I've been taking Tai Chi on and off for a few months, only because I feel like I need to calm down my Chi and get it to circulate better. Some people don't believe Chinese Wushu has anything to do with Chi, but I think it does. To get a better peace of mind, I decided to look into Tai Chi sword.
Usually I take Long Fist or Straight Sword during my classes, but I saw a Tai Chi sword class and it didn't look bad. And since I've taken Wushu for several years, I was looking at the Sifu and he definitely knows his stuff. So I ventured in there today and w00t! I really loved it! Not only that, but he was pretty happy to get a student who knows Wushu, so he sped up some of the forms and also taught me Tai Chi Fan. I love Tai Chi Fan. It's faster than Tai Chi Sword or Fist, and it has some of the powerful Wushu moves in there. Loves it. I'm hoping that taking these classes will help me in my main Wushu class. I've been working hard on getting back some more flexibility.
I think I'll be going back.
The funny thing is the Sifu said, "I could tell when you walked in that you have studied Wushu before. I can always tell who has been trained and who is completely new."
Yay!!!!! That motivates me to keep working harder on being healthy and focusing my energy and concentration. I have so much stress lately that I need to focus all of that energy somewhere, so that I can remove it from my daily life.... or at least let it out all at once. Stress is toxic, you know. There is one Chinese girl in there that's pretty good, but it's because she memorized the entire 40 moves. I'll memorize it over time and I'm hoping with my background I can get my techniques better because they look like they're going through movements. I want to look like I'm really doing Tai Chi Kung Fu, not just going through the poses. Otherwise, all my years of practicing would have gone to waste.
So I've always felt I'm pretty good at predicting trends in pop-culture and also the fate of artists. I don't know why, but for some reason I've always been good at seeing where the real talent lies. I am pretty good at reading people, or at least reading charisma, and when I watch someone in movies, on stage, live performances, or concerts, I have a pretty good idea how far they'll go. In my next life, I think I would make a really great casting director. I think that job would be the perfect job for me.
Anyway, so about Leah Dizon. Not sure if anyone actually knows who is she anymore, but shes a Chinese-Filipino + French (white) Mix. Born in Las Vegas, very American, and grew up modeling at car shows... wait, I mean, "modeling" at car shows. She hung out with mostly Asians/Filipinos, and this meant a lot of club promotions, Asian import car shows, a lot of photobook car modeling, which lead to some pretty revealing pictures on her website. Her claim to fame was the latter. Because she looked just like a doll, the Japanese Otaku men loved it. She had millions of downloads from Japan, and some of her fans told her to go to Tokyo and try to find a career. Which she did. Which made her even more famous.
Here's the thing. Japanese people LOVE doll-like women. In fact, the preference of this paternalistic society is submissive, quiet, doll-like obedient women. I'm not going to get into why this is, it would take too long of an explanation and I would just tell you to go read "Setting of the Sun" if you really want to know. But yes, Japanese men, and Japanese society overall, love, love, LOVE girls like look porcelain. And Leah Dizon is a perfect porcelain doll... just Asian enough to pass as a half-Japanese, with full lips.
Additionally, all the past super popular stars in Japan have similar features. Namie Amuro, Hamasaki Ayumi, the girls of MoMusu --- etc. Everyone looks like cute dolls.
I'm not going to say too much about her past or her personality because I don't know it, but these are the pictures that got her famous in the US and in Japan initially:
Anyway. There's way more revealing ones on the web, just google it. So needless to say, you could wonder a bit at her priorities in life.... But whatever the case, she came to Japan, made a few photobooks, sold millions of copies, and landed herself a singing contract. She came out with an album, the songs sucked except for 1 (imo) but her MV's were entertaining. She's not super crappy at dancing (considering she's American and has most definitely clubbed quite a bit) and shes got average charisma, and she was still young and attractive (21/22) so she had pretty much all that she could going for her. This was the only song I thought was decent:
And so.... she got so popular that she even performed on Kokahu (horrible singing, was off-tune). Moving on, she announced she got pregnant. And back then I am pretty sure I made a bet with a friend that she was going to end up marrying him, he was going to cheat and divorce her within a year, and she was going to be a big has-been nobody and forced to move back to the US. And... guess what happened:
From Wikipedia: In a September 26, 2008 blog post on her official website, she announced that she was engaged to Bun (分?),[18][19] a Japanese stylist whom she had met while shooting "Love Paradox" seven months before. Additionally, she wrote that she was expecting her first child in late April of the following year on her official website.[20] On October 10, 2008, while Dizon was three months pregnant, the couple married in a traditional Japanese ceremony.[21][22] These initial stages were chronicled and announced during her Communication!!! Album Tourseveral days after the marriage. Dizon was quoted as saying, "I have important news to tell you. I have actually got married! I'm pregnant, too. My family and I are very happy. Now, I think they'll have a lot of difficulties and changes. Of course, it is a little scary. But also, I am interested and looking forward to beginning a new life."[23] The couple's daughter, Mila (美蘭Mira?), was born on April 24, 2009.[24][25] On February 14, 2010, Dizon appeared on live television and discussed making cookies for Bun. Subsequently, she confessed that their relationship had been aversive ever since the birth. That same month, she was featured in a spread for Glamourous Magazine, where she discussed motherhood and her hopes to return to the entertainment industry. It was her first magazine cover in nearly two years.[26][27] On October 30, 2010, she confirmed news reports that she and Bun had separated and filed for divorce earlier that month, and she is currently seeking full custody of their daughter. According to Dizon, the split was due to "busy schedules and inability to meet regularly differing opinions toward raising children" alongside "irreconcilable differences".[28][29] According to a statement released on February 22, 2011 by Dizon's agency, Dizon received full custody of their daughter Mila and details of their arrangement were private. The divorce was finalized in December 2010. Dizon currently resides in New York City with Mila, where she is taking acting classes. Dizon has stated that she would like to return to Japan for work in the future.[30][31][32]
I wish I remember who I made that bet with and how much money I bet, because it was soooo obvious, like lightening hitting a huge tree, that her career was over. First of all, when media asks your finance whats the best part that he loves about you, and he says, "Your Ass," that's a big sign that he probably doesn't give a shit about you. And too bad it was bad management from whomever was managing her (I'm assuming her parents, because if you look at how they let her wildly do so many car shows and wear such revealing clothes at a young age) they probably didn't steer her in the right direction or give her a good teaching on values.
