China Punk

Beijing Punk - Music Documentary



Beijing Punk Documentary



Reflector - Zhao Ke 反光镜- 还我蔚蓝

P.K.14 - Behind All Ruptures (每一种分离背后的疼痛)
I really like this stuff.  I welcome any recommendations you may have of other Asian musicians like this.  It is fairly easy to find Pop music from Asian countries. But it is much more difficult to find Punk / Indie /Alternative music ( especially from China).

I know of a few other Chinese Indie bands, such as Carsick Cars, HedgeHog, and others. but I seek learning of new similar Alternative music from anywhere !

Tiananmen Square 1989 - Tank Man

This June will be the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing ; 六四事件.

Friends in China have never learned anything about these terrible events.  The Chinese government censors its Internet so that sites like Facebook and Youtube are blocked.
When a person in China searches the term "Tienanmen Square"  the results are filtered so that no images, video or information about this tragedy ever appear to Chinese citizens.

Just 25 years later, even students from the same universities from which the protestors came, have no knowledge of the protests, violence and killings. Therefore, I have downloaded the 2006 PBS Frontline documentary, "Tank Man" and am sharing it online for my Chinese friends to watch.

Estimates vary widely from a few hundred to 3000-4000 students and protesting civilians who were killed by police and military - many were  innocent young teenagers who were watching or photographing the protests. When students ran from military tanks, many where shot in their backs as they ran away. Large military rounds (bullets) were used, which tore their bodies apart.

Anyone who has not learned about this incident should watch this documentary film.  I have leaned much more than I previously knew by watching it during this process. PBS's Frontline is a highly respected documentary series which has aired on public television since 1983.

I hope you will share these links with anyone who has not been educated about "Tiananmen Square", especially if you know Chinese friends who have never learned about it. I have tried to make the 7 parts as small as possible while keeping good quality. My re-processed copy is posted and can be shared to anyone here:
http://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/TMD%2F4oQHWeEPGsBDPk%2FOiR%2BjlZ0zTpdl9ZdM04zHzOHH34Kj7MFyt5zetVodhRFhoNqSiZ1Ds7dwyb1ZezGOyc5cbZ14br5R


Of course, if your Internet is not censored, you can watch it streamed here:
http://video.pbs.org/video/1146923141/
or
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/


"Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it."  - George Santayana

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Tank Man (entire documentary) lower quality
http://youtu.be/HNtA8RZ1FAA

Chinese Students Unaware of the "Tank Man"
http://youtu.be/xuuddurPLV8

PBS Tankman Intro
http://youtu.be/2POKRu3ACxw

Frontline The Tank Man Preview
http://youtu.be/2Zc-N_rqPRI

Wind Map

This is really cool.  It's a live animated wind map of the USA.  Click on the map.

The Forgotten Man

Against the background of a darkening sky, all of the past Presidents of the United States gather before the White House, as if to commemorate some great event. In the left hand corner of the painting sits a man. That man, with his head bowed appears distraught and hopeless as he contemplates his future. Some of the past Presidents try to console him while looking in the direction of the modern Presidents as if to say, "What have you done?" Many of these modern Presidents, seemingly oblivious to anything other than themselves, appear to be congratulating each other on their great accomplishments. In front of the man, paper trash is blowing in the wind. Crumpled dollar bills, legislative documents, and, like a whisper—the U.S. Constitution beneath the foot of Barack Obama.
http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/

Spring Training is in the Air

“People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”
—Rogers Hornsby

Desperado

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
You been out ridin' fences for so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow

Don' you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the queen of heats is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the night time from the day
You're losin' all your highs and lows
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it's too late

anyway...

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.

The Edge: Winning and Facing Adversity

"No matter what happens in business, life or sports, don't quit. Quitters are losers; they have the bad habit of giving up before it's over. Winners set goals and work hard; they don't let anything stop them from reaching their goal. The only true way to fail to reach your goal is to quit. It makes sense that the more time you spend in preparation, the more you'll want to win. Why ? Because you have more of yourself involved in the process. When you develop the habit of winning, you'll do anything not to lose or quit.

