Randy's Digital Garage

Sh*t Entrepreneurs Say

2012-01-26T18:03:00.001-06:00

Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs

2011-12-08T11:59:00.001-06:00

Carmine Gallo, Author,

7 Principles of Innovation based on the “Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs.”

Jobs and Wozniak started Apple in the spare bedroom of Steve’s parent’s house, before getting too big and moving the business down to the garage. What the world needs is more jobs … Steve Jobs. It’s fair to ask ourselves, “What would Steve do?”

Principle #1 is to do what you love. Bill Gross just said the same thing. Being the richest man in the cemetary doesn’t matter … doing something that matters does. Build a company that touches peoples’ lives every day. You cannot create something great unless you are passionately moving the world forward.

Principle #2 is to put a dent in the universe. There is a difference between vision and mission. A vision is clear and concise and consistently communicated. Vision inspires evangelists. A vision helps you see things that other people may have missed. Two people can see exactly the same thing and interpret things differently, based on their own vision. Starbuck’s founder Schultz’s vision was not to make a better cup of coffee, but to create a third space between the office and the home.

Principle #3 “Creativity is just connecting things” ~Steve Jobs. Successful innovators apply learning from one field, to another. According to Dennis Crowley, foursquare is a more interesting tool because it was built in Greenwhich Village and not Silicon Valley.

Principle #4 Keep it simple. Say no to 1,00 things to make sure you’re not on the wrong track or try to do too much. When you can create a product that a two-year old can use intuitively, you know you’re on to something. “As physical beings, we understand clarity” ~Jonathan Ives. Simplicity is crucial.

Principle #5 is about the experience with the product. Create insanely great experiences. Innovation is not just about product innovation, it’s about the experience people have with the product. The Apple brand was inspired by the Four Seasons hotel, because the hotel chain delivers such good customer experience.

Principle #6 is to master the message. Nobody was better than Steve Jobs, because he informed, illuminated, and inspired during his presentations. You can have the best idea in the world, but if you can’t get people excited about it, it’s not worth much. Learn the rule of three. The human mind can only process 3 or 4 points of information in short term memory, so don’t bombard people with dozens of benefits. That is why you find groups of three in everything Apple does. Also learn to think visually. Use the Picture Superiority Effect to presentations, by adding great images to slides. Retention goes up by 65%. With words only, retention is about 10%.

Principle #7 is the most important: Sell Dreams, Not Products. As human beings, we are self consumed. Help people accomplish their dreams, and you will win them over. To turn Apple around, Steve Jobs focused and innovated around his customers and their needs. Steve Jobs’ advice was: “Dream Bigger”

Source: ALEXDC.ORG

USPS.. You'll never be the same anymore

2011-12-03T12:43:00.001-06:00

Topic: CNN - USPS wants to limit next-day guarantee

This article tells me 3 things.
1. USPS is declining by the day. Less service = less revenue
2. Invest in companies such as UPS, FEDEX, or DHL for the long-term.
3. Expect small to mid-size businesses to be affected the most.

That's all for today.

Tim Draper's 8 Rules for Start Up Success

2011-11-21T16:02:00.001-06:00

1) Test your product and get it out into market...see if the dogs will eat the dog food
2) Don't run out of cash
3) Eliminate human friction...one button on iPod, simplicity, simplicity
4) Focus...what is the most important thing to customer and what you can do to uniquely solve it.-- and eliminate items on fin statement like WC, anything not critical to key customer need
5) Leadership: you are the meme...you are on a mission but everyone picks up what you eminate...Sun always used the term Awesome (from McNealy), Job's culture. You are the leader of organization: take care of self, employees will also. You are the brand and heart of culture.
6) Think Big...go after things that count, one life to lead and go after big problem, change society
7) Have fun: get the endorphines firing, lots of little stupid things...leads to creative solutions
8) Partner and work with as many people as possibleDavid Rosenblatt of DoubleClick fame added:
9) Accountability: clear owner of each item who goes to bed focus and worried about it.
10) Transparency: avoid layered bureaucracy and heavy processes that obscure. Keep employees informed of all the company's tentacles, challenges and opportunitities

Quote of the Month: October

2011-10-15T19:47:00.003-05:00

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
-Alan Kay

10 most useful travel websites

2011-09-29T07:18:00.003-05:00

Travel websites can help you before, during and after your trip.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

For planing your trip, Bing Travel, AutoSlash and Plnnr can be helpful sites
While you're on the road, check TripIt or Tripping for travel advice
Once you're back home, creatively preserve yur photos with Blurb

(BudgetTravel.com) -- The Web should make things easier for travelers, but the sheer volume of services out there is often more overwhelming than useful. Unfortunately, you don't always know which outfits pay off until you've already invested your time. The Budget Travel team puts websites -- new and established -- to the test every day.
So when it came time to line up our favorites, the task was easy -- we just turned to the sites we keep revisiting because they're so darn helpful. Our top picks can help you avoid overpaying for airfare (Bing Travel), bag the primo room at a hotel (Hipmunk), and never miss a deal on a rental-car reservation again (AutoSlash).
Some of our favorites are as useful as a mind-reading tour guide (Plnnr); others are as handy as having a personal secretary track your frequent-flier balances (Award Wallet). Put them all together, and they become Budget Travel's picks for the best the Web has to offer.
Budget Travel: 4 most common reasons airlines lose luggage
For Planning
1. Bing Travel
Buy plane tickets at the best possible time.
Like other booking sites, Bing lets you comparison-shop for tickets across more than a hundred sources. Yet unlike most other sites, it also analyzes historical data to predict whether the price you see on the screen today is likely to rise (or drop) in the coming week, clearly marking the bargains with a big, green Buy Now icon. What's more, Bing is the only airfare search site to have its predictions independently audited. With an accuracy rate of 75 percent, it's not perfect -- but those are better odds than blind guessing gets you. bing.com/travel.
2. AutoSlash
Lock in the lowest rate on rental cars.
Here's how it works: Reserve a vehicle from a favorite agency through the AutoSlash site, and the site will instantly begin tracking rate changes for your reservation. If a sale pops up later -- snap! -- it automatically locks in the lower price on your behalf. You can even use AutoSlash if you've booked independently. Just enter your confirmation number, and the site will notify you when it's found a lower rate (which you'll have to rebook on your own). Neither AutoSlash nor the company you first booked with charges a fee for the service. autoslash.com.
Budget Travel: 10 coolest small towns in America
3. Fly or Drive Calculator
Determine the cheapest way to reach your destination.
Coupon site befrugal.com crunches data from sources such as AAA and Google Maps to power its Fly or Drive estimator (found in the site's Tools & Calculators tab). The more details you supply -- the make and model of your car, the number of travelers in your group, whether you'd be springing for a taxi to the airport -- the more accurate the estimates. For the eco-minded, it even includes a carbon-footprint estimate for each mode of travel. (Note: The calculator only works for trips within the continental U.S.) befrugal.com/tools/fly-or-drive-calculator/.
4. Plnnr
Get instant itineraries tailored to your tastes.
Whether you have a full week or a few hours, Plnnr can craft a (free!) customized point-to-point trip guide for 20 popular urban destinations across North America and Europe. You supply the length of your stay, desired activity level, and interests (such as outdoors, kids' activities, and culture), and the site spits out a fully formed itinerary, factoring in each attraction's opening and closing hours and travel times between spots by taxi or on foot. You can further fine-tune the results by adjusting the priority level for even more specific subcategories -- architecture, breweries, and even cemeteries -- or reject individual suggestions outright. (Plnnr won't get its feelings hurt.) plnnr.com.
5. Hipmunk
Find a hotel you'll fall in love with.
The folks behind Hipmunk's airfare and hotel searches know that good trips are about more than mere numbers. That's why they've incorporated an "agony" scale for flights with multiple legs and long layovers, and an "ecstasy" rating for hotels based on a combination of a property's amenities, rates, and user reviews on TripAdvisor. Even better, Hipmunk's hotel search tool has built-in color-coded heat maps to display a given destination's best spots for dining, shopping, nightlife, landmarks, and -- ahem -- "vice." So you'll always end up in a neighborhood that fits your specific needs (or noise tolerance). The site displays real-time prices available on Orbitz, Getaroom, Hotels.com, HotelsCombined, or Airbnb and links out to the appropriate site to close the deal. hipmunk.com.
Budget Travel: A neat freak's guide to a clean suitcase
On the road
6. TripIt
Keep every last confirmation number, arrival time, and prepaid reservation fee straight.
Don't have an über-organized type among your travel crew? Don't worry. TripIt consolidates every important detail of your vacation into a single handy document, which you can access on the go via laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Just forward each email receipt from booking a flight, hotel, rental car, or cruise to your TripIt account, and the site will cull and compile the flight numbers, gate information, and other relevant items so you never show up in the wrong place at the wrong time -- or with the wrong confirmation code in hand. Not satisfied? The site also supplies seat-selection advice for flights, links to check in online, flight status updates, weather forecasts, and driving directions. tripit.com.
7. Tripping
Connect with the locals -- through a trustworthy community.
While any old travel site can add some social-networking features and call itself "the Facebook of travel," Tripping paves the way for true face-to-face interactions in about 130 countries across the globe. Primarily a homestay network -- but just as effective for setting up a casual coffee meeting or a video chat with a looped-in local -- Tripping manages the risk factor with its stringent membership policies and strong user-reference system. (To join, users must display a passport via Skype and prove a home address.) When you're not traveling yourself, you can earn some good travel karma by playing tour guide for visitors to your own hometown. tripping.com.
8. Google Maps
Expertly navigate unfamiliar territory.
Thanks to constant refining by its mapmakers and graphic designers, Google's gold-standard mapping tool just keeps getting better. Live traffic information was recently added for 13 European countries; the site's maps for New York City, London, and other major cities now have public transit options; markings for tunnels and highway signs become easier to read every year; and you can plot your route by car, bicycle, or foot -- although the latter two options are still in beta. There's simply no more comprehensive and user-friendly way to explore. maps.google.com.
Budget Travel: 10 gorgeous pools you won't believe are public
Once you're back
9. Award Wallet
Never let another frequent-flier mile expire.
Consider it the loyalty-program counterpart to TripIt's travel-info collector. Award Wallet streamlines your family's assortment of frequent-flier and loyalty programs, compiling them in a single, simple, point-tracking package. The setup takes minutes. For each account, just enter your log-in information; Award Wallet automatically pulls your points balances and expiration dates -- so you know to take action if you're on the verge of losing them. And because the site saves your log-in information, you only need one password to access all your accounts. awardwallet.com.
10. Blurb
Preserve your photographs in a format that people can't keep their hands off of.
Custom book publisher Blurb lets you design and print a soft-cover or hardcover travel photo album using impressive design tools and high-quality inks, paper, and binding. Most important, it also leaves you broad creative control. (No floral borders or faux photo-corners necessary.) Price is based on size, paper stock, cover material, and shipping fees, but single copies start at $11 for a 20-page book. Think your book has potential beyond your own coffee table? Blurb can also share your images as a free online slide show or sell copies of the book through its online shop. blurb.com.

