#brotherorange

[bulgarianbae-blog]

October 14, 2015:  Damn world, I’m quick at this screen shot game.  4:39pm got this one on lock.  Bae’s bae +1

[bulgarianbae-blog]

October 14, 2015:  Bae’s got baes too!  I did this screenshot of my bae at 4:39pm

[bulgarianbae-blog]

The Beginning of Baedom

The original owner of the phone realized it was missing when she got off the bus on her way to work on October 2nd.  What’s funny is that she was on her way to the UN Human Rights Council.  Lollz!!!

[dannymoallem-blog]

Week 12

I thought the most interesting part of this week’s readings was in Bill Wasik’s article where he described the paradox of technology in our society. He says that all of our devices are here to keep us out of crowds and out of meeting with people face-to-face. With everything from dating apps to online shopping apps, we technically don’t need to leave our houses. However, when we really want to, all of our technology ironically can work to bring us all together. 

I think a really cool example of this is the experience of Matt Stopera from BuzzFeed. In an article on BuzzFeed entitled, “I followed My Stolen iPhone Across The World, Became A Celebrity In China, And Found A Friend for Life,” he chronicled this very strange journey. Here’s a quick summary of the article, but the real one is DEFINITELY worth a read:

So one day, a YEAR after his phone was stolen from a bar, he noticed weird pics showing up on his new phone.

Apparently most stolen phones end up in China and are sold in second hand stores. He goes to the Apple store and they solve the problem -- his stolen phone is in China and the man was still logged into his iCloud account. So the apple store bricks the phone and that’s the end of it...or so he thinks.

Matt posted an article on BuzzFeed called “Who Is This Man And Why Are His Photos Showing Up On My Phone” Within hours of this post, he begins getting tweets from people in China. The BuzzFeed story was translated and posted on Weibo, which is the Chinese equivalent of Facebook. Here are some of the tweets he received:

At one point, this guy became the #1 trending topic on Weibo!

Long story short, the Weibo community helped track down the strange man in the pictures, who was appropriately dubbed by the Weibo community as “Brother Orange” for the pictures that the man took in front of the orange tree. Eventually, Matt flew to China to meet the man and was welcomed with superstardom. People in China just loved the story! This is a pic of him being greeted at the airport and meeting Brother Orange -- absolutely insane!

Matt spent the next week touring China, doing press conferences, media events, kissing babies, you name it. And he also made a best friend for life.

The significance that this story holds is that it is completely unique to our time period. Something like this would never have even been fathomable at all before 10 years ago. It shows that even though technology and social media work to keep us in our houses away from interacting with people, it also can work in the complete opposite way and help to bring people together.

[alexmizrahi]

Brother Orange Needs Some Juice

I finally read the Brother Orange story on Buzzfeed. Everyone who has tweeted it out since last night has said it made them feel so good and happy about the world and the internet and people. That’s all well and good and I won’t take that from them. Indeed, it is happy, and there is joy in it. But what it made me think more than anything was of an opportunity sorely missed. 

As I read it, I found myself asking many questions, so I documented my thoughts and questions as I went along. My main ones, overall: Where were the details? Where was the color? Where was the article worthy of sending two employees across the globe? Where was the showing instead of telling? 

Here’s my running inner-monologue, KSK-style, starting with Part Three. TL; DR: I really wish someone at the New Yorker had his or her iPhone stolen instead.

That’s so China.

This would make an excellent name for the TV show based on the movie Brother Orange, doesn’t really help us though. How is it so China? What does it mean to be “so China”?

Mid-flight I’m trying to sleep and she taps me on my arm. She drops off a note. It’s super sweet. She signs it “your Chinese fan.” I die.

Why didn’t you go to the back of the plane to chat with her as she requested in the note?

So many video cameras, and yet this article has no videos in it yet.

Our meeting is so quick and crazy I barely remember any of it.

What did Bro Orange say to you when you finally met him? If only there were cameras around documenting it...

I get rushed into a car with Brother Orange’s face on it. It’s amazing.

Who rushed you to the car?

Me and Bro Orange start talking through our translators.

Where are the quotes? Where are the translators?

When Brother Orange got the phone, all of my pictures were still on it. The guy who stole my phone didn’t even delete them. There were also pictures of the thief.

1. How did the break into your phone? 2. Did you not have it password-protected? 3. Is it easy to crack a password-protected phone? 4. Where is the picture of the thief? 5. Are you reporting him/her to NYC police?

I go to sleep.

In the lobby? What type of room did you get? What type of hotel? What was the hotel called? What was the service like? What was ANYTHING like?

Someone knocks on my door early and tells me to pack all my stuff up.

