Kung Fu Cinema Names Top 10 Classic Kung Fu Movies

Here are the Top 10 Classic Kung Fu Movies according to Kung Fu Cinema, a website I occasionally read for their reviews and news of kung fu films:

10) The Seven Grandmasters - Never saw this film, but if it's about Priest Pai Mei travelling around and kicking ass, sounds like fun!

9) Master of the Flying Guillotine - Didn't really care for this film, although the guillotine itself was pretty damn cool. It consisted of this harness which was connected to a long chain and you would throw the harness over a person's head and then activate the guillotine which would drop a netting over the person's head and razor sharp blades would sever the head at the neck. Pretty cool. But the movie itself was kind of boring, except for the Dahlsim fighter which was pretty awesome.

8) Heroes of the East (aka Shaolin Challenges Ninja) - A fun film about a newlywed couple of a Chinese man and Japanese woman, always fighting over whose country had the better martial arts. Lots of decent fights, but not worthy of Top 10, in my opinion.

7) The Secret Rivals - Never saw this one either.

6) The Five Venoms - Maybe THE iconic kung fu film, after Enter the Dragon. The story of 5 masters whose styles are based on poisonous animals: centipede, snake, scorpion, lizard, and toad. While a little more heavy on plot than action for a standard Chang Cheh film, this film kicks all kinds of ass just for its coolness.

5) Executioners from Shaolin - Great film with Chen Kuan Tai as the legendary Hong Tsi Kuan fighting against Lo Lieh as the evil priest Pai Mei. I think everyone's who's seen this remembers the golden statue that dropped the little silver balls, a prop that Hong Tsi Kuan used to help him find Pai Mei's weak point.

4) The Magnificent Butcher - One of Sammo Hung's finest films. This film has some great fight scenes and choreography with some funny parts thrown in. I just didn't care for the guy fighting in the "cat" style. That was pretty lame.

3) The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (aka Master Killer) - Another film that every kung fu fan is familiar with. Gordon Liu stars as San Te, a young man who goes to the Shaolin Temple to train to get revenge. He goes through all of the Temple's 36 training chambers and also invents the 3 sectional staff along the way. One of the greatest kung fu films ever.

2) Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection) - My 2nd favorite Bruce Lee movie after The Big Boss (aka Fists of Fury...I know, confusing, yeah?). This movie starred Bruce as a Chinese student, hungry to get revenge on the Japanese after learning they were responsible for killing his teacher. A classic film. Later remade by Jet Li as Fist of Legend.

1) Drunken Master - Jackie Chan as legendary character Wong Fei Hung. Jackie is at his best here as he combines comedy and kick ass action in another telling of the Wong Fei Hung story. While I thought this was a good film, I don't think it deserves Top 10 recognition. I even thought Drunken Master 2 was better than the original.

If it were my personal Top 10 list, I would've included more classic Shaw Brothers films since I grew up watching Black Belt Theater every Friday night on TV and also lived right across the street from the old Empress Theater on Beretania street where they would show Hong Kong kung fu films. Here are some films that I would've included:- 5 Shaolin Masters (aka 5 Masters of Death) - This movie is simply perfect. An all star cast (Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan Chun, Ti Lung, David Chiang, etc.) and an awesome story about 5 Shaolin students who escape the burning of the temple and train to face off against 5 masters of the Ching army. I can watch this film over and over again.- Shaolin Temple (aka Death Chamber) - A kind of prequel to 5 Shaolin Masters. The story of a bunch of young men trying to gain entry to the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts. Once they're accepted, they each learn a specific skill and then they're forced to apply their knowledge when the Ching army raids the temple at the end of the film. Lots of good training sequences with another all star cast that combines Chang Cheh's old regulars (Fu Sheng, Ti Lung, etc.) with his new regulars (the Venoms)- Kid with the Golden Arms - Probably the best film featuring the Venoms. Lots of good fight sequences, memorable dialogue, and cool nicknames. Golden Arm, Silver Spear, Short Axe, Long Axe, Iron Robe, Brass Head, Iron Feet, Sand Palm. How can you not love a film with those character names?- Avenging Eagle - One of the few Shaw kung fu films not done by Chang Cheh, but still great nonetheless. Ti Lung and Fu Sheng star in this film about an assassin who wants to quit but his boss won't let him and sends his 12 other assassins to take him out. One big reason of my love for this film is that it features the coolest weapon in film, EVER. Fu Sheng's wrist blades are beyond awesome. I made my own home made version of them after seeing the movie as a kid and I thought I was really badass when I wore them.- Five Element Ninja (aka Super Ninjas - Although it doesn't feature the strongest cast, the coolness of the Ninja elements more than made up for it. Who can forget the gold, wood, water, fire, and earth stages of the ninja challenge?

