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Four Sights: Visual and Written
Chairman Mao on a Forklift Riding the bus this morning, I saw a man, wearing a green cap, green jacket, and green pants, with the pudgy build and facial features of the Chairman, driving a fork lift. Bamboo I saw this outside the living room window this morning.
Two Trucks have a collision Coming home by my Sleek last evening, my path was blocked by two trucks which had just collided. A long flat bed, making a left turn, had run into a truck, with trailer, that was also making a left turn. The truck and trailer were on the inside. Catholic Church I took this photo of the Wuxi Catholic Church with my new camera phone. I was doing an Expo English event at a apartment complex across the canal from the church, which is in the European street area.
Happy Halloween!Halloween Party at A-1 Club
I will be celebrating Halloween at the A-1 club in Downtown Wuxi. My school has a party there fro which I have been roped into playing the foreign M.C. for the evening. You can find out about my costume tomorrow.
Tony Vomits
Here are a few updates about my son Tony who is currently staying with my wife in her hometown:
My Sleek Update
The brand of my electric bike is Sleek. As rare readers, who understand my turgid prose, may have figured out, I have had some trouble with my bike the last two days, as it has lost some acceleration power. Yesterday, I took the batteries out of the bike and recharged them in my office at school. The batteries being heavy, I was clever enough to use the elevators in the building to bring them to the third floor -- the batteries must weigh, together, at least fifty pounds. The recharging made my ride home last night Jim Dandy. I was able to go 45 km/h all the way back home. So, it may well be that the problem I had had was caused by the rain. But before I come to final pronouncements, I may also have a problem with where I usually recharge my Sleek....
10月30日 Problem with my electric bike.The ride to school this morning was annoying. Just as I left the house, it began to rain. Unlike last night, I immediately put on my rain jacket. But it then rained for about five minutes. As soon as I got downtown, I was the only person wearing a rain jacket. So, what's a guy to do?
More disturbingly, the battery problem I had last night manifested itself again. The bike's maximum speed all-of-a-sudden changed from 45 to 30 km/h, and I was then slowly creeping my way to school. I am not sure what the problem is and if it was on account of the rain last night. I hope it is not a dead battery -- I should mention that I have two batteries in the bike. I don't want to shell out the money for a new one. I hope it is just a short in the system that can be repaired.
One thing is for sure; one battery doesn't have any juice. When I arrived at the school, I flipped a switch which I presume is for switching the primary battery source for the bike. Doing that, the bike had no power. So I switched it back.
I don't think I will be able to see a repairman till Monday. I work all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I will have to take the bike home tonight to get it to the repairman whose shop is near our apartment. The trip could be perilous. I may be doing some pushing.
AKIC takes a video at Nanchang Market.I took a video at Wuxi's Nanchang Market one morning. Now, you should ask yourself if you really deserve to watch this video -- it is high quality stuff, and it doesn't have swearing or acts of copulation in it. You will have to go deep into your soul and examine your conscience. Ask yourself if you are truly worthy of this honor I am bestowing on you. But if you aren't worthy, watch it anyway. I will turn to blind eye to your faults. And besides, I like getting video view numbers.
AKIC goes to the Blue BarAKIC interviews KoW
I made a rare trip to the Blue Bar Thursday night to interview the KoW. It was the usual collection of riff-raff and non-entities there. One guy who had told me that he was very under the thumb of his Chinese girlfriend was there -- we must be seeing the same woman, because he has always been at the pub every rare time I have gone in the past few months.
KoW seemed to be in an ebullient mood. He said he was happy, in general, with the way his new Wuxi web site is going. He asked me for some ideas for polls to do on his site. He wants to borrow my Wuxi China Bengal Dog video and put it on his site. I told him I would think about it. AKIC is also sad to report, however, that KoW must have drank too much of the Kool-Aid because he still thinks, against all objective evidence to the contrary, that Obamao is doing a good job as U.S. president.
Is the World Series on Chinese T.V.?
I will attempt to find out right now...
So far, I can't find it. I must have been lied to. Someone told me they were watching game one yesterday morning. And this someone insisted that he had watched on Chinese T.V.
Electric Bike Dilemma
It looks like rain this morning.
Should I take my electric bike to work?
I also hope that the problem I had with the bike last night was a temporary abberation caused by the rain. Otherwise, I am not going to be able to take the bike to work -- 30 km/h just don't cut it.
