GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Medias

  • Hinduism, Mark W. Muesse, Great Courses, 2003

    Hinduism was the last of the great religions that I knew nothing about.

    I was raised Christian, which rhymes with the Abrahamic religions, aided by listening to a couple of books about Judaism and Islam. I’ve also dabbled with eastern philosophy over the past decade. My forays with Tai Chi have led to reading Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian texts. I’ve enjoyed those readings, though I reject all of their elaborate heavenly cosmologies.

    Twelve hours is a long period of time and a vanishingly short time limit to survey a great religion. Not knowing any better, I would this course did its job. It provided a rough overview of the religion, addressed some of its excesses, and provided some avenues for further exploration. It covered a wide variety of topics and dispelled the foreign exoticness of Hinduism. This course shows that all of us are trying to take care of ourselves and our own while feeling some sense of fulfillment.

    It is not easy for an atheist raised as a monotheist to relate to a polytheistic worldview. However, this course makes such a mindset more understandable. I don’t agree with the tenets that have created a rigid caste system, but I have a better sense of the overall system as a coherent whole.

    As a materialist, I reject the intricate cosmologies from all of the world’s great religions. However, raw materialism is thin gruel as a life philosophy – the 20th century created some terrible cults after rejecting the old ones. At least the great religions have stood the test of time, so a seeker might be well served by following one of those schools of thought.

    I’m not endorsing it, but if Indian polytheism floats your boat, this course seems like a reasonable start for such a journey.


    After writing the initial draft, I read a few translations of the Bhagavad Gita, which is an epic poem – in both the classic and modern sense of the term. Highly recommended.

    Everyone should read the Gita.

    But for the year after that, I never got around to reading the Vedas and Upanishads. One day, I’d love to dig into these texts as well, but I have too many other books in my backlog.

  • Aaron Copland 80th Birthday Concert, 1980

    The algorithm me fed this 80th birthday celebration for Aaron Copeland at the Kennedy Center in 1980.

    For 80, the dude is spry, I can’t imagine being on stage at that age. I don’t care if the adulation of the crowd is addictive. I don’t think I’ll have the energy to get out there and put up a show.

    It’s also wild to remember that this event happened more than forty years ago. At the time, our elites were not shy about patting themselves on their backs in highbrow fashion. This was more than a birthday concert, it was a celebration of the century of American ascendance.

    The program was properly populated his classics: the Fanfare for the Common Man, an excerpt from a concerto that sampled jazz, Appalachian Spring, and Lincoln’s Portrait. I’ve listened to them all in the past (as background music) and it was good to just sit and focus on the music for once.

    However, I must admit that I watched this concert over the course of the month, one piece at a time. I can easily consume a feature-length action flick in one sitting, but I couldn’t properly ingest serious fare in one sitting.

    One might blame the instant gratification of this internet age for such weakness, but I don’t think I would have ever thought to watch this concert when I was younger, pre-internet. I never disliked classical music; I just never had the patience for it. So I guess it’s a sign I can now watch a long program (piecemeal).

    But let’s not get carried away – I don’t think I would ever pay real cash to sit through a concert, whether classical or contemporary. Music is good for background noise, but I don’t value it enough for attention or money – especially now that everything is on Spotify for free.

    We live in wondrous times.


    Unfortunately, everything somehow ties into culture war politics nowadays. One of the surprising highlights of the program came at the start of the concert when the cameras highlighted Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in attendance. The date of the concert was November 12, 1980, one week after he had lost his reelection campaign. What a contrast from the most recent election. Maybe some great music will do us all some good.

  • Little Prince (Movie), Mark Osborne, 2015

    This is a lovely film, especially the sequences that mimic a stop animation with paper cutouts. Maybe a little heavy-handed in its fear of adulthood, but it means well.

    Growing up isn’t the problem it’s forgetting.

    As an inveterate planner in my current job, I must admit that I was impressed with the big board that Mom made for tracking her daughter’s summer of achievement. However, her mistake was not in planning out the current summer, but in scheming for the next summer.

    Maybe the problem is planning.

