2/28/2006

CRC recycle bike of the day

Thanks to Hurl of Carsrcoffins fame for this. If for some reason you are in minneapolis and have not heard of this, he has opened a really nice looking (from the photos at least) coffee bar, bike garage thingy, AND it has its own blog:

http://crccoffeebar.blogspot.com/

AND the first post has this excellent recycle on a bike-el guy from saigon:

Click above for a bigun, and surf over here for the context.

In honor of this I will have chinese recyling fellers tomorrow.
Day 21, super basket chinese bike


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In ChengDu, on the fantastically fecund area near the gates Sichuan university.

Baskets ahoy, and whisk brooms and other woven things, all sold via the bici.
Note the tension between the old style woven brooms and the new crappy plastic ones, yet both are sold on the bike!

Note the spectacularly styling guy with the juice box. Note the cyclist carrying her friend on the rack just over juice box guys left shoulder. Note the inexplicably white jackets. Note the guy on the far left of the picture buying the roasted spiced nuts from the baskets.
Gear Inch RPM speed calculator

Go here

A couple o years back I made what I think to be a very useful well annotated excell based gear inch calculator. The idea was that other gear inch calculators are black boxes and you put in numbers and magically you get gear inches. Many people are confused by this simple calculation and the question "how do I get gear inches" or "how do I calculate speed from RPM" comes up all the time on bikey mailing lists.

They are simple yet daunting calculations. So I made this excel spreadsheet that hopefully allows you to calculate these things AND teach you how to do it at the same time. Dig? So click on over here and try it out.

This helps you calculate gear inches, development from your gear ratio and wheel size, and then helps you calculate your cadence given a certain speed and gear ratio and viceversa.

The fatal flaw is that most people down with Excel enough to use this easily probably can figure out the calcs on their own. It really is simple, but unit analyses is a huge hurdle for most people that don't use math all that often.

Try it, email me if you like it, use it or if you have suggestions.

I have a written description on how the calculations proceed here, but it is a bit rough.

Enjoy

2/27/2006

Bike day 20 china



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Lijang, in the old city, amid tourists, restaurants and bauble shops, the bike vendors kept on plugging away. Here we see pots and baskets and cooking goods and a Yunnan version of the big baskets seen in chengdu.

In the restaurant to the left, there are Naxi pancakes and occassionally delicious dried and fried up yak meats ( often not all that delicious and occasionally rancid), two specialties of this region.

2/26/2006

Chinese bike alert 19

Street scene, Cheng Du, I think the good eating place is in the background there somewhere, but I forget at this point:


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Mmmm, look at those raleighoids with the custom wood boxes in the foreground, the nice cargo trike with the recycling load. Some other raleighoids and maybe a 20" psuedofolder in there too. This was really typical near campus in chengdu; road, seperated bike lane, bike parking, sidewalk, open storefronts.

Even in winter most stores were like this. Chengdu is in the south, in Sichuan Provence, or at least south of the mighty Yanghtzee River, thus they have very little indoor heating, especially in residences. The story is that people are not allotted home heating as it is in the south, but I am not sure if that was just for students. It was not warm however. It was just above freezing and humid most days, the sun did not come out once for the two weeks that I was in ChengDu. There was persistant probably pollutionbased cloud cover. No sun and wet cold is not all that pleasant. Most of the students dressed in epic layers, the kind of layering most westerners have not experienced since they went out to play in the snow when they were in kindergarten. The kind of layers that inhibit free motion. Stay puff marsh... well you get the point.

There are tons and tons of cars in the streets in ChengDu, but little infrastructure to support this. Unfortunately this means alot of parking is done on the sidewalks which inhibits bike lanes, bike parking and pedestrian motion. It is hard to express how depressing it is to see a bazillion Made in China Jettas and jetta rip offs all trying to park on the sidewalk in your bike utopia. Bah.

Something is going to give very soon in China, their energy consumption plus lack of resources plus huge growth plus full scale carlovefest is bad, really bad. The optimist in me says that they will pioneer biodiesel, hydrolectric and small scale nuclear reactors that will make the world a better place and help solve their energy problems...
The pessimist thinks that LA is screwed as it will be under an China sourced haze of pollution for the next two decades, at least.
Movie Review
The Corpse Bride

Director Tim Burton comes up with another stop motion dark fairy tale. I still cannot decide if I liked this better than The Nightmare Before Christmasor not. Overall though I liked it alot and would watch it again and given the quality of the DVD extras, I might even buy it, though I did get it through netflix.

