12/27/03
Ahh, home again...

It's great to be back in Torrance, I've been going shopping like crazy these days. No internet, though! So bear with me as I work for updates.

;

12/20/03
The Big Update:

1. Mac update

Yup, new stuff is coming to my Mac. Thanks to my patrons and also to those who contributed to "Project Legit," I could now afford to get a couple of upgrades to my main workstation.

1. DVD-R: (Pioneer DVR-106) So I can burn projects onto DVDs. (i.e. Appreciation: Special Edition)

2. New Hard Drive: 80 gig Maxtor internal IDE drive for cheap, for storage of future projects.

3. RAM? One can't ever have enough RAM, will have to see how much money is left, maybe another stick of 512MB PC2100 DDR would be good, push the total to a nice 1280 megs.

2. The missing 70

I am glad to report that on Wednesday night I jogged two miles. I'm quite happy, think I'll reward myself with a new pair of New Balance running shoes, since the ones I wear have been getting too big for me. (That's right, my feet are skinnier now, too.) They're also a bit worn now, been with me to New York, Maine, Taiwan and back for the last 5 months.

Alright, the vast majority of you have NOT seen me in about 3, 4 months. The changes that have taken place should be something fun for all of us. Yup. I'm down close to 70 pounds from my heaviest weight, which was in June. Here's a fun little chart I made with Excel. You can see that in the beginning, my running did pay off quite a bit, I lost about 15 pounds just from running and eating a bit less. On Sept. 6th the drugs kicked in and, coupled with a massively reduced diet and steaily increasing exercise, the weight dropped quicker until a few weeks ago, where it slowed down to about a couple pounds a week. Hopefully the holiday season will not force the weight to go back up. I hope to hit 220 pounds in a month or two, and see if I could get it down further just so I can see if things could get even better. (In terms of fitness and general appearance.)

In any case, I think I'll have fun seeing everyone again.

12/15/03
The Return of the Kevings

Well, it's been a long vacation, and an interesting and fun-filled one at that. I guess vacation started for me on August 1st, when I took my last final at UCLA. I then spent three weeks in New York, one week in LA, and then three months so far in Taiwan. It'll be one more week until I return to LA again. I sure miss my friends and church, my guitar and car, orderly traffic and current movies, but somehow I also found reasons to want to stay in Taiwan. There's definitely some things here that I have fallen in love with, the inexpensive food, the culture, the great scenary and people. I've made new friends and learned to appreciate my old ones even more. I brushed up on my Chinese and gained a better understanding of where Taiwan stands in the long history of the Chinese culture. I have captured beautiful scenary on Fuji's amazing emulsions. I ate a giant corn dog on the southwest corner of the Chiang Kai Shek memorial for under a buck. I've seen God's grace extended to me from one side of the world to the other. It's time to go home.

I look forward to coming back because I know where I'm going is where God wants me. I know this because even when I'm all the way across the world I am constantly being blessed with things beyond my imagination. New challenges await me back home, with new people to get to know, new ministries to devote time to, a new role to play in the ultimate collector's edition superbit director's extended cut of Kevin's life. I will not fear, because God will be with me.

Truly my cup overflows.

12/11/03
Kending

What IS "Kending" and who goes off "Kending" in the middle of December, you ask? Okay, Kending is the southern most tip of Taiwan, an area known for sandy beaches, big rocks, and uh, you know, it's just like a party place. We leave tomorrow and will be back by sunday night. I'm probably gonna go hit the beach and go scuba diving... maybe more food on a stick in the night markets, who knows?

Pictures of the trip by next week, I promise.

12/07/03
Kevin and Mike eat Taiwan

Selected pictures are up from the trip me and Mike went on to devour Taiwan. Sorry if there is just not a lot of pictures of us actually eating, we were, well, busy... eating! But we did have a lot of cool (read: idiotic) poses in front of scenic touristy places. So... enjoy!

12/3/03
Ah, da Mike!

I don't know how I did it, I don't know what he was on at the time, but I've managed to talk the Mike into flying 14 hours to come to Taiwan to visit me for a week. To make it worth his while, I've been dragging him all over Taiwan in search of hardcore, deviant, rediculous, chest-hair-growing, butt-kicking food. Not only are we keeping a running total of food consumed in a big list, we are also taking pictures of various interesting food products we come across. Taiwan is definitely THE place to go eating, and the Mike has proved that he is worth his salt. A list of interesting stuff he has eaten follows:

Chicken hearts on a stick, butts on a stick, pork ears, blood, intestine, stinky tofu.

Think you can outdo the Mike? Well, come on down to Taiwan!

11/24/03
Budai

We went to my mom's hometown of Budai yesterday, and made a stop in their seafood market, where there were stalls for fresh and processed seafood, and crazy food galore.

Pictures here

11/21/03
What to do when your internet goes down.

Let's hope it never happens. Found from Slashdot.

11/20/03
Multitasking

Something I noticed lately is my penchant for multitasking. I always feel like I could be doing two or more things at once. I turn on the TV while I sit down to put on socks. I write these blogs with music playing. I listen to sermons on MP3 while browing the web. I play games while listening to the News on TV.

Obviously multitasking reduces my efficency instead of raising it. Especially when you're switching between tasks. Do any of you have these tendencies, too? Or am I just being El Freako?

11/19/03
China/Taiwan/US

Politics and our modern industrial age has played a nasty trick on some of us, it seems. Particularly to those people who, like me, have trouble figuring out just who the heck I am. You see, I identify with three countries. So the story goes like this: All four of my grandparents were born in China and moved to Taiwan to escape the communist takeover of China. So technically I'm "Taiwanese" in the sense that I was born there, but by blood and upbringing I am an "Outside Province Person," a "Mainlander" to the vast majority of my Taiwanese countrymen. To make it worse, I was born in Taiwan but for the last 12 years Ilived in the US and got myself a US citizenship. So, great, now I'm Chinese/Taiwanese - American.

So it's been interesting living "at home" for the past couple months. I think generally people can tell I'm not from around here, with my non-taiwanese accented mandarin, my tendency to say "Yeah, okay," and the "Hot tubbin' in Maine" T-Shirt I often wear. (With lobsters hot-tubbing) It's not too hard for people to say "Hey, you're not from around here, foreign devil." It's like being home but home ain't what it used to be, I ain't what I used to be.

So, alright. Say one day I get my hands on the one ring, take over the world and I'm loved by everyone as the supreme benevolent leader of the world. (Hey, it could happen.) There must be tons of people eager to write a biography about me. What would they say? Would they say that I'm American, Taiwanese, or Chinese? I can just picture it now: "Our benevolent leader came from a confusing place." Sometimes I don't feel like I belong anywhere, like I'm just a drifter in my own country--whichever one it is.

11/17/03
More jogging.

Nothing much doing today. So I went to the track again to jog. This time I managed to go 13 laps on a 200 meter track. So that's something like 2600 meters, a little over a mile and a half, a bit more than 2 1/2 kilometers. I'm slightly dissapointed, cause I was hoping to hit two miles and I was only 3 laps short. It's probably for the best, since things started hurting around lap 10. Maybe next time, when I'm a bit lighter still.

11/15/03
New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band

What a pleasure it was to see the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band perform at the National Concert Hall last night! Good old school jazz, a fun atmosphere, over a thousand in attendance. I've never been to a jazz concert with so many people at once, it's always been at like the Jazz Bakery, Catalina's or Los Feliz's or Spazios, you know, little places with no more than 40 people, where if musicians press the spit valves on their horns, you'd get sprayed. But it was great, great fun. Afterwards me and the Nancy (New jazz buddy and crajee food extraordinaire.) went to their stuff signing and got to talk to the band, shake hands, and had our tickets signed. It was a great night.

