Friday, June 29, 2007

Is This The Perfect Face?

According to this Chosun Ilbo article, a plastic surgeon in Korean has created the "ideal" male face, based on a composite of 16 of Korea's handsomest actors. The list includes people like Kang Dong Won, Kwon Sang Woo, Kim Rae Won, Won Bin, and Jo In Sung. What do you think? Handsome? Kinda looks like actor Ryu Jin if ya ask me.

The same surgeon also did one earlier on the ideal female face based on the same theory. He took bits and pieces of famous female celebrities like Kim Tae Hee, Sohn Yae Jin, Song Hye Gyo, Lee Hyori, etc. This was the result. Pretty, but not as pretty as any of the stars who were used to achieve that face.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Korean Festival Website

The Korean Festival website has been up for a while now but updates are continually being added to it.

I just noticed this morning that they added the profiles for the 2 featured singers. Guess who wrote them? =)

Monday, June 25, 2007

Official Korean Festival 2007 Poster


Here's the official poster, soon to be seen everywhere...I like it!

Finally Got To Play Poker!

As Wayne's World knows...I've been dying to play poker for a long time now. But we've just been unable to get enough guys together at the same time for a decent game. Lo and behold, I get a call yesterday morning from a friend to join his poker game on Sunday afternoon. Shoots! I was so there. Never mind that I'd be playing with a bunch of strangers. I just wanted to play!

The strangers turned out to be a really cool bunch of reporters and staff members of a local newspaper and I was really glad to meet them all, including one sports writer that I've been reading for years and years. Not to mention...I won! We played 4 games with anywhere from 7 to 11 people each game and I finished in the Top Two 3 out of the 4 games (two 1st places, one 2nd place). Yay! I did feel a bit awkward however about winning from strangers. But I also did get a little bit of that Matt Damon in Rounders feeling as well! One of the guys even joked to my friend who invited me that he brought in a "ringer"! LOL

Anyways, was good fun and I hopefully will be able to play again soon.

Korean War Memorial Ceremony

Just got back a little while ago from the Korean War Memorial Ceremony at Punchbowl Cemetary. It was held again on June 25th, as it is every year on the anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. I didn't take any pictures this year like I did last year but the ceremony did give me a much needed dose of perspective.

The last few weeks I've been trying to balance issues with my work, the Korean Festival, as well as with my social life and to be honest, the burden of it all was starting to get to me just the tiniest bit. And I'm a pretty easy going and stress free guy! But hearing accounts of the war during the ceremony today and having the honor of presenting a memorial wreath at the ceremony gave me the realization of what's really important in life and kind of gave me a breath of fresh air, so to speak.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Dim Sum Saturday at Good Luck Chinese Restaurant

I've been eating dim sum pretty much every Saturday at Good Luck Chinese Restaurant with my dad for at least the last 2 years. It's located in the Chinese Cultural Plaza, at the corner of Beretania Street and Mauna Kea Street and it's got my vote for overall favorite dim sum on the island. Other places may be more exotic, but no one can beat Good Luck in terms of the combination of taste and cost.

First of all, gotta get the dipping sauces ready. I always dip each piece of dim sum in both the hot mustard/shoyu mix AND the red chili pepper sauce, always in that order.Chive dumplings ($1.80)Pork hash ($1.80) I love this dish. Their pork hash is so full of flavorShanghai dumplings ($2.60) Another favorite. Since I'm a mandoo killer, of course I'd like these steamed dumplings too!

Then the fried dishes cart came wheeling by...

Potstickers! ($1.80) Like I said....mandoo killer! The potstickers here are so ono!Pan fried chives ($1.80) The thick, chewy pi is such a good mix with the shrimp and vegetable goodness insideFried shrimp ($2.60) Also good, but gotta be hot. My one criticism of this place is that they sometimes let their fried dishes sit out too long and cool down. No no no!Then we bought an order of char siu bao (manapua) to take home for my mom ($1.80). The bread is so light and fluffy and the generous amount of char siu inside is cooked perfectly.We sometimes vary things up a bit by ordering look fun or house special cake noodles or the scallop dumplings but the above dishes are the usuals.

