THOMAS PODVIN’S FREELANCE WORK
Freelance writer - translator - Editor

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.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
May 2006 issue

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.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
May 2006 issue