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Wii

The Sony PS3 has been out for 3 days now but I will not be getting one. Why? The available game titles do not look too exciting. It costs an inordinate amount of money. Plus, the Nintendo Wii was launched just 2 days later and I had been drooling over it ever since it was announced at E3 2005. I can go on and on about the superiority of the Wii over the PS3. Suffice it to say, Nintendo never ceases to amaze me with their creativity (look how well the DS is doing!) and marketing efforts. Nintendo has built up a community of die-hard loyal fans of all ages who have been interacting in all sorts of ways through the DS, and now they can build...

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My Skewed Perception

When I was little I believed that some people were better at drawing because they had better motor skills. In reality, it has more to do with perception and brain functions: the ability to differentiate space, light, and shadows. Steady hands are a plus, but they are not required. An old art teacher once told me that I had a rare gift of seeing color. She said that I was better at differentiating and mixing color than some of her former colleagues, who were professional color mixers. (Yes, this profession existed before the advent of computers.) Now although I may not use this gift in every day life (dressing, makeup, etc), I often find myself staring at an interesting color and mixing it in my head. And I've given up describing...

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Musical Instruments

I've played the piano since I was 5, and the violin since I was 8. There was one year in elementary school when I decided to try the flute but it didn't come naturally easy to me as the piano and violin did, so I quit. Since then, I've played many different pianos and violins. But I was always sensitive to each instrument. Maybe overly sensitive - meaning I could never play as well on instruments to which I could not connect. With each new instrument, I would take at least a few minutes to get to "know" each other. I would test the responsiveness, the sound quality, the build quality. And the instruments would test my limits, challenging me to create and be creative. If I couldn't connect with...

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My Name

Growing up in Korea, I hated my given name, 효진 (Hyojin). I'm not sure exactly why, but it always felt a bit 촌스러워 (the closest definition I can think of is rustic, unrefined). In addition, the name itself was unusual. I was named by my grandfather, who combined two Chinese characters, 효도할 효 (孝 - filial piety), and 배풀 진 (陳 - fulfill, exhibit), to form the name...

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