Jakob Montrasio's Net. http://jakob.montrasio.net I'm not into politics. I'm into survival. Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:20:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en ©Jakob Montrasio montrasio@gmail.com (Jakob Montrasio) montrasio@gmail.com(Jakob Montrasio) 1440 I'm not into politics. I'm into survival. Jakob Montrasio Jakob Montrasio montrasio@gmail.com No no http://jakob.montrasio.net/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/moments_rss.jpg Jakob Montrasio's Net. http://jakob.montrasio.net 144 144 Twitter Updates for 2008-04-28 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/28/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-28/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/28/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-28/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/28/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-28/
  • @photograffitish thanks for the add man! #
  • I’m back from Beijing by the way :) #
  • Busy busy busy #
  • Why is Gmail getting blocked every 10 minutes and then available again? Anyone else experiencing this weird problem in Shanghai? #
  • @papajohn Awesome tip, thanks so much! #
  • @asimaythink Aren’t you too old for video games? ;) Man, I’m whipped too hard. #
  • I read that they’re having burning men festivals in Korea now, too! Except, they didn’t get a license. #
  • @asimaythink I was talking about the idiots who tried to set themselves on fire during the torch relay in Seoul ;) #
  • @shawnjooste Google.cn’d you :D #
  • The Children Of HuangShi is a nice flick, by the way. Damn Japanese! ;) #
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    Cranes In The Sky. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/23/cranes-in-the-sky/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/23/cranes-in-the-sky/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:30:25 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/23/cranes-in-the-sky/ Is this not the most insane building in the world?

    You can buy a print of this image at imagekind.

    digg this pic.

    About the building:
    The project was started in september 2004 following a review of the design by a panel of Chinese experts. The construction is scheduled to be completed in time to broadcast the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The development is being undertaken by the Chinese Government as part of a plan to redevelop central Beijing with innovative and functional architecture, while preserving historic buildings at the same time. The new building will involve two ‘L’ shaped high-rise towers linked at the top and the bottom at an angle to form a loop, which has been described as a ‘Z’ criss-cross. The total construction cost is estimated at €600 million ($750 million). The CCTV tower will employ 10,000 people following completion in 2008. But the construction was daleyted because of the opposition against this buildings cost, so the developers say the building will probably not be completed before 2009. (Source: SkyscraperCity)

    About the image:
    This high definition range image was created with three RAW files. I’ve created four different HDR versions and edited the best out of each version on top of the other. Took me over two hours to finish this beast in Photoshop.

    Taken in Beijing, China.

    - Jakob


    Cranes In The Sky., originally uploaded by Montrasio International.

