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Mr. Koontz and Mr. Teriyaki
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It doesn't get any less frustrating over time. The Times has two articles in the paper today that we read that reference websites and blogs and their impact on something but fail to provide even a url with which readers can go search out on their own, let alone clickable links within the online articles. The first has to do with Tail O' The Pup which has been talked about on several blogs that LAist frequents. The other one, though, the one built entirely on the reaction of some bloggers gave us no frame of reference with which to jump off on our own easily and it is the much more scandalous story: Pop fiction writer Dean Koontz was accused of being racially insensitive for his "Mr. Teriyaki" anecdote that he has been telling for many years.
This past weekend he told the story in Irvine and some of the crowd wasn't having it. They didn't express their disdain at the event, though. They opened discussions about it on their blogs. Well, at least Lee Goldberg of A Writer's Life did (as did his brother Tod). Lee even got a call from Koontz after his post caught fire with his readers. Anyway, Koontz doesn't see anything wrong with his personal story of writing to a Japanese movie executive and addressing him as Mr. Teriyaki while also referencing low points in Japanese history to try to get his point across.
He calls it George Carlin-esque. The difference may be though that a comedian is just making jokes while, if Koontz's anecdote is to be taken at face value, Koontz really engaged in this behavior.
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