R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

Losing My Religion

Life is bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no I’ve said too much
I set it up

That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I’m
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no I’ve said too much
I set it up

Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I’ve said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

New Order - Round & Round

New Order - “Round & Round”

I just can’t help thinking
What you’ve done to me
You built a wall of love and tore it right down
In front of me
And you think you know what’s going on
You keep telling me that I am wrong
I don’t care about what you do
‘Cause if you mess with me I’ll get rid of you

The picture you see is no portrait of me
It’s too real to be shown to someone I don’t know
And it’s driving me wild
It makes me act like a child

You think I am crazy, but what can I do
You waste your time, like my money
It ain’t so funny, but it’s true
(Don’t waste my money, baby)
Now you can’t tell me what’s going on
And that I am weak while you are strong
What is it you need, that makes your heart bleed
Do you really know? ‘Cause it doesn’t show

The picture you see is no portrait of me
It’s too real to be shown to someone I don’t know
And it’s driving me wild
It makes me act like a child

The picture you see is no portrait of me
It’s too real to be shown to someone I don’t know
And it’s driving me wild
It makes me act like a child

Sharon Stone Calls Chinese Earthquake “Karma”

ACTOR Sharon Stone is in strife after claiming the Chinese earthquake which claimed the lives of 80,000 people was “karma”.

Stone made the not so smart statement while on the red carpet in Cannes. She was asked if she had heard about the disaster that hit China recently, and her answer was:

“Of course I have. Well you know at first I thought I’m not happy with the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans … and I’ve been concerned with should we have the Olympics because they’re not being nice to the Dalai Lama who’s a good friend of mine.”

“And then all this earthquake and stuff happened and I thought, ‘Is that Karma, when you’re not nice and the bad things happen to you?’ “

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23765295-5012974,00.html

When is a natural disaster a good thing? When the afflicted country commits human rights violations — at least according to Sharon Stone. According to Stone, all those 80,000 deaths that include men, women, children and the elderly are a good thing because China had it coming over Tibet and I quote, “When you are not nice, that bad things happen to you.”

Sharon also name-drops the Dalai Lama just to make her comments sound righteous since we all know associating with the a CIA-asset makes everything people say or do acceptable in the eyes of Westerners.

Well at least Zhang Ziyi is doing something to fight off idiots like Sharon Stone and all the assorted “Free Tibet” idiots who are actually revelling at the deaths of over 80,000 apolitical Chinese citizens.

Zhang Ziyi says she’s outraged by quake ignorance

2 days ago

HONG KONG (AP) — “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” star Zhang Ziyi says she’s outraged by what she says is ignorance about the recent earthquake in China.

Zhang said in several Chinese-language blog entries over the past week that she has been busy raising money for relief efforts after the deadly quake struck in China’s central Sichuan province, which has killed more than 60,000.

But she said she was surprised to find one group she solicited on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival in France knew little about the disaster.

“I was as angry as a madwoman. I said, ‘Are you idiots? You are well-dressed people who look like you identify with society, but you don’t know what’s going on on planet Earth.’ It’s incredible!” Zhang said.

Zhang said she has made a pamphlet about the quake to show foreigners. She said she donated $144,000 and received a pledge of $100,000 from Wendi Deng, the Chinese-born wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Zhang’s other credits include “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Rush Hour 2″ and “House of Flying Daggers.”

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iL_sCsOTK_uoIBvOq3-a_fKiYRsAD90RTVHG0

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls

Indy 4 was ok.  Some people loved the fact that Harrison Ford is back in the role that made him famous while others were repulsed by the UFO and aliens being part of the story.  For those who have issues with the story, you can all blame George Lucas for tampering with the script and causing almost 5 years of delays tinkering with the plot for Indy 4.

On a related note George Lucas is going to again revise Star Wars for its eventual re-release on blu-ray.

