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February 01, 2007
No Title Necessary. Really.
So usually here at work we produce a news magazine program for a big Japanese network. Sometimes the stories we produce are interesting and newsworthy, a la 60 Minutes. Sometimes the stories we produce are more...Hard Copy-esque. Other times, we do research and coordination for...other show that have no American equivalent.
Today a children's television producer in Japan has requested our help on a show he's doing, and this episode is about every kid's favorite thing- ice cream! Innocent enough. This is a show where kids write in their questions and then the show attempts to answer them. For example, a kid writes in and asks, "where does ice cream come from?" So just imagine for a moment the show beginning...
A child asks, "Can you make ice cream from a cow?" Yes, of course, stupid child. "What about a goat?" Yes, goat ice cream is gaining in popularity, especially at places like Whole Foods. Yawn. Who cares. So the show goes off and answers questions the child did not ask. Because they are trying to open up the minds of overly disciplined Japanese children.
Hey kiddos, what about ice cream made from the milk of a.......SEAL? Have you ever even thought of that? Or what about DOLPHIN ICE CREAM? Well, why don't we find out!
My co-worker is calling aquariums today to ask if we can please have some milk from their lactacting seals and dolphins because we would like to make ice cream with it. And wait, there's more!
A NIGERIAN will eat it! Now it's starting to make sense, because for a while there, I was confused. This is all I can gather so far from my eavesdropping. They have this "celebrity" host, you see, who I guess is Nigerian (perhaps something is lost in translation here), and he will eat the ice cream on camera. I feel really bad for my co-worker who has to make these calls (not to mention the Nigerian), but I just can't stop laughing. Right now she is calling SeaWorld.
"Yes, that's right, we would like to obtain some milk from one of your dolphins. Would it be possible maybe to tranquilize one of them so we can squeeze some milk out of it? And then make ICE CREAM out of it? No? Ok, I'm sorry to have bothered you....Wait, what if I told you a real live Nigerian will eat this ice cream? Hello?"
(Ok, she's not really saying that on the phone, but more or less. How do you ask this kind of question and not sound like you're making a prank call?)
Posted by debbie at February 1, 2007 11:51 AM
Comments
it is amazing how this story can change nights...
Posted by: marie at February 2, 2007 11:18 AM