Today I conducted a very limited and non-scientific study and came to the conclusion that China is a carcinogen. Or at least, Beijing.
The smell of paint and sawdust is everywhere ... fiberglass dust clouds, arc welders flickering, cranes on every block ... its pretty amazing. So much construction.
Walked all the way around the Forbidden City today but didn't go in. I didn't realize it wasn't forbidden anymore. just kidding I just didn't want to pay the 40 yuan ... actually it seemed rather boring. But there is a big moat around it which is kinda cool.
what else ... ok, this is a short one, I have to go.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
88888888888888
so its 3am and i'm rather drunk and these are the things i remember about today::
waking up at 5am well nervous that a buncha shit wouldnt work out.
taking my guanfajing breakfast a little earilier than usual.
coming back to my room and working on the piece for a few final hours then going over to install it
releasing version 8 of my code :)
all my friends-of-friends in bejing showing up to some see what this shit was all about. whch was awesome...... being able to somehow get them all in to the musueum w/out hassle hcih was even awesomeer.
walking around and finally seeing all the pieces in their final states. which was so impresive.
hanging out in our space as everyone came by to chat us up and generally justtalking about the piece w/ people who go it and were resoponsei.
drinking 5 glasses of champagne in as many minutes and watching all the chinese dignatiatires give speeches aout how sucessufl the show was.
walking around and having fun and talking about out our work. and going to this aweoms huge dinnner for all the participating artists .... etc
getting a mmmassive (ya thats 3 m's) compliment from kelli dippel of the tate and well we'll see what becomes of that. but exciitng.
waking up at 5am well nervous that a buncha shit wouldnt work out.
taking my guanfajing breakfast a little earilier than usual.
coming back to my room and working on the piece for a few final hours then going over to install it
releasing version 8 of my code :)
all my friends-of-friends in bejing showing up to some see what this shit was all about. whch was awesome...... being able to somehow get them all in to the musueum w/out hassle hcih was even awesomeer.
walking around and finally seeing all the pieces in their final states. which was so impresive.
hanging out in our space as everyone came by to chat us up and generally justtalking about the piece w/ people who go it and were resoponsei.
drinking 5 glasses of champagne in as many minutes and watching all the chinese dignatiatires give speeches aout how sucessufl the show was.
walking around and having fun and talking about out our work. and going to this aweoms huge dinnner for all the participating artists .... etc
getting a mmmassive (ya thats 3 m's) compliment from kelli dippel of the tate and well we'll see what becomes of that. but exciitng.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
getting lucky in china
The Chinese apparently have very different ideas about lucky numbers than most people in the west seem to. "3" and "7" aren't lucky at all -- 7 being commonly referenced with ghosts and death and the afterlife. Instead lucky numbers are 6 and 9 (representing the components of yin and yang) and I guess the luckiest of all is 8. (I guess the Olymics are starting on 8/8/2008.) I've been incrementing the version number of the software I'm working on each time I make improvements to it. So I decided I'll make sure that tomorrow when it all goes live we're on version 8. Anything to get lucky.
I haven't been to a massage parlor yet. The hotel has one but they are more westernized I think. But very cheap. I'll probably get one later. And across the street there is a foot massage place that I haven't tried, but others have and its been described as "like karaoke, but with massage instead". Its open til 2am. Not sure if it sounds that relaxing, but probably worth the experience.
Yesterday I had a wicked MSG hangover after lunch. Headache and stuff. I had this delicious noodle soup with a really dark broth and some strange meat that must've been tripe or something.
While walking back to the museum in a haze, I saw a middle-aged guy walking down the street with his wife/girlfriend, and wearing a t-shirt that literally said (in all caps): SURFER DREAMS IS WET. That is just funny in so many ways. I wanted so badly to run back and take a picture but I couldn't see how to swing it without being really rude.
And now: another Beijing sunrise through my window -- like all the others have been: a bright spot of sun barely visible through thick layer of haze.
all for now -
I haven't been to a massage parlor yet. The hotel has one but they are more westernized I think. But very cheap. I'll probably get one later. And across the street there is a foot massage place that I haven't tried, but others have and its been described as "like karaoke, but with massage instead". Its open til 2am. Not sure if it sounds that relaxing, but probably worth the experience.
Yesterday I had a wicked MSG hangover after lunch. Headache and stuff. I had this delicious noodle soup with a really dark broth and some strange meat that must've been tripe or something.
