Results tagged “timessquare”

porkbun%201.jpgIf "burger" can be defined in the simplest terms as meat crammed in a bun, then we think Macau-Portugese restaurant chain Lisboa can throw their hat in the ring for next year's Shanghaiist Burger Grill-off. Their pork bun (pictured) is one of the many affordable delights that keep us heading back to Lisboa when in need of some Asian-style comfort food.

Austinist knows that few things in life are scarier than zombies, people with way too much money, and politicians who try too hard to be funny. Slightly less scary, depending on whom you ask, are indie film makers, screenwriters, R-Rated movies, and indie rockers.

Shanghaiist wandered into Shanghai Times Square on Huaihai Lu the other day -- against our volition, of course (this being a shopping mall and all). But in the end it was worth the pain of having to stand inside various clothes shops and nod glumly in support of countless new items that the better half seemed incredibly energetic about the purchase of.

Maybe you have never been to Shanghai. Or maybe you've been here before and miss the place. Or perhaps, like Shanghaiist, you live in Shanghai but rarely have the need/desire to go to Peoples Square. Well, this website offers a virtual way to transport yourself to the big mass of concrete and grass -- all humans and dogs please stay on the concrete! -- in the center of Shanghai (but not that real center of the city ... more on that soon). panoramas.dk offers a scrollable fullscreen 360-degree night image of Peoples Square taken in 2002. The site has hundreds of similar images from all over the world -- a neat way to truly be a virtual tourist (and save on airfare).

Bloomberg reports that Focus Media -- responsible for many of the flat LCD screens airing ads throughout the city -- has plans to turn parts of Shanghai into Times Square. Actually, not just Shanghai. Focus Media will "install giant screens of light-emitting diodes in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou." The first such illuminated advertising wall, 16 stories tall, appeared in Shanghai in 2003 on the Aurora Building, a skyscraper that appears in many a Pudong skyline photo. Focus Media's LED screens wouldn't be 16 stories, but they would be huge -- 500 square meters, costing 50,000 RMB per square meter.

The field is finally set for the Tennis Masters Cup, which comes to Shanghai's brand-spankin'-new Qi Zhong Stadium (pictured) November 13-20. Competing in "the final showdown" are some of the biggest names in men's tennis. (Also competing are guys named Ivan Ljubicic, Guillermo Coria and Nikolay Davydenko.) Players headed to Shanghai you may have heard of are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi.

Shanghai, by and large, is a city of hype. Shanghaiist has and will continue to contribute to it, propping up events, holding out hope for free beer, and generally trying to see the good in the sometimes random governmental edicts. But the weary wait for someone, anyone, to open a real western book store -- with books and maybe even magazines -- has taken its toll. But now, Chaterhouse Booktrader has us hooked. The location, under Times Square down on Huaihai Zhong Lu (in the basement) is OK. The prices, well, they're best described as "airport." But the selection? Oh, the selection. PC Gamer magazine sits next to Xbox Live next to Playstation Monthly. If that's not your thing, they have car, gun and fashion mags -- and books, too ... in previously non-existant (in Shanghai) categories like Science Fiction. Yes, it might all be a dream. Yes, they're from Hong Kong. Yes, go. Right now. Before someone wakes up and realizes what's going on here. Because if someone realizes that what people want is selection, whatever will the market do?

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