MOJO IN CHINA

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I Heart Beca.

admin | 30 May, 2008 17:37

So Chill... Oh, So Chill...

As some of you guys might remember, I work in Redtown (Hong Fang) and it's a really cool place to work. It's not just because I can make the "big bucks" (not yet...) and record dope shows, there's a lot of cool artsy and fashionable stuff around here. What's in fashion now?

One word: BECA

Everytime I pass by this place for lunch, especially now that it's (just about) summertime, the place is packed! Zoe and I just had two glasses of white wine, apple crepes and a glass of sweet ice tea for under 10 bucks. (we used our Enjoy Card of course! Saved 7 kuai, fool!) The place is quite relaxing and there were no flies in the wine. Mad love.

Response to Sharon Stone by Chinese Actor

admin | 28 May, 2008 10:23

Zhao Hui Nan responds to Sharon Stone (In Chinese and English)

Here's another update... Sharon Stone has a change of heart?

I hope it is her and not her publicist.

I'm done talking about this. She's making money and popularity points off off my posts.

Hiphop.cn's Xi You Ji Volume 2 Mixtape Is Out!!!

admin | 28 May, 2008 07:59

Get your copy here.

Check out Redstar's 'Who We Be'. Very different from what's on our myspace. Enjoy!

Sharon Stone on China Earthquake

admin | 26 May, 2008 22:02

Sharon Stone in Shanghai. How ironic...

Thoughts?

The Last Time We're Going to Kowloon Ice House.

admin | 25 May, 2008 22:00

Sorry, I can't do it... I can't go back.

Kowloon Ice House is a prety popular snack chain in China (a lot in Shanghai) full of snacks, drinks and nice light foods. Once you step inside, the place is full of Hong Kong karaoke and pictures. It's a great spot, especially if you are a fan of HK pop culture, like yours truly.

But after tonight, I think the next time I'm look for that nostalgic feeling, I'll take a flight to HK instead...

After the gym, Zoe and I decided we would go for a snack. I ordered some soup, curry and some drinks. The first thing I noticed before I ordered is that the menu changed. Originally, it was one sheet with selections on the front and back. it was quite clear and easy to follow. Now, it's a thick book with old plastic covers for each page, new dishes (that almost look like a restaurant rather than a snack house) and the prices are sky high. A lot of the small dishes they used to serve... GONE. Now, I'm not a big fan of these changes, but I can deal.

The part that bugged me was there was a fly in the soup...

That's ok, fairly normal, it happens, especially in this weather. We told the staff about it, and they wanted to change it, but fearing that they'll just dump the fly out and give us the same soup, we decided they can just strike it off of our check. No big deal.

Next up, I found a fly in my iced coffee. That's enough. We told them about this too and they had the nerve to say that the fly JUST flew in. (Right so in between you guys walking from the kitchen over to our table, the fly flew in our soup...)

Zoe and I were in shock. Now, in the mall where this Kowloon Ice House is located, you can't find any flies around where we were sitting, and flies like to be around food, especially where there's lots of food... MAYBE, just MAYBE, their kitchen has some issues. I mean, when we found the bug in the soup, it was underneath all the lettuce, and I don;t think the fly was just going for a swim.

Heck, even the white spoon we recieved had all these black spots and marks all over it. Later w got two spoons, with half of the marks gone...

We wanted our money back, all of it. We weren't going to spend nearly 20 bucks (I'm talking in USD here, not RMB) on non-hygenic food. There are other people around ordering as well. After the fuss and battling between us and the waitresses, we finally got our money back... but not our appetite.

I can't go back there because of this. We go for the quality, but if it's gonna be like this, I'd rather go for street food instead. Stop cutting corners!

Last Stop - Xuzhou

admin | 25 May, 2008 17:44

Exhibit A - Dog Meat

So I am back as of yesterday from Xuzhou located in Jiangsu province. It was really hot over there and the place is surrounded by tons of mountains... Kinda reminded me of Nanjing, but a lot smaller.

Anyway, this was the last stop of the 10 day tour with Chivas 12 y.o. Honestly, I'll miss the people on the tour, the whiskey, the meeting, greeting and taking pictures of people. But one of these things I will miss the least:

DOG MEAT

Xuzhou is know for it's spicy dishes, particulalry their spicy dog dish. There are plently of restaurants that have the sings "GOU ROU" (litterally, Dog Meat) plastered all over their walls and store fronts. No, Zoe and I had no dog meat on our journey, and you will know why if you do a picture search for the words Gou Rou on baidu.com... Sick...

