Monday, May 17, 2010
Stand-out Chinese Name of the Day
Say hello to Hu Deman, a writer from China Daily, who wins the prize today for Best Name I've Seen in a Long While.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
11 Amazing Fake Harry Potter Books Written in China
China, kingdom of rip-offs. Bootlegged Harry Potter comes in all sorts of guises (often paired with hobbbits) to save the day and make big bucks for the ingenious author.
Some of my favorites from this choice list of eleven:
1) "Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk-Up-To Dragon", an excerpt:
There was a hobbit, who didn't even know how to return home. He lived in a hole in the ground, and didn't know where he came from or where he was going to. He even didn't know why he had become a hobbit. This was Hogwartz School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 5th year apprentice Harry Potter.
...
After Gandolf left, the five of them rode their brooms, travelling with the wind. Trees and cars along the roads below receded. Only when they encountered the occasional passenger jet, the pilot and passengers would cry out, "Hey! Flying people!", or "Hey! Aliens!"
2) "Harry Potter and the Chinese Porcelain Doll." The plot goes something like this:
Voldemort reaches out to his Chinese counterpart and protege, Yandomort, for help fighting Harry. Harry needs to go to China to track down the Chinese Porcelain Doll, which could stop Yandomort. Seems like a stupid anti-evil trinket, but, then again, so was the sorcerer's stone.
As Harry travels to China, he befriends some Chinese circus acrobats who knew Yandomort back when he was a kid -- named (literally translated from Chinese) Naughty Bubble. Turns out Voldemort killed Naughty Bubble's mom, who was named (literally translated from Chinese) Big Spinach, then took the kid under his wing and made him evil.
Can Harry and the Chinese acrobats find the doll in time to stop the 'Morts?
3) "Harry Potter and the Filler of Big." This is creative:
Harry leaves the Dursleys after a rough summer where Dudley was shacking up with a belly dancer. (I think perhaps the author here misinterpreted all of Rowling's comments about Dudley's rotund belly and came to believe that he was in love with a stripper.)
Before he goes, Bat Bug (I'm assuming that's China's interpretation of Dobby) tells him there's trouble waiting at Hogwarts. And there is: All of the students keep transforming into wooden stools. Offffff course they do.
It's up to Harry to solve the mystery and he has but four suspects: An evil student... Hagrid's gone rogue... Voldemort's shadow has returned... or, worst of all, it has something to do with the Filler of Big (aka the Big Funnel).
Wait, what? WHAT EXACTLY IS A BIG FUNNEL?!?!
Some of my favorites from this choice list of eleven:
1) "Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk-Up-To Dragon", an excerpt:
There was a hobbit, who didn't even know how to return home. He lived in a hole in the ground, and didn't know where he came from or where he was going to. He even didn't know why he had become a hobbit. This was Hogwartz School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 5th year apprentice Harry Potter.
...
After Gandolf left, the five of them rode their brooms, travelling with the wind. Trees and cars along the roads below receded. Only when they encountered the occasional passenger jet, the pilot and passengers would cry out, "Hey! Flying people!", or "Hey! Aliens!"
2) "Harry Potter and the Chinese Porcelain Doll." The plot goes something like this:
Voldemort reaches out to his Chinese counterpart and protege, Yandomort, for help fighting Harry. Harry needs to go to China to track down the Chinese Porcelain Doll, which could stop Yandomort. Seems like a stupid anti-evil trinket, but, then again, so was the sorcerer's stone.
As Harry travels to China, he befriends some Chinese circus acrobats who knew Yandomort back when he was a kid -- named (literally translated from Chinese) Naughty Bubble. Turns out Voldemort killed Naughty Bubble's mom, who was named (literally translated from Chinese) Big Spinach, then took the kid under his wing and made him evil.
Can Harry and the Chinese acrobats find the doll in time to stop the 'Morts?
3) "Harry Potter and the Filler of Big." This is creative:
Harry leaves the Dursleys after a rough summer where Dudley was shacking up with a belly dancer. (I think perhaps the author here misinterpreted all of Rowling's comments about Dudley's rotund belly and came to believe that he was in love with a stripper.)
Before he goes, Bat Bug (I'm assuming that's China's interpretation of Dobby) tells him there's trouble waiting at Hogwarts. And there is: All of the students keep transforming into wooden stools. Offffff course they do.
It's up to Harry to solve the mystery and he has but four suspects: An evil student... Hagrid's gone rogue... Voldemort's shadow has returned... or, worst of all, it has something to do with the Filler of Big (aka the Big Funnel).