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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-21 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/21/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-21/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/21/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-21/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/21/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-21/
  • Oh my god, 100,510 views on one of my pictures on flickr… It was on explore and then it got to digg… That’s more then all views before! #
  • Now 100,647 views… Like 1 view per second :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/yakobusan/2420043359/ #
  • @trevj By taking a RAW image and throwing it into "Photomatix" as well as Photoshop… Took me some time to make it, was worth it as I see! #
  • @andi808 Hey, das kannte ich gar nicht. Vielen Dank für den Tip?! #
  • @ChinaList Let’s make it 200.000, ahhahaha… Too crazy. It’s not THAT good… I like it, but I made others I liked more in the past… #
  • I registered at that imagekind site that @andi808 recommended… Let’s see how that works :) #
  • @andi808 Danke nochmals, bin jetzt unter http://JakobMontrasio.imagekind.com zu "kaufen" ;) #
  • Ok, good night! #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-18 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/18/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-18/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/18/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-18/#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/18/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-18/
  • Arrived in Beijing by train at 7. Those two men in our cabinet really kept me from sleeping. zzZZzz #
  • Yay, my last HDR made it to flickr explore! http://www.flickr.com/photos/yakobusan/2420043359/ #
  • @pdenlinger Xiexie ni! :D #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-17 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/17/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-17/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/17/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-17/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/17/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-17/
  • Today: Shanghai, 16°. Tomorrow: Beijing, 26°. Nice! #
  • I’m getting a cold from dressing too much, or so. #
  • @Bumix That’s my bday :) #
  • @bck I saw the Juno DVD just this weekend, it’s beautiful! Such a touching movie. #
  • @frankyu That dude has balls ;) #
  • I mean, offending over a billion people is quite the accomplishment. #
  • @christinelu Merci for not hating me. #
  • In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher. #
  • I would write who that is from but then maybe Twitter gets blocked. #
  • @saschalobo ??! #
  • Has anyone here ever been to the Longmen caves in Henan? Are they woth a trip? #
  • They are a world heritage, so I’m gonna go there, I guess. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1003 #
  • @niubi In what country do you live?! #
  • @niubi Wow. I never get any here in Shanghai. Only SMS spam. #
  • Okay, done all my work. Now I can make a new HDR photo once again! :D #
  • @niubi China Merchants, don’t they give you a free coffee mug when you apply for their credit card? #
  • Mhmmm, Nachos with cheese. I love Sherpas! #
  • New Shanghai HDR pic on flickr, Nanpu Bridge view: http://is.gd/6N1 #
  • @marcvanderchijs Ich kann so halb verstehen, was du sagst. Holländisch und deutsch sind sich ähnlich, mein lieber Mann… #
  • @danwashburn This is the way the world ends. Not with a whimper, but with a bang. #
  • Gotta go catch the train to Beijing. Good night, and good luck. #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-16 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/16/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-16-54/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/16/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-16-54/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 281843897
  • Beijing, I’m coming! Tomorrow, that is. #
  • Beside YouTube, where should you upload your videos for more audience? #
  • I already uploaded it to @marcvanderchijs Tudou :) #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-15 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/15/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-15/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/15/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-15/#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/15/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-15/
  • Finally finished that music video for my friend. Watch it here if you’d like: http://tinyurl.com/5y4om8 #
  • The music video was shot in Shanghai and contains 3.318 photos. :) #
  • @asimaythink Thanks :D #
  • @ullrich Haha thanks, glad you like it. Hope next time I can make a music video with… video! ;) #
  • @sixtus Any idea was das gute Teil kosten soll? #
  • Going home now. Byebye. #
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    Jewelz - Mermaid (Original Mix) http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/15/jewelz-mermaid-original-mix/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/15/jewelz-mermaid-original-mix/#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:48:19 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 1901211502


    Jewelz - Mermaid (Original Mix)

    Originally uploaded by Montrasio International

    3.318 pictures were used in this video. Shot entirely in Shanghai, China. Jewelz’ track was produced by Pete Tong’s Bedroom Bedlam and can be bought on beatport.com.

    Watch or download the full length version here!

    The images were taken with a Nikon D50 and batch processed with Photoshop later on.

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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-14 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/14/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-14/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/14/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-14/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 56392241
  • Finished a music video for a friend. Will upload it soon. #
  • I watched Cloverfield on saturday. Man, that movie rocked hard. Can’t wait to see the sequel. So much left open… #
  • @danwashburn Maybe he was a monk? #
  • @Chinkerfly Ah, I have no idea. But now that the chinese are starting to boycott french stuff, I’m getting a bit afraid of racism. #
  • @ChinaList Haha, thanks :) #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-11 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/11/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-11/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/11/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-11/#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 2140284933
  • Pretty violent Tibet videos are running on CCTV now. I wonder who suggested them to do that… #
  • I need a new . After the last software update my G4 is slower, quite noticeable. #
  • @Chinkerfly They are showing videos from tourists. It’s Tibetans beating up Han Chinese. They are creating some kind of hate if you ask me. #
  • @eyeseast Like I said to Chinkerfly, they are showing new videos from tourists that were confiscated. It’s Tibetans beating up Han Chinese. #
  • They also had an interview with a swedish guy, you can imagine what he said if they show it on CCTV. :) #
  • @Chinkerfly The truth is always somewhere in the middle, isn’t it… #
  • @Chinkerfly Everyone messed up. China didn’t allow journalists to report, and foreign media showed Nepal images… Both sides wrong. #
  • Salmon set @ japanese restaurant. 5.72$. Yummy! #
  • @Chinkerfly Dogs? What about monkey brains and embryos? ;) #
  • @jredding What do you mean by raid?! #
  • @pdenlinger Here’s my HDR work: http://tinyurl.com/69f33s #
  • Have a nice relaxing weekend ya’ll! I’m off. #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-10 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/10/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-10/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/10/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-10/#comments Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 1178991513
  • In the office now. What a lovely day, finally Shanghai’s warm again! #
  • Funny: http://www.simpsonsride.com/ #
  • I wish I had as many customers in reality as followers on twitter. #
  • Just posted a new, industrial high definition range image: http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/10/ihndustry/ #
  • Time for my third coffee today. #
  • Let’s call it a day now. #
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    iHnDustRy. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/10/ihndustry/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/10/ihndustry/#comments Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:58:31 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 1718600071 Taken while driving from Wuxi to Shanghai in January 2008. We were a lot on the road shooting John Rabe. I’m trying out various HDR things for a project at the moment. The HDR pictures I’ve been posting over the last couple of days on flickr are more or less the results of these experiments.


