Asian Boss is a YouTube Channel, whose main goal is to bring about some curiosities related to the Asian continent. Despite their relatively limited geographical area of activity – they do their research mostly in Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea and the Philippines –, you can say they represent and cover a great deal of Asian-related topics, subject matter, and points of view. Their method of approaching people on the streets and asking directly what they think about certain issues is simple, but quite interesting, since you obtain first-hand knowledge. 

Since there is a lot of difference between Eastern and Western cultures, it is interesting to acquire objective knowledge about Asia, and also to absorb a considerable multitude on perspectives of opinion concerning westerners that live in Asian countries. The cultural impact one exercises upon another – the cultural habits and trends of the east over western people, and how easterners perceive foreigners from the west, as well as from another eastern countries – is very interesting to analyze, and the different elements and discrepancies we can observe can tell a lot about the general human behavior, and mostly, the necessary perception of individuality.      

The channel is really amazing, since frankly exposes, debates and highlights very interesting aspects about life in the Asian countries they cover, that you probably never knew. For example, did you know that porn is completely forbidden in South Korea? Well, they asked personally to Koreans what they feel about the subject. 

Okay, so you must now think that this probably haven’t been the smartest government idea on earth, since people – like the Koreans themselves featured in the interview spoke – eventually will find a way in breaking the law, if they want to see explicit content videos on the internet. Probably the best question that must be evaluated here, and unfortunately they only scratched the surface on this regard, is why the government interferes on matters that would be primarily a question of personal choice? This would normally fall out of a state related issue. So why take over legislation to regulate the matter?   

This video I also found quite interesting. I already knew that Singapore has a lot of laws – 
in fact, in great excess –,  and the reporter asked Singaporeans what they think about their own laws, and if they knew all of them. For example, it is forbidden to bring, sell and chew gums in the country.

The following video is about the nature and the perception of Japanese men over Japanese woman being “dumb” and subservient, and the apparent preference they have over this kind of women. The question relies on a male insistence and failure to capture and to understand more deeply the nature and abilities of human females, and the fact that – living in the 21st century –, men are being generally obtuse and incapable in adapting to modern times, and acknowledging the fact that woman have the right to study, to acquire knowledge, to have a profession, to be the smartest person in the couple, and to fight for their space in society, being entitled to think what they think and to be who they are. 

This video is amazingly interesting. North Korea is a brutal, severe and aggressive dictatorship, and several north Koreans try to escape their country every year, undergoing a dangerous and hazardous journey throughout China and another Asian countries, to seek refuge and a better life in South Korea. This video about north Koreans that managed to successfully escape – and now live in freedom in the southern part of the Korean peninsula – is quite revealing and humane, and expands a lot our knowledge about how terrible, fearful and afflictive life can be in a totalitarian regime, and its most devastating implications and consequences on its people. The hunger, general famine, the precariousness, the desolation and the destitution experienced by north Koreans is exceedingly shocking, revealing and profoundly sad, and here you find crucial information from people that lived in their own flesh this horrible, traumatic moments. 

The next video I would like to highlight is the continuation of the previous, upon which north Koreans talk about their experiences and their life in South Korea, and how they perceive to be south Korean society in general. Since there are a lot of differences in customs, tradition and even in language and accent itself, on this video, north Koreans talk about the differences they felt were the most relevant between the northern and southern cultures, and how they managed to integrate into south Korean society. 

Of course, here I’ve selected just a few, but there are a lot of other interesting, fantastic and fascinating videos on the channel, upon a great deal of topics and subjects. Mostly, Asian Boss teaches the audience a lot of things about Asia – directly from the people who live there –, so we get to known first hand accounts about Asian countries, their respective societies as a whole, individually as persons, their perceptions about the country on which they live, as well as their societies and customs, impressions about foreigners and outsiders, the habits they bring along with them and the main differences when compared to their respective Asian culture.  


​Wagner

Phillip Roth, the famous and celebrated American novelist, died more than a month ago, in Manhattan, on May 22, 85 years old. Literature loses one of its greatest exponents, but certainly, his work is more than enough to certify his ubiquitous grandiosity, that manages to be concomitantly solemn and disillusioned, as Roth dives profoundly into the most depressive and collateral elements of human nature, exposing reality for what it really is, with all of its difficulties, voracious disappointments and sordid emptiness.  

