I caught the tail end of Titanic last night and I think it's in my top 5 movies of all time. The list is something like Shawshank, Pleasantville, It's A Wonderful Life, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, and Titanic. Dragon is just a 4-star movie but it's still up there. Don't ask me how that works.
But yeah, Titanic's a 5-star movie. Maybe I'm blinded because I only saw the last part last night, but what a movie.
Why do non-Christians want to get married in churches? I'm just curious. Because the wedding doesn't hold some sort of spiritual significance for them. So is it just tradition? What?
We had this marriage workshop at the church we're getting married at, and it was interesting. One of the other couples, the bride was divorced, and the rest of the couples were all living together. The head pastor spoke briefly and he mentioned how in the church's view the marriage is a sacred covenant, but that was it. And I guess it had to be that way, because the majority of the people there probably didn't share the church's view on marriage.
So yeah, it was just weird to me, sitting in church talking about marriage and not being able to really discuss the church's view on marriage or other spiritual aspects. I guess I didn't understand why non-Christians want to get married in church, and what a church's responsibility is for non-Christians who want to get married there.
Marriage counseling has been by far the best part of the wedding plans, at least for me. I dunno, I just feel like I'm learning about life.
I've learned that people don't share my enthusiasm for Dragon: The Bruce Lee story. But really, it's a great movie. It's got a memorable script (endlessly quotable), good acting (Jason Scott Lee is underappreciated - he has to pull off an accent and Bruce Lee's fighting style in addition to his lines, and he does all admirably), interesting story, great fight scenes, and an incredible soundtrack (that's used all the time in movie trailers, NBC Olympic montages, and even Iron Chef (the music before Judgement)). What else could you ask for?
My graduating high school class of about 330 had 5 Koreans (3 went to Stanford, one other ended up at Harvard Med - fighting!). Jieun's graduating class had 5 non-Asians.
I strongly believe in spiritual realms. Dunno if that makes any sense. But it's like this - I'm not particularly well traveled but I have been to a few places. The interesting thing is, when I was in Korea summer after frosh year, my spiritual life was incredible, especially in terms of disciplines. I was a machine. The weird thing is, because of the program I was at, I didn't have any fellowship, and no church I could go to. But yeah, it was an incredible summer.
That summer in the other East Asian country, I dunno if Wong agrees with me, but it just felt oppressive. In a lot of ways, like physically and emotionally. But I don't know, for me at least, it felt spiritually oppressive, if that makes any sense at all.
The U.S. is somewhere in the middle. I dunno, just personally, I don't think it was random. I think the countries just have different spiritual atmospheres.
It's not the same thing, but KCPC's move kind of reminded me of that. Just, it's amazing to me how much atmosphere makes a difference. But yeah, ever since the move, I feel like everything's been better. The praise has been better, the sermons have been better; just everything. Was there something spiritually oppressive at the old place? Or maybe just the physical layout made everything feel different. Whatever it was, it's amazing to me how much Sundays got better after the move.
When's the last time Mark Madsen took off his warmups?
So I actually watched the USA vs. Korea match. Pretty entertaining. Some notes:
I picked my nose and I guess there was jalapeno juice on it or something, because now my nostril is on fire.
Being arrogant and smug might be good qualities for a pastor in L.A. But not in the real world.
He likely doesn't read this, and you likely don't read his page, but Dan's dead wrong about there never being big upsets in the NBA playoffs. The Rockets won the championship as a 6 seed in 1995. In the process, they beat the 4 teams with the best regular season records in the NBA. By any standard, a monumental upset. Anyone who doesn't think so wasn't paying attention that year.
The summer me and Andrew were in East Asia the World Cup was going on in France. Even though that country wasn't in it, everyone was into it. If I recall correctly, a lot of people stayed up late (or got up early) to watch the matches, and the outdoor TVs were frequently showing highlights. It was pretty interesting. The whole world gets into it but the U.S. and possibly Canada. Weird.
Anyway, that summer they also played Ricky Martin's La Copa De Vida (the Spanglish version) everywhere. What's the official song this year? Is there one? Is Highfive Of Teenager involved?
I'm unspeakably angry. Out of the Grey's last CD, 6.1, is selling for $3.99 at Musicforce.com. I'm listening to it again, and it's a great album. Blast "Waiting" at full volume and just try to not get pumped up. Such an ignoble fate for such a great album. Rage.
