half way there

Weather: Hot hot hot
State: Industrious
Music: Discovery and Little Boots
Last Movie: Up
Reading: After the Quake by Murakami
Last Pleasure: Monster Desserts shaved ice
Last Worry: My mom's feet getting so bad that she can hardly walk...
Looking Forward To: Upgrading to iPhone 3Gs - looks like it won't happen til 2010
Not Really Looking Forward To: Doing a presentation at work in two weeks
Tired Of: Shia Labeouf - he seems like a snot-nosed punk to me, and he ruined Indiana Jones (well, there were other culprits, but he as Indy's son is just...wrong)
Gas Price: $3.07/gallon
Clothes: Pink Floyd t-shirt
Today's Headline: Protests erupt, gunshots heard after Honduras coup
Current Desktop Wallpaper: Allan Sanders' Superhero
Last Website Visited: ismashphone
Last Meal: Home made spaghetti with polish sausage, chopped spinach & shallot
Last Purchase: Gap navy blue pinstriped original khaki
Item Off My Wishlist: Martha Stewart's Cooking School
Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World:

This:


AND THIS (MUST CHECK OUT!!!).

in life and in death

I saw Wilco on Friday at the Saratoga Mountain Winery. Best performance was Impossible Germany. I love Wilco songs, particularly their last cd Sky Blue Sky, but somehow I didn't feel connected to them live...Had seared tuna salad at Cheesecake Factory yesterday and then a shaved ice dessert at Monster Desserts @ Tanforan afterwards. Walking around downtown on way to Cheesecake Factory, noticed an abnormal number of well-groomed, muscular guys in tight t-shirts. Then it occurred to me, it's Gay Pride weekend here in SF...Loved Up, the latest work of art from Pixar. Those guys really put out quality films, full of heart and magic. The message in this one is that, our everyday life is an adventure, and we should cherish the wonder of it all. So true...The Hangover was also great. Glad to see Bradley Cooper finally getting the movie star attention he so deserves, but the best thing about The Hangover is Zack Galifianakis, whose character is so sweetly strange and awkward that you want to become his friend partially because you feel sorry for him and partially because you think he will be painfully loyal...Look Ma! I am suddenly a reader. I finished reading Milan Kundera's Ignorance (it's just okay - yup, that's my in-depth, thoughtful book review). I am next moving on to either Murakami's After The Quake, or Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay...Chi Young and I may have murdered a young apple tree in the backyard. We tried to move the tree to a better spot in the yard a few days ago, and now it looks like it's on its last breath; the leaves are drying out fast and the little fruits it had are all turning soft. Yikes. I think if it dies for real, I will have to buy a new one to replace it...I actually have an observation to make about Michael Jackson's death. The reaction has been huge. I suppose that is to be expected for one of the most famous musical icons we've ever had, but I also notice the sentimentality has completely erased the fact that the guy, after the eighties, really became a wacko, with all the child molestation suspicions, all the plastic surgeries and oxygen chambers and skin-bleachings, all the oddball marriages (Lisa Marie Presley? Debbie Rowe?), and all the financial woes and lawsuits and business shenanigans (stealing the Beatles catalog right from under Paul McCartney's nose). And this is not to mention that he's had practically no real musical output for about ten years, and he covers his kids' faces in masks out in public. Sigh. I guess death has a way of forgiving strange behaviors. Everyone is a better person after they die (well, maybe except for Hitler)...I wonder what they'll say about me, if anything at all, when I die. Will I become this man that I'd always aspired to be - loving, smart, fun, charming, deep, imaginative, talented, and kickass handsome? Somebody please say all those things in the eulogy, particularly the kickass handsome part...

an angel and a thriller

Ok let me give you the latest evidence that I am a total asshole:

Today while at work I got an AP news alert pop up on my iPhone that says something about Michael Jackson being taken to the hospital. I chuckled at this. I knew he was preparing for his tour, so I thought he got his hair caught on fire again, a la Pepsi commercial. Then a short while later, I got an email that says Michael Jackson had died, of cardiac arrest. Yup, I felt so freaking awful, that I was insensitive and had made light (as I tend to do), that he had died too early (fifty is still too early), and that he has really young kids. I would never pretend to be a fan. I don't own a single Michael Jackson record, and cringed at his post-Thriller output. Nonetheless, an icon is an icon. And there is no denying the influence on pop culture. So here is probably my favorite Michael Jackson song:



And of course, we also lost Farrah Fawcett today to her long battle with cancer. I heart Charlie's Angels, and back then, Farrah was my favorite (even though as I grew up, I ended up preferring Jacyln Smith). There was something so inherently sweet and sexy about Farrah's Jill Monroe.



So there they go.

hello kitty

After eight months, I finally have my pics from Japan uploaded onto flickr. Here they are.



Next project, caption all my China pics.

cat woman

From this week's Entertainment Weekly, my latest crush (a tall drink of water, and seriously ADORABLE!):


Cat Deeley
Must Real Deel

AGE
32

WHY HER
What with that adorable British accent, the over-the-top fashion, and her never-ending charm, Deeley — host of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance — certainly has all the right moves. We chatted with her to find out what makes this Cat purr.

