Site Intro: Redbubble.com

I've been always secretly jealous of my friends' great graphic t-shirts. Despite of a recent episode of What Not To Wear telling guys shouldn't be wearing t-shirts and shorts if they are too old to for the frat boy look, I like the comfort of it. I tend to be specific on the graphic tees I wear, it's like a statement that requires to be interesting, describe a personality or at the very least it has to be something that I can believe in. Great choices out there is so little and if they exist, my trendier friend would have picked them out already which leaves me with a sad face.

On the other hand, the boyfriend and I had some t-shirt ideas. The boyfriend likes to draw, design and take pictures and he's pretty damn good at it while I have rage against idle pedestrians and stroller moms alike and harbor passive aggressive secret agendas, it'll be good if I can express them through t-shirts. Browsing through Flickr, I think I've found the mother lode.

Redbubble.com is a place where people can post their pictures, artwork and t-shirt designs where other people can purchase them. For artwork, it is sold in various forms like laminated, matted, framed, mounted, canvas prints, or posters, cards, calender and sticker forms, each with different size selections. For t-shirt designs, you can choose between a regular t-shirt, a hoodie, kid's or infant t-shirt or a baby one-piece. The designer are not charged for any item sold, instead the website charges a base price from the customer per item and the designer can set a price for each item that he/she wants to receive. For example, the site charges US$ 19.95 for each t-shirt sold, if the designer wants to get US$10 for each t-shirt, the customer will have to pay $29.95 if they want to buy that specific t-shirt. Additional shipping and handling for about US$6.

It is a bit expensive but the good thing about Redbubble.com is that they have tons of pictures and artworks to choose from, just for t-shirts they have thousands of designs for each keyword you put in. For some of them, the color of the print could change according to the t-shirt colors and even the t-shirts have around 20 choices.

Here are my favorites:






Click to see the exact design and play with colors

From millions of colorful extraordinary designs, I found these simpler, tamer ones, I wonder what it says about me. If I had the dough, I'll probably buy all of them enhancing my t-shirt collection. Ah, one can dream.

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Steps On Making The Perfect Woman (NSFW)

Nope, I'm not peddling titty porn here. A friend asked me if I can make a boob cake for her friend's birthday party so I spent 24 hours trying to make the cake the best I know how.

1. I got a boob mold pan from a novelty store and thought the boobs are a little too small which probably means that I'm a size queen, at least for cakes anyway.

2. Bake the cakes! Originally I was trying to make sheet cakes and stack them together, but the sheet cakes turned out to be a disaster with them wrinkling and even burning. The batter I end up using was a white cake batter found here. I used 3 times the batter to fill the boob mold and three 9" square cake pans.

3. Make pastry cream/cream/icing, melt jam and slice fruit. For this cake, I used a white chocolate pastry cream that I found here, strawberry jam and strawberries.

4. Put two cakes side-by-side, brush with melted jam, frost with pastry cream, layer with strawberries slices. Put another two cakes on top, brush with jam, frost with cream, layer with strawberries. Put another two cakes on top, brush and frost. layer strawberry slices at the center of one of the cake stack. Put the boobs on top and frost the whole thing. Fridge this gigantic thing.

5. Make fondant. I used the marshmallow fondant recipe found here with a few tweaks. Instead of melting marshmallows, I used Fluff and to get the skin color, I used food colorings. This video explains how.



Even with the video and recipes, it's hard to get it right since I've never touch real fondant myself, so the end product wasn't that great. It got too sticky and perhaps I should have refrigerate it a little more. It was nearly impossible to roll it out thin without having it sticking it to the board, I had to forcibly pull it onto the cake and then use water to fix the holes.

6. Decorate and make it more "lifelike". Make deeper colored nipple candles out of coloring darker. Push your thumb in lightly to make the belly button. Two dragees for a belly piercing, chocolate icing for a thong and a tattoo of the birthday boy's name. Shimmies all around the sides to hide the imperfections.

It looks pretty good in the pictures but I didn't have a big enough box for it so when it got to the site, parts of the breast got stuck to the foil. Also when the birthday boy blew out the tits, someone decided to push his head in, at the end, the cake or what's left of it tasted pretty good. If I had the resources, I need to take a cake decoration class and a bigger kitchen with a new oven that doesn't tilt.

But you got to see the humor of having a gay guy making a boob cake, no? So who wants to go into the erotic cakes business with me? haha.

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MLK vs Beck

Couldn't find a good meme to do this weekend and I'm really jammed up making an erotic fondant cake for a friend's birthday so here's what I'll post today:



I'm kinda sad about the state of America with the economy, the radical right and everything else.

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On Ken Melhman

What is there to say about Ken Mehlman? If there's any individual fitting to be described as despicable, Ken Melhman would be the first one that comes to mind. The first gay that I would personally condemned to hell, not because he's gay but for the immeasurable harm and distress he had caused. It's much more than self-hating, he created a culture of homophobia for people in the whole nation just so that a few Republicans can be elected in order to for him to exceed in his career and benefit from it financially. And now he comes out and wants acceptance from it? There should be a public stoning for him. Ken Mehlman and his boyfriend should both be condemned and outcast. No self-respecting gay man with any kind of integrity should be dating or having sex with this person.

I'm sick of people like him and Roy Ashburn coming out after doing harm to the GLBT community, apologize and try to make up. Coming out after being in a position of power does absolutely no good. Especially when you're a Republican, all former colleagues will have to publicly distancing themselves from you or shun you just so they can exist in that homophobic culture in which you helped create. An openly gay Republican in power doesn't exist, that's why Charlie Crist changed parties. Worst of all, Ken Mehlman doesn't offer any kind of apologies, it was just something he had to do and he feels no guilt. Now Americans For Equal Rights is embracing Mehlman as the chairman of a major anti-prop 8 fundraiser, what do you have to do to the GLBT community in order to get shunned? Don't they know that if it wasn't for him, we might not have to be fighting Prop 8 right now?

I'm in complete agreement with the Young Turk Cenk Uygur who looks like the baby brother/eldest son of Jay Leno, hope Cenk has a future in xenophobic America. As for Ken Mehlman, I have nothing but my worst wishes for him.

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The N-Word (NSFW)

Racist, homophobic, physiology PhD Dr. Laura Schlessinger apparently was still giving out advice on Radio despite not being a psychologist and is as qualified as a sack of rocks. When a pathetic black female caller (pathetic because she seek the advice of Schlessinger) called to ask what she should do about the racist friends of her white husband and they got into a discussion about the usage of the n-word. Schlessinger spewed the racial epithet 11 times and tole the caller "If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry outside of your race." Later on Larry King, she will be leaving her radio show when her contract expire at the end of the year, for that I say good riddance unless that's a publicity stunt to get more listeners.

The racial tension in this country still remains strong even though it's been 150+ years since it was over and almost 50 years after the civil rights movement. While I understand the history behind the n-word, the younger generation should be less sensitive about the term. The rule that only black folks can utter the term in itself is racist, it's all in the tone of the speaker and frankly I find it more offensive that Schlessinger told the caller if she doesn't have a sense of humor she shouldn't be marrying outside her race. I'm tired of referring to it as the n-word, by giving it so much power it just amplifies it's offensiveness when someone says it. Still I was still a bit shell-shocked when I heard it on Jon Stewart completely uncensored.


It's a word, not an urban legend. Instead of perpetuating the taboo of the word, it's better to just let it be a regular racist term just like "kyke", "cracker", "chink", "spic" and whatever else. It should be as shocking as bad words like "fuck" and over-exaggerate its effects.

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Required Viewing 8/24/10

Last night on Jon Stewart:

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Public Outrage

The culture war is exhausting, there seems to always be some self-righteous, in the name of Christ assholes trying to make life difficult for other people. Instead of saying these issues are about gay people, it actually should be described that it's a homophobic Christians issue, is it not?



Folks at Highfield Road Gospel Hall in Toronto apparently target gay and lesbian couples living in the vicinity of the church and knock on their doors, telling them they are sinners and asking them to repent. It's like the Westboro folks and the Jehovah's Witness had a child, but it's serious harassment and according to one of the worshipers, they have been doing this for 7 years and one lesbian couple had been driven away from their own home in the neighborhood by these folks.

Fortunately the neighbors of this couple all came out in support of the gay couple and drive these bible-thumpers away. While leaving, they are still justifying their harassment as their right to preach their gospel. I cringe to see a few Asians are participating in this stupidity. I'm glad the neighbors are in support of the gay couple and no physical altercations have broken out. I just didn't think these kind of incidents would happen in a friendly place like Toronto. If New Yorkers can protest about having a mosque being near Ground Zero, can't the folks in this neighborhood protest to have this church moved away since it's actively seeking to disrupt the peace of its residents? Especially when the congregation in this church don't even leave nearby?

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Speaking about Christian shenanigans in other countries, ever since the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that all 31 States of Mexico must recognize same sex marriage and adoption, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez have been fighting against it in full force. The Cardinal publicly asked if anyone would like to be raised by a pair of faggots or lesbians. The Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard is asking the Cardinal for a retraction if not a defamation lawsuit will be filed against him. You can be sued for defaming gays and lesbians? Now why didn't we think of that? And why aren't we suing the Westboro clan?

