? No! A god has to shift into the elevator elegantly!

m. Last but not the least, when eating a melon, it's highly recommended not to waste the seeds. Spit them out nicely in a certain order, such as the word "love", when there are girls around.

from http://carefen.blogbus.com/logs/32797909.html

shan zhai food

2009-02-04T19:33:00.000-08:00

It's our company culture to bring small gifts from a trip. So after the Spring Festival I received many small gifts from people who've gone home for the New Year. They were mostly food from their provinces, as "shan zhai" as they can be yet fairly interesting! Look wild, taste wild. When chewing them, I can almost imagine a wild life in the west (west China) where nice old men collect dry wood sticks to make fire for the stove!

Hmm...while letting your imagination fly, let me introduce the shan zhai delicacy of the day: floury pastry stick & sun dry persimmon.

heart, fish eye & hand

2009-02-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

I have to keep drawing. I have to remind myself from time to time. I have to make beautiful things. Making things beautifully makes me smile.

This little memory unfolded from 8 years ago. At the time being I was having a very painful living situation with my 3 roommates in the uni dorm. Painful, so unbearable that I wanted to kill myself every time those girls started to talk about something I hated to listen. And what they were really talking about, 9 out of 10 times, was, the conspiracy to hook up with the boys in the opposite dorm building. Right, I'm out. Too complicated to me. I'd better keep my fingers busy with oil sticks and ball-pointed pens. By this way I was able to find the peace.

In the peace, I shaped a broken heart and a weird fish eye. In the other drawing it was my elegantly posed hand, which I kept the original look, non artistic modification has made to make it look slimmer, which I regret right away.

And those conspiracies never made any difference. They got bored very soon again.

in spring, my face goes like

2009-02-02T06:31:00.000-08:00

I normally feel cheerful and silly in the spring, like this. But other times I have my mood sways. Can't blame me, I'm an ordinary woman!

how to make a perfect bloody mary

2009-01-31T23:05:00.000-08:00

1 1/2 ounces vodka

1/2 cup tomato juice

2 tear drops from a wounded peacock

1 handful shark bone powder

todd saliva to taste

pull the above mix in a glass made of a witch's crystal ball

add some black magic

1 celery stick for garnish

Voila !

baking maniac

2009-01-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

This is an idea (a slight hint) how futuristic oven should look like. "Made in China" may still apply the crazy look, but this one ain't so bad, simply speaking of the wild imagination.

However, my mum's 520 RMB telephone ordered oven does work its routine. I managed to bake some sugar cookies with this futuristic tank. I think Vince from The Mighty Boosh will love them!

family reunion

2009-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

Family visit does not happen too much for me, but as Spring Festival came, it brought the perfect opportunity, which was great.

This is me, mum and dad in the 80's. Sweet.

S. Darko

2009-01-22T22:38:00.000-08:00

Waiting for the Donnie Darko sequel S. Darko which is under post-production aimed to release some time this year, but as going through the synopsis I'm not sure anymore if I'm still all excited to watch it...Let's put it in this way, not viewing it earliest wouldn't make me mad...Jake Gyllenhaal will not be there anyway, let alone the change of director. So...hmm, think about it as the story goes like:

S. Darko takes place in the summer of 1995, seven years after the original film. It follows Donnie Darko's younger sister, Samantha (Daveigh Chase), who, in the wake of his death, has found herself at age 17 with a broken family, mired in feelings of insignificance. She and her best friend Corey (Evigan) set off on a road trip to Hollywood in a bid to 'make it big', but their journey is cut short when their car breaks down unexpectedly, leaving them stranded in a small desert town. When a meteorite happens to crash-land nearby, Samantha is plagued by bizarre visions telling of the universe's end and it appears that their breakdown was part of some grander plan. When she finds out she was actually adopted by the Darkos, and that she is in no way related to Donnie, she must face her own demons and, in doing so, save the world and herself [Source Wikipedia]

youth

2009-01-22T19:58:00.000-08:00

is all about chiffon, cigarette, neon light, leather, red nails, rock & roll, cheap clothing, dream, camera shutter, milk tea, vague, lots, more

RMB is hard currency when ...

