Yesterday, I went to the Lakers parade. It was quite a bit of fun, but in no way did I think most people were “celebrating with dignity”. Right after the Lakers won the championship, immediately after, there was a commercial with Kobe, Phil, Derek, maybe Pau, I can’t remember exactly. All of them were saying how the fans represented the team, and how our celebrating should show other people how Laker fans celebrate, and we should celebrate with dignity. Exactly. However, I did think it was really ridiculous how the players have to tell you to do that. It’s plainly obvious that you should celebrate in a classy way.
There’s something stupid about LA fans though. About 10 minutes after airing that commercial, a small riot broke out in downtown LA, right outside Staples Center. Needless to say, it was really embarrassing, as that sort of behavior was in no way a reflection of how I celebrate Laker victories, or how other people I know celebrate. It’s one thing to loot a store and sell it for money or keep it for yourself. However, it’s a completely other thing to loot from a store and then just burn everything you stole. It was disgusting and embarrassing. I hope other sports fans don’t think all Laker fans are this way.
Unfortunately, stupid behavior was happening the day of the parade too. Maybe just at the Coliseum where I was, but I think I’m going to follow my Mom’s advice and just go to the parade route instead if I ever go again. In any case, it was about 7 in the morning when we arrived. The people in front of us were drinking beer and smoking in the line. Come on people, I understand breakfast sandwiches and coffee, but alcohol at that hour?! It’s just so sad that there were children in line with them. Other people there had the decency to go step out of the line for a moment and go a distance away and smoke. At one point, I smelled marijuana and was really disgusted. The worst part was, the guy in front of me had a joint in his pocket and was totally going to smoke it right in front of me. Gross. When they opened the gates, it was absolute mayhem. Let’s just say that some people really need to use deodorant, and people need to stop pushing. It was pretty horrible.
Anyway, I got to see the Lakers, although far away, and it was cool to be part of the experience. I learned a lot of things. First, always bring sunscreen. Second, bring a jacket. Not for wearing, but as a sun shield. Third, there are a lot of dumb fans, so be patient, or try to be tolerant. I hate to make this politically charged, but a lot of the dumb fans belong to a particular ethnic group. I don’t know why that is, but try to stay classy. Fourth, despite my love for Trevor Ariza, I think we would not get along in real life. He likes 'lil Wayne, Kanye, T-Pain, and his favorite car is an Escalade. Oh no. I think Trevor can still be one of my favorite Lakers, but hell, I'm marrying Pau instead :] Fifth, the guys are so cute in person. They’re total guys, jumping into each other, it was very good to see. Go get ‘em next year~!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Ups, downs, and basketball
After such a tough loss, I always feel horrible. The feeling doesn’t go away until the next game and there’s a W. Otherwise, the feeling just gets even worse. Thankfully the game is tomorrow, so it doesn’t have time to really sink in and make me really mad. Nonetheless, you really have to credit the other team. They played out of their minds last night, and they only won by 4. Kobe was not very clutch at the end of the game, and our defense was incredibly spotty. Funny thing was, Kobe was playing fairly well in the first quarter, then something happened in the second, and his shots weren’t going in. The trend continued well until the end of the game. It was very upsetting. Plus, Lamar and Andrew did not show up. Pau had brain farts all over the place. For such tall, skilled players, that sort of performance is not acceptable in any way at all.
