May 28, 2010  •  In Art/Design, Personal, Sports

2010 World Cup Murals

There are exactly two weeks left until I become a soccer widow.

While J and I share enthusiasm for basketball and football, there is one sport where we do not stand on common ground: soccer.

Having grown up in Hong Kong and attended boarding school in England, J is a HUGE soccer — ahem, football — fan. His team of choice is Manchester United and he will be avidly cheering for England in two weeks. He even had a friend in Hong Kong find, and ship over a vintage England jersey for the event!

Me? I can care less about soccer. (According to J, I am too “Americanized” to appreciate the sport.)

Since the FIFA World Cup only takes place every four years, I am fully prepared to take the back seat to soccer for a month and let J enjoy his favorite sport. He will be hosting and attending parties, staying up late to catch games that are playing live, and partake in the drunken debauchery that usually accompanies the most popular organized team sport in the world.

Is anyone else looking forward to the 2010 World Cup?

While it is clear that I am not a big soccer fan, I will try my best to root for my home country, South Korea. I may be an American citizen but I will always have pride for my native country. And besides, S. Korea has had the most success and holds the most promise of all the Asian teams.

My favoritism (and bias) for Korea has already reared its ugly head. Earlier this week, J and I noticed the new 2010 World Cup murals posted on the side of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Times Square. J let out a chuckle as soon as he located the England one.

“Why is that funny?”

“The three people on the poster, the number 66…nevermind, you won’t understand. You need to know the history of the England team.”

I shrugged off his answer, and my eyes started roaming for the Korean mural…

…and there it was. It was easily the most striking and powerful mural of the collection. At least in my eyes.

Take a look at the rest of the 32 murals, commissioned by ESPN and illustrated by the South African design studio AM I Collective.

Algeria
Algeria
Argentina
Argentina
Australia
Australia
Brazil
Brazil
Cameroon
Cameroon
Chile
Chile
Denmark
Denmark
England
England
France
France
Germany
Germany
Ghana
Ghana
Greece
Greece
Honduras
Honduras
Italy
Denmark
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast
Japan
Japan
Mexico
Mexico
Netherlands
Netherlands
New Zealand
New Zealand
Nigeria
Nigeria
North Korea
North Korea
Paraguay
Paraguay
Portugal
Portugal
Serbia
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Africa
South Korea
South Korea
Spain
Spain
Switzerland
Switzerland
Uruguay
Uruguay
USA
USA

Which mural is your favorite?

Which team will YOU be rooting for in two weeks?

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May 28, 2010  •  In Twitter, Web

Uniqlo’s Color Tweet

The Japanese retailer Uniqlo has released a completely useless but fun web app called Color Tweet. Just enter your username or keyword(s) to a dazzling animation filled with music, your icon, and tweets!

Via Boing Boing.

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May 28, 2010  •  In Baby, Christianity, Touching, Web

A Priceless Moment Caught on Video

Baby Jonathan was born deaf. At the age of 8 months, he received a cochlear implant. Watch the implant be activated for the first time…

I totally bawled my eyes out watching this video!

Via haha.nu.


ETA: Some of the comments on the YouTube video page can be upsetting/offensive to theists. I personally praise God for granting us wisdom and technology. Religion and science can co-exist. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

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May 28, 2010  •  In Funny, Geek

Superhero Term Papers [Peter Parker is a Suckup]

Via Comics Alliance.

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May 28, 2010  •  In Geek, Information, Web

The 1000 Most Popular Sites in the World

Today, Google released a list of the 1000 most popular sites in the world.

The list isn’t entirely accurate, as they left themselves off the list (they would’ve been #1). However, it comes to no surprise that Facebook and Yahoo easily take the top two spots by a large margin.

Browsing through the list, I couldn’t help but notice three things:

  1. The most popular category seems to be “Social Networks.” We are all connected, people!
  2. I was surprised to see that the most popular porn site — http://www.game2.com.cn/ — is at a disappointingly low #135. Then I read that adult sites are excluded from the list…so how did Game2.cn make the list? It turns out that it’s an adult fanfic site. I guess fanfic doesn’t count as “adult content” in Google’s eyes? But the question still remains: what is the most popular porn site in the world?
  3. There are NO personal blogs on the list. Is the personal blog dead?

Are you surprised by anything on the list? 

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May 27, 2010  •  In Baby, Cute, Web

Iron Baby

I know this video has been everywhere today, but I couldn’t resist sharing…

Enjoy!

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May 27, 2010  •  In Art/Design, Asian, Personal

Teabag Coasters

Being Chinese, J and his family are the ultimate tea snobs. My in-laws bring with them fancy, expensive tea whenever they come to visit and rarely does a day go by without their drinking at least a few glasses of an infusion. They even specify which types of tea to drink with different dishes, and even the best types of tea to drink at different times of the day!

Me? I can’t even tell the difference between green tea and black tea.

I have never seen J drink tea from teabags (“Tea connoisseurs NEVER use bags!”) but I like to think that he would appreciate the beauty of this packaging design as much as I…

Via Yanko Design.

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May 27, 2010  •  In Personal, Wedding

Cake Envy

When J and I were planning our wedding, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our venue would provide a cake at no extra cost.

SCORE! We thought. One less thing to plan, one less vendor to deal with, and one less thing to worry about.

