MyNameIsBen.com

Under Construction

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:57:29 -0500

Help!

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:31:46 -0500

Mynameisben.com has never felt the touch of a real designer before. Can you help?

Another side project (as if I needed one)

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:26:49 -0500

Beer brewing adventures: Fourth Avenue Brew

Torso Extension

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:37:19 -0500

Snowman 2 from Benjamin Lim on Vimeo.

After discovering that the snowman we created yesterday was tilting, my brother and I decided we needed to straighten him out. We also concluded that he wasn't really very "giant" despite what I may have claimed. As a result, in addition to being straightened out, our snowman also received a torso extension. As we were working on the procedure, my mom unexpectedly got involved and created a little partner for our snowman.

The first 35 seconds of the video is just of snow falling. After that, the action begins.

Merry Christmas!

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:52:58 -0500

Giant Snowman from Benjamin Lim on Vimeo.

The X-Files: The Complete Collector's Edition

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:24:29 -0500

Nowadays, I don't spend nearly as much money as I used to on DVDs. The recent acquisition of this collection was one exception. Amazon was selling it for the ridiculously low price of $123 and I gave in about a year after it first caught my eye at a much higher price point. I've only watched a handful of episodes so far but the show is just as entertaining as I remember it being.

While on the topic of television and also in the interest of full disclosure: Lee and I recently finished the Korean drama "Love Story in Harvard." I can't really do the series justice with my own description so I'm going to type out the blurb that's on the back of the Chinese DVDs I got. Please bear in mind that all the typos and weird punctuation are exactly as found on the box.

In the most competitive place in the world,they meet each other.in the foreign harvard place,struggle for their dreams and love struggle for the lucidity making progress ambition and romance in life.On the hard wooden chair,the books which are getting more and more corrodent during the several hundred years, and the nameless souls which being with the time.the light in the harvard library would not br turned off.the young people will stay over night to study as a hundred years ago.This TV play represents the most competitive place in the world,different typts of people in harvard.though their intentions are different.but they are the same :throwing themselves into the study process whenever they are pleased happy ardor or painful.the dramatix personaes are the nucleus guys.

This was the first Korean drama I've actually taken the time to watch and I have to admit that I'm slightly impressed. It was undeniably entertaining and the writers have to be commended for coming up with some of the most absurd plot twists ever. It also provided some interesting and hilarious insight into how Koreans perceive American attitudes toward Asians. Unfortunately, the show's depiction of life at Harvard Law School was deemed wildly inaccurate by Lee. However, the first half of the series that takes place there is saved by a fantastically hokey performance from the guy who played the Riddler in the old Batman television show.

Next up on the too watch list:

The Wire - Season 5
Mad Men
The X-Files

Re"design"

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:45:24 -0500

I use the word "design" loosely to describe the new look of the site. It's still a work in progress but I don't expect it will get much better than this with my limited abilities. This all came about because I was getting pretty sick of the old look of the site and my use of modules in my previous Movable Type setup was nonexistent.

I've done a better job of breaking out bits of the page into individual modules this time around. That should reduce the amount of repeated code throughout the site and make creating new pages much simpler. I've also added my Twitter feed to the right side of the page and I'm working on putting together a portfolio for freelance web work.

If you have feedback regarding the design, please let me know. I'm in no way emotionally attached to the current look and feel of the site.

Work Resumes on NRNS DVD

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:41:12 -0500

After too long of a hiatus, work has resumed on the No Retreat No Surrender DVD that I'm making. This is the first of a handful of covers I plan on making. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going and get this thing finished in the next couple months.

Halloween 2008

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:53:24 -0500

Snack Attack

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:41:51 -0500

Over the summer I decided it would be fun to write a game using Ruby. The work I do at Amex as a Ruby on Rails developer is for web stuff but I wanted to try building a computer game using the Ruby language and I was able to find a framework called Gosu with which to do it.

The result was this: Snack Attack

I dunno how I went so long without mentioning it here but now you know. I've been meaning to update it so you can play without creating an account but I haven't been able to find the time amidst all the other projects I'm working on.