Yesterday, I was really nervous about finally starting lab work. I was scared that the Masters’ students would be a bit scary, and that the Summer Bridge students would be fantastic and I would look like an idiot. I was pleasantly surprised. The Bridge students were very nice, although two of them seemed rather bored, and just wanted to get out of there, as they were checking their cell phones rather frequently. The other one seemed more interested, and from what I saw, didn’t check his cell phone, thankfully. The other undergrad, Emily, seemed really nice and sweet. I think she’s a lot younger than I am, maybe a sophomore? Not sure. The Master student teaching us seemed really nice and a bit dorky, reminded me of a girl I knew in high school- a bit homely looking, a bit of a geek, but really nice. The process of making things wasn’t that difficult. Nonetheless, there’s a weird feeling about how there’s not a whole lot of supervision. Pretty much, the Master’s student is the one you look to for stuff. I’m coming by again on Thursday, and I’m pretty excited. I’ve gotten over the first sort of initial anxiety, and I’m really willing to learn more. I’ve already signed a form to get a key to the building, so I feel pretty legit right now. I just hope that the Masters’ student teaches me how to do things in time for the Lakers game. Wow do I have my priorities in order.
On an unrelated note, I was listening this morning on ESPN radio. I didn’t really feel like listening to music, and I like to hear what other people think about the Lakers. I sometimes listen to the station the games are broadcast on, but they were talking about baseball, and frankly, I don’t care. The announcer guy, I dunno who he was, but had a kind of annoying voice, was talking about ratings of the NBA versus the NHL. It’s pretty obvious, in America, football reigns supreme, with baseball as a very close second. To me though, I was always a really big fan of basketball, and football’s ok, and baseball’s boring. I never really thought much about hockey at all. I always put it in the same category as soccer and rugby. Fun, but not very popular in America. I figured hockey was really popular in cold places, like Canada and Russia, where ice is everywhere, though with global warming, who knows. Similarly with soccer and rugby, sure in England and pretty much everywhere else in the world where futbol reigns supreme. To me, it just is really dumb to even compare basketball versus hockey. Of course basketball gets more ratings! So when the radio guy said that the NBA gets about 4x the amount of viewers the NHL does, it didn’t surprise me at all. But it’s interesting, when I consider that both sports are in their championship phase. The NHL has the Stanley Cup going on right now, and it’s game 6, so it has to be a pretty big deal, especially with the series going that far. The NBA has the Finals going on right now, but it’s only game 3, with the home team in a must-win situation. One guy called in and said that looking at ratings for the NHL wasn’t accurate at all, as the game is only exciting when you’re at the game. That may be true, but the sport gets LOTS of money from TV. If it’s not exciting on TV, then what?
I do have lots to say about the basketball issue, but I feel rather uninspired to talk about it at length. My broski is graduating from high school today, so congratulations to everyone in the Class of ’09!
Cheers!
Yesterday, I was really nervous about finally starting lab work. I was scared that the Masters’ students would be a bit scary, and that the Summer Bridge students would be fantastic and I would look like an idiot. I was pleasantly surprised. The Bridge students were very nice, although two of them seemed rather bored, and just wanted to get out of there, as they were checking their cell phones rather frequently. The other one seemed more interested, and from what I saw, didn’t check his cell phone, thankfully. The other undergrad, Emily, seemed really nice and sweet. I think she’s a lot younger than I am, maybe a sophomore? Not sure. The Master student teaching us seemed really nice and a bit dorky, reminded me of a girl I knew in high school- a bit homely looking, a bit of a geek, but really nice. The process of making things wasn’t that difficult. Nonetheless, there’s a weird feeling about how there’s not a whole lot of supervision. Pretty much, the Master’s student is the one you look to for stuff. I’m coming by again on Thursday, and I’m pretty excited. I’ve gotten over the first sort of initial anxiety, and I’m really willing to learn more. I’ve already signed a form to get a key to the building, so I feel pretty legit right now. I just hope that the Masters’ student teaches me how to do things in time for the Lakers game. Wow do I have my priorities in order.
