Musings · of · a · Girl

Alas, it's finally come to this. I'm no longer going to be posting in this Livejournal account, though I'm still going to keep it, for ONTD purposes.
It's been a fun ride...all the way since high school.
I have, however, developed a new blog, and it's geared toward mostly media/entertainment/pop culture tidbits:

http://thoughts-such.blogspot.com/

Thank you, friends, for the fun ride :)

so apparently, i'm sleeping like the dead now. i don't hear when christine gets up, takes a shower, blow dries her hair, or even when her cell phone goes off -- all within 10 feet of me. i did wake up to this horrible drilling sound though...these construction guys are busy rebuilding a walkway near the apartment.

took a ski trip to tahoe last weekend. it was great, but the snow was pitiful. they got one storm about a month ago, and the most recent one was the weekend before I went. and, it just so happens that while i was up in norcal, it was 80+ degrees in socal, which made tahoe around 55+ degrees -- not exactly winter ski weather. in the morning, the "snow" at the lower trails of Heavenly was pretty much ice, and by the afternoon, it became slush. went up to higher elevation and it was great. because of the hot weather tho, one was privy to seeing ppl skiing/snowboarding in tanks and tshirts, and even saw this guy resting w/ his shirt off. odd imagery on top of a snow-covered mountain while there are skis, poles, and snowboards all around you. had a wonderful 7 hours @ Heavenly. I did end up w/ very sore legs the next day and a rash of blisters around the shins. and i discovered just today that one should not wear cotton socks...well, no one told me.

highly in love w/ the 2nd season of Rome. in fact, i think i like this better than the 1st season, despite the fact that there are so many more grievances on its imdb board this time around. i do feel though that they're kind of sacrificing the characters 3-dimensional qualities for the sake of sticking to what history dictates. still, i find it fascinating and sad that there'll be no season 3 :(.

also loving 24, but damn, i dunno...it seems like they're not really sticking to the whole real-time thing. it feels like they're slacking off in that aspect...but then again, could be just me.

I was reminded of my disciplined sleep-wake schedule during the summer. apparently, i went to bed at around 11-12 and got up at 6 or 7 to swim for half an hour. now, it's more like sleep at 2 (1, if i'm being good) and get up at 9-11. and of course, i've been trying to tell myself that i'm making up the exercise i would have gotten from swimming w/ all the distance i have to walk around campus on tuesdays and thursdays.

I bought the jacket in April because it was half off, and really, if I didn't get it then, there was no way I'd get it ever. However, it was warming up, and it was a leather jacket, so it just hung around in my closet, waiting for the day when conditions were just right to warrant my throwing it on my back and displaying it to the world.

And, naturally, the day was today, because the weather decided to get fucking cold all of a sudden; I guess if any good came out of this crap weather, this is it.

So at the end of my day, Christine and I were getting ready to leave class when the girl in the row behind me gets my attention and asks me,

"Hi, I just have to say that that is a really well-made jacket. I was wondering, where did you get it from?"

"Ralph Lauren," I respond.

She turns to her friend and whispers, "I knew it! I know I saw it somewhere..."

As shallow and trivial as it may sound, it made my day. First, kudos to that girl for recognizing an excellently crafted jacket. Second, this whole incident sort of justified the pricetag (which, originally would have equalled about 2 months worth of rent), and made my waiting to wear it even more satisfying.
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So I had been looking forward to The Fountain when I first heard it was in production a few years ago. Being an Aronofsky fan, I was super excited about what this film would bring.

However, Cheryl got to see it early on and she warned me not to expect that much; it was good, but only maybe if it was the feature debut of some new director, not good in terms of Aronofsky's status. Then, it got mixed reviews at Venice (where people in the audience booed at the end of it) and Toronto. :(. The critics at home were pretty much divided too - cream of the crop on rottentomatoes is only 27% I think.

So I went to see it because despite all the negativity surrounding it, I'd been waiting so long and really just wanted to see why people thought it was so bad.

I can understand why the reaction to the film is so divided: this is probably the most experimental film Aronofsky's done (and it's definately not for the mainstream, despite its cast). After seeing it, my feelings were that I loved the film, but I couldn't explain why I did. I thought maybe it was a mixture of the fact that I was subconsciously trying to justify my wait for the film and my want to like it. Later, it developed into: well, it's a fascinatingly marvellous mess of a film. I felt the lack in funding (there was all this drama about the studio financing the film for less than half its original production budget) was clearly evident, and that it hurt how the film was received.

However, the genius of the film is that it haunts you; I just can't stop thinking about it. And like a good book, when you carefully analyze its parts, everything comes together and you realize then that it's one of the best film of the year (I'm even sort of at the point of thinking it should be on my list of best films ever made). The Fountain is definately not a popcorn flick - you need to think about it, a lot. When you do so, all the pieces come together and make a lot of sense, and it completes the whole picture. I think the reason its reception was so mixed was because critics didn't really take the time to think about it, they probably just wrote a review based on their initial impressions and went with that to meet their deadlines.

In an effort not to spoil things for people, I will just say that The Fountain definately ranks among the top films this year (for me). I think it's one of those films that require multiple viewings to truly understand its nuances (not unlike other great films). Also, the soundtrack is killer - I've been playing it like a broken record and I'm still not sick of it.

Talking to my roomies about the elections and stuff...just briefly.

Then, one of them shocked me with, "So wait, the Democrats are the more liberal ones right?" and then we had to let her know that it all falls into a spectrum, ranging from hardcore right wing Republicans to moderate ones, to moderate Dems and the hardcore left wing Dems.

"Oh, ok...I get so confused about these things. I don't really know much about it. I didn't pay attention in class during high school."

yea, ya think?

I'm by no means a political expert, but I think some things are common knowledge and should be known because ahem, YOU'RE IN FUCKING COLLEGE.

I do think it's irresponsible to not know what's going on. I'm not saying you HAVE to vote or I will shoot you, but knowing what the hell's going on is important. Stop worrying only about bio and Finding Nemo. She's a smart girl...good thing she's going to try to get into medschool...she wouldn't do very well @ intellectual (pseudo or otherwise) parties.

(wow, do I sound like a bitter and angry republican? I'm sorry...i'm no such thing. I am glad that the Dems won tho...but not because I'm a Dem. I just think a change is in order...let's see if the other side can do any better. I hate this whole split in the government that's resulted from this administration...both parties need to work together and stop worrying about their own interests. oh, and ann coulter needs to fucking die.)

so i watched The Departed on Sunday and absolutely love that film. I think i'm in the minority when I say I actually like it better than Infernal Affairs, which it's based off of (I think Tony Leung & Andy Lau were both gave great performances, but dicaprio and damon made the characters a bit different, and they were just as good). Also, i think it's the best Scorcese film I've seen in a long time. The Aviator just wasn't Scorcese...it was too refined, methinks. but anyway, absolutely love this one...seen it twice already. And last thursday, Zoe and I went to a free screening of The Queen...one of my favorite films so far this year (ranking w/ Thank You For Smoking, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Departed)...it actually has a really great balance between humor and drama, so that was pleasantly surprising.

anyway the weird thing i discovered yesterday was when I was reading Marky Mark's bio on imdb:

"Was scheduled to be on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. However, he changed his plans at the last minute, and drove from Boston to New York with some friends."


I already knew we share the same birthday but what's weird is that I was supposed to be on Washington D.C. flight that day, but my mom changed it to Chicago.

What are the chances of 2 people born on the same day and who could have died on the same day, but didn't?

so the past couple of days, one of my roomate's brothers has been staying with us. she let me know about it one night just when i was about to go to sleep. and now, when your confronted with the question "Hey (your name), is it ok if my brother comes over tomorrow and stays for a couple of days?" it's not like you can say "No, actually it's not ok--I might be allergic to him and then I'd have to sue your family for the loss of mucus and the irreparable mental damage of traumatizing sinus pains." so i had no choice but to mumble yes cuz it's not like i could do anything about it at that point.

and then one day i wake up and see this guy sprawled out on his sleeping bag in the living room. lovely. i go outside to do my laundry and the guy gets up and goes to use MY bathroom. apparently, guests (no matter whose guests they are) tend to use my bathroom cuz it's conveniently located outside my room. so, even though, he's the brother of my roomate (in the other room), he's using MY bathroom, which I had just cleaned the day before. so he's done and i go in to get some dirty laundry and lo and behold, the counter is fucking flooded. I seriously do not know how one person can flood the counter like that; it's as if he purposely poured water on the counter and wanted to see if standing counter water could breed mosquitoes. not only that, this boy and his pink LA Looks fucking hair gel and other paraphenalia takes up one side of the counter. you'd think it's common sense that if you are a guest at someone's place, you'd clean up after yourself and NOT be such an ass. it takes me 10 minutes and 6 sheets of paper towel to clean up. I marched out and confronted the ass:

"Hey, what's your name? Austin? Ok Austin, when you use our bathroom, could you try not to flood the countertop? Thanks" (you fucking nimwit, I wanted to add)

"Uh, ok."


Then later on in the day I go wash my hands in my bathroom and peer over to the tub. We have one of those covers over the drain to keep hair from getting into the drain and cloggin it up because we have plumbing issues. And to my horror (although I must say I wasn't exactly surprised), the drain cover was full of short black hair (I don't know if it was pubic or not, but it was short and I didn't wanna look closer). Now, this is a guy with short hair whose using the bathroom of 2 girls, one of whom has very long and thick hair. Funny how 2 girls w/ long hair can leave that drain cover so clean when one steps in the shower and 1 guy with short hair can leave it looking like giant black dandelion. I hope his hair gel has adverse affects and that by the time he's 25, he'll start to bald.


and then today, he stunk up our bathroom with his cologne, Lacoste. son of a bitch. it doesn't smell good. I hope he failed his job interview miserably...also, I want to pour out the cologne fluid and fill it w/ lighter fluid instead.


yes, i'm bitter, but people like Austin bring out the worst in me, what can i say.


YAY!...he just came in to announce that he's going. HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE LORD.

