New Pants at Zhijiang Dream Factory in Shanghai

New Pants at Zhijiang Dream Factory in Shanghai
Originally uploaded by photog37

Photos from the SUBS show will be coming soon. In the meantime, here's another pic from last week, this one with a retro 70's-esque vibe.

Tracking blog censorship in the PRC

Hong Kong-based scholar Rebecca McKinnon has an informative online presentation on recent tests comparing Chinese web censorship among blog providers. One thing I thought was interesting to note: YahooCN and MySpace are listed among the blog providers pulling down web content, according to the study.

Following the chain

Interestingly enough, immediately after I posted the excerpt below from Nicholas Kristof's article on acid attacks in Asia, this blog drew a block from Chinese web censors (the blog had been viewable once again over the last few days).

Terror against women: all too common in central Asia

Nicholas Kristof writing in the New York Times:

"[A]longside the brutal public terrorism that fills the television screens, there is an equally cruel form of terrorism that gets almost no attention and thrives as a result: flinging acid on a woman’s face to leave her hideously deformed.

Here in Pakistan, I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia (men are almost never attacked with acid). Because women usually don’t matter in this part of the world, their attackers are rarely prosecuted and acid sales are usually not controlled...

This month in Afghanistan, men on motorcycles threw acid on a group of girls who dared to attend school. One of the girls, a 17-year-old named Shamsia, told reporters from her hospital bed: 'I will go to my school even if they kill me. My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies'...

Since 1994, Ms. Bukhari [of the Progressive Women's Association] has documented 7,800 cases of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area. In only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted."

Full story here.

Les Nuits Blanches

Les Nuits Blanches
Originally uploaded by photog37

The Wrestler

“It’s a well-established genre of movie, the creative genius who’s somehow tortured by their art,” Mr. Siegel, 37, said in a recent lunchtime interview over a bowl of matzo ball soup at a diner in Chelsea. “In this case his art is running around in lime-green tights, whacking people with folding chairs."

-Former Onion writer Robert Siegel being interviewed in the New York Times about The Wrestler, his upcoming movie starring Mickey Rourke and directed by Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream)

Fierce trouble: the SUBS rock Shanghai

The SUBS blew away Zhijiang Dream Factory last night and just about any dispute as to who is best live act in China. I'm not even a fan of hardcore music but their stage presence was awesome. (Not those Subs. The Chinese rock band.)

Quote of the Day: TIME and censorship

"But I now see why the authorities like censorship. With our blog blocked in China, there are far fewer commenters who log in and label us idiots. Censorship, it seems, has confirmed our brilliance."
-Austin Ramzy, TIME reporter, writing about China's recent block against all Wordpress-based blogs (including TIME Magazine)

Butterfly On The Wall

Butterfly On The Wall
Originally uploaded by photog37

Not safe for work

Some unusual looking nudes.

For those who never sleep

Shanghai apparently has a new club opening with a 3 a.m. opening time. No word on whether they serve breakfast.

New Pants at Zhijiang Dream Factory in Shanghai

New Pants at Zhijiang Dream Factory in Shanghai
Originally uploaded by photog37

Punk disco stylists the New Pants (新裤子）tour in support of their "Equal Love" album, Nov. 22, 2008 at the Zhijiang Dream Factory in Shanghai. The Fire Balloon and Boys Climbing Ropes were openers.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Originally uploaded by photog37

Another shot of the Zurich Ballet performance in Shanghai..

Trouble in Longnan

A blogger has posted an article and photos related to the Longnan riots on Sina.com. The Washington Post reports it like this:

"On Monday, about 2,000 people rioted in Gansu's Wudu district over plans to move the Longnan city government offices, which had been damaged in the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, to a nearby county. Fearing the move would reduce property values and threaten their livelihoods, Wudu residents protested again Tuesday, clashing violently with police and looting government offices, the Gansu Daily reported."

China's Andy Rooney

Courtesy of the Onion News Network.