Dinner at Mikawon

It was my mom's birthday yesterday so I took her and my dad out to dinner to celebrate. I told her she could pick wherever she wanted and being the meat loving carnivore she is, she decided on Mikawon, a Korean yakiniku restaurant. Mikawon is located at 1726 Kapiolani Blvd, right across from the Convention Center. I had actually never been there before so was really curious because I've heard great things about them from a number of people.

We got to the restaurant at around 6:30pm and it was packed! Luckily, a group of people just left when we got in so we got a booth instead of having to sit at one of the middle tables.

First of all, one of the great things about this restaurant is that they have draft beer! When I ordered 3 Bud Lights for the table, the waitress asked if we wanted bottles or draft. I was like, "Huh? You have draft beeer? Shoots!" You just don't see that too often in Korean restaurants here. When the beer came, I am pleased to say that it came in a frosted mug and it was ice cold. Yummmm!!!!We then proceeded to order. Since the restaurant is known for their wang galbi, we ordered 2 of that and also 1 order of the skirt steak. Of course, had to order a side of the seafood pancake as well!

First, they brought all of the side dishes. They were pretty good, especially the bean sprouts, but I was a little disappointed they didn't have a shoyu potato dish. But they did have "mook" the white jelly type dish so that was a plus.Then, the seafood pancake ($12.95) came. Now, I know that I may be prone to exaggeration here and there, but oh man....this was the best seafood pancake I've ever had. It was just awesome. When I ordered it, I asked the waitress to make it a little on the crispy side and it was perfect. I thought Little Seoul was good but this seafood pancake is definitely winnahs!Then came the meat. Before bringing the meat, however, they brought the hot charcoals to cook the meat. No gas here, baby!We started off with the skirt steak because the wang galbi was seasoned and whenever you cook meats yakiniku style you always start off with the least seasoned meat first, otherwise if you start with the marinated and seasoned stuff first, the subtle seasoning of everything else won't be detected and the meat will taste bland. There's a rhyme and reason to all this.

The skirt steak ($22.95) was very good. Soft and tender, and seasoned perfectly. Highly recommended. I wish we had ordered more of this.Then we grilled the wang galbi ($22.95). To be very honest, I was a little disappointed in this considering it's the house specialty. The meat contained a bit too much fat and gristle in it for my taste and the seasoning was a little too bland as well. I much preferred the seasoned galbi at Seoul Garden. Not to say that it was bad...I was just expecting something better. But overall, a very high quality meat and still delicious.

Also, note the exhaust fan directly over the grill. This is another plus for Mikawon. Having the exhause so close to the grill eliminates a lot of that meat stench on your clothes that you usually get at these yakiniku restaurants.Then they brought out the kimchee jjigae. Whenever you order yakiniku meat at these restaurants, they offer you free jjigae, usually 1 per 2 orders of meat. We opted for the kimchee jjigae (other choice was dwenjang jjigae aka miso stew) and that was very good as well. Mixing that together with hot rice was ono!Overall, the meal was highly enjoyable and I'd put Mikawon right up there with Seoul Garden as my favorite Korean restaurant. The draft beer and the perfectly made seafood pancake really helped the restaurant's score. I think next time I'll skip the wang galbi and order more skirt steak and possibly regular seasoned galbi.

