Chinese Lunar Calendar

Ever since I bought a bunch of stuff at the Asian grocery store a few weeks back, I've been occasionally taking a peek at the free calendar they gave me to see what the lunar people think is good to do/not to do.

There is only 1 hour left of January 31 where I am, and if you haven't already done these things, you should: enter into a contract, offer sacrifices, get engaged, meet friends.

things you should not do: mix sauces (!), travel far.

Not that I really believe in these (I mean, come on, is there ever a bad day to mix sauces?), but it is interesting that the calendar tells you not to travel far - it has been snowing pretty bad here and it would definitely not have been a good idea to drive on the icy roads.

As I am immensely amused by what the calendar thinks, I might post interesting dos and don'ts in the future.

and that is all.

PS if there ever was one moment in K-dramas that you should watch, it would be the first scene of Episode 22 of Shining Inheritance (aka Brilliant Legacy). It's one of my favorite dramas - the plot is old but the production very well-made and the clothes very comfort-chic. Loves it.

Do mineundae; chuendae; kagoshipeundae. <- so hot

Fist Pumping Cows!

Sometimes I have conversations with my friends, and at the end of them, I wonder how we got there.

me: my dad brings the lols
today we were at chik-fil-a
cause my dad loves chicky-filay
Jench: hahaha
me: and the stupid cow was walking around shaking people's hands
and we sit down to eat
and my dad looks at his hands and is like, 'ew i just shook the cow hand. that prob has a buncha germs.' so he goes to the bathroom to wash his hands and comes back and we eat.
Jench: mad cow disease
me: i know right? there's a pill for that.
me: then the stupid cow came around again
Jench: oh god
hahahaha
me: and then my dad sticks out his fist
Jench: that's not awesome albert
fistful of meat!
me: meanwhile i'm watching this with intense interest
and then i realize my dad is trying to give the cow some dap!
hahahahha
hahahahhaa
Jench: dap?
me: like fist bump
Jench: oh
haha
ok
me: and then the cow leaves and my dad is chuckling and he's like
i thought about doing that while i was in the bathroom.
me: if the cow came back, i would give him a deal
Jench: hahhahaha
me: i'm like
wut
a deal?
he's like,
'yeah! on deal or no deal, howie mandel does that!'
'a deal!'
Jench: ahhhh
hahahahaha
me: wutttttt
and then he drove to durham
my dad gave the cow a fistbump
Jench: your dad is awesome
killing the buffalo
Jench: fist pumping cows!
me: jersey cows?
i'm pretty sure those exist
right?
they make milk?

My Review of MONKEY POT HOOKS

Originally submitted at UncommonGoods

These playful stainless steel pot hooks may be practical, but they also have personality to boot. Hanging from any pot rack or ceiling hook, these monkeys are here to give you a hand, hanging pots, pans, utensils, dried herbs, or whatever you need up and out of the way. They're happy to help ...

MONKEY POT HOOKS

Hangs anywhere!

By optimoasiatico from North Carolina on 12/13/2009

 

4out of 5

Gift: Yes

Pros: Nice Weight, Attractive Design, Many Uses, Unique, Durable, Easy To Clean

Cons: Edges are sharp

Best Uses: Daily Use, Decorative

Describe Yourself: Practical, Stylish

These monkey hooks are super cute and can fit over any handle, from cabinet knobs to door knobs. Aside from being pot hooks, I plan on hanging oven mitts and kitchen towels on them. The only thing unpleasant about them is that the edges are a bit sharp, so it might be easy to accidentally scratch yourself.

(legalese)

From the House of the Dead, Metropolitan Opera

I went to see From the House of the Dead last weekend at the Met, partially because I wanted to try a contemporary opera, and partially because I had already seen Turandot (the opera that was playing in the matinee slot that day). After reading the NYTimes review of the opera, I became very excited, as the review gave the impression that 1)From the House of the Dead was a piece to be anticipated and 2)it had a lot of slavic folk music influences (for which I have a special affinity).

I must honestly say that even though I did not quite arrive at disappointment, From the House of the Dead was indeed a very very difficult piece of opera for me to sit through. I applaud it for being dark and contemplative; indeed, the production made me very interested in reading the original novel by Dostoyevsky. I think perhaps it was better left as a novel than forcing it into a show. To me, the allure of opera is the music, the spectacle (doesn't have to be flashy, but at least some elements of set design or costume design), and the emotion that any work of art seeks to draw out from its audience. The opera version is just a little too simple - it seemed like the only message meant for the audience was that prisoners are also their mothers' sons, also human. Excepting music, From the House of the Dead had very little of the above qualities. The setting is a Siberian prison, which you can imagine is as grey and drab as the convicts' prison uniform costumes. All of what little storyline the opera has was delivered through the prisoners recounting their lives before incarceration. I would have liked to see any bit of glimmer in the entire production - whether in the anecdote about the prostitutes or in the play-within-a-play (that all the reviewers play up so much but really is not very entertaining). I think they tried to inject that little bit of hope at the very end, when the prisoners released the eagle, but it was hard to tell, as they just lifted the eagle over their heads and then some old guy took it away with him (while remaining on stage!). Could they not have afforded some string to at least make the eagle actually fly up in the sky? SIGH.

