THE REVIEW

1/18/11

2011-01-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a fantastic new year's celebration. In honor of my birthday this week, here's the celebratory hot joints of the week:

Music:
David Guetta feat. Rihanna --- Who's that Chick

Not a lot I can say about this song that you haven't heard me say before in many of my previous musical reviews. I love David Guetta. All his beats are catchy, and he's a hit creating machine. Is he the best DJ to see live, nah, not really. But he produces hot songs. As for Rihanna, if there was one artist that I would've sworn after their first single, that they would disappear into one-hit-wonderdom, it would've been Rihanna after "Pon de Replay". But here we are, all these years later, and pretty much every song Rihanna puts out now is a Pop Top 20 song. So it's no surprise that everyone and their mom wants her to sing on their tracks. In any case, the combination of the two on this song is amazing. 4.5/5 Stars.

Movies:
Green Hornet

When I went to see this movie, I already knew it was going to be a funny movie. Seth Rogen stars in it, and more importantly both Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote it (they also wrote Superbad). So going into the movie, I already had expectations of the movie being fairly funny. I had no idea it was going to be nearly as funny as this. On top of all that, I had no expectations as to how the fight scenes and action in this movie would hold up with Seth Rogen as one of the key stars. However, Jay Chou delivers a great performance, and the cinematic way the fights are shot made the action incredible. And lastly, the original Green Hornet show was a bit before my time, but anyone can agree that Bruce Lee was a legendary idol. I'm glad the movie did what it could throughout the film to pay homage to the man. I saw the movie in regular aka non-3D cuz I'm a cheapass. Irregardless, the film was great. 4/5 Stars.

Restaurants:
Lyon Hall

This past weekend, my friends and I went to Lyon Hall for a surprise birthday dinner for one of our good friends. It was my first time to the Hall, and I'd also never eaten at Liberty Tavern, which is owned by the same people. So I had no expectations going into the meal. Once the meal began though, I was quickly thrown into quite possibly the best dining experience I've had in a long time. The food there was classy and exotic with things such as rabbit, foie gras (duck fat), arctic char, pate, and various cheeses. Pretty much everything I tasted all night from my plate or my friends' plates was amazing...and I literally can't wait until the next time I can go eat here or at Liberty Tavern to see what else there is to indulge in. 5/5 Stars.

12/22/10

2010-12-22T06:47:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Feliz Navidad, etc. etc. My apologies for not blogging in quite some time. I've been busy, but I'm back in the saddle now. I hope this has not discouraged all of you from living/loving/laughing. Short and sweet, here's your hot picks of the week. Have a wonderful holiday weekend and safe and joyous new year. See you all in 2011!

Music:
Fabolous: You Be Killin Em

I love Fabolous. The man may need a spell check, but his music is flawless. I've always thought his flow was sick, his lyrics were usually meaningful, and something about his voice is just buttery and easy to listen to. So, considering he's been so MIA the past few years, I was intrigued when I heard his new single play on the radio. And literally, about 15 seconds into the song, I already knew this was my new favorite current jam. The beat is ridiculously awesome...like most of Fabolous' songs. His flow is still dabomb. And I've literally been listening to the track on repeat on youtube for like the last 3 days at work. 4.5/5 Stars

Movie:
The Fighter

Ever since I saw the trailer for this movie, I knew it was the kind of movie I'd want to watch. It stars Mark Wahlberg (one of my favorite actors usually...except for The Happening), Christian Bale (in one of his best acting performances ever), and Amy Adams (one of the most underrated actresses in my opinion). For those of you who have not heard of the film, it's a boxing movie about the former champion Micky Ward. The film follows his climb to glory after early stumbles in his career. It documents the struggles he faced in dealing with his family (his mother was his former manager and his crack-addict brother Dicky was his former trainer). All in all, the film has everything...great action, great story, great acting. The film has already been nominated for several Golden Globe awards, including Mark Wahlberg's nomination for Best Actor. Considering all the exciting movies out right now: Tron, Chronicles of Narnia, Black Swan, Tourist, Yogi Bear, etc...the fact that I chose The Fighter over all these films last weekend shows how much I thought of the movie beforehand...and now having watched it, my opinion of the film has only gotten better. I highly recommend watching this movie if you like sports films based on true stories. 4.5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Ariake

If you've been following this blog and/or my yelp account, you know that I love sushi. I've reviewed many sushi restaurants in my day, and of all of them, my favorite had always been Sweet Ginger in Vienna. But recently, having lived in Herndon for about a year and a half now, I decided to have sushi one night with my roommate and we ventured out to Ariake in Reston. In all fairness, this is the only restaurant I've ever eaten at that I put on the same tier as Sweet Ginger. The fish was fresh and sliced into hearty pieces like at SG. The variety of sushi available was impressive and the taste of the roll combinations were delicious. The restaurant itself is large and decorated beautifully and the wait staff was both friendly and attractive. I tried the sashimi platter in order to get a taste of lots of different types of fish and everything tasted great. I also tried the sea urchin because I hadn't seen many places that offer it. It was strong and intense, like sea urchin usually is, and while the meat itself isn't something I'd probably eat again anytime soon, the dish was well prepared and beautifully constructed. I highly recommend you try Ariake if you're a sushi lover in the Reston/Herndon/Sterling area. 5/5 Stars

11/29/10

2010-11-29T07:16:00.000-08:00

Hello Buddies!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I give thanks every year that I'm able to live such a blessed and wonderful life surrounded by truly wonderful friends and family. I also give thanks that I'm fortunate enough to live in a country where I can freely write about my favorite movies, songs, and restaurants and share these favorites with the ones I love. So anywhoo...here's the hot joints I give thanks for this week!

Music
Wynter Gordon feat. David Guetta --- Dirty Talk

This song actually came out last year. Most of you have probably never heard of Wynter Gordon. She's an amazing singer who's been featured on songs like Flo Rida's "Sugar" (the song that sampled "Blue" by Eiffel 65). In any case, I believe Ms. Gordon is on the verge of releasing or recording an album of her own, and this track that was released last year features, arguably, one of the hottest mainstream DJs out there right now. Mr. Guetta seems to be everywhere this year, from his own album, to providing the beats to some of Pop's and Hip Hop's biggest club tracks this year. This song is no different. Granted, the lyrics aren't anything special, they're literally just a hot female singer saying random sexually toned words and phrases in a list format...but the beat and the hook are so catchy, it makes little difference. I haven't stopped humming this song since I first heard it. 4/5 Stars

Movies:
Harry Potter The Deathly Hallows Part 1

Now before all you wizards and witches start yelling at me for my critique, let me make it completely clear that I've never read any of the HP books. I've done that purposely because too often in life, I've read a book that was great, and been supremely disappointed by the movie. That is why now, I watch movies first, then read the books afterwards so I'm not disappointed. Having known for many years how awesome the HP books are, I knew that if I started reading them, I'd want to finish the entire series...and I didn't wanna risk ruining the later movies for myself by reading the books first. Thus, I've decided to wait and watch all the movies and then go back to read the books. That being said, I watched the first part of the last movie this past weekend. And I didn't like it. It was long (2.5 hours), it was boring for the most part, and for those of you who watch Naruto and/or Bleach (two popular anime shows), this movie felt like the "filler" equivalent of many episodes of those shows in which nothing happened, and it was simply a placeholder or buildup for the next episode. Now, I have spoken to some people who did read the book, and they admitted the first half of the last book is pretty boring. And in that regard, they also said that the movie mirrored the book almost exactly. So I suppose in that regard, the movie is a success...but from a viewer's point of reference, it didn't do it for me. It did however, leave me hanging and wanting to see the second part of the finale, so I suppose it succeeded in that manner. 3/5 Stars (Not a tremendously horrible movie, just not worth the $11.50...wait for it to come on Netflix or On Demand, then rent it, watch it and get ready for part 2 which should be much better)

Restaurants:
Burapa Thai Classic

So I've now lived in Herndon for over a year. You would've thought I'd been to all the Thai cuisines out here, but this past week, a friend of mine who works in Ashburn took me to Burapa. And holy cow, it blew me away. The menu itself had me intrigued as it has most of my favorite Thai dishes: massamun curry, panang, drunken noodles, pad thai, etc. However, the thing that separates Burapa from all the rest if you can combine your favorites. The restaurant has about 6 or 7 pre-made combos that you can choose for lunch or dinner. And in these combos two of your favorite Thai dishes are served to you in one plate. So I ordered the drunken noodles/Panang and just as I'd hoped, I got a plate with drunken noodles on one side, and rice with panang curry on the other. It was awesome! And at only $8.50 for lunch, it was great. I also had the thai iced tea, with bobas (that's bubble tea to those who don't know), and it was great too! The tapioca bubbles were nice and soft. If I wasn't so stuffed from my meal, I would've tried some appetizers and/or dessert. But now having tasted how wonderful this place is, I'll definitely go back there again sometime. So yeah. 4/5 Stars

11/9/10

2010-11-09T07:47:00.001-08:00

Waddup buddies,

Gonna keep it short this week. Here's the hot jams for this week. Note that the movie is a negative review...not a recommendation this time. Enjoy!!!

Music
Far East Movement --- I Party

First off, I have to admit, I love FEM. As cheesy and ricey as their name might be, and despite the fact that they look like an all Asian Kanye West tribute band, these guys put out quality club jams. In general, I try to support my fellow Asian artists whenever someone makes it mainstream, but in most cases, it's simply because I want to see more Asians in the media for positive things....and not necessarily because they're awesome. But Far East Movement, is indeed awesome. You've no doubt caught yourself dancing or jamming along to their hit single "Like a G6" and then vehemently denied to your friends that you secretly love the song. I think their new single "I Party" is even better. First of all, it samples one of my favorite electronic tracks of all time "It's a fine day". Add to that, their hip twist on the grooves within the track as well as their lyrics and you got another club banger. Then there's the music video itself, which is one of the coolest videos I've seen in a long time. Check it out on youtube if you haven't already. 5/5 Stars

Movies
Paranormal Activity 2

So last year, I went to see Paranormal Activity. It was a ground-breaking new horror film with lots of pre-debut hype as being the scariest movie of all time. I went with some friends, with little to no expectations of the film, and what I got in return was nearly a week of restless uncomfortable sleep as a result. So when this year's sequel was announced, I couldn't wait to see what was in store for me. Some people think it's sadistic but for me, there's a good deal of entertainment in stimulating one of the most natural emotions a human can experience. Granted, not being able to sleep properly probably was a negative side effect of watching the original movie, but I have to applaud any production that's able to scare me in that manner. So I was hoping, that this year's sequel would leave me at least equally petrified of what may occur after hours within my relatively quiet house. Unfortunately, this year's sequel fell flat. Knowing that most of its audience had seen the first film, I felt the movie tried to do too much in this new film and forgot what it was about the original film that had every scared. Mainly, that everything happened mysteriously and that we never saw any true horror or demonic attacks until the very end of the movie. The sequel, and I'll try not to give anything away here, gives away too much too early in this film...and in the moments where it did try to keep us in suspense, it only bored us instead. I was really hoping for better, but I suppose that was a poor expectation. I hope to rectify this mistake this week by watching the film Due Date, which I was debating watching last weekend when I decided to watch PA2 instead, because I've heard Due Date was very good. 2/5 Stars for Paranormal Activity 2.

Restaurants
East Moon Asian Bistro

Located in the Kingstowne shopping center between Bonefish Grill and the movie theater, this restaurant opened up earlier this year. I had long meant to go try it out, but didn't get a chance to until this past weekend when I saw the aforementioned movie. All I can say about the restaurant is WOW. It's extremely classy and modern in decor. Huge dining area with tons of wait/bust/cooking staff. The wait was only about 15-20 minutes for a table. All of the food I tried was amazing. The restaurant boasts Indonesian, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese (both hot plates and sushi) cuisine. I tried the Sriracha Chicken entree which was both spicy and flavorful. I also tried one of the specialty sushi rolls, The Kingstowne Roll, and it was delicious. My cousin had the sesame tofu, which was sweet and amazing. For dessert, we split the molten chocolate cake which was also fantastic. All in all, the restaurant succeeded on all cylinders and I can't wait to go back and try some more of their menu items. 5/5 Stars.

11/1/10

2010-11-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Buenos Dias Amigos,

I hope everyone had a pleasant Halloween. I know I'm still trying to recover from all the partying and debauchery. In any case, here's the hot joint cures of the week for that candy and alcohol hangover. Enjoy!!!

Music
Wiz Khalifa --- Black and Yellow

You may remember Pittburgh native rapper Wiz Khalifa from his hit single a couple years back "Say Yeah". It's the one that samples Alice Deejay's Better off Alone. Well, monsieur Khalifa is back this year with another new single that's already killing the airwaves. While the song is named Black and Yellow in honor of the Pittsburgh Steelers (BOOOOOO!!!!!), I won't hold that against the song too much because it doesn't actually say anything about the Steelers, so I suppose it's ok. The beat is hot, the lyrics are hot. Everything about this track makes you wanna bounce in your car. 4.5/5 Stars because of the name of the song and because the music video is a bunch of people waving Terrible Towels.

Movies:
Saw 3D

Yes, I know. I can't believe another Saw movie was made either. But, if you're like me, once you like a particular movie series, no matter how many movies they make, you have to continue seeing them. And Saw is no different. I loved the first Saw, it was ground-breaking and unlike anything I had ever seen previously. 2 was still decent, with a neat twist, but not as good as 1. 3 Was the first time I thought the series was going to end...and yet...it didn't. How the movies can continue without the main villain...ehh I'm not even gonna begin the argument. Then the producers somehow made Saw 4, 5 and 6. So when Saw 3D came out this year...I was like "you have to be kidding me". Nonetheless it had become tradition at this point, to go see the Saw movies Halloween weekend with my cousin, and so I did. All in all, it was a decent movie...as far as thriller horror movies go. Definitely not my favorite of the series, and by this point, I'm so desensitized to the gore and brutality of the traps that it no longer affects me as harshly anymore. Nonetheless, if you are a fan of the Saw series at all, and you enjoyed the previous ones, you'll probably also enjoy this one. 3/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Vienna Inn

I had heard a couple times from people that there existed a restaurant in Vienna that made great chili dogs. As far as American classics go, the chili cheese dog is among my favorite indulgences. So last week, I ventured out to Vienna Inn to check it out. This place is awesome. It's literally a dive bar in the heart of Vienna. Rock music plays over the speakers. Cute waitresses run around taking orders. And the menu is everything you could possibly want from a dive bar in terms of chili and cheese. The Chili Cheese dogs were delicious (and only cost $1.50 each). The Chili Mac was also great, although now that I know that the dogs are so cheap, I'm gonna just do those instead. And the fries were great as well (try the Gravy Fries if you want something different you've never had before). On top of that, the restaurant has birch beer, which is one of my favorite sodas. You gotta check this place out next time you're in Vienna or in the mood for hot dogs. 4/5 Stars

10/19/10

2010-10-19T06:09:00.000-07:00

Good morning Friends,

I hope everyone is enjoying their autumns. With the autumn comes a lot of great foods and specials at restaurants, but it also signals the end of the blockbuster summer season of movies. In any case, the show must go on...so here's the hot joints of the week:

Music:
Chitty Bang --- Opposite of Adults

This song actually isn't that new, it was released early in 2010. But for whatever reason, this song and this group doesn't seem like it's made it that mainstream yet. Most of my friends had never heard it until I mentioned it. The song itself, samples "Kids" by MGMT. In any case, I love this track. The beat is hot, the flow is nice, and you can't help but listen to the song and bob your head along with it. 4/5 Stars

Movies:
Jackass 3D

"Warning, this review is being done by a person who thinks it's inherently primal for humans to enjoy seeing other humans with lower IQ and/or higher disregard for their own personal safety and will submit themselves to painful and/or disgusting stunts. The critic thus, must ask that you watch this movie if you too enjoy seeing people make jackasses of themselves, while also saying that he does not take responsibility if you go see this movie and don't enjoy it because it's not your cup of tea." That jackass-like dislaimer says it all. If you like seeing guys do stupid stunts and hurt themselves...then you'll love this movie like all the other Jackass films/shows. If you don't like that kind of stuff, then it's not for you. 3.5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Ozzie's

If you're familiar with the Great American Restaurants chain of restaurants (Sweetwater Tavern, Coastal Flats, Mike's American Grill, Jacksons, etc.) then you already know how great these restaurants are. Ozzie's is the new one that opened in Fairfax Corner and is the first one to feature an Italian theme. If the restaurant sounds familiar to you already, it's probably because it bears the name of the VP of the Great American Restaurant's cooking division...Ozzie...which also happens to be the name of the iconic dinner rolls that are served at all GAR restaurants...and in many cases is one of the best parts of the meals. Soooo...the name already precedes it. As far as the restaurant goes, it's awesome. The bruschetta, a staple of Italian dining and popular appetizer, is probably the best bruschetta I've ever had. The rigatoni gorgonzola dulce is my favorite entree. And of course....the Ozzie rolls are to die for. If you haven't already, you must go try Ozzie's. Just call ahead a couple hours to ensure you get a table. 4.5/5 Stars

10/4/10

2010-10-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon buddies,

I know it's been a long time since I made a review. Part of that is me being busy with soccer, work, and grad school. Part of that is me being cheap and not seeing any new movies. And part of that is me being lazy. But fear no more, for I have a new review this week. So...that being said, here's the hot joints of the week. Enjoy!!!