Anyway, Xuzhou was cool and the hotel were were at called the Yingdu New Jin Jiang was a pretty posh 4 star. There was a wedding happening at the hotel and at the lobby they were collecting money for the couple with a machine to check whether the money people were giving to the couple were real or fake. Welcome to China!!

If you are ever in Xuzhou and you want to find a fun time, you can check out Calvin Klein Club... Yes, it's called Calvin Klein (CK Jiu Ba... IPR is going well out here!). They have a cage there for scantlily clad male and female dancers with too much make-up (the male dancers too).

Glad to be back in Shanghai.

Back to the Roots @ The Shelter - This Friday

admin | 25 May, 2008 17:40

Freakin' beautiful flyer, Gary.

China's best non-pretentious party is back. Be there.

The Forbidden Kingdon (Gong Fu Zhi Wang)

admin | 23 May, 2008 07:36

Jackie Chan and Jet Li... at the same time...

You know I had to do a post on this one. Zoe and I saw The Forbidden Kingdom just the other day. Actually, Zoe was more excited about this film than yours truly (Because she is more American than me!). When I heard about it, I wasn't all that shocked and amazed by it. I hear about Jackie Chan and Jet Li all the time out here. If I never learned Chinese and I didn't live in China, I would probably go nuts about this film. Even from it's trailer:

I thought the movie had some good fight scenes and it was nice to see Jet Li be goofy for a change (When he playes the Monkey King). Apparently he wanted to do a role like that for his daughter. The story isn't a real Chinese story by the way, and in certain ways, it's a bit no believeable, particularly for a Chinese audience. (I asked my wife if she ever read about anything like this in High School, she said very clearly... "NO.")

It's also interesting seeing Jackie Chan getting back to his "drunken ways". He's pushing 60 and he moves like a 12 year old in this movie. Really amazing. The role of the kid from Boston is something you see in too many US style Kung Fu movies (Look at The Last Dragon... LEROY!!!), but he's good with the staff.

I think the girl that plays the Pipa in the movie (Liu YiFei?) is going to get noticed in the states kind of like how Zhang Ziyi got noticed in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". To other parts of the world, she's the strereotypical attractive Chinese woman from China, who actually in China, looks normal. hehe. Hats off to Fan Bing Bing (the one with the long white hair). Besides looking like a videogame vixen, she's made a small place for herself in the Hollywood market.

Overall, this movie makes me wonder... Why don't more people in China study Kung Fu? Noone knows it out here. Actually, a lot of When I saw this movie, it made me think that a ton of folks around the world think that in China, all we do out here is fight. Like, when I go to work, I have to battle 10 people at once, no weapons - just fists, bare-chested, on the Line 3 train (or 4) so I can make it to my stop on Hongqiao Lu... That's crazy!

Anyway, Zoe and I were pretty happy to watch this movie together. It's good family fun.

Saved after being trapped for over 180 hours... and gave birth!

admin | 21 May, 2008 07:58

General jist of this interview is about a pregnant woman who was stuck in the rubble around the earthquake for 180 hours (cause a lot of the roads are messed up and it's hard to walk around). She gave birth yesterday and the baby is safe. It's a miracle.

By the way, two more folks were saved after 196 hours of being stuck in rubble.

Not all have been miracles, the numbers are over 40,000 in deaths and countless numbers of injuries, physical and emotional. Wherever you are, reader, please donate what you can to this tragedy, be it money, clothes or news you can pass along to others. China is also in need of psychology experts (who can speak Chinese). Thank you.

How to Dress for Mourning...

admin | 21 May, 2008 07:50

Dressing fashionable for your memorial?!?!

I was sent this website Yoka.com by my coworker, simply because we use a lot of fashion and style ideas for Soulfire and another webstie for inspiration never hurts. I showed this site to my wife to see what she thinks and she showed me a section on how to dress for a memorial. You can take a look here.

After Zoe and I reviewed the section, we thought it was disrespectful and tacky. So if you are from Yoka.com, please take this down. Now's not the time to worry about how your blacks match with your whites, but rememebring those affected by the tragedy.

Days of Mourning in China, May 19th-21st

admin | 19 May, 2008 21:18

Huge gathering in Tiananmen Square this afternoon.

Today is the first of three days of mourning for the Sichuan Earthquake in China which happened on 5/12. Today, millions of Chinese dressed in black and white, TV station, websites are in black and white letters and backgrounds, and for 3 minutes from 2:58pm-3:01pm, Chinese (and foreigners like yours truly) paused from work, honked their horns, prayed and placed our thoughts on those affected by this tragedy.

