Wednesday, December 13, 2006

holiday shopping

i'm out of fucking ideas for what to get my friends for christmas. it's such a dire situation that i'm considering just sifting thru my hotmail spam and matching friend with product. there's everything from lesbian schoolgirl porn and canadian viagra to travelocity gift certificates or hickory farms baskets. unfortunately for my friends, i don't have much money, so it looks like they're all getting sausage sticks and blocks of cheese, instead of a trip to new york.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

i win

i think for the first time in my entire voting career (this is my seventh year), everyone and everything i voted for to be elected, passed or rejected was respectively elected, passed or rejected. every initiative, proposition, referendum. every federal, state and city candidate. you kno what that means. i win! now i am going to go get a lapdance.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

i'm in

i always thot i'd use that title for an entry about getting into school or something, but apparently not. the alternate title for this post is "why are there so many crazy people in seattle?"

just today, when i was at scarecrow looking for something to watch other than what i went there for (it's 2 for 1 wednesday today), which i might add, is a horribly difficult thing to do while hungover and not feeling like watching anything at all, i noticed someone talking loudly to himself. automatically i assume that he was talking to someone on a bluetooth or something ridiculous like that, but when i looked over, he wasn't. okay, whatever, people talk to themselves sometimes. but as he's leaving, he starts shouting at the people working at the counter about something i could not make heads or tails of. something about how they were a plague on society and whatnot. crazy talk.

then i was walking on the ave, a tall and skinny shirtless man was pointing at things and shouting. unlike the other guy, i didn't think this guy was talking on his cell phone. i was walking behind a middle aged lady in pink, and he ended up behind us, and i hear this: "hey you, the lady in the pink, you're OUT! you're OUT! i'm sorry but you are out." she ignores him, and i do too, thinking to myself that i really should have taken another route. he tells the woman she is out a couple more times, and then he says, "hey you, the guy with the bag that is rite in front of me." this is me. "you're IN! that's rite, you're IN!" i ignore him, but secretly that is validation i've been looking for my entire life. i felt like i belonged to something! (not really.) i sped up so that i could not only cross the street before the lite turned, but also so that i wouldn't somehow be murdered or something. as i got to my car, i saw him walking down the street, still shouting at people. "you, the girl on the scooter, you're in."

what the fuck are these people on?

Friday, September 29, 2006

jewel in the palace was checked out tho

surreal moment: i had a conversation with a nun about k-dramas at a video store. lesson learned: nuns are just like us. except they are married to god.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

alcohol happens

yesterday, i was pouring myself something to drink, orange juice. what was left in the carton wasn't enough to fill the glass i had, so to make up for it, i filled the rest with vodka.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

sayounara

so i took japanese over the summer, mostly cuz i didn't kno what else to do with myself, and despite how much work it was (hours upon hours every day...), i actually met some pretty cool people. well, i'm sure there are cool people in every class i've taken, but when you're forced to spend hours every day with the same people, you actually are forced to get to kno them. i also met some people i never want to see ever again, but i didn't let that ruin my experience.

anyhow, i just wanted to detail our last day together, because it was a lot of fun, and i'd like to keep that memory.

after our final (around 1100am) on friday, we thot it was a good idea to go to someone's place (she lived in a frat over the summer, which was a good thing, really) and do sake bombs. we got nice and drunk and loud, and every now and then, a hot, sometimes shirtless (hell, yeah) frat guy would pop his head in to see who was making so much noise so early in the morning. some got drunker than others, and when we went to get food afterwards (at best of bento on the ave), a few people fell out of their chairs, and a few heaved into the toilet. you kno who you are.

afterwards, i took someone home so that they could pass out and wake up for the planned dinner get-together for the class, and i went with some classmates to get some more liquor for the party get-together that would happen after dinner that nite.

then we chilled at another classmate's place and drank some beers that he had brewed himself until it was time to head to dinner.

the dinner was at bush garden (600pm), and while i'd seen the aging sign for its parking lot, i'd never actually been inside. the food was pretty standard (good, but not extraordinary), but the company was a lot of fun.

when we were done with dinner, some of us went to get yet more liquor and then we headed to the place where the party was to be at. the day begins to grow fuzzy around this time, but i'm quite sure i was having drunk conversations with my teachers, and i kno i found out that the hot sensei, who'd ta'd first-year, was gay. i'd thot so, but it was good to get some confirmation. had i been sure, i would have turned up the charm. *wink*

anyways, after we chilled at the house for a while, we headed off to karaoke. this is the part of the nite i almost don't remember. i don't kno where we went or hot i got there, but i do remember shouting a few songs into the microphone, and then flirting with the lesbian working at the front desk. one of my teachers drove me home, and i passed out.

it had been a while since i'd partied all day like that, so it really brot me back to my younger days in college. who knos when (and if) i'll be able to do something like that again.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

no shit

so, the news broke yesterday that people magazine's new cover story was that lance bass of *nsync (yeah) was a gay. to most of us, this came as no surprise, because honestly, i'd already figured he was gay back in 1998 (yeah), back when i had that crush on young justin timberlake (remember the 'tearin' up my heart' video? remember jt kneeing on the bed in the wifebeater, singing, "i am down on my knees; i can't take it anymore" and then "tearin' up my heart and soul, we're apart, i feel it too; and no matter what i do, i feel the pain with or without you"? mmm... yeah). but you kno what's really on everyone's minds? who is this amazing racer reichen, lance's "stable" boyfriend (i give them another half year at the most... yeah), that everyone is now jabbering about? the gays all kno reichen very very well, but it's clear that not everyone does. not that i pay much attention to stats and everything, but i did notice an 8-fold spike in the hits yesterday, most of which were people looking for pictures and info about reichen.

i have neither! i just wanted to comment on the fact that it sure took lance a while to make it official, that a lot of people are interested in reichen (this must be great for his "career"... yeah), and to reiterate that reichen is motherfucking hot. and i wanted to poke fun of sexy back (yeah).

first darren hayes, formerly of savage garden (we all saw that one coming too), and now lance. who's next? when's the gay backstreet boy going to do it? i guess if it took lance eight years, then we won't expect anything out of clay aiken for another ten.

Friday, July 21, 2006

hey, isn't that...

Hosted by SuprFile.com

i was at scarecrow video the other day, where i was going to meet a friend. well, he was stuck in traffic, so i had a lot of time to browse around. i went to virtually every section to look around, for things to rent another time. it never really occurs to me to go to the sexploitation (read: porn) section, because i don't really ever rent porn, but i was bored, so i went in to look (i hope that doesn't sound like some sort of excuse or justification, because i am not the least bit ashamed of my interest in watching hot naked boys fucking each other. those who kno me, kno that i love my porn).

i'll be honest, it wasn't a very good selection. mostly older stuff, mixed in with some newer stuff here and there, but i didn't see much released after 2003. i didn't think there was anything interesting there, until of course i saw a little row of videos generically titled, "seattle something something boyz" (i.e. "seattle college boyz," "seattle navy boyz," et cetera). hey! i thot. i wonder if anyone i kno's been in any of these. so, i looked at the backs of all of them, and to my surprise, i did see one. the surprise wasn't that i recognized at least one of them, but that it was a guy i had a crush on way back when who was one of the last people i would've thot would do porn (obviously, i did not kno him well enuf).

as you can see above, the movie was "seattle solo sessions" [link kinda nsfw] (volume 1, but i didn't see a volume 2 anywhere, so perhaps they were getting ahead of themselves), and his name was david. he was a couple years older than me and i think i knew him from freshman or sophomore year of college. nothing ever came of it, cuz he was mostly interested in tall white guys like himself, and i am not such a person, but he always seemed like a really nice guy.

