The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration,hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.
The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.
The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.
I swear this is not becoming a food blog, it's just part of what I like so sometimes you'd see a few post on food here.
What you see on the left is a receipt for a 6 person luncheon in New York's Nello. No, I wasn't there, but I remember seeing it on Serious Eats a while ago and understood that it is something that I will never be able to do, even if I won the lottery tomorrow I'd still won utilize my money like that. Of course, the person who purchased this meal is Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who buys up a whole soccer team in his pastimes and probably wouldn't think twice. But what can a $5,000 bottle of Cristal accomplish?
If I were rich and living in New York, I would probably be in heaven trying out all the exciting restaurant in town. The culinary scene is so vibrant with new restaurants opening every day, you wouldn't have to eat the same thing in the same restaurant twice in your life.
$8,000 a person for lunch? What are you gonna follow it with when dinner comes?
Since Jose Garces opened his first restaurant Amada in Philadelphia 5 years ago, he has made a big impact in the culinary scene here. With every new restaurant he opened, people has fallen head over heels from its innovative variations on Latin cuisine. Of course his fame rose even further after he became the Iron Chef. So when we heard that the Garces Restaurant Group got a new restaurant in its bag, my ex-colleague and I named it the next destination for our monthly luncheon.
Village Whiskey is meant to be a burger joint, a burger joint with 150 different whiskeys available to choose from. I have checked on their website and read the menu before going there. The menu was very interesting; It's making itself known as higher end burger joint with an iron chef backbone, so you can find items that you would expect with a few renovated ideas. The french fries are duck fat fried, there's a pickle platter that serves with a whipped ricotta, olive tapenade and sour dough, there are raw oysters and clams, there's a lobster roll and there's a whiskey king burger that has a piece of foie gras on top. I thought since the place is a bit out of my way and I might not go back often, I made up my mind that I'm gonna go all out and order the Whiskey King burger.
The restaurant decor reminiscent of an old time saloon bar, the walls were adorned with faded mirrors, white mosaic tiles, looks quite classy but it was shockingly cramped. After a 20 minutes wait in a waiting area the size of a phone booth, we were led to a leather plushed corner nook that I almost have to jam myself inside. You pull the tables out and still you can barely get comfortably seated, it's horribly awkward.
Going to the luncheon with my ex-colleague has some limitations, she's a vegetarian and usually we'll have to make sure there are vegetarian items on the menu for her to choose from, subsequently I tend to order vegetarian items just so we can share and taste a wider variety of food. But this time, I felt selfish. While waiting for our table, a lady in a mink coat came in the waiting area and placed an order of the duck fat fries to pick up 45 minutes later. That's all she wanted and it got me curious, even the tater tots on the menu sounds more appealing to my childish fixation, I decided the duck fat fries might really be that good.
So I ordered the $24 burger and the duck fat fries, my colleague got the lentil, black bean vegetarian burger, the deviled eggs and the home-made cheese puffs. Home-made cheese puffs, you ask? I asked. "What is this cheese puff, is it like Cheetos?" I didn't think it would be like Cheetos, but the definition of cheese puffs was variable. Turns out, they were buttery, spongy choux pastry with melted cheese and chives on top served in a skillet. Best cheese puffs I've ever had! It's so good, I'm about to test the word homemade in its descriptions. The deviled eggs were well made and perfectly seasoned but not memorable, run of the mill vinegar, cayenne pepper, onion, celery kinda deal, I think I had too many of those in church picnics to really care.
When the burgers arrived, I was gobsmacked by the large piece of foie gras on top. I have rarely seen a piece of foie gras so blatantly put on top of a burger where it looks, at least, out of place. The waitress had to come by to reassured me that it is a 2-oz piece of foie gras for me to believe my eyes. In another instant, I noticed the oil saturating the entire sandwich. There is the oil from the foie gras, the juice from the 8-oz burger, two strips of applewood bacon and its grease, the melted oily blue cheese and the maple bourbon glazed cippolini onions which is like a marmalade. I know people craved a truly juicy burger but this thing is drenched in oil and juice. While the combination made it into a complex taste with pleasant notes of foie gras and marmalade, the beef itself got covered and as much as the marmalade tried, it cannot cut through all the fattiness of it. I imagine if I had a glass of bourbon, everything might be in harmony but alas I don't drink.
The duck fat fries itself was not as great as I would hope. Even after rinsing my mouth with water, I could not taste the duck fat. The salt and spices overpowered any trace of the duck fat's sweet smokiness. After going through the whole cup, I think I've only truly taste the duck fat once, not something I would recommend. In a rare occasion, my colleague and I share a strawberry shortcake, which is more of a coffee cake with cinnamon crisp topping and strawberry jam, a strawberry whiskey sauce and whipped cream. The cake is a bit too dense for us to finish but it tasted good. Don't get me wrong, the food is good, but if I go back next time, I'll try the other offerings. Anyone who's going should definitely order the cheesy puffs though, best thing of the entire meal.
It's possible that I will come back for a date with the boyfriend, the space is not really as crowded and tight as some other restaurants I've been, namely the claustrophobia inducing Kanella down my block. Though one major factor is that one will have to wait 30-45 minutes just to get a table, we were there at 1:30pm for lunch and it was packed until about 3:00pm, I imagine dinner will be even busier, maybe there would be outdoor dining in warmer days so nobody have to feel like they are packed inside a can of sardines.
Quite a few years ago, I was obsessed about the Victorinox (Swiss Army) brand of clothing. Maybe I like the plain white cross logo or the little shield resembles my old catholic school emblem, I don't know. The clothes were less sporty and more preppy back then and I liked preppy. Other than a grey sweater with a white cross that everybody seemed to have, I have a sweatshirt and a long sleeve white tee and a short sleeve green tee with a black shield and a white cross in the middle. Even with its hard collar, I wear the green tee occasionally as an undershirt, but lately I've been seeing some odd occurrences.
I'm generally a pretty laid back guy and only go out drinks every once in a while. Though ever since I've met the boyfriend, I've been going out a lot more to escort and to enjoy his company. A few months ago, wearing the green tee shirt I've gotten into the second bar fight in my life. The first one was when I just broken up with an ex and he harassed me when he saw me out drinking. This time, the guy was drunk and elbowing me in the dance floor, and when the boyfriend press him away, he threw his beer on my back. I tried to reason with the guy but he turned out to be an asshole and pretend he can't hear me because I'm not Chinese. So I pour my entire drink on his head. We didn't get into a fight per se, but I got mighty upset that I was prompted to do what I did. I was probably more upset of my inability to let things go.
Last week, wearing the same t-shirt under my sweater I ventured out with the boyfriend to the once a month Asian night in a neighborhood gay bar. We were meeting up with a few friends to have a few drinks. Hanging out with about 6 of my friends around a table near a pool table, we were doing the usual chatting, checking things out when a few people started playing pool near us. All the sudden a guy stepped behind my friend and start ordering them to move aside because he needed space to make his shot. He didn't ask politely and he just kinda commanded us to move. There weren't much space to go anywhere and being confronted with such rude behavior had us in shock. The bar and tables are arranged in such a way that we just plain not knowing where to go. Words were exchanged because we didn't get out of the way fast enough.
I was furious standing in the side eyeing this guy and when his set was over and about to play again, I told him there's another table 6 feet away with no tables surrounding him. Quickly, he stepped into my space while putting his large size belly on me and told me that he wasn't gonna move. It was quite the wrong move to be aggressive with me, because I dislike to back down. So we start yelling at each other, I ask him to back off and he refused and start pointing his finger on my face. It could quickly turn into a bad situation since I have empty beer bottles nearby. Good thing another patron or maybe he was hired to maintain peace stepped between us. Of course, for the rest of the night I was fully aware of the location of this guy and his friends, I don't let up easily. I was ready for physical confrontation and since a friend had been jumped before I like to get myself ready for anything.
So that's my third almost bar fights in my life, other than punching the exboyfriend that harassed me, I have never been asked to leave a bar and I haven't really have other physical altercations. It's just weird that both times I was wearing that green tee shirt and hearing Black Eye Peas "I've Got a Feeling", though I think I'm gonna rule the song out. Maybe it's the cross on the shirt made me more self-righteous than usual, maybe both times I was drinking harder drinks, maybe the shirt was possessed, but I think I'm still gonna keep it around just in case I need to fight purposefully.
Last night, the boyfriend and I had a small fight. He was taking his tone with me after drinking a few beers. I asked him to leave because he was making me upset. Then I realized that I was wearing my fighting shirt.
My obsessions are often food or music related, food-wise it's more often than not pastries. Like the shown above black forest cake that I made for a friend's birthday. Though I have to say this time it didn't turn out as good as I thought. The cake base turned out a bit rubbery. I have resolved myself to only make genoise bases from now on, I love it and I don't see why I should differ from the spongy goodness.
On Wednesday nights, the boyfriend and I would go to the close by Whole Foods to have a light multi-course dinner. Wednesday is Whole Foods promotional day where they have taste-testings for all their promotional products. Which usually consists of a salad, a fish course, a meat course, a cheese and cracker course and a dessert course. Sometimes they would even have some candy bar lying around, it gets better around holiday season.
Today's meme is stolen from Sunday Stealing, what are your latest obsessions?
Book: Not obsessed about it, in fact, I won't recommend it at all, but I'm reading Charlaine Harris' Lily Bard series. Again, not recommendable.
Snack: My favorite snack lately is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I didn't particularly like it a while back, but nowadays when I get chocolate bars, they're it.
Restaurant: Just tried out new Iron Chef Jose Garces' Latest restaurant called Village Whiskey. Depends on how the pictures turned out, I'm gonna write a post about that soon.
Beverage: Ginger beer or Arnold Palmer, though I'm drinking Turkey Hill's diet ice teas like water.
Decor: Not too deep into decor to name the different styles, but I can appreciate good decor.
Actor: Obsessed about an actor? Can't say I am obsessed about anyone. I guess John Cena if he counts and if he's almost naked.
Actress: I liked Milla Jovovich for a while, she was very exotic to me. I also liked Maggie Cheung. Now I guess I don't have anyone to obsessed about in particular.
Movie: My friends had the ability of recite movie dialogues line by line (ie, The Joy Luck Club). I lack that ability. Though I really liked Beautiful Thing and The Fifth Element.
TV show: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I actually get upset when he goes on vacation.
Hobby: I guess blogging would be it.
Band: I think the next best thing might just be the HotRats featuring Danny Goffey and Gaz Coombes from SuperGrass. I loved SuperGrass.
Song: Ke$ha's Tik Tok. I hear it plenty of times at the clubs and it just played on TV, so it's starting to stick.
Meme: It's hard to be obsessed about a Meme, but my favorite one is probably the Zombie Meme.
Blog: The one that I'm obsessed about lately is Serious Eats, though I do check every blog on my blogroll very intently.
A BLT with a pound of bacon from This Is Why You're Fat, it's the first time I can use the word "Redonculous"!
Lover: The boyfriend. After a whole year, I'm still very much obsessed.
Friend: Obsessed about a friend? I don't.
Quote: I guess since me and my friends have mentioned the BBC show recently, the quote would be "You Are What You Eat". I nicknamed the host the "Poo Lady".
Peeve: Um, what's the deal about the recent toilet roll poll from Cottonelle? What's the purpose of this thing? What could it possibly achieve? You'll have to use toilet paper anyhow, right?
Sport: The local leather bar is playing clips of UFC sometimes and it's surprisingly homoerotic.
Singer: The whole world is obsessed about Lady Gaga. I think I'm past that term now, though nobody interesting or talented had grabbed my attention since.
It's tragic over in Haiti's. It's hard to predict earthquake and even if you know it's coming, what can you do and how much time do you have to do anything about it? Haiti is already the poorest country in South America. The capital city Port-au-Prince is where it got hit, with a population of about 1 Million, it would mean 10% of the people living there are now dead. Very devastating.
Imagine my surprise when I see this:
Old kook Pat Robertson coming out to say Haiti sorta deserves it, so we shouldn't be too sad about. "They made a pact with the devil, true story!" Wow, how does it make you feel that your fellow countryman is the first one coming out to kick a country when it's down? Reverend, my ass. Truly, my ass might have more Christian values. The so-called Christian values in this country are so severely distort that people are proud to be god-fearing. Fred Phelps and him seems to be grumpy old folks that got a bit respect when they were younger and now has gone to the extreme.
When Strom Thurmond died, a lot of people were criticized for being cheery and for speaking ill of the dead. Personally I have no problems with that, Pat Robertson's comments were definitely speaking ill of the dead and by tens of thousands at a time. I think I'll cherish the day when Pat Robertson and Fred Phelps pass so I can have the opportunity to return the favor.