So that's where I am every Saturday morning between approximately 10:30am and 11:15am. If anyone ever wanted to assassinate me, they'd know where to find me! But how can you beat those prices? No can! This place has great dim sum and although sometimes I have to admit that eating the same thing every Saturday is kind of tiresome, my dad really loves this place and every time I go, I have a great meal. Check it out!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Headaches....

Let me say....trying to work out all the logistics stuff with bringing the 2 stars (Lee Ki Chan and Wax) here for the Korean Festival in 3 weeks is giving me major headaches. It's like trying to pull teeth to get the manager in Korea to respond in a timely manner to anything. Now I just have one more hurdle to cross, but it may prove to be the most difficult.

The airlines issue is really concerning me at this ponit. I was able to contact JAL to get them to offer me 50% discount on the 2 business class seats and I went ahead and gave them the itinerary I wanted. Now, I just find out last night that LKC and his manager want to stay 2 nights in Tokyo before returning to Seoul. So I have to call my JAL contact this morning to ask him to make the change after it's already been confirmed. I also found out last night that my source for the airline tix for the 6 entourage members doesn't have any seats available on the flights already booked for LKC and Wax. So I have to go shop around again for seats, if they're even available. Ugh!

There's also a visa issue. 3 of the entourage currently don't have visas. So I had to write up an invitation letter and also a letter to the General Consul in Korea to ask for their assistance in obtaining their visas.

Not to mention having to make hotel arrangements, negotiate appearance fees, possibly renting a sound system for their performance, etc. There's a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on. Lots of work! But you know what...? Honestly, it's still fun. I've learned a lot and it's been interesting. I consider it all to be valuable experience in case I choose to venture further into this realm in the future.

But now that the advertising has all gone out for the Festival, there's no turning back! One way or another, it's all gotta come together and work out!

Whew...!!! Just needed to vent I guess...

응원해주세요!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Looks Yummy!

Saw this over at The Marmot's Hole. It's a popcicle apparently only sold in Korea. The green portion is apple flavored, the pink portion is watermelon flavored, and the seeds are chocolate covered sunflower seeds. I wanna try! (Credit goes to flickr for the photo)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Uh Oh....

Monday, June 18, 2007

Korean Festival Singers Announced!!!

The Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce held another coordination meeting today for the upcoming Korean Festival to be held on Saturday, July 14th, and we announced who the 2 celebrity singers from Korea will be...

I am very pleased and proud to announce that we will have the honor and pleasure of having no other than Lee Ki Chan and Wax performing at our Festival!!! Yay!!!

There were actually at least 2 other options of pairs of singers to bring in but we felt that this pair was the best option. Being able to bring these 2 young, popular singers to Hawaii is a direct result of literally months of hard work involving so many different things! I really learned a lot in this process. But most if not all of the credit goes to David Lim of Beauty Touch for doing all the leg work for me. He's the one who did all of the communicating with the Korea side and his effort is much much appreciated. I owe you a beer big time, David!

So who are these 2 singers? Let me take a minute to introduce them...Lee Ki Chan is a 28 year old male singer who debuted in 1997. He's already released 9 albums and his most recent album released earlier this year yielded a #1 hit song ("Mi In" aka "Beauty") and he currently has another hit song ("Sae Saram" aka "3 People") in the top 20. Lee Ki Chan also makes many appearances on Korean variety shows where he displays his great sense of humor.

Here's the MV for "Mi In"
Here's the MV for "3 People"Wax is a 31 year old female singer with an amazing voice. She's released 6 albums, with her latest coming out late last year. She has many nationally recognized hit songs like "Opba" (listen to it and you'll find the background music of Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop"), "Fixing My Makeup", and most recently "Love is Always Like That". She is one of my personal favorite singers and I can't wait to get to see her perform live. You'll be blown away by her voice.

