Weekend recap

Events of the past weekend...

Took advantage of my first uneventful Saturday morning in a while by sleeping it all away, waking up at 11. That afternoon, got together with a bunch of guys to go hiking at Coyote Hills Park off of 84. The day couldn't have been nicer - cool and sunny, and the park followed the bizarro Bay Area trend of being beautifully green in the "winter" and lifeless brown in the summer, so the hills were quite vibrant when set against the water from the Bay. Being with a bunch of guys, this led to the running joke of arriving and walking through the Shire, and segued into other geek topics like Star Wars, old school Nintendo and computer games, cartoons we grew up with like Voltron and Transformers, 80's shows ranging from Airwolf to Knight Rider to MacGuyver, and the speculation that Eon had been carried away by an eagle since we could never find him. We also did some impromptu rock climbing, which is always fun.

Afterwards, we headed to Mike P's new bachelor pad in Union City, had dinner at Fuddruckers (home of the name you have to be very careful about pronouncing, and tasty ostrich burgers), then hung out at the house. We did some jamming on acoustic and electric guitars, a keyboard, and some guitar cases set up as impromptu percussion instruments, had a couple of board games going, and watched Andy shoot zombies in the new Resident Evil game for Gamecube.

The sermon on Sunday was preached on the example of Peter from the last hours of Jesus' life, drawing lessons from the mistakes that he made. Some of the ideas that have stuck with me:
- in addition to boasting too much ("Even if everyone else leaves, I will never leave you") and praying too little ("Could you not keep watch for one hour?"), because Peter showed the characteristics of being impulsive and did not take the time to develop a reflective spirit, he acts too soon and draws his weapon when the soldiers come to arrest Jesus. There is a time to be passive (allow Jesus to be taken because this is God's plan) and a time to be active (in prayer), but instead Peter is wrongly active (drawing his sword) and wrongly passive (sleeping when he should be praying). This type of discernment can only be developed through much prayer and meditation spent with God, both privately and corporately, so that we can know His heart in as many situations as we find ourselves in.
- we are "practical atheists." Despite the lip service we pay among other churchgoers, how much of our daily lives can we honestly say is lived out in light of God's revelation of Himself to us?

After hoops in the afternoon, hung out with a bunch of people at Karen's place in the evening where we played Imaginiff and had a good laugh trying to figure out which female name John T would most approximate, among other questions.

My mom is a "24" fan. It's kind of funny hearing her shout at one of the characters on the TV, "Pick up the gun!"

I began listening to Caedmon's Call's latest album, Share the Well, today. If you're willing to have your musical horizons stretched a bit to include sounds from other cultures, I highly recommend this album. Much of it was written and recorded as the band went on multiple short-term missions trips over the past year to India, Brazil, and Ecuador, and the songs tell stories of people that they met - and in some cases, even features the percussion, cultural instruments, and native songs of the indigenous peoples, deftly mixed together with their own guitars and lyrics. It does a better job than any music I've ever heard of melding the commonality of human experience across all spectrums and cultures. Buy it, you won't regret it. Check out this review for a more in-depth look at the background and the lyrical/musical makeup of the album.

If I were a famous leader, I would be a small, bald-headed peacemaker:

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Oh, is that all there is to it?

Found this on Chris' website and found it hilarious:

Now THIS is a tract...

EDIT: Changing to a link, just so I'm not stealing other people's bandwidth.

