I haven’t had time to catch much of baseball this season, but at least my Red Sox are still leading the AL East. Let’s hope they cream the Yankees today and get some W’s to distance themselves more. On the other hand, the lady in this video is going to have a big, fat shiner on her face for at least two weeks. This happened last night at the Yankees-Orioles game. I feel so sorry for this lady, yet I’m posting it anyway on YOMYOMF. Yep, it’s been that kind of week for me. Sorry, lady… Happy hump day everyone.
Millions of Cash Recovered in Japanese Tsunami Returned
Here’s another example of how Japan is awesome. According to ABC Australian News, Japanese Police have been able to return the bulk of the $78 Million USD that was recovered in the wake of the March Tsunami. Most of the cash was discovered in wallets and safes. With safes, they numbered 5,700 that were found in the wreckage. One safe alone had $1 Million in cash! Most of the recovered cash was found by volunteers and then turned into Police.
Now you may ask, why so much cash? First off, the Japanese tend to store cash in their homes. It’s part of the culture. But in the Miyagi region, where the tsunami hit the hardest, many fisheries dealt with high amounts of cash, via transactions and even employee salaries.
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98 Year Old Woman Can Kick Your Ass
Now here’s a truly uplifting story — 98 year old Keiko Fukuda of San Francisco got a call last week that she was waiting for quite a long time. She was promoted to Judo’s highest level, the 10th black belt. This is truly an amazing feat because only three people in the world have ever reached this highest of levels and they’re all men living in Japan.
Sensei Fukuda still teaches hand techniques to her judo students at the women’s dojo in San Francisco’s Noe Valley. She is also the only living student of judo’s founder Jigoro Kano, who opened his first judo school in 1882. A life-long practitioner, Fukuda sacrificed everything, giving up marriage and leaving Japan to dedicate her life to judo. She also faced gender discrimination all her life, relegating her with lower degree belts, while male counterparts who were less skilled than her, matriculated to higher level belts.
The Khan Academy
I’ve got a big crush on Salman Khan. Holding multiple degrees from MIT and Harvard, Khan was making videos of math lessons for his young cousins. He uploaded them on Youtube and made more. People began to notice and it grew from there. Realizing that he was on to something, he left his soul sucking job as an analyst at a hedge fund and started the Khan Academy, providing video lessons (2,400 so far) ranging from astronomy, economics, chemistry, physics, math, etc. It’s amazing how much this guy knows. And better yet, it’s all free!!
Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this is philanthropy that works. Check out this other video about the Academy: 
I, myself, am going through some lessons just to get quick reminders, especially in algebra lessons.
Chinese Male Cheerleader Brings It On!!
I don’t know what to make of this, but I can say that I can’t take my eyes off this video, even after the 10th time I’ve viewed it. Here’s a video of an unidentified male cheerleader performing a dance routine at China’s Shandong University. Sure, there are female cheerleaders too, but who’s watching them??? All I know is, this has to be investigated more and I have to find out who this dude is, because he should be on the competition cheerleading circuit!
(Via Gawker)
You can do it!!!
Check out this kid’s inspirational speech after riding his bike for the very first time. When he grows up, he’s either going to be a motivational speaker or rule us all! But in the meantime, let this little tyke have his moment in the sun!
Books of Art
My last blog post was about my love of Steidl books, especially his art and photography books. Well, here’s another interesting use of books done by artist Bronia Sawyer, who really supports the use of books for alternative art. Check them out:
Beautiful! Makes me want to grab the old phone books that are propping up my computer monitor to my eye level, and start making something.
(Via Buzzfeed)
The Drug of Ink Smell and Paper
I am a big fan of Gerhard Steidl. An international publisher of many of the most significant photo and art books, his contribution to publishing, and the art and design world is beyond great. He is a visionary craftsman, who personally oversees the production of each book, from conception to final product. He has expanded to non-fiction and literature, but his dabbling into more populist fare allows him to fund some of his more personal projects. Bottom-line, he is a true artist, who fights the good fight when it comes to the importance of books; the need for tactile connections with a tome, as well as the smell of ink and the feel of paper, which are qualities that vary for each book, providing a unique DNA for every tome or edition he publishes. In a world of Kindles and iPads, this is very refreshing.
Choi’s Bois
It’s not everyday you see 6 white guys wear matching t-shirts and cheering on an Asian athlete. But that’s just the case for golf pro K.J. Choi and his “Choi Bois.” Since 2005 Brad Page (age 27), Bo Page (30), Bobby Page (53), David Clayton (30), Alex Kirkland (30) and Curtis Gribble (27) fly from Nashville, TN, to Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, just to watch Choi play at The Players Championship.
And how do a bunch of Southern boys become die-hard fans and root for a South Korean golfer, you might ask?
“We came out here in ’05 and watched,” said Clayton. “Of all the guys, we found K.J. Choi the most fan-friendly and we liked the way he played.”
Memoirs of a Gaga
I’m not a big fan of Lady Gaga, and not because she’s way overexposed (well, maybe a little). I find that the first ever “Asian Issue” for V Magazine, has her on the cover (with the Asiatique headline “Memoirs of a Gaga” no less) and not an actual Asian person representing. Sure, the issue has some cool profiles on the latest tastemakers from the region, ranging from Japanese soccer superstar Hidetoshi Nakata, Asian American pioneer actress Nancy Kwan, and Chinese renegade artist Ai Wei Wei, but it always seems that Asians get the short shrift in stuff like this. Why not have Gong Li (another person profiled) on the front cover? What does Lady Gaga have to do with anything, anyway?
Exclusive Interview w/ Fast Five’s 5-year-old Screenwriter
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to trek out to L.A. for all the opening night fun tomorrow at the L.A. Asian Pacific Film Festival. But I’m sure everyone will have a great time watching Offender Justin’s Fast Five (which opens stateside on April 29 for anyone living in Unabomber-style isolation). Check out this interview with the film’s screenwriter Chris Morgan from our friends at the Onion. It’s definitely one of the most informative interviews I’ve seen about the film:
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Yoshi Sodeoka’s ’70s Mixed Media Magic Carpet Ride
Yoshi Sodeoka is a mixed media artist and musician based in New York City, who’s no stranger to the psychedelic. His work over the last 10 years has captured the trippy and acid-soaked imagery of the Summer of Love and updated it for the 21st Century. His work that is inspired by LP album artwork, in particular, is pretty amazing.
For his latest project, Sodeoka is making a series of short videos inspired by ’70s prog-rock concept albums, in collaboration with the composer Daron Murphy. According to the artist, “Each piece will be autonomous, but when viewed together will create a larger whole.” He will release each new video piece online, like this piece called “Sibyl,” which just popped online. Again with the acid trip visuals and experimental noise, it almost makes me want to put flowers in my hair, live in a yurt and take some LSD.
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