Psy (Gangnam Style) - Unexpected Asian American Superstar

If you've been living under a rock or some remote island without Internet access, it may be news to you that there's a major new dance sweeping the world by South Korean rapper Psy:

Gangnam Style - Psy

I had read about the song when it was released in July but I never really paid attention.  As much as I like reading things, I'm not the most up to date on the latest pop culture.   I finally gave in and checked the song / video when it had just hit over 100 million views.  I thought it was a bit silly but as a fan of dance music, it had a bit of charm that made me wanted to listen to it.

Initially, I admit that I compared Psy to American Idol's William Hung.   The only reason I noted that was no other Asian-American born individual performed has garnered as much attention as Psy did.   William Hung was liked (sort of) because of geeky nature and not because of he had great musical ability.

Upon further research though, I found that I was incorrect in my comparisons.  Psy is a well known rapper in South Korea and had released six total albums.   In watching some of his other videos lately, he has a bit of swagger about him and at least one of his other songs is pretty good.

What was most surprising to me was that Psy went to college in the United States.   Thus, his English is very good and he gives great interviews.   He is down to earth but has a great sense of humor and doesn't mind making fun of himself.

There has been a push by South Koreans to push K-POP into the United States but most of the efforts have been only mildly successful.  Psy probably doesn't fit the traditional mold of K-POP but that may be exactly the reason why he has broken through.  Gangnam Style has a charm that has obviously caught on.  But like Yao Ming in the NBA, Psy's ability to express himself in English will endear him greatly to the world.  For many Asian born performers, their lack of English skills hinder them a bit as something always gets lost in the translation.  Psy will not have that problem.

Psy doesn't quite realize it yet, but he has given Asian-Americans a face in the entertainment industry that has been sorely lacking.  The Far East Movement had succeeded previously but I don't think they have garnered world wide attention as Psy did in the past few months.

To be fair, Psy is Korean born and I doubt he will be speaking on Asian-American issues anytime soon.  But an Asian face hitting the top of the charts around the English speaking world is definitely note worthy.   Let's hope that Psy is not a one-hit wonder and he can continue to be in the public eye for years to come.

Facebook At It's Best

Facebook is definitely a popular social media website but it garners it's share of criticism for it's privacy policies.   From a personal perspective, I've had a Facebook account for many years now.  Originally, I thought it was cool to "check in", post status messages and various other things of interest.

These days, I do not "check in" anymore.   I found that friends don't really care where you are at.   Plus, by "checking in" you are exposing that you are NOT HOME.    Not that my friends are going to do anything, but if someone got into a friends account, you never know what might happen.

I will occasionally post a status message if I feel the need to.  But the only remaining thing I do frequently is post links to items of interest.  I may post videos, news articles or even my own blog articles.  I use Facebook as way to share things that others may be interested in.

One really cool thing that I found recently is the use of Facebook groups.  The groups have been around for a while but I think Facebook may some changes recently which made them more useful.  When you are a part of a group, you get notifications of people posting items in the group.  I've started a few different groups and part of a few others.

All of the groups have a specific theme that ties the people together.  For example, I started a group for a company that I used to work for.  I had a lot of former co-workers as my friends and added them to the group.  From the 80 or so people I started off with, the group jumped to some 150 members a few days later as other folks added more people.

There was a surprising amount of people contributing to the group with memories of their employment histories.  Plus, all of the postings were read by a significant amount of people.   I believe I have found the secret of Facebook.  It's not about reading all of your friend's news feed constantly.  It's not about playing Mafia Wars or other games.

It's about CONNECTING people, but not superficially.   Just having your timeline, reading the newsfeed and other things doesn't mean you're connected to others.  Using groups where people can share of their shared experiences is what Facebook should be about.

Beyond the group for my former company, I had some groups for several basketball leagues I was part of.  I had a chance to share some old photos that I had saved.  Thus the groups not only allow us to share memories but preserve some of the history of things as well.