Ninjabread Man, You Could’ve Been A Contender

November 13, 2007 //

Although it’s not always very “current,” I have updated my Currently Enjoying page. And, in the interest of balance, I will also share what I am currently not enjoying as well…

We love our Wii! Every game we have played — from the OG Wii Sports to Cooking Mama — has been fun and inventive. That is why, when I saw the cover of Ninjabread Man at Blockbuster, I had to rent it. The Gingerbread Man reimagined as a sword-wielding ninja? Brilliant! Said ninja attacking monster cupcakes and reducing them to jam? Almost perfect! So, eagerly, I brought the game home.

I suppose it had to happen sometime, but this was my first Wii letdown — and it was a doozy. Perhaps my anticipation drove my expectation past reasonable levels, but this game is just plain awful. The controls are utterly unresponsive. Instead of the gory jamfest I was hoping to incite, I found myself instead leisurely strolling into one cupcake attack after another. The poor Ninjabread Man cannot seem to stop himself, so I regularly fell off of each obstacle on which I was supposed to land (in order to get any further). The old school graphics, instead of being charming (like so many of the other Wii games), were choppy and grotesque. In fact, some of the old school NES games we downloaded on the Virtual Console were more aesthetically pleasing — even the blocky, pixelated world of the original Zelda.

Don’t judge the Ninjabread Man by his cover. He can promise the world, but the proof is in the pudding (or lack thereof).

Categories boo!, design, games, hooray!, reviews

Did You Just Hear That?

November 10, 2007 //

Being a t-shirt junky and a fan of sometimes-obscure indie rock, I couldn’t help but smile at this “Music Snob” t-shirt. While none of these albums might qualify as “bluegrass synth” or “skate folk,” here are a couple of albums I have been enjoying lately.

After heralding a new age of Gypsy/indie rock (was there an old age?) with last year’s Gulag Orkestar, twenty-one year old Zach Condon has brought Balkan back with his latest release, The Flying Club Cup. It’s kind of hard to describe this album in a compelling way — Condon doesn’t sing, he croons; the album is, apparently, an homage to French music; there’s more accordion than on a Chicago push polka album. And yet, I’ve really been enjoying TFFC. In fact, I can’t get Nantes out of my head.

I wish Heresy and the Hotel Choir by Maritime had come out a couple of months ago, because it is packed to the hilt with what would be amazing summer driving songs. Although often billed as an indie supergroup (…featuring members of The Promise Ring! and The Dismemberment Plan!!), Maritime has crafted a set of lovely pop gems that stand up in their own right. Listen for yourself at Battle of the Midwestern Housewives.

New wave is the best and, apparently, Scandinavia agrees with me. Others fond of Kings of Convenience, The Whitest Boy Alive and (of course) the mighty New Order will probably rather dance to Pet Grief by The Radio Dept than talk with you. Pet Grief is more synthy and less shoegazer than past efforts, as evidenced by The Worst Taste in Music, but is much more than an 80s nostalgia trip.

Categories hooray!, indie, music, reviews

Becoming Who We Are

November 8, 2007 //

Earlier this week, my wife and I went to a meeting hosted by James Choung, to help plan for an Asian American leadership gathering in April of 2008 down here in SD. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing from the main session speakers — Dave Gibbons, Peter Cha and Ken Fong — along with those who will be presenting seminars.

During the meeting, James shared something that really struck a chord with me — voicing some thoughts that I’ve been feeling, but unable to articulate. He mentioned that, often, when we gather as Asian Americans the general ethos tends toward the negative and focuses on the weakness of being Asian American — e.g., how to overcome struggles with your first-generation parents, shame and identity etc. While these are important issues that we must continue to address, with this gathering we are hoping to shift the focus toward embracing the people God has created and redeemed us to be — to understand how deeply we have been blessed that we might be a blessing to others.

I’m trying to work out the core image for our theme, “Called Out, Called Forth.” For this draft, I’m definitely trying to create a postmodern vibe and to emphasize the high calling God has placed on us — so the theme is pushing skyward. The city represents the campuses and workplaces in which the conference participants live, study and work. And the birds represent the desire to take flight, to break free from our fear of failure. Here is the design concept (there is no actual website yet, and the location is yet to be determined but the core concept is there). Any thoughts?

Categories asian american, church, college, community, design, faith, ministry, postmodern

A Glorious Noise

November 5, 2007 //

Last Friday, our family went to see Architecture in Helsinki perform live at the House of Blues here in San Diego. The House of Blues has a “pass the line” policy, where concertgoers can be the first in line if they dine at the HoB restaurant. Because we wanted to make sure to get seats in the balcony, we ended up having dinner there before the show (which, it turns out, was pretty good). After dinner, we jumped the line and sat front row, center in the balcony.

Unfortunately, the first two acts were a serious letdown. Panther, which is essentially just one person, a delay pedal and a bunch of blips & bloops, was kind of fun for the first two songs. I think his music is more interesting in recorded form, as seen in this video clip for You Don’t Want Yr Nails Done. At least he brought along a live drummer. Glass Candy, on the other hand, was just a boy cranking out pseudo Kool & The Gang riffs on a half-size synth and a girl aerobacising and vocalizing in between the overly plentiful stage banter.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to indie kids discovering the dance floor. I mean, look at Matt and Kim. Some criticize them for being too precious, but it’s hard to deny their enthusiasm and joy. Check out their video for Yea Yeah and see if it doesn’t brighten up your day:

Our family loves all manner of live music, but even our daughter turned to me at one point during the Glass Candy set, frowned and shrugged. All I could do was shrug back. Things turned around quickly, however, as soon as Architecture in Helsinki took the stage.

From the get-go, they brought a level of raucous joy and excellent musicianship that basically turned a bunch of motionless indie kids into Dance Party USA. Listeners are helpless to do anything except smile and dance. Our little one was a total trooper, staying awake as late as she could. She stayed long enough to hear her favorite song, Like It Or Not (or, as she calls it, “The Trumpet Song”) — a hopped-up conga-line singalong extravaganza, before we had to call it a night.

Just to pick up a thought I had started before, I really, really wish I could experience this kind of joy and freedom in our church music. Seriously, when was the last time a worship band caused you to spontaneously smile and start dancing? Architecture in Helsinki definitely has that DIY, everyone’s invited kind of indie vibe, but they are not sloppy in their execution — for being basically an ensemble band, they are extremely tight. And, because they are so good at what they do, they are free to enjoy the music and draw others into it. A nice template for our worship bands, no?

These days, it seems like a band’s image is as important as the music they create. So, it is refreshing to see a bunch of normal looking people, not particularly dressed up get up onstage and rock the set. It worries me when, on all of my worship discs, every person has radiant skin, straight teeth and perfect hair — I’m not trying to take away anything from these artists, but simply hoping that our communities are open to all kinds of people, onstage or otherwise.

As the psalmist says, “Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious.”

Categories church, communication, community, emerging church, faith, family, hooray!, indie, music, reviews, worship

That Dog Won’t Hunt

November 2, 2007 //

Duane Chapman, better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, had his show suspended by A&E after he went on a racist tirade which was recorded by his son and published by the National Enquirer. Read more over in this article, Dog N-Bombs Himself into Hiatus. Here is a quote from this conversation:

I’m not taking a chance…not because she’s black but because we use the word n—er sometimes here. I’m not going to take any chance ever in life of losing everything I’ve worked for 30 years because some drunken n—er heard us say n—er and turned us into the Enquirer magazine…I’m not taking that chance at all never in life. Never..

On his show, Duane comes across as a tough guy with a soft heart. After tracking down lawbreakers and bail-jumpers, he’s always ready with a hug or a kind word of advice. Of course, it’s nothing new for the people/characters on reality shows to be very different from their on-camera persona, but Chapman’s rant still stands out for its defiant racism.

In his public statement, Chapman offers a marginally better apology than the usual non-apology, “I’m sorry if I offended anyone.” He does acknowledge that he offended people and expresses remorse, but still attempts to explain away his actions: “I was disappointed in his choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character. However, I should have never used that term.”

In the end, more disappointing than one reality star’s private racism is the response of many people. In the email talkback segment of one cable news show, viewers’ opinions ranged from “get over it” to outrage that anyone was offended by this incident at all. Is there more resentment brewing underneath the surface, or are people just more willing to express it?

Well, in any case, we can probably expect to see Dog back on the hunt in a month or two — just ask Don Imus.

Categories communication, controversy, race, reconciliation, sigh