Follow-up to "Being typecast"

Didn't expect to receive as many comments as I did on my last post. Addressing them in order...
- Abe - I think Jim Carrey has the talent to be a good dramatic actor... the thing is that he has been such a hit in physical comedy that I get the sense that he has to fight a lot of inertia career-wise since that's all the general public expects of him.
- Rich - Robin Williams is another two-successful-genre actor - comedy and drama ("Good Will Hunting").
- Spoon/Andrew - I know Nicolas Cage did "Family Man," but it wasn't popular enough to really establish him as a viable comedic actor... plus it got horrible reviews. I never saw Adaptation, but apparently it was another excellent movie that nobody saw, which unfortunately holds him back from breaking out of his typecast.
- Gina/Karen - I think women tend to have to choose roles within comedy or drama in order to really stretch themselves - some are typecast into being the "sweet" one (Meg Ryan) or a very serious one (say, Jodie Foster). There are a few that have done different roles ranging from nice girl to b!tch (for lack of a nicer term) roles. Charlize Theron is a good example. Julia Roberts seems to be defined by her comedic roles and her Oscar-winning turn as Erin Brockovich.
- Karen - I'm defining "success" in the sense that the big-name actor or actress performed well enough in a role so as to make the impression upon an audience that they can do that type of acting well. Even though "What Women Want" wasn't a great movie overall, it was seen by enough people, and Gibson's performance was good enough, that people can see him as a comedic actor if he wants to take on that role.
- Andrew - I think the reasons why actors and actresses feel the desire to become more versatile or to try new roles is probably similar to what us non-celebrities feel when we hit a mid-life crisis. "Is this really all that I'm good at? Do I have any hidden talents? Maybe I can do this well!" Particularly with those who consider themselves "purists" with regards to acting, I suspect they feel that a well-rounded practitioner of their profession would have experience with all types of performing art. If you recall, in the past few years there has been a steady number of relatively well-known actors and actresses who took a year or two off from Hollywood to do Broadway. I heard somewhere that many thespians consider the stage to be the "last true acting," since movies and TV depend so much on the director's vision. So, it's not too surprising that Hugh Jackman is currently starring in a play, or Kevin Spacey is performing in London, or Nicole Kidman/Catherine Zeta-Jones/Renee Zellweger sing their own songs in musicals - being stretched is "more pure" than just cashing a check with your latest blockbuster movie.
- Cal - Yeah, Theron is pretty attractive, but for my money, you still can't touch Zeta-Jones in "The Mask of Zorro." Yowza.

On a somewhat related note, check out this post from the "Lord of the Rings" message board about which actors auditioned for parts in the 3-part trilogy. While I think they caught lightning in a bottle with the cast they assembled, it's fun to consider the other possibilities. I could have seen Sean Connery or Patrick Stewart as Gandalf, Russell Crowe as Boromir and Sean Bean as Aragorn. I'm also immeasurably relieved that Vin Diesel and Keanu Reeves didn't get to play Aragorn.

Went to see Lebron and co. at the Coliseum Arena on Saturday night, and boy is he the real deal. He's probably the best player I've ever seen live. Makes the game look so easy. He ended up with a triple double, even though it was kind of a cheap one with an uncontested assist to Zydrunas cinching it for him in the last 15 seconds.

I need to get new glasses. I've been wearing this pair at least since the beginning of college or so, and nowadays I wear glasses probably 80% of the time (contacts on the weekend since I'm more active). Debating what type of frame to get - brand, color, features, shape, whether to get the lenses that automatically tint or not... any suggestions?

Shared my high school and college experience/testimony with the youth group last Friday, and in the process of preparing I had to go back through old yearbooks, photo albums and journals to revisit who I was back then. I am a very different person than I was, and it was actually kind of depressing looking back at old messages and such. In short, I went only one layer deep. I think I'll detail this in another post.

Been in something of a dry spell spiritually lately. I can't stay like this.

Being typecast

At lunch today, my coworkers and I were discussing movies (a frequent conversation topic). When talking about the question of which actors/actresses have consistently done good work throughout their entire careers, we began wondering about the career of Nicolas Cage. Back in the '90s, he was riding high - at least among Americans from my generation - with action hits like "Face/Off" and "The Rock," and the drama "Leaving Las Vegas." Then, it seemed like he fell off the map from being a certified Hollywood leading man on the Cruise-Hanks level, to a guy who you no longer look forward to seeing on the silver screen. What happened? Did his ability to pick good scripts just disappear?