Mini Movie Reviews

Been catching up on my movies in the past week. Here's a quick recap of what I saw...

Blood Diamond - A story about the diamond industry and how it leads to war and genocide in Africa. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a diamond seller who finds out that an African man (Djimon Honsou) has found a very valuable pink diamond and he is willing to do anything to get it from him. Jennifer Connelly stars as a reporter doing a story on the "blood diamonds".

I found this movie to be pretty good. There were lots of gory scenes of torture and killing of African village people which were a bit difficult to watch, but the acting all around was very solid and the story and directing very well done. I had never really been a Leo fan but after The Departed and now Blood Diamond, I am convinced. The brotha can act.

8/10.

Smokin' Aces - This was just a really fun flick with a pretty good cast. A Vegas magician has gotten himself in too deep with the mob and has turned government informant in return for his freedom. Of course, the mob will have none of this and announces a $1 million bounty to kill the magician. This leads to a whole slew of hitmen to pounce on the opportunity and they all arrive in Lake Tahoe to try to off the magic man.

The cast is pretty strong (Ray Liotta, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ryan Reynolds, Alicia Keys, Jeremy Piven, etc.) and the directing is also done very well. I loved director Joe Carnahan's first flick Narc and thought this one, while different, was done just as well. It kind of has a True Romance feel to it with its over the top violence and smart ass dialogue and since True Romance is my favorite movie of all time, that's probably why I was really feeling this movie.

8/10.

300 - A pretty fun flick. From what I understand, it's adapted from a Frank Miller comic book and it really looks like a comic translated to the big screen, much like Sin City, another Miller comic turned movie.

300 is about a group of 300 Spartan soliders who choose to stand up to the Moors in a fight to preserve their city. Gerard Butler stars as the Spartan king and is pretty good in the role, despite some pretty ridiculous dialogue. But I guess that's to be expected from a comic book story. But the real draw of this movie are the action scenes. There are tons of them and they're technically excellent. Lots of proficient choreography and gore to spare. There are even some weird fantasy type creatures thrown in for good measure.

Don't go into 300 expecting anything groundbreaking (except maybe for the cinematography) but you'll have a fun time if gory battle scenes are your thing. Or if you like tons of half naked guys cuz there's a lot of that too. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

7/10.

The Devil Wears Prada - First of all, never read the book. But my sis told me it was a fun movie so I checked it out. Not bad! Of course, I watched it at 1 in the morning and had to rewind several times after I realized I fell asleep and missed like 2 scenes. But overall, not too bad, for a chick flick! =)

I think Meryl Streep is great and she's again awesome as the editor-in-chief of a leading fashion magazine. I'm also a fan of Stanley Tucci's and he was good as well. The star Anne Hathaway was okay too, but it's really Streep's show (heh heh, kind of sounds like "strip show"...okay, sorry). Anyways, it's the story of a young girl not interested in fashion who finds herself working as an assistant to the leading fashion icon in NYC. Of course, she slowly turns into one of the fashion hungry girls as well.

6/10.

Shooter - I'm lovin' Mark Whalberg right now. I didn't realize it, but I think I have man love for him. What else can explain the fact that I've seen like his last 5 movies? The Departed, Invincible, The Italian Job, Four Brothers. Saw them all, and liked them all. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

This time around, Wahlberg plays a retired ex-sniper living in the mountains, Commando style. But when his government calls upon him to help thwart a Presidential assasination attempt, he feels obligated to assist. But then he becomes framed for a murder he didn't commit and goes on the run Rambo style to find who framed him and to get revenge.

