>>> the attic

and this is why we go to school

2005-11-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

i borrowed this tidbit from my friend marlon who posted it in his blog... mr ginott definitely has a point here

Dear Teacher,

I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness: gas chambers built by learned engineers; children poisoned by educated physicians; infants killed by trained nurses; women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So I am suspicious of education.
My request is: help your students become more human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.
Reading, writng and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane.
~~Haim Ginott in "Teacher and Child"

a 233-page book sans verbs?

2005-08-07T05:05:00.000-07:00

michel thaler, a french author, has claimed to have written the first ever novel without any verb at all. even in french, the language in which the novel was written, the concept of even a sentence with no verbs seems like something exhaustingly boring or senseless. le train de nulle part (published last year) is something i'll be waiting for.

below is an exerpt from the book, translated into english:

"lengthy passages filled with florid adjectives in a series of vitriolic portraits of dislikable passengers on a train."

my fave song for the tag-ulan

2005-07-24T01:53:00.000-07:00

it's actually a japanese attempt at reggae, and i must admit: it's pretty cool, and the message is nice. anyway, for those who are interested, here are the lyrics (note that your browser must have a japanese font installed [at least MS Mincho] in order to read this).

ハイビスカス (haibisukasu -- D-51)

空の下　恋をして　走り出す　君の家までハイビスカスの花が　赤く燃える
急なクラクション　僕を外へと誘ってる　友達の車の中初めて見る君に　サングラスの奥の　僕の目は泳いでた
人数が足りなくて　呼ばれただけでも　神様に感謝しよう

太陽の下　名前さえ　わからずに　胸が躍るよ君は夏の女神さ空の下　恋をして　始まった　僕だけの夏ハイビスカスの花が　風に揺れる

ずっとこんな暑い季節は部屋の中　ダラダラ過ごしてた冷えた缶ジュースと流行の映画さえ　あれば満足してた
でも君と出会った日からは　こうしちゃいられない気がしたよ

太陽の下　どうしても　会いたくて　部屋飛び出した暑く眩しい夏へ空の下　恋をして　走り出す　君の家までハイビスカスの花が　赤く燃える

どこにでもいるよなふつうの男　人一倍まじめで趣味はパソコン恋をしたあの娘に気持ち伝えるため　走り出せ　愛しいひとの家まで真っ黒けになっていくよ　お肌ヒリヒリあの娘へと焦がれてく　心日に日にハイビスカスの花言葉　新しい恋に向かってゆけ見事にあの娘の心へと　花火打ち上げにゆけ

太陽の下　どうしても　会いたくて　部屋飛び出した暑く眩しい夏へ空の下　恋をして　走り出す　君の家までハイビスカスの花が　赤く燃えて彩ったこの夏よ　終わらないで　もっと僕の胸　熱くさせて君の笑顔　会いたくて　会いたくて　息切らし走るハイビスカスの花が　恋に揺れる

romaji lyrics

pleace teache me inglishi

2005-06-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

please teach me english is a movie i recommend to those who want to understand a bit more why koreans are almost (excuse the term) desperate to learn english.

the experiences i've had helping them in particular learn english has been definitely rewarding, you know. i thought that they were... different. i don't know why.... it might be xenophobia. it's opened my mind - i can't exactly explain how - and has given volume to what i define as friendship.

anyways, the movie is sure as heck wacky but not overly done. there's a lot of graphical modifications to give the movie some humoristic spice, and you could tell that director kim sung soo spend quite a lot of money in the production. most of the situations are identifiable, although there are a couple of scenes that don't really happen that often in real life, i.e. those romantic cliché scenes; but in my opinion the movie eventually becomes so fun that you won't even care. it helps describe the korean's obession with english (although with a shade of korean patriotism), more out of what many define as a "necessity", but the movie has romance infused into it as well, so.... a lot of laughs await this movie's viewers so beware.

duration: 1 hr 50 min
language: english and korean (with subtitles)

fun facts

2005-02-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

kulit nito, really

1. Look at your zipper. See the initials
YKK? It
stands for Yoshida
Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's
largest zipper
manufacturer.

2. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh
champagne
will bounce up and
down continuously from the bottom of the
glass to
the top.

3. A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one
knows why.

4. 40 percent of McDonald's profits come
from the
sales of Happy Meals.

5. 315 entries in Webster's 1996
Dictionary were
misspelled.

6. On the average, 12 newborns will be
given to
the wrong parents daily.

8. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

9. Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as a
medicine.

10. Leonardo da Vinci could write with
one hand
and draw with the
other at the same time.

11. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars
given out
during World War II
were made of wood.

12. There are no clocks in Las Vegas
gambling casinos.

13. Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors.
Also, it
took him 10 years to
paint Mona Lisa's lips.

14. Bruce Lee was so fast that they
actually had
to slow a film down
so you could see his moves.That's the
opposite of
the norm.

15. The original name for the butterfly
was
"flutterby"!

16. By raising your legs slowly and lying
on your
back, you can't sink
in quicksand.

17. Mosquito repellents don't repel. They
hide
you. The spray blocks
the mosquito's sensors so they don't know
you're
there.

18. Dentists recommend that a toothbrush
be kept
at least six feet
away from a toilet to avoid airborne
particles
resulting from the
flush.

19. The first produ ct to have a bar code
was
Wrigley's gum.

20. The first owner of the Marlboro
company died
of lung cancer.

21. Michael Jordan makes more money
from Nike
annually than all of the
Nike factory workers in Malaysia
combined.

22. Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one
foot.

24. The three most valuable brand
names on earth:
Marlboro, Coca-Cola,
and Budweiser, in that order.

25. "Stewardesses" is the longest word
that can be
typed with only the
left hand.

26. To escape the grip of a crocodile's
jaws,
prick your fingers into
its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.

27. A mathematical wonder:
111,111,111multiplied
by 111,111,111 gives
the result 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321.

28. The most common name in the world
is Mohammed.

29. The average person falls asleep in
seven minutes.

30. The "pound" (#) key on your keyboard
is called
an octothorp.

31. The only domestic animal not
mentioned in the
Bible is the cat.

32. Rubber bands last longer when
refrigerated.

33. The average person's left hand does
56% of the
typing.

34. "Dreamt" is the only word in the
English
language that ends in "mt".

35. It's impossible to sneeze with your
eyes open.

36. In Chinese, the KFC slogan "finger
lickin'
good" comes out as "eat
your fingers off".

37. A cockroach can live for 10 days
without a head.

38. European women didn't wear
underwear until the
1900's.

39. We shed 40 pounds of skin a lifetime.

40. Yo-Yos were once used as weapons
in the
Philippines.

42. Mexico City sinks abut 10 inches a
year.

43. Brains are more active sleeping than
watching TV.

44. Blue is the favorite color of 80
percent of
Americans.

45. When a person shakes their head
from side to
side, he is
saying"yes" in Sri Lanka.

46. There are more chickens than people
in the world.

48. The thumbnail grows the slowest, and
the
middle nail grows the fastest.

49. The only word in the English
Language with all
vowels in reverse
order is "subcontinental".

50. There are more telephones than
people in
Washington, D.C

lines from tolkien's lord of the rings

2005-02-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

"fruitless did i call the victory of the last alliance? not wholly so, yet it did not achieve its end. sauron was diminished but not destroyed. his ring was lost, but not unmade. the dark tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed." > elrond
"it's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish." > sam gamgee
"few can see whither the road will lead them, till they come to its end." > legolas
"the wise speak only of what they know." > gandalf
"but oft the unbidden guest proves the best company." > eomer
"do not then stumble at the end of the road." > gandalf
"faithful heart may have forward tongue." > theoden
"but i do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, not the warrior for his glory. i love only that which they defend." > faramir
"don't take names to yourself.... it's unwise, whether they are true or false." > frodo
"do not spoil wonder with haste." > legolas
"the hasty stroke goes oft astray." > aragorn
"[what do i fear?] a cage. to stay behind bars until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire." > eowyn
"the mightiest man may be slain by one arrow." > peregrin took
"wonder makes the words of praise louder." > gandalf
"oft evil will shall evil mar." > theoden
"to crooked eyes truth may wear a wry face." > gandalf

quotable quotes, maxims, etc...

2005-02-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

"God will not do for man what man must do for himself." > the odyssey
"i may not agree with a word you say, but i'll defend to death your right to say
it." > voltaire
"you never prepare for a moment that changes your life." > simon birch
"it's not just positive thinking but positive
tinkering." > francis kong
"ang kamangmanga'y kaalipinan..." > jose rizal
"time has come that culture shall no longer change us,
for we will change culture; the world shall not define us, for we shall define
the world." > nick ng

"the secret of success is not HAVE -> DO -> BE;
rather it's BE -> DO -> HAVE." > ellis

"the best way out is through" > robert frost
"if necessity is the mother of [innovation], then persistence is certainly the father." > kong
"the structure is determined by the purpose." > christopher lao
"with great freedom comes great responsibility." > spiderman
"when was the last time you did something for the first time?" > zoilo anat
"lies don't only argue against the truth; they also argue among themselves." > raul roco
"the beginning of wisdom is the acknowledgement of ignorance." > socrates
"fortune favors the bold." > virgil
"a good end is better than a good start." > ankney
"getting angry is easy; but getting angry at the right person, at the right time, for the right reason -- that is difficult." > odysseus
"while they must play, they must work." > charles morris, on what athletes and musicians have in common
"fight a man using not the mind, but the heart." > costales

she will be loved - maroon5

2004-08-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

i love this song grabeh... my favorite line is in bold...

Lyrics:

Beauty queen of only eighteen
She had some trouble with herself
He was always there to help her
She always belonged to someone else
I drove for miles and miles
And wound up at your door
I've had you so many times but somehow
I want more

Chorus:

I don't mind spending everyday
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved
She will be loved

Tap on my window knock on my door
I want to make you feel beautiful
I know I tend to get insecure
It doesn't matter anymore
It's not always rainbows and butterflies
It's compromise that moves us along
My heart is full and my door's always open
You can come anytime you want

Chorus:

I don't mind spending everyday
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved
She will be loved

(...tried so hard to say goodbye)