Two Useless Holidays

I really hate fake holidays. Fake holidays are holidays that people celebrate, with no real understanding what the holiday is really about. Two holidays really come to mind. They are both real holidays and in their respective countries and are taken quite seriously. It’s when you see these two holidays being celebrated in the United States, is when the bullshit really starts up and gets my blood boiling. The first holiday on the list has recently just passed. It is called CINCO DE MAYO, the other I will be talking about is ST PATRICK’S DAY.

Cinco De Mayo, is a misunderstood holiday. Many people believe it to be the Mexican Independence Day, but it is not. It commemorates the winning of the battle at Puebla, Mexico. It was not really a strategic victory but it was more of a moral booster to help the Mexican army defeat and run off the French Army. It is an important day, because at the time, the French were the most dominant army. The Mexicans were outnumbered but they held their ground and defeated their mighty foe. After this victory the Mexican army was able to win more battles against the French and eventually have them running back to Europe.

That is cool. I love the holiday just for the simple fact the Mexican army was able to fight off the man and keep the country their own and not part of the French Empire. What I hate about it is how it is celebrated in this country. It’s just an excuse to drink. Drinking is okay but on Cinco De Mayo you are supposed to drink to the point of excess. It’s so stupid a lot of Americans, but a shitload of Latinos and Latinas love to celebrate this bullshit by getting hammered and causing some trouble.

Just, yesterday, Friday May the 6^th, I awoke to the news and one of the main stories from the night before was how a bunch of dumb asses had gotten drunk celebrating Cinco De Mayo and decided to destroy some businesses by breaking windows, looting and acting ignorant. There was even video footage of people acting all dumb. Makes us Latinos look like a bunch of hoodlums.

The second bullshit holiday is St. Patrick’s Day. All though it is a little less bullshitty as Cinco De Mayo, it still a stupid useless holiday. St. Patrick’s Day is an ancient holiday that is basically a celebration of when St. Patrick brought Catholism(Christianity) to Ireland. It’s a holiday that is supposed to be one of attending religious services, have delicious meals, and being able to drink, within control of course. See that is what people seem to always forget. All these holidays are supposed to have drinking in it, but Americans always like to take shit to a new level and act all stupid.

During St. Patrick’s Day all kind of people like to get drunk and act all rowdy. In this city they have a drunken parade and with the parade comes the onslaught of stupid ass people who are drunk and acting obnoxious. I hate it.

Whenever I go out on St. Patrick’s it’s usually a crowded and shitty time. I really hate being on the bus when a bunch of rowdy ass college students or old people get on the bus wearing their stupid green clothes, reeking of cheap green beer or other kinds of alcohol. It just sucks.

If you are celebrating these holidays for what they really mean and stand for, then I think that is cool. More power too you. But if you celebrate to get drunk, they you are on my shitlist.

I hate useless holidays.

Wonderful World of Gore Porn!

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I Love Korean Food!

Korean food is truly the food of the gods. I have never ever had better food in my life. Since today is Thursday, this is going to be a positive post. I want talk about my favorite kinds of Korean food. Since I have actually been to the country of South Korea, then I feel I have a really good insight when it comes to Korean food. In San Francisco, the Korean food is kind of shitty, but it is my home and so I have to do my best with what I’ve got.

Let’s start out with my favorite food from South Korea. I have to say, that my favorite food hands down is SOON-DEH. Soon-Deh is basically a blood sausage type of food. While it is blood sausage it is not nearly as bloody as say, Black Pudding from Ireland. It does have bits of blood in it, but it also has rice noodles stuffed inside and so it give it a unique taste. In San Francisco the Soon-Deh is okay, nothing special, but when I was living in Seoul, I had some freshly made Soon-Deh.

It was way back in January of 2005, I had been in Seoul for a little over a week, and I went exploring around where I was living, and I walked from JONG-NO, SAM GA, to DONG DAE MOON, which is basically a shopping district, with 12 story malls that are open 24 hours a day.

On the way to this district there are these huge whole sale garment malls that have these little food courts that mostly sell the Soon-Deh. I was alone and I was cold, so I was feeling bold and adventurous, so I decided to try this odd sausage looking food and when I order it, I was given a huge portion and I loved it. Since then I am always craving the food. It is so delicious.

Soon-Deh can be steamed, and served with a little bit of salt and crushed red peppers. It can be stir fried with veggies, red peppers and red pepper paste and it becomes Soon-Deh bookum(stir fried), or add all those ingredients into some beef broth, plus add a little bit of tripe and you have Soon-Deh Guk(stew). It is just wonderful stuff, and it should be tried.

