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A little bit of writing....
I'm really into the blog these days, so those who are actually into it are lucky. Here's what's new... So I came to China to meet up with my friend Colin, who said that the city he was/is in is amazing and I should come and check it out. So here I am. I came. I'm here. It's dope and awesome. And I'm so gratefull that he helped me out. He said that we would go travelling together, which he loves doing and I love doing. And he especially loves in China, cause he speaks Chinese and everything. So even like more than a year ago we talked about travelling together. Anyway, there's a holiday coming up (starting this friday) - so Colin's school is off and well, I'm free as a bird. Anyway, he went to Fujian and Beijing last week to do skate comps and now, how can I put this....is really in desperate need of his girlfriend. So what? I asked him about travelling in the upcoming week..."uhhh...we'll talk when I get back okay?" uh huh. So the little monkey is going to stay here. Which is fine, and it's so awesome that he's found a new girlfriend (even tho she sux compared to who I won't say...) and he's so happy, it's awesome. But he turns into a big loser when he gets a new girl and I really just...I don't know......I'm venting....maybe this is how Riel felt when Colin hooked up with Saya. And he's fully gonna read this but I don't care because I'm mad. And some people invited me to go on a trip with them and I'm gonna go. And then when I told him he criticized the itinerary. like????????? I have noone to go with because you ditched me, but you can criticize the only option I have? Fuck you man. Anyway, now that that's over with.... I'm going to Xi'an! I'm really excited. It's this ancient city in Central Northish China that has this Tomb of terracotta warriors. A quick summary: the dude who was mainly responsible for the great wall's construction had a tomb built for himself, but he wasn't going into the afterlife without an army, so he had his army copied in terracotta - thousands of clay soldiers - exact replicas of the original dudes - every one is different. Amazing. There's a lot more to the city than that...it was home base for a number of dynasties - importantly Emperor Qin's who made "it capital of a unified China..." Anyway I haven't been there yet but here's a site with some information if you're interested: I just decided to go yesterday so due to the holidays, there were not many tickets available... Anyway, I got a hard seat, which is the worst kind you can get because I'm going for 20 hours. But the Aussies (yes I'm travelling with a pack of Australians...) have hard sleepers (which basically means the train car is a dorm), so hopefully I can hang with them for most of the ride and then try and sleep in my shitty stank hard seat (the seats aren't actually hard, and aren't really hard to come by either - they are just hard to handle) for a few hours. Maybe the little badboys I downed on the plane will come in handy. So Mom! and others who care...prolly not my dad cause I doubt he even checks this I will be gone from Thursday morning (that's 7pm wednesday night for you) until sometime next wednesday. Alright? Don't worry. Kiyomi will be coming shortly after I return which is super exciting. gOTTA go, sorry for the negativity had to let it out. peas. Posted at 9:23 pm by CJ.
THANK YOU MIKE!
Here's another killer. I got this note at work. Know that this random dude comes running into the class during break who I've never met and says:
"Hello, Chloe. Just to let you know. they are taking everyone's temperature at all the train and bus stations because of the new sars crisis." I panicked for a second. Then realized how ridiculous that just was. I'm not sure why they want to keep us so"updated". My roommates and I surveyed a number of guesses....anyway, I can't talk long.
Oh yeah, and I'm going by Clone now...okay? So don't forget it.
bye bye.
Posted at 4:40 pm by CJ.
Yo!
For some reason Ocean University - the school that Colin, Mattieu, Soph and most of my friends go to - had a week off this week. The reason this is weird is because the week of May 1st is a national holiday and they have that week off as well. So anyway, a lot of people took off and I have had nothing to do. So I checked out some local attractions. I climbed the mountains behind the university that I always talk about being able to see from the apartment...that was awesome. Here's a pic...
Beautiful isn't it? It was a gorgeous day and we couldn't justify staying inside and doing nothing. So up we went. I climbed the mountain with some Frenchies and was reminded of a day trip I took with the Chicoutimi French camp cause it was really hard (not THAT hard, but still) and I had to speak the french all the way up. It's really hard to conjugate verbs when you are huffing and puffing and sweaty. Anyway the guy the corner of the picture is Antony (pronounced An-toe-nee) and he's a cool french dude who loves to look slick.
