Some Words for The Class of '09

I generally thank finals for stealing me away from variationblogging. After polishing off my last final (not well, mind you) last week, I packed up my stuff and hauled everything over to Moorpark to kick the summer off. But not before going to Pomona's commencement on May 17. The ceremony was common graduation fare, minus the alma mater, of course, but I was taken by the eloquence of some of the guest speakers.

In Claremont to claim her honorary doctorate, Mary Schmich PO '75 read playfully through her spam-worthy Wear Sunscreen speech (the same one that was hijacked by Baz Luhrman and quickly became fodder for forward-happy employees the world over). Simple and elegant.

Also receiving an honorary degree, Chicano playwright Luis Valdez drew a standing ovation with his call for social activism over complaisance (and vocal support for workers' rights on campus).

THE commencement speaker was Bob Herbert, author and columnist for The New York Times. As can be expected from a newsman, Herbert's message was tempered and practical. It's a tough world the class of 2009 enters into, but it's not an impossible one. The America our generation inherits is bleaker than the those of Herbert's, but there's potential for rebirth.

Ever a sucker for graduation speeches, I took some time this week to take a survey of exercises from around the country. Here are the five I've been most impressed with:

1) Ellen Degeneres at Tulane University. How can you not like a speech that name-checks Lady Ga-Ga while advocating equal rights?

2) Michelle Obama at UC-Merced. Striking "the balance between politics and sanity," the First Lady calls on graduates to organize and give back.

3)Ben Bernanke at Boston College Law School. "Things have a way of working out," he says. I want to believe that.

4) Barack Obama at ASU. "There's always more to do. Always more to learn. And always more to achieve."

5) Eric Schmidt at UPenn. Google CEO on the newfangled world 2009 graduates inherit and what it all means.

Adventureland

It's the story of a recent Oberlin graduate returning home an overqualified intellect not really qualified for anything. The story of a meandering 20-something forced to forego Ivy League ambitions to take on a menial job at Adventureland, a decaying backwater amusement park where future takes pause to take in the shitty glory of it all.

Sitting in on a Monday night showing of Adventureland, Greg Mottola's newest ode to youth, I was struck by the realization that James's story may not be so different from my own. Our liberal arts degrees in hand, Pomona students enter the world with an appreciation for the life of the mind, but little knowledge of life itself. James, an Oberlin alum, trades the halls of the elite Ohio liberal arts college for life back home in Pittsburgh, his medieval ruminations displaced by crooked carnival games and giant ass pandas. He was supposed to travel through Europe, supposed to study journalism at Columbia, supposed to find love. Instead, he lives at home doing minimum wage work to kill time while he waits for the life he thought he'd have to start. Just as you'd expect, it never arrives. But James moves on anyway.

Just as he did in Superbad, Mottola is able in this film to find comedy in reality with situational humor derived more from the audience's understanding of the character than from any simple gaff. The acting is nuanced with a clear understanding of vulnerabilities and insecurities that all of the characters, and all people really, face as they come to terms with life as it is and not as it should be. And the soundtrack manages to flow seamlessly from saccharine 80's pop ("Rock Me Amadaeus" plays no less than 5 times) to The Velvet Underground. It's a transformative film in the vein of Superbad that deals with real issues and the real people dealing with them. A must see.

Spring Break '09

For Spring Break, I visited my friend Sasha at NYU for the week. I promise you my obsession with "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Office" (the New York episodes anyway) did not influence my decision, although it couldn't have hurt. Here's an itemized break-down of what I did back east:

Saturday, March 14:
Arrive at LGA
Takoyaki at Otafuku in the East Village
High-tops & Red Mango in SoHo
Delivery from Sirtaj
Incriminating Facebook videos
3 AM Karaoke in K-town

Sunday, March 15:
Pomona reunion in SoHo
Getting lost on the B train to Brooklyn
NYU reunion in Brighton Beach
Russian/Uzbek food and music videos
Evening walk to Coney Island
P. Diddy Cheesecake & McDonald's bonding in Brooklyn
Packing for DC

Washington, DC
Monday, March 16
6 AM bus from NYC to DC Chinatown
Checking into hotel in Maryland
Return to DC for walk around National Mall, Lincoln Memorial, White House
Early dinner at Chipotle-McDonalds in Chinatown

Tuesday, March 17: Bojangles & purchasing supplies
Arlington National Cemetery
Capitol Building & Supreme Court
Thai food in Chinatown
Hotel party

New York City
Wednesday, March 18: Final visit to 7-11
Pandas at the DC Zoo
Recovering from the 4-hour drive back to NYC
Obligatory Times Square photo-op
The search for the chicken & rice truck on Broadway
Party back at the apartment

Thursday, March 19: Chinese food galore in Flushing (duck buns, pork buns, lamb skewers, noodles, shave ice, egg custard)
Obligatory Central Park & Upper East Side visit
Bulgogi at Woorijip in Koreatown

