May 2008 Archives

This entire past week has been very... Dusty. Temperature in the the city rose to about 30s and sand from the northwest came in with their usual might. As a city that lacks adequate green belt and bodies of water, Beijing chokes on the sand and suffocates every single year. My throat got infected the day after the sand storm, as usual, nothing is said on tv about this severe weather phenomenon. Scarce land within the city still get zoned into commercial real estate developments instead of building parks and planting trees. Finally on friday, while its still very sandy, Strong gust had swept through the city the day before. Me and Lili took a stroll along Houhai, one of the few lakes in Beijing metro area. The air immediately got better as we got close to the lake. Well, comparatively speaking. "Better" only as in "Hmm, my throat only feels a bout quater of the dirt grains as before I got to the lake".

Some would argue that Beijing has already built new green belts and implemented other methods to combat sand storms, but within Metro areas, I don't think Beijing has put enough thoughts into it. There are barely any parks and greeneries here, The embassy area plus Ri Tan Park is the only bit of large usable green area, which is only less than 25% of Manhattan's Central park. Keep in mind this is the sum of Ri Tan Park AND the embassy area, so the actual usable green space is even less.

I hate sand Storms, I'm sure everyone does, I also hate the fact I have no where to seek clean air except around Houhai. Beijing needs more parks, please spread the word.

Polaroid of the week this week is a shot of a very boxy ice cream truck I saw down in Lower East Side of Manhattan. Its almost cartoon like.

I was working out in my gym yesterday, when I turned on the TV this is what I saw. The usual crappy drama, but this time with my friend in it! Lu's on TV. Playing a virgin too! hahahaha.

An ad that advertises Durex vibrating ring. I'd fire my self if I created this crap.

Lili got a 3-months-old puppy today. Such an adorable dog. His name is Bobo.

Been getting distracted by other things... But they will be up shortly.

I'm sure everyone now has heard of the earthquake in Si Chuan. I have no idea what 7.9 magnitude earthquake is like, not many of us do, but remember that guy in that building when Kobe earthquake hit? Thats just 7.2. We also don't have a grasp of the scale of damages, death tole is now above 30,000, make Pasadena California as an example, imagine one in every 5 dead. Its hard to estimate what kind of damage natural disasters will cause, but its not hard to know when we need to contribute. This is the biggest earthquake in China on record, let's help.

This is the only song I liked from there...

I enjoyed watching this movie. Thought it was better than Superman. I wasn't really familiar with the character before the movie so I went into this without any preconceived notion of the characters. They are all pretty good through out the film. Gwyneth Paltrow is lovely in this film, her performance is not as brilliant as she was in The Talented Mr Ripley, but still very good. Robert Downey Jr. He's always charismatic in all the films he's in, this one is no different. Just that... Please don't relapse again.

Just upgraded. Downloaded software, Linked up my database. Now the painful stylesheet tweeking begins :-(, so, bare with me.

Got this book from Wieden Kennedy a while back, just saw it now when I returned home, oops, i meant Wieden "+" Kennedy. Its a picture book about the employees, a day in their life from anything to everything. Some interesting pictures, mostly diary style point-and-shoot pictures of mundane everyday stuff.

In the book there's a book mark and it says the following in English, Japanese, Dutch, and Chinese:
April Foos was written and photographed by the employees of Wieden+Kennedy Portland, New York, London, Amsterdam, shanghai and Tokyo on the occasion of W+K's 25th anniversary, April 1, 2007.

It was printed by ColorGraphics in Seattle using its Green Process, which, compared to standard printing, saved 150 fully grown trees, 63,933 gallons of water, 106 million BTUs of energy, 7074 pounds of solid waste, 13,929 pounds of greenhouse gasses, 188 pounds of aluminum and three pounds of volatile organic compound emissions. The paper is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council for responsibly managed forests.

While I liked this book for the idea it stood for, I didn't like the photos in them. Crafty photos are getting rarer and rarer these days, people need to respect their position behind a camera lense, not abuse it.

Their music reminds me of this past two weeks in New York. Thanks to all the agencies who saw me there. I'm in LA now... Happy Mothers Day

Lyrics after the Jump

Saw this cool thing walking down lower east side today

Chloe's friend Cai Xin gave us a exclusive tour in the UN. This is the desk of secretary general of the UN security council.

General assembly, China's desk.

Me Relaxing with Brian, Caroline, and their friend Dennis at a bar in east village.

Met some really nice people at JWT today. Loved the new office space. Also, very surprised to see Christine, my artcenter friend walking by, what are the odds! This concludes my trip in New York. It was an exciting trip, went to the UN today, tired, will post them later.

Second round with saatchi went well... I think. Gorgeous weather outside and this is a better view of the city compare to the other day. Thank you John and Paul for seeing me of course.

Chole finally made it to New York, we went to Pastis for a coffee break and talked about our plans. I found this really cool packet of crispy Brittany crepes that came with our ice cream. Very delicious.

At night, we went to Rice to Riches on Mott and Spring. This is Chole and her college buddy from Tsing Hua.

My favorite store in SOHO

This is Momofuku Saam, on 2nd ave and 13th. Really really good food. I never thought kimchee, raw oysters and roasted pork would go well so nicely together! Amazing.

This is Last night. Caroline suggested a tapas restaurant called 1492. Very delicious as well. This week started off very nicely food wise. Lets hope everything else does too...

One thing I hate about America is wastefulness, people seem to care less compare to the rest of the world. I bought one plug converter from Radio Shack and this is the receipt I got. I put a normal receipt next to compare its size. It's ridiculous.

View outside of Saatchi office's window. New York has been a bit gloomy ever since I got into the city. I always liked the view out of this office though.

I love this chair(s)

14th street train station.

Brian took me to this really kick ass Sake Bar near St. Marks called Decibel.

Dark, but cozy, this place offers New Yorkers a variety of Japanese rice wine, sake, even plum wines.

Saiman Chow the up and coming director and Brian.

One Thing I love about New York is its Museums, Cooper Hewit and Guggenheim are two of my favorites. Mike and his mom decided to join too.

Cai Guo-Qiang is showcasing his work at Guggenheim, saw that today. Before installing these cars, Cai built a model of the interior of the museum and placed toy cars to investigate the exact position of the installation.

Guggenheim was actually closed on Thursdays, so we went to the next block to Cooper Hewit.

A very nice exhibit on Rococo movement. For those of you thats not familiar with Rococo, its pretty much the mother of Art Nouveau movement.

Afterwards, we went to the most expensive museum to get into - New York MOMA. ticket cost 20 dollars. But man, if you like modern art, I do have to say this is the best in the world. It has all the text book art works and more. This is Mike's mom, checking out a tree.

Thought this is pretty funny.

Esquire Cover proofs the famous soup can, and Andy Worhol.

On the 5th floor, it had a show on technology integrating with nature. There's one tiny robot, no longer than the thumb nail, that could fly. Scary stuff.

Mercedez Benz developed this octagon modular joint for its frames to save weight and gaining strength at the same time.

Color Chart Exhibit, a whole exhibit showcasing our understanding of colors.