Yesterday Scott gave us vintage airline commercials. Real commercials. Here is a video of what looks like a real vintage commercial, but it’s fake. You’ll figure it out in a second or two. As sexist as I think this is, and I do, I laughed. Perhaps, because it captured the tone of commercials and an earlier era–not that flight attendants have ever been this way.
It would be fun to see a commercial like this one where the women get the flight of their dreams. I wonder what that would look like?
I’ve been on crowded trains and buses–the type of experience where people have to adjust a shoulder, move a hip, perhaps reach up to hold onto a hand hold because there is actually no more room for another arm between all the bodies, but nothing like this. This footage was taken somewhere in China. I traveled on a train in China, but thankfully, it wasn’t like this.
Can you imagine? I wonder when the door opens at the first stop if everyone will explode back out again? How can the people in the middle of the crowd shoved inside the train cars ever hope to breathe fresh air? See the sun?
**Correction. Okay, okay, okay. As pointed out, this is not China, but Japan. See comment threads. The YouTube video was labeled China.
I just heard about the Italian comedienne who is facing jail time in Italy for insulting the pope. In Italy, there are laws against insulting religion. If you tell a joke that is against the pope, it can land you in hot water.
According to the story, Italian comedienne, Sabina Guzzanti, a presenter at a rally in Rome this past July, made a joke about what could happen in the after-life to popes who are against gay rights. Now she is facing five years in jail.
Italy is not the only country where people mind their Ps and Qs when talking about certain people and regulations or habits are in place to command respect.
In Thailand, for example, before each movie, there is an ode to the king before the feature film. The audience members stand throughout the king’s anthem and photo montage of images depicting aspects of his life. There isn’t a law that says you have to stand, but everyone does–even tourists like me.
If you don’t stand for the king before a movie, you may feel a bit silly sitting in a sea of waists and legs, but that’s about the worst that can happen, I imagine. If you head to Italy, it seems like when it comes to religion, follow the adage, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
[Here’s an article I came across about the habit of standing up in movies to pay tribute to the king.]
Aaron’s post this morning with his musings about positive stereotypes reminded me of one of my absolute FAVORITE YouTube videos, “Crazy Asian Mother.” It is a hoot.
Two high school age boys role play what happens when the mother looks over her son’s report card. Listen for the list of classes and the humorous jab at the parenting skills of white American parents. Very funny and illustrates other aspects of stereotyping.
When I first saw this video a year or so ago, I was transported back to my 8th grade English and social studies classroom in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Those students were funny, charming, and the work they turned in on a daily basis was astounding. Grading their papers was a joy. Honestly. They were the kids of high powered very bright parents, and they were under pressure to succeed, although their parents greatly valued the flexibility and creativity found in the American education system. It was the best of both worlds. These two guys would have fit right into my classroom.
Whenever my daughter feels that she’s pressured to succeed because I have ONE MORE TIME AND NOT FOR THE LAST TIME given her the litany of why she must do well in school in that annoying voice that only adults have, I think those Asian mothers who taught me a thing or two when I lived in Taiwan. As I explain to my daughter, I must have been a crazy Asian mother in a past life. Some things do rub off on a person when one travels.
By the way, I actually think there’s a crazy Asian mother in every parent. Even men. That’s why this video has almost 5,000,000 hits.
My mom just arrived back in Columbus this morning at 7 a.m. from her trip to New York City on a Greyhound bus. The bus was one minute early. Wow! I thought that she’d be late due to the wicked thunderstorm that tore through here all last night.
When I pulled into a non-parking space in front of the station (there was just enough room to maneuver behind another car actually parked at a meter), there she was with her small pull behind that she was allowed to carry-on. If she had checked it there would have been no charge.
One more point for Greyhound.
As I posted previously, my mom took the Greyhound because it was cheaper and easier than flying at the time she found out she needed to get to New York. That still seems to be the case.
Unless, you are the woman my mother told me about who got on in Newark, New Jersey.
“Where are you going?” My mother asked her.
“Los Angeles,” the woman said.
“My!” said my mother. “When will you get there?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?!” My mom wondered how that could be.
That couldn’t be. When they changed buses in Pittsburgh, the woman found out she didn’t have a clue. She won’t arrive in Los Angeles until Saturday.
My mom said she had an accent, so perhaps when someone explained the trip details, she missed something. Obviously.
I hope she didn’t have much planned for the next couple of days and thought to bring a good book with her–or several. If nothing else, she snagged the best travel mistake story I’ve heard in awhile.
(In case you’re wondering. If you go from New York to Los Angeles, it will take 2 days, 12 hours and 25 minutes minimum and you would have had to make one bus change. Some schedules take longer with two transfers.You will have traveled 3072 miles. It costs $192 if you don’t want a refundable ticket or $215 if you do. There is one ticket left for today’s bus that leaves at 11 a.m.)