gaijin rolls!

Last Thursday an old friend stopped by, and taught me the finer points of rolling sushi.

It cemented the point that it's not the kind of thing a single guy can throw together for dinner.  But it is the kind of thing I can practice at home in order to master as a technique.

It's too bad fresh fish is so hard to find in Phoenix, but that's why processed food was invented.  I'll start at rolls named after parts of America, and slowly work my way towards the classy raw-ingredient balled sushi.  A year from now, I'll be calling up Japan and ordering blowfish, whale, or cloned trilobite.

Orchestra video game music.

It's the live performance of video game music of the week.

This time: an orchestra.  And they manage to avoid most of the Nintendo cliché tunes.O

American from Arizona

Penn Jillette on Ugly Americans (audio).  He talks about his own world travel experiences, and how he was often urged to pose as a Canadian.  This was spurred by an advertising consortium that's publishing behavioral guidelines for American tourists, so that all our boasting and loudness and informal dress doesn't damage their precious brands.  Penn ultimately disagreed, for reasons both hippies and conservatives can agree with.  The hippies will agree that, when our government is being a bully, and our corporations are taking advantage of undeveloped countries, you can't say people hate America because of tourists.  The conservatives will agree that it's a double-standard that Americans are being asked to modify our behavior when we travel, when visitors from other countries aren't required to modify their behavior for us.

I will say that when I was at the NOAH conference, there was a guy from Nigeria.  He wore a suit the way an American tourist wears shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.  It made him look like he wasn't from around here.  But, since he wasn't from around here, that was OK.  Incidentally, albinism organizations are much more important in countries where sunscreen isn't widely available.

I refuse to pose as a Canadian, because it's a lie, and even if I could stand spending my whole vacation in the closet, I doubt I'd be convincing.  Besides, then Canada would get the credit/blame for anything I do over there.  Also, I think at least the Europeans are hip to it.

But, at the same time, why display an American flag?  Apart from how America is perceived overseas, and apart from how the presence of any foreign flag is perceived in any given country, it's really not specific enough.  Imagine someone walking around the U.S. with a European Union flag.

So, when I'm overseas, I wear an Arizona flag lapel pin.  If they don't recognize it, they can ask what it is.  And I generally tell people first that I'm from Phoenix, Arizona, and then that it's in the southwestern U.S.  I get the feeling that, in the minds of others, America is a political entity, but Arizona can be a place.  It's not separate from America, but it is distinct from, say, Washington D.C., or New York City, or California.  And maybe they've heard something about Arizona, even if it's something stereotypical like the heat, or the Old West, or the Grand Canyon.  It's likely a better starting point than giving them all 50 states to choose from.

Also, Arizona has an awesome flag.