Trick or Treat…has been hijacked!

Some of my more interesting childhood and young adolescent  memories involve Halloween. I was either giving out candy or trick or treating. Those days are long gone… the excitement of dressing up, asking your friends what they are going to be, where they are going to go trick or treating. Those who did not want to go ask for candy got together with their friends to go bag snatching. Whatever you decided to do during halloween, you could do it without fear… of kidnapping, of knocking on a child molester’s house, of getting poisoned or hurt. Nowadays, it is scary to go beg for candy and give it out because of fear. Some parents like me, are leary of taking my kids to go trick or treating because I don’t know if I can trust other people to not put something in the candy. My own kids have accused me of being a party pooper because instead of being excited about Halloween, I give them a lecture on the “big bad wolf” who is out to get them. They are just kids, afterall but how can I balance my fear as a parent with their excitement. I don’t want to ruin their fun! I want to see the sparkle in theri eyes as they put on their masks, their custumes or make-up like I did when I was a kid. I want to tell them about the time I was my favorite comic character: wonder women and how my siblings laughed at me because I looked drunk stumbling over the curb because the hole in the mask was too small. I want to tell them about the time when I was a punk rocker during my senior year and how my friends and I were berated by the old people for asking for candy. I want to tell them about the time when my bags was so heavy because it was filled with candy, money, bags of chips and fruits… I want to let them enjoy their Halloween but trick or treat has been hijacked by the “bad people”, like the child molester a street over, like the gangster running around trying to find their rival to beat up or the purely evil people who wants to put razor blades and poison in the candy!

Jon Foo starring in Tekken

A couple of months ago, my cousin had called me to tell me that she was an extra on a new movie called Tekken.  Before she could tell me anything else I was screaming in her ear. Of course, I heard of Tekken I told her because we have the game.   I’m not good at it and most of the time I don’t have time to play it, but I love the graphics. 

I still remember when Street Fighter was made into a movie and then Mortal Combat.  Needless to say, most people probably think they were both cheesy and horrible, but I still love it.  Once again I love any movie with martial arts in it.  I’m sure Tekken is going to be much better because the of the cast.  My cousin couldn’t tell me much because she signed a confidentiality contract, but she did tell me that Luke Goss was in it.  Here are some more info about the cast:

1. Luke Goss:  he starred in One night with the King in which he played King Xerxes.  The movie was a good story about the Jewish people and how they were rescued by Queen Ester who was married to King Xerxes.  At the time, Jews were getting persecuted because of their religion and Queen Ester risked her on life to save her people. The other well known movie he starred in was Hellboy II as Prince Nuada.  Of course, some people couldn’t tell it was him because of all the make-up.  In Tekken he plays Steve Fox. Picture below of the character from firstshowing.net website.  After Tekken he stars in a comic book adaptation with Jenna Dewan in Magdalena as Kristof.  Whatever, movie he stars in I will definitely watch since he is talented and not bad on the eyes!

2. Jon Foo:  he is going to play the character Jin Kazama is an amazing Wushu master.  He actually is part of Jackie Chan’s stunt crew. When he starred in Onk Bok as a villian, the was in the major fight scene with Tony Jaa.  I remember  thinking that he was such a good martial artist, but my attention had been focused on Tony Jaa.  Knowing Jon Foo’s martial arts background, he will definitely showcase his skills as Jin in Tekken.

3. Cung Le:  he is going to star as Marshall Law. I fixed noticed him fighting in the MMA against Frank Shamrock.  I was blown away that a Vietnamese mixed martial artist defeated Shamrock who has been around since the beginning of the UFC. According to Wiki, “Cung Le is undefeated in his professional San Shou career (17-0-0). He has won three US Open International Martial Arts Championships (1994, 1995,1996). He has also won 4 US National Championships.”  He is definitely talented.

Mor lam: Lao traditional music

I love listening to all types of Lao music, including the more traditional mor lam which means expert singer or expert song.  According to Google mor lam , “Typically features a theme of unrequited love, mor lamalso reflects the difficulties of life in rural Isan and Laos, leavened with wry humour. In its heartland performances are an essential part of festivals and ceremonies”.  The more traditional mor lam is accompanied by a khene.

