I went to a promotional event for Flying Swords of Dragon Gate last month and I cannot believe it has taken me this long to post something up about it on AnD. Okay, my life has been so crazy busy this month, I can believe it. Fortunately, I'm in a sweet lull right now which allows me to share a few shots with you all as we bid farewell to 2011. It's my second time photographing Jet Li, but Wu Di and the league of kick ass bad guys stole the show as far as photography was concerned. It was also my second time shooting Mavis Fan, though I did not recognize her until I got back to my studio and sorted out the images. I am still sadly negligent about Chinese film stars, but in my defense, all of you who promised lists of movies I must see have never delivered the goods. Anyway, here's a visual representation of how the night went down for a theater full of (mostly female) lucky fans.


No wires


"Does this hat make my head look fat?"


Three posers - okay, these guys are the real deal.


The softer side of the stage show.


Faster than a speeding shutter.






Final touches. Wu Di is sporting a buzz cut for his current movie project (Hair Club)






Mavis Fan and Zhou Xun answer questions for the audience


Chen Kun, Li Yuchun, and Kwai Lun-mei. He got the loudest applause from the ladies in the audience.


Director Tsui Hark and Jet Li enjoy a lighthearted moment with the audience


This was some crazy thing they did where the actors had to answer a question from inside the box and sign the scroll and, well, I didn't have a translator and quit trying to figure out what was going on, but eventually they threw the scrolls into the audience and the ladies went crazy, but thankfully avoided actually getting into fist fights over the scrolls.



Jet Li fields a few questions and seems to resemble my dad.


I love the expressions of the hosts as they watched this comedian perform.


Wu Di, Sheng Jian, and Du Yi Heng wrapped up the evenings entertainment.

Here's wishing you all a safe and happy 2012!

Slacker! Not really. Between the illnesses that struck our home these past two months - kids bring the darnedest things home with them from school - and a slew of work that just got busier as 2010 came to a close, I haven't had time to check on AnD. Glad to know the site can run now without me.

Most of my work lately has been client based, which I'm grateful for, but is largely work I cannot share here. However, I thought I would post an image from a few months back to brighten up your winter. If you live somewhere like Beijing, it's fairly bleak right now. I don't mind winter, but I'll be glad when spring shows its face around here.



Happy Birthday Pat!

Here's a Beijing fun fact. This mornings air quality index was 562. Hm, just a number, I wonder what that means? So I checked out the handy scale the government (US, that is) put out about the readings.

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values)	Levels of Health Concern
When the AQI is in this range:	...air quality conditions are:
0-50	Good
51-100	Moderate
101-150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
151 to 200	Unhealthy
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy
301 to 500	Hazardous

What happens after 500? It doesn't say. I had often wondered until I saw the numbers today. Here's the AQI twitter feed:

11-19-2010; 02:00; PM2.5; 562.0; 500; Crazy Bad // Ozone; 0.1; 0; No Reading

That's right, our Beijing's air quality is now officially crazy bad!

To review:

Beijing on a blue sky day:


Beijing on a cool sky day:


Beijing on a crap sky day:


Beijing on a "Crazy Bad" sky day:


Want to follow along? Check out http://twitter.com/beijingair and find out exactly when the air will become so polluted, I'll never be able to blog again. Or maybe I'll just stay indoors. With the air filter on high. Strapped to my face.

I managed to sneak out and have lunch with Zhou Le today at Biteapitta. Zhou Le hails from Belgium, but he's been living the past five years in Shanghai working as a director and making films. He's currently wrapped up in a personal project that should be very cool once he is ready to unveil it to the public. Hopefully, he will give us a sneak peak in the future. Shanghai could not contain his creative talents, so we are fortunate to have him in Beijing now. Check out his blog here on alivenotdead. Apologies for once again neglecting to shoot the food. We thought the place was a good value for the money. I'll be back for sure. Here's some details about Biteapitta as their website is "under construction".


Boxed, but not beaten! Zhou Le is ready to take on Beijing. Psst, lady, get out of the picture!!