Thursday, January 31, 2008

I'm Going Skiing!

Leaving for Lake Tahoe tomorrow, Heavenly Resort to be exact. I've been there a few times before but that was way back in college days.

Gonna fly in to Sacramento and then drive to Tahoe from there. It was way cheaper to do it that way than to fly in directly to Tahoe. I've made that drive lots of time before so it shouldn't be a problem.

Once we arrive at Heavenly, it's 3 days of skiing, baby! I just hope my right knee holds up!

On the way back to Sactown after skiing we're also gonna catch a Kings game. Yeah, they're just playing the crappy Sonics, but hey, it's still an NBA game!

Be back on Thursday, 2/7/08!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Juno = Jenny, Juno?

There's a highly critically acclaimed film out right now called Juno that's apparently about a young girl named Juno who's dealing with a teenage pregnancy. It's gotten rave reviews and even 4 Academy Award nominations including nods for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The question is....would that Best Original Screenplay nomination be more accurate in the Best Adapted Screenplay category?

The reason for the question is that there is a Korean filmed called Jenny, Juno that has a highly similar plot. The Korean film, released in 2004, also centers around a young teen Korean couple dealing with pregnancy with one of the main characters (the male in this case) being named Juno.

Hmm....coincidence? Sounds a little fishy if you ask me, but who knows? The screenwriter for Juno claims no knowledge of the Korean film but states she is interested in watching it now. Two movies with similar plots....same quirky name used in both....????

I haven't seen either film so I can't really say how similar they are but it does make you go hmm.....

You Must See This Movie!!!

I just saw Rambo this past weekend with my Dad since we're both fans of the franchise. Man, I must tell you....this movie is just all kinds of AWESOME! For an action fan, this is a cinematic masterpiece. It's not slick like a Jerry Bruckheimer film, nor is it intelligent like a Bourne film. It's just pure, raw, exhilirating violence. This is what Rambo is all about. He'll really f--- you up if you piss him off enough.

The story is really basic. It starts off describing the ongoing civil war in Burma and shows footage of all the military atrocities there, including genocide. We find John Rambo as a snake farmer, living a quiet life when a group of American Christians ask him to take them up the river to Burma so that they can provide food, medicine, and religious guidance. Rambo insists that they're not going to change anything and refuses, due to the danger. But when the pretty missionary lady pleads with him, he agrees.

After dropping them off in Burma, he discovers a few weeks later that they've been attacked and are being held hostage. He returns to Burma along with a handful of hired mercenaries who believe he's just a "boatman" to get them back. That's when the mayhem really ensues. What follows is just a pure adrenaline rush of bullets, beheadings, throat slashings, killer archery skills, big explosions (and i mean big), and bloodletting. If this doesn't sound like your idea of a good time, please stay away.

But for you action junkies out there who are getting tired of all the kiddie friendly PG-13 "action" films out there, please go see this film. And when you do, give me a call, cuz I'd definitely go see it again!

After this film and also the latest Rocky film, Sly Stallone is definitely the man!

Friday, January 25, 2008

I Fought The Law And The Law Won

I just got back the decision letter from my speeding incident. Looks like I'll still have to pay a penalty, but at least I got a reduced fee.

The original fine was $147, but the letter states that they'll knock me down to $50 fine, a $40 administrative fee, and a $7 driver education assmt fee (whatever that is) so I now have to pay $97 instead of $147. It also states that my original speeding violation will be decreased from 43/25 (43mph in a 25mph zone) to 35/25.

I was hoping for an entirely clean swipe of the ticket, but I guess this is better than nothing? At least I saved $50 on the fine. I hope this doesn't affect my car insurance rates......

EDIT: How's this? My mom got a speeding ticket last night! She was caught going 66mph on the 50mph portion of the freeway. What the hell? What is a 59 year old woman doing driving almost 70mph at 11:30 at night, anyway? I had to give her little bit scoldings for that but of course I didn't mention my own violation! LOL I hope these things don't happen in 3's!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Man...This Sucks

Heath Ledger was found dead today in his apartment. He was just 28 years old and at the prime of his career.

I first saw him in 10 Things I Hate About You and thought he did a good job. He then went on to star in The Patriot, A Knight's Tale, and even earned an Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain. This summer, he stars as The Joker in The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie. Have you seen the trailers for this film? His Joker looks so badass and evil. I was so looking forward to seeing his performance.

