The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration,hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.
The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.
The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.
In the past year or so, I've met a group of friends that I'm generalizing as the Straizians as in Straight Asians. It's a group of dozen or so people, led by a tiny female ringleader who's outgoing and loves to play, eat and drink while not having an ounce of fat on her. I fit in because our common love for Mahjong and food, plus both her and her husband are great people. Every week there's bound to be one or two gatherings of food and Mahjong and since I'm completely out of touch with the ongoings or Asian culture, I'm happy to get to know the latest TV shows, movies and trends through them... to a point.
This ringleader girl and her female friends are extremely into taking pictures of themselves all made up, with doughy eyes and puffy cheeks, in costumes and blurry foreground looking like Anime characters are crawling up my Facebook wall. It's different, and frankly this inhuman female power is scaring me a little bit. Music-wise other than the random rotating Chinese songs, the ones that are being hammered into my head is the following 3:
Wonder Girls - Nobody
Wonder Girls - 2 Different Tears
One time, we were traveling to a mall about an hour away and all they were playing was the above songs in their various remixed versions. Did you know that "Nobody" has like 7 different remixes and "2 Different Tears" were in like 5 different languages? Did you know that after hearing the same song over and over again a dozen times can overwhelm a brain and causes nausea?
Another song that's heavily in rotation is from a half Japanese, half Afro-Trinidadian called Thelma Aoyama (青山黛瑪/テルマ). Grew up in Japan and spending some years in California, Thelma is everything a J-pop fan could want. Seriously Japanese people love multiracial people, being part Japanese and part something else, she's gonna blow up harder than Mariah Carey, all she's possibly missing is having one blue eye and one green eye. Music-wise, the video below is her debut single, which is a one-time Guinness Record holder for Best Selling Digital Single in Japan with more than 2 millions full downloads. The record keeper as of now is a song name Kiseki (Miracle) by a group called Greeeen.
This song along with the above two were constantly played and they are also featured as ringtones for at least four of the girls there. There is no getting away from it.
Thelma Aoyama ft. SoulJa - Soba Ni Iru Ne (I'm By Your Side)
These few days I've been knitting a haramaki for my Halloween costume and I found out the I'm not really that experienced with knitting designs. I couple time, I've to undo and redo the whole thing just so I can get my designs in exactly the way I want it. I'm getting carpal tunnel in my fingers.
Spent a wonderful night out at a Night Market event where over a thousand people gathered out and have a block party where we got food from food trucks and tables set up by nearby restaurant. The event was so successful that the trucks ran out of food 45 minutes into the event and even though the supermarket was only a block away, they didn't think to run in and restock. They must not watch Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race. Come on people, there's money to be made! Anyway, it has been a blissful week for me since the boyfriend is back. For him however is the exact opposite since there's so much work to catch up with.
This week's Meme is brought to you over at Sunday Stealing. It's a 50-questions two-parter and since there were some questions missing, I have to go to the source over at Creative Bold to retrieve them. Here it goes:
1. Introduce yourself… Paul here, Asian, 6 foot, 35 years old, Chinese/French/British background.
2. It’s Wednesday at noon, where are you usually? Most likely at home.
3. What kind of laundry detergent do you use? Arm & Hammer. Fragrance Free.
4. What brand of shampoo is in your shower right now? Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat.
5. Did you ever get into a bar and drink before you were 21? I have been to a hotel bar in Thailand and had a glass of Creme de Menthe when I was 13.
6. What countries have you been to? Chronologically: China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Philipines, United States, Canada, Mexico. (Layover in Japan and Israel)
7. Do you watch MTV anymore? Not really. I did watch MTV's music video award and occasionally tuned in on True Life and the historic Snookie Slap on Jersey Shore.
8. What do you think about Oprah? Rich, black woman by I don't know why she's so popular or what got her so rich.
9. What color are your bed sheets? Mostly some designs of blue and white.
10. You need a new pair of jeans: what store do you go to first? Lucky Jeans. Ok, I'm really bad at clothes shopping and once I brought a friend there and my friend told me I look good in their jeans, so I thought all I have to do is to go there and get the ones I've gotten before.
11. Did you ever watch The O.C.? Nope.
12. What kind of car do you drive I don't drive.
13. Honestly, is that car insured? I guess not.
14. Do you like sushi? I love sushi. I crave it all the time.
15. Have you ever been to Tiffany & Co. or Saks 5th Ave? Yes to both but rarely to buy anything.
16. Did your parents spoil you growing up? I will say no. I don't get my way very often.
17. Do you like roller coasters? I thought I did but apparently not. Last time at Six Flags, I compared being on roller coasters as being raped. You grind your teeth and trying to hang tight while praying that it'd be over soon. After you got off, your legs get all wobbly and your butt hurts.
18. What magazine(s) do you buy regularly or subscribe to? I don't subscribe to any particular magazine. Nowadays the ones I buy is either Out or one of the cooking ones like Gourmet.
19. Do you remember the old WB show “Popular”? Can't say I ever seen one episode.
20. When you go out do you prefer to go to a dance club or to a bar? They are both good. Philadelphia has several dance club/bars that are enjoyable because I get to see people dance. The non-dance club have friendlier people.
21. What do you think about gay marriage? Of course it'd be good to gay marriage legalized, and I think if they want gays less promiscuous or "immoral", there's nothing better than legal gay marriage to stabilize our community.
22. Who do you think will be the next president? Hopefully Barack Obama will get to serve a second term. I hope to god there won't be a Palin/Beck ticket.
23. Are you registered to vote? Nope, not a citizen yet.
24. Do you own an iPad? No and I don't think I'll get one.
25. Is your bathroom filled with beauty stuff? No. A lot of grooming stuff and cleaning stuff.
Thanks to Bill Maher retrieving his old video footage from his days at Political Incorrect, crazy opportunist loon Christine O'Donnell was caught saying that she had practiced witchcraft during her college years amongst other more outrageous things. Truly, who cares if she "dabbled" into witchcraft when she was a teenager, but the questioning of why monkeys are not transforming into human now amongst other more outrageous things like being anti-masturbation do make her crazy.
Someone at her camp churned out this piece of public relation brilliance:
It actually made her look sane and sincere. Wearing a dark blue power suit and a strand of pearls, Christine O'Donnell is trying to look credible and substantial. "I'm not a witch..." with only a slight hint of incredulity, she dismissed the notion of what she herself has admitted and blown it to smithereens. "I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you. None of us are perfect." Way to level with her audience. She's like a girlfriend, a counselor, someone that people can trust.
But I have to object. She's nothing like me. I masturbate. Other than a year or two where I went through my goth stage wearing black and my fondness of tarot cards, I've never dabbled into witchcraft or seen a sacrifice alter. I believe that evolution is more than a theory and I know that it takes a long, long time for species to evolve. To say that she's just like me is an insult in my left-wing elitist mind. So I'm dismayed to see her commercial airing in my channels probably due to me being so close to the State of Delaware.
Other than the commercial, Christine O'Donnell had bowed out on any national media exposure. No doubt, feeling the heat of her past indiscretion. I mean how embarrassing would it be to be asked about her witchcraft or masturbatory practices. No, like many others I don't want someone who's just like anybody else to be a senator, I want someone high IQ and who's willing to put in hard work to be the leader. Not just some witchy woman.
---
Update:
Here's a new one from the same campaign titled: "I didn't go to Yale". Yale doesn't except crazy people, it should have been "I couldn't go to Yale"
On Monday night I stumbled into an episode of A-List: New York, the newest Logo TV original reality show programming about wealthy/famous gay people done in the fashion of the famed Real Housewives series.
We follow the lives of reality show star/model Reichen Lehmkuhl and his circle of acquaintances including Reichen's current boyfriend Brazilian model Rodiney Santiago, famed video/photographer Mike Ruiz, salon owner Ryan Nickulas and his Black husband/sugardaddy, former model Austin Armacost and model manager DerekLloyd Saathoff. Each of them have a micromechanism of gays of their own, creating all the melodrama feedback necessary for the show.
