American in Shanghai

A few art-day photos from Brilliance West Mall and Moganshan area.  

I was fortunate to attend the "Soul of Shaolin" kungfu masters show at the Shanghai Theater Academy last night.  It was a delightful show of contortions, fast motions, drama and jumps.  One of the most fun moments was when a fellow in the next row shared his popcorn with my colleague!

I took on a small translating job for a friend who wants to send a container of some souped up refurbished motorcycles to the US so we visited a couple of shops to check it out.  One of the shops also offers some 1 day or weekend tours. 

A couple of photos from October 24, 2009. 

This is only a test of sending a post via email; here are a few photos near my apartment.  The blue and green ones are where I live.   The water is Suzhou Creek, just over the bridge around sunset.    

Don't forget where you parked it

I have a problem with reading. I love to read. The better the book, though, the more in-depth it is, the slower I go. Like I've been reading Sidney Rittenberg's "The Man Who Stayed Behind" and it is taking over a month. I cannot read it every day. It is so much. And so great. It is the history of his life and the birth of modern China. He was there. He lived it and fluently -- not a little -- extremely fluently in Mandarin, participated. I cannot rush this reading. I am fascinated by it. Everyone who is interested in how the current China came to be should read that. I am also reading Derek Sivers' ebook -- I love it but I need to re-read several things. The drawings are really funny, too. This is about how to succeed in the music business, in particular if you are an independent musician. An interesting and thought-provoking read.