Party at the Noraebang

  

     Hello world, this is Angry Tofu speaking. Today I'm going to tell you about the wonderful phenomenon of Noraebang. Noraebang (노래방 in Korean) can literally be translated to mean "song room". It is a room in which there is a karaoke machine and several chairs for people to sit in. Although the setup sounds simple, Noraebang are immensely popular in Korea, where many adults go with colleagues after work dinners to sing their hearts out.
     So why am I talking about this? The reason is that I went to a Korean restaurant/noraebang this weekend. It was a party my mom put together. It was great. Fabulous. We all herded into this room filled with a couch and a gigantic table, and then tried to figure out the instructions on the remote, which were not in English. After a few unsuccessful attempts, we were able to get the contraption to work, and also discovered that every time a song started, the lights would turn off and a disco ball on the ceiling would start shining colored lights everywhere.
      The best part of all, however, was the television screen displaying the lyrics. For every song that started, a video would also play behind the lyrics. They showed at random, and had absolutely nothing to do with the song that was playing. The best part was that every single one was incredibly dramatic, usually involving car accidents and unrequited love, although it was impossible to be sure because we could only hear the incredibly loud music.
     Possibly the best song/video pairing, unintentionally of course, was when a friend of my mom's decided to sing "Deck the Halls". As soon as the song started up, so did the video. It was about a homeless man. Really? A video showing the grit and grime of street living behind the jaunty tune of a Christmas song? Even better was when, just as the chorus started up, the homeless man on the screen bent down and started smoking the remnants of cigarette butts that had been strewn on the ground. Nice.

So merry Christmas y'all, and I wish that each and every one of you finds your very own cigarette butt-smoking homeless guy.


  

Finals Week

Hello world, this is Angry Tofu speaking. As I said in my last post, finals are quickly approaching. They start next Tuesday.
    My entire high school is losing its mind. Finals are all anyone thinks about, 24/7. We all plan on making study groups, then back out on them because we are too busy studying. The teachers are handing out study guides, and the seniors try to no avail to keep the underclassmen from exploding with anxiety. So how can anyone survive unscathed? Well, personally my guess is that anyone expecting to come out of finals without a few claw marks and bandages will be sorely disappointed. After all, finals are usually about 10-15% of our grades. Good lord.
     Fortunately, my friends and I know the key to survival. There is one way to keep yourself alive, and one way only. And that way is ice cream. If you succeed, eat ice cream. If you fail, also eat ice cream. Either way you win, because while good grades look nice and pave the way to success and all that, ice cream tastes good. And that's really the most important thing.

 

Hee hee hee. 

Bohemian Rhapsody...Calculus Version

Hello world, this is Angry Tofu apologizing. I'm terribly sorry for my recent absence. I know I said about a week (how long has it been?) ago that I would write the next day. I lied.
    Please forgive me, and know that I won't disappoint you in the future (hopefully). Unfortunately this is Finals Season in high school-land, meaning that I've been spending a lot of time studying for the impending tests of doom. Anyway, to apologize I will share with you a super cool video. It's about calculus, but really so much more...

Even if you remember nothing from calculus, this is pretty awesome.

I'm Back!

     Hello World, this is Angry Tofu speaking and I want you all to know that I am back. I have very little to tell you about the month of November; that month was not good to me.
     Now that it is December I am looking forward to the prospect of extremely cold weather, snow, and lights decorating everything. I love winter. I am not a person who likes seasons based on the comfort that they provide weather-wise, instead I tend to like them because of the drama and inspiration they provide. I know, it's very adolescent of me. According to this rubric, summer is my least favorite season. I can't stand the sunshine! Where is the drama in that, people?
      It's a bit late (according to Angry Tofu time) so I am going to have to end this post now. Don't worry, I'll be writing a lot more tomorrow.
     If you find yourself lacking entertainment sources on the internet, I have a temporary solution for you! I recently came across this blog, which I found very amusing

     http://toxichairavenger.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-squishy-in-between.html

Enjoy! 

Obamas I have known

Hello world, this is Angry Tofu speaking. First off, I have a very important message:

OBAMA :)

     And now for a list of amazing Obama puns to commemorate the occasion.

1. Are you ready to Barack and Roll? 

    (Thanks to Chicken Lizard man for that one)

2. Baroque Yo Mama
     (A nickname given by the young Obama to himself)


                         3.

                    4.

                 

              BARACKTOPUS

And this one's just funny...

And this is sweet :)

NaNoWriMo

     Hello world, this is Angry Tofu speaking. November first marked the beginning of the best month ever. November is the best month out of them all because NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month takes place during it. From the first of November until midnight on the thirtieth, participants are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. When you finish writing your novel, you send a copy to the NaNoWriMo website, which then scrambles it (to avoid plagiarism) and produces your final word count. If it is 50,000 words or more, you have won!
     Of course, the winning is kind of a "pat yourself on the back because you're super awesome" kind of winning than a "congratulations, here's your prize money" kind. What you get is mostly your own satisfaction, especially because you would be surprised at how many people actually manage to complete this thing. It would be expensive to give prizes to them all.
     However, there are some prizes in the form of significant discounts on various merchandise on the NaNoWriMo website, such as writing programs and coffee mugs. Plus, on the website there is TONS of cool stuff, like forums, dares (where people "dare" you to do certain things with your storyline), pep talks from professional writers, plot ideas, and general writing tips.
    I highly encourage everyone to try this! It sounds awful, trying to chug out almost two thousand words a day, but if you are able to find someone to do it with you it is incredibly fun. I was able to finish last year, along with two good friends of mine. We had a "write-off" at my house where we stayed up all night just writing on our laptops while wearing snuggies and eating bbusheo-bbusheo (Korean snack).

Go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more information!

However, this also means that during this month my blog posts will be quite few and also sporadic. I apologize! Please hang in there for me :)

The Fate of Oedipus Rex

     Hello all, this is Angry Tofu speaking. In my English class we just finished reading the play "Oedipus Rex" (yes, that class does seem to be a never-ending stream of works all mentioning Theseus, ruler of Athens. Has anyone else noticed that?). In case you're not familiar with the play, it was written by Sophocles in Ancient Greece in something-something B.C. The basic plot is that a king and a queen received an oracle that their son would be fated to kill the king and then marry his mother, the queen. When they had a son, the king and queen left him on a hillside to die. At the start of the play we meet the full-grown Oedipus, who has obviously survived, and is married to Queen Jocasta and together they rule the city of Thebes. As the play progresses we find out that Oedipus has indeed fulfilled the prophecy. Jocasta turns out to be his mother, and her first husband, now dead, was Oedipus' father.
     Weird, right? Well, despite the creepiness of the whole plot, that isn't the point. The point is that a person cannot outrun their fate, even if they think they already have. However, I think that Sophocles was wrong. People can outrun their fate! Here's how: don't marry people who are twice your age while also not knowing a single thing about their past. There. Done. Fate avoided.
     See, halfway through the play we realize that Jocasta doesn't even know a thing about Oedipus' life before he came to Thebes. If she had just asked she would have put together, or at least had a suspicion that the marriage was a bad idea. I think a mentor relationship between Jocasta and Oedipus would have been a better idea. Much less drama that way.

Look, here are some danger-zone celebrity couples:

1. Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart: 22 year difference

Prognosis: Possibly her dad

2.  Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas: 25 year difference

Prognosis: Probably her dad

3. Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn: 35 year difference

Prognosis: He is her dad