Steely Heart, already a sensation in Beijing, is heading over to Shanghai. The dance-rock act will be headlining for the first time our city!
LOgO, 13 Xingfu Lu, Changning, near Fahuazhen Lu. 幸福路13号, 近法华镇路. Cover ¥30. Starts 9pm.

A bunch of Chengdu bands will be playing at Yuyintang, and they're all different styles. There's Mosaic, a vintage 80s dance rock act, the ska band Mr.Chelonian, and the Japanese band Silent Flow. How will all these eclectic bands share one audience? Come find out at Yuyintang this weekend.
1731 Yan'an Xi Lu, Changning, Entrance at Kaixuan Lu. 延安西路1731号, 入口在凯旋路. Cover ¥40, starts 9pm.

Triassic Park is coming to Live Sound Garage, playing English/Putonghua music all night long. Stegosaurus, Fingers Dancing and other special guests will also be making an appearance. including perhaps some extinct reptiles.
696 Weihai Lu, near Shanxi Lu and Maoming Lu. Cover ¥30.

Legendary dub-reggae master Clive Chin will be performing at the Shelter. Nuff' said.
The Shelter, 5 Yongfu Lu, near Fuxing Xi Lu. Cover ¥50.

The upcoming Golden Performance battle will feature these bands: Fearless, Chaos Mind, and others. We've never heard of them but you can learn more on the event's douban page.
Mao Livehouse, 570 Huaihai Xi Lu, near Hongqiao Lu. 淮海西路570号 近红桥路. Cover ¥40.

I majored in English in University - and then, I enrolled in art school.

Did you parents know?

[laughs] No, they didn’t. They were not happy at first, but I think they are now satisfied with what I do. My family supports me. My brother, who was a clerk in Beijing, gave me my first camera - a Seagull 4B.

What is it like being an artist in China?

There’s not much of a market for art. Mostly foreigners, I think, are interested in buying Chinese contemporary art. People are getting richer in China, but many who have money are only interested in buying art from well-known artists, so it really helps to be famous. It's like getting a fancy car.

But, for the rest, it is difficult to just be an artist - and many cannot be. I, myself, am also a teacher in Shanghai’s Art Academy. Most artists here cannot just be artists. I think, though, that it makes it interesting. They are making art purely for self-expression and pleasure and passion, and I think they are more experimental. Some, of course, are like businessmen, only doing what is trendy and trying to be one of those famous artists. But others are experimenting.

What does the art scene in Shanghai need?

More experimentation. Many students need to figure out how not to just use the techniques they learn at art academy and to do their own art. Traditionally, the techniques are very strict.

Take calligraphy -- you have to hold the pen this way, have to move to the right, have to move left, up then down. It’s very tempting just to follow these rules, because students are often paid to just use those techniques. But that’s not really what creates art.

Among 600 students at my academy, maybe 5 are really in love with the craft of photography.

Do you think it is changing?

Yes. Now there are just more choices - people can see, read, and hear things. And that's what they need. To hear, to see.

That is, if we could find one that was done well. China Music Radar has a scathing review of a talk show discussion on Beijing's musical scene which is about as heavy hitting as a whack-a-mole mallet. We're not sure where, how, or why "BON TV" came about the idea of doing a round table on Beijing rock: In fact, we're not really sure what BON TV is. China Music Radar has this tidbit of information about them.

From China Music Radar:

Blue Ocean Network (BON TV) is a brand new, pioneering television network producing a wide range of objective English language content bringing the human side of China to homes across the Western world. BON goes live on air in Summer 2009 in the United States."

Since we've never heard of BON TV, we're obviously a bit skeptical of their reportage, and for good reason: the host, Andrew Tate, asks questions that are bland and placative to the point of irrelevance ("Isn't the music scene in China like that in American or the UK during the 60's and 70's?"). Even worse, Tony Webb, who apparently runs a weekly drum circle (which qualifies him to comment on Beijing's underground music?), provides even blander answers that are nearly incoherent ("In the seventies, I was into dressing like a hare krishna, but like a rocker"), and actually admits to buying tickets to a Kenny G concert. The only moments of insight into the music scene are from Jim Blackburn, a Beijing local musician whose engagement in the scene can be glimpsed in his attempts to thoughtfully answer unfocused, generic questions such as "is there censorship in Chinese music?"

We have spent time in Beijing, explored the music scene, and have even played in bands up there (which Blackburn may or may not have been in, we're not telling). What we can say is that something as elusive as a general ethos of a youth movement can't be pinned down and dissected from a distance: it needs to be experienced to be understood, and may still elude the intellect.

We still like hearing about China's nascent youth culture, so the few moments of interest in the video might make it worth checking out: just keep your hand on the fast forward button. And we would like to see more about Shanghai's bands, too!