Source: CNN

Back from a 3 month hiatus!

2011-09-19T17:03:00.000-05:00

BIG UPDATE TIME:I moved to LA for my new job and I'm loving it!!!!!

Warren Buffet's 10 Rules to Success

2011-05-03T14:09:00.001-05:00

Here are Buffets 10 rules:

1. Reinvest Your Profits. This makes sense not only in the stock market, but in a small business as well. Entrepreneurs who bleed all the profits out of a business find that they may struggle to grow the business into something larger and more valuable.

2. Be Willing to be Different. Buffet didn’t make his fortune by following the crowd. Instead, he invested when everyone else was panicked, and sold off when everyone else was buying. That strategy always beats the market. Doing what everybody else is doing - the same way they are doing it - is the recipe for becoming average. Nobody pays extra for “average”.

3. Never Suck Your Thumb. After you gather the information you need, make a decision. To Buffet, any time wasted to get to a decision is just “thumb sucking”. Success comes from immediately grabbing every opportunity that you can recognize.

4. Spell out the Deal In Advance. Your bargaining position is never stronger than before you are committed. So, advantage of that opportunity to spell out the details and specifics of any deal before you start. This is especially true when working with friends or family.

5. Watch Small Expenses. In the investment world, this translates into watching not just the returns offered by investment funds, but also the fees charged by the fund managers. This is so true in every aspect of small business and personal finance, as well.

6. Limit What You Borrow. Buffet claims to never have borrowed a significant amount of money. His advice is to remain debt-free, and then save and invest money. This is a very counter-cultural (see #2) contrast to those who preach getting rich using Other People’s Money.

7. Be Persistent. This is an advantage that the small entrepreneur has over larger, more established competitors. Persistence and ingenuity can, and often does win against large odds. If you’ve done your research, taken care of the details, watched your expenses and stayed out of debt, your success through persistence may only be a matter of time.

8. Know When to Quit. Don’t throw good money after bad. Resist the temptation to salvage a bad deal with a last-minute home run.

9. Assess the Risk. Buffet recommends thinking through both the best-case and the worst-case scenarios. This helps clarify the risks and rewards for any venture, which is critical to the decision making process.

10. Know What Success Means. Buffet doesn’t measure success in terms of dollars. As he says, “When you get to my age, you’ll measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.” Here is wisdom.

The surprising truth about what motivates us

2011-04-24T19:21:00.000-05:00

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First time seeing an animated presentation but I absolutely love it. I would absolutely prefer watching this video versus watching a live person presenting. Great stuff!

Christopher Poole: Build A Product Before You Build A Platform

2011-04-09T02:05:00.002-05:00

Ten Steps to a Successful Startup

2011-04-08T13:25:00.000-05:00

I just read a great article on 10 steps to a successful startup which can be read here. Lots of great content there.

Find Your One Thing

2011-04-07T12:04:00.000-05:00

Today is a great day to share some wise words!

Have you figured out yours?

Help Support the Relief in Japan

2011-04-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

The American Red Cross has once again launched a texting campaign to raise money for relief efforts in the Pacific region. Last year, the Red Cross was able to raise over $20 million for Haiti relief through simple text donations.
If you would like to donate to the American Red Cross for Japan Earthquake Relief, just text REDCROSS to 90999. Each text will provide $10 towards the Red Cross’s humanitarian efforts.

Great Article I found that will help in the future

2011-04-01T03:07:00.000-05:00

I highlighted in red the points that I found incredibly useful.

What’s The Most Difficult CEO Skill? Managing Your Own Psychology.

101 Comments

Ben Horowitz

“It’s fucked up when your mind’s playin’ tricks on ya” —The Geto Boys

By far the most difficult skill for me to learn as CEO was the ability to manage my own psychology. Organizational design, process design, metrics, hiring and firing were all relatively straightforward skills to master compared to keeping my mind in check. Over the years, I’ve spoken to hundreds of CEOs all with the same experience. Nonetheless, very few people talk about it, and I have never read anything on the topic. It’s like the fight club of management: The first rule of the CEO psychological meltdown is don’t talk about the psychological meltdown.

At risk of violating the sacred rule, I will attempt to describe the condition and prescribe some techniques that helped me. In the end, this is the most personal and important battle that any CEO will face.

If I’m Doing a Good Job, Why Do I Feel So Bad?

Generally, someone doesn’t become CEOs unless she has a high sense of purpose and cares deeply about the work she does. In addition, a CEO must be accomplished enough or smart enough that people will want to work for her. Nobody sets out to be a bad CEO, run a dysfunctional organization, or create a massive bureaucracy that grinds her company to a screeching halt. Yet no CEO ever has a smooth path to a great company. Along the way, many things go wrong and all of them could have and should have been avoided.

Things go wrong, because building a multi-faceted human organization to compete and win in a dynamic, highly competitive market turns out to be really hard. If CEOs were graded on a curve, the mean on the test would be 22 out of a 100. This kind of mean can be psychologically challenging for a straight A student. It is particularly challenging, because nobody tells you that the mean is 22.

If you manage a team of 10 people, it’s quite possible to do so with very few mistakes or bad behaviors. If you manage an organization of 1,000 people it is quite impossible. At a certain size, your company will do things that are so bad that you never imagined that you’d be associated with that kind of incompetence. Seeing people fritter away money, waste each other’s time, and do sloppy work can make you feel bad. If you are the CEO, it may well make you sick.

And to rub salt into the wound and make matters worse, it’s your fault.

Nobody to Blame

“You can’t blame Jazz Musicians or David Stern with his NBA fashion issues” —Nas

When people in my company would complain about something or other being broken such as the expense reporting process, I would joke that it was all my fault. The joke was funny, because it wasn’t really a joke. Every problem in the company was indeed my fault. As the founding CEO, every hire and every decision that the company ever made happened under my direction. Unlike a hired gun that comes in and blames all of the problems on the prior regime, there was literally nobody for me to blame.

If someone was promoted for all the wrong reasons, that was my fault. If we missed the quarterly earnings target, that was my fault. If a great engineer quit, that was my fault. If the sales team made unreasonable demands on the product organization, then that was my fault. If the product had too many bugs, that was my fault. It kind of sucked to be me.

Being responsible for everything and getting a 22 on the test starts to weigh on your consciousness.

Too Much Broken Stuff

Given this stress, CEOs often make the one of the following two mistakes:

1. They take things too personally

2. They do not take things personally enough

In the first scenario, the CEO takes every issue incredibly seriously and personally and urgently moves to fix it. Given the volume of the issues, this motion usually results in one of two scenarios. If the CEO is outwardly focused, she ends up terrorizing the team to the point where nobody wants to work at the company any more. If the CEO is inwardly focused, she ends up feeling so sick from all of the problems that she can barely make it to work in the morning.

In the second scenario, in order to dampen the pain of the rolling disaster that is the company, the CEO takes a Pollyannaish attitude: it’s not so bad. In this view, none of the problems are actually that bad and they needn’t be dealt with urgently. By rationalizing away the issues, the CEO feels better about herself. The problem is that she doesn’t actually fix any of the problems and the employees eventually become quite frustrated that the Chief Executive keeps ignoring the most basic problems and conflicts. Ultimately, the company turns to crap.

Ideally, the CEO will be urgent yet not insane. She will move aggressively and decisively without feeling emotionally culpable. If she can separate the importance of the issues from how she feels about them, she will avoid demonizing her employees or herself.

It’s a Lonely Job

“And this loneliness won’t leave me alone” —Otis Redding

In your darkest moments as CEO, discussing fundamental questions about the viability of your company with your employees can have obvious negative consequences. On the other hand, talking to your board and outside advisors can be fruitless. The knowledge gap between you and them is so vast that you cannot actually bring them fully up to speed in a manner that’s useful in making the decision. You are all alone.

At Loudcloud, when the dot com bubble burst and subsequently sent most of our customers into bankruptcy, it crippled our business and devastated our balance sheet. Or rather, that was one interpretation. Another interpretation, and necessarily the official story for the company, was that we still had plenty of money in the bank and were signing up traditional enterprise customers at an impressive rate. Which interpretation was closer to the truth? In the absence of someone to talk to, that’s a question that I asked myself about 3,000 times. As an aside, asking oneself anything 3,000 times turns out to be a bad idea. In this case, I had two specific difficult questions:

1. What if the official interpretation was wrong? What if I was misleading everyone from investors to employees? In that case, I should be removed from my position immediately.

