Advice

Advice. How can you tell what advice is good or bad? How can you tell whether or not to follow someone’s advice or when to just completely ignore it? Is there such a thing as good and bad advice? So many questions, so little answers. This clique is fitting for the topic of advice. Advice is completely subjective. Whether advice is good or bad, it all depends on the perspective of the person receiving the advice. The viewpoints of two people will at most times be very different, making the interpretations of certain situations and events very diverse. So when someone says something to the effect of “I give bad advice”, it is an untrue statement, because no advice is good or bad…it all depends on how people understand and interpret the information. Now as the receiver of advice, what advice do you follow? Should you follow any advice at all? Should you trust your own opinion and ideas? Yes your own ideas and opinions are always the way to go; however someone else’s advice and thoughts should always be taken into account. I am not saying that you have to listen to what everyone has to say about you. All I am saying is that sometimes people understand the situation better than you do, or have more life experience than you do, so that their wisdom and knowledge of life would be a good thing to think about when sorting out the problem in your head. The person giving the advice also makes a huge difference. I always trust the advice of a person that I know I can trust and who I know cares about me. Family will always care about what you are going through and will always try to understand the situation and help you in anyway they can. Finding which friends to listen to is where it becomes more difficult. In order to know which friends are going to care about you and give you their honest and true opinion, you have to know your friends. Think about all the things you have been through with that person and pick out certain qualities or moments where that friend has show that he/she deeply cares and would be willing to help you understand and work out a dilemma/situation. But once again, your opinion comes first. Do what you think is best, not what someone else thinks. Your opinion is the only one that matters. But that does not mean that you shouldn’t listen to the opinions of others. People all have a different way of thinking and interpretation, which can help you find the best solution. The trick is to find the right combination of both.

Cal HOSA SLC 2009

Last weekend I went to Sacramento for California HOSA State Leadership Conference 2009! It was a blast and I have a lot of great memories that I know will stay with me for the rest of my life.

There were 21 of us on the trip (19 students, 2 advisors). We took the Gray Hound bus to and from Sacramento. We left from the San Fernando station at about 11pm. We made several stops on the way there. Kyle and I took every opportunity to play Street Fighter or House of the Dead at every single station arcade (Yes we are really geeky and asian…so what). I discovered that I can fall asleep and still chew gum at the same time! I have no idea how, maybe its just a reflex or something. It took us about 7-8 hours till we got to Sacramento. Once we got to the Grey Hound station in Sacramento, we had to walk 5 blocks to the Hilton hotel with all of our luggage. Now realize that we were there for 4 days! We packed textbooks, video games, food, rice cookers, water boilers, etc. SO needless to say that walking that distance was a pain in the ass.

We final get to the hotel. We are the only school there so far. Some of us go the pool, some of us go the fitness center, and some of us just go into the room and just go and play Super Smash Bros. (Once again, WE ARE REALLY GEEKY WE KNOW!) So then we ordered some pizza. In my room it’s Kyle, Joshua, and myself. Joshua is on his computer, Kyle in doing pushups or something, whatever. And I am sitting on the bed talking, eating some pizza. Then Mr. Urbina (our advisor) walks in our room to check for curfew. He takes a bite of out last slice of pizza and throws it back in the box. We were like WTF!! So we waited for him to leave, then we took the pizza and balanced the slice on the handle of his door. We took pictures and everything; it was pretty funny (at that late at night in a hotel room with nothing to do, everything is funny). SO the three of us are talking and I turned to ask Kyle a question. He answers back and I say something else and there is no response…I look over at him…he fell asleep…in the span of less than 3 seconds. So Josh and I start talking. After about 20 minutes I hear Kyle say something. I yell his name, and he yells “Grapefruit”. Josh and I start laughing and we look at each other and say “Grapefruit?”. Kyle responses “Go get me some grapefruit!”…then he stops moving and is now deeply sleeping. Then there is a knock on the door. I answer it. Mr. Urbina throws the pizza back in our room and runs back into his. SO we put the empty boxes in front of his door…its all good.

The first day of the SLC starts. Its really good. Most of our school picked the Creative Problem Solving event so we all had the first test for that in the morning. Its was all common sense problems so it was relatively simple. We went to grab some food, and we went back to the hotel, which was right across the street from the convention center so it was really convenient. Once we got back to the hotel, we all basically split off into out our groups. There were 3 rooms that had a Wii in them, my room, Mr.Urbina’s room (across the hall), and Neil’s room (at the end of the hall). All of us were running between each room to either talk to someone, or play a different game. We also had opening ceremonies that night so it was a pretty good day.

