FORSUKSSAKE

Randomly came across this as I was searching for a Wordpress theme.

Of course, I haven’t graduated yet, but I think most of them resonates with me, #2 and #5 in particular (”Take only the classes required for your degree” and “Move off-campus by yourself as fast as possible”).

I only partially agree with #1 (”Take as many AP classes as you can in High School”). I actually enjoyed most AP classes I took, despite the fact that I almost got no credit for all of them–U.S. Government, microeconomics, and calculus comes to mind. On the other hand, some were a vast waste of time–English, physics, statistics, U.S. history. I would have much rather avoided them for my own physical and mental well-being. Obviously, this is not to say that I didn’t learn a thing from these classes; the point is that small amount of learning simply wasn’t worth my time and effort. I could have gotten that much education at the public library for a much shorter time than (1 hour of lecture time + __ hours spent on homework) x 4 classes x 8 months = ????, as Will (Good Will Hunting, 1997) would have pointed out.

Seriously though, you guys knew you were being photographed, for a fucking ad. Apparently no one in the Spanish Olympic basketball team thought “pulling their eyelids to make a horizontal slit” was a mistake. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look at this:

Uhhhhhh. There’s gotta be some sort of an explanation behind this. OK. Point guard Jose Manuel Calderon (Toronto Raptors) says they were “responding to a photographer’s request” and that they “felt it was something appropriate, and that it would be interpreted as an affectionate gesture… Without a doubt, some … press didn’t see it that way.”

Center Pau Gasol (LA Lakers) says “it was something like supposed to be funny or something but never offensive in any way.”

Alright, fine. Bad PR decision = Bad publicity. Whatever. Promise not to do it again, right?

Well, it turns out the pose may be more popular in Spain than I thought…

ROFL. Caption: “Spanish women tennis players’ take on what Chinese people look like!”

Gawker.com has it the best, so I will quote them now:

It can’t be long now before all of Spain’s players are trotting out their close Asian friends before the cameras to tell them about that one time they came over and the Asian guy’s old mom made some crazy food from China and the Spanish player totally ate it without batting an eyelash because he’s really open to new cultural experiences.

I don’t have much else to add, other than that it’s just embarrassing for them. Even if you think political correctness is unproductive, living in the 21st century, you should know that physical stereotyping is hardly an “affectionate gesture.”

That is kind of lame, no matter how I try to look at it:

Chinese Olympic organizers acknowledged Tuesday they were struggling to handle an unforeseen and baffling problem inside Summer Games venues and at the showpiece Olympic Park.

Not enough people.

…

To remedy the problem, officials are busing in teams of state-trained “cheer squads” identifiable by their bright yellow T-shirts to help fill the empty seats and improve the atmosphere. They are also encouraging residents to apply for access to the heavily secured park.

Where are the 17 million people in Beijing + tourists?