Category: #amreading

Categories
#amreading #foodie American Culture Chinese Culture dining out restaurant

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Currently reading The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee and so far I find it a fascinating read. There are many things I already knew about Chinese food in the US (that most of it isn’t authentic); after all, my parents explained this to me awhile ago since they still operate their restaurant in Virginia.

In the end though, what foods stay “authentic” to their native origins when they enter a foreign country? After all, I’m sure most of the stuff I eat/crave at Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Indian, et. al. restaurants are not 100% authentic; we can say that most of the foods are adapted for the American palate.

It’s the same thing with truly American food crossing over into other countries such as Japan. The burgers in Japanese McDonald’s are definitely different from the burgers here in the U.S. There are different combinations and such; there’s a shrimp burger in Japan! You wouldn’t find such a thing here in the US.

Anyway, back to more reading. Just wanted to pause a moment and reflect on this aspect.

Categories
#amreading Thought of the Moment

Donny Deutsch and Change.

I am currently reading Donny Deutsch’s book “Often Wrong, Never in Doubt: Unleash the Business Rebel Within.” I have to say, even after only reading one-fourth of the book, I believe the man has become my hero. Reading his book is not like reading any other kind of nonfiction; it’s very colloquial, casual, and easy to follow. Part of it is an autobiography, but there are lessons strewn throughout the pages for whoever may be reading.

I particularly found this passage striking since it pretty much speaks to me at this point in time:

“Change doesn’t happen organically; it doesn’t happen by itself. People wait for change like they’re waiting for a bus. People want things to happen, they want to get farther down the road, but that bus ain’t coming; it’s only when they go out and flag a ride that they get where they want to go” (Page 25).

It is very true that people should go out there and seize the day–after all, what good is waiting around for? If one only sits and waits, life will just pass by. It makes so much sense; I know I have heard “Carpe diem” a lot, and I know that sometimes sitting around for change is just not a great thing at all. I find that one of my biggest pet peeves is waiting around; I can be very patient, but many times I am pretty impatient and restless. I want movement in whatever I do, I want change to happen. So if I want change so badly, why don’t I just go out and make it happen? Nothing will happen if I just sit here and wonder about “what if.”

I guess I feel that certain things are supposedly holding me back, but I come to realize that the only thing really holding me back is my fear of failure, of shame in front of my loved ones. But if I just sit here and do nothing, then pretty much it’s a self-prophecy. Better to go out there, make a fool of myself, and know that I did the best that I could than do nothing.

Categories
#amreading Slice of Life

Bookstores are deadly…

I found myself perusing through a lot of bookshelves today at Borders after my dentist appointment. What started out as a simple browse through the Local Interest section ended up being an hour of looking through all the new releases (nonfiction and fiction), swimming around the bargain books and then skimming in the Self Help, Business, Small Business/Entrepreneur bookshelves. I could have spent much more time at Borders today, but I was beginning to feel overwhelmed with all of the book titles and how they all tempted me to buy them.

But alas, I held off on my purchases and instead have looked up some of the books at the Public Library website so I can check the books out in my own time later. I have to save money still, since I am currently still job searching.

In other news, in case you missed my previous entry (since I just now backdated it): Check out my friend’s work— I promise you will not regret it.

Categories
#amreading Marketing Interests

Thoughts on Adland

I mentioned about Adland in a previous post. I finished reading this book today and was a little disappointed with the final few chapters. Those chapters felt a little rushed and it seemed to me that Mark Tungate was trying to squeeze as much information in as few words as possible. There wasn’t enough background and history for the Japanese company, Dentsu, or for the Latin American/Hispanic companies. Maybe there really wasn’t that much information to extract about those companies, but the book was really imbalanced with European companies. I guess it is true that a lot of the best advertising comes from Great Britain, or France, or the US, but it would have been nice to have a more “global feel” to the book. I also felt a little disappointed that there wasn’t enough information at all about the Thai advertising agencies–Tungate really could have expanded upon that section a lot more.

But I can’t complain really–the book provided me some insight into the world that I am interested in entering. It gave me more references to look up, more books to read. At least now I realize what I had been missing in my schooling for the past few months–history! I still don’t understand why my school never taught us any history of advertising or any of the marketing sectors for that matter.

Categories
#amreading Marketing Interests

Adland, by Mark Tungate

Been reading this book for the past few weeks–I checked it out from the SF Public Library at the beginning of January and was planning on renewing it, but seems somebody else has already put the book on hold. So last night, today, tomorrow, and early Saturday morning I am going to be speed reading through the book in order to finish it. I think I have some sort of reading problem in recent years–maybe some mild form of ADD. I read passages, and sometimes my mind blanks out while reading and then I have to re-read the passage several more times until I can fully comprehend the material. Strange.

Anyway, reading this book has made me realize that I really did not know much about the world of advertising before. I feel like some of this history of advertising should have been taught to me in school, but I guess professors assumed we students would pick stuff up by ourselves. It’s too bad that my college did not have a specific advertising program, at least not when I was in school–it probably would have helped me more if I had more of focus in subject than just skimming across the top of the very broad topic of marketing.