Miss Korea contestants creepily all look the same

Human cloning has finally been discovered!  OK, that’s an exaggeration but seriously, there’s something a bit off with this year’s Miss Korea contestants.  South Korea has the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita according to the Economist, so you do the math when it comes to the picture below.

The photos sparked a fiery debate on Reddit, with users doing some serious bashing on how ubiquitous plastic surgery has become in Korea.  One user wrote, “I live in Korea, and older women complain how girls don’t look Korean anymore because of all the plastic surgery. It’s so common to the point if I meet a girl, I just assume she has had something done. Girls here consider eye surgery just like using makeup.”

Don’t get me wrong, these girls are very pretty.  But it’s uncanny how similar their chin, eyes and nose are.  I’ve actually heard that those three features often come as a “package” at many plastic surgery clinics in Korea.

miss korea contestants plastic surgery

(Thanks, Julie!)

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Seatbelt T-shirts help Chinese dodge seatbelt laws

I admit seatbelts aren’t always comfortable, but we all know safety comes first! However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for some folks in China. Apparently, there’s a market for T-shirts that have a thick diagonal stripe going across the front to imitate the look of wearing a seatbelt. It blows my mind that people would actually spend money on this just to avoid the hassle of buckling up.

Online shops are selling these shirts for around $5 to $8, but the fine for not wearing a seatbelt is around $8 and two penalty points on your driver’s license. With a lenient penalty like that, no wonder why people are disregarding safety!

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Pickpocketing a moving cyclist with chopsticks

Chopsticks are such versatile objects, you can use them to eat food with, pin your hair up, and, yes, pick someone’s pocket. This Chinese guy takes it to another level though — not only is he pickpocketing with chopsticks, he’s also stealing a phone from someone who is cycling!

The thief, who hails from the Henan province in China, turned himself in after pictures of his chopstick theft surfaced in the media. He apparently admitted that he resorted to stealing because he was struggling to raise his 12-year-old kid.
See the pictures below to watch him in action.

Picking up speed.
pickpocket chopstick

Reaching out with chopsticks.
chopstick thief 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Psy’s new video,”Gentleman,” already has millions of views

After Psy took over the world with Gangnam Style, I figured it would be hard for him to create any song after that would live up to the same hype. He recently released a video for his new song, “Gentleman” which also has a catchy tune, although I’m not sure if it’s as addicting as Gangnam Style. The video is also quirky with a lot of “WTF” moments, like him undoing girls’ bikini tops and taking a bite out of animal intestines wrapped around his neck. Our favorite “yellow-suit” character from the Gangnam Style video also appears in Gentleman.

As for the main dance move, it isn’t as physically exerting as the horse-riding move, but it involves some hip action similar to the one done in the elevator scene from Gangnam Style. I admit, I’ve already caught myself swaying my hips while watching Gentleman. The lyric, “I’m a mother-father gentleman,” is also repeated throughout the song, which I’m sure is meant to sound a lot like an English profanity.

The YouTube video was released on Psy’s official account on April 13, and it already has over 30 million views! Do you think it will surpass Gangnam Style?

Hip hop, Asian farmer-style

Never thought mixing the styles of hip hop and an Asian rice farmer would look and sound so cool. Norwegian dance group, Quick Crew, definitely did a good job in their interpretation of combining the vastly different worlds. There isn’t much information on the crew so I’m not sure what ethnicity these dancers are, but their names sound Indian.

Tianlang Guan is youngest golfer to ever make Masters Tournament

I don’t know what you were doing at age 14, but Tianlang Guan is proving that even a skinny Chinese kid can make international headlines.  The teenager from Guangzhou, China became the youngest golfer to qualify for The Masters Tournament.  At age 14, he’s literally an 8th grade boy competing amongst men, and many professional golfers much older than him struggle to even get to Guan’s current level.  To put things in perspective, the legendary Tiger Woods didn’t even qualify for the Masters until he was 19 years old.

“It’s frightening to think that he was born after I won my first Masters,” Woods said. “I mean, that’s just frightening.”

It’s pretty interesting watching interviews about Guan, as I would have assumed he attended an expensive sports school (there are many in China).  However, he just goes to a regular middle school in Guangzhou, balancing homework with practicing golf after school.  Golf isn’t a huge sport in China, but Guan’s passion for the sport started at age four when he tagged along with his dad on the golf course.  When he was just six years old, he traveled for his first international competition.  Watch this kid — he’s going to be the next big thing in golf!

Tianlang Guan Tiger Woods

(Thanks, Hubie)

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Fob revelation: chicken feet is a traditional American food?!

chicken feet

I was watching Bizarre Foods America featuring the local cuisine in Charleston, South Carolina and was totally shocked to see some of the dishes they featured: chicken feet, pigs ears, pork trotters…even pig snout!  Whoa whoa whoa…hold up.  What am I doing in San Francisco?  I should be living in the South!

For all foodie snobbery that San Francisco touts, nothing warmed my chicken-heart-loving heart as much as seeing this sweet old African-American granny stirring a big pot of chicken feet.  Then, Andrew Zimmern starts serving out slices of pig ears, a sausage-looking dish made of snout, and a stew of pig trotters.  You don’t even know how much I love pig ears.  They’re so crunchy — the texture is like no other.  These dishes have apparently been around for hundreds of years, dating back to the days of slavery.  Impoverished people would make do with leftover cuts of meat, and turn them into delicious soul food dishes.

I wonder how Southern-style chicken feet compares to my favorite dim sum claws?  Anyone tried it before?

Here are the highlights of the episode — chicken feet part starts at 3:50.

Kim Jong Un’s doppelganger goes grocery shopping

You have to meet my cousin, Howard, who looks like a certain dictator who’s been on the news a lot lately.  He’s definitely got a critical eye when it comes to inspecting the grocery store goods.  Hilarious!

kim jong un impersonator shopping

 

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Eggs laid by hens eating kimchi, a new fobby diet fad?

My buddy sent me a picture of this Korean product the other day—eggs laid by hens eating kimchi. At first I got excited thinking I could make myself some breakfast with a spicy kick of the Korean fermented cabbage. But looking closer at the packaging, it says “no kimchi flavor.” So what’s the point of buying these eggs? Apparently they contain Lactobacillus, a bacteria found in fermented foods and helps strengthen your immunity.

Although I’m bummed I can’t have kimchi-flavored eggs, I’m impressed at the hens that can tolerate the hot Korean goodness!

(Thanks, Richard!)

Instant ramen candle makes the perfect MSG-free gift

instantramencandle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was at the Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan last month when I stumbled upon some really cute candles at the gift shop. One of them caught my eye in particular because I’ve never seen a candle modeled after a cup of Nissin instant ramen. I even bought one for Suzie for 714 yen ($7.31) as a gift from Japan.  It would be awesome if the candle smelt like MSG goodness when ignited, but I don’t think Suzie wants to test it out — she says it looks too cool to burn!