    iHnDustRy., originally uploaded by Montrasio International.

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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-09 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/09/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-09/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/09/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-09/#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/09/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-09/
  • @danwashburn check your mail! :) #
  • Come back the sun… #
  • Love that new flickr video stuff. 90 seconds are pretty short though. #
  • I think the flickr compression of videos is even worse than YouTube. http://flickr.com/photos/yakobusan/2399614107/ #
  • @spreeblick guck mal was bei flickr los ist :) #
  • @spreeblick auf der startseite. flickr hat jetzt videos. #
  • @spreeblick aber nur 90 sekunden lange. "bewegte fotos", wie sie es nennen. #
  • Die Idee ist nicht schlecht. Bin mal gespannt was sich die Fans jetzt so ausdenken. Ich mach mal ein Shanghai Zeitraffer Video oder so. #
  • @ajschokora i use camino only to login to pages where i have two accounts ;) #
  • Goddamn, so many german news sites blocked because of olympia boycott discussions. Sucks… #
  • flickrd a new tianjin hdri: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yakobusan/2399837361/ #
  • It’s warmer in Beijing than in Shanghai? Damn! #
  • @christinelu Can you add me to your China list, too? I’m living in Shanghai since ‘05. #
  • There is EDGE in Shanghai?! #
  • @christinelu Thank you a lot! #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-08 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/08/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-08/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/08/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-08/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 1793093179
  • Humidity in Shanghai today: 88%! Feels like a bathroom without conditioning. #
  • @singaporeano Hey there Ken! o_0 #
  • After what happened in Paris, I have to hate the french a bit less now. :) #
  • I. Want. My. Sun. Back. #
  • @bookhotel Yes, WP 2.5 is running alright. Only one plugin was not supported. Thank god not an important one. #
  • @christinelu I’m in Shanghai, can you add me to the list? Xie xie :) #
  • The SWPA winners, wow! Some great images here. http://tinyurl.com/62tqwy #
  • Checking my website design with Browsershots. http://tinyurl.com/5vyb4c #
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    Twitter Updates for 2008-04-07 http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/07/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-07/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/07/twitter-updates-for-2008-04-07/#comments Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:59:59 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 702225381
  • 24° and wet. Welcome back, Shanghaian Summer! #
  • I put a new HDR pic onto flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yakobusan/2394779913/ #
  • Shanghai looks like a soup today. #
  • @FonsTuinstra are you running the China Herald all alone? #
  • @weatherbot shanghai china #
  • Updating to WordPress 2.5… Hope it’ll work! #
  • @bumix da hast du völlig recht! ;) #
  • @FonsTuinstra Wow, good work. Like your articles. You’re in my RSS reader now! #
  • Heading home now. Good night, and good luck. #
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    Tianjin: Food Street. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/03/tianjin-food-street/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/04/03/tianjin-food-street/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:20:13 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 998556185 This is a picture of the commercially… err culturally famous "Food Street" in Tianjin. The food is good, alright, but they sold me fake cigarettes there. And the restaurant owner was not able to offer us a fapiao. Watch out there. I had the feeling that it’s a bit of a tourist trap…


    Tianjin: Food Street., originally uploaded by Montrasio International.