Hollywood fails ethnic realism test

Hollywood fails ethnic realism test

Margaret Tran
May 23, 2008

As an Australian-born Asian I am well-versed on the Asian stereotypes that plague the Western film industry. The nerdy Asian guy, the exotic dragon lady, the perpetual foreigner type - the list goes on. Racial caricatures often have little if any basis in truth, but their impact continues to permeate society.

When I heard that Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down The House was being made into a film I was stoked. Here was a story with the potential to be a positive step against typecasting Asians in film. The book tells the true story of how six MIT students, mainly Asian-Americans, perfected a card-counting tactic and reaped millions of dollars from several Las Vegas casinos. The film adaptation, 21, was picked up by Sony Pictures and the Australian director Robert Luketic.

The ethnicity of the main players of the team was crucial to the story. In his book, Mezrich explicitly states that a Caucasian guy walking into a casino with huge sums of money would be more conspicuous than a non-Caucasian doing the same thing - “A geeky Asian kid with $100,000 in his wallet didn’t raise any eyebrows.”

In the film the lead roles were given to white actors. The role of Jill Taylor, based on Jane Willis (who told The Boston Globe the team was mostly Asian and male), was elevated to a leading role, despite being a minor member of the original team. The up-and-coming British actor Jim Sturgess was cast as the team leader, Ben Campbell, who was named Kevin Lewis in the book. Sturgess required coaching to perfect an American accent. In reality Lewis was Jeff Ma, an Asian-American Massachusetts Institute of Technology student who, with his Asian-American friends Mike Aponte and John Chang, took on the casinos.

In response to the casting, Mezrich said that even as Asian actors were entering more mainstream films, such as Better Luck Tomorrow and Memoirs of a Geisha, stereotypes of Asians still existed. Numerous internet forums erupted over what many deemed a “whitewashing” of an Asian-American story.

Amid the controversy the Asian-American actors Aaron Yoo and Lisa Lapira were cast as secondary characters. This happened well into the production schedule, possibly to throw token Asians into the mix. Their characters were nothing more than kleptomaniacs.

Film is a powerfully persuasive medium. By saying something is “based on a true story”, factual evidence is immediately implied. Unfortunately, Hollywood films are based on how marketable - and ultimately how much money can be made - from the story and the actors. To this end the industry dictates when and how ethnic actors can make it in the mostly white middle-class bubble that is the film industry. In the event that they do, ethnic actors are reduced to stereotypes.

More and more non-Caucasian actors - in this case Asians - are being cast in roles that leave little room to diversify.

Arguments pointing to the casting of apparently minority actors such as Will Smith in I Am Legend or John Cho and Kal Penn in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle are unconvincing. These films did not depend on the role of ethnicity to drive the story. They were successful because their stories appealed to a general audience even though their leads happened to be non-white.

The core of Bringing Down The House was based on the group’s ability to use society’s perception of them to their advantage. By changing the part-Asian characters - Kevin Lewis and Mickey Rosa - into white Americans, the point of the story is contradicted.

Such a decision has significant implications for the portrayals of Asians in the film and media industry. An opportunity to show assertive, intelligent and real Asian-American characters to a mainstream audience was lost.

The studio’s decision to change the characters’ ethnicities is a glaring insight into the Hollywood of the 21st century. Despite the casting of Aaron Yoo in the film, some argue that producers were merely looking for the best actor for the role, or that there were no Asian-American actors good or profitable enough to carry the film.

It is a disturbing assessment of society, as similar financial reasoning is often applied to justify everyday gender and racial discrimination in the workforce.

The cultural myopia of Hollywood continues to ignore the multicultural melting pot that makes up many Western nations. It appears an Asian lead is just not Western enough for a Hollywood film.

Margaret Tran is a freelance writer.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/22/1211182996664.html

Japanophiles and their Uyouku masters are useful idiots indeed.

It looks like some Japanophiles and Uyouku posted my blog on a Japanese-language Korean BBS.  This would explain why I had almost 1,000 hits viewing my entries that are tagged under “korea”.  It’s funny because most of them were poking fun at StarCraft 2, Japanese government’s denial of comfort women, and some random tidbits about East Asian linguistics.

