Archive for June, 2006

Airplane Bathroom Sink Review

Friday, June 30th, 2006
Bad: near-unusable airline sink747 sinks, such as this one I used during the flight from Beijing to LAX, are awful for those of us who actually like to have clean hands. I had to wash one hand at a time because the lever must be held down constantly by the other hand in order to keep the water flowing. The hot water quickly became too hot, and mixing hot and cold water was difficult due to the distance between levers and the pressure required to hold them down. After cleaning one hand I had to touch the not-necessarily clean metal controls with the clean hand in order to wash the other hand, and then again at the end to activate the drain. Hmmm, maybe it says something about me that I actually care about this.
Good: the best airline sink everMy sink prayers were answered by the sink aboard the Airbus 320 plane I took from LAX to Minneapolis.
the best airline sink everWoohoo, with that dial I could select the temperature, and when pressed it caused the water to flow for long enough to quickly rinse both hands. Yay.

Posted in Amusing, China, Geeky | 3 Comments »

A trip to Los Angeles and Minneapolis

Friday, June 30th, 2006
an extreme transcontinental sleeping methoda fellow passenger’s extreme transcontinental sleeping method (yes, that’s an airline-supplied blanket he has placed over his head)
I took the long route to Minneapolis for a cousin’s wedding, passing through Los Angeles for a few days. Yay, visits with friends, and more airline miles. Along the way I grabbed a few photos of interest with my new Chinese-localized Treo 650.

In LA I saw the movie Cars with my cousins Jerry and Patsy, who had already seen the film once. Cars is amazing looking. Many scenes look like shots in an above-average car advertisement, which is a little eerie since these cars talk and have cartoonish faces. The film is very much worth seeing in a theater (rather than from an alternative-distribution AKA pirate DVD bought in China, at least until the US DVD is near release and the enterprising Chinese DVD distributors get their hands on good source material).

Cars is not as emotionally engaging as other Pixar films such as Toy Story or The Incredibles, but is still really something. Since few foreign blockbusters play in Chinese movie theaters, I’d highly recommend that all Chinese nationals spend six months of their salaries to travel to Hong Kong or the U.S. to see the film on the big screen. In case you’re reading this blog transated into Chinese by machine, the sarcasm may not be evident. Please be aware that I am joking. Few films are worth the trouble of international travel, though a stop after the film at the new Burbank Zankou Chicken might make such a trip more worthwhile. I could not believe it, a Zankou Chicken restaurant that is clean and features polite and helpful servers behind the counter (they even gave one friend who was a Zankou virgin a small taste of each of their meats so that he could make an informed decision when ordering).

sticker shock in LASticker shock in LA. $39.50 for a plain polo shirt? A similar shirt in Beijing might also list for 39.50, RMB that is. Divide by 8 to figure the amount in US dollars. Wow. I forgot I used to pay prices like that (for goods that were probably also made in China).
It is true that most Hollywood films don’t play, officially, in China. I have heard that only 20 (or some other number, make up your own!) foreign films a year are allowed to be shown in Chinese cinemas, so most films don’t make the cut even if they contain nothing that would bother a Chinese government censor. Perhaps when my future kinder, back home in the US, refuse to watch the latest blockbuster that I feel they must see, I will make them feel guilty by telling them of the sad Chinese children who never get to see many Hollywood films in the theater. It’s the entertainment version of the old “Clean your plate, there are children starving in Ethiopia, who are you to refuse food” routine.

Speaking of films, in Minneapolis I watched the new Superman flick with my cousin Steve. We both found the film a little underwhelming, and he’s generally less of a grump than I about such things. It’s a bad sign when a film casts Kal Penn as a mere heavy and gives him almost no lines. Kal, you may recall, turned in a wonderful performance as Kumar in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Other talented actors were similarly wasted in a film that was to me unexpectedly uninteresting.

Posted in Amusing, China, Geeky, Treo 600 | No Comments »

My old cell number is back in business

Friday, June 2nd, 2006
There’s a special surprise in store for anyone who calls my Los Angeles cell phone number. I may be far away, but technology can sure make the world seem a lot smaller.

I’d like to thank the U.S. Congress for making this possible by including Wireless Local Number Portability in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and also Digium for creating the open-source Asterix PBX software.

Posted in China, Geeky | No Comments »

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