The next day, I didn’t have any events so I spend the day hanging out with people, and meeting some new people from different schools. I even saw some of my friends that I haven’t seen for a long time that I just happened to run into at this convention. We also saw the scores for Creative Problem Solving posted up. Three of my schools teams made it through to the second round, one didn’t. So we spend that night studying and planning for Creative Problem Solving, as well as our other events.

So this was probably my busiest day of the trip. I had my Sports Medicine exam in the morning, and the second round of Creative Problem Solving was in the afternoon. The sports medicine exam was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were about 25 people taking the exam and I was nervous going into the test. Once I started taking it, I realized that I knew a lot of the answers. There were a total of 50 questions and only 13 people were moving on to the second round. Now the night before, Kyle, Josh and I were discussing our plan for Creative Problem Solving. We decided to just make up a fake prompt just to see if our plans and strategies would work. So my team is Josh, Kyle, Emily and myself. We get into the room and the prompt is almost exactly what the fake one was that we worked on the night before. So we had all of our preparations made and we thought we had it pretty much down. We gave our presentation and we felt good about our performance. We all went back to the hotel and once again started playing Super Smash Bros. And Trauma Center (We were at conference for medical students, what game do you think we’d be playing.) Later I went for a walk and decided to check if the scores were posted for Sports Medicine. I didn’t make the cut for the second round. I went into the headquarters and begged to know what my score was. They told me that I only missed 7 questions out of the 50, and that I tied someone but I missed the tiebreaker question so I didn’t make the cut

The last “real night” we had closing ceremonies and the dance. Some of us had knowledge tests and some second round competitions. The closing ceremonies were good, but extremely long because of all the events and all of the finalists and placements, and awarding. Reseda did very well, almost everyone placed at least 5th place in at least one thing. My group placed 5th in Creative Problem Solving, out of about 20 teams. The dance was really bad. The music was a little too loud and it really wasn’t that fun.

We left the next day. We once again walked to the Grey Hound station. Made the same stops on the way back. It was pretty standard bus ride, nothing really exciting. The trip overall was a great experience. Sure there was some drama and some relationships that changed, but it didn’t ruin the trip. Those changes have yet to be seen as good or bad, however I have a good feeling that those relationships and friendships have grown and changed for the better thanks to this amazing trip.

Trouble in Sports

Why is there so much trouble in sports? Why is it that whenever I turn on the TV to watch sportscenter, some athlete has been doing something illegal? When is it going to stop?

The mind of an athlete is a curious one indeed. They are gifted with some of the greatest talent in the world, they do things that some can’t even imagine doing, and yet they do stupid things. I turn on the TV to check the scores of some basketball games. I watch for literally 3 minutes, I learn 3 things. One, Alex Rodriguez did steroids. Two, Terrell Owens is causeing trouble for the Cowboys. Three, Manny Ramirez wants more money from Dodgers before he signs a new contract. Three of the biggest stars in sports, three people that I greatly respected, being stupid and making bad decisions. Its seems like everyday someone wants a bigger contract, or is getting shot, or shooting someone. It’s getting to the point where the storylines just don’t end. I do not understand why these people do not see what they have and realize that they cant be stupid.

A few weeks ago, I was watching Sportscenter. All the talk was about Terrell Owens, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez. So much of the show was on those three, that stories were somewhat ignored. The same week, Marvin Harrison asked for his release from the Colts. I did not understand why this was not getting coverage. Sure he is on the downside of his career, and he is coming off one of the worst seasons he has ever had, but still he is one of the greatest wide receivers of all time. He has been one of the most unspoken players in the league. He is a big star, an all pro, a first ballot hall of famer, and yet he doesn’t do interviews, press conferences. He doesn’t trash talk or cause trouble; he just goes along being great. And now he is asking for his release, from the only team he has ever been on, and it’s not a big story. That’s what I mean. Sure Terrell Owens, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez are most interesting, but hasn’t Marvin Harrison done enough to be a top story?