A very simple plot but an enjoyable movie. Good action scenes by solid director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day and The Replacement Killers) carry the movie and the plot while predicatable, is enough to satisfy. Funny thing though....when did Danny Glover get a lisp? Or was it part of his character? Not sure.

7/10.

Abe Apologizes...Kind Of

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe finally realized how stupid he was and issued an apology to the comfort woman that Japan forced into prostitution during World War II.

Earlier this month, Abe had issued a statement claiming that the 200,000 women mainly from Korea and China who were forced into work as sex slaves for the Japanese military were not actually forced into it but did it willingly. I guess he was told enough times what kind of idiotic statement that was and finally issued an apology to the comfort women, saying he sympathizes with them and for the situation they were in.

Still, he fails to acknowledge that they were forced into being sex slaves by the Japanese military, kidnapped from their hometowns by strange Japanese soldiers, as thousands of former comfort women had testified.

This apology is really half ass but at least its a step in the right direction.

What an idiot.

Party - Interesting Documentary on the Asian American Clubbing Scene

While watching ImaginasianTV one night, I saw a preview for a documentary called Party, which seemed to be about the Asian Amerian clubbing scene in NYC, particularly the Korean clubbing scene. Of course, this piqued my interest so I DVR'ed it and watched it last night.

Overall, I found the documentary pretty insightful and entertaining and it was a good effort by first time directors Steven Hahn and Francis Hsueh. But a great first half was totally forgotten when the boring and depressing second half took place.

Party focuses on the nightlife for Asian Americans in New York City and why the AAs feel the need to separate themselves from the white parties. This part I found to be very interesting. The directors interviewed the partygoers and asked them what drew them to AA parties and clubs and I found all of the interviews fascinating. Here are some summaries:

- The promoters felt the need for AA parties because they feel out of place at typical "white" clubs. While not admitting that white woman would shut them down or whatever, they admitted that the whole scene would just be awkward with a group of 5 or 6 AA guys at the bar (little Chinatown, he called it) and that they would just stand out too much. Having a AA party lets them be in their own element and be more comfortable.

- Asian women felt like they would be candidates for fantasy fulfillment at white clubs, falling prey to the white man's curiosity for the typical exotic Asian woman stereotype. At AA parties, they wouldn't have to worry about that. They'll just be typical pieces of meat like everyone else. =)

- 2 AA woman described the typical AA man at a club to a tee! They said that the typical Asian guy would come to clubs with his "one pair of Diesel jeans, and his designer shirt untucked". I just had to laugh at that one. I just feel like it's so right on the money.

On my last trip to San Francisco, I went to a club event and it was an "Asian night" event. I did not really want to go cuz I knew what to expect plus I was already having fun at the place I was currently at but I ended up going at the urging of the friend whose cousin was running the event. Sure enough, I swear every guy in that place looked exactly the same. They were like clones. Designer jeans. Long sleeve dress shirt, untucked and buttoned at the sleeve. Short hair, gelled to the max so that it looked like a little spiky bush. It was so ridiculous. It's like every Asian guy at Ocean's here. It was actually very comical. How are the women supposed to tell the men apart when they all look like clones?

- Then another interview with another AA women also hit home. She was saying that Asian men don't have the balls to just approach women and tell her she's attractive, cute, hot, whatever. They always do it in sneaky ways, so as to avoid getting hurt directly. Like telling their friend to tell the girl he thinks she's cute or telling the girl's friend the same thing. Never directly. That girl said that she would go out with any guy that just approached her directly and told her he thought she was attractive, just as a reward for having the quijones to approach her. I thought that was pretty interesting.

Then other women commented on the other sneaky attack that they called "biscuiting". It's where the girls are dancing on the floor, and then the guy comes up from behind the girl and just starts dancing with them from behind, so it looks like they're dancing together. I've never done it myself, but I've seen it done every time I go to a club and it's pretty funny. I didn't know there was a word for it though. I don't know how they came up with "biscuiting".

