Weekend Sports Wrap Up

"I wonder if I squeeze hard enough, I can make her explode?"

Michelle Wie fell a little short again in her quest for her first win. She actually led by 2 strokes after 11 holes in the final round but a costly bogey on 13 and solid birdies by veteran Karrie Webb did her in. Don't worry about her though, that elusive first win is coming. Did you know that she's finished in the Top 5 in 9 of her last 11 events? Not even Annika Sorenstam can say that! And did you see that muffed shot by Laura Davies at the tee on 16th? She hit her tee shot only about 70 or 80 yards and didn't even reach the beginning of the fairway! Amazingly, she muscled her 2nd shot out of there and ended up closer than both Michelle and Karrie on the green!

Young soccer phenom Natasha Kai, formerly of UH, scored another goal as a national team member this past Saturday against Canada and USA won 2-0. After receiving a long pass from the midfield on the right side, Kai tapped the ball to herself and shot it off of her right foot. The Canadian goalkeeper was able to block it but Kai took the rebound and kicked it in for a goal. It was the 5th goal in 8 international appearances for the super sub. It appears that her chances of making the national team roster for the upcoming woman's World Cup are pretty good!

Local boy golfer Dean Wilson finished with a strong 7-under 63 in the final round of the US Bank Championship to land in a tie for 9th place and earned a cool $104,000.00. Also finishing in a tie for 9th was South Korean golfer KJ Choi. The tournament was won by 46 year old Corey Pavin who hadn't won on the PGA Tour in 10 years!

Speaking of golf, the US beat the English/Irish team in the 2006 Curtis Cup. The Curtis Cup is a Ryder Cup type tournament held for amateur women. 3 of the 8 American team members are Korean American: Jennie Lee, Jane Park, and Jenny Suh. Congratulations!

In major league baseball, young Korean prospect Shin Soo Choo was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Cleveland Indians on 7/26/06 and promptly hit the game winning home run in a 1-0 win for Cleveland in his first game as an Indian 2 days later. Aw-right! Maybe he can be Korea's answer to a major league field player now that Hee Seop Choi has pretty much flamed out.

And finally in the NBA, 7'3" Korean center Ha Seung Jin was traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks. We'll see if he can get some decent PT behind last year's #1 Andrew Bogut.

Final Fu Update

So I've been watching Final Fu for the last week and it's really growing on me. Last week's 10 contestants were kind of boring outside of EMC expert Jonathan who was cocky as hell and even busted out some drunken boxing and monkey styles in his last match! He was definitely entertaining.

But the new 10 contestants this week look better. There are 2 fights per episode and so far all of the fights have been very clean and entertaining. Of course I have more interest in the taekwondo fighters but twin sisters Nicole and Shannon are definitely cute too! And today's ep features a physical challenge straight out of the classic Jackie Chan film Drunken Master. They are hanging upside down and they have to transfer water from a bucket on the ground to a container above their feet.

Anyways, I look forward to watching this show every night. 6:30 PM on MTV2 and 11:00 PM on MTV.

You can watch clips of previous fights here: Final Fu website

Big Fat Fraidy Cat!

In addition to the constant pain and stiffness in my left knee (apparently I have a loose calcium body in there and will have to get it removed in a 15-20 minute surgery), I'm also experiencing some discomfort in my left shoulder whenever I raise it above shoulder level. So I went to get an MRI done on my left shoulder last night.

But I am a borderline claustrophobe. I think it originated when I was in preschool or kindergarten when some of my playmates trapped me in a cardboard box and wouldn't let me out. Anyways, I've always had some discomfort in tight spaces. When I had an MRI done on my knee about 9-10 years ago prior to my first ACL reconstruction surgery, I entered the MRI tube feet first and I didn't know how far they were going to stick me in so I started to really tense up when the edge of the machine got to my head level cuz I thought my head was going in too. Luckily, they left my head out of the machine and I was okay.

Oh by the way, for those who have no idea what I'm talking about, a MRI machine is a tube like thing where they stick you in so that they can take magnetic photos of your inside. The space is really narrow (especially for a big guy like me) and kind of looks like this:But since yesterday's MRI was for my shoulder I had to go in head first. I could already feel myself getting nervous while driving to the hospital. I gave myself a 50/50 chance of being able to go through with it. Honestly. They let you play a CD while you're in the MRI tube since it takes about 30 minutes so I handed the technician my music (Heart's Greatest Hits!) and laid down on the table. I was already breathing deeply and tensing up. The technician said that it's actually bigger than it looks inside and that there's really about a foot of space above your head once you're in.

So they slowly slide me into the tube of death and it's narrow plus my body is big so my arms are already pushed up against the sides of the machine. Not hard, but I can feel the walls on my arms. I keep my eyes closed and breathe deep, concentrating on "Magic Man" and "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You". The tech had given me an emergency button to press if I started to freak out and I was clenching that thing tightly.

The first 5-10 minutes were absolute torture. I didn't dare open my eyes lest I see the upper wall of the tube a mere inches from my face. A foot, my ass! I tried to think of all kinds of activities to keep my mind occupied. Stuff like playing golf, going to the beach, and hiking were most prominent. Activities you do in wide open spaces. I even found myself doing the times table for about a minute or two! Anything to keep my mind off of where I really was. But still, I kept feeling like I couldn't breathe and that I would never be able to escape. It was not a pleasurable feeling.

Those first 10 minutes felt like an eternity. I was tempted to push the "freak out" button at least 5-6 times but stopped myself from being a panty and just told myself to "handle"!. But I actually ended up pushing it once by mistake, probably cuz I was so tense and the tech asked me if I was okay and I told him yeah.

But after the first 10 minutes, I seemed to relax a little more. I got into the music and lipsynced along. After about 3 songs, the tech said that he would cut my time down and that there were only 7 minutes left. Yeah right! After he told me that, 3 full songs went by which was at least 10 minutes.

So after what seemed like an eternity, they finally let me out of that coffin. I felt like I was resurrected. Even the artificial air in the room tasted sweeter. I had made it! I really doubted myself but somehow I made it through and I was really proud of myself for not "pussying" out of it, for lack of a better word. I guess it all comes down to the power of the mind!

RIP Mako

One of the great Asian character actors, Mako, has past away at the age of 72. He was last seen in Memoirs of a Geisha and earned an Academy Award nomination for the film The Sand Pebbles. He made many TV appearances in shows such as Hawaii Five-O, MASH, and Magnum PI. He's also in appeared in films such as Pearl Harbor, Bulletproof Monk, and The Perfect Weapon. A great actor and a sad loss.

Angry Chevron Lady

So I went to fill up gas at the Chevron station in Ewa Beach last week Thursday but the credit card slot at the pump I was at wasn't working so I had to go to the cashier to pay for my gas. So I gave the lady my gas card and went back to fill up my tank. I was talking story with my co-workers who were sitting in my car as I was filling up the gas so I guess I got distracted and thinking that I had swiped my card at the machine and put it back in my wallet, I put my gas cap on and drove off, forgetting my card at the cashier's.

The next day I realized my card was gone when I opened my wallet and noticed an empty slot. So I went back to the gas station. At the cashier's position sat an elderly Japanese woman. I couldn't remember if it was the same woman who I gave my card to the day before cuz I wasn't really paying attention the previous day. Anyway, here was how the conversation went:

Me: Do you have my Chevron gas card? I left it here by mistake yesterday.
Her: Yeah, how come you forget you?
Me: Yeah, sorry. I thought I swiped it at the pump and forgot I left my card here.
Her: That's cuz you numb in the head that's why! (not said playfully, but with spite!)
Me: (surprised) Ho, kinda harsh yeah?
Her: Why, if you forget that kind, you not too smaht, yeah? How you can forget that kine stuff? You get ID? I gotta see ID.
Me: I get ID but it won't prove anything cuz it's a company gas card and has my company name on it, not mine.
Her: So you get ID or wat? I no can give you the card without ID.
Me: I can give you my ID but not going match. (I give her my license)
Her: How come no more your name on the card?
Me: It's a company card.
Her: How I know you work for this company? Maybe you like just steal this card, yeah?
Me: (luckily I had a business card on me) Here's my business card. See, the name matches.
Her: Okay, you can have em. No forget next time! Make humbug for me!