It is not as much as a musical as the NBC, but it still has a few songs. Where NBC had too many songs, but a few good ones, this movie had one decent song and alot of songs that were clearly phoned in by Danny Elfman. Once, maybe a decade or two ago, I liked seeing his name on credits for movies. His scores for the batman movies and the PeeWee Herman movies as well as the Simpsons theme song were excellent and refreshing. However, lately he is merely parodying himself, with once inventive scores and music sounding very repetitve and derivative. You can sing along with most of the songs from the Corpse Bride with the lyrics from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Check out some of his early music, especially the short song for the animated short, Face like Frog. Compare it to the generified music now, Bah...


The same may be said for Tim Burton, the Corpse Bride character is essentially the same "actress" as the female hero in tNBC. While the Victor character is the same "actor" as in the short film Vincent. The stop motion animation is spectacular, but maybe is not quite enough anymore. Voice actors were great, the style was great, but the whole movie is a bit lacking. I enjoyed it, but it did not blow me away like Edward Scissorhands did the first time I saw it long ago. I felt the same dissapointment seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish. Maybe the Tim Burton magic is faded a bit. I probably enjoyed Wallace and Grommit, Curse of the Were Rabbit much more than this one.

The DVD however has excellent features. The behind the scenes on the puppetmaker studio is excellent. The mechanics underlying these foot tall "actors" is pretty amazing, including elaborate screw driven facial expressions and nice hacks to get the characters to walk and fly. Same with the character studies going from sketches to wire skeleton motion studies to initial character movement to the final finish. Very well done. The voice cast is impressive and they do a nice job with twin shots showing the actors in front of the microphone with the final movie shots next to it.

Bottom line, this is a must see for Tim Burton fans and people who loved Nightmare before Christmas. The special features for the DVD made it well worth it for me. The story was a bit flat, but still a pleasant diversion. Tim is slipping but is still capable of interesting movies.

2/25/2006

ride much?

Someone has been riding t'hell out of his bike.


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18th day of Chinese bikes and the cats who love them


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Lucy was a sweet and somewhat deaf cat that lived in a bikeroom at the foreign teacher dorm in Sichuan university. She either slept on the battery operated moped or in the basket of one of the bikes. A few kind residents of the dorm had her fixed, and fed and watered her, and she ate well on the scraps from the dorm's kitchen. She dissapeared one day, hopefully stolen to live with someone else. She had been abducted before, put in a bike basket and rode away, but she was saved by the kitchen manager. Bikes in the back are fairly typical more modern non-raleighoid mixtes. More on them tomorrow or monday.

Lucy, I hope you are in a nice clean apartment eating delicious fish and meats, with a nice bike to sleep on.

2/24/2006

17th day of chinese bikes, second day of bananas


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Back in ChengDu, on the fertile corner near Sichuan university. The bannana guy meets the plastic kitchen crap guys meets the plum bud guys.

The big rock thing is a counterbalance on the banana guy's scale, I think. He has the old type of raleighoid with the larger wheel size, possibly wooden block for pedals.

2/23/2006

Day 16 of sketchy chinese bikes

Hmm, I may or may not post tomorrow, so considerthis friday's post, OR a bonus post for flaking on the weekend.

In honor of my pals at Scul, some super home made sketchy goodness:

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whats that you say? just a normal cargo bike? take a closer look at the bars:


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MMMMM delicious stick welded stem extensions...

Oh yeah, the pedal up on the downtube is on the handbrake, I am not sure if it could be foot operated as shown. The handbrakes are usually pull brakes, not push.

later potaters
Day 15 of bikes from China, the cargo genesis

In a corner of the main market of Lijang (not the old town) was where cargo bikes were delivered as husks and flowered into haulers. Right around the corner from the disturbing dogmeat dealers.


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2/22/2006

Die with a T

Good lord:

Click the photo for the source. 33 pound cat in China. Crap. Be sure to check out the slideshow and video accompanying the article.

This hits too close to home, now I know EXACTLY what Wink256 would look like with 13 extra pounds tacked on.

