Ted in da Jing

Its near the end of another year, but before its over CMT will be running the Shifen Theater festival! Its the one day festival where we host a bunch of shows that are 10 minutes or less. This year should (and will) be a lot of fun for me because I will be performing as an actor in one show along with stage managing the entire event (mass number of people attacking me from all sides… yay!?).

Anyway after the fun performances of Iron Brothers, I can’t wait to get in front of a crowd again! If you can make it I am sure you will be amazed, since we have performances in both chinese and english with acts ranging from a comedy scene to Mongolian singing!

So, towards my true calling (the stage) CMT is producing a play called
Iron Brothers, and I am in it! It’s a fun story about how two flat mates
in Beijing discuss what crosses their minds while they wait for pizza
(Hawaiian)! The rehearsals have been a boat load of fun and I can’t wait
to see it, but unfortunately I am in the show. You guys can come and
watch it for me! I will put up some shots of the show once its all said
and done, it will be running from the 19th to the 23rd this month!

First off to all those desperately waiting for my next post (Hi Mom!)… well here it is! For the past 3 months I have been hosting a TV show for Blue Ocean Network (B.O.N.) called Our Vision! The show showcases Chinese short films and allows for the viewer to get a better understanding at current Chinese culture! Cool right? Now some of you may be saying “Gee, that’s pretty cool Ted-a-licious, but where do you fit in?” Well I am the guy in between those films that interviews the artists or people along with the occasional acting bit. Now I am sure the next question crossing your mind is “Well it’s a darn shame I can’t watch it!” Don’t worry, its broadcast to the states and a bunch of other countries! If that doesn’t work here is a link to one of the episodes that’s online. (http://www.bon.tv/ourvision/)

This past Wednesday Cheeky Monkey Theater held a workshop as part of the
Beijing Improv Festival. Led by one of the Monkeys, the first section
discussed some basic principles to improvisation along with some standards
for making things funny. Following this the program became more
interactive with the audience participating in several games with the
function of helping generate a connection amongst actors on stage
and between the actor and the audience. After only 45 minutes you could
already see some people getting more involved in the games and some hidden
talents starting to show.

This last week was my final week bar tending at Fubar. It came to an end as quickly as it began and I have found many great people from my time there, but on to new challenges! This past weekend I have begun work for Qbar as a manager. The new job has a unique challenge of making an already good bar better, but one thing is for sure: they already have a great chemistry. Highly noticeable through their biweekly group dinners, lunches or BBQ’s with their staff. To put it in laymans terms: I will be working for the chuar and possible group games (kickball anyone?).

More on this new development as it happens!

This last week I have been on set for a film Wuyouzhicheng (mandarin characters coming soon!). Unfortunately for me the set turned out to be a little poorly organized. After landing the production was informed I would only be there for a week before I had to go back to Beijing; they responded with confidence saying that I would be done filming in the first few days.

Instead I spent the entire week with my sister (except for two days) roaming around the wonderful area of Yunnan eating the local Dhai food and generally enjoying the area. A note of interest for almost all the restaurants down there: they don’t have menus: its “look a what we have and tell us what you want”. So the food would be fresh and great each time.  But then, the papaya came! We found a restaurant that willingly doled out papaya like it was a curse to not give it away! (pic to be here soon)

At one restaurant they started us off with free papaya juice and free papaya cubes. Midway through the meal they tried to give us papaya and pork ribs (which we didnt order and sent back). Finally we ended the meal with another plate of papaya cubes and a papaya milkshake. Ted, you’re saying, that sounds great! what is there to complain about? Well guess who gets food poisoning the next day and has to deal with it for the rest of the week? Me!

I know, if you listen to Elyse or anyone else it is clear that it was the rice dish I had in Jinghong that’s the culprit, but lets not look to reason for an answer. Why else were they giving it away?  Its not like the papaya shelf life is that short. For all future travelers to Yunnan I say “Beware the Papaya!”

This time I am proud to say I was involved in another feature film and more recently another short. The Feature film, Qian xue sen, is the story of China’s father of the nuclear program. To ruin the film: He moved to the states and lived there for almost 17 years, then moved back and created the nuclear technology for China. This seems from any point of view that he simply took knowledge obtained in the USA back with him, but I am quite certain the film will portray it differently. For this film I was a student of the doctor and his assistant at the USA lab (Pics below).

Also I was recently playing an American in a short film about one of the flying tigers of World War 2 who was saved by 8 peasants from the Japanese. My role pertained to laying on a stretcher while the 8 Chinese actors ran around with me. needless to say it got worse for me when they started doing demo stuff with us running through it (I had piles of dirt falling on me) and the last scene we shot where we brought a fire truck in to quite literally “Make it rain”. With it already being cold, shooting this scene 5 times made it a lot worse.

As for the Hash Elyse and I were the Hares for this last Sundays run. Julie and Jason led the walkers through their trail. It was a rough start since an April Fools joke had everyone show up 30 minutes early, therefore I didn’t get to finish the trail until we were at our last beer stop. (I am not going to explain HHH, you can look at their website to learn more www.hash.cn)

It turned out to be a great 10 km run followed by a great dinner at Black Land (not the best title, I know).

When living in Beijing, how does one tell when spring has come? is it new leaves, a change in the weather or clothing? no, its mascots! My first run in was on the way to Tsing-hua to pamphlet for a show when I stopped at a Mcdees for some lunch. It turned out to be the opening day for the store and none other but the Clown himself made his way around there place. The second run in was at Wudaokou when I got surrounded by several mascots for a pic. They wanted me to sign up for a credit card, but I got what I wanted and ran. For future reference: Mascots can’t dodge through traffic or get through subway security!

Has China been  invaded by N. Korea? Is it a Chinese practice bomb
raid where they use live ammunition? Is there civil strife in the
capital!?
The answer to all of the above is no. Its Chinese New Years! This new
year is the year of the Rabbit (my birth year)! The tradition for this
time is for everyone to shoot off the loudest and biggest fireworks
possible in an attempt to scare away the monstor “Nian”. If you don’t
scare this mythical creature away, he will bring misfortune and bad
luck upon you and your work. I would say to Americans who haven’t been
to China for CNY its something similar to the Fourth of July, but with
two major differences: Its not as organized as the Fourth of July (not
just one show for each city/area) and it goes on just about 24/7 all
around the city for a period of 1-5 weeks at all times of day and
night (not kidding). So a good nights rest becomes harder to attain
for this period.
On the plus side there are Miao Hui’s at a bunch of the parks in
beijing. These are basic markets, carnival concessions, and arts and
crafts booths in the parks that lead to some mild entertainment, if
not just to see what other goofy hats people decide to force their
husbands to wear. They also have dragon dances and the like
at the park too for this holiday.
Well I am off to eat more scorpion, Happy Chinese New years!

This week was my first week back in Beijing and I made sure to keep
expanding my horizons. As you could have guessed I am currently
learning how to bartend at Fubar (for those who don’t know: my
favorite bar). After meeting with the owner and manager I was thrown
into the fray. For the first day I was expecting to take notes on
creating all the drinks and doing the small work (cutting lime wedges
and pulling mint) and for the most part I was doing that. But I also was
making the simpler drinks right away! No worries customers, I had a
fully trained bartender looking over my shoulder the entire time and
taking me, step throuh step, on how to properly make the drink.
Closing a little bit after 2 am we all made our way to a local
restaurant, that for some reason was still open,  we ate and relaxed.
Getting home at 4am I quickly brushed my teeth and promptly fell into
a coma. I am hoping that by the end of Chunjie (most of which I plan
to be working at Fubar) I will have my…bartending apron (?).