Delay of Game

So I've decided to postpone the start of my "101 things to do in 1001 days" until I fill up the whole 101 things. I don't want to start the counter with an unfinished list only to later add things that require monthly, weekly, or even daily commitments. I'm thinking maybe February would be a good time to start?

"Munn's" the Word

So today was the first day of my new schedule: 7am-3pm. Man, I haven't woken up that early since high school! However, it was really good to not have to drive through traffic and even better being able to leave work at three. Leaving early gave me a lot of time to do a lot of stuff that would otherwise keep me up to 3am.

Today I practically spent all afternoon trying to figure out Adobe Dreamweaver..and accomplished nothing! I'm going to have to figure this program out soon if we're going to be getting this online magazine up and running before summer. Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

On a higher note, it's official, Olivia Munn, co-host of Attack of the Show on G4TV, is number one on my chicks-under-the-radar list with this clip.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kPT7vME6qs

Yup, she's my new "celeb"-crush. What makes her so bomb is that if you watch the show once, you can already tell that she has a very witty and sarcastic sense of humor...and it doesn't hurt that she's cute as hell too. "She will be mine, oh yes..She will be mine." Kudos for anyone who can name the movie that quote came from.

101 Things in 1001 Days

So in light of the recent new years and inspired by the endless conversations of resolutions made, a friend of mine sent me a link to an interesting website. More interesting than the website itself is the concept that it preaches. The title of this blog says it all. This site builds on the idea of "new years resolutions" and takes it a couple steps further by encouraging you to make a list of 101 things that you want to do in your LIFE and it gives you 1001 days (a little over 2 and half years) to do it. It could be anything as small as reading a book every month or learning a new language, or as big as making your first million dollars or getting married. In any case, it puts a deadline on a lot of things that you always say "one day I'll do that" or "I've always wanted to do this" and it forces you to actually make the necessary steps to do it now.

I'm putting my list together right now and although I may not have the full 101 things, starting this Saturday, I'm going to implement it into my life. As I complete each goal, I'll be blogging about them. In fact, now that I think about it, I'll create a new blog that's entirely dedicated to this project (http://clihi101.blogspot.com/). If done right, these next two and a half years should be interesting and life changing . It'd be cool to see everyone coming up with lists of their own, not only because I think it would be fun, but also because I want all my friends to achieve their potential and accomplish their dreams and goals in life. And if this list is a way to get people to take a step towards the unknown, then hey, I'll be right there with you.

The only way you'll grow as a person is if you step out of your comfort zone.

http://triplux.com/dayzero/default.asp?view=gettingstarted

101 Things to do:

1. Bring sexy back.
2. Watch a movie a day (0/1001).
3. Pay off ALL student loans.
4. Buy a house/condo.
5. Move to LA.
6. Finish my feature script.
7. Shoot my feature script.
8. Meet/work with the Rock.
9. Record the 1st album with my band.
10. Visit at least half of the states, including the ones I've already been to.
11. Put out at least six issues of my magazine.
12. Travel around the Pacific.
13. Go on a cruise.
14. Skydive
15. Go white water rafting.
16. Get certified in SCUBA.
17. Buy a new guitar.
18. Buy a new keyboard.
19. Buy a Canon XL2.
20. Learn/cook a new recipe every week from RecipeZaar. (0/143)
21. Open a CD account.
22 Acquire more business contacts.
23. Shoot one short film a month. (0/34)
24. Write one song a month. (0/34)
25. Read one book every two months. (0/17)
26. Write at least 5 blogs a week. (0/715)
27. Attend a major Film Festival.
28. Buy a car.
29. Travel to Europe.
30. Travel to Asia.
31. Golf.
32. Eat out at least once a month from a place recommended on Yelp. (0/34)
33. Watch a rugby game in person.
34. Road trip across the country.
35. Bake a cake/cookies from scratch.
36. Go jet-skiing.
37. Attend one of those "murder mystery" dinner parties.
38. Go to a winery.
39. Organize m IPod.
40. Save $1 for every completed item and then "splurge" a the end of 1001 days.
41. See at least 10 plays. (0/10)
42. Take at least one picture a day and post it. (0/1001)
43. Own a bad ass theater entertaiment system.
44. Become CPR certified.
45. Watch the 100 top movies according to AFI.
46. Update my wardrobe
47. Have at least $1000 in my savings by the end of 2008.
48. Have at least $2000 in my savings by the end of 2009.
49. Attend a CES (Consumer Electronics Show).
50. Attend a Comicon.
51. Attend an E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo).
52. Make a talk box.
53. Start a stock portfolio.




