leo will go on

Leonardo DiCaprio has two awesome-looking movies coming up. One is Chris Nolan's Dark Knight follow-up Inception, and the other is Scorsese's postponed Shutter Island:

avatar

Avatar is amazing. Yes, it's basically a story about a white guy as savior and guardian for the noble, proud, wise, but ultimately poor and hapless natives against other, mean, imperialistic white guys, sort of like The Last Samurai (which I hated) or Dances With Wolves (which I would never watch). But you know what - who cares? It's ground-breaking movie-making. You sit there awe-struck by what you are witnessing up there on screen. You spend two and a half hours transported to a brand new world - the 3-D world of Pandora with its glowing plant lives, floating mountains, and fantasy creatures. I felt like I was Jake Sully's avatar leaping and flying through this magical planet. It really was a fantastical cinematic experience. Sure, I would love to love the story as much as I loved Star Trek or (500) Days Of Summer, and man, wouldn't this have been a cool way to visit Middle Earth? But it's ridiculous to complain. Avatar completely had me at kaltxì (which, to you uninitiated white folks, is hello in Na'vi).

(10) reasons i love summer

(10) reasons I love (500) Days Of Summer:

- I am Tom Hansen. Well, less cool but I too have listened to too many sad British pop songs and believe in one true love, fairy tale and all.

- Ikea roaming with Zooey Deschanel!

- Day 1, the day they met, is my birthday.

- The "You Make My Dream Come True" musical sequence.

- Tom's awesome little sister and friends.

- The Smiths.

- "I love us."

- Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cool clothes.

- It's the most romantic movie I've seen since Before Sunset.

- It's about turning a heartbreak into some good and hopeful.

meat and potato

I made mini chipotle turkey meat loaves and potato leek soup yesterday. It actually turned out pretty good, esp the soup. Here are the recipes:

Turkey Meat Loaves

for the loaves -
1 small yellow onion
1 medium carrot
1 stalk of celery
2 chipotle peppers canned in adobe sauce
1-1/2 lb of ground turkey
1/2 cup of quick cooking oats
2 egg whites
dash of salt and pepper

topping -
1/4 cup of ketchup
1 tablespoon of adobo sauce from the pepper can
1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Finely chop the onion, carrot, celery and chipotle. Add to meat. Add egg whites and oats and salt/pepper. Mix. Place into muffin tin that's been greased. Bake at 350 degree for about 20 minutes.

Mix topping ingredients. Brush onto meat loaves. Return to oven for another 10 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes.

* I would be light on the chipotle and adobo sauce unless you can take it spicy. I doubled recipe and just put in 3 eggs. Original recipe doesn't call for salt/pepper, but I think it can use some.

Potato Leek Soup

3 large leeks, cut lengthwise, separate, clean (use only white or pale green parts)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 cups of water
2 cups chicken broth
2 lbs of potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
marjoram - dash
1/4 cup of fresh parsley chopped
2 teaspoons of chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
dash of Tabasco sauce and salt/pepper to taste

Cook leeks in butter, salt/pepper on low heat for 10 minutes. Do not brown.

Add water, broth, and potatoes. Bring to low simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Scoop half of soup mixture into a blender. Puree and return to pan.

Add marjoram, parsley, and thyme. Add Tabasco sauce, salt/pepper to taste.

merry xmas snapshot

Weather: Cool but clear
State: Frustrated
Music: Beastie Boys Solid Gold Hits (Brass Monkey, junkie!!!)
Last Movie: He's Just Not That Into You on demand (I know, don't ask...)
Reading: Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (still)
Last Pleasure: Watching (500) Days Of Summer and getting all swoon-y and hopeful again about things. That, and watching Russell lose Survivor to Natalie (hahahahaha!)
Last Worry: All my aches and pains
Looking Forward To: A new decade (yeah, how often does one get to say that in a lifetime?)
Not Really Looking Forward To: Getting old(er)
Tired Of: Year-end lists (I used to love year-end lists, but strangely I feel differently now)
Gas Price: $2.93/gallon
Clothes: Black v-neck tee, Lucky jeans (not really that lucky imho)
Today's Headline: Al-Qaida Link In Failed Plane Attack
Current Desktop Wallpaper: Just some Windows 7 nature photo
Last Website Visited: Feed Projects
Last Meal: Home-made chipotle turkey meatloaf, potato and leek soup
Last Purchase: Anchor True Seal glass storage containers
Item Off My Wishlist: Another house
Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World: This Joe Gordon Levitt dance number:

like a virgin

A girl the other day asked me what I thought of her and what was our relationship. She also asked me whether virginity was important to me (WTF? More about that later.).

Anyways, it's very seldom I have to come to face this type of questions head-on. So I told her, "We are friends." Yikes.

If I were perfectly honest, I would have told her, "Yeah, I really wish you were someone else. The person I can never get out of my head. The person who's ruined me for good. The person whose shadow still follows me everywhere I go, every good time I have, every time I eat a nice meal or listen to a good song, every foreign city I roam. I so want to share every experience, but that person is no longer here for me. So I kill my time with people who don't do anything for me. Don't get me wrong. I think you are perfectly pleasant, probably has a good heart and will make someone a nice wife and nice mother, but you are not that one person. So what can I do? Pretend my heart is not somewhere far away every time I am sitting here talking to you? I am not that good of an actor. I am just some bloke who's got issues but who still has to eat and watch movies. That's all. That's all I can be. Sorry."

And then the virginity question. That one totally came from left field. I just side-stepped it. I think I like girls who are like a virgin (in other words, do not act like tramps) but otherwise, I wouldn't even care or ask. I mean, in a way, it's such an old-fashioned question that it's charming. It's a throw-back question, old school style, like carbon paper and scan-trons and phone booths. I like it. Reminds me of high school. Except without beanery cookies and spirit rallies and sharing lockers with a guy who takes up too much room.

