Ladies, the final countdown has begun. It's your last chance to squeeze out that golden piglet. This Chinese New Year, the real party is in the maternity ward as hopeful parents-to-be race to drop a squealer before the year of the Golden Pig goes the way of the pork ball in your morning xiolongbao. more ›

• Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.
• Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's only English-language paper.
more ›

The massive NBA marketing machine rumbled through Shanghai last night in the first of three “China Games,” the latter two to be held in Macau beginning tonight. The pre-season game between the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers was held at the Qizhong Sports Stadium in the Min-hang district. Some observations:
more ›

In our 10 years of clubbing life we have never seen anything like this: more ›

Because Shanghaiist knows you're all fans, we're sure readers aged 12-16 are excited to hear that Avril Lavigne will be playing Shanghai on August 15! Avril will be perform one night at the prestigious Shanghai Qi Zhong Tennis Center (where the NBA play-off between Cleveland and Orlando will be held in October). RMB 200 tickets already seem to be sold out, but for those of you who aren't part of the "penny-pinching-white-male-with-a-yellow-heart-pseudo intelligentsia" crowd, tickets are still available at RMB 400, 800, 1200, and 2000 from this site. more ›

The NBA is coming to Shanghai again on October 17. This time the Cleveland Cavaliers, fresh off the worst NBA Finals performance we have ever seen, take on the Orlando Magic. If meaningless preseason hoops is your thing, start booking tickets to Minhang District now. The game is being played way the hell out there at the Shanghai Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center. And for those of you who remember the 2004 Shanghai clash between the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings (tickets for which started at US$12) you might be interested to know that tickets for the 2007 version start at US$105. Now, we know the dollar has gotten weaker ... but this seems like a greedy move for a sport and league that should be trying to appeal to the common man. (UPDATE: According to the seating chart, it looks like very few nose-bleed seats were priced at RMB 200, but maybe they are sold out.) more ›

The two photos above are from Shanghai. The second, we think, is Shanghai Railway Station. Barbieri's work comes to our city as part of the Shanghai Biennale and the Year of Italy in China. More Biennale events are listed here. more ›

Outspoken (and slightly above average) Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones made history this week, becoming the first active American NBA player to sign an endorsement deal with a Chinese sports apparel brand. Li Ning, one of China's leading sports brands, signed Jones to a two-year deal, details of which were not disclosed. Jones has worn Li Ning's "Feijia" sneakers for most of this season. more ›