06.16.05
Grey characters
I saw Spanglish tonight. Great movie. It follows the theme of Lost in Translation. There’s no bad guys, just regular people, and good people. They do separate the regular people who rise above the challenges life sends their way from those that do not. Anyway, I saw another old movie, Out of Africa, from Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, which had that same style. It made it all the more impressive because that was done some time in the 80s. It was a bit long at 3 hours, but it was definitely worth it. The difference of the two movies from Lost in Translation was that there were pretty amazing women characters in Spanglish and Out of Africa. All are worth watching. All got 5 stars from me in Netflix.
05.22.05
Active Bum
I spent most of Saturday morning biking. I tested out paved bike trails, but also went to the unpaved old-railroad tracks trail. I don’t know how many miles I did but I was out for at least 4 hours, with breakfast worked in there somewhere in between. I had so much more fun at the unpaved trails that before I heading home, I stopped by a camping site to bike through trees and rough terrain. By bum hurts today though. But it was great! I’m sure I’ll be doing much more of that soon. At least it’s not like running where I have to force myself to do it. I found biking actually fun. I know you probably get more exercise with running but I think 2 hours of pleasurable biking was just as beneficial if not more so that 20 minutes of miserable running.
I’ll have to get a bike for myself though. Sarah let me borrow hers to see how I would like the mountain bike. At least now I know for sure I’m getting a mountain bike rather than a hybrid. They had me over for dinner last Friday night. I finally had something to do on a Friday night here in Keene. Yay!
So after all that exercise, I was pretty tired. After doing a few chores, I just hung out at home, cooked, and then watched Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. My favorite scene is when they sing (and I sang along with them): “Some day somebody’s gonna make you want to turn around and say goodbye, until then baby are you going to let them hold you down and make you cry? Don’t you know? Don’t you know things can change, things’ll go your way if you hold on for one more day…” Yeah, Wilson Phillips. Sweet.
Today I saw Donnie Darko and Almost Famous. I saw the latter one last, so I remember more about it than Donnie Darko. Best line: “The only true currency in this bankrupt world… is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.” That’s for you, TB!
05.16.05
I love Wes Anderson
I’ve seen Life Aquatic 2 times now, in 3 days. I liked the movie the first time I saw it, but I appreciated it a lot more the second time. I’m sure I’ll pick up a lot more details after watching it again, but I’ll give it a rest for now. It’s definitely worth having. The DVD extras give you a chance to see everyone in action and hear about what they think about their characters and the other actors. Everyone was amazing in this movie. Bill Murray played himself. I couldn’t tell him from Steve Zissou. It’s as if after retiring from diving, he went to Japan to promote whiskey, or whatever it was he was doing a commercial for in Lost in Translation.
Ooh, trivia: The pirates? They’re filipino! BUT they were being ordered around by some maybe Chinese (the accent was unclear). They were saying the right words and the translations were amazingly correct too! This is in contrast to Big Fish (I love this movie too!), the ventriloquist was supposed to be Vietnamese, but was speaking in Filipino, talking to his dummy about sweating and peeing in his pants.
05.09.05
The Good Life
Ah yes, this weekend I was living it up. TB came up from VA to do some major Buddy-Ho[lly] hanging out. The weather was bad the whole weekend so we ended up watching movies at home. We saw Shaolin Soccer and Shaun of the Dead. Shaolin Soccer kicks arse, Puma style. Seriously, watch it, kids. I can’t repeat it enough.
The highlight of the weekend was the Weezer show at the Avalon. We met up with Casey, Lyds, Daisy, and the Thomases. Too bad, Casey couldn’t watch the show with us. July, Boardman, they’re coming back!
The opening band, Ringside was pretty good. Check out the singer’s bio. He’s freaky, but if his story’s true, I hold my hand up to him.
When Weezer finally came out, the crowd rushed to the stage, carrying me, TB, Lyds and Daisy along. I was in my very first mosh pitt. Too bad I couldn’t hold myself up and only stayed there for 1.5 songs. TB pulled me away, thankfully. TB, you’re my hero! 
Anyway, Rivers was cool. But don’t worry, Daisy, I think I like Brian Bell. Anyway, Rivers was so shy and timid and GEEKY! Woo! He thanked the crowd I don’t know how many times, like he was amazed we liked the show. Dude. Best part? They ended with The Good Life.
Great weekend. Wait for TB’s and Lyds’s posts. Here’s Daisy’s and Casey’s. Pictures coming up soon, Lyds?
04.28.05
Shaolin Soccer
…rocks! It was so stupid, it was hilarious! Laugh out loud funny. Even my stuffed pony had a good laugh. I can’t wait to see Kung Fu Hustle.
03.01.05
The Gates and other things
I spent the weekend in New York with my sister. It was great! We wore ourselves out walking all over the place, I lost a book, ate too much, and didn’t get to go ice skating. But other than that, we had a good time.
