Music Invasion: Elaine Stritch's "Ladies Who Lunch" & Patti LuPone and George Hearn's "A Little Priest"

Continuing with my obsession with Sondheim and being a bit drunk on a Saturday night, I bring you a brilliant performance by the original Joanne of 1970 Broadway musical Company in a 2000 encore performance.



Other than the song and the singing itself, Elaine's gesture and expressions are also spot on. It's just great.

As I was working part time for these few days I've being humming showtunes like A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd. What is happening to me?



After hearing the same songs, same lyrics and same puns again and again, do people laugh out of politeness or do they really find it funny still?

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Weekend Meme: The Fire Meme

I have been very busy looking for jobs lately and it is not easy. I went to Macy's for an interview for holiday help which I wasn't really excited to start with mostly because of pride, but I really wanted a consistent income. I didn't expect that they only pay $8 an hour which is merely higher than the state minimum wage and at the end it turns out all their positions were filled already. Seriously, how does anyone live on $8 an hour? I am working on a 3 day tech support project and I'm sending my resume everywhere. Spending a lot of money printing things out and faxing paperwork at Kinko's and Staples. Maybe I should invest money in a cheap all-in-one, that said I'm still not getting any response. I wonder why.

Today's meme is from The Queen's Meme and it has to do with fire anyway, let's get started.

1. You are stranded on a desert island. There is only one match left in the matchbox. What would you use it for?
Light a fire to keep warm, cook and keep wildlife away.

2. Do you burn bridges in relationships?
I do tend to do that. I don't know why. I guess in some way I'm intense and I don't do well with slowly fading relationships.

3. Name one thing you'd like to set on fire today.
Paperwork. I'm accumulating a lot of job seeking paperwork and it's cluttering and getting on my nerves.

4. Have you ever burned a cupcake?
Nope. When I'm in the kitchen I usually watch things like a hawk.

5. If you had your choice and could change nature's ways, instead of smoke and lava, what should spew out of volcanoes?
Melted gold.

6. When is the last time you used a Fire Extinguisher?
Never. Really I don't remember ever using one.

7. Have you ever known anyone with a fiery uncontrollable temper? How did you handle it?
I don't think I know how to calm people down. I can fix problems but I can't handle people who goes out of control. Usually just avoid the person until they calm down.

8. You are with your significant other. What song are you singing around the campfire?
I don't think we are campfire people. There's a pretty good Chinese campfire song called "The Moon Represents My Heart".



You ask me how deep do I love you
How much do I love you
My feelings are true, my love is true
The moon represents my heart

You ask me how deep do I love you
How much do I love you
My feelings won't go away
My love won't change
The moon represents my heart

A light kiss has my heart moved
A deep love have me feeling until now

You ask me how deep do I love you
How much do I love you
Go think about it, go look
The moon represents my heart

*** The song, as romantic as it might be, won't work on any other time than the night with a full moon. ***

9. What is the one thing you'd gladly leave IN your house in case of fire.
There's a drawer of old speakers, telephone and wires inside my closet that I don't need at all.

10. When is the last time you got fiery fighting mad?
It was when a stupid drunk picked a fight with me on the dance floor. I poured my drink on him but I was upset for days.

11. Do you believe in hell?
Not as a real place. I believe in living hell.

12. Do you or have you ever smoked?
I tried but never got hooked.

Anyway, have a great weekend!

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What The Kids Are Wearing

During "Ally Week", three students at St. Charles North High School wore "Straight Pride" t-shirts with a little excerpt on their backs quoting a bible verse from Leviticus: “If a man lay with a male as those who lay with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination and shall surely be put to DEATH." This, of course, transpired an outrage from fellow students because of its plain offensiveness. But even though the school have a rule about how students should not disrupt the educational process or interfere with a positive learning and teaching environment through clothing, they have not disciplined the boys probably due to their first amendment rights and the legal implications.

It is true even bigoted imbeciles have rights. Although not clothing items are equal.



