Hosive

from newsarama:

The final fate of the survivors of the 12 Colonies is a little bit closer. According to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, the final ten episodes of Battlestar Galactica will begin airing on Sci Fi on January 16th at 10pm, which, if the episodes are being shown weekly, will put the series final on March 20th. Timing and scheduling, of course, is a little unclear, as Executive Producer Ron Moore has said that the final 10 episodes will run 11 hours in length – or longer, with the series finale running three or more hours. According to the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan, there will be websiodes in the lead-up to the final episodes.

What to do until then? Last week, NBC/Universal confirmed that Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0 will be released on DVD January 6th, 2009.

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and while no dates for u2 are set…we are getting close. u2 had a party near our favorite half moon bay joint, duartes. u2 and the tsangs love the same areas!!!

according to atu2.com:

According to our staff in the San Francisco area, there was a party for U2’s new album Thursday night in Half Moon Bay, California. One of our staffers was told earlier today that U2 would be at Sam’s Chowder House, a highly-rated restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean, for an event tonight. On arriving at the restaurant, security wouldn’t allow our staffer inside. A restaurant employee, though, later told our staffer that there was a party for U2’s new album going on inside. Meanwhile, another staffer called the restaurant and heard loud, U2-sounding music being played in the background while being told there was a private event happening tonight. What we’re not sure of is how many (if any) of the band were in attendance. More to come if we learn anything new….

Update: Bono and Edge were at the party last night, which was hosted by Elevation Partners, and might have doubled as the company’s annual meeting (which has happened in October in past years). @U2 reader Roman G., who also writes for the Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune spoke to the restaurant owner, who said, “It was fascinating. It was wild.” Now you know!

Update #2: This article from the Half Moon Bay Review has pictures of Bono and Edge with the restaurant staff, and extra details … including news that Bono and Edge played a couple new songs.

our boy at the clinton global initiative in new york city this week:

Bono commenting on the current financial crisis facing the United States:
“I am not qualified to comment on what has happened in the last week where this city has changed shape, certainly psychologically, and in terms of some people’s wallets. And I’m not qualified to comment on the interventions that have been put forth. I presume these people know what they’re doing. But it is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable, treatable disease and hunger.”

i had a much longer u2hosiveography about 9/11 brewing to close the week…but it was just too hard to finish. so rather than put out a limp product, i’ll conclude this year by giving a preview for next year. or whenever my heart can put the pieces together. its still that hard to process the times, 7 years later.

u2 wrote the ultra prophetic song ‘please’ in 1997…about political and religious fanatics. they played in on tour to support pop in 97 to modest applause. the song was out of phase. but on 9/11, it came into its time and u2 brought an acoustic version for its post 9/11 elevation tour in the us.

a sample of the lyrics:

September, streets capsizing
Spilling over, down the drain
Shards of glass, splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain
October, talk getting nowhere
November, December
Remember, are we just starting again

Please, please, please
Get up off your knees
Please, please, please
Please
So love is big, it’s bigger than us
But love is not what you’re thinking of
It’s what lovers deal, it’s what lovers steal
You know I found it hard to recieve
‘Cause you, my love, I could never believe

starting soon! as nykr’s reflect on the city and 9/11 this week, a wide range of nyc posts raining down on you soon. back to the regular programming…

duh! journal scours the world for stupid(and overtly obvious)news! we found a diverse three course meal for all!

this is from gampepro.com: seems that this is news to microsoft!

‘Xbox vice president Don Mattrick acknowledged that regaining first place from Nintendo is unlikely, but he’s confident in a second place finish over Sony.

Microsoft will do everything within its power to beat arch rival Sony in this generation’s console war — even if it’s for second place.

In an interview with Business Week published on Wednesday, Xbox vice president Don Mattrick admitted the 360 probably won’t catch Wii, but he still believes his company will outsell the PlayStation 3.

“I’m not at a point where I can say we’re going to beat Nintendo,” he said, before predicting, “We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony.”

Microsoft has sold an estimated 20 million Xbox 360 units worldwide since November 2005. By contrast, Nintendo has sold 32 million Wiis in half the time, while Sony has sold 15 million PS3s during the same period.’

really? nintendo is going to win? microsoft even declared themselves the winners of this competition at one point! what they meant was that they were ahead. a year ahead as the 360 was released a full 365 before the wii. its like declaring yourself the winner way before the finish line. but now, microsoft is willing to mouth what everyone already knew….the wii is a hit! it is the winner of this round of console wars!

