OHAVDALAH

new site.

2009-07-02T09:17:00.002+08:00

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enemy mine | swan lake

2009-05-14T16:18:00.004+08:00

my friend emailed me the new swan lake album today and what i've heard so far is pretty fantastic. swan lake is comprised of pretty much my favourite musicians in canada - carey mercer from frog eyes, dan bejar from destroyer and the new pornographers, and spencer krug from sunset rubdown and wolf parade. bam!

here are three songs for you to download off the album:
spanish gold, 2044 | a hand at dusk | spider

(if you are very hungry, email me and i'll send you more! xx)

five songs.

2009-05-12T13:58:00.013+08:00

since my ipod was wiped clean a few months ago, i've gotten into the habit of stealing entire collections of music off of the hard drives of various people i know in an effort to catch back up. the best part about doing this is that you end up with so many guilty pleasure awesome songs that you'd completely forgotten about until JUST THAT MOMENT.

after a quick browse through my ipod, here are some of my favourites for you to download!:

eminem: like toy soldiers.
murder inc, benzino and a paul simon sample. it doesn't really get better than this, right? i love how eminem is a serious musician. i love when he wears his little wire frame glasses with his white t-shirts and his ridiculous grey sweat pants. it's true, he is a total stud.

ryan adams: wonderwall (oasis cover).
this song is soooooo earnest. you really get the sense that ryan adams MEANS IT. he means every word of this song. today really is the day where they're gonna throw it all back to you. you get the feeling that he probably lays in bed when he's bummed out, listening to his version of this song over and over again. is he still dating parker posey? i love ryan adams.

journey: don't stop believin.
probably the best song ever written.

amerie : take control.
i have no qualms with liking amerie. i actually LOVE amerie. especially this song. and especially the fact that she's half korean. whaaaaaa? 'take control' is pretty much the perfect r&b pop song. it has everything you could ever want - it's all dancey and has some good messaging, plus it's sexy and amerie has mad booty.

andrew w.k: she is beautiful.
remember how awesome this video was? a couple of years ago i watched an interview he did with nardwuar the human serviette, and he had a little scab on his forehead that he picked at until it bled. he picked at it because nardwuar asked him to, not because it was itchy. SERIOUSLY! this is like my favourite love song ever.

good eats!

2009-05-11T13:21:00.000+08:00

besides ridiculous activities, we spent alot of this weekend eating.

go go gadget.

2009-05-11T13:18:00.001+08:00

an insane marathon of a weekend, i'm looking forward to a week of being good humans and going to bed early.

rap up.

2009-05-08T17:45:00.004+08:00

a buzzing friday at the agency + waiting for my last meeting to start. this weekend is gonna be soooo awesome, because LOMANG and wordy are back in town, because of bananas at shelter, because of the dingbats brasil exhibit tomorrow at the foundry, because of the daedalum films screening of up from the underground (hardqueen documentary), because of ....... whew. there is so much stuff going on this weekend, it's ridiculous. where you gonna go, what you gonna do?

the photo above is from beijing -- the only vanity plate i've ever seen in china. you can also see adrian strutting off to the side. he's hardcore.

FUN!

creep outs not make outs.

2009-05-07T19:30:00.002+08:00

found this little guy in my sink the other night, i properly freaked out, screamed like a little girl and left the house running. this morning, i woke up and saw him again (i hope it was the same guy), except this time he was dead, still in the sink laying on his back, creepy little legs sticking straight out.

where there is one there is a million, right? time to bust out the raid, summer has hit shanghai.

what i see...

2009-05-07T12:15:00.002+08:00

1) when i'm laying in bed.
2) when i'm riding my bike.

busy busy busy, deep breath xx.

beijing bubbbbles.

2009-05-04T19:43:00.005+08:00

massive weekend in beijing for the strawberry festival. also got to go to hot pot & also the 3rd anniversary of one of my favourite bars in the world. d22 awesomeness. carsick cars awesomeness. overindulgence and unbelievably ridiculous happenings. i don't think we went to bed before the sun came up once. there was alot of strung out insane behavior. it was so fun!!

i uploaded a ton of photos from the weekend to flickr, so check out my strawberry festival flickr set. i'm gonna need a couple days to recuperate. my body will never be the same. chase the dream, not the paper!! xx.

ps. i forgot to mention, i fake dj'd at c's bar on thursday night for their indie night party, it was so fun! someone needs to teach me how to mix properly. now that kidplastik is in town, i think that someone is going to have to be him. internets forever yo.

change the world.

2009-04-29T11:43:00.003+08:00

it's been a while since i last updated, mostly because shit's been crazy. yesterday was founders day at the agency, and it meant setting 120 wieden'ers loose on the streets of shanghai for a hectic day of nuttiness. highlights included watching an esteemed colleague get his dick area waxed, copious amounts of alcohol, ktv, dance lessons, chinese wedding portraits, peep shows, fortune telling, the uigur jimi hendrix, about a zillion prizes, alot of smoke, about 30 cab rides, and running around like crazy.

i think it went well. i just ordered 1,400rmb worth of mcdonalds to the office. do you know how awesome it is to tell someone "i want to order 50 big macs"?

rainy dayyyyz.

2009-04-24T10:45:00.005+08:00

finally friday! this has officially been the longest week in the history of weeks. plus it's raining. this is a photo of my cat, meow tse-fun. she is a classy bitch, drinking that toilet water like a champ.

today adrian and i are booking our flights to beijing so we can go to the strawberry music festival during may long weekend. we are stoked. we are more than stoked! deerhoof and xiu xiu are headlining, which is pretty awesome for china.

also very excited to see carsick cars on friday night & hot pot on saturday. haven't seen my friends at D-22 in ages either. we're gonna land in beijing, roll into the park, spend the entire weekend in a ridiculous state, and then fly back for work on monday morning. holla.

she eats!

2009-04-20T11:58:00.003+08:00

sunday night, lots of reason to get tooogether. jan lo + dj wordy got into town over the weekend, and it was anita's last night in shanghai. she celebrated by spending four hours cooking the most amazing meal ever. afterwards there was icecream. now it's monday and i have a stomachache and ohh, so many meetings!

weekend images.