Music:
Will.I.Am feat. Nicki Minaj --- Check It Out

One phrase describes it all: This song samples "Video killed the radio star". Aside from the awesome sample, this track from the Black Eyed Peas frontman features arguably the hottest rapper right now...Ms. Minaj. It seems like anything Young Money (the group of rappers which Nicki belongs to) touches is gold. And this song is no different. While I'm not a huge fan of Will.I.AM nor the black eyed peas' new stuff, I do have to admit this song is catchy and great. You should literally..."check it out." 4.5/5 Stars

Movies:
The Social Network

In case you've lived in a bubble for the last 5-7 years...there's this thing on the internet called Facebook. It's kind of a big thing. Anyway, this movie follows Mark Zuckerberg, a young intelligent college student who comes up with (or rather improves upon) an idea at Harvard university to create a new social networking tool. The movie depicts the events and drama that surrounds Zuckerberg and friends/crew as they begin to create arguably the most influential web application in the last decade. The movie is hilarious at times while dramatic at others. Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland) is brilliant as the lead character Zuckerberg. Justin Timberlake is mehhh...average as Sean Parker (the creator of Napster and partial stockholder of Facebook). If you didn't see it opening weekend last weekend like I did, you MUST go see why this movie is the #1 movie in the country right now. 4.5/5 Stars

Restaurants
Sakura

No doubt most of you have at one point in your life tried a Japanese teppanyaki style restaurant. You know what I'm talking about, the Japanese restaurants that cook the food in front of you on a flat hibachi grill and the chefs dazzle you by juggling their knives and stuff. For the most part, they're all average at best, while above average in cost...which is why I don't usually eat at them very often. However, I've recently discovered a chain of Japanese teppanyaki restaurants called Sakura. The one I visited was in the Tyson's Corner area off of Route 7 across from McCormick's and Schmidt's. Anyway, this restaurant is amazing. It's actually two parts, the teppanyaki grill and the sushi bar up front. If you sit in the sushi dining area, you have your choice of all the regular sushi dishes while also ordering things such as bento boxes, terriyaki beef/chicken specials, and my personal favorite: the pork katsu (aka tonkatsu). Now, I've had my fair share of tonkatsu at multiple Japanese restaurants, but I honestly have to say Sakura has had my favorite version of the dish. We were treated to large portions of rice, pork, and veggies while enjoying the most delicious katsu sauce I've ever tried. Furthermore, having eaten at lunch time, the katsu was a lunch special for only like $8. All in all, I recommend everyone who's shy about teppanyaki style Japanese restaurants to give Sakura a try next time you're in the Tyson's Corner area. 4/5 Stars

9/1/10

2010-09-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

Buenos Dias Amigos!

Keeping it short and sweet this week. Here's your hot jams of the week:

Music:
Flo Rida feat. David Guetta --- Club Can't Handle Me

If you know me at all, you know I love to dance. As a result, I love dance shows like So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best Dance Crew. In addition, I also love those cheesy dance movies others hate like Step Up, You Got Served, and Stomp the Yard. Flo Rida's new joint...featuring one of my fave DJ's David Guetta, is from the new Step Up 3D movie, and it's hot fire like the dance moves featured in the movie/music video. Like many of the hot club bangers this year, it's a hip hoppish song with a catchy hook over an energetic electronic beat. I literally have not stopped listening to this song since I heard it in the movie. 4/5 Stars

Movies:
The Expendables

Considering the hot music joint of the week was from Step Up 3D, you woulda thought I woulda rated the movie this week as well, but I've also seen The Expendables since my last blog, and it's a better movie so I figured I'd review it first. SU3D can wait till next week. So the Expendables is awesome. It's exactly what you watch it for....big name action stars doing big action scenes throughout the whole movie. The only criticism I have, which isn't really a criticism, is that not all of the stars you see in the trailer are actually main characters in the movie. In a movie like The Italian Job, or Ocean's 11, you see all the characters play a relatively vital role. In The Expendables, it's basically Stallone + Jason Statham + possibly Jet Li...and then the other guys are just there for bonus action, but not really main parts of the movie (Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren are all relatively side characters...and Steve Austin isn't even on the same team as the rest of the guys so he's even less important). Overall though, great movie, great action. 4/5 Stars

Restaurants:
The Crab Hut (San Diego)

So last time, I blogged about a seafood buffet I went to while on vacation in North Carolina. This time, I rate a seafood restaurant I visited while in San Diego for work. The Crab Hut is DELICIOUS. It's the kinda place that East Coasters like myself are used...especially having grown up a stone's throw from Maryland. You can get blue crabs, crab legs, shrimp, crawfish, mussels, oysters, etc. at this great place in San Diego. What sets this place apart from everywhere else is the way you get the food. You order your sauce (I chose the Full House which is a combination of everthing: butter, old bay, salt, pepper, and other cajun flavors), then you pick your spice level (I chose medium) and they throw everything into a plastic bag for you. On the paper-wrapped tables, you receive your hot steamy food in the bag later, and you take it out and peel it tabletop style. So delicious. If I'm ever in SD again, I'm definitely stopping by the hut again. Since it's seafood, it's pricy, but worth it. 5/5 Stars

8/23/10

2010-08-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

Waddup Peoples. I know it's been a long hiatus. I just returned from a summer vacation to the beach, followed by a work business trip to the West Coast. So, my apologies for the abrupt hiatus. Nonetheless, I'm back...so here's the hot joints of the week. Enjoy!

Music:
Janelle Monáe --- Tightrope

I don't even know how to even begin to describe Janelle Monáe's style of music. You might have recognized her as the fantastically awesome house band for the 2010 Espy awards. She brings a hip hop groove to funky sounds that remind me of class Big Band type music. On top of that, the girl can sing! And if you happen to see the music video of this song, or any live performance by Janelle, you'll notice her zoot suit type fashion sense which for me, is quite refreshing. All in all, I can't say enough good things about Ms. Monáe. Watch for her to have her big break this year after collaborating with artists like Big Boi in the past, and making appearances in the film Idlewild. 5/5 Stars

Movies:
Step Up 3D

Ok, before I review, let's get the jokes out now. Step Up...really Nicky? Yes my friends, really. If you're at all relatively close friend with me, you should not be surprised. Everyone knows I love to dance, and everyone knows I LOVE dance movies. That being said, did I have high expectations for the movie? Nope. Was I excited to see it? Hells yes. Verdict? Fantastic. Perhaps the best of the three Step Up movies, this movie had everything you hoped for. Phenomenal dancing from beginning to end. Tons of dance scenes, minimal acting (which is a good thing considering none of the actors/actresses are winning any oscars any time soon). Music was great in the movie. Additionally, I'm generally not a big fan of 3D, but for this movie, I thought it was ok. Still not worth the extra charge on the movie ticket, but it had its cool moments within the movie. If you enjoy watching great dancing, plan on watching the third installment of this series. Fellow fans of the series, you guys will be glad to hear that Adam Sevani is one of the main characters of this film. 3.5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Jimmy's Seafood Buffet (in the Outer Banks, NC)

I recently took a vacation with some friends to the OBX. It was the first time I had been to OBX in nearly 10 years, which was odd considering I went there nearly every summer as a child. As we made the commute down to NC, my friends could not stop raving about this seafood buffet that we MUST eat at while we're down there. Having been to my fair share of buffets, especially those of the crab leg variety, I had my doubts, but I trusted my friends' opinion so we went. And I was blown away. Hands down, the best crab leg buffet I've ever been to in my life. 9 different varieties of crab legs, all steamed to perfection with melted butter on the side. It didn't even matter that the buffet has 3 other hot bars of food including crab cakes, blue crabs, oysters, mussels, clams, shrimp, steak, macaroni, etc. because my friends and I spent our entire time at the legs bar. After eating enough crab legs to support all of the Deadliest Catch fisherman, our group indulged in the desserts as well...and they were phenomenal. Best soft serve ice cream I've ever had...no joke. The banana pudding was good too. If you're ever on vacation in the OBX, make sure you stop by Jimmy's...it's well worth the cost ($29). 6/5 Stars

7/21/10

2010-07-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

Waddup Friends,

Gonna keep it short and sweet this week cuz I'm swamped at work. Here's the hot joints of the week....might be the strongest lineup I've ever put up in a single week, so check it out:

Music:
Usher feat. Pitbull --- DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again

All of Usher's new music is awesome. I could listen to pretty much any of his new music all day every day. He blends good dance beats with his typical soulful groove. His newest track, which doesn't appear on his album, is an immediate hit single. I could do without Pitbull's part in the song, but it's a minor flaw in the song considering how awesome the rest of it is. I heard it randomly at the club the other day, but I recommend if you haven't heard it yet to jump on youtube and have yourself a mini dance party in your office, home, car, wherever. 4.5/5 Stars (would be perfect if it didn't have Pitbull)

Movies:
Inception

So, I got off to a slow start this year, by not watching many movies. But since I've gotten back on the summer blockbuster horse, it's been one great movie after another. Last week, I had my doubts that anything would be as good as Toy Story 3, but this past weekend, I went to see Inception with some friends in IMAX. Granted, IMAX makes everything a little cooler, but even if I hadn't seen this movie in IMAX, I can honestly say it's got my vote easily as the best movie of 2010. In fact, I like it better than all of the movies from 2009 as well (including Avatar). So let's just go ahead and say Inception was the best movie I've seen in 2 years. The movie had everything. Incredible story. Amazing special effects (which shocked and amazed me similarly to how I felt the first time I ever saw The Matrix). Outstanding plot twists and deviations. The movie is a bit long at 2.5 hours, but it was sooooo amazing, I didn't even notice until we left the theater. Whether you watch a lot of movies or not, you MUST go see this movie as soon as possible. 5.5/5 Stars. (yup, it's better than perfect)

Restaurants:
Celadon Thai

For years, my cousins and I have longed for a Thai restaurant in the West Springfield area...something average that would appease our cravings for Thai whenever we were hanging out at my cousin's house. Last week Celadon Thai opened up in the Whole Foods shopping center on the corner of Rolling Road and Old Keene Mill, and not only was it decent, but it's an incredibly good Thai restaurant. The decor was modern, the food was delicious. I had the massamun curry (a personal favorite dish of mine) and it was good. The thing that I liked about Celadon was they allowed you to choose the protein or veggies that went into each dish. So for someone like me who is used to massamun curry with beef, I had the option to try it with chicken...or tofu. My cousin order the Eggplant Kra Pow (ka pow). I can say hands down, this was the best kra pow I've ever had at any Thai restaurant. The sauce was so delicious and had just enough spicy kick to appease my palate. The eggplant was cooked to perfection as well. Next time I eat here, I definitely plan to order kra pow (although I may try chicken or beef or tofu, or something). On top of all that, my cousin and I both got Thai Iced teas, and what I liked best was that they gave us giant cups of the tea...not at all stingy and small like most Thai restaurants where you wonder if the $3 tea was actually worth it. All in all, this restaurant definitely gets my seal of approval and I can't wait until the next time I'm hanging out at my cousin's place and we get the craving for Thai again. 5/5 Stars.

7/12/10

2010-07-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

Good morning peoples!

The World Cup has ended, and with that, I have a new blog for you all this week. I managed to go see a movie this week, and it was a good one, so without further ado, here's all the hot joints of the week. Enjoy!!!

Music:
Ne Yo --- Beautiful Monster

Ne Yo is one of my favorite R&B artists of all time. His new single is dabomb. It's got his typical groovy soulful voice over a hot dance beat. Makes me wanna dance everytime I hear the song. Easily one of my favorite tracks right now in this genre, which says a lot considering how many hip hop and r&b artists have singles or albums out right now that feature the mix of typical hip hop/r&b with electronic/pop/dance. 4.5/5 Stars

Movies:
Toy Story 3

So, I'm one of the last people I know to go watch Pixar's newest movie. And having now watched it, I am kicking myself for not going earlier. I should've known when I got to the mall this past weekend at 2 in the afternoon...several weeks after the movie debuted...and it was still sold out...that the movie must be good. I just didn't know it was going to be GREAT! The movie was hilarious from beginning to end. The story was moving and sad, and nearly made me cry at the end. Pixar took its animation to a new level, and if this is the conclusion of the "Toy Story", then it was a beautiful one. This may be the best movie I've seen this year. 5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Bangkok Golden

So apparently, Fort Washington Maryland has this famous Thai restaurant with a great lunch/dinner buffet. I had never heard of it until I recently visited the Falls Church area of Northern Virginia and found the 3rd restaurant owned by this same owner. So I walked in and gave the restaurant a shot. It was delicious! The drunken noodles were flavorful, the panang curry was among the best I've ever had, and the basil chicken was sweet and tangy at the same time. I would definitely go eat here again, and having now tasted the lunch buffet, I'm interested as to whether there's even more dishes available during the dinner buffet. My only complaint would be that the restaurant is a bit small, not conducive to a large group. 4/5 Stars

6/28/10

2010-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Wassup Everybody! Before you say anything, yes I know, I have been slacking. As I've mentioned in the past, I don't go out to see movies very often anymore, and this has been the reason for the slow reviews. However, this week I'm back having watched a new movie over the weekend...so you can all rejoice!

On a side note, I've started reviewing restaurants on yelp. So look for me next time you're inquiring about a new restaurant in the DMV on the site.

Music:
Gyptian feat. Nicki Minaj --- Hold Yuh (remix)

Gyptian is a Carribean artist who's been around for a while but no one had really heard of him mainstream until this year. If you're an avid hip hop fan and listen to 95.5 of 93.9, you've no doubt heard this song playing this summer. And if not, well you need to youtube it immediately because it is my official summerjam of 2010. I can't get enough of this track from its catchy beat to Gyptain's accent and flow...and even believe it or not...to Minaj's verse. There's nothing to not like about this song. Granted, the lyrics are hard to decipher like many carribean songs, but you can't help but feel good listening to this song, and it's such a chill song when you're in the car. Not only that, but the beat makes you almost want to get up and dance. Anywhoo, check this jam out and pon the river next time you're at the club and you hear it blast from the dj booth. 4.5/5 Stars

Movies:
Grown Ups

As I said, I hardly ever go to see movies anymore. They just cost too damn much, and usually I'd rather just do something else with friends/family. But every once in a while I make an effort to go catch up on movies, especially during the summer blockbuster season. With all the great movies out, you may be wondering why I chose this film, but it had just come out last weekend, and I was in the mood to laugh. Plus, I'm a fan of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and Chris Rock. David Spade and Rob Schneider, not so much, but the other three were enough to draw me in. Add to that equation to often overlooked, but in my opinion still hot, Salma Hayek, and you've got a pretty packed cast. The movie surpassed my expectations. I was expecting typical Sandler/Schneider type humor, but overall I thought the film was really good. All 5 of the main guys put in their moments of comedic brilliance, and the story/acting was actually halfway decent. If you're a movie junkie who's seen all the major blockbuster hits of this summer, this is a diamond in the rough that might be worth watching. 3.5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Sakura

When it comes to Japanese cuisine, obviously I'm a fan of sushi. But most Japanese restaurants, especially the steakhouses that are catered to larger groups, feature the teppanyaki flat grill cuisine. And while some of these restaurants are good, on the whole I'm not a huge fan of the genre of food. So for that reason, I had never tried the Sakura restaurant in Mclean despite working for 3 years at MITRE across the street from the restaurant. Then a few weeks back, a friend of mine said I had to go and try the restaurant for one dish, and one dish only....the Pork Katsu (also known as tonkatsu). So I went to the restaurant with her. When you walk in, you're asked whether you want the grill or sushi as the restaurant is divided into halves. We said sushi and sat down. We both ordered the pork katsu and waited for it to come. Once it came, I don't think we said a word to each other for the rest of the meal because we were buried face deep into our bowls, shoveling the tasty morsels of pork and heavily sauced rice into our mouths. I've had my fair share of katsu over the years, but this place easily took the spotlight as my favorite. While it's tough to advise people to go to a restaurant when I haven't tried 95% of the menu, I can tell you that the one dish I did try...was amazing...and so I highly recommend the next time you're in Mclean looking for food, to go to Sakura and get the pork katsu. 4/5 Stars

6/12/10

2010-06-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

Ole Ole Ole Ole! Yes friends, I know it's been a long time since I did a review, but that's mainly due to me not going to the movies in a very long time. Nonetheless, I now have a new flick to review this week, so here's the hot joints of the week...World Cup Edition:

Music:
K'Naan --- Waving Flag

Prior to the start of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa this year, submissions were taken by multiple artists for the Anthem for this year's cup. Ultimately, Shakira's song Waka Waka won...but I honestly think K'Naan's song was so much better. If you youtube it, you might even recognize it. But the lyrics are great, the beat is catchy, and it has a very complex but joyous dance. 4.5/5 Stars

Movies:
The Karate Kid

Ever since the first time I saw the trailer for the newest remake of The Karate Kid starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, I couldn't wait to watch this film. Having now watched it last night, this movie was awesome! It had everything you hoped for from the original film, from the plot to the script to the outcome of the storylines. But being that the film was about Kung Fu, in China, and Jaden Smith is just such a charming little kid like his dad, this movie also had all the modern aspects necessary to keep you entertained. It is a bit of a longer movie, but it's hardly noticeable. Must see movie for anyone who's a fan of the original. 4/5 Stars

Restaurant:
Chao Phra Ya

Located in the Clocktower Shopping Center in Herndon, VA. I only recently tried this restaurant. The problem is that it's located in a shopping center in which the only time I ever go to this center is when I'm already on my way to eat at either the pho restaurant there, the Ned Devines bar there, or the Chuck E Cheese (with my friends and their kid). So I always saw, but never tried the restaurant until recently. However, now that I have, I will go back often. The food here is great. Panang Curry was delicious. Drunken Noodles were great. And they have this one appetizer called "Stuffed Chicken Wings" in which they basically take crab, shrimp, mushrooms, and other garnishes/spices and stuff the paste (crab ball style) into a battered chicken meat on the end of a chicken wing bone. This is the only place I had seen this app, but it was really very good. 4.5/5 Stars

5/13/10

2010-05-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends!