Here's the MV for "Opba"
Here's the MV for "Fixing My Makeup"
I'm not ashamed to say that I've sang songs from both of these artists at karaoke before too! LOL

So now that the word is officially out (well, in Korean newspapers anyway starting tomorrow), please spread the word and invite everyone you know to the Korean Festival! You won't be disappointed!!!

Bai Ling Crazy Dance

Damn...she going give Elaine Benes a run for the money!!!

Bai Ling Crazy!

Troy on HD DVD

Got another HD DVD in the mail late last week (my order from Deep Discount continues to arrive piecemeal) and lo and behold...it's Troy, the movie inspired by Homer's The Iliad.

My first two viewing experiences with my new HD DVD player were good, but not spectacular. Why? Because Letters from Iwo Jima was filmed in a washed out quality that made the film almost black and white and Enter the Dragon was transferred from a film over 30 years old. Troy would be my first opportunity to really show me what the HD DVD player was capable of.

And let me tell you....it did not disappoint! Picture clarity was amazing. I spent most of the film just looking at all the fine details onscreen. The little murmurs of waves in the deep blue ocean, the wrinkles in people's faces, the grains of sand and stone on the buildings...awesome. And the sound of course was excellent, even on my cheap home theater system. If anyone were to come over to my house, this is the film I'd show them.

Am now waiting for my remaining HD DVDs....Fearless, Planet Earth, and 2 Fast 2 Furious. Yeah, you read that correctly! I thought 2 Fast 2 Furious was a really fun movie and I really think it'll look super good on my HD DVD player. Can't wait!

Friday, June 15, 2007

Boulangerie Bakery Cake - Yummy!

It's my Dad's birthday today so I stopped by Boulangerie Bakery on South King Street to pick up his birthday cake. I've been buying cakes here for special occassions for about the last year now and I freaking love them! Boulangerie is a Korean owned French style bakery and the selection is a little different than what you'd see at say a Leonard's or Liliha Bakery. Offerings are a little on the fancier side, kind of similar to what you can get at a St. Germain's type bakery. I've tried their pastries in the past and they're all very good...but the cakes are absolute winnahs!

They have several types of cake available, including sweet potato and mocha flavors, but my favorite is the fresh cream cake. Check out this beautiful piece of art!The fruit toppings were so fresh and sweet. The cream filling and icing was very light, and just subtly sweet, not overpowering with sugar. The cake itself was fluffy and light and delicious. That "Happy Birthday" placard on the top is also made of chocolate and totally edible. And besides the cake itself, I love how they package it. The cake sits on a gold colored plate, and then they pack the cake in a convenient carry box, complete with plastic knife for slicing. Here's a pic of a slice.The next time you're gonna go buy a cake, definitely check out Boulangerie Bakery. They also serve sandwiches and light snacks as well as cafe type refreshments and they even have a few small tables inside for you to sit and relax.

Also...while doing a Google search on this place, I came across this blog called A Passion for Food. Talk about food porn! Very interesting blog. Check it out!

Another Gotta Get HD DVD - Face/Off!

The HD DVD of Face/Off is being released in September. Can't wait to get it! Hey....my birthday is in September! Who wants to buy me this? =)

I know WW will be one of the first in line to pick this movie up.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Instant Pad Thai - Not So Tasty

On my way back to the office after a mid-morning meeting, I decided to stop by my house for lunch instead of getting take out. But when I got home, there was absolutely nothing to eat so I decided to finally take a chance on some instant pad thai I bought for 99 cents at Longs some time ago.So I followed the directions and boiled some water to cook the instant noodles. That's when I noticed that the expiration said "Best By 060217". That got me thinking...does that mean Feb 17 2006 or...June 2 2017? If it meant 2006, I don't think I bought this product over a year and a half ago...if it meant 2017, do these things really last that long? But I figured since I was already boiling the water, I'd take a chance.

I let the noodles sit in the water for 5 minutes, then drained the water. Then I mixed in the oil and seasoning packet. This was the final result.After 1 bite, I decided that the taste was not worth the risk of a stomach pumping (if it was indeed 2006) and ended up throwing the whole thing away. Now...I'm so hungry!