It's blossom time and all the trees are covered in beautiful flowers, it's stunning. All the trees look like classic Chinese paintings.
What else....there is so much French action here. A new bar opened called Le Bang - I think I mentioned it earlier. This flik is from their opening night party. Drunken losers that we were, thought it would be dope to roll tru with shades on. Of course I had just bought an awesome pair of white rimmed fake Gucci's in Jimo Lu market...so yeah
This little fucking gem is something that my homie Erin (aussie girl) found in a children's notebook for sale in the stationary section in the giant bookstore downtown. Take note of sexy sexy styles of these two hot tamales....THIS IS CHILDREN'S STATIONARY
Good fucking lord.
So I also went adventuring along the coast of town one day with my 18 year old Scottish friend who is hilarious. We went exploring in these super rich gated communities. The ridiculous thing about this is that all these complexes have guards and security gates, but if you're white, you can just stroll in and walk around in people's backyards.
This whole white thing is out of control. I was offered a job last week to just hang out in a bar. Like "okay guys, I'm off to work, I gotta go BE white." They wanna pay me like twenty bux and unlimited booze for the four hours I would hang there. There are so many problems with this I can't even begin to name them.
Oh and if you are interested in some dope Chinese music...do a search for S.H.E. some bubble gum britney type shit. It's actually pretty good tho.
The other siteseeing i've been doing is in the cheap knock off markets. I got pumas for 8 dollars. I have a serious serious spending problem. I'm not actually spendin a lot, so I guess it's more of a consuming problem. Which I can't stand but I don't know..my room is close to resembling a chinese new years festival hall. I bought all these cheese red cut out decorations and and I have this giant lime green poster of big chinese goldfish. it's hilarious. I don't think my roomies get the kitsch, but soon they will see. My room is going to look like FX on queen street.
Anyway, that's all for now.
peas..c-Lo Posted at 1:14 pm by CJ.
Posted at 12:18 pm by CJ.
Last nite was amazing. After class I went out for food with some young Chinese ladies. We went to a Korean restaurant and I ate some bizarro kimchi pizza thing. It was pretty good. But the rat that was squeeking in the wall beside our table wasn't that good. The girls thought it was pretty funny.
They totally paid for my food and beer and cab to go meet my roomies at La Villa. La Villa is an awesome french restaurant that has $1.30 Coronas and is holding this film festival at the moment of local independant flix. The film we saw last night was brilliant. Chinese film called 'Blind Shaft' and was actually entered in a number of film festivals around the world. It was about these two con guys who find an unsuspecting new coworker to join them in mining. They kill the dude in the mine and then collect the compensation money. Their latest victim is a 14 year old boy who one of the cons starts to care about. It was filmed in three different provinces in China and cost about 3 000 000 RMB which is about 475 000 canadian dollars. If you see it playing anywhere like Cinema Du Parc or anything like that you should fully check it out. Alex, ask your mom if she's heard about it.
The director was there for a question and answer period which was really fabulous cause he was a really charismatic guy and it seemed that the Chinese who were there really admired him.
Afterward we went to another French bar called Le Bang - which is great and ended up staying there till 5:30am? On a school nite!!! Crazy. But we were all having such a great time - people from all over the world - france, us, canada, scotland australia (well all whities) but it was real nice.
Then me and this american dude who is so cool and has homestar runner t-shirts, took a cab really really far to this beach slightly outside of the city and walked along there at sunrise and saw all kinds of weird old exercising people (yo tai chi on sum next level shit guy) and even weirder gated communities with pastel coloured bungalows and manicured lawns. Climbed rocks saw seashells waded in the water. Complained about the goddamn ugly ocean and dumb ass mountains with the big orange sun creeping up behind it...so stupid, why is nature so hideous? Abandoned sea side buildings and little guys in little boats fishing out in the sea.
Today I'm really happy cause last nite was so good, even tho i'm mad hungover. I bought Kanye, Janet's new album (which is actually pretty slick) and the breeders for a dollar a piece- but really good pirates man. I danced in my room with the window open cause it's warm and wrote imaginary record reviews = but not that imaginary cause if i want to publish them I CAN.
CHINA IS FUCKING AWESOME! I'm so happy.
(watch me walk out of this internet bar and get run over and die.)
PEas.
Cizzzzzle
Posted at 7:59 pm by CJ.
I happened upon this on the CBC website a few days ago and just had to share my astonishment with you all. I'm in red. Oh, and sorry about the Jack Blackishness of it. I don't think he merits serious criticism. He's in the 'dude awesome' department.
Bush stands firm on Iraq
Last Updated Wed, 14 Apr 2004 0:13:51
WASHINGTON - In a rare prime time televised news conference U.S. President George W. Bush stood behind his Iraq policy declaring, "We're changing the world." So is AIDS and global warming dude.
The first words the president uttered though were a sombre reflection of what U.S. forces have been encountering in Iraq. "This has been tough weeks," he said referring to the armed insurgencies in Fallujah and in southern Iraq that have drawn U.S. troops into deadly fights.
George Bush during a news conference at the White House
(AP PHOTO)
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"They want to run us out of Iraq," said Bush, calling the fighting a "power grab" and "not a civil war, not a popular uprising." right....
Bush said if his commanders in the field want more soldiers or equipment "they'll get it." amazing good idea - this guy is the best president EVER He also said U.S. forces in Iraq have his permission to use "decisive force to maintain order and protect our troops."
In the first 13 days of April, 82 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq and more than 560 wounded. In the nearly 13 months since the invasion 678 U.S. troops have died. awesome! way to go
On the Iraqi side, an estimated 16,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed. SAWEET! greater good, greater good...(the bold is mine)
Bush began his news conference by reading a statement that was more of a speech. It was 17 minutes before he answered the first of only 15 questions he took from the White House press corps. I mean...
But when the questions came, they were tough. Reporters wanted to know if Bush and his top advisers had missed the signs that Osama bin Laden was planning an attack on the United States.
Bush said twice during his one hour at the podium, that if he had had "any inkling" of the threat from bin Laden he would've "moved heaven and earth" to stop the attacks. But when asked about an Aug. 6, 2001 memo that said al-Qaeda was planning to hijack aircraft he said, "Frankly, I didn't think that was anything new." ahhh okay i get it. So they didn't tell him too much about terrorism before he became a president - they thought, 'you know, why don't we just let 'im figgur it out for himself.' It's so annoying when you call someone's bluff and you're wrong.
Repeated attempts by reporters to get Bush to admit to some responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks were rebuffed. "I feel incredibly grieved," said the president, stopping short of accepting any blame. I don't even have to say anything
When he was asked if he had made mistakes before or after Sept. 11, Bush said that would be for historians to judge. What the fucking fuck ?
Another objective of the news conference was to show the American public that Bush remains in charge, hoping to prop up his standings in public opinion polls. His approval rating has dipped to below 40 per cent for his handling of the war in Iraq. When it comes to terrorism his approval rating has fallen to below 50 per cent. And the crowd goes wild!!!!!!!!!
Bush said it will be up to the American people to judge and "I don't plan to lose my job," he said. "I look forward to the debate in the campaign." So do we my friend, I'll bring the popcorn.
The last time Bush held a prime time news conference was March 6, 2003, two weeks before the invasion of Iraq. Very reassuring.
Posted at 7:42 pm by CJ.
Starsky and Hutch.
oh shit.
more soon...here's a bit of something I'm working on.
With the popularity of hip hop at an all time high in North America and Europe, many foreigners on this side of the globe have been pondering whether or not China is ready for the bangin＊ beats and funky flow that hip hop is so revered for. As Redstar reported in an earlier issue, there is a small but growing hip hop scene here in Qingdao, but what about the rest of China? Does the mainland have potential for an explosive rap culture? Or will the I-love-you-baby-hearts-butterflies-and-waterfalls pop love ballad culture persist as it has?
A walk through downtown Qingdao on a sunny afternoon exposes the many realities of China＊s opening up to the world. Big Mac＊s, the latest American blockbusters and Britney＊s latest hit single are all readily available to be consumed by anyone with such cravings. Yet the image of youth sporting baggy jeans, basket ball jerseys and Yankees full backs is not all that common. Enter Stanley, Ashley and Jay 每 three Chinese teenagers with a hip hop obsession. These kids look like any others taken from the streets of NYC or Philly 每 except they＊ve grown up here in the P to the R to the C. When asked about the potential for hip hop culture to grow in China Stanley responds, ※Yeah! Many people already like hip hop 每 its activities and lifestyle are already very popular. Basketball is really popular. Many people are influenced by it. It＊s comfortable 每 not just the clothes, but the attitude and mentality as well§.
