Movie stars, Massive attacks

Outside the mall where I get my groceries there were several vans pulled up in front of a Christmas display put there to attract shoppers with it's international style. Out of the vans came about a half-dozen gaffers and grips who were filming what looked like a Chinese soap opera. Two young, attractive actors strolled hand in hand through scene that must have something to do with them passing the time shopping either directly proceeding or immediately after a heated lover's quarrel. A crowd of regular folks, including young professionals, migrant workers and families, all looked on in respectful amazement,  cordoned into nice order by some attending interns. To think about what this scene would be like, whether it would even be possible, less than 15 years ago... this in a place where you still get pounced on by plainclothes police officers for snapping photos in Tiananmen Square.

Before heading off to crash here I've been listening to Massive Attack's Blue Lines, which initially came out in 1991 and has just been reissued this autumn. It's incredible how fresh the album still sounds, and how much the electronica and hip-hop instrumental stuff from today still riffs on stuff MA was doing over 20 years ago.