Recall the following comparison of Wink256 and friends:




I have been trying, very unsuccessfully, to train Wink256 to walk on a harness so I can take him out at night for a brisk walk and not have him eaten by coyotes. Anyone have any ideas on how to leash train a fat cat? He's a weighing in at a 20 poundsa. He pretty much flops down and more or less refuses to move when the harness is put on him, he is also amazingly good a wriggling out of the harness.
14th day of chinese bikes, first day of bananas


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Banana bike in Lijann. Very typical newer cargo bike in this area, maybe the source tomorrow.


and another nice shot of the beautiful town of lijanng with bikes and rooflines:

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The bike above has a neat woven rear basket that are made out of the reeds of the new millenium, plastic strips. I am not sure what they come from, but they are woven baskets made out of stiff plastic. People used them as bike baskets, back packs, child carriers and I even saw them being used as backpacks to haul bricks to and rubble away from construction sites. Man, that was a rough job. Sturdy women with a large backpack basket filled with bricks that were loaded ungently from a truck. They would then carry the bricks to the construction site, often up to the second level and then fill up with the rubble of the former building and return. Manual labor was cheap and brutal.

2/21/2006

Unlucky thirteenth day of Chinese Bikes, or not


I think this is the last day of not bikes, OK?

Gratuitous cat photo from the beautiful town of Lijann:

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The old city of Lijann (Lijang) was very beautiful and was a bit of a tourist trap, packed with Han Chinese and very few westerners. Much of it was new or rebuilt following a huge earthquake a decade ago and a subsequent tourist expansion. They new buildings in the old section are very well done in the traditional style.

Anyone know the deal with these odd cylopian miliatary jeeps? I saw them all over the roads in rural Yunnan provence, but none in Sichuan. One headlight, exposed engine, dead simple, possibly powered by a hamster in a wheel.


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2/20/2006

Day twelve, not Chinese bikes

I think I skipped a day, but hardly anyone reads over the holiday anyhow. A day or two of not bikes, then back to bikes:


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I really like wheelbarrows and this combines wheelbarrows and those cool baskets seen in other posts. Also the beautiful brooms. Wow. chengdu, campus, photo by me, etc.

Hurting for bike stuff? Check out the clever chimp blog for lots of cool hauling people and things. Clever chimp makes the stokemonkey, a motor-assist attachment for the Xtracycle. Todd's blog is good reading and he has a nice page of working bikes from amsterdam
Thanks for the heads up Todd. Click below for original pages:


Later Potaters

2/17/2006

Day Eleven of the continuing Chinese Bike of the Day Watch, 2006

King Coal.

Yep yep, China, like the US, is pretty much rich in only coal as far as natural resources. Unlike the US, it is used everywhere by everyone for cooking, home heating, restaurants, business, industry. Riding around the city of Cheng du involved many a coal mote in the eye and nasty air. It is easy to understand the Chinese penchant for hydroelectric dams when you see the human and environmental cost of coal based energy. My understanding is that Tiger Leaping Gorge will be dammed up in the next 10 years or so, which will be a crying shame, but might not be too bad a thing for people living in cities in china.

In Cheng Du there were large flat carts heaped high with coal puckies being drawn by walking people. In Lijiang, Yunnan Provence, a picturesque tourist town near Tiger Leaping Gorge, the streets were a bit tighter, but for some reason cargo bikes were used.

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These bikes are typical Yunnan Provence cargo trikes. I will post some photos of the cargo bike headquarters in the next week. Note the nice springs for the suspended bed. I have no idea what the pedals are, I did not notice them until right now.

The little boards are for piling the pucks on and delivering them to the customers.


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The coal pucks were kind of neat looking, like carbonized lotus roots. Almost wanted to take a bite.
Comment problems
Got a couple of emails about not being able to leave comments recently, anyone else, email me at tariksaleh at gmail dot com if you have, let me know.
Hat and Scarf



Thanks Ma! Even got to use them today as it was in the 40's with insane gusts of wind.
What the soap knows



I am not sure what it knows, but I will find out and wipe that smug little smirk off of its face.

Darn tootin.

2/16/2006

Tenth Chinese bike o' the day

People hauling.

Well there were pedicabs all over, seen in the background of yesterday's photo and of this street scene. But almost all passenger bikes had steel rear racks strong enough to carry your sweetie on, sitting side saddle:



Sorry for the blur, but it gives you the idea, the side saddle rider pictured above was wearing a jacket of pure white and high shiny boots and was quite the vision being conveyed through the streets. I think the white jackets were something of an elitest fashion statement as the streets, resturaunts and student apartments were so dirty and filthy with coal dust that it showed your class or riches or something that you could keep a jacket like that clean. Just putting your forearms on a table would soil a white jacket. Weird, but I did see people in LA wearing knee high fur lined Ugg boots while walking in the sand on the beach in 70 degree weather, so I am not pretending Americans are any better.

