Category: General

Well, I’m on a modem connection again. That neighbor I had been leeching (I mean borrowing) high speed internet from wirelessly seems to have moved his router or something. Drat. Oh well, minor inconvenience.

I got home at around Tuesday. I’ve spent a good amount of time trying to soak up all the changes since I last left. My parents finally replaced that old refrigerator with a new and bigger one, though it seems kind of weird to get one when both me and my brother spend most our time in college anyway. They also got an HDTV, which would be totally sweet if it wasn’t so darn confusing to set up. Geez.

On Friday, I saw some of my high school friends like koenma, thanks to some awesome planning by Matthew. We all had lunch down at Monterey Park and then played miniature golf (I sucked, but hey I got one hole-in-one). Fun time.

Sunday came the post-Christmas family lunch with uncles, aunts, and cousins. We don’t seem to talk much to each other, probably due to the age difference (I’m 20, most of my cousins are like 15 or younger) or the fact that we don’t get together much in the first place.

Alright, I’m done with the first half of the holiday update. Next time, Holiday Bowl and New Years? What does it all mean?

So I went out with Chihyon and Shoshanna tonight, the day after the easiest final I’ve ever had at Berkeley (Astrobiology: 60 multiple choice questions, took me 30 minutes to finish). I saw a few movies and I thought I’d share a few thoughts on them.

–Ocean’s Twelve: Good movie overall, but not as good as the first (one idea overall involving one of the actresses made the movie totally awesome). A little confusing, but does not want to make me want to see it twice like most people say.

–Big Fish: Been waiting to see this for a while. Rented it on DVD with Shoshanna; watched it at her place with Jacqueline. Started off a little awkwardly and there are a few plot holes in my mind, but had some awesome scenes that totally made up for it. It wasn’t nearly as weird as I thought it could have been (it beginning directed by Tim Burton and all), but still very interesting imagery.

–The Hebrew Hammer: I was seeing it on late night Comedy Central and all I have to say is “wow this movie is bad.” How it ever got made I have no idea. It has the stupidest plot, stupidest ideas, and so much bad acting. I didn’t know how bad movies could get until I saw this.

Anyways, off to bed I go.

Some people…

Jimmy Walter has spent more than $3 million (1.5 million pounds) promoting a conspiracy theory the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were “an inside job” and he is offering more cash to anyone who proves him wrong.

The millionaire activist is so convinced of a government cover-up he is offering a $100,000 reward to any engineering student who can prove the World Trade Centre buildings crashed the way the government says.

(The story found via Fark)
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For all you people in Berkeley not getting enough news with the Daily Cal out,. there’s news on Calstuff and One.berkeley.edu. Both maintained by me.
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I found out Wikipedia listed me as one of its 2000 most active users. Out of how many users who use that site, I must say that’s astounding.
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Seth Godin again came out with some great posts on what people need to teach kids starting in 3rd grade and have mastered by high school (see The Top 1,000 things to know and Add to the List).

1. How to type.
2. How to speak in front of a group.
3. How to write clear prose that other people actually want to read.
4. How to manage a project.
5. The most important lessons from American history.
6. What the world’s religions have in common.
7. Evolution.
8. Formal logic.
9. The 15,000 most common English words.
10. Conversational Spanish.
11. How to handle big changes, with grace.
12. How to run a small business.
13. Basic chemistry.
14. Not arithmetic, but algebra.
15. A little geometry, a little calculus.
16. The most important lessons from ten other world cultures and their history.
17. Speed reading with comprehension.
18. How to sell.
19. Pick one: how to paint, write a poem, compose a song or juggle really well.
20. Understanding the biographies of 500 important historical figures and 200 fictional ones.
21. Basic understanding of electricity.
22. How to drive a nail, drive a screw, cut a board, build a box.
23. How to drive a car in the winter, how to pull a car out of a skid.
24. How to ask for help.

Probability.

25. How to read a table and a chart
26. How to read the media for spin and for insight
27. The importance of doing things for other people.
(yes, this one among others is mostly a parenting job, but yes, it can be taught)
28. How to work really really hard, sometimes on things that aren’t fun.
29. What it’s like to be in jail.
30. How to create an internal dialogue that makes you happy.

Interesting stuff. I know how to do a lot of this stuff (I think), but I wish I knew some of these things. Well, I’m still young; I can pick this up.

Make a free donation to the Jane Goodall Primate Institute

I should be studying for finals, but Seth Godin posted this speech by Author Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Congo, Lost World, Andromeda Strain) on how science is becoming more and more impeded by politics and superstitions (that’s a scary thought). It related a lot to my final for Astrobiology (biology on other planets-and yes there is none) immensely, so I didn’t lose any time reading it. Anyways, I liked what he had to say about science, but he got quite a few things wrong:
Analysis

I plugged Improv and Shakespare night in my last post. So many people were invited, some showed up and some didn’t (maybe I should have called them, but oh well). Of course, there were people who showed up who I didn’t expect, too and that was cool.

