Worldwide Y'all

Hong Kong Amazingness

2011-11-14T13:46:00.001+08:00

Shanghai Abandonment, FT Article

2011-08-16T03:50:00.005+08:00

My families experience dates back to 1991 in Nanchang, China and that same orphanage that had the 'dying rooms' back then now have amazing care givers and air conditioning thanks in large part to the Half the Sky Foundation. We were able to find the same orphanage in 2007 and the changes made it almost unrecognizable.

The problem is that there are many towns and provinces that don't have the assistance of American or European charities, or even the assistance of the government and many people in China are unaware about how many terrible cases there are like this. Many of my students and friends in China have no idea this stuff goes on. So, in many ways, it's good that there is increased media coverage in and outside of China.

Baby in a Box Book

Little girl found

By Patti Waldmeir

One might easily see such a thing in a Shanghai alleyway and think nothing of it: a bundle of fabric tied up with a rope. Except that this particular bundle was screaming.

I could not tell at first if the squalling child was male or female, but I knew exactly what it was doing there: a desperate mother had swaddled her newborn infant in several layers of clothing and left it alone in the winter darkness – so that it could have a chance to live.

For me, it was an all-too-familiar story: my own two daughters were abandoned at birth, left alone in a Chinese street to the mercy of strangers. But that was more than a decade ago – a decade in which China has become a powerful force in markets from natural resources to sports cars, from luxury goods to aircraft carriers. In a China of diamond iPads and gold-plated limousines were babies still ending up in anonymous alleyways?

Full Article

Artist Ai Wei Wei Has Disappeared

2011-04-09T00:27:00.005+08:00

He is famous for designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Olympics and for his unique art and activism. Not many famous people have stood up for the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many local government leaders in Sichuan where supposed to use funds to make earthquake proof school buildings but instead made sup par ones and used the extra funds to facilitate even more time with prostitutes at the karaoke club and another Porsche Cheyenne or Hummer. So despite what you might think of Ai Wei Wei's very odd art at least he is not afraid to speak his mind. Last week he was headed to Hong Kong and was detained by the police and nothing has been heard from him since.

This is from a show in Hong Kong if you didn't know.

Facebook's Founder Allowed into China but not His Company

2010-12-21T15:00:00.001+08:00

China is in the Dark but this is great marketing of Facebook by the Chinese government. If you can't have something, usually you want it. The Facebook candy is out of reach of the masses. If you look at Beijing on the map it appears there is traffic there which is because rich governmental official kids can have Great Firewall free internet access as well as if you work at an embassy. There are millions more in China on Facebook but they don't register because they use a VPN which will designate their IP address in a foreign country presumedly not Iran or North Korea.

CLICK PHOTO FOR HIGH RES

Mark Zuckerberg is Time's Person of Consequence for this year but his company will face many a consequence when trying to operate in China. He's on a 'personal visit' to China which I'm guessing will involve some meetings with some government agencies to see how Facebook can be unblocked in China. Facebook has been blocked on and off ever since a Mandarin language version launched in 2008. Before that, there was a Facebook clone called RenRen which my Chinese friend swore was better than Facebook anyway. RenRen is very popular and looks like code was copy and pasted from Facebook. What many people in the 'West' don't realize is that 'censorship' is used as a great tool to allow homegrown businesses to flourish as Yahoo and Google have learned the hard way.

What will swell the Chinese masses in favor of Facebook and in Facebook's favor, is the same tool that Facebook used to get started. Exclusivity. At Facebook's impetus you had to have a certain email address to get on and see what all your friends are doing. If people in China know about Facebook then they want to to see Facebook. Although China is very very China centric, there is still a desire to be connected to others outside of China, no matter how strong the jingoistic feelings are. I believe Facebook might have a chance but they still have to be willing to shut down parts of Facebook that might upset the Chinese government. Otherwise they will end up like Google and have a web address that redirects to Hong Kong and looks like this, www.facebook.hk. Then that will be blocked after about a week. Back to square one.

L.A. Times Article About Zuckerberg's Visit

If Others Have a Cartoon Face do I Have to Embrace

2010-12-03T22:37:00.005+08:00

Facebook has been overtaken by cartoons to raise awareness for child abuse. And that's it. There is no website or plea for money etc. It's just to raise awareness that there is such a thing as child abuse. I'm not sure how I feel about this due to it's pathegeon-like spread, but it's positive and it's not eliciting cash so some 501C3 can take their staff to the beach for team building exercises this winter. The internet is filled with the abysmal so why not embrace something interesting especially if I can post a picture of Calvin and Hobbes.

Most Importantly, my exhaustive research into this has turned up an interview with the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. His first since 1989. It was published in February of this year. Also mentioned is how the C&H books still sale briskly around the world even though he stopped publishing the strip in 1995. Article

According to Knowyourmeme.com, this has been traced back to a post in Greek on Facebook:

Origin

The origin of the meme came from a message containing this message in Greek:

Aπό 16 έως 20 Νοέμβρη ας αλλάξουμε όλοι τις φωτογραφίες των προφίλ μας, αντικαθιστώντας τις με κάποια φωτογραφία ήρωα των παιδικών μας χρόνων. Σκοπός αυτού του παιχνιδιού είναι να μην υπάρχει ανθρώπινη φωτογραφία για λίγες μέρες στο Facebook

Various translations and permutations have appeared in English.

Change your default facebook picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal is to not see a human face on facebook until Monday, December 6th. Join the fight against child abuse and invite your friends to do the same

Hong Kong in Blur

2010-12-03T06:42:00.002+08:00

I had a bunch of mediocre photos from Hong Kong so I put them together with some music. Blurry is the new clear. There are a few of the night shots I really like. Watch in HD in a larger screen size and it's slightly more entertaining. The music is Arcade Fire and it's about city sprawl which HK has plenty of. Of course this was written about Houston but who cares. See if you can spot the villager looking mainlanders that are probably very rich. New Real Estate rich. Also, notice the couple smiling and holding hands. The old white guy dressed in a Mandarin shirt yet wearing cowboy boots. Cheung Chau is full of interesting people. Last photos are the sunshine above dreary London as we circled in a holding pattern.

James Blunt Prevented WWIII

2010-12-01T23:13:00.004+08:00

One Can only assume with 'Blunt Force Trauma' to the ears of the Russian troops. I am reminded of the location manager on the movie I did in China a couple of years ago. He's stop talking, look at me and say, 'Dawid.' He's pause and then sing, 'You're beautiful'. It was funny but after a few times in became a bit creepy. Especially since he went by 'Leslie' and he wore his hair back in a hair band. Good times. Who wouldn't surrender at the sound of 'You're Beautiful' being played in a loop? Actually, according to the BBC, he bravely stood up to the U.S. General Wesley Clarke, who gave Blunt the order to destroy some 200 Russian soldiers. Good on ya, Jimmy. NEWS

"Dawid........

Bootleg DVD shops Are Closed, Tears Shed

2010-11-10T17:57:00.007+08:00

Yesterday I noticed that the 6 Yuan (90 cents) DVD shop was closed. I have never seen this shop closed. About a year ago the DVDs in most stores went up to 10 Yuan ($1.50) from 5. I was informed that the astronomically high price hike was due to them offering DVD 9 DVDs. I recalculated my budget and relocated to the other DVD shop which has a huge selection with DVDs priced at 6 Yuan a pop. Also, if they are bad copies filmed within the movie theatre and the audio is in Russian or has Russian's chatting about how great Stallone's acting is in 'The Expendables',... If it has that in it, then it's only 3 Yuan. Well worth it, esp. since I only got halfway through that travesty of a film. Give me Rambo 5 or 6 or...

So, today both shops were closed again and I happened to see one of the workers standing around outside so I U turned on the scooter and avoided almost dying 4 times to ask him what was going on. He said he didn't know when they would open again and it was a police government thing. I said that was lame and I hope he found work that would make his mother proud.

Here's the thing about illegal movies etc. Yes, it's wrong blah blah blah and we all know why it's wrong but. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY MOST CHINESE PEOPLE WOULD SEE ANY MOVIE. Even with these cheap prices it is too expensive for most of the populace. Also, the majority of films would not be allowed into the country so the film selection would be moved from about 80% to 1%. If that happens, they will just watch stuff for free online or download it for free but they will not be exposed to such great art that America has to offer. Sarcasm kids. Smell it. But through that giant sludge pile of uselessness is a small percentage of films that can enlighten, educate, and entertain sans the exploitation of everything.

When I got home I googled and googled and found this on Bloomberg talking about the counterfeit crackdown of 2010. It just takes a little while to get to Kunming since it started a couple of weeks ago.

Our Time, What will We Do With All of it Now?

Found This in The Lake, It's My New Baby Dolphin

2010-11-09T17:52:00.001+08:00

Mainlander Flees to Canada

2010-11-06T13:43:00.004+08:00

This young dude from China is seeking asylum in Canada by way of getting onto a plane with amazing prosthetics. He must of spent a small fortune on this stuff because it aint cheap to make a disguise like that.

LINK

iPhone 4 is my Teacher's Aide

2010-11-04T13:04:00.003+08:00

One benefit of having a rich student who forgets her textbook is that she will have her brand new iPhone with her. We spent almost two hours playing games on her iPhone which was her birthday gift from Mommy for turning 19. I got to play the Angry Birds game that everyone likes to play and some bridge building monkey game that had tons of English texts. Therefore she now is proficient in structure, tower, bamboo building banana monkey business.

Cathay Pacific is getting rid of Terrible Seats

2010-10-27T00:08:00.005+08:00

That couple to the left are lying through their cheap smiles. Their backs are killing them. I flew on Cathay two years ago from Hong Kong to L.A. and everything was great except the chairs and it was the worst flight I've had. I did have some really bad turbulence over Germany last summer but that just put the fear of God in me whereas these horrendous non reclining seats put pain in my neck, back, legs, feet and so on. Fear of God is no big deal but fear of discomfort will send many a man crying to God. Maybe the Swire Group, (Owns CP) enjoys losing money but I don't know who or why someone would sign off on seats that don't actually recline but simply slide you lower into the seat and push your legs out further. There is no sense to that at all. The good news is they are actually doing something about the complaints of their customers. This is a rare occurrence so they should be applauded because in the States this would never happen. In fact, an overweight flight attendant would most likely smack you in the back and give you a dirty look if you complained about your seat and then you'd be charged five bucks for the 'friendly skies service'.

NEWS PIECE OF

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, will replace economy-class seats in long-haul planes after passengers complained about discomfort, according to three people familiar with the plan. The existing coach seats, which have fixed-backs to prevent passengers from disturbing the person behind them when reclining, will be refitted and moved to short-haul and regional aircraft, said the people who declined to be identified before an announcement. The seats were in 41 Cathay planes at the end of last year. Older aircraft were refitted with the units in a program that ran from 2007 to November, 2009. CONTD LINK

Kung Fu biker wins in a traffic accident in China

2010-10-26T11:53:00.000+08:00

They zoom in on him on this one and it's less repetitious.