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this is why so many (yankee)fans hate arod…he’s just not aware of his team or seemingly the game. the suspicion that he is self absorbed gets reinforced.

on sunday, the yankees lost and the blue jays won, moving ahead of the yankees in the standings. here’s the q/a from the nytimes that follows:

‘Without realizing what he was saying, Alex Rodriguez wrote off the Yankees’ chances. Asked about falling to fourth, Rodriguez tried to compliment the Blue Jays but made a damning statement about the Yankees in the process.

“I tell you what, a lot of people should be happy they’re not in the playoff race, because they’d be the scariest team,” Rodriguez said of the Blue Jays.

When reminded that the Yankees now trail Toronto — the team he had just stated was not in the race — Rodriguez did not know quite what to say.

“I’m too tired to answer that,” he said. “You confused me on that one.’

can you imagine jeter making the same mistake? no.

sigh. more like duh!

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speaking of the nytimes, here’s some crappy reporting by them at the toronto film festival:

‘Over the last three days parties celebrated movies that were intended as much to be heard as seen. “It Might Get Loud,” a documentary about the electric guitar and what it becomes in the hands of Jimmy Page, Bono and Jack White, had a Friday night bash. “Every Little Step,” a documentary about the musical “A Chorus Line,” held a dance party (naturally) on Saturday, while “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” a film about teenage love and the modern version of the perfect mix tape, rented the Tattoo Rock Parlour club in downtown Toronto a few hours later.’

seems innocuous enough….except look at the accompanying photo with the article: jack white, “bono” and jimmy page:

wow! get your facts right! what makes it even more damning….here’s the accompanying caption for the photo:

‘From left, the musicians Jack White, the Edge and Jimmy Page at a screening of the film “It Might Get Loud” at the Toronto International Film Festival.’

doh! nytimes, you just wrote for duh!journal by accident! (btw, bono plays a terrible guitar)

u2 is not the only band that we have a special relationship with. we have high hopes for coldplay too…hopefully, they’ll play longer concerts and bring it every night…and be around for a long, long time.

here’s an interesting tidbit from entertainment weekly that will make christi chew happy:

In an Aug. 30 interview with the BBC, Chris Martin revealed the group would release an EP called Prospects March on Dec. 26 — and another full album in December 2009. Is he for real? Well, back in April, drummer Will Champion told EW that there was ”potentially another album left over” from the band’s recording sessions with producer Brian Eno. Bassist Guy Berryman added, ”It’s not disposable B sides. It’s songs that didn’t quite fit this record. We’re still very keen for people to hear them.”

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not quite christmas….but better than no coldplay….or no u2!….speaking of which, the new projection date is february. this is from hotpress.com:

A band insider confirmed to Hot Press that February 2009 is now the likely launch date for the band’s long-awaited follow-up to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. That new target was set, Hot Press understands, at meetings that have taken place over the past 36 hours in Nice, where the band have been based for the latter part of the summer.

“There’s still some details to be decided before the date is confirmed one hundred percent, but that’s the plan,” the source confirmed.

Bono has already spoken about how U2 intend to make 2009 their year.

“This is our chance for us to defy gravity once again,” he enthuses. “We have what it takes, we have the songs, new rhythms and a guitar player who is not ready to re-enter earth’s atmosphere until he’s taken a slice of the moon!”

in fact….no new u2 until 2009! we were looking forward to another magical fall….how to dismantle an atomic bo(m)b, all that you can’t leave behind, achtung baby and many recent dvd releases came out in the fall.

a little down since i felt that we were so close to new tunes….luckily, christmas is almost here. the picture above is from our last concert of the vertigo tour in boston around you know when in 2005

here’s the full article off u2.com….note that bono says the band has 50-60 songs. a double or even triple album will make up for the delay…i’ve been drinking the kool-aid:

We want 2009 to be our year’ ‘We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop.’ Bono has been talking to U2.Com about how the songs are shaping up for the new record and plans for 2009 to be their year. ‘This is our chance for us to defy gravity once again, ‘ explains Bono, calling in from a break in recording sessions in the south of France. ‘ We have what it takes, we have the songs, new rhythms and a guitar player who is not ready to re-enter earth’s atmosphere until he’s taken a slice of the moon! ‘It’s been fun, it’s been maddening… there have been injuries and recoveries, no babies born that I know of, but this one is nearly ready for the new year of 2009.’ The band have been writing and recording the follow-up to ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ since last year, and the feeling is that they’ve hit a creative groove so there are no plans to stop. Everyone, he says, is excited about where the recording is taking them. ‘When we set out on this record it was Larry who came up with the plan not to have a plan. He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of…’ It’s an idea that’s paid off. Following sessions in Morocco, in Dublin and through the summer in France, the band have written ‘fifty or sixty’ tracks. And counting. ‘We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein,’ he explains. ‘It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found? For now, they’re keeping a promise they made to themselves when they started writing: ‘We said to each other that if we got to the great place then we wouldn’t stop…’ So the writing and recording continues and while they now know what shape most of the album will take, they’re not leaving the studio just yet. ‘We know we have to emerge soon but we also know that people don’t want another U2 album unless it is our best ever album. It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging … or what’s the point ?’ They have no doubts that it will be as important a release for U2 as any. ‘It’s a brand new chapter for us, and everyone we’ve played the tracks to has said that musically it feels like another departure. ‘The last two records were very personal, with a kind of three piece at their heart, the primary colours of rock - bass, guitars and drum. But what we’re about now is of the same order as the transition that took us from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby.’ He also mentions that the recording in Morocco was the first time the band have worked in a studio open to the sky: ‘On that track you can hear the sound of a swallows nest close to the building - it’s beautiful.’ Longtime collaborators Danny Lanois and Brian Eno have joined the band at different times, and, more recently, Steve Lillywhite – usually a tell-tale sign that a record is nearly done. ‘Steve has that ear for a top line melody and a good hook.’ But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs. ‘I’m always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply ‘put out the songs now’, if it was just up to me they’d be out already! But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we’ve been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we’re going to start making an impression very early on …’

historiography is the the study of history. hosive-u2ograpy is the history of my life as it parallels u2’s history.

what’s the big deal? that’s what people want to know. why this band? they just seem like any other(old)band. why are you so attached to these guys? why the devotion?

aside from great songs and soul searing performances, let me try to explain it this way….recently, the new kids on the block performed in rockerfeller center and people(girls)lined up the day before! to see their childhood and teen idols. no one expected new songs. just nostalgia from times past. just the soundtrack to their lives for a short period. that’s what u2 is like for me except they’ve produced music for every significant period of my life since high school: my teenage years, my college years, my early twenties, my mid and late twenties, my early and mid thirties…and soon, when the new album is released in november, my late thirties. and when i see them in concert, its not a greatest hits from back in the day sing along…they are still producing new music.

every significant moment in my life has a u2 song, a u2 moment. in short, i can tell the history of my life to the tune of u2. i don’t know many people who have a band like that:one you’ve followed or followed you your whole (adult) life…and still making music! i don’t know many bands that fit that description. i don’t know how many bands are even around long enough to apply for the job…..the stones? pearl jam? dave matthews band? the spice girls? hanson?

as we approach the magical fall, i remember another late summertime…..

1993/22 years young: when i got home from rome after a summer of study in israel, egypt, greece and italy, the new album had just been released. i actually saw them in rome a few times..we had a chance to go to their concert in town but not all my friends had dough because it was toward the end of our study trip so we just listened to the music from outside the stadium. the next day, there was a mob outside a hotel and as we were passing by, the band came out. the pictures i took look like they were waving to me.

zooropa was recorded on the road while the band was touring for three years…and its their most underated album. the band had so many ideas….everything was fertile and alive..it is a wildly divergent album with techno, slow songs, trademark epic u2 and even johnny cash. my favorites are stay, lemon, the first time. stay is a moody, haunting yet hopeful song of longing. lemon is their prince dance song. there are not many u2 songs that you can dance to(bono would say there are none)but you might be able to get away with this one. being a prince hater, theresa finds it annoying. the first time is about god and specifically, the trinity and i quote it all the time at weddings. i love quoting the new updated lyrics that bono was using during the last tour that included his return to embrace grace.

with the summer fading and the magical fall approaching, this would be my soundtrack. uncertainty was in the air as i looked for work to supplement my church job income. how much longer would i stay in chicago? where was i going to get money to buy a car? what car would i buy? would i continue in ministry? a strangely nebulous and exciting time….a common experience for recent grads. i got a job working at a group home with borderline criminal youth and abandoned kids. it was one of the toughest work experiences. when i look back, it is zooropa that is playing.