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    Tianjin Business Trip. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/28/tianjin-business-trip/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/28/tianjin-business-trip/#comments Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:47:28 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/28/tianjin-business-trip/ Jiajia and I have been in Tianjin on a business trip. Tianjin is about one hour away from Beijing and has not that much too see. Well, it’s a business city like Shanghai.

    When we drove back to Shanghai in a sleeping train, we met a foreigner from Canada in the cabinet next to us - I guess him and me were the only foreigners on that train. We talked a bit about god and then world. And then, today, we met him by coincidence in Shanghai! Crazy. I mean, Shanghai is quite big, but you still run into people. That’s funny.

    I’m busy working on a new website for my media company, so I’ll leave you with these two Tianjin pictures for now. More next week. Have a nice weekend!

    Funny Apartments.


    Tianjin Construction Site., originally uploaded by Montrasio International.

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    Awesome: Film Geek Graffiti! http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/23/awesome-film-geek-graffiti/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/23/awesome-film-geek-graffiti/#comments Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:16:43 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 183895467 The website /film has collected quite an amount of graffiti containing movies… Some of them are a bit crazy, why other just rock:

    If you look around the streets, you’ll sometimes find film geek graffiti. Here is a collection of some of the better street art we have come across around the interwebs.

    Here is my favorite.

    Kill Bill Graffiti

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    SEO Tip: There’s not only english (and America)! http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/23/seo-tip-theres-not-only-english-and-america/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/23/seo-tip-theres-not-only-english-and-america/#comments Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:50:52 +0000 Jakob Montrasio 1490567881 So I just realized, in order to gain a broader audience, why not add more chinese in future posts? ... And with sites like Wikipedia or the Google Language Tools, it's easier than ever to have keywords or names translated to a foreign language (please write a Wordpress on-site plugin, anyone?)...

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    While looking through some older posts of mine, I realized that even some chinese people wrote comments. Why? Because I live in Shanghai and sometimes I write something in chinese characters, just for fun of it mostly. So I just realized, in order to gain a broader audience, why not add more chinese in future posts? Thanks to UTF-8 the encoding of different language characters is no problem at all. And with sites like Wikipedia or the Google Language Tools, it’s easier than ever to have keywords or names translated to a foreign language (please write a WordPress blog on-site plugin, anyone?)…

    But there’s more to it than just translating key words or phrases. In other countries, other cultures, other things are considered as important and discussed. This is where Googles Zeitgeist comes into play. I mean, it’s actually so easy to write posts that get many visitors… You just need to check out what people find interesting!

    Let’s use the Google Zeitgeist of February 2008 as an example from now on. This post is not going to be a SEO Tip entry only, no, I will keep an eye especially on the visitors of this entry and report later on what kind of audience it found. I hope to attract readers from all over the world!

    To attract readers from Afghanistan, you should have written about ako, which sounds like some music band? Or about Afghanistan itself, which is of course written فغانستان in arabic characters. They write from right to left, did you know that? They also like poetry a lot, which is why فال حافظ is another search term that seems important. And love, of course! عشق is the word for that. Poetry and love, that’s already a lot to write about.

    Australia on the other hand seems like a bored country. They search for terms like grace kelly, optimus prime, pikachu or james dean. So bored, only watching movies all the time? I guess I am an Australian after all. Timekiller is a word many Australians searched for. Funny! They also care about israel, oakley and nrl sharks. So many topics to get their attention!

    In Brazil, the people seem to love celebrities. This is why they search a lot for danni carlos, marco feliciano, caetano veloso and… gwen stefani?! Okay. So open yet another celebrity site and get their attention. Or you write about topics such as lua cheia (full moon), favela (slums), resumo das novelas (soap opera summaries) or ciclismo (cycling). Cycling? Isn’t it too hot for that there? Anyway, many unwritten stories to gain a brazilian audience…

    Cold Canada dances itself warm, searching a lot for disco. They’re also interested in craigslist calgary and Bleach, which is a famous Anime if I recall correctly. Canadians also care a lot about the toronto stock exchange, infinity, adecco, viking and footlocker. Well, okay, maybe not the most interesting stuff. Then again, Canada is not that big. Which leads us to…