My Kung Fu Crash

2010-10-25T16:18:00.003+08:00

I was just on a bike and proceeded to get hit by a Scooter. That was a fun adrenaline booster for the day or week. I turned left from the sidewalk and there was a car parked on my left and an opening about the width of three cars on my right when I eased into the road. I had looked left over the parked car and I didn't see any cars hurtling my way but still I eased out from behind the car and right as I did there was a large scooter going full speed right towards me. It was a guy and his girlfriend. I stopped and hoped they would veer left and miss me but quickly I realized that at least the front wheel would get hit. I put my left foot down and raised my right leg and let go of the handle bars all at the same time. Smash, rattle and hum. The bike went flying to my right and I was left standing right next to the guy with a highly elevated heartbeat. I couldn't be angry because it happened so fast and I was sure how I wasn't hit, knocked or was left in possession of a broken computer which would be way worse than a sprained ankle or bruised inner thigh. Also, the look on their faces was as if they had just ran over a small child or rather cute puppy. I could see they genuinely feared the police arriving. Of course, later I will joke about how I stood there fine and then pretended to fall down hurt in a bid to extort large sums of money, which happens all too often around here. His girlfriend hopped off and picked up my flying lock and even tiny piece of cardboard that was in the bottom of the basket. They looked really scared and they were lucky there was no car parked where the bike went flying because it would've caused some costly damage. All I asked is that they agree that my Kung Fu was really good and I was fast, which they did. I told them to slow down and then I started crying at how close as was to having a broken femur. And by crying, I mean, I peddled quickly away from the street and decided I should stick to driving scooters.

Here is police video of the incident:

This is actually my superstar Kung Fu Brother who landed on his feet then asked the driver of the truck for 200 Yuan. I would've gone for 1,000 at least but his brain was a wee bit jostled. The driver advised him to wait for the police and then Kung Fu Brother took off. Probably because this scooter was stolen. Oh, they say he landed on his feet which you can tell he did but I'm sure he bounced on his side some off camera due to the velocity of his awesome cartwheel.

Big Town Small City

2010-10-23T13:33:00.003+08:00

My Student and I were at a the infamous 'Charlie Brown' Cafe on Thursday when she said she saw someone sitting outside that she knew who is a drum teacher and drummer in various bands around town. I couldn't see the guy from where I was sitting. She said she saw him here last week and lamented the fact that Kunming was such a small town. I told her by much of the world's standards a city with six million plus inhabitants would be large. I then went on whinging about how I see the same foreigners all the time and that since I got to the foreigner haunts this was bound to happen and living here for over three years increases the odds etc etc. I then told her that on Tuesday I was taking a taxi to the North and I happened to recognize this Chinese guy I had seen before standing on some random street corner in some out of the way area. I didn't think much of it and about an hour later I was shopping in Metro and that same guy with dreadlocks was in Metro. Small City. I then had to google 'dreadlocks' and show her a picture and then she said that was the same guy she saw sitting outside and that he was the drum teacher. Our seemingly unrelated small world stories turned out to be the same guy. Either dreadlocked drum teacher really gets around on a daily basis or this town has only four to five areas where people congregate. Maybe a little from columns A and B. When someone's small town story turns involves the same person as your small town story and then that person is sitting close to you then you know you're in a small city. Theoretical speaking, of course.

Liu Wei - Winner of China's Got Talent Final 10/10/2010 - You're Beautif...

2010-10-20T02:23:00.000+08:00

Way Better Than James Blunt

'What you think of Homeseruals?' and Why I can't talk Politics

2010-10-18T12:15:00.009+08:00

If you'd like to skip the politics and go right to the boring sex, go to the next to last paragraph.. pervert!

It's been an interesting week of 6 or so classes at New Oriental, which is a huge and overpriced language school that is also traded on the New York Stock Exchange. They have good and underpaid Chinese teachers with usually good accents and very few foreign teachers. Needless to say, this company makes tons of dough but I have just been filling in recently and this means I have new students for each class. Usually it's 3 or 4 students in their 20's or people planning to go overseas. I do some introductions, work on pronunciations, talk about how language is a puzzle and you have to learn to use the pieces and not just memorize the words and then somehow things become political.

This usually begins ever so benignly by me brining up problems in Kunming. Traffic due to city wide subway construction and city wide old building demolition. So I ask if you were the mayor what would you do. This leads to discussion about how the mayor doesn't have real power. I remind them the mayor had the power to put two rows of trees along roads thereby ruining the sidewalks and this might not be a huge sign of power but it makes his presence felt. One student said how famous Karl Marx was then said that 'terrorist' in response to my question about what would be a good way to deal with the traffic problem in Kunming. He thought I said something like, 'what would happen if the problem was not solved?'. He was referencing the bus bombing that we had here two years ago but it still caught me off guard. Later on, he mentioned that they should get rid of the 20 year car loans to reduce the 500 plus new cars that hit the road everyday. We agreed on this but I did mention that if middle class people wanted to have a car then they should be able to and I thought that the extremely long term car loan would not change because the government made a lot of taxes of purchases of cars.

In that same class there is a medical student who wants to study in Canada and not the States because she had a Doctor friend who studied there and he liked it and visited the States and didn't like it. I advised her that she might want to contact more sources instead of forming an opinion so quickly and then the real reason of her fear of America came out. She loves to watch crime movies and TV shows like CSI etc etc so she thinks that everyone is getting offed left and right in the States. I mentioned that this was a favorite past time but that most areas were relatively safe.

The next night I had a class where only one student showed up. I told her this was a rare opportunity for her since I could work with her exactly on what she needed help on. The problem was that she is studying to take a test to get accepted to study for her Doctorate in...... Politics. Also, she teaches politics at a big university here. Part of this entrance exam would be in English so I said we should talk about political terms etc etc. The more I dropped my knowledge about Chinese political figures and the history of the party etc etc the more and more she got nervous and she said that 'WE CAN TALK ABOUT CHINESE ENTERTAINMENT SUCH AS DIRECTOR ZHANG YIMOU BUT NOT ABOUT CHINESE POLITICAL THEORY'. The crazy thing is that I was not saying anything negative about China but it's because I was a foreigner I was not qualified or allowed to speak on these things. I then realized the obvious, this was a form of control that is used all the time. Non Chinese don't understand China. We have our own system and our own way and you don't know it and can't understand it. The problem is that I have been in China on and off since 1985 so when a 25 year old is telling me this it really pisses me off. Especially when she goes on about China being a developing poor country and the she has traveled outside the country three times this year to three different countries. She's been to Italy, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and India in the last three years. Come off it with this no money thing. Yes, much of China is poor but China is now the #2 economy in the world and I have a private student who's friend is 18 and she drives a Ferrari.

I moved on but not before I mentioned how I thought the current leadership were doing a pretty good job and I liked how one of the guys was from a remote poor province and how he valued education etc etc. She was very impressed with my knowledge but at the same time still acted as if I was not allowed to know these things. KEEP IN MIND, WE WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THE CLASS. I must be a snitch I guess. The strange thing was that towards the end of the class she was really going off on stuff and told me how in first grade on her first day of class they opened up a book and the first chapter was, 'Taiwan, an island of China' or something like that. Funny. So maybe she had good reason to fear the foreign devil since I'm writing about it here but this site is blocked and who cares anyway she's got some money and family connections.

Yesterday's class was the biggest. It was about 20 girl high school students and one Nurse in her 40s who is going to study Nursing Admin in Thailand oh and one 12 year old girl and 15 year old boy. All their English was pretty good and all wanted to study overseas and one wanted to study at Yale and two had went to a summer camp in America. One of those two was named Winnie after the bear. I asked her is she liked honey. She said she did not. I thought this to be a travesty. Anyway towards the end I had them all write a question and give it to me and I gave them specific instructions not to ask about 'how do I like China' or 'do you eat Chinese food', blah blah blah. Of course the brat boy who sat right in front of me asked if I liked China or the States better which is basically the same question but that's what he gets for texting most of the class. Then towards the end of the class I picked up a question that said 'What you think of homoseruals?'. I knew right away what she meant but wanted to make her say it and explain it. She told me her English name was 'Army' because she wanted to join the military and be on a boat and she wanted to help solve the problem of the island dispute between China and Japan. I told her that if she wanted to be on a boat then she should call herself 'Navy' and then I went into a big long charade and pantomimed her swimming to the island and staking a huge Chinese flag onto it. Yes I walk a fine line here since I'm toying with the hopes and dreams of sometimes confused children but when do this stuff you have to commit to it and be funny. It's a fine line but the point is received. So 'Army' who I quickly christened 'Amy' had been courting controversy all class and she springs this one on me. Rarely am I speechless in any situation. In fact, usually the opposite is true and I ramble on aimlessly until I lock on to my target and blow it out of the water. Army Amy had broadsided me since this is a very sensitive subject in China. She said this would be a question on her Tofel test and she wanted to know how to answer it. This would be a question that she would have to actually respond verbally to so it would be a challenge. I told her she needed to form her own opinion on the subject and that if that was really going to be a question they would want her own answer and not some contrived balderdash. Thinking for yourself at that age is always a challenge and especially in an educational system that focuses on memorization over everything else. She wanted a nice complicated answer filled with colorful adjectives that she could memorize and spit out and get maximum points for. I reiterated this in the elevator while she was holding hands with her female classmate until her classmate realized the implications of this and let go of her hand. This is a common practice in China and used to be very common but things are a changing. I told Army Amy that she should forgo a career of being told what to do and maybe try to go into government if she wanted to resolve silly international disputes. I hope she agrees.

So, this past week was a complicated, tiring, and interesting week that started with a college student telling me she wanted to reform government and ended with a high school student telling me she wanted to resolve international disputes. Although all of this in not easily sorted out it does leave me with a sense of hope that this generation might be out to improve other's situations as opposed to just improving their own situations. Oh and then the taxi I got into... I swear a large transvestite got out of and the driver and I had a very long discussion about such things.