"Sans toi, les émotions d'aujourdhui ne seraient que la peau morte des émotions d'autrefois"

Garbo never uttered the line "I want to be alone," but if she had, I've been wondering how she would have said it.

watched Farewell My Concubine the other day for my LTEA 120 class. I remember watching this film when it first came out and since then, i've always held the belief that it's overrated and full of it (just like the way Chen Kaige is full of himself). But after my most recent viewing, I found that it is truly a very well-made film, in terms of the editing, acting, writing, camera-work. We saw a documentary on the first day of class, and in it, Kaige was talking about how he was always intrigued by the relationships between people and how during the Cultural Revolution, the ugliness or ugly side of these relationships were revealed. I think in Concubine, he really drove that point through and I gotta say, the character development that unfolds onscreen is truly masterful. So there it is, I admit I was wrong...it's a great piece of cinema (although i still don't like the way the ending is carried out...i think it could have ended better). and as much as I think Chen K.g.'s an ass, i think he made a great film and actually do wish he'd start making good films again, because his efforts in the past few years have been tremendously disappointing.

I had an unexpected happy moment Thursday in Chinese class. The prof was handing out these questionnaire forms we filled out last week and when he called me, he left out my last name, so that it was just Lele. No Chinese teacher ever did that, and I really didn't like it when they would say my full name: Niu Lele. I've just grown accustomed to "Lele"...all my relatives (distant and close) and family friends use that and it just weirds me out when people stick my family name in front of it. It's not that I don't like "Niu"...it's cuz it just sounds weird to me to be called that, as if I were in trouble or something; it's like being called "Lily Niu" every single time. maybe next time, I should just always write my name as simply Lele...it's not like someone else is going to have that same name (at least not at UCSD). I started doing that on some tests and assignments last year in Business Chinese and i guess it was fine because there was only, what, 6 people in that class? i doubt Prof. Cha will have a problem w/ me doing that this year, but if he does, tant pis, c'est mon nom. But anyway, it just made my day.

In other news...winter trip still hasn't been decided yet. Mom was suggesting maybe Shanghai at the end of the year, so I'm gonna try to make her follow through w/ that suggestion because it's a great one. I haven't been back in a year and I'm really itching to revisit. It'll be cold in Dec., but the fresh-water crabs will be in season and that's reason enough for me to wanna go back. And I figure, if she really wants to go to Argentina, we can do 2 weeks in Shanghai, 2 weeks in Argentina...it would be absolutely amazing.

Speaking of Shanghai, a few days ago, this top Communist Party guy from Shanghai was nabbed for basically stealing pension money and illegally investing the loot. Also, a friend of mine is at Beida right now, and through reading his blog, i've been thinking a lot about the censorship issue and the whole Big Brother thing China is notorious for. And as much as I love the liberties of this country, I think one needs to consider a few things: 1) Our government right now is quite the Big Brother itself, not to mention the many big corporations and businesses in this country that blur the lines between private life and office life of its employees, 2)i think the main reason for censorship is because there are 1.3 billion ppl in China, and while it sucks and i'm totally against it, how will a government keep all those people in check, b/c not all of them will be bright-minded university educated ppl (also, you think our media isn't biased and that the information we get has already been through filters?), and 3) again, if the Communist government were to be toppled, there'd most likely be chaos, and who knows, it might just revert back to the warlord years of the teens and 20s. so anyway, these are just some things to think about. I'm by no means a supporter of the current government and its actions, but i think ppl do need to be reminded that these things aren't just clear-cut, black and white issues.

So the new school year's begun and in all my wisdom, i thought taking 5 classes again would be doable. But funnily enough, this is the first quarter in which almost all the classes require a paper of somekind...yep, even in the psych courses, which normally requires only 2 multiple choice midterms and a similar final. so now i've basically loaded up on all these classes and after looking at my calendar to see when and how many papers are due, i want to crawl back under the covers and put them off--cept I kno that'll just make it worse. hmm we'll see how i'll deal with this mess. the good thing (I think) is that i've managed to pack all these classes on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. (4 on Tu and Thu and 2 on Wed). At least the finals schedule looks ok.

after basically a whole summer of being unable to snap pictures of daily life, i ventured into my local circuit city and got the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX8. it's a snazzy little camera and supposedly, it can take up to around 300 pics w/o recharging the battery. but best of all...it has a leica lens!--can we say FABULOUS?!?! so yes, i'm quite excited...i was crushed when my old trusty nikon gave out during my trip to nyc (i wanted to take so many pics!), but w/ my upcoming maui vacation only a week away, i'm so glad i got a camera. anyway, my role as the picture snapper shall resume!







also, still swimming in the mornings and factoring in some pilates workouts. in addition, current little obsessions: screen tees, headbands, the green tea collection at L'Occitane, and burning candles instead of using electricity--there's an old world feeling to it that i love.


and last note: FUCKING LEICA!

so i'm updating, but not about me. i just came across Shekhar Kapur's website and got totally absorbed by the Golden Age blog. i'm eagerly anticipating this one because i do consider Elizabeth to be one of my favorite films and the Shekhar's commentary for the dvd is one of the best director's commentaries i've come across. although he doesn't blog the whole way thru the shoot, he did write at the beginning and it made for a quite fascinating read: there was technical stuff, a peek inside his creative process, and on an interesting note, he's confident enough to reveal how the fallout of The Four Feathers affects him and how he, like everyone in the world, is uncertain about things and does question the choices he makes on the set. after watching Elizabeth, i'd never would have thought that, because it's just constructed so meticulously...not a single shot is superfluous and every single possible element is in the shot for a reason...i just completely admire that attention to detail and how well thought the whole thing was. anyway, also excited that Tom Hollander and Samantha Morton are in The Golden Age. watched The Libertine last night and loved it--I think it's one of those films that people will either love or hate. it's a very dark tale, but it's superbly made and the dialogue is like butta! and really, i think Johnny Depp has never given a better performance...i mean, the man never fails to impress, but i think he gave the performance of his life in this one and it kinda sucks cuz he didn't really get much recognition for this part. anyway, great film and way underrated, but then again, it's not for everyone.

so anyway, back to shekhar kapur. i was surfing his site and read this humorous anecdote he wrote about his adventures at LAX. haha, i'd like to see if he really does go Bollywood after The Golden Age



December 03, 2005 | 03:38 AM
US Immigration & Bollywood !

Coming into the Customs/immigration area in LA, I am always looked upon really suspiciously. I used to look like a Columbian drug smuggler when they were in vogue. Now I look like an Arab terrorist. They are the latest in fashion. Yesterday something strange happened..

I look my innocent charming best. I smile. I get a haircut and trim my beard. Nothing helps. I can see everyone zooming into me. It's just my personality I guess. I just feel suspicious.

"So why are you here ?" he was big, white,threatening and had a gun by his side.

" I'm here because I am film maker, am here to meet with my actors". I tried to sound really confident.

"How long 'r you staying", he boomed"

"A day" I replied now looking as timid and honest as I could.

"A day ? and you have all that luggage for one day ?" He was really suspicious.

"I umm... am travelling .. to London from here ..". That's it. Bag opening time.

"what were you doing in India" he asked as he was running his hand over my bags.

"I live there" I replied, a bit of my pride creeping back. Surely he had heard of the IT boom and the growth rate of 7.5% of the Indian economy. Aspiring to 8.3 % next year. Surely he is an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal.

He eyed me suspiciously agaim. "Oh my God" I thought " He thinks I am outsourcing American jobs, his best friend probably lost a job to an unknown Indian outsourceror."

"So what kind of films do u make ?" he asked.

Now I knew I was fine. I could get through this time without the indignity of having people pour over my badly packed bags and unwashed shirts and underpants. After all my film was nominated for the Academy Awards and this is LA.

"I made this film called "Elizabeth" - you remember ? The one with Cate Blanchette and was nominated for 8 Oscars ( lie ! It was 7) ?? You know the one ?". He was not looking impressed at all. " And then I made this one with Heath Ledger - do you know..?.

"Never go to the Movies", He cut me in.

No more weapons in my arsenal. I am giving up to a physical examination of my body parts too, I am thinking. I have been on a plane for 30 hours. I will go to jail for smelling bad.

" But watch them Bollywood DVD's at home. Love them, wife and kids love them too". He said.

As I looked at him, a bit speachless, there was other Indian guy behind me. He suddenly piped in. "This guy is one of the most famous of Bollywood's Director'!".

Big Smile ! A huge hand on my shoulder. No gun in it, thank God.

"Why didn't you just say earlier ?" he said.

So what's this big white all American guy, an undercover agent for Homeland Security, with a gun by his side, who never goes to the Movies doing watching Bollywood films ? I tried to picture him and his family ordering a pizza dinner and settling down to watch Shahrukkh Khan singing/dancing to Kajol. Doen't quite fit does it ?

OK. I have decided that as soon as Golden Age is over, I am going to direct a Bollywood Movie. Done.

Shekhar

i dunno...there are thoughts floating around that i mean to jot down but just never get around to. nothing too important...hah, i guess i just don't feel the same urge to rant about the little things in life anymore. that and i've caught up so far to just past the middle of Season 5 of "24". dear god, it's gotta be hands down one of the best films ever committed to television...HBO included.

so what's new? mmm, watched Scoop and </i>Little Miss Sunshine</i> today. the former was ok, the latter was great. i think it was on par w/ Thank You For Smoking in terms of how memorable and well-made it is. also, saw a buncha trailers, including the full trailer for Marie-Antoinette...i'm really looking forward to that. also, i'm eagerly awaiting Hollywoodland, Running With Scissors and Trust the Man. i definately know i'm not gonna be watching World Trade Center anytime soon. I hear good things about it, but i feel for me that the catastrophic events of 9/11 are all still too recent. that and all the shit that's gone down in the world since then, including last friday's sting operation that went global about the 10 planes and stuff. it was wierd: i had watched the news earlier on that day, but somehow, managed to miss the headline news about what had happened. then, i proceeded to watch "24" for like 5 hours, got on the train, and was greeted by my dad with, "hey, did you hear what happened? these guys were trying to blow up 10 planes." for a moment there, i thought he was pulling my leg, cuz he knows how into the show I am. it took a couple of seconds for me to register that what he said was actually real...it's creepy how potentially realistic potential 24 storylines are.

also, met up w/ vicky last nite. it was fun just hanging out, going to BJs and hanging out some more...catching up and stuff. i wish i could just do that more. meet up w/ a couple of close friends once in awhile and just talk talk talk talk talk. she's got a crush on this guy...and in my fashion, i've threatened to message/friend him on facebook...we shall see what happens...

