My favorite hotel in New York City

I cannot remember the exact number of hotels that I have stayed in the big apple. From top tier/top bucks to low price/bargain chains. From brand name to boutique hotels. You name it.

I used to like Hotel Avalon — it offers a great location, and a bargain price given the size of the room and facilities. But ever since they changed the management, hotel Avalon is going all the way downhill. By the way, the new owner Vincci is said to be a Spanish hotel chain. From what I have seen at a Vincci hotel in Madrid, I am not surprised. I will save a blog post just for that “amazing” experience.

My new favorite is Tribeca Grand Hotel. The hotel itself is trendy and funky. It has a nice lounge bar called Church. The room is clean and nice, with all the trendy gadgets including a LCD TV and an ipod docks. Plus, I love walking around in the Soho area and also having Chinese food in the Chinatown nearby, so this hotel is perfectly located. It is also not far away from my favorite Japanese Restaurant Soto.

The most pleasant part of the stay is the service. From front desk to concierge, I have not been anything less than perfectly satisfied. Yes, they even loan you a pair of pet gold fish free of charge.

However, to handle this hotel requires some trick. First of all, you need to register at their website as a Grand Guest. The registration is free, of course. But this free registration brings in a lot of free perks: Free internet (wireless), free continental breakfast, and a free bottle of water with a basket of fruits. To connect wireless in your hotel room, make sure you connect to the spot that has the corresponding floor number of your room. You also need to require a high floor, because of course, we are in New York!

The mascots of the Beijing Olympics (B): Jingjing the panda

The official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games says the following about Jingjing the panda: “Jingjing makes children smile — and that’s why he brings the blessing of happiness wherever he goes. You can see his joy in the charming naivety of his dancing pose and the lovely wave of his black and white fur. As a national treasure and a protected species, pandas are adored by people everywhere.”

When explaining the design of the mascot, the website went on: “The lotus designs in Jingjing’s headdress, which are inspired by the porcelain paintings of the Song Dynasty (A.D.960-1234), symbolize the lush forest and the harmonious relationship between man and nature. Jingjing was chosen to represent our desire to protect nature’s gifts — and to preserve the beauty of nature for all generations. Jingjing is charmingly naïve and optimistic. He is an athlete noted for strength who represents the black Olympic ring.”

So what does Jingjing do?

(1) Baseball

(2) Boxing

(3) Wrestling

(4) Archery

(5) Weigh-lifting

(6) Shooting

(7) Judo

 

My favorite Chinese dynasty is the Song dynasty. My favorite animal is panda bear. Glad to see the two being “together”.

My post about Nini the swallow: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/the-mascots-of-the-beijing-olympics-e-nini-the-swallow/

My post about Yingying the antelope: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/the-mascots-of-the-beijing-olympics-d-yingying-the-antelope/

My post about Huanhuan the flame: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/the-mascots-of-the-beijing-olympics-c-huanhuan-the-flame/

My post about Beibei the fish: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/beijing-olympic-mascot-1-beibei-the-fish/

The mascots of the Beijing Olympics (A): Beibei the fish

I love the five mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Chinese name of each mascot (FuWa) has a rhyming two-syllable name — a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow. Putting their names together — Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni — their names become ”Welcome to Beijing”.

The official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games says: “in China’s traditional culture and art, the fish and water designs are symbols of prosperity and harvest. And so Beibei carries the blessing of prosperity. A fish is also a symbol of surplus in Chinese culture, another measure of a good year and a good life. The ornamental lines of the water-wave designs are taken from well-known Chinese paintings of the past. Among Fuwa, Beibei is known to be gentle and pure. Strong in water sports, she reflects the blue Olympic ring.”

So what does Beibei do? The Beijing Olympic Games pictograms tell all…

(1) Rowing

(2) Swimming

(3) Canoe/Kayak-Flatwater

(4) Rhythmic Gymnastics

(5) Canoe/Kayak-Slalom

(6) Sailing

(7) Synchronized Swimming

(8) Diving

(9) Water Polo

These are the lovely pictograms for Beibei. They are not widely circulated beyond China, but I have to say they are super-cute!

