So… a few days ago I saw an awesome movie called “The Orphan.” As a journalist and a movie critic for the hit television show “Sharia loves movies,” I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. The shooting along with the acting and the plot was definitely amazing. But there was only one thing that made me mad – THE PEOPLE!!

I was so upset I wanted to scream at those who were laughing and CURSING out loud during the whole movie.

I mean granted there are times I talk, jump, laugh and scream. But I will not disrespect others.

One woman shouted at the bunch and said “Shutup, people are trying to watch the movie!”

But the ignoramuses shouted back “This is a free country, you shutup @#!#@!$!”

When she said that I wanted to jump over my seat and tell them off but I couldn’t because I love my job.

But people.. when you’re at the movies don’t assume others want to hear your thoughts out loud. If you want host a show like me – that’s how you get people to listen.

One of our news stories today was about all of Ohio’s County Boards of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities officially changing their names.
Dropping the M.R. part of it and keeping just the Developmental Disabilities part.

I say, it’s about time. The “R” word is often used in offensive ways. For years now, developmentally disabled has been the mainstream, politically correct term. Finally the Lucas County agency and others will catch up with the language of the times.

I can understand why organizations hang on to dated names sometimes. For one, tradition. Second, it costs money to change everything, including signs, letterhead, software and websites. Convincing people that change is needed is almost always hard. Harder when it’s a lot of people you need to convince.

Lucas County Board of D. D. Superintendent John Trunk told FOX Toledo that he sees it as a way to use words and their power to influence attitude. A subtle way to affect positive change.

Normally we in the media get annoyed when names of streets or parks or stadiums change. It forces us to make a transition. For example, COSI to Imagination Station. We’re annoyed at first, but eventually, we all learn it and get used to it.

This is one to celebrate.

I’ve been featured in a story about the new “Face” competition! It’s alway great to be in the Toledo Free Press. I’m just hoping it’s not my last time.

Here’s the link:

http://www.toledofreepress.com/2009/07/31/fox-toledo-begins-seach-for-new-%e2%80%98face%e2%80%99/

I’m a big history buff. I blame my Dad. It all started when I was a kid. While most other families were heading to Cedar Point and other hot vacations spots, we toured historical sites across Ohio. Yes, there were times I wanted to head to an amusement park instead of cord fields that were battlefields during the War of 1812 – but we still had a good time.

That brings me to my latest blog video. The Henry County Historical Society (of which I am a member) recently unveiled its latest venture. The carriage house of the the historic Dr. Bloomfield House has been restored. It now holds several displays gear toward kids. It even has a partial mock up of a historic mercantile store.

The historical society had an ice cream social to official open the carriage house. Of course, I took my flip camera. Here’s a little video for you:

Cliff Lee’s gone to the Phillies.  The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner has taken his pitching prowess to another city.

But did the Indians get enough for Lee?  Did they say yes too soon into the process?

Here’s the deal: Philadelphia wanted Toronto’s Roy Halladay, but couldn’t get him because the Blue Jays held firm in their demands that they were going to get some bona-fide prospects in return.  Too often in pro sports, big-time proven players are given up for mediocre prospects who are overhyped.

Well, in my mind, the Indians could’ve AT LEAST gotten one of the so-called Phillie untouchables.  Lee isn’t THAT much removed from Halladay in terms of sheer ability.  Outstanding control, he’s been pitching great… he is a GREAT pitcher.

When I say a Phillie untouchable, I’m talking about getting either J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, or Dominic Brown.  Yes, prospects are all hype, but like all stereotypes, there are reasons why these guys get the hype.  Percentage-wise, they have a higher chance to succeed.

