1. Zoom in and out on your subject in your mind. 2. Take up the perspective of an ant and a bird. 3. Look at your subject as if you were a priest/astronaut/prostitute. 4. Examine your subject wearing pink glasses. 5. Lie down on the floor. 6. Hold your breath for 30 seconds. 7. Put the company name behind bars. 8. Write the company name SMS style. 9. Curl up in your chair. 10. Hyperventilate. 11. Put the company name under-water. 12. Imagine your subject glowing / radiating heat. 13. Talk like Luke Skywalker. 14. Write the company name on a bun. 15. Write down 21 objects that the company’s name remind you. 16. Draw for 60 seconds without lifting your pencil from the paper. 17. Try not to blink for 60 seconds. 18. Imagine shaving your eyebrows. 19. Look at the ground for 60 seconds. 20. Embrace yourself. 21. Talk like a baby. 22. Put something in your mouth and say the company name. 23. Drink 2 glasses of water in one go. 24. Write the company name on a tissue and wet it. 25. Come up with 10 ideas in 10 minutes over a white sheet of paper. 26. Turn on the music to the max. 27. Take a leak / shower. 28. Do 10 pushups (or at least try). 29. Scream: “I’m hungry!”. 30. Pretend you’re Neil French. 31. Act like Marilyn Monroe. 32. Open the dictionary on a random page and read the first entry. 33. Pet your dog or something. 34. Take a picture of yourself. 35. Put earplugs in your ear. 36. Sharpen your pencils. 37. Take off your shoes. 38. Look at the sky for 60 seconds. 39. Pinch your nose and talk. 40. Take off your socks and walk. 41. Imagine your subject matter frozen if you can hold something cold. 42. Count your money in your valet. 43. Kick back and daydream. 44. Play with a kid, a dog or a toy. 45. Eat sweets. 46. Browse the net with StumbleUpon. 47. Act gay (or straight if you’re gay). 48. Tidy up your office. 49. Smell a flower or tea leafs. 50. Wet your hair. 51. Floss your teeth. 52. Pinch yourself. 53. Put something over yourself. 54. Take off your shirt. 55. Pretend playing golf. 56. Pretend playing basketball. 57. Kiss a lucky symbol. 58. Blow soap bubbles or bubble gum. 59. Make a prank call. 60. Borrow an inexpensive object without asking. 61. Draw a face on your finger. 62. Wear something strange. 63. Look at clouds and imagine there is a message. 64. Count back from 27. 65. Raise your both arms for 60 seconds. 66. Do an air guitar solo or pretend playing the piano. 67. Put chocolate to your mouth and resist the temptation to eat it. 68. Shake your head. 69. Pray like a ninja. 70. Look out of the window and stare at one object for 30 seconds. 71. Make a paper plane. 72. Think about your subject as if it was made for the super rich. 73. Type random characters and read it as if it was a secret code. 74. Come up with 5 ridiculously lousy ideas. 75. Think of a matching car for your product or service. 76. Draw your client Dilbert style. 77. Just close your eyes and relax.
This series is called ‘Secret Listening’, from the Chinese word 偷听Tōutīng. I know this can be — and should probably be — translated as ‘eavesdropping’, but secret listening captures it better and adds a bit of jest. These little stories or remarks stood out to me, and show a more personal side of China away […]
A week ago, I saw a nearby old lane (小湾老街) on Xiaohongshu — but when I wanted to take a look there, I found it was already demolished and turned into some kind of factory. I checked back on Xiaohongshu and saw that indeed, the last posts were from early 2024. There was a feeling […]
When I moved out of Shanghai’s city center, the differences were obvious to me, but now three years later I start to see the similarities again. The area in Shanghai that we live in now — the border of Heqing (合庆) and Tangzhen (唐镇) — is full of non-Shanghainese people. Many come from lower-tier cities in […]
In Shanghai, cars, scooters, or bicycles in public are exposed to the impulses of opportunistic advertisers. So while you’re asleep or at work, they may place cards or stickers — fancy designs promoting services ranging from fake diplomas to ladies of not-so-virtuous nature, as well as housing funds. I’ve been annoyed dozens of times by […]