In Canada, if you were a mom and pop restuarant or corner store you were shut down for many months. If you were Walmart or Mcdonalds you were allowed to stay open because you were `essential'. Put that in yer pipe an smoke it.There is apparently a Chinese curse (though i don't know if it is accurate) `may you live in interesting times' We are indeed living in interesting times, and I am glad to be here, and will see this mess through, or until I am dead.y yThere are beginnings and endings, but to beginnings and endings there is no beginning, nor any ending.
So there I was, writin novels, yes writin novels was I. Then I gets up, reads Thomas Pynchon's `V' and realizes all I wanted to write right has been writ! Scurrilous f£nking Thomas Pynchon. So now all I can do is rant and rail against such folk that thinks they gots a brain, and we are in the mid of a pandemic?!
That which hath no end hath properly no midst. Vaccines may wear off, but the reason for them abideth even unto the end of the world.
COVID is cultural-multitasking. First, it's a disease. (How bad and all that is somewhat debatable, but it is a disease.) Second it is a driver for the economy. I mean, consider, a lot of people eat McDonalds. But not everyone does, and maybe not that often. In the case of COVID, EVERYONE has to get a test as often as the authorities say. Plus, while with McD's, you have to pay workers, with COVID you can get volunteers to do it all for free. Talk about widening those margins. Thirdly, COVID does what no big city mayor in America can possibly do. It generates fear AND attaches penalties to disobeying the law. (Compare that to Seattle where the whittled down police recently stopped investigating new rape cases.) Fourth, COVID represents the biggest psychological experiment undertaken in all history. Disinterested researchers can address such questions as "Do we really need an economy anyway?" "Why bother with normal life?" "What if Florence Supermax were a planet, not one small penitentary."
I don't know about any of you, but I am honored to be a part of all this.
Four Cartoons Beijing Residents Loved as Kids
If there was one thing I couldn't live without when I was growing up, it was cartoons. My absolute favorite had to be Pokemon. When the Japanese series arrived in China, everyone I knew wanted to be a pokemon trainer just like Ash and his friends.
But what are some of the favorite cartoons of long-time Beijing residents when they were growing up? For this Children’s Day, we asked a few locals what they liked watching when they were younger.
Black Cat Detective 黑猫警长 Hēi māo jǐng zhǎng
"Definitely Black Cat Detective. America has Garfield, and Japan has Hello Kitty, but China has the Black Cat Detective. For me, Black Cat is a symbol of justice. He is brave, intelligent, and empathetic. He taught me so much about right and wrong, which is something that most Chinese cartoons lack these days" -- Xiaotao, a Beijing resident for 14 years.
Journey to the West 西游记 Xīyóu jì
“I loved watching the Journey to the West growing up because the plot is very fascinating. When I was a little girl, I secretly dreamed about marrying a guy like Sun Wukong. He is a hero to me. He is loyal to Tangseng, his master, and he likes to tease the other lazy companion, Bajie, aka Pigsy. He is a true warrior and he does whatever he can to sweep away evil, and I can tell you this: there is a Sun Wukong that lives in everyone’s heart." -- Weiwei, a Beijing resident for 9 years.
Calabash Brothers 葫芦娃 Húlu wá
"Thinking about this cartoon is definitely bringing back some of my fondest childhood memories. The story is about ripe gourds transforming into seven brothers. Each brother is born with a special, supernatural ability like invisibility, super strength, or extraordinary hearing. I remember as a kid, watching the big brother with super strength becoming a strong giant, and thinking to myself: How I wish I could do that! This show definitely intrigued me and made me dream about achieving the impossible" -- Changanluan, a Beijing resident for 25 years.
Tom and Jerry 猫和老鼠 Māo hé lǎoshǔ
"Growing up, Tom and Jerry played a big part in my childhood. My father acquired the entire series of Tom and Jerry on DVD when I was seven-years-old and he would play it during dinner time, and the next thing you know, my entire family couldn’t stop laughing when we saw dorky Tom falling into every trap set by clever Jerry. Those were definitely some good times that we would never forget!" -- Xin, a Beijing resident for 6 years.
Read: A Few Chinese Tabletop Games to Learn Over Break (or Lockdown)
Images: Sohu, Weibo
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There is apparently a Chinese curse (though i don't know if it is accurate) `may you live in interesting times' We are indeed living in interesting times, and I am glad to be here, and will see this mess through, or until I am dead.y yThere are beginnings and endings, but to beginnings and endings there is no beginning, nor any ending.
So there I was, writin novels, yes writin novels was I. Then I gets up, reads Thomas Pynchon's `V' and realizes all I wanted to write right has been writ! Scurrilous f£nking Thomas Pynchon. So now all I can do is rant and rail against such folk that thinks they gots a brain, and we are in the mid of a pandemic?!
That which hath no end hath properly no midst. Vaccines may wear off, but the reason for them abideth even unto the end of the world.
COVID is cultural-multitasking. First, it's a disease. (How bad and all that is somewhat debatable, but it is a disease.) Second it is a driver for the economy. I mean, consider, a lot of people eat McDonalds. But not everyone does, and maybe not that often. In the case of COVID, EVERYONE has to get a test as often as the authorities say. Plus, while with McD's, you have to pay workers, with COVID you can get volunteers to do it all for free. Talk about widening those margins. Thirdly, COVID does what no big city mayor in America can possibly do. It generates fear AND attaches penalties to disobeying the law. (Compare that to Seattle where the whittled down police recently stopped investigating new rape cases.) Fourth, COVID represents the biggest psychological experiment undertaken in all history. Disinterested researchers can address such questions as "Do we really need an economy anyway?" "Why bother with normal life?" "What if Florence Supermax were a planet, not one small penitentary."
I don't know about any of you, but I am honored to be a part of all this.
There are beginnings and endings, but to beginnings and endings there is no beginning, nor any ending.
So there I was, writin novels, yes writin novels was I. Then I gets up, reads Thomas Pynchon's `V' and realizes all I wanted to write right has been writ! Scurrilous f£nking Thomas Pynchon. So now all I can do is rant and rail against such folk that thinks they gots a brain, and we are in the mid of a pandemic?!
That which hath no end hath properly no midst. Vaccines may wear off, but the reason for them abideth even unto the end of the world.
So there I was, writin novels, yes writin novels was I. Then I gets up, reads Thomas Pynchon's `V' and realizes all I wanted to write right has been writ! Scurrilous f£nking Thomas Pynchon. So now all I can do is rant and rail against such folk that thinks they gots a brain, and we are in the mid of a pandemic?!
I've sometimes mentioned to my students that the only Chinese TV show I can stomach is 熊出没。Not the newer ones with the bears as little kids. What moron came up with that idea? I like to think of myself as an amalgam of 熊大， 熊二，the woodcutter, whose name excapes me,李老板， 和蹦蹦。