One of the most revered, talented and awarded writers of his generation, Roth leaves a legacy of approximately thirty-five books, mostly novels, that reveals the arbitrary sidelines of American society by the eyes of peculiar, but inherently pessimistic characters; usually, very cynic men, that doesn’t hold any type of morality, religious beliefs or faith in life. On the contrary, his characters – upon which the more well-known certainly would be Nathan Zuckerman and David Kepesh, the first, usually considered an alter ego for Roth –, had lost completely their grip on life, and deal with a lot of sentimental affliction, emotional pain and solitary isolation, as well as the consequences of life-long sufferings. 

I have read only three Phillip Roth’s books, but they were enough for me to consider him one of my favorite writers: Goodbye, Columbus, his first, published in 1959, Exit Ghost, published in 2007, which has Nathan Zuckerman as a central character, and more recently, The Dying Animal, originally published in 2001, which has literature professor David Kepesh as the protagonist. Undoubtedly, the one that I liked the most was Exit Ghost, although I have read this book several years ago. The Dying Animal, on the other hand, I have read recently, just about a few months ago. 

Roth’s work is full of delicate nuances, although at the same time his work can be direct, incisive, explicit, arbitrarily afflictive and discreetly dilacerating on its sincere exposition of the painful hostilities of human existence.  

Sexual desire is prominent in Roth’s fiction, and the fact that sexual lust doesn’t decrease – on the contrary, it’s always latent as an individual gets old –, is one of the many literary predicaments that his characters face and are obliged to endure. Being forced to deal with all the difficulties inherent to old age, like health issues and physical precariousness and deterioration, as well as the inability to have a sex life, nor to execute satisfactorily sexual fantasies with a woman, and how people are generally obtuse to these facts about old people, are some of the personal challenges that fluctuates at the epicenter of the universe of Roth’s characters. 

Roth was a chronic cynic, derided religion, and was at least partially hateful of his Jewish upbringing – he expressively prohibited Jewish rites to be performed at his funeral – something that is reflected throughout his work, which is mostly autobiographical. His characters dive further into an inherent existential bitterness, that discreetly reflects at least a little some of his personal life experiences. Nevertheless, Roth was an exceptionally creative writer, and not everything found in his literary works must be directly related to him. On this regard, it is crucial to separate the writer and the individual from his fictional personae and situations described. The writer himself clearly has stressed the importance of this in many occasions, in several interviews he conceded to television, journalists and literature broadcasts across America.

The pain in his work is very latent, although manages to be mostly discreet, homogenously diffuse, throughout the narratives. The reading of his books are pleasurable experiences, and a great intellectual exercise. The characters are generally fascinating, but sad at the same time, as they deal with generally arbitrary circumstances, that display personal grievances upon which a darkness within the conscious personality subtlety emerges. Roth has explored in his fiction several moments crucial to United States history – like the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the communist paranoia – and how he dealt with it personally, how directly and indirectly this affected him as an individual, and how it held accountable for the ones around him concerning these situations, everything filtered by the sensible realities of his complex and tormented characters.     

Roth ceased writing and retired in 2010. I will probably never forget how I came to know about his retirement. I was ready to embark in a plane in Europe, and I had bought an exemplar of the International Herald Tribune, to read while on the flight. On the front page of the newspaper – which I have to this day –, there was this article, titled “Why Phillip Roth decided to retire his pen (in 2010)”, which continued on page 8. The article said that “To his friends, the notion of Mr. Roth not writing is like Mr. Roth not breathing”. But the article states that the motives to quit were quite clear. The beginning of the article read: ‘On the computer in Phillip Roth’s Manhattan apartment these days is a Post-it note that reads, “The struggle with writing is over.” (…) “I look at that note every morning”, he said the other day, “and it gives me such strength”’. On it, Roth confesses how difficult writing could be, since competent writing requires to completely undress the soul to the reader. Remarkably, as the article also mentions, Roth’s output increased significantly in the last decade of his writing career, and in this period he produced some of his finest works, which is uncommon among the vast majority of novelists, who usually slow down their pace. The writer was well-known as a reclusive person, was reserved towards the media and rarely was seen outside his cottage in Connecticut. He was a native of Newark, New Jersey, but also spent time in New York. Unfortunately, the individual is gone, but his legacy remains more alive than ever. 