In terms of Korean meats, I like two different kinds. First let me talk about the kind you take home and make yourself. My favorite meat to take home and cook, is Sam Gyup Sal(3 layered pork belly). It is pretty cheap at about $5.50 per pound and half. You can get this stuff at just about any Korean market in San Francisco. It tastes good, when you fry it up, and then with one hand you take a lettuce leaf, put a bit of the Sam Gyup Sal into it, then add a bit of Samjang(fermented Soy bean paste) and if you’re bold a sliver of raw garlic and wrap it up and take a big bite out of it and it is heaven.

Sam Gyup Sal is delicious at home, but it is expensive and not worth it if you buy in the restaurant. I like to get Dweji-Bolgogi(Spicy BBQ Pork). It is delicious stuff, and it tastes great, not to greasy or spicy but it rocks. You can eat it the same way you do the Sam Gyup Sal. It is hands on food.

I also enjoy rice cakes, whether they are spicy(Dduk Bokki) or simply likt e dessert(Dduk). I just think Korean food with its insanely spicy flavors is so good. When you eat Korean food at a restaurant, you get your main dish, but you also get steamed rice and also a number of banchans(side dishes) most places give about 5 or 6 but some give you 10 or 12 that kind of stuff rocks my socks. It’s like all kinds of different flavors aside from the main dish are added to your meal for you enjoyment.

I know that this is the bare basics of Korean food review, but to be honest, I could write pages and pages on Korean food  and that in itself can get boring. I just wanted to share my love of Korean food. I really recommend you try the food. It is spicy and exotic and I think you will really enjoy Korean food.

In Dreams: Part 1

Dreams are all a part of our daily lives. Even though we may not always remember dreams they still are a part of us. If we never dreamed, then we would all go psychotic and kill each other. I got that little tidbit from Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called NIGHT TERRORS. Anyways, I need to focus, today’s topic is about dreams. Dreams are weird, scary, sexy, invigorating, and sometimes they can help us in our waking life.

The past 3 days, I have had some pretty lucid dreams. Just this morning, I had a dream where I kept hearing the front door to my house being knocked on. In my dream, I tried to ignore it, however the knocks kept getting louder and louder. Finally I couldn’t take it and it sounded like a sledghammer was pounding on the door, I walked up to it and peered through the peep hole and saw what kind of looked like, the vampires from THE LOST BOYS. Behind them there was this weird off pink colored smoke, that I knew in my gut, that it meant these people or creatures were dangerous and I could not let them in. In my dream I pulled away from the peep hole took a breath and was about to reach for the door and that’s when I awoke in my bed.

It was about half past four in the morning and my heart was racing. It was creepy initially, but after about a minute or two the creepy feeling went away and I felt okay. The day before I had a dream about a face book friend. Now it was kind of a sex and erotic type dream. But it was a dream of an online face book friend that I have never met in real or waking life.

Dreams are weird right? I mean let’s break down a dream. In a dream, you always start in the middle of all the action. Yes, that was from the film INCEPTION, but it is true. In a dream you have a really hard time remembering how you got to point B. Point A is usually skipped. Also in a dream the way you see the world is in all five directions all at once. It’s like you can see yourself from above, below, to the right, to the left and from your own eyes. In waking life it is hard to truly imagine how that can  be but just try and remember it when you have your next dream. In dreams it is also kind of hard to focus, especially on real details. I am not a real professional dreamer(there are some people in this world that can really control their dreams) and so often times I have a dream and I feel like my record is stuck in a groove. Maybe it is a OCD thing, I am not a dream expert, so I cannot even begin to speculate,

One of the scariest and most vivid dreams, I have ever had, took place when I was about 8 years old. During this time, I was living with my maternal grandmother, my maternal great aunt and maternal great grandmother. I believe I had just started the 3rd grade and I had been allowed to walk the 2 and half blocks to their home from my school. One evening I had a dream that I was being chased but an ever engulfing shadow. It didn’t have any form but it was just a shadow and all I knew was that I had to keep away from it. I remember in the dream that I was running my fastest and like an old Hanna/Barabera cartoon the background kept on repeating. The background was the route that I had started walking. I remember I kept running and running when the shadow just about touched me and that’s when I awoke.

My heart pounded so hard and it has never pounded that hard. It was the heart beat of pure fear and the worst thing was that in the dream, the creature or the shadow was undefined. I mean it was just darkness coming towards me.

I never told anyone about that dream, not my ex’s or my parents or anyone. I guess I share it here because it seems like a good a place as any and the simple fact that you, the reader, are my audience and I think sometimes it is good to share things.