You have to admire the courage of the Mexican officials to do what is right. To go against their religious mass takes major balls and leadership which we have yet to see from our officials.

Throughout the years our president has changed his point of view from supporting gay marriage to a more ambiguous, complex, self-conflicting stance:

1996: "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

1998: "Undecided." (Candidate poll response.)

2004: "Strategically, I think we can get civil unions passed. I think that to the extent that we can get the rights, I'm less concerned about the name."

2006: "I believe that American society can choose to carve out a special place for the union of a man and a woman as the unit of child rearing most common to every culture. "

2007: "If I were advising the civil rights movement back in 1961 about its approach to civil rights, I would have probably said it’s less important that we focus on an anti-miscegenation law than we focus on a voting rights law and a non-discrimination and employment law and all the legal rights that are conferred by the state."

2008: "I have stated my opposition to [Prop 8]. I think it is unnecessary. I believe that marriage is between a man and woman and I am not in favor of gay marriage, but when you're playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that that is not what America is about."

2010: "He does oppose same-sex marriage, but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples. He supports civil unions. That’s been his position throughout. So nothing has changed." (White House adviser David Alexrod responding to the overturn of Prop 8.)

Once your political career take flight, you'd have to find a middle ground to please all parties. You can't go against the religious nor the gays during your presidential campaign, but I thought once you get in the white house you're gold. Of course, Obama could really be against the concept of gay marriage and if that is true we still need someone to get the move on civil unions. The animosity against Obama is growing at all fronts, we don't want to see middle-of-the-road Obama, we want to see the change that he had promise America. We can't honestly wait for his second term because it may not happen and it will be too painful for his to be another Clinton seating on his sofa telling reporters where America should or could be heading when he could have made a choice all along.

Yes, a Republican president in two years is something too soon and too painful to think about but it could happen. If we don't see a sign of progress he might not be the guy people would want to vote for. We need a strong leader with a point of view, not someone who's paralyzed because he's afraid to make the wrong choice and ignite public outrage. The public is already outraged, get over it.

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Mosque Controversy

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the building of the "Ground Zero Mosque" which was quite expected. Yesterday, dozens of people showed up in a anti-mosque rally at the Ground Zero site holding signs spelling out "Sharia" in red dripping paint. A black guy wearing a white cap unfortunately got caught in it and the crowd quickly turned on him, proving that the location is just a small part of it. When people (mostly Republicans) won't let Muslims built one in Murfreesboro, TN, Temecula, CA or Sheboygan, WI, people will be against building a mosque 4 blocks from Ground Zero.



It's pure xenophobia, the people who's against building mosques don't care to understand that just because the 9/11 attackers are extreme Muslims, it doesn't mean that all Muslims are terrorists or have linkage to them, just as a few Catholic priests molest children, it doesn't mean that all Catholics molest children. Instead of getting to know people, the anti-mosque crowd rather have Muslims "going back to their country". There's a whole hypocrisy thing with this which really gets my beef is that in theory America is supposed to be great because of the freedom people can experience in this country but it's not true. If you're gay or non-white or non-Christian, then you're still discriminated against and not being allowed to gay marry or having a place to worship your god is the exact opposite of freedom. You either get freedom of religion in this country or you don't, you can't really pick and choose the location or which religion to protect.

The proposed building which was named Park51 center to avoid controversy is going to be a 13-story glass and steel community center, that will contain a 500-seat auditorium, theater, performing arts center, fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, childcare area, bookstore, culinary school, art studio, food court serving halal dishes, it sure beats the abandoned building that used to house a Burlington Coat Factory.

This might be entirely inappropriate but if the Westboro folks are allowed to protest at the funeral of dead soldiers as they are happening, why aren't Muslims allowed to building a center 4 blocks from Ground Zero of an incident happened 9 years ago? Instead of complaining about the mosque, why don't they complain about the still empty site at the Ground Zero after nearly 9 years? I thought the best way to show Al-Qaeda that they haven't won is to build something to replace the Twin Towers and move on with our lives, so where is it?

I blame Fox News for dividing the country with lies and hyperbole, they are evil and any upright citizens and companies should start finding ways to put them out of business.

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The Lands of Human Sexuality

Found this over at Joe.My.God, it's not after viewing this map that I find myself not at all adventurous in the sex department. I've tried probably less than 10% of these things but I think I'm quite content. I'm trying not to judge but a few things skeeves me out. The map also fails to draw out toys that are not penetrative. For an interactive version, please visit the original site.