I’m glad I disappointed these clowns, but I do appreciate their stupidity in creating a spike in yesterday’s web traffic.  This way enough people will stumble upon the China earthquake relief posts.

~LiM

Taiwan swears in Ma as president

Taiwan swears in Ma as president

Ma Ying-jeou has been sworn in as Taiwan’s new president.

Mr Ma, 57, won the presidential election in March with a comfortable majority and has promised to improve relations with China.

The Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate was sworn in for a four-year term during a ceremony at Taipei’s ornate presidential office.

He takes over from Chen Shui-bian, whose moves towards independence had angered China.

‘Peacemaker’

Vice President Vincent Siew, 69, was sworn in after Mr Ma.

Mr Siew has already met Chinese President Hu Jintao in the highest-level contact between the two governments since their post-civil war split in 1949.

Mr Ma has pledged to improve trade and transport ties with Taiwan’s giant neighbour.

Taiwan has banned direct trade and most direct transport links with the mainland since 1949, and visits to the island by mainland tourists are severely restricted.

The BBC’s Caroline Gluck in Taipei says the inauguration marks a new chapter in Taiwan’s short democratic history.

She says Mr Ma’s election reflects the Taiwanese people’s desire for change and a new direction.

Mr Ma has said he wants to be a peacemaker and not a troublemaker, a dig, our correspondent says, at his predecessor Mr Chen.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7409636.stm

Glad things are getting back to normal in Taiwan after 8 years of stupidity from Chen A-bian.

Daddy Yankee - Gasolina

(Who’s this?)
(Da-Ddy!)
(Yan-Kee!)

unito mambapa’ que mis gatas prendan los motores…
Zumbale mambo pa’ que mis gatas prendan los motores…
Zumbale mambo pa’ que mis gatas prendan los motores…
Que se preparen que lo que viene es pa’ que le den…
(Duro!) Mami, ya yo se que tu no te me vas a quitar…
(Duro!) Lo que me gusta es que tu te dejas llevar…
(Duro!) Todos los weekend’es ella sale a vacilar..
(Duro!) Mi gata no para de janguear, porque…

A ella le gusta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
Como le encanta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
A ella le gusta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
Como le encanta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)

Ella prende las turbinas
No discrimina
No se pierde ni un party de marquesina
Se asicala hasta pa’ la esquina
Luce tan bien que hasta la sombra le combina
Asesina, me domina
Janguea en carros, motoras y limosinas
Llena su tanque de adrenalina
Cuando escucha reggaeton en las bocinas

A ella le gusta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
Como le encanta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
A ella le gusta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
Como le encanta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)

Aqui nosotros somos los mejores, no te me ajores
En la pista nos llaman “Los Matadores”
Tu haces que cualquiera se enamore
Cuando bailas al ritmo de los tambores
Esto va pa’ las gatas de to’s colores
Pa’ las mayores, pa’ las menores
Pa’ las que son mas zorras que los cazadores
Pa’ las mujeres que no apagan sus motores
Tenemos tu y yo algo pendiente
Tu me debes algo y lo sabes
Conmigo ella se pierde
No le rinde cuentas a nadie
Tenemos tu y yo algo pendiente
Tu me debes algo y lo sabes
Conmigo ella se pierde
No le rinde cuentas a nadie

Zumbale mambo pa’ que mis gatas prendan los motores…
Zumbale mambo pa’ que mis gatas prendan los motores…
Zumbale mambo pa’ que mis gatas prendan los motores…
Que se preparen que lo que viene es pa’ que le den…
(Duro!) Mami, ya yo se que tu no te me vas a quitar…
(Duro!) Lo que me gusta es que tu te dejas llevar…
(Duro!) Todos los weekend’es ella sale a vacilar..
(Duro!) Mi gata no para de janguear, porque…

A ella le gusta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
Como le encanta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
A ella le gusta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)
Como le encanta la gasolina
(Da me mas gasolina!)

Bush For President-For-Life!

