Absurdity, Allegory and China

The first time I walked down the tree-lined lane between Hujialou Xili and Nanli was in the late afternoon of March 24, 2008. The trees were all on the Nanli, the east side of the lane, though Nanli literally means “south neighborhood”. The short stretch of lane runs north from Chaoyang Lu. The first photo [...]

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I started following the U. S. tainted drywall story back in January (2009), since one of the main Chinese drywall manufacturers is located here in Tianjin: Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd. Since then the story has grown and is now making it’s way awkwardly through the U. S. courts. For those who end up here [...]

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Coming clean: I have watched Chinatown more than I’ve watched any other film. I have—more often than I could or care to quantify—played Chinatown roulette: pop in the VHS (80’s – 90’s) / DVD, hit fast forward and stop it at random and watch five minutes for a guaranteed hit of really great art. The [...]

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There are lots of congrats being passed around on China’s turning 60, though I must say I am not in a “pass around comps” mood right now. In the process of greasing the skids for the happy face of holiday, they’ve gutted access to the internet, and I have an uncomfortable sense of certainty that [...]

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I have been quiet in here of late for a few reasons (excuses?), but my focus has temporarily shifted to creating more of a web presence beyond the blog by building a website to display photos and other content that is not necessarily blog-able. Doing this with a web connection that has done nothing but [...]

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