Wait, what? WHAT EXACTLY IS A BIG FUNNEL?!?!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Our Face
My friend Jill works at a great art gallery (that shall remain nameless in this space, just to be careful) in one of the major art districts here in Beijing, called Caochangdi. Well, it's kind of THE major art district--as the other is much more developed and tourist-a-fied. Caochangdi lies at the outskirts of Beijing and is actually a communist-era village, with artists' studios and galleries interspersed into a working-class community. The area used to be agricultural but has since been absorbed into the ever-expanding giant that is the capital city.
Recently, Caochangdi put on a major photography festival, Caochangdi PhotoSpring, in conjunction with Arles photo festival. The festival gathered artists from Asia, America, and Europe, and is showing their work through June. Some of the work, particularly that by Chinese artists, can be quite inflammatory and politically sensitive, definitely pushing the envelope culturally. The government always worries about subversive types and activists, who are especially dangerous when they congregate in GROUPS. Thus something like a FESTIVAL which allows many subversives to GATHER TOGETHER and to FORM NETWORKS, not to mention DISCUSS SENSITIVE TOPICS and DISPLAY SENSITIVE IMAGES as a way to DISSEMINATE REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS, is quite threatening.
Therefore, the government had a few things to say about the festival, and did a number of not-so-subtle things to attempt to delay or mar the exhibition, including sending police to threaten some of the gallery owners, delaying or denying the necessary permits and paperwork, refusing to allow overseas artwork (particularly from Japan--mortal enemy No. 1) to enter the country for the festival, and threatening to demolish sections (or even all) of the village of Caochangdi after the festival concludes.
This last is particularly worrisome as many of these artists and galleries have invested a lifetime's worth of savings into the spaces that they have developed in this wonderful, creative village of Caochangdi. If the village is ripped down as a political statement/warning to those who are outspoken, or to make way for new development as part of the government's urban planning efforts, Beijing will lose a vital piece of its contemporary culture and social voice, at least temporarily.*
Anyway, overall, the photo festival was really neat. If you are in Beijing, check it out! One particularly interesting artist who has work on exhibit there is Ken Kitano, a Japanese photographer who is exhibiting a project called Our Face. He's traveled around the world taking pictures of individuals who all belong to a similar group (race, class, profession, etc). Then, he layers the negatives one on top of another, until dozens, even hundreds, of peoples' faces lie one over the other. The effect is remarkably cohesive and striking, while also ghostlike and ethereal. I never would have guessed that we all look so much the same! It's cool-check it out!
*If you are interested in helping to protect Caochangdi by signing a petition against demolition, email me.
Recently, Caochangdi put on a major photography festival, Caochangdi PhotoSpring, in conjunction with Arles photo festival. The festival gathered artists from Asia, America, and Europe, and is showing their work through June. Some of the work, particularly that by Chinese artists, can be quite inflammatory and politically sensitive, definitely pushing the envelope culturally. The government always worries about subversive types and activists, who are especially dangerous when they congregate in GROUPS. Thus something like a FESTIVAL which allows many subversives to GATHER TOGETHER and to FORM NETWORKS, not to mention DISCUSS SENSITIVE TOPICS and DISPLAY SENSITIVE IMAGES as a way to DISSEMINATE REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS, is quite threatening.
Therefore, the government had a few things to say about the festival, and did a number of not-so-subtle things to attempt to delay or mar the exhibition, including sending police to threaten some of the gallery owners, delaying or denying the necessary permits and paperwork, refusing to allow overseas artwork (particularly from Japan--mortal enemy No. 1) to enter the country for the festival, and threatening to demolish sections (or even all) of the village of Caochangdi after the festival concludes.
This last is particularly worrisome as many of these artists and galleries have invested a lifetime's worth of savings into the spaces that they have developed in this wonderful, creative village of Caochangdi. If the village is ripped down as a political statement/warning to those who are outspoken, or to make way for new development as part of the government's urban planning efforts, Beijing will lose a vital piece of its contemporary culture and social voice, at least temporarily.*
Anyway, overall, the photo festival was really neat. If you are in Beijing, check it out! One particularly interesting artist who has work on exhibit there is Ken Kitano, a Japanese photographer who is exhibiting a project called Our Face. He's traveled around the world taking pictures of individuals who all belong to a similar group (race, class, profession, etc). Then, he layers the negatives one on top of another, until dozens, even hundreds, of peoples' faces lie one over the other. The effect is remarkably cohesive and striking, while also ghostlike and ethereal. I never would have guessed that we all look so much the same! It's cool-check it out!
*If you are interested in helping to protect Caochangdi by signing a petition against demolition, email me.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Chinglish
It never stops being funny. I mean, I guarantee this is how I sound every day when I speak Chinese, so I don't feel too bad about having a couple laughs over somebody's mangled English vocab and usage.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Shrieking Eels
Think crazy shit happens when you drink with your friends? I guarantee it's not this out of control. Scope it...if you're ready to be HORRIFIED.
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