Melodramatic Diary of a Cynic

Weekend Meme: Chinese New Year Meme

2012-01-22T09:53:00.000-05:00

So Chinese New Year is really close by, in fact I think it's this coming Monday. Friday night I went to my friend's house for a lavish 15 course end-of-year meal that spanned out for hours. We just cook and ate as we go, a few course at a time and it was delicious and left me gut-bustingly full. The so called"End-of-Year" is also called the coming together meal, where you're supposed to get with your friends and family, sort of like the Chinese Thanksgiving. So it's also understandable that it the time of the year that I miss my family in Hong Kong the most.

I'm still worried about my grandma and her stroke incident. My family has a culture of always being over-critical of each other and since my grandma had been through a war, she is stringent and a bit of a hoarder. Most of my family brought up by her had been tired of her ways. I'm sure with her 6 remaining children, somebody is bound to be taking care of her, but I'm not there. And I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to see her while she's still alive.

Well sorry for the holiday blues. No, my life is not about being sad all the time. Most of it is stuffed up with work and hanging out with friends. I just went to my friends for a meal that start on early Friday evening and we played mahjong all night until the sun came up Saturday morning where I went out to a thick blanket of snow and got home to sleep until late afternoon. Tonight, there's another Chinese New Year dinner with another group of friends. Life is good.

Today I decided to write up my own meme. There seems to be a lot of meme about all other holidays, so I'm gonna try asserting my culture here and hope some other people will follow.

Chinese New Year Meme

1. What is your Chinese zodiac sign?
I was born on a year of the rabbit.

2. What are the traits and do you identify with any of them?
Rabbits are supposed to be clever and friendly. I think I'm pretty friendly.

3. How often do you order Chinese food? Where from?
About once every two weeks I have some Chinese food in Chinatown somewhere.

4. What is your favorite Chinese dish and what is so good about it?
Crab meat on snow pea shoots. Snow pea shoots being my favorite green vegetable ever (only in season during winter). And the creamy crab meat just add to the whole silkiness of the dish.

5. Look around for the closest thing around you that says "Made in China", what is it? (Made in Hong Kong, Taiwan or Macau would also count)
My alarm clock.

6. It is customary that during Chinese New Year we wish others "Prosperity in the New Year" or "Better Health". What is the one aspect in your life that you wish could be better?
Right now I'll go for prosperity.

7. It is also customary that kids receive red envelops with money in it for good luck. What's the best gift you've ever gotten? From whom?
I think it's the keyboard I got one year from a good friend. I took piano lessons with it so I enjoyed being able to be artistic. Another friend gave me an $100 giftcard for my birthday during my unemployment years which helped me out quite a bit. I thought that was really thoughtful of him.

8. What do you associate with the color red?
Blood, passion, loud, bold, attention seeking.

9. Look around for the closest red thing, what is it?
My red and white polo shirt, my curtains.

10. If you ever own a Chinese restaurant, you'll name it? (I'm expecting some cheese here)
Golden Dragon. It sounds traditional.

11. Name the Asian person who you have the closest relationship with and his/her role in your life.
My grandmother. Enough said.

12. Name your favorite Asian movie.
I think it's the Wedding Banquet. It's this movie about a Gay Taiwanese that had to pretend to be straight for his parent's sake.

13. Have you ever been racially discriminated? What happened?
Not blatantly. Although this one time a couple of kids were riding in my college campus and yelled out for directions, when I approach them they said "Not you, where are you gonna get us to? China?"

14. What observations/stereotypes are Asians that you believe to be true?
We are usually meeker and smarter.

15. How many languages do you speak?
English, Cantonese, Mandarin, a bit of Spanish and French.

16. If you're ever getting a Chinese Character as a tattoo, what do you want it to mean?
Brotherhood

17.When's the last time you traveled abroad? Where to?
I think it's to Mexico about 4 years ago. Just crossed the border to Tijuana, didn't fly or anything.

18. Have you ever had sex with someone Asian? Would you?
Yes. On many occasions.

I guess that's it. Have a great weekend!

Music Invasion: Azealia Banks' "212" (NSFW)

2012-01-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

No thanks to Mr. Jervis at Joe.My.God, the very first song that got into my head and won't leave this year belongs to this girl - a cute, foul mouthed, Naomi-Campbell-esque Azealia Banks with her awesome pigtails. I'm usually not into rap, especially with such language! (fake gasp) But that beat just won't stop!

212 - Azealia Banks

Hey, I can be the answer
I’m ready to dance when the amp up
And when I hit that dip, get your camera
You could see I been that bitch since the Pamper
And that I am that young sis, the beacon
The bitch who wants to compete and
I could freak a 'fit, that pump with the peep and
You know what your bitch become when her weave in
I just wanna sip that punch with your peeps and
Sit in that lunch if you're treatin'
Kick it with ya bitch who come from Parisian
She know where I get mine from, end of season
Now she wanna lick my plum in the evening
And fit that ton-tongue d-deep in
I guess that cunt getting eaten (5x)

I was in the 212
On the uptown A, nigga you know what’s up or don’t you?
Word to who made ya
I’m a rude bitch, nigga, what are you made up of?
I’m-a eat ya food up, boo
I could bust your 8, I’m-a do one too, fuck ya gon' do?
I want you to make bucks, I’m a look-right nigga, bet ya do want to fuck…
Fuck him like ya do want to cum
You're gay to get discovered in my two-one-deuce
Cock-a-licking in the water by the blue bayou
Caught the warm goo in your doo-rag too, son?
Nigga you’re a Kool-Aid dude
Plus your bitch might lick it, wonder who let you come to one-two
With ya doo-doo crew son… fuck are you into, huh?
Niggas better oooh-run-run
You could get shot, homie, if ya do want to
Put ya guns up, tell your crew don’t front
I’m a hoodlum nigga, you know you were too once
Bitch I’m 'bout to blew up too
I’m the one today, I’m the new shit, boo, young Rapunzel
Who are you, bitch, new lunch?
I’m-a ruin you, cunt (4x)

Ayo (ayo), I heard you're riding with the same tall, tall tale
Telling them you made some (made some)
Saying you're grinding but you ain't going nowhere
Why you procrastinate girl? (-nate girl)
You got a lot, but you just waste all yourself
They'll forget your name soon (name soon)
And won't nobody be to blame but yourself, yeah

What you gon' do when I appear?
W-when-when I premiere?
Bitch, the end of your lives are near
This shit been mine, mine (x2)

[Verse 3 - Azealia Banks]
Bitch, I’m in the 212
With the fifth cocked nigga, its the two-one-zoo
Fuck you gon' do, when your goon sprayed up?
Bet his bitch won't get him, betcha you won't do much
See, even if you do want to bust, your bitch’ll get you cut and touch you crew up too
Pop, you're playing with your butter like your boo won’t you cock
The gun to where you do eat poon, hon?
I’m fucking with your cutie-q
What’s your dick like homie, what are you into, what’s the run, dude?
Where do you wake up? Tell your bitch keep hating, I’m the new one too, huh?
See, I remember you when you were
The young new face, but you do like to slumber, don’t you?
Now your boo up too, hon
I'm-a ruin you cunt

What you gon' do when I appear?
W-when-when I premiere?
Bitch, the end of your lives are near
This shit been mine, mine (x2)

Weekend Meme: Lucky 33 Meme

2012-01-14T10:51:00.000-05:00

I don't know what happened but since Blogspot updated the blogging interface, my blog posts had been looking a bit weird. I don't feel like I have control over this thing anymore. Maybe I'm still not used to back blogging again and I just can't find anything interesting to talk about. I'm sure this phase will pass, that or I should get an iPhone and migrate to Tumblr.

Lucky 33 Meme

1. Can you cook?
Yes, you better believe it. I'm a member of a 9 members lunch club at my current job and everytime I cook, there are dozens of people waiting to see if there are any leftovers.

2. What was your dream growing up?
I dreamed about being a singer.

3. What talent do you wish you had?
I wish I was a lot more athletic and be good at sports. My energy level has never been that high.

4. Favorite place?
Restaurants, coffee shops, gift shops, my hometown, my apartment, my friend's house.

5. Favorite vegetable
Snow pea shoots, all kinds of mushrooms.

6. What was the last book you read.
James Patterson's 11th Hour

7. What is your sign?
I was born on the day where Cancer meets Leo, I had been more Leo in my younger years but nowadays I feel like a 100% Cancerian.

8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
Nope, never felt like I needed to get one.

9. Worst Habit?
Picking my nose and I like to procrastinate.

10. Do you personally know anybody on Blog?
Yes, I knew a few people who blogs.

11. What is your favorite sport?
Swimming, baseball.

12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?
I'm generally pessimistic. Optimistic people usually get disappointed, but pessimistic people usually get pleasantly surpised

13. What would you do if you were stuck in an lift with someone of the desired sex?
I think nothing would happen.

14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
I can't really point to something and say it's the worst thing that ever happened to me. I believe everything happened for a reason and it brings me to the place I am right now.

15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
I have never taken a picture of my butt before. I don't actually know if I have seen it before either.

16. Do you have any pets?
Nope

17. Do you know how to do the macarena?
I think I actually do but let me rush over this one so I don't have that song ringing in my head all day.

18. Is the sun shining where you are now?
No. It's a wintry windy day.

19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
More scary than cute

20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
Less fat, definitely and more toned

21. Would you be my good angel or bad angel?
Even though I try to be good all the time, it's more entertaining to be bad, ain't it?

22. What color eyes do you have?
Dark brown

23. Ever been married?
Never. Not legal yet and nobody would take me.

24. Bottle or Draft?
Neither, don't like the taste of alcohol and so I don't like beer. It has to be fruity and sweet for me to drink.

25. If you won £10,000 today, what would you do with it?
Put it in the bank. Saving it for a down payment for a nice house.

26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
Watermelon, though I rarely chew gum nowadays.

27. What's your favorite bar to hang at?
There are two/three places in the city that I like to go but I think my ex had taken them after the break up. I have yet to be motivated enough to go out

28. Do you believe in ghosts?
I used to believe in ghosts and I like to keep that belief too.

29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
Reading blogs and watching TV.

30. Do you swear a lot?
Nope. I still do occasionally but not habitual.

31. Biggest pet peeve?
People who are arrogant, lateness and people who block my way.

32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
Boring

33. In two words, how would you describe yourself?
Fucking Boring

Have a good weekend!

Oh! The Places You'll Go... At Burning Man!

2012-01-11T08:20:00.000-05:00

Saw this video inspired by Dr. Seuss and Burning Man. A friend goes to Burning Man every year and even though I've heard good things, I've never truly understood what Burning Man is. I think after watching this, I'd be inclined to go if I ever get a chance.

Can I Just Tell You How Much I Like This?

2012-01-09T08:22:00.000-05:00

This sums up the difference in gender expectations.

Weekend Meme: New Year's Meme 2012

2012-01-08T08:32:00.000-05:00

I guess a year of non-blogging does strange things to a person. I'm not used to putting away a chunk of my time to write and I don't really know how to go about it anymore, so excuse me for my infrequency. I'm still trying to get used to blogging again. Same thing with work.

After being a 99er in 2010, I have to say that I'm still getting used to the concept of working. When I was at the Donuts, I didn't have any time off; I worked through the holidays, working 6 days a week non-stop and even on call when I needed to be. Now I work a job where there's vacation, it just seems odd and unfamiliar somehow. I guess I just don't know what to do with my free time. I'm bringing back my Weekend Meme section to slowly introduce myself back in the world of blogging. After my year-long sabbatical, I have accumulated quite a bunch of meme to play with. So let's get to it:

New Year's Meme 2012

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Work two jobs. After getting my new job at the end of May, I actually work Donuts on the weekend and that was something.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I did. I forgot what it was already, maybe I didn't have any. I made some resolutions this year, lose weight, fuck more.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope, nobody other than some high school friends.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope. Thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit?
I haven't visited anywhere overseas this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
I think I'd like to have a new boyfriend or at least a few dates with the same person.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 31, the first day of my new job. The ex-boyfriend's birthday, which is also the day we broke up.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a job that pays a lot better than Donuts, with insurance and benefits.

9. What was your biggest failure?
My love life, I guess. If I'm an optimist then I'll see that as ending something that didn't and couldn't work.

10. What was the best thing you bought?
A few new coats that I like. I actually spent a day at the mall and bought tons of stuff. I needed a change of wardrobe badly.

11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Throughout my ordeals, I remained true to myself. I think I'm pretty proud of that.

12. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted?
A relative of a close friend refuse to pay my friend after he renovated her new house which is truly horrible.

13. What song will always remind you of 2011?
My friends are into trashy songs and from working at the Donuts, I think the songs of 2011 would be:Nicki Minaj "Super Bass"Selina Gomez "Love You Like a Love Song"LMFAO "Sexy And I Know it"Maroon 5 "Moves Like Jagger"

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sex, exercise, go out drinking.

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stay home, work.

16. Did you fall in love in 2011?
No new love.

17. What was your favorite new TV program?
Dexter, True Blood, Whitney, New Girl, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, etc.

18. What was the best book you read?
I can't remember reading any books this year.

19. What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying?
Having a boyfriend? Seriously I'm not that boyfriend hungry, but maybe I am.

20. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Bought a coat from Kenneth Cole that resembles a bit like a Mao suit jacket. Other than that, I got some new sweaters and new pants. I guess, it's modern oddity that intrigues me.

21. What kept you sane?
I have no idea. I don't know where the resiliency comes in but I'm glad it's there.

22. Who did you miss?
I'm not gonna lie. I do miss the ex-boyfriend but lately I'm worried about my grandma. I got news that she had a stroke two days before New Year's and half her body is paralyzed. I don't really know what to say or do.

23. Who was the best new person you met?
People at work. I also have this big old crush with this big hunky bear who's married with children but it's just a crush, nothing more.

24. Tell us a valuable lesson you learned in 2011?
Nothing is forever, nobody is not replaceable.

25. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
That might be hard to do. "On and on it seems to go..."

Well, I'm still not feeling 100% back yet, but hopefully I'll find more and more things to post.

Have a great day!

Reboot (pt. 2)

2012-01-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

The break up happened very suddenly. It was supposed to be his birthday and we went out for lunch after I gave him some presents. He was acting strange the whole time which I took it as his usual birthday blues. At the end of the meal, I asked him what is wrong and he told me he wanted to break up. Two days later, he came over to take what he has in my apartment and two hours later I've erased all our online contacts. It's like we've never known each other but I guess there were always signs. Last time I saw one of our mutual friend and ask him if he wanted to join in the birthday celebration, that friend looked extremely guilty. When Adam Bouska's NOH8 Campaign was in town and I really wanted to go for a couple picture, he flatly refused. The abruptness of the breakup led me think that there's somebody else, which was confirmed by a friend who saw his profile on one of the online app. While it is all good, I'm just shocked by the lack of any communications. I was the fool who thought everything was going well.

Any break up is, of course, depressing. And since it happened, I have been submerging myself with work, which is plentiful. I have been picked up by a charter school in a sketchier part of the city; a charter school that caters to low-income, out-of-school youth, helping them to return to school to get their High School diploma. Even though, the pay is not ideal, I feel fortunate that I now have health and dental insurance. I have to admit that I didn't join the organization because I like help people, I was at a stage where the moral high ground was non-essential, I was willing to do almost anything, but I have to admit that it feels good to be able to find meaning in my job.

We are a progressive school and we install all kinds of measures to help kids graduate. Everyone is very involved in the education of these kids (18-21). Each of us mentor a few of these kids and each of them have a case manager to help out with their child care, financial health, mental health being and all social service needs. We give them gift certificates and subway card for them to come to school. We give them money for them to go to school. Do you know how long it took me to wrap my head around this concept? And yet, kids don't come to school. I haven't never heard of these things. And if a kid is failing a class, we drop their lowest perform session and average the rest. And we network them with various college and job site so that after they graduate, they will be either working or in college. I see the value of the school but how could we get them ready for real life by treating them like kings and queens?

Anyway, a job is a job and I sincerely don't hate it.

Reboot

2012-01-03T09:56:00.002-05:00

I have deliberately taken a whole year off this blog because of a few reasons. I wasn't really happy with my life at the end of 2010. Sure I had a boyfriend that I adore but after two years of unemployment starting at the end of 2008, I was met with the end of my unemployment compensation and I had to borrow money to keep up with all my bills and expenses and all I could find as a job with my work experience and my Master's degree is to be a manager in training at a Dunkin Donuts in a sketchy neighborhood catering to addicts and drug dealers, working 55 hours, 6 days a week for near minimum wage.

It was physical labor for a boss who was undereducated and all she knows about managing is to act loud and bossy. It wasn't her fault and at the end of her training, I did learn loud in my head on what is what in a store like hers. The business model of the company is to lower expenses and make everyone replaceable disregarding experience, so employees are treated like dirt. I think that may reign true in any fast food restaurants. You don't have to offer anyone raises since there will be tons of high-schoolers lining down the door waiting to replace you. I had done my damnest to be the best employee possible. Working almost 10 hours a day for 6 days unfortunately doesn't leave me enough time to blog.

I was very afraid that my boyfriend would leave me because I didn't have time for him and when I do, I'm thoroughly tired. Physically and mentally. Most days I have to go to bed at 8pm so I can wake up at 3am in the morning to make it to work by 4am, all the while having an unreasonably demanding boss on my back. I was transferred to a better neighborhood after 3-month of work and doing less hours which means that I get paid less but still enough to survive. To my boyfriend's credit, he didn't leave me, not until after I found a decent job.