So, I guess I won't be going to lunch or watching movies with this girl anymore. Oh well. It's alright - I am destined for a life of solitude. I can deal.

these are some of my favorite mundane things

Favorite mundane things, with nary an explanation:

favorite number: 9
favorite letter: M
favorite color: green
favorite year: 2006
favorite planet: Pluto
favorite finger: index
favorite key on keyboard: del
favorite day of week: friday
favorite road sign: yield
favorite river: yangtze, li, seine (three-way tie)
favorite punctuation: ;
favorite office supply: the stapler
favorite time of day: 10pm

high school musical

Shorewood High School doing You Make My Dream Come True:

chillin' on glee

Puck made a wonderfully sweet video about the glee of working on Glee:

amazing coincidence of kavalier & clay

I think I am meant to read Chabon's Kavalier & Clay.

The beginning of the story is set in Prague - my #1 wishlist travel destination as of now.

One part of the story involves the smuggling of a golem, which is an inanimate man made of mud. In this season's Amazing Race, one challenge involves the creation of a golem and then delivering it to a rabbi.

And finally, there is a reference to Paul Klee - probably my favorite painter of all time.

Funny how these things work. You can't argue that in many surprising ways, life is a full circle.

grrr

My first week of freedom has not been productive at all. In fact, it's been kinda sucky. Here are the top ten reasons:

1. Been having lower abdominal/intestinal pain that's increasingly bothersome. Been worried about it and can't get a doc appointment to a GI specialist til xmas eve.

2. The Patriots lost last week to the Dolphins, and they didn't particularly look good today in their win against the lowly Panthers.

3. Most of my tv shows are going on hiatus, just when I have all the time in the world to watch them.

4. Weather sucks. It's been cold and dreary. It's actually not so much the cold part that's sucky but the dreary part.

5. Can't seem to write if my life depends on it. I tried again tonight, and the result is quite uninspired.

6. Spending too much money already. Last Monday spent over $200 at Costco. Then bought a suit from JCrew for almost $500. And I've got three more weeks to go.

7. Still can't decide on which health insurance plan to sign up for for next year, and now I am locked out of the website because there was some glitch when I was required to change passwords.

8. All the year-end lists and decade-end lists are sorely absent of anything I truly love. Okay, I think the LOTR trilogy got a few mention here and there, but I am seriously overdosing on Beyonce, Lady Gaga, & Precious coverage. By the way it also sucks that Peter Jackson has been getting pretty bad reviews for The Lovely Bone. Being a Peter Jackson fanboy, I was rooting for him to knock another one out of the ballpark. Ang Lee this year also made a movie (Taking Woodstock) that nobody had any love for. Meanwhile, there are some predictions that Mariah Carey will get a best supporting actress nom for wearing no makeup in Precious. What gives? Has the world gone mad? Actually it has already, but I was just hanging on to the few bright spots left (like Ang Lee and Peter Jackson make good movies, and Mariah makes Glitter), and they are being taken away from me one at a time.

9. Tiger Gate. I think we are up to thirteen fourteen women now. Don't get me wrong - I was never a Tiger fan unlike the majority of America (never understood it). So it's not like I am disheartened by the fall of a hero. I just don't want to read about it anymore. Can anyone really tell one homewrecking whore from the next? By the way, they are all kinda ugly, aren't they? Tiger's Swedish wife Elin is way hotter than any one of them. Yeah, Tiger is not only a douche, but he's also an idiot, but then again most douches are idiots - they kinda go hand in hand.

10. Every time I drive by the airport and see planes taking off, I wish I were going somewhere and spending xmas in another country.

saul bass

It's Saul Bass appreciation time.

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and filmmaker best known for his title sequences for Hitchcock, Kubrick and Scorsese movies. His style is very distinct, and you would recognize in a heartbeat.

The Man With The Golden Arm:


Anatomy Of A Murder:


It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World:


The influence in evident here -

Catch Me If You Can:


Kiss Kiss Bang Bang:


Also, check out this student project which reimagines the Star Wars title sequence as done by Saul Bass:

raiders of the lost art

How come nobody told me about these posters??? They are so neat.

The Locke's Secret poster, done by Olly Moss and inspired by the art of Saul Bass (who deserves a post of his very own very soon), is about the coolest thing I've seen recently. It's probably better that I didn't know, or else I would have been out $50.

traveling with yoshitomo nara

There are many parts to this.

talking about a television

TV talk:

- Those people (namely Jaison, Mick, Natalie, and OMG Shambo) on Survivor are stooopid. How can they not blindside Russell while they can?

- But then again, there is not a single person left on Samoa that I want to win this season.

- Michael Voltaggio wins Top Chef. Finally someone I root for wins something (that's directed at you, Tom Brady). He's probably a jerk, but he's a badass and he's creative. I like that in people (not the jerk part but the badass and creative parts).

- I cannot believe no more Glee til April of 2010. That's like more than four months away! What do I have to do - sing to myself? By the way, I don't really want Schuster to get together with Emma, and am oddly sympathetic for Terri. She was simply a desperate, misguided woman.

- I can finally say I am on Team Jakob. Jakob should totally win SYTYCD this season. There is no justice otherwise. But this season, in terms of choreography, has been pretty anti-climatic. Not a single routine blew me away.

- Speaking of justice, or the lack thereof, Donny Osmond won this past season's DWTS. Like, seriously??? Those damn Mormons have nothing better to do than to sit by the phone and vote.

- Martha Stewart is so haughty. I cannot stand the way she talks down to some of her guests, like Rachael Ray, who could not be more gracious.

- So at what point did I start disliking Gossip Girl? It is so tired. And to have any storyline involving Jenny Humphrey is simply of a waste of airtime.

- I don't like Scott Foley on Cougar Town. Prefer Courtney Cox to be with Nick Zano instead. But Nick Zano is heading over to that sinking ship called Melrose Place.

- Project Runway was a total dud this past season. Let's hope that they sew up a better cast next time out.

- I like Diane Sawyer. Class act all the way. She is going to do well on the ABC evening news.

- Of the final three, I was rooting for mixed couple Brian and Erika to win, simply because Brian is such a good guy. Homegirl Erika says she wanted to prove that Miss America contestants can do all sorts of physical stuff. I think she just proved that Miss America contestants are hot-tempered and can yell at their husbands just like any other women. Don't worry though, girl, Brian still loves you thru and thru. Love or not, they came in third, and Ken and Barbie Cheyne and Meghan won fair and square. Good on them. Gay brothers/cab-stealers Sam and Dave came in second.

- Regardless, I seriously love Amazing Race.

the invisible man

Saw this on ABC News: Liu Bolin is a Chinese artist who literally disappears into his photographs.

losing

Apparently my upcoming decade of awesomeness does not involve the Patriots...

end of the decade

It just occurred to me that we are at the last month of this decade. For some reason, I thought that would be next year. I don't know why I had failed to realize that the decade started on 1/1/2000, so 12/31/2009 will indeed be the end of the decade. That's in 27 days exactly. Holy moly!

So I have 27 days to get ready. For what exactly? For a new beginning of course. Yeah, I declare the next decade to be my decade. It's the decade in which I will kick ass, become like Super Mark. I will be charming. I will be cool. I will make girls fall in love with me. I will fall in love with a girl - just one is all I need. I will be creative, like mad creative. I will learn skills, like mad skillz. I will be kind and charitable and generous with my soul and my time and my friendship. I will work hard and play nice. I will be healthy and fit, eat well, sleep well, exercise more, indulge less. I will be more courageous, extra fearless, like Taylor Swift platinum edition. Yeah, that's right. In 27 days. I will be all that and a bag of chips.

The thing is, the way I've been feeling about myself and my life, you would think I am the worst human being in the whole wide world. But I am not. I have never beaten up my popstar girlfriend, never cheated on my blonde wife/mother of my two children while I am on my golf tour around the world, never molested altar boys and then paid them off with God's money, never kidnapped a girl and hid her in a shack in my backyard and fathered two children with her, never plotted a terrorist attack, never committed genocide, never sent 30,000 troops to a war we can't win, never committed security fraud that cheated investors out of $65 billion. Nah, the worst thing I did was have a bad attitude with my mom, trash-talk about my incompetent coworkers and bosses, and wasn't always upfront with girls whom I wasn't interested in, or worse yet, with girls whom I was interested in. So why the hell do I feel so bad? Just because my dreams haven't magically come true? That the world hasn't lived up to my ideals? That life hasn't delivered me the jackpot? It's alright. That is so last decade, and this decade. But next decade, I will stop feeling bad about myself and start moving forward with being awesome. I am going to be so awesome you better wear shades when you look my way. I am gonna come out and blow 'em away like Susan Boyle. 2010 is gonna be like that.

I don't have to go to work for the rest of the year, so I am going to have a lot of free time to start practicing being awesome. I will start by watching Bruno on my new Tivo HD. Then I will pick up reading Kavalier and Clay and finish it before end of year. I will go to my cousin's wedding and shield off all the questions about why I am still single at my ripe old age and that it should be me next. I will go play with my new Nikon lens that I got for a steal during this last Black Friday. I will wear my cool new fitted plaid shirt and authentic fit cords from Gap. I am going to rock out to new songs from Hot Chip (how good are Take It In and One Life Stand?), Vampire Weekend, Shout Out Loud, mixed in with Annie, Swell Season, and Jason Mraz. Yeah, it all starts right here.

no more troops, more piano stairs

I honestly am getting kinda confused as to why we were so full of HOPE when we elected Obama into the White House. I mean, is there really that much difference between the Dubya administration and ours, other than that Michelle Obama wears J. Crew clothes and Laura Bush didn't? Sooner or later, and probably sooner, the love affair with the rest of the world will be over, and we are right back where we started, particularly now that Obama is gonna send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. And no, I do not believe he will bring them home in 18 months.

You see, I think he and everybody else who is involved in these matters have it all wrong. We don't need more troops; we need more piano stairs - they honestly will make the world a better place:

if you want to sing out

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are

And if you want to live high, live high
And if you want to live low, live low
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

Chorus:
You can do what you want
The opportunity's on
And if you find a new way
You can do it today
You can make it all true
And you can make it undo
you see ah ah ah
its easy ah ah ah
You only need to know

Well if you want to say yes, say yes
And if you want to say no, say no
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

And if you want to be me, be me
And if you want to be you, be you
'Cause there's a million things to do
You know that there are

Chorus

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are

self control is the new black (friday)

I am trying to exercise self-control today by not taking advantage of most Black Friday sales. But after all I am a shopper at heart (you know, that tale about the scorpion riding on the back of frog to cross a river and then stinging the frog because it cannot change nature...) and bought the following:

- 2 Old Navy crew-neck sweaters, about $13 each.
- Nikon camera lens, about $140 - a great bargain from Staples; hope it ships (fingers crossed).
- The new Swell Seasons cd that comes with bonus live cd and dvd - $9 (it's been around $15).
- Canon printer, about $32.

I am borderline on a Cuisinart mini-chopper for $30 from Amazon. Don't do it!!!

Update: I didn't end up buying the mini-chopper before the price went back up. Woohoo!

fowl language

Word of the day:

spatchcock



I've heard this word over the last couple of weeks as much as I've heard people on tv mention "brussel sprouts."

in the year 2010

In the year 2010, I am psyched for new cds from:

Hot Chip
Vampire Weekend
MGMT
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck
The National
and
LCD Soundsytem!!!

+

Shout Out Loud!!!!!!

That's a pretty promising line-up.

the thanksgiving post

The 25 things I am grateful for in 2009:

1. Haruki Murakami
2. That Chi Young is a really, really good kid
3. Amazing Race
4. Glee
5. La Roux
6. Discovery
7. No work travel this year
8. My Samsung and Sony tvs
9. Meeting Fran Healy and Andy Dunlop of Travis
10. Meeting Tom McRae
11. Star Trek reboot
12. Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel
13. Annie's return and her dance-tastic cd Don't Stop
14. Modern Family and Cougar Town comedy hour
15. Strawberry shortcake jelly recipe from Martha Stewart and learning to make panna cotta
16. My free magazine subscriptions
17. Cat Deeley on SYTYCD
18. The comeback of Tom Brady and the Patriots
19. Youtube video of the SF Muni fight between black woman and Chinese woman
20. Youtube video of crazy Chinese woman meltdown at HK airport
21. My apple tree surviving
22. RPatz's self-deprecating Brit-ness
23. Tivo
24. Discovering In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
25. Family

chinese pop

Random old Chinese songs I like:

達明一派 忘記他是她


王菲 執迷不悔


草蜢 世界會變得很美


陳慶祥/阿牛 哭


林憶蓮 早晨


軟硬 廣播道Fans殺人事件

vampire weekend

Holy werewolves! New Moon's Friday box office take actually broke Dark Knight's opening record. This is a huge vampire weekend.

Speaking of which, Vampire Weekend's new song Cousins has a kickass video to go with it. I am psyched:

Cannot wait for their new cd Contra coming in January.

My vampire weekend will consist of me shopping for Thxgiving dinner and Paul and I taking Wins out for his birthday. Not idea where dinner will be, but dessert will be at Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory cuz Paul wants a real milkshake.

ah precious: straight out of ping yuen

Sometimes I forget who I am, what my name is. Here in the Ping Yuen, we just try to make it to another day. I look out at all the laundry hanging on the clothes line next to the dried out bok choy, and I dream one day I am gonna make it outta here. It's a race, between God and the man who tries to keep me down. I have faith most of the times in God, but I tell ya, somedays I have my doubts, like when my mama is beating me down, I have my doubts. One time, she was so angry that she shoved me against my bookcase, knocking down my CP3O model. It went crashing down to the floor, and its arms went flying. My mama don't care. She stomped on the pieces when she went storming outta my room. I sat there listening to Alan Tam playing from the neighbor's open window and cried to myself. It took me almost two days to build the CP3O. I got burns all over my fingers from the hot modeling glue, but I persevered and built it. I was so proud of myself, like for once, it was something I did for myself, from start to finish, I accomplished something. But she didn't even notice. When she looked at me, she just saw another mouth to feed. She said I was dumb like a piece of barbeque pork. I ain't sure what she meant, cuz I don't really know how you measure how smart a barbeque pork is. But that doesn't mean it didn't hurt, for your own mama to think you are useless. Deep down I know mama is just doing the best she knows how. She's got it hard too. It's not her fault. Somewhere it gets passed down, all the anger. People at the Ping Yuen don't got much hope. You see the same pain over and over again. You ain't got no reason to believe.

But my counselor at school believes. She ain't got any skills with the hair and makeup, but she's a nice white lady anyways. She's like, "Don't ever let anybody convince you that you are a piece of barbeque pork. Everybody is good at something. You are good at math, and math will take you far someday." I was like, "How do you know I am good at math?" She was like, "I can see it in you. I can look through your glasses into your eyes, and I see an engineer, or a mathematician, or something like that." I think she's right - it's flowing thru my Chinese blood like a golden dragon. I need to remember my ancestry. I can't let the circumstances drag me down. My people are a proud people. We are not defined by the Chinatown ghetto we live in. We got numbers in our calculating soul. My heart beats like an abacus. Sometimes when my mama is yelling and screaming at me, or when my neighbors are fighting cuz a mahjong game gets really heated, I think about the pythagorean theorum to drown out all the noise. It helps. It helps to know no barbeque pork I know of knows the quadratic formula. My mama don't know it yet, but I am better than a piece of barbeque pork. If my counselor believes in me, then I should believe in me too. The white lady's like a messenger from God. I don't know why in minority stories like this, the messenger from God is always white, but it ain't no difference. I shall rise up.

Anyways, I am not saying everything is alright just cuz I know a little bit of math. It's still hard. My CP3O is still sitting there on my bookcase armless. My mama has expanded her attack to calling me a salted duck egg instead of barbeque pork. And sometimes there is still urine in the Ping Yuen elevator, and the Wah Ching and Joe Boys are still fighting their turf wars. But it's a good thing to know that even when I forget what my name is and lose my way, God and the white lady counselor will remember me. And no matter the madness and chaos circling me like pitbulls with rabies, a² + b² = c² will always be true.

Math is...precious. Don't you ever forget it.

