Welcome to VERY FEEL - a blog of text, image, and sound by me, Brendan McGetrick. I’m writer and editor based in Guangzhou, China. I’ve been here for about a month and thought this blog would be a good way to document the experience and avoid email.

Now then formal introductions out of the way…

“Let’s get it started” - MC Hammer

I guess it makes sense that the first contribution to the VERY FEEL blog comes on the 9th of June 2006, a.k.a. the first day of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At 18:00 in Munich, the ball is dropped on the world’s most important sporting event. (Beijing we hear you, but the Olympics cannot compete - too fractured, too many boutique athletes who you never hear from again…) VERY FEEL might as well start here too, because, like the WC, this is an effort in the spirit of internationalism, apolitics, non-violence, and silly hats.

I’m no football expert, by any means; in fact, like most not-so-big football fans, I only ever pay attention to the game during the World Cup, when the air is thick with nationalism and ethnic stereotyping. When there’s an opportunity to talk and celebrate with all types and forget for a few weeks that most of life is played on a significantly less even pitch.

There is so much that can and has been said about why football is the world’s game and why the World Cup captivates. I won’t add my coarse, untrained voice to the chorus. But to cover a bit of that ground on this opening day, here’s a recent piece by Michael Elliott and Simon Robinson on “The Global Game”. And another on “How to Watch the World Cup” by Tony Karon.

UNIT 01: Now Life

“Let me put a little excitement up in yo lifestyle.” - Ludacris

All that football talk aside, the time is also right to kick off this blog, because the reason I’m in China finally materialized last week in the form of UNIT 01 - the first installment of UNIT Magazine. UNIT 01 was prepared as a special supplement, commissioned by 《新视线》/ The Outlook Magazine for its June issue. It features the thoughts of Theodore Zeldin and art of 蒋志 (Jiang Zhi). Like all future issues, it’s bilingual (Chinese & English).

The issue opens with a statement of UNIT’s interests and ambitions, and since none of that has been explained here yet, why not launch the blog in the same style. Below is an excerpt from UNIT 01’s editors’ letter:

Around the world cultures are evolving amid a whirlwind of colliding influences. Everywhere sources of enthusiasm, suffering, apathy and inspiration appear and disappear. UNIT embraces the madness. A product of a new meeting between East and West that employs shared ideas and passions, UNIT is cultural fusion. It is a platform for globally aware, interested and passionate people, who are concurrently naive, apprehensive, curious, and wise. Created in Guangzhou China by a unit of Chinese, European, and American collaborators, UNIT brings together people who are united in an ongoing effort to address the moment’s most compelling puzzle – what to make of 21st century life.

To begin this process, UNIT seized one of the current moment’s richest and least developed concepts – “lifestyle”. In its current definition, the word is a vague amalgamation of clothes, holidays, personal hygiene, art, politics, and privacy. It is western-centric, commodity-driven, and wealth-dependent. But instead of being a tool for spreading sameness, “lifestyle” has the potential to become a codeword for the invention of new forms of difference - new slang, new relationships, new art forms, new religions. Outward-looking and unafraid of discomfort, this new definition requires imagination, not money.

In this mini-issue, celebrated British philosopher and historian Theodore Zeldin launches the UNIT project by describing a new, ultra-modern lifestyle, based on empathy, experience, and exchange. In the UNITs to follow, we will track this new lifestyle across the globe. Our coverage will be personal and immediate, rooted in China’s mutual fascination with the world outside.

UNIT has many faces. It will be at different times a magazine, an art event, a party, blog, an exhibition, or an animation. In all forms, it will provide a bridge between China’s emerging creative class and its peers around the world. We encourage you to collaborate on this project, in whatever way you prefer. There is much to do and much at stake. Please contact us.

www.unitlive.com

Stay tuned…
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