Andrew we fell for the trap If it's a beautiful trap, are you mad? Welcome to another Shanghai episode of feng bros food. Whoo. So you guys there's no more street food in Shanghai They took it away But one of the byproducts of that is that there are some very high quality good food courts So what we are going to right now is the most diverse high quality and Super budget food court in all of Shanghai. It is the real food court on Nanjing Lou one thing I really like about this food court. It's a super diverse and it's very symbolic of Shanghai. It has French food It has Japanese food. It has Shanghai knees food It is unlikely that food courts in other cities of China would have this international diversity Shanghai food court. Let's go We have just arrived at the food court. We have some decisions to make. We're not gonna be able to go everywhere It's crazy right now. You know what's popping right now, and we eat this in six or six It's a hot pot thing where you get to choose your ingredients choose your own adventure and then they throw it in a pot All right to me in terms of what I have not seen at the ones in you know America the purple thing They have a lot of fish cakes here their selection of fish balls are off the charts We just got to get a shot of the sausages. That's it They are reliving David those old Reynolds wraps commercials where they were like, oh you can cook anything in Reynolds wrap This is this is a foil commercial right here This is actually fascinating to me because obviously in America you wouldn't be allowed to do this You see this dish itself is kind of like a some version of a seafood Boyle Malatang type thing. I mean it's not too different than the other ones, but just a format with the foil Mind-blowing in case you guys didn't know Chinese people love anything considered hot pot. Actually, these are dry hot pots Imagine hot pot with the soup removed and replaced with oil. Aren't you guys? I just received my Shanghai local classics I'm super excited to try this. Let's go Man David, you know, it's only right that in Shanghai. We open up with some Shanghainese classics We're gonna eat the Shaolin bows a authentic Shanghainese Shaolin bow has a tiny bit of juice in it, but not that much Yeah, I can actually see the meat through the skin some ones that are almost like Montos too Shaolin bow aka Shaolin bow None of these different This pork and shrimp one I'll take a bite for you guys to see almost tastes more like a Xiomai Mm-hmm Shaomai because they have the Shanghainese Shaomai and the Shanghainese Shaomai is very different There's another thing called a Tong bow. It has way more juice. What that tastes almost like the Xiomai that mom got me Wow There's enough bow points for nostalgia fried pork chop aka top high beam I'm gonna dip it in this then we have a town in Gao as our carb It almost feels like the whole community is in here. What is this? It is a fried rice cake I actually really like the pork chop out a fan of the rice cake It has a cool texture crispy and chewy But the fried pork chop was actually pretty good what I like about this food court It was at the people here It actually has a lot of international flavors here at the food court, but there's actually not that many international people It seems like a lot of these people might be local Shanghainese people who live in the area Shanghai egg rolls egg rolls after all are authentic But the thing that determines the authenticity is about the feeling David we've eaten a decent amount of northern Chinese food as far as we know do they eat egg rolls in the north I've never seen one you got the juice busting out of the side look at that I really like the wrapping on the Shanghai egg roll, but the filling to me. It's just cool I actually liked it because there's pork cabbage and mushroom in it and then the outside was a little bit chewy It's actually to me one of my more favorite egg rolls that I've had Yo, this is probably the most classic Shanghainese dish because they don't even serve this in other provinces Call me and call stir-fried rice cakes. I didn't expect to die on this flavor. You think? This is like the Chinese pesto Because the rice cake is like pasta and then the veggies are kind of like the pesto sauce. Oh man, this is good I'm keeping this don't need too much man because we have the very fresh Yang's dumplings aka the most famous Chain of them all where Yang's is sort of like the in and out of Shenzhen bow Yeah, and everybody tells you like oh you got to get Yang's when you go. Is it the best? I don't know We'll find out Shenzhen bow Mmm G-tide which is it's got a very Particular Characteristic to it sort of like a ruler flavor. I like this one a lot because I like vegetables in my dumpling I like it because the skin wasn't over the bride No, comparing it to Kang Kang food court in Alhambra the skin is thinner, which I enjoy more guys another shenzhen bow Let's see what flavor this is its shrimp. I'm pouring the vinegar into my shenzhen bow right here They're almost a little bit like a hot dog. I personally like the shepherds one a little bit better I'm personally not used to eating shrimp with the fried shell. Mmm. That's not my favorite like combo This is going to be the Yang's dumpling the og one. This is the one that sells out before everything else Mmm, I just drink all that soup It's fried top here look at that That's the best one man That was the best one Yang's is the best just get the Yang's special Who would have thought my two favorite things from this were the egg roll and Yang's shenzhen bow for me I know what you're gonna say if it had a little bit more juice Wow the pork and shrimp Shaolin bow right here the non-tradition like I said This is the real Shaolin bow. So it's not not actually as juicy as you think Hey, wow You didn't have to But you did eating food from this restaurant. It was called really good steamed foods Tung hao's on time steam chicken tofu wrap Wow I loved anything wrapped in tofu. Yo, this dish was low-key delicious long There's meat inside of this soup was really good The brah The brah That broth could cure any regular sickness ailment you have okay, man. That was a super dish That was really really good because you know what it it didn't look like it had that much flavor Not only that it didn't look like you would serve something that was that like restaurant light at a food court the garlic and broccoli veggie dish Mmm Cabbage and vermicelli with the chili peppers.  It's really good and you know what the best part is it tastes like it's good for digestion There's no young kids and no yo yo go with your grandparents here They'll love it at least this side of the food court here David We have two smoothies. We have the strawberry banana yogurt smoothie in a pouch. This is a avocado pear smoothie Well, that's really good. Wow. That's not too sweet. This got me off guard. Wow And I don't know if you agree with me this food is way better than can't think it's not the top level Okay, these were three dollars each that can't king. They're a dollar seventy-five. Obviously you're in a mall, too Oh six Shaolin bow was about four twenty five Which is still cheaper than America the Shijin bow less than three dollars for six So it's about 50 cents per piece pretty fair price the metal skewer is different young road ton You know originally from influences from the Middle East it has sort of worked its way almost into the Chinese food encyclopedia In terms of modern food culture. Yeah, this is actually a really high quality one, man They're not gonna let you open up in the mall if you ain't bringing the quality as we wrap up These are actually all the spots that we're gonna try in the old Shanghai section These are foods that have existed for hundreds of years Maybe the kids aren't eating this food at home necessarily, but that they do get that experience in it's like you're eating with grandma or Grandpa like a big community cafeteria a big nice community cafeteria with a Gucci store up top All right guys that wraps it up for a Shanghai section of the food court crawl in Shanghai and guess what? 50 feet away. We got to go to the other side. Let's go The new school section Would you say that it's foods that have been invented in the past 20 years not all of them, but a lot of them They're gonna take new formats like obviously Chinese people have been eating buns, but some of these buns actually I've never even seen before Salted egg yolk and pork flake. I've never heard of it black sticky rice and thick mashed taro, but sticky rice golden pudding durian bread Black sticky rice purple potato, but starry custard bun durian cheese and Scallion pancake, so we got it. We got to pick like four look how much of this spot is Andrew we fell for the trap If it's a beautiful trap, are you mad? We were going to attempt to see if the matcha sauce served tastes different when it's inside half of a honeydew I'm gonna get the piece that's close to the honeydew That's really good matcha ice cream man I think that the reason they wouldn't do this in the states people would think it was too much of a gimmick No, I was gonna say I Could see it at the night market what aesthetics were rating that maybe a 10 out of 10 Taste wise. It's probably not worth it. Yeah, we're at the gold quay spot What quay the first time I had it was in Chengdu, but apparently it could be originally from Hubei No, this is hot as hell. I'm gonna try to rip it really fast Right boom black trigger How can how can You have noticed that room very very few people are ordering cool place Do you think this is not the hottest booth? Do you think it's because in Shanghai? They wouldn't go for this Inland type of food. I think it seems kind of like a fair food something that you walk around and eat And I gotta be honest. I think they could put more meat in it and make it a little bit more substantial That's my only criticism. All right, everybody as you can see this food court is getting crazy It's very busy and there is actually even more food than I had imagined Man some of the lines for some stuff. We weren't even gonna be able to get to it I think it's fitting to finish at the Japanese section because if they do one international cuisine very well in Shanghai It's actually Japanese food. Yes, Japanese food is really really good out here and this sushi bar looks amazing They have it seared salmon sushi. That is not regular. I mean this guy was making it fresh I think it's real. It's real. It's real. Oh, yeah Look how monstrous this is man How often do you just see just grilled pineapple like this? Kind of debating on what cut of meat we should get grilled because they do have lunch specials But I feel like if we're not gonna get a lot we might as well get the highest grade That's true. It's pretty interesting. It goes all the way from 36 quad for 100 grams all the way to 168 quad I know you should have given me by All right, so here's the thing I thought it was only a hundred sixty eight, but it's only per hundred grams and most steaks They set up 300 grams 500 up and I wouldn't require what you can't get a small amount. No, they just serve it by the state Right right here for our last round. We have seared salmon sushi We have some a mixed Japanese skewers with a humongous prawn and pineapple and scallops And then we got some Angus fresh Angus beef steak. It's a grilled salmon. It has some teriyaki sauce. I believe swiped on top Delicious loved it comes to being more raw or cooked It's a really weird mix because you get the burntness of the cook side, but most of it's raw I would say it's 40 60 60% raw 40% cooked. This prawn is humongous. Look at this going in prawn skewer Juicy not dry salty shrimpy Pretty good. There's a pineapple It's just raw really sweet pineapple. That was delicious. It was a great palate cleanser And if you guys know about lunch steak in Japan, they typically weigh it out and they serve it in a very non-traditional fashion This is the Angus combo 68 quiet. This is $10. You're gonna watch them cook this right in front of you Wow I thought they overcooked it, but it wasn't and it's actually got a ton of flavor better or worse than pepper lunch It's got more flavor than pepper lunch, but that's not I've been a kind of cut of meat the pepper. Oh, okay. Okay Let me flip the camera give me the camera. Hey, it's Justin the cameraman More peppery than pepper lunch. I have a durian cheese bow that smells so much like durian. It's so fluffy Dragon fruit. Yeah, watch this one for it. This tastes so much like durian. It smells cool It didn't burst with flavor. I'm really interested about the durian one. It wasn't bad. It was really well done The bun fluffiness level 10 out of 10 bro for me My major takeaway is that I'm saying I really is an international place There's no way that they can have this many international boosts without They're being like a desire from the locals to eat all these different foods from different countries and you know It's actual Shanghai knees because as you can see there's apparently not a lot of foreigners here So this is not a expat mall. This is a Shanghai knees mall. I'm happy to see it I mean, I'm not gonna lie 12 years ago. I did a study abroad in Shanghai There was nothing like this that existed to come back 12 years later. Do I miss the jovial, you know folks The atmosphere of outdoors eating for sure, but you know, this is the way society moves There's progression sometimes you miss the old things, but you like the new things and To see this I gotta tell you they take a lot of food that is normally sold on the side of the street They clean it up and like you said they sell it below a Gucci store I was really glad that they were able to kind of bring the authentic flavors even in a mall I think sometimes when you eat in the mall you tend to think that some authenticity or some kind of grittiness This is like even pizza in the mall like Sabaro. Yeah, I think that that's gonna taste you never legit You never think anything in the mall is authentic. That's the fact you never believe that but it is and it's tasty And it's good and it's still affordable. It may be a little bit more expensive than the street, of course And it should be but You have all the options here. All right, you guys Thank you so much for watching that food court crawl through the real food court here in Shanghai Like I said, we just wanted to see the new street culture or at least what has come up in place of it I think this place is also right across the street from a historic landmark Jing An temple So if you guys come here you can check out both Make sure you give this video a thumbs up turn on your notifications So you don't miss a video and please let us know what other food courts you would like to see us check out around China Again, this is david. This is andrew Justin's behind the camera until next time we out. Peace. Yo, is this where all the people overseas are getting the Balenciaga from? You don't just see that You don't just you don't just see a Balenciaga store


