My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.reidyokoyama.com
and update your bookmarks.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Obsessions

A few musings from today:

- I am obsessed with the Dim Sum from Lag Late Nite. It's just deep fried dumplings that aren't incredibly good, but for some reason, they're addictive and the best thing on the menu for a late snack. I just ate 12 and I'll wake up in the morning regretting it.

- It's nice to see old friends. I haven't seen much of Anna all of last quarter, so I stopped by in Roble tonight. Catching up with her was nice, especially hearing about where she's hoping to go to graduate school, plans for the future, and what not.

- My thoughts on Asian American identity, politics, and race have definitely progressed throughout the past few years. As a Senior, I can really reflect, especially during the conversation we had today in my Asian American stereotypes class, about how my views have become very intellectualized, but also more clearly articulated and thought out. And more importantly, the questions we discuss are things I find myself passionate about.

- Children of Men is a really good movie. As in, the cinematography is excellent and it's an emotional rollercoaster. I definitely recommend watching it.

- The men's basketball Pac-10 conference is so deep - UCLA, Washington State, Stanford, USC, Oregon, and Arizona. Wow. Stanford has a tough road trip this week, taking on Washington State and Washington. If they can pull it off, I really think we'll seal the deal for an NCAA appearance.

- Somethingawful continues to impress me:

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Clothes > Sex

Oh no!!!

As Reuter's repots on February 5th:

"For most women, the choice between sex and a new wardrobe is simple -- they go for the clothes.

Women on average say they would be willing to give up sex for 15 months for a closet full of new apparel, with 2 percent ready to abstain from sex for three years in exchange for new duds, according to a new survey of about 1,000 women in 10 U.S. cities.


Sixty-one percent of women polled said it would be worse to lose their favorite article of clothing than give up sex for a month.

"Some people say clothes make the man, but the right clothes can even replace him," fashion designer, stylist and TV personality Carson Kressley from the reality TV show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" said in a statement accompanying the poll.

The study also suggested that clothes often wear better than relationships.

The average woman between 18 and 54 years of age has hung on to her favorite article of clothing for 12 and a half years, a year longer than she's held on to her longest relationship.

Almost three-quarters of respondents, or 70 percent, also said they believed in love at first sight when it came to finding the perfect article of clothing, while only 54 percent of women were as confident in spotting the right man.

Nearly half of the women, or 48 percent, taking part in the survey by consumer products giant Unilever said their favorite article of clothing was more reliable than their man in giving them confidence and making them feel sexy."

I'm not surprised that researcher have not conducted a similar study on men. The answer would be too obvious.

Monday, February 05, 2007

What the heck is going on with Gavin Newsom?

After Gavin Newsom admitted to having an affair with the wife of a veteran aide, he's now seeking alcohol counseling. What's next? He's engaged in tax fraud? He has an illegitimate child? I love San Francisco, but I'm not so sure about what's going on with the people in charge.

Super History!!!

I've called attention to the awesomeness of the pictures on Something Awful. Here are some of my favorites from their older form, entitled, "Super History."










I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did!

Who Killed Vincent Chin?

Tonight, I watched the 1989 Academy Award nominated documentary called "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" For those of you who don't know the story:

"Vincent Chin was a Chinese American industrial draftsman murdered in 1982 in the Detroit, Michigan enclave of Highland Park by two white autoworkers, Chrysler plant superintendent Ronald Ebens and his recently laid off step-son, Michael Nitz. The murder was controversial because of Ebens mistaking Chin as Japanese and the subsequent miscarriage of justice that occurred during the criminal and civil trials of Nitz and Ebens. Ebens instigated the incident by declaring, "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work," referring to U.S. auto manufacturing jobs being lost to Japan.

On the night of June 19, 1982, a fight ensued at the strip club where Chin was having his bachelor party. The group was thrown out and after a heated exchange of words subsequently parted ways. Ebens and Nitz searched the neighborhood for 20 to 30 minutes before finding Chin at a McDonald's restaurant. Chin tried to escape, but was held by Nitz while Ebens repeatedly bludgeoned Chin with a baseball bat. Chin was struck at least four times with the bat, including blows to the head. When rushed to the hospital, he was brain-dead and died after four days in a coma."

Watching the documentary definitely makes you feel powerless but also angry, since the directors interviewed the murderers, who are sitting not behind bars, but in their own living rooms, and pass their actions off as just a "mistake." More disturbing is the denial that there was any element of race behind the murder - but as Helen Zia points out, Chin would not have been murdered if he wasn't Asian American. Even worse, Chin was Chinese, not Japanese, who the murderers obviously had the biggest problem with. More problematic, is that Ebens and Nitz did not spend more than one day in jail - a gross miscarriage of justice.

Suck it Cal

I've never been much for school rivalries, but Jenny and I decided to trek up to Berkeley this Saturday to support our basketball team in one of their biggest games of the season against Cal. It basically was a must win game for both teams - both were on the bubble, Cal much more so since they had lost most recently to UCLA, while Stanford was coming off a heartbreaking 2OT loss to Gonzaga, after having built an impressive resume with wins against Washington, Washington State, USC, and UCLA.

About 150 Stanford students were there for the game and we were loud! Stanford was definitely hot tonight, demolishing the Bears 90 to 71. The best part was being the loudest group in Haas Pavilion, as Cal fans could only watch in silence as their team got manhandled up and down the court. The win definitely made up for getting our ass beat in football and definitely cemented my loyalty for Stanford men's basketball.



