wushu west 2009 04 14

2009-04-18 | #Wushu

Tonight was Mark’s last class before he leaves for Idaho for a month. Last week, he joked that he wanted everyone to still be recovering when he gets back in June… He tried his best to make that happen, and I think Patti bailed us out in the end :) We got some time to warm up for a few minutes, I think he wanted us ready by 7:20, so we jogged around for a bit and did some light stretching.


easter

2009-04-13 | #Easter #Family #Owen #Owen

Sunday we celebrated Easter, as well as Owens 1st birthday (its really April 22nd, but we took advantage of having most of the family in one place), at my parents place in Knightsen. Here is a link to the gallery on my other site, m87-blackhole.org: http://m87-blackhole.org/photos/2009-04-12-easter/ I also took some pictures of my parents house in the making. It is starting to shape up nicely, my step dad is a pretty talented carpenter.


cmat 17

2009-04-12 | #CMAT #Collin #mark #Pierre #Shahuab #Wushu

Saturday was the 17th annual Cal Martial Arts Tournament, at Cal Berkeley. For the 4rd year in a row I went, and as the last three years I was solely a spectator. I took some footage, and snapped a few pictures, but I wasn’t into staying from 8am till 11pm running around to each ring trying to film everyone. My experience with that last year solidified the idea that no matter what, someone (usually more than one too) will be unhappy with what you’ve worked hard to do, and I wasn’t interested in repeating that thankless job.


ip man movie day with wushu geeks

2009-04-05 | #Home Theater #mark #Movies #Shahuab #Wushu

It’s long overdue, but Mark, Shahaub and I finally got together for a movie. All three of us are movie geeks. Mark was part of the industry with Jet Li and Rotten Tomatoes, Shahaub is in film school right now (and posted a few demo reels, like this one, on vimeo.com), and I like to watch them and then write about what I watch. Our conversations immediately started off with George Lucas movies, Arrested Development, and then oddly to my fear of Bees and Black Widows.


back filling some older blog entries

2009-03-29 | #Wushu

I’ve gone from using Movable Type -> Roller Weblog -> Wordpress over the past 3 years. I’ve missed converting a few entries so today I went through my old MT blog (which is buried on m87-blackhole.org that I even forgot about it). So below are links to my china trip in 2006, which I still reminisce about. China Trip - Arrival and Settling In China Trip - Day one and two


harman kardon avr 254

2009-03-29 | #AVR 254 #Blu Ray #Geekyness #Harman Kardon #HDMI #Home Theater #Movies

todo HK AVR 254 It is no secret that I love watching movies in the comfort of my own living room. I get to eat what I want, drink and not have to worry about driving, and most of the time I’m by myself so I don’t have to worry about shushing people. What can I say, its a great way for me to recharge and get lost for a few hours.


let the right one in

2009-03-28 | #Movies

todo Let The Right One In Let the Right One In is a very memorable horror movie. It’s in the vein (HA!) of a vampire movie, yet it never really addresses the question and creatively dodges it. The two characters are a boy and a girl. Oskar and Eli. The young boy lives in an apartment complex with his single (and very absent) mother. Like most boys, he has a bully problem.


lullaby

2009-03-15 | #Books

These noise-aholics, these quiet-ophobics I liked that statement, it is mentioned many times throughout the book with some variation. There is a great part where the protagonist, Carl Streaton, talks about his apartment tenets “sound wars”. Where its not about the music anymore, but the volume. As much as I dislike loud noises and chaos, I was able to relate very well to the main character. The book isn’t about noise-aholics, peace-ophobics, but about a childrens lullaby that kills anyone who hears it.


wushu west 2009 03 12

2009-03-14 | #burpees #frog leaps #Wushu #Wushu

I didn’t know, but this class marked Mark’s 14th year wushu anniversary. Thats awesome, he remembers the exact day, time and the fact that it was partially cloudy outside. Sheesh, I remember mine was around October 2001, around the time The One was released in theatres, not the exact time and day though. With that, congrats Mark! The rule for showing up late is that you have to do 20 burpee’s.


mount diablo hike

2009-03-13 | #General #hiking #Jenny

I didn’t want to forget to blog about this, it is a little late. Over a month ago (Jan 31st), Jenny invited me to hike Mount Diablo with the Stanford Outing Group, lead by “V”. I’ve posted her photos to the gallery here, and you should read her post on our trip. Its more entertaining than mine :) http://jettagirl.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/mount-diablo-hike-to-the-summit/ This was a 14 mile hike, took about 6-7 hours (I think) and made my legs feel like jelly.