Oh, so here we are. I watched them work. Okay, so we're gonna start out what we watched them work. And some people are here for Watchmen. I just don't wanna be like, please, I forgot your name. But fine, but I know you're a thing, so I can't do that.  You're not like floating. No. Yeah. I'm just mad.  Thank you, so we're here, anybody not know what Watchmen work is?  Okay, so it's playing really fast. So like, six years ago, now I'm kidding. The six years that we've been doing this for six years. So we're like really, really good at it, right? Because Carol's been like every single Watchmen work since 2009 or 2010, right? Okay, so this is basically what we do. This was six years ago, seven years ago, this was my answer to somebody who wanted me to write a play for their festival. And I was like, lazy. I was like lazy, so I was like, no, I ain't writing that. But I'm gonna stand on stage and write something on stage. And then, so we're gonna write for 20 minutes, we're gonna do it together. We're gonna do the action of a play, it's a play. As you can see, see, this means it's a play. Yeah. So, really, yeah, really, that's what it means. So, we're gonna make a play together. So the action of the play is that we do the action for 20 minutes together. We're gonna write for 20 minutes together. Okay, you can do whatever, Watchmen work is actually about you. And then we're gonna do the dialogue of the play together which means after the 20 minutes, the time will go on and you will ask me questions about your creative process. Got it? You ask me questions about your creative process and everybody knows, we've been doing it before, that if you ask me questions about my creative process, I'm gonna make it about you. Okay, so it's gonna be a question about your work and your creative process. There are people online, we know you're out there and maybe you're gonna tweet in and ask us some questions about your creative process and you're just gonna tell us how to do that. Oh, look out. Hello, so if you're joining us from home, the Twitter handle that you wanted to be asked is at Watchmen Work SLP and the hashtag is hashtag, howl around. So that's hashtag, H-O-W-L-R-O-U-M-D. Howl, what? Howl, round. Exactly, right, okay. So that's all, everything you need to know or beauty is truth and truth is meaning.  That's Jayne, please add a mic up. And what else? Anybody else? Anything else? I don't know. You have something someone's texting you. Oh, you got the time?  All right, so Salma's gonna be on her phone timer and I'm gonna use this. And I have to sell her no one moment. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, I'm just gonna answer you. Okay, great. All right, I'm gonna use a typewriter for those of you who've never seen one. Don't worry, it's not the sound of a machine gun fire. Okay, ready? You got to turn around. Don't look at me. Okay, here it is, that's right. Yeah, right.   How many were you sure? Oh, you did? Oh, good luck. Okay, here we go, ready? Okay. Ah, here we go. So that was the action part of the play. And now we're gonna look at the dialogue. So if anybody has questions, as I try to put back together my typewriters. It's, you know, typewriters are funny. You have to like, you get the ribbon go and all this kind of stuff, you know. So if anybody has questions about your work, your creative process. Now is the time. Someone's guess. Someone's comment. Oh yeah, okay. I'll have a hard time. Okay, so, Adi Aga. Adi Aga? I'll have a great name. Thank you. I'm having a hard time. I'm frustrated with myself in this whole process because I'll have these wonderful characters and I'll have these moments of, these moments between characters.  I asked my friend, do you have like an end point before you start? And then you just, and so people have been telling me, just write. Just write. Just keep writing. And that's frustrating to me. I need to know where I'm going. So the question for you is, do you have an end point? Like, do you already have the plot in your mind as to what it's going to end up being? And then you write towards that. So we use the, we use the, so Adi Aga says, did you just get here? He's like, right. So her friend just says her friend, her friend. Okay. I'm gonna tell her what I'm gonna say. And then I'm like judging on your four wonderful friend who gave you some beautiful advice. And that is advice that is often given. He said, oh, just write, just write and worry about it. That is good advice, actually. Because, there's a two-part answer, sorry. So the good advice is just write, just write, get into it, show up every day, put in the time. I've never been saying that a lot, right?  You're not gonna just write when like inspiration comes. You should be waiting. Right, right, right.  She show up every day, you do that already. But then, see this is one of her people, just write, just write, and we go, the story, it will just happen. I know, Savannah's like, it might just happen, it might just happen. You might just walk outside on the piano and we fall up in the sky and you just happen to see it in time and happen to move out of the way and then happen to fall right beside you. And then the box, you know, whatever it's called, the gober variations happen to begin to be playing on it. Yeah, it couldn't happen, sure. Or you could sort of think about it a little bit and allow it to emerge, but this is the thing. People, and I've heard people say there's wonderful people who are wonderful writers, they go, I love my characters, but then I have to like figure out some plot, like that. And that's, no, no, no, no, right, right, right, right. So this is what you do, you show up every day. You're doing that already? Okay, check, okay.  Now, you ask your characters a question. It's like dating, like you show up on the first date, you'd like coffee, maybe this is what I suggest, not alcohol, you do coffee. Hey, hey, how you doing, what's your name, what's your side? How you doing, you're like, yeah, okay, cool, right. And then I have to look at the third date. You go, so what are your intentions? It's the same thing, we're playwriting, right? It's the same thing. So what do you want out of this relationship? What do you want out of this relationship? You ask the character, what do you want? What do you want, right? Because if you say, hey, let's just get in a car and drive around after three dates of doing that, I'm like, hey, where are we going? And you're like, we're going to California. And I'm like, I'm outta here, I got stuff to do.  