It's Christmas time again Charlie Brown !
Saturday, December 10, 2005
When I was a kid, I thought the general theme of the movie was just watching Charlie Brown mess up his Christmas play and act like the ol' blockhead that we know and love. I totally missed Schluz's commentary on the 'commericalization of Christmas' that distracts us from the Christian meaning of the holiday (try getting away with a message like that these days !)
It's such an old cartoon, but when you think about it, the subtext of the movie is incredibly poignant and provocative in today's day and age. Poor ol' Charlie Brown, frustrated about the crappy little tree that he bought, cries out:
"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"
Linus stops sucking his thumb for a second (he even drops his blanket, *gasp*) and responds to Charlie Brown with a word for word reading of the nativity story in Luke 2. Just in case the audience didn't get it, he ends by calmly asserting: "that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown".
Heh, talk about a bold cartoon. I know there's been a lot of controversy over this subject (aka. Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas - the never ending debate), but Schluz made a simple statement - sure, holiday traditions and 'Christmas cheer' all help to make the season something to look forward to, but those things should never replace the need for reflection during Christmas. Definitely something to think about this month :)
~~~
Well, it's off to the Philippines for me again. Hope you guys all can have some fun and relaxation at home (or wherever you may be), and enjoy the cold while I sweat to death in Davao.
Best of luck with exams, and God Bless (^_^)
Posted byCharles Ang at 12:53 AM 0 comments
Chronicles of a Boy and His Tiger
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Well I know how I am going to spend 100 bucks.
My favorite comic series of all time, Calvin and Hobbes, complete in one very cool hardcover collection. This sounds cheesy, but this silly comic strip had a big impact on me when I was growing up - it enriched my vocabulary, engaged my mind with Calvin's little philosophical inquiries (I love the commentaries that Watterson made on mass media), got me into drawing comic strips and cartoons, and literally defined "imagination" for me.
*Charles Trivia !*: In grade 6-7, I wrote and drew 4 issues of a comic book I entitled "The Magnificent Three", a spinoff of all of Calvin's alter-egos: Spaceman Spiff, Stupendous Man, and Trigger Bullet. Pretty geeky, but fond memories none the less.
Speaking of Geeky, I am also adding this book to my 'buy-from-Amazon' list:
Excerpts from the book are already pretty funny, and the book has some pretty cool 'pop-art' illustrations that go along with its pearls of wisdom.
FIND A WEAPON
Your pathetic human hands are useless here. Choose a blunt or pointed instrument (serrated edges don’t work against metal or durable plastic). Even a simple crowbar can save your life – you can run away while the robot condescendingly bends it into a pretzel shape.
Hehe I think I am the only person who buys these kinds of things (^_^). In terms of what's new in my life... uh not much, essays and law school applications have kept me busy 24/7. Tomorrow I'm going with friends from my club to talk with people about religion and Christianity. I'm a bit nervous about that, but who knows: maybe I can miraculously transform into an extrovert? I think that would be definite prove of a God (^o^)
That's it for me - Best of Luck surviving Midterms :p
Posted byCharles Ang at 10:39 PM 1 comments
A Bit of Art
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
I don't think I've posted any artwork in a really long time... I'm usually way too lazy to bother drawing any good quality sketches these days...
No color pics; just some sketches that I decided to scan in while I was browsing through my sketchbooks:
This first one is from first year; for some reason I decided to draw little avatars of characters from the books we read in Arts One. I think I drew them for a card we were gonna give to our professor, but we scratched the card in the end... i don't really remember why.
I drew this one fairly recently... It's my version of Cedric Diggory from The Goblet of Fire. Cedric was a minor character, but I liked him... highly skilled yet very modest and down-to-earth.
*Spoiler Warning*
It was a pretty big shock when he suddenly died in the book. The movie will definitely be good... definitely will be better than the first three movies I would think.
A set of posters came out recently and they look pretty cool - it ain't no kiddy stuff any more >:)
Posted byCharles Ang at 10:06 PM 1 comments
Casa de Pipo
By the way, Pipo = me. I'm sure some of you remember that all my relatives call me by that name - dun ask me why though :p.
Anyway, I got around to taking a few photos of the townhouse my sister and I are living in:
The space might look bigger than it really is - The first floor is just essentially a large room that includes the front foyer, living room, the dining room, and kitchen (o_O). Of course, most of the furniture and fixtures that you see come from Ikea ^o^, although the coffee table and TV table come from a Chinese furniture store in Aberdeen Centre.
Most of the appliances (fridge, microwave, etc.) came with the place, and I picked out a LCD TV from Costco for a really good price - those Koreans can make a decent flatscreen. The kitchen hasn't been used a whole lot... my sister and I are only starting to learn how to cook some things. I've mostly been experimenting with the George Foreman grill, which I highly recommend for its versatility ^_^
I'll give you guys a call when I get in town :D
Posted byCharles Ang at 12:00 AM 1 comments
Wednesdays are cool now.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Every wednesday I have a 3 hour class in the afternoon. Sounds pretty crappy, but the class is on Japanese cinema - we watch a new Japanese movie every week, and have a short discussion afterwards.
In September, we're covering movies by Akira Kurosawa, who happens to be a mighty impressive cinematographer from the 1950s. Last week we started watching "Seven Samurai", a movie about a village of farmers who hire seven samurai to save their village from a group of bandits. It sounds like a simple plot, but the movie has a lot of depth to it, and it's got a healthy dose of comedic relief and samurai 'kewlness'.
This is a great quote:
- Gorobei Katayama: You're good.
- Heihachi Hayashida: Yeah, yeah. But I'm better at killing enemies.
- Gorobei Katayama: Killed many?
- Heihachi Hayashida: Well - it's impossible to kill 'em all, so I usually run away.
- Gorobei Katayama: A splendid principle!
- Heihachi Hayashida: Thank you.
Marching Bands of Manhattan
Posted byCharles Ang at 8:02 PM 0 comments
Comes around once a year
Saturday, September 10, 2005
It's that time of the year again.
No, it isn't crazy hat day. It's my birthday - the big 2-1 to be exact.
I already had a nice little dinner party on my behalf last weekend at Kirin - it was short and sweet, just as I like it.
I got a good amount of hong bao (red pocket) money this year, so I should invest it properly... hmmm, ipod or xbox 360?
Hehe, well unfortunately I can't celebrate too much - the October 1st LSAT is creeping up, so it's back to practice drills for me :_(
Thanks to Eric for his anime birthday e-card - it was highly appropriate (^^)
Yui - Feel my soul ~acoustic version~
Posted byCharles Ang at 1:12 AM 3 comments
Revise and Recap
I think this is chuckang.blogspot.com ver. 05 already.
Anyway, I switched providers, so any images that were on my shaw server are gone, gone, gone :p
It's been about a month since my last post (which is about average for me) - here are some things that have happened since then:
Finished my second summer school course (obviously >:P)
Wow, if I was smart I would've just gone to school in the summer.. I dunno if it's because profs give u more slack in intense courses, if my profs liked my writing, or if I was just really lucky, but I've gotten my highest mark ever in this course. Don't be a fool - take summer school.
Eight trips to Ikea, Four trips to Linens&Things, Three trips to Costco, and Two trips to Home Depot
In other words, I finished moving. The place is still missing a few things, but it's more or less shaped to our liking now; by 'our', I mean my sister and mom's liking... I just ordered a few coffee table books - a taschen architecture book, a book about business cards, and the book of exodus ala Brick (not u Eric... but Lego ^^). I'll post photos of the place later.
Family road trip to Portland (aka P-town) and Seattle (aka Emerald City)
At some tourist spot in Portland
At the Farmer's Market in Seattle
Eating @ Todai - buffet sushi and seafood >:)
The first Starbucks Evah !
At the Experience Music Project in Seattle... a pretty cool museum for American music
My sister and the crazy guitar... upside down pyramid thing....
I like Banana Republic.
Space Needle
The fish throwing guys!
Words of wisdom from KC
... and finally, the mandatory artsy shot (^o^)
Posted byCharles Ang at 12:22 AM 0 comments
Photo Addendum
Friday, August 05, 2005
Hmm I didn't know about this blogger photo add-on... it's much better than the old way of doing it, especially since you can actually post multiple photos now...
