Caution: geekiness.
So I have found recently that there are certain places where certain blocked sites — Facebook and Twitter yes; Blogspot no — are still inaccessible even when I’m logged in through my VPN. This seems to happen most consistently when I’m connecting from cafes in the Jiaodaokou and Jinbao Jie neighborhoods of Beijing, over [...]
bokane.org
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More Great Firewall weirdness
Winter is Icumen In
Winter is Icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm.
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.
— Ezra Pound, noted Sinologist
Morning, October 1
Last night’s dismal attempt at rain — whether artificial or manmade — doesn’t seem to have done much: the sky is distinctly overcast, though the air at least doesn’t seem to have the velvety quality it did yesterday.
I’m guessing that right now there are a lot of people a couple of blocks south of me [...]
[Help], [Help], [Help] the Police!
In response to the recent New York Times article about Hip-hop in China (and partly inspired by the execrable Jay Chou/Song Zuying performance on last night’s CCTV gala), I present to you a video that perfectly sums up, for me, everything that’s wrong with foreign attitudes to allegedly underground Chinese music.
A minor digression first: that NYT [...]
John DeFrancis, 1911-2009: You Can't Do That Anymore
The Sinologist John DeFrancis died recently at the age of 97. You can read more about him elsewhere – in the NYTimes obituary or on the memorial site set up for him – but I thought I’d write something, as a student of Chinese, about what he meant to me.
I first heard of John DeFrancis [...]
After the Olympics: What's Next?
Now that the Olympics are over (and how about those closing ceremonies? Those of you who found my comments on the Opening Ceremonies distasteful should count yourselves lucky I didn’t blog the closing ceremonies) everyone is asking what will be next. It’s a good question: I first came here about a week and a half [...]
T+12 – Opening Ceremonies
8:00 – Liveblogging ACTIVATE. Set phasers to MAXIMUM SNARK!
Boy, Jiang Zemin looks old.
Sweet-ass fireworks at the beginning.
Flying apsaras escorting an Olympic logo. Well, that’s tacky, but if that’s the worst of it then –
Hey, time for the singing minority children gathered around the Chinese flag. For fuck’s sake.
And now it’s time for the friendly soldiers [...]
T-Minus 2 Hours: Holy Shit
People are twittering online (via retweets through @gvoolympics) that:
Chaoyang Park and the small parks around Tian’anmen Square are closed for viewing.
There’s heavy security in Ditan Park.
No food (i.e. beer, as @AdrianeQ notes) or sitting on the grass will be permitted at Ditan.
There are SWAT teams in the subway. (Not sure whether or not this is [...]
T-Minus 5 Hours: Crowded and Grey
CCTV 5 — sorry, ‘CCTV Olympic’ or whatever they’re calling themselves — is broadcasting a succession of reporters standing in front of the Bird’s Nest stadium and pontificating into the camera about the Olympic Green, which registers behind them as a murky, greenish grey color, sort of like a cowpat that’s been out in the [...]
1 Day: Crowds at Tian'anmen
Thoughts on the Olympics and the ways in which I’ve collided with it will come in later posts, I’m sure. For now, here’s some footage I shot around Qianmen and [Unnamable?] Square north of there this evening. Sound quality is lousy and transitions are jumpy because I edited in iMovie, which is the worst Apple [...]