Words such as "Unification", "Love" and many words of patriotism and support for this country have come about in a way I've never seen before.

No, this isn't a scary thing, but it's a kind of appreciation of life and people that I've never seen before firsthand in China. It's been amazing.

My wife and I dressed in all black today in respect to the vitims of the tragedy. All movies theaters, bars, clubs and other places of entertainment are temporarily closed during this mourning period. As I've mentioned in a previous post, the mouning period will last from today until the 21st of May.

To wrap up this post, I was watching a TV news report on CCTV with tens upon thousands of Chinese citizens in Tianman Square. Men and women, young and old all chanting one thing: "Zhongguo, Jia You!, Sichuan, Jia You!" (China, Go Go!! Sichuan, Go Go!!)

With everything that's happened this year, from the Olympic Torch issue in Paris, Tibet, Love China on MSN, the Olympics countdowns and now this... We're seeing a new China. Not just the economic powerhouse... but the patriotic, moral and spiritual China.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those families affected in Sichuan. Also, I don;t care if you are from China, the US or anywhere around the world, remember, life is very important, support those that need the help and show love to your neighbor. This is more than politics, this is LIFE. Peace.

All Chinese Websites are in Black and White

admin | 19 May, 2008 21:12

This is usually in Red and Blue. Baidu's main page...

All in Black and White.

512

admin | 19 May, 2008 21:04

3 minutes of mourning held in China today...

admin | 19 May, 2008 20:56

China, Day One Of Mourning Period for Sichuan Earthquake victims. (May 19-21)

Legalize it... China did!

admin | 18 May, 2008 16:48

Well, not really, but it's a city name!

Belive it or not, China has a city called "Weed" (Marijuana). The characters above are "Da" and "Ma" and they match the same strokes of the famous leaf. I found this gem at the Linping bus station as I was heading back to Shanghai.

By the way, Linping isn't Hangzhou, it's a suburb of Hangzhou... I thought we would perform in the center of Hangzhou... oh well. The gig went well and Zoe and I were able to land this great picture!)

China's pretty OPEN, huh?

Xuzhou next week!!

My Wedding Pictures

admin | 18 May, 2008 16:34

If you like this, you'll love the other pictures we took!!!

Taking wedding pictures is an expereince, an all day experience. And in China, it's unforgettable.

Zoe and I went to the Shanghai's Forest park, took some more pics in the studio, and even headed to the Bund. Al of this was by Masa LiLi. It was fun and the price wasn't too bad. The wedding market is pretty big out here, so of course, the quality matches the price just right.

After taking so many pics in the hot weather... I started to get sick. Zoe held on pretty tight, so I'm pretty proud of my little model. =) Love you, babe!

So yeah, if you are in China, there's a lot of options for wedding pics. I think Zoe and I made a great choice... Next stop... actually having a wedding! haha! =)

Support Sichuan Earthquake Victims in New York City

admin | 18 May, 2008 16:31

I got an e-mail about this the other day:

Dear Friends,

I hope you can join us on Thursday, May 22nd from 7 to 9pm at ChinaSquare Gallery in New York City to come together in order to raise money for China earthquake relief efforts. We are cohosting this event with InstantStream and West China Development International Association. Funds will support the relief efforts for the earthquake that happened last week in Southwestern China. Refreshments will be provided by Pepe Gaillo, VinLiz and other sponsors. More information on the event to follow.

Any contribution is appreciated and a donation of $25 per person is suggested. Please make checks payable to the Red Cross International Relief Fund for Sichuan Earthquake.

----

If you are in NYC, go.

Help Out The Victims Of The Quake

admin | 16 May, 2008 08:24

IN CHINA: Text message the number "2" to 1069999301 to donate 2 kuai to the Red Cross' earthquake relief fund. (This might work outside of China, I'm not sure...)

Everywhere else around the world: Check out the Red Cross site.

Thank you for the tip, Miki.

I'll try and cover as much as I can regarding this tragedy.

Chinese Hip-Hop in Wikipedia

admin | 15 May, 2008 12:36

We made it! We're going down in history!

Check Redstar out in Wikipedia!

CCTV Reporter in tears over China Quake tragedy

admin | 15 May, 2008 12:16

I've been meaning to get a proper translation on this, but it's been hard. So if someone has a good one, please send it over to me.

This is a CCTV reporter pretty much explaining that his reason for covering all this news regarding the earthquake in Sichuan is because CCTV reporters love this land. CCTV and all stations all over China have been working hard and bearing all the sad and grisly news over this tradegy...