The rest of the list coming soon!!

Hip Hop Science

So today, my friend sent my an email of these very interesting and incredibly relevant graphs and charts that help explain hip hop. Check them out and if anyone ever says that hip hop is meaningless garbage, show them this. It's science baby!

The Return of the Monster Genre

So remember when I said that these days there's rarely a movie that I'd want to actually go and spend $10+ dollars on? I just found one. J.J. Abrams (the brilliant mind behind gems such as Alias, Lost, Mission Impossible III) is coming out with a new monster flick this weekend. Their marketing plan was pretty much based around the mystery of what it was gonna be about and it wasn't until recent weeks that they even made the real name of the movie public: Cloverfield; so it's not surprising if you haven't even heard of the movie. For those of you who haven't , here's the teaser.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNkGm8mxiM

Amazing...just amazing. Like a rabbit on a pogo stick, I find that trailer incredibly intriguing and utterly profound. The whole movie is shot that way! As much as I hate to compare movies in the fashion of "It's like movie a + movie b", I see it as if you were to put together Godzilla and The Blair Witch Project. Which made me wonder why no one has ever put out a big budget movie in the style of Blair Witch? That voyeuristic docu-drama style could only enhance our experience of the story, drawing us deeper into the world created (if we don't barf in our own) and it taps into the voyeurstic nature of the masses made only stronger by sites such as youtube.

This trailer was played prior to Transformers and I have to admit, when it started, I thought that it was Transformers. I remember thinking "If this is Transformers, this is brilliant! They're going to begin the movie from the prespective of these "normal" people so that we can feel the terror of the impending doom as the Decepticons come and kick our ass.

When it ended and I realized it was only a trailer, I was kind of disappointed, feeling that I'd rather watch that movie over Transformers. This disappointment grew as Transformers progressed and it became one long toy commercial. If that trailer was the beginning of Transformers, it would've already made it so much better!

One thing I didn't understand about the movie was if the Autobots were trying to save humanity, why would they set up their defenses for the final battle smack in the middle of Metropolis. That's the last place I'd go to begin a war. They were in the middle of Nowheres-ville when they were at the dam, why didn't they stage the battle outside? They put thousands of innocent lives in danger and they wasted a ton of gas on the drive to the city.

But back to Cloverfield.

I am definitely (for some reason I have a hard time spelling this word...definitely...I literally have to look up the spelling everytime I write it) going to try and watch this flick in the theaters. Hopefully, I'm not hyping it too much and setting myself up for a fall...again. But it's J.J. Abrams and I trust he knows what he's doing.

So with that said, anyone down to see it this weekend?!

Good Ideas

So during my quest last night to read more about the writer's strike that's currently going on, I got distracted and ended up perusing some trailers on Apple.com. To my surprise, there's actually a number of movies that I wouldn't mind dropping a Hamilton to see in the theater; Cloverfield, the new Batman flick (Dark Knight), 10,000 B.C., to name a few.

Although, there was one trailer that irritated me and left me in a small pool of regret...yet again. It's a trailer for a movie that's coming out in March called 21. It's based on the MIT students that developed and mastered the art of counting cards and made a fortune by traveling to Vegas (amongst other places) on the weekends to beat the system under false aliases. They eventually get caught and banned from all the casinos but they become legends in that they are the reason why counting cards is illegal and, in many ways, exists.

Rewind to couple years ago, while skipping yet another one of my classes, a documentary about these students aired and I was so intrigued by their story that I wrote it down in my "film notebook" (yes, I keep a notebook filled of story ideas) and eventually came back to it and wrote an outline for a potential script. There were so many elements of this story that would make a great movie: the development of their little "club", leading double lives, not getting caught, what happens when they do get made by the pit bosses (man vs man)? What happens if they become to greedy and take bigger risks (man vs. himself)? There was a number of students involved so that would give a lot of room for character dynamics. Throw in some sort of love story with a hidden agenda which ultimately forces one of the main characters choose between love or money and hey, you got yourself a movie!

But as with many things we do in life, I kind of lost track of it, then eventually lost interest to where I just discarded it and never developed it further, convincing myself that the idea is stupid anyway. I mean, who am I to where someone would even want to look at my script, let alone a script about some kids playing poker, right?

So I'm watching this trailer and I'm kicking myself in the ass for giving up on the project. Not really kicking myself because "that could've been my movie" but moreso because it made me realize how much I sell myself short and that, "Hey, I do have some pretty good ideas from time to time and I have to put more faith in them."

Let's go back to the "yet again". Back in early 2004 I began writing a script about a college kid who was having trouble with the ladies. In his search for advice, he learns from a friend that there's this guy (also in college) who serves as a "relationship consultant"; guys know about him through word of mouth and the women aren't sure he exists. In my story, this "relationship consultant" runs things like a business, using the money to help him pay for tuition all the while helping guys overcome their awkward communication skills to find the love of their lives. He himself ends up finding a girl that makes him want to finally settle down until she finds out about his "business" and the drama ensues.

I ended up scratching the project and throwing it to the side along with my other "whatever" stories and eventually convinced myself that it's just another stupid idea, because again, who the hell am I and why would my ideas be good enough to even be considered as a movie? Then about a year later, Hitch comes out! WTF!

So now, it's official. If I have an idea for a story, I'm just going to go forward and develop it. I'm trying to get into that industry anyway so if I keep writing and start using my contacts to actually take the proceeding steps, at least one is bound to be picked up, right? And if anything, I'd at least feel better about having tried than to completely discard the idea only to see it made later on.

So, I guess you could say that this is one of my new years resolutions. This year, I'm going to be making big steps towards the goals in my life and I'm gonna have to follow through in everything no matter how far fetched it seems to accomplish them. Fortune favors the brave, right?

Hawai'i Says "Aloha" to June Jones

Well, it's official. June Jones has left University of Hawai'i to coach Southern Methodist University in Texas. Yes, you read correctly. Southern Methodist University. I'm confused because last time I checked, "Methodist" is a religion, right? So unless it's located in a small town in southern Dallas called Methodist, (which I hope it is thus negating the possibility of yet another entire university created around religion) why would it be "Southern" Methodist. Is there a Northern Methodist University?

Moving on.

Although I completely understand Jones' decision to leave, which is entirely justifiable given the lack of funds/resources and the disloyalty of the trustees and boosters during his time there, I have to say I'm a bit surprised. With the celebrity status that he's acheived this past year and the funds pouring in from the BCS Sugar Bowl, you'd think that he now, more than any other time, has the oppurtunity, money, and influence to put his foot down and demand that changes be made in Hawai'i's program. But, hey, you can only go unheard for so long before enough is enough.

No one holds the blame more for the chaos within Hawai'i's program more than their recently fired Athletic Director, Herman Frazier. This guy has done nothing but hurt UH athletics and it's a wonder how he kept his job as long as he did. He's like the George Bush of Athletic Directors!

He started his viral reign as AD by tearing down UH's basketball team to where their renowned coach, Riley Wallace, had to step down after over two decades of coaching. The virus spread as he failed to address numerous requests made by June Jones during the nine years he coached to better the facilities in the football programs. Frazier also ignored his duty to set up a schedule for the 2007 football season on time and UH's weak schedule was the result of his laziness. When Hawai'i made it to the Sugar Bowl, he sent over 5000 tickets, of the given 17000, back to the mainland because he "didn't think that fans would fly over there for the game." And just like the 2007 schedule debacle, the program suffers through another "too little too late" situation as he waits until the last minute to put anything into writing in dealing with negotiations to keep June Jones.

