Yoav feat. Emily Browning.
I just finished reading Ender's Game for the first time since elementary school (it's still an amazing work of literary art). I was inspired to buy and read the iBook edition after seeing the trailer for the new Ender's Game movie. Much as 'Exile Vilify' came to symbolize the emotional exhaustion felt by Abraham Lincoln while reading Team Of Rivals, 'Where Is My Mind' became my anthem for Ender and his battle against isolation, loneliness, and depression.
Blood Dragon is a standalone expansion for the video game Far Cry 3. Below is a live-action short made to promote Blood Dragon. Just take my money already and make a full-length movie, please.
Update: Below is the first 15 minutes of the game with commentary.
I'm expecting my feet and legs to be pretty sore after each Kendo class.
I will be doing Kendo three times a week.
I've arrived back to Shenzhen to discover a (relatively) cheap foot massage place has just opened on the first floor of my apartment building.
Something tells me I'll become a very frequent customer.
Shixiabei, Shenzhen.
Dennis Gage of My Classic Car. Shanghai Automotive Show.
Kendo
Kendo
So tonight is my first full Kendo class. Kendo is the martial art of Japanese sword fighting. Why am I starting Kendo?
After attending a sample class with some friends, I started reading more about Kendo and the philosophies behind it. One of the most interesting pieces I came across was entitled, "Kendo: Striving For Perfection When Perfection Is Impossible." Below are some passages from the article that caught my attention.
In my experience with other martial arts, the main focus always seemed to be on learning more and more techniques. Maybe I was just going to the wrong dojos (perhaps this is American style?). I’m not sure. If you learn 100 techniques with a certain skill level, you get this colored belt. If you learn 200 techniques, you get some other belt. In kendo, you essentially get to do four techniques. That’s it, and the last one (tsuki) isn’t even something someone can try for a number of years.
and
When I think about some other martial arts, all I can think about is how complicated they get. The higher your rank, the more complicated all your techniques get. Purple belt? That means you get to spin twice before kicking the target. It’s all about adding, adding, adding.
It took me a while to realize this, but in kendo I think it’s all about how much you can take away. I want to say that kyuudo and aikido are similar in this regard. When a beginner starts kendo, their swing is very complicated. They use all kinds of different muscles and make a lot of unnecessary movements. As you get better, you actually simplify your swing. You figure out how to turn off certain muscles. You make your movements more consistent. You don’t swing through your targets as much. It’s a lot like golf in terms of the consistency you need. You don’t want to swing your golf club differently every time. You want it to be like clockwork. Same goes for kendo.
and
A lot of martial arts dojos enjoy making lots of moneys (I guess to fill their mats?). In general, practicing kendo is very cheap. There are exceptions, I’m sure, but most of the time you just pay some dues for the facility you’re practicing in (for me, that’s $20/month) and then buy your own equipment (which lasts a long time, usually). The sensei don’t get paid for their time and they teach kendo because they love kendo.
There's much, much more commentary about Kendo in the piece, so I would recommend you read it if this seems of any interest. It certainly helped pique my interest.
Another article featured martial arts expert Alex Bennett and his experience with Kendo. From the article:
A quick stop at a martial arts shop in Christchurch told the 18-year-old Bennett there were no local kendo clubs, but the shop owner did have a list of interested participants who had earlier made inquiries. Bennett decided to contact a few and suggest training together. From that simple start, Bennett soon had over 30 people gathering for informal training sessions, many with other martial arts experience.
“The students wanted to do kendo specifically because they felt something was missing in their other martial arts experiences, and they hoped kendo was a martial art that could teach them more about the spirit or culture of budo or even this rather nebulous idea of bushido. I had absolutely no idea how to reply to them, so that’s when I first read everything I could find on the martial arts, [Inazo] Nitobe or Miyamoto. I felt a responsibility to the students, and I decided I should spend the rest of the year saving as much money as possible and then go to Japan to study kendo properly.”