I got there late Friday night after getting lost for an hour and missing the train at New Haven, CT. Thanks to TB for navigating for me through Mapquest. I wouldn’t have found it otherwise. I lost my book, Bee Season, which I didn’t realize until Sunday morning. When I got to NY, we decided to get something to eat, at 11pm. Everything was still open. People were eating burgers and meals at 11:30 at night! Anyway, food was okay, nothing too special. It was a diner though, which is always a plus.
The next day we walked to Central Park to see The Gates. Now that was a pleasant surprise. It really is experiential art and interactive art. When I first saw their plans last year, I thought it was stupid and a waste of money. But it was actually pretty breath taking. There were gates everywhere you look, and the bold orange color (aka saffron according to the artists) were striking against the snow covered park. The wind, the birds, the reflection off the water, all magnified the experience. My sister and I both bought and took pictures but the experience was definitely on a different level.
After that we went straight to the Metropolitan Museum so that I could get inspired to paint. It worked. My favorite were the following:
1. Van Gogh’s Wheat Field with Cypresses
2. Van Gogh’s Women Picking Olives
3. Monet’s Vétheuil in Summer
4. Monet’s The Path through the Irises
I especially liked Van Gogh’s whimsical brushstrokes and patterns, the happy colors, and most especially, the stories behind them. Van Gogh was hoping his mom and sister like his painting, and Monet, trying to capture the color and light, overwhelmed his painting with details. Of course, everything looks perfect to me.
Anyway, food-wise, we had a good weekend too. For breakfast, we had bagels (NY bagels are the best), for dinner, we had yummy Shanghai dumpling with the soup inside and fried duck. Lastly, on Sunday, we went to Minado’s - so far the best sushi buffet I’ve been to. Their NJ branch is the best.
Conversation could’ve been more positive at times, but that’s pretty understandable. Other than the reasons for my being in NY, the weekend was a lot of fun. I had a blast.
02.14.05
Snow, Chocolates, and Meg Ryan
I went snowboarding this weekend. I ended up going by myself because I wasn’t able to meet up with GS and his friends. Thanks, TMobile, great coverage. Anyway, I went to Pat’s Peak. It was the first time I tried my new snowboard and it was great! Could’ve used double socks though. Next time.
I decided to head to the very beginners hill. It was great because I was able to practice my heel and toe turns. After making it downhill doing consecutive S-turns without falling, I decided it was time to move on. Oh yeah, there was a big group of chinese college kids. Most of them were seriously wiping out, but most of the time they just hung out at the top sitting down on the snow. I felt like they were wondering why I was by myself. I very rarely see Asians doing stuff on their own. Anyway, maybe I was just paranoid.
I was deciding whether to go to the hill that had chair lifts or go to the slightly steeper beginners’ hill. I opted for the latter. The downside to this was although they had a lift, it was one of those where you have to hang on to it - easy for skiers, very difficult for snowboarders. With about 10 people on the line, I figured instead of waiting in line to find out that I can’t go up with a snowboard, I just trudged up the hill. Man, what a workout! I out of breath when I got up there. On every run, once I’d get down, I’d start up the hill again without pausing for breath. I must’ve done at least 10 rounds. At least.
Anyway, after maybe 40 minutes, the chinese group previously mentioned, moved into the hill I was on. They again congregated at the top of the hill and stay there for I don’t know how long. All this time, I was just practicing my turns, trying to make S’s without falling.
Well, at one point, while I was doing my toe turn, one guy wipes out to my left. I shout “I’m sorry”, sort of expecting an “It’s okay” from him, but I got nothing. He looks at me with a look that said, “Watch where you’re going”. I wasn’t going to fall but I stopped my run and sat down. I asked if he was okay and he said, “I was gonna wipe out anyway”. So, obviously he was blaming me for pre-empting that wipe out. Ugh.
His other friends started coming, one girl smiling at me sympathetically, conveying a “We know it’s not your fault”. The girls were actually pretty nice. The same girl said that they were on a steeper hill and that if he wasn’t comfortable there, he should join their other friends on the beginner hill. I just shrugged and went my merry way again. Only this time it wasn’t as merry anymore.
It happened again after a few more runs, to another of their friends. He wiped out next to me. I again apologized, not that it was my fault but because it seemed like the right thing to say. He was a better sport, shrugging it off, saying he was just going too fast. But at that point, I started losing interested and my energy had all but left me. So, after doing one last run without falling, I called it quits. Anyway, it’s your responsibility to stay clear of people IN FRONT of you. How on earth do you expect people to look behind them everytime they try to do something?
Anyway, there’s another thing worth mentioning. There was this cute fat kid with his hood up snowboarding too. He had a teeny tiny snowboard, and his face was so round inside the hood. Once, as I was going down, there was a lump in the snow - a jacket and a tiny snowboard. I was going to head over near it thinking it was somebody’s jacket when it started moving! It was the little boy! Sweet! Later on, I was sitting down after falling, when the little boy fell too. I looked back and said, “It’s pretty icy here”, and he was smiling and said, “I was just going too fast”. Aww.