Happy Thursday, the 13th! Ok, that's not nearly as momentous as the more popular 13th, but I'm in a good mood regardless. This week we have 3 glowing reviews so enjoy!!!

Music:
Iyaz --- Solo

So for those of you who remember, Iyaz bursted onto the music scene last year with his debut single "Replay". You no doubt heard the song on the radio, assumed it was Sean Kingston, and couldn't find it when you searched. Then you found out it was actually Iyaz. Well, he's back again with his follow-up single entitled "Solo". The song samples the classic Janet Jackson song "Again" and is awesome. I'm a sucker for a great hook, and this song has just about one of the catchiest hooks I've ever heard. Add to that great lyrics, and a good beat and you've got yourself a hit single. The song is starting to get some radio airplay so listen for it next time you're in the car. 4/5 Stars.

Movies:
Ironman 2

Just like pretty much everyone else in the country, I went to see Ironman last weekend. It did not disappoint. The action scenes were great. Robert Downey Jr put in another great RDJ performance as he always does. And Scarlet Johansson was smoking hot. Oh and did I mention War Machine? Don Cheadle did a great job replacing Terrence Howard as the iconic Ironman protege. For those of you who are fans of the superhero genre of movies, Ironman will surely meet your expectations. I like it almost as much as I liked Kickass. 4/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Uncle Liu's Hot Pot

One of my favorite cuisines is the Chinese Hot Pot. It's a great way for friends and family to share a meal and have a great time. In the DC metropolitan area, the hot pot is a relatively inexistent dish, so I was excited when I heard this restaurant had opened (even though it replaced South East Asian Corner which was a restaurant I enjoyed). Owned by the owner of the famous Hong Kong Hotpot Palace restaurant, Uncle Liu's gave me everything I hoped for. We ate the split pot which contained both a mild and a spicy broth separated by a divider down the middle of the pot. We added watercress, enoki mushrooms, noodles, tender beef, tender tofu, and fish balls to the soup and it was all tremendously delicious. As a relatively inexperienced hot pot customer, I had no idea what sauces (out of the 10 or so available) I should mix together to make my dipping sauce, so I blindly mixed and matched...and it turned out great. I will definitely return here again to eat with other friends. 4/5 Stars

4/26/10

2010-04-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

Wassup Friends!

Short and sweet today. Here's the weekly hot picks. Enjoy!

Music
DJ Miss Lisa --- Crawler

Recently, I began listening to Pandora again at work. For those of you who have been lost in a closet for the past couple years, Pandora is an online website where you can type in your desired artist/band/etc. and it will play songs by that artist as well as other artists similar to it. DJ Miss Lisa is someone I had never heard of until Pandora played this song by her. And immediately, it was my jam. She takes Crawlin, by Linkin Park, and converts it to an upbeat electronic club buster. After hearing this, I listened to other Miss Lisa tracks, and they're all great as well. A quick google search revealed to me that Miss Lisa is a veteran of the HIN (Hot Import Nights) car show. In any case, this song and this DJ is the bees' knees. 4/5 Stars.

Movies:
Kickass

If you guys haven't seen the trailer yet, let me recap. The movie is about an average joe schmo who wonders why no one's ever tried to be a superhero before. So he decides he'll try...even though he's got no super powers, and does not even have average athletic ability. Without giving away anything, all I can say is that this movie is awesome. If I had to describe it in one word...it's literally "KICKASS!" I've already watched it twice. It's a must see if you're thinking about seeing a movie this week. 5/5 Stars.

Restaurants:
Thai Tada

It's always been my goal, to let all of you know about the good unknown music, movies, and restaurants in the area. And so every week, my picks have been things I could see myself indulging in again, and so I'd recommend it to my friends. But today, I have a NEGATIVE review. Located in Herndon, Thai Tada is a new Thai restaurant that has taken over the former location of Tarin Thai. Tarin Thai was one of my favorite Thai restaurants and was listed on this blog previously as a recommendation of the week. In any case, Tarin Thai had amazing food, an amazing lunch buffet, and pretty much was great in every way. By comparison Thai Tada is horrible. The food there was pricy, almost double the cost of traditional Thai dishes for many of its plates. And the quality was sub par. I ordered Drunken Noodles which could only be described as boiled instant noodles drunk in a soup of sauce and horrible minced chicken mixed in. I was supremely disappointed. The steamed dumpling appetizers were horrible too. It was like getting premade microwaveable dumplings and heating them up and serving them to customers. Ordinarily, I'd give a Thai restaurant like this a second shot, but compared to the amazing restaurant that was there before, I don't think I will try this place again. There are many other Thai restaurants in the area that I prefer to eat. 1/5 Stars.

4/16/10

2010-04-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Wassup Homeys,

Before we get into the review this week, can I get a moment of silence please in memory of those that lost their lives 3 years ago at Virginia Tech (my alma mater)....

...Thanks. Now on to the goods. Here's the hot joints for this week, enjoy:

Music:
Usher feat. Will.I.Am --- OMG

I can't say enough things about this song. It's typical Usher with that R&B groove to it. But it's also got enough of a dance vibe to it that you can cut a rug at the club. Quicker upbeat remixes of this song have already made their way onto youtube so check it out. 4/5 Stars.

Movies:
Up in the Air

One of last year's nominees for multiple oscars, this movie was awesome. If you're a Clooney fan, or a Thank you for Smoking fan, I think you'll like this movie a lot. If you're a casual movie watcher, this movie was appropriately nominated for oscars, so check it out. And if you're not a big movie watcher at all, this movie is one of those gems that slipped under the radar cuz it wasn't a blockbuster...but it's still good nonetheless. 4/5 Stars.

Restaurants:
Lebnan Zaman

Located in Vienna, a stone's throw away from the "Toilet Bowl" building, this "Lebanese" restaurant is actually a kabob restaurant. I went at lunch time, otherwise I would've tried their hookah as well, since they have an assortment of enticing flavors. As for the food, my kabobs were average. Worth checking out if you're a kabob enthusiast like myself. 3.5/5 Stars.

4/1/10

2010-04-01T06:43:00.001-07:00

Happy April Fool's Day buddies!!! Real holiday or not, April Fool's Day is one of my favorite days of the year. It's the one day a year where you can prank your friends and family and fear no serious retribution other than even more creative pranks in return. That being said, here's this week's reviews. They are all legitimate...no pranks on my end. Enjoy!!!

Music:
UC Men's Octet - Down/Forever

Allright, so today's music selection is weird. For those of you who know me, you know that I love acapella music. And no, I don't mean taking a pop song and dropping the music and just having the singer sing alone. I mean the acapella in which you have a group of singers who sing a popular song completely with their vocals, including creating the beatbox/drum noises. It's very popular in colleges. In any case, as far as college acapella goes, my new fave group is the UC Men's Octet. This group of 8 guys is hilarious in their performances and they perform lots of current songs. Take a look below and if you're impressed, youtube UC Men's Octet for more of their great performances. 4/5 Stars

Movies:
Inkheart

OK, so I doubt many of you have ever heard of this movie...because I had never heard of this movie. I was scrolling through the channels on tv last weekend, and I saw that HBO was about to air this movie. I read the info on the movie and found out that it's based on a book about this man who realizes he has the power that causes any book he reads aloud to come to life. Inkheart happens to be a fantasy novel that he has read in the past, and stumbles across a copy of it again in the present. Long story short, characters from the book appear and request his help (along with his daughter) and the fantasy tale begins. Sounds great! So I started watching, and for the most part, I didn't think the movie was bad. It was a little cheesy, and definitely would've been better suited for a kid to watch. And Brendan Fraser (the main character) didn't help, because let's be honest, most of his movies are pretty cheesy. But overall, I thought it wasn't bad. In any case, if you haven't seen a movie in a while and are looking to make your evening a "Blockbuster Night" (even though that term is basically outdated now), go ahead and give this movie a whirl. 2.5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Lazeeza Kabob

Located in Vienna, a stone's throw away from Merrifield, this kabob restaurant has recently reopened as a kabob buffet. Don't let the restaurant's humble hole in the wall facade fool you. Yes, there's usually one staffer working the entire restaurant. Yes, there's usually maybe one or two other patrons in the restaurant. And yes, the buffet only features maybe 6 items. But it's a great success. Your meal will cost about $8-9. The bismati rice is cooked well, the butter chicken is probably the best I've ever had, and the ground beef dish is delicious as well. Add the fresh warm naan bread and you got yourselves a hit. While the buffet is exactly a kabob buffet, I still like it. Definitely worth a look if you're into Indian/Middle Eastern cuisine. 3.5/5 Stars

3/22/10

2010-03-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hello there friends! The weather has officially christened the beginning of the 2010 Spring season. And that means that movie blockbuster season is just around the corner, restaurant lines will be longer, and summer jams will soon fill the radio airwaves. So, with all that being said, here's the week's hot joints:

Music:
Agnes - Release Me

OK, so this song really isn't new at all. It debuted last fall. But it's hit #1 on the Billboard's List of Dance songs, and pretty much nobody knows about it. Why do I like it? The beat reminds me of mid to late 90's style electronic music with a certain funky groove I just can't quite put my finger on. So anywhoo, for those of you who love to dance like me, you can't help but hear a song like this and not tap your foot (if you're unable to physically get up and dance). 3/5 Stars

Movies:
Alice in Wonderland

Original AIW was a classic. Johnny Depp is on fire on the tails of the Pirates series. The remake, pretty much the culmination of both. The visuals were awesome. A bit trippy as if you were on some kind of hallucinogenic drug, but for the most part, good. I'm still not sold on the whole 3D technology that so many movies are using nowadays, especially since they make already expensive movies that much more costly to watch, but I suppose it made the movie more exciting. Overall, I think the movie was good. Those of you who know me, know that I pretty much like almost any movie, so in my scale of movies, this one was average. It was good, but it wasn't AMAZING. 3.5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Primetime Sports Grille

Located in Fairfax (corner of Waples Mill and Route 50), this new sports bar is going to be the new hot spot for sporting events in Northern Virginia. The atmosphere of the place reminds me of Velocity 5 except without the long drive out to crowded Falls Church/Arlington. For those of us who live on the western end of Northern VA, Primetime is the solution to our laziness. On top of all that, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the owners of the bar last weekend, and he couldn't have been a nicer guy. So bottom line, if you're looking for food, a drink, or a place to watch sporting events....no need to search anywhere but Primetime. Oh, and did I mention...it's a Hokie bar? Bam! 5/5 Stars

3/15/10

2010-03-15T08:14:00.001-07:00

Waddup Peoples! Hope everyone has been keeping up with their adventures. With the recent airing of the Oscars on television, I've now got a "bucket list" of movies that were good last year that I hadn't watched and need to, so those will appear on this review sporadically over the new few months. For now, here's 3 new reviews for you guys this week. Enjoy!

Music:
Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris - Break Your Heart

At this point, it should be no surprise to you all that I like Hip Hop....I like Electronic...and I like silky smooth R&B like Ne-Yo. And this song, is yet again, another one that combines the three. Similar to Chris Brown's recent stuff, and the Tiesto/Guetta....this song features a super catchy electronic beat with Taio Cruz leading the catchy verses and hooks. Luda has a quick verse that brings me back to his earlier stuff that I liked a lot. All in all, this is a great song. I can't stop listening to it. 5/5 Stars.

Movies:
Shutter Island

My review of this new movie is a little Jekyll and Hyde today. On the one hand, Scorcese is a legend, and Leo DiCaprio has had his fair share of amazing movies which I've enjoyed (Titanic, Catch Me If You Can, Departed, Blood Diamond). This movie also had a great plot and ending. However, the ugly other personality of this film is that it's confusing at times, slow at many parts, and way too long for its audience. Had the story been told a little more clearly, and had the producers cut about 30-45 minutes of stuff out of it, this movie could've been amazing. So the verdict? It's a decent movie that warrants watching if you're looking to see something different. But would I recommend watching it if you haven't seen Alice in Wonderland, or any other blockbuster films out right now? No. 3.5/5 Stars.

Restaurants:
Dominos

Yes sir, that's Domino's the "fast food" Pizza chain. Why is it on the review this week? Well if you've watched any television in the last couple months, you've no doubt seen the commercials for Dominos claiming that their new crust makes their pizza better than Papa John's and maybe even Pizza Hut in blind taste tests. Verdict? I don't know if it's BETTER than PJ or PH, cuz I love both of the other chains. However, it's vastly better than what Domino's old pizza used to taste like. So in that regard, if I'm ever in the mood for pizza and there's no pizza hut or papa john's nearby, I have no problems ordering from Domino's now cuz their pizza is comparable...whereas previously I would never have eaten at D's unless I had no better options. 4/5 Stars

2/25/10

2010-02-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

Waddup Peeps! As you can clearly tell, I'm already straying from my regular weekly postings on Mondays. At least I'm able to more or less keep up though, and not just forget about this review altogether. Anywhoo, it's been a good week for reviews. So here you go, enjoy:

Music:
Jason Derulo - In My Head

Earlier in this blog, I mentioned an up and coming artist named Jason Derulo. The closest comparison I can make about his music is that he's a Chris Brown clone as far as singing goes, but he has the luxury of having very good producers who either sample great beats, or come up with catchy new ones. In any case, you've probably heard his song "Watcha Say" on the radio quite a bit...it's the one that samples the song that played on the OC when Marissa shot Ryan's brother Trey (and no...I'm not gay...I don't actually watch the show...I just know about this scene because SNL spoofed it in their "Dear Sister" digital short). In any case, In My Head is the new single from JD, and it's beginning to get airplay now on the pop radio stations. The song itself is catchier than Watcha Say and the video ain't half bad either considering it's supposed to be an homage to Michael Jackson. 3.5/5 Stars

Movies:
District 9

At this point, you must realize I'm a slacker at the movies. I just don't go out to see a movie in the theatres as often as I'd like anymore since they cost about $23495238734978545 a ticket. So when I do catch a popular movie nowadays, it's either a blockbuster everyone's been waiting forever to see...or I catch it on tv or on demand. That brings us to numero nueve. District 9 was far better than I expected. I thought it was going to be another failed attempt at human killing alien invasion action, which hasn't really succeeded in movies since Will Smith stopped making annual summer blockbusters about that very theme. Yet, D9 was a great return. It featured a good story, good action, and good effects. Am I psyched about a sequel...probably not...but at least the original was pretty good. 4/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Yamazato

Located in "Alexandria" across from the GrandMart on Route 236 (Little River Turnpike just before it turns into Duke Street at Landmark Mall), this restaurant might be my new favorite find. The restaurant labels itself as a Thai restaurant, and when it comes to that cuisine, it is exactly that. The Panang curry is full of taste, spice, and consistency. The Tofu is delectable, plump, and well cooked. The Drunken Noodles are hot and spicy. And the coup de grace is a special dessert they offer called Tempura Ice Cream. Yes, fried ice cream. The restaurant succeeds in all things Thai. As if that wasn't enough, the restaurant also boasts a diverse selection of sushi. I didn't get a chance to taste it myself, but looking at the cuts of fish and the sushi chefs preparing it, I could tell it was quality fish. On top of that, my guide to my first trip to Yamazato said she had eaten the sushi there before and that it was good. Soooo....looking for a new restaurant? Maybe something intimate for a date? Or just looking for another great place to food your face...welcome to Yamazato. 4/5 Stars

2/17/10

2010-02-17T15:22:00.001-08:00

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! Chuc mung nam moi to all my Vietnamese followers out there! Happy new year indeed. It's been a couple weeks of snow for me, so I've not been out in quite some time. Nonetheless, the review must go on...and so here we go. Enjoy!

Music:
Gorilla Zoe - What is Love

I have mixed feelings about this song. On the one hand, I'm loving the new trend of hip hop artists going outside their comfort zone of a deep bass and a snare to utilize things such as electronic music. On the other hand, I was neither a big fan of Gorilla Zoe prior to this song, nor was I a huge fan of What is Love (aka the night at the Roxbury theme). So when these two decided to make love and create this unbelievable song, I'm honestly at a loss for words. I give GZ a two thumbs up for effort, and I give Haddaway two thumbs up for capitalizing on their one hit wonder for royalties before it becomes public domain. However, I give a -2 thumbs down for Autotuner, and a one thumb sideways for the mashup. Final verdict? 2.5/5 Stars.

Movies:
Notorious

With the recent snowmageddon that has hit the DC metro area, I have not had a chance to see any new movies. I did however get to watch movies On Demand on HBO. And one of those movies was one I saw when it was fresh in the theatres. And that film is Notorious. The film, which depicts the tragic life of the rapper Notorious B.I.G. is not only a good film about one of my favorite artists of all time, but a GREAT film in general. I highly recommend those who have not seen this movie to hit up your blockbuster or netflix or On Demand and check it out. 4/5 Stars.

Restaurants:
Vapiano

Up until recently, I had never ever eaten at Vapiano's despite driving by it countless times. In the DC area, the restaurant features two locations. One in Ballston, near the mall and the other inside the Dulles Town Centre mall. And let me tell you, this restaurant was amazing. So the concept is that you enter the restaurant and the hostess gives you a card. You, in turn, go to the chef behind the counter (Mongolian style) and order one of countless delicious gourmet pastas or pizzas customizing everything from the noodles to the sauce, and even adding your favorite protein if you want. The chef cooks it fresh in front of you and delivers a healthy portion of food to you in a gourmet bowl. Simply scan the card that was given to you at the counter where you ordered and you're good to go. If you feel the need for soda or dessert, go right ahead just scan your card again. At the end of your meal, take your card to the hostess on your way out and she rings you up for whatever you purchased. Happy Hours are off the chain here too. 4/5 Stars

2/1/10

2010-02-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

Welcome to February my friends. New month, new reviews. I hope everyone has been enjoying the winter thus far. I know I have. Here are the hot picks for the week. Our movie pick this week, is going to be a TV show, instead of a movie...but more on that in a little bit. Enjoy!

Music:
Gucci Mane feat. Usher --- Spotlight

As far as music goes, I'm a sucker for a smooth voiced R&B/Hip Hop artist who can sing a catchy hook. That's why I love songs by people like Ne-Yo, Maino, Akon, Jason Derulo, Jay Sean, etc. Usher is one of those guys who's been doing this for years and probably even inspired some of the aforementioned artists when they were beginning to burst onto their careers. On the other hand, Gucci Mane is one of those guys who I thought would have one hit single and disappear from the radio. But here we are a year or so later, and you almost can't listen to the radio without hearing Gucci on some song. He's like the new Lil Wayne/Young Money 'cause he's featured on so many songs. So anyway...I love this song. Like I said, it's got the flow of Gucci in the rap verses with Usher's smooth voice lending the extremely catchy hook. 4/5 Stars.

Movies (TV Shows):
LOST

OK...so for those of you who don't know. I am a LOST Fanatic. I have no hesitation in saying that it is my favorite tv show. Every week, I watch the episodes with my other close friends who are fanatics and we discuss the episode the following day in email threads. I even read forums dedicated to the discussion of things hidden deep in the show that only fanatics who care enough to investigate may have found. So all this is great, but you're probably wondering what this has to do with our movie review this week. WELL, the answer to that...is that tomorrow, the season premier of the FINAL season of Lost airs. It's a 2 hour episode (kinda like a movie) with an additional 1 hour recap episode prior to it. So...if you've watched Lost at all in the past, this is the time to get back on the horse as we reach the end of a milestone era in American television. And if you haven't watched Lost, well all I can say is you've missed out. Go buy the dvds or borrow them from a friend. Or stream the show online at www.sidereel.com/Lost. I guarantee you will be hooked as soon as you start watching season 1. 6/5 Stars. That's right...I've never given an above perfect rating to any review....until now. Stay excited, my fellow LOSTIES!

Restaurants:
Maple Ave Restaurant

Last summer (prior to the first new posting of this review), I mentioned via AIM about Maple Ave in Vienna, VA. This restaurant, owned by two friends of mine, is a trendy new restaurant that features an Asian chef with French culinary training and a menu that blends Contemporary American dishes with a modern twist. I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant. Their menu is constantly changing with new specials and everything I've ever tried has been delicious. Last week, I was treated to a dinner here by my two close friends and I tried their Chicken And Waffles special entree. It was amazing. Add to that, the fact that there really aren't many Chicken and Waffle places in the DC area, and this experience really amazed me. I personally go to this restaurant whenever I have a good reason to do so, so I highly recommend you try it as well. The restaurant is not huge, in terms of dining space, so making a reservation online or via phone is highly recommended. 4.5/5 Stars.

1/25/10

2010-01-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

Hey hey. Another week, another review. First, I just wanna put it out there that I spent the majority of last week taxi-ing my cousin (who was visiting us from Vietnam) around DC for various tourist attractions. That being said, my restaurant choice this week isn't a new restaurant, just one I hadn't been to in a very long time, and definitely one that is worth checking out if you've never been before. So anywhoo, here's this week's hot joints. Enjoy:

Music:
Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart

I realize this goes without saying...but Alicia Keys is awesome. And if you're as sick of Empire State of Mind as I am, give this song a try, cuz I can't stop listening to it. 4/5 Stars.

Movies:
Book of Eli

As far as I can remember, Denzel Washington has not made a bad movie. Even when he makes a movie that isn't an amazing success, it's still good. This is one of those movies that is AWESOME. You begin watching the film, and immediately, you're invested in what Mr. Washington's character is doing. And the only thing I'm gonna say, without giving away anything about the movie, is that as soon as you finish watching the movie, you're gonna wanna go back and watch it again. 4.5/5 Stars.

Restaurants:
Minh's Restaurant

Located in Arlington, which is arguably the mecca of trendy food in Northern Virginia, this Vietnamese restaurant is great. From the trendy traditional decor to the tasty authentic flavors of the food, this restaurant delivers on all cylinders. So much so, that the restaurant made Washingtonian magazine's top 100 restaurants list this past month. Now, avid readers of the magazine will tell you that there were other Vietnamese restaurants that also made the list at higher rankings (Present, Four Sisters, etc.), but if you're looking for a classy place to eat, Minh's is right up there (regardless of number ranking). And take it from a self-proclaimed food connoisseur, Minh's won't disappoint. And if you don't believe me, just ask former Top Chef winner Hung Huynh, who has made an appearance at Minh's in the past to support the local hot spot. 4/5 Stars

1/13/10

2010-01-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I realize I'm a week late in this edition of the Review so I'm gonna double up on the critiques this week. For those of you who don't know, this week is the beginning of Restaurant Week DC, so I highly encourage you all to get out there and be adventurous and try some amazing food:

http://washington.org/restaurantwk/

Here's the double dose of hot joints for the week:

Music:
DJ Earworm - United State of Pop 2009

OK, so at this point, if you haven't heard of DJ Earworm, or his famous United State of Pop mixes, you need to youtube it immediately. What this DJ does every year is he takes the top 25 pop songs of the year, and mixes them together into one fantastically awesome mix called the "United State of Pop". He has done this for several years now...and I can say that the 2009 version he released a couple weeks ago is easily his best mix yet. 5/5 Stars. For extra bonus points, I encourage you guys to go to the Sporcle site (Sporcle is an online quiz site) and see how many of the songs you can identify in the mix:
http://www.sporcle.com/games/rockgolf/Blame_it_on_the_pop

Sean Paul - Hold my Hand

For years, I've been a huge Sean Paul fan. While I don't DJ much anymore, when I used to spin, I always threw in a Dancehall mix into my sets, and that mix always consisted of 6-7 of SP's greatest hits. But I can admit when someone has dropped off the radar...and until this year, that's exactly what Mr. Paul has done. However, with a cameo on Jay Sean's new single and the release of this song, I think SP is on the verge of a return to the spotlight. The reason I like this song a lot is that it's more mellow than his dancehall jams...plus you can't go wrong when you have Keri Hilson on your track. The music video is hot as hell too. 3.5/5 Stars

Movies:
Sherlock Holmes

The last time I reviewed a movie, it was the incredible Avatar, which has been blowing away the box offices. It's unfortunate that Avatar has been doing so well, because it overshadows the fact that Sherlock Holmes is a good movie that's been doing quite well itself. My only problem with SH is that I felt the movie had a little too much story sometimes. I would've preferred to just see Sherlock and Watson on a non-stop adventure to solve the crime/mystery rather than all this additional drama crap. Nonetheless, Robert Downey Jr is amazing as always, and Jude Law puts in one of the better performances of his career (I'm also a fan or Mr. Law ever since Enemy at the Gates). 4/5 Stars

Youth in Revolt

This is one of those movies that I'm sure most people either love or hate. I fall in the love category. If you like Michael Cera, and his insecure naive boyish style of comedy, then you're going to love this film. Additionally, to see Cera go outside his box and play a badass alter ego is extremely entertaining as well. Don't expect another Superbad, but give this film a shot if you're into quirky humor. 3.5/5 Stars

Restaurants:
Jackson 20

Volt

So this week, my restaurant reviews will be a little atypical. My first review is a repeat review that I'm bringing back from my days of doing this review in AIM. My second review is a restaurant that I actually haven't eaten at yet. You'll understand in a sec. So first, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this week is the beginning of Restaurant Week in DC. And Jackson 20 is one of the many restaurants I've tried in past RWs. Located in Alexandria, this restaurant looks rich and elegant from the street...sitting in the base of a hotel. As you enter, you are greeted by a nice hostess who takes your jackets and such and sits you at your table. The decor is poshy and very classy. Then you see the menu, and you are greeted with the warmth and familiarity of southern hospitality. Fried chicken, collared greens, bbq pork, mac n' cheese, beef brisket, ribs, etc. Southern Comfort never felt so hospitable. And just think, I never would've known about this place if it wasn't for restaurant week and a random adventurous date out to a new place! 4.5/5 Stars

The second review I'm writing today is more of a TBD (To be Determined). Among the many restaurants listed on this year's Restaurant Week DC list is Volt in Frederick, Maryland. Those of you who are tv junkies like me will recognize this restaurant as the one being owned by Top Chef runner-up Bryan Voltaggio from this most recent season of the show. He and his brother Michael fought it out in the final, and while his brother edged him out, the two were nearly unstoppable throughout the entire season. Ever since then, Bryan's restaurant in the middle of podunk Maryland has become a hot spot for DMV-ers (Dc, Maryland, Virginia) and has even earned itself a spot on Washingtonian magazine's top 100 restaurants of 2009. So...all that mouthful said...I cannot wait to try this restaurant out for myself. Stars TBD

12/28/09

2009-12-28T08:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Hope you all had a great Xmas holiday (whether you celebrate it or not). Short and sweet this week, here's the hot joints:

Music:
Ke$ha - Tik Tok

Ok so first off, this song isn't really new, you've probably already heard it on the radio. But you probably just never knew what it was. Now you do. Ke$ha (yes I realize she spells her name with a dollar sign instead of an S), sort of sounds like Amanda Blank (another artist I've chosen before as the music pick of the week). Her song Tik Tok even has that "in your face, hip-hoppish Fergie sound" that Amanda Blank has. I still prefer AB over Kesha and Fergie, but if you're looking for a change of pace from typical hip hop/pop, this is worth checking out. 3.5/5 Stars.

Movies:
Avatar

I'm sure I'm the last person to tell you about this movie, but I actually did watch it during the first week it was out, I just hadn't posted a review of it until just now. I saw the movie in 3D, which I was advised to do. On the whole, I thought the movie was really good. It didn't quite blow my mind as I had expected with such a big hype going into it, but it was definitely a good movie. Yes, it's long. Yes, it's predictable. But yet, somehow it still gives you a good sense of fulfillment. A definite must-see during this holiday season, as it's the best film I've seen since Thanksgiving. 4.5/5 Stars.

Restaurant:
Kyoto

90% of the time, my restaurant critique is centered on the DC Metropolitan Area. Occasionally (especially back when I was a student), I rated a restaurant near Virginia Tech. This week, I'm rating a restaurant at JMU. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of eating at Kyoto. Like other Japanese Steakhouses, the restaurant uses a hibachi grill and skilled chef to prepare traditional dishes such as filet mignon, shrimp, scallops, chicken and lobster with fried rice and veggies. As far as Japanese steakhouses go, this is probably the best one I've ever eaten at in terms of quality. The chef that served us, I believe was their head chef, because he was dressed differently from all the other chefs and because we had the largest group reservation of the night. If that's the case, he definitely showed why he was the top dog with his juggling and cooking utensil skills. While the dinner was pricy, I highly recommend anyone who's a fan of hibachi cooking to try this place out next time you're in the Harrisonburg area. 3.5/5 Stars.

12/16/09

2009-12-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

Hey peoples,

Hopefully as the inclement weather and temperatures of DC winter start to creep in, you aren't too discouraged from going out to eat, watch movies, and buy music. OK, I put that last one in there just for the purpose of being complete...no one actually goes out to stores to buy music anymore unless you really really want a CD. Everything is electronic nowadays...but you get my point. Here's the hot picks of the week:

Music:
Chris Brown feat. Eva Simons --- Pass Out

So, like I said last week, the new trend is to blend or mash-up hip hop/r&b with electronic music. Chris Breezy's new album is a good new blend of lots of music. Most of it is more clubbish than his hip-hop tracks historically. This track is a prime example of that. It samples the song "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz...which in turn sampled the song originally from the song "Valerie" by Steve Winwood. Irregardless of who is responsible, this electronic beat with an 80s groove to it is great, and Brown is able to put his vocal talents and dance-ish attitude to yet another hit single. Despite his problems and scandals within his personal life, it's clear it hasn't affected his music. 4/5 Nicky Long Stars.

Movies:
The Blindside

It's not exactly a new movie, in fact it's been out for a little while. But I just saw this movie this week, and it's great. For those of you who don't know, the movie is about the life of professional football player Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens and takes place during his high school years and stars Sandra Bullock as Michael's adopted mom. The story of Michael is he was born to a crack addict mom and taken away from her at a young age by the state child custody services. He bounced around from foster home to foster home and from school to school. Eventually, a man he is staying with, tries to get him into a Christian Private school along with the man's son. It is at this school that Michael meets Sandra Bullock's character, whom along with her husband, takes Michael into her home and gives him food, clothes, bed, etc. Over time, this relationship turns into an adopted family for Michael. And over time, Michael's skills as a football player in high school earn him a chance to go to college to play football and eventually the NFL as well. It's a great movie based on a true story, and might be one of Sandra Bullock's best movies. 4/5 Nicky Long Stars

Restaurants:
Aditi

Recently, a new restaurant opened in the Kingstowne Towne Center shopping center (where the Kingstowne 16 Cinemas is located). Directly across from the movie theatre is Aditi, an Indian restaurant. Now, having eaten my fair share of Indian restaurants, I think I am fairly educated on the difference between good and great Indian food. Aditi is GREAT. In terms of quality, the food is probably the best I've had...ranking on the same level as Jaipur in Fairfax (another Indian restaurant formerly recommended by this blog). The atmosphere in the restaurant was great as well. And the wait staff could not have been friendlier or more attentive. Overall, it was a great dining experience. Those of you familiar with traditional Indian cuisine will enjoy the authentic made from scratch samosas, the creamy large portioned saag paneer, and the large and tasty thali (thal to those of you famiiliar with Jaipur. Basically a large plate with 5 or 6 different samples of Indian entree cuisines with rice and bread---naan to enjoy. Available in either meat or vegetarian). 5/5 Nicky Long Stars.

BRAND NEW BLOG.

2009-12-03T07:04:00.001-08:00

Wassup Peoples,

So those of you who have known me since my AIM days know that I keep a review in my profile of the weekly Hot Movies, Music, and Food in the DC Area. Since I don't ever log in to AIM anymore, except through GMAIL's gchat system, I've found it easy to forget to update my AIM profile. Thus, I am going to edit my profile info to link to this blog and simply update my reviews here from now on. So for those who have followed me in AIM in the past, continue doing so here. And for those of you who have never followed me on AIM before, please enjoy:

Hot Joints of the Week:

Music:
Three 6 Mafia feat. Tiesto, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida - Feel It

Lately, the trend has been for electronic artists (such as Tiesto and David Guetta) to continue creating their awesome electronic beats, but to feature hip hop and R&B artists as their vocals. It's like creating a new live mash-up as opposed to club djs who take two existing songs and mash them together. I still haven't made up my mind on whether I prefer this or regular all-electronic songs, but some of Guetta's new songs have been great. And this song, which I'm gonna call a Tiesto song even though it's listed as Three 6 featuring Tiesto, is HOT FIRE. Tiesto's beat has everything to do with it, and there are remixes out that are just the beat without the rappers. All in all though, this song in general is pretty awesome. 5/5 stars.

Movies:
Ninja Assassin

People will likely disagree with me due to Korean pop star "Rain"'s limited acting skill, but let's be honest, a great action movie isn't great because the actors are giving Oscar award winning performances. What DOES make this movie awesome is the special effects and unique cinematography. Action film enthusiasts may claim that this movie doesn't live up to its hype because too much action takes place in the dark....but I think that is exactly what MAKES this movie awesome. The concept of ninjas stealthily stalking their targets in the dark and killing them in vicious gory fashion without hardly being seen is why people go to see this movie in the first place. It reminded me of how I felt the first time I saw Kill Bill or 300. 4/5 Stars.