2. What if the official interpretation was right? What if I was grinding my brain into sawdust for no reason at all? What if I was taking the company off track by questioning my own direction? In that case, I should be removed from my position immediately.

As is usually the case, there was no way to know which interpretation was right until much later. It turned out that neither was actually right. The new customers didn’t save us, but we figured out another way to survive and ultimately succeed. The key to getting to the right outcome was to keep from getting married to either the positive or the dark narrative.

My friend Jason Rosenthal took over as CEO of Ning about a year ago. As soon as he became CEO, he faced a cash crisis and had to choose amongst three difficult choices: 1. Radically reduce the size of the company or 2. Sell the company or 3. Raise money in a highly dilutive way.

Think about those choices:

1. Lay off a large set of talented employees whom he worked very hard to recruit and, as a result, likely severely damage the morale of the remaining people.

2. Sell out all of the employees who he had been working side-by-side with for the past several years (Jason was promoted into the position), by selling the company without giving them a chance to perform or fulfill their mission.

3. Drastically reduce the ownership position of the employees and make their hard work economically meaningless.

Choices like these separate the women from the girls. Tip to aspiring entrepreneurs: if you don’t like choosing between horrible and cataclysmic, don’t become CEO. Jason sought advice from some of the best minds in the industry, but ultimately he was completely alone in the final decision. Nobody had the answer and whatever the answer, Jason was the one who had to live with the consequences. So far his decision to reduce staff by letting go of primarily the most recent hires has paid off. Revenue at Ning is soaring and team morale is high. If it had gone worse (or ultimately goes bad), it will be all Jason’s fault and it will be up to Jason to find a new answer. Whenever I see Jason, I like to say: “Welcome to the show.”

Techniques to Calm Your Nerves

The problem with psychology is that everybody’s is slightly different. With that as a caveat, over the years I developed a few techniques for dealing with myself. Hopefully, you find them useful too.

Make some friends—Although it’s nearly impossible to get high quality advice on the tough decisions that you make, it is extremely useful from a psychological perspective to talk to people who have been through similarly challenging decisions. My friend Bill Campbell was a huge help to me as CEO, but interestingly it wasn’t his great success running Intuit that I found most useful; it was his disastrous experience running Go. Through that experience and his most traumatic days at Intuit (like laying off 1/3 of the company), Bill learned a tremendous amount about how to think about excruciatingly difficult decisions from a psychological perspective.

Get it out of your head and onto paper—When I had to explain to Bill and the rest of my board that, as a public company, I thought that it would be best if we sold all of our customers and all of our revenue and changed business, it was messing with my mind. In order to finalize that decision, I wrote down a detailed explanation of my logic. The process of writing that document separated me from my own psychology and enabled me to make the decision swiftly.

Focus on the road not the wall—When they train racecar drivers, one of the first lessons is when you are going around a curve at 200 MPH, do not focus on the wall; focus on the road. If you focus on the wall, you will drive right into it. If you focus on the road, you will follow the road. Running a company is like that. There are always a thousand things that can go wrong and sink the ship. If you focus too much on them, you will drive yourself nuts and likely capsize your company. Focus on where you are going rather than on what you hope to avoid.

Don’t Be a Punk.

A Final Word of Advice – Don’t Punk Out and Don’t Quit As CEO, there will be many times when you feel like quitting. I have seen CEOs try to cope with the stress by drinking heavily, checking out, and even quitting. In each case, the CEO has a marvelous rationalization why it was OK for him to punk out or quit, but none them will every be great CEOs. Great CEOs face the pain. They deal with the sleepless nights, the cold sweat, and what my friend the great Alfred Chuang (legendary founder and CEO of BEA Systems) calls “the torture.” Whenever I meet a successful CEO, I ask them how they did it. Mediocre CEOs point to their brilliant strategic moves or their intuitive business sense or a variety of other self-congratulatory explanations. The great CEOs tend to be remarkably consistent in their answers. They all say: “I didn’t quit.”

Ben Horowitz is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. To read more from his blog, go here.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/31/what%E2%80%99s-the-most-difficult-ceo-skill-managing-your-own-psychology/

10 Tips on CEO Lessons

2011-03-28T16:45:00.000-05:00

CEO Lessons Learned from biztools videos on Vimeo.

Yes! Finding Movies ARE frustrating!

2011-03-28T03:23:00.000-05:00

Movie Industry To Blame for Piracy

Why would movies be such a popular illegitimate download? It doesn't take much time comparing the ease of finding a new song on iTunes with your odds of locating a new movie on Amazon or Netflix to realize that the commercial online availability of movies lags woefully behind that of music. Between the wait for a new film to appear online—and the self-defeating "release window" system that requires it to be taken offline on an arbitrary schedule—getting an honest movie rental or purchase over the Internet remains frustrating.

Source: http://bigthink.com/idea_feed_items/4617

Jay-Z - "Evolution Of My Style"

2011-03-01T16:32:00.002-06:00

Living For A Purpose

2011-01-11T23:44:00.001-06:00

I hate taking time for granted. I really dislike spending my time on something and having nothing to show for it. I don't want to waste anyone's time nor do I want to be a waste of space. I want every ounce of sweat to account for something I aimed to do. I want to be successful.

I am what I am because of my desire of who I want to be. I was surrounded by great influences and that has taught me to never settle for the standard. I don't want to abolish my health but I do want to astonish my wealth. I don't want my dreams to be fictitious because I made my life too ambitious. I want to be proud of my work but remain too busy to acknowledge it.

I want to be GREAT.

This video defines musical art... literally

2011-01-11T00:18:00.000-06:00

Remember my post about Michael Uslan visiting Flashpoint? Here's the video.

2011-01-05T15:24:00.002-06:00

Michael Uslan Visits Flashpoint Academy from Tribeca Flashpoint on Vimeo.

Michael Jordan 's Wisdom (Rare Interviews)

2011-01-05T13:46:00.002-06:00

Eminem 60 Minutes Full Interview (2010)

2010-12-20T18:55:00.000-06:00

Playground Politics: North Korea

2010-12-20T17:17:00.002-06:00

Great Advice by Steve Harvey

2010-12-13T19:47:00.002-06:00

Highly Entertaining Athletes

2010-12-08T12:35:00.000-06:00

KOTRA + CATERPILLAR Signs MOU Partnership

2010-11-18T14:00:00.002-06:00

So if you didn't know, I've been working for KOTRA for the past month to make this happen. Whew that was a lot of work.

"KOTRA, Caterpillar Sign an MOU on Partnership The Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency, or KOTRA and Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment signed a memorandum of understanding to forge a partnership for parts and components supplies.
KOTRA officials say the deal will allow more business opportunities for qualified Korean suppliers.
The two parties agreed to step up cooperation to develop business relationships at the 2010 Global Partnering Chicago hosted by KOTRA Chicago.
In the two-day conference, over 40 Korean supplier companies in areas such as powertrain, automotive parts and industrial equipment are set to hold one-on-one meetings with global manufacturers including Caterpillar, Navistar, Cummins and Honda for potential deals."

Link: http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=109173&code=Ne2&category=2

Link in Korean (with picture) : http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/economy/2010/11/17/0302000000AKR20101117005100072.HTML

Startup Advice: Inside Tips From Expert Entrepreneurs

2010-11-14T21:24:00.002-06:00

The First $1 Billion Dollar Home in Mumbai

2010-10-15T10:09:00.000-05:00

The world's first $1 billion home, a 27-story tower in Mumbai, built for India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is complete.
Time details some of the amenities:

It contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, at least one swimming pool, a ballroom, guestrooms, a variety of lounges and a 50-seater cinema. There are three helicopter pads on the roof and a car park for 160 vehicles on the ground floors. It's obviously quite a job keeping all this running smoothly, so the house, if you can call it that, also boasts a staff of 600. And all this for just Ambani, his wife and their three children to enjoy.

It has "at least one swimming pool"? Incredible.
So who is Ambani? Managing director of the petrochemical company Reliance Industries. By the way, 50 percent of the population of Mumbai earns less than $135 each month.

via StumbleUpon

One of my most favorite montages from Spike Lee

2010-10-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

The Human Pyramids of Tarragona

2010-10-04T21:53:00.000-05:00

This is better than any circus show you'll ever see.

New Stacey King Rap Remix I made (Produced by Rand3h)

2010-09-29T10:12:00.001-05:00

WHY NBA 2K11 MIGHT BE THE BEST ONE YET

2010-09-16T14:03:00.000-05:00

All because of one person: MJ

5 Seconds Real Talk

2010-08-29T14:38:00.002-05:00

If you don't follow your own dreams in life, then you're going to be following somebody else's.

