The Funniest Commercial This Month

Almost every month I will pick out what I think is the funniest commercial and put it on my blog.

This one is really good, because it shows our desire to do something evil. Pay attention to the movement of camera. It's brilliant. You never see the person who is holding the camera in the first 40 sec, but we get the idea of who is holding it and what's her character.

Here is the description of this commercial on the veryfunnyads.com: "A German hardware store promises a hefty reward to the best do-it-yourself project--and sets the stakes very high."

We're attacked by millions of messages everyday and our desire for more funny video clips is harder and harder to be satistied. I feel sad that I've to find an interesting video in ads, but maybe only ads can meet my expectation. I am going to amuse myself to death......

Endless Protests

Yesterday on WSJ, I saw the image of a North Korean defector tried to set himself on fire to halt the torch relay, and the image of hundreds of red-clad Chinese supporters marched to the anti-China protestors, waving national flags as they took the streets of the South Korean capital to defend the torch.

We can see more clashes between the pro-China and the anti-China demonstrators on the media. Both sides know the camera is out there sending images all over the world, and both sides act crazy. Set oneself on fire? Waving national flags on the street of another country? Like Thomas De Zengotita said in Mediated, "we are all method actors now." All of these protesters are self-conscious performers. Who cares about whether the Dalai Lama is going to talk to the Chinese government? The image of conflict is the one that will attract readers and viewers.

Picture--Giselle

As most of my classmates know, I am living in the image of Giselle right now.

Again, this is the drawing I use in my video project. I first use photoshop to create a black-and-white version of her picture, then using pencil to copy it on paper. The drawing is not ART, but it looks good, right? We all love the remediated pictures of reality.

The decisive actor in boycotting the Beijing Olympics

As the torch relay heralding the Beijing Summer Olympics turns into a duck-and-cover operation in several cities, the conflict between pro-China and anti-China sentiment has intensified the duality of the pros and cons of boycotting the Beijing Olympics.

On the side of boycotting the Games, the anti-China camp focuses on the Chinese government's notorious human rights record, including backing the military thugs in Burma, blocking Internet access, fettering journalists, buying two thirds of Sudan's oil, and brutally cracking down on ethnic-Tibetan unrest. They believe boycotting the Beijing Olympics is a righteous way to bring China further into the community of responsible nations.

On the other side of the coin, the pro-China camp points out that the boycott will have opposite effects than intended. They claim the boycott of the Games' opening ceremonies and radical individuals' effort to extinguish the Olympic torch are odd ideas, for these moves might feed China's nationalism, make the regime in Beijing more defensive, and fortify Chinese people's belief that the West is trying to humiliate China.

But in spite of all these efforts to call for China to take its responsibility for its status as a superpower and bring the 21st century to a better place, people will find out that the pro-China and anti-China protesters are not the real determinative of the future movement in this boycotting issue; the decisive actors are the multi-national corporations.

Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest PC maker, sees the Olympic torch uproar as a threat to its brand image. Investing more than $100 million in sponsoring the torch relay, Lenovo hope the Beijing Olympics can blast its name around the world and underscore the reliability of its computers, as it is now making an aggressive push into the U.S. market. However, the company now fears that the protests, intensified by the crackdown in Tibet, will tarnish the Olympic brand and Lenovo's association with it.

Lenovo's concern of the protests will certainly play a more powerful part than outsiders' demands in the government's decision making, because China's Communist Party leaders—mostly engineer—care more about the fate of the computer company that might influence China's economic growth than the human rights issues. We can imagine what enormous amount of fear will be aroused in China's Communist Party when the Western consumers boycott products made in China.

While some multi-national brand's disquietude over the protests might bring China to greater awareness of its crucial position in global politics, other companies might just strengthen the stubbornness and inertia of the Chinese government leaders. Coca-Cola, McDonald's and PepsiCo are still appealing to Chinese pride and patriotism even as the country is being pilloried overseas. Looking to expend their market shares in China, these international companies are cheerleading for China, asking customers to chant its Olympics refrain (including McDonald's "I'm loving China wins!"), and using nationalism as a strategy to build a closer connection with the Chinese people.

These major corporations fend off criticism from Tibetan and free-speech groups who want these companies to use their influence to improve China's human-rights record, and they're even apologizing for their support for the Dalai Lama or their use of Tibetan monks' image in commercials. Their attitude reminds us the fact that most surveillance software is manufactured not in China, Russia or India, but in North America. Shouldn't the world boycott America for manufacturing and exporting spyware to China?

As Joshua Meyrowitz warns in No Sense of Place, "The vacuum in our visible political realm of authority may be giving undue power to invisible men and women who run large national and multi-national corporations." These invisible business leaders who refuse to be viewed and examined by the public media can determine all forms of national and international communication technologies, university research, or even government foreign policies. One might argue that we, as consumers, can affect business leaders to push the Chinese government to negotiate with the Dalai Lama. But the fact is that not everyone is a consumer. Can you imagine what Chinese government's attitude toward Tibet will be if Tibetans are the largest consumer group in China?

Besides, when we have more option to choose whether to boycott Lenovo, McDonald's, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola for its association with China, we will, as Thomas De Zengotita points out in Mediated, only become more indifferent to our own decisions and to what is happening in the world. How many people think that their money spent in Starbucks will indirectly fund Israel arms fair when they enjoy a Tall Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte? Or how many people will even bother to know about the conflict between Israel and Palestine?

The real decision makers are still behind the camera, and all we can see on the media are the celebrities' boycotts of the Beijing Olympics and the Chinese Internet users' boycotts of companies for purportedly supporting the Dalai Lama. The issues of Tibet and Darfur will slowly be driven away by all these self-conscious performers until we no longer notice what is really happening.

Video Project

I draw this sketch for a video project, not for fun. The model--also the main actress in my video project--is my beautiful classmate. I hope all my classmates can recognize who she is.

I give this art work a 70, because it is not "real" enough. You know, I am not good at using the strategy of immediacy--imitating the real world without audience's awareness of the medium--to remediate reality through painting. I prefer drawing abstract painting. Besides, I don't have 2B, 4B, and 6B pencils, so the sketch is not dark enough. We have no fund in filming this project, and the paper I use is the cheapest one I can find in stationery store. It's difficult to draw without the right tool..................................... Alright, I admit that I am just not a good at sketch.

In the video cutting process, I plan to use this painting to dissolve in the real image. That means I got to depict exactly what's presented on the screen. It looks like I overestimate my ability, and I have to reduce my sleeping hours to finish four more paintings. Ahhhhhhh.

The biggest challenge in my life

Yesterday, my girlfriend, living with me, found out that two of her former colleagues got married. She looked all their wedding pictures and commented on every detail of their wedding ranging from the style of their dresses to the size of the wedding reception sites. She was particularly interesting in the wedding of a nurse colleague who marry to a rich doctor, because they invited almost 500 people to their extravagent "wedding of the century," as the bride shamelessly dubbed it. I worked in the same hospital with my girlfriend for three months, so she meticulously explained to me who hated the bride and who wanted to pursued her best friend while I was struggling in writing an English essays.

Then, she suddenly said, "What if I don't have so many friends in my wedding?" Yap, I know she wanted to get married after seeing all these pictures. Especially when she is now thirty years old (five years bigger than me), wedding pictures can easily stimulate her fantacy of having a romantic "wedding of the century."

Many friends said I am living a very boring and easy life--reading books, drawing ink painting, and cooking food for my girlfriend everyday. My parents pay for my tuition and I never have to worry about taking care of them after I graduate. But me living a carefree life? Look at my situation. Few months ago I just turn twenty-five years old, and now I have to worry about getting a decent job and pursuading her mother to permit our marriage. I also have to earn enough money in two years to satisfy my girlfriend's fantacy about her wedding, for she wants to get married before thirty-two years old.

Promising a girl who are five years bigger than you that you will marry her is definitely a challenge. In fact, I think this is the biggest challenge in my life.

Beach

Three places that I've lived for more than two years--Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore--are all surrounded by sea. It's natural for my parents to bring me to some beautiful beaches every year since I was a small kid. Indonesia and Singapore close to equator, so you can go to beaches and swim in the ocean every month. In Taiwan, the time you can go beaches is from April to November. But here in New York, we only have three months--from June to August--that are suitable for swimming in the ocean.

Singapore is just a tiny island, so there isn't much to say about its beaches. Most of Taiwan's beaches are too dirty, for Taiwan has overdeveloped heavy industry clustering in the small island. Indonesian's environmental protection is worse than both Singapore and Taiwan. However, I would say the most beautiful beaches I've seen is in Indonesia. You know, Indonesia has around 17,500 island, and many of them are far away from polluted cities. It's really easy to find a "paradise beach" with stylish resorts in Indonesia.

Yesterday, I've got the chance to go to Long Island Bar Beach Park. The sand is not so good, for it fulls of small stones and shells. I can't take out my shirt and lie on the beach because the weather is still cold--around 50 Fahrenheit. It seems like I've to wait for at least one more month to go to the beach, and when that time comes, it will full of people. Where can I find my ideal beach in New York?

My Professor on Japanese News Report

It's not only cool to see your professor on a TV news report, but also fascinating to watch how another culture presents him. The video clip above shows my professor Paul Levinson on Japan NNN-TV News talking about Obama's oratory skill. Here are few small things I notice:

1. In the beginning of Professor Levinson's comment about Obama's speech, he says, "I will give Obama a 98. You know, once in a while, he slips off, but he is really superb. I would give Hillary an eighty." However, in the Japanese translation, we can only see that "Obama's speech is 98 points, and Hillary is 80 points." It seems like only the scores matter.

2. The pronunciation of "writer" in Japanese is "laita," which sounds like "lighter." "Speech" is prounced "supiichi; "Hillary" is "Hilaly;" and "Obama" is--"Obama." Ohhh Yehhhh!

3. My school--Fordham--in Japanese is "Huodamu." I believe no Japanese will hear about Fordham unless I prounce it Huodamu.

If Japanese people value so highly the first hand information that they even come to America and interview my professor about his opinion on the US election, why can't China and Taiwan do the same thing? I gotta produce some video clips about the US presidential election for Chinese, so they don't have to tolerate the mishmash of China Central Television's reports.

My new pattern of behavior

The girl I love in high school is getting married. If this is not complicated enough, then listen to this: she wants me to give a speech on her wedding day.

We have known each other since we were eleven years old and we were classmates for seven years in Indonesia. In elementary school, she was a girl you wouldn't have a second glimpse. But in junior high school, she suddenly became so gorgeous that almost every boy in the class wanted to be her boyfriend, and I was not an exception.

I knew I liked her because of her look, not her personality or character. Maybe this was the reason why I never pursued her, for I realize that I was just blinded by her appearance. However, after 1998 anti-Chinese incident in Indonesia, most of our classmates went back to Taiwan, and only three of us--including a girl who was my "shadow"--left.

During these three years in high school with mostly three students in class, I got the chance to really look into her thoughts. She has a pure and unblemished mind. I usually said she was foolish, but what's underlied beneath was her conviction that all human are good and we should do our best to be a great person. I was deeply attracted by her childlike mind.

Now, she is going to get married, while I also have a beloved girlfriend. Knowing each other for such a long time, I find it's hard to accept her new role as a wife or a mother. Of course, wedding provides a ritual for her to change from one role to another, and we are all happy to attend this great ceremony. But giving a speech in front of her parents, relatives, friends, husband, friends of her family, friends of her husband, and all the other people that you would never think of makes me faint.

In No Sense of Place, Joshua Meyrowitz points out that the combiation of many different audiences (such as wedding) will create a new social situation that people would need to change the patterns of role behavior. What I want to say to her as a friend on the wedding might embarrass her family or husband, and what I can say to her parents and relatives might be too sloppy or boring for her. Maybe I should see the movie Wedding Crashers again.

Murakami Takashi

Brooklyn Museum is now having an exhibition of Murakami Takashi's art work. Murakami Takashi (村上隆) is one of the most influential and acclaimed contemporary artists to have emerged from Asia. His art style is mainly directed by Japanese animation. As he said, animation is "more representative of modern day Japanese life."

However, I think his art is too much alike Andy Warhol's. He repackages low culture and sells it to all other markets in different forms, including $5,000 limited-edition Louise Vuillton handbags. His distinctive style--superflat--has the characteristics of both consumerism and sexual fetishism. In this aspect, he is more like a business man selling products of popular culture than an artist searching for a deeper meaning of his work.

There are different levels of goals for artists. Scott McCloud divides the purpose of art work into six levels: (1) idea, (2) form, (3) idiom, (4) structure, (5) craft, (6) surface. The sixth level artists only consider what appears on their medium, whereas the first level artists ask for the purpose of their art. Murakami's art work is between the second and third levels. He developes his own personal idiom of art and discovers all that the art form is capable of, but he doesn't seems to struggle with the meaning of his art pieces other than selling them.

What is the level of my art work? Emmmm......I must belong to the seventh level.

I am gullible

At 11 pm., April 1st, I received a call from a female friend. She said, "I want to tell you something that I don't want anyone knows about it." I was in the middle of writing my book review for McCourt's class, so I didn't think too much about why she want to tell me or even what "day" it was.

After I said yes, she proceeded in telling me, "I am pregnant. I don't want the child. Can you accompany me to the hospital?" Then she began to cry and murmured about what she should do. Here, I need to explain a little bit about the story's background. First, we don't have any sexual relations, which means I am not the child's father; second, that female friend is also a foreign student, and it is quite horrible for this thing to happen on us, for we don't know anything about America's law or its medical environment.

I said nothing but my willingness to help her. To be honest, I was worried not only about her, but also about myself, for I didn't know what to do in the hospital.

At 1 am., April 2nd, she called me again. This time, she was not crying anymore. Immediately after her first sentense--"promise me you won't be angry with me"-- I knew I was fooled. Yah, now I realized it was April Fool's Day.

The most interesting thing was that after I told the whole story to my friend Brandon, he said to me, "On April Fool's Day, I always receive a lot of calls from girls saying they are pregnant. Of course I know they are fooling me. You are so gullible!"

Suggestions to these "gravidas":
1. Don't say you're pregnant on April Fool's Day, for even if it is real, no one will believe you anymore.

2. You guys should change April Fool's Day to Non-marital Pregnancy's Day.