Live for the night - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. I can’t believe I lived to see the Golden State Warriors win an NBA championship. I honestly never thought I’d see it in my lifetime. It’s a wonderful time to be alive as a fan of sports in the Bay Area, what with the San Francisco Giants’ dynastic run, and now, this. I feel most happy for the legions of diehard Warrior fans that have stuck with the team through many decades of misery; the 2015 title is for you folks. I know the exact feeling back in 2010 when the Giants won the World Series for the first time in over 50 years.

2. This is not a drill: Square Enix will be remaking the beloved Final Fantasy VII game for the Playstation 4 system! After over a decade of constant wanting, anticipation, and many disappointments, I cannot believe this is finally happening. Towards the end of the reveal trailer at the Sony E3 press conference, faint tears were streaming from my bewildered eyes. That fact that Tetsuya Nomura is spearheading the remake as director, alongside much of the original team, makes the announcement that much better.

Now the wait truly begins. The game is being outsourced to another studio so I’ve hope that it will be out in time to celebrate the original game’s 20th anniversary in 2017.

3. Sony also showed The Last Guardian, and Shenmue 3 at its E3 press conference. I honestly felt like a kid again while watching the proceedings. This has been an E3 for the ages, one that Sony will quite literally have to hand out free PS4 systems in future shows in order to match 2015 for pure awesomeness.

4. I think Jon Stewart might be ruing his decision to leave The Daily Show, what with the smorgasbord of characters who are running for the Republican presidential ticket. Donald Trump has thrown his hat in, for god’s sake! The jokes will write themselves.

That said, I’m quite excited to see what new host Trevor Noah can do. I reckon he’ll be brilliant.

5. I’d no idea the Jurassic World movie would be such a huge deal. Can’t believe it beat the second Avengers’ opening weekend box office numbers! I’ve been antagonistic towards movie studios rebooting the crap out of all the classic movies, but I guess nostalgia really does sell - to the tune of a 200 million domestic weekend.

As for me, I’m not watching Jurassic World in theatres. I much rather give my money to originators and creators of new ideas and stories, which is why I absolutely adore Christopher Nolan.

6. John Oliver will have to regurgitate that Bud Light Lime he drank of Sepp Blatter does rescind on his resignation as FIFA president. I personally wouldn’t be surprised if old Sepp pulls off the switcheroo: a sizable contingent of federation countries is still in full support of him.

7. Congratulations to Porsche for winning first overall at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Beating Audi in LMP1 at that historic venue is no easy task, as Toyota and Peugeot can attest to. Guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer still for the first Japanese manufacturer since Mazda to win the legendary endurance race (the pace of the Nissan LMP1 effort was utterly disappointing.) Hope it happens when I’m actually there to witness the whole spectacle.

8. It seems Cristiano Ronaldo only scores for his country Portugal when it’s a non-World Cup type match. He is otherwise downright useless during the quadrennial world tournament.

9. I’m madly in love with coffee, but I seldom - if ever - drink it because its innate acidity doesn’t jive well with the linings of my stomach. Recently though, I found out the cold-brew method of making coffee, which lowers the acidity level by two-thirds. Suffice it to say, I was excited about the prospects of drinking coffee regularly again. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be: even cold-brewed coffee proves too acidic for my innards. Shame, I’ll just have to continue to drink tea.

10. I take great joy in seeing Pablo Sandoval struggling in Boston, while the Giants’ Matt Duffy continues to thrive at third base. Karma is real indeed. 

Symphony this life - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. Someone is going to have to explain to me how the Warriors are down one game to two against a Cavaliers team that hasn’t got Kevin Love or Kyrie Irving. On paper they should be crushing them, but as the saying goes, that’s why they play the games.

2. Chipotle is already one of my favorite chain restaurants, and now, even more so. It’s been announced the company will begin to offer paid sick leave and vacation for its employees - including part-time workers. Suffice it to say, the Chipotle will see plenty more of my money in the future.

