Ptooey! Beijing 2008

The New York Times today has a pretty interesting article about the efforts of the Chinese government to get residents of Beijing to clean up their acts before the Olympics come calling in 2008. Highlights:

----------------------------------------------------

Last week, the city commemorated “Queuing Day,” an event held on the 11th of every month because the date symbolizes an orderly line. Volunteers wearing satin Queuing Day sashes shooed rush-hour commuters into lines at busy subway stations, while hospital administrators and a few city officials handed out long-stemmed roses to patients who stood in line to pay their bills or pick up medicines.

----------------------------------------------------

Public spitting is a frequent practice in Beijing and even more common elsewhere in China. (The sinus-clearing, phlegmy pre-spit hawking sound is so common that one foreigner wryly dubbed it “the national anthem of China.”)

----------------------------------------------------

English translations on signs are considered fashionable and good advertising, as well as a gracious gesture to foreigners baffled by Chinese characters. But until recently, the attention paid to the accuracy of the translation was, at best, uneven. Consider that a local theme park about China’s ethnic minorities was initially promoted in English as “Racist Park.”

----------------------------------------------------

Tony Kornheiser pointed out this morning that the Pulitzer Prize in criticism went to a man named Jonathan Gold, who is the restaurant critic for LA Weekly. Tony said that the DC equivalent of this was someone winning from City Paper. You can see samples of Gold's writing here. One day I'll move back to Natchitoches and win one writing for the Natchitoches Times.

I'm reading the Aeneid right now. If you decide to read both the Aeneid and the Iliad, read the former first. If you start with the Iliad, you'll only be disappointed in the Aeneid. It's like it was written by a 5th grader compared to the Iliad. From what I've heard, it's like visiting both Australia and New Zealand. "They" say to do Australia first.

I bought my first item off of itunes over the weekend: The 2007 Sugar Bowl: LSU 41, Notre Dame 14.

Chris Richardson told Simon tonight on Idol that "nasal is a singing style" after Simon described his performance as "nasally" for the umpteenth time in a row. I suppose this could technically be correct. But surely Chris realizes that you sing through your nose when you don't have a good voice.

Ach, Bones is a rerun tomorrow. A good one, though. One more thing before I get on to talking about my weekend:

The song "Turn Me On" by Norah Jones is wonderful.