I personally carried people weighing up to 140 pounds or so on my rack in china. No one would carry me, but I don't think I would have broken the racks at 170, whether I could be ridden, well that was another story. A friend and I nearly killed a 120 pound soaking wet pedicab driver in Leshan when 300 pounds of americans sat in the back of his cab. He did a great job, although we had to help him push the cab up an overpass. We tipped him very well.

In related notes, there have been a few nice pics popping up on the web and in my inbox lately that I thought I would share. Hurl from Cars'r'coffins took a single speed MTB trip through cambodia and vietnam and recently posted this family:

Click above for link to his flikr photos, including more photos of bikes in cambodia and vietnam.

I saw families like this in Egypt when I was last ther, maybe a family of five similarly arrayed with a sidesaddle mom with infant in her lap, in nasty traffic in Cairo on an indian hero type bike.

Finally, Michael Godwin sent me the following:

click for bigger, yet still blurry.

Same deal, but in Hatay, Turkey, but on a moped, higher affulence and more petrol in Turkey according to Mike. I do not recall seing many bikes at all when I was in Istanbul, I will have to check my pictures though. Thanks Mike.

If any of you have some interesting related chinese or asian or african or anywhere else interesting bike photos that you would like to share, send em to me at tsaleh at rocketmail dot com. I will post them if I want to especially if they are related to bikes I have or am going to post.

2/15/2006

More Tyler Hamilton and More Doping
Updated 2/16/06, 4pm to fix a few typos and factual errors

A nice clean analysis of the difficult to read CAS report on the Tyler Hamilton case is here on cyclingnews.com. If you read through it, it is pretty damning.

They, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), did a decent job rebutting all of Tyler Hamilton's defensive arguments, and there is some previously unreported (in the cycling media) tests, both blood and DNA that seem to indicate that Hamilton has no genetic excuse for two blood types being there. There is also a statement (no proof given) that Santi Perez and Tyler Hamiton have different blood types, which would be consistant with both of them failing this test due to mixing up their blood types which would mean that switching their blood would be a bad idea as it could be fatal, see the Jesus Manzano interview for a possible outcome of mixing blood types. Again cycling news offered no proof, but states that Perez and Hamilton are different blood types.


Additionally, if I am reading the report/summary correctly, Tylers blood was pretty abnormal throughout the year preceeding this showing evidence of very high red blood count in both hemoticrit measurements AND hemoglobin/reticulate ratio. The former shows abnormal high red blood cell count and the latter shows that the red blood cells in the body were not created by the body. The evidence here, although not able to be used to suspend Tyler as the test in question was being validated, is that he was manipulating his blood all through 2004, not just at the olympics and the vuelta. The insinuation, again, is that he was homologously autologously blood doping (injecting his own blood into his body) throughout 2004, but screwed up (or changed methods) during the Vuelta in september '04 and got his blood mixed up with Santiago Perez's and both Hamilton and Perez got suspended for autologously homologously blood doping (other persons blood in their body). Pretty nasty stuff.

There are still uncertainties about the test's false positive rate (CAS claims 0% - bullpuckies, even if the test is infallible the testers are not), testing procedure and the specter of specific and non-anonymous testing, AND Dick Pound shooting his mouth off on cases that are unsettled.

The good news, as far as Hamilton is concerned, is that the CAS decided to move his suspension date back to the day he failed his test, which seems reasonable, especially given that he was not officially suspended until 7 months later. So not only is he eligible to return in Sept '06, he is allowed to ride with a Pro Tour team as soon as he returns as the Pro Tour did not exist when he was suspended. I expect someone will take him back and if he is willing, he maybe racing the last couple of Pro Tour races in 2006.

All told, not terrible. Anecdotally, he is still training hard in Colorado and possibly now in Girona according to his website and he did win a very big unsanctioned hill climb six months back, so he probably can come back this year and race well.

My (new) guess is he signs with Phonak or a down on their luck protour team this year for cheap and races well in september and moves up to a big paycheck and better team for 07. I am of the opinion that doping is rampant and he should be welcomed back when his suspension is done. I wish he would be more forthcoming with his details and practices, but I won't hold it against him. It will be interesting to see how he is treated in the peleton, there are so many undetected dopers and exdopers still riding that I think there will be no problems.

