Talk about efficiency, this man in China can handle and cook with 12 woks, all at the same time! Amazing! Fast food in a different perspective. Video title is called 'King of Wok'.
Reason for using so many woks (as mentioned in video towards the end during an 'interview'):
a) More throughput; essentially increase efficiency and well as what the Singapore Government has been advocating recently Productively! This man has worked his way up to 12 woks so that he can dish out more food within the same time. This way, his customers who ordered multiple orders will not need to wait too long.
b) Using so many woks, each dish (fried noodles) need to go through a few woks of frying and stirring. With each wok, the noodles gets exposure to prolong duration of heat and absorption of flavour. Hence, the tast of the fried noodles will taste nicer.
**I tried translating the reasons from the video. Hence, it might sound weird. Best to view the video yourself!
Its as though this man has studied a Supply Chain Management degree/course. If you observe closely you will also notice his assistance helping him helps to put the ingredients into the woks (around 4?) that is in front of her.
Anyone know where this is at? I want to try! Wonder if the noodles tasted charred.
By now this video (PSY - Gangnam Style) will need no further introduction (185 million youtube hits in 2months!!). If you do not know what this is about, take a look at my first post for a quick introduction, along with selected spoof videos by people living in Korea, America and even Singapore.
Disclaimer: From my perspective and in my opinion. Whether PSY had the intention behind the scenes, meanings and ironies, I do not know. Hence, read with a pinch of salt. Make it two...as different people have different views/opinions. More importantly, this post is not meant to defame or ridicule anyone or culture.
Food for thought about this video
One of the rare K-pop song that did not feature a boy/girl band and the main cast (in this case PSY) is not handsome/beautiful/sexy. Instead PSY is chubby and not good looking.
After looking at the English translation of this song, watching the video repeatedly, I can only say that there may be hidden meanings in the video. The silly and ridiculous song may not be as simple as we thought. A lot of effort and thought has been put into the video. At least this is what I think. This is mainly due to locations shown in the video, the actions and the song title/lyrics.
Let's start with 'Oppa Gangnam Style'.
What does Gangnam mean?
Gangnam - an area in korea where the rich stays in.
What does Oppa mean?
Oppa is used by females to address older brothers or males who are older than them (the females). Essentially, Oppa means big brother (form of respect).
What does Oppa Gangnam Style mean?
The singer, in this case PSY is telling ladies that he (big brother) is cool and rich (classy), and has a gangnam lifestyle.
Looking up the english translation of the lyrics, it describes who he (PSY) thinks he is, a guy who is smart (knows a thing or two), cool, thinks properly and is not a nerd. When it comes to having fun, he knows when is the right time to play and goes completely crazy when it is time to play. He also goes on to describe that the type of girl he likes. The girl have the same style as him; is sensible, classy, naive and innocent ('covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all'). When it comes to playing, she also knows when is the right time, play hard and is sexy.
Keeping in mind the character (PSY) is supposed to be; rich, cool, classy and the type of girl he likes, look at the scenes in the video. It is ironic as it is clearly not Gangnam style and the locations are not where the rich and cool goes to. Let me try to site examples from the video:
1) Beach? (at the start of the video): Looks like he is relaxing on a beach, with a young beautiful lady fanning him(he must be rich), a drink and even a beach umbrella. But after he sings 'Oppa Gangnam Style', the camera zoom out to show that he is actually at a public playground instead of a beach.
2) Walking with 2 ladies in his arms as trash (newspaper and leaves) and snow flakes were thrown at them on the street: Resembling stars walking down the red carpet during award ceremony/movie premiere as confetti rain down on them (a recent example is the Avengers Premiere).
3) Sauna: with two gangsters as protrayed by their tattoos
4) Two old man playing chess and then they were 'killed' by an explosion. Could have several meanings:
a) a lost culture among the young generation as now they play games using the smartphones and
computer.
b) watching the older generation play chest, accompanying them. Today's generation no longer
does that in this fast-paced and globalised world.
5) Bus: Disco on a bus instead of a pub or nightclub. And the passengers on the bus have grey hair (older generation).
6) Sexy ladies doing yoga outdoor along what seems to be the Han River: PSY get to find and see sexy girls along the Han River. (this does not happen in real life right?) These girls should be in a yoga class(indoor) instead, in the Gangnam district or shopping malls, not the Han River. Ironic. In addition, PSY's description of the girl he likes is sensible and classy. Will a girl of this description do yoga in the open (along the Han River) wearing that kind of shorts?