Restaurant:
Buffalo Wild Wings

OK, so for those of you who have never lived outside the DC metropolitan area, you may not have ever heard of a chicken wing chain called Buffalo Wild Wings (aka BW3's). This chain typically exists in college towns such as my alma mater Virginia Tech. BW3's (sometimes also called BDubs) is a great chicken wing restaurant that features some 15 or so different sauce flavors for their mighty chicken. You can even order the sauce on full size drumsticks as opposed to buffalo wings. And once a week, there's a wing night where wings are like $0.35 a piece. There's also a drumstick day where drumsticks are like $0.55 a piece. Either way, the chicken here is great, the sauces are delicious, and the atmosphere is great for watching sports, hanging out with friends, or just grabbing a bite to eat. For those of you with a gastronomical need for adventure, I recommend trying the "Blazing" wings. This is the hottest wing available at BW3's, and it's sure to bring a tear to your eyes. I also recommend not eating these until the end of your meal, so that you can enjoy the rest of it first. 5/5 Stars

RIP my idol...the legend....Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. He defined my childhood. Through his ups and downs in his life, he remained my all time greatest idol. He has inspired and affected more lives than any athlete, world leader, or spokesperson in history. And he will always be missed.

R.I.P
The King of Pop
The Gloved One
MICHAEL JACKSON.

Where the hell is Nicky Long?

2009-04-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

Where, indeed. It has been very long since I blogged. Under any other circumstance, I'd chalk it up to typical laziness, but for once, I'm actually busy!

Work's work. While I do spend much of my day streaming television at work, I use two monitors, so I actually do work while I have something else streaming on another screen. Usually it's television I've missed or just plain music. Whatever the case, I've been relatively busy at work.

Grad school is tiring. You would think, that taking one class wouldn't be so bad...but the amount of reading and work that goes into the one class is so tiring. Couple that with a full time job and other activities I got going on outside of work, and I constantly feel like I'm grasping for free time.

Soccer. Soccer season is in full gallop. The two kids teams I coach occupy Mon-Thu evenings after work with practices. I'm typically not free until 7 PM every weeknight except for Friday. Then on Saturdays and Sundays, my mornings and middays are basically closed because of the kids' soccer games. Throw in my coed football team that I play on Saturdays occasionally with, and my coed VT alumni soccer team that I occasionally play on Sundays with...and my weekends are basically done.

On top of all that, my personal laptop has finally died. After 8 glorious years, the old man gave up. I'm currently shopping for a new one, and leaning towards a Dell XPS Studio 16. Until I get it though, don't expect to see me online except during working hours (which in my case happens to be 7 AM - 3:30 PM Mon-Fri).

Lastly, for those of you who have like 5-10 free minutes everyday, here's a neat online game that has been spreading amongst my friends like the plague. It's super easy to get started, and rather addicting once you get into it. Best part of the game is it only takes about 5-10 minutes of your day each day if you decide to be active in it.

You can sign up under my character as my "pupil" by fighting me here:

http://nickylong.mybrute.com

Why people should stop watching Heroes on NBC.

2009-02-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

I quickly mentioned at the end of my last blog entry that Heroes is whack. I'd like to further that comment after last night's terrible episode. Now before I thrash the show, let me explain that I too, was once a heroes fan. Season 1 was great! And at the time, it was clearly a great new show. But here we are 2 seasons later, and what have we accomplished from the show?

Well, our main villain (Sylar) started out evil. Then the heroes had a chance to kill him at end of season 1, but didn't. Nonetheless, they averted the catastrophe of NYC blowing up in a nuclear explosion (more on that later). So Sylar escapes, and soon we realize...maybe he's actually good. But then, NBC tell sus he's evil again. Then this season, again, he flip flops each week between good and evil and now he's basically a side character, and no longer the antagonist of our show (despite the fact that he is easily the strongest of all the superpowered people). Then let's talk about the Heroes plot. Sounds simple enough....a bunch of superpowered heroes out to save the world. But save it from what? Season 1: Big Explosion that will cause the future to be bleak for superpowered people. Evil Corporation hunting heroes. Conclusion: Big explosion averted...world saved. Season 2: Bad virus that will give powers to regular people and cause the future to be bleak for superpowered people. Conclusion: Virus destroyed. Evil Corporation destroyed. World saved. Season 3: Heroes and Villains each responsible for future to be bleak for superpowered people (sound familiar yet)because evil corporation (government) is on the hunt for them *cough cough X-MEN cough cough*. Conclusion: Not yet determined, but will have something to do with an explosion of big city (this sounds familiar too).

On top of the fact that the plot seems to be replaying like a broken record, at least the episodes are entertaining right? Wrong. Heroes will go 2 or 3 or 5 episodes in a row in which the plotline/story does not progress at all. Instead, these episodes are filled with "filler" content...usually in the form of flashback backstories. Now in any other show such as Prison Break, Lost, etc. these types of flashbacks are great...they give us insight as to why things are happening or will soon happen. They also usually happen one scene or one episode at a time before returning us to the regular story so we can understand how it all ties together. In heroes? Well, we'll go through 50-55 minutes of flashbacks every week to learn more detailed information about stuff we already knew....without moving forward at all. Then in the last 5 minutes of every episode, there will be some kind of teaser scene that hints at some major change in plot...which means nothing to us as viewers because a) we have no idea what the plot of heroes is because it never moves forward...and when it finally does, the show scraps the idea completely and restarts and b)any major change in plot means nothing to us because it's something we've already seen.

To prove my point, let's look at major themes of heroes over the past 2 seasons.
-Heroes are villains and villains are heroes. Sylar, he's bad, then he's good, then he's bad, now he's good again. All the while, he's barely used in the show despite the fact he's easily the most powerful of all the "heroes". HRG (horn-rimmed-glasses aka Claire's father) is also evil, then good, and now evil again. We could care less though, because the plot of heroes has jumped back and forth on these "villains" so many times, everyone is just waiting to see if the story will ever move forward.
-The evil corporation. Makes sense, it's the age old comics plot. A bunch of heroes (or mutants if you know what I mean) is battling an evil corporation (Primatech - The Company, Pinehearst, and now the Government) who wants to capture "special" people. Only problem here, is that we never get any resolution on this. Season 1 builds up to a confrontation between heroes. That was good. Season 2 led to take down of evil corporation. That was ok. Season 3, a new corporation pops up...and somehow the heroes take it down quickly again. Ok, a little repetitive, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. Halfway through season 3, 2 evil corps down, let's spawn a third one. Ok this is getting ridiculous, can we please stop repeating stuff and actually move forward with this show?
-Characters. Anyone else think the characters in this show suck? Peter and Sylar should be awesome...considering their abilities. We saw how awesome someone with that skill could be (Peter's father)...but what does the show do? It kills off the one cool guy who actually used his potential. Then we have this whole army of characters that we spend time developing and learning about...only to have the show drop them off completely (Nikki/Jessica/Tracy, Black Chick in New Orleans, Maya, Micah). Furthermore, there's this whole future-telling artist thing. First we have Isaac in season 1. He gets killed. No more predictions right? Wrong. Then we meet this African guy with the same powers. But he also gets killed. No more predictions now, right? Wrong. Now, Parkman (our mind-reader) somehow gets the ability to paint the future too (does that make sense to anyone) and he paints things. Make sense? No. Lame plot? Yes. And I'm not even gonna get started on Hiro Nakamura. Easily the most entertaining character in the show because of his jovial and naive personality...the writers of the show decided that in season 1, he should get lost in time. Then season 2, he should go back in time, and not have any impact on the plot whatsoever. When he finally returns with his idol, we are teased into the fact that he may be useful to the plot...only to find out that's not true because Adam Monroe (aka Takezo Kensei is killed). Season 3, they decide to just take Hiro's powers away all together.

All this being said, Heroes has lost all appeal to me. The show sucks, it's week after week of repetitive filler...with no plot development, no character development, and no exciting plot twists aside from the ones it keeps repeating. It is also responsible for Prison Break being cancelled cuz Fox was too stupid to put PB on at the same time as Heroes. PB was a much more exciting show, and even though it should've ended soon, its early cancellation is a terrible shame. I can't wait for Fox to air the 4 remaining episodes of Prison Break that have already been filmed, because even with no story resolution, I'm sure those 4 episodes will be vastly more entertaining than Heroes. I used to think Mondays were the best because of all the great television online...but now I have no desire to watch anymore. If it wasn't for How I Met Your Mother, I'd have to reason to watch any tv on Mondays anymore.

Heroes blows. Lost rules.

Revisions

2009-02-18T05:14:00.001-08:00

It's always a coinflip when something you enjoy or love, is given a newer, upgraded look. Sometimes it's a complete failure: remaking a classic movie, or musicians trying to reinvent themselves by doing a new type of music. But every once in a while, the new mod is something fantastic.

Yesterday, I went out and bought Street Fighter IV for my PS3. Anyone who's over the age of 10 likely knows about the classic that is Street Fighter 2. It was the game that spawned a generation of arcade fighting games. I remember fondly going to arcades in shopping malls as a child (which are basically dead thanks to consoles and online gaming) and putting my quarter on the screen of my favorite arcade games to claim "I'm next to play." Street Fighter was one of those games that consistently had huddles of players every time a new version was released. Since purchasing the game yesterday, all I can say is that my thumb is very sore today.

But there are many other great remakes besides Street Fighter. Take Neil Patrick Harris for instance. For those of us who remember the 80's, he will always be remembered for his breakout role as Dr. Doogie Howser M.D. Younger generations will likely remember him for playing a male-chauvanistic version of himself in the Harold and Kumar movies. But those who are TRUE NPH fans likely appreciate him most in his role as Barney Stinson on the popular sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". This is one of my favorite sitcoms to watch on tv, and I owe all of that to NPH. He is AWESOME.

How I Met Your Mother: Mondays at 8:30 PM on CBS....right before the whack-ass Heroes.

New Year

2009-01-14T05:57:00.001-08:00

Merry belated Christmas and Happy Belated New Year everybody!!! It's a new year and with that comes new hopes and disappointments. So here's my rundown of things to look forward to in '09 and things you wish would've stayed in '08.

Hells Yea!!!
-My birthday on Jan 22. Snowboard Trip to Wisp to celebrate.
-Stella and Andy's wedding on Jan 17.
-Super Bowl on Feb 1. Possibility of two underdog teams that were favored 100-1 or worse prior to playoffs and now have a chance to make it to the big show.
-Payraise from work.
-Sister graduates from VT in May.
-Still half of snowboard season left to go.
-Sam Adams Winter (White) Ale is in season.
-End of mid-season hiatus for primetime television. Beginning of Lost Season 5.
-Biggest Inauguration in US History...and associated long weekend.
-new year = new annual guy's trip to Vegas
-new soccer team to coach. New kids, New leagues, New responsibilities. More money in my pocket.
-new coed football team. Currently 1-1 (should be 2-0).

Doh!
-Prison Break is getting cancelled. 4 episodes already filmed will air, after that, who knows...either way, conclusion of show and storyline will not be smooth nor as good as it should be. I'm especially pissed because I thought Prison Break was better than Heroes the last 2 seasons...Fox was just stupid for putting it at same timeslot and so lost all their viewers.
-New semester of graduate school starts soon. Means less free time for me.
-My neighbors who have lived nextdoor to me ever since I moved to Virginia at the age of 4 are moving out because of legal disputes with their other next-door neighbors.
-Two of my favorite restaurants are gone from '08: Lucky Three Dimsum buffet (closed), and Four Sisters vietnamese restaurant (who moved to Merrifield and changed their food/decor/service/quality).
-Didn't get the job as the Junior Varsity Soccer Coach at W.T. Woodson High School...high school coach job on hiatus 'till my next opportunity.
-Many many friends moved away in '08. Perhaps I will visit some of you in '09: Fifi, Rick, Kelley, Elaine, Delia, Adam (shipped to Iraq, but will be back in '09), Tina.

Miami

2008-12-11T04:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I headed down to Miami Beach for my boy Andy's bachelor party. It was a fun weekend. The weather never dropped below 70 or 75 degrees. We went partying at clubs, we ate awesome food, we hit up bars along the beach, we took in sun at the beach and swam, we went deep sea fishing, and my Hokies won the ACC Championship to get into the Orange Bowl. Pretty fantastic weekend.

Miami had its bumps along the way too though. People there are not as friendly as in Vegas, in fact some were downright rude. But the overall weather and being around a lot of my close friends made the trip fun regardless.

Here are some highlights from our trip:

Yup, that's me and the "boss" himself...Mr. Rick Ross. Everyday I'm hustling!

Cocktail Waitresses from beach bar "Mango's" doing their thing on salsa night. This bar pretty much became our favorite pregame spot as soon as we realized there were hot waitresses who danced on bars to live music every night.

We Miss You Jack.

2008-11-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

6 years later. I still miss you bro. You never forget your best friend from your childhood. That one (or few) person(s) that you grew up with, went to school with, rode through your life's ups and downs with. Jack, you were that guy to me. Through the good times and bad, I could always count on you. You motivated me to be better. And even now, when you're gone to a better place, I am inspired to be half the wonderful person you were.

R.I.P Jack Tse-Hou Chen
August 12, 1982 --- November 16, 2002

Post-Halloween

2008-11-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

Yikes, it's been like 2 months since I blogged. Times are a busy. Coaching soccer has really taken off, I'm taking on newer opportunities and responsibilities. Grad School has been very time-intensive as well. Overall though, life is good. I celebrated one of my favorite holidays last weekend. Halloween is fantastic. Beautiful sexy girls everywhere dressed scantilly. Friendly people everywhere giving away candy and chocolate. And all the delicious pumpkin ale you can drink. Mmmm....Mmmmmm.

Here's some pics from my halloween partying last weekend. I'm the jabbawockee (America's Best Dance Crew guy in the mask).

That's me in the middle. Ali the dark wizard on the left. And Mike Davis as the corporate storm trooper on the right.

Here's me and Anna in her leather catwoman outfit.

Here's me and Stella in her corpse bride getup. She and Andy looked awesome in their makeup.

Mounds

2008-08-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

So the other day, I'm in the supermarket picking up a self-made salad from the salad bar + a cup of soup. As I get into the register line, I see a girl in front of me purchasing a candy bar. A mounds candy bar. As the cashier attempts to ring up the candy bar, it doesn't go for some reason. Something about the cashier's demeanor made me believe she was new to the job. In any case, she rings the bell for her manager or whatever and asks for a price check.

"Price check on Spunow".

I sat there for a hot second, like "what the hell did she say?". I was mad confused until I took a second to look at the candy bar upside down...the way it was facing the cashier. Sure enough, Mounds upside down spells out "Spunow" perfectly.

I start laughing, then the girl buying the candy bar is like "what?" And I tell her and she starts laughing. The cashier gets embarassed and soon the manager gives her the right price code.

Needless to say, that made my day.

Go Team USA!!!

2008-08-09T21:45:00.001-07:00

It's 2008. And two days ago, the Beijing version of the Summer Olympiad kicked off. That's great news for me. I've always been a big fan of the summer olympics. From the outrageous opening ceremonies to the endless supply of dramatic competition to the raw emotion of victory and defeat....nothing brings the world together like this event. This year, there's a lot I'm cheering for.

First off, there's Team USA. Obviously I have to root for my home country. I'm cheering for both the Men's and Women's soccer teams. The men have a long road to prove their anywhere close to the medals at the international level, but I'm optimistic that this young U23 team can hold its own. The women are typically the overwhelming favorites but with Abby Wambach injured this year, the gap may be much closer. Other than soccer, I'm also cheering for the Men's basketball team. Hopefully this year's "Dream Team" can finally get back to the winning ways of the original dream teams and bring the gold back to American soil. In swimming, there's golden boy Michael Phelps who just won his first of what could end up being 8 gold medals this year. That's a new record in and of itself, but he also happens to be 3 more gold medals shy of being the olympic athlete with the most gold medals of all time in all sports. He's amazing. And finally, but most definitely not least, I'm cheering for a man by the name of Justin Spring. He's on the men's gymnastics team and just happened to have gone to high school with me at good old Lake Braddock in Burke, VA. He's 2 years younger than me and competing in his first olympics. He's always been a wild athlete who pushes the edge of his sport going for the most spectacular tricks and performances, so I'm hoping he can lead the US to some medals in that sport as well.

Other than the United States, there are lots of other things to cheer for. I'd like China to win its share of medals, and I'm fairly confident they will. They look especially strong in gymnastics this year, and their womens' soccer team has always been a powerhouse at the international level. A lot has been going poorly for China as a country lately. You got the overwhelming population problem, you got the earthquake killing so many people, you got the pollution and environmental issue going on, and you got lots of political issues to deal with (unrest with Tibet, issues with Sudan, and pressure from many other countries to correct their policies). A great exhibition at these olympics could hopefully put China back into good vibes.

And finally, I have to try to root for my country of heritage: Vietnam. For those of you who missed the opening ceremony this year (which was ridiculously awesome by the way), there was an interesting comment by the announcers when Vietnam came out during the march of nations. Apparently, Vietnam holds over 150 medals from the mathematics olympiad, but only 1 medal in its history at the summer olympics. That medal came from taekwondo a few years back, and that sport remains the only glimmer of hope for Vietnam to medal in this year's event. While I'm not holding my breath, it'd be a great beacon of hope for my poor country to win another medal this year, so I'm hoping that someone gets it done.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I spent a great deal of time while I was on the job at work last month, streaming the Euro 2008 soccer tournament games while I did my work. I already anticipate that I will spend an even greater time watching the olympics this month. You can bet that while I'm at work, I will constantly be streaming something from nbcolympics.com. Just gotta remind myself to do some work every now and then too.

GO USA!!!!!

Hooray!!!

