I recall having around a million dollars once to produce a spot for the Super Bowl. It was okay, not great, but not as bad as some of the shite I saw the other day on YouTube. You can see the game here in Vietnam, on a Monday morning at an American bar, but you don't get any commercials. It's an ESPN international feed or something.
Shortly after I arrived here, I was sitting on a tiny plastic chair on the street having a coffee and a smoke – little plastic chairs are pervasive in Asia because so much living is done at street level. As I sat, I saw the man in this video, slowly making his way toward me so I discretely pulled out my cel-phone and shot this film. If a picture is worth a thousand words this spot should be worth at least a million dollars. It didn't cost a cent, but hopefully will do some good.
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Shortly after I arrived here, I was sitting on a tiny plastic chair on the street having a coffee and a smoke – little plastic chairs are pervasive in Asia because so much living is done at street level. As I sat, I saw the man in this video, slowly making his way toward me so I discretely pulled out my cel-phone and shot this film. If a picture is worth a thousand words this spot should be worth at least a million dollars. It didn't cost a cent, but hopefully will do some good.
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After I made the original film, it sat around awhile until the script came. This would have been a little over two years ago. Watching George Bush on TV roostering around and acting as if America had some sort of copyright on morality just didn't add up to me, when I could see the results of our morality, 30 years after the fact. I finished the final commercial at home on my Mac and then sent it around the world to interested organisations. A wonderful man named Professor Kenneth Herrmann from SUNY Brockport in New York responded and we began a partnership. Do click on Professor Herrmann's link and see the good work he and his students are doing in Vietnam – and of course help them out with a donation if you can.
Hey David,
ReplyDeleteI haven't read your book yet, but I have been dipping into your latest and greatest blog. This little film really reached out and messed with my head.
While I was there on my motorcycle trip I came across people like that in every town. Out in the world surviving.
The weird thing is a whole flood of memories cam back to me as I read your description of the little chairs. My ass would get stuck regularly in those little chairs (motorcycle pants).
I was wondering do you squat over the hole to shit or do you use a conventional toilet? I couldn't squat and read at the same time.
When we would stop kids would come out of the woodwork to look at me. They would giggle at first and then laugh. It was a weird laugh though. Not a "happy-to-see-me laugh". I asked Thaun, my guide, "Are they laughing at me?" He tried to be polite and kept saying "No they are just happy to see you." But I pressed him. Come on, you can tell me. They're laughing at me aren't they? But why? What's so funny?
He said, "You know when you see a Chinese man - buck teeth, big thick glasses (he makes a funny face to demonstrate). I laugh of course.
He says, "That's why they laugh, they think you funny looking."
Oh...funny looking.
Forigner is right.
I can't believe it's been two years since I've been there.
Be well and I'll keep reading.
Victor LaPorte