2009-04-19T16:41:00.005+08:00

some images from weekend - an afternoon at 696 weihai, yone x reach exhibition at HWA's gallery way out in gubei, bboy battle at racks, late night dim sum, etc. still feeling a bit ill, oh and it's raining, raining raining. fucking facebook won't let me upload images and i'm feverish and flu'y and feeling absolute shit. the kicker is i've been sleeping way too much on my super soft mattress, now i've got a backache. how much more complaining can i do? came into the office on a sunday for a meeting that was eventually cancelled, still at the office waiting for the rain to subside so i can bike home. damn!

o canada.

2009-04-17T15:12:00.004+08:00

download this mix here!

rip dexter.

2009-04-17T11:09:00.002+08:00

my sister's bunny friend dexter was euthanized the other day, he was 6.5 years old and really sweet. poor little guy. he's the fuzzy lop-eared rabbit in the photo, the little dwarf rabbit in the back is her other one, mashi. hope he's having fun in bun bun heaven. x

wednesday madness.

2009-04-16T14:24:00.006+08:00

i'm going to assume that we are singing madonna in the first photo. very stupidly decided to go out for one cheeky after-work drink last night (after work meaning that i didn't get out of the office until 11). shit escalated and all of a sudden it was 5am and i was crawling into bed after a long night of shuffleboard, bike rides, karaoke and too much food. we even managed to slip into richy, which i think we can agree is the worst club in shanghai.

ps. before walking into the karaoke room, we ran into a classy man and lady fucking in the hallways of party world fuxing park. no, seriously. who does that?!! check adrian's flickr page, i'm sure there will be photos up soon. also, the photos from this entry are from adrian's camera, i can't find my battery charger, so sad.

pink mountaintops - outside love.

2009-04-15T17:00:00.005+08:00

a friend of mine sent me the new PINK MOUNTAINTOPS album the other day, and i've been listening like crazy. besides the fact that i really love their music, i have a soft spot for these guys, one of them used to be my roommate (actually, it's been so long now i don't even know what the current line up is, it seems always ever changing) and when the band first came out, i remember writing an 800 word article about them that we turned into a front cover feature. barely a few months after that article issue came out, they were getting mad hype and touring around the world. that's what i miss about vancouver! people you know start bands, and they actually do well. maybe it's something in the water.

(from the jagjaguwar site)
"The ten songs on "Outside Love" are about or influenced by weddings in Montreal, winter, Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, Christmas albums, that one Exile song and that one Echo and the Bunnymen song, the Bermuda Triangle, being depressed in the sunshine, people who haven't made out yet but will in the future, The Everly Brothers, clowns in the ceilings, and bedrooms where skinheads used to live.

generally i'm a fan of buying records and supporting musicians, but living in china isn't very conducive to that. so if you live in china and you're very interested in the album, email me and i will totally make your day. ok? ok.

also - here's a free download from the jagjaguwar site:
download: vampire - pink mountaintops.

some songs.

2009-04-14T14:50:00.012+08:00

been feeling pretty hectic lately and so new and old favourite songs are in order. here are five that i really like today for your downloading pleasure. fans of xtc should especially check out the dukes of stratosphear link. also, i've been pretty into the new super furry animals record, 'dark days/light years', which they released on their rough trade site last month. the physical release was yesterday, and it's been getting great reviews. go download it or buy it if you have the chance.

01 brainiac's daughter: (XTC as) the dukes of stratosphear
02 precision auto: les savy fav
03 proud mary: ike & tina turner (ccr cover)
04 river: akron/family
05 inaugural trams: super furry animals (ft. nick mccarthy)

bonus - someone recently sent me a new casiotone for the painfully alone song that i've been listening to alot lately. i knew the voice sounded familiar, it turns out that it's a collaboration between him & nick krgovich, a guy i used to know in vancouver. he's the lead singer of p:ano and generally some kind of mad, musical genius.

06 old panda days: casiotone for the painfully alone (ft. nick krgovich).

(ps! i got the les savy fav song off of this site. you should check it out because there's actually a shitload of music on there. do it.)

monthly mixtape drop.

2009-04-13T15:56:00.005+08:00

so it's april now - april fools, april showers, the beginning of spring and the christian season of birth & renewal. the weather is starting to warm up here in shanghai, i've been riding my bike in shorts and a t-shirt, sun shining like crazy and tiny flowers budding up and turning everything into that perfect shade of spring minty green. in the night time, the sun sets just a little later than usual, and dark clouds gather and sprinkle bits of rain on tin roofs that make for a pretty soundtrack to fall asleep to.

april is always the start of something new -- this mixtape isn't actually all that depressing at all, it's just hopeful and sweet and a little bit sad but mostly optimistic, happy, looking forward to the future.

ps. maybe a weekly mixtape drop was too ambitious for my busy ass, so a monthly one will have to do. as always, let me know if you want a copy and we'll make the exchange.

skull crew till we die.

2009-04-09T13:38:00.005+08:00

nike was kind enough to give us some asian federation cup tickets last week, and we headed over to hongkou stadium to see the SHANGHAI SHENHUA play the SUWON SAMSUNG BLUEWINGS.

some observations:
hongkou stadium is huge, but also dirty. shanghai crowds think it's ok to boo the rival team incessantly during the entire match. the koreans played dirty but if i had an entire stadium of people booing me i would play dirty too. the riot squad, medics and firefighters were present during the game. people fall down ALOT in football. as in all the time. maybe they were playing with bowling balls. it will be very hard to catch a cab after a busy game.

the bluewings are korean, and they lost!! however, they have the most awesome logo ever + are also called the skull crew. this makes up for the fact that they are shit soccer players.

flying forward.

2009-04-07T19:02:00.003+08:00

generally i'm not a big fan of westerners coming in and buying up chinese brands for exploitation, but in this case i think FEIYUE have gotten a pretty awesome deal. the products look great and i like that they're keeping with the heritage of the design, along with some cool looking artist collabs. yay, feiyue. i love when foreigners get it right.

monday eats.

2009-04-06T22:44:00.003+08:00

we were going to go for a delicious korean barbq but instead i went over to adrian's and made kimchi jigae. unfortunately, (and this is REALLY weird for all of us) no one thought to take a photo of the end result.

good eats.