How will YOU help?...

Battle of The Year China Soundtrack is on the go!

admin | 14 May, 2008 13:00

BOTY CHINA!!!

For more, look here!!!

Redstar Intro on Hip-Hop.CN

admin | 14 May, 2008 08:58

MoJo reppin' Redstar for Hiphop.cn

(The following is a translation/transcript by yours truly.)

Ready? OK.

I'm MoJo from Brooklyn, NY, but now, I'm in Shanghai with Redstar, we are a dope hiphop group. Redstar is revolution. We Are Revolution.

We're going to change the shape of China Hip-Hop by giving it more elements, depth and sophistication. This is us, we represent Shanghai, we represent real hip-hop, international hip-hop, China hip-hop, we got it all.

Check it, we were on NPR, and even they wanted to interview us. Take a look at that! Now we're on HipHop.cn. Shoutouts to Hip-Hop.cn for supporting us. We need that support. We need more people like us, more hardworking hip-hop groups.

This makes me think about a picture we have where we were walking down this street and there's this long road behind us in the picture. That picture represents the long road an mc has, a producer has, a band has, particularly a hip-hop band has long and difficult.

But now we're here for the service of the people. The service of China and the service of the entire world. This is our most important and main goal. Holler... Hiphop.cn 4 liiiife!

(Singing "Who We Be" Chorus with Tangking)(Beatboxing)

---------------

Back to the music... Enjoy this tune called "Xun Zhao" (Searching). It's not done yet, but I think you'll still like it.

Nanjing... we back in tha building!

admin | 14 May, 2008 07:25

1912 in Nanjing

Once again, I returned to Nanjing and when I arrived, I realized so much has changed. Firstly, the town is a lot greener with more trees. Secondly, there are way more foreigners living there than I've ever seen. Lastly, 1912 has finally become a huge part of Nanjing's dining, nightlife and overall entertainment experience.

1912, as you might know, is called 1912 because in 1912, Nanjing became the capital of China with the country's first president, Sun Yat-sen. (Not far from 1912 is the Presidential Palace.) 1912 was a great time for Nanjing because it shows Nanjing at a time when it was bustling and becoming the true epicenter of China.

Almost 100 years later, it's getting back to that feel from 1912 at the formentioned entertainment district. Full of cuisines from Thai, local Chinese to KFC and more bars and clubs that you can shake a stick at. I perfromed there with Chivas last Saturday night at a place called Fei Bi Club (aka Phoebe Club). The place had a bit too much neon lights and metalic frames for my tasts (which is very common in Chinese clubs), so I did take a trip to Little Scarlet along with my wife, DJ Melkman, along with local friends Yuichiro (my Midd class mate and GT representer), Miki (From F&W and in-nanjing.net) and his girlfriend, and Kai.

If you're looking to move away from the 1912 spots, I would sugest two more places also worth checking out:

Nanjing's Underground Mall (aka Fashion Lady)

You want sneakers, high heels, dresses, shirts, hats and sunglasses for cheap (or relatively cheap), you got it all here. There's like 2-3 floors ful of tiny stores where you can bargain for all your clothing needs. I find that the fit for most of the clothes here is a bit small for me, particularly in the shoes department, but otherwise, it's great if you are a gal looking for a bargain and different styles that, chances are, other people won't have.

The place is full of people, I would recommend going on Sunday afternoon where it is a little easy to walk through. The spot is not far from Xinjiekou across the street from Dong Fang Shang Cheng Shopping Mall (which now has the real Gucci and Armani stores???) near the Jinling Hotel.

Planta

Planta is a Thai food/lounge/bar/club in Nanjing. It's pretty far away from other clubs and kinf of hard tofind because it's way behind some science building. When you areive at Planta, you'll find plenty of couches, dimmed lights and chill music. When I was first there with Aric in '06, there was noone there. Last Saturday, When I was there with Zoe, I thought I was at Glamour Bar on a Friday night. It was packed with people, Chinese and foreigners alike, all dressed in black with downtempo and acid jazz playing and folks schmoozing. Call it pretentious, call it cool, but this is a change for Nanjing, finally, an alternative for all.

Anyway, that's all for now. This Friday is Hangzhou at Lin Ping Ben Se.

China Quake

admin | 13 May, 2008 08:24

Folks out an about in Beijing after earthquake....

It was a very similar scene in Shanghai, many folks evacuated high rise buildings and took to the streets after the earthquake happened yesterday afternoon at aound 3:15pm. I personally didn't feel the earthquake or notice it, even though I was in a meeting at Soulfire at the time. Our office is quite low and not much was affected.