Hosted by SuprFile.com

so, naturally, i was dying of curiosity. i won't pretend it's anything other than the fact that i want to see his dick and watch him jack off, because i can honestly think of no other reason for the curiosity. i mean, seriously, i couldn't make it happen in reality, so why not indulge my freshman self's fantasy as best i can? well, i didn't rent it then. but you can be sure that someday, i will.

postscript: here's a stranger article by adrian ryan about the (now-defunct?) company, gae boy video. read it because it's so true.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Monday, July 03, 2006

liberal arts

i was walking home from class today and there were two frat-looking guys walking in front of me. one of them wasn't wearing a shirt (but he was carrying a backpack), while the other one was fully clothed. after a few minutes, the one without a shirt took his pants off too, and he was not wearing any underwear. so now, i'm walking with a naked guy with a backpack on in front of me. it's times like this, i wish i had a cameraphone.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

i can't fall asleep

allergies suck.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

the omen

i shit you not, on tuesday, the day of my last final of my undergraduate career, i was walking to said final when the bloodied head of a crow fell out of a tree in front of me. it was the most horrible thing ever. how often does that happen? i mean, really. this is so not what i wanted to see anywhere, let alone on the way to a test. what did it mean, for surely something so unusual must have a meaning...? and besides that, what the fuck happened, that a bird's head would fall out of a tree? on my way back from the test, i noticed that ants and other crawlies had already began making short work of the head. oh, nature...

Friday, May 26, 2006

siffty siffs

oh, yes. film festival season is upon us once more. last year, i saw a crazy 20 movies, mostly good, some not so much. but that's nothing! despite finding well over 40 movies i wanted to see this year, i've cut the number down to approximately 22, due to budgetary (and time) constraints. we'll see if that holds. i have yet to finalize it all, but i hope to see all of the following:






yes, that does seem like a lot, but i have so much fun year after year that i can't help myself. this is also the last year that i get to take advantage of the student discount, tho the woman at the box office didn't check my id or anything, so perhaps i can pull it off next year. i actually didn't think i'd see as many this year because there seemed to be a lot less east asian movies in this year's selection, but after going thru the entire list, i found that didn't really hinder me. notice the slight increase in pictures of naked boys and/or boys about to kiss? there were more queer movies this year, i think, or at least more gay movies that looked interesting (i.e. had screencaps of naked boys and/or boys about to kiss), so those easily filled the holes left open by a lack of asian cinema representation. i'd like to give short reviews on the movies after i see them, but i never had time to do that last year, so who knos. no promises. anyhow, i'll see y'all at the movies!

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

on the davinci code

my roommate and i were at the grocery store in the jam section and...

roommate: my dad likes apple butter. i don't get it.

me: well, to each his own. for instance, i hate the davinci code.

random girl who had been browsing the aisle next to us: oh god, isn't it horrible?

me: yeah! what a shitty book.

girl: fuck that book, AND that movie.

having made her point, the girl walks away. the end.

postscript: she was wearing the same golden girls t-shirt that i had, and i had resolved to dispatch of her, but then she redeemed herself in the jam aisle.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

amazing race, season 9

this was actually attached to the end of the previous post, but it was getting long, so i sliced it off and am posting it today.

the amazing race is wrapping up! with this show, i think i wouldn't mind if any of the current teams won (i hated mojo, and they're gone). okay, mebbe i would mind a little bit. the dumb guys shouldn't win. one of them is pretty cute, but he's such a jackass, i can only imagine he'll use the money to get chicks, and that's not okay. i'd be okay with ray and yolanda getting the money cuz i like them, except that i don't expect their relationship to last. obviously, long distance it was okay cuz they didn't have to be with each other 24/7, but i think it's clear from the trip that they'll only get on each other's nerves if they lived in the same city. so i guess that leaves the hippies, two of the most resilient contestants on the amazing race in a while. the power of t'tow clearly favors them, and i can imagine the money going to some good causes were they to win it. like more funny hats.

Monday, May 15, 2006

fun-filled weekend

this past weekend was a lot of fun.

on friday, i had a midterm in the morning (not fun), and a full day of classes (930-300), but after all that, i went to the concert at hec ed pavilion, which included rock: local band united states of electronica, the academy is..., and my boys phantom planet; and hip-hop: locals blue scholars and mos def. mix master mike spun as well, and carlos mencia showed up too.

united states of electronica were pretty good. they sounded like a fun band. i'd heard of them before, but never seen them perform. there were like 6 members or something, two of which were sharing the singing and dancing girl duties usually performed by one. the academy is... is one of those bands like fall out boy where their music isn't really anything new and all their songs sound the same, but is very easy to listen to. in fact, they are touring with fall out boy this month, i think. their lead singer is tall and really skinny, and looks like a girl with his long hair and super-tight shirt and pants, but i still thot he was kinda hot. he strut around the stage a lot, which kinda reminded me of mick jagger, but when he was younger. a lot younger. naturally, i went to this thing for the sole purpose of seeing phantom planet. as you may or may not kno, not only do i love their music (where's that new album, guys?), i have an 8-year-long-and-counting crush on the lead singer alex greenwald. it was great seeing all of them live again. i think the last time i saw them was with hoobastank, and god knos how long ago that was. they played a mix of old and older (since they haven't released much new material in a while), as well as one new song (i can't wait!), and one cover: phantom of the opera ("in sleep he sang to me/in dreams he came..."). i had a lot of fun watching them, and i found out that i still have the hots for alex. oh, alex... (thanks dan, for the pic)

carlos mencia really sucked. that isn't to say he bombed, unfortunately. it was sad to see so much of the audience laughing at his jokes, cuz they weren't inspired, clever or funny. his kind of comedy is the very ignorant kind that stupid people think, "oh that's so true," tho he wraps it up in "i'm trying to make you guys think," and tries to justify his homophobia and racism with his "i make fun of everyone" line. i understand that he needs to make money, but the whole act was painful for me. i couldn't change the channel like i usually can when he comes on after south park. i didn't hate him before, but i do now.

blue scholars was great. i'd heard about them, and seen pictures here and there, but this is the first time i'd actually heard them. plus, seeing them live made me come to the realization that i'd lived in the dorms with one of them and used to see him around all the time. actually, i think one of my friends had a thing for him. but that's beside the point. it's always fun listening to locals, cuz they reference things that only other locals would really get. mix master mike spun a great set, and mos def was awesome, but i think by that time i was way too tired and hungry to really appreciate them. my legs and feet hurt from standing for 5 hours, and i hadn't eaten for 9.