So ask your characters, what do they want? What do you want more than anything? And as we said, I just made this up. But I think it worked. In geometry, there's this geometric, there's like a rule or something. A truth, whatever they call it, in geometry. Two points make a line. What's it called? It's a proof or a formula or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like that, like that, yeah, like that. Yeah. Two points make a line, right? That's true, in geometry. So you can say that the same in like dramatic writing. Two points make a line.  So here they are, and they want to go to Moscow. Point A, point B. And you just fill in the middle stuff. See? You just ask them what they want, what do you want. But you don't have to do that right away. Again, you develop a kind of rapport with them. Like on date and dating, you don't have to. What are your titchets on the first date? You know what I mean? You can say like, oh, take some time with them. To know them, okay, it's all right. So it's a combination thing. And the plot emerges organically from the character. Plot and character are actually two ways of saying the same thing. Plot is a character, character is plot. They're actually the same thing. We get confused when we think they're two different things. That's what I think.  I'm just joking. Oh, so then you just, okay. No, I'm good, I'm good. But right now, I'm hoping the play will, like, pivot into something that makes sense. But right now it's just a mess. Yeah. It's sort of, I can sort of see something is happening. It's just a fireman who got in, who was passed away in real life. Yeah, okay. I ran around Lower Manhattan doing a 5K two some days ago. You ran? I ran around the site. They should run for like, no, it was a 5K. For help. Oh, great, okay. So, but I remember I ran around and there were all these like incredibly old historic places and it's sort of 9-11 has layered on top of that. Right. And I'm just like, how do I, I'm getting caught up in like how do I honor that I want to make sure that, you know, when I go that I have something to leave behind. So I'm feeling like all this, I'm putting a lot of silly pressure on myself. God. I'm like, I really don't want this responsibility. How do I make sure that when I pass away, I'll lose them? Yeah. That's a lot. That's a lot. Yeah. Yes. I'm like, it was on fire and that's what was going on after the Twin Towers fell. It was on fire. And then I got to, you know, cursed or privileged with being there and seeing that firsthand. Right. And I'm just like, I think when I'm doing, I'm trying to make it palatable. And I think it's turning into this, like I'm making it a bigger issue than it is. And I'm trying to sit and do it. And there's just so many layers of everything. Or maybe you're responding appropriately to the ginormous issue that it is. Yes. You can separate your response from what you're going to do as a writer.  Yeah. I was there. So great. So you've got a first responder in you. Yeah. Your response.  Okay. So just think that you have two people inside you. Okay. The first responder and this person. And this person is just both eyes on the story. Hear the voice of your friend that you said is the great character in the story. Ask him what he wants. And then on that journey, be with him. Listen to him. Write down what he says. When you get, when you get in that first responder, oh my God, it's huge. Go back to your friend. Make sure, when you feel those feelings, know that number one, they're appropriate. And number two, you have a different job now. That job is over. It's the second responder job now. Right? Okay. Okay. So I don't think it's gonna help you to tell yourself that you're a man to make too much of this. Right? You're making you appropriate much of it. But you got a second, you got another job to do now. Okay. To younger kids who just old enough to know something happened and saw old pictures and now they're looking at new pictures. Okay. It's kind of an interesting place to be, to be an age where I'm explaining, like there was New York then and there's New York now and what happened. Right, right. So it's a, I'm walking kind of an interesting type of. Well, does your character have to explain the skyline? He, I don't, yeah, I should ask him. Tie it to your character. I should ask him. Because that's your job now. Yeah.  And your characters are your fuel, right? They're the ones that you have to stay connected to.  You know what I'm saying? Right, and that's not what you do. So stay with your characters. Does he need to explain the skyline? Okay. Then have it come out of his need to explain something to somebody, right?  If you feel overwhelmed or all this thing, go back to your characters, okay? Yes. Good question. That's a big question. Keep coming back, because it's like so great that you can talk about it. Can I call? Carolyn, can I call? Yeah, Adam. I was, I noticed an interesting problem that I didn't realize that I have in tip. I'll write stories and characters and all that kind of thing. And I'll realize, like adult characters. And I'll realize that they don't have jobs, like not jobs within the plot, I mean like career jobs. They don't have career jobs. Yeah, and obviously they need to because they're living in their own house and supporting themselves and all that kind of thing. Like they need jobs, but it just kind of only occur, unless it's a story driven by it. Unless they're on friends or something. Yeah. And unless it's a story driven by their job. So I was wondering like what's a good way of coming up with an occupation for a character? Well, I don't know. I mean, that's a good question. I'm glad that you think they should have jobs because they're living in their homes and you want to create your stories, your dramas, your things that you're writing on the kind of grounded and some kind of... It's not a job, Adam. Do they like it? You know what I mean? And ask them also, what does your character want out of his or her job? One woman might say, I know I just got to pay the rent. And my rent is, so you say, well, why don't you work at Starbucks or whatever. She's like, that's not gonna pay my rent. Why don't you work at Starbucks and at think cafe? She's like, that's not gonna pay my rent. Okay, maybe you want to be a pole dancer. Nah, you're talking about pay the rent. You should have made, so she just wants to pay her rent. Something else might want some kind of, you know, to do good for the people. Great, you want to do good for the people. Yeah, I'm gonna be a teacher second grade. Great.  Again, what they want, what they need, the same thing. As a part of the character, like use the job to develop a character.  Like we don't want that. It just hard sometimes because like some type of story doesn't, like their job isn't necessarily relevant. It just feels like they should have a job just as like a detail. Well, like, like, like let's see. I mean, let's see what we can think of. I can't think of Shakespeare. Maybe nobody had jobs in Shakespeare. They were princesses. Well, princesses were both like, they were like members of the court. You know, they're right, right. Like a snug, the joiner. I don't remember any of those. Snug the joiner. Right, they had a lot of jobs, right? And they took time off from work to put on this play. It was also amazing. You know, they had all kinds of jobs. Okay, you could say they're not relevant to it. Why did Bonham do the difficulty? He's a carpenter. He's a carpenter, okay? He's a carpenter, yeah.  