Happy holidays everybody!!!

Before I forget, A couple of weeks ago I wrote a very lengthy blog on a TV show called "Friday Night Lights" and why you should watch it. I still stand by my claim and think it's the best show on TV. Now I know some of you out there maybe busy with work and family and I understand that. ButI still urge you to check out that show. The other day I was perusing through the world wide web and I found this great site that lets you watch your favorite TV shows for free. It's a great site that lets you watch the current or previous seasons of your favorite TV shows. The website is casttv.com. It's a safe site but I still encourage you to put up your "pop up" blockers just in case. Alright that was my gift to y'all....

With the holidays coming soon, I am stuck. Not on what to get people for gifts. Oh no, that would be a very typical dilemma. No this time the problem lies in what I want for Christmas. See, I am a very uncomplicated person. Rather than have my wife guess what I want for a present, I usually tell her what I want. This goes both ways. I hate to guess and worry if I got my wife a gift she would enjoy. I pretty much ask her to tell me and that takes care of that. Very simple, everyone gets what they wanted and end of the story. So this year, for the life of me, I really do not know what I want. I really took some time to think about this one day and really, I just drew a big old blank. Just me staring at the wall, blinking on occassion to just moisturize my eyeballs. I even started to freewrite and see what gifts would come up. The result: nothing! Nada! Zippo!

The thing with me and Christmas gifts is this: Why should I receive something from someone else when I can go purchase it myself. When I was a child, I would write a lengthy list of the itmes I wanted, either sent it to Santa or gave to my parents, wait until Christmas day and voila!
I got my gift. The only reason why I did that was because I had no money. Now I am in my mid 30's, greying at my temples, have a career, a family and a mortage. If I wanted to get something, I would just go out and purchase it. Need a new laptop? Check, I'll got to BJ's and get one. Need the latest video game? Done, just ordered it on Amazon. Need a new book on acupuncture? Did it already on Amazon. Yes, yes I know the whole argument about me being surprised and all but really if you think about it, is it really that good to be surprised? I equate being surprised to be being frightened and shocked and those words usually go with Halloween and not on our Christ savior's birthday.

So this is the quandary I am at now. I really do not know what I need. I feel like I have everything I wanted and don't need another material possesion to make me feel good about myself. I explained this to my wife and she just gave me a stare of "You have got to be kidding me!!! You can't think of one thing?!" kind of look. Now when she gives me that stare, I, too, take a step away from myself and look at the predictament I am in and just shake my head in disbelief and utter disappointment. Sad, sad, sad....

Now for a patient story. This patient will always remain in my memories because it really is one of those "WTF?!" moments. For those who do not know what "WTF?!" means, it's "What the F#@$^%?!" Still having trouble with the "F" part? Ok then...It's a four letter profanity word that begins with the letter "F" and rhymes with "firetruck". Got it? Good. On we go...

It was during my intern years at acupuncture school and it was around Christmas time. Myself and another intern, who happened to be a good friend of mine, were called to see a patient. We walk into the room and see two lovely ladies with tattoos on their arms. When I mean "lovely", I mean they were gorgeous except for the whole tattoo part because that is not my thing. Anyway, they greeted us and my friend and I just stared at each other, thinking "This is gonna be a good day!" We start doing the intake and it turns out that one of them had some minor abdominal pain. Nothing too serious, no big deal. My friend leaves the room to get out supervisor (We were both at the level 2 internship), leaving me alone in the room.

Our fearless supervisor comes in, takes a look at the chart and talks with the patients. I do not remember what they were talking about because I was too busy staring at these lovely ladies (hey I am a guy full of testosterone!) He asks one of the ladies to lie on the bed and begins to needles them. When the first needle was inserted, the patient let out a big loud moan. The kind of moan you associate when two people are engaged in....how you say....sexual engagement. I thought that was strange and thought nothing of it. The second needle was inserted and there was that moan again except it was louder than the first one. Huh? Was it that painful or pleasurable? The third one was inserted and, you guessed it! The moan but now nearing the decibels similar to a jumbo jet flying over your roof. I immediately looked at my friend and he looks at me and we had this telekinetic thing going where we said "What the F@$%##?! What the hell is going on here?!"

After the needles were inserted, we leave the room and I had to ask my supervisor about what just transpired. I simply asked him, "Dr. So & So (real name is changed), is this a normal reaction you get from patients?"

"John, people react differently to needles."

"Ok I get that. But moaning like that? Do you have some special touch we should know about?"

"Grow up would you! People react differently to pain and you should know that if you are going to be a good doctor!" he said angrily.

Well then. So the patients leave. Around that time I went home for a week to spend the holiday season and came back really not thinking about the incident too much. When I returned to the clinic, the very same friend and I were sitting around talking and he brings this up:

"Hey, you remember those two girls with the tattoos?"