2009-01-21T08:08:00.001-08:00

Have your eyes widely open, as there are fake 100 face value RMB currency lurking around somewhere as you draw cash from ATMs! They can now pass certain currency detectors!

Fake 100 yuan normally start with the code HD90 or HB90. Some said the damn fake money came in from Taiwan and now they have covered almost all the big cities of east, south & middle China. It's a fake money plague, there are so many of them that it has become somewhat a nation wide turmoil.

Not until one of my friends told me she got cheated by a Qiang Sheng Taxi driver on a night ride (isn't QS with a good name?!), I really freaked out as my TINY pile of Chinese hard currency failed to be accepted by the ATM (yep, each red Mao money means a lot to me). Thank god they were real, in the end. Real gold always gotta shine!

Here are some useful tips from our "fake money detectors":

1. if you are a good toucher or good watcher, you probably will be safe - have to be sentational with money too!
2. if you cannot tell, report to the nearest police
3. if you want to spend it, you better not think of it as that's really bad to our society
4. if you don't know what to do, just cry
5. if you are too cold, burn the money to get warm

But really, what "fake money detectors" say is:

In the graphic,
Area 1: If it's real, turn the money slightly to an angle and you shall be able to see "100"
Area 2: If it's real, scratch Mao's colars with nail, it should be bumpy
Area 3: If it's real, there should be a coherent iron seam inside the paper
Area 6: If it's real, turn the money to an angle and you should see the "100" changing colour

Happy practise. XO

obama morning

2009-01-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

Exciting? (Let's read more about his politic trends towards China on Shanghai Daily, not here) On the other side of the globe yes, but for me, that means another morning running late for work. A typical Weij morning is

7:00 alarm rings, turn it to 8
8:00 rings again, turn it to 8:20
8:18 compulsory wake-up
8:23 in a huge physical & mental mess pull my clothes on - a hole on stockings, change it
8:26 rumble to bathroom for daily hygene & beauty do
8:45 rumble back to my hole & feed rabbit - add extra 2 gains of dry pineapple, lucky him
8:47 stumble over scattered slippers to get my bread, butter, blueberry jam, milk for breadfast
8:50 forget vogue mag, go fetch it
8:51 turn on the light, sit down, stuff things into my mouth, chew, chew harder, take a sip of milk, swallow, hand turning the pages, brain remaining dead
9:05 coat on, scarf on, gloves on, shoes on, bag on, key in hand, go
9:06 raining outside, come back to fetch my umbrella, go, too late for bus, take metro
10:03 arrive in office, exhausted, tell myself I will do something constructive during the day.

Be a better woman (confessions already made to my computer).

start wearing red

2009-01-19T23:46:00.001-08:00

It has almost been my saying for the week now - start wearing red, start wearing red and start wearing red! God knows how many times I've made myself repetitive, but at this very festive moment (somewhere my mind has been flying high beyond the fabulous Bund office), I'll repeat myself again - start wearing red!

This little cuddly kid also told me the same thing, as he was tightly hugged in his neo-Chinese two-piece outfit. The shinning silky touch, the unbiased red tone, the little scattered patterns, even the little red dot on the hat, delivered one happy message: The CNY long break is coming again for us all lazy & worn-out office slaves.

ps. This wicked kid applied my look on the second pic. That, is Weij's signature look, the evil look.

little sanctuary

2009-01-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

How time flies yet memory remains. This is where I saw Hilary Clinton delivering a speech in person and felt so proud being a lucky one, also this is where I spent my first "Christmas Eve" singing solo in the darkness surrounded by no one but echo. When the first ray of light flings through the coloured glass windows onto the ground, I know that all the little souls in this sanctuary are special.

We were all Shanghai No. 3 Girls' Middle School girls. Maybe some of us grew up ok, some of us lost ourselves, someone else lead an ordinary life, or carried on to an exciting experiment, I know that all of us have once belonged.