    China! That’s my thing. Looking at the Zeitgeist China list, I have to admit though that me myself is not doing everything right. There are so many topics that seem to interest the chinese people, yet the only thing I wrote about was the Edison Chen sex-scandal. Shame on me! I should have focused more on this stuff: 郭德刚 (a famous crosstalker), 成都小游戏 (small games of Chengdu), 楚留香传奇 (a TV program), 音乐在线 (music website), 旗袍 (Chinese traditional female dress, qipao), 安以轩 (actress), 英超 (premiership), 花样少男少女 (a TV program), CCTV5节目表 (program list of CCTV5), 同济大学 (Tongji University), 化妆品批发 (cosmetics wholesale), 花与蛇 (a movie) or 爱转角 (TV program). Another thing that seems to interest many chinese people is the stock market, as many people searched for the stock codes 600839 and 000532. China is one of the biggest, if not the biggest country in the world, and you should care about getting people from there to visit your website.

    Not that interesting or important is Chile, but here’s what you should’ve written about to attract readers from that country: barra los cruzados (Soccer fan club), shangay (huh??!), melipilla (Chilean town), huevos cartoon (cartoons), celulitis (cellulite), radio romance (local radio station), iori yagami (video game character??!), DIARIO LA CUARTA (local newspaper), el exorcista (the exorcist), el tabo (Chilean town), ENAMORADOS (in love) or mu magdalena (online game). Okay. Wow.

    No, Cocaine is NOT in the Zeitgeist list from Colombia. Instead, Columbians googled up the following stuff in February: distrital, GRAFFITIS, carolina, espectador (Colombian newspaper), camion (truck), balon (ball), musica clasica (classic music), angeles (angels), modernismo (modernism) and presupuesto (budget). What is also interesting is that Brad Pitt seems to be written with one t only in Colombia, brad pit. So, run a culture blog and the Columbians are yours…

    As for Costa Rica and the Czech Republic, they search a lot for music, actors and video games. No need to feature them here big time. Nothing spectacular…

    People from Denmark must be real stylish, as the top search term was evisu (Japanese designer brand). Other important things for the Danes: rd (Danish mortgage company), papillon, dolphin olympic (wtf?), ingeniøren (The Engineer, Danish weekly engineering paper), wozniacki (Danish tennisplayer), krone (the Danish currency, DKK), fredericia kommune (Danish municipality), morten andersen (multiple record-breaking Danish NFL kicker) and det moderne gennembrud (Nordic literature in the late 19th century, Georg Brandes). Jesus, these searches seem pretty focused on their own country! It’s gotta be pretty difficult and tough to gain a big danish audience on your blog if you are not danish yourself or live there.

    Finland… Well, they like big asses, which is why ‘kim kardashian’ is their number 1 search phrase in February 2008, right? But that’s about it with celebrities. Maybe Kim’s sex tape arrived there late. The other 14 search phrases seem rather random: rockabilly, gilmore girls, kansallismuseo (national museum), hernekeitto (pea soup), bob dylan, julisteet (posters), talent, rap, dementia, puola (Poland), sähkön hintavertailu (comparison of the price of electricity), disco ensemble (Finnish rock band), madrid and Mona Lisa. Gee, that must be the most random and unfocused country… yet. Let’s see if any other country is even weirder than Finland.

    Baguette, Crossaint, France. The french seem to be into money and brands, as the Zeitgeist tells us: suivi colissimo (French equivalent of UPS), eastpak (backpack brand), VIDEOPOSTE (banking online service), resultat du loto (national lottery results), deblocage participation (company bonus information), jsl (local newspaper), cnas (national committee of social action), astro, joker, supinfo (engineer school), yu-gi-oh (manga (and anime, dear Google)), fifa, gerardmer (international movie festival) and shopping. The french seem a bit self centered, as the only person who made it to the list is Heath Ledger. Looks a lot like Denmark, France’s search phrases are pretty national. Difficult market…

    Now to my roots, ze Germanz. Germany has some pretty weird searches, too: nail art? brandenburger tor? biene maja (German cartoon bee)? borussia mönchengladbach (German soccer club)? bbl (German basketball league)? vw käfer (vw beetle)? Man, am I happy to be an expatriate… On the other side, they also searched a lot for playstation, pink floyd, liv tyler and dwayne johnson aka The Rock. Now that’s something anyone can write about.