"You mean the moaners? Why did they want more of Dr. So & So's special treatments?"

"Dude they came back last week and it was really, really weird..."

"Like how weird? Did Dr. So & So give them his phone number for a "special treatment" at the Motel 6?"

"No, they came in, the both of them and they had this magazine. I did the intake and peered at what magazine they were reading. You wouldn't guess what they had."

"What a porn? Like Playgirl or something?"

"No, no but close. They had an S&M magazine! They're into that kind of weird sh#@$t!"

For those of you who do not know what "S&M" is, it's sado-mascochism. To put it simply, people who are into that kind of stuff get a sexual arousal or pleasure from pain.

"Shut up!" I said.

"No seriously! She had a S&M magazine."

"Ok so what happened?!"

"I had mentioned to the girls that they had an interesting magazine on their hands and they responded that it was their hobby..."

"You actually asked them that and that's how they responded? Casually just like that?"

"Yessir, just like that. Then I went to get Dr. S0 & So and told him about this and he just got pissed!"

"Really? Why?"

"Who knows but he goes into the room and asks the ladies straight- up about their reasons. They pretty much said that they got pleasure from the needles."

"You don't say..."

"He told them that the needles might not be the best type of treatment for them and just prescribed them herbs."

We all had a good laugh about that one. As you can guess, we never saw those patients again. As for Dr. So & So, he was cool and my relationship with him got better. The moral of the story is....well I really don't know what the moral is other than that it was a good story to tell. Seasons Greetings everyone!

Patient experiences

Since somebody requested it, I will tell you two stories from my experience in treating patients. The first one began way back in the winter of 2000. I had graduated from my school, finally received my license to practice in the state of California and was just ready to join the workforce. Ideally, I would have liked to a job set up when I received my license but that was not the case. Instead, after looking through many “Want Ads” and interviewing with various facilities, I was fortunate enough to find an outpatient physical therapy company in the greater Los Angeles area. The interviewer was nice (in fact, she was the vice president of the whole operation and we are still friends to this day) and I had just gotten my first “real” job as an adult.

I would begin the following week. I was ready to treat patients and was just “buzzing” with anticipation to really make a difference in someone’s life. The moment of truth came and I was off to my first job. Now since they had just incorporated acupuncture as part of a treatment option, I did not have many patients to start out with. In fact I think that first day I had three total. Still, I saw it as a first step and was just excited that I had gotten a job which I spent numerous hours studying and practicing as an intern. Went into the office I was assigned, was greeted by the staff, and was just getting myself familiar with my surroundings. It turns out my first patient was already at the office waiting for me.

Let me give you a brief illustration about acupuncture training at a school. You are pretty much supervised the whole time. They go by four stages. The first stage, you don’t do much other than observe what the supervisor and the senior interns do. You literally sit there and watch and help out with the cleaning. The second stage, depending on your instructor, is where you do the intake on a returning patient and discuss the treatment options with the supervisor. At times, this can get boring but this where you pretty much try to apply what you have learned in the classroom into the clinical setting. The third stage is that you are in charge of every aspect of the patient care except that when you are needling the patient, you have to follow exactly what the supervisor does. The final stage is pretty much you do what you want in treating the patient and the supervisor comes in an makes sure you did everything right. Notice the theme of having a supervisor there all the time to check your work or just act as a safety blanket.

Well the first professional patient of my career was a burly gentleman with a neck and low back pain. The man was in his 40’s and was a very large man who was a big rig driver. He, though, was very soft spoken and polite despite his appearances. So I do my thorough intake and even devised a treatment plan that was suitable for this gentleman. I was ready to become a licensed acupuncturist.

I placed the first needle in his hand and what happens? The guy lets out a whimper. Seriously. This big man who could probably crush me with his bare hands, let’s out a whimper. I finish putting all the needles in (total of 8) and within 5 minutes, the patient asks me to come into the room again. I ask what was going on and he tells me, in a voice where he sounded like he was whimpering again, that he was getting nauseous and getting dizzy. These are common symptoms of what happened when someone who does not eat breakfast or any meal and decides to get a treatment (acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy, massage, etc…) So I asked him if he ate anything and his response was a “no”. I immediately took out the needles and gave him some warm water and a piece of candy to get his body normalized (very common procedure). While this is happening, my first thoughts that came to my head were “Oh Sh#@$!!! Why me?! Please don’t let this guy pass out and have an ambulance come to pick him up?!”