I wonder if these people are still alive in their old age because neither heaven nor hell want them.
Haitians are in fact 80% Catholics with only less than 1% of voodoo practitioners. So the making a pact with the devil thing is of course bullcrap. It's just a racist misguided observation. We all seek out information to add conviction on what we believe in, no matter how nonfactual the information may be, but to say it out loud on national TV is quite something else. Pat Robertson is senile and should really not be on TV to express his confused point of views anymore, maybe the television channel should not have him stir up controversy to make itself remain relevant. At the same time, maybe the fellow Christians should come out denouncing Pat's point of view to distance themselves from him. Though the Catholics are keeping busy hating gays and molesting kids.
Is it me or are these three men creepy and sinister looking to the max? The monstrous old lady in the Legion trailer has nothing on them.
Text the word "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 via your cell phone company to Red Cross to help Haiti. If I have learned anything from the last earthquake in China is that people are very resilient, we can pull through from any natural disasters, depressions, terrorist attack or anything else that get put on us. I just sorry for the loss and any emotional or physical harm that they have suffered and all these crazy nuts are not helping.
Two more friends just told me within these two days that they got laid off. One working for a bank and another working for a telephone company. So either they were unlucky enough to get caught at the back end of the recession or another wave just started again. Being the veteran of unemployment, I get to give them advice on what to do when the time comes, the least I can do even though it's not a pleasant task.
According to Maddow, the country has been doing better since Obama has taken charge. If the bikini charts are for real, then maybe we can all be a little bit more optimistic. Though as successful a president as he is described, I'm not feeling that he's picking on the tough fight or sticking to his guns.
Sometimes, I still hear about a bank here or there closing up. In response to the bailouts and unfair, abusive bank practice, there's a movement going on encouraging individuals to move their account and savings from big time bank that is holding the American economy hostage and charging outrageous fees to smaller bank that treats their customer with respect. That's an idea.
Customers should select the banks that works for them instead of penalize them at every step, sure the interest rate is important too. I have found a bank that opens exceptionally long hours and don't charge me bogus fees and I'm thankful. Even though now that TD Bank is not small enough to qualify for the movement's small bank guidelines, but at least I feel that the customer service is good enough. One of my favorite features of the bank is a coin counter that doesn't charge any fees to use. You dump your saved coins in the machine and it jingles gleefully while it counts and print out a receipt for you to go to the counter to collect paper money or deposit straight to your account. It's the little things in life.
If you;re interested to know more about the movement or see if your bank is small enough to help the cause, go to this site and find out.
I do hope the country will get into better shape soon.
In the past month, there's little to nothing on TV. There's the bearable Thursday comedy line up on NBC. Saturday Night Live and Sunday's two hour cartoon on Fox. Well, I did enjoy watching Chef Academy and Tabatha's Salon Takeover, the usual Daily Show/Colbert Report/Chelsea Lately, but that's pretty much it. I learned a few recipes from Chef Academy and was surprised to see the some nude dude scene with Emmanuel getting all naked serving dessert. I'm also strangely intrigued by shows like Tabatha's Salon Makeover and BBC's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, at least these big personality is going into failing business and trying to revive them. I feel like I can learn something from other people's mistakes.
I'm happy to see Chuck and Heroes coming back for another season, both remains to be entertaining. Although there is news that this might be Chuck's last season and I've already given up on following Heroes' storyline. Also in the way down the drain is surprisingly the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. I mean, huh?!? Jay Leno was supposed to bow out of the time slot, but I don't know if it's low ratings or some maneuver from Jay's part, it sounds like Jay will take the 11:35 spot back and bump Conan and Jimmy Fallon back, maybe Carson Daly will not get a national broadcasted show? Though Conan says he won't move.
I have always been a fan of Conan and was thrilled that he got the Tonight Show and reunited with Andy Richter. Jay Leno was getting stale and his humor too rich white folks to my taste, I even warmed up to Jimmy Fallon since The Roots became his band. This little maneuver is far from classy and I'm hoping that it won't happen. This might also be American Idol's last season, Simon Cowell is introducing his UK hit show the X Factor to Fox next year. Why would you need two shows with the same premise? And just when Ellen is getting to be a judge for American Idol. Though the show has already overstayed its welcome for at least 2-3 years now?
Shows that I'm looking forward to include the return of Nurse Jackie, The United States of Tara, they are both well-written and witty shows with an edge. RuPaul drag race is coming back too and even though I know we can't expect the winners to become superstars, it's still a low budget, guilty pleasure entertainment. New shows that look potentially good include Starz's Spartacus: Blood and Sand. I think it's a TV response to the popularity of 300 a few years back, the men are supposed to be well muscled and scantily clad, I also heard that there will be a gay gladiator. Hope the production cost is not as big as Rome's and suffer the same fate.
Spike Network's Blue Mountain Football has also sent trailers to every gay blogs. College frat humors, horny guys, well muscled athletes. Maybe it is the perfect gay fantasy, but I'll wait until I see it before commenting.
The boyfriend and I both like reading, for me, it's mostly trashy novels that some TV series are based on and mostly mystery thrillers. For the boyfriend, his taste is a lot vaster where one would expect of a librarian. Between us, we have accumulated quite a few books and they are taking up space and cluttering both of our apartments.
We tried sending some off to an used book store a block away but the owner would only exchange it for store credit that cannot be used to purchase retro DVDs or music and after browsing through the whole store, it seemed that the most interesting things we could find was our books. It's disappointing and I doubt that we'll do it again.
At the cost of going to a thrift store in town that donates the proceed to HIV/AIDS charities, we have found a bunch of books with hard backs originally planned to use for notebook making. Come to find out that they are autographed versions of some retro novels by a guy named Thomas Morris Longstreth. After browsing on Amazon, we found out that they are worth at least $20 a piece where we nearly got them for free. There's limited need for them but we still listed them online to sell, and so Washington West Books was founded.
In the same spirit, we have listed about 50 of the books that we no longer need online, under-cutting the price to induce sales. After doing so, we got 9 orders for 10 books after the first day. Lugging the books to the post office was relatively easy, but turns out it costs quite an arm and a leg to buy mailing envelopes and postage, It costs $64 to mail $80 worth of books and then there is the commission to Amazon, so the revenue turns out to be very minimal if there's any at all. And also, the experience in the post office was quite taxing.
