Archives For Chinese

China, today I’m proud of you~

March 6, 2011 — 1 Comment

Today, while watching Chinese news — yes, I know… hardly unbiased opinion — I saw that China had deployed military airplanes, cargo ferries, and commercial flights in order to mobilize over 35k people out of Libya.

While violence and unrest is rampant, and expats from everywhere in the world are trying to get out, and people outside are “celebrating” freedom of speech, people are left without jobs, and families are left without income. Chinese expats have been uncommunicated with their families since the unrest began, waiting in the airports that have no running water.

Now, they’re back home.

When trying to look for the news to post, googling “China” to check the latest news from there, I only ended up seeing negative items. I ended up with Xinhuanet.com and by looking for “China Libya” I found some tiny articles from the West barely mentioning this.

I thought it’s an important news item to highlight.

In Chinese, English, Sharing, Snapshots
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Weibo Fail

February 26, 2011 — 3 Comments

So I was browsing around to see if I should setup a Weibo (aka. China’s microblogging a la Twitter), and I was fine. I was able to open an account, and got an email for confirmation. The problem began later.

I was supposed to pick a nickname, and setup my profile… but there was an issue. I thought it must be me not reading characters, so I google it up and ended up with this Tutorial on how to setup a Weibo account (to follow CNBLUE, ha!).

And it seems like the “Location” option tab — which is the first rectangle in my screencap — is set automatically, but in mine shows nothing! Then, I don’t have the confirmation code either! So I can’t move on from that setup page!

To make matters worse, servers in China are sooooo freaking slow. What’s up with that China? You’re awesome and all, but the slow internet, and slow response for people outside China of Chinese sites is kinda sad. =(

In Chinese, English, Rants, Screencaps , , ,
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First week of Mandarin Lessons~

February 18, 2011 — 1 Comment

Don’t think it’s too shabby, is it?

In Chinese, Sharing
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New Google Translate Features

February 15, 2011 — 6 Comments

Listening and watching… and trying to keep up with Asian entertainment means that I use Google Translate often. This is why I think these are new features. I knew Google Translate could read out loud English… and German, but this is the first time that I’m aware it can read Japanese, Mandarin and Korean too.

Of course I chose BiBi’s Just to Meet You song to test, because that’s one of the songs that I butcher whenever it plays on my iPod. And it not only “translates,” but now you can also read it phonetically…

and you can listen to it read it out loud. O_O

Three very important things about this:

1. This is amazing… if you’re starting out a language.

2. A lot of sites that dedicate themselves to pinyin, romaji and Korean romanization just got their work cut down… or have some serious competition. With this, anyone can post lyrics…

3. This just made a whole new generation of lazy.

In Language, Pinyin, Rants, Romaji, Romanization, Screencaps, Sharing , , ,
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Old BiBi Interview with English Subtitles

I think this is the only video of Bibi with English subtitles. It’s short, barely three minutes of it… but makes me miss BiBi circa her NOW/WOW albums… which reminds me, gotta review those.

[iframe src=”https://www.tudou.com/v/_H6cID-4vsU/v.swf” width=”480″ height=”400″]

Her last bit singing gives me the shivers.

From the last few performances she’s done, something is amiss. Her voice is quite not right, and I think it might be due to the production of her last album.

*sighs*

Forgive the lack of updates, but then again… you do know there’s YAM, right?

Posted on February 1, 2011 In Celebrity, Chinese, Clips, English, Music, Sharing , , , , ,
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Classes begin…

January 20, 2011 — 6 Comments

*drum roll*

Guess who’s going to begin Mandarin lessons?

Crap, I’m nervous about it. I hope I can get the tones right. I don’t want to end up frustrated with it, and give up on all the Chinese music I own.

Honestly, Mandarin is the most difficult — sound-wise — language to me. But then again, I know nothing about Arabic… and I’m pretty sure I will have issues pronouncing anything resembling Hebrew.

What I hate about Chinese – any of the dialects – is that it’s like playing charade with a language.

Wish me luck.

In Chinese, English, Sharing, Spanish
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The Best Mistake I’ve Ever Made: Sholly

Ahh fandom… NSFW fandom.

Shane and Molly have Asian fans! It figures~ I wonder if some pairings are more popular in each region just because of cultural preferences. The fact that Shane wanted to become a better person… more studious, more knowledgeable for Molly is what sold me on the pairing. I also think it’s a very Asian thing xD

Plus, they’re hot… but Shane and Carmen was hot– but too much drama.