i was ready to pass out by the end, but i definitely think i got my $18 worth out of the event. especially since there were so many cute boys there! god damn, were there a lot. it was like everywhere i turned, a new one would pop out for me to peruse. had i been drunk, i'm sure i would have accosted some of them, but luckily for them, i was not.

and that was just friday. saturday morning, i woke up early to the blazing sun. okay, it wasn't blazing, but it was very bright and the sky was mostly clear. there are a few washington state activities my roommate wants to engage in before he moves down to socal for culinary school, and this day seemed like a good day to do one of them, so we decided in the blink of an eye to go over to woodinville and visit columbia winery, since he'd wanted to go wine tasting. when we got there, we were treated to various wines by one of the best wine stewards ever. her name was nan (i don't kno if i'm spelling that rite), and she kept on pouring. in addition, we got to see parts of the winery that she told us people usually didn't get to see on the tour. and then we got some vouchers for free reserve tasting. of course, it all worked great on me and i picked up a couple bottles of syrah for my parents. after that, we went across the street to chateau ste. michelle and after a tour and tasting there, i picked up a bottle of moscato for my sister (she loves her moscato). we realized that the red hook brewery was out here, so we decided to do a brewery day at some point in the future and hit mac and jacks in redmond, pyramid in seattle, and perhaps maritime pacific in ballard too.

and while that was all a lot of fun, the best part of visiting woodinville was dining at the purple cafe and wine bar. it was suggested by our friendly steward at columbia winery, and i enjoyed it quite a bit. i ordered the lobster baked mac and cheese ("campanelle noodles & lobster baked with gruyere, mozzarella, leeks & carrots") and it was delicious. the lobster was perfect with the cheeses and everything (gruyere is one of my favorite cheeses). if anyone stops by, i fully recommend this dish. okay, that couldn't possibly be the reason that this was the best part of the visit, rite? rite. our friendly waiter, bryan, was really fucking hot. at medium height, he had longer dark brown hair, a five o'clock shadow, a milky complexion and really well-formed features. whenever he came by, i couldn't help but get a good look. of course, looking at a waiter is usually body language for "excuse me, i need something," which is why he kept stopping mid-stride, unsure of whether or not i needed him for something. oh yes, i needed him for something, but i'm not sure it was part of his job to give it to me. i especially liked that he actually talked to us about our food beyond what i usually get from waiters (tho were he ugly, i probably would have been annoyed), and so that worked on me and i left a nice tip. there appears to be a location in kirkland, a little closer than woodinville, which is nice for when i want just the food, but i would definitely miss the service.

and that was just earlier in the day. i feel like this post is going on forever. oh well! for dinner, i met up with a friend from high school i hadn't seen in probably half a decade (that makes it sound like a long time, doesn't it?). it was a lot of fun catching up, and after sushi, we hit the theatre for stick it. while it wasn't quite bring it on (the dialogue was not as good, and dear god, it was lacking a lot of focus), it was still quite enjoyable and kept the "winning isn't everything" theme of the other movie. the main girl, missy peregrym, was so hot! i remember her vaguely from that failed abc show with kelly osbourne and sean faris, but i didn't remember her being really so hot. hopefully, she'll be in more stuff now, cuz i like her a lot.

and that was just saturday. just kidding, sunday wasn't full of fun like the other days were. i really should have been working on homework all weekend, but sometimes things just don't work out like that. so after i woke up, i did as much homework as i could, before i went home for mother's day and spent some time with my mom.

then i got back and watched the survivor finale. i'd been pulling for aras since the first episode, cuz i thot he was the hottest guy there, and i was pleasantly surprised when he won. honestly, i would have loved for cirie to have won, since she was my favorite, but after she was out of the running, i was behind aras 100%. and then after danielle won the last challenge, i was sure the million dollars was aras's. why was i so sure? because danielle likes to replace the vowels in people's names with the letter i. she spelled aras, "aris," and terry, "terri." that is the sole reason she didn't win. speaking of terry, i kno a lot of people liked him, but i didn't. i thot he was increasingly such a tool as the days went on. his ability to win a lot of the physical challenges didn't impress me, because everything that came out of his mouth was asshole talk. or mebbe i only feel that way cuz it was him vs. aras, and i liked aras. either way, i didn't like him, and am happy with the result of this survivor.

and that was pretty much my weekend. it was fun.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

i should be studying now

okay, so i was at a coffee shop today, studying with some friends, and in walks this reasonably cute guy, with his track jacket, jeans, and pumas. i catch some eye contact with him, but i dunno if it was just incidental (did we just happen to glance at each other at the same time?), cuz you kno, sometimes that happens. he sits down and he goes about his business. the person in the next table over that i'm facing has left, and so there's a free space there. in a little bit, the cute guy moves to this table and we are sitting basically face to face with two tables between us. at first, i think it's cuz there's more light at this table. for the next couple hours, i would get frequent, if intermittent eye contact with him, and i didn't kno what to think. of course, it finally occurs to me that we are being very loud sometimes (they were girls, forgive them), and that he's probably just trying to glare us into being quiet. but then, even when we weren't being loud, he kept looking over. so really, i didn't kno what to think. well, this is what i think. i think if he wanted us to be quiet, he should have come and asked us if we could do that. and i think that if that wasn't the case, he should have come and talked to me anyways, cuz he was cute. either way, i suppose i enjoyed exchanging brief stares. isn't this so totally missed connections tho? "coffee shop in the u district. you, cute. me, studying with friends (loudly). i noticed you looking over a lot. did you just want us to shut up or was there something more? wish i'd asked you in person. chai, sometime?"

Monday, May 08, 2006

it's rain

look! rain made time magazine's time 100, their annual (is it annual?) list of people who influence our world. yes, rain is huge in asia, but... there are a lot of stars bigger than him, aren't there? well, whatever, i don't mind. _i_ love him, and that's all that matters. the article says he's getting ready for an english-language debut coming this fall. i'll support it, but i wouldn't get his hopes up. crossing over from asia to the us isn't something that happens easily, and even when it does happen, their american work usually isn't great compared to what they'd done in asia (yes, jet li, i'm talking about you). even when they don't successfully cross over, their attempt isn't that great. sorry, rain, but if utada (a real american!) can't make it, then what hope is there for you? well, gosh, why am i being such a fucking bugger? of course he'll make it. and then... and then, he'll have millions of screaming asian-american fans, and... when will he have time for me? oh, dear. (previously, rain)

