sushipanda

• @sammy6001 didn’t they do this with some big name T-shirt designers last year? #
• @terencelau very jealous. very jealous. #
• @terencelau looks like i’ll be cutting out coco and cantina. my body took a beating with all that Taiwanese street food #
• anxious to get back to shanghai and start thie non-carb stage of my life. Almost cracked the scale last night in HK. Cried and ate cheese. #
• Barcode in Taipei is dangerous. Super hot girls and super good/strong drinks. If only they could transplant it to Shanghai. #
• taipei during CNY is nothing but a smorgasbord of street food and conversation about street food. my belly needs to rest. #
• damn people in taipei drink just as much as people in shanghai. asians love their dice games and whiskey #
• @cmar55 make sure you drop the kids off at the pool first! in reply to cmar55 #
• Taipei knows how to throw a CNY banquet. The lobster I just had was hot shit. #

I just got back into Shanghai last night. I’ve already decided to go back to Taipei as soon as I start making some dough. At the end of the day, Shanghai is still the more vibrant town and it’s my home, but Taipei, maybe because I have been there so infrequently, also reminds me of home. The food, the way people talk, the general vibe — these are all things that I grew up with when I was in the LA area as a kid. Going to banquets, watching what limited Chinese TV there was, listening to the Taiwan-Mandarin accents of my relatives and family friends. Every time I go back to Taipei the more it reminds me of those days, and the its pull on me gets ever so stronger.

For those who didn’t grow up in a Taiwanese-type household, Taipei is still a refreshing breath of fresh air. It’s an unerringly ugly city, with decades-old buildings that sit squat along the street. The Taipei 101 building towers over everything else. The city has no skyline because the only real skyscraper is the 101. That being said, everyone is civilized, friendly, and not a public spitter. The metro is clean and organized, the taxi drivers like to strike up conversation, and the waiters and waitresses are so polite that they apologize when they serve you things or make suggestions.

And the young people! The women at the nightclubs know how to make themselves look smoking, the guys are all stylish and handsome and confident. The last night I went to Barcode, a sleek lounge with fantastic drinks and tons of eye candy, and then we traipsed downstairs to Room 18, which I’ve heard of many times but never been. At 3 am, my friend drove us to get a midnight snack — Taiwan style breakfast that you just can’t get in Shanghai.

I don’t think I’ve said anything profound here, and it’s not like I’ve completely fallen for this ugly, friendly city with great food. It’s just that for the first time since I moved out here, I feel a connection to a place other than Shanghai. I never had it with HK, I never allowed myself to feel anything for San Francisco (since it might make me go back), and nowhere else in China even came close. Now I do, and I kinda feel like I’m cheating on Shanghai. Shanghai: I will find a way back to you, although this stupid detox/diet thing I’m on doesn’t help.

Just a sample of some eats I’ve had in Taipei during this Chinese New Year holiday. More to come.

• it’s been said but i’ll say it again: HK airport is the best! #
• off to taiwan for CNY, happy new year everybody! #
• Day started off with Obama speech and draught killkennys, then sleep and now coco curry. Not too shabby so far. #
• @terencelau @danwashburn and I couldn’t get in so we went to big bamboo. Hope u had a good time. in reply to terencelau #
• Today was a good day. ‘Nuff said. #
• @terencelau heading there now. Will look for you! in reply to terencelau #
• @lonniehodge hmm, just tried and still can’t access it from Shanghai. in reply to lonniehodge #
• why does the google favicon look so ghastly? #
• shopgirl fascinates me. Her comment on today’s Marks and Spencer post on Shanghaiist: “M&S is the most stupid thing that happened to SH” #
• @jennwong hey, @julieliu and i were looking for you a shelter and charmat tonight. in reply to jennwong #

Back in the early part of 2007 I went to the first Barack Obama function in Shanghai. I gave it some press and donated $50 (my first ever political contribution). The event was at the now defunct Moon River Diner. It was a conference call with the then senator in which he talked about the campaign and took a few questions from Beijing and Shanghai. There were probably about 30 people max.

Fast forward to Inauguration night. The official Democrats Abroad Inauguration party was at Glamour Bar. The venerable Dan Washburn and his lovely wife Bliss picked me up after my dinner and we headed toward the Bund. Right when we got into the first floor lobby, Michelle Garnaut, the owner of Glamour and M on the Bund, came out of the elevator and told us that Glamour was overflowing, and that people couldn’t even get into the bar and were stuck in the lobby. We ran into Chris St. Cavish from SH Magazine, who later told us he took the elevator up anyway and could not get out of it once it got to the 6th floor.

From 30 people in Moon River to hundreds overflowing one of the most premium bar/lounges in Shanghai. Not too shabby, Mr. President.

We ended up circling back to Big Bamboo and having a fairly pleasant viewing experience, surrounded by good friends and good beer. The only negative part was the fucking douchebag that kept yelling “Snap!” during the president’s speech and other gutteral idiocies. But this was Obama talking, so we let the better angels of our nature prevent us from spitting phlegm in his direction.

So that was 24 hours ago, and earlier today I caught myself up on the rest of Inauguration Day in the States. As usual, some of the things I came across made me laugh (see earlier post) and some made my tear up. Here’s one that accomplished the former:

h/t to Buzzfeed

And what was tear inducing? How about the First Couple’s first dance?