Apparently, the cause of death is a drug overdose. Hoo boy. What a shitty way to end your life.

EDIT: Now it looks like he OD'ed on sleeping pills. But was it accidental....?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Champ And The Chump

Thanks to my friend Jaymes for the pic! This photo is from the Light of the Orient Celebration this past Sunday.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Hitler Supports HD DVD?

This video is just too hilarious and hits the nail on the head when it comes to the HDDVD/Bluray format war.

Cool Runnings - Korean Style!

So does that make it "Cool Lunnings"? Just kidding!

How's this for a surprise? The Korean 4 man bobsled team took the bronze medal at the America Cup in Salt Lake City last week. That's pretty friggin' cool since I don't think we have any history of doing well in the bobsled field.

What's even more amazing is that according to the article, the Korean team didn't even have their own equipment and had to rent an unused sled for $500! For the 2-man event, the Korean team had to ride a sled with "USA" on it!

Congratulations, guys! I can't wait for the movie version of this story!

It Has Begun!

Looks like new South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is already starting to implement his ideas. Trying to implement a "small government", Lee has plans to eliminate 5 out of 18 ministries,, including the Ministry for Unification (well there goes 10 years of kissing the North's ass out the door!).

It's quite an ambitious move to "trim the fat" of excessive government but it still has to get by the National Assembly. I believe this is called "streamlining" in the corporate world? LOL

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

3rd Annual Light of the Orient Celebration

I attended the 3rd Annual Light of the Orient celebration this past Sunday, 1/13/08, also known as Korean American Day. The party was held this time at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.

Was a pretty solid crowd, numbering about 450 - 500 people. All the VIPs of the local Korean community were there. This year, the honorees were Dr. Kwan Jay Cho, Superintendent Pat Hamamoto, Kathryn Whang Inouye, and Chief Justice Ronald Moon. Former KHNL anchor and current Executive Assistant to the Director of the Dept of Transportation Joann Shin was MC.

The food served was Chinese...which I thought was kind of odd for a Korean themed party but at least it tasted good. And although the table I sat at was far from the main stage, it was closest to the bar. But at $7 a pop for a Heineken, my trips to the bar were limited! LOL

Overall, it was an entertaining program and I said hello to a few familiar faces as well as met several new ones.

The biggest surprise of the night was when they announced that Sony Open champion KJ Choi would be attending! That really got the crowd in a frenzy. And indeed, he showed up at around 7:30pm, just as promised!

Can I just say how amazing this guy is? He comes from some rural island in Korea, a real country boy, and yet here he is, making his mark on the PGA tour. He's ranked in the Top 10 in the World rankings and has now won a PGA tournament in each of the last 4 years, never giving up a 54 hole lead while doing so. But that's not it. He's quite the philanthropist. Not only does he automatically give 10% of his earnings to his church, but after winning the Sony Open, he's already donated a third of his winnings from the Sony to the efforts to clean up the recent major oil spill in South Korea. That's more than $300,000! I really admire this guy.
EDIT: Oops...I had the wrong information. KJ Choi actually donated the money to the families of victims of a fire tragedy in Icheon.

So when I heard he was attending the Light of the Orient dinner, I was pretty stoked. I mean, the man had a 10pm flight departing Honolulu for the mainland that night and by no means had any obligation to stop by on his way to the airport. You'd figure after winning, he'd just want to relax and get on the plane. But when he was told about the dinner party and its purpose in celebrating both the honorees as well as the anniversary of Korean immigration to HAwaii, he elected to attend and say a few words. Wow. You don't see too many people as generous with both their money and time as him.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Up....and Down....

So the roller coaster ride continues.....up...and then down....and then up...and then down...and where do roller coasters end up? Back where they started from.

This is pointless...time to get off and let someone else get taken for a ride?

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Finally!

Oceanic Cable has finally given their HD customers what they wanted and will be offering CBS in HD. It's about damn time! Now we can finally get that last channel that shows football in HD! Just in time for this week's playoff games! Yes!

And on another TV note...has anyone been watching NBC's reinvention of that classic show American Gladiators? I used to love this show as a kid and watched every week religiously. I'm so happy to see it back, and with most of the same games! Yay! And the most surprising thing is....it's in HD! NBC doesn't usually broadcast their reality shows in HD but this show is and it looks friggin' great. There's even a Gladiator named Toa who looks like he's representin' Hawaii. Cool!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Grice-Mullins Gone!