10月29日 Rain! Gosh Darn!It hadn't rained for such a long time, I had forgotten the possibility of it until my ride home tonight. I was making good time with the light traffic and then I felt a spinkle. I made the decision to not put on the raincoat because the rain seemed light. But then ten minutes from home, the rain became heavy and my electirc bike shorted out. Luckily, it didn't completely short out as I was able to do thirty kmh instead of the forty I normally do. But going at a slower speed forced me to put on the rain coat. AKIC NumbersThree Mishaps It seemed more chaotic than usual on my forty minute bike ride to work this morning. I was continually dodging trucks and oncoming bikes. I as well saw three mishaps: a van ran over a parked bicycle: a bicyclist swiped a scooter -- the scooterist grabbed her hand and cursed in agony; and a car rear-ended a van.
666,666 views On my Youtube channel, I have had my videos viewed 666,666 times.
人气:10,652
The number above represents something that I have accomplished on my Youku Channel. I believe it is the number of times my videos have been watched on the Chinese version of YouTube. I upload my videos to both video sharing sites. Viewership is generally better on YouTube. But if I get my wife to enter Chinese descriptions, viewership in China goes up.
60
Because of the Great Firewall of China, I have to run two blogs: AKIC on MSN Spaces for users in China, and AKIC on blogspot for users outside of China. Together, the two sites draw about sixty visitors a day.
26 months
My son Tony is that old. Nine Days
I won't be seeing Tony for that long. Jenny and he return to Wuxi on November 7.
Just another AKIC Monday!Back to Work
After a weekend of watching old movies and experiencing Chinese Dental Surgery, I am back to work. I wonder what fresh horrors await me today. (I ask what fresh horrors await me now whenever I look at my gmail account.)
What old movies did I watch? If you have been following you know I have watched the African Queen, Scaramouche, and....
Kiss Me Kate
Cole Porter meets William Shakespeare. To me, nothing could be cooler. Kiss Me Kate is a musical adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Filmed in 1950s style colour, Kiss Me Kate was the highlight of my weekend.
Rio Grande
This is a Western starring John Wayne. Another way cool movie in my books.
They Drive by Night
A movie about truckers starring George Raft and Humphrey Bogart. A good movie but nothing is stranger than to see a movie with Bogart in a supporting role. The star of the film George Raft seemed like such a non-entity. I believe that the Alan Hale in this movie was the Alan Hale who played the Skipper on Gilligan's Island.
Jenny and Tony's Return
Jenny tells me that she and Tony will return next Friday -- two days later than I was hoping.
Halloween Costume
I should set an example and prepare a costume for Saturday's Halloween party. But I just don't have the time, money, and inclination. I have a hard enough time having clothes for real life, let alone finding more specific clothes for a costume idea I would have.
Mosquitoes
Still a problem in the apartment, even in late Fall. I always my my electric racket fly swatter beside to catch the little buggers. Hearing them fly is a wonderful feeling.
10月28日 Even Later October 2009 Links and Quotes from AKIC...according to Spengler. Here are two key quotes from the very technical article:
Every sort of idiotic explanation is offered by academic economists for the financial crisis. Explaining the crisis has become a major industry. The academics by and large haven’t a clue. Grass might as well grow where their classrooms now stand. Wall Street greed and absence of risk management was the usual answer. That’s silly. The investors who bought sub prime assets in 2006 weren’t any greedier than when they bought prime assets in 2004. The difference is that monstrous demand crushed the returns on prime assets.
The financial crisis may have calmed down, but the sources of the crisis remain unchanged: the industrial world is unable to fund the greatest retirement wave in history at current returns. Everything that seems to offer yield turns almost instantly into a mini-bubble.
(Economic laws properly considered are like physical laws. No one can defy the law of gravity. Investments can't grow without something, somewhere, of physical value, being produced. And if you expect 9 percent rates of growth, you are asking for the physically impossible. When you expect too much from the economy, it will strike back at you.)
This article explains why Keynes was wrong and why Obama is the wrong man at the wrong time. The article ends with two questions:
First, if the government rigs reality by messing with the value of money, how can we expect any other part of the economy to not be distorted and dishonest? Second, if we abandon simple, comprehensible rules and rely on constant tinkering by wise leaders, what happens when we instead get leaders who, having done no work but rabble-rousing among Chicago's poor, have not the least clue about running an economy? Quote from W.S. Maugham's "On a Chinese Screen"
" ...they look upon him with the suspicion and awe with which human beings always regard those who do not share their tastes."