2009-04-05T19:01:00.001+08:00

love park.

2009-04-05T19:00:00.002+08:00

kids skating at love park!

the sequel.

2009-04-01T14:55:00.004+08:00

spring is here. some random shots from lunchtime today. "eating out 2, sloppy second" = best name for a film i have ever seen in my life. i love that it is the sequel to 'eating out 1'. i am totally watching this tonight, just me myself & i. i hope they stay true to the original.

because i love you?

2009-04-01T12:22:00.006+08:00

download the weakerthans - my favourite chords.
download voxtrot - ghost
drawings from here. amazing!

food for thought.

2009-03-31T17:24:00.003+08:00

we gathered at adrian's place and cooked a feast fit for kings. or maybe more accuratley, a feast fit for kings with weird tastebuds? yaya cooked the canto classic of fried egg + tomato, and i made kimchi bokumbap (fried rice). sam and i also made a deliciously bizarre cold thai beef salad, and he also made a really disgusting butterscotch pudding. more cooking in 09, this is the goal.

weekend recap.

2009-03-30T12:39:00.006+08:00

loaded weekend. the adidas 60th anniversary party was held in shanghai on friday, shit got wild (and i mean broken glass tumbling over punching in the face drawing blood falling over wild) and around 300 people managed to get through 700 bottles of champagne. special musical guests were squeak e. clean as himself, and then N.A.S.A.. they were wearing jumpsuits? on saturday, i saw BATTLES play at the dream factory and that shit made me lose my mind. say what you want, but i think it was the hands down best show i've ever seen in china.

i also moved apartments over the weekend, i hate hate hate moving. i woke up this morning high from the paint fumes.

barbq yr nuts.

2009-03-30T12:25:00.002+08:00

korean dinner in hongqiao.... mmmmmm.

yah everyday hustlin

2009-03-25T18:35:00.003+08:00

hello darlings,
very quick post, things have been busy. last night i went to my friend ukachi's 68234th birthday dinner, it was lovely. all you can eat japanese food + mostly nice people. i'm moving again in a couple of days because i got screwed out of a sublet and oh, i fucking hate moving. work is bizeee bees and the weather is starting to warm up and i'm riding my bike ALOT. today i bought a pair of minty green jeans. huh.

seagull.

2009-03-24T19:33:00.002+08:00

got photos from my amazing seagull camera back today -- it's got a built in flash! just some funny shit from around the office, late for dinner, write more some other day, so busy go go go xoxoxoxo.

insight x chicks on speed x the source

2009-03-23T15:24:00.004+08:00

insight x chicks on speed have put their right brains together in some kind of perfect lovely union of ideas and spawned a bright crazy collab that's out now. the source (158 xinle lu) is the only place in china where you're going to be able to see this shit, so check it out yo. they've got a pretty awesome pop up shop that will make your eyeballs go mad. x

two neat things!

2009-03-20T15:31:00.004+08:00

the CONTRAIL, developed by Brooklyn based studio GELARDI, is a small apparatus that attaches to any bike seat tube and applies a thin layer of chalk powder to the rear tire. the result is a streak of colour that traces wherever you ride. so awesome!

SPARK09 kicking off in shanghai on MARCH 28. it's a full-day "ideas conference" featuring speakers culled from a variety of creative, non-profit, and commercial fields, addressing contemporary business, technology, and environment issues. check out the link for scheduling!

just do it.

2009-03-20T15:15:00.003+08:00

the start of something.

2009-03-19T12:36:00.003+08:00

it's a muggy day in shanghai, gray and smoggy but almost uncomfortably warm. it's making me think of the humid summer that's coming up, where it's so hot you can only lay in bed quiet with the air conditioner blaring.

i've been listening to alot of VOXTROT today, there is something so so lovely and sweet about them & they make me miss and think of my friend merek so much. because i want to share, here are two voxtrot songs for your downloading pleasure:

voxtrot - everyday.mp3
voxtrot - raised by wolves.mp3

weekly mixtape.

2009-03-18T18:26:00.001+08:00

holla at me if you want a copy.

internet shoutouts.

2009-03-18T13:45:00.002+08:00

busy busy day at the agency, but luckily part of my job requires me to spend time on the internet hunting for cool shit, like the amazing richard misrach beach image pictured above, or kitsune noir's awesome wallpaper project that i came across a while ago.

because how great is the internet, right? there is stuff like iDAFT and SCOTT HANSEN's blog and those hilarious comics from XKCD and so on. yeah internet, i love you. <3

new definition of summer madness.

2009-03-17T17:53:00.004+08:00

today i've been listening to summertime by jazzy jeff + the fresh prince, it was so nice out all day i wanted to skivvy off of work and rush off into the sun. i went out during the lunch hour to look at some old furniture my real estate agent thought i might be able to use - that shit was crazy useless but at least i got to walk around the busy breezy streets of shanghai with sunglasses and ipod blasting. are you sure it's only tuesday? i'm ready for another weekend.

(the images above are courtesy of ffffound, which i check obsessively. if anyone knows how to gain membership, pls let me know 'cos those fuckers won't respond to my emails.)

everyone looks german.

2009-03-16T13:15:00.003+08:00

dreams of a sex tourist?

shit got ridiculous.

2009-03-16T13:00:00.002+08:00

deep breath, the work week has just begun all over again.

it's the weeeeeeeeeekend.

2009-03-13T19:25:00.004+08:00

waiting for one last download at the office before flying away to a dinner. that i'm already late for. here's a quickie post before the weekend kicks off. go go go gadget arms gadget legs gadget feet!

2009-03-13T11:48:00.008+08:00

we all know there's an economic crisis going on. the E.C., if you will (but don't call it that). the world is crazier than ever though, and we all have needs, god dammit. here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of my favourite GO FUCK YOURSELF recession 2009 moments thus far:

COCA COLA launches a USD90million dollar technology & innovation center in shanghai, with plans to invest a further USD2billion over the course of the next three years. in tandem with this, coke makes USD2.4million takeover offer to domestic drink company huiyuan juice.

ASTON MARTIN unveils the limited edition ONE-77, which has a top speed of over 200 mph. only 77 have been made, and it's a steal at 1.2 million fucking pounds. this makes me wanna puke.

SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL releases an admittedly awesome limited edition 24 carat gold plated bike, complete with a shitload of handset crystals. super limited, retails at USD102,418.60.

SOME DOUCHEBAG concepts the most expensive piece of art ever made (pictured above). it's one billion fucking dollars, stacked on 12 standard pallets. that's 100 million 100 dolla bills yo.

for a bit of local flavour, hotshot boutique design studio JELLYMON and streetwear shop THE SOURCE announce plans (respectively) to open second shops in our neighbouring town of beijing.

ELECTROLUX puts the €15,000 crystal ergoripado vacuum cleaner on the market, making it the most expensive vacuum cleaner in the world. the best part about it is that it's eco-friendly (made from recycled parts!) but also has 3,730 swarovski crystals. yeah, fuck you economy!

switzerland’s ECAL (or more properly, the ecole cantonale d’art de lausanne), has launched a new full time, one year masters of luxury & desigh program, which hopes to arm students with the design skills and associated nous required by the luxury goods industry. as WALLPAPER* puts it nicely, "luxury goods groups need to get their design houses in order as the global economy goes all grapes of wrath on us".

i'm gonna bespoke the fuck outta you.

2009-03-12T16:38:00.003+08:00

you know, i'm all for word fads, but this is starting to get ridiculous. am i the only one that's been noticing the word 'bespoke' being excessively thrown around? according to COOLHUNTER.NET, bespoke is the new black. HYPEBEAST has a front page post featuring a nike air force 1 from nike's bespoke program, and i've heard it about 50 times in the last week just wandering around in the office and in meetings. the latest issue of vanity fair has something on something that i assume is bespoke, and a copy of esquire i was recently leafing through had a FASCINATING article about 'be smart, be sharp, bespoke'. oh barf.

mobile web.

2009-03-11T14:17:00.003+08:00

a couple photos from my mobile phone: the flagship barbie store in shanghai, and a lovely lunchtime message brought to you by me. xo

so pretty and light.

2009-03-10T18:14:00.006+08:00

someone pointed me in the direction of THIS BLOG today & now i can't stop looking at these PHOTOS. they make me want to fly away!

also, how amazing is the new YEAH YEAH YEAHS album? call me fangirl, but i have always really really loved these guys, even if karen o seems to have totally ripped off my friend dandi wind. (i just looked on the dandi wind site, how weird is it that both of their latest albums have egg yolk in it? conspiracy oooh la?)

also, we watched SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK the other night. i think i need to watch it again, there were some really touching, beautiful moments and a sense of complete & overwhelming sadness but the film in its entirety was a bit lost on me. i read a review today that said "you'll walk out of Charlie Kaufman's new movie feeling like a drunk bodybuilder just went bumper bowling with your brain."

ps. here is a very helpful video explaining how the fuck you're supposed to pronounce "synecdoche".

the national shield.

2009-03-05T14:45:00.008+08:00

my dear friend C.L. MCLAUGHLIN has a really great band called the National Shield. i've known chris since i was nineteen and first getting settled into living on the west coast, he's really one of my favourite people. i have so many good memories of all the ridiculous mischief we used to get up to, like the time we were walking home from a night out and went swimming in a fountain in downtown vancouver, or when there was a small fire that erupted and nearly burnt down his apartment due to completely irresponsible behaviour on both of our parts. i miss hanging out in his apartment with his two cats!

he recently moved to toronto, and i think he's doing well. he sent me the download link to his latest album today, and i've been listening all day and really enjoying every single thing about it. the songs are beautifully arranged and sweet. DOWNLOAD THE FULL ALBUM HERE.

ps. the first photo i posted is from his facebook page and i have no idea where it came from. the second was taken the last time i was in vancouver, when he & his little friends played at hokos. that night made me feel like i was at prom.

a couple of non-sequiturs.

2009-03-05T00:15:00.003+08:00

+ the photos above are from the first week i visited china. they are from jilin province, the first is a sad little amusement park we came across that was completely deserted and in a terrible state, and the second is from changbai shan, which means PERPETUALLY WHITE MOUNTAIN. it was not white, but it was pretty breathtaking.

+ last week, i dreamt two nights in a row about a robot boy and girl who could only stay alive by holding hands and becoming power charged up. the robots weren't in love with each other, but they were handed a cruel fate where one couldn't survive without the other. they couldn't be in a relationship with other people because no one would put up with their power needs. it was a really sad but sweet dream and very detailed.

+ have been making lots of mix cds lately, maybe we should swap one day? these are the latest two: here & here.

wednesday.

2009-03-04T13:56:00.002+08:00

lucky cat tells me this year is NOT going to be so lucky. still, i'm hopeful. xo

in the last week....

2009-03-03T12:43:00.001+08:00

what i want.

2009-03-02T12:40:00.003+08:00

so the spring equinox is coming up very soon!

please send me: tall but not too tall, soft hair, loves small animals, very smart, has a wikipedia page, wants to dance, goes on adventures just because, well traveled, has a favourite drink, looks good on paper, lighting fast reflexes like ninja, remembers his dreams, avid internet user, falls asleep holding hands, knows the lyrics to his favourite songs, funny as fuck, twitter-conscious, knows how to cook, doesn't make fun of canadians, can play an instrument, does a good christopher walken impression, understands blogging, loves his mom, not a dick, rides a bike, knows what it means to chill the fuck out, is never bored at parties, open to new ideas but stands by his old ones, has his own friends, loves to sleep, knows how to draw, has a good laugh, not allergic to cats, is never purposely unkind, knows how to make the perfect snowball, looks at me and makes me feel infinite, is passionate about something, understands good photography, doesn't mind when i work late, is competitive like crazy, says my name in just the right way, wants to get to know my family, enjoys karaoke, isn't a jock, doesn't mind walking in the rain, is good at kissing, knows how to take control but isn't a control freak, is my best friend but has other best friends, likes video games, gregarious, doesn't need positive re-enforcement, understands the art of storytelling, crazy about magazines, likes kimchi, always knows where north is, makes good mix cds, not needy, has a good job, knows how to read a fucking map, wants a family, has friends who would do anything for him, wakes me up in the mornings, has a good grasp of the english language, understands the rules of hockey, enjoys calvin & hobbes, plays scrabble, loves my friends, writes funny stories, knows when to be aggressive, has good cadence, writes a good email, doesn't care if i don't remember an anniversary, doesn't care about anniversaries, playful like kitten, makes me laugh outloud, good at word games, does good impressions, keeps his word, cares about other people's feelings, reads books i actually care about, has no inner monologue, tells me secrets, is good at love.

it's not much, right? also, the photo above isn't of boys i want, just boys who are my friends. and it's true, i have alot of really great guy friends.

moshi maro.

