Filed under: Sports
Tomorrow will be the first day of Wimbledon 2008, the world’s most time-honored tennis championship. The draw I find most convenient is on ESPN: Men Women
I’m definitely gonna be heading out to the Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon throughout this next fortnight to catch as many matches as possible. Perhaps my weekend ‘breakfast at Wimbledon’ will be a their heavy hitting ‘truck stop breakfast’ with a pint of ale. Sorry mom, no strawberries and cream this year.
A few casual observations on the Men’s draw:
- Federer got Djokovic on his side of the draw. Good for Nadal. Bad for Federer. For those that followed, Djokovic bested Federer in the Aussie open semis last January for his first grand slam. I’d still pick Federer at Wimbledon, but it should be an awesome semis.
- Will Nadal’s thrashing of Federer in the French have an impact on Wimbledon? Has Federer lost his air of invulnerability? Will he try too hard, get tight, and lose his natural grace? Or will he just come out pissed and own everybody? I’m guessing the latter; he’s a cool as they come.
- Looks like a tough draw for Korea’s Lee Hyun Taek. Assuming he gets through the first round, he’ll likely face Croatia’s Mario Ancic, a very dangerous dark horse on grass. And then I’m assuming either Ferrer or Andreev in the third round. Not easy. I’ll be cheering for him however. Pil Seung Korea! clap-clap— clap-clap—clap. Update (6-24 6:14pm Korean time): Lee lost in the first round.
- Marty Fish and Gasquet should be a great first round match! Roddick and Blake are in the same quarter. Go USA!!! Update (6-25 12:28am Korea time): Mardy Fish got smoked in straight sets. I guess I overrated him and underrated Richard, who has been in a small slump this year. Gasquet will next face his compatriot Grosjean, who, a few years ago, seemed to be reaching grand slam semis regularly.
- Safin and Djokovic in the second round?!! If Safin doesn’t implode… Holy Cow! Update (6-25 12:48am Korea time): Start your engines!!!! Safin smoked Fognini. This has the potential to be a epic second rounder! Safin is unpredictable but when he’s on, he can be the best in the world.
A few casual observations on the women’s draw:
- Sharapova is a total babe. This tall, grunting Russian had a great Aussie open (won it), but floundered a bit in the French (4th round loss). But Wimbledon is the home of her first slam (amazing run in 2004), and she’s always a tough competetor. She’s the third seed this year.
- Hantuchova is hot. Really hot. Ridiculously hot. She’s the tenth seed. She had a great run in the Aussie (losing in the semis) but missed the French due to an injury.
- Mirza is cute. India’s pride (apart from Amar’s favorite, Leander Paes). She’s seeded 32 and should have an easy first round.
- Ivanovic is smokin. (She likes no-rae-bongs too ^^). She’s the new no. 1 player in the WTA, coming off a French open win and a final at the Aussie.
- etc
———————————————
Update (6-23 8:42pm Korean time)
My predictions for the men’s forth round:
Federer vs Genepri Berdych vs Ancic Djokovic vs Ferrero Baghdatis vs Lopez Roddickvs Blake Mathieu vs Davydenko Haas vs Robredo Youzhny vs Nadal
Update (6-25 12:48am Korea time): Oh crap. I misread the draw and thought Robredo was in a different spot. He’s gonna face Haas in the second round (not round four!) so… I guess that part of my predictions is screwed. Also Genepri is out already to Gonzalez. Not utterly shocking (Gonzo is the 15th seed) and it was a close three sets, but Genepri definitely has the potential for a run (as he did in late summer 2005). I thought he could’ve done it again this Wimbledon after a decent French showing.
Update (6-25 11:41am Korea time):
To anyone who watches tennis regularly, this video is hilarious. Djokovic is the man.
Filed under: Korea
I’m sure that all my Korean friends logging onto this site know well about Kim Kwang Seok. But unfortunately in the west we have little exposure to his truly beautiful and haunting music except perhaps through the movie, JSA. I can’t follow his lyrics. It’s kinda embarrassing to admit. I’ve lived here a total of over two years but my Korean language ability is still virtually nonexistent. Despite that, the pensive mood and enchanting melody of his songs speak volumes to me. I posted some videos of my favorite ones below. Perhaps some of my Korean friends here could share some insight into his music and his brief and tragic life.
a rambling we go…..
From the wonderful book: A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angles, & Other Subversive Spirits by Carol K. Mack & Dinah Mack
“Wang Chih was a traveler in the mountains gathering firewood when he came upon a few old men playing chess. He put down his axe and joined them. They gave him a stone to place in his mouth and, when he did, he lost all appetite and thirst. And so he played for a while. After some games, one of the other players said that perhaps it was time for Wang Chih to return home. He turned to get his axe but it was only dust. He left and returned to his village to find that many, many centuries had passed. So he returned to the mountain and practiced Taoism until he himself became an Immortal.”
Not unlike starting a weblog….
Anyhow, Wang Chih had a chance encounter with Mountain Fairies, perhaps on one of China’s five sacred mountains. In such a nexus, time flows differently; and it was not by his intention or even wisdom that he stumbled across it.
This is lore, my friends and fellow travelers, where demons lurk in the outer bounds: the mysterious seas, the sacred mountains, the teeming forests, and the harsh deserts. The further out one goes (alone and at night), the more wild and powerful the dark forces manifest… and the greater the treasure. The cartographers of old used to mark the uncharted lands simply as ‘where dragons lie’. Yet, is such a distance measured only in footsteps? Or could the supernatural inflect in other ways? As Carol and Dinah Mack explain, “the Other World surrounds us like undetectable ether.”
