tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72461039551486631402024-03-13T15:07:58.080-04:00Allister SearsAllister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-76372537947342711562017-04-20T23:27:00.000-04:002017-04-20T23:27:10.903-04:00Hangzhou Pt 6: Dinner and KaraokeDinner that night was back at the hotel, in one of the private dining rooms. As we were on the way in to our room, we passed by another dining room where there was clearly some kind of party going on in full swing. Kathy said she thought it might have been some kind of corporate party, but as we walked past, they were doing some sort of fashion show. They were playing their music at full volume, and we could hear it over in our dining room. At some point, we could hear them blaring the song "Du Hast," by Rammstein. Even if you don't speak German, that's a pretty hardcore song to play for a corporate party.<br />
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Joining us for dinner that evening was a local government official. I think she may have been some sort of regional governor but, I wasn't sure. There wasn't any sort of formal meet-and-greet, and as usual, due to the size of our group, we sat at two tables. She was seated at the other table, so dinner was a bit more relaxed at my table.<br />
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Later in the meal, Sara W came over to our table with a somewhat bizarre set of instructions. She told us that in a few moments, Kathy would come over and tell us about a bar/coffee shop that the governor thought we should check out, but that we should should say no to it. Sure enough, a few moments later, Kathy came over and told us about the bar the governor was recommending. However, immediately, she tried to downsell it, pointing out that it was about 20 minutes away. That seemed easy enough to politely turn down. Twenty minutes away is a rather off-putting distance when you're in a city that you haven't memorized the geography of, aren't familiar with the mass transit systems, and don't speak the language.<br />
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A few moments later, Sara came back and said we should say we're interested in going to the coffee shop, but that we won't actually go. A few moments after that, Kathy returned and asked us how many of us were going to the coffee shop, and that TJ and Sara were already planning to go. This had everybody at our table a bit confused as we thought the plan was to express interest in the coffee shop, but not to actually commit to it, so we said we'd think about it.<br />
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Again, Sara came back and said they weren't actually going to the coffee shop, and that Kathy didn't want us to go to the coffee shop, but for the sake of politeness to the governor, we should say we'd <u style="font-style: italic;">consider</u> going. Finally Kathy came back with one more message from the governor: that the bar owner had a daughter who was single, and about 32 years old.<br />
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All of the complicated back and forth conversation made a lot more sense all of a sudden. Suffice to say, we did not decide to venture 20 minutes away so that one of us could maybe be set up with the coffee shop owner's daughter.<br />
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What we did end up doing was going to KTV, and this time everybody decided to come along, (except for our professors.) After a bit of downtime at the hotel bar after dinner, Kathy met up with us to show us the way to a karaoke bar she recommended. There was a small problem. All of us had assumed we were just going to the KTV bar across the street from the hotel, but she said there was a better one a few blocks up the road. To complicate things, some of the group lagged behind, saying they'd catch up with us, However, our phones only seemed to work on Wi-Fi, so we couldn't text those waiting behind to let them know where we were going.<br />
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Yes, we could have just waited for the whole group to meet in the lobby, but Kathy had clearly had a long day, and we didn't want her to stay out any later than she had to. So, I suggested that some of us go along with Kathy so we'd know where the place was, but then form a human breadcrumb trail with a person waiting behind at regular intervals, so the stragglers would be able to the find place. I'm not going to lie. I had that scene from <i>Lord of the Rings</i> in mind where they light the chain of torches along the mountaintop to send a message.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking tho the KTV bar.</td></tr>
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The plan worked. The stragglers found one of the group outside of the hotel who led the group further up the block until they met the next person in the group, and so on until everybody was at the KTV bar. It turned out that there was probably no way we'd have been able to message the location to the group even if text messaging was working on our phones. Despite the multiple KTV bars on the street with bright neon signs, Kathy led us to a place with much subtler signage, on the second floor of a building that was on a cross street.<br />
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We thanked Kathy for showing us the KTV bar, and told her we'd be fine from here, because she really did look exhausted, and Steve knew enough Chinese to get everything set up. As in the KTV bar back in Beijing, there was a store where we'd buy our drinks. Unlike in Beijing, I actually lingered around the store, and was surprised at just how big a selection there was. It was like a small convenience store, with various beers, energy drinks, snacks, and fairly decent liquor selection. I can't say it ever occurred to me to knock back a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label while singing karaoke with friends, but now it was an option. That being said, we just stuck with beer.<br />
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The karaoke machine in our private room was much easier to use than the one in Beijing, and we were able to set it up fairly easily. Like before, we just queued up a bunch of popular songs, and whoever wanted a go at the songs could grab a microphone. Even though only half of the group actually sang, it was one big dance party, and the it was first time we had really all cut loose and partied as a whole group. For those who didn't want to sing, they had tambourines and stuff so everybody could participate.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I apparently knew the lyrics to Pitbull and Ke$ha's song "Timber" far too readily. </td></tr>
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Next: More corporate visits, and the road to ShanghaiAllister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-27015325792942713232017-03-28T23:12:00.000-04:002017-04-20T23:27:49.004-04:00Hangzhou Pt 5: Alibaba HQ and Xianghu LakeAfter lunch at the conference center, (which was one of the fancier lunches we'd had so far,) we headed out to Alibaba Headquarters. We were familiar with the company partially because one of our groups chose it for their MBA project, but also because it was starting to make its presence increasingly known in the US, as its anticipated IPO lingered on the horizon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A scale model of Alibaba Headquarters</td></tr>
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From what I'd heard of Alibaba, it seemed to be China's own answer to many of the West's hottest startups. There was a bit of Amazon, Google, PayPal, and based on what they told us, even a bit of FedEx to their business plan.<br />
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Their corporate campus embodied all of the wondrous things I'd heard about Silicon Valley offices. There were tons of luxuries on hand at the employees' disposal, such as game rooms, bookstores, grocery stores, gyms, and coffee shops. It looked like an employee could go from home to work and back again, be able to take care of their personal chores, have a bit of time to relax, but still get plenty of work done.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Highly adorable corporate mascots</td></tr>
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On top of that there was the architecture of the campus, which seemed to invoke a bit of the famous Bird's Nest stadium from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. There was a intricate webbing pattern that dominated the outside of many of the buildings, and pools that wove about the campus, along with some unusual choices in sculpture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes. Very unusual choices.</td></tr>
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Eventually we were led into a room with a giant video wall showing various bits of company data, along with a map depicting the frequency with which Alibaba transactions were occurring across China. Naturally, the group that was doing Alibaba for their project devoured the presentation, but even the rest of us were thoroughly impressed. Clearly Alibaba was a company primed to take itself onto the international stage.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our highly fashionable Alibaba tour guide.</td></tr>
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We hopped back on the bus and were taken to Xianghu Lake, another resort area similar to West Lake. As we drove towards Xianghu Lake, I noticed a bit of "duplitechture" off in the distance. Duplitechture is a term often used to describe when builders set out to recreate iconic landmark buildings. The podcast <a href="http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/duplitecture/">99 Percent Invisible</a> did a pretty good episode on the subject. While there are plenty of examples of the phenomena scattered throughout America, (my hometown of Cincinnati has it's own scale replica of the Eiffel Tower,) many have noticed that the trend has exploded in China in recent years, with towns modeled after Parisian streets (complete with their own Eiffel Tower,) or replica versions of the White House. Here, at the edge of one part of the lake was a replica of the Venice waterfront.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A replica of St. Mark's Campanile sits off in the distance.</td></tr>
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Our bus took us to a less developed part of the lake, one that was left in a more pristine state, and not surrounded by as many resort hotels. At the edge of this part of the lake was the Kuahuqiao Site Museum, the site of an archeological excavation that unearthed artifacts as old as 8000 years old. The building itself was made in the shape of a boat, in homage to the fact that the oldest known canoe (as in, "ever,") was found at the site.<br />
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The main exhibit of the museum was a large hall, which I believe preserved the original excavation site. (I couldn't verify for sure, but as the hall was separate from the main structure, and most of the excavations took place between the 90's and the early 2000's, I doubt there would have been a need to recreate the site.) Among the archeological plots they put statues, to give a better context of what archaeologists were doing during their excavation. The rest of the museum was various artifacts recovered from the site.<br />
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When we went outside, instead of getting back on the bus, we were led to a small boat. We were going to take ride out on the lake itself. I should mention that we were still in our suits. It seemed a bit strange to be doing the touristy stuff while still dressed for corporate visits, but it didn't make sense to change at the time.<br />
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The ride out on the lake was nice. It was one of those moments you conjure up in a postcard image of China. A wooden boat out on a lake with hills off in the distance, as the sun sets. On top of that, there were little islands scattered through the lake, with ornate bridges and pagodas. It was a place I would have never figured out how to get to if I had planned this trip on my own.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The museum, as seen from the outside</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Mark's Campanile again</td></tr>
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As the boat came back to the dock, I could see the back of the museum we were at earlier, and noticed that part of it was built out into the lake. I had a hunch that the part of the museum with the archeological site was under the lake, which would make sense. Again, I wasn't able to confirm this.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2017/04/hangzhou-pt-6-dinner-and-karaoke.html">Dinner and more karaoke</a><br />
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Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-24960131507052349042017-02-22T21:59:00.000-05:002017-03-28T23:13:09.262-04:00Hangzhou Pt 4: Hi-Tech Development Zone<div style="text-align: justify;">
The morning had a bit of a strange start to it. One of Dr. Wu's associates was in charge of the development zone we were going to visit that day, but since his associate wouldn't be able to meet us at the park, it was arranged for him to meet us at the hotel for breakfast. A handful of us were randomly chosen for the breakfast, presumably due to the size limitations of the room we were eating in.</div>
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The idea of doing a formal breakfast was somewhat new to me. Breakfast is usually the time of day I'm still tying to put myself together. It is not normally a time that I don a suit and tie and meet high powered business executives before I've had my eggs and coffee.</div>
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We used the time with the executive to ask questions about the development zone, as well as gain some insight for our group projects. At some point we were asked to go around the table and introduce ourselves. As most of my classmates had well established careers, they were able to give lengthy descriptions of who they worked for and what they did for their company. Unfortunately, at that time I was somewhat unemployed, occasionally doing short-term legal document review projects. </div>
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I tried to explain to the executive that I worked with law firms to identify and prepare documents for upcoming litigation, and just to pad things up a bit, I also talked about how I had also worked in criminal defense law, and studied intellectual property in law school. I should point out that the executive didn't speak English, and Dr. Wu was translating for him. I can't say for sure, but as I talked for about a minute, but he translated for only a few seconds, I assume he just told the executive that I was a lawyer and moved on.</div>
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After breakfast, the entire group boarded the bus to the Hangzhou Lingjiang Hi-Tech Development Zone. I had initially assumed this was going to be some sort of industrial park: a few square miles of corporate offices amidst small scale factories. No, it turned out that they were building a new city. Officially, the area was called the Linjiang New City (at least in the investment brochure we were given.) </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I mean, I don't know what it does, but I kind of want one.</td></tr>
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First we started at an info center, where we were shown videos, presentations, and models for what was in the zone, and planned expansions, as well as some various gizmos and devices that were being produced there. Then we visited a car company called Geely. No photos were allowed once we left the lobby, which was a shame because they really did have some cool concept cars on display, including a compact car that not only had an electric scooter that popped out of the center console, but also had a hatchback door that turned into a wheelchair ramp. They also showed a promo video that had been translated into unintelligible English, which sadly I have not been able to find online.</div>
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As nice as the building we were in, it did look noticeably empty. The lobby was spacious enough to fit a whole car dealership showroom, but had little in it besides the front desk, the concept cars, and the video wall. The upper floors were visible from the lobby, but still looked like they were under construction. Clearly, they had plans to expand at a rapid rate.<br />
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They did have a red carpet laid out, but they also left the sliding doors open, which surely must have been murder on their heating bill in the early March weather.</div>
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We were taken on a tour of the factory floor, and even were able to see the crash test track. Sadly, they were not doing any crash tests that day, while we hoped they might do one just for us, they pointed out that they were very expensive to conduct. I'm embarrassed to say that it was the first time I really thought about the cost of doing a crash test. At minimum, you're deliberately trying to trash a vehicle that costs anywhere between $10,000 to $60,000 or so, just to see exactly how its going to break, not to mention the cost of all of the equipment to monitor everything.<br />
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Yeah, they're definitely not going to do a crash test just to amuse a pack of twenty American students.<br />
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After Geely, we took the bus to a building that I assumed was some sort of conference center. Not only did they lay out the red carpet for us again, but they changed the LED sign in front to read "Warmly Welcome the Delegation of Dr. Wu to Linjiang."<br />
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That made me feel extra fancy.<br />
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We were then led to a conference room that honestly made me feel like we were supposed to be negotiating international trade relations. We were each assigned a seat in a leather chair, some of them with microphones in front. At each seat was a finely laid out arrangement of a coffee, bottled water, a pen, an investment brochure about the Linjiang Industrial Park, and a name plate. On one side was our name written in English, and on the other side our name in Chinese. Or, according to Google translate, a reasonable approximation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My nameplate in Chinese</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Translation of my Chinese nameplate using Google Translate</td></tr>
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Here, we were given a much more thorough explanation of the development zone, and I really started to understand the scope of it. The plan for Linjiang wasn't just to build an industrial park, but to build an entire city. They outlined plans for full scale factories, high rises, apartments, schools, and even plans for a wetland reserve. It was, in essence, a city dedicated to advanced technology.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2017/03/hangzhou-pt-5-alibaba-hq-and-xianghu.html">Alibaba Headquarters and Xianghu Lake</a><br />
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Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-65672589777375644662016-10-04T23:01:00.000-04:002017-02-22T22:00:33.219-05:00Hangzhou Pt 3: Dinner and NightlifeDriving through Hangzhou at night, almost every building was covered bright lighted signs, making it look like a Times Square that ran on for blocks. The building where we were stopping at for dinner was no exception. The awning over the entrance was lit with Xs and Os, the front pillars were wrapped in Christmas lights, and there were signs everywhere, with flashing lights.<br />
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The restaurant we were eating at was called Zhangshengji. It looked a bit more luxurious than the restaurants we had eaten in so far. The walls were covered in marble, and it seemed to epitomize the look of things that were high end in the early 90's, (in a good way, mind you.)<br />
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We were led to a private dining room, of which there were many in the restaurant. I learned it was actually quite common for people to rent out private dining rooms in China. The food was excellent, but it definitely strayed off the beaten path of what I thought of as "Chinese food." The flavors were familiar, but the dishes looked unlike anything we had come across yet on the trip, or for that matter that I had come across at any Chinese restaurant in the US.</div>
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Granted, I suppose most Chinese food in the US is presented in a way to emphasize its "Chinese-ness," whereas here it was being presented in a way that emphasized its gourmet nature. As was par for the course, I had no idea what any of the dishes were called, and could only deduce which was chicken, beef, fish, etc.</div>
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On our tables were several bottles of beer, for us to enjoy with dinner. At first glance, the label appeared to be for a brand of beer called "MONS." The name was written sideways, and as English is generally read top to bottom, and most of the other English text was written top to bottom, it was the logical assumption.</div>
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However, somebody eventually picked up on the fact that the label had a big snowflake on it, and had a picture of a snowy mountain. Upon closer inspection, next to "MONS" was written "BEER" in smaller letters, sideways, but bottom to top. So, it turned out, that the brand of beer was actually called "SNOW."<br />
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We headed back to the hotel after dinner. Outside of my hotel room, there was a loudspeaker somewhere that was blasting what sounded like traditional Chinese music. Upon playing closer attention to the song, it was actually being sung to the melody of "Scarborough Fair." Meanwhile, in the window across the alley, several floors below me, there appeared to be some sort of casino in operation. The combination of the two brought to mind some outdated, seedier version of China from a film noir era, and I found myself lingering by the window, taking it all in. I might have just stayed there for as long as the music was playing, but my friends did have plans to venture out into Hangzhou for a bit.<br />
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Thankfully, the mysterious music seemed to play at about the same time every night.<br />
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I met with Dhruv, Dan, Charles, Steve and Sarah S in the lounge in the fourth floor atrium. The atrium had the noticeable bite of cigarette smoke in the air. We grabbed a beer and kicked around plans for the night. I wanted to do karaoke again, but with five guys and one woman it didn't seem like the optimal mix. Fortunately, Kathy said she'd meet us in the lobby to help us find some kind of bar to go to.<br />
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As we walked around town, we found ourselves drifting towards the sound of a thumping bass beat. Eventually, we found the source of the sound, a nightclub covered in neon lights. The sign on above the door read "DAD," as did the one written vertically on the building.<br />
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We figured it was as good a spot as any, and Kathy bid us farewell, leading Steve to take the lead from there on out. The club turned out to be a bust. The doorman lead us to a booth, allowing us to look out over an empty club with blaring music. If five guys and one woman wasn't the ideal mix for karaoke, it definitely wasn't the ideal mix for a dance party.<br />
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And it was too loud for us to hear each other.<br />
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And they wanted the six of us to buy a minimum of 24 beers.<br />
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So, we ducked out of the club, and went over to a nearby convenience store where we bought considerably fewer beers. I also snagged a few boxes of Pocky, because I wasn't about to pass up having my favorite Asian snack, while in Asia.<br />
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We took our purchases back to the hotel, and lacking a better place to hang out, we ended up having our beers and snacks in the second floor lounge, overlooking the lobby. This lounge also had a bar which was open at the time. We sheepishly asked if it was okay if we could have the beers there, and the bartender said it was fine.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the hotel's front sign from the second floor lobby.</td></tr>
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On the way back to our room, I noticed some of the signage around the hotel, and realized we were staying in the "Pleasure Tower." Perhaps not the best choice of translations.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blanka? Time for some Street Fighter!</td></tr>
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2017/02/hangzhou-pt-4-hi-tech-development-zone.html">The Hi-Tech Development Zone</a></div>
Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-20890620995511770152016-08-09T23:01:00.002-04:002016-10-04T23:01:51.102-04:00Hangzhou Pt 2: Dragon Well Tea and the Lingyin TempleOne of the troubles about traveling to China is that it isn't always easy to just Google location names and come up with an exact answer. For that reason, I'm a bit fuzzy on what the name of our next stop was.<br />
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We were taken to a tea shop at one of the tea plantations. I snapped a photo of the sign at the door which said "Welcome to Meijiawu." The problem is, when I later Googled "Meijiawu," the search results either suggested it was the name of the shop we visited, the name of the plantation, or the name of the village.<br />
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I suppose it's possible that it's all three, and that we visited the tourist shop at the plantation, which shares the name of the village around it. The itinerary from the Asia Institute was surprisingly useless on this front, as it merely says "Dragon-Well Tea Culture Visit."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tea set out to dry</td></tr>
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We first had lunch on the ground floor of the tea shop, then we were led upstairs to the tea room. We were seated around tables, each with a Lazy Susan in the center, which had bowls of sunflower seeds resting on them.<br />
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Our guide for the day explained how they had various grades Dragon Well tea, the finest being Emperor grade, which we were going to try that afternoon. He then described the proper way of preparing it, which was to first let the water sit for about five minutes after boiling it, so it cools back down to the ideal temperature. (This being a much easier method than trying to turn off the heat just before the water boils.) Then, you take two pinches of tea leaves and drop them directly into the cup before pouring the water over it. They didn't use strainers or tea bags.<br />
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As he spoke, somebody from the tea shop started placing glasses of tea in front of us already prepared. Yes, glasses, not ceramic cups. Our guide told us that when tea is brought to you, the proper way of saying thank you is to tap the table three times, instead of saying "thank you" out loud. He also pointed out, the tapping three times only applies to tea. If you're drinking beer, apparently that means, "I want more beer."<br />
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While we waited for the tea to steep, the guide told us that people commonly refresh themselves by holding their eyes open above the steam from the cup. I assume that's more of a formal tea ceremony thing, and not an everyday tea drinking thing, because of the numerous times we were offered tea on the rest of the trip, I didn't see any of the locals do that. Nevertheless, we all held our eyes over our glasses of tea.<br />
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The tea was indeed quite good, although it did take some getting used to the fact that the tea leaves were freely floating about the cup, and it was inevitable that I would drink some down on the first few sips. After we finished our first glass, the tea shop hostess poured more hot water into everybody's glass. As we waited for it to steep, our guide told us that many people find the second cup tastes better than the first because some of the bitterness has already been diluted out.<br />
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Downstairs, they of course had tea for sale. We could pick between regular and emperor grade, and if you bought the larger size they threw in a metal tin for free. I hesitated on buying, as I was increasingly becoming concerned about how much space I had in my luggage, especially since there was still plenty of the trip left to do. I did end up buying a larger bag of regular tea, as I knew I would later regret it if I didn't bring back tea from China right from the source. Also, I liked the tin.<br />
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I sat in the bus, while I waited on some of my fellow classmates to finish their purchases. I noticed that a strange sense of calm and revitalization began to wash over me. I felt focused, and awake, but not jittery. I looked to my classmates who had joined me back on the bus, and they agreed that they too felt the same sensation of being relaxed, yet energized. That tea was definitely something unique, and I felt confident that buying the bag was a good choice.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fields of the tea plantation</td></tr>
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Our next stop was the Lingyin Temple, which is one of the largest Buddhist temples in China. When I heard we were going to a temple, I was picturing a single building. In actuality, the temple was more of a complex of buildings surrounded by a park.<br />
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As we walked through the park, we were led to a hillside where scores of statues of Buddha and his disciples were carved into the rock. I admit, I'm not familiar enough with Buddhism to understand the meanings of the various depictions of him, but there was a wide variety of statues. Some showed the seated Buddha, while others showed the laughing Buddha. There were so many carved into rock surfaces that we even saw Buddhas where nothing had been carved out of the rock at all. The guide pointed to something in a cave we had walked through, which I thought was a Buddha high up and tucked away, but was in fact just a natural rock formation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not actually a Buddha carving. I just looked like one from the ground.</td></tr>
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We left the park and went into the temple itself. At the gate we were given three sticks of incense, and were told to light them, bow once facing each of the cardinal directions, then place them in a massive censer that stood in the main courtyard.<br />
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The temple itself was a magnificent collection of brightly colored buildings, each at the center of a winding path of stairs, terraces, and gardens. Throughout the various buildings were scores of statues, either cast in metal or carved from wood. In some rooms there were several individual statues grouped together. However, at the back of the main hall was an enormous sculpture depicting a scene that may have actually had hundreds of carved statues as part of it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I honestly have no idea where I got the umbrella from...</td></tr>
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While we were exploring, the monks were at their late afternoon prayers. The harmonious sound of their chanting and ringing of chimes permeated throughout the temple, drawing you in towards the main hall. Yes, I did take plenty of pictures as I walked about the temple, but I also took the time to put away my camera, and just take in the moment.<br />
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It really is hard to convey just how tranquil an environment the temple was, as the monks chanted. Just being immersed in the sound of their harmony washed a sense of peace and relaxation over me. You can feel the sound of their chant deep within you, physically echoing through your body.<br />
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When they finished with their prayers, the absence of their chanting left a void in the air.<br />
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There were a surprisingly high amount of dogs wandering about the temple. I'm not sure if they were pets (either belonging to visitors or the monks,) or just an abundance of well trained stray dogs.<br />
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We still had some extra time to spare once we left the temple, so we were given a half hour to wander about. TJ, Nate, and I decided to explore the hills in the park, with the Buddha carvings. There were signs indicating the various routes we could take, but the paths turned out to not be as well laid out as we expected. Some of the paths turned out to be blocked off in parts, either because work was being done on the path, or trees had fallen down in the way. Other times, the path just seemed to disappear into rocks and vegetation.<br />
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We worked our way towards the top of the hill, expecting that we might find some sort of shrine or pagoda, but instead came across some sort of encampment. Nobody was there at the moment, but it was clear that somebody was, or at least had been, using this part of the hill as a home. It was starting to get dark anyway, so we decided it was a good time to head back and rejoin the group.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2016/10/hangzhou-pt-3-dinner-and-nightlife.html">Dinner and nightlife.</a>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-52311684148780239262016-06-15T22:42:00.000-04:002016-08-09T23:04:16.322-04:00Hangzhou Pt 1: West LakeNew Century Hotel, where we were staying, turned out to be much less of an international hotel than our one in Beijing. For example, they allowed smoking in common areas, which was something I forgot hotels ever even did. Another notable thing was what was served for breakfast. In Beijing, the breakfast buffet was pretty standard Western fare (eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.) with a few traditionally Chinese options, like hard boiled eggs soaked in tea and soy sauce. (Look up the recipe and try them out. They're fantastic.)<br />
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My first morning in Hangzhou, I woke up quite early for some reason. So early, that I was on the front end of when they were serving breakfast. They had only started putting out the Chinese food options. I saw some hard boiled eggs, next to various dishes of unknown meat and vegetable combinations. Not being one to experiment with food when it comes to breakfast, I just took the eggs.<br />
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I bit into one, and it was like biting into pure salt. Dr. Wu later explained to me that you're supposed to eat it with the side dishes. Not knowing that at the time, and not seeing any other options, I ate those salty, salty eggs, and waited around hoping something more normal might show up at the buffet, which it eventually did.<br />
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In daylight, Hangzhou looked absolutely beautiful. It was a garden city, full of tree lined streets and parks. Everything seemed so lush and verdant compared to what we saw in Beijing. The sky was overcast, but it just added to the beauty.<br />
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The bus took us out to the West Lake District, a region known for its gardens and historical sites. Our first stop was at Qinghefang Street, a market that was a mix of street vendors and store fronts. On the bus, Kathy mentioned that they might have scorpions for sale... to eat. Somehow despite not wanting to be experimental with breakfast, I felt the urge to be experimental with a mid-morning snack. Actually, most of the guys did. Sadly, we did not find any scorpion snacks for sale.<br />
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While some of the vendors still wanted to barter, most of the ones with storefronts had set prices. After bartering for a few items, I was relieved to be able to buy some of the nicer souvenirs right away, not having to go through the routine of going back and forth until we reached something resembling a reasonable price.<br />
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I found a chopstick shop, which turned out to be the same company as where I bought the chopstick set at the Beijing train station. I decided to take my time and look for a nicer set, not getting one just for the sake of having a souvenir. I had apparently also forgotten that my family hosted two Japanese exchange students while my sister was in high school, so my parents already had more than a few sets of nice chopsticks. Not remembering this, I bought another to add to their collection.<br />
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I had wandered into the store on my own, but a few of my classmates had caught up with me, also eager to buy some chopsticks. As I waited around in the store, looked at more of the sets they had for sale, and bought yet more chopsticks. This time, just a single pair, not a set. They were engraved with a dog, which is my year in the Chinese Zodiac.<br />
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We hopped on the bus again, and traveled through town towards our next destination. I began to have some idea of just how affluent an area the West Lake District was by the number of high end car dealerships we passed. We passed Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Maserati dealerships, and saw a few high end cars on the streets too.<br />
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Our next stop was the Yang Gong Causeway, a garden at the edge of the lake, with several bridges crossing over the water. It was one of those quintessential views of China. The landscaping highlighted both the plant life and the rock formations. Small pagodas dotted the park. Fleets of small fishing boats were lined up along the water's edge. Temples sat off in the far distance on the other side of the lake.<br />
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Had I been relying on my film camera, I would have burned through a few rolls that morning, just walking through the garden. I did have a film camera with me, a Holga, but I was using that sparingly on the trip in general.<br />
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Again, more souvenirs were purchased, although this time it was the cheap variety that kids tend to buy on field trips. I'm pretty sure every one of the guys on the trip bought one of those little slide whistles that sounds like a bird, when used correctly. We probably spent a good half hour blowing them incessantly. The women were not amused.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2016/08/hangzhou-pt-2-dragon-well-tea-and.html">Dragon Well Tea and the Lingyin Temple.</a><br />
<br />Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-6336694532249979022016-04-13T22:24:00.003-04:002016-06-15T22:44:41.159-04:00Beijing Pt 7: Lunch and the Bullet TrainNow that we were back in our civilian clothes, we headed off to another restaurant for lunch. The bus parked on a main street, as it was apparent that our bus was not going to be able to park on any of the side streets near the restaurant.<br />
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We passed by various shops and restaurants along the way, until we reached ours. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of it, but the decor of the place was definitely geared towards paying homage to the country's history. In the main room, there were street signs on the wall, along with plaques indicating the location of the street as well as historically significant facts about it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Along the side streets</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the restaurant</td></tr>
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On a stage at one end of the room was a guzheng, a Chinese zither-like instrument that most westerners probably heavily associate with the sound of Chinese music. Kathy jumped on the stool and did an impromptu jam session (for lack of a better description,) then invited us to give it a go. Naturally, I could not refuse.<br />
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The restaurant had a Cultural Organizer, who took us on a tour of the various dining rooms. Each one was decorated in the style of a room from various decades in the past century. For example, one had a TV on a shelf a by the wall, whereas another had a radio and a sewing machine.<br />
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Our dining room, was the Mao Room. Sure enough, it was larger than the other rooms, and had a shrine to Chairman Mao off to the side. He indicated the shrine and suggested that I take a picture of it.<br />
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Now we were definitely going deeper into Chinese cuisine with this lunch. The dishes were certainly delicious, but many of them were unrecognizable as anything I'd ever seen in a Chinese restaurant, such as a dish that resembled a sort of fried vegetable cake, or one that was a sort of black rice cake that was then set on fire.<br />
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I know I need to come up with better descriptions of food other than "a sort of cake," but those were the two dishes from the meals that seemed most unique.<br />
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After lunch, the Cultural Organizer returned asking us to rate the meal and provide feedback. That was more or less the phrasing he used. The food was excellent but it did feel a bit strange being asked so directly what we thought of it, especially since I'm so used to giving feedback anonymously through survey websites found at the bottom of receipts.<br />
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I'm not sure how honest his request for feedback was, but I offered one suggestion anyway. (One of my classmates told me doing so seemed rude, but I think he generally wanted advice for how to make guests' experience better.) My advice was this: Have somebody explain what the meals were as they were brought out. With every restaurant we visited, the dishes were increasingly delicious, and it was becoming increasingly frustrating not knowing what some of these dishes were called. I may never see them on an American Chinese restaurant menu, but I wanted to entertain the idea that I may some day come across these dishes again without having to buy a ticket to China.<br />
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Or, if I ever did find myself in China again, I'd like to remember what to order.<br />
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After lunch , we made our way to the train station, where we would catch the bullet train to Hangzhou. By now the smog was practically palpable. I could feel it as grime clinging to my face. Some of my friends had brought surgical masks with them on the trip, and were now starting to wear them, without a trace of irony or humor. I did have one that I had bought at a grocery store when I first arrived, but I opted not to use it, as it looked somewhat fancy and I had bought it as a souvenir.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So much smog</td></tr>
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We had a bit of downtime at the train station, so I did some impulse souvenir shopping, out of some weird concern that we wouldn't get many opportunities to do so over the next few days. I wound up buying a Chinese copy of GQ, and a colorful set of chopsticks.<br />
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My friends also bought a decent amount of beer, which made sense since the G-Train, despite traveling between 150-250 mph, was still going to take five hours to get to Hangzhou. We were also told we could buy food to take with us on the train, but as we had just had lunch, I wasn't in the mindset to buy fast food. I figured I'd just get something on the train. That turned out to be a disappointing decision, but I'll get to that later.<br />
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We also stocked up on one of my favorite things about shopping for snacks in Asian countries: exotic flavors of familiar snacks, like kebab flavored Lays chips.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exotic flavors of potato chips</td></tr>
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When we boarded the G-Train, I made sure to grab a seat by the window. I felt the way I remembered feeling the first time I can recall boarding an airplane. As an American, the idea of high speed rail, feels novel and futuristic. Hell, living in the midwest, the idea of any sort of rail infrastructure feels novel. The only passenger trains that pass through my city do so at odd hours of the morning, when the tracks aren't in use by the freight lines. For a region as densely populated as the northeast quadrant of the USA is, it's bizarre that the only true passenger rail infrastructure is along the east coast.<br />
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The train took off, and the city of Beijing zipped by. Soon the buildings gave way to the countryside, but the smog persisted. It was like that scene from <i>The Mist</i> where they drive on, hoping to drive far enough until they make it out of the fog, but it just never seems to end. The sky did clear up for us eventually. For a while, the landscape was just rocky mountains, but eventually it gave way to lush greenscapes.<br />
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The novelty of being on a bullet train soon wore off, and it soon felt like being on an airplane again, except it was quieter, and we could freely move about at all times. Apparently, entire rows of seats could be rotated to face each other, so a few of us re-arranged our rows. Sure, our knees were now bunched up together, but at least we could have a proper conversation instead of trying to talk down a row.<br />
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We were told that there would be food available on the train, and there was, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. In my head I was picturing a proper dining car, like in a spy movie, with little tables where you can order a full dinner. Realistically, I was even prepared for something closer to airline food. In reality, the dining car options consisted of various snacks. The most filling options were a bowl of noodles (the microwave kind,) or a plate of pork buns.<br />
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Actually, "pork buns" was what my friend Steve told me they were. He spoke Chinese, and I didn't. He described the dinner options as the noodle bowl or the pork buns, but he gave me a sort of quizzical look when he mentioned the pork buns. I took the pork buns, because I had some earlier on the trip, and they were delicious, and it sounded more filling than the noodle bowl.<br />
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I was given a tray with six pork buns that, like the noodles, appeared to have been microwaved. I bit into the first one, and was very confused. The contents of the bun were clearly not pork. In fact, it wasn't even meat. It was some sort of seaweed, vegetable filling.<br />
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I asked Steve if she was sure the woman in the dining car said it was pork buns. He said that maybe she just said it included pork buns. I took a bite of the next bun, and it had some sort of almost gelatinous purple filling, which was probably vegetable again, and definitely wasn't pork. Finally I took a bite of the third one, which actually turned out to be pork. The other three buns were the same combination of fillings: green vegetable, purple gelatinous vegetable, and pork. So at least there was some pork.<br />
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We arrived in Hangzhou Station, which I was told was one of the biggest train stations in China. It felt more like an airport than a train station, both in terms of size and architecture.<br />
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It was night when we arrived in the city, but from what I could see in the dark, it looked like a much more open city. Maybe Hangzhou was actually a cleaner city, or maybe it just didn't have an international reputation for being polluted, but the air felt fresher. The city also looked much more vibrant and lively than Beijing, but again, we didn't really get out and explore much of Beijing, so it wasn't a fair comparison.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSaAwdfHuCa4Cb6w17wyjvmA3qGMOjpCFei5YmfZLgzhyphenhyphen5kTTWyK5CuwkNwZEmtzf_7rXHI-eIhETLkhe7ZudYs1shu-dR7HuxSzL4VFgXUoSB6IULTW_Bs4U98_DJvlVriqojP0mX6bqh/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-04-13+at+10.15.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSaAwdfHuCa4Cb6w17wyjvmA3qGMOjpCFei5YmfZLgzhyphenhyphen5kTTWyK5CuwkNwZEmtzf_7rXHI-eIhETLkhe7ZudYs1shu-dR7HuxSzL4VFgXUoSB6IULTW_Bs4U98_DJvlVriqojP0mX6bqh/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-04-13+at+10.15.26+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hangzhou at night</td></tr>
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We checked into our hotel, the New Century Hotel Xiaoshan, then were given a brief layout of the area, just in case we wanted to get a late meal. As it was very late, our options were Kentucky Fried Chicken, or McDonald's. While I've heard that KFC is wildly popular in Asia, (possibly more than it is in the US,) I opted for McDonald's. It's my default travel food.<br />
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Having McDonald's, or visiting a Hard Rock Cafe, are two things I generally do when traveling abroad. No matter how great the cuisine is wherever I go, I've found that I occasionally need a break from being a tourist, and need something comfortable and familiar. Hence, McDonald's. It's like doing a soft reset for my system. If I have at least one Big Mac part way through the trip, I know I'm not going to be days into the trip, surrounded by fantastic cuisine I'll never see again, and thinking "I'm really craving some American fast food right now."<br />