    The roads in Greece must still be shitty, this is why the top search query there was ’smart roadster’. They also like bentley. The other stuff is in greek characters: χαρταετός (kite), Αθήνα (Athens), εστιατορια (restaurants), φιλία (kisses), Μιχαλης Χατζηγιαννης (Greek Singer), δασος (forest) and κυπρος (Cyprus). Well, Greece is more an cultural country, so interpret these searches in whatever way you think is right.

    Okay, writing this takes a lot more time then I thought in the beginning. I’ll skip the following countries but write their top search term behind them, as they are small and more or less unimportant: Guatemala (sagastume (SMS site from MoviStar)); Hungary (játékok (games)); Indonesia (akatsuki (manga character), sasuke (manga character), samurai x (Japanese anime), naruto shippuden (Japanese anime), one piece (Japanese manga)); Iraq (صو (pictures), العاب (toys), كاظم الساهر (singer Kathim al Saher), حسام الرسام (Hussam al Rasam), ابراج (horoscopes)); Peru (moderato (Mexican rock band), hermione (Harry Potter character), quimica suiza (local company)); Poland (walentynki (Valentines), plemiona (online game), jozin z bazin (viral video), pity 2008 (tax forms 2008)); Puerto Rico (clasificados el nuevo dia (classified ads site), vertebrados (vertebrates), amor de Dios (God’s love)); Serbia (mts mondo (portal), mojenagrade (Coca-Cola’s sweepstakes), leto 2008 (summer 2008)); Turkey (fulldizi (online tv series site), burç uyumu (horoscope harmony), sarışın kızlar (blond girls), panik atak (panic attack)); Ukraine (грузовик (lorry), подростки (teenagers), загранпаспорт (international passport), тернопільський чат (Ternopil chat), Гаррі Поттер (Harry Potter), художественная ковка (art iron work)). Now let’s go back to bigger countries.

    Hong Kong, officially belonging to China but with their own Google, searched for: 陸詩韻 (celebrity name), 中信嘉華銀行 (Bank), 民族服裝 (fashion), 全盒 (festival item) and 世界上最大建築物 (the biggest building in the world) as well as 天空之城 (Sky City). They are into skyscrapers, hmm? How about an architecture blog in cantonese?

    India is pretty important, as they have over a billion people! So make sure to blog about something that they find interesting, such as: filmfare awards 2008, budget highlights, aishwarya (actress), concept cars, dhoom2 (Hindi movie), causes of global warming, peta (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), gladiator, punjab university, italy, travel guru, dehradun (a hill town in northern India), reliance industries, cricketnext, nauheed cyrusi (actress)… Ah, just start a Bollywood blog and you’ll be rich in no time.

    The war in Israel doesn’t stop them from googling: פורים קטן (Small Purim), ברכות לבת מצווה (Bat-Mitzvah greetings), אזרחות (citizenship), איגוד הטניס (tennis association), מכבי חיפה (Macabi Haifa – soccer team), משפטים מצחיקים (funny sentences), משחקים לגיל הרך (games for young children), וינוגרד (Vinograd – National Investigation Committee), עשרת הדיברות (Ten Commandments), רפואה משלימה (alternative medicine). Boy these characters look cool. You’ll get them to your blog if you write about religion, it seems to me.

    O Google mio… Italy is in search of amore, on the 2nd place. Number one is san valentino (Valentine’s day), because that’s always hard to remember. Other things the italian people care about: scusa ma ti chiamo amore (italian movie), caravaggio, i cesaroni (Italian sitcom), marco carta (Italian singer), partito democratico (italian democratic party), carnevale (carnival), sanremo 2008 (TV music festival)… Culture and politics, that’s how to find a way to the italian audience.

    Kso sounds funny and means shit in Japan. That’s one of the 10 words I remember from my trip there. The japanese people searched almost only for people - so the next time you blog a star, make sure to include his japanese name somewhere in the post! Here are the people they googled up: 新垣結衣 (Yui Aragaki, actress, model, and singer), 倖田來未 (Kumi Koda, singer), 芋洗坂係長 (Imoaraizaka-kakaricho, comedian), 藤井彩子 (Ayako Fujii, broadcaster), 長谷川静香 (Shizuka Hasegawa, voice actress), 一色紗英 (Sae Issiki, actress), 岡村靖幸 (Yasuyuki Okamura, singer), 真木よう子 (Yoko Maki, actress), ロバート・メイプルソープ (Robert Mapplethorpe, photographer), 柳美里 (Yu Miri, writer). Besides people they google up tourist attractions, I think: 南大門 (national treasure in Korea) and 平壌の凱旋門 (gate in North Korea). I recommend a celebrity blog for japanese readers.