After a while, he was fine and able to go home on his own. What did I learn from this ordeal? No matter how much you think you are ready, you are never ready. Sadly, that was the last time I ever saw the patient. Do I blame myself for losing the patient? No, because I did everything correctly from what I have learned and was trained for. I took the proper steps and even did the correct protocol in dealing with patient. You win some, you lose some…

Another patient story I have to tell you about is to illustrate how the mind can affect the body, whether it be negatively or positively. First, let me explain a disorder called fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia, in a nutshell, is total soreness or pain in the body. There really is no reason why it happens and even the medical doctors diagnose it as an “unknown etiology” which means they don’t know why it happens. Most doctors think it’s a psychogenic disorder where the problem comes from the person’s mind and manifests into the body. All I know is that it exists. The common symptoms are just a general soreness all over the body. It’s usually diagnosed when practitioner touches specific areas of the body in a sequence and, if it illicit pain, then you have fibromyalgia. Also, there is a theory that states it could be an excessive amount of lactic acid (the reason why your muscles feel sore after a workout) build up of the body that can come from diet.

So I had two patients who had this disorder. Let’s play a game. I will describe two patients with this disorder and you, the audience, try and guess who had a better prognosis. Ready? Here’s patient number one:

A female of 37 years old complains of having soreness all over her body especially in her hips, buttocks and neck regions. She has been diagnosed with having fibromyalgia by her MD for the past three years. She has been taking many prescription drugs such as vicodin, celebrex, ambien, naprosyn, and prevacid. She is a divorced mother of three. Physically, she looked fit and healthy for a woman of her age. She states that she eats properly and has no other medical conditions. When I initially spoke to her, she was very positive in her out look of “beating this disorder” and was excited to have her treatments done. She has been receiving other therapies such as massage and physical therapy and will now add acupuncture into her treatment plan. She has also has been attending a weekly support group meetings on fibromyalgia. When asked to rate her pain on a daily basis from 0 to 10 (zero being no pain and 10 being so much pain she has to go to the emergency room), she rates her pain at a 9.

Ok for patient number 2:

A female of 67 years old complains of having soreness all over her body especially in her hips, buttocks and neck regions. She has been diagnosed with having fibromyalgia by her MD for the past seven years. She has been taking many prescription drugs such as vicodin, celebrex, ambien, naprosyn, prevacid and vitamin supplements. She is a retired grandmother who lives with her husband. Physically, she looked fit and healthy for a woman of her age. She states that she eats properly and has had a history of having high blood pressure and two surgeries (one for fibroid removal in her ovaries and a herniated disk in her low back). When I initially spoke to her, she was very polite but neutral in her outlook of how acupuncture would help her. She has been receiving other therapies such as massage and physical therapy and will now add acupuncture into her treatment plan. She has also has been attending a weekly support group meetings on fibromyalgia. When asked to rate her pain on a daily basis from 0 to 10 (zero being no pain and 10 being so much pain she has to go to the emergency room), she rates her pain at a 9.

So can you guess from the information I have provided who actually did better with the treatments? If you guessed the first person, you would be incorrect. It turned out to be the second one. Here is a brief breakdown of why.

Patient one, while initially positive in her outlook, was a very non- compliant patient. She rarely attended her appointments and, when she did make it, she was always late. Late, as in she would come in 10 minutes before we were closing. You may think “ok maybe she’s working” but the truth was that she was unemployed. “Ok she has three kids and they take most of her time.” Well she has a hired nanny to watch them three kids. The thing that got me about her was this: She was so negative. Negative about her life, her kids’ lives, her current situation and all. She would constantly tell me that she was “going to beat this disease!” but, deep down, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I even suggested to her that she go and meet some of her friends and just take it easy or go to the park with her children on the weekends just to relax. Her response was that she had no friends she can trust and that her children stress her out more than her condition. Ooookkkaaaayyy then…. Every time she came into the office, it was complaint of some sort about her life, her condition, her future. Even I was getting depressed just listening to her half the time. Also, when asked about her pain rate from the 0 to 10 scale on every one of her visits, it was always a 9. No changes whatsoever.

Patient two was, at first, let’s say a tough nut to crack. She thought what I was doing was not going to work. Well after the first treatment, she became a believer and was doing quite well. She came to all of her appointments and, after the first visit, she was actually a very pleasant person with a positive outlook on life. A very religious woman, she and her husband not only attend church but also participated in other church functions such as volunteering and singing in the choir. She also spends a good amount of time with her friends playing bridge every weekend. Every time she came into the clinic, she would often talk about many topics such as religion, what she did at church over the weekend, politics, cooking recipes and even boxing. She always had a smile on her face and was really one of those patients I enjoyed treating. Her pain scale at first was a 9 but after receiving 3 months of treatments for 3 times a week, her pain went down to a 4 where she states that her condition was tolerable.

