http://www.catshanghai.com/blog Shanghai Blog about Culture, Arts and Technology Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:16:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Jenny just got her Schengen visa to go to Spain next week. Hurray! The Schengen agreement allows visitors to travel around continental Europe without requiring a separate visa for each country, although the UK has a separate protocol. This means Chinese visitors need to get a visa for the UK and ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/07/14/rejected-schengen-visa-applicants-get-no-refund/ In this earlier post I complained about the stress of living in a place where I am "doomed to waste time understanding and being understood." This is still an issue or I would not choose to resurrect such a gloomy old blog post. The difference these days is that I ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/07/11/speaking-to-my-cat-is-easier-than-talking-mandarin-or-using-jott/ The new Iphone is out, although it is not yet on sale in China. David Feng of Techblog86 has been anticipating the imminent official release of the Iphone in China, although Dan Washburn of Shanghaiist has been assured by local vendors that the new Iphone will soon be selling on ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/07/11/grey-semi-legal-iphones-set-for-release-in-china/ I have started using a VOIP service called Rebtel , which offers cheaper and more convenient Internet based phonecalls than Skype or Gizmo5, which I wrote about last year. See this post. Rebtel lets you make calls between China and the UK landlines for 1.9 US cents a minute plus ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/07/10/rebtel-makes-international-calls-cheaper-and-easier/ We got married in March 2006. As a Brit marrying a Chinese girl, we followed the UK Consulate's guidelines of notarising the wedding certificate so it would be recognised abroad. This has made it relatively easy to get permission to visit the UK and France, although we still have to ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/07/01/your-marriage-is-not-legal-in-spain/ It was a great night of art, fashion and hanging out with friends. Everyone likes Jola's pictures of the Paris metro. Each picture was built on photographs, which were taken separately before Jola edited them together using painted images, scanning and photoshop post processing. The images remind me of rotoscoping ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/06/19/photos-from-jolas-opening-party-at-projection-216/ The 3G Iphone has just been unveiled by Steve Jobs at the WWDC. The world wide launch date is July 11th when it will go on sale in 70 markets including Canada, Hong Kong and Australia. The inclusion of Chinese handwriting recognition suggests they have their eyes on the Middle Kingdom. ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/06/13/iphone-in-china/ This audio file was recorded in anger and desperation after Jenny was sent home from the visa office after failing to bring her family's red household book. She brought every other document you could think of including my bank statements and a letter of invitation from me, her husband. I ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/06/11/uk-visa-office-rant/ Last week I picked up a new pair of training shoes from DK who is the designer/ boss for Multiplication Sign. The shoes I bought remind me of the Dunlop Greenflash that I used to wear for PE lessons when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. He ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/06/07/summer-trainers-from-multiplication-sign/ Jenny has been busy setting up a photographic exhibition for Jola Kudela of Yolart.net, which will take place at Projection 216 on Sunday 15th June at 7pm. Jola Kudela is a photographic artist based in Paris. This is her first exhibition in Shanghai. This is her bio: “if loneliness has its God, ... http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/06/07/jola-at-projection-216/