another sam chan: the student blogger

We have a really special post today, with our first guest ever on anothersamchan.com, Mati Ma from Vancouver’s very own One Arm Bear! We talk about the band, Twitter (@anothersamchan, @onearmbear), the weather, American history, football, and get really deep, like diving board deep. We’re also giving away their debut CD, Blurred as well as NCAA Football 2009 for PS3 (in honor of Superbowl Weekend). So make sure you watch the whole show and get in on it! We realize its a bit long, but time flies when you’re having fun, and we sure did (have fun, not make time fly). Check it out and leave your entries in the comments section, or on twitter, facebook, email, and the rest of the social media round table. We’ll put anyone’s who has the correct answers in a draw and pick from there. The contest will go until February 10th, 2009. The questions, as promised, are below.

Battle of the Sexes Questions: One Arm Bear Blurred CD:
1.Vodka, Triple Sec, Cranberry Juice and Lime make what trendy cocktail?

2. Finish this ad slogan: “Maybe she’s born with it, _______”

3. Who won four MTV Music Awards for his/her pop hit ‘Livin’ la Vida Loca’?

NCAA Football 2009 (PS3):

1. What basketball star fought Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Destroyer?

2. ‘Bonita’, ‘koi’ and ‘plaice’ are types of what?

3. What dot-gobbling icon became an electronic arcade game sensation in the 1980s? Remember to enter all three answers for a chance to win and leave your email so we can contact you.

If you’re interested in more of One Arm Bear’s songs, there’s a couple of them up on their virb, and remember to get tickets for SHOCKWAVE. We’ll see you there.

ps – go pittsburgh!

Continue Reading

A couple of days ago, I came across local Vancouverite Hummingbird604’s blog and saw this interview where a fellow blogger gave him 5 questions to answer. I thought it’d be a good way to start off the year, so I hit him up via email and he responded with 5 questions for me. It’s a good way for everybody to get to know me a bit better and a fun way to interact. I highly encourage anybody who’s interested in doing this to give me an email and I promise to pass on five very interesting questions for you. You don’t have to have your own domain or even your own blog, you could do it on Facebook, or even Twitter, if you’re creative enough. So here was what Raul gave me (so exciting, my very first interview! =P):

1. What is your biggest fear and why? How do you cope with it?
It’s probably not my biggest fear, but the dentist definitely comes to mind. I think its from having way too many cavities as a kid, but I’ve always loathed anything to do with Dentists and Mouths. I respect their profession, but I just don’t want to be anywhere near them. It doesn’t bode well for me, as one of my teeth has been driving me crazy for the last 2 weeks. The Leafs winning the Stanley Cup before the Canucks do comes as a close second and Microsoft buying Apple is a distant third.

2. If you only had 24 hours to live, what activities would you do?
In no particular order, I would: fly somewhere, play a game of basketball, post: “this is my last tweet because I’m dying, ktnxbye, no i will not reply”, take my girlfriend to Niagara Falls and say something sweet and comforting, make sure my parents bought some sort of life insurance (should be okay, they are both insurance agents) so that they can be better off, considering I’m dying so young and I’m their only crappy investment, watch a movie with my friends, and read Psalm 23. My last line will be: “I KNEW I’D DIE BEFORE THE CANUCKS WON THE CUP” and my grave will say: “Beloved Only Son, Wonderful Brother”

3. Where would you live forever (country/city/province) and why?
I don’t think there’s one place I’d like to live forever but besides Vancouver, I’ve thought of living in New York, Portland, Toronto, New Zealand or Australia. New York and Toronto are because I’ve always been fond of big cities, Portland because they have no GST and the Portland Trail Blazers rule, and New Zealand and Australia because it looks awesome in the pictures.

4. If you could choose, which movie star would you take out for dinner and why?
Steve Nash. He’s not a movie star but he’s great in those Vitamin Water commercials. I love how he’s a pioneer for Canadian basketball, and his attitude both on and off the court (not his defensive skills). I remember watching him as a third string point guard in my very first NBA game ever and I went home that night with him at the top of my list of favourite athletes. Or, I could ask the Real Shaq to dinner since he’s a real movie star and ask him to bring Steve.

5. Which is your favorite food type (Italian, Chinese, Mexican, etc…)?
Its funny because I grew up fully Chinese, with rice in a bowl using chopsticks, but I’m not a big fan of Chinese food at all. In fact, my favourite food type would probably be fried chicken, but since that doesn’t count, I’ll say Italian since its a more sophisticated answer and I do enjoy Olive Garden.

Thanks a lot Raul. Now for a free plug: Raul is a “a specialist in environmental issues” and even though his PhD level topics in his blog are often too smarty pants for me, he writes some great reads the rare times I do understand.

Continue Reading

I’m sorry. Over the past month or so, I’ve not only posted a lot less, but there’s been no BAM when I do post. No Ka-pow. Stale as an opened bag of Lays. It has gotten so bad that my own girlfriend won’t read my posts. (She says she does, but honestly, does she really care what picture I comment with?)

At bible study earlier yesterday, there were a couple of verses where the apostle Paul calls out some church leaders claiming that “they think religion is a way to make a fast buck” by focusing on the paycheque. Even in today’s secular society, the thought is frightening and being accused of that in any occupation is no small matter. Imagine if the President or your daughter’s Kindergarten teacher was called out for being money hungry. But as it dawns on me, I realize I’ve become that jackass. Somewhere along the fun land of vocabulary like Google Rank, Traffic Sourcing, and Affiliate Marketing, I’ve started mind censoring. All those fun things I mentioned are cool, but they aren’t why I blog. I don’t want to be that Sam Chan.

My intent for this blog has been to share my own experiences as a student who can’t just seem to figure it out. I love what I do; I just can’t explain it and don’t get good grades for it. I am interested in a lot of things, and when I see something ‘cool’, my eyes sparkle just like in cartoons and I feel a need to share it, usually starting with: “You know what’s funny?” or “the funny thing is…” But if I have to second think what I consider ‘cool’ to be posted on here, its not worth my time and yours. Blogging is still my passion and I intend to have passionate blogs. Things that I care about. Things that my girlfriend cares about. Things that you care about, not Google.

So instead of making new resolutions for this year, I’d rather work on last years – to put out a good blog. Hopefully, my posts will help you out, make you laugh, find you a good deal, or inspire you, and maybe the SEO bosses will still like it. But even if I lose all my readers (not that I gained much from this lapse), at least I’ll know it’s because what I think is cool is actually really uncool. To sum it up, if you like what you’re seeing right now, leave me a comment, add me on rss, add me on twitter, or email me if you feel old school. Or don’t. It’s cool.

Continue Reading