    Korea makes quite good movies in the last time and their search queries show that they care a lot about entertainment: 조인성 (Korean actor), 퍼펙트케이오 (computer game), 미스코리아 김주연 (miss korea), 이화선 (Korean actress), 장백지 (Hong Kong actress), 프리즌브레이크 (drama, Prison Break), 박진희 (Korean actress)… Okay, let’s just say that a multi-language celibrity blog for the asian market would be a bomb, really.

    Let’s finish the list and this experimental entry with Taiwan - once again I seem to be right with my celeb idea: 陳冠希 (Hong Kong celebrity), 張柏芝 (Hong Kong celebrity), 楊永晴 (Hong Kong celebrity), 阿嬌 (Hong Kong celebrity), 陳文媛 (Hong Kong celebrity), 顏穎思 (celebrity) and 長江七號 (CJ7, a new Chinese movie).

    Okay. I think there is no other blog featuring so many different languages in a single entry. Anyway, I’ll update this post in some days or weeks and report how the visits were. Be sure to subscribe to my feed, then you wont miss the update.

    And here’s something else: Zeitgeist 2007. It’s also very interesting, as it shows last years most used search phrases - and also the ones that are not interesting anymore. So blogging about one of these topics in 2007 should’ve brought you a lot of visitors: Apple iPhone, badoo, facebook, dailymotion, webkinz, youtube, ebuddy, secondlife, hi5, club penguin, tmz, transformers, myspace and Anna Nicole Smith.

    Not that interesting are now: The world cup, of course, it only lasts one year always… Mozart, fifa, rebelde, kazaa, xanga, webdetente, sudoku, shakira and - mp3? Wow, mp3? Really? Good to know. Hope you had fun with this article and found some inspiration.

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    Come Back The Sun. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/20/come-back-the-sun/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/20/come-back-the-sun/#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:43:15 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/20/come-back-the-sun/ Song of the moment: Zucchero - Come Back The Sun.

    ‘Small town Romeo, kicking cans down the street
    Coca Cola van broke down in the heat
    The girls in colored dresses
    They seem to laugh as they run - yeah
    But they dream of only sweet caresses

    Come Back The Sun
    We will be like children
    Come Back The Sun
    Make us into children

    The black and white of summer, and the golden light
    The way we touched each other in the stolen night
    The voices whisper in darkness
    Dusty shoes on our feet, tender
    And on my way to tomorrow, I remember

    Come Back The Sun
    We will be like children
    Come Back The Sun
    Make us into children

    So you say that I’m dreaming
    Beauty is mine
    If I’m only dreaming, then its fine
    Riede Paichi (Laugh you sad clown)

    Bring back the sun in my life
    I need your love to be there
    Bring back the sun in my life

    Bring back the sun in my life
    I need your love to be there
    Bring back the sun in my life
    Well, you don’t care…

    Come Back The Sun
    We will be like children
    Come Back The Sun
    Make us into children

    Come Back The Sun
    We will be like children
    When I was a kid
    I could bring back the sun’

    And that’s the image I created while listening repeatedly to Zucchero’s song:


    Come Back The Sun., originally uploaded by Montrasio International.

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    Lights. Taken with my new Tamron lens. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/13/lights-taken-with-my-new-tamron-lens/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/13/lights-taken-with-my-new-tamron-lens/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:03:12 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/13/lights-taken-with-my-new-tamron-lens/ So, a 300mm lens is finally mine. Actually, it’s a 70mm - 300mm lens from Tamron. Now my Nikon D50 can take pictures of things faaar away!

    The lens was quite cheap, just a bit more than 1000 kuai is what I had to pay. I also bought an Kenko circular polar filter which gives me the ability to remove or enhance reflections and also influence the color of the sky. It’s awesome too and I can’t wait to try it out.