- One of the promoters was a Chinese male and he had some insightful thoughts on AAs and their lack of interest in politics. He stated that AAs are only primarily concerned about themselves and their families. They couldn't care less about anyone else or the world or even the city around them, unless it affected them. That's why they show such a lack of interest in politics and don't utilize their right to vote at election time. Sad, but true.

- There was this one story about this woman who confessed she had a 5 year long romantic relationship with her cousin. That was pretty weird.

- One Korean Amerian male talked about how he feels he has no place in the world and that's why he hangs out in Koreatown. Being Asian, he looks different than the whites and feels awkward and out of place in the white world. But he can't go to Korea because he doesn't speak the language. So he hangs out in Koreatown, where there are others who look like him and share his plight.

That was all in the first half, which I found pretty damn entertaining. Then the 2nd half concentrated on these 2 friends, young Korean American girls and their backgrounds. They were so BORING! They kept going on and on about being bad girls in high school, hanging out with gangsters, partying, etc. and I just found it dreadful. Such a cliche, I thought. I wanted to get more info on the clubbing scene, not on these 2 boring women. That's where the film lost me. Instead of even integrating the stories of these 2 with other more interesting things, the film just concentrated on them for way too long and that's when I started FF'ing the DVR.

But anyway...overall, the film was pretty interesting and I would recommend checking it out either on ImaginasianTV if they air it again or buy the DVD.

Party movie website
Party DVD at Amazon

Lost - Random Comment

Yeah, another boring episode of Lost. That Claire flashback did nothing for me. Revealing that she was Jack's half sister was kind of hinted at already in the past so it wasn't really a big revelation. They're falling into the trap again where the episode is full of fluff, and then they show you the one cool scene at the end to bring you back next week. That's weak.

Anyway.....the reason why I wanted to comment on this past episode was because of the book that Sawyer was reading. While he was sitting on the beach, I noticed that he was reading The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. That just happens to be my favorite classic literature book ever. If you haven't read it, you should definitely get your hands on a copy and just dive in. It's brilliant. It's about this architect (George Costanza would love this book) named Howard Roark and his life, dealing with all kinds of difficulties. I don't want to summarize too much cuz you just gotta read it. I was trying to think of what kind of ties the writers were trying to make with Sawyer and the character Howard Roark but nothing solid came to mind. Props anyway for pumping that book!

Don't Park Between Blockbuster and Don Quijote!

Well, between 3:30PM and 5:30PM on weekdays anyway.

Yesterday, I took off from work a little early cuz I was just too burnt out and needed a break so I headed down to 24 Hour Fitness on Kapiolani to get a sweat going and release some work headaches. But the parking structure for 24 Hour was closed and there was a sign saying where the alternate parking was. But as I was driving around the block, I saw some empty metered stalls on Makaloa Street between Blockbuster and Don Quijote. Cool!

So I got out of my car (this was around 3:00PM) and put 2 hours in the meter. Then I looked up and noticed a sign: TOW AWAY ZONE 3:30PM to 5:30PM EXCEPT FOR SATURDAYS, SUNDAYS, HOLIDAYS. I must've stared at that sign for about 20 seconds, trying to figure it out. But stupid me, I thought to myself, "That sign must only apply if you don't feed the meter. Otherwise why have metered and marked stalls here?" And I went off on my way to the gym, but still worrying a bit about the sign.

As I was working out, I kept thinking "what if?" and I couldn't concentrate. The sign was really bothering me. So I cut my workout short and left to go protect my car just in case. I got to my car at around 3:55PM. Sure enough, there was a tow truck there, pulling my car away! I had to go run after the tow truck driver to chase him down. Actually, he was kind of far away already but a woman walking toward me saw me running after him and stopped him from going any further. When I caught up to him, he let my car go....but for $50! Luckily I had the cash on me cuz I don't think he would've taken a credit card. He said that if he had taken it to the yard, it would've been over $200 to retrieve it.

