The difference between a boring person and an interesting person is often the difference between a TV (youtube, movies, etc) and a book.
-JM

Best and Worst of a Nation (so I'm into lists these days)

I was having coffee with some students the other day and we were discussing what were the best and worst aspects of our respective nations.

For Canada, for Toronto, I said,
Best: Multicultural, in the sense that a mixed-race couple can walk down Bloor street and feel totally accepted and good. Also, national humility. Canada knows it is small potatoes on the global scale. We are so dwarfed by big brother to the south we don't take ourselves too seriously. I like that Canadians can laugh at how not powerful we are.
Worst: Lack of passion, lack of excitement. This speaks to Toronto in particular. (Because Montreal has never suffered from this and I have never lived elsewhere in Canada). Though this city is ten-fold cooler than it was a decade ago, it is still uber conservative. And as my European and South American students will point out, it feels like everyone goes to bed by 10. Stores close early. Weeknight bars are mostly empty. Also, winter (come late February and March).


For Italy, my student Livia said,
Best: Food (duh), and that people know how to enjoy life, how to have a good time.
Worst: the government (I "HATE" the government). She equated it to a dictatorship. Also, dishonesty amongst the people. Pickpocketing, for one and also how because everyone cheats and tries not to pay for public transport the public transport system in Rome, where she's from, sucks. Air quality and traffic were other low points.

For Japan, Kazu and Megu said,
Best: Food (By this point I'm getting jealous because hard as they might try a Canadian cannot say this - I blame our deeply British roots). They were also proud of the quality of things, products, etc, public transport.
Worst: That everyone works too hard and is/are so tired all the time (speaks to your comment, Kingsley, about happiness in Japan). (Neither mentioned it, but I would add summer in Osaka. As an apt cartoon in the Kansai Timeout expressed it, choose your hell: winter in Canada or summer in Osaka)

For Taiwan, Carol said,
Best: Food
Worst: air quality, traffic.

For Korea, Peelbong said,
Best: food and sense of national pride (see World Cup 1992)
Worst: air quality, people working too hard.

Other countries? Thoughts?

Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," Japan and Questions about Success

Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of the bestselling non-fiction books "The Tipping Point" and "Blink", has a new* book out called "Outliers - The Story of Success."

One chapter in "Outliers" entitled 'The 10,000 Hour Rule' (equivalent to approximately 10 years) outlines a theory I've heard about and been obsessing over the last few years. It posits that to master any skill (be it chess, painting, tennis, what have you) requires 10,000 hours of practice. I love the theory because it dispels the genius myth. Picasso wasn't born a great painter. He didn't emerge from the womb a prodigy. He was so good so young because his father was an art teacher, and daddy had little Pablo painting everyday from the age of 3. Thus by 13, Picasso had mastered realistic drawing. Genius came later.

If it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, this means that the essence of success is in hard work. Since most humans are, by nature, lazy, we (as individuals and as socialized parts of our societies) make choices, if we are so lucky, as to where we put those hours in - if we ever focus enough to do so.

After spending five years living in Osaka, Japan, I've come to see how attention to detail and a rigorous work ethic that isn't "above" doing any kind of mundane work equals the kind of quality control necessary to make not just excellent cars, home electronics and escalators that almost never break down, but chocolate, stationery and just about 10,000 other products that are far superior to the products produced in North America.

Japan inspired me. When you live there you work harder. And you really do start paying attention to the "little" things. This is how with half the population of the United States you become the second most powerful economy on earth. (For now, anyway.)

But Gladwell's explanation of the theory and my observations of what makes Japan successful makes me wonder. Not whether Asians outperform North Americans in math. 'Outliers' answers this. Yes, they do. Not will that young Japanese whipper-snapper build a better car? A better chocolate bar? Here too we know the answer is that yes, they probably, at least usually, do. What I wonder though, is is this person happier? Truly.

Because isn't the real question not just how to be successful, but why, and to what end?**

*This is clearly a bit out of date now. He has a newer book, "What the Dog Saw," a collection of 19 essays he has written for the New Yorker. If you aren't a reader of the magazine, but you are a fan of the man, this stuff (the stuff I've read anyway) is awesome. As is his talk (about spaghetti sauce) on TED.

**This topic - Gladwell's theory on what makes for success, but also to what end - has since become the subject of a lecture I've twice given to students at the University of Toronto.

Best and Worst Movies 2008

Best of the Year (to date)
Happy-Go-Lucky
Rachel Getting Married
The Reader
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Edge of Heaven

Worst of the Year/Jon is an Idiot Because He spent 90 Minutes Watching...
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Indiana Jones and and the Temple of Money-making

Best Summer Pics
WallE
The Dark Knight

Best Potential or I'm Sorry I Missed
Revolutionary Road
Wendy and Lucy
The Band's Last Visit
Tropic Thunder

Glad I Missed
Australia
Sex and the City (and for the record - 4 of my top five movies had female protagonists)
Quantum of Solace

Best Performance by a German
Bruno Ganz in "The Reader"

Best Performance by Kate Winslet
"The Reader"
[still waiting on "Revolutionary Road"]

Worst Pretty Fluff Nonsense with Good Soundtrack Masquerading as Substance
Slumdog Millionaire - see Anthony Lane's ("The New Yorker") review that says it best

Best One-liner in a Trailer
"I'll go get my ball."