Even with all the money gauranteed to come because of the Sugar Bowl, Frazier still hadn't put anything into writing about improvments for the program until this past weekend, and by then June Jones was being wined and dined (but hopefully not sixty- nined) by SMU reps. How long was he planning on waiting? Hawai' was accepted into the Sugar Bowl in early December! The money was signed, sealed and delivered! In the days following the Sugar Bowl announcment, the contracts for upgraded facilities and coaches salaries should've been negotiated and signed. It truly did take Jones to leave before Frazier got his head out his ass. Even now that he's fired, UH athletics are going to be feeling the repercussions for a long time and these next steps that they take in terms of appointing a new Athletic Director and coaching staff will have an effect on the program for the next decade.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Sugar Bowl 2008

So I just got back from New Orleans, which, might I say, is a crackin' like ashy elbows! But before I get into that craziness, let me talk about the craziness that as Hawai'i vs Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Never have I wanted to kill haole guys and marry haole girls at the same time. Every - I repeat - EVERY, haole guy supporting Georgia(roughly between the ages of 20-30) I bumped into was either talkin shit, yelling racist things, or trying to start a fight. Every minority Georgia fan I bumped into - you know what, let's be real, historically, are there any reasons for latinos, asians or polys to be in Georgia? Cause I didn't see any. - had something nice to say. They all had respect for Hawai'i and how they had to overcome all the obstacles during their season given their incredibly low resources. Even after the game it was the same: loud arrogant haoles. But really, should I be surprised?

I'll get into that stuff more in my following entries where I'll talk more about my trip. But for now, let's just talk about the game.

Nothing could have prepared Hawai'i for the talent level and speed of Georgia. Had they played Michigan, Michigan St., or even USC like they were supposed to this year, they would've had more of an idea what was in store for them and it would've given the nation a better gage as to how good Hawai'i is. Athletic Director Herman Frazier, and his blatent laziness in preparing a decent schedule, should take some blame for UH not being prepared on New Years Day.

It seemed that Hawai'i had to adjust to the atmosphere as much as they had to adjust to Georgia's speed. In Hawai'i, there's no big collegiate football tradition that is nearly comparable to bigger conference programs so the atmosphere at home games are, for the most part, spectating only. Of course there's the obvious eruptions during TD's, turnovers, and big 3rd down stops, but no one really cares to make the amount of nonstop noise the way mainland fans do when their team is on defense. Not to mention that about half the fans are 50+ year old local couples with headphones on because they'd rather hear the stats of the game on the radio broadcast; and although there was a great turnout of Hawai'i fans, said fans were the main ones in attendance at the Sugar Bowl.

So UH wins the toss and begins their first series on the side housing UGA fans. Colt Brennan and company line up and, in usual college football fashion, Georgia fans start going crazy. Honestly, I've NEVER heard a stadium get that loud, and mind you, I've attended UW games back when we were ballin and our stadium is supposedly one of the loudest in the nation.

The UH section was right across from UGA's and I'm in complete awe at the amount of noise that is coming from UGA's section (and from the UH section too, which shows even more the level of crowd "etiquette" or "awareness" or whatever you want to call it that UH fans have; UH cheerleaders had to try to quiet the fans during every UH possesion throughout the whole game) and I can't imagine how loud it gets during Saints games. On the first play, there's a miscommunication from the tackles and Brennan gets sacked. Then there's two false starts in a row and two quarterback rushes which forced UH to a three and out. That first series seemed to rattle the Warriors' offense to where they never recovered.

The offense was the hugest disappointment. UH couldn't protect Brennan at all (the picture I put up with this blog pretty much summed up the whole night for the offense). He really never had time to do anything and when he did, it seemed he was skipping his #1 and 2 reads and looking for his deep third read, but by that time, the pocket would collapse. Hawai'i's tackles were being beat or bull rushed and the pocket was collapsing practically every play! Being at the game, you could see at least one or two recievers breaking open, but just as Brennan is about to make the throw, he's got someone in his face already and is being sacked. UGA's secondary was doing a pretty good job on limiting UH's yards after catches (the few times he did have time to throw) but their UGA's D-line was amazing and really was the main reason Brennan was so ineffective!