On top of that, there was a parking ticket on my windshield as well. Another $50! Jeez, $100 out, just like that! The cop was there issuing tickets to other suckers and I talked story with him, trying to get out of it as I did a few days ago when I ran a red light and got caught in Kalihi. But no such luck this time. I guess I didn't bat my eyes enough or show enough cleavage.

Anyways, besides me, there were at least 4 other cars parked in that same area and the tow company had 2 trucks there to take them away. I was lucky enough not to get mine towed all the way to the yard.

So listen to the signs and don't park there between 3:30PM and 5:30PM on weekdays!

A Sign of Things to Come in Hawaii Real Estate?

Check out this article about a melee that occured in Incheon, Korea when a new office/apartment building opened up.

About 7,000 people showed up for just 123 units. A lot of them had camped out overnight to maximize their chances. When the mob became too huge for the developer to handle, they cancelled the selling for that day and said that the units would only be available for purchase online. That led to a bunch of fistfights, police intervention, and even to people setting fires at the neighboring park! Wow, that's some hot tempered Koreans! Or is that just being repetitive? LOL

With the local real estate market being as hot it is here and with people here also going to great lengths to get good deals, especially with all of these new condos being erected recently, hope we don't see this kind of scene here as well!

K-Drama Music Festival II Concert....Sort Of....

Well, due to a last minute dinner date I didn't make the concert. I showed up at around 8:30pm and it was pretty much over by then, with just 1 or 2 songs left.

But before the concert, I helped a little with the set up at the Waikiki Shell.

Singer's point of view of the ShellTak Jae Hoon rehearsingAfter helping set up, I went home to shower and change and meant to go right back but then my dinner date thing popped up so I didn't go to the concert till almost the very end. When I got there, I just hung out backstage instead of going into the crowd. I have no idea how many attended but from what I saw, those who did seemed to be having an excellent time.

After the concert was over, I helped with clean up and take down activities. As I was doing so, was able to talk story with some of the people and everyone said the concert was excellent. That was good to hear.

Before getting to the manual work, however, got to take a few pics with the stars.

Me with JMe with Jeong Jae Wook. Admittedly, I don't really know his work.Me with singer, comedian, movie star Tak Jae HoonAlso got to hang out with the stars a little after and man, they are the coolest people. Not a stuck up one in the bunch! They were really appreciative of the hospitality of the local folks and said they felt like they were singing for family and friends rather than a normal audience. Very very nice and generous people and wouldn't mind seeing them back in Hawaii again.

K-Drama Music Festival II Banquet

Got to go to the K-Drama Music Festival II Banquet at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel last night. Was suppposed to be there to lend a helping hand but my work was very limiited so I got to enjoy the program. Sorry no pics though. Forgot my dica again. Damn, I'm getting old!

Dinner was pretty good. Chinese chicken salad, somen salad, kalbi, roasted vegetables, shoyu chicken, shrimp stir fry, and a roast turkey carving station.

Entertainment was provided by ukulele player Bruce Shimabukuro (Jake's older brother) and then a hula dance was performed by Toni Lee of the Lanakila Seniors Club.

Then there was a Q&A session with the stars. Questions ranged from "Are you available?" to Howl to when did you debut to Tak Jae Hoon. J is actually from the States so she's fluent in English and helped translate to the other singers. She was actually very sweet. I got to meet her briefly after the show and she's incredibly nice.

Then there was a drawing where guests could have a lei given to them by the stars. One of the guests asked Tak Jae Hoon if he had any nicknames and when he said he didn't, he asked that guest to give him one. She said "Yeobo" and then of course Tak, being the comedian he is, ran with that and it became a running gag. That guy is hilarious.

Overall, it was a pretty fun night and all the guests had fun. I'm still debating whether or not to go to the concert tonight...

Lost - Comedy?