So what’s the whole point of this? For one, if you are pleasant with your practitioner, they will be pleasant to with your treatment. Give us a reason why we want to help you. Don’t come in and complain all the time. We, too, are people and hate to listen to why your life is miserable. We know that and we’re doing our best to help you. Put it this way, I have to listen to "X" amount of people complain all day about their bodies and their lives. What makes your story so special that I will do something miraculous? Come in with a positive attitude and I will feed off that energy and make your treatment experience a positive one too. The second point is that while you may have physical symptoms of pain, the best thing to help alleviate that isn’t a magic drug. It’s having a positive, stress free mind. You will be surprised by what the mind can do. In Chinese medicine they say the governor of the whole body is…you guessed it! The mind. The mind will control the body. Having stress in your mind will cause your body a lot of unnecessary burden. Where do you think the phrase "He's got the weight of the world on his shoulders.." comes from? Stress can make you not only crazy but it will show up om the body as well. They usually appear around the neck and shoulder ares.

Keep in mind that to be healthy all around, it begins with your head. Get your head right and everything else will follow.

Tiger, Viruses and Bruce Lee...Oh My!

What’s with this Tiger Woods story? Is it really a surprise that he actually cheated on his wife? C’mon let’s not be totally naïve about this and think that Tiger was an innocent and pure soul. Think about any person in high profile or celebrity role. No matter how they appear, you know it’s not the whole truth. When I found about the news that Tiger Woods crashed his car near his driveway and heard that his beautiful wife had to use a golf club to get him out, my initial thoughts were this (this is the actual, God’s honest truth where my wife can verify) “Boy he must have cheated on his wife and his wife was using the golf club to beat him up!” Think about this: How many people in this world actually have a golf club nearby so they can break car windows? That’s the first thing that came to mind as well. Was there a golf club lying around the driveway on the Wood’s family property like most of us have rakes on ours? You can argue that since he is a professional golfer that he would leave his golf clubs around the house. I would counter that and say I am an acupuncturist and I know I do not leave needles around my house for my wife to poke me with. Let’s face it, any high profile athlete like Tiger is bound have a “cheatin’ heart”. No matter how good his public image may be, history has shown that many athletes especially if they are portrayed “too good to be true” will always have a some sort of infidelity in their lives. I will name you some athletes who have very positive public images but were caught cheating. Ready? Here is a brief sampling:

-Michael Jordan

- Kobe Bryant

- Dale Earnhardt

-Muhammed Ali

- Patrick Ewing

-Martin Brodeur

-Shaquille O’neal

- David Beckham

- Alex Rodriguez

-Roger Clemens

- Chris Everett Lloyd

- Greg Norman

- Magic Johnson

Those are just some of the samplings. I think there should be a scientific equation to detect if a sports star is going to cheat. Sort of a probability equation if you will. If your sports image is too perfect, they are likely to cheat on their spouses. I am no mathematician and have no clue on how to devise such equation. Just remember, if the celebrity seems to be too good to be true, just know they will stray from their spouses or significant other.

This past week, my computer has been bugged. I opened up an email and, lo and behold, it was a virus. This caused such a headache. So much that I lost my patient files that I usually save on the computer. Thankfully I have hard copies of their paperwork and billing in their charts but the whole ordeal was a problem. To those who created these “Trojan horse” viruses, “What the f^%&$?! Why the hell are you guys doing such a sh#@@$$# thing!!!” Because of this, I was unable to attend my Wednesday night seminar because it took literally three hours to reboot my computer. Luckily, I was able to retrieve my school and some valuable documents but to lose the files on my work….Man don’t get me started. I am still fuming about that I lost over 150 patient files. 150 files!!! Do you know how many man hours was put in this!!! So last night was not a happy household at the Kim’s residence.

Now I would like to share a true story of how I met Bruce Lee’s brother. I used to live in the Los Angeles area and worked at an outpatient physical therapy clinic in El Monte, which is about 20 miles east of Los Angeles. I was employed as an acupuncturist and treating most orthopedic conditions. One of patients happened to be Robert Lee. He was a very soften spoken, mild mannered man who wore glasses and was slightly overweight. Robert and I got along great and I enjoyed having him as a patient.

One day of the front desk informs me that Robert was actually Bruce Lee’s brother. I guffawed at such notion and told her that it was an old Asian trick that he pulled. Any Asian person with a last name Lee always claim to have some sort of familial relations to the great Dragon (i.e. “Yeah Bruce Lee is my unlce” or “I’m Bruce Lee’s third cousin removed and remarried and adopted nephew on his mother’s father’s side”). I was incredulous that the front desk girl actually fell for this old trick. Well Robert came in and I asked him “Hey Robert, why are tricking these ladies?” and the following exchange actually took place.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean by tricking?” said Robert.

“C’mon now. Why are you pulling the old ‘Bruce Lee’ is my relative routine?”

“Because he is my brother!”