Shakespeare Night was cool. We did Merchant of Venice. The guys were right about one thing though, drama plays do tend to work better than comedies. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to act much, but all in all it was funny watching it.

Improv night was especially fun last night. Our favorite game is still “World’s Worst.” It’s just funny how well making fun of Patrick works.
Example: Worst things to say on a first date.
Response: Hi my name is Patrick.

Some other good ones:
Worst Songs to Sing at a funeral
“Move Bitch Get Out the Way”
“Zippide Do Dah”
“Ding Dong the Witch is dead”

Worst Best Man Toasts
“let me tell you, that shipping that woman over from Russia was the best grand he ever spent”

Poor Nick, he was so tired. I had to take over and host for the rest of the night. We did do an awesome “In The Year 3000” bit. It’s basically Conan’s in the year 2000 bit taken a little further.

Best ones
“The final extended edition of Lord of the Rings comes out. Total Running Length: 5 Years”
“Instead of computer algorithms, the BCS will turn to a surprisingly more accurate system: monkeys flinging poo on a map of the United States.”
“The Flying Car will finally be available. However, people will not only be complaining about bad Asian driver, they’ll also be complaining about bad Asian pilots”

Yeah that was fun.

Wow I have not wrote a cohesive post in like a month. I must be really tired. Back to the books.

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Extra, Extra, Read all about–The Problems of the Greek System: What is the matter with being Greek in Berkeley?

Wednesday, December 1

In MCB 100, the professor said to a couple of guys, ” Could you please stop laughing? You are hurting my feelings.” Wow, that’s never happened before. I wonder what they were laughing at, but I’m sure they meant no disrespect.
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Thursday, December 2

Once again, I am re-elected philanthropy chair of Alpha Delta Phi and once again I lose Vice President. Frat Bro and future Vice President Shea says I would make an awesome pledge trainer. I’ve never even considered running for it. Now that he mentioned it though…
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Friday, December 3

Five of the guys go to Tahoe. Most of the other bros can’t go since we have so much other work to do. Sean says the cabin is awesome. Err…
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Saturday, December 4

Hoam gives me boba on her birthday. Sweet girl and way too generous. She gave the frat a pie and cake, before she became a little sister and gave us all candy for Halloween. Way too nice.

Saw Cal win against Southern Miss.

Visited Justin Wong and little sister Jill. Told them we had a female border. Jill was like “what?!!!! how can she possibly leave at a frat house?” We’re wondering the same thing.
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Sunday, December 5

Saw Cal lose a shot at the Rose Bowl. Damn BCS. Screw over another Pac-10 team. Oregon a few years back, USC last year, and now this. Congrats to Utah (first non-BCS conference team to make a BCS bowl), but jeers to all the crappy teams who got BCS spots, because they won their weak conferences (Michigan, Virginia Tech, and especially Pittsburgh).
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On future days (or my shameless plugs)…

Friday, December 10th- Shakespeare Kegger: 8 PM early admission; 9 PM start time
The play I believe will be Merchant of Venice.

Saturday, December 11th- For me, it’ll either be a take home final if everyone approves, paintball, or studying. Later that night though, Improv comedy night. Again 8 PM early admission; 9 PM start time.
Come see the guys at Alpha Delta Phi make fools of themselves.

Then come the finals and going home.

Hopefully I’ll be enjoying the last month of the year.

Ken Jennings lost on Jeopardy today. He leaves having won 74 games and $2.5 million dollars. Here’s the AP take on it.

Meanwhile, the talk page on the Wikipedia article on Ken Jennings had some funny quotes. Enjoy.

Answer: “A 1997 court case made this term for African American English widely known”
Ken: “What be Ebonics?” (From Brian)

Alex mentioned that “Lawyers” (like Ken’s Dad) “make great Jeopardy contestants – they get a broad education and are trained to think quickly on their feet.”
Ken replied, “and they’re good at separating people from their money.”

Alex asked, “What are you going to do after Jeopardy?”
Ken answered: “I can now be on TV shows with other ‘C’ list celebrities.” and looked at Alex.

Written as an answer to a Final Jeopardy Question by a Ken opponent “What is same as Ken’s answer?”

Alex “Which two opponents from history would you think would make a good game?”
Ken “Thomas Jefferson and Oscar Wilde”
Alex “… Why …?”
Ken “They always say that Thomas Jefferson was the smartest President. ‘How well would you do on Jeopardy, Declaration Boy?'”

I also remember him answering some question about a historical Spanish figure with “Quien es …” They accepted that answer as well.

Some guy I don’t even know labeled this photo as a favorite on Flickr. The power of technology, allowing complete strangers to look at our funniest moments.

