i'm with kooky not stupid

Man, this week has been rough on reality tv. Shannon Elizabeth (and Derek Hough) got kicked off DWTS yesterday nite, and then Brooke White got eliminated tonite on Idol.

So sad. I never liked Shannon Elizabeth before as an actress, but I found her quite likable on DWTS and felt she was one of the better ones to go the distance (rather than that overhyped Jason Taylor, whom I liked initially but now finds lackluster, or that chubby Broadway girl Marissa Something, whom I never liked, or that Christiano Latin Somebody, whom I really really hate). Then there is Brooke White, Carly Simon-esque singer/guitar & piano player/nanny. I thought she started out fantastic but has been shakey in weeks past. Nonetheless I liked her kookiness (I find kooky girls endearing, not stupid but kooky, off-kilter). I will miss her.

Interesting thing about Idol yesterday was that Paula Abdul actually critiqued Jason Castro's 2nd performance even before it happened. After the first performances, she started rambling about how Jason's first song was good because of his lower register but his usual charm was missing in his second song and that he didn't show enough fight, blah blah blah. What is that about? Now her excuse is that with her comment on Jason's second song, she was really looking at her notes for David Cook - that is complete bull because she would never say anything about David Cook's "charm," or that he wasn't trying to win. Yeah, there is funny business going on at Idol for sure. My guess is that the judges' comments are all pre-written, maybe from dress rehearsal performances or something, and Paula slipped and let the cat out of the bag. When I say I like kooky girls, I was most definitely not including Paula Abdul - kooky does not equal drunk.

BTW, when the heck is Amazing Race coming back? Enuff with this silly stuff already - I want the real thing.

sex and candy

Hey kids - it's April 29, a pretty big day around here cuz it's the release date of Madonna's Hard Candy. New albums from Madonna are considered big events in my life - like getting married or having a newborn or receiving a long-awaited rebate check. I can mark my life by every record she's put out. All that time anticipating, buying all the magazines, and recording all the tv promotions. It all cumulated to the orgasmic experience of hearing a batch of new Madonna songs for the very first time. Every release, I was a virgin again.

Anyhoo, the first time I heard Hard Candy is thru my computer speakers - not the ideal. But tinny speakers or not, these songs are banging, particularly Give It 2 Me, She's Not Me, and Miles Away. I don't think there is a bad song in the bunch. It's all dance pop done to its most immaculate perfection - maybe a little too perfect, if anything. It's like superpop without the vulnerability. I will always take the wounded, reflective but not preachy Madonna of Like A Prayer and Ray Of Light over the sexed-up, sweated-up Madonna. But hey, at least this is not the hip hop album I feared - it is still very quintessential Madonna - as EW puts it, sex as metaphor for dance, dance as metaphor for world domination. Just listen to Give It 2 Me - it's all there in full glory.

So go out and buy your copy of Hard Candy. It's sweeet. (You knew that was coming.)

P.S. She is performing a free show at Roseland in NY tmw. It's going to be broadcast via msn, starting at 7pm Pacific. Only 23 hours and 28 minutes to go...

soda pop

Oh them crazy Belgians and their quest for scientific advances:

vampire (puppet musical) weekend

I am not one of those people who crave for warm weather, but today is just perfect - perfect late spring/early summer weather. Even an indoor lad like myself felt the need to leave the house and do something.

I went down to San Mateo downtown for the day. Went to Hotaru for lunch - not on the menu but on the board, they have an udon special for eight bucks that come with a CA roll. The bento box for nine bucks has a little bit, or a lot, of everything. I had the udon but will try the bento box next time. Then we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is a funny, heartwarming comedy in the tradition of There's Something About Mary. About loser guy and hot girls who like loser guy because loser guy is a sensitive, good guy. Yeah, it's a movie. Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is in it and is one of the hot girls, so that's a big bonus. And the vampire puppet musical is hilarious. I wish there really is a vampire puppet musical - that would make a really fun night out. After the movie at Century 12, we walked over to Dessert Republic, and I had the Green Wonder (aloe jelly in honeydew freeze, topped with honeydew and kiwi and green tea ice cream) and a Horlick freeze. Both were refreshingly delicious - perfect for a beautiful day like today.

