buy buy buy

So, dude, what did you buy lately to fill that empty void of yours?

- About 20 used dvds from Hollywood Video, for about $60. Includes Gone, Baby, Gone; Lucky Number Slevin; Motorcycle Diaries; Atonement; an extra copy of Before Sunset (let somebody borrowed my original and still waiting for it to be returned); Borat; Pineapple Express, etc.

- ToyStory1 and 2 blu rays. You know the story to that.

- Two pairs of New Balance MT812. They fit well, so I decided to buy a black pair and a grey/yellow pair.

- Rubbermaid Produce Saver containers.

- Sterlite x-large airtight bowl. For baked goods.

- Aroma hot water kettle, for the office.

- Madonna Sticky & Sweet Concert Blu Ray. Her first blu ray ever.

- Levi's Rigid Slim Straight jeans and a Mossimo plaid shirt from Target. Thinking about returning both since I have too much clothes.

- Rx Crocs, for my mom. Supposedly these are extra cushiony, so good for her feet.

- 9 packs of frozen tempura shrimps. On sale for $2.99 per pack, each pack with 10 shrimps. Can't pass up a good deal.

- 30 bottles of Sobe drinks. They ranged from $.30 to .50 a bottle. I had a couple of coupons.

Scary thing is, this is all within the last week. And I didn't even list everything. No wonder I can't save any money. Thank god for savings bonds and 401K that force me to put money away.

I am going to refrain from buying anything online or going to Target and Costco for the next two weeks. Gotta kick the habit.

new moon

Just saw New Moon. Why is there even a Team Jacob??? Jacob is a jealous, opportunistic werewolf. Edward is a tortured, self-sacrificing vampire. It's no contest.

to infinity and beyond

Sometimes it's so hard to do the right thing.

On Tues, I went to Target to buy ToyStory1 and ToyStory2 on blu ray. They are $23 each, but if you buy both you get $10 off. Additionally, I had a $10 off coupon for each of them from the manufacturer website. So net cost is $16 plus tax, which brings total to $19.31.

Then I read online that some people are getting their coupons stacked with extra $5 and $3 coupons. People were practically walking out the store with free blu rays.

So I decided to give that a try on Thurs. I would buy a second set. It was a no-go. However, I let the transaction complete. I thought about keeping them and seeing if Lisa would want them instead, but then I realized these newer ones I got actually don't have the DVD-ROM games (you can only tell that after they take off the hard security case), so I immediately walked over to Customer Service to try to return my second purchase. I just wanted my $19.31 back.

This is where it gets crazy. The lady told me that she cannot scan the ToyStory1 disc to complete my return. My receipt shows that I bought two ToyStory2. Apparently the cashier who checked me out scanned the ToyStory2 twice instead of each disc separately. I asked what happens if I try to return my ToyStory2 alone. It went thru and they gave me back $19.65. I walked out of there with $19.65 credit and the ToyStory1 disc.

I came home, examined my receipt carefully, and confirmed that they did only charge me for $19.31 (it's confusing cuz the tax is on the value before coupon, and I had other items on the receipt). So I realized it wasn't right and decided to return to Target to correct the situation. I planned on returning the ToyStory1 disc for nothing.

Well, this morning didn't work out as planned. I explained the entire situation to the guy at Customer Service, an Indian guy. He processed the return and was going to credit me back another $19.65. I told him no, I already got back my money. He said he understands what happened, but that's what the system is doing. I said I want to do what's right and just return the disc for nothing. He went to speak to his manager, came back and said it was alright. He said the coupons already went thru and the manufacturer would pay Target for the $20 coupon. He pushed the button and completed the $19.65 refund.

Yup, so in trying to do the right thing, I actually ended up making the situation worse. I don't know whom I screwed unintentionally. I guess I should feel okay about it since I did go back to the store to try to remedy the situation; it's not my fault that they won't let me do the right thing. By the way. did I mention that the blu rays come with free movie cash for ToyStory3 this summer? Yikes. My guilt level is on orange. Does it help that I donated $20 yesterday to my coworker's kids' spell-a-thon?

life is a mystery

Why does Madonna not know her awesomeness and insists on working with generic lightweights to produce her music these days?