While walking back to the museum in a haze, I saw a middle-aged guy walking down the street with his wife/girlfriend, and wearing a t-shirt that literally said (in all caps): SURFER DREAMS IS WET. That is just funny in so many ways. I wanted so badly to run back and take a picture but I couldn't see how to swing it without being really rude.
And now: another Beijing sunrise through my window -- like all the others have been: a bright spot of sun barely visible through thick layer of haze.
all for now -
Friday, June 6, 2008
zěnme shuō "MSG" ?
"zěnme shuō" means "how do you say ..." in Chinese. I asked our translator to arm me with this powerful phrase. Now I am like a two-year-old walking around and pointing at things and asking people how to say the word for it. its great fun.
Marek and Johanna posted some pics of the museum and the installation so far.
Things are really going well work-wise. I have still seen almost nothing of the city besides the hotel and museum, but that will soon change, as I am almost done. First few nights were so stressful ... was worried something catastrophic would happen like a hard drive crash and the project would epically fail. But I think we are over that hump. We have backups. Second night I was so stressed I thought I was having a heart attack in bed. And my left arm started getting tingly which I guess is a symptom. But I guess it was just because the mattress is so firm my arm fell asleep -- when I rolled onto my right side the same thing happened. Problem solving.
MSG makes my mouth hurt. I've seen a few restaurants that literally have a condiment on the table right next to the salt and pepper that says "味精 / MSG" (pronounced "wèijīng"). Needless to say I abstain. But I've given up on trying to avoid -- I think its in everything. On the flight here I sat next to a Chinese girl who was a foreign exchange student in St Louis. I asked her how to say "please no MSG" in Mandarin. She just laughed and said "that would be like me going to KFC and saying 'please, no chicken'."
So ... as the old saying goes, "When in Rome, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. But when in China, fried chicken tastes twice as good with wèijīng".
I'm going to dinner.
Marek and Johanna posted some pics of the museum and the installation so far.
Things are really going well work-wise. I have still seen almost nothing of the city besides the hotel and museum, but that will soon change, as I am almost done. First few nights were so stressful ... was worried something catastrophic would happen like a hard drive crash and the project would epically fail. But I think we are over that hump. We have backups. Second night I was so stressed I thought I was having a heart attack in bed. And my left arm started getting tingly which I guess is a symptom. But I guess it was just because the mattress is so firm my arm fell asleep -- when I rolled onto my right side the same thing happened. Problem solving.
MSG makes my mouth hurt. I've seen a few restaurants that literally have a condiment on the table right next to the salt and pepper that says "味精 / MSG" (pronounced "wèijīng"). Needless to say I abstain. But I've given up on trying to avoid -- I think its in everything. On the flight here I sat next to a Chinese girl who was a foreign exchange student in St Louis. I asked her how to say "please no MSG" in Mandarin. She just laughed and said "that would be like me going to KFC and saying 'please, no chicken'."
So ... as the old saying goes, "When in Rome, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. But when in China, fried chicken tastes twice as good with wèijīng".
I'm going to dinner.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
and now a few words from my dutiful readers ...
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 7:17 AM, Uday Mathur wrote:
Thanks so much Uday, for trying your hardest to trigger the censorship filters on the ignominious Great Firewall of China. Fortunately, I am accessing the internet through a secured encrypted ssh tunnel, preventing the Maoist fascist bastards from reading any of my biting reportage. I back down from no topic, be it governmental corruption or a lack of eggs at the hotel breakfast bar.
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 10:09 AM, Dan Funderburgh wrote:
Dan I'm so glad you asked. Unfortunately, my twitter blog all about shitting is on temporary hiatus, due to lack of SMS access from my cell phone. But that is not for any lack of shitting adventures! Many bathrooms here are in fact little more than holes in the ground (with appropriate foot pads of course) -- even at the National Art Museum. But thankfully, the thoughtful proprietors of the Wangfujing Grand have provided my American ass with a proper porcelain throne -- which I defile daily in new and interesting ways, thanks to a steady diet of bizarre meats. The bottomless (pun intended) coffee at the breakfast bar has helped much to this end (and again).
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 9:52 PM, Dave Johnny wrote:
Yes Dave, thanks for noticing. Don't be jealous. I'll say whats up to your cousin for you.
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 7:29 AM, Candice Waldron wrote:
hahaha. wait what?
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008, Rolf Hanson wrote (via IM):
to which I replied:
annnnd, "publish post"
thx for your time.
Cool shit man..
