Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Favourite posts from the 4th quarter of 2008

Continuing my catch-up on recommendations from a year and more ago...



Pick of the Archive:
Favourite Posts, Oct.-Dec. 2008



1) Another sign of De-Olympification - 4th October 2008

An anecdote about my first introduction to Beijing's backstreet 'hairdressers'.


2) My Fantasy Girlfriend - Barbara Good - 4th October 2008

Barbara Good, in classic '70s BBC sitcom The Good Life, was just about the perfect woman.


3) Sunday silliness - 5th October 2008

One of my favourite short 'poems', one of my silliest, one of my most outrageous puns.


4) Bon mot for the week - 6th October 2008

One of my own, one of my best.


5) Possibly.... The Best Blog in the World? - 7th October 2008

A recommendation for a wonderful recent discovery, the blog Other Men's Flowers.


6) Sunday Poetry Corner - 12th October 2008

A favourite war poem, Clifford Dyment's The Son.


7) Therapies - 14th October 2008

A list of things that make me feel better....


8) SOAP! - 16th October 2008

A great collective bar-room joke: my drinking buddies and I invent the worthy charity, Stamp Out Animal Pornography.


9) Not exactly a poem.... - 24th October 2008

But rather amusing, I think.


10) Sunday Linguistics Corner - 26th October 2008

My academic editing job throws up a particularly disturbing neologism.


11) An idealistic teacher - 27th October 2008

My approach to the teaching of poetry.


12) A motto for China - 27th October 2008

Found humour: an anecdote on Other Men's Flowers seems strangely appropriate to my adopted home.


13) White Trash Halloween - 31st October 2008

I'm not a fan of this holiday, but I did find this photograph of unusual pumpkin decorations rather fun.


14) Urbane? Moi?! - 3rd November 2008

I think I would prefer the epithet suburbane. This post became a repository for reviews of my two blogs.


15) Website of the Month - Editorial Ass - 5th November 2008

A long overdue recommendation for the wonderful Moonrat (also my Fantasy Girlfriend of the month).


16) The next huge bestseller - 8th November 2008

I win a competition with this outline for a social history of Gin.


17) Chinglish mispronunciation - 13th November 2008

A favourite example of this genre of humour: a film whose title you will struggle to recognise.


18) List of the Month - 'Desert Island' albums - 16th November 2008

My 10 favourite rock albums.... well, amongst my favourites....


19) I am easily amused (yet again) - 17th November 2008

An unlikely Scandinavian name I notice in some film credits reduces me to helpless mirth, and provokes some silly flights of linguistic fancy from me.


20) Chinese lanterns - 24th November 2008

One of my favourite photographs, an unusual view of Beijing's famous Gui Jie restaurant strip.


21) Chinese people LOVE me! (20) - 25th November 2008

Chinese underpants don't have flies; this gives me an enviable advantage over the locals when I need to take a quick pee in a public toilet.


22) Late-night shopping run - 27th November 2008

I suffer a particularly galling incident at my local 7/11 store.


23) Translation - 28th November 2008

I attempt an English version of a famous bon mot from the Chinese sage Xun Zi.


24) Film List - the greatest Westerns - 29th November 2008

The first - and best - of my monthly 'Film List' series.


25) A restful image - 1st December 2008

A photograph of the courtyard where I stayed the last time I was in New Orleans - an image I regularly turn to for solace or relaxation.


26) Last words - 2nd December 2008

A humorous contemplation of suicide (and a little bit of bitching about Microsoft).


27) Today, in the recording studio - 4th December 2008

Recording listening practice exams was never so amusing! Well, in fact, it's usually fairly rib-tickling; but this session was something extra-special.


28) Because you can make 'Art' out of anything.... - 5th December 2008

I discover a website devoted to 'tampon art'....


29) The weekly bon mot - 8th December 2008

My blog-friend Tony produces a particularly good line on cats.


30) Pulgasari - 12th December 2008

My friends at Koryo Tours arrange a screening of this 'classic' North Korean Godzilla film, whose story is rich with political metaphor.


31) List of the Month - Things I wish my mother had told me.... - 13th December 2008

A collection of bons mots - the sum of my life's wisdom.


32) Oh, grow up! - 14th December 2008

Continuing my 'Free Advice' series.... I get irritated by the Chinese government's latest fatuous tantrum over the Dalai Lama.

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