As Seen by TV

Well, it has been a rough several weeks, but now I am fully moved into my new apartment and once again have internet at home for the first time in 16 months, so expect more dopeness soon!

Well, I’m somewhat of a New Yorker myself… born in Morningside and matured (somewhat, actually maybe not) in Brooklyn.  So I know me a block party.  Close… Converse set this one up on Moganshan Road with head-lining musical act Jeru the Damaja, a legendary 90′s underground MC.  I’d seen him before in NYC, but never this close and this out-of-step with his listeners… but that’s not his fault, that’s almost solely the fault of the Chinese.

The police department shut this party down early citing “noise complaints”, which is utterly hilarious in it’s own right, never mind the 24/7 construction (even at 6am on Sunday’s), or the constant car horns, or the firecrackers outside every wedding or business openinig, etc. It’s just sad that the police/government has to clamp down on any form of creative expression, especially in concern with things they don’t understand (like music and art; or just life in general). Jeru said it himself when someone shouted out “f*ck the police, f*ck the government” to which he replied “yeah, you can say that, but I surely can’t say that sh*t cuz I still gotta get outta here.”  True.

Anyway, about the pics… some stuff with graffiti, some “typical” NY food, a dope MC, and some dude getting his hair cut (which for some really strange reason was a massive success with the photographer/videographers in the crowd).

Peace & Love.

Stopover in Rotterdam… yes I lived there for several years, but the reason for this [quick] visit was [no] thanks to KLM and Schiphol Airport.  Who both told me I could come to the airport (a week after I had arrived) to pick my suitcase.  The 2.5 hr drive from Antwerp up to Amsterdamnit proved to be pointless as I was told by airport staff upon arrival that my suitcase “had not yet been located”, then spending the next 2 hours looking through several thousand suitcases….  I eventually got my baggage back 10 days after I arrived, literally minutes after finishing packing my new suitcase to fly back to Shanghai.  Thank you KLM.  Thank you Schiphol.
For nothing.

Anyway, these images are from the quick stopover on our ways north (for no reason) in Rotterdam, we hit up the SS Rotterdam, a popular cruise ship built in 1958, since retired and transformed into a restaurant and hotel.
Also, a big thank you to Rotterdam’s finest who gave me a parking ticket within the hour of arrival there… for having “all 4 wheels on the sidewalk”, pictures attached (keeping in mind all the cars to my left are legally parked).  Holland: where we give out traffic tickets like no where else in the world (my personal favorite is still the “speeding” ticket I got for going 53 in a 50 kph zone).

As I am still sifting through 274 images I took over the past week (Huangpu district, Peoples Square, and the newly re-opened Bund), I’ll leave you with another DOPE VIDEO by OneMoreProduction titled “Pixels“, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll check it out:

OneMoreProduction – “Pixels”

Have a great weekend, wherever the hell you may be!

*UPDATE*  Check out this amazing photography of Earth Hour in action around the globe (click the image to dim the lights)!

In 10 days, on March 27 @ 8:30pm (local time, wherever you are) the World Wildlife Fund will organize Earth Hour, asking you to turn off your lights for one hour.  
Just do it. 

Also just today I received an email from my hosting company, that my website is now run on 100% wind energy, let’s hear it for the environment, woot!

Yup, that’s right, Mr. Timothy has been in China for 6 months now!
I will post new images in the upcoming days… I apologize for the lack of posts, but  am still getting over an intense sickness I aquired at the end of last week (wh.

In the meantime, check out this dope animation commissioned by the China Environment Protection Foundation and directed by Li Hailong.  Woohoo, Chinamation!

Cheers!

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]