Archive for June, 2009

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MJ = Awesomeness

June 25th, 2009 by Johanna | 1 comment | Filed in China, Work

Or so I was told by Emily. It logically follows that a world without MJ cannot be as awesome as it was with him.

Here’s my two cents on him, my assignment for work this morning:

Michael Jackson was 50? I didn’t know that; did you know that? Probably not. Why? Because Michael Jackson is timeless. So timeless that, in referring to him, I switched from past to present tense—did you notice that? Michael Jackson was before my time, but that didn’t stop him from subtly making his presence felt in my time. I couldn’t be cool until I learned the lyrics of and dance moves to “Thriller.” A similar experience had by women inmates in a high-security prison in the Philippines makes me think, like Michael Jackson did, that I am not alone. So does the worldwide outpouring of shock, grief and subsequent celebration of his life and music.

Like all news concerning MJ, there was the initial disbelief at the insanity of such a bizarre event. He’s turning white? His nose is peeling off? He’s having sleepovers with little kids? He’s dangling a baby off a Berlin balcony? He’s getting sued and running low on money? What? That’s the Michael Jackson I knew, a tabloid sensation and huge weirdo. But despite whatever antics he was up to, there was still this invincibility about him: No matter what he did, people still went crazy over him, still reenacted his music videos, still played his songs proudly. He was still the King of Pop.

His fans like to write off his loopiness, preferring to just call him “misunderstood.” I don’t know if he’s misunderstood so much as just not understandable. Who can ever understand geniuses? MJ broke down racial barriers and transformed music as people knew it. All the annoying pop stars of today were influenced by him or, at least, influenced by someone who was influenced by him. He supported and donated a lot of money to so many charities, he went down in the Guinness Book of World Records for it. He liked to tell us he was Bad, but I like to think he meant badass. Who else can get away with all these things?

No one. So I will rock with MJ, watch his epic videos all day long and then have a celebratory beer after work.

International Food: Pizza

June 25th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Food

I went a good four weeks without eating any foreign cuisine. I was thinking about this earlier and I realized that I couldn’t think of anything I wanted from the States. I thought of my usual favorites, like sushi or pasta, but nothing made my mouth water. I just wanted good, cheap Chinese food, like dumplings or noodles and a vegetable dish.

Chris and I decided to hit up Nan Luo Gu Xiang after a fitting at the tailor shop. We had been introduced to the hutong last week when we went out with some friends. We wandered up the street as it was getting dark, then wandered back down. We settled on a pizza place called Cottage Pizza (there may or may not have been more to the name), really just because it happened to be right where we stopped. When we first got to China, I had suggested that we do an international food week, where we would try a different cuisine each night. Now, I don’t think I could go a whole week eating non-Chinese food anymore; I think this will be a fun series, though. (more…)

Beijing’s on fire!

June 25th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China

OK, not really. But it’s super hot. I’m bracing for July, which, I have been warned, is most notorious for its heat.

Temperatures have been in the upper 90s and will go into the 100s this weekend and parts of next week, before falling back down — into the lower 90s — according to weather.com.

Unlike back home, though, it’s dry heat. The verdict’s still out on which is better, that or the humid summers of North Carolina.

Jews tamper with the institution of journalism

June 22nd, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in Media

Haaretz, one of Israel’s leading newspapers known for its elitist and liberal readership, tried a bold little experiment earlier this month. It sent 31 of the country’s finest literary authors out to cover the day’s news in lieu of its usual reporting staff.

It’s no secret that the news business is in crisis, which many people say is its own doing. And they’re mostly correct. The world of journalism is a very ugly world. It is full of fact-spouting know-it-alls, who, despite their best intentions, always end up doing what they rail against. Journalists cling to the notion that there is an unbiased and external truth out there, a view that is becoming increasingly at odds with a postmodernist world. Moreover, journalists like to think of themselves somewhat as purveyors of truth, which only adds to their self-delusion and complicates matters. Journalists used to be the link between newsmakers and the masses, but that role has been diminished with the advent of television and the Internet. Now that everyone can see the facts for themselves, who needs reporters to relay information? News has become more and more just the reporter’s truth.

Which brings me back to the Jew story. The Jewish Daily Forward’s report on the experiment included this quote from Yossi Melman, a writer for Haaretz:

“It would be very difficult to replace journalists with authors and run a newspaper. We are trained; we know how to do it. For them, you know, there is a tendency to elaborate.”

None of what he says is wrong. News reporting and news writing is a craft that, like in any other profession, is best done by those who have been trained in it. There is a model, however flawed it is now, that has worked and evolved. But just because we journalists know our trade better than anyone else doesn’t mean inspiration for improvement can’t come from outside sources. A wild idea, admittedly, but perhaps news should become more thought-provoking.