Not to the, I know, you're Mercutio. Mercutio knows. Okay, so you're right. You could say they're irrelevant or you could say how interesting because here are these mechanicals doing this play and they're trying to do this. Oh, it's me, it's me. What do they do in Paris with me? Oh! And they were so bad, you know. So you could say it has something to do with their room, we can't. Why don't you say like, oh, I don't know, it'll have something to do with the story. And it might leave you somewhere that your conscious mind is bad. Yeah, I can. You're welcome. Thank you. That was very good. All right. The jobs they do. The jobs they do. It seems like an important character. Yeah. In Midsummer Township, yeah. Okay, okay, see. And they play like, you hear opinions on each one. Right. And then I always envision them as like a older fellow. Right. The man who hangs the moon. Right, right, right. He has to correct the guy and just like how practical they are in their nature and the language used to. So it might, it probably does inform the way they speak and what they're concerned with. Oh, that's good. So, yeah, okay. You've got your work cut out for you. All right. Your name's not really, I mean, hold it. Okay, but I can't call you Mercutio. You can. Okay. And that's because that's why. I am Mercurio in other ways. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna stand over here. No, no, not threatening, not threatening. Oh, okay. I know who I am. Okay, anybody else? Everyone just sit here in Georgia this company. I'm just looking at you. That's a day with nothing. You know, we don't get nothing. Yeah, well, so I started out with no muse today. Don't know what to say. That's when I knew I was in trouble. I got paper and pen, but no words, no zen. What will I write about today? Sometimes you just start writing about. Not writing about. Right. How do I feel? I gotta get real. That'll be useful to me. I'll sit down right now, think of a character to wake up my imagination, who will it be? It's so appropriate what she's talking about. I don't know. Is he or she, that's the fascination, someone I like or I don't. I'll definitely be here to find out. Ready to listen to all these about. Ready to hear if she'll whisper or shout. It's like taking dictation from a ghost. I pick out the lines I like the most. Then I shop and I stare. I figure out where the scene is and when a villager, a farmer, a room or a barn long ago or today, the story will find the way to the page. I'll engage another character to join in. That's my imagination at play. I'll toss out a problem their way. I'll listen while they work it out. I totally hear what they're saying. That's all I got. I don't know. But I just have what you're talking about. What you're showing up. You know, you've written a person, a lot of books. So you know. You know that. You know that. Right, you do have days of your life. And do you do this at home in your own country? It's a show up. Just show up, yeah. See what you got today. See what you got today. And the cool thing is, it doesn't matter that the quality of it doesn't matter. The fact that you just show up and do your work is the thing that matters. So we're not, you know, what you've read is really cool. It's something to listen to. But say, you know, I write something. I wrote something. I don't know if it's cool or interesting to listen to. It doesn't matter. The quality of it doesn't matter. The fact that you show up and put the time in is the thing that matters. And eventually, over time, you'll have time to improve all the quality. But if you're sitting around waiting for the quality to be great and freeze it down, you're gonna be great. You know, the world will be turning.  And that kind of keeps you stuck because you're, I'm sorry. No, you're supposed to be talking out. No, it's like, you know, for me, when I first started, it was like, I felt like I was in my own way. And the questions I would say to myself that would be a barrier for me is, will this be interesting for someone else?  Will it matter to somebody? And I think, for me, I had to get over that hurdle. That it's, my story is gonna matter to somebody.  So I think once I just accepted that, then that got me ready to start writing. You know what they say, that's a really good point. You know what they say when people are trying to, wanting to feel good about yourself, they say, you are enough. You can say the same thing about your work. You're enough. You are enough.  You're enough.  That's enough to get it written right there. If you care, if I care about my work, that's enough. I just sit around going, oh, I hope somebody cares about this. I care. I care, that's enough. And that's enough to get you sitting now and put the time in. No matter if it upsets someone else. That's another point. Yeah. Yeah. Chachina, no, time to chat, chat, chat, chat, chat. China, yeah? I got, okay, I'll think of a chia pet now. So you can. All right, go. Yeah, I'll do memories. I'm having a challenge with one character and I want to help insert a bullet point for creating waves. Like in terms of like, you know, when you're, okay, so my inspiration for the woman show is back to Broadway. And a lot of whoopies characters were like, there was always like a high and a low and a high and a low of this character. And my character, we get high since I'm the most, that is funky. I mean, it's cool because I did, but it's not, I don't feel like I'm sharing, I don't have the personal moment. So I'm stuck with like, high, low, high, low. Does that make sense? Like adding some extra seasonings where everyone kind of gives the feel of what I'm trying to express in this character. Yeah, how much of it do you have written? It's like, I'm like, okay, I'm like, all I would probably say is like 50 pages, but it's not, a lot of relationships are different, so I don't write it as a play. I'm still kind of like, okay, today I'm gonna spend the day with this character. Today I'm gonna spend the day with that character. So I haven't really put them all together. Put them together and see the wave. I mean, the wave, I mean, we're talking, she was talking about a one moment show, right? And you wanna get this comedic moments and more introspective serious moments. Is that what you're talking about? The wave, okay, I like that. Okay, what you wanna do, you gotta put it all together to see if it's gonna move like that, because that's, I remember her characters were the funny moment, a sad moment, a funny moment, a sad moment, and the juxtaposition is what we lose. Yeah, I would say, go does it, get to the end and take a look at it. I know, everybody's like, oh, I gotta get to the end. Oh, you've been in my room. I was just, so be it. Oh, so, can you see, can you see that? No, I can't, I got her glass. Oh, yeah, because people are like, oh, I don't wanna get to the end. How do I get to the end? Am I just said, get to the end?  