Skating Shanghai

Filmmaker Charles Lanceplaine created Shanghai Five, a documentary about the burgeoning skateboard scene in Shanghai and released as an online feature. This trailer is pretty badass -- cant wait for it to come out! Check out his skateboarding blog here. Below is another short film he did on surfing the "Silver Dragon" in Hangzhou.

Chinese Dancers

Chinese people rule. This dance is performed by a group of deaf dancers and is absolutely amazing.

Mr. Softee In China

Im not a huge fan of Mr. Softee but it is one of those things that seems quintessentially New York. The NYTimes reports that they're expanding their powdery cold empire into China, land of the lactose intolerant. Read the whole article here.

For more than half a century, Mr. Softee has been as synonymous with New York summers as open fire hydrants, its blue and white trucks and instantly recognizable jingle luring children throughout the city, from Washington Heights to Coney Island.

New York being a tough town, Mr. Softee has also endured its share of bumps and bruises. It has fought about noise with the city, which no longer allows Mr. Softee trucks to play their jingle while parked.

The company hired private detectives to spy on Mr. Softee impersonators, and Mr. Softee drivers have gotten into verbal and even hand-to-hand battle with rival ice cream vendors.

Along the way, this quintessential New York institution has pursued an unlikely road to globalization...

"It happened almost by accident. An American working as an English teacher was walking around the streets of the city where he taught and noticed a deluge of American fast food franchises, but found nothing resembling the kind of soft-serve ice cream that his college roommate’s family had turned into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

And that’s how Mr. Softee went to China.

Now this staple of New York City life is being served 7,000 miles away, on the streets of Suzhou, an ancient city of more than six million people about 50 miles west of Shanghai. Mr. Softee or Mr. Soft Heart, the English translation of “ruan xin xian sheng” — there is no Mandarin word for Softee — has been a hit, with sales doubling every year since the first truck started rolling three years ago...

"Customers like Meng Xiangbo, 19, a college student, have proved Mr. Conway right. He is a regular customer of the Mr. Softee truck that peddles its treats in Suzhou’s university district.

One recent balmy afternoon, Mr. Meng ordered a kiwi sundae.

“They have six flavors,” he said of the sundaes. “I eat a different one every day. On Sunday, I rest.”

Maybe Mars: A Showcase of Chinese Underground

Last night, PK14, Carsick Cars and Xiao He doled out a teasing sampler of Chinese indie rock to a packed crowd at the powerHouse arena. Beijing-based music label Maybe Mars has arranged for a month-long East Coast tour. I'm psyched because these bands are energetic, fresh, original, traditional and totally unlike some of the Mainland cover band-types that have come before. Catch their longer sets at a show this weekend at Glasslands tonight or Santos on Saturday!

Glasslands is located at 289 Kent Ave.
Santos Party House is located at 96 Lafayette St.

P.K.14: “How Majestic Is The Night / 多麼美妙的夜晚” from Maybe Mars / 兵马司 on Vimeo.

Delay No More: 2ndary Line from G-O-D

Moving from Hong Kong to New York has definitely made me nostalgic for everything I've taken for granted, including Maxim's baked pork chop on rice, flying cockroaches and my favorite store, GOD. Even though I have the world's best design at my disposal in NY, I still consider GOD as one of my favorite retail inspirations - they have the most whimsical window dressings, the wittiest boxers and the most eccentric collection of home furnishings and accessories.

Today,while perusing through NYTime's HK travel section for some memory morsels to jog my rusty memory of my (spiritual) homeland, I came across this article on GOD which briefly describes their secondary line, Delay No More. For anyone who knows a bit of Cantonese, Delay No More is hilarity incarnate (synonomous with....). It's so good. I can't wait until I go home during Christmas to check it out.

Thanks NY Times Travel Section Magic!

Love Noise Chinese Indie Rock

Photo by Ellis Scott

I just returned from a 10-day "Joy Luck Club" trip to China and during my last pitstop in Shanghai I dropped in to say hello to my homegirl Stephanie who is a recent transplant from New York. She's been kicking ass at Converse's newly opened Chinese offices and her first project out the door is fantastic!

Converse China is supporting the burgeoning independent music scene in China through a compilation album and documentary film that follows Maybe Mars artists PK14 and Queen Sea Big Shark on a 2-week roadtrip through China. Shot by documentary filmmaker Liu Feng during last year's Olympic Games in Beijing, the film follows the two acts as they play sold out shows in five Chinese cities—Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, and Xian. Check out the Love Noise microsite to listen to the compilation and watch clips of the documentary.