Adding to the enjoyment of the day was that I finally decided to listen to the leaked Madonna Hard Candy tracks during my drive to San Mateo. Dang, those tracks are smoking hot! My favorites are Give It 2 Me, She's Not Me, and Miles Away. But they really are all banging - not a stinker or real filler amongst them. If you don't like this stuff, you either are simply not a fan of dance pop genre or you have prejudice against Madonna. Either way, it's really your loss.

Tonight I have plenty to do. I still have to finish my Lars And The Real Girl dvd, then try to catch up on some Tivo shows to make room for next week's recording, and then watch tonight's Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. Man, all of this entertainment stuff is hard work.

into the music

I went to see The Swell Season (Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova & The Frames) yesterday night at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland yesterday. It's my 1st time at the Paramount. It was a wonderful show. Glen Hansard, who was extremely charming, funny, and chatty, said that about a year ago, they actually opened for Damien Rice in this venue, and at the time, he wished that they could headline a show here on their own within one year. Well, an Oscar later, they are now taking their victory lap. Take a bow, folks. You've done yourselves and all the dreamers out there proud. As he said, the power of positive thinking. That, and talent and hard work and luck always help.

They closed with a rousing version of Van Morrison's Into The Mystics:


They also did their own Star, Star:


And for good measure, I am including fellow Irishman Damien Rice doing Cannonball:

travel light

I travel light, I travel free
born without possessions, with no religion
I've got no talent, nary a friend
gained no lovers, gained no wealth
I come unannounced, I leave in stealth

there is no string, no ties to strain
my story is plain, the words are few
I have no moral, no lesson to learn
I keep no letters, nor deeds to burn

I travel light, I travel free
born without a home, got a world to roam
I've made no commotion, no legacy or children
cheered for no one, mourned for no death
yearned for not a kiss, stolen not a breath

there is no flavor, nor a scent or colour
nary a flicker, the stars dim and far
I have no beat, no poetry to rhyme
I keep no secrets, no memory nor time

swell

Weather: Pretty swell
State: Anxious
Music: Vampire Weekend
Last Movie: Lars And The Real Girl (in the middle of it)
Last Pleasure: The Swell Season concert tonight at the Paramount Theatre
Last Worry: Not getting a phone call back from either the kitchen remodel guy or the fence guy (what gives, people?)
Looking Forward To: Madonna's Hard Candy released this coming Tues
Not Really Looking Forward To: Next week at work - all outstationed people are coming in, which means lots of meetings
Gas Price: $3.99/gallon
Clothes: Charcoal grey Gap polo shirt, maroon J Crew sweater vest, Polo jeans, Keen Delany shoes
Today's Headline: Bush Says Rebate Going Out Monday Will Boost Economy
Current Desktop Wallpaper: Radiohead from here
Last Website Visited: http://www.swedesplease.net/
Last Meal: Patty melt on rye and coffee ice cream sundae from Fenton's
Last Non-Spam Email Received: Howard, re getting together Sunday
Last Non-Work Phone Call: VM from Thai saying hello
Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World: the 2046 limited edition cd package I got from yesasia for less than $10
An Item On My Wishlist: New lens for my Nikon D40
Fortune of the Day: I am because we are

