I saw Drive a few days back, and it wasn't at all what I was expecting. I thought it would be a lot more action packed and kinetic, but instead it was actually very deliberate and moody, maybe a tad too deliberate and moody even for my taste. Some teenage girl in the middle of the screening said out loud of Ryan Gosling's Driver, "He's a weirdo." Yup, I most definitely agree, but whereas she meant this as a put-down, I smiled at how odd he was. I love my anti-heroes, particularly when they wear a cool-as-hell satin jacket and leather gloves and they are played by cooler-than-school Ryan Gosling and they drive around to a Miami Vice-cool, Eighties-inspired electronica soundtrack. Drive is not a crowd pleaser at all, but it's most definitely inspired film making. B+
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
little bit of everything
Just heard this amazing song by Dawes called Little Bit Of Everything. I think it made me a little wiser.
With his back against the San Francisco traffic,
On the bridges side that faces towards the jail,
Setting out to join a demographic,
He hoists his first leg up over the rail.
And a phone call is made,
Police cars show up quickly.
The sergeant slams his passenger door.
He says, “Hey son why don’t you talk through this with me,
Just tell me what you’re doing it for.”
“Oh, it’s a little bit of everything,
It’s the mountains,
It’s the fog,
It’s the news at six o’clock,
It’s the death of my first dog,
It’s the angels up above me,
It’s the song that they don’t sing,
It’s a little bit of everything.”
An older man stands in a buffet line,
He is smiling and holding out his plate,
And the further he looks back into his timeline,
That hard road always had led him to today,
And making up for when his bright future had left him,
Making up for the fact that his only son is gone,
And letting everything out once, His server asks him,
Have you figured out yet, what it is you want?
I want a little bit of everything,
The biscuits and the beans,
Whatever helps me to forget about
The things that brought me to my knees,
So pile on those mashed potatoes,
And an extra chicken wing,
I’m having a little bit of everything.
Somewhere a pretty girl is writing invitations,
To a wedding she has scheduled for the fall,
Her man says, “Baby, can I make an observation?
You don’t seem to be having any fun at all.”
She said, “You just worry about your groomsmen and your shirt-size,
And rest assured that this is making me feel good,
I think that love is so much easier than you realize,
If you can give yourself to someone,
Then you should.
Cause it’s a little bit of everything,
The way you choke, the way you ache,
It is waking up before you,
So I can watch you as you wake.
So in the day in late September,
It’s not some stupid little ring,
I’m giving a little bit of everything.
Oh, it’s a little bit of everything,
It’s the matador and the bull,
It’s the suggested daily dosage,
It is the red moon when it’s full.
All these psychics and these doctors,
They’re all right and they’re all wrong,
It’s like trying to make out every word,
When they should simply hum along,
It’s not some message written in the dark,
Or some truth that no one’s seen,
It’s a little bit of everything.
With his back against the San Francisco traffic,
On the bridges side that faces towards the jail,
Setting out to join a demographic,
He hoists his first leg up over the rail.
And a phone call is made,
Police cars show up quickly.
The sergeant slams his passenger door.
He says, “Hey son why don’t you talk through this with me,
Just tell me what you’re doing it for.”
“Oh, it’s a little bit of everything,
It’s the mountains,
It’s the fog,
It’s the news at six o’clock,
It’s the death of my first dog,
It’s the angels up above me,
It’s the song that they don’t sing,
It’s a little bit of everything.”
An older man stands in a buffet line,
He is smiling and holding out his plate,
And the further he looks back into his timeline,
That hard road always had led him to today,
And making up for when his bright future had left him,
Making up for the fact that his only son is gone,
And letting everything out once, His server asks him,
Have you figured out yet, what it is you want?
I want a little bit of everything,
The biscuits and the beans,
Whatever helps me to forget about
The things that brought me to my knees,
So pile on those mashed potatoes,
And an extra chicken wing,
I’m having a little bit of everything.
Somewhere a pretty girl is writing invitations,
To a wedding she has scheduled for the fall,
Her man says, “Baby, can I make an observation?
You don’t seem to be having any fun at all.”
She said, “You just worry about your groomsmen and your shirt-size,
And rest assured that this is making me feel good,
I think that love is so much easier than you realize,
If you can give yourself to someone,
Then you should.
Cause it’s a little bit of everything,
The way you choke, the way you ache,
It is waking up before you,
So I can watch you as you wake.
So in the day in late September,
It’s not some stupid little ring,
I’m giving a little bit of everything.
Oh, it’s a little bit of everything,
It’s the matador and the bull,
It’s the suggested daily dosage,
It is the red moon when it’s full.
All these psychics and these doctors,
They’re all right and they’re all wrong,
It’s like trying to make out every word,
When they should simply hum along,
It’s not some message written in the dark,
Or some truth that no one’s seen,
It’s a little bit of everything.
remember
Ten years. A lot can happen in ten years. All those 9/11 babies are now ten year olds. Imagine that. They are now in fifth grade, about to start middle school in a year. Some of them probably already had their first crush. And their first heartaches. Some of them are growing up to be lovely people, salt-of-the-earth decent human beings. Some of them are bullies and future crackheads and alchoholics. Black sheeps who wouldn't be the best stories they feature on the commemorative tv specials.
It's hard to know what the future holds, in another ten years. All we know is that memory plays a part in who we are. Sometimes it makes us better, and sometimes it haunts us like ghosts.
I am sure this is true for everyone whose lives were directly, and indirectly, impacted by what occurred on September 11 ten years ago.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
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