Just read on Stephen Tsai's blog that WR Ryan Grice-Mullins will be leaving UH as well. Ouch! That means Colt Brennan, Jason Rivers, Davone Bess, and Ryan Grice-Mullins are all gone! Talk about jumping ship!

We're gonna be hurtin' next year! Who's gonna be our coach next year? I'm not really sure why...but I'm kind of hoping for Duane Akina. Norm Chow would be great but I think UH burned that bridge with the hiring of Von Appen. Plus, the man's making $2 million a year. Why'd he want to come to coach here? I just think Akina has what it takes to coach here...the local upbringing, the fierceness, etc. To be honest, I'm not all that all familiar with his work but just a gut feeling tells me he'd be great.

EDIT: Well, it looks like Greg McMackin is the front runner right now. Not a bad choice and it makes sense. I was kind of hoping for a fresh new start, however. And what's this? Former Michigan St. coach John L. Smith is interested in the job? Mr. I Hate Hawaii? Is this a joke?

And on a tangent...did anyone really buy all that bupkus about June Jones praying for guidance and crying 6 or 8 times while considering the SMU job? I don't believe it for a second. While I do believe him that it wasn't entirely about the money (although a $2 million salary is very nice) and that it was about how he and his assistants were treated, I don't believe that he was really considering staying at all once the SMU offer was made. June and Leigh Steinberg can talk all they want but it's all empty chatter. I think that all of that emotional BS was just a way of letting the Hawaii fans down easy. That way, he's not the greedy ass who's running after the money. Just my opinion, anyway.

I Don't Get It

I'm not really a baseball fan. Don't know the players that well and never watch any games on TV, although I don't mind going to the ballpark to watch a game live. So forgive me if I'm being ignorant, but I really don't get the Baseball Hall of Fame voting process.

Yesterday, relief pitcher Goose Gossage got elected on his ninth try. Jim Rice, who only has one year of eligibility left, fell just 16 votes short of the magical 75% criteria. What I don't get is...why does the number of people voting for a certain person change from year to year?

For example, Gossage didn't get enough votes to get in the last 8 times but this year he did. What's changed in the last year that people changed their mind on his worthiness? It's not like he went back out there and played another season to prove himself. Gossage's stats were the same this year as they were in his first year of eligibility. If you find him worthy now, why didn't you find him worthy then? This really puzzles me.

A lot of big names are called "first year ballot" Hall of Famers, meaning they're sure to get in on their first try. Why? What's the difference? Whether someone is voted in on their 10th try or their 1st try, they're both Hall of Famers. If they're worthy of that title, then why make them wait 10 years for it? I just don't get it.

And how does someone like Cal Ripken, Jr. only get 98% of the votes? Who are these 2% of writers who aren't voting for him? Huh? Wade Boggs and Ozzie Smith with only 92%? Who's not voting for these guys? The whole process just seems so ridiculous.

So what does a Jim Rice have to do between now and next year to make sure he gets in on his last attempt? Kiss some ass? Pay some guys off? Why would someone who didn't vote for him this year vote for him next year?

I'm really curious about this stuff so I'm hoping that a baseball fan can explain this to me. Because the football and basketball selection procedures are different and make a bit more sense. But the baseball process is lost on me. If it's just a matter of politics and voters don't vote people in right away cuz they want to make him wait....that's just ridiculous. For example, if a voter is saying I'll vote for Ripken on the first year and I think Gossage is worthy as well, but I won't vote for him till his 9th year cuz he's not as worthy as Ripken...well, that's just silly. In your eyes they're both worthy so just friggin' vote for them on the first ballot!

Am I missing something here? Someone please enlighten me!

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Good News/Bad News

GOOD NEWS - My right knee has been bothering me for the last two weeks after I fell hard and awkwardly on it during a basketball game. I felt a crunching and grinding sensation as I landed on it and I thought to myself...ooh, not good! So for the last two weeks I haven't been able to bend it all the way back without a decent amount of pain and any prolonged period of walking would stiffen my knee and cause pain as well. Funnily, I don't feel any pain when I'm running at the treadmill at the gym, however.