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Weekend Meme: The Beach Meme

So Summer is almost over, not the heat or the season per se but the vacation season that everyone agreed upon. I've been invited to a few "end of summer" barbecues from people that I'm not really familiar with, so I guess I won't go. A friend is flying to Hawaii to attend his sister's wedding, others traveled around the other side of the country and others have summer homes near the beach. I'm a little jealous. I don't remember being at the beach this season yet and I do want to go even I'm quite out of shape.

Today's meme is all about the beach, brought to you from The Queen's Meme, simple 11 questions. Enjoy Summer while you can!

1. When is the last time you saw the ocean?
Wow, I think it has been a long while, sometimes late last summer? I went to the beach in a dreary day and there wasn't many people. It got some windy and cold that I've to leave not long after.

2. Where is your favorite stretch of beach shoreline?
It's probably Miami Beach, I spent some time enjoying the sun down there.

3. Are you planning a beach vacation this year?
I guess not this year since summer is almost over.

4. (Girls) Bikinis or one-piece? (Guys) Trunks or speedos?
In Asia and Europe, we wore speedos and thought nothing of it, but US is very sexually charged and one would be teased if they're wearing speedos. So if I decide to swim, I'd be wearing trunks.

5. Do you sunbathe or sit under an umbrella?
Sunbathe.

6. Have you ever been to a nude beach?
Yes, quite a few. Gunnison Beach, FL, Sandy Hook, NJ, Black's Beach, CA.

7. Favorite activity at the beach while on vacation?
Just walking down the length of it, feeling the water washing up my feet.

8. Condo, hotel or cottage rental?
Hotel, unless there are cheap and nice condos with a kitchen.

9. What beach in the whole wide world would you like to visit for the first time?
I have heard crazy good things about Gold Coast near Brisbane Australia. I reckon there must be quite an experience going there.

10. Did you ever have a special romantic time at the beach?
I think whenever I walk on the beach, it's a special romantic time I have with myself.

11. Tell us about a favorite beach memory.
When I was around 5 or 6, my mom brought me to Nice in southern France around Bastille day and they were shooting fireworks into the sky by the shore. My mom and I were sitting on the beach watching the fireworks but I was scared that the falling fireballs will burn me alive.

Anyway. get to the beach if you can and enjoy your weekend!

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Getting Older

When I was a teenager, I used to look up to celebrities. In that world where everything was possible, I imagined that one day when I'm in their age maybe I'll become famous. Years passed, I started to learn all my limitations and I got older and older. When I got to be the same age as the stars, I understand that I might not get to be famous. And when I get older than the stars, I started to resent my own lack of talent. At 35, my high school friends are all whining on Facebook about how out of shape they are and I too noticed how my body is slowly betraying me. At times, I can't see as clearly as before, maybe it's due to me staring at the computer screen too much. My Achilles tendinitis on my ankle doesn't allow me to run like I could before. I'm generally out of shape and I got some gum issues that requires me to go to the dentist but I have been putting it off because my resources is getting limited, my memory is also waning which is another issue from this Judas of a body.

The world is also getting very much different than it was. Over at Huffington Post they printed a list of 75 items of how people born in 1992 (18 years old) perceive the world and it goes something like this:

1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
2. E-mail is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
7. "Caramel macchiato" and "venti half-cafvanilla latte" have always been street corner lingo.
10. A quarter of the class has at least one immigrant parent, and the immigration debate is not a big priority unless it involves "real" aliens from another planet.
11. John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
12. Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
14. Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine.
15. Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.
16. Korean cars have always been a staple on American highways.
18. Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
20. DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.
27. Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
28. They've never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.
31. The first computer they probably touched was an Apple II; it is now in a museum.
32. Czechoslovakia has never existed.
36. Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.
39. Pizza jockeys from Domino's have never killed themselves to get your pizza there in under 30 minutes.
43. Russians and Americans have always been living together in space.
50. Toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.
52. There have always been women priests in the Anglican Church.
60. Wal-Mart has never sold handguns over the counter in the lower 48.
66. Galileo is forgiven and welcome back into the Roman Catholic Church.

I guess that's normal for youngsters to have a different perception of reality, actually I consider them lucky to be able to get used to progression. Hope the next generation will be able to take gay marriage and other decent human traits for granted.

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TV Round Up (Aug 10 Edition)

Summer is nearing its end, at least for TV seasons anyway. There's really nothing good to watch accept maybe a few shows, for some reason RuPaul's Drag U doesn't seems as interesting when you're making real life women into drag queens, if they would only transform regular guys instead.

1. True Blood

Seems like a lot of people had been complaining about the gay elements on the show as if it's a bad thing. Yes, every episode have some naked guys in it and they are all great looking guys and some physically imposing. By comparison, there aren't a lot of new naked, great looking new female characters on the show, but sorry straight viewers having one show with great looking naked guys is not even enough to counter balance every other shows. So will you just let us have this one?