However, several friends of mine working in skyscrapers told me the opposite. Most told me it wasn't too heavy of a rumble, but the shaking did knock some stuff down off of cabinets and walls.

Anyway, I am doing ok over here and Shanghai, from what I've seen, is all good. But my prayers go out to all the folks over in Sichuan, particularly in Chengdu.

What do see in WuXi

admin | 13 May, 2008 08:18

Bao Li Plaza

This has been my second trip to Wuxi and let me tell you, the whole city is on the come up. It's a lot cleaner, and lot more expensive and over all nicer.

If you want to check out a mass of a mall in Wuxi, do stop by the Bao Li Mall, aka Bao Li Guangchang, they got Sephora, a Babyface club (when I did my show with Chivas) and even an open basketball court on the ground floor!

Just when you though Facebook was the last straw... Here's Shanghai Stuff...

admin | 07 May, 2008 16:20

Shanghai Stuff

Go check it out. Ning is making it happen with the Shanghai-Ning...

More on Ningbo (aka Ning-bizzle)

admin | 06 May, 2008 14:25

Damn! That's a looong bridge!! (Hangzhou Bay Bridge)

Ningbo left a pretty darn good impression on me this weekend. Maybe it's because I spent a whole two days checking out the city rather than an overnight where I see more of the club and the hotel than the actual city. There are three things that stuck out in my mind while I was there...

Ningbohua = Shanghaihua

Ok, Ningbo and Shanghai dialects aren't exactly the same, but apparently, 70% of Shanghai dialect comes from Ningbo dialect. My wife understands Ningbo dialect even though she's never been there, but she could essentially speak Shanghaineese to the people there and it would sound the same... For me, that doesn't matter much because I'm like a guy from Beijing... I don't understand what these people are saying and my Mandarin is too proper.

Ningbo Guide

I'm really impressed by this magazine. They are located in all the right spots in Ningbo, they notify you on all the good deals in Ningbo and it's in both Chinese and English. Nice to see a full bilingual magazine and not just something catered to lost lao wai in this country. Craig, way to go. if it wasn't for this mag, I wouldn't know that Crowne Plaza Ningbo has an all you can eat barbecue for 68 kuai (10 Bucks! It's a steal!)

Hangzhou Bay Bridge

(both of the pictures above)

It's long and convenient. Supposedly the longest bridge in the world... (I think only in China, but they say the world in China...)

Anyway, it's way quicker to take a trip to and from Shanghai to Ningbo by the bus. We took the train over and it took about 3.5 hours (and that was the fastest train). We took the bus back and it was about 2.5 hours, and buses are torture to sit through in this country.

When we first got on the bridge, everyone stood up to look and took pictures and talked about the history of the bridge and what they heard about it and so on.. very excited...

Then... We were still on the bridge..

It kept going... With the sea all around us... Now I know how it feels being a sailor lost at see with water all around you... BORING... hehe

Anyway, that's not the point of the bridge... It's all about from point A to point B and now traveling from Shanghai to Ningbo and back has gotten a lot faster. I see a lot more manufacturing and travelling happening between Ningbo and Shanghai.. Does this mean that Ningbo will surpass Hangzhou in city development???

(I still think Hangzhou is prettier! Sorry, Craig.)

That's all folks. This week... Wuxi and... I'm going back home to Nanjing!

(This one's for you, Miki... IN-NANJING.NET!!!)

Suzhou, Jiangyin and Ningbo... Oh My!

admin | 03 May, 2008 11:04

Suzhou

It's Labor Day in China!!! Time for me to get back to work on this blog!!

"The Venice of China" is what people say about this city, full of canals and waterways. I've been there about three times already, so I'm all watered out.

So what do you do if you've seen all major attractions of Suzhou? Simple. You shop!

I suggest you go around "Guan Qie Jie" and there's a pedestrian street full of shops where you can bargain, malls where you can get all kinds of quality, international products and there are restaurants galore. Don't sleep on this spot.

As for Jiangyin, that place didn't leave very much of an impression on me, except for the club I perfromed at with Chivas 12 Y.O. called "Armani". Yes, spelled the same as the Armani we all know... (So much for Intellectual Property Rights...) Anyway, it's the hugest club in Jiangyin and it looks like a warehouse... If you want to see how Chinese people party in Jiangyin, go there...

But you won't see me there again unless they pay me...

I'm in Ningbo now, and I'll fill you in on what I think of the place in anohter post. Zoe and I are off to get our hands on a Ningbo Guide. Later!

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