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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
"do it Vulcan style, baby!"
These G4 TV ads for Star Trek 2.0 are hilarious... they give me a much needed laugh. There's just some really funny about Charlie Murphy's characterizations as Spock.
.:. It's May 31st and SU graduation is about in a week... I wish I was graduating too. | (0) comments 
in anguish
...and sleepless. "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins." Psalm 25:16-18 | (0) comments
Monday, May 29, 2006
happy memorial day
Much respect to those soldiers and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country, but especially those who are frequently ignored by the mainstream press and the American public. It's a sad thought, but in all likelihood, my generation will be the last to meet and talk in person with veterans of America's last "good war", WWII. Some WWII veteran groups that I believe need special attention: -Chinese American veterans, like Seattle's own local Cathay Post 186, fought bravely and often faced discrimination as they did their duty as soldiers, grounds crewmen, and pilots (like Frank Fong). Did you know Chinese Americans fought even in the American Civil War? Meet Mr. Joseph Pierce. -Japanese American veterans, the Nisei and Kibei of the 100th/442nd RCT, and the MIS, whose awe-inspiring story of courage and service despite the injustice of the -Filipino American vets from WWII, many who despite their service are barred from receiving combat benefits and citizenship. | (2) comments
Sunday, May 28, 2006
marinating
From a movie I previously reviewed.
-"A Bittersweet Life" | (2) comments
Friday, May 26, 2006
cinematic therapy, part 2
Continued from part 1.  NANA Plot Summary: Based on the Japanese shojo manga of the same name, "NANA" is the story of the lives and friendships of two girls named Nana - Nana Osaki (played by J-Pop singer Nakashima Mika) and Nana Komatsu nicknamed "Hachi" (played by Miyazaki Aoi). The women meet by coincidence on a train heading to Tokyo, and while looking for an apartment to live in, which is apartment 707 on the 7th floor ("nana" in Japanese can be both a name and the number seven). While Nana (Osaki) is an aspiring punk/rock singer and has come to Tokyo to further her singing career, Hachi (Nana Komatsu) has come to Tokyo to join her art school boyfriend and live in the "big city". The two women also have completely different personalities - Hachi is talkative, friendly and outgoing while Nana is calm, deeply private, and cynical. Gar Commentary: Having never read the manga, I had no idea of what to expect from this movie. The biggest draw for me was Nakashima Mika, since I'm a big fan of her music, which oddly enough, is more J-Pop ballads/jazz rather than rock/punk. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. The movie's story moves along at a good pace, and is told via both current events and flashbacks to Nana's past, with scenes with her ex-BF being particularly interesting - early on in the movie, it's revealed that her BF left her to go to Tokyo and join a famous rock band. Nakashima does a great job playing the part of someone who has been scarred by the disappointment of a past relationship, and Miyazaki provides a good counterpoint as the proverbially genki friend. Impressive musical performances are also in the movie, particularly the movie's themes. Mid-way through the movie, Nakashima gives a convincing and emotional performance of the original song "Glamorous Sky", arguably the movie's theme. The performance of the movie's other theme, "Endless Story" (by half-Japanese, half-Korean American from Hawai'i, Yuna Ito), was also impressive - both theme songs were top pop music singles in Japan, selling almost half a million records... each. While the main plot and most of the subplots are given sufficient closure, the movie finishes with a bit of open-ended ending, which is not surprising considering that a sequel is already in the works... ...  A Bittersweet Life Plot Summary: From the same director of the seriously underrated Korean horror movie, "A Tale of Two Sisters", the story of a "A Bittersweet Life" focuses on a man named Kim Sun-woo (played by Lee Byung-Hun, of "Joint Security Area" fame). Kim is a top lieutenant in a Korean mob family, and is good at what he does - managing a hotel & bar called "La Dolce Vita" ('The Sweet Life') and occasionally being the bad-ass enforcer who beats the snot out of rival gangsters. He has no family, no friends, and no girlfriend - his entire life is his work as a mobster... and he doesn't even smile when he does that. Of course, this all changes when his boss, Kang, asks Kim to watch his young girlfriend while he's out of town (don't things always turn badly when one guy asks