3. Last week I heavily criticized the Mercedes F1 team for their horrendous gaff at the Monaco Grand Prix, but thanks to FOM releasing new radio messages between the team and driver, it looks like half of the blame needs to go towards Lewis Hamilton! Turns out the decision to box the car wasn’t the sole wonton decision by the team, but Hamilton himself wanted to pit as well - he was entirely complicit to the maneuver! It’s no wonder he didn’t go ballistic against his team in the aftermath - he knew he cocked it up.

4. I take great satisfaction in the fact the current Giants third baseman Matt Duffy has got a higher OPS than the acrimoniously departed Pablo Sandoval. “The Panda” should’ve probably done something with the bat first before trashing his former organization. Karma is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?

5. I think Zoe Saldana’s husband taking her last name is absolutely beautiful.

6. Sergio Marchionne is a very impressive man in the flesh, so it’s puzzling as to why he is unable to steward the Fiat group into anything resembling a proper auto manufacturer. (Ferrari not withstanding.) Lancia is all but dead, Fiat can’t decide what it wants to do, Maserati can’t compete with the Germans, and Alfa Romeo is on its hundredth revival plan.

Perhaps the ousted Luca Di Montezemolo should’ve taken over instead.

7. The Gilmore Girls reunion at the ATX Festival was absolutely everything. Yes, I’m an avid fan of the series, except for season 7. I don’t see how anybody can actually like season 7.

8. It’s a shame I’ve got to wait until autumn, because my iPhone 5S could really use the battery and storage-space saving technology in the recently announced iOS 9. That, or I just badly need to upgrade to iPhone 6.

9. If you’re sick of Hollywood whitewashing Asian-themed films (the Aloha movie, ahem), then you really should support Wong Fu Productions first feature film Everything Before Us by watching it on their Vimeo page. As always, it’s immensely important to support independent artists.

10. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is this weekend, and I promise I’ll actually attend one of those within the next few years. It’ll have to coincide with the big European jaunt that anyone who doesn’t live on that continent aspires to do.

In the meantime, I’ll have to make do with the sublime people that do the Radio Le Mans broadcast.       

Sandy bottom of Puget Sound - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. There remains nothing quite like the joy and adventure of traveling. A few weeks back I made the impulse action of making a trip up Highway 5 towards Seattle, and I have to say I’m very glad I listened to my inner spontaneity. It’s a huge world out there after all, and we owe it to ourselves to see as much of it as we can, while we still can.

Seattle is an immensely lovely city, and in fact it’s quite similar to San Francisco. However, up in the Pacific North West, the pace of it all is much more relaxed compared to the hustle and grind of my own 7x7 city. I felt right at home in Seattle, and actually prefer the slower lifestyle of the Emerald City. It forces you to take your moments and enjoy everything that’s around you, which isn’t so terrible at all when the scenery in Seattle is so incredible.

I don’t suppose I’ll make it back up there anytime soon, as there are other places I haven’t yet seen. That said, some day way into the future, I would love to retire somewhere within the Pacific North West region, if not Seattle itself.  

2. Not in my lifetime did I think the great FIFA empire would be struck down by outside forces. It’s an open secret that FIFA is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world, but nobody does anything about it because one, the game itself is still brilliant, and second, no one’s got the power. Enter the United States of America.

For a country whose populace couldn’t care less about football (we idiotically call it soccer), who would have thought it would be the American government that finally did the unthinkable. Granted, it had nothing to do with football and everything about taxes. America will bludgeon you to the depths of Guantanamo if you don’t pay or evade your taxes, no matter how large or evil your organization is.

Sepp Blatter is no longer the president of FIFA. I can’t believe I just typed that sentence.

Suffice it to say, the United States will not be getting the opportunity to host another World Cup every again. Further more, every tournament henceforth will see us grouped into the proverbial group-of-death. It’s all in good sport, really.