Now I do think the Indians got some good prospects in the trade.  Jason Donald is top notch.  So is Lou Marson.  Carlos Carrasco is pretty advanced for his age.  Apparently, the “prize” of the deal is Jason Knapp.  Let me tell ya, this prize can definitely strike out hitters.  Over 110 strikeouts in just over 85 innings is pretty awesome.  He’s 18 years old.  What’s not so awesome is that Knapp was recently shut down due to shoulder fatigue.  Doesn’t exactly sound like he has a Nolan Ryan arm.  Not that we should compare anybody to Nolan Ryan, but the point is that there’s a red flag, and when it comes to giving up somebody proven like Lee, those red flags need to be eliminated.  If I was Mark Shapiro, I would’ve accepted the fact that Drabek wouldn’t be included in the deal, but ask for Happ.  Get Happ, Carrasco, Marson, and Donald and hold firm to that.  Right now, the Phillies are in a win-win.  They got an ace that they needed, AND they have ALL their top bona-fide prospects.  Cleveland had leverage in this scenario and they flat-out didn’t use it.

Now I’ve learned in the past that it’s hard for me to criticize management considering they know more about their trade than I ever will, and Mark Shapiro did pull off the magical Bartolo Colon trade that netted Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and of course, Lee.

That’s the ironic part.  Lee was part of one of the best trades in franchise history.  For Cleveland’s sake, let’s hope this most recent Cliff Lee trade gets a result that is somewhat similar, because right now, it really does look like the Indians could’ve done better.

At the risk of having PETA and other groups turn against me, I write this blog in support of Michael Vick.

For crying out loud, let the guy play football.

Let’s think about what he’s done.  He was involved in a dogfighting operation.  Dogs killed each other.  Dogs were killed.  That is totally barbaric and yes, it’s cruelty to animals.

Let’s think about what Vick has had to face.  He served 23 months of jail time while the others who were involved in the trial got off with lesser sentences, so the stereotype that the athlete gets away with the crime does NOT apply here.  Actually, it may have backfired on Vick because he became a target for all the focus groups.  Vick also served time under house arrest and had to get a regular blue-collar job before being released from his duties in society.

Let’s say it again: he did 23 months of jail time.

I stress that because the NFL currently has players like Ray Lewis (let’s pretend he didn’t murder anybody or was involved in any murders) and Leonard Little (DUI manslaughter and then gets another DUI with which he gets off scott-free because of a loophole in the law).  Dead PEOPLE were involved in these circumstances.

Granted, Roger Goodell wasn’t the NFL commish back then, so maybe it’s unfair to compare to Lewis and Little.  How about Adam “I used to be Pacman” Jones then?    He’s in trouble time and time again (involving people, not pets), but before his release from the Cowboys, even he got a second chance.

For Vick, he didn’t find himself in trouble with the law.  He didn’t surround himself in bad environments a la Pacman or Brandon Marshall.  This guy was guilty of a crime, served his time, and now awaits the NFL’s decision as far as what’s up with his playing status.

The word is he’ll get a 4-game suspension.  Um… that means there’s no way he’ll be a starter anywhere unless he goes with a team in turmoil that switches quarterbacks late in the year.  His value automatically takes another hit.

Let’s face it- his value already took a cash hit because NO ONE in their right mind will endorse him.  His hope is to start fresh with a relatively small NFL city and work his way up.  But then there’s this 4-game-suspension potential.

So on one end, you could say he’s still getting a 2nd chance because he’ll be able to play after those 4 games, but on the other hand, a 4-game-suspension impacts him for this entire year and possibly more, because it limits which teams would be willing to stay patient with him, and which teams would be good for him to go to.

So hate me for writing this if you want, but for a rare moment in my life, I’m in agreement with T.O.

Michael Vick has suffered enough.  Make him do all sorts of community service, but don’t punish him any more with taking away the game he loves and the game he’s been without these last two years.

News Team Assemble!!!! (That’s a quote from Anchorman, one of my favorite movies of all time.) I headed to Monster Jam this past weekend, and I had a little help from the FOX Toledo news team. Friday night featured Anchor Shaun Hegarty, and Saturday night featured Meteorologist Doug Moats. It was lots of fun, and here’s the video to prove it.

So if you follow my blog…its most likely just my co-workers…you remember me writing about my first week with braces.

Its been nearly 6 weeks and I am truly seeing a difference.  I just looked at some old pictures and right now the gap in my teeth is much smaller!

