2009 Retrospective: Top TV, Movies, Games

Again, in no particular order...

Top TV Shows
Top Chef season 6 - After a subpar season 5, the most recent season was plain awesome. It was a real pleasure to watch the top echelon of chefs compete throughout the season, with the top 4 taking home every Elimination Challenge, and 3 worthy challengers for the crown (Kevin with the most elimination wins, Bryan 2nd most elimination wins and never being in the bottom, and Michael with the 3rd most elimination wins, most quickfires, and most times in the top 3). I can only hope that future seasons will continue to attract high quality talent, and that Bravo will eventually stream episodes online.

Lost season 5 - Lost, and the next show on this list, should serve as an inspiration to TV show creators to write out a tight narrative for the entire story arc of a show before putting it to film. Ever since planning out the end, every week has been must-see TV. Can't wait for the season opener on Groundhog's Day to see what effect the nuke had on the mythology and characters.

The Wire (seasons 1-5) - After high recommendations from Shally's brother Sam, my college buddy Danny, and about every TV critic out there, we decided to give this HBO show a shot on DVD, and quickly became hooked into the gritty, raw, personable depiction of life in inner-city Baltimore. One reviewer said, of the series, that "The Wire" is like the "Great Expectations" of the 21st century American city - a story that becomes the quintessential example for future generations. I wouldn't be surprised to see this show being watched in classrooms years from now to discuss sociology, poverty, ethics, politics, and justice.

30 Rock (seasons 1-2) - Sometimes you want something light and humorous to watch, and after exhausting "Simpsons" and "Friends" reruns, we decided to take a chance on this critically acclaimed series and quickly became fans of the sharp writing and memorable characters. Jack Donaghy is awesome. And it doesn't hurt that Liz Lemon is a Star Wars geek ("I will slice you open like a tauntaun!").

Top Movies
Star Trek (theater) - I wouldn't say I'm a JJ Abrams fanboy, but he's certainly had a hand in a lot of quality material that is just entertaining. Next Spielberg? Really enjoyed Sylar as Spock, and the DVD's humor/outtakes video is hilarious.

Up (airplane) - Dug is my favorite supporting character of all the Pixar movies. "Oh boy! A BALL! I will go get it, and then I will bring it back!"

Namesake (DVD) - Starring the guy better known as "Kumar," this was a thought-provoking movie about the story of many of my friends' families - our parents coming over from the mother country (in this case India) to work in the tech industry and create a "better life" for the next generation. Made me want to ask my parents what it was like coming here from Taiwan all those years ago.

Children of Men (DVD) - Good sci-fi movie about a dystopian future where mankind can no longer reproduce.

Top Games

Gears of War 2 - The campaign was more of the same, but what made this memorable in 2009 was the addition of Horde mode - being able to play cooperatively with 3 or 4 friends against ever-increasing numbers of foes made for extremely enjoyable gaming parties, plotting strategies and then executing them.

Modern Warfare 2 - The closest that I'll ever come to starring in a Michael Bay movie. If only it had a Horde or Zombie mode - co-op Spec Ops is pretty good, but not quite as fun as teaming up with a bunch of friends.

Portal - The most inventive game I played this year. Shally often watched and made suggestions on how to defeat the puzzles, until the later levels where constantly-changing gravity made her motion-sick.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy - Shally and I enjoy playing through games together in co-op mode, or in adventure games with good stories and puzzles that we can solve together (with me usually doing the execution of our strategies and all the fighting). We went through both of these on the Wii this year.

Set - Not a video game but a card game, Shally introduced me to it while at the Great Barrier Reef in between snorkeling exhibitions, and it's now an occasional pasttime for us. Basically, it involves looking at 12 cards with varying values in each of 4 categories: number of items, shapes, colors, and fills, and the goal is to get as many "sets" as possible where each category is either all the same, or all different. Very compact game, easy to transport, and we even got my parents into it.

2009 Retrospective: Top Books

I was surprised to look at my book log and see that I read 35 books in 2009. Being married to a librarian definitely has its perks, as I can put things on hold and she can pick them up for me at work. In no particular order...

Non-fiction

"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. My favorite of his major releases, as the studies and insights into what goes into success was actually quite interesting, insightful and also somewhat applicable. For example, his theories about the Asian immigrant work ethic (in short - rice paddies can be worked year-round while traditional crop fields need to be left alone to regain nutrients) kicked off other thoughts about whether this would impact Asian spirituality, and Christianity in particular.

"The Emotionally Healthy Church" by Peter Scazzero. With the drama that our English service went through in 2009, with our longtime English pastor resigning and several members leaving for other churches, my spirit was suffering a little bit. It was very timely to be able to read this book from the lead pastor at New Life Fellowship in Queens to be able to understand how to integrate Christian spirituality with the day-to-day and moment-to-moment human emotions and issues I deal with in work, church, family, and at home.

Fiction

Lots of sci-fi and fantasy this year...

"A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R.R. Martin. I heard about this epic fantasy series from a column by Doc Jensen at the Entertainment Weekly website about "Lost." It took a while to get into, but now I'm hooked into the characters, grim storylines, action, politics/manipulations, and everything else. Even though each book is 1000+ pages, they're hard to put down because the characters are so well fleshed out. Although I think the reputation of Martin as "the American Tolkien" isn't quite accurate, this series was still my favorite find of the year. Waiting for the 4th book to come from the library now.

"Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card. I also re-read Ender's Game this year, and then the companion book about Ender's subordinate but intellectual equal, Bean. I couldn't quite get into the post-Battle School books like "Speaker for the Dead," however.

"Old Man's War" series by John Scalzi. Very neat sci-fi universe where human consciousness can be transferred into a genetically engineered body created with your own DNA, so human armies are composed of old people about to die who enlist and then are given a new lease on life in prime physical health.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Better than the movie, although I wasn't fond of the whole pirate sub-story.

"Allegiance," "Outbound Flight," and "Survivor's Quest" by Timothy Zahn. I read through the most recent three books written by my favorite Star Wars author, and while they weren't as memorable as some earlier work, he never disappoints.

Re-read:

"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien. How could I not re-read the classics after visiting Middle-Earth?

"Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein. Since it's been so long since I read this, my most recent memory of the story came from the so-bad-it's-awesome movie. Re-reading the book reminded me that it is nothing like the movie.

Happy Anniversary to Us

I didn't really know what to expect when we said our vows a year ago today, but marriage has been even better than I expected.

More reflections on marriage and 2009 to come later, but for today - happy anniversary to us.

Milford Track Highlights

Finally, the third week of our trip was a "luxury hike" through Fiordland National Park, with some of the best scenery of my life. "Luxury hike" means that each day, we'd hike around 10 miles to a lodge where we'd have hot showers, delicious meals, and a comfy bed, as opposed to the independent hikers who made do with packing their own ramen, pots, and sleeping gear.

Favorite pics and video:

Waterfalls on every side.

My current desktop.

Fording a creek.

Mountain lilies backdropped by a valley.

Top of MacKinnon Pass - the best view of my life so far.

Mackay Falls.

Waterfalls surrounding our trail. See a video.

Notable foods:
Salmon rillete
Rack of lamb
Chocolate lava cake

All albums:
Day 1 - Glade House
Day 2 - Pomplona Lodge
Day 3 - MacKinnon Pass
Day 4 - Mitre Peak
Day 5 - Milford Sound

New Zealand (non-Milford Track) Highlights

The second week of our vacation was spent in New Zealand, a country that we've both been wanting to visit for a long time. For me, the appeal lies in two primary things:

1) The entire country is described as a huge national park, filled with mountains, rivers, and lakes - my favorite natural setting.

2) It's where they filmed "The Lord of the Rings", some of my favorite movies of all time.

So, we decided to take an LOTR tour in addition to driving around drinking in the scenery, as well as doing a microlight flight and checking out some entertaining venues.

Since the Facebook import of these blogs doesn't correctly import the embedded video, here's a list of favorite links to photos and videos to check out:

If you're a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, check out the album for the tour. I put in links to the screen captures from the movie at each film site we visited.

Video of Abel Tasman National Park from a microlight flight 1000 feet up.

Shally "drinking" from a waterfall near Franz Josef Glacier.

From Wanaka's Puzzling World: Fun with perspective.

Definitely check out this video, giving you an idea of how they used camera tricks in Lord of the Rings to fool the eye into seeing different sizes.

One of my favorite scenic shots. This is what I felt like for most of the trip - very, very small.

Watching people bungee jump at the birthplace of bungee near Queenstown.

The clear waters of Lake Wakatipu.

Scenic shot of the Remarkables mountain range.

Notable food items:
Braised lamb shoulder
Excellent butter and cheese due to happy cows grazing on fresh grass all the time.

All photo albums:
Wellington
Franz Josef Glacier
Wanaka
Arrowtown
Queenstown

Australia Highlights

Sydney

All Sydney pictures - with captions and stories

The best way I could describe Sydney is "a more modern, cleaner, warmer San Francisco." You have the bay/harbor, an iconic bridge, wharf, and a very diverse ethnic makeup. Since they speak English and use the dollar, we did not feel very much culture shock at all - it was a comfortable adjustment.

Links to random highlights and pictures. Since we wrote so much in the captions for the pictures, won't really need to re-write everything here. If you only check out a few pics:

The ferry to Manly Beach and Taronga Zoo is the best and most economical way ($5.50 one way) to get the best view of the skyline.

The Taronga Zoo is an awesome place to check out the diverse and unique Australian wildlife, as well as plenty of other interesting animals from around the globe, backdropped by the gorgeous view of the skyline. In particular, we got a kick out of:

• The firefox
• Kangaroos and wallabies
• Emu - incidentally, the kangaroo and emu are both on the Australian logo
• The free-flight bird show is entertaining with trained owls and other birds flying right above your head to get to the trainer, all with the best view in the background
• Of course, the koala

We were fortunate to be in Sydney at the time of the International Food Festival, similar to San Francisco's "Dine About Town", a month where restaurants have cheaper tasting menus, there are different exhibits about different countries' cuisine, etc. During our 3 days, we experienced the Night Noodle Market in Hyde Park, which was a great atmosphere with locals hanging out with food and wine during great weather.

The beaches in Sydney are world-renowned destinations for surfers, and are great places to just hang out. We went to Manly Beach on the ferry, getting great pictures on the boat and then watched the surfers try to navigate the waves.

Walking through the Botanic Gardens next to the Sydney Opera House is pleasant, feels like many urban parks like Central Park in Manhattan. I like this picture.

Notable foods:

Fish and chips at the famous Doyle's seafood restaurant.

The gozleme (a Turkish quesadilla) from the Night Noodle Market.

We had yogurt mixed with different fruits most days for breakfast. In particular, passionfruit seems more widely available across the Pacific.

The braised pork belly with horseradish mustard at Azuma's izakaya. Definitely one of the top 3 foods we had all vacation.

The tiger pie, a popular hangover food from Harry's Cafe de Wheels - meat pie topped with mashed potatoes, mushy peas, and gravy.

The kangaroo and emu pizza from the Australian Hotel. Kangaroo is really tasty.

Finally, this guy was playing the didgeridoo (traditional aboriginal instrument) accompanied by a techno drum beat - surprisingly cathy:

Final thoughts:

3 days is about right for visiting Sydney. If you're from California, the "international-ness" of the city is not nearly as unique as the guidebooks make it sound. Definitely visit the zoo, the beach, and take a ferry.

Cairns / Great Barrier Reef

All Cairns/Great Barrier Reef pictures

It was kind of neat that on the same trip, we were able to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef and also visit glaciers in New Zealand - two natural formations that are slowly disappearing/dying out due to global warming. We haven't gotten our pictures developed from our underwater camera yet

A few thoughts

After finally getting the hang of snorkeling, I was able to enjoy vistas like this and this. Coral and fish of all different colors, sizes, shapes. I wasn't able to spot a Nemo clownfish (Shally did) but I did see a whole bunch of Dorys. We only saw one turtle from the boat, none from the water.

It was definitely worth spending one night on a boat anchored off the Reef rather than taking a boat out from the city twice in two days for snorkeling - the boat rides out can lead to a considerable amount of seasickness.

Death and resurrection

I'm not somebody that likes big changes.

I've been in the Bay Area for two-thirds of my life. I have yet to voluntarily change jobs (got laid off once). I only had one girlfriend, who is now my wife. Even traveling tends to stress me out at the beginning due to the preparation required and the tying up of loose ends needed.

Lately, God has been impressing upon me this principle: Something has to die before it can be resurrected.

Put another way by a friend: God doesn't pour new wine into old wineskins (Matthew 9:17).

Meditating on these verses lately:

John 12:24 - I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Luke 13:6-9 - Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

" 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

Tomorrow, Shally and I will be on our way to the land down under, the largest natural structure that can be seen from space, and Middle-Earth (aka Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, and the South Island of New Zealand) for three weeks - by my memory, the second longest time I'll have been away from home.

We'll be spending one of the weeks surrounded by scenery like this:



I'm hoping for a good time of rest, reflection, and renewal. When we get back, there are likely more changes in store in our lives, more dying that needs to be done, perhaps some working of the soil, before life can come again.

Will write again upon our return.

Quotes of the Day

Chuck Swindoll 10 Lifetime Leadership Lessons

"2) It’s dangerous to succeed. I’m most concerned for those who aren’t even 30 and are very gifted and successful. Sometimes God uses someone right out of youth, but usually he uses leaders who have been crushed.
6) Brokenness and failure are necessary."

I get the sense that I should be trying and failing more...

Interesting that 20-somethings and early 30-somethings (young, innovative entrepreneurs not tied down to tradition or family) have often been the ones succeeding in different ventures over the last ten years, even in Christendom.

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on men and women

“The key to life is to surround yourself with lots of women,” Oliver said. “Men would just lie to me. Girls say, ‘Give me half an hour and I’ll find out.’ They’re intelligent, more loyal and they make things happen. Everything I do is about team, really. So 90 percent of my team are women.”

Perhaps because men have a tendency to protect their fragile egos by pretending to know things rather than admitting they don't know and then getting things done?

