Happy Halloween, everybody! Halloween started early for me and Missy when Missy decided to show up to MELINDA's birhtday party at THE MANHATTAN in her HELLO KITTY costume, last night:
The bar let Jen DJ the party with the help of her MacBook, a set of speakers, and YOUTUBE:
After the birthday party we headed out to ELIZABETH's house for her pre-Halloween party. I took a lot of pictures that came out blurry or too dark, except for some shots of their great Halloween decor:
Missy had some hot apple cider...
...and then chased it with a shot of REDI-WHIP.
Then, today at work, we had our monthly BIRTHDAY BREAK, to celebrate all the October birthdays in the Art and Graphics Departments...there were only two birthdays in for the month of October: MY BIRTHDAY and Erin's birthday! The two departments conspired to have the birthday break on Halloween so we could really let loose. SHERRYL, who heads up our Graphics and Photography departments came in an inflatable costume:
MATTHEW came dressed up as a SHARK...he had a tape recorder in his sweatshirt pocket that played the theme to the movie JAWS!!!
LIBBY dressed up as FLAVOR FLAV:
Sherryl really got into character:
Not sure what we're gonna do for the rest of the night...we're at home, waiting for would-be trick-or-treaters, but so far, nobody has come to our door. DEERHOOF are playing at the 40 WATT tonight, and we may or may not go, depending on how we feel...or, we might just wander around town and watch the freak show unfold...
Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween, 2008!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
China - Fall 08 - Day Two, Part Two - Shanghai
(apologies for constantly falling behind with the blogging about China)
Well, after doing some shopping at the LIFE HUB, me, Sam, and Libby piled into a cab and headed for OLD TOWN SHANGHAI, one of the oldest parts of Shanghai (duh) and also one of the most "touristy" parts of the city. Old Town is comprised of block after block of chintzy gift shops and American fast food joints crammed into old school-looking buildings...
(The main entrance into Shanghai's Old Town)
A "floating" teapot outside of a tea shop:
The "Show of Special Skill by Yuyuan Folks Craftsman" included such skills as writing your name on a grain of rice, writing your name in Chinese on an "ancient scroll", and drawing funny caricatures of tourists...
We were in Old Town in the middle of the MID-AUTUMN or MOON FESTIVAL, one of the biggest holidays in China. There was a gang of people in this one square that had statues of the two mythological characters associated with the Moon Festival, CHANG'E (the woman in the moon) and HOUYI (the archer)...everyone clamored for a chance to have their pictures taken with the statues...
Walking down one crowded alleyway, we saw this very weird procession of clowns, replete with unicycles, a funky Charlie Chaplin wannabe, and a creepy-looking character banging a gong...we followed the procession to a stage in another square, hoping for some sort of spectacular performance. Instead, they just posed for the cameras before going on their merry way...
There was one courtyard where, for a price, you could enter and burn incense, offerings, and firecrackers to honor ancestors and various deities...
We came across the "oldest vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai" and hoped we would be treated to a satisfying lunch...unfortunately, the food there looked like the "oldest vegetarian food in Shanghai", prompting us to bounce on outta there:
Not content with all the shopping we had done, we grabbed another taxi and made our way down NANJING ROAD, one of the other main shopping districts in Shanghai:
...we weren't there for long, though. By the time we got to the end of Nanjing, we decided to head back to the hotel. Back in my room, I surveyed my souvenir haul for the day. In Old Town, I bought Missy this vinyl shopping bag with funny messages and cute designs on it:
Best of all, I had the skilled Yuyuan Folks Craftsman in Old Town make a bobblehead in my likeness:
It's really cool - at the souvenir stand that makes the bobbleheads, they take your picture and then you choose from one of the many pre-made bodies. You pay for the bobblehead and then they tell you to come back in 45 minutes. During that time, an artist sculpts your head out of this rubbery, Sculpy-like substance and then paints it, using a hair dryer to expedite the process. Check out the "stubble" they put on my upper lip! Unfortunately for me, they only had one skin tone color to choose from: CHINESE.