Anyone still watching Lost? I'm quickly losing interest in it cuz of the many many loose ends but am still watching for now. The one thing that I still enjoy from the show are Sawyer's cutdowns.

From last night to Hurley:

"Grimace"
"Avalanche"

They make me snicker just typing them out. Funny stuff.

But there was one that made me literally laugh out loud at the TV. When Jin and Sun were conversing in Korean, Sawyer called them...."Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon". Brilliant! I laughed so hard, I rewinded my DVR of the show just to hear it again. It's also the way he said it that was just so pitch perfect.

That's some funny stuff! That alone will prolong my tolerance for this show by at least another few weeks.

Mitsuken - Yummy but....eww!!!!

I had a meeting this morning at Kapalama ES so I decided to stop by Mitsuken to pick up some food since it was so close by. Everyone knows Mitsuken, right? The okazuya on School Street that has no parking but ono ono food?

Got there at around 8am and surprisingly no line. Shoots! Ordered the breakfast special - 2 eggs, 2 bacon, and fried rice, but also with the garlic chicken cuz I planned on eating half for breakfast and half for lunch. It came out to under $5. Sweet! Funny thing though. I ordered my eggs over easy as I usually do and the guy taking my order asked the girl next to him, "We get any more eggs?" and she said "no". So the guy tells me he can only give me scrambled. Huh? No eggs, but scrambled can? I guess cuz they pre-make the scrambled eggs in advance. I don't normally like scrambled eggs but whatever.

So I got my order and brought it back to my office to eat half for breakfast. It's a frickin' feast! One huge mound of fried rice, the scrambled eggs, the bacon, and 3 large pieces of their famous garlic chicken.

As I was eating, I left the plate on the white paper they wrap the plate in so I wouldn't get my office desk dirty and oily. Then I noticed a teeny tiny black bug walking around on the piece of white paper. No biggie. I killed it and proceeded to grind.

I ate a little less than half and was full so I was going to wrap it back up in the white paper they provided to put in the fridge. That's when I saw it. A roach crawled out from under my plate. Eww!!!! Gross! That roach had to have come from Mitsuken's kitchen and was cruzing around in my wrapped up package cuz I have yet to see a roach here in my new office at the new Elementary School I'm currently working out of.

And this wasn't no small roach either! Was good size! Where the hell was that guy while I was grinding away? Cruzing under my plate I guess! Aw man, I was so grossed out. That plate was sitting on the passenger seat in my car for a good hour between the time I bought it, stopped by our main office, and then headed to Ewa Beach. Who knows where that thing crawled around on my plate!

Needless to say I threw the rest of the plate away and now have no lunch. Not that it matters, I totally lost my appetite anyway.

YUCK!

Volunteering at Hawaii Plantation Village

The Hawaii Plantation Village in Waipahu held a genealogy day this past Saturday to help people find their roots and ancestors from the homelands. KAC-Hawaii was asked to participate and help in the event so I went to help in whatever way I could. Since it was a geneology informational session, I assumed there'd be some experts to hand out information, etc. but when I got there, I realized that it would just be me and the KAC-H President. Okay...like I know anything about genealogy.

So the two of us sat there at the Korean table, dreading (well I was, anyway) anyone coming by and asking for help. All of the other tables, Japan, Phillipines, Okinawa, Hawaiian, etc. all hand handouts, books, posters, and even laptops filled with background information. Our table? Nothing. I know...pathetic.

But the 4 hours between 10am - 2pm were pretty entertaining. People came by of course, and I gave them what little information I knew about the history of Korean names and where the families come from and also the traditions of naming children for each generation. I was actually surprised at what I was spewing out of my uneducated mouth.

Actually though, a lot of people came by asking questions about Korean culture and history based on what they've seen in Korean dramas. It never ceases to amaze me how much of an influence these dramas have. I don't watch too many of them myself anymore but I do keep tabs on what's popular. Right now, everyone's into Jumong, the historical drama. So we were talking story about that and I was giving some background info on the real story behind the drama.