another guy to watch his girl?). The eventual chaos is foreshadowed when Kang tells Kim, "You can do a hundred things right, but it only takes one mistake to destroy everything". Kim makes a decision that dramatically changes his life, and serious violence ensues - beatings, torture, stabbings, and oh yes... gunfire. Lots of gunfire. Gar Commentary: It's been awhile since I've seen some good "Asian gangster" flicks, but "A Bittersweet Life" and "Election" (see below) totally fit the bill. In "A Bittersweet Life", director Kim Ji-Woon demonstrates the same eye for great camera work and character development that he showed in "A Tale of Two Sisters" - the movie is a careful study of contrasts between Sun-woo's "noble gangster" and the corrupt world that he lives in - Sun-woo is a proud, loyal, and stoic man with his sense of honor and ethics, but both the criminals and organization he works for functions under a different moral code - jealous, treacherous, greedy, and cowardly. While this is a familiar theme in many movies in this genre, Kim handles it deftly, and keeps the movie interesting, including an ending that will definitely raise a few eyebrows, depending on your interpretation of it. There's also some characteristically funny moments of black humor, one of which involves digging a hole for a grave. Definitely worth seeing if you're a fan of other movies in genre like "The Killer", "Infernal Affairs", "Hanabi", and "Chingu" ("Friend"). ...  Election (黑社會, 'The Black Society') Plot Summary: Made by famed Hong Kong director Johnnie To, "Election" tells the story of an internal power struggle in a Triad family named the Wo Shing society by two men - Lok (played by Simon Yam) and Big D (played by Leung Ka Fei). Every 2 years, according to tradition, the society's elders elects its boss or chairman through a democratic vote, the "election" referred to in the title. Of course, one of the sides (Big D's supporters) isn't adverse to using dirty tactics (the likes of which you probably haven't seen the 2000 US presidential election) and soon, conflict erupts as each side tries to win the "election"... Gar Commentary: As I mentioned in my review of "A Bittersweet Life", this movie is another excellent movie in the genre of "Asian gangster" movies. While not as particularly as action-packed as "A Bittersweet Life", I found myself enjoying "Election" because of the consistent use of tension in the plot - there's so many flip-flops, and double-crosses in the movie that you're never quite sure until the very end who the winner of the "election" will be. Another point of appreciation for the movie is given to the atmosphere - besides the theme of traditional Triad ethics versus the dog-eat-dog philosophy of modern business, the movie shows brief snapshots of the complexity of Triad involvement in regular society - everything from the police, to the poultry industry, to even Hong Kong and mainland PRC relations. Life as a Triad isn't particularly glamorized so much as it is shown in the plain light of being even oddly "normal" - most of gangsters wear regular clothes or plain suits, not everyone rolls in an expensive car or runs their business from a five star hotel. The one exception to this "normalcy" is a particularly interesting scene depicting Triads reciting traditional Triad oaths at a temple. A great flick, and it made about HK $15 million in Hong Kong alone - which may cause one to wonder, was that before, or after the Triads took a cut? haha. ...  SHINOBI: Heart Under Blade Plot Summary: In historical Japan, the name often for ninja was the word "shinobi", derived from the Chinese character (忍) meaning "patient", "tolerant", or more accurately, "to forebear". The picture presented by character itself depicts a knife pressing into a heart, but the heart still resists. The arguably most famous ninja clan in all of Japan were the Iga, so named after their home prefecture. "SHINOBI: Heart Under Blade" is a fictional movie (based on a novel, manga, and anime) about the rivalry of two ninja clans in medieval Japan, the Iga and the Koga, who are pitted against each other by the Shogun government. The two clans are sworn enemies, but that doesn't stop Oboro (played by Nakama Yukie) or Gennosuke (played by Odagiri Jo) from developing a Romeo and Juliet-esque relationship. Of course, once the two clans are pitted against one another in open battle, some things are bound to change, right? Gar Commentary: Painfully predictable, the plot moves along toward the action, but does it at a pace which can be frustrating - it's not slow enough to develop the characters when there's an opportunity, and it's not fast enough to move you to the action when you need the pace broken up. Oboro and Gennosuke's relationship in regards to the action would