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Saturday, July 4th, 2009
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12:47 am - Sheraton!!
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Today (technically yesterday) marks the day I finally got my new guitar, the Epiphone Sheraton!
It was pretty much between this and the Fender Jazzmaster. Since new Jazzmasters tend to cost more, and I find the Epi WAY prettier (I've always wanted a semi-hollow body! Feedbacks be damned! XD), I decided to go with that. I waited for an entire month for the epic GC-July-4th-15%-off-sale. It was awesome! Goodbye crappy Squier strat! Now I just need to get a new amp (:cough: Marshall MG100DFX :cough:) so I can stop borrowing our bassist's!
This latest conquest makes me realize that I'm kind of a brand-name junkie when it comes to musical instruments, which is weird, because I totally don't care for it when it comes to clothes and stuff. I guess with instruments I truly believe that you get exactly what you pay for. When you make a good purchase, it'll make you smile for a very very long time. ;)
Happy July 4th!
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| Thursday, May 14th, 2009
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11:46 pm - Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
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I've got a song stuck in my head since the beginning of the week: Beck's cover of "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes," which was played during the season finale of Dollhouse last week. It was also played at the end of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind," which happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time.
Oddly though, I've only seen Eternal Sunshine once in theater, even though I own the dvd. The movie resonated in such a way that it's 1 of the 3 movies that REALLY made me cry, ever (Wall-e and Grave of Fireflies being the other two). So why haven't I seen it again since? I think subconsciously I'm afraid that it won't live up to my expectation, since my memory has built it up into this ridiculously flawless piece of work. WHICH, by the way, is interesting considering the subject matter of the movie.
So anyway, as always, I don't really have a point. But I'm going to have to take a leap of faith and see it again this weekend, because the Beck song just won't go away and I really want to listen to it in context with the film. It really is a beautiful song.
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| Friday, September 26th, 2008
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1:51 am - Hong Kong has the best milk tea!
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Just got back from a week-long vacation in Hong Kong. It was as hot and humid as I expected...my pants literally stuck to my legs after spending just 5 minutes on the street of HK. Despite the gross weather, it was nice to visit friends and relatives and of course, my SUPER BADASS GRANDMA! My uncle got married on the day of the mooncake festival, so it was like a mini-family reunion. The wedding day includes tea pouring and hair-combing and a western-style exchange of vow, so it's a weird fusion of cultures and totally HK.
Other highlights of the trip includes: the purchase of my first Vivienne Westwood wallet (I got it at the VW store to make sure it's the real deal ^_^;), my many run-ins w/ HK celebrities, including Stephen Chow (!) @ LAX, Yuen Wing-Yi & Chi Lam plus their kid @ a McD in Tchek Chu, and someone else I didn't recognize. The best part though is hearing my childhood friends talk about what some of our GRADE SCHOOL classmates have been up to. It must be the Facebook effect.
As fun as it was, I don't think I can ever live there again. Can't stand the crowdedness and the horrible pollution. Plus it's so much more laid back here in LA (technically the valley). And I kind of love driving.
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| Thursday, May 8th, 2008
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7:40 pm - GTA4, cowbell, yadda yadda...
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For the first time ever, I got the newest GTA game on its actual release date. Surprisingly, I haven't spent tons of hours on it quite yet. Don't get me wrong, the game is amazing...I think I just need some time to really get into the story, instead of driving SLOWLY around Liberty City going gaga over the graphics. Also, even though the mechanics of driving is a lot more realistic than before, I kind of feel a little restricted because of it. Again, probably just need some time to get used to.
On a completely different note, I've been thinking about adding a cowbell to my drum kit. It's actually kind of silly...there's really only 1 song my band is playing right now that would work w/ a cowbell (not to mention, it's only about a 10-sec stretch of the song). I've been spending an awful amount of money on gears lately. Aside from the new snare (which sounds AMAZING!), I've also just bought a new hi-hat stand/pedal cuz my old one broke. Plus I've been meaning to get a hardware bag for all the stands and crap, and I still haven't gotten my $600 check from George W. Anyway, I guess my point is, even when everything is frickin' expensive, I'd still like to have my very own cowbell. ^_^;
current music: The Presets
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| Sunday, February 17th, 2008
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1:44 pm - Mega Man II extravaganza
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Chanced upon this awesome music video of a Mega Man II remix:
MM2 has always been one of my childhood favs. Unfortunately I didn't get far enough to beat Dr. Wily before my copy of the game (an HK gameboy "clone") crashed...no amount of blowing air at the game cartridge could revive it. I think that's why later on I was so determined in beating Mega Man X.
Also, I found a really funny MM2 app for Mac OSX users: MegaManEffect
"When you launch an OS X application, the screen goes dark, stars sweep the night sky and your application’s icon is presented in a blue letter box bar with a cheesy 8-bit music introduction."
Genius!
current music: Vampire Weekend
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| Saturday, January 19th, 2008
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12:33 pm - Cloverfield
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I'm one of those suckers who's been anticipating this film ever since the teaser popped up last summer. After the long wait, I finally saw it at a midnight showing last night. Judging from the groans that came from the people leaving the theater, I think I'm probably one of the few who enjoyed the movie. ^_^;
( Spoiler-ish rant )
current music: In Rainbows
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| Friday, October 19th, 2007
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12:12 am - last plug and drum babble
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| Thursday, September 27th, 2007
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11:43 pm - my new drums!
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Last weekend I drove all the way down to San Clemente to pick up my new (used) drumset. And, it's not just any drum...it's a set of Tama Starclassic maple 4-piece, w/ Remo pinstripe head!!!
The decision of getting new drums came when we played at a house party 2 weeks ago, when my old drumset began to, literally, fall apart. I thought the toms were going to roll off. It was pretty embarassing. ^_^; Anyway, somehow I managed to get this awesome deal from a cool hippie dude from SC. No more awful-sounding drums made of unidentifiable wood! And, b/c I can't leave anything cool alone, I've named it "Neptune" w/ tom toms "Triton" "Nereid" and "Proteus" after the moons. They're so pretty!! XD
So (plug warning) if anyone is in the area and would like to check out Neptune (and my band, of coz), we have 2 shows coming up in Oct:
Oct 13 8pm @ Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana
Oct 20 8pm @ Public Address @ Infusion Gallery, Downtown LA
You can find out more info at http://www.myspace.com/limbicband
Hm, other than this, everything else is pretty much the same. I still work in Burbank, and traffic still sucks. I did get my first speeding ticket EVER last month...by going 48 near a construction site (which has been there for nearly half a year now). The shame!
current music: Land of Talk
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| Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
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2:21 pm - Limbic live
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So my first LJ entry in over a year is...a shameless plug for my band's upcoming show. Yeah, I figured since I brought it up to the few of you I ran into at AX, I should at least post some more info:
When: Sunday Jul 08, 2007 at 3:30 PM
Where: The Airliner (http://airlinerla.com/intro/)
2419 North Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90031
5 minutes north of Downtown
$5 at the door, $2 beers inside.
Oh and our name is Limbic...currently it's just me on drums and a guitarist who also writes and sings. But we're always looking for more people to jam w/ (..cough..Lisa..cough..) ;)
Anyway, other than the band, everything is just groovy. I'm still working in VFX, and have just finished paying off my first car! YAY! Now my only nemesis left is Sallie Mae...
current music: Joan As Police Woman - I Defy
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| Sunday, May 7th, 2006
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12:42 am - Art School Confidential
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I don't think I've laughed this hard in the theater in a very long time. The last 1/3 of the movie got kind of dark and depressing, but the rest is so funny I'm gonna ignore it. The art student cliches, the "making it big" dilemma of the industry, the pretentious, BS critiques...everything is just so spot on! John Malkovich reminds me of one of my old prefessors, which is kind of disturbing. Anyway, anyone who has ever taken an art class (or had to live w/ an art major) should definitely check this movie out!
current mood:  nostalgic
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| Thursday, March 2nd, 2006
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12:07 am - Hacky Sack Attack!
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So I just started a new job this week. It's been surprisingly relaxing, probably b/c they just made a deadline last week. Apparently, one of our company's many traditions is afternoon hacky sack break. A bunch of us would gather downstairs at 3:30, form small circles, and hack for half an hour. I had my 2nd game today and, though I'm still the weakest link, I managed to do one successful knee-to-foot pass and one successful head hit (though that didn't get anywhere). If I can stay long enough maybe I'll become a hacky sack master one day...
Speaking of hacky sack, my co-worker pointed out that I'm left-footed. It's true...I feel more comfortable kicking w/ my left foot (and dribbling w/ my left hand as well, though I'm right-handed). This makes me wonder if I'm really a goofy when it comes to snowboarding.
And...speaking of snowboarding, I was cleaning my bag the other day and found the winter mix I made for the drive to Snow Summit last month. I thought the first 3 tracks are worth mentioning. They are:
1. Such Great Heights (Postal Service)
2. Drop (Cornelius)
3. Winter Fall (Laruku)
I was trying to be clever, but of course people would only get it if they know the song titles. And once I explained them, the non-snowboarding-experts weren't too pleased. At least I didn't put Alicia Keys's "Falling" on it. That would be a bit much I think (and the song lacks winter "feel" anyway).
In conclusion, Feb has been an odd month.
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| Friday, January 27th, 2006
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2:14 pm - Death Note live action? O_o
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I'm not really liking the whole turn-popular-manga-into-popular-movies trend. Sure there're successful cases such as Nana (which, despite its popularity, is not a very outstanding adaptation imo). But more often then not, the film industry ends up destroying an interesting story (*cough* Initial D) w/ poor actors (*cough cough* Jay Chou) and even poorer scripts. It's just business, I know, but it pains me every time it happens.
This might be old news to some, but apparently TPTB's next target is Death Note. They have casted Tatsuya Fujiwara, the lead from Battle Royale (who was given a pot lid as his weapon on the stupid island), to play Raito. Yup, that skinny kid w/ the gigantic puffy face who managed to deliver all his lines w/ uber melodrama, is gonna play "Kira." With this kind of casting decision, I don't think there's ANY way they can pull it off, unless of coz if ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tensaibakapunk decides to audition for the role of "L."
current music: pandora.com
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| Thursday, January 12th, 2006
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11:52 pm - Asian pop culture rant
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I've finally caught up with some of the Asian films/doramas that have been out lately (or not so lately). Due to my sister's influence, I even finished Hana Yori Dango! I must say, I find the Japanese F4 slightly more tolerable than the Taiwanese one. There, I said it. Even though MatsuJun looks remarkably orange and oily throughout the series, I was rooting for him at the end...just a little. And thank goodness this show maintains some decent production quality...I remember getting so frustrated watching Meteor Garden w/ its bad sound recording and horrid lighting that I finally just gave up. Plus I really couldn't stand Big S/Barbie's gigantic forehead, but that's a different story.
Also finished Kamikaze Girls, which turns out to be surprisingly awesome. It's such a quirky little film! It's fresh, colorful, humorous, and never takes itself too seriously. I wasn't very interested in the whole Japanese lolita fashion culture before, but the movie manages to show some fun aspects of it without trying too hard. The interactions between the leads are simply hilarious. I enjoyed every minute of it. :)
Last but not least, I saw Tsui Hak's Seven Swords, and I was thoroughly disappointed. The swords are pretty, and there are a few good action sequences here and there, but other than that it's just...boring. The story is too choppy. Leon Lai is THE least convincing wuxia hero ever. The romance between Donnie Yen and the Korean actress is silly and contrived. Whoever compares Tsui Hak to Wong Kar Wai must be on crack.
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| Saturday, December 31st, 2005
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10:43 am - God(dess) of Gamblers, Taoist of the Streets
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You know when you've lost miserably at poker, so you decide to randomly pick out a card out of the deck while babbling about that card being an ace? Everyone thinks you're a weirdo, cuz you are, and of course all you ever pull out is seven of diamond or something equally crappy cuz you're not really the God of Gamblers?
But what happens if you DO pull out an ace? And not just any ace, but THE ACE OF SPADE, on your first try!!!?
It's a sign I think...that 2006 will be my lucky year. Anyway, it's been an insane year, but I managed to achieve my goal, and have no longer employed the high beam at my fellow drivers (a task more difficult than you'd think). And so the streets of LA is THAT much safer. For 2006, my resolution (one of them, at least) is to stop flipping people off when I'm driving. I will start respecting all my fellow drivers, for real! It's a tough road ahead...
I hope 2006 will be a great year for everyone. Happy New Years! :)
current mood: lazily stuck at work
current music: Jay Chou - Drift
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| Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
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9:29 pm - Narnia screening
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This morning I went to the cast and crew screening of The Chronicles of Narnia at Arclight. It was so awesome! The movie completely exceeds my expectation (although I could be biased). I take back every mean thing I've ever said about the director...he had a unique vision, and managed to execute it beautifully. Most of the cast didn't show up, but for some reason, Elijah Wood did! And I got my one second of fame when my name popped up during the end credits. So yay!
( And now, my spoiler-free review of Narnia! )
Anyway, it was an overwhelming experience. I've been pondering whether this field of work really suits me - it's stressful, competitive, and highly unstable. But when I saw the shots I worked on for weeks flash across the screen (all 5 seconds of it), it was a very rewarding feeling. Now if only I can work on Superman Returns...;P
current mood: i feel fine i feel good
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| Monday, November 28th, 2005
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11:29 pm - The Sims Reload!
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I'm still obsessed w/ the Sims. But it's gotten even better now, b/c I've "chanced" upon this japanese site w/ FREE JROCKER SKIN DL!!! They have everyone you can think of: Luna Sea, Pierrot, Hide, Plastic Tree, Dir en grey, even Gackt and Mana! Ryutaro's design is by far my fav. I haven't tested these skins yet but I really want to build a visual-kei frathouse. ;P
Tis ish mad!
They also have anime series such as Fruits Basket. Honda-san is looking mighty creepy...
current mood: weirdiculous
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| Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005
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12:36 am - I just wanted to build that little balcony dammit
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I think I'm addicted to The Sims...I know, it's a stupid, stupid game (just like Halo, which is a stupid, stupid shooting game). What I don't get is why I get into these games years after they come out, when they're no longer in. I swear, when PS3 is released I'll still be playing Tetris, or something equally ancient.
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| Saturday, October 22nd, 2005
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1:42 pm - embarassing moment #197,945
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Since we've been working crazy overtime lately, our producer would order lunch for us once in a while. I wasn't sure if we're supposed to pay him back, so I decided to ask my co-worker via msn messenger. Of course, I messaged the wrong person...and the wrong person happens to be none other than our producer. O_O
me: are we supposed to pay Brady back?
Brady: ...
me: ...whoops
me: do you want us to pay you back? (trying to sound anything but embarassed)
Brady: of coz not, it's work lunch!
me: ...ok, thanks!
The word "dork" comes to mind...
current mood:  embarrassed
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| Monday, October 10th, 2005
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8:49 pm - Guatemala pt II
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So I'm glad I'm not going to Guatemala after all. I mean...earthquakes!? hurricanes!? KILLER MUDSLIDES!!!? Really, I'm happy just staying in the nice, bright loft in downtown LA, 3 blocks from Little Tokyo, w/ unlimited amount of chocolate-coated expresso beans, while still getting to work on Narnia. Too bad this job is only gonna last another 3 weeks or so. I got my paycheck last week and was surprised to find that nothing has been deducted...no CA tax, no federal tax, medicare...NADA! And then it dawned on me that I'm now officially a freelancer, so I'll have to do my own taxes at the end of the year. Uh, that will be quite a challenge...it's also a painful reminder of just how much our government sux.
Oh, and I finally finished reading The Da Vinci Code! It was pretty amusing...brings back memory of my art history class. Our professor used to lecture us endlessly on the absurdity of calling Leonardo Da Vinci "Da Vinci" since it literally means "from Vinci." My professor was a lil nuts. Besides, who in the world would want to type out his whole name every single time, except for the freaks who desperately wanted an A!? But I digress. TDVC proves yet again that you can never go wrong w/ BS-ing when it comes to art. BS is good. BS also stands for bestseller...get it? {...chirps the cricket...}
Speaking of Italians, do you know that Trader Joe sells their own brand of grapefruit soda called Trader Giotto's? It's genius! {...chirp more crickets...}
Last but not least, Peter Jackson is apparently going to produce (and maybe even direct) the live-action Halo movie. This is a sign...that I should finish the stupid game already.
current mood:  crazy
current music: Love Psychedelico - Last Smile
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| Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
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6:24 pm - the geek post
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Since I've given my old HP printer to my sister, I needed a new one to print my resume and crap. After much consideration (like, 3 hours of browsing online...I hate shopping around), I settled on the Epson Stylus Photo R200, b/c I like Epson, I hate HP, and also cuz R200 comes w/ the print-directly-on-cd/dvd capability. What can I say? It got me. Anyway, I bought it at Fry's for $99, w/ $50 mail-in rebate, so it was a pretty good deal. Finally got around to testing the dvd-printing part today and holy smoke, it is sooooo awesome!!! The print quality is so super high, it makes my crappy demo reel look absolutely pro (from the outside at least)! Yes it's true that average printable dvds cost twice as much as regular dvds. BIG DEAL!!! It's also true that Epson ink drains faster than any other. WHO CARES!? This printer seriously rocks!!!
And, b/c I'm feeling geeky, I'm gonna share a list of other gadgets/tools/software I've been using lately:
-Sorenson Squeeze - compressed my 1.6GB demo reel into a 6MB progressive-download quicktime web reel...AND it manages to play smoothly, w/ sound, and w/ no fuzziness. AMAZING!
-Azureus - it's so much faster than my old BitTorrent client, I have no idea why I didn't use it sooner.
-MacDrive - not really a gadget, more like a necessity for hooking my Mac-formatted LaCie firewire drive to a PC. No more weird Mac-to-PC or vice versa problem.
-Ipod Access - vely vely good!
-FFView - my fav program for viewing manga scanlation...allows user to flip pages via voice command, ala Batman, though it's usually quicker to just press the spacebar. But hey, it's free.
Don't worry, I won't be showing up at any local SciFi cons any time soon, though Siggraph'05 was pretty close. Anyway, I'm supposed to start work tomorrow at Studio C. Dunno what's gonna happen, but at least it will (should) prevent me from playing consecutive hours of Halo. Gosh, what have I turned into!? O_o
current mood: geeky
current music: U2 - The Ground Beneath Her Feet
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