7) Speed boat: On a speedboat instead of a yacht. The rich with their own yachts (symbol of status) can have parties on board, chill out, ride along the Han River or even impress girls. PSY showed that he can have a fun filled 'yacht' experience using a speedboat too.
8) Subway (MRT): PSY meets the girl (Hyuna) that he likes, with the same style as him (sensible, classy, naive yet sexy) on the train. Hyuna even does sexy dance moves on the train. At the subway station, observe how 'sexy' Hyuna is through her body movement and her hair. This is followed by them dancing in the subway station. Now who says you can't meet these type of girls in the subway. And ironically, the subway is not a mode of transport the rich and classy normally take. Furthermore, dancing at a subway station and not a pub or nightclub. Hmmm..
9) Emerging from the water with goggles. Looks like he is swimming (alone) either at a private swimming pool or beach. But yet again as he sings 'Oppa Gangnam Style', the camera zoom out to show that he is instead at a public bath house. Ironic! Moreover, as he plays at the 'pool' a member of the public is staring at him. But he is definitely oblivious to that - thick skin.
10) At the finale of the video a group of dancers wearing different clothes: A closer look, these are all differnt working class people wearing uniforms that represent the; traffic police, chef, wrestler, office worker, maid, taekwondo instructor, waitress, nurse, cheerleader and more.
11) Underground Carpark: Where Jaesuk (a well-known celebrity aka National MC) appears in a sports car and challenge him (PSY) to a dance. The sports car obviously does not belong to PSY.
12) Horse riding is a luxury. PSY has shown that you do not even need a real horse to experience horse riding as his dance mainly revolves around 'invisible horse riding'. Even when he is at the stable, PSY did not get to ride on a horse, instead he does his 'invisible horse riding'. The closest he got to a real horse riding is sitting on a carousel horse.
13) Wearing Sunglasses: Wearing sunglasses in most of the scenes even indoors, which is not the norm. (just to name a few: sauna, tennis court, stable, toilet, carpark, subway..) Ironically, PSY had to wear sunglasses all the time when he was in America (US) as no one recognised him if he did not wear sunglasses. His comment on America was that it was dark all the time as he never took it off...even at night he was wearing sunglasses.
Ironically, this is the way PSY depicts Gangnam style. He seems to be making a mockery of people who want to be associated with gangnam style. Moreover, portray how materialism and superficiality seems to be playing a part in today's world. Being rich and cool is not everything. There are many things/places out there that people are missing out on (subway, tennis court, watching the older generation play chess).
To me, this K-POP hit reminds me of the movie 'Inception'. Different people will have different interpretations of the song.
_________________________________________________________________________________ More spoof videos:
PSY - "MIKO STYLE" (Gangnam Style) Parody By Miss Korea 2012 Contestants
The Official Version - by Korea Singer (rapper) Park Jae-Sang also known as PSY who started this craze with this single 'Gangnam Style'. Since its release on Youtube on 15 July 2012, it has received over 38million hits and has made its way to even CNN. For Running Man fans, did you know that Yoo Jae-Seok made a cameo appearance in the dance duel with PSY at the carpark (1:43 min of video). (why did he not wear Green!?)
PSY even held a competition and asked people to create their own spoof videos. The winner with the best video will get to win his Korea concert tickets and also meet him.
Gangnam Style - The Singapore Version (Singapore Style). This was filmed in a day by Toxien (a local Korean company) with a budget of less than $10 as the team travelled via public transport.
Another Singapore Version
American Version by a Korean-America Jun Sung Ahn with his violin. This is the video selected PSY himself as the winner of the competition.
Oppa Daegu Style
Hongdae Style
Oppa is Just My Style (from a woman's perspective). Sang by 4Minute Member, Hyuna with PSY released on 14 August 2012 with over 10million hits in a short time span of 4 days.
Coca-Cola marketing campaigns and videos never fail to impress me.
Coke Hug Me Machine - Hug the vending machine and get a coke! I wish I am still back in National University of Singapore! Looks fun!
Chanced upon this video (top) and reminded me of the past commercials. Hence this post. =)
.
1979 Mean Joe Greene Coke Commercial - part of 'Have a Coke and a Smile' ad campaign. Caught the most attention when it was aired during the 1980 Super Bowl. Won a Clio Award for the best ad and is known as one of the top 10 commercial all time by multiple sources
1993 Coca Cola Polar Bear Commercial - One of the classics shown worldwide.
Coca Cola Coke Factory - Shown worldwide. Executed to perfection and done tastefully.
