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Karaoke-ing...
Went karaoke tonight! Except it was strange because I've never done it in America before... And I went with a bunch of people I didn't know (friends of someone I know from high school). I had fun, but it was still sort of awkward, and then I got incredibly homesick in the middle. *sniff* Well, Ning is coming over tomorrow, and then I am going to see my parents in Hawaii. Sigh. But no Taiwan this summer, it seems =(.
I bet all of you are laughing at me for liking karaoke ;). But that is ok! I used to be greatly embarrassed by it (to give you an idea, my parents would sing on the bus during family trips), and it was always this sort of guilty pleasure, you know? Then I went to Japan, and they had a place with an afternoon special, since no one karaokes in the afternoon -- 500 yen for three hours, plus a drink and ice cream. And this was Japan -- 500 yen is about the cost of a drink and ice cream alone! It was a good way to spend three hours of the afternoon without wasting too much money. Plus, it was fun trying to sing the ten Japanese songs I knew over and over to get the lyrics right! After that summer I made my parents take me karaokeing in Taiwan all the time, hee hee hee. That's how I finally learned Chinese music.
Anyhow, I think it's fun. But I think one of the main differences between this time and other times is that one has to be completely unironic when singing karaoke, or else everyone just gets self conscious of being mocked, etc. And yeah, I know, the videos to the English songs are all really strange and low budget, and it's strange and awkward, but still really really fun ^_^. Actually, I think that is a big difference between Chinese and American humor. There isn't much irony in Taiwan (that I have noticed)... love songs are incredibly popular without that sort of shameful top 40 feeling, and everything is quite in earnest. I think that's why a lot of people here find Iron Chef so funny, because everyone in the show is so serious about it. When my mom watches it, I get less a sense of "Look how weird and strange these people are!" and more a sense of "Wow, look at what they're cooking!"
That was what I liked about Lost in Translation. I think even though Sophia Coppola was pointing out the weird parts about Japan, there was a certain fondness about it. Or maybe I just made that up and it was mocking, but I liked it because of what I saw as its earnestness.
I bet all of you are laughing at me for liking karaoke ;). But that is ok! I used to be greatly embarrassed by it (to give you an idea, my parents would sing on the bus during family trips), and it was always this sort of guilty pleasure, you know? Then I went to Japan, and they had a place with an afternoon special, since no one karaokes in the afternoon -- 500 yen for three hours, plus a drink and ice cream. And this was Japan -- 500 yen is about the cost of a drink and ice cream alone! It was a good way to spend three hours of the afternoon without wasting too much money. Plus, it was fun trying to sing the ten Japanese songs I knew over and over to get the lyrics right! After that summer I made my parents take me karaokeing in Taiwan all the time, hee hee hee. That's how I finally learned Chinese music.
Anyhow, I think it's fun. But I think one of the main differences between this time and other times is that one has to be completely unironic when singing karaoke, or else everyone just gets self conscious of being mocked, etc. And yeah, I know, the videos to the English songs are all really strange and low budget, and it's strange and awkward, but still really really fun ^_^. Actually, I think that is a big difference between Chinese and American humor. There isn't much irony in Taiwan (that I have noticed)... love songs are incredibly popular without that sort of shameful top 40 feeling, and everything is quite in earnest. I think that's why a lot of people here find Iron Chef so funny, because everyone in the show is so serious about it. When my mom watches it, I get less a sense of "Look how weird and strange these people are!" and more a sense of "Wow, look at what they're cooking!"
That was what I liked about Lost in Translation. I think even though Sophia Coppola was pointing out the weird parts about Japan, there was a certain fondness about it. Or maybe I just made that up and it was mocking, but I liked it because of what I saw as its earnestness.
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hahaha
(Anonymous) 2004-05-28 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)and as for _lost in translation_, i don't know whether or not i liked the film itself. however, i know that i felt really annoyed when i watched it because people (in the film as well as the group that was watching the film with me) seemed to find humor in certain cultural things that i didn't. it made me feel that the japanese culture was being mocked, and i'm pretty sure that if this movie had been about a japanese main character making fun of life in america, none of the audience would have found anything amusing. that kind of imbalance rather bothers me.
hahaha
(Anonymous) 2004-05-28 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)and as for _lost in translation_, i don't know whether or not i liked the film itself. however, i know that i felt really annoyed when i watched it because people (in the film as well as the group that was watching the film with me) seemed to find humor in certain cultural things that i didn't. it made me feel that the japanese culture was being mocked, and i'm pretty sure that if this movie had been about a japanese main character making fun of life in america, none of the audience would have found anything amusing. that kind of imbalance rather bothers me.
(anlee)
Re: hahaha
I liked the film because I absolutely refused to listen to the audience in the theater and because I was having way to much fun being all nostalgic about my summer in Japan. I was also bothered by the audience laughing/mocking things like the talk show host or the politeness -- but my absolute favorite moment was the old Japanese lady trying to talk to Bill Murray in Japanese and the two Japanese ladies in the background laughing their asses off.