Coy Sheppard, a soccer player from Mendenhall High School Mississippi has been kicked off his high school soccer team last month because he showed up in a match wearing pink cleats which he was later ridiculed by his coach and when he showed up at practice wearing those pink cleats again, his coach threw him off the team. Since Coy needs the credit, being kicked off the team might mean him not being able to graduate.

It turns out those pink cleats are given by his 82 year-old grandmother who was a breast cancer survivor and the cleats are supposed to be a token to raise breast cancer awareness during Breast Cancer Awareness Month like all the NFL players were doing. Americans are overtly sensitive on what can be construed are homosexual behavior. Coy is suing the school and he planned to donate any judgment to the American Cancer Society but before he could do that the school had already sat him down and agreed to put him back on the team and apparently the coach hugged him out.

So as long as you dress in gender-specific colors, you'd be ok.

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Teabaggers & Alaska

Tea Party candidate and sore loser Joe Miller is trying to sue the state of Alaska for counting Lisa Murkowski's misspelled votes. Since Lisa Murkowski lost in the Republican primary election, she campaigned to be a write in candidate where while she's not on the ballot, people can still write her name on the ballot to elect her and as a result she won at 43% while Joe Miller lost by 7%.



While Murkowski is not the easiest name to spell, to reverse the decision will require about 13,500 misspelled votes which Lisa Murkowski had took the precautions of handing out handbands with her name on it, spelling bee contest and various commercial and sign to assure the locals spell it the right way. It's also worth noting that her father was a former governor preceding Palin, so people should really know the name.

But the focus is Joe Miller's attitude on this is that by hook or by crook, he wants to be the one in charge. He doesn't really care what the voters want, as if a vote for "Merkowski" or "Murcowski" does not state the voter's intention clear enough. Miller is going to pull a fast one just like Bush and his lawyers did during the Florida recount in 2000. It stays true to Sharron Angle's sentiment about when things don't go their way, they will try any remedies.

On another Alaskan teabagger news, apparently the long awaited TLC Sarah Palin show is going to be on air soon.



Not that I'll watch it, I can barely stand the promo but I find it plenty ridiculous. A governor resigned because she got more profitable offers for being a mouth piece on a right-wing news station, writing books and being the star of a reality show. All of this would be okay if she is not running for presidency or if she's being honest and factual but she is neither because she is not smart enough.

My fear is that she will be humanized and seem relatable to the average American voter. From the fact that Bristol Palin is still competing in Dancing With The Star, it tells you that they do have a tremendous amount of supporters. This new show is just going to be a political tool for Mama Grizzly there to spew her nonsensical wisdom written by Fox News propagandists to recruit a new base for her. That combine with dancing Bristol, Levy who's running for Mayor on a Republican ticket no doubt and perhaps a crawling baby or two, we've got a perfect little family.

I'm swearing off TLC. It used to stand for The Learning Channel but between this and (Jon &) Kate Plus 8, what are we exactly learning from them? That any dumb fuck/whack job can be for governor or president? That you can say any stupid thing you want without consequences as long as you're louder than your critics?

Frustrating.

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The 2 Billion Dollars Trip

Last Wednesday, The Press Trust of India had reported on NDTV an article about Obama's visit to India. In the report It was estimated that the president will be spending around $200 million a day, with 3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists accompanying him. US Secret Service had been sent there ahead of time to take care of security measures. Air Force and Navy had intensified the Indian coastlines and the Taj Mahal Hotel had been cordoned off completely during his stay.

Since the cost of the trip is kept secret, there's no way to verify any of this information, so the news provided a great building block for FOX News et al to have a great time and make stuff up. The most important number here being the 300 people entourage. I have a hard time believing it will require 3000 people to take this trip, but I guess if it is true it will require 40 planes to transport that many people abroad and 700 cars to move them from venue to venue. But 34 warships and 30 bomb sniffing dogs?

This is Rachel Maddow's take on the issue:



I have no doubt that a lot of this entourage are local officials and international press that will pay for their own way and I'm sure a President as conservative as Barack Obama knows better than spend $200 million a day on a trip during a recession in our country but this is going to be a reality for him now. A reality that no matter what he does or suggest, the fact is going to be skewed to something horrible as to discredit him. There is no way he could win, even if he said the trip only cost Americans $50,000 for 10 days, people will still whine that half a million dollars are going down the drain for something as trivial as Indian and Asia. And we know that it's going to be a heck lot more than $50,000 a day. My problem is more of the PR and damage control around the President seems to be non-existent, much like how no one knows about his accomplishments or how every Democratic candidate this year seemed to avoid mentioning Obama at all cost like his name is a plague. What is the DNC doing?

I sincerely doubt that there will be any progress in the congress for at least the next two years with the Republicans gaining in numbers and doing anything they can to oppose the President. Unless through some kind of trickery we can get them to think that the nation is progressing towards equality and they will be in the wrong for not supporting it. If one think we know the Republicans, unlike the Democrats, do fervently adopt and adhere to the values of their voters but all that was expected. All we can hope, is that the Democrats will understand the anger of their base and understand that there are consequences from their inaction or settling for less. If anything voters are tired of is promises from politicians that end up not being delivered. We're living in the age of the internet and instant gratification, our attention span is getting shorter and the drawn out process that is politics does not fit our lifestyles anymore.

By the way, there is really a Taj Mahal Hotel and this is how it looks like:

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Candies Are Bad For You

I have always believe that in order to lose weight, you must do something harmful to your body to hinder its growth. Back in the days when I was taking biology class in high school, I was told that in order for a plant to growth in its maximum capacity and speed there are a few elements that needs to be there: water, carbon dioxide/oxygen, temperature of around 37 degrees, light and nutrition. If any of those conditions turned out to be lacking, inconsistent or too much, the plant might yellow or wilt. So my theory is that if we need to either eat less or do something harmful in order to lose weight. Well, that or exercise...

Yesterday reading Yahoo! News I saw this kick in the nutsack:



Nutrition professor from Kansas University, Mark Haub, about the same physical attribute I am now eating nothing but Twinkies for two months and losing 27 pounds. His diet is based on the theory that calories intake is the most important element on a diet and understanding that allows him to eat basically anything he wants as long as it's less calorie intake than spent.

He's having one Twinkie every 3 hours and to add variety, he's introducing powdered donuts, Oreos and Doritos. For realsies. Exercise-wise, he's doing 60-80 minutes a week. And for roughage, he's eating a can of peas and carrots or a raw vegetable every night. He's drinking coffee and drinking milk for protein. He's losing weight but still can't determine whether there will be any harmful consequences. This could be a diet that I can get behind, though I have yet to realize that it's not an all you can eat dessert cart.

On other weird dessert news, I have stumbled onto this video yesterday and can't get my head wrapped around one fact:



The average Armenian eats 88 pounds of chocolate a year!? That's roughly 7 pounds a month, 1 pounds every 4 days and 4 ounces everyday. We're not talking about a small kitkat bar, we're talking about 3 of them or a big baking chocolate bar every single day. How is Armenia not the fattest country in the world? Do they eat nothing but chocolate or are they a cold country that doesn't have heat and their citizens just burn calories to stay warm? I don't get it.

Well, I couldn't possibly believe anything I read online. Maybe it was a typo and it's really 8.8 pounds instead. Or like many other European countries, Armenians have the sensibility of eating very small meals and drink red wine to help process the amount of chocolate consumed. Or there's a loveless culture there and the nation needs to compensate and reach euphoria by eating chocolate. Anyhow, the chocolate kingdom of Armenia is on my list of places to visit now.