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Also, there's the academic reason for wanting to visit McDonald's. As I mentioned before, localization of international products is something we've studied repeatedly as part of the MBA program at Xavier. I know that McDonald's more or less uses the same menu around the world, but they also have regional dishes, depending on the country.<br />
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My first Chinese McDonald's did not disappoint. Among the menu items were some sort of chicken and rice platter, and something called the Double German Sausage Patty, which was two sausage links drizzled in mustard, on top of two beef patties, served in a pretzel bun.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Double German Sausage Patty is on the left.</td></tr>
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When we approached the counter, the cashier handed us a menu with pictures of all the dishes available, and more or less communicated to us that we should order by pointing at what we wanted. I opted for a Big Mac, but it turned out to be one of the sparsest Big Mac's I'd ever seen. It might have been a regional thing, or maybe they did a bad job of preparing it. Either way, it was close enough to leave me comfortably settled in for my first night in Hangzhou, a city I new almost nothing about.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Underwhelming Big Mac</td></tr>
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2016/06/hangzhou-pt-1-west-lake.html">The West Lake Area</a>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-67177922432996902152016-03-09T22:24:00.004-05:002016-04-13T22:25:03.805-04:00Beijing Pt 6: Smog and the First Company VisitThe morning started off at a fast pace. We had breakfast and checked out first thing in the morning. As we boarded our bus, I saw that the man selling counterfeit goods, from our first day in town, was back. He made one last sales pitch to our group, but alas, it was to no avail.<br />
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The Beijing we drove through was not the same one we had seen days before. Everything was covered in a thick impenetrable fog. Even the CCTV building, which was just blocks away from our hotel, couldn't be seen. It was like being in Silent Hill, or some other 90's video game with a constant background fog to cover up the fact the game console couldn't fully render the environment too far into the distance.<br />
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And at first, it gave the city an other worldly feel. That is, until I registered what it really was I was seeing: Beijing's infamous smog. No longer was it just a thick brown haze, visible on the horizon. Today, it was a poisonous cloud that invaded the city. Perhaps someday Beijing's smog will be romanticized the way people talk of the "London Fog" as if it weren't polluted air. Years from now, we may be buying "Beijing Smog" jackets.<br />
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But for now, this was the air I was breathing, and it alleviated my disappointment that I wouldn't get to spend more time in Beijing.<br />
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We had to leave the hotel dressed in our suits because that morning was the first of the company visits we had scheduled for the trip. We were going to visit the China location for Delphi, an international auto parts manufacturer. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a bit of a miscommunication about what we were supposed to be doing there. We had blocked out about two hours to meet with company representatives, for them to inform us about what they do, and for us to get a better understanding of how business works in China.<br />
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Instead, we were given a tour of the factor floor that lasted about fifteen minutes. While it was certainly interesting, it didn't really give us any insights into the company's business process, or how this was any different from any factory anywhere else in the world.<br />
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Dr. Wu and the reps from the Asia Institute quickly adapted to the situation. After we piled back onto the bus, we were given the option of checking out a Chinese Wal-Mart (for the record, they meant an <i>actual</i> Chinese Wal-Mart, not some Chinese equivalent of Wal-Mart,) or we could visit a furniture mall.<br />
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The idea of visiting a Wal-Mart in China genuinely interested me. A common topic in many of my MBA classes was re-inforcing that companies cannot assume that a store opened internationally can operate the same way it does in the states, regardless of how strong the brand is in the US. Home Depot and Best Buy both famously failed in China, due to failing to understand the Chinese Market. Other brands, such as IKEA, have managed to do quite well, because they adapted and tailored their business models for the local consumer.<br />
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Naturally, I wanted to see how Wal-Mart, one of the biggest brands in the US, was adapted for Chinese buyers. However, they decided we would visit the furniture mall instead. I suppose that made sense. There is only so much time one can eat up in a Wal-Mart, anywhere in the world, especially if you're just browsing.<br />
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The furniture mall had the English name of Top City Shopping Center, and it was simply a mall where every store sold furniture or home furnishings. It proved to be informative in a way I didn't anticipate, as it showcased the supply for the demand caused by an increase of wealth among the Chinese.<br />
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There was an immense amount of variety in the types of home furnishings available at the various stores. Some of them offered goods that had a traditional Chinese aesthetic to them, such as hand carved wood, with geometric shapes, stained with mahogany varnish, or sculptures of dragons or Buddhas. Other stores sold much more modern looking furniture, with minimal ornamentation. Depending on your aesthetic orientation, it either had a distinctively Asian or distinctively Scandinavian appearance.<br />
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Then there were the stores that catered to those craving more traditionally Western furnishings, allowing them to decorate their houses to look like a quaint Rhode Island cottage, or English parlor. There were products that seemed to mash various styles together, such as wood sculptures of English women done in a traditionally Chinese fashion.<br />
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And of course, there were stores offering replicas of famous artworks. Yes, even in China there's apparently a demand for copies of Michelangelo's "David." It seemed that here, you could have it custom hand carved too.<br />
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We still had a bit of time to kill after the mall so we drove about town a bit more. Then the men and women in the group took turns changing clothes on the bus so that we didn't have to spend the rest of the day in our suits.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2016/04/beijing-pt-7-lunch-and-bullet-train.html">Lunch, China through the ages, and the bullet train.</a>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-35276354478837771242016-02-23T22:36:00.002-05:002016-03-09T22:25:32.968-05:00Beijing Pt 5: Peking Duck and KaraokeDinner that night was at a restaurant called China Lounge, and was also our official orientation meeting with the Asia Institute. It seemed a bit odd at first to do the orientation meeting after a whole full day of sightseeing, but I guess they figured we'd be more likely to focus on what they had to say if they gave the presentation over food, and if we had already gotten two of the major tourist sites under our belt.<br />
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They had reserved a room for us to have to ourselves. At first I figured it was just because of the presentation, but as I later realized on the trip, it seemed like a fairly common thing for large groups to dine together in separate rooms. I only draw this conclusion because many of the places we ate at had a surprisingly high number of private dining rooms.<br />
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I was a bit worried about the fact that just about every meal on our itinerary was going to be Chinese food. Yes, I know that seems obvious, given that we were in China, but as much as I love American Chinese food, it's not something I could have for every meal for a week straight.<br />
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Fortunately, as I quickly realized, American Chinese food is an amalgamation of various types of cuisine from all around the country, and usually made oiler for American palates. So while lunch was more or less what I had in mind when I thought of Chinese food, there was much more flourish and presentation to dinner. The appetizers that were brought out had a very minimalist presentation to them, and weren't at all anything I recognized as the usual Chinese appetizers.<br />
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The specialty for the night was Peking Duck. I'm not sure I've ever ordered that in the states, but if I did, I'm pretty sure they don't usually do the full show to go with it. The duck was brought out on a trolley, fully cooked. With surgical precision, the chef then took a knife and quickly stripped the duck of all of its meat, acting swiftly and cleanly. Soon the duck was practically down to its bones, with the meat in a pile next to it. It's then served on these little pancakes, with various vegetables you can put onto it, so it's almost like a duck taco.<br />
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The orientation portion of dinner was primarily a basic rundown of what we'd be doing on the trip, which businesses we'd be visiting, which tourist sites we'd see, and which days we'd be expected to dress in business attire. It was in essence the itinerary packet we'd been given in advance, done as a Power Point presentation, which was good because I had the hunch that a few of my classmates hadn't really gone over it.<br />
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At some point during dinner, a few of us started to kick around the idea of going to a karaoke bar, or K-TV as they call it in China. About half of the group seemed interested, and Sharon and Kathy said they'd take us to a bar they recommended after dinner.<br />
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Somewhat naively, we insisted that they didn't have to actually take us to the bar itself, and it would be fine if they just told us where to find it. After all, they had a long day of leading us around, and we didn't want to keep them up. Sharon and Kathy in turn insisted that we'd be better off if they just took us there. I was under the self delusion that as a well versed traveller, I could find any place if just pointed in the right direction, but as I realized, none of us were going to find this place without their help.<br />
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I was expecting that they were going to lead us towards some sort of bar district with a bar that was clearly marked K-TV on the outside. (In all fairness, we did see several prominent K-TV signs as we drove around town.) Instead they led us down a street, and under a highway overpass, which from the look of it was leading us away from anything interesting. We then popped down into the subway, not actually getting on the subway, just using it as a shortcut, then emerged in front of a what appeared at first glance to be a plain, innocuous office building.<br />
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From where we stood, I didn't see anything on the outside that gave any indication that there was a K-TV bar inside. Of course, that might have been due to my inability to read Chinese signage. (Also, I didn't even know what we were looking for.) As if to further ensure we couldn't have found this place on our own, it was on the second floor of the building. With such an inconspicuous location, I was expecting that this wasn't going to be a great K-TV bar, but just the one closest to the hotel. Which would have made sense, since we did have to do a business visit the next day, and I imagine Sharon and Kathy didn't want us out late wandering around a strange part of town on our own.<br />
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When the elevator doors opened on the second floor, the bar had the glitz and glamor of a proper night club. It was practically empty, but that was probably more due to the fact it was a Sunday night than being an indicator of the quality of the bar, which, for the record, was called Melody.<br />
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The way that K-TV works is that you rent out a private room for a few hours, pick your own songs from a machine, and buy all of your drinks in advance. They had a small shop off to the side, but Steve took care of the drinks. The host led us to our room, and a few minutes later a server showed up with our drinks.<br />
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The karaoke room was small, but perfect size for our group of about nine. It had couches, disco balls, and several TVs showing the karaoke videos on it. There was a stand with an old school microphone permanently affixed to it, but you could rock the stand back and forth like a rock star. They also had extra microphones so whoever wanted to jump in and sing along could.<br />
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Again, we told Kathy and Sharon that we'd be fine on our own from here on out. We really didn't want to keep them out late just for our sakes. Well, it turned out that us being fine from that point out again turned out to be a lie. The song selection machine proved to be a bit trickier to use than we expected. There was supposed to be an English language mode on it, but failing to find that we just settled for English language songs, so we still needed Kathy and Sharon's help, in addition to Steve's... and one of the hosts.<br />
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Normally I have my go-to karaoke songs, like "Don't You Forget About Me," stuff by The Killers, Chris Isaak, and a few deeper cuts depending on the crowd and the song selection. However, as we were having trouble with the machine, I opted to go along with whatever reasonably well known top 40 hits the others in our group picked out. Also, my classmates were adding songs to the playlist so quickly, I would have held things up if I took the time to scour the machine for the "right" song.<br />
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The joy of using a private room for karaoke is that it lowers everybody's nervousness threshold for performing in front of others. A few of the women in our group came along just because they thought going to the bar itself would be fun, but had no intention of singing, and yet sure enough, as soon as the Spice Girls' song "Wannabe" came on, they were all on stage. It also turned out that a few of my classmates were karaoke aficionados. Lindsay, it turned out, could belt out a few soulful ballads.<br />
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I think Kathy and Sharon's plan was legitimately to help us find the place, set us up in the karaoke room, them head back to the hotel, but then either we talked them into staying for a few songs, or they decided the might as well stick around for one or two. Either way, they joined in on the fun of K-TV. Kathy and Sharon sang a few songs too, some in Chinese.<br />
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One odd thing I noticed (and had heard about before) was that some of the songs had familiar backing music, but completely different lyrics and melodies for the actual songs. For example, it took us a while to recognize one song they sang because the main melody of the song was brand new, but eventually we realized it was the backing track for Gwen Stefani's song, "Hella Good."<br />
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Eventually Kathy and Sharon did say they really did have to leave, but at that point we realized it was a good time for us to head home as well. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day that involved both a company visit and traveling to another city, so it was probably best that we got some rest.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2016/03/beijing-pt-6-smog-and-first-company.html">Beijing smog and the first company visit.</a>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-14819665415778038312016-02-09T21:41:00.001-05:002016-02-23T22:37:23.552-05:00Beijing Pt 4: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden CityAfter lunch, the bus took us to Tiananmen Square. As our guide, Chris, pointed out to us as we approached the Square, we probably knew more about it's recent history than he did. He was referring to the protests in 1989 that culminated in what has become known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, a protest that ended with Chinese soldiers killing hundreds of civilians. Despite having been built in 1651, I realized that for me, and probably many of my generation, the Square has become almost entirely synonymous with the protests.<br />
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The government somehow managed to both acknowledge this association while at the same time not acknowledging it. There are no plaques or memorials for those who died during the protests, but there is a strong presence of security around the Square. We entered the Tiananmen Square through an underground pedestrian tunnel on the south side, and had to pass through a security checkpoint. As a tourist group, composed mainly of non-Chinese people, we were quickly let through, although the guards did try to briefly hold back some of the Chinese members of our group. They were allowed to continue through when Chris explained they were with our group.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zhengyang Gate</td></tr>
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On the south end of the Square sits Zhengyang Gate, a massive stone gate with a tower perched on top of it. The wall it was a part of had long been demolished. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to explore it much closer as our group was on a bit of a tight schedule to make it through the Square and to the other side of the Forbidden City, where our bus would meet us. We weren't in a rush. We just had a schedule to keep.<br />
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The Square was flanked on both sides by museums, and in the center stood a mausoleum to Mao Zedong, and the Monument to the People's Heroes. In front of the mausoleum were the sort of triumphant statues to the people you tend to see in countries with communist history, and the architecture of the museums and the monument had that rigid geometric design that was typical of communist architecture as well.<br />
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Bisecting the square is a long video wall. I have absolutely no idea what was being broadcast on the wall, but the video wall enjoyed a bit of internet notoriety a few years ago, when a photo taken of the wall showed a video of a sunset being played on it. It was accompanied by a story that claimed that Smog had gotten so bad in Beijing that the government resorted to showing a video of a sunset, at sunset, because people couldn't see it any more through the pollution. (This isn't true. The video actually showed the sunset among other things, and was broadcast throughout the day, regardless of the smog.)<br />
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As we neared the Tiananmen Gate, I reached the spot of the obligatory photo almost everybody takes when visiting Beijing: a picture of one's self in front of the Tiananmen Gate with the portrait of Chairman Mao. Seriously, look through the photo album of any friend of yours who has been to Beijing. Some version of that photo is undoubtedly there. It's China's version of the picture in front of the Eiffel Tower, or Leaning Tower of Pisa.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attempt 1: Not what I was hoping for </td></tr>
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It took a few tries to actually get the photo I wanted, as the first of my classmates that I handed my camera off to had a shockingly bad eye for composure. After a few tries, I told her to hand the camera off to my roommate, Josh, who managed to get the exact picture I was looking for on the first try.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attempt 2: Much better</td></tr>
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As empty as Tiananmen Square was, there was a sizable crowd around the bridge leading to the Tiananmen Gate, which is the entrance of the Forbidden City. The crowd was understandable, as the gate was never intended to handle a daily influx of tourists. Once we were over the bridge and through the gate, the crowd dispersed again.<br />
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We were given our tickets to enter the Forbidden City, and as we stood before the Meridian Gate, the proper entrance to the Forbidden City, Chris explained that of the three passages before us, only the Emperor was allowed through the center one. Quite noticeably, tourists were primarily entering through the two side passages. I asked Cathy if we were allowed to go through the central passage, and she said that we were. I asked again, just to be absolutely sure, because the last thing I wanted to do was cause an international incident. I could just see this as being one of those instances where the police swarm upon me halfway through the gate, and I wind up in prison for entering through the Emperor's gate.<br />
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Again, Cathy assured me that it was okay for tourists to enter through the central passageway. So a few of my braver classmates and I entered the Forbidden City through the Emperor's passageway. Why wouldn't you? It was a view of the city that was once reserved for a handful of people. Considering how nicely symmetrical the city was, it seemed like the only logical way to go in, having everything perfectly framed as you enter.<br />
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I did not get arrested, nor did my classmates who joined me. I suspected there was a bit of remorse from my classmates who opted to take the side passages.<br />
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The Forbidden City was larger than I expected, in some ways, yet smaller in others. The size of the complex is massive. "City" is an apt term for it. However, most of its size is taken up by massive courtyards. The buildings themselves were actually much smaller than I thought they would be.<br />
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Unfortunately, we couldn't go in most of them. I was rather disappointed, because I remember there being a scene at the end of <i>The Last Emperor</i> where Emperor Pu Yi returns to the throne room, long after the rise of communism in China, and the scene transitions to a shot of tour groups passing through. We couldn't recreate that scene, though. The doors were open, but barricades were put up, so we could only look inside.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Throne Room</td></tr>
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As you probably guessed, they also barricaded off the bas relief covered ramps between the stairs, so you can't recreate the scene from the movie where a toddler Pu Yi runs out into the courtyard either.<br />
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It's possible that they never let any tourists through the buildings, and that was just a scene shot for the movie, but it seemed that we visited during an ongoing renovation project. According to Chris, there was one undertaken before 2008, to get the palace spruced up in time for the Beijing Olympic Games. However, it was clear that this renovation wasn't complete. If you approached many of the buildings from the front, as most tourists would approach them from, much of the palace looks bright and restored. However, if you look at the rear of some buildings, or the ones less centrally located, you can see the cracked paint and chipped wood. It reminds you of just how old a structure this is.<br />
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According to Frommer's guidebook on China, there is a large scale, $75 million dollar renovation that is scheduled to be complete by 2020, which will be a more complete restoration of the palace, and also ad temperature controlled buildings that will be used to showcase hundreds of thousands of Ming and Qing Dynasty artifacts that are currently in storage.<br />
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We exited to the North of the city, crossing over a moat. Ahead of us was a tree covered covered hill, topped with a pagoda. I later learned this was called Jingshan park, but unfortunately we didn't have time to go in and explore it. We would have plenty of gardens to see later on in the trip.<br />