One interesting type of mor lam is mor lam glawn (หมอลำกลอน) which is a vocal battle between the sexes and it has two main parts.  According to Swisspedia,  the two main parts are:

 * lam tang san (ลำทางสั้น) — (“short form”) took up the bulk of the time, with the singers delivering glawn poems a few minutes in length, performing alternately for about half an hour each from evening until about an hour before dawn. They would pretend gradually to fall in love, sometimes with rather explicit sexual banter.

* lam tang yao (ลำทางยาว) — (“long form”), a representation of the lovers’ parting performed slowly and in a speech rhythm for about a quarter of an hour.

If you really think about it, this back an forth takes an accomplished musician to master breath control because the mor lam has a very specific rhythm and flow.  Also, the person who plays the khene must also have breath control to be able to continuously play for hours. I wonder if these musician have a six pack because of this?  Just a  wild thought!

 Another type or version of the lam glam is the lam jot.  According to Swisspedia, “lam jotgae or lam jot (ลำโจทย์แก้ or ลำโจทย์) is a variant of lam glawnformerly popular in the Khon Kaen area, in which the singers (often both male) asked one another questions on general knowledge topics — religion, geography, history etc. — trying to catch out their opponent”. I find this vocal battle between the sexes interesting because it reminds me of the MC battles in the hip/hop world where one rapper verbally “attacks” the other MC to make him/her look bad.  The objective of the MC battle is very similar to the mor lam because both “singer” is trying to outdo the other and in a way make the other musician look unskilled. If you really want to see a good example of an MC battle just watch the movie 8 miles starring  Eminem. 

Now that am more educated about mor lam, I can actually say it is one of the oldest form of Lao  ”rap”. Also, now that I know more about the different types of mor lam, I can see why my parents and their friends were laughing and snickering when they were listening and singing it. I’m almost positive now that their lam contain some “adult” issues.  I guess I was too naive back then to understand!

The next time I go home, I am going to ask my mom’s friend if she can lam for me.  She was pretty good singing mor lam especially when she was drunk.  I have to give her some credits now looking back at all those gatherings at my parents.

Overall, mor lam singers are prolific story tellers who are able to entertain us for hours!

OneRepublic

Image from google images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izRNYB-d_N0

I love this new band because they remind me of Savage Garden for some odd reason.  Most people have heard of their song, “Apologize” because it had heavy radio play.  Now their song “Stop and Stare” is getting the same attention.  I especially love “Stop and Stare” because the words reminds me of how we all get ’stuck’ in life’s problems once in a while.  Some of us, forget who we are. Some of us forget what is important in life.  Some of us, fool ourselves into thinking we are moving in the right direction, but realize later that it is not what we want. I can ramble on forever about the different things or images I get out of this song,but then it would only be my opinion!  I love these lines because it reminds me of the importance of looking at where we have been in life to help us figure out where we are heading in the future and why.

Stop and Stare,  I think I’m moving, but I go nowhere

Yeah I know everyone gets scared, but I’ve become what I can’t be

Stop and Stare, you start to wonder why you ‘here’not there

 

Another of their song, “Say” is also a really good song. This song is beautiful! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ-4f9GP92Q

 

Geocaching: A modern twist to scavenger hunts

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LMHZcgM11GU

This weekend, I took thirteen members of the club I sponsor from school to San Diego on our first trip out of town. I talked my secretary and my co-worker in going along as drivers and chaperones.  While most people would shudder at that thought of taking thirteen teenagers anywhere, these two brave soul was enthusiastic and excited about the trip. 

Brian, one of my chaperone, is also a history teacher.  He was excited about going with us because the trip would provide him with the opportunity to do some geochaching (pronouned ‘geocashing’). The kids and I asked Brian what the deal was and he said it was a scavenger hunt using hand held gps systems to locate “treasures” people hid all over the world in different places.  In order to get clues to where the “treasures” are, people can go to geochaching.com.  Once at the site, people can get the clues as well as the coordinates left by others as a guide to the items left. Here’s a history behind geocaching from geocaching.com that better explains it.