I dunno if I ever shared one of my dreams. Someday, I want to be a background musician for Out of the Grey on tour. I can't think of anything that would be more fun. Someday, it will happen. Someday.
The reason I hate the Lakers isn't so much the Lakers themselves, but more Lakers' fans. Not all fans, just some of them, but the obnoxiousness of the few is enough. I dunno, it just annoys me. It wasn't the same with, for example, the Bulls. I disliked the Bulls. But I didn't hate them. I hate the Lakers.
Same thing in baseball. I dislike the Giants, dislike the Dodgers. But I only truly hate the Yankees. Dunno if you've been to an American League game where there are Yankees fans there, but it's totally annoying. They're all so arrogant and smug. Argh.
Anyway, back to the Lakers. This past Sunday I was at this church in LA and during the benediction the pastor prays for the Lakers. He was obviously kidding, but still, I was annoyed. That's wrong.
I tend to fight fire with fire, so I'm an obnoxious Laker hater. We were once watching this game and a couple of the Laker fans there were being obnoxious fans, I was being an obnoxious hater, and the result was the neutral people there hated both teams. Good stuff.
Star Wars spoilers.
I saw it DLP.
Isn't si-fi-ous Darth Sidious? A Jedi who goes to the dark side? And doesn't that coincide with the appearance of Senator Palpatine? It seems like Palpatine is an old Jedi who faked his death and became Darth Sidious, and is somehow able to blind other Jedi to the fact that he's Palpatine.
I actually thought certain parts were interesting, like the whole Fett thing, but yeah, Henry's right, it's only interesting in adding to Episodes 4-6, not in and of itself.
I was watching Back to the Future last night on TV and you know what? It's a great movie. 4 stars. Just a really creative, well-made, well-acted, thoroughly entertaining movie. I think it's in my top 30.
I had a dream the other night involving a fighting match, Royal Rumble style, in my old house in San Jose. Pastor Ryan was the referee, and contestants included myself, Minho, James Kim, James Choi from Houston, and Britney Spears. I didn't actually see Britney myself, I only spoke with her mother. I'm fairly certain this dream was inspired by the episode of Celebrity Deathmatch I saw that featured Survivor contestants.
And did anyone catch that show on MTV where Master P interviewed people from Star Wars 2? Absolutely hilarious, especially the parts with George Lucas. I was dying. This black gangta rapper interviewing this white recluse, Lucas getting none of Master P's jokes. One great bit is when P asks him who plays Yoda, and he says Frank Oz. And P asks, seemingly completely serious, "Is he really that short?" And Lucas is dumbfounded. The whole interview was like that. Great stuff.
Star Wars II: 1.5 stars. Pretty much any love scene, the audience laughed out loud. Not good.
"While we are looking down at the map trying to decide which way to go, the car continues along the road, passing this and that remarkable statue and mountain. What I wonder is: If we're sitting here trying to figure out which way to go, who is driving while we're looking down at the map? Because we're still moving. It's not like you can pull over in life. Even when you pull over, you're still moving, because the road is made of time. It's made of aging and eating and disfigurement, of sleepiness and longing and wonderment. It's a road that travels under our feet like those people movers at the airport. So we're standing there, looking at the map, and travelers brush past us eager to kiss their children. The wheels of their luggage make a clacking sound on the seams of the band of flexible road that is the people mover. And then even if we're standing still when we look up from the map we're somewhere else."
I am 9.8% body fat.
Three brief articles on Christianity Today regarding Bono.
Evangelicals
and Bono question each other
Bono on
Africa
Author of
Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2
One of the things I love most about Jieun is her heart. Should I give an example? She's been reading Where The Red Fern Grows to her class for a couple months, and when she was reading the end, she couldn't get through it - she was crying. I dunno, a heart like that, I just find attractive.
Dunno if anyone watched Sixth Sense on ABC this weekend. I just saw a little bit, but it was kinda weird - they showed scenes on TV that weren't in the theaters. They showed up as deleted scenes on the DVD, but yeah, they weren't originally in the movie. I thought that was odd.
Actually, the same thing with Fast Times At Ridgemont High. There was a scene I saw while flipping through on TNT that wasn't on the DVD, as a deleted scene or otherwise.
