Black & Blue 4:17 PM

I need your help!!

Which color is better??

Yes or No 7:37 PM

Don't give your money to Sears!


Seriously. I ordered a microwave about three months ago from these people, and today I have: No microwave, no refund. I kid you not. I've spent over eight long hours speaking to different customer service reps and supervisors, and so far my request is "still in processing." I've had to deal with countless transfers to and from their different departments, several hours being put on hold, perplexingly rude reps(what are they angry at me for?), and even being hung up on by them. Twice.


Which is probably why the fondest of memories come up when I watch this hilarious video:



Haha. This actually works, guys.

No Need to Articulate 1:19 PM

5-year-old Japanese boy covering Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"

Self-Important Jerk, Misunderstoodenized! 3:03 AM

Are we all hopelessly misunderstood? Maybe, but we're not complaining.

For me, it goes like this: If I'm misunderstood, it's obviously attributed largely to the fact that I am the textbook definition of an introvert. However, I've come to think lately that it also has to do with the fact that I don't say what I really think. This is different from refraining to say what I think altogether for the fear of my ideas being rejected(an introvert tendency). It has a lot more do with the fact that I feel it's immodest, almost self-exalting, to tactlessly babble all the unbridled opinions people have. Result? I usually end up expressing more superficial thoughts; concepts that are generally uncontested and well-received. I think that my tendency to do this has imposed a "social cap" of sorts on people's perception of me, believing that those superficial thoughts are the extent of my... general capacity(?).

Like I said, I'm not complaining. Blame it on my inability to strike a balance: Plenty of people can say down-to-earth, heart-to-heart words that reflect what they truly feel without being the immodest, self-exalting jerk I mentioned earlier. But personally, I find it difficult. Even saying all of this is me going out on the proverbial limb. Just sitting here "expressing" all of this makes me realize how I should probably take a number and get in line with the millions of other people who feel the same way, and how being concerned with this subject at all is a blatant show of just how self-important I really am. Gosh, this proverbial limb is snapping. Time to jump off!

I'm sure there's a word for people who do this. Ideas?

Adopt Me, Please! 3:09 PM

For Sale: Canon Ixus 70 Digital Camera!!


Anyone interested in taking this faithful(yet hip) point-and-shoot camera off my hands for a mere $90?
Fine. $80 if you're someone I know.
Craigslist Ad

Watch Community 12:58 AM

Do it.

Involvement, Relatable Content, Stupidly Outrageous Videos 1:32 AM

Time to be frank.

I have to check my blog at least daily to check for new comments, and counter-intuitive to the obvious notion that no one reads my blog the demographic of my readers is quite small, I get puzzled! "Why doesn't anyone leave comments on my wonderful posts?!"

Simple. After long hours of deliberation I came to realize that it wasn't the readers' fault; I just wasn't coming from the right angle. How would I get my friends to comment on my posts? I concluded that there are at least three factors to people-pleasing, comment-generating posts:

One - Involvement. Ever watch CommunityChannel's videos on YouTube? She always asks pointed and open-ended questions to let the viewers comment and be a part of the discussion.

Two - Relatable Content. If it's something you're not interested in, you suck and you won't leave a comment.

Three - A video or picture of something stupid, outrageous, or stupidly outrageous.

Yep. And that's why this post is all about the following video:

Now, is that not one of the most stupidly outrageous(point three), relatable(point two, who hasn't tried dropping Mentos in Coke? Which of you reading this post isn't Asian?) thing you've ever seen?

Now here comes the involvement(point one). I want all of you to watch that video again and answer the following questions in my comments section:

1. What in God's good, green Earth does "nooki" mean?

2. How many times does this woman say "nooki"?

Nooki away to the comments section folks. I'll do my best to comment on all y'all blogs too!

Did You Know?

Every time someone reads Eugene's blog posts, a beautiful unicorn is born. Every time someone reads Eugene's blog posts but leaves without leaving a comment, that beautiful unicorn kills three kittens and eats one puppy. Eugene then eats that unicorn.

Select Photos from New York 8:26 PM

Here are some hand-selected photos from the recent New York trip!

