Jeremy Lin: Linsanity

Unless you're a basement shut-in with no interest in sports, you've probably heard about the biggest thing in basketball right now. Jeremy Lin, a relative nobody who was undrafted, booted off two teams, and benched for the majority of his career, came exploding onto the scene as he helped the Knicks win 7 games in a row. Remember how the Knicks kind of sucked? Lin has single-handedly made them a relevant team again, and has increased NBA viewership like no one has ever done before. Anyway, what is so special about him, you ask?

Well first of all, Lin is the first ever to score at least 20 points and 7 assists in their first five starting games since the NBA we know today came into existence. He was averaging 27.3 points and 8.3 assists when he was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week; those are almost all-star numbers. He outscored Kobe Bryant (38) in the Knicks' meeting with the Lakers, and scored a game-winning 3-pointer against the Raptors with less than a second left in the game. So far, they've won 9 out of their last 11 games.

This sort of phenomenon has seriously never happened before. Demand for his shirt is through the roof, and the NBA store's sales increased by 3000%. He has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated two times in a row, and has brought so much life back to Madison Square Garden that it has been stimulating the stock market. It's not just about his stats however. When you compare him to veteran stars like Kobe and Lebron, he may not seem like a big deal. This is not what has masses of people captivated, however. It's his amazing rags to riches story; the fact that he was given virtually no chance to show what he was capable until now. Everybody loves an underdog, and his story is truly entertaining.

Now, obviously I need to bring in my opinion and discuss the hottest aspect of Linsanity: race. He is the first Chinese-American to play in the league, and the first player of Asian descent to ever make such an impact on the NBA. Now, the big question is: "is race a factor in his fame?" Basically, its yes and no. Yes, it is a factor. Asians are so under-represented in sports in general, so its a huge deal when an Asian-American is the headliner in absolutely everything. But is it the only reason? Absolutely not. Remember, the record he set (20 points and 7 assists as a rookie) is out of every player in history, not just among Asians or undrafted players. Like I said, people love him for his underdog story.

I really love this guy, mainly because he is doing so much for the Asian community. He is really breaking barriers, and I have the utmost respect for him because of that. He's incredibly humble, and apparently a dedicated Christian. Also, he's a Harvard grad; he's pretty much the perfect Asian. Let's not forget his skills with the ball as well. I've become a huge Knicks fan ever since he made it big, and I really hope for the best, not just because I want the Knicks to win, but mostly because I want him to prove himself out there as a representative of all Asians.

And by the way, to the haters that can't help but try to put him down at every turn: shove it up your ass. It's true that the media is hyping him to death (he's making people incredible money), but he really deserves everything. He's been influential to so many people, so putting him down just for the sake of doing so is just a scumbag move. People keep trying to compare him to all-star players and take every chance to kill the hype whenever he makes a mistake. He's a god damn ROOKIE, give the guy a full season first. The media hype makes it seem like he has to be superman in every game, its obviously not fair in that sense. And it's not like he's the one throwing his face all over the media. He's a basketball player, and a great one at that.

Dog Meat is Not Korean Traditional Food

If you don't know by now, I'm Korean. If there is any negative stereotype Koreans are known for, it is that they eat dog meat. Now, is this a complete and utter lie? Of course not, its absolutely true. I remember walking through a street market when I was a kid, and there were slaughtered dogs ready to be sold. What you have to understand though, is that dog meat is NOT a common food. Just because it exists, doesn't mean people consume it regularly. Saying "all Koreans eat dogs" is like saying "all Americans are Latino gang members". Nowadays, its just as unpopular in Korea as any country in the world, mostly due to the younger generation being used to keeping dogs as pets.

Anyway, the only reason I'm bringing this up is because I am sick and tired of hearing ignorant, idiotic people complaining about how people consume dog meat. There is simply no reasonable reason why anyone would be against it. I don't care what your beliefs are, they are bias and ignorant. Here are some reasons why:

Meat (and food in general) was incredibly scarce in Korea. My parents and most of my friend's parents grew up poor and starving. When you live in that sort of condition, how can you possibly afford to be picky? Most families were lucky to have a piece of meat each year. That is why Koreans started eating dogs. It wasn't present-day USA, cows and pigs weren't everywhere. They had to eat whatever they could find. This also explains why Chinese people are also known for eating all kinds of "weird" things. Do you really think starving people get to choose what they eat? If that's the case, then you are painfully ignorant.

If you're one of those people that just doesn't like the idea of eating dogs and judge people for your own personal bias, then you are also incredibly ignorant (a huge majority of people hate dog consumption for this reason, sadly). "Oh my god, how can you eat dogs? That's so cruel", they say, as they munch on their chicken salad. You really have to ask yourself: what sets dogs apart from other animals? What makes dogs so much more deserving of compassion? People eat pigs and cows and chickens all day every day, but when its a dog, suddenly its the worst thing in the world.