44 dead lions

I woke up before 5am this morning. That's because I fell asleep by 7pm yesterday night while watching tv in bed. I hate it, hate it when that happens, cuz it throws me out of my cycle. I didn't even brush my teeth or wash up or take off my contacts, so I woke up in the middle of nite with icky feeling. Anyways, I surfed on web for a few hours (fortunately not buying anything) and then went off to Mandarin class and learned to say "forty-four dead lions." If you knew Mandarin, you know that the pinyin of that would be sì shí sì zhi sǐ shi zi. On my way home, on Nineteenth Avenue between Lincoln and Irving, I drove by a house on fire. The fire trucks have not come yet, but there were already plenty of people both running away from the scene and running towards the scene. I didn't stop or slow down but rather felt fortunate that I didn't get stuck in the traffic jam that was sure to follow in the next few minutes. When I got home, I immediately looked out the window and was still able to see flames shooting out the the windows of the building. Pretty scary. For lunch, I ate some overcooked noodles and a couple of croquettes and drank a glass of apple juice while listening to my iTunes playing Santogold. By 2pm, I went for my haircut appointment. I told Karla at HK Hair Salon to take off 1-1/2 inch and not use clipper to cut the side - it turned out ok, maybe just a little shorter than I had anticipated but it'll grow to the right length in a week. I came home and took a shower and put in a dvd called Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School or something like that. It has Marisa Tomei in it but even that didn't keep me interested. I drifted in and out of the room, eating a Beard Papa cream puff and drinking a watermelon tapioca drink in between. When that dvd finished, I popped in Sandy Lam's Live 07 concert dvd. Sandy is my favorite HK singer - her voice is so pure and I love her image and her songs too. The fact that she chose to not sing her most popular songs at her most recent concert is so very Madonna of her - I love it. Speaking of Madonna - how many more damn days til Hard Candy comes out??? It's been like forever. I am avoiding all previews so as to not ruin any more songs. I am actually thinking I should take the 29th off just so I can enjoy the cd and all the new songs that day. Anyways, while I was watching the dvds, the wind was doing damage outside, knocking down part of an old fence in my backyard. Despite the blue sky, the wind is relentless today, and the trees are swaying every which way, holding on for dear life. I bet there will be at least a few trees in Golden Gate Park today that'll go down. Just a few days ago, a woman was at Stern Grove putting her dogs in her car when a tree branch fell and killed her. Her dogs were okay. I think when you die like that, it really is your time to go - it's too freakish of an accident. I mean, you think if the branch just fell a little to the left or to the right or a minute earlier or a minute later, she would be fine. Yup, death is unpredictable. Life is unpredictable. Well maybe except my life. My life is pretty predictable. Like I can almost predict what my life will be like in five years or in ten years. And it's not good. But hey, I stray from the topic of this post, which is just to record down my Saturday, which, after a dinner at home of pumpkin with spareribs, is ending with my lying in bed watching The Kite Runner and mouthing repeatedly in mandarin "44 dead lions." Thank goodness I sleep alone or else it will be pretty odd. This Saturday wasn't a great day. It was a mundane day, and that's precisely why I chose to record it down, for its tedium. It's like Warhol filming the front of a building. Tedium as art. Trust me - one day you'll get it, and enjoy it. Consider this an advance art lesson.

sandy

I really love this song by Sandy Lam. The lyrics are so meaningful.

再見悲哀



＊再見悲哀因我不再計較任何結果
　甚麼都可以坦蕩未在乎誰是錯
　我兩眼合上失去甚麼　是與非也掠過
　別固執到問一切為何

　再見傷感因我不易被淚流留住我
　甚麼的境界都愛自自然地渡過
　去到最尾就如與物忘我　回復身心最初
　面對心鏡內一片平和
　鳥聲瞬間閃過　(這麼最好不過)＊

除了心　只有心　可以解心鎖
煩惱多　因我要得多
微似砂　輕似煙　怎會有風波
有惆悵　跌入了恆河

情路太彎　過就過　當是個經過
感動的愛　當做一次砌磋
沿途上遇上甚麼　都欣賞過
投入時便快樂一起過

REPEAT＊

傻也好　痴也好　因你記得多
忘記的　比你記的多

懷念最好　我便會　繼續愛惜我
花瓣飄過　美在不顧結果
人存活在世就似沙粒飛過
誰又曾為了誰褒貶過

REPEAT＊

這麼最好不過　全是一種經過

young at heart

Young@Heart performing Fix You:


Also performing Schizophrenia by Sonic Youth

And Road To Nowhere by Talking Heads

i want to believe

X-Files movie sequel is probably my second most anticipated movie this summer. The title is now revealed - it's called X-Files: I Want To Believe. It's not a catchy title but it is meaningful. It's the caption of the poster that hangs in Mulder's office.

