Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Yo Rap, Animation and Environment Fans!
Tomorrow is Earth Day 07-07-07!!!
All over the world, there are concerts and activities all day long raising awareness and funding for environmental-friendly causes. The Rapping Professor has joined forces with the Plant A Tree Today Foundation to create a rap animation video called Go With Da Fro! showing the dangers of deforestation and global warming, and showing what you can do TO HELP! All kinds of cool people are in it like Al Gore, Sting, Leonaro DiCaprio & more, with The Rapping Professor at the helm!
So Yo! Yo! Go With Da Fro! at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6bYhKL1tmo http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4103909952204144156
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=753416 or at www.go-with-da-fro.com
Happy Re-Birth of The Earth in All Its Girth, for What It's Worth! With Mirth,
Matthew Bloomfield
The Rapping Professor www.rappingprofessor.com
Friday, July 06, 2007
Yo Rap, Animation and Environment Fans!
Tomorrow is Earth Day 07-07-07!!!
All over the world, there are concerts and activities all day long raising awareness and funding for environmental-friendly causes. The Rapping Professor has joined forces with the Plant A Tree Today Foundation to create a rap animation video called Go With Da Fro! showing the dangers of deforestation and global warming, and showing what you can do TO HELP! All kinds of cool people are in it like Al Gore, Sting, Leonaro DiCaprio & more, with The Rapping Professor at the helm!
So Yo! Yo! Go With Da Fro! at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6bYhKL1tmo http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4103909952204144156
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=753416 or at www.go-with-da-fro.com
Happy Re-Birth of The Earth in All Its Girth, for What It's Worth! With Mirth,
Matthew Bloomfield
The Rapping Professor www.rappingprofessor.com
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Yo English Fans!
I've been teaching Chinese learners for a LONG time, since before some of you were born!
So I've noticed a lot of Chinese-inflected, or 'Chinglish' error patterns. Sometimes these are gramatically incorrect, and other times they just don't sound like native English.
A very common one is asking 'How to spell...?' or 'How to say...?' The correct way to ask this kind of question is 'How do you spell...?' or 'How do you say...?' For example, 'How do you spell encyclopedia?' and 'How do you say 'bijiben diannao' in English?'
If you want to see more of these 'Chinglish-Busters' on this blog, let me know. I've got lots of them!
Best, Matthew Bloomfield M.A. ESL/Linguistics
aka (also known as) The Rapping Professor
Yo Rap Fans! Long time no E-!
Time for a much-awaited update on the goings-on of The Rapping Professor! Here's some cool stuf that's happening:
1) www.rappingprofessor.com website updated! You can now join The Rapping Professor monthly online newsletter, which will update you on Rapping Professor events & activities, sample a couple raps, and provide lots o' useful tidbits for all! There's also a link to Rapping Professor merchandise such as baseball caps, t-shirts and hoodies, canvas carrying bags and more, at http://rappingprofessor.com/merchandise.php, provided by www.mto123.com. You can also download the Rapping Professor intro, hear his Iraq peace song My Home Is Basra at http://rappingprofessor.com/avi/basra.mp3 and his Earth Day environmental rap animation video Go With Da Fro at http://gowithdafro.com/gwdf/gowithdafro.zip. You can also see and hear many other Rapping Professor demos, pics etc. Thanks for visiting www.rappingprofessor.com! And for letting me know how you like it and how we can improve!
2) July 2, 2007 (07-07-07!) is International Earth Day, and to celebrate, there'll be concerts and other big events held all over the world, including in Shanghai. To do my part, The Rapping Professor, in collaboration with The Plant A Tree Today Foundation (PATT) at www.plant-a-tree-today.org, produced an animated rap video (at http://gowithdafro.com/gwdf/gowithdafro.zip) to bring attention to the dangers of global warming and provide concrete steps you can take to reduce your own and your company's 'carbon footprints'. You know, many years ago, the Earth, with its thick canopy of trees, must have looked like it had an 'Afro' hairstyle. But as the result of too much clear-cutting and deforestation, our planet's hairstyle has come to closer resemble a 'buzz cut'. Let's re-grow The Earth's Afro! Yo! Yo! Go With Da Fro!
3) In recent months, The Rapping Professor has provided his MC (Master of Ceremonies) and special event entertainment services to such clients as Ford China, Dow Corning, TycoFlow, Colliers, The British Council and many more. You can see The Rapping Professor in action at the Ford China Annual Party 2007 at http://rappingprofessor.com/hear_fordchina.php. The Rapping Professor gathers information on an event, then composes, studio-records and performs an original song or rap live at the event, getting the audience really involved and rapping along! It's great fun, and something really different which will leave people talking--totally unique!
4) Rapping Professor on TV
. Recently, I went down to HengDian, China's answer to Universal Studios, to shoot a couple episodes of the HongKong TV series adapted from the Jackie Chan movie Plan A (A计划). It's supposed to air later in the summer. The Rapping Professor was also recently the first foreigner to act in the popular Shanghai situation comedy ('sit-com') Happy Apartment (开心公寓)。Many people still recognize me on the street from my reaching the final round of the 'PK' humor competition TV show Who's A Comedian? (一小城名) and from my rap and Chinese erhu performances on OK Xintiandi.
That's enough for now, but there's a lot more going on, so thanks for checking this blog from time to time for updates, supporting TalkdaTalk, and visiting The Rapping Professor at www.rappingprofessor.com.
You Da Man!
All the Best, Matthew Bloomfield
The Rapping Professor
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Yo Rap Fans! Long time no E-!
Time for a much-awaited update on the goings-on of The Rapping Professor! Here's some cool stuf that's happening:
1) www.rappingprofessor.com website updated! You can now join The Rapping Professor monthly online newsletter, which will update you on Rapping Professor events & activities, sample a couple raps, and provide lots o' useful tidbits for all! There's also a link to Rapping Professor merchandise such as baseball caps, t-shirts and hoodies, canvas carrying bags and more, at http://rappingprofessor.com/merchandise.php, provided by www.mto123.com. You can also download the Rapping Professor intro, hear his Iraq peace song My Home Is Basra at http://rappingprofessor.com/avi/basra.mp3 and his Earth Day environmental rap animation video Go With Da Fro at http://gowithdafro.com/gwdf/gowithdafro.zip. You can also see and hear many other Rapping Professor demos, pics etc. Thanks for visiting www.rappingprofessor.com! And for letting me know how you like it and how we can improve!
2) July 2, 2007 (07-07-07!) is International Earth Day, and to celebrate, there'll be concerts and other big events held all over the world, including in Shanghai. To do my part, The Rapping Professor, in collaboration with The Plant A Tree Today Foundation (PATT) at www.plant-a-tree-today.org, produced an animated rap video (at http://gowithdafro.com/gwdf/gowithdafro.zip) to bring attention to the dangers of global warming and provide concrete steps you can take to reduce your own and your company's 'carbon footprints'. You know, many years ago, the Earth, with its thick canopy of trees, must have looked like it had an 'Afro' hairstyle. But as the result of too much clear-cutting and deforestation, our planet's hairstyle has come to closer resemble a 'buzz cut'. Let's re-grow The Earth's Afro! Yo! Yo! Go With Da Fro!
3) In recent months, The Rapping Professor has provided his MC (Master of Ceremonies) and special event entertainment services to such clients as Ford China, Dow Corning, TycoFlow, Colliers, The British Council and many more. You can see The Rapping Professor in action at the Ford China Annual Party 2007 at http://rappingprofessor.com/hear_fordchina.php. The Rapping Professor gathers information on an event, then composes, studio-records and performs an original song or rap live at the event, getting the audience really involved and rapping along! It's great fun, and something really different which will leave people talking--totally unique!
4) Rapping Professor on TV. Recently, I went down to HengDian, China's answer to Universal Studios, to shoot a couple episodes of the HongKong TV series adapted from the Jackie Chan movie Plan A (A计划). It's supposed to air later in the summer. The Rapping Professor was also recently the first foreigner to act in the popular Shanghai situation comedy ('sit-com') Happy Apartment (开心公寓)。Many people still recognize me on the street from my reaching the final round of the 'PK' humor competition TV show Who's A Comedian? (一小城名) and from my rap and Chinese erhu performances on OK Xintiandi.
That's enough for now, but there's a lot more going on, so thanks for checking this blog from time to time for updates, supporting TalkdaTalk, and visiting The Rapping Professor at www.rappingprofessor.com.
You Da Man!
All the Best, Matthew Bloomfield
The Rapping Professor
Friday, December 15, 2006
Hey All, The Rapping ProfessorTM (that's me) has been getting some press lately, in the SH Daily newspaper, SH Mag and City Weekend entertainment mags, Singapore's XL Magazine, on www.juztalents.com and more. Tonight, at the Talkdatalk House, I'm inviting some media and friends, to introduce my skills and services, and show off the house as a great venue for events. The event will be live webcast on Talkbox around China and hosted by my friend David Phillips of the USA. Hope you can tune in! I'll 'bust a few rhymes' and guests willl get a chance to write and perform their own original raps!
All the Best,
Matthew Bloomfield aka The Rapping Professor
www.rappingprofessor.com
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Hi All. You know, for 20 years, I've written songs and raps for special events for friends. And now, it's time to make this special skill into my own business--The Rapping Professor! I'll be writing, recording and performing tailor-written songs and raps for private, corporate and conference events. And The Rapping Professor is starting to gain momentum. There'll be a Shanghai Daily article on The Rapping Professor late next week, and a feature article in XL Magazine www.resultsfoundation.com, in December. I've already done about ten events in Shanghai, and hope to expand to other cities in the near future, with a creative and a marketing partner in each city. Stay tuned for more buzz on The Rapping Professor!
Matthew Bloomfield, TDT Crew, Curriculum Developer and Event MC
Thursday, August 10, 2006
ONLY IN CHINA
You're not going to believe this one!!! Or maybe you will, if you really know the way things work in China...
I have a 'language for services' exchange with a friend; that means I teach him English, and he arranges all my dental and medical treatments. It works pretty well. He's a sales manager for an international dental supplies company, his wife is a dentist, and they have many dentist and doctor friends.
I don't have any major medical problems, but thought I'd try some accupuncture ('zhengjiu') to see if it would have any effect on my occasional indigestion, a pinched nerve in my neck and a tendency to blink too much from tired eyes. I also got a couple of x-rays on my neck and shoulder, after falling off a motorbike in Italy, and some blood tests to check my blood sugar and cholesterol levels. I have a family history for these conditions, so have to be careful.
I had the tests done on a Wednesday and was told to come back Friday for the results. When i went to pick them up, my doctor, Doctor Guo, handed them to me in a plastic bag. I quickly scanned the blood results, and had to run to another appointment. Of course the names of the different tests were in Chinese, so I knew I'd have to get them translated into English to understand them fully.
A couple hours later I showed the results to a friend to see if she knew the English terms, and she started laughing hysterically! I asked her what was so damn funny about my blood levels, and she pointed to the name on the tests: Cai DongFang, age 88!!! I didn't think it was quite so funny, and immediately texted Dr. Guo to chew him out for his incompetence. A while later, he texted back saying no, that was correct; he'd used that elderly gentleman's medical card to order my tests because the older the patient, the cheaper the tests. He assured me they were my results!
An action like this would be totally illegal in North America, termed fraud, and possibly cause for firing, but here in China it seems to make perfect sense. I texted Dr. Guo again and said 'Ok, but why didn't you tell me when I picked up the results?' His reply was 'You're right--terribly sorry about that.' Only in China.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Yo, this is Boomsy just back to Shanghai after 3 days in Dubai and more than 2 weeks in Italy!
Dubai, home of one quarter of the world's construction cranes! And you can see it by looking on the map: half the places are listed as 'u/c'--under construction. Dubai is in the UAE, United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East. It is bursting at the seams with construction and development, and money is no object. Dubai has not only many 5-star hotels, but also a couple of 6-star and the world's only 7-STAR HOTEL, which is shaped like a giant sail and is really quite remarkable. In Dubai, you can go snow-skiing inside a giant mall! I went on a desert safari in a dune buggy--they let half the air out of the tires and slide all over the place in the sand--an exhilarating ride! I also went on a day trip on a boat which sailed into the waters of Oman, another Arabian Gulf country. We snorkeled and swam and enjoyed the sea and sun and mountain scenery. Dubai is the new emerging economic boom zone of the world--hope you can visit there someday!
Then I went to sunny Italy, where my sister rented a villa in the beautiful province of Tuscany, in central Italy. First, I flew to Rome and spent a day on open-topped double decker buses touring the amazing tourist and historical sites. Rome is like a living museum with amazing old and grand buildings and ruins. You can get on and off the bus all day and visit all the sites, like the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Trevi fountain, and the Vatican and Sistine Chapel.