2008-08-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

This week, Virginia is trying to do its part to boost the economy by giving its citizens a tax break in the form of tax-free shopping. It's fantastic. It inspired me to do some random shopping. I went to the mall today, in hopes of finding some shirts. First, I went to good old Banana Republic. No luck, nothing that interested me. Then I went to Express. Now ordinarily, I wouldn't even go into an Express because of my boycott. Oh right, my boycott...ummm it's a long story, but basically bottom line is that I used to shop at Structure all the time. It was my favorite store. Then it was bought by EXPRESS and became "Express Men". Not cool. So anyway, I go into Express. Again, nothing really interesting, and the stuff I did like, was not at a price I liked (typical of Express). So I went home empty handed...that is until I saw an auction on ebay for this lovely pair of soccer shoes. I've never clicked a buy-it-now button so fast before. Best part of it all? These shoes retail for $300 and I get them for $225. I can't wait to get them in the mail. Try not to make a mess in your pants. I almost did, just look at these bitches:

Ouch Ouch

2008-07-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

Over the past two weekends, I've been taking my United States Soccer Federation D License course to get my certification License. Essentially, in the US (and especially in VA), you're supposed to hold a certain license in order to coach players at certain ages. Up until 14, you're supposed to have an E license. 14-16, D license. 16-19, C License. etc. etc.

So last weekend and this past weekend, I spent a total of 36 hours doing soccer. 3 hours on each Friday in a classroom doing lectures, oral exams, etc. Then on Saturday and Sunday, 10 hours each day on the field going over coaching techniques, topics, and exercises.

Today, after completing this course, I awoke to a severely tight lower back. It was painful to stand earlier today. And now, hours later, as I walk, I get stinging pains in my back as I take each step sometimes.

I've learned from all this that a) I'm not as young and spry as I once was... b) I can no longer laugh at people who use Ben-Gay excessively.

All in all though, it was a fun experience, I met a lot of cool coaches, and hopefully *fingers crossed*, I passed my field exam yesterday and should receive my National D License diploma in the mail in like 3 weeks.

Aside from beating myself up in soccer, concert season is here. I went to Nissan Pavilion last night and saw 311 and Snoop Dogg. 311 is a concert I've been trying to see for like 10 years, and they were awesome. They played all their hit songs so I was singing all night. Snoop Dogg was surprisingly awesome too. I normally don't like rap concerts cuz rappers tend to suck when it's live, but Snoop actually put on a ridiclous show. It was cool.

Next week is my 2nd year of Projekt Revolution. Looking forward to seeing Linkin Park again, along with Busta Rhymes, the Bravery, Chris Cornell, and Atreyu.

What's good?

2008-06-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

What's good, indeed! I came to the realization this morning that I hadn't blogged in a while so for those of you who I haven't talked to in a while, and rely on this blog to keep tabs on me...I'm sorry. Since my last entry, post Vegas trip, I've been keeping pretty busy.

Soccer Coaching season has ended. Another great season, leading my boys' team to the top of the league and earning an All-Star coach selection. My all-star squad didn't fair as well, but that was more bad luck than anything. They played well. I'm looking forward to furthering my United States Soccer Association Certified Coaching Licensing this summer before the next season starts up again in the fall.

Flag football season just ended. My Hokies alumni team was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the playoffs this past weekend. So we'll take some time off before we start practicing and getting ready for the fall season again, I guess.

Work has been busy. As you all may or may not recall, I work at MITRE Corporation now. Switched over from Bearingpoint last December. Up until this point, I'd be doing baby coding and busy work, but with the upcoming deadlines for my project teams, I've been tasked with more complicated work lately.

I applied this week for the VT Masters in IT program. It's a completely online graduate program so that's good for me in terms of work, scheduling, etc. MITRE should be footing the tuition for me, so that's a plus as well. Hopefully they accept me so I can start in the fall.

Other than that, everything's more or less the same. I'm still going hard with the Barra Brava, showing support for DC United. This Sunday, I'm going to their game against the LA Galaxy. Here's hoping our boys in red and black put the stomp down on everyone's favorite mancrush: David Beckham.

Anywhoo, that was a quick update, I'll think of something more interesting to write next blog...for now, I gotta get back to work.

P.S. Screw Global Warming, tornadoes, and power outages. Also screw gas prices.

Viva Las Vegas part IV

2008-05-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend, I took part in the annual guys' trip to sin city. This trip marked the 4th annual trip that we've taken since we graduated. It's actually the 4th trip in 3 years, but since we graduated half way through 2005, we were able to go late 2005 and that counts as our 4th. We've officially taken one trip each calendar year since 2005. Even if in sum, we've gone 4 times in 3 years worth of days. While Vegas never disappoints, I have to admit this year was my favorite trip that we've taken so far. I attribute this pleasure from this trip to a number of factors, but mainly I think it was because only 5 of us went this year, and all 5 guys were part of the original group of guys that have been going every year. As a result, all of our decision making was a little bit more relaxed and things just seemed to flow more smoothly. We also tried a ton of new places to party (LAX club at Luxor, Jet club at Mirage, Body English at Hard rock), places to eat (24-7 diner at Palms, Nove Italiano at Palms, Little Buddha at Palms, and our recurring favorite: Mandalay Bay buffet), and places to gamble so I think that helped to make the trip new and exciting. Las Vegas seems to be expanding exponentially. There was lots of huge construction going on while we were there, so next year, I suspect there will be like 5-6 new casinos that we'll have to try and visit. And finally, I won about $500-600 this trip. Can't be disappointed with a trip where you come home with more moolah than when you arrived, right? Aside from the very first trip we took, this was my biggest win yet in the city. I actually didn't pay for a single thing with my own money on the last two days of our trip. Woot!

Aside from the regular gambling, late night partying, and excessive drinking, Vegas was Vegas. We saw a lot of celebs again. Amare Stoudamire and Shaq were there for the US team training camp, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were both there because of the UFC fight Saturday night, and Carlos Mencia (was performing at the Palms, so we saw him at the club partying it up). I didn't have my camera this year, so no Nicky Long papparazzi photos to share. I'm still in Vegas withdrawal right now. It's always like this when we come back...at least for a few days. Already counting down the days till next year's trip!

Fun Weekend.

2008-04-22T10:34:00.001-07:00

This upcoming May marks 3 years that I've been out of college and in the working world. I feel like now more than ever, my weekends blow by way too fast. Friday comes around, I'm blast out of work, and next thing I know, it's Monday morning already. So being that the weekends seem to last so short, I've been keeping especially busy trying to make every minute count. This past weekend was especially fun.

Friday night, I went out to Happy Hour with Andy, Stella, Leo, Mike, James, Gaan, Yoshi, and Keith at TGIF in tyson's. Originally, the plan was to go to Top Golf in Kingstowne after HH to continue drinking and get some games of top golf in. But, we didn't leave tyson's till after 10 PM, so we scrapped the idea. So I headed home and watched a dvd before I went to sleep. Boring, I know, but at least I didn't go to sleep early.

Saturday morning, I wake bright and early to coach my kids' soccer game. They were 2-0 going into this game, and this season more than any other, I felt like they would go undefeated the whole season. Needless to say I showed up to the game only to find out that many of our players would not make it. So we played one player down for the entire game. Fortunately, I've trained my kids well enough that they didn't get too gassed throughout the game, and somehow, they pulled out a 3-2 win in the scorching heat. I was blown away. Couldn't be more proud of them. Afterwards, I took them out to our regular post-victory pizza party.

Immediately after pizza, I sped home and quickly showered. I then grabbed $600 in cash from my desk and headed out the door to pick up my best friend Will to head up to Atlantic City for the night. Normally, I have football games Sunday mornings, but this week was a bye week so I took the chance to go party with my friend up there. 24 hours later, I was $600 poorer, but pleased with a fun trip to AC as always. Drowning my financial sorrows, we stopped by Philly on the way home and picked up cheesesteaks from Pat's. It was awesome. I bought like 4 which I've eaten over the couple days since coming home. I also bought 4 to split amongst my cousins.

After returning home, exhausted from AC, I again took a quick shower and headed right back out the door to meet my friends at Sweetwater Tavern for some quick dinner before the Chris Rock show in DC. I had never seen Chris Rock perform, and I don't think I've ever really watched his entire show on HBO or anything before either, so this was a brand new experience for me. As you could imagine, he was eff'in hilarious. I had tears at moments in the show cuz I was laughing so hard. His opening act was awesome too.

So then I came home and laid to rest another great weekend. Not nearly as exciting as my days used to be when I was in school, but seeing as how life seems to be settling down these days for me and my friends, I'll take this great weekend anytime.

One Year Later

2008-04-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

WE ARE VIRGINIA TECH.

HOKIES UNITED.

4-16-07

DC Sports

2008-04-10T06:53:00.001-07:00

I consider myself a sports fan. I follow most of the major sports relatively well enough to know the general status of most teams. Being that I've spent entire life in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia), obviously I got love for DC teams. Last year, Boston/New England had a great year in sports...and this year I'm hoping it could be DC.

The Capitals just won the Southeastern conference championship...propelling them into the playoffs. I don't know much about hockey, and I couldn't name 5 players on the Caps if my life depended on it...but I can't remember the last time the Caps did something good, so this is exciting. What I do know...is Mr. Ocho himself, Alex Ovechkin, is a beast.

The Wizards are in the playoffs too. I've been a DC basketball fan since the days of the Bullets. I still wish they had never changed their name, but that's another story completely. I've been to a lot of games this season and it's been exciting to actually see my team winning. Gilbert Arenas is back from injury, as is Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, and Deshawn Stevenson. Even Brendan Haywood, the goat of the team, whom I joke on all the time...is have a career season. He's even making free throws. Now the team is in the race for home court advantage. *fingers crossed*

DC United has just started a new season. With a practically new roster that includes new goalkeeper Zach Wells, midfielder Marcelo Gallardo (who is replacing former league MVP Christian Gomez who was traded), and a package of new young defenders and attackers; this season is like watching a brand new team. I'm optimistic that this is the year we make the playoffs and actually succeeed there instead of choking like we usually do. I'm excited cuz this season is the first season I'm watching the DC United as a member of the Barra Brava. These guys are the crazy DC United fan club that waves the flags, and throws the smoke bombs at the home games. It's a completely new and awesome experience watching a game with these guys. For $30, you can join this awesome club, get a free jersey, and get premium discounted seats to any game you wanna go to. http://www.barra-brava.com. Vamos United!

The Nationals. I pretty much know almost nothing about baseball. I don't follow it at all, I don't play it at all (except for one season of t-ball when I was like 8), and I don't talk much about it at all. Quite honestly, I find baseball extremely boring and if it wasn't for the fact that there's a new stadium this year, I probably wouldn't give the Nats another look. Baseball has just never appealed to me very much. Most of the game, the players are motionless. I've never seen any other sport where so many players look almost overweight...chewing tobacco while they play. But, all baseball hating aside, it looks like an exciting season for DC's team. The new stadium is causing a lot of excitement in the city. Since I know nothing about the team or its players, I don't know what their chances are of winning this season, but here's hoping they succeed.

And finally, the redskins. The season is still months away but I'm looking forward to a new season. The loss of Joe Gibbs is still a bit painful, but the players and organization seem optimistic that new head coach Jim Zorn has the abilities necessary to bring this team back to the postseason. Additionally, with the big NFL draft coming up later this month, I'm hoping the skins make good use of their picks and make some smart moves. Signing free agent Jerome Mathis is one step the skins have taken. We'll see if that step turns out to be in the right direction next year. Hail to the redskins! **side note. Congratulations to the Redskins Cheerleaders for being chosen as the hottest cheerleaders in the NFL**

Super Smash

2008-03-13T11:38:00.001-07:00

The title says it all. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros series came out over the weekend for the Nintendo Wii. My cousin had it reserved. He picked it up Sunday. Between Sunday and Yesterday, I put it at least 20 hours of play. It's an awesome game.

Aside from my video crack, what have I been up to? Not much. I joined Barra Brava (the DC United Fan club...one of the largest in the MLS). They're the ones who sing and jump up and down all game and throw smoke bombs when DC scores. They're also the best tailgate in DC for United games.

Soccer coaching starts this week. Looking forward to getting back on the pitch with the kids. If they're half as successful as my teams have been over the last year, I'll be ecstatic.

Snowboard season is more or less done for me. I only went on 3 trips this year. 2 day trips and one weekend trip. It was a very slow year for me. I blame the warm weather, me getting sick, and too many other weekend obligations. Oh well, there's always next year.

Wedding season is approaching. Early congratulations to Alice (Lee) & Chris as well as Pammie & Hee. Also almost time for graduation. Congrats to everyone graduating from Tech (and other schools as well). You guys are officially the last group of people to graduate from school that attended undergrad with me...so welcome to the real world. I'll see you at Happy Hour.

March Madness is almost here. Time to study my bracketology. *single tear drop* for my Hokies who fell slightly short of the Big Dance this year. Looking forward to big things in the future from this young squad.

Eff the Flu.

2008-03-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Eff it indeed. So last week I was the latest victim of this serial flu going around attacking everybody. I have never felt so helpless in my life before. I began getting sick Tuesday evening. The following 3 days, I was a zombie...drifting in and out of sleep and hocked up on all sorts of medicines. At one point, I was probably on a cocktail of 5 or 6 drugs at once. It sucked. After coming into work Friday to put in half a days work (just to clear stuff I had missed), I sped home and leapt into the bed.

Saturday was the first day I began to feel better, but even so I still suffered from coughing, stuffy nose, and sporadic headaches. Even today, 6 days after my initial onset of the flu, I still have a stuffy nose and cloudy head. That virus is no joke. Eff that bitch.

While we're on the subject of effing bitches, I'd like to eff the American medical system as well. Thanks a-holes for diagnosing this year's flu bug incorrectly. For all of you who don't know, the way that the flu shot works in our wonderful country is that every year, the doctors try to play Miss Cleo and predict the strain of flu that will make its way across that winter. They then choose the appropriate vaccine to prevent it, and distribute it for preventive use that year. This method is flawed for 2 reasons. First, as we've observed this year, when the flu bug is not predicted accurately, we get the wrong vaccine and the flu runs rampant. Second, and this is even more important, the flu virus gets stronger every year. Once we are treated with a vaccine for one strain, the virus just mutates and gets a stronger strain the next year. This may sound flawed on my part, but here's what I think the US doctors NEED to do. Wait each year with several flu vaccines prepared. When the first flu hits, diagnose it and determine the CORRECT vaccine that should be used....then prescribe it. This way, we get an accurate flu shot for millions of people. Call me crazy, but I like to pay for drugs that will actually keep me from losing a week of my life to illness. That's just me.

Other than that, life is hunky dory for me. Looking forward to recovering completely.

Hooray!

2008-02-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

Hooray indeed. The writer's strike was announced today as ending. That is fantastic news for me because I can now watch all my favorite shows again. The last few weeks have been rough, forced to watch a ridiculous amount of reality tv. You know it's bad when even Nicky Long is all reality tv'd out.

My laptop died about a month ago, in case you were wondering why I haven't been online. That didn't help my boredom during the strike either. But I finally got my laptop back this week after fixing it and now I'm back up and running again.

So what has Nicky Long been doing? Well, since the last time we spoke, I've taken my first snowboard trip this season. It was fantastic. I surely hope the weather gets cold again soon cuz this has been a pretty shitty season for me in terms of hitting the slopes. Soccer is going good. Football too. New seasons of both coaching and playing start up soon so I'm excited.

Since we last spoke, I turned 26. I feel so old. Other than that, everything is everything. No real news to share. I'll try to blog more often in the future, but you know how lazy I get, so we'll see.

Happy New Year to everyone who celebrates the Lunar New Year. I can't wait to celebrate this weekend with my family. So much eating, drinking, and gambling. It's gonna be great.

Technology Rocks.

2008-01-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

Call me slow, late, behind, whatever you want. I'm ok with it. Last week I bought a PS3. Originally, when they first came out, I thought about buying one...but then I realized it was $600, and I had no real need for one yet. Then it dropped to $500...and I still could find no reason to buy it. Eventually, it dropped to $400, and even at this point, I was content to wait and see if it would drop more before some of the games I really wanna play are released on it (i.e. Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 13, etc.) Even the lure of playing my favorite sports game FIFA online hadn't gotten me hooked on buying the PS3 yet...

....that was until last week. I've always been a big guitar hero fan. And before that, a dance dance revolution fan. So when I heard about Rock Band, I knew it was gonna be fun, but I was in no rush to buy or try it. Then last week I went to a friend's house and he just happened to have the game. We started playing and within the week, I owned a PS3 and Rock Band.

Sufficed to say, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Now that the flood gates have been opened, I find myself shopping online quite often for other games and PS3 accessories. For instance, I'm debating whether to buy the other popular sports games besides FIFA (Madden, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods, etc.) I'm also debating whether to buy a 2nd guitar for Rock Band.

Aside from my dorky infatuation with my new toy, I've been pretty busy lately. Not so much snowboarding since el nino or la nina or whatever it's called has made this such a warm winter....but no, I've been more busy with work, soccer, football, and I supposed hanging out with my cousins and sister while they're home from school.

Next week is the big snowboard trip with all my friends where we've rented like 4-5 houses with 15+ people in each house. It's gonna be a ridiculous weekend at Wisp. Looking forward to it!

On a side note, I still love TV. Lost and Prison Break start up again soon. And last week, one of my all time favorite shows came back, American Gladiators. Technology Rocks. Life Rocks. Rock Band..errr..rocks.