Do you know why you hate the idea of eating dogs? Because they're cute, and you're used to petting them and keeping them as companions. That is the ONLY reason. It's a PERSONAL and CULTURAL bias. If it was normal for society to keep chickens as household pets, we would all be grossed out about eating chickens. Its as simple as that. Western society has this horrible habit of thinking they are the pinnacle of humanity, so it is only natural for them to look down on other cultures for doing things that they are not used to. "Some things are just morally wrong!" WRONG. I'm not even going to explain why that is an idiotic thing to say.

If you're thinking "Okay, it was okay a long time ago because people were starving, but why continue to eat them?" Well, I answered that question earlier. People DON'T eat dogs these days. You'd have to look really hard, in the poorer areas of South Korea to really find any sellers of dog meat. So please, enough with the ignorance, there is simply no excuse for speaking out against something you don't understand.

Have Games Become Too Easy?

This is apparently a much-talked about issue, but I actually just realized that. I really thought I was the only one that was feeling this, and I wasn't even sure of it until I saw that other people had the same opinions. The question is this, are modern games too easy? Has the difficulty been toned down too much? Are developers too liberal with constant auto-saves? In a way, this is true. Games have definitely been made more accessible because it appeals to a much broader audience than before.

This isn't to say that all new games are just cake-walks. It's just that most serious gamers today grew up with games from the late '80's and '90's. Back then, almost every game was freaking torture. Remember the original Ninja Gaiden? Or the Contra series? Pretty much every classic platformer had it's ridiculous frustrations. Blind turns and pit-falls, limited lives, and you had to start over from the beginning if you died. There were no auto-save points. Remember how everyone made a fuss about how hard Devil May Cry 3 was? It was mainly because there were no save points. But if you stop and think...that's how EVERY game was in the 8-bit and 16-bit era.

One important point that I have to mention is that this isn't necessarily a bad thing either. A lot of people don't like it, but it's not an obvious flaw in the industry. In fact, the "easiness" is just a result of video games improving. Making tons of progress then having to restart is frustrating, so automatic save points take all of that frustration out. "Impossible" levels from the classic era were really just levels with design flaws, riddled with things like pin-point accurate jumps and totally blind turns. The same goes for boss fights. Basically, they're not technically making games "easier". They're more...fixing game design.

But anyway, I do agree that games have definitely changed in terms of general difficulty. Back when I was playing on my Super NES, every game required you to master all the gameplay mechanics and memorize every part of a level if you wanted to beat it. There was plenty of trial and error, but by the end of it, you felt incredibly satisfied. It was a long, hard fought battle. And that's precisely what modern games are missing. That sense of satisfaction. I don't remember the last time I played a game through, and really felt satisfied at the end. Every game has just been "do this, auto-save, do that, auto-save, quick-time event, auto-save". The game holds your hand for so long that by the end of this smooth ride, you think "huh? It's over?"

To name of few great games that were really just cake-walks: Assassin's Creed series, God of War 3, Vanquish, inFamous, Uncharted series. If you've noticed, these are some of the most highly rated games of this generation. That says a lot. And again, they're not bad games. Just...maybe not so challenging by the end of the day. But there's another issue here. Normal is basically easy mode now, but when you switch it to hard, it's suddenly completed unbalanced and ridiculous. I thought God of War 3 was easy, so it switched to Hard mode. My god, I was dying in 3 hits. What's with this imbalance?

What do y'all think? Are games too easy these days? If so, is it a bad thing?

Megaupload Shut Down

This place (the United States) is supposed to be the most freedom loving place on Earth. Well, recently I feel like I'm living in a place that's secretly trying to turn into a police-state. If you haven't been living in a cave in Afghanistan, then you obviously know about SOPA and PIPA. There's no need for me to talk about that. Just know that at the moment, SOPA has been pulled back due to the internet's incredible backlash. PIPA is in a similar circumstance as well. So for now, we've won. For now.

The current buzz is the shutting down of Megaupload. It's not SOPA related, but it definitely gives me the same Nazi vibe. Basically, the FBI shut it down due to it being involved in illegal activities. That's basically what SOPA was trying to do, wasn't it? It was trying to shut down entire websites for what a few individuals were doing. Well it looks like the government can do that anyway! Megaupload is one of the biggest download sites, and my personal favorite. How the hell are they supposed to control and monitor what EVERY fucking person puts on the site? I'd normally give a more intelligent argument, but I'm just furious. No need for holding back. These people are FUCKING.NAZI'S. 

Though, you can rest easy because our revenge has already been taken care of. The internet's freedom fighters, Anonymous, took down at least a dozen government websites including justice.gov and every major website tied to the music industry. That was a moment of triumph. But still, Megaupload is no more. That means a ton of things I've hosted on that site will be gone forever. That includes some links I have on this blog. Sigh...I don't know what to say. I guess I just wanted to talk about the big current event. I have nothing else to say. Just keep aware of the events that follow, and support any protests that arise again. And don't worry, they'll NEVER win. It's a few asshole politicians against this ENTIRE generation. 

