You remember Rob and Fab, don’t you? The dudes also known as Milli Vanilli came out in the late 80s with bubblegum pop crap that made the top of the charts. The party ended after they won a grammy and people found out that Rob and Fab were just lip synchers, and the real singers were other people.

Well, at the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the same scam was played out with a nine-year old girl named Lin Miaoke playing the part of Milli Vanilli and another girl Yang Peiyi playing the part of “other people”.

The Spanish Basketball Federation is in trouble for putting up a controversial advertisement that many are calling racist.

Source: NYT:
Spain’s Olympic basketball teams have risked upsetting their Chinese hosts by posing for a pre-Games advert making slit-eyed gestures. The advertisement for a [Spanish] courier company, which is an official sponsor of the Spanish Basketball Federation, occupied [...]

China trains 200,000 cheerleaders – for other Olympic teams
Source: CSM

Olympic host China has assembled a cheerleading squad of approximately 200,000 volunteers, the largest in Games history, to stir up spirit for any national team that needs it. “It is almost unheard of in the history of the Olympic movement, [such a] large number of student [...]

Here’s a picture of Paris Hilton in a Chinese airport, showing everyone the “V” for victory (how cliched of her):

Totally reminds me of this photo from Engrish:

(Shirt reads “Spread Beaver - Showing The Vaginal Area”)
Not sure what Paris is doing in China - it’s probably related to her fashion line. Also, for what it’s worth, [...]

China opens one of world’s largest bridges:
China recently inaugurated one of the world’s longest bridges on Thursday. Presented as the “world’s longest sea bridge”, the 36-kilometre (22-mile) structure connects Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The 11.8 billion yuan (1.7 billion dollars) bridge cuts the [...]

An interesting article, entitled Cultural Differences Found in Pee, states:
Pee from more than 4,000 volunteers shows that people from different nations often have spectacularly different metabolisms. The finding could point to new ways to deal with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other health problems, researchers said.
Urine samples were analyzed from some 4,630 volunteers from [...]

Insert your Forrest Gump joke here.
Story from CBS News:
The International Association of Athletics Federations ruled Monday that double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius is ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics because his prosthetic racing blades give him a clear competitive advantage. The executive Council said the South African runner’s curved, prosthetic “Cheetah” blades were considered a [...]

They juggle bottles, pour exotic drinks and sometimes dance on the bar. Meet Asia’s top bartenders who are competing at the Asia “flairtending” championships at the Venetian hotel in Macau.
The winner was 18 Hsu Po-sheng from Taiwan, who practiced up to 8 hours a day. For the competition he dressed up in a Spiderman outfit. [...]

The Vice Guide to Travel
Format: DVD/Book
Release Date: 2006
(out of 4)
Founded in Canada and based in NYC, Vice Magazine has been published in various countries around the world. I took a look at the combination book/DVD entitled “The Vice Guide To Travel”, which covers various trips by the zine’s editors to dangerous places around [...]