I understand the opera itself is not supposed to have a plot, much like the original novel, but it was very hard to follow. The opera is sung in Czech (which I don't understand), with Met Titles in English (I understand well), German (I sort of understand) and Spanish (I can also understand a little). Since they were projecting the English titles up on the stage, I turned my Met Titles to the German out of curiosity. There were definitely many moments where the German and English proclaimed different things, at the same time not matching the actions of the performers on stage. (I guess that discrepancy was entertaining.)

Even though I would have liked to have more female voices (give the prostitutes more face time!) and more dazzle, I would not be against giving From the House of the Dead another try. Perhaps if I had watched this opera towards the end of their run, everybody would have been more familiar with their roles and the overall presentation would be more cohesive. The cast and crew seemed a bit uneasy, as it was one of their first runs of this opera. Even the ever professional orchestra seemed to stumble over a few notes. One thing I now know, is that I will go for an opera with more female voices next time.

Woody Sambo 無敵珊寶妹

I spent 18 episodes watching Woody Sambo, or a pretty dumb Taiwanese idol drama starring two singers, when I could have watched this little blip and gotten the same exact content:

Actually, come to think of it, this pretty much summarizes all asian dramas: love triangle, cars running into people, and then in the end, meeting someone you thought had been lost/dead for a lifetime.

我看了18集無敵珊寶妹，卻到了第19集發現我本來看這個“30秒看懂無敵珊寶妹“就行了。　天下的電視劇也都基乎這樣吧：三角戀情，　車禍，　然後到最後又遇到一位曾今以為早就失去的家人或戀人。

too bad the 公阿騎士 part only had a fraction of a milisecond. WHAT?!

Morning Coffee

I am a huge fan of coffee at all hours of the day, but this house up for sale for 1.25 million dollars in Texas totally wins the morning coffee prize. According to the NYTimes, there's a switch in the master bedroom that controls one outlet in the kitchen - so you can start brewing the coffee before you get out of bed! WIN!

The house itself is not so much a win as a really gaudy replica of a gas station, but hey! You can make coffee without getting out of bed! WIN!

Vintage Curling Irons In Action

I've seen every single episode of Family Outing, and it still doesn't cease to surprise/delight me. I thought that the departure of Lee Chunhee and Park Yejin after their contract ended would make Family Outing go the way of We Got Married, but not so. Park Haejin has filled in the role of clumsy good looking guy who loses whenever they play games; cannot say the same about Park Siyeon...she just squeals and cries a lot.

In episode 59 (pt 2 of special guest Song JiHyo, of Goong fame), Haejin, Daesung and Song Jihyo go to town in search of ingredients with which to make breakfast. What they find is a town full of beauty salons. The following video features them exploring a salon full of ajummas (old ladies) and vintage(!) curling irons (that you heat on an open flame!). Two dudes getting their hair curled!-yes please!

I love Family Outing.

Don't Laugh at RBC

To me, RBC mostly means red blood cells, but it also means Royal Bank of Canada. If I had blown all my Christmas money on RBC stock sometime in January, I would have a lot more Christmas money now.

Fat Eames Chairs

I was looking at Metropolitan Home's website for remodeling ideas when I came across a news tidbit about a guy named Mark Wentzel who made fat versions of the iconic Eames lounge chairs + ottomans. This is how the Eames's invisioned them:

This is what the Eames chairs would look like if they live in America for a number of years:


What is exceptional about these fat chairs is that they are on exhibit at the CDC, part of an exhibit addressing obesity and America, as opposed to being on exhibit in just some random gallery somewhere. They remind me of the humans in Wall-E, after being sedentary on a spaceship for eons. Working in family medicine, it feels as if we are managing "fat" diseases for 90% of our patients (high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol...etc). Perhaps these chairs will remind some people to put down their McDonald's angus burger with supersized fries and take a walk with their kids.

Wedding Ties

I went to a wedding this weekend and here is how my date asked which tie he should wear.
What did we do before the advent of digital cameras?

Suit by Hickey Freeman
Ties by Ferragamo, Lanvin, and a few others I forget
Shoes by Cole Haan

K-pop Update 7/13/09

Filming commercials (Brit.: advert; Asian: CF) is associated with huge popularity and huge money in any asian country, even western stars can't resist the lucrative purses that come with 30 seconds worth of reel. My question is, is it really worth it if they make you change the lyrics of your hit song to be about chicken and then make you dance the soothsayer's "SA!" dance while making out with a chicken thigh? Here, Kim Jong Kook and Kim Soo Ro from Family Outing (and other singing and acting careers) do a commercial for Hoolalah Chicken:


Did Super Junior's Eunhyukie get buff or is it just the cut of his shirt? Either way, he looks 100x manlier than the beanpole he used to be:
(Kangin, Shindong, and Eunhyuk of Super Junior hosting at MBC Music Core this past weekend.)

Speaking of Super Junior, right after the Filipino prisoners danced a tribute to Michael Jackson, they busted out a lighthearted routine to "Sorry Sorry". Seriously, I would only commit crimes in the Philipines. The prisoners are like rockstars! Just listen to those girls scream and sing along!