“Get out of here! Look I’m Asian as well and know that routine since I was 5.”

“John, Bruce is my brother!”

“Ok, if you say so…”

“Next time I see you, I will prove to you that he is my real brother!”

“Please do…”

As you can tell, I was very dubious about Robert’s claims. The next time I came into the office, Robert was there with a bunch of photo albums and other items with Bruce Lee on it. Time for me to eat my own foot…

I looked at the photo album of Robert’s and, lo and behold, there was a family picture of him and his brother. There was another picture of them as kids as the “Immortal” Bruce Lee was holding his infant brother. There was another one where Robert and his brother stood side to side, smiling endlessly like any family members would do when they love each other. And there was another where Robert is just standing still and we see Bruce doing a flying kick over his head. Robert even brought an old album that he recorded with his brother’s help which was a folk song album titled “What Kung Fu means to me”. On the album cover, there was Bruce Lee in his menacing pose ready to beat the living tar out of someone while Robert was in the background smiling peacefully.

“Hey look Robert. I apologize to you if I ever doubted or offend you in any way.”

“It’s ok, John. I never lie about my family.”

We talked a while about his brother. I was and am still a huge fan of Bruce Lee for many reasons. The obvious was that he was a small guy who just whupped anyone that messed with him. The other and more importantly, was that he was actually the first person to make Asians and Asian culture to be seen as cool. Prior to that, Asians were portrayed negatively on film and in print. It didn’t help that with World War 2 and the Vietnam War, the portrayal of Asians, in general, were downright racially offensive. I looked back on those images of Asians and it made me angry as a young man. Then in came Bruce Lee. Not only was he a good looking guy but this guy with all of his flying kicks, fast punches and the use of nunchucks would beat any man down who crossed him. He wasn’t the biggest man in the fight but he was the toughest and would let his opponents know firsthand. Because of his visibility, he made Asian culture to be cool. Many wanted to learn his fighting methods and were influenced by the beauty of the culture as well. I really admired him for that.

After talking to Robert for a while about his brother, I learned a lot about my idol. Here are some facts:

- Bruce, as a young man, was a wild child. So bad that his father actually made him learn Kung Fu to be disciplined. It didn’t work because he got into more fights. His father, tired of his actions, sent him away to America on his own at age 17. This is like a very extreme version of “I kicking you out of my house” but only move across the Pacific Ocean.

- Bruce, prior to being a movie star, struggled a lot and led a tough life alone in America. He did receive a college degree in University of Washington but he literally paid for his education working at various jobs as a waiter to even a Chinese food delivery person.

- Bruce was the only one of siblings who actually fought. The rest pretty much did other things. Robert was into music and said that “I am a lover, not a fighter like Bruce.”

- Guess who holds the entire fortune to the Bruce Lee estate? His widowed wife and daughter. How much did Bruce Lee’s actual family received? None. Zip. Zero. Nada. Plus, his wife Linda, has pretty much distanced herself from rest of his immediate family.

- Here’s a surprise. Guess who meets with Robert on a monthly basis to have lunch. The mistress that was with Bruce when he was found dead. They meet every month for lunch and pretty much talk about Bruce and his life.

- One of the hardest thing for Robert to deal with was not the death of his brother. He kind of knew that something bad would happen with him (he was one of the pall bearers for who carried his coffin). The toughest thing he had to deal with was the death of his nephew, Brandon Lee. He said that he knew him ever since he was a baby and he always loved him even though he did not get to see him much. Still, Robert never saw him as a Bruce Lee’s son. He just saw him as the little nephew that he always knew and loved.

Well that was my brush with a legend in an obtuse way. One more thing I want to mention before I end this. Since we have like 3 units left, do any of you guys want to hear about some of the patients I have treated in the past? I will not be using any real names. I have been doing what I have been doing for the past 10 years and I have encountered a lot of wacky situations. Let me know and please comment on it…

We're being invaded!!!1

For those who do not know, I love playing video games. Ever since I had my Atari 2600 to my Colecovision to my Nintendo to now Playstation 3, I just love playing them. Why? Simply because I get to role play as a hero, football player at my old college, soccer player in Europe or even an up and coming crime lord. Are games violent nowadays? Yes but there are plenty of games out there that are not. But I recently purchased a game and, let’s just say, it bothered me quite a bit.

I purchased “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”. For those who are not familiar with the game, it is fictionalized account of…well modern warfare in the world. Played through first person point of view, you take on roles of different soldiers from different divisions in the English and American military. That action is fun and realistic. Plus the story makes sense in this game. There are plenty of “Call of Duty” series and they are very entertaining to play.

