Beijing Building views - Pictures



Soho



Forbidden City

Sanlitun Village

2nd Ring Road electricity box

Temple of Heaven

The Egg - National center for the performing arts

Watercube, sun playing with the molecular structure



The Great Wall



The Opposite house - Luxury hotel

Chinese actresses

Chinese cinema is a billion-yuan booming industry. Some great Chinese movies make it outside the Middle Kingdom as well. Some beautiful and talented actresses are emerging from China and make it in the West. Here is my personal top 5:


1. Zhang Ziyi (章子怡, 9 February 1979, Beijing)



Movies: The road Home - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, Rush Hour 2, TMNT, Memoirs of a Geisha, Horsemen, ...


2. Ling Bai (白灵, 10 October 1966, Chengdu)

Movies: The Crow, Nixon, Wild wild west, Anna and the King, Shaolin soccer, Taxi3, Crank: High Voltage, Magic Man, ...

http://ling-bai.blogspot.com/


3. Zhou Xun (周迅, 18 October 1976, Quzhou)



Movies: Suzhou River, Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress, Perhaps Love, The Banquet, The equation of love and death, The message, Confucius, ...


4. Wei Zhao (赵薇, 12 March 1976, Wuhu)



Movies: Shaolin Soccer, Chinese Odyssey 2002, Warriors of Heaven and Earth, Red Cliff 1, Red Cliff 2, Mulan, ...


5. Fan Bingbing (范冰冰, 16 September 1981, Qingdao)



Movies: A battle of wits, Shinjuku incident, Sophie's revenge, Bodyguards and Assassins, Shaolin, ...

P.s. Hong Kong and American born actresses are not counted in. No Lucy Liu, Maggie Cheung or Michelle Yeoh.

Kiekeboe - Tienduizend dagen

Kiekeboe is the best-selling Belgian (Dutch language) comic book. Mr Mehro, the designer of Kiekeboe went last year to Japan. I accompanied him for 2 weeks and give him some advice about Japan. I also helped translating some simple phrases in Japanese for his comic book.
As a result I am mentioned in Mr Mehro's new comic book as "adviser". 'Tienduizend dagen portraits the family Kiekeboe on an adventure through Japan. The encounter, geisha's, sumo's and the vicious yakuza.

It seems I even have my own page on "Stripinfo", a website dedicated to Belgian comic books!
Talking about web pollution.

Pictures



Sleeping Panda, Sichuan province, China



Tokyo Tower, Tokyo, Japan



Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai, Thailand



Dew, Potatsu National Park, Yuannan province, China




Sunset, Koh Samui, Thailand





Maiko latern, Kyoto, Japan



Belgium designer in Hong Kong

Middle September upon strolling on Hong Kong island near Central, I spotted these adds for the Belgium designer Dries Van Noten:

My father is Li Gang! - 我爸是李刚

"Wo Ba Shi Li Gang" (My father is Li Gang), has recently become a new catchphrase in China. It is is used to shirk responsibility without any punishment. The saying was born out of terrible tragedy a month ago.

On 18 October 2 college girls were playing on the Hubei university grounds when a VW car hit them at full speed. The security guards saw the accident and tried to stop the intoxicated 22-year-old driver. He screamed at them "My father is Li Gang" was intercepted at the exit gate.

Ms Chen one of the girls didn't make it.

This kind of socio-drama happens daily in China. Privileged law offenders can escape the common law thanks to their "Guanxi" (Influential people they know). In this case

Li Qiming is the son of Li Gang, deputy police chief of the district police.

Most cases are not even know to the public due to censorship of the Chinese government.

The local school's news channel run a news bulletin, eventually it was picked up by the local media, but those stayed quit.

The death of Ms Chen became nationally know thanks to the Internet. Even Chinese authorities can control the news coverage, they can not control the millions of Chinese forums. And Chinese know they are dependant on these Internet forums for news-sharing outside the official channels, so it is commonly used among young and middle-aged Chinese. The Internet helped to built up this story to a nationwide hot issue. In this case the National Chinese TV couldn't stay silent any longer and they started to cover this story, partly though.

Li Qiming remains in prison and his father, Li Gang, has officially apologised for his son's behaviour.

Meanwhile the "normal" Chinese fights an unfair battle against corrupt government and favoured personnel.

Humour always helps to soften the unacceptable and Catchphrases as "My father is Li Gang" do this with a pinch of sarcasm.

Some pigs are more equal than others!

An art installation in Chongqing with the caption "Wo ba shi Li Gang!"

Funeral in style

In Sout-East Asia Buddhism and Chinese beliefs dominate the religious thinking. So when "Nirvana Memorial" planned to build a luxury columbarium in Singapore, they did it in style.
According to Chinese traditions a deceased should be buried in one piece and commemorating ceremonies should be held at least twice a year. Singapore has a limited land space so cremations are generally performed.
In the brand new Nirvana Memorial Garden columbarium, called a "6 star" columbarium, everything is possible.
The urn of the deceased are placed in golden platted walls. Ceremonies are held without the presence of monks but with light- and sound shows and speaking Buddha statues.
Gloomy, dark and depressing funeral places for your beloved ones are the past, this is the future.

But it comes with a price tag;
A Royal double niche would be price around 22.000 $ and Family suite (32 urns) comes for 93.000 $. The "economy" class niche starts at 2.200$.

 

Freerice

Freerice.com is a great website.By playing a fun and educational game you can help the needy in this world.
Addictive and making you feel involved.

Taiji dolphin massacre

Last night I watched the Oscar winning documentary "The Cove". The movie portraits the killing of whales and especially dolphins by a group of Japanese fisherman in Taiji, Japan. Although the movie isn't over-emotional it is difficult to stay untouched after watching it.

The cinematography is impeccable and the movie builds up perfectly to the terrible climax. Emotionally and humorous at the same time.

Going often to Japan, I see it as my duty now to promote this documentary with Japanese people. The Japanese population can change the attitude and politics in their own country. But most Japanese are not aware of the tragedy of Taiji, that starting every September. My mission is to raise this awareness!

A must see, and hopefully a movie to a better planet.

Belgium explained

It finally makes sense!

Shanghai Expo 2010 - Pavilions