We chose our cake from an album of “typical” wedding cakes, chose the flavor and filling, and that was that.


photo by Danny Weiss

At the time, we thought that spending the extra money for a spectacular wedding cake was a waste of money. Cakes are to be eaten, not admired. We were sure that no one would even notice if we were to spend an extra $1,000 on a cake.

And you know what? I’m sure that 99% of our guests did NOT notice. Most of them did not get within 5 ft of the cake, and even if someone noticed the slightly uneven frosting, they certainly did not say anything.

However, I cannot help but experience a little cake envy whenever I see a sensational wedding cake. And with the growing popularity of over-the-top, unique, and/or whimsical wedding cakes (and with Carlo’s Bakery from the TLC show Cake Boss just down the street), it’s hard to avoid such images.

What kind of cake did/will you have at your wedding? Were you happy with it?

If I had the extra money, I probably would’ve invested in a nice groom’s cake for J — something geeky like video games, or somehow related to his favorite sports team. I’m sure he would’ve loved even a gruesome cake like this, designed after the game Left 4 Dead:


via Nerd Approved

At the end of the day, I force myself to remember that a cake does not make or break a wedding. And that if we had gotten a magnificent cake, we would have been reluctant to cut into such a work of art — even if it meant cutting into zombie parts.

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May 26, 2010  •  In Geek, Movies

It Must Be ‘Back to the Future’ Day [Great Scott!]

FIRST…

SCI FI Wire has re-produced five famous sci-fi movie quotes in my favorite data representation format: the infographic.

My favorite? “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need…roads.”

Hit up the link for more, including quotes from The Matrix and Ghost Busters.

SECOND…

I can’t think of anything better to say about this, so I’ll directly quote The Best Article Every Day:

The ‘Back To The Future’ Mind F*ck, 25 Years Later

That’s right, Back to the Future just blew your mind 25 years later. Anyone who says they’ve noticed this before is a liar.

Seriously…DID anyone notice this before?

You can’t help but feel bad for the people who thoughtfully included this detail, because I’m sure that more than 99% of the population completely missed it.

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May 26, 2010  •  In NYC, Personal

Yes, That Was Me Who Caused the Mass Backup in the Tunnel…

This morning started like any other. I woke up, took the dog for a walk, and quickly checked the mirror for eye crusties and hair peaks before running out the door to drive J to work.

(Yes, I know I don’t have to drive him to work. But I like to, especially in the past few months as he’s been working super-long hours and I’d like to squeeze in as much time together as possible.)

15-minute delay in the tunnel? Check. A-hole NYC drivers who challenge my driving dexterity with every move? Check. Pedestrians who ignore all traffic laws to make driving in NYC even more difficult? Check.

In other words, nothing unusual.

I kissed my husband goodbye as he rushed inside to make his morning meeting. I began my drive back home, and as I entered the Lincoln Tunnel I breathed my usual sigh of relief — because once I enter the tunnel the drive back is usually a breeze.

The key word here is ‘usually.’

About midway through the 1.4 mile trek, ALL the lights in my dashboard lit up.

“What the…”

Then I noticed that the car was slowing down. I pressed down on the gas pedal with no results. Luckily, the brakes still worked…

I stopped the car and turned on my hazards. I shut off the engine.

Honk! HOOOONNNKKKKK!!!!

“Hold your horses,” I muttered under my breath as I restarted the engine. No problems there. But wait…all the lights in the dashboard continued to stay lit, and the car STILL refused to move.

Crap.

I continued this song and dance for the next 5 minutes or so, as I frantically tried calling 311 (no one answered, btw), then J. He said that he would look up a number to call, and advised me to call our insurance company for roadside assistance.

Shut off engine, turn on again. Press the gas pedal. Nothing.

“Thank you for reaching Geico. If you would like to file a claim, press one…”

Shut off engine, turn on again. Press the gas pedal. Nothing.

The phone suddenly turned silent. I was dismayed to find that I had lost signal. Frick! Signal in the tunnel, underwater, is flaky at best.

HONK! HONK! HOOONNNNNKKKKKKKK!!!!!

I was about to lose my mind.

Then, just as I was about to pull a Marge Simpson and just GIVE UP, to say “To hell with all of you!” and have a nervous breakdown right in the middle of traffic…

…I saw distinct flashing blue and red lights behind me.

THANK GOD.

I waited patiently for the officer to make his approach. He sure was taking his jolly time. Then I noticed —

He wasn’t drawing any closer to me. He was drawing the traffic behind us further away.

Then it dawned on me.

DOES HE THINK I’M A TERRORIST??!!!

I let out a frustrated sob and tried the accelerator once again.

The car started forward. THE CAR WAS MOVING!!!

I cautiously continued to accelerate. The cop noticed, and began to follow (from a safe distance, of course).

He shouted over the loudspeaker, “Continue moving forward until we’re out of the tunnel. Bear right.”

I did as I was told.

Luckily, the officer was very understanding and sympathetic of my situation. He pointed me to the closest gas station and wished me luck.

The car is currently at the mechanic, getting a full diagnostic. I am praying and hoping with all my might that the repair costs will not be astronomical — we have already spent over $1,000 in the past month in unforseen, emergency expenses and the baby fund has taken the blunt of that hit.

What a morning…

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