I just wish dreams happened more often. Sometimes, I wish I could have an erotic fantasy about a particular person, but I end up shagging the least likely person in my dreams. I mean most of the erotic dreams that I have had have been of friend’s girlfriends or their sisters. Never of the girl of the month. And when I did have a girlfriend I never had any erotic dreams of them. I mean I had dreams where they were involved but it was never one that was sexy. Crazy or odd, but sexy never.

I just feel dreams are a good way to escape the everyday problems that we all suffer from on a daily basis. I embrace dreams and even though some of them are a bit scary or weird or sexy I just embrace every dream that I have and I try my darnedest to remember them.

Disappeared: Missing White Woman Syndrome

Missing white woman syndrome is a disease that effects this country in a bad way. I am not trying to make a racist blog entry but it is true, the sheer media coverage that missing upper middle class white women get when they go missing is astonishing to say the least. It is, in a way, a kind of sickening example of just how bias the media of today is. Missing white woman syndrome also over shadows white males who go missing. Today’s entry is going to talk a little about missing white woman syndrome and the TV show that really portrays this, Disappeared.

I love the show Disappeared. I feel it is informative, violent, scary and depressing. These are all traits of a show that makes me want to watch, again and again. I have seen just about every episode and I started to notice one thing. It is something, that I don’t think has ever been discussed in a forum, or maybe it has been overlooked, but the TV show Disappeared only shows missing white people, and mostly white women.

Now, I know what you’re thinking;

“Come on man, that is such, BS”

Now that we got that out of our system. I personally went to the website for the TV show Disappeared and out of  45 episodes, there has only been 2 missing persons that were black and the rest were white people. Out of the missing white people about 9 were male and the rest were white women. Go to the website for the TV show if you don’t believe me. I think it is weird, but this is how the media works and it has always been this way.

I think the reason why this is so, is that we as a nation have this real hard on, when it comes to looking for missing white women. I mean a good example of this is when Natalee Halloway disappeared on May 30^th of 2005. It was a huge media event. Every night newscast would report on any progress on that case. I mean it was insane at the amount of news coverage that was received when that little girl disappeared from the island of Aruba.

About five months later a woman named Latoyia Figueroa disappeared. She was five months pregnant, but the media did not really report on her case at all. Even though five months had past, they was still a lot of coverage on Natalee Halloway, which was five months cold, but none for Figueroa, who like Laci Petersen, was pregnant and later found murdered.

I mean the Figueroa case and the Laci Petersen case and Figueroa case were almost a mirrored yin and yang type case. Petersen was murdered and dumped by her scum bag husband, Scott Petersen. Latoyia Figueroa disappeared on October 13^th 2005 and was found murdered and dumped by her scumbag boyfriend Stephen Poaches. I mean it took them a long while to find Laci and it the police a long while to find Latoyia. It the scheme of things it seems that the Petersen and Figueroa case are so similar in almost every detail, with the exception of one little thing. Figueroa was black Latina while Petersen was white.

The Figueroa family was trying hard to get the media to take some interest and they finally did. In fact the media was criticized by many bloggers and pundents as to why the Halloway case was still getting so much attention while the Figueroa case which was fresh at the time, got nothing.

The Figueroa case did, sort of, get the ball rolling on this obsession with missing white women syndrome that our country suffers from, but it really hasn’t changed much and the TV show Disappeared is a prime example of that. I mean it is totally unbalanced with the amount of coverage that missing white women get while all kinds of women disappear or get kidnapped or just vanish. I mean during the Chandra Levy case over 10 years ago another woman named Joyce Chiang has disappeared at the same time, but their was no media coverage of her case, probably because she was from Taiwan and not as important as the missing white woman.

Finally, this is from the Maddox website, but when the Elizabeth Smart case came about in 2002 about how she was kidnapped and finally released at the same time, a little African American girl named Erica Pratt, from Philadelphia, who was 7 years old at the time, was kidnapped by two men. She was tied up and held for almost 24 hours in a dark and decrepit basement. Using her wits she was able to get herself free and was able to escape the basement. Did she get crazy and massive amounts of media coverage. Nope.

Disappeared and missing white woman syndrome is something that really needs to be stopped. I feel we need to really stop and think about this. Why is it that a well off, pretty white girl get more coverage then say a Hispanic girl or black girl that goes missing?

Why?

Why?

AMC Adventures

The AMC theater chain is probably my favorite theater chain out there. I used to like Century Cinema theater chain, but these days AMC has been my go to theater. I like the Century because of the fact that they have kettle popcorn, but other then that, I am not a fan of their chain. I like the AMC chain because of the simple fact that I get the most bang for my buck. You are probably reading this and you are thinking, what is he going on about. I like to view more then one movie at a time for the price of one ticket. The AMC Metreon and the AMC Van Ness are the two theater where I can buy a six dollar ticket and watch 2 sometimes 3 movies, depending on my mood. I like them because they let me operate.

