八八吧 · 88 Bar – Page 20 – A group blog about Chinese tech, media and design

Milk powder ad mashes up Angry Birds with kung fu

November 27, 2012 by Jason Li

What’s interesting is that the ad uses a smartphone swipe metaphor for “next,” borrows Angry Birds imagery to set up a friend versus foe battle, and, of course, lays in some kung fu at the end.

You don’t have to understand it to see what’s going on.

Via the Adkungfu.

Troll defaces luxury handbags on subway

November 20, 2012 by Jason Li

According to this report from Apple Daily HK, there’s a real-life troll that’s been going around on the subway in Hong Kong defacing various strangers’ luxury handbags with a ball point pen.

Stats on the commerce of film in Hong Kong & China

November 14, 2012 by Jason Li

Haexagon Concepts has just released their industry report on the film industries in Hong Kong & China. It’s a snappy, well-researched report, and tackles subjects ranging from advertising methods to the emergence of transmedia storytelling in these two regions.

An excerpt about Hong Kong’s advertising quagmire:

“A major problem in HongKong is that there aren’t…

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State Capitalism Watch

Why Should I Care About the Power Transition in Beijing?

November 12, 2012 by jinge

The 18th CCP Congress is going on right now in Beijing, I was lucky enough to be invited to BBC TV and BBC radio to comment on this once-in-a-decade power transition. Before that, I was asking many ordinary people around me about what this moment means to them. Some cannot care less, as they feel they have zero influence on the outcome. Some are watching…

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China Meme Report

Four Thoughts on Ai Weiwei’s Gangnam Style: Meme-ing as Activism

November 5, 2012 by An Xiao Mina

Until recently, I hadn’t seen Ai Weiwei’s Gangnam Style remix, but I definitely heard about it. Everyone on my social media feeds has been talking about, and people have emailed it to me. I’ve seen hilarious-looking pictures and read the commentary. But I’ve just not been able to sit down and watch it.

Why…

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Huawei Ads and Test Prep: The Writing on the Wall at Peking University

October 24, 2012 by Graham Webster

These days, I spend a lot of time at Peking University, and I’ve noticed a few interesting things around campus. There are a ton of things you might expect to see at any big university: ads for part time jobs, for print shops, and for student groups and events.

A few, however, caught my eye. Today, here are…

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China & Africa

Kimchi and G-Nuts, or, a Taste of the Kampala Roll

October 23, 2012 by An Xiao Mina

88 Bar writer An Xiao Mina is living and working in Uganda this fall and researching the technology community and growing Chinese population in East Africa.

I was craving kimchi the other night, as did some of my colleagues. So we headed out to Arirang, a Chinese-owned Korean…

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China’s Nike, Li-Ning, signs Dwyane Wade

October 15, 2012 by Jason Li

Sole Collector has an exclusive interview up about NBA superstar Dwyane Wade starting his own line of basketball sneakers with Li-Ning.

Aside from discussing Wade’s plans with his own brand, harkening back to almost two years ago when he commissioned a designer to create a logo for his name, it also talks a little bit about his views…

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Ethnography of Tech

Tricia’s ethnographic adventures roundup

September 26, 2012 by Tricia Wang

With her permission, we decided it would be fun to give a roundup of Tricia’s ethnographic adventures during the spring & summer of this year.

Hanging out at a bar, the ever evolving third space, “After a rock band performed, the stage became a tattoo station.”

Talking to a female massage worker in Changsha…

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automated translation + SEO –> poetry

September 17, 2012 by Lyn Jeffery

The corners of the internet are lovely, dark and deep…Every now and then you come across content from China or Taiwan that has been run through automated English translation and search engine optimization, resulting in unbelievable thousand-monkeys-on-a-typewriter poetry, which may or may not be dangerous to your computer, just saying. My favorite, which now unfortunately only tells you the seven shocking foods that will…

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