As Seen by TV

Thought I’d compile my most “interesting” (favorite, influential, etc.) shots from the past year.
Enjoy.

Notable events: Welcoming 2009 in Belgium/Holland; Best Man at the TOMMEL wedding in Miami; Dystopia ¦ Utopia solo photo exhibition; Goodbye NY / Hello SH; 60th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China; Taoist Monastery outside Chongqing; Shanghai/Shanghai/Shanghai; and of course all the people that made it happen.

Think your commute is bad?  Check out a video I took of mine: People’s Square @ Rush Hour (alternate link).

I wish I could travel in some sort of style, like in this BAW (Beijing Automobile Works) BJ2022 Brave Warrior MkII, a Chinese-style Hummer (“Han Ma“, or Bold Horse in Chinese), even though a Chinese company currently owns Hummer (view American reactions here).

Sure, one could say it is a copy of the American HMMWV (“Humvee/Hummer”), but we would also have to mention the Hummer was copied off the Lamborghini Cheetah (built in California by Lambo for the US military) which, in turn was copied off the XR311.
Fun fact: the US Army crashed and destroyed the only prototype Cheetah and never returned it to Lambo, 3 years later the Hummer emerged.

Lamborghini eventually scrapped the Cheetah (most likely in part due to it’s nutty 3-gear 5.9L V8 Chrysler engine), then built the LM001, and in 1986 unveiled the LM002 (aka the “Rambo Lambo“) production model at the Brussels Auto Show, one of the coolest and most sought after cars of the 1980′s with it’s 42 valve 5.2L V12 engine taken out of the Countach (also undoubtedly one of the coolest cars of the 80′s).   The LM002 subsequently held the record for most horsepower in a SUV (455HP) for over 20 years until Porsche manufactured it’s most powerful engine ever and produced the Cayenne Turbo S (550HP).
Only 301 LM002′s were ever built in it’s 7 year lifespan and I have been lucky enough to see one in the flesh on the mean streets of Overschie, Holland back in the mid 90′s.  I still remember it like it were yesterday, with those custom Scorpion tires… what a beast.
Fun fact #2: Hunter S. Thompson (a hero of mine) owned one.
Fun fact #3: Iraq, 2004; not knowing it’s value or rarity, the US military (irony?) found a LM002 that had belonged to Uday Hussein and used it to “simulate the effects of a car bomb”.  Boom.  Only the engine “survived”… talk about war crimes.

Read more about the Lamborghini LM002 here.

[überholprestige- German term for the ability of a car to intimidate drivers into moving out out the way]

Elevated, illuminated, and bluer than a Smurfberry milkshake, are Shanghai’s elevated highways.

The first two images are part of the spiralling ramp (because there was no space) leading up to the Nanpu Bridge (best seen from this angle or via satellite…now if only I could get access to the building that photo was taken!).

The second two are of Nanbei Eleveted Road (Nanjing West Road intersection) opposite a mall which only sold fake shoes, clothes, and other goodies like remote-controlled helicopters, shurikens, and brass knuckles.  The blue lights are surreal, and mixed with the tungsten street lights, this photographer had a field day, too bad it was -2C.
No worries, I’ll be bahk.

As for the last image, it was just on the bus I took back home… and considering I never ever take city buses (I’ve been on 4 city buses in the past 10 years), I just had to take a flick (and think of Loelia Ponsonby’s famous quote): “A Man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure“.

Shengjianbao, a type of Shanghainese baozi (dumpling) with pork, which when cooked melts into a soupy liquid, which effectively makes it a soup dumpling with the soup in it.  Delicious.

I had read this CNN article (“Worlds’s Greatest City: 50 Reasons Why Shanghai is #1“), and number 29 suggested Yang’s Fried Dumplings on Wujiang Lu (map).  So we hit it up (and who knew it was right outside Windows Underground?!) and goddamn they were good, good thing I read their tip first too: “Don’t dive into these shengjianbao all at once.  Carefully suck out the soup before you devour it.”

On our way to Yang’s, while walking across People’s Square, we came across a large group of older people holding photos and flyers, all in smaller groups having heated discussions with each other… yup, we had stumbled upon the “marriage market”.
Parents and grand parents arrange dates (and inevitable marriage) for their offspring (many of which don’t even know).  Weight, height, etc, and a sort of life resumé… some even have a price tag.  I can only imagine the lady my grandmother would hook me up with.

The “Mission: Lunch” series hits 2010… showcasing some [mis]fortunate Shanghai lunches.

The first 3 images should look familiar; KFC, McDonalds, and Yoshinoya.  While the last two are from a tiny hole-in-the-wall hot pot restaurant located at Ninghai East Road & Yunnan South Road (map), which packed with one hot pot spot next to the other.  Definitely recommended (if you can read Chinese, or don’t mind pointing at dishes on other tables).

Having the fried chicken from KFC was a first for me… yes yes, I know, I’m almost 30, half -American and have lived in Brooklyn for a decade, and never ever tried the fried chicken.  But now I know why.

As for McDonalds, I have that exact meal once a week… it amuses me that I eat more Mickey D’s/Mackers/McDo here in a month than I did in a year in NYC.  Let’s just say that as much as I love Chinese food, it’s nice to get something familiar.  Not to mention that many KFC and McDonalds restaurants deliver, are open 24hrs, and you can use your metro card to pay!

Then finally to top off the cultural fast food tour there’s Yoshinoya, Japanese fastfood, which has over 85 locations in Shanghai alone.  And I can’t for the life of me understand why.  It tasted exactly like Asian airline food… blah!

I updated my Chongqing 101 post (October 31, 2009) with 13 new images… check ‘em out!