Talent.

Most of you who are close to me already know of my ridiculously almost-psychopathic obsession with "talent" - the eclectically diverse genre that encompasses any sort of physical or mental field. This is just a list of my obscure personal talent searches from the last 6 or 7 years.

Classical music - obviously this is a big one, so I put it first. Most of my obsession with talent in classical music has been limited to the objective; namely, technique. Since artistry is so completely subjective, it's hard to find a universal common ground that stretches past the pure physical. The examples of these clips are endless - Cziffra's Flight of the Bumblebee in octaves, Mihai's Elfentanz, Martha Argarich's everything, etc. etc. Most of you wouldn't give a fuck about this kinda stuff anyway...so let's move on.

Internet clips of ridiculous shit - this is a huge one, particularly amongst the file-transfer link-sending world of AIM. There have been so many ridiculous clips passed around the internet, it's hard to remember them all. Here a few of the best in my memory: the crazy cup-stacking girl (a girl who stacks and unstacks plastic cups at lightning speed), the stick-figure flash Matrix kung-fu clip, the guy who beats Mario 3 in less than 11 minutes, the nerdy-looking popper who almost emulated Michael Jackson, the Japanese kid that DDR's Fantasy Impromptu, N'Chink - the list goes on and on.

Dance videos - also a popular one. Come over sometime and see the world championships of breakdancing, or the ridiculous poppers, or the old school Michael Jackson videos like Thriller, or the live performances by Yoo-Seung Joon - they are ridiculous. You're either born that shit, or you're not.

American Idol - I understand that this one is relatively cliche and particularly looked-down-on amongst the 'intelligent' public who believe that the show is retarded (which it is). The talent, however, that goes through that show is unbelievable - come over sometime and watch Kelly Clarkson's Natural Woman, or Bo Bice's acapella blues song; don't be a snob. Ignore the judges, ignore that little metrosexual flamer Ryan Seacrest, and stay for the talent. You won't be disappointed.

Whose Line Is It Anyway - this has been a long huge obsession of mine. Aside from being the single craziest improv show I've ever seen, the three regulars on the American version of this show have more talent, it seems, than they can even handle. If you have never seen this show, ask me to send you the craziest clips of Wayne Brady singing Michael Jackson as he gets older, or Ryan and Colin doing a makeshift improv on a film-noir scene. The brains on this show work faster in humor than is even imaginable.

Chess - very few of you know this side of me, particularly because very few of you know how to really play chess. Well....it's time to learn. It is the single most exhilirating board game in the history of history - ask me to send you games of old school Bobby Fisher playing 60 grandmasters at once (and beating them all), or of the famous game between Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue. Hit me up - we'll play online.

Freestyle rap - everybody listens to rap, obviously. But freestyle is a genre that the mass public doesn't usually get to see all that often. A lot of people were introduced to it by 8 Mile (which is actually a really good introduction), but if you're more curious, IM either me or Stanley to send you some cool shit - particularly, Eminem's underground album "Psycho", or Jin's 7-week stunt on BET when he destroyed everybody, or Immortal Technique's freeflow tracks.

Martial Arts - this obsession definitely started in college when I met Stanley. Today, everybody is accustomed to one or two Jackie Chan or Jet Li films....a lot of you know who Bruce Lee is, without ever having seen any of his movies. If you're ever interested, expand your mind and ask me (or Stan) for some Thai Kickboxing madness in Ong Bak, or Jet Li's old school phase in the Once Upon a Time in China series.

There's a lot more - I guess this is just a small introduction to my obsessive nature. Any of you who know me well already know all this. If you're ever curious, hit me up.

Finding a practice room at Juilliard during the mid-afternoon is like trying to find a parking space at UC Berkeley.

For those of you in the NYC area, a few of us pianists are doing a little showcase this Saturday night at 6pm (Oct. 15) at Steinway Hall (across the street from Carnegie, for those of you non-pianists).