I have a new guilty pleasure, thanks to my friend Jenny: a kung-fu costume drama comedy soap-opera adventure show called Tian Xia Di Yi (天下第一) — which really means something like “World’s Finest,” but they call it “Hero” in the English program listings. (more…)
Earlier this year I decided to start learning Mandarin Chinese. I’ve been studying pretty diligently for the past few months, soaking up language CDs and educational software and textbooks and bugging my Chinese friends to critique my pronunciation. I can’t hold more than a very basic conversation yet, but I’ve learned enough to experience some new, strange, and interesting things. (more…)