Owl City Love

Busy, busy, busy these days!

So, last week, I finally got some time to get out of the Xuchang for the weekend, to go and see my favorite band ever lately, live in Beijing!  The band's name is Owl City, and they are wonderful in (almost) every way.

Firstly, I absolutely love this band.  I accidentally came upon "their" music about a year ago (Owl City is actually almost entirely one person's work, Adam Young), shortly before they signed on to a major record label and got really popular in America really fast.   Unfortunately I left the country shortly after, and thought I would have to wait a long time before I got the opportunity to actually catch a live show.  So imagine my surprise when I discovered that he was doing a four-show tour of China while I was here.  Truly, heaven doth smile brightly upon me.

One reason I was surprised about this China tour is that because of my location here in small-town China, I forget that the country has a fairly large international population.  Which of course, led to the first way in which the concert was different from my expectations: there were a whole lot of Americans there.  In fact, as with a lot of places in Beijing, it was hard to remember sometimes that I was still in China at all.  This was really not even remotely similar to the 20-strong crowd of mostly-Chinese people that I was expecting.  It was certainly interesting, though, being American again for an evening.

The other thing that was notable about the concert, unfortunately, was that Owl City is not really a notably good live show.  You can trust me on this one, being a huge fan and all.  I guess I wasn't terribly surprised by this, as I had wondered before I saw it how a single guy with a phenomenal talent for post-production, and a tendency to synthesize his voice, was going to pull off a good live show.  Well, the truth is, he wasn't.  Ah, well, I still had a good time!

I guess in short, I would say that if you are not already a pretty big fan of Owl City, don't expect the concert to turn you on.  However, if you happen to listen to his actual recordings, expect your heart to melt into a pool of warm fuzzy happiness.

This week only! (Or maybe longer if you're lucky)

I have placed a few of my favorite songs up on the interwebs for your listening pleasure.  They will probably be taken down soon, or whenever I feel like it.  Just to warn you.  I highly suggest taking a listen if you haven't already.

(Edit: Downloads removed)

Hot Air Balloon

Fireflies

Hello Seattle

The Bird and the Worm

The Saltwater Room

And, completely hypocritically, I would like to suggest that if you really like his music, you might want to consider buying some of it!  I know if I were him, I would probably appreciate it.

(Full post on my trip to Beijing coming soon!)

Trapped in the Closet. Err, I mean, Library, Trapped in the Library!

No pictures in this post!  (Lame!)

So, it appears that blogging has become a weekend activity.  This, of course, is no big deal, dear readers, for I am provided with the amazing ability to time my posts as I please, leaving no-one the wiser as to my actual writing habits (so sneaky!).  However, this weekend, I found a much more addictive way to waste a bit of time!

In the past three days, outside of social and gastronimical obligations, I have primarily split my time reading The Three Musketeers, and the first one thousand pages (literally!) of the online comic Questionable Content.  If you are mildly into great literature or web geekery, I suggest both to you, although if you're going for QC, be patient, as the comic gets addictively interesting around the 200 mark.

Also, if that's not enough web-dorkiness for you, you should also be reading the occasional XKCD (though I feel a bit trite saying so), and if you're into things that are ridiculously awesome, than you might also enjoy the annals of Dr. Mcninja.

Actual story time

Not to be completely wrapped up in my uninteresting geekiness, I thought I might also relate a quick anecdote from my recent life.

One interesting little fact about China that I didn't know about before I came was that the society, at least locally, is highly predisposed to take a little siesta each afternoon.  Consequently, right around the 1:00 mark, the campus turns into a ghost town (relatively speaking; China has way too many people for that to actually happen).  The interesting thing is, almost none of the local shops or restaurants ever actually closes in the afternoon; if you need anything, you just walk in and wake up the owner, who is probably drooling behind the counter.  This sometimes makes one seriously reconsider just how much they need that little snack, or possibly lunch.

One other effect of the afternoon siesta that I recently discovered is that the big library on campus closes from about 1:00-ish to about 2:30-ish every day.  I discovered this, of course, the hard way.

As I am often wont to do, I found myself one afternoon lazing on the roof of the library, studying Chinese and trying to soak up a few rays through my 4 layers of clothing.  However, when I decided I wanted to go home, I found that not only were the main front doors locked, but the entire first floor was devoid of people.  Slightly panicky, I made my way downstairs to the lower doors, back doors, and side doors, all of which I found locked as well.  Eventually, however, I ran into a large study-room on the ground floor that had a few students scattered about, some studying, some out cold.  Thinking myself saved, I struck up a conversation with one of the students that went something like this:

Me: "Excuse me, can you tell me where the exit is?"

Student: "Sure, it's right over there."

Me: "Oh, but that door's locked on the inside, too.  How do I get out?"

Student: "Oh yeah, that's no problem.  There's a guy that comes around 2:30 to open the doors again."

Me: "What??  Wait, so all the doors are locked?  From both sides??"

Student: "Yeah, they come in about an hour to open everything again."

Me: "So I just have to wait?  What if someone has to get out?"

Student: "I'm not really sure.  We're just studying down here, and a guy comes and unlocks the doors around 2:30."

Me: "But I have class at 2:30!"

Student: "Hmm.  I don't know.  Maybe he will come early?"

China is crazy!  Luckily the guy did come a few minutes early, and I was able to run off to class in time, but it's just crazy to imagine those students getting locked in for a couple hours, with no clear way out.  I feel like there must be a way somehow, but having lived here for awhile, a complete lack of a viable exit would not really surprise me.  And what if it was closing for the night and you got trapped in?

Worth the experiment for the blog post, I wonder...?