An era ended

MJ, King of Pop

When the shocking news reached this corner of the world in the morning, I felt really sad. I was not and never expected to get emotional. The polarized image of MJ had been lingering in my head for a long time. But, that did not last any longer. I got overwhelmed by the sadness in the afternoon when I was looking through the news and the reactions of people on the internet. Those photos, music and videos are so evocative of the old days when MJ was singing. I just could not hold back the emotion and it's stirring inside! Words fail me ...

Michael，你依然是那个流行乐之王! 一路走好!

Debating an eye feast? LOL

Photos from sina.com

The China Swimwear Design Contest Final was hosted at the 'Water Cube' sometime last week. I happened to watch the fashion show on TV (live? no sure). But, unfortunately I missed the first half of the show, in which the Chinese National Flag Bikinis were featured. Not being a fashion conscious guy, I still enjoyed the show. You know, beautiful and willowy models! A feast to the eyes! However, before I came across the report here (in Chinese), I was not aware of the debate whether using Chinese national flag design of bikinis is a disrespect to the flag. Some fellow blogger has translated the report into English here.

Honestly, I didn't expect this national flag design could trigger a debate. Anyway, I am amused. What to debate for? Maybe some Chinese netizens have got too much time to spend on the internet? Why not just feast your eyes on those beauties and come up with something more meaningful? Actually, I'm a bit suspicious of the truth of the report. Because I haven't seen such debate of the topic on a number of popular online Chinese forums. On second thought, maybe the report was cooked up by some crappy journalist? Easy job, em?

Photo story

A man was being forced into a mini van

Pushed into the van

Policemen in plain clothes?

The photos show what happened under my flat about one and a half hours ago. Very loud argument broke out from outside. Out of curiosity, I looked through my window and saw a bunch of people including a woman were wrestling with a man. Those people were shouting, 'Get him in the car! Get him in the car'. The man was shouting, 'Let me go, I don't know you! ...' Apparently, they were trying to force this man into their mini van parked in the middle of the road. I thought it might be a kidnapping and grabbed my camera to take some shots. As the 2nd photo shows the man was overpowered and pushed into the mini van. When they were about to leave, a black car suddenly appeared and blocked the mini van. Several guys in plain clothes came out of the car and shouted, 'Don't move! (别动).' Then, the mini van stopped. At that moment, I thought those guys must be policemen. It seemed someone must have called the police earlier before the incident. The man 'kidnapped' stuck his head out of the window of the mini van and screamed to the policemen, 'I don't know them! I don't know them!' At that moment, my camera ran out of battery and I couldn't take more shots. Those 'kidnappers' began to talk to the policemen and behaved obediently. Anyway, the man was rescued and they moved out of my sight a few minutes later.

Phew! My photos will not be used as evidence by the police!

I've got itchy feet!

I've been a loyal reader of Jonna's blog recently. I really enjoy her writing which is of great fun. Today, her post is about her plan of traveling in Yunnan, which prompts me to bring back the pleasant memory of my trip in Yunnan last September. I did solo traveling and made many friends during the trip. I've got itchy feet again, but I know I cannot take another trip now. That's why I'm sitting here listening to the beautiful song 《彩云之南》(The South of Colorful Clouds, which refers to Yunnan) by singer Xu Qianya (徐千雅). I really like her music about Yunnan and Tibet.

Being an adventurous guy, I 'illegally' went fishing on a fisherman's boat in Dali and solo trekked the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I also traveled to Shangri-La and made many friends with fellow backpackers in Lijiang. These are some photos I took on my trip. Man, I love traveling!

The countryside near the old town of Dali

Buskers & their dogs in Shuhe old town

A singer from Guangzhou in a pub in Shuhe

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Trekking Tiger Leaping Gorge
Backpackers at a guest house in Lijiang
Girls I met at a guest house in Lijiang

Cool images

How narrative and reflective images can be? Well, you'll have to look at the following images. Today I came across these images which spread like virus across Chinese online forums. The images easily caught my attention at the first glance as the stories presented in the images seem so familiar to an ordinary Chinese. At first I thought they were the underground works of some Chinese photographer, but they turned out to be the photo shooting for a newly published Chinese magazine called 'ozine'. The title of the series of images is 五星招待所 (or RedStar Motel) which covers topics of sex, murder, fake certificate, prostitution, drugs, kidnapping, etc., all in the setting of a small motel room. How creative that is! But, wait a moment. Some Chinese netizens have pointed out that the photographer copied the ideas of Lyndon Wade's work of Room 107. It seems to be true. But, these images are really cool anyway. What do you think?

Migrant workers
Murder Scene
S & M
Having fun?
What's going on next door?
Give me the ransom!
Want to buy a fake certificate?
Before or after deal???
Party time
Killing yourself softly
Porn film shooting