On May 3, [GPS enthusiast], Dave Ulmer, and a computer consultant, wanted to test the accuracy [of GPS systems]by hiding a navigational target in the woods. He called the idea the “Great American GPS Stash Hunt” and posted it in an internet GPS users’ group. The idea was simple: Hide a container out in the woods and note the coordinates with a GPS unit.

The finder would then have to locate the container with only the use of his or her GPS receiver. The rules for the finder were simple: “Take some stuff, leave some stuff.”

On May 3rd he placed his own container, a black bucket, in the woods near Beaver Creek, Oregon, near Portland. Along with a logbook and pencil, he left various prize items including videos, books, software, and a slingshot. He shared the waypoint of his “stash” with the online community on sci.geo.satellite-nav:

N 45 17.460 W 122 24.800

Within three days, two different readers read about his stash on the Internet, used their own GPS receivers to find the container, and shared their experiences online. Throughout the next week, others excited by the prospect of hiding and finding stashes began hiding their own containers and posting coordinates. Like many new and innovative ideas on the Internet, the concept spread quickly – but this one required leaving your computer to participate.

Within the first month, Mike Teague, the first person to find Ulmer’s stash, began gathering the online posts of coordinates around the world and documenting them on his personal home page. The “GPS Stash Hunt” mailing list was created to discuss the emerging activity. Names were even tossed about to replace the name “stash” due to the negative connotations of that name. One such name was “geocaching [geo meaning 'earth' and cache meaning 'hiding place"].

So far Brian has found 575 geocache, two of which he found on  our trip to San Diego wth my club kids.  Number 574 he found in Balboa Park in the Butterfly Garden, close to this huge tree.  He used the clue and his GPS unit to locate the items left by another geocaching enthusiast.  We witness his discovery of the waterproof brown plastic zip bag with butterfly items in it.  There was a rubber butterfly stencil and a little butterfly notebook inside.  He wrote: number 574 founded with the IFEC (my club) from Kofa, Yuma, AZ. The kids and I were excited as him for this “treasure”.  When we went to Coronado Island, he found number 575 on the beach. 

If you love scavenger hunting and have a GPS unit then this could potentially be the next great adventure you are looking for.  This idea of ” sharing things” by ” taking some stuff and leaving some stuff” is brilliant because we all love a good “treasure” hunt because it tests our own cleaverness. For more info in case you would like to start your own hunt, go to geocaching.com.

The Forbidden Kingdom

April 18th is a day I’ve been looking forward to!  Finally, two of my favorite martial arts master will star in a movie together.  This would definitely be a movie I will buy once it comes out in theatre.  I can never get tired of watching any films by Jackie Chan and Jet Li. 

Thailand captures arms dealer

Tonight I heard on the news that Thailand captured an elusive arms dealer.  What is interesting is the fact that he is an inspiration for the move: Lord of War.  It is scary to think that there are people such as Mr. viktor Bount who goes around selling weapons to rebel groups, terrorist and anybody else who pays the asking price. Men such as Mr. Bount is scary because he has no allegiance to any country or anybody except to himself. We are fortunate that we have agencies and countries who work together to capture these men.

Sukiyaki

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I love the song Sukiyaki.  Bird Thonghai sang it in a soap I saw years ago.  My memory is kind of sketchy, but I think when he was singing the song, he was sitting in the floor at a low table… he might have on a Japanese outfit… he sang the song in Japanese.  I fell in love with his voice.  I didn’t understand what he was singing, but I loved the song.  The American version is also great, but the Japanese one is beautiful because of the lyrics … the images are poignant and touching. The words in this song lingers even after the last note dies out. It reminds me of the sweet fragrant smell of honeysuckle that clings to my senses even though I no longer have the blossoms underneath my nose. It’s sweetness and beauty is always there in my collection of memories and thoughts… waiting for me to reach for it when I need or want it. Just like the honeysuckle, I have filed away the memory of how that song makes me feel, temporarily set aside, but never forgotten.