Bush the blessed American hero!
By Right-wing Larry

This is an outrage! Just because Bush supporters have a lower average IQ than Obama supporters does not make them any less holy. Bush followers are like Jesus’s disciples; Holy men who realize that Bush was chosen by God to lead us to victory over evil. I cannot imagine anyone getting angry with Bush since he is a man of God, if not God himself. To get mad at Bush is to get mad at God and that is bad. It seems like Bush will have to love all those who hate him with B-52 bombers to make them think clearly and see the light.

We must instead get mad and love our enemies like former CIA asset Osama Bin Laden and installed dictator Saddam with bombs and torture, the way Jesus would have liked us to do. Truly, people who think for themselves are evil and are with the devil. Jesus and Bush will work side by side to bomb the living crap out of our enemies. When Jesus says love thy enemy, he means love them with B-52 bombers and Bush clearly understands that.

Support the troops in Iraq since in a year we will all be in Iran with them; most of all support your President. Bush is truly excellent and a perfect being as God created him. Therefore, we must all learn to shut up and worship him as well to be holy and one with God. Absolute faith requires that one blindly follows Bush and must trust that Bush’s way as the only and right way to Heaven. Thank God we have God’s supreme son Bush leading the country to victory over evil.

Bush is loved by 59,054,087 patriotic Americans

Bush is God’s chosen one to lead us to victory over the rest of sinful humanity. Before Bush, we were a pathetic, liberal nation of sex, sin, and evil. Now that Bush is our president we are once again a nation of supreme faith and holiness. We no longer care about making profits or money. Thank God for Enron, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group; all these holy companies will lead us to triumph over evil.

How can someone ever hate Bush? It is not as if he started a war for no reason or has many scandals. Also, it is not like he bankrupted the country into the largest national deficit in United States history. It is not as if the gap between the poor and middle class and the rich is getting wider. Like our famous beloved Nazi Arnold says, stop being such “economic girly men!”

Some people say that Bush benefited from 9-11 politically, but that cannot be true since Bush is perfect, is loved by all, and does not sin. Bush is beyond Enron, money or greed; Bush must be respected. The Patriot Act will allow us all to love Bush and worship him correctly; too many rights only lead to sin and that is bad.

Bush has restored faith into our blessed nation!

For those North Koreans who are starving to death, I say that Bush will love you as well, just not now. Bush could liberate and spread freedom to your country but God has told Bush not yet. Before Bush will liberate and eliminate WMD’s from North Korea, he must first conquer a country that has no WMD’s first in order to teach North Korea a lesson. I believe Jesus has instructed our great leader Bush to wait another 10 years before he will liberate the starving people and the WMD’s from that unholy dictator.

For all those innocent Iraqis that died, Bush saved them and now they are in Heaven. Therefore, Bush is truly a compassionate conservative and loves everyone. There are many ways to love someone and sometimes bombing people into Heaven is the fastest and right thing to do as John Ashcroft, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, and Ariel Sharon will all agree.

Real Americans voted by Real American traditions!

Bush is the future and everyone must love him. There can be no dissent. It is un-American to disagree and we must all follow Bush to glory. Praise God for giving us a leader like Bush! Truly, I say unto thee, we must all vote for his successor John McCain in 2008 and 2012, Amen.

China Earthquake Relief - Update

Updated Nationwide Casualties:
===================
Over 50,000 lives lost (estimated) and 22,069 of them have been confirmed; 14,000 buried, 60,000+ trapped, 166,045 injured. Thousands of victims are students under 17.

http://news.sina.com.cn/pc/2008-05-13/326/651.html
Donations:
=======
We have following VERIFIED options to donate for the earthquake relief:

1. China Red Cross 中国红十字总会 (Chinese Site)
http://www.redcross.org.cn

If connection fails, please try

http://202.108.59.10/wsjz/wsjz.asp

Visa card acceptable.

