The only character I cared about in the "Grapes of Wrath"--and I use the word "care" quite loosely here--was the grandmother. In a book that had no sense of direction--from the beginning, through the middle and right to the end--the demise of the grandmother was the one certainty. Because grandma's death was quite obviously going
Furiosa has very little dialogue, but her prowess and character are evident from what's presented on screen. That's the product of good acting and fine directing, neither of which exists in any Michael Bay film.
In thanks for so graciously hosting me for a week with your family, I've penned this letter to you, wrapped up in a review of "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015), in order to give you some advice regarding your future as a movie-lover.
This past spring, my maternal grandfather died at the age of 103. I thought about writing about him and his incredible life, but I have great difficulty dealing and thinking about death. Because of that, instead of writing about my thoughts on my
Take the scene where Eloise, Alice and other bridesmaids hold a bachelorette party on a boat in the London river. If you’ve ever seen an unfunny comedy before, you can see the payoff coming a mile away.
It's no surprise that a film this oblivious to tone is entirely unconvincing in what should be the central romantic story between Ella and Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine). After the two meet each other for what appears to be the third time, they have a private moment at the castle in a room with
"Cinderella," a 2021 musical remake of the classic Disney story, is one of the most schizophrenic movies I have ever seen. Does it take place a long time ago in some far away land, or does it take place in modern times in a land that is a weird
Importantly, the movie doesn't get overly tied down to the original. The assembled pilots include Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Nick"Goose" Bradshaw who was Maverick's best friend that died during a training mission in "Top Gun." Maverick and Rooster have a difficult relationship because of this history, but director
That's because the mere existence of a sequel suggests that the original was pretty good. It's hard enough to catch a lightening in the bottle once; it's nearly impossible to do it twice.
The most effective narration is told by the mountains, whose visuals express far more than any interview. The scenes with the mountains, with Marc-André's climbing them, don't need any voiceover. The thrilling / terrifying nature of what he's doing is self-explanatory, all there on screen for you to experience.
"The Alpinist" (2021) is a documentary about a 23-year old "free soloist" named Marc-André Leclerc who climbs ice and rock alone without ropes, harnesses or any other safety precautions. In capturing the dare devil pursuits of a man obsessed with conquering mother nature's greatest challenges, this movie will
Joe: Fine, whatever. How about investing? I’m a pretty bad investor, but one time I made this particularly bad investment when I was told I was getting a special bonus that
Below is a word-by-word transcript of an interview with Joe, who insisted on being interviewed as "The Most Fascinating Person in the History of Humanity" but who is anything but.
--I can’t believe I’m doing this This interview is going to be a complete waste of time.
tually joins him as they walk out of the school gymnasium, through the parking lot, into an empty town, and off to their respective workplaces. This 15 minute scene between the two is a classic walk and talk. In the conversations they have with each other and anyone they come across, the audience
At the core, all movies are about storytelling. Many do this poorly and only the distinguished few do it memorably, but all films have the two components of the “story” and the “telling”.
For the most part, the "story" component gets all the attention. Audiences are always
Astonishingly, in the 30 years it took these people to come up with a story and script, they couldn't infuse much humor into their work. There is exactly one scene that elicit laughs, where a white, privileged interviewer tries to "get" the black, less-than-privileged upbringing of Lavelle. For the rest of
"Coming 2 America" (2021), a sequel to the 1988 classic "Coming to America" exclusively broadcast on Amazon Prime, is so stunningly inept that one wonders how it ever got beyond the story concept phase.
The film picks up 30 years after the original. Prince Akeem
Tom Dolan (Nielson) is an ex-U.S. Marine who's successfully pulled off several bank robberies without getting caught. One day, he goes to a storage unit facility looking for a place to store the money he stole, and meets Annie Wilkins (Kate Walsh), a psychology graduate student who is an employee there.
(6/10)
It's not easy to make a good film. It's especially difficult to make a good, mindless film.
And no genre is more mindless than action.
The formula for an action flick is simple. There's a good guy (or guys or
The biggest weakness of F9, though, is in the script and character development. The central story of the film revolves around the relationship between Dom and his brother Jakob (John Cena). It spends a good chunk of time trying to develop the history of the two through flashbacks of their youths (played by Vinnie
Take the opening thirty minutes of the film. The familiar Toretto gang led by Dom (Vin Diesel) is chased by the national military of a fictitious country called Montequinto and manages to drive through landmines
Shyamalan's films have never been known for air-tight plots, but "Old" suffers from glaring holes even by his standards. Three young children turn into teenagers, then into adolescents, with visible changes to their physical looks, yet somehow they can't see the transformations in themselves. A body washes up on the beach and turns
I am a fan of writer and director M. Night Shyamalan. I like his storytelling, cinematography, pacing and mood. I am so much of a fan that I can instantly tell that a preview is that of his film by just looking at the first shot.
This movie runs as if it knows none of the gags are funny. It spends an inordinate amount of time setting up the jokes, only to rush through the payoff before quickly moving on to the next scene. It’s as if the three editors (Aaron Brock; Jon Poll; Michael Tronick) each took a
I think "Unfinished Business" (2015) is intended to be a comedy.
I make this statement based on the film's poster, which has stars Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco in ridiculous poses. I sense this must be the case, because the film places its main characters
It's not clear where the pull towards public service comes from, notwithstanding all my love for money.
My education probably has something to do with it. My alma mater, Boston College / Boston College Law School, instilled a call for service through an education grounded in
I am an unabashed capitalist. I have helped mega-corporations raise billions of dollars. I'm an investor who shows little interest other than stock prices. I'm unapologetic in my pursuit of money and I don't particualrly think there's anything wrong with that.
Purportedly, there are film schools that use this movie as a case study in film-making. One can see why, because this movie's list of not-to-dos can easily fill an entire semester.
I have a personal axiom about movies, and it goes something like this: "Anyone, at any time, with enough perseverance, can make a film; only a select few, on the rarest of occasions, with a lot of luck, can make the great film."
Linklater tells this wonderful story with subtlety made possible by his artistic vision. He doesn't need a cheesy transition or an overbearing "two years later" caption. He relies on the natural aging of the actors and the events of the times, like the Iraq War, Harry Potter, Obama-McCain presidential campaign, High
Of the many things to love about "Boyhood" (2014), I most loved the sheer ambition. To create a coming-of-age movie using the same actor through his own growth filmed over 12 years is an audacious undertaking.
The fundamental issue with "Tenet" is that it saddled a baffling concept with an unnecessarily complicated story. There's Russian oligarch Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), about whom the only thing film makes clear is that he's the villain. Then there's his wife (Elizabeth Debicki) and the fake paintings she had his estranged
The question you need to ask with a movie like "Tenet" (2020) is: for whom was this made?
Maybe it was for director and writer Christopher Nolan, who has established enough pedigree that a studio will shell out hundreds of millions of dollars for a
My college friend was always a liberal, but most people become one in college.
I was wired in politics from middle school, but most of my pre-college friends weren't. Yet two months into college, when we got together for the first time since high school graduation, they'd
Marc was one of my closest friends, ever since we went to the same high school, then to the same college. I hadn't seen much of him after I moved to Japan, but he was on the very short list of people I always caught up with whenever I was back in
If you're reading this, the odds are extraordinarily high that you don't walk around carrying business cards. That's because they're a lost art where English is the primary language.
On the other hand, the tradition is alive and well in Japan.
With the holiday season fast approaching, I hope you are in good spirits.
This year, I’d like to talk a bit about shogi, the Japanese variation of chess. You may be thinking “but you do that every year,” but this year I hope to give some context to my annual report on how
I have a friend who had understood the importance of a fit even when I didn't. He had a specific field of law that he focused on not only in law school but also in college, so he applied exclusively to law firms that specialized in that field. Not surprisingly, he successfully landed
The original animation spent the entire film developing the friendship between the lonely Dumbo and a little mouse named Timothy Q, who helps Dumbo keep up his spirits and eventually helps him learn to fly. Dumbo's flight is the culmination of their journey together.
I sensed something was amiss early in the live-action adaptation of "Dumbo" (2019), when the film dedicates the first fifteen minutes to the manufactured tragedy of inordinate number of human characters before a single elephant makes an appearance.
Then there's the difference in the months of the year that the Japanese and Americans go watch film.
Summer, to be sure, is the period for blockbuster movies in Japan as it is in America, but the definition of "summer" differs quite a bit between the two markets. In
The United States is undoubtedly the king of the film market, but it turns out Japan is no slouch. Until being passed by India recently, Japan was the third largest film market in the world in terms of revenue.
Considering that Japan trails only the United States (of Hollywood), China (of 1.3 billion people) and
It's what I call fame through association, and it's exactly what I want.
This is why I'm gregarious with every new person I meet, try to become best friends with everybody I form a bond with, and never turn down an opportunity to hang out with anyone who offers.
Perhaps because I spent most of 2017 thinking about time and how there is never enough of it, I dedicated 2018 to making the most of my limited time seeking to accomplish something new and concrete outside of my day job.
When I think about our friendship, I obviously start with our shared high school experience.
Ah, those memories from teenage years. There's no end to the stories of how terribly we used to behave, most especially to teachers. Yeah we were terribly juvenile, but the stuff we used to do back then were pretty witty,
If you're remotely into movies, you likely would have heard of a film called “The Room” (2003). Written, directed and starring first-time filmmaker named Tommy Wisseau, it has achieved legendary status for its hilarious ineptness. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just do a Youtube search with the keywords “the room rooftop.”
I consider myself to be a common man, but I confess, over the last couple years I've come to own a couple watches that defy common sense.
As a person who is uniquely positioned to explain so-called luxury watches in common sense terms, I offer this Common Sense Guide to Uncommon Sense Watches.
When I think of lifelong friendships, I think about us.
You’re probably the oldest friend I have. You've known me since the days I barely spoke English, which is hard to believe because these days, I have trouble convincing people that I speak another language.
There's something unique about a childhood friendship. It's formed before we become identified
Despite my affliction with Airplane Incidents Obsession Syndrome, I enjoy traveling by air. I've flown domestically and internationally, in business and in economy, and on U.S. and foreign airlines. What I've discovered through all that flying is that U.S. airlines are unbearably, unbelievably awful.
In fact, I'd rather fly 14 hours on economy class from New
"Star Wars Episode: The Last Jedi" (2018) is stunningly bad. It’s the worst outing in the Star Wars franchise, and the race to the bottom isn’t even close.
What exactly is so bad? Let’s start at the very beginning, with the opening crawl. We are told that the evil First Order has exposed
This past year, I thought about “time” quite a bit.
In June and September, two of my college roommates got married, and their wedding ceremonies became an occasion for the four roommates to get together for the first time in years. As we bantered much in the same way as we had in college, I
Joe Michael Sasanuma, who earlier today died at the eternal age of 18, never had a moment in which he didn't enjoy life.
He lived by the words "What's the point of living if you can't feel alive?", a line fittingly taken from the James Bond movie "The World is Not Enough". Of the many things
As I attended the ceremony celebrating your matrimony with Becca, I thought about our friendship--about how it all began, how it deepened over the years and how it's thrived on our many differences.
I remember your joking once that I'm the first Republican you'd ever met, and it probably won't surprise you that you're the first
You and I will forever be bound by the bond we formed during our days at Boston College, so it's hardly a surprise that, as I attended your celebration of matrimony with Kris-Stella last month, I looked back on our time together at BC.
In particular, I thought about what it means to be a BC
I have exciting news for the very few readers of this blog.
The site, which will celebrate its ninth anniversary this October, is getting a huge makeover that will make it easier for all readers to navigate through the contents.
Many of the benefits are associated with splitting the Japanese content from the English content that enables English-only readers
I was deeply moved by Lenten passage. It epitomizes what I need to strive for in my journey of faith.
In one sense I have come pretty far in that journey, for I no longer find the having of faith to be that difficult. To be sure, faith has never come easy and it probably never will, but
It is 17th century Japan, a bad time and place to be a Christian. The feudal government is committed to eradicating Christianity through the torture and killing of believers, convinced that the religion is unfit for the Japanese people.
In the Portuguese colony of Macau, the Jesuits receive news that Father Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who is living in Nagasaki, Japan, renounced his faith after being tortured.
As I attended your wedding celebration last week, so many thoughts came rushing through my head.
I thought about our friendship and how it is a reminder that friendships take many forms. You and I attended high school together, yet it was our geographic proximity during graduate school and the discovery then that we
If I were to pick one phrase to describe the past year, it would be “The Year of Changes.”
On the professional front, I left Shearman & Sterling in May after seven and a half years at the firm in order to join Amazon in Japan. The jump from being an experienced lawyer at a
As the title suggests, "Independence Day: Resurgence" (2016) is a sequel to "Independence Day," the 1996 blockbuster in which the United States saves the entire human race from invasion of aliens on America's Independence Day. The original had shallow characters in a predictable story with emotionally manipulative scenes and a lot of explosions. It wasn't much but at least it was a
Japanese and American people are truly remarkable people, although they amaze in entirely different ways.
The Japanese excel in order and discipline.
My favorite example to illustrate this is the shugaku ryokou, which is like a field trip for an entire grade over a couple nights at some exotic location like the historical city of Kyoto or Tokyo
Sequels are often criticized as not as good as the original, but they have certain natural advantages over the original. Whereas a movie generally has to spend a good fifteen to twenty minutes establishing characters and context, the sequel can dive right into the storyline because the characters have been fully developed in the original. The challenge
“Money Monster” (2016) is in trouble from the very beginning. It opens with George Clooney sitting on a bathroom stall while Julia Roberts talks to him from the other side of the door. When, only a short time later, Clooney abandons whatever dignity he had left by dancing with cheerleaders while dressing in
There is a scene in "Everest" (2015) in which magazine journalist Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly) asks the several climbers he has accompanied for part of the trip why they are looking to reach the highest peak in the world.
"Because it's there!" they all answer at the same time, fully aware how humorously unsatisfying answer is.
When pressed for a more satisfactory response, Yasuko Namba (Naoko
The lesson to be learned from "Spectre" (2015), the first James Bond movie since the stellar "Skyfall" (2012), is that just bringing back the star (Daniel Craig), the director (Sam Mendes) and the screenwriters (John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade) from a critically-acclaimed, commercially-successful predecessor is no guarantee that the magic can strike again.
As I look back on the past year, which flew by even faster than usual, the biggest news for me was the retirement of The Honorable Peter E. Doyne, the Assignment Judge of the Bergen Vicinage of the Superior Court of New Jersey.
Judge Doyne was my first boss and mentor. I became his law clerk
Despite attending a prestigious university called Boston College, there are certain things that you are not entitled to.
First, you’re not entitled to any particular grade. Certainly not an A or a B, or even a C+.
Grades measure your knowledge and abilities, however imperfectly. If you exhibit superior capabilities, you get high marks. If you exhibit deficiencies,
The Mission: Impossible series is a maddeningly inconsistent franchise. It started off with “Mission: Impossible” (1996), which was well-made but had an ending which infuriated the fans of the original TV series. The franchise sank to its lowest in John Woo’s “Mission: Impossible II” (2000), which forgot what Mission: Impossible was all about, then reached its
The thing about the Jurassic Park series is that, for all the intelligence built into the concept in the original novel by author Michael Crichton, the movies, especially in the sequels, have been little more than big and small dinosaurs hunting down and eating humans who probably deserved to be eaten with all of their stupidity. The novelty of this
Here’s what it’s like watching “Terminator Genisys” (2015).
If you’ve seen the original Terminator series, the reboot/remake feels like the people who helmed this mess took the most memorable scenes from the best films, jammed those parts together with loud but shallow action sequences for half an hour, then felt the need to take the story and
I am opinionated about a whole range of topics with little knowledge on a very small number of things.
The result of this less-than-ideal combination of personality and intellectual (in)capacity is that I have a tendency to mock, rather loudly and proudly, things I don’t understand.
Take art. I am an uncivilized philistine, so it is probably fair
I recently had a revelation. The day of the week that I hate the most is not the widely-detested Monday, but rather is, far and away, Wednesday.
The best day of the week is, of course, Saturdays because they're right in middle of the weekend, as defined the American way as lasting from Friday through Sunday. On Saturdays, I get to sleep
Among the many hobbies of mine, doing jigsaw puzzles is one of my most irrelevant.
My colleagues have developed an odd misconception about me and puzzles. It all began several years ago when I announced, as I was leaving on the last day of work before my winter vacation began, that I was going home
I have a suggestion for those who are politically interested: surround yourself with people who are disagreeable. Surround yourself with a lot of them.
That means that if you’re in college, odds are you should be seeking people who go to meetings of College Republicans (yes, those people exist, in surprisingly large number). If you’re a working
“Downfall” (2004), which depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler holed up in a bunker in Berlin at the end of the European campaign of World War II, is a frightening film, although I don’t mean frightening in a horror film kind of way.
Most of us take comfort in the belief that we are not like
It’s pretty easy to see how numerous powerful people in Hollywood looking to make a quick couple million bucks thought that the concept behind “Draft Day” (2014) couldn’t miss. It’s basically “Moneyball” (2011), but with the most popular sport in America and Jennifer Garner in the place of Jonah Hill to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the NFL
It is often said that life in a Big Wall Street Law Firm is brutal, but the only time in my professional career that I wanted to cry came when I was a law clerk under The Honorable Peter E. Doyne, then the presiding judge of the chancery division in the Bergen vicinage of the
"Speed" (1994) has almost everything you would want in an action film. It's got an interesting premise, a cool hero, great chemistry between the hero and the sidekicks and action scenes that literally don't stop moving. Watching it is a mindless exercise for sure, but it sure is a lot of fun.
I think principles in politicians matter, and I simply don't see how anyone who shares this commonly-held view can support and vote for Willard Mitt Romney.
Mind you, it takes a lot, I mean a lot, for me to be offended by a politician for his perceived lack of principles. I'm far more sensitive than most to
I have a rare and disturbing disease that I have termed "Airplane Incident Obsession Syndrome," or AIOS. It manifests itself with symptoms such as religiously watching the TV series called "Mayday!," a highly-acclaimed Canadian documentary that goes into depth of what went went wrong in airplane incidents, or obsessively following updates on latest airplane incidents.
It is hard to believe, but this past September marked three years since I transferred to Tokyo. I am entering my seventh year with my current employer, meaning that I have now worked in the Tokyo office longer than I did in New York.
I have, but that probably doesn’t come as a surprise to many of you who know how much of a narcissistic egomaniac I am.
Even if it’s in your nature to be more humble and reserved than I, I still recommend that you occasionally run a search of yourself at www.google.com, if only
As a movie based on a broadway musical, "Jersey Boys" (2014) avoids two traps that other movie musicals fall into: casting actors who have the name recognition but not the singing capabilities and lack of scale that puts to waste the unlimited spacial possibilities of films on screen.
The last attempt by Hollywood to adapt Godzilla into a film of its own was the equally clueless and disastrous “Godzilla” (1998), a big-budget flick that had Matthew Broderick running around New York City trying to destroy 200 eggs that a hideous-looking Godzilla laid in Madison Square Garden. With the point of comparison being so
One of the things I remain mystified about is why no one has ever asked me to give a lecture. I would have thought that a person like me with an opinion on a whole range of topics would be hounded to share just a small portion of all the invaluable insight.
In the world of "Gattaca" (1997), the only qualification that matters is having the right genes. It is a world in which the "responsible" parents looking to have children go to a geneticist who will weed out the "negative" genes like those linked to diseases and selectively choose the "preferred" genes like those linked to strength, intellect and
There are a lot of reasons "Lee Daniel's The Butler" (2013) fails, the most obvious being that Lee Daniels, who directed the movie, thought it proper to cast widely recognizable actors as former presidents although they have little resemblance to the presidents they are portraying. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how Robin Williams was even
I may have been wrong about LeBron James for the past four years. In fact, I'm pretty certain that most of us owe him an apology.
As I read his reasons on why he is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers as told to Sports Illustrated, the word "redemption" came to mind. By returning to Cleveland, I thought he's redeeming
I came across this article on 30 Problems That Only Introverts Understand through someone else's posting on Facebook. I understood none of the things on the list, which I presumed was because I am the opposite of an introvert.
And so I felt qualified to create the below list of 30 Problems That Only Extroverts Understand.
I have great admiration for those who chase dreams because they exhibit the best of what it means to have a human experience. I admire them because they live their life to the fullest. Being a dreamer is a prerequisite for greatness.
I recently realized how serious my critical nature has become when the first words out of my mouth to a person who had just completed making a perfectly thoughtful remark was, "But isn't it...?" Being critical has become so second nature to me that I have developed a pattern of "disagree first, think later."
After you graduate from Boston College, you'll realize that your years at Chestnut Hill shaped many aspects of your life. The liberal arts education that instilled a sense of public service is one. The life-long friendships that you formed is another.
As an underclassman, you're likely still building your circle of friends, and to those who
Scientifically disinclined, one of my dreams growing up was not becoming an astronaut. And because I never wanted to be in space, I never wondered what it would be like to be in space. But now, thanks to "Gravity", I've been able to skip past the stage of imagination and actually experience space without ever
I grew up in the wonderful state of New Jersey. It is a source of great pride for me, but for reasons I’ll never truly understand, my source of pride seems to be an international embarrassment for most people.
Mocked as the “Armpit of America” by many Americans, the views of foreigners about the State of
This is the third in the “Movie Review in Three Seconds” series of the blog. The idea is simple. In the spirit of Siskel & Ebert, I, along with one guest critic, review several movies on a scale of 1 to 10 with a short commentary that is no more than a paragraph. It’s movie
There are so many things that make winter the best of the four seasons, and what would make it even better is more of everything.
When I lived in the United States, winter always began on Thanksgiving week, just when the temperature outside starts to get comfortably cold in the Northeast. Thanksgiving means a lot of
This post is about the art of responsible gambling.
The phrase "responsible gambling" may sound like an oxymoron, but it is not in fact a contradiction in terms. And there is "art" involved in responsible gambling because tact and subtlety are necessary in delicately balancing chance, cost and entertainment involved with gambling.
Back in the early 2000s, I used to watch a syndicated television show called "Crossing Over" hosted by a man named John Edward. Edward's claim was that he is a medium who can connect the people in this world to those who have passed. On each episode of the show, he would stand center stage
These days, one of my greatest frustrations is with people who complain about politicians. This essentially means that I'm frustrated with almost everyone I know.
I'm frustrated because I find most people's view towards politicians to be rather irresponsible. Americans live in a democracy, governed by the persons they themselves elected. The people in government who
As my friends can probably tell from my desperate pleas to read new posts every other Monday on Facebook, this blog does not get a lot of readers. I concede that the daily readership averages below one, and recently, the hits often don't reach double digits even on the Mondays that I put up a
For me, the fall will always mark the beginning of a new year. For nearly two decades, September is when I progressed one year in the educational ladder. Now that I'm working, fall is when I tack on another year in my experience as a working professional. I've always loved this season because it's when
The 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution all started with a C paper.
It was 1982, and the constitutional debate du jour was the Equal Rights Amendment, which was intended to guarantee equal rights for men and women. The amendment passed both houses of Congress in 1972 and was given to the states to ratify
In 2009, Alex Rodriguez admitted in an interview with Peter Gammons of ESPN that he took performance enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003.
After that news broke, I wrote a post in which I tried to argue that despite the allegations, he should at least be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame. The
In the winter of 2005, Michael Sessions decided to run for the mayor of his hometown.
The city of Hillsdale, located in the Southern part of the state of Michigan with a population of 8,200 and known for being the home of Hillsdale College, had been hit hard by the downturn of the automobile industry
I don't have a lot of regrets in my life. If forced to name them, I have a list of three to choose from, but people laughed at me the one time I talked about how I forever regret choosing to study for my constitutional law exam instead of attending my very first Brad Paisley concert,
There is only one good thing about the summer, and it's that it is followed by the most pleasant season of the year.
I was born in August, right in the smack of the summer, no doubt on a hot, humid and miserable day. My mom always wonders why I hate so much the season in
This post is about sleep because every waking moment during the last week when I wasn't thinking about food, I was thinking about sleep. It may have something to do with the fact that I haven't gotten a decent amount of sleep on a weeknight for over a month.
A couple years ago, I tried to follow the regiment set out in Cool Running to go from a couch potato to a decent runner. I was committed enough to wake up at a god-awful hour of five in the morning to do a thrice weekly run for about six weeks before I
Of the four seasons, I hate spring the most. I try to live by the words, "Never hate, sometimes dislike," so I have reserved a very special place in my heart for the season we are currently in.
There are many reasons to hate spring, but topping the list is the fact that it is a
After three years of hard work, I know it's tempting to look at your final year in college as the last hurrah before you have to face the realities of the real world. Workdays, bills and taxes await you after graduation, and I don't blame you for wanting to make
"Taken 2" is one of those sequels that has all of the ingredients of the original but none of the magic. It's as if in making the sequel, the filmmakers forgot the formula that made the original work.
I had a weird reaction as I watched "Argo" (2012). The longer the film went on, the more I became convinced that things didn't go the way that events was depicted in the movie, but also the more I enjoyed the film. It brings to mind what I always say about reality, which is that
To me, the whole idea of making a film based on a musical is ill-conceived. A musical, performed on stage, is by its nature spatially limited. A stage production can't so easily change scenes, so the song and dance routine is a way to pace the narrative while making the most out of each set
I had one of the most deeply reflective moments about life in college in, of all places, math class, from a professor who shared a story about a failure of Johannes Kepler before he discovered that the planets orbit the sun in an elliptical curve.
Back in Kepler's days, scientists were aware of only six planets. Kepler
Being a natural overachiever, many of you will seek to become the cream of the crop of American society by obtaining a degree that's even higher than the Bachelor of Arts, like M.A., M.D., J.D., M.B.A. or Ph.D.
As an overeducated double Eagle myself, I have some experience with knowing what it takes to
The premise of the French film "Intouchables" (2012), which is apparently based on a true story, is simply a new spin on a common story. It tells a tale of a paraplegic billionaire named Philippe who hires a caretaker named Driss. Driss has no prior experience working as a caregiver. In fact, he has neither
"Brave" (2012) is the first installment in the venerable Pixar franchise that stars a girl and involves a witch. There is something both nostalgic and cliché about this set-up, no doubt because it is a familiar backdrop of many classic films created by Disney, which purchased Pixar six years ago.
MI6 is under attack. Its security has been breached by a cyberterrorist who has exposed the British secret service's undercover operatives and has wrecked havoc in the city of London. And James Bond (Daniel Craig), who usually saves the world, must do something that hits much closer to home: to defend and save the very
John was a couple years behind me at Boston College. I don't exactly recall how we initially met, but we quickly became close friends because I was Japanese and he was interested in Japan.
John had a great laugh. He and I come from a different political mold, he of the moderate left and I of
It's unusual enough to recall a dream you had the night prior, but it's truly rare to have a dream with more or less the same story which I always recall because it's literally dé ja vu.
It goes something like this. It is the last week of classes and I am panicking because it dawns
"The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) marks a fitting and solid, even if not spectacular, ending to the revival of the Batman series by director Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale.
For the longest time, I had no interest in reading.
I swear it started in high school, when novels like "The Grapes of Wrath," "Walden Pond" and "The Old Man and the Sea" sent me into temporary comas. I think my experience proves that just because a book is a "classic" doesn't mean kids in
The screenwriters seriously misjudged the audience for the newest Spiderman reboot, "The Amazing Spiderman" (2012). That is the only explanation I have for a film that has a script at a teenage chick flick level.
I am not a movie snob. I am inclined to be bored with silence, dislike black and white and unimpressed with "arty" films. Despite these high odds stacked against it, I enjoyed the colorless and (almost) soundless "The Artist" (2011). I really liked it a lot.
My life consists of obsessions and it's no different with music. When I buy new music, I listen to it over and over (and over and over) again until it is playing in my head and driving me insane. I then find the next music to obsess about. Because of this, many of the songs
"The Ides of March" (2011) requires an expensive buy-in. By that I mean, the film asks the audience to accept several rather implausible scenarios. The upshot is that the film is worth the price, because the pay-off is very satisfying.
When I was 6-7 years old, my family would frequently go swimming at a local pool. I would swim for nearly a kilometer (for Americans, that's 0.6 miles) a day nearly everyday. Even after I went to the United States, I kept up with swimming by taking hourly swimming lessons every week. There I would
René Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I am," apparently to make the point that someone wondering whether or not he or she exists is, in and of itself, proof that something, an "I", exists to do the thinking.
I suppose my equivalent would be "I opine, therefore I am," to make the point that having
"The Iron Lady" (2011) is maddeningly frustrating. You watch the movie mesmerized by the performance of the lead, yet realize, as the movie stumbles forward, that the script and the direction of the film makes it entirely forgettable if it wasn't for that performance.
I think I was in sixth grade when I first engaged in a debate. It was at my weekly Saturday Japanese school and for reasons unclear, the topic de jour was which is better: coins or bills. For reasons even more unclear, I took the side of vigorously defending the existence of coins while my
I like to say that I have a favorite film in every genre, but science fiction is one category in which I don't have a film that I recommend as a "must-see." I think the reason why is science fiction is far easier to develop a premise than to wrap up the story. Once the
There's Linsanity sweeping across Limerica. Even Forbes magazine has gotten into the Linsanity by posting 10 lessons we can all learn from Jeremy's Linspiration. I read the list and realized why, although also tall and Asia, I'm no Jeremy Lin:
1. Believe in yourself when no one else does.
Because words like "vanity" and "narcissism" have been used
When I heard that Texas Rangers' outfielder Josh Hamilton relapsed with alcohol again, I felt an indescribable mix of awe, sadness, courage, inspiration and strength. Hamilton epitomizes the best and worst of human beings, the amazing things we are capable of but also the depths to which we can sink. When I look at Hamilton,
If there is a Japanese military officer from World War II that both Americans and Japanese respect, Adminiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Imperial Navy, is it. The story that looks into this reluctant warrior who opposed Japan entering the war against the United States yet planned the attack on Pearl Harbor would make
This may come as a surprise to some people, but I don't like confrontation. Sure, I love a good argument, but I like arguing about the irrelevant stuff like politics and sports. So long as I'm neither a politician nor a general manager, such debates have zero impact in my life or the world. In
One of my first job interviews in high school was also one of the most memorable. For some reason, I was being interviewed by three people who looked like they were all in college. One guy in particular looked like a punk and he acted like it during the interview.
The food is great in Tokyo. By that I mean the taste, not the portions.
Compared to America--where they feed you like a horse--the portions at Japanese restaurants are ridiculously small. It's pretty much assured that whatever dishes the restaurant trots out as a full-course meal is insufficient to satisfy your hunger. That's why I
"Antoki no Inochi" (2011) is what you get when the producers, the screenwriters and the director think the audience is too shallow to appreciate the original material and conspire to dumb down the material to the point the film loses any meaning.
OHMSS is a special film in the franchise. It's got a lot of "only"s. It's the only film to have George Lazenby play James Bond. It's the only film in which Bond gets married. It's the only film in which Bond cries. It's the only film in which Bond
"Nothing is lower than the human race---except the French." --Mark Twain
A couple months ago, a Chinese person shared how she's struggling with the Japanese counting system because it had different units for different things. Counting two pencils is "ni-hon," for example, but two books is "ni-satsu." Boats are counted "ni-sou" yet larger ships are "ni-seki."
Apple today announced that its founder and Chairman, Steven P. Jobs, has passed away. The world has lost one of a kind.
No description really suits Jobs. He was not just a manager, an inventor, an engineer, an artist, a control freak, a salesman or an inspirational speaker, yet he was in part all of those.
The rail system in Tokyo is so reliable you wonder how New Yorkers ever function with the disaster that's the MTA. I've never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a subway, regardless of the time of day or day of the week. There's certainty because a display tells you when the next train
No words can adequately describe the wildness on the last day of Major League Baseball’s 2011 regular season in the American League.
The turn of events were so insane that the historic collapse by the Atlanta Braves in the National League was an afterthought. The Braves capped their own collapse from an 8 ½
It's that time of the year when people are applying to law schools.
Because I've gone through the process myself, and based on the opportunity to be on the other side of reviewing applications, I've developed certain views on what makes a good personal statement, not just for law school applications but for applications in general.
I am starting my new life in Tokyo, where new challenges await. I'm really excited, but the move still feels quite surreal. I don't think reality has quite sunk in.
Twenty-one years, 3 months and 10 days passed between my residency in Japan. That's a long time. I haven't felt nostalgic yet, but I've started to
My Southern friend occasionally forwards me "You know you're a Southerner if..." e-mails. For me, many of these are list of aspirations, things I wish and hope to one day become.
My trip to Tennessee was partly to discover whether I'm cut out to be a Dixie, wearing shirts with confederate flags, speaking with a
I grew up in a quintessential, middle class New Jersey suburb. My parents, who went to college in America, were not typical Japanese expatriates. They cared little for socializing with Japanese people or Japanese pop culture and thus, I grew up with very little Japanese around me. Except for insisting that I attend Japanese school
Last week, I learned of a ridiculous fact that Justin Bieber earned $50 million this year. Besides making me think I definitely made a wrong career choice, it got me thinking about what I would do if I had $50 million...
I'll go to Monaco on a $1 million cruise trip and put $2 million on
Blaine Larsen's “In My High School” is one of my favorite songs. It’s a soothing melody that reflects on what life and people were like in high school.
I wish I can say that the song brings back memories, but the song says nothing about juvenile delinquents who knew of no etiquette, decency or common sense
A friend of mine works at a small satellite office of a major law firm. He had only been there a couple months but had been been miserable because one of the partners was an intolerable ass.
Recently, his work life suddenly improved even though his hours got dramatically worse: the partner in question left the
I'll never forget the professor in my Legal Writing class in my first year of law school who said that English majors struggle mightily in the class. It was a moment I realized that lawyers are one of the worst writers out of professionals whose job primarily revolves around writing. Lawyers use "effect" as a
I've been hearing the phrase "The Entitlement Generation" a lot lately. It's a phrase I first heard from a boss when I started working and I'm starting to understand what he meant.
I don't know what's causing the sense of entitlement among far too many in the society. The boss thought it was because our generation grew up
On April 27, 2011, residents of Franklin Lakes will go to the polls to elect new school boards and approve or disapprove the school budgets. For the first time in two years, the election is competitive. While it is cutting it close, it is not too late to get an absentee ballot. I cannot think
Akio Morita, the founder of Sony, said of innovation, "If you ask the public what they think they will need, you will always be behind in this world. You will never catch up unless you think one to 10 years in advance and create a market for the items you think the public will accept
Some friends you grew up with. These friends know the you before you matured, became educated and got a job. They are the people you may not become friends with if you met them now because you have grown to have different interests and walk in different circles, but the childhood innocence
The pictures and videos are all you need to understand that Japan has a long and painful road ahead even before the recovery can begin. But for now, I am thankful that family, friends, and everyone I know in Japan are safe.
When something like this happens to a place and people you know very well,
A couple months ago, I defended lawyers. To show that I can make myself even more lovable, today I defend my educational background, which I thought spoke for itself. For this show of narcissism that's paralleled, y'all can thank my office neighbor, who, upon hearing the details of my academic history, questioned whether I slipped through the
The managing partner of my firm's Tokyo office once said that he considered anyone who claimed to be bilingual to be a liar. Bilingual himself, he was being facetious, but he had an underlying point that I completely shared: bilingualism just means that you're imperfect in two languages.
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." --John 20:29
The story of the doubting Thomas is my favorite passage from the bible. It was a favorite passage when I lacked faith because I was a Thomas who needed to see
In Japan, lawyers rank right below doctors in the list of most respected professions. In the United States, they rank with politicians as one of the most reviled. The difference is striking.
Part of the problem in this country is oversaturation. Compared to Japan, where the passage rate under the old bar exam was around 3%,
Considering how old the film is, this movie is surprisingly enjoyable. Yes, the pace is slow and the plot is lame, but the great moments that will go on to define James Bond and the franchise are aplenty. That shot of James Bond lighting a cigarette at a casino in his first
This blog has a no politics policy, but there is an exception once every year before the elections. One of the things that always stuck with me as a political scientist wannabe is the need to make electoral predictions so I can be held accountable for the analysis I make about elections. Political analysts excel
I think one of the most troubling flaws of American society is its inability to distinguish "should" from "could." To put another way, we seem to have fatal flaw in saying just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should, and just because you shouldn't do something doesn't mean you couldn't.
It may come as a shock to you (and your parents who are footing the enormous tuition), but the purpose of your Boston College education is not to ensure that you have a job after you graduate.
My investment advice can be summarized one word: valuation. Through painful and expensive lessons in more than a decade of investing, I learned that when you buy “popular” stocks that everyone knows about, you get burned badly because they inevitably become overvalued. It’s the function of the law of supply and demand. When everyone’s buying
During the day, I pretty much do nothing but obsess about my stock portfolio. Over the years, I've had difficulty convincing my friends, including my colleagues who do this kind of work, that investing in the stock market is not akin to gambling. Perhaps the image of my beaming face when I talk about a
During my high school senior year college application process, a teacher advised me not to go to school in the South. "You're Asian and you're Catholic," he warned, inferring neither is particularly welcome down in the land of the Dixie. I dutifully complied, with my most southern application going to Washington D.C., rest to the
Lowell was busy preparing to move out of his dorm room the Sunday before commencement. By then he had been packing for a full two days and most of his things were packed, but the progress slowed the more he plowed ahead. Every summer since his first, he rented a storage room to store his
I am writing this blog in the living room, in front of the TV, comfortably on the sofa. Apple's new iPad makes this possible.
After testing the device for two weeks, I find myself spending more time on the sofa and getting out of bed later because I can check my e-mail, read the morning headlines
I'm ignorant about many things, but I hide it well by talking more and louder. But one thing even that can't hide is my lack of vocabulary.
As I've written before, the so-called advice I received to overcome this challenge in high school, like don't bother reading ("look up every word you don't know in
In 2003, conservative commentator Billy Krystol spoke at Boston College and foretold the rough road ahead for the Republicans by astutely observing, "There's nothing more difficult than being in power."
The flip side is equally true: there's nothing easier--and more irresponsible--than not being in power. This is a lesson the just-resigned Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
Is Apple's stock (AAPL) overvalued? As a person who's been following the stock since the mid 1990s and has owned shares since 2007, let me play devil's advocate.
My parents are typical Asian parents. They are controlling and overbearing. That I was their oldest--and only--son probably didn't help much.
I think it's psychologically healthy for every child to go through a rebellious period against his or her parents (within means, of course), but I fear I missed out on that experience when I had
It's sad to know that I've reached a point and career in my life where no one bothers to invite me to fill out a bracket unless I beg. So I just created a league and cajoled my colleagues to join. As
I think the best advice I can give anyone about stocks is "buy what you understand."
This mnemonic is easily confused with its deceptive cousin "Buy what you know." People--and I used to be one of them--are fond of buying stocks of companies that they "know," usually from using the company's products but sometimes from something
I'm often asked, generally in Japan, which language I'm more comfortable with, English or Japanese. Since my subconscience* (i.e. my dreams) has been in English for years, the answer to the question is obvious.
That answer, though, is actually a matter of relativity. Just because English is my better language doesn't mean I'm a good English
People think I'm an Apple apologist. I suppose I am in the sense that I'm a big fan of their products, but it's not based on blind faith. I use their products, I've used other makers' products and I know from experience that Apple's products work seamlessly and actually understand the users.
I recently finished reading "The Smartest Guys in the Room," an amazing account of the characters who were complicit in the rise and fall of Enron. It is a page turner; I couldn't put it down.
The authors, Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, tell a story of how exaggeration, manipulation and obsession with the numbers, particularly
A buddy suggested I write about stocks to increase readership to this blog. Why he thinks this is a winning strategy is beyond me. I wrote about the same kind of stuff in a weekly column called "Strictly Business" 87 times in four years in college but I got more attention the one time I wrote
Today, this blog turns 13 months old. I would have celebrated the one year anniversary if only I had remembered to celebrate it. That I'd forgotten is actually fitting for this rather irrelevant blog.
In 13 months, I have written 76 posts, averaging nearly 6 posts a month. While the pace has slowed, I've tried to
A couple weeks ago, my high school buddies came over to my apartment, one of them kindly pointed out that he can see my office from my window, then tried to persuade me for hours on end that I should write about politics in my blog. His point, as I understood it, was that no
I don't get it. Not in the way I don't get art or in the way I didn't get Modern Algebra. I can't even comprehend what it is that I need to comprehend. I am so confused, for the first time in my life, I am at a loss for words.
Every season has a defining game. The victory over Florida State Seminoles was it for the Boston College Golden Eagles' 2009 season regardless of what happens for the remainder of the season.
I have a great story that explains how societal norms greatly differs between Asians and Westerners.
The summer after I graduated from college, I went to China on a two week trip composed of college students mostly studying or interested in government. The student composition was geographically diverse, with students from colleges all over the United
A two and a half week absence from my blog has left me with mixed feelings: the gratification in knowing people follow my blog but resignation in knowing they're only interested in my politics. For those who kindly encouraged me to break my silence as Ted Kennedy died and Japan went through an Obama-esque "change,"
Me and sports, we have a mutual understanding. Our relationship is fine so long as I don't cross a certain line. That not-so-thin line between observing and playing.
