2010 Threads of the year

One of my nominees:

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/10668

Thanks very much for your kind words and appreciation toianw, it's really nice to know that!

Yes, the Google Docs thing is truly annoying. 春节 is coming, and I might finally be able to find the time to redo some of those earlier blocked efforts and make them accessible to China-based poddies again. In the meantime it's still possible to see them if you use a VPN, or if you can find a reliable way to bypass the block.

It would be great to see contributions from you (or anyone!)

Happy New Year folks.

hiewhongliang,

You're absolutely right. There is something very special about the community here. 不用谢朋友。 Thanks go to all those who have contributed. I've got some great links out of this myself...a few gems have been bookmarked. Keep 'em coming folks. Jiayou.

Oooh, good question cinnamonfern!

Bodawei - good to know that Bababardwan came to the rescue! He also kindly sent a copy to me, so...

If anyone else would like to see the video of Rob singing to xiao_liang, but doesn't have access to Vimeo, please PM me with your address and I'll email it to you!

Oh - it's really great to read all of those old posts! Everyone gets discouraged sometimes. And that song is fun! :D (I guess Vimeo works in 香港.) Now the question is...did visiting China and/or any of the other things which were suggested cure xiaoliang of his slump?

Hi suxiaoya

Thanks for the update - Baba looked after me, emailed me the file. I enjoyed the song a lot - great work. Now I want a song written for ME! :) Really, I'm kidding.

Hi bodawei, I think that Vimeo is blocked again. I am not in China at the moment so I can't be sure. It's a really fun song that Rob wrote for xiao_liang (and others facing the dreaded "Learning Slump"!). I don't have a copy here to share, unfortunately.

Hi suxiaoya

Is that video on a site that is blocked in China? I can't see it.

Bravo Bravo. Love that song....I never heard it before, so thanks Suxiaoya for linking to it. How cool of Rob.

Amazing photos! I don't know how I missed them the first time around. I can't believe how blue the sky is in some of the pictures...

yes, that's a real treasure. Thanks to svik for sharing.

Yup, think that's probably the only contender.

Any of the zombie lessons!

or at least not on their public radar screens. We can only hope the "Booty Call" lesson will be as good! :-)

for teaching us stripper, pornos, booze, perverted and other terms not even on anyone else's radar screens:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/a-chinese-bachelor-party

talking of that thread, where is the winner, our hero Simon these days? How's he found that pen? I hope he hasn't been taken out of commission by the 忍者。 I was watching IpMan2 the other night and was at the part where IpMan is new to HK and one of the other Sifu's starts talking about how things are run around here. He mentioned "规矩“ and my mind immediately shot to Simons line from that video [could hear it crystal clear in my minds replay] and I immediately recalled that it was talking about the regulations. Thanks Simon. I think such social interaction really helps. And of course Simons expression when he said that word.

greatly missed

I'm In here......sadly missed.

I'm sure everyone's supporting it mate, just shy lurkers 而已, hehe. Also, you may have made your last comment prematurely.

I should get out of the prediction business.

I fourth that.

Your vote will be supported by many. I predict.

And yet another category maybe. Poddie we would most like to see return to the Community. Most missed.

听听 【hear , hear] ...and I'd like to add an extra category for him:

lifetime CPod contribution award.

I have to jump in to support this one two.

hehe, I must have missed your "ratings"...but I get your drift.

....yeah, a win is a win. I guess it would do the antipodean convict streak proud, hehe

thanks mate, but the irony is that you and zhen and toianw have helped me way more than the other way around, so thank you guys.

Baba

'the community rated your posts [though I may have misunderstood what they were proposing at the time]...'

Ah, they were interesting times. Actually I think that system is in place. I got 'rated' a couple of times recently.. this community has a democratic flavour to it in a Chinese netizen kind of way.

'I could have a record negative score.'

Well, a win is a win. :)

朋友们，

哪里哪里？hehe, I'm just glad CPod didn't introduce that metric they were talking about where the community rated your posts [though I may have misunderstood what they were proposing at the time]...I could have a record negative score.

