Hunh, I always liked Bob and Doug McKenzie
and the Red Green Show
also I dig plaid flanel
And once, in 1987, I had a deeply philosophic conversation with an equally inebriated traveler, at a road-house in Watson Lake, Yukon. I love Canada, and Canadians, not so much the RCMP.
JBI, how can you complain that America promotes itself too much abroad, and then claim that we don't translate enough foreign literature? The answer to both problems is that foreign nations need to translate and promote their own authors more. The onus is on them to get recognition the way America has done. If they won't do for their own, why do they expect us to do it for them? The reason we don't know anything about Chinese culture is because that is how the Chinese want it. They are still a very insular society, which chooses not to participate in a world community. India is another one. There are as many English speaker's living in India as in the United States, so why are we the one's translating the Mahabharata? Because we are actively engaged with the world. We are a curious people in an open society. We are proud of our achievements and want to share our blessings with the globe. Go and do likewise.