Scribblings of the Metropolitician

More Apple "iPad" Theorizing

It all fits into my previous prediction and conviction that Apple is working on a new, revolutionary touch screen computer, not a sub-notebook. Here's a patent application filed in 2006 but revealed today for the first time – I say the little object's a screen that you dock into the desktop housing, making it a desktop, with keyboard and mouse by night, touch screen portability by day.

[Source: MacRumors.com]

I still say it's gonna be a touch screen computer. Aren't you hoping I'm right? I sure am!

[Source: MacPlus.net]

Don't these two just fit together?

Blu-Ray Wins! (and Why Home Theater Is a Good Option for Expats)

Well, pretty much. Without going into the details, let me just link to the many folks who are calling the game on this. The NYT says "the high-definition DVD war is all but over" and Variety says this is "expected to hasten the demise of HD DVD." And for you real DVD geeks, Bill over at The Digital Bits – who has been the guru of DVD since the beginning of the format in 1997, when this Metropolitician got his first Sony DVD player – is relishing the accuracy of a prediction he made back in June last year, when this format war was still quite hot.

Some of you might be wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Well, the short of it is that there have been two high-definition DVD formats out for around two years now, both of which were essentially equal contenders to be the successors of the standard DVD format. Without getting into details, they can be described as basically similar versions of high-definition quality DVD's. So if you have an HDTV, you can watch a movie in full HD quality on either of the two formats – HD DVD or Blu-ray. The names of the formats were confusing – they are both high-definition (HD), even though "HD DVD" had HD in the name, causing some people to ask if Blu-ray was not HD. It is, but just doesn't have HD in the name. And that was just the beginning of the confusion and frustration.

Anyway, if you're just hearing about this now, don't even get into it, baby – the war's pretty much over. Well, it's not over over, but the decisive battle has been fought, like Saratoga during the Revolution and the French throwing in their support and tipping the balance decisively. OK – it's not that monumental an event, but it does mean that you, the consumer, may be benefitting quite soon.

Well, to those of you living in Korea, let me break it down: now, you can go buy a Blu-ray player, and you don't have to worry about the exorbitant cost of a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray model (yes, those $1000+ models do exist). But now, the smoke has to merely settle. And it's been leaning Blu-ray ever for a while now in Korea, anyway.

For those of you with HDTV's and projectors, here's some advice you can use:

- Now that it's no longer really a risk to go in one direction, the best way to get into Blu-ray at the moment is getting a Playstation 3, which I got for Christmas from the 'rents. My brother got a Wii. How my mom got her hands on one of them is a story unto itself. Those are still hard to get Stateside. The PS3 is a Blu-ray player as well as a game machine (the games are on Blu-ray discs), and they just released a stripped-down version of the machine at about $350 street price. That's like free, people, since the fully-tricked out version of the player was and is about $650 and even that's a loss from the estimated $800-900 actual value of the machine's parts. Sony's been waging a war of attrition since the beginning, losing money on each machine to get the installed base in. Ever since the price dropped recently, it seems a lot of folks (including me) ended up with one. Which meant a lot more Blu-ray DVD sales this holiday season. For those of you who aren't early adopters, the option to play a couple kick-ass games as a bonus for getting a Blu-ray player should be a nice extra. Only downside is that the game controller is your remote, but who cares once the movie's started, right? I have an HD projector that was never graced with an HD signal until the PS3, and let me tell you, the difference between standard and high-def DVD's is like that between hamburger and a $40 steak, sparkling wine and Cristal, baby. I got Destiny's Child's concert DVD and Casino Royale as starters. My mouth was open the entire time, and HD looks better the bigger it is; at 100 inches, the picture is stunning. Like a police taser, bro! Until you've seen Destiny's Child in HD, you haven't seen Destiny's Child.

- There are also some standalone machines coming out now in the $500 range in Korea (they were above $1000 until last year), and the prices may be dropping as we speak. Yet, as I saw with DVD in 2002, Korea adopts new, legal media formats slowly, as people are too busy buying bootlegs and downloading them from the Internet. Still, there are an awful lot of HDTV's in Korea that people don't really know how to use, set up, or display properly, but as status symbols and wedding presents, the installed base seems pretty high. I've never seen so many HDTV's as in Korean people's houses – yet, most people don't have an HD signal to put in it, unless you've got Skylife and several hundred thousand won to burn. In any case, I've noticed the big DVD stores stocking more Blu-ray titles as a rule, and you don't have regions to worry about anymore – Korea and North America are in the same region now. So the players are affordable, and the software's here. If you've got a new TV set hanging on your wall, you've got reasonable options now.

