8 Asians

Last New Years Eve, Yoshi and I stayed at the Kabuki Hotel in SF J-Town. I guess they pipe in the NHK for the guests there because there is no NHK to be found via DirecTV in San Jose, where we are this year. No NHK = NO KOHAKU. BOO, DIRECTV.

Anyway, since New Years Eve doesn’t feel like New Years Eve unless I have at least a little Red and White Song Battling, Yoshi was nice enough to go online to find a clip from this year’s Kohaku already posted. Yay!

Here is Jero, our favorite African-American Enka singer performing, with a guest appearance of his Mommy sitting in the audience, calling him “chibi” and saying “gambatte.” Awww…

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

 

 POP 88 #26 - FAVs of 2009 [37:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (290)

Happy New Year Everyone!

This year end special of POP 88 brings you my personal favorites of 2008. I really tried to be diverse, and made every effort not to repeat songs I’ve already played this year. It is, however, rather bias as you will see/hear. It is MY personal favorites list, afterall.

Again, I find some trouble finding a decent new years resolution and resolve to use the word “actually” less in my podcast … although listening back to the show, sounds like I’ve already failed miserably even before the new year started. Someone run a bean counter on that – thanks.

For feedback, requests, suggestions or comments, leave a message over at Popcast88.com, send an email to christine [at] popcast88.com or join the community over at Ning.com. There you can request, share stories and join in on-going discussions of anything and everything about pop culture.

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See you all next year!

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My family and I recently visited the Philippine Coral Reef Exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.   I recall seeing some of the fish in the exhibit from the time many years ago when I went with my parents to a small fish market in Mindinao.  What really impressed me was the that exhibit had descriptions of how some Filipinos there were working to preserve the reefs and practice sustainable fishing.  This is a welcome change from hearing about the destructive practices there of dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing.  If those practices sound absolutely crazy, they really happen. Filipinos are not generally known for long term thinking.

Another thing I found interesting about the musuem was the Asian food in the cafeteria.  They had steamed bao, Vietnamese rolls, and pho.  Number One Son had the pho.  You could say that he is “phanatical” about pho.   Wasn’t cheap though.

If you are thinking about going in the near future, be aware that the museum has been wildly popular over the holidays. We bought our tickets online ahead of time and still had to wait over an hour to get in.  Parking can be difficult, too.  In my opinion, it was worth the wait and parking pain.  There is a lot more than just the aquarium such as the rain forest exhibit and The Living Roof.  If you go, plan ahead and get there early.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The most recent issue of the esteemed academic journal, the Journal of Experimental Botany,  has a very interesting article with the rather dry title: Phytochemical and genetic analysis of ancient cannabis from Central Asia. That’s marijuana or pot, for you non-academic peeps.

A researcher from the University of Montana at Missoula sampled (heh heh) marijuana from a carbon dated 2700 year-old tomb which was apparently found to have high levels of THC, which is the chemical responsible for getting people high.  According to the abstract, the article states:

To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent, and contribute to the medical and archaeological record of this pre-Silk Road culture.

Meaning, this was the oldest known instance of someone using pot to get high.

What makes this even weirder is that the tomb is from an ancient tribe in China known as the Gushi, where all the members had blond hair and blue eyes. Given all the trade that was happening with Europe and Russia in those days, it’s not a surprise that more European looking folks made it to westernmost China, but it’s still a trip to see such intercultural mixing.

And, as the Toronto Star reports, the area where the tomb was found, Xinjiang, is where most forms of marijuana originate genetically.

So why don’t I see more Chinese people toking up?

(Mildly inaccurate but hilarious photo source: Wikipedia)

 

 POP 88 #24 - Non-Stop Xmas/ Winter Mix [33:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (389)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

Enjoy the latest holiday releases from your favorite Japanese and Korean singers. (It’s weird, but I couldn’t find any holiday music from any Chinese artists.) This show plays music from some artists I’ve never played before including KAT-TUN, Lena Park, Mai Kuraki and Foxxi MisQ and find out exactly how many covers of Wham’s Last Christmas I have in my collection; I almost played two of them for the podcast.

Again, if you like what you hear and would like to support the podcast, I ask that you show your support by buying the CDs and DVDs using the links provided on this site. Questions, comments, suggestions, feedback and requests can be made using the comment field below or sending an email to christine [at] popcast88.com, or visit popcast88.com.
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For McDonald’s being the shameless mega-corporation that gets sued all the time and makes people fat, they’re a marketers wet dream as far as brand recognition and global identity is concerned. Ask my mom what a “Chipotles” is and she’ll stare at you blankly, even though I’ve taken her there twice; ask her what McDonalds is and she’ll show you the mailers she gets in the mail talking about McChicken sandwiches in Chinese.

