I learned some new Chinese last night (it's amazing that I can actually learn something from my wife). I mentioned seeing a lot of third wheels on Valentine's Day. Jia didn't understand that phrase and I had to explain it. She told me in Chinese it's ??? (dian(4) deng(1) pao(4)), or light bulb. I thought about for a minute to wonder why they'd use this, and I realized it was a very amusing way to describe the situation. No matter where the lovers go, the light is always on because of the ???.
Feelin' Fishy Last night Jia and I headed out for Valentine's dinner. We figured we could find something at Coastal City (???) and the surrounding area (and if all else failed, we could walk over to Seattle Cafe behind the Holiday Inn Donghua). Giving Jia the choice of restaurants, she decided we should have Japanese. There are three sushi restaurants and one Japanese noodle restaurant on the food street in the middle of Coastal City--we settled on the one in the back, Sushifu Sushi, as it appeared to be the least crowded.
I knew this was a good restaurant because some friends have been there before. It was less crowded than the others because it was further from the entrance and slightly hidden around a corner. We only had to wait about 15 minutes for a seat.�
We went all out on ordering (though we skipped the sake)--the medium sushi platter, the small set meal, and a bowl of spicy seafood noodle soup (which for some reason also had meat). Most of the sushi was really good--the salmon was better than most places I've tried around Shenzhen. There was the piece that tasted like a rubber fish, and I'm not a big fan of the fruit-filled dessert roll. The set included a large bowl of salmon fried rice (excellent), a salmon hand roll, tuna sushi, and a grilled fish for 68 RMB. The seafood noodle soup was nothing special, but it would make a good lunch for the price.
It wasn't the quiet dinner out we were hoping for, but we would have never found a place like that last night in our area. Sushifu would definitely be a better restaurant for a larger group to share in the variety.
Review: Changeling While not as entertaining as Slumdog Millionaire, Changeling is an interesting film to watch...if you have the patience. Clocking in at 141 minutes (still shorter than Benjamin Button), Changeling is a lengthy depiction of Los Angeles in the late 1920s. Based on real events, it is a worthwhile piece of historical fiction.
The film follows three plot lines that intersect--the disappearance of nine-year-old Walter Collins, the corruption and ineptitude of the LAPD, and the gruesome crimes committed by Gordon Northcott. Angelina Jolie gives an excellent performance as Christine Collins, the distressed single mother of Walter. Director Clint Eastwood does a better job in Changeling than he did with Million Dollar Baby, which I found predictable and dull.
Had Eastwood or writer J. Michael Straczynski cut some of the mundane dialogue from the script, this film would have been twenty minutes shorter and more entertaining.
On Writing I've come to the conclusion that I can't write at home (at least nothing more than blog posts or articles). This is nothing new, I just have to remind myself of this every now and then.
Last week I went out for a long walk around the neighborhood--I've discovered that I'm bored with this area--and took an extended rest at the Xinjiang restaurant. I managed to start writing a new story within minutes of sitting down and ordering a beer. And this same thing happened last night (although it was poetry rather than a story).
This certainly dates back to my time in Boulder, CO, and the time I spent working on my creative dissertation at the sake bar. I quickly discovered that this habit only worked if I had one or two drinks--anything more turned my writing to garbage.
With my discovery (OK, it's just a reminder to myself) I will most likely spend the better part of my last four weeks in this city taking short walks that will end at the Xinjiang restaurant with a bottle of Tsingtao.
No Significant Differences Every time I look at the differences between China and the US, I realize that there really aren't any. While we all derided the behavior of Sanlu and other dairy companies for killing babies with Melamine-tainted milk powder we were also criticizing the Chinese government for not doing its job to ensure the safety of its people. Everyone, Chinese citizens included, was rightfully outraged.
Now, the same thing is happening in the US. Nine people are dead and 600 are ill with salmonella because a greedy bastard at a peanut factory didn't give a damn about the public and his responsibility as an executive. He has pleaded the fifth during Congressional hearings, thus implying his own guilt.
We should thank Stewart Parnell for showing the world that the US is no better than China when it comes to food safety. Now Parnell can take his place along with the Sanlu executives. Maybe the US should consider throwing him in a Chinese prison with those assholes.
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