Wow. I walked away from that very amused and entertained by the conversation. Lesson to learn...always carry your business card with you!

A Thing of Beauty

Well, a different kind of beauty than the kind seen in the previous post.

Here's Nike's new commercial showing Tiger's swing. Man, that's perfection.

Tiger Woods Nike Commercial

Pageant News!

Everybody loves a beauty pageant right? I remember watching the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants every year with my parents when I was a kid and we would make bets on who we thought would win. My mom of course watched to admire their beauty while my dad and I would be interested in what charities they would be representing. ;)

Although I haven't watched a beauty pageant on TV in years (I think the last one I watched was when Brooke Lee won Miss Universe), I did come across some pageant news.

First of all, the Miss Universe Pageant will take place this weekend in Los Angeles. Here is Korea's entry, Kim Joo Hee.Apparently, she's a news announcer for SBS! Can you imagine a news announcer from here competing in a pageant? Hmm...the only one that comes to mind is Kuualoha Taylor.

In other pageant news....there was a Miss Korea New York pageant held over the 4th of July weekend in the Big Apple. Looking at a few of the profiles of the contestants, I couldn't help but laugh.

Jennifer Maeng, a 24 year old restaurant owner sang "Top of the World" in the talent competition. Okay....she also says "At my restaurant, I spend a lot of time explaining what Korean culture is like. If I had the Miss Korea title, people would trust my information more." and also offers this advice - "In a Korean deli or cleaners, say Ahn nyoung ha se yo. That means hello. They’ll give you a discount." All-righty then!

Mijin Park, 19, sang "Part of your World" from The Little Mermaid because she feels it represents her transition from a girl to a young lady. What, was the Britney Spears song "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" taken already?

Irene Noh, 20, says "I went to study in Seoul. They’re more conservative there. It’s not polite to speak on the subway or talk on your cell phone too loudly." Yeah, she obviously hasn't been there.

And Nina Kim, 19, of Scarsdale, when asked what Korea is like, answers "People are still very—I don’t want to say closed-minded. But they won’t make out at the movies." Been there, done that! LOL

And check out this judge. He's doing a great job!

Waiting in Line for Chicken Soup

Yesterday was the first day of 초복 (chobok), the start of the intense summer heat. People in Seoul lined up in droves to eat 삼계탕 (Korean chicken ginseng soup) as it is believed to help fight the heat and cool you off. I don't know how eating a hot chicken soup makes you feel cooler but looking at these lines, there's gotta be some truth to it!

Cool New Martial Arts Show - Final Fu!

Okay, the name of the show is stupid but this show looks cool! Granted, I just caught the last 10 minutes of it last night as I was flipping channels, but damn if I wasn't intrigued!

Final Fu is a reality show on MTV and MTV2 that pits martial artists against each other as they compete in physical challenges as well as spar one on one to gain points. From the little that I saw last night, these guys and gals look pretty good. As a martial arts student myself I am definitely interested. Plus, it's hosted by Ernie Reyes Jr.!

MTV is airing this every weeknight at 11PM so don't miss it! Looks like it just started this Monday so thankfully I haven't missed too much.

Final Fu!

Tomorrow is World Jump Day!

This is just beyond ridiculous. Some people just have too much time on their hands. Put the weed down and get a job!

Let's alter the Earth's orbit! Peace baby! Free love!

K-Festival Wrap Up

The Korean Festival 2006 has come and gone and it was another fun experience. The crowd seemed to be smaller than last year's and that was probably due to the threat of rain in the morning. Lunch crowds were lined up 20 people deep last year but this year I never saw a line with as many as 10 people in it. Talking with some of the vendors, they agreed that it wasn't as good a year as last year.

Still, it was a fun day. Much appreciation goes to Wayne's World for staying there for about 14 hours and contributing in a big way doing a lot of hard labor. Thanks man! I can count on you for next year too, right?

Taking advantage of Oceanic's digital News on Demand channel (Channel 110), I caught the coverage of the Festival on all 4 broadcasts the next day to see what kind of coverage it got. KHNL and KITV were the best, offering the most visuals and interviews. KHON of course was the worst. It always amazes me how this channel's news is consistently #1. They only offered about 2 or 3 scenes of the Festival with no interview or commentary. They ended their K-Fest segment with a shot showing mandoo being fried in a deep frier with literally 4-5 seconds of silence. Hah? And Hawaii residents usually tend to dislike people who think they're "all that" and yet they continue to watch the pompous and arrogant Joe Moore? I just don't get it. Plus whenever I watch KHON (which is only in passing as I pass from channel to channel) I feel like I'm watching a news broadcast from the 70s. Their set just looks so old. Anyways.....

....speaking of news....yours truly was interviewed by KGMB at the Festival and asked to give an opinion on the North Korean missile tests and the reaction of the United Nations. Since I was at the Festival till about 11PM, I missed the original broadcast but caught it on News on Demand (thanks again, Oceanic!). I watched the airing of my short on camera moment with my parents and after it was over of course they were all like "You look so good!" and "You spoke so well!" (neither of which was true). Typical parent talk. The funny thing is, about 10 minutes later, after all the adoration was over, they asked me, "So what was it exactly that you said?". LOL. Parents....gotta love 'em.

Nancy Lopez - Dunce!

I used to respect Nancy Lopez. She's an LPGA Hall of Famer and she was in her prime when I first started watching golf in the 80s.

But things she said on Sportscenter last night really bothered me. They were interviewing her and asking her what she thought of Michelle Wie competing on the PGA Tour. Nancy basically said that she didn't agree with it and that Michelle should concentrate on the LPGA Tour. Lopez is not alone in this thinking as many others have expressed this same thought.

Helloooooo? Michelle is not eligible to be a LPGA member right now because she is too young (minimum age is 18 years old) so she is only allowed to play in 8 tournaments a year as a non-exempt member. She's going to play in the maximum alloted number of tournaments this year. What more can she do? Do these naysayers really expect her to just stay home all the other weeks of the year? I really don't get it. What more can she do for the LPGA? She already brings in record crowds, revenue, and TV ratings and she really has no obligation to the tour as she isn't even a member. So as long as she plays in her max 8 tourneys, what's wrong with her pursuing other goals in the other 44 weeks of the year?

Just because you're not good enough or interesting enough to do what Michelle's doing, don't knock her for having some ambition. Sure, she's not doing very well this week at the John Deere but at least she's giving it a shot, right? More importantly, the general public WANTS her to give it a shot. Are there any other woman golfers that would make people want to drive 4 hours to see in person or tune into the John Deere Classic? I don't think so.

Cool Lightning and Rainbow pics

The above pics were submitted by a reader of this blog (Thanks, The Man). Pretty cool! Apparently, it's very rare for lightning and a rainbow to appear simulatenously. Here's the article that features the pics.

Soccer Wrap Up

The new FIFA world rankings were released yesterday.

World Cup champion Italy vaulted up to #2 while Brazil remained #1. USA plummeted (deservedly so) from #5 to #16. For some reason Asian teams took a major hit. Iran dropped 24 places from #23 to #47, Japan fell from #18 to #49, and Korea dropped from #29 to #56. Huh? The other 2 Asian teams falling I understand. They never won a game in the Cup. But Korea beat Togo, tied the eventual runner up France, and they drop 27 places? I don't get it.

In other interesting news, German coach Juergen Klinsman resigned from the national team and it is now rumored that he may become the next US coach! That's awesome! Bruce Arena had a good run in 2002 but his team just failed to show up in 2006. Klinsman, a California resident, would be a perfect replacement as he would bring an exciting brand of football to the States. I really hope this rumor comes true.

Jackie Chan - Drunken Master in Real Life

Hong Kong martial arts star became a drunken master in real life!

Following news is from Chinese news source Sina:

For shame! A concert being given by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee in Hong Kong on Monday night was disturbed by the antics of a drunken Jackie Chan. The addled actor suddenly jumped on stage during the show and demanded a duet with Lee, then attempted to conduct the band, causing the music to stop and start several times. When the soused star showed no sign of leaving the stage, audience members began to heckle him, which he reacted to with insults. Chan, who had been a guest at Lee's Sunday night show, has yet to comment, possibly due to a killer hangover

Korean Festival this Saturday (7/15)

The 5th Annual Korean Festival will be taking place this Saturday at Kapiolani Park from 9AM to 9PM. There will be lots of great food and authentic Korean entertainment as well as a kim chee eating contest during the day and I believe a kiddie karaoke contest in the evening. And the crafts tent will be heavily emphasizing K-drama paraphenelia this year if you're into that scene. Also, free parking will be available at Kapiolani Community College with shuttle service provided to the Park.

I'll be volunteering at the Festival from early morning to late evening and you'll probably see me riding around in a golf cart trying to look important.

Come on by!

Funny funny story.....

This story about man and woman may have been floating around the internet for a while but I read it for the first time. I gotta remember it and use this the next time it happens to me!

One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed.

Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says, "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."

I said, "WHAT??!! What was that?!"

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear...

"You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man."

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take, so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said, "Lets get a pair for each outfit."

We went on to the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you... she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis.

I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey." She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, "I think this is all
dear, let's go to the cashier."

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled, "WHAT?"

I then said, "Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman."

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either....but at least that b*tch knows I'm smarter than her.

Rocky Balboa Footage

I gotta say...I am so looking forward to this movie. I love all the Rocky movies, yeah, even the crappy #5 with Tommy Morrison. I just think Sly plays the character so well and whenever the theme music plays....it's like magic!

Here's some early footage that's probably gonna show up in the trailer for the film. I hear real life boxer Antonio Tarver will be his opponent in this film. Release date is December 22, 2006. Looks great!

UPDATE!!!! - Here's the official trailer

Italy - World Cup Champs!

The 2006 World Cup came to a conclusion yesterday and it was a very entertaining tournament overall. High quality of play, exciting matches, and of course controversy. Italy beat France on penalty kicks after overtime didn't produce a winner. I made some predictions for the Final 4 teams and even I'm amazed that I got all 4 games correct! I even managed to get the scores exactly right on two of them. Yay for me!

And did you check out that head butt that Zinedine Zidane gave out in overtime? Where the hell did that come from? He was issued a red card and kicked out of the game. Luckily for him France did not concede a goal playing a man down for the last 10 minutes but they certainly could've used him in the penalty kicks as their one miss cost them the Cup. But he still ended up winning the Golden Ball award as the tournament's MVP. Italian captain and defensive wiz Fabio Cannvaro won the Silver and his teammate Andrea Pirlo won the Bronze.

The Italians also dominated the All Star Team, placing 7 members on the squad.

It was a great World Cup and I'm already looking forward to South Africa in 2010!

Great Website for 80s Film Fans

I came across this awesome website which contains a wealth of information about a bunch of films from the 80s. People my age grew up in the 80s and we still love the movies, music, etc. right?

Obviously, they cover the well known films such as Die Hard, The Breakfast Club, and The Goonies, films we all know so well and love. But they also cover other favorites of mine from the 80s that are not so well known.

Angel: The story of a straight A student by day, hooker by night!
Back to School: Rodney Dangerfield's greatest film filled with great one liners
BMX Bandits: Australian teen biker film starring a young Nicole Kidman!
The Last Starfighter: A classic! Remember the "Death Blossom"?
Lucas: Great teenage coming of age story
Midnight Madness: Fun comedy about an all night scavenger hunt. A definite hidden gem.
No Retreat, No Surrender: Martial arts cheese at its best.
Spacecamp: This movie about teenagers in space is so stupid and yet I can watch it over and over again.
Tron: Video game coolness.
Vision Quest: Wrestling movie with great performances from Matthew Modine and especially Linda Fiorentino. Hot!
Summer School: I remember watching this film over like a dozen times on HBO back in the day.

Hmm....now looking at that list it seems like the majority of those films are about teenagers. I guess since I was a teenager in the 80s it makes sense.

I was disappointed to find out however that the site didn't have anything on these other 80s favorites of mine:

Force:Five: Cheesy, bad martial arts film with Benny "the Jet" Urquidez and Richard Norton
My Chauffeur: Fun comedy with cute Deborah Foreman.

Anyways, looking through the site can take up hours of your time as you read through the trivia for each of the films. Fun stuff!

Van Dammage in Rush Hour 3!

I'm a big fan of the Rush Hour movies. I think the chemistry between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker is great and the action is fun as well. I especially like Rush Hour 2 as it stepped it up a notch over the original adding John Lone, Zhang Ziyi, and Rosalyn Sanchez to the mix not to mention Ernie Reyes Jr.!

Well apparently they've now added the Muscles from Brussels to the mix for the next sequel according to this article from aint-it-cool news. As a martial arts and martial arts film fan, I gotta say that I really enjoy Jean Claude Van Damme movies. Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Hard Target, even the really bad ones where he's all coked up like Double Team and Knock Off are enjoyable to me. Now he's gonna join the Rush Hour team? Awesome! I can't wait to see him and Jackie go at it.

The article also mentions that Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) will also be in it. This is gonna be the best movie ever!

The Lake House

I was very interested in this film starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock because it is the first major remake of a Korean film by Hollywood. Finally got a chance to see it.

Quick summary of the plot. A woman moves out of a house built on the lake. She leaves a letter in the mailbox for the next tenant to forward her mail to her new address. The man who next lives in the house receives the letter but is confused. Her letter is dated 2006, yet he lives in 2004. They are living 2 years apart and yet they can communicate through this magical mail box at the lake house. Through their correspondence they fall in love, but will a love that spans time really work?

Overall, the film was okay. It felt very "Hollywood"-ish. I like Keanu Reeves so you won't hear me complaining about his wooden acting like everyone else does and I think he does a good job here. Bullock too. The movie just doesn't have the same emotional pull as Il Mare however. The key scene where the girl realizes why the guy didn't go to meet her in 2 years....in the original Jeon Ji Hyeon really sold that scene and with the "Don't Say Goodbye" song playing in the background, it nearly brought a guy to tears! In The Lake House however, that crucial scene felt very truncated and cold.

And the ending is very Hollywood as well, leaving nothing to the imagination. At least the ending of Il Mare was more interesting.

But I did like how they named the one restaurant in the movie Il Mare. That was a nice touch.

I don't know, maybe I woulda liked it more had I not seen the original first. But remakes are bound to be compared to the originals and this one doesn't quite fit.

Korean Striker Seol Ki Hyeon Going to the Premier League

South Korean striker Seol Ki Hyeon will be transferring to the English Premier League where he will join the new team Reading FC. Seol is now the 3rd Korean player to reach this elite level, joining fellow national team members Park Ji Seong and Lee Yeong Pyo.

It is said that other European teams have their eyes on Korean football players as well with Jo Jae Jin, Ahn Jeong Hwan, and Lee Eul Yong getting the most interest.

Congratulations Seol Ki Hyeon!

New Edition of Maxim Korea

Here are some pics from the latest edition of Maxim Korea.....just because.

Politics Heating Up in South Korea

Boy, does South Korea have its hands full recently in international affairs.

First of all, Korea sent a ship over to Dokdo Island for a ocean surveying mission. For those not aware, the ownership of Dokdo Island is being disputed between Korean and Japan, both claiming it as their own. Obviously, Japan was not pleased with this move. Japan attempted to perform their own survey mission in the area about a month ago but backed down after some talks with Korea. But Japan trying to stall Korea's research attempts in the area is a futile effort at best as everyone but Japan recognizes Dokdo as Korean territory. It's like telling your neighbor that he can't mow his own lawn when his lawn is clearly in his property. I know, terrible analogy but that's the best I can come up with right now.

But Dokdo is the least of Korea's troubles now because North Korea followed through on their threat to test their missiles. North Korea fired off 2 rounds of missile tests yesterday and now has the entire world worried, especially the US and Korea. And don't think that it was coincidence that this missile launch took place on the US Independence Day. Hey President Roh, you still feel like playing nice with these guys? South Korean President Roh Moo Hyeon is an absolute patsy and idiot. He continues to provide millions of dollars of aid to the North and trying to maintain his predecessor's (President Kim) Sunshine Policy. Roh's approval rating is at an all time low and many citizens are even calling him a communist.

President Roh has been a disaster from the beginning. This is a man who shoots from the hip when speaking, but all he shoots is blanks. What kind of President states publicly that his job doesn't pay enough and that he honestly didn't think that the position would be this stressful? What was he expecting? A walk in the park? Korea has become a Top 10 world economy but yet is still technically at war with its neighbor to the North and he thought he could just sit up at the Blue House, play some golf, and have a 5 year vacation? I'm so glad this dunce will be out of office soon and that the political power in Korea is apparently switching over to the opposing party.

World Cup Final 4

There are just 4 teams left in the World Cup and any one of them would be a deserved winner as they're all playing wonderfully, beating quality teams along the way.

Germany - The host team and the favorite. Under coach Juergen Klinsman, the Germans have been playing aggresively and expertly. Having the fans behind them will be a big advantage and they just beat a very strong Argentinian team. Look for midfielder Michael Ballack and striker Miloslav Klose (5 goals this Cup) to set up lots of scoring opportunities.

Italy - The Germans will have to get by a tough Italian team to get to the Finals however. The Italians have only given up one goal the entire tournament and that was an own goal against the US. Italy is my pick to win to upset the home team and win the whole thing.

Portugal - The darkhorse of the Final 4 and the only team not to have won a Cup previously. They may not have the glory of the other teams, but they are playing tough football, gutting out ugly wins against the Dutch and the English. Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo are the players to watch as they try to beat the French.

France - The 1998 champions were almost eliminated in group play but it seems like they're peaking at the right time. I didn't get to watch the France/Brazil match but I heard that legendary midfielder Zinadine Zidane was playing like the Zidane of old and simply dominated the Brazilians. Not to mention that they beat a high octane Spanish team before the Brazil match. They're looking strong and I see them going to the Finals against Italy.

Predictions:

Semifinals:
Tuesday (7/4): Italy defeats Germany 3-2
Wednesday (7/5): France defeats Portugal 1-0

3rd Place:
Saturday (7/8): Germany defeats Portugal 3-1

Championship:
Sunday (7/9): Italy defeats France 2-1

Kim Yun Jin on David Letterman July 11

Korean actress Kim Yun Jin will appear on the David Letterman show on July 11th. She will be the 2nd Korean star (first was Michelle Wie) to appear on the talk show. Can't wait to see it!

I also came across this article about Kim Yun Jin which talks a little about the upcoming plots on Lost. It appears that even Kim does not know who the father of Sun's baby is as the producers have kept it a secret from her (or perhaps they don't know themselves?). In any case, the crazy thing she mentions is that there is a possibility that Michael is the father of the baby! Now that just doesn't sit well with me. And it has nothing to do with race if that's what you're thinking. I actually like the character of Michael and sympathized with the choices he had to make last season in order to save his son. I thought that there was a good chance that I might have done the same in his shoes.

My problem with Michael being the father is that it doesn't match the personality of Sun's character to sleep with Michael on the island after such a short time. She is portrayed as a very noble, intelligent, and loving wife and it would seem to be out of character for her to have an affair with Michael after what...a month? Sure, Jin and Sun were not getting along well when they crashed but still....I hope she's just throwing out rumors to throw everyone off cuz I don't think I'll be too pleased if it turns out to be true although I admit it would be interesting.

Former Porn Star Mimi Miyagi....Governor???

Former Asian porn star Mimi Miyagi (real name Melody Damayo) is apparently running for governor of Nevada. Wow. I honestly never did see any of her movies but I have heard of her name before. Now she's running for governor as a Republican. What's next? We've already had Conan the Barbarian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a professional wrestler (Jesse Ventura) win governor races so why not a porn star?

Here's her website: Mimi4governor.com