Why does she wear sunglasses at night?

Why does she wear black all the time now?

Why did she hook up with Vanilla Ice and Warren Beatty and Dennis Rodman?

Why does she hang out with the icky Seinfelds?

Why did she do that disastrously unfunny SNL skit with Lady Gaga?

Why does she insist on paying props to the likes of Britney and Lady Gaga when she should be blowing them all away with her own awesomeness?

Why is she so cheap with her videos these days?

Why does she not shoot outdoors for her videos anymore?

Why doesn't she hang with Gwen Stefani instead?

Why doesn't she release all her concerts on blu ray so I can relive all their awesomeness in 1080p?

Why hasn't she done a musical since Evita?

Why does she not work with Pat Leonard, William Orbit, and Stuart Price anymore?

Why hasn't she changed her hairstyle in the 2000's?

Why has she picked up on the habit of wearing wigs in videos and concerts?

Why does she get photoshopped like crazy in recent fashion campaign photos when she looks perfectly fine in paparazzi photos?

Why does she get so nervous when she is Madonna?

Why does she wear gloves to cover up her hand?

oohlala

Oohlala. The French Windows 7 commercial finally showed up on youtube. Check out Le Pure Cafe, not to mention cute French girl, with all her French-ness!!!

i'll take you there

The Glee promo featuring Like A Prayer has got me looking for Like A Prayer covers.

medley

Oh how I love my tv theme songs! Major props for Naruto!

december boys

Time to get acquainted with Alex Chilton. The Replacements wrote a song called Alex Chilton. Paul Westerberg wrote a tribute to Alex Chilton in The New York Times. I am barely familiar with him, but the tribute makes me sentimental and weepy. Musicians, artists, poets, writers, storytellers - they are humans in the most human ways.

The Replacements - Alex Chilton


Big Star - Thirteen (the only song I knew before Alex Chilton's death - thanks to Wilco's cover - this song makes me nostalgic for a past I didn't even live)


Evan Dando - Nighttime (Alex Chilton tribute at SXSW)

american idle

I am bored so let me blog about American Idol - they are doing Billboard No 1's:

(Miley Cyrus is mentor. Any Idol contestant with an ounce of self-respect wouldn't take her too seriously. Just be polite, say thank you, and move on.)
Lee - Hate the song choice (never heard of The Letter by The Box Tops) but he's still my favorite.
Paige - I actually kinda like her despite the butchering of Against All Odds. Poor Paige.
Tim - Go away, dude. You suck. You remind me of those stupid Leif Garrett posters they used to give away with my Scholastic book orders. I prefer a puppy or a kitten.
Aaron - I think this third grader can sing really well. He does a good job with Aerosmith's Don't Want To Miss A Thing.
Crystal - The judges go gaga over her. So predictable that she did Janis Joplin. She's good and consistent and all, but somehow I don't connect.
Mike - He rubs me wrong. He's like Reuben except way more cocky. He does a cruise-ship version of When A Man Loves A Woman. (I've never been on a cruise ship, so I don't really know what that means, except that I know I don't like it.)
Andrew - He should just sing Straight Up every week and be done with it. I heard it thru the grapevine that he just got lucky with one good cover, and it's carried him way too far already.
(Ooh, Glee commercial, with Rachel singing Like A Prayer!!!!!!! I just peed in my pants. Okay not really but it did make me smile and push replay on my Tivo.)

Katie - Big Girls Don't Cry. Serviceable. She's a rather uninteresting teenager.
(Windows 7 commerical with a French girl in front of Le Pure Cafe, one of my favorite spots in all of Paris. Tres cool.)
Casey - Huey Lewis and the News alert! (Get it? News alert?) He actually sounds just like Huey Lewis. I like it.
(I like the Amazon Kindle commercial.)

Didi - They need to stop picking on Didi. She's nice and adorable. Reminds me of Brooke White.
Siobhan - The girl with the cool name is too weird for me. Like she's weird but not in a cool Bjork way. I think she was probably one of those really annoying kids in school. She's belting out Superstition with her requisite screeching. How can something no noisy be so ho-hum for me?

