Alpha Asian

                                             Yukio Otsu, after scoring the winning goal In happier Olympic news for other Asian male athletes, and perhaps somewhat of cosmic justice (in re: the Spanish basketball team and the Beijing Olympics), Team Japan beat Team Spain in the preliminary rounds of pool play. Spain, a favored team, just lost their second game to Honduras. In both games, Team Spain was shut out. They have been eliminated from medal contention.

So, while taking it easy tonight by watching the Orioles baseball game(they got crushed tonight, 11-1), I was channel surfing and stumbled upon that great 80's rock band, The Smithereens on PBS. It was a taped concert at Infinity Music Hall in Connecticut. I wasn't a big fan of the band but I did and do like them, and I hadn't kept up with them in a long while. And I notice the bass player was Asian. I didn't know who he was but I thought, "How cool is that!" I had to go look him up to see who he was found it he's Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion from Los Angeles. Looks like Severo started out in a pop/rock band in 1998 called the Masticators which disbanded in 2001. Severo later joined up with the Smithereens in 2006. I think it's pretty cool to see an an Asian guy in a national act like the Smithereens. I wish there were more AA male musicians that would get into indie or garage rock bands.  The performing arts isn't an easy lif...

A couple of weeks ago, I caught that show American Ninja Warrior....I typically don't watch shows like that, but since I was flipping through, I stayed on it to see just exactly what this show was about. And to my surprised, I sort of got hooked. In case you don't know, it's modeled after a Japanese TV show where competitors try to negotiate four obstacle courses using their athletic prowess and strength. It is billed as the world's hardest obstacle course.  A Washington Post columnist and critic recently wrote an essay on the show and how he got hooked on it as well. He writes: " One thing we don’t see enough of on TV is failure, which is curious, because failure seems to be all we talk about.... So who would watch a television show where the winner could very well be   . . . nobody? This fact alone may be my favorite thing about the gloriously fun and mentally absorbing   “American Ninja Warrior,”   the U.S. version of a Japanese obstacle-course competition....

I'm probably preaching to the choir on this but a friend sent me a link to an article touting the benefits of strength training. I've posted about this before, and I'm going to guess that most of you who check in here already lift, so this article is those who haven't thrown some iron and steel around. For me, though, it gives me extra incentive when I read things like this because I'm getting older now and my fitness and overall health is becoming more important to me. I'm not a serious lifter like our founding brother James is, but I'm trying to make lifting a more regular part of my lifestyle now, as I've lifted off and on over the years with no real consistency. The article was in Forbes of all things. Some quick highlights from the article's summary of new scientific findings documented in New York Times writer Gretchen Reynold's book   The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longe...

Well, our founding brother James is stepping back into retirement. I wish him well in getting on with the business of attending to his life. But riding off into the sunset doesn't mean the road necessarily ends.  Oh, I can see why roads come to an end though. First of all, look at the responses this blog has received from James' news that he's stepping aside for the time being. And it does go back to my point: we really are just talking among ourselves. I'm okay with a low viewership and I don't care much about how many hits the blog gets. I was more interested in some quality discussions or thoughts from the viewers.  Second, there have been some great posts by James'--the podcast with Chester Wong , for example---and absolutely zero response. Or barely anything. I had been tempted to post just so these posts don't sit there in isolation but I figured that was up to those who visit and read the site. I shouldn't be the one forcing a conversation.  T...