In other news...

After a couple months of commuting to work by bike, my casual riding has blossomed into a full blown obsession and I can say with some confidence that Werner is one of the best purchases I've ever made. As long as there's not any rain expected that day I now bike and, as a result, I've started to really lose patience with the subway system in the cases I do ride it. Standing still on a train just can't compete with weaving in and out of New York City traffic, even if the trains actually move faster.

I've found that despite the train's much higher top speed, in many cases I've found biking to be a faster way to get around, mainly because you can always take a much more direct route and there's not as much stop and go. My commute takes anywhere from half an hour to an hour by subway and is consistently about 45 minutes when I bike. Not too shabby. The winter here might be a little rough but I'm going to try to ride at least once a week. I'll be sure to keep everybody updated on how that goes...

Crazy VP Candidates From Years Past

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:41:15 -0500

John McCain clearly stole a page straight out of Admiral James Stockdale's playbook. Stockdale was Ross Perot's running mate in 1992 and appears to have been quite the character.

Great Nike Ads

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:38:20 -0500

Despite what you might think of Nike, these two commercials that they released this past summer were just brilliant pieces of filmmaking. The montage they put together to celebrate the olympics is sure to put a knot in the stomach of any sports fan while Guy Ritchie's Nike soccer commercial made for the Euro Cup is by far the best thing he's ever done.

The version of Ritchie's commercial that I've embedded is the directors cut which I don't think was ever aired on TV. It's a little over three minutes long and worth watching even if you've seen the shorter versions.

The Omnivore's 100

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:23:08 -0500

A food lover's meme I came across via Serious Eats that originated at the blog Very Good Taste:

(the ones I've tried are bolded)

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu or shaojiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

McD's Cheeseburger + Sriracha

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:10:05 -0500

This past May, while I was in Austin attending South by Southwest, I managed to prove wrong the widely believed notion that anything tastes better fried. A fried avocado taco I had at an otherwise fine taco place was a disappointment and left me speechless.

Last night, an idea came to me, one that would test the theory that all food tastes better with Sriracha sauce. This might not be a belief that's as widespread as that of the magic of fried foods, but anybody who has experienced the sauce will accept it as fact.

The test subject was a McDonald's cheeseburger. Piled high with french fries and topped with a liberal dose of Sriracha, the burger tasted pretty damn good but wasn't the homerun I expected it to be. I'm on the fence about this one and have to say that the test proved to be inconclusive. Perhaps some other brave soul will try it as well and provide a second opinion?

Hello, My Name Is Werner

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:54:03 -0500

This is Werner, he's a red fixed-gear Iro Mark V. He's named after Werner Herzog because I expect the bike and myself to go on many adventures together and if there's anybody I'd like to adventure with, it's Mr. Herzog.

So far we've mainly stuck to my neighborhood as we've gotten acquainted with one another. Not being able to coast was a little odd at first but I'm quickly getting used to it. Cruising down 5th avenue on a nearly silent bike is pretty awesome and being able to get to Sunset Park for lunch in less than 15 minutes is a beautiful thing. My food foraging expeditions into Brooklyn had largely been confined to areas near subway stations but that looks like it's going to change. I'd already known getting around on a bike was generally considered to be the fastest mode of transportation in the city but I'm only now realizing just how much faster it is than taking the subway.

Werner did suffer his first injury yesterday on my trip back home from Sunset Park. The roads around there aren't in the greatest shape and after hitting a small pothole my front tire suddenly went PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHAWWWWWWWWWWWWW~! Thirty blocks of walking later, I was at my local bike shop getting the tube replaced on my front tire. Note to self and others: Dixon's bike shop in Park Slope is one of the few bike shops I've been to where all the employees are not huge assholes.

Other thoughts, observations and opinions from the past couple months:

Modern sports stadiums are incredibly ugly. Faux-neoclassical columns do not lend a newly constructed building any sort of gravitas. Also, don't demand public funding for a stadium and then not offer any affordable seating. I'm looking at you Yankee Stadium. I'll let the Met's off the hook on this one because they're going to have a Shake Shack inside Citi Field and that makes just about anything okay.