Yeah this was all very lackluster. I should have blogged about something more interesting. Sometimes watching Idol and listening to the contestants and judges (sometimes especially the judges) is beyond tedious. Hey, we did get a Glee commercial, so maybe all is good with the world after all.

P.S. Okay - I am a doofus cuz The Box Tops is led by Alex Chilton who just died last week. He was also lead of Big Star. Now I get why Lee chose it. Still don't like the song though but Lee's cool factor just went up for paying tribute to Alex Chilton.

luck be your maybe

It's been a while since I've written a straightforward post, a post that is not a list, not a collection of random thoughts, not an embedded youtube video. A post about something, even if it's something insignificant. A post that requires a beginning, a middle, and an end, a point, an idea carried out for a paragraph or two or three. I think it's because my brain is so scattered that it is almost impossible to just sit down and compose something that requires composing.

So that's a lot of foreplay. I better deliver instead of just giving you another lazy-ass post. I suppose I can talk about the health care bill and how much I would like it to work (go ahead, you elitist pigs, call me a socialist), or Lady Gaga and how much I wish she would go away (she's not all that original, you sheeps), or American Idol and how much I want to bitch-slap Kara (figuratively of course, since I think you either have to be a woman or gay to bitch-slap, and of course, I can't really say punch out, since that would come across as if I endorse violence against women, which I don't). But then I don't think I can really carry on for real on any of those topics. Instead I think I want to talk about the topic of luck. Yup, luck. This evening, I was watching Community, and when someone wished another "Good luck," the person responded, "Don't need it. Never had it." I found that completely amusing, and infinitely thought-provoking.

I always sit here in front of my computer, lamenting about how little luck has come my way in this life. Sure, I am living in America, have a roof over my head, have a steady job, have working limbs (although how much longer those will last me remains questionable). But what I mean is, for someone who lives in America, who has a roof over his head and a steady job and working limbs, I am the unluckiest son of a bitch there ever was. I have never caught a break. I have never met anyone with some influence who looked at me and said, "That guy's got something - let me help him out." (Now, the fact that I may really not have anything is irrelevant to this discussion, since we are talking about luck, not talent or substance.) I have never had something fall upon me. Everything is acquired through effort, tedious, mundane effort. It's like digging all day just to get a little hole, and then having to be grateful that I got a little hole. And of course, I have never had the fortune of finding that special someone who would look at me and say, in her head at least and not out loud, "I choose him." I think even the ones who might have muttered unconvincingly "I choose him" were really more saying, "I guess he will have to do, for now." Yeah, so I always pondered, where were my freaking angels? The ones who will hide little delightful nuggets of surprises under my pillow and in my drawers for me to find at unexpected moments. You know, like when you need it the most, like when you are lying in bed thinking about the one who broke your heart, or when you boss makes you feel like a eunich, or when people you like keep getting eliminated from reality shows you watch. When I yell, "Stop," where are the band of angels who will actually make it stop?

But then when I heard that line from Community, it made me think, "Uh, who the hell needs luck anyways?" What if I stop waiting for it? Then I am back to what I probably had thought deep down all along, which is you are on your own. It's not as hopeless as it sounds. It's actually about not worrying about something you can't control. And remember, the line was, "Don't need it. Never had it." The "Don't need it" part is more important than the "Never had it" part. You just have to make your own way in this life. Not wait around for anybody or anything to save you. You make your own destiny. None of that "It is written" non-sense.

I am not completely writing luck or fate or destiny or even God off. Each of those things is not something you can ever prove. It's either there or it's not. I also have a feeling it's there whether you believe it or not (I am not one of those people who feels that God will abandon you if you don't believe in Him). The Oprah, in her infinite wisdom, always corrects people and says "There are no accidents." Her point is to distinguish between accidents (and presumably good and bad luck) and one's destiny. She believes in the latter but not the former. But I think there is no need to draw a difference, as none of those things should matter in how you approach your life. You should neither curse at God for your misfortunes, or praise God for your successes. I am not saying you should be full of yourself either, not because you are not responsible, but because your successes are not really as great as they are in your head. It extends too that you shouldn't tear yourself up over your mistakes, as your mistakes are not as grave as you might think and they are inevitable as long as you put yourself at risk by living life with some degree of abandon.