Time's cover story this week is on autism. I don't know why I'm so fascinated by the subject, but I am. Anyway, 1 out of 150 children have some form of autism. It's crazy.
I used to be a fairly big Ace of Base fan. I was even somewhat into the Bridge, their followup to the Sign, and listened to Yaki-Da, who I think had the same producer. Random.
This is mostly in response to Sam's post, but I don't think Liz e-mailed you. There's this virus going around that's particularly evil - it sends out e-mail to people in your inbox as if they were sent by other people in your inbox. Like, I think Leo got infected so I've been getting random e-mail that looks like it's from people in his mailbox, and apparently other people have been sent e-mails that look like they were from me.
The most evil one "I" sent was one that included a message about viruses and said the attached executable is a fix for it, and to ignore warnings about it being a virus. That's evil - a virus posing as a virus fix.
Anyway, I think my dad is infected also. Looking at the headers of those e-mails kinda helps figure out where it's from. Like all the Leo ones come from SLU.edu, and I'm guessing my dad's infected because random things are coming from houston.rr.com. So yeah, my guess Sam is that it's from someone who uses Outlook that has both you and Liz in their mailbox. No idea who that would be though. Maybe Drew?
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. I'm speaking of course, about Fanimecon, or something like that, the local anime convention.
We had our menu tasting last night and it turns out the same place is hosting Fanimecon this weekend. Our coordinator was talking about it and it was hilarious. Just, the whole staff thinks they're all a bunch of obsessive losers and weirdos who never sleep. They all want to be far, far away. Unfortunately, their contract with the hotel runs for 2 more years.
The worst problem, she says, is that a lot of them come in costume. That's weird enough, but the problem is that a lot of these costumes have rubber and foam. And they wear them all three days. And since they barely sleep, much less shower, by the end they all really smell. I dunno, it was interesting.
They were there for preregistration last night, and yeah, they're a bunch of weirdos. Apparently they come in from all over, not just local. Strange, strange people.
I'm thinking of going Saturday.
It's called Tubthumping and it's by Chumbawamba (sp?). "Pissing" apparently means drinking in England. Also, this song is on DDR 2nd Mix for Playstation.
Both my church and my work are moving locations on the same weekend. Is that a sign or something? I dunno, it's interesting. Only to me.
A random thing I find interesting - when mediums mimic a limitation of another medium. What I mean is like when you hear record-scratchy noises on a CD track. Just, they're imitating a limitation. Anime does this also. Like, they'll do a focus shift from foreground to background. Or they'll mimic the camera glare from the sun or something like that. Why do that? I dunno, for some reason I find stuff like that interesting.
On the way to work today I heard on the radio an ad for the deaf. I dunno, maybe it's just me but that seems a less than optimal use of advertising dollars.
One good thing about the Bay Area is the radio stations. Actually, I can only compare it to Houston, but yeah, the radio stations in Houston suck. There used to be one decent station that everyone listened to (104.1 I think) but it became like a mariachi station. I'm not joking. Anyway, yeah, the stations around here are pretty good, relatively good mix of music, for radio.
The thing is, they all play a lot of the same stuff. Like, I was switching around one day and 106.5 and 95.7 were playing the exact same song at the exact same time. I thought for a second one had bought out the other and now they were the same station. But no, it was just a coincidence, them playing the same song timed perfectly together. (Nickelback's How You Remind Me) I dunno, I thought that was weird.
Check this out. Uh, download to file and save it first, dunno how long it will last. But yeah, it's this Chinese guy on the free flow competition on BET. Good stuff.
Another absurd thing about The Scorpion King: It's a prequel to a sequel to a remake. And of course there are plans for a sequel - a sequel to a prequel to a sequel to a remake. Meta.
So The Scorpion King comes out today. And if you look at the ads, it says, "The Rock in The Scorpion King". That seems a little absurd to me. Because his name isn't the Rock. That's his identity for the WWF. He's Dwayne Johnson. So he's playing a character that's playing a character. Meta. I dunno, maybe it should say "Dwayne Johnson is The Rock is The Scorpion King". At any rate, it's kind of absurd to me, that he's being advertised as a character playing a character.