shockingly beautiful but incongruously modest

Fluxblog, in describing Zooey Deschanel, says this about her:

This is what comes across on the She & Him record -- even with your eyes closed, she fully inhabits her character: Shockingly beautiful, but incongruously modest. Cute, coy, and self-aware. A bit old fashioned, but firmly rooted in the present. Small town, with just a dash of big city. She plays the extraordinarily pretty girl next door who is inexplicably unconceited and unpretentious, and has a carefully curated vintage wardrobe, a big box of old vinyl records, and a taste for sweet, low key romance. This may or may not be the actual Zooey Deschanel, but that's irrelevant -- she's so good at selling this persona that if it's at all a put-on, it's hard to spot the seams in her fabrication.

That's high praise for a girl. He basically described the girl of my dream - shockingly beautiful, but incongruously modest. Course I don't really deserve a girl like that, cuz I am not shockingly handsome and incongruously modest about it. But then I figure, since she is incongruously modest, she wouldn't mind or realize that I don't measure up. See, the reason I look for incongruously modest girls is that they are the only ones who wouldn't look down on me. Sounds like a master plan? The one flaw though is that that girl in real life might possibly not exist - I certainly haven't met her yet. So what to do? Is there another category of girls who would accept a neurotic like meself?

my middle name is

Check this out. These are photos of what families around the world eat in one week. Look at the last photo of family in Chad and then feel either grateful or guilty or both...I spend a lot of time learning things, and then I spend a lot of time wondering why. Contrary to popular belief, all that effort educating myself on things has yielded no noticeable benefit in my life. For example, I spent many semesters in night courses getting meself a Java programming cert, but it has served me no purpose whatsoever. I am sure the same can be said about my recent Saturdays struggling thru Mandarin and those damn Z words. This whole learning myth's kinda similar to that other myth - that if you are good to people, people will be good back to you. Total rubbish. I honestly think I should switch strategy - be a jerk, be a lazy ass, make no effort, and all good things will come to you...That is of course not to say I haven't been a jerk. Like recently I intently decided not to return a couple of personal phone calls. I dunno. Just wasn't in the mood to talk to those individuals, one of which is a girl who invited me to dinner with her family. Uh, I don't think so. Sure I can come up with some excuse and politely turn it down, but instead I chose not to return the call at all. Jerky, isn't it? It's the new me. I learn from the best...People who earn their living critiquing other people's work, particularly when they attack with smarminess and go by the name of Richard Roeper, are really intolerable...I paid $3.99 per gallon for gas today. That's the highest I've ever paid and I am certain within a week I will be seeing over $4. Yikes. Thank goodness I don't drive much these days and only need to fill up about twice a month. And I still have my little Honda Civic which gets relatively good gas-mileage. Honestly it's getting scary out there, with the stock market and the housing market and the oil crisis and the weak dollar and the continuing instability in the Middle East. I feel fairly safe for my job but my 401K (along with my dream of being a two-millionaire) is dwindling by the minute. Thank goodness I have my LOTR action figures and my Madonna Sex book, which are bound to rake in fortunes in another thirty years...Adding to my health issue is that my cholesterol has skyrocketed to above 270, so what do I do today after work? I came home and ate a croissant. And then after dinner, I ate two chocolate chip cookies. Ah, discipline is my middle name - too bad nobody ever calls me by my middle name...

the worrying kind

Wow. If these lyrics don't fit me to a tee...

Moves, I like to make 'em
Grooves, I like to shake 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind

'Cause sometimes you'll find
that I'm out of my mind
You see, baby, I'm the worrying kind

Words, I like to break 'em
Words I'd like to shake 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind

And you turn up your nose
It's a joke you suppose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind

So if you see me somewhere
With that glassy ol' stare
And the panic and fear in my eyes
Don't call for first aid or the fire brigade
Or the local police 'cause they won't care
I'm just a silly old boy with my head in the can
Just a mortal with potential of a superman
But what sense does it make
When I feel like a fake
When I´m saying to you all, be good for goodness sake?