Friday, March 20: Chinese food & ice cream in the snow
The hellish trip back to California:
-Getting lost on the 1 Train in Harlem
-Backtracking to 47th to get to Queens
-Shady and expensive taxi ride to La Guardia
-Finding out flight was delayed, getting moved to a flight from JFK
-Shuttle bus from LGA to JFK
-6 hour delay in the terminal

1000 Books Everyone Must Read (Before They Die)

From Chocolate Geek's Flickr/Creative Commons
With the launch of the Kindle 2 earlier this week, my Twitter stream has been full of calls for book suggestions and their appropriate responses. Although I do not really have the time for leisure reading during the semester, I've long been interested in finding a complete list of books that I need to read before I die, a full list that might show me exactly how to live. From @mrskutcher's twitter, a list of a 1,000 novels that everyone must read before they croak from the UK's The Guardian. (Note: Because of the list's British-ness, some suggestions will obviously be a bit quirky to US sensibilities, and I'm sure some American classics have been omitted.)

Welcome to Hawaii

Here's a great clip from the Rock's appearance last night on Saturday Night Live. Not saying it's 100% accurate, but it definitely hits close to home.

Ita-cho Japanese Restaurant Review

(Photo Courtesy Ita-cho Restaurant on Yelp)
Having thoroughly enjoyed our culinary foray into LA's Korean BBQ scene,
a friend and I decided that it was time to tackle Japanese cuisine, with some Yelp help of course. In search of decent sushi and authentic Japanese cooking, we set our sights on a small joint in West Hollywood called Ita-cho Japanese Restaurant.

The restaurant's decor was simple and elegant, though not as swanky as other places that I've driven past. It sorta reminded me of those mom-and-pop places back in Hawaii, with an added bit of Hollywood interior design know-how.

Despite knowing Japanese food pretty well, the menu took us both a little while to decipher. Attempting to capitalize on the Asian fusion movement, a number of the dishes, though based on Japanese staples, have been accented with exotic ingredients and preparations. We settled on a plate of the Wagyu Beef with Ponzu sauce [read: thinly-sliced steak with lemon-infused soy sauce] and Tako Karaage [battered and deep fried octopus legs]. We also had to order rice separate, which I did not appreciate at all.

When the food came, we were underwhelmed. The dishes, unbeknownst to us, were meant to serve as Japanese tapas, and were not enough to serve the two of us. In any case, the dishes were quite good. The Wagyu Beef was cooked medium-rare so that it remained buttery and tender, and was perfectly complemented by the subtle tang of the ponzu dipping sauce. The tako, though battered a tad too liberally, was tasty and not too greasy.

If I'm being perfectly honest, the restaurant was a bit of a disappointment. The food was better than average, but came in portions too tiny to enjoy and at too high a price. The atmosphere was nice, but the service was sub-par. A hit and miss, but great to be out and about sampling Japanese in LA.

Kanye Tells Stories

Pardon the influx of Kanye West stuff today, but there's no denying that he's got some very interesting projects on his plate. (Via Hypebeast) He recently appeared on VH1 Storytellers with an interesting set that really pushed the boundaries of his performance art. On the futuristic, minimalist set, Kanye laid bare some of the emotion that went into 808's & Heartbreaks while giving us some new interpretations of the classics. Aside from the off the cuff comments on Chris Brown and that shag, a great series of performances and some soul searching from today's hardest working man in the biz.

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Say You Will

How We Got Into This Mess.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

(via Philthy Blog) So much of the disagreement over the economic stimulus package relies on misinformation. Here's a brief and really engaging synopsis of how the world economy was flushed down the drain. May it provide clarity for a solution.

Louis Vuitton x Kanye West

(Via Hypebeast) More leaks of Kanye West's new sneaker-design project with Louis Vuitton have been leaked ahead of their June 2009 debut in stores. Some are just new colorways of old models (like the pink soles above), but there are also a few totally new designs. Kanye has said that he is considering taking a break from music to hone his design skills, and this may be his cup of tea after all. Something to fall back on...

Who's Tweeting?

I'm going to try to keep you all updated on who I'm following on Twitter from time to time. Celebrities, prolific tweeters, downright interesting folk.

New finds this week:

Ashton Kutcher (aplusk) - Actually tweets a lot about important social issues when he's not, you know, bragging about being married to Demi Moore.

Demi Moore (mrskutcher) - Like her husband, tweets about social action and is really really into her dogs.



Kim Fassler (kimfassler) - A blogger for The Honolulu Advertiser, she provides some great insight from a twenty-something-from-Hawaii-living-away-from-home perspective

Rainn Wilson (rainnwilson) - As an Office fan, how could I not? But seriously, Rainn offers some great commentary on family life and being a Baha'i.


David Gregory (davidgregory) - As the host of Meet the Press, you might expect Mr. Gregory to have some intern do his tweeting (here's looking at you Anderson Cooper). But this guy actually tweets. From the White House to Whitehall. Good stuff.

Any more suggestions? Pass them along!