The test that caught him was a new test. This is very typical. Rich racers rarely fail established tests for drugs as they pay good money to doctors to make sure they can dope without failing tests. The dual whammy of the new test and a mistake in switching blood bags is what got Tyler.

Roberto Heras aside, most recent doping cases from EPO are people either being stupid and experimenting on their own (Adam Bergman and Chris Sheppard) or people who were caught by police action (Raimondo Rumsas, David Millar) or people that made dumb mistakes (Tyler, maybe Heras? why else?). Team doctors and unethical scientists are always able to keep a step ahead of the testers. Smart riders will pay those who know how to cheat well to help them. The stupid and the independent will get caught, or those who get taken by suprise by a new test (Balco scandal in track and field and baseball, Hamilton).

It is interesting to look at two recent and very similar EPO confessions by US based roadie Adam Bergman and MTB'r Chris Sheppard. If we take them at their word, these were two athletes who experimented with EPO in an effort to improve for a discrete reason. They were not part of a big sports machine a-la euro road cycling and they were probably hurting for the know-how on evading the testers. I could just as easily believe that they were habitual dopers and I definitely believe that they both would have continued EPO use if they did not get caught.

Now lets look at a somewhat similar case of David Millar. Cyclist gets busted for EPO, but confesses afterwards. Like Hamilton and Bergman, Millar will return to competition this year. Millar served his time and should be at the starting line for the Tour de France in 2006. Whats the difference? I find it hard to take him at his word that he was doing this once or twice and that he kept the vials as a reminder of his tainted actions. This is a person who did not fail a doping test, he was caught by the french police who were investigating widespread and organized doping on his team. Millar claims he was not part of that organized doping, he was different. Before his confession he vehemently denied and visciously slandered his teammate who was caught and named him as a participant and leader in the teamwide doping. His claims of independent doping may just be a way to keep from being convicted in the courts for doping offenses and lying about it in court, or they may be true, but he still was doping intellegently enough not to get caught by the cycling authorities. This suggests that he was doing this under a doctors supervision.

I would very much like to be convinced that doping is not a problem in cycling and pro sports, but I think it is rampant. There is too much money and too many new medicines and technologies that can be used and abused. Prior to the start of the Olympics 12 xc skiing athletes were suspended for hemoglobin irregularities. Does this mean the test is too sensitive, or that there is some new form of blood doping that cannot be directly tested for? XC skiing is the cycling of the winter olympics. No other winter sport requires the level of endurance that XC skiing does, no other winter sport has the drug related scandals like Finland or Muhlegg.

Whats the solution? I have no idea really. Three come to mind:
  • Status quo, make a good effort (unlike baseball) to catch the offenders, maybe the sports get clean, maybe you drive doping to higher levels while remaining one step behind.
  • Institute Safe Doping- transparent doping with doctors care could make the athletes safer and better, then you can have two classes of sport, stock people and modified.
  • Get really punitive - lifetime bans and/or criminal prosecution for athletes and doctors involved unless they squeal on exact methods of their doping, who got them the drugs what they are using etc. Fascist, sure, but possibly the only way to REALLY clean up the sport.

    I probably will not be turned off to fandom of cycling or baseball unless the third is instituted. I would probably prefer status quo to "safe" doping, but who knows...

    OK, here are some more interesting things to read on the subject, if anyone is still reading (anyone? anyone?):

  • My thoughts on steroids and baseball and LASIK HERE
  • Outside Magazine has had some excellent articles on doping in the last few years:
  • Stuart Stevens on taking steroids and EPO under a doctors supervision.
  • Brian Alexander's eye opening article on testing and how they are not catching up and an Don Caitlin's interesting proposal to end doping.
  • Joe Lindsey writes on Lance Armstrongs doping affair.
  • Joe Lindsey also writes a quasiweekly colum on Mountainbike.com that covers doping issues of the day very well, the boulder report. His take on the Tyler Hamilton verdict here. Thanks to Joe for pointing out some factual errors in my initial posting of this article.
  • Breaking the Chain by Willie Voet is an interesting tell all on the Festina Affair that rocked the Tour de France in 1998. Methods, drugs and some history of doping in the eighties and nineties.
  • A Rough Ride,Paul Kimmage, a book detailing the thankless life of a domestique in the eighties and the pressure to take drugs in the peleton.
  • Put me back on my bike, William Fotheringham, Biography of Tom Simpson, one of britians best cyclist and the first cyclist to die on the bike due to doping. His death sparked the doping reform movement that is with us today.
  • A tell all interview by Jesus Manzano, one of the few recent pros to not only admit to doping, but to spill all the beans he had, details here and here
  • The case of Jerome Chiotti, his guilt over EPO use caused him to confess and give up his 1996 World Championship Medal. He confessed in 2000, all before he could have been caught explicitly for EPO use.
  • The case of Filip Meirhaeghe, former MTB World Champ, mostly unrepentant EPO user, sorry he got caught.
  • Another clear cycling news article on the efficacy of the EPO test, especially in light of a couple of triathletes "proving" their positive tests were false positives.