It sorta leave a bad taste in my mouth. I found out that there is a small flat rate box that can be used for around $4.99 that might be big enough for most books. I wonder how people make money from postage or selling their goods. Anyone had a good experience?
I remember some weeks ago, I wasn't thrilled at the idea on paying to see a movie about blue lizards with an environmental message. It sounded unrelatable and preachy, and they do tell you why no restaurants sell blue food. And all the plugs on late night TV just made it worst, they made it sound like a major effort to salvage a sunken big budget movie, I wasn't convinced that it will be good at all. But then two weeks in every friend who has gone seen this movie has started to tell me about how visually stunning it is with comments on the less stellar storylines, I started to think that I was wrong about Avatar and the more raving reviews I've heard from different people, the more I'm sold.
I didn't expect to come into a fullhouse almost a month after the film was released. I guess since it is not a franchise and people are not quite sure what the movie is about, they don't rush all in to see it the very first week so the viewers are still coming in a steady stream.
In the year of 2154, handicapped marine Jake Sully is recruited to be in a planet exploration project his twin brother was supposed to take part. His brother died unexpectedly and since they share the same biological profile, Jake became the natural choice to overtake his brother's avatar - a remote controlled biological shell that resembled the occupants of the destination planet Pandora. The people of Pandora, called the Na'vi, are 10-15' tall blue skinned creatures who lived harmoniously with their surroundings and can communicated with animals and vegetations on the planet. Jake gained the Na'vi's trust and learns to be one of them while the military's interest is to secure a rare mineral called Unobtainium. So Jake must find a way to prove himself and find where his loyalty lies.
Basically, Avatar is Pocahontas set in a distant future, a far away planet, with less music and more CGI creatures and action. At least it's a sorta classic story and the viewers are all dazzled by the visual effects and the gun blazing to care about the oddly familiar storyline. I don't know if it's appropriate to compare to Wizard of Oz in its period, but it felt what my first experience of seeing a color movie would be like. Avatar succeeded in the seamless integration of CGI and real people with 3D effects, the use of vibrant colors throughout the movie also achieves dazzling results.
You can't help but feel for the blue creatures as their homeland was being destroyed. All the Na'vi characters are really likable. Main character Jake Sully played by Sam Worthington comes alive in his avatar and his sex appeal did not diminish in either form. Sigourney Weaver is a sure bet for sci-fi credibility. Zoe Saldan of Star Trek 2009's Uhura fame, plays a Na'vi princess with complete control and believability. I love movies that open my eyes and take me places and Avatar achieved both.
Visually is stunning and original, wished I could say the same for the storyline, but I was too dazzled to notice. A-
Recently I read an article on Slog about a Canadian researcher who wasn't about to find adult heterosexual male subjects who hasn't seen porn before. There's no such things as men who don't watch porn. No matter how some friends claim their innocent asses otherwise.
Video artist and photographer Robbie Cooper produced a video asking porn aficionados questions of what porn meant to them and their personal first experience of porn encounters. While the participants were answering the questions, they are also themselves watching and getting off on porn. Other than the subject matter and part of the audio, it's not really inappropriate for work. You'd just see a few "O faces", that's all.
My first encounter with porn is when I was probably 16 and one of my friends brought a penthouse to school and passed it around. I knew I like boys better then so the image of female nudity didn't do anything for me and I skipped right through the music review section to read the rare foreign music reviews available to me. Then, a friend invited me and a bunch of friends to his place to watch some category 4 movies when his family were out. The Hong Kong movie rating system only goes to category 3, no full nudity is allowed. The urban slang of "category 4", usually refers to pornos brought in from Japan ("accidently" unfiltered), Europe or the States. It was weird watching porn in a group with your straight buddies and you get filled with hormones and helpless at the same time.
After I discovered masturbation when I was 18, I rummaged through my uncle's newspaper where it casually contains erotic articles and stories. There's not much regulation when it comes to newspaper publication. The stories were graphic, there's also an erotic comic strip too. Those were my material for a while, I still enjoy stories because it inspires imagination. /there were an episode where a colleague of mine working in a restaurant invited me back to his pad to watch porn, maybe he was trying to open me up, and I did watch a western porn by myself where a woman was doing it with a pair of muscular twins and of course, I was just watching it for the boys but I kept it by myself.
After coming to the States, I got a computer and browsed for pictures back when it was till dial-up or nothing, you have to wait a whole 10 minutes to have one picture loaded. That's how my best friend found out I was gay and "unfriended" me. I explored the gay bookstore of Boston and imported a few dozens of VHS at my chance and loved watching porn ever since. And now, you can find so much frre porn on the internet that you hardly have to buy anything ever. Personally, I don't think one should be ashamed of watching porn, it's one of the human needs that needs to be fulfilled.
This past week I've had a phone interview for a programmer analyst job, I have yet to hear anything from them yet. Since they say that they'll make a decision within the week, I assume that I didn't get the job. I should have sounded more enthusiastic about the prospect.
Other than that I registered to help in the census bureau. I went to take the test yesterday to gauge my abilities and I have to say it was really interesting. It was located at a community hall of a church, there were more than 20 people there, mostly elderly men or women between the age of 65 to 80, with a few young ladies sprinkling here and there. I felt a bit out of place. You can see some elderly have problems walking around and hearing, it makes you wonder how they'd be able to go door-to-door to collect data.
The test itself was tougher than I thought, each question came with lots of instructions and they are all tricky questions in the likes of "If Billy put up 4 fingers and retract 2, how many fingers does Billy have?" Only wordier and more complicated. There are 28 questions with maps, charts and descriptions to decipher in 30 minutes to test the participants' clerical skills, reading skills, number skills, interpreting information and evaluating alternatives skills, and organizational skills. I double checked every answer I've given and finished just 2 minutes under. I wonder how the elderly would fare. I noticed that the old lady next to me has forgone her answer sheet and just circled her answers in the book during the test, I was selfish and didn't correct her because I don't want to be labeled as a cheat for noticing her errors. It's not like the instructor didn't read all the procedures ahead of time and remind us for everything we must do, though I do still feel bad for not saying anything. If anything do come to be, it'll probably start around April and if I really do want a job I should throw more bait out there .
1. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? Glenn Beck, I associate him with all things that's wrong with our society and it'll be a thrill to be able to push the button when he's just saying something disgusting on live TV.
2. You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Which one will it be? I wonder if anyone would miss some of them, it wouldn't make much of a difference. Does William Hung count as a musical artist?
3. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? Fred Phelps, though he's so old it might be unfair. And can I wear a glove? I don't want his evil to get on me.
4. What is your favorite cheese? Wow, it's hard to choose just one. How about Brie? Preferably the Champignon kind with bits of dry mushroom studded inside.
5. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your immediate disposal. What kind will you make? Let's see. Every crazy ingredient possible? I'll take a Vietnamese grilled ground beef stuffed grape leaves with provolone, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes with a fried sunny-side-up eggs on top with buttered baguette and a half peanut half mayo sauce. I wonder if it'd be as good as I imagine it to be.
6. You have the opportunity to sleep with the movie celebrity of your choice. We are talking no-strings-attached sex and it can only happen once. Who is the lucky celebrity of your choice? John Cena
7. You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who do you pick? Wow, I've never thought of this. Maybe Nick Lachey?
8. Now that you’ve slept with two different people in a row, you seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Holy shit, a hundred bucks! How are you gonna spend it? It's surprisingly easy to spend $100 nowadays, groceries and drinks and POOF, it's gone!
9. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? Since it's free and it's so cold out, how about Hawaii or back to see my friends and family in Hong Kong? Let's say Hong Kong.
10. Upon arrival to the aforementioned location, you get off the plane and discover another hundred-dollar bill. Shit! Now that you are in the new location, what are you gonna do? Well, definitely spend it on eating out, there are too many great things to eat in Hong Kong.
11. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. It is…? Black Currant vodka, so I can make my Black Currant cosmos again and again.
12. Rufus appears out of nowhere with a time-traveling phone booth. You can go anytime in the PAST. What time are you traveling to and what are you going to do when you get there? Back when I was 10 to revisit my mom, tell me everything I need to know to make better decisions in my life and stock up on Mac stocks.
13. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? Gays only! (Sorry, but that would be a lot easier in a lot of ways.)
14. You have been given the opportunity to create the half-hour TV show of your own design. What is it called and what’s the premise?
I think it would be a romantic drama about two person who lives on two buildings right next to each other, they never met but they are destined to be together. Every episode, you'll see their lives interweave in different ways. Social dynamics and the concept that "everyone in the world is separated by a few people" are kinda interesting to me. I have never seen "How I Met Your Mother" but maybe they have similar premises?
15. What is your favorite curse word? Shit, I catch myself saying it without knowing sometimes.
16. One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do? Light my cigarette lighter just in case.
17. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the item? Oops, I guess I shouldn't have light the mummies on fire and have them run around my house. My document box, it has all the important documents in it.
18. The Angel of Death has descended upon you. Fortunately, the Angel of Death is pretty cool and in a good mood, and it offers you a half-hour to do whatever you want before you bite it. Whatcha gonna do in that half-hour? Oops, I guess I shouldn't have ran back into the house to retrieve anything while it's ON FIRE!!! Maybe go to have a bowl of Pho with the boyfriend and laptop so I can enjoy the noodle while multi-tasking, transfer my money out, kiss the boyfriend and say the "I love you"s.
19. You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What’s it gonna be? Oops, so going to Pho turned out to be a radioactive good idea, I should have expected that from the Vietnamese. I've always wanted to be able to fly, preferably through telekinetic levitation than wings.
20. You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again? Traveling through Europe with my mom.
21.You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? Nothing has been too horrible to bear, but I think my personality would be more cheerful if I've never lived with one of my uncles for all those years.
22. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world! Bitchin’! What country are you going to live in now? I think it'd be Australia, I heard they have great health care and social benefits. Plus the weather always seems to be great.
23. This question still counts, even for those of you who are under age. Check it out. You have been eternally banned from every single bar in the world except for ONE. Which one is it gonna be? I wouldn't really know, how about a gay bar with bear boys and the occasional Go-go-bears?
24. Hopefully you didn’t mention this in the super-powers question…. If you did, then we’ll just expand on that. Check it out… Suddenly, you have gained the ability to FLOAT!!! Whose house are you going to float to first, and be like “Dude, check it out…I can FLOAT!”? The boyfriend's that would be a dream come true. Oh come on god, just give it to me already!
25. The constant absorption of magical moonbeams mixed with the radioactive vegetables you consumed earlier has given you the ability to resurrect the dead famous-person of your choice. So which celebrity will you bring back to life? That would be so unnatural to create zombies... I guess the most entertaining zombie would be Michael Jackson a la Thriller? Well, let the dead be dead.
26. The Celestial Gates of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person, etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? I think it'll have to be my mom. I don't get to spend too much time with her and learn from her like I should.
27. What’s your theme song? Why? The Golden Girl theme song for sure! No there's no reason for it, really.
Last year, there was a good summer feud between Mariah Carey and Eminem, it didn't get as much media attention than it should. Given Eminem's track record, no one should be surprised that he is a jealous lover and apparently they have hooked up a few times which after things hasn't worked out. Out of occupational hazard and bad manners, he put it in songs and vent to the world. Subsequently, Mariah also comes up with songs to deny.
Obsessed
I was like, "Why are you so obsessed with me?
Will the real MC please, step to the mike?
All up in the blogs Saying we met at the bar When I don't even know who you are Saying we up in your house Saying I'm up in your car But you in LA and I'm out at Jermaine's. I'm up in the A You so so lame and no one here even mentions your name It must be the weed, it must be the E Cause you be popping hood You get it popping, Oh
Why you so obsessed with me (Boy I wanna know) Lying that you're sexing me (when everybody knows) It's clear that you're upset with me Finally found a girl that you couldn't impress Last man on the earth still couldn't hit this You're delusional, you're delusional Boy you're losing your mind It's confusing yo, you're confused you know Why you wasting your time Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex Seeing right through you like you're bathing in Windex Boy why you so obsessed with me?
You on your job You hating hard Ain't gon' feed you I'm gonna let you starve Gasping for air I'm ventilation You out of breath Hope you ain't waiting Telling the world how much you miss me But we never were So why you trippin' You a mom and pop I'm a corporation I'm the press conference and you a conversation
Why you so obsessed with me (Boy I wanna know) Lying that you're sexing me (when everybody knows) It's clear that you're upset with me Finally found a girl that you couldn't impress Last man on the earth still couldn't hit this You're delusional, you're delusional Boy you're losing your mind It's confusing yo, you're confused you know Why you wasting your time Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex Seeing right through you like you're bathing in Windex Boy why you so obsessed with me?