7 ways to get the best sleep ever

2010-08-17T10:30:00.003-05:00

7 ways to get the best sleep ever

By Leslie Barrie, Health.com

August 17, 2010 8:10 a.m. EDT

Chronic, long-term insufficient sleep ups your odds of diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, even weight gain.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Lack of shut-eye increases odds of diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, weight gain
Check labels on your favorite midday drinks because energy-boosting benefits can hurt sleep
Some foods may help sleep, like whole-wheat-pasta dish, that combines protein and tryptophan

RELATED TOPICS

(Health.com) -- You've done all the obvious stuff -- cut out late-night caffeine, made sure your bedroom is dark and cozy, avoided scary movies or struggling with your to-do list right before bed. So why are you still tossing and turning?
"Certain habits you're unaware of could be sabotaging your sleep," says Kristen L. Knutson, Ph.D., assistant professor and sleep specialist at the University of Chicago's Department of Medicine.
And, as you may know, lack of shut-eye doesn't just leave you foggy the next day: Chronic, long-term insufficient sleep ups your odds of diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, even weight gain. So what to do? Try these unexpected tweaks, and wake up feeling incredibly well-rested.
Step 1: Halt your afternoon habit
It's a no-brainer that drinking coffee or tea right before you hit the sack won't do you any sleep favors. But you also need to watch your afternoon drinks, says Joan Salge Blake, RD, a clinical associate professor at Boston University.
Love your 4 p.m. peach tea? It's got caffeine, and so do some flavored waters and even orange sodas, Blake warns. Check the labels on your favorite midday drinks -- any that boast energy-boosting benefits are likely culprits. Then, if possible, stop sipping them by 2 p.m., so there's time for their effects to wear off. Naturally, coffee drinks pack a real wallop, so stay away from them after lunch.
Health.com: 8 things that are keeping you awake at night
Step 2: Choose sleep superfoods
While it's important to avoid a big, heavy meal right before bed (a full stomach will disturb your sleep), some foods may actually help you snooze, Blake says.
If you've had a few nights of restless sleep, make a light whole-wheat-pasta dish with fresh vegetables, a little diced chicken breast, tomato sauce, and a sprinkle of Parmesan for dinner. This meal contains a snooze-friendly combination of protein and tryptophan, an amino acid that converts to sleep-promoting serotonin in the body.
If your stomach's growling late at night, try a small bowl of cottage cheese with banana slices, another dish that serves up tryptophan. Other combos of healthy carbs and protein, such as milk and graham crackers or yogurt sprinkled with cereal, will also do the trick.
Health.com: Sleep easier and avoid midday fatigue
Step 3: Sip wine sooner
Even though a nightcap may help you relax and fall asleep faster, it'll make the second half of your sleep cycle restless and unsatisfying. Alcohol decreases deep sleep and increases arousals from sleep, says Dr. John E. Brown, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland.
If you like a glass of wine in the evening, have it with dinner -- around 6 p.m. rather than 11-- and drink in moderation, so it'll wear off by the time you lie down.
Step 4: Take an early soak
Like to unwind in the tub before you snooze? Surprisingly, a hot bath might make it harder for you to drift off: Doing anything that raises your body temperature too close to bedtime may actually hinder you from falling asleep, because your body needs to cool to a certain temperature in order to reach a sound slumber, says J. Todd Arnedt, Ph.D., director of the University of Michigan Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program.
That doesn't mean you can't soak after a rough day-- when you get home from work, not right before turning in.
Health.com: Natural remedies that may help you sleep
Step 5: Stretch for sleep
You probably already know that exercising at night can disrupt sleep. (Brown recommends doing any intense workouts at least six hours before you slip between the sheets.) But getting in a little gentle, restorative yoga before you hit the sack can help put your mind at ease, steady your breath, and reduce muscle tension without revving up your heart.
Try this restful Reclined Butterfly pose from Tanya Boulton, managing teacher at Pure Yoga East in New York City: Lie on your back with the soles of your feet together and your knees bent and dropping toward the floor. Place your arms, palms up, by your sides, keeping your shoulders back and your chest open. Close your eyes and inhale through your nose while slowly counting to four, then exhale while counting back down to one. Continue for 10 minutes, or as long as it takes you to feel fully relaxed.
Health.com: How to cope with less sleep at work
Step 6: Set the mood for slumber
Keeping your room dark while you sleep is a great start, but bringing the lights down before bed is also important. "Bright light too close to bedtime can make it hard to fall asleep," Arnedt says. That's because dimness signals the biological clock that it's time to wind down, while bright light says "daytime!" Swap out überbright bedroom bulbs for low-watt ones, or install a dimmer switch and keep it low. Like to read in bed? Do it in the lowest light that's still comfortable.
Health.com: Turn your bedroom into a sleep haven
Step 7: Ban your BlackBerry
Need to send out one last e-mail before you "officially" turn in? Not so fast. Typing in bed can wind you up, so when you do unplug, it will be harder to fall asleep, Knutson says. "It's possible that even the vibration of a BlackBerry could disturb sleep if a person is cued to hear or respond to it," she says.

For tech-free zzz's, disconnect an hour before bed, turn your smartphone off, and put any gadgets on an out-of-reach dresser or in another room so you won't be able to grab it if you get the late-night urge. Also, invest in a real alarm clock (using your cell will only give you another excuse to keep it close)-- and get ready to wake up feeling so refreshed that you won't even need to press snooze.

Greetings from Seoul, Korea

2010-07-19T01:24:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been so busy since my last update. I suppose that's a good thing right? Let me update you! I'm currently writing this post from Seoul, South Korea on a business trip. Nearly 1 month ago I attended a Overseas Korean Trading School and won a free trip to Korea!! For one week I was able to tour the beautiful motherland and network from Koreans from all over the world. Now that I have friends in South America, Europe, China, Australia, and Africa.. it might be a good idea to invest in some skype credits!! There is something beautiful about having friends from all around the world and being able to use Korean as a median to communicate with each other. It has opened my eyes to the cultural identity that I've been missing in my life.

My Korean has never been better but I know I still have lots to learn. During this trip, I have realized that my ability to speak English fluently can give me a huge edge if I am to ever pursue any careers here in Korea.

I have lots to think about while I'm here but when I get back to the states, I hope that I'll have a clearer picture of where I want to be and where I know I will go. Life is moving extremely fast right now and I'm just trying to keep up.. I'll update more later.

My latest piece: Fadro - What I Live For

2010-06-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

Poll: John Wall vs Evan Turner?

2010-05-17T18:32:00.001-05:00

Let's talk NCAA basketball! Yes the NBA Draft is coming very soon and there are two players who stand out in this year's draft. Both John Wall of Kentucky and Evan Turner of Ohio State.

Lebron likes Wall. Kobe prefers Turner. Oh my this is going to be a debate for the decades.

Personally I like Evan Turner a lot better. Not because I own EvanTurner.org but I just think he's the better athlete for the NBA. Evan is long and creates matchup problems with smaller players with his mid-range game.

Check out this Highlight video I made of Evan Turner! Watch in 720P please!!! Rate, Comment, and Subscribe if you liked it =)

Mother's Day Tribute from Randy

2010-05-10T00:00:00.002-05:00

What I Live For - Music Video Shoot

2010-05-05T14:13:00.003-05:00

15 Straight Hours of Filming. The record is 20 for me so far.

Saw A Fireball in the Sky

2010-04-19T23:28:00.001-05:00

I saw a fireball in the sky the other day. It wasn't like anything I've ever seen. Such a phenomenon in the sky would have been reported earlier, right? Astrology has always intrigued me at a young age and I really wish the world had more answers for all the space activity occurring at the moment. I have reason to believe that after Obama extended a budget boost for NASA, the government is convinced that other forms of life DO exist. You can read more about Obama's NASA Plan here.

Restaurant Film Promo on 4/11/10 in Chicago, IL

2010-04-12T18:54:00.000-05:00

DJ, Dine, & Too Much Wine from Randy Lee on Vimeo.

When Cartoons Become REAL!

2010-04-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

Behind the scenes of "Fadro - What I Live For" from Randy Lee on Vimeo.

2010-04-02T21:37:00.000-05:00

Behind the scenes of "Fadro - What I Live For" from Randy Lee on Vimeo.

New Age of Intelligence by Randy Lee

2010-03-08T13:31:00.002-06:00

Random thoughts on Innovation:

Back in the 90's intelligence was measured through IQ tests and critical analyzations. It used to be about how much you know and how fast you can learn it. Now fast forward 20 years and you'll see that our IQ is concentrated on one question: How fast can you google? Yes in the advent of technology, Google is replacing every textbook out there.

We have saved millions of trees only to cut them down anyways and build more houses than we really need (Partially due to cheap supply and the abundant amount of space not needed for tree harvesting).

No longer are we relying on the US Postal Service as much as we used to. (Thus forcing the Govt. to reevaluate the structure of the business model).

Media is slowly breaking down into our own independent channels.
A new study showed that 65% of Americans rely on the internet for their news. Flashback 10 years ago when having AOL News was merely an alternative to the ever-so reliable newspaper. Where are they now? Overshadowed and washed up- that's where. The Tribune Company has dwindled while Time-Warner AOL plummeted to an all-time low, forcing their historical merger to cut ties and head in different directions.

We really need to be smart about our approach. Innovation is indeed a fine asset but what's the point of taking 3 steps forward if it's only going to set you 5 steps back?

Is this fast pace of technology hurting us rather than improving? Well that's a debate we can have 10 years from now.

Awake In Reno - King of Wishful Thinking

2010-03-07T13:31:00.000-06:00

Shot a live performance of Awake In Reno.
Check em out:
http://www.myspace.com/awakeinreno (stream music)
http://www.awakeinreno.com (download music)

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A HOSTING ACCOUNT by Mark Fail

2010-03-01T14:35:00.003-06:00

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A HOSTING ACCOUNT
My recommendations for picking a hosting company.

1. 24 Hour Customer Support

Trust me, if you visit a hosting companies website and they DO NOT OFFER 24 hours support, FORGET IT!
They might offer you the biggest, cheapest prices you could ever dream of, if they don’t offer support when you need it, your wasting your time and money.

2. Business Phone Number and Valid Mailing Address

Hosting companies are not always what they seem, a lot of hosting companies are really affiliates. They offer hosting packages from other companies and add their own mark-up on top.
What this means is that you could be buying your hosting services from the 16 year old next door!
Ring them, make sure its a real company, ask obvious questions, can you visit their office if needs be? Do they have a valid mailing address, can you send them checks rather than paying online?

3. Automatic Daily Backup’s

This is a must, don’t fool yourself in thinking your hosting account is never going to break. IT WILL and when it does you need to be prepared.
If your hosting company DOESNT OFFER daily backups, ditch them and quickly!
A good hosting company will also offer you help in retrieving lost data, make sure you ask them if they will help you with this JUST INCASE you need it.