Oh, and bodawei, who is never shy to give his time to help others :)

Bababardwan of course, but also an honourable mention to toianw who has been really helpful to me these last couple of months.

My vote in this category goes to Bababardwan.

My vote for Most Engaging for both 2009 and 2010 (if he'd arrived earlier in 2008, then undoubtedly also 2008) goes to Baba.

shucks, right back at ya mate. It'd be my honour. If I ever make it to your neck of the woods I'll make it a priority. Ganbei !

Hahah. True true. To be fair, I was just trying to encourage anyone else to post a picture! :-p

haha - Well, you definitely had the most pictures. But I'd say you're probably not "most vain", but definitely "most willing to expose himself to potential public ridicule". :D

Haha, I might go for "most vain poddie" for that post :-p

Aw thanks folks.

I am around, but life is busy coming up to christmas plus we've had 6-8 inches of snow this last week so things have gotten a bit interesting.

Anyway, I'm not going anywhere, my chinesepod subscription is until 2012! :p

Oh both of these are great! Just read the one with all the pics of people and it's fun to see what everyone looks like!

Yes great post Baba. This other one of his should also definitely be mentioned for 2010 Community Spirit Award.

XiaoLiang's been scarce these days, busy maybe. I thought he was going to go hunt you down if you stopped posting ... !

I'll cast a vote for this one!! Great post, baba....thanks for bringing up such a great idea!

I found this one to be really useful, and also fun to listen to. I'm a big Liliana fan, but Jen has really made herself invaluable in Qing Wen:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/speaking-with-%E8%B7%9F-gen-and-%E5%AF%B9-dui/discussion

always the latest one...

Best UI series: Love tangle series:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/sets/view?id=65326

ah, of course. I like your reasoning too...I must check that one out. I'm gonna go bookmark it now.

There are so many to choose from but my vote goes for 人口普查 because I was willing for it to be done, and because for me it raises so many interesting questions of Chinese society and culture.

oh thanks hiewhongliang. I've just bookmarked it. I'm sure I heard there was going to be a lesson on this, and then I missed it somehow. Yeah, I read about the I Ching a few years ago, so it's a subject I find interesting...as you say very much part of the culture.

i've just finished 《易经》的本意, and have to say it is by far my favourite up to now. It brings up a complex subject, yet one at the core of the culture. It will take some time, and repeated hearing, to assimilate everything. It also lays the foundation and stirs interest for further self-studies A lesson that teaches at many levels many times over, hence my vote.

The discussions afterwards was where David really came into his own. Wish he would and have more opportunities to show his stuff like this.

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/《易经》的本意

Oi, I was just going to say. Very intrigued, I love the idea of a behind-all-the-glamour drama in movieland, esp as I want to talk about movies and the industry a lot. I'm sort of saving these up.　☆彡

All the Movie Story lessons, starting with this one were great entertainment:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B%E4%B8%80

yeah zhen, all agreed. I just did the same..bookmarked it. I'm in a very similar position also in that I've only listened to a few Advanced and Media and studied even less so not in the best position to nominate which were the best so really look forward to some nominations here. Mind you, some Advanced one's did catch my attention as being good entertainment value.

Yeah I think that's Baba's point, for this post. Sometimes real goodies do get overlooked or for whatever reason get only a few comments. I've listened to some Advanced but haven't gone and finished studying any, so it's interesting to hear which ones were found by 同学们 to be particularly 精彩. I've noted this one!

I have to vote for 蚁族 ('Ant' tribe) - this was a great piece of work. And it makes me wonder about how to best judge 课程 - it shouldn't be just how many comments go on the board. I actually used this as a material for a course I teach and my Chinese students loved it as well. This is what ChinesePod should be commended for: being able to present real life situations in a way that is both fresh and useful. Always entertaining. Congratulations guys!

