Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Tag: tech and multi-cultural marketing

  • John Hughes, home but not alone!

    As recently  as yesterday, on CNN, we could still see a news report about the lone tenant in Ft Myers 32-story condo apartments. The report was entitled: “Home Alone”, and once again, John Hughes’ movie title resonates in each of us. So were his string of successes in the 80’s, focusing on teens growing up…

  • She wants more, more, more

    Proponents of the Industrialization listed among its benefits, more leisure time for men and women (picnic anybody?) Yet the labor force ended up getting more and more women out of the homes, onto the factory floor and other work places. This makes both men and women press for time. A new study found women unhappy…

  • Fitness of Doom

    My last day at a local LA Fitness was Saturday. I missed it. Then I saw the news about the shooting at LA Fitness in Pittsburgh. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090805/ap_on_re_us/us_health_club_shooting; I can visualize the lay out (Latin dance class, the back-shoulder machines outside, the bike room next door). Scary! Civilization and its discontent!. This guy was even promoted…

  • Clunk and Junk yards

    Clunkers are coming out to rescue of  our ailing economy (Dreamworks’ CARS, the sequence). Our next campaign then should be on old appliances e.g. refrigerators, washers/dryers and analog TV’s. One person’s carbon footprint is someone else’s  fingerprints (manufacturing, shipping, maintenance, and disposal). Tell me your independence and privacy, I will tell you a web of…

  • Chinese inclusion

    The Economist ran an article about California’s saying “sorry” for the 19th century Chinese Exclusion Act. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14140230 Reminds me of another legislation which seeks to undo the harm (face-saving) of the Japanese-American internment years.Even as recent as the early 80’s, we still read about “Yellow peril” (Vincent Chen got killed on his Bachelor night out).…

  • B Happy

    At http://www.happyplanetindex.org you can find out about a new metric to measure Happiness vs Ecological footprint. It’s a new attempt to come up with a more optimal, comprehensive and overarching set of  measurement than traditional GDP index. As a result, Honduras, Brazil and Costa Rica made the top 10 along with a bunch of L.A…

  • The Shining

    Alone. Empty building. Many rooms. Only your immediate family to victimize. Writer’s block. I am bored. I am bored. I am bored. This will soon happen to this family in Florida spanking new building, who is asked to be refugees to Tower II. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090801/ap_on_re_us/us_lonely_highrise The only sound they hear is “going up” (automated recording in…

  • Yellow Power

    1983. I stepped off a plane to walk on the ground of the Manila airport. I was mindful and slightly apprehensive because of the previous events, among them Aquino assassination which took place on the same acreage. My trip to do good work  among the Boat People refugee centers out in the boon docks (Bataan)…

  • Heroes in our eyes

    We got some footage about those Japanese astronauts now. This brings me back to those endless summers when I watched all sorts of movies: French, American, Chinese and Japanese. Among the Japanese ones, the most memorable is the “blind Samurai”, who exemplifies the spirit of quiet strength. We self-project, so our heroes tend to reflect…

  • Bounced around

    Procul Harum’s organist finally had his day in (English Supreme) court. The 60’s organist who opened and closed out “the Whiter Shade of Pale” just got an award (share of royalty) for his part in the still-money-making song. Sandra Bullock in the NET was playing it in one of her moments of doubt (interestingly, the…