This is another one of those cultural questions I’ve got for you guys.

If you watch the news at all, you probably noticed that there was a terrorist attack in Boston during the marathon.  Two bombs went off, probably a “suicide bomb”.  Coincidently, here is my latest video lesson on a suicide bomb

Anyway, here is a basic recap of what happened.  Someone, or a group of people, decided to blow up some buildings during the famous Boston marathon yesterday.  At least 3 people have died, including an 8 year old little boy.  No one knows who did this yet, and obviously the US will do whatever they can do to find out who did this attack.

It’s a very sad and horrible thing when innocent people die for no reason.  But we’re living in a world that still isn’t perfectly peaceful.  Not even close.  It’s pretty disgusting and pathetic that there is still war.  It is amazing to me that humans are smart enough to make the Iphone, but not smart enough to figure out how to stop war and religious hate.

I’m very curious what the 232 international audience thinks of this.  Any guess as to who did this?  Why do you have this guess?  What should the American government do when the find who did it?  Should they start a war?  Why or why not?  Why does the US seem to get this kind of attack more than other countries?  Is some of it their own fault in some way?  Could this happen to any country or is their something “special” about the US that makes this type of attack more common?

We all watch different news, we all have a different education, we all speak different native languages and grew up in different cultures.  It’s the perfect topic for this English learning blog.  You can practice your English writing in the comments below, and we can learn from each other about what people from different parts of the world think.

What would you do if you were Obama?  What would you recommend to him?  I’m very very interested in what you guys think.  There are of course no wrong or bad opinions.  I don’t even know what I think yet.  I am just curious to see what you guys (and girls) think about all this.  Any opinions would be awesome!  Let’s chat in the comments below.  Please say where you are from to make it more interesting.  Thanks guys

I love to get international perspectives and teach English at the same time.  So, whoever is reading this, please “pipe up” in the comments section.  ”Pipe up” is a fun way of saying “just say something!”

Here is the basic situation.  There are about 12 000 gun related deaths EVERY YEAR in the USA.  The USA is a huge country, but that is A LOT of killing.  You shouldn’t feel scared to go to the US (I’ve been there many times and never seen a gun) but the point is, it’s still a big problem compared with other countries.

The US has a unique history regarding guns.  It’s a history that people from other countries can’t understand.  I can’t understand it.  It’s one big difference between Canada and the USA.   Most Canadians don’t feel it is their right to be able to carry a gun for self protection.  Many Americans do feel this way.  But…  I don’t want to get into a history lesson here.  I believe Canada has only about 150 gun deaths per year.  Canada has far fewer people, but still, the problem is MUCH more serious in the US.

This is an interesting problem for the USA.  If the government just said, “starting tomorrow, it will be 100% illegal to own a gun” there would still be a lot of gun violence.  Remember, people who want to shoot other people don’t really care about the law anyway.

So, I’d like to ask you guys, what do you think the government should do?  They could make it more difficult to buy guns.  They could make the really scary guns illegal (You know, the kind of gun that can kill 20 people in a minute).  They could make some type of education program so that kids learn the dangers of having guns.  (Not all gun deaths are on purpose.  There are many accidents)

No opinion is right or wrong here at the 232.  I just want to hear what you guys think.  What do people from your country think about American gun violence?  Is it possible to slowly change their culture?  I’d love to hear what you think!

Hope you are having a great holiday weekend!

Here is an interesting bit of pop culture for you guys.

In case you didn’t know, the famous Hollywood actor Jim Carrey is a Canadian.  I’m sure you know that there are many gun deaths in the USA every year.  There are basically 2 sides to what people think (2 large groups of people).  Of course everyone wants children to be safe, but one group wants to keep gun laws how they currently are, and one group wants to make certain guns illegal.

The story is actually more complex to what both sides believe, but you get the main idea.

Well, anyway, Jim Carrey made a video to “mock” gun lovers in the USA.  To “mock” means to make fun of someone.  To laugh at them.  Jim Carrey is a comedian, his job is to make people laugh.  He is a big believer that guns should have more rules to prevent deaths, and that is what most Canadians think too.

The US media and Hollywood always tries to make other countries look bad.  Then they laugh at the other countries when they get angry.  For instance, Iran (at least the government in Iran) is upset about the movie Argo.  Many Americans think “Oh come on, it’s just a movie”.  Remember, I’m Canadian, I’m not American.  I don’t think this way.  I didn’t see the movie and I’m not sure how Iranian people feel about it.  I don’t have a strong opinion because I don’t know of this situation well.  I do know, that many Americans think Iran, or any country, should not be upset by any Hollywood movie.

But here is the hilarious part.  Many Americans are SUPER ANGRY that a Canadian made a little video about why some of the gun lovers in the US might be both stupid men, and have very small “man parts”.  It’s just a joke, but it’s funny how upset SOME Americans can be when the same people think other countries shouldn’t be upset when they do it.  I’d love to hear your opinion.

Here is the little Jim Carrey song that is going “viral” (Getting super popular fast)

I like sharing both English AND culture with you guys.  That’s what the 232 brand is all about.  It’s impossible to learn English properly without learning tons of new culture as well.

I just watched the “Super Bowl” today.  The super bowl is a very famous sporting match.  It’s the final game of NFL football.

This is a very different game than what most of the world calls “football”.  We call the game that is played at the world cup “soccer”.  We call “American football” just “football”.