Matt Moore on the Charlotte Bobcats and organizational makeovers

“The Bobcats are a playoff contender, and have been since Larry Brown decided to dump his best player (Jason Richardson) to Phoenix for jack-of-all-trades-master-of-awkward-spacing Boris Diaw and older than dirt Raja Bell. When that trade occurred, there was universal questioning of what in the carolina blue blazes Larry Brown was thinking. You don’t ditch your best player! But Brown understood a resounding principle of rebuilding/makeovers/reconfigurations. Whatever the core pillar is of the function that is not being successful, it is the first thing that must go."

Is this always true? Can a core pillar of one unsuccessful organization ever become a core pillar in a successful one?

Seth Godin on the Hierarchy of Success

"I think it looks like this:

Attitude
Approach
Goals
Strategy
Tactics
Execution

...

Tactics tell you what to execute. They're important, but dwarfed by strategy. Strategy determines which tactics might work.

But what's the point of a strategy if your goals aren't clear, or contradict?

Which leads the first two, the two we almost never hear about.

Approach determines how you look at the project (or your career). Do you read a lot of books? Ask a lot of questions? Use science and testing or go with your hunches? Are you imperious? A lifehacker? When was the last time you admitted an error and made a dramatic course correction? Most everyone has a style, and if you pick the wrong one, then all the strategy, tactics and execution in the world won't work nearly as well.

As far as I'm concerned, the most important of all, the top of the hierarchy is attitude. Why are you doing this at all? What's your bias in dealing with people and problems?"

When hiring, most organizations don't necessarily delve too much into the top two tiers of the hierarchy. I wonder if these can be measured in any way.

Shaun Groves on making celebrities of pastors

"I don’t want the Andies to love some speaker guy’s church so much that they stop loving their own. How many guys have developed ulcers and butchered community by trying to create the church they want to lead out of the church they have been given to lead?"

I guilty of the tendency to "celebritize" well-known leaders as well.

Stability in the storm

In the midst of turbulent times in the third and fourth general priorities in my life (work and church), I'm glad for stability that I can hold onto in trusting in God (#1) and my marriage and family.

Mortifying recent experience: I have often joked about the possibility of my running over the multitudes of toddlers that are just beginning to discover the worlds right in front of my feet. Well, on Sunday at church, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy as I ran smack into a little boy who maybe came up to my knees. Fortunately, I don't think he was able to recognize me (and thus mark me as a target for future vengeance) through the cloud of tears. His mom was very gracious.

Funny recent experience: in practicing worship songs for an upcoming wedding, Mike P commented that in the Hillsongs ballad "None But Jesus", a quiet song about whole-hearted devotion (Lyrics: There is no one else for me / None but Jesus / Crucified to set me free), it was easy to confuse the "for" and "but", leading to:

There is no one else but me
None for Jesus

That has the potential of being as hilariously memorable as the faux pax from a few years ago - "I'm forsaken, because You were forsaken."

With All The Saints

I had the privilege of giving the sermon at my church 3 weeks ago, on July 26. The mp3 is now up and I published my accompanying slides for anyone interested in listening. I appreciate any feedback or criticism:



Here's a reader's digest version of the message, "With All The Saints", based on Ephesians 3:17-21:

Wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone was just like me? Thought, believed, did things like me?

If only my husband or wife would have my point of view, we wouldn't be having this fight.
If only my coworkers knew how important it is to do things my way, we'd be so much more productive.
If only everyone believed in Jesus as their Savior like I do, then we wouldn't have to evangelize.
If only the church leaders would do what I think, we'd be a better church.

Ephesians 3 sheds some light on God's intent for dealing with messy people. As a multicultural church, they had disagreements, fights, and difficulties reconciling where they came from with their new identity in Christ, and how to be the church with other believers who were otherwise nothing like them.

17-21 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

God's goal/purpose: glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations
Our (humanity's) goal/purpose: filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, made like him
Our method: know and grasp all the dimensions of the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge
How do we do that? Together with some of the saints you like. Together with the saints who look like you do, think the way that you do, work as hard as you do, live as morally as you do. No, it says, Together with ALL the saints. All the messy, disagreeable, stubborn, arrogant, unrepentant, first gen, second gen, saints who are still being changed by God from the inside out, some with more of a way to go than others.

We experience the fullness of God's love and glory when we are 1, not 1s.

We need to apply the gospel to ourselves (the depth and height of God's love):
Keller: “The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

We need to apply the gospel to each other (the width and length of God's love):
width = available to all ppl, including those we don't like or want to give grace to - "Reach out to each other. Bear each other's burdens," (Gal 6:2)
length = this was God's plan all along, part of the good works he prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10)

When we do this, the church becomes a hospital for the sick rather than a museum of saints, restoring broken, messy, flawed people to wholeness in Christ - and being part of that process enables us to experience the fullness of God's love and glory.