run fire enter devil

I took an extra few days off for Veterans Day cuz I need to burn off my use-or-lose leave. Off the top of my head, I only know one veteran. He likes guns, I can tell you that much. And his weakness is this girl who totally uses him. The lesson there is, girls are more dangerous than guns. But then we knew that already, didn't we?...Earlier this week, I went to this place on Judah called Mango Medley and had the most delicious coconut lime chicken spaghetti for lunch. My stomach was happy. Washed it all down with a matcha red bean drink...Tonight is Amazing Race night. After all these years, it's still the show I look most forward to watching. And who says I am not loyal? (Actually if anything, I am loyal to a fault.) I like it when I have my tv shows to look forward to. It makes me all excited. I swear it's the small things that keep me going. Sure I wouldn't mind if my life was fufilled with higher purpose rather than with trivial tv shows and pop songs, but I think that club is exclusive to people like the Dalai Lama and Oprah...Both Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson have live cds out this month. I like the vibe of these two guys a lot. Of course, I don't really know them, but from what I can tell, I really like the way they go about life, the way they look at the world. Of course, I also suspect that some of that zen attitude is from pot smoking...I just watched The Proposal. It's not the best rom-com ever, but man, Sandra Bullock is just perfect for this stuff, and she and Ryan Reynolds have surprisingly good chemistry...Meanwhile, Drag Me To Hell is kinda lame. It got tremondous reviews, and I don't know why. I wasn't scared or anything, and it was actually quite uneven in tone to me. Was it trying to be campy or not? I can't tell. I think it only got good reviews cuz Sam Raimi directed it, so the critics think Oh, it's a classy horror flick...The Pats play the undefeated (and much hated, by me) Colts tonight. You know I will be watching with one eye closed...I tried to pick up the writing stuff in the last few days, but nothing coming out is very inspired. I think you can tell when you suck, and I am sucking these days. But I think it just takes practice. I will devote more time to it, I promise this to myself. For sure, I will write a lot more, or try to anyway, during my December leave from work...Is anybody else sick of Lady Gaga? Yeah, I know. I liked her when she was an upstart and I didn't have an image to go with the perfectly catchy dance songs. But now I just feel the overexposure is not justified. Her image is actually quite horrible in my opinion. The costumes, videos and stage performances strike me as overwrought rather than arty. I think there is a fine line between art and whatever lies beyond that, and she's crossed it many, many moons ago. There is a phrase in Chinese that literally translates to "run fire enter devil." I know that's a horrible translation, but it kinda expresses how I feel about her. Give me Annie and La Roux anyday!...And speaking of me getting sick of something - I am already sick of the hype surrounding Precious, a film about an abused, pregnant teenage girl who finds respite from her hardship of life in Harlem through the power of poetry. It's brought to you by the saintly combo of Oprah and Tyler Perry (the two most powerful black people in America, besides Obama, and they know it!!!). It stars Monique as the abusive mother and Mariah Carey, sans makeup, as the girl's counselor. It has the most Oscar buzz going into award season. I know, for the next four months, I have to put up with endless praise about this (white critics have to champion this because it makes them feel socially responsible), Mariah walking the red carpets, and Oprah and Tyler Perry gloating. (Remember the last Oprah gloating opportunity was thankfully averted when Rio got the 2016 Olympics instead of Chi-town.) Somebody please come up with a bigger movie to trump this please!!! Paging Peter Jackson...

samantha who's that girl

If I were an ABC exec, now that I've canceled Hank, I would bring back Samantha Who to shore up the Wed nite comedy line-up. It would go like this:

8:00 - The Middle
8:30 - Modern Family
9:00 - Samantha Who?
9:30 - Cougar Town

Come on - how perfect and obvious is that???

team edward

With the dawning of a new Twilight (haha) and renewed debates in the world over who's the dreamier Twilight hunk, I now declare I am on Team Edward for the following reasons:

1. He's a Brit.
2. Messy hair > clean cut. (Man, I really want that hair.)
3. RPatz in interviews is quite funny and self-deprecating (kinda goes with #1 above). Exhibit A: the latest Vanity Fair cover story, in which he reveals one leg of his is shorter than the other, and that he thinks he looks like a cartoon character.
4. He's pale just like me.
5. He's brooding and elusive, vs. too-ready-to-be-there-to-lend-a-helping-werewolf-paw Jacob.
6. He was Cedric in Harry Potter.
7. He wasn't Sharkboy.
8. He is subject of a documentary called Robsessed (now that's clever and cheeky at the same time!).
9. Vampires are cooler than werewolves.
10. He sings. And I actually like the song he did called Never Think.

Now, I actually am not a hater. In fact, Taylor Lautner appears to be quite a good kid - I am very happy that he got to keep his job as Jacob after the brouhaha. And it's awfully neato that he is dating Taylor Swift, which makes them Taylor-Squared. All I am saying is, you always have to pick a team and choose a side (Adam Lambert vs Kris Allen, Star Wars vs Star Trek, India vs Palestine); otherwise, it's just no fun.

Oh, another disclaimer: I have not read any of the Twilight books, so I don't really know how the story goes. I presume Bella chooses Edward in the very end. I guess I'll find out sooner or later. I am probably not going to watch New Moon (or Eclipse, or I forget what comes after) in the theater. It's nothing like film snobbery or anything (after all, I watch shows on the CW!!!); it's just that I doubt I can find anybody who is willing to go with me to these movies. I don't know any tweens. Or more accurately, I don't know any tweens who would go to a movie with me - cuz that's all kinds of creepy...

class of 2009

The fall movies I have high hopes for:

Broken Embraces - Almodovar! Penelope Cruz speaking in her native tongue! It's arty and sublime and beautiful:


The Road - Aragon goes all post-apocalyptic:


The Lovely Bones - Peter Jackson tackles death and heaven and the murder of a thirteen year old girl:


A Single Man - Colin Firth is a gay man who has to deal with the death of his partner, with the help of a saucy-looking Julianne Moore and an all-grown up Nicholas Hoult:


An Education - Nick Hornby-written film about a teenage girl coming of age in 1950's London and falling for Peter Sarsgaard:


Avatar - James Cameron's first film since Titanic looks corny as heck from the trailer but should still be a spectacle to behold:


Nine - Lots of hot women and Daniel Day Lewis dancing, singing, and smoldering:


Sherlock Holmes - Iron Man abandons metal armor for tweed coat to solve some mystery:


New Moon - Edward and Bella and the Scooby gang are back:

the glee of glee

Top ten, Glee edition:

10. Gold Digger
9. Hate On Me
8. Sweet Caroline
7. Maybe This Time
6. Taking Chances
5. Take A Bow
4. Leaving On A Jet Plane
3. Bust Your Window
2. On My Own
1. Don't Stop Believin'

the wall

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, over 1,000 domino pieces, painted by Berlin youths, have been erected and will be sent toppling on Nov 9:

raising malawi, burying mariah

Madonna was recently in Malawi doing more charity work, including attending a groundbreaking ceremony for a girls' school she helped built with her Raising Malawi foundation.


(Look how radiant she looks.)


(That's really, really good work of her. Found pic on a Madonna web forum. Makes me happy.)

i don't like your music

10. Heartbreak/Make Me A Dancer - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
9. Never Forget You - Noisettes
8. The Price - Dappled Cities
7. Saviour - The Lights
6. Fireflies - Owl City
5. Monsters - Hurricane Bells
4. Bulletproof - Lou Barlow
3. Horchata - Vampire Weekend
2. You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
1. I Don't Like Your Band - Annie (This song is ridiculous! I ordered the cd from cd-wow, with the bonus disc. Cannot wait.)

under the cover, over the sea

Three covers I am really liking:

Jason Mraz covering All Night Long


Fanfarlo covering In The Aeroplane Over The Sea


Lou Barlow covering Bulletproof

the worrying kind worrying

I've just learned that I am not a complete selfish bastard who has no regard for anybody else but myself. (Trust me, I've been accused of such.) It's a revelation.

I actually am feeling really bad right now, all because someone I care about broke up with her first boyfriend, and I am worried for her.

Yeah, now I am not just worrying about myself and all my troubles. I've taken on other's problems as well. Nice.

I think it's better to be a selfish bastard.

great danes

Five things I learned from Oprah this week:

- I like them Danish. No, not the pastry, but the peeps who live in Copenhagen. (I know they are called Danes - but then you wouldn't have gotten the pastry joke.) They are supposedly the happiest people on earth. They have free health care, they pay you to go to university, they subsidize you for three years after you lose your job, and they don't believe in getting married for the sake of getting married. How novel. And they are not very religious. Oh, and they got cool furnitures - clean lines, minimalist. I need to move there. It's time to stop feeling like a loser just because I am single (I want to feel like a loser for all the other, more legitimate reasons).

- I do not want to live in Dubai. I don't like those clothes people wear. Men wear kandura, and older women wear some beak-y masks on their face. Makes them look like the Nite Owl from The Watchmen. I know that's pretty culturally insensitive, but seriously they kind of freak me out, like talking chimps and Michael Jackson's face. (Wait, now I've gone from being culturally insensitive to being dead-celebrity-icon-insensitive.)

- Sometimes robbers need love too. The story of Greg Smith, the robber who ended up praying with his victim Angela Montez (bless her heart) and giving up his gun, totally tore me up. I was like a whimpering idiot watching that segment. Life is hard, and sometimes it just takes somebody to look you in the eye and treat you like a human being- to save you.

- Rick Springfield looks freaky these days too, in a wax museum kind of way. There really is no good way to fight aging, other than to let it happen and welcome it with your open (arthritic) hands.

- Flash mobs make the world a better, happier place.

By the way, if the Danes are so happy, what the hell was chapping Hamlet's hide? I guess he didn't get the memo.

i don't wanna be

The thought just occurred to me (again while driving) that life is full of traps, and it is very easy to become the person you don't want to be.

Just think about it. We are all just inches away from being that annoying, nagging, needy, greedy, selfish, self-absorbed, bitter, angry, overweight, lazy, crazy, neurotic, egotistical, boastful, vengeful, petty, faithless, cheating, obsessive, insecure, ungrateful, pretentious, superficial, dorky, judgmental, controlling, irresponsible, loud, sulking, rude, kill-joy, self-righteous, ignorant, racist, cowardly, or boring person that we can't stand. I mean, really, how close are we every given moment to being that person? It's actually quite hard to keep your balance when life just throws you curve-balls day in and day out to trip you up.

Unless it's just me.

come back to me

I was driving home listening to the radio (I rarely listen to radio), and David Cook's Come Back To Me came on. I actually have never paid attention to the song before. But for whatever reason, I heard the lyrics this time. And it goes like this:

You say you gotta go and find yourself
You say that you're becoming someone else
Don't recognize the face in the mirror looking back at you

You say you're leaving as you look away
I know there's really nothing left to say
Just know I'm here whenever you need me I'll wait for you

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

Take your time, I won't go anywhere
Picture you with the wind in your hair
I'll keep your things right where you left them
I'll be here for you

Oh and I'll let you go, I'll set your free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

I can't get close if you're not there
I can't get inside if there's no soul there
I can't face you, I can't save you
It's something you'll have to do

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me
Come back to me

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

You find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me

Therein lies the problem. They don't come back. After they go leave and find themselves, they don't return. You can wait forever. You can keep a light on. You can carry an eternal flame. And enough torches to burn a forest. And still they won't come back. They go their selfish ways. Everyday that passes, they are just that much farther away. Meanwhile, you sit here, frozen, not able to lift yourself out of the quicksand of self-pity. Sometimes they even appear in your dream, and you wake up feeling even crappier than the day before. The idea that they are also sitting out there somewhere underneath the same bright stars, thinking of you and feeling remorseful and regretful and nostalgic for what you once had together, is ludicrous, pure sci-fi, or at least pure pop song fiction. Yeah, they go and find themselves at the cost of destroying you and your faith in love and humankind. And they don't look back, much less come back. Ever.