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Obsessed has been randomly popping in my head at times. It's an automatic gay bars anthem for sure. Diss tracks usually contain a purpose, a target to diss, so there's attitude, a clear storyline and a message. The songs are specially tailored to make sure it sounds fierce. The results are usually better than average in quality. In response, Eminem came out with The Warning, which is juicy and better than a lot of his former works.
The Warning
Only reason I dissed you in the first place is because you denied seeing me, Now I'm pissed off.
Sit back homey relax, in fact grab a six pack, kick back while I kick facts, Yeah Dre sick track, perfect way to get back Wanna hear something wick wack? I got the same exact tat that's on Nicks back I'm obsessed now, Oh gee, is that supposed to be me in the video with the goatee? Wow Mariah, didn't expect her to go balls out, Bitch, shut the fuck up before I put all them phone calls out, you made to my house when you was wild n out before Nick, When you was on my dick and give you something to smile about, How many times you fly to my house? Still trying to count, Better shut your lying mouth if you don't want Nick finding out, You probably think cuz its been so long if i had something on you I woulda did it by now, Oh on the contrary, Mary Poppins, I'm mixing our studio session down and sending it to mastering to make it loud, Enough dirt on you to murder you, This is what the fuck I do, Mariah, it ever occur to you that I still have pictures? However you prefer to do and goes for Nick too, faggot You think I'm scared of you? You gonna ruin my career you better get one, Like Ima sit and fight with you over some slut bitch cunt that made me put up with her psycho ass over 6 months and only spread her legs to let me hit once, Yeah, what you gonna say? I'm lucky? Tell the public that I was so ugly that you fucking had to be drunk to fuck me? Second base? What the fuck you tell Nick, pumpkin? In the second week we was dry humping. Its gotta count for something, Listen, girly. Surely you don't want me to talk about how I nutted early 'cos ejaculated prematurely and bust all over your belly, and you almost started hurling and said I was gross, go get a towel your stomach's curling. Or maybe you do. But if I'm embarrassing me, I'm embarrassing you and don't you dare say it isn't true. As long as the songs getting airplay I'm dissing you. I'm a hair away from getting carried away and getting sued. I was gonna stop at 16. That was 32. This is 34 bars. We ain't even third of the way through. Damn, Slim. Mariah played you. Mariah who? Oh did I say whore, Nick? I meant a liar too. Like Ive been goin' off on you all this time for no reason, Girl you out ya alcoholic mind. Check ya wine cellar. Look at all the amounts of all the wine, Like I fuckin' sit around and think about you all the time, I just think this shit is funny when I pounce you on a rhyme. But fuck it now i'm about to draw the line. And for you to cross it that's a mountain that I doubt you wanna climb. I can describe areas of your house you wouldn't find on an episode of Cribs, A blow below the ribs if I hear another word so don't go opening your jibs cos every time you do its just another load of fibs, I ain't saying this shit again, ho, you know what it is. Its a warning shot for I blow up ya whole spot, Call my bluff and Ill release every fucking thing I got, Including the voicemails right before you flipped your top, When me and Luis were tryin' to stick two CDs in the same spot,
(Slim Shady I love you) I love you too Let me whisper sweet nothings into your ear, boo. Now what you say? (Its nothing) Yeah so what I'll do? Is refresh your memory when you said I want you Now should I keep going or should we call truce? (You think you're cute, right? Hahaha) You bet your sweet ass I do (I'm Mary Poppins, b) And I'm Superman, ooo (Mary P. Slim Shady) Comin at you So if you'll still be my (babygirl) Then I'll still be your (Superhero, Wilma M.) Yeah, I'm right here (You like this) Nope. Not anymore, Dear. It cuts like a (knife) when I tell ya get a (life) But I'm movin' on with mine Nick, is that your (wife) Well tell her to shut her mouth then Ill leave her alone, If she don't (sing this script?) then I'ma just keep going. (I see Mary Ann. Mary Ann's saying cut the tape, cut the tape. Knife!)
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I don't understand why Eminem would tell the world about his premature ejaculating episode but after this track came out we didn't hear anything from either of them other than Sir Elton John has been helping Eminem battling his drug addiction and Mariah just accepted an award drunk. I wonder when Eminem says that he and Luis trying to put 2 CDS in the same slot means what I think he means, I sincerely would have liked to see Luis Miguel naked.
Hollaback Girl was a song written because Courtney Love called Gwen Stefani a cheerleader and Gwen owning it. I have always liked the track.
And who can forget the classic You're So Vain from Carly Simon that is rumored to be about Warren Beatty?
In the past two days, a whole lot of crazy right-wingers had made news and apparently gone crazier. I wonder if we as people will eventually get desensitized with it.
At this point Tiger Woods' affairs should be old news but Fox News' "political analyst" Brit Hume has dug himself a hole by saying that Tiger Woods should convert to Christianity because it offers more forgiveness toward adultery than Buddhism and apparently he is defending his position now.
I guess Mr. Hume doesn't know much about Buddhism when he was speaking. Personally I think Buddhism offers the most leniency towards any crime. They were known to protect and hide even killers after they have made the decision to change and become monks. While Christianity uses guilt as a punishment to make people better, original sin is a head-scratching concept for me when I was in a Catholic school. Why did I have to feel bad for a crime that I haven't committed? The United States have a certain religious freedom when it comes to Judeo-Christianity, you can choose to be Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, or even Mormon or Jehovah Witness, but when you're outside of the realm, when your religion doesn't follow the same storyline, you're pretty much an outcast. I just like how some of them still has the gall to play the victims sometimes.
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I guess Fox News has become a place where everyone feels free to say the craziest thing on their minds. I imagine if I'm invited to speak on Fox News, I will just burp out the most racist, sexist, xenophobic thought I've ever had. I think maybe that environment just nurture that kind of behavior.
Retired (thank god) Lt. General Tom McInerney here just advocate to racial profile and strip search every 18-28 Arab men that's trying to get in the country. Um, where do I apply for that job? It's funny that even the Fox News reporter is a little bit shocked at the idea or maybe she's just faking repulsion. Honestly, what guy would tack a bomb anywhere near their penis? By the time you contemplate whether you really want to lit it on fire, you'd already been pinned down. Go to the bathroom, take it off before lighting it.
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Wel, well, well... we always like it when the crazies fight amongst themselves, to have Glenn Beck denouncing the Birthers and the Birthers trying to take him down is just a gift from little baby Jesus. I wonder why Glenn Beck bothers to do that in the first place, is he trying to focus the crazies' energy on more important issues like teabagging and stopping health care reform. (haha... teabagging) Or is he afraid that he might get charged with treason or something alike? Hmm...