zooropa was also my first car soundtrack….growing up in nyc, i learned to drive late and i got my first car that fall so zooropa was my first album that i played over and over as i drove. my car did not have a cd player so i had a tape that was played so much that it snapped and i had to buy a second copy!i remember driving around wheaton and naperville at night just to drive around and this was my companion.

a year later, i was headed back to the east coast, nyc and eventually maryland…we drove east in the summer. i’m sure the album was part of the rotation….. these were the zooropa days.

somewhere kyuboem lee, grace choi and regina lee ahn are smiling. back in college, i would give the koreans on campus a hard time about their culture including their food. hard is understatement. i was scathing….terrible…merciless. i told theresa that if she heard me talk in college, she would never have married me. so when my korean classmates heard that i was marrying korean, they must have seen that as god’s galactic justice. going to korea for a few weeks? even better.

what will he eat? will he eat? will this be a 24/7/12(day)super-size me experiment? or super-shrink me?

i did not eat a single burger and only ate at one american place for the heck of eating some fast food korean style. for 99% of the time i ate korean food. most days we ate like this. at home. simple little dishes with rice…pickled this and that. small plates of meat. and i ate what was served to me. there was always something that i could eat and only a few things that i declined on.

we had jiajen mein once but only once…which most of my korean buddies would see as a cheat since its really a chinese dish even though i had the korean version. this was really good with hand made noodles.

at the korean folk village, i had this noodle in broth, kalgooksoo, with some korean bbq pork. it was a chilly morning so this was a good warm up. i slurped up these noodles as theresa nervously watched. all of theresa’s family was nervous as they had heard that i did not enjoy korean cuisine. theresa’s mom had called theresa’s aunt to brainstorm about foods i could eat and that she could cook. but i was doing fine.

we had a little bit of street food….as theresa has already noted, we were full almost all the time and didn’t have a lot of room for street food but here theresa’s aunt insisted on some sweet red bean cakes. she shared some with curious westerners unwilling to shell out the 1,000 won(1 dollar)on the bags. or maybe they were nervous about the whole buying food in the streets without authorized government health inspected blah blah blah.

i really enjoyed this: its a whole chicken stuffed with herbs, seaoning and rice in a light broth. it was also the first of many restaurants we went to where we sat on the floor. shoes were left outside, sandals and slippers were used for indoors and cushions for our booties were standard.

here’s my one american fast food indulgence. we had kfc in beijing so we designated this our official western food joint for asia. a little disappointing since the original recipe was not that herbs or spicey. the menu selections were rigid and i had to get cole slaw with this meal. and of course, it was overpriced. it was fun but don’t think i would do kfc in korea again. especially not with the other fried chicken options widely available.

bring on the bbq! after almost a week in korea, i wondered how many of these places i would get to see. theresa mentioned south koreans didn’t eat that much meat and going out for bbq were for special occasions. i’m guessing my arrival was special because we did go out for bbq….first, pork ribs!

…then the next night was beef…which is much more expensive and even more of a luxury! here’s some yummy marble-ly rib eye, my favorite cut. theresa’s family was really hospitable, generous and celebratory for our arrival.

with the help of theresa’s cousins, we found some bonchon chicken. this is the made to order stuff that is double fried for maximum crispness and minimum greasiness??? we were warned that it takes up to 25 minutes per order which is about an hour less than what it took in nyc our first experience with this magical chicken. but you know what else was less? the price! that’s what happens when you have original korean food in korea. the wings were amazing!

really, really good! we tried to find another one of these on our trip but it turns out this would be the only time. on the way to the airport for departure, i did see a kyochon chicken truck on the highway out for deliveries as if to taunt me.

at lotte world, an indoor amusement park, we had “typical” theme park food…korean versions. i had the pork cutlet with omelet wrapped rice. theresa’s nieces opted for the more american spaghetti. after the rides, we had some(i am not joking)booty jigae which is ramen, spam, sausage slices in broth. look how my sweet t loves the booty(jigae). i also love the booty(jigae). i cannot lie.

at the dmz…that’s right, the demilitarized zone between north and south korea, it was back to more familiar fare with bibimbop and bulgolgi suited for american tastes as the tour was run by the uso and the majority of attendees were westerners. i had a great time and unlike with kfc korea, i would go back to the dmz for more eats. maybe it was the thrill of possible nuclear annihilation or the potential threat of invasion that made the food taste so good.

