March 2009
2 posts
St. Vincent: “The Strangers” [from...
February 2009
18 posts
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Coast to coast in two hours!
Yes, it’s even faster than the AGV [Photo courtesy of forcechange.com]
While curiously searching for jobs at organizations that will most likely never hire me, I came across two old reports by the RAND Corporation, a non-profit global policy think tank, on a high speed transit system that is fast, very fast.
During the Seventies, RAND researched the possibility of establishing a...
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Phoenix: “1901” [from Wolfgang Amadeux...
Kanye West: “RoboCop” [from 808s &...
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Happiness is the path
Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
The beginning of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker suggests a meteor crash or an alien landing on a wilderness site that is now cordoned by the military. Not to be mistaken by the harassing act of following another person, the film is named after expert guides who lead individuals into the Zone to find the room where all of one’s deepest, innermost wishes become...
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Oh! Camera Obscura’s announced their first single from the forthcoming album release of My Maudlin Career, which comes out on April 20th. Take a listen.
Besides this and the aforementioned Hush, I’ve been really looking forward to Phoenix’s new LP that’s ridiculously titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix . The music outlook for 2009 is shaping up to be mighty AWESOME.
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Deerhunter: “Saved By Old Times” [from...
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“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from...”
– Thomas Jefferson
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100 milestone
It’s always a momentous occasion when a song reaches the century mark on iTunes. After scanning through my list of songs earlier, I couldn’t help but notice that Vampire Weekend’s Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa was at 99 plays and has been stuck there for a while. I couldn’t help myself; I had to press play and cement its place in history.
I know it’s a little...
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There will be blood (and lots of it)
Tokyo Gore Police (Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2008)
The film begins with a young woman, Ruka (Eihi Shiina), who witnesses the assassination of her father, a charismatic police chief in Tokyo. Meanwhile, a mad scientist known simply as the “Key Man” creates a virus that mutates people into “Engineers”, killing machines that after each severed limb sprout grotesque weapons of...
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Animal Collective: “My Girls” [from...
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[Shibuya via cocoip]
I mailed the required docs to my employer today to facilitate the visa process. Hopefully I’ll get my Certificate of Eligibility within two months. Can’t wait!
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Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl XLIII Champions
[Matt Cashore/US Presswire]
Wow. The Steelers’ defense gave up 200 yards passing against an opponent just once coming into this game. If you had told me that Warner would gain almost double that plus three touchdowns, I would’ve told you that the Cardinals would win their first Super Bowl.
What a game! The Cardinals’ defense played hard and their offense came up with a smart...
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2009 Coachella lineup
The 2009 Coachella lineup has been up for a while now and it does not look pretty, especially with the $300 price tag + lodging.
The first day is a total let down and the big acts on the second day are all right but the smaller acts leave something to be desired. The only day worth going to is Sunday where there are quality acts from top to bottom: No Age, Vivian Girls, Lykke Li, Friendly...
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Super Bowl XLIII Prediction
[Photo via cbcsports.ca]
The only teams that match up well against the Steelers are the Patriots and teams that mirror the Steelers’ smashmouth style: a stingy defense plus a ball-control offense with a relentless running game and play-action passing game. The Cardinals are neither the Patriots nor this type of smashmouth team.
They remind me of the Colts of recent memory: good running...
January 2009
21 posts
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Tokyo!!!!!!!!!!
[Via eloque]
I got an offer to teach in Tokyo starting in April! :)
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[Photo courtesy of men.style.com]
Samsung BD-P4600 Blu-ray player
This has got to be one of the sexiest electronic devices I’ve seen in a while. It even streams Netflix movies and Pandora tunes! The red should have been replaced with blue, though.
Somewhat old news but here’s more sweet gear from CES.
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Quarter-Life Crisis
[Screenshot from Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997)]
A piece Brian came across and shared with me:
“It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you didn’t know and may or may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know...
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2009: Year of the Ox? Or is it the year of the...
[Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images]
Which NBA team has the best record in games played in 2009? No, not the sizzling Lakers, Cavs, Magic, or Celtics, but the left-for-dead, Timberwolves. At 9-2 in January, the Wolves have an overall record of 15-27 after going 4-23 in their first 27 games. That means the Wolves are 11-4 in the past 15 games!
Though the Wolves were not predicted to...
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Asobi Seksu: “Transparence” [from...
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City Names I Adore
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
I was talking to Brian earlier about city names I find attractive and came up with this list of ten:
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Caracas, Venezuela Karachi, Pakistan Kathmandu, Nepal Kyoto, Japan Lagos, Nigeria Luanda, Angola Salamanca, Spain Timbuktu, Mali Zacatecas, Mexico
As for a list of the worst, check this out.
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The (Desperate) Art of Sleeping
[Screenshot from Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)]
I can bit a compulsive when it comes to posture and sleeping positions. I tend to stay up late: one little distraction continually leads to others, which are occasionally satisfying, but most of the time empty. Insomnia? I don’t think so. I try and get sleep in the most possibly efficient way – or am I just kidding myself? This...
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Be Your Own Pet: “Becky” [from Get...
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Pretty Sky
Lush vocals soaring weightlessly above euphoric feedback, Asobi Seksu returns with their third full-length, Hush. There is a quiet unrest throughout this properly titled album. The ethereal vibrancy of Yuki’s voice coupled with the boisterous guitars and drums create an atmosphere interlaced with aggression, jubilation, and the subsequent ecstasy. Refined and less impulsive and sonorous than...
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Asobi Seksu: “Familiar Light” [from...
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Idleness at Work
[Screenshot from Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968)]
I had exhausted all outlets of productivity for the day. I couldn’t stand the idleness any longer; I had to take a walk. Shaking off my slouched posture, I strolled around the vacant campus, basked in the warmth of a California winter. It’s times like this I wish I had cigarette.
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Blitzburgh Bop
[Photo source: NPC]
I have to admit, I’m obsessed and madly in love with the Steelers’ defense.
The success of this complex and unpredictable 3-4 zone blitz, designed by the masterful Dick LeBeau, starts with the nosetackle. If there was a photo in the dictionary of an immovable object, it would be of Casey Hampton - 6’ 1” and 325lbs of uncompromising man-meat. He has...
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Fuuuuu... 42 Point Blowout! →
[AP Photo by Jim Mone]
Yeah, so what if it’s against the worst team in the NBA! The Wolves are on a roll: winning 4 in a row, 6 of the last 8 (the reverse for the struggling Celts). That’s 60% of their games won this season!
Despite his first 8 games (all against playoff-caliber teams), McHale has got the team playing with much more confidence. Whereas Whittman had his players on...
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Pay-to-Play at UNESCO →
Speaking of the U.N., what is going on at UNESCO?
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Ban Ki-Moon cancels again
[Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon]
Nooo! Ban Ki-Moon’s UCLA Burkle Institute lecture on the Conditions of Peace is cancelled. I was really looking forward to this and spending a long weekend back at UCLA posing as a student. It’s the second time he’s cancelled but it was expected with the bloodbath that’s going on in Gaza right now.
Hopefully he can reschedule and give us an...
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up, up and away
It’s finally up but I still have to fix a couple of bugs since the code is not complying with Internet Explorer 7’s terrible standards. If you haven’t done so already, forget IE8 and update your browser to Google Chrome which is lighter and much, much faster.
I have to go back to work bright and early tomorrow - my sleeping schedj is screwed. Though it’s going to be good to be busy again, I’d...
counting down
be with you shortly.
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