submono's sublog » culture

hong kong memory

submono — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:10:38 +0000

i made a soundscape in ableton that utilizes and connects sounds and impressions from my last visit in hong kong: “hong kong memory”.

hong kong memory.mp3

lajin paida

submono — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:08:49 +0000

my “love affair” with lajin paida, a self-healing technique started after i had torn a muscle in my thigh during one of my rowing workout. for long weeks i received extensive physical therapy in germany but nothing could diminish the exquisite pain resulting from the torn muscle and a resulting blood clot where the muscle had bled into the soft tissue.

it all got turned around when my wife brought home a lajin bench from china. within a week of self-healing therapy my condition changed dramatically with the blood clot dissolving at an incredible pace and the muscle finally healing. it was a painful process (in the first sessions i could barely bend my leg at a 45 degree angle) and completely against my german doctors advise to rest and to keep the leg still but the results spoke for themselves.

now back in shanghai we’re again happy owners of a lajin bench and i do daily lajin and paida exercises to keep my blood pressure low and the chi flowing. more in-depth information about self-healing and lajin paida can be found on the hubpages of good guy.

light

submono — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:05:33 +0000

if i, for some stupid and limiting reasons, would have to choose just one book out of the myriad of published sf novels it would have to be light by m. john harrison. this is not an easy read, full of sex and violence (humanity’s most powerful expressions of what it means to be human) as it is and most people will probably have a hard time feeling any emotional connection with the protagonists. it is not a “feel good” book, not easily digested and might leave you confused, disturbed and even angry on the sidelines. however it is a book so deep, vast and encompassing that it will blow your mind, like it or not. just read it!

oh, and ian m. banks would come in as a very close second any day.

soundscape: security check dubai airport

submono — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:20:37 +0000

it sounds like little kids getting slaughtered in an electro-mechanical version of hell. we are a noisy species.

security-check.mp3

back from kuwait

submono — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:03:03 +0000

back from warm and sunny kuwait and right into shanghai’s cold rain. i can’t wait for summer to arrive. the project in kuwait is finally progressing well and we have a great team together. i’ve always been a big fan of the middle east and over the last visits also kuwait city has really grown on me. and i have even started throwing my rusty arabic at innocent bystanders.

iNacktscanner

submono — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:39:21 +0000

Original in German here

Email to Mr. Tor Odland, Communications Director at Opera

submono — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:28:51 +0000

Dear Mr. Odland,

when I tried to access the free world through Opera Mini this morning, all I got was a message that I should “upgrade” to the Chinese version of Opera Mini which would offer me “better speed”. We both know what is really behind this move and honestly I am disgusted and shocked! And I’m also embarrassed to be European. To me, Opera was always the other, better voice. Fair and not driven by greed and self-serving reasons.

This has all changed overnight. Apparently Opera is not much different from the rest of the pack and why not cave in to Chinese oppression when so many others have done the same thing already, right?!

You should monitor the Internet and the Twitterverse closely in the coming days and weeks to see the damage you have done to your own company and to everyone believing in a free world.

Shame!

Sven Muentel

More info on this topic on Carsten Ullrich’s Blog!

Too true, too often

submono — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:44:11 +0000

I Want To Fly A Kite Again

submono — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:35:13 +0000

I want to look up into deep blue skies,
where clouds have faces

I want to wander endless beaches and stare into eternity,
and have eternity stare back at me

I want to feel the wind dancing,
humming along between heaven and earth

I want to chase rainbows after a summer rain,
and have sparrows chasing me

I want to return home with the setting sun,
exhausted, empty and fulfilled

I want to fly a kite again

Damascus

submono — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:49:43 +0000

Me and two colleagues went to Damascus for a couple of days to sign the contracts for the Syrian pavilion on the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. My last visit to Syria was over fifteen years ago and many things have changed and evolved for the better and we had a great and very successful time, thanks to the unbelievable hospitality of our hosts. Friendly, proud and optimistic people all the way.

Syria is definitely on its way towards a modern and open Arab nation without losing its cultural roots in the process.