I know what you are thinking. And yes, James Purefoy played both Prince Edward in A Knights Tale and Mark Antony in the HBO series, Rome. And he did an outstanding job in both.
Too bad Rome has been canceled from what I hear. I really hope I heard wrong.
Also, I watched Fight Club last night. I know I am late to this party, but man what an outstanding film. Office Space meets Reservoir Dogs. If you haven’t seen it, please do. It is one of the best movies I have seen in a very, very long time.
Oh, until you see it, I strongly recommend you stay away from the clam chowder.
In other news I have given myself another 30 day challenge. As you may recall, my last 30 day challenge was to write 30 posts in 30 days. If you subtract jokes, Mandarin lessons and pictures of Asian girls, this makes the 30th post. I made it with 5 days to spare. If you do count the jokes, Mandarin lessons and pictures of Asian girls, this makes my 73rd post in 25 days.
So what is my new 30 day challenge you ask? Well, I am glad you asked. My new challenge is to do 30 audio Mandarin lessons in 30 days. I will also make a post each day covering some of the things I learned in that day’s lesson.
I picked up 30 Mandarin audio lessons from Pimslur many moons ago and I have only done the first 8 or so lessons over the past 2 to 3 years. Now I need want to get serious.
As I type this I am burning these lessons to my iPod so I will always have them with me. These Mandarin audio lessons are 30 minutes each. And normally I have to listen to them 2 or 3 times each in order to fully understand them. But I really need want to do this, so if you guys see me slacking off, nag me. OK?
Of course, it is going to be difficult since I have 2 new employees starting tomorrow and I will be going back to the US for a visit in the next few weeks. I also have a lot of other things going on that I am not ready to blog about just yet.
But it all boils down to one busy John. But also one very determined John.
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9:33 pm on April 8th, 2007 1
Rome is finished after 2 seasons. Way too expensive for the amount of ratings they were getting. At least they knew it was coming so they could end it at a logical point.
The Pimsleur stuff is the best. When I studied at Fudan University, I used what I got from the Pimsleur stuff in their oral placement exam, and they put me into an advanced class, even though I only knew the stuff from the first few lessons. The repetition, the phrases repeated backwards, it all really works better than any other self-study course I’ve ever found.
10:11 pm on April 8th, 2007 2
Hey Spike!
Too bad about Rome being canceled. I really loved that series. It was one of my few reasons to watch TV.
I had a question for you. I am thinking about getting my first tattoo in the near future. I have still to decide on a design and a place to get the tattoo, but I know I want one.
Do you happen to know of a good place on the Internet to look over designs? (This is a question for all of you tattoo folks out there.) I figure my first step is to find a design I can live with, then find someone qualified to stick it on me.
10:54 pm on April 11th, 2007 3
I tried Pimsley on Portuguese long time ago,and it did not work on me. The repetition bored me and by the end of 6cds(or how many?) they only teach a few sentences. For me it soon becomes a background noise, but my ex-collegue thinks its great.
btw, I have been thinking to get a new tatoo too, since 2 years ago– my problem is also the design. I am starting to think that if u ask 4 too much 4 the design, u may never get one. I know a place that do good tatoo though.
11:07 am on April 12th, 2007 4
Tammy,
I like the Pimslur approach myself. But my main problem is that the Mandarin they teach is Beijing “proper” Mandarin, so I am always being corrected for not saying things in Guangzhou Mandarin.
The sentences it teaches, no one uses. I ask a simple question like, “Would you like to go to lunch?” and people laugh at me and tell me no one says it in the way I said it. But since getting anyone (including the assistant that I pay) to teach me is very difficult, the CD’s are all I have.
I think you are right about tattoos. I know that even once I find a design that I like, it will take me just as long to find someone who I think is capable of putting it on me.
5:12 pm on April 13th, 2007 5
Ahem: “I will also make a post each day covering some of the things I learned in that day’s lesson.”
Haven’t seen too many posts yet John!
I had a similar experience with Chinesepod. Since they are a Shanghai service, my attempts at Mandarin drew much laughter and downright scorn from my born-and-bred-and-fiercly-proud Beijing wife!
8:23 pm on April 15th, 2007 6
TaiTai,
Yea, I know. I have been busy? Okay. I have really dropped the ball on this one. I will pick it up.
I haven’t really tried Chinesepod. Perhaps you should pick up the Pimslur tapes since they are Beijing Mandarin.
My wife is Cantonese. She tries to correct me but I am a really bad student.