Part two of this video can be found at China Music Radar

In the latest attempt to monitor potentially politically sensitive content from being posted, "the government-linked Internet Society of China plans to compose 'self-discipline standards' for microblogging services," says CW.

A document the group released for blog providers and websites of the Twitter-nature calls for them to delete "illegal or harmful information" or simply to cease blog service for infringing users.

We're on month five of losing freedom to access Facebook, month eight since being barred from Youtube, year god-knows-when of being blocked from most blogging sites... and it's not looking too hot for even 140-character Twitter clones, much less Twitter. What's 360 million internet users to do?

• Shanghai Amateur Film Festival: Join independent filmmakers, actors, writers, and film enthusiasts for this full-day celebration of film, featuring short screenings from four continents and a mini-award ceremony. Observe or take part in the shooting of three scenes on location for our independent documentary-style film about living and working in Shanghai.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE MOVIES

• The Fall: Vienna Café offers a free screening of The Fall: a fantasy movie where a hospitalized man tells a fantastic tale to a child and brings her into a magic world where anything is possible. Presented by David Fincher and Spike Jonze, The Fall is an awe-inspiring cinematic tour de force. English with Chinese subtitles.
• Golf Kid (球道): IIn a rags to riches story, a poor kid from a garbage dump becomes a golfing pro based on the words of his beloved uncle. But can he face seemingly unsurmountable odds once he finds out that part of his past was based in a lie?
• 2012: Ever get chills from the Mayan prophecy that predicts the world will end on December 21, 2012? Sony Pictures’ upcoming disaster drama 2012 simulates the catastrophic happenings of the last days of the earth with plenty of epic floods and destruction. The Day after Tomorrow director Roland Emmerich helms. John Cusack and Amanda Peet star. The film boasts a sky-high US$200 million budget and breath-taking special effects. In English with Chinese subtitles
• Diamond Dogs (唐卡迷踪): "Diamond Dogs" is the story of a group of American fortune hunters, who come to China looking for a long-lost-treasure. During the Soviet crack-down on religion in the 1930's, a priceless Buddhist artifact, a Tangka was taken across the border to China and hidden in the mountains. The fortune hunters need a guide and protection on the trip, so they hire an American ex-pat, Ronson. He's ex-Army and living an existence in Inner-Mongolia of drinks, women and bare-knuckle fights. The group takes off into the Mongolian mountains on a trek that will change their lives forever. King of the B-Movie action film, Dolph Lundgren (best known for his role as Captain Ivan Drago in Rocky IV), plays Xander Ronson in Diamond Dogs.
• Michael Jackson´s This Is It (迈克尔·杰克逊：就是这样): Fans of Michael Jackson: get a glimpse of the King of Pop’s last days with this documentary. Pieced together from more than 100 hours footage of Jackson’s rehearsals of his comeback London concert tour, this highly anticipated film offers you a private look into the late superstar’s life through on-stage and behind-the-scene material. In English with Chinese subtitles.
• Knowing (神秘代码): Nicolas Cage continues his action thriller career in Alex Proyas’ latest production. The plot focuses on elementary school student Caleb and his father John as they discover a string of numbers that match with dates of disasters over the past 50 years, including the numbers of people who died. In Mandarin or English depending on the cinema.
• Astro Boy (阿童木): An origin story set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist, Dr. Tenma, in the image of the son he had lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, becoming part of a group of rowdy kids led by a girl named Cora, experiencing betrayal, and a netherworld of robot gladiators led by the greedy ring master, Ham Egg...
• The Taking of Pelham 123 (地铁惊魂): Tony Scott directs this remake of the original Palomar Production/Walter Matthau-starring thriller from 1974 with this Columbia Pictures production that pits Denzel Washington and John Turtorro against a group of hijackers, lead by John Travolta, who take over a subway train in order to rake in a hefty ransom. David Koepp (War of the Worlds) is adapting the book by author John Godey.
• Rouge Crocodile (逃亡鳄鱼岛): Pete is an American travel writer on assignment in the Australian outback. While taking a river cruise he finds himself stuck with a collection of interesting characters, including Kate, the local tour guide. When their boat is rammed by something from below, the tour is thrown into disarray and they become stranded on a tiny mud island. As night falls and the tide starts to rise, the group slowly realise they are being stalked by a huge saltwater crocodile, beginning a terrifying struggle for survival in one of the most remote places in the world.

