G.O.D. - Full of Hong Kongism

This Saturday, it'll be the Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival, where the Chinese celebrates the time where the moon is supposed to be the fullest and clearest. As a celebration, we eat moon cake, which is a pastry filled with lotus paste and usually stuffed with a salted duck egg yolk. When you cut the cake in the middle, you should get the image of a yellow moon in a dark sky. It's awfully high in calories and cholesterol, even when you eat 1/8 of that small cake, it'd fill you up in hours. Even though it taste pretty good, it's not something that people seek out during the rest of the year. So people keep reinvent the meaning of a moon cake to peak sales.

Over the year, people reinvented the outer skin and replace it with mochi, lighten up the lotus paste, replace it with some kinda ice cream and change the flavor into strawberry, mango, durian, whatever would intrigue people to try and buy. Sell them in eights because that's good luck. When I was reading my food porn blog Serious Eats yesterday, I found this:



"Moon" cakes in the shape of bums. Not exceptionally clever unless you know Cantonese and mahjong colloquialism, but then i think it's too hard to explain those terms to non-mahjong players. I kinda wish the filling is not the traditional dark lotus paste though, or maybe I do... Each of them are sold individually in mysterious unmarked boxes for HK$65 each (Approx. US$ 8.35), you'll have to buy a whole bunch in order to collect all the styles. Or, if you have the dough you can buy the whole set for about US$ 105 for all eight of them in a deluxe collection box, which is more than silly. Moon cakes are not collectibles and they have an expiration date. If you mark it too expensive and nobody buys them, they'll go bad and after this Saturday, nobody will touch these until next year, however, I do appreciate the creativity.

It is sold by a store called G.O.D. (Goods of Desire) and when I look into it, the store seems to be very cool and contain a lot of item with Hong Kongism that's quite unique. Further search Flickr, I found out that it is indeed the nostalgia rabbit hole that I thought it'd be. Models of old street scenes, old items and furnitures. The quick fixes, of course, are the T-shirts. Full of inside jokes in the forms of Chinglish and other forms.


It might not look like anything special but "Delay no More" sounds like "F#*k Your Mom" in Cantonese.


Rising a kite or a flag means getting a hard on.


In the same spirit, shooting the planes means masturbating.


Endangered - Chinese Buildings and Chinese Dogs (Mongrels)


Charm Bracelet (from top right, clockwise): aluminum mail box, giant iron tailor scissors, piggy bank, tall hot water bottle, spit pot, red candles. Oh god, nostalgia.

I've already send out my minions to secure one of the delay no more t-shirts. I must have it! And maybe one of these days I could go back and go to the Delay No Mall myself for a shopping spree. Meanwhile, please enjoy the typical skyblocking scenes in Hong Kong.



I miss my city sometimes.

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Disturbing The Peace

At midnight Sunday night, the fire alarm in the building right next to me started beeping, there was a smell in the air that resembles fresh baked cake and the alarm went on and on. It's not the first time that there's a fire around my neighborhood so I watched closely for a while to see if it was anything serious. Nope, no smoke, no strange blazes of flame, the family downstairs were sitting on in their "yard" and had no intention of fleeing, everything seems fine. After what it seems to be an hour later, the sirens of a fire truck came by, stopped, and left 15 minutes after, but the fire alarm just keep beeping and beeping with no end in sight (or should I say earshot?). I guess no one living in the building knows how to turn the fire alarm off. I couldn't sleep and the beeping was more than annoying, it drove me wild until I was absolutely exhausted at 5 am.

Around 8am, the voices of kids from the same building came out yelling while they go to school. Twelve o'clock the father coughing while talking on the cell phone. Seven o'clock through ten o'clock, the father and a friend yelling and screaming possibly to a ball game. It really gets on our nerves sometimes. It haven't been like this before until last summer. It's especially getting on my nerve since the lack of sleep. I started wondering if it would have been a good thing if the building had burned down before or after the fire alarm went on since if it's after the firemen had gone, they won't come back thinking it was a false alarm, but then I don't have any control who would have moved in afterwards and the construction of a new building would be even noisier and since it was just next door, there's no telling whether a rundown building like the one I lived in won't caught on fire and leave me homeless, so I've kept my urge inside my arsonous mind.

Other than that my weekend had been quite excellent. Spent two nights sleeping next to the Boyfriend, which always make me very happy being able to wake up next to him. Saturday, I went to a Moving/BBQ/mahjong party with friends. One of our friends is moving from a $300 all inclusive place to a $900 one-bedroom 45 minutes away the city and he had to change 3 different public transports to get to work from now on. We helped him move his furniture and belongings to his new place. His mattress was tied on top of my friend's van and we had to hurry and made it in before the rain. I feel very good helping a friend and having the rare endorphin release.



The other accomplishment that I was proud of was my creation of a caramel banana coconut cheesecake, my friends told me it was better than any shop bought cheesecake they have ever tasted and even I'm quite bad of accepting compliments, I still took it hook, line and sinker. And to top of the cake, other than the caramel sauce and bananas and the delicious BBQ food, I also had an incredible run in Mahjong this week and won like $40. Yippee!

You win some, you lose some, right?

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Music Invasion: Leela James' Mistreating Me

Leela James has a very soulful voice and A Change Is Gonna Come was an amazing record even it didn't get the commercial success it deserves. Like I've mentioned on the meme, this song had been stuck in my head for about a week now. It's the kind of R&B songs that can penetrate your brain, easy to remember lyrics and repetitive melody. Her studio work is much better than her live work, and I'm still waiting for another album from her with original works, hope it'll be soon.