3. Much congratulations to the Golden State Warriors for ascending to the NBA Finals. It’s incredible to see the team meet and exceed the expectations of greatness that everyone has put on them. Now it’s time for them to finish the job, and I have no reasons to doubt the Warriors wouldn’t defeat LeBron’s Cavaliers, especially with no Kevin Love and a hobbled Kyrie Irving. The Dubs in six, I’d wager.

I can’t wait for the Thursday evening to arrive for the start of game one. The Bay Area has waited far too long for this.

4. I’ve found that I dislike driving people to the airport, because inevitably there will come a moment where melancholy will set in. The sadness stems from the fact I myself isn’t the one whose traveling somewhere. The pangs of wanderlust, and tinges of jealously towards the person leaving, are very strong indeed. Call me selfish, but hey, my friends can simply call an Uber to get to the airport. It’s a more desirable alternative than me holding a grudge towards you the entire time because you’re heading off to some other place without me.

5. Lewis Hamilton should not have pitted under the safety-car; end of discussion. Mercedes must’ve have momentarily forgotten just what track they were on. It’s bloody Monaco! Track position is absolutely critical in the streets of the principality. A car could be many seconds faster than the one in front and still wouldn’t make any impressions of an overtake maneuver. Jarno Trulli won the only Grand Prix in his career by holding up the field in the 2004 Monaco race (giving birth to the ever popular Trulli Train moniker).

The thought of pitting Lewis’ car at that stage of the race should have never entered the minds of Mercedes race engineers. Have they forgotten that Nico Rosberg himself won the 2013 race while being slower than the cars behind him? Lewis should go ballistic if at season’s end he were to lose the championship to Nico by fewer than 10 points. Team Mercedes royally screwed him over in Monte Carlo.

6. Reviews of the new 2016 Mazda Miata in American specification have come out this week, and it’s a massive mistake that I’ve read them all. In the famous of words of Spongebob, I NEED IT. The car is everything that’s right about driving purity, where the only number that matter on the spec-sheet is how lightweight it is. Sure, compare to my current car it’s the polar opposite in terms of practicality, but the again, I don’t much like driving people and carrying round lots of stuff anyways.

Not since my WRX STI have I wanted a car so badly (realistically speaking, of course), though I think my wallet will have the final say. Unfortunately, in the specification I’d prefer, the ND Miata would cost around $32K - the same price I paid for the STI a bit over two years ago. It means I’d have to put a considerable sum on top of the STI in order to procure the car, and to be honest, I’d much rather spend that money towards traveling.

Someday.

7. A group is banding together to sue Harvard University for instituting quota caps on Asian student enrollment, and I think it’s about damn time. In the application process, all students should be judge on merit, without any biases towards the color of their skin. So what if doing so would render the top universities predominantly White and Asian? That’s simply the reality of the education system. I’d be supremely indignant if I didn’t get accepted and someone with a lower metric got in simply because they weren’t Asian.

And you’re naïve if you think this type of discrimination only happens at Harvard. Heck, my own high school unofficially had the same policies. It needs to end.

8. I think 12 hours is just about the longest duration I can drive in one day. Being in a car for that long definitely does weird things to you mentally, even if physically you can still do more mileage (proper seat adjustment is very important.)

That said, a good car, lovely tunes, and the open road is an absolutely sublime combination. It’s why I take a long road trip at least once every year since I’ve started working (ergo earning money to do so.)

9. It pains me greatly to see Emma Stone, one of my favorite actresses, play a quarter-Asian (she’s fully white) in the massively whitewashed Aloha movie. As others have pointed out, how are they going to have a film set in Hawaii but then go on with cast that’s entirely white? Half of the population on the island is Asian! That fact the producers failed miserably to cast a mixed Asian actress (Chloe Bennet, anyone?) to play the quarter-Asian female lead is practically criminal.