    The weather in Shanghai is getting better, meaning warmer, but these days it’s too cloudy or smoggy for serious photography - got to wait for now.

    More to come soon!


    Lights., originally uploaded by Montrasio International.

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    Roewe 750. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/13/roewe-750/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/13/roewe-750/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:58:22 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/13/roewe-750/ Every morning when traveling from Pudong to Puxi I see this car at the People Square, while changing from line 1 to 2. Clever to put it on display on a way to overcrowded subway!

    By the way, this is the first time I blogged to my blog here via flickr. Hope it works, alright!


    Roewe 750., originally uploaded by Montrasio International.

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    Crazy Contest. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/11/crazy-contest/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/11/crazy-contest/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:04:33 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/11/crazy-contest/ The website winning the web is holding a contest for webmasters who are really in need for some free advertising: Over 6.000 dollars worth of various internet and advertising related stuff can be won. The biggest prices are $650 Cash from Azoogle Ads, $500 Cash from PepperJam Network and $250 Cash from NeverblueAds. If you win one of these prices, some visitors are for sure yours!

    All you need to do is subscribe to a E-Mail newsletter and add a feed to your newsreader. There are also some other ways to gain more chances to win - that is basically why I am writing about this contest! I could really need some advertising, you know… Mac Pro’s don’t come for free.

    Anyway, if you want to be one of the at least 39 winners that will be drawn on March 31, then better get started now!

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    Review: CJ7. http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/10/review-cj7/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/10/review-cj7/#comments Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:54:30 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/10/review-cj7/ Stephen Chow gained international fans with his last two movies, namely Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle - especially teenage fans and people in their twenties. CJ7 is his attempt to gain access to a even younger audience, as it really is a children movie - what a pity!

    CJ7 PosterTo be brutally honest, CJ7 is Chow’s more crazy interpretation of Disney’s Blubber or Flubber or whatever the name of that Robin Williams comedy was. Of course CJ7 features a more asian humor, but it’s way more family-friendly than his previous works. Chow plays a poor construction site worker named Ti, alone with his son. To provide a better future for his child, he spends every cent earned for an expensive private school for him. No money is left for toys, but lucky Ti finds a big gum ball on a trash site while searching for goods in the middle of the night. This ‘toy’ eventually finds his way into the hands of his boy, who is even able to ‘activate’ it into an cute alien being - chaos and fun start.

    CJ7 AlienThe biggest problem this movie has is it’s running time: Just when the movie is about to find it’s right pace and speed, it’s already over. It takes too long for CJ7 to finally appear alive and kicking on the screen, and Chow makes too little use of the lovely thing in various scenes. There are maybe three jokes that make you laugh out loud, but mostly you will just giggle here and there a bit. It’s a little bit funny to see Chow quote his own older movies every once in a while, but isn’t it also a bit too early for that? In 2010, Kung Fu Hustle 2 is supposed to be released - by then, most of us will have already forgotten about CJ7…

    Conclusion: Too short, too childish fun. ** out of *****.

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    8GB iPhone in China much cheaper! http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/10/8gb-iphone-in-china-much-cheaper/ http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/10/8gb-iphone-in-china-much-cheaper/#comments Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:15:07 +0000 Jakob Montrasio http://jakob.montrasio.net/2008/03/10/8gb-iphone-in-china-much-cheaper/ Quite a surprise, the price of the 8 gigabyte model of Apple’s iPhone dropped a whopping 125 dollars since the last time we asked! Back in December we were running around in that big electronics store at the Hong Kong plaza and back then the price was almost 650 dollars. Now the 16 GB version is available for 690 dollar and thus the 8 GB version dropped down to 530 dollars.

    That’s quite a jump for just three months. The iPhones I’m talking about are unlocked and running the newest version, 1.1.4 if I’m not mistaken. One of the sellers said though, that ‘within 6 months you will be able to buy legal iPhones from China Mobile’. I wonder if he is just kidding around or if he really has inside information. As far is I know, Apple is in negotiations with China Mobile but wants too much?

    Well, let’s see how things are in September 2008, when the 32 GB iPhone or even 64 GB iPhone is available…

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