The Okinawan table was right next to us so we made friends with them and talked story with them on and off almost the entire time. Very friendly and interesting people. We were talking about Japan and how they alter history books and one of the Okinawan men mentioned that in one history book he saw in Japan, the entire World War II was limited to one measly page. Can you imagine that? Then another man told this story where he met this Japanese girl who had just graduated from college. He was talking story with her and the subject of Pearl Harbor came up, of course being in Hawaii and all. The man said that she knew nothing about Pearl Harbor. And this was a college educated woman! Amazing. I'm not saying that the entire country is blind to history or anything but these two personal anecdotes really make you think.

I was also able to give some Korean language lessons to some people who wanted to incorporate what they heard and learned from watching K-dramas into real life Korean conversations at their favorite Korean restaurants. Suffice it to say, I saved some of these people from coming off as rude to the restaurant staff by correcting their vocabulary and grammar. LOL!

All in all, it was unfortunate that we were not as prepared as we should've been, but I think we helped some people and they were genuinely grateful for what little information we could give them.

Japanese Prime Minister Says....We Take it Back!

Current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is stirring the ever boiling pot representing the relationship between Japan and Korea by making a ridiculous statement that the Japanese military never forced the Korean and Chinese women into being sex slaves during World War II.

Hmm....I seem to remember something called the Kono Statement issued back in 1993 which issued a formal apology from the Japanese government to the comfort women that were abused during the war. And currently, the US House of Representatives is working on a resolution that will have Tokyo issue a formal statement apologizing and acknowledging the sex slaves. So what's Abe saying now? "Nah nah nah nah! Was just keeding brah! We nevah mean that! 1993 was one crazy year for us....no can take that serious!"

So I guess all these people behind the Kono statement and the in the US House are all misled, right? Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of women who led lives as comfort women. Forget their personal stories of abuse, coersion, and sex with strange men. They're crazy! Who's gonna believe a sex slave!

This kind of story just makes me sick. I really feel sorry for the stupid and ignorant.

Check Out My New Phone!

I've had my old Samsung slider phone with Cingular for about 2.5 years now and while I still loved that phone a lot, I was just itching for a change. So I spent several months researching the latest phone models, looking at what local providers such as Verizon, Cingular, and T-Mobile had to offer (crap, crap, and more crap). I swear, the phone models that these places offer are so prehistoric! Any fan of K-dramas knows what kind of models and technology is readily available out there for cell phones but these guys are living 5 years in the past!So never being one to shy away from something new, I decided to take a leap of faith and went with Helio. Who? What? What the hell is Helio? Well, Helio is a relatively new cell phone service provider but I believe they share the same network as Sprint. What drew me to Helio was the Samsung Drift model. It's got tons of cool features such as Google maps which can be used as a GPS system, a Buddy Beacon, 2MP camera, Bluetooth, 128MB internal memory, mp3 player, etc.And the graphics are just way too cool. Plus, I got my phone from a Korean dealer in Samsung Plaza so my model is the Korean version. That means that I can text in Korean, websurf in Korean, and change the whole menu of the phone to Korean if I wanted to. The only problem is that if I wanted to text in Korean, the person receiving my text would also have to have a Korean text capable phone.There are a few games on there as well and the graphics are amazing. This phone is the shiznit! The monthly rate is a little higher than usual at $65 per month for 500 minutes, but that includes free weekends and evenings, plus unlimited texting and web browsing. I think that's a fairly good deal. I was also able to get a $50 discount on the phone by turning my old cell phone in. Also, international calls to Asia are cheap on this phone at only 10 cents per minute. Dynamite!

So far, the reception has been great so I am definitely pleased with my purchase. So who's gonna join me on the Helio network? We can be Buddys and I can stalk you with my Buddy Beacon! LOL