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: Youtube

  • Where have all the salesmen gone?

    Algorithm rules. Pop-up ads and SEO. Sales automation. Who needs a firm handshake, the smell of splash perfume and sincere eye contact! Users know everything about the product and the industry anyway. There is no need for more information. Only the recommendation part, which they rely on friends and families. Strangers knocking on doors and…

  • Here’s my card

    You have heard that line in movies, at the bar, or convention hall. The Post had an article about the survival of the card in our digital age. Maybe because it’s so small, so humble, and so obvious. Google was thinking big i.e. “organize the world’s information”, thus, overlooked the tiny card in our wallet.…

  • Deer facing headlights

    WSJ most read article is “Why people can’t make decision” (see my other blog, “buy-in behaviors”). I also found another article that reinforces this period of indecision: companies are saving the money they borrowed at bank’s low rates, thus fail to spur the economy. Why would people borrow money at low rates, then sit on…

  • all flesh!

    It must be hard to keep reinventing one’s self, especially when it comes to topping your own high marks. Gaga does it again on Vogue cover (all- meat bikini ). http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/09/07/2010-09-07_lady_gaga_dons_raw_meat_on_cover_of_vogue_hommes_japan.html Use all your resources. Follow the money and your instincts. This is to show that when it comes to imagination, we have no bound.…

  • Name Change

    It costs about $800 to change one’s name here in the US e.g. on social security , driver’s license and passport. One might prefer something that has global sounding: Villa, Gaga, Shakira. Between YouTube, Facebook and World Cup, we enjoy an unprecedented confluence of technology and globalization. And the common denominators are football scores and…

  • Introspect, retrospect and reflect

    Books started to come out, dissecting the effects of the Net. A new one, entitled “The Shallows, What the Internet is doing to our brains” by Nicholas Carr. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6523DV20100603?feedType=nl&feedName=ustechnology In retrospect, it brings to mind Neil Postman‘s “Amusing ourselves to death“, a classic critique about effects of television. (He argues that the sheer quantity of…

  • Internet intersects culture

    In China,, teacher Ma was on trial for using the internet to recruit partner-swapping. In Pakistan, they banned Facebook and then YouTube. And in Iran, right after the election, they did not like Twitter. Fast-pace technology collides slow-changing tradition. As of this edit, Kenneth Cole (shoes-man) tweeted about “boots on the ground” as referring to…

  • Media shock

    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…

  • Traditions: collide and compromise

    East meets West. New Year and Valentine’s. Families vs lovers. In Vietnam, with a strong Confucian foundation, filial quality stands above all else. So on that first day of this year of the Tiger, sons and daughters are expected to show up first thing at the parents’ door steps. Then, in the evening, this year…

  • Uplink-Upload

    Remember Nightline when it first debut? Satellite uplink made possible real-time, split-screen dialogue, with multi-continental guests and in-studio moderator. Safer than appearing on Jerry Springer (which need at least two or three bouncers). Now we have video upload from crowd source.  We have moved beyond “lonely girl” in front of a fixed web cam, to…