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Music Invasion: John Barrowman and Ruthie Henshall's "Unworthy of Your Love"

I think it was a few years ago on PBS where I saw this brilliant Sondheim review which featured Bronson Pinchot, Carol Burnett, John Barrowman, Ruthie Henshall and George Hearn that was so good that got me buying two copies. The long version is that I lend the first copy to a colleague who lost it and I have to go out and buying another one to replace it. In turn, I love Sondheim. The review is brilliant, it's funny, witty and touching at times. Of course, having the top tier musical actors in the act make the whole thing so much more decadent.

There are some great performance in the revival but right now this one is sticking to my head. It's an one-of-a-kind love song from the musical Assassins. Instead of showing the two characters here singing to each other, it is originally about a craze gunman assassinating Ronald Reagen to prove his love for Jodie Foster and female gunman Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme attempting to assassinate Gerald Ford for Charlie Manson. Instead of "Darlin', darlin'" in the lyrics, the original were "Jodie" and "Charlie" respectively. It's slightly crooked and unhealthy, but that's what makes it interesting.



Unworthy of Your Love

I am nothing, you are wind and water and sky.
Darlin', tell me darlin', how I can earn you love?
I would swim oceans, I would move mountains,
I would do anything for you, what do you want me to do?

I am unworthy of your love, darlin', darlin'
Let me prove worthy of you love.
Tell me how I can earn your love, set me free.
How can I turn your love to me?

I am nothing, you are wind and devil and God,
Darlin', take my blood and my body for your love.
Let me feel fire, Let me drink poison,
Tell me to tear my heart in two,
If that's what you want me to do.

I am unworthy of you love, darlin', darlin',
I have done nothing for your love.
Let me be worthy of your love, set you free.

I would come take you from you life...
I would some take you from your cell...
You would be queen to me, not wife...
I would crawl belly deep through hell...
Baby, I'd die for you even though I will always know:

I am unworthy of your love, darlin', darlin',
Let me be worthy of your love.
I'll find a way to earn your love, wait and see.
Then you will turn your love to me, your love to me...

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From One Scam To Another

I've been very actively looking for work for the past 2 weeks. Last week, I happened to get calls from 2 staffing agencies who enthusiastically scheduled me for interviews. Wearing my one good suit, I traveled 3 hours roundtrip out to the suburbs by bus in the rain, walked across a major highway to a non-descript building to a medium size office where two gentlemen tried hard to sell me to join their staffing agency where they will find me employment with major companies for short term contracts. They will help me with training, they even have insurance available for purchase. It all seems too good to be true, so when they asked me if I have any questions, I asked "What's the catch?"

They told me that they get commission from companies for handling their HR process, but after getting home and searching for these company, it turns out the way it works is that these staffing agencies create fake job postings to lure candidates to apply and interview with them. They request the candidates to bring professional references with them which the staffing company will use them to identify potential staffing opportunities.

If there are really jobs out there, the staffing company will only pay the candidates half of what they are charging the companies, which I find ironic since one of the interview I went to is for a staffing agency called Robert Half. On average, they are only paying workers about $14-16 an hour and they don't pay any benefits, the health insurance is pretty much a scam. For that kind of money, I could be an administrative assistant and get more from it. And if the company I work for happen to see me as an asset and wants to hire me, I could be sued for jumping ship. I guess the company will have to pay a premium fee to the staffing agency before I could be released. The reality is that in order for a staffing agency to survive they will have to contact more candidates than they have jobs and most candidates will be ignored after they got enough information from them.

All the job boards online is filled with fake positions created by these staffing companies and it's more than unethical in my books. Why would any companies buy into these scams? If people are willing to work for $14-16/hour while the companies are paying $30/hour to staffing companies to locate candidates, don't they know that they will be able to find cheaper labors? Too bad I'm at a time where I need the work and can't choose who I'm selling my soul to.

Cross my fingers that I'll get something soon.

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Weekend Meme: Name Meme

I have been pounding the virtual and actual pavements these few weeks trying to find a job and it's not easy. Most applications I sent out doesn't get me even a reply email and I don't know why. It might be because I worked in an HIV organization which implied that I'm either a carrier or gay, which could be perceived as undesirable. Or that my real name is overtly feminine which implied that I could be a FTM transsexual, but what's in a name really? It leaves me a bit dismayed and worried, not getting any younger here.

I've been putting off doing today's meme for a while because if reassembled carefully, I might have revealed more than I wanted. But I have handed my resume to more people than I care to, so what's a few more details?

Your Real Name: Paul

Your Gangsta Name (1st 4 letters plus izzle): Paulizzle

Your Detective Name (favorite color + favorite animal): Blue Bunny - Just like the ice cream brand.

Your Soap Opera Name (middle name + childhood street): Yves Beaudoin

Your Star Wars Name (last 3 letters of your last name + first 2 letters of your first name + first 3 letters of Mom’s maiden name): Ongpacha

Your Superhero Name (2nd fave color + favorite drink): Brown Black Currant Cosmo

Your Witness Protection Name (Grandma/Grandpa’s first name + Jones): Lancy Jones - I don't know the names of any of my grandpas and my grandma insists that her name is Lancy and not Nancy.

Your Goth Name (Black + name of one of your pets): Black Dragon

Your American Idol Name (favorite car and favorite seafood): Lotus Shrimp

Your Movie Star Name (sibling’s middle name + mother's maiden name): What if you don't have a sibling?

Your Alter Ego (name of one your childhood pets + popular brand of clothes when you were young): Dragon Bossini

Your Lawyer Name (favorite actor’s last name + favorite hard liquor): Manganiello Rum

Your Hip Hop Name (favorite candy + fruit): Riesen's Mango

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In An Attempt To Scam The Scammer

Business first, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has put an indefinitely stay on its DADT ruling yesterday, which timing-wise is decidedly suspicious. Were they throwing the fight for the Democrats? I'm still a bit dismayed by the situation where us gays have to be loyal to Democrats and in turn they get to be wishy-washy about us. If we keep on supporting the bunch no matter what, when will they ever learn to support us back? But I guess a tease is better than a definite no, so vote Democrats!

Speaking of scams, about a month ago I went to our biggest mall around the area in the suburb and saw a pretty nice car in the middle of it given away in a drawing. So I signed up in hopes of getting a car that I don't know how to drive. Resale value, right? Anyhow, about 2 weeks ago I received a call from the Wyndham Resorts group telling me that because I signed up, I can join them in Atlantic City for a 2-hour presentation and at the end of the presentation I will get a $25 casino cash certificate and 2 3-night stays at any Ramada in the country other than North Dakota. "But who wants to go to Fargo, right?" says the charming lady.

I didn't see any harm in that and I'm also tempted by the potential hotel stays so I can go somewhere with the boyfriend. So instead of going to DC supporting the Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear like any good liberal should on Saturday, I scheduled to go to Atlantic City and see what's up. I have talked to a friend who had gone through similar stuff and while he swore that he'll never do something like that again, he did say he got what he was promised at the end so how bad can it be?



It wasn't at the nearby Wyndham Towers but a nearby office building which I thought it was a tiny bit suspicious. I arrive 15 minutes early and brought my credit card as requested, signed up and waited for the presentation. I see a lot of families or couples attending and soon, they are all scooped up by sales agent in their late 30s to 40s. I was the last one to be swept away to another room where they socialized waiting for the actual presentation. A high-energy, enigmatic presenter comes out to present to about a dozen of families. He started by asking why people goes on vacation and where they'd like to go, starting to built up our travel fantasies. At the same time, he tells us how traveling relief stress hence reduce our chances of stroke and heart attacks. Mmm, okay...

The presentation goes on describing how Wyndham Resorts is one of the Fortune 100 companies and it's in the top 10 most ethical companies. I'm always highly skeptical with claims like these. Turns out, they are selling an inheritable timeshare that you accumulate points in exchange for nights in their resorts around the world, the points can also be changed into flights and other accommodations. After sitting through a 15 minutes commercial with boring sleepy music with their CEO and consumers talking about how great the resorts and the program are.

The presenter told us about a little anecdote about a huge football player who was there with his wife and twin daughters investing in the timeshare. His daughters were thrilled about the opportunity to go to Disneyland. A year or two later, the football player came back to the office and showed our presenter his travel pictures and afterwards, he told him that the wife and daughters had died in a car accident and in a shaky voice our presenter told us the moral of the story is to treasure the ones near us because they could be gone one day and the time share is a commitment to those near us that you will spend quality time with them. Hello, single here! And are you telling me the poor sob invested on your program and is reminded that his family is gone everyday by a vacation program that he's still paying for and won't get to use it anymore?

After that brilliant end of the presentation 75 minutes in, my dedicated salesperson came over for an one-on-one which he took me on a tour of some room models. "It's not your traditional two beds, a bath and a bible" Dan says. "There's a kitchen, a living room with a sofa bed, a small jacuzzi in the bathroom." At this point, I'm curious on why the cost of the program were still unmentioned. After leading me to a huge touchscreen TV and showing me how the resorts around the country look like, Dan took me to the cold patio to tell me how great the value of the program is and then back to a table to seat me down. Retrospectively I guess I needed to seat down, because as he revealed the price, he asked me for a $67,000 down payment for 30-40 days a year of resort time. Seriously Dan? For the price of 4 cars?



Of course, I refused the outrageous notion that anyone would have that much vacation time and for a single person renting an apartment, I would rather use that money to pay for a down payment for a condo somewhere. I started to see Dan's wise guy edge as he pressure me into giving him reasons why I can't do it and all the reasons I give him seems to be not good enough for him. After refusing again, he called over the sales manager who is obviously playing for my team. Let's call him Scott. Scott seems to be your regular car salesman says he's going to find me some better deals while Dan tries to pressure me some more. A second deal of $15,000 for 10 nights a year which I rejected and a third deal of $2000 for 5 nights a year, which I said I'll have to go back and research some more before I can respond because I'm not an impulse buyer. They told me the offers are only valid if I bought into it right there and refused to give me copies of their information. Just as well.

Dan further pressure me to give him some contacts in order to get into another raffle for something else and then he past me off to another guy who asked me questions about the performance of the salespeople and again, my reason for not participating. Then, it's prize time. I got a $25 cash voucher that I successfully cashed in at a Trump Casino. The vacation package that I was set to receive including some dinner compensations from an entity called Spirit Incentives turned out to have very weird and scammy rules.

1) You have to send them $100 good faith deposit. They will give it back to you 30 days after travel is done, but if you don't show up, they will keep it.

2) You have to mail in your dates to them within 45 days and 45 days before departures to see availability. The dates have to be Sunday through Wednesday and you have to pay $25 if you want them changed. Not valid for 7 days before or after any major holidays.

After researching online, it turns out tons of sites equate Spirit Incentives with the word scam. You will never get the time you want to travel and the cost of it will end up surpassing your expectation even though it was meant to be a free gift. You either have to complain to the Better Business Bureau or purchase the timeshare for it to work, and good luck getting a refund.

At the end, I did sorta got a free trip to Atlantic City and a free lunch. Assuming they didn't trick me into signing up for anything I didn't want. It wasn't too bad and a little interesting. I was conscious of not giving out information too sensitive, though it makes me question businesses like Wyndham and Trump Casinos now.

I left Atlantic City slightly disappointed but unscathed. I wonder if anyone had really put out $67,000 that day to a company they barely knew was legit.

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Henri David Halloween Ball 2010

This marked the third consecutive year that I've ever wore costume on Halloween, before that I didn't really celebrate it aside eating some candies or handing tons out one year because I didn't know how much I was expected to give out. Well, since I've actively dressed up for it, Halloween has become one of my favorite day of celebration.

Since I was introduced to Henri David Ball two years ago, it had become THE event for Halloween in Philadelphia. People attending the ball invest on their costumes and since we don't have a parade like LA, SF or NYC. The Henri David Ball is pretty much it for us and I, for one, am glad to have it around. The strange thing about it is that Henri David is the owner of a Jewelry shop in town called Halloween and he does not do any form of advertising, his business depends on his reputation and word of mouth, and apparently so does the Halloween party. I have to go to the Jewelry store for information, so I can post online to tell the others. Til this day, the store doesn't have a single computer, website or email address. 21st Century much? Anyhow, once I got the information, I posted the event on Facebook, a local gay website and Yelp. I think I should get a cut of the proceed, no?

The event itself is entertaining, we always managed to have a good time and get elated by the creativity of others even though I lack the tenacity to stay until 2am watching all the competitions and performance. Though I always manage to take pictures and share:



This is my look for this year. I can't exactly tell you what it is but it is inspired by Kabuki Noh theater and Oni. The outfit is something that a blue collar Japanese vendor would wear. I was surprised that one person knows that I'm an Oni and a few people yelled Kabuki, so I'm relief that it wasn't too out there. A lot of folks liked the hair and the face paint. Next to me of course is DC's Black Cat, one of my favorite DC characters of all time.



The boyfriend this year opted to wear a Bavarian costume and as Nina and Michael Kors would say, he's very "On Trend". Not only did we see lots of Bavarian looks, of all the lederhosen costumes we've seen 3 others wearing the exact one as he did. Of course, my boyfriend looks the cutest.

The two of us formed the Axis pre-WWII and it seems like another couple had a similar wavelength but did it in a flashier, shinier version. Pretty gorgeous, I've to say:



Other than lederhosens being popular, I noticed a lot of Alices and Madhatters, superheroes, robots and people with their dick out. Despite my assumption, there's not really that many Lady Gaga and there was no meat dress, there was also no Christine O'Donnell witches. There's also a few Na'vis around:



There are quite a few witty people who's up on recent events:




The Henri David Halloween Ball is very drag heavy:



I put the rest in this Flickr album but here are the other good ones:



We also managed to take a picture with Governor Ed Rendell and the Democratic candidate who's running for the very same position Dan Onorato who came to be contest judges. Not really into politicians but whatever.



364 Days before the next Halloween...

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Weekend Meme: Another 50 Questions Meme Pt. 2

Happy Halloween everyone!

Last night, me and the boyfriend already went out and take our costumes for a test drive. While the boyfriend looks sexy as a German boy and getting groped. My costume, in which I still have a hard time telling people what it is got a bit of compliments and the owner of a club asked me to participate in a competition but I didn't win.

Anyway, tonight is going to be a once-a-year big event. A Halloween ball hosted by the gay uncle of Philadelphia, Henri David. I'll sure be taking some pictures and share with you guys in the upcoming days. Hope you're having some fun!

Today's meme continues last week's from Sunday Stealing and here we go:

26. Do you like someone?
I like my friends, I love my boyfriend.

27. The last song you listened to?
It would be a song called "Invocations and Instructions" by Bronson Pinchot for a Sondheim review called Putting It Together featuring Carol Burnett.



28. What time of day were you born?
I was told that I was born around 2am.

29. What’s your favorite number?
If I tell you I'd have to kill you.

30. Where did you live in 1987?
I would have been in Hong Kong possibly living with my grandma, that, or I might be studying abroad in Macau.

31. Are you jealous of anyone?
I'm jealous of a lot of people.

32. Is anyone jealous of you?
I don't know but I'm sure some people thinks that I'm having it good.

33. Where were you when 9/11 happened?
I was at home watching TV and thought that it was a movie filming production introduced on morning TV.

34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?
Bang and shake the machine. And if nothing happens I'll just leave.

35. Do you consider yourself kind?
Yes, most of the time towards the older, weaker, infants, pets and pregnant women. Otherwise, I'm cordial.

36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be?
On my biceps.

37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be?
Japanese. I read too much comic books.

38. Would you move for the person you loved?
Yes. Love is important.

39. Are you touchy feely?
Only with my boyfriend and some close friends. Otherwise, I don't like being touched by strangers at all.

40. What’s your life motto?
Try everything once.

41. Name three things that you have on you at all times?
Glasses, phone, iPod.

42. What’s your favourite town/city?
Hong Kong.

43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
A drink last night.

44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
Probably not in this decade.

45. Can you change the oil on a car?
Nope, I can't even drive.

46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
He was a very angry person. I saw him at a bar badmouthing me to a bartender, laughed and then left.

47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?
I know my grandma quite well, I heard her story of living and then leaving Vietnam.

48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?
I wore my suit for a job interview. It's not extremely fancy.

49. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
Nope. My feet are aching a little from all the walking I did yesterday though.

50. Have you been burned by love?
You could say that but that's love, it burns.

Hope you're having a great weekend, and had some candies. This is a Halloween Sacher that I made for this year's Halloween. Cheers.

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Project Runway Season 8 Finale

We interrupt your usual programming of the usual weekend meme and bring you a special report on Thursday night's Project Runway finale. I have been a fan of Project Runway and love the creativity, the process and the challenges most of all. Like many fans, I have followed the show from Bravo to Lifetime and I too enjoyed the extended 90 minutes episodes so to better understand the creative process of each clothing.

This year, our villain is in the form of a pompous Gretchen Jones and her lackey head-bitch Ivy Higa picking on a cute bear called Michael Costello who doesn't have formal design training. Said bear has a son and a wife and everyone. including me, thought he was straight at first but turns out he was forced into marrying a girl when he was younger and he's in fact gay and has a partner.



As with any usual talent competition show, the talent pool and the interest wanes, and if it's not for the drama I doubt that anyone would watch it. The challenges had been somewhat predictable and boring, maybe due to its move to a lesser channel the celebrities who appears on the show also seems to be of a lower rank. After 13 grueling weeks, 3 contestants ended up in the finale:

Exciting Mondo who likes to mix-and-match prints:



Hawaiian Asian Andy with a shiny, Asian influenced collection with celestial headgears.



Decidedly granola, monotone and drab Gretchen with a chunky jewelry collection that she designed herself:



Based on my description, I'm sure you already know my feelings towards certain designers and their designs. Overall, I like Mondo's the best. His inspirations were Latinas, Mexican Day of the Dead festival, Aztec and his black and white prints. Somehow, I see early black and white version of Minnie Mouse. Is it just me?

While Andy's headgears were distractingly bad, I didn't mind the collection too much. It's short and shiny just like what Heidi Klum would like and there's an easy and lightness to it that I do enjoy. But the bigger story is that there seems to be accusations that some of Andy's designs actually comes from a Japanese pattern book. Plagiarism is seriously shunned on and if it was intentional, and it seems that it is, it's seriously unwise.

Gretchen's collection is really humdrum, the fabrics utilized were drab and uninspired. Truly it's the worst amongst the three. I can see the collection being sold at Burlington Coat Factory or Ross. Not that there's not a market for it, but it's for a girl who likes to browse consignment and second hand shops. The jewelry reminds me of car hood ornaments, they are clunky. Maybe it's just personal taste, I've never responded well to drapey clothing, I'm more into form fitting pieces.

So how in the hell did Gretchen become the winner of this season? My theory is that one of the prize for the winner is to have his winning collections produced for sale and Gretchen's collection seems to be the easiest. It's not easy to use the prints exactly right and it surely will not fit most body types. Also, a little controversy makes for good TV. Anyway, too bad reputation of the show suffers because of a bad decision, Lifetime really dropped the ball on this. I mean even queen bitch Ivy Higa managed to turn out a pretty respectable decoy collection:

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