You are currently browsing all entries tagged with 'Finishing The Game'

Escolar: the Pablo Escobar of fish

  • April 2, 2012 7:18 am

Ever have Butterfish?

Well, if you’re a sushi connoisseur, you most likely have.  It’s a firm whitefish that is succulent and incredibly rich in flavor.  To eat one, properly sushi-prepared, is a guaranteed, oral orgasm.  Well, at least it was for me the first time I had it – lightly seared with a dollop of apricot puree on top.  You never forget your first time.  I had three servings in less than 30 minutes.  And I joyfully swallowed each and every creamy bite.  Yum…

eat me

Never heard of Butterfish?  Perhaps you may know it by it’s other aliases like “white tuna” or “super-white tuna” or “walu” or…“Escolar.“

Shooting out Escolar is far more ferocious than being shot by Escobar

Escolar?  Yes, Escolar.  That’s the fish’s real name before it went to culinary finishing school.  Sounds kind of like Pablo Escobar, no?  And just like the Columbian drug lord, we too should fear and respect this snake mackerel fish.  For if you underestimate Escolar or Escobar, the final result is always predictably the same – bad shit happens.  Read more...

DADDY FAN – Baby Barfing Blues

  • March 15, 2012 2:02 pm

I dropped the F-Bomb at least 50 times in fifteen seconds.  At full volume.  Right in the middle of Beverly Hills and right in the middle of the Beverly Hills sign.

Actually, I was slightly behind the Beverly Hills sign, parked, with all the doors of my minivan wide open and whacking my ride to the rhythm of my global, F-Bomb assault with, of all things, a baby towel – a baby towel covered in puke.

I was less than a quarter mile from an important TV audition when my 15 month old unloaded the entire contents of her stomach onto herself and the car seat that she was strapped into.  This was not a cute, little baby spit-up, by the way.  This vomit was on the order of The Exorcist.  The only thing that didn’t come out were her internal organs.  Read more...

Around The Horn – Unfulfilled OBSESSIONS

  • February 27, 2012 10:33 am

Do you have an unfulfilled obsession?

I’m curious because usually if you have an obsession (ie. passion, strong interest, mania, addiction, infatuation, fetish, etc.), you’re usually doing it, living it, and/or being it 110%, 24/7.

I’m not sure if it’s rare or common, but I’m curious how many of you have an unfulfilled obsession – something that you just love terribly and think about all the time but have not allowed yourself to fully experience or express.

So what’s your unfulfilled obsession (if you even have one)?  I’m not talking fantasy, btw.  I’m talking about something real and of this earth.  Something that you absolutely love, but for some reason, have intentionally or unintentionally postponed.

I’ll tell you mine – sports cars.

me likes long time  Read more...

FLOUNDERING FILM FLUNKEE: How I Almost Didn’t Get into Film School.

  • February 23, 2012 11:22 am

This is the story of a boy, a dream, and one great big deus ex machina.

Right after my first viewing of Christopher Nolan’s Memento, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I knew what it was that was going to make me happy. I was twelve, at the tail end of middle school, and the path that lay ahead of me finally had a distinct direction.

Becoming a writer/director was my dream, but my then-reclusive tendencies kept me from practicing my skills as the latter. The former was a lot easier to work on since I spent so much of my time in my room anyway; spending that same amount of time in the same place only while warmed by the sickly glow of my computer didn’t seem to make that much of a difference.  Read more...

DADDY FAN – how to Love a Love Hypocrite

  • February 15, 2012 7:50 am

I don’t have a babysitter right now.  Her mother unexpectedly past so she left for Asia on Friday for a month or two (or three).  I don’t have a geographically-convenient, sexy, Korean wife right now either.  She just departed on a business trip for a week.

So without a sexy, Korean wife/mom and babysitter to help share in the daily, care schedule of my 2 baby girls, I find myself a bit short-handed at this very moment.  Where is Jeremy Lin when you need him?  C’mon #17, I needs yo help!

it's peaceful and serene. until the baby wakes...