I'd like to whack the person who came up with the saying "practice makes perfect"--and slap anyone who continues to use it. Practice ain't no good when you've
Today is my birthday, or rather, yesterday was my birthday. Some may say it's sad to be spending the beginning of the anniversary day of your birth at the office and still be at the office when the day ends, but those are people who likely weren't born in August.
I have gone through five years of grammar school, three years of middle school, four years of high school, four years of college, three years of law school and nearly two years of work experience. I have stayed consistently in one side of the political spectrum. I studied
The drive on the local streets proved treacherous as Lowell's concentration drifted.
Lowell realized he didn't know how to cope with Lance's death, or rather, how to feel about it. Shock over the suddenness? Confusion over not knowing the how? Anger over the why? Emptiness in a void he felt? Dealing with emotions were never his
One of the perks of my current job is that I get to travel a lot on someone else's dime. No, I don't get to enjoy whatever that location has to offer, but I get to color in another state and that's pretty cool.
A while back, I got to cross off Missouri and Kansas off
I like history, but not necessarily social science. I don't particularly care for Geography and predictably I'm not particularly good at it.
I find it appalling that 1/3 of Americans can't identify China on an unmarked world map, but then, I'm in no position to critique. I took a mini Japanese Geography quiz at juku, my
My father currently runs the family business called Ryphan Industry Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1940 by my grandfather and my great-grandfather, Ryphan is a trading company dealing with plastic packaging used in tube-shaped foods like salamis and sausages. The company has a fleeting connection to American baseball. One of our biggest customers is Nippon Ham, Japan's largest
For better or for worse, I seem to leave a distinct impression on people, although I can't tell whether the impression I leave is good or bad. One week into my foray into law school at the particularly liberal Rutgers of Newark, people started coming up to me and saying, "So you're the new conservative,
Far too often, we appreciate greatness only in retrospect. We remember what happened then, before and after and realize, relatively, that the person or the event was great.
But in rare times, we know when we're a witness to greatness of historical proportions and we don't want to miss a minute of it.
I was never a fan of reading "classic" books, either in highs school or in college. This may come as a shock to all of you who know how highly I regard a liberal arts education, but I continue to prefer reading John Grisham to any classic, whether from the 18th century or the 20th.
The happiest moment of my life was when I got a 600 on SAT verbal. You may say it doesn't take much to make me happy, but you'd be missing my point. The statement is a reflection on my life-long struggle to achieve competence in verbalism, be it in English or Japanese.
Congratulations on your acceptance to Boston College!
The odds are that in the past year and a half, you carefully researched BC's academic program, spoke with the students already attending, and toured the school to get a feel for the campus so your choice to attend the school is a result of thoughtful
Classes in the history department were mostly held in McGuinn Hall, halfway up the hill that constitutes the main campus of Boston College. The story goes that the president who moved the school to Chestnut Hill from downtown Boston sought inspiration from John Winthrop's vision of Boston as a "City Upon a Hill" for the
The church I attended on Sunday was very nice. Of all the churches I've been to, I think I felt most comfortable there.
The pastor who gave the service on Sunday at Saint Frances de Sales Parish on the corner of 96th and Lexington was a man of a booming voice whom God did not bless with
On April 21, 2009, residents of Franklin Lakes will go to the polls to elect new school boards and approve or disapprove the school budgets. While it is cutting it close, it is not too late to get an absentee ballot. I cannot think of a more important election than those that involve the future
My college professor once sarcastically remarked that I'm a collector. That I am. I don't just collect the popular, and the more common sensical, baseball cards or foreign money. No, no. I collect crap like movie stubs and hotel card keys (which I eventually stopped because I realized that's not crap, it's trash).
I've learned over the years that I shouldn't rely on movie critics to decide whether I'm going to see the film. Tastes in movies differ among people and the odds are far more likely that your friends have similar taste than a critic whom you've never met.
You'd think that at a minimum--nay, the only--criterion to
James Bond is a cool name because it's short, crisp and balanced. The last is important. You can't suavely pull off a "Bond, James Bond" if it's "Bondessville, Jim Bondessville."
My name, on the other hand, is long and unbalanced, with a one syllable first name and a four syllable last name.
I discussed my bracket with some people (okay, one person, mainly) and reviewed my "real" bracket and realized I have an all-Big East Final Four. Separate and apart from the unlikeliness of that happening, I just hate the Big East and upon further reflection, I realized that I think Pitt, a team that went as
It's that wonderful time of the year again, when America's economy loses an estimated $4 billion in productivity with no help from a recession because employees obsess about college games to which they have little to no connection.
And it's not just at work either. I remember when I was in high school, classmates brought in
The premise of "Taken" (2009), in which Liam Neeson convincingly plays an endearing father and a ruthless retired CIA operative out for revenge, is so simple it can be summarized by a scene captured in the trailer and cited in the poster where Neeson's character says: "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want.
Although not as controversial as the playoff system in college football, or lack thereof, the current, sudden death overtime system in the NFL has its share of critics. The source of dissatisfaction is apparently in the stats. To me, it's not entirely clear which statistic causes the debate, whether it's the 25% to 40% of
My sister, that bored nincompoop, created Note in Facebook with a list of 25 random facts about herself and then created a "rule" under which an unfortunate soul who was tagged will have to do the same thing. Presumably this is the most modern rendition of the cursed chain letter so the failure to respond
It's been about three months since I moved to an apartment in New York City, but I haven't shared my NYC address with too many people. Bank statements and bills related to my NYC life comes to my apartment, but I haven't changed my mailing address save for Sports Illustrated, my reading during commute. (I
Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire withdrew his nomination as President Obama's Secretary of Commerce. The new president's first month in office has been quite bumpy, with the Commerce Secretary's job increasingly turning into a cursed cabinet post. As rough as it has been for the president, I am still withholding judgment on the Obama
It's that time of the year again when college and grad school applicants are beginning to get anxious. Law schools, with their rolling admissions, tend to decide the fate of the applicants several weeks earlier than others.
I am happy to report that the two friends I know were applying to law schools were admitted to
My family's home in New Jersey has received quite a technology upgrade over the last three months, culminating with the iMac replacing the five and a half year old eMac as my mom's main computer.
The initial process began in October when I moved to NYC. I needed a wireless hub and the one I got
I got into Facebook rather late. I'm wondering whether it's a generational thing. I call people who were (or are) attending college four to five years after me (that is, while I was in law school) the "Facebook generation because they have distinctly different online habits than I do. The Facebook generation don't know the
The cell phone vibrated in the pocket, but Michael Lowell ignored it and tried to remain attentive. The professor of the class, The Civil War and the American Education System, was renowned for his aversion to technology. He banned all note taking on computers and required the students to turn off their cellphones during class.
Baseball is a game of statistics. Everyday guys like me keep a scorecard at the stadium and the game's box-score is worth a peak in the next day's newspaper. ESPN and others keep track of statistics in basketball, hockey, and football, but the meaning and weight given to the numbers in those sports don't rival
I received this week's issue of Sports Illustrated yesterday. I read SI on my commute, always in the same order: the back page column, the front page photos, and then the "Players" section, which is increasingly becoming my favorite after the departure of columnist Rick Reilly.
