Saturday, August 18, 2012

It's Not Just Food



Imagine hundreds of millions of people discussing one #topic# on Twitter, you may say it must be a heavyweight event like, ‘London Olympic’ or ‘Syria Chaos’, well, you need not to blame yourself, even the most powerful brainstorm cannot figure out the right answer - It’s just a TV show talking about, food. The 7-episode Chinese documentary, ‘A Bite of China’, surpasses all the other TV programs aired in prime time. The hit of the ‘food documentary’ even stirred up a boom in the online shopping industry: millions of orders generated as soon as a new food material emerged in the latest episode. "Drooling mouths, wet eyes!" such comments have been identified by the majority. But…why?

Instead of focusing only on the preparation process in the kitchen, the ‘Bite’ series offers a unique insight into the geographical, cultural and historical dimensions of people’s stories about their ‘experiences’ with food. There is no dramatical story or exaggerated expression, it simply originates from the cultural life through which people who are suffering with industralized fast food realize the relationship between human and nature.

Associated with China's recent PR campaign: investing heavily to produce a national advertisement to be broadcast in Times Square, New York, you may safely draw the conclusion that there is nothing more suitable than ‘food’ to deliver the civilization continuity of a nation as the comprehension of the relationship between food and people expresses the wisdom and taste aesthetic produced by Chinese laboring people through thousands of years. So when we want to put an answer to the mystery of this ‘Bite’ of success, we may just say: Well, it’s not just food.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

A great E-Learning Module by NUS- how to make an attractive presentation

I am currently academically addicted to an E-Learning module offered by NUS, which gives a lot of really constructive tips to help you perform better in a presentation! Here is some notes I've learned and would like to share with you guys. Oh, right, I'd better post the link of the module first FYI: http://emodule.nus.edu.sg/presentation-skills/part1/.


1.Characteristics of an Effective presentation?
For me, it's Humorous+Easy to Understand+Right length+Visually attractive, the module also lists some great points like: Relaxing for speaker and audience+ Relevant to the audience and, Punctual, which has been left out for a long time.


2.Presentation Styles
2.1 Impromptu, for guys like Steve Jobs.
2.2 Memorised, for all the entertainers and celebrities.
2.3 Manuscript, for the CCP dumbs.
2.4 Extemporaneous, for folks like you and me.


3.Presentation Components 
In conclusion, a A+ presentation is to Structure the Contents in the right way with a number of Rhetorical devices.


4. Identify topic and objectives
Nothing new in this part.


5.Analyse your audience
Always be conscious about the motivation of the audiences, that means, why whey come here and what can the benefit from YOU.
Generally, what the audiences need is to GAIN knowledge and experience from a expert, and save time and energy,avoid failure and embarrassment, awkwardness, eventually, become happy and influential.


It's an interesting course, and get something urgent now, but will update this blog soon.











Wednesday, December 14, 2011

My Netgains Internship Experience

I have written several blogs or articles about my Indian life, especially those days in Netgains as an SEO analyst, in English.

But I think it is also necessary to express something in English about this experience, to let my workmates and friends know How much did I Enjoy that period of Amazing Time.

Since I started to apply for the internship abroad through AIESEC, India, to be honest, was not my priority; It was Poland and Germany where I send a lot of CVs to, and fortunately, I got two offers finally. Meanwhile, that internship form about SEO jumped into my eyes when I was wandering in the myaiesec.com.

I was quite interested about that form, cause I have known something about SEO industry, and it is quite related to my major, so I read through the full job description, and log on the company's website to have a glimpse, impressive! I have to say, this looks like a red-blooded IT company, the projects the company has done seems awesome, and the corporate culture suits most of my favors.

The only problem is , India. Can I luckily survive after the three months' indian life? (the result was quite positive,as I can tell you, now). I suppose I can, so, that's the start of the journey.

I took a serious and quite technical interview by the CEO of Netgains, Mr. Malik Sumeet. I was quite impressed  when I first heard his voice, typical American accent (Later did I know Mr. Sumeet had studied and worked in USA for several years), I was really nervous, but still, enjoyed the whole talk.

You can not imagine how Happy I was when I got the confirmation of this internship, I refused the German and Polish job and booked the ticket to Delhi soon, not long after that, I was sitting in the office of Netgains , in sector 20A(I can never forget this number, guys, I had to repeat this days after days to the auto-rickshaw driver(a popular three-wheels-car in India) to tell him where I want to go with my waving arms sometimes when he cannot understand English, still funny), Chandigarh.

I met Deepika(we had so many argues about the political differences between China and India, it is a tie, btw ,lol), Sam(my later best bro in India) , Ashish(funniest guy in India); the enthusiastic and curious designers and programmers upstairs and of course , my boss, Mr.Sumeet.

He is so different from 'my picture of Indian man', handsome;tall;strong;nice-smile---this is the first impression , smart;well-organised;hard-working;strict;efficient---this is what I learned later. I can say, I learned second-most stuff from Mr.Sumeet during the whole period, just after the Indian travel experiences.

He gave me a short introduction of my responsibility and the papers and docs I had to grasp(which is still useful now in my life), to make sure I can be in the right path, and be efficient.

In the very beginning of my internship, the greatest challenge is to grasp the new knowledge in the shortest time, thanks to the help of Mr. Sumeet and Sam and others, although there's some problems during the internship, I conquered them all, and started to work on the real project after the first month.

I don't want to give too many details about the work content, those I really want to tell you is How I Feel About This Unforgettable Journey.

1.I was really impressive how hard-working the IT people in India can be, they actually don't need to take a rest and keep efficient all the time, it totally changed my thought to Indian people.
2. I was also impressive about how awesome the India High-tech industry are nowadays, we, China, are far behind them now, they have a large number of talented people, this is the most significant difference which we have to admit.
3. They need more entertainment, maybe, Lol.

This internship in India totally changed my view to this country and to this world, it also makes me a more well-organised and tough people. Most Importantly, I have decided to work in this related industry, and this experience in India and Netgains will benefit me forever!

Thank You! Netgains! Salute!


Saturday, November 26, 2011

达芬奇的密码和外婆家的井


前些日子整理移动硬盘,发现有一部片子,达芬奇密码,卧在里面的某个角落叙旧都没有被关爱了,顿生怜悯之情,于是沉下心来,花了两个多小时安静的看完了它。我有看过原著,作为人类史上最卖座的书本之一(说是之一是因为它终究难敌中国义务教育阶段的教科书,甚至可能同辅导书都不是一个等量级的),这部电影,我说句实话,原谅我是一个不懂欣赏电影的粗人,实在是有点蹙眉头。

说它俩是有史以来差距最大的原著和翻拍之一也并不是十分过分,不是么?
我不喜欢看电影前看影评,因为剧透是可以想象的最最龌龊的行径,自己给自己找剧透,那就是缺心眼的行为了;看过好电影我也不看影评,我喜欢过一段时间再看一遍;而看过一部不满意的作品后,我通常喜欢去IMDB,Mtime,亦或者豆瓣上看些影评,因为自己文字功底有限,想找些人替我对这些不作为的movie makers 进行灵魂的鞭笞,狠狠的。所以你可以想象,我几乎看过所有观摩过的国产电影的影评,与电影工作者作灵魂深处的交流。

当然这些不是我现在想说的,真正拨弄我心弦的是电影的一个情节:教授同志年少时曾经掉入一口井中,蹬了一晚上的水才终得救,但从此换上了幽闭恐惧症。当然,我并没有这类不孕不育的疑难杂症,但是无数次,我确实有过丢入深井的意念想象:我的外婆家有一口自己打的井,留下过很多美好的回忆,但是每每与它对视(实际是俯视,因为它是一口地表井),那种如同仰视头顶的电扇并且幻想它砸将下来锋利的在头颈上留下一个碗口大的疤的恐惧就会袭上心头。

这是口好井,必须得这么说。

我的家乡现在是国家级的海洋新区,依靠其好到令人发指的区位以及无数个天然良港的资源,未来必定是同新加坡一个级别的海上要塞,国际物流中心,这和我说的没什么关系,我只是不自然的想吹一下牛逼;因为毕竟有很多人是这样的:生长的地方牛掰了,或者出了个牛掰的人物,便觉得自己也脸上贴金似的,唯恐天下不知,而事实上,自己似乎仍然只是个loser. 我也不吐不快,说回那口井。

我从2岁到12岁的光景是在农村度过的,更准确点,是在一个距离本岛一个半小时船程的岛屿度过的。但是似乎我很少感觉到自己生活在这么一个一般人觉得很神奇的岛屿上,因为人生似乎很早就是X点一线了,学校+学校与家中的马路+小霸王其乐无穷啊,作为一个曾经的宅男,便是生活的全部了,想必不同别人去水库游泳,不去海边捉螃蟹,不去烂水沟钓龙虾,不去‘追跑打闹’,不去地里偷未熟的西瓜,不去女同学家串门,不去做这些丰富多彩的课余活动,是我童年发胖的罪魁祸首了。每隔一个周末还进一次‘县城’(去一次本岛),所以就算没有搬到本岛之前,我的农民身份也是十分不完全的。

只有不去本岛的那些周末,我才会体验一下真正的农村生活。那些周末我会被发配到外婆家过火。外婆家在一个‘岙’里头,虽然都是在一个岛上,但是地域歧视还是随处可见的,譬如我爸就经常很有优越感,因为他的村不是‘岙’结尾的,这就显得高级一点,因为通常‘岙’之所以为‘岙’,是因为它背靠大山,面也朝山,交通就显得不便一些,口音也会有点点奇怪。所以有个很有趣的海岛现象是:OK,我们是一个市的,但是每个岛的口音还是差别很大,大到你张嘴说声‘好臭’,同伴便会说‘侬是Lo Woa拧啊?哈哈哈哈哈,侬头回子‘好臭’是咋刚啊?哈哈哈哈,哈哈哈哈’,这些人就是这么讨厌的。但是更加令人想不明白的是,一个到里面的人,竟然开口几句话就可以分辨出你事某某岙的,它是某某岙的,都是语言学家。其实这便是我上篇博文说的事,方言是文明倒退的产物,地理或者政治的隔阂才产生了语音的不同。所以,那些天天‘撑住广州话’,‘阿拉上海拧就是要港上海闲话’得人,真是很讨厌,因为他们似乎重来不思考。语言隔阂带来的对发展的限制的危害性远比所谓的文化‘多样性’的权重大。

所以说到那口井,那口井实在是很美好。

尤其是夏天,那口井就是所有生活精华的集粹。烈日炎炎,三四点钟,外公或者舅舅舅妈会去小卖部买几瓶啤酒,几瓶雪碧(雪碧这玩意似乎是古来就有的物什),放入打水的桶中(一头是桶,一头是青色的麻绳),缓缓的放入井中,桶会沉到水底,我想那些在湿热的空气中贮藏了许久的饮品,便是有感觉,定会觉得这滋味无比曼妙吧。到了吃饭的点,将大圆桌子搬到屋落外的堂下,将饭菜一一从厨房间搬出摆满桌上,将沉入井底的饮品缓缓地提起,取出,起子,打开啤酒;拧开雪碧盖子;呲~~~同样的声响,倒入碗中,就着蒸鳗鲞,富贵虾,自家养的白切鸡肉,下肚。写到这里,便要埋怨自己实在不会讲故事,如此动人的场景,要我形容,我便只会说‘太爽了!’,实在要请诸位自己想象了。

这口井还可以做好些事。同堂地从外面疯回来,拖个精光,自己从井中打水:打水实在是个技术活,我的常备都是个中好手,手腕一抖,上来就是满满一桶,除了我父亲,他明显也是个没有‘岙’农村生活经验的人。我一次大概只有半桶的量,苦恼了很久。接着说,打水上来,狠狠的讲桶高高举起,从头淋到脚,冰凉到肚下三寸便会短时的失去知觉,‘爽的厉害’。

最常做的便是,趴在井边,对着自己做鬼脸,‘真好看’。

突然便想到这些,觉得有必要记下。不日即将前往上海,暗下决心,一定要回去‘岙’里,看看那口井。

Ricky Xia's Life-Log