Mistreating Me

Keep on pressuring me to do more and do more
But move on lest you can see that I'm all that
It ain't easy waking up early to stay up late
I know god won't put more on me, on me
Than I can take and I know, I know...

Yes I know that I, I must take care of me
(You better love you better) say (love yourself first)
And I been told that I can't put you above me
(You better love you better) say (love yourself first)

No I'm not gone keep on mistreating me
I have decided to love myself (and)
No I'm not gone keep on mistreating me (I'm not)
If you don't love you, you can't love nobody else

I do love you but sometimes (I feel)
I feel like this whole one thing is so, so unfair (so unfair)
You don't even know this when you're down
so I pray everyday you start loving me better (much better, much better)

Yes I know that I, I must take care of me
(You better love you better) say (love yourself first)
And I been told that I can't put you above me
(You better love you better) say (love yourself first)

I'm not gone keep on mistreating me
I have decided to love myself (and)
No I'm not gone keep on mistreating me (I'm not)
If you don't love you, you can't love nobody else

And I know, I know...

Yes I know that I, I must take care of me
(You better love you better) say (love yourself first)
And I been told that I can't put you above me
(You better love you better) say (love yourself first)

No I'm not gone keep on mistreating me
I have decided to love myself (and)
No I'm not gone keep on mistreating me (I'm not)
If you don't love you, you can't love nobody else

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Weekend Meme: Long-Ass Meme

Saw this sign at the movie theater when the Boyfriend and I went to see Meatballs, and I got a kick of saying "Two Meatballs, please" to the ticket seller.

This weekend I revisited Tense Teacher and fond this long ass meme. Hey, I've got the time, alright?

1. Can you fill this out without lying? I think so.

2. What was the last thing you put in your mouth? A coconut tomato curry sauce/soup. Haven't decided what to do with it yet.

3. Have you ever kissed anyone named Matthew? Not that I'm aware of, it's a good name but I don't really know a lot of people named Matthew.

4. Where was your profile picture taken? It's at my current home, you should see a bookshelf on the left of my head.

5. Can you play Guitar Hero? I've played a whole lot of video game but they mostly just require dexterous thumbs and at most index fingers. Guitar hero would require nimble middle and ring fingers. I don't know how good mines are.

6. Name someone that made you laugh today? Joe McHale from E!'s The Soup

7. How late did you stay up last night and why? Til 6:30 in the morning, I was playing video game and reading.

8. If you could move somewhere else, would you? Possibly, it depends on where it is.

9. Ever been kissed under fireworks? Nope, I might have kissed someone while watching firework on TV but I think it's different, right?

10. Which of your friends lives closest to you? The Boyfriend lives across the street, other than him BL lives about 4 blocks away.

11. Do you believe exes can be friends? Depends on why and how you've broken up. I think some could.

12. How do you feel about Dr Pepper? Doesn't quite hit the spot, maybe too syrupy.

13. When was the last time you cried really hard? It had to be a long while ago, I don't quite remember. Honestly, if I remember I would have mentioned it.

14. Where are you right now? At home.

15. What bed did you sleep in last night? It's my own bed, a queen from Ikea. It was breaking apart a few months ago but I've fixed it.

16. What was the last thing someone bought for you? Um... does groceries count?

17. Who took your profile picture?
I did it myself.

18. Who was the last person you took a picture of? The Boyfriend with a nice blue t-shirt, he looks too good in it that I've to take one.

19. Was yesterday better than today? Marginally, but I think so.

20. Can you live a day without TV?
That's gonna be very hard, but then it's possible.

21. Are you mad about anything? Not at the moment.

22. Are you upset about anything? Sometimes. I think if I can get a job, it'll improve a lot of things in my life.

23. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? There are good moments and bad moments, but I think generally yes, it's nice to have someone to share your life with. Adds meaning to life in general.

24. Are you a bad influence? Depends, I don't think I am. I try not to be one.

25. Night out or night in? They are both good, but most of the time is night on.

26. What items could you not go without during the day? Wallet, phone and keys when I go out. My computer and TV when I'm at home.

27. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? It was a volunteer that used to work with me.

28. What does the last text message in your Inbox say? I'll call you soon

29. How do you feel about your life right now? It's a bit idling, not going anywhere far.

30. Do you hate anyone? I do, and they well deserved it.

31. If we were to look in your Facebook inbox, what would we find? That I'm an avid mahjong fan and that I do indeed have friends.

32. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Yeah, my life is not that interesting... lol.

33. Has anyone ever called you perfect before? Yeah, but who could believe such lies?

34. What song is stuck in your head? This few days, it's Leela James "Mistreating Me".

35. Someone knocks on your window at 2am, whom do you want it to be? That'll have to be a ghost, possibly a dead relative. My only window is on the 2nd floor.

36. Wanna have grand kids before you’re 50? I don't think that will be possible for me and the answer to it is probably no.

37. Name something you have to do tomorrow. Preferably breathe, eat, sleep and s**t. Not necessarily in that order.

38. Do you think too much or too little? Too much.

39. Do you smile a lot? Not nearly enough.

40. Who was your last missed call on your Mobile phone? My friend BL.

41. Is there something you always wear? I have wore a white gold chain that my aunt gave me for my graduation for the longest time (approx. 10 years). I took it off a few months ago and haven't put it back on since. No rhyme or reason.

42. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Watching TV in front of my computer.

43. Did you have an exciting last weekend? I believe it was good but I already forgot what I've done.

44. Have you ever crawled through a window? I think so.

45. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, my all time favorite hair color is dark chestnut brown and I've done so before.

