Tag Archives: TV

Bollywood Zombies and The Westernization of Indian Pop Culture

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Ryo

Go Goa Gone poster

Go Goa Gone, the first Western-style zombie flick to be made in Bollywood, was just announced last week. The trailer was released a few weeks ago and seems to be quite popular, with already over 2.5 million hits on YouTube. This may not seem like a particularly significant thing, but it’s just another example of how Indian TV and movies are taking cues from their American counterparts, effectively transforming their pop culture. What effect might this have on Indian popular culture?

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Faces in the Crowd – Kony 2012 and the Occupy Movement

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Ryo

Sometimes what you see is what you get. Other times, there’s more than meets the eye. I don’t want to talk so much about how we are manipulated by what we see on mediums like the TV and the internet, but rather what we don’t see. With so much access to information, there’s not enough time in the day for us to get all the different perspectives on a story. We could sit around a TV all day and still be ignorant of what’s happening in many places in the world. However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that in order to understand the complex events happening around us, we need to be open to the possibility that we don’t know as much as we think – especially when we’re jumping on the bandwagon like every other face in the crowd.

This is a preview of Faces in the Crowd – Kony 2012 and the Occupy Movement. Read the full post (2054 words, 1 image, estimated 8:13 mins reading time)
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How 3/11 Changed the People of Japan – Part 1: Fear, Trust, and Death

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Ryo

The March 11 tsunami left a scar on Japan last year. The confusion was widespread, and depression and suicides were imminent. But not enough people talked about how the tsunami has changed regular Japanese people since the tragedy. A while back, I looked at how Japan kept such strong national unity in the weeks and months after the crisis. However, I didn’t talk about the changes to the everyday Japanese lifestyle, or to the opinions and psychology of the people who were affected. Some of it is certainly surprising.

This is a preview of How 3/11 Changed the People of Japan – Part 1: Fear, Trust, and Death. Read the full post (1725 words, 1 image, estimated 6:54 mins reading time)
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The Cherry Blossoms Shall Bloom Again – An Overlooked Factor in National Unity

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Ryo

We’re now six months after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, and it’s time to look back on something so many foreign reporters talk about. In the days following the disaster, people were helping each other out, waiting in long lines for food, water, and gas, and were basically being what the foreign media (FM) thought was impossible – patient and calm. There are endless accounts of generosity towards strangers, and it seemed like everyone in Japan was looking out for one another. The question on everyone’s mind was “why,” considering the chaotic behaviour the world has witnessed in recent years. I offer an additional answer that it seems like everyone missed because… as you’ll see… you had to be there.

This is a preview of The Cherry Blossoms Shall Bloom Again – An Overlooked Factor in National Unity. Read the full post (1791 words, 2 images, estimated 7:10 mins reading time)
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Skeptikai Notices (Aug22) – Psychology, technology, Japan & more

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Ryo

This is a preview of Skeptikai Notices (Aug22) – Psychology, technology, Japan & more. Read the full post (1354 words, 1 image, estimated 5:25 mins reading time)
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Oz and Eastern Wizardry

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Ryo

Mehmet Oz, or “Dr. Oz,” as he’s known on TV, is a brilliant ivy-league educated surgeon, who has saved many lives in the operating room. He’s well respected in America, where he started appearing on Oprah in 2004, and debuted The Dr. Oz Show in September 2009. He has also written books on topics such as dieting, staying young, beauty, child-birth, and overall healthy living. He seems to be a medical jack-of-all-trades, though I never paid much attention to him until I saw his January 6 show from 2010, where he stood out by introducing an alternative medicine technique called “reiki.” It wasn’t the only alternative medicine there, but it particularly caught my attention. Much to my dismay, after investigating further, I learnt that this well-educated, well-spoken doctor is in bed with the alternative medicine industry. Literally.

This is a preview of Oz and Eastern Wizardry. Read the full post (2050 words, 4 images, estimated 8:12 mins reading time)
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