The Loss of an iPod and My Dependence on Said iPod

2010-09-26T16:32:00.006+08:00

It is a sad day when you lose your iPod. Even sadder than the day when my iPod went through the wash two years ago. That day, I was still holding onto hope that some day it would dry out and begin to provide dutifully dulcet tones for my long suffering ears. That day never came but a new iPod did. Last week, I got into a taxi with my little iPod and exited the taxi without. I was distracted by a story about rats, roaches, and reptiles that populate China and their foodstuffs. I got off the scooter with my iPod and got into the taxi with it and placed it gingerly upon my knee. All the while, my brain kept trying to tell me how I was inept and I needed to remember to take my jacket and iPod with me when I exited the vehicle later. I said, 'sure brain, I gots this dude.' Then the story of gross foods, bugs in food, strange animals commenced and it reached a crescendo just as we were exiting the vehicle and I was desperately trying to remember something. What was it? I was trying to remember when I ate brown Thai rice the week before and I was told later that weird rice worms were in that brown rice and I was trying to visualize them in my brain while my brain was trying to forget about bad things that happened in the past and was trying to prevent another bad thing from happening that was totally unrelated to ingesting disturbing foods in China. My brian got through to my inner dumbness about two minutes later while going up the escalator. I ran, like a wild man possessed, possessed with what you might ask? I ran possessed with the fear of taking a bus, taxi, or walking down the street and my eardrums being smashed by horns, construction noise, yelling and the occasional sound of spitting when I wanted to smash my own ear drums with the sounds of Norwegian Metal in the form of Kings of Convenience. I chased after random taxis to no avail and a friend called the taxi company and we found it would coast 50 Yuan for them to use the radio to talk to the taxi drivers and we weren't sure if that driver even had a CB Radio. I just chalked it up to donating an iPod to the next person who got in the taxi. I hope they are nice, good, God fearing people and I hope they enjoy melodic Brit Pop with a few Hip Hop songs on there. Oh, and the podcasts of This American Life and The Relevant podcast. Most importantly, when they plug the iPod into their computer and iTunes opens up, I hope they enjoy that I just renamed my iPod 'Dave You are Glorious'. Maybe their English name will be Dave and they will feel glorious to own a new iPod.

This would be the first picture I saw where I had headphones on thereby exhibiting my dependence upon my iPod and my dependence upon having photos to go with a column. I tend to be very dependable. Also, please note the amazing false mustache.

Displacement of the Poor and Low Income in Kunming

2010-09-22T21:24:00.005+08:00

View Larger Map

Spring City is becoming a dirty city. For well over a year Kunming has been under attack by the bull dozer and jack hammer. Beijing has mandated that all work has to be done by a certain time or that Kunming will not receive the funding for their massive city wide renovation. This means huge squares of the are being torn down to pave the way for development and capitalism etc etc. The problem with this is that this is all low income housing that is being torn down and the people that live and rent there are the workers that drive the city and they have no other low rent options so they are being forced to live in shared quarters or smaller and smaller apartments. Another option is to move farther outside the city but then it will take an hour or more to get to work. Pollution has increased all over the city and the subway construction isn't helping much either. It is pathetic, but it is a form of progress.

30 Pound Goldfish Real? Big Fish!

2010-09-08T17:59:00.005+08:00

Or is this just forced perspective. Even if he is holding the fish closer to the camera than it appears this is a big goldfish. This was caught in France. Some Chinese billionaire would pay thousands for this. The love them some colorful fish in France. Article I wonder how many Fish Fillet's could be made out of this.

Click here for a link to another big carp he caught. He holds it in the same way which also makes it look like a forced perspective trick.

Yahoo Info:

Of course, some people may look at the photo and scream, "Fake!" And, indeed, the Web is full of stories of altered photos. However, from what we can tell, a fish this size and this color is possible. According to Ken Peterson, communications director at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, this isn't out of the realm of possibility. If a koi has the right amount of food and enough space to grow, he says, there's no telling how big they can get.

Indeed, koi carp have grown a lot bigger. John McCosker of the California Academy of Sciences points out that, according to FishBase.org, the largest koi on record weighed almost 90 pounds (like the orange fish, it was caught in France).

Abortion Advertisements In Kunming China

2010-08-23T22:06:00.005+08:00

$15 Dollars takes care of the 'Love Accident' in this commercial from Kunming, Yunnan. I've never seen this on the bus and I don't watch Kunming TV so I assume that it airs there. All buses in Kunming are equipped with TVs that mainly show commercials which is sometimes a nice distraction to the drunk guy who puked on the bus last night. There is not much to say about this commercial other than how amazingly blasé they are in their light hearted description of abortion. Also you see copious amounts of billboard, bus ads etc advertising child birth services at these same hospitals. This is a complicated country with or without the one child policy. The video may take a while to load but it's only 30 seconds.

Link to The Video if the Embed Doesn't Work: Click Here

This is the disturbing translation of the song

The love you give me
Makes my heart racing
Accident happens, when knowing the result
Tear drops down
It was all you fault
Only knows how to do it fast
And now how do you have the heart to hurt me
Love-accident, you don’t like it
I am also scared
Yunnan Union Hospital helps me to get ride of the accident
Yunnan Union Hospital, early pregnancy surgery only 98 yuan
Cnn article about the 13 Million abortions a year: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/30/china.abortions.millions/index.html

24 Hour TimeFrame

2010-04-27T13:33:00.009+08:00

More Samui

2010-04-27T13:06:00.002+08:00

Scooter Flame, I Need This in China

2010-03-26T13:27:00.003+08:00

The Brits have stopped colonizing so now they must find other things to do with their time other than cramming their civilized culture down the throats of others or getting people hooked on opium.

Chinese Don Quixote in 3D and in Kung Fu of Course

2010-03-26T12:56:00.001+08:00

Koh Samui

2010-03-22T15:52:00.001+08:00

Cat Hunting Again? New Jersey this time

2010-03-22T15:27:00.004+08:00

Animal groups: Could ruling lead to hunters shooting cats?

The cat: Common, popular house pet or exotic, dangerous animal?A number of animal activists have contacted state officials in an effort to head off a potential reclassification of feral cats, which could end the growing number of programs that trap, neuter and return them back into neighborhoods or the wild, and allow them to be hunted. LINK

Old Column I Wrote about Wisconsin's attempt to pass a law to kill cats. True Story.

Cat Hunting Nearing Legality

“I’m going to kill that Cat!” This is a phrase we have all said dozens of times. Soon, Wisconsin might make it legal to carry out those idle threats. If you love or loathe the mysterious feline, everyone at some point has gathered up so much ill will for the furry beasts that yelling and dropkicking isn’t doing the trick. Well, our good cheese loving friends to the North just might have the answer to all our issues with cats gone wild. Shoot them.

Question 62 will be debated in each county across the great cat hating state. Now most reasonable people might consider aiming a .22 long barrel at a poor innocent cat an atrocious act; well consider firefighter turned cat hunter Mark “cat killer” Smith unreasonable. He has put forth the proposition to implement a “cat season” to eliminate the hot button issue of stray cats. Apparently Smith’s El Camino has had just one too many paw prints in the morning and he’s not going to take it lying down - unless he’s lying down sighting a calico through the scope of his thirty ought-six sniper rifle. READ THE REST, YES WE CAN, STAY INFORMED ON YOUR CAT KILLING RIGHTS. CLICK HERE

I NEED TO RIGHT ABOUT HOW I WAS ON A CAT HUNTING PARTY IN OHIO. later.

Recreating a Deadly Experiment

2010-03-21T23:54:00.002+08:00

Would you torture this man?

A spoof game show on French television has shown that the majority of us are capable of unthinkable cruelty once the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred, says Michael Portillo .

Well, he is French isn't he? This increases the odds greatly that he might be tortured walking home with his baguette.

On French television last week, out of 80 contestants, just 16 walked out rather than continue the tests.

Koh Samui

2010-03-20T13:52:00.002+08:00

Interesting article...

2010-03-18T19:45:00.001+08:00

Dawkins preaches to the deluded against the divine

LIKE revivalists from an alternative universe, 2500 hardcore believers in the absence of religion packed into the Global Atheists Convention in Melbourne last weekend to give a hero's welcome to the high priest of belief in unbelief, Richard Dawkins.

The bestselling author of The God Delusion was similarly fawned over by the Australian media, which uncritically lapped up everything he said.

This was even after (or perhaps because) he referred to the Pope as a Nazi, which managed to combine defamation of the pontiff with implicit Holocaust denial. Click Here for The Rest

Photos Thailand

2010-03-16T20:49:00.003+08:00

Monk on a Boat

Dudes Recovering From Full Moon Party

Bright Monk on a Boat

Chiang Mai

White People in Chiang Mai doing strange yoga poses. They did this for over 20 mins. She stayed off the ground for that long. And she ain't tiny.

My Yummy Valentine (Old Column but it's funny, how I used to be)

2010-02-13T19:47:00.006+08:00

Ah Valentines, Corporate Amore. Making assumptions and propagating stereotypes is a dangerous business but a business that makes a lot of money none-the-less. My assumption would be that most of you are thinking that I’m going to “go off” on Valentines and the only heart I’ll mention is the one being attacked by my high blood pressure due to everything being cutesy pink for a month. Well, in this case we are both wrong, this is about a love story; a love story between a man and his unquenched passion for hating corporate sponsored love in every disgusting contrivance. Yes, I said contrivance. I’m not sure what it means but it sounds oddly British therefore it must contain some form of refinement. I love to hate the saccharine sweetness that is the yearly institution of Valentines. Yes I’m seeing red. Not from blood in my eyes thanks to my old lady cracking me with her big ole ring. That was last month. Now I’m seeing red because I’m blinded by pink.

One might presume my anger springs from bitterness based on an incident in the 4th grade when super-nerd and super-cute Kristin failed to provide me with a card. All 15 other pupils received the customary “you’re so sweet” or “be mine” Rainbow Bright cards. Somehow the bespectacled beauty “misplaced” my card. Right! You four-eyed she dork. You hate me because I’m smart and pretty like you. Of course she actually was intellectually capable and good looking whereas I just faked it. Maybe she was onto me. Those hot smart ones-always thwarting me with the use of their brains. Stupid smart girls. My frozen heart was downtrodden but spring brought on vindication in the form of Kristin and I being voted class favorites. Our picture was taken next to our class pet turtle and I could smell yearbook immortality as I smiled nervously and wondered why yearbook immortality smelled so fishy and noxious.

If you’re in a relationship of any kind you’re expected to purchase something that will fatten up your current or possibly future spouse to show your love for them. Love should be something that we can’t live without and benefits our lives. By this logic I have proven that most us Americans must love fast food and think that it benefits our lives as evidenced by the proportions of our thighs. Don’t forget that although beauty is only skin deep these days you might want to worry about the lack of width in your loved one’s arteries. Possibly buying your ‘true love’ blood thinners or a gym membership would actually show that you really care. Hallmark and others guilt us so we must buy something or forfeit the love of our sometimes insignificant others. To be quite honest, most people buy and give chocolate in the hope that they’ll get to eat most of it themselves. Oh, to have tasted love and failed is not as good as to have bailed on love and tasted more chocolates. Hmm, I love chocolate. Maybe I’ll send some to Kristin.