Not quitting sounds easy but it isn't. If you aren't in condition or haven't sacrificed, it will be a lot easier to quit because you'll have little to lose. If you don't have lots of pride or take the time to develop it, it'll be easier for you to quit because you'll have little motivation to win."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Adversity builds character It forces you to analyze yourself to see what went wrong and to correct your mistakes so you can improve. I've seen very little character in athletes who have never faced adversity.

When you lose or are faced with a problem, you have two options: (1), you can quit and walk away; or (2), you can stay and meet the challenge head on. When you face adversity, you must face the situation immediately. Don't put it off, hoping the problem will go away. Grab your problems by the throat and shake them until you find the solution."

- "The Edge" by Howard E. Ferguson

How the West Vews China - Hilarious

Full episode: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjMxNTY1MzA0.html

Segment from Shaolin Kung Fu School:

Office Chair Broke

So, my office chair broke the other night. Fortunately, I had my web cam on at the time:

Palace or Hole?

You're better off living in a hole looking out toward a palace than living in a palace looking at a hole. It's also true throughout life in general. You're better off being "ugly" and looking at "nice" all day long than being "nice" and looking out at "ugly" all day long.

Still Waters Run Deep "da zhi ruo yu"

The New Americans : Races and Ethnicities in American Immigration History

I have often been asked questions related to how foreign ethnic people assimilate into the United States. In my studying of the subject, I have come across no better resource than Michael Barone's book, The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again. Because I often recommend this writing to others to read, I wanted to post some of the interesting points of this book here and supply some links for others who might like to read about this topic.

Barone reassures us that America's interracial, inter-ethnic frictions are no worse today than they have been in the past, and argues that these frictions can be overcome through assimilation.

Parallels between Different Races and Ethnicities

Barone's writing is divided into three sections: "I. Irish and Blacks, II. Italians and Latinos, III. Jews and Asians." This outline drives the book and explains it very well.

He goes on to explain and document the parallels between the nineteenth-century Irish and twentieth-century African Americans; earlier Italian and more recent Latino immigrants; and, finally, the Jewish immigrants of a century ago and Asian immigrants of today.

The parallels are instructive. Not so long ago, the Irish, Italians, and Jews were each viewed as unassimilable groups–separate races, in fact. Yet each was assimilated. So, Barone suggests, there is no reason to suppose that three groups–blacks, Latinos, and Asians–that are now also viewed by some as unassimilable cannot be assimilated, too, especially when he has shown that their cultures parallel those of their earlier counterparts.

Irish and African Americans

First, Barone discusses how the Irish and blacks both were denigrated as racially inferior, and characterized by unstable families, high crime rates, and substance abuse. Both had strong religious traditions but weak entrepreneurial ones, and abandoned rural roots to settle increasingly in cities, where they showed a knack for politics, sports, and entertainment and the arts.

Barone notes that the recent progress of African Americans has been spectacular, quoting Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom: "The black middle class is now proportionally as large as the white middle class was at the end of Dwight Eisenhower's second term, a time when American society as a whole was usually described as predominantly middle class."

Italian Americans and Latinos

In other ways, too, the two groups shared similar experiences that affected their social attitudes. For instance, Barone points out that Italians came from a politically corrupt country, as do many Latinos. Moreover, while both groups are nominally Catholic, they have "showed less than total attachment to the Catholic Church in America."

Barone concludes that it took the Italians about eighty years to be "thoroughly interwoven into the fabric of American life," forty years less than the Irish.

Jewish and Asian Americans

Jews and Asians, according to Barone, "were people of the book" who have always put great stock in educational achievement. Both have "traditions of strong family ties" and low crime rates, despite some involvement in organized crime.

Barone points out that the first Jewish Cabinet member was appointed in 1906, versus 1962 for the first Italian American. Barone concludes that it took the Jews, like the Italians, eighty years to be thoroughly interwoven into the American fabric, and that for Asians it "may take considerably less."

I find these studies to be quite insightful and accurate in how they play out in the real world, both historically, and in our current times. You can view the Google Books here.