seem to be the natural focal point of the plot, but too much time seems to be wasted on peripheral characters who are unnecessary and/or destined to get wacked. The only thing I enjoyed in "SHINOBI" were the fight sequences between the ninja, which utilize all sorts of interesting CGI effects - for example, the ninja Yashamaru (played by "Versus" star Sakaguchi Tak) attacks with hundreds of threads (!) that emanate from his sleeves, or Oboro's "eye of destruction" (which gives a whole new mental picture of a woman giving the "evil eye"). Still, these fighting sequences are both not very long, and not very frequent. One other small positive note for the movie: the theme song, HEAVEN by Hamasaki Ayumi, was pretty popular. Haha. While a diehard action movie junkie like myself has enough interest to sit through it, probably most everyone else should pass this up and watch one of the other movies I've reviewed here instead, or if you're craving a modern ninja action flick, I'd recommend watching "Azumi" instead (preferably the original, not the sequel). | (2) comments
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
cinematic therapy, part 1
Since the time that I was rendered to my current status, my life has been a series of activities I merely conduct to fill my vampire-like hours and yes, "move on". Of course, it's also been a time to indulge my hobby of movie watching, and lately I've been trying to see lots of Asian films. My commentary (relatively spoiler free)...  The Promise (無極)Plot Summary: A fantasy story with an international cast that revolves around an enchanted princess who made a Faustian-esque bargain as a child (Hong Kong hottie Cecilia Cheung), a brave general (Sanada Hiroyuki from "Twilight Samurai"), and wandering warrior who has no memory of his country (Jang Dong-Kun from "Taegukgi"). It's directed by Chen Kaige of the acclaimed 5th generation. Gar Commentary: (borrowed from my IMDB review) This movie got seriously panned by critics for its weaknesses. Reading the various user reviews of "The Promise", it's apparent that a lot of people dislike the movie for the wrong reasons - most write how the movie compares unfavorably to Chen's earlier works like "The Emperor and the Assassin", "Farewell My Concubine", "Yellow Earth", etc. Anybody who's seen those movies would obviously know that it's unfair to make a comparison between "The Promise" and a movie like "Farewell My Concubine", akin to comparing apples to oranges. After all, nobody writes reviews comparing "Chronicles of Narnia" to "Kingdom of Heaven" and starts bashing "Narnia" for having a talking lion! "The Promise" is clearly meant to be enjoyed as a cinematic fairytale / fantasy movie, not a semi-realistic film such as "Farewell My Concubine" or even wuxia movies like "Crouching Tiger" or "House of Flying Daggers" (both of which for obvious reasons lack magic spells, prophecy spewing goddesses, and time travel). Better movies to compare "The Promise" to would be fairytale / fantasy movies like "Narnia" or "LOTR", because "The Promise", is really a fantasy plot that is a parable about love, trust, deception, lies, and sacrifice. True, "The Promise" isn't quite perfect in its execution of its movie elements - the characters sometimes behave illogically, the story may be too complicated for people to follow, the Mandarin Chinese is uneven among the actors - but still, I found the movie to be compelling when I viewed as a fairytale and NOT as a serious historical drama or an action-packed wuxia film. Outwardly, this fable of a movie may seem ill-fitting to Chen's resume, but beneath the surface, I found the moral questions in "The Promise" to be consistent with those that other Chen Kaige films often covertly pose. ...  Fearless (霍元甲)Plot Summary: A fictional account of the life of a legendary Chinese martial arts master, Huo Yuanjia (played by Jet Li), the movie begins with Huo's life as a young child, though the majority of the movie is spent following Huo's exploits as a man - his rise, his fall, and later, his famous exhibition fights in the name of Chinese pride against foreign fighters from Russia, Great Britain, Japan, etc. The Chinese title of the movie is Huo Yuanjia's name, not "Fearless". Gar Commentary: Reported to be Jet Li's last martial arts film, I really enjoyed watching how well "Fearless" blended together action with drama. Jet Li's insistence on Buddhist / moral themes is clearly seen in the movie, and the overall message of the film - that martial arts are a means by which people should strive to become better human beings rather than mindless beasts of death and destruction, and that evil and selfish acts have consequences - is similar in this movie to another Jet Li flick, "Unleashed" / "Danny the Dog". The moral theme provides