July 2006 Archives
I just don't get it. Two things -- Singers with good music in the past now singing crap and people who enjoy the crap music. What's up with that?! I remember Nelly Furtado's music when she first became big and liking her unique voice and style. Now she looks like a hoochie mama and has totally changed her sound to hip hop that sounds like crap. I've seen her performance of her new song "Promiscuous" on SNL and was quite disappointed that she completely changed her image and music. Jewel is another singer I enjoyed listening to in the past who's turned pop. What is she thinking?! The reason why these artists became famous was because of their originality and unique style. Why would you change that? I just don't get it...and the people who enjoy their new crap music I don't get either. To quote someone I had this conversation with, "The worse thing that can happen to an artist is success." I agree.
In preparation for my trip to China, I figured I'd brush up on my Chinese since it's a bit rusty. It probably has been about 6 years since I've spoken it on a daily basis. Over the years I've tried unsuccessfully to keep up with my Chinese, but staying motivated was a challenge. The textbooks and learning materials I'd review from had little applicability to my daily life unless I decided to become a farmer or converse with politicians. People would quickly find me a bore if I spoke about farming and politics all the time.
So I knew I had to find something more interesting to keep me motivated. I'd seen language training software for the iPod, but wasn't sure how much I'd get out of it since it looked like it was just basic Chinese and I needed more intermediate to upper intermediate training. If there's language software for the iPod then I figured there had to be podcasts. And sure enough with a quick search I was able to find a few that are dedicated to teaching Chinese.
If you've been to China, you'll appreciate this video of the strange English names Chinese people select for themselves. Sexy Beijing is a spoof on the hit series Sex in the City whose host Su Fei is on a mission to find out and understand the crazy names Beijingers pick as well as find love in the second episode, Looking for Double Happiness.
The funny names episode had me laughing pretty hard as I can relate. I actually met a kid named He-Man when I was in Hong Kong last time and many other kids with names that are very similar to common names but changed a bit by one or two letters like Shavon instead of Sharon. We give celeberities a hard time for coming up with strange names for their kids, but at least there's one place their kids can go to where they'd fit with the norm and not get picked on.