But I feel like I haven't really savored the rest of the dish yet. No, no, no, the end, the last part of the good dish, my friend, is the standing ovation and the cheers when they say, oh, wow, I sweat, you're awesome. That's the last part of the good dish. This is just, girl, you're still working on it. You, you deserve, you just, but you do deserve to let yourself right to the end. You deserve to do the work. That's not a, I mean, that's a treat, but it's not like, you know what I mean? So go to the end and see what you got. Then you got the whole thing, and you'll be able to, yeah, I can, your face is going, and so I know that you're not anticipating the last bite of the delicious dish.  Enjoy the cooking. So you gotta finish it. Enjoy the cooking, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And trust that what I'm baking is gonna be, yeah. And I might have to cook it again. Sure. But at least I finished, I get it on with you now. Yeah. I see it in a different way, I'm not sure.  Enjoy it. That's the fun, that's, you know, one aspect of the joy of working, you know, is the work. Right. Right? Okay. And you're reading it out loud as much as you can, right? No. Oh gosh, it's a one moment show, I don't know.  Waiting for what? Well, yeah, waiting for Santa Claus. Maybe it's going to be the summer, if you're lucky, if you're lucky. Okay, I'm going to read it out loud. I want my Santa now. I just, read it out loud to yourself now, now. Today, you know, it's a one moment show, right? And you're going to be performing it, right? So don't you like read it out loud and try it out and stuff? No. I feel like I have to write it and then I go. They, get them married. Or if they're not married, get them, get them cohabitating.  Okay, get them sure you're allowed to do that. That's the fun part. I act out my stuff all the time, man. I'm not even an actor. I do it really poorly and horribly in my apartment. I don't know how I can act. You have a want, the heroine needs to be in this journey. You have a want. When the mentor shows up in this story, I'm having this challenge because I feel like my main character is figuring out what she wants and the role of the mentor, I don't know if it, in my personal experience with a mentor, it's a subliminal message type thing where they guide you, it's not quite clear. But in the text, the mentor is clearly putting out crumbs to guide the character towards self-realization. But does that weaken the character, make the character's choices less active, to have that happening? How do you keep the character still active and still have that mentor there? I'm gonna be a smile when I just win. Ha! Oh, oh. How has a new interview? I'm Magani, I forgot to introduce myself. Okay, welcome, welcome. So here we are back, welcome back. So the mentor, does the appearance of a mentor in your story, or does the use or the employment of the mentor in your story weaken the story? No, that's not true. We can make a character. Oh, okay. Self-realized because. It gives the character room a self-realization. Because at that point in the story, the character is shut down emotionally, psychologically, and she's just kind of like, allowing herself to follow and discover by watching the mentor, and she starts to wake up as a result of observing the mentor, but I feel that the choice to wake up, I feel like the mentor is triggering it, and I don't know if that weakens the story of the mentor is triggering, the choice is to wake up. So, okay, I'll tell you a very quick story about Susan Lloyd Parks. So once in a while, I was a writer, but I don't want to write novels. And then I took a class with James Goldheim, and I was very animated, and he said, this Parks, you should try it out in the theater. And I said, okay, then I started that game. I don't know, maybe my choice was weak.  Sometimes somebody's saying, wake up. All they're saying is wake up. You're choosing to wake up. It's your choice, all right? All the mentor can do is this. You're choosing to take the step. A lot of people do this too, and they go, ah, and they walk the other way. So that's about choosing. Right, you're choosing to take the step. That's the character's choice, right? That's huge, that's huge. What they say in India, I do a lot of yoga. They say in India, the guru, the guru, it's not like the person with all the answers. It's the person with the light. The guru has a light, and all the guru does, or the teacher, is she or he holds the light so the student can see. And once the student sees, then the student makes a choice. And so it's not, you're not any weaker because you couldn't hold the light and take the step, all right? Right, right, right. You're not weaker, okay? God, does that help? Just make sure that the main character is active. And not, you know, not passive. Make sure she or he is doing something. Taking steps. Taking steps. What's that close to? Sometimes that's all we can do. Sometimes all you can show up. Sit there and say, I haven't gotten up in the day. You know, the views likes that. She likes you to just go, I'm here. You know, one last question. That's all right. Yes. So listening to some of the process, the approach, it reminds me of acting absolutely. And I'm wondering if there's value in approaching something, not so much from like the character but maybe a little more abstract to find a character, like by asking yourself, asking yourself themes, like I like betrayal or I like sex or I like this going on right now. And then in saying them, if that assembles in you something, perhaps. Sure, that could work, that could work. I just move from, I would suggest, if that gets you moving and excited, great. Just, I would say, as soon as you can, attach the side of somebody, somebody. Just imagine, before you're born, your spirit was like fly around. Attached to my body so I can be born, you know what I'm saying? Because without that, I feel, in my opinion, we get writing that's a lot about ideas. Just ideas and themes and you want it. Someone says, I want to write a play about homelessness. Man, homelessness is wrong. And all you get for two hours is homelessness is wrong. And I know we got that in the first three minutes. You know what I'm saying? Maybe you have a character who is struggling with difficulties finding a home and all that kind of stuff. Think we're invested, right? As you would say. So, shoot. Just attach it to somebody, shoot. In land, invest in somebody. Like the God, the great God, at least become God and like, hmm. Yeah, you have to plant it. That's a question you plant of plant. Yeah, water. Right, you can't just be tearing it around, right? Plant it, yeah. So sure, the idea is that the themes, get you excited, that's great. But move in, don't be afraid to like, oh, I don't know what you're trying to pick. You know what I mean? Dive in, commit to somebody. Yeah, yeah. Three minutes, a little bit.  