well at least summer school's over now...that was, fun? at least pickowicz's class was...we saw some new chinese films and got to revisit some beloved ones we'd seen. my boss at my internship's a bit of a douchebag tho...definately a cheap ass, but i'm thinking about adding douchebag to the list as well.

so i'm still swimming every morning. haven't stopped. i think i've become more fit and tanned than ever before in my life. it's quite scary, actually. when i was just about to take a shower one day, i was facing the mirror but turned my head just in time to catch my reflection...and i saw that my back had gotten super dark cuz i didn't realize i shoulda put sunscreen on it and that in comparison w/ my ass, in terms of color, my back was puerto rican while my ass was norwegian. so that kinda gave me a jolt, and in an effort to reclaim my paleness, i've been getting up now at the previously ungodly hour of 7 am so that i can swim when the marine layer's still hopefully around/when the sun isn't beating down on the pool by 8. hmm, but i do love the feeling of swimming in the morning cuz afterwards, i feel like at least i've done something that day. it's very relaxing and i try to just focust on my breathing, how i'm moving, and counting. sure thoughts sneak in, but mostly, they're good thoughts.

now letsee how long it'll be before i update again...

i've been away from this thing for awhile. i haven't been avoiding it or anything, just nothing to say really. my life was taken over by 24 and before that Lost. yea, i'm catching up on the last 4 or 5 years of amazing TV. it's good to know that good writing and productions have not bowed down to the popularity of reality tv. so between catching up and scrambling w/ school and internship, it's been pretty busy. also, i've decided to keep a relatively normal sleep/wake cycle and try to swim for an half hour every morning. so far it's been good...3 weeks and counting.

worked the door again for about half an hour and this guy I saw last friday stopped by again, and again, he wasn't wearing his badge so i told him to hang out while the bouncer got michael. and now, the reason why i recognized the guy is cuz he dresses like some oddball hipster and tonight, it was this totally 70s lycra/polyester ensemble. and here's how the convo went:

guy (whose name, i find from imdb is paul sapiano): i don't like the badges...they don't go with my style. oh by the way i directed this film The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down...you must have heard of it, it's huge here at the festival.
me: actually, this is only my 2nd day, so no.
ps: well, it's pretty big and we it just got screened like right now.
me: oh cool, how was the response?
ps (no modesty at all): oh it was INSANE.
me: cool. is it getting distribution?
ps (seems uneasy): well...yea...we're probably not going that route. it's getting screened here this friday, like it's opening in LA/Hollywood, so we'll see how it does from there.
me: ah, ic.
ps: yea, so we're not looking for a distribution company or anything.
me: that's cool.
michael pokes his head out, looks at ps for a second, and tells him he's ok to come in. and scene.


then i heard this story about how ps went up to one of the festival volunteers at a party or something and pulled this on her: "hey I want to bring you home with me and fuck you hard." that's class right there.

also been hearing a lotta buzz on this documentary titled Inheritance. it's either made by or just about the daughter of Amon Goethe (Ralph Fiennes' real life character in Schindler's List) who found out she was his daughter at age 11. been hearing great things about it. on the subject of documentaries, i was helping to set up the after party for one called The Creek Runs Red. I met one of the directors and she told me it was about the most toxic sites in the US. I don't know how the reponse at the screening was, but from the turnout at the private afterparty, i'd say it's pretty solid.

another intersting tidbit. met this girl tonight who was also volunteering and learned that she's an assistant at a talent agency. she was talking about some of the more well-known clients at her company and got to the girl who played Winnie on the old old "Wonder Years" show. turns out, the actress has a ph.d. in mathematics, discovered a theorem, and is a mathematical genius of sorts. who knew?

first day of volunteer duty yesterday at the LA Film Festival...worked the Target Red Room Lounge where filmmakers, handlers, industry ppl and guests were hanging out. had door duty and some interesting times.

so this one guy comes in but he doesn't have any credentials w/ him...and he looks really familiar. he said he was a member of the jury and that his name was jason reichman. maybe that's why he looked familiar, but his name didn't ring a bell i told him to wait just inside the door for a bit when someone went to look for Michael (the guy in charge and who looks like a skinnier, unshaven and exhausted Rocco Dispirito). so he was just hanging out and
he was like: so where ya from...LA?
me: oh, actually Orange County
him: ahh, the O.C. well, if you said LA that would have been cool too.
me: oh here's michael, he can help you out.

yea so there was like a huge group that came in so i handed the juror over to michael. and then 5 minutes later, it hit me. the reason why the guy looked so familiar is cuz HE FUCKING DIRECTED THANK YOU FOR SMOKING!!! my mishearing of "reichman" threw me off...it's jason reiTman. *facepalms*

i've been pretty good today...got a lot of reading done...hrm, but also caught up on a lot of Lost.

so Saturday, christine and i went to this art exhibit thing in the garage of this mansion up by mt. soledad...Pickowicz invited us to go, as he was the moderator for the event. we saw this film thing that the artist made...sorta like a documentary, but really, it was just a super long montage. we didn't really know what it was trying to say. and hah, i guess the biggest affect it had on me was that it brought the cynic out of me. first of all, except for Pickowicz and a few other professors/TAs from school, most of the other people there were, what i deemed to be, pseudo-intellectual aging hipsters...and i HATE that vibe. it's like, they were trying to be all interested in the village of San Yuan Li and the tension between it and an increasingly modern Guangzhou...but really, i doubt any of them knew where the hell Guangzhou was if you gave them a map. i know, i'm just being harsh. and then the other thing i felt was that the film was totally geared toward foreigners who would see this little poor village in China as being very "exotic". really, i couldn't give a damn about that place if i tried. it's the truth...it's what the snob in me feels. when i think of China and where i'd want to go and experience, give me Shanghai, maybe even Beijing, and also most definately the Hawaii-like Hainan Island. Also, i'd venture into western China, just to see what it's really like...but the growing tourism in those areas is kinda giving me second thoughts. anyway, to put it bluntly, Guangzhou to me is like the detroit or atlanta of America. it's not like it's hicksville (well, probably not anyway) but it's not LA or NY either. i don't know. i was bored by how the mostly white audience just soaked in the images of this little chinese village, and i mean, i can understand...they've never seen it before...but it just pissed me off for some reason. i thought it was lame and really, not put together all that great. hrm, so christine and i made up a reason to go and so we did.

hmmm what else. oh yea, read an Ed Norton article awhile back. he was saying something about he felt ok about being single and not in a relationship. and then the lightbulb clicked in my head...i totally agree w/ that man. i don't get why there's always so much pressure to not be single, cuz i mean, if you don't like anybody, it's not like you have to settle for someone just because they like you. i think it's fortunate that my parents aren't the kind who pressures their kid to find someone and settle down and stuff. but i do get that when i'm around their friends and around relatives. it's just this incessant teasing that gets old really fast. and then there's always these ppl who i can sense are trying to be more than just friends w/ me. honestly, unless i make a move or something, i'd just really like to stay friends. but then if you just come out and say that, i've realized, it's not really the kind of friendship you'd like it to be...there's always that level of awkwardness in it. hrm, a friend suggested i should just start wearing a huge rock on my hand. either that or i should get a tshirt proclaiming that i'm a lesbian. hrm, but then i'd have to ward off the lesbians? lol. whatever. talked to Jamie today. she's sort of dating an Irishman (who came here like 2 weeks ago). i think he sounds like a loser. maybe i'm wrong. maybe i need to just let go of all the criteria and restraints i've set up for myself. maybe my doctor was right. whatever, it's something to think about during the summer...when there's more time...hopefully.

speaking of the summer. i got an internship w/ dr. robert epstein. he was editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine for 4 years, now he's the west coast editor and also contributing editor for Scientific American Mind. i dunno how this guy functions. he's got all his magazine duties, plus a satellite radio show to run every week, plus 2 books he's trying to put together, plus a couple of kids, plus a bunch of studies, plus a bunch of other things he didn't have time to rattle off for me. i dunno what to make of him yet. intellectual, to say the least and has a dry, dry sense of humor that almost makes me uncomfortable lol. and he's one of those people who takes a few seconds to pause and think before he says something, so that whatever he says is clear and understandable, and obviously, well-thought out. this'll be interesting. i'd be interning as his publicist...title and all :). i guess the only draw back to this is that i'd have to drive to Vista to work. but what the hell, it's quite an opportunity.

Thanks, Stuys, for this great distraction lol

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Lily
Birthday:	6.5.86
Birthplace:	Shanghai
Current Location:	the OC
Eye Color:	Brown
Hair Color:	Brown
Height:	5'7''
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Right
Your Heritage:	Chinese
The Shoes You Wore Today:	Green leather Nine West flip flops
Your Weakness:	Hot Cheetos
Your Fears:	Heights
Your Perfect Pizza:	The kind you find in Florence, Italy. SO FUCKING GOOD.
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	Win the lottery ;)
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	lol and haha
Thoughts First Waking Up:	ugh, 5 more minutes
Your Best Physical Feature:	My skin
Your Bedtime:	This week, it's been midnight
Your Most Missed Memory:	Hmm, there's a lot
Pepsi or Coke:	Coke
MacDonalds or Burger King:	In 'N Out!
Single or Group Dates:	Depends
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Nestea
Chocolate or Vanilla:	Vanilla
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Cappuccino
Do you Smoke:	Nope
Do you Swear:	FUCK YES
Do you Sing:	Of course!
Do you Shower Daily:	Of course!
Have you Been in Love:	Nope
Do you want to go to College:	In college now
Do you want to get Married:	Nope
Do you belive in yourself:	A decent amount of time, yes
Do you get Motion Sickness:	I used to, but not so much now
Do you think you are Attractive:	I suppose
Are you a Health Freak:	Not at all
Do you get along with your Parents:	Most of the time
Do you like Thunderstorms:	I kinda do, actually
Do you play an Instrument:	Yep
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	Yep
In the past month have you Smoked:	Nope
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	Nope
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	...sorta?
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	EVERY FRIGGIN WEDNESDAY!
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	Yep
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	Yep
In the past month have you been on Stage:	Nope
In the past month have you been Dumped:	Nope
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	Nope
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	Yep...a Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2006 Collection catalog from Neiman Marcus
Ever been Drunk:	Yep
Ever been called a Tease:	Not to my face
Ever been Beaten up:	Nope
Ever Shoplifted:	...no comment X)
How do you want to Die:	In flame and glory...but i'm a vampire, i can't die...silly question
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	I wanna be a producer! (just like Leo Bloom...cept w/ films)
What country would you most like to Visit:	All the ones i haven't been to yet.
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

found a pair of Marc Jacobs pants at Neiman Marcus on sale for $60...how happy am I? on a scale of 1 to 10, it's easily an 11 (*snicker snicker*).

bad news tho...mom doesn't trust i can maneuver my way thru the streets of LA/Westwood...fuck that.

but more good news...it's 10.15 in the am and it's 82 degrees. also, it's that time of year again, when the nights are balmy and filled w/ the scent of jasmine around my neighborhood. the first blooms are starting to yellow, but what the hell, in the dark, they still smell great.