This little sentence made me go "aha!". Why? I thought it described my situation. Although, I now I notice that word "awe" and realize that it doesn't wholly apply to me. "Suspicion" however most certainly does, though I have no idea what I am suspected of.
I wonder why I care about this. Reason tells me that it is of no importance whatsoever. But the sinking feeling in the stomach can't be rationalized away.
Is China's Economy out of the woods?
Can recent reports of China having 8.9 percent growth in the third quarter be believed? This article and this article suggest maybe not. One of the articles suggests that China is growing an unsustainable bubble caused by overbuilding.
I see this overbuilding in my part of Wuxi. I have seen buildings being built before what has currently been built has even been occupied. To me it seems crazy. I see workers trimming bushes and yet nothing being done about the garbage filled ditches besides which the poorer people live. Locals tell me that many cannot afford to move into all the new apartments that are being built.
Bush-Haters would probably make jokes about W making speeches in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Be that as it may, Saskatchewanians were shocked to see what the real W. was like. In a link above, a reporter sees that the real George Bush is a very decent and engaging fellow -- miles away from the caricature painted of him by the Left.
Though I want to become a Catholic, I do like going to Jewish religious sites like the Jewish World Review. It is a conservative site that doesn't care much for Obamao. The site is full of political opinion and self-help advice from Rabbis like the article linked in the headline. Here is a prize quote from the article:
Some people become confused about knowing themselves. Their confusion goes something like this: "I don't know who I am, or what I want. Who is the real me? I have an identity crisis." Often, the problem is the question itself. Human beings are the sum total of all their thoughts, words, and actions. Since this includes a multitude of categories and myriad factors in each category, it is impossible to sum up the true identity of a person in a few sentences.
I would add that writing a blog entry very day doesn't seem enough for me to explain what I am to myself. let alone my rare readers.
Wuxi Walk Number NineI was at the Xinhua Book Store where I bought a small and inexpensive volume of Verses from Tang Poetry -- it was intended for those studying the Chinese language. I then walked to catch the #610 bus on Wu Ai Road. Along the way, I took this video.
Chinese Dentistry and Old MoviesAKIC experiences Chinese Dentistry
I mentioned, just previously, that I went to the dentist on Tuesday. In this entry, I will provide more details.
Accompanied by Connie, who is, a friend of the Kaulins family, and a HyLite student, I went to a public dental hospital near the Chongnan Market. A foreigner, unless he or she could read Chinese, would never know it was there. My wife told me that this hospital was near the children's hospital where about a year ago Tony spent a few nights. I had no idea. Unlike other Expats, who know of some fancier dental places, I went there on my wife's recommendation because she knows what is cheap.
The place certainly wasn't fancy. It looked like all the other Chinese hospitals I have gone to -- not clean and sparkling as a foreigner has come to expect in his own country. The room where I was examined had about ten dental chairs. In Canada, I had always had my dental work done in a private room. The dentist who examined me knew some English but he had to talk to Connie when going into greater detail.
I went to the dentist because a tooth, that had lost a filling a month ago, was causing me some discomfort. Once seeing the tooth, the dentist had me get X-rays. I remember in Canada, being made to bite on something while my X-rays were done. Yesterday, I had to hold something, near the bad tooth, with my thumb. But the photo was quickly printed out using a computer.
Seeing the X-ray photo, the Dentist told me that there was in inflammation in the bad tooth. I would have to make a couple trips to see him before he would put in a filling. Yesterday, he did some probing and scraping and drilling to get rid of some "black" things. I did experience some discomfort as the dentist worked on my teeth, but it wasn't as horrible as I had been conditioned to expect. In fact, it was worse for Connie who was able to see what the dentist was doing. She shuddered at one instance. This being able to see dental surgery, is not something she would be able to in Canada. Being in China as long as I have, I had almost forgotten that Connie's being beside would not have been tolerated in the West. I also recall now that in Canada, a plastic bag was put in one's mouth as dental surgery was being done to catch saliva and debris -- the saliva then being sucked out with a hose. In China, you are given glasses of water and a spittoon. Another thing you have to do in China while the dentist works on your mouth is to have your own thoughts. I remember being given an interactive quiz game being played on a video monitor mounted above the dental chair the last time I went to a dentist in Canada. (I could have watched a movie if I wanted.)
