Watched a couple of old-school cult flicks on Sunday night with a bunch of people: "Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness" and "Airplane." Hilariously cheesy. I actually liked "Army of Darkness" more - a couple of my coworkers and ex-coworkers are big Bruce Campbell fans, so now I get it when they spout off some well-known one-liners in seemingly incongruous conversations.

Best quotes that could be used in a multitude of situations:
Ash - "Shop smart. Shop S-Mart!"
Ghoul - "I'll swallow your soul!" Ash - "Come get some."
Ash - [flexing new prosthetic hand] "Groovy."
Sheila - "I may be bad. But I feel good."
Ash - "Gimme some sugar, baby!"
Ash - "Go ahead and run. Run home and cry to mama."
Ash - "Good... bad... I'm the guy with the gun."
Sheila - "You found me beautiful once." Ash - "Honey, you got real ugly."
Ash - "Hail to the king, baby!"

It's a little odd... but now that Shaq isn't on the Lakers, my animosity towards him has decreased considerably. By most accounts, it seems that he's usually a pretty good guy who's living a kid's dream. And you can always count on him for a sound bite. Check this one out:

Q: Would you have stayed with the Lakers if Phil Jackson was still the coach?

"Phil was the one who took me to the next level, so I'm loyal to him. I didn't want to play for another coach there. That's like me training with a ninja all my life and then going down to a local karate instructor. It just don't make sense. Instead of doing that at the same place, I'd rather go somewhere else and start all over."

Shaq as ninja... he'll probably make that into a lousy movie someday.

Something amusing my mom said, from a conversation with the parents over the weekend - "When we were your age, we were bored most of the time, so that's why we got girlfriends and boyfriends. You, you seem to have a lot of things going on... so don't rush into things." Hm, does this mean I eventually need to cut down on a few of the things I do?

On a more serious note, they also told me a condensed version of the history of Taiwan. Since I haven't been off the North American continent since I was, oh, about 8 years old (the last time I visited Taiwan), I guess I've never really identified with my familial and cultural history much, having been brought up fairly Americanized. However, it was quite instructive and enlightening to hear the story of the first immigrants to Taiwan from China a long time ago, the Japanese occupation that my grandparents lived under, the flight of the Nationalists to Taiwan upon the entry of the Communist Party, and the current level of tension resulting between the Kuomingtang and the Green Party, and between Taiwan and China. I suppose I'll never fully understand the mindset of a "native" Taiwanese, but I now understand a little bit more some of the attitudes and mindsets I observe in my church, which has a congregation mostly made up of "native" Taiwanese who immigrated here. As a deacon of the English congregation and an American-born, it appears we have less history to work through during the decision-making process, particularly with regards to ministry to non-Taiwanese. I used to not understand this tension very well... but it makes a bit more sense now.