And is it just me or does Mel Gibson play roughly the same character in every movie? You know, slightly off kilter but generally "good"? He should just go the Tony Danza route and have his character be called "Mel" in every role he plays. Better yet, have every movie he makes be called "Mel Gibson". That would be great. "Mel Gibson is Mel Gibson in Mel Gibson". Honestly, that's not that much different from what he's doing now.
You know what the world needs? Orange flavored toothpaste. You know how after you brush your teeth in the morning and then drink orange juice, the taste contrast makes it taste terrible. So why not make citrus flavored toothpaste? Doesn't that make sense? That or a toothpaste friendly breakfast drink. Why has no one thought of this?
I distinctly remember random revelations in my life.
One was the realization that I sweat from my underarms. Happened in junior high. One afternoon after school I was playing basketball and not sure why but I kept my jacket on. It might have been a windy day. Anyway, when I got home, I took my jacket off and there were huge sweat stains on my colored shirt spreading from my pits. Pretty gross. But I distinctly remember how shocked I was, seeing that I sweat from my armpits, and how copious it was.
Another random realization was sophomore year. Positive I've written about this. But anyway, I was lying in bed, maybe talking to Eli, with my hands behind my head, and I detected this distinct pungent odor. And I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until I sniffed my armpits, and at that moment, I realized I had B.O.
You don't understand how shocking that was. I dunno, maybe this is racist, but Orientals tend to not really smell too bad. I certainly didn't smell, or at least I didn't think I did. So yeah, up until that point, I had never used deodorant. To be honest, I still don't all the time, but I recognize that there are times when I need it. Anyway, yeah, it was a shocking revelation.
Not sure why I writing this. I think I was thinking about the purpose of wife-beaters. I don't understand why anyone would wear a wife-beater. Just, and maybe this is just me, but I wear undershirts for 2 reasons. One, and this goes back to my skinny thing, but it adds just a bit more mass. But more importantly, it provides sweat stain control. This is key with dress shirts. Armpit sweat stains are just gross. I remember seeing Mark McGwire at an A's rally a long time ago, wearing a short sleeve dress shirt and at the end of his speech he raised his hands saying we're number one and revealed these massive sweat stains. Repulsive, I say.
So yeah, undershirts are a tradeoff, because it makes you hotter, but it provides sweat stain protection. And that's key to me, which is why I wear T-shirt type undershirts. An that's why I don't understand the wife beater thing. It's like the worst of both worlds. It makes you hotter and doesn't provide sweat stain control. So what's the point? I don't get it.
Speaking of which, I'm against tank tops at the gym. I dunno, it's not like I expect people to smell good while working out, but if you smell bad, you don't need to celebrate it. I was working out the other day and this guy next to me was doing lat pulldowns, which involves reaching up and pulling down, so you fully expose your armpits. Anyway, this guy was wearing a tanktop and emitting the most rank odor. I'm not joking, he should be used as a weapon in Afghanistan. Just send him into the caves, and have him do some lat pulldowns. Deadly. So yeah, wear a shirt; try to mask it at least a little.
Another thing I don't understand: why we have hair around our anuses. Er, at least I do. Oops, maybe I've revealed too much. That was actually another revelation. One time I wiped and there was a hair there and only one logical conclusion. But anyway, yeah, hair in the nose and ears I get. You want to keep dirt and dust from getting in. But hair down there? Is there something you want to keep from getting out? I dunno, it's just weird, is all.
Found a transcript of Baby Snooks. Kinda interesting.
There is a more useless superhero than Aquaman. Robin. You know, Batman's sidekick. He doesn't even have super powers. Even worse, he has the most ridiculous outfit ever. Take a look here. The guy's out fighting villains in speedos. Isn't that a little impractical? Doesn't he scrape his knees and legs a lot, running around so much? Couldn't he wear pads or something? Or at least biker shorts? Why wear a cape but have completely bare legs? Come on, Robin.
Is it just me or was Aquaman the most useless superhero ever? I dunno, I never read the comic, but it seemed like he couldn't do anything on land. So like, if Darkseid goes to Kansas, Superman, Batman, Flash, et al are all there, but sorry, Aquaman can't do anything. But if he goes to Hawaii - ooh, watch out.
And do you remember he was called the king of the seven seas? What are the seven seas? And if they're seas, how does he get there? He uses his powers to get to land, then takes a shuttle to the next sea? I dunno, I never understood it. It sucks to be Aquaman.
