The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse

Listening to: Jack's Mannequin, "Dark Blue"I've done a fair amount of sample sale shopping in my life. One glorious year my friend and I worked in Northern San Diego where a lot of clothing companies have their headquarters. He'd get the tip that a blowout sale was going on and we'd run over to the ATM, sometimes on lunch hour(s), and head to the sale with eyes on the prize. We got some incredible deals. One dollar for a pair of new shoes. Swim...

Reality Bites?

Listening to: Eric Hutchinson, "Back to Where I Was" and "All Over Now." Some people say he's the new Mraz. I wouldn't go that far but I'm digging his stuff. Of course I'm a few years behind in discovering him so he's probably only new to me.I watched Slacker the other night, the film that put Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise/Sunset, Waking Life) on the map. Slacker follows the semi-intersecting lives of a large handful of Austonians...

Why Read?

"The book itself is a curious artifact, not showy in its technology but complex and extremely efficient: a really neat little device, compact, often very pleasant to look at and handle, that can last decades, even centuries. It doesn’t have to be plugged in, activated, or performed by a machine; all it needs is light, a human eye, and a human mind. It is not one of a kind, and it is not ephemeral. It lasts. It is reliable. If a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you’re fifty, though you may understand...

Where Are the Wild Things?

Listening to: The Blow, "True Affection."I stole a book from the library once. Just once. I won't say where or when but let's just say I had to do it. This was pre-Internet and pre-Amazon so I didn't think I'd ever find such a wonderful book again. I felt terribly guilty for awhile but justified the crime by saying that with this book in my possession, my life would be forever changed. What was the book? A field guide about whales, dolphins,...

Is that so?

"Young people, heed this advice: Never marry someone who doesn't love the movies you love. Sooner or later, that person will not love you. I could go even further, and quote the great French cineaste Pierre Rissient, who instructs us: It is not enough for you to love a movie. You must love it for the right reasons."-Roger Ebe...

Eye Opening

So for the past few months I've been helping out as a member of Kearny Street Workshop's general planning committee in preparation for APAture 2009."Kearny Street Workshop's APAture is an annual multidisciplinary arts festival showcasing the work of emerging Asian Pacific American artists. APAture's mission is to provide artists with an early experience presenting their work at a large event; to build audiences for emerging APA artists; to strengthen...

Keep Smiling, Keep Shining

"Historically, we have often thought that having a small cluster of tight, long-term friends is crucial to being happy. But Christakis and Fowler found that the happiest people in Framingham were those who had the most connections, even if the relationships weren’t necessarily deep ones.The reason these people were the happiest, the duo theorize, is that happiness doesn’t come only from having deep, heart-to-heart talks. It also comes from having daily exposure to many small moments of contagious happiness. When you frequently see other people...

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

I've been waiting a long time to watch this. It's been out for awhile now but I thought I would round up some friends to watch it together. Turns out nobody wanted to watch it (for various reasons). Turns out that was a great idea as I was an emotional wreck afterwards. Well, an emotional wreck by my standards.I'm not much of a movie crier, or a crier period, but Time Traveler's Wife vaults into the top three of movies that have made me sit there...

Singles Conferencing

Listening to: Jets, "Crush on You." I cannot get enough of this song. I just can't. "How did you know / if I never told / you found out / I've got a crush on you!" Plus a live version.Awhile back, Lilly and I were discussing why it is that we look to our single friends for advice on relationships and dating. We both promised to blog about it and she's done her part so I must hold up my end now. Here's an excellent point she made, "When you take...

The Percolator

Listening to: Nina Nastasia, "Our Day Trip." It's not often you hear "amble" in things anymore. I like it.Someone told me that you can get hypnosis treatment for low self-esteem. That struck me as odd. How can hypnosis do that? Is self-esteem really as simple to cure as say, smoking or drinking? I'd imagine that it would involve making your mind think that you're a great person when you're usually used to judging yourself too harshly or something....

Water Runs Dry

Listening to: Colin Hay, "Overkill." I don't watch Scrubs so I'm about seven years late on this song. Better late than never they say.Over drinks in an empty bar on Russian Hill, one that played most of Paula Abdul's hits in succession (there's quite a lot of them actually), a friend told us that Comcast cable has free karaoke under their music channels section. He said that it had quite a few recent songs and would suck us in immediately. Well,...

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

I really really really wanted to love this movie. I did. But even though it's Quentin and even though it was thoroughly entertaining throughout, I left feeling a bit let down. Having said that, anything Quentin does is still loads better than the norm, so I'm giving Inglourious Basterds an A. Plus, Quentin never fails to keep your attention and interest.But overall it was missing a few things. The plot and characters just seemed to be lacking the...