Let's positive thinking (II)

Now back in Montreal! But more on Shanghai, to wrap up:

SHOES. I did actually buy a pair of shoes. Li Nings. But not like knockoff Nikes (it took me a long time to dig up a photo XD;). It's a limited ed collaboration with a Beijing contemporary art collective called UNMASK. As one might garner from this the company is a business case to watch - they're rebranding locally and entering the US market. I wish them luck of it: I mean, here is a pair of shoes designed by Chinese artists, manufactured by a Chinese company under a Chinese brand, sold solely in Chinese stores, with as much attention paid to material quality and aesthetic detail as anything I've seen elsewhere. (I would have paid double to be probably the only person in North America to own sneakers with tassel buttons in the shape of horse's noses.) Remains only to see if they fall apart in the next three months or not.

BOOKS. Brillat-Savarin sort of saved my life during those interminable hours bouncing around governmental offices (I prefer the Penguin Classics translation, but that etext is in a very readable format). It's basically a blog XD the impression is heightened by hilariously random personal digressions (that time I shot a wild turkey in Pennsylvania; that time I had a spiritual episode in the middle of the night**; what would happen if a comet hit the earth and everyone died) and observations with a sharply modern feel, eg. the "soft" economic power conferred by French cuisine. Or how potatoes and rice make you fat.

There was a special on Penguin Classics so I also got Marcus Aurelius, and some more Conan Doyle. Then craft books and art postcards by way of souvenirs for friends and co-workers, and some traditionally-bound calligraphy stuff for my father (there was a bookstore going out of business and selling stock by the kilo XD;). There seems to be no more published Harry Potter fanfiction, so either JKR's lawyers caught up or the fad swept past. Tragic, I know - who doesn't enjoy cover illustrations of Alan Rickman in the style of Taiwanese shoujo historicals, I ask you. XD I went looking for Chinese Holmesiana instead, but there wasn't all that much if you consider there were like fifteen separate editions of ACD - one novel, which was a bit rubbish but arguably better than "The Blind Banker". My major takeaways from the thing were that in China, zombie raising was considered white magic, and that ppl send creepy letters to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. (...OK, I don't know that, but now that the point has been raised it seems obvious that they would. Like the Santa's mailbox of creepypasta.)

Also, a bestselling Japanese mystery novel which I read on the plane and will probably review separately.

** Frankly, this anecdote sounded to me like one of those truffles they ate by the dozen was not a truffle if you know what I mean.