Author Archives: d4vid

Moppets

Posted on January 28, 2015 by d4vid

Can’t see this creepy ad without thinking of them as the Danish equivalent of Dr. Girlfriend’s Murderous Moppets.

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Extras

Posted on January 28, 2015 by d4vid

Back in his absurdist 1990s period, Louis C.K. had a sublime joke: “Have you ever seen someone you don’t know?  Again?  It’s like God ran out of extras in the movie of your life.” The premise being that the chance … Continue reading →

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Hazardous

Posted on January 25, 2015 by d4vid

Ridiculous.

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Portmanteau

Posted on January 24, 2015 by d4vid

Can we clear the air? No, seriously, can we clear the fucking air? Shanghai is on the sea.  (The city’s name literally means “Upon-the-Sea.”)  Just like Los Angeles.  In many ways, the smog reminds me of growing up in L.A. … Continue reading →

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Deaf

Posted on January 24, 2015 by d4vid

The highlight of my visit to the Shanghai Bookstore was noticing two kids signing to each other in Chinese sign language. I saw that one — the older brother, perhaps? — was wearing earbuds, but the other one — the … Continue reading →

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Cryptanalysis

Posted on January 24, 2015 by d4vid

CCTV are the state-run television channels here in China.  Because of the Mandarin/Cantonese split I’ve discussed, they are always subtitled in Simplified Chinese.  I watch quite a bit of CCTV9 because it’s the documentary network. I’ve watched documentaries on… The … Continue reading →

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Tron

Posted on January 24, 2015 by d4vid

The Yan’an Elevated Road as seen from out my window at night.

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Rickrolled

Posted on January 24, 2015 by d4vid

At work this week, the Technology group had a party to celebrate the New Year (as it’s about halfway between the Western New Year and Chinese New Year.)  It was an American-style open-an-anonymous-gift-or-steal-from-someone-else gift exchange.  Surely you remember The Office … Continue reading →

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Bookstore

Posted on January 24, 2015 by d4vid

A coworker told me there were lots of bookstores along Fuzhou Road, so yesterday I went up there to check it out.  The biggest — with the catchy name “Shanghai Bookstore” — is seven floors high and was as packed … Continue reading →

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Dearth

Posted on January 24, 2015 by d4vid

There is a distinct dearth of blondes in this country.

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Hypothesis

Posted on January 23, 2015 by d4vid

One’s fluency in Italian (and American Sign Language) improves with alcohol. One’s fluency in Chinese, however, worsens.

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Bloodbath

Posted on January 23, 2015 by d4vid

Dark day at DreamWorks. Darkest in my thirteen years there. My thoughts are with all my friends and colleagues, but especially those up at PDI.

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Futurama

Posted on January 22, 2015 by d4vid

The font on this glowing keyboard at work looks like something out of 1980s-era Tomorrowland.

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Oscar

Posted on January 16, 2015 by d4vid

My friend and ODW colleague Nafees found out this week that he’s receiving his second(!) technical achievement Academy Award.  To celebrate, we all went out to a dinner last night.  The restaurant’s cuisine was from the far western Chinese province … Continue reading →

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Alien

Posted on January 16, 2015 by d4vid

To quote Sting, “I’m an alien / I’m a legal alien”Finally received my employment and residency permit this week. It appears that the People’s Republic of China has decided to officially render my name as 杨戴维 (Yáng Dàiwéi) which, if … Continue reading →

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