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

relief

yesterday, my history prof ended class early because she wasn't feeling well. i wonder if she had as bad a hangover as i did.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

a work of art

like it says above, this is paul robertson's pirate baby's cabana battle street fight 2006, and it is an amazing work of art. it's an animation done in the style of all those awesome fighting arcade games from back in the day that i wish they still made. watching this is a lot like watching someone play an awesome video game. the only regret is that after he's done, it's not my turn to play. i've never been happier to see monster babies burst out of their zombie mothers' wombs, and i reckon y'all feel the same way. watch it, or i'll send christopher walken after you.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Thursday, April 13, 2006

i hate alarmists

at the risk of sounding like a republican jackass or an annoyingly frequent complainer about the news media, i'm going to have to come down on ridiculous one-sided alarmist articles like this time magazine article from a week or so ago about global warming. i mean, just look at the fucking cover. the first words are telling you to "be worried. be _very_ worried." what the fuck? is global warming a problem? quite possibly. is our government not doing enough to curb pollution and protect the environment? yes, definitely. should we, as people who might want to sustain a planet capable of supporting the continuation of the human race, stop fucking everything up? well, probably to the best of our ability. i wouldn't trade in my suv for a bicycle tho*. there are important points being brot up for sure, but the way in which it is brot up just grates at my insides. the article makes it sound like tomorrow (or perhaps the day after tomorrow), the polar ice caps will all have melted and polar bear corpses will be floating down the street while we're on our commute. there is absolutely no need for this brand of false urgency (might it be an urgent situation? sure, but is it as urgent as this article makes it out to be? hell, no). it treats its audience as if we're all a bunch of bumfuck asshole idiots, and i thoroughly resent that implication. i might be an asshole, but i'm not an idiot, and i don't need some chicken with glasses and zach braff's voice to burst into my room with his hands (or wings) frantically waving, screaming at the top of his lungs about the sky falling. please also note that this is not the first alarmist global warming article that mr. jeffrey kluger has written for time (i wonder if it has anything to do with his winning a whitman bassow award for best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues for a "global warming" cover package). you might call him the official time magazine global warming mascot. going backwards from the one published a week or so ago, here's one from january 2006, another from september 2005, august 2005, and august 2002. so perhaps, he wasn't alarmist enuf in the previous articles, so he's stepping it up, hoping that people will listen. well, did they? did they listen? i'm thinking not so much. i sure didn't. all that was accomplished is that now i think jeff kluger thinks i'm an asshole idiot, which annoyed me a week or so ago (and i suppose still does a little bit, if i'm still talking about it). i just feel like this style of news reporting, the "oh no, we're all gonna die!" sort doesn't really have a place where we are in our day and age. it just stinks of old school propaganda and manipulation. talk to me like i'm a normal person and leave it up to me to decide whether or not i think i am going to die tomorrow because of what i'm doing today.

*i'm lying. i don't actually own a car.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

i don't care about seals

this is a stupid headline. it's not even news. thousands upon thousands of baby seals have been beaten to death yearly for years and years. for something to be news, i feel like it should be, above all, a relatively new occurrence, something whose status has changed recently. at the very least, that requirement should be satisfied if you're going to put it on the front page, where important stories are reported about. to me, this stupid headline is the same thing as a news report about the benefits of breathing air and drinking water. behold, the sun comes out during the day, and the moon comes out at nite! this isn't news! this baby seal shit sounds like someone at cnn.com is anti-seal-clubbing and has commandeered the front page for their own purposes. it's not as if i want to stifle the voice of the protesters either, because i really don't care about it. if you want to make mention about a recent protest against the seal-killing, then that's news. but the bare listing of seal-killing statistics is not. it's just a number that tries to evoke some sort of emotional reaction from an audience. lemme give some more examples. iran's recent uranium enriching activities, that's news. secretary rice making a statement about it, news. peter sarsgaard and maggie gyllenhaal expecting a baby and getting married, news. "Seal hunters expected to kill 234,000 Wednesday," NOT NEWS. i'm not saying that web news is the pinnacle of news reporting, but i would like that it stay above the brain-dissolving blandness of televised news. i'm just asking that they keep the non-news out of the news.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

bank boys

the wells fargo bank on the corner of 45th and the ave has always been relatively good to me in terms of the quality of boy. i've been going to that bank since it was a first interstate, tho i don't remember the boys there then. anyhow, early in my college career (i don't think he was there when i was in highschool), there was a boy who worked at the bank named nels, and he was fucking hot, in that tall, chiseled, abercrombie frat boy kind of way. i remember liking his silly ties. needless to say, i always went into the bank to do my business, and almost never conducted transactions via an atm. i especially enjoyed casual fridays, when he would dress down give us a different view of nels. he worked there for a few years and then stopped. i still miss having such a hot teller when i go to the bank.

of course, over the years there have been other cute boys, but i can't say any have matched up to him. altho recently, a new gay boy has started working there. he's dressed fabulously and i love his hair. i haven't had him help me yet, as the last time i was there, he was helping a woman who couldn't understand english (with a dumbass next to her repeated everything the cute boy said to her in ENGLISH), which took entirely too long. but if he's just started then he won't disappear so fast, so i'll have a little incentive to go to the bank now.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

dangerous muse

dangerous muse is making its way across the blogs, and for good reason. it's great 80s dance music that i just can't not dance to (always indicative of awesome dance music), and above all, the two boys pictured above are fucking hot. FUCKING HOT. you guys have my immediate support. check them and their music out on myspace. okay, i have to post this so i can close the window. that picture is getting me too hot, and i need to put this shit on my ipod immediately.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

law building stop-and-chat

i ran into a highschool classmate in front of the law building. a lot of my highschool classmates seem to be at the law program here at the u. i hadn't seen him since we graduated, i'm sure, which was almost six years ago. it was another one of those slighty awkward conversations (the dreaded stop-and-chat), but i didn't pay attention to much of what he was saying because i couldn't help but notice that his skin was really dry. the guy should invest in a bottle of lotion, if anything, for his own dermic health.

also, these people always ask me, "what are you up to?" and i kno they mean, "what do you have going on rite now in terms of the big picture?" but i always answer it as, "what are you currently on your way to do?" so instead of talking about being in school, i said, "oh, i'm on my way to the library to print out something." i'm sure he found that enlightening.

Monday, April 03, 2006

edison chen

as many of you might already kno, this is edison chen, canadian-born hong kong pop star. i don't like the way he sings (or "raps"), and his acting is sub-par at best, but none of that matters. boy is hot! he's always seemed like an asshole to me, and from what i hear, that's not terribly far from the truth, but i still can't deny it. boy is hot! here's a pic of his balls (unfortunately, they are only tennis balls) from the same spread in february's taiwan men's uno. he's appeared in a bunch of movies since i first saw him in gen-y cops, and if you watch hk cinema at all, i'm sure you've seen him too. i'm not sure i'd go see a movie just cuz he was in it, but it doesn't hurt. not at all...