While hip hop＊s root in African-American ghetto youth appears quite dissimilar from the situation of teenagers in China today 每 the boys claim that there is a lot they can relate to. Evidently, listening to hip hop is a form of release for Chinese youth from the various stresses they face on a day to day basis. Stanley sites school, relationships and societies expectations as some of the aggravations he and his peers deal with. Its appeal he claims also lies in its variety and grittiness 每 both being welcomed reliefs for members of a generation brought up on the bubble gum tunes being pumped out of Hong Kong＊s cheese machine. While rock and metal (which have been established in China since the eighties) offer an outlet for rage, hip hop＊s range furthers its appeal. ※Rap is so real, it can be funny, sexy, angry 每 whatever 每 it has everything§ say the boys. But if hip hop is so attractive to Chinese youth, why hasn＊t it caught on as it has in Korea or Japan?
Posted at 6:11 pm by CJ.
First off the site is.
www.myredstar.com
I'm trying to do the like think thing www.myredstar.com
The skater on the cover is colin for those of you who can't tell.
If you click on travel hotspots on the left side, I wrote the first one on Hainan Island -- which i haven't been to but I interviewed people who have. That's all there is for now, but I've already started working on stuff for May.
What's been happening? So professionally things are awesome. I fucked up on Saturday as a result of trying to improve things socially. I was supposed to go to bed early cause i had stuff to do on sunday starting at 8:30 in the morning - but Colin really wanted me to come downtown with him to hook up with his girl - who by the way is GORGEOUS and the Qingdao weather girl. No word of a lie. That little monkey scored the HOTTEST chick. She is WAY too sophisticated looking for him but they are happy as pigs in shit so it's good. Except that he doesn't have time to serve my every need anymore and that's annoying, but I should learn to fend for myself here in the land of dumplings.
Here's Colin's cover flick
Anyway so basically i got no sleep and was busy for 8 hours and then met up with this dude and stuff and i didn't get home till 8pm and it was 12 hour day on 4 hours of sleep. sucky . But it was a good nite out at Lennon Bar (yeah john lennon from that overrated beatles band) so it was worth it I guess unless I get sick.
Okay...I have to give major shoutouts to Mike Taylor who is the freakin' man and helps me with fotos. SO if you need any graffik design you should check him cause he's got a sweet aesthetic and his stuff is mad nice.
His site:
www.thesedetails.com
Okay so you know when you're lying in bed listening to the sound of someone shovelling snow outside? I had the strangest sensation the other nite when I was lyijng in bed listening to the same sound - cause there no snow here to shovel...but, there is PLENTY of garbage! Our building's maintenance guy - who is ALWAYS on the job - was doing a little late night garbage shovelling. Ahh the weirdest things remind one of home. The trash isn't that offensive actually - people produce a lot less over here than they do in extra-disgusting north america. You know we produce more garbage than anywhere else? it's sick. But also, Qingdao is a much smaller city (ONLY 7 million) than say Beijing (hundred billion million) so I'm sure the garbage there is much worse. Oh and there's also the fact that our apartment community - Eastern Garden Paradise or something like that - is not fully populated, because.............................MOST APARTMENTS AREN'T FINISHED YET!!!!!! And do you know what that means????
The poor workers, who start at like 7 am everyday, have a great time busting out the chainsaws in the apartment next to at AT 7 AM ON A SUNDAY. and saturday and any other day you wake up with a hangover or just on the wrong side of the bed.
Good news: ma sista is coming my sister is coming....i'm so happy. it's gonna be hilarious. gonna prolly go and meet her in the south in may.
I can't write anymore my fingers hurt.
Thanks for all the comments guys! Peace.
Posted at 1:02 pm by CJ.
I have the energy to write a lot but, I have a meeting with a teacher so this is just a teaser. I am actually gonna have stuff in a local mag so if you want to check their website it's: It's not too interesting for those who aren't here but ya know......... Taught the cutest things today...three year olds! peas. Posted at 5:56 pm by CJ.
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