Or Send Her This Sweet Picture

This Column and Others Click This

Just the First Hour of the 8 hours of Fighting.. One Day

2010-02-05T20:03:00.000+08:00

Saturday POW Shoot... Started off Chilly but the Sun came out

2010-01-20T23:39:00.007+08:00

Waiting

To my Left

To my Leftish

Leftish

Straight Out

To My Right

The Frozen POW Camp from Tuesday

2010-01-13T02:11:00.006+08:00

I played a British POW (extra) in a camp with 9 other foreigners and about 100 Chinese prisoners and 50 or so Chinese playing Japanese pointing bayonets at us all day in the freezing cold. No heat or Sun anywhere. I've never been that cold for 12 hours before. My hands and feet are sore from their abuse. Now I know what Shackleton's crew must have felt like. In the morning the villagers made a fire near a drop off that we huddled around like bums until the crew dumped dirt on it because the smoke was somehow affecting the wide shot even though there was low gray cloud cover. We pressed our boots deep into the red dirt above the coals praying for 'ambient heat' to magical pass thru our terrible army boots. The first scene was the big scene they always have in POW camps. The General of the camp walks out of his grand hut and we all listen to his lame speech. This is when we realized how the cold gray skies were going to make us suffer all day esp. when the wind picked up. The filmed every conceivable angle of this speech and I kept thinking it would soon warm up as I marveled at the locals who looked thinly dressed. Later on some of them revolted right before lunch and went home and at the end of the day they all revolted. I'm thankful this is a revolutionary inclined country or we may have never left that camp. If the foreigners would have decided to revolt we would have discussed it and voted on it then study the pros and cons, vote again. On and on but in China, they just mumble, grumble, and all start walking out. In between resets we ran for our jackets and hats only to find no warm place to sit and we could barely get out of the wind in the useless set buildings they had erected. We rather enjoyed running in a circle of our large group as the Japanese whipped us because it made us slightly warmer. I began to feel my toes but realized quickly their respite from impending hypothermia was brief. Then I realized this was also making us lose energy that was sorely needed to heat our bodies. The second chance of heat came when lunch arrived for the masses. I have never felt like a refugee more when hordes of us were attacking the small white mini van. The sliding side door held bowls and rice. I elbowed my way in trying to find silver bowls for my POW brothers but soon my will to feed myself bubbled to the surface and I got my ladle full of rice dished out and went to the rear of the vehicles to get a slop full of meat off the rears of unknown animals. We sat cross legged in the dirt and watched the madness unfold. The other van had Styrofoam boxes for all the extras and they attacked their meals with vigor. One of us spotted fires springing up across the field along the treeline. We quickly realized from the acrid smell that they were burning the Styrofoam. Unmovable as our digits may have been destroying our lungs for the sake of temporary mobility wasn't worth it. Then down the the hill we spotted a larger fire made by the local villagers. We dashed for it and were warming ourselves for about a minute until one of the crew playing a Japanese solider came and yelled at us to get back to the camp/set as we would begin filming soon. I really wanted to shank him at that instant. i brought hand sanitizer because the day before I was super dirty all day but today my hands were too cold to even open the sanitizer. Also I was sunburned from the day before which made the makeup and dirt all the more uncomfortable. It was a monotonously cold day of standing around in dirt and the cold watching Japanese do prison stuff. Only once did we pushed against the guards and that wasn't even when one of our fellow brethren was beaten while shirtless. I mean I really wanted to do something and I think I shed a small tear but that may have been from commiserating my only miserable condition. Selfishness, it's a great acting tool.

I took all these pictures at the begining except for one. My camera seem to stop working and it didn't matter since there was really no time and operating a camera with cold hands is not so fun. I will have more photos from others later.

This picture below is really the only one that shows how large the cast and crew was

This is the only other time I took a picture since I thought the camera stopped working. If the look on Jame's face is not the definition of cold then I don't know what is. I think he was shivering here. This is the only place to sit on a chair and they were hard to come by at times.

WWII British Solider Extra of Sorts

2010-01-13T01:37:00.003+08:00

On Sunday I was called to be an extra on this TV show thing shooting the next day. Be there at 630 for breakfast. Gross to morning fried rice but sure to doing some whatever. Sadly there was too be no shooting and bombs like in the scenes they shot when I was in England and you can see in the Youtube video below but I figured I've helped enough with the casting and was almost playing a Nazi in this so why not do something. We played Britons rescued by Chinese and Minorities from a POW camp and we just ran across mountains in the lovely Yunnan sun all day with this guy who played Bruce Lee in this big CCTV production. He was cool but there was a diva who did nothing but had a full time asst. who lit her smokes and massaged her feet. Both probably went to acting school. The other guys who were Chinese dressed as Americans were really cool and down to earth. Even Bruce Lee. Later in the day on the 50th time of walking briskly thru trees in the ever warming Sun we were joined by more minority people who apparently rescued many Americans and Britons in WWII. She warmed our dusty hearts because she kind of barely acknowledged us. She had fake braids so we dubbed her Pocahontas. Bored men regain energy easily. The day ended with the Sun setting and me snoring in front of Pocahontas's chair as gunshots erupted across the valley as more Japanese were felled to save more hapless Britons. I don't know. we weren't in the scene but the next day at the POW camp we wished for Sun that would reburn our skin and for Pocahontas who would rekindle our cold cold cold hearts.

Flying Tigers Rewritting of History by China State TV

2010-01-02T18:18:00.005+08:00

If you're wondering, I'm the one looking at the camera and ignoring the director to keep from laughing uncontrollably at his hair and cowboy boots.

I heard about CCTV (China State Run TV) doing a Flying Tigers TV series. I was approached by three different agents of two weeks and was helping them get people and they were working against each other. One agent said this older agent was sleeping with the director and she had no morals and not to trust her. It turns out it was the older agents friend who was sleeping with the director and was an A.D. even though this older agent said she was the A.D. I also helped the older agent find black guys. Why black guys would be in China as soldiers during WWII as Flying Tigers is beyond me but I obliged but was told they were too black. Yes, my sentiments exactly. Absurd. It turns out it was all just work as extras for little pay and long hours but you got to shoot guns but it was over the time I would be in England during Christmas. I went down to the 'casting' at this hotel only because I felt guilty for asking my friends to go. Out of about 20 guys I was the only American playing an American solider. I came late with three other dudes I didn't know. An Italian, Argentinian, and an Irishman. They suited us up and then we walked by a room of negations and were led to met the yellow haired director who gave us a speech and didn't like people talking when he was talking. Anyway below are some pictures from that and a video from one of the guys who was in it. They ended up delaying and delaying the shoot that was two different groups of guys on two diff days. The video cracks me up. Oh and the director also referred to us by our countries when trying to get everyone from talking at the same time.

Aussie Steve trying to look like American GI Steve. He didn't do it either. Just played dress up.

The Room of tense negotiations.

The Amazing and hallowed director and me and my countryman.

A fun video displaying the amazing cast and crew at work

My other extra WWII work from awhile back.
http://davelramsey.blogspot.com/2008/09/band-of-brothers-from-various-mothers.html

Stuntman Hits the Floor

2009-10-23T16:36:00.001+08:00

the quality isn't so great but that's kind of the point. makes it sillier I suppose but you can view it bigger and with a little better resolution by watching on youtube and click the HQ button.

A Few Picts From the last weeks shoot

2009-10-15T22:16:00.005+08:00

Sorry but I don't have much time to take pictures but I wanted to put some up of our various actors.

This is kind of a scary picture of Numchucks, yes, that's his English name. He plays a small part but his life story is amazing and troubling all at the same time. Great kid we just met in a very strange manner. Also, he can make you a Numchucks master in two months. Don't doubt him.

This is my student, Scott. He plays The 'Rich' characters son. He helped us on this day as a Production Assistant/Translator etc etc. He also took most of the following pictures therefore we have pictures of some of the stuff we did on Tuesday. I'm helping him study for the SAT so he can go to university in the States.

The rest of these are shots of Holly and Fred and the scene we did in this hotel restaurant. We also were able to use a room for two scenes of an argument between the two and the 'final scene' of Fred's character. As you can see in this scene, we use mainly natural lighting or whatever we can finagle. Holly is 19 and I met her last summer when I was 'acting' in a commercial with her. I didn't see her at all until last month when I was in another commercial. She was just what we were looking for, for this character so I got her number and she was very professional with direction and her dialogue. I don't think she has ever had any speaking parts even though she has modeled for over a year. She just new what to do which was great.

Don't know why I am looking so silly and flashing the 'peace' sign like most giggly Chinese girls do when she is just taking a normal picture but I enjoy making a fool of myself.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2009-10-07T19:27:00.002+08:00

We have and will film every day this week and a big scene in a hotel next Tuesday. We are super busy. It's amazing to see all the odd bits and pieces coming together and it has been fun to film with more than one actor and to film 'bigger' scenes. We've said from the beginning we wanted to pay all the actors and we have been doing that and now our 'actor funds' are running low along with other incidental expense. A very nice hotel is letting use one of their rooms for a few hours and that has helped at lot but we could use an infusion of funds to finish this project. Any small about will help, if you'd like to donate please click the 'donate' button on the top right. Thanks so much.

For the Fred's Out There

2009-09-14T18:50:00.005+08:00

This is one of the reasons I'm still working on this film which I feel that I'm daily beyond my breaking point.

Fred had not seen the trailer before, and after filming very monotonous/stressful elevator scenes last week, I showed Fred the trailer/preview for the first time. He does not have a computer or Internet. So, it begin to play and all these emotions went thru him as he saw himself acting for the first time. He was happy, ecstatic and then he was clapping and kind of doing a dance on the tip of his toes. I have never seen anyone so joyful at something I've helped to create. I've written columns were people have laughed at lot when reading them or laughed more when they are in the story but I've never seen this much joy in someone especially someone who doesn't seem too joyful very often. I've let it slip into the recesses of my mind that this project is for the actors and others involved in many ways. Creating a small income and most importantly, creating a creative outlet for them to express themselves. I just met a 17 year old kid named Leon, who has been DJing since he was 11 and rapping the last few years. We've been looking for a local rapper to rap in the local dialect and he just feel out of the air Saturday night. He's very excited to get together and start working on this project. I hope when this film is done he will have a similar expression of joy on his face as Fred did last week. He might not be as ecstatic, but seeing is craft displayed for others to see will fill him with something good. With these thoughts I will continue to inch my way to the light at the end of the tunnel one way or another.

These pictures are when we we to the used clothes market to outfit Fred with snazzier white shirt. It was 20 Yuan if you're wondering and the tie we got later was 10 Yuan. He's looking good.

Chinese Army prepares for 60th Anniversary of P.R.C. Oct 1

2009-09-13T18:03:00.003+08:00

How silly is this, really? Yeah for the 60th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China for which it stands, one nation, under layers of facades... Image is everything, content is nothing. BTW this national day anniversary is 2009's reason for crackdowns. Last year, 2008 was the Olympics. I wonder what lame reason they'll come up with for 2010? Any guesses. They'll dream up more reasons to make it harder for foreigners and locals alike.

School's Back in Session

2009-09-01T12:13:00.003+08:00

Our two month hiatus is over. We hiatused for various reason but mainly because Roger was off in Texas sweating and letting his parents see his daughter and vice-versa but mainly sweating and eating fattening food. I was mainly doing family stuff as well. Anyway, now that Roger is 20 pounds heavier he is raring to heft a camera on his shoulder and I'm starving for some 'action' and a return to being remotely creative since I've stopped writing for the magazine back in Chicago.

We will resume filming 'For the Love of Money', 'Love/Money' (working title) on Friday. After some Chinese friends viewed the trailer they said that the 'Rich' character didn't look rich enough. We already knew this but this trailer was just a 'pre production' trailer if you will. Their views reinforced that we needed to find better wardrobe etc. Therefore many changes will be made despite the fact we like a lot of those shots. We will just have to duplicate them. What this boils down to is we need a shiny gold watch, fake or otherwise, so someone send on over. Please and thank you.