Being home, alone with 2 baby girls is not easy (at least not for me).  It’s not a child to parent ratio that I prefer.  It’s exhausting at best and a very lonely space to be in.  This happens to me from time to time – my parental support system going down unexpectedly.  The work/social/daddy world that I so delicately constructed instantly explodes and I have to become 110% Daddy Fan 24/7 until reinforcements arrive.  My personal and professional life must be lived, at best, in between naps.  Read more...

DADDY FAN – homeless & (pro)Creative

  • February 9, 2012 11:01 am

To buy a home or not to buy a home?  That is the question.

Actually, it’s no longer a question – I need to buy a home.  Now.  Yesterday.  Last year.

I bought my first place in 2003.  A simple 1,144 sf, 2bed/2bath condo in West LA/Santa Monica.  It was a great value in a safe, urban, walk-to-everything location.  I was single back then, so 1,144 square feet was more than enough room to accommodate my bachelor life.  But today, I am no longer Fan Solo, but Fan Daddy-O, equipped with a wife and 2 fun baby girls.  What was once a spacious and relaxing urban retreat is now a converted playground that just happens to have a kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping facilities.  It’s time to move.  Now.  Yesterday.  Into something bigger (than my current Chinese-Korean, estrogen-heavy, Toy’s-R-Us sardine can that I call home).

Our new home will not be this big. Perhaps 3/50th of 50's 50,000 sf...

So what do we need?  Well…a house with more space, a backyard, in a safer neighborhood, and within a good public school district (kindergarten through high school).  That’s what what we need.

But what do we want?  Well, that’s a different story.  We want a 3,800+ sf, green home of tomorrow, a large, low-maintenance backyard with a small pool, in an exceptionally safe neighborhood, within close walking distance of grocery stores, banks, parks, etc., a close/convenient commute to work, and all within a GREAT public school district.  That’s what we want.  A tall order, I know…  Read more...

DADDY FAN – when a cute girl steals your bed

  • January 31, 2012 12:09 pm

My body aches.  All the time.  My neck, my back, my rump – all sore and creeky 24/7, even after many, vigorous massage sessions via the bony hands of a cute Korean girl (my wife).

For over 3 years it’s been like this (which, ironically, is in parallel to my current tour of duty as a dad) .  I rarely feel fresh, virile, or verdant anymore.  For the span of over 1,000 days my bones have felt like glass and my muscles of frozen meat.  In a nutshell, I hurt.

Why?

Am I unknowingly a zombie with limited decay and good teeth?  Probably not.  I still want to kiss my wife, not eat her.

or

Am I just working out too hard at the gym in order to maintain a perfect, Hollywood physique?  Absolutely not.  I have not worked out a day in the gym in over 3 years.  And as such, I am well on my way of disproving the myth that Asian guys don’t have butts.  This baby’s got some back.  Come touch my creation if you wish.  All of it.  Read more...

Buy in Bulk

  • December 7, 2011 1:28 pm


With the holiday shopping season in full swing now, I’d like to proffer a suggestion to all you holiday shoppers (esp. those of you who are of the semi-lazy variety) who are having problems figuring out what to purchase for your various friends, family, colleagues, etc. It’s an idea that will not only save you time but actually also contribute exponentially to the Asian American arts.

Buy in bulk.

Yes, we’re all familiar with the general idea, especially those of us who are frugal, thrifty, cheap (whatever you want to call it). You make the semi-weekly runs to Costco or Sam’s Club or whichever massive warehouse store is in your geographical area, and you purchase a buttload of the same item at the same time (usually at only a small discount if you do the actual math).  Read more...

DADDY FAN – Makin’ Bacon by Fakin’ (tv commercial style)

  • November 14, 2011 2:13 pm

I’ve done a good number of TV commercials.  It’s how I’ve made the majority of my living as an actor.  It’s how many actors make their living as they continue to hunt for their place on a TV series or name status in Hollywood, studio movies.

"You talking to me? Or just needing a mortgage from Quicken Loans?"

It’s not the glamorous path.  And in some instances, it’s something that both actor and their representatives struggle to downplay or even hide in order to create and maintain the seductive and elusive image of a Hollywood star.  Cause you know…Hollywood stars-in-the-making don’t do TV commercials.  They’ll entertain spokesperson contracts but they don’t do TV commercials (let alone audition for them).