Did you catch that? That’s Beyonce tearing up toward the end. If this doesn’t get you, you have no soul. That’s right, you Republican! (I kid, I kid — better angels, and all)

I was going to put up some ultra sentimental post about watching the inauguration, but then I came across this Letterman’s Top 10 reasons why our former president (what a great thing to say) is going to be missed and it just cracked me up. And also, the video of the two pandas fucking at the Washington Zoo doesn’t seem to be embeddable, sorry!

Letterman’s too nice, actually. If it was Olbermann he’d probably have a week-long marathon. And the sad thing is, it probably still wouldn’t be enough to cover his first term.

• @terencelau the coco curry on maoming is already getting packed for lunch. useless vultures, i say! in reply to terencelau #
• @jennwong actually, i dunno if they are delivering just yet. last i heard from kelley was that they were definitely going to do it soon. in reply to jennwong #
• Day 2 of 2, here we go again: http://twitpic.com/12yxd #
• I knew this would be a bad thing: at coco curry again. Damn you, successful Japanese curry hegemony! #
• Another vanquished foe: http://twitpic.com/12onx. I took care of one of its cousins yesterday for lunch. #
• Finally having lunch at the new coco curry by my office. Haven’t been this excited since Election night. My life is so sad. #
• @terencelau holy shit, is that coco curry open? I was there last week and people were still unpacking. in reply to terencelau #
• Focusmedia has gotten to my apartment’s elevator. #
• just got a call from ICS, they liked my pitch and are going with our design. Republic Studios’ first TV package in Shanghai! #

…use a website that automatically employs a Photoshop filter to make my dumbass mug look sort of like Shepard Fairey’s iconic image of our next President. Yes I can.

• It’s 3 am. Your kids atr sleeping. The phone rings. It’s me and I’m drunk on thurs again. Who do u want to slur back? #
• @peijinc those words are always said before the next bottle is ordered. in reply to peijinc #
• @danwashburn i imagine you dropping to your knees and screaming “that loser that doesn’t shave!”: http://is.gd/8gFw in reply to danwashburn #
• debating with @danwashburn on the best rock album of 2008. I say MGMT, he says Pink. Typical. #
• Roland Burris, your repetitive and delusional statements are so annoying I cringe all the way out here in Shanghai. #
• @yakobusan the one I visited a few months back for a shoot is called Cinerent, but it’s a massive set. in reply to yakobusan #
• just received an e-mail from @yakobusan and MK Media. Good to have another green screen option in Shanghai. #
• @cmar55 have you heard of republic studios? heard everyone wants to work for them! in reply to cmar55 #
• At tian jia treating my parents to dinner for my dad’s birthday. #
• @aricsqueen Miller’s Crossing best viewed with subtitles on so you can appreciate the dialogue. Also helps not to get lost. in reply to aricsqueen #
• Beca Cafe’s roast chicken stuffed with cheese and asparagus is delicious. Pumpkin soup not so much. With coffee for 65 RMB, not bad. #
• Looks like Steve Jobs is ok after all. http://is.gd/eAYc #
• roland burris is using his own political ambitions to thrust himself into the realm of the uber annoying #
• in office, watching NFL playoffs on Slingbox. The benefits of entrepreneurship. #

Last Wednesday night, a few of us went to Art Lab at the Shanghai MOCA to ring in 2009. Having officially made the move from the world of finance to the world of design, I figured it would be apropo to set up shop at a contemporary art musem and enjoy some visual art while listening to local band (Banana Monkey) and local DJs do their sets the entire night, versus pouring copious amounts of champagne down my mouth at a disgustingly crowded Shanghai nightclub. Man, that would have been SOOOO 2006!

Anyway, an unexpected byproduct of the decision to feign hipsterdom for a night was that the venue had free wifi. And, as is usually to the detriment of the others in the group, we three (Chace, Mike, me) proud iPhone owners gleefully whipped out our beloved devices for the soul purpose of fucking around on them. Even at a NYE party.

After the countdown and the awesome Banana Monkey set, we proceeded to drink Absolut/Sprite and prosecco, but not mixed together. It was at this point that Mike started chatting with our college buddy Jason on his phone. Jason lives in New York and we’ve known each other for a long time. Because I had no inclination to kiss anyone around me during the countdown, I thought it would be very mature of me to pretend to french kiss my hand — and so I did. Then I went ahead and updated my Facebook status to inform the world of this great thing I had just done.

Jason saw my status soon after it was updated and asked Mike for a picture. I dutifully re-enacted the smooch and Mike promptly uploaded the photo onto HIS Facebook site, which Jason was able to view all the way in NY. All of this took about 2 minutes to accomplish. Soon thereafter, Jason requested a picture of me getting a lapdance. Because I tend to repel women with the force of a flatulent tsunami, I could not deliver on this request and instead gave an unsuspecting reveler a lapdance instead. She did not look too happy. This, too, was uploaded to Facebook post haste.

There are two reasons why I am writing about this. Number one, technology is simply amazing. As the venerable Dan Washburn said the following day, it’s great to be old enough to remember a time when we couldn’t do this kind of stuff so that we dont ever take it for granted.

Number two, don’t be a loser like me. Happy new year, everybody!