We hypothesized that he may have decided to attempt to avoid being "typecast." Given his commercial success, perhaps he was thinking to himself, "I don't want to be known just as an action hero. I know! I'll make a sensitive historical drama! 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin,' here I come!"

Springing from here, we began analyzing movie thespians and came up with a few observations:

1) For movie star actors, there are three primary types of movie that attain blockbuster status and thus make a longer-lasting impression on the consciousness of the general public - action, drama, and comedy.
2) Some movie stars who are supremely talented in one particular genre will have a lot of difficulty breaking out of that mold, since the audience doesn't want to see them in any other role. See: Jim Carrey and Jackie Chan.
3) The most well-respected male movie stars tend to have had at least one blockbuster hit in at least two of the aforementioned categories, but very few have had mainstream success in all three, because in general, it is the first two genres where an actor gains financial success and recognition that causes the movie-going public to typecast that actor into those roles. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm defining "movie star" as someone who can headline and carry a movie on the strength of their name alone - i.e., "That's the new Tom Cruise flick."

For example, Nicolas Cage has established himself as a marketable action star and dramatic actor, but hasn't really had a successful comedy. Can you see him succeeding in a romantic comedy? In my mind, he's been typecast.

This can be applied to lots of actors. Brad Pitt - drama (Fight Club, Seven, Interview with a Vampire) and action (Troy). Keanu Reeves - action (Matrix) and comedy (Bill & Ted - although everything he does is unintentional comedy, I guess). Russell Crowe - action and drama. Denzel Washington - drama and action. And, so on so forth. In each case, it's difficult for us to envision that actor in a movie outside of what they've proven themselves in - can you see Russell Crowe in, say, "Sleepless in Seattle?" Probably not.

There are a few actors that have sort of broken out of the two-genre mode, but primarily on the strength of their persona in one that they're known for translating to the new one. For example, Robert De Niro and Bruce Willis, both decent action-drama actors, have had some successful comedies in recent years by playing off their tough-guy image.

It's the rare actor that is able to break out of their original genre to become a viable guy who people can think, "Yeah, he can probably play that role" for almost any role. Tom Hanks is perhaps the most well-respected current dramatic movie star, and is pretty bankable as a comedic actor and has done some action (Saving Private Ryan). Tom Cruise is a bona fide dramatic and action star, with "Jerry Maguire" as a decent try at comedy-drama. Will Smith is the young one in this bunch, with action blockbusters, well-received dramas like "Ali," and plenty of comedic experience sprinkled throughout his action movies and also from "Fresh Prince." Perhaps the best example is Mel Gibson - an action star (Lethal Weapon), drama star (Braveheart), and successful comedy (What Women Want). It's hard not to get typecast, but a few have managed to pull it off.

For actresses, since very few tend to do action films, they primarily get to stretch their acting chops in either dramatic or comedic roles. However, I don't hear nearly as much from actresses who are intentionally plotting their career to play a wide variety of parts - not sure why that is.

Oh yeah, short posts:

The new season of "24" rocks. Plus, Hanlin has kindly lent me season 3 on DVD so I can get caught up on the story. Like, what happened to all those actors and actresses from season 2?

The new season of "Alias" has been kinda disappointing so far.

I'm still in the "kicking around the idea" stage of getting a new guitar. I'm thinking Taylor 414 because
- it doesn't have electronics pre-installed
- reviews indicate that the ovangkol wood in the back and sides is a bit warmer and more resonant than the mahogany on the 314
- it's not totally unreasonably expensive

Any recommendations for pickups? From research Byron has done and other comments I've heard, the Highlander and the Ibeam are both excellent.

I get to see LeBron in person this Saturday when the Cavs visit the Warriors. He better not sit the game out like Dwyane did.

Working on a longer post. In the meantime, some random stuff and a tribute...

I actually did some cooking this past Saturday, albeit under direction from Mom, to prepare lunch for Canaan's worship ministry servants as an appreciation for 2004. Pasta with Aidell's sausage, salad, bbq wings (Costco) and potato wedges (homemade), cocktail shrimp with homemade sauce, and a couple of other snacks. I guess things turned out okay.