During these times of woe, I have to try and get the most for my money. I am huge fan of going to the movies and I try to go every week. When I was making money like I used I would only pay to see one movie at a time. If I wanted to see another movie, I could easily afford it. During these tough times however I have to always go to the morning matinee which is at the extremely cheap price of $6 regardless of the day. If I see 2 movies then each movie equals out to be $3 and if I see 3 movies, well you can do the math.

A lot of people may disagree with this, but I don’t care. Sometimes one has to do, what he or she has to do in order to make things worth it. Since I broke up with my ex, I have been feeling sad and out of sorts but the only thing that does make me happy and forget about my troubles, aside from writing this blog, is when I get lost in watching movies. I guess it can be a bit therapeutic. I just enjoy the movies and I love the fact that it is so easy to watch more then one movie at these two places.

The AMC Van Ness is a theater that I actually had the pleasure of working at. I worked at it during its hey day, and when it was an important and popular theater. During those days there was a huge staff and a lot of people enjoyed their jobs. The way the AMC Van Ness is built is that there are theaters on 2nd, 4th and 7th floors and during my tenure there, there was a ticket taker at each level, so it made it really difficult to sneak into another movie, unless your movie was on the same floor.

The AMC or LEOWS Metreon used to be the hardest theater to sneak into see more then one movie. The way this theater is set up, is that it is a long darkened hallway with theaters on mostly the right hand side. Back during its hey day, they had a hardcore security staff that would pounce on any person who was trying to do any kind of theater hopping.

I guess due to the economy they kept the few and dumbest people on staff. Calling the staff dumb, is wrong and I am sorry, but I think if you pay the staff minimum wage then they in return will give back minimum amount of work. But that doesn’t matter to me. The shittier the staff, the easier it is for me to see more then one movie. The security is so lax, that I was able to sneak in and watch a movie that was one of those special screenings that cost extra. I was able to pay to see the shitty Chinese movie “The Chef, The Butcher and The Swordsman”, snuck in to see the funny independent comedy “Cedar Rapids” and saw the 35th anniversary screening of “Taxi Driver” all for the price of $8. Pretty fucking sweet huh?

My ex, the girl from Hunan, hated the movies so we never really went. My ex, from the long term relationship was always down to see movies and we saw a lot of movies, a few times we saw more then one, but for the most part we were a one movie couple. The Korean girl, the girl with the story called “Green Shaved Ice” was the best partner to watch movies with,

We went about five or six times, but our AMC adventure happened at the AMC Van Ness. She was a frugal type girl and so she appreciated getting all the bang for her buck. The most epic sneaking in story has to be the time we paid to see “Bridget Jones’ Diary 2, then “The Polar Express”, then “The Incredibles” and finally “Ray. 4 movies for $6. She was awesome and I wish I could have hooked up with her and married her, but alas was not meant to be.

I like the fact that I am able to watch more then one movie at a time. I don’t feel any guilt or qualms about it. I just think movies these days are way too expensive and so you have get as much out of them as you can. I mean who wants to pay to see a crappy movie? If you see more then one movie, you sometimes are surprised and see a real gem. When I paid to see BATTLE LOS ANGELES and RIO, I was really disappointed with BATTLE, but I loved RIO.

If you got the time and the guts, see as many movies as you can for one ticket. You only live once.

Hangover Sunday: Green Shaved Ice

*Please note that even though in the title it says “Hangover Sunday” that does not really mean that I had gotten drunk the night before. “Hangover Sunday” is just a title. It is a title I use so I could tell you all a story. Sometimes, it will be about me and my past, or a story I heard about. The point being, is it’s Sunday, so just relax and enjoy.

The story in which I am about to tell you is a story that was told to me by a former friend of mine while I was in Seoul, on a particularly cold Febuary evening. It’s from her childhood and I thought it was a neat little tale that people would like to hear about. This story is from the girl whom, I had a major crush on and thought that I loved. No names shall be mentioned, so please understand. This is her story.

The following is a true story and it took place in the summer of 1989.

It was a hot and humid summer afternoon, and the little girl of about 9 years old was really thirsty and was dying to either get a boring bottle of water or maybe get a green shaved ice that was sold by the old couple about five blocks away.. She was really hoping for the green shaved ice. The little girl was standing in the shade waiting for her older brother. Her older brother who was 15 now, always took so long to get ready and go out. Ever since he had his first “date” with a local girl, he had to always look his best.