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As we walked back to the bus, a vendor approached me selling a dragon statue. It was larger than the one I had picked up at the Great Wall, and his asking price was already cheaper than what I had paid for mine. I briefly considered buying it, but decided to pass. Partially, it was because our group was moving steadily ahead towards the bus and I didn't want to be the guy who was separated from everybody else on the first day, but also because I didn't want to set a precedent for myself of buying too many trinkets, then having to figure out how to get all of them back home.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2016/02/beijing-pt-5-peking-duck-and-karaoke.html">Peking Duck and karaoke</a><br />
<br />Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-11833746388043997632015-03-31T23:38:00.000-04:002016-02-09T21:42:45.410-05:00Beijing Pt 3: The First Market and MealNear the entrance to the Great Wall was a small market. Most of the vendors were just in the process of opening up their stalls when we were going in, but as we were leaving, they were pretty much all open. After all, what is any attraction without a gift shop of sorts at the exit?<br />
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The assortment of items for sale was a bit odd. Aside from postcards and t-shirts, not much of it was themed around the Great Wall. I suppose this is understandable, as a giant wall, hundreds of miles long is not something that is easily represented in a snow globe, or as a miniature replica. So instead, most of the vendors sold cheap Chinese themed souveneirs, like plush pandas, plastic dragons or stuff like that. There were also lots of shirts with President Obama on them, some pro-Obama, some making fun of him, and some depicting him as Che Guevara.<br />
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We had some time to peruse the market before we hopped back on the bus. Although I had taken plenty of photos on the Wall, it was ingrained in my head that if I'm going to visit a historic landmark, I should have <i>something</i> physical to bring back. A casualty of frequent traveling, I suppose. I saw a plastic dragon that I liked. It was made of a plastic resin designed to look like a hand carved wooden sculpture. In fact, when I picked it up, the vendor told me it was a hand carved wooden sculpture, but I didn't bother to call him out on it.<br />
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There wasn't a price tag on it, so I asked him the price. He wrote on a pad of paper that it was RMB 300. (RMB is a common abbreviation for the Chinese renminbi, the Chinese currency. RMB refers to the currency in general, but units of the currency are known as the yuan, so I may use the two terms interchangeably.) I did a quick conversion in my head. One American dollar equals about RMB 6, which meant he wanted about $50 for the statue.<br />
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I put it down immediately. It was a nice statue, but it certainly wasn't worth $50. I assumed that everybody at the market would charge high prices, hoping to gouge tourists, but that seemed a bit ridiculous. Before I could walk away, he handed me the pad of paper. I then realized he was expecting to barter. Good, so that meant he was fully aware that it was a ludicrous price he was asking. Also, I was rather impressed that they figured out an easy way to barter across language barriers. Considering that tourists come to visit the Great Wall from all over the world, I suppose it's inevitable that they'd figure out a universal way of bartering.<br />
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Only problem was, off the top of my head, I had no idea what the dragon realistically should be worth. It probably barely cost a dollar to make. In an American store, something like that would probably sell for about $5, maybe $10 if it was at a renaissance festival or something. At most, I could see paying $20 for it, under the weird "It's okay, I'm on vacation," most people adhere to when it comes to buying souvenirs.<br />
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I wrote down a price that came to around $10, and he did the whole routine of it being far too low, and asking for something around $40. I walked away, genuinely meaning to see what was at the other stalls, but of course walking away is just part of the haggling routine. He followed after me, paper pad in hand, offering a better price, but still not something I was willing to pay. At this point I spotted a portable chess set I liked, and stumbled into yet another part of the haggling routine: bundling. I ended up getting the chess set and the dragon together for about $15, and felt good about my bartering skills until the group reconvened and I realized that several other people had bought a similar chess set for about half of what I paid.<br />
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Apparently my friends' strategy for bartering was to offer a price that was as offensively low as the seller's price was offensively high.<br />
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I have no problem with haggling, but I realized that if I was going to have to do this for every cheap souvenir on the trip, it was going to get a bit tiresome,<br />
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We took a quick restroom break before heading on the bus. I'm only pointing this out, because this was the first moment it occurred to us that we'd be dealing with Asian toilets on this trip. There were still urinals, but instead of bowl toilets, they had squatter toilets. If you've never seen one before, it's the type of toilet that you have to squat down on the ground to use, as opposed to sitting on like a chair. I heard somewhere that squat toilets put your body in a more natural position for relieving oneself, but it seemed to pose certain difficulties, especially for one not accustomed to using this sort of toilet.<br />
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For one thing, note the position of the toilet paper, hastily stowed on top of the tank, instead of in some dispenser handily within reach of somebody using the bowl. From what I would later see on the trip, the toilet paper wouldn't always necessarily be in the stall. It might be by the paper towels, near the sinks, so you had to know ahead of time to bring it in. It also wasn't clear, from looking at the toilet, what was the best way of balancing one's self over the bowl that minimized splash back from below, yet still allowed you to retain your balance and not fall in. It also occurred to me that the women on this trip were also a bit surprised to see this greeting them when they opened the toilet stalls, except they actually had to use it, and would have to use similar toilets for most of the trip.<br />
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That detour aside, it was off to lunch. The bus drove us to a nearby restaurant called Xiao Long Pu. Most of our meals had been arranged and paid for in advance, so all we had to do was show up at the restaurant and the food was ready to go. Plus we didn't have to sort out splitting the check twenty ways.<br />
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I had heard people say that authentic Chinese food is nothing like American Chinese food. A few of us were a bit worried by what this meant, as we didn't know if this meant dishes were made from strange parts of animals, or just that it was prepared differently. It turned out to be the latter. The story goes that when Chinese food was first introduced to the US, it failed miserably. Americans at the time weren't accustomed to trying out foreign, non-European cuisine. Chinese food only started to become popular in the US when restaurants prepared dishes in the saltier, fried, gooier versions we know today.<br />
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The group was broken up into two tables, each of which had our food placed on a glass Lazy Susan, so that you could just spin it around and take the dishes you wanted. Seeing the Lazy Susan made me immediately think of the nightclub scene from <i>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</i>, where Lao Che tries to get Indy to give him back his diamonds in exchange for the antidote to the poison he just drank. I tried mentioning this to the group, but for a small, yet verbal, part of the group, the only scene from that movie that came to mind at all was the banquet scene in the Indian palace, and they politely asked me not to bring it up again.<br />
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The food we were served turned out to be much more familiar than I was expecting. There was wonton soup, kung pao chicken, and a variety of other recognizable dishes, albeit lighter and fresher tasting than their American counterparts. I'm not sure if our trip organizers decided to start us off with meals that were somewhat familiar to Americans to ease us into the culinary part of traveling, or if this region of China happened to have lots of dishes that proved to be popular in the US.<br />
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Before we left the restaurant a few of my classmates decided on a quick purchase. My group's project was on bringing bourbon to the Chinese liquor market. Thanks to one of my group partners, Steve, who was from China, we knew that the most popular liquor in China was something called baiju, a clear liquor often distilled from sorghum or rice. Aside from that, we didn't know much about it. However, the restaurant did have small flasks for sale, so a few of us decided to buy some. Not everybody who bought a bottle of baiju was in my project group, so I appreciate my classmates on assisting me with my project to understand the local liquor market.<br />
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The intent was to save the baiju for dinner, or later, but we figured we might as well try it while we waited for everybody to pile onto the bus. The taste was something like a mix of sake and vodka, with a bit of a burn. After everybody who wanted a taste tried it, the bottle (we only opened one) was put away. We only wanted to get an idea what it tasted like, not have a wild afternoon of day drinking. The Forbidden City was next on our itinerary, and quite frankly I wanted to have a clear enough head to remember all of it.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2016/02/beijing-pt-4-tiananmen-square-and.html">The Forbidden City</a>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-18321033446930421052015-03-24T23:37:00.000-04:002015-03-31T23:08:10.935-04:00Beijing Pt 2: The Great WallIn my mind the first two images that come to my mind when thinking of China are The Great Wall and The Forbidden City. Our tour itinerary had us visiting both on our first full day in China. This was a good call, as had we visited them later in the trip, I might have been too focused on visiting these iconic landmarks to truly enjoy everything else I was seeing. By getting them out of the way, right off the bat, I knew I could better appreciate everything else China had to offer.<br />
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We first grabbed breakfast at the hotel. The Traders Hotel was geared toward an international clientele, so there were plenty of American food options available, which is good because I rarely care to be adventurous with eating when it comes to breakfast. However, they did have a few non-intimidating Chinese breakfast options available, such as hard boiled eggs soaked in soy sauce and tea. The shells were cracked, but not broken, allowing the tea/soy sauce broth to work its way into the egg white, giving the eggs a marbled look when you opened them up. This was one of the first recipes I looked up when I made it back to the US. </div>
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Our bus picked us up in front of the hotel and drove us out of Beijing. We also had a tour guide joining us for the day, in addition to Kathy and Sophie. I can't remember the Western name he gave us, but it was something like Chris, (and unless somebody reminds me what his name was, I'm just going to refer to him as Chris for the rest of the story.)<br />
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As we drove out of the city, Beijing's notorious pollution became quite obvious, as there was a noticeably light brown haze over the everything. Chris explained that part of the reason for Beijing's smog levels had to do with geography, as the mountains around the city trap much of the pollution in the area. However, there are projects in place to counter-act the pollution, such as policies that limit on which days cars can be driven. The government also is actively planting trees in the outskirts of the city to help clean the air, and the result was several groves of trees growing in a strangely military, grid-like formation.</div>
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The Great Wall is not actually a single continuous wall, and many sections of it are actually lying in ruin, but there are several sections where it is open to the public. We visited the Mutianyu section, which had been restored in 1986. I've heard its an easy section to visit, as it is in good condition and less strenuous to hike about. However, it is also less popular, and thus less crowded than other sections. In fact, we didn't see many crowds there when we visited, but then again it was also a Sunday morning, so perhaps the crowds hadn't made their way down there yet.<br />
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At this section, there were two options to reach the top of the wall. Take the stairs, or take a ski-lift. I believe everybody in the group opted to take the stairs. For one thing, the ski-lift cost extra. More importantly, after being cramped in a plane for a day, some exercise was more than welcome. However, there were far more stairs than I expected there to be. I don't know why I was surprised. It's very clear in every picture that the Wall is at the top of a mountain ridge.</div>
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On a side note, for a few years I had taken part in an event held every February called the Fight for Air Climb, a race to climb the 49 stories of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati. I opted not to do it that year, and quite frankly regretted it a bit, as training to climb a 49 story building would have made tackling the stairs to get to the Great Wall a bit easier.</div>
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Once at the top, the view was every bit as incredible as I hoped it would have been. From where we reached the Wall, it was easy to see the rest of the Wall snake up and down the mountain ridge, and below it were picturesque valleys. The smog was also considerably more noticeable than it was at ground level though.</div>
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Positioned right near the point at which we entered the wall was a woman selling snacks and beer. Several people in the group immediately decided that this was the perfect time to crack open a cold one. Normally I'm not much on day-drinking, especially before lunch, but I had just travelled almost 7,000 miles and was now standing atop one of the Great Wonders of the World. That's a Tsingtao moment, if I ever knew of one. Also, I was still sort of on Cincinnati time, and as far as my body was concerned it was still about 10 p.m., yesterday. Rest assured that the woman selling snacks was conscious about littering, and made sure to collect every one of our cans from us.<br />
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We walked along the wall to the nearest tower, and I was pleased to find that we could climb to the top of the tower, which offered an even better view of the surrounding area. It was also around this point that my classmates saw me using my Holga camera, a cheap (yet often over-priced) plastic camera, originally from China, that shoots on 120mm film. It gained a following among photographers for it's quirks such as leaking light onto the film, or producing blurry or vignetted images. In other words, its the inspiration for Instagram, and any other number of smartphone camera apps. Of course I had to give this history lesson to my classmates to explain why it is that I had brought what essentially looks like a toy to take photos with.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken using the Holga</td></tr>
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We all took the obligatory group pictures, and solo pictures, then continued to hike along to the other towers. Hike is the operative word here, as the wall matches the hilly terrain, and can get a bit steep at times. We only checked out one or two more towers, before making our way back. For one thing, we did have a schedule to keep that day, and couldn't spend all day along the wall. Also, it's a wall. You see one section of it, and you've pretty much got the gist of the rest of it. I'm sure that if we had continued along in either direction, we would have eventually reached the unrestored sections of the Wall, but alas, that will have to wait for another trip.<br />
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To get to the top of the wall, there were only two options, but to get down from the top, there are three. In addition to the stairs and the ski-lift, you can ride a toboggan back down to the bottom. The toboggan went down what was essentially a bobsled course, except made of metal, not ice. You get in the sled, and are given a quick tutorial on how to use the hand break, then you're sent down the hill. Most people in our group took the sled down, though quite frankly I can't imagine not wanting to ride it. It went reasonably fast, but there were people stationed on various points of the track to make sure riders weren't speeding dangerously.<br />
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Some of my classmates were brave enough to film the experience their ride on either their cameras or cell phones. I, however, had just purchased a new camera for the trip, and wasn't too keen on losing it on a hillside on the first day of sightseeing, nor was I thrilled about the idea of not having both hands on the brake. We all regrouped at the bottom of the hill, and paid a visit to the little market that was set up near the entrance to the Great Wall.<br />
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Next up: The market, and our first group meal. </div>
Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-12304852241737915662015-03-19T20:09:00.001-04:002015-03-25T15:22:59.346-04:00Xavier University and Doing Business in ChinaLast year, around March, I had the opportunity to take a ten day trip to China as part of my MBA program at Xavier University. I had meant to write about it as soon as I came back home, but between work and school, it was a busy year. Now that I have a bit more time on my hands, it seems as good a time as any to tell you how it all went.<br />
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The trip was for a class called Doing Business in China. For the class, we were supposed to pick an industry and come up with a business proposal on an opportunity for an American company do expand into China, or for a Chinese business to expand in America. Aside from a few meetings before and after, the bulk of the class was the trip itself, and aside from the actual research on our chosen topic, there wasn't much in the way of reading assignments. We were supposed to read a book called <i>Understanding China</i> by John Bryan Starr, before we left for the trip, but I have the sense I might the only one in the class to do that.<br />
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My group ended up picking "Bringing Bourbon to the Chinese Market," because it was a topic everybody in the group felt they had something they could contribute to on the subject, and we were aware that bourbon, or whiskey in general, was only starting to make inroads in the Chinese liquor market. We specifically picked Buffalo Trace as the brand we would market, since it was an emerging brand that we figured hadn't yet made an aggressive expansion into China yet.<br />
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Although I was doing the trip through Xavier University, the trip itself was organized with a group called<a href="http://www.asiainstitute.org/en/" target="_blank"> the Asia Institute</a>, that among other things, organizes short term study trips such as the one we were taking. They worked with Xavier to come up with an itinerary that would give us a mix of cultural and corporate visits. Over the course of ten days, we would be visiting Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai.<br />
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It was a group of 16 students going on the trip, plus two professors. When we took off from Cincinnati, a lot of us were only starting to get to know each other. I had a few classes with some of the other students, but most of them I only knew from the pre-trip class sessions. I suppose that's the downside of taking my MBA through evening classes. You have don't have as many chances to get to know people outside of class, since everybody essentially arrives at school just in time for class and leaves the moment it's over. However, we had a very long flight ahead of us, so we were going to have plenty of time to bond before we even made it to China.<br />
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The first leg of the trip was from Cincinnati to Chicago, then it was from Chicago straight to Beijing. The flight from Chicago to Beijing was about fourteen hours. In other words, that's roughly the amount of time from when you start your workday to when you go to bed at night. We flew on United Air, and they had on-demand video in every seat, so it definitely made the trip go faster, which meant I didn't have to resort to the books and podcasts I had stocked up on in anticipation of a long flight. I was able to catch up on a few movies I had missed in theatres, but I also checked out a few of the Asian TV shows that were available, particularly the game shows. Some had English subtitles or were dubbed, but some were neither. The good thing about Asian game shows is that you don't really need to speak the language to find them amusing.<br />
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We landed and made our way to customs. The customs officer I went to seemed to be somewhere between disinterested and hating her job, as the sour expression on her face suggested she wanted to be anywhere other than at her post right now. When she handed back my passport, a panel on my side of the counter lit up showing several smiley faces, running a range from sad to happy. The panel read, "Please rate my performance," and there was a button below each face. She did everything adequately, but I suppose she could have been happier about doing her job. However, as I decide whether or not to dock her any points for lack of a chipper attitude, the rating panel went dim again, and I don't think my vote went through.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidC33w_6PqHpBDt7H3hw2K8VJv6htxBKh_dEc5P7aj05imDRgAYxuajzgU9LJoZtcv9yS00kLUzsxR28KCRdc1l2ifYMqfNbev97aV0QvNdutDmVUnNf2162xxunSfBNcKTMdr5b_XWeGb/s1600/IMG_0076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidC33w_6PqHpBDt7H3hw2K8VJv6htxBKh_dEc5P7aj05imDRgAYxuajzgU9LJoZtcv9yS00kLUzsxR28KCRdc1l2ifYMqfNbev97aV0QvNdutDmVUnNf2162xxunSfBNcKTMdr5b_XWeGb/s1600/IMG_0076.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My classmates as we exited the airport</td></tr>
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They had us staying at the Trader's Hotel in Beijing. In the pre-trip meetings, our professor, Dr. Wu, had suggested that we weren't going to be staying in the center of the cities we were visiting, so that we could get to our cultural and company visits as quickly as possible without waiting in endless traffic. I was worried that he meant we were going to be staying way out in the suburbs, away from anything remotely exciting, but I think he just meant that we weren't going to be staying in each city's equivalent of Times Square. As we drove up to the hotel, I figured we had to be staying somewhere reasonably busy in Beijing, as the CCTV (Chinese Central Television) building was easily visible from the hotel. It's one of the more iconic modern buildings in China, with very distinctive geometric designs, with the upper floors making an angled bridge. However, some have suggested that at certain angles, it looks like a pair of pants.<br />
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I know that China has long been associated with counterfeit goods, particularly knock-off purses, but the government has been making a strong effort to curb counterfeiting as China does increasing amounts of international business. However, that didn't stop the guy who saw us coming off the bus at the hotel, and immediately tried to sell us knockoff Louis Vuitton wallets.<br />
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We checked into the hotel. Everybody was paired with a roommate, and even though I didn't really know Josh, my roommate, before the trip, we had sat next to each other on the flight, and it seemed we were going to get along pretty well. I made the usual assessment of the hotel room. It was nice. Lower ceiling than I expected. No Gideon Bible, but there were a pair of emergency smoke inhalation hoods in case of fire.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stylish and functional</td></tr>
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Also there were three bottles of water. Two were complimentary, and one was the obligatory, tantalizing, but overpriced, bottle of Fiji water. The reason for the free water bottles was because tap water in China is not safe to drink. Not for you. Not for the locals. Not for anybody. Tap water is only safe to drink if boiled. Presumably the water was safe enough for showering and shaving with, but I decided that for the duration of the trip, I'd be better off using bottled water for brushing my teeth. Fortunately, the Asia Institute made sure that we had more than enough bottled water for the trip on all of our bus rides.<br />