Here's some INCREDIBLY ADORABLE vintage Lee Junki in a Clazziquai music video. Warning: almost as adorable as baby bunnies. The song is called "Sweety." I can only assume he signed on to star in this video right before he made it big. It is embarassingly cute.

K-pop Update 7/5/09

Now that Super Junior is preparing for their pan-asian tour, I have to fill my k-pop obsession time with other people.

First, decent actor and surprisingly sexy girly-man Lee Junki is once again trying to break the acting-singing barrier by putting out another music video. The first one (J-style) really puzzled me, but I'm ok with the second one - Soliloquize is upbeat and cute despite his emo concept throughout. Actually, he's so hot I'd sip that gatorade regardless of the flavor.

I guess the added benefit of being an actor is that if you put out a music video you can save money by acting in it yourself, in lieu of hiring other actors to act in it. (see: Wilber Pan and Lee Da Hae).

Girl's Generation (SNSD or So Nyo Shi Dae) just hit the airwaves with their "come back" song, Genie. I think the head of SM, their management company, realizes that they suck at singing and dancing, which is why he dressed them in cos-play uniforms and very short shorts to promote the song. Here is the video if you're a teenage male and like to see leg.
I am not really impressed, especially since some random Uzbek singer lady did the same song and it sounds 100x better. I mean, yeah, since SM bought the rights to the song and stuff, Dineyra is in the wrong for making money off of it. Too bad she did a better job than SM and Girl's Generation, who wasted a good tune with a bad job. Oops. I don't think it really is a big issue that the Dineyra sang it first, since the market for Uzbek songs in Korea is probably less than 0.00001 percent. It would take more money and effort to sue than to realize that nobody speaks Uzbek and therefore Dineyra is probably making $5.00 on that song. Also, double thumbs-up for her chola eyebrows!


JYP's boyband 2PM is largely filling the void that Super Junior has left in my consciousness. They have only 7 kids, compared to Super Junior's 13, and they are younger and do acrobatics in addition to the usual singing and dancing. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do if you want to differentiate yourself from the other 50 boy bands on the variety show circuit in South Korea. After their wildly popular song "Again & Again," which I listened to, literally, again and again, they are out to get the rest of the teenage girls with "I hate you." This is their promotional uniforms for that song:

I personally hate that bousouzoku mask that the one guy is wearing. It reminds me of a bling-ed out banana hammock, and generally just makes me think he has some sort of serious air-borne illness that he is trying to contain. Are you sick? Your mask is covering your chin and no matter how bedazzled it is, I will always think about the amahs (or ajumma in Korean) mopping the MRT (Taipei's subway) at night in their own surgical masks. I Hate You: (seriously, JYP, you need to hire an native English speaker if you want to put English lyrics into a song. "Now I'm Cry" is wholly awkward and not acceptable as lyrics, thanks.

Pan Hsin Hua (潘信華) Notebook

Once upon a time, I got a freebie notebook from a table in front of the cafeteria during my pharmworker days. It has stayed on the shelf, due to the absolute ugliness of the cover (as made even more obvious by the photo below).
The paper is decent and I was bored, so I gave the notebook a makeover.
Every once in a while I get news releases or preview announcements from the Gagosian or Goedhuis Gallery in NY. Something about the color made me keep this brochure instead of toss it in the trash like the other ones. For once, Goedhuis actually featured a worthy artist! Note that they spell Pan Hsin-Hua the way a Taiwanese person would, since Pan Hsin-Hua is from Taiwan. The most bizarre thing is that they used simplified Chinese to write his name in Chinese (not shown because I cut it out already). Why don't we stick with one or the other? Either use traditional Chinese for his name in Chinese or pinyin for the English spelling.
There were 3 panels to the brochure. I used the panel on the right.
This is where the notebook fits with the rest of the panels. It took me a few minutes to cut out the square holes one by one with a sculpting knife.
Ta Da! New customized Pan Hsin-Hua notebook worthy of any museum gift shop!
I believe this is a part of "Practicing Qi III" (2008). Once again, why are they using pinyin for a Taiwanese artist's work? It should be "Practicing Chi III."

Airlines Frequent Flyer Miles Offers

I've been on a total of 3 international trips in the past 10 years (hardly a large sum at all), but the aftermath of which is that I now get weekly solicitations for opening credit cards to get frequent flyer miles. Delta (AmEx) and American Airlines (Mastercard) are most persistent with their offers of tens of thousands of miles, but every once in a while, Korean Air drops me a letter.

It perplexes me immensely, as the main body of the letter is in Korean. I assume it tells me I am such a qualified applicant for credit and how signing up with their credit card will make my dreams come true and I'll never have to pay any fees***. I really have no idea, because, I, like many others who fly Korean Air by mere chance, do not speak Korean. Even more curious is the reverse of the letter, where all the usual credit card fine print is in English. The credit card company thereby assumes that their audience, people who fly Korean Air, are fluent in Korean AND English legalese. That, my friends, is a magic combination.






***until the end of the first month honeymoon period