User Comments - scottyb

scottyb

Posted on: The Final Show

January 11, 2009, 01:35 PM

So I just get back from vacation, fire up Cpod for the first time (bracing myself to wade through a big backlog of lessons) and find out Amber is leaving. This is a rude welcome back. I am happy for you Amber, and wish you the best of luck, but I have to admit this is very sad news for us poddies. You will be missed. Good-bye and good luck.

Posted on: Street Food Buffet

September 19, 2008, 02:41 AM

Sorry. I meant 肉夹馍。 I can’t figure out how to edit my comments. I should add this has been a problem I’ve had my whole life – not just with Chinesepod postings!

Posted on: Street Food Buffet

September 19, 2008, 02:35 AM

I know I've said this before, but I love these videos.

JP had done a video about some street food that I think I saw in this one (when you show 鸡蛋), but it wasn't one of the vocab words. I think it was called jian1 bing4; is that right?

By the way, when you do things like talk about 肉夹馍 in 请问 and then feature it again in a lesson or video that isn't directly related, that really helps me retain it.

John,

The music - is that The Go Team?

Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes

September 16, 2008, 11:38 AM

auntie68,

Thank you for the kind words.

xinjiapo2703

While I will agree the pervasiveness of western culture around the world is a shame, I have to disagree with a majority of what you have written. There is so much I want to say, especially after your last post, but I think I will limit myself to the following:

I suggest your perception of the west (particularly the US which you seem to have singled out for an extra dose of venom) is narrow and skewed towards the negative. You have obviously had some bad experiences at some point, and for that I am sorry. I am offended by many of the same things that seem to have you so worked up, but I wouldn't paint the entire culture with the same broad brush you are using. I don't think the US has the market cornered on ignorance and superficiality - it's just that currently, we seem to have the loudest superficial morons.

Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes

September 16, 2008, 12:48 AM

I love Dear Amber, but I have to say this show was really depressing for me. I am the father of a girl from Jiangxi. She has a very pronounced epicanthal fold (the flap of skin that makes "asian" eyes look "asian") and other very "typical" Chinese features. If I may be very un-Chinese for a moment and brag - she is breathtakingly beatiful, in no small part due to her facial features. My wife and I feel incredibly fortunate, but as adoptive parents in a mixed race family, we worry a lot about what her perceptions of beauty will be. What chance do we have of convincing her looking asian in a mostly non-asian society doesn't make her less beautiful if the Chinese perception of beauty in China is also skewed towards western ideals!? The irony is that, at least in America, asian women are often considered to be beautiful. Meanwhile, my wife and other kids have red hair and freckles, which I believe is widely held as being typically European and ugly in China. I guess we just don't fit in anywhere.

This isn't the first time I have encounted this attitude, by the way. My sister-in-law is Fillipino and her family openly expresses their hopes that babies born into their family won't have flat noses and/or dark skin. I just don't get it. Like most grown men I know I have admired women for many years, and my ability to appreciate beauty has never been restricted to a single "type".

Posted on: Traffic

September 03, 2008, 03:57 PM

太好了！ I see myself playing these over and over. Outstanding addition!

Posted on: Mosquitos and Olympics

June 13, 2008, 11:30 AM

Rash, I remember those as well, but they seem to have fallen out of fashion - I wonder why.

Amber, I was in Canada last year and had my first experience with black flies - those aren't much fun either.

Here in Florida, we have these little biting flies called "no-see-ums" that I think are much worse than mosquitos. Their bite feels like a tiny pin-prick (much more noticeable than a mosquito) and repellents aren't always as effective on them. They "attack" in swarms that you can't see coming (thus the name, haha).

Posted on: Chinese New Year!

February 09, 2008, 01:51 PM

Great video zaifuzhong! I've been to some pretty impressive fireworks displays here in the U.S., but nothing like that! Some of the related videos are fun too. I have got to make it over there for New Year some time.

Posted on: Chinese New Year!

February 08, 2008, 05:28 PM

Thanks for the show, by the way. The emphasis on culture is one of my favorite aspects of Cpod.

Posted on: Chinese New Year!

February 08, 2008, 05:27 PM

Isn't the amount of money given in the envelopes important as well? I thought I remembered, for example, that the number 4 is to be avoided.