February 26, 2003

By the end of the day, I should be in sunny California.  A big difference from, at the current moment, snowy Hampton Roads.  I'm headed to Minnesota at 5:45pm EST and then off to San Jose, landing around 11pm PST. 

On my way back, via Detroit, I'll be taking a redeye on Saturday March 8 and I should be home on Sunday March 9 (coincidentally, the anniversary of Biggie's death).  I think Lu is flying back too.

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to check email but I'll try as much as I can, so if you need to say hi, or have any requests from the other side of the country, just email me.  I'll try to give a little vacation report while I'm there.

I don't have any real itinerary, I'm just visiting family and then I'm helping Lu fix up his place . He's just been asked to stay at Stanford with a permanent postition, and he's taking it, so Lu's traveling days may be over.  At least it's a good place to stop.  Well  he's gonna be showing me around his new town and we're playing it by ear.  One thing we're certainly doing is watching the #1 ranked Arizona Wildcats vs. the #21 ranked Stanford Cardinals.  I was able (lucky) to grab a pair of tickets to the sold out game.  It's supposed to be televised on ABC, but I think it might just be a west coast thing, it will be the biggest game of the weekend though.  It doesn't matter though, because with the cheap seats I got, I don't think the cameras can zoom that far.  It should be an exciting game.

A few things to note while I'm away. 

If you have yet to do so, the last day to sign up to participate in the music settlement is next Monday.  If you don't know about it, basically, everyone who's bought a cd between 1995 and 2000 is eligible for a part of the settlement with the major music companies.  Depending on the number of people who sign up, it'll be between $5 and $20 per person.  The form to sign up with is real basic and takes about 20 seconds.

Mardi Gras is in full effect this weekend.  Next tuesday is Fat Tuesday, so that means lent starts next Wednesday.  The Easter season usually accompanies spring and that's more than welcome after a snowy winter season.

March 4 is Mike Jose's birthday.

Today is Tuesday and that means it's new release day for CDs and DVDs.  Some good stuff comes out today but the one CD that stands out to me is the Philly Asian Rhymin' Sensations, the Mountain Brothers.  They release their sophomore album, a long time coming since their underground classic "Self: Volume 1".  Truly talented, and I'm not saying that just because they're Asians.  It may be hard to find at stores in some areas but it's available online.

Another surprise release from the underground today comes out of North Carolina.  A new group called Little Brother has been surprising everyone on the underground scene with their mellow, jazzy feel and witty lyrics. 

If you're more into the radio stuff, Freeway releases his album.  He's got Jay Z and a bunch of other guests all over the album, it's an album people will be bumping in their cars throughout the spring. 

Other notables:  The D.O.C. (used to be down with NWA back in the day, then lost his voice...it's been like 12 years since that happened),  Peanut Butter Wolf (funny name, the best DJ's have some funky names, his last album was groundbreaking), Ice Cube re-releases 2 of his best albums (to remind us how good he USED to be), and Thicke, the funkiest white guy out right now,  is supposed to release his today, but I think the label may have just pushed it back to April.

------------------

Tomorrow I leave for sunny California.  I'm spending today tying up loose ends before I leave.  It's weird how each time I've flown in the past few years has been a different experience.  And now I choose to fly at a time when the country is on a high threat alert.  And I'm going to a city that could be a prime target.  Just last week they were searching for a suspicious boat in the Bay.  And it's supposed to snow in Norfolk tomorrow.  I really know how to pick them.

Grammy awards are this weekend.  I really don't care because most of the nominees are terrible (foxy brown gets nominated for an album 2 years old? Charli Baltimore?)   But I am going to be watching for one reason, Eminem is performing.  I'm not excited about Eminem though, he's got a surprise live band backing him up, none other than my favorite group, the Legendary Roots crew.  They rarely get the exposure they deserve, and performing with the great White Hope should open them up to an audience they don't reach.

Mike Tyson's fight is going on this weekend.  I'll be watching, probably just because I'll be hanging out on Saturday night at someone's house who just happens to "subscribe" to showtime.  It should be fun, just for the antics.  You never know with Iron Mike.