San Francisco is a cool city but it's overrated. The public transportation there left a bit to be desired and it's a tough city to walk (probably why the bike scene there is so awesome). However, I did have some great food including a burrito in the mission and one of the best meals of my life at...

CHEZ PANISSE! Alice Waters, oh how I love you. Located in Berkeley, Chez Panisse is considered one of the best restaurants in the country (and the world) and it completely lived up to expectations. Lee and I ate at the cafe upstairs and were absolutely blown away by how fresh everything was. Sanddab, salmon, spaghetti, everything was perfectly and simply prepared, allowing the quality of the ingredients to do all the work. Lee's dessert was a fruit bowl consisting of one whole plum and a handful of berries. The plum was called "Harold's Miracle Plum," and it really lived up to its name. I assume Harold is a farmer friend of Waters'. I can only hope to have friends someday with gardens that yield such amazing fruit. Who would've ever thought an unadorned plum could be a revelatory experience? Fun Fact: Waters cooked the shoe that Herzog ate in Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.

Another meal in SF was a huge letdown. In-N-Out burger was so horribly overrated that what I would normally consider to be a pretty good burger was disappointing and even annoying. So many people I know spend so much time gushing over how amazing the food is that I expected the sky to open up and start raining Skittles when I took my first bite. Needless to say, that didn't happen. The first two bites were pretty damn good though, I must admit. The bottom bun was nicely toasted resulting in a nice crunch. As the bun quickly grew soggy, the burger quickly became average. Better than an average fastfood joint but it certainly can't compete with Shake Shack. The animal style fries I had were pretty good but a bit much for one person to finish.

Portland has a LOT of hippies. I knew it was kinda known for that but I was still shocked by the sheer number of hippies on every block I walked through.

Le Pegion and Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland have opened my eyes to the magical combination that is maple and bacon. At Le Pegion, I had a dessert that consisted of cornbread topped with maple ice cream and bacon chunks. At Voodoo Doughnuts I enjoyed a maple bar with a piece of bacon on top. Genius.

I'm not going to lie, McDonald's cheeseburgers are teh hotness.

The Dark Knight was tons of fun but shockingly pretentious and clumsy in its attempts at being socially and politically relevant. Nolan appears to have a hard-on for Michael Mann and that's totally fine with me (because I do too) but his action sequences are nowhere near as well presented as those of Mann's. Ledger's performance is as good as everybody says but I found the Joker to ultimately be a pretty uninteresting character. A force of nature I couldn't take my eyes off, yes, but interesting? Not really. I hate to say this, but despite all the love Ledger is getting now, I'd be shocked if he's still as highly regarded a couple decades from now.

The X-Files movie was a pleasant surprise. Mulder and Scully ARE interesting and fun characters and seeing them again was great. The movie is just a big budget, glorified episode of the show but that's fine with me. The show was just a series of low budget short films. I've even admitted to many people that I enjoyed this movie more than the Dark Knight...

Why does all the coverage of U.S. Baseball keep calling them an "international superpower?" Everyone seems shocked by the lack of a dominating performance coming from team USA but they've done very little in international tournaments to warrant such surprise.

Cuban Wheat Shakes are the bomb diggity.

Ba Xuyen in Sunset Park makes the best Banh Mi I've had in New York. Saigon Bakery is pretty damn good but Ba Xuyen is out of this world good.

I recently went to Di Fara for the third time and can now say without a doubt that it's the real deal. Lee and I split a half green olive, half artichoke pie and ate for long periods in stunned silence as other customers watched us down the entire pizza.

Pineapple Express had some great moments but was overall a disappointment. David Gordon Green is capable of so much more and it's a bit frustrating to watch him waste his time working on something like this. That's not to say I wouldn't have done the same thing if I was him. James Franco does give a great performance but the movie ultimately felt like Harold and Kumar make an action movie, minus Harold and Kumar. One major thing the movie had going for it is a potential reference to No Retreat, No Surrender. I'm not convinced it was actually a reference but I also wouldn't be surprised if it was. I'd say there's about a 50/50 chance it was.