These pictures are from our ever evolving 'Nagaland Project' , and also for the Love/Money movie as we will use some of Abu's music on that film. He has an alternative country sound that should compare and contrast nicely with our film of love/money juxtaposition. Abu approached me earlier in the year, discussing doing a film project about his homeland similar to the CCTV one that I did. We hope to do something like that someday but for now our budget is somewhat lacking or nonexistent. Anyway, it's an amazing story about their history and the sacrifices therein. For the time being we are hoping to go to NorthEastern India in early December. We are going to do a short documentary chronicling musicians in this little known province of India. We hope to get that out there and then use it as a platform to get funding to do the bigger project.

Questions: david@springcityfilms.com

There is a lot of work ahead and we need a lot of assistance but we know we are on the right track. It looks like I will be doing a tourism commercial for a town in North East Yunnan called QuJing. on Thursday. It will be with a few other foreigners playing tourists. It hardly pays anything but I need money to pay for my new visa and I figure it could help get some contacts for future projects so why not suffer a 3 hour bus ride there and back for the 'experience'.

Skype Uncle Dave Returns

2009-08-05T00:16:00.003+08:00

Now that Kaits and Kyra have returned Stateside I'm back to playing with them on Skype. Actually I should say Kaits has returned to the States and Kyra has made her much ballyhooed premiere. Either way it lends itself to some cutest Skype moments ever. If Skype would advertise they should record our Skype calls. They are the cutest things on earth. Kaitlyn and I have all manner of conversations but ultimately it's a game of copy Uncle Dave that breaks out. I do all manner of exciting actions but mainly I just tilt my head to one side or another and she finds this funny. I also play two very lazy versions of peek a boo. One is just leaning out of range of the camera and the other more exciting one is pushing the button that stops my video from showing. When I reappear Kaitlyn squeals with laughter. I also employ a version of this by sometimes stopping the video then starting it again when I'm out of frame. This camera trickery pleases the wee ones and old ones alike.

So if you need a Skype Nanny just hit me up. I have lots of experience. It started over two years ago when Kaitlyn was four months old and we would hang out during 'tummy time'. They moved to China a year later then I was gone fall of last year then it was new baby time in Thailand where they awaited the overly anticipated arrival of Cute Kyra and Kaitlyn and I spent over three months catching up over Skype where her favorite thing was to see Nemo 'swimming' around me on the screen. My puppetry work would make Jim Henson Jealous. And that training was only three months ago and now I'm once again back into Skype Uncle mode. If you need to fill in for a less committed Uncle my fee is rather cheap.

This is the 'Hat with Mobile Phone' technique. Usually only works with 8 month olds and under.

The Mass Diaspora Nears it's End

2009-07-23T15:13:00.004+08:00

Life, in many ways, is a series of goodbyes. Moving every other year or so for most of my life has made saying goodbye a constant. I suppose I'm rather cold and indifferent to it at this point but in the last two months in Kunming there has been a mass exodus of all sorts of people the majority of which have no intention of returning anytime soon. Family and friends who I won't be able to text, call, go visit so easily, or bump into on the street. It is hard to complain since ten years ago there was no video Skype and 20 years ago there was no email. Yet still, being a 16 hour plane ride from family and friends is a bit overwhelming. As a foreigner living in another country it does make the community feel very fluid. Especially in the summer.

One positive element is that your social calender is fully engaged when you have lots of going away parties and last suppers to attend. All of which will feel all the more hallow once you're left alone crying in your empty room. Yes, I'm over dramatizing for effect, and I'm one of the fortunate ones, since in the past year I have 11 family members living here. Maybe that is what makes it so dramatic, or the fact that last summer I don't recall such an exodus as this. I tend to ask too many question that don't have any readily available answers but I prefer to move beyond just observing and answer questions. Soon people will be returning. We'll five of them anyway. I stopped counting at 30 people who have left thus far.

Still Blocked but I'm Back On

2009-06-30T19:03:00.002+08:00

When I first moved to China two years ago I was confused to learn that my blog was blocked but I could still publish the blog. Almost a month ago the 20th anniversary of something that happened in Beijing arrived and they decided to block blogger.com too and youtube has been blocked for awhile now but I've found a way around the scoundrels and now have downloaded Hotspot Shield. It's great for people living in China or Iran. Check it out at www.hotspotshield.com

In Hong Kong with a trailer

2009-06-01T20:45:00.003+08:00

Helping my Mum with some of her work and meeting some people who might be interested in film and films in China.

We have a preview/trailer on our website. Check it out http://www.springcityfilms.com/

Let me know what you think.

Babies Who Need Help and Filming

2009-05-14T18:56:00.002+08:00

The two pictures of the cute boy on the red horse are of Toby. A friend of ours (Christa) is trying to adopt Toby and get him to the States were he can have $100,000 dollar heart surgery. Christa and Toby were hoping to wait in Kunming with my parents until he got his passport and could leave. That didn't happen since the hospital in the States that was going to donate the surgery bailed at the last minute. That lead to the orphanage saying that Toby could not be adopted and taken for surgery etc etc and more red tape, hoops to jump through and government forms to deal with. So I expect someone to email me telling me that they have $100,000 dollars, know a kind heart surgeon, or know of a team of doctors coming to China to perform free surgery. Thanks.

This is a picture of Roger filming Steven doing the 'getting ready for work' scene where we force the poor guys to brush their teeth and wash their face etc for about 10 mins. We first met with Steven over a month ago but thought he was too young etc for the lower middle class character but I met his wife last week who told me Steven shaved his head because he was hot. Now he looks a little older and I think it's better for the 'Mr. Poor' character to be younger and the 'Mr. Rich' guy to be a little older so it gives a sense of Mr. Poor' having a chance to change his 'money chasing' ways.

This is Steven's wife, Lydia. She is from the ethnically Muslim Wei minority of NE China. I've known Steven and Lydia for two years thru my parents since my parents have helped them get some teaching jobs. They both teach Chinese to Americans etc and are really good but recently Steven hasn't had much work and as you can see they are busy with a new baby boy. He's about 6 months old and he's a huge happy baby named Joshua. We hope Lydia will play Steven's wife in the film. Shouldn't be a stretch for them.

This baby is the happiest baby I've ever seen. He laughs and squirms his legs all the time. He's laughing and grabbing at my hair here. Lydia said it was time for his nap and this is what he does when he's sleepy and ready for bed! Steven and Lydia are both gentle and sweet people and it's no wonder their baby is perfect. He never cried the 3 hours or so we were filming in there.

We hope to have a trailer done in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned and stay interested and get on that 100,000 dollars.

A Sad Strange Day of Remembrance 5-12

2009-05-12T20:34:00.002+08:00

A year ago today was a day I was teaching English in a high rise hotel that started to sway slowly then very strongly. It was confusing and then terrifying. I ran down a lot of steps that day. It was scary and then funny since I was fine and was very very far from the earthquake. A week later I went with some people to take supplies etc., to that area. All very surreal in many ways.

A year later it is made even more surreal by the fact that this is Ruth Shorey's birthday. My cousin's wife passed away on Sept 12th of 2008. I watched their younger boys in China then and watched them this past weekend when Kevin was away. Oddly, the weather this past weekend and the weather in early September was almost the same. Hot bright Sun beating down illuminating everything in it's path. All surreal.

I suppose pain, death, and suffering is always surreal. It shouldn't be real but for a number of reasons it is very very real. We hear about it everyday but don't really care until it hits close to home. Then we care ever so much. I guess we should try to care more on a regular basis but then it probably would be too painful. I don't know.

Click on Links below if you'd like to know more:

Click Here for my post about Ruth's passing

Click Here for All of My Posts From September

Click Here for my Earthquake day story

Click Here and Here for Pictures from the Relief Trip

Click Here for Wikipedia info on the Sichuan Earthquake

Kyra Dawn Krauss and the rest of the Clan Back Home

2009-04-23T22:13:00.003+08:00

To Kunming. This first picture is of Kyra on the plane. She had a rash on her face due to the heat in Thailand but after two days it has already cleared up in our dry mountain air. You can see a bit of her Mohawk here as well.

Forlorn Fred

2009-04-23T14:55:00.002+08:00

This is Fred who will be playing Neighbor #1 (Mr. Poor). We have shot a few scenes with him and it's gone really well. This picture was taken on Roger's camera phone and he looks a little spacey here but you can see he has a telling face.

We begin filming Sunday Afternoon

2009-04-19T02:15:00.003+08:00

We have an actor named Fred. He is awesome and intense. Should be interesting.

A Synopsis For the Short Film

2009-03-05T23:48:00.003+08:00

Keep in mind that this is just a working synopsis and this film with be in Chinese with Chinese actors. The names Richard and Thomas of course will be changed as well.

For the Love of Money is a short film that spans a day in the life of two neighbors who are enamored with the pursuit of wealth. We see how their shared passion affects their body, mind and families. Richard has a big flat-screen TV, a big black car, and seemingly endless wealth, but nothing satisfies him. His neighbor Thomas wants the same things but he can't afford to pay for them just yet. He dreams of the bigger TV, the big black car and money to spare; if only his new business would do well or maybe his lucky numbers will finally make him a millionaire at 10 pm tonight. Richard's wife, son and mistress are there only for his money, squandering his wealth which is quickly running out. He hopes winning the lottery will give him eternal peace of mind and happiness. Thomas loves his wife and daughter but thinks he needs to sacrifice to help his family. How much are they willing to lose? In one day, one man will find out what is most important in life and one the importance of life. For the Love of Money doesn't have the answers but it asks the million dollar questions.

Exterior Camera Test

2009-02-18T01:41:00.003+08:00

This is just a short clip showing some shots we did when we were testing out a camera for exterior shots that we want for the short film. To watch in HD click HERE then click 'watch in HD' at the bottom right underneath the video on the youtube website.

I have no idea why this video is pushed to the right of the page. Sorry. Click the link above the video to watch it on youtube to see it better or in HD

My Funny Valentine My Little Niece Valentine

2009-02-18T00:18:00.001+08:00

KJ Cheering with her alcohol free baby juice

2009-01-31T13:56:00.004+08:00

Some Fireworks from Chinese New Year

2009-01-27T00:16:00.002+08:00

This was filmed by a friend in a neighboring province and this goes on and on. 24 hours later it is still going on sporadically and very very loudly.

Sam Pollard (Beyond the Clouds) More People Watching!

2009-01-22T20:31:00.003+08:00

I was in this film over a year ago and it was on CCTV 1 (China's #1 National Channel) at 1 in the morning in April. That was very disappointing but since then it has been seen by thousands of people on DVD. The story is how Sam Pollard, over 100 years ago in China, saved and changed the lives of the Miao people and their future generations. I and others have given copies to Miao people in the hopes of them reigniting their passion or igniting it in the first place. Stories have come in from all over the area with people working with this group about a renewed interest in their faith and history. Recently I was told it was shown on Christmas Day to the whole fellowship of St. John's in downtown Kunming. Just that is a large amount of people who were at that service. There seems to be new stories every week recently and we hope to create more stories.