I got a buttload of dvd's coming in the mail.  Mostly HK movies (cause that's my thing right now) but I've got a couple surprises I'll probably let you guys in on when (if) they come in.  I got the inside track on some exclusive ish!   Hopefully it'll be here before I leave on Wednesday for California.

Yesterday I went to my final Monarch basketball game of the season.  There is one more home game, but I'll be in Cali for that one.  I've been to all but 3 or 4 games this year, problem is the last 3 games I've been to have come down to the wire in exciting fashion.  And the Monarchs have lost all 3 games.  Heartbreakers.  But being there sort of makes taking the losses easier, that's because sitting in the student section of the ODU games have been an experience in itself.  Unlike the past several years, this year's student crowds have been wild and fun.  The antics going on in the stands almost makes the game secondary.  So while I'm upset at the heartwrenching losses, I still enjoy being part of the rawkus crowd.

When I'm visiting Stanford next week,  Lu said he's gonna try to gather some basketball tickets to see #1 Arizona.  It's a nationally televised game, so I'm not sure if it'll happen for us, but that's something I'm really looking forward to.

I've noticed on Ebay several movies on DVD that haven't been released yet.  These are the Academy Award DVD screeners that the voters watch to vote for the Oscars.  Especially of note is Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  So if you're one of those die hards that can't wait or want to get it before anyone else, you can probably cop one for about $30.  Other notable movies include Gangs of New York and Chicago.  I've been trying to the Hero, the Jet Li movie, nominated for best foreign movie.  I just can't wait for them to release it in the states.

I've been on a hong kong DVD kick lately.  I even bought a DVD player to hack into so I can play DVD's from overseas.  I've gotta stop by Chinatown and Japantown in San Francisco and stock up while I'm there.  I can't wait.

February 19, 2003
I head to California in one week. I'm starting to make my list of things to pick up while I'm there, mainly asian CDs (filipino american stuff) and Hong Kong DVDs. I'll probably pick up a few filipino knick-knacks too while I'm there (you can never have enough barrel men).

The Lakers won last nite!!! In double overtime to boot. The much hyped Shaq vs. Yao battle didn't happen due to shaq being hurt.  Yao did good with his 24 points.  I'm glad my beloved lakers pulled this out to put themselves in position for the playoffs, but I was pulling for Yao Ming to do good.  We need more asian celebrities, especially in sports.  Who do you think of when you think of great asian athletes?  Most peoples answer -  NOBODY.  Maybe Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.  At least with Ichiro in Baseball and Yao in Basketball, there is a growing asian presence in major league sports.

And speaking of wrestling...  the WWE signed a one legged wrestler.  I think his name is Tenacious Z or something.  That should be wild.  I hope they don't exploit him too much.   Also, Sting is coming back.  He'll probably make it back for Wrestlemania next month.  And on a sad note,  Curt Hennig - Mr. Perfect - died last Monday. 

And finally on the sports note...Mike Tyson.  What can I say? The Tatoo?? On his face even??   The on again, off again, on again fight that's supposed to happen this weekend (as of me typing this) is on...sort of.  With all the uncertainty of the fight, his opponent is now frustrated and is now backing out.  I'm sure Tyson's camp will just bring in some scrub to beat up on.  At least there is a Jay-Z concert showing before the fight.

DVD sale at Amazon.com. Spend $25 for free shipping.

I've got 8 days before my trip to California. I 've got to start packing.

When I started this daily news thing, I thought about using one of the daily journal sites (Xanga, Easy Journal, and Blogger). I've got lots of friends that use them and they are pretty cool. Thing is I wanted more to provide news and stuff rather than just talk about what's on my mind. I do that anyways. Well google has just bought out the parent company for Blogger and they may just blow this thing into new proportions (bigger than it already is). I have a blogger page and Xanga page that I don't ever touch, but maybe I'll start adding to them soon. I may even join it to this page if I can get my FTP working right. But if any of you already have one (I may already know about it), or will start one (it can be addicting for some, it's real easy), pass the address along to me so I can peek into your dangerous minds. It's cool to see people writing, and with these journal sites doing the work for you, it only takes about 5 minutes a day. More later on about these sites.

