11/26/2002 06:13:00 PM |
As some of you may know there is currently a huge controversy over the trial of Sgt. Fernando Nino where he was acquitted of negligent homicide. Something I'm not so sure of is whether this incident has gotten the public involved simply because it involves the U.S. army resident in Corea or because the men were acquitted... I mean... is this out of pure hatred against the U.S. or do people really care about the girls? Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating that the soldiers are innocent. I'm merely questioning the motives behind some of the protesters... Given all the recent sign of hatred against the U.S. this might even have been good news for them? Just to have another set of strong ammunition, ya know? I'm sure there are those who have thought this through, but many of them are idiots who have nothing constructive to add to the situation who think yelling "fuck you America" and throwing bottles at our very own police force is supposed to change something. To me there are two issues here. One is the belief that Corea does not have much influence over the U.S. armies resident in Corea. That definitely needs to be addressed. The other issue is the actual death of the two girls. That's gonna be difficult for either involved parties: the girls family, and the soldiers family. I just hope things develop in such a way to help prevent such incidents from occuring in the future. Here are some articles I've gathered on the subject (All of them are in Corean, tho) |
11/26/2002 02:29:00 PM |
Are you afraid Tivo thinks you're gay when you're not? His wife, however, was taken aback when she saw all the half-naked women he was ordering through TiVo. He told her those women meant nothing to him: "I'm just counterprogramming because TiVo thinks I'm gay." She was unamused.Too funny! :P |
11/26/2002 12:30:00 PM |
|
11/23/2002 12:28:00 PM |
G N' R... G N' R, baby.... awww man... if I were to have been able to see G n' R when they were out on their "Use your illusion" tour... that would have been a dream come true... Heck, "Use your illusion I" and "Use your illusion II" were two very first CDs I bought when I came to the states in '95. Well, by then the band had sorta disintegrated and it wasn't until last night I got a chance to see them live on their "Chinese Democracy" tour. Ok, so where was I going with this... oh yes.. the concert... So after searching online for the pre-sale password for the Pittsburgh concert I finally found it and bought my tickets during pre-sale period! Boy was I excited!! ^^ Here goes my recap of the night. Cubbie and I got there around 7:15pm wanting to grab a bite to eat and check out the opening bands. I really wanted to take photos so I took my coolpix 2500 along, but they wouldn't let me in with it so I put it back in my car. Now when I returned they didn't even check telling me that they trust me this time. I was like... fuck... I play way too nice... :( Anyway, so we got in and soon afterwards CKY performed (Cubbie and I misread the band name to be Eky, and had pronounced it icky. pu heh heh.). I personally don't think they sounded very original. I hear they have a track in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater III game (although, it sounds like it wasn't included in the official soundtrack), but I don't really care for punk metal/rock... Anyway, so next up was Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys and the Invisible Skratch Piklz. Pretty cool stuff, but I'm not the biggest fan of Mix Master Mike's style. The light finally went off at around 10:40PM... Yup... insane, right? Not so atypical of G n' R, tho. ^^;;; Up until then people were getting kinda antsy and the camera guy started shooting random boob shots soliciting girls to take their shirts off... Guess what? It eventually happened. pu ha ha ha. I really wish I had my camera with me (I can feel cubbie's sharp stare behind my back. kee hee) So as a pre-main event we got to see around... let's say.. 5 sets of boobs? ^0^ Ok, 'nuf with the boobs and on with the show. Now for those of you who have not been following the band, the band basically has an entirely new line up apart from Dizzy (since "Use Your Illusion") and Axl (he owns the "Guns N' Roses" name). If you know G N' R you know they've gone through several member changes in the past, but when people think of G n' R it's usually Axl and Slash. And the fact that the band now is void of Slash was a major let down for me. Slash was always known for his warm humbucking sound coming out of his Gibson Les Paul... Bet you didn't know that he's the very reason I started playing electric guitar back in highschool. In Slash's place we have *GASP* 2 guitarists... Now that's a lot of lead guitarists if you ask me... In the classic rock band set up you usually have 2 guitarists: one rhythm and one lead. Here we have 2 lead guitarists sharing solos. In the concert it was pretty obvious that Robin Finck (from NIN) takes on the warm humbucking sounds and most speed shredding riffs are taken on by Buckethead. I mean both of'em are GREAT guitarists... It's just that the band doens't sound the same... Slash was very unique in his style... Needless to say the combined prowess of Buckethead and Robin Finck cannot replace Slash. :( Without Slash, they should be renamed to Bucket of Roses or something.. As you might have noticed I was caught up in the whole "There's something missing in the sound of G n' R tonight" ordeal the entire night... You have to understand that I actually know how to play most of the solo routines of G n' R tracks cuz I had to play them at our band's concerts in highschool. I mean... I must have listened to Slash's solos a gazillion times... Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with taking somebody else's solo riff, adding your own flavor to it and spicing it up with some of your own adlib. It's just that as a fan of G n' R I really couldn't get satisfied listening to Robin and Bucket's combination... I should, however, say that I was very impressed by Bucket's solo where he took out his KFC stripped flying V and shredded the shit of it... It reminded me of Paul Gibert's solos style a lot (one of my all-time favorite guitarists)... But, I think the melody he plays are much darker.... His bass-playing-inspired slap and pop technique on his guitar was very interesting as well. But I just couldn't get the image of slash with his leather outfit, huge top hat, and his hair totally covering his face showing just his nose ring and cigarette out of my head. G n' R just seemed so half-full without him... *SIGH* Now with all my rants about me missing Slash aside, I think the band sounded GREAT. ;) Having listend to some of the new tracks on their Chinese Democracy Album during the concert, they're still mostly true to their original G n' R style, only different. ^^;; There's no denying that the new tracks like Madagascar definitely have a moderinzed sound to them. Hey, they're playing catch up. I guess only time will tell if the new style of G n' R can keep them going strong.. |