Sunday, April 02, 2006

kingdom hearts 2

i loved the first kingdom hearts a ton. i was initially weirded out by the whole concept. a melding of the disney universe and the square (now square-enix, or squenix) final fantasy universe? that sounds like putting milk and sugar in tea! preposterous! but then i read a bunch of really good reviews, and there's really no way i can avoid getting a widely-publicized square or enix game (i've been playing final fantasy and draqon quest since i was so small) with final fantasy characters in it, and of course, the prospect of seeing my beloved disney characters in 3d was just too enticing, so i ended up getting it. it was everything i expected out of it and so much more. talking to pooh bear and piglet, swimming thru the mermaid kingdom with ariel, and battling maleficent in dragon form like i'm in fucking sleeping beauty! this is the stuff of dreams.

so when kingdom hearts 2 finally came out (it seems forever since they announced it) this past week, i had to go get me some. i'm only a few hours into it, but already it's exceeded my expectations. the beginning was a little bit weird tho. it starts out with a long prologue in which i had very little idea what was going on (and i still don't even after the prologue was over). i spent a lot of the time thinking, hey, where's sora? but other than that, it's been a lot of fun. i can't wait to get into it more, but i'm afraid it'll be slow-going because i just have so much schoolwork this quarter. no worries. there's always room for kingdom hearts.

one of the things i love about the fact that disney has a stake in this project is that they get familiar actors to voice the characters. like, most of the voices for the disney characters (barring mickey and goofy and donald, et al) are voiced by the actors who did them in the original movies. so that means king triton, aladdin, mulan and beast sound like they should sound, and geoffrey rush actually voices captain barbossa, zach braff voices chicken little, and bruce boxleitner comes back for tron. and the voices for the squenix characters don't sound horrible as they often do in anime voice-overs for tv shows, because they get real actors to do them. in the second one, haley joel osment is back for sora, david boreanaz for squall, and david gallagher for riku, and then christopher lee, ron perlman, jesse mccartney and brittany snow voice new characters. these are actors i have actually heard of and whose movies (or tv shows) i've seen! amazing! anyhow, what i'm really saying is that i'm a sucker for characters voiced by jesse mccartney.

of course, then when people don't return for their roles, i wonder what's wrong with them. maybe robin williams (genie), eddie murphy (mushu), and danny devito (philoctetes) feel like video games are beneath them, but billy zane, mandy moore, and lance bass? what do you got that's so important you blew off disney? was it over money? seriously, billy, the last time i saw you in any movie was probably titanic, and lance, come on, man, the astronaut thing fell thru and it doesn't look like your boy band is getting back together any time soon, so what gives? well, whatever, you do what you want to do.

anyhow, i'm still at the beginning of the game, but i felt a need to let everyone kno how much i'm loving it. not that i'm going to convince anyone who wasn't already going to get it to get it, but i wanted to add another positive voice to those who enjoy disney and square-enix and whatever mixes come out of the two.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

the bouncer

last nite i hit the town, and it was a lot of fun. it'd been so long since i went out, but most things hadn't changed at all. after a certain point, events get hazy as often tends to happen, but i do remember talking with the bouncer at r place who months and months and months ago wouldn't let me in for being too drunk. i think it's wild that she remembers me, but perhaps that just means i was THAT drunk. at the time i was pissed off that she wouldn't let me in, but i really wasn't in any condition to be doing anything at all at that point, and i'm glad she didn't allow me to go anywhere (she kept me with her for a portion of the nite at the doors to r place, hoping i'd sober up some before i left to find my friends). last nite i got to thank her for helping me out. it's always reassuring that there are even strangers out there who care enuf to look out for you.

Friday, March 31, 2006

shadow of the giant

i first read orson scott card's ender's game when i was in fifth grade, i think, and i can't avoid saying that it had an enormous impact on me. it's one of those books that made me think a lot about things, and i'd read it again and again as i grew up, because i really liked it. more than a decade later than i first read ender's game, and about two decades after it was first published, card continues the series, or rather spin-off series (yes, i'm using tv terminology), with shadow of the giant. this actually came out early last year, but i hadn't had a chance to read it. usually with these books, i buy the hardcover for my friend (also an osc fan) from whom i then borrow it, but i wasn't able to do it this time, so i waited for the paperback. i was browsing the bookstore earlier this month, saw it and picked it up.

it was a pretty good book; i enjoyed reading it and couldn't stop reading it when i started as i often do with books from this series. it was a huge improvement over the last book, shadow puppets (something about that book just wasn't rite, but i read it too long ago to elaborate), but i still felt like some of the political maneuverings were contrived and revealed a certain lack of understanding card has of the world in which we live. of course, it doesn't really matter. the book is science-fiction and has no responsibility to adhere to the rules of our reality. it's not our future, and card can do with the world what he likes.

the small problem is that it's very clear that much of the story is inspired by what's been going on in our world recently. card throws in a lot of his thoughts on islam, on the american system of government, and on the nature and ambitions of the chinese and indian people. he doesn't get everything rite, tho.

in the first chapter, he talks about how the chinese people still believe in the mandate of heaven, the son of heaven and the imperial system. that's pretty ridiculous. sure, there is the sense that a government should be legitimate (which is what the mandate of heaven is: legitimacy), but the people of china are not clamoring for a return to a hereditary monarchy. in all the scenes with the chinese involved, they talk in this flowery language that sounds like the exotic fantasies of a clueless man. "most respectfully, sir, will you come to the office of the one called snow tiger?" first of all, no one talks like that in any language. when i read it, it makes me want to add a fu manchu accent to it to complete the caricature. and then, what kind of name is snow tiger for a despot? and then a military officer is named white lotus. if you're not going to translate english names, then why translate chinese names? it just sounds so stupid.

i'm in a less able position to comment about the other aspects, such as the indian people's belief in virlomi as a goddess who walks among her people, or the muslim world's ability or inability to get behind a figurehead caliph as they try to conquer the world, but much of it smells mostly of a wild imagination based on a few truths. but again, i'll say it's a work of fiction and so anything can happen, but because of the fact that he's using countries in our reality as models, i can't help but compare the two.

well, okay, that sounds really negative, but those are just minor beefs, really. they don't really get in the way of the story, which i liked a lot, and card writes the personal relationships in his books really well. it might not be completely realistic, but it does make you go "awww..."

the book doesn't really end. it kinda ties into the end of ender's game, but plot threads are left unresolved, so i can only assume card is going to write another. and probably another. and another. why stop a profitable enterprise, rite? well, i'll be eagerly anticipating the next book.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

cleaning hunk

this has been floating around for a while now, but i always feel like i should salute excellence in advertising (it's so underappreciated as an art), so here's the cleaning hunk. i have seriously had a dream that was a lot like this, but it didn't end there, and there was a lot less cleaning. (via towleroad)

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

my last quarter

this spring quarter will be my last as an undergraduate. some other graduating seniors have expressed some sort of emotional response due to that concept, but i can't say i'm feeling it yet. is it because i don't have plans for what i'll be doing afterward? or is it because i've been in school so long i'm not sure i fully understand what not being in school means?

in high school, i had senioritis for most of the year. after i knew i was admitted to college for sure, the academic aspects of high school ceased to matter much. all i had to do was graduate and i accomplished that while spending most of my time out in the grass of the quad tanning and flirting with boys when i was supposed to be in class. why do i work harder now? is it because i'm older and more responsible? or is it because i fucked up so much in my earlier college career i had to step it up these past couple years? i'm thinking it's mostly the latter, but i'm sure the former has something to do with it too. oh yeah, also, a lot of my college friends are now friends that live in another city or friends that work all the time. less friends to spend my free time with results in more free time being reallocated to time that i spend on schoolwork.