Words, I like to break 'em
Words I'd like to shake 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind
And why? – Heaven knows, it's a joke I suppose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind
Yeah!

So if you see me somewhere
With that glassy ol' stare
And the panic and fear in my eyes
Don't call for first aid or the fire brigade
Or the local police 'cause they won't care
I'm just silly old boy with my head in the can
Just a mortal with potential of a superman
But what sense does it make
When I feel like a fake
When I'm saying to you all, be good for goodness sake?

Ooh, words, I like to break 'em
Words I'd like to shake 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind
And why? - Heaven knows,
It's a joke I suppose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind

And you turn up your nose
And you say it's a pose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind

Yeah, sometimes I'm blind
I'm just out of my mind
Baby, I'm the worrying kind
Ooh, ooh, ooh, oh-yeah...

summer of 81

Heath Ledger is going to be so legendary in The Dark Knight:


It's like summer of 1981 all over again once you hear that Indy theme:


OMFG - Mulder & Scully together again! The truth is out there:

give it 2 me

Love Madonna's photo spread for Elle by Tom Munro. Best so far, better than Meisel and Steven Klein. Hard Candy comes out 4/29. That's 18 days away!!!

Tracklisting is:

1. Candy Shop

2. 4 Minutes

3. Give It 2 Me

4. Heartbeat

5. Miles Away

6. She s Not Me

7. Incredible

8. Beat Goes On

9. Dance 2night

10. Spanish Lesson

11. Devil Wouldn't Recognize You

12. Voices

I am so looking forward to Give It 2 Me (2nd single), Miles Away, Devil (cowritten by Don't Tell Me's Joe Henry) and Voice (Madonna album closers are almost always genius).

the ascot that killed the australian

OH NO!!! Of the five AI contestants that I rooted for from the beginning, Michael Johns becomes the first to be eliminated. I just found out he is gone tonight. Before Kristie Lee Cook and Syesha! WTF!

He has actually been doing quite well all through and has never been in the bottom three, so what gives? His casual cool Australian-ness alone should have saved him. Maybe the ascot did it.



America always gets it so wrong. What next? McCain for president??? And Mariah Carey scoring more #1's than Elvis??? (Oh damn, that already happened. What a pisser.)

Now I root for four: Brooke White, David Archuletta, David Cook, and Jason Castro. I have to say the two Davids have more potential to make it all the way, but Jason and Brooke are more likable and more to my liking.

necessity is the mother of reinvention

My webhost for my old blog at biggerthanothers.com has been so unstable lately that I haven't been able to post regularly the last few weeks. That's just plain annoying. So I am starting this new blog to satiate my blogging desire/cuz I am on fire/I am burning up/burning up for your love.

Anyways, on this inaugural day, I wasted a good hour of my precious, short life stuck in SF Muni metro hell. A fifteen minute commute to work turned into at least forty-five minutes sitting on a train in the tunnel. The commute home turned into a half-hour wait on the platform waiting for the right train to show up, or the right train to show up that I can squeeze myself onto. And none of this can be blamed even on the Olympic torch business going on above ground. The mayor or whoever was in charge actually secretly did a switcheroo and changed the torch route to avoid the Tibetan protest which wreaked havoc in Paris. So the running of the torch thru SF, the only US city of the entire tour, became rather pointless since nobody who really intended to see actually saw it. It's like you plan to throw a party, invited a whole bunch of people, and then changed the location of the party without telling any of the people you invited. What then would have been the point of having the party to begin with? As for the Tibetan protest itself, I am on Tibet's side, and I think it's good to bring the public attention to the plight of the Tibetan people, who have been wronged by China in so many tragic ways. You take away a people's culture, you take away the people. Think America without Thanksgiving turkeys and Labor Day sales. Tragedy, right? Yet I hope no country will end up barring its athletes from the Beijing games. I don't think you should punish the Olympians who've trained for years for a chance. The games themselves should be free of politics. It's about idealism and sportsmanship, which politicians can learn from for certain.