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Oklahoma state representative Sally Kern took the bait and she's now taking marriage protection to the next level. She's trying to ban divorce in Oklahoma. lol.
If passed, people will not be able to use incompatibility as a reason to divorce if the couple:
- Has living minor children from the marriage. - Has been married for 10 or more years. - Either party files a written objection for the divorce.
Since I can't get married, this is entertaining for sure.
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Paranoid Michelle Bachmann thinks that the census is a plot to use the information to monitor citizens and send them in camps when needs be.
This is a little sad. I wish she can find something else to spend her time on and be more protective to the country as a whole but I'm sure she can't and won't.
Politics is getting to be an episode of Twilight Zone or Ripley's Believe it or not. It's so trashy and illogical that it's like reading trashy tabloids. Has it always been like this or has the ease of communication through TV and internet made the symptoms that much more obvious?
Japan's unemployment has reached 5.2 percent and a lot of the newly unemployed who loses their housing benefits could not make rent and are forced to look for other means of living and somehow capsule hotels have become the appropriate solutions.
Capsule hotels were first established as a business to house drunk businessmen who have missed their last train home. And now one-third of these 6.5 feet long and 5 feet wide capsules are rented out monthly at the cost of 59,000 yen (approximately US$640). Each one of the capsules has a light, a coat hook, a thin blanket, a rice husk pillow and a small TV with earphones on one end. There's also a locker for you to store all your other belongings. There is a communal bath, a cafeteria and fresh linen, so it's not really that bad. "You'll get used to the space." The occupants says. Since the capsules have no doors but a screen, there's very little privacy and it is said that every shoulder bump and muffled cough is echoed throughout the row. I'm a little bit of a claustrophobe and I don't think that can ever be one of my housing solutions.
In the alternate universe that is New York, freelance event planner Eddie Rabon pays $800 for a 55 squared feet space in Hell's Kitchen, but you'd find Eddie not only not complaining but defending it. Weird.
Sounds like Eddie's rarely home and utilizes his friend's apartment as his own living room. Here are some of the other smaller NYC apartments in a New York Post article.
90 Square Ft. on Upper West Side (>$700 a month)
105 Sq. Ft. at Greenwich Village, no kitchen ($780 a month)
After looking at these apartment and their costs, my little 250+ sq ft studio apartment in the middle of everything with a functional half kitchen, a full bath and a walk in closet seems like a palace.
As I'm typing this, I'm trembling under my comforter as a sign that I must be having a fever and not long after, I'll be popping two pills of Nyquil so I can get a good night sleep. My throat is in pain whenever I swallow, hopefully it's not strep throat but I'm pretty good at self-diagnosing, so it probably is.
In this haze of throbbing pain, it got me missing a tormenting element of my childhood that is Dettol. Dettol was a greenish yellow antiseptic liquid that were sold widely in Asia. It's draw was a distinctive smell much like Pine-Sol and the burning sensation that proves it's working much like iodine. With the tag-line like kills 99.9% of germs, it was used as a household cleaning solution when diluted and when I was little, my grandma amongst other housewives put some in the water while bathing children.
I don't think I liked bathing too much when I was a child and the chemical burns that come along with Dettol didn't make it better. Yes, you feel clean after getting burned by Dettol and leave you a tingly sensation but it wasn't pleasant in any case. I'm pretty sure the company advertised that their product can be used for bathing but I couldn't find proof on YouTube that such an ad existed and after all these years they have widened their product line to include bathing solutions and hand soaps, probably with lighter effects than it used to. Though since I'm germy, I kinda missed that a little.
Another odd Asian hygiene product that was a toothpaste with an unfortunate name of Darkie. It was unfortunate because we didn't understand how racist it was and kept using the product. The Chinese name for it wasn't as offensive, it just meant "black person's toothpaste", using the stereotypical skin contrast that black people has that made their teeth seems whiter. It's a backhanded compliment, really. Since the English level of general Chinese wasn't that good, we didn't know the name brand would offend anyone. Though the logo that featured a black man wasn't exactly complimentary, some might even call it creepy. Years later, when Colgate-Palmolive bought the company in 1989, they have changed the name to "Darlie" and the logo also changed his skin color, though the Chinese name remained the same. Apparently Aunt Jemima has gone through some similar but not as drastic measures.
Other than that I remember getting lead poisoning after playing with a pack of questionable metallic colored crayons. It was made in China and after drawing with gold, bronze and silver for a while, I got nauseous and wanted to puke, my uncle just told me to lay off the crayon for a while and I turned back to normal. It's not until now that I understood what had happened to me. Oh memories, good thing I've survived. I'm not happy about getting sick in the beginning of a new year, though there is a single job prospect in sight, wish me luck!
Since last week I've forgotten to put up a weekend meme, I thought I'd make it up by posting two this week. I'm, therefore, bringing you the second part of yesterdays meme. You can find it at Erik's Gambrinous with Griffonage.
It's very strange that there's practically nothing on TV these few days, it has been marathons of sci-fi shows. And since it's so cold outside, I'm locked up at home and a bit bummed. Took an unusual amount of naps, I wonder if I'm coming down with something. A lot of people are getting sick everywhere. Good thing the boyfriend only lives across the street and can come over to take care of me if need be. Sure it's not a great way to start up the new year though.
FIRST BOOK I’LL READ I'm still taking my time on that murder mystery book by Charlaine Harris.
FIRST BOOKS I SHALL PURCHASE I haven't got a clue on what I'll buy yet.
FIRST MOVIES I PLAN ON SEEING Probably Avatar in 3D, since there are so many people raving about the visuals of this movie.
FIRST MOVIE I PLAN ON BUYING I don't think I'll buy any movie any time soon. Though Suncoast, the big movie chain says they are closing down again and everything must go!!!
FIRST MEAL Made some Vietnamese Banh Mi at home, it was good.
FIRST CD I SHALL PURCHASE I don't know yet, I think Basement Jaxx just came out with a new one that I will undoubtedly torrent sometimes.
FIRST PODCAST I SHALL LISTEN TO I think I'll be listening to the new Savage Love in a few days.
FIRST MAGAZINES I’LL READ I don't think I have planned that yet, I almost picked up a Cook's Illustrated yesterday at Whole Foods.
FIRST PERSON TO GET ON MY NERVES No one yet. Maybe Rush Limbaugh for not dying.
