Friday, June 23, 2006

"If You Don't Give My Football Back..."

In a mixed setting of World Cup fever and boredom at work, here's the complete Adidas Jose+10 video. One of the best ads out there, as good as, if not better than Eric Cantona's Joga Bonita Nike commercials. The music for part 1 is "D'allouette" by RJD2 and for part 2 is "Eanie Meany" by Jim Noir.




I may have missed a couple (or made a mistake) but here's a list of players, country and club (as of 2006, of course) on the ad:

Jose's Team:
Michael Ballack, Germany, FC Bayern Munich
Franz Beckenbauer, Germany
David Beckham, England, Real Madrid CF
Du-Ri Cha, Korea Republic, Eintracht Frankfurt
Damian Duff, Ireland, Chelsea FC
Steven Gerrard, England, Liverpool FC
Kaká, Brazil, AC Milan
Oliver Kahn, Germany, FC Bayern Munich
Juan Román Riquelme, Argentina, Villarreal CF
Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany, FC Bayern Munich
Patrick Vieira France, Juventus Turin

Pedro's Team:
Djibril Cissé, France, Liverpool FC
Jermain Defoe, England, Tottenham Hotspur
Kevin Kuranyi, Germany, FC Schalke
Frank Lampard, England, Chelsea FC
Michel Platini, France
Shunsuke Nakamura ,Japan, Celtic Glasgow
Alessandro Nesta, Italy, AC Milan
Lukas Podolski, Germany, FC Köln
Raúl, Spain, Real Madrid CF
Arjen Robben, The Netherlands, Chelsea FC
David Trézéguet, France, Juventus
Zinédine Zidane, France, Real Madrid CF

Not my dream team (1 Brazilian?), but I wouldn't complain...

Thursday, June 15, 2006

At The Stars

So there's this new show on NBC called Windfall, which is about 20 friends who win the lottery and each receive about 20 million each (if I remember correctly). It's a drama and it centers around how the money changes their lives, for better or worse. Although it's not the best show I've seen (hardly), it's a fairly interesting and original concept. It's never been the premise of a show, that I've heard of or seen at least. Anyways, this just reminds me of the notion, urban legend, or what have you, that winning the lottery is bad luck because of the consequences. There is an overabundance of stories where lottery winners end up in some bout of misfortune, either it be injury, death, or something in between. Hurley on LOST, anyone? (Come on, someone else here has to be a LOST fan besides me, right?? Right??)

So the question I'm sure you've all been expecting since the beginning of this post: What would you do with 20 million dollars?

Me? Well first, I would buy my parents a bigass house anywhere they wanted. After I bought myself one too, I would pay off my college debt, buy myself a nice car (Ferrari F430 Spider, Mercedes 2007 SL55 AMG, Mercedes 2007 SL550 Roadster, or Porche Carrera GT), do some traveling, maybe buy myself an island (haha...maybe), give a bit to charity, and then invest the rest of it. Life would be grand. Yes indeed.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Have An Adequate Day

This semester I was hit with the Marx Brothers fever, but this is not about that. This weekend amidst World Cup fever, Ntokozo's birthday and a good-bye party for Claire, I went to New York City to bid adieu to Shraddha.

I had a chance to visit the 24/7 underground Apple store on 58th Street. Fondly known as "The Cube", this is a Mac-paradise, a real fun place.

On the walk back to Shraddha's appartment, we saw 2 Ferrari F430s, a Mercedes SL500, a Bentley Continental, an Aston Martin Vanquish, and a Porsche 911GT in that order in a span of five minutes. A Lambourghini would have wrapped up the day nicely.

I've been trying to catch up on my reading for the past couple of weeks. So far I've re-read The Chronicles of Narnia, a lot of Feynman, Brave New World and am presently cruising along an annotated version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I also have American Bartending on the side (thanks Shraddha!).

As for the World Cup, so far there hasn't been anything of note, except for the last three Australian goals against Japan in the last eight minutes...

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Please Don't Talk

So I'm in Boston for my internship. Have been here only four days but I can easily say it beats the hell out of NYC. I never really got why people loved NYC. It's dirty, crowded, and a lot of people I've encountered there are RUDE. I mean, it has a lot of hustle and bustle but you can find that in pretty much any other city. Who knows.

My internship is pretty cool in that I don't do bitch work nor am I just relegated to getting some higher-up his/her coffee. I actually DO work. When I tell some of my friends about it, they just laugh because it's a bit unbelievable that I ACTUALLY have a job. Not that I never wanted one before and felt like mooching off the parents, but I've never had a REAL job in my life. During high school, I never really had the need to work and my parents didn't want a job to interfere with schoolwork. Meanwhile, a lot of my friends had jobs pretty much all year round. In college, I finally got a job last year but it wasn't REALLY a job. I pretty much got paid to do my homework or nothing at all (gotta love workstudy) so it doesn't really count. At my internship, all I do is write and edit, which is not bad at all. I'm thinking this is the kinda stuff I want to do for the rest of my life. Most likely anyways.

In my spare time here, I've been cooking for myself (another shocker because I hate cooking - I've never really excelled at it), watching TV, watching movies, and doing some work I bring home from the internship. I was thinking of getting a part-time job but we'll see. Will have to explore a bit first.

Here are the movies I've seen (just thought I'd share):
1) Sleepless in Seattle - have seen it a million times and it never gets old. It's one of my favorite movies of all time.
2) Tristan & Isolde - it was actually pretty good. Had some action and romance; interesting twist to the Romeo and Juliet-type story. Not too mushy or cheesy, like I was afraid it would've been. Though it doesn't hurt that I love James Franco..haha (ever since the TV show Freaks and Geeks...classic)
3) Just My Luck - stupidass Lindsay Lohan movie. Should've known. Why did I watch it? I have no idea.
4) Transamerica - Either Felicity Huffman was robbed of the Oscar or Reese Witherspoon was freakin unbelievably, outrageously better (haven't seen Walk the Line yet so I can't judge). It was a very touching movie but the subject matter might be a bit too...out-of-the-ordinary...for some, but if you are comfortable with it, it's definitely a worthy watch.

Hopefully, I can get to Glory Road and Imagine Me and You tonight. If you haven't already guessed, I'm a huge movie lover.

What else? Oh, so I've been hearing about this whole Ann Coulter controversy. What a bitch. Personal feelings aside, she's an ignorant, propagandizing, heartless idiot. Is it not logical to demand an explanation from the government for such a tragedy? I mean, the scale of it aside, any sort of oversight by the government should be taken seriously. No matter what party you're affiliated with, (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and WHATEVER other party), you should always keep a check on the government. She's talking about the wives exploiting their husbands' deaths but she's the one who's exploiting the tragedy of 9/11 and these families for the sake of her damn book. How much do you wanna bet that if she didn't make these outrageous claims, her book wouldn't be #1 on amazon.com or wherever else?? And that's another thing. It just makes me sad and pissed off that people buy into this crap. Goddamnit.

You know what else is sad? That the constitutional ban on gay marriage just barely missed being passed. Sure, it didn't pass because it fell short of the 2/3 majority needed, but the votes were 49-48. That is just unnervingly close. Even though it didn't pass, I feel like the country has taken a million steps back in terms of civil rights. First, the limitation on who you can or cannot marry. What's next? Overturning Roe v. Wade? (Sadly, it's getting there.) No, better yet, let's just make things easier and overturn the 14th amendment so we can discriminate against anyone and everyone. Screw due process and equal protection.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Gotta catch 'em all

After Maity's post, I felt inclined to blog about my own experiences with anime. The first anime I obsessed over was Sailormoon. I think every girl who knows anime loves it or has at least seen it. Of course, as Maity pointed out, the manga is much more mature and much better than the anime but hey, if the anime gives it a bigger audience, what's the harm? In short, Sailormoon is about a bunch of girls (some in junior high school, some in senior high) who discover that they are reincarnations of past "sailor soldiers," each based on a different planet (Sailor Neptune, Sailor Saturn, etc), whose main duties involved protecting the Moon Princess, Sailor Moon. Sounds dumb but is much more complicated than you think. I guess it's a more compelling soap opera. I mean, just look at how beautiful the manga is:


Some other girly animes I've seen: Fushigi Yuugi (had a HUGE obsession with this one too), Ayashi no Ceres, Card Captor Sakura, and Magic Knight Rayearth. The former two from Yu Watase and the latter two from CLAMP (all female animation team).

