inspiration strikes - a break from the monotony

Saturday, January 25, 2003

THOUGHTS FOLLOWING SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST

Somedays I feel like I could eat Honey Bunches of Oats for three meals a day, if my colon could take it.

When I was about eight years old or so, my friend Matt asked me what I would eat if I was stranded on a deserted island and I could only eat one thing (that's the type of conversation that I don't have enough of anymore). I quickly responded, "Pizza," because well, I liked pizza a lot. Now Matt was approaching the question from a rational survival standpoint, and said, "Well I'd have milk, because it has lots of vitamins and proteins and stuff. It's really healthy." Boy, his answer sounded a lot better than mine.

But he cheated; he asked what I would eat, not drink, so I gave him a Charley Horse.**
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**In case you've never played this game:
Person 1: "Who won the horse race?"
Person 2: "I dunno."
Person 1, punching Person 2 in the thigh, "Charley Horse."
Person 2: "Owwwww."
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mattchun 1/25/2003 08:37:00 AM [+] ::
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THE SUPER BOWL: A COMMERCIAL EVENT

For anyone who's been living under a rock, the Super Bowl is this weekend. Now there are some years when the Super Bowl is really about the game.* Though the Raiders-Bucs game looks to be an interesting match-up, there are many years when the Super Bowl is less about the game, and more about the commercials.

I was talking to my roommate this morning and the Budweiser ads (the Lizards, the BudBowl, etc.) were on his list as most notable. For me, the spots from the frenzied, heady, dot-com years were most salient. I clearly recall sitting, consumed by laughter, while a chimpanzee furiously conducted an E*Trade commercial, accompanied by two crusty old codgers.**

Are you a rabid fan*** or do you watch for the ads? Do you have a favorite, or most memorable Super Bowl commercial?

*Tangent 1: Actually, there was only one year when it was about the game; that was last year, when the Patriots defied all odds and shocked the world.That was quite possibly the most exciting Super Bowl in its 35+ years of existence, and sent me rushing to the streets into a frenzied fit of joy, amongst a surging throng of exuberant fans in Boston's Kenmore Square. That near-riot bore witness to more screaming, car-bouncing, and more flashes of public nudity than I've ever seen on a crisp February night, but that's a story for another post.

**Tangent 2: I think it was John Pierpont Morgan, captain of industry or robber baron, depending on who you ask, who once said that his receiving stock advice from a paper boy presaged the demise of the stock market in the late 1920's. Some part of me knew that Dot-Coms had jumped the shark when I saw a Chimpanzee advertising for financial services.

***from Allison's gallery
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mattchun 1/24/2003 09:37:00 AM [+] ::
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HOW TO SHUT UP YOUR NEIGHBORS

I'm going to sound like a curmudgeonly fuddy-duddy, but sometimes my neighbors downstairs play their music too loud. We're talking ass-massaging-bass-loud. This is fine if you're the one listening to the music, but if you're the unintended recipient of the bass, not so good.

The solution? Take the mature route and politely ask them to turn it down? Nah. Fight fire with fire. Here's what worked for me:

1) Insert Beastie Boys CD into stereo.
2) Point subwoofer directly down, toward offending neighbors' apartment.
3) Turn stereo dial to eleven.
4) Play Track 1: Sure Shot.
5) Repeat as desired, and Voila!

If I happen to get a flaming bag of dog poop on my doorstep, I'll probably be able to tell where it's from.
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mattchun 1/23/2003 12:17:00 PM [+] ::
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THE TEMPERATURE OUTSIDE IN BOSTON IS FOUR DEGREES FAHRENHEIT

This is getting a little ridiculous. I pull on a sweater, don my knitted hat, and drape my neck with a woolen scarf. I look like "a tick ready to pop.**"
**Can you name the film?

I am an eskimo. I am a bumpy bundle of fluff and fabric. I am stuffed with itchy insulation. I am a wooly, rumpled polar bear; but I am warm.
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mattchun 1/23/2003 09:17:00 AM [+] ::
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REALITY TV

Given that my weekly basketball league runs on Monday nights, I've been shielded from the reality soap opera that is Joe Millionaire. Secretly, it's just the kind of guilty pleasure I've been craving lately. Last night, In lieu, I indulged in a little schlock by watching some American Idol. It was physically painful to watch as the less-talented contestants were torn apart by Simon. What is it about public humiliation that translates into ratings success?

It's only a matter of time before Fox cuts to the chase and creates a show that simply follows people around with a camera, documenting their everyday problems, only to randomly de-pants them. Raw emotional nakedness, coupled with, well, nakedness of a more conventional sort. I can see it now. "The Naked Truth."
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mattchun 1/22/2003 06:12:00 PM [+] ::
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APPARENTLY, I'M JUST NOT JUROR MATERIAL...

After spending the better part of the morning in the Suffolk County Courthouse, I'm back at work. I've had two calls to jury duty in four years, and no impanelment to show for it.

Six panels were called to courtrooms (some had to leave the courthouse and brave the cold to go to another courthouse... suckers), but panel 8, of which I was juror number 11, did not have the pleasure of hearing a case. Massachusetts has a one-day-or-one-trial policy, so that was it for me. I was hoping to get on some high-profile case and glimpse at the underbelly of the American justice system, but no such luck. At least I got to finish reading Garp, which I loved.