From British-flag patterns to huge, rippling ruffles, your fashion on the show is pretty out-there. Who styles you?
I'm styling myself this year! I want people to have an opinion about it — to either love it or hate it. With the kids dressed like angels and devils or matadors or demons, I would look completely ridiculous if I was standing there in jeans and a vest.

Dance is making a big move into a plum fall spot directly after the summer season. Do you feel the pressure?
It's brilliant because it means I get double the money and no time to spend it!

What's your relationship like with the dancers on the show?
I call them my babies. I get attached to them all, you know? The dancers from previous seasons come around my house for my Fourth of July barbecue. And I shouldn't even be celebrating Fourth of July — I'm bloody English!

So, what's on your Must List?
I love Sex and the City, the TV show. I could watch that again and again and again. I mourned and wore black for a month the day after the series finished.

there is no other way

Blur, one of my favorite bands of all time, played a reunited set this weekend in the UK. Too bad they are not coming to the US. Well, there is always youtube:

let's dance

So You Think You Can Dance Top 20 Performance began last nite. I think my fave is this one, by Jeanine and Phillip. He is awesome.

saturday girl

Weather: Early summer
State: Weary
Music: Ra Ra Riot
Last Movie: Angels & Demons
Reading: Ignorance by Milan Kundera
Last Pleasure: Cat Deeley from SYTYCD and her Brit-speak
Last Worry: My tailbone hurting
Looking Forward To: Maybe Adam coming to visit in July
Not Really Looking Forward To: Having to take cholesterol medication (Dr Wong is threatening to put me on)
Tired Of: Spencer Pratt & Heidi Montag (somebody please make them go away!)
Gas Price: $2.95/gallon
Clothes: striped polo, shawl color sweatshirt, jeans
Today's Headline: Bodies, Debris Retrieved From Air France Crash
Current Desktop Wallpaper: Undoboy
Last Website Visited: spinner.com for Anderson's It Runs In The Family full cd stream
Last Meal: Pagan Burmese Restaurant on Clement & 9th Ave (chicken garlic noodle, coconut chicken noodle soup, tea leaf salad, & roti with curry chicken - yum!)
Last Purchase: Ikea PS ceiling pendant lamp
Item Off My Wishlist: The Klee Universe (Since college, I've always considered Paul Klee, pronounced Klay, to be my favorite artist. I have a Klee poster, given to me by my long lost friend Henry, hanging in my hallway.)
Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World: This rags-to-riches story, and these photos

Dreamy.

backwoods barbie

I can't stand most country music - too twangy, too many cheating husbands and too much drinking on the back of the pickup for my taste. No wonder Jesus needs to take the wheel. But two country icons who are ace in my book are Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash.

I happen to catch Dolly Parton on Charlie Rose yesterday night. She was on to talk about her Tony-nominated musical 9 To 5. She was absolutely charming, well-spoken, thoughtful and funny. On her love of glitter and rhinestones: "I figure I want to be a star, and stars are supposed to shine." This is a woman who definitely knows how she fits into the world. And the only things bigger than her talent are her two biggest assets...her heart and soul. You can hear it in the way she speaks of herself and her life, and you can most definitely hear it in her work.

At one point, Charlie Rose asked if she has any regrets. Her reply was about as profound as anything I heard recently: "To change anything is to change everything."

total eclipse

This is epic! So funny...

strangers from a different shore

Monday brings me a couple of items of sad news. First, an Air France flight from Brazil en route to Paris disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. It is presumed the plane ran into a storm and all 228 on board are dead. As I said before, flying has gotten scarier and scarier for me over the years. Every bump and shake has me praying to a God that I don't really believe in. It's way too dramatic and frightful of a way to go. For me, I prefer something more subtle.

The second piece of sad news is that of an old Berkeley professor of mine - Ron Takaki. I had him for a couple of Asian American Studies classes. He was a charismatic, engaging teacher. You can feel it even from the very back of those huge Berkeley lecture halls. I am seriously not a person who lived/breathed race/ethnicity issues (uh, those Abercrombie t-shirts were actually cute to me) and barely perks up an ear when people say "chink" or "China-man," but I did enjoy sitting thru his lectures and having my eyes open. While I don't at heart share the struggle, I also know that I can have this blasé attitude is because of people like him who have fought for our equality and raised consciousness. The people who came before my generation allowed us to not feel like second class citizens in the US - that much even someone of little intellectual depth like myself understand.

Anyways, Professor Takaki took his own life this past week, because he couldn't deal with his MS. Sigh. A brilliant man and a brilliant life come to an end this way. I don't know. Suicide is a hard thing to understand. Part of me feels it is a man's right; one should be able to live or end his life on his own terms. It's ultimate control over your destiny - if you know you can't have the life you want, then you should have the right to end it. There is a lot of dignity and courage in being able to do that. On the other hand, I can't help but feel there is some weakness in suicide, some feeling of giving up, surrendering. Should one always fight to the bitter end? I can't say. I've thought this question through and through and still can't figure it out. Are you a hero or not by choosing that path?