I guess I cannot fault him. After being put in the bottom of the pit, I was determined to come back up, so I did not exactly quit the Donuts but move it to the weekend. With both the equally demanding new job and the Donuts, I think I have failed to shown as much passion to the boyfriend as before and it broke. That or it had long been broken and the now ex-boyfriend had just stayed with me until I got back on my feet. In my head, I thought I was working hard for our future together, I want to be an equal partner and not lagging behind. I guess that was foolish. Either way, that's the end of that. What's ironic is that after a few more months I quit the Donuts, I just don't see the point of working so hard any more. It doesn't seem that I have anything to work for anymore.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T11:38:00.000-05:00

2011 Has been quite the year with lots of ups and downs, maybe 2012 will be better. Crossing my fingers.

For the ones who are still visiting or following this blog, thank you. Hope to catch up with you all soon.

Happy New Year! Best wishes for all.

Happy 2011!

2011-01-01T09:23:00.000-05:00

For us who survived 2010, I wish all of us a better 2011. It might just be our best year ever.

End of The Year Spo-Meme

2010-12-31T09:01:00.004-05:00

It's the end of the year and I usually recount the year by showing pictures of food I made and this year is not that different but on top of that I thought I'd borrow my blog friend Ur-Spo's Meme, so we can pass it around.

2010 Accomplishment
The biggest accomplishment this year is probably completing the 10-day master cleanse diet with my boyfriend. In those 10-days, we didn't eat anything and all we took for nutrition was lemonade made with maple syrup. I think I lost 15 pounds.

2010 Discovery
Other than discovered that I can stay alive and have the will to not eat for 10 days? The boyfriend and I had discovered an Indian eggplant relish called Brinjal and we have been putting it in practically everything, I have also used it to make lamb stew, taste pretty good.

Favorite 2010 Vacation/Holiday
Since I was unemployed for the longest time, it was like a prolonged vacation.

Best dining in 2010
In February, I visited Jean Georges in New York and I had to say, the prix fixe lunch for one of the best meal I had for a low, low price.

2010 Regret
I'm going through a rather tough period right now with a job that I don't particularly enjoy and my boss just changed my schedule to 4:30 am to 2:00pm for 6 days a week, it means I have to go to bed around 7pm to get up at 3am. It practically wipe off all my social life. Even though it's tough, it's something that I have to do to earn a living, while I can't regret having this job. I must confess that I was a bit lazy and scared to look for a job in the beginning of the year.

Magic Moment in 2010
I don't know. I think one night out at the Night Market event with lots of food vendors on the street and tons of people gathering was very neat. It was good to be able to walk around with the boyfriend at night around the neighborhood as well.

What states did you visit in 2010?
I didn't go too far this year, just Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

The 2010 Surprise
That I can rely on my boyfriend and my friends in the time of need. I feel fortunate and blessed.

Three 2011 Goals
1. Get a job that is more reasonable with a better pay, better benefits and a better future.

2. Get into a better financial situation.

3. Enjoy life to the fullest with my love and my friends.

And this is the stuff I've made this past year:

Turtle Burgers

Chocolate Cupcakes with mini cherry pies baked in and a chocolate chip cookie on top.

My first fondant cake and my first adult themed cake for a friend's birthday.

A tiny, tiny birthday cake for my boyfriend's birthday but he was so drunk that he didn't even remember eating it.

Remaking Magnolia Bakery's Banana Bread Pudding

Homemade Siu Mai

36 layers of crepe and orange creams to make up a fluffy cake.

Can I Help You, Sir?

2010-12-26T09:42:00.001-05:00

I'm one of the 99ers that you've heard about, in the beginning of last month my unemployment compensation has ran out and since the economy wasn't picking up, the check that I get from the government is actually a lot higher than any job I can find out there, not to mention it's a lot easier just to process a claim form than actually got through the motion of finding a job and working, so why not just sit on my ass?

And of course I have been looking for work. It's just the longer I sit out, the less confident I am with my skills so it gets harder and harder. I was doing a three day project with a placement office that was only interested in me then and there. Went through a few interview and a training day with Macy's who wanted me to sell women's shoes for minimum wage. I almost gone through with it too, if it's not for a friend who recommended me to be a Manager in Training for a fast food/coffee shop chain. It doesn't pay much more, but unlike Macy's they want me to work more than 35 hours which is a salary that I can almost live by. The drawback about it is that I'm required to work more than 55 hours and 6 days a week to justify the salary they are giving me, which is still a chunk less than my unemployment checks but as the Chinese proverb goes "When your horse dies, you've got to walk on your own", so here's me trying to walk/crawl.

Since the day that I interviewed with the manager/trainer, she had informed me that I would be dealing with a lot of undereducated people, both costumers and employees alike. And since I don't have any retail experience, she intended to start me from the ground up. From day to day, I'm in charge of fixing coffees, restocking, displaying products, cleaning, mopping, washing. I also have to be on my feet for 10+ hours a day, I have been quite out of shape, so I'm just not used to this kind of physical activities. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work also means that at night I'll being falling asleep around 8:30-9:30. I find that it's not something that I can help, around that time my eyes will automatically close on their own and even though I might be watch TV or reading blogs, my focus is gone and I will need to be in bed or I'll zonked out sitting up.

The people are a colorful bunch as well. The store I work at is at a "bad part" of town, some might even call it the ghetto. The people I work with are mostly Asian who speak little English with one white college kid, a few teenage mom, a black guy and another mom who works two jobs. Most of them are nice but have some sort of attitude problems. The customers are mostly blacks who are either meek or seriously unhappy to start with, knowing that the customer is always right, my only self-defense is with being overtly courteous. I feel like I'm from the south. With any single transaction, I'm dishing out 4~5 "sir"s/"maam"s and a couple "thank you"s. Anything that can be perceived to be wrong, people will start yelling, screaming and asking for compensations.

Our daily usual customers include a group of about a dozen people who are drug users, ringlead by a guy with muscular dystrophy riding in a powered wheelchair which rides like a tank. He's a pretty good looking black guy with a cropped beard. One time, I got off the same bus as him and had to run to the shop because I was going to be a few minutes late and that wheelchair outran me, so I'm pretty sure he'll be able to outrun any cops. To interact with these drug users are a fun part of the day, all of them order either white chocolate with whip cream filled all the way like a frozen yogurt but the thing is that they are not really coherent like they are drunk or something like a bunch of zombies. They all seat at the same corner furthest from anyone and occasionally we'll see someone flashing some cash, which our manager will come out and tell them not to or she'll call the cops. On the sly though, my manager knows that the store somehow became one of their camps and they are paying customers, so there's nothing much she can do.

Last Monday, I needed to attend a orientation session with the local franchisee's headquarter which I was surprised to find out that the whole management is composed with all Cantonese-speaking Chinese. The trainer herself is a Cantonese speaker who spoke English better than mine, the CFO is a Chinese guy, so is a gaggle of office ladies in their cubicles, the only non-Cantonese person is a black receptionist named Leisha. The training session with about 30 people of different races happens in a large meeting room where along one of the walls lined pictures of their 34 branches and under each of these pictures was a small plague with the name of the person managing each of these stores. I scanned through the names of these people since one of them is my friend and the other is the store I currently working at, of these 34 people, 33 of them were Asian and later through my friend, I found out that the other is white. Also 33 of them were female. I'm sure the owner has some control issues and I can't help but wonder what were the thoughts in my fellow colleagues head when they found out that they will never become managers.

So that's my life right now, Wake up before the cocks crow, go to work, come back and go groceries shopping, cook, eat, watch and hour or two of TV and go back to sleep. I just finished a 12-day shift without rest and rest up on X'mas. I've gained a brand new perspective and a deep appreciation of the ways of people with low income. Instead odf settling for this or actually become a branch manager, I have to believe that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. With my persistent on job applications, I have received 4 phone interviews so far and I'm expecting to hear back from a few of them after New Year's. Maybe I'll have to go on a few more, face-to-face interviews to secure them, hopefully I'll get a new job come January or February. As much as I'm trying to be a good coffee seller, my hands are breaking up from touching too sanitizers all the time and my feet aches and throbs every night. The trick now is to be able to take off a day or two to go on interviews without raising suspicions. Wish me luck.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

Since I started my barista job three weeks ago, I have been working non-stop and don't have time for nearly anything else. I didn't even send my family and friends any X'mas cards like I do every year, so I hereby wish you all a merry X'mas and a very happy holidays.

Cartoon Abuse

2010-12-06T09:08:00.002-05:00

There's a new meme on Facebook urging people to change their profile picture to a childhood cartoon in hopes to fight child abuse. I saw a friend doing so and invited all his friends to do the same and I'm not too sure how it could possibly help but I did it anyway because it's fun to show others what had defined my childhood and this meme seemed to be a good excuse to do so.

