New Music: September Twilight

Woo hoo, we got our city back from the convention! No more security fences! No more closed T stations. Wheee!

We celebrated last night by going out to see our friend Neil's band
September Twilight play at the Middle East. They are a tight musical unit and they look like having a great time up there. You can download one of their MP3s here.

I'm definately smarter than than I used to be, I wore earplugs. No more tinitus, no more hearing damage. I felt so unhip with these bright blue earplugs in with all the kids rocking out around me, but hey I will be able to speak at normal volume today.

J-Pop

Last Friday, I went to pick up my brother at the airport wearing the ridiculous wig you see here. I haven't seen him since Christmas time, so it's completely plausible that I could have reverted to my natural mullet state since then.

Finally, in the car driving out of the airport, I remove the wig. Little Brother finally remarks, "I was wondering about the J-Pop hairstyle there. I was going to say something along the lines of 'Don't you ever wash your hair?', but figured I'd be polite.

I sort of like the wig. I may start wearing it in public more. But probably not the airport. Security guys don't find silly wigs very funny for some reason.

Out to Dinner

The whole Lee/Kwong clan was in town last weekend. Here's some of us out to dinner last Friday. That's my Mom and Dad in the back row. Across the front, that's my brother, his wife, me and Jen.

I noticed a couple of things looking at this picture. 1) My brother and and I look more and more alike as we get older. 2) All the kids love the hip glasses. Dad in comparision hates to be photographed with his on. You can see that he's holding them. 3) Damn, I have a farmer's tan! Look at how white my chest is!

Movie: Ong Bak

Being part of a kung fu school, I find out about crazy martial arts movies before most of the Western world. The movie of the moment is Ong Bak, or Mach, depending where in the world you live. You can see the trailer for the Japanese release here.

Here's the deal, it's a Thai film about a monk trainee who must recover a stolen Buddha head in order to keep his village safe. He chases the thieves to Bangkok and has to participate in illegal fight clubs, run through the streets like Mario in Super Mario World (he leaps over moving cars and at one point slides under a Range Rover in a full split). No wires, no CGI, no way! Run to your local Chinatown and get it now.

Wandering through the DNC

I'm back from the grocery store. I tried to talk to some delegates at the convention, but they're not having any of it. The streets are filled with people trying to get the delegates attention, falun gong activists, anti-abortion protestors and volunteer Scientologist ministers. The delegates treat anyone approaching them to talk like leper Amway salesmen.

Hm. We'll try again later.

Security at the DNC

So what's it like in a convention city post 9/11? Helicopters and sirens and security fences. It's not a good day for the paranoid of Boston. I suppose they won't take anything lightly and will respond seriously to any percieved threat. I would take pictures for you to see, but I have a feeling that the security teams get a bit itchy when they get their photo taken. I'm off to get groceries, if that haven't roped off the block where our supermarket is. Hopefully, I'll talk with some delegates and get some stories.

Family Invasion

The whole gang is in town for my cousin Henry's wedding. We thought about buying a domain name for him: www.ourlittlehenrysgettingmarried.com, but we thought better of it. Henry's the youngest of the Kwong cousins and we consider him the baby despite the fact that he's 6"1' 250 lbs.

Mom and Dad got here last night, my brother Willy and his wife Kacia arrived today around 11 and my Uncle George around 5. We've basically been running a non stop shuttle service between our apartment, the airport and Chinatown.

On top of all of this the Democratic National Convention starts on Monday and all sorts of road closures and security checks are beginning today as well. Sheesh. I think we'll get our town back by next Friday. We'll meet you at the bar.

New Music: Bishop Allen

I found the lovely song "Little Black Ache" on the web a few weeks ago and I've added it to my regular playlist for riding back and forth to work. The band, Bishop Allen, is based in Brooklyn, but originally from the fine city of Cambridge, MA. I love Boston, but sometimes I find that I have Cambridge envy. It's less corporate and has the Middle East and the hipness that is Central Sq. Then again, I live less than 400 smoots from Cambridge.
 