The best part of the day was delighting in the folly of others. One juror-to-be fell asleep and serenaded us all with the sonorous rumblings of his prodigious snore. The collective pool had a good laugh at that. Schadenfreude, as they say.
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mattchun 1/22/2003 03:52:00 PM [+] ::
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YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED FOR JURY DUTY UNDER THE ONE DAY / ONE TRIAL SYSTEM

Or rather, I have been called. Summonsed, as they say. I have jury duty tomorrow. 8am at the courthouse. I'd love to serve on a panel and do the Twelve Angry Men thing, though if you don't hear from me in a while, just assume the Boston area mob (Whitey et al) is tampering with my kneecaps and alert the authorities.
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mattchun 1/21/2003 07:12:00 PM [+] ::
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YOU KNOW IT'S COLD WHEN...

...emerging from the subway, bundled up with multiple layers, you feel as though you're walking around naked. It is bone-chillingly cold today in Boston. We're talking sub-zero wind chill here. My uh, frank (as in frank and beans) felt like a frozen cocktail wiener during my brief walk from the T to the office. I'm about ready to stuff my pants with a hot water bottle before leaving my place.

That's probably too much information.
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mattchun 1/21/2003 10:42:00 AM [+] ::
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THE INSPIRATION STRIKES COFFEEHOUSE PRESENTS: THE AMAZING SINGING MONKEY...

I enjoy writing and performing songs the guitar for fun. Mostly these songs are inane little jingle-jangle tunes about my life and friends. I've been thinking about trying to get some time at a Boston area open mike or coffee shop -- just for fun -- to share my songs with the world-at-large.

Unfortunately, in addition to being an occasional poet/guitarist, I'm also a workaholic, so my schedule has not been cooperative (subconsciously, it's probably stage fright), and the only audiences I've performed for have been small groups of friends.

That's where the beauty of the Internet comes into play. This past weekend, I bought some audio software and recorded a couple of my originals. I've posted one on I/S as an MP3 for the world to enjoy. The sound quality is mediocre, but you'll get the drift. The places where it sounds like I'm out of tune (mostly flat) are due to the vagaries of the digital transfer process, I swear.

So without further ado, here's the world premier of Victoria is Busy (Words and Music by Matthew Chun).

Liner Notes: Vicki is a friend of mine who used to work as an investment banker in Boston. Though her real first name in Vicki, she also goes by Victoria, Victorola, Vikram, Vick the Slick, Victor, etc. She recently moved to the left coast with her boyfriend, Klint, a nice guy who happens to have a big neck.

Mirror 1 Mirror 2

You have to have an MP3 player (e.g. Winamp, etc.), and may need to do the whole right-click, save as thing. The music is currently stored on Yahoo-Geocities, which has fairly stringent transfer volume limitations, so if you're really interested and you get an error message, drop me a line and I'll email it to you (2MB). Eventually, I'll stop being such a cheapskate and just buy some hosting space.

(C)opyright 2003, Matthew B. Chun.
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mattchun 1/20/2003 10:51:00 PM [+] ::
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ON A LIGHTER NOTE...

...I've been getting a few visitors from surfers from yahoo/google whose keyword searches hit my post that mentioned Don Cheadle and the NFL commercials. This is reminiscent of the time I posted about the Gap's adoption of "Love Train," by the O-Jays and, as Greg foretold, my traffic jumped.

Anyway, If you like those spots, you might like this snippet from ESPN.
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mattchun 1/20/2003 11:59:00 AM [+] ::
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SADDLE UP: I'M BRIEFLY MOUNTING MY HIGH HORSE

This morning, as with most mornings, I awoke to the radio. In recalling the teachings and advocacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., NPR was reporting on a troubling trend toward de facto re-segregation in America's schools. This is apalling, but unfortunately -- given the rift between socio-economic classes and the virtual-caste system that often follows lines of race -- not incredibly surprising.

Diversity of culture, coupled with a belief in equality among people, regardless of race, creed, gender or religion, is what makes America the country unique and strong. The opportunity to strive and learn with individuals of differing backgrounds is what makes the American people unique and strong. An understanding of where We the People come from is essential to the acceptance, cooperation and collaboration that supports the fabric of our neighborhoods, our economy, our society.

I attended public high school in Vermont, an Asian American kid in one of the most racially homogeneous (whitest) states in the Union. It wasn't until college that I experienced first-hand the beauty of education in a student body with representation from the various cultures, backgrounds and belief systems that make up this country. My fraternity was a melting pot of people from European, African, South and East Asian descent (though still predisposed to the Anglo-Saxon bent). It was a relative amalgam of races and personalities from urban, rural and suburban neighborhoods. This exposure to different experiences, viewpoints and values was essential to my development of an understanding of how the real world works.

Resegregation of schools removes the chance for students to appreciate the value of difference and learn the lesson of acceptance before the malleability of their beliefs is cast in the relative rigidity of age and (limited) experience. The tacit, insidious re-adoption of the infamous credo, "separate but equal," creates a misshapen assymetry in the molding of our young minds, and will thrust tomorrow's adults, Black, White, Brown, Yellow, into a world of colors they do not know. It creates a generation of painters whose palettes are uniformly hued.

I must confess that my message is tainted with a measure of hypocrisy, given that I now work at a white-collar company with little minority representation (and none at the senior level). Though that's another story, it's one fraught with similar systemic symptoms. The disparity between the social strata of Corporate America and educational re-segregation follow the same troubling, backward path.

The Dream espoused by Dr. King is remembered and lives on today. We have come a long way -- yet still have a long way to go -- in realizing that his day, his dream is ours as well.
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mattchun 1/20/2003 10:39:00 AM [+] ::
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