we found another korean fried chicken place that we hear is really popular these days. it was different than the bonchon/kyochon stuff. again, the two kinds of familar flavors: garlic and the nebulous spicy. different but very, very good. strangely i found that the “spicy” in korea was much less spicy than the insane nuclear flavoring in the states. i prefer the spicy in korea….which might make me more authetic korean than my american korean counterparts.

another piece of korean food evidence…..the pangchon, korean pancake….is made with less seafood in korea(probbably due to expenses). i always choked on the tentacle saturated version i was served in the states and i always commented that the pancake would taste better without the overflowing seafood to which my korean american friends would scoff: who makes it like that? real koreans do! you ignorant korean wannabees! its your nightmare come true….I maybe more korean than you!

i won’t bore(or salivate)you that much longer. we made a detour to south south korea to visit theresa’s uncle on his farm and we had my first soondaboo of the trip, which is falsely rumored as the only thing i’ll eat. clearly i’ve been eating a lot of things and a lot of different things. though my favorite was clearly still bbq!

folks, i ate a lot. i think i gained weight.

somewhere kyuboem lee, grace choi and regina lee ahn are smiling.

the inevitable has happened. in the early morn as theresa was trying to save my ipod with another battery transplant, the fragile connection points to the motherboard ripped off rendering my u2 ipod dead.

its not the end of the world. my pops taught me that any problem that you can solve with money(even if its a lot of money)is not a real problem. the real problems of life cannot be solved with money.

but i am sad that my traveling companion in this city and on my world tours is now gone. i was hoping to bring it to korea with me but………….

is nyc all fun and games? sometimes. some weeks……..it seems like it.

here we are at the u2 3d in imax! in limited release across our nation…..and of course it is playing at the local imax near our home in soha(south of harlem). we invited vision folks and club vision but it turned out to be a romantic date. of course, we were first in line….however, we got there early not to get in the front row….but the very back…the very last row. imax and 3d makes front row dizzy land.

but we went twice and club vision joined us…..dave, pei li, weiling, steph, susan, some ocm folks and us! its almost as good as being in the front row of a u2 concert! it still does not beat the energy of live music but its worth watching….twice! at least!

but u2 concerts has always been about being with friends…not just the shows. its about reunions and creating memories with old friends from la to chicago to boston to philly to nyc to wherever our friendships take us in the future. and maybe soon in dallas with jaq.

here we are watching another tom stoppard play….last year, we caught the 9 hr trilogy of plays: the coast of utopia……we were again in the front row for this story of the downfall of communism, the power of music, the power of love and the power of the love of music. it was a breezy 3 hours and theresa liked it a lot more than last year’s marathon.

this is in part, in fact why to live in nyc: to see shows that only play in london and here. however, i wish i was smart enough to take it all in and process it. tom stoppard’s plays and other intellectual fare humble me. i wish i had more time to think on this level and read on this level.

jonathan came back after a long hiatus for cooking lessons. we made a fancy beef stew. i mean i ate a fancy beef stew that theresa, wendy and weiling made. as dennis and i waited, we ate our customary doritos and played wii.

these are always enjoyable. i’ve been friends with weiling and dennis for close to 20 years(ever since they were teens) and to have time to develop these friendships in a different city and as adults is a joy.

toward the end of the week, we made it down to the beacon for they might be giants! no front row for us this time but 4th row aint bad. the fun part was that they opened for themselves! they did two sets! the came out….had intermission….and came back out! they played a ton of songs which is good news for theresa. i only knew two songs and they only played one of them. but i did enjoy their humor. i wish my bands would talk more to us.

theresa will get to go to another tmbg concert designed for families in the spring….while i get my nerd on at the nyc comic con.

finally, we got invited to a fashion week post-show party. we went to a fancy schmancy lounge and sat in vip areas thanks to visionite, jo song. we got swag bags including one of the vip goodie bags. theresa had a few beers and i drank a few sips of some fruity drink theresa ordered for me. i even got to meet the designer, jo’s boss…..she was super down to earth and i didn’t even know it was her. she was mingling like a regular person.

some will ask why a pastor is in a place like this. as if there are only good guys and bad guys. only good places and bad places. stark black and white. but my reality is that i love people…and i go to where the people are. and when i was there, i felt my heart swell with love for people. for regular people. not just the bible nerds in holy ghettos. most i suspect who have poor stereotypes of jesus, pastors and faith. i hope i get to share with them a better vision.