i’ve been blogging about my friend’s work, making films to combat human trafficking. he left this week to do a short piece in bankok. There is no fiction
that will truly fit the situation. he’ll be documenting every detail, every conversation he has access to too.

last month he wrote me this:

“Human trafficking – it’s something you’ve probably heard or read about. This practice affects millions worldwide and is, unfortunately, thriving.

The reality of it: a fifteen-year-old responding to a job offer to work at a restaurant in Bangkok instead trafficked to Malaysia and forced into prostitution. A ten-year-old in New Delhi made to beg for money from morning till night and given only one meal a day. Two Indonesian women hired by Long Island residents to be housekeepers subjected to beatings and confinement.*

It’s atrocities like these that lead my friend Troy to form Speak Up, a non-profit dedicated to fighting these injustices and to providing opportunities for those who are vulnerable. It’s a relatively new organization, and I’ve had the chance to watch it grow and gain in momentum.

Speak Up has invited me to travel as part of a small team to Bangkok, Thailand in April. I’ll be filming and creating videos to help promote their ongoing efforts, and I also hope to make a short documentary about Speak Up’s work and capture a bit of life in Bangkok.

My trip will last 10 days, and I’ll need your prayers and encouragement.”

if you are the praying type, please lift these up in your hearts:

- protection for our group
- recovery from being under the weather so I can be 100% for this trip
- productive time for my friend Troy as he meets with government officials and contacts to set up programs
- that our electronic equipment (laptops, camera) would function properly and wouldn’t get stolen!
- sensitivity to God and what he wants to accomplish

if you are the giving type, please check out:

speak up for the poor

and on facebook…..here.

more updates and pauses to come…..

my friend jon moy tagged me on this…but i was unsure of the rules except what was in the title. he wanted to do a version of the random 25 that was not as pretentious. in my continuing efforts to descend the ivory tower that seems to be my lot in life, i did this too. i promised to periodically post videos of the songs i picked as a public service to people who want to hear the soundtrack in my head. today’s track by the stones:

these are songs that i chose for a mix of reasons….some define me…some played crucial roles at turning points in my life…some continue to shape me….some i can listen to over and over…some i would jump to hear live…and many if not most, encompass all these reasons.

here’s the complete list:

U2 bad
U2 all I want is you
U2 stay
Radiohead let down
Rolling stones under my thumb
Beatles in my life
Arcade fire wake up
Killers all these things that I’ve done
Stone temple pilots plush
Frank Sinatra new york, new york

here we are….enjoying our first look at the new stadium! we are of course freezing in our winter jackets in the bleachers. its still too cold for a baseball game despite it being spring…even after two-three weeks in! we’ve had a weird, cold season in nyc. maybe its to accommodate the visiting cubs for the exhibition series.

because of a pre-sale, i was able to scoop up .25 cents tickets. no typo! 50 cents for the two of us to get into the throwback games. i should have splurged and gone for the dollar seats!!! i think the uber-rich seats were still uber pricey.

being an exhibition game, we spent most of our time exploring the park and the new cuisine. here are some of the things we got….including garlic fries…it had its own section/booth! get the large…that’s what we did. the small is tiny!!!!

up next is the steak sandwich….it is much better than this picture shows. it was cooked medium…its an inch thick….and pretty tasty. in fact, they’ve jacked the price from $10 to $15 since this game. there is also a carved beef sandwich which i’ll detail during opening day reporting.

finally, frickles! fried pickles from jimmy’s bbq. yummy fried goodness/badness.

overall, i think citi field has more brand name chef-ing. but the premium food offerings at yankee stadium are still pretty appealing. redefining expectations for ballpark food.

and this is crazy impressive….these premium meats are used at the real steakhouse in the stadium as well as in some of the high end beef offerings throughout the park. meats are also available for take home grilling and cooking in the great hall.

the game was a laugher but it was only preseason…so the score was not important….more important were the little touches around the park…a little bit of old and a little bit of new. the scoreboards on the field are actually part manual with old fashioned paneled numbers and a guy(or two)putting them up everytime something happens. but there are also the state of the art high definition displays throughout. i’ve seen them use it for multiple purposes. including keeping score.

all in all, we had a great time exploring and discovering. looking forward to finding new things in our future visits to our new baseball home!