• Psalm Of Life (燃烧的生命): The Psalm of Life: In the late 90s, China's coal industry is in transition. Three mines which employ nearly 50,000 families are on the brink of destruction. But a resolute mining official comes in to try< and rescue everyone. Battling interference, incompetent middle-level officials and other problems, the official and the community manage to rescue the mines.
• Master Xuan Zhang (玄奘大师): A live action retelling of Journey to the West, this movie follows the monk Xuanzhang as he goes to India in search of Buddhist scriptures. While most movies focus on his adventures with the Monkey King, this one looks to present a more realistic, less fairy tale-like portrayal of the famous historical figure.
• Glittering Days (万家灯火): The film revolves around the changes that happen in a community in the southern part of Beijing. The characters are residents that live in a small congested courtyard but finally get to move into the apartment they´ve longed for.
• My Airhostess Roommate (恋爱前规则): Beautiful stewardess Ranjing meets Otaku Lu Fei after a night out on town and through a series of mishaps, they become roommates in her duplex apartment. And then they fall in love. Adapted from an ultra popular internet novel "Diary of Living with an Airhostess."
• Love At Seventh Sight (7天爱上你): He is an audio technician, an unromantic man looking for the most romantic sound on earth. In an unexpected encounter, he comes across two of the most romantic things---- a beautiful recreational vehicle and its beautiful owner. The girl loves to travel the world and the boy hopes to find the most soul-soothing sound in nature. Pursuing their dreams, they decide to travel together in the recreational vehicle.
• Stubborn Radish (倔强萝卜): An amateur scientist plans to dig a tunnel to steal back some money from his ex-best friend now worst foe. Starring Huang Bo.
• Qiu Xi (秋喜): The romantic spy thriller "Qiu Xi" by director Sun Zhou, takes place in wartime Guangzhou before the country's liberation by the Communist Party of China in 1949. A young woman named Qiu Xi is a "boat person", or Tanka, living in the coastal area of Guangdong Province. Qiu Xi, (Jiang Yiyan), becomes a servant to Yan Haiqing, (Guo Xiaodong). She finds herself falling for the undercover communist agent who works with the Kuomintang regime that ruled China until 1949. The story unfolds as the two fall for each other but are kept at distance because of the wartime situation. The 45-million-yuan film comes several years after Sun Zhou's widely acclaimed movies "Zhou Yu's Train" in 2002 and "Breaking the Silence" in 2000. His films are known for their exploration of humanity and the genuinely virtuous nature of people.
• The Message (Feng Sheng, 风声): "The Message" is set in Japanese-occupied China in 1942. It tells a story of a Japanese spy chief trying to identify a Chinese agent from a group of suspects. Produced by China's leading entertainment producer Huayi Brothers, the film is the company's tribute to the 60th birthday of the People's Republic of China. Riding the popularity of the TV series and play of the same name, this espionage flick features Zhou Xun, Zhang Hanyu and Li Bingbing. Mandarin only.
• The Foundation Of A Republic (建国大业): This offering from China Film Board chairman Sanping Han tells the story of the founding of the PRC, in celebration of the country's birthday. Chinese megacelebrities Chen Kaige, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Chen Daoming and Ge You star. Mandarin only.
• The Warrior and The Wolf (狼灾记, Lang zai ji): This costume fantasy drama is the latest production by China´s influential director and producer Tian Zhuangzhuang. Set in the Qing Dynasty, the plot follows a warrior and his foreign lover. Their romantic encounters lead to a supernatural event. Japanese star Joe Odagiri, Taiwanese actor Tuo Zonghua and American diva Maggie Q star. Mandarin only.
• My Fair Gentleman (窈窕绅士, Yao Tiao Shen Shi): My Fair Gentleman" follows the romantic pursuit of a newly rich businessman obsessed with a female entertainer. Through the hilarious quest for a woman he thinks is the love of his life, the vulgar rich man transforms himself, as well as the object of his affection. In the end, he becomes a perfect gentleman.
• Wheat (麦田): Award-winning Chinese director He Ping creates a new costume drama featuring Wang Zhiwen, Fan Bingbing, Huang Jue and Wang Ji. The film opened to enthusiastic crowds at this year´s Shanghai International Film Festival and follows the adventures of two army deserters in an entirely female kingdom during the Warring States Period. Mandarin only.

OTHER LANGUAGE MOVIES

• Nepobedimyy (特工008): Chronicles the adventures of Russian special intelligence agent Yegor Kremnyov. It involves fugitive oligarchs, western crime syndicates and top-secret papers. Languages: Russian / English.
• Scandal Makers (非常主播): Head over to watch this ubiquitous Korean romantic comedy featuring Cha Tae-hyeon and Park Bao-young. Cha stars as a show talk presenter whose program gains instant popularity from a single mother's story. However, Cha's life is turned upside down when the single mother shows up at his home with her six-year-old son. Language TBD.