February 15, 2003
Okay, my top 10 movies of 2003 is changing a little. New list:

Elbert's Top 10 Movies of 2003 (2nd Draft):

10. Kissing Jessica Stein - cute and smart movie about straight people trying out lesbianism (did i just make up a word?). Would be a great date movie if it weren't for the lesbian thing.
9.The Hours
8.Y Tu Mama Tambien - A road trip where friendship is tested, innocense of youth is lost, and sex, sex, and lots more sex - but with heart. Funny at times, moving at others, but sexy the whole way through. Thoughtfully done, otherwise it'll be just considered a porn movie with a plot. Shows a beautiful side of Mexico rarely seen in the movies.
7.About A Boy
6.Monsoon Wedding
5.Punch Drunk Love
4.Minority Report
3.Spirited Away
2.Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
1.Adaptation

Reasons for the changes: I forgot about Kissing Jessica Stein. I enjoyed it much more than I wanted or expected to. I checked and Donnie Darko is a 2001 movie. And Spiderman gets kicked off the top 10. I wanted to keep it on mainly to show that I'm not some elitist movie watcher that shuns the big blockbuster movies where thinking isn't involved. I really had a good time watching Spiderman. But it really doesn't belong in the ranks of the others on the list, and anyways, Minority Report and LOTR:TTT are my box office money makers. Also, I watched Y tu Mama Tambien and had to add it to the list. I'm sure it will change about 5 more times before I'm done.

With the immenent threat of war upon us, people are hording up the essentials. For some reason duct tape is at the top of the list. I guess it really does fix everything. Check out all the duct tape fashions possible.

I got my Gamecube yesterday. I picked up all this at Best Buy for $150:
-GameCube System
-Metroid Prime game
-extra controller
-memory card
-extension cable
-game disc wallet

Guess who you won't be seeing out of the house for a while...

February 14, 2003
Today is Valentine's Day. I like to think of it as Single's Appreciation Day. I've got to stay away from restaurants tonight.

The Daredevil movie comes out today. I hear too many mixed reviews. I'm a sucker for comic book movies though.

And it's payday!!! Off to Best Buy I go!! Sale!!!

February 13, 2003
Today is my sister Jennifer's Birthday.

You American Idol watchers may have already heard this, Frenchie Davis has been kicked off. She's the really big girl that could sing really well. It turns out she once worked at a porn site, which is frowned upon when looking for the american idol. I'm sure we haven't heard the last from her though. Porn didn't stop Vanessa Williams, Blu Cantrell, and a heap of others.

Speaking of American Idol, there were 2 filipino guys in the round of 48. One made the cut, the other didn't. You can read about them at PinoyLife.

Rex Navarette is coming back to VA on March 22. More details to come. For now you can just enjoy this.

February 12, 2003
I'm finally going to get one. I've been waiting for nintendo to drop their prices on the GameCube for the past few months. Last week a chain store had a sale on GameCubes for $99, but we didn't have any of them here. So I'm thinking, it's only a matter of time that one of the stores around here are going to follow suit, but nintendo is doing it a little differently now. Instead of dropping the price by $50, they are having a promotion where they throw in a free game worth $50. And not any cheap game that noones ever heard of, it's their top 4 games (Metroid, Mario Party, Resident Evil 0, and Star Fox). My plan was to buy the system for $99 and buy one of these games, the same deal as this sale. It's being offered pretty much everywhere. And to top it off Circuit City (and best buy I think - price match if not) put their GameCubes on sale for $139. Payday is Friday and guess what I'm buying. And Zelda comes out next month too. Oh Happy Day!!

I have to wait until payday because I've got to buy gas for my car. And gas prices are CRAZY right now. No more driving around aimlessly, and speeding is cut down some. This just justifies my shopping for a new bike though. Once the weather warms up a little, I'm buying a bike.

