Great abs in only 10-15 years!

How come prisoners always look buff and ripped? Because they have to. Imagine if you had the same motivation to work out? Trade in Sven the gym trainer for shower time Pete and you'll be in shape in no time.

Sex Ed

Kids should learn about sex at an early age. And when I say learn about sex I don't mean we should hand out copies of Hustler at preschool circle time. Playboy is better for that age.

There's a whole lot of talk about how kids should learn about sex, when and from whom. Some would argue the topic is strictly a family matter. Others feel school provides a great opportunity for learning about sex since that's where a lot of their first sexual experiences will stem from. And yet others would prefer not to breach the subject directly and let their kids figure it out for themselves.

Sex should be introduced gradually with its core in the idea of relationships. Kids don't jump right into having sex. They start to play together. They give each other gifts. They sit next to each other at lunch. They hold hands. There's a wide range of activities that are explored before that disgusting act everyone is afraid of. Just like kids have to learn symbols represent ideas, letters make sounds and form words, kids need to slowly learn that girls are gross.

Curious to see how you learned about sex. Quick poll to the right.

2008 Election Nostalgia

I happen to flick by the GOP debate last night, and like other car wrecks, I took a peek. No revelations. Santorum shot some steroids and Gingrich forgot his coffee. There was some other old guy on the far right there too but not sure who he was. Romney continued to remind me that I'd like to see Jim Carey play him.

But mostly it made me nostalgic for one very ridiculous moment during the 2008 elections when Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain were all featured on WWE. Months later I thought it was a dream and I couldn't find it online, as if it were taken down because the candidates thought it was too weird. Enjoy.

Millenium Falcon Found at Bottom of Baltic Sea

There were no signs of life but tiny drag marks leading away from the crash site indicate possible droid evacuation. At press time George Lucas has refused to return my phone calls.

Racism is Blind

All You Need is Kill: Here we go again

Yay, more white people as Asians! This time it's Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill.

Racebending.com picked up on this a little while back. Check out their sweet feature on it and other movies that have followed a similar path including the much dreaded/anticipated live-action Akira movie. I think Kaneda is being played by Mitt Romney. Might want to fact check that first.

Fun Gay Hot Toy

Maybe Ru Paul wasn't running in the New Hampshire primary but that doesn't mean it still can't be a big year for the LGBT community. I'm thinking legalized gay marriage in Obama's second term. FCKH8!

Cigarettes Create Jobs

My continuing beratement of smokers. I've actually heard arguments like this. If that were the case then we should legalize weed, tax it and create about a million jobs overnight. Which we should.

I love creative marketing

How did I not see this until today? My brain is always thinking about creative marketing. I just love how simple this idea is. The best ones often are.

I Am Bruce Lee

I'm there. Who's with me?

Painting for upcoming show

I finally got painting again after a couple of years hiatus. Feels good. I have a show coming up in March that I'm calling "Asian Americana". I'll be doing my renditions of classic American icons with a SAM twist. Here's the first one in progress. Bonus points if you can name the movie this is from.

Why it's hard for Asian Americans to get any sympathy

This comic is definitely not intended to belittle the hardships of the interned Japanese during WWII. But more to put into perspective how it's significance might be measured alongside the trials and tribulations of many other races. There's enough racial tension to go around in this country but some of us find it harder to find broad support. Please feel free to proceed telling me that I am a self-hating Asian American.

Beat down follow up

So now there's some background info coming out about the beat down video that I (and many others) posted yesterday. Evidently this girl knows the guys in the video and is giving her side of the story explaining (very...slowly...and...deliberately...) why those kids jumped that one guy.

My thanks to her for coming forward to list the names of the attackers and I applaud her attempt at clarifying the situation. Unfortunately she completely misses the point of everyone's outrage.

But I think this can be made into a teachable moment about the use of violence and how we can find ourselves justifying deplorable behavior. Much like the recent video of U.S. Marines pissing on fallen Taliban soldier's bodies. Many people have no problem justifying the act because "they deserved it." The same feeling apply here. That one kid deserved to get the crap beat out of him because he was supposedly involved in an earlier attack on the attackers.

Lesson here: violence begets violence.

Please help with any info you may have

After a day of thinking positive thoughts on MLK Day I end the day seeing one of the most deplorable acts of school yard violence I've seen in a long time. Warning: violent video.

This was taken in Chicago's Bridgeport area. If you have any information at all please do what you can to put these fuckers away.

Update: evidently the names of the assailants have been released to the public. Let's hope justice is served.