But I do TV commercials.  And I audition for them.  I’ve done quite a few.  At last count, I think I’m close to 100.  Definitely over 70 and somewhere headed towards 100.  So over 16 years, I’ve averaged about 6 TV commercials per year.  For some, that number may seem pathetically low.  For others, impossibly high.  For me, I’m not sure what to make of it.  All I know is that without TV commercials, I wouldn’t have had the ability to afford my acting career.

OK, so what commercials have I done?  What have you seen me in that you didn’t know I was in?  Well, I don’t have a formal list anywhere.  So here’s a sampling off the top of my head.  Here goes…

Mercedes Benz, Campbell Soup, Westin Hotels, Bank of China, Nissan Cup Noodle, Hyundai, Orkin Pest Control, Verizon, Chase Financial, McDonald’s, UPS, Ace Hardware, Zales, Barclay’s Financial, Palm Pilot, Jiffy Lube, Pizza Hut, Sprint, Toyota, Philips Electronics, Quicken Loans, K-Mart, Hallmark, Koo Koo Roo, Sears, Albertson’s, MCI, Nationwide Insurance, Wal-Mart, California Board of Tourism, Assurant Health, Northern Bathroom Tissue, Hertz, etc…  Read more...

FLOUNDERING FILM FLUNKEE begins.

  • September 15, 2011 12:00 am

I’ve found that the best metaphor for life – and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this – is a train.  Either you’re on it moving forward, seeing everything fall behind you, or you’re standing at the edge of that train station watching it go by.

Pic by campotta via Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/awmasry/1552826752/)

I’m a young man getting older by the day with an overpowering sense of my own mortality.  That might be the most important way I can describe myself to you.  The second most significant is that I’m a graduate of a very prestigious film school.

Don’t worry: these two things make sense together in the end.  I took a screenwriting class once.  Read more...

DADDY FAN – Hollywood, family

  • June 14, 2011 4:15 pm

I’m a baby papa.  Actually, make that babies papa.  There, I outed myself.  I am legally a parent and a husband – a man no longer solo but a caretaker of my out-of-womb seeds and a spicy Oriental lass of the Han-Gook variety.

“Everything changes once you have kids.  So don’t pop holes through your condom with your teeth during…”
-  Planned Parenthood (ok, not really)

If you had asked me 5 years ago whether I’d be married with kids (and a minivan too), I would have laughed really, really hard and said, “Whatever mofo, pass the lychee soju and let us drink like vikings and touch the untanned parts of pretty girls.”

But it is not 5 years ago, it is today. Instead, I am married with kids (two to be precise and perhaps more on the way).  5 years ago, I would have considered my current state of affairs a “worst case scenario,” second only to running out of Shiseido facial moisturizer and blotting paper before a big audition.  Sigh…being an 18 year old, single father of two is truly sobering…  Read more...

Super Hot Album Covers…YOMYOMF Flavah Edition

  • March 29, 2010 2:47 am

Offender Alfredo recently blogged about his choices for Super Hot Album Covers and that made me think about my favorite album covers and how they might relate to some of the key people who have helped define YOMYOMF. So with the help of fellow Offender and photoshop guru/master/bad ass mofo David, here’s a reimagining of these album covers injected with a little bit of YOMYOMF flavah to kick off an otherwise gloomy Monday. Have a great week and keep offending, my friends!

BEATLES “Meet The Beatles”
Featuring Justin, Sung, Roger and Dustin Nguyen

Although this was technically the Beatles’ second U.S. album, it was the one that introduced most Americans to the Fab Four. So I thought it would be fitting to kick things off by mashing-up that album cover with the men from Offender Justin’s film Finishing The Game. For our readers who don’t know, youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com was the original Finishing The Game website. Instead of shutting down the site after the film was released, Justin had the idea of turning it into a blog and the rest is history mildly interesting trivia. So “meet” the faces of the men who inadvertently gave birth to YOMYOMF.  Read more...