All the male characters on the show minus a few minor ones are all good to look at. Sure Stephen Moyer looks like he's aging quickly, Ryan Kwanten looks a bit tweaked out and Alexander Skarsgard is just too skinny and not my type but I'm waiting for them to exploit Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry) a little bit more and can we marvel at Joe Manganiello just a little more? The guy looks like he should be selling paper towels. There's the occasional shock of female nudity but its well worth it. Only 3 more episodes to go in this season and I'm already missing it.



2. Being Human

Another show about vampires and werewolves brought to you by BBC. It's way toned down from True Blood, there is still violence involved but the story is more about how these supernatural beings trying to fit into normal society.

Mitchell is a vampire who's fighting off his addiction to human blood, to do so he has became a loner and separated himself from the vampire society, taken a lowly job of being a potter for a local hospital. The vampire found himself sharing a house with a newly turned werewolf played by the cute Russell Tovey here and a recently died female ghost who are trying to figure out how their recent transformation will mean for their futures.

This show is more reality driven and less flamboyant than True Blood but the werewolf still get naked a lot during transformation.



3. Weeds



Season 6 of Weeds just started up this week. The suburban baroness of weeds has gone through quite an ordeal throughout the years and during the course it has lost the quaint surprising edge. After the valley fire in Season 3, the Botwins have moved down to their relatives somewhere down the shore of Southern California, so the reunion with its former cast seemed too far-fetched. I'm still watching, mostly due to the great writings in the previous seasons, although Alexander Gourd who played Shane Botwin is starting to creep me out.

4. The Big C

Starring Laura Linney as Cathy, a high school teacher who has been diagnosed with stage IV melanoma cancer. Knowing that she has limited time to live, Cathy set out to put her life back in order, that include dumping her childish husband, setting her spoiled son right, reeling in her homeless brother and teaching her students lessons outside of textbooks.

I have to say I'm not so fond of Oliver Platt and the young actor that plays her son also looks quite bloated but stories abou cancer patients do touch me in a deeper level. I'd be interested to see how they come up with a second season for a show about a dying person. Wrong diagnosis? New medications?

5. Rizzoli & Isles



Yes, the acting and plotlines are horrible and unconvincing. Yes, Angie Harmon is a right-wing loon and possibly a racist. Yes, she was just playing the same characters a few years ago in another detective/medical examiner novel turn TV series. Even though it's tragic, I'm still watching it against all my good judgment. Maybe I liked Womens Murder Club novels and it leaves me a good impression even after watching that TV adaptation.

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Other than that Top Chef is coming to an end while Project Runway started with too many designers for me to keep track and familiarize myself with the group. I'm sure a new batch of TV shows will start in a month, gotta keep myself entertained.

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Freedom Postponed

After prop 8 has been overturned last week, gay Californians were supposed to be able to start getting married tomorrow but the opponents filed an appeal and the ninth circuit court of appeals has granted a stay to Judge Walker's decision so the soonest day that California gays can go on marrying each other will be in December. A lot of people expressed optimism because the appeal can potentially lead to a preferable ruling in a larger area and even potentially lead to a final decision in the supreme court for a ruling with national impact in our favor but since most judges are from the older generations and according to the polls, the older generation tends to go with banning gay marriage, I'm not holding my breathe.

A few things can help us along: Having other countries recognizing GLBT rights like Argentina which legalized same-sex marriage and Mexico which allowed gay marriage AND adoption. The US needs to realize that the world is progressing towards equal rights for all citizens and we are lagging behind. Stressing how no one wants to be in the wrong side of history works, it worked on Glenn Beck. People do realize that the recognition of gay rights is unavoidable, they just don't know if it'll be recognize 20 years from now or 20 months from now. You can see commentators and politicians softening their stance when the results of the prop 8 trial were not in their favors, even Maggie Gallagher from NOM got all defeated. I think secretly they are afraid to be remembered as bigots, that is why none of them wants to testify on camera.

Showing how inequality ruins lives helps too, so does having an open broadcast. Of course, the most helpful thing would be having the president saying something urging the people towards the right way. I was excited when Obama held a press conference supporting building the mosque near Ground Zero in the name of religious freedom but hearing him recanting his statement because of all the right-wing shit that followed made me think that maybe he's not the most reliable person to count on. At some point, he should realize that catering to the right will not do anyone any good. Instead of working towards unity, he should work towards what's right and understand that everything he and his wife do will be picked apart by Fox and Friends. (Who knew "Spain" rhymes with "pain"?)