Also, how come there were hardly any female Transformers? And what's the point of Transformers having gender? What are they going to do? Procreate?
Yeah, that criticism is more valid. That yoga can be purely physical.
But like I said, the weird thing is, I dunno. You look at those sites defending yoga and Christianity and the worrisome thing is they don't say, "it's just physical". They say, "you can apply the spiritual aspects to Christianity". And that's just weird to me.
If Dave comes back wearing funny hats, I'll know for sure.
Henry, are you serious? You think the yoga thing and your golf thing are equivalent?
It would be equivalent if golf was created by Satan worshippers and the very act of playing golf required one to worship Satan. That's what the yoga critics are saying. Not that some practitioners of yoga happen to be spiritual weirdos. But that yoga itself was created as a practice of these spiritual weirdos, and moreover, that it's impossible to do yoga without engaging in spiritual weirdism. And that's a valid, if arguable, concern.
I dunno, maybe it's just me, but yeah, like I said, I wanted to do yoga but now I'm thinking maybe you can't separate the physical act from the spiritual. Do a search on "Christian yoga". A bunch of weirdos. The way they defend it makes me more and more scared. But whatever, I guess we'll find out through Dave. Don't drink the Kool-Aid, Dave. That's my advice.
I kind of feel like people whitewash the Siskel/Ebert relationship. As if they were all buddies and everything. I dunno, I used to watch them a lot and for a long time, they didn't even like each other. It was only in the last few years that they kept it to just arguing, as opposed to hating each other, but yeah, they argued to the very end.
One of my favorite moments was a few years before Siskel died, they were arguing and Siskel was getting pissed because Ebert was just discounting his opinion as if his own was all that mattered and Siskel lets out something like, "Oh yeah, your opinion is all that matters. Forget the name of the show. Welcome to the new show: 'Ebert'." And Ebert just glared, silent. Quality television.
Anyway, I happened to see this old clip of them appearing on Later with Bob Costas and it was hilarious. They really didn't like each other. Bob asks them, "What do you bring to the show that the other doesn't?" And Siskel quickly responds, "Intelligence." And Ebert shoots back, "Intelligence and emotion." Great stuff.
Saw the Rookie. Liked it a lot. 3 stars.
I think I like baseball more than I realize. There's just something about going to a baseball game, the feeling when you walk in and see the big crowd, that's really cool. I loved the game we went to in Seattle because it was a great night and the place was packed. Just kind of electric.
Anyway, yeah, I like baseball movies. The Sandlot is another movie I really like. The most amazing thing about the Rookie is that it was true. I dunno, me and Jieun both really liked it. Plus, I found out in real life, he's a devout Southern Baptist. And it's rated G. Good stuff.
What's your stance on stuff like yoga and accupuncture?
I ask because these things have some sort of spiritual element to them. Not everyone emphasizes it, but it's there, and some people are wary of it. Like, I have a friend who studied accupuncture in China and was demonstrating and I remember Pastor Harold telling us to be cautious. Just he was talking about demonic influences and stuff like that. That Pastor Harold - what a joker.
With yoga there's stuff too supposedly. Jieun's against it. I kind of wanted to try out yoga. It seems kind of cool, I need to improve my flexibility, and if it's good enough for Sting, it's good enough for me. But yeah, she won't do it and doesn't want me to either.
I dunno, I think they're fine as long as you just look at them as purely physical things but wondering what you think. What do our parents (who are Christian) think about accupuncture, for that matter? Because I know like my grandmother has done it before. What about like Tai Chi? I dunno, I think it's fine but some people disagree.
Praise God. KCPC is moving out of St. Emydius. That was a bad situation for everyone involved. Can you believe none of the current college students remember 9 AM service?
When I was growing up, I never swayed or added other physical flourishes in piano recitals. It just seemed fake to me. I always felt I could let the emotion come out in my playing without having to move my whole body. And for like a 10 year old to move like that just seemed fake to me. You didn't need to make a show of emotion - let it come out in your playing. I was always about substance over form.
Incidentally, the expressiveness of my playing was my strength. I think I was technically sound but not proficient, and my highest marks were generally for my slower pieces, even though I liked playing them less.
Random entry.
I think I've watched 5 movies this calendar year. Including both in the theater and DVD. I dunno, I used to watch 3-4 a week so that's quite a dropoff.