as you know, our irish friends will hit the road soon….first in europe and then in the fall, the states. our small network of friends have been quietly accumulating tickets. evaluating what we can and cannot do. we may have some extras depending on circumstances so if there’s a city you’re interested, be sure to ask. because of ticket limits, we have not been able to help all our friends…..but a lot of them!

but what about baby?

godmother #2 got these for baby tsang. baby mamma tsang got this idea from gwenyth paltrow and baby apple martin in the pit at live 8. these noise cancelling headphones are designed for jetsetting, world trekking, music loving parents, their kids and the kids’ sense of hearing.

we also found out that parents with ga tickets who brought kids with them to u2′s shows regularly got into the pit!

the green is of course, gm2′s idea.

however, our baby will likely be too young at the start of the american leg. she’ll have to wait til the next go around to use these. if we bring a 3 month old to a show…no one will enjoy the show! people around us will be angry!! maybe for arcade fire or austin city limits or something else in the future.

luckily, we have an extensive network of family and friends who will help when we go country hopping including theresa’s grandma who is moving in with us! we go from 2 to a family of 4 in a few months! my parents, theresa’s parents, aunts and uncles in maryland, california and nyc are all eager to get a share of the baby sitting duties! but we’ll see how it goes…..

to be continued…..

the predecessor to the jon stewarts and the stephen colberts of the world…the one who is the missing link between the fake news of snl and the fake news phenomenon of today(see dl hughley with his show on cnn…cnn!)is craig kilborn. the former sportscenter anchor turned faux headlines anchor turned(now)actor and behind the scenes producer used to have a daily moment of zen on his show. the kids would call it a wtf??? its a crazy, unbelievable, can’t make this up scene that leaves you speechless…and in wonder. i won’t(can’t)do this daily but will post whenever i see something….wow?

here’s your moment of zen:

duh!journal scours the earth for dumb behavior….some low brow…some high minded…all duh!

and once again….peta….delivers!

PETA to Pet Shop Boys: Rescue Shelter Boys, perhaps?

LONDON, England (CNN) — Just because they named their new CD “Yes,” does not mean that British electro-pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys, will agree to just about anything.

The band has turned down a request from an animal rights group to rename itself the Rescue Shelter Boys.

The organization, the People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA), sent a letter to Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe acknowledging that its request, at first blush, might appear “bizarre.”

But, by changing its name, the band could raise awareness at every tour stop of the “cramped, filthy conditions” that breeders keep animals in before selling them to pet stores, PETA said in its letter.

The duo, which has performed under its current name for more than 20 years, reproduced PETA’s written request in full on its Web site.

The musicians said they were “unable to agree” to the request “but nonetheless think (it) raises an issue worth thinking about.”

The animal rights group said it was pleased the Pet Shop Boys had drawn attention to the issue by posting its letter so prominently on the band’s site. Talking about its campaign on a blog entry, a PETA staffer wrote:

“I think I may have to stick “West End Girls” on my iPod right now to celebrate.”

“West End Girls” is one of the many hits the group has had in its long career.

PETA is no stranger to oddball campaigns. A recent one was aimed to re-christen fish as “sea kittens” because “who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?”

*************

pretty soon, this will just be called from the pages of PETA

so i asked our friend leo chen one day, if his name is short for anything or is it just leo? he said….just leo. it got me thinking where that name came from. then we just started making up origins of the name. and started calling him permutations of leo.

so for one year, i’ll present one a week until we’ve exhausted the possibilities. we are now into our fifth month. i currently do not have 52 versions but only enough to get started. you can help if you’d like.

this week…..i will call my friend leo, leona helmsley. a new york socialite. a dead ny socialite.

in the past, i’ve called my friend leo so far:leonardo and leopold, for christmas, noel, leotard, leopatra, leoben(for bsg), leometro, bibliotecha, fileo fish, leodis, leodore, leonazi, leopard, diosleos!, le occitane, speleology, leo and behold.

when people come into the city, we are always surprised by where they want to visit or to go eat. they are equally surprised that we do not frequent those places or want to go eat there. no. i do not want to eat at ruby tuesdays , bennigans or tgifridays in times square. then they ask where we go……so here are the places we like…not the best or the cheapest or whatever category….just where we go and go on a regular basis…

there are a lot of prententious places in the city along with their pretentious prices…even for a simple bowl of noodles. not here. tucked away, just around the corner from the places we do not want to eat at is a place we eat at all the time. a no nonsense, cheap for manhattan always delivers for the common man ramen place is sapporo. this place feels like a noodle diner. not a first date place but maybe a i’ve been married and feel comfortable with you and appreciate a night off from cooking place. very filling and satisfying….like eating at someone’s home.

