Things We Learn...and Becoming a Metrosexual?

I try to learn new things from the people I meet in life. No one knows everything but everyone has some pool (whether deep or shallow) of knowledge on certain things that they are interested in.

I recently had a relationship end and I was thinking to myself, what did I learn from that relationship? And you know what? Funny or not, I think the best thing I learned from that person was personal maintenance...or more specifically skin care. She pointed out to me that we're not getting any younger and at this age (I'm turning 35 this year), it's all about prevention! You gotta start taking care now to prevent damage in the future. Kind of like going to the dentist twice a year to avoid having all of your teeth fall out when you're 60.

So for the first time in my life, I've started to take care of my skin, especially my face. Gotta protect what few assets I've got (ha ha ha!). In the past, I've always just washed my face in the morning with soap and that was pretty much my entire regimen. But now, I've applied some information I learned from her and then did some more research on the net for men's skin care. Here are a few key things I learned through the process...

1) Never use soap on your face. It doesn't penetrate the skin to get into your pores and it makes your skin dry and flaky. Instead, use a facial cleanser. It will clean deep down into your pores and also get rid of the surface oils you don't want but not absorb the oils your skin needs from under the surface.

2) Use a moisturizer. It will help to slow down the aging process and prevent wrinkles.

3) Use the cleanser and moisturizer twice a day, in the morning and in the night. You do it at night to wipe away and clean off all the crud that gathers on your face during the day. You do it again in the morning because the skin heals as you sleep, releasing toxins, oils, and other nasty stuff to the surface.

4) Protect yourself from the sun whenever possible.

Yeah...these are the things I'm doing now to try and slow down the aging process. I've never done anything like this in my first 34 years of my life but just like a car, the older you get, the more you gotta take care of it! =) I've also started to (try to) watch what I eat and just make better judgements in general regarding health and fitness.

I don't know if this qualifies me as a metrosexual but hey....if it provides results and improves appearance, I'm all for it!

Japanese Game Shows

American style....that is.

Yesterday ABC premiered two game shows that are related to Japanese game shows.

Wipeout, which is clearly based on the Japanese game show Most Extreme Challenge, and I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

First was Wipeout at 7pm and I haven't laughed as hard as I did watching this show in a very long time. Watching the contestants eat it on various obstacles was just hilarious! And I loved how the announcers (ESPN's John Anderson and former Talk Soup MC John Henson) made the sarcastic comments like they do on MXC and they also gave everyone funny nicknames. If you like MXC, definitely check this show out. I was laughing from start to finish. The epitome of brainless, summer escapism entertainment.

I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ISAJGS) is a different animal. 10 unknowing Americans are wisked off to Tokyo to participate in a series of games on a Japanese game show called Majide! They have no clue what's going on and before they know it, they're split into two teams (Green Monkey team and Yellow Penguin team) to play elimination games. Yesterday's game involved one teammate having to retrieve and eat balls of mochi from their teammate's helmets as they ran on a fast moving treadmill. The winning team then gets a reward (heli tour of Tokyo) while the losing team had to do a mission (give rickshaw rides). The losing team then selects 2 of their weakest links to play in an elimination game where the loser goes home. It's king of like a mixture of Survivor, The Apprentice, and The Amazing Race. While not as mindlessly entertaining as Wipeout, it still looks pretty promising. I'll be watching it for the next few weeks.

Also, at first I was getting annoyed by the Japanese game show host and audience constantly repeating the title of the show (Majide!) with the accompanying hand motion but it got past irritation and started to grow on me. Before I knew it, I was yelling out Majide! along with them!

Plus I really liked watching how the Americans had to adapt to Japanese culture and that should be fun to watch in the upcoming episodes. They have a live-in "mama-san" who bosses them around ("You! Go bed!" and "Shoes off now!") and they had no idea what mochi was ("What's a mochi ball?"). Could be interesting.

Check em out!

RIP George Carlin

Man, this guy was a comedy legend. I remember growing up and watching his specials on HBO. I really admired his ability to mix in witty social commentary with his comedy and simply put, the man was brilliant. A genius.

Time to go hunt down some of his DVDs and albums. He was my favorite stand up comedian of all time. Man, first Mitch Hedberg dies in 2005 and now Carlin. Sad.

I Got 'Em!

I am now a UH Football season ticket holder. I paid my $50 deposit back in February and the ticket office was supposed to start calling new season ticket buyers in May but I had yet to hear from them until today. So I secured my pair of tickets for the North End Zone. Just $99 per ticket...that's just $14 a game! For 3+ hours of entertainment, I'm getting great value on a dollar per hour basis.

Now I just gotta find someone to go with.....^^

Wow!

Was listening to the Dan Patrick show on the way in to the office and Charles Barkley was his guest. Did you know he charges $75,000 an hour for an appearance fee? And there's a 2 hour minimum. How's that for easy money? $150,000 for 2 hours? Damn!

Movie Review - Juno

Been watching a lot of movies lately, mainly to keep my mind occupied (note to self...do not ever watch Blades of Glory again!) and last night decided to give the ever so hyped up Juno a shot. I'm not really one who goes into a film with preconceived notions of how it's supposed to be or believe a movie's hype and can usually watch any film with a fresh slate so I didn't turn it on with the expectation of being blown away.

Good thing. This movie is terribly mediocre. I don't get it. This movie won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay? Are you friggin' kidding me? I found the writing one of the weakest points of the film!

First of all...the whole chair metaphor. Did not make sense at all and seemed to be a ploy just to bookend the film. It ended with a chair? Huh?

Secondly...everyone's raving about the dialogue. Ooh...it's so witty! It's so funny! It's so quirky! How about it's so forced and pretentious? Now, I don't doubt that there are some teens who try to seem witty by talking like that, especially after watching an episode of Dawson's Creek or Gilmore Girls, but the words of Juno's character were just laughable. I guess that's my main beef. The lead character was just so annoying and condescending. I was definitely not a fan of her so I had a hard time rooting for her. Cynical and sarcastic characters like her are likable if they are funny but not if they're just using the words to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Ironically, I did find every other major character in the film very genuine and interesting. The father, the stepmother, the boyfriend, the best friend, and the adopting couple all seemed natural and real and had stand out scenes. I wonder why Juno got the shit end of the stick with the wannabe funny quips.

I initially had concerns that this film was a ripoff of a Korean film with a similar title but this movie explained why the character was given the name she has. But even that couldn't be done correctly. Juno is from Roman mythology, not Greek, and she was NOT the wife of Zeus.

Anyways...I did not really like this film and that's too bad because I thought it had potential and very good performances throughout. I just found the dialogue from Juno's character wretched and it really brought down the overall quality of the film.

EDIT - I do have to mention that there was one particular line spoken by Juno's dad that I really could relate to and appreciate. He said "In my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person will still think the sun shines out your ass. That's the kind of person that's worth sticking with." Words of wisdom. He is wise...

Sunday Sports Action!

Been dealing with the aftershocks of a major life change the last 4-5 days so I've been trying to keep my mind and body busy. On Sunday, I did that by watching sports all day!

The morning started off by watching the Turkey vs. Czech Republic soccer match in the Euro Cup. The Swiss/Portugal game was also on at the same time but Portugal's main guns weren't playing (I mainly watch them for Ronaldo) because Portugal had already clinched the division so I decided to watch the game that actually meant something. The winner of the Turkey/Czech game would advance to 2nd round of the Euro Cup and the loser would go home.

The Czech team blasted out to a 2-0 lead early in the 2nd half and it looked like curtains for the Turks. But then, they blasted off 2 goals within 10 minutes! Yay, a PK shootout! But no! They squeezed in one more goal to defeat the Czechs and advance! Holy cow! There's been only 1 game in this year's Euro Cup where a team came from behind to win and guess who that was? Yup, the Turks! Awesome game!

Then I had to watch the US Open. Majors in golf are exciting already but when you throw Tiger into the mix, it's must watch TV. You never know what kind of amazing golf he'll come up with (just think of Saturday's back 9 if you have any doubts!). And of course, it was very exciting as Tiger had to birdie the final hole to force an 18 hole playoff today. Awesome!

Then it was time for more soccer. The US team was starting their World Cup qualification process with a match against Barbados. Or was it a massacre? I believe they defeated them 8-0 as the Barbados team was clueless out on the field. Plus, with a healthy Landon Donovan and Beasley, the US is a much more cohesive unit. Hawaii boy Brian Ching scored 3 goals in his first US appearance in a long while but only 1 of those goals was really legit. But still, congrats to him! And young sensation Freddy Adu continues to impress me with his skills. I've watched him play the last couple of matches and for a young kid (he's 18 now), he's got some pretty good ball handling skills. Now he's gotta learn to be more aggresive on the shots on goal.

Finally, there was the NBA Finals. I've watched every game so far except for Game 4 and have enjoyed them all. Yesterday was no exception. I expected LA to win but I thought it would be Kobe dominating them to victory. He more or less disappeared after the 1st quarter but did come up with that controversial "steal" at the end of the 4th to put the game away. Back to Boston!

Yeah, that's a lot of hours in front of the TV yesterday. Thank goodness for the DVR! What would've taken approximately 11-12 hours to watch, I was able to condense down to about 7 hours. Good thing! I needed to keep my mind busy!

Priscilla Ahn CD Review

Just a short review. Bought her CD on the first day of release and have been listening to it the last few days. I really like it!

Normally, I don't really go for this type of music but I really like her lyrics and soothing melodies. Some songs are a bit too quiet but overall the CD is very enjoyable. The kind of CD you can put on in the background on a lazy Sunday as you're reading a book or in your car when you're in a contemplative mood (been going through a lot of that lately).

Also, she did great in her national TV debut on The Tonight Show. You can check it out here:

When Does It End?

Hoo boy....Hollywood sure is reaching for movie ideas. We've all seen the surge in movies based on TV shows, cartoons, and now even toys. While movies based on comic books seem natural, movies based on childhood fads is another thing.

We've had tons of movies based on TV shows of yesteryear...some good (Mission:Impossible series, Charlie's Angels, The Untouchables) and some very bad (Bewitched, The Dukes of Hazzard). Now the toy genre is getting in the game although I have to admit I really loved Transformers and the new G.I.Joe movie (with Korean star Lee Byung Hun!) looks very promising too.

But now they're doing kiddie cartoons? Last year there was the huge box office success of Alvin and the Chipmunks (which I will probably never see) and this year there was the huge flop Speed Racer. Now, they've just announced they're making a Smurfs movie! And not only that, they're planning a trilogy! Geez....is nothing sacred anymore? I think I just smurfed in my mouth a little bit!

Actually, what bothers me more than the rehashing of old things is the reluctance to go with original concepts and writing. We all know there's tons of starving screenwriters in Hollywood, just hoping for their big break. Why doesn't Hollywood give them a shot? How about offering the public something original for a change? Why has it been so long since we've discovered the next Tarantino or Shyamalan? But if Hollywood continues to stay lazy and artistically brain dead....I fear for the writers. I really do.

Priscilla Ahn CD In Stores Today

Who's Priscilla Ahn?

Prisicilla Ahn is an up and coming indie singer/songwriter from Pennsylvania. She started playing the guitar at the age of 14 and paid her dues by performing at open mics, clubs, etc. until finally getting discovered in LA at the age of 19.
She's now hit the big time, with her first CD being released today and then followed up by an appearance on The Tonight Show tomorrow night. (Damn! Guess I'm gonna have to forget my boycott of this show for one night!)

How to describe her music? Hmm....you'll know the type when you hear it. Folksy, quiet, melodic...the kind of music you hear at cafes.

If you're looking to buy her CD, it appears that Best Buy has it for the best price at just $9.99. Walmart, Circuit City, Borders, etc. all have it at $12.99. It's also available for download from iTunes.

You can also check out the music video for her song "A Dream" on Youtube:

Pretty Accurate....

Was just checking out various things on Facebook and came across my "romantic outlook" for 2008 for the water ox (1973) sign. Here's what it says:

When the Ox is in love, he does not confirm his feelings verbally, preferring to show you how he feels rather than tell you. An Ox will take a long time to decide if you are the right match for him because Oxen hate change, and want to find someone who is ready to embark upon a stable marriage. Oxen never rush into anything and are not flirtatious people. Once they have committed to you they will usually be faithful and expect reciprocation of their honorable actions.

Overall....pretty accurate! Except for the "not flirtatious" part. ;) But not bad!

Don't Wear Transformers T-Shirts When Flying!

Another ridiculous airport story....

A man was stopped at Heathrow Airport in London by security because of his T-shirt. The T-shirt had a picture of Megatron, a transformer holding a gun. Apparently, the security guard deemed the picture "offensive" because of the gun and had the man remove the shirt.

I love the man's quote - "'It's a 40ft tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I'm going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun?" Really. What's next? I can pretend I have a gun by pointing my index finger in my jacket pocket...you gonna cut off my hands? Jeez! People need some common sense!

Korean Festival Update

Just a reminder folks....keep the day of Saturday, July 12th reserved for the Korean Festival! The Festival this year will be from 10am to 9pm at Kapiolani Park. Great food, entertainment, and cultural products will all be there!

The Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce is working on bringing in 2 singers from Korea once again to perform this year. Unfortunately, budget constraints this year didn't allow us to bring in hot young singers such as Lee Ki Chan and Wax like last year. But we are brining in a nice mix of young and old this time around. Can't say who they are yet but they are both 99% confirmed and we are just hashing out the details. A formal announcement should be coming shortly.

So just keep that date open and come on by! Also, feel free to ask me any questions about the Festival as well...

Grace Park (Not The Golfer)

Never watched the new Battlestar Galactica (but I did used to watch the original show when I was a kid) so don't know anything about Grace Park's character on the show but I do know that she's pretty cute!

Here's a link to her recent photoshoot for Complex magazine: Grace Park photo gallery

And here's a link to the interview: Grace Park interview

Nice!