- If you aren't in possession of an HDTV set yet, and you're an expat, let me offer a suggestion: PROJECTOR. They're about the size of a VCR now, have the same resolution as any TV (long past are the days when you could see pixels and the picture was washed out compared to standard sets). And the price has come way down, along with the size, while the quality has gone through the roof. I remember back in 2002 fantasizing about quality projectors and hanging out in the showrooms of high-end places in Yongsan. Sticker price for the quality presently sitting in my living room? $10-15,000. Now, my 1080p (full HD) Sanyo PLV-Z5 cost $1650, it's up and out of the way on my wall, and projecting a 100-inch picture onto a screen that doubles as a window shade on my wall. Zero-space footprint, and perfect for if and when I leave the country. You wanna spend a few thousand on a 60-inch flat-screen? You still have to mount or find a stand for, which takes up space and costs extra money, actually. And when you leave Korea, it's too big to take with you and expensive to ship, without even getting into possible duty problems when it arrives. My projector will fit in a carry-on bag. And I could be projecting up to 120-inches, which is the width of the wall opposite the unit, but I actually think that would be too big, since I'm viewing at about 11 feet away. When it comes to picture, SIZE DOES MATTER. Even 60-70 inches looks puny after you've had 100-inches of high-def lovin'. Can't go back after that, baby.

In the end, expect prices to continue falling as DVD titles expand. And now that the prices are starting to flatten out, and the format war has settled, you can feel free to go out and get Blu-rayed. In sum, my picks:

VIDEO
- $350 PS3 for the player and the option to game as a bonus
- $1300+ projector (I'm a Sanyo man, but there are other good options)
- $100 business screen

AUDIO
- ~$500 receiver (Yamaha only, for reasons too extensive to get into)
- ~$500-700 on entry-level 5.1 speaker system (5 speakers and subwoofer)

Yeah, it's more expensive than a hand-me-down TV and an off-brand DVD player, but for the added value to your life (plus the fact that you can take most of this stuff with you when you leave Korea in two well-packed boxes and a carry-on bag), the value has never been better. And since this is the sort of stuff you buy every few years, it's not actually that much for the value it adds to your life.

Mii playing Wii.

For example, ddd a Wii to this setup and suddenly, a couple-hundred bucks on a little game console is like virtual reality. Save money on dating and socializing by having people come over. Host events in the house. Even have meetings (I do) with the ability to present and discuss material like in any conference room. And it makes watching HD signals on the big stations actually worth it (although projectors have bulbs and watching several hours a day of projector might have you changing that bulb within a year, instead of 2 or 3).

My Mii on Wii.

Say you drop $3000 over what would be a 3-year period. Throw in $300 for the change of bulb that might happen in that span of time. That's $83 a month, less than what many of you spend on $5 coffees, $8 movie tickets, and other random things that might get partially replaced by socializing at home with friends and significant others.

And we all know that once you've got someone, keeping things fresh is a drag in the coffee shop-dinner-movie-drinks-(love motel?) grind that defines dating in Korea. If you've got the projector, you've got the excuse to cook at home, have some wine, and kick back with the certain someone for hours.

Especially coming from America, where home-centered socializing is the way – BBQ's, birthday parties and dinner parties, movie nights with friends, and nights just spent chilling – having a concrete excuse to bring it all home in Korea is real nice. Were I not already a home theater nut, I'd seriously be thinking this might be a good investment.

My house ain't big, but now, people come to me, I can have meetings at home, and when I do want to goof off in front of a screen, I can do that in a social way. The money saved on waiting in coffee shops, transportation costs, and just the aggravation of running around is well worth it.

Just my 2 cents.

Come On, Now...

Now, netizens are getting all defensive at the Chosun Ilbo's chastising of Koreans for their apparent lack of global manners, and I share in their chafing at being upbraided according to the whims of us complaining foreigner types. (HT to Marmot) In the end, I think kowtowing to the complaints of foreign visitors isn't where Korea needs to be expending its energy in relation to the self-stated goal to become a "global" and more recently, a "multicultural" society. If you haven't been paying attention lately, that's the new way the government is describing Korea.

But let's get real – certain things are really only possible (and what's more, all too common) in Korea. The video's all normal until 00:43. Un-fricking-believable. And hilarious.

Dude – even the father-of-the-bride, being Korean and used to Korean weddings in which the chatter from small talk during the ceremony is so loud you can't hear the preacher talking, I'm sure, still looked like he wanted to take that ajumma out in the back, Good Fellas style. See how long that stare lingered? She actually stepped on the bridal gown's train and pushed the bride aside to get her seat. Even after years spent in Korea, that's a good one.

Umm, It's the Personality, Stupid!

Wow. I could have told them this. From The New York Times:

One longtime adviser complained that the campaign’s senior strategist, Mark Penn, realized too late that “change” was a much more powerful message than “experience.” Another adviser said Mr. Penn and Mr. Clinton were consumed with polling data for so long, they did not fully grasp the personality deficit that Mrs. Clinton had with voters.