My post about Nini the swallow: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/the-mascots-of-the-beijing-olympics-e-nini-the-swallow/

My post about Yingying the antelope: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/the-mascots-of-the-beijing-olympics-d-yingying-the-antelope/

My post about Huanhuan the flame: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/the-mascots-of-the-beijing-olympics-c-huanhuan-the-flame/

My post about Jingjing the panda: http://minifish.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/the-mascot-of-the-beijing-olympics-b-jingjing-the-panda/

Google doodles for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Even Google cannot escape the hype of this year’s Beijing Olympics. 17 Google doodles, created by a young artist Dennis Hwang, are displayed during the 17-day period of the Games. A larger size of each logo is available at Google’s China site: http:/www.google.cn. Since these doodles are shown worldwide, some of them have been modified to accommodate local traditions (for example, for some countries, pigs and dogs are removed from the sketches).

08/08/08: The Opening Ceremony Five Beijing Olympics mascots – BeiBei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing and NiNi - carry the Olympic flag. This one is my favorite.

08/09/08: Cycling The goat looks cool with his sun-glasses

08/10/08: Weight Lifting Can one imagine a mouse being so powerful?

08/11/08: Diving Humm, another version of “when pig flies”?

08/12/08: Rhythmic Gymnastics

08/13/08: Rings Stinky monkey likes this one the most. Maybe it is because of the monkey?

 

08/14/08: Basketball Oh, the “dragon spirit” Although Chinese Basketball Team did not win any medal, basketball is gaining popularity in China. The China-USA Basketball match on August 10th is one of the most watched game.

08/15/08: Badminton This pose reminds me of the signature style of Lin Dan, who won the gold medal for the men’s single.

08/16/08: Soccer The Chinese men’s team is so bad that after they lost to Belgium, it has become a national entertainment to mock them.

08/17/08: Rowing

08/18/08: Ping Pong Another dragon fighter. Not surprising, consider table tennis is so-called the National Sport of China.

08/19/08: Swimming At beginning I wonder why they chose a snake to be the super fast swimmer, but then I figure it out (see the bottom of this post)  

08/20/08: Track and Field (Athletics)

08/21/08: High Jump

08/22/08: Martial Arts It is not an official competing area for the Olympics. But it is fun to watch

08/23/08: Baseball

08/24/08: The Closing Ceremony Looks like everyone had fun!

These doodles are not meant just to be cute. Of course, by now you would have probably noticed already that all the animals portrayed in these doodles belong to the original 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac

Region-free hack for Philips DVP 5982/37

The newly acquired Philips upconverting DVD player is awesome… until I inserted a DVD movie I bought from Australia.

I cannot believe my eyes when the screen tells me the disc is of “Wrong Region”. Boy, I bought this DVD player because it is suppose to be region-free! Never mind, time to get help from experienced online region code hackers. At the first try, it worked beautifully.

Here is the way to hack the imposed region code for Philips DVP 5982:

Make sure there is no disc in the DVD player.

- Press “Setup” on your remote.
- Go to the right to select “Preference”
- Press 1,3,8,9,3,1
- Press up or down to scroll through the regions; select “0″ for completely region-free.
- Then press “menu” to exit.

“Olympicize” this movie poster

To me, the Olympics Games is not only about excitements and medals. It should also be a time for fun. Hey, how often do you have a chance to get together with people all over the world and have fun, regardless how different beliefs, religions, and politics between you and others?

That is why I always find the gossip columns of the Olympics Games coverage from these Chinese social networks and media websites equally appealing. Wait a minute, isn’t that why NBC long time ago decided to add more of a “personal touch” to its Olympic TV coverage? Hum, which means I already fall into the “dirt-digging” side of human nature?

Well, even a non-athletic and non-Olympian ordinary can still have a good time with the Games, right? Apparently, many Chinese internet citizens have had so much fun with the Games and their home country athletes that one of the most recent “sport fun” related to the Beijing Olympics Games involves a use of the software Adobe Photoshop and blockbuster movie posters.  Can you “Olympicize” this movie poster?