Off to another day of fun and adventure!

11/13/03
Four songs for my fellow Mraz fan

You and I both
Too much food
No stopping us
The remedy

From the Mlive.com Acoustic Cafe. (Removed: 11/20/03)

11/12/03
One more song. One more song for me.

Table for two - Caedmon's Call
Danny and I spent another late night over pancakes
we talked about soccer
And how every man's just the same
We made speculation
On the who's and the when's of our futures
And how everyone's lonely
But still we just couldn't complain
And how we just hate being alone
Could I have missed my only chance
And now I'm just wasting my time
By lookin' around
But you know I know better
I'm not gonna worry about nothing
Cause if the birds and the flowers survive
Then I'll make it okay
and given a chance and a rock
see which one breaks a window
and see which one keeps me up all night and into the day.
Because I'm so scared of being alone
That I forget what house I live in
and that it's not my job to wait by the phone
For her to call
this day's been crazy
But everything's happened on schedule
from the rain and the cold
To the drink that I spilled on my shirt
'Cause You knew how You'd save me
before I fell dead in the garden
And You knew this day
long before You made me outta dirt.
And You know the plans that You have for me
And You can't plan the ends and not plan the means
And so I suppose I just need some peace,
Just to get me to sleep.

11/11/03
Lamentations

Thinking about my reactions to situations that I've come across recently. Feelin' a bit foolish and lacking in faith... some old songs comes to mind.

11/07/03
Quentin Tarantino on violence

So recently I was reading up on Quentin Tarantino, or, rather, I was reading old interviews of Quentin, and I happened to run across Quentin talking about violence in movies. Well, I thought it was interesting to hear this particular guy talk about violence in movies, since he seems to be known as a "violent" director. I thought it'd be great to see what he'd have to say. Prior to this, of course, I have also thought about violence and foul language in my movies, you know, what place they would have in my writings and hopefully one day in my films, the question of WHEN is it appropriate to have violence, language, and HOW being a Christian should affect the contents of my creative projects.

But here is Quentin on violence.

QUENTIN TARANTINO: I keep using the movie Patriot Games as an example of uptight American action movies: It's supposed to be a revenge movie, all right, and as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to make a revenge movie, you've got to let the hero get revenge. There's a purity in that. You can moralize after the fact all you want, but people paid seven dollars to see it. So you set it up and the lead guy gets screwed over. And then, you want to see him kill the bad guys with his bare hands, if possible. They've got to pay for their sins. Now, if you want to like deal with morality after that, that's fine, but you've got to give me what I paid for. If you're going to invite me to a dance, you've gotta let me dance. But the thing that is very unique, I mean, that is very indicative of American films, in Patriot Games, is the fact that the bad guy actually had a legitimate reason to want revenge against Harrison Ford. He caused the death of his brother. So he actually had a legitimate reason to create a vendetta against him. But the studio was so scared that we would even identify with the bad guy that much to the point of understanding his actions that it turned him into a psychopath. I never thought that he was a psychopath, and it took legitimacy away from what he was doing. Then he bothers Harrison Ford so much that now Harrison Ford wants revenge. So you've got these two guys who both want revenge, which is an interesting place to be. But then they get into this stupid fight on this boat, and they do the thing that my friends and I despised the most: Harrison Ford hits the guy and he falls on an anchor and it kills him. And it's like you can hear a committee thinking about this and saying, "Well, he killed him with his own hands, but he didn't really mean to kill him, you know, so he can go back to his family, and his daughter, and his wife and still be an okay guy. He caused the death but it was kind of accidental." And as far as I'm concerned, the minute you kill your bad guy by having him fall on something, you should go to movie jail, all right. You've broken the law of good cinema. So I think that that is a pretty good analogy for where some of these new, relentlessly violent movies are coming from."

Well, alright, so Quentin appreciates violence in the sense that violence allows the characters' humanity to be shown. If Jack Ryan wanted revenge, he should have it, he should kill the person outright, through no accidents. If Ryan feels bad about it later, fine, it's human for him to regret things. If he doesn't feel bad about it, it shows something else about his character. Interesting.

More on this later, in the mean time, what do you think about violence and language in the movies?

11/06/03
You don't know me anymore

You don't know me anymore
your face appears in the darkness of my bed
and fades within the slightness of a kiss
I’ve searched myself to find a single thread
when only I find the length of our intent
when all your effort fails you
I can read between the lines
you don’t know me anymore
the words unsaid reel around my face like smoke
you hold onto me when you know I’m not that strong
fade into me so soft within a kiss
or lay yourself so slight within my grip
when all you effort fails you
I can read between the lines
you don’t know me anymore
memories run in circles
round the length of all my crimes
with all that I’ve surrendered
it seems this I can’t deny
when all you effort fails you
I can read between the lines
you don’t know me anymore

11/03/03
Kevin@Taipei.city.tw

Every other week or so my diet medicine runs out. So I take a train on a weekday to go up to Taipei to see my diet doctor. We chat, you know, he has a couple of kids in the US going to expensive colleges, I ask if I'm on-course to be Mr. Universe 2004, he tells me just keep doing what I'm doing, it's kinda fun. Encouraging, even.

Now, Taipei for me has always been a faraway, almost mysterious city. I've never visited Taipei for fun before, it's always been like "Go to Taipei so I can get a visa to go to America" (1989) or "I went to Taipei when I was 2 years old." (1982) So I've never really visited Taipei for fun before. In fact, I've probably been to Portland, Maine more times in my life than I've been to Taipei before this year.

But over these couple of months I've managed to hook up with a couple of friends, a few partners in crime who, luckily for me, happens to be in Taipei these days. So we go out to museums, to the night market, to malls, movies, traditional markets, tourist traps, national monuments, etc. And slowly, slowly I see what sort of city Taipei is. It's modern, it's international, it's well maintained and has certain rules within the apparant chaos. But it wasn't until last week when I took the subway (The best subway I've ever been on, in my opinion.) to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial station so I can walk to my doctor's office, that I realized I was actually starting to fall in love with this city.

And the thing that did it for me on that day was the huge National Theater and National Concert Hall buildings within the campus of the CKS Memorial Hall. It is two tremendous, grand buildings built in the traditional Chinese style, looking like something straight out of the Forbidden City. Two enormous buildings sitting face to face across a grand plaza with a blue and white gate to one side and the CKS memorial building on the other. I walked in without knowing that we actually HAD a national theater and concert hall, and I was absolutely stunned standing there in between those two enormous and beautiful buildings.

And for the first time in a long time I was proud of this island, these people that live here. It hit me then, you know, that--okay, we see horrible, stupid things every day on the news, like, lawmakers pathetically singing karaoke with young people so they can get on TV, people commiting suicide because of their acne problem, a father caught with a hooker in a hotel room with his 4 year old son watching, stuff like that, okay? You see these things on TV and you think "Man, we're seriously MESSED UP." But in the city of Taipei I've seen some of the most amazing things. We have a clean, well-maintained, inexpensive subway system. We have the greatest food in the world in the night markets. We have universal health care so I can get my wisdom tooth pulled for less than two bucks a pop. We have the tallest building in the world, and we have a huge world class national theater and national concert hall. The Taiwanese people are not all messed up as the news makes it out to be, we've built ourselves a pretty good home on this little island, and for 23 million people stuck on a little island on the wrong side of the pacific, I think we've did pretty well.

It certainly makes me miss Los Angeles a little less.

Now, if we can only make pulling teeth as painless as paying for it...

Pictures here.