Sunday, I was sore, but not because I wiped out. I hurt because it was a tough workout. I went to the office to do some work but couldn’t get in. I guess my key has some time coded in it or something. At least my Sunday afternoon was spared. After doing chores, I watched the Food Network. They have a chocolate festival weekend or something. They showed festivals in San Francisco and St Stephen in Canada. Man, it looked absolutely DELICIOUS!!! I started scouring my apartment for chocolate and found kisses and Meiji dark chocolate. I ate 1/4 of the box of the dark chocolate + 2 kisses. I had to stop myself, otherwise I’d have finished the box and stayed up all night.
After that I watched TBS with what seemed to be a Meg Ryan fest. I saw Kate & Leopold, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, You’ve Got Mail (yes, that’s 2x, back to back. I went to sleep while it was on the 2nd run), (woke up in the middle of the night with) City of Angels.
I think my favorite has changed from Sleepless to You’ve Got Mail. I like that it deals with books AND the Internet. It’s so good.
01.23.05
Bah
I haven’t felt like writing on my blog the past few days. I had so much work and I’ve been having to make my own dinner and clean up and all that. Oh, and I’ve been painting a lot. Almost everyday since Monday night. I took the weekend off though, for painting. It was feeling too much. And I ate one of my apples in my still life. I’m still trying to get into a routine, but it’s tough. I did have a big musical movie weekend. I saw Drumline, That Thing You Do and Grease. Drumline’s awesome. I was amazed and dancing and junk. That Thing You Do was fun too, and Grease, well, it had the funniest songs. There was one about being a drop out of a beauty school. It was fun just watching their hair and clothes.
Oh yeah, I also totally rearranged my living room. I switched the entertainment center and the sofa - a major achievement since the entertainment center weighs about a thousand pounds, and I had to rewire my tv and cable and dvd. No speakers, whew. That’s what a blizzard does. Although, that’s really just an excuse because it didn’t start snowing here until the evening and I was done with my rearranging at 4. I just didn’t want to take a shower and dry my hair. I still showered and got dressed to go out, but I got to lazy and got into the what’s-the-point-of-going-out mode of thought. I wanted to go to the library to read and decided I can read at home too. Warming up the car was what ticked me off. Well, I was only able to read about10 pages.
Tomorrow I’m going to have to do my laundry, finally. I’m out of socks and tights. Last Tuesday I already had to buy new undies. Ugh. I’m so lazy. It’s the stupid cold. Brrr…. Oh well, what are you gonna do.
01.07.05
Part 5 of LOTR: Return of the King Extended DVD set
My dad and I watched the Part 5 DVD of the Return of the King extended set. We had it playing from 7:30 - 11pm. Throughout most of that we were just sitting on the sofa staring at the tv. So my eyes have that dried-out-after-staring-at-the-tv-for-a-long-time feel.
It was great, although it wasn’t as awesome as the bonus features in The Fellowship of the Ring. This had a lot of the history on Tolkien and on the story, which was interesting, but I found it slightly dragging an hour and a half into it. The best thing I learned about it is, Viggo ended up buying his horse from LOTR after bonding with the horse so much. But not only that, he bought the horse Arwen was on (riding from the wraiths) for the lady who actually rode the horse because she couldn’t afford it. Also, the miniature camera crew worked on the set for more than 1000 days! Imagine that!
There’s still the other Part 6 of the DVD to see, but I probably won’t get to see it anytime soon. Oh well. At least there’s still something to look forward to.
11.27.04
Black Friday
A belated happy thanksgiving to everyone!
Black Friday is the shopping day after Thanksgiving. It’s called black friday to mark the change from unprofitability to protiftability. Apparently, when records were done by hand, red was used to mark losses, and black for profits.
Here’s the thing. The Pheasant Lane mall is the closest mall to my place. That’s an hour and half away! So to get to the doorbuster deals today, I woke up at 5 am, kept bugging my sister until she got out of bed at 5:15, and we were out of the house by 6:00. We got there by 7:30 and some people were already leaving!
Anyway, here are the highlights:
1. Cashmere feels like heaven. Girls, treat yourself and be convinced that it’s an investment.
2. My sister split the cost of the dining table. Yay. I can actually eat from a chair now! No more stooping or squating.
3. Doorbuster deals aren’t what they’re made up to be. There are only a few items marked cheaper for early birds and if you have the extra 15% off coupons, chances are, you’ll be saving enough. Of course, you have the coupons and you come in early, then you’re set. We unfortunately didn’t have coupons. I’m still upset. I could’ve saved enough for another sweater. Not cashmere, but still.
Saw The Incredibles tonight. Animation was amazing, story’s okay, action sequences were great BUT it was a bit too long. The whole Mr. Incredible’s midlife crisis bit was pretty stretched out. Once the action started though, it got better. I’d still say it’s worth watching in the big screen. If you don’t want to spend that much money, come up here, matinee shows are only $5.50.
