Archived entries for Uncategorized
Sugartits
by Tom Mangione
Here’s a special little pre-Christmas pre-SLAM treat for you from our inspired friend Ho-Tom. Tom will be appearing in the dec 18th 1984 release SLAM as well, so expect some dirty stuff from the stage. Meanwhile, let Sugartits blow your minds…
Pretty Fly for a Laowai II – MC Susie
by S. C. Gordon
They say I’m
Pretty fly for a laowai
But they don’t know shit,
Cos I’m the flyest of them all.
I’m the word bird,
Maybe you’ve heard.
I write rhymes that’ll hit you
Verse that’ll shit you
Like a dog that bit you.
When I hop up outta bed,
Turn my swag on.
Trippin’ through the neighborhood,
Put some tunes on.
Got my bling, got my swing, do my thing.
Got my waiguo huzhao,
Xinjiang shaokao –
Drop it like it’s hot,
Rappin’ on the spot,
Spinnin’ rhymes,
Doin’ time.
They say I’m
Pretty fly for a laowai,
But they don’t know jack,
Cos I’m the flyest mothafucka of them all.
Pretty Fly for a Laowai I – Jason
by Jason Lasky
I’m the laowai supreme,
I’m a supersized dream.
I’m the epic playa,
I’m the workin’ acta’,
I’ve got a pen and a pad
And the mind to drive you mad.
I’m pretty fly for a laowai-
2010 Shanghai.
The neon lights,
The drugs delight,
The drinks are cheap
Facebook is BLEEEEEEEP.
Firey episodic lust
Pass me that New York Style Pizza crust.
It’s Sunday brunch,
I’ve got a hunch
That I’ll stick around
On this Chinese merry-go-round
Because I’m pretty fly for a laowai-
2010 Shanghai.
Gimme a stage,
This is my age
I’ve got nothin’ to lose
Walking in these custom-made shoes.
I’m pretty fly for a laowai-
2010 Shanghai.
Groupthink Nov.21st-6pm
Happy Birthday Groupthink! You’re officially one year old plus 5 days. Yep. Naturally I’d like to take this opportunity to say a few words, please bear with me: The face of Groupthink has changed drasticaly since it’s inception and blah blah blah something about tequila fuck whatever.
FANTASY Groupthink: surprisingly bereft of prancing fairies, orcs and ogres. No complaints here, I’m on a Harry Potter bender and I’m about 4,000 pages deep in the shit (you think I’m joking but I’m not).
The definite highlight of the night was Christine Forte’s All the Beauty in China. Love found and lost in almost the same instant in a compelling period drama that transcends the time in which it transpires. This is an instant HAL classic from straight out of left field. One of the most creative and beautiful pieces we’ve had the honour of featuring on our humble website. Bravo Christine.
Next up two-time comer, first-time submitter Stefan Schear. Hear hear! Read it here! Cheers! HAL be lovin’ it.
Nashville psychobilly Miller Wey put down his banjo, six-shooter and highfalutin’ ways to pick up the pen and regale us with the fantastical Traveler’s Rest. Interesting intersection of East and West, both in setting and the various classical tales alluded to in this peach of a short. Wait for it.
Birthday birthday and all that, I was prompted to dig dig through the HAL archives to see see what we had posted before in the fantasy line. One of my personal favorites: The Magic Dumplings. Did we ever meet that guy Paul Paul? If so I don’t remember, but I love this story.
All you haters…you know what to do.
Next Groupthink:
Date: November 21st, 2010 – 6pm 6pm 6pm
Where: Bell Cafe in Tianzifang (Taikang Lu)
Topic: – choose one of the two:
- the apartment below
- Christmas with Butler in Bangkok
Groupthink 6PM – November 7th, 2010
6pm. 6pm. 6pm. Bell Cafe.
topic: it’s genre time again and FANTASY is the name of the game, as always creative rebellion is encouraged, but do try keep it in a Chinese context.
As promised in our last update I was massively hungover on Sunday after a blazingly successful Art Battle. Nonetheless Groupthink Intersection produced some great works. I was reminded of one of our more legendary Groupthinks: The Last Cup of Coffee in Shanghai, an evening that produced at least seven suicides and several homicides (fictionally speaking, thank god). Who would have guessed it? Evidently Intersections is an equally morose topic. Apparently when writers think ‘intersection’ their first thought is: ‘car crash’.
