In two years, Vietnam will have an entry in the World Record Book: it’s largest carved image of a jade Buddha.
The entrepreneurial millionaire, Mr Cuong, said he liked big manly things (commenting on his $300,000 imported Hummer in North Vietnam.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100118/ap_on_fe_st/as_vietnam_big_buddha
When Bill Gates made his visit there, university students couldn’t get enough of his “star” presence.
Vietnam’s version of the Golden Globe.
By the time we lock in an “ideal” image (self-projection), these “heroes” betray us (Gates now occupied with his vaccination projects, Bill Clinton in Haiti and Harrison Ford could hardly compete for a role in Avatar) by moving on to Hero 2.0, their current role.
The West is not known for “sitting down”. We offer “drive-in” theaters, “drive-through” burger joints, Starbucks etc…
Rush was talking about America, Meals-on-Wheels for the world. At least, he got the mobility aspect correctly.
Trust me. Wait until you see electric wheel chairs show up as fad. Side walks and McMeal cashier windows will have to be retrofitted to accommodate Baby Boomers’ wheel through.
It’s ironic that in a predominantly Buddhist region that we find a thriving economic hub.
Mr Cuong, with his Hummer and carved Buddha, foreshadows the shape of things to come.
More people will come, to gaze at the sitting Buddha. But then, they will leave, wanting to drive the Hummer.
That’s the only way to explain the paradox of life in the East, as it finds itself intersect with the West.
Like Google HQ in China, finds its corporate emblem out front with condolence flowers, which remind us of the outpouring sympathy once displayed only for Diana. The simple, child-like crayon logo is showered by Asian-century grief.
Can’t get more iconic and ironic than that. Let’s see who is the last man “blinking” on that one.
Thang Nguyen 555 