Gavelwrench Fishfire | A Blog

(This is not about professional wrestler names.) Last Thursday (June 4), I meant to write about the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Notice my use of the word massacre. I went to a protest on the west capitol lawn last Thursday while an intern covered a press conference of survivors going on at [...]

I can’t claim to know very much about Asian music. While in Beijing, I noticed a lot of interest in old Asian pop ballads, hip hop, and techno and electronica, naturally. One song that was very popular on the KTV (karaoke) circuit, and also one of my favorites, is by a Taiwanese rock band called [...]

You’ll notice a markedly red environment emerging on jr.com. I’d say the Communists’ most lasting impression on me is the color red and my more frequent use of it. Don’t mistake this for political ideology, I just happen to be embracing the color now. You’ll see it pop up a lot in my final album [...]

And I’m back! I thank you all for your wonderful comments and questions while I was away. A lot of people would ask me if I could speak Chinese here. It’s always a shame when a Chinese person asks you that in a crisp English accent and you can’t even muster up the Chinese word [...]

The mass exodus of 18 people today left me with a lot of time. No roommate means having the Internet all the time. I added two new albums as a result. The first features the Temple of Heaven park in Beijing. You’ll get to see the favorite hobbies of the elderly in vivid color. The [...]

I promised to post a picture of me in my Asian dress so here it is. Don’t laugh because I had to take it in the bathroom mirror. My roommate covers baseball so we’re not on the same schedule when I need her to take pictures of me. (Sad side story: They’ve already started tearing [...]

Miss me?! Thanks to Lee for taking part of the blame for my lack of updates. It’s been hard to write and cover basketball 24/7, but overall, it’s been a helluva run here at the Olympics. I’ve been working everyday at training venues around Beijing as well as two or three or four basketball games [...]

There are more photos up featuring Julia’s new best buddies.  I am in the process of moving to Wisconsin now so I haven’t had the access to update on Julia’s behalf as much.  More posts will follow in the next couple of weeks! Lee

I went to the Night Market in Wangfujing. It’s known for its versatile menu, and you should be prepared to see and smell every type of protein known to man, usually on a stick. The pictures are self-explanatory, and yeah, that scorpion was gross! Click here to see what else I ate.