4. Unlimited Everything!

Most of the big, professional hosting companies can offered to offer their customers more that’s why you should always look for unlimited everything!
This is what i look for;

Unlimited Web Storage Unlimited Data Transfer
Host Unlimited Domains on 1 Account
Unlimited E-mail Accounts
Unlimited MySQL Databases

5 . Email Restrictions

This has to be number 3 for its also very import. MOST hosting company limit your email activity without you knowing. What this means if you send 50 or more emails in 1 hour the rest WILL NOT get delivered.
They get instantly deleted and you might never have known!
CHECK with your hosting provider BEFORE you buy what their hourly email restrictions are! Any less than 200 for a small website isn’t worth buying.

6. Admin Control Options – CPANEL not PLESK or anything else!

Make Sure you get an admin control panel with your hosting account, IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!
I wouldn’t recommended anything BUT cpanel. Why?
IT costs the hosting company money for you to use, its very well supported, has built in website analytics and allows instant setup of popular services such as wordpress, joomla, phpbb etc.

7. Linux Hosting NOT Windows

Unless your familiar with website hosting and/or your an ASP programmer, DONT go for windows hosting.
Its a night mere for anyone getting started, most software applications you will work with online are PHP based software which work BEST on linux. Examples, wordpress, Joomla, phpBB, Vbu;iten etc etc.. ALL PHP Applications.

8. Money Back Guarantee

ALL GOOD hosting companies OFFER a money back guarantee.
If your thinking of trying a hosting company that doesn’t, STOP before you get ripped off. They should at least offer a 30 day refund policy incase what they say they offer isn’t actually what you get.

9. SSL certificates

Make sure that the hosting company CAN provide an SSL certificate for your hosting INCASE you need it. It doesn’t mean your going to need it right away but the more you work online some things like SSL can be useful.

10. Free Site Migration

what this basically means is the hosting company will help people who are having problems with this existing hosting company MOVE.
This is a very positive sign that the company is geared towards HELPING YOU with your website rather than just taking your money!

Where can you find a quality website hosting company?

Randy's Recommendation: BLUEHOST

25 For Haiti

2010-02-13T12:45:00.000-06:00

The Social Network Film Based on Facebook

2010-02-09T21:46:00.000-06:00

The movie based on Facebook called The Social Network will be directed by David Fincher and is set to release in theaters in 2010. The story of how Mark Zuckerberg's love life mixed in with the fast-paced success of Facebook will surely sell theaters out - possibly beating out Avatar. And here's how.

Taken from Facebook.com:

More than 400 million active users
50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
More than 35 million users update their status each day
More than 60 million status updates posted each day
More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
More than 3.5 million events created each month
More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook
More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

No movie will have as much publicity as this film. And the greatest advantage is that all the advertising will be FREE.

Genius.

Universal Studios Will Build Their Biggest Theme Park In South Korea

2010-02-05T09:16:00.000-06:00

Lately the big news out of Universal Studios has been all Harry Potter all the time, and we couldn’t be more excited. However, officials have been busy thinking about some other theme park opportunities, and they’ve inked a deal to bring the magic of Hollywood to South Korea. Despite some slight delays and a temporary lack of funding, the newest Universal Studios will open when 2014 rolls around in Hwaseong City—not too far outside Seoul.
The cranes and bulldozers are set to start turning up the earth next year. There will be the new park, condos, a golf course, and even a water park. The price tag on this whole project is about $2.67 billion, so we’re kind of expecting only the best of the best. No cutting corners here—maybe Universal saw what Disney’s impressive overseas offerings in Hong Kong were all about.
There haven’t been too many details floating around this early in the game, but this park might be the biggest in the Universal Studios empire when the finishing touches are finally applied later this decade. We’d expect the usual theme park suspects including Spider-Man, Jurassic Park, and maybe, just maybe, Harry Potter will bring his wizarding world to somewhere besides Orlando.

Source: JAUNTED

Classified - "Quit While You're Ahead"

2010-02-04T11:42:00.003-06:00

Some really cool FX in this video. I'm going to make a video like this very soon.

20 Free Sites to Prepare and File Taxes Online - IRS Approved

2010-02-03T14:07:00.001-06:00

CitizenTaxFree: Free federal online tax preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less, you are age 70 or younger and you live in the following states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MO, NC, ND, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, TX, VA and WI. Free extension.

CompleteTax: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $32,000 or less. This federal offer is valid in all states. Free extension.

ezTaxReturn.com: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less and you live in the following states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, GA, IL, LA, MA, MI, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA, and WI.

eSmart Tax by LibertyTax Service: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $57,000 or less, and you are 50 years old or younger. This federal offer is valid in all states. Free extension. En Español.

1040NOW.NET: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less, your age is 67 years or younger and you live in AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, HI, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WI, or WV.

H&R Block's Free File: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less and you are age 51 or younger. This federal offer is valid in all states.

FreeTaxUSA.com: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $57,000 or less and you live in one of the following states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, UT, VA, WI, or WV. Free extension.

TaxSimple Ultimate Version: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $57,000 or less and you are age 66 or less and you live in the following states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, HI, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WI, WV, or WY.

ICANEFILE: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $32,000 or less or if you qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. This federal offer is valid in all states. Free extension.

EfileTaxReturns.net: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is between $5,000 and $57,000, and you live in the following states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, VT, WI or WV.

OnLine Taxes at OLT.com: Free federal online tax preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less and age 51 or younger. This federal offer is valid in all states. Free extension.

Online Tax Pros: Free federal online tax preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is between $3,500 and $57,000 and you live in the following states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, UT, VA, VT, WI, WV. Free extension. En Español.

Free1040TaxReturn.com: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less and you are age 71 or younger and live in AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, UT, VA, WI, WV. Free extension.

TaxSlayer: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is less than $57,000 and you are age 25 or younger, age 65 or older or active military. Also, if you qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit or if your adjusted gross income is less than $10,000. This federal offer is valid in all states. Free extension.

TurboTax® Freedom Edition: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $31,000 or less or if you are active military with an AGI of $57,000 or less or you qualify for Earned Income Tax Credit. This federal offer is valid in all states. Free extension.

Free Tax Return: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $57,000 or less and you live in the following states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, VA, WI, or WV. Free extension.

123Easytaxfiling: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if you are 70 years old or younger, your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $57,000 or less and you live in one of the following states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, HI, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, UT, VA, VT, WI and, WV. Free extension.

FileYourTaxes.com: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $57,000 or less and you are age 15 through 52 years old. This federal offer is valid in all states. Free extension.

Free TaxACT: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $57,000 or less and you are age 19 through 55 years old. This federal offer is valid in all states. Extensions e-filed for free. Free extension.

ISECURETAX, INC.: Free federal online tax return preparation and e-file if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less and you live in AR, AZ, CA, CO, DE, ID, KS, MD, MI, MS, NC, NE, NY, OH or VA.

Source: IRS.GOV

First basketball mix I ever made!!!! The Best Of Stacey King Commentary Mix

2010-01-31T23:12:00.002-06:00

2 Min. Video: Jerry Seinfeld's 3 Rules of Life

2010-01-28T07:17:00.001-06:00

My Thoughts on the iPad

2010-01-27T17:20:00.004-06:00

Today Apple unveiled their newest gadget called the iPad. Apple calls it a "truly magical and revolutionary product." For a revolutionary product (a $700 Netbook), you would think they would have had an engineer slap a USB slot on there. USB technology has been around since 1996. Yes there may be some concerns of battery life but isn't that what Apple's very high paid engineers are for? I'm not really concerned about the inability to multi-function as we can expect someone to jailbreak the OS software. So let's kick back and relax as we watch Apple take your money. Initially with the 1st generation model, and then the same time next year when they decide to slip in the USB slot in the 2nd Gen model. Which is more than enough reason to entice consumers.

If you are worried about speed, stick to your $200 Netbooks that have 4G capabilities (Clear Internet: Let me know if you need the hookup!) before dishing out the dough like a giddy baker. First generation models are as foreign as a stranger offering you candy. Eye candy.

Be prepared for security updates & defective recalls

Real Talk with Will Smith

2010-01-24T13:39:00.001-06:00

2010 Haiti Relief Links

2010-01-23T00:51:00.001-06:00

Haiti earthquake: Full coverage on CNN.com

Helping in Haiti-and helping yourself

Haiti contributions deductible for 2009 taxes

Make sure your money aids Haiti

How your text message donation gets to Haiti

2010

2010-01-14T01:04:00.002-06:00

Tell me what it takes to be #1.

Batter Up

2009-11-04T10:35:00.001-06:00

When the time comes, you must produce.

What I Have Learned In Life by Unknown

2009-10-23T00:38:00.000-05:00

What I Have Learned In Life


I've learned-.
    that you cannot make someone love you.
    All you can do is be someone who can be loved..
    The rest is up to them..

I've learned-
    that no matter how much I care,
    some people just don't care back.

I've learned-
    that it takes years to build up trust,
    and only seconds to destroy it.

I've learned-
    that it's not what you have in your life
    but who you have in your life that counts.

I've learned-
    that you can get by on charm for about fifteen
    minutes.  After that, you'd better know something.

I've learned-
    that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best
    others can do.

I've learned-
    that you can do something in an instant
    that will give you heartache for life.

I've learned-
    that it's taking me a long time
    to become the person I want to be.

I've learned-
    that you should always leave loved ones
    with loving words.  It may be the last time
    you see them.

I've learned-
    that you can keep going long after you can't.

I've learned-
    that we are responsible for what we do,
    no matter how we feel.

I've learned-
    that either you control your attitude
    or it controls you.

I've learned-
    that regardless of how hot and steamy
    a relationship is at first, the passion fades
    and there had better be something else
    to take its place.