Great Weekend.

2007-12-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

I had a fantastic weekend. Thursday night, the Redskins' rivals the Cowboys won their football game. Now, I'm normally never one to root for the boys, but since they won, and Green Bay lost on Sunday, this gives the Cowboys home field advantage in the playoffs. This also means, they now have nothing to gain by beating the Skins this coming week. So, they will likely rest some of their starters in order to get set for the playoffs...making a win for us more likely...and thus helpful to us to creep into the playoffs. On a side note, Terrell Owens got injured in the Dallas game on Thursday so he definitely will not play against the Skins. Hail to the Redskins!

Then on Saturday, I drove up to Atlantic City with some friends. We gambled all night Saturday and crashed hard Saturday morning. After a 5-6 hour nap, we woke up and headed home...making a detour on the way to stop by Philadelphia for some authentic Cheesesteaks. Mmmmm....sooooo yummy. I shoulda bought more to reheat later. I lost money in AC, but it's cool. I always go into a casino thinking I will lose. So I only bring what I plan to lose, and if I lose it all, I don't withdraw anymore money. I brought $400 with me, and lost only about $250. So that's a win in my book. I played very little poker this trip, just like every other trip. my belief is that I can play poker anytime anywhere. I take a special trip to a casino, I wanna play games I can't normally play...like Pai Gow, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette. Unfortunately, these games don't give me the edge like I hold in poker. Oh wells, it was fun.

Sunday. I get home just in time to get set for the Redskins game. They win, of course, beating the Vikings (who are also in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot). So that is a double bonus win for the Skins.

Monday. Xmas eve. Unfortunately, I have to go into work. But I get in at like 7 AM, so I'm out by noon. I get home in time to meet up with my cousins and celebrate our xmas that evening. (Yes we celebrate on xmas eve..don't ask why.) I got lots of cool gifts and ate lots of good food.

Tuesday. Xmas. Having already opened presents and celebrated the night before, I spend the day with my sister and my cousins. We eat delicious Dim Sum. We watch Sweeney Todd (a violent, but nonetheless decent musical movie starring Johnny Depp) And we cap off the day with Pho for dinner.

Only one more week till New Year's. Can't wait to see what this weekend has in store for me!

My December

2007-12-10T08:47:00.001-08:00

Hooray for December! Hands down the best month of the year in my opinion. Here's why December is extra awesome for me this year:

-Start new Job at Mitre
My new job rocks. I get to work at like 7:30 AM everyday, but the bright side is I'm out by 4. I wear jeans, tennis shoes, and a polo shirt, or nice tee to work everyday. I make 21% more than I was making at Bearingpoint, and I get the cruciallest benefits ever. Work has never been so fun. Oh, did I mention, they're planning on sending me to Vegas for a week as part of my training. I love this place.

-Snow
Snow means a bunch of things. Most importantly, snowboard season is here. On top of that, I'm just a kid at heart. You can't beat an old fashioned day of playing in the snow.

-Xmas
I'm Buddhist, I'm not even supposed to celebrate Christmas. I do it because it's fun. My whole family gives gifts. Everyone is in a good mood. And everywhere you go, people are smiling, work is the least stressful it is all year, and cheerful music surrounds. Some people hate xmas shopping, but I love it.

-New Year's
Technically, it's January, but New Year's is always an awesome holiday too. You're bound to find a fun party to go to, cuz they're everywhere. And Nicky Long sure does love that New Year's bubbly. Cristal, anyone?

Hells yea. I love December...it also means my birthday is right around the corner.

Five Years

2007-11-16T06:36:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
I don't wanna be a downer, and anyone who knows Nicky Long knows it's rare to find me upset or down. But today, I just wanna be serious for a second. Today marks the 5th anniversary to the day of the date my best friend Jack passed away in a tragic car accident. It was five years ago today that he was travelling to celebrate his crossing into a fraternity he'd been pledging in college and after a long night of celebrating, he and his "brothers" were driving back to school at UVA. Around the Northern Virginia area, his friend fell asleep at the wheel and they hit a tree. Despite wearing a seatbelt in the backseat, Jack suffered internal injuries that led to his death at the hospital.

Jack was one of my closest friends growing up. Aside from my other best friends Will and Ali, I spent the majority of my childhood in his basement or hanging out with him during and after school. He was the nicest guy I ever knew and everything he did, he put 200% effort into. He was a bright star who I feel had the most potential of any of my friends, but as fate would have it, his light burned out early.

You never know what life is going to bring, so please take advantage of the times you have. Don't brush off that invitation from a friend to go out to a club or a bar. Don't pass up the opportunity to eat a potluck dinner with some friends. Don't skip a movie that all your friends are seeing just 'cause it's not your type of movie. Making good memories isn't about where you're at or what you're doing. It's about spending valuable time with the ones you love. And those are moments that can never be recreated. You never know what lies in store for you and your friends, so live your life to the fullest and spend every moment you can with those you love.

I still miss you dearly Jack. I can't even begin to list all the great "memories" that we've created since you've been gone and every now and then, it brings a tear to my eye to think of what could've been, if you were still around. I know you're in a better place now, and one day we will see each other again. From all your brothers back here in Burke, LB, the 3 Musketeers...we miss you. Rest in Peace.

R.I.P
Jack Tse-Hou Chen
August 12, 1982 --- November 16, 2000

From all the boys, may you Rest in Peace, Jack.

Happy Halloween.

2007-10-24T10:05:00.001-07:00

Yes I'm early, but being extremely at bored, this is all I could think about to blog. So halloween is coming up. Normally, I'm a huge fan of Halloween. Who wouldn't be? You get to dress up as something different, there's a surplus of candy everywhere you go, and moreso than other time in the year you get to go to parties where there will be lots of scantilly clad ladies.

Additionally, I love scary movies, and October seems to be the most ideal time for scary movies to come out in theatres. I haven't heard much about any this year besides the upcoming installment of Saw (the 4th one). I plan to see that Friday night.

Aside from my unknown upcoming halloween activities, fall is right at its midpoint, which means snowboard season is only a month or so away. I can't wait. Soccer is good, my kids are winning and should have no problem finishing out the season on top as long as they come with it every week. Flag football is great. Our team finished 1st after the regular season and we begin playoffs this weekend.

And for my trance friends, I know you all loved Tiesto when he came here last month. I look forward to Paul Oakenfold coming here next month.

That's all I got today for this post. I'll post something a little more interesting next time.

P.S. All my high school friends who I haven't talked to in forever, I know you all still read this from time to time, so holla at me. We need to meet up sometime and catch up. That means you: John, Tony, Crayton, J. Mirabello, C. Neam, Josh, Vinh Tran. I got a new cell phone so I dun got any of y'alls contacts anymore so hit me up. At the minimum, you can leave a post here so I can reach y'all.

Football Fanatic

2007-10-01T12:34:00.001-07:00

OK, so everyone who knows me, knows I'm a Futbol fanatic. That's soccer to those of you who don't know. And anyone who knows anything at all about Virginia Tech knows that you can't go to the school without being a Hokie Football fanatic, which I am as well. But new to me this fall, I've been playing flag football on a team with my fellow Hokie Alumni. It's the same crew who's played Turkey Bowl together since we were at school, only now we rep our school in the Reston area against any and everyone who dares register in our league.

Currently, our team is 4-0...leading our division and the only undefeated team. It's now officially the highlight of my week to go Sunday morning and play football with the fellas. After a great game, I can come home and lounge all day in front of the tube for some NFL action. Life is great. Let's Go HOKIES!!!

Our team:

Tiesto Woo!

2007-09-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

Fall is in full swing and I couldn't be any happier with life. My hokies are finally on the upswing after replacing that worthless Sean Glennon with true freshman Tyrod Taylor. Though we're only 2-1, the future looks tremendously promising behind our Tidewater prodigy. My flag football team, also named Hokies, is 2-0. That's attributed to the tremendous amount of chemistry and talent among these guys whom I went to school with. I can't wait to run this league. And finally, my kids that I'm coaching soccer this year are sick nasty too. They're off to a 1-0-1 season so far, but they shoulda been 2-0. Either way, I don't see us losing a game this season and if they play like they did last weekend (we won 8-2), we should crush every team in the league.

But to the main point of today's blog. I FINALLY got to see my boy DJ Tiesto perform over the weekend. Over the past 4 years, he's made it a habit of always coming to perform on Thursday nights and not starting his set till like 1 AM. That means if I wanted to see him, I wouldn't leave the club till like 4 AM and work Friday would be impossible. Fortunately, this time, he did a Saturday show, outdoors, at Love the club in DC. The show was awesome. Tiesto killed his set. It's awesome to see 8000 people waving and cheering in unison. Wish my camera hadn't been broken so I coulda documented the awesomeness that is a Tiesto show.

Hooray for Autumn

2007-09-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right. It's September and that means we're officially in Fall. With the new season comes a few new "seasons" in my life too. First, there's season 3 of coaching soccer. I've moved up this year to coaching U12 boys. So I'm coaching slightly older 10 year olds and 11 year olds now. I've held a few practices already and all I can say is that my team is stacked. I'll be surprised if we don't go all the way again.

Secondly, season 3 of Hokie Nation Fantasy Football has just started. I drew the first pick of the draft this year so I'm pretty happy with my squad. I don't see my other alumni posing any kind of threat to me. You guys can go ahead and transfer your entry fees to me now.

And finally, with the new fall season, comes the new season of television on the horizon. It's been a long wait, but I'm finally ready to watch new seasons of my favorite shows. Heroes, Prison Break, Survivor. Lost doesn't come back till January of next year, but I anticipate that show as well.

Beyond that...fall season simply means we're a few short months away from snowboard season so I'm all smiles.

Big shout out to everyone who made it down for opening weekend at Tech last weekend. Shitty football game, but still awesome weekend!

Japan Rocks!

2007-08-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

New month...new post. Seems to be the way with me. Sorry I don't post as often as some of you would like. Not much has changed since my last post. I went to the DC United game last week in which David Beckham finally made his MLS debut. It poured rain, but fortunately my seats were as close as they could be to the field but still stay underneath the upper deck so I didn't get wet. United won, which is always a plus. As long as the players stay healthy, I can see us going all the way this season.

This Sunday is Projekt Revolution. It's probably my most anticipated event of the summer. Not only do I FINALLY get to see Linkin Park in concert, but I also get to see My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday as well. I'm so excited. I plan on getting to the Nissan Pavillion around 1 or 2, and letting the alcoholic debauchery begin until the end of the concert that evening. It's gonna be great.

So to the main topic of this post. I'm not a huge Anime fan or anything. I've seen Akira and Ghost in the Shell movies. That's about it. While all my friends got hooked on Naruto and Bleach, I maybe watched like 3 episodes. But lately, I've been watching this new series airing in Japan called "CLAYMORE". Man, this show is awesome!!!! Without giving too much away, here's the basic concept. There's a group of evil monsters called Joma. They can morph and take the form of humans and they prey on humans. The only way to stop them is to hire these warriors called "Claymores". They are probably called this because of the giant swords they wield. Claymores are half human/half joma. As a result, they can use their joma energy (or yoki as it is called) to detect and fight these monsters. The only catch, is that as you expend yoki, you run the risk of going over your limit. At this point, you yourself turn into a joma. So all Claymores eventually turn into joma. But in the meantime, they kick butt and protect all humans. The show is awesome. I know, Nicky Long you're a geek. Hey, call me a geek all you want, this show is tight. I wish I could be a kid growing up in Japan. Their tv shows are vastly superior to ours. If you don't believe me, check these out:

Claymore:
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/listings/3/2887

Bleach:
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/listings/3/181

Ninja Warrior (badass show about athletes trying to complete a near impossible obstacle course. The twin US gymnastics brothers, the Hamms, could not complete it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1anoHXphvas

Kinchan no Kasoh Taisho (dunno what it means, but it's an awesome game show where people win by doing creative human art skits. You may recognize it from clips such as "Matrix Ping Pong"):
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2105

Random Post

2007-07-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's been over a month and a half since my last post. Nicky Long is getting lazy. Just kidding, I was already lazy long before this month. In any case, I figured it was about time I posted again considering the little (no) work that I have on my desk right now. We're in the middle of one of the hottest, stickiest summers I can remember. It's one of the things I hate about living on the East Coast. It's not so much that it's hot here, cuz it really isn't. It rarely makes it to 90 degrees except during record heat waves. But the humidity makes it feel like you're in a sauna. Sit outside in the sun for 10 minutes, and you'll break a heavy sweat. It sucks. Fortunately, I'm inside most of the week, until the weekend. And then when the weekend rolls around, I spend a lot of the time at the pool...so I've been staying pretty cool.

Aside from the horrible weather, this has actually been a very busy summer. With all these activities I've been planning, I've been staying busy. I've been going to lots of DC United games at RFK. I've already got premium tickets for the Los Angeles Galaxy game here next month featuring David Beckham. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a mancrush on the guy or anything, but he is by far the most dynamic player in the MLS. Despite his age, he is going to make some things happen. I'm not saying he's gonna become the leading scorer or anything, because that's not what he does. What he will do, is create more opportunities for his teammates to score while showing the American audience why it is that soccer is called the "beautiful game". Additionally, thanks to the "Beckham" rule that allows each team to have up to 2 players with ridiculous salaries, brought in from overseas; we are now able to see lots of stars in the league on all the teams. I've been excited watching DC United as they picked up two brazilians in the last 6 months to add to their roster. These guys have already made a huge impact on the team.

Besides soccer games, it's concert season. I've already got my tickets for the Projekt Revolution tour next month featuring Linken Park, My Chemical Romance, and Taking Back Sunday. I've also already got my tickets for DJ Tiesto in the fall.

And finally, it's been wedding season. Congrats to my friends Long and Erica who tied the knot about 2 weeks ago. That was a fun wedding considering how many of my close friends were there. I drank entirely too much, and with my parents attending too, that was an interesting night. I couldn't be happier for the newlyweds though.

That's about all I got right now, I'll make a more interesting post soon.

Vegas 07

2007-06-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I blogged. Since the last time, I've embarked on the annual Guys' Vegas trip, part III. This year was extra special because it is the last time the boys will be out with Long Pham the bachelor. Also joining us this year for the first time were Sam, Jonnyman, my homeboy Kamran, Neville, and Adam. I don't wanna go into too much detail about the trip, aside from the fact that it was by far the best Vegas trip we've taken so far. Other than that, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Here are some highlights:

Gabrielle Union:

1210 H:

New Weather, New Activity

2007-04-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the posting delays. I've been busy. No actually, I've been lazy. So spring seems to finally be here. Even on cold days, it's moderately warm. And for the most part, it's pretty sunny. So with that, I've decided to go out and enjoy the outdoors more. I'm still doing soccer a ton. Coaching and playing is keeping me busy most of the time. Aside from soccer, I've picked up tennis again...and shortly I should begin playing golf with my pops too. My new desire this spring has been cycling. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Lance Armstrong, but I think it'd be fun on a weekend when nothing else is really going on to take a bike out for a couple hours and ride trails in the area, or go around Burke Lake, or even just cruise on the road to my cousin's house or a friend's house or something. But before I can do that, I need to get a bike. I have no knowledge of bikes whatsoever so I've been trying to get some info from people I know who ride.

Aside from the beautiful weather, not much else has been going down. I'm sure you all know about VA Tech on 4.16.07. Such a sad tragedy. I never expected anything like that to happen at such a peaceful place. Sad that for so many people, my alma mater will now hold a tainted reputation and view...when all I have is happy, wonderful memories of the place. My heart goes out to all the families and friends of people lost in the tragedy.

Hurray for Spring, I think.

2007-04-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hey hey, so I haven't posted in a while. Unbelievably, I've been super busy with work. And I generally only blog when I'm bored at work trying to fill my time. So yeah, I suppose you could say I'm bored today. So Easter came and went this past weekend. Being Buddhist, this meant nothing to me, except that come Sunday evening, all of my normal dinner spots were closed. Seemed like a good day for me to play some poker instead.

Overall, the weekend was awesome. I saw my old roommate Adam from college. He's in the army now and he's from North Carolina so I really only get to see him once maybe twice a year. It was awesome seeing him and his dog Eve again.

I have to say I'm not a big fan of the spring weather we've been getting. Ordinarily, I am a huge supporter of the cold when it's winter because of my addiction to snowboarding. However, I had already given up on riding several weeks ago, and was steadfast in my Spring/Summer frame of mind. Leave it to El Nino or La Nina, or whatever it's called to bring on these frigid temps again. My new coworker from Ohio was shocked to see snow flurries in April.

Other than that, life is same old same old. I still watch a ton of tv. All my normal shows + a few new guilty pleasures. That new comedy show on NBC "Thank God You're Here" is pretty good. They basically bring in popular comedians and have them enter a room they haven't seen, without a script, and act out a scene and be as funny as they can. I wouldn't say the show is like "Whose line is it anyway?" because I think this show is different. But they're both good. I've also been watching American Idol more than usual this year. Simply because Sanjaya Malakar is quite possibly the worst Idol singer ever and I am stunned as to how he is still in the competition. It really makes me want to audition next year and hope to make it to the finals by some miracle. I just need to make a ton of Indian and Chinese friends this year so they can rally support for me.

The Mighty Ducks Part II

2007-03-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

So a new season of coaching begins for me this week. Last fall I coached a 10 year old boys soccer team for the first time. We started the season rough, losing every game. But by the end of the season, I had done my best to teach these kids how to play together and we began spanking our opponents the last few games. I felt very much like Emilio Estevez coaching Pacey, I mean Joshua Jackson and the rest of their peewee hockey team.

This week, I received my new roster. A new team of ADHD 10 year olds. I gotta say I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's probably one of the best moments of my week when I've been having a cruddy day at work and I go to one of my kids' practices and all I see are smiling happy 10 year old kids running around on the field playing with each other. They don't care about money, bills, deadlines, or projects. They don't have girl issues, "beef", or any other kinds of drama that starts to arise in teenage years. All they have to care about in the world is playing a game. God, it's the best feeling...I wish I was a kid again. What's even funnier is when my kids team loses. I'll run into a parent the following week at practice and be like "Man, I still can't believe we barely lost at the end of last Saturday's game!" And the parent will simply reply "Look at the kids. Does it look like they even care? They've already forgotten they lost and are playing happily again." And it's true. Not a care in the world.

Needless to say, I'm still not ready for kids anytime soon. knock on wood.

March Madman

2007-03-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

So it's that time of the year when every man mysteriously disappears for about a month. He's unusally inactive at work, and exposed to unhealthy levels of tv radiation as he follows his favorite basketball teams in the NCAA national tournament. In addition, for the average man, he's probably invested in 2-4 pools hoping to display his testosteronic dominance in hardwood prognostication.

For me, this year is especially important because my Hokies are in the tourney. I'm only in one pool this year, but my hopes are high that my picks will hold. As much as I want my hokies to win, I'm picking Georgetown to go all the way. I think they have what it takes to upset and win. That's not to say I'm not rooting for my Tech team though. I would love nothing more than to lose my pool if it means the Hokies are the national champs. But realistically, I just want them to make it to the third round, and possibly pull off an upset there.

Beyond that, I have no other goals for this tourney. I'll see you all at Bailey's for the tech game(s).

I'm not a millionaire.

2007-03-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

So recently, the mega millions jackpot lottery reached a record high of $370 million. I generally play the lottery once every few weeks, but when the jackpot got this high, you KNOW I had to play. So I bought 10 tickets on the last night like many of my friends. My best ticket won me like $3. So yea, I'm not a millionaire.

The thing with the lottery is, I don't even need the jackpot. Anything over 5 million is more than I want/need. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to get as much free money as I can. But realistically, I do not aspire to live like a baller or hip hop mogul (as my normal spending habits and clothing style might suggest). Honestly, my whole goal in life is to continue living the way I am currently living, and not have to work. For me, this equates to making somewhere between $70,000 and $100,000 a year income. So, let's assume that I live on the high end of my goal and make $100,000 a year. That's enough for me to live in the size house I currently live, have a decent reliable car, and have enough spending cash for my going out/vacations/travel/food etc. Now I figure that in order to reach my goal of not working and receiving this kind of income, I'd have to win a small lottery and put all my winnings into some kind of fund and live off the interest compounded from it. So taking a look at the kinds of funds that are out there, I figure that with a few million dollars (less than 5) I might be able to get 5% interest. So to receive $100,000 a year in interest, quick math puts me at 2 mill.

So 2 is the lucky number. 2 million dollars and I can continue to live my current lifestyle without working. So $370 million jackpot, that's nice. But I'll gladly play lotto south jackpot and hope to hit that 3-4 million jackpot. After taxes/taking that lump sum, I get my 2 mill and retire at age 25.

I'll see you guys at the 7-11 for my retirement winnings.

Ole....Ole Ole Ole!

2007-03-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

I've been a soccer fan my whole life. I started playing soccer when I was 5 because my dad played soccer in college and thought he'd start me on it. I took a 5 year hiatus from competitive soccer when I hit college, but now that I'm a working professional, I've dedicated a lot of my free time back to my favorite sport. Last year, I started coaching a boys U10 team. It's awesome to watch 10 year old kids play. That's the age when they don't have a care in the world. School is easy, there's no teenage drama to worry about, and they sure as hell don't have any work/class/grown up stress to worry about. All they care about is playing a game. Even when they lose, they forget about it the next day and come back out and play again. I would give anything to go back to that age.

In addition to coaching, I started playing soccer again. I'm a member of several adult teams. I play with Spikey Mike's coworkers. We're not very good competitively, but they're cool peoples...and they love to drink/snowboard so that's win win for me. I also started up a team with my coworkers. They're awesome. Everyone on the team is extremely skilled. I feel weaksauce playing alongside them.

Both my teams are coed. I've found though, that's extremely hard to find enough women to play. My team with my coworkers struggles to find enough girls to play each week, and often times we have to play one down. If any of you happen to be of the estrogen bearing variety and would like to play, holla at your boy!

Other than that, snowboard season is pretty much over...so most of you should start seeing me on the weekends again.

Snowshoe '07

2007-02-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

So I went snowboarding this past weekend to Snowshoe resort in West Virginia. It's one of the biggest ski resorts on the east coast, and one of my personal faves. We took a trip out there, about 50 of us and stayed in 4 separate condos. Arriving intermittently Friday nite, some of us headed out for Friday day/nite riding while others who arrived later broke in our condos with some good old alcoholic debauchery. Nothing serious of course, since we all wanted to wake up early the next day for a full day's worth of rides on the slopes. That is...all of us except for Alex. He decided to get tanked the first night and remain hungover and hammered for the rest of the trip...including when he threw up in our fireplace (putting out the fire...) and then throwing up in a cardboard box which he then threw into the fireplace (which was no longer burning cuz he put it out with his puke):

Saturday was fun. We spent the day riding meeting up in the early to late evening. After an evening of some night riding, we headed up to the only "club" on the mountain. To my surprise, there was actually a DJ who played hiphop and techno in between sets of a rock band that played typical West Virginia music. We basically chilled at our table shooting pool and playing foosball while slamming beers until the DJ came on when we rushed the dancefloor and rep'd DC, NOVA, and Virginia Tech like no other. Big props to Jac for taking over the mic in the DJ booth. That was hot.

After the club, I dun have much to say for the remainder of the night. It's kind of one long crazy blur. Dan got into a fight outside the club, typical, and we had to calm his ass down as we walked back to our condos. At the condos, we sat around and drank furiously. It was great because all of 1210 H was in one spot. The originals: Dan, me, Spikey Mike, and Andy. As well as Adam, who was part of the 1210 graduation unit. Dan hit the bottle hard, typical, and passed out on the floor:

After Dan passed out...Vin and I decided it might be fun to put his hand in warm water. We did this for about 10 minutes before Dan moved. We decided at this point that Dan was far too drunk so it wouldn't be a bad idea to put him in the snorers room (where I slept). We dragged him to the floor in that room only for him to jump into my bed. No biggie, I didn't mind sleeping on the floor. Several hours later, at around 3 AM. I awoke to Dan moving around in our room. I assumed he needed to puke so I moved to let him out. Next thing I know, I felt liquid on me. I feared the worst. Dan was puking on me. I jumped up and ran out the room to let him go. But he didn't come out. So I flipped the light on to see what was going on with him. To my surprise he was pissing on our dresser. I looked at my wet shirt...no puke. DAMMIT...Dan just pee'd on me. I ran into the living room, pissed as hell (literally.) I threw my shirt onto the floor and David Lam laughed at me. Trong woke up and also laughed at me. Karma's a bitch. That's what I get for trying to prank Dan.

Overall, the trip was fantastic though. Here are some more pics. Nothing beats cramming like 15-20 people into an 8 person condo. Multiply that by 4 and you get our trip.

Happy New Year!

2007-02-20T10:10:00.000-08:00

So this past Sunday was Chinese New Year. I know what you're thinking...Nicky Long, you're not Chinese. Well, technically, the actual holiday is the Lunar New Year. It celebrates the new year according to cycles of the moon. While this holiday has developed a reputation and title in the United States as Chinese new year because Chinese people celebrate it and they are the most dominant asian population....it is also celebrated by Vietnam (and probably a few other countries that I don't even know about). So yes, this past weekend, I celebrated.

Of all the asian holidays, the Lunar New Year is by far my favorite. In Vietnamese culture, we wake up that day and everything we do that day, we try to make festive and "good" because the way that your day turns out is supposed to be a reflection of how your year will turn out. For instance my parents will do everything possible the days leading up to the New Year in order to make sure no one in our family is sick, nothing is broken in the house, etc. Yeah, my parents are real superstitious. So many families will eat big, delicious meals...drink plenty of good alcohol....pray/visit temple for spiritual balance....and have big festive get togethers in order to encourage happiness for the year to come. My new year's get togethers with my family entail 4 main things that make it my favorite holiday (at least in the asian culture anyway):

1) Good eats. There are certain things that we only eat during the New Year's celebration. Aside from those, you can always expect a big luscious meal as well. In conjunction with item number 2) you get a very full and content day.
2) Good drinks. Nice bubbly champagne and wine flow all night. Break out the Dom P and Cristal!
3) Money. It is a tradition in the Lunar New Year celebration that the elders, your aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, etc. will give red envelopes containing cash. Depending on the financial status of your relatives as well as the overall size of your family, this can be a very handsome collection by the end of the night. This tradition encourages wealth because by receiving money it is believed you will be prosperous in the coming year.
4) Gambling highly encouraged. I'm not sure how things work with Chinese families, but within Vietnamese families, gambling is encouraged during the Lunar New Year. I suspect it has something to do with giving and receiving money as well as joy with your loved ones. I take it as an excuse to gamble gamble gamble. There's a popular game that is played during the New Year. Essentially, there are 6 pictures of animals on a mat. You place bets on which animal you think will pop up. Then 3 dice are rolled that each contain the 6 animals on them. You get paid depending on what pops up. I like to call this game Vietnamese craps. My cousins and I can spend all night playing this game. Now that we're older, we also incorporate poker and other betting games as well.

This year was a bit slower for me. With my sister and 2 of my cousins away at college, as well as the inclement weather, our celebration was much smaller and shorter than it normally is. Nonetheless, I had a good time. Big Happy BDAY shout out goes to all my friends who celebrated their bdays this weekend as well.

Chuc mung nam moi (Happy New Year in Vietnamese)!

Toilet Seat Up. Why all the hate?

2007-02-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

I was talking to a friend of mine at work today. He was using the men's bathroom at work, and because of the large traffic in there at the time, the urinals had all been occupied. So he went into the stall to urinate. As is the norm, he lifted the seat, and when he was done, he instinctively put it down. I happened to bump into him in the hallway and I asked what he'd been up to. He told me about how he just pissed in the bathroom, and I asked him...

"So man, did u leave the toilet seat up?"

And he replied no. And so we started conversing about this. Now, as a man myself, I find it is more convenient to leave the toilet seat up. I only drop a deuce a couple times a day when I've had a lot to eat, but I piss probably 6-8 times a day depending on how much fluid I've been drinking throughout the day. So based on the numbers, it only makes sense to leave the seat up and put it down when necessary. It's less work. So I asked my friend, why he put the seat down. Obviously it's an all male bathroom and I'm sure he and all the other users of the bathroom would love to leave the toilet seat up all the time as I do.

So he bagan talking about how it's courtesy to women and he just happened to be in the habit. I agreed, obviously. But then I began to think. Why the hell should men put the toilet seat down for women? It makes no sense. I've had past girlfriends and my mom tell me to put the seat down, but I honestly can't think of why this should be the norm. I've been told by women on many occasions that it sucks to fall in the toilet when there's no seat and that's probably true...but here's the thing. When I'm about to drop a deuce, I don't blindly sit on the can and hope the seat is down. I check it first. So why can't women? And don't give me this crap about women always sit down to pee/poop so they always gotta put the seat down. It's not like it's hard to do. For a guy, we've got to reach down, grab the seat, lift the seat, and fight gravity to put it back up in order for us to urinate. If I'm a woman and I walk in, and the seat isn't down, I don't even have to hold the seat to lower it. I could probably just tap it, and let gravity do all the work. So why, why is it such a hassle for women to put the seat down when we leave it up?

It only makes sense to me that it's much less work in the long run for everyone if we just make it the norm to leave the seat in whatever position it's in when you're done. For a man, if you've just pissed in the toilet, leave it up. For women, leave it down. That's my two cents. Women who don't agree...you must have fallen in the toilet in the past...and for that I have no comment. Look before you leap...look before you leap.

TV Junkie

2007-02-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Personal Story:

So when I was growing up, I was in the Gifted and Talented program in elementary school. Gifted and Talented? Not really. I took an IQ test in 3rd grade and it said I was smart...hence I started leaving my regular class once a week for a couple hours starting in the 4th grade to do exercises that would make my mind sharp. In this GT class, I was once given an assignment to monitor how much tv I watched in a week, recording the shows and times and durations that I watched. I remember coming back to school after a week of recording and while other kids put down that they watched maybe 7-8 hours of tv that week, I had watched nearly 20. Gifted and Talented? No, just a smart guy who was lazy as hell and loved his cartoons and Saved by the Bell.

This past weekend, I was watching a movie called Idiocracy. It stars Luke Wilson. Essentially, he's an average joe who lazily slips by his job in the military. One day, he's chosen to be a part of an experiment where he will be frozen for 1 year. The project has a mishap and he is frozen for 500 years. When he awakes, he finds that all the dumb people in the world have been recreating and recreating and recreating...while intelligent people have died off. He also finds that he is now the smartest man in the world and that the US needs his help to solve all their economic and social problems. Pretty funny movie that got me thinking....is it possible the world could turn out that way from watching too much tv?

My head started to hurt as I thought about this too much, and since new seasons of Heroes, Prison Break, Lost, Survivor, and Amazing Race all started within these past 2 weeks, I didn't have time to ponder it any longer. Lost premier airs tonight. I'll see you all on the forums tomorrow.

Comic Relief

2007-02-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

I like to think I have a good sense of humor. I love a good comedy show as much as anyone else. Lately, I've been trying to find more clips of this up and coming stand up comic named Rob Paravonian. I'm not sure where he's from but his comedy makes me laugh. He uses a guitar in most of his act, but the stuff he talks about is so true and his act isn't corny like some other musical stand ups I've seen. For instance, this youtube clip shows him making fun of pop music. In particular, the theme from Friends (and how the Rembrandts tried to turn the song into a mainstream pop single) and also the Smashmouth song that used to play on the radio like in high school...god I'm dating myself.

Anyway, I just wanted to give props to this new comic cuz he makes me laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S8wBNoiv90

Take care.

2007-01-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

So anyone who knows me knows that I'm a snowboard fanatic. When those 2-4 months of winter roll around every year, you're lucky to find me on a weekend unless you snowboard with me. Ever since I had knee surgery for my torn ACL 4 years ago, I'm ultra conservative when it comes to the slopes now. I wear my robotic knee brace every time I ride, and I don't try to do half the crazy things I used to do on the slopes. Let's be honest too, I'm 25 years old now, if I get injured, I am in no way healing with Wolverine-esque powers the way I used to in high school. So I gotta be extra careful.

This past weekend, I was reminded of how careful I should be when I take on "extreme" sports like snowboarding. My friend Lan Chi recently got hooked on the wonderful sport of snowboarding due in large to her boyfriend Sunny who happens to be just as big a snowboard fanatic as me. We took a trip this past weekend with some other friends of ours to a local ski resort. Long story short, Lan Chi had a freak accident on one of the slopes, falling awkwardly on her back and bracing herself with her hands. She broke her left elbow quite badly and required surgery to repair it. It was surreal being in the emergency room waiting for her. On the one hand, you make jokes and smile because you know your friend is ok and that she'll get through it. But on the other hand, you worry because you never expected this to happen or that it could be this bad, or even worse..that you're glad that it didn't turn out worse than it is.

I often tell most people I know that life is short. You never know when you won't get a chance to see someone again. I know this very well since one of my best friends passed away 4 years ago in a tragic car accident. When people I know get injured in these types of freak accidents it makes me appreciate life all the much more. So please, if you know me at all, please be careful because you guys never know when something unexpected could change your life. And I never want to miss that chance to hang out or talk to any of you again. So take that opportunity to eat, drink, party, hang out, watch a movie, go shopping, take a trip, dance, play, sleep with me. Because life is too short and unexpected to miss that chance to share some time with people you love.

And on a brighter note, my friend Lan Chi returns home in a couple days from the hospital and I'm gonna be the first to give her a welcome home present...well...besides her man-servant Sunny of course.

A new year, a new blog.

2007-01-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

So it's been on my unwritten list of "Things To Do" for about a year. I get random thoughts sometimes and I wanna share them with you. So finally, after months of laziness and procrastination I've decided to start blogging again. Although with the growth of gmail, I've found a new blog site, as you all can see. I like this site better than xanga because anyone can comment on my blogs, not just xanga members.

There's actually a lot of "Things To Do" on my unwritten list. I like to think that the list will be completed eventually, but there are items on the list that probably date back to 2005 so we'll see how that goes. Some other things I need to do are write a book, clean my room, buy a house, go to Italy/Spain, wash/clean my car, buy new workshoes, learn to play baccarat, be an extra in a movie, invest in some stocks, get a dog, and apply for a job at DC United.

There's many other things on my To Do list, but it would take me a week to write it all down. Maybe I should just focus on my "Things Not to Do" list. It'd be like "die, get sick, go broke, lose friends."