Chris Barlow's just brushing back his hair. How you doing, Chris Barlow? You know, iPhone sales kind of went down this week. I know it's not your fault, huh? He's like a, he's like an Apple genius person, but it's not your fault. It is all your fault. All right, Michael. Tell the question you're allowed, you can ask, just because you work on the show, I mean, you can't talk. You can't talk. Okay, how do you avoid not wanting to give away the end, like that, you know the end in mind. You're leading up to it, but you're scared that by you leading up to it, you're already giving it away and sort of like prematurely saying the conclusion before you want to say it. Right, two questions, Salma says, how do you avoid giving the end away? Yeah. Right, make the right interesting. Another way of saying this, how do you stay ahead of the audience? Right, so we turn into something positive already. Right, how do you, yeah, how do you not give the end away? Instead, how do you stay ahead of the audience? Right, how do you stay ahead of the audience?  I love, read a lot of brief tragedy. Like read Ethos, you know what I'm saying? Or Agamemnon, right? Cause everybody going to the theater back in the old days, they knew what the end was, right? You know what the end is?  But you're watching how it happens. So we don't get ahead of the play, but the play stays ahead of us because you're so excited about the characters that you just are watching and you totally forget the end.   You know what I'm saying? So you invest in the characters. It is so interesting in those people. People, great, people versus OJ. How many people, I know you watch it, I know.  Ah, man, right? We're good, so we'll be back next week. Are you okay? We're on time. We're gonna be back next week on the 9th of May at five o'clock. But not on the 16th, because I will be working on my tan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. So thank you very much. And you know, you guys, and thank you guys for coming. You guys are great. Thank you. Okay, yes, let's always say we're all the same.


Taiwan has been in the news a lot lately, and it's really bringing out the crazy in people. The mass media have been falsely reporting that China has been encroaching on Taiwan's air defense zone, which gets stretched into the even more ludicrous claim that China sent war planes flying over Taiwan. In reality, Chinese planes simply entered an arbitrarily designated area hundreds of miles from Taiwan's coast. It calls its air defense identification zone, which has no legally recognized existence, and contains a significant portion of China's mainland. This is likely a response to the way the US and its allies have been constantly sailing warships into disputed waters to threaten Beijing. As Moon of Alabama reports, US warmongers inflamed this non-controversy even further by feeding a story to the press about the already public information that there are American troops in Taiwan training the military there, citing a concern about the danger posed by China. Now headlines are blaring about President Tsai Ing-wen's responding to this non-event with the announcement that Taiwan will do whatever it takes to defend its freedom and democratic way of life. Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott just visited Taipei to advocate that democracies stand shoulder to shoulder with Taiwan against China. The CIA has announced the creation of a new spy center that will focus solely on China, which CIA Director William Burns says will further strengthen our collective work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century, an increasingly adversarial Chinese government. A recent poll says that now more than half of Americans would support sending US troops to defend Taiwan from an invasion by the mainland, plainly the result of the aggressive propaganda campaign that has greatly escalated public hysteria about China. In Australia the mass media are cranking out unbelievably insane 60 minutes episodes, ridiculously pushing the idea that China may attack Australia and that Australians should be willing to go to war to protect Taiwan. I've been having many disturbing interactions with people online who emphatically support the idea of the US and its allies going to war with China over Taiwanese independence.  This isn't some kind of complicated anti-imperialist issue and it has nothing to do with which side you take in the debate over what government Taiwan belongs under. The US and its allies engaging in a full-scale war with nuclear-armed China over Taiwan is a prospect that should be vehemently opposed out of simple, garden-variety self-preservation. Obviously if Beijing decides to launch a military assault on Taiwan in its bid to reunify China, that would be a terrible thing which would cause a lot of suffering. I don't think that will happen unless Western powers push Taipei into declaring independence or otherwise upset the delicate diplomacy dance in some major way. But if it does happen under any circumstances that would be awful. But Taiwanese independence is not worth fighting a world war that could kill millions and potentially billions if things go nuclear. This should be extremely obvious to everyone. War proponents will reference Hitler, as they literally always do whenever there's talk of war against someone the United States doesn't like, arguing that China taking Taiwan would be like the Nazis invading Poland after which they'll just keep invading and conquering until they are stopped. But there's no evidence that China has any interest in invading Japan, much less Australia, much less everyone else, or that it has any ambitions on the world stage beyond reunification and it's securing its own economic and security interests. The idea that China wants to take over a bunch of foreign lands, make you live under communism and give you a social credit score is the same kind of foam-brained bigoted othering which told previous generations that black men want to take over your neighborhood so they can have sex with your wives. It's the sort of belief that can only find purchase in an emotionally primitive mind that lacks the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and understand that not everyone wants what you have. The jarring amount of pushback I've been getting from my very sane and moderate position that we should not be willing to start World War III between nuclear powers over Taiwanese independence makes it abundantly clear that many people don't truly understand that starting a war means you have to actually send actual human beings to go fight that war. All the big brave warrior men bloviating about the need to stand up to China know they'll never find themselves on the front line because they're too old, but they'll happily send my kids and the kids of countless other mothers to go and fight in it. It's like a video game or a movie to them. Propaganda has made us so compartmentalized and detached from the realities of the horrors of war. If people could really see what war is and what it does, truly grok deep down in their guts, how their own governments are inflicting those horrors on people right now, they'd fall to their knees in anguish and never again advocate for such things. No sane person would desire a war of this scale if they truly understood what that would mean.