the minimum i have to do to graduate is to take two courses, a history course and a literature course and get a minimum of 0.7 (the passing grade) in each class (yes, i'm proud to say my gpa is strong enuf now to withstand two such grade points), and yet, instead of doing the minimum, i'm taking two additional classes purely through interest. a full load is usually considered 15 credits, and i'm taking 20. why am i doing this to myself? wouldn't i rather have a more relaxing spring quarter? well, who knos when i'll be in school again. i might as well take the opportunity while i'm still a full-time student to take some fun and unrequired courses (no matter how time-consuming they might turn out to be). it may sound weird, but i like learning and when it's about something i actually have an interest in, then school ceases to be a burden and it becomes rather fun.

but what i really wanted to say was that when the quarter started a couple days ago, i was pretty much overwhelmed with all the homework i saw in my future (the lit and history classes are reading-intensive) and really questioning whether or not i should just drop those two extraneous classes and focus on the two i had to take. i hadn't taken reading-intensive classes for over a year now, and i was out of the routine of taking the time to read what i had to read and what i could skim and get a fuller picture of from the lectures. one class i thot would be a breeze appeared to be a lot harder than i thot it was going to be. another class was pretty much a straight lecture with a big class size in which i nodded off a few times on monday (i'm not good with big lectures where all i do is listen to the prof and jot down notes).

but after today, i think i'm getting a better handle on how to manage my studying and my time. after my 6 hour day today (every monday, wednesday and friday), i thot to myself that i can definitely do this. it was reassuring. i'm getting back into the reading routines rather quickly, the class that was turning out harder than i thot was actually not as bad as i thot it was, and the big lecture today was much more interesting than the introductory one on monday (i'm proud to say i didn't fall asleep, tho it might have something to do with forcing myself to sit up front). spring quarter is usually at a point when i've been taking classes with some of the same people for the whole academic year, and so classes are more fun and comfortable, and that is definitely a positive thing. also, being older than most of the other people in the class and not caring too much about what some dumb freshman girl thinks about me, it's easier to express my opinions in class discussions, and i kno my friends kno that i like talking (just look at the length of this fucking post). plus, in the spring, the sun comes out, bringing the flowers (is this the last year i'll experience our cherry blossoms?) as well as the cute boys who are sometimes shirtless and sometimes throwing a football around.

i guess that brings me to talking about my classes. my first class is the last quarter of first-year japanese. i don't need to take this class, but i wanted to finish out the series and get a reasonable beginner's background in japanese should i ever choose to, y'kno, try to find work out there or study out there or something. i really liked my t.a. from last quarter, but there's no way i can fit her sections in my schedule, so i have another different t.a. initially, i had hoped that i would get the hot eastern european t.a. (who's either queer or maintains himself quite well as some straight european guys are apt to do), but instead, i got the other white guy. i was iffy before the first day, but after a couple of sections, i think it will be a fun class. he looks a little funny, cuz his head is just slightly too small for the rest of his body (just barely noticeable), but he's a nice guy who keeps the class atmosphere fairly lite. it's perfect for the spring. there aren't really any cute guys in my class (again... the blond drama boy that was in my lectures the past two quarters has finally eluded me), but there's a guy from south africa who dresses well, but i think he does himself up too much. you can tell he spends a lot of time in the morning getting ready, and a lot of money on various grooming ventures. he might be a fag, or else that just might be how they do things in south africa. i dunno, i've never been. well, there is another guy, i think he's a hapa. he was in both of the film classes i took last year, but he sits next to the is-he-gay-or-just-from-taiwan taiwanese guy with glasses and they jabber to each other thruout lecture and section. the rest are mostly pale anime fans. shudder. i don't think there's anyone in my lecture worth mentioning, but i was happy to discover that the girl i was class-friends (friends, but only within the bounds of the shared class) with last quarter in section is in my same lecture. i was changing sections, so i was a little worried about who would keep me sane in my japanese classes, but i shouldn't have been.

the next class is the literature class, and it's the third and last class in a year-long series. because the prof who usually teaches this class was trying out his new martial arts film class (which i took) last year, this lit class wasn't offered. thus, this year, the class is a combination of students whom i remember from last year and students with whom i've been taking classes this year. it's like a mush of the present and the past, and it makes for a strange feeling, since i haven't seen some of these people since exactly a year ago. this class should be pretty fun. i've taken a lot of classes with this same prof and his teaching methods are very compatible with how i learn. the subject is very much more interesting than the other classes, cuz it focuses on fictional or editorial prose, as opposed to the endless poetry and songs of the time periods preceding. this class is usually pretty dry when it comes to hot guys, but one guy i remember from last year, whom i nicknamed andy lau (uhm, because he looks like a younger, hotter korean andy lau) showed up for the first day of class. i was happy about that, but then he didn't show up yesterday or today, so that doesn't bode well. i mean, either he's decided not to take it, or he's gonna take it but never come to class. either way, he's not gonna be there. a lot of people from my classical class are also in this class, and we all sit on one the rite side of the classroom. in the middle-back is all the pale white guys with glasses, in the middle front is graduate students, and a major portion of the left side is all east asian girls (chinese, japanese, korean, we have them all). i didn't really have a point there; i just wanted to mention that cuz i thot it was interesting.

my third class of the day is the aforementioned classical class. there are 8 of us in this class (down 1 from last quarter, but i didn't really like her anyways) and we've all been taking this class for two quarters now. the work is sometimes time-consuming, but the topic is interesting and the class atmosphere is very easy-going (due to the fact that we've known each other for some months now and have nothing left to prove to each other). i don't think i have much to say about this class that i haven't already said before.

and my last class, the history class, the larger lecture, caps my day. well, before this class, i have a half-hour break, which i had initially disliked (i prefer all my classes all in a row so that when i'm done, i'm really done), but since my school days are so long now, it'll give me an opportunity to take a breather and get lunch. anyhow, like i said, i was uneasy about this class at first, despite having more than a passing interest in the subject matter, because of the large class size and my inability to stay awake in classes where interaction is minimal, but i think i'm okay with it. the prof lectures well and when we covered new material today, i didn't feel like sleeping at all. i also think she's a dyke. she strikes me as one. i'm not saying all middle-aged women have to be married by then, but it's the way she carries herself and dresses, and especially her glasses and her hair. for some reason they scream lesbian to me. not that it affects the class; just an observation. being a bigger class, there are more cute guys in this class. one looks like a freckled thinner version of ron livingston with lighter brown hair. he's the only one in the class who takes notes on his laptop, so he's laptop guy. then there's a guy who all year i've been seeing whenever i go thru smith hall, so i'm calling him smith guy. he's tall with buzz-cut blond hair and earnest brown eyes. he reminds me a lot of one of my high school crushes, not in the way he looks so much as in the kind of feeling i get from him. he's always with this asian girl tho. the last guy i've scoped out thus far is a tall asian guy who was wearing a red cut-off reminiscent of a basketball jersey, and so naturally, his nickname is yao ming. he's much cuter than his namesake tho. like i said, it's a large class, so i've more searching to do. there might be other hot boys in class to ogle (i can't be expected to be looking at my lesbian prof ALL the time...).

that's about all i had to say about school thus far. it's only been a few days, as it's still the first week, so things are bound to change. ever since i got to relax a bit on the beaches of hawaii, i've been so horribly optimistic about things (even my 5 hour plane ride back in the middle of the nite wasn't so bad), i think it would honestly sicken my pessimistic side, wherever he went. tho the springtime has usually always been fairly good to me.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

advice to rice queens everywhere

advice to stupid rice queens everywhere: don't tell people that you think their native languages sound "silly."

talking with this idiot was a bit painful, but it was raining really hard and i got a ride home out of it, so i guess i got something for my trouble.