Ginger wRong Chen get’s it wRight as usual, though failing to heed her own advice in Pay Attention to the Signs. Incidentally, Ginger’s work is featured in our upcoming first release of party like it’s 1984 which you can expect to see in December 2010. For more of her melancholy quirkiness check out my personal favorite Revenge of the Butterfly. This one gets me every time.
A bit of the old ultra-WTF from Andy Best: Mantis vs. Phantom.
When you’re done with that maybe you’ll need a light read, in which case you can check out Christine Forte’s charming short story Apart at the Seams.
Expect to see a lot of new stuff on the site this week. Maybe even something from Bjorn and Nate. Watch out for a beautiful poem from J. Lasky and maybe something from birthday girl Sarah if I’m feeling generous.
HAL lost a very dear friend last week to sunny beaches, fruity cocktails, tattoo artistry and lady boys as W.M. Butler headed down to Thailand for some much needed alone time with his facebook page. I hope you two are having fun together Butler. Please come back soon. Bring sun and ladyboys. Despite his absence we were treated to a heartwrenching intersection that you probably won’t see on the site because we’ll be saving it for print. Check out Butler’s other work though: one of my favorites.
On the other hand we were really happy to see new faces. A big phat welcum to Danielle, Stefan and Miller. Hopefully D will email us her piece asap so we can blast it up on the site. Stefan and Miller can now testify to the fact that HAL doesn’t bite. Anxiously awaiting a sci-fi atom bomb from Stefan. Miller…Miller…what exactly do you write? Can’t wait to find out.
Featured H.A.L. Artist: Patrick Wack
About Patrick Wack
A child of suburban Paris, Patrick has been based in Shanghai since 2006. After spending several years in the United States, Sweden and Berlin, he arrived in China with the ambition to become a photographer. Patrick focuses on the human aspect via portraits, reportages and fashion series. His work has appeared in Marie-Claire, Monocle, le Point, Capital, El Pais and Travel & Leisure. His commercial clients include agencies such as BBH and Wieden+Kennedy for Nike, the Shangri-La group, L’Oréal, Novartis, Daimler Benz and GE. Patrick is part of the German photo agency LAIF.
Shanghai First Kiss
by Jason Lasky
Give her your bright, your enriched, your kempt,
and she will make sloven creatures of them.
She cares not for your ancestry nor history-
she seeks the bold, the flowering, the illustrious.
Shanghai swallows all those who come
by way of that first kiss that ruins
any innocence that still remained within them.
I believe that my first kiss with Shanghai
matters most since I
have kissed so few other cities so passionately.
Four years on I still remember that first time-
we met in the lurid darkness, her streets alive.
She wore a flowing gown of silky red, her legs reaching to the sky.
She whispered in my ear, “Welcome mister.”
She grabbed me, held me, embraced me,
hit me, beat me, shook me,
jostled me, kicked me, threw me
and left her indelible taste on my tongue.
All I could do was fall in love with her,
and all I’ve done since is looked for reasons to stay with her.
But I’ve been ravaged and savaged by her,
and I’ve been taken for a ride by her.
Yet, the addict has his candy, the tasty treat.
I’ve gotten to sucking on Shanghai’s sweet teat,
and I can’t ween myself away- I can’t.
The look she gives me, the potential to save me-
I opened wide and let her ruin me.
And I’m still by her side.
Featured H.A.L. Artist: Hsuan-Ying Chen
About Hsuan-Ying Chen
Hsuan-Ying Chen was born in Taipei and moved to Shanghai in 1999, where she continues to live and work out of her Weihai Road studio. Dividing her life between two massive and rapidly changing cities, Hsuan’s paintings and prints draw inspiration from the ever-modulating urban landscapes around her. Hsuan studied at the Boston University College of Fine Arts. Her work has been featured in international public exhibitions and private collections.
lost in the pr
by S.C.Gordon
I’ve been missing for thirteen years.
I don’t like the word ‘missing’ because it implies a sense of continuity which defeats the object of my going.
At first all I wanted to be was dead, and it was only the grey haze of confusion that clumsied my fingers and stopped them from tying a noose.
Some people think I killed myself. They come up with all sorts of reasons why. Interestingly, none of them have been anywhere near to the true reason if I’d decided to do it. It would have been easy, it really would. But I didn’t have the wherewithal to do it. Suicide requires a certain heroism, a surety that nothing will be as great as what’d already been – an arrogance that anyone will really care.
