Grimes in Beijing

Grimes played Beijing. Yup, the Canadian who music snobs say made the best track of 2012 came out to Beijing, and i somehow landed on the media list. Yaaaay! (can't say there's really any other performers who'd top my list of wanna see concerts.)

Here's what some punk at CRI said about it.

Unsurprisingly, the sold out show at Mao Livehouse was packed to the gills, Beijing's international contingent out in full force to hear the Canadian perform what the New York Times hailed as "one of the most impressive albums of the year." Fears that the music which Grimes slaved over in post-production might not stand up in a solo live performance were quickly allayed. She twisted synth knobs, flung out her arms and pranced about the stage. Her shimmering falsetto whispers swept through the mic and soaked people in reverberated harmonies that sounded too good to be real. Through the performance, Chinese dancers ground their hips on the flanks of the stage, and somehow only proved that Grimes alone was the sole focus of the night.

Beforehand i was feeling kinda exhausted. All week i'd bn kinda dreading standing for hours on end squished in between sweaty strangers. But by the time my fears came to be, i was totally into it. So i'm not too old quite yet, i guess.

Here's somebody's fuzzy vid of the live performance if yr interested.

Oh To Be a Teenager Again!

Yup. Brings me back to the good ol' days at Sir Winston Churchill High. (sighs pleasantly)

http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/pictures/chinese-rich-second-generation-teens-lavish-life-goes-viral.html

Jingle Bell Action

Well, looks like the plan now is roughly to head back to Canada for Christmas. Over the years, my dad has really taken on western values about winter vacation as being the time for the family to be together, and always kinda bemoans the fact that my brother and i haven't been there in years.

So... i think my bro will head out, i'll head out and Yoyo too! 'Cause she should meet the folks in person, not like on Skype where she can duck out if she feels like it.

i admit part of me thinks it's a bit premature, not 'cause we're not serious, but 'cause frankly her confidence in speaking Eng is pretty low still. Worse yet, she can be pretty stubborn about not speaking Eng. On the good side, me and Derrick's Chinese gets better and better, but sometimes when she hangs out w/ a bunch of Eng speakers (esp drunk ones) she kinda shuts down. Anyhow, in Canada, me and whomever will have shitloads to talk about, and i wouldn't want her to be left out.

Friday night we had a party for 2 of my coworkers who are moving on to greener pastures outside of CRI. It was pretty fun. But Yoyo told me, "i don't know what to talk about w/ anyone." . i can definitely relate, but that gang was pretty darn friendly. So i sat her down next to someone, started them chatting, then conveniently left. It was totally easy to do. Even in Chinese, she can be less than extraverted at parties, apparently.

Anyhow, i'll gently encourage her to speak more and more Eng before the date rolls around, and maybe even get her to take some lessons.

If anyone back in Canada wants to practice Chinese w/ Yoyo, she can pbly offer some pointers.