yo yohan

My favorite Asian American actor is...John Cho. Top eight reasons I think he's da man:







1. He's Harold in Harold & Kumar!!!

2. He's Sulu in Star Trek!!!

3. His middle name is Yohan.

4. He's in a band.

5. He went to Berkeley and studied English lit.

6. He married Asian.

7. He was in Kitchen Confidential, a short-lived sitcom (based on Anthony Bourdain book) that I loved.

8. He can rock the 'stache.

rock me like a hurricane

As the East Coast endures Hurricane Irene (whose impending wrath actually caused NYC to unprecedentedly shut down its subway system and evacuate 400,000 residents from low-lying neighborhoods), I am still waiting for the arrival of my $99 HP Touchpad. Last weekend was spent mostly on the web chasing down which store had it in stock for $99, frantically getting in an order, and then ultimately getting an order cancellation hours later (due to crappy store inventory tracking). This occurred repeatedly from store to store. Everytime I had my order cancelled, the frustration and anxiety grew and the frenzied need for the $99 Touchpad grew. It was, and I completely knew this, less about the Touchpad itself than it was about scoring the deal. I could have been trying to order an elephant - it wouldn't matter. Well, finally, it looks like my very original order from HP.com, which was in limbo status for a good few days (thus leading to the weekend-long search for back up orders), is going to come through after all. It's on its way to me now, and peace shall restored to Planet Earth...I also just bought a Vitamix blender this weekend. I want to make those veggie soups and frozen yogurt that they make in the demos. Yeah, $400 is way too much to spend on a blender, but my blender broke a few months back and I've been needing a replacement anyway. This is supposedly as good as they come. Here's hoping spending that much money leads to eating more veggies and fruits, which I sorely needs to do...Man, one more month til the tv season starts (Amazing Race starts 9/25!!!!!). This dead space between the summer shows (like SYTYCD and even The Bachelorette) and the start of the new fall shows is killing me. I might have to take up knitting soon. Oh, you say, Hey, shouldn't you be writing that novel of yours? Or maybe reading. Or volunteering and saving starving children? Yeah, so what? I choose to be a lazy, superficial ass. You're not the boss of me...Actually I thought I was going to submit an application/resume for a new job this weekend. I actually started working on that resume, and then realized the deadline was last Thursday. Inglourious basterds!...You know the HP Touchpad actually has a neato accessory called the Touchstone, which is a stand that provides inductive wireless charging for the Touchpad. You can just place your tablet, in portrait or landscape mode, on the stand, without connecting any cables, and your tablet will just charge. They should seriously make something like this for the iPad...James Blake and Bon Iver collaborated on a track called the Fall Creek Boys' Choir. I don't love the outcome, but the idea of these two working together makes this fanboy all giddy. Hope there is more to come...Isn't Pumped Up Kicks the jam of the summer? P.S. I know it doesn't sound right when I say jam to refer to anything other than fruit preserves...SMG aka Buffy says in new issue of EW that one of her favorite shows is The Amazing Race. OMG SMG! I love you that much more. (And I am completely ignoring the fact that she also mentioned Real Housewives...). I cannot wait for Ringer to premiere...Tonight is the VMAs. I don't even know who is nominated, and I am sure I have never seen 99% of the videos. But I will still keep an eye on it, just in case Madonna pops up as rumored to give Britney some stupid lifetime achievement award or something...I just saw an article about a Cuban man who has 24 digits - six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Hmm, what would I do with an extra finger on each hand??? And which finger do you pick to give someone the middle finger?...So it looks as if NYC was spared the worst of Irene. There were some neighborhood floodings but no extensive damage or deaths. I am also not hearing too much about catastrophic damages in other States, though I did see a report about an 11-year old Virginia boy who died when a tree fell through the roof. So sad...Speaking of NYC, it's crazy that next week will mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. How is it possible that it's been ten years already? It's strange - this phenomenon called time. It's both merciless and forgiving all at once.

kids

My latest. Kids series.

american life is not what it seems

I was remiss this week in not acknowledging Madonna's 53rd birthday here. After all, the woman is my single biggest music obsession for the last ahem years. She is awesome in infinite ways.