46. Are you wearing a necklace/chain? Nah, I absolutely dislike things around my neck. Even bed covers or a shirt collar.

47. Are you an emotional person? At times, I could be. I thought myself to be a very logical person but I've found out that I could be very emotional with personal stuff.

48. What’s something that can always make you feel better? Chocolate and other carbs.

49. Will this weekend be a good one? I'm hoping it will. I might have to help a friend with his move and then perhaps a BBQ/Mahjong party.

50. What do you want right now? A job offer and a few hours of mahjong.

51. Have you ever worn the opposite sex’s clothing? I've played with my grandma's clothing before. But it's just that once or twice when I was around 12.

52. Have you ever worked in a food place? I was a waiter at a HK cafe for my first summer job.

53. What’s on your schedule for tomorrow? Redesigning some decals for some lego figures of me.

54. Does anyone know your Facebook password? I used to teach people about computers and I've told an acquaintance what I use for passwords as examples. I kept using something that I've told that person. I don't think he'll remember anyway.

---

Made a coconut cheesecake with a caramel sauce to bring to the moving/BBQ/Mahjong party, I plan to pour the caramel sauce over the cheesecake and the slice up some bananas to put on top. Sounds pretty good, no?

Anyway, enjoy your weekend.

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Movie Review: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (3D)

In June, when me and the Boyfriend went to see Up in 3D. We also happened to see the 3D trailer of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. If you've been reading my blog, you would know that I'm quite into food and food porn alike and it sounds great to see food flying at you in 3D even though it's merely animation. The concept also reminded me of (perhaps) a TV episode of Scrubs where a patient's wish was putting her feet in a tub of spaghetti.

The story itself is quite simple. On an island off the southeastern coast, a little boy named Flint Lockwood grew up wanting to be an inventor but produced a series of failures. He has invented spray on shoes to cure the epidemic of untied shoelaces but the shoes stuck on his feet and he can't remove them. He has successfully given rats wings but they've became the worst pests on the island. He created a remote controlled TV robot who rampaged and ran out. But through it all, he hasn't given up. His latest project is a machine who would change the molecule in water and turn it into food and things go awry when it accidentally launched into the sky.



The movie was charismatic, the 3D were decent, there were food falling everywhere, it brings out the kid in you but there's not much food flying at you. The jokes were subtle, quick, on point and at times, silly. The boyfriend and I were cracking up the first two-third of the movie. We seemed to be the only people to laugh, probably because we watched the 4pm show and aside us there were only maybe 7 other people in the theater and 3 of them were kids. You can't really do subtlety with kids.

I'm quite impressed with Bill Hader's voice acting, even though he's quite a few notches down the list of my favorite SNL actors of all time. Anna Faris sounds very much like Drew Barrymore. Neil Patrick Harris plays a monkey's translator voicebox which is a very insignificant role for him to take. Mr. T's voice is very recognizable as the ninja-like black cop, but that's because he's awkward and can't go out of the Mr T. box and speak naturally. It's distracting, really.

One of the movie reviewers took the movie to the next step and said it is actually an activist piece about obesity and gluttony which went on criticizing they not being able to deliver a moral of the story, but for me that is all good clean fun. Though I would never want it to rain food, it'd be so unsanitary... lol.

Though I might be craving meatballs for a while, I had a fun time. B

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Clip You Can't Unsee

Watching back-to-back episode of Web Soup tonight, and there is a segment on it called Stuff You Can't Unsee and it reminds me of a clip that I've seen a few weeks ago on Vik's Blog Maybe It's Just Me. So I thought I should share it.

When I was a teenagers, I loved zapping pimples. It's disgusting and feels good at the same time. But this clip is on a Ho 'Nada Levo. The pimple is huge, more like a nasty mini infection hump and the girls were so squeamish. Honestly I can't even bear to watch the whole clip myself. Make sure you're not eating anything while watching it.

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The Marshmallow Test

There's a relevant article on the New Yorker about this marshmallow test. About kids who have self-control are more likely to be successful in life. I guess that explains why I don't seem to have much success, I'm too into instant gratification.

In the video, kids are given a single marshmallow and are told to wait while the examiner goes out of the room, the kids are told that if they hold off on eating the marshmallow they will get an additional marshmallow when the person returns. Meanwhile, they are secretly taped. You can see the kids eyeing the marshmallow and having inner turmoil, they are struggling to not eat the treat in front of them even though they wanted to. It's cute in a sense, but then it's also very cruel. The tester leaves the room for a prolong period, there's no explanation on why the waiting was necessary. The whole experiment is pretty much just toying with the children and adding unnecessary stress.

Does the test really teaches anyone anything? I submit that there's a very little difference between eating one marshmallow or two. The taste is the same and I doubt that the kids would save the other one for later, so it wouldn't matter. I hope they are well compensated to participate in this experiment and being exploited with a video. We all know how these things can come back to haunt us when we grow old.

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Pretty People Factor

This past Saturday, me and The Boyfriend spent some time helping out a hot bartender in need. I've seen the bartender around since I've moved to Philly some 12 years ago, good looking, well built, muscular guy of mixed race. He looks Latino but he's actually Filipino. I wouldn't mind seeing his in a porno.

Anyhow, during the past 12 years we've seen each other passing by and since he's grown a reputation of mixing wonderful drinks, I've made an effort to seek him out to mix my drinks whenever I'm at his bar. The boyfriend has also befriended the guy, again because he's hot, and also because he's an artist and the Boyfriend likes that.

