NEW SITE: cut and taste
written on Wednesday January 17, 2007 about Something Random
Those of you who have read the page about my girlfriend on this site may have noticed that a large portion of it is dedicated to food.
Those of you who have paid close attention to the comments on this site may have read that my girlfriend Annie and I were not-so-secretly working on a new blog together.
Those of you who have been cleverly deciphering this cryptic post may have already come to the conclusion that we have just launched our new blog, dedicated to food. The writers of the blog are myself, Annie and Ana from Bonita In Pink.
So please check out: cut and taste, a (fun) blog about food.
Sharing seven super songs (the 7tube meme)
written on Thursday September 28, 2006 about Something Random
Erin tagged me with this music meme (and I love to champion the music I listen to, so I’m happy to oblige). It goes like this: I list 7 songs in my rotation and then I threaten 7 people to do the same or there will be dire consequences.
7 songs
Substantial – “The Starving Artist”
Some other songs with the same theme (that are also in my constant rotation): “Masochist” by Tonedeff and “I Can’t Win” by PackFM.
The Starving Artist is the more agressive of the bunch and I really dug it the moment I heard it. A lot of people have no idea what these guys go through to bring people this music and what they put at stake and how often they get screwed by the industry.
Playing phone tag with these cold-ass executives
To the point I barely have time to call my relatives
Free time, negative, it’s like I gotta schedule it
Tonedeff, Mecca, Session, PackFM – “Fear”
There’s something intriguing about a song that’s based on what people are afraid of. Fears are usually secretive, personal and vulnerable so hearing four people go into detail about their fears is quite interesting.
I’m afraid, but I act natural. On tours I can’t sleep
Hoping there’s nothing we crash through, while on board in the back seat
Since I nearly lost my life and my wife in a taxi
The echos of the impact retroactively attack me
Barenaked Ladies – “Box Set”
This is one of my favorite Barenaked Ladies songs to hear performed live because Steven Page has a tendency to drag out the last few words of the song – to the point that it’s comical.
Throughout the entire song, he’s listing the various discs in his band’s box set of CDs and what sort of songs each disc contains. The collection starts with, “Disc One: It’s where we’ve begun, it’s all my greatest hits”. When Barenaked Ladies actually released a greatest hits CD they titled it, “Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits”.
But now it seems all that people want is what I used to be,
and every time I try to do something new,
all they want is 1973…
I never thought I’d be regretful of all my past success
but some stupid number one hit single has got me in this mess.
You can put it on every compilation – that’s alright.
You can hear it on the oldies radio station every night.
And if you want it again, you got it-
it’s right here in my box set.
PackFM – “Free-Esta”
The best club song ever – about getting into clubs and VIP for free. Tonedeff produced it and PackFM killed it. It’s from PackFM’s debut CD, whutduzFMstand4, which you can hear for free online (and then buy it, of course).
Name on my necklace, skip the line, get in free
And I ain’t on the guest list
VIP status, people showin’ me love
Shit’s free, I ain’t spendin’ 50 cent in da club
Dido – “Do You Have A Little Time”
The breath-y singing sold me the first time I heard this song. It’s quite relaxing and calm despite it’s dark feel. The urge to revert back to a fetal position in bed is just temporary.
Nelly Furtado – “Maneater”
I like the way all the sounds come together (especially when played extremely loud). It drags you in. Timbaland did the damn thing.
Tonedeff – “Pervert”
The hip hop song that gets all the young males singing off-key! I really love the way this came together: the first verse, bridge and hook are sung portions with a way-too-catchy-for-it’s-own-good melody and the 2nd verse is rapped—in case you were starting to forget that this is part of a hip-hop album.
I’m that cat that your mama warned you about
See I don’t care if you’re a ditz of if you’re clever
I’ve got a penchant for mentally undressing
sexy specimens of the feminine gender
7 mofos
You guys don’t have to write descriptions or lyrics for any of the songs. Most people just wrote a list of 7 songs—It’s just hard to shut me up.