    Planning and forgetting are synonymous with avoiding the present. It’s important to have an idea for the next couple of days, but peering beyond the haze is a futile task. Even worse than wasting time, you’re overlooking the richness right in front of you.

    Give yourself room.

    Mom’s other mistake was not planning slack in her schedule. Along with indulging the farce that one can divine what’s around the corner, having no fluff time is a recipe for overlooking the important.

    Don’t plan too far, give yourself time to smell the roses, and maybe growing up won’t be so bad after all.

  • OPM.19 (notes on) Enter Sandman, Drumeo and Larnell Lewis, 2021

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    (notes on) Enter Sandman, Drumeo and Larnell Lewis, 2021

    This is an impressive display of craft. Drummer Darnell Lewis has never listened to “Enter Sandman”, so he listens to it once and then plays it. No problem.

    His active listening during his first listen is a masterful example of analysis on the fly.

    Watching this video brings back fond memories of starting a new project when I was in private practice. The air was filled with possibilities as we were briefed on the program. This excitement would be viscerally manifested during field verification of a building for a renovation project.

    When entering a structure for the first time, the senses would kick into overdrive. The building had much to say, but we didn’t know what was critical, so everything mattered. With such stakes, my perception was on high alert. These moments of crossing a strange threshold were among my favorite as a practicing architect.

    Though less tangible, the excitement of starting a new project also applies to my work as an Owner PM. Any project is a function of invisible forces – state and local regulations and constrained by industry conditions, budget, and schedule.

    Beyond the hard constraints, the OPM is the leader of a new temporary team. My most important task at the start of the project is to grasp and develop the network of relationships within the user group and project team.

    No project is truly new, it is always set within an intricate context. Our first job is to sit down and actively listen before we pick up sticks to make a ruckus.

    ~

    A Question

    What are the moments that make you excited in the course of a project?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Links

    My daughter recently took a liking to Linus and Lucy, so it has been playing on loop throughout the past week. Looking up the Vince Guaraldi on Wikipedia, this paragraph jumped out. I envy folks who have settled comfortably into their niche.

    His desire to continually perform at small, local clubs was not due to financial necessity but because he wanted it like that. The monumental success garnered from his Peanuts work resulted in lucrative offers coming in from all over the U.S., all of which he declined. “Once the Peanuts music became famous, Vince could have gone out and done a whole lot more,” Mendelson said. “But he was very provincial; he loved San Francisco, and he liked hanging out and playing at the local clubs. He never branched out from there; he never really wanted to. He’d get offers, but he’d tell me, ‘I just want to do this; I’m having a good time, and I’m satisfied with it’.”

    … and a photo.

    Olive Thomas, Bain News Service, ca. 1915 and ca. 1920

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!

    Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
    Justus Pang, RA

  • The Bulwark, Charlie Sykes et al, 2018

    I used to go to Huffpo for my regular political web-hackery but their shrill alarmism wore thin after a while. I tried various news sites, but during the 2020 presidential cycle I settled upon the Bulwark.

    I suspect I have more disagreements than similarities with the folks on that site, but they have earned one thing more dear than almost any site out there.

    Trust.

    In a world where many Never-Trumpers heeded the tribal call of their party, these folks have held firm. I might not agree with many of their policy preferences, but they are honest and they have the courage of their convictions.

    The other thing that is quite appealing about their site is the conservative belief on American exceptionalism. I’m not fully bought into the thought, but I have to admit its appeal. It is alluring to think that my own country is somehow special in spite our multitude of faults.

    We’ll see where it goes. I presume we will transition from friends to foes during the administration of the new guy…but at least these folks have earned my respect.

    I wish we didn’t need four years of chaos to separate the wheat from the chaff within our punditry class, but I might as well take the silver linings that I can find.


    Over the year after the election, I’ve found myself following the Dispatch slightly more – I enjoy the cerebral musings of Jonah Goldberg and David French over the continued alarmism of the Bulwark (even if it is justified given the festering fallout from January 6th). Either way, I’ve been slowly weaning myself off the news, it’s all too much so I might as well give my attention to things I can control (or at least respond to in a meaningful fashion).