2009-03-02T09:25:00.000+08:00

the weather as of late has been utter shit. it's been cold & grey for weeks, raining on and off enough to make a person crazy. it used to be romantic to fall asleep listening to the rain but now it's just annoying, the rain is taunting us. right now i'm scarfing down a dan ta and sniffling due to a lingering cold. my funny little colleague who sits diagonal to me is speaking japanese on the phone and i wanna go over there and hug him. yesterday i ran a bath and sat in soapy hot water and watched movies, the laptop perched precariously on the toilet seat. can you believe it's monday? that it's already MARCH?

i have lots of things to tell you about the weekend, but i left my camera at home and thus cannot upload photos and thus there will be nothing interesting until tomorrow. it was a very fun weekend though, there were alot of funny things that happened. i am waiting for someone to send me a video of something especially hilarious.

here's a funny joke:

knock knock!
who's there?
kareem.
kareem who?
kareem of the crop!

baddoooomshik.

boombox.

2009-02-27T12:08:00.000+08:00

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

friday fun! this is my new boyfriend. xo

(actually, his name is Ely Kim, and he's a graduate student studying design at yale. it's 100 dances in 100 locations in 100 days. i've sent this video to a million of my coworkers and we can't stop laughing. and where did he get that kitten shirt? send pls.)

sicky sick.

2009-02-24T18:13:00.000+08:00

weekend.

2009-02-23T17:02:00.005+08:00

1. people under the stairs, friday at shelter.
2. samuel had a party.
3. sam jacobs is famous?

gold in the air of summer.

2009-02-19T16:33:00.002+08:00

this photo is of two lovely ladies in vancouver, mish & sarah. it was taken sometime in 2006, during a friend's birthday picnic lunch. i look at it sometimes, when i feel lonely for my friends across the world or when i miss the sun way too much. in vancouver, the sun is this amazing presence, warm and golden bathing everything in rich summertime love. when it's warm out, there is no place better than outside with your friends on the beach or on a patio with a cold jug of sangria. the sun sparkles and skips over the water like diamonds and turns dark hair a lighter shade, brings freckles out, gives your body vitamin b and creates this calming soothing barely constrained sense of happiness. basically, it's so pretty you just want to die.

i was thinking today about how it's already been two and a half years since moving here, and how hazy and grey it has seemed nearly this entire time. china is the only place i've ever been in the world where you can look directly at the sun. it's red & perfectly round and doesn't burn your eyes - it's just there, a floating orb in a sky of hazy, sad gray.

how depressing. bring on the sun!

ground control.

2009-02-18T18:08:00.004+08:00

some more photos from the weekend, monks & prayers at jing an temple. we bought incense sticks and waved them around for a bit, i hope this means all my wishes (prayers?) will come true.

it's only wednesday but this has already been a big week. last night we went over to jordan's for a lovely night of boggle and arrested development and indian curries. there was supposed to be monopoly but somehow it never materialized. tonight i'm going to go see jose gonzalez, and there's lots going on this week that every night is booked. hopefully i'll find time for sleep? gotta keep workin' to pay them bills, there's an economic crisis on now, did you hear?!

shout!

2009-02-17T15:02:00.004+08:00

another blistery day, more photos trickling in from the weekend. on saturday we went to jing an temple and prayed for a great niu year.

the fox & rabbit.

2009-02-16T18:19:00.005+08:00

wikipedia says love is both a verb and a noun. love is not a single feeling but an emotion built from two ore more feelings (& our thoughts about our feelings). this diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states."

and so all the times we were in love were:
when you made those french fries from scratch, when i biked and you walked, when we pulled the mattress into the kitchen and didn't leave for three days, when we ran across the park and it felt like flying, when you didn't leave when i didn't leave when we both decided to stay, when you introduced me to your mom, when i didn't mind sharing a toothbrush, when you woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me a story, when our friends threw us that party, when you rubbed off all the rust on my fenders as a surprise, when we both wore the same colour shirt by mistake, when we drove over the cambie bridge and said we felt invincible, when i sat on the kitchen counter and you kissed my wrists, when we went to that silent auction and both tried to bid on the same item, when we stood in that crowd and it felt like there was no one else, when you bought me that pencil case because you remembered i liked it, when you flew all day and night just to see me for a week, when i tripped and fell on that ledge and you just happened to walk by and catch me, when i stayed up all night writing that story because it was your birthday, when we did mushrooms and walked up and down the empty streets, when we laughed and laughed and laughed and lost our voices in the morning, when we fought all night and felt like the world was ending, when we sat in the back of the airplane and ignored everyone else, when we drunkenly bought that durian and made a mess, when we found that kitten and brought her home, when we sang karaoke by ourselves until the bar shut down, when we got in that fight and you punched the door and it hurt so much we both couldn't stop laughing, when everything blended together all into one. x

daft punk is playing at my house.

2009-02-16T18:05:00.003+08:00

housewarming + dafter party, friday night. all photos courtesy joey gu.

valentines for one.