We'll see how all this played out. In the meantime while more South American than ever are enjoying equal rights, Californians are still waiting for their turns and most of the country don't even have the fortune of waiting, DADT is still the existing policy and gay soldiers are still in the process of being discharged. NJ judges are afraid to hear marriage equality cases for fear that Governor Chris Chritsie might replace them if they were to vote to extend marriage equality to GLBT couples while Newt Gingrich is supporting a campaign for Iowan to vote out judges that favored marriage equality.

But it's not all doom and gloom, NOM has finally finished their lowly attended hate bus tour, Neil Patrick Harris and his partner are expecting twins: a boy and a girl. "Grab two beers and jump" flight attended Steven Slater has been offered a reality show, though I don't see how it'd draw an audience. Here's my favorite Steven Slater song:

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Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Three weeks ago, the boyfriend and I got tickets to go to a preview screening of Scott Pilgrim Vs, The World but since there was a long, long line, we didn't get to see the movie and we were cooped up almost the entire past weekend, so I suggested to go see it at a theater in the far side of West Philly, a place I've never been before and it didn't turn out so bad.

It was kinda rainy yesterday and for some reason all the shops seems to have closed early and the neighborhood was a bit deserted. There was only about a dozen people in the theater. We were bummed out when a young mom were dragging four screaming children inside, but she came in and out a few times, so overall it was a surprisingly good viewing experience. Plus there's a nice Korean mart nearby with a nice food court.

23 years old Scott Pilgrim is walking around on the streets of Toronto with a chip on his shoulder from his last break-up, to get over his old flame he is casually dating an impressionable 17 yo Chinese girl in the form of Knives Chau much to his sister's, friend's and bandmates' chagrin. In the peak of his loneliness, Scott dreamt of a girl on rollerblades, and later this girl materialized as the form of Ramona Flowers. To live happily ever after with this girl of his dreams, Scott must defeat her 7 evil exes.

Scott Pilgrim is actually a very quirky film shot in a very anime-y and video game-y style that stayed true to the original comic series. It's funny, likable, stylish and entertaining, it hits enough geek points to make it an instant classic. The love story between Scott and Ramona is somewhat unconvincing, actually to have so many women falling for Scott in itself is not too convincing, there's no obvious traits about Michael Cera/Scott Pilgrim that's alluring. They should really spend some time explaining why a girl like Ramona would fall for Scott, and how they have bonded enough for Scott to deem going through the trouble to fight her 7 exes worthy.

Other than defeating the first ex fair and square, there were a lot of trickery involved, Scott also depended on a lot of help from his friends. Up to a point, there seems to be a rush going through all 7 exes. It is, however, visually stimulating. I even enjoyed the few rock songs even though it's not my genre of music. The special effects are great. The movie in general is cute and fun. The moral of the story or the lesson to be learned seems to be a bit forced but I left with a feeling of being entertained and thought of my own share of evil exes. B

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Blacklisted Songs

Simon Cowell is bringing X-Factor to the US this coming September and apparently there's a list of songs that he had listened to over and over again for the past 9 years and he's forbidding upcoming contestants to perform and here they are:

Kings Of Leon - "Sex On Fire"
Jason Mraz - "I'm Yours"
Paolo Nutini - "Last Request"
Paolo Nutini - "New Shoes"
Eva Cassidy - "Songbird"
Snow Patrol - "Chasing Cars"

Music blog Reality Rocks has compiled there own list of songs they don't want to hear on these shows as well.

Phil Collins - "Against All Odds"
Bill Withers - "Ain't No Sunshine"



Jennifer Holliday - "And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going"
Elton John - "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"
Nina Simone - "Feeling Good"



Leonard Cohen - "Hallelujah"
R. Kelly - "I Believe I Can Fly"
Gavin DeGraw - "I Don't Want To Be"
Aerosmith - "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing"
John Lennon - "Imagine"
Seal - "Kiss From A Rose"
The Beatles - "Let It Be"
Janis Joplin - "Piece Of My Heart"
Judy Garland - "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"
The Righteous Brothers - "Unchained Melody"
Anything by Heart or by Whitney Houston

A lot of these songs are boring and can't show the singer's range, and I guess a lot of people fail at the more difficult songs like Jennifer Holliday's "And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going". Frankly I'm tired of these reality competition shows anyway.

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Weekend Meme: 28 Questions Meme

Today's meme is found at Sunday Stealing. Twenty-eight questions to celebrate the boyfriend's 28th birthday last week. We went to Six Flags Great Adventure last week. Dear ole me didn't know that they had a dozen of over-the-top roller coasters and every time we stepped in one I had to hold on and cramp down while the mechanism push me towards every which way. Afterwards my knees get weak and it's like I was just raped, like six times.