McNuggets seem to be popular marketing tools to Asians; burgers and fries are distinctly American things, but a McNugget — with its amorphous shape and mystery white chicken substance — don’t really have pre-existing cultural associations. Like, it’s chicken, and it’s fried. What else can you do with that? Market the fuck out of it, apparently.

So when 8A reader Brian sent us an e-mail asking for opinions about the McDonald’s Kung-Food commercial that played during the Olympics, it reminded me of a previous commercial back in 1986 for McNugget’s Shanghai. I sent both videos to the mailing list to see what they had to say:

Ben: I never saw an issue with the Olympics McDonald’s commercial. I actually thought it was pretty well done and it brings what most people like about the Chinese culture (everybody was kung-fu fighting, those cats were fast as lightning…)
Joz: The Kung Food one is gross because that literally girl literally kicks the chicken nugget and yet later they both try to eat it. Yuck! Keep food away from foot!
John: I thought was cool, because of 1) Chinese kids, 2) It’s in the context of China, 3) The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon theme is something Americans have gotten used to through Ang Lee’s films or Kill Bill, 4) It’s during the Beijing Olympics and 5) The commercial actually aired in China, as opposed to the other commercial.
Joz: Why isn’t anyone else offended by foot near food?!?! It’s disgusting! Would YOU eat food that some little girl touched with her foot?!?!? YUCK!
John: Hey, less than five seconds, although that was disproved this year.
Joz: I’m sorry, five second rule does not apply to FEET! Contact to feet, DO NOT EAT! Do you like my rhyme to help you remember that?!

Ben: Eh. Not really my thing, but you can’t really blame them for going that route considering where Americanized Chinese food is these days.
Joz: The McNuggets Shanghai just shows how it was ok to be totally culturally insensitive back in the 80s. It’s okay to use “orientalness” to sell your McNuggets even if (pretty much) none of your other commercials ever show Asians. And showing non-Asians attempting to use chopsticks is funny! Chop chop! Har har! (Gag). This does, however, explain the disposable McDonald’s Shanghai chopsticks that I recently found in a drawer at my Grandma’s house. I think those chopsticks are about 25 years old! Oh, and I would like to know what the difference is between a regular fortune cookie and a “McFortune Cookie” is.

Incidentally, the McNuggets Shanghai promotion only lasted for a month, probably because giving McNuggets chopsticks and a fortune cookie STILL MAKES IT A CHICKEN McNUGGET. It was replaced by a promotion for “Fiesta” McNuggets, which were McNuggets served with a sombrero hat commemorative coin. If there is nothing these 1980’s campaigns teach us, it’s that we live in a much more politically correct time, because that shit would not fly. Or those glasses, either.

I won’t lie, though: that McNuggets Lovin’ commercial? Kinda awesome, I’m just sayin.

One thing that really shocked me about moving here from Western Massachusetts was the number of Asian Americans with non-stereotyped roles, like police officers or fire fighters.  Almost five years ago, when San Francisco Mayor Newsom appointed 26 year police veteran Heather Fong to become the city’s first female police chief (and the first Asian American woman to ever lead a police force of a major U.S. city) I was in shock; only in San Francisco or California could I have ever see this happen, I thought. On Saturday, Fong announced that she would be retiring this coming April.

But Fong hasn’t been perfect in her role as police chief and has had her critics, especially about her leadership style:

“Critics faulted her low-key management style and her administration’s handling of police discipline. Even some neighborhood leaders have complained that she is slow to personally and publicly respond in areas besieged by crime waves … Among the most consistent criticism flung at Fong is that she is overly cautious in a job that demands clear and decisive leadership. Yet it is her quiet management style that helped land her the job in the first place … Louise Renne, the former San Francisco supervisor and city attorney who served as Police Commission president during a time when Fong was chief, said in a 2006 interview that Fong “is not a swaggering, blustering police chief – this is a chief who does things in a different way.”"

Sounds like stereotypical complaints made about Asian Americans in the corporate world, if you ask me. Just because the traditional model of police chief management and leadership has been lead by white males doesn’t mean that should be the standard; it’s just what the public is used to. If Fong had a leadership style like, say, the current Governor of Illinois, would that would be seen as an example of “more clear, decisive and assertive leadership?”