Hello, Spring Break!

As of 11:00 AM today, I have officially completed Winter Quarter of my Junior year at UCI. It sounds and looks weird to see that. Junior year. College has gone by so fast and I'm barely keeping up! It definitely feels good to be done with finals though. If I weren't so tired I'd do a fist pump and shout "YEAH!" right now...but for now, dear reader, you can just imagine me doing that and save us both the trouble.

I've been rearranging, facelifting, and editing my webpage for the Arts 60 class I'm in. I really wish I had a Mac, because working with programs like iWeb and Final Cut Pro have been so much fun...and it would be awesome to be able to fiddle around with these tools whenever I want...not just one or two times a week when I can get access to AITR 190 (the NACS lab we use during class).

So far my website looks pretty different from how it's looked before. It has more of a modern feel to it--simple, but with elements of abstraction and subtle complexity. I like clean lines and straightforwardness in websites, as opposed to the chaos and busy-ness of other websites that confuse me and only make feel lost. Here's a peek at the homepage:



Click on the image, and it'll take you directly to my re-vamped site. I also rearranged the way I had my video clips, so don't forget to check out that section! All of my Arts 60 video projects are featured under the "ARTS SIXTY" link. Some other cool tidbits I put up on the site are an "About Me" section, where I gave a short paragraph of who I am and what I'm all about. Hope you enjoy it, because I sure had a great time working on it!

Now I'm off to take a longggggg nap. If I don't update during Spring Break, I'll definitely catch you up when I get back. Good- bye Blogspot!

Something borrowed, something blue

Today I went to a friend's wedding in Laguna Hills. There are two great things about weddings:

1. Seeing two wonderful people making a public commitment to love each other
2. The food.

This wedding surely did not disappoint, for both #1 and #2. Weddings always making me wonder about the day I'll have a wedding of my own...what my future husband is like...how many kids we'll have, etc. But yeah. The food was definitely something to be remembered :)

I wish I had pictures to show just how extravagant everything was, but basically, it was a Chinese banquet-style dinner. Meaning, 8 courses of delicious Chinese food. EIGHT!! Including the Ferrari of soups, the infamous sharkfin soup. I'm half-asleep from food coma and regular fatigue, so at the moment I can't recall the order of the dishes we ate...but I just remember we had roasted duck, a mushroom and tofu dish, lots of Chinese broccoli, and this really great fish dish breaded and marinated in some kind of sauce. Vague, I know, but that's the best my mind can do right now.

The highlight (after the bride and groom, of course) was the CHOCOLATE FONDUE FOUNTAIN.



I went a little...buckwild with the fountain. But hey, weddings are a time of celebration so why hold back, right?

Anyway. Time to fine-tune my website for my Arts 60 class. I uploaded my final project for the class too. This time, we did a mash-up of media appropriated from other sources. I'll post a link up later!



Again, congratulations you two lovebirds! <3

ARTS 60 Update

Here are the links to my last few projects:

Project 2 - stop-motion animation

Project 3 - compilation of three different clips to make one narrative story

Review: El Cotixan - San Diego

Ever get a craving for something that you have to have or else you just might die? Well, I had a craving like that for some good burritos. What better place to get burritos than in San Diego, right? And so at midnight, I (accompanied by two equally starving friends) left Irvine to fulfill these hunger pangs.



Our mileage at the start of the trip. These numbers were significantly higher by the time we got back to Irvine.

About an hour and half later, we arrived at El Cotixan (affectionally referred to by locals and college students as Coti's) where we ordered three large California burritos with french fries and no potatoes, thank you.


Oh the glory. This bad boy is stuffed with cheese, french fries, carne asada beef, onions, cilantro, and most important of all, Coti's famous orange sauce.


CJ and I are extremely happy, regardless of the fact that it's almost 2:00 AM. Burritos make everything better!


KG and the orange sauce. Rumor has it that this sauce goes bad after one day...to prevent people from replicating it (?). Not sure if this is a legitimate rumor, but this sauce is good nonetheless.



And as if we weren't crazy enough, we went down to La Jolla Shores to look at the seals, listen to the waves, and contemplate our existence in the context of the grander scheme of life. Deep stuff for 4:00 AM.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend El Coti's for a good California burrito. Regardless of where you're at or what time it is. Because El Coti's is so worth it.

El Cotixan
6785 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 552-8280

Review: Honey Pig - Buena Park

If you love Korean food and you haven't heard of Honey Pig yet...where have you been?! This restaurant, located in a small plaza just off the 5 freeway in Buena Park, has been growing in popularity. Though the locale is small and crowded, the food and experience here is definitely worth the wait.

















I had dinner today with a few friends from school (both non-Korean, as you can see). The great thing about Korean food is that they always bring out banchan, or small appetizer-like dishes (kind of comparable to Spanish tapas) right away. While we munched on those for a while, the waiter took our order and about ten minutes later, brought out a heaping plate full of kimchi, spiced bean sprouts, and MEAT. Oh. My. Goodness. And as if this isn't glorious enough, just wait till I tell you what they do to the meat!

















First, the waiter arranges the kimchi and beansprouts around the perimeter of a large metal pan. The point is to let them cook for a bit so the juices get flowin'.



Then, you add the meat and feast like you've never feasted before! There are several different cuts of meat you can choose (kalbi, daejigogi, samgyupsal, etc.). We ordered the chadolbaegi (thin slices of beef), kalbi (beef short ribs), and samgyupsal (like a thick slice of bacon).





























Just when you think you can't eat no mo', the waiter comes over with a pot of rice, some greens and mixes it to make bokkeum bap, a Korean-style mixed rice dish. Korean food is great, in that there are never leftovers because you can add rice to anything and get a whole other meal out of it.






















This picture pretty much captures how we felt at the end of the night.

With great service, great food, and a great atmosphere, this is one hotspot you should definitely check out.

Honey Pig
7212 Orangethorpe Ave
Buena Park, CA 90621

P.S. Project 2 for my Arts 60 class is due soon...we have to make a stop-motion animation clip at least 1:30-2:00 minutes long. I've never done a stop-motion anything before...I hope this turns out okay!

Note to Self:

When eating dimsum or any other foods that are equally rich in oils and carbs, drink LOTS and LOTS of hot tea. Otherwise everything will build up in your system and give you massive food coma. Like I'm feelking reigjht njow.....imd sxo trireddd........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It's been a long time, long time

I shouldn’t have left you, left you
Without a dope beat to step to

I'm sorry, dear Blogspot. After finals ended, I completely neglected you. I've gone snowboarding, hung out with old high school friends, went to some Christmas/New Year's parties and started Winter Quarter of my junior year, and I haven't even told you about it once! Even though I have multiple blogs going on at the same time (one for my friends and family to read, one for my ARTS 50--well, now ARTS 60--class, and a private one for my eyes only), I promise you are my favorite blog of all. It's about the quality of these entries, not quantity...right? Yeah.

So anyway. It's the end of Week 3 already! I'm taking Arts 11 (Media: Foundations), Arts 60 (Media: Video/Audio), LJ101A (History and Theory of Literary Journalism), and English 105 (Asian American Literature/Film Adaptation). Two Digital Arts courses, two LJ courses. A nice balance.

For my Arts 60 class, I just turned in my first project. We had to choose a non-fiction article and make a 1:00-1:30 minute video clip based on it. I chose an article about this couple (clickity click) who has been living in a hotel for 22 years, primarily because it shadows my life at the moment and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunities I would have to capture the shots I need. You see, I've been living in a hotel for about a week now because the drywall in my apartment got wet from a leak, and now my apt. complex needs to demolish that sucker so they can repair it and prevent mold from growing. Pretty much this means we get free room + board at the Residence Inn in Irvine, with complimentary breakfast buffets, pool access, a tennis court, wireless Internet and cable TV. Who wouldn't want to live here for 22 years or more?

Check out my website (www.christineherakim.com) to see the video I made based on my personal experience and the experience of Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, the couple featured in the BBC article I chose.