In this first episode, we got to know about these people and their claim to fame. Reichen introduced himself as a former contestant and winner of Amazing Race and his subsequent modeling career as well as his dating history with Lance Bass, but no, he doesn't want to be known and label to be the guy who dated Lance Bass. (Then don't mention it. Or am I missing something?) Mike Ruiz convinced us that he is the most sought-after photographer of celebrities while showing us how friendly he is with Kelly Rowland. Former model and celebrity plaything Austin Armacoat defined himself as the former boytoy of Marc Jacobs until he got dumped because he brought some friends to Marc Jacobs apartment and now that he's mildly out of shape, he needs to train his body back to get back into the modeling industry.
All these people are trying very hard to paint New York to be the place where everybody wants to be and they are trying very hard to convince people that they are the "A-List" of Gay New York and so everybody wants to be them. But no. These people are no role models.
I remember watching Reichen and his then partner, Chip, through Amazing Race where they painted a rosy picture of a gay Air Force pilot married a loving partner and then winning the race. But then the couple split up after the show and we see Reichen slowly dating himself to fame with various gay celebrities. No doubt Reichen is a buff good-looking, model quality person, but I don't see a role model in Reichen or someone I want to be. In the first episode we see Reichen struggling with an acting role in a musical called My Big Gay Italian Wedding in which he was hired to be the beefcake walking around in his undies, but in his mind he was an actor even though the producer cut a song from him because he can't sing and from the looks of it, he can't dance either.
Former model Austin had dated Reichen and now that Reichen has a boyfriend, he's using every trick in his bag to devalue the relationship Reichen and Rodiney, from the Brazilian's accent to the period of time they were together. And as the show ends, Reichen blew off his boyfriend and arranged a dinner date with Austin. As if the audience didn't know that gays can be bitchy, racist and all the bad stereotypes, the first episode shown as much. At least 3 of the cast member inspired to find someone so they can be taken care of.
These people try VERY HARD to convince the audience that they are somebody through name dropping of the people they've slept with and the parties they went to and in truth some of them are, but there seems to be a lack of self worth. And the bitchiness in general is very repulsive. So we saw a half-butt from Rodiney, the show does nothing for our youth, it does nothing for the gay movement and if this is being gay, maybe I don't wanna be gay anymore.
For two years in a roll now, I've gone to the Halloween Ball happening here in Philadelphia. For my very first costume party two years ago, I went as a Chinese Vampire, I altered a graduation gown into a Ching Dynasty royal official's robe bought some fabric for the edges, a cap, shoes, make up and all to complete the look and I've to say it looked pretty good. Even the Chinese lady at the Chinatown restaurant was quite spooked when me and some friends left the ball and decide to have some late night food.
I guess I was inspired by Project Runway and despite my bad sewing skills, I spent about a week or two gathering materials and it was not really that hard tacking cloth onto cloth and the result wasn't too horrible.
The second year, I went out with the boyfriend and since he decided to be his sexy Wolverine self, I decided I was going to be X-Men's Colossus, capitalizing on my big forehead and short black hair. At the same time, I was inspired by a site or two about duct tape costume and thought it would be a lot cheaper and easier to do. Boy was I wrong.
Maybe I should have planned ahead like the boyfriend suggested but in making the costume at the last minute, it got us both frustrated. I ruined a good belt, my nicest pair of trunks, and got a mild panic attack being in a duct tape girdle. Plus the whole thing came off looking poorly and smelled pretty bad. Never. Again.
This year we decided to plan way ahead. The boyfriend already chosen something ethnic that looks amazing on him and strangely fits his personality. Wanting to match the theme, I'd also be something ethnically I'm not - a Japanese Guy. Concept-wise, I drawn it from animes that I've watch when I grew up, something related to Doraemon or Mr. Ajikko. Like a Japanese vegetable or seafood vendor that looks a little bit like Zolo from One Piece but with a handband and not as sexy.
The look evolved a little after I think about it and afraid that the Halloween Ball people would think that I didn't go far enough and charge me full price for a ticket. I modified it a little to make it more out there.