Not that this has happened to me or anything...

cloudy with a chance of piroshki

Check out this extra-terrestrial cloud formation over Moscow:

domo monday

Weather: Verge of first storm of the season
State: Depressed
Music: Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack
Last Movie: I Love You, Man on dvd
Reading: Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (stuck)
Last Pleasure: Drinking out of my Domo coffee cup. Oh how I am a geek - I am all excited about the Domo tie-in they are having at 7-11. I don't get the connection but what the hey. I ran out to get a pumpkin latte and stole any extra cup. I shall return soon for the slurpee cups and straws.
Last Worry: My damn knee pain again, the Patriots
Last Bummer: Obviously the Pats losing to Denver in OT, and Zev & Justin losing passport and thus getting eliminated from Amazing Race despite coming in first in the leg (I was really warming up to them and was on the verge of picking them as my team to root for - ugh!)
Looking Forward To: Getting my long-delayed computer delivery. Damn you, Dell - where the hell is it?!
Not Really Looking Forward To: Getting fat(ter)
Tired Of: Michael Jackson - okay already. The dude's dead - can we please stop milking this?
Gas Price: $3.13/gallon
Clothes: White Old Navy's undershirt, RL jeans
Today's Headline: White House blasts insurance sector report
Current Desktop Wallpaper: Mike Perry's "The dust of space is the sand from a broken hour glass"
Last Website Visited: Glee forum
Last Meal: Seared scallops, asparagus in olive oil/lemon juice, spaghetti with mushrooms/tomatoes
Last Purchase: Shark pocket steam mop (verdict is still out on whether to return or not)
Item Off My Wishlist: Tivo HD
Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World: Fran Healy's songwriting and good-nature
and

OPENING OCTOBER 16

fran-ny & andy

Yesterday nite I saw Fran Healy and Andy Dunlop of Travis play an acoustic set at Cafe Du Nord/Swedish American Hall. It was a chronological trip through Travis' catalog, from the first song Fran wrote all the way to the newest song he just wrote on the road (called Holiday). Fran told back stories of the songs and even had a slide show along the way, while Andy accompanied. Sitting there mesmerized by both the storytelling and the music, I was reminded of why I fell in love with Travis to begin with. The Man Who was a seminal album for me and probably my favorite of the 1990's. I spent many hours trying to finding myself while listening to As You Are, Driftwood, Writing To Reach You, Why Does It Always Rain On Me, etc. (It's not their fault that I didn't actually end up finding myself after all was said and done...) I told the guys as much when I got them to autograph my ticket and pose for a photo after the show. By the way, both Fran and Andy are extremely nice in person. Here are some videos on youtube of the evening:

you are stupid

Every once in a while, something comes along to lift you up from your depths, to shake you loose from your doldrums, to make you realize life is paved of little golden nuggets of unexpected moments.

This video below did it for me.

This video has everything that most Hollywood summer blockbusters sorely lack - explosive action, comedy, villainy, comeuppance, conflict, escalation, climax, satisfactory resolution, tension, provocation, shock, cultural significance, a thrilling pace, memorable catch-phrases and quotable quotes (we will be uttering "you are stupid" for a long time to come), and yes, girl-on-girl action(!!!). I was endlessly entertained. The first time I watched it, my mouth was wide open in disbelief. And with every repeated viewing, I discover something new about it.



And of course, the REMIX:

all is love

Some soundtrack love -

Karen O - All Is Love:


Death Cab - Meet Me On The Equinox:


Glee - Somebody To Love

flash forward randomness

My Flash Forward vision of my life six months from now would likely go like this: I am surfing on the internet while half-watching tv and listening to iTunes. Yeah, I highly doubt there would be anything mind-blowing happening to me in six months, or for that matter, six years. So, future, surprise me already...Madonna and Lady Gaga were in a very unfunny SNL skit yesterday nite. This is kinda disappointing, cuz M's many past SNL moments were hilarious (Wayne's World dream sequence, Barbra Streisand skit...). Oh well, at least she looked hawt...I went to Mitsuwa Marketplace in San Jose this morning and bought a whole bunch of Japanese grocery goodies. Check out the tofu packaging. I love them Japanese marketing. They had a Ramen Santouka inside, with a huge line too. I had the set lunch with chashu ramen and fish roe over rice. Yummy. After the ramen, I had a green tea panna cotta cake. Yeah, there goes my (mystical, only-in-my-mind) diet...Yesterday Jas and I went back to the Bethel Grace church to volunteer at their Saturday food distribution. No incident to report. Just a couple of hours of hard manual labor. I was doing soy milk and then potatos. Don't like doing potatos...The Pats are 3-1, and Wes Welker (my favorite WR as of now) actually played after missing a couple of weeks. See, it's not all doom and gloom...Samoa's earthquake-induced tsunami killed over 150 people, and Indonesia 7.6 earthquake is expected to have killed over 1,000. So tragic, and so scary. I really need to get my emergency supplies in order - I keep saying this...I am getting ready to watch the second episode of Amazing Race 15. Man, I seriously heart this show. Last week's season premiere was so exhilarating. I already have my villains - the professional poker players pretending to be homeless youth counselors. The Tokyo challenge, starting with the team playing on some nutty Japanese game show (calling a Japanese game show nutty is rather redundant, isn't it?) and ending with teams leading packs of tourists through the chaotic streets of Shibuya. Then they ended up in Vietnam, where they have to herd ducks through a course. Oh this stuff just gives me such great joy...I have never heard of Muse until recently. And I've come to find out that their album Absolution is quite brilliant. Have I living on the moon or something? I mean, I would like to visit the moon and everything, but I really wouldn't want to live there...

my name is mark. i watch a lot of tv.

With the start of the new tv season, I have not been able to watch my shows fast enough. Catching up with Tivo is like a second full time job for me. The last couple of weekends have been spent sitting in front of my tv and turning my brain into mush. Actually it really already is mush, but I guess it can always get mushier.

So far, the first few episodes of the new season of Glee have not reached the heights of the original premiere that aired back in May. It's still an enjoyable show, but it's also somewhat uneven (like, what's up with Will forming Acafellas?). Hopefully it'll pick up momentum again. The original premiere has earned enough goodwill in me to last a while.

I really like the reboot of Melrose Place. I like these soapy dramas, with good looking people (uh, Ashlee Simpson not amongst good looking people I am referring to) and over-the-top plotlines (rich kid who makes money stealing art, medical student who prostitutes herself to pay tuition...). But the ratings have been horrible, so I shouldn't get too attached. At least Heather Locklear has signed on to help save the show.