Baseball and steroids. The two words are now forever connected. Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clements, and many more have been exposed and/or alleged steroid users. Whose fault is this? The players? The coaches? The owners? The Commissioner? Is it even possible to put the blame on one group? I think that it is a combination of all of them. The players are always going to look for a competitive edge. The players want to be the best of the best, and if certain steroids or types of HGH aren’t “banned” then I don’t blame them for taking them, I would do the same. If the coaches knew that this was going on then they should have confronted the players about it, and not pretend it didn’t happen. The coaches should have spoken up then, not years later when information starts to surface.

That is another issue. I wish that athletes would step up and admit that they did something wrong. Not admitting you mistake, but instead denying it, makes it a million times worse when you are caught. The only person, whom I can think of, that went above and beyond to prove they were innocent was Bo Jackson. Bo Jackson was a great NFL running back, as well as a great MLB outfielder. When people questioned whether Bo Jackson did steroids, Jackson sued the man and took him to court. The man then retracted his comments, and the charges were dropped. Actions like that show that this is something that athletes find offensive, and if someone really is innocent, then they should stand up and take some action to stop the rumors. And if actions like that are not taken then I would say that it would be safe to assume that the person is guilty.

The media also must stop provoke the athletes. The media always takes statements, twists them around and makes a story out of it. I know that it is their job to find stories, but they do not need to make stories. Terrell Owens is very emotional; he speaks his mind and lets people know what he thinks. The media does not need to make Owens look like the bad guy. There is no reason why the media needs to provoke teams and athletes into doing something.

What’s going to happen in 10 years? Are all sports athletes going to join Michael Vick and Adam “Pacman” Jones in jail? Are children not going to have heroes and idols to look up to? Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Shaq, aren’t going to be around forever. The young athletes must change the landscape, and set a good example for the children that will model themselves after the sports heroes of tomorrow. And hopefully they will grow up to make this world a better place all together.

Anime in America and Japan

WARNING!! ALL THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ARE MY OPINION. NOT FACT!!!! I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ANIMES AND MANGAS MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWING PIECE!! COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS ACCEPTED!

Anime has become extremely popular in America. The Japanese “cartoons” have invaded the pop culture of American society. Now why is it that some anime that are extremely successful in Japan, are not popular in America?

American audiences are geared more toward shows that are not heavily story based, and have serval different forms of action. Shows such as Bleach, Naruto, Dragonball Z, One Piece, etc have captured American children unlike any other anime. These types of shows tend to last for a vast amount of time, and they typically do not have a “deep” storyline. For example, the first installment of the Naruto franchise lasted for 220 episodes, Bleach is on episode 208 and counting (only 131 aired in America so far), and One Piece has 400+ episodes! The story of Naruto was basic and at some times predictable. Naruto featured many memorable action sequences, and brilliantly creative, likeable, fun characters. The same goes for Bleach, Dragonball Z, One Piece, etc. These characters drive these types of shows, more so than other types of anime. The viewer tunes in week to week not mainly because they care about the story, but rather because they want to see their favorite characters.

On the other hand, Japanese audiences have a wider range. Of course Naruto, Bleach, etc. are still enormously popular. These shows build up their huge fan base with their borderline ridiculously long life span. However the shows that make the biggest impact year by year are shows such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Code Geass, etc. These shows tend to be anywhere from 12 episodes long to 25 episodes. The characters in these shows are more realistic and deeper. These characters have flaws more so than Naruto(Naruto) and Ichigo(Bleach). The flaws are not small things like a weakness for sweets or pretty girls, no these flaws are things such as an overwhelming desire for power, a mental disorder, or social deficiency. The characters are most like the everyday person that is suddenly changed or affected by a chain of events, instead of just living in a “magical” or different world, such as Naruto and One Piece. The stories are also a lot deeper and tend to have a darker tone. Naruto is hardly ever dark or sad, while a shows like Welcome to the NHK and Chaos Head are hardly ever happy or upbeat. There are also many popular shows that do not feature action sequences at all, and the entire show is driven by story and character. Key is a game company that specializes in making “interactive anime”. Key has become famous for making games that have outstanding stories, characters, and dialogue. There have currently been 3 anime, based off of Key games (Air, Kanon, and Clannad). All 3 shows are amazing examples of the fact that action is not necessary to keep an audience captivated and interested. Each storyline is driven by dialogue and “real life” situations that are only strengthened by the extremely thoughtful characters.