The little girl then decided to just walk away from the shade to the stairs to wait for her older brother. Her older brother finally made it down the stairs and they were off to make the walk to pick up drinks. The little girl asked her older brother if they could get shaved ice, he said no problem. Their mother had given him almost 10,000W(About $10) to get drinks and snacks but to last for the day. The older brother was more then happy to walk with his little sister to get the shaved ice. He knew that a pretty girl live around there and that he would give his sister a cheap green shaved ice and maybe take the girl out to get some snacks.

The little girl and her older brother live in the middle of Busan. Busan is the second largest city of South Korea. During this time, in Busan a lot of construction was going on. A lot of roads were being rebuilt or fixed and so throughout the city of Busan there was a lot of construction sites and a lot of kids like to walk in and out of them. It’s not a safe thing to do but kids being kids often times do dangerous things.

The little girl loved where she lived. She lived in a the back streets of Busan and often times these were lively places with lots of music and lots of loud noises. A lot of small stalls sold foods and alcohol and during the day a lot of the stalls were preparing for the evening rush. The little girl loved this time of day because she would see older ladies making all kinds of delicious soups and rice cakes and even though it was hot and she was sweaty and thirsty, she often would walk up to these stalls and watch the ladies. The ladies would either smile at her or shoo her away.

The little girl and her brother had walked about three blocks and they came upon a construction site. The little girl saw it and wanted to walk around it. Walking around it would make them walk an extra three or four blocks, but the little girl was fine with this. She saw many different food stalls and was curious to see what was cooking along that route. The older brother however, wanted to cut through the construction site and hurry up to get to where the cute girl lived. He told his little sister to follow him through the construction site, the little girl didn’t want too, but her older brother had the money so she had no choice.

It was okay at first. The site looked like it was a building that just had its steel frame put up. It was a spooky place, but it was cooler there and it was on the way to pick up the green shaved ice. The older brother and little girl were walking along when all of a sudden two boys of about 16 years old popped out of the shadows calling the older brother some bad names. The older brother got mad and started yelling some bad words at the two boys. The two boys laughed and approached the older brother.

The older brother stood his ground as one of the two boys was telling the older brother that the girl he had dated was his girlfriend and that he had should never speak to her again. The older brother then said it was none of their business and they need to get out of here. Within all the yelling the older brother said something really nasty about the strangers mother and then that’s when the first boy punched the older brother in the face.

The older brother had not expected this and so it was a surprise blow. The older brother then took a swing at the boy who just hit him, but was sideswiped by the stranger’s friend. The older brother was knocked onto the ground and the two boys started kicking him. The little girl was scared, but she knew she had to do something. She ran off.

The little girl was going to run all the way home to get her mom or maybe her neighbor who was a 19 year old college student, but they were too far away. The little girl then looked around and saw something that she was looking for. She saw a steel rod, it was a little heavy, but she could handle it. She grabbed it and ran back to her where her brother was.

The boys has stopped kicking him, but the ring leader was still slapping him. She saw her older brother had a bloody lip and a bloody nose and that his shirt was dirty and ripped. This had made her mad. So mad that she felt her hands shake and before she knew it she was running towards the two boys. She lifted the steel rod over her head and swung hard on the boy who was slapping her older brother and it came down hard and fierce and struck him on the back of the neck and shoulder. The boy screamed in pain and looked shocked. The other boy who had been laughing while his buddy was slapping the little girl’s brother in the face had a look of horror as the little girl swung the steel rod and it struck him hard in the chest and tore his shirt. The two boys were in shock and started tearing.

Getting hit with hard and abrasive steel hurts, and so the boys ran off. The little girl was crying and shaking and just held the rod in her hand. Her older brother then stood up and looked down at her and asked her for the rod. She gave it to him and the older brother threw it to the ground. The little girl was still crying and her older brother gave her a hug. It was one of only three times that the little girl and the older brother hugged each other.

The little sister helped her older brother, as they walked back home. When they got home, the older brother told his mother that he fell down while they played at a construction site. The little girl’s mom scolded the little girl, because she should have stopped her brother from playing there. The older brother told their mother it was not her fault. They had dinner and other then the fight it was a normal evening.

The next afternoon, the older brother told his mother that he was going to be busy with his friends all day. The little girl was bored and her mother told her to go outside and just play with some friends. The little girl just decided to read a book in the shade. She felt bored. She closed her eyes for a moment and then felt a tap on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw it was her older brother. He looked down at her, smiled, and handed her a cup of green shaved ice.

I hope you enjoyed the story. Have a good Sunday!