"We are all geniuses when we dream. The butcher is the poet's equal there."
Emil Cioran (1911-1995)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
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
- FoxyProxy (add-on proxifier for Firefox)
- 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)
- XeroBank xB Browser (formerly Torrify - FREE, but very slow)
- 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
- Favourite Posts, Oct.-Dec. 2012
- Favourite Posts, July-Sept. 2012
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2012
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2012
- Favourite Posts, Oct.-Dec. 2011
- Favourite Posts, July-Sept. 2011
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2011
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2011
- Favourite Posts, Oct.-Dec. 2010
- Favourite Posts, July-Sept. 2010
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2010
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2010
- Favourite Posts, Oct.-Dec. 2009
- Favourite Posts, July-Sept. 2009
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2009 (Part 1)
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2009 (Part 2)
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2009
- Favourite Posts, Oct.-Dec. 2008
- Favourite Posts, July-Sept. 2008
- Favourite Posts, April-June 2008
- Favourite Posts, Jan.-March 2008
- Favourite Posts, Oct.-Dec. 2007
- 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
Blog Archive
- December 2012 (52)
- November 2012 (34)
- October 2012 (38)
- September 2012 (35)
- August 2012 (28)
- July 2012 (24)
- June 2012 (31)
- May 2012 (35)
- April 2012 (35)
- March 2012 (35)
- February 2012 (36)
- January 2012 (38)
- December 2011 (38)
- November 2011 (30)
- October 2011 (35)
- September 2011 (34)
- August 2011 (32)
- July 2011 (40)
- June 2011 (29)
- May 2011 (36)
- April 2011 (36)
- March 2011 (35)
- February 2011 (32)
- January 2011 (37)
- December 2010 (38)
- November 2010 (36)
- October 2010 (39)
- September 2010 (38)
- August 2010 (39)
- July 2010 (37)
- June 2010 (35)
- May 2010 (42)
- April 2010 (47)
- March 2010 (40)
- February 2010 (39)
- January 2010 (44)
- December 2009 (48)
- November 2009 (56)
- October 2009 (52)
- September 2009 (35)
- August 2009 (31)
- July 2009 (22)
- June 2009 (32)
- May 2009 (42)
- April 2009 (48)
- March 2009 (67)
- February 2009 (48)
- January 2009 (55)
- December 2008 (61)
- November 2008 (66)
- October 2008 (50)
- September 2008 (56)
- August 2008 (76)
- July 2008 (54)
- June 2008 (52)
- May 2008 (55)
- April 2008 (53)
- March 2008 (58)
- February 2008 (49)
- January 2008 (56)
- December 2007 (60)
- November 2007 (54)
- October 2007 (72)
- September 2007 (28)
- August 2007 (32)
- July 2007 (39)
- June 2007 (52)
- May 2007 (58)
- April 2007 (68)
- March 2007 (74)
- February 2007 (32)
- January 2007 (29)
- December 2006 (51)
- November 2006 (39)
- October 2006 (40)
- September 2006 (25)
Labels
- China Observations (785)
- Pictures/Film clips (636)
- Contemporary angst (614)
- Jokes/Wordplay/Whimsy (582)
- About the blogs (476)
- Quotations/bon mots/epitaphs/etc. (472)
- Autobiographia (shards + shrapnel) (382)
- Haiku (321)
- Other blogs/websites of note (313)
- Work (266)
- China (226)
- Lists (143)
- Olympics (127)
- Music (119)
- Poetry (other people's) (118)
- Cinema (107)
- Where in the world am I? (80)
- Sport (76)
- Books (68)
- My Fantasy Girlfriends (67)
- Things that are SHITE (67)
- Art (63)
- Chinglish (62)
- Photography (61)
- Poetry (my own) (60)
- The Daily Llama (or not) (53)
- Running (46)
- Free Advice (37)
- Competitions etc. (35)
- TAM (32)
- Plugs (31)
- Teaching (31)
- Americana (29)
- War on Chinglish (26)
- Chinese people LOVE me (25)
- Wu Yuren (25)
- Anecdotes (mostly literary) (23)
- Why I don't learn Chinese (22)
- Photo Gallery Week (1) (21)
- Meltdown (19)
- Discarded story ideas (17)
- Dreams (16)
- My brilliant website/business ideas (15)
- Chinese banks are SHITE (10)
- Games (9)
- Atheism (8)
- On Writing (6)
- Walking (5)
- My Crazy 'Art' Ideas (4)
- Awards (3)
4 comments:
Which is the problem with (say) many politicians, who have stopped (if they ever started) dreaming.
I'd never heard of Emil Cioran before. Thanks for the Wikipedia link, where we learn (among other things), William H. Gass called Cioran's work "a philosophical romance on the modern themes of alienation, absurdity, boredom, futility, decay, the tyranny of history, the vulgarities of change, awareness as agony, reason as disease." He must've been a busy guy.
Quite so, JES - it does make you want to delve into the man's work, doesn't it?
I haven't had a chance to do any digging yet myself. Is there anything of his on Google Books?
This might get you started: Google Books hits on his name (showing only those books with a preview available).
Love this line, just glimpsed: My mission is to kill time, and time's to kill me in its turn. How comfortable one is among murderers.
I have some 'free' hours tomorrow. I think I now know how I'm going to be spending most of them. Thanks, JES.
Post a Comment