Life's Persistent Questions

Serious fire power

I took a stroll around the Suzhou Creek Art District today with my uncle and his two photographer buddies. They were planning to shoot some of the abandoned factories near the creek. I had thought they would be shooting with digital SLRs so I did not bring the 20 year old Canon EOS I got from my dad. As it turned out, two out of three were shooting with BW film today. It was fun to observe them, and to just climb up buildings that were probably really too dangerous to go in. Anyhow, this has really inspired me to start rediscover my hometown through the camera lens. My uncle had some simple tips for me: get a simple semi-professional digital, shoot a ton, learn to appreciate photos of others, and start playing with use photoshop :)

I had dinner with my cousin and a couple she knew. All you can eat personal hot pot, yum. We then went to a live music venue at Xintiandi, the Ark--it was the guy's birthday. The band was terrible and so were the drinks. I guess this is life in Shanghai even when you are with people who are in the know. I am always amazed by singers that can sing songs in multiple languages that they do not speak. Well, the lead singer tonight sucked at English, Portuguese, and Chinese.

The highlight of the night was the firework. 5th day of the first lunar month is the date for the god of fortune. And people went nuts with fireworks again at midnight. Imagine 4th of July on steroids. There were people literally launching fireworks from the base of our residential building. The skyline was lit up by fireworks in every direction. How could this much firework not be fire hazard. Perpetrators were everywhere--sidewalks, parking lot, residential buildings, etc. I imagine this is about as close to Baghdad, April 2003 as possible for me.

posted by hedgehog @ 11:42 AM