In the latest edition, there is a segment where you are an undercover CIA agent infiltrating a Russian terrorist group. While doing this task, you and your fellow terrorists attack an airport and start gunning down innocent bystanders. You literally have to shoot and kill innocent people at the airport. If you don’t your cover is blown and you cannot advance through the next stage. There is an option where you can skip the stage but if you do, you’ll be missing a part of the plotline. Because of this act of brutality, the story unfolds where Russia now invades the good ‘ol stalwart USA. The rest unfolds like the events you probably remember in movies like “Red Dawn”.

So why did this bother me? For one was the act of shooting innocent people. In games like this, you pretty much have the good guys and the bad guys. You try and eliminate the bad guys and try not to harm the innocent. Now I have played the whole “Grand Theft Auto“series and loved every minute and detail of it. Those games were violent and, yes, you do a lot of questionable things but the plotline was great and most of it was pretty much stupid humor (For those who say that it promotes violence and drug use, I say to them, play the game first and then compare the protagonist of the game to the protagonist of “Les miserables” or “24” or “House” or “The Godfather” series and any gangster movies made on film and then tell me what the real difference is). I have played the whole “Call of Duty” series and they never had anything remotely disturbing like this. That act of shooting innocent people pretty much blurred that fine line of good and evil. Do I think it helped the game’s plot? Yes. Was it necessary to be put into the game? Maybe. I know that playing games are form of escapism where you are in a fantasy world. Still that game, that scene, that act made feel terrible for a while and it just bothered me. Maybe the fine that has been blurred is reality and fantasy.

Speaking of invasions, has anyone caught the series “V” on TV lately? I remember the original back in the early 1980’s and thought this was going to good or equally interesting like the original. So far, not so much. For those who do not know the original series, it was about these aliens coming in big spaceships (I wish for once an alien would come in a economy sized spaceships instead of a massive one), promoting peace and sharing their highly advanced alien technology with the human race. But their real motive was to drain the earth’s water supply for their use and use humans as… as food! Plus, behind their human exteriors, they were nothing more than …..reptiles! The show was about the aliens against a rebel group of paramilitary human resistance groups. The original show had very strong under/over tones of Nazis. It was pretty much an allegory of Nazi activities and a “what if” the Nazis were strongly opposed by resistance groups. Now the 1980’s version was pure fantasy and it was fun. Ok, I was like 6 and scared that a nuclear was imminent and just like the whole idea of “us versus them” mentality. Oh, the original “V” was a mini-series and had sequel miniseries and a regular, short run series.

Now the “V” of the current has pretty much the same premise except with some changes. For one, all of “V’s” are really good looking. I really mean that. Now comparing the old leader of the 1980’s series to the 2009 version, there really isn’t a comparison. The 2009 version is about a million times much hotter. That’s not all. Even the other “V’s” of the 2009 version is really, really good looking. The 1980’s had a mixture of old people with the young to make them look like a real population but the 2009’s “V’s” look like either models or good looking actors….

In the 2009 version, the story is well… pretty much a political commentary on our current lives. It takes a very obvious jabs at the current Obama administration especially with the hope of universal health care coverage. It’s not even a subtle jab. Oh no, it’s very blatant. They also mention about the current flu crisis and how people tend to over-react to it. Listen, I enjoy any political or social satire as anyone (I am a proud fan of “MAD” magazine and watching “South Park”) but somehow, this version of the show seems, for the lack of a better word, lame. Lame as in that I do not feel that there is a threat. Even when they revealed that the aliens were reptiles, I wasn’t that shocked. In the old version, when you saw the aliens as reptiles, your reaction was “Oh my God! What the $#%#! They’re lizards?!” This time around, I just reacted “Oh look…it’s a reptile…”

Maybe the current version of the show is still in its early stages and it’s supposed to be a series and they are just building it up. The old version was a mini-series and they had to show pretty much everything in three nights (whatever happened to mini-series? I remember all the major networks had them every Sunday night….Some good TV came from mini- series like “V”, “Roots”, “North and South”, “The Thornbirds” and “Lonesome Dove”….whose bright idea was it to take them away?) but still the old version clearly set the line of humans good, aliens bad. The new one…well…not so much…Maybe it’s because it has to do with the alien leader. In the old version, a female alien leader named Diana, just looked menacing and evil. So evil, you wouldn’t want to sleight her in any way. The new one is named Anna and she looks like a super-model. Call it the “stupid guy” mentality. No matter how mean or cruel a woman can be, as long as she is looking super-duper, super-model hot, you can’t but try to be in her good graces. She could’ve murdered a whole town and you would actually feel bad for her because she looks that fine. Well Anna in this case is that fine. Maybe I am that stupid guy….Still the current show lacks that big shock factor and seems to be content on taking jabs about our current politics. I will still watch the show until the end of the season but they better show something. Right now, I kind of like being invaded by good looking aliens.

