a year spent at cat town

Woohoo!!!!!  I finally finished reading 1Q84 after a little more than one full year (which is longer than the duration of the novel).  1Q84 as a whole just didn't emotionally connect to me as previous Murakami works.

I do love the story of the cat town though.  A town run by cats that you cannot come back from if you stay too long.  I was afraid I had stayed in the world of 1Q84 for so long that there was no coming back from it.

I also love the story of Tengo's parents.  What happened to his mother and his father the NHK fee collector.

Both of those stories are mysterious, haunting, and sad.

And then this passage:  "If something really existed, you had to accept it as a reality, whether or not it made sense or was logical...Principles and logic didn't give birth to reality.  Reality came first, and the principles and logic followed."  I like that a lot.

(The illustration above is from here.)

star wars into darkness

Thoughts floating about today:

-  The Patriots and Mr. Brady came within one game of going to the Superbowl.  Almost never counts.  Sigh.

-  I really like these BelVita biscuits.

-  Coachella lineup looks amazing:  Blur, Postal Service, Vampire Weekend, La Roux, Phoenix...are you kidding me?

-  Yup Postal Service reuniting for Coachella.  Hope that means new music.

-  Same goes for Blur.  Those two songs from last year just weren't enough for me.

-  Vampire Weekend new music coming in May.

-  There is something odd about JJ Abrams doing Star Wars when he already has Star Trek.  Those universes just don't mix.

-  I really need to see Star Trek Into Darkness now.

-  I really need to see Before Midnight more.  It premiered at Sundance last Sunday to raves.

-  I just rented Bourne Legacy.  I don't like Jeremy Renner but I like Bourne movies.

-  I just did illustrations of Doctor Who and Sherlock.  Downton Abbey is next.  It's my BBC trilogy.

-  I got a haircut today.  I feel fresh.

-  I am 150 pages from finishing 1Q84.  It's a year long journey, just like the time span of the book, except my year doesn't include two moons or little people (unless you count hobbits and dwarfs).

-  Nicki Minaj and her nicknaming and faux British accent and bitchiness towards Mariah Carey make me happy to be watching American Idol.  I honestly laughed aloud a number of times.

-  Uli robbed again on Project Runway All Star.  Judges suck.

-  They cancelled Don't Trust The B in Apt 23.  I am laughing less now each week.  ABC sucks.

-  Are they going to cancel Happy Ending next?  ABC really sucks.

-  What I went into the office yesterday, my garbage from the night before was on top of my desk.  WTF?  Do I have an archnemesis screwing with me?  I like archnemeses cuz I think of myself as Batman.

-  I rewatched Serenity.  It seriously kicks Avengers arse.  With Avengers, Joss Whedon to me lost a little of his touch yet gained massive popularity.  What does that really mean?

-  I believe in Manti Te'o and his catfishing story.

-  I never believed in Lance Armstrong.  Always thought he was lying all this time.

2012, i am not impressed

Favorite tv show:  Amazing Race, Downton Abbey, Sherlock
Favorite song:  Ho Hey by the Lumineers (runner up Home by Phillip Phillips) - it's been a folksy sort of year
Favorite concert & album:  MDNA (runner up Fiona Apple) - y'all missing out if you don't love Love Spent
Favorite female artist:  Madonna (runner up Fiona Apple)
Favorite male artist:  Ed Sheeran (runner up Frank Ocean)
Favorite band:  Green Day (runner up Blur)
Favorite movie:  The Dark Knight Rises
Most underrated:  John Carter
Most overrated:  Anne Hathaway (I really, really don't get it) and Taylor Swift
Most gorgeous:  Kiera Knightley in Anna Karenina trailer
Most charismatic:  Garrett Hedlund in On The Road trailer
Best actress:  Naomi Watts in The Impossible
Best actor: Tom Holland in The Impossible
Least favorite Joss Whedon:  Avengers
New Joss Whedon:  Steven Moffat (Sherlock, Doctor Who)
City:  Dublin
Favorite color:  Orange (yay, Giants!)
Most used third party app on iPad:  Sketchbook and PenUltimate
New favorite clothing retailer:  Uniqlo
Least favorite name:  Sandy (as in Sandy Hook and Hurricane Sandy)
Most unexpected unfortunate turn of events:  My health
Second most unexpected unfortunate turn of events:  Getting rear-ended during Chinese New Year's (I mean my car)
Disappointing new gadget:  iPhone 5 (I don't think it's that different from my iPhone 4, not to mention the mapping mess and Siri - another girl who fails to understand me)
Meme:  McKayla Maroney is not impressed
Olympic Douchbag:  Ryan Lochte
Olympic hero:  Oscar Pistorius
Favorite familiar thing:  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Blur
Favorite strange thing:  Joseph Gordon Levitt as Bruce Willis in Looper
Things that make me laugh:  Happy Endings, Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey (she can act circles around everyone just with her eyebrow)
Things that make me cry:  The reuniting scene in The Impossible
Best mode of transportation:  Tardis
Personal failure:  1Q84 unfinished
But all is not lost:  I did finish reading Perks Of Being A Wallflower instead
Most hated phrase:  "Basically..."
Favorite quote:  "If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation." from 1Q84
Things I don't understand:  Fiscal cliff; why it is necessary to kill of *** in Skyfall ending when the whole movie (which is damn good) is about keeping *** alive
Another reason NBC sucks egg:  the booting of Ann Curry from Today show
Good riddance:  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan ticket
Farewell, sweet dreams, good night, my sweet prince:  The victims of Sandy Hook; victims of Aurora, CO Dark Knight Rises theater shooting; MCA (Adam Yauch); Trayvon Martin

the science of itemized deduction

Weather:  A drizzly mess
Mood:  Chilled and relaxed
Music:  The Very Best of Hall & Oates (I have not heard Method of Modern Love in ages)
Last Movie: Life of Pi (B+)
Reading: 1Q84 (at least I am in the middle of book 2)
Last Pleasure:  Salmon ochazuke from B Star on Clement
Last Worry: My right lower ab area is now hurting me too!  And my shower is leaking into the garage.  And what is that spot on my face???
Last accomplishment:  Finished filing and shredding a year's worth of paper work.
Looking Forward To:   Downton Abbey returns tonight!
Not Really Looking Forward To: January 14, the day I get put back in prison.
Gas Price: $3.76/gallon premium
Clothes: Uniqlo heat tech grey t-shirt, tan regular fit jeans
Today's Headline:  White House Mulls Broader Gun Control
Current iPad Wallpaper:  Jeremy Mann painting
Last Website Visited:  7x7
Last Meal: Grilled pork & egg roll from Loi's on Irving 
Last Purchase: H&R Block 2012 tax software from amazon (time to do taxes again)
Item Off My Wishlist:  BBC's Sherlock on blu ray (I love this series)
Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World:  3D photobooth

the grandmaster

Here is the first full trailer for The Grandmaster, Wong Kar Wai's latest:


Hope this is a return to form (by form I mean the heights of Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, Happy Together). I'll just ignore Zhang Ziyi, whom I cannot stand. Why directors I like work with actors I don't is beyond comprehension.