So on Friday night while we were out having a drink, he talked with the bartender for a while and the bartender was looking for someone to help him make a website so he can showcase his art some where where potential buyers can see his work and have a way to get in touch with him. The boyfriend being a nice guy volunteered me out to make one for him, honestly I don't mind since I have a lot of free time at hand and since one of the few hot bartenders in town has left his post, we'd be spending a lot of time with this one and it's always good to have a bartender owing you a favor. So I've given him my contact info and he already jumped on the offer and set up to meet us in a coffee shop the next day.

Can I tell you how bad it is to wake me up with a text early morning confirming our date and then show up half and hour late not even apologizing? I digested it as the norm in the world of beautiful muscled people who used to get their way and be quickly forgiven for it, like that Jon Hamm 30 Rocks episode. For shortly after our first seat down conversation, we quickly understood that Bartender guy is really not the sharpest tool in the shed. The guy doesn't have his own computer or an email address for that matter, but he does produce decent art and out of his connections, he managed to get a few exhibition going on and in touch with a hotel that would purchases his arts.

After much contemplation for fast results, we created a email account for him and opted to put his work on Flickr which is a place that can act to showcase his pieces, uploaded his work and taught him how to proceed adding a description and tags, so he can do it for himself in the future. As I was weirded out by how he showed his appreciation while putting his arm around me and kissing me on the cheek, I was thinking maybe that's a part of the pretty people factor as well. Good thing he solidify the deal with buying me and the boyfriend dinner, for me that's the faster way to leave a good impression. Food is the fastest way to my heart.

Maybe I've gain a friend?

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Weekend Meme: The Queen's Meme

Sorry for the lateness, this weekend somehow went by so fast, which is a good thing all onto itself. Hanging out with the boyfriend, having some fun. From today on, we're going on a low carb diet together. Hopefully we'll lose some weight.

Today's Meme is from Tense Teacher again, thanks to that always accumulating wealth of Meme. I think I'm gonna do some shopping later. It's always great to have some retail therapy.

Who(m)...
is easy to love? Little puppies and bunnies are easy to love, everyone else require a certain effort.
do you just wanna smack? Certain FOX News pundits or all of them.
do you trust? Certain family members, very close friends.
do you talk to when you’re alone? When I'm alone? Wouldn't I have to talk to myself?

What...
dangerous things do you do while driving? I don't drive, so if I do drive it would be a dangerous thing by itself.
are you allergic to? Hay, dust mites.
is Satan’s last name? Jealousy?
is the last thing that moved you? The boyfriend. I don't remember when the last time I was moved by a movie or a song, guess I got too jaded throughout the years.
is the freakiest thing in your house? The glue traps I put down for mice.

When...
is it time to turn over a new leaf? Right Freakin' Now!!! Now is always a good time.
will you be all that you can be? Wow, that's quite a loaded question, I guess that's about time too.
is enough enough? Well, enough is never enough. Too much, however, is just enough.
do you go to the dark side? When somebody do me wrong, that gets me to the dark side very fast. So watch out!!!

Where...
are your pants? Right over there...
is your last will and testament? In my head.
is your junk food stash? In my belly! (says Fat Bastard)
is Carmen Sandiego? Who the hell cares? I rather look for Matt Lauer, but then who really cares about him either?

Why...
was the Lone Ranger alone? The dude got bad 'tude.
was The Scarlet Letter scarlet? Because it's written in blood?
are musicians sexy and plumbers not? Certain plumbers are sexy, are lot of gay porn features sexy plumbers.
are there no seat belts on school buses? Because that's the only way for the drivers to make the kids quiet.

Would you...
swim the English Channel for a doughnut and coffee? If not that, what? No, pretty much never. Unless I can be wearing a life vest or some other floating devices and I get $500,000 for it.
forgive someone who deliberately hurt you? That would be very hard. It also depends on what kinda hurt though.
rather believe a lie if it hurt you less than the truth? Oh, the truth is always better.
still be alive if you were sucked out of an airplane window? Would you just float around in space for while? What? Are you high?

Anyway, have a good weekend!

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Nothing In SC For Me

I have a few friends that is from South Carolina so I must first apologize if I do offend any South Carolinians but what's with South Carolina? Ever since Miss South Carolina failed to show her smarts in the Miss Teen USA 2007, South Carolina had been getting pretty bad reps.

We all remember Mark Sanford who now famously coin the term hiking the Appalachian trail to mean sneaking away to meet your mistress. And not just anywhere close by, she's all the way down in Argentina. A man who had sex with a horse and then after being arrested, go back to that horse a year later and caught doing the same thing all over again.

Then there is Joe "You Lie!" Wilson, who's either a stupid racist or a corrupted liar. Or both. So what's wrong with South Carolina? It's on the coast, so it implies that they might have more exposures to immigrant and so they might not be just a bunch of racist backward hicks and I checked their education ranks 26 out of 50 which is not too bad. Anyhow, I know that I won't be going to that state anytime soon. Guess I'll just have to add it to the list of States to avoid.

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Getting Ready For Work In 5 Minutes

Via 8Asians. Watch this funny and kinda useful demonstration on how you can get ready for work in less than 5 minutes.



The video includes a demonstration on how to take off your PJs in one fell swoop. Putting on your pants without using your hands. Making coffee in record speed. Tying your neck tie in a brand new fast way. It's amusing but the Japanese audience's reaction is a bit on the wild side. Personally, I'm a morning shower kinda guy. I need the hot water to give me energy and wake me up but some of these tricks are good to know.

