21

The true story of the very brightest young minds in the country - and how they took Vegas for millions. Ben Campbell is a shy, brilliant M.I.T. student who -- needing to pay school tuition -- finds the answers in the cards. He is recruited to join a group of the school's most gifted students that heads to Vegas every weekend armed with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favor. With unorthodox math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa leading the way, they've cracked the code. By counting cards and employing an intricate system of signals, the team can beat the casinos big time. Seduced by the money, the Vegas lifestyle, and by his smart and sexy teammate, Jill Taylor, Ben begins to push the limits. Though counting cards isn't illegal, the stakes are high, and the challenge becomes not only keeping the numbers straight, but staying one step ahead of the casinos' menacing enforcer: Cole Williams.

STEM

STEM (The Society for Teaching English through Media) aims to develop learning materials and teaching methodology based on the use of movies and multimedia in English language learning.

English competence is important for Korean students in a number of ways. It acts as a criterion to judge a student's academic achievement, and becomes the means for students to achieve their educational goals. Korean students of all ages are known to have tried every possible English learning method available through private language institutes and technological means. They have an unquenchable zeal to improve their English competency and to gain high scores in every kind of English test. However, many of them have become tired of existing ways of learning English and doubtful about their efficiency. As a result, there is a lot of interest in new ways of learning English.

A new area of interest for Korean English learners is through using movies as learning materials. Regardless of their age, for many people movies are one of the most popular cultural items. Their use is recognized as being efficacious for English learning and teaching despite the fact that they are not specifically made as educational materials. As part of their inherent interest, movies offer a wide variety of stories and genres such as action, romance and comedy that allow learners to choose content and style according to their preference.

Title No. 17 Has A Familiar Smell For Celtics

BOSTON -- Cigar smoke.

The smell was unmistakable, wafting through the air some 15 feet from the Celtics' bench as Paul Pierce joined in on the Gino dance and Kevin Garnett bounded up and down with joy.

There were still two minutes and 21 seconds remaining in a Game 6 that for all intents and purposes had been over for at least an hour, the fans were chanting "Se-ven-teen" and coach Doc Rivers was still a few moments away from being doused with a bucket of orange Gatorade.

Security guards were already lined up along the perimeter of the court, holding a long rope that would serve as a crowd control device for any ruffians who dared try to rush the celebration, and a fan nearby was holding up a sign that read: "Light One Up for Red."

Somebody had already lit one up, though the source of the cigar smoke could not be located. And to me, that was just as well, because I'd like to close this season with just the slightest belief that the source of that smell was a ghost, a ghost with nine championship rings who will be able to rest in peace a little longer knowing that the man chasing ring No. 10, Lakers coach Phil Jackson, would be flying back to Los Angeles without the record for most NBA championships by a coach.

6.15 - 6.20 sailing along the east coast

KR / FE 09 IPC

Finally, I can let this feeling of emptiness come to an end 'cause I've found a new challenge which is worth giving my best shot while I'm in uniform.

Everything around me has failed to impress me over and over again since the moment I decided to change things in my life...everything is just being mundane to me..how many more efforts should I be making to turn them into something rather interesting and exciting?...or do I just have to wait for things to turn around themselves? Man, this is the most boring and colorless period of my life...but I guess this is also part of life. Right?

For Pierce, the Time Is Now

BOSTON, June 6, 2008 -- It took him 10 years to get here. With the additions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, his team finally has the pieces to win a championship.

The time is now.

So, Paul Pierce will not allow his knee injury to derail him. Not when his team has already won 79 games this season and needs just three more for a title.

When a player injures his knee like Pierce did in Game 1 Thursday night, in addition to having his mobility tested, it's typical to undergo an MRI to determine if there is any structural damage to the knee.

But Pierce has not undergone an MRI and has no plans to do so until the Finals are over. He doesn't want to know exactly what's wrong with him, because a diagnosis he doesn't like could end his series, and his season, early.

"What is it really going to tell us?" he asked rhetorically Friday. "The extent of the injury, but at this point with two weeks left, six games to go, we can figure this out after the season." Instead of an MRI, the Celtics
"Ligament sprain or meniscus tear is more likely."

Pierce called his knee "sore" and "stiff" Friday afternoon, and said that he still had some "sharp pain" on the inside of his knee. An orthopedist friend of mine says that a sharp pain on the inside of a knee sounds like a meniscus tear. After the game Thursday night, Pierce said that the doctor told him it was a "strained meniscus."

If the meniscus is just strained or torn, then Pierce probably doesn't risk further damage to his knee by playing on it. But if he doesn't have full range of motion in his knee, there's a possibility that the meniscus slipped into the knee joint, locking it up. And in that case, there is a risk of more damage.

Pierce said that if Game 2 was Friday night, he wouldn't be playing. But the Finals schedule gives him two full days before the second game (Sunday, 9 p.m. ET, ABC), and that allows him to get rest and treatment. With the off days, and considering the stakes, Pierce likes the chances that he'll play on Sunday.

"I think there's a great chance I'll play on Sunday," he said. "Just knowing myself, knowing my threshold for pain ... great chance I will be playing on Sunday."

In a way, Pierce's disregard for his injury is very similar to the way Kobe Bryant put off surgery on a torn ligament in his right pinkie just before the All-Star break. The Lakers were playing well at the time and had just acquired Pau Gasol. Bryant, sensing his team had a real shot at a top seed in the West, and in turn, a championship, played through pain rather than allow the injury to slow his team's momentum.

A year ago, Pierce and Bryant were playing pickup in L.A., unhappy with their situations with their current teams. Now, they're both in the NBA Finals. They know the alternative.

So, Bryant felt for his friend when he went down, and was glad to see him back on the floor.

"I was happy to see him come out there," Bryant said Friday, "until he made those two damn threes."

Those two threes at the end of the third quarter helped put Pierce's Celtics just three games away from the title. And as great a team as they are, there's no guarantee that they'll be back here again. A combined 32 seasons in the league from Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen without a Finals appearance will tell you that.

So, Pierce doesn't want to know if his knee has structural damage. He just wants to know that he step out onto the floor Sunday night.

"It still could be worse than I'm really putting off," he said. "I mean, I'm not planning on getting an MRI until after the season. So I mean, it could be bad, but right now I'm just getting treatments and see how I feel on Sunday."

No matter what, the Celtics' captain is hobbled. Even if he can play, he probably won't be at the top of his game. But his presence, hobbled or not, may be enough.

It was in Game 1.

Al Pacino - Any Given Sunday - "Inch By Inch"

5/1 2008

It's another beginning.

Thank you all for supporting and believing in me.

I will never ever let you down.

08-10463 Ensign Kim, Tae Won

Paulo Coelho in his best selling book "The Alchemist" states "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". I told that quote to Sam on our way back home from work. And it has been inspirational to me since that moment.

I'm about to be served a plate of sushi without you. :(

a bittersweet moment

KING: Do you think of yourself as rich?

SNOOP DOGG: I'm rich in spirit. I have a rich spirit. I'm rich in soul, not financially, because that doesn't move me. Because money, I can't leave with that. But my legacy and my spirit will be here, you know, even long after I'm gone, and that matters most.

Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them. - Ann Landers

Happiness of 10,000 won

"Everything is gonna be alright..."

"How can you be so sure about that..?

"......"

sorry, I cannot give you an answer we both are looking for.

Only 'Trust me' is what I can say to you.

Somebody has to step up and revolutionize the English language education in Korea where about 15 trillion won is spent annually for private education to learn English. We have to do something about it, seriously.

You are a babo who completes me.