A more realistic friend has posted an entry saying how naive people must be to think that by changing their profile picture, something so ingrained would somehow be magically affected or changed. His post include a link to a sarcastic blogpost at Gawker, while one of his friends wrote how she was abused when she was a kid and 1)She doesn't want to be reminded of that; 2)She finds the use of cartoon character trivialize something as serious as child abuse; and 3)If people really wants to help, they should donate to charity where people do actual work to prevent the abuse.

This sparks a huge discussion in the comments section with one side discrediting its effectiveness and how insensitive it is and the other side saying that it does at least sparks up awareness and conversation to a tabooed subject. I can see that the points made from both sides are valid but I don't see nothing wrong to have some naivete or changing the picture just for fun. Facebook is trivial anyway, it makes no sense to take anything on it too seriously.

Anyway, these are some of the cartoons that I grew up watching and loved:

Ikkyu-san (1975)

Ikkyu was the bastard child of a Japanese royalty who got sent to the temple to be a monk. Ikkyu was extremely smart and help people to solve their problems by sitting in a lotus position, licking his fingers and drawing circles on his bald head and meditate about the problem. He is the first one who taught me if you give a person a dollar and double everyday for a month, you'd be broke. It's quite the educational program for a kid.

The Smurfs (1981)

While I was living in Paris, I was alone a lot since my mom needs to work in order to support the both of us. I remember going to the giant supermarket a few blocks from our apartment and just sit in the middle of the aisle reading copies after copies of Smurfs. I also remember wearing PJs and going to school by myself but that's another story.

Inspector Gadget (1983)

Another companion of mine during my alone time. I think Inspector Gadget is the French version of Doraemon and near the end of each episode, I somehow always expect to find out how Dr. Claw actually looks like.

Ninja Hattori-kun (1981)

It's a cartoon about good ninjas versus bad ninjas. They introduce ninja tricks like they're magic and it was quite exciting for a 6 years old.

Gegege No Kitaro (1985)

It's a surprisingly dark cartoon for kids. The main character is a monster himself and his father is his own eyeball. Every week they go out to hunt down Japanese monsters that is harming people in one way or another, like ghost busters but Japanese. I was obsessed with this cartoon, in fact I'd still love to watch it all over again but it wasn't really published as a box set and even if it is, it probably won't have the English or Chinese subtitle, it'd be quite expensive and I doubt I'd love the quality of it.

I usually would use some characters of this cartoon as my iPod wallpaper because I thought the Sand Grandma character looks exactly like my own Grandma, which the boyfriend absolutely loathe because he thinks the cartoon grandma looks ugly and he just don't believe anyone could look that way. I don't find her ugly though. Haha.

Kimagure Orange Road (1987)

Another Japanese Anime that I love. It's about a love triangle with two bad girls and a guy with ESP. It's pretty much like a soap opera with high school teenagers. The girls belong to a school gang and they are trying to be good while a family of ESPer had just moved into town after being chased away for being special. The male character Kyosuke was forbidden to you his powers in public by his father for fear that their covers will get blown and they'll have to move again, but the main draw of this cartoon is the long haired Madoka who has a bunch of stylized fan art. She's like the most beautifully drawn female character of all time. Even as a gay man, I can't help but fall in love. Also the show has great upbeat music with her voice actress singing hypnotic songs. It was quite the memorable show for me.

Mr. Ajikko (1987)

Mr. Ajikko could be arguably the cartoon that has affected me the most. It is the show that inspired Iron Chef. This show is about a cooking genius holding up his family's diner after his dad had passed away. At the start of the show, his talent was quickly discovered by "The Chairman" who's daily work is to rate restaurants like the Zagats. The success of a chef hangs at his every word. Mr. Ajikko constantly have to get into cooking battles with random people to keep the diner survive or teach some moral lessons. It's a very creative and educational show that's worth watching. It's also over the top with light shining out of people's mouth and exaggerated exclamation of deliciousness. It taught me a few things about cooking.

Of course there are tons of other cartoons like Thunder Cats that helped shaped my childhood and it's impossible to list them all but he's a short list. What's yours?

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I just got a very demanding job at a coffee shop that will require me to be there 60 hours a week, I might not have time or be too tired to blog. So excuse me if the postings are a bit sparse. I'm hoping to get an office job soon to be able to have a relatively normal life, wish me luck.

Sunday Meme: Questions a la Randomness Meme

2010-12-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

This week I attended a long ass training session at a retail company. 8 hours sitting in front of a computer non-stop going through orientation and company policies and stuff. It was hella boring, although I did learn a few things that I didn't know before.

If you bought something in full price and that same thing goes on sale within 10 days, you can actually get the difference back if you bring the item and the receipt back. If you don't have a receipt and take the item back to return it, you'll actually be able to get back store credit, but the amount would be the lowest in the past 180 days. Though there has to be a tag somewhere. Also I learned how to use a register.

This week's Meme comes from Sunday Stealing again. Have a good weekend!

What was the last thing you put in your mouth?
I went to my Holy Land Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ and got back a bunch of Japanese snacks, curry flavored crackers, chocolates, red bean/green tea buns, various rice crackers and choco flakes, chocolate coated corn flakes that goes good on ice cream sundaes, corn flakes coated french toast and any imaginable desserts. I also got bag in caramel flavor.

How late did you stay up last night and why?
Til 3 o'clock because I was watching TV, going online and reading the latest Rizzoli & Isles novel.

If you could move somewhere else, would you?
Maybe, depends on where and who with.

Have you ever been kissed under fireworks?
I don't remember when's the last time I went out to look at fireworks, it'd probably be when I was still in high school, so probably not.

Do you believe ex’s can be friends?
Depends on how you end things, some of my ex's and I had become friends.

When was the last time you cried really hard?
I don't remember. Honest to god!

What items could you not go without during the day?
It's a computer. I found out that I can go without my cell phone or my ipod.

Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?
My friend Eriko when she had her second kid. Honestly I really hate going to the hospital, I guess there are some childhood trauma somewhere.

How do you feel about your life right now?
Not too great, but it's slowly looking upwards. I have hope.

If we were to look in your facebook inbox, what would we find?
A recent correspondent with my cousin overseas, she's mailing me something, though I don't what.

Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass?
Oh yes, unless chocolate is a drug, and it is!

Has anyone ever called you perfect before?
Somebody did, but it has been a long time before I've heard it.

Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m.: who do you want it to be?
A ghost since I live on the second floor looking out on a deserted alley.

Do you think too much or too little?
Too much.

Do you believe in fairy tales?
Not really, but I do believe in happy endings.

Have you ever licked the back of a CD to try to get it to work?
Yes. Maybe not licked but huffing on it.

What’s the largest age difference between yourself and someone you’ve dated?
26 years.

Have you ever been on a blind date?
Nope.

Do you have any friends that you’ve known for 10 years or more?
Definitely, though most of them are in Hong Kong.

Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?
Oh yes, I was probably 12 and I creeped out a handsome PE teacher.

What song do you want played at your funeral?
Ave Maria

Would you tell your parents if you were gay?
No. Since my parents are gone and my remaining family members are far away, I didn't think I need to concern them.

What would your last meal be before getting executed?
I would love some shanghainese food, especially the rice dumpling and a fried tofu noodle soup.

Do you walk around the house naked?
Yes, all the time.

What do you do as soon as you walk in the house?
Take off my clothes, duh.

Who is the person you can count on the most?
My boyfriend, I think. I mean, he should be, right? lol.

What is your favorite Holiday?
Usually it's X'mas but I think Halloween is creeping up to the top spot these past years.

Would you ever get plastic surgery?
A friend who works in the hospital just told me that cosmetic surgery is free for her and her colleagues. I imagine if I work there I could do so... many things. Liposuction and maybe a rhinoplasty to start.

Have you ever caught a fish?
Yes, I've gone fishing a couple times. One time at a lake, I got a couple catfish.

What is the first thing you notice about people?
Attitude. Isn't it strange?

What is the farthest you’ve been from home?
Depends on how you define home. I've been halfway across the world and I'm still away from my first home.

How did you meet your spouse or significant other (or most recent one)?
Online and then at a bar. Modern day romance are mostly conceived online, right?

Where was the last place you drove (other than home/school/work)?
Since I've only drove a few times in my life, I'd say it's about an hour north of here.

Tax Cut Vs Tax Hike

2010-12-02T09:57:00.002-05:00

While the Republicans are calling it a tax hike, it actually is a tax cut that is expiring. I do admire how they can twist a fact every time and make all their members spread it naturally. These PR sound bites are produced fast and on point with no one calling them out like the liars that they are. Instead of being investigative, the news media pretty much turned into a passive reactionary useless soundboard, which is a shame.