Michael Barone, The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again (Regnery 2001)

Live in Concert - Music Part 2

I was re-loading my MP3 player with music tonight. I use it most often while running 5.5 miles every other evening for part of my workout regiment.

As I sorted through my 5000 or so Mp3 files, two things occurred to me. First, I have way too many MP3 files with bad tags. Much of my music library is Asian music and the tags are often in non-English text. So this really screws things up for an American.

Secondly, I remembered some of the live music concerts I have attended throughout my life. I thought I would try to list them here, partly for others but mostly for myself. Wow...it's really hard to remember these. Let's see if I can remember them all. I will add to this list as I remember those I haven't recalled. Of course, this list only consists of popular music performers, not instrumental concerts. I grew up in a family filled with musicians so I could never remember all the instrumental concerts, or musicals I have seen.

Bruce Springsteen ( Cleveland)
Asia (Dayton)
38 Special (Dayton)
Anita Baker (Ohio State Fair)
Howard Jones (Newport Music Hall - Ohio State University)
Elvis Costello ( three times; Ohio State University and Fraze Pavilionx2 )
Pink Floyd (at Ohio Stadium, Ohio State University)
John Cougar Mellencamp (Indiana University Football Stadium)
Asia(Miami University)
Indigo Girls (Fraze Pavilion)
Santana (Columbus Palace Theater)
Harry Connick Jr. (Columbus Ohio Theater)
4Him Columbus
Michael W. Smith (multiple times)
Chris Rice ( Dayton)
Jim Cole ( Dayton)
Glad ( Columbus)
Chuck Mangione (Dayton)
Modern English - Spring Break Florida

U.S. Air Force 5K Race 2010

For the second consecutive year , I participated in the 2010 United States Air Force 5K Race which was held on the campus of Wright State University, on September 17th.

Before the race, the United States Air Force Honor Guard performed an impressive precision drill routine. The honored aircraft of this year's marathon/half marathon/10k/5k was the "B-52 Stratofortress", which made a spectacular flyover at the starting gates.

I was able to cut off almost one minute off my previous time. I ran the 5km in 27min, 1 sec. and finished 230th, out of 1610 runners.

Cornfields?

Since so many people I talk with know nothing about Ohio, I thought I would post a few photos of the cities near here (Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus). As you can see, we don't live in cornfields.

2010 Vancouver Olympic Games

Far-and-away, my favorite Winter Olympic sports are "Short Track Speed Skating" and "Snowboard Cross"

Why?

Because they are head-to-head direct competitions between athletes with skill, strength and physical contact as requirements for success. There is no judging or scoring involved. It is a pure measure of competition - a race. Whomever crosses that finish line wins. Real sports do not involve judging.

Which Sausage Are You?

Slim ..................... Average ................ Thick


And why do so many bratwursts and knackwurst think they are hotdogs and bratwursts?
I am a bratwurst. What are you?

Why I Like Asian Baseball

Ten reasons I enjoy Asian baseball over American baseball:

1. Asian players are not as arrogant, spoiled or disrespectful.

2. Asian players practice fundamental skills and are more dedicated to perfecting these skills.

3. Asian players do not complain and whine about umpire calls.

4. Asian players do not rush to fight opponents during games. Respect for opponents.

5. Asian players do not waste time during games. Pitchers receive the ball and are ready to make the next pitch. Batters stay near the batter's box and do not walk all over the place, wasting time.

6. Asian players seem to put forth greater effort to win and perform well.

7. Asian players have greater loyalty, whether to their team or in representing their nation.

8. Asian players do not argue or challenge their coaches, managers, team authorities.

9. Asian players are more versatile and athletic. In MLB, many players become great hitters or great fielders, or runners, or pitchers but rarely can they do more than one thing well.

10.Asian players respect the game.

re-creation

The Brain of a Liberal Democrat:

rec·re·a·tion \ˌre-krē-ˈā-shən\ noun. Middle English recreacion, from Anglo-French, from Latin recreation-, recreatio restoration to health, from recreare to create anew, restore, refresh, from re- + creare to create : refreshment of strength and spirits after work; also : a means of refreshment or diversion.


Recreation restores and renews. (in progress...more to come....)