But as I'm going skiing in a month, I wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything seriously wrong with my knee that would prevent me from going on my trip. So I went to the orthopedic doctor today to get an exam. After getting my x-rays, the sheet attached to the x-rays said "torn meniscus" and "sprained medial collateral ligament". Yikes! I feared the worst and was already anticipating yet another knee surgery. But when the doctor came in and looked at my xrays and examined my knee, he said that it was just a tweak and should be fine in a few weeks. Huh? I asked him about what it said on my xray sheet and he said that that was from my previous visit when I had my left knee scoped. Whew! So I really am hoping that this discomfort and pain does go away in a week or two as he said and that I get my full range of motion back. Tahoe...here I come!

BAD NEWS - I just found out recently that my Tahoe trip is during the Super Bowl! What the hell! There's bad planning for you. It didn't even occur to me or to anyone in our party that the Super Bowl was the first week of February and that's when we're gonna be in Tahoe! D'oh! I was so looking forward to watching the game on my big screen HD TV! Instead, I'll either be watching it at some Tahoe bar or in the hotel room or avoiding the game altogether to hit the slopes. Oh well....what's done is done!

Friday, January 04, 2008

The End Of HD DVD Is Near! =(

Warner Bros. just announced today that starting in May this year, they will be releasing their hi-def movies exclusively on the Blu-Ray format, joining Fox, Sony, and Disney studios.

Damn! I must have close to 30 HD DVDs now and this news really sux. I gambled on HD DVD and this news does not help matters one bit. ARGGGHHHH!!!!

Warrior Football - What Now?

Well, it's been a few days now from the Sugar Bowl debacle and I've had some time to absorb what happened. Had a pretty fun debate about perspective on the game with Phat Booty, Maximus, and WW last night about it too.

To be brutally honest, I was embarassed. All year, Hawaii was fighting criticism that they don't belong in the BCS, that they're a gimmick offense, that they've played a pathetic schedule and all we did was prove all those naysayers right. This was our opportunity to prove something to the nation. To show, hey, a WAC team does belong in the BCS just as much as anybody! But no, sadly, that was not the case.

I've been watching UH football ever since hanabata days and I'm pretty positive that the Sugar Bowl was the first time I walked away mid-game. Every UH game I attend, I stay till the final seconds. Every game on TV, I watch till the final snap (yes, even when Boise and Fresno laid 70 on us during the Timmy Chang years). But for some reason, I couldn't stand to watch the game anymore at some point during towards the end of the 3rd quarter.

Sure, Georgia probably would've made anyone look terrible the way they played that night. They came out fierce, hungry, and prepared. They're right up there with USC, LSU, and Ohio State as far as who's the best team in the country right now. But they didn't play anyone else. They played us. If they had played an Oklahoma, an Illinois, a Florida, whoever, and won by the same score, that loss wouldn't have meant as much as it did to Hawaii. Those teams all come with long traditions of winning complete with national championships. A loss this year in a BCS bowl is no big deal. They'll just reload and be right back in it next year.

But for Hawaii, this was a rare oppportunity to show something to the nation that for the most part, doesn't really know who we are. Sure, they've seen some highlights on Sportscenter but did they really pay attention? Probably not. Mainland people just don't care about the WAC. Ever read sports magazines or check scores on websites? The WAC is always bunched in the "Other Conferences" category along with the Mid-American and Conference USA. That's what we are. A side note. UH home games start too late for most fans on the mainland to give a rip about (besides gamblers trying to chase) and even though our last 4 games got national coverage on ESPN, we did not look entirely impressive in those games, despite pulling off the wins.

I guess that's where my feelings for this game come from. I thought of it as our opportunity to prove ourselves to the "big boys" and to really make the country pay attention to what we've got going on out here. But we failed to do that. It's kind of funny and sad reading the paper the next day that the best thing Georgia players could find to say about us was that "Colt Brennan took a licking and kept getting back up". Sounds more like condescension than a compliment to me.

Even national sports radio hosts were getting in on it, calling us "frauds" and "major disappointments". One radio host called the Sugar Bowl a "joke of a game". Those comments were salt in the wounds, yet sadly accurate. Phat Booty was telling me last night that his take on the national feedback of the game was not that Hawaii played so poorly but that Georgia played that well and that there wouldn't be too much of a negative perception on Hawaii football. I really hope so.

But I think Hawaii's performance really hurt the chances of a mid-major team climbing up the rankings for at least the next year anyway. There are a lot of BCS conference supporters out there and do you think they'll vote a mid-major team in the Top 10 again as easily? Don't bet on it. They're gonna fight us small time teams all the way to avoid another matchup like this year's Sugar Bowl. (But with UH's schedule next year which includes Florida, Oregon State, and Cincinnati they won't be able to deny us a high ranking if we go undefeated again).