a better context for both the development of the Huo's life and actions, with the Huo's bouts against the foreign fighters being a clear allegory for China's historical struggle to resist colonialism by Europe, Japan, and the US. The action scenes are of course trademark Jet Li-styled quickness and grace, the pinnacle scene being Jet Li's 1-on-1 fight with Shido Nakamura , featuring a brilliant tri-staff versus katana battle. While the version I saw was the 105 minute edited theatrical version (where scenes with Michelle Yeoh and a Thai Boxer were edited out), it's been reported that the DVD has the full 150 minute version. If this really is Jet Li's last martial arts film, at least I as a fan I can happily say that this movie is a great tribute. I definitely have to get myself a copy of it. ...  Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Plot Summary: By the director of "Old Boy", Park Chan-wook, "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is the last in his trilogy of movies meditating on the theme of revenge / vengeance. In SFLV, a woman named Lee Geum-ja (played by Lee Yeong-Ae, who also starred in Park's "JSA") is wrongfully convicted of kidnapping and murdering a young boy, and goes to prison for over 15 years. When she's finally released from prison, she sets into motion her plan for bloody revenge, with the help of other female ex-convicts. Gar Commentary: While the plot is not as particularly shocking or twisted as "Old Boy", I still found SFLV to be a fascinating movie, if nothing else for the character study that is Lee Geum-ja - what sort of transformation does a person undergo when they've been wrongfully imprisoned and been stripped of what they value the most? Other fascinating characters are also to be found in Lee Geum-ja's accomplices, and a subplot involving a Korean adoptee girl (you'll have to watch the movie to understand). Another point of my appreciation for the movie is the style in which it was filmed - the brilliant colors and brightness of many of the movie's shots stands in pretty stark contrast to "Old Boy"'s dark grittiness and grimey style. In particular, the last half of the movie is quite artistic, including several beautiful shots in the snow (I know it snows in Korea, but snow this good looking makes me wonder if it's CGI). A great film, and for people like me who enjoy thinking about the thematic elements of cinema, SFLV will definitely make you contemplate your own personal feelings about revenge, and under what circumstances would you feel justified in taking it... ...  Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World (世界の中心で、愛を叫ぶ) Plot Summary: Based on a Japanese novel called "Socrates In Love", the story of "Crying Out Love..." revolves around a man named Sakutaro trying to find the whereabouts of his missing fiancee, Ritsuko. While searching for her, he finds an old tape made by his high school girlfriend, Aki, and from there, the story takes place between a combination of present day events and flashbacks to Sakutaro's relationship with Aki when he was a high school student in a small town. While the title is long, it's a literal translation of the Japanese title. The novel currently holds the record of all time best selling book in Japan with over 3 million copies sold (beating out the previous record holder, "Norwegian Wood") and the film's theme song, the ballad "瞳を閉じて” ('Hitomi wo Tojite' or 'Close My Eyes') by Hirai Ken was a huge hit on the pop music charts. Gar Commentary: While normally I'm not the sort of person who is a fan of romantic movies, I really liked this film - the acting by the young, high school Sakutaro (Moriyama Mirai) and Aki (Nagasawa Masami) is quite touching. I'm not revealing a huge plot point in saying that the viewer soon learns that Aki has a leukemia (it's revealed early on), but the focus on Sakutaro and Aki's lives inspite of the illness brings out universal themes of teenage love, life, death, and the struggle to cope with loss. The movie's power as a tear-jerker is so irresistable in that even when the end of everything is foreshadowed by the story, you still can't help but cry. Yes, even man tears gushed outta my eyes too, especially during a particularly moving scene at the airport, when Sakutaro cries out "助けて... 助けて！" ("Tasukete... TASUKETE!" / "Help... HELP!") while cradling Aki, you know he's not just yelling at the crowds of strangers at the airport, he's screaming at Heaven or fate itself. Gah, I was so sad after watching this movie, but at the same time, it was a carthartic sorta sadness. A great movie, but unless you're a coldhearted, emotionless, and loveless bastard, watch it with a box of tissues close by. You'll probably cry too. ... (to be continued) | (5) comments
Sunday, May 21, 2006
green tea cafe?
