Ni Hao, It Means Hello... (Hu's Letter #5)
Ni hao from Shanghai,
Made a one-night trip to my ancestral homeland to visit a bestie who's visiting from the U.S. (Some readers will know her as 'The Beam.') Chinese censorship of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google products and more meant my smartphone has been way less of a diversion in China.
Meanwhile, what is going on in America? It seems like a weird parallel universe in which Donald Trump is a leading contender for president and Joe Average has gotten so lazy that wrapping scrambled eggs and sausage inside a tortilla requires a Hamilton Beach brand breakfast burrito maker that costs $44.99.
Prelude
Here's a ridiculous throwback picture of Google (er, Alphabet) honchos Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page from back in the day. What is happening here?
What I Read
When to tip and how to tip around the world. A pro-tip for the next time you rent a car. Benjamin Franklin's surprisingly effective way to handle haters. Corn is worse than you thought, and so is frequent business travel. But a stint on an apple orchard is not, because there's a strong link between curiosity-based diversions and career success. Not sure whether you should have a career or stay at home? This insane 1950's magazine quiz will not help at all.
And octopuses, they're just like us!
What I Wrote
On the curious background b-roll footage in Asian karaoke rooms. And this week's throwback NPR piece, since I'm on maternity leave: What all those baby photos on Facebook and say about identity.
What I'm Watching
Show Me a Hero, the latest from The Wire creator David Simon. Local politics has never been so engrossing, and you'll catch one brilliant actor after another in this ensemble. HBO has already made me forget about the disaster that was True Detective season 2.
Endorsement
1) I'm newly obsessed with the Japanese housewares/clothing store MUJI because despite being a total slob, I get the strange bliss from things fitting perfectly into other things. While there are a few MUJI locations on American coasts, I feel a MUJI run is yet another great reason to come visit me.
2) App in the Air is an air travel app that I've enjoyed so far. It tracks all your lifetime air travel and sends you alerts for upcoming flights as many similar apps do, but I like the design and functionality of this one quite a bit.
OK that's about it from here. As usual, if you know anyone who might enjoy this newsletter, pass it on and have that lovely person subscribe.
Rocking out,
Elise
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