It seems like only yesterday that workers broke ground on the Shanghai World Financial Center, the 492-meter-high skyscraper in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district and the second tallest building in the world (the Taipei 101 building is the tallest at 509 meters from base to top of spire). But today, workers in Shanghai held a ground breaking ceremony for a building that will dwarf both towers: the Shanghai Center, a 632-meter twisting cylindrical structure that will reportedly feature the world’s tallest non-enclosed observation deck. The 120-story building was designed by Arthur Gensler, the owner of a San Francisco-based design firm, who apparently oblivious to the horrid financial problems plaguing builders, told Business Week, “This is a wonderful time for this project to start.” Construction of the Shanghai Center will cost $2.2 billion and is scheduled to be completed in 2014. By that time, while the Shanghai Center will surely be China’s tallest building, it will only be the world’s second tallest. The Burj Dubai building in Dubai, to be completed next year, will measure 818 meters from base to pinnacle, blowing every other skyscraper away. That being said, the skyline in Pudong is rapidly, yet quietly, becoming one of the finest in the world.

A really handsome guy wrote today about how China is dealing with the release of Guns N’ Roses sixth studio album Chinese Democracy, the band’s first original studio album in 17 years. Is rock and roll’s most anticipated album in years China’s worst nightmare?

Huffington Post: “China Bans Democracy, Declares War on Guns N’ Roses“

Here’s the album art from Chinese Democracy:

Front Cover:

Back Cover:

Alternate Cover:

All week, we’ll celebrate Chinese Democracy here at Flumesday, and hopefully the censors who monitor websites in China for subversive content will know that I’m talking about the new Guns N’ Roses album, and not Chinese people voting. Trust me, had this album come out while I was still in China, this would have been a big moment for Flumesday. There would have been interviews with Chinese people on what it was like to finally have Chinese Democracy, photo slideshows of Chinese people holding up the “Chinese Democracy” cover, first-hand accounts of what it’s like having Axl’s new album but still not being able to vote, all that shit. But alas, I’m here in New York, so the celebration will be a bit subdued. The album is getting universally panned by music bloggers, newspapers and even fans. Here’s my favorite paragraph from yesterday’s Times‘ review:

“Chinese Democracy” (Geffen) is the Titanic of rock albums: the ship, not the movie, although like the film it’s a monumental studio production. It’s outsize, lavish, obsessive, technologically advanced and, all too clearly, the end of an era. It’s also a shipwreck, capsized by pretensions and top-heavy production. In its 14 songs there are glimpses of heartfelt ferocity and despair, along with bursts of remarkable musicianship. But they are overwhelmed by countless layers of studio diddling and a tone of curdled self-pity. The album concludes with five bombastic power ballads in a row.

“Curdles self-pity.” Wow, that’s mean.

By far the most interesting piece of news I saw today. Spencer Elden, who posed for the cover of the classic 1991 Nirvana album Nevermind, is all grown up, and posing once again, underwater with his arms out facing a dollar bill on a fishing hook, though this time without an exposed baby penis. According to an MTV article Tuesday, Elden’s parents were paid $200 to have their baby photographed floating in the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena (also where the recreation was snapped) and at the time, they had no idea who Nirvana was. Little did the Eldens know, Kurt Cobain’s band would go on to be one of the most influential groups in rock history, Nevermind would go 10 times platinum and its album cover would become one of the most recognizable ever… making Spencer’s baby penis the most famous baby penis in the history of music.