Comfort food in China not very comforting

June 21st, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Food, Life

What do you do when you’re feeling sad in China? If you’re Chinese, I’m not sure. If you’re an American girl in China, I’m still not sure. The Chinese put some unusual twists on my usual comfort foods, so I have to say I’m still feeling a little down in the dumps. (more…)

Who needs protests? Chinese governments cudgel themselves

June 17th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Work

This sentence was too good to pass up:

“Local governments at all levels have cudgeled their brains trying to solve the problem of water shortage.”

First, it implies that governments have brains.

Second, it implies that there are multiple layers of government at the local level — a dizzying amount of bureaucracy indeed! Just think about how many more levels there are within the regional and state levels!

Third, it conjures a vision of a rather beastly fratricidal scene involving clubs with spikes and cavemen and grunting. Lots of grunting.

Becoming Asian

June 17th, 2009 by Johanna | 1 comment | Filed in China

According to this study on Internet use, this internship is turning me into an Asian!

Here’s what I do online: listen to music, read the news, IM my friends and update my blog. That’s what Chinese people like to do online, too! Americans, however, use the Internet more for commerical-related activities.

By the way, if you didn’t take the time to read the blog post, here’s an interesting nugget:

However, an interesting report by the Pew Research Center found that Chinese users aren’t as concerned about the censorship as Americans would assume. Though the Pew report concluded that Chinese users approve of the government’s management of the Internet, the high popularity of blogs and instant messaging, combined with what we’ve seen of their industrious ways of getting around certain controls, convinces us that maybe they’re not concerned because they just don’t let the government get in their way.

That’s generally how people roll in China, I’ve noticed. And not just with the government — they don’t let anything get in their way, even if it is in their way.

Learning me some Chinese, one phrase at a time

June 15th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Work

I came across this phrase at work today: ?????????????????. That is: Dang zhenli hai zai chuan xiezi, yaoyan yijing man tian fei le. Or in English, if you prefer: While truth is still putting on shoes, rumor already is flying everywhere in the air. (Sorry for my awkwardly literal translations, by the way).

Is there an English equivalent for this proverb?

More firsts

June 14th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Life, Reflections, Shenanigans

What a weekend! Work kept us busy with all these fun activities. Thursday night was our karaoke/office “Idol” competition (First #1) — which I am proud to say, my roommate has made it to the final round based on his performance of Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut.”

Then Friday afternoon, we boarded a bus to Hongluo Mountain for a work retreat (First #2). We were also given 170 kuai to spend at the hotel, which bought me two games of bowling, a round (?) of archery (First #3) and a 30 minute back massage (First #4), with almost 40 kuai leftover. That doesn’t include the joy of having my coworkers’ company nor the joy of making new friends with the folks at the railway bureau in the Song and Dance Room. Now they knew how to do karaoke.

The next morning, we began ascending the mountain bright and early. There is also a Buddhist temple near the foot of the mountain and a Tian Men (Heaven’s Gate) at the very top. Rather stupidly, I was ill-prepared. I should have known Chinese mountains (First #5) are not like American mountains. There are no cutbacks and footpaths; rather, there are stairs more or less straight to the top. St. Peter wasn’t there to greet me when I made it, either.

But the real adventure was coming down the mountain. There was an “Alpine Coaster” about half-way up the mountain, and the name pretty much says it all. They strap people into these individual cars and then link the cars together to form a train. A guy in the first car works the breaks, and luckily for us, our driver’s breaks were broken. It was like a real roller coaster!

Today, Chris and I checked out the Silk Market and South Chaoyang District. We got badminton gear and played some pick-up badminton (First #6) at The Place, which was actually a really cool place to be. The Place is a shopping mall, I think, with mostly Western clothing stores; I saw a Zara, Guess, Jack n Jones, Mango and French Connection. But there are these three or four giant LCD screens covering a huge open plaza where kids and their parents were throwing these big disks. Essentially, each of these discs is made of plastic balloon stuff wrapped around a hoola hoop with a little bit of air inside. A grand staircase overlooking the plaza provided a great place for couples and friends to sit and people-watch. Also, a Juice Avenue stand had really kick-ass Hong Kong-style boba. It was a great night at The Place.

That’s another thing about China that I love: People go outside and hang out at night. Not at a bar or a friend’s house, but just outside — on the sidewalks, in the hutongs, on the outdoor plaza of some shopping mall. They’ll throw around some cheap toy, play pickup badminton or a game a chess, or just talk — in Chinese, they call it liao tian (??), or chatting the day away. It’s a sense of camaraderie and of simple pleasures that completely erases all notion of an earlier time when business and brusqueness ruled the day. It’s where you discover the heart of the Chinese.

Pure awesomeness

June 10th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in Web Site Updates

I have persevered and conquered! My photo gallery* now comes with links. How convenient for you guys. Now, do you prefer the links to open in the same window or new ones?

Next up: figuring out how to change the type to Century Gothic. In case you haven’t noticed, I already learned how to do this on my blog. Sometimes (like right now), I feel like the title of my post.

*Also with new and updated albums.

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