In the end, just be accountable for your experiences and your life. No luck, fate, destiny required. All the more better if those things are working on your behalf. Quietly, in the background. But completely unnecessary, except in romantic comedies, of course.

everybody knows alex lambert

My favorite contestant on AI this season, voted off right before Top 12. We hardly knew ya, Alex Lambert.

cruise banner

The photo in the banner is a photo I took while cruising at the back of a songtaew in Chiangmai.

keep the car running

I feel like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Windows, cuz I don't have a car this week. Sure, I can always walk out of the house, and unlike Jimmy Stewart, I've got a computer, an iPhone, a telly with Tivo, cable with On Demand and a few premium channels, a PS3, a library of unwatched Blu Rays and dvds, not to mention unread books and magazines piling up, but still, you get the point - I have no wheels.

If I had a car this weekend, I would have:
- Gone cruising for babes last nite. Barhopping for some booty action. That's right. The boy's got needs.
- Driven to the beach this morning for a morning run. Breathe in some fresh ocean air.
- Stop by a local cafe for some latte. You know, where they like make a leave or a heart on the foam. Get a berry scone to go with the deal. Sit out front on the street, checking my facebook and twitter on my phone.
- Go to the farmer's market for some organic greens and fruits and eggs.
- Drive up to coast with my new lens to take some kickass scenic photographs.
- Maybe stop by and hang loose with some surfers and surfer babes. Break out the guitar that happens to be in the trunk and we all sing Jack Johnson and smoke a joint and chill.
- Take my mother out to a nice Sunday brunch after church. We sip mimosa and talk about God.
- Take Chi Young out for a game of basketball.
- Call up one of my girlfriends to hang out at MOMA. After we spend hours admiring the Paul Klee exhibit, I realize she is the one for me and on the spot propose to her. She says yes, and I go home in time to watch the Oscars, where Joseph Gordon Levitt wins Best Actor even though he wasn't nominated.

Yeah, too bad my car's in the shop. So I am stuck instead surfing the net and buying cookbooks from amazon, like this one.

for your consideration

Here are my Oscar picks this year. Predictions only, not my preferences (which would look completely different obviously):

Picture: Avatar (It's between this or Hurt Locker - I am leaning towards the blockbuster for the win. BTW - 10 nominees = stoopidest idea.)

Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart (No brainer.)

Supporting actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (I didn't really think much of Inglourious Basterds, but I thoroughly liked Christoph Waltz. Sure win.)

Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side (Meryl Streep may steal this one, but you don't bet against Sandy.)

Supporting actress: Mo'Nique, Precious (Another no brainer. I really hate this Precious crap - mainly because of Mariah's involvement but whatev.)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker (The Academy's chance to finally give it to a female director. They won't do it again anytime soon.)

Animated feature: Up (Pixar always a winner.)

Documentary feature: Food, Inc. (Only doc I and most of America have heard of.)

Documentary short subject: China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Never seen it, but title sounds like a swipe against China, so I think it will get votes.)

Foreign language film: Un Prophète (France) (I hear this movie is awesome and buzz-worthy.)

Adapted screenplay: Up in the Air (Early favorite - its only chance for a win.)

Original screenplay: The Hurt Locker (Makes up for losing Best Picture to Avatar.)

Art direction: Avatar (A movie this big usually wins all the technical categories it's nominated for.)

Cinematography: Avatar (See Art direction above.)

Costume design: The Young Victoria (Only costume drama amongst the bunch, so it's gotta win.)

Editing: Avatar (See Art direction above.)

Makeup: Star Trek (My only chance to write down my favorite movie of last year.)

Original score: Avatar (See Art direction above.)

Original song: The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) (Down with Disney songs!)

Animated short film: A Matter of Loaf and Death (I only picked this because I like the title - hell if I know.)

Live action short film: Miracle Fish (See above.)

Sound editing: Avatar (See Art direction above.)

Sound mixing: Avatar (See Art direction above.)

Visual effects: Avatar (See Art direction above. This is the category that I think Avatar most deserves.)