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Just in time for the holidays: My Amazon.com Wishlist. No I don’t expect you to buy me anything on this list (or anything at all for that matter). I just like to share these things. Send me yours; I’d like to see it.

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Coming in theaters Summer 2005: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -Starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton. One word can describe this: sweet.

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Funny Quote-Me: So I had this weird dream I was making a movie, and you were making out with Natalie Portman while I was trying to film.
Joey: See this is why I’m always telling you to follow your dreams.

Bonus Funny Quote-Me: Hmm, so that women was half Danish, half Chinese. Funny, I just met someone like that.
Louis: Dude, Kristen Kreuk does not count.

So Thanksgiving has passed and so will Black Friday soon (that’s a phrase the news media has been saying to describe the day after Thanksgiving shopping). I don’t know why, but this feels like the time just write a bunch of observations down, sit back, and think about them (yeah I’m lazy).

-My cousin, who I’m staying with this Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle in SF, drives a newer model Toyota Corolla. On one of the stickers, it says “partial zero emissions vehicle”. What does that say? Partially zero? I know it means a fraction, and it’s close to zero, but it doesn’t tell me much. I suppose it is better to say partial though than any of the other synonyms I pulled from thesaurus.com: fractional, fragmentary, half done, halfway, imperfect, limited, part, sectional, uncompleted, unfinished, unperformed.

-I think I only managed to see one “I’m thankful for…” on my friends page (granted I don’t have that many friends for my friends page to display, but still). What should I make out of that really? People want to keep it private? People don’t have much to be thankful for? People are away at home without their high speed net connections and can’t blog now? I’ll take that one. Hehe.

–The Incredibles is a great movie. Awesome premise, really funny, great action sequences. This is definitely not a typical kids movie, since the plot revolves around so many adult themes. If all superhero movies were made this way, they’d all be awesome. I would say it should get nominated for Best Picture like the LA Times article said (link expired, sorry), along with Shrek 2. However, only Beauty and the Beast is the only animated film to be nominated for Best Picture, and it may not change any time soon.

-Sleeping in a room without windows, you can’t really judge what time it is. I mean there’s no sun, so there’s way to discern night from day. Kind of eerie when you think about it.

-I would just like to remind everyone this holiday season that while shopping, take some time and do some comparison shopping. Not just on prices of goods (remember Amazon offers books at way lower prices than any book store), but remember there are substitute goods that while not exactly great, can be pretty good. Take the Creative Zen Touch, a 20 Gig Mp3 Player that has gotten pretty good reviews and is $100 dollars cheaper than an Apple ipod. Sure the Zen doesn’t have the cool design, but it’s just as serviceable and has better sound options, and a $100 dollars less, holds the same amount songs.

-By the way, I think everyone should be putting up their Wishlists online via Amazon, Half, Froggle, or whatever. It’s very interesting to see what people want, like, and are into. And besides, someone might just buy you that gift. I’ll post mine’s up soon. Hope to see your’s too.

-Still talking about shopping, I normally don’t buy things that offer huge rebates but it seems really bad that I missed this (found via this Gizmodo post): Best Buy offers MPx220s for $50–$349.99 retail, minus a $300 mail-in rebate. With features like:

# MPEG4 Video Capture / Video Clip Playback with sound
# Integrated 1.23 megapixel camera
# Bluetooth® wireless connectivity

I can only say “dang it.”

With that note, I guess I’ll end there. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.

Let’s see I haven’t really written in this thing for a while. I guess I’ve been busy or maybe I just haven’t found anything interesting to write about. Well, this has been an interesting last few days, so I’m going to try to blog about it. I’m also tired, so I’ll going to keep it all brief.

-Very cool alumni luncheon we had with the frat. We went down to Alfred’s Steakhouse in San Francisco, for a very good meal. Got to talk to some cool alumni. These things always make me think about my own future though. It seems interesting at how they look back on everything and how different things were. Unbelievable.

-Big Game this year was a lot of fun, though the game went on way to long with the all the penalties. I did get to go crowdsurfing though (being lifted up on your back and then carried by the other people in the stands in hopes of making it all the way to the top). It was also cool walking onto the field (there were so many people, I couldn’t really rush the field) after the game and almost meeting J.J. Arrington, the running back. Very cool.

-Loosely related to football, I’m honestly surprised by the amount of people who don’t know the fight songs. I admit, I stumble on the words a lot, but it’s amazing how people don’t know them. There’s even the song the band never plays that every Cal student should know and that’s the Cal Drinking Song. We sang that song in front of some alumni (not in a frat), and they just looked at us funny. Sad.

-Do not see National Treasure starring Nicholas Cage. Interesting concept of a hidden treasure buried by a secret society, but it was just pulled off badly. Way badly

-On a more positive note, this week is shortened for the Thanksgiving holiday. Very cool.

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Extra, Extra, Read all about–The Amateur Revolution-How the collective intellect of individuals are putting their heads together to solve some grand problems with the world.