NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

  For fun, I used to take anime songs (gi Fino' Chapones) and translate them into Chamoru. Over the years I translated songs from Naruto, Gantz, Cromartie High School, Master Keaton, Evangelion, and Attack on Titan just to name a few. It was an exercise in expressing two things that I am very nerdy about. I hadn't thought about this in a long time though until earlier tonight when Youtube's next song randomness started playing anime theme songs. As I started to feel the chetnot nostalgia hit me, the kids asked what song is this? where is this from? When I described the plot of Evangelion to Sumåhi, her review, "wow sen na'triste enao (wow that is like incredibly depressing)." I told the kids about how I used to translate songs like this into Chamoru. When they asked why, I said, "Ya-hu fino' Chamoru, ya-hu este na kånta. Anggen hu pula' este gi mismo lenguahi-hu, hu na'latatahdong I siniente-ku put este. (I like Chamoru, I like this song. If I

The film I made with Kenneth Gofigan Kuper titled "Påkto: I Hinekka" is being shown tomorrow at the Fifth Guam International Film Festival at 7:30 at the Agana Shopping Center Theaters. Below is some information on the film itself and its cast. *********************** PÅKTO: I Hinekka - Film Synopsis             “Påkto: I Hinekka” pins nerd ambassadors Ken and Miget in the most epic battle of their lives. While playing the popular fantasy card “Magic: The Gathering” they once again battle to the death, only this time things are different, this time things are in the Chamorro language. “Påkto: I Hinekka” is filled with nerd humor, drama and glory, but more than anything aims to show that it is possible to use the Chamorro language everyday, no matter what one is doing.  The Chamorro language has existed for thousands of years and has recently become endangered as it is no longer being actively transmitted from one generation to the next.

“Chamorro: The Movie” by Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Guam Daily Post September 16, 2015 How many people remember the movie “Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon?” It was directed by cult film-master Albert Pyun and starred Richard “Shaft” Roundtree, David “Kung Fu” Carradine and Carmen “just in one scene” Electra. It was shot in Guam in 2004 lauded locally as “Hollywood coming to Guam!” The filmmakers promised to help create a new film industry on the island and tempted local leaders with the idea that “if we film it, they will come” or once the world sees “Max Havoc” on the big screen, people will be lining up to film their movies on Guam. Local businesses and GovGuam threw money and support at the film, eager to expedite the Hollywood celluloid rush that was on the horizon. This was all soon proved to be ludicrous. The film made no money and was never even screened in a theater. It eventually became the object of a huge lawsuit between GovGuam and the filmmakers. I’ve long

Sherlock Season 4, "Frightening, tough, emotional upheaval" James Hibberd  Posted March 27 2015 — 1:18 PM EDT Entertainment Weekly Interviewing ultra-secretive Steven Moffat about  Sherlock  is a tricky endeavor, given that the writer-producer would prefer to say nothing at all about what will happen in the show’s hugely anticipated fourth season. But during our wide-ranging recent interview, the  Sherlock  co-creator gave us a few hints about what to expect when the BBC/PBS Masterpiece fan-favorite series returns. Plus, he addressed the long wait between seasons, took a little dig at that  other  Holmes show—CBS drama  Elementary— and even gave a surprisingly passionate defense of  Fifty Shades of Grey . ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, what do you feel comfortable telling us about season 4—or “series” 4, as it’s called in the U.K.? STEVEN MOFFAT : There are answers coming to questions which nobody has asked. There’s one thing that no one has really brought up

This week I, along with a few others will be unveiling a new blog that we have been working on. It is titled " Mumun Linahyan " which is one of the Chamorro words for saying "revolution." Although the title of the blog might make it seem that it will be strictly political, it isn't necessarily. There will be posts about literature, movies, comics and other types of media. Sometimes these posts may have some political dimension, sometimes they may just be instances of nerding out. As much as possible things will have Guam connections to them and as an excited side effect, the blog will feature plenty of things that don't appear to have any Chamorro connection, nonetheless written about in the Chamorro language. I wrote the passage below to talk about the meaning behind the name. http://www.mumunlinahyan.com.  ************** According to The Chamorro Dictionary by Donald Topping, “mumun linahyan” is a way of saying “revolution.” If we break it down

I'll be at the Sukicon this weekend at the Phoenix Center at Father Duenas school in Mangilao. I will have a bunch of interesting things to display and even some stuff to sell. Sukicon is a gathering or cosplayers, gaming nerds, anime/manga nerds and even comic book geeks. There is an artist alley and different booths by exhibitors. For me, I'll be displaying/selling the following things: 1. I'll be displaying some of my grandfather's tools. I have a nice complete set of the seven traditional tools that I'll put out, as well as some examples of the 150 year history of Chamorro blacksmithing in my family, most notably a machete that is more than 100 years old, and made by my great-grandfather Mariano Leon Guerrero Lujan (Bittot). I also have some tools that my grandfather made and one or two that I helped him make more recently. This will be interesting as I'm sure most of the people attending Sukicon think of "culture" a bit differently, as usually