We had some expansive and bad-for-you park food, but I think it's all part of the experience. We also got on the tea cups and the carousel for the nostalgic part. It was a fun day but I don't think I want to be on a roller coaster anytime soon.


Tiny three tier birthday cake for the one on a low carb diet.

1. Was your dad named after anyone?
The story is the grandma on my father side is not my actual grandma. Her child got lost in the Vietnam war and there was an empty spot for evacuation, so my father filled the spot and claimed to be someone he's not. So he changed his name after the lost and presumably dead child.

2. What do you think is the minimal age to get married?
24 or older. I do recommend playing the field until you are mature, know what you like and need, found someone that you think you can spend the rest of your life with.

3. What’s the longest time that you've been involved with the same person?
Six years.

4. What actor/actress do you consider hot at the moment?
Joe Manganiello is the hottest thing I've seen in a long while. When I see him half naked in True Blood, I get a shit-grin on my face.


If only he didn't shave his chest... I mean, come on!

5. What is your favorite album by a band?
I'm not too sure on this one but it's possibly No Need To Argue by The Cranberries.

6. What is your favorite album by an individual artist?
This is hard to choose as well, but it could be Adele's 19.

7. What is something that you‘d rather be a bit dirty?
Sex talk.

8. What was the last TV show that you watched?
Just saw the last episode of Persons Unknown on demand. I'm still trying to decide whether I like the show or not. Last year's Shutter Island seems to be a lot better.

9. How many people have you met from the blogosphere? Who are they?
I've met the enviable pal of porn stars Sue. Other people who have blogs, I knew them before they start.

10. What's your philosophy on life?
Try everything at least once.

11. Do you think prescription drugs are over prescribed?
Definitely, but pharmaceuticals are also pushing drugs and encouraging hypercondriacs.

12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
I'm shitty at keeping secrets, but I'll try my best if I deem it is for the best for everyone.

13. What is your favorite memory in the last year?
Whatever it is, it'll probably involve the boyfriend.

14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
The TV show Wipeout.

15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
Related to question one, I guess my name doesn't have anything to do with me.

16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?
1) Winning the lottery whenever I decide to play. 2) Tip-top physical shape. 3) Be Healthy.

17. Who would you want to get together with and make a cake?
Anyone, I always love baking, but if I can learn from someone, I'd like it to be Jacques Torres.

18. Which country is your spiritual home?
I've never been to most of the world so I can't say but I from Hong Kong and I always fantasize about going to Greece.

19. What is your big weakness?
Motivation. I lack motivation and I can lounge all day doing nothing.

20. Do you think you're a good person?
I'd like to think so.

21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
In Hong Kong, my best subject is English. To boast, I was the top of my class. But here, my English is really not that great, so math is my best subject.

22. Describe your accent:
It's a mix of Chinese, British and French. A lot of nasal sounds.

23. If you could change anything about yourself, would you?
I would change a lot of things. I always live in the coulda, shoulda, woulda.

24. What do you wear to sleep?
Next to nothing.

25. What is your favorite casual outfit to wear?
T-shirt, shorts and sandals.

26. Do you use cigarettes or alcohol?
I'm a social drinker, usually sweet cocktails. I don't smoke.

27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)
If you have only one day to live, it'll be your call for sure, I'll do whatever. Have a meal that you'd miss the most, check something off from your bucket list like bungee jumping or jumping out from an airplane.

28. Rate the memes that you play generally. Use any scale or just in order.
Generally ok, if it was too stupid I wouldn't do them anyway, but I'd like something creative or involve graphics.

Anyway, have a great weekend!

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Anchor Babies Terror

It would have been a good educational show

A few congressmen are calling for the repeal of the 14th Amendment, I like how they just chose and select which amendments they like to repeal and when the liberal left wants to repeal the 2nd Amendment they are all up in arms about keeping the integrity of the constitution intact. Apparently when you're a redneck congressman, you can indeed have it both ways.



If we can attach the repeal of the 2nd amendment to their motion on the 14th, we might see some heads explode, it'd be quite a sight.

To gain support and speed up that motion, here's Texas Rep. Loon Louis Gohmert with his newest propaganda about Terror Anchor Babies. I shouldn't be surprised but can people really just quote some random imaginary people or research as proof? Good thing Anderson Cooper is there to ask for some credibility. I'm tired of interview tricks like this where Gohmert just keeps on yelling to prevent a legible dialogue. Dirty politicians.