A song is memorable to me when it leaves an image imprinted on my mind long after I have listened to it. The portrayal of love and lost in this song still affects me in a profound way. I love the lines “I look up when I walk by so my tears won’t fall” because I think all of us can identify with the times where we struggle to hold in our tears for whatever reasons and force ourselves to swallow the lump in our throats… the unmistaken wetness welling up in our eyes and our refusal to let those tears fall.

A true Laotian is…

 Ginger’s post at Laoplanet, ” What it means to be a Laotian” motivated me to write a response to what I think it means to be Laotian. The main reason why I started this word blog was because I wanted to open a dialogue about Laos and what it means to be Laotian. I grew up in a very traditional Laotian household and am convinced that many people, my generation included, have forgotten what it really means to be a true Laotian. There are so many people I know from my generation who have become americanized since they have emigrated here. It’s one thing to assimilate into the American culture to fit in, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget your own culture! If that is the price to fitting in then it’s not worth it to lose your own cultural identity! It saddens me to see such a large number of Lao people who have forgotten or are ignorant of their roots, their culture and heritage. Screaming ” Lao pride” or “Lao forever” is not going to cut it! That doesn’t prove that you are a true Laotian. It only shows that you have a big mouth! Actions speak louder than words! What I find ironic is that some of us can’t even say ” Lao pride” or proud to be Lao in our own language. This is a tragedy because how are we to impress upon our children the importance of keeping our language alive if we have to explain it by using the English language only. How can we expect our children to have pride in their cultural beliefs and traditions if we don’t value it enough to remember or model it. Parents are responsible for passing on that knowledge to the younger generation, the ones who are born here need all the help and guidance they can get. A true Laotian is …1. someone who speaks the language 2. someone who values their cultural beliefs enough to practice it 3. someone who remembers Lao traditions and is not afraid or embarrassed to live by it 4. someone who remembers their roots and is proud of it. I wrote an essay earlier, Ten Indicators that you grew up in a traditional Laos household that complements this topic so please read it because it will help you understand what a true Laotian is.The Lakorn “Pleng Ruk Rim Fang Kong” is a good example of what it means to be Laotian. Yes, I do realize that Pem the main character is Thai as well as the other cast members, but the story itself expresses the ideal or typical characteristics or traits of Lao people. For example Champa, the young girl in the lakorn is portrayed as modest, sweet, proper, obedient, shy, respectful and conscientious. Traditionally many  Lao girls are brought up to be modest in dress, manner, and behavior just like Champa and in fact like Alexandra the actress who portrays her. As a Lao girl you are taught to always be proper in front of others to show them that you respected them and are conscientious of your behavior, word or deed because you are a representative of your family. That means no walking around half naked or acting heekill when they are not with you. When Champa spent the night in the forest with Pem and the others  , she could have taken advantage of the situation by doing whatever she wanted with him because her mom was not there to tell her no, but she didn’t. She continue to act properly and so did he. Another valuable traits among Lao people is obedience and this characteristic is depicted by Champa and Pem. They both try to obey their elders in every situation and respect their opinions by complying with their wishes .  Both characters show their deference and respect for their elders in the way they act towards them.  The majority of the time they listen to their parents without talking back. The Lakorn is a good example of ideal behaviors for Lao people of all ages and sex.

Lao/Thai Soap Opera

Pleng Ruk Rim Fang Kong Lakorn
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

I just got done watching the Lao Lakorn (soap opera) starring Weir and Alexandra.  I can definitely confess that I was obsessed with that love story!  Thank God for Darly at Saolao.net for posting the episodes! I was like a druggie who was hooked!  The Lakorn was so good because of the chemistry between the two lead actors.  Also the songs were awesome.  In fact I liked the songs so much I ordered the CD from eThaiCD.com.  If you have nothing better do or needed to be reminded of what a good Lao love story is then you need to watch it.  Saolao.net has all the episodes. I love the story because it shows how traditional Lao courtship is  like: sweet and tender.  The Lakorn reminded me of my teenage years growing up as a young woman in the Lao community. It brought back memories of how the young Lao men showed  how they liked you through sweet compliments and songs. The guys took the time to make you feel special and pretty through with their teasing.  I don’t think dating is like that anymore.  I think we rush through the process of getting to know someone because we get toobusy or just plain lazy to put too much effort into winning someone’s heart.