I've learned-
    that heroes are the people
    who do what has to be done
    when it needs to be done,
    regardless of the consequences.

I've learned-
    that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I've learned-
    that my best friend and I can do anything
    or nothing and have the best time.

I've learned-
    that sometimes the people you expect
    to kick you when you're down
    will be the ones to help you get back up.

I've learned-
    that sometimes when I'm angry
    I have the right to be angry,
    but that doesn't give me
    the right to be cruel.

I've learned-
    that true friendship continues to grow,
    even over the longest distance.
    Same goes for true love.

I've learned-
    that just because someone doesn't love
    you the way you want them to doesn't
    mean they don't love you with all they have.

I've learned-
    that maturity has more to do with
    what types of experiences you've had
    and what you've learned from them
    and less to do with how many
    birthdays you've celebrated.

I've learned-
    that you should never tell a child
    their dreams are unlikely or outlandish.
    Few things are more humiliating, and what
    a tragedy it would be if they believed it.

I've learned-
    that your family won't always be there for you.
    It may seem funny, but people you aren't
    related to can take care of you and love you
    and teach you to trust people again.  Families
    aren't biological.

I've learned-
    that no matter how good a friend is,
    they're going to hurt you every once in a while
    and you must forgive them for that.

I've learned-
    that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by
    others.  Sometimes you are to learn to forgive
    yourself.

I've learned-
    that no matter how bad your heart is broken
    the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I've learned-
    that our background and circumstances
    may have influenced who we are,
    but we are responsible for who we become.

I've learned-
    that just because two people argue,
    it doesn't mean they don't love each other
    And just because they don't argue,
    it doesn't mean they do.

I've learned-
    that we don't have to change friends
    if we understand that friends change.

I've learned-
    that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a
    secret.  It could change your life forever.

I've learned-
    that two people can look at the exact same
    thing and see something totally different.

I've learned-
    that no matter how you try to protect your
    children, they will eventually get hurt and you
    will hurt in the process.

I've learned-
    that your life can be changed in a matter of
    hours by people who don't even know you.

I've learned-
    that even when you think you have no more
    to give, when a friend cries out to you,
    you will find the strength to help.

I've learned-
    that credentials on the wall
    do not make you a decent human being.

I've learned-
    that the people you care about most in life
    are taken from you too soon.

I've learned-
    that it's hard to determine where to draw
    the line between being nice and not hurting
    people's feelings and standing up
    for what you believe.

Sympathy For the Adolescence

2009-10-22T23:22:00.000-05:00

You have to feel bad for elementary students.  I mean we spent our whole lives trying to remember the names of nine planets only to find out that Pluto was never a planet.  Now we have 40 planets.  Will elementary students really retain the names of all 40 planets?  Hard to say.  Heck I can't even recall all 44 U.S. Presidents off the top of my head.  Sorry kids but your chapter on the solar system just became its own book.  Like I said from the start, I feel bad.

An Update Worth Mentioning in 30 Seconds.

2009-10-19T23:34:00.000-05:00

What is going through my head ATM:

Holy cow we have 32 new planets all thanks to a technology called HARPS. Maybe all those UFO sightings do exist after all.
This past week a boy who was believed to be in a hot air balloon put millions at a higher risk of anxiety after authorities revealed that the balloon was EMPTY. Later the family found the child hiding in the attic. Now there is a video game based on the count of events that never really happened.
Congress is fighting to end the likes of the BCS. If you think about it, it clearly makes no sense to keep it. The BCS is financially limiting, vastly outdated, and incredibly illogical to the rise of College Football. Sure Obama is taking heat for concerning about the subject but I think he is preventing aneurysms from people trying to make sense of the BCS ranking system.
I wonder if Derrick Rose is going to play in the Season Opener vs the Spurs because I bought tickets!! My website CHIKOREAN.COM is giving away two free tickets!!
Onstar's '09 model now has the ability to turn engines off. Apparently a high speed chase ended safely after a GM car was stolen and tracked through GPS. Cool.
I'm creating a new website, which remains to be a secret until it is finished. If you love basketball, you are going to love it!
I find it hilarious that most company firms are beginning to Skype interview candidates for Round 1 of interviews. This saves companies thousands of dollars by not having to pay for the expenses of a candidate that the company is not interested in.
It's amazing and uplifting that a woman's tooth brought her blind vision back to normal. Absolutely inspirational. Google it sometime.

Isn't this the truth?

2009-10-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

In tribute to Michael Jordan's HOF Induction.

2009-09-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

Gotta love Chicago.

Hilarious video I wanted to share

2009-09-04T16:28:00.000-05:00

Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

Sucks for eMom's son..

MY TOP 3 Michael Jordan Commercials

2009-08-26T21:45:00.000-05:00

Here it is. My top favorite MJ commercials. Starting with...

#4 Just incase you liked all three.

HOW TO TIE A BOW TIE.

2009-08-21T22:35:00.000-05:00

I've gone to more weddings in the past two months than I have my whole life. Better learn keep this handy for future reference.

Attention all Bulls and Blackhawks fans!!!

2009-08-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

Hey CHICAGO!

This year the United Center has brought something new to the 2009-2010 NBA season.

"Madhouse on Madison" is the latest news of the renovated 300 Level seats which now includes 144 LCD screens from LG, new food, new beverages, and many more reasons you should attend a Bulls game this year! Read more here.

Still though I think I would much rather have courtside seats. I can't begin to explain my love for the game and the Bulls. So many great years were spent in front of the television set watching Jordan just rip up players on the court. Just watching Jordan and the Bulls play taught me how to win in my own current life situations. And I'm not exactly sure how you can repay someone for teaching something like that but I will find a way someday.

PGA TOUR WINNER IS Y.E. YANG

2009-08-17T16:14:00.000-05:00

Although Tiger is my boy, I have to give it up to my man 양용은 (otherwise known as Yong-Eun Yang or Y.E. Yang) Congratulations to him. He really made some spectacular shots on the back nine at Hazeltine which in turn led to his three stroke win over Tiger Woods to lock his first PGA Championship. (Tiger was 14-0 when leading up to the final round). Some golf experts may call the South Korean golfer a fluke but trust me when I say that South Koreans KNOW their golf. The golf buzz in Korea is equivalent to the basketball buzz going on in China. Golf in Korea is the yoga to India. Okay well that might be a bit of a stretch seeing as how Yoga originated from India nearly 26,000 years ago but you get the point. Winning the PGA Championship has secured Y.E. Yang 5 guaranteed years on tour. Not bad for a farmer's son who picked up golf at 19. Not a bad way to enter your forties either. I guess I still have hope.

8 Best Foods for Fitness

2009-08-15T15:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a condensed health article that might be useful for anyone.

"Fitness foods that help burn fat, build muscle and boost your cardiovascular health. (MSN)

It's true: Spinach is muscle fuel. But not

because it instantly turns you lean and sexy. Researchers from Rutger

s University found that a compound in the leafy green increases protein

synthesis by 120 percent, helping your muscle tissue to repair itse

lf faster after you work out. The problem, howev

er, is that you’d have t

o eat Popeye-sized quantities to experiences dramatic results (we’

re talking almost 2 pounds of the iron-packed veggie

s a day). The good news is that spinach isn’t the only food that can help you to look and feel better than ever—even when you're not exercising.

The right fitness foods help burn fat, build muscle, and even boost your cardiovascular health. Ready to eat your way to better results? These 8 great foods and drinks are guaranteed to make any type of exercise you do more effective—long after you’ve broken a sweat.

EAT THIS!

Pineapple and papaya

Good for: Muscle recovery

Both of these tropical fruits are loaded with bromelain and papain, enzymes that not only help break down proteins for digestion but also have anti-inflammatory properties to speed up your post-workout recovery.

Salmon

Good for: Cardiovascular fitness

Australian researchers found that cyclists who took fish oil for 8 weeks had lower heart rates and consumed less oxygen during intense bicycling than a control group did. The fatty acids in fish oil need to become incorporated into muscle and heart cells to have an effect, and that takes weeks of consumption—so either take fish oil pills each day, or try to eat fish rich in fatty acids multiple times a week to see similar results.

PB&J or pasta with meat sauce

Good for: Muscle building and repair

The perfect post-weight training repast has about 400 calories, with 20 to 30 grams of protein (to build new muscle) and 50 to 65 grams of carbohydrates (to repair old muscle). Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or a small bowl of pasta with meat sauce fits that formula.

Pork tenderloin

Good for: Waist-trimming

Lean meats are a great low-calorie source of protein, and scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton (Shoutout to Cecilia), Ontario, found that eating more protein may reduce the fat around your midsection. People who ate 20 more grams of protein every day than the group average had 6 percent lower waist-to-hip ratios.

DRINK THAT!

Coffee

Good for: Pain relief

University of Georgia scientists revealed that taking a caffeine supplement (equal to two cups of coffee) after exercise reduces muscle soreness more than pain relievers can. Caffeine blocks a chemical that activates pain receptors.

Cold water

Good for: Endurance

Drinking cold water before and during exercise can help improve your endurance. In a British study, cyclists who drank about 30 ounces of a chilled drink in the half hour before riding in a hot, humid environment—and smaller amounts as they rode—were able to bike 23 percent longer than riders who downed lukewarm liquids. Drinking cold water may be the most direct way to reduce core body temperature, so it takes you longer to heat up and slow down.

8 ounces of chocolate milk

Good for: Hydration

The best sports drink may come from a cow. British researchers found that milk does a better job than water or sports drinks at rehydrating the body after exercise. Why? To begin with, milk has more electrolytes and potassium. The addition of chocolate gives milk the perfect balance of carbs, protein, and fat for speedy muscle recovery.