As a side note...anyone else find it funny that nobody gives a shit about starving children or raising awareness for diseases on a daily basis, yet when the internet is threatened, every fucking person alive jumps on the bandwagon. I mean, its understandable. Nobody cares about anything that doesn't directly affect them. I'll be honest; I walk past homeless people, and I really, really, really don't care about any starving people overseas. And don't be a hypocrite and tell me I'm horrible, because YOU don't care either. Be honest with yourself. Either do something, or admit that you don't care. Don't be a fake.

Bear Grylls is Fake!

Actually I love the guy, and I respect his abilities quite a lot. This utterance, "Bear Grylls is fake", is probably one of the stupidest things anyone can say. I mean, its even stupid for the internet, and that's a huge deal. Seriously though, if you don't know who Bear Grylls is, you probably haven't watched Man vs. Wild. It's a show on the Discovery Channel, and what happens is, Grylls jumps into the middle of a particularly unforgiving area, like a jungle or a desert, and he shows you how to survive in that area.

He has a film crew him, who are also survival experts, and these guys are amazing because they do everything Grylls does but with camera equipment. Now, what a lot of dumbasses, or "trolls", like to do is, they like to call Bear Grylls out on a lot of stuff, and accuse him of being a fraud. There are a billion things wrong with this, so I'll run through them.

First of all, EVERYTHING you need to know is stated in a disclaimer that comes up at the beginning of EVERY episode, but obviously most people are too busy stuffing their faces to be bothered to read anything. Anyway, it says: "Bear Grylls and the crew receive support when they are in potentially life threatening situations, as required by health and safety regulations. On some occasions, situations are presented to Bear so he can demonstrate survival techniques. Professional advice should always be sought before entering any dangerous environment." 

Read that first sentence. Understand? Of course not. Alright, this is television show, right? So on a television show that they broadcast all over the country, they can't just sit back and let someone starve to death or get eaten by a lion because they're sleeping on an open field. There are these things called 'laws' that forbid that kind of bat-shit insanity. If Bear ate a grub, but he's starving by the end of the day, they gotta give him some food. He's WORKING, he doesn't do this shit for fun. People bitch and moan about their short lunch breaks, but you won't even a guy who eats BUGS a fucking break? PISS OFF.

That brings us to the most important point. Some idiots, for god knows why, seem to be under the impression that Man vs. Wild is a survival show. Well it fucking isn't. It's meant to show you HOW to survive in certain environments. Its educational. Now, there's a show called Survivorman that a lot of people compare this to. In that show, the guy actually survives by himself for a few days. But that doesn't make him any better than Bear Grylls, that's the point of his damn show. It's completely different from Man vs. Wild. Bear walks around, tells you about the resources, shows you what you can eat, then moseys on out of there. He's not trying to survive and prove a point.

Really though, all you need to do is understand that last paragraph. There's nothing fake about what Bear Grylls does. He's jumped into arctic waters just to show how to get out of it. He's squeezed liquid out of elephant shit just to get a drink. He can climb just about anything that you couldn't even get near with your fat greasy hands. He's Bear fucking Grylls.

$1000 Gold Cake

I was watching a special on the Travel channel, it was something like "Forbes top 11 indulgent foods", where it counted down the most fancy, decadent, expensive foods in the world. Among this list was a desert in a fancy restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey.

This...is a GOLD cake. And that's not just a fancy food coloring. That's REAL gold. 24k gold to be exact. And as you would expect, that little slice is $1000. It's called the Sultan's Golden Cake, and it's pretty much something out of an ancient king's ridiculous menu.

Yeah, this pissed me off a bit. I mean, really? A cake covered in gold? Is that really necessary? Is gold tasty? Its a fucking mineral. I thought it was just decoration too, but I think they actually eat the gold. WHY?! But yeah, this is why I have no respect for the wealthy. That sort of money can feed a small third world village for years, but rich people can just mosey over to a restaurant and throw it away on a fucking cake.

So to the wealthy, 1%....

Duodecim 012 Addiction

Sigh~ I really love this blog, even if it doesn't serve much of a purpose in my life and even if its not booming with comments or content. I just wish I had more time to work on it. As soon as school starts, you can pretty much forget about posts. Though, I'd like to report that...

I've been playing Dissidia 012 Duodecim, and its damn ADDICTIVE. I got this game a loong time ago, but for some reason I just never got around to playing it. Well, I randomly decided to start it up, and suddenly I found myself glued to my PSP for entire days, just playing this damn game.

It's not just the awesome, fast-paced action or the super fan-service selection of characters. Duodecim maintains that RPG element from Final Fantasy, so there's a lot of leveling up, mastering a HUGE list of battle skills, and farming for items so you can craft the best equipment. I literally spent hours just trying to get the rare components you need to get each character's ultimate weapon.

There's so much to spend your time on, and the story mode is long as hell too. I've pretty much decked out Tifa, Yuna, Lightning, and Cloud with mastered everything at Lv.100. That's how much I've been playing. It has much more content than the first game, and the new characters are great, so just pick up and play this game. If you're a Final Fantasy fan, it would be a crime not to play it.