11/21/2002 11:48:00 PM |
I hear it's gonna snow really soon... Gonna be driving my Bora in the snow for the first time! Am I worried about understeering? Why there's the left foot braking technique.. ^^ Who am I kidding... I can't even get my heel and toe down perfectly... I totally blame it on Bora's pedal positioning!! :P |
11/20/2002 10:59:00 PM |
I thought I'd make this site a lil more interactive... So I have installed a forum and started a forum where anyone can post random questions to solicit opinions from others. The rule is here, and to start it off I have posted my first random question! ;) |
11/19/2002 11:34:00 PM |
What the hell was Michael Jackson doing???? 0_o? |
11/18/2002 01:50:00 AM |
My guilty pleasure.. Relic Hunter... pu ha ha ha... Every time I watch it I want to rewatch all of Indiana Jones and play all the Indiana Jones PC game series done by LucasArts again... Do you remeber Fate Of Atlantis ??? *SIGH* t'was the days of old skool adventure games under DOS... I'm sooooo random... -.-;; |
11/18/2002 12:29:00 AM |
I'm folding my laundry.. and *BAM* I have this sudden urge for doritos... But I can't fold AND eat doritos at the same time... cuz my hands will get all... uhm... dorito-y.. -.-; I wish I had an extra set of arm and a hand just like the Kamajii from Spirited Away so I can fold my laundry while eating doritos... kee hee. ^^ |
11/17/2002 03:39:00 AM |
|
11/13/2002 05:27:00 PM |
I had the privilege to attend a depression talk some time ago and I thought I'd share my new-found knowledge with all you guys. :)
These may be symptoms of depression which is a treatable medical illness that many people suffer from. It is absolutely crucial to realize that these negative views are part of the depression and do not accureately reflect the actual circumstances. Negative thinking fades as treatment begins to take effect. So it is not you, it's the neurotransmitters! The great thing I found out was that there is free help available when you call 412-624-4444. You can even get free medication if you join the the medicine program. You can also take a crude depression screening test, unipolar drepssion quiz, and a manic test or two online. Here is also a page that compares Mania and Hypomania. . They say depression can be caused by stress, change in environment, new responsibilities, or physical/hormonal changes. This seems very common since about 10% of the population experience one form of depression or another during their lifetime. The good news is that apparently after years of research even the most severe form of depression can be treated using medication or psychological therapies. There you go! My new-found knowledge. :) |
11/12/2002 12:59:00 AM |
I've said it once, twice, who knows how many times... and I'll probably say it till the day I die... Working full-time, taking classes full-time, spending as much time as possible on monitoring music, and producing mix tapes and remix tracks whilst being just another guy who loves driving, hanging with his friends, and, of course, spending quality time with his girl... is quite a handful... I really really wish I could just take away the taking-classes-full-time bit out of my life. My life could be sooooo much more relaxing... *SIGH* Yeah, I'm just bitching at myself... Makes me feel better. :P |
11/11/2002 04:11:00 PM |
From time to time I forget the fact that I'm just a mere mortal. Mortals make mistakes, mortals get swayed by emotion, mortals do things that isn't logical or is down-right stupid... Mortals think the forbidden thoughts although they know they should not... Sometimes mortals just need to be left alone... You have no clue what a mere mortal like myself is thinking right now... Maybe I try too hard not to look like a mere mortal... Blah... mortals... whatever... I'm god. *puts flame suit on* |
11/10/2002 05:31:00 PM |
Got my Nikon Coolpix 2500 on Friday and have been taking a few pix here and there. Still waiting for my 256MB CF card so I can take photos without running out of memory every hour or so. ^^;;... Had an awesome dinner with Dongran noons and Hosik hyung on Friday night. Ate and just chilled with a few bottles of Wine that eventually lead to Hoshik hyung and I going off to buy couple boxes of beer at the UBC. ^^;;; :) Can't say enough how good it was to see you guys again. It's my treat next time! Don't forget!! I also finished watching all of Initial D over the weekend as well. 3rd stage was ok. I don't think it was the best as far as the plot is concerned, but the anime itself had certainly improved in quality. I wander if there will be more of Initial D coming out... man... one can only hope Yeah, so these are photos I took with my coolpix. The top one is obviously a shot of Bora's interior with lights on, and the bottom one is a rear shot that shows you the lovely 100th day hand-crafted gift cubbie gave me. ;) |
11/07/2002 04:38:00 PM |
I'm sorry... I know it's wrong... but, I think this is funny... kee hee... Granted stuff like this goes on every day... I won't be surprised if there is a petition for each and every single music video that is aired on Mtv. ;) Good luck, but all this has probably caused more media-attention (which I bet her publicist wanted really badly) and kids, I'm sure, are already searching the internet for a possible unrated version of the video to see if they can peep more than they were able to on Mtv. :P I say just educate your children and talk to them and stop trying to blame it on the media. |
11/05/2002 05:52:00 AM |
CMU now seems to have an "Asian-interest" sorority. We can only hope that they're not like the stereotypical Asian greeks... How many times I have hoped for the same thing in the past 7 years of seeing colleges that start new frats and sororities on their campuses only to be let down again and again... Dear fellow alumni members we could only hope... |
11/03/2002 08:08:00 AM |
Spirited away... great movie. ;) I really hope even older people would learn from this movie about courage, and helping one's self to survive this non-compromising world in which we live in. Hang in tough people! |
11/01/2002 03:49:00 PM |
While reading Jer's blog I came across this article about the use of lemon juice as a form of contraceptive. Screw the whole whip cream thing, get with the lemon juice generation. ;) |
Want some more? Dig in to the archive for past entries.