2009-02-16T15:37:00.004+08:00

a very cold, blustery day in shanghai. the sky is grey and it's already starting to get dark. i suppose i'm having one of those mondays where everything i want seems just a tiny bit out of reach.

the weekend was very nice, i had a housewarming party at my new apartment and i got to see nearly every single person i care about in shanghai. there is something so lovely about introducing your friends to each other and seeing them get along - sometimes living across the world from the life you used to know gets lonely, and then there are nights when everything comes together & it all just clicks. we stayed out until the morning and danced and talked and hugged and laughed and wouldn't you know it, last weekend was the first weekend since i've moved to this city that i finally realized that i like it here.

it was valentines day on saturday, the very first valentines day i've spent single in many many years. even though i had originally been planning on writing all sorts of wry anecdotes about how terrible it was, it was actually very sweet, and i spent it with friends doing fun silly things. someone said to me yesterday that making a connection to a very good friend is just as valid an emotion as falling in love, that those connections can be just as powerful. i think that's what my 2009 is going to be about.

ps. i've been re-reading a copy of kafka on the shore - my friend dan posted a really beautiful passage from one of her favourite books the other day and i thought i'd share one of my favourite passage murakami's ever written.

"Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction. You change direction, but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing you eyes and plugging up your eyes so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverised bones. That’s the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine."

smash your head.

2009-02-12T17:50:00.004+08:00

yo blogosphere. it's so sleepy in here.

the past few days have been really lovely, the sun has been shining and very unlike shanghai, the sun has been shining it's crazy shine all over my face. we've been biking around the city, drinking margaritas & causing general ruckus. do you like baileys?

i'm hyper because of all the coffee, go go go gadget arms!
ps. i got a MAC. no way!

three things on a tuesday.

2009-02-10T15:34:00.002+08:00

a couple of funny things over the last day or so:
1. beijing cctv tower goes up in smoke!
2. daft punk super scam!
3. an opening you should probably check out.

xo!

new digs in two oh oh nine.

2009-02-06T17:28:00.004+08:00

some photos from my new place, it's still a bit messy & needs some work, but it's getting there! no internet set up, but after a week of late nights at work and margaritas made in my mouth yesterday, i'm exhausted. looking forward to a lovely weekend of sleep and more sleep. have a great weekend! xo

25 things you don't care about.

2009-02-04T11:18:00.006+08:00

so i really feel as though i've been neglecting this blog, but it hasn't been on purpose. over the CNY holiday, i moved into my new place, and it doesn't have the internet! IMAGINE! not having the internet. it's been painful, let me tell you. LET ME TELL YOU.

ok, let me tell you some other things, how about?
seems like alot of people are doing this 25 random things web meme.
maybe you should do it too. x

(item no. 26 should be that i'm so fucking anal about font formatting that i had to make a .jpeg of this list. xoxo)
(item no. 27 should be that i didn't proof read that .jpeg and now i'm soooo angry.)

calm a llama down.

2009-02-02T14:58:00.003+08:00

first day back at the office, after a long CNY break! brrrrr, it's cold. can't wait for the summer.

what would julie draw?

2009-01-23T00:32:00.002+08:00

had a lovely chat with my friend julie today, and was checking out some of her work online. it's amazing! she's based in calgary these days, and has done a load of work for beatroute magazine and others, and i think she even got a mention in the national post last month. also, the first image i posted above is the amazing feist poster she did for the 2007 polaris music prize, and i think it's all lovely lovely. check out her gig posters, which are some of my favourites, or her design blog, or just hire her for all your freelance illustration needs! xo.

ps. got the keys to my new apartment today. hello housewarming!

chelsea school of marine biology.

2009-01-21T18:48:00.002+08:00

also, i forgot to mention the mythical sirenfish sighting! oOo.

this day in history.

2009-01-21T18:27:00.002+08:00

“We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.” (Inauguration Speech Quotes).

giver giver liver.

2009-01-19T14:18:00.003+08:00

the jue festival is finally over, which means my liver can start it's long road to recovery. busy day at the agency, so for now will just leave you with a couple'a photos. xo

almost the weekend.

2009-01-15T17:58:00.001+08:00

i feel like this cat. i am the cat! i am also tired. oomf.

beep boop beep.

2009-01-11T21:01:00.006+08:00

terribly gratuitous last couple of nights. four, to be exact. i've been in the office all weekend during the days, and at night it's dancing and carrying ons. maybe it's the winter cold that's got me on this crazy bender, i think i'll stay in all next week until the awesomeness of the jue festival and all those crazy maybe mars bands draw me back out of my cave. (by the way - hey, josé gonzález!)

went to see the south rakkas crew at shelter on thursday night after our crazy annual wieden+kennedy chinese new year dinner - it was relatively empty, which was disappointing, but everyone had fun and huge huge huge props to those guys for being so crazily high energy and enthusiastic to a less than packed room.

on friday, i went to see les enfants we are enfant terrible at logo, another great part of the line up of the jue festival. the music itself was fine, party happy & fun, but the crowd! so crowded! i will never understand promoters that oversell entry, the whole place was totally nuts and packed to the bones and no one could move (nevermind get a drink) and it was just a smoky awful mess. also, there was a bizarre amount of what appeared to be high school students losing their shit all over the place. where did all the high school kids come from?

all i can do right now is listen to otis redding's 'try a little tenderness' on repeat. i wish i could go back into time and make 1986 era jon cryer my boyfriend.

ps. i lost my wallet last night at jz club, where we went for one last drink somewhere around 4am. mark my words - drinking a shot of anything that is literally ON FIRE is always a bad idea. however! many phone calls have been made today & the wallet is still at the club. hurrah! two thousand and nine, you're lookin' pretty sweet to me. xo

rain on every weekend.

2009-01-08T16:31:00.002+08:00

some pictures from hong kong. tonight, big W+K CNY dinner and then wandering down next door to shelter for the sure to be awesome south rakkas crew!

JUE | MUSIC | ART

2009-01-05T18:53:00.003+08:00

totally utterly stoked about this upcoming festival put on by the fantastic people at Split Works. check out the festival site and the festival schedule!!

the rock shows (especially the Carsicks Cars/Snapline lineup) is sure to be crazy crazy packed, so reserve your tickets in advance and be sure to turn up at the gig early & ready to be smushed.

hello 2009.

2009-01-05T11:55:00.002+08:00

first post of 2009. hello, year of the ox!

i spent the weekend in Hong Kong, sneaky trip away for a few days of shopping and warm weather, endless amounts of food, it was a nice way to start off a new year.

did an interview on CBC Radio One's Early Edition a few days ago, those of you in Vancouver who were awake at 7am may have heard me rambling on about the State of China & all it's luxuries.

hope you're all well. i've got a scratchy throat & deep, lusty sounding voice right now thanks to too many nights out and endless karaoke'ing, will write a more fluid post once i've recovered. come visit me in china!

year in review

2008-12-29T01:43:00.002+08:00

not quite the end of the year, but:

cities visited:
edmonton, vancouver, toronto, london, new york, xi'an, hangzhou, nanjing, beijing, los angeles, seoul.
favourite albums:
fleet foxes, girl talk, vampire weekend, crystal castles.
best live show:
ladyhawk, at NXNE in toronto.

nearly the new year!

2008-12-28T20:40:00.002+08:00

it's been a lovely past few days, three christmas dinners & the accompanying food comas that went along with them. debaucherous party at a friend's place, christmas day (night) spent at logo, dancing, twister, mechanical bulls, shenanigans, etc.

looking forward to the new year. my sister & her boyfriend have been traveling through china for the past week, they're coming back tomorrow and we'll ring in 2009 together, wong's united style. xo!

merry christmas!

2008-12-24T16:41:00.002+08:00

merry christmas, everyone!

am sat at my desk, listening to battles, office is very quiet today. just found out that we'll be presenting tomorrow afternoon, so hurrah! isn't it true that someecards.com is the best site on the internet? xoxo.

the 2008 CBC bucky awards!

2008-12-23T17:23:00.002+08:00

fell asleep last night listening to my favourite canadian podcast - the CBC Radio 3 Podcast w/ Grant Lawrence. yesterday's episode (which aired december 17th) was a special broadcast of the third annual 2008 Bucky Awards, which featured awards for categories like 'best road trip song', 'best collaboration', 'most canadian song' and my favourite, 'best lyric'.

listening to the podcast (which you can: subscribe to on itunes & also follow on twitter) always makes me miss the canadian music scene and all those ridiculous, awesome, beautiful years living in vancouver. now that i've been away for a few years, i tend to think back on my time on the west coast with this kind of golden, hazy glow.

i suppose the thing i miss most is how small the canrock scene used to seem. bands work together and tour like crazy and some of my favourite musicians in the world were my friends and people i would see regularly on the street, in the bar and at coffee shops. go listen to the podcast! xo

crappy photos.

2008-12-23T17:04:00.002+08:00

very nice weekend, involving family, hot pot, a mechanical bull, bon bon, alcohol, zzzzz. more soon, xo.

tilly the dog.

2008-12-19T18:04:00.002+08:00

is there ANYTHING better than a little dog visiting the office? no way jose.

this is tilly. she's so stupidly small, you just want to squeeze her.
soooo cute. xo.

shake shake shake.

2008-12-17T17:36:00.003+08:00

MADNESS AT THE OFFICE! TOO MANY CUPS OF COFFEE! MINT CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE HERSHEY KISSES!

my sister & her boyfriend are in town now, which is totally awesome. they have set up shop on an air mattress in the living room, and the cat seems to enjoy their company. right now i'm dizzy after a long finance meeting and a short ppm for a product shoot that's happening tomorrow am. i chugged a double shot cafe mocha and am feeling a bit mad.

chinadirt, back online!

2008-12-15T20:37:00.001+08:00

probably only funny if you're totally obsessed with gossip girl. which i am not. really. hm.

black hole sun.

2008-12-15T20:22:00.003+08:00

a mad day at the office - on top of all the regular craziness that is coming back from holidays, it's the end of the year and finance is bearing down on all of us to wrap up, turn in expenses, reconcile jobs.

wanted to mention how awesome it was seeing my dear brother (from another mother) aric in korea on his brief layover. i haven't seen him in months, after being unceremoniously thrown out of china before the olympics, he's spent his time traveling pretty much everywhere. go read his blog! dude's got a book deal, and the whole thing makes me so happy i could barf. xoxo.

OPEN BAR.

2008-12-15T15:31:00.000+08:00

SHiTDISCO! @ BON BON
2F Yunhai Tower, 1329 Huaihai Zhong Lu, near Hengshan Lu
淮海中路1329号，云海大厦2楼

korea, our hometown!

2008-12-15T11:48:00.003+08:00

after eating pretty much consistently for the past week straight, i'm back in the PRC!

sunday blues.

2008-12-07T23:05:00.002+08:00

relatively late on a sunday night and i completely frittered away my time doing god knows what when i should have been packing, cleaning, etc.

it's been an disgustingly gratuitous weekend over here in shanghai, after thursday's blitzkrieg, friday night birthday karaoke that went until six in the morning, and on saturday a hennessy brand party with mandopop superstar jay chou and the barely worth mentioning wyclef jean. woke up this afternoon feeling dizzy, and biked to noodle bull for hearty beef noodles that kind of made me feel like a human being.

now it's late, and i still haven't begun packing or tidying the apartment. my sister and her boyfriend arrive three days after i return from korea, and i need to make this one bedroom apartment not seem like a prison cell for three people and one cat. hm. soooooooooooo tired.

jens lekman in shanghai...

2008-12-05T16:41:00.003+08:00

sweetest, most adorably awesome show on the face of the planet.

drinks at shelter afterwards for the continuing birthday extravaganza. dumplings in the basement of my apartment at 4 in the morning. work as usual today, bustling. tonight is another birthday blitz - damn everyone, stop getting older. just stop it.

see you tomorrow, jens.

2008-12-02T15:43:00.003+08:00

"Viktor, my dear friend.
Let's get away from it all.
Go East. Where the skies are blue.
Go East. This is what we're gonna do."

JENS LEKMAN and VIKTOR SJÖBERG
ASIAN TOUR 2008

Nov 29 - Seoul, South Korea - Freebird
Nov 30 - Seoul, South Korea - Freebird
Dec 1 - Singapore - The White Rabbit
Dec 2 - Beijing, China - Yugong Yishan
Dec 3 - Shanghai, China- JZ
Dec 4 - Shanghai, China - JZ
Dec 6 - Bandung, Indonesia - Dirgantara I IPTN
Dec ? - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - TBA

http://www.jenslekman.com

sh-watch.

2008-12-01T14:09:00.002+08:00

the company i work for did a collaboration with our friends at jellymon recently. more info on the site and some more photos here. i bought the first watch pictured above, it's kind of my favourite.

in shanghai, they're available at the source, at colette in paris and the kid robot shop in new york.. go!

zzzzz.