This one shows how the movie poster of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” has been “transformed”: Apparently, we can always find the NBA basketball star Yao Ming, the diver Guo Jingjing, track and field star Liu Xiang, and table tennis star Zhang Yining, in the same poster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new Chinese Olympic sport outfit definitely reminds people of something about Lara Croft~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right before the first basketball game between USA and China, fans were getting even more creative…Basketball players including Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi and Sun Yue all guest-star in “Basketball Team China: Band of Brothers”. Hello, isn’t this the movie poster of “Saving Private Ryan”? Er…, but you enjoyed the game, right?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does the style of table tennis player Wang LiQin have anything to do with the movie from Adam Sandler? They are both fun to watch.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The usual disclaimer: I found these images online. I had fun with them but did not make them :-)

Coca-Cola’s Beijing Olympic Games TV commercials (updated)

For this year’s Beijing Summer Olympics, one of the most pleasant (non-sport) surprises is Coca-Cola’s TV commercials. The majority of these are from the creative team of Coca-Cola China.

My favorite is the commercial titled “Bird’s Nest” (note that the following YouTube link allows you to watch this commerical in either normal or high-definition quality)

It is so creative. Birds of 5 colors corresponding to the Olympics 5 rings. They are from all over the places (notice one scene showing the Chinese translation of Coca-Cola on the bottles). That black bird holds the red straw as if he is holding the torch. Absolutely cute.

I also enjoy the one titled “Yao and LeBron”:

The lyrics of the background music is “Unity is powerful”, an old Chinese saying back to 1950s. In the end, LeBron toasted “Gan Bei” (bottle-up, a similar phrase of “Cheers”).

Another commercial is not aired in the States. I saw it often in July when I visited Beijing. It is kind sweet though:

Ricardo Setyon writes about his thoughts for the Beijing Olympics

The famous Brazilian sport journalist Ricardo Setyon published at sohu.com about his thoughts of the Beijing Olympics.

Original link: http://aoyunpl2.blog.sohu.com/97471212.html

Is there anyway I cannot respect that gift China is giving me?

By RICARDO SETYON

Fire.

Moon.

Speed.

Blue Sky.

Gold.

Memories.

Respect.

Three days thinking about how to put in words the feelings of being here.

They say, and I laugh about it, that Journalists can put anything they think , want and feel into words…

Nothing could be more wrong than that.

So, as I had that amazing opportunity to bring a bit of what I think and know , to the readers and sport fans of SOHU.COM,  I was thinking of bringing all kinds of inside news, and exclusive interviews.

But coming all the way from Brazil, being inside the Olympics that will change the world, and having the chance of breathing the same air that Chinese and people from another 205 nations  do, articles became more of a travel,  a journey among the greatest moments of the 29th Olympic Games.

I do not want to be the journalist from abroad that tell the world, so many times, around and around, again and again that the skies of Beijing are dirty, the air contaminated and to breath is hard.

I want to be the one that will explain to people in my country, that  it is not true! The clouds that often surround the skies of Beijing, are a result of the lack of winds, powerful enough to push those same clouds away from where they are “trapped” by the mountains that surrounds  the capital city.

In Beijing, in the streets of “PEQUIM”, as we say back in Brazil, are clean, full of flowers, plenty of volunteers, and above all, safe, calm, and relaxed. I like that.

I do not want to be the Swedish athlete that unhappy with the referees and with the bronze medal he won, he decided that was not good, and decided to throw it to the floor!

I want  to be the one to talk about how fantastic were youngster Li Pen and Wuan, and so many other boys and girls, that do not complain….as fans, staff and, of course, journalists, complain about how hot is Beijing, how sweaty, and humid, those kids, volunteers, of course, are hours inside the FUWA mascots. Bei Bei, Nini, Jing Jing, Ying Ying and Huan Huan, never complain, always are in good mood, and will not let you, me or no one, down, accepting that request to “just one more picture please…”…

I surely  do not want to be the person who writes about traffic. I have traffic jams in London, Sao Paulo and Rome…believe me…worse than here!

I do not want to be the one to write about language problems. The Football World Cup in Japan and Korea, in 2002, was not any better.

And I will not talk about security checks, ticketing trouble and…that’s it…can’t find anything else!

I can talk about the fact that we are already at the half of the Olympics, and all is great, safe and exciting.

I will talk about the Friday 15th August, a beautiful, the first, blue sky day we had in Beijing. And what a beautiful day!

I have to talk about the three months that have gone by from the Chengdu area earthquake, and how China is rebuilding lives, houses and cities, without making too much noise about it, and life is coming back to normal. No  money or attention that goes to the Olympics, come at the cost of the earthquake victims. On the contrary: China does both fronts, very efficiently and very well.

I am sitting here at the Bird’s Nest. Seat number 14, row 5, Aisle 216, tier 2, Sector D, if you don’t believe me…

Because, I, really do not believe!

The Olympic fire burns my eyes, so big it is, so impressively designed, amazingly unfolded. Like a paper of the deepest Chinese historical roots.

As if she wanted to take a some of the people’s attention, to steal the stage, just a little bit, comes a full moon. Clear and bright as an Olympic set of lights, bringing another star in the Games. Had the chance to stop one second and check out that cool Chinese full moon ?

The words flow easy on my mind, but how hard to explain the feeling of being here, inside the most modern and beautiful stadium in the world! What have been said, and what was written and pictured around that Bird’s Nest, it is simply not enough.

Seeing athletes running, the Mexican wave making people shake their bodies and the stands fully taken by well behaved fans, it all makes me forget how sad must it be for Tyson Gay, the US 100 meters champions getting out of the finals.

The stadium, this night, the volunteers helping elderly people get on the stairs to reach their place, the country all together, enjoying and helping in their way to make it unique, makes Us foreigners forget the distance from home, the family and the bed at our house that we lie so much.

So, it is like that: you celebrate the speed, the gold, the results.

And I celebrate that full moon over our heads, the Mexican wave, the new Chinese song I learned that goes like that: “Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni…xiang yinyue…gan dong ni…, and that I will never forget. OK?”

You celebrate the world coming to your country, and that China will never be the same again, and, I celebrate my new  work as “Auto Nominated International Good Will Ambassador of China People”. OK ?

In my sixth Olympics of my life, I can say that all fires of the Games I have been since 1988, were marvelous, special and impressive.

But here in Beijing, there is something that makes you want to look at it all the time. Be it because we recall the image of Li Ning walking on air to lit it, or because of its unique design. I cannot answer.

But  sincerely, even with all the Stadium fantastic lines, and the Olympic fire that seems to be wanting to fly away from the Bird’s Nest, I still decided to take my way towards the other side of the Olympic Ring.

Somewhere in Salintun, downtown Beijing, I lived two hours of  crazy moments with thousand people, following the match of women’s volleyball between China and the USA.

Sitting in the floor, taking pictures with Chinese that wanted to have me in their cameras, applauding the points, and getting sad for the defeat.

Even so, China losing, the fans were cheering and enjoying their moment.

Sometimes, less is more.

And even not being at the stadium, not having the ticket, and sitting in the floor, I have written another page of memories in my sports unforgettable moments in life.

Is there anyway I cannot respect that gift China is giving me?

Lip-synching and footprint firework image at the opening ceremony? So?

I started to get emails about how that red-dressed little girl Lin Miaoke lip-synched at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games Opening Ceremony. Just to give an idea how this whole thing has explored disproportionally, here is my photographer whom I have not seen for several years asking me about it.

“Is it true?” She asked.

“Have you seen the whole ceremony?” I replied.

 “No, I have not.”

Honestly, I care less and could not understand why this is a big deal. Do not get me wrong: I would feel happy if I see the actual girl (Yang Peiyi) who both sings and appears on the stage instead of Lin Miaoke. But equally, I won’t feel offended and consider it a horrendous crime if a different (also considered prettier) girl instead was lip-synching. We all know how common this practice is, both here in the States and in China (won’t be surprised if it happens in the rest of the world). Aren’t celebrities including Madonna and Britney Spears known for their lip-synching? The list goes on and on.