More want to see it. My parents will leave shortly for a trip outside of China were they will meet many people who are working in China. We would like to get copies in their hands to use with their students and others in China. I also would love for this to be seen by Chinese and Miao people outside of China. We have made copies and sent it out all over China. It's cheap to do but adds up none the less. If you would like to donate directly to this please click on the Pay Pal button in the top right corner and specify, Sam Movie or something to that effect. If you can't use Pay Pal please email for another way to promote this film. A lot of time, work, sweat, tears, love went into this film and all you have to do is give a few bucks to open someone's eyes or peek their interest. It's that simple.

Thanks, Dave, Parents, and Others

my email: davidlramsey@gmail.com

Sorry for Not Posting

2009-01-14T15:59:00.003+08:00

The first Monday after the New Years holiday I noticed that traffic was up a little on my blog here and I guess y'all were bored at work and trying to see if Dave was doing anything interesting. Well I was a little. Having so much family over the holidays over here was really great and I can't recall the last Christmas I had that much family together in one place. Also busy with friends around here and working on the script for a short film.

When the house is on fire, don’t get burned on the toilet, (A Cautionary Christmas Tale)

2008-12-25T17:18:00.002+08:00

North East Texas was full of snow oddly enough. Snow falls in East Texas once every other year or so. Snow falls in large quantities every other 10 to 20 years or so. This was one of those heavy snow years. I don’t remember the snow falling so it must have fell past my bedtime and I awoken to a winter wonderland. Snow was everywhere the eye could gander. Resting high on fence-posts and billowing up where the hot sun had scorched only a month prior. This was right before Christmas but what I asked Santa had already arrived. I hurriedly busied myself following my older brother and older cousin around getting the benefit of their teenage and early 20’s ingenuity. This consisted of a giant snowman and turning the bottom of a ping pong table into a sleigh. Quickly my pestering turned to using my seven year old weight as ballast for the sleigh. I zoomed around as they pushed with instructions to launch snowballs at Kevin’s girlfriend Ruth and others gathered by the fence and then I was told the horse “dranking-pond” was frozen well enough for me to stand on. Now this seemed reasonable since dad had to take an axe to the frozen bathtub so our horses Prissy and Mandy could get a drink but that was only a foot of water. Of course male-family pressure mixed with encouragement gently nudged my moon booted feet forward. With intense trepidation I unsurely tested the edge of the ice. God must have given me some sort of intense ice to water ratio intuition because although my cousin was standing on top of the ping pong sled jumping up and down upon the ice fear still gripped me. Sensing this, my brother, Chad must have seen on opportunity to teach me a lesson on confronting my fear. Before I had the chance to react he and fear seized me with an uncontrollable grip and launched me onto the ice. My bony knees acted as the perfect ice breaker. Yes in the proverbial and literal sense. If I were with a bunch of Finlandish ice-breakers attempting to rescue a whale trapped in an ice flow and we had nothing to discuss and were trapped in frozen Artic ice. What would I do you’re asking. I’d expose my bony knees then leap from the bow of the S.S. Whale Saver and split the ice. The boring Finish would soon be chatting all about my amusingly thin knees and then marvel at their literal ice breaking abilities. Yet I digress. I was thigh high into the water as Kevin and Chad stared in amazement and fear of my Father’s retribution then laughed a surprised laugh with a worrisome finish. My velour tracksuit that grandma had given the Christmas before was doing a fine job of sucking up half the pond as I crawled to the snowy bank and quickly made my way to the confines of the drafty house.

Our 100 year old two story house was not up to challenge of handling this rare deep freeze. It was a picturesque house complete with a barn, horses and a rumored overnight stay by one Samuel “Mark Twain” Clemmons. Unfortunately stories from small town historians and fine ambience can’t get ones backside toasty on a freezing season such as this. The limited heat was provided by two roaring fireplaces and one powerful wood burning stove. The problem with this old and lovely house was that it had high ceilings so the heat escaped quickly to the nether regions and left our bones frigid and bodies huddling. This is when I found the joy and unique challenge of peeing on a frozen toilet bowl and how to survive a night sleeping under a very static electric blanket. The fear of electrocution increase greatly when ones imagination is stimulated with static shocks here and there. The wood-burning stove was the main source of heat and it was being feed a healthy diet of horse drawn firewood that was pin-pong sledded in from our back acre. This stove saved our lives that Christmas and almost doomed them as well. It was always burning and belching white smoke across the neighborhood of our Blossom Texas homestead.

After the chilling experience of playing with the big boys I decided that I’d go back and play with my old friend who was never too kind or too harsh, myself. This meant my imagination could run wild and it quickly ran itself to playing with the snow around the leaking septic tank. I found that the warm brownish liquid was great at forming the ice and creating fun snow channels. It was a real blessing for me that the pipe running into the septic had frozen and broke thereby allowing me limitless options for my creativity and germs to run rampant. This was turning out to be the best winter ever as I enjoyed the poo water and then went inside to containment others and share hot chocolate. Their joy from almost freezing me to death would soon turn to suffering and the circle of life which is the plumbing system would continue to haunt them and surprise me.

We were invited to pastor’s Christmas Eve party which was only a half mile away or so and I asked Mom if we could have the horses pull the ping pong sled but she said the station wagon would have to suffice. We had an alcohol-free fruit punch fueled evening as Kevin stayed home to keep fueling the stove. We returned later all hyper with sugar and thoughts of M&M’s dancing in our heads to find Kevin excitedly greeting us at the door saying something about a strange smell ect ect ect who cares? I have to go to the loo. I ran up to the second floor landing where the bathroom was located adjacent to my room and quickly got down to business. Now I don’t recall doing much reading whilst sans trousers at such a young age but to be honest, I like to take my time. Many people in life talk about the “hurry up and wait mentality” as a horrendously negative thing. Now in regards to horrendously negative interstate traffic I concur. Where buffoons with oversized vehicles and egos cut you off to only be sitting in traffic two minutes later right next to you. Morons. Now there is a lot of drama and who hasn’t had a lot of embarrassment attempting to “hurry-up” to the toilet but once there I find the waiting to be rather relaxing. As I was mulling over the apple cider and tasty things I’d tasted that Christmas Eve I was starting to relax as I heard some very unrelaxing sounds coming form my room. Dad, Kevin, and maybe Mom and others were having a heated discussion growing more and more animated about the heated wallpaper in that room. Apparently there was something of a burning smell… a thinness to the wall…. “Smoke”… “hot…. Really hot!!!… footsteps… thud…. Thwack…. What in the world was going on out there? Rip…. “It’s open, they just wallpapered over it…” Now more ripping noise filled the air as footsteps were creaking old wooden boards left and right as I tried my best to decipher these seemingly coded noises. I heard Mom saying something about taking Marianne to the safety of downstairs or something as more noises erupted along with my brain. I couldn’t figure out what was going on but I was hoping if sweet little Marianne was being rescued I would be next. Surly they would come for me soon. Then, bam! the door opened up and there stood every boys hero, Dad. He was there to whisk me to safety. I knew he wouldn’t forget little ole me especially when my pants were acting as shackles around my ankles. Yet he didn’t seem to notice me as he hurriedly filled a cup of water. Well I suppose getting a drink would be smart before having to carry me down the long flight of stairs to safety since I was a little heavy now and he probably needed to stay hydrated and all… What!!!, Thirsty at a time like this when everyone else seemed to be running for the hills. Now I could smell the smoke and even hear more running and scurrying around as he left with his cup of water and politely closed the door. He was gone.

No bathroom this side of the Mississippi had ever heard the clatter of such intense dispensing of toilet paper on this Christmas Eve. All through the house all creatures were stirring and most likely the mice were well on their way to the warm protection of the hay in the barn. I completed the paperwork in record time as commotion and stronger traces of smoke filled the air. By no means at all was this what I wanted for Christmas. I couldn’t see how the house burning down while I was in such a vulnerable position would somehow bring a racetrack under the tree. Maybe Santa was running out of ideas on how to make Christmas exciting. This is what I get for wishing for a Fireman’s hat too. Thankfully I wasn’t much of a hand-washer at the time so I was down the stairs as fast as my thin little legs could take me as the clatter and yelling seemed to subside. All that fear and commotion for nothing. It turned out that something was trapped in stove pipe that went up thru the house and a previous owner had just wallpapered over the hole that opened to the stove pipe. This normally is not a good technique for covering up a stove pipe hole on the second floor, but in this case it saved our house. If dad wouldn’t have been able to rip the wallpaper and pour water down the stove pipe the fire and heat would’ve escalated and most likely burned the house down in seconds. In dangerous situations like this they say it’s all about God’s timing. That was the cas and it also seemed to be God’s humorous timing for me also to be caught with my pants down as well. For many years after that I thought I was being punished for my wasted time spent in the bathroom but now I know that it was God’s little funny Christmas joke and that all is well. All might have been and be well, but sometimes the thought of keeping a fire extinguisher in the bathroom doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. I went outside later and resumed my septic water playing time relieved with the thought that any problems that arose, even around Christmas, my Father would be there to get a cup of water for my benefit. That’s always good to know.

The Christmas Open House

2008-12-24T10:53:00.005+08:00

Three More Family Members Arrive For Christmas

2008-12-23T12:57:00.002+08:00

After almost missing their connecting flight in Seoul, Beth Beth, KK, and Johntenten, (that's what we used to call them anyway) arrived sans luggage but smiling nonetheless. Their other connecting flight from Seattle was delayed due to that massive storm and their flight was the last flight to make it out of Sea-Tac before they closed the airport down.

Kurt and Wes form a monster ghost of Christmas past

2008-12-22T13:48:00.003+08:00

KJ Rocking in the Church Nursery

KJ making funny faces and wishing you a Merry Christmas

KJ and I looking at pictures and watching the above videos. Listen for 'The Picture's Minnie', as in Minnie Mouse like the picture below. Towards the end she laughs at herself

Christmas Gifts

2008-12-22T13:32:00.003+08:00

KJ and I watching vids of us and picts of us

Sunday at the Nursery

Dad's Gift

KJ's Gift, She loves to say "Minnie Mouse"

Statement of Purpose for Spring City Films

2008-12-18T18:19:00.002+08:00

Change the World through the undeniable power of film, creating stories that reflect and impact peoples own culture, meanwhile providing jobs, training, creative outlets, and a positive work environment for local people.

Christmas Decorating and Advent

2008-12-17T21:34:00.005+08:00

Drew decorated the tree by playing with Kaitlyn and listening to loud music.

Old Timey Cheesy Shot

Wesley deftly pretending to hang an ornament

One wanting to make fire, one texting and one being surprised
That's what they do.

Once again, I'm not sure what's happening but it seems to
spread Christmas cheer to one and all.