It seems Kendo is a martial art that many start, many give up, and few continue and master. I've always wanted to try a martial art, but most are just too physical. Kendo seems to be more about improving your inner self. So I am giving it a go and will let you know what happens.
Below is part 1 of a documentary about Kendo.
Kendo competition
One of my favorites.
"Did you know that for Gene, speech is a second language?"
"Roger's first language is 'Yes, I'll have apple pie with my order.'"
Slate Magazine on "The Original Frenemies." What an interesting relationship.
I haven't played a console video game from start to finish in a long, long time (it's probably been more than two years). The new Bioshock game may change that. It looks pretty incredible.
I apologize for the language of the commentary in the video below. It's an entertaining look at the beginning of the game though. I watched it because I wasn't planning on playing the game and so didn't care about the game's beginning being spoiled. Now that I've watched it, I will be purchasing the game (legally) the first chance I get.
Tianfu Square and People's Park. The park included people dancing, playing Chinese traditional instruments, and posting information about their sons and daughters in the hoping of finding appropriate mates for them. Chengdu, Sichuan.
T-Rex, Dinosaur Park, Window of the World Theme Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen.
I hope the PC makes a cameo appearance
I hope the PC makes a cameo appearance
The new Star Wars won't be arriving this year, I'm not very interested in the new Superman or Iron Man 3, don't know much about this year's documentaries, and while the next Star Trek will surely be awesome, I'm not planning to run out to the theater to see it upon release. So which movie am I most looking forward to this year? Funny Or Die's full length online "biopic" about Steve Jobs staring the 'Mac' from the Mac vs PC commercials.
"In true Internet fashion, it's not based on very thorough research — essentially a cursory look at the Steve Jobs Wikipedia page," said Ryan Perez, iSteve's writer and director, to the NYT. "It's very silly. But it looks at his whole life." The movie found its roots in the idea for a fake Steve Jobs movie trailer, and the idea snowballed from there.
Amazing.
Areans as a Shanghai Shark
Areans as a Shanghai Shark
This caught my attention. From a Yahoo Sports post about a Gilbert Arenas interview on his time playing basketball in China:
There's a lot more in the full interview, including how Gilbert passes the time in China — he buys DVDs, apparently from a store and not bootleg markets — and how he negotiates the language barrier with teammates.
That's strange, I thought... Who in Shanghai buys legal DVDs from an actual electronics store? Shanghai has some of the best bootleg DVD shops in China; these shops maintain a huge selection of movie DVDs and TV show boxsets (a much, much larger selection than any legal electronics store ever maintains), these DVDs most always retain the special features content present in the legal DVDs (special features content is hit or miss in bootleg copies from other cities), and the quality of the video itself pretty high. So why is he buying his DVDs from legal stores?
Then I took a look at the actual interview.
SLAM: I’ve heard you have been out and about around town, which is something that foreign players don’t do too often in China. They usually just stay in.
GA: Yup. China is known for electronics and I love electronics. I’m usually at the DVD store. I’m always the mall, at the electronics store, buying video games and stuff like that.
"DVD store." My money is on the 'DVD store' indeed being a bootleg shop, not an actual, legal store.
Anyway, I'm glad Gilbert actually seems to be enjoying himself here, is adapting to the culture (he's using Weibo full time, not Twitter), and not making trouble (like some other previous NBA players have).
Nanshan, Shenzhen.
"Shoes"
Hongshan metro station. Longhua, Shenzhen.
Kevin Spacey in 'House of Cards'
Kevin Spacey in 'House of Cards'
Watched the first episode of House Of Cards today. I turned it on more for the novelty of it being Netflix's first original series. I didn't bank on the fact it would actually be pretty great. Now I'm halfway through episode three. I implore you to watch it if you can. Now if only there was an easy, legal way to stream new episodes of Game of Thrones without having a full cable subscription.
The new Arrested Development episodes can't come soon enough.
