1. another office dog. introducing MOZART!
2. “deeeeejaying” at shelter.
3. free-flow margaritas are always a bad idea.
4. roasted some chickens for some ladies.
5. ladylike shanghai!
6. ricotta cheesey lasagna, greenbeans and salad.
7. a rare burst of sun.
8. farmville, love youuuuu.
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yessssssss, it is valentines day and it’s the first day of the year of the tiger! we arrived in kitzbühel via munich and london a few days ago, but there has been no wifi anywhere, can you imagine? the flight to london was uneventful, mark’s new apartment in west london is amazing, with a crazy view of the parliment and big ben. we flew to munich the next day, and rented a car (they messed up our reservation and so we are tooling around in a fancy BMW X5) and drove the 2 hours to austria. the cabin we’re staying in is very very sweet, and the two days of skiing we’ve done so far have been incredible. i haven’t skiied in a few years, and i took a 2 hour private lesson (with the ridiculously named yet charming BRUNO). still, i’m terrified of going too fast (as usual) and memories of childhood ski trips and bailing super hard are still too fresh in my brain – i like to call my style of skiing more of a ‘controlled slide’ down the mountain.
we’ve been eating pretty much nonstop, (after consulting monocle’s city guide) we stocked up the teeny tiny cabin fridge with amazing fresh produce and meats. also, yesterday, we ate at the the michelin 2 starred rosengarten, ummmmm hello amazing. above are some photos of the food orgies we’ve been having.
1. neng myun at the beijing airport (surprisingly tasty, but a bit too sweet + no self serve mustard and vinegar)
2. mark’s rotisserie chicken + green beans and potatoes, our first meal in london.
3. first breakfast in the cabin, i made open sunny side up + cheese sandwhiches.
4. chili con carne on the mountain for lunch.
5. cheese and meat platter for a post ski snack.
6. we found nice meats at nicholaus fuchs, and i came up with lamb for dinner.
7. sausages + 3 cheese egg scramble for breakfast.
8. amazing (and rich) (and pricey!) dinner courtesy of chef simon taxacher.
another post coming soon! so excited to meet up with collin and kate tonight! wheeeee austria.
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this time of year is always filled with chinese new year celebrations, everyone’s having some kind of party and the weekends are a madhouse of bopping around and indulging in too much. on friday, we dropped by the Nike Year of the Tiger Cortez release party, with a performance by PET CONSPIRACY, a puppet show and more. afterwards, we hit up rodney and natasha’s Central Studios CNY bash and then stumbled over to shelter to see KIDFRESH play bananas. his music was a-maaazing, peep his blog HERE.
on saturday, i went to the jellymon cny dinner, they held it at this amazing private kitchen in XJH, one of the best chinese meals i’ve ever had, and not only was the food fantastic, but the jellymon family are such warm, funny, wonderful people – it’s so great to see a fresh creative agency with young, amazing talent. sitting down to dinner with all of them really made my evening, i’m really looking forward to seeing what great things they come up with in 2010.
also on saturday, john robinson’s house party! i’ve uploaded a flickr set here and that’s about all i’m going to say. if you’re looking for photos from my personal collection of that evening, just email me! rooahhaa.
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heads up, my latest photo gallery is up on smart shanghai. lighting was poor at dream factory, they didn’t come out as nicely as i would have liked but you can still check them HERE. also, hey hey hey how exciting, only ONE WEEK till john & i are in the UK and Austria, skiing up a storm. xo
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had such a great time at BADTASTIC VS BANANAS! we had a bit of a late start but the place was bumpin’ by the time it mattered and thanks so much to everyone who made it out. hurrah badtastic!!
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photos from the ANDREW BIRD show at dream factory. frankly, not one of the best shows I’ve been to, mostly due to the crappy sound situation at dream factory, as well as the general layout of the venue. when that place gets packed, it’s a miserable time, anyone not standing within a couple feet of the stage can’t see anything except for the tall assholes in front of them, which leads to alot of chatter and general sounds of revelry from the back. still, i had a good time, i stood on the wings of the stage for a while and he really is a great performer, as well as an excellent whistler. yay!
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IT’S WEDNESDAY! only two more days till the weekend, only three more days till BADTASTIC VS BANANAS! am very excited about the upcoming andrew bird show, i’ve never seen him live but some friends have told me he’s the most amazing dude ever. also, i kinda want to hang out with him, we both studied music performance in school and so maybe that means we’re soulmates?! ohhhhhhh. there’s a nice MP3MONDAY article on him in today’s smart shanghai.
(speaking of smart shanghai, they’ve posted my MAOLIVE photos in their gallery, go have a look + thanks to the site for their awesome shoutout, guess this means i’m gonna have to update my site more often?)
finally – i was just looking through my flickr page and noticed that i’d never posted the above two images. both are from last weekend, a very random and hilarious saturday evening where we somehow managed to get dragged into a hummer limo birthday party (some friends and i ran into these people at a bar, we don’t actually know them but who can say no to a bunch of screaming foreigners behaving badly?). the other image is from earlier on saturday, our two cats hanging out, high on cat nip.
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SUPER AWESOME BEST FUN SHOW!!! had such a great time on friday at the Maybe Mars label showcase, with PK14 + 24HRS + RUSTIC + OURSELVES BESIDES ME. the venue was packed (hey mao, love you guys but your bar service is abysmal), energy was high, friends a plenty were in attendance, bands killed it, one of the best shanghai nights in recent memory and looking forward to more. yay!
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been thinking about BEIJING lately, and how much fun i had living there. i moved to shanghai in april of 2009, and have been back multiple times since, but it doesn’t quite feel the same. i used to spend an inordinate amount of time hanging out with friends at D22, and was looking through old photos and thought i’d put together some of my favourites. all the photos were taking in the first few months of getting to beijing, when JOYSIDE were still getting wasted and bombing the stage, when we were still calling QUEEN SEA BIG SHARK by their chinese name (and not to mention that this was way before my company teamed up with CONVERSE and sent them on tour), when the SCOFF were still playing the same 5 songs in their same set, week after awesome week. miss you guys + click here to see a full size image.
ps. this beijing post comes right in time to also talk about how excited i am for the MAYBE MARS LABEL SHOWCASE on friday. not only do i love the bands that are playing, but my beijing buddies are in town and that means reunion time and fun. the show also marks my first forays into taking party snaps for the smart shanghai site. see you on friday, fuckers, i’m stoked!!!
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