news.imagethief.com

Look at the expression on the pearl ox and then ask yourself, where is the girl's right hand?   Because an ox figurine made with 130,000 pearls that conspicuously invokes the Wall Street ''bull'' statue doesn't seem, you know, vulgar or anything on the eve of a walloping recession. (By the way, the recession will be a real test of China's ...

Although Imagethief is not particularly religious, he is by descent a card carrying member of The Chosen People. He was therefore highly amused by the two following videos: Jon Stewart, in one of his all-time great rants, on congress breaking for Rosh Hashana this week, at the height of the economic crisis (note -- readers in China will need a ...

I don't normally go for the straight Chinglish stuff, but this one is worth sharing. Via Language Log:   Full explanation at Language Log. A better translation of this might be, ''The world's biggest sporting celebration is about to burst forth!'' But even so, the copy writing is, shall we say, unfortunate. Hat tip: Bishop Joey

From the ''you couldn't make it up'' department here in Imagethief Towers, an old-school China Daily gem:City gets tough on foreign jaywalkersBy Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is taking stern action against foreigners who break traffic rules, the public security bureau said Tuesday.It follows tough measures ...

Conan the Barbarian, age 20 Mongol General Conan! What is best in life? Conan To crush your enemies. To see them driven before you. To hear the lamentation of their women. Conan the Barbarian, age 40 Mongol General Conan! What is best in life? Conan To spend quality time with your family. To see your kids after work. To hear the precious ...

Back when he lived in Singapore many of Imagethief's friends used to run with the Hash House Harriers, the ''drinking club with a running problem''. Imagethief, being a solitary, sober runner used to give that miss. But it did sound like a sloshing good time. Apparently there is a chapter here in Beijing as well, where, as we all know, a frosty ...

With the possible exception of Disney villains, Imagethief cannot think of a group of people that more richly deserve their miserable fates than Hong Kong celebrity Edison Chen and his cavalcade of cupcakes. If I sound unsympathetic here, that is because I am unsympathetic. Really, how dumb do you need to be? On all sides? Girls, here's a free ...

To look at the news surrounding China's recent announcement of a ban on thin plastic bags you'd think the gates to environmental heaven had just swung open. I'm sure I could see those very gates if the air outside my office windows wasn't full of nitrogen oxides and coal soot generated by the perma-gridlock on East Chang'an Ave. There are plenty ...

Yes, it's more fluorescent, green pigs. Details here (AP) and here (Xinhua). It used to be when you saw a green, glowing pig you automatically assumed a nuclear accident nearby. How times have changed. Naturally, this will all yield great benefits for science or agriculture:''This technology promises to breed excellent transgenic pigs and even ...

It must really chafe the Chinese Department of Moonshots, or whatever bureaucracy owns the lunar program, that Chinese netizens have been questioning the authenticity of their moon photo. Surely they would have expected to be derided by arrogant foreigners determined to take China down a peg. But from their own corner? Well that just hurts. They ...