The rich wants Bush's Tax Cut For The Rich (a term that needs to be repeated again and again) to remain intact, and so the Rich donates to politicians to make that happen. Since Obama is in power and he stated that he would let the cut expire on its own, the Democrats will not blatantly contradict their own leader, so it's left for the Republicans to come out with trickle down theories or "raising tax for someone is raising it for everyone" or Obama is Hitler to rally for the cause. No one would want to associate their own name with a tax hike, except perhaps this guy:

I guess since the guy is an Independent and doesn't belong to any party, he can feel free to say whatever he likes. Maybe Independents don't get much corporate donations? Whatever the case, I'm glad someone came out to point to the obvious. We are in somewhat of a recession with an unemployment rate of 10%, how do you convince folks that the rich really needed that tax cut? By invoking the general bad feelings of an administration headed by a black guy? By invoking camaraderie between castes that was never really there in the first place? Or by creating a fantasy that the poor will somehow benefit from the tax cut as well?

Here's Sarah Palin trying her bat at option 1, clearly trying to associate the tax hike to the big scary ObamaCare. Why reinvent the wheels when it worked so well last time? I'm still baffled on how this woman become the Right's go to person on knowledge when all she offers are nonfactual soundbites like thinking that the action of Wikileaks can be considered as treason. The woman is nothing but a female wannabe version of W. at best.

Giving rich people money and wait for it to trickle down is no different than giving poor people money and wait for it to trickle up. No matter who you're giving money to, they will eventually spend it and it will stimulate the economy. The only different is that rich folks buy big items and their money will end up benefiting Europe and poor folks buy small mass manufactured items and their money will likely end up benefiting Asia. The problem is that US doesn't manufacture much anymore, the best we can do is to give the money to middle class who's most likely to purchase local products and services. And no, not many people get to the top 1% income bracket overnight, so it's still hard for me to understand why people would follow the thinking process of benefiting from the tax cut when we get rich. It just doesn't happen like that.

However, I am stumped when a guy in the forum (presumably rich) asked why he needs to pay so much more amount-wise to get the same crappy services that everyone else is getting and I sometimes wonder the same on gay people not getting the same rights and paying for things like school tax that may not benefit us at all. I would assume, though, that rich people have a lot more at stake, so I don't think it'll help anyone to see the country's economy goes down the drain and if the whole country does so poorly that all the local industries can easily be bought up by foreign countries, that wouldn't do anyone any favors either. On top of it, bad economy usually translate to a higher crime rate and the rich are far bigger targets than anyone else.

One unsettling rumor is that the Democrats are trying to used the remainder of the year to pass a few important legislation during the upcoming lame duck session and the GOP sworn to block every bill until the Tax Cut For The Rich is extended. Democrats might cave into their demands just to get bills including the DREAM Act passed. First, even those bills might be important, are they really worth the trade off on a solution that can reduce the national deficit? I'm not into negotiating with hijackers and terrorists alike. I much rather the American people suffer through two years of seeing Republicans blocking every proposal passing through congress, at least then they might see how destructive they can be and Obama might still have a chance in 2012. Though if the tax cut really get extended as a trade off, I'm sure some Democrats who receive big donations can give a sigh of relief while still blame the Republicans for being corrupt in the same breath.

Days of Our Huh?

2010-12-01T09:04:00.002-05:00

I nearly choked on spit laughing uncontrollably watching Stephen Colbert last night because of his report on a new TV trend on the old show Days of Our Lives. I guess product placement has grown out of its shy phase and now it's full on and blatant.

No longer is the product just sitting in a corner quietly facing the camera, now it has to be a bit in the show; an awkward excerpt that stands out so much that it's almost comedic.

Wanchai Ferry? Really? I personally love the episode where George drove over the cliff in his Jaguar and got amnesia (while the car is pristine and unharmed) and had to rely on the nutrients of V8 juice to gain back his memory. That episode was epic.

I guess soap operas had to find a way to survive, though I'm pretty sure with these awkward scenes, it's more likely that they will lose viewership than to gain new ones.

Job Woes

2010-11-30T09:03:00.001-05:00

I've been pounding the pavements for months, checking job listings in about 20 sites everyday, applying for things that I think I was qualified for but at most I get an email weeks later saying that they are considering "candidates that more closely match their needs" or other more polite ways of rejection. Others doesn't even bother to make a sound.

From all the applications, I've seen a trend that mostly 90 percent of all posting on the online job boards are from placement companies that post positions that may or may not exist. They are mostly fishing for information of where the candidates might have interviewed or applied before and their former employment information, so they can contact those people and ask if they have any employment needs so the employer can hire through them and they will pay job seeker's 50% to 75% of what the employers are paying them. With one of such company, I have gone through a lengthy employment process including a drug screening just so I can work for 3 days and get $200, then never heard from them again.

So more vulture-like companies post fake job ads and then call you to say that I should pay them for trainings to increase my chances of employment, which is not guaranteed. When I tell them that I don't have any money to give them, they say that unemployment will generally compensate for the trainings and I should really invest in myself. Of course, they don't care whether I do learn or not, they are only interested in money. They don't really care if I'm desperately in need or a job and don't have time to entertain them.

I thought the retail stores would need some holiday help, because it's the case for past years and so I applied for a job at a clothing store and despite being a minimum wage job, it's some income. But after going a questionnaire, a phone interview and a face-to-face interview, the person told me that all the holiday position had been filled a while back, she's just doing it for protocol and the next day she has a job fair to hold that was scheduled months back even though she doesn't need people anymore. Well, thanks for nothing. I've considered taking a loan from the bank but I have nothing for them for collateral. Friends did offer to loan me money but while not having much, I do have my pride.

Through it all, I did learn some lessons. I used to spend everything that I earn and itching to find an excuse to spend and treat people to meals when my bank account grows. Now I know the importance to plan for a future. At the same way, I understand my importance to invest and be strategic in my professional development. I didn't know better to set a goal or to plan a career path for myself. I was comfortable in a moderately well-paid job that didn't go anywhere. I confess my sins.

Now, the clothing store has contacted me for a full-time position that pays next to nothing and another friend has called me about working temporarily in a coffee shop that pays even less but the friend told me that I can take off anytime when a job interview comes up. It's a good thing I have considerate friend that understand my situation and my needs. I reckon, I can perhaps work both jobs to get a passable income. It would mean working 65 hours a week and not getting paid nearly as much as before or the unemployment that I've been getting but I'm trying to shoulder the responsibility of being self-reliant and becoming an adult. At least I can be doing while keep on applying for a steadier job.

Between all this, I'm worried that the relationship between me and the boyfriend will strain because of the hours I'll be keeping. During the two years that we are dating I have been largely available because of my unemployment. If I'm working 65 hours a week like I'm planning to, I will be missing out on a lot of quality time between us and if I'm ever off, I'll probably be exhausted. I probably won't be much of a boyfriend and it could be quite unfair to him. I'm worried that we might grow distant. I know that it's probably me and my own anxiety and at this cloudy point of my life, I don't know what kind of future is available to me and the ones I love and for that I'm saddened. I guess I have to remain optimistic, persistent and take things one day at a time. It's part of growing up, even though it takes me all these years to realize and get started.

Wearable Foods

2010-11-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

Since my life has been pretty much about food all week since last Tuesday, let me bombard you with another food post - Wearable foods. Designed by Korean artist Sung Yeonju.

Lotus Root

Eggplant

Banana

Bubble Gum

Bubble Gum Again

Winter Mushroom (Enoki?)

Tomato

Tomato Again

White Radish (Daikon?)

Spring Onion

Red Cabbage

Shrimp

Obviously these are very unpractical and might change color, decompose or break off at any minute, not to mention the foul odor they will be emitting but they are still very interesting to look at. I wonder if I can borrow the concept for Halloween next year.

Thanksgiving Meal: A Photo Essay

2010-11-28T09:41:00.000-05:00

I'm continue to be baffled about cooking for parties, in which I'm unable to understand how much food I have to cook for the amount of people participating. I'm sure there's a standard something saying 1 serving of meat plus 2.5 sides per person somewhere, some experienced caterer probably know but not me. Every time there's a party I go hog wild thinking the things I can cook and most of the time I end up with leftovers but then it's usually ok, since people would take stuff home.

Apparently I don't know how much ingredients cost either, we started out saying $15 a person and expected 20 but at the end it ended up costing about $450 just for ingredients and booze and we got 25 attendees. If I were ever to open up a catering business I would most definitely go lose money.

I do enjoy cooking and the planning part of it. Every time I create a cheat sheet for it and it's most fun. It reminds me of academia which I used to take these notes that is more or less a paper saving game for me.

If you're interested to recreate the recipes, do enlarge the picture to read from it, I might suggest to be slightly generous on the salt and pepper end. The twice baked potato involved some piping action that is both messy and enjoyable. I altered the recipe and put some smoked turkey in it and they turned up pretty good. I also tried a new roast beef technique by just salting it and put it in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours to day up the meat. It's called "dry brining" and the beef turned out juicing and softer, it worked!

I try my damndest to put some vegetables in my friends so that they can have a balanced meal but the people I hang with go crazy with meats and not much else, so I have to resort to bacon wrapping them. We didn't have a chicken or a turkey because from experience, no one seems to know how to cut and after cooking a whole day I'm not going to be serving as well.

Even though they don't go for vegetables, they would go for this lobster fruit salad. We bought a big lobster for it but it didn't yield much meat at all. I much rather buy shrimps, they are more meaty and plentiful. Gutting the lobster was a bit of a hassle too, and the lobster was so fresh that it was quite dirty, some hazard of being a cook.

That's the spread here: Mushroom sherry soup, spiced roast beef, pineapple baked ham, popovers, pumpkin orzo risotto with scallops, green bean bacon rolls, cauliflower gratin and twice baked potatoes

A benefit of having Asian friends is that there's bond to have a few photographers around. My friend's father who was present was an award winning photographer and another younger guy has a very stylized iPhone app that got a close up of the roast beef here:

For dessert, one of them made tiramisu and another made a cheesecake that uses sponge cake as the base and then a layer of red bean cream cheese and a layer of green tea mousse on top that was marvelous. I'll try to recreate it sometimes.

After playing til 5:00 in the morning, everyone was quite exhausted and some turned into drunken messes. All around, we had a very merry time. 27 days til X'Mas.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

2010-11-25T09:44:00.000-05:00

It's Thanksgiving again, the year when by pretty fast. Hope you're enjoying your family and expecting an exciting feast. Be careful on your travels!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1

2010-11-24T09:18:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe that Daniel Radcliffe was 12 when he acted in the first ever Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone back in 2001. He has surely grown up fast, now he's of age and legal playing a 17 year old in this latest installment. I wish the movie releases were closer together so that 1) Dan and his gang of friend looks younger, 2) I can still remember the plot of the previous films. Not having read the books, I'm not too familiar with the plot points and I get lost sometimes.

In this final 2-parter, Harry is still on a campaign to destroy the absolute villain Lord Voldemort and during his journey, he lost a lot of his allies, notably Professor Dumbledore. The story is getting gloomier and gloomier to the point that is quite uncharacteristic of a children's novel. How do million of kids handle lost, death and vengeance? How could we expect parents of these kids explain all these issues to them?

The mood of the whole movie is dark and every scene is gloom and doom, the wonder of magic tricks has turned into killing spells with light blood and gore. It's not your "Wingardium Leviosa" anymore. It's kill or be killed. While the connection between Harry and Voldemort is still strong, Harry must find Voldemort's horcruxes and find a way to destroy them. With Voldemort's cohorts getting into power, Harry must evade their pursuit and look for clues left by Professor Dumbledore.

Harry is playing the fugitive this time so there's a lot of outdoor living scene, but since this movie act as a build up for the grand finale, it is quite anti-climatic. I come out of it feeling the general gloominess and a bit unsatisfied. Don't get me wrong, the story-telling is superb, the acting and the special effects are great but nothing much can be expected from a build-up movie.

I heard that the finale is going to be in 3D and I mourn that it'll be the end of a fantastic story but I guess it's time. Only great story seems short and the guys are not getting any younger.

Asian Artists Introduction: Far*East Movement

2010-11-23T09:28:00.005-05:00

I have always feel sorry that there aren't more Asians in the spotlight, it seems like whenever they have an Asian movie star, they had to know Kung Fu or well established overseas in order for the American audience to embrace them. Bruce Lee, Mr. Miyagi, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li all knew some sort of martial arts, it's not until lately with John Cho, Lucy Liu, Ken Jeong and Tim Kang that we see Asian actors mainstream.

Musically, it's even fewer. Cibo Matto was popular for a second, Miho Hatori from that group transformed into Gorillaz' Noodles for a minute. Some half-Filipino action with N.E.R.D's Chad Hugo and Black Eye Pea's Apl.De.Ap but other than that there's practically nothing. Classical music doesn't count. So I'm really excited when the group Far*East Movement was brought to my attention.

Four Asian guys with different background managed to produce a hit single that reached No. 1 of the US Billboard 100 chart. Merits aside, I'm not sure that any other Asian group has managed such a feat. It's an United Colors ad of East Asia with members Kev Nash being of Japanese decent, Prohgress who has Chinese ancestry, J-Splif being Korean and Filipino DJ Vermin, they started doing club gigs while they were in high school. Later on one of their song "Round Round" was featured in The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack. After some collaborations in 2008 with budding stars like Bruno Mars, their song "Girls on the Dance Floor" was featured in America's Best Dance Crew, So You Think You Can Dance and CSI: Miami.

Last month, their debut album Free Wired came out and features collaborations with artists like Snoop Dogg, Bruno Mars, Keri Hilson, Lil Jon and Ryan Tedder from One Republic. Their single "Like a G6" has 24 million views since 5 months ago and left lots of remix and parodies in its wake.

The follow up to "Like a G6" is a cute ballad featuring Ryan Tedder called "Rocketeer":

I'm quite glad that have spiffed up their image and going with geek squad on the weekend look. I didn't even mind them wearing sunglasses indoors and at night to hide their "Asian features". Honestly, their looks on the original video during their Tokyo Drift phase makes them look like wannabes. Personally though, I still have a slight problem with J-Splif's pony tail, his "evil Asian" mustache, or his slight slime ball looks. If I'm managing a boy band, he'll probably be the first guy I cut but if it works for them than that's all that matters.

Hip Hop dance music is still on trend even though there's no much substance to it but it seems like they do have some skills. One of their claim to fame, I found, was that when they first started out they organized a concert in LA and gave all the proceed to a local youth drug rehabilitation center which is quite admirable in my book. I hope they will managed to hang in there for a while. It's not everyday that we see a group of Asian artists making it. I hope their success will inspire record companies to pick up more Asian artists and audiences will learn to accept them as well.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to Jersey Shore wannabes "K-Town"?

Let The TSA Feeling Up Your T&A

2010-11-22T09:18:00.002-05:00

So airport security has implemented new protocols for travelers just in time for its holiday seasons. For the selected few, they will be put through a full body scan. Apparently they have finally developed x-ray vision that those kids magazine had long promised and now they can truly see through your clothes. Since no one really want to be humiliated and be seen naked and no one know whether the technology used would cause harm to the human body, you can choose to be humiliated in another way which a TSA agent will come and do an extensive pat down which includes a groin check.

That's our freedom here, one idiot put a bomb in his shoes and everyone have to take off their shoes when they are traveling by plane; one stupid asshole make an underwear bomb and now everyone is at risk to go through more and more invasive procedures. The whole thing is annoyingly stupid. Terrorists wanted Americans to be paranoid and now we are, it is almost like they aimed to take our freedom from us and they have succeeded.

Out of all that, this guy have coined the next "Don't tase me, bro!":

"If you touch my junk, I will have you arrested!". You can either be filmed naked or get groped, not much of a choice there and if you refuse to do both, you won't be allowed to travel and you'll be sued for $10,000. How can the US of A who pride ourselves for being the Land of the Free forces its citizens to go through that?

Apparently it has became an international joke.

There's got to be a smarter way to work this, no? What if the next terrorist put a bomb up his butt, does it mean that we'll all be selected for a douche and a cavity search? Even being selected 50% of my travels, I've never minded racial profiling much. It is definitely irritating but never this invasive. You can already find hundreds of videos on Youtube about old ladies, little kids and cancer survivors being physically molested, no doubt this bad feeling will be heightened during the holidays and then the right will put this on the Obama tab.

The new measures make me want to travel less or at least use other means of travel if I can. Airline companies should fight this, travelers have rights too and not being groped should be one. At least not until a shoe bomb or an underwear bomb made it to the plane and killed someone. Sorry someone have to die to justified the humiliation and inconvenience of millions others; If they have caught the bombs before, it means that the prior measures work and there's no need for additional invasive security procedures.

That being said, how does one go about getting a job to be a groper?

Mr. Gay Aftermath

2010-11-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

Last week, Philadelphia hosted the 2010 Mr. Gay USA pageant at Club Voyeur which apparently rendered a small attendant. It's no wonder, nobody could really be that interested in a pointless pageant with an entrance fee of $40. Honestly, we're going through a difficult time and few of us have the extra bucks to go see a contest for a meaningless title.

My friend, a budding local journalist, Nicholas went to the show and ranted in an article he did for PhillyGayCalendar.com about how utterly purposeless to have a Mr. Gay competition. Especially when the mission statement of the organization is to "...advocate international equal rights by confirming the essential nature and contributions of gay men to a healthy society where gay is not a stereotype." while the event is basically a hot body contest with hairless twinks walking around in speedos and the whole thing happens in a gay bar. Talking about stereotypical, I mean, can you spell irony?