I liked they used a song by a Taiwanese singer called Joanna Wang. She reminds me of the style of those easy listening tracks by Kendal Payne, or those tracks used so often in Grey’s Anatomy xD And the ending of the video, so sad.

Posted on January 12, 2011 In Chinese, Clips, English, Fun, Music, Sharing, Television , , , , , , , , ,
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The BiBi Discography

January 3, 2011 — 11 Comments

I told you BiBi was going to be my first post of 2011! xD

It’s common knowledge I don’t buy singles… or usually “best of” compilations — unless it’s an artist with too many albums that I don’t want to “catch up” on with.

Julz also knows I don’t do mini-albums.

But I do own all of BiBi’s albums ;P I have named myself her biggest fan living the farthest away. LOL Unless BiBi has a fan living in the Patagonia, I’m taking the title, thankyouverymuch.

Bibi’s latest albums are far from perfect. Really respect that she’s trying to expand her style, her vocal range, as well as her image. Though it sometimes feels like her label doesn’t know what to do with her, like they need to change her style (from Time to i.fish.light.mirror) to sell well in Taiwan and Hong Kong – where she probably did sell well after the change.

I sat today listening to her first album (not counting her EP), Who Touched My Violin String?, and it was really quite good. Very strong, except for maybe two skippable songs.

Her second effort, her double album NOW and WOW — UMPH! They’re a killer combo. After over two years of listening and discovering Chinese pop music artists, I have learned to appreciate NOW a lot more. But WOW blew me away right away for its hard to figure out sound.

In NOW, she is a lot more traditional sounding… a few “Chinese” or I guess zhongguo feng songs, nice ballads with tight vocals, great production values, and lyrics. In WOW, she does the opposite. She’s R&B without sounding R&B, she’s a bit Rock without being Rock, she’s Pop without being truly Pop — she’s got funk, soul… her lyrics are whack, and she sounds like no one else.

If Leehom coined Chinked-out style, BiBi was able to pull it off in WOW.

I really believe those two albums have been the highlight of her career, and hope that her new contract with Gold Typhoon lets her — as an artist — experiment with those styles more.

Hopefully, I will be able to get the pinyin for Bibi’s songs. In the meantime, you can check the one that’s already done for the WOW album. If you’re lucky, I will learn Chinese hahaha… tough luck!

In Celebrity, Chinese, English, Music, Products, Reviews, Sharing , , ,
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Facebook Friends Mapped World by Paul Butler + 2011 Wishes

December 31, 2010 — Leave a comment

Amazing~ I thought this was a good graphic to close the year with~ a graphic of the world!

I love how China and Russia are pretty much dark on this graphic. Also how the East coast in the US is all lit up… like everyone there has a FB account. LOL [check details + bigger resolution here]

Anyway, guys~ 2010 is OVER. It’s gone! We’re getting older! This is so depressing xD with the opening of YAM Magazine, I’ve stopped blogging quite a bit here… which I didn’t expect. I really wanted to keep both active, but it’s impossible. I have decided to keep this for fandom blogging.

So don’t worry, Yu Aoi fans~ I’m still going to be talking about her. I’m due a few posts on her already. Also, I tweeted someone who plans to attend Yu Aoi’s play with Satoshi Tsumabuki, asking them if they would review the show for us xD At the moment, they said yes – EXCITING! This is the first time we’re getting a review of any of her stage performances.

Then… I have decided – Bibi Zhou fans. I’m gonna Bibify the world! I’ll try to post everything Bibi and become the Bibi hub online for English… or non-Chinese speakers/readers xD I’m starting 2011 with a Bibi post, and with a mission. LOL

Without further ado,

Happy 2011, everyone!

In Chinese, English, Graphics, Japanese , , , , ,
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Paypal in China?

December 29, 2010 — Leave a comment

I is very excited about this news? I don’t know, all this business talk at this time of night gets me confused, but I seem to understand that Paypal is opening business in Chongqing. Did you know my grandpa was from Chonqing? Dumb-dumb gave away — gave away!!! — his properties. Ahhh… my grandpa.

Anyway, I digress.

I’m very excited about this bit of news because Modern Sky‘s online store, or I guess online catalog we could only ordered with a money order because… obviously, there was no Paypal in China — but now there will? Too bad Milk@Coffee is no longer with Modern Sky xD

In Chinese, English, Music, Sharing , , ,
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