i like the meaty noodles. theresa likes the summer noodles but settles for this in the winter. my mom got the seafood noodle.  both were the biggest bowls. you can get extra ingredients/add ons if you like.

here are some other variations…..great for a winter meal….or for this spring that we’re getting right now. “spring”. glad that my boy calvin turned me on this place.

periodically, i stop and rest. and give pause. rest, reflection and refreshment.

sometimes there is something bigger than me that forces me to stop. 2 things this week:

i’ve been reflecting on the upcoming birth of my baby girl….in my faith, we give thanksgiving offerings as a sign of gratitude for such a gift. such a grace. i’ve decided to give to speak up, an international human rights organization committed to the eradication of modern slavery and human trafficking. this is a gift for a better world for my girl…and a lot of other baby girls.

once again, here is the video for speak up:

Speak Up has asked my friend jonathan wu to film and create videos to help promote their ongoing efforts. he also hopes to make a short documentary about Speak Up’s work and capture a bit of life in Bangkok. his trip will last 10 days, and he’s seeking financial support. If you’re inclined to give, his goal is to raise $1,500 to cover travel, housing and equipment costs. There are two ways you can donate:

1) Send a check payable to SPEAK UP by April 14th to:

Speak Up
PO Box 5595
Pasadena, CA 91117
(write Jonathan Wu in the memo section)

2) If you’re on Facebook, go to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/252674 and donate through
Speak Up’s Causes page. Again, by April 14th if possible.

Speak Up is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, making your donation tax-deductible. Please send me an email and let me know if you’ve donated, as this will help keep track of the amount being raised. also, i am interested in matching your donation to double your giving power. please touch bases with me on that.

second……

holy week draws to a close as easter is here….the highest holy days in the christian faith when we focus on the last week of jesus’ life before his death and resurrection. we start off with his jubilant entry into jerusalem, celebrate with the last supper and communion before we descend into his betrayal, trial, torture, crucifixion and death. usually, stories that end in death….end. but the story was not over yet. this was only friday…..sunday is here.

for the past week, I posted a video a day to retell the story. these videos were made by leo chen, a bsg fan, videographer and movie maker in my church….of leo-graphy, my friend leo fame.

here are the outakes….laughter and joy that embraces the new life of the day!:

periodically, i stop and rest. and give pause. rest, reflection and refreshment.

sometimes there is something bigger than me that forces me to stop. 2 things this week:

i’ve been reflecting on the upcoming birth of my baby girl….in my faith, we give thanksgiving offerings as a sign of gratitude for such a gift. such a grace. i’ve decided to give to speak up, an international human rights organization committed to the eradication of modern slavery and human trafficking. this is a gift for a better world for my girl…and a lot of other baby girls.

Speak Up has asked my friend jonathan wu to film and create videos to help promote their ongoing efforts. he also hopes to make a short documentary about Speak Up’s work and capture a bit of life in Bangkok. his trip will last 10 days, and he’s seeking financial support. If you’re inclined to give, his goal is to raise $1,500 to cover travel, housing and equipment costs. There are two ways you can donate:

1) Send a check payable to SPEAK UP by April 14th to:

Speak Up
PO Box 5595
Pasadena, CA 91117
(write Jonathan Wu in the memo section)

2) If you’re on Facebook, go to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/252674 and donate through
Speak Up’s Causes page. Again, by April 14th if possible.

Speak Up is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, making your donation tax-deductible. Please send me an email and let me know if you’ve donated, as this will help keep track of the amount being raised. also, i am interested in matching your donation to double your giving power. please touch bases with me on that.

second……

holy week draws to a close as easter morn dawns….the highest holy days in the christian faith when we focus on the last week of jesus’ life before his death and resurrection. we start off with his jubilant entry into jerusalem, celebrate with the last supper and communion before we descend into his betrayal, trial, torture, crucifixion and death. usually, stories that end in death….end. but the story was not over yet. this was only friday…..sunday is here.

for the past week, I posted a video a day to retell the story. these videos were made by leo chen, a bsg fan, videographer and movie maker in my church….of leo-graphy, my friend leo fame.