1. A white headband 2. Kabuki Make Up 3. A Japanese Oni/Hannya/Tengu Mask. 4. A Happi Coat 5. A white buttoned undershirt. 6. A green Haramaki. 7. A pair of black pants that is loose on top and skinny in the bottom. 8. White Tabi socks. 9. Black wooden Getas.
During a trip to my mecca giant Japanese supermarket compound Mitsuwa, I've successfully acquired item 4, 5 and 8 at a steep cost. There are certain nice Japanese masks on Ebay but most of them cost an arm and a leg and all I wanted was a red plastic Hannya mask for one night. I end up buying an OK looking one at a relatively affordable cost.
I'm personally knitting my own Haramaki using a tan cotton yarn. In hind sight, I could have just cut up a sweater that I don't use anymore or go to H&M and got some scarf and roll them around my stomach. The yarns and effort don't come cheap. Even though I found the pants I like on Amazon Japan, I'm a bit iffy buying them online without trying them on, they only sell them in Medium and Large, god knows in Japanese standard I'm probably XL, also I don't think they mail those internationally. I got a pair of black cargos to make do. I also can't seem to find a good large pair of Getas for my large feet. There are brilliantly attractive ones that I don't think will fit. Since Zolo wears boots, maybe I'll do that instead, but then I will have to return my tabis.
For a guy with little to no knowledge about applying make up, it'll be quite hard for me to do a kabuki one a la E. Honda. I wonder how many things I've to invest in to achieve the look. Of course an 80s platinum blond rocker wig will also look awesome with it.
Hope it'll all look good by the time I'm done.
Can anyone tell me if I really have to buy a dozen of make up tools to achieve a similar look?
I haven't been into a McDonald's for years and it's not as much as a conscience health decision but more because of a taste issue since their food taste too greasy, there's a slight difference. When I do go a few years back, I like their Big Mac, Filet O Fish, milkshake, fries and chicken nuggets. No, I don't order all those things at once. I also like their Sausage Egg McMuffin, hash browns and sundaes, and they are all as high calories as possible. What? Who in their right mind would go to a fast food chain for salads?
Well, here's a picture that will have me swear off McDonald's for the rest of my life:
The picture above is what's so called Mechanically Separated Chicken and the process of making it goes beyond deboning and grinding. Yeah, if you've seen the movie Food, Inc., you'd probably know that chicken farmers are paid little to no money producing chickens. They are forced to pay and take out giant loans to build chicken camps and forced to keep up with the installation of the newest ventilating units and while the chickens are kept in literal silos that don't see any daylights, germs and virus manifests itself since no one really clean the poops up for months. Chickens are mechanically swept and dumped into trucks after a few months and taken to be processed. Instead of clean individual coop with fresh air, they do it this way to keep the cost low.
There's more: because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.
I guess I won't be eating chicken nuggets anytime soon.
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The boyfriend is due to come back from his UK tour this afternoon and I'm eager to see him, if not, the souvenirs that he's bringing back. Haha.
This week's meme is from Kapgar, I'm trying to find some more interesting memes online but it's getting harder and harder but everyone loves a graphic meme, no? It's not until I did this mem that I started to appreciate Flickr more. Photobucket is, shall we say, still developing? I tried to search for bearded Asian and it yields no result. Oh well.
Here’s how it works:
1. Go to www.photobucket.com. 2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box. 3. Use only the first page. 4. Insert the picture into your blog.
Well I do like hair on a muscle chest so I'm a little against the shaving part, but it is an amazing chest and with that deep frat boy voice narrating the whole action is quite sexy. Yum!
It seems like everyday this week, I hear some kind of gay teen suicides or death because of some bullying at school.
On September 9, 15 years old Billy Lucas hung himself in his mother's barn in Indiana because his classmates thought he was gay telling him he's a piece of crap and didn't deserve to live.
Former student of the Greensburg High School had been bullied for the same reason before and when he complained to the school administrators, they just dismiss his complain, the same student had tried committing suicide. On the video clip below, you'll hear the school principal actually blaming Billy Lucas for his own bullying.
