Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: United States
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One down (sausage man), another rises up. Jimmy Dean that is. (He could have come back with a better retort, ” No I don’t do sausage” backstage, and “No, I don’t do nail” on stage). http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/07/01/americas-got-talent-jimmy-dean-makes-us-laugh/ Although it’ s America’s Got Talent his routine came across as America Got Burden ” you owe me some…
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How much time do you have left? Life expectancy average has been up, but individually, it’s an open question. The question. And this question should stand Maslow scale on its head i.e. if you knew you were going to die tonight, would you be moving methodically up the Need pyramid? Or just go ahead to…
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When I was working weekends at the School of Journalism at Penn State, journalist-wannabes would check out Advertising Age, Christian Science Monitor, and of course, the New York Times. And everyone read the campus paper. They even showed Deep Throat on campus (organized by the Student Association). Such was the time. We all lined up…
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April 27th Newshour featured Viet entrepreneurs coming back to Vietnam : a. to set up shop b. start an NGO and c. work for the Clinton’s Initiatives. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june10/vietnam_04-27.html We found in it our own Victor Luu (Software), Andrew Lam (writer), a coffee-house artist and an NGO dedicate. The piece provided balanced perspectives to the extent…
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Christopher Shaw, winner of the most recent Power Ball lottery, said he would go to the dentist and then Disney World. (this is a retweet, a year later. Not much has changed, except for Chris’ dentistry). I guess that’s how winning feels: being on top of the world, full of positive forces that lift you…
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The age of frozen self has finally arrived i.e. you either update your web presence, or remain “frozen” in cyber space. Years from now, people remotely connected to you will Google you and mine all the intimate data about you or written by you. Personal digital archive. At the turn of our century, Command-and-Control model dominated…
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Young population. Lots of noise and headsets. Night clubs and bars open every single night of the week. And let’s not forget those Karaoke stores, coffee shops and sidewalk beer stalls. Certainly not Sound of Silence here. My morning starts with greetings from those neighbor’s roosters. From there on, it will only get louder: bike’s…
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Local singers here command higher caches seven nights a week by bar hopping. But occasionally, like last night, they showed up at an open-air concert to entertain the mass. Sandwiched between numbers were the Viet-Kieu comedian couple as special guests. They talked about how the US economy barely stayed out of the red. And of…
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Tocqueville saw in America a country full of contradictions. He could say the same with Vietnam: people are moving up the Maslow scale, but some want to leap-frog security step i.e. basic needs to self-esteem need. Nouveau riches switch companions like Hollywood celebs. Forbes or Swiss bank lists almost 200 Millionaires (USD). Everything is bought…
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The brand is revitalized and resuscitated here in Saigon. If not for the helmets, I would think it is a replay of A Roman Holiday. Back then, the burning monk was pouring gasoline on himself and asked a younger monk to lit the fire. He earned a memorial in that intersection. Another Buddhist temple a few…
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