Stuck in Shangers
Posted on April 30, 2008
If you haven't managed to get away for the holiday weekend, here's a random list of things off the top of our heads that you might want to get up to on your time off instead of sitting around in your underwear doing nothing.Active
Modern Military Sports Club
If you enjoyed the last Rambo film, or think George Bush is a stand up guy, then Shanghai's shooting range is the perfect venue you. Pick up any of the guns on offer, close your eyes, squeeze the trigger, and imagine you're doing your bit for the war on terror -- all from the safety of Huaihai Lu. With ex-military guys supervising your every move, you'll be shooting like a pro in no time. As far as handguns go, you've got a choice of three with the most lethal being a massive Dirty Harry-style hand canon. You looking at me, punk? Ten bullets cost 80rmb.
Lupu Bridge Climb
At only 68rmb the more adventurous amongst you might try your hand (or feet -- there are 367 steps) at scaling the world's largest steel arch bridge. With a height of 110 meters, the vantage point from the top of the arch offers unparalleled views of our sprawling megatropolis; however, be warned, this is not for the weak-willed, lazy, or sufferers of vertigo -- for you guys we suggest nothing more strenuous than lying in a park.
more holiday diversions here
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Feeling the Itch to Leave Town. But to Where?
Posted on April 30, 2008
Apartment living means no mortgage or property to tie you down to one city. It means, within a year at most, you can pack up and move (easy enough when...Filed Under Apartment Living | Comments Off
Sports Bars in Shanghai
Posted on April 29, 2008
A great man once said: "Football is not about life and death: it's much more important than that." Truer words were never spoken, and with the dramatic finishes to all the domestic European football leagues, and the European Football Championship just around the corner, you're going to need a good pub to watch the all action in.Add to that the ongoing NBA and NHL playoffs, and a slew of other sporting events large and small, and you're in for an action-packed summer. Here's a run-down of the main sports bars in town, and their essential stats:
more Sports bars here
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Video: Organizing Your Bathroom Sink
Posted on April 28, 2008
If you are a renter who's lucky enough to have a bathroom sink with cabinets underneath, then please make use of the space—those renters with no storage will live vicariously...Filed Under Apartment Living | Comments Off
Holiday Shows at YYT
Posted on April 28, 2008
True to form, concert finalizations were made at the last minute for local live music venue Yuyintang, and they've just released their line up for their holiday weekend. Featuring the standard yearly Midi festival overflow in terms of foreign bands, the best two acts coming in are Suferosa (Norway) appearing with fellow country-mates karinpark. That's happening on May 8. Also don't miss the 21st Century Noise show the night before on May 7. They're a Swedish band playing catchy roots punk-type stuff and put on a pretty good show. more on YYT's shows hereFiled Under Living | Comments Off
Roommate Websites
Posted on April 28, 2008
Of the many ways to find a roommate, there's the old-fashion way—asking friends and acquaintances—and the Web 2.0 way—websites, Facebook, and MySpace. I'm curious, how many of you have used...Filed Under Apartment Living | Comments Off
When We Look At It
Posted on April 27, 2008
Culture junkies in Shanghai stomach a fair share of swill every time they venture to a new concert/museum/exhibition -- at times faith alone provides the hope that something exceptional will turn up.Whether blind faith is noble or stupid is a question for another day. For once, the payoff is happening right now. Something exceptional has arrived in the form of "When I Look at It," an exhibition by Spanish artist Isidro Blasco at socialite Pearl Lam's Contrasts gallery just west of the Bund.
Jolting three-dimensional slices of city life accost you when you walk through the door of China's "heritage architecture" Commercial Bank building. Blasco has recreated Shanghai by nailing together variously sized and shaped wooden panels in (what appears to be haphazard but must in fact be) a well-ordered structural platform. The planks jut out into space at different depths where Blasco plasters them with white poster board bearing sleek photography.
more on Blasco's exhibition here
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Finding a Roommate
Posted on April 26, 2008
Anyone can be a potential roommate. They can be friends, coworkers, strangers, and people a few degrees removed from you—you know, friends of friends of friends. And there are just...Filed Under Apartment Living | Comments Off
DVD Sunday: Three New-ish Ones
Posted on April 25, 2008
We're in a bit of a lull as far as new DVDs are concerned, as Hollywood braces itself for the big 2008 summer movie season, soon to be followed by the 2008 fall pirated movie season, when good copies of summer blockbusters start popping up on DVD stands and stores in Shanghai. We've already burnt through that yearly January-February Oscar fare, and now what's left is the dregs of the stuff that we've seen around but have ignored over the past few months because it looked kinda crappy. Of course, now we're buying the kinda crappy stuff because there's nothing else. What else is there to do? Go outside? Pah.***
Paranoid Park (2007), directed by creepy-yet-cool Gus Van Sant, offers a dramatic glimpse at the life of a teenage skateboarder and otherwise normal youth driven to the brink by a bout of paranoia. Unfortunately for Alex (Gabe Nevins), some just-being-a-kid tomfoolery results in the gruesome death of a security guard. Alex decides not to confess and thus ends up living in mental solitude (and anguish) with image of a man sliced in twain by an oncoming vehicle. Van Sant, whose erstwhile successes include Last Days (2005), a speechless film based on the final hours of deity Kurt Cobain, and Good Will Hunting (1997), a speech-heavy film featuring Robin Williams' only successful outing in the last four decades, is quick to show us that Alex's stress is compounded by his parent's recent divorce as well as an infuriatingly aggressive (albeit turbo-hot) girlfriend's incessant demands for sex. Are we allowed to judge Alex for his silence? Or is the life of lonely paranoia punishment enough? Grade: B+.
more DVDs here
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Apartment Hunting
Posted on April 24, 2008
There are many ways to find an apartment. Like jobs, it's rumored that the hidden gems never get publicly listed. So, I recommend networking as you would for a job...Filed Under Apartment Living | Comments Off