On September 23, Asher Brown shot himself with a pistol. Asher had been harassed for the past 18 months for being smaller in stature, his religion, not wearing name brand clothes and shoes. He has also been labeled as gay by the other bullies. On the day before he died, Asher was intentionally tripped down a flight of stairs and his books were kicked everywhere by his classmates. The next morning, Asher told his parents that he was gay and while his parents did not condemn him, Asher found a pistol in his stepfather's closet and killed himself. He was 13.
Throughout the past 18 months, Asher's parents had called School administration at Hamilton Middle School to complain about their son being bullied and harassed, they have talked to the counselors and assistant principal but they were mainly brushed off. After Asher's death, the school official claimed that no one have ever reported that any bullying have ever gone on at the school, almost calling the parents of the dead child are liars.
In California, 13 years old Seth Walsh hung himself on a tree in his backyard after years of being bullied. On the day that he hung himself, a few kids were taunting him but they said they never expected Seth to hang himself. School administrators said they have an anti-bullying program in place, but schoolmates said staff at Jacobsen Middle School in Tehachapi offered Seth no protection or guidance.
After 9 days of being in a coma, Seth died on Tuesday.
I guess for the kids there, it's hard to start a new school year knowing that for the coming months and perhaps years, they'd have to stay in the same school with those same monsters who would cause them physical and emotional pain. The lack of support or justice from the school officials are at the end, the ones to blame. While I applaud Dan Savage's initiative to tell GLBT teenager that it'll get better once they grow up, I also understand that one year for a young person can feel like an eternity, I don't know by telling them things will get better actually helps. Even after we grew up, we're still facing people who tells us everyday that being gay is a sin. Case and point: an asshole who is telling gay kids that things will get worse and the kids who commit suicide that they will go to hell. It's too vile to post it here but if you're interested, watch it here.
There will always be crazy loons that tries to bully people for myriad reasons. An Assistant Attorney General from Michigan, Andrew Shirvell is harassing the student body president at University of Michigan Chris Armstrong. Shortly after knowing that Chris Armstrong is gay, Mr. Shirvell set up a blog just in the purpose of slandering Chris. He also go out to where Chris lives and videotape what he's doing whenever he can, all in the name of his first amendment right and labeling Chris as a political figure. Sounds more like the guy has unresolved gay issues and Chris is his object of obsession. Anywho, Chris Armstrong has a stalker and he looked semi-retarded. I wonder if a little protest outside the AG office for a few days is not just the appropriate act to get him fired.
On the subject of Tyler Clementi, the 18 years old Rutgers Freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge because of his roommates broadcast his sexual encounter in his dorm room for the world to see. I don't know if this could classify as bullying. Clearly it's invasion of privacy but I don't know if it was done in jest or maybe the roommates just didn't realize the consequence of their actions. The whole thing, along with all the other suicides in this post are just very unfortunate, sad and somewhat infuriating.
Our culture are brewing some kind of self-righteousness for a group of people to treat another group badly. The bullies felt that they can rightfully torment gays and the authority figures are turning a blind eye either because they agree with that point of view or they are just too lazy to deal with kids and providing justice and at least protection. And when the victim kill themselves, everyone is surprised or they claim not to be responsible, and then these people are not punished for what they have done. It gets me angry.
Well, like every good slutty gay guys I do have Grindr on my iPod just so I can seek out every gay guy in my neighborhood. Being in the city and living so close to the gayborhood, there are tons of them nearby and now when I go out on the street, I have an enhanced gaydar. I rarely use it to hook up and usually I don't even initiate conversations.
Other than the famed Grindr, there are also lesser known app like DNR Social which is another version of Grindr, I used this one to scoop out the boys in Henderson Island. There's also Scruff which is a cruising app for bears and their admirers and apparently something called Qrushr which made themselves to be the major competitor of Grindr.
Something surprising got to my attention yesterday. Apparently Qrushr has launched another app called Qrushr Girls which to my knowledge is the first Lesbian oriented iPhone cruising app.
And I thought lesbians or female in general is less raunchy than gay guys, I wonder a cruising app like this would work in a community that is less sex-crazed, but if there's a need to have an app so that lesbians can identify one another on the street then more power to them really.