2008-11-29T18:41:00.002+08:00

there were a whole slew of birthdays end of week and so last night we all got together at my friend nick's place and had a feast to end all. beef so tender it was falling apart, liqueurs, healthy amounts of debauchery, yum.

right now i'm sitting in my friend dan's apartment, we ordered chinese food in and her windows overlook a park where we watched some couple get married this afternoon in the freezing cold. the subs are playing tonight but i'm so sleepy after yesterday that i'm tempted to just stay in and read and drink tea.

i'm actually supposed to be in suzhou right now for the continuation of the birthday merrymaking but waking up this morning i realized i only had energy to brunch, forget about sitting in a van for three hours & then all the madness that would ensue.

hmmm, chinese food is kicking in. nap time. x

my love will turn you on.

2008-11-25T23:18:00.002+08:00

the beatles, performing live on commercial drive in 2005.

yoko ono just got a bad rap, that's all.

it's monday.

2008-11-24T15:25:00.004+08:00

photos from the weekend - the yoko ono exhibit that opened this weekend at the ke center for contemporary arts was a total bust, packed to the gills with nothing particularly new or exciting to look at. apparently she made an appearance, but we didn't stick around long enough to watch. on a happier note though, casino demon at YYT on friday was fucking a-amaaazing! i remember being at one of their first shows at D22 in beijing, and the subsequent hundreds of shows afterwards, and seeing them last weekend was definitely the most thrilling of suprises. it seems like they've finally found their own sound - there have been so many times when i've been at a bar, looked up suddenly and asked "WHO is this?!", only to hear the answer be casino demon, time and time again. totally one of the best bands in china right now, young & fresh with awesome stage presence.

after their set (and a rousing set from the rogue transmission as well!), we headed over to shelter to see james pants, who started off pretty strong but then ended up blending into the background with the rest of the mayhem that is shelter on any given weekend. you'd think i'd be more wary of going to shelter after my wallet was nicked last week, but i guess the young never learn.

also - new pants! NEW PANTS!

say what you will about them, but they give a great live performance. the whole weekend was all around great, and it's been so nice living in shanghai these past few weeks, a ton of awesome live shows, everything is buzzing with energy.

excuse the scattered update. i was up until 8am this morning watching f'ing season two of gossip girl. yeah, that's right. i don't get it either.

oxford comma.

2008-11-21T18:45:00.005+08:00

today is one of those days, or maybe it's been one of those weeks. annoyed with work, annoyed with the cat, the saving grace has been a couple of mindless nights out where i wake up cloudy and ready to carry on with another dreary ten hour cycle. thinking alot about internet presence and what that entails, and how much madness changing your facebook status means. ho hum.

i've got one of those pressure headaches, or maybe a salt/sugar headache. most likely going to go watch my beijing brethren down at YuYinTang tonight but also might just say N-O and stay at home with a book and another home cooked meal.

right now, i'm waiting around for a conference call to start, la la la. listening to vampire weekend above the reassuring hum of a bustling office on a friday night in shanghai. just be patient, ok? ok.

all i want.

2008-11-20T11:05:00.002+08:00

the distance is nothing.

2008-11-18T14:55:00.004+08:00

the internet is being very naughty here in china, it's crawling slow lately and blogspot seems to only work on a whim.

it's starting to get cold now, when riding my bike to work my eyes water in the wind and it's a bit chilly even with a sweater + overcoat. this is my first winter in shanghai, after two blistery cold, dry to the bone winters in beijing, i'm looking forward to some... moistness. besides thinking about california suns and beaches and palm trees, i've been staying in, reading, making delicious vegetable soups with hearty potatoes, celery, carrots, the like. listening to hayden and clem snide and other seemingly winter themed artists, getting ready to settle in for hibernation.

here are three songs i really like today:
hayden - wide eyes
hayden - hollywood ending
clem snide - jews for jesus blues

weekend!

2008-11-17T12:07:00.003+08:00

1. 10, at logo, who opened for jeans team.
2. bizarre drawing on the walls of MoCA shanghai.
3. yaya & abe deyo, doing what they do.

marriage counseling.

2008-11-12T23:50:00.004+08:00

My friend Jenevieve is starring in a play that runs this weekend. If you're in Shanghai, why don't you come on by?

Marriage Counseling - Three Sessions
Directed by Michael Ziming Ouyang.
Original concept by Jason Lasky.
Starring Jenevieve Chang, Jason Lasky, Noemi Preiswerk, Tomer Oz.
Produced by 5th Wall Performance & River South Art Center.
Tickets 200rmb, includes wine salon, afterparty, light food.

This theater event presents 3 variations on the theme of broken marriages. Making full use of the fabulous River South art space, Marriage Counseling explores relationships, gender, power and physical expression. Details here...

Shows at 7 pm, November 14, 15, 16, 6:30pm.
Location: River South Art Center, 1247 Nan Suzhou Rd.

and more in upcoming...

2008-11-12T01:21:00.002+08:00

looking very much forward to my upcoming trip to the motherland. see you in 25 days, saranghaeyo, seoul! xo

upcoming & splendid.

2008-11-12T01:14:00.004+08:00

about to head to bed, just a little after one am on a sleepy wednesday night. thought i'd write a little note before hand though, about all the great shows coming up in the next few weeks and my friend abe's city weekend post about it. lots of great beijing bands - the molds, subs, arrows made of desire, casino demon, fire balloon. hurrah!

city of champions.

2008-11-10T18:04:00.005+08:00

looking at old pictures, these are from the weekend before i moved to china. it's weird to think that i've already been here two and a half years. what's next? i'm always confused when people ask me where i'm from. "where are you from?" it's a simple enough question, but i immigrated to canada at 4 years old and moved away from my hometown at 14 to go away to boarding school. since then, i haven't lived in one city longer than a couple of years. so... from where? edmonton, calgary, vancouver, beijing, shanghai? i was born in daegu, s. korea but i've never thought to say korea.

hmmmm. i'm still at home, still sick. watching episodes of the west wing, drinking (eating?) progresso minestrone soup. blech.