More stupidity from http://www.overheardinnewyork.com:
Drunk college kid: I had to read Grapes of Wrath. Which, by the way, has no grapes! Pissed me off!
–53rd & 7th
That reminds me of the time I watched von Sternberg’s THE SHANGHAI GESTURE in a film class, and this one undergrad got all upset because she couldn’t figure out what the gesture was.
From www.overheardinnewyork.com:
Tourist: I want to go home.¬ New York is so unchristian.¬ Look at this, they even have a place called “Satan Island”!
There was a raid on a gambling den in my housing complex last night!¬ I heard in the end almost thirty people were arrested, but four got away.¬ This one guy got the crap beaten out of him by the police.¬ It was because he resisted arrest.¬ First the guy tried fighting, then he ran, followed by two plainclothes policeman waving billy clubs and telling him to stop, but he ran right to a dead end, where he refused to sit down when the told him to.¬ If I were faced with two 6 foot tall plus policemen with weapons and they told me to sit down, I think I might do it.¬ They ended up whacking him over the head a few times, and then again whenever he got up again and refused to sit.¬ After five or ten minutes the took him away with all this blood streaming down his forehead.¬
At first with all the chaos and people and screaming, which was the way it started out, it was unclear what was going on, and the dog man told me it was just a fight.¬ At first, when I saw the cops chasing the guy, I yelled at them to stop fighting, because I didn’t know what was going on.¬ I thought they were collecting a gambling debt or fighting over women or something.¬ I think in China, it’s hard to know if someone is getting arrested or what is going on because so many operations are handled by plainclothes policemen.¬ Once I was like, “Hey, that guy is getting beaten up,” and a taxi driver told me that the person was actually being arrested.¬ From watching some Chinese police documentaries, now I know that pickpocketing, street fraud (like against the elderly) and gambling are often dealt with by plainclothesmen.¬ Oftentimes they track and film the perpetrator until they have enough evidence, then bust the person, jumping out of a fake taxi that is really a police car, or an unmarked car.¬ In the case by my house, they did use the fake taxi technique and the unmarked car technique at the same time, because I guess they needed so many cops.¬ I didn’t see any real police vehicles for like a half an hour, until everything was under control and they were ready to take everybody away.¬
Cities have been destroyed this century and probably will be again, but between Independence Day and Godzilla, Devlin has to realize that the real “Big One” would be the destruction of New York. The city isn’t just a magnet for movies and immigrants of all stripes, but for nutcases and human monsters too, a place that probably tumbles nightly in the minds of terrorists and madmen from Boise to Baghdad.
I was watching a report on Chinese UN peacekeepers working in Haiti, and it said their biggest problem is food.¬ They do get some from the UN, but it is mostly potatoes and meat and starchy stuff.¬ Apparently fruits and vegetables are hard to get in Haiti, and very expensive when available.¬ They said a single apple usually costs two to three dollars!¬ How can that be?¬ Isn’t Haiti tropical?¬ Why can’t they grow bananas and stuff there?¬ Or do they, but the whole crop is exported?¬ Does anybody know more about this?
Here’s a freaky sentence from a celebrity news report:
“Mel Gibson is making secret phone calls to Hollywood’s top Jews to personally apologize for an anti-Semitic rant he stunned Tinseltown with last month.”
HOLLYWOOD’S TOP JEWS? Sheesh! That’s a phrase that just sounds wrong! I don’t even need to go into why, I think.
I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to shout, “I’ve had it with these motherfucking snakes on a plane!” during my flight Thursday. I looked for a chance, but alas … We did have a beef entree for dinner. It’s too bad it wasn’t steak, because at least then I could have yelled, “I’ve had it with this motherfucking steak on a plane!” But then the air marshals probably would have taken me down.
I’m very happy to be back in China again!¬ In fact, I was feeling a little guilty about being so eager to leave while I was in the airport with my parents.¬
All in all, I’d say my visit to the US was okay — I had a good, relaxing time in Bloomington. I watched TV, listened to the radio, and hung out with friends.¬ I saw Stephanie, Jeeyoung, Evelyn, Pam, Tall Steve, Ed, Mary Ann, Misty, Jenny B. and other people I may be forgetting to mention right now.¬ The time went really fast — it seems like I was only there for one week, when in reality it was about sixteen days.¬ The only time that didn’t go too well was the time I spent at my parents’, but really I can’t feel too bad about that — or I mean I shouldn’t.¬ I made a concerted effort to get along well with everyone, and I guess I did with everyone except my dad.¬ He’s just really tough to deal with, because you can’t say anything without getting some sort of sarcastic or disrespectful reply.¬ I am used to being respected now, which makes it even more difficult to take.¬ I wonder if he was shocked when I lost my temper with him.¬ Probably.¬ He’s probably all hurt about it, and doesn’t realize it had anything to do with his behavior at all.¬ I’m expecting to get an e-mail from him about it, actually.¬
I overheard a woman saying this to her boyfriend the other day as they were hauling stuff out of a car.¬ He replied, “Yeah, but there’s an O,” but I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.
I’ve been trying to sell those weird Engrish T-shirts I’ve got while I’m in Bloomington, but no go.¬ Mostly people have said students only want shirts with band logos, and then some other places said they wouldn’t buy them because they weren’t vintage.¬ Why anyone would like to wear a used T-shirt is beyond me, but there it is.¬ I’m surprised.¬
¬At one place where I went, this shopguy tried to argue with me about the Chinese government and said it should get out of Tibet, but then he said the US should annex Mexico!¬ That was very strange.¬¬ Well, if that ever happens, maybe I can get a “free Mexico” bumper sticker and put it on my bike, or sell them in China.¬
Hi everyone –
I’m at Bloomington, writing from the library.¬ I’d include my present phone number here, but maybe that would be un-Kosher because it’s not my phone.¬ If you want to get ahold of me, send me mail at my Hotmail address, or here, and I’ll try to get back to you.¬
Hopefully I’ll be able to get together with lots of people here!
After all their whining about how pure and misunderstood the Falungong are, here’s another story about their creepiness and general deceptiveness.
These Suzhou-based English teachers I know from the web had a party.¬ A guy they only knew a little bit showed up, and seemed nice enough.¬ He needed a place to stay for a while, and so somebody let him stay in a spare bedroom.¬ From time to time he also asked to borrow the man’s computer.¬ On a side note, the guy seemed to have no inclination to pay his host rent, or anything fair like that.¬
Well, lo and behold, two months later the police come to the apartment.¬ The new guy and his host are taken away for questioning.¬ The host’s computer was also taken to the station.¬ Down at the station, the cops questioned the host, and presented him with a bunch of stuff found in his guest’s room (where the host had never snooped).¬ It turns out the guy was using his host’s computer to make Falungong propaganda, and copy FLG-related DVDs, and then was taking all this stuff around town, posting it and giving it to people.¬ So this FLG guy was being totally dishonest and abusing his host’s hospitality.¬ The FLG guy gave his host a number to call when he found out he was going to be held at the police station for a while, and said the guy he called “would know what to do.”¬ It turns out the contact was some guy really high up in the FLG hierarchy in Australia.¬
The teacher in Suzhou could have been deported over this, but it seems he will be okay.¬ He’s out of a computer for the time being, though.¬
Here’s a link to the original account of the events:
Q:¬ Who shouted this while throwing a portable clothing steamer recently?
A:¬ I did.¬
Now I’m not at my parents’ house anymore — not that I fled¬– I¬had intended to¬leave after a few days.¬¬ Now¬I’m staying with my friends Evelyn and Billy in Indianapolis, and¬then on Wednesday¬I’ll be going to Bloomington to relax.