Scarpetta, a new Italian restaurant in the Meatpacking District, recently got a lot of much deserved press as the local food critics published their reviews. Lee took me there for my birthday and we had a great meal. While everything was good the highlight was the handmade spaghetti with an impossibly delicious tomato sauce. Who knew spaghatti could be that good?

I recently read the Watchmen for the second time and was better able to appreciate the brilliance of the book. Once you know the plot you get a chance to pay more attention to the meticulous craftsmanship that went into the construction of the book.

The trailer for the Watchmen is awesome but also very worrisome. The director of the 300? Really?

Lolita is a really really good book so far. Good but creepy.

Synchronized diving is one of the silliest sports in the Olympics. I find it so arbitrary considering that almost anything could be made into a synchronized sport. Synchronized shotput anybody? Nothing inherent to diving seems to indicate to me that it's more fit for synchronization than any other sport requiring precise physical actions.

The 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver which is near Seattle. I'm so there.

Waking up at 5am to watch Olympic soccer is pretty rough. I'm a pretty emotionally stable guy but waking up at 5am and watching your team get eliminated on back to back heartbreaking games can be a bit much to handle when you're sleep deprived. Nevertheless, I didn't cry myself back to sleep. Seriously.

The Wire is an amazing television show but claims by others that it's "the most important television show of all time" are just silly. I mean, what does that even really mean?

I've watched the first episode of Mad Men and am impressed so far.

The idea that the Olympics are sacred and that politics shouldn't be a part of them are naive and misguided. If it's an issue involving the lives of millions of people, the time and the place for speaking out about it should be anywhere and anytime people are listening. The IOC needs to grow a pair.

The opening ceremonies by Zhang Yimou were pretty spectacular.

Metal Gear Solid 4 was tons of fun to play during the little actual gameplay that it contains. Most of the damn game felt like watching a really cheesy Japanese movie. I loved it but is a 90 minute cut scene at the end of a game really necessary?

Fixed-gear bikes are a popular hipster accessory and as a result, I've found myself being self conscious sometimes when I'm riding around. I probably look like the biggest poser ever but I figure any snob desperate enough to judge me is probably the real poser.

The Mariners are horrible and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

The Red Bulls actually seem to be turning their season around. Perhaps I should look into booking tickets to this year's MLS Cup?

Going nuts in the U.S. Supporters section at the U.S. vs Argentina game at Giant's Stadium was one of the most fun experiences of my life. Hopefully, the U.S. vs Cuba game in D.C. this October will be just as fun.

Driving from Portland to San Francisco in one day while taking the scenic route down the Oregon Coast is a bad idea. However, if you must do it, be sure to stop by Voodoo Doughnuts in the morning and get at least a half dozen doughnuts to fuel you along the way.

Radiohead at All Points West was predictably spectacular but being surrounded by Kings of Leon fans so that you can save your spot gets old really really fast. It was worth it though (barely).

My brother got me an 8-inch Global chef's knife and it's super badass. I love it and have been looking for pretty much any excuse to cut something.

Bicycle helmets make my already big head look absolutely gigantic.

It's tempting to go riding without a helmet since I totally trust my own riding abilities but it's the abilities of other people using the road that I don't trust. With my cynical worldview in regards to the general intelligence of the average person, it shouldn't be surprising that I don't trust most people to safely operate big metal machines at high speeds.

The fact that female gymnasts perform their floor routines to music and supplement their acrobatics with dancerly flourishes is pretty regressive. Yes, I realize they're all 16 year old girls but still is that really necessary?

Some Barack Obama fanatics are so obnoxious that I almost don't want to vote for him just to spite them. They're lucky that John McCain is even more annoying than they are.

Welcome back to blogging Vadim. Hopefully this venture into the world of nerdom (as if it could get any worse considering the dumb sci-fi crap you're always reading) will last longer than your Myspace blog did.

I've got more stuff to add but this post is getting way too long and I should probably go to bed. More observations and opinions soon...