February 11, 2003
WIth the Academy Awards announcing their nominations for the Oscars today, I decided it's time for my best of list for 2002. I would have done this a month ago, but I was still catching up on movies. There are still a few more I'm trying to see (I just received Y Tu Tambien on DVD from Netflix and I'll check that out tomorrow)so this list is still pending. I know I haven't touched the movie page in a while and hopefully this will spur me to attempt some work on it. But for now :

Elbert's Top 10 of 2002 (for now)

10. Spiderman- just really fun, corny at times but great for comic book fans.
9. The Hours - Good movie, put together in a really good way, but really slow. Also tackles a dilemma I have little interest in - depression in middle aged women. I liked it, but it did drag. The interweaving of the 3 stories and the direction of the movie make this film work really well though.
8. About a Boy - great balance of drama and comedy. Whenever the movie starts getting heavy it adds comedy, but not slapstick or over the top stuff. Surprising, especially from the directors of American Pie.
7. Monsoon Wedding - really puts you in a good mood and you really understand this Indian family really well after watching. Way better than Greek Wedding.
6. Donnie Darko (don't know if this is 2001 or 2002) - good movie that keeps you sort of guessing as to where it's going.
5. Punch Drunk Love - quirky little film that is both sarcastically funny and touching at the same time. Lots of stuff to think about and digest after the movie is over. I love movies that I can't stop thinking about days after watching.
4. Minority Report - A blockbuster movie that involves thinking in the spirit of the alternative films. Really surprised me, good story.
3. Spirited Away - (not the horse movie) best anime in years. The imagination that is involved is unlimited.
2. Lord Of the Rings: The Two Towers - epic fantasy, really well done. I'm sure most of you have seen it.
1. Adaptation - Charlie Kaufman's big eff you to Hollywood and his movie pulls the audience in on the joke. And then plays a joke on the audience. It hit me 30 minutes after I watched the movie what happened and that's what made me like this movie so much. I usually don't even like Nicholas Cage, but he was believable playing twins in this movie. The whole cast had their parts nailed down. And Spike Jonze uses his tricks (revisiting Being John Malkovich) to add his little flavor, making this even more fun.

Honorary but not good enough:
The Good Girl - these small town folks are so depressing, that you have to laugh at them and their little problems.
Chicago - A good broadway adaptation, closest thing to being at a broadway show, but wasn't my cup of tea. I like musicals, but this one is sort of aimed at an older crowd, not the MTV generation. To me it was more like a bunch of music videos put together. Anyways, the moral of the story is you can get away with murder if you can sing or have money.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - another Charlie Kaufman film that takes an interesting character and builds a movie around him, but there's not much to the story, but it is presented in a really stylish manner. Interesting, but so far fetched, you can only think that this guy was lying in his autobiography.
Catch me if you can: See note about Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. A fun movie though.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding - overhyped. Anyways, filipino weddings are bigger, more hectic and funnier.
The Bourne Identity - best paced action movie of the year. One nonstop roller coaster ride throughout. The ending did keep this movie off the top 10. Good movie whatsoever.
The Ring - Freaked me out for a little bit. Scary in a smart way. Gives americans a taste of the horror genre that is so popular in Japan right now. I don't think they're ready for american versions of Battle Royale, Audition, or Ichii the killer.

Movies I still plan on seeing: About Schmidt, Gangs of New York, The Quiet American, Bowling for Columbine, Talk to Her, The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence, 25th hour, and KANGAROO JACK (okay maybe not).

A quick note about Oscar Nominations: Donald Kaufman gets screenwriting nominations. So Funny this happens, you know why if you see the movie (and understand it). Also Hero gets a foreign film nomination (yeah!!). Jet Li and hong kong all-stars in a wuxia film, can't wait til it gets here.

February 7, 2003

The All-Star Game is this weekend. What's up to everyone in Hot-Lanta. I'm sure it's the place to be. I remember when the game was in DC a few years ago, Lu and I tried to go to some of the clubs but they were all packed out the ying yang. We didn't get into one club. And the traffic was crazy. DC traffic is bad enough on a regular night, but throw in a couple hundred celebrities throwing a bunch of parties and you get mayhem. It seems that the parties are more of an attraction that the actual All-Star game (especially when the average fan can't even get a chance to buy a ticket to the game).

