Matt Schiavenza From the Dragon to the Apple- A Sinophile in New York

SF Time Lapse and Other Fun

It's been a beautiful few days here in the Apple as the fabled New York autumn has arrived right on schedule. Alas, the demands of grad school are such that I've been mainly living in the underground bunker we at SIPA call the library. Never mind, though- being back at school has given me ample opportunities to procrastinate, and what better way than to watch this beautiful time-lapse video of my very own San Francisco Bay Area:

(Incidentally if anyone knows how to embed videos on WordPress I'd appreciate it- I've spent the last thirty-five minutes attempting unsuccessfully to do this with a combination of Google, YouTube, and angst)

I've taken to my new home, and lord knows the last thing New York needs is for another wee blogger to sing its praises. But for pure, physical beauty San Francisco- the Bay Area as a whole, really- reigns supreme. I hope non-natives will see the video and be inspired to hop on a plane to SF so our beleaguered local economy gets a lift. Some odds and ends:

• I really like this column by Eliot Spitzer about the Republicans' risible 'Pledge to America'. Yes, that Eliot Spitzer, the one-time governor of this very state until a rather unfortunate scandal led to his departure from office. Y'know, it'd be nice to have a Republican Party that at least had a basic understanding of macro-economics. Not these jokers.
• I've been following the story of China and Japan's diplomatic dust-up and will have more to write about it later- there is much to chew on, and even if Japan releases the boat captain- something I expect to happen shortly- the incident says a lot about power relations in East Asia.
• I am not much of a fan of Apple and type this blog post on a beautiful little HP laptop. But I must say- the iphone 4 is pretty, pretty great. I can't imagine organizing my time without Google Calendar sync, or navigating my way around New York without either the GPS/Google Map function or my NYC subway map application. Having an ordinary phone would be like running a marathon on crutches.
• To Chinese readers- 中秋节快乐! The few dozen Chinese students at SIPA and some former and would-be laowai gathered for a Mid-Autumn festival party last night. The evening was replete with mediocre Chinese food and karaoke and qipao-clad 美女, always a good combination.