No matter what, anyone with half a brain could have seen that it was over. First off.... it's hard for talented Japanese people in Japan to even break through the industry. BoA is super talented and as a Korean, it's still hard for her to maintain her popularity. And she's a superb dancer, an above average singer, quite pretty, and very charismatic. And fluent in Japanese. So.... if it's hard for her... how hard is it going to be for a 22 year old, non-Japanese, intermediate Japanese speaker with hoey pictures to make it in Japan? Her popularity in Japan would have been at most 3-4 years before people got tired of her -- she just doesn't have much to offer besides her looks. And, she does not age well. Perhaps it's the white part of her, but in some pictures you can already see her aging at 22.
So I guess in the end, it doesn't matter what she could have done to save her career because it was basically just a good 15 minutes of fame. Had she aborted the child, she could have stayed in Japan awhile longer, got better at Japanese, and made another album. But then she would have still aged, her voice wouldn't have gotten that much better, and she wouldn't have enough of an understanding of Japan, Japanese people, Japanese culture, or have a good enough command of Japanese for her to even be a sub-host on a variety show. I guess it's a dead end, one just would have probably made her more money. The uphill battle in the end is way too steep for her since she's only mildly talented, with 75% of her luck being her appearance.
Well that's all I have to say about that. Mostly... I called it.
Leah Dizon Pregnant
Edit: Okay, I have to add a picture of her ex-husband. Not hot at all, right? (he's the guy on the right with the hat, supposedly he looks like "Johnny Depp."). He also used to work with BoA, and there were pictures taken of BoA "kissing" a long haired guy, supposedly one of her stylists, but nothing ever happened after that. I hope it wasn't him.
I have to admit that this dude has seriously got some good style. BoA's always showed up in awesome style everywhere she goes, and Leah's got some great outfits in her videos. This outfit has got to be hands down my favorite: Check it out at 1:25 into the video. Seriously one of my favorite outfits, EVER.
I wrote a post about my recent trip to Xi'an and the window closed without me being able to finish posting.
So I'm not going to rewrite everything.
I will summarize everything I said with 1 video and a sentence.
WU ZE TIAN is AWESOME. This is a total FOB drama but I LOVED it as a child. Plus the song is awesome and I will sing it at Cashbox!! (with my parents because they watched this over and over when I was a kid). lol.
Okay, maybe a few more words.
I used to watch movies and documentaries about her all the time as a kid. I'm fascinated by her. She was the first woman to break the glass cieling for women and was the first feminist in China. She tried to empower women by giving them more credit for the things that they accomplished, and balanced the noble classes by forcing everyone to take an exam before being qualified to be placed in an official position -- which gave chances to the poor but intelligent and hard working. She was no more "evil" than any other male Emperor, but was ostracized in history only because she was a woman. There are hundreds of evil Emperors and Eunuchs that did much much more horrible things. Additionally, she killed no more innocent people than the Qin Shi Huang Di, the first Emperor of China.
Anyways, she's amazing. I wish I could get every piece of literature about her history and her life.
Communication seriously takes so much effort! At home, at work,everything takes sooo much effort. When i get home lately, i just end up silent watching random videos on youtube. sigh.
The time to start is now
and i can show you how
come with me and ill let you see
a bigger the world than before
I have used this for 6 months. It works every time. And I must say, besides L'Occitane products, and some Origins products, I have never had a product work this quickly... I mean, instantly, after I washed it off.
Pretty amazing and totally worth the money.
Problem is, now that I've run out, I'm going to have to wait till I go back to the airport to buy some more. This stuff ain't cheap!
Finalllllllly. Wow what a roller coaster ride these last 3 months have been! My stress levels have really been put to the test. I realized that I spend a lot of time just observing during the day. Usually people get off work earlier in the US (since there are laws for OT), but here, we don't. So I spent a lot more time at work, and a lot more time being silent about work since not many people even know what kind of work I do, and explaining it makes me tired.
So there's a lot of stress that I keep inside. I've started running even though I hate running. I eat more fruits and vegetables. I go to bed earlier, I wake up earlier. I'm hoping this change in my life will keep me on some sort of healthier cycle so I can better cope with the everyday stress. So far, it seems okay.
Trips to Xian and the other places I mentioned haven't materialized yet. But I will make it happen soon.