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A Belated Rant on Desperate Attention Seekers

There is a problem with people like Kanye West and Joe "You Lie!" Wilson. Attention seekers who does outrageous acts for the wrong reasons. By shouting "You Lie!" South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson fulfilled his obligation to his campaign funders, fuel the fire to the racist disparities, gain more crazy right-wing supporters, and distract the focus from the address on health care reform. Just as one of the white house health care reform address where it ended with the president's comment on the stupidity of the Cambridge police, the reaction of the public have shifted to the redneck who yelled at the forum. For all I know, Joe Wilson's moment could have been premeditated. I wouldn't be surprise next time if one of the other hicks would run down, climb up and grab the mic.

Kanye West had always have a big ego, that's not exactly news. Even he had spoken up against homophobia and quite friendly to the gay community, there is a line where too much is too much and I think he has just crossed it. Muscially, he hasn't been showing much brilliance and maybe his career will go down the drain along with the soon death of autotune. Gotta make the news somehow, right? He could have been drunk and drugged up when he did what he did to Taylor Swift, but it's still extremely rude. Not that I know anything about Taylor Swift, her music and the now award-winning music video. I'm pretty sure that Beyonce's video is a lot better, it makes absolutely no sense that Beyonce's video won the best video of the year but not the best female video of the year. I'm sure MTV's standard to give out their awards had more to do with keeping a good relation with different companies than legitimacy of the videos themselves, so really what's the point?

Giving Kanye interviews after interviews about his lewd act just falls right into what Kanye wants and that's to talk about himself in all CAPS or not. That's what we call positive reinforcement. Oh that Kanye, that's just like him. Oh that Joe Wilson, he's just a good ol' boy who can't hide his emotions. No, even though I don't know anything about Taylor Swift, I'd rather change the focus and talk about What the hell was Lady Gaga's performance about? Or What's with the red tie on Obama and the red suits on Pelosi (and Clinton) and was that intentional to have the speech be in front of the red part of the American Flag? And What color was Michelle Obama wearing? It's not looking that great on her. That's how I deal with assholes, I rather pretend they don't exist.

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The Long Weekend

It seems that every time the boyfriend and I get out of town, somebody famous dies. First, it was Michael Jackson and now it's Patrick Swayze. Maybe it's a good thing we didn't go onto an extended vacation.

So we spent two days in New York, meeting the boyfriend's ex and his husband. Also the ex's ex and the ex's ex boyfriend. It's like a game of dominoes where you're matching the heads and tails. They are all very nice people though. I was nervous to start with buy soon found that feeling to be completely unnecessary. Bx and Bxh are married and lives in Barcelona and it's their first time visiting New York. Bxx was a former tour guide, so he led us to the High Line Park on the lower west side, it was very nice. The wildflowers emit some nutty buttery scent, there were sunbathers, mother with strollers, everyone was enjoying the novelty of an elevated park build on a former train tracks. We walked down it to the meat packing district stopping to see if there were any exhibitionists in the now infamous Standard Hotel, but no such luck, not even scanned with a zoom lens. lol.



The two days went by fast even though it involved a lot of walking. Chinatown, Wall Street, a Ferry ride to and fro Staten Island. Bxh is an avid photographer and there were a lot of Kodak moments along the way. The eye-opening moment for me is Strand bookstore where the place is crammed full of floor to high ceiling bookshelves and there's 4 floors full of them. They advertised that they have 18 miles of books and I thought it was a trick slogan where you'd have to line the books in a particular way to make up the distance, but it's not so at all. Words in different fonts are attacking you visually, it's quite intimidating, all I could think of is the bookshelves crumbling down and getting buried by books.

There were a lot of new experiences that I appreciate which include making my own cotton candy, screaming my lungs out to Bohemian Rhapsody in karaoke. It was hard to say goodbye to these new friends and I can only imagine how hard it was for the boyfriend as he hugged them goodbye and not inclined to let go. As we were riding the bus into the sunset back to Philadelphia, there was still an eerily sad look on his face. Beautiful, and so cute.

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Weekend Meme: Random Dozen Meme

This weekend, the boyfriend's ex and the ex's boyfriend are flying in from Barcelona to New York City and me and the boyfriend are gonna go hangout and sleep over for one night. I always like to go to New York City, there are so much stuff to see. And lately, I haven't got the chance to go, so I'm all excited about getting a comic book or two and eating things that I love.

At the same time, the straizian (Straight Asian) crew that I hang out with wanted me to join them for a Japanese sushi buffet that I absolutely adore. But somehow I'm afraid that if I do go and chow down, I might be full for days and ruin my NYC experience. Kinda silly, and I have no idea why I'd think like that but then saving some money is in order. I'd be hanging out the straizians today for Mahjong anyhow, hopefully I'll win some bus money out of it.

This weekend's meme is from Sunday Stealing, the almighty meme stealing machine. It's quite random, hope you like it.

1. When you go to Wowmart, what one thing do you get every single time, besides a funky-wheeled squeaking cart full of frustration?

Ooh, this question reminded me to promote the blog - People of Walmart. It's like National Geographic for the suburban America. Fascinating stuff. The Wal-mart around us is not too accessible, so I usually have to go to Target instead. One thing that I get almost everytime when I'm there is shower curtains. I changed them almost every season. It gets moldy quick.

2. What is something that people are currently “into” that you just don’t get or appreciate?

Twittering is one of them. Who needs to update everyone what they are doing or thinking every single day. It's quite self-absorbing. I thought Facebook and having a blog is already a bit too much. And then you are limited to a number of characters, it's like some kind of inconvenient censorship. Weird and I don't get it.