Green tea

Good for: Muscle recovery

Brazilian scientists found that participants who consumed three cups of green tea every day for a week had fewer markers of the cell damage caused by resistance to exercise. So drinking a few cups every day may help your muscles recover faster after an intense workout."

Source: MSN HEALTH

Ironic Birthday Sex

2009-08-07T12:30:00.000-05:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Back to School With Jeremih

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Meryl Streep

GO BILL CLINTON!

2009-08-04T17:49:00.000-05:00

Bill, you are the man!

After attending the Chicago Vigil for Laura Ling and Euna Lee a couple months back, I was glued to CNN to see what would happen to these two Asian-American Journalists. Things didn't look good when they both received 12 years of hard labor by North Korea.

Learn about the story:

http://www.lauraandeuna.com/

Thanks to Bill Clinton, the Ling and Lee family can finally rest at ease.

LEARN KOREAN - JUST 10 MINUTES DAILY!

2009-07-15T14:38:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

I compiled a site with videos that will tremendously boost your Korean! So feel free to indulge your mind and sharpen your skills!

-RL

KO Chicago Men's Volleyball

2009-07-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

Photos Courtesy of Tim Koo Photography

Playing with Food :)

2009-07-07T13:55:00.000-05:00

Hey look. Windows finally found a way to be useful for something. Apples are still better for you though.

That's just ridiculous. So ridiculous that I want to try them...

A sushi rendition of Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers. Ken Kawasumi takes credit here for making such an ambitious dish such as this.

Gotta love those caterpillar rolls. MMMM.

SO COOL.

Pika Pika!

OBAMA ROLLS!

Hello Kitty Rice Maki

Okay this guy looks like he is having too much fun. Probably one of the more slightly disturbing curries you'll ever see.

8(:O

Flowers.

Believe it or not... these are all desserts... An assortment of nigiri & gunkan styled cakes. It looks so real!

Time to go eat some sushi! Peace!

Randy

My first music video...

2009-07-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

myspace.com/thumptheworld

thuMp! Music Video Shoot

2009-05-13T19:09:00.000-05:00

Video Premiere coming soon.

SPRING IN CHICAGO IS HERE! (4/27/09)

2009-05-01T08:27:00.000-05:00

Hello Chicago!

Not sure if this looks like Clint Oh or Gene Choie. I'm going to say a little of both.

Slightly disturbing and eerie all in one take.

Not sure I understand this one so I posted it in hopes of finding the answer.

Cool T-Rex. I dig it.

I saw this bicycle locked up outside a building in Chicago. Could you imagine a cop not being able to arrest a suspect because he used his cuffs to lockup his bike? "What the..? Where are my... Damnit.. Shoulda bought that bike lock when it was on sale... " Here's to hoping that the Chicago Police carries around two sets of cuffs.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion @ Millenium Park. Wish I could have gone inside. Next time.

BEAN BEAN BEAN.

I should have signed up for this...

Flight of the Conchords in Chicago, IL Crown Arie Theater

2009-04-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

THE HUMANS ARE DEAD! hahaha!

I'm so sad that they won't be returning on HBO. I sincerely hope their DVD sales soar them back onto the tube. Pictures courtesy of Sandy Lee.

Pictures from the Local H Concert in Palatine, IL

2009-04-29T21:42:00.000-05:00

LOCAL H!

Ever heard of them? Check them out at http://www.localh.com

"rock’s greatest unknown two-man band" -MetaCritic

Rolling Stones and the Chicago Tribune named Local H the 2008 Chicago band of the year.

"as good a rock band as any to call Chicago home in the last decade." -Chicago Tribune

Photos courtesy of Kevin Osterhout

IT IS OFFICIAL!!! DERRICK ROSE WINS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!!!

2009-04-22T19:11:00.000-05:00

Congratulations Derrick Rose! YOU ARE THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!!!

That is so sick. Little do you know that I'm going to be the Korean Spike Lee of the Chicago Bulls. Better make that Randy Lee. Damn I kind of like the sound to that...

Chicago Bulls

2009-04-21T12:24:00.001-05:00

I know the big buzz on the internet is that new site, fmylife.com. So in dedication to that site, I will contribute one of my own right here, right now.

"I lost a chance to meet and interview the Chicago Bulls (I'll try again next year) . In consolation I was awarded 25 Chicago Bulls tickets versus the New Jersey Nets. Ready? I was only able to stay until the mid 2nd quarter because I had to go to work."

Ah the wonderful misfortunes of responsibility. But the tickets were great and so I would like to take the time to personally thank the Chicago Bulls for their generosity. There was a good sense of pride that struck me as I was leaving the stadium. I can't really explain how good it felt so plain enough - I won't. Hope everyone had fun.

GO BULLS! BEAT THE CELTICS!!

Oh yeah and one more question to all:
Is anybody else wondering how good this Rose kid is? Because I think the sky is the limit for him. With my final thought I'm going call it early.

Congratulations Derrick Rose for winning the Rookie of the Year award for the 2008-2009 NBA season!

Inauguration Speech Minute Updates

2009-01-20T10:13:00.000-06:00

Here I am at school watching the Inauguration. I will be logging notes throughout this special moment in time leading up to the final speech. This is being written for my own personal reference but I'd imagine someone will wind up reading this.

ALL TIMES ARE IN CENTRAL

10:16 AM: Hilary and Bill Clinton have arrived at the White House while CNN reports that George Bush Sr. trails along. CNN: "Age has taken a toll on former President Bush." Bush looked to walk at a very slow pace.

10:18 AM: U.S. Capitol - Jimmy Carter, Presidents Bush, and Clinton are being seated on the platform for the inauguration.

10:26 AM: Michelle Obama and children are introduced to the public. I've been to the White House before for a Fourth of July celebration when I was younger but I've never seen anything like this. If you thought the turnout for the victory speech in Chicago was something, this will blow you away. CNN reports that this may be the most watched footage ever in the history of television.

10:36 AM: Soon to be former Vice President Dick Cheney is shown entering on a wheelchair. Apparently he twisted his back while moving boxes into his new home in Virginia. I was just notified that Obama will be sworn into the Presidency using the same very Bible that Abraham Lincoln was sworn into. The last President to have that honor -- no one. The Lincoln Bible was pulled from the library of the White House. Amazing.

10:42 AM: Obama is the fifth youngest person elected President. The crowd is riled up and extremely excited. "Ladies and Gentleman..."

10:45AM: Obama enters the Platform. He is sporting a red tie. Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Join Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, opens the ceremony.

10:49AM: Rick Warren provides an invocation speech. It was a very emotional speech. It is too bad the satellite signal tends to fail often.

10:55AM: Aretha Franklin sings America (My Country, Tis of Thee)

10:58AM: Joe Biden is currently being sworn into the Vice Presidency. It is done. We have our new VP! Although it would have been nice to see his eyes while he was being sworn in. Sometimes you can see the sincerity in people when you look straight into their eyes.

11:01AM: Yo-Yo-Ma cellist along with several other musical composers are performing a special piece of music to Barack. It is a composition with the cello, violin, clarinet, and piano. It had a very soft sound to it.

11:06AM: Crowd is wild. Barack is currently being sworn into the Presidency. It is done. President Obama fumbled a few of the words but you can see how nervous he was. Who wouldn't? My peers around me all laughed but were very receptive to the calling of our new President. Congratulations President Obama, you are now the 44th President of the United States.

11:09AM: Obama begins his speech.

11:29AM: Wow. That was something. He reminds of me Martin Luther King. It feels good again to be an American.

Time to get lunch.

Inauguration Day 2009

2009-01-20T09:09:00.001-06:00

No, George W. Bush will not be getting any shoes thrown at him today but he will receive the boot when President-elect Barack Obama takes office to become the first African-American President in the history of the United States.

Although I do feel terrible that Barack enters the Presidency with quite a load of tasks to fix. We as Americans should understand that rebuilding the economy back into shape will prove to be a lengthier process than anticipated.

I was listening to the radio today as an interesting topic came along. An award winning researcher from NASA, Dr. James Hansen, told Obama that his next four years will be the Earth's most important ones. Hansen insists that the United States must act as the leader to promote cleaner emissions to avoid the most recent ice-cap meltings. In relevance Hansen connects the irregular weather conditions due to carbon emissions being released into the Earth's greenhouse. I can make sense to that.

Dr. Hansen first warned the U.S. about the earth's possible climate change in 1988 until he was shunned by the government. Funny to believe that Bush Sr. was in office at the time. Why did we ignore this man for twenty years? Furthermore how did we let another degenerate generation of the Bush family into office in those twenty years?

I am not one to fickle with the past but we as citizens must take on the knowledge and responsibility of providing a place for our future grandchildren. Please excuse me as I am off to watch a QUALIFIED President take the reins of our country.

Good luck Obama.

Chicago weather conditions

2009-01-19T13:44:00.000-06:00

Not the most comforting sight to see while driving on the road...

Scary story

2009-01-18T09:07:00.000-06:00

As you all know I am a huge fan of sleep (Cecilia can testify to this). Four days ago I fell asleep on my daily yet arduous forty-minute train ride to school. When I woke up from my brief nap, the train took an extra long pause at the Lisle station. Five minutes later we were notified by the conductor that the Police would be entering the carts of each train. No explanation as to why. I immediately called my sister to investigate the matter as she was supposed to ride along with me that morning. Best decision she ever made. Minutes later I saw dozens of squad cars arriving to the station in a frantic fashion. The officers popped their trunks to pull out shotguns, assault rifles, and pistols. My family called me back saying the story was all over the news because there was reported to have a suspicious male with a gun on the train. NOT THE BEST WAY TO START OFF AN EARLY MORNING! While the train is being evacuated, the cops yelled "WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!" "How comforting" was my initial thought. Then the faces of all the tension struck males around me turned white. Another man replied back, "What about us?!" I sat there pinching myself hoping that this was all just a dream. Didn't work. It was most definitely real. The cops waited outside with their rifles aimed, ready to fire as each individual was being escorted outside into the freezing snowy weather. After my cart fully filed out, the search had stopped.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT???

