Korea Has the Best Reality TV Part 2

Welcome to the second installment of Korea Has the Best Reality Shows. Last time I talked about Love Fighter (after a I did a rant on my dislike of reality tv in general) and I still feel it's an interesting show to watch. Today I want to talk about The Story Telling Club (it was almost impossible to find a clip of the show), which airs on KBS America here in the US.

The basic concept of the show is an eight person short story tournament is put in place where people are paired together in brackets much like a sports tournament. There are three rounds of the tournament in the first round is usually being open to the writers to write whatever they want and each subsequent round having an assigned theme or topic. The writers are competing for a prize of $3000 (or rather its equivalent in won). The eight people are chosen from story submissions for the current tournament. Each episode fucuses on one bracket where two writers go head to head in a literary batlle for supremacy. Each writer is given an opportunity to setup there story before the audience and judges watch the dramatization. The contestants is then given an audience rating (out of 40) and the two judges ratings (each out of 30 for a total of 100 points) after some comments and criticism ofcoarse. The best part of the show is watching the dramatizations of each contestants story. I've watched two full seasons and I will say that there is always atleast 1 writer who is really good and I look forward to the episodes they're featured in. Also there I find myself in complee agreement with the outcome of each round (meaning the person that should win does win).



Now I have no idea why we don't have a show like this in America. The closest thing I can think of was Project Greenlight which only aired for 3 seasons (I also didn't like it because it followed that Survivor/Bachelor format of filming fake drama and voting people off). I think this would be a very easy show to reproduce and because it's America we would most definitely have better prizes. At the very least there would be more money but I think a better prize would be a book/movie/tv developement deal. It just seems like a simple thing that should be done. You could produce a 16 person tournament that would easily create a half season of content (8 episodes for round 1, 4 episodes for round 2, 2 episodes for the semifinals, 1 episode for the finals, and season finally with a 1 hr dramatization of the winner's best story). Just expand the tournament for a longer season if need be (although I think 16 episodes is best). A half season would be perfect to fit into any networks summer programming because all the major shows are on hiatus until the fall and they're not forced to put on a knock off reality show of something already on the air.

Well i hope you enjoyed this installment and stay tuned for the final installment where I talk about Tracking Your X-Boyfriend or how I like to refer to it "How to be stalker 101."

Song of the Week: Salyu - Arabesque

So nobody reads this blog (actually there are two people who lurk about
but don't say anything) and thus, don't know that my computer went
"blind" and left me unable to post for about two weeks.  Also I was
supposed to post this yesterday but I didn't so oh well.  So sorry to
the one person who kinda sorta was waiting for the song of the week.

This
week I was having a hard time choosing between two songs.  One was a
jazz standard (Sam Cooke's rendition of Gershwin's Summertime if you're
wondering) and Salyu - Arabesque. I decided that against Summertime because I figured that it would be too close the last song of the week (because the last song of the week is a Bossa Nova song which heavily influiced by jazz).  So this week's song is (as the title suggest) Arabesque by Salyu. 
I figured I could just do 'Summertime' next week but the whole thing
about how I was picking the song of the week was I would pick by what I
was into that week, so maybe not.

Anyway, lets talk about what
we're all here for.  I love this song, a lot.  I don't think you
understand the depths that my feelings are for this song (the entire
album too but this song is my favorite by far).  If I could have sex
with this song I would, then I would actually call it the next
morning.  If I had to describe this song in one word that word would be
tranquility.  It's basically relaxation in it's purest form.  The sound
is best described as ethereal and Salyu's voice very haunting.  I can
instantly be put at ease when I here this song.




