The Mighty Quynh

Yeeeeaahhh!!

Dumping crap into the ocean normally makes me a sad lady, but these huge Lego men are too awesome. I wanted to see the one in Zandvoort, NL but our winter trips made heading to the North Sea beach a very dismal prospect.

I want one for the apartment.

I have to take back a couple things I said in my first entry about Top Shot.

I referred to History Channel as the “WWII military channel.” To be fair, the last time I ever paid any attention to the channel was several years ago in college (the last time I had regular access to cable until now), and a lot has changed. It would be more appropriate to call it the redneck channel today. What hasn’t changed is I’m still not interested in 95% of the programming.

I also asserted that women’s lack of availability to Navy SEAL, etc. type training made for a much smaller pool of female hardcore shooters. Dustin, this season’s winner, sort of disproved the need for such training. A self-taught Christian camp counselor (!?), he dominated nearly every challenge and blew us all away with his natural talent. Plus he seemed like a genuinely nice, decent guy. I kept calling him a kid but he’s 28!

Rich and I stumbled onto this show back when History was running a season 2 recap marathon and I was immediately drawn in, not just because of the wacky challenges, but because it was pure competition and everyone was a good sport. I really hope for the following season(s) History doesn’t succumb to the usual reality show need of throwing drama in the mix. I don’t want them to value big personalities over talented marksmen, nor focus on interpersonal drama rather than the competition. Jake was enough this season. Save that nonsense for the post-finale followup stuff.

I don’t normally talk about TV this much, except that I guess this show is so totally out of my element that I’ve surprised myself with how into it I am. I’m not and have never been part of History’s target demographic, but this show just works.

Vietnamese gangs are moving into Dutch marijuana

…So does that mean I can find finally find (good) pho in the Netherlands?

Oddly enough, this article gave me an idea for a slant I could take on traveling. It would be interesting to seek out Vietnamese communities in various parts of the world and see the differences and similarities and examine how they adapted to their surroundings. Maybe it’s already been done in some sociological study or something, but this is something that has been piquing my interest more and more since I moved away from my parents.

I always felt a bit removed from the Viet community, primarily because I never really knew one, and secondarily because I had a complex about my heritage growing up (when people in 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade ask you, “Are you Chinese?” and when you say, “No,” they stretch out the corners of their eyes and ask, “Then why are your eyes like this?” you might internalize some stupid ideas too). I got over the complex, but I still feel uncomfortable around (older) Vietnamese people because I feel like I’m being judged on a tougher metric than when I’m with mixed company. Also, there are things you can say in Vietnamese culture that wouldn’t fly in typical American culture and I’m too Americanized not to be a little bothered by it.

I should note that it was slightly different with Vietnamese people in Vietnam because I believe they largely regarded me as American once they heard how awful my Vietnamese was. I think my problem is Vietnamese people in America expect me to be more Vietnamese than I am. Or maybe it’s just my messed up perception and they really don’t. I dunno. In any case, I’d like to see my American bias in contrast to different subsets of Vietnamese culture all over the world. It could be a fun, potentially eye-opening experiment for me.

I know you’re still crying about that pop DJ David Guetta taking the DJMag #1 spot from Armin van Buuren, so I hope this makes you laugh and cry some more and really think about your time on this earth.

Gareth Emery, ya’ll:

Domestic airlines are junk and I have no problem paying extra to take a European carrier to go to Europe (being careful to note when foreign flights are actually operated by a domestic airline). But it’s hard to say no to both a lower price AND direct flights coming and going out of different cities. The price isn’t a dealbreaker. Having a stopover in Heathrow is.

Ugh.

First world problems, 1%, et cetera et cetera I KNOW.

Hogmanay NYE 2012!

On our first visit to NL, we saw a bunch of people walking around with plastic bags with a picture of a hamster and the word “HAMSTER (something)” on it, which I thought was kind of funky and cute, and was yet another little thing I found charming about Amsterdam. Once we figured out they were from Albert Heijn (grocery chain), we went in search of one so we could get a bag. All we found was a To Go version of the store, which just sold bottled drinks and snacks and had the usual AH bags. It wasn’t until we were long gone that we realized there was a big Albert Heijn one block from the hotel we stayed in, but in the one direction we never walked.

:|

I’ve since been trying to figure out when the hell AH has this goddamn “Hamsterweken” (Hamster Week) sale because I will seriously plan a trip around that. You don’t understand! One of my favorite things to do when traveling is hit up a regular ol’ supermarket. It’s a fun way to look into the daily life of the locals and see what constitutes “normal” in different parts of the world. In this case I also really want a silly shopping bag.

SO WHEN THE HECK IS THE NEXT ONE??

AH: Using hamsters in ads long, long before Kia Soul.

I like all sorts*, but I’m most fond of capybaras, pacas (GIS them—they are adorable!), and Gambian pouched rats (our friends in the detection of landmines). The bigger the better.