Review of "500 Days of Summer"

“To die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die…”- The Smiths

It is this phrase that confirms the main character from “500 Days of Summer” that he has truly found his soul mate. The movie which stars Joseph Gordon Levitt (the kid from “3^rd Rock from the Sun”) and Zooey Deschanel (an exact clone of Katy Perry) is a romantic comedy but not in the conventional sense. I will admit that I am not a big fan of the romantic comedy genre because they seem unrealistic in pretty much every way. The plots of these movies are, in an essence, “romanticized”. I will also admit that when I heard the premise of the movie, I assumed that it was another “romanticized” movie with a tacked on happy ending. Only reason I decided to watch it was because I had seen Mr. Levitt’s work in another movie (“The Lookout” ; Another well done movie)and became a fan of his. It was because of my new admiration for the actor that I was able to find this pleasant movie.

The story is about Tom, a greeting card writer and his relationship with a co- worker named Summer (now you see where the title is coming from). Tom believes in destiny and “love at first sight” ideas while Summer is the exact opposite and does not believe in true love. Now you’re probably thinking “How did these two ever get together?” That occurs when it is revealed that both of them are fans of the British band, The Smiths. Like any couple, they go through their shares of highs and lows and sadly, ends with them drifting apart.

The movie is not linear. It does skip from different time period to different time period but before each scene is shown, the day number is shown. This may cause some confusion about the happenings in the plot but it’s not too difficult to follow. The chemistry between the main actors is great. They look and act like how a couple who are involved in relationships should act. Credit the actors’ abilities and how they react to each other. While the movie is told from a male perspective, the viewer can relate to both the female and male aspects. For me, I related to the male perspective more.

My two criticisms for this movie would be the ending and the main character’s interpretation of the movie “The Graduate”. The plot is credible, but there are some parts that seemed “tacked” on especially the ending. The ending is believable but I felt it was added on to redeem the main character in some way. As for “The Graduate”, Tom saw it as a movie about true love. How he got this interpretation, I do not know. Anyone who has seen the movie knows that it was about people making rash decisions and not being aware of the consequences of their actions.

I enjoyed the movie for many reasons. One of them is that I was Tom. I actually went through the exact emotions he did during the movie. I remember those moments when I met a girl and she had similar interests I had. At that moment, I thought this person was the one. I also recall those moments when you first start a relationship and the overwhelming joy you share with the person. You are just caught in this whirlwind of never-ending happiness. Sadly, I also remember the pain of having my heartbroken when our relationship ends and left me as a confused, mumbling mess trying to figure out what went wrong. I remember all of them and glad I went through it. It is these emotions that makes us, at times cynical of love but also more experienced in finding the right person for us. Call it one of life’s lessons on how to grow old gracefully.

In one aspect of the movie, towards the latter part of the movie, it does give a female perspective on why Tom and Summer’s tryst ends. This is one of the first times in a movie that actually gives an honest reason why the girl ends the relationship. It isn’t melodramatic. It’s a simple reason. For some guys or gals, at that moment, we are not able to comprehend the reason but in hindsight, we can only assume that “it just wasn’t meant to be”.

If I had to give a grade on this movie, I would give it a solid “A”. It isn’t a masterpiece and will not win many awards but it is a movie that is honest. The actors are played very believably and the plot is something that anyone who has ever been in a relationship can relate to.

Back in 1993, my high school history/ sociology teacher was talking about cultures and he had mentioned a book he had read called “Friday Night Lights”. He was talking about how high school football in certain parts of this country had become the town’s main focus and how they players were treated like royalty not only by the school but by the whole town. They are idolized as heroes. At first, I thought he was talking nonsense and decided to pick up the book myself and check it out. The book by HG Bissinger is an excellent read. The book is true story which deals with not only high school athletics but the social and racial effects within a small west Texas town. I loved the book because it showed the glamour and glory of high school football but also gave a realistic and honest portrait of these young men who have high expectations thrusted upon them to succeed only on the field, how most of them see their football performance as the only way out their hopeless town, and how they are glorified by the town when they play but then discarded when they graduate.

There was a movie made based on the book which starred Billy Bob Thorton, Derek Luke and Lucas Black and directed by Peter Berg. Although the film was well made, due to the time constriction of the movie, they only barely touched on topics like race relations and really did not go in depth with the characters and their lives like in the book. Then I heard they were making a TV series of it in fall of 2005. The show is produced by Peter Berg, the same director of the film, with Jason Katims, a well knoqn TV drama writer. I will be honest and say that I missed out on the first season (I had a lot of things going on in my life and watching anything on NBC was not a top priority). After reading some positive reviews on it, I spent my $22 at Target and purchased the first season. One word to describe the show is: brilliant!

Similar to the book and the movie, the TV show is based on a high school football powerhouse in a West Texas town except the school’s name, the town and the characters are changed. However the shows premise of how high school football affects this town and its denizens are still intact. In the first season, a new coach arrives into this town with his family and how he has to deal with the pressures of leading his team to a state title. He has to deal with his player’s egos, the town and their team booster’s pressure to succeed and how to deal with his family life as well. While the theme of the show is about football, the actual game is rarely showed. It acts a setting, so to speak.

So here are the reasons why I love this show and why you should check it out:

1) The story is amazing. While football is just used as a setting, the show is mainly about the characters of this town. You have the young coach dealing with his team, the boosters, his wife and family. You also have the wife who not only shares his joys of victory but also the stingy criticism from the town when he loses a game. You have the young, cocky black running back who shows his swagger on and off the field and how he will risk everything including his health just to get a college scholarship. You have a young and unproven quarterback, thrusted into the lime light after a team tragedy and how he copes with his new stardom and his home life. You have the brooding fullback who comes from a dysfunctional family who pretty much floats through life. These are some of the dramas you will see but the catch with them is that they are all portrayed realistically. There is no fantasized dramas you see from soap operas. These characters honestly react to the situation they encounter. My suggestion is this: Watch the first episode. If you are not honestly engaged after just watching the whole first episode, you have no soul and maybe reality TV is for you.

2) These are characters that you actually want to see succeed. So many shows nowadays have anti-heroes as their protagonists (ie. House, 24, even Lost). Why would you want someone you know if you encountered in real life and would immediately think of them as jerks, want to succeed? From the coach to the players, you get a very detailed description of who they are. At first you may not care but, after getting to know them, you actually want the best for them and hope that they attain their life goals and dreams. The way each character is written and developed, you feel like you have known these for most of your life. I have never really cared about TV characters until I watched this show. You actually feel every lows and highs they encounter and just want to root for them to get everything they wish for.

3) While the show is critically acclaimed, the show’s viewership is low. Even after the first season, there was a threat of cancellation. The first season was finished where if it was cancelled, they show would have ended nicely. The show was brought back again for the second season and again the threat of cancellation. Then the third season was brought back and again cancellation threat. Now in its fourth season, the show is better than ever. Credit both the actor’s performances and the writers for delivering an engaging story and causing a rabid fan base of this show. Every season is concluded in a way that if the show was cancelled, you would be satisfied with the outcome of it.

4) The story told in the show is very relatable. While the show is centered around football, it is mostly about the people in the town. You can relate to their situation whether it be their family, financial and even racial. It deals with real life problems that we all deal with. If you do not perform to your company’s expectations, you get fired right? Well that is what the coach deals with everyday and every game. The threat of his and his family’s livelihood being taken away when he does not win. The struggles the quarterback has as not only being the “QB1” but dealing with being a student and working a job to support his grandmother with a mental disorder. The situations and how the characters react to them are real life. You know these situations because you have either been in them yourselves or you know of someone personally who has.

The fourth season began not too long ago and, I have to admit, it is so far becoming the best one. Season 1 was an introduction of the town and it was still a great season, in terms of, the character and plot developments. Season 2 was not their best but was just good enough. Season 3 was phenomenal. I thought it was the best one out of all of them until the fourth season so far. I won’t ruin it for anyone but let’s just say it does have a deep allegory to our current economic conditions and how we try and rise up from. I really do think this an under-rated show and am shocked how this show can have such low viewership. Please go check out the show and I would love to get your opinions on it.

If I caught someone using my stuff without my permission...

This is an interesting question: What would I do if I caught someone using my work without my permission? Like anybody out there who was a victim of theft, I would begin to cry like a little school girl who got teased by a boy at the playground. Ok maybe not that extreme but I would first wonder the "why's". "Why would you steal?" or "Why can't you just give me the credit when it was due?" or"Why the F@%#%# did you steal my work?!" The obvious thing to do is to hire an attorney and make try to make a "case of the century" on plagarism and request a ridiculous monetary compensation. But I think that would take too much time and effort and also, I would end up paying for the legal bills. I can go through the thug route and find out where the the criminal lived and just beat him up. But then I would end up getting arrested and pay the legal fees. This is a tough question to answer.

On one hand it isn't a physical theft. It's not an item where a person needs it to physically live. For example, a while back I was waiting outside at a supermarket and saw this homeless man stealing a big jug (not a bottle) of vodka with the alarms going off. I immediately notified the security guard. Why? Because he was stealing liquor. Does he need a jug of vodka to survive? No. If he was stealing food, I probably wouldn't have ratted him out because he needed that food to live and he was hungry. When someone steals my work especially in print, it's more of an intellectual theft, the stealing of my thoughts and ideas. I guess I would end up asking them why they did it and suing them. That seems like the logical thing to do.