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After getting a bit of time to settle in and shower, we all met back in the lobby. It was now effectively dinner time the day after we had left, so we were a bit eager to eat, but our program coordinators from the Asia Institute first had to give us some information on the area, and the trip in general. Their names were Kathy and Sophie. Those weren't their "real" names. It's a custom in many Asian countries to adopt a more "Western" name for interacting with non-Asians. They did tell us their actual Chinese names, but since I only heard them once, and their Western names were much easier to remember, for the life of me, I can't remember their Chinese names. Kathy was going to be with us for the whole trip, while Sophie was just going to be with us in Beijing.<br />
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They gave us an idea of what was in the immediate area, and more importantly that there was a mall attached to the hotel with plenty of restaurants in it. They also gave us cards with all of the necessary info we might need, such as their numbers, the Asia Institute's number Xavier University's number. The American Consulate, and so on. Then we were let loose in the mall.<br />
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We had hoped to find a food court, but instead we passed several stand-alone restaurants. There was also an Ed Hardy. I can't believe that got imported over there. Naturally, when in a group of 16, nobody could agree on which restaurant to go to. Rather than try to find one restaurant everybody wanted, we splintered off into smaller groups. We were going to have just about every meal together for the next few days anyway. No reason to try to coordinate getting 16 people into the same restaurant on the first night.<br />
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I ended up going to a Japanese noodle bar with two guys from our group named Nate and TJ, whereas most of the rest of the group opted for a Chinese restaurant next door. I figured we were going to have more than enough of our share of Chinese food on this trip, and it had been a while since I had Japanese noodles anyway.<br />
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By sheer coincidence, we had wound up at the same restaurants as Kathy and Sophie. We originally intended to let them enjoy their meal in peace. After all, they were going to be dealing with us all day for the next few days, but we soon found ourselves out of our depths, and needed their help. The restaurant did have English menus, but we found ourselves a bit stumped when it came to ordering. We each ordered a noodle bowl, but then there were more follow up questions we didn't understand.<br />
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Kathy explained that it was customary to order meals "family style" in China, where you order food for the table and everybody shares. So, even though a bowl of noodles struck me as a dish people wouldn't usually share, we had to clarify to the server that we each only wanted one bowl, and it was for each of us individually.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Food photography became a common occurrence on the trip. </td></tr>
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We also tried ordering beer, which Kathy also had to help us with because when we tried pointing at it on the menu, the response from the server was something lengthy we didn't understand.<br />
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"She said some Germans were here earlier and drank all of the beer," Kathy translated. I'm not sure if the server, or Kathy, meant that sarcastically, but it was evident that there was not going to be any beer at dinner.<br />
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After dinner, we made a brief trip to a food market in the mall to stock up on a few provisions, and some bottled water. (We didn't yet know there'd be plenty of it on the bus every day.) I had hoped to find some of the insane types of food you usually find in Asian grocery stores in the US, like shrimp flavored nachos, and what not. Alas, all I could find that was out of the ordinary was a can of Angry Birds soda. As a joke, I also picked up a surgical mask, which people tend to wear to protect against pollution. (Apparently a few students on the trip brought some in advance.)<br />
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We did manage to snag some beers back at the hotel bar, and were able to order them without any issues. Some people in our group decided to wander around the area. As for me, I was tired from having lost an entire day by crossing the International Date Line, and from being in transit for almost a day. I was ready for bed.<br />
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Next: <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-great-wall-of-china.html">The Great Wall of China</a>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-21719642631106995382015-03-05T11:58:00.003-05:002015-03-05T11:58:47.779-05:00Jupiter Ascending<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I hate having to say this, especially considering how much I like the Wachowskis' movies, but <i>Jupiter Ascending </i>was a bit of a mess of an action movie. It's an entertaining mess, but it's still a mess.<br />
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It suffers a problem that many sci-fi/fantasy movies suffer, where it tries to have a deep and complex mythology underlying the story, but the end result is something that's more complicated than complex. In <i>Jupiter Ascending</i>, there is a trio of siblings that own multitudes of planets. One of them owns Earth, which is apparently one of the most valuable planets, and his brother and sister want it for themselves. Except their mother has (sort of) been reincarnated on Earth as a cleaning lady named Jupiter Jones (played by Mila Kunis.) The Earth had previously belonged to Jupiter, (or her sort of previous incarnation,) and now it's hers again to claim. The siblings each decide to use various means to convince Jupiter to hand ownership of the Earth over to them.<br />
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This is a movie where politics play a central role, although it is more in the form of political infighting, as opposed to trade negotiations. On top of that there is a massive, unwieldy bureaucracy lurking in the background, full of rules and regulations about how transfer of ownership of planets goes about. It should come as no surprise that there's a <i>Brazil</i> inspired scene about obtaining the proper paperwork. Then there's also scores of rules an regulations in play about who can attack who, and when.<br />
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As if the underlying political system weren't enough to keep track of, there's also all the characters with shifting allegiances. As the film went on, I not only had trouble remembering who was double-crossing who, but also which characters were supposed to be allied with each other in the first place.<br />
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<i>Jupiter Ascending's</i> underlying issue is that the plot is severely underdeveloped. I get the sense that the Wachowskis had a rough vision for what they wanted this movie to be, full of spectacular battles and fantastic set pieces. The spectacle aspect of the film is fully realized, but the story never felt like it was more than an idea. Granted, it wasn't as bad as <i>Transformers: Age of Extinction,</i> a movie where I suspect the special effects scenes were created first, then the script was thrown together to accommodate the CGI. With <i>Jupiter Ascending</i>, it felt more like the script needed to go through many more drafts to be more workable. Buried in the film is the potential for a great story, but not enough time was spent enhancing the great moments, and shedding away the bad ones.<br />
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On the plus side, the Wachowskis' writing skills may have gotten a bit rusty, but they still know how to direct. I'm not saying anybody is going to win an Oscar for their performance in this movie, but if you were to watch scenes from the movie out of context, you might actually get the impression it was a solid movie. At any rate, there aren't any moments of overt badness from the actors, and it's actually quite fun seeing Eddie Redmayne revel in playing a pompous, aristocratic villain.<br />
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That's the thing, actually. I can't completely discount this movie because in spite of its many, many flaws, it is fun to watch. The moments that work, manage to work surprisingly well even against the bad parts. The humor lands on point, and not in a groanworthy, bad movie sort of way. There's plenty of genuinely funny moments in the film. The action scenes are exciting, from the arial battles along the Chicago river, to crazy fight sequences that have Channing Tatum flipping about on levitating boots.<br />
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Then there's the production design. This film has some of the most gorgeous and original set pieces and costumes I've seen in a while. <i>Jupiter Ascending</i> will probably be long forgotten by the Academy when next year's Oscars roll around, but the production design of this movie is something that awards should be given out for. It just makes for such a visually fun world, that you wish the story in the film lived up to the universe imagined for it.<br />
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Usually a film like <i>Jupiter Ascending</i> is the type you'd pass on in cinemas, but maybe get around to catching when it gets to home video. This would be such a film, if it weren't for the 3D effects. From their previous films, I suspected that the Wachowskis would take well to filming in 3D, as their visual style is already well suited to it. They use lots of steady camera shots and keep every part of a scene in focus. In fact, somebody watching <i>Speed Racer</i> for the first time might be shocked to realize that it was never released in 3D, despite all of its visual pop, and I don't think I'd object to a 20th anniversary 3D rerelease of <i>The Matrix.</i><br />
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The 3D in <i>Jupiter Ascending</i> takes it from being an okay sci-fi movie to being a thrill ride. The Chicago River battle feels like a roller coaster. There's a wedding scene with overhead shots that actually induce a sense of vertigo. Finally, there's a fight near the end that takes place in a room with a translucent floor. In 2D, it would just be an alright shootout, but with the 3D effects, it feels absolutely immersive. You actually get the sense that you're in this impossible, futuristic space.<br />
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This might be the first time I've found myself advocating going to see a movie in cinemas just for the 3D aspect of it. It's not really a movie that's worth the price of a ticket, but perhaps paradoxically, if you are going to see it in a cinema, it's the sort of movie that you might as well go all-in for, and watch it on IMAX 3D. I can see <i>Jupiter Ascending</i> being one of those movies where clips from it are constantly being played on TVs at electronics stores as a way of showcasing how good a TV is. Stripped of a big screen and killer sound system, this film's weaknesses become far too apparent, but with all the bells and whistles in place, it's a reasonably enjoyable movie. It's unlikely that it will happen, but a part of me wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to this, provided they do a much, much, much better job of coming up with good story.</div>
Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-69511508739992382802015-01-08T11:42:00.000-05:002015-01-08T11:42:17.223-05:00Interstellar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is a scene at the start of <i>Interstellar</i> that feels uncomfortably prophetic. Cooper, an astronaut turned farmer (played by Matthew McConaughey) is brought to his daughter's school for a parent teacher conference. His daughter, Murph, has gotten in trouble for bringing an old textbook to school. The teacher explains that they now use corrected textbooks, which accurately explain that the Apollo missions were really an effective propaganda tool to get the Russians to bankrupt themselves, but that humans have never actually been to the moon.<br />
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As depicted in <i>Interstellar</i>, humanity's future is pretty bleak. Blight has wiped out all but a handful of crops, and even those are dying out. The space program has to operate in secret because people don't think space exploration is a useful way to spend taxpayer money when famine is imminent. However, it appears that humanity's only hope is to begin colonizing other planets.<br />
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In the film, possible salvation for humanity comes in the form of a wormhole that has opened up near Saturn. Astronomers have determined that there are three potentially habitable worlds on the other side of it, but they do not know which, if any, is the most suitable for colonization. A team of astronauts, led by Cooper, have to decide for themselves which planet may be the key to the continuation of the human race.<br />
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The idea that humanity may have to colonize other planets to survive as a race is a possible future scenario that may await us. In fact, it may not just be probable. It may be inevitable. With that in mind, director Christopher Nolan aimed to depict the events in this movie as realistically as possible. While the film does employ some "cheats," such as having the characters go into suspended animation, it strips away a lot of sci-fi tropes in favor of brutally honest physics. As a result, Nolan has created a film that shows a version of space travel we rarely see on film. This isn't like the worlds of <i>Star Trek</i> or <i>Star Wars</i>, where traveling between planets is as easy as taking a road trip. This is a film where space travel is dangerous and untested, and missions are just as likely to fail as they are to succeed.<br />
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Although a wormhole plays a critical role in the film, space ships in the film don't have means of faster-than-light travel, so moving through space is still a long and arduous journey. The relative nature of time is also addressed, meaning that time passes differently for some characters in the film because of the effects of speed and gravity. However, the most brutally honest aspect of interplanetary colonization that <i>Interstellar</i> addresses is that for those first colonists, it will likely be a one way trip, and there is the possibility that nobody else will follow after.<br />
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Against this setting, Christopher Nolan crafts an intensely emotional film about humanity's drive to survive, and the consequences that come from characters forced to choose between taking actions to be with the ones they love versus possibly saving the human race. On paper, it may seem like an easy choice, that you go with saving humanity, because if the human race dies out, so do your loved ones. However, in the film it's clear that the mission has a very low chance of success, so if humanity is going to die out anyway, do you make that impossible effort to try to save it, or do you spend those last moments with the ones you care about?<br />
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Nolan is known for being an adamant supporter of using practical visual effects (meaning effects done on set, and not through computer generated imagery,) and it's something that helps keep the story as a character driven drama. The alien worlds look fantastical, but also plausible. You really feel that the actors are on these far off worlds, because they didn't shoot their scenes on a green screen trying to imagine what they look like. The result is that you're focused on the challenging dilemmas posed to the characters.<br />
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There's no denying that <i>Interstellar</i> is heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick's film, <i>2001: A Space Odyssey.</i> However, instead of being a film that rips off from it's predecessor, <i>Interstellar</i> feels like a movie that's a response to <i>2001</i>. When <i>2001</i> came out, it was the height of interest in NASA's space program. We had not yet landed on the Moon, and were already dreaming of missions to go beyond it. Computers were becoming an increasing part of every day society, but we didn't yet trust relying on machines for crucial tasks. Now, we have a space program that's fighting for funding, and has to constantly justify its existence to critics. We inherently rely on machines for every day tasks. It's other humans we've come to distrust.<br />
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This difference of mentalities over the year is reflected in both films. <i>2001</i> is a tale of wonder and exploration, where the greatest obstacle proves to be a homicidally sentient computer. <i>Interstellar</i> is a tale of desperation and necessity, where sentient machines are the most reliable characters in the story, and the greatest obstacle proves to be humans' ability to trust and communicate with each other.<br />
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Speaking of the robots in <i>Interstellar</i>, I dare say they were one of the more unexpectedly intriguing parts of the movie. Throughout the film are robots with names like T.A.R.S. and C.A.S.E., and which bear a striking resemblance to the monoliths of <i>2001. </i>Yet, despite their bulky and rigid shape, their voices sound natural and human. It actually took me a moment to realize that the human voice of T.A.R.S. was not an off screen character, but the faceless monolith appearing onscreen. The result is that even though the robots are as un anthropomorphic as a robot can get, they feel as much of full bodied characters as their human counterparts. Perhaps this is due in no small part to the fact that for most of their onscreen appearances, they are portrayed by puppets that were actually on set with the actors, and directly interacted with them, and not CGI'ed in afterward.<br />
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Like <i>Gravity</i>, this is one of those films that is meant to be watched on the largest screen possible. The panoramas of outer space and other planets have their full effect when they take up your whole field of vision. Christopher Nolan, being the fan of analog filmmaking that he is, decided to shoot <i>Interstellar</i> on actual film, not digitally, so the movie looks grainier than we've become accustomed to lately, but it does add a touch of timelessness to it. The slightly old-fashioned look of the film suggests that just as <i>2001</i> is a film that is still being watched 50 years down the road, that <i>Interstellar</i> may be a movie that people still watch 50 years into the future.<br />
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Overall, <i>Interstellar </i>feels like both a thank you letter to the pioneers of space exploration, and a plea for the continued existence of space programs. The film sends the message that space exploration is hard, and as we push out further into space, it will only get harder. More will be demanded of the men and women who take the voyages into deep space than has ever been demanded of anybody in human history, but the payoffs will be invaluable.<br />
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Whatever career path you've chosen in life, it's hard to walk out of <i>Interstellar</i> and feel a tinge of regret for not having pursued a career in physics or as an astronaut. (Unless of course you are a physicist or astronaut, in which case this film will surely make you feel emboldened about your career choice.) This is one of those films you should take your kid to to inspire them to study science, (once you think they're old enough to sit through a three hour epic). The truth is, we need more films like this. Pulp science fiction films are fun, but we also need more films that explore hard science and that generate a public dialogue of what can it can accomplish. In other words, we need more movies that take the wonder and amazement that is found in fantasy films, and asks the audience, "How much of this can be done for real?"Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-50394696810199925582014-08-19T21:17:00.002-04:002014-08-19T21:17:59.985-04:00Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The 2014 incarnation of <i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> was an acceptable movie. It wasn't a completely abomination. In fact, it was perfectly watchable. I'm not saying it's great, just better than you might expect.<br />
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It is by no means anywhere near as good of a movie as it should have been. By now, those of us who grew up watching the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoons and movies are now old enough to be the ones making the movies. Theoretically, in this age when comic book movies are at an all time high, a TMNT movie that comes out now should be the best damn Ninja Turtles movie ever, fulfilling some filmmaker's dream of making the TMNT movie he or she dreamt of making as a child.<br />
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Sadly, this is not the case. The 2014 movie feels like it's more the end result of a series of business decisions. Nickelodeon bought the rights to the TMNT franchise, and figured they might as well make a live action movie in addition to the current version of the cartoon show. Knowing that people would see it regardless of quality, they put just enough effort into making the film so that it would make enough money to warrant a sequel, but pretty much stopped there. For comparison's sake, it's not even on the level of something like <i>Transformers</i>, (which I admit liked.) It is, however, better than <i>Transformers: Rise of the Fallen</i> (which I hated.)<br />
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It's at least a better movie than Ninja Turtle fans feared it was going to be. Early in the film's development it was leaked that the 2014 film would change the turtles' origins so that they're aliens, not mutants. When filmmakers are actively considering making versions of characters that flagrantly fly in the face of what the fans want, expectations should be rightfully lowered.<br />
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Fortunately, the filmmakers changed their mind and went with versions of the Turtles closer to fan expectations. While this version doesn't stick to the origin story most of us grew up knowing, (which in reality was just a spoof off of Daredevil's origin story anyway,) it does at least adopt the version of the origin story from the current IDW comic series being co-written by TMNT co-coreator Kevin Eastman, (which is actually quite good, by the way.) In other words, they stuck reasonably close to the source.<br />
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However, the actual execution of their origin story, and the rest of the character development, falls flat. The film assumes you're already familiar with the characters through some other movie or TV show, so it does little to establish the turtles' personalities aside from some overhanded character design. For example, we only know that Donatello's the brainy one because he's got glasses and is covered in hi-tech goggles and Go-Pro cameras. He's nerdy. We get it.<br />
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The villains are equally flat. The Foot Clan are neither ninjas, nor robots, but just a squad of criminals terrorizing the city for no apparent reason. Shredder is present in the film, as is his adopted daughter Karai, but they do surprisingly little. Karai just gives out orders, and Shredder just fights. The only villain to get anything close to a story arc is a scientist named Eric Sachs, played by William Fitchner, a guy you recognize as a supporting actor in several movies you've seen, even if you can't remember specifically which ones.<br />
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Now, if you're wondering just how much character development one should even expect out of a Ninja Turtles movie, just look at the 1990 movie or the 2007 animated film, simply titled <i>TMNT</i>. Both of these films start out with the assumption that the viewer is coming in cold, with no idea who any of the characters are, and fleshes them out fully. The 2014 movie, feels like it assumes you've already seen those other movies.<br />
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Since I'm still focused on the negatives, I might as well talk about the character designs themselves. If you've seen the trailers, you're well aware that the designs of the turtles are pretty awful. They look less like giant turtles, and more like green skinned man-babies. However, they are not the worst offenders. Splinter, for some reason, is given a bald face, and as a result looks like one of the pinheads from the movie <i>Freaks. </i>Shredder's design is over the top in a way that can only be described as "Michael Bay." While Bay only produced, and didn't direct the film, it's moments like this where his over the top influence is felt. Instead of making Shredder's costume look like a samurai outfit covered in an excess of sharp edges, it's a mechanized suit that fires out a never ending supply of blades, and looks like a set of over-sized Swiss army knives strapped onto an off-brand Iron Man.<br />