Who is "someone"? How much stuff did you bring for this trip?

Brother Orange’s restaurant is on a river. It’s really big.

What river? And what's big, the river or the restaurant or both?

He has literally renamed his restaurant “Brother Orange’s.”

What was the name before he changed it?

Over tea, I answer the same questions over and over about what I think about China and the food and blah blah blah.

What do you think about China and the food? You haven't mentioned anything about eating yet. What are the blah blah blahs?

There are probably 15,000 unflattering photos of me eating now. No one looks good when they eat.

So why isn't one of the 15,000 included here?

I meet Brother Orange’s entire family. He has four kids. FOUR KIDS!!!

Why is it so crazy that he has four kids? This does not seem like an abnormal number.

I find out his daughter was the one who took most of the pictures that were showing up on my phone.

His X-year-old? daughter

We make a quick stop at a famous soccer player’s house.

Does this famous soccer player have a name? Was the soccer player not there so you just checked out the house?

Even though we don’t speak the same language, we still talk a lot.

Is this still all through translators? Where are they the whole time? Does he speak any English and have you learned any Chinese?

Dinner that night consists of lots of shots and sweet wine.

Shots of what?

Dinner is where I really get to know Bro Orange. Dude loves to eat and eats everything. I love it.

Dinner of what?

We drink tea and go to sleep.

Sleep where?

The press conference is at a hotel.

Does the hotel have a name? Does ANYTHING have a name?

1. Whenever I speak in Chinese, everyone cheers.

What are some things you said in Chinese?

I endorse a local liquor by accident. Over the course of the trip, I would pose with different products. I never knew what was going on. I just endorse it all!

What was the liquor? What does "by accident" mean? What are some of the other products? Didn't you have a translator to help you with the "never" knowing what was going on?

We finish lunch and check in to the hotel.

What hotel? In which city?

I find out that part of the reason why my story resonated so well with the Chinese is that people learned about it during Chinese New Year.

Why is that the reason the story resonated?

We go out to a Chinese nightclub.

Don't they just call them "nightclubs"? What was it like?

I go to sleep.

At the Chinese nightclub?

The day begins with a visit to a local Communist leader’s memorial shrine.

Who was the leader? Why is he enshrined?

He dances with me and gives me this weird jello thing. It’s a moment.

What is the weird jello thing?

Meanwhile, my team is killing it. I just need to give a shout-out to them. My team consisted of two translators (Camby and Qingqing), Abe from BuzzFeed, and Bro Orange.

Oh hey! Yes! More characters! Except, who is Abe? Where were they all during the past four days? Did they travel with you? Did anything funny happen to them? Did they become minor celebrities because of their proximity to you? How were they killing it?

We play games at this old school that is now a hostel and a restaurant. It’s adorable. We also go on a bike ride and I almost die. It’s cool.

What games? How did you almost die? Were you still trailed by media and did they witness it?

We’re a team, and if one of us doesn’t want to do something, then we don’t do it.

What are some things you or he said no to?

That night, I get a message from someone on Chinese Twitter that said they traveled five hours by bus to see me and just checked into the same hotel I was in.

So what did you do about this? Report it to security? Ignore it?

Today was a great day.

Nice, thanks for this interesting sentence.

I do Chinese calligraphy and in my (sloppy) handwriting endorse this wine. “Nan Tei Wine. Very Nice!”

But what did you actually think of the wine? Is it good? Terrible?

I feel like a politician.

You've established this already.

He moved back to his hometown to take care of them.

From where?

We exchange gifts. Everyone cries.

What did you give him? What did he give you?

One of the goals of this trip was to put Meizhou on the map, and we did it! It was being reported on the biggest Chinese TV station, CCTV News, that Meizhou was now famous. This “little” city of 4.5 million people finally got the recognition it deserves. The Hakka people (the ethnic group that is from Meizhou) were finally getting noticed.

I sure wish this was a whole section on it's own. I would like to know more about the city, its history, the ethnic group there, and what it means for them to now be "on the map."

For an hour and a half we answer user-submitted questions in a live chat. It’s basically like a Reddit AMA. There are thousands of questions.

What are some of these questions and answers? Any really funny ones?

Naturally we make another music video together while we are here. To a Taylor song, obvs.

Okay so where is it?

Me and Bro toast each other. We take the subway home.Did people recognize you on the subway? 

What is Beijing subway like vs. NY subway?

Matt and Brother Orange’s story is being made into a documentary. See the trailer above ^.

Oh hey! So there is a lot of video! That's nice to know.

[thuaners]

This is the type of news story i like!! How awesome :)