3. What is something that really hoists your sail that other people might feel “ho-hum” about?

Wow, I have to look up what "hoist your sail" means. Um, I guess one of the things would be white chocolate. Good white chocolate has a saturated creaminess that's completely awesome. Not a lot of people appreciate white chocolate, they call it fake but it's still a very great confection to me.

4. Favorite song to sing in the shower or car?

The classic "Summertime"



Though most of the time is whatever comes into mind, like this morning it was Stephen Lunch's Little Tiny Moustache.

5. A really great salad must have this ingredient:

Hard boiled eggs and mayo. When I was a kid, my concept of salad was a mayo or miracle whip concoction consisted with cubed hard boiled eggs, cubed ham, cubed potatoes, corn, tomato, scallion and sometimes even apples and grapes. Not the lettuce leafy stuff.

6. What advice in a nutshell would you give to new bloggers?

Try to blog consistently and use pictures and clips often. Oh and don't set up some automated audio (i.e. music player), people hates to be surprised by it, especially at work.

7. What was the alternate name that your parents almost named you? Do you wish they had chosen it instead of the one they gave you?

I do hate my first name which I rarely share it with anyone. My middle name is Yves, and I let it take over because I like it so much better.

8. What in your life are you waiting for?

Right now it's a job and after that I think it's the ability to take on more and more responsibility to be a self-sufficient responsible adult.

9. You get a package in the mail. What is it, and who is it from?

I'm expecting two package right now and they are both from some lego vendors. They will contain some lego minifigures that my boyfriend enjoys. We'll be doing some project to design "me" and some of my outfits, also a few other figurines that we'd like to experiment upon.

10. Today–what song represents you?

Wild Is The Wind? I like this kind of weather and it makes my mind runs wild in a very soothing way.

11. What is one thing that blogging has taught you about yourself?

It actually helps me form an identity, tells me what kinda person I am, helps me to know myself better.

12. How are you going to (or how did you) choose the clothes you’re wearing today? What do they say about you in general or specifically how you’re feeling today?

Short and sandals, a t-shirt with a long sleeve shirt. It's very casual and comfortable. I'm an easy going kinda guy.

Okay, have a great weekend y'all!

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It's All About Respect!!!

On a more serious note, how much longer will it take for the new World Trade Center to be built? In some standards, it means the terrorists are still winning. If it was Hong Kong, the buildings would have been up 6, if not 7, years ago!!!

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Bento Art

An article in New York Times had reminded me of my affection for bento boxes; a single, sometimes multi-, layer lunch box filled with rice, pickled vegetables, meat and other offerings prepared by housewives for their children and husbands. There are Japanese restaurant that offers bento boxes consisted of a sushi roll, some dumplings and a main dish like shrimp tempura or chicken teriyaki. While still very nice, true bento boxes are generally small in size and overtly tricked out to impress their eaters visually and make others jealous.

On the surface it's just lunch but it is really a cult. Other than the thousands of different lunch box in different shapes and designs, there are also the little dividers that hold a salad or snacks, the different cutters that turns carrot slices into flowers or spelling out "LOVE" in cheese and then little smiley face hello kitty toothpicks to hold a sandwich together or other sick crazy crap.

I originally thought it's just like preparing another meal ahead of time but no, it is a competition between housewives, it's a show-off event that one must do everyday. The box is small, so it is very portion controlled which is good if you're on a diet. And even the box is small, people still strive to provide a balanced diet with a wide variety of selections. There are not leftovers but all fresh made and cooking small and eating small is not my thing, I long for the day that I can my time and be creative like them. It'll probably only take 10 minutes to clear the canvas but it seems fun.

It's important to shape your ingredients into creative shapes to form cute cartoon characters...






Not a fan of dyed rice if there's no flavor involved, but then they are still pretty:

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Creatures That Might Have Inspired Pokemon?

1. Jerboa - Is this Pikachu?



There are a lot of creatures that I've never seen and Jerboas are some of them. A big mouse with long bony hind legs, It's like a cross between a mouse and a bird. Weird. Their long floppy-eared Egyptian type are even more adorable. Cute.

2. Axolotl



Another one that's cute as shit. Can you look at that face and not adore them?

Currently they only exist in one area of Mexico and in the verge of extinction because of the expansion of Mexico City and water pollution. In 1998, it was estimated that there are about 6,000 of them and now there's only between 700 to 1,200 of them. I don't know how people can help them from being extinct. Can we farm them or keep them in zoos?

3. Platypus



Cute in its own right, but I didn't know platypuses have attacks to boot. Male platypuses produce venoms that can kill small mammal and paralyze and wound humans that can cause pains that lasts for months. They are also the only mammals that can detect their prey using electric fields generated by muscular contractions. Very Sci-Fi.

Speaking of which the mice are back in my apartment building. I hate to kill them but I've already laid down traps, there's nothing much I can do and I don't like having them running around. If I could have a supersonic device to chase them out of the building I'd get one, but then I don't and I probably don't have the money to afford one, so I'll be the deathbringer for now.

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Movie Preview: Queer & Asian

We all have our gay experiences and our racial experiences so it's hard for me to relate to some, especially if they are drag queens and effeminate young men. I have seen my share of documentaries in gay & lesbian movie festivals, most of them are like lectures preaching tolerance which being a gay man myself already have gotten the point. I'm pretty sure they are like a commercial for the already converted, it's extremely for the homophobic to seat through a 90-minutes gay film and then realize they have been wrong all along, right? That would be to idealistic and naive.

Well, one of my friend has posted this clip on Facebook and when I watched it, it surprised me as I find out one of the interviewee in the clip is my other friend Noel. Noel had been hanging out with me for quite a while and even though I knew he was from New York and worked at the famous Asian bar The Web, I had no idea that he was a go-go boy. The completely naked picture of him on the wall craftily hiding his privates from view kills me. It'd provide good gossip and teasing material.

The movie is still under development but if it ever goes out to the theaters or in a movie fest, I'm sure we'll go to watch it together with him and hee-ing and haw-ing all through it. Hopefully we won't get thrown out of the theaters.

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Suicidal Cows

via Lady Bunny

Apparently an episode of South Park had come to life.

In the picturesque Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen, dozens of cows and bulls had mysteriously committed suicide by throwing themselves off the cliff in a mere 3 days. 28 cows in the small village have mysteriously died after they plunged hundreds of meters to rocks below where they were killed instantly. A local mountain rescue helicopter had to be called in to remove the bodies because of the danger of groundwater pollution.

It's baffling the scientists but I thought with herd animals, one usually would follow another blindly. At the same time if the leader don't know where he's going and get pushed by its follower, it shouldn't be so hard to figure out how they'd go down like that.

Other things that came down this week was the relationship I had with the guy I call the Boyfriend. Thankfully it didn't make this cow suicidal. We were recounting our differences and hashing out things that bug us about one another, things rolled bigger and bigger, we fought and we came to contemplate whether we still want to be together. It was very upsetting. I'm happy to report that in our own way we do treasure our relationship and things might just work out if we put enough effort into it. I guess in our own way we do treasure our relationship and for that I'm glad.

I can't wait to see some snow.

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Horror Chick Flick

It's a video about mistreatment of young chicks. It's very in the same line as the movie Food, Inc. But as much as I'd like to protest or quite buying chicken from the major poultry providers, I can't afford buying more expensive chicken. As much as I know the chicken industry should have an entire makeover for less hormones, more organic, more humane, more local grown, it's not in my price range. And no, I can't become vegan because of it. Any thoughts?

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Weekend Meme: I've Come To Realize Meme

Here it is the Labor Day weekend! The summer is drawing to a close. Kids are coming back to town to get ready for school, the city is hopping again. The best part of it all is that the weather is cooling down. Even though there will be an Indian summer to warm things up for a bit, but knowing that the end of heat is coming makes me feel good.

Today's meme comes from My 2 Cents about realization.

1. I’ve come to realize that my chest-size... should always be larger than my waist size.
2. I’ve come to realize that my job... (blank)
3. I’ve come to realize that when I’m driving... it'd be a sight for sore eyes.
4. I’ve come to realize that I need... to get over myself most of the time.
5. I’ve come to realize that I have lost... my cherry way too late.
6. I’ve come to realize that I hate it when... I'm being ignored or underestimated
7. I’ve come to realize that if I’m drunk... it'd be because I was upset.
8. I’ve come to realize that money... maybe able to buy happiness.
9. I’ve come to realize that certain people... are not worth being friends with and that is fine.
10. I’ve come to realize that I’ll always... be a TV fan.
11. I’ve come to realize that my sibling(s)... are all half siblings who might not even know they have a brother.
12. I’ve come to realize that my mom... was way ahead of her time.
13. I’ve come to realize that my cell phone... can't take really good pictures, unlike its predecessor.
14. I’ve come to realize that when I woke up this morning... that Summer is soon coming to an end.
15. I’ve come to realize that last night before I went to sleep... that 80 hours on a video game is too much but yet not enough.
16. I’ve come to realize that right now I am thinking... about Mahjong and congee.
17. I’ve come to realize that my dad... is a deadbeat but then he's only human.
18. I’ve come to realize that when I get on Facebook... that I'm a private person and don't have much to say.
19. I’ve come to realize that today... will be a short day.
20. I’ve come to realize that tonight... will be spent on Mahjong until we can't keep our eyes open.
21. I’ve come to realize that tomorrow... will be spent will the boyfriend (hopefully)
22. I’ve come to realize that I really want to... shoop! Shoop, baby!
23. I’ve come to realize that the person mostly likely to repost this is... one of the few readers of this blog.
24. I’ve come to realize that life... is never easy.
25. I’ve come to realize that this weekend... will be spent looking for fun stuff.
26. I’ve come to realize the best music to listen to when I am upset... are all sung by ladies.
27. I’ve come to realize that my friends... might not stay in one place forever.
28. I’ve come to realize that this year... had been spent quite idly.
29. I’ve come to realize that my exes... still have strong feelings about me. Sometimes it's inconvenient but it says good thing about me.
30. I’ve come to realize that maybe I should... teach.
31. I’ve come to realize that I love... too strongly.
32. I’ve come to realize that I don’t understand... how people can trade moral for money and power.
33. I’ve come to realize that my past... will haunt me forever.
34. I’ve come to realize that parties... a.re best spent with friends
35. I’ve come to realize that I’m totally terrified... of dying alone.
36. I’ve come to realize that my life... is not how I imagined it would be.

Enjoy your long weekend!

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Inner City Kids Hunting Asian For Sports

Asian students in South Philadelphia High School were reported to be attacked by gangs of African American students. These incidents usually occur with a number of African American students singling out an Asian student that doesn't speak much English. Emptying out their pockets and school bag, flushing the contents in the bathroom, name calling, verbal threats, petty robbery, punching, regular bully stuff. After a particular incident where a black student threw a carton of milk on a Chinese student, 30 kids jumped 5 Asian kids in the nearby subway station. Asian students are living in fear for their own safety. In a cry for help, they wrote letters, sign petitions, staging walkouts but the school had not done anything to help. Some students have to drop out and others are discouraged to go to school.