Hey, I'm glad you liked it mate. No worries. Actually for me this was clearly hands down the best lesson at any level for the year. It showed a lot of class in so many ways. Even stuff like the sound engineering, the editing. I never tired of listening to this lesson. And it wasn't even in the genre I would usually go for ...soap. I'm usually more into comedy.

Hands down winner, I reckon. Thx for the link.

Love tangle 9:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/love-tangle-9

..the drama, the music, the language...really you just have to tune in to understand. Highly recommended

当然可以 Jen. Just listened to that dialogue again..yeah it was great alright. And what I particularly like is that CPod so often produces these really topical lessons. So it was great to have one on the world cup when we're all interested, excited, and talking about the world cup and the dialogue certainly captured that excitement and was easy to relate to.

actually, i'll change my previous vote to best ever intermediate, and agree with Horsthorst on Leaky Pipes and Faucets.

Am I allowed to vote? I'll submit this lesson for consideration: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/world-cup-talk

It certainly generated a lot of comments!

horstschl,

Ah, another good one I missed. Thanks mate. I've just bookmarked it. Here's the link:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/leaky-pipes-and-faucets

The best IMHO was:

Leaky Pipes and Faucets (C1353, February 9, 2010)

"哎呀，这东西可不能往马桶里扔，一扔就堵。-- 呃，知道了。"

yeah, that was a beauty alright. Good nomination.

You connect with the Chinese college-educated person in a very funny and deep way.

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/child-parent-fight

One of the most interesting...sign language:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/sign-language-in-china

Haha - to be fair to my friend, I think that came out wrong (I really meant my desire to giggle is terrible). He's actually a really good singer. It's just the accent in combo with that song that strikes me as funny. :)

cinnamonfern,

hehe, yeah "country roads" sung badly has the potential to be truly terrible. Yeah, that's another great thing about these dialogues...they all have stuff we can relate to in our own way.

Hmm...that's a good one, but I also like these two - I really can't choose:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/world-cup-and-diamonds

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/you-sing-terribly

Of course, part of the reason I like the second one is because a good friend of mine from Malaysia likes to sing "Country Roads" by John Denver. It makes me want to giggle. It's terrible.

Best Ellie:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/changing-a-plane-ticket

Because it features Jiabin/Sunix's voice acting at its dramatic best :)

oh yes of course. Well done zhen for digging this out. A great tal post. Perfect for this thread and I'll second the nomination.

Tal had a few discussion-provoking threads in 2009, but this one from early this year was also memorable.

The problem was I couldn't find it! It doesn't show up anywhere in the User Posts tab in his profile though I knew it was early this year. Googled and found it.

I wonder just how many discussions like this on CPod have simply become irretrievable, because they were posted pre-new website, pre-"everything has to be in a Group", and therefore not under "General Discussion"?

yes, and I would add any post made by bodawei is going to be culturally interesting.

This post just never took off (maybe because it was too soon after Potato, a good quirky thread), very interested though I was in the subject matter.

And any post with good pics taken by poddies in China is cultural good stuff.

hehe, yeah I loved that thread too. I'm not sure I found it the most culturally interesting [but it's up there]. But it was a clear winner for me in another category...the most original. I love it when Poddies bring the individuality to the table. Really, who else would have thought of posting about a Potato Atlas? hehe.

I'll start the ball rolling with this one created by Baodawei and contributed to by many. A special mention also to the esteemed Mr Charles Gitomer for his meticulous research in this field.

hey yeah, that was funny and very original. I love "punchline" in red

I nominate this one, even though I was the only one who posted a 大笑 in reply.

thanks zhen. It's only natural that if you thought a thread was interesting in some way there's a good chance you'll therefore get involved in it, so don't worry about that. But thankyou for all your contributions. You never fail to enrich a thread.

From early in the year. I've linked to it elsewhere a few times, but would hate to see it get lost, and not just because I was in it.

This thread here:

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/8799

...touched on some very interesting Chinese contractions such as 冇