To show you how much free time the boyfriend and I have and how silly we can be, we invented a little game with our iPods. Through making random people our favorites on the app and blocking others, we were able to manipulate people's profile, so the right pictures will end up on top or side by side to one another, which, allow us to combine some image and create some mishmash of longer torsos or super creatures.
Here's what we got so far:
It's not exactly tons of fun, but it's amusing to us nonetheless.
Knowing that I like reading about food, a friend gave me a month old issue of Philadelphia Magazine where on the cover Iron Chef and Philadelphia Restaurateur Jose Garces is holding a baby pig with a shit-faced grin, perversely promoting the suckling pig meal at one of his restaurants. What I didn't expect was a detailed story in the magazine about the racial conflicts amongst Asian and Black students in high schools all over Philadelphia.
No one seems to know how it started, even though some seems to think that it might have something to do with Asians moving into neighborhood and taking over the corner grocery stores and driving up housing prices by acquiring them and remodeling them, though I thought there was always a large Asian community.
All we know is that those Asians who like to keep to themselves are picked on by black students as sources of amusement. Every day 70 to 100 Black students would roam and block off hallways where ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms are located and pick random Asian student targets to beat up and laugh from it. Since the perpetrators are numerous, the victims have a tough time pointing them out. After a while, a culture is created where the Asian students expect to be bullied and the school administration look the other way.
The Asian students tries to boycott the school while others have to drop out altogether just so that they can feel safe, but still nothing happened. In October 2008, thirty Black students chased 5 Asians down a subway station and beat them down which they were later hospitalized. Last December, seventy Black students started beating every Asian students in their path, a few of them suffered head and face injuries, one suffered his nose smashed and broken that he has a nose bleed non-stop. School police and the school sergeant also got pushed around which speak to a non-existing school security.
For the following 8 days, the Asian students gathered in Chinatown where a temporary classroom were put together for them to do classwork and study while a representative go to the school to gather coursework. On December 3rd, the media got hold of the story and placed an enormous pressure on the school and the school district to deal with the problem. 126 new security cameras are put in place, more security staff and counselors are placed to help the students. The principal resigned. As those victims are graduating, their hopes remain to be for the school climate to change for the better for future immigrants but no one could be sure that it will.
Throughout all this I'm shocked that not one student who incite violence had been criminally charged or disciplined in any sense. If that's the case, how could anybody learn from this? If beating up people has no consequences, why would anybody stop? If I were to be young again and attending class in South Philadelphia High, the first thing I'd do is to arm myself. If I were richer and know that this is happening, I would at least buy the students some mace or a folding knife if I can't distribute handguns. How else do you defend yourself against 70 people who all want a piece of you? Regardless of race, people only respond to danger. Since they are beating you up for no reason, how can you reason with them? Unfortunately I don't know how to be tactful when I'm physically threatened.
When I was in high school, we have a system where 3 warnings become a small demeanor, 3 small demeanors become a big demeanor and 3 big demeanors will get you expelled. When even getting late to class deserves a warning, we all strive to be perfect. It was strict, but at least we behaved and nobody ever got sent to the hospital because they were beat up.
I was reminded of Dan Savage's recent video campaign in effort to help gay teens from killing themselves. If anyone get bullied, all they have to know if it'll get better when you get out of high school. Life is not over just because some asshole decides to pick on you. Happiness will come eventually, and the bullying assholes will most likely end up in jail.
I used to like Sugar Ray, that was when I first come to the States in 1997. And when I say I liked Sugar Ray, I mean I find Mark McGrath really attractive in a Backstreet Boys' Kevin Richardson kinda way (which I found to be the best looking amongst the 5, Brian Littrell comes in a close second) but with a more sunny outgoing personality. Music-wise, Sugar Ray was easy listening enough, very generic, beachy rock ballads. I was sorta happy for Mark McGrath when he gets his TV show gig on Extra! at least there's an afterlife after his music career faded.
But I just saw this clip of him on The Soup and it lost me big time:
Is it me or does he looks like Bruce McCulloch of Kids In The Hall?