The operation took about an hour. After which I was given three kinds of tablets to take, an appointment for a second operation next Wednesday, and a bill for 295 rmb. Not bad. And I wasn't scolded about not flossing!
And I also ran into another foreigner there: a German fellow taken there by his Chinese handler.
That is the name of an old movie which I bought yesterday on DVD at the Nanchang Market book mart third floor. I have to confess that I didn't know what the movie was about till yesterday when I thought I would give it a try. In my many previous trips to Nanchang, I had flipped through the film. I figured it was some obscure thirties foreign film. It was in fact a full scale Hollywood production in technicolor. Scaramouche was a sword-fighting romance set in pre-revolutionary France. The acting was great, as were the settings and costumes. Stewart Granger gave a wish-I-could-be-like-that performance. He vaguely reminded me of Mel Gibson. Alas! To be able to speak like a Poet! His rival played by Mel Ferrer reminded me of Brad Pitt.
The film, while very enjoyable, doesn't rank as a classic because its' plot was far too contrived. The movie seemed to be intended to be longer than it finally was because, right near the end, something happened that could only be described as budget saving plot device. Scarmouche, a character in a comic play, is tangential to what the movie is really about. While Grainger does take on the Scarmouche role, the movie's story is about Andre Moreau. But Moreau isn't a catchy name for a movie.
The Scaramouche I saw yesterday was a remake of a 1923 silent movie -- it can be remade again with Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt playing the principal male roles. Whatever starlet of the moment could play the romantic interests. A 2009 Scaramouche would have more violence and copulation to please IMP from www.wuxiguide.net who says he prefers the new movies -- a cretinous opinion, but to each, his own. Furthermore, a scene where a Moreau charms a girl who turns out to be his sister, would have them getting it on would earn standing ovations as well from IMPoster.
The African Queen
Because it is such a classic, I hadn''t watched the African Queen in a long time. I had somehow figured I had already seen it. But again yesterday, like buying Scaramouche, I departed from my normal DVD watching practices, and sat down to watch it. The first thing that struck me about the film was that it was in colour. In my mind's eye, I had always imagined Boggie and Kate hugging and kissing in black and white. So, I guess the last time I watched the picture was on my parent's old b&w television in the late 1970s. I had also completely forgotten that Bogart's character was supposed to be Canadian. Bogart always play a great North American, because it is really stretching, I feel, to say that someone on Canada talks and acts like him. But if Boggie has to play someone who lives in the British Empire, Canadian is the logical nationality to make him.
Drinking Beer on the streets
Foreigners do strange things too. About eleven in the morning today, I was walking to the Xinhua Book Store on Renmin Road when I saw a young foreign couple leave the post office. They were drinking a tall bottle of beer as they walked down the street. I thought to myself: "Are we in Las Vegas?". I don't think such public drinking would be allowed in Canada. I suppose it is okay in China, but I haven't seen it in such a long time that it just struck me as worthy of mentioning in my blog.
10月27日 O27 PhotosI went to the dentist today, but before I did I took a couple of photos. This one is of the canal at Nanchang Market.
This one is of some parked bikes.
This photo simple does not convey how stark the above formation appeared when I first saw it. The dentist was satisfactory. He did speak some English. The dental hospital didn't have the luxuries of the last dental office I went to in Canada. But I was spared the speech about flossing. 10月26日 O26 PhotosIt is kind of strange thing, now, for me to be taking photos when Tony is not around. I probably haven't done this since before Tony was born. Anyway, that is what I did on October 26. The first three photos, you can see, were taken on my electrictrified bicycle journey to work. Here is a place, in the area of my apartment, that hasn't been rebuilt. Surely, it will be torn down.
Has no one told these fellows that the Cultural Revolution is over?
No! They are all working a restaurant seeking to bank on C.R. nostalgia. Below, is a bike lane going under some train tracks.
On the sidewalk in the tunnel, there is a family of sidewalk vendors, of whom the wife is always looking after a small child. I went to a Primary School in the afternoon to teach. Here are some of the students.