Enter the Dragon on HD DVD

I received my HD DVD of Enter the Dragon the other day and found some time to watch it last night. Of course, the picture quality was great, especially for a film that's over 30 years old. The film was just as I remembered...a bit slow and not enough action to really satisfy me but Bruce is still Bruce and that guy is the man! It still puzzles me however whenever people put this film on their "Best Martial Arts Films" lists. I can think of at least a dozen if not more films that I enjoyed more.

So that got me thinking...how would I rank Bruce's films? Well, he's only got 5 of them so it's not too hard. Here are my rankings...
#5) Game of Death - Last on the list just because it's not Bruce in the majority of the film, but a lookalike (a Korean actor btw). Bruce died during the filming of this movie but they decided to splice together what he did film with some footage of a lookalike actor and released this half ass movie. But still, it's got an awesome final sequence where Bruce enters the villain's lair and battles several levels of opponents including his real life student Danny Inosanto (in a classic nunchucks vs. nunchucks battle!) and the famous fight against Kareem Abdul Jabbar! This film was also the one that introduced Bruce's widely copied yellow track suit. That was some great stuff. This film could've been really great had Bruce finished it.
#4) Enter the Dragon - Like I said above, a bit too slow. And the action sequences are not up to par as Bruce's other films. And what was with that hall of mirrors in the castle? What would be the reason to have that built in? I can just imagine telling the architect, "Hmm...I think I wanna put a hidden hall of mirrors in this room here just in case I have to fight someone and I want them to be confused." Yeah, it looks cool on film but not real practical in real life, huh?
#3) Way of the Dragon (USA title - Return of the Dragon) - This movie sent Bruce to Italy to battle bad guys and the results are some great fights with cool locales. Who can forget Bruce's classic fight against a young Chuck Norris in the Coliseum? I also love the alley fight in the back of the restaurant. And Nora Miao is definitely a cutie!
#2) The Big Boss (USA title - Fists of Fury) - Bruce's first film. Yeah, it's not as action heavy as his other films but the reason I love this film is for its rawness and savagery. Bruce actually doesn't lift a finger for the majority of the movie but when the evil owners of the ice factory kill his family, it's ass whooping time! Plus, I love the soundtrack for this movie too.
#1) Fist of Fury (USA title - The Chinese Connection) - In my opinion, Bruce's most complete and overall well made film. The story, acting, fighting are all top notch. Bruce returns to his martial arts school and finds out that his beloved teacher has been murdered by the rival Japanese school. From then on, it's lights out for the Japanese. Lots of memorable fights in this one and Bruce's best acting job. This film was also remade by Jet Li in Fist of Legend, another great film.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

RIP Mister Wizard

Don Herbert, more commonly known as Mr. Wizard, past away yesterday at the age of 89. I remember when I was a kid I used to love watching his show on Nickelodeon and learning from all of his cool science experiments. This guy really proved that science was fun.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Too Much Korean?

I was having lunch with my dad today at Nico's at Pier 38 (love that place!) and I ran into a teacher from high school. I was actually shocked that she remembered me as she was the first to make recognition. Anyways, I was surprised to see her and next thing I knew, I was instinctively doing that Korean thing where you bow your head whenever you greet someone. As soon as I did it, I was like, "What the hell am I doing?" I'm almost surprised I didn't bust a "annyeonghasaeyo" on her! I think I've been hanging around too many Koreans lately! LOL

Anyways...without going into detail...I had a GREAT day today. Progress was made! Those who know me may know what the hell I'm talking about...

Monday, June 11, 2007

Michelle Wie....Another Last Place Finish...

Last place again...and by 10 strokes! Sigh...

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Dinner at Nobu

Met some friends for dinner tonight and we decided to check out Nobu at the Waikiki Parc Hotel. Nobu just opened a little over a week ago and to be honest, I didn't even know that famous chef Nobu Matsuhisa was opening a restaurant in Hawaii. But when my friends told me about it, I said shoots! I had never been to a Nobu restaurant before and was really looking forward to the experience.

