Jottings from the Granite Studio

Sunday morning. Catching up on work, listening to Gregorio Allegri’s Misere, YJ doing her yoga…and my neighbor drilling holes in the concrete right next to our apartment to install a window grate and air conditioning unit.
When I politely inquired why they chose Sunday morning at 8:00 to do this little home renovation project, they informed […]

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Following up on yesterday’s post about the Japanese Supreme Court hearing two cases involving forced labor and forced prostitution. In a ruling early yesterday, the court overturned a lower court ruling awarding five laborers compensation for forced labor on Japanese construction sites. Late Friday afternoon, the court denied two Chinese women compensation despite their […]

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Peter Ford reports in the Christian Science Monitor on China’s expanding carbon footprint. This week the International Energy Agency dramatically announced that China would pass the United States in total carbon emissions by end of this year. China’s response? We’re a developing country and should be allowed to continue, unchanged, our policy of […]

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There is an evocative and very moving article in this week’s New Yorker written by Zha Jianying about her brother Zha Jianguo, a democracy activist serving a nine-year prison sentence at Beijing’s Number 2 Prison. (“Enemy of the State: The Complicated Life of an Idealist,” The New Yorker, 4/23/07) Zha Jianguo’s crime? Being one of […]

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Sam over at The Useless Tree continues our conversation about the meaning of baseball in the context of ancient Chinese philosophy with a brilliant post about the “Dao of Manny.” Once again, Sam’s wonderful insights (almost) make me forget that he’s a Yankees fan. Let’s go Red Sox!….袜子都红/太阳升/波士顿出了一个大绿墙(城?) Okay…so I’ll leave the poetry for other […]

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I saw this too late to include it in the Friday Happy Hour but it’s worth posting. In a fabulous profile of Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez in this week’s New Yorker, Ben McGrath quotes the man-child slugger as saying:
“I like to travel, man,” he said. “I been to Europe—you know, Spain. Dominican, Aruba, […]

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The always surreal China Daily brings in noted economist, and Song Dynasty official, Su Dongpo to weigh in on the risks inherent in China’s current economic boom. “Indeed, who would not feel dizzy a little as both wings of the economy–the GDP and the stock market index are flying to ever higher altitudes” quoth the […]

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Our friend from the bayou Mike J. hooked YJ and me up with VIP seats to The Roots concert last night. He called us the first day tickets went on sale and asked if I wanted him to pick up a few for me…Hell, yeah. I figured I could explain later to YJ why we’ll […]

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I have a secret. A horrible heroin-like addiction to the sounds of 70s singer-songwriters. Seriously. A surprise visit to my house will yield only heartbreak and the sight of a grown man rocking out to the sax solo on Gerry Rafferty’s immortal and timeless “Baker Street.” There must be a support group for things like […]

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Via Danwei comes a report that inclusion of the Cultural Revolution film “Though I am Gone” (我虽死去) has resulted in the cancellation of the Yunnan Film Festival. The film, available in 10 parts on YouTube, documents the horrific killing of Bian Zhongyun, the principlal of the Girls Middle School attached to Beijing Normal University. Her […]

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