    Thanks for reading.
  • Number 9, Number 9, Chinese Bike, Number 9

    Maybe a few minutes after yesterdays picture

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    Mmmm, melons, and more huge baskets, and a pedicab in the background. I think this is the north gate of Sichuan University in Chengdu. I will post even more vendors from this fertile hunting ground in the coming week. Maybe we will have some chinese and non-chinese bikes and non-bikes tomorrow, some related but not bikes through the weekend and bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes.

    2/14/2006

    Chinese bikes, eighth of an interminable series

    As promised, a vendor bike, even one appropriate for today:

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    During january these tree bud sellers are everywhere in Cheng Du. This gentleman sold me the runtiest ugliest ones at a super inflated lawai price, so I do not feel too bad in stealing his soul and publishing it on the web. I did ask permission, but really I wanted to just get the bike without him in it, no dice.

    Ralleighoid bike taking advantage of the massive chainstay length to put on two huge beautiful wicker baskets. I love those baskets. Branches were held in capped bamboo tubes, also very beautiful and elegant. A truck would deliver a huge number of branches to the corner right near one of the campus gates and then bike and motor vendors would pick up a selection of buds and disperse. I think the large branches were 10-15 yuan ($1.25-2 US), small ones were in the neighborhood of a couple of yuan, students would get them for their sweeties. I say "I think" as they charged foreigners like me a couple bucks for small runty branches. They still bloomed nicely though.

    Here is everyone dispersing from the drop point. Battery driven motor cycles were the step up from bikes and were quite popular. They pedal so you can get home when you run out of charge.


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    All pics copyright me, 2005.
    Happy Valentines Day




    Art by Elena, photo by me, treacly feline played by the rarely photographed Dee(pleted Uranium).

    Sick of the holiday, single or otherwise looking for something else to do? Go to your local book shop or amazon and pick up Geek Love for a dark and intensely enjoyable carnival freakshow based love story.
    A few more recommendation for the day

    I did go and see Brokeback Mountainlast week and found it incredibly moving. It is a very good love story, schmaltz free even. It is very beautifully shot, the acting was excellent, and prety much everything was really well done. Heath Ledger was spectacular, and despite my Donnie Darkobased aversion to Jake Gyllenhaal, he also was extremely convincing in his role.

    Given the "controversy" this movie has caused, I was expecting to be disappointed. I was expecting something a bit more flashy and cheezy as I thought Ang Lee would have gone for a return to the impressive, but maybe not all that satisfying style of his last success, Crouching Tiger blahblah blahgon. But no, this was good all around. I hope it makes a bazillion dollars and shuts up certain moronic knee jerk reactionary pundits.

    One of the first things I did with the incredibly useful and excellent Complete New Yorkerwas to read the original Anne Proulx story. For me the short story flowed nicely but was not nearly as powerful or as interesting as the movie. Much of the dialog and scenes were lifted verbatim from the story, but the screenwriters and Ang Lee did an admirable job fleshing it out a bit. So there, I wrote a bit more than I wanted to , but the summary here is great love story, go see it, unless you can't handle it, then do not, sheesh.


    Some other interesting love between men movies to check out:


    Hollentour, nice bike documentary, lots of love, see more here
    I Heart Huckabeesnicely paced movie, Marky Mark and Jason Schwartzman, unlikely pair? Hardly, deeply in love by the final scene.
    Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou so much love here, it is hard to know where to start, not quite up to Wes Anderson's previous movies, but damn good. Great soundtracktoo, especially if you like Bowie, in portuguese.

    Wow wow, love, now go ride your bike and kiss your special friend or something.