Wagner

Tad Hilgenbrink is an American former actor, that became famous after starring as Matt Stifler in the 2005 movie American Pie Presents Band Camp. Nevertheless, despite being this movie that threw him into the spotlight, the actor originally from Quincy, Illinois, engraved his presence on the screen for starring in two horror films, 2008 Lost Boys: The Tribe and 2009 The Hills Run Red. 

Although I have seen these three movies, it’s the last – The Hills Run Red – that I remember the best, especially for the fact that I have the DVD, and I have seen this movie a dozen times, because I really appreciate it. It’s not a fantastic movie, however, but it’s definitely my type of horror.   

In The Hills Run Red, Hilgenbrink plays Tyler, a young student that is undergoing a personal project. He wants to do a documentary about an obscure horror movie, titled The Hills Run Red, and the director, Wilson Wyler Concannon (played by William Sadler). The film is considered lost, no copies are known to exist and the director apparently disappeared in mysterious circumstances after the movie was released. Tyler is passionate and enthusiastic about his project, and has located Alexa (played by Sophie Monk), the daughter of Concannon, to dive further into a deep investigation. She is a stripper in a club, and he wants to find her, to discover everything he can about the movie and the director, and why both mysteriously vanished. His girlfriend, Serena (played by the gorgeous and fabulous Janet Montgomery) and his friend Lalo (played by Alex Wyndham) join him in the adventure. 

Tyler locates Alexa, and she strips for him. He lets her know that he doesn’t want her services, he just want to ask her some questions, but she tells him that they better pretend, because they are being watched, and she stares at a discreet camera on the ceiling. She whispers to him, to wait for her outside. Upon finishing her shift, both drive to her place. After acknowledging that she is a drug addict, he locks her and forces her to undergo a hazardous, deliberate and stressful period of abstinence, to fully recover from the drugs and its pernicious effects. At first, she goes furious and insane, but after detoxifying, she became more healthy and reasonable. 

By neglecting his girlfriend, Serena becomes lonely. Perceiving her neediness, Lalo advances towards her, and she accepts his advances. They sleep together, and blame Tyler for his omission, as well as his obsession on the documentary. Regardless, both soon join Tyler and Alexa, and the shooting of the documentary begins. Then the group goes towards the small town where the movie was originally filmed.  





​The premise of the movie basically revolves around a dark character called Babyface, a vicious and sadistic killer. After interviewing local hillbillies – that saw some of the original shooting, as well as the movie when it premiered on a local theater –, that seems friendly at first, but afterwards attack them in their bonfire encampment, threatening to sexually violate the girls, Babyface comes from the darkness, and kills the aggressive hillbillies. The four, feeling threatened, untie and escape from Babyface, seeking refugee towards a cabin in the secluded forest.

Eventually, while running away from Babyface, the group split, but all of them become trapped in different places and situations. After Alexa disappears, Tyler enters the cabin to search for her, and finds her almost naked tied up to a bed. But then Babyface attacks again. Alexa then orders Babyface to go after them.
 
Tyler eventually finds a dark room full of film reels, and he recognizes himself in some of them. After being assaulted and beaten, Tyler loses his conscience, and wakes up tied to a chair, just to see Concannon suddenly joining him, after being misinformed by Alexa that her father had been dead for years. Concannon reveals to Tyler that the movie is still being shot to this day, and that all of the original cast were amateur actors. After seeing some footage, Tyler realizes, to his distress, that all the killing done in the movie was real.

Concannon also shows Tyler footage of himself touching Alexa’s breasts, when the two were confined all alone, during the abstinence crisis that Tyler forced Alexa to undergo. It is then implied that – when Tyler first contacted Alexa – she probably told everything to her father, that managed to plant cameras on Alexa’s nightclub and flat, to continue the shooting of his movie with new victims. Alexa acted as a voluntary bait, to attract them to a trap.   

