Virgin Blog
Like they say, you never forget your first time. Welcome to blog #1.
So, why the new site? Easy. I spent the summer in Yokohama, mostly getting tattooed by Horitomo and Horiyoshi III Sensei, but also trying to polish my rusty one-year-of-barely-passing-college-Japanese-course as well as challenging myself to get around in a place I didn’t fully understand. That, plus I just plain love Japan.
Made a few friends there, and quickly realized that Japan rules over the U.S. in several technological areas, particularly the way they navigate the web …
In the U.S., our cell phones bite. I knew they were bad here, but we’re probably five years behind Japan and Europe at least. We get ripped off for basic service from garbage companies with stupid advertising slogans that continually merge into each other (I thought AT&T by itself was bad). Everybody in Japan navigates the web with their mobiles and they do it quickly. Quick as in we’re out to karaoke and my friend Take gets on his phone and scores a 30% off coupon outside the front door in about 30 seconds. That rocks.
So that means by 2010 or so the American mainstream will be primarily navigating off our mobiles. Which means my techno friends will be doing it in two years. Which means the old site needed to go. Just not tiny screen-friendly. Plus, I wanted a space where Hapas could post some photos and statements. Many props to my man George “grhythm” Avelino for his tireless work on getting this baby up and running.
The Hapa book is out, as probably anyone who is reading this already knows. I’m very stoked on it and it’s a lifetime goal accomplished. Photographing over 1000 Hapas across the country was tremendously educating and rewarding. I just wish we could have put more that 114 in the book. Who knows, if it sells well we might do another one. In the meantime, please post your image and statement on the Hapa communite section of this site if you like.
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful emails. It means a lot to me that so many of you are touched by the book. It’s why I made it. Responses are running almost 100% positive, which is great. Plus, the three or four negative reactions we’ve gotten out of several hundred say a lot more about the people writing them than the project itself. I’d post them here, but there’s no sense pouring salt in the wounds. I figure if you go that far out of your way to attack an author or a book, you probably just need some more love in your life.
Couple Hapa Project gallery shows coming up in San Jose, San Francisco, New York, and L.A. … check the upcoming shows for more info.
On other notes, swam my first swim meet in 18 years this weekend. Went a 22.4 in the 50 and a 49.3 in the 100. Not bad for an old guy.
Final thoughts:
• We have a Chinese guy staying at our house who won’t stop feeding my dog, so if anyone can tell me how to say “Please stop making my dog fat” in Mandarin, I’d appreciate it.
• Spent the weekend in Valencia, CA. Is there any place on earth that looks more generically unidendifiable corporate Starbucks/Olive Garden/Applebees crap? (Silver lining: eventually found a Whole Foods on our last day, so got to pay $8 for a bowl of soup.)
• When a man is sitting in his car driving 60 in the 101 South fast lane and won’t let you pass no matter how many times you flash your brights at him, it is an absolute that once you eventually are able to pass him, he will then speed up and stay directly on your tail. Women just move over or ignore you. Simple.
• Kaavya Viswanathan the teenage-Harvard-$500,000-Dreamworks-no-I-don’t-think-so-but-I-just-have-a-photographic-memory plagiarizer. Have you ever seen so many people so giddy about someone getting busted? A basic result of how hard it is to publish nowadays and how frustrated good writers are with all the crap being pumped out. Sure, there’s some schadenfreude, but I’d trade the scandal any day to be able just once to walk into a bookstore and not see a head high stack of The Da Vinci Code. Plus, who’s to say it wasn’t planned somewhere? Ebay is selling her crap books for bank.
• Applebees bites. “Hey there! Would you like to try one our Friday shrimp specials?” God.
• Today there were some kids running around screaming outside our house trying to launch a kite. They never really got it into the air, but it was great watching them. Just nice having kids around outside.
• Speaking of kids, got to see my goddaughter Anna yesterday and she is officially the cutest kid IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
• So now Bush tosses his staff after they’ve been loyal to him for years because his ratings are tanking? Nice. How about the guys who hand out CIA identities like internet coupon codes, lie about WMD’s so we can invade a soverign country, or dress up pseudo-scientific anti-global warming research or simplistic religious superstition as “science.”
• UCSB observation. Miniskirts and Ugg boots now being replaced by miniskirts and cowboy boots. Either way, yikes.
• Of course I’m rooting for the Lakers, but you have to give it to Steve Nash. When a funky white guy with a David Cassidy haircut can play like that, something is right with the world.
• Can we stop talking on cell phones in restaurants yet? How about soon then?
• And men at swim meets with beards like Kenny Loggins who wear $300 royal blue full body Speedo racing suits should consider not continually gawking at my fiancé when she is obviously with me and obviously annoyed by your incessant tongue lagging. Yes, she’s very attractive. Now leave us alone or I’ll smoke your ass in the 100. Again.
Thanks for reading. Bye. K