They are my favorites. They are re-sized, retouched, and cropped for your enjoyment. Oh, and they were taken from Stephen's camera(which were posted on Jasmine's blog), as I only shot video with mine. You can click the images to view the full size. Enjoy!

 

Perfect timing in visiting Central Park!

 

 

 

Been practicing that stance for a while now... Yep.

 

Web-slingers!

 

 

At the Metropolitan.

 

 

 

I personally didn't see any resemblance. Except for the last one ;)

 

Stephen at Samsung Experience.

 

I swear I've seen these guys somewhere before!!

 

Close for comfort.

 

On our way to Brooklyn.

 

 

Retarded. But happy.

 

 

On the rooftop. Great view of the Manhattan skyline!

 

Brother Scheck and the Jungs.

 

Beauty.

 

 

The Kims at Patterson.

 

Fermented Bean Paste & Women 1:03 AM

I will preface the following blog entry with two statements: One, I like Korea. Two, I like pretty girls.

I can easily presume where one might think this conversation may lead to. But before any assumptions are made, the following video is of interest:

(Click here to see the animated version)

It seems difficult to make trouble with a song that encourages young children to eat fermented bean paste(된장) as an alternative to sweets and instant food. Going as far as to propagate the idea that a diet consisting of such bean paste promotes "S-lines" and "V-lines"(0:49), however, definitely raises flags; not in its validity of statement but rather in the notions it conveys to its viewers. (For those unsure of what an "S" or "V-line" is, it becomes apparent when you imagine the line created by the curve of a slender woman's body, and the outline created by a slim woman's frontal portrait; her unobtrusive jaws gradually tapering down to a delicate chin. Unless you've spent any time with Soong, who insists that the bottom portion of the S-line is created by his beer belly.)


Seriously, do children really need to hear this?

Not that it comes as much of a surprise, however. The Korean people have long lived within a society that places high value on physical beauty. Virtually every marketing ploy in Korea consists of celebrity endorsements, and the country is ranked within the top five for the most plastic surgical procedures undertaken. Portrait photos are still a legal requirement for resumes and curriculum vitae, and it's commonplace to see teachers berate their students for being anything but skinny. Additionally, the media is saturated with conveyances of fairly blatant standards for beauty(the v-line standard being clearly illustrated here, and the s-line here).


Being said, I still see a line being crossed when I see a 3-year-old girl being instructed to lean over a stool to illustrate the s-line for the 된장 song, and another having to cover her natural baby fat with her hands to achieve the coveted v-line. Granted, the makers of this particular song/video obviously did not intend to communicate that children at said age should look like such. But the implications are still there. Kids don't need to be told explicitly or implicitly that eating bean paste is going to encourage s-line bodies and v-line faces, and that those are the standards of how their bodies "should" look like in the first place.


As stated at the fore of this entry, I do love Korea despite the occasional criticism I make. Modern society is still young in this country, and I'm sure that they'll rise above these petty social qualms very soon. As was also stated, I can't deny that I'm attracted to the slender body of a woman or that my genetic makeup dictates so. *cough*


Regardless, I am firmly against the objectification of women as mere "alphabets," as was so eloquently stated in this Korea Times article.

City Light 2:37 AM

A violet haze on which I gaze has gems strewn all about it

but twas' light of land the works of hand which left it all a' shrouded

If ever I shall ever vie for treachery heart wanted

Forget me now, Paradise, for surely I have lost it

A Tribute to Spit (and R&B) 5:16 PM

I have three hours to finish writing my talk before the actual delivery...

...But I still need to take periodical breaks, right? And what better way to spend that time but to use it on sharpening my beat-boxing and R&B singing skills.

"Eugene, are you serious? Do you actually think you're good?" you may ask. Well, to that I say: "Yes."

(But no, really. This is some pretty retarded stuff. I think I saw a dead bird falling outside my window while recording this.)

Community 6:04 PM

Anyone who knows me enough to know that I don't own a television can tell you that the lack of cable has never curbed my need for TV shows themselves. 