  • OPM.13 (notes on) How to Remember Everything You Learn, Will Schroder, 2018


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    (notes on) How to Remember Everything You Learn

    This is the best video I’ve watched this year.

    The three steps of this practice are Recall, Simple Explanations, and Spaced Repetition.

    “Recall” is as basic as it sounds. Pause and think about what you just read. Information shouldn’t be treated like a page-turner. Pause between chapters and ponder what was just read.

    I stumbled into this practice two years ago, after refocusing this blog as “notes on my consumption”. I try to write a blurb about every bit of extended content that I consumed. At the time, I was trying to force myself to be a more consistent content producer, but it unwittingly made me a better consumer as well!

    “Simple explanations” are called the “Feynman Technique” in the video. Master the subject so you can explain it to a 5-year-old.

    I have used this technique throughout my career.  I’ve always forced my engineers to explain problems so that I can retell the story to the clients. Decision-makers are rarely the subject matter experts, so the consultant’s job includes distilling issues to their core essence for informed action.

    “Spaced Repetition” is the practice to regularly review content. As we internalize the info, we gradually increase the intervals between reviews to lock the information into our long-term memory.

    Again, this blog has come to the rescue because posts involve multiple rounds of edits. For example, this post was initially drafted on June 8th. I edited it in August and I’m now publishing it in October.

    This post regurgitates the actionable advice from the second half, but the first half is worth watching because it provides the neurological context for its recommendations and includes a potent warning that feeling like we know something is not a sign of real understanding.

    Give it a watch, take some notes, explain it to a kid, and watch it again!

    Also, consider starting a blog. This site has hosted a variety of odd experiments. This digital archive of the decade has become a personal infrastructure for further explorations. Maybe it will even unwittingly create a process to help you improve at remembering things.

    ~

    One Question

    Do you have any processes that help you practice spaced repetition? How do you avoid forgetting information as quickly as you learned it?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    One Link

    While this video may be the best single shot I’ve come across this year, I have been really enjoying the Technology Connections Channel by Alec Watson. He explains common technology (such as the dishwasher) in simple clear language with a wickedly dry humor.

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!

    Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
    Justus Pang, RA

  • Mulan, Niki Caro, 2020

    Last year we watched the new Mulan after watching the original animated Mulan a year before that. Accented Cinema did an excellent comparison on these movies. Everyone else also properly panned the new show as well.

    The live-action film movie has stunning locations marred by ridiculously outlandish characters. I understand why the actors would take the gig, but I don’t see why any self-respecting Asian would pay money to watch this new movie.

    It’s a mish-mash of exotic Asian-ness, as respectful of the culture as the cheesy dub on a bad kung fu flick.

    Then again, as an Asian American, I’ve always had a tortured relationship with Asia on the big screen. I’ve avoided movies like Lost in Translation or Last Samurai because I am particularly uninterested in a film centered on a white protagonist in an Asian setting. But as an American, a truly Asian film is too foreign to be relatable.

    When I studied abroad in Paris, I met an Algerian who dropped the perfect line about immigrant life, “living with your ass on two seats.”

    To be honest, life as an Asian American is pretty good. Things are a bit crazy at the moment and I’m well aware that things could turn much worse. But generally, the worst I have to deal with is being constantly aware of my otherness. Then again, I presume white kids have plenty of hang-ups from their adolescence that they have to deal with.

    Even so, it does suck to never see yourself well portrayed on the big screen. However, I’m not a big fan of movies, so maybe it’s my lack of interest to blame? Maybe it’s a chicken and egg problem?

    I’ve heard of some recent offerings that I should most likely watch at some point, but I keep going back to that exchange at the end of Chan is Missing. It perfectly captures the tension of being Asian American – life as an immigrant and a native and always an other in both worlds.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhgSui0V_qY&feature=youtu.be&t=3435

    Mulan has only diminished further in my mind’s eye as time passes. I’ve heard good things about the new Shang Chi movie, though Accented Cinema did a pointed critique, “Shang Chi and the Perpetual Foreigners” that has cooled my interest in film as well, not that I’m going to a movie theater any time soon.