They are listening to a scolding speech from their homeroom teacher. You may have seen the photo, now see the video.There was a photo of mine given “Photo of the week” status on a local Wuxi Expat website. You may seen the photo, but here is the video taken about the same time:
Primary SchoolI taught two classes at a primary school, only just now. I saw things of note: the security guard had a gun to monitor the body temperatures of all visitors, and the erasers for the chalk board were connected to vacuum cleaners.
The Big Knife and other thoughtsMy Tooth
I know it isn't manly to complain about my sore tooth, but this is a blog. No one said it had to be manly. A blog should be true, most of the time. I hope the rare reader has caught onto to my exaggerations.
The Big Knife
I watched the DVD for this movie, which I purchased at Nan Chang Market third floor, Sunday night. It was a block buster movie that mostly took place in a living room. The actors looked big and their lines were so over written that a committee of writers must been hired to write them. The film was shot in stark black and white of the era just before all movies were to be made in colour. The music was jazzy and would suddenly clang loudly as dramatic moments in the plot had occurred.
Since the film was about a movie star, played by Jack Palance, in trouble and being blackmailed by the studio, nothing in the film could have been other than blockbuster -- the living room was filled of expensive paintings and sculpture, a butler would come into the living room occasionally, every person was dressed to the nines, and all the actors wore the snazziest of suits with the most perfect of coifs. The studio head, played by Rod Steiger, reminded me of what Marlon Brando could have been if he had chosen to be an actor instead of Marlon Brando. (I have never had a bead on what Rod Steiger looks like even though he is a famous actor.) Ida Lupino reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor.
So what made an impression on me from this movie is the look of it. But I think it tried too hard and ended up far too spoofable. All its cleverness was entirely forgettable.
Primary School
This afternoon, I am teaching at a Primary School. What fresh horrors await me?
With Charity Towards None
I just finished re-rereading Florence King's With Charity Towards None: A Fond Look at Misanthropy for the twentieth time since I have been in China. I still get something out of it.
I can't say I am a Misanthrope. They are born, not made, said King. I might well be the sort of characters Misanthropes despise: I am a fool and I am too tolerant of others' foolishness.
Be that as it may, the book always fills me with a positive glow when I finish with it. Sure, people are generally rotten but there is no point in being miserable about it -- you have to try to cultivate a sense of humour about it.
I don't think I have a sense of humour -- still, I try.
O20 Photos and Videos: Bridges and Canals and BoatsWe was on a couple of way-cool bridges last Tuesday, October 20 -- that being Tony and I. In fact, the area around Casa K has lots and lots of bridges. I could be a bridge spotter if I wanted.
In this photo, I was able to take a photo of a albino barge. Experts had been saying that the Liangxi Albino barge was extinct.
It is good to see that not everything is becoming extinct in China. 10月25日 Sunday, late October 2009What's happening in Beixing
Phoning my wife last night, I learned that Tony went to bed early. Jenny also, having had to get early for her driving training. So I didn't hear the sound of Tony'a voice.
My Tooth
I wll have to get my tooth looked after on my day off. Last night, I got throbbing pain when I tried to drink some tea. All the day, I had been feeling it. The image of the person's head wrapped in a towel now makes sense to me.
Churches
Saturday, I passed Wuxi's two downtown Christian Churches. I can't help but pass the Protestant Church next to our school everyday. However, I rarely get close to the Catholic Church off European street. Doing an Expo English event yesterday, I was across a narrow canal from the second church, entertaining children (I hate other people's children!).
So much media, so little time!
While I do wish Tony and Jenny were with me, I was looking forward to the quiet time to watch some DVDs and read some books. But the problem is I have so much media to consume and so little time to do. I have choice of ten books, twenty podcast, and countless DVDs and only about two hours last night to consume it. What did I look at?
The Life of Emile Zola
I have never quite understood the Dreyfus affair. I know it raised great passions in France at the time, but it is hard, in hindsight, for this Canadian to know why. This Hollywood movie, that I bought cheap at the Nanchang Temple Market, didn't do it. It showed the basic events but it didn't seem a fully enclosed story. It only once brought up the issue of anti-semitism which I understand was a cause of the affair's passion.
10月24日 What I saw this morning on my way to work, and a cute photo of you-know-who.You thought you knew Tony, eh? Well, here is a photo of him in a new light, a light that you haven’t seen before. Here is he waiting at the bus stop with his mother.
I was walking down a back alley Saturday morning and decided to pull out my camera….
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