the Beijinger

Yes, we know it's not actually Tuesday, but due to the fact that The Incredible Hulk is being released today, we've held our regular Tuesday film roundup back to today. Keep reading below for a comprehensive list of all the films showing around town this Wednesday.

First the bad news, after Julian Marley’s show last Saturday at Star Live a lot of people have been looking forward to the Sean Paul show that we listed in the August issue of the Beijinger as taking place at Star Live on Aug 23. Star Live have since informed us that the show has been cancelled. Fortunately, the post Olympic live music scene is starting to shape up and a lot of big-name international acts are going to be passing through town in the coming months.

Sep 4
George Benson & Al Jarreau
With 18 Grammy awards and over eight decades of performance between them, George Benson & Al Jarreau are touring together in support of their highly acclaimed album Givin’ It Up. RMB 380-1,280.
8pm. Beijing Exhibition Theater (6835 4455)
 

Sep 25
Kanye West
It seems that everyone from British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe through to China's most famous piano impresario and star of the Olympic opening ceremony Lang Lang is a fan of rapper/producer Kanye West. He’s coming to Beijing as part of his Glow in the Dark tour. Accompanying him will be an eight-man backing band, DJ Craze and special guest star Will Pan. If you can’t make the Beijing show, he’ll also be performing in Shanghai. RMB 280-1680 (tentative).
Time TBA. Fengtai Stadium (6381 1576)

Qianmen Dajie

After extensive renovation Qianmen Dajie has arisen from the construction dust as a Qing Dynasty Disney with only a few laozihao shops and restaurants to keep it going. At the northern end two trams provide the first photo stop, with posing and cries of “qiezi” also culminating from outside the Quanjude further south of the Dang Dang Che. As over ninety percent of the shop fronts currently lie vacant, the street only really offers one very long photo opportunity, if you’re after some shopping turn right onto Dazhalan (Beijingers say da shi lan'r), however, card-carrying philatelists should continue down to number 84 for the China Post Philately Hall. Unfortunately, we found that the few restaurants on the strip had already been booked out for lunch by 11.30am on a Tuesday, so it’s best to eat elsewhere. Although tea and jade stores seek to be the main draw, we preferred the scattered old black and white photographs, birdcage streetlights and door stone trashcans.

Liu Xiang's exit from the 110m hurdles due to injury left audiences shocked.

Just a little over half way through the games and China has already surpassed the number of gold medals they won in Athens.

Authorities are stepping up their attempts to prevent any scalping of tickets at Olympic venues and that applies to foreign scalpers too.

Last week as part of a roundup of ways to get your hands on Olympic tickets, we mentioned a Beijing resident calledXiong Wei who was his ten Olympic tickets to anyone who was willing to give up smoking. The People's Daily have details of the people Mr Xiong decided to give his tickets to, the list includes a 14-year-old girl from Hunan.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the zeal displayed by Olympic organizers in making sure that non-sponsors are not getting a chance to display their logos at the games. According to the report,

in media centers, dormitories and arena bathrooms, pieces of tape cover logos of fire extinguishers, light switches, thermostats, bedroom night tables, soap dispensers and urinals.

To coincide with Beijing's Green Olympics, Immersion Guides has teamed up with wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC and Beijing-based conservation NGO Shan Shui Center for Nature and Society to bring you the Beijing Green Guide.

With detailed information in both English and Chinese, the Beijing Green Guide takes Immersion Guides' most accurate, up-to-date city map ever and combines it with TRAFFIC and Shan Shui’s knowledge of all things green in Beijing to show you the best, most environmentally friendly places to eat, sightsee and shop.