April 9 – April 15
Did we all survive Thursday’s Internet Apocalypse? It happened thanks to the biggest bombshell Xinhua has dropped in years — no, we’re not talking about sexy pics of teen models — that Bo Xilai has been ousted from his Party’s posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, and aide are being investigated for murder (though Bo, interestingly, is still being referred to as “comrade”). China ended up censoring text messages, too. (Where’s Anonymous and its “death-to-GFW” proclamations when you need them?) I ended up on BBC Radio to discuss these events.
We still hate censorship around these parts. Very, very much.
A lot of sensible websites got trolled by a fake quote, and we’re still waiting for them to issue corrections. Here are pictures of Beijing emptied out. And this website has a new No. 2 post in terms of all-time views (will it catch No. 1?): meet Purple Panda!
Two deaths of note in this past week: Mike Wallace and Fang Lizhi (check out TAR Nation’s takedown of Global Times’s attempted takedown of Fang). This is not how to put a fresh take on advertising — or is it? Homemade firearms in China look like crossbows, and we’d like to remind you that Baidu is still not a condom.
Finally, here’s how Bo’s family and associates are being depicted in the media, and that proposed Stephon Marbury statue remains ugly.
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