I’m not longer updating this page, but here’s a list of previous projects I’ve committed myself to. These projects range from being efforts of a few months up to five years.
Previous Projects
These are projects that I focused on at one point but decided to leave behind, either because they were completed, I lost interest, or ran into some other problem. All of these are learning experiences.
Chengdu Living
A blog about the city of Chengdu founded in 2010. Features a discussion forum and most recently a podcast, along with hundreds of articles on Chinese culture and life in the Sichuan capital. Written by a number of volunteer contributors.
China Gaming Federation
A local meet-up which happens every Wednesday in Chengdu, featuring indie and retro multiplayer games. We take the antisocial stereotype of video games and turn it on its head in a weekly meet up at a local bar. Also has a podcast with over 50 episodes.
Visit the Chengdu Gaming Federation
Disco Death
A DJ and visual performance collective founded in 2010 with my musician buddy Jovian, from San Francisco. Since 2010 we have hosted dozens of events in Chengdu featuring many of the most esteemed performers in Asia.
China Bloggers
An aggregate of China blogs, created in 2011 when there was no good index available. Divided into sections for blogs focused on regions, Chinese history, language, and photography. Since the site was started, the blog landscape of China has changed dramatically. Still online, managed by Josh of FarWestChina.
Chengdu Places
An index of the most important places for a foreigner to know in Chengdu. Created in 2011 and currently features about 95 locations in the city, including restaurants, bars, gyms, and much more. Decided in 2018 to roll this functionality up into Chengdu Living.
Outdoor Movie Nights
In partnership with a local bicycle shop (Natooke), hosted dozens of movie screenings outside in a Chinese megacity, with a custom cargo bicycle made to accommodate a projector, laptop, and speakers with a portable power source.
More info on Outdoor Movie Nights
Dojo House Party
An experimental house project which hosts music and art events along with a semi-regular house party which attracts hundreds of patrons. Each house party features 10+ DJs on multiple stages in different areas of the house, indoor and outside, along with food and drink vendors. Dojo went on for 3 years, until late 2015.
Silver Keen
A film club started in early 2016 with bi-monthly screenings at the same venue which hosts Chengdu Gaming Federation events. Intended to cultivate community and discussion around excellent films, not just watch them. I stopped this because the number of film nights in Chengdu rapidly proliferated after this got off the ground.
Taobao Genie
A third-party agency which enables non-Chinese shoppers to locate and purchase items on popular Chinese shopping website Taobao. Based on the idea that existing Taobao agents are not trustworthy. I stopped doing this because the amount of tedious busywork involved was too great.
Books to Learn Chinese
An online index of the best books for learning Chinese. Instead of hundreds of books of dubious quality, it listed only the books and book series that had build and maintained a reputation. I stopped doing this when better technology to learn Chinese became available.
Total Fluency
An English school focused on a low quantity of adult professional students aiming to reach fluency. I was working on this with a very qualified partner but in the end decided that the regulatory hurdles and administrative overhead along my lack of passion in this field made it not worth it.
Cycle China
A website with information about motorcycling and bicycling in China, specifically in the Sichuan region. Conditions change so much with roads here that information quickly became out of date and it became laborious to maintain so I decided to take it offline rather than have something which was not accurate and up to date.