Concannon wants to do some shooting, with the group being a part of his movie. Lalo is also held imprisoned, but is savagely tortured by Alexa – who has revealed herself to be on her father’s side. Nevertheless, Concannon and Alexa never agree upon anything, argue all the time, and he acts increasingly aggressive towards her, which enrages Babyface. Serena manages to run away for a brief period, hiding in a cellar, and submerging into a barrel of blood. Nevertheless, Babyface, suspecting that she was there, hides in the rooftop, and waits for her to leave. When Babyface eventually locates and captures her, Serena, thinking that Babyface – which has a terribly disfigured face, covered with an equally disturbing and abominable baby mask – is mentally handicapped, sings a lullaby for him. He apparently feels calm at first, but then, with an adult voice, coldly tells her that this won’t do to her any good. She eventually realizes that Babyface’s mental condition is normal, that he is a psychopath, and that she can’t persuade him to let her go unharmed, which makes her go hysteric. 

Meanwhile, Alexa proceeds to torture Lalo, and manages to kill him. Concannon and Alexa then argue about the direction the movie should go, and after feeling jealous about her cinematic virtues, Concannon tells Alexa that he is the only talent in the family, and kills her. Babyface becomes enraged, intervenes, and kills Concannon, with Tyler’s encouragement, Before his execution, Concannon reveals a secret, upon which becomes implicit that Babyface may be the offspring of an incestuous relationship between Concannon and his daughter Alexa. 

Babyface and Tyler then starts to fight. Serena tries to intervene, and manages to subdue Babyface, but Alexa – which was only harmed by her father, and not killed – arranges to subjugate both Serena and Tyler. Alexa ties Tyler to a chair in a room full of dead people, leaving him alone to see her version of the movie. Tyler goes insane. Afterwards, it is revealed that Serena is pregnant, and is being held hostage by Alexa. Only recently I saw the DVD extras, and acknowledged that the movie was shot in Bulgaria. 
  

​
For me, this is the movie that is the pearl on Tad Hilgenbrink’s career. Another movie that highlighted him in a lead role was 2006 The Curiosity of Chance (but I haven’t seen this one). Apparently, the actor was active in the film industry for about five years only, from 2004 to 2009, participating in thirteen movies in this short period. He was never seen again in any other movies, nor TV shows. He is absent from the screen for almost ten years now. What has happened to him?  

He simply disappeared, like the director Wilson Wyler Concannon, from The Hills Run Red. Having become exasperated with acting, he retired from the spotlight and probably just changed occupations. Why not? This would not have been the first time, many other people have done that. Famous actress Kay Panabaker ended her career in 2012, after eleven years in the industry, to work in zoology. Another notorious actress, the beautiful and talented Leelee Sobieski, ended her career in the same year, 2012, after successful seventeen years in the movie industry. Or he may just be taking a break. Actress Alison Lohman stopped acting in 2009, the same year as Hilgenbrink, but returned briefly in 2015, to stop acting again, in the next year. 

Or – who knows – he could have died, and no one noticed. Who really knows, besides people on his personal circle? It would be good to know, out of curiosity. Nevertheless, his brief career was a highlight for horror movies enthusiasts, and although his legacy is modest in quantity, certainly he compensates on the great dramatic quality of his memorable performances.   



Wagner

Eerst voelde het een beetje raar. Tenslotte ben je toch iemand anders zijn rotzooi aan het opruimen. Sommige voorbijgangers dachten dat we een werkstraf gekregen hadden. Ja, misschien wel, gestraft voor iemand anders zijn wangedrag. Die mensen keken overigens raar op wanneer we hen vertelden dat we vrijwilligers waren. Vol ongeloof staarden ze ons aan, en vice versa. Toch geeft heel dat zwerfvuil opruimen een stevige dosis voldoening. De voor- en na- foto's zijn soms adembenemend en elke volle zak is toch weer een prestatie. Daarnaast is elke volle zak ook een stevige trap in de kloten van de vervuilers, althans, zo voelt het aan. Het beloningsmechanisme in onze hersenen draait op volle toeren, zoveel is zeker.

