The Purple Tux
With just enough education to perform.Thursday, December 26, 2002
And look, even the bowtie is purple. Phat.
The end of 2002 is approaching. I think it’s time for a list.
-----My favorite songs from 2002-----
-“Do You Realize?” by The Flaming Lips. I’ve never even heard of these guys until their new album came out early this past summer. They are ace. “Do You Realize?” is the song that introduced me to their intensely textured art-rock meets indie rock sound, and it’s a tuneful song with some rather moving lyrics and Radiohead-esque studio manipulation… It’s a song about realizing the importance of your loved ones and making sure that you know what’s up with life.
-“In My Place,” by Coldplay. Quite a pretty single. One of those songs that grabs you the first time you hear it. It has such a catchy guitar riff. I remember first hearing this song on the radio at the beginning of the summer and painfully counting down the days for A Rush Of Blood To The Head to hit stores. For some reason, I get the feeling that this song is meant to be a happy, or at least encouraging, song, but everytime I listen to it, I sense a distinct tinge of melancholy wading within the shimmering tones of lightness.
-“Keep Fishin’,” by Weezer. A typically crunchy, catchy, and nostalgic feel-good rock and roll song courtesy of Weezer. And the video for “Keep Fishin’” pretty much owned all other music videos for free this year. You just can’t stop the Muppets. Too good. Kermit and Fozzie are tight, but Gonzo’s my favorite. Too bad I’m Asian, I probably couldn’t get away wearing Rivers Cuomo/Buddy Holly style black plastic rimmed glasses without looking like a total fob.
-“Hard To Explain,” by The Strokes. I know that this song has been out at least over a year, but I only started hearing this song towards the end of last spring quarter. It’s pretty much everything I like about the whole “garage rock” movement. The Strokes and The White Stripes are rock. The Hives are cool. Still undecided about The Vines, though…
-“Universally Speaking,” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. They are a great band. Half the time I don’t know what their songs are about, but I’m guessing most of the time, their songs are about chicks, drugs, or hanging out with the fellas. “By The Way” is one of my favorite albums this year, and this is one of my favorite songs off it, though most of the songs are excellent; there’s little, if any filler.
-“Don’t Stop,” by The Rolling Stones. Listen to this song. You can’t really tell these guys are like sixty years old. The Stones still know how to rock, and they do it better than a lot of bands today.
-“When You’re On Top,” by The Wallflowers. The poppy keyboards/programming are kind of unexpected from the Wallflowers, who are one of the better American pop/rock bands out there in my opinion. I think this would be a cool song to sing along to, that is, if I had a singing voice.
-“Do You Believe Me?” by The Juliana Theory. Their new album is supposed to come out soon. Until then, I’ll have to keep listening to the first single, a pleasant blend of indie rock synergy and pop aura.
-“Pounding,” by Doves. A soaring melody with suitably rhythmic “pounding” drums. This fall quarter, I’d come home pooped from classes (er, and arcades) and play this song to revitalize these old bones. This song is a fine example of all I like about British music.
-“Honestly,” by Zwan. Billy Corgan’s new band and their first official single. Talk about whetting one’s appetite.
-“Our Love Is Loud,” by David Crowder Band. I think that this is one of the best Jesus-worshipping songs I have heard for one heck of a long time.
If you read this far, good job. If you just scrolled down to see how long this post is, and have no intention of reading what’s above, then heaven save you from the wrath of Ender Wiggin. All I can say is, I’m glad I didn’t type all this crud in one sitting.
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
Shadow of the Hegemon... and Shadow Puppets... Finally read them. Orson Scott Card. Too good. Just... too good. Ninja-sweetness good. Sentinel-level top tier. What else can I say, but they own Kevin J. Anderson for free? But then again, who doesn't.
Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Christmas time is here again. It's odd; I haven't really felt any of the "Christmas spirit" that typified this time of year. It's a feeling I used to feel when I was younger, most likely as a result from watching a bunch of Christmas specials on TV when I was a kid. And Christmas movies, and pointless stuff like that. Also, I remember back in the days of elementary/middle school, we always had Christmas events- like singing songs, reciting Bible passages in an auditorium owned by West Portal Lutheran. Heck, even in high school there was cheesy stuff like the Winterfaire.
Lately, though, I haven't felt any of that. The few times I went to go shopping with my parents, I didn't notice that anything special was going on, and it just didn't feel like Christmas was special. (A random thought: the bass line to "Another One Bites The Dust" is insanely catchy.) I see Christmas trees and I see Christmas lights. I just don't feel any Christmas spirit. Maybe it's a result of isolating myself subconsciously from all of that.
