Summer "Break"

It's been quite some time since I last posted on this blog. Since my last post, a bunch of things have happened: end of by-far the worst college year ever regarding classes, summer break, and physics at St. Bonaventure University. I thought that this campus was boring as hell during the school year, however, boring does not come anywhere close to completely describe this place during the summer. Campus is absolutely dead, with pretty much no one here. It's the most eeriest thing ever. Physics so far is going well, but obviously it's going to get tougher. Other than that, there's really not a whole lot going on with me. Just counting down days til Oxford, but even that doesn't seem as exciting and eventful anymore.

Myra visited me last weekend and we watched Angels & Demons and Night at the Museum 2. Both movies were pretty good. Angels & Demons did a good job with sticking with the book overall, not a whole lof of changes made. Night of the Museum was pretty good, considering I didn't even watch the first one and still found it enjoyable. Myra and I always went on a little retreat in the moutain which was pretty fun. I just hope that I can see her again.

Other than that, not a whole lot to report. Might check out the movie Up some time, I don't know. Hopefully when I'm back in Long Island maybe I will be able to hang out with everyone.

Movies, Movies

Best Foreign Language Film winner at the 81st Academy Awards (2009).

I wonder how many people outside of Japan have seen this movie? I was surprised how I was able to get my hands on this film... after searching endlessly for parts of the movie online. Anyway, how I obtained a copy of the film is another story.

The plot is very simple. The main character, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a cellist who lost his job after his orchestra disbanded. From here, he moves back to his old countryside home with his wife. In search of a new job, he follows an ad that requested "assistance to departures." Assuming it had to do with travel agencies, Daigo accepts. However, he later realizes these departures actually meant encoffining the dead and sending those who passed away to their afterlives.

So here are the conflicts. Jobs like encoffining and the related are not exactly smiled upon, thus we have an issue between Daigo and his wife. And on a side note, Daigo has to deal with his somewhat "unremarkable" life, which consisted of being abandoned by his father while he was a child, unable to attend his own mother's funeral, struggling for income, and dealing with his present situations.

What I can say is, the storyline is not diffucult to follow at all. The reason why this film won Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars was probably because of the superb acting that was carried out through the entire movie. Nothing was exaggerated, everything seemed smooth and natural.

Recommended: if you like dramatic films with family themes, in addition to great music (he's a cellist, remember).

Summer Updates: Part I

Since it has only been about two weeks since returning home from Binghamton, I can't say anything out of the ordinary occurred. Each day starts with a wake-up call between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. from my trusty alarm clock and ends with late nights staring into my laptop's monitor, either downloading media, watching media, playing games, or whimsically browsing the web.

To top it off, each day usually contains me eating a simple egg-lettuce-ham-tomato sandwich, a bowl of cereal, or scrambled eggs with unidentifiable seasonings with orange juice as brunch, followed by leaving iTunes open and blasting (since my Bose SoundDock seems to be malfunctioning), and then going off to do mundane tasks.

A lot of people I usually hang out with during the summer seem to be especially busy this time around. Odd jobs, internships, summer classes, studying abroad, and so forth tend to be the common stories.

And it's probably because I'm not yet working odd jobs, going through internships, attending summer classes, or studying abroad that I feel somewhat unproductive. The grades I obtained this past semester surely reflected some productivity; getting an A, A-, and A- in three classes aren't bad at all. Then again, getting a C and D in two other classes completely dragged the GPA down. As of now, my cumulative still borderlines a measly 3.00.

Thus, instead of going out of my way to do too much, I decided to stay home... or somewhere quiet in general, to read and keep my mind fresh. Eating well, exercising on a daily basis, reading, playing the piano, occasionally fencing, and writing now and then should keep me in shape for next semester. But as always, the catch is to see how long I can keep this up. Video game consoles lying everywhere, PC games dotted everywhere on my desktop, plus an external hard drive with 430 GB's worth of anime and 320 GB's worth of movies can become distracting.

When the August heat strikes down, I'll be looking forward to a couple of weeks in Rome, Venice, and Florence. Vita italiana.

Sophomore Year, Done and Over

SUMMER!

So I'm finally out of school and ready to hit the beaches, play some ball, enjoy the summer breezes, and kick back without a care in the world.

False.

Of course, there will be time to relax, but I have some personal goals to attend to first. I'll keep this brief for now since I want to sleep...

• Clean up the house. My home is literally a garbage dump without me cleaning here and there. That's not to say no one does anything, my mom usually tends to the washing and the vacuuming. But I have to say, both my dad and little brother pretty much left everything else covered with dust, tossed aside, etc.
• Read, read, read. I have not sat down and properly read anything meaningful in quite a long time. Time to hit the libraries, Barnes & Nobles, and Borders'...s?
• Since I had no money to fly to Houston, Texas to fence at Summer National's, not to mention 9 days hotel expenses, food, transportation, plus at least another $120 to compete at the events, and miscellaneous charges... I think I'll just stick with old-fashioned training, maybe coach my brother a bit, and wait until next summer if I choose to attend qualifiers again.
• More solo piano practice.
• More writing practice.
• Get a job, man.
• See people, man.

The last four are completely optional and are up to my moods, I guess. All would be great if I can accomplish them, but I retain every right to change the above list.

Good night.

Alternative Fictions Final Project: Part II - Robby's Kill Box

I said I was going to do it and I am true to my word. Here's the outcome of my group's final film project for ENG300W - Alternative Fictions.

Robby's Kill Box: An Adaption
Starring: Stephen Armon, George Gilbert, Sharon Pak, and Kimberly Williams
Directed & Edited by: Yours truly... Jeff Hwang

A student final project at Binghamton University for ENG300W - Alternative Fictions, Spring 2009. Based on a short story titled "Robby's Kill Box." The short film represents the story as it is told.

Viewers beware: The film makes minimal sense and is open to any interpretations.



If anyone can spot this one disgusting mistake I made while editing the short film, I'll give you a dollar. Maybe.

Some things were altered in comparison to the script I generated some time before. Still, one week's effort, nine minutes of eerie entertainment. Enjoy.

Spring Fling 2009

And Binghamton University's annual event strikes once again. Spring into Spring Fling 2009 at Bing!

Crowds... And more crowds.

Main path... Crowds and snakes?

Sul-poong performance... Iced tea and milk tea sold by TASC.


Pirate ship ride of doom... Spinning-wheel-tornado-thing ride of doom...?

I think I spent the majority of the day helping out with TASC's iced tea and milk tea sales. Originally the plan was to make ice tea slushies, but that was a lost cause. Instead, the student body and faculty of Binghamton University was blessed with normal, old-fashioned, cold beverages instead. The machine itself was a pain to use. $85 rental. Mmm.

Other tid-bits: obtained a great sunburn on my neck and arms, caught four goldfish through various activities and gave them away, and skipped out on the Eve 6 concert at the end of the day due to fatigue and the lack of motivation to see a band I never cared much about.