Actually, that’s not possible, because British television is so much more liberal than US network television (as in, allowing swearing and nudity). So it’s more like, what Heroes should have been if it were on cable. Anyway, if you are like me, you thought Heroes sucked ass, and progressively sucked more ass as time went on. And if you were like me, you had never heard of Misfits. But now you have, and I recommend you find it somehow. Don’t look up the wiki because wiki gives away everything.

If you want to be legit, someone told me ep 1 is on netflix. However, I think you really need to watch the first two to get a complete feel for the show (ep 2 is pretty awesome, btw). At least for me, I don’t really like shows where a moron can be a main character (but only one of them is a total tool, and at least he captures the true essence of a tool). Hence, I never liked Dennis the Menace when I was a kid. In fact, I’d always hope he’d get caught.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve been looking for a show to watch while Lost is off, but I just couldn’t find one that I really wanted to stick with. Mad Men got a bit irrelevant (I’ll expound in the future), Dexter started to seem like a huge time investment (and murder-of-the-weekish), and Deadwood started boring the hell out of me. My friend mentioned Misfits, and the short 6 ep commitment seemed very tempting. It’s about juvenile delinquents sentenced to community service who somehow acquire minor supernatural powers. It sounds weird, but the writing is actually very good. The lack of crazy super powers makes the story more manageable, and more about the characters themselves rather than some kind of world-shattering predicament. And the delinquents feel authentic. You get to see (delinquent) teens be teens. Over here in the States, with all the decency rules, American-equivalent characters just feel so…fake. The closest I can think of was the much more serious and f’d up movie Kids. Other than that, you just get the typical brooding, back-talking punk. It’s so ubiquitous that I don’t think we Americans notice until we watch something like Misfits. Then it’s, “Aha, he reminds me of so and so when I was in grade school.” I’m sure most of us knew that one guy who was the perverted jackass of the class.

Anyway, check it out if you can. The main issue I had was trying to understand British slang. So far I’ve gathered that slag means slut. Other than that, no idea. Thankfully, there’s this: http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/. Misfits is listed as a dramedy, but I don’t really think it’s too comedic. There’s definitely very funny moments, though, but mainly because of what the main jackass character says. I guess it could be a dramedy, in the sense that Boston Legal is also a dramedy. But it’s not like Friends or anything like that.

“I did not sleep at all last night. It hurts like the devil! A snowstorm whipping through my soul, wailing like a hundred jackals. Still no obvious symptoms that perforation is imminent, but an oppressive feeling of foreboding hangs over me . . . This is it . . . I have to think through the only possible way out: to operate on myself . . . It’s almost impossible . . . but I can’t just fold my arms and give up.

“18.30. I’ve never felt so awful in my entire life. The building is shaking like a small toy in the storm. The guys have found out. They keep coming by to calm me down. And I’m upset with myself—I’ve spoiled everyone’s holiday. Tomorrow is May Day. And now everyone’s running around, preparing the autoclave. We have to sterilise the bedding, because we’re going to operate.

“20.30. I’m getting worse. I’ve told the guys. Now they’ll start taking everything we don’t need out of the room.”

Black women write back the most. Whether it’s due to talkativeness, loneliness, or a sense of plain decency, black women are by far the most likely to respond to a first contact attempt. In many cases, their response rate is one and a half times the average, and, overall, black women reply about a quarter more often that other women.

White men get more responses. Whatever it is, white males just get more replies from almost every group. We were careful to preselect our data pool so that physical attractiveness (as measured by our site picture-rating utility) was roughly even across all the race/gender slices. For guys, we did likewise with height.

White women prefer white men to the exclusion of everyone else—and Asian and Hispanic women prefer them even more exclusively. These three types of women only respond well to white men. More significantly, these groups’ reply rates to non-whites is terrible. Asian women write back non-white males at 21.9%, Hispanic women at 22.9%, and white women at 23.0%. It’s here where things get interesting, for white women in particular. If you look at the match-by-race table before this one, the “should-look-like” one, you see that white women have an above-average compatibility with almost every group. Yet they only reply well to guys who look like them. There’s more data on this towards the end of the post.

If you were a little thrown off by the Zodiac control like I was, they’re just showing that a person’s sign has no bearing on how compatible people are (based on their compatibility algorithm).  You can read more about how they calculate compatibility and the effects of religion here.

Basically it’s erotic gore. I don’t know why such a genre exists, but it does. And it’s very disturbing. Ah what a coincidence, origins starting around 1920-1930 Japan, just before the war…My pop psych analysis says it’s a hyper extreme case of needing to dominate another person, but man, WTF?