Door dat vrijwilligerswerk ben ik alerter geworden op zwerfvuil. Het is één van de dingen die me het snelst opvalt. Tijdens wandelingen in parken, wanneer ik wacht op de tram, wanneer ik een festival binnenkom... altijd springt die vuiligheid in mijn oog. Zoals steeds meer mensen kan ik er ook steeds minder vaak tegen. Soms wordt het zelfs een storende factor. Daarbij begint het tegenwoordig echt wel de spuigaten uit te lopen. Flessen, blikjes, luchtmatrassen, vakantieliefjes, tenten, stoelen, tafels... alles wordt tegenwoordig zomaar achtergelaten. Vooral op grote evenementen kan je perfect gave kampeerspullen tegenkomen, genoeg om duizenden vluchtelingen op te vangen.

Als ik dit fenomeen vanuit een maatschappelijk en economisch standpunt bekijk, verbaast het me eigenlijk niet eens meer. Alles lijkt een beetje uit de hand te lopen. Een gemiddeld festival, ticket plus eten plus drinken, kost tegenwoordig meer dan een week in Dubai. Het is amper nog te betalen door de aardbeienplukkende jobstudent. Ten tweede worden er op Werchter, Tomorrowland, Cactus Festival en Pukkelpop meer selfies genomen dan noten muziek gespeeld. Grote festivals zijn een beetje een elite-event geworden, iets waar het meer draait om Instagram- volgers dan om bands, maar goed, dat moeten zij weten. Feit is wel dat die elite voornamelijk bestaat uit jonge snaken die met jonge bimbo's in geleasede Audi's rondtoeren. Daags voor het festival rijden de meesten nog eventjes langs de AS Adventure om wat duurzame wegwerptroep te kopen. Zo gaat dat tegenwoordig.

Na het festival zijn ze moe, uitgeput, leeg en op. En dat is ook volkomen logisch. Die mensen zijn het niet gewend om te moeten stappen. Hun leven speelt zich af op hun zitvlak of in dat van die jonge bimbo. Een gemiddeld festival vergt toch al zo'n 10 kilometer per dag, vraag maar aan mijn stappenteller. Dat is vermoeiend, zeker als er dan ook nog eens minder dan 12 uur slaap per dag bijkomt, alsook de afkick van de coke en speed en bollen of dacht u dat de flikken dat allemaal netjes in de hand hadden? Dus die jongetjes en meisjes zijn te moe om hun tent op te ruimen, dat is volkomen begrijpelijk. Daarnaast betalen ze al genoeg dus kan de organisatie toch ook wel zorgen voor de properheid van het geheel, wat is me dat nu?

Maar goed, dat zijn de verwende nestjes op de grote festivals. Op kleine evenementen is het toch een heel stuk beter, niet? Wel, soms. Aan de ene kant vind ik die kleine, recycleerbare flesjes van Coca Cola, Fanta en Nestea beter dan die fantasieloze plastic pinten maar anderzijds heb ik gisteren een nogal fors gebouwde dame over zo'n flesje zien uitglijden. Gelukkig was haar nog forser gebouwde partner paraat om erger te voorkomen. Toch toont het de onverschilligheid die er dezer dagen over het hele festivalgebeuren hangt en dat is doodzonde. Te meer omdat het anders kan. Ik en duizend andere mensen hebben dat mogen meemaken in Zottegem, waar Dunk! festival het properste evenement aller tijden is geworden.

Wat Dunk! anders doet? Ze gebruiken herbruikbare bekers. Ze zetten voldoende vuilnisbakken neer, ook op de camping. Die vuilnisbakken worden regelmatig leeggemaakt en vervangen. Dunk! is kleinschalig genoeg om eten in échte borden en met écht bestek te serveren. Maar het grootste geheim schuilt in de mentaliteit van het publiek. Afval wordt wel degelijk opgeruimd. Weinig of niets komt op de grond terecht en de prachtige groene omgeving van het festival wordt met veel respect behandeld. Een absoluut voorbeeld. Daarbij, dat publiek krijgt nog eens een onvergetelijke festivalervaring in de plaats. 

Die mentaliteit heeft te maken met spiegelneuronen, het zogenaamde "monkey-see-monkey-do" principe. Als jij je campingstekje als een afvalberg achterlaat, is de kans groot dat die naast jou dat ook gaat doen. Festivals waar vrijwilligers na elk optreden eventjes met de keerborstel door de tent gaan, zijn beduidend properder dan evenementen waar dat niet gebeurt. Er spoelen potvissen aan met stukken tentzeil in hun maag. Het mag wel eens stoppen nu. 


​Serge