Anyway i'm posting some extra Philippine photos here cuz i'm too lazy to log onto imagestation as well hehe
The banana boat ride was a.. painful experience.. we managed to all fall off 5 times within 30 minutes, although my sister managed to fall of an extra 2 times neheheheIt probably wasn't the smartest move for nick and me to both sit in the back either :p
Weird....
The ol' familiaAnyway, I'll keep this post a short one... I finally finished that project on fast track proceedings, so I can hand it in tomorrow :p Then i'll have to spend the weekend writing an essay (another one on Iraq lol), and cram like mad for the final on friday. Then its moving time... ugg moving stuff from my room here to the new place will be a pain... but i get to try and be like edward norton in fight club and ikea the place up (wow wat an obscure reference).
Once this course is done, I'm thinking of posting alot of photos from this year and last summer on my imagestation account... so thats incentive for u calgary ppl to go make an account. I know you all wanna relive memories of Eric's dancing prowess >:)
Posted byCharles Ang at 1:36 AM 1 comments
Oh yah, the baton
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
As promised, I'll pass this 'mp3 inventory baton' around...
pretty self-explanatory, just copy and paste (^o^)
‧ Total volume of music files on my computer.
Uh... probably around 20 gigs + old mp3s on CDs...
‧ Currently playing.
move - Rage Your Dream
‧ The last CD I bought.
Garnet Crow - I'm Waiting For You
- Do As Infinity - what you gonna do ?
- My favorite song from my favorite jpop band (^_^)
- Matt Redman - heart of worship
- My favorite worship song
- YUI - i feel my soul
- New favorite.. got me back into jpop recently
- Rene Liu - hen ai hen ai ni
- Uh.. this is the only song I can sorta sing @ karaoke, lol
- ? - forbidden love
- I have actually never heard this song sung or played by whoever wrote it, but I borrowed the piano music from my cousin and I really like the melody. I played it so much that it's more or less memorized (^-^)
Sheridan
Eric
Wong
Mike
Chiann
Uh these are the only ppl I know who might actually take the time to do this hehehe..
(er yah.. i pretty much stole the entire layout from you Winnie, hehe)
Posted byCharles Ang at 2:29 AM 3 comments
Back to Western Civilization!
Back from Davao, Philippines, where my grandparents gather their children and grandchildren almost every year. I've been there so many times that the trip has become boring, but I have to admit that it was much better this time around. My uncle installed DSL into the house (finally!), and we didn't have to go to a single extended family dinner! Instead, I spent my time there bumming around the house, catching up on my reading, watching Korean and Taiwanese channels, playing badminton, hockey, and golf, joining in a couple of dance lessons, swimming, and playing WoW and Halo 2. Having a wireless network throughout the house makes things soooo much better.. I hate feeling disconnected for three weeks and missing out on everything.
For example, if we didn't have internet, I wouldn't have known that
HOCKEY IS BACK !!! sweeeeet...
(hehe the pic is from a car rally...that's me in the Canucks jersey btw)
Its been so long since I saw a hockey game... can't wait for the new season to start. I don't really have much of an opinion on the new shootout rules, as long as it's hockey, it's fine with me...
Uh hopefully this won't affect my GPA, hehehe...
Well I have actually taken several photos during my trip, but I decided to post them on Imagestation. I keep forgetting to use this site.. it's pretty good for larger collections of photos. Click on the photo to get the link, but you'll need to make an Imagestation account to access it (it's not that hard :p).
I'll add some better photos to the album once I steal some of the photos off of my sister's camera... they're all still in Davao while I left early for another summer course. Aaargh midterm in a week already?? Term 1 will seem slow and easy after this (-__-)
Posted byCharles Ang at 1:59 AM 0 comments
Catching Up With My Old Saxaphone Buddy
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Well, today was a treat :)
I had lunch with Danny, Matt, and Anne before Danny headed off to Indonesia for his missions trip. I also got to meet little Lemuel for the first time, Matt and Anne's 2-month old baby. 
Hehe, he's got quite a bit of hair.. just like his dad :P
It was great catching up with everyone; I haven't seen Matt or Anne since their wedding! 
Haha, i have to admit, it was a little weird watching Matt as a father... he's still the same ol' fun-loving, back-breaking bear hug guy (^_^). They had a bit of a scare when Lemuel was born, but thank God that he seems to be doing okay now (his voice is definitely strong :p). Matt and Anne are hoping to enter the mission field in the next four years - until then, I'm sure they'll have their hands full raising their son :). Makes me wonder what i'll be doing in four years... probably articling (-____-) 
We also saw Danny off at the airport before he flies to Singapore (and later to Indonesia). Haha i warned him about their gum (yes guM, not guN) policy... last time I went, I spat out my gum in a trash bin and everyone stared at me like some sort of felon (o_O). He told me in a few years he could 'cook' my books for me... i stared at him for a while, thinking he had gone crazy (it's apparently an accounting term which I obviously never heard of before). I'll bet he'll have tons of fun over there :)
Hmm.. well i'd better get back to my essays/exams that are closing in very quickly... why did I take these intense summer courses again? Maybe i'm the one going crazy :p
Posted byCharles Ang at 5:09 PM 1 comments
Essays in the summer ?? Madness (*o*)
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Hmm... so this is summer school...
Heh I just started last monday and my midterm is on wednesday already :p
Each 3 hour class is equal to a week of classes in a normal term, and yet people still skip anyway - doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of taking an intensive summer course? ( heh w/ever, they can just boost up the average >:) )
Anyway, I had to sign up for this course since I'm leaving for the Philippines in a couple of weeks... that's gonna be ohhhhhh so much fun... cuz you know... after going TWENTY TIMES... it's not boring at all... and I REALLY enjoy my grandma giving me the same old lectures.... (<-- very bitter & sarcastic grumbling)
Well at least I got to catch up with the Calgary gang (^_^)
The weather over there was ... kinda apocalpytic actually... In all seriousness, there was a bunch of flood warnings because of all the heavy rain ( I hope its died down by now). Hehe, it seemed sunny on one day, so we tried to play a game of soccer - of course, once we were in the middle of an open field it started to hail like crazy (-_-)...
Other than that, my break in Calgary was pretty fun.. I was doing well in poker until Meera cleared us all out ( Honestly, who gets a four of a kind in texas hold em?? ). Heh, it was nice seeing you guys... hope the bible study goes well :p
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to Calgary (again)... I DID, however, take some photos at my friend's R/C booth at Driven to Perform (mod show). My cousin and I brought our Mini-Z's and helped look after the practice track; hehe we kinda cheated... our cars have upgraded motors, so they're faster than the practice cars (but they didn't know that :p) 
I'm not very big on Mod Shows... I definitely preferred the Pacific Car & Light Truck show. Basically, there was an army of R34s, S2Ks, one Ferrari and one Lamborghini :p
Hehe, when I got back home from Calgary I found this tacked onto the bathroom door:
Har dee har har. My uncle strikes again :p
Posted byCharles Ang at 11:56 PM 1 comments
Changing Gears
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Only a week left before the LSAT... it's a little daunting, especially considering how seriously LSAC administers the test (there's apparently ~30 minutes of registration/bureaucratic crap you have to go through before you touch the test). Based on practice LSATs, my marks have ranged from around the 70th percentile to about the 90th percentile, so consistency (in the higher end) is key.
The 2 Logical Reasoning sections are the easiest to score consistently on: they're broken up into ~25 individual questions, so if there's a question that's taking too much time, you just skip it and try to come back to it later (its only one mark after all). Reading Comprehension and Logic Games are more in the air, as they're both composed of 4 major sections, so sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not. I think the most important thing is to stay calm and go through the test without looking back - all of the questions are perfectly manageable, it's just a matter of time management.
Anyway, I'll be glad when that's over on the 6th... then I can focus on other parts of my summer:
- Work: My major project right now is to research about the fast-track (rule 66) procedures that are being fine-tuned in the Supreme Court of Canada. I think this will be really interesting and useful - it will probably become more of the norm over the next few years.
- Summer School: I finally get to take the course on Int'l Security... hopefully my term paper on the Ballistic Missile Defense will come in handy during this course.
- Devotions: I've been meaning to spend more time on my devotional life... I'm going to the Campus Crusade bible studies @ UBC, but that's not enough... I need to buy a good book and work on my daily commitments.