I've been a fan of tea longer than I've been a fan of coffee. Since I was young, I've associated drinking tea with eating good food - especially jasmine tea with yumcha and green tea with Japanese food. I only really started drinking coffee during my time as a college student, which coincidentally coincided with the big rise of coffeehouse culture and chains like Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Tully's. The Seattle Times today had an article on a brand-new business called Koots Green Tea, opening at the (blang-blang) Lincoln Square building in downtown Bellevue. Owned and operated by Kouta Matsuda, an entrepeneur from Japan, the concept of the business is merging cafe culture + drinks featuring Japanese-style green tea. You can read the article right here. An awesome quote from Matsuda about his vision for the company:
That's right, American health is still dominated by the specter of obesity and ill-health. haha. Though Bellevue has a fairly large Asian American community (including Japanese Americans), it'll be interesting to see how the business does since it's based around the serving of maccha green tea (抹茶), which has definitely a much stronger taste than other kinds of green tea. The taste is also different than the black tea most (white) people in the US seem to prefer. Still, I hope Koots is successful. It'll be a nice new place to study / chill at, especially since the Lincoln Square has free parking. Maybe I'll pay a visit sometime in the next week to check it out. EDIT: The official website. | (4) comments
Saturday, May 20, 2006
listen to my cry
Psalm 142:1-7, NIV "I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me. | (1) comments
Friday, May 19, 2006
podcast, episode 6
Concocted during my crazy vampire schedule in the early hours of the morning... I decided to make a podcast filled with reggae / dancehall influenced joints (joints... get it? ha-ha, yeah, bad joke). While the first song should be familiar to most music lovers, I tried to also pick some artists you may or may not have heard of... You can download it directly from this link right here. (right click & save as) The podcast is about ~34minutes long, and is 32.5mb, 128kb mono MP3. Playlist of songs in the cast: 1 Bob Marley - Redemption Song 2 Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On (remix f. Spragga Benz) 3 Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go 4 Beenie Man - Girls Dem Sugar (f. Mya, The Neptunes) 5 Sean Paul - The Trinity 6 Kardinal Offishall - Watchalike (f. Busta Rhymes) 7 Sizzla - Thank You Mama Background / intro music: -Melodians - Rivers of Babylon -m-flo - Let Go (Reggae Disco Rockers remix) If you're interested in more, check out IIStix podcasting project. Links to previous GarPodcasts.... -Podcast 05 - Cover Songs -Podcast 04 - Hip-Hop Music Sampled from Movies -Podcast 03 - Music Heard in Movies / TV / Anime / Video Games -Podcast 02 - Miscellaneous -Podcast 01 - Songs from Seattle Area Bands Enjoy... | (2) comments
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
a book with no words on the pages
I can't think of anything to write... still feeling a bit like I'm running on empty. Within the (all too familiar) discomfort of this limbo, I'm still trying to process the events of these past couple of weeks. I suppose a better person than I would have already dealt with the disappointment and pain of it all in a more constructive and quicker manner than I have, but some moments, I really do feel completely at a loss for what to do. I try to browse classified ads on Craig's List, watch a movie, read a book, cook... still, I'm haunted by the failure. Haunted by its addition to my long list of shortcomings. One moment, my mind is marinating on the broken scraps of my hopes while others are probably enjoying success; in other moments I'm just staring off into space... completely devoid of sentient thought, like a big carrot or the entire roster of *NSTINK. I swear I'm not high, though I plead the 5th in relation to my consumption of fermented beverages... it seems to be the only thing that helps me sleep these days. ... It would be callous of me to neglect to mention the care that friends have shown me in the past few weeks. Maybe I'm more worst off than I'd care to admit, and they see that perhaps this latest episode in the series of disappointments in my life (especially in the past 5 years or so) might be the final straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back. The attention is both humbling and a bit unexpected. At my Wudan-affiliated small group / Bible study yesterday, a friend was praying for me and prayed: "LORD, we know sometimes you send us trials, and I don't know why [Gar] is going through this trial, but please help him be patient. Please guide him to use these circumstances for something good." I appreciated my friend praying that. ... Back to job hunting... .:. Because I need to laugh: Star Trek Cribs. Hilarious... you might recognize Spock's voice as being that of Charlie Murphy, of Chappelle's Show fame. | (2) comments
Monday, May 15, 2006
news news
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Sunday, May 14, 2006
portrait of the teacher as mr. chan, pt.2
 I like the attention given to my hairstyle and the shape of my glasses in this picture. I am also amused by the depiction of my freakishly large head (yes, I do have physically massive head) and the butterfly wings on my back (or are they moth wings, like Arthur from 'The Tick'? Spoon!). The cards they made (samples) do make me feel a little bit better, I admit it. It brings back memories to the artistic talents of my 3rd graders back in last September. If only if I knew then what I know now. Hey, look... another bottle, just for me! .:. PS You just got owned. Or if you prefer... "pwn'd". | (7) comments