Hung out some with Eva and her fiance Eric on Saturday night, chatting about things ranging from sports to being a doctor in Baltimore to poker to wedding preparation to how the Chen's family dog Goofy runs the entire household.

The sermon at Canaan from Pastor Tim resonated with me deeply since the way he presented Scripture (John 3:22-30) speaks to my current mental and life state. While considering things like priorities, dreams, responsibilities, and goals, I need to learn and remember that "(Jesus) must become greater, I must become less" (John 3:30). Can I learn to simplify my life in order to go deeper into a few things? Can I learn to give myself over to the Lord's presence, and not just His work? What is God's mission statement for my life? What is my plan for growth into this mission?

Hung out with a bunch of folks Sunday evening and watched the premiere of Iron Chef America (the challenger got robbed - you know that they threw the contest to the Iron Chef since he can't lose in the premiere!) as well as the World Bartending Championships, which was quite impressive with bartenders bouncing bottles off their elbows and stalling them on various parts of their body before mixing a drink. This sparked a discussion with a coworker about "What makes up a sport?" that I'll probably cover in another post.

Finally, this is a day late, but still worthwhile for a man who was flawed, but has had such an impact on the world that it is meaningful to remember his contributions to justice and societal freedom. U2 wrote this song and dedicated it to Martin Luther King Jr.

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command." - Jesus Christ (from John 15:12-14)

"Pride (In The Name Of Love)"

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...

[04:27:19 PM] Eric: ur blog is still so wordy!
[04:27:31 PM] Eric: o, my
[04:27:36 PM] Eric: it keeps going! :)
[04:27:40 PM] Bob: haha
[04:27:47 PM] Bob: sometimes I can't stop
[04:27:57 PM] Eric: i tried to read chris's comment to for a synopsis

In honor of Eric, here's a short post:

Going to the Warriors-Heat game tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing just how fast "Flash" (Dwyane Wade - and yes, that is how he spells his name) is in person. The Warriors really have no chance though.

There's plenty of good TV on these days... the new season 4 of 24 rocks, even though I haven't watched season 3 yet. That'll change over the next few weeks, thanks to Hanlin. Gotta make sure to tape Alias during the game.

I'm kicking around the idea of getting this guitar with a non-Taylor pickup.

Striving for a holy tension

Anyone growing up with any sort of connection to Asian culture has probably heard of the concept of yin-yang, and even the symbol:


I happen to think there's a lot of philosophical and applicational truth embodied here, in the idea of tension and how it permeates the physical and metaphysical worlds. I like to think it's one of the core concepts that make up my worldview, so before going into some 2004 reflections I want to describe a little bit about how I think the way that I do.

Tension can be found wherever you look. There's tension in the muscles of the hands that are typing this sentence, there's tension in the nuts and bolts holding a car together, there's tension in the strings stretched between the pegs and the bridge of my guitar. There's tension between quarreling lovers and other people that are at odds with each other. There's tension between good and evil, God and not-God, holiness and sin, what I think I want and what I know I need:

The tension is here, the tension is here / Between who you are and who you could be / Between how it is and how it should be - "I Dare You To Move", Switchfoot

I think this constant state of tension is evidence of the fall of mankind. How often do we look at our circumstances and look at the world, and bemoan the struggle and strife we can see? When Adam and Eve rejected God's authority and goodness, notice that God's curse is that of tension - the difficulty of childbirth, the difficulty of working hard to reap little from the fields, and the war between the offspring of Eve (Jesus) and the serpent (Satan).

Tension has the capability to break, when it becomes stress. If I overtune my guitar, the string will snap. If the level of tension is high in a strained relationship, a phrase or sentence that would be innocuous in any other context can precipitate a fight and a severing of that relationship. I personally know quite a few people that I would seriously wonder whether they've ever relaxed once, since they always strike me as living on a razor's edge - capable of flipping out and going every which way.

