fester in an idle month:
days of emptiness.
I am glad to have January behind me; but the gloom still clings to me....
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Overspill of an irreverent mind
The Very Best of Froogville
Pick of the Month: a random recommendation from the archive
The Barstool
Yang Rui must GO!
A leading presenter on China Central Television's English-language channel has revealed himself to be a xenophobic hate-monger. WHY does he still have a job? Lobby for his dismissal - by any and all means.
Days Ai Weiwei was detained
80
With ironic, sinister symmetry, the celebrity artist/activist was incarcerated on the same day that my friend Wu Yuren was finally released from 10 months' detention.
Now, like Wu, he's been released on extremely restrictive 'bail' terms - but could face re-arrest at any moment. He was detained incommunicado from April 3rd to June 22nd 2011.
Days Wu Yuren was in prison
307
"Released on parole" after 10 months; "parole" lifted another year later. The original charges against him were apparently dropped without his trial ever being formally concluded.
Why was Wu Yuren in prison?
Why do I care about Wu Yuren?
How you might have helped Wu Yuren (and the many others like him in China)
Remembering the Tiananmen protests of 1989
About Me
- Froog
- Froog is an escaped lawyer - but there is no need for alarm; he is only a danger to himself, not to the general public. An eternal wanderer, he now lives in an exotic city somewhere in the 'Third World' *, where he is held prisoner by an unfinished novel (or, more precisely, an unstarted novel). He spends a lot of time running, writing, taking photographs, and falling in love with women who fail to appreciate him. He also spends a lot of time in bars. [* OK, I'll come clean: I've been living in Beijing since summer '02.]
Who is this Froog person anyway?
What does Froog look like?
Why can't I be Froog?
How did I come to be a blogger?
A statement of principle
The scope of Froogville (and Barstool Blues)
Blog Roll (kind of)
Froog on Writing
Where to dine in Beijing
Beating China's Net Censorship
- Witopia - indispensable VPN service
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- TOR software bundle (for use with Firefox/FoxyProxy)
- Kallahar's Place (Method #2 only; and you need to open a new window for every page you visit with it)
- Proxy re-routing for Firefox (courtesy of Chinese blogger, Yee); has been subject to some blocking
- Google Mobile Proxy (simplified page views only)
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- Hotspot Shield (FREE, but slow and glitchy)
- Anonymouse - free, reliable proxy site; but can be slow, and has annoying pop-ups
- Summary of tips on using the above methods
- Leaping Over The Great Firewall - my discussion of the Net censorship problems in China
The TV Listings - my YouTube favourites
Competitions, etc.
- The Search for Beijing's Longest-serving Cab Driver
- Possible Band Names - if you had your own rock group, what would you call it?
- Suggest the best name for a bar
- Can you spot the film references?
- Six-Word Epigraphs - sum up your life in a micro-memoir
- Misheard song lyrics
- Amusing film credits
- Game of the Names - if you were a pirate, or a porn star, or a mafioso, or a luchador, what would your name be?
- Test your word power and help feed the poor at FreeRice.com
Three Doors™
Secrets of the Universe
The Three Phases
The Expat Ladder
Beijing 'types'
The Great Debates
- The "Mount Rushmore of Rock" - who are your 'Top 4' greatest musicians/bands of all time?
- What makes A GREAT BAR?
- Beijing v. Shanghai - which is the better city?
- Are vampires viable?
- Are zombies viable?
- What would your unusual super-power (and your Nemesis) be?
- The 7 Habits of Highly Efficient (?) Readers
- What is the best opening to a novel?
- The films of the Coen brothers - which is your favourite?
- Is DVD piracy intrinsically BAD?
- Chinese food - the worst cuisine in the world?
Leave your bar jokes here
Leave your 'bad' jokes here
Pick of the Archives
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- Favourite Posts, April-June 2009 (Part 1)
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2009 (Part 2)
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2009
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- Favourite Posts, July-Sept. 2007
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2007
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2007 (Part 1)
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2007 (Part 2)
- Favourite Posts, Sept.-Dec. 2006
FRIENDS - doing business in China
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6 comments:
Hiya. This is Mrs Nags - except I couldn't quite face signing up with that as a screen name.
You should have come to London in January after all. We could have had a competition about who was glummest, and got cross with Mr Nags's love of things wintery...
Welcome, FJ. Nice to hear from you.
I'm sorry to have missed the big snowfall in London. We haven't had any at all in Beijing this year.
Spring approaches; I hope things are less glum for you now.
Say hi to Mr Nags for me. He seems to have lost the knack of e-mail correspondence (again).
I broke a tooth on Monday, and couldn't see a dentist until Wednesday because of the snow. So not much sign of cheer here at the moment, I'm afraid - although I think I've almost agreed the dissertation topic for my MA. I seem to be leading a very, very dull life....
Mr N can no longer access his yahoo account from work - which means that he's a bit crap at responding to it. Suggest you try his work one.
I hardly dare to ask about progress in tidying up the draft of your novel.
Good luck in your battle against chocolate.
I managed to persuade myself to reread the novel and decided it was awful (well, OK, not unremittingly terrible - but a very strange mix of concepts which just about managed to be amusinging in places), and then the deadline for the thesis proposal got unexpectedly accelerated.... and I have just eaten a KitKat. A chunky one.
In Russia they make Twix with dark chocolate. It is wonderful. You occasionally find it in one of the international supermarkets here, but it is a very rare treat.
I don't suppose this tactic would work for you, though - confining your obsession to brands that are almost impossible to obtain.
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