Saturday, May 13, 2006
the glass may be half-full, the bottle looks pretty damn empty
It's been difficult these past few days, a week of sleepless nights, frequent night caps and probably a ridiculously amount of over-meditation on my part on everything that has happened. Thanks to everybody who contacted me to check up; I'm not dead... just feeling down. I've never been one to fish for sympathy; Monday's entry was only to keep y'all from worrying. To sum things up, my life has changed for the worst in that:
To say my plans have been FUBAR'd would be a gross understatement, and while the AngryAsianMan in me longs to rage and rant, I just can't seem to find the strength to do it. I laugh to think that I am in the same identical position as I was at this time last year... poor, unsure of my future, and wondering where the hell my life is going off to again. While I won't go into the exact details of what happened here (ask me in person or e-mail), let's just say that in the end, I can only blame myself. Being a lowly student teacher / intern, I should have given more serious thought to the environment I was working in, and who I was working under. In an internship, you're learning the ropes and you're bound to make mistakes; that's a given (especially an imperfect person like myself). However, a good internship experience is hopefully where the people above you expect those mistakes and they help you correct them; they believe in your potential enough to work with you to improve your weakness, be patient with you as you grow, and trust you that can do that. I made the error of assuming I had that. I trusted when I should have not; I overstayed when I should have left long ago. It hurts to know that if I had been a bit more wiser and more observant much earlier in the quarter, I could have switched my student teaching internship... not an uncommon thing. Several of my classmates did so. The timing of my circumstances was not so fortunate, however. That I was so blind helps to enhance my personal feelings of dumbass-ness. And so I have the next 7 months to contemplate how I have failed... how I have failed myself, how I have failed my fellow students at SU, how I have failed the MIT program at SU that I'm fond of... not to mention the students I taught. The Chinese part of me really loathes that word... failure. It's so sadly stereotypical, I know. Now I have to find some way to keep busy until January... hopefully, a decent paying job working with kids that will build my "credibility" as teacher. I'm doing cartwheels over the thought of browsing the classifieds and CraigsList for the upteenth time in my life. .:. Though I was officially cut off Monday, I was allowed to say good-bye to my class today, and it took more strength than I thought it would not to outwardly show them how sad I was. Call me an unemotional lump of bovine excrement... I just couldn't bear to shed tears in front of them as they presented to me poems and pictures they had made for me and gave me crushing hugs. Of course, I had cards for them too (similar to ones I had made in Japan), which I spent making this past week, along with a copies of a booklet we made together as a class. I've known them only since January, and yet, I feel so attached. Still, I know they'll be fine without me. They're counting down the days to summer just like me. .:. As I was typing this a small fly flew by me toward desk lamp. I smashed it one hand, but I felt a twinge of regret afterwards, and not just because I had to wash my hand. Poor bastard... he may be the one who's dead, but I'm the one who feels crushed. Hollowed out. Defeated.  What a fine time to re-acquaint myself with Jinro Chamisul soju... and renew my general mistrust of humanity (I should have been more proud of my 6 outta 100). | (4) comments
Monday, May 08, 2006
wormfood
It's official: the dream has been trampled. "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads" -Psalm 22:6-7 Going to be offline for awhile. | (5) comments
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Asian Interpretations on Christianity
I recently read a pair of interesting articles at David Park's Next Gener.Asian Church that I thought were quite fascinating:
Commentary later... brain is busy with some things. | (0) comments
Saturday, May 06, 2006
podcast, episode 5
It's been almost a month since my last podcast, and I apologize for the delay, especially since I had such a fun time making episode 4. As some of you might have picked up from my recent postings / posting patterns, it's been a stressful time for me, perhaps one of the most stressful times in my life EVER. No exaggeration. I can't go into details, but suffice to say, trying your hardest to be a good fulltime student teacher is a lot of hardwork. A lot of people might think being a teacher is a job that could be done by lobotomized monkey, a bag of yellow fruit, and a TV/VCR combo, but imagine this situation: A doctor (or lawyer, if you'd like) has in his/her office 24 different clients, each with differing backgrounds, different abilities, and different problems. He has to help everyone of them, all at the same time, and some of them don't want to even be there or be helped! Now replace the word "doctor" with "teacher", office