u can't fly without sturdy wings

Check out the Sturdy Wings website. I want to be a Big, so I can help a Little.

are we human, or are we dancer?

Cool things:

I keep waiting for the PC version of this. It's a free app to turn your digital pics into Polaroid equivalents. Shake it, shake it, like it's a Polaroid!

Temporary wallpaper? For commitment-phobes like myself.


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's adventuresome pop songs

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.

domo arigato

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:

in these times of economic hardship

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.

once bitten

With Twilight being all the rage these days, I give you a very funny and charming interview with Robert Pattinson, the new It guy:

deep in my heart i'm concealing

One of the highlights of Madonna's current tour is when she slows things down and sits down to perform YOU MUST LOVE ME. She sounded beautiful:

return of the mundane

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.

anti-praying with tom mcrae

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.

the nightingale floor

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.

obamarama

I voted for Obama because he has the coolest posters:

humility, fairness

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...

madge-ic

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: