Weather: Freaking cold State: Bored silly Music: Lady GaGa cd Last Movie: Step Up 2 (pretty good but formulaic), Wall-E (good but not as great as touted; first half actually kinda boring to me but second half enjoyable), Harold & Kumar 2 (sucks; big, big disappointment considering how much I loved White Castle) Last Pleasure: Getting an awesome deal on my new tv Last Worry: Tom Brady's knee Looking Forward To: Return of regular tv programming, regular life Not Really Looking Forward To: Regular work life, regular commute Tired Of: Not sleeping well Gas Price: $1.79/gallon Clothes: Banana Republic long sleeve navy blue t-shirt, old Gap jeans Today's Headline:Israel moves forward and sends more troops to Gaza Current Desktop Wallpaper: Rooftop photo of Prague (Prague is on my wish list of destinations; hope I get there some day) Last Website Visited: flickr Last Meal:Falafel wrap Last Purchase: Toss pillows from Daiso to put inside the Muji pillow cases I got from Japan Item Off My Wishlist: World peace (haha) Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World: Planet Earth on blu ray
There is no secret ingredient. That's the message of Kung Fu Panda. It's a great message, actually rather profound for an animated movie. It's a lesson I've yet to learn. I am always looking for something, thinking Oh, only if I had a girl, or more money, or a more interesting job, or a fancy garbage can (more about that later). The truth is, it wouldn't matter because it's what's inside, what I believe I have, that's going to change how I feel about my life. Yeah, it's a big, hard truth to learn. BTW, the movie itself turned out to be quite enjoyable. Three stars. I am checking out Wall-E next, which has all the critics raving on their year end best-of lists...I got the iTouchless garbage can from Costco that has a brushed nickel finish that goes perfect with the kitchen and a sensor-controlled lid. I really wanted a lid on my kitchen garbage can, and it appealed to me to not have to touch it by hand or do the step-on thing. When I first set it up, it was kinda cool and novel. But by the second day, the thing started acting up, randomly opening by itself even when I didn't have anything in front of the sensor. Then after a short while, it plain stopped working. Fortunately it's from Costco, so return will be no problem. Lesson learned - don't try to derive your happiness from your garbage can; you are good enough, worthy enough, likable enough even if your garbage can is just some plastic, Rubbermaid thingy...Unofficial word coming out is that Tom Brady is far behind schedule in his ACL/MCL surgery recovery, due to both infection and that the ligaments remain loose. He might be missing the 2010 season as well, or this may be end of his football career. Sigh. I guess I am never going to be as interested in football as I was in the last few years. This is so freaking sad news for me, but I suppose this too shall pass...Oh on other Brady news, rumor has it that he and Gisele are engaged. He supposedly proposed on a private jet en route to Boston. Family denies rumor though, so maybe not. I am not a Gisele fan, but hey, I wouldn't kick a supermodel to the curb either...Amazon UK is terrific. I got my Planet Earth BBC blu ray edition yesterday, at least one week ahead of schedule. I watched the first two episodes so far. Episode one, where the wolf chased down the baby caribou, is so freaking sad. I honestly thought the caribou would have escaped, but at last, there is no happy ending in nature...I've called Comcast multiple times to try to get a good price for upgrading to HD, but no luck. I guess I'll just wait til my current free DVR year is over and then revisit the issue. I heard that there is this AT&T U-Verse thingy coming soon. Can't wait til Comcast gets some good competition to drive down prices. I hate the monopoly it has now on cable tv. Unfortunately I am not keen on satellite...At my coworker's insistence, I watched this movie called If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium. It's a comedy from 1969, about an American tour group, led by a London bloke, going through nine European countries in eighteen days. I am actually really glad I watched it, because 1) I love travelogues; 2) Suzanne Pleshette is drop-dead gorgeous and charming; 3) it reminds me of being in a tour group in Japan; and 4) did I say Suzanne Pleshette is drop-dead gorgeous? It's actually a very likable, sweet, good-natured comedy. And it has Mr. Roper (Norman Fell) in it...I've noticed that my coworker AT has been chatting up and going to lunch with my archnemesis LG. To my face, he keeps saying that he doesn't like her, that she is sneaky and will single-handedly ruin his career, and then he turns around and asks her to lunch (I overheard him with my own ears). For me, you are either with me, or you are against me. It's like if I saw an Elf fraternizing with an Orc, I am not going to trust the Elf fighting on my side...Israel continues to bomb the bejesus out of the Gaza area, through Christmas and likely thru the New Year. I wish I could say that this too shall pass, but this crap has lasted for generations and will continue. And people continue to die over religion, which is the biggest irony in all of mankind's existence...BTW, there have been so many instances while watching Planet Earth on blu ray that I just can't help but shake my head in awe. Earth is really a beautiful place if you let it be.
My top ten songs right now: 10. Around The Bend - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour 9. I'm Good I'm Gone - Friendly Fires 8. Warm Me Up - Elliott Yamin 7. Shattered (Turn The Car Around) - OAR 6. Forget About What I Said - The Killers 5. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Hot Chip & Peter Gabriel 4. Live High - Jason Mraz 3. Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Baby it's old outside. So Christmas is done. Thanks god. Unfortunately there is New Year's to contend with now.
Here are my favorite beverages: - Hong Kong milk tea - Hong Kong iced lemon tea - Jamba Juice smoothie (I usually get the all-fruit variety) - Itoen green tea (I drank truckload of this stuff in Japan; Costco sells them here in cases too) - Peete's jasmine green tea - Serendipity frozen hot chocolate - Mexican fresca fruit drink (any of the melon variety) - Fresh watermelon juice boba drink (I don't like the powder stuff) - Thai iced tea - Hot Vitasoy in a bottle from 7-11s in HK during winter months (ah, childhood memories...) - Hot Horlick's, with condensed milk - Stewart's or Sunkist orange cream soda - Root beer float - Orange Julius (did you know there's egg in it?) - Just plain o' H2O
As you can see, I don't do alcohol. I actually hate alcoholics and generally anybody who acts stupid when drunk.
There is nothing better one can do on the warm and fuzzy occasion of Christmas morning than to make a list of things one cannot stand:
Beyonce (ugh, somebody please stop her already) Branglina (never thought the day I would say I am on Team Aniston) Driving behind a Mercedes (which I swear have the worst drivers on the road) J Crew "final" sales (I hate stores that run sales where you cannot return items) Guy Ritchie (the new Heather Mills) The women of The View (I'd rather listen to fingernails on chalkboard all day long than to endure them for an hour) TV reruns during winter break The Hills or The Real Houswives of Whatever Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl My new archnemesis at work LG That Nickelback song Rock Star American Idol The Dubya Sarah Palin New York Giants/Dallas Cowboys Tom Brady's damn knee Muni delays (any given week, I experience delays three out of five days, and that's pretty unacceptable) Michael Phelps the celebrity (as opposed to Michael Phelps the swimmer whom I rooted for) Bailouts Shoddy workmanship from contractors (I swear, you gotta have pride in your work products) Sears appliance warranty service from A&E (when you have a service call and the A&E truck pulls up to your driveway, be afraid, be very afraid) Economy airplane seats No cut-and-paste and no video recording and no GPS text-to-voice on iPhone Oprah and Will Smith going on about how Obama win empowers them and how they now feel like a part of America Shia LaBeouf (damn kid ruined Indiana Jones, or more accurately made a bad movie even worse) Fist bumping (by anybody other than a black kid is just wrong) Bad haircuts Amy Winehouse's self-destructive ways (I love, love, love her music and want to hear more) Extremists of any sort
Cheerios, peeps. Happy hanukkah, and merry kwanzaa to you all.
What bad economy? Like any good superhero, I am doing what I am best at to save the world, by consuming for the greater good. I know every dollar I spent buying things, I am putting a dollar out there to save the world from its downward spiral. Yeah, you can thank me later, when companies stop posting losses and laying off workers, when the stock market goes bull, when real estate becomes unaffordable again.
Here is what I purchased to make the world a better place recently: - Sony Bravia KDL-46Z4100/S - iTouchless 13 gallon garbage can (it's a garbage can with a sensor flip top) - Canon SD770 camera (gift) - New Balance shoes (gift for my mother) - Marmot Thunder Ridge 3-in-1 jacket - REI duffle bag - REI backpack - Planet Earth blu ray dvd, BBC version - Buffy the Vampire Slayer collector's set dvd - J Crew broken-in khakis - Gap original khakis - J Crew shawl collar jersey - Target newsboy-style cap - Subscription to Men's Journal - Tickets to Wicked (gift)
I actually think there is more, but I don't want to brag on. Humility is an important superhero trait.
Getting close to xmas. Shopping mall is packed. The air is frigid. A few Christmas cards have made their way to my mailbox. Not as much as when I was a kid with lots of friends. Nah, now they trickle in, just like the people. But it's alright - I don't need a lot of people in my life. I just need a few. I need my family, and then I need you-know-who. Yeah, this many years later, I still feel a knot in my stomach everytime something reminds of what it used to be like. Today I was going thru my cell phone bills; they remind me of how much we used to talk, talk about nothing at all.
I just rewatched Chungking Express tonight, first blu ray movie I watched on my new tv. At one point, Takeshi Kaneshiro says that he wished people didn't have expiration dates, like cans of pineapples. Sigh. I know. I wish people, people I love, would stay around forever, unconditionally, whether I am acting strange or not. But no, people are actually worse than cans of pineapples. At least with cans of pineapple, there is ample warning. With people, sometimes you turn around and they are gone, for good.
Anyways, on this cheery holiday note, I am sharing this humorous Jason Mraz video:
News flash: Edward just got a haircut, and teenage girls and movie studio execs are working themselves into a frenzy as to whether this is a good move or not.
I am freezing my butt off these days, putting on the hood of my hoodie even indoors. I totally look like the Uni-bomber as I clean the kitchen, watch Hong Kong soap opera, eat oatmeal, and make slider burgers for dinner.
As I try to clean the house, I realize how things accumulate so fast and how easy it is that I have left certain things in the same spot for years without me even noticing the passage of time. For example, I have this eraser sculpture that I made while I was bored at work when I was still a fresh-faced wee lad. And then somewhere along the line, I brought it home cuz I thought it was cool and put it inside my tv cabinet. Before you know it, years passed, the rubberband that was part of the sculpture had dried. The paper clip rusted. And the bottle cap that was its crown had come loose. And while it disintegrated, the sculpture just sat in its exact spot unmoved, through winters, springs, summers and falls, through good times and heartbreaks, through wars, natural catastrophes, and global warming. Yup, it's worse for the wear but it just sat there without a warning sign. It could have told me, Hey, dude, life is passing by, and you need to move, you need to change, you need to turn over a new leaf. Nah, it just sat there quietly dying its death.
Yeah, I am a nostalgic, sentimental fool. Even cleaning the house can bring me down. I wish I had taken better care of things, taken better care of myself.
By the way, I tossed the erasure sculpture out today.
Thank you for throwing your shoe. One last statement before he goes. One last reminder that we disapprove. We've always disapproved. Don't know how he carried on the way he did for the last eight years. All is not forgiven. He made the world a worse place. He was the most inarticulate, most inept president, like, ever. He made me hate Texas even more than I did before. He made me hate Ohio and Florida and any other red State that gave him another four years to mess things up even more. He fostered a U.S. government that ignored the Geneva Convention. He bypassed the UN and went about his cowboy ways in invading Iraq. In the process, he made it uncool to be an American. Being an American when you are in a foreign country now carries a little bit of apology and a little bit of shame. So yeah, I say, throw your shoes. Not one shoe but both. Throw them high, throw them mighty. Throw them for your people. Throw them for mine.
Whoa, Nelly! Guess what I bought today? Yup, it's a sparkling new Sony Bravia! And no, it's not a 37" or a 40". No, no, no. It's a freaking 46". And it's not a V series, or a S series, or a W series. It's the damn Z series!!! Yeah, I went for it big time, with gusto, throwing caution to the wind. Sigh, I wish I were like that with girls. Anyways, don't worry. I haven't blown my entire life saving on this. My brown belt in internet shopping really paid off today (much like it did when I bought a washer and dryer during Thanksgiving weekend for $600 off!) - I only paid $1000 for this baby, which normally goes for $1500 at least.
I still need to figure how I am going to house this thing. It's so freaking big that I don't have any shelving for it right now. I need to do some furniture moving for sure. But once I have it set up, I am going to sit back and watch The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Chungking Express all on Blu Ray. It's gonna be sweeet.
Anyways, this should conclude a very, very expensive year of being me. Next year I will practice my Buddhist ways and live minimally (now that I have a fancy tv and all). Next year I will realize that all these material things do not enrich my life and when all is said and done, it's what's inside my heart that counts. Next year...
Day Two. My list of what I want for xmas (materialistically speaking): - Jason Mraz's We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. expanded edition - Joby Gorillapod SLR Zoom - REI Cordura Duffel Bag medium, orange - Planet Earth, Blu Ray, BBC version - World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks - Zojirushi electric water dispenser - Nikon 18-200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor lens - PS3 Rock Band - A nice enameled cast iron skillet - LCD tv - 40" plus for $900 or less, specifically either a Sony Bravia, a Sharp Aquos, a Toshiba Regza, or a Samsung 500 series and up
On the first day of xmas: First official day of vacation. This past weekend doesn't count cuz everybody gets weekends off (well, not everyone, but salary men and office ladies normally do, and as I am a salary man, I am not counting it). I actually did quite a bit today. I made a sour cream cheesecake; I am making cornish game hens with a pepperjack cheese sauce for dinner; I returned four pairs of Keen shoes to REI; I bought a Marmot jacket (hedge color Thunder Ridge Medium) from REI while I was there returning the shoes; I went grocery shopping at Lucky's, Safeway's and Sunset Super; and I got a haircut at Hong Kong Hair Salon.
Oh and I made a list of my 58 favorite songs of 2008. Why 58, you ask? It's because I was trying really hard to narrow to 50 and then realize that was not going to be fair to the eight orphan songs I was going to leave out.
58. Shut Up And Let Me go - The Ting Tings 57. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie 56. Who's Gonna Save Your Soul - Gnarls Barkley (Best video of the year.) 55. Pocketful Of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield 54. If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson 53. If A Song Could Get Me You - Marit Larsen 52. Mercy - Duffy 51. I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry 50. Cry Just A Little Bit - Cloetta Paris 49. Sunset Shell - Ossian Ekenger 48. Paparazzi - Lady GaGa (I need to get her cd. I hear it's awesome.) 47. No More Rain - Kylie Minogue 46. The Show - Lenka 45. Petite Bonheur - Loane 44. Lucky - Jason Mraz with Colbie Caillat 43. LES Artistes - Santogold 42. Just Behind A Brickwall - Tobias Froberg 41. Digital Love - Alphabeat (Made me go back and appreciate the Daft Punk original.) 40. We Got Some Breaking Up To Do - Private 39. I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me - Annie (Can't wait til 2009 for brand new cd from her.) 38. Bruises - Chairlift 37. Hello Seattle - Owl City 36. New Soul - Yael Naim 35. Walking On A Dream - Empire Of The Sun 34. Live High - Jason Mraz 33. Stop And Stare - One Republic 32. She Loves Everybody - Chester French 31. Soul On Fire - Spiritualized 30. Sexual Eruption - Snoop Dogg with Robyn 29. Lights & Music - Cut Copy 28. The Kids Don't Stand A Chance - Vampire Weekend 27. True Affection - The Blow (Love the line You are out of my league.) 26. Impossible Germany - Wilco 25. Mansford Roof - Vampire Weekend 23. Miles Away - Madonna (Guy Ritchie is miles away but $90M richer for it) 22. PGDM - Pretty Good Dance Moves (Any video that features people dancing with motorcycle helmets on is cool with me.) 21. I'm Good I'm Gone - Lykke Li (Sweden represent!) 20. Ara Batur - Sigur Ros (Iceland is not bankrupt for musical genius, as long as it's got Sigur Ros.) 19. Homecoming - Kanye West with Chris Martin 18. End Of The World News (Live) - Tom McRae (From the live cd I acquired during my first Tom McRae live experience - you know, the one where I shook his hand, twice.) 17. I'm The Worrying Kind - Maia Hirasawa (The namesake of this blog.) 16. Time To Pretend - MGMT 15. Speed Feels Better - Michael Tolcher (From the Summer Beijing Olympics.) 14. Strawberry Swing - Coldplay (Oh, what a perfect day...) 13. True Love Will Find You In The End - Daniel Johnston (An oldie. I first heard of this as a remake but thought I would include the original here.) 12. She's Not Me - Madonna (Infectious, fun, and vengeful. We like Madonna this way. Way better than preachy Madonna.) 11. Electric Feel - MGMT (These guys are just plain cool.) 10. Human - The Killers (I am human, not dancer. I am addicted.) 9. California - Joey Ryan (A beautiful ode to my home state. Like that Phantom Planet song.) 8. Leaving - Jesse McCartney (Jesse McCartney? Seriously? Yeah, I am such a tween.) 7. Viva La Vida - Coldplay (My favorite band hit it big big time this year. This song reminds me of that HBO show The Tudors, even though I have never seen The Tudors. It's epic, with strings and all.) 6. Button - Shugo Tokumaru (Intricate, experimental, beautiful. It transports me everytime to a new musical wonderland.) 5. Made In The Dark - Hot Chip (Hot Chip can slow it down and bring it to a melancholy simmer.) 4. Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip (And then they can turn it up and bring it to a full boil. What a slick dance anthem.) 3. Lovers In Japan - Coldplay (Dreaming of the Osaka sun still.) 2. American Boy - Estelle (Don't like his baggy jeans, but I like what's underneath them...haha.) 1. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz (He made the Jack Johnson cd I wanted Jack Johnson to make. I love the vibe of this song and the whole cd. I'm a big fan now and would love to see him live.)
Wait - that's not all I'm giving you today. I am also sharing this hilarious video. The Dubya is in Iraq and got not one but two shoes thrown at him:
It's Monday nite. I've got Gossip Girl recording on my Tivo. Will probably watch it later tonight. I'm surfing on the internet, watching QVC, and listening to my iTunes 2008 playlist (playing Hot Chip's Made In The Dark at the moment - looove that song) all at the same time. I've got four more days of work til work is done with for the year. Thank god. It's another hard year. I know, I am not some farmer in China doing farming things under the hot sun all day long (I easily could have been if my mom never moved to Macau back in the day). But trust me, some day I wish I were farming and feeding chicken cuz I reckon chickens to be less treacherous than my coworkers and all the crap I have to deal with. But then again, I am kinda sensitive to the sun, like my neck breaks out in a rash everytime I get sunburnt, so that wouldn't be good. Anyways, I am not a farmer in China but instead an office worker in the United States of America, sitting in a cubicle, tapping away on my computer all day long, so that's the life I have to deal with and the life I get to complain and blog about. It's cool though. I just pretend I am Batman or something, and all my nasty, gossipy, sneaky coworkers and managers are my arch-nemesis. They are the Joker, Two-Face, etc. Too bad Catwoman has yet to show up. She will, for sure. Black catsuit and all. She will help me do the right things, which is always the guiding principle for me - do the right things, with all the right intentions. Sometimes it may come out bad. Sometimes people don't understand. Sometimes it may drive people away. But being a superhero is a lonely job. Sometimes I come home and wonder if I could have just taken the easy way out and if life would be so much easier that way. But then, Batman wouldn't do that - he won't settle for just being a handsome billionaire playboy, so why should I? Speaking of Batman, my Dark Knight Blu Ray dvd has just shipped from amazon. I can't wait to put it into my PS3. Only if I have a super fancy LCD tv to play it on. I will, likely by Christmas. I am thinking of getting rid of my antique 27 inch CRT tv in my living room. In fact, this Christmas I am going to clean up and get rid of a lot of stuff. I am just so tired of the clutter. I started with the kitchen and the dining room, which I just finished painting this weekend. I used Benjamin Moore Stonehouse for the wall and Cottonball for the baseboard and crown molding and ceiling. The colors turned out really nice, except I had to touch up the edges numerous times cuz I didn't put on the painter's tape right the first time. Big note to self - next time, take time with the painter's tape - it pays off later. So I am trying to decide whether to tackle the living room painting this month. If I do, should I do it a light yellow, a light grey, or white? I want something airy feeling. I also want to move my armoir into the dining room and replace it with a stand for my soon-to-be LCD tv. Anyways, we shall see what happens. I also need to upload my Japan pics onto Flickr. It's hard to sort out over 1500 pictures and edit it down to less than 200. So many tasks to take care of, so little time. Too bad I don't have an Alfred who can help me out. He can then help me end this blog, which is always difficult, cuz you have to find a way to tie it up, make it meaningful, so that all that rambling is not just random. You gotta give your reader something to chew on, something to bring it all home. But by saying that, I've just dug a big hole for myself, because now I've set the expectation too high. Now you, the reader, will wait for the last sentence. An aside - The Reader: Did you check out Kate Winslet at the premiere of her new movie The Reader? Phew. That's some fantastic woman there. I've been a fan for a long, long time. I've loved a lot of things she's done, including The Holiday and Little Children from recent years. I should write her a fan letter. Maybe she will reply, unlike Julie Delpy. I mean, maybe she's less rude than those French people. Just kidding. I still heart Julie Delpy and all French people. I am just saying, maybe Kate Winslet will reply and acknowledge the effort. Okay, now back to the point, which is, I am not a farmer like my father used to be. In fact, like Bruce Wayne, I lost my father when I was really young. And that has haunted me all this time. I am not sure if my father or the tragedy of losing my father has shaped me more. Yes, I am playing the dead father card. So there. Everything, all the random things I concern myself with, ties back to that night when we left the theatre early. Made In The Dark, indeed.
That's Kate Winslet at the recent premiere of her movie The Reader. She also has Revolutionary Road coming this Oscar season. Sexy and talented, and British. Sigh.
Weather: Fair State: Relaxed Music: Coldplay, Prospekt's March Last Movie: Role Models (so freaking funny) Last Pleasure: Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh (I love Drake and Josh!) Last Worry: Work Looking Forward To: Time off from work, starting in one week Not Really Looking Forward To: Amazing Race finale, which means I have to wait another year for new season Tired Of: L.G., my super-annoying kiss-ass, fake-ass, lazy-ass coworker Gas Price: $1.99/gallon Clothes: An Old Navy light blue "Atlanta" graphic t-shirt, Lucky jeans Today's Headline: Indian Police Arrest 2 Men In Mumbai Investigation Current Desktop Wallpaper: The Dark Knight (dvd coming this Tues) Last Website Visited:http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/ Last Meal:Leftover chow mein Last Purchase: Samsung washer WF218ANW & dryer DV218AGW Item Off My Wishlist: 42 inch LCD tv, maybe a Sharp Aquos or Samsung 5 series or above Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World: These guys having a drink while Venice is flooding right under them -
Ooh, Chungking Express, one of those definitive 90's films and probably my favorite Wong Kar Wai movies (I keep switching), is coming out on blu ray. And since I have a PS3 now, I just pre-ordered this:
Role Models is the funniest movie I saw all year long, even funnier than Pineapple Express. Every character, from the leads to all the supporting players, is likable and hilarious. Just check out Jane Lynch as ex-addict turned Big Brother-type organization founder. And the best thing about it is that, in the tradition of There's Something About Mary and The Ringer, it has real heart amidst all the gross-out, foul-mouthed jokes and boobies. Did I mention there are boobies?
The Killers' Human single. Resistance to Brandon Flowers and his incoherent lyrics is futile.
Shugo Tokumaru, my new favorite musician, is featured at Daytrotter. Here is the text: Once things start turning here in the Midwest, it all dries pretty quickly. There’s never much pacing involved. Before anyone knows it, the beeswax from the ripened and husked ears of corn is flying through the air like an attack of harmless yellow jackets and pink snow flurries. Pumpkins are obese and everything smells like firewood and marshmallows. Shugo Tokumaru doesn’t get to experience these phenomenon living and making art where he does in Japan, but perhaps there’s been some reincarnation work done on the young man that no one knows about that makes him act the way that he does when he’s writing and playing his music. There’s a purity of life, a natural progression of seasonal change, of growth and light and dark and chippy buoyancy that laves its smacks on his adventuresome pop songs. They are full of gold dust and energy and helium, pulling them up from the surface and giving them the power of motion. They get around and they shake and they chime. Tokumaru is an expert at making moods from bare bones, shaping triumphant lushes that feel as if they were overlaid upon one another, making a spectacular three-dimensional film that can reach right out and not only feel the warmth in your cheeks, but can help put some of the stuff in those cheeks. Both acts are impressive, anyone would agree. It’s a special relationship that he has with his guitar and the things that he can make it do are akin to getting the first airplane off the ground and into the air and while up there getting a first kiss and immediately proposing marriage. It’s somewhat breathtaking and staggering when Tokumaru gets going with his light vocals, the bells, the deep thrushes of strums that stir up a wooly buffalo-ish cloud of outburst and then takes us somewhere completely foreign and yet comfortable. It’s almost as if we’re taken to some far-off world that we’d forgotten about decades ago, some fuzzily remembered place that we visited with our parents when we were first learning how to read, when we’d never been anywhere before. Tokumaru’s songs are filled with what can only be described as a child-like wonder, where the littlest things capture us up and become bigger things. It’s like when we were freaks for dinosaurs or when we first started noticing beauty – the shine of hair, the perfect dimples in a girl’s face, the flapping wings of a bird leaving the ground, the sound of our singing voice when it’s allowed to just let go and warble. It brings us back to the original idea of things just taking their natural time with everything, with fitting into the laidback meandering of autumn into the kind of friendly postseason where we all just dress a little thicker and sip the air in. It goes down smoothly. Randomly in Tokumaru’s songs does an English word pop into the proceedings and it’s like a revelation of sorts. On “Parachute,” it almost sounds as if he’s singing, “Bless you,” and everything takes on a different meaning. It’s interesting to go down those paths with all of the songs on Exit, his superb third album and his major American introduction. It’s like a heart dividing and sending what it has into a couple different directions, hanging onto the remainder. “Wedding” is where Tokumaru prominently displays some of the robust magic that he can summon out of his guitar and some willingness to follow him into the dark. It’s the album closer and damn if it doesn’t feel like a wedding, whatever that means. It feels like bouquets multiplying and it feels like an event and a buffet. The 28-year-old is properly versed in making things feel as if they’ve been tenderly cared for. He lovingly measures out what he feels the recipe calls for, watches the rising of the cakes, stands in front of the hot oven checking on the progress of them, never taking his eyes off of them and believing that they’re fine of their own. These songs are seen through to completion and only at that point does Tokumaru hold them out for others to behold.
This year I am thankful for (I am bypassing the usual family & friends stuff cuz those are givens that I am thankful for always and not in any particular year, and besides, I've got nothing new or interesting, or newly interesting anyway, to write about them):
- Japan. What a nice place to have visited. Another treasured stamp in my passport. - End of Bush era. Phew. We made it thru without the world blowing up into smithereens. But then again, regular folks living in Iraq or Afghanistan might not agree with me on this last statement... - My job. Okay, I freaking know I complain all the time about what a pain-in-the-ass job I have, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the money that gets regularly deposited into my bank account every two weeks. These are hard times... - iPhone. Gives me a warm feeling in my pants every morning. - Iron Man and Dark Knight. I love movies and the craft of movie-making. My favorite films of all time are the LOTR trilogy and Before Sunrise/Sunset. So you see, I like 'em both big and small, just like my women (not really). I love it when big Hollywood blockbusters get it right, because it's cinematic magic when that happens. This summer we got two of them that got it right, real right. - Madonna tour and cd. Okay, I don't looove Hard Candy; I like it alright. But anytime she puts out something and goes on tour, it's exciting for me. And my life needs that kind of excitement to keep it from being what it always verges on being - nothing. - Coldplay tour and cd. I do love the new Coldplay cd. Viva La Vida indeed. The part where he sings about the Osaka sun in Lovers In Japan. Well, I was thinking about that that morning when I woke up in Osaka and looked out the hotel window at the hazy sun. - Tom McRae. I am so honored to have shaken the hand, twice, of the guy whose songs are like musical transcripts to my dark, cynical but curiously hopeful heart. - My new kitchen, new windows, new furnace. Costed me a pretty penny (and a new BMW went into the sacrifice too) but now that they are done, I am happy to be living with them. I am painting my dining room next and then maybe next year, got to do something with the front driveway and then paint the exterior the following year... - These lyrics from Leonard Cohen which I first blogged about here: Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack in everything/That's how the light gets in.
Here's Coldplay doing Lovers In Japan. Soldiers, solider on:
I almost bought a new computer system today from Dell. It's a Studio system, and it's generally got the specs I was looking for to do some light video editing and Photoshop stuff and listening to my iTunes and watching fat she-male porn, etc. But then I got gun-shy for spending over $900 in these times of economic hardship. So instead, I just watched more free porn...The guy who did the famous and most excellent Obama Hope poster is named Shepard Fairey; he actually is featured in this month's GQ...Twilight made $70M this weekend. Teenage girls have all the power these days. It's a good thing, cuz I think I generally have the mentality of a teenage girl (a white teenage girl to be more specific)...Aside from a computer, a 1080p HD LCD TV is also on my wishlist this xmas. I have my eye on a Sharp Aquos 46" going for $1000 at Costco. Those are the two gifts I will get for myself before the year's end, hopefully. Unless I feel too guilty about spending all that dough in these times of economic hardship...But you see, since I am now so full of Obama hope, maybe I will splurge. Things will turn around for sure...Hope or not, I did have a rather crummy week at work. I don't want to relive it by writing about it. Let's just say, I hate the entire state of Nevada right now...For Thanksgiving, I am thinking of remaking my garlic mashed potato and spaghetti combo. First I put a few bulbs of garlic in olive oil, wrapped it up in foil, and roast in oven for about half an hour. For the mashed potato, I just take a few potato, peel and boil them til soft, mash them up with milk and olive oil, season with salt and peper, then dump in roasted garlic, scallion, and the ta-da ingredient of asiago cheese. For the spaghetti, I drizzle the olive oil from the garlic over cooked spaghetti, and toss it with the same mixture of chopped roasted garlic, scallion and the asiago cheese til the cheese gets all melty. Trust me, both of these side dishes are yummy. And I made it up all by myself, based on ingredients I had in the fridge. No recipe, just things I learned from watching too much Food TV. I'll try to think of some other side dishes too...I haven't really commented on my reality shows lately, so here is a quick summary: Dancing With The Stars - meh. I am rooting for Brooke Burke (cannot stand Lance Bass or Warren Sapp), but I am not super excited. Survivor Gabon - omfg, I hate this season. All the people I like are leaving due to the damn Survivor twists. First Marcus, then Charlie. Next will be Corrine. I actually already stopped watching. Top Chef - just started the season. There is nobody I am gravitating towards. And finally, thank god for Amazing Race - cuz my team, Toni and Dallas (the mother and son team) is still in the race, down to final four now. They just went to Kazakhstan (Borat country), and guess what? Everyone looks Asian there and does not resemble Borat at all. What gives?...I heart Kate Winslet. Just want to put that out there. She and Leo are reuniting in Revolutionary Road due in December...I've come to really dislike Brangelina. I don't care how many Asian and African kids they adopt and give them cool haircuts and clothes, they are still a cheater and a homewrecker. I am saying this now cuz I just saw Brad Pitt on Oprah, promoting Benjamin Buttons (which btw is from David Fincher, so it's gotta be brills)...I just returned this weekend about $100 worth of clothes I bought online from Old Navy. I only kept one item (a zipped black hoodie). All the other items just didn't look cool enough to keep in these times of economic hardship. I have to be more picky now, you know...I did however go to Costco and bought meatballs, bananas, stuffed turkey breast, Greek pasta salad, and Itoen green tea. What are you going to do? A guy's still gotta eat...Speaking of which, I have about thirty boxes of Lean Cuisine in my freezer right now. They had a sale at Adronico's. It was going for $1 a box, so I went hog-wild. I'm prepared. So bring it on, recession! I ain't scared of you and your soup lines.
This is the last of my Japan randomness trilogy (get the LOTR reference??? hehe): Japan may not have guns or other American-esque social problems as far as I can see (it took me over a week before I saw a bum sleeping on a park bench). But it does have to contend with the evils of...Pachinko Parlors. I cannot see the appeal of a game where all you do is to twist a knob to flick little beads up the machine. I was this close to having a seizure just standing there for a few minutes in front of all the flashing lights to watch JC try his hand at this nonsense. Nonetheless an entire country is addicted...One Tuesday afternoon, I went looking for Yoshitomo Nara merchandise at this store called LammFromm in Tokyo. I got off at the Yoyogi Park station on the Chiyoda subway line and walked in every which direction trying to locate this place. My GPS and the little map I downloaded from the website were of no help. Eventually, after almost two hours of wandering thru every side street near the station, I finally spotted the place. And guess what? There was a camera crew filming inside the store. I went in anyways to browse around, and the camera guy started speaking Japanese to me. I replied that I didn't understand. The shop girl then came up and said I can continue shopping if I don't mind being filmed. I did mind, but damn, it took me two hours of sweat and tears to get here, so I wasn't leaving. The whole time though, I was so freaking self-conscious with the camera on me that I really wasn't concentrating on shopping. After an awkward five minutes, I ended up grabbing a little stuffed doll, paid and got out of there...I really liked strolling around Asakusa in Tokyo. I particularly liked the sweet potato wedge fries (which were actually sprinkled with sugar instead of salt) and the really dark green tea drink I bought from the food stands...I am going to state the obvious, but the bullet train is, uh, really fast. Just stand on the platform and feel it swoosh by you...It's quite a sight to see the deers run wild and rabid in Nara. Supposedly here the deers are considered sacred and therefore are allowed to go about their business undisturbed...In Japan, they sold Haagen Dazs milk tea-flavored ice cream. I think I ate at least three of these during my last few days in Tokyo. It was needless to say yummy. I remember a few years back I had honeydew Haagen Dazs ice cream in Hong Kong. Asia gets the best/more interesting Haagen Dazs flavors. America just likes its vanilla, chocolate, maybe cookies & cream. So freaking boring...Let me once again praise what Asia definitively has heads-and-shoulders over the US: public transportation. Like the HK MTR, the Japan railway/subway system is super efficient and convenient. Although I have to say, I did avoid the commute hours so I did not experience the thrill of being pushed into a packed train...I found my Reac miniature chairs at both BicCamera and Tokyu Hands. I ended up buying eight chairs for less than thirty dollars. I was a very happy boy...This was a wonderful trip. Japan is a great country with lovely people. I sincerely appreciated their friendliness and politeness. Everything is presented with such beauty and attention to details (you should see the box that was used for my rice take-out!). And I met some really nice people on the tour and hopefully have made some friendships that will last. In some way it was hard to come home, back to my mundane American reality. It's not that I want to stay in Japan, but I would like to take Japan back home with me. I am sitting here thinking about Adam in Afghanistan. If coming back was somewhat hard for me, what must it be like for him? How do you go from buying Godzilla action figures and eating sushis back to dodging bullets and sleeping in a tent in the middle of the desert? I want to end this with a wish - the wish that Adam can return home safely to his mother and his family and friends. I wish he gets more chances to buy more Godzillas and we can talk more about zombie movies and Hard Gay and South Park and all that good stuff.
Yesterday nite was magical for me. I got to see my musical hero Tom McRae live for the first time. He played at the tiny (I mean, tiny) Hotel Utah Saloon. The space was just about twice the size of my living room, and there were probably about forty people max in attendance. Absent of inviting him to sing and play guitar in my house, this was as intimate as it gets.
Tiny venue or not, Tom's performance was big time. His vocals simply soared. The songs were majestic and haunting. And his onstage bantering was charming and funny as heck. He did this bit about how his career is now over because post-Obama-elected-as-US-president world is so full of hope that it is bound to put his brand of miserable songwriting/storytelling out of business. He then quipped about how he'll make a return engagement in eight years, after Palin takes over, at which time he will be number one all over the world. And later he introduced Boy With The Bubble Gun (with the lines "If words could kill, I would spell out your name...") by asking all of us to think of that person we want to hurt, and thru collective anti-praying, we can make it all come true. Haha... BTW, guess who I dedicated my anti-prayer to...
Most thrilling of the night though was that I actually got to meet Tom (my new BFF) and shake his hand twice and have him sign my cd booklet. You see, before the show, I actually spotted him standing near the bar area, and I immediately jumped out of my seat and went up and introduced myself. I gushed about how I've been a fan since the beginning and that his music means a lot to me. I was actually very nervous and didn't really engage in a conversation or anything. I just rambled like a dorky fan. But he was very polite and gracious.
Here are the mementos from the night:
Thanks Tom. Your brand of misery made me a very happy boy yesterday nite! And no Obama-worldful of hope can change that.
Japan Randomness Part Ni: After the tour ended, JC and I spent a Sunday taking the JR Yamanote line from our Keio Plaza hotel in Shinjuku to Harajuku. The purpose was to finally meet the world-famous Harajuku cos-play girls. Cos-play is this subculture where these teenagers get dressed up in outrageous costumes every Sunday and hang out on the bridge next to the Harajuku station. Supposedly these are kids who've been bullied in school, and this is their rebellion. I guess it's sort of like the punks and goth kids in America, except it's taken to a very Japanese-centric level. It's like role-playing and anime come to real life...And then there is the whole rockabilly scene in nearby Yoyogi Park, where guys in motorcycle leather jackets and slicked-high hair and gals in poodle skirts dance to badly choreographed songs like Pineapple Princess, with pineapple props no less...Furthermore strolling thru Yoyogi Park, we encountered a row of rock bands, all set up about thirty feet from each others. They actually were really good. If I were a record exec, I would have signed a couple of them up on the spot...Finally we ended up somehow at a Sunday flea market. The young people there were so hip and cool I wanted to stay there and breathe in their vibe so I too can be cool...Our tour guide for the first day was named Junko. The next day her brother, our real tour guide, Akira Oka, took over. Our bus driver is Mr. Ishida. They were all terrific. Especially Akira - who has to be like the nicest, most informative tour guide ever. On the final morning, because we are leaving for the airport too early to have the hotel breakfast, Akira actually bought us buns and juice for the bus ride. I am not sure if that's part of what they are supposed to do, but man, that's service...My favorite stores in Tokyo are: Muji, Tokyu Hands, and BicCamera...The food was amazing. I didn't have a single bad meal in the entire two weeks. Maybe my favorite was the Japanese banquet-style kaiseki dinner at either the New Akao in Atami or at the Biwako Hotel in Otsu...We went geisha hunting one night in the Gion district in Kyoto. It was more difficult than hunting for vampires. But Shawn did manage to snap one while she was getting in a taxi surrounded by her handlers. She tried covering her face with her hands - it was a very Britney Spears/Lindsay Lohan moment, with whiter make-up and no crotch shot...I met a few of JC's Japanese coworkers from his company's headquarter in Tokyo. They took us out to dinner one night. They are all very cool, nice people. I've exchanged a few emails with Kenya, who turns out to be a fine arts major and is an excellent painter, and Katsuhiro and hope to stay in touch...Regrettably JC and I didn't make like Otakus and go to a maid cafe in Akihabara, the "Electric Town" district in Tokyo. Nor did we go to Ninja, a restaurant where the waiters dress like Ninjas and sneak up with your food...I didn't really care for castles and temples, but I did like the nightingale floor at the Nijo Castle. The floors are constructed so that whenever people walk on them, they make a chirping noise so that no assassins can sneak in. That's pretty darn cool...And no, I did not partake in an oisen bath. That's a little too much nakedness for me...The most anti-climatic for me was the Tsukiji fish market for me. We woke up at four-something for it, and by the time we got there, we caught the tail end of the fish auction (haha - get it? tail end of fish auction?). When all was said and done, watching people sell fish is just not that fascinating. Fish is better on a plate, sashimi-style, not with fins and head and eyes and scales...In our tour group, there was this family from the Bay Area that actually was pretty annoying. I mean, generally they were fine with us, but one night, when we went to a restaurant for our tonkatsu dinner, they made a scene because the air-con in the room we were seated in wasn't working properly. The rest of us didn't make a big deal of it. Yes, it was hot but damn the tonkatsu was delicious (we had to grind our own sesame seeds and then add the tonkatsu sauce). They on the other hand demanded to be seated in another room and simply acted like jerky Americans. They waited forever to have their meal, while we ate and then went out and roamed the streets and enjoyed the rest of our free time. The lesson to be learned there is, don't be so demanding and expect things to be done only your way, try to enjoy the moment and the experience, and you are always better off for it.
Randomness from Japan Part One: Tokyo is a cleaner, more polite version of Hong Kong...There was so much bowing involved that I am suffering from bowing withdraw now that I am back in the States and have to deal with the American rudeness again. Like, when I went to Safeway the other day, I was mildly offended that the cashier didn't smile and bow when he gave me back my change...What was most surprising about the trip was how much I enjoyed the tour part of it. It was just so easy to have all the decisions made for you, including where to go and what to eat. And the people, from the tour guide to all the fellow travelers, were, uh, really nice. I know - what gives? I might have to reassess my world view now. Maybe I don't hate people after all?...I met Adam and his mother Veronica, from Burnaby, near Vancouver. Adam is in the Canadian army and is currently stationed in Afghanistan. He was on his two week leave and was spending it visiting Japan with his mother. He doesn't want to go back. His tour of duty ends some time in February. And he likes zombie movies and Godzilla toys...I need to stop sampling food in foreign countries. At the sake museum, I might have used a used toothpick to try the pickled vegetables that went with the sake samples. Gross...I need to stop trying to cleanse my soul at temples. They have this fountain-thingy where you are supposed to use the water to purify your hands and mouth. I did it for the sake of doing it (and because I am a dirrrty, filthy person), and then found out afterwards, you are supposed to spit out the water after rinsing instead of swallowing as I did. Uh, gross...Japan youths are very fashionable. The coolest gathering of people were at the eco-themed Sunday flee market at Yoyogi Park. They were sort of like neo-Bohemian, which involved a lot of beanies and layering. I felt like a sweat-wearing Midwestern housewife standing next to these cool cats...I hate the tight seats on the ANA flights. There is absolutely no leg room. Is it made especially for short Japanese people? Verdict is that Singapore Air (and Singapore Air girls) still is the great way to fly...It is correct to say to find a Japanese location by address only is impossible...However, the JR and subway system is pretty easy to figure out after some initial fumbling. Got a prepaid Suica card and all was well...Best looking girl spotted was in Kyoto, at an Italian restaurant. She was the maitre d'. I have no idea what that lunch really tasted like, but I would go back in a heartbeat...I met the Chiu family. Bob the father is a molecular biology professor. Grace the mom is a really nice woman who met Bob while playing tennis in Taiwan U. Son Stanley is well-traveled, speaks bit of Japanese, and carries a big DSLR. Son Richard is gregarious and likes to take pictures with and of pretty girls...Ubiquitous in Japan are 1) vending machines and 2) soft-serve ice creams. As common as smoking and spitting were in China and underaged hookers and wats were in Thailand. Needless to say, I prefer vending machines and ice cream over those other things...I met Shawn and Monique, well-to-do couple from Southern Cal who own a preschool and a pho restaurant. Back in Tokyo after the tour, they invited us to visit their top-floor corner suite at the Tokyo Peninsula. Probably only time in my life I would get to snoop inside a Peninsula room. As nice as it was, I would never pay the money. Just think how many Gundam robots I can buy...Adam has the words Humility and Fairness, in Latin, tattoo'ed on his left and right forearms, respectively...There is this hole in a wood column in one of the temples we visited. Supposedly if you can crawl through it, you will make it to paradise in your next life. Adam and his mom both made it through the hole...
I am suffering from jetlag and going-back-to-hellhole-aka-work-itis and election-overload. Ffor the record, I voted for Obama (or against McCain/Palin) and no for Prop 8 (which means I am not for banning gay marriage - I mean, it's no skin off my back that people want equal rights, so why not?). Still working on my mega post on my Japan trip.
Meanwhile here are my pics from yesterday nite's Madonna Sticky & Sweet concert at the Oracle Arena at Oakland. She is a dancing fool/robot. Everything is top-notched but I am beginning to want more from her. I don't know what I mean either. View is from sec 115, row 7:
We are two episodes into the new season of Amazing Race. I now have a sense of who I like. And the team that I am rooting for is the mother-son team of Toni and Dallas. She's a single mother who raised him all by herself, and they have a great relationship. She raised a good boy. The Good:
The most despicable are husband and wife Ken and Tina. Ken is an ex-NFL player (no idea whom he played for). Apparently he cheated on Tina and this is his redemption. But after two episodes, I think these two deserve each other. Ugh. The Bad:
And then there are chubby frat boys Team Superbad, Seth Rogen-lookalikes. I think they are entertaining, and if Toni & Dallas get eliminated, I'll root for these guys cuz they just seem like jovial, normal, fun-loving guys. The Superbad:
