Oriental Chicken?

Saw this photo over at Angry Asian Man's blog:Sigh....

I've been to Salt Lake City and yeah, there aren't too many Asians there so I guess that leads to their ignorance. What the hell is an Oriental chicken anyway? Do these people also believe that chocolate milk comes from black cows?

Idiots!

Allure Korea Magazine Photo Shoot

Allure Magazine - Korea Edition is in town for a photo shoot for an upcoming 10 page spread. The crew arrived yesterday morning and will be here until Sunday morning, shooting over 3 days. I was asked to assist them with some logistical type things such as hunting down an antique car for one of their shoots.

I met the gang last night at a meet and greet dinner. They were a very friendly bunch, consisting of the photographer, his assistant, a stylist and her assistant, another stylist, the magazine beauty editor, and the 2 models. Then today was the first day of shooting.

The location was a house located on Tantalus that you never would've known existed. After taking a turn off of Round Top Drive, you still had to traverse about a third of a mile in down narrow, winding roads to get to this house. The house is owned by a couple named The Hollands and the wife used to be an interior decorator. It featured many what you could call quaint rooms and also had an amazing view of the ocean. Here's the killer view:The back lawn area:The lanai:Check out this bathroom!Master bedroom:The living room:The classic looking library downstairs:The dining room:The kitchen was used as the model's dressing room:Do you realize how much these people charge to rent their house out for 1 day? Oh...how about between $1,500 to $3,000? We found this house through the Kathy Muller agency so of course they get their cut but damn! Wouldn't that be nice? You let some strangers in your house for the day and collect a cool grand or more for your non-effort. Talk about the rich getting richer!

The next 2 days of shooting are going to take place 1) with the car as they travel around to different scenic places, and 2) at another house which they're still trying to scout locations for. The photographer's concept for the 2nd house shoot is a more modern look so they're looking for houses in Diamond Head or Portlock. They were originally going to shoot at Pegge Hopper's house but she was too busy to accommodate. Unfortunately, due to my real life job that I'd like to keep, I probably won't be able to watch them working like I was lucky enough to do for a few hours today.

But wow, let me tell you that this photographer is amazing! I walked all over that house and saw the same things he did but the way he captured the images in photos together with his models...amazing! It's like we're not even looking at the same thing! I was holding his insta-print shots in my hand while looking at the actual backdrop he shot it against and it was like 2 different worlds! I have a newfound respect for photography now.

Okay, okay, so people are probably wondering who the models were, right? Well, they aren't anyone overtly famous but they're definitely model quality pretty. I didn't want to take any photos of the models (I was afraid I'd have to pay them if I did! LOL) because I didn't want to disturb anyone while they were working but I did dig up some photos of them on the net.

The star of today's shot was Lee Hye Sang. From what I learned at dinner last night, she's the model for Hera cosmetics and has also done some acting. She's married and I believe has 2 kids. She was very professional during the shoot and I really admired that, amongst other things...heh, heh, heh. She changes her poses and her facial expressions without the photographer telling her a thing. She just knew what to do. I thought that was pretty cool. Very pretty and sexy voice too. Here's a few photos of her:The other model is Song Kyeong Ah. She used to model in New York but works in Korea now. Apparently, she's the host for a talk show on Mnet in Korea, which is a music cable channel. This girl is damn tall. I was standing right next to her (I'm 6 feet tall) and I swear she was standing taller than I and she was wearing zori! Talk about TSP!

Zhang Ziyi's New French Flame

EDIT: I was wrong in claiming that ZZY's new boyfriend was Tchecky Karyo. It turns out that the guy in the photo is Aviv Nevo, an Israeli multi-millionaire who owns a major part of Time Warner. He also apparently has a reputation for romancing young starlets such as Kate Moss. Well, I guess he's got another notch on his bedpost! But man, the resemblance to Tchecky Karyo is uncanny!

Check out these photos taken of Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi with her new boyfriend at a Knicks basketball game. Recognize him? That's Tchecky Karyo, the evil bad guy from movies such as Bad Boys and Kiss of the Dragon. I like the guy's movies and think he's a cool villain with that sinister French accent and all, but come on! The dude's 53 years old! He could be her dad! Aw man!!!

Korean Keyboard Warriors Go Way Too Far

Man, these netizens (inter"net" citi"zens") in Korea are just too much. They are so large in magnitude that they wield a power that's uncontrollable. In the past couple of years, they forced FIFA to block all access to its website from Korean computers due to the large number of complaints they were getting from emailers about bad refereeing in a Korean match and also brought a subway riding woman to shame when a video of her not cleaning up after her dog was posted online. But now they've gone too far.

After singer U;nee's suicide was announced, these cowards behind a computer began posting comments online in serious distaste saying things like:

"Look at her clothes. She was like a whore."

"She dies because she did not gain popularity."

"Dead already? Her agency wasted money on her cosmetic surgery."

These people have no class and have serious problems. When a Korean comedienne died earlier this year as a result of a bad car accident, one poster said:

"I'm glad she died, as I hated to see her on television."

Incredible. That's the one thing I really dislike about Korean people. They have this need to judge others and slander anyone who isn't to their pleasing. It's just disgusting.

Korean Actress/Singer Commits Suicide

26 year old actress and singer U;nee (aka Lee Hye Ryun) commited suicide and was found dead, hanging in her closet by her grandmother. She had appeared on many TV shows and had also released 2 albums. A 3rd album was to be released this week.

I was a fan of U;nee's just from watching her sexy performances and listening to her catchy pop songs. But I do know that she had a lot of "anti's" in Korea and continuously got slammed online from netizens for her overtly sexy image and numerous plastic surgeries. But few people knew how difficult of a childhood she had. It is believed that she was suffering from heavy depression because of all this.

This suicide comes almost 2 years after the suicide of another young talent, Lee Eun Joo in 2005.

RIP

Anyone Know Where I Can Rent One Of These?

I need to rent a classic convertible car for a few days at the end of this month for a project I'm working on. Anyone have any idea where I can rent one? Whether you know someone who owns one and is willing to rent it out for a few days or whether you know a dealer that rents them, any method is fine. We're going for a classic look, preferably in a pastel like color but not necessarily.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Another Lawsuit against the iPhone to Come?

I know Gee Why might be interested in this story.

As Gee Why stated in his blog post, Apple is already getting sued by Cisco over trademark issues on the new iPhone but now it seems like Korean cell phone manufacturer LG may get in on the action as well.

Apparently, LG is claiming that the new iPhone bears too striking of a resemblance to their LG Prada phone.Personally, I think lots of phones look very similar to each other so this is no different in my eye. But still, I can see how people might be anxious to go after some of that Apple money.

My Saturday Part I - Korean American Day Celebration

January 13th is Korean American Day, a celebration of the arrival of the first Korean immigrants to the USA in Hawaii. To celebrate this day, the Korean American Foundation hosted a small commemorative ceremony in Pawaa Park today at 11:00am. As Vice President of KAC-Hawaii and as a friend of the KAF, I was there as well to help set up and perform other policing duties.

It was my first time actually on the grounds of Pawaa Park (although I've driven by thousands of times) and I had no idea that there was a monument there to commemorate the Korean American Centennial. Here's a picture of the monument:There are 2 plaques around the monument that explain the journey of the Koreans to the US as well as what the symbols in the monument signify.The ceremony started at around 11:10am and was emceed by Ned Schultz of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii.All of the local politicians of Korean descent were in attendance including former Chief of Police Lee Donohue, Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, Hawaii State Senator Donna Mercado Kim, and State House Representative Sylvia Luke. The first speaker was KAF President Peter Kim.He was followed by Ann Chung, City Director of Economic Development, who spoke for Mufi Hannemann.She was followed by Consul General Kang Dae Hyun.And the last to speak was Donald Kim.It was a nice, brief, and casual ceremony but I felt proud to be there to help celebrate the arrival of my people to this country. A crowd of approximately 100 people attended and lunch was provided for afterwards by Kay's Catering.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for lunch because...

My Saturday Part II - We Are The Champions!!!

I had a race to get to!

Today was the day of the Great Honolulu Hunt! The race was to start at 1:00pm at Aloha Tower, which our team figured out by deciphering the initial clue. There were approximately 12 teams that competed and after we signed the waiver forms we received our set of 6 clues and we were off! For those not familiar, this race takes place all throughout Downtown Honolulu and makes you search out landmarks and monuments while also implementing clever word puzzles to solve while also interacting with actors planted at strategic locations to give you additional clues. Whoever solved all 6 clues and then solved the additional puzzle that those 6 clues give you hints to in the shortest time is the winner. You're allowed 1 free phone call for help if you're stuck but if you call more than once, there's a 20 minute penalty. There are also hidden gems along the way that give you a 20 minute deduction from your total time for each one you find.

Almost all the teams started at this fountain to try and solve their first clue since it was the closest to Aloha Tower. Here's Wayne's World getting his feet wet! Yeah, hardcore baby!I read the MidWeek article describing their race experience and their winning finish time was 1 hour 43 minutes. My goal going into the race was to finish in the top 3 so I kept an eye on the clock as we were proceeding.

After the first clue (a real stumper, by the way) it was looking a bit gloom. But our team got a rush of momentum and soon we were solving clues left and right. (Sorry, but no pics for this part. I don't want to ruin the surprises for those who may want to participate in the future) We ended up literally running all over Downtown, solving puzzles, discovering hidden plaques, and even singing love songs to a cowgirl! Fun stuff!

After we solved 5 of the clues and only had one left, I was feeling pretty good about our chances. We finally got the 6th and final clue solved (we needed some change to do so) and started on solving the final clue that would lead to the finish line. After a group effort deciphered it, we went to the finish area and discovered that we were the first team there! The race master wouldn't tell us our time or give any indication of where we were in relation to the other teams but since we were first there, it was looking good, although we didn't find any of the gems that would give us 20 minute time deductions. So we sat there hoping that no one would finish within 20 minutes of us.

However, another team called in with the final clue just 3 minutes after us. If they had found even 1 bonus gem, we were done. Slowly, teams started making their way to the finish, and I could hear teams calling in for help and one team even gave up.

After about an hour and half of waiting, we finally got the official results. We won the race! We had an official time of 1 hour 22 minutes (take that, Team MidWeek!). When the racemaster announced our time, he called it "astonishing". The 2nd place team finished at 1:25 and luckily they found no gems as well. The 3rd place team finished with a time of 1:34 after a 20 minute deduction (they found 1 gem).

So what did we win? A golden elephant and a treasure chest full of candy! Here's WW triumphantly picking up our prize:A closeup of the booty:Our margin of victory turned out to be only 3 minutes so I'm glad we decided to run at those times that we ran from one clue to the next. That might've been the difference.

The race was lots of fun and even educational. The clues were not too simple where they insulted your intelligence and yet not impossibly hard to solve either. It was a very well executed project. I'm really proud of our team as we totally used teamwork to find and solve clues and no one slacked off or held anyone back. We kicked butt!

So anyone who's into this type of thing should definitely check it out! But you better watch out for Team Hops and Cran! We're the ones to beat now, baby!

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school at Keone'ula Elementary. Things went pretty smoothly and I'm glad to report that there were no major glitches.

Traffic was smooth and the kids seemed excited to be seeing their brand new school. So cute, da kids when they small like that!

I saw at least 2 cameramen from KHON and KITV on campus this morning, including reporter Ben Gutierrez so keep an eye out on tonight's news if you want to see what the campus looks like!

Beckham to LA Galaxy!

David Beckham is probably the #1 or #2 most recognized sports figure in the world, the other being golfer Tiger Woods. It has now been announced that Beckham's contract with club Real Madrid will not be renewed and that he will be joining the LA Galaxy club in the MLS, an American based professional football league.While this news may be of little significance to the general US populace, this is definitely huge news worldwide. Beckham is a superstar and his coming to the States is a bona fide event. He is reported to earn approximately $250 million over 5 years playing for the galaxy, or about $1 million a week! Holy cow!It's true that at 31 years old, Beckham is past his prime but his star value alone should be enough to give the MLS a boost in attendance and TV ratings, if not in quality. Because let's face it, the quality of football in the MLS is poor compared to the top leagues in Europe.

By the way....if you didn't notice by now, I much prefer to post pics of Beckham's delectable wife Victoria (aka Posh Spice). ^_^;;;

The Hunt Begins!

So this weekend...I'm gonna be participating in the Great Honolulu Hunt Part II at 1:00PM. It's my first time doing this sort of thing and it sounds like it's gonna be fun. It's like part Amazing Race and part The Da Vinci Code as you have to decipher clues to get yourself around a race located in Downtown Honolulu. Wow, I feel like a Goonie!This particular race shouldn't be that bad as it's all within walking distance in Downtown and it's family friendly so it's at a level that even kids should be able to participate. So I guess that means no skydiving or rapelling. Aw nuts!

Anyways, our team got our first clue yesterday. You have to decipher it to find out where the starting location is. See if you can figure it out!

(I'd attach the whole thing but I don't know if Powerpoint files can be added on this blog)

Cryptogram: Ollp yvsrmw gsv krxgfiv zmw xszmtv wzipmvhh gl ortsg (Hint: A=Z)

After you solve that clue, you get to this clue:

Alas you passed this simple task
But one more step awaits
The Vigenere code down below
Holds what you await
The raven is the key you seek
To crack the code you see
To find the start location
And earn your team a lead

Code: Jtvvgrtvpbyaosjvr

Wish us luck!

Heisman Schmeisman!

Wow, what a stinker of a game played by Ohio State QB Troy Smith yesterday in the BCS Championship Bowl game. This guy won the Heisman Trophy by a landslide as well as just about every other award there is out there. But a lotta good all of that supposed skill did him as he finished a pathetic 4/14 for 35 yards and 1 INT with no TDs as his team lost to Florida 41-14.

That was one of the saddest performances I've seen from someone who's supposed to be the nation's top player. I'm not saying that Hawaii QB Colt Brennan should've won the Heisman Trophy but he sure would've put up better numbers than this loser. Auwe!

Bringing Down the House = 21 = No Asians! Oh wait...maybe 1....

Bringing Down the House is one of my favorite books ever. It's about a team of MIT whiz kids who figure out a way to beat the casinos in blackjack and end up making millions but also getting their lives endangered from the angry casinos. It's so fascinating that it feels like a fictional novel but the majority of the stories are actually true. If you're a fan of blackjack, you should definitely read this book. I highly highly recommend it.

Hollywood has decided to make this book into a movie currently being called 21. Great! But the only thing is....most of the MIT students who were on the team were Asians yet Hollywood's original casting said that there'd be no Asians cast except for maybe an Asian female. Now that's just wrong on so many levels. If you're gonna base a movie on a real life event, the people in the movie should portray the people accurately. This is different from the whole Memoirs of a Geisha casting Chinese as Japanese fiasco. Those were fictional characters. Now Hollywood is talking about whitewashing the cast and that's just disgusting.

What makes it worse is that they're saying they might cast an Asian female. Sure...why don't we keep perpetuating the Asian "exotic" female stereotype on white men? While of course I'm a fan of the Asian female, I'm tired of seeing only Asian women being cast in TV and film. Ever watch CNN? The only Asians you see are women. They are there for eye candy more than anything if you ask me.

Anyways...it's just been announced that the movie studio will indeed cast an Asian male. It's none other than current flavor of the month and recent Golden Globe nominee Masi Oka from the hit TV show Heroes. Well finally! This is a step in the right direction and hopefully they'll cast even more Asians as production progresses. You know who'd be great in this movie? Sung Kang from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Better Luck Tomorrow. This guy just oozes charisma.

Well, we'll see how the movie turns out when it's released later this year...regardless of the final casting, I shall be eagerly awaiting this film.

새해복 많이 받으세요!

Or in English....Happy New Year! With all that's been going on at work and with family I haven't had time to post Happy New Year's wishes here. Thanks to everyone who reads this blog (all 5 of you! LOL) and for posting discussions about my random comments.

Did you know that 2007 is the year of the golden pig? Supposedly it comes around only every 600 years so that explains why there were so many marriages last year, so they can give birth to children in 2007. In Korean folklore, dragons and pigs are considered to be great luck so there's gonna be a lotta reproducin' going on this year! ^_^

So what are everyone's resolutions? I'm not a big resolution guy (there's really not much to improve on...kidding!) but I got a few for this year I guess. The basic ones really....

1) Lose weight
2) Read more books
3) Spend less money on stupid things
4) Travel more
5) Break 100 in golf (This could be toughest one to accomplish)
6) Secret resolution (Wayne's World knows cuz I told him at golf the other day)

How about you guys?

In any case, I hope everyone has an awesome 2007 cuz I sure plan to! Now that I think about it, I think I'm having more fun and am more comfortable with my life as each year passes by. Despite the growing number of white hairs on my scalp, I'm having lots of good times the last couple of years which are definitely outweighing the bad moments. Hopefully that trend continues!