I've seen "non-girly" anime as well but I just felt like listing a few anime titles geared towards females to contrast the ones mentioned earlier by Maity, which have a more masculine appeal if not general appeal to both males and females.

In any case, no matter what type of anime you watch, I would say it's better to watch subtitled anime rather than the dubbed. Dubs are often butchered for an American audience and most that I've seen compromise the original story somewhat. Not to mention some of the dubs have the most annoying English voice actors. Such a shame.

Aside: That reminds me of a friend of mine who absolutely refuses to watch movies with subtitles. Don't get me started.

Back to anime: Pokemon wasn't that bad when it first came out. I have to admit, I took part in that craze. I watched the show, have three versions of the Gameboy game, saw two of the movies, have a deck of the cards for the game, and have some random Pokemon paraphernalia I shall not specify. It was a cute, entertaining show at the time and it was good while it lasted (as in the time span that I watched the show, which was about 2 seasons?). Every now and then, I still go back and play the games just for kicks. Digimon was also cute the first two seasons. After that, I think my obsession with anime waned (this was around freshman year of hs). Since then, I still watch some notable anime movies now and then but that is about it nowadays.

Anyway, here are a few of my top anime picks:

Sailormoon (mentioned earlier)

Fushigi Yuugi
It's about two high school girlfriends (friends who are girls) who discover a magic book, The Universe of the Four Gods (based on Chinese lore), that transports them into the book. The story in the book takes place during feudal China and each girl becomes a Priestess of a different region (North, South, etc). Each preistess has seven "seishi" or celestial warriors with their own powers. Of course, there is conflict where a huge misunderstanding leads one of the friends (and her seishi) to battle the other (and her seishi). The anime is what I call a dramedy...it's a good mix of drama/comedy. Oh and don't forget the romance! I'm a sucker for that stuff.

Ghost in the Shell
Amazing movie. Haven't seen the series nor the movie sequel but from Maity's praise, it sounds like I'm definitely missing out.

Pretty much all Miyazaki's movies I've seen thus far: My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. The latter two movies have the most amazing musical soundtracks of any anime I've seen. Ever. Really. Amazing.

Two honorable mentions:

X/1999

A movie based on the half-finished CLAMP manga (at the time the movie came out). The plot revolved around the acpocalypse (based on the Book of Revelation). The main character, Kamui, has the power to influence the destiny of the world because he has the choice of becoming either a Dragon of Heaven, thereby protecting humanity from the end of the world, or becoming a Dragon of Earth, thereby destroying all of humanity in order for Earth to be reborn. Regardless of what he chose, his friend was destined to become the protector of the opposing side. The story of this movie wasn't as good as it could have been but the artistic fight scenes more than made up for it.

Vampire Princess Miyu
This anime is the only one in the horror genre that I've seen. It's not really scary but it incorporates elements of horror (ex: vampires, demons, death, etc). It's about Miyu, a vampire whose duty is to send "shinma," or demon gods, from Earth back to their dark world. Interesting concept and I love the gothic/almost verging on horror feel of it. Definitely a worthy watch although it may be a bit too slow-paced for some.

Dattebayo!

Recently an old friend from high school who was recently accepted to University of Southern California told me that he was getting interested in anime. To save him from bad anime, and generally to give a brief overview of the industry, here is my anime special:

Anime specifically refers to Japanese animation, a booming multi billion dollar industry in Japan that markets all over the world, with France and the United States as two of the largest external consumers. Animated movies like Shrek and Ice Age are not considered anime since they are created by Pixar and DreamWorks, which are US studios.

