[Culture] China Rises

Sophie
Originally uploaded by LeJyBy.

I just watched a DVD "CHINA RISES", produced by the "Canadian Broadcasting Corporation". Among the things that impressed me the most, beside the horrible conditions of some of the workers, which (at least European) news media like to point out, is on one hand the huge amount of pollution released, and on the other hand how much arable lands have been devastated. Some other facts are worth of notice: still more than half of the products exported from China are produced by state-owned companies: it seems to me that the opening of China to private entrepreneurship can be seen as a clever combination of incentive to innovation with still a good part of good planning. How much planning was left, and how much improvisation, was heavily questioned at some point of the DVD, expressing in particular worries about the capacity of China to produce food to sustain its own population. The part which pleased me the most was the interview of Zhang Yue, a Chinese millionaire who got rich selling air-conditioners which consume less electricity and pollute less. He was very eloquent talking about the pollution in China, and the English part of the website of his company, Broad Air Conditioning, beside its various typos, is as eloquent as the owner. The guy seems to be also funding his own farms to provide food for his employee and himself: the kind of initiative that western companies are so cynical about. Second of my list of favorites passages, among the extra videos on the second DVD, "A panorama of present day China": from the beautiful country-side to the illuminated new cities, accompanied by a variety of very nice music, ir reminded me of the music of Philip Glass, who composed the music of the Qatsi trilogy. The future new chair of my department seems to have an odd fascination for the future of China, I wish he could see this DVD! I am also reading "Collapse" from Jared Diamond (who wrote the master piece "Guns, Germs and Steel" that I read earlier): there is a chapter on China, I am curious to see what he has to say....

[Art] Kokopelli Twins

Kokopelli Twins
Originally uploaded by LeJyBy.

I went to an Indian party yesterday, I ate a lot of delicious vegetarian food, and I brought a double present to my hosts: this set of two etched glasses. They figure the Kokopelli god and its comparse, Kokopelli-mana. My hosts offered me in return a beautiful cotton shirt with bright colors, called a "courta", that I like a lot :)

Dixit wikipedia, Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player, who has been venerated by many Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. He is also a trickster god and represents the spirit of music. My kind of god!

The party was nice, and I think that I will try to take the time to etch more in the following months: it is really relaxing!

[Travel] Barcelona

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Originally uploaded by LeJyBy.

A few pictures from Barcelona, which I visited last week for CPM. Many more pictures on Flickr, just click on this one. Many thanks to Nicolas who organized most of the trip, and to Alexis who received us in his "Spanish Hostel", it was much nicer (and cheaper, for my meagre grant) than the hotel and I discovered an aspect of Barcelona that I would have missed otherwise ;) The conference itself was great, I met many interesting people (Sadakane, Navarro, Crochemore) but I am even more happy to have discovered the beauty of this city. I would be happy to come to work for one year there, as suggested by Conrado Alvarez during his visit in Waterloo :D
Merci Nicolas et Alexis! Quelques architectures sympas. Et bien sur, la Sagrada Familia

[Art] Mehendi / Echasses

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Originally uploaded by LeJyBy.

Dans la serie "comment deshabiller une fille", je propose: "offrez lui de lui faire un tatouage au henne" ;)

J'ai offert a Clemence, la copine de Theo, un tube de pommade au henne avec bec verseur super pratique, et elle m'a demande de lui faire un demonstration. Du coup, un tatouage en rose sur l'epaule, un tribal dans le dos, un dragon sur le bras de Theo, je me suis bien amuse!

C'est con, les gens au Canada n'ont pas l'air d'apprecier. En France a Orsay, je garde un excellent souvenir des deux "henne party" qu'on avait fait. Je ne desespere pas, peut-etre qu'avec ces photos j'arriverais a convaincre quelques-un(e)s!
On a aussi essaye mon accordeon et mes echasses: on dirait qu'a chaque anniversaire les parents m'offrent de nouveaux moyens de casser les oreilles des voisins ou de me casser quelque chose :) Merci tout le monde, je me suis bien amuse!