Arabesque is the first track off the album Kokyu (breadth), which is the title of the soundtrack for the movie All About Lily Chou-Chou. 
All the songs from the soundtrack are featured in the movie.  Being the
first song of the album it instantly sets the mood and tone and is the
stand out song of the album.  It has a more subdued feel than the other
songs, if you listen to the entire album from start to finish it gets
more pop as you keep listening but never cutsie (like stereo typical
j-pop music).  It's sung in Okinawan dialect instead of standard japanese (referencing a part of the movie that takes place in Okinawa).  The title is in reference Cluade Debussy who is a post romantic French composer (the song is also featured in the movie and Debussy even gets a title credit).

I don't really have much else to say except the song is a spiritual experience that I enjoy very much. Listen and enjoy.

Also comeback next week for the song of the week which will probably not be Summertime

Return of the Jedi: now with new motherboard

If the jedi were nerdy black guys that is. Well I was supposed to start updating regularly but fate and my macbook had other plans. My computer decided to crap out on me and thus no updates. Basically, two mondays ago my screen stopped working and I couldn't see what I was doing even though everything else seemed to be working properly. I turned off my computer and restarted only to return to a black screen along with a familiar apple boot chime. I then reset the PRAM and still got no power to the screen. This is when it dawned on me that can simply plug in my mbp to the tv through the dvi port. Apparently my laptop had other ideas because I was still getting no power through the dvi port either. Yet I still heard boot sounds and was even able to find itunes and listen to music while blindly clicking about. So I was left with my only option left to me which was to call apple support.

The apple support woman was really nice (and even sounded like she was kinda cute) but simply instructed me in the steps I had taken before and therefore ultimately useless. I had to schedule an appointment with the genius bar at the local apple store (which is about 20 min. away) and they only had two slots open both for that Friday, one at 10am and the other at 10:20am (which is not a real choice, but I didn't tell her that). That Friday morning I make it over there, talk to the mac genius in the orange shirt then proceed to wait another 20 min. before the mac genius can help me. He then goes through all the same diagnostic steps I went through numerous times before (He was also nice but average looking not like how I imagined the phone girl to be and no I'm not gay just being consistent). He takes the computer in the back room then comes back and says there's a problem with the logic board. He hands me the paper work and tells me I have to decide if want to leave the computer with them or take it to another apple certified repair center. I opt to leave my computer there and he tells me I'll be contacted in 5-7 days when the repair is completed.

The apple store decides to take all 7 days to repair my computer and I picked it up yesterday afternoon. And that is why there have been no updates. But, I swear this time that I will be doing regular updates for the two regular visitors and one random person who seem to be reading this blog.

Either later tonight or tomorrow I will be writing the 2nd installment of song of the week (even though it's the least visited post of the blog of a total of 4 post) and a continuation of Korea has the best reality shows sometime in the days to follow.

Song of the Week: Smokey & Miho - Summer Rain

So I've been neglecting my blog and I don't have a good reason for it.  I was just being lazy.  So to try and combat my laziness I came up with a weekly post called song of the week.  Hopefully this will force me to post more regularly.  Basically every week I will pick a song that I like and talk about it.  Seems simple enough right?  Let me say that this is not the best song release of the week.  These are songs that I like and for whatever reason are on my mind that week.  I may come up with some kind of official system to pick the song of the week in the future but for now I'm just picking the songs that have been on my mind for that week.  So without further ado, lets get to the business.

So this weeks pick is Summer Rain by Smokey and Miho.



Let me start by saying that I'm a huge Cibo Matto fan.  So I have been following both Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda since the group split up in 2001.  I'm also a huge fan of Brazilian music especially Bossa Nova, but I also listen to traditional samba and forró music too.  So any project that puts two awesome things, like Miho Hatori and bossa nova, together you get some of the smoothest most chill music ever made.  'Summer Rain' being my favorite Smokey and Miho song it was an easy pick for me to make.  This could just be me but it seems Miho has more confidence singing in her native Japanese than when she sings in English or Portuguese.  You can hear it in her delivery of the singing.  Tell me if you agree.

Korea Has the Best Reality TV Part 1

So I was actually planning on writing this a few days ago but due to sheer laziness didn't get around to it. Anyways, let try to explain the title of the post. I hate American reality shows with a passion. Reality TV, for the most part, exploits attention whores and overly aggressive meat heads in a poorly constructed soap opera like scenario to placate to the lowest common denominator of our society. Of course I'm excluding the talent competition and the self/home improvement reality shows, although shades of the crappy type of reality shows I described earlier seem to be present in all American reality shows.

There are exceptions that I think are worth mentioning before I move on to Korea. Shows like the first five seasons or so of The Real World /*Basically all the seasons before Hawaii*/. The Real World was originally a great show with a good premise. You take seven people with diverse backgrounds and force them to live in a house together, then watch what happens. This is supposed to be the premise of the current incarnation of The Real World but what made the old seasons great is that they cast normal everyday people as apposed to the wanna be actress/model/frat guy types that are cast now. Another awesome show was Can't Get A Date which premiered on VH1 and then got moved to the Logo network. What was great about this show was that they would pull an old switcheroo, where they would begin with a neurotic freak who was self described as undateable and then give them a makeover and a healthy dose of self confidence. What you would have at the end of the show was a slightly less neurotic freak who had just enough confidence in themselves to get a date /*Please note that Logo is a gay lifestyle network and therefore only air the episodes with gay contestants*/. I like these shows because they actually resembled reality in some sense and part of the aim of the show was to make the cast members experience some sort of personal growth.

Now that we all have sense for the kind show I like let me introduce to you something I discovered fairly recently. The name of this Korean import is called Love Fighter and the gist of the show is a couple with a dispute goes on the show to argue their side infront of a panel of judges and a studio audience /*This kind of a guess because the show is in Korean without subtitles and I can't speak the language*/. Each couple take turns giving an argument and letting their partner give a counterpoint all while the judges comment on and ask questions about the dispute. When one paramour is unable to respond a countdown is initiated and if their is still no response then he or she loses the battle.


The reason why I like the show is simple. First, they cast regular looking people. Not super model wanabees or gym rat muscleshirt guys but everyday type people you can see on the street /*if you lived in Korea that is*/. Second, the dispute is often resolved by the end of the show. Either by the judges funny/insightful comments or by the participants hearing their thoughts in a controled environment it seems that the dispute almost always gets resolved by the end of the show /*at least from the 3 episodes I've seen*/. That's the show in a nut shell stay tuned for the next installment where I will talk about The Story Telling Club (Story Teller's Club).

Also because I don't speak nor understand Korean I would like to hear from anyone else who has seen the show if I gave an accurate discrition.

poor man's peach cobbler

My Grandmother just showed me how to make super lazy version of
peach cobbler that looks and smells tasty. It doesn't surprise me
since she is a master at throwing anything together and making it taste
awesome. Anyways I figures I'd share it with anyone who wants to
know. (Warning my Grandma doesn't measure anything so I have a list of
ingredients and no precise measurements. This is more of a guide than
a recipe so just add ingredients to personal taste.)

Ingredients: Equipment:

Canned Peaches baking pan/dish (Should be somewhat deep)

flour

sugar

butter

cinnamon

nutmeg

vanilla extract

Instructions:

Open
canned peaches and pour syrup and all into baking pan (filling the bottom of the baking dish about 1in - 2in). Pour flour into
peaches while stirring. Stop when you get a pancake batter like
consistancy. Add a 1/2 - 1 stick of butter. Add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. (Note: you will need more sugar than you think.  Like a diabetic amount of sugar.  I say add as much as you think is good then add about a 1/2 cup more). Finally add about a table spoon of vanilla extract.  Bake at 375º for about 45 min - an 1hr or until golden brown.

That's it, no fuss about baking the perfect crust or stupid things that require know how. Anyways try it and tell me if you like it. Sometimes I think my Grandma has some crazy superpower to throw anything in a pot (or baking pan in this case) and make it taste really good. So tell me if it's good all the time or only when my Grandma uses her mutant cooking abilities.