So the newest teenage heartthrob is a whitebread kid by the name of [wikipedia]Justin Bieber[/wikipedia] - all my junior high girls are talking about him, writing his name on their desks, pasting his picture on their notebooks, etc.
Out of curiosity, I looked him up on YouTube. Nothing remarkable about him - heâs young (15 years old), and Canadian - in fact he grew up just 20 minutes away from my hometown. He was recently on SNL in a sketch with Tina Fey where she plays a teacher whoâs got the hots for her student. Tina was pretty funny, Justin was ok. His music is pure pop. Nothing very remarkable about it, either. But heâs cute, and has hair that, as Tina Fey put it, âknows where itâs goingâ. Here are a couple of his videos in case you hear the buzz too, and have no idea who is is:
Damn straight! Heâd be ratted out. Sinking ships, and all of that.
Iâd wager heâs a diminutive twerp with a cheezy brainless grin for utterly every occasion. Not much nuance, it would seem.
[quote=âMaomanâ]So the newest teenage heartthrob is a whitebread kid by the name of Justin Bieber - all my junior high girls are talking about him, writing his name on their desks, pasting his picture on their notebooks, etc.
Out of curiosity, I looked him up on YouTube. Nothing remarkable about him - heâs young (15 years old), and Canadian - in fact he grew up just 20 minutes away from my hometown. He was recently on SNL in a sketch with Tina Fey where she plays a teacher whoâs got the hots for her student. Tina was pretty funny, Justin was ok. His music is pure pop. Nothing very remarkable about it, either. But heâs cute, and has hair that, as Tina Fey put it, âknows where itâs goingâ. Here are a couple of his videos in case you hear the buzz too, and have no idea who is is:
[/quote]
This kidâs like deja vu all over again. Or bad heartburn.
[quote=âPuppetâ]Apparently, many bars in Zhanghua have it.
How do you say, âUmmmâŚdo you see the problem that youâre a bar and youâre playing Justin Bieber?â In Chinese?
Itâs driving me nuts. There are no 8 year old girls here screaming.
Good ;+@;/!?!?_-,ing Lord.
Help me!!![/quote]
Welcome to Asia. Not to sound completely racist or offensive⌠But coming from a city in The States with a high Asian population, the young folks back home of the Asian persuasion love Bieber and the likes of him just as much as here. Its just cultural man⌠Asia hasnât gone through the counter-culture movement yet. Enthusiasm and band-wagoness are still okay. The hipsters donât exactly exist out here in large numbers to bitch about what is considered âcoolâ. I mean, you must have seen their version of pop-music somewhere along the line right? Bieber fits in in Asia, probably more than in the West.
Asians donât understand the lyrics of Western pop music, plus it is from a vastly different culture, so they canât tell the differene between music suitable for preteens and what we would consider âgoodâ music. Itâs not just Justin Bieber: I was often startled by the songs and performers my Asian colleagues and students considered to be good. They in turn were often shocked when some Westerner didnât know or like a song they considered a classic. I remember the Chinese teachers at Kojen exclaiming in disbelief because a teacher in his early 20s from England didnât know the whole âCarpentersâ catalogue.
Weâre the same with their music. I can listen to it and say I like it or not, but I donât have the cultural background or linguistic ability to tell if I am listening to the equivalent of Bob Dylan, Captain Beefheart, or Justin Bieber.
Laugh at the daft wee manufactured twat all you like, but let me tell you THIS!
When EYE was close to coming of age, we sophisticated Slade and Black Sabbath-lovers used to chuckle at the teenies and their idolization of⌠Little Jimmy Osmond. And let me tell you THIS! Justin Beiber is infinitely preferable to Jimmy Osmond and his âLong-haired Lover from Liverpool.â
Every generation needs a nice, safe, non-threatening, shiny nutsacked little pre-pube for its pre-pube daughters to safely swoon to. The Beiber fits the bill perfectly.
I worked in the mail order department of Universal Music before Christmas, sending out loads of Just Beiber clothes, calendars and other merchandise, but not a single CD. Make of that what you will.
Iâve heard of this before among postal service workers. They have been known to hoard things and not deliver them. So youâre saying that your house is piled up to the ceilings with Justin Beiber CDs? But Matthew, you KNOW you can only listen to one at a time. Can you see the mistake you made there?
There is something fundamentally wrong with grown adults talking about Justing Bieber :no-no: . We have enough of this stuff enforced upon us by ICRT and the popular culture. Canât Forumosa be one place where we can escape all this crap :snooty: ?