Pictures From the Metro Christmas Post Below this Post

2008-12-17T21:20:00.001+08:00

Christmas Goods and Christmas Reflections

2008-12-17T00:29:00.007+08:00

A year ago I was in the mountains of Ghuizhou filming the movie about Sam Pollard in mostly dark and dank conditions and there was little hint of Christmas that seems to be all about me now in Kunming. I remember the only Christmas decoration I saw was when we were on our way from one remote village to film in a more remote, desolate, pig troth/outhouse, unpaved streets, no heat, no windows, no running water village and we stopped in an actually city somewhere and I saw a sign that said 'Merry Christmas' in a shop window. It was so foreign to me as if I had culture and time traveled since I was not thinking of the holiday at all. I was just thinking about the next location, the next scene and had really lost track of time. When there is no internet or outside communication its hard to keep track of the dates and upcoming holidays. Seeing that sign was a reminder that I would be finished soon yet it seemed so far away and surreal like Christmas in China in 1985. One province over in Kunming times have changed but the lack of meaning for Christmas still stays the same. Now I'm surrounded by all sorts of Christmas activities and signs thereof. It's not the outward appearance of those signs that matters but our definition of those apperances that represents something more.

This past Saturday, Mom setup a Hearts and Hands tent outside the entrance to Metro which is a large supermarket located on the Northside of Kunming. She was there from 9am to 430pm selling all manner of Christmas items. She enlisted Dad and I to carry all manner of items and tent over and set it up. It was a rather chilly day but business was like the wind and rather brisk. A couple of Hearts and Hands employees came over to assist and I spent most of the day helping out as well and mainly trying to entice the passerby to stop by and buy something. I found it interesting to see Chinese shoppers interested in a Holiday that is on par with Valentines Day in their culture.

The contrast to the Christmas items for sale right inside the store to the items we were selling outside was enlightening. We were selling items that represented the true meaning of Christmas whereas right inside the large, German owned department store they were selling Santas, lights, and all manner of shiny objects that were of cheap quality and didn't represent much beyond sparkle and vagueness. Outside the front entrance, in our tent, right by the smell of backed up sewer water, we were selling hand crafted items made with thought and benefiting a large group of disabled workers. Not all of these items spoke directly of Joy of the True meaning of Christmas but those items truly represent that Joy.

This was the weekend before last and it is an annual Christmas fair at a art/culture/music exchange and the students are from Scandinavia. Anyway Mom worked the Fair Friday night and almost all day on Saturday selling all manner of Hearts and Hands Christmas items. These are some pictures from Friday night from Nordica.

Things are Happening

2008-12-08T19:17:00.004+08:00

As always I guess but more so in the last few months. The trying times have been upon us and will be for awhile but in the two weeks I've been back to China it's been great to spend time with family and we have been busy with all manner of activities. At this time I am embarking on a long talked about vision to make movies in China to impact the masses. There have been many options in pursing this dream and or vision or dreamion if you will but nothing seemed to fit or sound right.

When you pop in a DVD and sit back to watch it you most likely don't realize how much work went into some of the simplest of shots. It is a very detailed vocation and you have to be passionate about it no matter the minutia of each scene. I learned volumes working on the movie I did a year ago and hope to use that crash course to make short films and movies that will touch the people of this area and it will speak to them in their culture and be relatable to them in the best possible way.

To that end I have come in contact with a friend who I meet in Kunming over a year and a half ago. I had no idea that he had experience as a videographer and more technical aspects of film. We live on opposites sides of Kunming and only ran into each other occasionally. I knew he was a musician but didn't know of his experience in film back in the States and shooting all over the world. Anyway, he heard thru a mutual friend that I was interested in starting a production company and contacted me last week. We got together and it's really amazing how many similar ideas that we share and we are going to start meeting together on a weekly basis to start working on the production of our first short film that we hope will open the doors for many moor to come. Please stay tuned and keep in mind that I will need your help on many different aspects of this and I look forward to your support and involvement in all manner of ways.

Hearts & Hands Website

2008-12-02T21:47:00.005+08:00

This is a Group that my Mom volunteers at and works on almost every day. Everyone does amazing work helping deaf people in all sorts of areas including creating jobs, housing, protection from deaf gangs, and all kinds of instructions. This is a website that my Mom has been working on and it currently doesn't have an online option for ordering but the catalogue is online and you can peruse most of their items at your leisure. Oh, and if you live in Kunming just go to the store and order some amazing hand made furniture.

http://www.heartsandhandschina.com/index.htm

Hearts and Hands

KJ Eating Lots and Dancing off the Carbs

2008-11-29T11:15:00.001+08:00

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T11:09:00.001+08:00

Happy Thanksgiving From China

2008-11-27T00:31:00.002+08:00

We had Thanksgiving early since Kevin and Tim had to be in Hong Kong for a conference. We played our 1st Annual Thanksgiving Indoor Golf Tournament after eating which I'm working on a shoddy video of that so stay tuned.

Niece and Uncle Reunited

2008-11-23T21:13:00.004+08:00

Who's the Coolest Kid on the Block?

When she first saw me walking towards her she giggled and sort of danced then sidestepped her way back to where my Dad was and played a little coy then she came in and gave me a great hug as seen below.

We went to the slide, hung out and talked about old slide times together sliding and stuff.

Then we saw a guy with a strange animal that looked like the strange animal KJ had seen in the Philippines.

My Bored Hong Kong airport video

2008-11-21T14:36:00.001+08:00

I took a boat from the Hong Kong airport to the Shenzhen airport to fly to Kunming and the flight is delayed and if I find an outlet for my computer you might find a bored Shenzhen airport video too.

Musing in the Hong Kong Airport

2008-11-21T08:53:00.003+08:00

I got here at 5:40 A.M., 4:40P.M. CST and ever since they've been playing Christmas tunes. Even some religious ones although they of course are all just music renditions. I know Hong Kong is very much into Christmas because the business really embrace the holiday spirit of making tons of cash, which they do yet in less dollar amounts this year I'm sure.

Did you know they take U.S. Dollars, Hong Kong Dollars and Chinese RMB at the Starbucks in this airport but they change is given in Hong Kong Dollars. This is the best airport in the world and has been for 10 years. They even have a Popeyes Chicken as well as tons of other fancy and not so fancy stuff.

I flew on Cathay Pacific flight from LA to Hong Kong and it was packed and a new 777 but the guy sitting next to me told me that they used to have four flights a day from HK to LA but now it's just two due to economic downturns. He was an Indian guy who has only lived in HK for 5 months and he's in shipping and he just got back from New Orleans checking on one of the company ships. They have offices in Houston too and he was helping a buddy look for a house there and blown away at how cheap the property and rent is. His rent for a tiny flat is a little over $2,000 US a month.

It's funny how I never really talk to people to the end of the flight esp. on a long haul. Fourteen hours of a jabber mouth will make you want to pull the emergency hatch. Like on the flight from Dallas to L.A. I had some dude to my right and some dude to my left who was jamming out to slow jams and drinking up the expensive nasty wine while the kid to my right just slept. It's only a two hour flight but I was mentally preparing myself for the long haul flight to Hong Kong. Anyway pulling into the gate the pilot somehow managed to skid the breaks coming in so we said 'whoa buddy' or something then started talking about how the people who stand up right away are complete morons holding their luggage like their gonna be leaving anytime soon. We then talked about in Dallas how they kept telling people if it wasn't their group to board to move away from the gate but all these tools kept standing there like they were waiting on the subway or bus. Then he told me he flew LA to Phoenix a lot on SouthWest and now they have a cattle call system where everyone gets a number and has to line up and board like that but the system breaks down all the time. That just sounds dumb.

So both my conversations on both flights were 20 minute ones at the end of the flight but thats really the best way to do it. I mean if you are gonna be in business together and exchange biz cards you can figure that out in 20 mins at the end of the flight right? Of course I never give out too much info otherwise I'm talking about China etc way too much. Deflect and project.

So I'm in hour 33 of what will be 41 hours from door to door. My ferry from the Hong Kong airport to the Shenzhen airport in China leave at 11:30AM and my flight to Kunming is at 2:30PM. Should be home in Kunming at about 5:30.

I hate the new 777. The entertainment system on Cathay Pacific is great but the seats don't recline they just slide you forward and lower. What does that do but hurt your neck more. In Biz class though it's pretty sweet. They are all diagonal and turn into beds with huge TV's. I gotta get rich quick. Anybody know any hot pyramid schemes?

I liked this song and didn't have .99 cents to pay for it

2008-11-11T07:45:00.002+08:00

So I made a video of the rain and gloomy weather with the song and keep in mind its all done on my computer's camera. If you can't sleep just watch this video and you will go straight to sleep.

The Change in the Air

2008-11-06T11:48:00.001+08:00

As a brief student of history I find it overly taxing to see the perennial vagueness of peoples minds in general. On the one hand it's great to see that people all over the world are fairly base creatures and reassuring in their predictability and on the other hand it does seem the potential for sincere thought is wasted on many a gray matter. No matter what time zone, city, generation, or country we hail from we seem to have the inability to see past the wild roller coaster that is our emotions.

I went out on election day to see many people waving banners at an intersection. They were all supporting Obama and I noticed two things that were rather comical. One was the the gale force winds were almost ripping their cherished signs from their hands and muffling their idiealistist shouts. The second amusing aspect was the horns that were honking for the 'cajolers for change' were the high pitched small cars that do constitute a certain voting block. As I made my wake back fighting the wind I thought of the idea of change and what it represents. We are usually enamored with the idea of change since we are usually upset with ourselves, others, our country or in many cases all three. If I could do this I would be a better person, if this friend would stop being so annoying, if our government would 'get on the right track' and on and on. If you think about this idea of 'change' even just a bit you start to realize that change is an offered uttered ideal but it usually stops at the utterance thereof. That is why politicians are amorist in their feelings toward change and quite often they take her to the prom but don't marry change or take her to Washington or elsewhere. Honestly, people don't really like change at all. We enjoy what makes us feel comfortable and what makes us feel safe. That is the anti-these of change.

In the 1992 election the big line from the Clinton campaign was 'It's the economy, stupid'. As in what people care about is the economy. Why? Because they want to be comfortable and maintain their standard of living. I don't care for either of the candidate but I can tell you that the economy was the overriding factor. McCain's poll numbers were looking fairly good until the credit crisis gripped the nation. McCain was seen tied to it because he was a Republican and therefore tied to the Bush administration who must have caused this to happen. A better culprit would have been the governments actions many decades before that offered lower interest rates and little or no down payments to people wishing to buy a house. This was supposed to be for a select group of people but as with most things in any government it ballooned when these government created agencies saw the opportunities for greater profit. Allen Greenspan could also be suspect at trying to control the economy which is something that has always been cyclical and always will be. The truth of it is that one person and one president in this case cannot be blamed for so many faults. Many presidents have made mistakes but their actions don't always have the power that the world likes to thurst upon 'the most powerful man in the world'. Many of the recent presidential candidates I don't think would have done too much different on 'big' issues. More often than not the world effects a President and President rarely effects the World. In many aspects it just comes down to who has the best personality or storyline. As a writer I see this very clearly as a determining factor as we tend to root for the underdog or the person with a broken home, life, leg, or whatever need may arise. Whatever pushes the narrative along to the bright lights and Disney ending then that will be the story. If you think of Presidential elections going back for decades it has always been the candidate with the most interesting personality who wins. We can probably think the power of television for that.

