The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Hey, everything alright, matey?
The graphic is nicely done, really like it. Though I can find nothing that really shocks me but some things that surprise me. I would have thought that punctuality applies to the Asian culture as well but that’s maybe the problem of the generalisation. I think that as in the Western world there are differences between countries. The people in Germany and Japan may be punctual whereas people in France (sorry, any French around here) or Thailand may find time not that appealing.
The contact (or networking) bit I think is not a cultural phenomenon but depends on the character of each individual.

Nonetheless in many things I find something that I really like about Western culture (and that doesn’t mean that I don’t like Asian culture, the opposite, I find it amazingly interesting). That you have an opinion and you can tell it straight, that you don’t smile when everything is bad or going wrong, that you don’t try to navigate around problems but handle them and that you don’t take fucking pictures of everything (that’s a joke actually).
Though I really like the high status of the family and old people in Asian culture (but again, if you look into Italian or Spanish culture you can find the same).

And for the streets on a sunday, that guy has never been around Oxford Street. Nonetheless it’s charming. Like it.

Sorry for the f-word Mrs. Campbell and happy belated birthday from London. 🙂

No, no. As I said on flickr, you are a muppetish prick. By the way today the lovely people at Wieden+Kennedy told us that we can stay one month longer if we like (to finish our ongoing projects). Nice, huh? By the way, know if you’re coming to UK?

great graphics but they missed another massive difference between east and west

western women
O

asian woman
.

bet that gets the chicks knickers in a twist 🙂

Oh and Pete … the answer – well the generalised answer – is that when major problems or issues occur, many of the people in Asia simply ignore them [or just carry on regardless] as opposed to trying to fundamentally overcome them.

That is an incredibly generalised view though – and certainly certain countries are worse offenders than others. If I take somewhere like Vietnam, the reality is that culturally they are one of the most ingenious in the World [hell, they came out on top after 1000 years of war against amazing odds] whereas somewhere like Singapore tends to not have as much ‘inbuilt’ ingenuinty driven by both the cultural development of the last 40 years [a fear society where you do as you are told] and a one dimensional education system where you ‘remember’ rather than ‘learn’.

Does that help?

Finally Seb – I’m waiting on some dates but I hope it’ll be before Christmas and I can assure you when I know, you will too. And congrats on the extention of your WK assingment – it’s nice to see you’re continuing the advertising trend of not delivering on time, hahaha!

Sorry Dave, I’d love to take on this “respecting the elders” issue you’ve raised but my boss has just made the best blog comment ever and he needs praising before his wife kicks him in the balls.

I wonder if its coincidence that the “O versus .” could also represent the size of Andy versus the average man 🙂

I’m so fucking dead now 🙂

Theres something really nice about having a meal with my (new) family. The way things are all shared rather than individualised seems a tiny difference but it actually makes things very different.

The respect for elders is something kids are taught from a very young age; they learn to respect them. It doesnt happen here because kids are very rarely taught that.

Oh yes, lovely way of delivering this. Can’t say I’m too surprised by most of this…BUT

I got interested in some stuff about differences in men and women the other day. While SOME of the generalisations apply, there’s a growing consensus that the differences WITHIN the sexes sort of make the generalisations redundant. I wonder if some of that thinking may apply to west and east.
Maybe I’m just saying that to convince myself I can’t have anything in common with a US republican…or an Aqua fan.

consensus*

Thinking about hot to get the word “toptastic” into the copy for the Christmas card of a big German fashion company I am freelancing for to be able to pay London.
What do I get if I actually manage to do this?

David Lynched?

Oh and Andy, actually there is a comparison between Western and Asian women. As you can see on the first picture on the website. Obviously Yang Liu did a whole book about it.

http://www.notcot.com/archives/2007/11/_jean_posted_ab.php

No I think it is about the beauty ideal of the Western and Asian women. Western all want to be tanned, Asian pale. Really?

You’re right Rob Mortimer, having skin that isn’t white in Asia signifies you or your ancestors worked in the fields which roughly translates to coming from peasants or secondary class citizens.
In a region that survives on legend and subliminal meaning, it’s a terrible trait to be burdened with which is why “skin paint” is such an enormous business.

how come i dont find all this cultural stuff a load of wank when one of my clients is saying it?

after much consideration lee, i have decided george was right, it is best you dont come back here. 🙂