So they didn't know Hilary was a stuffed Democrat suit with a creaky voice and stilted personality? Guess they really aren't living in the same reality I am, then, if this is news to them. The only difference is now, Clinton's going up against someone with a Kennedy-esque demeanor and actually has something to say, beyond political platitudes. If you think the Kennedy comparison is inapt, think for a minute; what were they saying about a too-youthful, too good-looking, too-Catholic fresh senator with too-little political experience? Here's what Kennedy's closest living aide reminds us:

"I'm tired of losing. We've had these candidates who give those five-point programmes, who sound like they are lecturing at MIT or trying to convince the New York Times board of editors. "That doesn't reach the hearts of the voters. Mr Kennedy reached the hearts of voters. And so does Obama."

Yeah. I'm tired of losing, too, and I've said from the beginning that Hilary would lose as the Democratic candidate. If Hilary wins, America gets Huckabee. But from jump, the Republicans don't have anyone who stands out, and their party is battered and bruised. It's about as lame as the Democrats were in the last election, when the most inspiring prospect for me was that "Kerry isn't Bush." I voted for him, but I didn't care. I just wanted that arch-criminal Bush out of office.

But now, as clichéd as it sounds, as hackneyed as this word is when deployed in a political campaign, of all things – I have hope. And that's powerful stuff, coming from a political cynic like me.

And no, this isn't about Obama being black. Another Korean person asked me yesterday, as Koreans continue to be surprised that a black candidate is beating lily-white Hilary, who seemed to be a favorite amongst the Korean young folks I talked to, "Do you like him because he's black?"

My answer to that is a resounding no, because that's not it. To me, he's an amazing candidate who happens to be black, and for whom his blackness has become a political asset in an America that has truly started to change in terms of race and identity politics. He's not my candidate in this race because he's black. If that had been the case, I, along with millions of other blacks, would have been voting for Jesse Jackson a long time ago. But I didn't, and blacks don't work so simplistically on a political level and never have.

That old, racist line is one I hope is put to rest with this candidate, since blacks have never behaved that way with their votes and aren't doing so in this case. If Obama's blackness is a factor, it's because it's a part of his life that has added an obvious richness to his overall story; if Obama "uses" his negritude at all, it is only as part of his story in complimenting America, as he tells us that his rise to prominence as a fulfillment of real opportunity is "only possible in America." And this is something I am proud to say, even as angry as I have been and continue to be about a whole bunch of things from Katrina to Iraq, is certainly true.

In that sense, I am proud of the ideals that America stands for, and have always been. The Bush administration has me screaming and yelling, trying to remind people of what those are, since many seem to have forgotten, nay – forsaken them completely. Obama's message is that he will build an America based on those ideals, that celebrate those ideals, that will make me able to say to non-Americans that I'm proud to be American.

What Obama has also articulated in his very presence, but hasn't been politically crass enough to actually say (that's something I leave to Bush, who loves to out-and-out say that voting against him is voting for terror, the evil-doers, etc.), is that voting for him is a vote for change, that his win would be the very sign that change has happened.

And the sheer strength of his message, its sincerity and positivity, will allow him to actually say those words when we get down to the finish line and it not sound crass. Watch.

Oh, and lest we forget, there aren't that many black people living in Iowa. So somebody white was voting for him.

I think we've got a live one here!

오바마! Obama!

Oh, yeeeeah! Obama not just in da house...in da WHITE House, boieee!

Listen to that speech. You heard anything like that since Kennedy? Hilary? Pshaw. Huckawhat? Hehe. Give a warm greeting to the next President of the United States. Now, we can bring America back from the clutches of the thugs and imbeciles and give the world a reason to say good things about America again.

Personally, I'd like to stop being a cynic and get on board something, and for the first time in nearly eight years, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. To the same extent that I can't even look at the TV without wanting to break it when Bush is on, every time I see Obama, I want to cheer.

America just might be headed back on track again.

I feel like a fog is lifting, I really do.

O-ba-ma!

The speech, with my highlights of examples of how speeches should be done:

Thank you, Iowa.

You know, they said this day would never come.

They said our sights were set too high.

They said this country was too divided; too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

But on this January night - at this defining moment in history - you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this New Year, 2008. In lines that stretched around schools and churches; in small towns and big cities; you came together as Democrats, Republicans and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that's been all about division and instead make it about addition - to build a coalition for change that stretches through Red States and Blue States. Because that's how we'll win in November, and that's how we'll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.

We are choosing hope over fear. We're choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.

You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don't own this government, we do; and we are here to take it back.

The time has come for a President who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who will listen to you and learn from you even when we disagree; who won't just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know. And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that president for America.

Thank you.

I'll be a President who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American the same way I expanded health care in Illinois - by--by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done.

I'll be a President who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.

I'll be a President who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.

And I'll be a President who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home; who restores our moral standing; who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes, but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century; common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.

Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa. And so I'd especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains; the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible.

And while I'm at it, on "thank yous," I think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the Obama family, the closer on the campaign trail; give it up for Michelle Obama.

I know you didn't do this for me. You did this-you did this because you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

I know this-I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I'll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa - organizing, and working, and fighting to make people's lives just a little bit better.

I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay, and a lot of sacrifice. There are days of disappointment, but sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this - a night-a night that, years from now, when we've made the changes we believe in; when more families can afford to see a doctor; when our children-when Malia and Sasha and your children-inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and safer; when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united; you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.

This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long - when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who'd never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.

This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.

Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment - this was the place - where America remembered what it means to hope.

For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope.

But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.

Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.

Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.

Hope-hope-is what led me here today - with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand - that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again. Thank you, Iowa.

Damn, that's good stuff.

Obama, '08!

Darth Vader vs. the Japanese Police

Hehe. I'll leave comments to you all.

The Wii - Unleashed!

Forget the last three Star Wars installments! This makes up for it.

And for the Wii? Oh, there's gonna be a lotta dark side being let out. It'll probably be controlled something like this.

What every boy born since the 70's has been waiting for. What does one do when one has fulfilled one's genetic purpose? We'll found out after I get good with the Force with the Wii-mote. Dang!

FeetManSeoul in January SEOUL Magazine!

FeetManSeoul has a regular column in SEOUL Magazine, the monthly published by Seoul Selection and the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The magazine is the most comprehensive source of information about Seoul and its environs published in English, and is available at any major bookstore in Korea. You can also get a PDF of the current January 2008 issue or you can pick up an issue in any major bookstore.

On FeetManSeoul: The Bicycle Man

Check out the full post on FeetManSeoul.com!

A Blurb for a Book That I'll Never, Ever Write

Here's a repost of a fun thing I did almost 1.5 years ago on this blog, when I was railing against identity politics and the silly gesticulations of "who we are" that waste shelf space in American bookstores. I thought it a funny post and a more interesting way of communicating my New Year's resolution to try and be more creative and varied in my posting on this blog. I was considering today writing my own mock self-revelatory and free verse poem, an exercise that I'll save for later; badly-written poetry and novels focusing on the superficial aspects of "racial" identities are just too easy pickins for this biracial boy. Happy New Year, all!

American identity politics is a tricky, contradiction-laden, and sometimes neurotics thing. Well, that's what happens when you navel gaze, so it's not surprising. And often, the very construction of the "identity" of "Asian American" involves a reproduction of the very assumptions and values that Asian Americans are trying to leave behind.

In the interest of satire, I've written a book description of the work that I'll never do, one that I would be loathe and embarrassed to ever sign my name to. My friend back in that States suggested that if I ever write a book, I should change my name to Michael Hurt-Song – "reclaim my mother's name" – to lay claim to my own "authenticity." Well, in my blurb, I "fancify" my name as far as I'd ever think possible if I ever did ending up publishing a book such as this.

Recycled cliché and recurring bouts of self-exotification of oneself as part of a mysterious and inscrutable "culture" are both things that permeate Asian American literature and popular understandings of identity, and are nearly sickening as found in the most extreme and egregious examples. So of course, I try to fit as much of that sort of stuff into my fantasy book blurb, which follows below.

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Soul to Seoul: One Man's Journey into His Own Morning Calm

Like a side of blackfish served on a bed of rice, the contrasts posed by such a combination may seem plain unpalatable, an unlikely union better left unmade.

This memoir tells the story of a man torn between two opposing worlds, who finds synthesis of soul in the city of Seoul. Written with the emotional sensibilities of Helie Lee's Still Life With Rice, the sensuous exoticism of both The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife, and laced with the boundary-breaking boldness of the erotic classic On A Bed of Rice, M.W. Hurt's first work is an inspiring yet unsettling account of Blackness adrift in a sea of Yellow.

On the course of the journey are revealed several discoveries that shatter the traditional notions of cultures separated by the dictates of blues and buttermilk, han and hanboks. Hurt struggles with trying issues: I am more than black, but less than Korean. Who am I? Who will lay claim to me? Can a brother eat kimchi and collard greens? From the Korean steppes, hills, and plains that bore his grandmother, mother and by extension him, Hurt struggles to answer these questions while trying to make sense of the Korean blood that still burns through his veins. Peppers and the redness that it imbues into Korean cuisine are the stuff of life here in the "Land of a Thousand Miracles." From it does not actually originate the color of Korean food, but surely there is something about the indomitable Korean spirit that shares the spunk and spice of its culinary mainstay. But this begs the question: what is the color of the soul?

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Eww. I think I'm going to hurl now.