10. I think I really should get a move on and finish playing through Grand Theft Auto Five…  

No 관심 in that bag - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. It’s official: the mighty BBC has sacked Clarkson from Top Gear due to what has been humorously categorized as a ‘fracas’. It’s absolutely an end of an era for the venerable motoring show. Hammond and May are both likely to follow Clarkson to whatever he does next.

All good things must come to an end, right? I positively grew up on Top Gear, and it’s quite the melancholic moment when the news broke. I’m likely to still watch whomever the BBC choses to replace the three hosts, but deep down, long-time fans of the show all understand that it will never be the same. 

I still want that LaFerrari, 918, and P1 track battle, by the way. Make it happen, BBC. 

2. It was my understanding that you’d have to be born in these United States to run for the presidency, so someone will need to explain to me how on earth is Ted Cruz - born in Canada - is campaigning for the Republican party nomination. Actually, don’t bother; he’s got zero chance to win the ticket anyways. 

3. It’s a damn shame that with a reigning German world champion constructor, a German driver fighting for the title, and Seb Vettel in a rejuvenated Ferrari car, the German Grand Prix got cancelled for 2015. Worse, it’s position on future F1 calendars is very much in doubt. I join the chorus of F1 fans that lament the continuing lost of ‘tradition’ European races on historic and classic circuits, in exchange for far-flung, uninteresting circuits in oil-rich countries that no one cares about. 

4. After watching John Oliver’s brilliant takedown on the NCAA evil empire, I refrained myself from filling out a March Madness bracket this year. I also did not watch a single game. Call it a boycott, call it having got something better to do than sit in front of the television the entire day, watching sports that ultimately have to effect on my life many years from now. 

5. They never said it was going to be cheap: I just had the first major service done on my WRX STI, and it most certainly wasn’t kind to the wallet. It’s what happens when on top of being a high-performance car, it’s got one extra set of axles more than the typical car (being all-wheel drive and all). The dealership change practically all the fluids in the car: engine oil, coolant, brake, gearbox, and three differentials. They would’ve even washed the car too, but I instructed them otherwise. 

Some of you might ask, why don’t you simply do the work yourself and save a bit of coin? The answer to that is simple: I value my time, plus the fact I live in an apartment complex that hasn’t got the requisite space to perform vehicle maintenance (it also violates the lease agreement). I much rather pay the few hundred for a certified dealership to take care of servicing the car, all the while I’m at work earning. Besides, having a paper-trail does well to the resale value - if I do decide to part with the WRX. 

6. The first weekend of May is going to be absolutely spectacular: the much anticipated second Avengers movie comes out in theatres, and that particular Saturday night is the showdown fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao. I’m so looking forward to it. 

7. Of course I want one those slim and shiny new Macbooks, but I reckon at it’s current first-generation state, it’s just a bit underpowered for what I need. Much like the genesis Macbook Air, it’ll take some time and evolution before the new Macbook can be a machine fit for general consumption. That’s why I’m likely to acquire a Macbook Air in the near future instead. The 11 inch version is arguably more portable anyways.

On other hand (no pun intended), I’m completely uninterested in the forthcoming Apple Watch. I prefer my timepieces to be mechanical, hand-crafted, and exquisite, thank you very much.

8. Congratulations to the Golden State Warriors on their Pacific Division championship. It won’t be long until the time is ripe for me to jump on the bandwagon. Hashtag no shame.

9. I wonder if Meghan Trainor prefers a man with bass and no treble. Something tells me it’s likely the other way round. Her hit song isn’t about confident body-image, it’s about I’m fat and I’m to lazy to loose weight but love me anyways because I’m awesome.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

10. As a person well into his 20s, I tend to take it as flattery when I get carded at bars and clubs. Oh, you think I look young enough to be 21? That’s so awesome! 

However, recently I got carded while purchasing tickets at the cinema to a rated R movie. Apparently, I look younger than 17 to the ticketing person, and that I actually find quite insulting. I’m not sure why that is as it’s but a four year difference from 17 to 21, but I guess as a full-fledged adult, you never want to be accused of still looking like a teenager.