Soccer isn’t so popular in America and Canada (probably because we suck at it).  So when we’re talking to each other about football, we’re talking about a different game.  And the most important game of the year is the “Super Bowl”.

This is a MAJOR sporting event on TV because about 100 million people in the US watch it on TV.  That is about 30% of the whole country.  More Americans watch the Super Bowl more than anything else on TV.  This means that advertisers LOVE this opportunity to make TV commercials.  Every year, companies pay a fortune (lot’s of money) for one 30 second commercial.   This year, one 30 second commercial cost about $4 000 000 USD

These Super Bowl commercials get talked about a lot.  It’s the best way to make many people think of your brand all at one time.  Now with the internet, Super Bowl commercials are even more important, because people watch them both on TV and then on Youtube and other video sharing sites.  They share the commercials on Facebook etc.  Blogs write about them.  Even I’m giving free advertising to these companies right now!

These are NOT just regular commercials.  The companies spend a lot of time and money designing these special commercials.  They are supposed to make people think positively about your brand.  They are supposed to make people talk about your brand.  They Can’t be boring.  Boring is a bigger fail than stupid or weird.

I want to talk about 3 commercials I saw today and show them to you.  I’d love to hear your comments below.  Which ones, if any, did you like?  Why did you like them?  Why did you not like them?

1st commercial:  Blackberry

I wanted to start off by talking about Blackberry, Canada’s most famous technology company.  Maybe it’s because I’m Canadian, I don’t know.  Anyway, Blackberry is trying to get back in the smart phone game after totally sucking compared with Android, Samsung, and Apple.  They are starting to sell their new Blackberry 10.  It is by far the best phone the company has ever made.  This could save the company if people like and buy the phone.   I’m curious to hear what you guys think of the brand image of Blackberry in your country.

The commercial tried to be clever and basically say the Blackberry 10 can do so many things, therefore it would be easier to show you the things the new Blackberry CAN’T do.  It’s supposed to get people thinking and talking about the new phone.  Was this a good idea?  Here it is:

2nd commercial:  Doritos

This one is a cute of from Doritos.  They are trying to show the relationship and a guy with his pet goat.  The goat loves to eat Doritos.  What do you think about this one?  (By the way, It’s a joke.  Americans don’t really have pet goats!)

3rd commercial:  GoDaddy

This is a commercial from GoDaddy.  This is a website company.  The commercial takes a big risk and wants people talking about the commercial.  Some people think it’s terrible, some people think it’s awesome.  It depends on your taste.  Certainly people ARE talking about it.  Do you think it’s too much?  Was it a good idea or a bad move?  I’d love to hear your thoughts guys!!!!!

I was just on Yahoo.com and I read an article about the latest news with the divorce of Tiger Woods.  He got divorced a while ago for cheating LIKE CRAZY on his beautiful wife with many other women.

Note:  Add and I already did a podcast about Tiger Woods and what happened with his wife.  Here is the Tiger Woods podcast

Anyway, his wife found out about the cheating and obviously wanted to leave him.  Tiger Woods is obviously a very rich and famous golfer.  It’s no surprise that he has A LOT of money.

Cheating on your wife or husband is clearly a very bad thing to do (I think in any culture) but it’s an interesting topic because cheating is handled very differently all over the world.  I wanted to have a little discussion here about this, teach some English, and get your thoughts and cultural opinions.

I don’t know all the laws in all western countries, but in Canada and the US, getting divorced is expensive!  If you are the rich person, getting divorced can often cost you at least half of your money and assets.  The reason for the divorce doesn’t even matter.  If you are a rich guy and your wife cheats on you, she still gets half of your money.  It sounds crazy, but it’s true.  It’s the same if a man did that to a woman.  (Mini English lesson:  Cheating on your wife or husband is called having an “extra marital affair”)  Sometimes people just use the word “affair” to make it simpler.  Anyway, that’s what it means.

Do you think that is fair and reasonable?  How does it work in your country?  Should couples split money 50/50 for ANY reason in a divorce?

As many of you know from our podcasts, my girlfriend is from Seoul Korea.  We were talking about this and she told me something that shocked me.  She said that cheating on your husband or wife is illegal in South Korea.  If you get caught doing it, it’s possible you go to jail for up to 2 years.  I just read the same thing online.  (I should believe her more when we talk.  It’s my habit to always look up facts on the internet)  I actually think it’s an interesting law.  It’s new to me, but I think it makes sense. 2 years is a long time, but cheating is really horrible and it destroys families.  It’s a difficult question.  What do you guys think?  How is this handled in your country?  Any Koreans reading this want to comment?  We’d love to hear from you!  (And from everyone around the world too of course.)

Ok….. Back to Tiger Woods and his ex.  She got a HUGE divorce settlement.  (A “settlement” in this case means a lot of money, or a lot of stuff with value, things like houses, cars, etc)  It’s what the divorce courts “settled” or agreed upon.  That’s why it’s called a”settlement”.

Tiger cheated on her, so it’s certainly fair that she should get a lot of his stuff, but it’s quite amazing how much she got.  Do you think this is fair and reasonable?  Maybe it is, I just want to hear your honest opinions.  She’s one rich lady.  She got about $100 million USD in the settlement!

Love to hear your thoughts on all this guys!  (By the way, I read your comments from the last article and am working on a good lesson to teach those words and phrases.  Thanks for all the support!)

Here is the Yahoo article I was reading.  You can see photos of the house she’s getting.

Again, here is the Tiger Woods Divorce Podcast if you are interested and haven’t heard it yet.