with "classroom", "clients" with "students", and maybe that gives you a snapshot of the pressure I'm under. Still... I have a great class of 2nd graders as students, and I love the little grunions. Their smiles and bright faces help sustain me, even when I feeling weak. .:. Anyways... the podcast! This podcast's theme was "cover songs", and I made a family-friendly, "easy listening"-type podcast. No hip-hop... sad, right? There's also a "special surprise" near the end of cast, during my last voice over. Heh heh. You can download it directly from this link right here. (right click & save as) The podcast is about ~35minutes long, and is 32.1mb, 128kb mono MP3. Playlist of songs in the cast: 1 Flight 180 - Vacation (orig. Go-Gos) 2 Utada Hikaru - Fly Me To the Moon (orig. Frank Sinatra) 3 As One - I've Never Been to Me (orig. Charlene) 4 Babyface & Gwyneth Paltrow - Just My Imagination (orig. Temptations) 5 Eva Cassidy - Time After Time (orig. Cyndi Lauper) 6 Portrait - How Deep Is Your Love (orig. BeeGees) 7 Az Yet - Hard to Say I'm Sorry (orig. Chicago) 8 Frankie J. - More Than Words (orig. Extreme) Background music: -Densha Otoko OST - Graceful Trading -Densha Otoko OST - Sea of Love (instrumental version) -Densha Otoko OST - Sekai wa sore wo ai to yobundaze (bluesharp version) If you're interested in more, check out IIStix podcasting project, or my links to my blog entries about previous casts can be found here: -Podcast 04 - Hip-Hop Music Sampled from Movies -Podcast 03 - Music Heard in Movies / TV / Anime / Video Games -Podcast 02 - Miscellaneous -Podcast 01 - Songs from Seattle Area Bands Besides all the podcasts on moyism, I also recommend quasi-IIStix rogue agent davefonic's hilarious LUCKY cancersticks sponsored podcast and crazy country/hip-hop exploration podcast. *EDIT* Had some problems uploading, but it's fine now. | (4) comments
Friday, May 05, 2006
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
broken
I'm far from being anywhere close to the kind of man I want to be. I'm imperfect, I misjudge situations, and I make mistakes just like any one else. Unfortunately for me, the latest stinging reminder of all the above has come at a pretty bad time. I'm just wondering if there's any grace left in heaven for me. That's the only thing that can help me, and it's the only way I know I can continue changing for the better. Like Talib and Mary J. said in the song... I try. You know I try. Mood: worried and blue. .:. it's my month, it's our month In happier news, Amy at HuiJeong has written this excellent post to guide your celebration of National APA Month. Read it! heh. | (5) comments
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
elementary animal design
One of the great joys of teaching most elementary school students is that our capitalistic, dogmatic, and dull society hasn't quite yet finished choking out all their creativity and willingness to take risks. As a result, whenever the kids are given the freedom to do something artistic, I always find what they come up with to be very interesting. For a recent book report assignment, the students in my 2nd grade class had to read a (non-fiction or fiction) book that featured a real animal as a major character, and after reading the book, make a hand puppet of the animal with their summary/review of the book on the back. A trio of my favorites:  Can you guess what each animal is? (super bonus points if you can figure out what children's book each comes from) | (7) comments
Monday, May 01, 2006
a day with many meanings
Today was May 1st (AKA May Day), or as it's known in many countries elsewhere across the world, International Workers' Day. Ironically, the holiday first began here in the US in Chicago in 1890, but it was banned during the Communist witchhunts in our nation's history. Around here in the US, the day was marked by massive rallies by people demanding immigration reform - mostly Latin Americans, but immigrants of all backgrounds have come out to protest and speak out on the issue. Jin-In at Twice the Rice has posted up a good list of reasons why Asian Americans like myself ought to care and throw up a fist with our Latin American brothas and sistahs. .:. APA history month Of course, May is also Asian / Pacific Islander American History Month here in the US. What, you didn't know? Yeah, you and the rest of the country... While I can see the value in dedicating a single month out of the year to the celebration of the contributions that APAs have made to America, I also have mixed feelings about it as well. For many people, APA History Month will mean nothing but a chance to tokenize APA contributions by eating a local teriyaki restaurant (that's probably Korean owned), reading Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, or watching anime from Japan. The problem with celebrating the history and contributions of APAs for just one month is that it both excludes APAs from a "mainstream" American cultural and historical narrative, relegating us to a non-essential circus sideshow that's only important enough for 4 weeks of shallow exploration. On the otherhand, for many students, maybe these 4 weeks of APA History Month is the only chance they will have to learn about APAs. I suppose part of me feels that even though 4 weeks is so short and arbitrarily imposed, at least it's 4 weeks at all... | (0) comments
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in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
the facts.
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