From Japanese Oni’s to Arabian Djinns, the Teutonic Nixie to the Greek Pan, demons manifest in all cultures and all stories. They are “the essence of human storytelling… Without the choice between the demonic and, for lack of a better word, the angelic, there can be no moral to the story. there cannot even be a plot. There can be no story without internal or external struggle; no hero without antagonist; no pain, no gain; no quelling, no quest. The demon is always a challenge.”
Behold the demon lord, Ravana, who, according to the Hindu epic, Ramayana, has ”ten heads, twenty arms, and fiercely burning eyes…. an almost invulnerable, champion shapeshifter… (who) can break mountains with bare hands and create storms at sea…. When he was born, the universe filled with hideous shrieking noises. His mother was the daughter of a demon chief, and his father was a saint she had tempted in mid-prayer.”
These are awesome and terrible forces, and they are not to be ignored or taken lightly. Carol and Dinah Mack warn, “When they crave they are relentless and almost unstoppable” and “outrageous in wrath“. They “are driven entirely by instinct” and embody “unconscious desires, unbridled lust, and gluttony… the distilled incarnations of our most havoc-wreaking emotions.” They are as seductive as they are powerful, manifesting at times in shadows, and ensnaring the unwise. The apostle Paul writes in Romans, “ What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” and “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.”
Have you ever encountered a demon? Have you ever been bewitched? Have you ever unsheathed your sword in the darker strata of the psyche? You are a deep soul, my dear friend. Our most sacred stories show us that perceiving and overcoming the demonic is our rite of passage to the treasure. Such things are far beyond blog posts, wikipedia, science, and even words. They move in another sphere.
Yet ramble on I must! Let us consult our guide, “The human hero has the light of day as well as reason on his side because most demons are doomed to vanish at dawn.” There is something inherently human that can overpower even the greatest of demon lords. Mack and Mack explain further “love is so alien (to demons) it can melt them” and “When human heroes use consciousness, reason, love, and compassion as their ‘weapons’ the demon is rendered helpless.”
We are all heroes in our own journeys. We all have our own personal adversary and our own personal treasure upon overcoming. May the grace sown in your own hearts lead you to victory.
Thanks for reading and Godspeed!
* All italicized quotes are from the above link. Well worth the read.
(Update 6-17 1:44am Edited a sentence and changed a link)
Filed under: Korea
As you may have seen in the news, there have been many recent mass protests in S. Korea against their newly elected president, Lee Myung Bak. Based on what I know, the demonstrators claim that he is selling out the Korean people to the elite and exacerbating the already present problems with public healthcare, education, income disparity, and national identity. The impetus of these protests could be traced back to April 18th when President Lee agreed to open S. Korea’s market to US beef imports. This was essentially the spark in which anybody with health concerns, political grievances, nationalism, anti-American agendas, or just plain boredom could fan in service to their ends. The protests started out just in handfuls (I would walk by them almost every night after work) but through the power of the internet they quickly snowballed into large mad cow demonstrations and then morphed into the current nebulous anti-Lee mass rallies.
I won’t get into the issue and my personal feelings. Being an idealistic dreamer, I sympathize with the sentiment of many of the Korean protestors. Perhaps if I were born Korean, I would be out there too decrying this perceived affront against our proud motherland. Yet, on the other hard, I’m suspicious of many of the organizers and I hope the Korean people to be very prudent about to whom and what agenda they are lending their voice. (Is the grammar on that last sentence correct?)
Anyway, the point of this post is just a funny misquote that occurred on my way home from work last Tuesday. That was the night of the biggest anti-Lee demonstration to date and the numbers were (I believe) in the hundreds of thousands. I’m an energy chaser. Whenever there is something big, an electric tension in the air, I go to investigate. I love feeling the wind of brewing thunderstorms. Anyway, the protestors were marching down a street near my apartment so decided to check it out a little. I bought a budweiser, sat on a wall, and watched the spectacle unfold. After some time, I had had my fill and started home. It was then that a young woman from some Korean newspaper approached me and asked me a few questions. I was a little reluctant and not in a talkative mood, but I decided to let her have a go. Here is how the interview went according to my memory:
Q: Do you know why we are protesting?
A: Yes, American beef.
Q: Are you participating in the protest?
A: No, I’m not. I’m just walking home from work and thought I’d stroll alongside it and check it out.
Q: Do you support the protestors?
A: Well, I haven’t looked into the issue deeply enough to make a decision one way or another. My girlfriend is currently somewhere in the protest and I support her decision to express herself. But in my case, I’m frankly a little suspicious of some of the organizers and whether they have another agenda besides concerns over beef.
The next day one of my students, a patent attorney in my business English class told me he saw me in the paper. He paraphrased my quote misquote: ”You said in the paper you didn’t know why they were protesting but you joined because your girlfriend did that.”
Ouch. Yes, indeed. That’s me. Whipped and wailing against Lee cause my girl don’t like him. Haha, I’m not upset. I give the reporter the benefit of the doubt, especially when we have a language barrier and are in the midst of a loud protest. And you all know, I’m not the most articulate of people. Found it amusing though.
Thanks for reading!
Filed under: Family
To a dad, a role-model, a friend, a travel companion, a tennis partner, an advisor, a bird, a provider, and a very good man. I’m proud of you, dad, and thankful to be your son.