It's really the people who can't see any other option but their party or their side that is really sad. I hope we can all have the viewpoint that flustered emotion is a byproduct of retarding thought and stepping out of your own frame of reference from time to time is something we rarely do but something that should be championed. Overall I can't tell if people are ill informed, superficial or just complete idiots hiding from any form of truth in their lives. Sadly I'm coming to the conclusion that it must be the latter since many people really do prefer ignorant bliss and find it easier to cope with the overwhelming aspects of life. This is not a rush to idocracy and doesn't happen overnight but it's a slow boil to oblivion. I have felt overwhelmed many times in life but I hope I never have the proclivity to hide behind glazed eyes of ignorance. Of course I have the faith in a higher power that doesn't change and provides hope in my hour and hours of despair. Others find this a form of ignorance in its own right and espouse it daily but for me it is a profound hope that pushes me through the despondency that is the world to see the joys around me despite the many glazed eyes of irrelevance.

Th Th Thanks

2008-10-29T03:36:00.003+08:00

This past weekend Kevin the three younger boys and I were in Austin seeing various friends. (yeah this was written 3 weeks ago or so and wasn't published, sorry) Me, my friends, and them seeing their friends and such. Anyway Kev and the boys were given tickets to the UT game that weekend and I started thinking of the things that people have done for the Shoreys and for me. It's really really incredible and would take way too many to list. Just from the phone calls, emails, hankshakes, milk shakes, side hugs and full on hugs, helping out finacially, organzing things, taking care of the little and big things, opening your homes, hearts, and just saying 'hi' or 'howdy' or 'how y'all doing?' We don't hear a lot of y'all in china y'all. So thanks for thinking of us on thursday and all the other six days of the week as well. 'Thanks for Thinking of me on Thursday', I use that to teach pronunciation in China since in Mandarin there is no word where you say the 'TH' sound. Everybody say it with me now, put your tongue on the tip of your top teeth, which in Chinese culture is rather rude and say, Th Thhh Thanks. No, Thank You!

The Boys and I on the flight over from Bangkok to L.A.

Kevin and Wes in Texas somewhere

Man, Texas is way way flat in some places.

Oklahoma is OK

2008-10-14T15:39:00.004+08:00

Monday in Arkansas, Rainbows, Snacks, and Bowling

2008-10-10T05:16:00.006+08:00

I took the boys on a progressive lunch. We progressed to Arby's, Sonic, and KFC. Not a real fancy progressive lunch but tasty none the less.

Trips, Travels, and Traversing

2008-10-09T03:34:00.008+08:00

Kev, the 3 boys and I headed to Austin two weekends ago. They some people and I saw some people and the first cool and amusing thing we saw were two houses going down the road at 60 mph. Opposing cars and mailboxes beware. Yes Mom, I took this while driving. I'm sure Kevin could've taken it but I really wanted to convey the drivers perspective of driving houses.

Then we saw an alien spaceship by the highway then a car from 'back to the future'. They say Austin is a weird town and we were still a couple of hours away from it.

Since Delorean are over 20 years old they get 'classic car' license plates. Where is my flux capacitor when I need it. Kevin made me take about 20 pictures with two different cameras of this dudes future old car. I think he was a little freaked out but he's driving it on the I 35 he's asking for attention.

And the boys slept.

And we stopped of course in Waco to laugh at Baylor and play 9 holes of disc golf. This is Andrew doing his Bigfoot impersonation by an oddly placed shopping cart.

Kevin and boys at the UT Arkansas game, I think UT may have won by a bit. That's what they said.

Some UT fans gave them some tickets and Wesley showed off is angle eye trick that really freaks people out.

Heading to Irving then Rockwall we stopped for about 10 mins at the Dr. Pepper museum. Real fountain drink sodas. I didn't know where to stand and I enjoy sitting so I sat and blocked the Dr. Pepper sign, sorry Dr. Pepper fans out there. Dr. Pepper is hard to find in China and very expensive so the boys are really making up for lost Dr. Pepper time. I bought Dr. Pepper chapstick and a shirt for my niece.

State Fair!! TEXAS Fair!!!

Apparently Kevin couldn't win any of the games so he had to buy a hat instead, which really amuses his daughters when he wears it everywhere.

Some Pictures and Some Silly Pictures

2008-09-24T11:39:00.003+08:00

How To Give a Gift

2008-09-23T13:05:00.004+08:00

The Shorey family, extended family and all of you know that money will not take away the hurt and if we could be poor and have Ruth back that would be a much better feeling right now than wealth. Either way it is an expensive endeavor especially when it involves traveling around the world and at the service they mentioned 'the blog or blogs' having the information which is below so here it is. Many people want to do something to show they care and this is one way to do so. Give as you feel led or more so, it won't hurt you but only help you to grow. Thank You Again for all of your support.

Taxable memorials can be payable to:

Longview Christian School

Attn: Shorey Family Fund

2101 W. Marshall Ave.

Longview, TX 75604

A Tax-Deductible option is available:

Make checks payable to:

"Network of International Christian

Schools" and write "account 003086" in the memo line.

Address:

Network of International Schools

3790 Goodman Rd E

Southaven, MS 38672

Or online at: www.nics.org ,account #003086.

Memorial Video from the Texas Memorial

2008-09-23T10:08:00.001+08:00

Many Pictures From the Service Yesterday and Me

2008-09-22T07:23:00.004+08:00

Apparently many of you have been reading this blog and many people asked about it yesterday at the Memorial service for Ruth. The day after her earthly body passed away I got a comment on this blog asking about Ruth so I decided to keep people informed this way. It has been cathartic too. I'm Kevin's cousin and I live in Kunming too. I wish that Kevin and I had the same last name so so much confusion could be avoided and we've realized that we have many mutual friends, acquaintances, etc etc. in Longview and the surrounding areas but since our last names aren't the same people didn't make the connections or the China connection.
This picture below is from today, I am the one giving Wesley a headlock.

I was watching the younger boys in Kunming when Ruth passed away and flew to Thailand with them and my Father, LeRoy Ramsey. My Mother, Jane Ramsey was in Thailand with Kevin and Ruth following the surgery, she was going to be with Ruth when Kevin went back to Kunming to teach, They of course were going to shop all over Thailand before coming back to China. I helped Kevin as he traveled as we made the long trip with the boys back to Texas. My parents and my sister, Marianne Krauss with her husband Tim and daughter Kaitlyn also live in Kunming. With the Kunming Shoreys we were 11 family members strong with 3 different last names but we were spending every weekend together. Now with Ruth's passing there is 10 of us in Kunming but we will be 11 again in March when my sister has another baby. I suppose life goes on.

This is the Kunming Krew about a month ago except the baby I'm holding is just a friends baby. It was a joke. The rest of us are all related. Ramsey, Shorey Krauss. This was after church one day.

Kevin lived with me and my family in the early 80's and Ruth was our babysitter and they were in our life very much and I consider Kevin like an older brother to me and Ruth like an older sister. Kevin and Ruth missed my family when we started going to China over 20 years ago but they never were negative about it and we'll never forget that. I went to university at LeTourneau when the Shoreys lived in Irving and I was there when they first moved to Hallsville and I was able to babysit their kids back then except Wesley was the only real baby at that time. Now he's the 11 year old baby and when I was watching him a little over a week ago I thank the Lord that he just hoped out of bed at 6:30 to get ready for school and fix his own breakfast and thankful that Andrew and Timothy got up on their own. It has been a sad and inspiring week but I'm glad I was able to keep you all informed and will post some more Shorey goings on while in the States.

Kevin's brother Collin spoke at Ruth's Memorial but he also took some pictures from the front to remember this moment. It was funny and funnier for me since I somehow ended up behind the big guy in the maroon shirt.

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My Niece Kaitlyn at Ruth's Memorial in Kunming

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Pictures from Ruth's Memorial

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Sorry these don't really show much of the memorial and is mainly of the family but I didn't think about the camera during it and I prefer the more candid shots anyway.

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Kaitlyn saying "Rut... Rut" when she first saw her picture

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The Memorial for Ruth in China

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This is some pictures and the email that my sister, Marianne sent from Kunming this morning. It sounds and looks like it was a great tribute to a great life. My Mom put Ruth's beret on the top right of the picture. She said it seemed fitting and it is.

The service was held at the hotel where the West fellowship meets and the room was full. There were photos of Ruth and her class at the entrance. Two huge pink foral displays on each side of the stage and a large photo of Ruth at the front. when we walked in the door Kaitlyn saw it and said “Rut”, that’s when the tears started. Kenny opened the service with a welcome and a prayer then Jenny sang a song “Seize the Day”. She re-wrote the verses to talk about Ruth. If you haven’t already had the lyrics emailed to you let us know and i will have Tim get it and forward it to you.

I shared for the family. All the speaking was translated into Chinese. Mom and Dad stood with me but were mainly teary-eyed. I hope I was able to convey our heart for Ruth to the community here. Two of Ruth’s students came and gave my Mom flowers for ruth. You can see those in the photo below. they put together a beautiful photo montage that Kenny is bringing to you.

Candy signed the song “Thank you for giving to the Lord”. The amazing part is that she didn’t
even know that ruth knew sign language until i read the obituary and it mentioned that ruth
worked with the deaf. It was a beautiful tribute that father orchestrated. Derek shared about the future hope that we have and shared several verses of comfort. We all sang “To God be the glory” in both chinese and English and then Matt Mayfield closed by reading a prayer of St. Fransis of Assissi. It was a very loving and very beautiful serivce that really reflected Ruth’s Joy is Christ. Below are a picture of Kaitlyn saying “Rut” and one crowd shot. Although most of the people had left by then.

We really wish we could be there in longview on Saturday. Know that our thoughts are with you all. we love you and if there is anything we can do please let us know.

Love,
Marianne, Tim, & Kaitlyn

A Song

2008-09-18T14:42:00.003+08:00

This was written yesterday by my parents Goddaughter, Kali.

Remember

V1:
I’m on my knees dear God
My head buried in my hands.
Questions plague my thoughts
This wasn’t what I had planned.

Chorus:
I’ll remember you through the laughter
I’ll remember you through the tears.
And I’ll never forget, the life that you led
And the legacy that time cannot fade.

V2:
Please allow me to see
Past these dark times filled with pain.
Precious was a life
And though things will never be the same

Chorus:
I’ll remember you through the laughter,
I’ll remember you through the tears.
And I’ll never forget, the life that you led
And the legacy time cannot fade.

Bridge:
Give me the strength to go on.
My friend in the presence of a King.
I know when I see light through these dark clouds
I’ll behold my glorious Lord.