You put people who like that kind of stuff in an imperial war machine that has them convinced that other ethnicities are less than human…it’s not hard to put 2 and 2…I highly, highly, highly, highly^35 recommend you do NOT google either term, unless you are extremely desensitized, or have some kind of purely academic curiosity (of which you will pay a price). What has been seen, cannot be unseen.

And sigh, of course, my usual disclaimer for the knee-jerk, “OMFG YOU’RE STEREOTYPING” folks. No, I do not think all Japanese (likely men) like this stuff. It’s probably a small subset, blah blah blah, although whether it’s an insignificant subset is debatable. There’s definitely a market for it over there, which itself is disturbing.

Honda Chief: “Hyundai is awesome.” — Autoblog
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/04/honda-chief-hyundai-is-awesome/
Japan’s automakers know a threat when they see one, and based on their words, it sure isn’t in Michigan. Motown is fleeting image in the Japanese carmakers’ rearview mirrors, which they’re now nervously checking for a budding South Korean juggernaut. …

At the moment, I feel like many people have the same arrogant attitudes towards Hyundai that the whities apparently had towards Japanese auto brands in the 60′s-70′s. “Japanese cars? Pfffffft! Bwahahahaha.” History is repeating itself, but the players have changed places. This attitude includes me, to be honest. Mainly because of Kia. But realizing the hypocrisy, I’m trying to be more open minded.

Open Challenge: First person to meet a Japanese person that owns a Hyundai wins an ice cream!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMRvZTk7QYE

I love Wikipedia. I couldn’t think of this British anthem for awhile, but started reading about Britannia. It’s played quite a bit, especially in American media when showing off something British. You’ll probably recognize it if you fast forward to 3:45. Anyway, Britannia => Rule, Britannia => Youtube. Sweet.

But I am kind of hopeful the DPJ victory will lead to good things, because I’m a bit suspicious of overly conservative governments (LDP), generally speaking. However, the new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, sounds like he might be  overly enthusiastic in his drive to reverse LDP policy. His op-ed in the New York Times (also quite old now) reminded me of a toned down Hugo Chavez. Hopefully he doesn’t do something too nuts, blow all of his party’s “political capital”, and restore the LDP to power in a blink of an eye.

Op-ed here.

Basically it sounds like he wants to distance his ties with the US, and tone down free markets and globalism. That just doesn’t sound like a good idea, economically speaking.  Sure, one could say the LDP didn’t do a hot job, but I think that was more due to a “You’re doing it wrong” type thing rather than due to capitalism, globalism, or free markets themselves.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/08/video-another-reason-to-watch-rallying-burcu-cetinkaya/

I started chatting with my friend regarding Chinese culture on the mainland. I’ve never been, but from what I’ve read and heard, it sounds like the culture as I know it, as I lived it through my parents and family friends, is rapidly disappearing in China. Humility, reservedness, politeness, looking out for each other, that seems to be disappearing, being replaced by something new, something I don’t really recognize. I’ve heard you shouldn’t be too surprised if complete strangers straight up ask you how much money you make. Then again, I had a Japanese-American girl ask me how much I make right in public in front of a group of friends (we were all eating dinner at a sushi restaurant). That was a little surprising, and awkward. I can only guess at her agenda.

But yeah, it’s kinda sad; I feel like if you want to see large samples of old Chinese culture, you have to look in either neighboring Asian countries, Taiwan, or among Chinese emigrants living abroad. Maybe that divergence in culture is the source of contempt that I see sometimes. Once in awhile, I’ll encounter a Chinese person that will strongly emphasize a disconnect between Chinese abroad and mainlanders. “No no, we’re not like the mainlanders!” It’s kind of surprising. But perhaps it is a watered down version of how the US felt towards England in the 18th century?

Ron Hsu
11:08
i think it’s part of the capitalism frenzy that’s taken over
i dunno what it’s like in the “motherland” since i’ve never been, so maybe you can shed some light
but i kinda feel like chinese culture as i know it
is kinda being wiped out there
and that the chinese elsewhere are more chinese then it is over there

Lim
11:09
people in China are assholes
how about that, haha

Ron Hsu
11:09
lol

Lim
11:09
like seriously
you go into any store, you’ll tend to get jack shit for service
it’s really odd
people cut in lines
it’s like wtf

Ron Hsu
11:10
oh yeah i heard about the queueing thing
mob rush

Lim
11:10
me and my brother were at a mcdonald’s standing in line

Ron Hsu
11:10
and people i hear are super forward

Lim
11:10
and this couple jsut goes right in front of us

Ron Hsu
11:10
rofl

Lim
11:10
and we look at each other like, “wtf?”
the forwardness is how I feel with people from Hong Kong
it’s just so odd, the whole chinese culture
nobody looks out for anybody else

Ron Hsu
11:11
you mean generally speaking or how it is over there now?