I also harbor very deep affection for a certain breed of rat from the highlands of Ikea, the GOSIG RÅTTA.

Mischief of rats

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I’m just letting you all know that on top of our apartment being horrendously cluttered, I have stuffed rats lying around, so don’t be too weirded out because I totally warned you.

(This is why we avoid having guests over.)

*There are two rodent/rodent-like species I don’t really care for: the naked mole rat, and the star-nosed mole (not a rodent, but y’know). Sorry, little guys. You’re just too gnarly.

Because I do. Or at least I like the idea of it. It’s just that I’m too boring and unimaginative and lazy to come up with an awesome costume, so rather than go buy one from the store or cobble together a completely crappy one with stuff I already have, I’d rather just not try at all.

On top of that, I usually have no idea what anyone is. I’m not well-versed in pop culture. I don’t care or know anything about movies, I don’t watch anything on TV aside from Food Network and nature programs and some other assorted garbage (plus Top Shot, which is not garbage :p), and I have no idea what most musical artists look like (I thought Ke$ha was a black chick for the longest time). So I am always that girl who needs to have every costume explained to her.

So I pretty much spend Halloween in my apartment playing solo video games or something equally non-social.

You know how there’s trance versions of classical songs/scores (like Tiësto’s “Adagio for Strings” and “He’s a Pirate”)? I want someone to do the reverse; take uplifting trance music and convert it to full symphonic pieces. Sort of like how the London Symphony Orchestra plays various classic rock tunes. Obviously you can’t do a direct translation because a 140bpm straight 4/4 bass-thumping high-hat-thwacking song that repeats the same 8 measures over and over would sound freaking stupid when played by an orchestra. But, you know, like an orchestral remix that just lifts the melody or something. I think that would be cool.

To be honest, I don’t like EDM versions of classical songs. I think they sound ultra cheesy and are usually not very artfully done, imho. They are the reason I thought trance was stupid for so many years. I also hate when they just take a song and throw a bassline down that may or may not even match the key of the original and call it a day (this applies more to pop music turned EDM).

I also want Bach to come back from the dead and produce. Harpsicords need to be in more songs. Yanni should make trance music. Classical throwbacks should be used in more than just metal.

Can we get this back in the Top 40?

Music should troll us from time to time:

Pfft, Yngwie thinks he’s sooo cool, but my synth has an arpeggio button that does this automagically! (Not… not really.)

Unsynthesize this please (~1:50):

And synthesize this. Okay, this one’s not my favorite, but you’re getting so close now, Yanni. You even have the whole PLUR thing going on. Just make a trance track already.

(I think this song of his would be great trancified. You’d have to unwonk the time signature and update those horrid early 90s synths, but I can totally see it.)

Speaking of time signatures, don’t you just love when they play around with it? My two favorite uses of unconventional time signatures ever:

I COULDN’T CONTROL MYSELF AND SPOOGED MUSIC ALL OVER THE PAGE, I’M SORRY.

(Nerd alert!)

I got a package from Japan today. What was inside?

Outer box

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Astrodea box

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My new Citizen Astrodea celestial watch! Model: AST92-1001, Cal. 4P92, which is the small dial version (34.3mm x 9.7mm thick), limited run of 500.

Citizen Astrodea

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Besides the watch itself, the box contained a 10x loupe (because the dial is nearly impossible to read with the naked eye… not that I even understand how to read it yet anyway), manual, and a little tool to help remove the pins from the bracelet for resizing.

Citizen Astrodea 4P92

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Look at that dial! Look at it! It’s got stars and constellations and stuff! Sidereal time! Solar mean! I have no idea how to set it because the manual is in Japanese (but thank goodness for watch forums and astronomers who have additional geeky pursuits like horology)! Also, it’s the view of the sky from 35°N latitude (for Japan) and NYC is at 40°N so I’d have to do, like, extra mathy things… and stuff… to set it… Uh, anyway, wrist shot!

Citizen Astrodea 34mm dial

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It’s only sold in Japan, but if you’re interested in one for yourself, there are 38mm versions available here for either Northern or Southern hemispheres, in your choice of blue or gold dials. The gold looks much easier to read and has a more scientific instrument look to it (in my humble opinion), but I think the blue exudes a more cosmic look, which is what appealed to me in the first place. I found this small version on eBay.

Rich and I randomly have those disjointed Oblivion NPC conversations for shits and giggles sometimes.

Me: Oh, hello.
Rich: What’s going on with you?
Me: Goodbye!

Rich: (derisively) Oh, it’s you. Hi.
Me: Any news from the provinces?
Rich: Nothing I’d like to talk about.
Me: I ran into a mudcrab the other day. Awful creatures.
Rich: Goodbye!

And most recently, lots of “Stop right there, criminal* scum!”

(Except the first time I screwed up and said “citizen scum” so now Rich makes fun of me by saying “citizen scum” all the time.)

If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, watch this and laugh:

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SKYRIM: 11/11/11 !!!