Coke Happiness Machine - A machine that not only dispense coke but also happiness. You will never know what you will get from the coke machine! (One can literally say to the machine 'Surprise me' and get really wowed). Spreading happiness around the campus. Giving big items to share among the students to spread the love. Sharing is caring.
Recent hype:
Self-Freezing Coke
Even in movies: The Gods Must Be Crazy
Not forgetting the Coke and Mentos reaction
Just in case you are wondering what is the market share between Coke and Pepsi:
1) Coke 17%
2) Diet Coke 9.9%
3) Pepsi 9.5%
To celebrate KFC's 35th anniversary in Singapore, KFC held an event called 'KFC Chef For A Day Event' on 31st March 2012 at Nex Shopping Centre. In this event, KFC fanatics like me get to learn the secret preparation process of their Original Recipe Chicken. The top 3 chefs get to walk away with S$1000 (1 winner per session). There were 3 sessions were held in the morning, afternoon and evening.
The ceiling at the top of this portion of the shopping mall displayed the word 'KFC Anniversary'. Hmmm, I really wonder who will look up and notice the words on the ceiling. No one noticed till the emcee informed us. Not a very good idea that Nex came up with?
Did you all know that KFC's slogan is no longer finger lickin' good. It's new slogan is sogood! Personally think that it is a nice change. Very catchy and trendy. Moreover, it is short and sweet! So when consumers think KFC, on their top of mind awareness will be 'sogood'! KFC=sogood! What a strategy!
I attended the afternoon session. Found out that Bryan Wong hosted the session at night! Well..not fated to meet him. The event started off with 2 quizzes. The first was a series of questions and all the teams had to write the answer down. The team with the most points received vouchers.
Second Quiz (Source: KFC Singapore)
In the second second quiz, participants had to work in a team to arrange the correct ingredients under the respective item; Oiginal Chicken, Zinger Burger, Roasta and Cheesy BBQ Meltz. It was not an easy task as there were many decoys given and there was limited time. (Note: The above picture does not necessary show the right answer.)
Next was the preparation process which was an individual challenge where the winner gets to walk away with One Million Dollars (Dr Evil's voice) S$1,000. Sadly, we did not get to know what are the ingredients in the 11 herbs and spices. Which was expected.
We (participants) were taught the process of:
Chicken in the 11 herbs and spices (Source: KFC Singapore)
1) Mixing the 11 herbs and spices with the 9 chicken parts. There is a process (systematic steps) to ensure that each piece of chicken is nicely coated.
2) Choosing 2 parts and taking them out. Again, there is a process and step taken to ensure that the chicken are evenly coated. Not too thin not too thick.
Plate with label (Source: KFC Singapore)
3) Putting them nicely onto the plates that are labelled according to the different chicken parts (e.g. W means Wings). KFC is very strict on how the different parts are put on the plate. Different parts have to be place in different positions and angles according to the bone structure and shape of the parts!
All these steps are taken to ensure the chicken we eat are nicely and even coated! I have been taking my KFC chicken for granted. So much tender loving care is given to it!
In the challenge, participants were given marks according to how each piece of chicken parts were displayed on the plate and also the coating on the chicken (not too thin / thick).
How did FoodieFC fare? He just pass! Phew..
KFC Treats for participants (Source: KFC Singapore)
KFC treats for participants after the event which includes original chicken, crispy chicken, whipped potato, coleslaw, egg tarts and Sjora!
How was the food? Sogood!!!
Personally, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the event. In addition, learnt more about KFC! Wish that that are more of such events as I would certainly like to join in these events! (If you know of such event, please kindly inform FoodieFC!) Congratulations to the three winners who walked away with $1000 each! And thank you KFC for conceptualising, planning and organising this! Well executed!
Disclaimer: This post was made on my own accord and is not a sponsored post.
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This happened after I drafted this post (above)
Earlier this week, a friend told me that I was on TV. I did not take it seriously until a second friend told me about it. After that, then did I realised that KFC has been airing an advertisement on television and it featured the KFC Chef For A Day Event.
Guess what? FoodieFC really had his 1 second of airtime on TV!
For those interested to know about the event, the video is below.
I think this is my first non-food related post! Will do more when there is an opportunity! Otherwise it is mainly still food!
These 2 videos are very interesting! These videos are done by RooSuFlood to explain the Thailand flood crisis. It's real interesting how these video are done using animations to explain situations or what to do. It certainty got my attention and at the same time sent it's intended message. Good job!
The first explains the situation in Thailand.
The second on what to do when you are caught in the flood - Evacuation and how to prepare for it. (even how not to get electrocuted!)