Lim
11:11
over there now
I guess it’s hard to say

Ron Hsu
11:11
yeah that’s how i feel

Lim
11:11
not like I know any chinese that were there before

Ron Hsu
11:11
it feels like the culture that i practice at home
is not there at all in the motherland anymore
but yeah just comparing with how you and your parents interact
well i dunno how asian your parents are
they seem more assimilated than my parents

Lim
11:12
yeah, but not completely americanized
they still eat chinese food for every meal
or at least asian food
and read the chinese papers and bag on taiwan

Ron Hsu
11:13
lol your parents are anti taiwan?
that’s funny

Lim
11:14
yeah, it surprises me since they went to college in Taiwan

Ron Hsu
11:14
that’s so funny

Lim
11:14
and weren’t born in the mainland, so I figured their allegiance would be with Taiwan
but nope, they side with the mainland

Ron Hsu
11:14
wtf
hahahah
so they want unity?

Lim
11:14
well they like it the way it is now

Ron Hsu
11:14
forced unity or whatever

Lim
11:14
and think taiwan is crazy for wanting to break up
although I think most people think that’s true in general
hahah

Ron Hsu
11:15
that’s really interesting, i had heard of these type of chinese people but only from word of mouth
and now i hear your parents are like that

Lim
11:15
these type?
I thought it was just mainland vs taiwan

Ron Hsu
11:15
lol yeah but in my sphere usually it’s supportive of taiwan
my family, friends of family, etc

Lim
11:15
really? hmm

Ron Hsu
11:15
it was rare for me to encounter a pro mainland

Lim
11:15
but they’re all from taiwan, right?

Ron Hsu
11:15
my grandma is extremely against me marrying a mainlander
yeah

Lim
11:16
hahaha
well see
I think my parents are the only “mainlanders” I know
everyone else is either from taiwan
or hong kong, and if they’re from HK they don’t give a shit and just want money

Anyway, I blame their Communist party mixed with extreme poverty. You’ve got an ultra poor, massive proletariat, that then comes into total power. A chance has opened up, everyone wants money, everyone else be damned! It’s the financial equivalent of yelling “Fire!” in a very, very packed theater with a very small exit. Then there was the really retarded Cultural Revolution…that was just wow….just wow. End musing.

For the record, if it’s not clear already, I like Koreans, I like Korean food, I like Korean culture. In fact, I hope to learn Korean someday, and maybe visit South Korea.  Hell, even just saying “I like <ethnicity>” sounds prejudiced to me.

Having said that…USDM K-Rage amongst young Koreans, does it exist?  I’m going to stop with the PC-ness right about now, but yes, I realize even if it does exist, it doesn’t mean everyone has it, blah blah blah, standard issue disclaimer, always is never always. Never is never never.

About a week ago, I met some people at an informal tennis get-together. We went to Red Mango afterward (Korean-created btw, irony for later), and we started talking about ethnic foods, which lead to the ethnicities themselves. One of them, a young’n fresh out of HS, a young whipper-snapper who shall remain nameless, then made a joking comment that he didn’t like Koreans. He quickly apologized, emphasized he was just kidding, etc. etc. Don’t be hard on the lad, he’s truly a nice guy. I feel bad for even mentioning him, despite the anonymity, but he got me thinking.

I guess I didn’t know how to respond. My self, as I am now today, immediately red flagged the comment, where I may not have had before (but more on that later). My mind started racing. At first, I was gearing up for some verbal throw-down. Possible responses were coming up as all my historical knowledge came to bare. Then I got a hold of myself. “He’s a young one, you know how kids are.” Besides, if I did start spewing out stuff, I imagined information overload on his part. Picture Vader telling Luke he’s Luke’s father. “Nooooooooooo! It’s not trueeeee!”

Then my brain went into over-analysis mode, which it oft likes to do of its own accord. “Hmm, he’s Japanese. It’s possible he’s familiar with the current international politics between the Koreas and Japan, as well as past history. Perhaps his parents told him some stuff, possibly biased. Need more info.” Then I thought. “Dude (did my mind really address myself as ‘dude’? I don’t know), he just graduated HS. He probably isn’t familiar with politics at all, much less international politics. A lot of my friends my age have no f’n idea.”

Which then lead me to realize that….*I* used to think like him when I was in high school. Oh shit. Danger, Will Robinson! Yes, I admit it, back in grade school, I had a generally negative opinion of Koreans, particularly the males. And it was a sentiment that a probably statistically significant amount of my other Asian friends shared as well. No, I wasn’t hanging around a bunch of Asian KKK folk; it was a diverse group of Asians, who didn’t all know each other, and yet somehow had a common sentiment. I don’t know how many will remember or admit to it today. Actually, I just randomly asked one out of the blue:

I wasnt exposed to much koreans when i was young
in highschool yea, and they were kinda assholes

Me:the chicks weren’t too bad

no its pretty much all of them
if u werent korean they wouldnt be nice to you
unless u knew them or something
in highschool this older senior korean dude was prick
until he got to know me
then we were cool
cuz i joined his [Counterstrike] clan

The video game binds them!