For almost my entire life I've played video games. I played Double Dragon, Startropics and Dragon Warrior IV for the NES. I played Street Fighter II, Final Fantasy III and NBA Live 95 for the SNES. I have played a bunch of games for SEGA Systems, including Night Trap and even Dune for SEGA CD. On the computer I played games like World Builder, Pool of Radiance, Pirates! and Civilization in many incarnations. Most recently I've played games like Monster Hunter, Starcraft II and Hearthstone. Video games don't take up as much of my life as they used to, as I am busy with working, family life and activism, but they still play a role in my identity and how I see myself culturally. For some their "Chamorro" identity may be rooted to visiting ranches on weekends and attending mass with their grandmothers. For me, Chamorro identity comes not just from working with my grandfather in his blacksmith shop or reading the Chamorro Bible with my grandmother, but also yelling

Grooming the Champions of the Keyboard Alan Feuer The New York Times 9/28/13 ALAMEDA, Calif. — On a picture-perfect East Bay afternoon — 75 and a clear blue sky — a few top players for the Evil Geniuses were holed up in the Lair. Preparing for a qualifying match, a StarCraft prodigy named HuK was sitting in one of the gaming rooms, communing with his monitor and limbering his fingers on a keyboard. Down the hallway, his teammate DeMusliM was running through a replay of his own last match and working on his manual dexterity, swirling a pair of worry balls in his hand.  It was 3 p.m. and the California sunlight was beating at the windows, but the Lair’s front shutters were drawn tight, leaving the gamers to focus in the darkness on their training, which meant playing video games from dawn to dusk each day, or from dusk to dawn each night. Their physical needs had been seen to: the kitchen refrigerator was stocked with bagels, the living room cooler with

The second installment of The Hobbit trilogy The Desolation of Smaug will be out soon. Manggof excited ham yan i famagu'on-hu. Hu konne' i dos-hu para in egga' i fine'nina na mubi gi i ma'pos na sakkan. Sen yan-mami!  Esta kana un sakkan in nanaggan i nuebu. Gof magof Si Sumahi put este na nuebu sa' siempre u annok Si Smaug. Gi i fine'nina na mubi kalang nina'desganao i dos-hu nu i ti mismo umannok-na Si Smaug. Ilek-na Si Sumahi, ti ayugue Si Smaug ayu i anineng-na ha'!" pat "Ti ayugue Si Smaug, ayu i atadok-na!" Para Si Akli'e' mas magof gui' sa' u taigue Si Gollum gi i nuebu na Hobbit na mobi. Sen ti ya-na Si Akli'e' Si Gollum. Kada ha hungok gui', kada ha li'e' gui', nina'fugu ya guaha nai malagu gui' lokkue'. Anai in egga' i fine'nina na mubi gi i fanegga'an, gigon ha ripara Si Gollum malagu para un otro luchan ta'chong yan umattok. Anai hu kombida gui' tat

Matai Si Tony Palomo. Hiningok-hu na malangu gui'. I uttimo na umali'e' ham', esta annok na litiko gui'. Lao achokka' hu tungo' na esta malalangu gui', gof ma'lak i chinalek-na sinembatgo. Annai estaba estudiante yu' gi UOG para eskuelan grad, sesso hu interview Si Tony put i Estorian Guahan. Meggaigaigai na estoria-na siha. Ya achokka' esta bihu gui', annai umestotoria gui' matan hoben gui'. Lamlam i atadok-na kalang i atadok patgon.  Gi i timepon antes ma fa'na'an ayu na klasin taotao "embelikeru." Hunggan guaha baba gi este na palabra, lao guaha otro kumekeilekna lokkue'. Para i famagu'on ni' ya-niha umekungok i estorian i manamko', yan meggai finaisen-na put este yan este gi estoria, ayu ma fa'na'an "embelikeru." Ti umentalo' gui' put baba, umentalo' put i minalago'-na para mas tiningo' yan mas estoria. Un biahi i che'lu-hu ha faisen yu&#

Soon I will be sitting in a movie theater singing along to this song. Far over the misty mountains cold In dungeons deep and caverns old We must away, ere break of day To seek the pale enchanted gold The dwarves of yore made mighty spells While hammers fell like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep In hollow halls beneath the fells For ancient king and elvish lord There many a gleaming golden hoard They shaped and wrought, and light they caught To hide in gems on hilt of sword On silver necklaces they strung The flowering stars, on crowns they hung The dragon fire, in twisted wire They meshed the light of moon and sun Far over the misty mountains cold In dungeons deep and caverns old We must away, ere break of day To claim our long-forgotten gold Goblets they carved their for themselves And harps of gold; where no man delves There lay they long, and many a song Was sung unheard by men and elves The pines were roaring on the height The winds were moaning in the night

Siempre bai hu gaige guihi. Anggen "geek" pat "nerd" hao yan sumasaga hao giya Guahan, kao pon saonao lokkue'?

It is time again for another round of Heritage Hikes courtesy of yours truly and We Are Guahan. This month we’ll be having three hikes to Hila’an (June 12 ), Haputo (June 18) and Pågat (June 25) and our theme is “I Kantan I Latte Siha” or “the song of the latte.” This is our third set of hikes, and our goal is to offer the community a chance to visit certain places of natural beauty on Guam, get some exercise and also learn about the cultural history of the site. So far we’ve had hundreds attend our hikes and even got an excellent article in the most recent issue of Uno . The first two sets of hikes “Tungo’ i Estoria-ta” and “Un Nuebu na Inatan” focused on exploring and learning about local places that have played a crucial and sometimes tragic role in Guam’s history of American militarization. We visited sites where people were displaced because of strategic military interests and also places where people protested in order to protect Guam’s natural beauty and resources. Despit