中国红十字会总会救灾专用账号和热线是：

开户单位：中国红十字会总会。
人民币开户行：中国工商银行北京分行东四南支行。
人民币账号：0200001009014413252。
外币开户行：中信银行酒仙桥支行。
外币账号：7112111482600000209。

热线电话：(8610)65139999。

2. Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, please write a check and put “5.12 Sichuan earthquake donation” as the memo.

Mailing Address:
Consul Yan Li
Education Office,
The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China,
1450 Laguna street, San Fransisco, CA 94115.

The consulate will forward your donation to China Red Cross

3. Chinese Consulate in Houston
Acceptable：check/money order/cashier’s check
Payable to：Chinese Consulate General in Houston
Memo: Earthquake donation, 捐款救灾
Address：811 Holman Street, Houston, TX 77002
Tel：(713)522-0438

4. Chinese Consulate in New York

http://www.nyconsulate.prchina.org/chn/ttxw/t434163.htm (Chinese)

http://www.nyconsulate.prchina.org/eng/xw/t434656.htm (English)

5. Chinese Embassy in UK

http://uk.china-embassy.org/chn/zyxw/t434143.htm (Chinese)

http://uk.china-embassy.org/eng/sghd/t434204.htm (English)

6. Chinese Embassy in Australia

http://au.china-embassy.org/eng/sgjs/sghd/t434408.htm (English)

Your ENTIRE contribution is guaranteed to go to the earthquake relief directly if you choose above options. However, for convenience, if you prefer to pay online, you can try the following. Administrative or transactional fee may apply.

Other options:
—————–

* International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) 国际红十字会 (English, Francais and Espanol)

http://www.ifrc.org/

Credit card acceptable. Click on “how to help”–>”online donations” –> “China Earthquake”

* Hongkong Red Cross 香港红十字会 (English and Chinese)

http://www.redcross.org.hk

Visa and Master card acceptable. Donation amount in HK dollars.

* American Red Cross 美国红十字会 （English）

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3198&3198.donation=form1

Major rredit cards acceptable.

* Canadian Red Cross 加拿大红十字会 (English, Francais)

https://www.paypaq.com/redcross/new/

Credit Card or Interac Online Payment Service

* British Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org.uk

Donation in GBP only and major credit cards acceptable.

* Mercy Corps

http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake/ (English)

Major credit card acceptable. US dollars only.

* Silicon Valley Tsinghua Network (SVTN) 硅谷清华联网 (English Site)

http://tsinghuafoundation.org/earthquake08/index.html

(1). Donate by wire transfer:
Bank name: Washington Mutual
Payee title: SVTN (special fund for earthquake relief)
Routing #: 322271627
Acct #: 3170415745
Address: 690 RIVER OAKS PKWY, SAN JOSE, CA 95134-1905

(2). Donate by check:
SVTN
Attn: China Earthquake Relief
P. O. Box 1295, Fremont, CA 94538-0129

Please make your check payable to SVTN and indicate “China Earthquake Relief” in the memo area.

(3). Donate by Paypal:
Please pay to: tsinghua_foundation@yahoo.com
Pay to China Earthquake Relief .

* Company Matching Program (applicable to some US companies)

You can refer to a topic at the discussion board on this donation option.

大部分美国公司都有Matching Gift Program for慈善捐款，通常是1：1或更多。也就是说，你捐100，公司也捐100。

请各位在捐款中国红十字会之前跟公司人事部联系，看接受捐款部门是否符合本公司的要求。如果中国的机构不合要求，可以等美国红十字会开始这项募捐，美国红十字会肯定符合要求。

Currently, 6 known companies are willing to match your donation to SVTN : Google, Yahoo, Spansion, Qualcomm, eBay, HP.

It is required to add Silicon Valley Tsinghua Network into your company’s database for matching purpose. The process to add SVTN into your company’s database might take 2 day to 2 months. But you could make your donation today and send the matching request to your company HR department.

Also, please remember, company matching program do not send check for individual donation. They will collect all employee donations in certain period. Then, the company will send us a check. Typically, they send one check per quarter. We will send our company matching money to China Red Cross.

Please visit http://www.tsinghuafoundation.org for more info.