My favorite part of the song are the dry Kim Dealesque background vocals on the chorus.  Anything that evokes the Pixies is a good thing. I think I need to pick up this band's CD. That's why record labels shouldn't fight the proliferation of MP3 files: hearing a cool song by a band makes you want to buy music. Now, in a perfect world, I'd send my money directly to the good people of Bishop Allen and they'd send me some songs and take that money and make more cool songs. Ah, the dream!

Back in Boston

After a few days in the woods of New Hampshire, we're back in Boston. Hopefully, we'll have some pictures posted tonight.

I had a strange dream last night. I invented the sandy turkwich. It was a layer of stuffing between a couple of slices of deli turkey and you ate it like a sandwich. I have no idea how you were supposed to keep your hands clean.

Gone Fishin', sort of

I could go fishing, but I'd rather learn some kung fu. We'll be away until Monday, so keep yourselves entertained while we're away.

Movie: Spiderman 2

This is the rare summer action movie where the story is better than the special effects. Spiderman swinging through the streets looks like something out of an xBox game. And since when is there an elevated train in downtown Manhattan? As a plus, Doc Ock's special effects looked great. Alfred Molina with this shirt off, not so great. I believe he'll only do topless scenes if they're not gratuitous.

Short week ahead

Only two days at work this week. Yay! Then it's time for one of my favorite getaways: kung fu camp in the mountains of New Hampshire. It's not as hardcore as it sounds. We're not off sleeping on dirt floors at the top of a mountain breaking boards or anything like that. We're actually at a ski resort during the off season and working out about 4 hours a day, with hikes and swimming during the in between. It never looks like that in the movies, does it?

Movie dilemma

Man, I love superhero movies. So which one should I go see this weekend? Spiderman 2 or Anchorman. I liked the first Spiderman and I've read a lot of his comics. Who is this Anchorman? Does he do what an anchor can? What? He's not a superhero at all? Oh, my bad.

Poetry 365: Drum Machine Solo

sixteen bars
of bossa nova
blue sky

Technology leaving culture behind

I'm still listening to the new Wilco album on the way to work. Today, I was getting fruit for my breakfast when the song "Hummingbirds" came on. It occured to me how much Jeff Tweedy's delivery sounds like Paul Westerberg around the time of "Answering Machine". Then Tweedy pops off with this line, "I'm assuming you got my message/On your machine"

Ah, love in the time of the answering machine. It's a bygone era and we hardly noticed. Everyone has voice mail now, right? Are there kids growing up wondering what Westerberg is talking about when he says, "How do you say I miss you, to an answering machine?" The song may as well be called "Mimeograph"

"Singles" was on TV last night and I saw a corded phone with the curly handset wire and all. This movie was made in 1992. How can it seem out dated technologically? I guess we're moving forward pretty damn quickly.

How many zany movie scene would be lost if the two parties searching frantically for each other could just pick up the cell phone. Do kids even know what's going on in a movie when a phone actually rings with a bell, instead of with some electronic tones?

Man, I sound crotchety early in the morning.

The New Project: Drawing

Every few years, I take on a new project for myself. In the last few years, I've run a marathon, learned to play guitar, and make origami. In each case, I've learned these things from books. It's really satisfying to develop new skills.

So the latest skill for me to tackle is drawing. I'm using Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain as my text for this. The main thrust of the book is that we let the left brain take over when we try to draw. We don't draw an eye as we really see it, but instead we draw a symbol that represents the eye. Like a kid's football shaped drawing of an eye. The left brain wants to name everything and convert it to a symbol instead of drawing the individual lines.

This is especially true for me, as I have been writing as long as I can remember, it's the purpose of writing to reduce things to symbols. That's how my thought process is wired. The book guides me into letting go of that instinct.

I'm working my way through the exercises now, and I'm feeling pretty confident that I will get it all working. I'm kind of hoping to keep a sketch diary in the future. It'd be fun on vacations.

