 | Friday, April 2 |
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| Hong Kong came out last night for their beloved Leslie Cheung, a Cantopop (Cantonese pop, for the uninitiated) superstar who died a year ago yesterday. He jumped from the window of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in downtown Hong Kong--at 5:30 in the evening! Hello rush hour! But you might know his face from the movie "Farewell My Concubine." He was a huge star over here and in Cantonese communities around the world--the equivalent of say...a male Madonna.
Speaking of falling objects, I watched that Sex and the City episode today where the washed-up party girl slips on her Manolos and falls out a window and dies, after which the Post runs the headline "Splat!" You can always count on the Post for good taste. The funny thing is the box of my counterfeit DVD. Sarah Jessica Parker is termed "Shla Jeshik Pak" (just sound it out phonetically) and the series is described as thus: "Miranda makes the mistake of going out with a man obsessed with models; Samantha goes out with a modelizer and has her sexual encounter videofaped. Carrie experiments with a handsome model and asks: How much power do Samantha throws. Carrie reveals her scarlet letter to Samantha in private." Huh. I guess I missed those episodes...
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| Thursday, April 1 |
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| Lower East Side Denizen, Cat Lover, Conde Nastie, and All Around It Girl Holly P. has lauched her own web site to bravely document that special time in a girl's life that most girls prefer to ring in with a bottle of Clairol Nice 'n Easy--turning 30! That's right, Miss Holly, who doesn't look a day over 23, will be dishing up a photo a day in anticipation of her third decade, so check it out. (Wait till she starts inching up them 30s, then she ain't going to be broadcasting nothing about her age...not that I would know about that as I am still a fair...ahem...29.)
And while you're at it, Leslie has put together a cool photo display of her trip to Asia. Not only does it have excellent shots of Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Hong Kong, but there is a cute photo of everyone's favorite doggie, Sedra! Oh, and if you missed it, Michael and Kelli's amazing photos from Indonesia are here.
Aside from that, the biggest story in Asialand is Japanese-born New York Yankee Hideki Matsui hitting a huge homerun at a game in Tokyo and giving everyone a dream-come-true happy ending (no, not that sort of happy ending! You have such filthy minds people!) You can almost hear the elation of 130 million Japanese from here. Now it's really Suntory time.
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| Wednesday, March 31
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| Shanghai: The World of Tomorrow |
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| Shanghai is a city of contradictions. Ostentatious new skyscrapers compete with time-warped street scenes where peasant traditions still flourish. The scary pace of development threatens all the old ways, but charm abounds. Above is a shot of the Pudong, a slice of land that was nothing but rice paddies a few years ago. Today it's home to Shanghai's most striking landmark, the futuristic Oriental Pearl Tower. |
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| Mao-era uniforms still making a fashion statement. |
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| No, it's not the West Side Highway, it's the famous Bund, a reminder of Shanghai's cosmopolitan past. |
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| A tea maker dries the goods. |
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| A word on suits: There are lots of them in Shanghai and lots of snazzy dressing men. Gap-style leisure wear has apparently not penetrated the metropolis. Note to the retail barrons of the West: this is a good thing. |
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| Green slimy things can be soooooooo tiresome. |
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| OK, there are over 20 MILLION people in Shanghai, but who do I run into...lovely Beijing-based Betsy! She just happened to be visiting Shanghai the same weekend I was, just happened to stop off for a drink in a bar in the French Concession the same night I was...just happened to be there at the same hour...minute... Surreal. |
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| Make it Suntory time. |
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| Bill and Hillary made a visit to a tea house in Shanghai a while back, and they're still being served dinner. A fresh offering arrives before their blow-up photos daily. (Ah, remember the days when people from other countries actually liked our president!) |
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| We were out of the loop on this one...people drinking from dumplings with a straw. |
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| Psycho mannequins. What with the hair? Very Mrs. Brady. |
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| The endless lights on Nanjing Xilu from our high rise room. |
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| Look away! As I said the old ways still dominate the street, as this baby holds back her slit pants to take a poop!
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| Thursday, March 25
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| Peanut Butter and Jelly |
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| The Jelly Kellys have hit Hong Kong (finally). But now that everyone can have them, does anyone really want them? Not me, since I've got the real thing, i.e. really good Birkin fake, courtesy of the by-now infamous Lowu Commercial Center in crazy Shenzhen, China. But the Jellys have become ubiquitous on Hong Kong streets, even though the version washing up here tends to have the consistency of a shower curtain. I guess the knock-off artists in China interpreted the term "jelly" literally.
On another note, China is knocking the lights out on the country's blogs. Several bloggers are reporting sudden inability to access typepad and blogs.com sites. Consistent with the Chinese government's general feeling that Freedom of Expression = BAD!! Fortunately for Asialand, Hong Kong is only nominally a part of the People's Republic and remains a "Special Administrative Region." But who knows how long the party will last before Hong Kong becomes the "Seriously Asswhipped Region." Better just...er...keep quiet. Did I mention I always thought Chairman Mao was a snazzy dresser? Not creepy at all??
Speaking of creepy, it looks like our illustrious Veep Dick Cheney (a.k.a. this guy) will be crawling out of his netherworld cave and heading to these parts for a visit. The Vice President's itinerary will include espousing the virtues of "democracy" (the new "in quotations" version so popular with the Bushies) and generally pissing people off. You go Dick! No I mean it, literally, like in November!!
Bruce and I are heading out to trippin Shanghai for the weekend. So if I don't catch you before, see you next week. Pictures to come.
Late Breaking PS: What the eff up with Mayor Bloomberg wanting restaurants to provide the caloric and nutritional content of food to patrons??!! First he turned the smokers into shut-ins. Then he basically outlawed dancing and nightlife? Now he wants to micromanage what people eat! Maybe he should find a way to eradicate the process of birth so people can be safe from the scourge of LIFE altogether. Then we all can be spared the hazards of living. He must be stopped.
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| Monday, March 22
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| What a Drag!
It's not everyday you get to attend a colleague's drag extravaganza, but that is just what happened this past Saturday when the fabulous Diva D. (a.k.a. Davide, mild mannered creative director) dusted off her feathers, sequins and falsies, and showed Hong Kong what it's about! Now, I've been to Wigstock and the D.C. Drag Races, and I've done Provincetown too, but this was a performance for the ages. Highlights... |
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| The show drew out the city's best and sparkliest... |
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| ...and tragic beauties |
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| ...and lots of plumber's crack (when did it become so hip?) |
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| A hush falls over the room as the dancers make their entrance... |
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| Anticipation builds through the crowd... |
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| Make way, people, make WAY! |
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| Diva D., in full regalia and smooth as Malibu Barbie, takes the stage and throws it down! |
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| Giving it all to the people and hitting the high notes! |
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| Ouch, the shoes, (the gams!) |
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| The crowd is DEE-lighted, including Janet, back there laughing. |
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| Diva D. feelin the love after the show. Definitely a night to remember.
(PS: You can read more about Davide in last week's New Yorker. An article, "Homecoming Queens," profiles his reign over the Omaha drag scene in the 80s.) |