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At least the film didn't do the one thing I was worried it was going to do, and that is "whitewash" the character of Shredder. Early trailers made it look like William Fitchner would be playing Shredder, a character that's supposed to be Japanese. Rest assured that the character is played by Tohoru Masamune, an actor of Japanese descent. Likewise, the film has Baxter Stockman played by K. Todd Freeman, a black actor. I don't even know if Stockman has a single line of dialogue in the movie, but at least he's depicted as an African American, as he's appeared in every version of the character except the 1987 cartoon, which had him as white.<br />
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<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> is at least entertaining, even if it does manage to be underwhelming. It doesn't feel as much like a movie as it does like a really big budget TV pilot for a live-action Ninja Turtles series. If this were on TV, it would definitely get me hooked as a series, assuming more of the backstory and characters would be fleshed out in future episodes. As a movie, I wished they hadn't operated on the assumption that they could leave all of that for the sequels. Still, the action's alright. The jokes aren't bad. Megan Fox seemed to return to the level of acting she displayed in the first <i>Transformers</i> movie, (which I know wasn't great, but she definitely got worse after that movie.)<br />
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Definitely do not see it in 3D. I saw it in 3D partially because after seeing <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> in 3D I thought that maybe studios had nailed the art of making a film post-converted into 3D look as good as one shot natively. That, and my friends picked the showtime. While <i>Guardians</i> felt like a film that was shot with 3D effects in mind, <i>Ninja Turtles</i> was definitely not. If director Jonathan Liebesman was shooting it with 3D in mind, he certainly didn't know what he was doing. There are far too many quick visual cuts and shaky camera work for it to be comfortable to watch. Even in scenes where the camera is steady, it's clear that the conversion work is poorly done. For example, one scene that takes place in the rain looks like you're watching it through a shower curtain when the 3D effect is added.<br />
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If you're a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you'll probably enjoy the movie well enough. If the characters are completely new to you, the film isn't likely to make a fan out of you, but you still might enjoy it as a "put your brain in neutral" kind of movie. Either way, you might want to wait until it comes out on video. I'm sure it's a much more enjoyable film if you pay $1 to see it, versus $10, but if you've already seen <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> twice, and you want something fun and brainless to watch in cinemas, sure go head and see it on the big screen.Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-84684876428267104602014-08-12T22:23:00.002-04:002014-08-12T22:23:44.607-04:00Guardians of the Galaxy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> is arguably Marvel Studios' biggest gamble to date. It's based on one of the more obscure teams of Marvel heroes, specifically an incarnation of the team that appeared in a series that only ran for two years, back in 2008. (Of course, Marvel revived the series in anticipation of this movie.) I imagine that when the film was first announced, I wasn't the only nerd who had to flock to Wikipedia to find out just exactly who or what the Guardians of the Galaxy even were. <br />
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Like many of my fellow nerds, I had faith that Marvel would deliver a solid movie. After all, Marvel Studios has had an unbroken string of hits worthy of Pixar, starting with <i>Iron Man</i>. (Not to be confused with properties Marvel licensed out to other studios, such as <i>X-Men, </i>or <i>Spider-Man</i>, which have certainly had their shares of hits and misses.) However, many were worried that Marvel was bound to stumble eventually, and that when it did, it would be with the crazy space-adventure movie, starring characters nobody ever heard of.<br />
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If Marvel does eventually stumble, it sure as hell isn't with <i>Guardians</i>. I'm not going to be so bold as to say that it's on par with a movie like <i>Star Wars: A New Hope</i>, but <i>Guardians</i> certainly captured the feel of <i>A New Hope</i> in ways that the prequel trilogy didn't. <i>Guardians </i>is full of the roguish space cowboy types that made Episodes 4-6 of <i>Star Wars</i> so enjoyable, and that were strangely lacking from Episodes 1-3.<br />
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The fact that <i>Guardians</i> worked so well as a movie is actually a bit surprising. On paper, it sounds like it should be a bomb. Of the five heroes, only one is human. Of the four non-human protagonists, one is a talking raccoon, and one is humanoid tree, capable of only saying the words "I am Groot." While the current trend of comic book movies is to tone down the more comic-booky aspects of the source material when adapting things for the big screen, such as dropping code names or costumes, <i>Guardians </i>fully embraces its comic book origins. Characters retain their names such as Drax the Destroyer and The Mad Titan Thanos. The story has the Guardians trying to stop a villain named Ronan the Accuser from trying to destroy the planet Xandar. This sounds like it should be the sort of movies nerds make fun of for years, as the worst possible idea anybody could come up with for a summer blockbuster, and yet it's proven to be one of the best ideas to come around in a long time.<br />
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Quite frankly, I'm sure that if this film had come out twenty years ago, it would have bombed in theatres, having been torn apart by 90's critics for it's wild and fun nature, and unabashed comic book feel, only to re-emerge as a cult classic after finding its audience on video. In other words, <i>Guardians</i> would have experienced the same treatment <i>The Fifth Element</i> received.<br />
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Yet, <i>Guardians</i> works as a movie, even if it doesn't sound like it should, because the filmmakers know when to play things for laughs, and when to play it straight. Despite the unquestionably sci-fi pulp nature of this film, the film never treats the story as being campy. It's loaded with (sometimes incredibly juvenile) humor, but treats its core story as earnestly as every other movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
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The cast they lined up for this film is perfect, and there are a few unexpected performances among them. Obviously, Zoe Saldana is great as Gamora, but having seen her in <i>Star Trek</i>, there's no reason to expect anything less. No, the bigger question was how Chris Pratt would do as the main character, Star Lord/Peter Quill. He's certainly developed a loyal fan base from his role as Andy Dwyer on <i>Parks and Recreation, </i>but aside from his voice-over work in <i>The Lego Movie</i>, he had yet to take on the leading role in a movie. Considering how much hoopla he's generated over getting in shape for this film, he better get used to sticking to that regimen because he's definitely proven he can helm a movie, and not just as a comedian.<br />
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The performances that really surprised me were from Karen Gillian and Dave Bautista. I had only seen Gillian as the kind natured Amy Pond on <i>Doctor Who</i>, so it caught me off guard how frightening and intimidating she was as the villain Nebula. As for Bautista, when I saw the trailer, I figured he'd been cast as Drax the Destroyer strictly for his size and muscle mass, but it turns out he's got a knack for delivering deadpan comedic lines, some of which make up the best moments in the movie.<br />
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Finally, there's Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser. I've been a fan of Pace ever since his roles in <i>Pushing Daisies </i>and <i><a href="http://overlookedmovies.blogspot.com/2010/07/fall.html" target="_blank">The Fall</a></i> (which is easily on my list of top 5 movies.) Personally, I think he's one of the most underrated actors out there right now. This film is unlikely to boost his standing, but only because he's heavily costumed and covered in makeup. As Ronan, he is perfect in the role, giving his all portraying a villainous force to contend with, but you can tell he's secretly reveling in playing the character.<br />
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It actually shocks me to say this, considering how 3D adverse I am, but this is actually a film worth seeing in 3D. The first time I saw <i>Guardians</i>, it occurred to me it might actually be worth watching in 3D. When I saw the film a second time (yes, it does warrant watching twice in cinemas,) I did not object when my friend wanted to catch a 3D showing, and it certainly made for a more enjoyable second viewing. Not only did the film have dazzling visuals and a brilliant color palate, but every shot was composed in a way that it was clear that director James Gunn wanted it to look good in 3D. Even though the film was originally shot in 2D, they did a great job converting it into 3D so that everything from the wide-angle shots of deep space to the close up shots are not only easy on the eyes, but add to the immersive experience.<br />
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(Originally, I was going to comment that either they did an impressive job converting <i>Guardians</i> to 3D, or I've just gotten used to watching 3D movies, but I saw <i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> in 3D over the weekend, and that is a terrible, terrible conversion job. So yes, I can safely say the conversion job in <i>Guardians </i>is well above average.)<br />
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Now I can't talk about <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> without mentioning it's soundtrack. It's one of the first things about this film that grabs you. In particular, the opening credits gets its hooks into you with a scene featuring Peter Quill trouncing about a barren planet to Redbone's hit, "Come and Get Your Love." The film makes heavy use of 70's pop hits, but every one of them is as perfectly selected and placed as if it were in a Quentin Tarantino film. So for any parents out there with young kids, get ready for them to develop a sudden interest in the music your mom and dad listened to growing up.<br />
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For a summer that's felt like it's lacked a solid, knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark hit, <i>Guardians of the Galaxy </i>is the movie that should have been the anchor for the July 4th weekend. It may have been an audacious move on behalf of the marketing team to give this film the tagline, "You're welcome," but the film backs that tagline up, as well as prompting me to say, "Thank you, Marvel."Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-29901809626292667862014-07-07T18:08:00.000-04:002014-07-07T18:08:09.028-04:00Snowpiercer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bong Joon-ho's post apocalyptic thriller, <i>Snowpiercer</i>, took a long time to get an American release. The film first premiered overseas almost a year ago. It seems odd that anybody would stall releasing a film starring actors such as Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt and Jamie Bell, but despite the worldwide acclaim the film had received, the US release was held up due to the Weinstein Company, who bought the US distribution rights. Initially, the Weinsteins planned to edit the film down into what they considered a more marketable, action oriented cut, (did they learn nothing from the infamous <a href="http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2584-the-battle-of-brazil-begins" target="_blank">Battle of <i>Brazil</i>?</a>)* Thankfully, they relented and agreed to release the film unedited in the US, but the trade-off is that the film would only get a limited release.<br />
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Seeing as how, these days, films rarely get the chance to jump from small art-house releases to nationwide roll outs, if <i>Snowpiercer</i> isn't playing in your neighborhood, you might have to wait for it to come out on video, but it is worth it. The film takes place in a future where an attempt to curb global warming disastrously fails, plunging the Earth's temperatures to uninhabitable levels. The last survivors of the human race are on a train that endlessly circles the world.<br />
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It's an absurd premise, but other filmmakers have taken more believable movie premises and made them into outrageously implausible movies, and <i>Snowpiercer's</i> premise makes more sense once you realize it's a class conflict allegory. The very back of the train is a cramped, squalid slum whose inhabitants are not permitted to leave the car. Meanwhile the rest of the train's inhabitants are free to move about and live in luxury. One of the tail section's inhabitants, Curtis (played by Chris Evans,) decides to lead a revolution to take the engine.<br />
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Once the tail section's inhabitants make it into the main body of the train, the environment shifts from being a dark, gritty slum into a surreal and luxurious wonderland. All of the cars are extremely purpose-specific and instead of being cars adapted to fit certain functions, they are instead built like rooms in buildings on stable land. There's a nightclub car, a spa car, and even an aquarium car complete with an underwater tunnel. There's a particularly bizarre scene in a schoolhouse car, featuring a overtly pure and wholesome teacher.<br />
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In spite of strange environments of the various train cars, the movie itself doesn't feel too weird or surreal, because the protagonists remain firmly rooted in the environment of the ghetto they're trying to escape from. It's a dynamic similar to <i>The Hunger Games</i>, in which the Capital's residents live ostentatious lifestyles, and only look upon residents of the outer districts with disgust. The over-the-top nature of the luxury cars on the train only reinforce how out of the way the train's upper class go to live the lifestyle they want, at the expense of those in the back.<br />
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In case you're wondering, the film does address why the most bizarre aspect of the film's premise occurs, namely why the train keeps going on an endless loop instead of just staying in one place. The reason given may not be the best, or most plausible, but if the train just stayed still we'd all be denied the visual spectacle of intense battles in tight environments, or the strangeness of luxury amenities cramped into train cars. <i>Snowpiercer</i> balances it's surreal and realistic moments extremely well, allowing you to enjoy its stranger moments, while maintaining a very clear and focused plot.<br />
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Balance is actually a central theme to the story in <i>Snowpiercer</i>. The characters constantly remind the tail sectioners that the train is a closed environment, and one way or another it's an ecosystem that must be maintained. There are a few scenes sprinkled throughout the movie that argue that the way things are in the inescapable ark are the way they must be for humanity to keep on surviving, but usually before you can consider buying into the argument, the film hits you with a grisly revelation that keeps you rooting for the tail section.<br />
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Personally, I saw <i>Snowpiercer</i> as being a dystopian drama with elements of action, and not a straight up action movie, like the Weinstein Company saw it as. However, there are some pretty intense action scenes in the film, so their plan to edit the film into an action flick isn't completely unfounded. There's a pretty intense scene early in the film in which the tail sectioners, armed only with pipes and other blunt instruments, open a car door to find the next section is full of guards all armed with axes and pikes. The scene that follows is inevitably brutal and gripping, and somewhat reminiscent of the infamous hammer scene from <i>Oldboy.</i><br />
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This isn't a soulcrushingly dark movie, though. To contrast the grittier aspects of the film, there's plenty of humor running through the movie. Some of it comes from the peculiarities of the front end of the train's inhabitants, and some from the tail sectioners being hopelessly outmatched by their combatants. Bong Joon-ho seems to fully acknowledge how crazy the premise of the movie is, and plays up the absurdity without going overboard, similar to the films of Guillermo Del Toro.<br />
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However, like I said earlier, this film is at its heart a drama, and the cast delivers some incredible performances. Tilda Swinton throws herself into the role of Mason, a mouthpiece for the head of the train. She's so quirky and unrecognizable in the role, its the kind of immersive performance one usually associates with Johnny Depp. However, the actor who really gets a chance to show what he's capable of is Chris Evans. He's obviously best known for roles in action movies, and a few romantic comedies as well, but I get the sense he's been trying to take on more serious roles as well, even if most of the ones he's had so far have been in movies that have gone largely unnoticed. That may change, as near the end of <i>Snowpiercer</i>, his character delivers a monologue about what it took to survive seventeen years in the tail section of the train that's a bit chilling at parts, but definitely shows he's capable of taking on a more dramatic role in a film not full of gunfights and explosions. This movie may also prove to be a breakout film for actress Ko Ah-sung, one of the surprisingly few Korean actresses in this South Korean movie. She has a supporting role in the film as a character that's oddly indifferent to the revolt she's partaking in, and is also responsible for some of the best moments in the movie.<br />
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It's a shame that the Weinstein Company opted to give this film a small release in the middle of summer, because it probably would have done quite well if released nationwide between January and March, which is a time of year often seen as a dumping ground for mediocre movies, and would have been the perfect time for a film like this to stand out. Fortunately, although <i>Snowpiercer</i> presents a very unique visual spectacle, it isn't one that necessarily needs a massive screen and killer sound system to be enjoyed at its best.<br />
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If this film does have one thing going for it's American release, it's that despite being a Korean film, it's primarily in English and has a cast primarily made up of Western actors, so it's unlikely that this version of the film will be undercut by an American-made remake way too soon.<br />
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*<span style="font-size: x-small;">For those of you who didn't click through the link, and are unfamiliar with the so-called Battle of <i>Brazil,</i> Terry Gilliam's 1985 sci-fi dystopian film, <i>Brazil</i>, faced a similar situation as <i>Snowpiercer</i> regarding it's US release. Universal, which had bought the US release rights to <i>Brazil</i> wanted to recut the film, trimming down its running time and making it more upbeat overall. The US release was held up until Gilliam held private screenings of his original version in the US, ultimately winning Best Picture award by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The original version still didn't get released in the US, but Gilliam approved of a considerably less invasive cut of the film. </span>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-20085604915900509822014-05-21T19:15:00.004-04:002014-05-21T19:15:57.415-04:00Godzilla (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Now I'm going to apologize in advance for the fact that this review has a fair amount of spoilers in it, but there's just no way to talk about what the filmmakers did right and wrong in this particular movie without going into plot points.<br />
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In many ways, the 2014 remake of <i>Godzilla</i> is a well made movie. It's visually engaging. They picked a great cast. For the most part, the special effects look incredible. Unfortunately, there's quite a few problems lying beneath the surface of this well polished movie, but the greatest problem has to be the plot. "Who even cares about the plot?" you ask. "Aren't people just paying to see a giant lizard wreck a bunch of cities?" If that's your philosophy on monster movies, I'm not going to shoot you down.<br />
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However, the problem is that <u><b>there's hardly any Godzilla in this <i>Godzilla </i>movie.</b></u><br />
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I don't mean this in the sense that when Godzilla isn't on screen, the rest of the movie is building up suspense for his next imminent attack. I mean that he isn't even the main focus of the movie. He's just a tertiary character. The main focus of the movie, the thing that everybody is trying to figure out how to kill, the thing that threatens the lives of humans everywhere, is a pair of giant insectoid creatures classified as <b>M</b>assive <b>U</b>nidentified <b>T</b>errestrial <b>O</b>bjects, or MUTOs for short.<br />
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The MUTOS are only here to do two things: eat radiation, and mate. Naturally, they wreck a path of destruction as they try to do both. It's the MUTOs that the characters are primarily focused on stopping. So then where is Godzilla? Most of the movie he just spends kind of chilling out in the ocean, like an actor waiting in the wings for his cue.<br />
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In fact, for much of the movie it's easy to forget you're actually supposed to be watching a Godzilla movie. Much of the dialogue in the movie seems to go like this:<br />
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SOLDIER: The MUTOs are destroying everything! What do we do?<br />
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GENERAL: Here's a plan to kill them.<br />
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SOLDIER: What about that Godzilla thing chilling out in the ocean?<br />
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GENERAL: Um... This plan ought to kill him too... Maybe.<br />
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This might have actually been a fairly decent monster movie if they had just left Godzilla out of it, but he's in there, in a somewhat awkward manner. Inexplicably, one of the scientists, played by Ken Watanabe, suddenly becomes this film's version of Charlie Day's character from <i>Pacific Rim</i>. You know, the one with the kaiju tattoos who's just a bit too excited about the monsters threatening to extinguish mankind. For no real reason, Watanabe's character concludes that Godzilla is a good guy, and that instead of trying to kill him, everybody should just let him be and he'll kill the MUTOs, because he's their apex predator.<br />
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And of course, this is exactly what Godzilla sets out to do once the MUTOs make landfall. I realize that in most Godzilla movies, he iss the hero, saving mankind from other monsters, but in the original movie he was the villain, senselessly causing destruction across Tokyo. If I'm going to see a movie called <i>Godzilla</i> and only <i>Godzilla</i>, not <i>Godzilla vs. MUTO</i>, I expect all of the focus to be on a giant lizard trashing cities. Unfortunately, this film decided to jump the gun and build up the mythology of Godzilla as King of All Monsters, without any proper setup of what Godzilla is, and why he's defending humanity. It's like they made <i>Godzilla 2</i>, without making <i>Godzilla 1</i>, figuring you didn't care enough to see it anyway. Defending humanity is the best way to describe what he does on screen. He doesn't attack the MUTOs like he's their predator. He attacks them like it's the sole thing he was put on earth to do. Again, not much of a reason is given as to why this is.<br />
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The other problem with having Godzilla just show up out of nowhere and fight the other monsters is that it kind of makes the rest of the action irrelevant. The climax of the movie involves a team of soldiers trying to get a nuclear warhead out of San Francisco, but once it's clear that Godzilla, not the bomb, is going to kill the MUTOs, the scenes with the soldiers feel like they're part of another movie. I almost felt like somebody was flipping channels between an action movie and an HD remaster of an old Japanese monster movie.<br />