(more…)

A couple of weeks ago I did a story about reselling clothing to places like “Clothes Mentor” and “Plato’s Closet.”

If you haven’t heard of them, these are stores that can buy back your clothes.  Most of the time, they won’t take back items that are old models of clothes.  Also you have to make sure they are great condition.

Regardless, this was a concept that I had always been curious about, and since I recently just moved, I knew that going through the closet was inevitable.

I wanted to make sure to understand the exact process, in terms of how to present the clothes you want to sell.

I found that basically you have to fold the clothes in an open box or container and have less than 30 items on your first visit. The store clerk will then go through your clothes (usually within about 20 minutes).

I had three huge bags of clothes and decided to pick the best ones and try to sell them.

I must say that most of the stuff was junk, and any profit would have been a plus.

At Plato’s Closet about 5 of my items were collected and I made about 20 bucks. Nothing too great..

I’m sure that if I had given them a lot of my best brand names, I would have done better.

Nonetheless, I wasn’t super impressed with the payback… but I was impressed by the selection.

Both Clothes Mentor and Plato’s had so many brands, and most of the clothes I bought that day were about $3.50 a piece.

I recommend going to a shop like this to buy clothes, especially if you are constantly changing wardrobe, and like to see something fresh in your closet.

I don’t think this was a huge payoff when it comes to profit, but it was a big payoff when it comes to finding new clothes for a great price.

I first heard about the Dragon Boat Race Festival in Toledo from a buddy of mine.  You may have heard of him or actually, you may have heard him at a Mud Hens game.  He’s Kevin Mullan- PA announcer at Fifth Third Field… a very underrated part of what makes a Mud Hens game so enjoyable.

Anyhoo, that’s for another day.  I had struggled to find ANY Asians in Northwest Ohio outside of the stereotypical nail salons, Americanized (for the most part) Asian restaurants, those in medical careers, and foreign exchange college students.

It’s something that’s very different for a guy like me who grew up in highly diverse environments.  In Calgary, they have a Chinatown.  In Houston, they have a HUGE Chinatown.  Basically, they both have  enough of a Chinese population to do this, so obviously as a result, there was a ton of Americanized Asian students who grew up with me.  I had friends of all races.  This was what I thought was the norm in America.  I’ve since learned that mainstream America is not quite that way.

Don’t get me wrong: I like Toledo.  The people are really nice here.  You all have treated me great.  There are GREAT sports to cover here.  I am truly a blessed man to be here doing what I do.  Heck, I’m able to cover the best female golfers in the world, the best collegiate golfers in the country, and that’s just the summer I’m talking about.  High school football, anyone?  Ohio State?  Michigan?  It’s great stuff.

So yea, I’m happy to be here, and I was even happier to discover that, even in a city not known for its Asian diversity, there was actually a Dragon Boat Race.  All my friends from around the country have reacted by saying, “They have that?”  Toledo, that’s a GREAT thing for people to say, because it means that other medium-sized cities don’t necessarily have the same kind of event.

This gives me the chance to represent my culture.  After all, this was entirely the reason I chose TV over radio and newspaper in college.  I figured TV was more influential in convincing the next generation of Asians that they can follow their dreams, that they don’t have to do the stereotypical careers that their parents might be pushing upon them.  For all the Asians in Northwest Ohio, this dragon boat race is MY way of saying I’m there for them.  I know it’s tough for some of them where English is not their number-1 language.  This is my way of helping them out, by showing that even though my language skills are catered more to Americans, I still deeply respect my roots.  I am not ashamed to say that I am Asian-American.  I’m not just American.  Well, actually, I’m Canadian, but you get the picture.

Plus, it’s really cool to be rowing a boat.  I’ve never done that before in my life, so this past week’s 2 practices were amazing experiences.  Our China Dragons team has been working hard as a group and I think we’ve really come together.  Not that I’m predicting victory, but this shall be extremely fun.

The Dragon Boat races take place Saturday morning at the Docks.  There’ll be more coverage on FOX Toledo News, First at 10 on Saturday night.