So “Cool Tennis Dude” really got me wondering, “Where did these sentiments come from? Do they still persist today in grade schools (and possibly beyond)? Was ‘Cool Tennis Dude’ just going through similar experiences in his school days?” 1 week later (yesterday in fact), I was at Pink’s Hot Dog stand, and a group of Caucasians and one Asian girl were talking about how they didn’t like Asians (at least, that’s what I thought I had heard;  I didn’t want to tell them off for something heard out of context. And if I heard right, I think it was the Asian girl who was saying it all, which complicated matters). My friend (half-Japanese) actually heard more: “Asians have anger issues. Especially Koreans. Nobody likes Koreans.” How sad. Then I remembered one of my Chinese coworkers who had just graduated college at the time. She had expressed something similar one day at work. “They’re scary.”

So what exactly is/was the general gripe? Generally speaking, the stereotype was that Koreans were assholes, particularly the males. The females, to me, at least, were fine. Seriously, I’m going through all the Korean male kids I knew in grade school, and every single one of them was an asshole.  Wanna-be thugs. Sure, every ethnicity had the wanna-be thug subset, but even the fucking nerdy Korean dudes were assholes!  Hell if someone told me the reason it was like that back then was because there was some secret Korean Militia forming, I might half believe it. The only nice male Korean friend I had was in 3rd-5th grade. Then I transferred districts. 2-3 years later, he transferred in as well. Holy shit balls, he was totally different -> Asshole! He wasn’t just the same guy, who became snarky, he truly seemed like a completely new person to me. My friend who had also transferred earlier remarked the same thing. Wtf happened? We’ll never know. It’s one of those unsolved mysteries.

It wasn’t until I went to college where I met normal, sane Korean dudes (and super smart Korean women, woo woo! Haejin the mathematician, I wonder what happened to her). Maybe the males matured. But now that I think about it, the sane dudes were almost always immigrants. KDM (Korean Domestic Market) Koreans. That’s a car joke. KDM essentially would mean, built or available only in Korea. So, from my personal experience, the USDM (United States Domestic Market) Korean males tended to be assholes, whereas the KDM Koreans tended not be. Fascinating. See somewhat related musings regarding Jessica Ho.

So is there something there? It could be just sheer coincidence that people across multiple cities and multiple decades somehow ended up with the same sentiments. If not, what is the source of the hostility? Not enough love from Papa? Eh… Maybe Papa was not home much? Hmm…I’ve seen worst case examples of males like that, and it doesn’t quite fit the bill either. Did pappy bring the smack-down? Hmm maybe. Or did father-dearest give the broodlings (Starcraft joke, wah wah) a history lesson a little too early? This is my best guess, and it truly is just a pure guess. “Japan invaded Korea many times. They were hard and cruel.” “China was not fair with Korea in the past. They are pushy and bossy” (a sentiment many countries feel towards America these days, eh?). It’s that or, “Koreans are superior. NEVER FORGET THAT, BOY!” None of that really explains the disconnect between USDM and KDM. I have no idea, but maybe my previous link will shed light on that. This is all just musings anyway.

So while in college I met a Korean girl (USDM type), and the topic somehow came to the history of Japan and Korea, she bitterly replied, “Yes, I know what they did!” To be honest, I think she has every right to be upset about that. You wouldn’t decry a Jewish person for being upset towards Nazis. But now I wonder how early she was introduced to that knowledge. Looking back, I realize now my parents were very aware of atrocities committed during World War 2, but they largely shielded it from me, and kept silent on it. I’d hear the occasional obscure remark from my dad, “Those Japanese people are obsessed with sex!” But for the most part, they were silent. “Oh you like a Japanese girl? That’s nice.”

I eventually did learn about Japanese atrocities on my own, at around 15 years of age, maybe younger. It was inevitable I suppose. I had developed an eager interest in Japanese history. The new information definitely sparked rage in me, perhaps similar to what these Korean dudes were going through. It wasn’t so much the atrocities themselves that enraged me, although there are some really twisted examples that would make their Nazi allies shy away, but it was the general level of denial by contemporary Japanese. Totally blew my mind.  Do a compare and contrast vs Germany and Japan post-war, totally different. It took a long time for me to calm down about it.  Now I enjoy running circles around Japanese nationalist logic.

So that’s my ghetto theory. If you’ve got one, share. I’m wondering how a USDM Korean would respond to this. I should ask some of my friends.

And please, for the sake of the kittens, don’t have USDM K-Rage.

If you’ve been offended by this post, I apologize.