However, I believe that there is a healthy level of tension - a holy tension, if you will - that is necessary and should be striven for in the life of a Christian in order to experience God's presence, assurance, and guidance in the most sensitive and responsive way. The clearest metaphors that come to mind for this are those of 1) a horse's bit and bridle, and 2) ballroom dancing.

When riding a horse, the rider will usually strap leather bands around the horse's head (the bridle), with a metal bar in the mouth close to the soft tissue at the edges (the bit). This harness is connected to the reins that the rider holds, and is used to guide the horse. Now, the wrong level of tension in the control mechanism between the rider and the horse will result in chaos - if the bit is too tight or the horse is straining against it, the soft tissue around the mouth will be bruised and broken, and eventually callused and non-sensitive. If the bit is too loose, then no manner of yanking or pulling on the reins will clearly communicate what the rider wants from his steed. With the right discipline, however, it is possible to train the horse so that it can hold the bit firmly but gently, and be guided without pain and with the slightest touch on the reins.

In an analogous example, when ballroom dancing, it is of paramount importance for the leader (usually the guy) to have a firm, but not stiff, "frame" - in other words, the body and hand posture. When the follower is moving with the leader, connected via this frame, the leader can communicate a multitude of instructions without ever saying a word - move in this direction, spin, dip, and so on, so forth. If the frame is too limp, then the follower can't discern what the leader is trying to do, and if the frame is too stiff, then the leader is as likely to accidentally throw his partner across the floor as he is to guide her into a spin.

I think the Christian life is much the same way. I am in a constant struggle with myself, and the sin-nature in my flesh does an excellent job of obscuring the signals and instructions that God is trying to give me. Most of the time, I don't know whether I am supposed to do something, or sit back and wait patiently. As an Asian-American, culturally I've been taught that I need to be "responsible" and take control of everything, when much of following Jesus is learning to let go. It's really confusing sometimes!

I am daily striving for a holy tension - that level of being where I am in such close relationship with God that His slightest whisper or movement will be instantly clear to me. The more that I struggle, the more likely the bit is going to bruise and choke me, and the more likely I will get the steps of this spiritual dance totally wrong and fall. But, as I rest in God and stand ready to do my Master's bidding, the firmness of our relationship can and will lead to a heightened sensitivity to His presence and guidance.

In this upcoming year, I foresee many decisions and "crisis points" coming up that I'll probably elaborate on in this space. In the latter half of my twenties, I finally find myself in the midst of that awkward transition from immature to mature. It's going to take a while to get there, but hopefully I will be sensitive enough to hear my Lord's voice and surrendered enough to do as He asks.

Finally, I think there is a wonderful metaphor for this life in the idea of tension. The Fall and Separation from God has essentially plunged human history into a state of tension, and usually it's an unhealthy tension. However, as you might remember from high school physics, tension will eventually move towards resolution. Eventually, Christ will come to redeem this world and His people, and all of human existence will be resolved back to the natural state before sin came into being. If this era is like a symphony, then we are basically on that second-to-last note before the final cymbal clash that signals a triumphant end. As Sixpence put it:

Tension is to be loved when it is like a passing note to a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful chord - "Tension is a Passing Note", Sixpence None the Richer

I look forward to seeing and experiencing the end, but until then, I'll be striving for a holy tension. Lord, come quickly and finish what you began at the beginning of time.

The final day of the holiday break

Change number one for me in 2005, is I'm going to switch over from yahoo to gmail for my personal email. So, update your address books from blindman374 at yahoo dot com to boblin at gmail dot com. The easiest way to reach me though, is to keep my permanent (as long as it's free!) forwarding address, blindman at cal dot berkeley dot edu, which will always forward to my current email address.

Spent today in reflection over the past year and praying over the direction of my life in 2005. I'm still processing a few things, but I intend to post some of the lessons learned, memorable experiences, and goals moving forward in the coming days. The overall theme that's slowly taking shape: I need to grow up.

Happy New Year!

May you be made new this year.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17