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Also, Godzilla's look in this version is a bit disappointing. I know it's sacrilege to say this, but personally I preferred the look from the 1998 version. That version had the visual elements of the original Godzilla, but looked more convincing as a monstrous lizard wrecking a city. The 2014 version remains very faithful to the look of the original Godzilla, but to a fault. All the millions of dollars spent on highly advanced CGI results in a creature that looks, and moves, like a guy in a giant rubber suit.<br />
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As for the human characters in the film, they all felt very generic. The film starts out strong, building the characters by setting up their roles in the story through a disaster at a Japanese nuclear power plant. (The filmmakers were at least tasteful enough to not suggest it was supposed to be Fukushima.) Unfortunately, once the MUTOs show up and start causing havoc, all character development comes to a grinding halt.<br />
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The thing is, you need to have strong character development among the human characters to get you to care about the story. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of long, drawn out monster battles and scenes of destruction, and those can be a bit boring after a while if there's nothing to anchor the viewer into the lives of the people caught in the path of destruction. For example, <i>Pacific Rim</i> built up its characters enough that you not only cared about the humans in giant robot suits fighting monsters, but also cared about the people on the streets below. In <i>Cloverfield</i>, all the relationships that are established in the opening party scenes are carried through the movie as a group of friends and family try to get each other out of New York as its being ripped apart.<br />
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In this version of <i>Godzilla</i>, because the characters aren't developed well, you don't really care about the humans in the path of destruction. Considering that in the finale, a father, a mother and their son all find themselves in separate parts of the city, all under attack, I couldn't find myself caring much if anything happened to any of them. They felt less like characters and more like extras with extended amounts of dialogue.<br />
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That's a shame because, as I said before, the cast in this film is amazing. There's Ken Watanabe, Bryan Crantson, <i>Kick-Ass</i>'s Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and even Juliette Binoche. Even though they all put in great performances, they all feel under-used as actors.<br />
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The 2014 version of <i>Godzilla </i>had the potential to be a great interpretation of the story. From the outset, it looked like the producers intended to make a serious and seemingly plausible take on the monster movie concept. It had all of the elements it needed to do it. The cast was there. The cinematography, sound and music were all right. Aside from the CGI rubber-suit Godzilla, the effects were good too. In spite of this, <i>Godzilla</i> managed to feel like a late night B-movie somehow given the trappings of a major blockbuster. By all means see it, but wait until its available for home viewing.<br />
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Or, if you must see it in cinemas, catch a showing where <i>Mystery Science Theater 3000-</i>like heckling is encouraged. There's enough moments of B-movie stupidity going on that it can only add positively to the viewing experience.Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-27348459967256142942014-05-14T22:04:00.002-04:002014-05-14T22:04:21.811-04:00Amazing Spider-Man 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Director Marc Webb certainly had an uphill battle when he took on the role of directing the first <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> movie. The decision had been made to reboot the franchise after the disaster that was <i>Spider-Man 3</i>, but in order to clearly establish to audiences that this was a completely new version of the character, it meant retelling his origin story. It had only been a decade since Sam Rami's first <i>Spider-Man</i> movie had been released, so retelling the origin story meant partially remaking a movie that was only ten years old.<br />
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Nonetheless, Webb proved himself up to the task, not only opting for a more serious and "realistic" interpretation of the hero, but also putting a new spin on Spider-Man's origins. In <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i>, he hinted that Peter Parker's transformation into a superhero might have been tied to work that his father, Dr. Richard Parker, did on genetics. There were some scenes filmed that made more overt references to Peter's father's work being tied to his super powers, but these were cut before release, possibly due to fan outcry against this new interpretation.<br />
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For <i>Amazing Spider-Man 2</i>, Webb chose not to shy away from his twist on the tale, and instead makes it the backbone of the film's story. In this film, Norman Osborn is dying from a hereditary genetic disease, one he had hoped to cure though the research Peter Parker's dad was doing. Norman's son, Harry, learns he also has the disease. However, when his father dies, and Harry inherits the company he discovered that the board of Oscorp destroyed all of Dr. Parker's files have all been destroyed as a show of good faith to the shareholders, after Dr. Connors attempted to use it to turn everybody into lizard monsters in the previous movie. Harry slowly takes on a more villainous persona as he tries to uncover the research, ultimately taking on the persona of the Green Goblin.<br />
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Unlike the first <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i>, which only had a slightly different version of Spider-Man's origin from the original, the Goblin story arc feels completely different from the version in Sam Rami's trilogy. While Willem Dafoe was fantastic as Norman Osborn in those movies, lets be honest, James Franco's performance as Harry Osborn was kind of weak, and only became weaker as his character was supposed to become more villainous. <i>ASM 2</i>'s version of Harry Osborn, played by Dane DeHaan, is much more convincing, both as Peter Parker's best friend, and as Spider-Man's nemesis.<br />
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As you've probably guessed from the trailers, Green Goblin isn't even the film's main villain. That honor goes to Jamie Foxx, as Electro. As much as I like it when movies try to stick to characters' comic book appearances for movies, Electro's getup was one of the campier ones, and his new look for the movie is a welcome change. Foxx does a great job with the role, taking the character from a confused, socially awkward person to somebody who revels in terrorizing the Web Crawler.<br />
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Yes, there are certainly campy aspects to Foxx's portrayal of the villain. In fact, the whole film has a slightly campier feel than the previous one, although nowhere near as over-the-top as Rami's trilogy. However, it's well balanced out with the more serious and dramatic parts of the film. I guess Marc Webb realized you can only go so far with the gritty and serious take on comic books before it looks equally as absurd as a campy interpretation, especially when you have characters that include giant lizard-men and a villain made of electricity.<br />
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Even though <i>ASM 2</i> has both Goblin and Electro as villains, with a minor appearance from Paul Giamatti as Rhino, this film isn't the bloated mess that <i>Spider-Man 3</i> was, trying to awkwardly mould a story with Venom, Goblin and Sandman. Instead <i>ASM 2</i> follows an arc similar to <i>The Dark Knight</i>, having one character emerge as a villain early in the story, and another character come into the villain role as the story goes on. However, it also teases at the appearance of many, many more villains for sequels, such as Black Cat, Doctor Octopus, Vulture and Alistair Smythe. (Why would you name a villain "Alistair?" Clearly, thats a wholesome and virtuous name, right?) Hopefully these new villains get paced out well, or used in small does, otherwise <i>ASM 3</i> might become just as big a mess of a movie as <i>Spider-Man 3</i> was.<br />
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The best part of <i>Amazing Spider-Man 2</i> was, just like in the last film, the onscreen chemistry between actors Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, who play Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. The way they banter back and forth feels like Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in <i>His Girl Friday.</i> In this go around, Gwen and Peter have a bit of a falling out as Peter is filled with guilt over going back on a promise he made to Gwen's dead father that he'd stay away from her. However, they work so well together as a team that you can't help but cheer for them to get back together.<br />
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Overall, the film is pretty top notch. It's not quite on par with the level of quality we've come to expect from comic book movies, thanks to the <i>Avengers</i> franchise, but the film does find the right balance of lightness and seriousness, as well as campiness and grittiness. The only part I can really single out as needing improvement is the music. To put it politely, there are some questionable music choices in the film. For example, some of the songs selected to play over montage scenes don't quite fit the tone of what's happening on screen, and the first song to play over the end credits sequence is, I kid you not, an R&B slow jam.<br />
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However the worst offender is probably Electro's theme music. It starts out clever. When Electro is still his human persona, Max Dillon, he's always accompanied by a chorus of whispering voices. It keys you in to the fact that the character isn't quite stable as a person, even before he undergoes his super-powered transformation. Once he does become Electro, and decides that Spider-Man is his enemy, the voices move from whispers to overt screaming. Suddenly, it sounds less like an internal monologue and more like a rejected song from the <i>Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark</i> musical.<br />
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In the end, <i>Amazing Spider-Man 2</i> felt like a satisfying take on the character that managed to feel faithful to it's comic book roots, while being completely different from the version in the Sam Rami trilogy, which also remained pretty faithful to its comic book roots. I'm a bit nervous about these rumors that Sony plans to expand the franchise into spin-off movies, creating an <i>Avengers-</i>style cinematic universe. For now, as long as they stick with Marc Webb at the helm and Andrew Garfield as Spidey, I'll at least be looking forward to <i>Amazing Spider-Man 3.</i>Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-53584024996565609012014-01-17T12:41:00.001-05:002014-01-17T12:41:57.673-05:00Her<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Upon hearing the premise of the film <i>Her</i>, it's easy to get a misconception of what this movie is about. You may have gotten the impression it's about a pathetic loser who is so hopeless at interacting with people that he develops a relationship with the operating system on his phone. Yes, the film is about a man who falls in love with his phone, but he's not some sort of loser with social issues. Rather, <i>Her</i> is a movie about how our relationship with technology is changing, and the strange consequences that result from us trying to make technology easier to interact with. It's a story about falling in love with an artificial intelligence that's advanced enough to have a self aware consciousness.<br />
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The film is set in a near future where technology has changed how we interact with people. It doesn't really cast judgement on whether those changes are good or bad. Bluetooth earpieces make a comeback. People actually talk in chat rooms with their voices instead of typing. They send handwritten letters to each other, but they outsource them to a website called Beautiful Handwritten Letters.com. The main character, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), is a man going through a divorce. He upgrades the operating system on his phone and computer to a new one that uses artificial intelligence. After it personalizes itself to him, it takes on a female persona that names herself Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).<br />
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The film does an excellent job of making this seemingly absurd concept feel plausible. When Samantha and Theo first start talking, she comes off as just an easy to interact with operating system. She offers to help sort organize his emails and calendar. Then Theo finds himself talking to her about things that have nothing to do with organizing his life, and soon they find themselves attracted to each other.<br />
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Their relationship undergoes similar highs and lows as any human/human relationship would, except at its low points, Theo and other characters in the film do call attention to the fact that it is a relationship with a computer. It's because of moments like that, where the characters question the emotions they're feeling from technology (and the technology itself questions the emotions it feels from humans) the movie has a sort of prophetic feel to it. <i>Her</i> joins the ranks of other sci-fi classics such as <i>Gattaca </i>and <i>Minority Report</i> that are in many ways so on the nose with their premises that it feels like less of a question of "Could this happen?" and more of a question of "What do we do when this happens?"<br />
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Lets face it. We are actively working on making computers easier to interact with, and we're working on making artificial intelligence convincing enough to pass a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test" target="_blank">turing test.</a> I wouldn't be surprised if the first time most of us interacted with a true artificial intelligence it would be in the form of an operating system. Think of how big a deal Apple made about Siri on its iPhone. Imagine what a selling point it would be if a company came out with a computer you could actually converse with. The easier computers are to talk to, it's not too hard to imagine people feeling a bond of friendship with them, especially if computers are capable of showing friendship back.<br />
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<i>Her</i> is actually a much tamer film than you'd expect from writer/director Spike Jonze. Jonze's previous films have been unabashedly strange and surrealistic, such as <i>Being John Malkovich </i>and <i>Adaptation, </i>(both of which were written by the unquestionably strange Charlie Kaufman.) He's also known for music videos such as Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and "Weapon of Choice." And of course there's his work in advertising, making ads such as the "Tainted Love" ad for Levi's and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oob5uobmcy8" target="_blank">the greatest Gap commercial ever.</a><br />
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Considering how strange Jonze's filmography is, <i>Her</i> feels surprisingly down to earth. Yes, the film does have moments of quirkiness, such as having characters play unusual video games, and having high waisted pants be the go-to fashion trend, but it's light on the weirdness, so as not to distract from the characters.<br />
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Jonze made a brilliant choice in not giving Samantha a face. She's represented through abstract imagery on computers, but most of the time her only visual presence is as the phone or an earpiece. I think this is what sells the story the most. It shoots past the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley" target="_blank">uncanny valley</a> by not giving her some sort of faux human digital representation. Instead Samantha sounds like a woman Theo is having a conversation with on the phone. There were actually moments in the movie where I forgot that she wasn't somebody Theo was having a long distance relationship with over the phone, but rather the phone itself.<br />
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Of course since we never see Samantha, this means most of the dialogue between her and Theo involve long shots of Joaquin Phoenix staring off into space as he holds his end of the conversation. It does take some getting used to at first, but it also helps immerse you in his character.<br />
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The film also takes the high road in not representing the future as bleak, or our first encounter with a conscious AI as being apocalyptic. Considering that "future dystopia" and "robot uprising" are two of the most common tropes in science fiction, not using either one in a film set in the future, about computers, seems downright revolutionary. <i>Her</i> felt so grounded in a plausible reality, that when I saw the trailer for the upcoming film <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTen3-B8GU" target="_blank">Transcendence</a></i>, a thriller where a man's consciousness is uploaded into a computer and then turns evil, <i>that</i> premise felt hilariously absurd.<br />
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<i>Her</i> is an unexpectedly heavy and emotional film. You wouldn't think a movie about a man talking to a phone for two hours could emotionally resonate with you in the way a movie about a more conventional romance would, but Joaquin Phoenix's performance, and Jonze's writing and directing really drive it home. The relationship between Theo and Samantha feels real enough that as the logistical problems of a human and a program being in love present themselves, the tragic aspect of the story slowly creeps forth. Although the aesthetics of the movie may seem dated in a few years, I believe that the core story of <i>Her</i> will definitely age well.<br />
<br />Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-91550618117678808282013-12-23T12:05:00.000-05:002013-12-23T12:05:30.010-05:00The World's End<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I first saw <i>Shaun of the Dead</i>, I realized it an incredibly unique movie made by an extremely talented cast and crew. It manage to spoof zombie movies in a way that paid homage to them as well, and went far above the usual fare we see in parody movies today of just re-enacting famous scenes, but with jokes. It showed off writer/director Edgar Wright's ability to shift from horror to romance to drama to comedy, all without missing a beat. And of course, it introduced Americans to the onscreen duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.<br />
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The three would reunite a few years later to make <i>Hot Fuzz</i>, a movie about a London cop sent to a peaceful village in the country, that starts out as a fish-out-of-water story, shifts into a film about a small town with a secret, throws in a few elements of slasher movies before exploding into a parody of Michael Bay action, all while being a buddy movie.<br />
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Somewhere along the line, the films became referred to as the first two parts in what is semi-officially known as the <i>Cornetto Trilogy,</i> called so because of how the films share themes of friendship, maturity, alcohol, violence, towns overrun by a menacing force, people trying to jump over fences, and a random appearance by a Cornetto ice cream cone. At long last, we've been given the third part of the trilogy with <i>The World's End</i>.<br />
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Like the other two films with Wright, Pegg and Frost, <i>The World's End</i> hops its way about film genres. It opens with Gary King (played by Simon Pegg) describing what he considers the best night of his life: attempting an epic pub crawl, known as The Golden Mile, with his high school best friends, back in their home town. However, they never managed to complete the crawl, so years later Gary becomes determined to round them all up, and finish what they started, making it through all twelve pubs to The World's End.<br />
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Then they realize their hometown has be conquered by alien robots.<br />
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Frost and Pegg switch out of their archetypal roles for this film. While the other <i>Cornetto </i>films had Pegg as the straight man, and Frost as his bumbling sidekick, in this film, Frost is the straight man, with Pegg acting like a full on maniac. I dare say that Pegg's portrayal of Gary King goes right up there with Shaun on the list of iconic sci-fi/comedy characters.<br />
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It's actually rather impressive how the film manages to stick to its core premise of friends reuniting for a pub crawl while all around them they're being threatened by increasingly hostile robots. It's largely due to Pegg's character being absolutely fixated on finishing the crawl, against all reason, forcing his friends to come along, if only to try and save him. Then again, that's what I love about movies written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. They manage to take a premise that should be a movie in itself, and make it the backdrop for a character driven story with characters you'd want to see in a movie even without the sci-fi shenanigans happening around them.<br />
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Another thing I was surprised by this movie was how it depicted a rather balanced view of drinking. Most movies I can think of that are about friends drinking tend to celebrate partying from top to bottom, with no real consequences. <i>World's End</i> is actually just as much about the fun of drinking as it is about the consequences. Nick Frost's character starts out the film as a teetotaler, telling his alcohol obsessed friend Gary, "You remember the Friday nights. I remember the Monday mornings."He talks about how it takes real balls to go into a pub, full of drunken rugby players, and just ask for a water. I just found it so refreshing to see a character in a movie about drinking, who abstains from drinking, and yet isn't depicted as some kind of square. Granted, Nick Frost's character does start drinking as the movie progresses, but then again wouldn't you if you found yourself surrounded by hostile alien robots?<br />
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While there are a few bits of dramatic moments throughout the film, <i>World's End</i> is at it's heart a very solid British comedy. I am a huge fan of how Wright's writing and directing style leads to fantastic moments of comedic timing, whether it's in the form of wordplay or visual gags. There are moments of witty dialogue exchanges followed by lowbrow slapstick humor, or highbrow visual gags mixed with bad puns and obscenities. It doesn't get too lowbrow though. The crudest joke in this film still manages to stay far, far, far classier than anything in this summer's other apocalyptic comedy, <i>This Is The End.</i><br />
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I wouldn't go so far as to say this is an "intellectual" comedy. However, it is a film that's so jam packed with subtle jokes and ingenious moments of foreshadowing that it warrants multiple viewings just to catch everything you might have missed the first time around. It's also funny as hell, which is of course the other reason to watch it multiple times.<br />
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The fight scenes in this movie are pretty damn impressive as well. Edgar Wright worked a good amount of action sequences into <i>Shaun of the Dead</i> and <i>Hot Fuzz</i>, but where he really started to cut loose with filming fight scenes was in that non-<i>Cornetto Trilogy</i> movie, <i>Scott Pilgrim vs. The World</i>. That film was loaded with over-the top fights, and Wright incorporates some of that into <i>World's End</i>. The bar fight scenes have ordinary Joes taking on a waves of martial arts savvy robots. It's crazy to watch, but the result is a depiction of what every imagine's he'd be like if he had to get his friends' backs in a bar fight. In other words, its some of the most epic fist fighting you'll ever see in a bar.<br />
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Even though <i>The World's End</i> is called the third part of the <i>Cornetto Trilogy</i>, here's hoping that it isn't the last film that Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost make as a trio. They just work too well as a trio to not give us more movies. Maybe they'll take a line from Douglas Adams, and give us more movies in <i>The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Cornetto Trilogy</i>. Although <i>The World's End</i> might not be on the same level as <i>Shaun of the Dead</i>, (That's a pretty hard one to top for anybody.) but it is certainly one of the best films to come out in 2013.<br />