However there are always exceptions. Death Note was one show in recent memory that was greatly popular in both America and Japan. The show lasted 37 episodes, which is longer than the usual length, but it’s not ridiculous like 100. There were action sequences but they did not drive the story. The intense and dark tone throughout the entire show was something somewhat uncommon in anime popular in America. The characters were deep and had motives that were not always clear. The viewer never knew what was going to happen next and it was almost impossible to even guess, because there were so many twists and turns that people would just give up after being wrong about 7 times in the first 5 episodes. (Note that that applies to people who have either never read the manga or read the manga after watching the show.) Is Death Note (and in some ways Cowboy Bebop) just some incredibly amazing that they just rise to the top in both America and Japan? Or is there something that these shows do that help popularity in both?

In my opinion there is no “secret formula” for success in America. Some reasons do not necessarily even have to do with the show itself. In Japan, everyone watches anime. Everyone reads manga. However in America, mostly kids and young adults watch anime and read manga, and it is rare that there is someone over the age of 30 that does. This shortens the target range of the audience, which makes it so many great animes do not even make it to the United States. Also time slots have a huge effect on what show becomes popular. In the 90’s, anime had primetime slots on Cartoon Network. Toonami had shows like Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Yu Yu Hakusho in primetime, which is why these shows became all the rage. This “family friendly” viewing list evolved to become Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, etc. More “adult”/”young adult” shows were pushed back to late night; shows like Inuyasha and now Death Note. These shows were not viewed by the largest part of the American anime audience, so that although they did gain some recognition, they were not as popular as the primetime shows.

Some shows have invaded American culture just as much as it has Japanese culture. Sure franchises have beome extremely popular, only to die out with the new breed, like how Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon were, only to be replaced by Naruto and Bleach. But then there are shows that withstand the test of time and keep grabbing in new fans with every generation, while still maintaining its original fanbase. I call these the mega franchises. These are the shows like Pokemon, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh. Sure people grow up and are not as interested as before, but no anime fan can deny that they have to stop and watch an episode of Pokemon if they see it on TV. These shows bring out the little kid in everyone, whether it is a 16-year-old high school student or a 24-year-old college gradate. Pokemon has forever invaded American and Japanese culture will continue this tend for a long time to come.

Then you have shows like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Haruhi is extremely popular in both America and Japan, although it is only 14 episodes. Haruhi is just one of the many quirky, “weird”, and strangely fun shows that the Japanese audience loves so much. More examples are shows like Kyoran Kazoku Nikki, Toradora, Kannagi, Kemeko DX, Lucky Star, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Ouran High School Host Club. Some shows become fairly popular, and some don’t even make it to the U.S. So what makes The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya different? Is it the Hare Hare Yukai and the para para craze that it started? Is it the unique story and characters? Maybe but the main thing is that this show is still considered to be “underground”. It has gained a lot of praise in America, even though it has never been showed on TV. Why? Downloads!!

The Internet has become the most important resource for the American anime fan. Downloading and uploading the latest episodes has become part of most anime fans’ daily lives. Fansubbers are in high demand in order to keep up with the rising amount of people trying to download these shows. Now is this a good thing or a bad thing for the anime industry? I believe that it is a little bit of both. Sure anime companies are losing tons of money on DVD, CD, and manga sales. However they are making up this money with the high demand of anime goods. Plushes, PVCs, t-shirts, cosplay, etc. are all being helped by the internet; not only because of the easy access to them, but because of the fact that it widens the amount of anime that people watch. Before the “downloading era”, most Americans only see the 7 or 8 shows that are shown on TV, but now American anime fans have a nearly unlimited amount of shows to choose from. Also it helps the American and Japanese fans bond and become closer related because they are watching the same shows at basically the same time, so that American audiences can now go into a forum and discuss the latest shows with Japanese fans.

So what have we covered today? American anime fans like a fairly shallow storyline and lots of action. Japanese anime fans enjoy story and characters. (However there are some exceptions to both statements.) Japanese audiences are a lot larger than the American audience. Time slots and target audiences have a huge affect on what is popular in America. There are franchises that do well but fade over time, and there are mega franchises that rule forever. A show does necessary have to be long to cause a sensation. Japanese people love fun, original shows, while Americans don’t necessarily do. And downloads and fansubbers are both good and bad for the anime industry. I think that’s about it for now. Thanks for reading.

Im Back!

What up!! Ok well the old server that my blog was on got deleted so I lost just about everything. I did have some backups of old entrys so I'll be uploading those one by one. Hopefully I'll be writing more and more and get this thing back up and running. Thanks For Reading Chris Okamura