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Inspiration of The Highest Degree

I'm surprised that the JetBlue flight attendant story had warranted such attention. I guess it was a great storm off scene, I would have loved to have slid down the airplane slide as well. Every time I fly, I do fantasize what happen if we landed somewhere in the ocean. What flotation device is nearby, where the mask will fall from and where is the closest exit. Good thing I never had to evacuate a plane in those circumstances.

Even though Slater's grandfather swore that the passenger must have done something very horrible for him to throw a tantrum like that, Slater's colleague said he does have a history to storm off when things don't get his way. And from his camera appearance, it seems like he does know how to throw around some sass. There are tremendous support for Slater which is rare since the guy is obviously gay and the media usually avoid good things in the gay community like they avoid leper and even though with the quote of the "sexual embrace", people are still behind this guy.

Various Facebook pages have popped up about him with supporters in the 100,000s overnight. He was able to make bail and another Facebook page had already been set up to support his legal fund. Late night TV is all over this one and even Roger Ebert and Rush Limbaugh has commented on it in support. A Taiwanese animation, a song, there's even a new T-shirt about the incident that I'm thinking about buying. I guess people generally bottle up a lot of emotions and we're all waiting to find opportunities to lash out.



With all this exposure, what I'm really curious about is the identity of the rude female passenger who undid her seatbelt and retrieve her luggage disregarding safety rules and caused a gash on Slater's forehead. What kind of a bitch was she and why not punish her by exposing her identity for the modern version of a public stoning to commence? (I have been known to keep listening to my iPod regardless of the turn off all electronics instructions, so I'm not really one to talk.)

I hope Mr. Slater will be hired back on JetBlue but it is a difficult situation. No passengers would like to know that their flight attendant will potentially curse them out. Maybe promoting him into a trainer position for his excellent operation skills of the inflatable slide or at the very least they should pay him a severance package and let him go the right way. Flight attendant should definitely have the power to blacklist rude and uncooperative passengers. For all we know, that lady could have a bomb or a luggage of snakes ready to unleash on the motherfucking plane, no?

*** NSFW ***

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The Perfect Profile Pic

I don't know if everybody is aware about a dating site called OKCupid but a few friends of mine have profiles on it and according to an entrance personality test, they will occasionally send you some matches saying either you'd be good as friends or potential love interests. I have no idea if it actually work, since according to that site some of my real life friends and I aren't even supposed to be good as friends.

Well, they have a fun little report out yesterday analyzing different factors of a profile picture and what combination will make the most attractive profile picture that people like to date.

From 552,000 online profile pics, they put two images side by side and ask people to make snap judgment on which one they will be more likely to date, after collecting over 11.4 millions of these inputs, the use the pictures EXIF data and made graphs and came out with the following analysis:

1. Camera Makes a Difference



Camera with interchangeable lens are obvious better than point and click ones, and camera phones are the worst. Just so you know that I've recently changed my camera phone from a Sony Ericsson to a Samsung, so I'm not getting older and uglier, it's just the phone, OK?



This graph illustrates 3 things: 1) It's practically impossible to take an attractive picture with a camera phone. 2) It's virtually impossible to take a bad picture is you're 23 or 28 years old. 3) No matter what pictures you take, no one would want to date you past the age of 45. Given OKCupid is not just a gay dating site, the shallowness goes beyond the gay community.



Also it seems that iPhone users have more sex than other cell phone users. I wonder if it has something to do with the apps or maybe iPhone users generally have higher incomes?

2. Don't Use Flash



Soft light can hide imperfections but flash exposes them. According to the graph above, turning on the flash adds 7 years to your face.

3. The Blurrier Your Surrounding Is, The More You Stand Out

The best pictures have a very low depth of field, the most attractive pictures have a f/stop lower than 2.5.



Blurring out the field allow the viewer to focus on you and get less distracted by other things in the picture.

4. Time Is Of The Essence





It is true what they say about the Golden Hour, the perfect time to take a picture is just after sunrise and just before sunset but there's an anomaly which happens around 3-4 am. I wonder if the late night pictures are of the less clothing kind. Avoid taking pictures around 9-10 am or 9-10 pm, it seems to be the worst time to take a picture.

So here we are, use a professional camera, use nature light around sunrise or sunset, blur out the environment and getting an iPhone is not too bad an idea either.

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Battle Cats and Jousting Mice

Slog has posted a picture that really intrigued me yesterday, it was from a Canadian sculptural artist Jeff de Boer that uses metal as a medium and his jewelery design skills to conjure up many a wonderful thing available on his sites. Part of his better known work is designing armors for mice and cats, here are some of them, you can check out the details and other fun robots and such from his site.

Cats:















Mice:















If all the mice would wear armors, it'd be so much easier just to set a magnetic trap.

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