Rainy Monday

It is one of the unheralded holidays. It's a movable feast, the occasional holiday known as the 5th of July. So, Jen and I have the day off. After a beautiful weekend, it's decided to rain. There go our beach plans. It's going to be a movie day, I guess. Around the World in 80 Days or Saved? Or maybe both. We're off to the theater for the day.

People and things that I am proud of as an American

Not an exhaustive list, by any means, but here we go.

Johnny Cash, New York City, the Constitution.
Apple Computer, pulled pork, Muhammad Ali.
Boston, Los Angeles, Austin TX.
Run-DMC, Jimi Hendrix, Flaming Lips.
Mike Judge, FDR, the Red Cross.
The Velvet Underground, Chicago (the city, not the band), Baseball.
Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Sr.
Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald.
Elvis, Bugs Bunny, pumpkin pie.
William Carlos Williams, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Simpsons.
John Coltrane, Scrabble, Kermit the Frog.
The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
Cameron Crowe, Bill Murray, the electric guitar.
Jimmy Carter, The Wright Brothers, George Washington Carver.
Iggy Pop, Godfather I and II, air conditioning.
Pavement, Levi's, Harry Crews.
Chris Ware, Woody Guthrie, Martin Luther King Jr.
Cake, Memphis TN, Prince.
The Replacements, Atari, Jackie Robinson.
Chief Joseph, Wilco, and the freedom to make this list.

Happy July 4th

It's Independence Day here in the US. Boston prides itself on being the original American city and throws a big party. Personally, I think it's too hot and crowded to have a party outside, so we'll be having a few friends over to Pussycat Assassins World Headquarters and we'll eat drink and be merry in comfort and then run downstairs as the fireworks begin.

We just watched the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest. Surprise, surprise, Kobayashi, the little Japanese hipster kid wins again. It was hilarious to watch on TV with sportscasters doing play by play. I learned that there's an entire eating contest circuit and that people hold records in eating burritos, glazed donuts, oysters, ice cream and sweet corn. Often, it would be one guy who held multiple food records.

I wonder if anyone would know about this contest if the old records hadn't been shattered by a small Japanese man. What if the superstar were just some big guy from Queens? The American public loves the unlikely. Sort of like beating the British in 1776. I can't wait for the day when the US wins the soccer World Cup.

Old Music: Radiohead-The Bends

I was riding in to work this morning, starting on a fascinating book Geek Love. In the first chapter there are circus freaks, genetic manipulation and trailer parks. This is great to a Harry Crews fan like me, but I had to stop reading. Why? Because "Just" came on my iPod.

Do you remember the days when dinosaurs ruled the Earth and Radiohead was the best guitar band on the planet? I do. It was when The Bends was released. They were a three headed snarling guitar Cerebus then. Damn.

Also amazing, Thom Yorke somehow foretold the coming of the second Bush administration:

Where do we go from here?
The planet is a gunboat in a sea of fear
And where are you?
They brought in the CIA, the tanks and the whole marines
To blow me away, to blow me sky high

Weight Loss

Since the end of April, I've lost 20 pounds on Weight Watchers. That's 10% of my body weight. I'm down to 184 lbs. I can't say enough about the Flex Points system. It really works for me.

I was running three days a week and practicing kung fu 3 days a week for over a year and my weight remained stuck at 205 lbs. Lots of guys with some weight to lose say to themselves, "I'll just work out and the weight will just melt off." That used to be me. And it worked. To a point. But I was stuck at 205 for about three years, while steadily increasing my amount of exercise. Was I going to eventually have to workout 24 hours a day just to stay at the same level?

Jen got me to try Weight Watchers and it's been great. I can see myself staying on plan the rest of my life. You have to. You can't expect to go back to eating like a madman and keeping your weight down. Weight Watchers doesn't forbid any foods, it just asks you to keep track of what you eat and be cognizant of how much you are eating. It just starts feeling natural after a while.