When you're an attorney, you're almost expected to be published. In two law-related jobs that I've held, one of the first questions I was asked was "Were you on a law journal?" I managed to survive at the law firm and with the judge despite my answer in the negative, but I could always see
While I was in Japan, I read a story along these lines about Australian sailors' efforts to stop Japanese whaling practices and an editorial in a newspaper by an European objecting to how Japan is raping their seas.
I can think of no issue that pisses me off more than the Western objection to Japanese whaling,
Boston College football's head coach Jeff Jagodzinski, affectionately known as Jags, will be fired by Boston College after proceeding to interview for the New York Jets' vacant head coach position even after Athletic Director Gene DeFelippo warned him doing so would lead to his termination.
I ordered a sandwich at the firm's cafeteria and the guy gave me my order by saying, "Here you go, Sir." It was deja vu. Three years ago, when I was in law school, I ordered a sub at the dining hall on main campus (where undergrads eat) and I was
To be fair, I'm not a fan of musicals--or rather, musical films. So I was disappointed by "The Producers" (2005), underwhelmed by "Hairspray" (2007), and indifferent to "Grease" (1978).
But I need to neither watch a lot of musical films or understand them to know the performers in musicals require the ability to sing. I once
I have many liberal friends, an inescapable consequence of attending a post-secondary education institution in Boston, pursuing a post-college degree in Boston, and obtaining a professional job requiring a high degree of education in New York. While I obviously don't share most of their viewpoints, they and I have one thing in common: we all
$10 million for each ACC team? Wow that's a lot of cash. And I know exactly where that $10 million went. A million bucks on a staircase and now $10 million on a building that's already standing... Hmmm... All kidding aside, $10 million on restoration of Gasson Hall is a money well spent. The building
I don't think you can say you've become an official member of the firm until you have your profile posted on the firm's website. Alas, I am now, officially, an Associate with the firm of Shearman & Sterling.
I started getting a subscription to Sports Illustrated right after the Patriots won its first Super Bowl. Ever since then, I've been dutifully paying the annual $100 or so annual subscription fee, but truth be told, I never similarly dutifully read the magazine. The darn thing kept on coming every week, some issues (notably the
The Senate Republicans torpedoed whatever hope there was for the Big Three (why are they still called that even though they continue to shrink?) to receive a bailout from Congress. Now the survival of GM and Chrysler apparently rests on the whims of the White House.
The New York Times, which my family stopped subscribing to years ago for obvious reasons, never ceases to amaze me.
This article on Barack Obama's "role" in the downfall of Illinois governor Rod R. Blagojevich just may be the most far-fetched article I have read from the Times in a while--and that's quite a statement.
I knew the Eagles were in trouble when V-Tech marched right down the field with little resistance on its first drive. The BC offense just isn't built to come back from big deficits, and the first drive was just too easy.
I think I'll make a great math teacher, not because I can teach well, but because the math education in this country is so fucked up I can't possibly do worse.
For those of you already teaching pre-college math, here are ten good places to start:
It was an impressive win. It wasn't miraculous, like last week at Wake Forest. It wasn't dominating, like the week before at Florida State. But the victory sure was methodical, the defense dominating, the offense sufficient, converting two turnovers while committing none, and the coach making aggressive calls. It wasn't an easy win, but it
I suffer from an extreme case of inferiority complex.
The condition manifests itself in many ways, the most obvious in my refusal to stand close to a person who is taller than I am. My height--at 6'1''--is my most redeemable quality. Putting aside the fact that I was never able to redeem the quality--lack of athleticism
"Bond. James Bond."
Is it really that hard to work this immortal line into a script for a movie that lasts two hours? Or was the history of 20 films through 40 years so forgettable that all ties to the past needed to be cut?
Unlike Batman, which went through a downtur under the rudderless direction of
Yesterday, I would've told you this is as expected. After how the game transpired today, this is another "Holy Shit I Can't Believe They Pulled It Off" game.
Which victory was more unlikely? BC's come from behind victory at Virginia Tech last year that required two touchdowns and an onside kick in
My dad sent a random e-mail yesterday, reminding me of the series of unfortunate events that have been taking place:
1) The Yankess did not make the playoffs;
2) The Patriots, sans Brady, is mediocre at best ten months after blowing the Super Bowl; and
3) The GOP got whacked earlier this month.
If this CNN article is correct, California Supreme Court is going to review, and likely overrule, Proposition 8 which amended the state constitution to ban same sex marriage.
As a social conservative, where I stand on this issue is hardly clouded in secrecy. But the degree to which what the California Supreme Court is going to
There was a time when I considered a career in politics, but no longer. It is, by far, without a doubt, the most thankless job in America, and the world. Who praises politicians? I do (in general) because I'm a politician apologist, but this is a club with fewer members than my other club, "The
"Well done" best summarizes what I want to say about BC's 27-17 victory over the Florida State Seminoles, the team that ended BC's unbeaten streak last year and the team that seems to perennially underperform.
Against a team that wins on the running game, the defense's performance was extraordinary. FSU's leading rusher of the game was
A couple years ago when I was in law school, a friend of mine who was overwhelmed with credit card debt asked me to figure out how much in monthly payments she should make in order to fully pay off the debt in a certain number of years. Although the math was rather easy to
Since this is a popular game among political scientists (and an important one at that; too many poli sci people comment on the aftermath as if the result was a foregone conclusion without any accountability of being held to a prediction), I shall throw in my two cents.
At this juncture, it's fairly clear--and personally, depressingly
Recalling dreams is rare, but I remember two from last night.
In the first, Sarah Palin announced that she has "resigned" as the running mate of John McCain two days before the election, a belated "October surprise." I haven't the slightest doubt this dream was triggered by this article from CNN. I also vaguely recall McCain
I didn't watch the game. I tried. I went to the bar, asked for the BC at North Carolina game, and the guy flipped through the channel before finally saying, "You sure it's on today?" and giving up.
I like to cut to the chase and believe, in general, that getting to the heart of the matter, in the most simplistic form, identifies the problem, which is the first step towards finding a solution.
I find what triggered the current financial crises, the subprime mortgage, to be a relatively simple issue. Of course various
Whether you call the ACC mediocre or competitive, the result is the same: BC has a shot of making something happen despite Crane at QB because anyone can beat anyone in the conference (and yes, that includes Duke).
To say that I was pleasantly surprised by the game's result is an understatement. I made the four
In a chain of conversation even I am not sure of how it transpired, the dinner conversation tonight focused on a fun game/debate, "Is this a sport"?
The following were "sports" which either became a subject during dinner or which I think are somewhat dubious as a "sport." Tell me what you think--I've added my own
Due to popular demand (OK, one person's suggestion), I start this blog.
It's funny I start an official blog now. For years, I've been publishing my irrelevant thoughts in one form or another. Recently it's in the Notes on thefacebook or a Japanese diary in on Mixi. In college, it was a business column titled Strictly
