Taking a Walk Through 60’s New York

In all this heat, I’ve been watching a lot of DVDs. Tonight’s choice was the first episode of AMC’s series Mad Men.
I’ve only watched the first episode but the show seems to feature everything that I like about the 60’s: well-pressed suits, drinking in the afternoon and a sense of living where you can tell [...]

Today’s Earthquake: The Day China Entered the Twitter Era

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the earthquake that hit Sichuan today. It was so big that we even felt it in Shanghai.
When it happened I was sitting at my desk working on my computer. I felt a little dizzy and I thought it was just from some eating some bad food at lunch. [...]

Watching Antonioni’s China

This afternoon on the way back from lunch, Winnie and I stopped at the DVD store. There we came across a copy of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Cina: Chung Kuo (China: the Middle Kingdom). The film is a documentary that Antonioni shot in Beijing, Henan, Suzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai during a five-week trip and later aired on [...]

Chinese Diplomats Pressure the CBC

According the China Game, the CBC canceled a documentary on the Falun Gong last night, because it received pressure from the Chinese embassy in Ottawa. I’m not a big fan of the Falun Gong myself (I worked on a couple of FG stories as a journalist and always found them to be a little out [...]

An Awesome Commercial from Chinese TV

I read a great post on EastSouthWestNorth today:
“
[in translation]
A few days ago, I saw the most awesome television ad ever on Linfen TV.
Three women met in the middle of the street and the [...]

More One-Sentence Movie Reviews

I spent more time this weekend watching DVDs so here are some more short reviews:
Spiderman 3: Probably the movie that is most like the comic books out of all three movies. It’s set in 2007 but it could as easily be 1987 — except Toby McGuire plays a more arrogant Spidey.
The Office (US Version): Sometimes [...]

Why Hasn’t CNN Been Talking About The Lack of Press Freedom in It’s China Coverage?

I’ve spent this week watching CNN’s Count Down To Beijing Series everyday before I go to work. And I’ve been impressed by their coverage of the construction boom, the displacement of people and the pollution and environmental problems. What I think has been lacking though is the coverage of the fact that Beijing hasn’t really [...]

Is Heroes The Next Prison Break?

I recently started watching season 1 of the US TV show Heroes and I have to say it has the potential to become as popular as Prison Break is in China right now. The show tells the story of a series of people who discover they have amazing abilities. That on it’s own isn’t really [...]