For one reason or another, when it comes to nightlife, Shanghaiist has its reservations about the Bund. Sure, we do the promenade/requisite bar crawl when out-of-towners come to play but, at the end of the day, we’re just not sold on it. (Our aversion was further amplified upon recently discovering a Facebook group called “THE SHANGHAI ELITE” – yes, they’re so elite they need to shout their name wherever they go. The activities of this......

Burgers. Beer. Sangria. Live Music. Fireworks. Prizes. Fun. As much as you want of the above for 150 kuai. It kind of sells itself, doesn't it? Here are the confirmed entrants in the "Best Burger in Shanghai" competition: SH, City Weekend, Sherpa's, Jebsen/Vin, American Craft Beer/ The Naked Cow, Blue Frog, Azul/Viva, Bubba's Smokehouse, ARCH, Jean-Georges, Buns of Steel and Renmin Burger. And here are the confirmed judges: Brendan Byrne (Hint Magazine), Shamus Sillar (Shanghai......

We went to the last Pecha Kucha night in Shanghai. We had a good time. We recommend you attend the next one being held this upcoming Saturday. We would elaborate more but we are sleep deprived and cranky. So, without further ado, the old straight-from-the-source trick: Pecha Kucha is known worldwide as an open night for architects, designers, photographers or anyone who wants to share their ideas and dreams. This time we will go back......

"People say they love hip hop, but then they go to Guandii. To me, we’ve never had hip hop in China. We just took things from the States. It’s never been homegrown. And I really hope we can have a scene to call our own." Those are the words of one Gary Wang (aka DJ V-Nutz), local hip hop hustler and pusher. Wang, along with partner DJ Fortune, runs The Lab, a non-profit studio dedicated......

Shanghaiist can't stop listening to the Infadels. They are just too darn catchy. For fans of electronic rock, the Infadels are bliss. Marching disco-punk meet rave riffs and pop licks to make freakishly catchy gems that beg to be played again, and again, and again. "Love Like Semtex" seems to be the it single — and rightly so, the lead off their studio debut is infectious, frenzied dance-rock at its finest — but it's "Jagger......

Tomorrow night, Ramon Vincente Alarcon will be playing an intimate show — only 111 spots, folks! — here in Shanghai. The 23-year-old has been making music ever since he was a wee lad, and in various projects, but only made his solo debut as in March of last year. The show was Hot Ticket’d by Shanghai Talk this month. Here’s an excerpt: [Alarcon’s] debut solo album, The Boy Who Floated Freely tells the story of......

Shanghaiist has been pestering the good folks at FAR since December, and last night, we finally got our wish. Over 300 people packed (and we mean packed!) into the Source Gallery for the fifth installment of Pecha Kucha Shanghai (the last one was four months ago) . The Tokyo-imported concept is this: each presenter at a Pecha Kucha night narrates a slideshow of 20 images — each for 20 seconds — on any topic of......

A long time coming. talkmagazines.cn is definitely more form than function, but that appears to be the intention. Some magazine content is there — stories, events and their ever-popular party photos — but we think search engines would have a hard time finding any of it. Speaking of search functions, Talk's website doesn't have one, nor does it have archives, or a blog ... although we've been told that all of that is on the......

Local digital music collective Antidote is throwing its 17th monthly gong show tonight. Shanghaiist always looks forward to these nights for the generally solid music selection (electroclash and rock-tech hybrids designed to make that booty shake), wicked crowd (in many other cities, you might call 'em "indie hipsters" but Shanghai seems neither indie nor hip enough for that label to apply...thank god), and bang-on vibe. Check out this video from Ooyo for a taste of......

And at least one person (a former editor of the magazine) hates it: With a New Year often comes a new look. Shanghai Talk, the city's longest running English language listings magazine, has rolled out a new logo with its January issue. A quick glance begs the question: which art school dropout slumming around town crapped this one out? The talk bubble concept of the logo is not a bad one to go with. It......

Another week, another edition of Shanghaiist Reads. SH and Shanghai Talk are on the clock … SH With Shanghai fashion week in full bloom, it’s hardly surprising that the bulk of SH’s coverage is devoted to hot young designers, hot fads, and hot, hot hotness. “Design Time” is a no-frills sampling of the city’s rising fashionistas, though it’s probably safe to say that an all-gray background is hardly the most fashionable layout to accompany all......

How does the other half live? Shanghaiist is talking about our print media counterparts — you know, the ones that have actual deadlines and office space to fuss over. We won’t pretend to put ourselves in their shoes (well, some of us might, seeing as how we occasionally swing both ways — in the non-biblical sense, of course), but we can, at least appreciate an alliterative headline, a punchy lead, and some slick, savvy reporting.......

Next time you’re in the Xintiandi area and are looking for lunch/dinner ideas, try Lan Ting Restaurant (兰亭餐厅). A block away from the tourist hot spot, on the corner of Taicang Lu and Songshan Lu, Lan Ting is perhaps one of the most well known eateries in Shanghai you’ve never heard of. The restaurant serving mostly the local crowd, doesn’t exactly grace the listings sections of City Weekend or Shanghai Talk on a regular basis.......

When we read today that Shanghai's first organic foods store has "underperformed" our initial reaction was, Shanghai has an organic foods store? The answer is yes. OStore launched last summer -- about the same time Shanghaiist launched -- and we're not sure why we hadn't heard of it until now. Well, perhaps its location has something to do with it. OStore is on Zunyi Lu, which, being west of Zhongshan Park, is outside of Shanghaiist's......

A final party plug before Shanghaiist lugs a shitload of T-shirts and raffle prizes over to the British Bulldog Pub. We had a couple last-minute additions to the raffle prize list (below), so be sure to check it out one more time. (Raffle tickets are 10 kuai, by the way, and five for 40 kuai. Entrance, of course, is free.) There are two threads about the party currently running on local message boards. One controversially......