Sweatin’ it out in Suzhou

Despite the repressive heat and complete lack of rain (it’s only drizzled once or twice since I posted about it), the title is pointing more towards a different climate – the Olympic/visa climate. I’ve been intentionally quiet lately because, to be honest, my stay in China has been resting on a bed of nails. My …

July 25, 2008
 // 10 Comments
 // Read More »

Beijing Blacklisting Blacks?

So, story goes – sometime yesterday afternoon both Shanghaiist and Beijing Boyce reported on a South China Morning Post article by Tom Miller entitled “Authorities order bars not to serve black people”. Mrs. Granite Studio (YJ), Danwei, Beijing Boyce and a number of others have jumped to the call and found no evidence that supports …

July 19, 2008
 // 6 Comments
 // Read More »

Now that’s a launch party

I’m not sure what our little “Venice of the East” did to encourage it, but in the last six months to a year Suzhou has gone from having virtually no English city/culture magazines to having no less than three – and with the official launch of that’s Suzhou last night, there’s little doubt the mags …

July 12, 2008
 // 15 Comments
 // Read More »

Who stopped the rain?

Suzhou is green. Hell, it’s a garden city. And a great part about it, is it stays green all year round. It makes the city a nice place to look at no matter what time of year you come here. The tradeoff is that it rains non-stop. We go from rainy season to typhoon season …

July 8, 2008
 // 6 Comments
 // Read More »

Emergency Fundraiser BBQ for Xiao Hua

And now news of a barbecue of a different, and much more solemn and purposeful nature – I received word late yesterday from several friends that there will be an emergency fundraising BBQ for their friend Xiao Hua, whom was the victim of a hit and run here in Suzhou on Sunday and is now …

July 4, 2008
 // 3 Comments
 // Read More »

Canada Day BBQ in Suzhou

Ok, I’m a couple days late in posting it – but Happy Canada Day! This year’s Canada Day marked the fourth I’ve been in China for, but the first I’ve celebrated – and what’s better, we did it properly with a BBQ and beer! I had tossed around the idea of doing a Canada Day …

July 3, 2008
 // 5 Comments
 // Read More »

George Carlin expires ‘like a magazine subscription’

George, you paved the way for some of my favourite socially and politically charged comedians. You showed me just how versatile a word can be. And, you gave substance to TheHumanaught.com’s #1 visited post. “Older” sounds a little better than “old,” doesn’t it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer … I’m getting …

June 24, 2008
 // 4 Comments
 // Read More »

Mailbag: Suzhou, home for cheats and liars?

Being that this blog has been around for a while now, and that it consistently lists at the top of the search results for many things “Suzhou”, I tend to get my fair share of e-mails from readers or random passers-by. Most of these are e-mails from folks moving to Suzhou, or China in general, …

June 22, 2008
 // 29 Comments
 // Read More »

The True North Strong in Fee

For all the noise I’ve made about the recent visa situation here in China, or bureaucracy here in general, I tend to forget that this isn’t a China-exclusive thing. Before I can get my visa renewed next month, I need first to renew my passport. No big deal really, a couple of photos, an application …

June 18, 2008
 // 9 Comments
 // Read More »

A few changes around here

Just a quick note to reference a few changes I’ve made to the site. First: you’ll notice that I’ve changed the comment submit layout. When I initially designed the look of this site, I was eager to try some new things, and so had the comment submission form stuck at the top of the comments. …

June 11, 2008
 // 2 Comments
 // Read More »

Bill Moyers on Media Reform

I first learned of Bill Moyers while I was in school for journalism back in Canada. A classmate of mine lent me the book version of his rather famous interview series with Joseph Campbell entitled “The Power of Myth”. In the years since I’ve watched a handful of his numerous interviews and I have to …

June 9, 2008
 // 6 Comments
 // Read More »