11/01/03
Girls pummel man who exposed himself - From CNN.COM

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -- A man described by authorities as a known sexual predator was chased through the streets of South Philadelphia by an angry crowd of Catholic high school girls, who kicked and punched him after he was tackled by neighbors, police said Friday.
"The girls came and started kicking him and punching him, so I wasn't going to stop them." -- Robert Lemons, neighbor.

Rudy Susanto, 25, who had exposed himself to teen-age girls on as many as seven occasions outside St. Maria Goretti School, struck again on Thursday just as students were being dismissed, police said.

But this time, a group of girls in school uniforms angrily confronted Susanto with help from some neighbors, police said.

When Susanto tried to run, more than 20 girls chased him down the block. Two men from the neighborhood caught him and the girls took their revenge.

"The girls came and started kicking him and punching him, so I wasn't going to stop them," neighbor Robert Lemons told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Susanto was later treated for injuries at a local hospital. Police said he would be charged with 14 criminal counts including harassment, disorderly conduct, open lewdness and corrupting the morals of a minor.

********

In other news, the Pentagon announced today that several thousand Catholic school girls will be drafted and sent to Iraq for peacekeeping. A high-ranking source within the Pentagon said off the record, "The gloves are coming off now."

10/31/03
Oh, THE PAIN!!!

So um, I had one of my lower wisdom tooth pulled a few days ago. You know, the ones where they have to cut open your gums, saw your tooth into smaller chunks and then remove piece by piece and then you get your gums sewn back together? Yeah. Welcome to Taiwan, Kevin.

So I came home being kind of out of it with cotton pads in my mouth, swallowed blood for about 4, 5 hours and then the anasthetic wore off. Boy, oh, boy... my respect to those of you who went through this before... cause, goodness gracious, this thing hurts! And it's like a bothersome sort of hurtin', like it doesn't go away. The pain dulls after two days, but then I woke up last night from more pain. Thought maybe I had some food particles stuck back there, brushed, rinsed with water and went back to sleep.

Woke up this morning with back pain.

Will this never end? Somebody shoot me with a tranquilizer dart, please.

I think I'll go lie on the floor with an ice pack to the cheek, excuse me.

10/27/03
Kill Bill #2

So I saw Kill Bill on friday, after digesting it for a couple of days, I shall write a short review.

Quentin Tarantino is probably the most popular cult director in America, but he is still a cult film director, meaning his works are not considered mainstream, commercial films. What Tarantino has done here, though, is in a way very routine for him, he take old stuff and kick it up a notch, which he does here with incredible technical prowess and a willingness to take risks.

What's very uncharacteristic of Kill Bill, though, is that the trademark Tarantino conversation has virtually disappeared, the attention is shifted away from "How do you call a quarter pounder in France" to "Let's just kill everyone in this room and do it hard core retro style."

The result? I can't believe this thing was rated R, it is the most violent film I have ever seen. Forget Robocop, forget Saving Private Ryan, this thing breaks the violence meter, it turns the violence knob to 11, it is so very, very, VERY violent. Heads are chopped off half a dozen times, arms and legs are chopped off routinely, blood spews from people like fountains, people writhing on the floor in a pool of their own blood, it's all here.

It was hard for me to look past the over-the-top violence, it's hard to when its being flaunted like this. Tarantino wasn't making a movie to see how much violence he can cram in, but as a homage to all the old school martial arts / samurai movies he has seen. And of course, if you watch the movie with this in mind, you will see numerous references to past movies in his technique / costumes / weapons. Not just that, though, he does these references with amazing force, kicking it up several notches and just throwing it in your face with furious intensity.

The soundtrack for Kill Bill is a great, eclectic collection of stuff that one would never expect to show up on the same CD, but it works. The music often stands out even more than the visuals, from Tomoyasu Hotei's rousing " Battle without honor or humanity" heard on the teaser trailer to Santa Esmeralda's booty-shaking latin-flamenco-disco "Don't let me be misunderstood" played during the final fight scene in the house of green leaves, it's a very solid and well composed soundtrack.

Kill Bill is absolutely overwhelming in its violence, mesmerizing in its style and artistic efforts, and a shining example in how to rip off old movies--by doing things better than the old movies themselves. Go see it if you're over the age of 18... or 25... look past the violence, keep an eye out for the old movie references, and you'll have plenty of things to think and talk about about when you walk out of the theater.

10/25/03
Pictures

For a limited time, the three rolls of pictures I shot in and around Hualien is online and available for viewing. Click here. (Offline, 1/26/04)

10/23/03
Kill Bill

Yeah,these couple of days I'm in full-on movie mania mode. Tomorrow is the Taiwanese premier of KILL BILL and I'm determined to go see it immediately. Tarantino is such an entertaining director and never does anything unless he believes he can do it better than everyone else. I am fully hyped to go. Did you know he grew up in Torrance? My own home-town hero.

A couple days ago I managed to catch Matchstick Men in Taipei and it was great, a movie that is well written, well directed and well acted by a great cast. Of course, me and my partner in crime that day also ate like gluttons and the full, happy stomach might have biased my opinion, so go see it and let me know if I was right.

10/13/03
The HouseKeeper

These days, my dad and two of my uncles pitch in and hire a Philipino lady to help look after my grandparents. Her name is Maria, she's about 50, maybe, and speaks a bit of English. She does the cooking, the cleaning, and just whatever needs to be done around my grandparents house. It's a win/win situation, I'm told. She earns a relatively high salary to send home to the Philipines and we pay a relatively low price to have someone help us look after the grandparents 24/7.

But there's just something very troubling about it to me. I feel like we're renting this person's life, for a few years at a time. I feel like we're robbing her of her time, she has to live far away from home among foreigners, with no friends nor family around her. I keep wondering if she has kids, a husband, parents to go home to when her two years here with us is up. It feels so wrong to rent someone and just assign her duties as if... gosh, I know it's not like it's that bad or anything, but I feel like she's our very own indentured servant.

Now, I feel that it's good and noble of us to take care of our grandparents, life for them should be made as easy as we could. But sometimes when I go over, and we're sitting there eating dinner while Maria serves us, and my little cousin goes "Maria, I want a bowl of soup," I have this urge to tell my little cousin, "Get off your butt and your own soup from the stove, you spoiled brat, it's only 5 feet away!"

I just feel terrible that this 50 year old woman has to serve us, when she should be living with her family. I mean, sure, we'd all work overtime if the pay is great or if the job or our situation demands us to, but we'd never move to another country, leave our families, and be "at work" 24 hours a day for years on end... would we? Especially if it's to get my bratty little cousin soup.

Let me know your thoughts on this.

10/10/03
Movies in Taiwan

Yeah, you guys know me, I love going to movies. I love to sit in a big theatre and let the big screen and the breathtaking sound system take over my world for hours at a time. I love to rent DVDs and devour them on a daily basis. But now that I'm in faraway Taiwan, you must be wondering, how do I get my fix?

Yeah, it certainly is trying times for ol' moviebuff Kev. Not only are there significant delays for american movies. ("Matchstick men" opens this week here, a month later than the US.) The waiting is not the worst part, but some great movies like "School of rock" and "Lost in Translation" are not coming at all to Taiwan.

But thankfully, some big big movies are making its way to me here. October 24th brings the Taiwanese release of Kill Bill, Matrix Revolutions should open worldwide at the same time, and the Return of the King should also be here in time for the holidays (in case I don't make it back to the US in time.)

I know what most of you are wondering about: "How can I help poor, POOR Kevin?" Well, if you have pirated, er... I mean, downloaded, er... I mean... stolen, er...

Maybe I should just go find some Chinese movies to see around here.

