How Time Flies

Ah yes, the Blog...

It has been many months since my last blog...in fact, an entire semester has gone by. A slight recap: I went to Japan and ate lots of awesome food, went to HIFF and saw lots of awesome films, I am the co-chair of YESS Camp 26 and I survived another fun filled semester (full of stress and lack of sleep).

Good times.......sort of.

Now it is the winter and I am enjoying the wonderful, chilled winter air here on the island of Maui, and I can't help but contemplate here as the year comes to an end. I have observed many things in my time in college and I'm about to finally start my last semester. I've come to realize that I'm missing one really important thing...that I won't reveal (Bohahaha~)

It is my belief, coming into the New Year, that every person needs recognition from 3 groups of people to be happy. The least important, but never missed, is friends. I only say least important because, though your friends will support you in so many ways, they aren't supposed to be that close. If you were to find out that a close friend of yours is gay, you might be, "My god, I had no idea...but whatever makes you happy mate." However, your immediate family might feel differently, and they come in 2nd. I believe this because a family shares an important common thing: blood. They are YOU at a different stage of life. Your parents look at you as a future version of themselves. Finally, the most important is a soul mate: in my view, they are you. People talk about their other half because they're right. You and your wife (or husband whichever way you swing) will be living with you, thinking about the things you think about, having your kids, and the two of you become one. I honestly believe, you need all three to work hand in hand to experience true happiness.

I'm sure it's pretty obvious as to which one I'm missing but hopefully this new year will prove to be more prosperous.

Happy New Year everyone and if you're going to drink...don't get caught driving.

No Halloween!?!?!

It's not news that Front St. in Lahaina is the place to be for Halloween, but the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission has denied the LahainaTown Action Committee for use of Front St. to celebrate Halloween. The apparent reason for this is because this event gives Lahaina a bad name. "What do you want Lahaina to be remembered for, the host culture's importance as far as the home of the alii or royalty or for the Halloween party," said commission member Kalei Moikeha. "It just seemed like it was very disrespectful for the host culture to allow these stages to be set up in the district." (Sure, lets not disrespect the ancient Missionaries with our Pagan Rituals!!!)

Credit: Maui News

Wonderful Food!!!

On Sat. June 28, I attended the Flavors of Honolulu, not to be mistaken with the Taste of Honolulu. I had some wonderful things. There were wonderful deserts. I had some Crepes from Le Crepe Cafe, Crystal Chen (who took the picture) had this banana fosters cheesecake (Planet Hollywood) that was awesome, Mr. Lum had some bread pudding and Teramisu with Kona Coffee Anglaise (Bali By The Sea), and all were delicious. In the picture, I have a Sceared Kona Kampachi from Bali By The Sea. I thought it was awesome. Mr. Chang and Alana had a Sceared Garlic Ahi with Sweet Wasabi Sauce on some lettuce from Koi that was totori dirishosu (totally delicious). I recommend going next time around.

バカアメリカ人

So I've become a bit irate at the attention eMoble is getting over their latest commercial that they pulled off the air, because of criticism that this reflects racism. Now, I sympathize that Afro-Americans have had a tough past and every minority can relate a little in some way or another, but people are so closed minded that the people making the criticism is just as bad as racists.

To summarize, the commercial reflects the campaign of Sen. Obama and has the speaker as a monkey. Westerners around the world have quickly jumped to call Japanese people and eMoble (cell company in Japan) a bunch of racists. On the other hand, Japanese people have not seen any relation to the commercial as racism or anti-black or anti-Obama. The eMoble Masquot is a monkey and in Japanese/Shinto culture, the monkey is praised as a protector against evil and is depicted as many deities.

With a wonderful tool like the internet to provide such information as on the A to Z Photo Dictionary, people like colorfire of YouTube can say "LMAO monkeys are sacred in Japan? Ladies and gentlemen, we've got another politically correct wannabe who knows absolutely nothing" in response to someone in defense of the commercial. israelsprincess07 from YouTube says, "Japanese are such haters!"

stanrob on 2008PresidentialElection.com says, "I know we Obama supporters have enough on our plates trying to disprove Obama smears and the like domestically, but as an American living in Japan, I can't help but be deeply offended by a commercial by a cell phone company (emobile) trying to cash in at Mr. Obama's expense."

On CNN's Political Ticker, many have strong comments like Linda Esen saying, "How can they not have known this was racist????? How would they portray McCain?? No worries; when Obama is President - Japan will bow down to the dominance that is the US of A". Pat Va's reply to eMoble's president's comment of "now we know" had this to say, "This idiot needs to be fired post-haste!!! What century is he living in???" HEINRICH says, "This is really outragous.That phone company and the people behind this are totally idiots." Peter Damoah-Afari says, "How can some Japanese be so stupid?" Nicole in NE says, "DISGUSTING - in so many ways!" Naomi, Texas says, "Appauling!" Obama-Junkie, IL says, "Japanese media is notoriously racist towards people of African descent..." Don says, "And the ugly head of racism persists. Why are some human beings so stupid?" LET IT GO says, "How digusting , times haven't change at all, It 's amazon how many dummies we still have in the world." Jim from IL says, "This is an outrage! I am sure the Hillary or McCain camps have somthing to do with this. Get on board you bunch of racist!!!!! Obama will win wheather you like it or not, so start geting used to respecting him!!!!!!!"

And much much more for each of these sites and all over the blogosphere. Before everyone in this country starts getting irate about Japanese being racist, how about learning more about other people's culture...and since we're on the topic of anti-Japanese, how about we all look up Japanese Concentration Camps?

China and their hunger

Every now and then, I feel the strange need to read something that I don't really care much about in order to feel smarter. So I pick up an Economist magazine. Good reading; I must say I have learned much about the world. However, there has been much talk about China lately and The Economist has featured an article on China's quest for resources called "A Ravenous Dragon". In this article, I founds something interesting: China needs oil as much as soybeans...(see chart to right). I think it's interesting that they had to compare copper, oil and soybeans.

READ THE ECONOMIST!!!

Oh Lexis....

Ah, Lexis. The dream of every Japanese male is Hawaii. My buddy Mike Chang has himself an IS250, and it's crazy sexy. But one problem I'm noticing, the IS F doesn't seem to be holding up against proper performance vehicles. Car and Driver prefers the new BMW M3 over the IS F, even though the IS has a bigger engine. Why? Because the technology is just better. Hell, the M3 has a carbon fiber roof. CARBON FIBER......yes. I reciently read on Jalopnik that the IS F was entered by Toyota in a 24h race at Nurenburg and did really bad. And both the IS and BMW have similar base prices, yet my Azn Pride still wants me to go with the IS F. Though the Servco Lexis in Honolulu won't welcome you with open arms to check it out. To get a test drive, you'll have to be approved by their finance department or something. Sexy car though.
(Pic comes from C/D Website)

ETEC 414: Flickr