mao ze shut down

In China right now, it seems that one can log into and update their blogger, but no one can view any blog hosted on blogger.


Hopefully they'll loosen up their grip soon.

Shanghainese Massage.

Nikki and Cara got cupped and now they look like dinosaurs.

Youtube add

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYYKS2wfvdM

"There are babies a span long in hell." - John Calvin

KHRAUWL

Not much to do with China, but we here at MaoZeDingDong offer coverage on all global issues. Like who pokes Jamie Swezey on theFacebook.com..

"BOORSHIT!"

"BOORSHIT!", originally uploaded by _borna.

Last night was Zweng's first night in town. We wound up playing a dice / bullshit style chinese drinking game with the locals at a gnarly dive bar down the street from us.

The rules of the game, as far as I could tell...

Everyone has 5 dice and "rolls" by shaking them around in a cup placed upside down on a table.
Players then privately look at their own dice, without letting other players see.
Turns are taken in a cirlcle and what you have to do on your turn is guess at how many of a specific number are on the table. For example, if you look at your own 5 dice and see that you've rolled 2 Three's, then consider how many people you are playing with (4 players x 5 dice each = 20 dice) you might guess that there are 6 Three's on the table.
The catch is that a player's guess must always be higher than the player before. So if my turn is next, I would for example say "7 Two's" OR I could call BULLSHIT on you - at which point everyone lifts their cups and we check. If it turns out that there are less than 6 Three's then you'd have to drink. If there are 6 or more, then you're safe and I lost the challenge - and therefore have to finish my glass.

Other important stuff to note:
-One's are "wild cards" and count for any number. I.E. 6 Five's + 4 one's = 10 Five's
-The loser of the previous round starts the new round.
-I'm unclear on wether anyone can call bullshit or if it has to be your turn. The game isn't any less fun either way.

Gross

Gore Vidal is speaking right now in the Shanghai Literary Festival at a place called "M."

PHOTO ROUNDUP 001

Just a bunch of images pulled from photos I've taken over the past 10 days or so. No specific intent was in mind.

i have yet to get traveler's diarrhea

Today I ate the bombest-ass noodle lunch for 4 quai - the equivalent of USD 50 cents.
Yesterday I did the same thing. With a big smile on my face.

first post.

So we've been in China for about a week now.

Shanghai's an awesome city. I was immediately struck by how huge it is. It goes on forever in every direction, it seems. Twenty-six million people live here. That's 3+ NYC's. High-rises everywhere.

We actually live in a high rise, but we're only on the 9th floor. This building is super goofy. It seems to be empty for the most part. I haven't really seen any Chinese in here, either. Other than the staff. On my floor is 12 people from my program, and the rest of the residents I've seen around are meat heads and frat boys from various colleges.

The appartments they set us up with are super swanky though. They're really large and look like an ultra hip and modern chinese restaraunt on the inside. We've got a balcony and an extra room for a studio - so there's really no complaints.

It's funny though, there'll be buildings as nice as this - and you won't have to walk far to find yourself in a shanty town. I've been to a few slummy areas since I've been here, but my favorite was one I found when walking home from a party at the campus apartments (we live off campus). The houses were seriously made of pieces of plywood leaned against eachother. I'm going to go back soon to snap some photos. But you'll be in a place like that, and all you'll have to do is look up and BAM! The Future! - loads of funny shaped buildings with lights flashing in intricate patterns. I swear to god, it feels like every single piece of signage I see is either made of neon or LED lights. It's no wonder all the LED factories are out here - Shanghai is definitely the place to sell that shit. And I'm sure they make easy export to Tokyo.

As I was saying though, the zoning is really funny - it doesn't make much sense what is next to what here. It's probably because of the rapid devolopment and expansion that's been going on the past 30 years. Everythings either brand new or shit poor and waiting to be knocked down for something brand new to come in. But as a result, there isn't much history behind what's placed where and you get these funny juxtopositions. I actually hear that a lot of Chinese contemporary art is about this topic. Whatever.

I'm gonna stop here for now, in favor of not writing a novel for the first post and uh.. also in favor of playing some Nintendo.

Borna