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And it is best enjoyed with friends, and beer.Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-9253852977896110762013-11-19T22:36:00.002-05:002014-09-08T19:08:37.129-04:00Shillito's Abandoned<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl__QppzP7WUL7MLUXhhwo5z2KGCX7vYdBlKeonvWbIRCuGhBwPBTUF9xS8nAR_a-Osg30F0JunJIT0l74AQ8ml1DT_QwOEU00a3ppyQvlImAa0WDSqYh4b6JPsCpEIVtj6R_nJqGZZYcr/s1600/IMG_1417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl__QppzP7WUL7MLUXhhwo5z2KGCX7vYdBlKeonvWbIRCuGhBwPBTUF9xS8nAR_a-Osg30F0JunJIT0l74AQ8ml1DT_QwOEU00a3ppyQvlImAa0WDSqYh4b6JPsCpEIVtj6R_nJqGZZYcr/s320/IMG_1417.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>A few weekends ago, (right before Halloween, in fact,) I had the opportunity to see the abandoned remains of the Shillito's Department Store building in Downtown Cincinnati. Shillito's had the distinction of being Cincinnati's first department store, opening for business all the way back in 1832. The department store chain was bought out by Lazarus, which in turn was bought out by Macy's. By the time Lazarus had taken over, the downtown store had been moved to a smaller location on Fountain Square, but the building that once housed Shillito's old downtown location is still standing. It has now been converted into the Lofts at Shillito Place as well as being the location for the Cincinnati office of Landor Associates. However, as I learned a few weekends ago, an absurdly large amount of the building remains unused, and unconverted from its department store days.<br />
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A one night only tour, called Shillito's Abandoned, gave Cincinnatians a rare glimpse to see the abandoned remains of the Shillito's Department store. The tour was put on by a team from Landor as part a fundraising event to help out Mike Amann, a member of Cincinnati's marketing and advertising community, who was battling cancer. Unfortunately, Mike passed away a few weeks after the event, though the fact his colleagues took the effort to put on such a unique event for him certainly speaks volumes of what he meant to his community. <br />
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I had been inside the apartment section of the Shillito's before. The building occupies half of a city block. The apartments are all located along the perimeter of part of the building, resulting in a rather spacious atrium. This section of the building alone looks like it would be more than enough room to house a major department store, so the fact that only about half of the building had been converted into into apartments showed just how prominent a role a downtown department store used to play in the days before shopping malls.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The portion of Shillito's that has been converted into apartments. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drywall separating the apartments from the abandoned side. </td></tr>
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Everybody in our group was handed a small LED flashlight, then taken up to the sixth floor in a freight elevator. At least, I think it was the sixth. Becoming slightly disoriented on the tour was not an uncommon occurrence.<br />
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On a side note, I just want to point out that for some reason my flashlight was blue, hence the blue hue in some of my photos. Also, I only had my iPhone on hand as a camera, and not my SLR, so the pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but you've got to work with the tools you have available.<br />
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The state of the space was extremely strange. On the one hand, it had all of the trappings of an abandoned building. Peeling wallpaper. Fixtures that had been ripped out in a haphazard manner. Broken glass. (As another side note, I do not remember signing a waiver to go on the tour. If anybody who put on the tour reads this, you might want to have those handy should you put another one of these tours on.)<br />
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On the other hand, parts of the building still showed signs of recent use. There were boxes for iMacs and Adobe Photoshop in random rooms. Some rooms were stocked with filing cabinets. There were beer bottles, graffiti and even evidence that a paintball game had taken place at some point.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0IX3F3SLidpc5I_48tOD8yp25-LaQO7ojhXpMp9hBtdXeAXa2Pc9IMesiC0l0JfWIEuq28Kk45LOhkpb6Kmo56cbhO2ZvZtDfnuEWvDJsdoOSsnFRr-9bNjexkHHODaZ_rAHVoKzy1AbM/s1600/IMG_1438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0IX3F3SLidpc5I_48tOD8yp25-LaQO7ojhXpMp9hBtdXeAXa2Pc9IMesiC0l0JfWIEuq28Kk45LOhkpb6Kmo56cbhO2ZvZtDfnuEWvDJsdoOSsnFRr-9bNjexkHHODaZ_rAHVoKzy1AbM/s320/IMG_1438.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't know why, but there's something just inherently creepy about a toilet in an abandoned building.</td></tr>
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As best I can tell, the Landor team left the space mostly untouched for the tour, aside from adding a bit of ambient background noise in a few areas, and some signage to show which way to go to stay on the tour. The signage came very much in handy. Even though we had a guide on the tour, just about everybody on the tour (including myself) would find something interesting, go off to explore it, and have to run to catch up with the group. I felt a bit sorry for our guide, as keeping us moving through the building at a proper pace must have been like herding cattle.<br />
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I'd also like to point out that I missed getting shots of some parts of the tour, because of the brisk pace at which we moved. An iPhone camera is not ideal for taking low light photos in a hurry.<br />
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However, there was one place that they put a noticeable bit of effort into fixing up for the tour, and that was Santa Land.<br />
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I had initially thought that Santa Land was on the sixth floor of the building, and had been long ago converted into apartments. This is because a sign in the elevators for the apartments lists Santa Land as being on the sixth floor. I now realize that those signs are there just as an homage to the building's department store roots.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUoC0uC_aHAnQyE520ZSWMTQ9UQTuenkqF17R-Y8UJU3e0KcJsdRjQiSIRh5w_UB9hzQFFftuiguaEEUWF29fFrGejadjxRwkoqtKNcPWMzoPmBm2QRB_0bNivuRm98Txu8qpLAEIFzrcy/s1600/IMG_1527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUoC0uC_aHAnQyE520ZSWMTQ9UQTuenkqF17R-Y8UJU3e0KcJsdRjQiSIRh5w_UB9hzQFFftuiguaEEUWF29fFrGejadjxRwkoqtKNcPWMzoPmBm2QRB_0bNivuRm98Txu8qpLAEIFzrcy/s320/IMG_1527.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I suspect many 6th floor residents use "How about I take you to Santa Land?" as a pickup line.</td></tr>
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No, Santa Land was on one of the lower levels of the building. I can't say with confidence what level that was because we were led through so many winding passages and stairwells that by the time we reached Santa Land, I had no real bearing for where we were in the building.<br />
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At the entrance to Santa Land they had set up a small bar in a room with a giant nutcracker, where Christmas music played, slowed down and remixed to sound sinister. On the walls were photos of what Santa Land looked like in its heyday. I can't say I envied the woman who was picked to act as bartender, as she probably had to wait all alone in the belly of the building with nothing but the creepy music to keep her company in the time between groups. In fact, once she realized that ours was the second to last group, sure she left enough drinks out for the final group, then packed up and got out of there.<br />
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Its a bit hard to tell from the photos, but Santa Land consisted of a walkway between various displays and stations that had performers and puppets. At least, that's what I assume it was like. I'm really just going by the old photographs that were posted on the wall. The space as it is today is really just a walkway set at weird angles with random alcoves off to the side.<br />
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Oh, and of course there was a giant display case at the end, which our guide informed us used to be filled with the very toys that were in Santa Land, so that kids could immediately show their parents which ones they wanted.<br />
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Exactly how much of the building was actually a shopping space and how much of it was offices for the Shillito's store, I can't say for sure. Our guide gave me the impression that at least some of the upper floors, where we started out our tour, was used for offices. However, as we moved through the lower floors, you could really tell how diverse the different departments in this department store used to be. It was essentially a shopping mall, before there were shopping malls. As you'll see in the photos below, there were quite a few departments you won't see in your average department store these days.<br />
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For example, there was the sporting goods department, which you could identify from the astroturf carpeting.<br />
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A wine department.<br />
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And a bank. It had teller windows and even a safe so large they just left it there, rather than trying to get it out of the building.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a bit hard to get a sense of scale in this picture, but this was a countertop revolving door.</td></tr>
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There was even, what I think was once a Pizza Hut Express. I thought I saw a sign indicating that somewhere in the area.<br />
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The tour also led us through the back rooms of the building, such as the old boiler room and a few maintenance areas. It was hard to tell what parts of the building were still in use, and which were just relics. In one room there'd be modern cleaning supplies, and in another room there'd be a 1970's issue of Penthouse lying on the floor... which somebody in our group picked up<br />
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... I made a point to not shake that guy's hands from there on.<br />
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Even though it wasn't billed as a haunted building tour, our guide couldn't help but share a rumor about two homeless people who supposedly broke into the building and froze to death during a blizzard in the 80's. Also, some of the graffiti and signage did enough to instill a horror movie vibe without any help from our guide.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At this point it started to feel like we were in BioShock...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...Or one of the Fallout games.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes an Instagram filter is the only appropriate means for capturing a moment.</td></tr>
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The Shillito's building represents such an oddity as far as downtown buildings go because it isn't exactly clear what can be done with the abandoned space. With so few windows in that section of the building, it can't really be turned into more apartments or office space, unless they can carve out windows in the walls (assuming they aren't load bearing.) I suppose there's always the option of restoring it as a downtown shopping destination, but with Tower Place closed (Cincinnati's former downtown mall) and with stores like Brooks Brothers and Saks Fifth Avenue relocating to Kenwood, mall-style shopping doesn't appear to be in downtown Cincinnati's near future.<br />
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So for now, it sits there abandoned, although I would like to thank the team from Landor, and everybody else involved in putting this tour together, for letting us Cincinnatians take a peek back there.<br />
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Now, if only I had some way of checking out the nearby abandoned Terrace Plaza Hotel...Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-314463375151833152013-08-24T16:08:00.003-04:002013-09-03T21:00:03.489-04:00Pogue's GarageAdjacent to Tower Place is Pogue's Garage. As I've mentioned before, there are plans in place for both to be demolished, <a href="http://www.urbancincy.com/2013/02/pogues-garage-to-make-way-for-30-story-residential-tower-grocery-store/" target="_blank">to be replaced by an apartment complex, grocery store, and a new parking garage</a>. I decided to shoot photos of both locations, because I know that inevitably once Tower Place and the Garage are gone, people will wonder what used to be in those locations before.<br />
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Its surprisingly easy to forget what used to be in old locations once new properties have been built over them. For example, aside from The Old Spaghetti Factory and Riverfront Stadium, I can't really remember what (if anything) used to be on the riverfront before those buildings were demolished to make room for new stadiums. I'm also sure that many people have already forgotten the hodgepodge of restaurants between Calhoun and McMillain up near UC that were demolished to make room for the new apartments and shopping center. (The fact that there was about 7 years between when they were demolished and when the new buildings went up probably didn't help much either.)<br />
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That being said, I wanted to have some photographic evidence of what Tower Place and the Pogue's Garage looked like, at the very least to remind myself what they looked like. In a previous entry, I took photos of the now abandoned <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2013/08/cincinnatis-tower-place-mall.html" target="_blank">Tower Place.</a> This entry will focus on Pogue's Garage.<br />
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Click on any photo to enlarge.<br />
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I'm presuming Pogue's Garage takes its name from the H&S Pogue department store that once stood where Tower Place is now. What I don't know is if it wound up being called Pogue's Garage because it was built to serve the department store, or just because of its vicinity to the site. The garage is fairly run down by now, although there are still some good aspects of it that will be missed once its gone.<br />
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Perhaps the worst aspect of the garage, as well as its most obvious flaw, is its relationship to the street. Unlike most garages which are accessed by turning off the street, into the garage, the main entrance ramp to Pogue's Garage is actually built out into a lane of traffic. This means anybody driving down 4th Street has to shift lanes just to avoid going into the garage.<br />
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On top of that, it isn't immediately apparent that there is a sidewalk path that goes around the entrance ramp. The way the sidewalk corridor is designed reminds me of that passageway by the caterpillar near the start of the movie <i>Labyrinth.</i> At first glance, it looks like the sidewalk dead ends into a concrete wall, and it's only when you walk towards it that you realize there's a passageway. Not that you'd want to use it anyways. It looks bleak and foreboding by day, and I can't imagine anybody wanting to use it by night.<br />
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However, there is one exceptionally good feature of the garage and that is the view you get of the city. In truth, almost any urban garage with a rooftop deck will give you a good view of the city its in, but the view from the top of Pogue's Garage is outstanding. Nestled between the Carew and PNC towers, its a great panoramic view that puts you at the middle level of the urban cityscape. You're well above street level, but you can still appreciate the soaring skyscrapers. The proposed new garage, which will be built in the site of Tower Place will probably offer a similar view, but this particular view will someday only be limited to those with rooftop access of the new apartment building.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This particular view will also chance once the Dunhumby building is completed, next to the Millenium Hotel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The buildings across the street from the garage are apparently filled to the brim with junk in their upper floors.</td></tr>
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The other feature I love about the garage is the spiral exit ramp. From a functionality standpoint, it's probably less effective than having the exit and entrance routes be the same thing, and the tight spiral probably results in more than a few scuffed bumpers. I'm sure that for these reasons, you don't see this design in newer garages. The thing is, I find them to be fantastic from a visual standpoint, and kind of fun to drive down too.<br />
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Those two features aside, it's rather evident that the garage needs to come down. Just look at the ceiling of almost any level in the garage and you can see that the concrete has crumbled away enough to expose the rebar at several points. I'm not sure if it's the result of shoddy building materials or improper maintenance, but walking through the garage and seeing all of those cracks does not give one faith in its structural integrity.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, that is a hand painted sign in the garage.</td></tr>
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<br />Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246103955148663140.post-32142572757771208532013-08-13T15:39:00.002-04:002013-08-24T16:09:10.014-04:00Cincinnati's Tower Place MallOften when a new building goes up in a city, you inevitably find yourself wondering what was there before. Downtown Cincinnati has been enjoying a revitalization in recent years, with several major building projects happening in various stages of completion. One of the projects planned involves putting a new <a href="http://www.urbancincy.com/2013/02/pogues-garage-to-make-way-for-30-story-residential-tower-grocery-store/" target="_blank">apartment complex, grocery store and parking garage</a> on the site of the current Tower Place Mall and the Pogue's Garage. I decided to take the opportunity to shoot some photographs of the buildings currently on the sites before they are both gone.<br />
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I'm breaking this up into two entries. This one will focus on the mall, and the second will focus on the <a href="http://allistersears.blogspot.com/2013/08/pogues-garage.html" target="_blank">Pogue's Garage.</a><br />
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Just a short primer for anybody not familiar with the Tower Place Mall, it was built as a downtown Cincinnati shopping center in the mid-90's, connected to the Carew Tower and Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel. I'd like to be more specific than that, but the truth is there isn't much information easily available online about it's opening, (and I don't really care to do that much research for one or two sentences in what is really just to give context to the photos,) so I'm mainly going by what I personally remember about it.<br />
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When it first opened, it did attract lots of attention and business. It had the usual mall stores (for the 90's,) such as The Nature Company, The Gap, Structure and so on. The idea behind Tower Place seemed to be a common urban revitalization tactic in the 90's. Build a mall that has all of the popular stores from suburban malls, and in theory it should attract suburban shoppers. The problem was, aside from the novelty of shopping downtown, there wasn't much incentive to get people to come down from the suburbs, where the parking was free and there were many more stores. Personally, I remember my family only going down a few times a year, either around Christmas, or when people were visiting from out of town and we wanted to show them downtown Cincinnati.<br />
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Over time, the big name stores started to close down, to be replaced by locally owned shops, which in turn either moved or closed down as well. However, there were some hold-outs for many years, such as Foot Locker and Victoria's Secret. Eventually, the only stores left were in the food court on the lower level. Those too started to shut down, though at the time I took these photos, (between April and June,) Subway was the lone holdout, though it's supposed to move to a street front store at the Carew Tower.<br />
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Click on any photo to enlarge.<br />
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A view of the food court.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZ8kGOpJxKbBYCFgPrrtQlmw7FGpnF7701BQYV1cb-3yLv0PM62enXgHWalYmnZ73ZuKX_FcTuo9Z2E_oE4HBhMp8nLTjhI0cDdHqef7ZZqubUS12LasU3s-t3iyEGSIkjb7VWQlK_w2Q/s1600/IMG_4969.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZ8kGOpJxKbBYCFgPrrtQlmw7FGpnF7701BQYV1cb-3yLv0PM62enXgHWalYmnZ73ZuKX_FcTuo9Z2E_oE4HBhMp8nLTjhI0cDdHqef7ZZqubUS12LasU3s-t3iyEGSIkjb7VWQlK_w2Q/s400/IMG_4969.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hallway between the Carew Tower and Tower Place Mall.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG2GGYpx5sQl25zyQdg0iy-pV8EoLJ0LaWE7KDrxGAX91PBUjJswWvvtPOCqY-5SV0pVn6eIDZ5n84P96LEXnqvTCebKdo4fQ_QHV3BjIRfihtg-gAkiSY4zMYNFtzWXe8Df9ignFm0yy/s1600/IMG_4970.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG2GGYpx5sQl25zyQdg0iy-pV8EoLJ0LaWE7KDrxGAX91PBUjJswWvvtPOCqY-5SV0pVn6eIDZ5n84P96LEXnqvTCebKdo4fQ_QHV3BjIRfihtg-gAkiSY4zMYNFtzWXe8Df9ignFm0yy/s400/IMG_4970.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the middle floor.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWT2567I3xyUIaetlEj-HyodfyhoXpWFDVA-Y8jU9OQWzRsdSjqRbPm_hx151GPmIH8Y-N9yzg60YB8F26_NMTo-TDu5EW-l1xx7NKCjA1sfeYjss7sGv356ciINH25_9sMJiDOg5IMoZ8/s1600/IMG_4972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWT2567I3xyUIaetlEj-HyodfyhoXpWFDVA-Y8jU9OQWzRsdSjqRbPm_hx151GPmIH8Y-N9yzg60YB8F26_NMTo-TDu5EW-l1xx7NKCjA1sfeYjss7sGv356ciINH25_9sMJiDOg5IMoZ8/s400/IMG_4972.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The escalators have been shutdown, although the stairs are still open and the elevator still functions.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcRgwedahSdlFELSVIdx8NnxlGpBgas35A6_hgM1u71MGd3IZ0JXSgG2cpblhqcr4glgqLQ36MEksjYH8X0Pg_syqdlFUnDQKypQNB9y1_gCwkhxBmZm9qmHuAFl9tR1OhGN8DyJMTe6Y/s1600/IMG_4974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcRgwedahSdlFELSVIdx8NnxlGpBgas35A6_hgM1u71MGd3IZ0JXSgG2cpblhqcr4glgqLQ36MEksjYH8X0Pg_syqdlFUnDQKypQNB9y1_gCwkhxBmZm9qmHuAFl9tR1OhGN8DyJMTe6Y/s400/IMG_4974.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Towards the back, on the left, the lights are still on at Subway, in an otherwise deserted food court.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9yKh1YMFKdRQBKL75yHElEGvBPKyF5w4PP_ZpIYc1AGhiIhvNcBX2NMnhqVazhSNc6U_TqH6IheeeFBV5UdoT85KlUAu4kAQF-8cUw0UWNMZEnE5LbLkB-qGGhbvWW5xxfwdgTsM0iOq/s1600/IMG_4975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9yKh1YMFKdRQBKL75yHElEGvBPKyF5w4PP_ZpIYc1AGhiIhvNcBX2NMnhqVazhSNc6U_TqH6IheeeFBV5UdoT85KlUAu4kAQF-8cUw0UWNMZEnE5LbLkB-qGGhbvWW5xxfwdgTsM0iOq/s400/IMG_4975.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqjKFhcJUbcYglFjt7Dul0pjMUlnByDCYZB1R0z9ChkcZqjE6qnfrcRhM5pPDRbsJDMsYR3KPo6HqaRX1yKJ7Tm5NvoBijYy7vbgfksYqZa_CFIPxcO4Fsvuuu_sJLzaWKS9kCC7qv3oC/s1600/IMG_5052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqjKFhcJUbcYglFjt7Dul0pjMUlnByDCYZB1R0z9ChkcZqjE6qnfrcRhM5pPDRbsJDMsYR3KPo6HqaRX1yKJ7Tm5NvoBijYy7vbgfksYqZa_CFIPxcO4Fsvuuu_sJLzaWKS9kCC7qv3oC/s400/IMG_5052.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkE7roZKJ653Ubhxgtl3i18j_HTzNVU6oVlpnwpOBBR3O6NfxGvC2xnmIsFSzaLP4SiAbvM1aSJ7eCIJEFCkcj8SNNTGX4ANK3zMZtFjyo127gm5DVlYrqa_nCcxiR0Jnk97tW6E2a-RlP/s1600/IMG_5053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkE7roZKJ653Ubhxgtl3i18j_HTzNVU6oVlpnwpOBBR3O6NfxGvC2xnmIsFSzaLP4SiAbvM1aSJ7eCIJEFCkcj8SNNTGX4ANK3zMZtFjyo127gm5DVlYrqa_nCcxiR0Jnk97tW6E2a-RlP/s400/IMG_5053.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A plaque to let people know the mall was the former site of the H&S Pogue Department Store.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1doUXzBXEsLS08WJeJ6a0DJKVJSEjvrBDlpACx5HXVUCZ2N8wfsm3NtChBNORWBrwLVC5VViCK1qkrt9rUWtN3c5pMEDqa6ufNWaSuxM0A4kZCST5epCqhCflWtjX4Y-Ds4Gi0FzJCTZ/s1600/IMG_5054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1doUXzBXEsLS08WJeJ6a0DJKVJSEjvrBDlpACx5HXVUCZ2N8wfsm3NtChBNORWBrwLVC5VViCK1qkrt9rUWtN3c5pMEDqa6ufNWaSuxM0A4kZCST5epCqhCflWtjX4Y-Ds4Gi0FzJCTZ/s400/IMG_5054.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Allister Searshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07152719007827404525noreply@blogger.com0