The Vampire Diaries is just okay. It's like Twilight on tv. The thing is, I am not too crazy about the actor who plays the good vampire Stefan. He doesn't have that ethereal Edward Cullen quality.

I figured out why I'm falling out of like with Gossip Girl. I realized I like none of the characters. They are all kinda self-absorbed and bratty and in the end one-noted. Unlike, say, the characters from The O.C. I mean, you cannot help but root for Ryan Atwood to succeed and do good. Ah, The O.C. - I loved that show...

Holy crap. Is that guy Russell on Survivor Samoa for reals? He is the nastiest guy ever (sabotaging his team by emptying their water canteens and burning their socks while they are sleeping). But that figures, since he owes an oil company and is from Texas. All of Russell's evil-doings are taking the attention away from Ben, who is as big of a misogynist a-hole as you can encounter - in any other season, he would be the focus of collective ire. Man, watching these reality shows really chaps my hide sometimes.

Lifetime's Project Runway is pretty much the same as Bravo's Project Runway. I am rooting for Christopher and Logan, Logan in particular just because he is cool and I like his name. I would name my son that. The sister show Models On The Runway is lame - those models have no control over their own destiny, which makes a stupid reality show. I am rooting for Michael the younger brother chef and Kevin and Jennifer on Top Chef, but we all know the real reason to watch Top Chef is Padma.

Nobody jumps out at me yet on the new season of So You Think You Can Dance. I am waiting for the return of that seventeen year old kid Nathan from last season's audition. He was so good that they gave him a ticket straight to Vegas for this season (because he was too young for last year). (But then again we all know the reason to really watch SYTYCD is Cat Deeley.)

Aside from Samantha Who? (still a travesty that it got canceled - WTF?), I haven't watched any sitcoms in a while. The new Modern Family and Cougar Town (from Bill Lawrence, who created Scrubs) are actually rather good. But my favorite new show so far is probably Community, the NBC sitcom set in a community college starring Joe McHale from Talk Soup. The comedy is actually funny (like really funny - go figure), and the first episode is an homage to The Breakfast Club. How chic.

I still have to catch up on Fast Forward and am anxiously waiting for the premiere of V. And of course, this Sunday, we have the return of my favorite show - The Amazing Race, which just won its seventh straight Emmy for best reality show. It's even a two-hour premiere!

Yeah, so this is my brain. And this is my brain on tv.

me or the free chicken?

Michael Jackson apparently did an interview nine years old, in which he made statements like he thought Madonna was in love with him and he could cure Hitler if he had an hour to sit with him and he healed children by touching them.

You know, it's a most difficult task to walk that fine line - to be realistic with oneself but not let reality deplete one of hope and keep you from dreaming. In the end, it's not always a bad thing to have a little self-delusion. A lot of people depend on that to get through life. Like there is this fat cow of a woman at work, who is both ugly inside and out, who once sued an online dating company for her lack of matches. Or this old guy with greased-down hair who thinks he is charming when he sweet-talks girls while they all just laugh behind his back. Same said guy always tells long-winded proud story of how he is the first CPA in Guam and how he used to work for the governor there, again to the mockery of his coworkers. Or this woman who thinks her husband looks like young Jack Kerouac, when he probably more closely resembles Jack In The Box. Or generally a lot of people who think they are stuck in poverty because the Man is keeping them down.

I suppose I could use a dose of this self-delusion and stop seeing the world for all its concrete harshness and seeing myself for all my cracks and faults. Well, along those lines, I thought I too would take a shot at making some delusional statements about me-self. Here goes:

- I am single because I am picky.
- I am an artist.
- It's just a bad picture.
- We are all God's children.
- I am so tired of meaningless one-night stands. I am not a sex toy, people!
- They call you "sir" because they are polite, not because you look old.
- Pffft...I can do that.
- Somewhere out there, you-know-who's thinking about me too.
- I am a badass deep down.
- I will win a Pulitzer one day, for that novel that will be hailed as the second coming of Salinger.
- The novel will write itself.
- And then I win attract supermodels, brainy ones at that, like moths to a flame.
- I can control my cholesterol without the aid of medication.
- That's sun damage, not age spot.
- I am not racist.
- I am one lottery ticket away from a new life.
- Money will not change me.
- If you give me an hour with Kim Jong Il, I can convince him that he should pursue his dream to become a hair stylist and give up on this world domination silliness.

So please support my delusions from this point forth and not burst my bubbles. Like when I tell you that this Chinese girl is checking me out on the bus, don't tell me that there is a "Free Chicken" sign behind me.

she works hard for the money

In celebration of Madonna's Celebration, here is a mixtape of my favorite Madonna anti-hits:
1. Sidewalk Talk
2. I Know It
3. Physical Attraction
4. Gambler
5. The Look Of Love
6. Where's The Party
7. Promise To Try
8. Oh Father
9. Keep It Together
10. Why It's So Hard
11. More
12. What Can You Lose?
13. Forbidden Love (Bedtime Stories)
14. Love Tried to Welcome Me
15. I Want You
16. You'll See (Spanish Version)
17. Candy Perfume Girl
18. Skin
19. To Have And Not To Hold
20. Little Star
21. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
22. Has To Be
23. Paradise
24. Gone
25. Nobody Knows Me
26. Nothing Fails
27. Intervention
28. Easy Ride
29. Future Lovers
30. Let It Will Be
31. Forbidden Love (Confessions On A Dance Floor)
32. Is This Love (Bon D'Accord)
33. Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
34. Voices

Listening back, American Life had some damn fine songs like Nothing Fails - and her voice sounds awesome, with that tinge of weariness that I always liked. And even Hard Candy has its good share of awesomeness. While I find myself thinking Madonna's lyrics have gone to crap as of late, I am surprised to find how much depth there is in Devil and Voices.

It speaks a lot to her musical legacy that I actually had a hard time trimming this list down. A collection of her non-singles sounds better than most others' greatest hits package.