Wednesday, October 20, 2010

sports

The Houston Rockets recently returned to the U.S. after a lengthy trip to China for the preseason. Lots of teams and players have been traveling abroad to help promote the NBA, but things are different when the Rockets make a trip. When Houston goes to China, they bring center Yao Ming who is one of the most well-known athletes in the world. The Chinese center is a god back home. Don’t believe me? Just let some of his teammates tell it:
Patrick Patterson: “When we first got off the plane in Beijing and went through customs, they had big signs all around that said you’re not allowed to take pictures in that area. But then you’ve got security guards, police officers and all the people behind desks taking pictures of Yao. So I picked up the sign and walked right beside Yao holding it– and they just kept taking pictures (laughs). Obviously the rules didn’t apply when Yao was there, so I think that’s a great indication of how much he means to China.”

Source: larrybrownsports.com

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

mobile technology

mobile phones are trending towards being an all in one device. In the future, the only device we need to carry around will be our mobile phones and it will facilitate everything we need, be it media, communication, entertainment or news.

indonesia wayang

CHECK out this funny video of wayang :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paxXt7iSvkc

Eating

Asian cuisine styles can be broken down into several regional styles that have roots in the peoples and cultures of those regions. The major types can be roughly defined as East Asian with its origins in Imperial China and now encompassing modern Japan and the Korean peninsula; Southeast Asian which encompasses Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Viet Nam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines; South Asian derived the states that once made up British India – Burma, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan as well as several other countries in this region of the continent; Central Asian and Middle Eastern.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Election

"Political interest and electoral enthusiasm have generally picked up whatever politics has attained a high level of drama, offering spectacular storylines and flamboyant personalities rather than ideological standoffs or partisan bickering"

I do not entirely agree with this statement from the first reading. I believe that while drama storylines can boost a particular politician's popularity, it is still up to their personality and appeareance to win over the majority of the voters attention. Their policies and the deapth of understanding of their policies also plays an important role for the smarter than average voter as well.

J-pop

The accessability of female japanese idols compared to idols within western society is astoundingly easy and friendly, with the impression of "the girl next door", anybody can be an idol and the treating of fans as friends who should take care of them as opposed to worship them.

However, for male japanese idols, it seems different as they try to appear "out of this world" and exotic to their fans.

Maybe this is an indication of the target audiences of these idols to be of mainly female demographic?

Masculinities

A short clip on youtube on why asian girls go for white guys, frankly i find this kind of sad and depressing for us asian guys. Western influence on our culture and women are changing the ideals for an ideal man to be of more western appearance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI3lPLsbwjw




 

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Bollywood

Bollywood,  its unique adaptation and styles of popular Indian culture, even though heavily influenced by Western cultures and movies provide a refreshing scene to the movies section. While on one hand, the clearly notable references and storylines from American movies are clearly present, this form on cinema adds to it its own spice and spin-offs to the original stories.

The consciousness of the producers to make their productions "something for everyone of the family" has embedded a heavier focus on "family" rather than "the individual". This has in turn offered to create a more complete picture of the protagonist and allows us to greater understand the character's background and immerses us completely in the world of the movie, providing us an escape from reality.

The song and dance items in Bollywood productions are a compulsory part of this type of indian film. They are sometimes provided to express subtlety in romantic scenes and often hint at sexual references without being too explicit for the children of the family to watch, or provided to express joy and happyness, or even sometimes be completely irrelevant to the plot and act as a catalyst for the imagination and an escape from reality for the viewers. This in turn makes the sets of these dance and song items to be set in exotic places or places which are related to relaxation and a general uplifting tone.

Sadly, the Bollywood industry, due to large cultural differences is not very popular in Western or Eastern countries. But because of cultural proximity of some Middle Eastern countries, such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries with similar cultural values, such as Russia, Bollywood has become a sensation and is widely popular within those countries.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Asian Popular Culture

Asian popular culture is a phenomenon that is currently sweeping across all of Asia, slightly adapted and modified by each region, but still keeping its main values and themes in common.

This culture is generally passed around and spread throughout the world via mass media and multimedia mediums such as television, music, movies and computer games.

Many of  this new pop culture is heavily influenced by westernisation ie. the U.S. and this can be seen in many of the styles of music and the use of the english language in many of its modern media.

I am looking forward to learning and understanding more about Asian popular culture in this course.