I'm starting to see Christmas has a hassle. I don't want to go shopping for hours and spend a ton of money buying people gifts they most likely wouldn't care about after a month. And then, of course, there's always a possibility that someone you didn't expect will give YOU a gift, and then you'd feel obligated to buy THEM a gift. That all seems so pointless to me. Why do people wait until Christmas to buy gifts for their friends and families? I bet the easy counter to that would be, because it's only once a year, and it's the best time since it's at the end of the year, and you can reflect on all the past events of the year, and yadda yadda yadda. That's kuso. Why don't people just reflect and spend time with their families all throughout the year? I understand SOME jobs can make it hard to spend time with the family, so the concept of Christmas vacation (or a Christmas holiday) is crucial. Okay. But what's the big deal about buying crap for fools?
Most people would say gifts are a symbol of appreciation. Religious (well, Christian) people would say that gifts symbolize God's gift to humanity, Jesus Christ His only begotton Son.
I say that if you want to show your appreciation to people you care about, you do it with your actions, with your words, but mostly with your heart filled with sincerity and kindness. Buying a gift is kind of like saying, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you this year when you had some problems. I hoped you worked everything out. Well, I hope this gift will make all that up to you. Peace out dawg." Anyway, I'm sure most mature people don't care about physical objects to symbolize compassion. Also, for Christians, I think that gifts and gift exchanges are unnecessary. I know I've felt uncomfortable about gift exchanges. (It's basically trading goods, except that the gift you bought for someone is probably better than whatever you're getting in return. Cynical, aren't I?) I'm sure there are better ways of showing our gratitude for Jesus than exchanging gifts with one another in order to "symbolize" divine intervention.
Then again, maybe I am just sour at not getting what I want this Christmas.
Monday, December 23, 2002
Who are you?
You don't know me.
If I read Guns, Germs, And Steel, will the chicks come?
Sunday, December 22, 2002
I just noticed that the background of this site is supposed to be a tuxedo with purple trimmings. Strange, huh? Random.
Saturday, December 21, 2002
I like sitting alone in a room and listening to music. Being by myself really helps me clear my head. Lately, I've tended to spend much more time alone. I don't think I'm completely anti-social yet, but I recognize that I enjoy spending quality romantic time with myself. It makes me wet. No wait I didn't type that. Sorry, that crack was uncalled for, but I'm far too lazy to hit Backspace and delete it. Oh, well. I think that dude Go is a bad influence on me. Risque.
Last night I hung out with the guys. We watched The Two Towers. It was a good movie. This year I didn't have to go out and piss, but I didn't eat dinner, so I was pretty hungry, especially during all those scenes where Gollum caught some fresh meat and ate it raw. My stomach was growling like mad. Arwen is pretty pretty. It's hard to imagine she's Steven Tyler's daughter. I tried imagining that, and my brain crashed and I had to press alt control delete to fix myself. Last night I also realized cheap pho sucks. That's "cheap" as in "lousy." There's something super annoying when you order a large but you still can't see any noodles because all they did was give you a bigger bowl with more MSG-filled soup.
Note to desperate self- the Round Table next to the Coronet has SF EX2, CvS1, and MvSF.
I smell burritos, I think I am going to eat now. But SF (San Francisco, not Street Fighter; sorry, I realize that abbreviation is confusing whenever I type it) burritos aren't quite on the same level as the Dos in Davis. Pretty close, but no cigar. You just can't stop Magneto.
Thursday, December 19, 2002
The Empire Strikes Back is one of my favorite all-time movies. I just watched it again last night for the heck of it, and it still has the magic. I think that movie has pretty well-written dialogue considering it's over twenty years old (AND it's science fiction...). Empire also has surprisingly excellent pacing. There's just something about it that grips your attention, and you don't even notice that it's a two hour movie. There's fine use of tension and foreshadowing, and the action scenes are exciting. Everything else about the film- the soundtrack, the sound effects, and even the old-school dated special effects only serve to enhance the storyline and overall direction.
Out of all Star Wars movies, Empire is definitely the best. I feel bad for little kids growing up today who actually liked The Phantom Menace. Phantom Menace was an exercise in ego, I think. C'mon, what kind of person would think that Jar Jar Binks would be a cool character? Thankfully, that insulting waste of CGI processing had a smaller part in Attack of the Clones, but I think it still is pretty funny how he basically single-handedly led to the formation of the Empire. That's pretty ironic and hilarious, if you think about it.
Anyway, back to The Empire Strikes Back- there are just too many cool scenes in that movie that have had a lasting impact on society. (You can bust out the sarcastic robotic voice saying "You are a huge nerd" now.) How many times have geeks quoted Yoda? How many fanboys have fantasized about Princess Leia? (She was a total babe back in the day... Her first scene in the Hoth base at the beginning of the movie... mmm... those lips...) How many hours of my youth did I waste playing those seminal classic PC games, X-Wing and TIE Fighter, training to become an ace pilot? And of course, there's Boba Fett, possibly the most popular character in the SW universe not named Luke, Han, Leia, or Vader. Boba Fett is like the ninja of all futuristic bounty hunters. The purpose of Boba Fett is to flip out and kill people. Boba Fett is a mammal. Boba Fett is cool- and by cool, I mean totally sweet. You could say the same thing about IG-88 and Bossk, except for the mammal part.
Another reason I love Empire so much is because it's dark. The whole movie has this great oppressive tone. It's just hardcore in its darkness. I can just imagine watching this film when it first came out. Just imagine all the hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions of people, who leave the theater upset and confused after the historic revelation. ("Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father, did he?" "He told me enough! He told me YOU killed him." "No, Luke. I am your father." "No. No. No, that's not true... That's IMPOSSIBLE!" "Search your feelings. You KNOW it to be true." "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!") That must have been so shocking back in 1980. And then people also wanted to know what happened to Han. But they had to wait three whole years to find out all that stuff. That's crazy!! I can't imagine caring enough about any fictional characters today to be so worked up over them like SW fans were back in the early '80s.
No, well, come to think of it, I can sort of imagine the masses clamoring for answers regarding their beloved fictional characters. Just give me a few years to write those stories, and it'll be 1980 all over again...
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
What I'm listening to at 2AM in the morning.
-Cast No Shadow- Oasis
Here's a thought for every man
Who tries to understand what is in his hand
He walks along the open road of love and life
Surviving if he can
Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
Chained to all the places that he never wished to stay
Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
As he faced the sun he cast no shadow
As they took his soul they stole his pride
As he faced the sun he cast no shadow
I live in the backseat.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I lived in a science fictionish post-apocalyptic future where everyone owns a mecha. Like an anime. Or Armored Core. That would be sweet. And by sweet, I mean like totally cool. I was about to go in-depth into what kind of mecha I personally would command, but I just had (am having) a phat conversation with phat Josh Go.
In this alternatve universe, I have a sister. I wonder what she'd be like? Do you think she'd be hairy? I think I have a lot of testosterone, as evidenced by my hairiness and generally boisterous behavior. Sorry for the interruption but Josh just showed me this hilarious link about TURKISH STAR WARS. I kid you not. Just look at the pictures, at least. Funny, but in a pathetic sort of way. http://www.thewavemedia.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=22122
So anyway. If I had a sister, I wonder what she would be like. I am having trouble keeping a thought going here. It's hard to write in an online journal when other people are typing to me over AIM. I am so lazy, I think I will copy and paste an interesting conversation.
Ermf (12:06:37 AM): *imagines a female version of dru*
Ermf (12:06:40 AM): yow.
SlashRonin (12:06:42 AM): Is she hairy?
Ermf (12:06:44 AM): sizzling
Ermf (12:06:56 AM): i'm not gonna answer that or else you'll spinebust me again
SlashRonin (12:07:08 AM): How can I spinebust you when you are in Davis?
Ermf (12:07:08 AM): i'll wait until i'm a Marine before i answer that question
SlashRonin (12:07:31 AM): I do wonder sometimes, if I had a sister, what would she be like?
SlashRonin (12:07:49 AM): I think she'd be kind of manly, seeing as how I myself am overflowing with testosterone
SlashRonin (12:07:55 AM): She'd probably be good at sports
SlashRonin (12:08:01 AM): She'd listen to punk rock
SlashRonin (12:08:17 AM): She might have a tattoo and a pierced (censored)
Monday, December 16, 2002
It was a long quarter, but I toughed it out and made it through virtually intact. I'm home in SF now. I left my DC in Davis though, so no MvC2/CvS2 for a few days... :(
For some reason, there's something jacked up when I am in Davis. For like 2 weeks I couldn't post on this site, and I also couldn't even post on the shoryuken boards. How dreadfully annoying. I think I will write a bunch of stuff. But not right now. My muse hasn't descended upon me right now, but I'll be back. Keepin' it real.