FIRST PERSON I SAW DRUNK I wonder if the guy who talked about wanting to wear a pink dress with a bow when he wsa little the other day at a poetry reading was drunk.
FIRST PHONE CALLS I don't think I've received any phone calls yet this year.
FIRST TV SHOW I WATCHED I turned on Philadelphia's Mummers Parade first thing New Years Day morning. I don't think I ever had the patience to stay on it long enough to be impressed by it.
FIRST EMAIL I RECEIVED (that’s not junk mail) I haven't got any e-mails yet.
Let's see. A decade has passed and the boyfriend and I went out for the occasion. In the drizzly cold rain, we went to my favorite restaurant in Philly in Old City to have a nice New Year's Eve meal and then off to have a drink or two in the bars and clubs. I think we managed to get a little closer still. We had a great time.
Today's meme is stolen from Erik at Gambrinous with Griffonage, since the memory is still relatively fresh, let's get into what's the last thing we've done in the past decade.
LAST BOOK I READ I'm reading Charlaine Harris' Grave Surprise right now.
LAST BOOK I PURCHASED It might probably be Ice Cold Grave by the same author of the same series.
LAST MOVIE I SAW Nine. Not impressed.
LAST MOVIE I BOUGHT Hmm... I don't think I've bought any movies for quite a while.
LAST DINNER I HAD
The boyfriend and I went to Fork for our New Year's Eve dinner. He (left) had the lobster bisque with tarragon crema, rack of lamb with red onion marmalade, goat cheese potato puree and wild mushroom, and a chocolate velvet torte with peppermint gelato. I (right) had smoked salmon carpaccio with sturgeon caviar, braised beef rib and filet mignon with onion and carrot puree, and a warm apple cake.
It was good and the stereotypical Jewish quartet right next to us exclaimed that it was "The most beautiful restaurant ever, just beautiful!"
LAST CD I PURCHASED
Maybe it's an invitation to the FBI to raid my house but who buys CDs anymore? The last one I bought was probably Keri Hilson's In a Perfect World back in March last year.
LAST PODCAST I LISTENED TO It's either Jonny McGovern's Gay Pimpin' or Dan Savage's Savage Love from 2 weeks ago.
LAST MAGAZINE I READ It's probably a Chinese magazine about Hong Kong that I browsed through when I was at my barber's at Chinatown.
LAST TIME SOMEONE GOT ON MY NERVES It's probably the boyfriend, we are both competitive during game time which doesn't allow for us to do that often.
LAST DRUNK I SAW It was a girl in a silver sequence short dress yelling out happy new year when we were walking back from the club on the street.
LAST PHONE CALL It might have been a kid calling looking for his father. Nope, I don't recall having a son.
LAST TV SHOW I WATCHED A twilight zone episode about someone bet a guy to not say a word for a whole year in exchange for half a million dollar. The guy severed nerves from his voicebox, the other guy doesn't have the money. Dun, dun, dun...
LAST EMAIL I RECEIVED (that wasn’t junk mail) My friend in California checking up to see how and what I'm doing for New Year's Eve.
LAST TIME SOMEONE CALLED ME A FAG I don't quite recall if anyone has ever called me a fag. Maybe some friends will do it in jest but no one really dare to call me names at my face.
Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been two months since my last movie and after this long stretch I returned to the theater for Nine. The thing that attracted me most to the movie was the great, great cast. Dame Judi Dench who's always a pleasure to see, Nicole Kidman, the very beautiful Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Fergie and they even got the legendary Sophia Loren. I didn't know anything about the story but my friend BL, who's a big theater fan, told me that Nine was originally a Broadway musical that managed to do better than Dreamgirls when they were both showing at the same time in 1982, so I went in with high expectations and they do tell you what happens when you have high expectations, don't they?
Nine is about world famous director Guido Contini facing his own mid-life crisis. With some early success, the whole Italy have high expectations on its own golden boy Guido Contini when he announced that he will be starting production in less than a week on his upcoming movie boldly named Italia but in fact Guido has yet to come up with a script, not even a storyline. As he escaped to a spa along the coastline to soul search, he is faced with other problems like his much ignored wife Luisa, his married and somewhat obsessed lover Carla, a young American reporter who seduces Guido for some inside scoop, his movies' leading lady Claudia while spiritual guides in the from of a prostitute, his dead mother and a seamstress friend appeared.
The movie while pleasant at times has many, many problems. I was pleased to be able to see a very brilliant cast, but most of them only interacts with Guido and not each other. They are all given a 5-10 minutes time to explain their relation with Guido, mostly through a song but it was to sparse for any character development. Worst of all, the songs were not memorable. Throughout the movie, I was wondering why it was named Nine. It was not a number that has been mentioned anywhere, I counted the women around him and only came up with 7 and it remained to be a puzzle throughout the movie.
Guido was presented as a wimpy guy who can't handle pressure, who lies and cheats to get forgiveness for the things he did and when the women leaves him one after another, I start to wonder why they loved him in the first place. Probably because he made them look pretty and perfect as a director, but that point did not come across. Actually nothing much came across. Fergie played a prostitute who lived in a sand mount at the beach and nothing was said about her significance on Guido's life, she was just a loon who came up and sung a song.
BL was worried about Sophia Loren's singing skills but she didn't get much chance on that. Kate Hudson was wonderful as a singer but her outfit was more 70s than early 60s. Penelope Cruz plays a bimbo mistress with trashy highlights, who's a bit overtly sexual for Guido. (I didn't know people other Charo actually say "Coochie-coochie-coo!") With a film set in Italy, they surely didn't show much of any sights. The entire film is a bit stuffy, looks like it could have been filmed inside a sound stage. And then part of it was spoken in French, Italian and accented English that makes the movie even harder to figure out.
The fact is, I really wanted to like Nine. But with the depressing storyline, the lack of stellar story telling just conjured up a general sense of bummer-y. I would have sat and watched the cast play Texas Hold'em and managed to have a better time. BL and I will rent 8 1/2 next time and see how the story should have gone. Did I mention that the songs are not catchy?
No resolutions this year. I've reviewed my resolutions last year and I hardly kept any of them, so there's little point if I'm not gonna work hard on keeping them, right?
Anywho, have a very happy and prosperous New Year! Hope all your wishes come true. Hang on to your loved ones.
I swear this is not becoming a food blog, it's just part of what I like so sometimes you'd see a few post on food here.