Fireworks create the Olympic Rings over the National Stadium during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 24, 2008. The stadium is also known as the Bird's Nest. (Daniel Aguilar/Reuters)

The way I see it, for the girl who provided the look (Lin Miaoke) at the opening ceremony, if she does not wish to lip-synch, she can always say no. For the girl who provided the voice, she can always walk away if she feels unfairly treated. Apparently she did not. In fact, she told the Associated Press that she is honored to do so. Neither of the two girls has any connections with the power that be, so I really do not see the point.

The bottom line is, this is not a competition for medals, nor a sport, for god’s sake. It is just a tiny part of an artistic (group) show; and as far as I understand, they just wanted it to be perfect.

Then I received an angry email sent by some gentleman with an attached report about how the part of the firework show at the night of the opening ceremony – 29 footprints – is in fact all digitalized except for the last one. The email started with a familiar claim “This news is not reported in China”. Then the writer went on: “As a Chinese I feel not only embarrassed but angry. This politburo member should be exposed and sacked.  He does more damage to China than Chinese enemies!  Don’t know whether he is stupid or just incompetent!”

Dude, just calm down! It is funny to see just how someone jumps up and down and circulates things without even giving a reasonable thought. I am in no position to debate whether these footprint fireworks I saw in TV were the actual fireworks or digital images. However, I always wonder, why a million of local residents and tourists along that street where the 29 footprints were fired – including a substantially large number of foreign tourists and even foreign media outlets on the Tiananmen square – can remain silent if they saw images of the fireworks on TV but did not observe anything on the sky?

It is never wrong to think with a reason, right? Just to say, if all of a sudden someone tells me that explorers have found tropical rain forest growing at the North Pole, then I have to ask myself first whether this is possible logically and rationally. To me, it would always take them far much less efforts to manipulate the fireworks than to manipulate computer images – come on, they invented and have been doing fireworks for thousand years. In terms of technicality, the fireworks showing the Olympic 5 rings and smiley faces are FAR more difficult to do; but hey, anyone there hasn’t seen these fireworks on top of the Bird’s Nest?

Straightly speaking, the footprint itself is only a part of the whole firework show, and I was not even that impressed – I liked the fireworks at the Bird’s Nest much better. Still it is hard to understand why someone feels extremely furious about something that is not even that dramatic.

By the way, I watched the NBC coverage of the opening ceremony here. According to some sources, NBC altered significantly the opening ceremony including the parade of nations. On top of that, they denied any alternations even though evidence has popped up on various web pages and blogs. Should the same person also jump up and down and call NBC “stupid and incompetent”? And just because of the alternations I, as an audience, cannot enjoy the entire event? Should the same person blame NBC “stupid and incompetent” for not even broadcasting the event live (apparently CBC does and almost the rest of the world does) and for trying to block every possible online/web access by US viewers for the footage of the ceremony before their own taped coverage is released? Then I wonder how long his nerve can last – oh, what about BBC’s recent scandals of cheating the audience in its reality shows and TV competitions?

I still enjoy the show. Immediately after the show I pre-ordered the DVD, both the NBC version and the CCTV version. For the gentleman who is circulating this piece of news – the factual part of the news is still subject to verification – no thanks; please keep your rage yourself and leave others alone. I do have my own brain and analytical ability, and both work fine. Most importantly, just as I definitely care less about the medal counts, it is the sportsmanship and Olympic spirits that I enjoy when watching the Olympic coverage. I cheer for a Chinese player as well as for a non-Chinese player as long as I see he or she demonstrates a great performance. I enjoy this whole event!

Two unexpected winter garden visitors

I am not kidding. It is now winter in…er, Australia.

My Australian friend wrote: “(Here is a picture of) winter visitors to our house, waiting for me to give them some food.” Now, I really want to check out Australia.