Another Asian student at Fels high School got attacked by 3 black student where they continuously beat him in the head which caused a concussion and his nose to break. He was left at the stairs with blood running down his face but no students or faculties offered to help. A safety officer offered to take him to the nurse after he leaves the building but no one called 911 and no arrest were made. in another incident, 15 African American students jumped 4 Asian students which results in hospitalizations of two.

I guess bullying is the norm and the majority of students in Philly are black and it is true that people will pick on the alone and unusual, so maybe it is not purely a racism issue but just because it might not be a racist issue doesn't mean it's not a big problem. Kids are beating other kids up like it's fun and no one is holding them accountable for their actions. Maybe they don't feel like they have a future, so they need to act out by picking on someone and I guess Asians are the new Jews. The school trying to cover those incidents up to protect their image. There's no easy way to deal with this, installing more security cameras is one but then you're really just sacrificing your privacy for safety.

I remember one of the few racist things happening to me was when a couple of black kids back in Providence drove by the school asking for directions and when I offered my help they screamed out "You!? How are you gonna help me? Are you gonna teach me how to drive to China!?!" and then they laughed and drive off. Stereotypically, black kids seems to be more rowdy and lack control of their decibels. But then in every race there are great folks and people that you'd rather not know. I just hope this targeted violence will end before someone bring a gun to school and shoot down his bullies.

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Music Invasion: Retro Circa 1989

I have no idea why but I have a strong preference for female singers. Maybe I identify myself with them emotionally somehow being a gay man and all. Living in Hong Kong has given me a unique blend of music, since we were governed under the British and the city itself was very much a metropolitan with visitors from all around the world.

The year of 1989 was quite vibrant in the music scene, at least for me, I think that's the year that I got my own cassette player and got a good enough allowance to invest in some tapes. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1812 was my first tape and a brilliant one at that. Lisa Stansfield's R&B single All Around The World was playing everywhere.



Another European lady with dark hair and neon white make up is Basia, who came out with an album called London Warsaw New York which was jazzy and catchy. I especially liked Cruising For Bruising. Apparently she just returned to the music scene after 15 years of hiatus and released her fourth album in the past March.



K.D. Lang came into fame by singing a duet Roy Orbison in a remake of his classic "Crying". Watch the video below as she's walking into the spotlight. Can you really not tell that she was a dyke?



There's also news about The Cranberries, a group that was formed that very year to get back together this year. I really loved them then but now my affection had dwindled down after their third album. They might be getting back together and they might have new things to say but does anyone care-e-e? does anyone care-e-e?



Oh, good memories.

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DVD Review: Jesus Camp (2006)

When the boyfriend brought over a DVD called Jesus Camp masqueraded in a bunch of gay movies, I've mistook it for Chad Allen's Save Me or Saved which starred Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin, both satiric comedies. I should have known that the boyfriend adores horror flicks.

Jesus Camp had to be one of the most horrifying movie. Released by Magnolia Pictures in 2006, who also brought us recent enjoyable documentary like Food, Inc and Outrage, Jesus Camp goes into the life of the heartland religious fanatics and, especially, their children. Kids from the Christ Triumphant Church in Missouri is bound for a camp. Levi, at 12, self-confessed that he had been "saved" since he was 5. He's inspired to be a pastor. At the beginning of the movie, we see that he was watching a video denouncing evolution and getting home-schooled by his mom who quizzed him the reason why global warming doesn't exist is because the rise of temperature is only 0.6 Celsius which is not a big problem.

Rachael is 9 and she's taught by her assistant pastor father to pass out pamphlets to strangers. Instead of playing bowling like a normal kid, she prays to god before each toss which is disturbing to say the least. Tory (Victoria) is 10 and denounce Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan as false idols and jive to Christian heavy metals, her siblings and her were taught by their mother to change the words in the pledge of allegiance to god and Jesus and raise an evangelical flag instead of the American flag.

The ringmaster to all this is a bat-shit bully named Becky Fischer, who uses guilt and bullying tactics to train kids to be religious nut all in the name of Jesus. Before the camp commenced she and her staff goes around the auditoriums blessing every cable and speakers, mumbling gibberish to ward away the devils performing from malfunctions. Folks, she performed exorcism on her powerpoint presentation. At the camp, kids are discouraged to do anything fun if it doesn't have anything to do with religion. Toys like barbie dolls and stuffed animals are used to demonstrate the sins and temptations. Kids are encouraged to cry and wail because of god, that get attention and approval out exaggerated emotional confessions which include fainting, head bobbing and yammering gibberish and yet Harry Potter was denounced as witchcraft. I have never witnessed something as violent as these brainwashing schemes.

Fischer justifies her acts by stating that the terrorists train their kids with grenades and guns, so it's only right for Christians to train their kids to follow god's footsteps. But at some point Bush and Ted Haggard was shown as people to be admired and kids are brought to Washington to fight for pro-life causes after putting little mini baby dolls in the kids' hands to sway them. It's all too ghastly and insane for me to believe that it is actually a movie and not a satire film. How could something like this be legal? How could it exist anywhere in the world? I feel so horrible for kids.

Anyway, the camp had ceased to exist after the movie. And it is very eye-opening. Watch it, it's mind-blowing. B

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