Anime falls into various categories like shounen, which literaly translates to "for boys", involving big explosions, mecha and action. Seinen is a more mature genre dealing with psychological and sophisticated plots aimed at the college market. There's shoujo, anime aimed at girls with plenty of cutely drawn characters. Kodomo targets little kids - Pokemon and other crap would fall into this category. And lastly there's hentai which is pretty much animated pornography. No offense meant, but the Japanese are crazy people. For a country with the lowest sex rate in the world, they sure produce a lot of perversive material, and it's not just with anime...

Anime is also not to be confused with Manga which is a black and white Japanese comic book. Manga is extremely popular in Japan and for some reason, France. In Japan it's not surprising to find forty-year old businessmen in suits reading manga on the subway. There's manga for everyone, from housewives to ninjas, they cover and extremely diverse range. In fact, most anime are actually based on pre-existing manga and more often than not, the quality of the manga is considerably better. Example: The famous Dragonball series was based of manga, however, unlike the manga where the plot is pacy and bold (blood and language), the anime converted each chapter into five episodes, slowing down the plot so much that it almost felt as if the characters were staring at each other for whole episodes.

So for those interested here is my top picks in the anime and manga industry:

Ghost in the Shell
First released in 1995, the movie based on Shirow Masamune's manga was a psychological thriller set in the near future where the line between man and machine has been blurred and ergonomics has taken on a completely new definition. The Wachowski Brothers admitted that the Matrix was heavily influenced by this movie and asked the creators, Production I.G. Studios, to make the Animatrix. The movie spawned an excellent television series in 2003, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. With superb music by the legendary Yoko Kanno, this is perhaps the best animated series in the market. The show ran an even better second season and is now planning a third season to be relesed in 2007. The movie too had a sequel in 2005, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence which shames the animation quality of every other anime, including Final Fantasy: Advent Children.

Cowboy Bebop
An American favourite, Cowboy Bebop follows the tale of two space age bounty hunters each with a shady past and their attempts to correct their wrongs. With plenty of humor and action based on Bruce Lee's Jeet Kun Do and John Woo style gun play and a riveting plot this is a really entertaining watch. Once again Yoko Kanno delivers excellent music. The movie Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door is also worth a watch but not noteworthy.
Naruto
Heir to the Dragonball franchise, Naruto is now a 200 odd episode series based off the manga by the same name. Popular is an understatement, creater Masashi Kishimoto is now the third highest tax payer in Japan! Unlike DB, Naruto is racy, funny, smart and of all things holistic. It's a ninja version of Aesop's Tales. The music, ninja fight sequences and exceptionally good character development makes this show addictive. My friend here at Hamilton watched 98 episodes during exam week because he just had to find out how it was going to end, because unlike DB where the good guys always win, Naruto is unpredictable.

Bleach
Based on the manga by Kubo Tite, like Naruto, Bleach is another hevy weight in the marathon anime industry. Bleach deals with Shinigami, a class of spirits responsible for destroying evil spirits called Hollows and maintaining order in the spirit world. With brilliant plot twists this anime is always surprising you. Presently running at 80 odd episodes, this one promises to be a long runner.

Neon Genesis Evangalion
Although not my personal favorite, this show has far too many loyal fans to be ignored. I describe it as "giant robots and angsty teenagers" but that's just me. I asked my sophomore year roommate Alex Stamoulis, a hardcore Eva fan to write up a brief review:
"Evangelion was a transcendental anime in a variety of ways. It helped introduce and popularize the concept of an imperfect hero in the mecha genre previously dominated by macho protagonists as three-dimensional as cardboard cut-outs. Eva's characters are troubled, imperfected and often hide deep psychological issues. Adding giant bio-mechanical mecha and monstronsities titled 'Angels' to the mix only serve to make Evangelion's appeal even greater. Produced in 1995-6 by a director who was clinically depressed and off his meds, Evangelion and it's two films, "Death and Rebirth" and "End of Evangelion" has become an icon in the Anime community. Also Rei Ayanami is hot.
Fanboys agree."

Other notable mentions are Samurai Champloo, Full Metal Alchemist, Rouruni Kenshin, Trigun, Spiral and Hellsing. Among others, Ninja Scroll, Akira, Princess Mononoke are classic animated movies and Miyazaki's Spirited Away is the only anime to have won an Academy Award.

I feel like a geek...