Monday, March 27, 2006

honolulu international guy

to the hot dude who was sitting near me in front of the bookstore (and the burger king) at the honolulu international airport.

i would like to thank you for helping me pass the time. a few minutes after i sat down with nothing much to do, you walked past me and sat a couple chairs down from me. you immediately caught my eye, your big brown eyes, your dark wavy hair hidden under your baseball cap, your simple gray long-sleeve, cargo shorts and flip-flop sandals outfit accented with that white band you wore somewhere between your wrist and your elbow. for two hours, we waited wordlessly for our respective flights, but while i was listening to music, you didn't look like you were doing anything. what were you thinking? where were you going? why didn't you wait at your gate instead of out here? me? i never wait at my gate. too many people. every now and then, i glanced over and took in the sight of you, and every now and then, were you glancing at me? i could see you thru the corner of my eye. we only exchanged eye contact briefly a few times, but i never wanted to linger. your big gay friend stopped by and gave you a bottle of rum. did you say you were going to maui? when a bunch of old ladies needed a block of seats, you moved over so they had them. how nice. when it was time for me to board, i got up and walked away with my bag. i turned back and saw you doing the same, but in the other direction. that was the end of it, but it was a lot of fun for two hours in which all i did was wait... i'm sure it would have been more fun if i'd said hi, but i just didn't have it in me. what did you expect? oh well, maybe next time.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

oscars, quick picks

okay, rill quick, since i was too lazy to do this before and i have to do them now, before the oscars start...

picture: brokeback.
please, do you even need to ask a reason? this movie was great. yes, crash was also a good movie, but when it comes down to it, i think crash was too laid out and heavy-handed. i felt like it could have been more subtle. yes, i'll say it. i didn't like it because it was too accessible.

director: ang lee.
ang lee is an amazing director, and he did an amazing job with brokeback. this is a category that fernando meirelles should have also been nominated in. i liked the direction in constant gardener more than i did the direction in capote, munich, and good night, and good luck. yes, i did just say that. but he still wouldn't have beaten ang. go, ang, go! represent!

actor: heath ledger.
yeah, it'll probably be philip seymour hoffman, but when i watched capote, i felt like it was "acting," you kno? and don't get me wrong, i love hoffman's work in a lot of stuff, but capote just wasn't "best" for me. heath ledger's performance on the other hand was so much more, by being so much left. i wasn't watching heath ledger; i was watching ennis del mar. that last shot when he's looking at the shirts and the photo of brokeback and he says, "jack, i swear..." oh god, talking about it now makes me want to bawl. i have to say tho that this is probably the category with the most great nominations. all of the actors in this category did a really spectacular job.

actress: reese witherspoon.
i thot she was great in walk the line. a lot of people are pulling for felicity huffman, and i might have as well, but i haven't had a chance to see that movie, so i can't saw whether i liked her performance or not. the buzz is that reese'll take it and i can't argue with that.

supporting actor: jake gyllenhaal.
am i just picking people from brokeback? maybe. but i really do think it was the best performance. it wasn't really a supporting performance, but i wouldn't want them to be up against each other... in this way, anyways. thinking about jake's performance, the hope that he conveyed thru his character thruout the movie up until he... it was so good. matt dillon is great, but i think if matt dillon won an oscar, the world would implode. just kidding, i loved him in my bodyguard.

supporting actress: michelle williams.
okay, yes, i am just picking people from brokeback. people are saying rachel weisz is going to take this one, but i'm unconvinced. i love constant gardener and she was one of the best parts of that movie, but was it better than alma del mar's silent (well, mostly silent... jack nasty!) suffering? girl's come a long way from being the girl i didn't like on dawson's creek. hey, how weird is it now that katie holmes is the girl i don't like! actually, this category is hard to pick, cuz i loooved amy adams in junebug too. but i think perhaps the difficulty level was higher for michelle.

visual effects: king kong.
are you kidding me? hands down king kong. the ape was spectacularly animated. war of the worlds and narnia don't even compare (okay, aslan turned out better than i expected, but still). for serious.

original screenplay: crash.
this is tough, because i wanted to watch match point and the squid and the whale before i made a pick, but i didn't have the time. but out of the three i did watch, crash was definitely the one i liked most.

adapted screenplay: brokeback.
i've already talked about this one.

makeup: star wars.
narnia had some nice stuff going on, the white witch was great, but i think the work in star wars was better.

art direction: memoirs of a geisha.
no doubt, this movie was beautiful. harry potter was really cool too, but there's something about the exotic mystical environment that is asia that fascinates me (j/k).

original score: brokeback.
i mean, why not? actually, to be honest, i've watched too many of those brokeback parodies and the song no longer has the resonance with me that it did when i first watched the movie. but, if i remember back to that time, i definitely liked it more than most of the others. people say john williams is going to get it for geisha, and i don't doubt them, but personally, i liked brokeback better.

original song: it's hard out here for a pimp.
i don't even remember the crash song, and i haven't seen transamerica yet. i guess three 6 mafia get my pick by default.

live action short: ausreisser.
i haven't seen any of these cuz i haven't had the time, so randomly picked a name.

animated short: the moon and the son.
same reason as live action short.

animated feature: wallace and gromit.
i already talked about this one.

sound editing: war of the worlds.
i think this is the special sound effects category, and i thot the ones in war of the worlds was better than those in king kong. they stand out in my mind more anyways. but i feel like king kong's going to take this one anyways.

sound mixing: walk the line.
it made me like listening to country, so i'll pick it over the others. honestly, i don't kno what sound mixing is.

editing: constant gardener.
i'll give it to constant gardener where i can, but i have to say the editing was great for most of the other movies too. crash was really fantastic as well.

cinematography: brokeback mountain.
i'm sorry, but those vistas of the mountains, and the vast expanses of sky, and the composition of all the shots, it was all just so so beautiful. but then geisha was pretty too. i'm sure it was great in new world too, but i didn't watch that one. i'll just default on brokeback.

foreign language: paradise now.
i haven't seen any of these. i kno, i'm so bad. but paradise now is the one i most want to see. people are saying tsotsi is gonna win, but the movie just looks very unappealing to me.

documentary feature: march of the penguins.
i've only seen enron and penguins, and penguins was much better (tho enron was a very informative movie). i hear nothing but great things about murderball, and i'm very excited to go see darwin's nightmare, but i don't think anything will be able to beat the wonder that penguins was. did you see the hot french guys behind that movie? oo la la, indeed.

documentary short: god sleeps in rwanda.
i haven't seen any of these, but rwanda has the most powerful and striking name.

kimono design: geisha.
i didn't see any kimono in the other movies, so i don't think the others can beat geisha. actually, i loved the costumes in charlie too, but come on, the kimono in geisha was 80% of how beautiful that movie was.

okay, everyone have a good oscar day. i'll prob be back tomorrow to rant about how brokeback didn't win nearly as many as it should have, but hopefully, i won't. go go brokeback!

