“China is pretty amazing these days in regards to how rich some are and how poor others are”
Comment by edvard — May 11, 2008 @ 10:26 am

“dude,
“…but the truth is that no society in modern history has survived without a middle class for very long,…”
Comment by edvard — May 2, 2008 @ 12:25 pm

Buick in China is marketed as an upscale mid-entry and upper level luxury car for professionals. Some of their upscale models feature reclining heated seats with massagers, wine coolers, and so on.They look much nicer than the models they have here. A much nicer fit and finish. If they were to import Chinese made Buicks to the US, they would still cost 45,000 US dollars for the mid entry model, and over 65,000 for the upscale model. Now just imagine how much that is in China. Astronomical. yet they sell well.

Pretty wild.

Speaking of movies, marketing and alternate venues, I received an email from a friend in Beijing this morning.

“Last night some coworkers said they were going to see Iron Man and asked if I wanted to go. I had nothing else to do so I figured what the hell. When we called the theater to find out the times we found that they had a VIP room. A regular ticket is ¥70, about $10, and a VIP ticket was ¥150. We went for the VIP.

What we got was amazing, similar to the business class lounge at an airport. You get ushered into a waiting room. There is a fridge full of soft drinks, juice, beer, and wine, and a table of snacks—chocolate, crackers, fruit, and so on. So you sit there in the waiting room “gettin’ yo’ drink on and yo’ snack on” waiting for the start time. When the movie is about to start you walk into a 20-seat screening room. All the seats are massive leather recliners, the feet go up and the back tilts. There is a button you can press if you need anything, a waiter comes running in silently.

It was the greatest moviegoing experience of my life. Simply awesome, and all for $22. I swear to God, if they offered this service in Los Angeles I’d pay $100 a ticket.

The only drag about watching a movie in China is the subtitles. It’s not that they’re really distracting, it’s that they don’t also include English subtitles. So, say you have a scene where there are multiple characters speaking in English. One turns to the other and says something in a foreign language, which is subtitled in English on the bottom. Since the film is already being subtitled in Chinese you don’t get the English subtitles as well. Thus in Iron Man, when the terrorists are talking to each other, I had no idea what they were saying because all the translations were in Chinese characters.”

He was trying to come up with ways to get a lease on the historic theater the whole time and when the anti-cineplex campaign started he spoke at council against it and pretty much bit the hand that had just passed a special ordinance for him.

On his private home he did extensive demolition beyond what was permitted and had to go through a whole review process.

The guy seems like a user and an opportunist and it makes one suspect that he made a calculation to not sign a lease and then do his poor mouthing routine while he screws the landlord for back rent. I’m sure he decided long ago to bag it when the cineplex came on line.

On our own, we’ve walked there a number of times and then walked to the New Zealander for dinner after. We can walk to the new theater and Pappo’s also, but it won’t be quite the same.

-and people who shadow comments on blogs.

Edvard, so you’ve been there twice? thrice? best to wish them well w/ a little consumer action. Like I should talk, I’ve only been there once.