apocalypse dao

it's difficult to avoid references to those ominous scenes in coppola's masterpiece when dealing with sand, sea and whirling blades (though the chopper sequences in 'black hawk down' were damn impressive too). shot this from the cockpit of my bicycle yesterday with the door off.

note: 'china beach' is simply used as a title here, not to be confused with its true namesake in vietnam.

'china beach' • qingdao, china

'china beach' • qingdao, china

© MARC MONTEBELLO · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

roadkill

spring has sprung, the sand has stung.

'masked mess' • qingdao, china

'masked mess' • qingdao, china

'beijing air vs breathing' (stats from the 'beijing air' twitter page)

'beijing air vs breathing' (stats from the 'beijing air' twitter page)

© MARC MONTEBELLO · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

pâté chinoise

all this recent buzz about the habs* can make one feel a tad homesick, so i figured i'd serve up the best of both worlds.. from our last visit to montréal, a diner classic - pâté chinois!

* for the uninitiated, les 'habs' refers to the montréal canadiens who are currently on a winning streak.
pâté chinois is more commonly referred to as 'shepherd's pie' in the anglo world ;-)

'pâté chinoise' • montréal, québec

'pâté chinoise' • montréal, québec

© MARC MONTEBELLO · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

there goes the neighbourhood..

or, "my construction pit is bigger than your construction pit."
here's one from the archives but worth repeating, for it is certainly one apathetic recurring theme - the rebuilding of china-land. but hey, this is the local version and i expect it to reappear in this blog incessantly. stay tuned.
btw, can anyone in QD guess where this is (was)?

'there goes the neighbourhood i' • qingdao, china

© MARC MONTEBELLO · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

shut up 'n play yer guitar

alternate title: 'the hidden camera tapes'.
i stumbled across this stuff online. sometimes you gotta wonder what else is out there in the wonderful www waiting to embarrass you..

completely forgotten and mostly forgettable, i was invited to jam with this japanese drummer dude named 'funky' (yeah, original isn't it?) at the local tv station during his tour of china. the event was wreaked with the usual - bad sound, lousy gear (the bass amp cuts out most of the time) and the most annoying 'famous' drummer i've ever played with, ie: no dynamics and one volume, 11 (you might also notice i had to crank up just to hear myself at the solo get go). ahh, memories.

you can view more HERE and HERE..

greg zhang (sax), joseph devera (bass), funky (the drummer!), moi.

© MARC MONTEBELLO · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED