Skateboarding With Chinese Characteristics

Very interesting and insightful article on skateboarding in China, dude. The article is written by college junior, Jonathan Chow, and is entitled, "Skateboarding With Chinese Characteristics." Its money quote and why the article itself is important is as follows:

"Forget soybeans, aircrafts, and pharmaceuticals. Popular culture is America's most influential export."

It's tagline is that "As extreme sports emerge in China, skateboarding leads the way." BTW, am I the only person over 25 who both watches and loves Rob & Big?

More than once, someone from Russia has told me that despite all the anti-American propaganda to which they were constantly subjected, they never hated the United States because they liked our music so much. I have a very close friend (the guy who sent me to Papua New Guinea, actually) from Sakhalin Island, Russia, who taught himself English by listening to US and British Rock & Roll on Japanese radio stations.

On a barely related note (I cannot resist the plug here), one of our gaming clients will this week be releasing an unbelievably cool video game based on the TV show, The Deadliest Catch. The game [check out the video at this Amazon link] involves crab fishing, but I mention it here because though crab catching is obviously a very serious business, the game itself plays more like an extreme sports game, which should be no surprise because the people behind it were also behind the award winning and hugely popular Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball MAX'D game.

It is a good article.