The Shanghaiist brings us Obama's little brother

The Shanghaiist has compiled various stories on President-elect Barack Hussein Obama's half-brother, Mark Ndesandjo, who lives in Shenzhen, China, just beyond the border of Hong Kong (in fact, Shenzhen is the first part of the People's Republic that I ever set foot in). He runs an Internet company and teaches orphans how to play the piano. (Awwww...)

I first noticed this in the Washington Post, which includes a YouTube video of Chinese media focusing on Ndesandjo (Is he speaking Chinese in the video? The timing is off, so I can't tell if it's him or the voiceover). Apparently he's gotten famous enough that he's being asked to do endorsements, which means he could end up making more money than his famous brother.

That the President-elect's half-bro (same father from Kenya but a different mother, who is also an American like Obama's mother) is living and doing good (and doing well, I s'pose) in China is a notable and interesting story in and of itself. But what I also liked about it was that the WaPo was citing confrère Asia blog The Shanghaiist, whose name Marmot's Hole readers would recognize, and with whom I've been very loosely connected once or twice, in a Kevin Bacon sort of way.