They can also tell you that I spend a considerable amount of time on hulu.com during the non-summer months streaming such shows as: Fringe, 30 Rock, Heroes, The Office, House, M.D., and so forth. Having discovered Lost four seasons late, I spent nearly three weeks seamlessly watching consecutive episodes off of abc.com. I have seen every episode of my favorite show, Arrested Development, twice.

But a new masterpiece of creation is dawning on the horizon. I call it, Community. Well, everyone else calls it that too, because that's the name of the show.

Lover's of comedy can rejoice. I'm sure that fans of Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and maybe even The Office can appreciate the quick and witty humor of NBC's Community. Joel McHale, having the lead role, is relatively new on the television scene but delivers like a veteran. There are a slew of other actors playing the role of distinct and heavily interesting characters, but of note are Chevy Chase(yes!) and Ken Jeong.

Ken Jeong gets the spotlight of this post, because I can't stop laughing every time he makes an appearance in this show. Just watch:

Ken Jeong in Community (Embedding was disabled for this video, sorry)

Where You Should Be Right Now 4:34 PM

 

Nothing says "high-tech" like a program that creates a moving 3D model of your face from a jpeg.


 

And nothing says "more funner!" than that same program, MP Change! Ever find yourself wishing you could photoshop that Japanese fob's haircut onto your profile picture? Wonder just how many "aww's" you could get from dressing up in a cute panda suit? Or maybe your mind is in constant anguish over inheriting genes from your parents that never let you grow more than six strands of thick mustache hair on top of the peach fuzz so you really, really want to see what you'd look like with a full set of facial hair?

MP Change can do all that. What's more, MP Change can do all that while rendering a "motion picture" of your face in 3D.


So you tell me: Waste tech money on expensive, useless energy particle accelerator hadron colliders? Or three-dimensionally dress yourself up as one of the cast members of "Cats" the musical, FOR FREE?




Click here and let us decide for you.

Hit or Miss 11:53 PM

Looking this good isn't easy.

And looking this good involves sifting through many, many different blogger templates!
So let's hear it: Is this template a hit? Or is it a miss?

Do You Like Pizza Bagels? 7:49 PM

I know I do. I freaking love pizza bagels!! 
We buy pizza bagels all the time from Costco, and I eat them all the time too! They are delicious and easy to make! Today, I had pizza bagels for lunch!! Won't you enjoy some too?

This is the unopened tray that the bagels are contained in. Can you spot the shy pizza bagel? You can use the tray to microwave them on, so that it supposedly becomes crispier. But wait... what? You are going to stick them into the microwave? Because you're lazy and unappreciative of excellence? No. Just stop. We don't do that here.
Sorry, Microwave. Guess you're stuck with disgusting lean pockets and easy mac.

In this house, we use a toaster oven. Hello, quick and crispy! Won't you cook us up some delicious mini pizza bagels for us to put in our stomach? Here, let me preheat you to four-hundred degrees Fahrenheit and set the timer for fourteen minutes! What was that? Put foil on your aluminum tray so that we don't get melted cheese everywhere? Gladly! Delicious has never been more fun! Now to stick the pizza bagels in...

Out of the freezer, and into the toaster oven! Can someone say "Hot Stuff"?

After fourteen short minutes, we're done! Can you smell the sizzle?

Thanks for joining me through my pizza bagel lunch! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Nope. You probably didn't. Because they all died in my stomach, not yours. Bummer. Sorry!

Post of the Century 12:57 AM

This blog entry signifies the first step down a dead-end street; an endeavor inevitably doomed to failure.

But I might have said that people live on knowing that one day they'll perish anyway. And I might have also replied to that previous comment with: "Completely irrelevant. Why did I even bring that up? Shut up, Eugene. Writing in a public journal under the(most likely false) pretense that other people actually care what you have to say? Yeah, totally on the same level as maintaining one's existence ."
Yes. That's what I'd say. Do you know what that means?

It means that if blogging is such a lowly, insignificant undertaking(especially when compared to prolonging the mortality of a human being), then there really is no reason to NOT do it. Irrefutable logic. Right? No? Not even close? Whatever. Go away.

So though quite contrary to the opening statement of this entry, I wish to say to all my new readers:

"Lo and behold! The post of the century! And a pioneer of many to come!"