Man, I so wish that last year's team had a chance to play against Georgia. Just imagine what we could've done with Samson Satele, Tala Esera, Nate Ilaoa, Ikaika Alama-Francis, Mel Purcell, et al. I think THAT would've been a great game.

Now...with rumors that June Jones is as good as gone to SMU, I wonder what's in store for the Warriors next. Do we rebuild this team that June built and start from scratch? Jeez, that's a real scary thought considering who we play next year. I know that this is tangential to my original stream of thought, but man, does Herman Frazier need to go or what? This is guy is so pathetic. Talk about a guy who just sits on his ass! This guy just makes so many mistakes. And now his legacy will probably be the guy who didn't put soap in the showers and who let the most successful coach in school history leave...for SMU of all places! I've never been the biggest JJ fan but there's no denying what he's done for this program. I've always had issues with his game coaching, his cavalier attitude, and player control but the man won games, and that's the bottom line. It'll be sad to see him go, but I hope we can get a decent replacement if this rumor does indeed turn out to be true.

Well...I guess that's it. I just felt like I needed to air out my feelings on the game. And thanks to my really interesting and fun talk on the topic last night with friends, I was able to release all of the thoughts I had been thinking about the past few days and put those words to expression.

In any case....no matter how I felt about this one particular game, they did have a magnificent season and really helped to unite this tiny state of ours. And they did it with class. GO WARRIORS!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

What Month Baby R U?

Got this email from a friend of mine, and I gotta say...mines is pretty accurate! I'm a September baby and this is what it says about people born in September:

Active and dynamic. Decisive and haste but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people's problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and
caring. Suave and generous. Usually you have many friends. Enjoys making love. Emotional. Stubborn. Hasty. Good memory. Moving, motivates oneself and others. Loves to travel and explore. Sometimes sexy in a way that only their lover can
understand.


That's almost spot on! I guess it's kind of related to your zodiac sign as well since it's based on birth month?

I'd post the descriptions for the other months but I'm too lazy right now. If you wanna know, you can email me and I'll forward the email! ^^

Have a Good Dream on New Years?

My dad always tells me that the type of dream you have on the night of New Year's could tell you what kind of year you have in store for you.

Hmm...interesting. I tend to remember my dreams when I get up and I remember quite vividly what I dreamt the night of Dec 31/Jan 1. I dreamt that I was a participant in the TV show The Amazing Race! How funny is that? I don't recall all the details but I do remember some:

There were only 4 teams left and I was one of them. Funny though, I don't remember seeing who my partner was in the dream. But other real life participants including the psycho couple Nathan and Jennifer were in my dream. We were all doing some sort of challenge where we were laying out pipes on a hillside. That's about all I can remember though. Wonder what it means? That I'll be chasing after money in 2008? Or that I will find 2008 to be full of challenges but with a reward at the end? My conclusion? I think that it means I watched my DVR of Sunday's episode right before going to bed so that's probably why I dreamt about it.

To support that argument, about a week ago, I had a few drinks with a few friends of mine and that night I dreamt that I was introducing one of them to my parents as my future wife! LOL How freaky is that? Talk about subliminal! I think my brain just takes whatever my last thought of the night is before going to bed and then makes a fictional dream out of it.

Anyone have any good dreams on the first night of the New Year?

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of my friends here! I hope everyone has a healthy and prosperous 2008! As for me, I turn 35 this year (yikes!). Is it time for my mid-life crisis yet? LOL

Hmm....resolutions....I never make any official ones but here are some goals that I can think of off the top of my head:

- Be healthier
- Read more books
- Improve my golf game
- Don't be so easy on the spending $!

Wow! Looking back at my 2007 resolutions, they're virtually identical! LOL I guess I didn't really improve as a human being this year! ㅋㅋㅋ

새해 복 많이 바드세요!

Finally!

Well, after a very disappointing year, the Cal football team ended on a high note, defeating the Air Force Academy, 42-36. Cal showed some great effort today, coming back to win the game after trailing early by 21 points. What a season of ups and downs! Ranked #2 in the country at one point, and then losing 6 out of 7. No to mention, losing to Stanfurd! Oy vey!

Here's to a better season next year!