Here's a view of the game from our nosebleed seats. As you can see, the fans tried to distract the Stanford players on every possession. Didn't work. Fools. Safety School.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Obsessions

A few musings from today:

- I am obsessed with the Dim Sum from Lag Late Nite. It's just deep fried dumplings that aren't incredibly good, but for some reason, they're addictive and the best thing on the menu for a late snack. I just ate 12 and I'll wake up in the morning regretting it.

- It's nice to see old friends. I haven't seen much of Anna all of last quarter, so I stopped by in Roble tonight. Catching up with her was nice, especially hearing about where she's hoping to go to graduate school, plans for the future, and what not.

- My thoughts on Asian American identity, politics, and race have definitely progressed throughout the past few years. As a Senior, I can really reflect, especially during the conversation we had today in my Asian American stereotypes class, about how my views have become very intellectualized, but also more clearly articulated and thought out. And more importantly, the questions we discuss are things I find myself passionate about.

- Children of Men is a really good movie. As in, the cinematography is excellent and it's an emotional rollercoaster. I definitely recommend watching it.

- The men's basketball Pac-10 conference is so deep - UCLA, Washington State, Stanford, USC, Oregon, and Arizona. Wow. Stanford has a tough road trip this week, taking on Washington State and Washington. If they can pull it off, I really think we'll seal the deal for an NCAA appearance.

- Somethingawful continues to impress me:

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Clothes > Sex

Oh no!!!

As Reuter's repots on February 5th:

"For most women, the choice between sex and a new wardrobe is simple -- they go for the clothes.

Women on average say they would be willing to give up sex for 15 months for a closet full of new apparel, with 2 percent ready to abstain from sex for three years in exchange for new duds, according to a new survey of about 1,000 women in 10 U.S. cities.


Sixty-one percent of women polled said it would be worse to lose their favorite article of clothing than give up sex for a month.

"Some people say clothes make the man, but the right clothes can even replace him," fashion designer, stylist and TV personality Carson Kressley from the reality TV show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" said in a statement accompanying the poll.

The study also suggested that clothes often wear better than relationships.

The average woman between 18 and 54 years of age has hung on to her favorite article of clothing for 12 and a half years, a year longer than she's held on to her longest relationship.

Almost three-quarters of respondents, or 70 percent, also said they believed in love at first sight when it came to finding the perfect article of clothing, while only 54 percent of women were as confident in spotting the right man.

Nearly half of the women, or 48 percent, taking part in the survey by consumer products giant Unilever said their favorite article of clothing was more reliable than their man in giving them confidence and making them feel sexy."

I'm not surprised that researcher have not conducted a similar study on men. The answer would be too obvious.

Monday, February 05, 2007

What the heck is going on with Gavin Newsom?

After Gavin Newsom admitted to having an affair with the wife of a veteran aide, he's now seeking alcohol counseling. What's next? He's engaged in tax fraud? He has an illegitimate child? I love San Francisco, but I'm not so sure about what's going on with the people in charge.

Super History!!!

I've called attention to the awesomeness of the pictures on Something Awful. Here are some of my favorites from their older form, entitled, "Super History."










I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did!

Who Killed Vincent Chin?

Tonight, I watched the 1989 Academy Award nominated documentary called "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" For those of you who don't know the story:

"Vincent Chin was a Chinese American industrial draftsman murdered in 1982 in the Detroit, Michigan enclave of Highland Park by two white autoworkers, Chrysler plant superintendent Ronald Ebens and his recently laid off step-son, Michael Nitz. The murder was controversial because of Ebens mistaking Chin as Japanese and the subsequent miscarriage of justice that occurred during the criminal and civil trials of Nitz and Ebens. Ebens instigated the incident by declaring, "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work," referring to U.S. auto manufacturing jobs being lost to Japan.

On the night of June 19, 1982, a fight ensued at the strip club where Chin was having his bachelor party. The group was thrown out and after a heated exchange of words subsequently parted ways. Ebens and Nitz searched the neighborhood for 20 to 30 minutes before finding Chin at a McDonald's restaurant. Chin tried to escape, but was held by Nitz while Ebens repeatedly bludgeoned Chin with a baseball bat. Chin was struck at least four times with the bat, including blows to the head. When rushed to the hospital, he was brain-dead and died after four days in a coma."

Watching the documentary definitely makes you feel powerless but also angry, since the directors interviewed the murderers, who are sitting not behind bars, but in their own living rooms, and pass their actions off as just a "mistake." More disturbing is the denial that there was any element of race behind the murder - but as Helen Zia points out, Chin would not have been murdered if he wasn't Asian American. Even worse, Chin was Chinese, not Japanese, who the murderers obviously had the biggest problem with. More problematic, is that Ebens and Nitz did not spend more than one day in jail - a gross miscarriage of justice.

Suck it Cal

I've never been much for school rivalries, but Jenny and I decided to trek up to Berkeley this Saturday to support our basketball team in one of their biggest games of the season against Cal. It basically was a must win game for both teams - both were on the bubble, Cal much more so since they had lost most recently to UCLA, while Stanford was coming off a heartbreaking 2OT loss to Gonzaga, after having built an impressive resume with wins against Washington, Washington State, USC, and UCLA.

About 150 Stanford students were there for the game and we were loud! Stanford was definitely hot tonight, demolishing the Bears 90 to 71. The best part was being the loudest group in Haas Pavilion, as Cal fans could only watch in silence as their team got manhandled up and down the court. The win definitely made up for getting our ass beat in football and definitely cemented my loyalty for Stanford men's basketball.



Here's a view of the game from our nosebleed seats. As you can see, the fans tried to distract the Stanford players on every possession. Didn't work. Fools. Safety School.