Categories
Cautionary Tales Eating and Drinking Weirdness

Lei Lei, The Supersized Baby!

It happens to us all, we get a little older, a little lazier, develop a deep and everlasting love of juicy chicken thighs deep-fried to a delicious crisp in a spiced and crumbed coating. Before you know it, you’re umm…you know plump.

You just don’t expect to see an enormously over-weight baby though. All babies are a bit chubby and cuddly, if they weren’t, no-one would have the smelly, noisy things. However really fat babies do exist. In fact, there’s a poor little 10 month old darling in Hunan Province, China that is so huge he weighs as much as an average 6 year old! That’s a whopping 20kg! Apparently Lei Lei isn’t the fattest 10 month old ever – a boy from India, Karan Singh, weighed 22kg at the same age! Lei Lei is being examined by doctors to see whether there is an underlying medical reason for his incredible weight gain. According to his mother, little Lei Lei is absolutely ravenous and puts everything he sees in his mouth – perhaps that’s why he’s so portly?

I feel for the little chap, when I first looked at photos of him, I thought “aw how cute, he looks like the fat happy Buddha”, but pondering the situation later I became more and more horrified at the implications of a 10 month old child weighing so very much. Will his little legs be able to support him when he starts learning to walk? Is his tiny developing cardiovascular system being damaged irreparably? How does his mother keep him truly clean with all those folds of fat? How will he feel when he looks back at Internet posts that refer to him as the Michelin Baby? It’s just heartbreaking really.

[via Daily Mail]

Categories
Arty Featured

Liu Bolin: The Invisible Man

Whenever I’m at work, I try my best to keep my nose down and avoid being noticed. I purportedly have the demeanor of a terrorist suffering from IBS so that exercise has proved difficult. If there was ever a person I’d look to for advice, it’d be Liu Bolin, a Chinese artist who has made a name for himself for being invisible.

Often times Bolin poses for up to 10 hours while his collaborators paint his disguise to blend in with the surroundings. It works so well that passers-by aren’t aware of his presence until he moves. Bolin says his work is a protest in defiance of the Chinese government who shut down an artist village in 2006.

His urban camouflage art entitled Hiding in the City can be seen after the jump.

Categories
Music Video Clips

Year of The Chao: A Chinese Rap Anthem

If you liked The Notorious MSG’s Chinatown Hustler, you’ll might giggle at this too.

In Year of the Chao, Chinese rapper Peter Chao pays homage to a Fort Minor track (Remember the Name) and does a remarkably good job – if you can figure out what he’s saying. I heard something about Hello Kitty and derisherous yellow titties. Check out the music video below.

[via 9GAG]

Categories
Arty

The Big Picture: China Prepares For Its 60th Anniversary

October 1st marks 60 years of communist rule in China, and the population has been hard at work preparing for the grand occasion that is “National Day”. Elaborate military parade and performances involving 200,000 people are to be expected in the city of Beijing, with 60 floats on show, and fireworks, lots of fireworks.

The Big Picture takes a look at the preparations and we sampled a few images.

The National Grand Theatre stands surrounded by water in central Beijing September 17, 2009. The theatre is lit by coloured lights in preparation to celebrate China’s National Day in October.

Chinese military vehicles are parked on Changan Ave. near Tiananmen Square during a rehearsal for a ceremony marking China’s 60th anniversary in Beijing, China, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009.

Participants stand in form in a boulevard leading to Tiananmen Square in Beijing during a rehearsal for the 60th anniversary parade August 29, 2009.

Chinese hairdresser Huang Xin works on his latest art piece, a replica of The National museum of China, made from human hair, at his barbershop in Beijing September 9, 2009.

Policewomen on horseback stand guard in a line outside the World Expo Center, in China’s port city Dalian September 11, 2009.

See the full set (37 photos) at The Big Picture.

FYI: the sale of knives has been banned for October 1st, so take care not to lose it. You won’t find a replacement at the local hypermarket, not even Wal-Mart.

Update: And here is The Big Picture’s piece on the celebration itself.

Categories
Arty Awesomeness Featured Inspirational Designs Video Clips

The Longest Way

On November 9th 2007 (and his 26th birthday) the clean-cut, beardless Christoph Rehage planned to take a little stroll from Beijing, China all the way to his hometown of Hanover, Germany. Whilst he didn’t accomplish the feat on foot, he did spend a year trekking through China. During his journey from Beijing to the town of Urumqi, Rehage walked an astounding 4646 kilometres!

During that time he grew a mighty long beard, and his inspiring time-lapse video The Longest Way chronicles the journey and his hair growth. The Times Online think it could be the best travel video of 2009. Take at look at it below; I would recommend however that you see it in HD at YouTube.

BONUS: If you have the time, MapVivo plots out his route. They currently have 237 days of his trip available for you to browse – on each day you can read his notes and see the photos that he took. Check it out!

[via Trendhunter]

Categories
Awesomeness Cartoons & Comics Politics Smolitics

Me old China – again

I just couldn’t resist but I promise that this is my last China Bashing post for the week day. This pic looks suspiciously like it was taken near Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side. If it was, I’d hate to see the next pic in the series because g-d knows what would have happened  to the poor woman – almost everything available in Zimbabwe now comes from China (via South Africa mostly).

ropes-and-harnesses

For more sort of like this visit Superpoop.

Categories
Politics Smolitics

Is ignorance our master?

Dalai Lama

I don’t know about you dear Readers, but I’m not feeling particularly proud of the beloved country this week. I mean we have friends and relatives fleeing the country left right and centre for the “greener” pastures of Europe and the Antipodes, but we decided that we actually like it here, and we’re going to stay. For the past few mornings however, I’ve felt like leaving the house with a paper bag on my nationality.

I know that the Dalai Lama says to be kind whenever possible, but I just cannot be kind in my mind when I think about the fact that nasty neighbour (and mass murdered) Bob Mugabe is permitted to come and go in South Africa as he pleases, while one of the world’s most respected spiritual leaders (a darling peaceful little old man with spectacles, yellow robes, and a Nobel Peace Prize) the Dalai Lama is denied a visa. And it’s all for the love of China (well trade with China really). Yes, China. The same China that is responsible for huge job losses in South Africa, particularly in the textile industry. The same China that annexed Tibet, exiled the Dalai Lama, and built casinos and supermarkets on ancient sacred ground. The same China that continues to violate human rights, and environmental laws on a daily basis. It’s just great. And did you know that there are only two countries in the whole world into which the Dalai Lama is denied entry? Yup you guessed it – China and South Africa.

I won’t lie to you, I’m starting to feel a little afraid about this whole China and South Africa against the rest of the world thing. There’s an old Croatian saying that goes something like “if you lie down with a dragon, you’ll wake up with third degree burns all over your body and face, and your nylon underwear will be welded to your bum forever”. I just hope our respected leaders know what they’re up to. Anyway this rant of mine has gotten a little long, and depressing, so if you want a lighter version of the story, check out this gem on the brilliant hayibo.com.

And to read more about the man whose religion is kindness, click here.