- Find a gym or something?: Not surprisingly, I don't exactly have a very disciplined exercise schedule right now. I haven't even been playing that much badminton lately... so I dunno, I gotta find a way to go get more exercise in the week :p
This will be the only time I can spend in Calgary this whole summer, so I'd better make good use of it, huh? Actually I know everyone's busy with work and school, and I have to catch up on reading and research as well, but I'm sure we'll be able to meet once or twice to hang out ( btw meeting me at the airport does NOT count... I still feel bad for those japanese women who were greeted by a bunch of flames players waving around 'marry me' signs ). Heh, either way it'll be good to see everybody again - too bad the big 'E' defected to the east hehehe.
That's enough blogging for today... I'm not gonna touch this thing until I finish off that LSAT!
Asian Kung-fu Generation - Blackout
(Not gonna upload it since
I'm the only one who listens
to Japanese music :p)
Posted byCharles Ang at 11:31 AM 5 comments
Long Weekend Fun (^o^)
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
1. Friday - Premium Outlets, Tulalip WA
Left early Friday morning to see the new premium outlets near Seattle with Mike and Sherry. There are so many bad drivers driving across the border... and going at 140 km/h too. The outlet itself wasn't too bad.. the Banana Republic and Calvin Klein outlets probably were the most worthwhile stores there. Lots of shoe stores there too (puma, nike, sketchers, aldo, etc.). We got back in time to try Feenie's for dinner; pretty good place, but don't order the calamari (-_-).
2. Sunday - Matt's (Surprise) Bday Party
A bunch of people from St. Andrews held a surprise bday party for Matt at the quads. We managed to genuinely surprise him too, which is pretty amazing, considering how they baked the cake in his dorm and I had to phone Chiann about 10 times on her cell to keep tabs on Matt. We spent most of the night playing a VERY competitive game of Cranium (well no fights broke out at least), and most importantly, my team won (^o^) ~mwahahaha!
3. Monday - Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
In celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday, I watched the third episode of Star Wars ( I dun really care about the queen...). There was a bit of a lineup, but we had no trouble finding decent seats for a 2:30 showing. The movie was much better than eps 1 or 2, in terms of story, fight scenes, and even acting. I think Ewan Mcgregor shined in all three movies - he made Obi Wan a really interesting character that was fun to watch. My major criticism about the movie is how they tried to jam all the 'linkage' parts at the end of the movie in order to bridge ep 3 with ep 4. There were also some parts in the movie (mainly the emperor parts) that were so over the top that people bursted out laughing. I definitely don't regret watching the movie, but it'll be weird to try to watch all 6 movies in a row.
4. Tuesday - Delirious? Benefit Concert
Sam invited me at the last minute to go to the Delirious concert at the coliseum, which I gladly agreed to ^_^. He got the tickets for free (they originally went for 35 bucks each), and we got decent seating as well. The first hour and a half was pretty lame though - the first opening act was a DJ and a dance team who didn't exactly energize the crowd. We also had to sit through a raffle draw that went very slowwwly... The opening band ( I totally forget their name, it was something in latin) was pretty good for a local band, but the main singer seemed really nervous. The concert started around 6:30, but it wasn't until 9:00 that Delirious? finally came onto the stage. It was definitely worth the wait though- they gave a really good live performance, even though Martin (the main singer) couldn't hit some of the higher notes because of a cold. Listening to live versions of 'Rain Down', 'Majesty', and 'History Maker' was awesome... they even put the lyrics up on the screen so the whole crowd could sing along. Heh , one of the most memorable moments was when people began to wave their cell phone screens instead of lighters during one of Martin's ballads ( he later said "you all think you're a clever bunch. do ya?" in his british accent). All in all, an enjoyable concert that was definitely worth going to (^_^)
---
The long weekend was fun, but now it's time to refine my LSAT skills : only 2 weeks to go :o !
Posted byCharles Ang at 1:26 PM 2 comments
Living on Campus again?
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Hopefully our offer for the townhouse will go through... as of now, there doesn't seem to be any reason to think otherwise. It'll be a two bedroom house for my sister and I, and my mom will probably drop by during the year as well. If all goes well, we'll be able to move-in by the end of August, and we can start to 'ikea' the place up (^o^)
Posted byCharles Ang at 9:56 AM 3 comments