Then I took a train to the 12th-century city of Perugia in Umbria, central Italy. Incredibly steep hills and ancient buildings and narrow roads, which tiny little cars motor up and down. In Italy, a Smart car is a mid-size! I loved Perugia, and stayed in a hostel with a jaw-dropping beautiful view of the surrounding hills and towns. I also visited Assisi, the home of the Christian Saint Francis. Assisi is also a breathtakingly lovely town which is not to be missed!
Finally, I joined my parents, sister and many of her friends for a week at a luxury villa in Tuscany. In an old farmhouse in the countryside. It had a beautiful pool, and most days we took short trips to nearby scenic spots for winery tours or historical sightseeing, or (for the ladies) SHOPPING. For everyone, the food in Italy was a main attraction. Irresistible pastas and pizzas and the best gelato (ice cream) in the world! I tried to have it twice a day at least!.
So that's my mini-tour of Italy. I really hope you get the chance to visit there in your lifetimes--you won't regret it!
Boomsy signing out
Monday, May 15, 2006
Hi Friends of TalkdaTalk!
I'm Boomsy, aka The Rapping Prof, also TDT Crew & MA writer.
We have a fun event coming up May 21 which I'd like to recommend to everyone--Salsa Dancing! Everyone loves this steamy dance from Latin America. I'm taking lessons from our lovely dance instructor for the event: Isabella Song. Just seeing Isabella swing her hips will make it worth your while to come! 
Seriously, she's a great dancer and devoted teacher, and seeing her might just make you want to sign up for salsa lessons! She'll introduce some basic history, steps and vocabulary for salsa dancing, and everyone will get a chance to practice the steps alone and with a partner! So check the TDT website for details and come on out to the Clubhouse Sunday May 21 2-5 pm for Salsa Dancing!
I'm Boomsy, and I'm out.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Yo 'ssup? (That means 'Hi, what's going on?'),
Boomsy's back from his trip to Bali, where he learned a lot about setting up his own business. Everyone has his/her own strengths and weaknesses, so the idea is to put together a team which complements those areas. For example, I'm a 'Creator' and 'Star' profile, with no end of original ideas and no fear of getting on stage and promoting them... BUT what I need are people to work with who are strong in skills like dealmaking (finding clients), accounting, IT systems etc. to take care of the more 'mechanical' parts of business. How about you? What are you best at? What kind of people would you need to attract in order to put together a crack team? What kind of business would you set up if you started your own business...? Exciting things to think about, right? Because one thing for sure: you'll never get wealthy working for someone else...only for yourself.
I'm out. --Boomsy
Monday, March 27, 2006
YO! Wuttup TDT Peeps? (In 'English', that means 'What's going on, Talkdatalk people?'
This is TDT Crew Member and MiniAdventure writer Matthew (You can also call me 'Boomsy') writing to you from the beautiful shores of Bali, Indonesia! I'm here on a 'working holiday' until April 8. What's a working holiday, you might ask? Well, you're sorta working, sorta vacationing. But in my case, since i love what i do, it doesn't feel like working anyway. I started an online Balinese handicraft export business with my local friend Narendra. Our website is at www.bali-export-import.com.
Welcome to my Blog and let's talk about your English questions and other stuff!
Best, Matthew
also aka FeiMeng 'Flying Dream'
Monday, March 20, 2006
Matthew Bloomfield M.A. was born in Montreal, where he didn't learn French, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio where he learned to rap. He did learn to speak French during a year in France as a kid, and has also lived in New York, Seattle, Taiwan, Beijing, Macau and Shanghai.
His fluent Mandarin comes from two U.S. government-funded years of intensive study, first at Cornell University and then at Beijing University, where his roommate was Mark Rowswell, who quickly rose to superstardom as the famous DaShan. Matthew also speaks Indonesian and owns a small Balinese handicraft export company at www.bali-export-import.com.
Matthew's M.A. is in TESL/Linguistics from Ohio University, and he also has a degree in World Music. You can hear some of his orginal compositions at www.rapcdinblue.com. Matthew taught English for two years at Macau University before coming to Shanghai in late 2004 as first English Director for Saybot LLC www.saybot.com. He left Saybot to devote himself to creative freelance projects in language instruction/corporate training, commercial voice talent, TV performer & MC-event host, and more.
Matthew is pleased to be part of the TalkDaTalk team as MA creator, facilitator, Crew, and Christmas Party Rapping Santa.