I guess the Sugar Ray years were about 12-13 years ago and we can't all age gracefully but it's not just his face. It's mostly that hair. He looked a lot better when he had darker hair, he looked better even with platinum blond tip but that greasy dirty blond hair right now is not doing him any favors. It looked more like a balding guy with a mid-life crisis and bad hair plugs who's trying slightly too hard. Ugh. It's just painful to see a cute guy change into something else.
The boyfriend is touring Dublin and London for a week and a half and I'm left to my own device. Seriously, I much rather be traveling myself. Folsom Street Fair is going on right now in San Francisco and I'm sorry that I'll be missing all the debauchery. Especially given how much fun I had last time I was there, it's sort of like Christmas for me and a lot of other more adventurous folks. Speaking of which, Sue is heading to Folsom and attending all the parties, I'm so jealous.
Since I have a lot of time in my hands, I dug up an old meme from kapgar about movies, nothing kills more time than meme and movies.
1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times. I don't think I've seen any one single movies more than 10 times. I've never been that obsessive. The most I can think of would be Sister Act, I probably have seen that movie 5-6 times.
2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in the theater. One of the few I can think about is Sister Act 2, I saw it twice in theater. There must be others, but I'm not sure which. (I guess I'm really into the singing back then)
3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie. Seldom is there an actor that makes me want to go to the theater to see a movie. It'll have to be someone who choose consistently good scripts to act on. Woody Harrelson, maybe?
4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie. How many can I list? This is really too many to count. Socialite, talentless singer/actress, lack luster comedians...
5. Name a movie that you can and do quote from. I'm very bad at this. I have friends who can remember every line no matter how insignificant they might be but I'm really shit at this. Maybe Pulp Fiction.
6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Chicago, definitely. I loved the musical before hand and sing the songs all the time, so I can do Chicago. Probably Rent as well.
7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with. Well, the musicals above. Dick Tracy is another one.
8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see. I loved Beautiful Thing and I'd recommend it to everyone.
9. Name a movie that you own. I do have a small collection of films. Shelter (2008) is one of them.
10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops. Former model Rebecca Romijn was surprisingly good in X-men.
11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what? No, but I'd like to experience that, it seems like a lot of fun but I'll have to get a driver's license and a car first. Also I think the drive-in theaters are hard to find in my neck of the wood and they are a dying breed.
12. Ever made out in a movie? You know what, no. If you're paying close to $16 for a ticket, you might as well pay attention, no?
13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t yet gotten around to it. Wow, that's another question that require a huge answer. There must be tons. Right now I think it's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I do like my mystery thrillers.
14. Ever walked out of a movie? Yes, two-three times. One is Bruce Labruce's Otto; Or, Up With Dead People. For me, zombie movies can either be funny or scary. A pretentious zombie movie made to ponder about existence is a bit too much. Another one involves a gay film fest entry with Thai boys doing soft core porn that has a very dumb plot which I deemed to be a waste of time. If they were hairy gentlemen, I might have stayed. And then I think I walked out of Executive Decision because it was a tad boring and my friends just wanted to leave.
15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. There are quite a few of them, but I really can't remember. I don't know if I'm getting more jaded or the recent writings and productions are not as great but crying during the movies are happening less and less.
16. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater? Something in 3D... I think it was Piranha 3D. It was fun.
17. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? I think it's fantasy/adventure. I like movies that bring me to a place I've never been before. It doesn't hurt if there are magic, special powers or machinery involved.
18. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? The would probably be a Hong Kong comedy called Security Unlimited, not that I can remember much of it. Other than that I've seen Bambi in Paris and another one called La Soupe Aux Choux, I remembered it as a comedy, but then I was 6 then, so everything would be pretty funny to me.
19. What movie do you wish you had never seen? Every film is an unique experience even the scary, disgusting ones and the bad ones, the worst would be boring ones which are truly wastes of time. The Twilight series would probably qualified as wastes of time.
20. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? Is it horrible that I actually enjoy the Jackass series?