So, went to NY over the long-weekend. Manhatten is definately one of the greatest cities i've ever been to...i wish i had more time to discover it (didn't even get a chance to check out the village). took a red-eye flight thursday night (after rushing back to the OC via Amtrak) and got to NY in the morning. took a short nap and headed out to Flushing, Queens. man, that place is scary. not only is it like a central hub for Chinese people, but it's like being in Shanghai. it's crazy! had lunch there and took the 7 train into the city. visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art first. one of the best museums i've ever been to. we were kinda rushed and altho i saw the impressionists gallery, we didn't get a chance to check out the Dutch masters :(...i literally ran past a self-portrait of Rembrandt (blasphemous, i know)! Headed over to Central Park afterward. i love the park. it's like a little (well, not so little) oasis in the midst of the cosmopolitan city. mosied on over to the Bethesda Fountain. I've always wanted to visit that particular place. First time i became aware of it was when i saw a postcard and it was a sketch of the fountain and its angel, so i thought it was only a figment of the artist's imagination or something. then, i found out it was real and was really moved by it's wonderful symbolism in Angels in America. Had dinner at The Boathouse. food was mediocre and the service was eh. walked outta the park and onto 5th ave, then madison. so basically that day, we went from 82 st, walked toured the Met, walked around the park, then walked/window shopped til we reached 42nd and broadway. it was so fun! i think whenever i'm traveling, my favorite thing to do is to walk around the city...cuz that way, you get so much more out of it.

day 2: woke up at the crack of dawn to join an asian tour of the city. hell yea...hmm, no not really. i hate those, but watever, it was $20. so we had all these pit stops at various locations: Wall Street, the Bull at Wall St, the Empire State Building, the Intrepid (passed by the Daily Show studio!), Columbus Circle, etc. Went to Ground Zero. really, it looks like any generic plot of land...you would have never imagined the twin towers used to stand there had it not been for the memory of them and what happened that day. when i was there, i had trouble imagining how tall the towers were. did they cover up the sky when you looked up? did they seem endless? from old pictures, you can tell that they towered over the other buildings around them...towered over everything in the city, actually. but i had trouble imagining just what it would have been like to see them. anyway, stopped by around times square where we quit the tour (they had the UN building left to visit...but eff that...the UN is useless anyway [a noble endeavor, but still useless]...and i've seen The Interpreter, so that's enough of a tour for me). got 4th row tickets to "The Producers" and saw it that night (Ralph Fiennes' "Faith Healer" was COMPLETELY sold out and we weren't about to pay $215 a pop to see Julia Roberts in a not so great-reviewed "Three Days of Rain"). pretty good, although i can't help but feel that the guy who now plays Bialystock was sorta imitating Nathan Lane as Bialystock. gotta love Mel Brooks and all his naughty jokes tho. Had some NY style pizza afterward and chilled out at a Starbucks... :) Said goodbye to the city and went back to Queens.

went to my mom's friend's home and i was hanging out by the TV, thinking about how the great weather and being in NY at that time reminded me of You've Got Mail. started flipping the channesl, and whatdya kno!--it was right at the last 10 minutes of the movie! hmmm that made me happy. afterwards, went to New Jersey (haha), to my mom's friend's brother's house. Jersey is actually quite nice, altho there was a lot of road kill. i was expecting Tony Soprano's Jersey, but it seemed a lot more country and untamed than i thought it'd be. mom had a mini reunion w/ some of her old middle school friends...it was a fun time...and ALL IN SHANGHAINESE! haha, i was surprised i could keep up w/ them. there are certian aspects of shanghainese humor that doesn't translate into english or even in to mandarin, and to be able to grasp it (or at least most of it) made me pretty satisfied.

so it was a great trip and i can't wait to go back again. and YES, i can now finally say i've been to NY. a friend thought it strange that while i've been to 19 countries, i hadn't yet set foot on Manhatten...but yay, now i have, my life's complete...eh, sort of.

this week, i'd been thinking about exactly what i should do when college is over...and in reality, what i should be doing during college to insure that the post-college years isn't crap. of course i should find and internship and all that stuff...but what in? hmm so in one afternoon (sort of), i decided i should venture into the field of marketing/advertising...maybe even get an mba. but i'm pretty sure now that i won't go straight into grad school right after college...i'm actually kinda sick of school. so i'm thinking about getting a job and to prep for that...INTERNSHIP! got an interview w/ the west coast editor (formerly the editor-in-chief) of Psychology Today. let's hope i don't screw it up. seems like a really good opportunity despite the fact that it's unpaid and that i'd have to drive to Vista, nearly everyday. but first things first...must. nail. interview.

and yay, also seemed to have found a pretty cool place for the summer (maybe i'll stay thru dec. and then move in w/ Christine during the new year). it's near where i used to live and really close to where Dan/John/Kevin/Max are.

so seems like everything's on the upswing. that, AND the weather is finally being what it ought to be!

note to self: must curb tendency to go shopping every week. currently, my excuse is: i'm a girl and everytime i go, i see nice things that i REALLY want...ugh. disgusting i know.

this just in after checking imdb...Keanu Reeves is gonna play Johnny Stompanato...

and Catherine Zeta Fucking Jones is gonna play Lana Turner?!?!?!

http://imdb.com/title/tt0477097/

WHO THE FUCK IS CASTING THIS?!?!?! ewwwww i say, EWWWWWW!

and also WTF at the fact that George Lucas directed the "Rush Rush" vid. crazy.

so saturday in LA/West Hollywood was great. so much fun riding in the car from one end of Sunset to the other and back again w/ Cheryl. i was surprised, actually, by how much i knew how to get around in that area, being that i usually just travel on Wilshire. i love that stretch where it hits Beverly Hills and Bel Air...it makes me wanna go driving up and down the streets just to see the architecture and manicured lawns of the homes. the orientation was pretty long, but interesting. signed up for a few things...we'll see how busy i get. we were going to watch Down in the Valley but we missed showtime by 10 minutes, so we watched Art School Confidential. i love the trailer, and sadly, those were probably some of the best parts of the film. it starts out very funny...it plays on all the start of college/artschool cliches, but it's great. and then toward the middle, it just lost momentum and it just ceased to cause laughter. it was decent, but not as good as it could have been...by a long shot.

watched The DaVinci Code sunday w/ the parental units. i can't tell if it was good or not purely as just a movie. i can't keep but think that "compared to the book," it went to fast and missed all the great factoids of paintings. of course, it's a film and at 2.5 hrs, it's long enough...it can't have things like factoids bogging down the storyline...things are cut the way they are because the story must progress. i think the biggest disappointment was Tom Hanks. when i heard he was cast, i was kinda doubtful, but then i thought about his past exploits...and he's nailed every single character he's ever played, so i figure i wouldn't judge until i saw his Robert Langdon. i dunno, he just doesn't cut the figure the book evoked: he's not young, fit, or professor-like. he just didn't capture Langdon. sigh, hugh jackman would have been perfect, but alas, what's done is done. also caught some differences from the book. but i'm perplexed by one thing. (spoilers. if you are one of the 12 ppl in this world who has not read the book/seen the film, then don't read.) in the trailer, there's a clip of how Remy dies (as he does in the book), but the scene is missing from the final cut and the situation unfolds in a totally different way. so i don't get it...did they shoot alternatives and why? it worked in the book. it's strange. hmmm and i gotta say, ron howard ripped himself off by using the same "solving" technique as seen in A Beautiful Mind. i wished he could have come up w/ something new. however, i do really like the way the past, historical events were depicted in the film...pretty creative there.

and then Monday night, in the cult films class, we watched The Crow. wow, flashback to the 90s and all the nostalgia that came flashing back. i must admit, it was the first time i saw that film in its entirety. I remember sneaking into the theater that was showing it and seeing a part of it, but never the whole thing. Hell, i remember when Brandon Lee died and how it was all over the papers/news. i remember talking to my friend about and that he used to have the poster in his room. i'm surprised that most people my age don't remember who he was...what's up w/ that? i dunno, but cuz i remember what happened, i felt really sad while watching the movie. i do think the movie was a bit overhyped. watching it now, some of it's pretty laughable and not as developed as it could have been. it also seems like an over-extended music video (made me think of Guns n' Roses' "November Rain" and the "Rush Rush" video of Paula Abdul and Keanu Reeves) of course, part of the reason why it didn't seem developed enough was cuz of the fact that Lee died w/o having finished the last bits of filming. who knows, if he had lived, the movie might have gotten harsher reviews. and could he have been a true bonafide movie star that a lot of people said he could have been? probably. his acting didn't suck...he was definately better than Keanu Reeves. actually, i remember when i was in my crazed-obsessed-fan-of-The Matrix-era that the Wachowskis said that had Brandon not died, he was their first choice to play Neo. how cool would that have been?! anyway, after learning all about cult films and what constitutes cult films, i think The Crow has gained that status because of what happened on the set. it's creepily and tragically ironic tale of how life immitates art. and i think for me, it's considered cult cuz when i watch it, it definately does evoke a sense of nostalgia that i think i can experience everytime that film is plays.

so yea, thinking about the dead Brandon Lee got me to thinking about the dead River Phoenix, another talented actor who died too young. funny...altho River was a much bigger star at the time, i don't remember as much about his passing as i do w/ Brandon's. what's also interesting is that River died 7 months to the day that Brandon died (the former on Halloween night 1993 and the latter on March 31). what might have these 2 ppl accomplished? it's so sad to think about it. hmm...1993 was NOT a good year.

so thursday was a nightmare. had a 9.30 midterm and fucking a, woke up at 9.52!!!!! i freaked out for about a minute, cursed a lot, and thought bad thoughts. got ready in 10 minutes and sped to take the test. with 40 some-odd minutes left i took the test and thought it was ok. and the reason i got up at such a bad bad BAD time?--didn't sleep til 4 and somehow, my cellphone/alarm clock wiggled its way under my pillow, which muffled the vibration and ringtone. sigh. but then the rest of the day was ok...very ok in fact.

got off at the irvine station where mom picked me up. went to south coast plaza cuz Ralph Lauren was having a private sale. saw this gorgeous leather jacket (RL Blue Label). BOUGHT IT! (now all i need is a good looking man on a Ducati to complete the look.) i figured this more than made up for the abnormal and deviant shopping behavior on Wednesday, during which i bought stuff from both Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe...). yea, i think i need to keep that jacket forever...yay for sales!

today, met up w/ cheryl at the HOME OF THE WARRIORS to say adieu to the most WISE/COOL CAT/LEARNED/AMAZING/LIKEABLE/REVERED/INTELLECTUAL/ETC high school teacher ever. this, of course, is Mr. Sawaya, maestro of AP English 4 and IB Philosophy/TOK. yes, the rumors were true this year, Sawaya really is retiring. oh woe is the future of Troy students who will not get to experience that awesomeness of Sawaya's class. so basically, for the whole 3rd period, the 3 of us sat on the carpet outside his room and caught up on stuff and talked about what he plans on doing in his retirement: hang out at the beach, watch films, audit some classes at UCI or something. also, Sawaya's become a proud grandpa and he showed us pics of his really adorbale granddaughter...he says he will be babysitting as well and taking lots of naps in order to keep up w/ her. it's pretty sad that he's retiring...Troy without Sawaya is like Central Perk w/o the cast of Friends, or the Louvre w/o the Mona Lisa, or The Matrix w/o Neo. anyway, you get the idea. so we talked for the whole period and at the end he realized he hadn't taken roll. I told him the front office wouldn't hold it against him and he agreed, quipping, "what are they gonna do...fire me?!" haha. it was good to see him again.

then mom and i picked up my grandparents from LAX and the rest of the day was completely devoted to them as we helped them move into their apartment complex for old people in la verne/san dimas, helped them by groceries, open a bank account for them, and other errands. i think it's amazing that grandpa's put up w/ grandma for around 50 years now. i woulda probably killed myself 4 years into it. grandpa's awesome. he reminds me of Frank from "Everybody Loves Raymond"...not as acerbic, but witty and makes jokes at grandma's expense nonetheless.

tomorrow will be spent in LA avec cheryl (LA Film Festival orientation) and then Da Vinci Code on Sunday! excited! dad and i have been estimating how much it'll make at the box office this weekend. he said $70 million, i say $75 million. we shall see.

and now an idea has popped into my head: perhaps i should persue a Psychology B.S. degree. i'm interested in doing research and have something interesting/practical to write about on my resume. so what's holding me back?--the thought of the horror that is Math 20C. i thought i was done w/ math when i finished 20B during Winter 05...i mean, i'd take 20C p/np...but it's the np part that's worrying me. and oh yea, cuz it's fucking math. what to do, what to do? hmmm but a Psychology B.S. and Chinese Studies and Communications minors on my diploma sure would look good...

so, to BS or not to BS. THAT is the question.

arizona was a nice little vacation. average temp was 90 degrees during the day time, and balmy during the evenings. went swimming before 11 am and it was great. compared to other MetLife President's Conferences, the food was kinda crap (it being Arizona and all), but the hotel was nice and so were the activities. went on a river float and wow, watching corporate types starting water fights is pretty interesting, to say the least. also went horseback riding/cattle herding on horseback. the allergies flared up at first, but then it went away...yay! my horse was a beautiful one named Apache. mom said the next day that her legs were really sore, but i didn't really feel anything. hmmm i wanna go horseback riding again, now knowing that i can get over my allergies. we might do that when we're in hawaii...woohoo. visited frank lloyd wright's home as well and it was pretty amazing. i never really appreciated his architecture designs all that much, but he was definately way ahead of his time. that was pretty amazing. went to dinner this one night and at the end of it, this waiter came over and asked me: "and where are your kids?" he gestured over to simon liu's kids playing at the other side of the room. i gave the waiter a bewildered look and looked over at my mom, then back again at the waiter. i realized he was just trying to be helpful cuz everyone had to be rounded up and get back on the bus. i pointed to my mom and was all: "i'm her kid." the waiter realized that no, my mom and i were not about the same age and the look on his face was priceless haha. he was so embarassed and was all: "omg, god bless you!" to my mom. hahaha. and then the whole conference was capped off by a concert by lionel richie. sigh, the only reason why that guy has any relevance to our generation is cuz nicole richie is paris hilton's ex-best friend. i left like 20 minutes into the show and went back to the room to pack.

also been addicted to "Lost" and i gotta say, i'm surprised as to how well written and shot it is. not completely caught up, but i've finished the first season. and might i say, hellooooo matthew fox and naveen andrews ;)

so for the past few weeks, there was all this drama over a guy. he seemed to really like me and i sorta liked him back. it's funny what zoe said, that christine and i can't like someone until we've thought about it. i thought about this and initially formulated this: emotion is highly dependent on rationalization, meaning that the rationalization bit (i.e. what are this guy's qualities) has a lot to do w/ how i feel about him. and then so we'd go out for coffee at like 11 pm and stuff. it was all nice and new. this guy is one of the coolest ppl i know: ambitious, smart, witty, pop-culture conscious, caring, etc. and then the feelings part kicked in and i realized the despite all these wonderful traits, i didn't feel "it". which made me reformulate my initial idea to: rationalization is a very important component of emotion, but there needs to be a pure emotion. so it didn't matter if both his parents were ceos or if he had his future completely mapped out or even if he was showing all the signs of liking me, i didn't feel it, so i told him. and he seemed pretty cool about it and said we should still be friends and hang out. so it all worked out pretty well. yay.

ok enough of the seriousness. now on about sungod.
wow, that was fun. met up w/ christine and zoe and headed over to dan/john/max/kevin's place...really close to where i live last yr actually. got introduced to drinking games and omg, i cannot win at gauntlet! and i like that game, kings (?), cept for the fact that i pulled the 4th king..yuck. haha and then there was beer pong. oh gosh. i basically chugged the equivalent of one of those smirnoff beer bottles in less than five minutes. what killed me wasn't the alcohol alone, but the fucking carbonation. yea, needless to say i got pretty sick, red, and fucked up after that. came very close to puking, but did not. wow, this was like my first time being certifiably drunk. haha quynh-anh came to the house and was all: "lily! i think you're fucked up!" met a buncha new ppl and we all headed down to the 41 stop. we were acting like a bunch of monkeys. the bus driver kept telling us to keep it down...poor lady. got to school, went to emily's dorm room, where priscilla passed out and missed all of sungod. went over to the field. did some crazy shit on the grass and then started listening to the music. during the cypress hill act a fight started behind us. it was initially between some dumbass azn gansta wannabe and a white guy, and somehow kevin got involved and got hit pretty hard. all i saw was people backing away and the azn guys going crazy and tidis and john trying to pull people away to stop them from throwing punches. kevin ended up w/ a black eye and a cut on his ear. that was pretty fucked up. i think about 14 people packed into 2 cars and left to go back to dan's. i don't think we missed much, it being my chemical romance. also dan told us, that they played only 5 sets and people around him were dropping left and right cuz everyone starting passing out or were too tired. watever, we had some fun back at the apartment watching The Princess Bride. so, all in all, sungod 06 wasn't too bad...coulda skipped the whole fight part, but the afternoon was awesomely fun :)

so i've abandoned you for like half a month...there's much to say, but for now, all i want to post is the actual clip of keifer sutherland attacking a christmas tree:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIRff7MEsCw

CLASSIC

oh sweet LJ, i've not forsaken you.

let's see...well, Thursday was a pretty stress-filled day. for some reason, i didn't hear my alarm clock go off and thus, woke up 45 minutes late. so i decided to drive to school to be on time for class...and admist all the flurry and scrambling, i left my car keys IN the ignition and locked my keys in the car. i know, what a genius. called a bunch of people...then thankfully, Dee was home, so i asked her to bring a spare key. i tried it, but HAH...it didn't work...it was probably for the Lexus. so i had no choice but to call AAA. i think the guy who jimmied the car door and unlocked it was the same guy who 4 months ago got the spare on the same car when my tire exploded. so yea, that was way too much stress before 1 pm. and later on that afternoon, i realized i had misplaced my student id card. bravo. although i couldn't find a rock to climb under, for the rest of that evening, i found myself in bed and under the covers craving comfort food. it was just a ridiculous day, akin to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

so aside from that the rest of the week was pretty decent. i've involved myself in a sleep research study/experiment thing. first step was taken yesterday in which i got my blood drawn and peed into a cup. and i must say, while some people are freaked out by needles and/or blood, i actually enjoy the whole needle in arm, blood spewing through a tube and into a vile process. call me odd, but it's exciting seeing the life force being bottled up. hrm, i must find out one of these days exactly what blood type i am cuz i've got no idea. my mom is O (dunno if + or -) and my dad is B, and i forget which one of those is recessive and which is dominant.

hrm...also sorta got asked out to George's. it's set for the evening after Sun God, so i said if i was still alive, i'd be game. hmm. oh yes, speaking of Sun God...My Chemical Romance is headlining the gig (and Cypress Hill will be there as well). ok i'm a bit disappointed. could they not get anyone else besides this 2nd rate emo band? oiy. well, i guess i'll be buzzed the whole day so i'll probably let my inner angry teenager rock out. we shall see...

watched a bunch of films in the past week, starting w/ Rosemary's Baby in the cult film class. it's a classic but i thought it was only ok. maybe it's one of those films that requires multiple viewings. it annoyed me that the prof kept fast forwarding thru some of the parts (i guess cuz we were short on time), but even so, it's impossible to enjoy a film w/ such disruptions. so Mia Farrow starred in it and she's also gonna be in the remake of The Omen, which I actually want to see (only because Liev Schreiber is in it...and who the hell cast Julia Stiles?!). and of course, as a marketing ploy, the flick will be released on 6.6.06 (oooo), and i'd like to think that while i wasn't born on the 6th, being born on the 5th makes me sort of an honorary anti-christ :) .

letsee, also watched The Notorious Bettie Page. as it film, it wasn't that great...the way the story is set up is pretty average. BUT...wow, Gretchen Mol has come a LONG way since Rounders. at certain moments, i almost forgot it was Gretchen Mol and just saw her as Bettie Page.

rented Paradise Now and Almadovar's All About My Mother. the former is really very well made. it's about these 2 palestinian friends who one day are called to fulfill an "honorable" suicide mission in Tel Aviv. it's made in the tradition of The Battle of Algiers and if anything, i think the film could have run longer, because i think certain parts could have been developed more. but as it is, it's a very good film. All About My Mother is one that i've heard about for a long time. it's hailed as being a masterpiece, and while i think it's short of that label, it's still a decent piece of cinema. haha, and i also love how in the title cards, it reads "A Film by Almadovar" or something along those lines. it's like seeing a film w/ title cards that read "A Film by Spielberg/Scott/Scorcese/etc". lol i think it's a bit pretentious, but a lot more amusing than anything.

watched Gunner Palace w/ Dee last night. apparently, she has a friend who is VERY into documentaries and has a lot, so yay for us. i'd heard a lot about this one...it carried a lot of buzz. but while it had some very good footage and an interesting subject matter, it wasn't put together very well. in fact, i was really puzzled by one bit. i think it's still worth watching tho because it does bring up some good points and it's all real...no Hollywood bs.

before i returned Amen., i watched the behind the scenes thing on the dvd. i was amused by one outtake clip cuz mathieu kassovitz flubbed his lines...lol...Amelie and now this. aww, it's adorable when he flubs his lines/breaks concentration. still contemplating whether or not to watch Gothika, which he directed. hmmm, i think i'll hold out on it for a bit longer.

also wondering if i should watch United 93 or not. it's gotten some really good reviews that promise it doesn't exploit what happened. and a part of me is really keen on seeing it because it's supposed to be really well made...i always am game for a good piece of filmmaking. but then again, i still think it's too soon for me to see something that happened a few yrs ago being replayed in more detail and intamacy onscreen. i dunno, we'll see what happens.

now, i think i might go find a dress. leaving SD on tuesday and going to Arizona on wed. yea, it's Scottsdale, but it's a very nice hotel. so yay.

i love the special features on the dvd, although i wish there there was a director's commentary. still, at least there's a couple interview things w/ Jean-Pierre Jeunet. that guy is completely amazing and such a visionary...just a great storyteller/filmmaker. he's inspired me to begin something. hah, i was contemplating to continue learning francais in hopes that one day i could work avec lui, mais maintenent, il peut dire anglais. i just checked imdb and ! he's directing Life of Pi. wow, this is perfect...i'm so looking forward to this.

also, there's a blooper real on the dvd/internet and i absolutely love the bit when mathieu kassovitz breaks character and snaps merde!...it's quite endearing. hell, the whole Nino character is lovable. and i just realized mathieu was the face of Estee Lauder's Miracle Homme!...and that he directed Gothika. i don't think i'm going to see that anytime soon, but i do want to check out his film La haine. it got a lot of attention, apparently, when it came out in 1995 and impressed jodie foster so much that she helped him get American distribution. also, it launched the career of Vincent Cassel.

speaking of cassel, rewatched Elizabeth last night. upon reflection, i think Cate Blanchett got cheated out of the Oscar that went to Gwyneth Paltrow. there's so many layers in her performance. while the special features on the dvd suck (if was after all from 1998), i am happy that there's a director's commentary by Shekhar Kapur :). i listened to some bits of it and it seems pretty good. gonna watch it all one of these days. apparently, the sequel The Golden Age is in the works. it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

i'm sick an tired of how expensive gas is right now. do i care about the immigration problem? no, not really because it doesn't directly affect me, but i do care about the gas prices soaring through the roof. it is NOT cool. i passed by the Chevron yesterday and it was $3.04. today, it's $3.09. it's ridiculous. and the other day, I was telling a friend (who does not drive) about how I don't want to drive to places I don't need to go to because the gas prices are too high right now. her response: wow, you're cheap. yea ok, but you don't shell out $40 every month for gas, and you bum rides off other ppl, so STFU...that's right, STFU. alas, it sucks to have a SUV right now cuz it can cost you $70 to fill the tank up. yea, my family owns an SUV. i don't like it, but hey, sometimes, i gotta say, it does come in handy. like when you go shopping and happen to buy lots of stuff, or when you're tailgating someone to go faster...it's quite intimidating when it's your SUV v. a Minicooper :)

also, i'm currently saddened by the lack of good films out in the theaters right now and the fact that nothing close to where I live is showing The Notorious Betty Page. guess i'll have to wait til May for the good stuff to come out.


found some very cool things on Youtube:

some psycho put Gladiator scenes and Hanson's Mmmbop together...it's mighty scary/funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOomWFvUdRc

a montage of outtakes from Amelie...c'est tres mignon!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM1mXNKKDU4

"Extras" (Ricky Gervais) bloopers Parts I and II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2h07B7F8Ug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XI7vx8zDIQ

some Moulin Rouge outtake goodness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFGUGpAXEtc

wow, some cool person put up one of the funniest easter eggs from the LOTR The Return of the King EE dvd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyLjzh7j8gY

I had no idea this was a Spice Girls single! or that it had a music vid!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsPClst3uZg

One of the BMW "The Hire" short episodes directed by Tony Scott. Clive Owen AND Gary Oldman...too awesome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQX6rcpbHrQ

Some absurd music vid w/ Isabelle Adjani circa 1983
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WXL3h0bo4s



and yesterday, I was reading Mai's old LJ, which she's abandoned for a couple years now. anyway, it was a fun read and probably even more amusing now than it was then. the following excerpts are from the summer of 2003, when a bunch of us Warriors interned at the Register of the OC:

BILL: So what do you guys care about? Mai, I know for you, it's Milo.
DOROTHY/LILY: She has a new person. (giggling) (OBVIOUSLY, they were implying Eric.)
BILL: Who is it this time?
MAI: (nearly shitting bricks again.)

HOLLY: So Mai, what are you doing tomorrow, watching some fireworks?
MAI: No, I’m gonna make my OWN fireworks. (Like Water for Chocolate style!)

Note: Alpha Male’s desk is about 5 feet from the lunchroom.
DOROTHY: (loudly) Let’s tell HIM before he leaves for his vacation!
Mai’s mouth drops and almost stops breathing.
MAI: (still in shock of the damage Dorothy has potentially caused for the future relationship between her and Alpha Male) I think I need to build my tomb now. (attempting to disguise the conversation) So Jeff, when exactly are YOU leaving for vacation?
JEFF: Dig your own grave.

While I was flipping through my precious magazine in the lunchroom, Bill walked in and made my heart skip TWO beats! "Okay, the giggling needs to stop!" he said in a completely hardcore serious tone. I was nearly SHITTING BRICKS! Thankfully, Bill has a great sense of humour and was only teasing.

Another favourite lunchroom moment:
CAROLINE: Euw, Lily. Your burp smells.
MAI: Burps don't smell. Well, actually, mine smells of Milo.
CAROLINE: Huh? (bewildered) I don't get it.
Uproar and laughter commence.

MAI: Question: Hippie or maternity?
ALPHA MALE: I’m gonna have to go with hippie. (Ha! I tricked him into looking at me.)
LILY: Don’t be such a Falletta.
ALPHA MALE: Is that another one of your Matrix allusions?

Oh yes, Caroline needs to hone her telephoning skills. Today, when she picked up the phone she immediately burst into MAD guffaw with bits and pieces of stuttering (awww, it's so cute): "Orange C-c-county R-r-regis...HAHAHAHA."


oh and the one about how if Mai committed suicide a la The Hours, where would she put her stones bit still makes me smile. those were good time. Jeff, Dorothy...I MISS YOU GUYS!

springtime! :)

it's such a lovely day out. i might just go an soak up some sun on the grassy hill areas around campus...aaaaah.

anyhow, i uploaded the HQ version of Metamorphosis, but Google vid is a bitch and still makes it all pixalated. here's the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6210327533589839186

so i watched Lucky Number Slevin yesterday and while it's got an overall great cast, minus JH, and a decent trailer, the movie overall was lackluster. i felt it was too predictable and it cheated w/ the ending it had. also, it did not help that I watched Pulp Fiction the night before, and I whole-heartedly agree w/ a review I read that said Lucky Number Slevin is the spawn if Pulp Fiction had impregnated The Usual Suspects...SOOO TRUUUEEE! so that was a shame.

more horrific tho, were the trailers I saw prior to the matinee feature. althogh i've seen it many times, the trailer for United 93 has grown increasingly uncomfortable for me to watch. I just don't know if we're ready for a film about the United 93 flight...i still think it's too soon and my gut reaction to the trailer was not so good. I've heard some theaters in NY have pulled the trailer cuz it hits so close to home. it's not like i want the film to tank at the B.O...it might even be a decent film on its own...but it's just the film's content and emotional link to what really happened that will conflict w/ people's view of the film. and then there were all these horror movie trailers. nothing but slasher flicks that all look The Grudge. slasher movies are not scary. they rely on gore and disgusting imagery. it's a simple shortcut that makes the experience cheap. the reason why films like Psycho and What Lies Beneath so good is that they are psychologically scary. shame that Hollywood doesn't make such films anymore.

and the one that really made me cringe (literally), was the trailer for Little Man...it's from the guys who brought you White Chicks. but i swear, this one is so gross and the humor is so base. I was talking to Millard last night about how most American comedy is based solely on cheap tricks and such and i agree. sure it's funny for awhile, when you're in grade school, but like the dumb slasher flicks of today, it doesn't work because it's not based on the intellect; it's completely base. i don't want to sound all pretentious or anything (hell, i'm a sucker for bathroom humor) but i'd much prefer something that's witty and humor that's thought out. I think the English have had that down for quite some time. in the Nell Gwyn biography, it talks about this group of men, almost like a class unto itself, known as gallants and all they'd do was say/write witty things and charm the ladies and blah blah blah. anyway, i just sorta wish the comedy of today would be more like Annie Hall rather than White Chicks or Little Man.

In other news, looks like i'm going to NY for Memorial Day weekend. gosh, finally. hrrm and hopefully, i can catch Ralph Fiennes "Faith Healer"? who knows. but i really wanna see a show when i'm there. we shall see...

my knees hurt. it started w/ both, and then the right one stopped hurting while the left one, over the weekend, was in so much pain i had trouble walking. and then, this afternoon, both started hurting again. what's up? am i getting arthritis already? do i need glucosamine like my senior dogs? why the hell are they hurting? and it's just when i walk or stand that they hurt. oiy. at this rate, i don't know if i should go kickboxing on wednesday night.

finally getting around to putting Metamorphosis online. yea, it's been about a quarter since we made/premiered our silent film, but i just recently discovered i had dvd burning software at my home. and then i fumbled around and got the movie copied onto my comp and fumbled around some more to find a place where i could put it online. i love youtube and it was the first place i looked, but unless you're a super video uploader, you can only upload 10 min worth of video (and the film's 18 some minutes long). so i went to youtube and uploaded a compressed and pixelated version. it worked, so i'm currently in the process of uploading the HQ version. and then, ppl will finally get to see this thing.

so christine's birthday dinner was last Thursday. went to Indigo Grill in downtown and feasted on some ribs. i think i scared ppl when i finished all my ribs, part of the indian pudding and ordered a sorbet dessert. those were som really awesome ribs tho...they were like meat popsicles and the meat just fell right off the bone. yea, and i guess it was bad that i didn't touch my walnut salad. i'm not one for salad. it's not real food, at least according to me. nope, salad, soup, and other non-solid foods aren't really filling enough. they're more like chips and stuff, only probably more healthy. yea, i could never be a vegetarian. strict carnivore, perhaps, but never a vegetarian.

found this on Angeline's facebook profile...it's so funny...and completely true...in the words of Susie, "it reads into your soul":


THE 90's

Anybody under the age of 16 should not repost this. Just 'cuz you were born in '95 doesn't mean you're a 90's kid. It's not like you could remember the original Simpsons.
You know you're a 90's kid if...

You can sing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air"
You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom" and that "How Rude!" comes from Stephanie from "Full House"
You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
You remember reading "Goosebumps"
You wore neon colors everyday
You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"
You remember the craze then the banning of slap bracelets and slam books.
You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...
You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green Ranger were meant to be together.
You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates
You ever got injured on a Slip 'n' Slide
You wore socks over leggings scrunched down
You remember boom boxes vs. cd players
You wore scrunchies on your wrists and candy necklaces
You remember Alf, the little brown alien from Melmac and Vicki the Robot from "MY Little Wonder"
You remember New Kids on The Block when they were cool
You knew all the characters, the theme song and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell", especially Jesse singing "I'M SO EXCITED...AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT"....while bursting into tears b/c of abusing her caffeine pills!
You played and/or collected "Pogs" (i'm proud to announce that i still have all my pogs and slammers)
You used to pretend to be a MIGHTY MORPHIN Power Ranger and you owned a Skip It
You had at least one GigaPet, Tamagachi, or Nano and brought it everywhere
You watched the original Care Bears, and Ninja Turtles
Yikes pencils and erasers were the sh*t.
You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.
You've gotten creeped out by "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"
You thought it would be so cool to be Blossom.
You know the Macarena by heart..
"Talk to the hand" ... enough said
You thought Brain woud finally take over the world
You always said, "Then why don't you marry it!"
You would listen to Grunge like Nirvana and Bush and would write the lyrics on you.


in other news, watched Thank You For Smoking today. it was pretty funny and well made, but all the funniest bits were already in the trailer, and having seen the trailer like 6 times, it wasn't as fresh. still, it was pretty good and the dialogue is hilarious. yay for big tabacco lol.

also, Jamie says i should get myself a Frenchman. yea, that's on my list of things to do. lol.

my Cult Films: The Weirdly Dramatic class is ab fab. seriously. the first feature we saw was Tod Browning's Freaks. i've love his work ever since i saw Dracula 1931 back in high school and we sorta mentioned Freaks and it got me all "i need to see this"...but it passed. last yr, i watched Bertolucci's The Dreamers and there were clips from Freaks in that film...and that one really made me think i needed to watch it. problem was, it's difficult to get one's hands on a 1933 film (or was that 1932). anyway, i was both surprised and pleased that we saw it yesterday. the story is simple, but you still find it moving...even after all these years. and i gotta say, the cast which included real circus "freaks" (dwarfs, pinheads, bearded lady, people with missing limbs, etc) was quite amazing. As the prologue tells it, the story is one of a kind because it includes such people as castmembers, for in the future, you wouldn't see anything like it...and i don't think anything like Freak has ever been made. so yea, it's just an amazing film and i'm so happy i finally got to watch it. we also watched Reefer Madness, which is just too funny. it was made to be a serious docudrama about the ill effects of "marihuana" but today, it's so ridiculous and has become a comedy. i'm sure people watch it while smoking...it'd be a crime not to.

also taking a Psychology and the Arts class with Zoe! class seems interesting enough. didn't do much today, but we were helping the prof do a research experiment thing where we listened to music in the dark. brought back memories of Sawaya's class...during one period in high school, all we did for the whole hour was listen to jazz in a dark classroom. good times. ah! the prof also mentioned the chapter in The Da Vinci Code in which Langdon talks about phi, or the Golden Ratio and says we'll cover it in a lecture. aaahahaha this is too awesome cuz i reread that chapter only recently...woohoo!

still reading Nell Gwyn. i'm about a quarter of the way through and it hasn't really gotten to the interesting bits, at least not according to me. the author (who actually is a descendent of Nell and Charles II) depicts almost all aspects of Nell's environment, such as how the slums were set up and how the designs of the playhouses were different than in Elizabethan times. the biographer also repeats himself quite a lot, so it's helpful if you're forgetful but absolutely annoying when you already know who someone is and what he or she was described to have done only 2 pages before. some parts are a bit dry and erudite but others are quite intriguing. it seems like back in the day, at least during Charles II's reign, sex and politics were one and the same, in a way. the book mentioned how Nell was about 20 years Charles' junior and how when she was born, he was already fighting the Civil War. makes me wonder, should a huge age difference have too much weight in a relationship (platonic or romantic)? What if 2 people just click and it works. there's that but then I think, even between people who are only 10 or less yrs apart, there's are differences between how and to what culture they grew up with (as related to a certain time in period). i'm by no means saying it's ok or not ok...but an 80 yr old w/ a 20 yr old is pretty sick. also, there's the idea that it's ok for an older man to be w/ a younger women but there's a stigma attached to older women and younger men. i just think in general, society is cruel to aging women, and it sucks. hell, i myself find myself behaving in line with that sort of thought sometimes. but i guess it's all evolutionary: females go for the older, established and mature males for stability...but i dunno how the older woman younger man fits into the evolutionary scheme of things. whatever. i still think those Mrs. Robinson types out there are pretty cool...

also, i'm currently obsessed with Air's "Venus" off the "Talkie Walkie" album. it's so good!

it's been rainy and dreary lately...how depressing. this is supposed to be sunny socal, so where's the sun? i mean, at least Vancouver has the cherry blossoms and daffodils to balance out the dreary greyness. i'm so looking forward to espidrilles, peasant skirts, tank tops, spf 40, and open windows. oh how i long for hot weather! i must admit tho, i've learned to like cold weather better this past winter cuz i've learned how to ski...hell, i'm actually looking forward to next winter break...but i'm still longing for the summer first.

watched Inside Man yesterday. it's probably Spike Lee's most mainstream film ever and i really liked it. it's a decent heist film (although there are some plot holes and implausable bits) but i like it mostly because it's such a great character study. the story is completely character driven and all 4 of the main characters are 3 dimensional...all are complex. the writing is great in the general sense and also in that there are some really great lines. and since the story is character driven, it only works with the best actors and this film works because of them. (ooo, and can i just say, Clive Owen is the sex. tehe) so yea, twas a good Spike Lee Joint.

since spring quarter is just about to start, i've decided that i need to take the opportunity and read for my own enjoyment again. i'm rereading The Da Vinci Code in anticipation of the film...i wanna see how they adapt it to the screen and what works/what doesn't. sigh, i still have difficulty seeing Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon tho, but i say to myself: the dude is Tom Hanks...he can play just about anyone. we'll see what happens in May. i also picked up an autobiography Nell Gwyn, Mistress to a King, the king being Charles II of England, the Restoration monarch. i've always liked that period in English history...the idea of a restoration of the magnificence Elizabethan England experienced after the austereness of Puritan rule. and then there was also this quote from Nell Gwyn i read somewhere. she was talking to her young son when his father, the King, came to visit and it went something like this: "Come here you little bastard and say hello to your father." i literally lol at that one. and it is said that this statement made the king grant his little bastard son a noble title...he became a duke i think.

boo i don't wanna go back to school. i wanna go traveling some more...

from Vancouver. although it's not as exciting or as bustling as LA or Shanghai, Vancouver is a really wonderful city. When i left, the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom and in a few weeks time, other flowers will follow suit. The city also reminds me of La Jolla, as there's always a chilly breeze coming off the ocean. It's a nice feeling tho...there's always clean, fresh air. i took about 300 photos this time...gah, i want a new camera...although i love my Nikon Coolpix, it's just not cutting it.

haha i forgot to mention that while waiting for the flight to Phoenix (which connected to Vancouver) a few days ago, i did in fact see Dave Foley. I thought it was him, but i was thrown off by the white hair and the 2 kids w/ him. he just doesn't seem that old when commentating for Celebrity Poker. i also thought he had a goatee. but the face was undeniably his. he seemed so normal...i wonder if he gets stopped in the street or anything.

hmm anyway, Vancouver is now almost 3 hrs away. i think the biggest things i learned from this trip are: #1, i actually have some pretty cool relatives and #2, it's sorta made me realize what i want in life and in the people around me.

ooo and i just realized that i'm pretty set for the upcoming few Olympics. I know people in Beijing so come 2008, i'll probably go visit. in 2010, the winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver :) and unless my relatives move, i'm going there too. and in 2012, the summer Olympics will be held in London, so i could probably stay at my uncle's and hop on the tube to check out what's going on in the city. eeeeeeeeeeeexcellent...

Back in Vancouver from a day of skiing at Whistler...man, it was fun, but not a little bit miserable. Went skiing w/ Richard down the longest effing run i've ever been on...i think it was about 3 miles. so after a couple more miles of skiing, there's no strength in my legs. oh well...i'll feel it tomorrow, probably, but it was well worth it. I think the skiing events for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver will be held in Vancouver. fun stuff. but boo, i'm going to be going back home tomorrow :(

i'm sitting in my, uh, 3rd cousin's or 1st cousin 3 times removed? new livingroom on my 2nd day in Vancouver. been on the east coast of Canada, and this is my first time on the west coast and well, it's not the most exciting city in the world, but it is a nice place. walked around most of Stanley Park yesterday and took a buncha pictures. hopped on the ferry and on over to Vancouver Island to check out Butchart Garden and the harbor. had an awesome experience on the ferry back: i watched the 2nd and part of the 3rd periods of the Maple Leafs v. Devils game...wow, watching hockey in Canada...that's a first and it's pretty cool.

i think the biggest thing i've noticed about Canada (Vancouver) at least is that the pace is really slow and the ppl here are a bit lazy. ok that's bit blunt, but they live like the europeans. a lot of the stores aren't open on sundays and if they are, they close at 5 or something. and omg...there are so many asian people here. it's nuts. back home we have Rowland Heights and the San Gabriel areas...some pretty centralized asian areas. here, there's just asian people/stores everywhere.

met a distant relative (mmm more like an in-law tho) for the first time since i was 3 or something. he's the brother of my cousin's husband and i guess when i was little and my parents were away somewhere, i got sick and he rushed me to the hospital cuz in addition to being pale, i was a sickly child. and then he immigrated to australia and i've never seen him since...hell, i didn't even recognize him when they picked us up at the airport. he's a cool dude and he's told me a lot about australia. for instance...they DON'T drink Foster's...it's purely international propaganda. he speaks w/ a bit of strine so it's not like i can't understand him. this is very interesting because haha, in my family, we have American English speakers, British English speakers, and Aussie English speakers! aaaahahaha.

tomorrow we are off to Whistler...this ski resort somewhere up north. should be fun...we'll see...

as of tonight, i can rant on my lj...wooohooo. yay spring break!

youtube is such a bad bad site. it distracts me with its bright and shiny visuals...so many pretty things! sigh, but really tho, it's amazing and i hope it never goes away. haha it's lately been satiating my appetite for anything Spike (a la Buffy) related cuz he was the coolest mofo on that show and oh the nostalgia that Buffy conjures. yea, i still remember the summers during middle school when my friends and I would veg out in from of the TV and watch Buffy episodes from the previous season...good times...damn, i need the season 2 collection cuz that season was the shit. back when spike was bad...and dru was still, well, looney ;). oh the drama! and the brilliant entrance of spike and dru in "School Hard"...le sigh. haha and i found these clips from "Once More With Feeling" and there are french versions of the songs!! c'est super!

youtube has also reignited my fascination with the one they call Madonna. someone uploaded the entirety of "I Want to Tell You a Secret," a kind of behind the scenes look at her Reinvention Tour. my gosh, that tour looked awesome and it was pretty good. and then I started watching old Madonna music vids and I lot of them i've loved ever since I was a kid, but it wasn't until lately that I've truly begun to appreciate them. Among my favorites are Vogue (wow, had no idea David Fincher directed this), Take a Bow/You'll See, Rain (just discovered this! AND! directed by Mark Romanek, guy who directed NIN's Closer), Human Nature, etc. I think my favorite Madonna album ever is "Ray of Light" although her early-mid 90s stuff is wonderful too. I do like the new "Hung up" single...but not so much "Sorry". and i know she's known for always reinventing her image...but damn, did she have to go with the nasty 70s disco/aerobics look w/ the shiny leotard and the flipped out hair??? it's just not a flattering look. i mean, in the 80s, she went trashy and it started a trend and i understand it was part of that time and she hadn't really gone fashionable then so it's ok, in the 90s, she went a little S&M (which is ok too cuz it's a hot look) and then went all sophisticated and glamorous, and then Ray of Light, she got all spiritual and earthy which is awesome...hell, even the militaristic American Life was some steps up from the icky 70s look of now.

ok back to my original point. i was watching all these old music vids and was thinking about how a few yrs ago, i thought they were so cool. in essence, to me they were mini-movies and their soundtrack was some new, brilliant song. and despite their short length (or maybe it's because of that?), music vids made such an impact on me in terms of how much it captured my attention and how much i looked forward to the latest release. i also toyed with the idea of wanting to be solely a music video director. and then eventually i stopped watching trl...probably cuz mtv turned to into a flaming piece a crap...and i'd only some vids cuz they made headlines or watever. today, i don't even know if music vids have the same effect as they once did in the late 90s-early 2000s. it seems like everyone is so caught up in what they want to hear, as in self-organized music on ipods and other mp3 players. i dunno, is it just me or do music videos in general not have the same drawing power they once did? in a way, it's kind of sad because there are so many great pieces out there...simply great directing, choreography, and concepts. hell i can remember one of my earliest favorite's was REM's "Losing My Religion". so i guess the time of the music video is waning. perhaps it's like a progression of "video killed the radio star" into "mp3 players killed the video star".

but just to leave on a good note. apparently Joaquin Phoenix directed a music vid for a band called Ringside?. i just sorta stumbled onto this and i think it's got a pretty good concept and is shot really well. hell, the song, "Tired of Being Sorry" is pretty decent too.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kljqehNrRkY


the poster for The Devil Wears Prada is out! i'm so excited about this film! i've yet to read the book, but i will, before the film is released. haha just the idea of Meryl Streep as an Anna Wintour-esque character cracks me up. anyway, i gotta point out that the poster design is really good!-chic, sexy, and not a little bit, well devilish...



and found out 3 days ago that the plan to go to Vancouver is back on. been to the east part of Canada, never the west side tho...we'll see how it is...

oh the French...

so i was reading about the protests over youth job security and they were predicting that it wasn't going to be as "revolutionary" or as intense as the May '68 protests...yea and then 24 hrs later they bomb the entrance to a Gap. i dunno exactly what to make of the whole protest thing. on the one hand, it does suck that the unemployment rate of in france is that high, and of course they'd be angry (enough to protest). and basically, they're protesting over a contract that in theory would help w/ the whole unemployment situation but it would give companies the right to terminate young ppl's jobs within their first 2 yrs of working there for no given reason; so in other words, no job security. and here's where i start thinking...well, you can't have your cake and eat it too. a part of me feels like the lack of job security is horrible, but in a competitive market, it's a necessary evil. and since i see unemployment as being worse, i feel like the French youth should quit their whining. afterall, it's your first job and really, most people don't expect their first jobs to last a lifetime. and also, i think the whole job security thing is what leads the french, and actually almost all europeans, to wallow in this comfortable existence in which customer service sucks ass and weekends start on wednesdays. i think people and especially the youth need to keep up w/ the times and if they don't want to go along w/ it, then well, their jobs will go to others (perhaps in Asia or something). so yea, part of me feels like "tant pis...a job is better than no job at all," but since they're french, another part feels like the contract is a bit unfair, so "vive la resistance!"

( French Students' Protests Turn Fiery )


and i love this photo...such defiance

last weekend was miserably fun. went to Tahoe to ski...and we were all blessed by a week's worth of fresh powder. went to Heavenly this time and while the cost was not cheap, the gondola ride was pretty amazing. mom and i made the mistake of going on a lift that took us to an advanced course. as i looked down the sleep slope, i thought, fuck, then i thought, oh hell just go down the mountain. i sorta skiied and tumbled my way down the first half. mom got kinda freaked out and was contemplating wat to do at the top of the slope for about half an hour. i kept yelling at her to walk down...she eventually slid down. well, i can't blame her, the binding on one of her skis was too loose, so her boot kept popping out of it...she already fell a few times cuz of that and now she's nursing a tendon injury (i think), anyways it's swollen and it hurts. as for me, after falling numerous times (thank god the snow was soft...damn that it was freezing), i learned how to turn my skis so that i wouldn't go straight down...as a result, not as much falling. something i observed on the slopes: the people are amazingly nice! this one lady was helping my mom and made me realize the reason i kept falling was cuz i couldn't turn...and then this other dude skiied down w/ my mom's skis while she walked down. anyway, it was really great. for the next couple days tho, it seemed like every muscle in my legs were hurting; i didn't think that was possible.

huh...and while i away this weekend, slobodan milosevic died...of a fucking heart attack. i personally think he deserved a firing squad...or something much worse, but watever, the world is rid of him now. joy.

so yea, it's the week before finals...grrr i'm never taking 5 classes again...or anytime soon, that is.

watched Downfall (Der Untergang), which is a German film about Hitler's last 12 days in the bunker under the Chancellory in Berlin. it clocks in at around 2.5 hrs, but it's soooo good. it's a pretty historically accurate account of what happened (it even shows what happened to the Goebbels children in one of the best sequences) and i don't think there's ever been a film that's shown Hitler in such a way. yes the film humanizes the man, but it's not a portrayal in which you feel sympathy for him (unless maybe you're some skinhead). He just comes off as a two-faced, sick & twisted, dispicable creature. it's easy to treat him (and people like him) as simply a monster, but to be reminded that he was human is to realize that anyone is capable of committing the atrocities that he implemented. it's a very well-crafted piece of filmmaking and Bruno Ganz as Hitler is pretty amazing. Ganz transforms himself into Hitler with all the mannerisms and i read that he studied the only voice recording of Hitler in private, and supposedly, Ganz's voice is pretty close to what Hitler sounded like.

and yay, i have The Legend of 1900 and Finding Neverland ost on the comp again :) 2 very good piano-oriented soundtracks.