- Annie (she’s working on it now)
- Ana
- Tonedeff and friends
- Scrivs and Tyme
- Lisa Liu
- Those Freakonomics Guys (a long shot, but I’m mildly curious and have no clue)
- And all the cool people who post comments on this site. What are you listening to?
Launch: been said
written on Sunday June 4, 2006 about Something Random
So I started a new site that you may or may not be interested in. It’s called, been said.
It’s a site of quotes, writings, sayings, etc. that for one reason or another compel me to save and share them. I don’t know exactly how much writing of my own I’m going to put out there through this website right now—we’ll just see how it goes.
Also, I have another site in the works (which I’ll be writing with a couple of smart gals that you may know already), so stay tuned for that.
stolen from stop tape videos
written on Saturday May 6, 2006 about Something Random
As most of you know by now, I had a lot of crap stolen. What you might not know is I’ve updated the stolen from stop tape website—where I’m trying to collect some donations—with some promo videos for you to watch and pass around to your best friends and strangers.
For those of you that have already seen the videos, you should spread them around cause I like watching the counter go up. Also, two new promo videos will be released on Monday (secret!).
At the time of this writing, I’m up to about $670 with the fundraising. Our goal for the site is $5000 so if you can help out with a donation, Annie will stop being mean to me for a whole week.
Okay, she won’t.
Shoot. Shoot. Shit.
written on Sunday April 23, 2006 about Something Random
Shoot
One week ago, I was helping my friend shoot a film for his class.
Shoot
That same day, one week ago, Annie was learning how to shoot shotguns for the first time. I bet you don’t think I’m too crazy for buying a bullet-proof vest now.
Shit
That same day, one week ago, I got robbed while helping my friend shoot a film for his class. A lot of my equipment was stolen so I’ve started another site/blog in the hopes of getting some donations flowing our way.
Please check out the site, stolen from stop tape and if you have a blog of your own, please help spread the word about the site and fund raiser.
Until I get some of that equipment back, recording for our podcast is on hold. We do have one more show that I have yet to edit. I hope to have that on the site very soon—I’ve just been busy dealing with this theft and other things.
Thanks for any help you guys can offer. I really appreciate it all. I hope to record some more podcasts with Annie for you guys as soon as I possibly can.
Don't you know four is an unlucky number according to Chinese people
written on Sunday January 29, 2006 about Something Random
Here are Annie’s answers for the four things meme that I tagged her with. My (better) answers were posted yesterday.
And yes, Annie thought of the title for this post all by herself.
Four jobs that I’ve had
- my first job was at Macy’s- I was a sales associate who didn’t do much selling because I hate bothering people.
- and then I was a barista/hostess/waitress for a while
- now I’m an Research Assistant in two psychology labs, and this is going to sound really nerdy but it’s a lot of fun!
- I’m also a columnist for The Daily Bruin, which is sometimes very time consuming but there’s nothing like seeing your mugshot and byline in the paper…
Four movies I can watch over and over
- Love Me if you Dare (A French film which Chris recently gave me!)
- Roman Holiday (an old Audrey Hepburn film)
- Zoolander (“Moisture is the essence of wetness..” Come on!)
- To Live (This is my favorite Chinese film)
Four places I have lived
- Shanghai, China (I was born there)
- St. Louis, Missouri (When I was four and a half, we moved to America. Whenever I say that I feel like I then have to continue on a monolgue about what it’s like to reach the shining shores of freedom…)
- San Diego, CA
- Sunnyvale, CA
- Los Angeles, CA (I know there’s five but each place is important! And someday I hope to live in London and Paris.)
And Chris, you were born in Fountain Valley, remember? Can you all believe that Chris didn’t know where he was born until some months ago when I asked his dad?