Celebrate a real holiday

On the drive in today I heard the name "Martin Luther King Jr." on about 4 different radio stations. There's no shortage of awareness of this holiday. Yet as one station played cuts from MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech I found myself sitting in the car after it was parked for a good 5 minutes listening to it again.

MLK Day is one of my favorite holidays because it represents people, not a religion or some contestable historic event. As corny as it is do yourself a favor and listen to his speech with your headphones on as you check your e-mail and sip your coffee. Oh, and happy birthday, papa.

Attention Smokers

I used to smoke. For years I packed away thousands of cancer sticks without a thought. When my wisdom teeth started to come in (impacted) I had to have all four removed at the same time. No smoking for a week, doctors orders. But at least they gave me percocets ...

I made it through the week and decided I'd try to see how long I could go without smoking. That was 15 years ago and I've stayed away from them ever since.

Smoking is a stupid thing to do. If you smoke you're doing a stupid thing. Yes, I'm fully judging you. Stop smoking you idiot.

There's going to be a follow up to this strip next week.

Chevy Silverado ad: sexist or not?

I've seen some talk online about this ad. Basically a boy is playing at home with his toy Silverado. His blue collar man toy packs it up for the day, saying "good job" to his black skier, asian ninja and robot co-workers. Before heading home he helps a damsel in distress before driving over his dog. Then finally he gets home to his wholesome wife who only happens to dress like a cheap slut.

I'm on the fence on this one. When I first saw it it didn't strike me as unusual. Then again the TV version I saw didn't have the "good job" to co-workers scene and ended with the dad coming out of the car to give his son a hug with a "normal" (RE: boring) dressed wife/mom in the driveway. But when I put my jaded glasses on I can see all the faults. It would have been amazing if the toy wife the dad came home to were another man and the commercial just kept going like nothing was unusual.

Verdict? Sexist? Racist? Accurately portrays a lifestyle that we should aspire to?

New lighter touchscreen glass

That's pretty impressive looking. Corning Gorilla Glass (which makes the glass for a lot of our touchscreen gadgets) just created a glass that's 20% thinner but just as strong so future portables should be that much lighter and make the interface more responsive. Sweet. But the downside is it isn't any more durable or scratch resistant. Sigh.

This is the kind of tech story I love, though, because it shows people are hard at work and thinking of the future. Go American innovation!

Japan to open robot farm in tsunami disaster zone. Wow.

It's true. The Japanese government's Ministry of Agriculture has begun an ambitious project called the "Dream Project" which involves unmanned robotic tractors farming on land that was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Read the full story here.
What strikes me about this story is it is another reminder of the difference between how we (Americans) see robots and how the Japanese see them. For the most part, Japanese society sees robots as a beneficial helpers. Even in their popular culture they've had characters like Astro Boy, Doraemon, Robocon and Arale. Not to mention the slew giant robot heroes like Gaiking, Raideen and Mazinger.

While we do have friendly characters like Wall-E, Number Five (Short Circuit) and C3PO + R2D2 we also have that Skynet Terminator thing in the back of our minds giving way to a certain amount of distrust (or like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Joshua from War Games). But looking at the real world applications of robots in the US there seems to be a lot less experimentation in using them for more humanitarian purposes. We've got some pretty bad ass robotic military machines though! Meanwhile the Japanese are developing therapeutic robotic pets for senior citizens. What gives?

I'm uniter, not a divider

OK, well, maybe I divide a little.

Kids Reacting to K-Pop

Love the honesty of kids. Especially when they actually give meaningful analysis mixed with "I'd kick them in the nuts".

Know your left and right

Anyone do this? Make an "el" with both their hands and figure out the left hand is the one that makes to correct "el". I used to think it was funny but it's actually pretty damn clever. For a little while after I dislocated my right shoulder in high school I used to gauge left from right by remembering which shoulder I busted.

Old School Wednesdays: Election 2004

From March 15, 2004. Bush 2 vs. Kerry ... Nader. Good times.

The Seven Deadly GOP Sins

I thought I should throw in Obama to be fair and balanced. Actually, I just really wanted to type the word "vainglory". It was a toss up between Gingrich and Santorum for gluttony and lust (with Gingrich's past infidelities and Santorum's apparent love of fatty foods) but anyone who can inspire the definition of the byproduct of an anal sex act wins the lust title. Thanks Dan Savage.

Attention dudes with beards

Let's make 2012 the year the beards come off. Not totally off, of course. Save the best parts with the Goatee Saver. Just in time for Batman.