Random thoughts related to films

because i plan on watching "the best man holiday" this weekend (AFTER FINISHING GRAD SCHOOL, Y'ALL), i watched the first "the best man" yesterday.  here are my thoughts:

1. nia long is a BEAUTIFUL woman.  wow.  i don't know what she looks like now (yes, it matters, b/c... i'm a dude), but in this movie... STUNNING.

2. i love this movie.  it was funny and heart-warming, but not in a cheesy stupid way.  i suppose you could argue that final dancing scene was cheesy, but you know what?  i've been to middle/high school dances.  EVERYBODY knows the electric slide.  if you don't... i don't know what to tell you.

3. i did not know this until i looked it up, but this movie came out in 1999.  as i was watching it yesterday, i wondered why i didn't know about such a great movie the first time it came out.  but i know why.  my 18-year-old self was too ignorant at the time to be aware of movies like this.  if i had seen this back then... i probably would have hated it.  what, no action scenes?  no car chases, or kung-fu fights?  that's another good thing about being older, by the way.  you can relate to more s**t and enjoy more s**t.

4. i REALLY hope the sequel is just as good, if not better.  just please don't let it be bad.

1. did you know that spike jonze is white?  i always assumed he was black (b/c of spike lee), but i just looked him up and he's white, which surprised me.  before you call me racist or ignorant, while i'll admit to being ignorant to many things, i am NOT racist on this.  in fact, i think the fact that i assumed spike was black shows progress.  b/c when i was growing up, do you know who was named spike?  DOGS.  you know what i'm talking about, don't front.  so that i thought spike was a black man?  progress.  if you disagree, i'll fight you.

2. i have a pastor friend.  when he was studying to become a pastor, he once told me that learning greek was the hardest thing he had ever done academically in his life.  but he had an idea for making it easier: have the voice on the greek language cds he had to use for class be voices of attractive women.  hahahahaha.  i don't know why i still remember that, but when i saw this trailer for the first time, i remembered my friend and what he said.  back then, i wasn't sure.  now, i'm convinced my friend was right then and he's still right today.  if scarlett was the voice of my gps, i might stop listening to music in the car. =D

3. i love scarlett.  i've only seen 1 movie where she's the main actress ("the avengers" don't count, obviously), but she's still my favorite actress. =)

Thankful

something that occurs to me now that i'm at a middle school... i am REALLY LUCKY.  if you're close to my age, you should consider yourself lucky as well, b/c these kids today... i feel bad for them.  here's some reasons why:

1. no french fries in the cafeteria.  seriously.  in loudoun county, they have every type of potato imaginable: baked, mashed... that's it, right?  regardless, no fried.  i think that's an injustice.  i REALLY hope it's not about being healthy, b/c... let's not kid ourselves.  we all know what the score is.

2. my school had their first school dance today.  i don't know if any of my peers that do not teach in a school would be able to guess the starting time of this dance.  3:30... PM.  school ends at 3:18, first song starts at 3:30.  on a thursday.  our middle school dances were on fridays and it was at night.  when you walked inside the building, the sun was not visible any longer.

3. online grade books.  all teachers in this county work with a software called clarity.  and each student has a password to it.  which means their PARENTS have a password to it.  when we were in school, changing your grades was a part of life for some people i knew.  it was a tool in their fight for survival every 9 weeks.  now, the parents can check your grades every day.

4. a reason related to halloween: i told my kids today about how my friends and i would hit up like 2 to 3 different neighborhoods and the amount of the candy at the end of the night was bananas.  i remember there were years when my friends and i would recycle costumes and hit up our neighborhood more than once, since we still had our old costumes.  my kids told me they would start around 5pm, go once around the neighborhood and be back home, especially since today is a weekday.  huh???

seriously... thank you God that i grew up when i did.

School Tales

i've been at this school for about 2 months now and this has happened a few times: i'll be walking down the hallway when i would hear students yell, "mr. chang!  hey, mr. chang!"

initially, i ignored them b/c since that's my name, i had no idea they were talking to me.  but after it's happened a few more times, i now realize it's b/c these kids think i'm mr. chang (an actual teacher at my school).  i've never met the man, so either these kids are ignorant/racist (all asians look alike, right?), or i do look like him from behind, as this ONLY happens from behind me.  anyway, so now i know it's a case of mistaken identity, but i still ignore students who do this.  then a few days ago, i was walking down the hallway when it happened again.  but this time, when i ignored this student, he goes, "aight, mr. chang.  i see you."  then he says to his friend (i assume, b/c i'm not turning around), "why's he being like that?"  hahahahaha.

am i making these kids think mr. chang is an a-hole with my actions?

Admirable

today, i was watching something on youtube when i was reminded of a group of people i really admire.  in my effort to be more positive, i decided to write a blog entry about them.

so, the people i admire, in no particular order:

1. soldiers/firemen:

i admire people who volunteer to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of others.  i'm sure for some people, it's not all about being noble and sacrificing for others, i mean, the military does offer great benefits.  but let's not kid ourselves.  these people deserve our respect, admiration and gratitude.

2. law enforcement officers:

i know there are many instances of law enforcement officers screwing up on the job.  however, i truly believe this is kinda like islamic extremists.  there's only like 10% of them, but they're the subject of like 100% of the news stories that deal with muslims.  in our world, it's the f**k-ups that get the most attention and ruin it for everyone else.

all i know is that from my experience, i have never dealt with a cop that i thought was an a-hole.  and let's give credit where credit is due, they are doing a job that an overwhelming majority of us do not want to do.

3. teachers:

yes, i admire people that are going to become my coworkers.  and yes, there are bad teachers.  but once again, i'd like to refer to my point about islamic extremists, while saying that i'm only talking about the good ones here.  i've personally experienced how a good teacher can impact a student's life.  they change your life and change your world view.  they also make you feel like you really can do whatever you want.  and i'm gonna be one of them, so send your kids to me, i won't let you down.  =D

4. writers:

i actually started this entry almost 6 weeks ago, but i have not been able to finish it b/c of this section.  i've given it a lot of thought, and the best i have come up with is, "i can only describe what they do as magic."  b/c it really is.  with only words, writers create whole worlds that never existed before.  with only words, they can stir up all sorts of emotions.  with only words.  it's letters on a page, ink on paper.  that's gotta be magic, right?

5. musicians:

"you gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life i swear." - natalie portman ("garden state")

i think this is true.  i don't think such songs have a universal requirement, but some songs just strike us at a level and we never forget it.  i suppose this doesn't apply to people who are dead inside, though.  i have a cousin and when she was in middle school, i went over to her house that her family had just moved into.  so she was giving me a tour of it and showed me her bedroom in the process.  in it, i noticed that she had a nice stereo system set up, but there was only 1 cd that i could see.  it was a cd by some girl named, charlotte church.  when i asked her if she had any other cds, her response was, "i don't like listening to music."

umm... what???  i listen to music ALL THE TIME.  i even have music playing while i'm sleeping.  i can't get enough of it.

b/c of that, i admire people who can create music.

6. good dancers:

i don't mean professionals.  professional dancers certainly are good dancers, but not all good dancers are professionals.  i have 2 reasons why i admire good dancers: one, i enjoy watching it.  two, i can't do it.  it's really a thing.  my body doesn't do it.  it's been that way for many years now and i've come to terms with it, so don't feel bad for me.  BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, DO NOT THINK ALL I NEED IS A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT.  THAT'S NOT IT.

7. stand up comedians:

the first 6 people on this list, there's really no order to them, but the people i admire THE MOST are stand up comedians.  i have gotten up in front of a few people now and again for a variety of reasons and it's easy.  now.  it wasn't in the beginning, but with practice, it's become easy.  anyone can stand up in front of people and spit nonsense.  but these people have to stand up in front of thousands, at times, and make them laugh.

of course there are more honorable jobs, more difficult jobs.  but for reasons i do not totally understand, i find stand up comedians so admirable.  

Movie Review

wow, i started this entry 3 weeks ago and i never finished it... well, i don't want to waste it, so here it is.  3 weeks late.  i wonder if it's still in the theaters.
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so i watched this movie on friday.  these are my thoughts about this movie:

1. the americans cheated... kinda.  in these competitions, it's about crew vs. crew.  and when it comes to crews, there's gotta be a sense of it being organic.  think of a band like u2.  high school friends formed a band together and they've been together for 30+ years.  THAT'S a crew.  in the movie, the americans cherry-pick the best members from various crews to form a "dream team" to win this competition.  it's not technically against the rules, but i can't help but feel like they're breaking some sort of an unwritten rule here.  by the way, that's the crew's name: dream team.

2.  one of the weirdest parts of this movie was that there were clips from "planet b-boy" in it.  yes, i know the same director directed both that and this, but... i've never seen that before.  has any director done something like this before?  i mean, if it's a franchise, the movies can refer to what came before, but... yeah.  it was neither good nor bad, just weird.

3. since this is 3 weeks old, i'll talk about the WORST scene in this movie.  so chris brown is in it and he's supposed to be the best in the crew, but gets hurt right before going to europe.  so as he's leaving (it's got the boobie miles cleaning out his locker in "friday night lights" feel, or tries to), he says some nonsense about family and then finishes it up with, "act like champions, be champions."

at this point, ok.  it's cheesy, i'm embarrassed for everyone involved, but ok.  then comes the kicker: HE MAKES EVERYONE SAY/YELL IT.  MULTIPLE TIMES.  hahahahaha.  wow... it's funny now, but at the moment, i was speechless.  i literally had to cover my slack-jawed mouth, b/c i couldn't believe what had just happened.

4. if you like sports movies, you should watch this one, b/c it's like a game.  as you watch, you can try to figure out what movie each part of this movie originally came from.

5. the dancing is cool.
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i own "you got served."  i don't think i'll buy this one on dvd.

My Best Moment (So Far)

i know the "article" i posted about was about the best moment (i.e. ONE moment).  however, after looking through my pics, i've settled on 5.  but to be fair to me, 2 of the pics are of the same moment, so... that's still 4. 

the 1st pic is from my college graduation.  as many of my friends are aware, i attended my dream school.  finishing it was a proud moment for me.  i took TONS of pics from that day, but this is my absolute favorite.  unfortunately, although it looks like we are, we were not all best friends with one another.  hahaha.  but i still LOVE this picture.

2 pics from the same moment.  during my senior year, the 8 of us won an IM volleyball championship. in our championship run, we never lost a match and i chose these pics b/c i felt nostalgic about playing.  man... i miss volleyball.

first year out of college, i won my first h-games.  we schooled them bamas.  it was one of the better days during my stay in michigan.  don't get it twisted, i've had better days/moments during my time in michigan, but unfortunately, i do not have photographic evidence for those.  fortunately, i have photographic evidence of this one.

my favorite semester of college was my last.  not b/c i was going to be done with school, but b/c of nights like this.  my friends and i would play volleyball until 1am or so, then we would head over to this apartment to watch movies while eating food.  just hanging out with friends all night long.  what could be better?

ok.  after thinking about it, i'll pick this picture as my best moment.

Burning Questions

these questions have been bothering me a little bit recently:

1. how come johnny depp (a white man) playing a native american character is not a bigger deal?  where are the dumb people crying racist on this?

2. in the movie, "pacific rim," the robots require 2 people to control it.  TWO.  based on the trailers, it's not like one controls the upper half and the other controls the bottom half.  the 2 pilots have to move in sync.  so my question is... isn't that a design flaw?  wouldn't it be MUCH easier with just 1 pilot?

Ariana Grande (feat. Mac Miller) - The Way

3. who the hell is mac miller?  i heard him featured on a song called "the way" and his asinine lyrics, "come here, watch a movie with me/ 'american beauty' or 'bruce almighty' that's groovy" RUINED that song for me.  from my understanding, the song was released in 2013.  is it possible that mac miller is dead and those lyrics were recorded in 2000?  then i read something else he rapped, "watching 'dawson's creek' 'til i fall asleep/ it's harder than it seems."  ... what the hell?

이승철 - My Love

4. the above music video is cute.  i read that this entire video is a real thing, it's the video of a guy's proposal to his girlfriend.  so at 1:41, you see the main girl entering the restaurant with 2 other people: a guy and another girl who are NOT dating one another i'm hoping.  because can you imagine the conversation the 2 friends would have had on their way home if they WERE dating?  some things might have been said that couldn't be taken back.

i hope to write more often from now on.

Beautiful

                                                                                                                 - Kurt Vonnegut
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The last day of March, and because winter had been unusually mellow, new buds were already popping a chlorophyll green on the maples and oaks surrounding Pierce Field.  My old man had the ball in his right hand and his Ted Williams-autographed bat in his left.  He pointed to the sun, low in the sky, and shouted, "Last one!"  He hit a hard grounder to third, where I picked it, scooped it to Bobby, watched him toss it to Billy at second, who fired it to Marie at first.  She picked it out of the dirt, turned, and winged it to Cubby, who stood in front of my father at home plate.  We were still in our school clothes, and we'd talked that tired old guy into some after-dinner grounders.  We'd been there maybe an hour and could have shagged them all night if he'd let us.  Cubby turned, handed Pop the ball, and we began to follow him to our station wagon.  Marie ran over, got between me and Bobby, and dropped her long, slender arms over our shoulders, her glove lying on my twelve-year-old chest.  Her tight black pigtails were finished with green bows, and a tiny crucifix on a braided gimp cord lay at the top of her breastbone.  I got into the front with Cubby, and Marie sat in back between Bobby and Billy.  Right before he fired up our Ford, my old man sniffed and looked at me.

"What's that smell, Jono?"

"What?"

"That smell.  What is it?"

I caught my Marie D'Agostino's exquisite eyes in the rearview mirror, and she smiled the smile I can still savor decades after the fact.  She looked serious for a second, then smiled it again.

"Roses, Pop," I said, my eyes still on her.  "That smell is roses."

from Traveler, by Ron McLarty
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this is the second book i read written by ron mclarty and i can't tell you how much i love both.  the first one, Memory of Running, the only reason i bought and read it was b/c there was a quote by stephen king on the front cover (that's the 3rd book i read b/c of stephen king's suggestion, the other 2 being, Battle Royale and No Country for Old Men.  thank you, stephen.).

both have a similar theme in that throughout the book, the main characters reminisce about the way things used to be and this gives them the strength to move forward... which is a really nice idea and also true.  the future is uncertain, but while life does get harder, it gets better.  at the same time, we get better.  i believe both to be absolutely true.  if it's not, that's an exception and not the rule.

"I caught my Marie D'Agostino's exquisite eyes in the rear view mirror, and she smiled the smile I can still savor decades after the fact.  She looked serious for a second, then smiled it again."

what a beautiful passage.  it makes me smile reading it. =)

Seriously?

every once in a while, i'll read/see/hear something and think to myself, "are you for reals???  i wish the world would just end."  this post is about some of the things i read in the past few days that made me think this.

1. on the website, "yo, is this racist?", i read a post that mentioned that a strategy told to college girls to prevent rape is to force themselves to throw up.  let that sink in for a second.  girls are told that if they're about to be raped, to force themselves to throw up.

so... what the f**k?!?!  this can't be true, right?  i mean... is this true?  are girls told that they should force themselves to throw up and it will stop the rapist?

personally, i think rapists should be punished in the most horrible way possible (think of the "saw" or "hostel" movies) and it should be mandatory viewing for all people in middle school and up.  of course, girls who falsely claim rape will also be killed in this manner.

2. racist video

this is not the first time a video like this has come up.  it won't be the last.  it amazes me that some people are still racists in 2013.  let me rephrase that, it amazes me that some people are stupid enough to be openly racist in 2013.  in a way, i guess it's good that these fools are outing themselves, but the fact that these kids are so openly stupid, makes me fear for the future of our society and makes me believe if humanity ended, it would be better for everyone.

3. taylor swift

i have seen a few pics of taylor swift but i have never heard her sing.  so 2 things i know about her: she's popular and she dates dudes like it's her job.  one question about her dating all these dudes, do women think taylor swift is a slut for doing so?  anyway, she's stupid too.

4. hate crime

i realize some people don't like pink, including me.  but... damn, yo.

i know there are still a lot of beauty and good in the world, but... these people are making me lose faith in humanity and in our future.  when i become the king of the world, these people will be rounded up and be forced to live in... greenland.  with no way to get off the island, b/c stupidity should come with a price.

Anger

i was going to write about the things that make me angry after seeing this, but i've decided not to.  instead, i'll write this: f**k adlai stevenson.

What is Right?

i'm sure everyone is aware, the first pic is lady justice.  the dude in the video there?  his name is james dalby.  i had never heard of him until about 20 minutes ago, but that video is spectacular.  i highly recommend that you watch it.

so i'm writing this post b/c james dalby's video reminded me of something.  i'm now going to be honest and say, i really like the song, "ignition (remix)," by r. kelly.  i first heard this song a little bit after r. kelly was arrested for... statutory rape?  am i remembering this correctly?  i remember there was a whole thing about how he peed on some girl and all, but he got arrested b/c she was underage, no?

anyway, what i wrote about "ignition," a few sentences back?  for as much as i like that song, i think i said it less than a handful of times.  the reason for it is b/c i always felt like if i said i liked the song, it meant i was making some sort of a statement about how i felt about r. kelly as a person.

to go off on a tangent a little bit, in all honesty, i'm not sure what to think about r. kelly's situation.  i mean... live and let live (as long as you're not hurting other people) is my usual motto, but he did break the law.  however, operating under the assumption that he was arrested for statutory rape, why is the age for consent set at 18 in the us?  i only ask this b/c in korea, it's like 13 or something.  so then it's just an arbitrary number that someone picked, right?  so like i said, i'm a little confused about r. kelly.  THIS IS MAINLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT I KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT THE STORY.  AND I DON'T CARE ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY LOOK IT UP.

but that's not what i wanted to talk about anyway, so it matters not.  what i actually wanted to write about was chris brown.  so he beat rihanna, yes?  now that, i agree it's wrong.  it's also illegal in the us.  yet if i say i like his music, does that make me a bad person?  by being a fan of his songs, am i somehow excusing his behavior?

what about michael vick?  can i say i'm a fan of his without being thought of as someone who thinks treating animals cruelly is cool?  what about ray lewis?  lindsay lohan?

i guess my question, ultimately, is this: where should we draw the line?

Pyrrhic Victory

i finally saw "zero dark thirty" last weekend.  i've seen better movies, but i felt like this one of those movies i had to see at least once.  it was worth watching.

but the part that really struck me about the movie was the very last scene.  the scene where she's sitting there and crying?  if someone told me she was crying tears of joy for a job well done, i'll say that person didn't watch this movie.  i have an idea about why she was crying, but let's get this clear: those were NOT tears of joy.

the reason those tears struck me was b/c personally, it confirmed what i thought about the movie.  for people who haven't seen the movie, the movie follows a cia... agent?  i don't think they use that word to describe their people.  operative?  anyway, the movie follows a cia employee's 10+ year hunt for bin laden.  and spoiler alert, she succeeds in finding him.

but the movie also felt like a character study.  by focusing on this one person throughout the entire movie, who we know nothing about, we see her changing.  in the beginning, torturing makes her uncomfortable.  but as the movie goes on, she changes.  by the end of the movie, this is all there is to her.  she sacrificed EVERYTHING for this one goal.  to be honest, this made me feel bad for her.

before anyone accuses me of being unpatriotic, allow me to explain.  the goal was worthy.  for the thousands of innocent lives that were taken, i'm glad we pursued him for so long to kill him.  but the reason i felt bad for the character is b/c even though she was successful in her mission, the single thing that drove her for 10+ years, nothing had changed.  and in that scene, i think she realized that perhaps it was a pyrrhic victory, on a personal level.

Different Perspective

i was born in the early 80s and did most of my growing up in the 90s.  i mention this b/c if i was creating a soundtrack of my life, most of my songs would come from the 90s and early 2000s.  on occasion, i watch music videos of the songs i grew up with on youtube and i know i shouldn't do this, but at times, i read some of the comments that are on there.  and there's usually 2 types:

1. "i miss music from this time, today's music sucks."

2. "i'm watching this video b/c of (insert whoever's name here)."  most recently, i don't remember what video i was watching, but multiple commenters said they came to that video b/c of ray lewis, which was a little confusing to me.  were they talking about ray lewis, the football player?  or is there a singer named ray lewis?  obviously, i missed something.

the 2nd type of comment is whatever.  it's nothing to pay attention to.  however, the first type of comment makes me think, b/c if i'm honest... i think i agree with its sentiment.  but let me be clear, it's not that i think the comment is true in an objective sense.  i think it's true as an opinion.  and that makes all the difference.

so why do i think today's music sucks compared to the music i grew up with (one more clarification: i don't think today's music sucks, it's just i don't like a lot of it)?  i think the answer is quite simple.  i mentioned this in a previous entry, but a writer once said that there is something to be said for being alive during the time of the song's original popularity.  i mean, i can like the beatles as much as i want, but it's gotta be a VERY different feeling from someone who was not only alive, but genuinely cared about music at the time the beatles were actually performing and releasing new music, right?

when i graduated from college, one of my friends told me about a band called bloc party.  i was definitely interested b/c i liked the name of the group, but i couldn't get into them.  and these days, since i don't listen to the radio (it doesn't work in my car), i have very few opportunities to listen to new music.  but that's not really an explanation for anything, since i do keep up with korean music.  it's just that i choose not to keep up with the majority of today's music.

so back to my question: why do i not like the majority of today's music?  it's b/c music isn't as important to me anymore.  when i was growing up, music played such a big role in my life.  i loved it and it mattered.  today, it's more of a hobby.  i still love it, but b/c my life has grown more cluttered, it matters less.

i guess that's just the way life is.  i'm sure when i get much older and i have less clutter in my life, music will matter more once again.

Looking Outward

i read an article from cracked.com like 2 weeks back that i REALLY liked.  i linked it on fb once, but allow me to paraphrase it for you: the only thing that counts about you is what you can do for other people.  please cut the bullshit about how you disagree.  even Jesus healed people and taught life-changing lessons.  if you can't do something that will benefit other people... well, then.  i don't know what to tell you, other than let's start being people with value.

on that note, like the author of that article said, my new year's resolutions will be to add something to myself that can benefit others.  i have other goals, but they're more... selfish, so i won't be sharing them here.  here i go:

1. i'll graduate from usc with a 4.0 gpa.  if i may go on a tangent for a moment, i have received straight a's only once while in school and that was in 8th grade and my dad lied to me about buying me a bike if i got all a's.  it's ok, dad.  i'm over it now.  but i'm saying it here right now, i'll graduate with a 4.0 gpa and be a kick-ass teacher.  people will move their families and lie about their addresses so their children can go to my school.

2. learn to play the guitar.  because "learning to play" an instrument is such a vague phrase, i'll say, i'll learn to play 5 songs on the guitar.  those 5 songs will be: "sweet child o' mine," "faith (by george michael)," "사랑은 비를 타고 (by cn blue)," "more than a feeling," and "all for you (by sister hazel)."  that's 5.  this will benefit my girl, just in case you were wondering. =P

3... i've been racking my brain for a few minutes now and i can't think of anything.  i came up with a few more things but those are not possible until i start working, so i'll make a mental note and save those for the future.

so like i said, let's add value to the world.  the ability to breathe isn't enough.  what do you bring to the table?