The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the hotel and I have to say that even the decor of the hotel's lobby was pretty intriguing and interesting! Lots of neon lights and fancy furniture. Pretty cool!

So I'm the last one to get there any my friends are already sitting at the bar, sharing a bottle of sake. I made friends with the bartender (Sarah from Miami Beach) and she told us that the sake supplier for the Nobu restaurants only makes sake for Nobu and no one else. Cool! The sake we drank at the bar was an unfiltered, opaque sake and kind of looked like milk. And it was very very good. I think I had about 5 glasses of it.

We decided that since there are so many Japanese restaurants in town, we would order mostly things that are unique to Nobu and not the usual typical fare. Here's a rundown of our choices for the evening...

The bar and lounge area as you walk in. A pretty cool place to just hang and have a few drinks. The bar also has its own pupu menu, but not a complete menu like the restaurant.
View of the dining room. Packed!Me and the man himself, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa! Yeah, I know, I need a haircut.What's cool about him is that he stood at the kitchen's exit and examined each dish before it was served. If he wasn't happy about something, he would explain it to the chef and have it fixed. Talk about hands on! When I told him that I was really hungry and couldn't wait to sample his food, he rubbed my stomach and said, "Looks like you're full already!" A comedian, eh? LOL

We started off eating at the bar as we waited for seats at the sushi bar inside to get available.

Here's the blackened cod (butterfish) on butter lettuce cups with fried thin strips of daikon on top. This was so delicious and a perfect way to start the evening's culinary experience!Of course, gotta have sake! This is the Nigori unfiltered sake I mentioned earlier. Just $30 a bottle!Hamachi sashimi with jalepeno. This dish was just okay. Not something I would order again probably. The ponzu was a bit too strong and overwhelming for me and took away from the quality of the fish.
Then we got seated inside...let the eating begin!

Scallops on renkon chips. I think this was my favorite dish of the night. I could've eaten this all night.Check out the selection of fresh fishSushi chefs hard at work. The sushi chef working in front of me was a really cool guy and I had fun talking story with him.Now the sushi...orders are by individual piece (1 piece) instead of the usual two per order and varied from $3-$5 to market price.

Amaebi and hamachi. Both were very good but I have had better hamachi elsewhere. Still good though.Kampachi. (Sorry the pic is not so great). This was good, but not great.The salmon...now this was da bomb. I think this was the best salmon sushi I had ever had and my friend Orbs agreed with me. So soft and melty! Yummy!Uni tempura. Not a big fan of uni but Evil Bunny really wanted to try this so I did too. Hmm....good if you're a uni fan. Not me. Also came with mushroom, chili, and shiso leaf tempuraOyster shooters!!! Off the menu item by the way...
We also had fresh oysters at the beginning of the meal but I was so hungry I just ate mine without piccing it. Same goes for my order of unagi sushi. Oops! ^_^;;;

Evil Bunny tried the mushroom soup as well. She said it was good.At this point, was getting kind of full but wanted to try one last thing so we ordered something called "golden eye" sushi. The chef said it was red snapper. Again, off the menu. A good way to cap off the evening's meal!Hey look who stopped by! It's Evil Bunny and Iron Chef Morimoto from the Food Network! I'm not too familiar with the show but apparently he's the man on that show.Other celebrities in the house tonight were Mayor Mufi and also Barry Flanagan from Hapa. Cool!

Before we left, Orbs and Evil Bunny took a photo together with the sushi chefs. A really cool and fun bunch.Overall, it was a really fun experience. I'm glad I got to go while Nobu himself was still around (he's only here for a week apparently) and had a great time with good friends. The food was excellent and service was friendly as well. I actually ran into a fellow Mid-Pac grad who's a waiter there too. Such a small island.

More so than just a meal, dining at Nobu I think is more of an experience. I would definitely go back someday to try some of the other menu offerings. Check it out!

Monday, June 04, 2007

KJ Choi wins the Memorial

PGA golfer KJ Choi got his 5th career win yesterday by capturing The Memorial Tournament title.

Choi started the final round 5 shots behind leader Rod Pampling but quickly made up that ground by shooting a 6-under 30 on the front nine. He finished his round with 3 great par saves to hold off his contenders.

Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus is the host of the Memorial and KJ Choi learned golf by reading Jack's books and watching his videos so this was a great honor for him.

What I also love about this guy besides his work ethics is that he donates 10% of every paycheck he earns on Tour to his church. This week's win alone was worth $990,000 so that's one happy church!

Congratulations KJ!

Korean Festival Coming Up July 14th!

Just wanted to remind everyone that the Korean Festival will be coming up on July 14th! As a member of the Chamber of Commerce beginning this year, I've been privileged to be in on the planning of the Festival and it's a lot of work! We hold monthly meetings to update everyone on the status of various issues and there are a bunch of people putting in a lot of hours to make this thing happen. So please come out and support us this year!

We're also planning on bringing in some entertainment from Korea and are currently in the final stages of negotiations. Hopefully it works out and we can make the announcement and get a good buzz going.

So everyone who reads this blog (all 6 of you! LOL) make sure to keep that date open and come down to the Festival! Oh and by the way...if any of you young strong types want to volunteer that day, let me know too because I need some guys to help me with drink deliveries that day!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

I Got a HD-DVD Player!!! Somebody Stop Me!!!

Well...it happened again...another impulse buy. I just can't resist these electronic toys! I've been doing some reading about HD-DVDs but wasn't really seriously considering buying one...especially because they are in the midst of a Betamax v. VHS type war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. It's still up in the air as to which format will prevail.

But as I was doing my reading, I came across news that Toshiba HD-DVD players were now selling for $299.99! That's the lowest it's ever been! Not to mention there is a mail in offer for 5 free HD-DVDs as well! So I caved and stopped by Best Buy today to grab me one. I also picked up a HD-DVD as well cuz you can't just hook it up and have nothing to watch, right? So I got a copy of Letters from Iwo Jima. I have a history of doing this. I've always been a sucker for technology. When DVD players first came out, I was one of the first ones to buy one and spent almost $400 on my player!!!

So I get home and did all the necessary hook ups and rearranging of my home theater system. Luckily, I already had a HDMI cable (optimal video/audio hookup) which I was using to connect my cable box to my TV so I just switched that to the new Toshiba player and returned my cable box to its original component cable connection. I also already had a optical audio cable (optimal audio hookup) to my current all region Philips player so I swapped that with my HD-DVD player and am now using a coaxial audio connection for my Philips which I still need to play region coded DVDs and downloaded files. So after about 30 minutes of bending over and playing with wires, I was done!
I popped in the Letters of Iwo Jima DVD and waited for the greatness. It took a little time to start up but I believe there's firmware updates available that eliminate this problem. But once the movie started....wow! Amazing picture clarity. I have a 46" rear projection TV and the movie looked great on it. The movie itself wasn't too good (I got bored throughout) but I just spent the entire film's length noticing all the fine details in the picture. I am amazed.

So now that I bought this new toy, I guess I can't get that
Helio Ocean! Cuz I'm also gonna be spending a doo-doo load on HD-DVDs now! I can't wait! The sad thing is, I hardly even watch movies at home anymore but I just couldn't resist!

Welcome to World, Jodie Ho!

One of my bestest and dearest friends Maile gave birth to her 2nd daughter on Wednesday morning at 10:30am. Jodie Ho was born at 6 pounds and 3 ounces and both daughter and mother are doing great. In fact, when I went to go visit Maile on Thursday afternoon, she was doing more than great. Comfortable, no stress, relaxing in her bed...I guess the 2nd child is that much easier!

Jodie was as light as a feather when I held her and sound asleep. Such a cutie! Congratulations Maile and Darin!!!