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

hard gay at yahoo, wooo...

here's a segment from a japanese variety show featuring comedian hard gay's visit to yahoo! japan. yes, i kno, how many more gay caricatures do we need in the world, rite? but i couldn't help but crack up watching hard gay at work (or at someone else's work). i feel like his comedy isn't so much about how "gay" he seems, but the reactions of the people around him to his loud, flamboyant, and friendly nature. for me, anyways. plus, how can you deny that there is something deeply powerful about hard gay? watch that manly man shake his leatherbound package at people and marvel. (via jeff)

Monday, February 20, 2006

out and in

i just finished reading out by kirino natsuo, about a group of women who work at the night shift at a boxed lunch factory in the outskirts of tokyo and what happens when one of them kills her husband. it's funny i even considered giving this book to my mom to read. it was sadistically violent and gory, with every gruesome action described in careful detail. kinda. the story was definitely involving and it propels rather quickly after the murder happens up until the end of the book. i'm not completely satisfied with the conclusion, but i guess it did sorta make sense within the logistical bounds of the book. what was really interesting was that the narrative perspective switched up regularly, so that you would see how things unfolded from the point of view of several of the characters. i think the number of people must have reached at least ten. unfortunately, not all the characters were drawn very well or completely, which i probably wouldn't have noticed as much had kirino not bothered to focus on them, in particular the hot brazilian guy (i dunno if he was that hot in the book, but i cast this guy (thanks made in brazil) in the movie i made in my head). speaking of the movie i was making in my head, i could see a really cool japanese-style indie movie made out of this book. something in a style between kurosawa kiyoshi and tsukamoto shinya. anyways, it was entertaining, tho some of the really gross stuff was a bit over-the-top, and it was also a pretty quick read for me for it being a 400-page book (i read slow).

so wait, what's that other cover? i'd read murakami ryuu's in the miso soup sometime last year (or was it the year before? i don't remember...), and i have to say out reminded me a lot of that book. both are about the seedy underbelly of japanese urban society, tho they definitely take different paths to describe what might be going on just under the surface. however, i liked out a lot more than i did in the miso soup. in the miso soup was almost pointless and the end was too obscure to the point that i didn't feel like the story ended at all. kirino actually mentions murakami in her book, so she's just begging for the comparison. i wonder why so? i figured people would have compared them anyway... at any rate, if you need something to occupy your time on a plane, out would definitely be a good pick, tho if you were on a flight to japan, you might want to pick another book.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

rhydian vaughan, part two

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hey look, it's rhydian! in case you've forgotten, rhydian vaughan is one of my very favorite taiwanese models. this spread is from the february issue of taiwan men's uno (don't bother clicking on that, it says it's in the middle of "system maintenance," whatever the fuck that means. actually, why did i even link it...?). i don't have much more to say about him, so here are more pictures: pondering the wine, and cutting the cheese.

Friday, February 10, 2006

boogie down

finally, dudetube brings us what we all wanted to see from youtube: boys in their underwear, some drunk, some singing and dancing, some both. best idea ever. (via towleroad)

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

oscars, best adapted screenplay

a good movie usually starts from a good script, and some great scripts are based on previously existing works, so here are the nominees for the best adapted screenplay oscar.

i'll say it again. i enjoyed all these movies. well, except for the part in munich when they intercut a scene with avner having sex with his wife with the massacre in munich. what was that about? mebbe i just didn't look deep enuf to get the real meaning behind it, but i think i'm okay with that. other than that, tony kushner and eric roth wrote some fantastic back-and-forths about faith and revenge and that sort of thing. unfortunately, i didn't feel like it was put together in the best possible way, so it's not my favorite. a history of violence was good, and some of the characters were written very well by josh olson, but i didn't feel like there was anything particularly special about it (except for mebbe them). enjoyable, yes, but best? probably not. dan futterman's capote script was good, and i think it has the most to do with the best qualities of the movie, but parts of it still just didn't connect for me. i felt like there was just a little bit lacking. i really liked the constant gardener, but i think it's missing a nomination. yes, it may just be a great adaptation by jeffrey caine, but where's a director's nod for meireilles? i felt like most of what was best about this movie was the direction, and yet no nom. boo! anyways, i don't kno why i just went thru all that, cuz of course i loved brokeback and hope it wins in this category (as well as others). it's remarkable how larry mcmurtry and diana ossana turned a tiny (tho very wrenching) proulx short story into something bigger while retaining exactly everything that the story had been about. so many things went into making brokeback such an amazing movie, and the script was definitely part of it. go brokeback!

Saturday, February 04, 2006

oscars, best animated feature

i love watching movies, and i like the oscars too. you may have heard that the nominations were announced this past tuesday, and while most of them were given, there were a few surprises here and there. as i always do during this time, i start watching all the movies that were nominated, so that i can get a good feeling for what's really good and what movie was just campaigned to death. i think i did pretty good this year in that i'd already seen most of them, but there are a few of those best actor and actress movies i never bothered to see. anyways, i thot it would be fun to make my own picks. let's start simple (tho i'm sure everyone knos what best picture nominee i thot was best).

it's a young category, but i like it. animated movies are usually so much fun to watch. you can do so much wacky stuff that's just not possible in the realm of live action. pixar has won two out of the three times it was nominated in the four years since best animated feature film (tho i thot monsters, inc was better than shrek in 2001), but there is no pixar movie this year, so who will win this year? howl's moving castle was an enjoyable movie, and i love miyazaki's movies usually (spirited away ritefully won in 2002 for this category), but the story was weak and didn't make that much sense, and the happy ending was so sudden and baseless, one wonders why the rest of the story was worth telling. the world was well-shaped and i liked all the little miyazaki touches to diana wynne jones's story, but that doesn't automatically make it a great movie. corpse bride was short and simple. the animation was great, most of the jokes were pretty funny, and i even enjoyed the music. i liked it, but i didn't feel like there was all that much to this movie, compared to the other two. i think it's obvious i liked wallace and gromit in the curse of the were-rabbit the best. it was hilarious from start to finish and well-imagined. there were so many small details that were put in for careful watchers. i enjoyed this movie immensely and want to get the dvd for my little cousins so that i can watch it again with them. i think this category is no contest. wallace and gromit is way better than the other two.

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