Asian Ripoff LXXI - Timeless

Artist: Zhang Li Yin and Xiah Junsu
Language: Korean

Youtube Link

The original is more powerful. This version fits the sappy Korean soaps though :)

The North Korean Beer Commercial

Source: BBC

Communist North Korea has embraced an eminently capitalist concept by airing on state TV what is likely to be its first beer commercial.

The advert, aired on Thursday, said that Taedonggang beer, with a unique scent and fresh taste, will help them ease stress and lead healthy lives because it is has been made with the finest ingredients under strict scientific conditions.

A 3 minute commercial! Do you want North Korean Beer Now?


Youtube Link

Japanese music video featuring fans with webcams!

Artist: Sour

This music video was shot for Sour's 'Hibi no Neiro' (Tone of everyday) from their first mini album 'Water Flavor EP'. The cast were selected from the actual Sour fan base, from many countries around the world. Each person and scene was filmed purely via webcam.

Director: Masashi Kawamura + Hal Kirkland + Magico Nakamura + Masayoshi Nakamura

Youtube Link

That's really cool! Must take alot of coordination and editing!

Divorce rate rises after Calgary Stampede

Source: UPI

Canada's annual Calgary Stampede got under way Friday as divorce consultants prepared for their own surge in unhappy couples after the 10-day event.

Billed as the world's biggest outdoor rodeo event, the Alberta city goes into party mode, which Karen Stewart, founder of Fairway Divorce Solutions, told Sun Media leads to a lot of infidelity.

"It's the sexual undertones, the alcohol, the letting loose," she said. "Thousands of beautiful men and women come out of the woodwork at Stampede and people look incredibly sexy when you put them in a cowboy hat."

She said she sees as much as a 40 percent jump in the number of people filing for divorce in the weeks after the stampede.

Artist Shaun Doiron told the news service there's a saying in the city "it's not cheatin', it's Stampedin'."

"Stampede is like a Las Vegas for a lot of people," he said. "It's not the rodeo anymore, it's a big party."

It's Stampede time again and the city of Calgary here is insane again. Ten days of nothing but drinking and partying. If you're working downtown, you hardly work and just go pig out at every free Stampede breakfast you can find!

You can wear jeans to the office for the whole time, which also can make people look more attractive. Not that anyone is ever in their office during Stampede week, but you have to go in to pick up your tickets to that day's boozy breakfast and lie once again on your voice mail. Not that anyone will call because they will be at the boozy breakfast too.

This study does not surprise me at all. You could have a married couple who have regular mundane lives 355 days in a year. But for 10 days starting with the first Friday in July, they just lose it. They put in a cowboy hat and jeans and hit all the bars in town. PARTY! Then they see hot cowboys and hot cowgirls and ponder why the heck they're married. I like cowboy spirit but it really is the most fake festival anyone can think of.

Everyone all at together now: YEE-HAW!!!!!

Take a free cowboy hat!

China: Worst pizza ever

Source: ISpyShanghai

I’m guessing they didn’t fly a top pizza chef in from Tuscany to come up with the “Abseriction Orchard”, and I do wonder how many other ingredients they tried alongside “Meat Gut” before they decided that pineapple was just the ticket.

The potato special sounds particularly insipid

It sounds so bad that it would be worth trying- sadly though they only deliver to Pudong.

If anyone in the ‘Dong is feeling brave, I’d love to hear what these things taste like. In fact I DOUBLE DARE YOU.

There are too many pizzas being created. Some are interesting some are blah. In Canada we have a Great White North pizza with two cheese (mozza and cheddar) and back bacon.

Watch Your Teeth On TV!

Source: Japanorama

To Tell The Tooth, Mickey Mouth, Dr. Philling and Tarter Trek: The Search for Plaque can be yours, commercial-free and broadcast live! Admittedly, the scenes of oral exploration offered up by the Miharu Dental Intraoral Plaque Detection Camera are less than suspenseful - unless you're surprised by the size of that chive nestling along your upper gumline. So that's what your co-workers were giggling about!

The Miharu Dental Intraoral Plaque Detection Camera allows you to avoid such embarrassing exposures while in the process discovering how good (or lousy) a job you've been doing in the fight against plaque and the evil gingivitis. It accomplishes the latter by employing a simple one-touch mode changer that lights up plaque like a five-alarm fire.

Here's how to work it: pop in a pair of AAA batteries and plug the included 6ft. long cable into your TV's video input jack - it's plug & play. Put a disposable cover over the Miharu's lens and prepare to direct "Deep Throat: Electric Boogaloo" - starring you!

Along with the camera you get 125 disposable lens covers, an English instruction book and an "adapter lens for skin", which sounds kinda creepy. Not that the basic concept of a mouth-cam isn't, but each to his or her own, right? Betcha can't wait for the endoscope version!

Until then, you can order the Miharu Dental Intraoral Plaque Detection Camera online from Japan Trend Shop for $119 plus a worldwide express flat rate of $18. Lights, camera, salivation!

Hmm no thanks. I don't want to see my bleedin' gums in HIGH DEFINITION!

Japan was Jackson's other Neverland

Source: Japan Times

Everybody talks about Michael's special affection for Japan, though no one has really tried to explain it. Some commentators claim that his Japanese fans were never as put off by his plastic surgery and his trial for child molestation. But those sideshows were covered in the Japanese media just as breathlessly as they were overseas, and I imagine a good portion of his Japanese fans found them as bizarre as people in the U.S. did. The implication is that it didn't bother them as much.

One has to remember that before Jackson turned, as gossip columnist Michael Musto put it, "from a black boy into a successful white woman," he was adorable. Even white folks thought so, despite the fact that, taken at face value (pun intended), it was weird in 1969 for an 11-year-old to be singing about sex and jealousy with such convincing passion as Michael did with his brothers in "I Want You Back." Cute has the power to overcome queasiness, and before long the Jackson 5 would be the heroes of a Saturday morning cartoon series.

The group was equally popular in Japan and definitely more so than any other American R&B act. They toured here in the early '70s, and their example was duplicated domestically by the Finger Five, a quintet of brothers from Okinawa who mimicked the Jacksons' dance steps and general stage demeanor. They were popular but, as with all idols of the time, faded fast.

One of the pundits the Japanese media has sought for quotes following Jackson's death is veteran music critic Reiko Yukawa, whose standard line is that J-Pop developed on the back of Michael Jackson's music. This sort of boilerplate reaction (Yukawa was the go-to pundit for quotes when Elvis died, too, which tells you something about the paucity of pundits) is hardly useful. One could easily say that all pop since "Thriller" developed on the back of Jackson's music.

.....more

So if there was not Michael Jackson there would be no J-Pop? I don't think J-Pop's anything like MJ's music. It's evolved over the years and it now filled with 8-girl bands squealing!

But from everyone I've heard who's been to Japan. MJ was loved by everyone!


Youtube Link


Youtube Link

Fly China While Standing!

Source: Sky

A private airline in China is submitting plans for journeys where passengers can opt to stand to save money.

Spring Airlines first initiated the standing ticket idea earlier this year.

It is now considering officially submitting it to the aviation regulator before the year is out.

The airline has been trying to cope with surging passenger numbers and new flight routes, but only has 13 planes.

Spring Airlines' Zhang Wuan told China's CCTV: "The process of plane making is really long.

"We already ordered 14 new jets. But some of them will only be delivered next year.

"And you have to wait for at least five years to lease a plane, and it is also very expensive."

The standing jet could accommodate 40% more passengers compared to a traditional plane.

It could also help airlines cut 20% of their costs, while lowering airfares for consumers.

Mr Wuan added: "It's just like bar stools. The safety belt is the most important thing. It will still be fastened around the waist.

The airline would need government backing to go ahead with the plans.

But Spring Airlines president Wang Zhenghua said that he was confident because the idea had been suggested by China's vice premier Zhang Dejiang.

"He suggested that, for a lower price, passengers should be able to get on a plane like catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water, but very convenient," said Mr Zhenghua.

He added that the company had consulted with Airbus, the company which built most of its aeroplanes, and had been told the proposals were safe.

"So once the government approves it formally, we'll try it," he added.

This can't really be approved can it? Would you fly standing up to save a few bucks?

A) Where does my carry on baggage go? Do I get a compartment of my own?
B) How do I watch tv?
C) How do I eat?
D) How do I sleep?
E) Do I get my own flotation device?
F) How to the stewardesses get around?
G) This is stoopid