On an unrelated note, I was listening this morning on ESPN radio. I didn’t really feel like listening to music, and I like to hear what other people think about the Lakers. I sometimes listen to the station the games are broadcast on, but they were talking about baseball, and frankly, I don’t care. The announcer guy, I dunno who he was, but had a kind of annoying voice, was talking about ratings of the NBA versus the NHL. It’s pretty obvious, in America, football reigns supreme, with baseball as a very close second. To me though, I was always a really big fan of basketball, and football’s ok, and baseball’s boring. I never really thought much about hockey at all. I always put it in the same category as soccer and rugby. Fun, but not very popular in America. I figured hockey was really popular in cold places, like Canada and Russia, where ice is everywhere, though with global warming, who knows. Similarly with soccer and rugby, sure in England and pretty much everywhere else in the world where futbol reigns supreme. To me, it just is really dumb to even compare basketball versus hockey. Of course basketball gets more ratings! So when the radio guy said that the NBA gets about 4x the amount of viewers the NHL does, it didn’t surprise me at all. But it’s interesting, when I consider that both sports are in their championship phase. The NHL has the Stanley Cup going on right now, and it’s game 6, so it has to be a pretty big deal, especially with the series going that far. The NBA has the Finals going on right now, but it’s only game 3, with the home team in a must-win situation. One guy called in and said that looking at ratings for the NHL wasn’t accurate at all, as the game is only exciting when you’re at the game. That may be true, but the sport gets LOTS of money from TV. If it’s not exciting on TV, then what?
I do have lots to say about the basketball issue, but I feel rather uninspired to talk about it at length. My broski is graduating from high school today, so congratulations to everyone in the Class of ’09!
Cheers!
Friday, June 5, 2009
don't be afraid of the censor button
I am SO sick of the stupid song by Pitbull or whoever that goes “One, two, three, four, uno, does, tres, quarto, I know you want me, you know I want ‘cha” followed by some rather vulgar things in Spanish. Now, aside from the fact that the song is INCREDIBLY annoying, it says some pretty vulgar things, and it’s not even remotely censored on the radio. I mean, come on, this is LA. A lot of people speak Spanish. So yes, it is a big deal, when a kid with relatively ok Spanish-speaking skills hears it and asks mom what that means.
This issue came to my attention when I was with my brother, who’s taking AP Spanish. The song came on the radio, and I asked him if he understood what the guy was saying. He listens, and he says something like “I know you have a big mouth… so we can play?”, followed by “Ewww. That’s dirty.” Lots of songs totally get censored due to language/content, like Britney Spears’ song “If You Seek Amy” that’s changed to “If You See Amy” to change the vulgarity, and obviously bad words like the f-bomb are censored out, or changed to something else. That’s fine, the radio stations don’t want to get fined by the FCC. Sometimes, potentially dirty things are downplayed, as to not seem so bad. Now I’m not entirely sure about this, but Lil Wayne’s song “Lollipop” is changed too, where instead of him saying “She lick me like a lollipop”, it’s downplayed to sound more like “Lick like a lollipop”, downplaying what he’s really saying. It’s so unfortunate that every single song out there is just overtly sexual. There are so many other things you can sing about, and it’s sad that everyone only talks about that. Radio stations should definitely reconsider their opinion/ policy on content, regardless of language.
This issue came to my attention when I was with my brother, who’s taking AP Spanish. The song came on the radio, and I asked him if he understood what the guy was saying. He listens, and he says something like “I know you have a big mouth… so we can play?”, followed by “Ewww. That’s dirty.” Lots of songs totally get censored due to language/content, like Britney Spears’ song “If You Seek Amy” that’s changed to “If You See Amy” to change the vulgarity, and obviously bad words like the f-bomb are censored out, or changed to something else. That’s fine, the radio stations don’t want to get fined by the FCC. Sometimes, potentially dirty things are downplayed, as to not seem so bad. Now I’m not entirely sure about this, but Lil Wayne’s song “Lollipop” is changed too, where instead of him saying “She lick me like a lollipop”, it’s downplayed to sound more like “Lick like a lollipop”, downplaying what he’s really saying. It’s so unfortunate that every single song out there is just overtly sexual. There are so many other things you can sing about, and it’s sad that everyone only talks about that. Radio stations should definitely reconsider their opinion/ policy on content, regardless of language.
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