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Tuesday 25 July 2006
By Thomas Podvin,
Tuesday 25 July 2006 at 12:15 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://nippop.com
Much like the country itself, Japanese music is as intriguing as it is puzzling. Every month, new aidoru (Japanese idols) are presented to the general public; in the main, manufactured stars about as fresh as three-day old sushi. With the press giving blanket coverage to these teen icons, it is difficult to delve deeper into the talent rich world of Japanese music. Enter nippop.com, an English database of artists offering profiles, photos, biographies, as well as regular columns on Japanese pop culture. Launched in January 2005 by three gaijin (foreigners) with insider knowledge of the music industry (former Tower Records Japan CEO Keith Cahoon; former YesAsia.com Japan General Manager Bill Haw; and Billboard’s Asia bureau chief Steve McClure), the site claims to be “the world’s best English-language resource on Japanese music”. This may be a slight exaggeration, but where else on the Internet (in English, at least) can you find everything you ever wanted to know about acts like Malice Mizer, Guitar Wolf and Dir En Grey?
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
July 2006 issue
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By Thomas Podvin,
Tuesday 25 July 2006 at 12:13 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com
Much like Shanghai, the Big Apple is an astonishing mélange of cultures from around the world; a city where anything can happen, and anything and everything can be said – and heard. Established in July 2003, overheardinnewyork.com shows New York at its coarsest and weirdest, by presenting everyday street conversations in the form of anecdotal quotes. This hugely entertaining blog is run by contributors S. Morgan Friedman and Jenny Weiss, supported by various friends, street spies, and a city of eight million eavesdroppers. It delivers quirky, surrealistic and irreverent wisecracks on race, sex, fashion, relationships and NY life, voiced in tones the rawer the better by people who live there: white collar workers, hip girls, beggars, kids, tourists, drunkards and the rest. Here’s an appetizer: “The quality of life here is so bad ... I mean, if you enjoy drinking all night and having random sex, you’ll like living in New York.” Sounds just like home.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
July 2006 issue
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Thursday 29 June 2006
By Thomas Podvin,
Thursday 29 June 2006 at 12:47 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China - Asian Cinema
http://www.hancinema.net/
Since the late 1990s, the Korean entertainment industry, in the form of movies and TV dramas, has exploded across Asia and the West. In part because the Korean government has a quota system which favors domestic product, but also because the product is generally of high quality, though not always. Of late, however, there’s likely to be a big fall off in quantity, following a change in Korean policy; but in the meantime, banked product will continue to pour out. To help one keep track (and au courant), the ‘Korean movie and drama database’ Hancinema.net is a handy, English-language resource, offering a comprehensive database of film personalities, movies and TV dramas (with names listed in English, Korean and Chinese). The content is exhaustive: fact sheets, news, filmographies, box office figures and industry data, photo galleries, BBS and links to e-stores. Hancinema.net also provides an efficient and smartly-designed search engine. With this site, Hanju mania is here to stay.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
June 2006 issue
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By Thomas Podvin,
Thursday 29 June 2006 at 12:44 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.idontlikeyouinthatway.com/
Jenny and Todd have an opinion, an opinion on everything ‘showbiz’. In July 2005, they launched the self-proclaimed ‘sexiest site on the Internet’ IDontLikeYouInThatWay.com wherein they share their (often scathing) opinions with folks like us. Yet this website is more than just a platform for their gripes and trash talk. It’s an eye-opener, with off-the-record quotes and less than glamorous pics of one’s favorite stars. In short, this is the web equivalent of Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon, volumes one and two. And just as entertaining for the same target audience: the insatiable gossip hunter. We don’t wish to lower ourselves but here are just two examples: “Orlando Bloom almost killed a guy with his car, and apologized with an autograph” and “Tom Cruise says he will eat the cord and the placenta after fiancée Katie delivers their baby.” Authentic, gross, and strangely addictive.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
June 2006 issue
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Sunday 14 May 2006
By Thomas Podvin,
Sunday 14 May 2006 at 11:00 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://lazyway.blogs.com/
“Hard work is passé. The paradigm-shifting concept is smart laziness.”
According to Fred Gratzon, success means cleverly avoiding work but still getting the job done. He should know. Gratzon’s claims never to have held a job for more than two months, and is one of only five people in the entire history of the US government to have been sacked from a civil-service job. Nevertheless, he founded several highly successful companies (ice cream and telecommunications) using ‘The Lazy Way to Success’ formula. This intriguing blog features tongue-in-cheek essays on laziness, business and self-employment, the sum of which is Gratzon’s maxim that the concept of hard work is a fraud. Or put another way: by doing less, one can accomplish more. Hard work, says Gratzon, has nothing to do with success; efficiency is the key to a rewarding life. “The time has come to reject work and enjoy greater health, peace, and prosperity,” says Gratzon. To which we can only add: Amen.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
May 2006 issue
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By Thomas Podvin,
Sunday 14 May 2006 at 10:53 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.zhouxinfang.com/
Widely regarded as one of China’s cultural treasures, Beijing Opera began when the Four Great Anhui Troupes came to the city in 1790. With a traditional repertoire of more than 1,000 works, mostly taken from historical novels or traditional stories about civil, political and military struggles, this art form has been, and still is, highly influential. Due, in no small part, to Opera master Zhou Xinfang (1895-1975), a contemporary of Mei Lanfang, who brought a style all his own to less than plastic art form. Zhou founded the Qi style, and in his seventy-year long career performed 600 different Beijing Opera titles. His work inspired several generations of audiences, colleagues, and, not surprisingly, his family. Indeed, his daughter, Tsai Chin, is an internationally renowned stage and screen actress (The World of Suzie Wong [West End]; Joy Luck Club, Virgin Soldier, You Only Live Twice and Memoirs of a Geisha). While Zhou’s granddaughter, China Chow, is a top model and a Hollywood actress. Talent must lie in genes.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
May 2006 issue
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Thursday 27 April 2006
By Thomas Podvin,
Thursday 27 April 2006 at 15:30 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.dogster.com/
With individual incomes on the rise and new pet laws, China’s city dwellers have welcomed more furry, fluffy, four-legged friends into their homes than ever before. According to government statistics, there are more than one million dogs in Beijing; and at least that many in Shanghai. Experts estimate the pet products’ market will reach RMB 6 billion in sales China-wide by 2008. So it’s no surprise that the number of monthly visitors to Dogster.com - the fastest-growing pet destination on the Internet – is also in the millions. And no wonder. It may be chic to walk a fluffy poodle in the streets of this city, but when it comes to dogged indulgence, the Yankees rule. Genuine dog lovers will enjoy surfing this canine website - funded by US dog freaks – who share pooch photos and stories, make new doggy friends, with nary a pooper-scooper in sight. International members are welcome, and have the same access as their American counterparts to pup pals and play dates. Check out the extensive dog database or other services, including forums, pet-friendly travel destinations, pet-friendly job ads; well, you get the drift.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
April 2006 issue
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By Thomas Podvin,
Thursday 27 April 2006 at 15:28 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.food411.com/
China may boast one of the world’s greatest cuisines but that doesn’t mean some expatriated gourmets don’t long for home cooking. Who hasn’t dreamed of an Italian risotto, some crawling French cheese, a Swiss chocolate bar, a spoonful of handmade American peanut butter, or British-Indian inspired chutney? For those of you who admit to these cravings and more, follow the link to Food411.com, the ultimate Web food resource. Here you’ll find everything and anything related to the art of eating, including online suppliers of gourmet foods, breads, coffee, wines, spices, as well as recipes, cooking lessons and even food blogs. But Food411.com provides more than a directory of reviewed and tested links to food-related websites, it uncovers unique gift ideas: unusual kitchen tools and products for the home. Of course, the most practical advice is left unsaid at this website: spend less time on the Internet and more in the kitchen.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
April 2006 issue
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Wednesday 8 March 2006
By Thomas Podvin,
Wednesday 8 March 2006 at 18:17 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.zefrank.com
This entertaining site is ranked among the 2005 Top 50 coolest entertainment websites by Time.com. Why? Because online performer, humorist and freelance designer Frank found that with a digital camera – his birthday gift – and Internet access, the possibilities are infinite. Possibilities to play around and goof off. If you’ve time on your hands at the office, during a dull holiday, or at home while your bitter half cleans the floor; well, Frank’s site offers 101 ways to kill time. Divided into eight sections, zefrank.com has some hilarious educational videos (try the cult favorite: “Dance Properly”), idiotic interactive toys (draw your mother a face), photo contests on any given subject (“Participate”) and games (check out the Buddhist one). All this on a wonderfully designed, interactive, multimedia (video, music, flash, etc.) wacky website. Oh, Frank posts his peculiar art and poetry, too. Totally useless, and thus indispensable.
(c)
that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
March 2006 issue
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By Thomas Podvin,
Wednesday 8 March 2006 at 18:12 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.answers.com
Internet search engines are cool tools but hardly specific: type in a query and you get a seemingly endless list of hyperlinks in an all but unfiltered and unstructured form. Answers.com, however, provides a far tidier reply. This site delivers multi-faceted definitions and explanations from credible, attributable reference sources (Houghton Mifflin, Columbia University Press and Merriam Webster, to name but a few) on over one million topics – all in a snapshot. Answers’ database collects information form more than 100 encyclopedias, dictionaries, glossaries and atlases; indeed, the site operates much like an online encyclopedia, offering standard definitions, biographies, alternative meanings, essential links and translations. Users can download a variety of free and safe tools (no viruses, no spywares) such as a search engine field to add to your tool bar. Another optional download, ’1-Click Answers’ allows users to search any word in any program on your screen for instant, accurate definitions and facts. Getting answers has never been so easy.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
March 2006 issue
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Thursday 2 February 2006
By Thomas Podvin,
Thursday 2 February 2006 at 10:55 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.liquorsnob.com
Here’s a website from a couple of mates who take their booze seriously. Viewers need not be heavy drinkers to appreciate the site’s many refreshing and palate-pleasing liquid concoctions, especially if mixology is crucial to the success of the next party. Established in September 2004, Liquor Snob offers “news and tips on all things alcoholic”; drink recipes, breathalyzers, drinking games, gear and hardware, even booze book reviews. Each new brand of alcohol is thoroughly drunk, digested, analyzed, reviewed and mixed with other ingredients to come up with the perfect cocktail combination. Be warned though that “One man’s favorite drink is another man’s toilet water.” Other advice includes how to use an octopus beer tap or how to beat a hangover by eating cabbage. Finally, a rule of thumb: “A drink should never have more than three ingredients, including ice.” Enjoy, and drink responsibly.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
February 2006 issue
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Tuesday 10 January 2006
By Thomas Podvin,
Tuesday 10 January 2006 at 03:48 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://beifan.com/
The Internet offers trainloads of travelogues with material of diverse quality and practical use. This website was created to share photos of Chinese people, and their geography, customs and food. Not especially well designed, the homepage displays gazillions of hyperlinks. As a result, the visitor is overwhelmed; fortunately, they provide an extremely handy site map. Beifan.com was created by an English teacher in a Methodist Church in Wrexham, North Wales who happened to meet some 'boat people'. How likely is that? Anyway, as a result of this chance meeting, he traveled frequently to China from 1987 to 2005. He fell in love with the Chinese and his passion spilled all over the web. The site has many different topics, in no particular order. In short, it is all about chance. Some of the links provide hours of virtual tours to some of the most gorgeous places in China (from the Yangtze Gorge, to Dalian's beaches and even Shanghai's Bund). The accompanying text is just as intense, containing a wealth of details and historical facts. Visit this site if you have plenty of spare time; ideal for train travelers.
(c)
that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue
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By Thomas Podvin,
Tuesday 10 January 2006 at 03:43 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://thegadgetblog.com
Our dictionary defines 'gadget' as "an often small mechanical or electronic device with practical use but often thought of as a novelty". The definition fails to specify gadgets that may be classed as totally trivial, amusing, grotesque, tasteless or even sexy. Not surprising, there are people who spend their time designing such gizmos; others simply reference them. Colbert Low loves gadgets and specifically all electronic devices, the more novel the better. Low's blog is a tribute to these unsung inventors, with hundreds of entries classified in dozens of categories (cellphones, gaming, household, robots, etc.). Guest bloggers (and Low) provide daily comments that introduce new fancy gadgets. For instance: "the portable Nokia 770 tablet will please workaholics with its expensive, conspicuous platform to surf the Internet from anywhere… while the Modern 2-Tasten sexy mouse will allow fantasy breaks at work... the ice kebabs sticks will bring life to any cheesy cocktail party". Well, you get the idea.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue
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Tuesday 6 December 2005
By Thomas Podvin,
Tuesday 6 December 2005 at 05:22 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.tv.com
Sure, discovering a new culture is the stuff of dreams. But sometimes, you yearn for the familiar: those entertainment products that never let you down and provide conversation at networking events. If you're an American, or simply fond of US TV fodder, well, TV.com will fill that existentialist need. Their database can fill in the blanks if you missed, say, the third episode of the second season of The O.C. Indeed, this site provides details on a large number of English-language soaps, reality TV programs and sitcoms. More than 3.6 million viewers wade monthly through the 15,000 entries, including TV-related news, reviews, recaps, profiles, galleries and videos. There's also a top 50 list and stats on the programs' rankings, which allows visitors to weed out the crap and go with the best. Yes, China is a fascinating place, but there's no place like home.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
December 2005 issue
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By Thomas Podvin,
Tuesday 6 December 2005 at 05:20 :: Websites
- English - that's Shanghai - China
http://www.spcnet.tv
In recent years, the rise of cable TV has upped the ante in the already highly competitive Asian movie industry. Of course, competition is good for the consumer and viewers have benefited from the broader choice of programming as well as the generally higher standard of productions. That said, there is a negative side: in the rush to provide product, taste and passion often suffer. Which is why Spcnet.tv is a very handy tool. Launched in 1999, initially this non-commercial website offered, in the main, reviews of the wuxia genre (Chinese chivalry). Since then, it has expanded to include reviews of just about every type of program available, plus info on upcoming movies, film essays, movie theme song videos and English translations of martial arts' novels (Jin Yong, Gu Long, etc.). Interaction is made possible with a discussion board, and wannabe writers can share their works at the "The Story Vault". In sum, there's enough material on this website to keep you warm in your cocoon all winter.
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that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
December 2005 issue
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