His article was reblogged by some other blogger who agreed with Nick's point of view and both the article and the blog entry received some slacks from the organizer who stated that they are creating more hate in our own already hated community.

Nick advocates for the winner to do some social work like helping with preventing teen suicide, I mean some responsibility should come with the title to make it more meaningful, right? In practice, that might be a bit difficult to do. We don't exactly have a gay Donald Trump or Hugh Hefner that looks for young things for playmates and they don't exactly receive a job or a living stipend for them to invest a large amount of time to do community service. Do they get anything more than a sash?

Another issue with the competition is the lack of inclusion. From what I can see, they are all hairless muscular lean twinks representing a few gay hot spots like D.C., Asbury Park, Virginia Beach. Out of the 20 contestants, 4 are from California 4 are from Pennsylvania and 3 from New York State. No one came from San Francisco, Boston or Seattle. Only one came from middle America. The two only blond ones got 1st and second place. Obviously the contest is not meant to be taken seriously.

It's USA Mr. Gay like how the World Series is representing the world, it doesn't represent all of USA or all spectrum of gay people for that matter. If there was ever a Mr. USA contest, I think it's best to emulate the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show right down to the cupping of the balls. (Can I apply for the ball cupper position?) Rent out a conference center and hold a brief event/house battle of each individual stereotype groupings and select the best one for each: Frat/jock, gay nerds, gym bunny, roid pigs, bears (of all kinds), wolf, cub, chubs, hipster, man in suits, slaves, masters, kink, daddy, smaller stature (boy toy), fems, twinks, freaks and the what have you's. And then from the champion of each group select the best in show. Now that kind of competition I'll pay to see.

There is no need for the competition but were there any need for any competition or a dog show for that matter? It's a distraction, a form of entertainment for the few who finds this kind of stuff interesting. Though I don't think it's $40 interesting since obviously there's no $40 worth of substance in it anywhere.

Weekend Meme: Thanksgiving Food Meme

2010-11-20T09:22:00.002-05:00

There won't be a turkey or any cranberry sauce for me this year. I'm a little bummed but I guess it's not gonna be too important.

1. What are the traditional favorites?
Turkey and cranberry sauce, it's a good combination.

2. What new recipes will you try this year?
A cauliflower gratin and a dressing with chestnuts.

3. What part of the meal do you never compromise?
I rarely give up desserts for other people to make, but there's a first for everything.

4. Who gets to carve the turkey?
I usually do, but it's not a tradition for me or something that I particularly enjoy doing.

5. Family style around the table or buffet style and everyone sits wherever there’s room?
I'm fine either way but there's something about sitting around the table as a family that brings people closer together as a group.

6. How many will be at your table this year?
About 20, though people might brings friends and extras.

7. Three best pies for Thanksgiving dessert?
Apple, pumpkin and pecan. They are more fitting for thanksgiving but I don't particularly enjoy pumpkin or pecan. My favorite pie is banana cream, but that doesn't have anything to do with any holidays.

8. Cranberry sauce… yay or nay?
Yay with turkey. There's something about a chunk of cranberry sauce with the grooves from the can that add a bit of decadent trashiness to the whole thing.

9. What time do you eat Thanksgiving Dinner?
I usually have a problem eating holiday meals in late afternoon. This year for me will be 8pm.

10. Favorite leftover?
Any leftovers are good leftovers. After cooking a big meal, I'd like to have enough food around so I don't have to cook anytime too soon.

Have a great weekend!

Musical Talent of Jimmy Fallon

2010-11-19T09:50:00.000-05:00

Other than the two fake news shows from Comedy Central and E!'s Chelsea Lately, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is pretty much the only show I look forward to watching. Ironic, since when it first started I fought it tooth and nail. But with the help of The Roots and the light-hearted skits, I grew to like the show and appreciate his kind of humor. Even though he has sung some silly songs on SNL, his act seems to be a lot more mature and more polished now and his musical talents seems to be able to shine through.

Somehow it is Springsteen that seems out of place here.

Dancing With The Stars As A Metaphor

2010-11-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

Ever since the latest results of Dancing With The Stars were announced on Tuesday night, it had been non-stop Palin coverage again. I was gonna do a summary on the subsequent events but I was just a tad too late and Jon Stewart had done it for me. That's convenient.

Yes, despite mediocre performances Bristol Palin is in the top 3 of Dancing With The Stars. So how did she manage to stay in the contest despite being in dead last score-wise week after week? Apparently the same rings true for her as it is for her mom, their supporters don't care about abilities or merits. They will blindly support them, which led me to believe that her claim that she can beat Obama in the upcoming presidential race to be true.

Given how Democratic support has been weakened by the perceived inaction and even though Sarah Palin did quit midway through her gubernatorial term to go for the more lucrative reality TV and Fox News career. The Democrats, on the other hand, seems to be allergic to negative campaigns that point out their opponents weakness. The poll did indicate that there were less Democratic supporter coming out to vote in the last election. To make my argument more solid, I always refer back to 2004 when W. got reelected. Anything could happen no matter how undesirable it might be.

After an episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska, one of Willow Palin's classmates Tre put a status update on Facebook in which triggers the Mama Grizzly within Willow and she lashed out with gay slurs to defend her family.

It would have been admirable if she could have cleaned up her language, but then the Palins weren't exactly known for their intelligence or making good decisions. On top of it Willow is a 15 and her sister is an unwed mom, it would be somewhat unreasonable to expect little Willow to be polished. Within this exchange, Bristol Palin also chimed in to say to another boy named Jon: "You'll be as successful as my baby daddy, And actually I do work my ass off. I've been a single mom for the last two years." Disillusioned much?

Bristol Palin is hardly a star and we are still scratching our heads on how she qualified for the show, her dancing abilities are mediocre at best and let's not use the word "talent" to measure it. Just because she made the tragic mistake of bearing a child and giving birth before she's of age or married doesn't get her the honorable title of a "single mom" even thought technically she is one. It makes her an "unwed mom" or a "teenage mom". A "single mom" is usually reserved for a person who is below poverty line and has to work a couple jobs in order to provide for herself and her kid. I don't think that applies to Bristol Palin.

For a show to have Bristol Palin on their 11th season to increase ratings from the right, Tea Partiers and their spawns but while that might be true, the show has also lost the rest of America. It is quite an analogy of right-wing panderers and our democracy, isn't it? Good thing I'm not so invested in DWTS, I don't own a gun and I love my TV too much to shoot it. Too bad for Brandy, she should know that in most voting competitions, minorities go first, just look at Margaret Cho.

Where can a show goes from here? How does it retain any credibility and its viewership from this skewed point of view? Are they going to have Levi Johnston on next time, or Ann Coulter? One thing that we learned for sure from all this is that voters aren't always right AND that television in general is moving towards the right. Scary.

Thanksgiving Plans 2010

2010-11-17T09:07:00.000-05:00

This year, I got invited by my former colleague and her vegetarian friends to go for a thanksgiving celebration but I'm feeling a little ho hum since the last time I saw them was a year ago when I didn't have a job and another year has gone by and my situation hasn't changed one bit. I cannot possibly seat through a meal feeling that way, I think I rather be at home. Well, that and the fact that they are vegetarians and they wanted me to bring a vegetable dish. How could I live up to the expectation when vegetables are all they eat? And to be politically incorrect, I'm just not excited about eating vegetables on Thanksgiving.

For Black Friday, my Straizian friends have invited me over to their place in hops that I will cook a meal for them and 20 something of our closest friends. It'll be a lot of work but I don't have a problem doing that. It's fun for me. But as the counter extreme from the vegetarians, my Straizian friends are carnivores especially for red meat. In the past two Thanksgivings, I have roasted turkey and chickens but they find carving their own piece of meat out of something with bones to be too troublesome so we won't be having any birds unless I sneak some turkey sausage in the form of a stuffing. As a rule when I cook for them, they always request dishes that I cook for them last and it usually bore me just a tad. So I decided to forgo the paella and steaks for a more traditional and earthy fare:

Sherry Wild Mushroom Soup
Cheddar Biscuits
Rib Roast
Glazed Ham
Turkey Sausage & Chestnut Stuffing
Pumpkin Seafood Orzo
Twice Baked Potatoes
Bacon Green Bean Bundles
Cauliflower Gratin

As in each and every gathering, someone will make a fruit salad with grape, apple, orange and a big amount of mayo and put lobster in it, which is quite a peculiar thing. It must have been an Asian thing since when I grew up these mayo/miracle whip salad was popular. My grandma used to make one with boiled eggs, potatoes, ham cubes, canned pineapple and everything else under the sun that I adore. I was proud to take that dish to every school picnic and parties. Now I realized that it might not have been the healthiest thing. Though the lobster fruit salad might just be on the sweeter side. Others will bring tiramisu and a cheesecake for dessert which will alleviate some work, though I do like making desserts.