You can read it here. And here. And even here too.

Sun Times

ABC News

Chicago Tribune

Pictures from four days ago.

All I have to show for it is a higher blood pressure and some cool pictures. Why me?

Attention Please

2008-12-02T20:24:00.000-06:00

Say hello to the new President of the Business Club at Flashpoint Academy :)

Piezoelectricity

2008-11-28T08:35:00.001-06:00

Nearly two weeks ago I gave an informative speech at school covering the wide potential of piezoelectricity. What is piezoelectricity? Piezoelectricity is source of energy that is generated through specialized crystals when pressure is applied. Although many of us have never heard of this term, we have seen the products that piezoelectricity has brought into our own worlds. Today we see piezoelectrcity in microphones, watches, electric lighters, inkjet printers, and even that once bought Mother's day card that plays music when opened. With technology on the rise, pyroelectric generators are slowly becoming more marketable as the world demands for alternate sources of energy. With new breed technology amongst the 'piezo' industry, we are starting to see the true potential that may be coming. On that note, I present to you: The World's First Eco Night Club. Club Surya (London, UK) claims to produce 60% of the club's energy by the people dancing on the dance floor. TV's are powered through solar powered panels, drinks are sold in polycarbon cups, and you have to sign a pledge to support the environmental climate changes in order to get in. Here's how it works.

Here is a demonstrative video that paints a better picture:

HAPPY TURKEY DAY

2008-11-27T17:32:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Today marks a special day to be thankful for all the family and friends that we have. Now since everyone goes back home during the holidays, I thought it would be fun to show you guys a few homes that we can all work hard to achieve someday. So let us begin today's special edition of... [drumroll please]

Randy's Top Ten List
Today's topic at hand: TOP 10 MOST UNIQUE HOMES

#10 SEASHELL HOME [Berkeley, California]

#9 THE SKINNY HOUSE [London, UK]

#8 THE CROOKED HOUSE [Sopot, Poland]

#7 THE ORANGE HOUSE [Viana do Castelo, Portugal]

#6 THE SIMPSONS HOUSE [Springfield, Nevada]
What can I say? A lot of us have grown up on this show.

#5 THE SHOE HOUSE [Mpumalanga Province, South Africa]

#4 THE BUBBLE HOUSE [France]

#3 THE TOILET HOUSE [Suweon. South Korea]
Running out of toilet paper in this house would be a disgrace.

#2 THE PYRAMID HOUSE [Wadsworth, Illinois]
*I used to live minutes from this place. This six story building was plated in 24 karat gold before a tornado hit it and brought gold to the town of Wadsworth! The pyramid is surrounded by a body of water with a bridge to get to the actual building of the pyramid. Beyond that body of water are hieroglyphic walls surrounding the landscape of the property. The village of Wadsworth claimed that the Ramesses statue that you see violated the height regulations for free standing objects. While the village had hoped Jim Onan of Onan Garages would take it down, Onan dug up his property so that the Ramesses stood on its knees. Hence the big mound of gravel you see before your eyes. You can't stop someone who is trying to live like a king. Literally.

#1 THE PIANO HOUSE [An Hui Province, China]
There is an escalator inside that violin that leads into the house! Amazing.

Which home would you live in?

My September visit to the Art Institute in Chicago

2008-11-23T18:37:00.000-06:00

Chicago is getting an early start on Christmas this year at the Daley Center.

Here are some pictures I took at the Art Institute this past September. I would have liked to taken more but you can only take so many with a macbook and avoid looking like a fool.

Pergola With Oranges - by Thomas Fearnley

When I become a multi-millionaire (knock on wood), this will be the 1st monumental piece of art that I will look to purchase. Going back into Freshman year of high school, I took on a class called Mechanical Drawing. My favorite portion of that class just happened to involve orthographic projectional drawings. If you could imagine an isometric object drawn on a piece of paper and break it up into 3 different views: front view, bottom view, and a right-side view; you pretty much understand the basics of orthographic drawings. This concept compliments well with much of Fearnley's work. The detailed shadowing is just unbelievable. Not to mention I was staring into this perspective painting for ten minutes straight. And ten minutes well spent!

The Drinking - by Vincent van Gogh

This oil on canvas painting was created during the year of van Gogh's death. This was most likely painted based from his experiences in Paris. Van Gogh became a heavy drinker when he became acknowledged by many famous French Impressionists in the latter part of his nine year art career. Many wonder if he was actually drunk while creating this piece. My gut insists he was.

The Petite Creuse River - by Claude Monet

This is a great oil painting. You can visually see the amount of work put into this artwork. It was almost as if Monet wanted the audience to focus in on the smaller tree next to the river. What is the significance? The sequential changes of seasons shifting. Cool.

When all is said and done

2008-11-13T05:25:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos of Chicago that I took yesterday. I just love the city at night.

Believe it or not, this shot is 100% raw. The lighting looks amazing off the left edges of the bridge. The two natural flares on both ends of the shot came out really well.

This photo isn't anything special other than the fact that I have classes here at the Merchandise Mart. In 1930, the Merchandise Mart opened and instantly became the World's Largest Building at 400,000 square feet. This building is as long as two blocks with a height of 25 floors. Today the Merchandise Mart takes the title of the World's Largest Commercial building. This was also the home to NBC studios in Chicago before Flashpoint Academy bought the location. This incredible building is a top-notch mall for interior designers. And if I recall correctly, I believe there are 4 Starbucks inside this building. It's that big.

Here I am busting out my DOP skills.

I'm not sure if you can tell but there is a train crossing that bridge. The carbon-sulfur street lights sort of take away the natural illuminance of the picture but everything else turned out well. It's an awesome feeling to see this after a class that goes from 2-7:30pm. I'll leave you with this picture.

See you next time.

-Randy Lee

Goodbye Schaumburg

2008-11-02T08:01:00.000-06:00

It's been a while everyone. I've been keeping myself busy with school full-time, work on weekends, and using any other miniscule leisure time to do homework. This week in particular has been rougher than usual as I have been wrapping up a move. On that note, I'd like to personally thank those who have made this past year eventful, starting with: Family of course, Brian, Justin, Niko, Rich Liou, Clint, Mike Kim, Jason Cho, Michael Joe, and H5. It was great to use this past year to figure out what I wanted to do in life and prepare to succeed at it. I am a much more different person leaving Schaumburg than I was reentering (I was born in Schaumburg, moved to Wisconsin at a young age). I'm going to try to do some big things coming up so be on the lookout for that. I can always use the support of my audience. Once I get ahead of my school work, I will get some more pictures posted on this site. Maybe even some of me. See you next update!

-Randy

Solo Saturday

2008-10-18T14:02:00.000-05:00

photos courtesy of Howard Tullman

Michael Uslan came to Flashpoint Academy yesterday. It's not everyday that you wakeup and get to witness a speech from the originator of all the Batman films. *Note: "The Dark Knight" has now made over $1B in global box office sales. He shared an incredible story of perseverance throughout his career. Uslan's childhood dreams of creating a "Darker Image" of Batman came true in 1979 when he acquired the rights to distribute Batman. After years of rejection, M. Uslan described how difficult it was to make his vision a reality. If it wasn't for this man, we would still have a goofy derivative of Adam West's character originating from the 1960's TV series days. Family Guy must be getting to my head because I too have joined in on the Adam West cracks. Back to the speech. Uslan briefly answered a question about how he felt about the character 'Robin' and took a heavy sigh. One look at his face and I immediately felt the impression that Robin was just another marketing character gimmick created by Hollywood. Robin completely ruins the ulterior motive of vengeance that alludes Batman's definitive life purpose. I mean does Batman really have the time to be responsible for a sidekick who is always getting him into deeper shit? I think not. Thank you Michael Uslan!

1st Blog

2008-10-18T12:23:00.001-05:00

Hey Everyone!
What is this? What am I doing here? Yes, these are all valid questions that I myself am asking as well. The real reason I am making a blog is because my school, Flashpoint Academy, encourages engaging with media. What kind of Media Arts student would I be if I didn't spend time in the Media? For those who have read my blogs from previous years (dating back to xanga days), I'm back! I stole that line from one of my greatest idols. Quickly moving on, I'm not quite sure why I chose blogger.com for blogging but I am not holding back on my decision one bit. Sorry to Myspace, Facebook, and Xanga. I have found a new home. Anyways I am not going to promise I will post often but I can guarantee you that the content quality will be multiplied in tenfolds (With the current exception of the Justin Jumping Pics. That's going to take some time to top). So get yourself situated, relax, and be prepared as I unleash my creativity.

"I'm back"
-Michael Jordan

Here's another Michael Jordan quote:
“It wasn’t even one of my best creative shots.”
-Michael Jordan, on his soaring, midair, change-of-direction layup against the L.A. Lakers in Game 2 of the 1991 NBA Finals.

Quote refers to shot taken at :55 secs. NBA on NBC was it!

14 days until the 2008-2009 Chicago Bulls season starts. Anyone pretty excited about Derrick Rose? I sure am. In fact, I haven't been this excited since Michael took his last shot as a Bull to win the 1998 NBA Championship. And no, I never joined that foolish facebook blogring, "Ben Wallace is going to bring a Championship to Chicago" (With all due respect to those who did. Not really. What were you thinking?!? *Quizzical look), simply because we were still ONE post-player away from being considered contenders the past couple years. Well he's no longer our problem now. Enjoy your aging vet Cleveland! I think I speak for all Bulls fan when I say we are content and very satisfied with Drew Gooden. Hopefully I'll have time to attend several games this year and post some pictures.

-Randy Lee