Hello, and welcome into the Evan Clifton show. I'm Joe Wombo, joined now with Evan Clifton, head coach of the tennis teams. Coach, you guys host Lycoming over the weekend. And we're able to pull out a really strong victory bouncing back on the men's side. Sure. Yeah, on the men's side, it was a nice win for us. We knew we matched up well with Lycoming. We played them similarly last year. And a lot of the same guys in the lineup and things. So we started off, finally got that elusive double sweep that we've been missing. We switched things up. We had Mike Richmond playing two doubles for us today, against Lycoming, and then Robbie Coons into three doubles. And both those guys were huge in winning the second and third doubles matches that give us the sweep. So being up 3-0, going into singles, as we always say, is huge for us. It's huge to take that pressure off you. And then Brian came out and did what he's been doing, got another straight set win at singles to give us the 4-0 lead. Warren didn't have a pretty tough match at two and dropped that one, but then Doug clinched it for us in a really close match, seven, five, six, four, three singles. Peter P had a close match, lost in three sets. Mike Richmond making his singles debut for us, had a nice win, as did Kevin Sleitner at six singles. So it was a nice 7-2 win for our guys. And it's good to get back in the win column and should give us some momentum going into Messiah on Wednesday. And to the pad of those two guys that won their first singles matches, congratulations to them. On the women's side, a little bit of a different match. And that's been the tale of the season, whatever the women do, the men won't, or whatever the men do, the women won't. But they fall 5-4, but those are the types of matches you expect in this conference.  Certainly we like one of these dual match days to get both teams to get a win at the same time. But that being said, the 5-4 loss to Lycoming, by no means is a real bad loss for us. It was a team we lost to relatively easily last year. So we knew it was going to be a tough match. We started off one doubles great. Jenna and Kelsey got another win at one. And then at two and three, we certainly didn't play as well. That's sort of the one area where it was disappointing. We didn't play nearly as well as we have the last few weeks, two and three doubles. So we went down in singles down to one, sort of behind the eight ball a little bit, but we bounced right back. Jenna got a straight set win at one. Kirsten had a close match, but a good straight set win for her at two singles. And that gave us the lead. Kelsey was down a set in three singles, fought back, forced a third set, won that match in three sets to give us a 4-2 lead. And then after we lost to four singles, it was 4-3. And then we were down a set at both five and six singles, won the second set, the fourth, a full third set in each. We were up a break in one and had a match point at another. But both were really tough matches. I mean, both girls played really well, Colleen and Nina, and unfortunately, we just weren't able to pull all the close matches out that we needed. But you know, like in this conference, that's what you can expect. And those five, four matches, where it comes down to the last match on the court for a young team like we are, those are really invaluable. And that's something that the next time we're in that situation, having that experience will be that much easier for us to pull it out. Yeah, let's talk about that next situation that might come up rather quickly. You guys are gonna be playing a lot this week on both sides. Not so many double duels, double matches like you had on Saturday. But what are these experiences gonna do as you guys play this schedule out? Well, I mean, certainly, I mean, for the girls right away, we play tomorrow, we play Messiah, you know, defending conference champs and they're a very, very good team as we saw last year and in the Mac in this fall. So we've gotta sort of have, you know, we gotta take the confidence from the things that we did well on Saturday and then the things maybe we didn't do so well, like two and three doubles, just forget it and we've gotta move on and we're gonna have a much different challenge tomorrow. So we've gotta be ready for that. But you know, a lot of the girls, especially the way we played in singles, we should be feeling good about that. So our singles games are coming around.  You know, we'll have a good shot tomorrow. And on the men's side, you're gonna have to keep riding what you guys were able to accomplish on Saturdays. You guys play Messiah as well on Wednesday and then you guys both have Albright. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, for the guys, it's gonna be another, again, defending conference champs on the men's side as well, Messiah is. So Wednesday, that match is gonna be tough for us. It's a match that was a real dogfight last year. We were up three, one and up a break and two up a set and break and two other matches. We weren't able to pull it out last spring. So, you know, it's a lot of the same guys this year on their team. So we're gonna be, we know we're in for a tough match and we're happy it's home. You know, hopefully that we can use that homefield advantage a bit. And, you know, for a lot of guys, it's gonna be, you know, for Brian, this could be a match that might ultimately decide who's conference player of the year. So him and Tim Dunn will have a really good battle at one single. Certainly one I encourage everyone else to come out and watch. It'll be a great match. Absolutely.  Sure. Yeah, well, so Dunn finished second in the conference player of the year, but Saturday when we play Albright, we'll play Matt Moyo at one who was, who is the two-time conference player of the year. That being said, Dunn just beat Moyo the other day, two and one. So, you know, both matches will be tough for us Albright and Messiah. Both are really good opportunities for Brian, you know, to sort of put himself in that conversation and maybe even solidify his standing as, you know, the best one or two singles player in the conference. So, you know, it's gonna be a tough week, a lot of matches for us. We're not gonna have a ton of time to practice in between, so we've, you know, we've gotta keep the momentum going and build off at each match. Well, neck and neck in the conference player of the year race there, if you can call it that. We'll be very excited to watch these two matches for you. Good luck this week, Coach. Thank you. He's Evan Clifton. I'm Joe Wamba, and this has been the Evan Clifton Show.