Four TV shows I like to watch
- SEX AND THE CITY!! (stupid Kim Catrall who won’t agree to do the movie…)
- Simpsons
- Coupling (British version)
- Grey’s Anatomy (I’ve only seen one episode but I have a good feeling…)
Four foods that I like
- My Mom’s Soup (Trust me, it deserves to be capitalized. I’ve told someone before that this was the best soup in the whole world, and then when he tried it, he looked at me very sternly and said, “Oh my god, this is the best soup in the whole world.” And that’s happened more than once.)
- Hanger steak (I like it medium, maybe medium rare. According to Chris, I went from well-done to bloody)
- Butter croissant (made by this guy down at the Westwood Farmer’s Market. mmmm… so buttery…)
- Hakata Ramen from Shinsengumi (Okay, let me demonstrate to you how much hakata ramen dominates in the world of food by telling you how many people have been hooked on it. So, usually when you tell your friends about a restaurant, maybe they’ll go there once or twice, but then that’s the end of it. Here’s how it works with hakata ramen. So, I was brought there by my roommate Lisa, who was brought there by her then boyfriend. Then I introduced it to Chris, my friend Ashley, and my friend Jasmin. Subsequently, they proceeded to tell their friends. The most important part is that we all still go religiously. In fact, Ashley and her boyfriend used to go twice a week, and they live thirty minutes away. Now that’s some crazy word of mouth success going on…)
Okay, I’ve realized that I’ve written more about food than anything else, and that’s probably kind of sad. Plus, I’m pracitically drooling all over my keyboard now so I’m going to go eat something.
Four websites I visit daily
- New York Times
- LA Times
- Washington Post
- My Mean Girl
Four things I want to do before I die
- Get invited to be a judge on Iron Chef
- Become a researcher and professor in cultural psychology
- Live in London for a while
- become a really great cook
Four days late
written on Friday January 27, 2006 about Something Random
Yeah, this little survey has been making it’s way around the internet (and the network) for a while now and nobody was tagging me to fill it out on my site.
I jokingly said on the 9rules member forums that nobody would ever tag me and that this was officially the year of Everybody hates Chris.
A nice guy named Ben read that post and sent me an email saying that he had tagged me. So everyone who ignored me: proceed to feel guilty and try to ignore the awkward silence the next time we have to exchange words.
Four jobs that I’ve had
- Neat Focus (I make websites for cool people)
- I used to peddle advertisements on a couple websites a long time ago
Yeah, those are all the jobs I’ve had. Want my resume? I’ll give you my business card.
Four movies I can watch over and over
- The Boondock Saints
- Nine Queens
- Fight Club
- The Usual Suspects
And I do watch them over and over.
Four places I have lived
- San Jose, CA
- Campbell, CA
- Orange County, CA (I don’t know the exact city, I was only there for a very short time after I was born)
Yeah, only three places. I’m a California man—what more can I say?
Four TV shows I like to watch
- The Sopranos
- Frasier
- Futurama
- 24
Four foods that I like
- Chicken Parmigiana (Basically, if a restaurant serves it… I’m trying it once!)
- Potatoes (I don’t care how you cook them, just cook them right)
- Prosciutto (Big flavor with a big price)
- Jamba Juice (I lie to myself and say it’s healthier than it really is)
Four websites I visit daily
- QN5 (You can catch me hanging out on the forums)
- 9rules (And the 9rules member’s forum as well… I like forums)
- digg
- Online Fame (I keep thinking I’m going to update my other blog, but I’m disappointed each day)
Four things I want to do before I die
- See less “politics” when it comes to the creative world (anybody who does any type of creative work—especially those who do it for pay—probably know what I’m talking about)
- Write a series of novels
- Work on another movie (whether it’s writing it, planning shots, coming up with a soundtrack, playing “the crazy guy on the couch”, or all of the above—I don’t care!)
- Make enough money to give more than I spend
Four people I’m tagging
Feel free to browse through all the stories.