I was going to go through my playlists and post here five hidden gems from the ultimate entertainer of my generation, and then I realize there are plenty of hidden gems from her much-aligned American Life cd on its own. I freaking love every single of one of these songs. Like Erotica, I think American Life in hindsight will prove to be a great album. It's introspective, tough, melancholic. It's the marketing, not the songs or the music, that went wrong. Evidence:



Intervention





Easy Ride





X-Static Process





Nobody Knows Me





Nothing Fails

faster than my bullet

10. Hannah (Ra Ra Riot remix) - Freelance Whales

9. Trust Issues (remix) - The Weeknd

8. Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (Coldplay cover) - Robyn

7. Heart In Your Heartache - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

6. Thinking About You - Frank Ocean

5. Wildfire (featuring Little Dragon and Drake) - SBTRKT

4. Money - The Drums

3. Someone Like You - Adele

2. An Argument With Myself - Jens Lekman (the return of Jens - it's been too long at the anti-war rally)

1. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People (Man I love this song. Super fun, song of the summer right? Til you listen to the sinister lyrics.)

eat, pray, love

I took a week off work to burn up some of my accumulated leave hours (or else I would lose them by end of calendar year), so since I didn't travel anywhere, I instead just ate and ate and ate my way through the week. The reviews of almost everything I ate are here.



Ok, maybe it wasn't completely about eating - I also went to optometrist, did things for the cars, donated stuff to Goodwill, and watched Captain America and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, reviewed here and here.



It was a peaceful week. But now I only have one more day to go til I return to Mount Doom. Too bad there is no ring that I can toss into the fire to destroy those evil, power-mad people running the damn place.



I was actually reading an interview with the Dalai Lama. In it, he says that hate is the root of all evil. Uh oh - given the hate I feel for some many things (mostly related to work), I think I have the propensity to turn into Darth Vader one of these days. But I guess that's why the need for leave from the office. It takes the hate level down a bit, so that the sanity and reason and compassion can come back into the system. That's the only way I have a chance to stay a noble Jedi Knight.

sadness i am your boy

Lyrics from random songs on my 2011 playlist that make me feel sad and happy and stuff:



Do you remember the dream by the river when we were seventeen? - Tree By The River, Iron & Wine



If I go anywhere, I would probably go too far. - Chances Are, Garrett Hedlund



Yesterday was the time of our lives. We were born and raised in a summer haze. - Someone Like You, Adele



I want to buy you something, but I don't have any money. - Money, The Drums



The way her shadow used to walk by your side, in a different time, in a different city. - An Argument With Myself, Jens Lekman



One of these days, the bombs will drop and silence everything. - These Days, Foo Fighters



It's a hard life, for a man with no wife. - Hard Life (Bonnie Prince Billy cover), Joe Pug



Baby you are a firework. Come on, show them what you're worth. - Firework, Katy Perry



Oh I am a lonely painter. I live in a box of paint. - A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell cover), James Blake



I was drifting, crying. I was looking for an island. I was slipping under. I'll pull the devil down with me, one way or another. - Think You Can Wait, The National



Sadness is my boyfriend. Sadness I am your girl. - Sadness Is A Blessing, Lykke Li



Didn't we have fun? Though it hurts like hell, I don't want to forget. - Fun, Natalie Imbruglia

meow mix

I am a Christopher Nolan fanboy through and through, and for the most part I will follow him wherever he takes us. But the casting of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman was worrisome. And now we get the first peek, and holy crap, is she playing Batgirl instead of Catwoman??? This is blasphemous. There is nothing feline-like about Anne Hathaway or the costume. Compare this to Michelle Pfeiffer and her purrfect Catwoman. Sexy and crazy and vulnerable and dangerous all rolled into a slinky latex suit and a tour de force performance. Le sigh.