So Yao is playing in his first All-Star game, Michael Jordan is playing his last All-Star game and is being coached by his nemesis Isiah Thomas, Vince Carter will probably get booed for playing, and maybe they might play some kind of basketball game. The Saturday night events are usually fun. This year they've got a skillz competition (I thought of the idea years ago...you're welcome) to go along with the 3-point contest and the uneventful slam dunk competion.

The Slam Dunk Competition is no longer the marquee event of the weekend as it once was. The real superstars don't participate and the event has lost it's originality. I really would like to see Ricky Davis, Stevie Franchise, Baron Davis, and Tracy McGrady in it. They wouldn't need gimmicks (wheel of fortune? WTF?) to add entertainment value if they were in it.

First half surprises: Michael Jordan's resurgence, the lakers battling for .500, and the winning play of the Portland JailBlazers.

As of the past few years, the All-Star break has also meant the release of the newest kicks. This year several companies are releasing their newest shoes including the new T-Macs, the new KG's, and the new Iverson A6. But the most lauded will probably be the new Air Jordans, AJ XVIII coming out on Saturday.

February 6, 2003
Happy Birthday to one Robert Nesta Marley. You guys may know him as Bob. Bob Marley would have been 58 today. We can only wonder what he would think of what's going on in the world today, with the imminence of war at our horizon.I can go on and on about the Legend himself, but I'll spare you guys with just a quote :

So I listened to Colin Powell yesterday and I believe him in the most part, but I still don't think there is enough there for us to go to war. I just don't think it's worth it yet.

One love, one heart
Let's get together and feel all right
-"One Love"

But that's politics and it's not exactly my area of expertise. Then again, I think a bunch of them are still idiots. A congressman from North Carolina just stated he agreed with the confinement of Japanese Americans during WWII and believes we should round up Arab Americans today. Some congressmen are just plain STUPID. Ignorance and stupidity is just sometimes seems to pop up in the wrong places.

And now something totally unrelated...50 Cent is dropping his long awaited debut album today. He pushed up the release date in an effort to thwart the bootlegging, following in the footsteps of his "mentor" Eminem. Eminem did that with his album a few months ago. I'm still undecided on this one right now. A few years ago I was a fan of his, while he was a struggling underground artist popping up on mixtapes for the Beat Junkies and DJ Revolution. I loved all his mixtape stuff (he's been on a lot of mixtapes), but now his stuff today is changing. Most of his hype is generated by Eminem anyways. When Eminem speaks highly of 50 Cent, his loyal minions automatically think "it has to be good if Em says so." I am hearing a lot of good things about the album so far though. I've heard some of it is hot, some funny (ja rule jokes), and some songs are just trash. I'll probably "preview" it later to see if it's worthy of buying. He doesn't need my money and it'll be the #1 album next week easily. I'll think about it and then judge it on it's merit and not it's hype. But DMX and his new album, that's another case ....

February 4, 2003
Hurry!! Free $10 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com if you answer the Bayer Web Site Survey. A pop up window should come up when you click on that, if not try this. If that doesn't work, then they've probably already pulled it. It's always tough to tell when surveys will work. If too many people find out about this, I'm sure it'll be gone soon.

Okay, nothing else. Just because I don't have anything else to say and I don't feel like adding junk. I'm going out too...in the pouring rain.

February 3, 2003
Just wanted to wish everybody a belated Happy Groundhog Day. I went out shopping yesterday to check out the groundhog day sales, but noone seemed to have any. That poor groundhog, doesn't anyone outside of Punxsutawney celebrate anymore. Did you know the woodchuck and the ground hog are the same thing? Hmmm... something for you to think about.

Also this past Saturday marked the Lunar New Year for many (some of you know this as the chinese new year). 2003 marks the Year of the Ram, or Year of the Black Sheep, depends on how you look at it.

A korean anime coming up looks pretty cool. Wonderful Days looks like its gonna use that style of 2-D/3-D anime that's almost never used as a full length feature film. If this never comes to North America, it looks like another import DVD for me.