  • Space Dandy, Shinichiro Watanabe, 2014

    Pure over-the-top gratuitous absurdity.

    Yes, there’s the fan service with the ladies at Boobies and lingering shots of Scarlet.

    But mainly it’s a rollicking romp through the wacky profundities of space.

    The show is a visual feast. Each episode director was given total artistic freedom, featuring a multiplicity of art styles.

    And as always for a Watanabe project, excellent music.

    It definitely belongs in the top tier of Watanabe’s catalog with Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. It feels sacrilegious, but I wonder if it surpasses its two companions.

    I hesitate to proclaim as to which one is “best”.

    But would I rewatch Space Dandy before the others?

    Yes.


    A few months after this initial draft, my opinion of this anime has only increased. Bebop is still a must-watch for its style and its place in its canon. Samurai Champloo is Watanabe’s most coherent story. However Space Dandy has cemented itself in my favorite work. This show is certainly the first one I’d rewatch.

  • Terror in Resonance, Shinichiro Watanabe, 2014

    After scanning the web, I find myself aligned with the consensus about this show. As such, I’ll leave the deep thoughts to the folks with domain expertise and just post a couple (spoiler-free) comments.

    First, the most appealing aspect of non-American cinema is that we can never be confident that things will end well for the protagonists. American films might kill a secondary character, but it rarely ends badly for the headliner. Asian films don’t show such mercy, so the anticipation of potential doom hangs over the entire series. It might not be noticeable for a single feature-length film, however, such uncertainty is almost unbearable when the experience is extended over 11 days (watching only one episode a night).

    Second, this show has a moment that is a gorgeous combo of narrative, graphics, and music to create a mid-story climax. The movie Whisper of the Heart and the show Kids on the Slope have similar climatic scenes that absolutely capture the moment with imagery and music. This alone makes it worth your time to watch the first half of Terror in Resonance. Unfortunately, it is no shame to leave Terror after the singular moment (unlike the other two works).


    My opinion of the show has only diminished over time. I occasionally revisit the aforementioned moment on youtube, but this show is in the bottom tier of the Shinichiro Watanabe catalog, slightly better than Carole and Tuesday. While the show was good enough that I don’t regret the time, I won’t rewatch it.

  • Kids on the Slope, Shiniciro Watanabe, 2012

    Given my appreciation of Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo), I should have pursued this show years ago, but I wasn’t interested after hearing that this was a kids show. A few months ago, we were looking for something to watch and we were intrigued by the fact it centered around jazz.

    While technically true, this series is better described as a teen romance drama with a jazz motif. Even though teen romance is even more distant from my preferences, and I still enjoyed it. With only twelve episodes, the plot moves at a good clip. Midway through, there is a a moment that has “all the feels” and is fully earned. I’ve revisited that moment a few times on youtube.

    As someone else has quipped, the problem with teenagers is that they’re children in an adults bodies, injected with a whole bunch of hormones. As a teen drama, this show has a whole lot of that in spades, with other complications due to a lack of communication between the characters. Then again, I don’t think there would be a show without such snafus.

    Fortunately, I avoided love drama in my own teens, however I didn’t appreciate the freedom that I had at that age without the responsibilities of a family. Then again such a realization is only made after the passage of time. In the moment, one only feels trapped in the constraints of the present without the benefit of hindsight that comes with age. Then again, that might have been a good thing, I could have been overwhelmed with too many options.

    Then again, those days aren’t coming back so I shouldn’t rue the past. Hopefully my future is still wide open. Plus, I don’t have to worry about finding a life partner!


    As I revisit this post before publishing, I appreciate having watched the show, but feel no urge to re-watch it. It is highly recommended if you dig jazz and don’t mind some romance, but I don’t consider this a must watch classic. Then again, I just got sucked into watching an hour of random youtube videos while editing this post. In comparison to such unstructured silliness, this show is a better use of one’s time.