Strawberry Fields Forever

Over the three-day May Day weekend, the Tongzhou Canal Park in Beijing was host to a fresh experiment which brought together indie artists and their fans from around China and overseas.
Tongzhou is the Indie music center of Beijing, and the thousand-acre Canal Park is an oasis full of trees and waterways, and a huge field of grass void of Strawberries, until now.
Performances were held at three different stages (Love, Dance [electronic], and the main one, aptly called Strawberry Stage) and arranged so conveniently that in a fifteen minute span you could easily have a dance, fall in love, and then frolic in the strawberry fields while enjoying a lush variety of live music.
One highlight was the performance of Zhou Yun Peng, the vastly talented, Chinese folk musician. Armed with dark sunglasses and his acoustic guitar, he made the crowd sway with his heart-tugging melodies and strong, emotional vocals. His was a stellar performance, remarkable for the skill, passion, energy and also for the fact that he was blind from the age of nine.
On the other side of the musical spectrum was the 5-piece band GuaiLi. Described as “left-punk” by their lead singer Wen Jun, they opened their set in a cacophony of noise, screeching guitars and cascading drums which resonated through the valley and nearly drowned out Wen Jun’s shrieking vocals.
Brain Failure (Nao Zhuo) a Chinese heavy metal band was also very popular with the crowd; belting out strong rhythms laced with Spanish guitar lines as drunken waiguoren (foreigners) were sucked into the depths of the Chinese mosh pit.
More great local performances were made by Re-TROS (Rebuilding the Right of Statues), Cao Fan, Kelly Cha, Joanna Wang, Hedgehog and others.
A few American bands also were present to rock the Chinese fields, including Arms and Legs, Panther, Xiu Xiu (who were unable to perform due to illness) and Deerhoof, who closed off the festival and ended the magical three days with a memorable and superb performance, rocking the Strawberry Stage with one of the finest acts of the weekend, sending us all back home with the hope that this fresh Chinese reality can last in the fields forever.

FACTS about your women...

Gentlemen, when in a relationship (of any kind) with a lady, bear in mind the following truths that will, while not letting you totally understand her, will make the mutual understanding more soothing...

• They are right about everything. This is true. Don't even try to suggest otherwise
• In any moral gray areas, they must get the benefit of the doubt. None of their suggestions are too crude. All of your suggestions are.
• Whatever they say is the exact opposite of what they mean.
• Trust never works both ways*
• Friends are always just friends until they're more than friends

*Trust is a funny thing. Women, by nature, are impossible to trust; this is due to their inherent lack of heart/mind coordination. They however expect trust, while not ever fulling trusting men due to their own insecurities.

That being said, there are few things more heart-wrenching than a woman breaking into tears. Especially if its the woman you love. Especially especially if it's because of you. A million things run through your mind. Confusing feelings. Is this the end? Will she hate me forever? What is she thinking? (PS. Never try to guess what they are thinking) And never ask her if it is your fault, because it always is.

What's On The Menu?

I remember when blogging was cool. A couple of years ago, everybody and their mother's dog all had their own online blog. I, for one, being the anti-mainstream type, refused to be drawn into the spiderweb of bloggingness. But, like electronic music and Facebook, I couldn't resist for very long.
My old blog, before it withered and died in a nostalgic blaze of nothingness, was a rambling of day-to-day not-always-interesting activities, in addition to some songs and poetry, and a collection of random photos. A more organized photo/poetry collection is on my other NEW BLOG.

So what's on the menu for this new blog? Will it be spicy and greasy like Beijing street chuanr? Or a cheesy saucy risotto of a journal?

Well for one, I shall try to restrain from any poetic writings here; these are saved for the aforementioned other blog. This is here blog, Smiling Unsmiling, is a life blog. From here you will find life stories, and stories about how to live your life. Deep psychological writings and motivational post(er)s. Or something like that.

Do Enjoy

谢谢您。欢迎欢迎，非常高兴你碰到这个地方，我的网家。。。