10/10/03
Protecting Taiwan

Taiwan recently adopted a rather draconian set of rules regarding its recycling, waste management, and shopping bag policy. Beginning in 2003, stores will not give out plastic shopping bags, consumers are thus supposed to provide their own shopping bags when they go shop, or spend some money to buy plastic bags that they used to get for free at the stores.

I must say that I still forget to bring my own shopping bag quite often, and thus have to hand carry items I bought back to the car. I'm definitely not used to it and often end up looking rather foolish at the check out counter. (Cause I'm cheeeeeeeeap and don't want to buy plastic bags)

But you know, a month of this has actually got me thinking. Bringing your own shopping bag isn't that big of a deal. In fact, it's kinda charming to have your own tough bag you carry to the store, and think of all the plastic we end up saving, just by putting a enviromentally friendly shopping bag in your car. Maybe I'll try it myself when I go back to the states.

So, hey, maybe you too can help conserve plastic and paper next time you go to the market, and bring your own bag!

09/29/03
The mile

It was about two months ago that I started jogging, and it's been a on-again, off-again thing for me. The doctor says I'm too heavy to run right now for daily exercise, so I've switched over to swimming for a while now, but every once in a while I get a crack at a good track here and there and I give it another go at jogging. Well, a couple nights ago we went to Hualien high school, and they had a good 400 meter track there. I hadn't ran or played basketball or biked in a week, so my knee was in top form. So I went for it and jogged a mile.

I was ecstatic. It's been a goal for me for a while now and three months ago I could never dream of actually running for a mile. It seemed like it's something for skinny people, which, obviously, I was and still am not. But hey, four laps is a mile and I jogged it.

I guess I could attribute this mile to lots of things. Two months ago, I was 315 pounds. These days I'm a featherweight 280. (12% lighter gross weight.) Today I swim on a regular basis (reduced oxygen requirement) and run on New Balance shoes. (Lighter, fits much better.)

It's been an interesting couple of months. I feel like I can do much more now, as if I can go much longer without being tired. These days we can have basketball, hiking, biking, and swimming all in one day and I'll be tired, but I won't be so tired that I want to lie down and pass out. It's a lifestyle change, definitely. The attitude change is coming along as well. I feel like I could better face challenges and be more confident of myself.

Here's to the athelete within.

09/28/03
Pictures

Hey, who'da thunk? The photo place I went to today actually made photo CDs for me. No need for a scanner. Here are some pictures.

09/27/03
Taroko? Tai Loo Guh?

Today we took a drive out to Tai Loo Guh, which is like Taiwan's answer to the Grand Canyon. If you've never been or never heard of it, it is this incredible place where they tunneled through the faces of these mile high cliffs and made a road through these mountains next to this river that runs through it. Standing in one of the hollowed out roadways on the side of this mile high cliff (I'm told it's not quite a mile, but a good 3/4 mile at least) you have to look down the cliff to see the river and look way up to see the sky. some parts of the mountain is just sheer rock, some parts have vegetation growing on it. It was grand, on the scale of that river in the Fellowship of the Ring. (Remember the two giant sculptures standing there with their arms stretched out? Imagine like miles and miles of cliffs in that size and you're driving on this road chiseled out of the cliff face around those statues shins.)

But the really spectacular stuff is the road they built, it took ten thousand men four years to chisel, dig, tunnel and blast their way through miles and miles of soild marble. The road weaves in and out of the solid rock for miles and it's always big enough to squeeze at least a bus through it.

I didn't have a wide enough angle lense to capture it all, but I did take lots of pictures, so maybe I'll post some here in a few days, if I can get my hands on a scanner...

09/24/03
What's wrong with the music companies?

So I buy this Chinese CD and I get all excited and pop it into my iBook to be ripped to MP3s so I can play it on my laptop on the train or on an airplane and lo and behold, it's copy protected! HA! On the CD box it says: "This CD may not be copied to a personal computer. It is made to be played in a standard CD player only." Etc, etc. Well, I opened the disc up in my computer's file manager and yup, 16 tracks are listed there in AIFF form. It was a simple matter of copying the 15 tracks onto the hard drive. The first track refuses to be copied, but there are about half a dozen workarounds I'm waiting to try.

The question that's begging to be asked is this: How pathetic are these people? I buy a CD and they try to keep it off my computer, and no, they don't do a good job at it. This CD refuses to play at all on my laptop, but could easily be copied to my hard drive and then encoded into MP3s. Maybe I should try to be a decent consumer and do a bad job at it too. I'm ticked off now, big companies think they can control what I do with stuff I buy.

09/12/03
Great Scott!

You know how in "Back to the Future," Marty McFly goes back and forth through time and somehow everyone interacted with him as if he belonged in that time and he managed to change everything?

The more I travel, the more I feel as if I don't belong anywhere, but instead, like Marty Mcfly, I'm an addition to the scene that's just taking place. I don't know if I'm really supposed to be anywhere in particular, but I guess the thing to strive for is to have the most positive impact I can wherever I am. But the question arises: Should I be elsewhere having a bigger, better impact on some other situation? (Ang Lee: "Dang, I could REALLY use a good screenwriter!" Bartender: "Dang, I made too much apple martini!" BMW: "Gee, did we make one too many M5s AGAIN?" etc.)

Here's to making things better, wherever you are.

09/11/03
Memories

Well, two years ago on this day I woke up to a different world. I had just flew back to LA from Taiwan ahead of schedule the night before and avoided the traveling mess 9/11 had caused, but watching airplanes crashing into buildings and huge 100 story towers crumbling was mind boggling even if I wasn't jetlagged and bleary eyed. The world had turned into a vicious, evil place. Innocence lost for all of us, I suppose.

Maybe next year I should dig up some of those nice pictures I took of the twin towers, blow them up, and auction them off among my friends and donate it to charity... what do you guys think?

Oh yes, a happy autumn moon festival to all of you as well.

09/07/03

Umph. I guess I've been on the road for a month now. Currently I'm sitting at home in Taichung, Taiwan. Today will be a medical day, going to visit a doctor up in Taipei for my diet and exercise plan. After that... who knows? Get a job teaching english? Go to Hua-Lien for a week? I'll keep you guys updated.

I bought an Apple iBook specifically for this trip. It is an incredible steal at $999 at UCLA. (iBook 900 Combo) and it has already proven itself useful when it entertained me for most of my flight over with its 6 hour battery life (3 HOURS X 2 BATTERIES) and my simpsons DVDs (Season 3)

I don't think too many people have apples in Taiwan, so when I take out my tiny pearl white iBook to watch DVDs with my folks, people stare. Maybe they're used to seeing huge, black (read: menacing-looking) laptops being used in public, but a small, white one playing a DVD on a train is just unusual to them. Parents already like the fact that anywhere we go and wait for stuff (i.e. a restaurant) there's a chance for them to learn english with the Simpsons. So far, this iBook has been a gem to use and take around town. Let's see if it'll impress the local ladies.

08/02/03
New York Trip

Those of you who knows me for a while now know that I frequently go to New York for the summer, to visit family and vacation. This year, I'm leaving on Aug 4th and will not return until Aug. 25th. Since I doubt that I can update this webpage from someone else's computer, I figured the best way for me to post stuff on here is with the comment system that I've installed onto these recent posts.

So this is the deal, you can still check back on this site in the three weeks I'm gone, and I'll post comments and updates with the comment system. Starting... NOW.

07/30/03
End of school.

Friday, when I go in for my Econ 106P final, it will be the last time I go to class here at UCLA as an undergrad. It's really a quiet triumph for me. I've struggled my way through three years of UCLA, through a program that overwhelmed me from day one. And starting on day one, I've questioned myself. "Did I not belong here? These people are too smart for me, how did I get myself into this mess." I guess now I can say that, yes, I did belong here, and that it was some of the most interesting time in my life.

I guess I should go buy a UCLA sweater now, since I figure I really am a student here.

As for running, I'm up to 3 laps. Well, three short laps, cause they cordoned off a section of the track for the "Mercedes Cup Corporate Hospitality" tents. Three short laps is probably 900 to 1000 meters. Couple more short laps and it'll be a mile. It's an exciting thought, running a mile at a time. I should clock myself, since I remember for high school I had to "run" a mile and was clocked at 12 minutes... exactly, I jogged and then walked the rest of the way.

Here's to the athelete within.

07/25/03
The running diaries

These days I have my ritual for running at Drake stadium. We would park the car at one of the meters close to the stadium at 9 pm because it's free after 9, and walk to the stadium. A lap of brisk walking would be the warm up, followed by a 2-lap (800meter / half mile) run. After that's it's usually another 5 to 6 laps of walking and attempts at jogging another lap. This would be followed by a good stretch and then a dash up the stadium stairs back to the car.

It's interesting, it's like some kind of like an alternative world out there on the track. There are people running with a weird sort of of shake to their heads, some run with their torso leaning to one side, others run with an animal-like agility and grace, others seem to proceed at the brink of collapse, their feet heavy and their shoes stomping on the track as they go lumbering around the laps in a semi-conscious, trance-like effort. It's fun to people watch, even though I can never see much, as I run without my glasses on. (It hinders my sweat-wiping.)

07/21/03
Curry?

So I wanted to eat curry today.

Kevin: "Mom, can we eat curry?"

Mom: "We can add curry to the oatmeal."

mmmhmm.

07/16/03
Kevin achieves New Balance

Wow, it's amazing what a different pair of shoes will do. I've been running / walking at Drake stadium for a few days now, and my feet always hurt afterwards. My mom suspected it was my huge and heavy basketball shoes at fault. So I took it upon myself to go to a New Balance store (it's quite close, 2 miles down on Wilshire) and got myself measured. Turns out I've been wearing a larger size than I should have, because I have very wide feet. The saleswoman was very professional and recommended me exactly what I needed. So I got myself a pair of very wide running shoes, and they feel great. I'm gonna try running some more. See you at Drake!

07/14/03
Mutha

If you've noticed that I haven't been online as much or haven't updated this page as much these days, it's because my mother is visiting. She keeps me busy with constant exercise and random questions / shopping trips / errands. I've no time to work on anything of my own now... but here's hoping all your summer plans are not thwarted by your mothers.

P.S. I've lost 5 pounds.

07/07/03
Kevin the cute kid

Yeah, well... I'm not cute these days, unless you're a unattached girl and you think so, then please see entry on 4/28/03

Anyway, my cousin Willie started up this family website and started scanning old pictures, so here's me back in the days.

Arn't I a cute kid? Yeah, I know, what can I say? Anyway, to see some family pictures of me when I was a wee boy or my family unit, go here.

07/02/03
Summer school

Summer school is the suck. School always sucks, but school when it's hot and when everyone else is at the beach is extra suck. This summer I have a class with one of the first Econ professors I hated at UCLA. I promptly flunked his class during my first quarter here and nothing's changed since then.

Yes, we eye each other during class with hard, determined looks in our eyes. "I'm gonna flunk you," His eyes seemed to say. "I'm gonna cheat my way through this one." I glared back.

Let's hope I don't fail this time... since there's really no way I can cheat on his freakishly unpredictable tests.

06/28/03
Wedding

Congratulations to Jenny and Paul, who are getting married today. Since I didn't get to show the credits for the video, the list of songs from their wedding video is now up at the January Man Films page for those who magically knew where to go to find my website.

06/25/03
Nemo!!!

Finding Nemo is probably one of the best movies I've seen in at least a year. It was witty, incredibly clever in its story and humor, a feast of eye candy, and the story was moving and touching. What a great movie! It's probably the best one Pixar has done since Toy Story 2 and I would probably say that Finding Nemo is the best picture Pixar has done so far. So if you haven't seen it, go see it. if you saw it, talk back, tell me what you liked or disliked about it. Be specific!

06/20/03
The Frenzy

The Apple World Wide Developers Conference is next week, and if you know Apple customers, they're a wild and crazy bunch. There are at least a half dozen rumors sites on the internet gathering and posting rumors and leaked information on upcoming Apple products.

Next monday at the Apple WWDC, Steve Jobs is expected to announce brand new PowerMacs based on a brand new processor made by IBM. Supposedly this thing will blow everything out of the water.

But I'm not running a rumors site, so I'll just post a picture.

This MAY possibly be a picture of the next PowerMac.

06/20/03
The List II: Pop music

As judgemental as it may seem, these 5 music "artists" are now deemed unworthy.

Kevin's top 5 pop-music icons to destroy:

	1. Celine Dion - She does one thing and one thing only well - scream and hold that note, and then she does it in this dramatic way, arms spread wide, stupid goofy look on her face like "I'm GIVING IT MY ALL!!! LOOOOVE ME!!!!"
	2. Cher - Give it a REST, woman! You're the female Michael Jackson! Quit before the lawsuits from the little boys catch up to you!
	3. Christina Agulara - Once upon a time Christina was a fine-looking young woman. (See left) and then BAM! The nature of the disaster that caused her massive deformation was not known. (See right) But our condolences goes out to Christina for her rediculous hair and we will spend the rest of our days feeling sorry for her... but not so sorry that we won't want her out of the way.
	4. Jewel - Why!? WHY!? We already have Mariah Carey as the official hoochie of America! We can't have two official hoochies!!! ... or can we? "Who will be the next American Hoochie? Find out next, on FOX!"
	5. Jennifer Lopez - She has conquered America by her huge, ample, colossal , enormous, immense, massive, tremendous, rediculously oversized--I don't think the word "butt" could fully convey the nature of her anatomy, so I'm making up a new word--"faschumme" Well, there's nothing wrong with being well-endowed. But using it to conquer America, why, that's just wrong. (Seen here pushing Ben Afleck's train.)

06/17/03
Video Production

Time off from school means working on video projects! Currently I am wrapping production on the wedding slideshow for Paul and Jenny, you can find some details about it in the January Man Films page.

06/12/03
Graduation

How did I get here? Three years ago I thought I was doomed to spend eternity at El Camino college, but now, not only did get in to UCLA, I've managed not to flunk out for three years.

Not flunking out was a lot of hard work. From procrastination to last minute cramming, the 10 week cycle has taken its toll on Kevin. It's time to move on.

Econ Department Graduation:
6:00-8:30PM Pauley Pavillion, UCLA.
Come at 8:30 for pictures.

06/09/03
OH, BOY... (Part II)

Another week, another final. Another hectic panic filled night. When will this end!?

Top 5 Cars I hate seeing on the street:

1. SUV Limos
2. Ford Excursion
3. Nissan Altima 3.5
4. Ford Mustang
5. Lincoln Navigator

To avoid being so negative, Top 5 Cars I LOVE seeing on the street.

1. New BMW 7 series
2. Mercedes Benz SL 600
3. Aston Martin Vanquish
4. Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII (Spotted two weeks ago)
5. Porsche Carerra 4S

06/05/03
Oh, boy...

Final tomorrow. Well, they don't call it a final, but it's the last chance you get to contribute to your grade. So here I am, reading like mad, making notes like someone locked away at an asylum... don't know what to do. Too nervous to sleep, too brain dead to read more.

Time for a top 5 list!

Top five Toys for Kevin:

1. Formac Gallery 1740 (Pro-grade 17inch LCD monitor)
2. Final Cut Pro 4 (Pro non-linear film and DV editing suite)
3. Pioneer DVR-105 (DVD burner)
4. More RAM for PowerMac (Currently at 768, need more to run Virtual PC better)
5. Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard

06/02/03
Realization

I've always heard about how Christian couples are supposed to glorify God. You know, like at weddings: "Their relationship over the years have truly glorified God..." etc. But it never really worked for me, like, I didn't get it. How does a romantic relationship glorify God? It's all for themselves, isn't it?

But as I was reflecting on my life last night, thinking about my desire for a girlfriend, the long road to building myself up and readying myself for a relationship, the responsibilites and position of leadership that comes with a girlfriend, a wife, all that crazy stuff... and seeing my friends and their relationshops with their wives / girlfriends, it dawned on me how a Christian romantic relationship should glorify God.

It's the holiness and purity, the genuine affection, the pure love between a man and a woman that is glorifying to God.

Instead of giving in to lust, instead of satisfying the flesh, instead of just doing what feels good, these people resist it and do everything they could to stay on the straight and narrow. Those who can stay pure are the ones who really are determined to pursue a Godly relationship with their loved one... THAT is glorifying to God.

So the question is... if I was faced with a situation that tempts me, that tests me, could I win the battle?

Kevin	:	Sin
3284	:	4 Kabillion

 

Ari Hest Returns!

"I've got you"
Tell me you care
Tell me you're listening
Tell me it is me that you are missing
Tell me I mean something more
Than anyone before
Stay for the morning
Under these covers
We lie here all day
If I am my "truders" ? -Someone tell me what he sings.
Honey I haven't a clue
Tell me that it's true
That I've got you
Is it my imagination
Declare to me without hesitation
That nobody could suddenly take my place
Leave me cryin' teardrops down my face
Sing for me baby
Soft as a whisper
Every single breath
A spine tingling elixir
Honey, when will you notice my cue?
Tell me that it's true
That I've got you
Tell me you care
Tell me you're listening
Tell me it is me that you're missing
Your answer is long overdue
Tell me that it's true
That I've got you

05/30/03
New Song

I like new songs these days. It's all about love and the pop music backlash is bringing new artists to the forefront again. Here's Ari Hest and one of my favorite songs from him.

"Caught up in your love"
After I said goodbye I promised myself I’d try
To get my mind off you and back to reality
But only lightning striking me, shaking me up could ever do that trick
Caught up in your love
I was halfway home on a jet airplane, halfway between joy and pain
Thinking about walking with you by the evergreens
The way that light struck your eye, captured your face, nestled in my memory
Caught up in your love
I’m looking out my window at blue skies above caught up in your love
And I’m having all these thoughts too wild to speak of caught up in your love
I don’t care if its foolish to feel this way
I will take my chances with you despite what people say
People say, "Pay no mind, you don’t want to waste your time
Loving one when there’s so much more for you to see.”
But they don’t got what I’ve got, the jackpot, fits me like a glove
Caught up in your love

5/24/03
Birthday.

23 Today. Good night.

05/21/03

"Waiting On An Angel"

Waiting on an angel.
One to carry me home.
Hope you come to see me soon, cause I don't want to go alone,
I don't want to go alone.
Now angel won't you come by me.
Angel hear my plea.
Take my hand, lift me up so that I can fly with thee,
so that I can fly with thee.
And I'm waiting on an angel.
And I know it won't be long to find myself a resting place in my angel's arms,
in my angel's arms.
So speak kind to a stranger, cause you'll never know, it just might be an angel come,
Oh- knockin' at your door, Oh- knockin' at your door.
And I'm waiting on an angel.
And I know it won't be long to find myself a resting place in my angel's arms,
Oh- in my angel's arms.
Waiting on an angel.
One to carry me home.
Hope you come to see me soon, cause I don't want to go alone,
I don't want to go alone,
don't want to go,
I don't want to go alone.

05/19/03
Money and Kev.

Being a student of economics, I try to have a very objective view about money. When you're doing calculations involving hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, you're not thinking "ohh, that's a lot of money," you're thinking about interest rates and exchange rates and which way does this line move when you add in this money to aggregate consumption or government spending... stuff like that.

and I hate money.............................. okay, no, I love money.

Dang it. Okay, I love having money, I hate not having money.

Money so I can go out and have great meals with my friends, money so I can do more creative things with my camera, my camcorder, my computer, money so I can travel and see the world, money so I don't have to spend all 8 hours a day for 5 days a week for the next 40 years behind a desk working.

Money is like the great enabler, you know... you can do almost everything with money, and can't do much without it. But the most important things in the world, the friends you make, the family you have and the love that God has for you, it's all free.

May you have enough money to buy the things you need and some of the things you want. May you lack money enough not to forget God's goodness and the importance of your family and friends.

May you always have enough to give away some to the poor, the needy, the missionary, and the church.

05/04/03
Ah, crep.

It is 20 days until my birthday. I can't say that I'm at an age where I'm dreading a birthday, but I'm starting to feel slightly dated. Who's Lizzy McGuire? Why are there no-talent criminals on TV passing themselves off as "rap artists"? What happened to McGyver?

All joking aside, I'm feeling like I'm becoming more and more specialized in the sense of things I expose myself to and the work that I do. Maybe one day I'll be a specialst in something and be really useful for something. In the mean time, I'll settle for what I got right now -- wrecking havoc and general laziness.

Oh, and if any of you reading this is planning to get me something (I don't know, every year a couple of you do manage to pull something out of a hat. I'm not asking, by the way.) But if you are... I have something that I'd really like to get, but can't because I don't have enough money. I'd really appreciate it if instead of some present, that you, my friend, will help me get this thing I'm desperately trying to obtain... It's not a "gift" in the traditional sense, but believe me, I will appreciate it just as much, if not more than a traditional gift. Write me and ask about "Project Legit."

Oh, I'll be 23.

4/28/03
Boredom killed my evening.

I was SO bored that I started looking at personal ads on Yahoo! Taiwan.

Yeah, I was THAT bored.

The thing about personal ads is that it's very entertaining. It's halarious to see what kind of freaks are out there and how they try to hide their personal freakiness. I will not give examples here, but 10 pages into these personal ads I've developed a list of things to check for and I guess they're my "Automatic rejection alarms."

Kevin's Top 5 reasons for AUTOMATIC REJECTION:

1. No picture - Very obvious reason not to look into this person any further, they will sound like the perfect person for you on the website and then a man will show up on the first date. AUTOMATIC REJECTION.
2. Person who lives at a location that requires driving on the 405 - Dates usually occur after rush hour, which means you'd have to be on the 405 DURING rush hour. Lifelong love and companionship is NOT worth driving on the 405 during rush hour. AUTOMATIC REJECTION.
3. ppl hoo ritz lke ths - No engrish!? AUTOMATIC REJECTION!!! LAZY? REJECTED!!!
4. People from other religions - I don't wanna worry about THEIR salvation, we haven't even gotten past the whole "who's gonna pay for dinner" thing! AUTOMATIC REJECTION.
5. People who smoke - I should be the hottest thing they put their lips to, and that is that. AUTOMATIC REJECTION.

Top 5 things that'll get you "puntas gigantes" (Gigantic points) in Kevin's book.

1. Christian - Okay, so maybe I'll make dinner.
2. Play a jazz-emsemble instrument - drums, piano, guitar, bass, sax, trumpet, etc.
3. People who write well - Smart AND well educated!
4. People who are artistic - Endlessly interesting.
5. People who speaks decent mandarin - For those moments when yelling at a bad driver in English just WON'T do, I'll have an audience.

Kevin's own stab at a personal ad:

Wanted: Partner in Crime Tall, well-rounded Chink looking for God-lovin', music-playin' Chinkette to share love of Jazz and film. Participation in home film projects mandatory either behind or in front of camera. Master Chefs, chiropractors, and cinematographers are welcome. Lack of kitchen skills permitted as long as you eat what I cook and you like Chinese take-out 6 out of the 7 days of the week. Must enjoy frequent trips to scenic areas for photography and general wreaking of havoc. Good communication skills a plus, Microsoft-Certified engineers need not apply. Send bio and PHOTO! PHOTO!!! YOU'LL NEED A PHOTO! to E-mail at top of right column.

NOTE: This entry was written at 2am, like most ads being shown on TV at 2am, it is for entertainment purposes only. Please do NOT E-mail me bios and pictures... unless you fit 4 out of the 5 Puntas Gigantes requirements and no AUTOMATIC REJECTIONS... then here's my number...

4/23/03
January Man Films page launched

January Man Films deserves its own page, so there it is. Check out behind the scenes info and the story behind the name.

4/20/03
"Appreciation"

Finally, after weeks and months of work, "Appreciation" is released. The video is a project comissioned for Sisters' Appreciation Night 2003 and was premiered last night at Harvest SB.

High Bandwidth Stream

Appreciation is a production of January Man Films.

4/5/03
Tony Nave

This breaks my heart. I saw this on the LA Times webpage last night.

Tony Nave, pictured, has just walked out of the church where his father's funeral is held.

Some of us deal with hard classes and LA traffic, some of us have worse things to contend with.

Hang in there, kiddo.

4/3/03
Band of Brothers

I've had it for a long time now, it seems, but I've never really written about it, I don't think. I guess I've been thinking about it a bit more these days because we're at war once again.

Band of Brothers is one of the best miniseries I have ever seen done, period. It's so intense, so graphic, and so full of life. The horrors of war, the glory of victory in battle, the humanity of the soldiers in the middle of the chaos and confusion, the sufferings and triumphs of being a soldier in the greatest war ever fought.

So why "Covering fire!" on the top there, you ask? It's the spirit of Band of Brothers. See, whenever someone yells "Covering Fire" it means that someone has just selflessly put themselves into harm's way, but it's okay, because there's still a group of people that's there to back him up, providing covering fire to pin down the enemy while the second squad outflanks the enemy's position and destory them. It's about people making sacrifices, it's about people backing each other up, working as a team.

3/27/03
Final Cut Pro

Who knew? Final Cut Pro looked complicated at first glance, but turned out to be easy to use. I've been working nonstop on two projects concurrently for days now and it's a fantastic piece of software. With dual monitors and dual 867 G4 CPUs, I have a a great workstation. Here's a screen capture of my setup.

3/20/03
Stupid Final.

Frustration mounts as I study for my last final. Economics 161, monetary theory. Actually, frustration mounts as I finish up my education here at UCLA. In all of my Econ classes, there doesn't seem to be many good, solid ground rules as to how things work; only newer theories on how things should work and old, disproved theories and how they DIDN'T work. Nothing is proven, nothing is for sure. And uh... there isn't much we can do to improve the economy.

You know what it's like to be an Economist? It's like being a doctor, but you can't save anyone's life

"The economy is bad probably because of this, this and that. And uh... there's nothing I can do about it."

So... GOOD LUCK!

3/19/03
Protestors

Call me insensitive, blame my bad attitude, but these protestors out there at the federal building is really ticking me off. Wilshire Blvd, one of the busiest streets in LA, was shut down for a long time. My street, Veteran Ave, has been shut down too. Traffic was backed up for HOURS for thousands and thousands of people. Even now, at 11:15 PM, there's a helicopter circling overhead. It's really annoying. I'm trying to study for finals.

This reminded me of that one time a few months ago when a couple of American women went to Tienanmen Square and took off their clothes as a protest to people wearing fur. PROTEST FOR FUR, IN CHINA. One of the bystanders said "They had too much to eat." A Chinese saying that means people have too much free time on their hands and have nothing better to do, so they're out looking to start trouble, in a sense. Protesting fur in China, that's like if Microsoft sued North Korea for software piracy.

Maybe if the economy is worse people would be out finding jobs or working hard to feed themselves and their kids and not wasting their time blocking traffic and disrupting other people's lives. I mean, sure, people can be against the war, they can protest and do whatever they want, it's a free country. But don't expect me to have patience with you if you're causing me 40 minutes of extra traffic for me to sit through. I'm the kind of guy who'd go out of my way to make things more convenient for people, and these people are going out of their way to disrupt my life. So don't expect me to like these guys, they have had too mcuh to eat.

As for war, I don't like it either. So there. That's my two cents. Read it at your convenience.

3/18/03
"She and her cat"

Stumbled across this website today. Apparantly this ONE guy does animation on his Dual 1Ghz PowerMac with AfterEffects, Photoshop, and Lightwave3D.
You must take a look at the trailers to his movies. They are breathtaking. Good cinematography, wonderful lighting, beautiful beautiful stuff.

"She with her cat" Relatively small, short trailer.

3/14/03
"The List"
If you've been watching my AIM (Mac: iChat) away messages, you KNOW that I have a short list of people to destroy. Yes, as judgemental as it is, the following people are now deemed unworthy.

1. Kenny G.
Kenny has single-handedly destroyed Jazz as the public knows it. Now when I go out and proclaim my love for Jazz, I have to add in "--but not Kenny G jazz." at the end. I don't know how this guy got to be a "Jazz Musician" in the first place, all he does is play the melody with his sax and occasionally repeat a lick or hold a note for really long.

2. Yanni.
What's up with this guy? If his music was a person, it'd Milhouse from the Simpsons. Let's just move on...

3. Michael Bolton.
Corny, melodramatic, unavoidable, and just so much fun to diss. Maybe he should stick around just so we can continue to redicule him.

Honorable Mention: John Tesh
Teshy was actually once on top of the "to destroy" list. But recently he went on the Conan O'Brien show and have been a good sport about his lame music, so he's just an honorable mention now. You can't hate a guy who's a good sport, you know. Plus he wrote the NBA on NBC theme and while it's not musically GOOD, it's something that I enjoyed listening to over the years, and thus he is redeemed... but he's still lame, so let's get 'em.

3/11/03

So I was bored and stumbled across this thing on www.behindthename.com...

KEVIN   m   English, Irish
Pronounced: KEV-in
Anglicized form of the Irish name Caoimhín, which means "handsome child" from Gaelic caomh "handsome" combined with a diminutive suffix. Saint Caoimhin established a monastery in Ireland and is the patron saint of Dublin.

Wow, you heard it, folks. I'm a "Handsome child." Now, I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but this is from a reliable, reputable name website and I think they're absolutely right. So let's all give it up for me.

(This entry is clearly added while Kevin is under the influence of finals, please disregard. That is, unless you're a rich person looking for a "handsome child" to give all your money to, then please E-mail Kevin to arrange the transfer. Thanks, goodnight.)

02/27/03
Farewell, Mr. Rogers.

Fred Rogers, 1929-2003.

02/26/03
Strong Bad!

What a charactor. What fun. Checkout Strong Bad and his E-mails here. They're really good for study breaks, snack breaks, guitar breaks, surfing breaks, etc. I'm not gonna tell you any more about this guy, exploration and discovery is part of the fun.

02/24/03
Norah Jones

It's funny, Norah Jones have suddenly become a superstar just by winning 5 Grammies. Ok, it's not easy to win 5 Grammies in one night. But then again, she did go to one of the best Jazz schools in the US. She's been a great musician for a while now, and yet recognition only comes when you win 5 popularity awards in one night. Well, Norah, welcome to America, land of the media.

If only other great musicians can also have the popularity they deserve. I'm talking about Steve Poltz, Gregory Page, Jason Mraz (who is starting to get some major exposure,) Raya Yarbrough, Mose Allison (Who I had the great pleasure of seeing this past week) and the hundreds and thousands of independent musicians who haven't won their Grammies. Hang in there, guys... after all, it's just some stupid awards.

02/19/03
Kevin and computers

You know, the whole reason why I use a Mac is because it doesn't have problems. Well, now I've got a problem. My hard drive is funky, it won't show up on the desktop. Ok, it's not the Mac's fault, I did a hard reboot because I've been running this "Folding at home" thing on both processors for a week straight. Such was my confidence in the Mac that I allowed it to be burned for a week non-stop at 100% CPU power.

Everything was running sweet, I was climbing up the competition ladder quickly, and then, on the 7th day, things started acting funky, and while I struggled to shut down all the applications I was running, the system went into a daze. So I did a hard reboot.

That's when the 2nd hard drive got messed up. It didn't mount again.

So now I'm sitting here letting Norton Utilities scan my 80gig Maxtor drive. It's taking hours and I'm scared that all the stuff I had on the 2nd drive (movies I've made) will be lost. Yikes. Back up your stuff, people.
Before you point at me and laugh, understand that I followed my own advice. The 2nd HD WAS my backup disk! Boo.

Here's to Symantec's Norton Utilities--saving my butt since 1991.

02/14/03
Val-freakin-entine's day.

(Insert your usual single guy rant here about how Valentine's day is a commercial holiday designed to help boost the stuffed animal, chocolate, flower, and greeting card industry. Mix in bitterness about being alone on a love-themed holiday. Add in a bucket of belligerence and general hatred of world.)

Anyway, school is rough. I have horrible grades right now and classes are not getting easier. Plus I want to do all these projects for myself and other people. (Movies and photo) and the bad grades are really putting a damper on my relaxation time, if I get any.

But last night was cool. Last night we took Mikey out for dinner at a Thai restaurant and so we drove to Thai town and walked into this crowded Thai restaurant and lo and behold, there's a Thai Elvis impersonator singing on stage. It was weird at first but by the time we were leaving I totally forgot that Elvis was supposed to be white. I mean, this guy was great, so very entertaining.

See ya next time.

01/28/03
The Feast of Love

I like updating the webpage when I'm supposed to do something else. Right now I'm supposed to be studying for a midterm... oh, two midterms, actually. But it's a nice break to update the Blog.

One of my favorite books is this one called "The Feast of Love" by Charles Baxter. It's quite a bit like the movie YiYi in construction in the sense that the story involves people from several different age groups dealing with different kinds of love. It's quite an relaxing read, charming and fascinating at the same time, check it out sometime.

01/22/03
TV and Kev.

See, usually I don't watch much TV. Or, rather, I don't watch popular TV.

What's popular TV, you ask?
Well, depending on your demographic, it might be "the Practice," "ER," or "Surviver," "Smallville," "Buffy," But lately there's been much hubub about this "American Idol" and I just had to watch a little bit of it today to see what the fuss was about.

Ok, first of all, if they're going to make a show about people who can sing and show us how these people compete with each other for the final spot, that's fine. (Crappy pop music aside.) I think that'd be a great show. (Like "Made" on MTV)

But so far, this is a FREAK SHOW, ok? It's fine showing us reality, but letting people who can't sing make a fool of themselves on national TV and THEN have this guy Simon insult them for their lack of skill shows really poor taste. We already know most of these people can't sing and yet they insist on showing us time after time these poor people who can't sing, and then Simon makes his snide comments. Come on, people, it's like "When good times turn bad" all over again, and we all know how long that lasted us.

Ok, maybe I'm just biased towards "Iron Chef."

01/21/03

You know, I'm starting to think that High Fidelity might have gotten itself pretty high on my list of favorite movies. I'm not going to come up with a list, that's something people from High Fidelity would do. But anyway, it's a funny and interesting movie, check it out if you have time. In other news, I eagerly await the release of iMovies 3. (Jan 25th) I can't wait to play with its new features and such and such. I have interesting projects coming up. 1. Paul and Jenny's wedding slide show. (Totally taken care of by iMovie 3 - The Ken Burns effect) 2. Sister's appreciation night video (No idea what to do for it right now. Write me your ideas, brilliant sister-appreciators of the world.) I also broke into Final Cut Pro a little bit, and found it to be quite intuitive but still a bit overwhelming at first. It's very very powerful, though, and I look foward to playing with it some more.

01/07/03

en•a•ble

Apple computers and software enable me to do more as a creative person. The many projects I work on are all one way or the other done on my Mac. These projects include recording music, burning audio CDs, creating home movies, church scavenger hunts, my web page projects, my various homeworks, screenplays, and photography.

I know, I know.
"You can do everything on a PC too! Macs are for inferior people who can't use computers!"
I've said that before myself, but it's just not true. I myself am a 12-year Windows veteran, I've even been employed to do networking, programming, and hardware and software troubleshooting on PCs.

But as for me, I run Macs at home. Computers are such a big part of my life now that I will not put up with machines that are unstable, slow, troublesome, or fail to do what I want it to. Basically, I got sick of how I have to put in hard work to get PCs to work for me. Now, my Mac works for me. It's been a year since I had my PC dragged out and shot, and I'm a satisfied customer. Believe me, life is so much easier with a Mac.

To learn how to switch to a Mac, visit www.apple.com/switch

01/05/03

Stupidity Abound.

In today's news: "A man who changed his name to Jack Ass is to sue MTV for plagiarism. The 44-year-old from Montana, U.S. is seeking $9 million from the firm he claims is defaming his name with their comedy show Jackass. Jack Ass was known as Bob Craft until 1997. He claims he is 'liable for injury to a reputation I have built up and defamation of the character I have created.'"

Rant of convenience.

I wanna change my name to Ford Excursion and sue Ford for destroying my reputation as a smart, sensible, enviromentally friendly person who does not easily filp over and kill everyone I bump into. Also, I am not driven by soccermoms who needs a 4 1/2 ton "truck" to pick up groceries at the supermarket.

Think about this, the Excusion's has a 44 gallon gas tank, with an estimated range of 450 miles. (Consumer guide reports a 10 MPG fuel efficiency)

With 44 gallons my Civic can go about 1300 miles. So while the Excursion coasts to a stop 60 miles past San Francisco, I can drive all the way from Los Angeles to Seattle on the same 44 gallons.

01/04/03

Happy New Year. Nothing's really happening right now, vacation is ending, waiting for school to start and all hell to break loose. Meanwhile, I'm reading up on the rumors about Mac World San Francisco. Maybe there will be surprises! I want them come up with a Tablet Mac!
(Fingers Crossed)

E-mail me:

Portfolio

Friends:
Arex
Alecks
EFong
Melkey
Steph
Nancy


Favorites movies:
Blade Runner
Face/Off
American Beauty
Schindler's List
The Indiana Jones Trilogy
Rear Window

Independent Muscians:
Jason Mraz
Carlos Olmeda
Gregory Page
Steve Poltz

Not-so-independent-muscicians:
DC Talk
Karrin Allyson
Stacey Kent
Diana Krall

Photography:
Canon
Sigma
Fuji Film

Film:
January Man Films

Computing:

Bylaws