Summer of Distrust

My very excellent friend Jilane sent me a package full of things I vaguely mentioned.. including a fine washables bag (AWESOME). I spent last night reading the 40th Anniversary Rolling Stone issue that she sent then sitting on our indoor porch listening to the Charlatans and "Strawberry Fields Forever." Rolling Stone is still capable of interesting music and period journalism-- who'd have thought? I liked David Fricke's article on Detroit the best though I felt I could have wrote it... learned the most about LA and London 1967. Pete Townsend comes across like a jerk, and how keen of them to mention the Detroit riot but not the tensions in LA at the time. I was really keen to know more about the history of the Charlatans, though, I have liked them a lot for about a year but didn't know anything about them. Reading it made me miss being somewhere where people might know what I'm talking about. I wanted to say to my roommate, "Wow, did you know Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees?" or "What's this about the president of Czech. being elected because of the Velvet Underground? I don't get it." but promptly realized no one gave a sh*t... I'm going to give it to John when I'm done because I think he'll like it and learn a lot and Rolling Stone isn't allowed in China.

I proposed to going to the beach this weekend to Maggie at lunch today and it came across as a completely foreign concept. If we go, this should be interesting... another foreign concept: shower curtains or doors... the water just runs straight to the floor if you move at all. There's also a drain on the floor.

I've been thinking about this list for a long time and want to share it.
Things for which I have little to no use or tolerance for:
1. hair dryers
2. blenders
3. nail clippers
4. cigars
5. musicals


I moved closer to work on Monday. The new place is really nice but I feel dirty living there because it's right next to the slums (and my roommates are really messy). I may as well be in Rising Sun Mills (luxury condo developer who displaced a lot of folks in Providence). Views from the new flat:

Huangpi River which divides the east side of the city from the west


Yesterday was the clearest day we've had since I got here but you can still see some little puffs of pollution in the sky


Mmmmmmm, instant starch


Mmmmmmm, instant chrysanthemum beverage


It's difficult to take photos here because the people in the shops and streets always think you're:

1) setting up another shop and using their pricing information
2) from the government
3) some sort of weird spy

Or, at least, that's what I've deduced they think. Even when I am photographing for the magazine I work for, I'm often turned away so I've learned to not ask first and just start snapping as fast as possible before they kick me out. I try to explain that it's free advertising to be in the magazine but I'm still met with suspicion and "Did boss tell you to come? Does boss know you are here? Stop writing down prices."

The press conference yesterday was in regards to the 42nd Street musical coming to the Shanghai stage. It was very strange because everything was said in Chinese, people clapped, then everything was said in English and the same people clapped. The two companies who made it happen spent an hour patting each other on the back and saying the same thing: "We are very happy to have made this happen. We hope to bring more American musicals to China. The Chinese people are wonderful audiences. Thank you, other partner." Clap clap clap.