One-trick ponies: bands that keep reworking the same song

(The Guardian)
By Ben Myers
Forget musical innovation, the best way for a band to dominate the charts is to recreate their one good idea over and over again

Sound familiar? … Ramones rock out with Sheena is Beating On the Blitzkrieg Bop.
Ask the person on the street who they think is the greatest band in the world [...]

Classics of everyday design No 64: The Aquarelle pencil

(The Guardian)
By Jonathan Glancey
Colour pencils aren’t usually noted for their sharp design, but Caran D’Ache prove to be swish ambassadors for Swiss manufacturing

A tinful of tactile pleasure … Caran D’Ache Prismalo Aquarelles.
On an English summer’s day when the sun refuses to shine, I need only open my tin of Swiss pencils. The pigments in the [...]

Penfolds Tasting Event

Event information
Tagline:”Faces of Shiraz” @ Hilton Beijing
Host:Anny Ho
Type: Party – Cocktail Party
Time and place
Date: 6 August 2009
Time: 18:30 – 22:30
Location: One East @ Hilton Beijing
Street: 1 Dong Fang Road, Dong Sanhuan Beilu
Neighbourhood: 朝阳区(Chaoyang)
Phone: 5865 5030 / 1355 223 5122
E-mail: oneeast.beijing@hilton.com
Description:
Join us in One East Resaurant at 6:30pm on the 6th of August for this year’s [...]

Monthly FREE Event – Hutong Impression on a Bike

Event information
Tagline:travel
Host:Hong Gao
Type: Trips – Group Trip
Time and place
Date: 8 August 2009
Time: 16:00 – 19:00
Location: Beijing
Neighbourhood: 朝阳区(Chaoyang)
Phone: 15117916648
E-mail: info@90percenttravel.com
Description:
In this 3 hour exploration you will be able to travel as a real local. This is a wonderful biking tour to indulge yourself in the past of Beijing. We will cycle through some alleys that not [...]

How business is (often) done in China.

All of these experiences happened to me this last month.
First, If you don’t make it, fake it.  This is different from the same old “China just copies everything.”  Well, sort of different.
We are working for a client that is buying deli products in China for the US market.  They want a PET box or baked [...]

Expat Facts

Sometimes the simplest questions are always the most difficult to answer. For example, I’m always asked how many expats there are in Beijing. It’s a difficult question because the numbers I’ve heard over the years have been all over the map.
Several years ago, I was having dinner with a senior member of the Beijing Automobile [...]

The Sea of Humanity

By Tom Watkins
People, people everywhere! As established, it does not matter if you are on the freeways, roadways, back alleys, shopping center or on a side, neighborhood street– from early in the morning to late in the evening– everywhere you look are Chinese people. Sometimes it feels like the entire 1.3 billion people are in [...]

China’s Plastic Bag Ban is A Mixed Bag

When China banned free ultrathin plastic bags last year, it was hailed worldwide, and the initial weeks it was difficult to deny the difference.
A trip to foreign markets like B&Q, METRO, and TESCO and it was a complete ban, and contrary to some skeptics, even the local markets appeared to be changing their ways. Of [...]

Six of the best child-safety gadgets

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article6714721.ece
Nigel Kendall
Baglite
 
Reasons to buy This set is designed to attach permanently to a cyclist¹s backpack, and comprises two white lights to the front, one red light to the rear. They can be set to flash or to be constantly on, and will never require batteries.
Reasons not to They are not intended as a replacement for [...]

Erin Wasson is both grunge goddess and supermodel

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article6722265.ece
America’s answer to Kate Moss has more tattoos than a rocker, loves to surf, is a catwalk darling and now she’s turned designer
Amy Larocca

Erin Wasson, supermodel, is tanned the colour of burnt caramel and her body is covered in tattoos. “This one here, that’s my Elvis tattoo,” she says, pointing at her forearm. It reads: [...]