21. What is the scariest movie you've seen? It was a Japanese vampire movie I saw when I was 7. Nothing is scarier and creepier than Japanese horror films, and nothing is scarier when you're watching a horror film when you were 7.
22. What is the funniest movie you've seen? Something starring Stephen Chow, probably Kung Fu Hustle.
The first time I ate in a Chinese restaurant in the States for the first time, I think I was baffled at the silly cookie and the bullshit unfounded superstition it spewed, but after knowing the culture associated with it and the "...in bed" gag, I started liking it. I especially like the ones with orange flavoring and the chocolate dipped ones.
So the cloture vote on DADT has failed 56-43 with not one Republican voting "Yes". Even if the 3 Democrats who voted "No" change their votes, I would still have been lost by one, it just reinforce that when it comes to voting Republicans falls in line and don't stray, maybe Tea Partiers will fix that. It's sad and frustrating, it wasn't even the repeal itself but language to follow the study's outcome, but the Republican wouldn't even let us have that. Given this being an election year, no one wants to go on record support a controversial bill lest it would riled up voters in an undesirable manner. It just reminds me that politics is often ugly and rarely constructive.
The main villain of this whole ordeal is John McCain who started the call for filibuster, who despite saying that he'll follow the advice of high ranking military officials and when those officials support the repeal of DADT, McCain stuck to his homophobic guns. And then this:
Of course, I'm also disappointed that we have to resort to Lady Gaga to come out to hold rallies in support of the repeal. Not that she's not doing a great job, anyone who comes out fighting for gay rights should get proper recognition but then while the right is united to go against us, I don't see a lot of effort coming from the left. All we got from the president is a White House statement and other than a short speech from Al Franklin, I don't see any other passionate senators coming out in support. Gay rights is indeed a low priority, hopefully after the elections someone will do something about this. But if more teabaggers get into office, I doubt that we will get what we want anytime soon. I thought by electing someone who promised change and having the house majority, we will have a better shot in getting equal rights, if health care and the economy is not going anywhere, why can't we be next? Unfortunately, there will always be Republicans in this country, who do we need to elect and what perfect condition need there be before we get what we want?
I've never been a fan of Dancing with the Stars, because let's face it: most stars can't dance and you're really not dancing with them now, are you? In fact I have never watch a single episode of it. But this season got more interesting, not because of Bristol Palin but because of Margaret Cho. Here's her doing a Viennese Waltz:
Kudos for her to attempt adding some cheesy comedic element to her performance, though the judges didn't respond to that. Fuck'em, Margaret clearly can dance. While I still don't think I'll watch her on TV, there's always YouTube clips available the day after. Though I wonder how long she'll stay on the show since she's sort of a D-list actress herself and how many long sleeve gowns can they find to cover her biker tattoos.
Back in the mid-1940s, Seagram’s advertised its VO Canadian whiskey with a series of extremely manly magazine ads about “Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow”, comparing their production 6 year old aged whiskey to futuristic thinkers. Though some of these drawings did become true today,
1. Perfected Television & Radio Telephone Combined (February 1943)
Although Americans have been doing videoconferencing for a while, videophones has just reached this country and it's still not very popularized.
2. 3-Dimensional Movies (June 1943)
So the concept started that long ago, huh?
3. Groceries on Wheels (April 1944)
This one speaks to me particularly. I've seen vendors selling produce in the back of a pickup truck or a van, but one with its own butcher? I wonder if it'd work in some suburban/rural community. It looks like a fun job.
4. The Portable Radio-Telephone (October 1944)
Seagram explained that this technology was already in use for armed forces and it'll soon be sold in the market, but that postponed about 50 years.
5. The Office of Tomorrow (March 1945)
In this rendition of a futuristic office, there's a videoconference box and lots of gadgets on the desk. Very much like the desktop and peripherals that we have today.
6. Top Stories & News Events as You Dine (April 1946)
Dining while watching news on TV? What a novel idea? As you can see, there are flatscreen TVs on the wall broadcasting sports as gentlemen are drinking. Too bad sports bar patrons wear more trucker hats than suits nowadays.