SARs
Tienanmen Square
USA #1 A-ok
Thanks so much Uday, for trying your hardest to trigger the censorship filters on the ignominious Great Firewall of China. Fortunately, I am accessing the internet through a secured encrypted ssh tunnel, preventing the Maoist fascist bastards from reading any of my biting reportage. I back down from no topic, be it governmental corruption or a lack of eggs at the hotel breakfast bar.
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 10:09 AM, Dan Funderburgh wrote:
Yes, but where are you crapping ????
Dan I'm so glad you asked. Unfortunately, my twitter blog all about shitting is on temporary hiatus, due to lack of SMS access from my cell phone. But that is not for any lack of shitting adventures! Many bathrooms here are in fact little more than holes in the ground (with appropriate foot pads of course) -- even at the National Art Museum. But thankfully, the thoughtful proprietors of the Wangfujing Grand have provided my American ass with a proper porcelain throne -- which I defile daily in new and interesting ways, thanks to a steady diet of bizarre meats. The bottomless (pun intended) coffee at the breakfast bar has helped much to this end (and again).
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 9:52 PM, Dave Johnny wrote:
Who is this?
You're in China?
Yes Dave, thanks for noticing. Don't be jealous. I'll say whats up to your cousin for you.
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 7:29 AM, Candice Waldron wrote:
cool
have you left yet?
hahaha. wait what?
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008, Rolf Hanson wrote (via IM):
hello, Rory
how is china
to which I replied:
good good. great even. I'm actually updating my blog now.
annnnd, "publish post"
thx for your time.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
bla bla bla
Some new thoughts and revelations: I've never really been a bathrobe person, but they are actually kind of awesome; I think I could really get used to hotel living; sleep is really really great and necessary (I finally got more than 6 hours last night ).
Anyway, the Wangfujing Hotel breakfast sucked this morning. Beijing is super humid and has rained the last two days. But I don't really care because we've still been setting up and haven't had any time to explore. Yesterday I finally got my code working that downloads 6GB of audio from freesounds and archive.org and then cuts it up into a bunch of 2-5 second WAV files. I ran it overnight in parallel on 6 PC's, which was pretty awesome. Today I will make final adjustments to the player and get that running in sync with the image player. Tomorrow we hope to move all the machines into our space -- which was just finished being built yesterday.
Last night when I left the museum at about 10pm there were no less than 100 workers still there painting and sanding everything. Pretty incredible. There are gradually more and more tech art nerd people rolling in and can be seeing sitting around making final tweaks to their projects. It kind of feels like a science fair -- except the high school science nerds have now grown up and wear all black and listen to techno.
This blog is pretty boring. I'm hoping to do some exciting stuff starting tomorrow evening -- after everything is setup.
Anyway, the Wangfujing Hotel breakfast sucked this morning. Beijing is super humid and has rained the last two days. But I don't really care because we've still been setting up and haven't had any time to explore. Yesterday I finally got my code working that downloads 6GB of audio from freesounds and archive.org and then cuts it up into a bunch of 2-5 second WAV files. I ran it overnight in parallel on 6 PC's, which was pretty awesome. Today I will make final adjustments to the player and get that running in sync with the image player. Tomorrow we hope to move all the machines into our space -- which was just finished being built yesterday.
Last night when I left the museum at about 10pm there were no less than 100 workers still there painting and sanding everything. Pretty incredible. There are gradually more and more tech art nerd people rolling in and can be seeing sitting around making final tweaks to their projects. It kind of feels like a science fair -- except the high school science nerds have now grown up and wear all black and listen to techno.
This blog is pretty boring. I'm hoping to do some exciting stuff starting tomorrow evening -- after everything is setup.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
měi yǒu dì fāng
Start of day 3 ... no more soap/lotion confusion, or philosophical date/time Confucianism.
The Wangfujing Grand Hotel has the best complimentary breakfast ever. Congee, fried eggs, this weird white watermelon with tiny black seeds, bacon, sausage etc etc etc. But most importantly, THREE types of fermented hard-boiled egg (salted, marinated and preserved). I've tried two. They are not bad actually.
Slept no more than 7 hours over the last 3 days.
Right now NAMOC (the museum) has about 10 different construction workers per room. Its like a complete interior makeover. Amazing. They are building an undulating floor throughout half of the ground level. Pictures to follow ... Though the construction seems of questionable quality. Yesterday I was walking on said floor (made of plywood) and I heard a crack and thought my foot was going to go through. Or maybe I've just been over-indulging at breakfast.
Last night I had dinner at this open-air market ... it was a quarter mile long and they had about 100 different types of kabobs, including: beef, lamb, squid, soft-shell crab, grasshopper, beetle, sea horse, scorpion and star fish. yes, star fish kabob. No idea. I didn't see anyone actually eating it. We just had beef and noodles. I thought it was tasty until Marek claimed that he thought it was actually horse.
Each group has a translator, which is pretty awesome. Our's is named Miao Miáo -- pronounced "meow meow". funny. She told us that the name of our project ("Noplace") is 没有地方 which is pronounced "měi yǒu dì fāng". Which doesn't actually have an etymological connection to "utopia" in Mandarin -- whose word for utopia is more like "heaven". fascinating right?
ok, ta ta for now my lovelies.
The Wangfujing Grand Hotel has the best complimentary breakfast ever. Congee, fried eggs, this weird white watermelon with tiny black seeds, bacon, sausage etc etc etc. But most importantly, THREE types of fermented hard-boiled egg (salted, marinated and preserved). I've tried two. They are not bad actually.
Slept no more than 7 hours over the last 3 days.
Right now NAMOC (the museum) has about 10 different construction workers per room. Its like a complete interior makeover. Amazing. They are building an undulating floor throughout half of the ground level. Pictures to follow ... Though the construction seems of questionable quality. Yesterday I was walking on said floor (made of plywood) and I heard a crack and thought my foot was going to go through. Or maybe I've just been over-indulging at breakfast.
Last night I had dinner at this open-air market ... it was a quarter mile long and they had about 100 different types of kabobs, including: beef, lamb, squid, soft-shell crab, grasshopper, beetle, sea horse, scorpion and star fish. yes, star fish kabob. No idea. I didn't see anyone actually eating it. We just had beef and noodles. I thought it was tasty until Marek claimed that he thought it was actually horse.
Each group has a translator, which is pretty awesome. Our's is named Miao Miáo -- pronounced "meow meow". funny. She told us that the name of our project ("Noplace") is 没有地方 which is pronounced "měi yǒu dì fāng". Which doesn't actually have an etymological connection to "utopia" in Mandarin -- whose word for utopia is more like "heaven". fascinating right?
ok, ta ta for now my lovelies.
Monday, June 2, 2008
acquiring silk in china
So as the earth rotates, we look eastward for the future. From Los Angeles to New York, from New York to London, etc. The sun rises and we look toward the eastern horizon with news about the coming day. Its pretty disorienting then to find myself in China: on the other side of the dateline your morning rise is connected to the end of yesterday in the West. I'm sitting here at 6am writing about the last 24 hours. Waking with reflections of yesterday. Maybe this will make me a better person or something. I guess its kind of like those contortionists who can twist all the way around and look at their own b-holes.
I flew half way around the world yesterday! To all you disbelievers out there, its definitely round and I'm currently on the other side -- having flown over the North Pole to get here. It looked very white.
I feel pretty white. And really am often the tallest one around. Which I guess is fairly good for my ego. Speaking of looking out over the Chinese, this hotel was advertised as having views of Forbidden City, but all I see out my window is a wide and low rooftop. Pretending that this is somehow "forbidden" is a fun game, making me imagine secret communist party goings on inside. Funny thing is, because of Chinese internet censorship, I can write this post (blogger.com ok) but am just realizing I can't read it (blogspot.com blocked).
Yesterday upon arriving in my room I had to call housekeeping to show me how to turn the lights on. Jet lag or cultural disconnect, I'm not sure. And then in the shower my curiously non-lathering body wash turned out to actually be body lotion. The label wasn't even written in Chinese. Maybe I've just pre-conditioned myself to be confused here. In any case, the result was incredibly smooth and silky skin.
I flew half way around the world yesterday! To all you disbelievers out there, its definitely round and I'm currently on the other side -- having flown over the North Pole to get here. It looked very white.
I feel pretty white. And really am often the tallest one around. Which I guess is fairly good for my ego. Speaking of looking out over the Chinese, this hotel was advertised as having views of Forbidden City, but all I see out my window is a wide and low rooftop. Pretending that this is somehow "forbidden" is a fun game, making me imagine secret communist party goings on inside. Funny thing is, because of Chinese internet censorship, I can write this post (blogger.com ok) but am just realizing I can't read it (blogspot.com blocked).
Yesterday upon arriving in my room I had to call housekeeping to show me how to turn the lights on. Jet lag or cultural disconnect, I'm not sure. And then in the shower my curiously non-lathering body wash turned out to actually be body lotion. The label wasn't even written in Chinese. Maybe I've just pre-conditioned myself to be confused here. In any case, the result was incredibly smooth and silky skin.
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