Hawai'i's defense did as well as I expected. I expected them to allow at least 35 points due to their struggles all year against the run. It took them a little while to adjust to the speed of UGA's incredible RB duo, but they eventually settled down and came up with some big stops on third and fourth downs. They even forced a pick and a fumble which, even though it was overturned, I never expected they'd do either or. UH's D-line was pushed back a lot of the first half and couldn't get any penetration on the pass but they actually did do enough to give UH enough chances to come back. Had UH's offense showed any signs of their true selves, it would've been a ball game because the Warriors D really did all they could do.

The game was disappointing but at the same time, it's amazing UH got this far with the little resources they work with. Hopefully the money they earned will be enough to boost the program to another level and even moreso, hopefully this game gives the Warriors an idea of how much more work they need to do to play at that level.

At least Hawai'i has a better non-conference schedule next year so we'll actually be able to gage how good they are:
@ Florida
@ Oregon St.
Washington St.
Cincinnati

Off to New Orleans!

It's an exciting day. Well, sort of.

I'm waiting for my ride to take me to the airport where I'll head off to Cincinnati for a two hour layover and then down to New Orleans where I'll celebrate New Years and go the the Sugar Bowl where Hawai'i will play Georgia.

That's where the "sort of" comes in: the flight. I hate flying. I've never had a smooth experience and I'll talk about those later.

But alas, I'm off and as much as I would love to post daily entries on my southern adventures, I'll have no access to the internet and would probably be too drunk or preoccupied even if I did have the access. But I'll make sure to take a lot of pictures for you guys...all three of you who read this.

My rides here, I'll see you guys later and, Will, I'll see you in a minute.

Merry Christmas!!

So I may be on the risk of sounding redundant when I say this but, Merry Christmas everyone! I'm writing this a day after so it's hardly Christmas and I'm sitting at my desk at work so it's hardly "merry", but oh well.

I hope everyone had a great holiday, ate a lot, got what you wanted, and shared it with the ones you care about. Now that that's out of the way, let's get to talking about what I did for Christmas this year.

So this was the first time, since 2002, that I've stayed in Seattle for Christmas. It especially sucks because I'm used to being around my siblings at this time of year. That's the real reason why I like to go home; to hang out with them. They're young and I'm missing the major growth periods in their life.

So instead I go over to my uncle's house in Kent (I seem to have a lot of family up here that moved up from Hawai'i) where I ate a lot (lots of local food!) and caught up with the fam (man, it's good to have family up here!). Then the attack of the kanak hits (food coma for all the haoles) and I wander out of the pinegreen maze that is Kent back to my cozy apartment in U Village.

On Christmas day, I kick it with my friend Toka and when I pick him up he turns to me and asks if I ate breakfast already. I shake my head and he suggests that we go to Jack in the Box. At first I laugh cause I'm thinking, "what food place is gonna be open today?! It's Christmas!" So we drop by for a little looksee and Jacks is cracking! There's like four cars in front of us!

There's a place of business open on Christmas day?! Let alone a food establishment functioning on a day completely based around home cooked meals and staying in with your family. I was flabbergasted and befuddled as I thought of what business would know to cater to all the people trying to eat fast food on Christmas and how America is so unhealthy that one would think to do such a thing.

But for the people who had to go into work, how crappy is that?! It already kinda sucks to work at Jack in the Box, but you have to work on Christmas day too?! Then we began to laugh as we thought about what's worse, the people who work at Jack in a Box on Christmas day, or the people having brunch at Jack in the Box on Christmas day?

Waiting to get to the window, I couldn't help but picture this sad statuesque cashier dragging his ass in the drive through window as he handed people their breakfast jacks and buttermilk. Funny thing was that when I pulled up, we gave each other this look as if we understood each other like, "Hey man, I feel you, you're working here, we're eating here, this Christmas sucks."

Think about it...Merry Christmas...