All I have to do now is just have to write out all the ingredients I need so we can shop for them. Wish me luck, next week is going to be a busy week.

The Flip-Flopitty-Flopetting of The McCains

2010-11-16T09:26:00.003-05:00

To say that Senator McCain doesn't care about gay rights is an understatement. Not only does John McCain doesn't care about gay rights, it seems that he will do anything to be in the way of progress. He wanted top military general to come out and state their point of views on DADT and when a few of them came out and say it wouldn't be a big deal to have openly gay soldiers serving, he opt for a study. And when the study show sign that the soldiers supported repealing DADT. He says the first one didn't asked the right questions, clearly when things don't go his way, he will say and do anything to discredit it. What question should be asked? "If an AIDS ridden homosexual wiggles his butt in front of you in close quarters, do you think it will affect morale?"

Senator McCain is very invested in the issue for some reason and he's doing all he can to filibuster and block DADT from being repealed which is very suspicious since he won't be serving in the military again in the near future.

Seen here twisting the facts about how Major Mike Almy was booted out of the armed services after the government snooped into his private emails. So what could McCain possibly gain from lying and being on the wrong side of history? Is he receiving a huge of private donations from right-wing homophobes for being the spokesman of their crowd or is it his own military pride and homophobia talking?

And then what's this?

A closeted man overcompensating by marrying a much younger Cindy McCain and texting random guidette old enough to be his granddaughter?

While Cindy McCain surprisingly come out in support of the NoH8 Campaign and desperately holding onto it like it's her only claim to fame, she also stands by her husband's stance on DADT like she's some kind of gay rights authority.

So gay shouldn't serve in the military but "no hate"! It's like people who hate gays but loved to watch "Will and Grace". But then who really cares what Cindy McCain thinks? We know her because she married John McCain, not because she's a great American thinker or social commentator. But then what do you do when you found out that you've married a bigot?

With people like John McCain raising his personal requirements on the repealing of DADT at will, we can see why activist group GetEQUAL is upping the ante and chaining themselves to the White House again. The truth is though, there's no pleasing McCain and others; top officials came out and they did not persuade him, nor would the survey findings or the hearings about the study (or another study or a study about the study). McCain lost the last election and he will do anything to discredit any progress happening under Obama or make himself heard as much as possible over the most trivial things. McCain is clearly unreasonable and Dan Choi should just give up.

---

Here's a better version from Rachel Maddow:

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

2010-11-14T00:25:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

Weekend Meme: The Fire Meme

2010-11-13T09:38:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway, have a great weekend!

What The Kids Are Wearing

2010-11-12T09:12:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Teabaggers & Alaska

2010-11-11T09:13:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frustrating.

The 2 Billion Dollars Trip

2010-11-10T09:23:00.000-05:00

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

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

This is Rachel Maddow's take on the issue:

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

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

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

Candies Are Bad For You

2010-11-09T09:51:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010-11-08T09:43:00.000-05:00

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

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

Unworthy of Your Love

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

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

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

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

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

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

From One Scam To Another

2010-11-07T09:17:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

Cross my fingers that I'll get something soon.

Weekend Meme: Name Meme

2010-11-06T09:27:00.001-04:00

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

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

Your Real Name: Paul

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In An Attempt To Scam The Scammer

2010-11-02T09:31:00.003-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Henri David Halloween Ball 2010

2010-11-01T09:41:00.001-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Henri David Halloween Ball is very drag heavy:

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

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

364 Days before the next Halloween...

Weekend Meme: Another 50 Questions Meme Pt. 2

2010-10-31T09:12:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Project Runway Season 8 Finale

2010-10-30T09:58:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When Things Don't Go Your Way

2010-10-29T09:14:00.000-04:00

Continuing with yesterday's story, at a radio interview with local Delaware station WDEL Tuesday Christine O'Donnell snapped her finger to summon her campaign manager/lawyer/security in an attempt to intimidate radio host Rick Jensen, when the interview didn't go her way.

During the interview O'Donnell criticized opponent Chris Coons for cutting funding for senior, but when Rick Jensen ask her what would she cut when a budget cut is required. O'Donnell called in her goon and pushed him into action as if something would happen.

After the interview, the O'Donnell Campaign asked that the video be turned over to the campaign and not released. He stated that the videotaping had not been approved by them. They also threatened to "crush WDEL" with a lawsuit if the station didn't comply.

An attorney representing the O'Donnell campaign contacted WDEL's law firm Hogan Lovells and initially asked that the video not be released. WDEL's attorney asserted that the interview and video were in compliance with all applicable laws, was clearly protected free speech under the First Amendment, and that the campaign had no grounds to demand the station withhold it from the public.

After seeing the video the attorney for the O'Donnell campaign contacted WDEL's counsel again to apologize for charges made by their campaign manager. The attorney agreed that there was no legal issue with the video and expressed regret for the incident.

So this is how the right is portraying themselves and getting their message across. Just add that to the list of crazy things that Christine O'Donnell does. Nothing is sincere or from the heart, everything is scripted and protected. How could anyone not see through her and vote for such a clown is beyond me.

"Don't Tread On Me"

2010-10-28T09:42:00.001-04:00

Yes, after calling themselves teabaggers they are comparing themselves to poisonous snakes. I find that interesting.

via HuffPo

With the rightwingers justifying hate speech as their first amendment rights and Baptist Church and anti-gay religious group showing up at gay pride parades and other place that they are not wanted but protected by law enforcements, it's hard to understand why the opposite cannot be true.

The first video is of the much covered incident where campaign coordinator of Rand Paul, Tim Profitt stomped on the head of MoveOn.org Lauren Valle when miss Valle tried to approach wearing a wig and armed with nothing but a RepubliCorp sign. Tim Profitt claimed that he was trying to protect Rand Paul from harm but from a longer version of the footage, you can see there are waves of people between Rand Paul and Ms. Valle. Tim Profitt also claimed that he has a bad back and that's why he used his feet to step on Ms. Valle's head and that honestly, HE should be the one receiving an apology. Ok, then.

The second video is from another incident on Tuesday where Republican candidate was holding a local meet and greet at a Virginia coffee shop. The man who got wrestled down by cops is John Taylor, a local Democrat showed up with a sign supporting the opposing candidate and refused to leave when asked to, so the cops intervened and the rest was captured on tape above.

Another incident involved Alaskan Senate candidate and Sarah Palin's pal Joe Miller who during a town hall meeting of a public school got his goons to detained and handcuffed a local reporter and accused him of trespassing a private event.

Given I will support a violent treatment to taunters like the Westboro folks protesting a dead soldier's funeral, but reporters? First, candidates like Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell running away from reporters who simply wanted to ask them questions and now they are met with violence? That's a bit too much.

Instead of fighting for lower taxes, Tea Partiers and Republicans alike are getting into a worrisome militant stance. Our freedom of having our first amendment rights are giving way to the need for second amendment expressions of some. You can almost smell the start of a one-sided revolution, how is the left going to protect ourselves? If the right is going to silence their opposition with violence, how is United States better than communist China?

Kanye West's "Runaway"

2010-10-27T09:07:00.000-04:00

I was considering making this 35+ minutes "music video" of Hip Hop biggest ego Kanye West's Runaway which turned into an hour long TV program on VH1 late last night my Music Invasion of the week but the sheer length of it doesn't fit in my definition. Maybe it's one of the occasion where the language barrier with me really shows, I can't decipher or understand most hip hop songs without really taking the time to study the lyrics, so in no point of this mini movie does any piece of music got into my head.

To call Kanye egotistical is somewhat of an understatement, he has surpassed your normal rap star bragging and go into a whole megalomaniac state. I too was endeared to Kanye when he showed up on the Hurricane Relief Concert and blurted out "George Bush doesn't care about Black people", his gay-friendliness and I did enjoy Late Registration. But these days, he has been pulling a Mel Gibson on us showing up late and intoxicated in concert performance, getting on stage and be Taylor Swift moment-stealer on the VMA. Success do funny things to people.

Despite the theme of this mini-movie is an artistic expression of his "Why do people hate me because I'm talented" narrative, it isn't without any merits. Sure, the story is a bit out there, illogical and deeply pretentious, it was quite beautifully filmed. Main actress Selita Ebanks is gorgeous, both the art director and the cinematographer deserve awards. The sequence starts at 13:37 with the ballet is gorgeous, I love the contrast of the delicate unraveling limbs and flowery tutus with the rough content of the song "Runaway" and I can almost see myself appreciating ballet even though I think it's one of the most boring type of artistic expressions. There's truly some great music in the video, I loved the final song with the very Imogen Heap-y vocal manipulation. It showcases that Kanye really does have talent, if only he can be more personable and less of a twat about it. When people have talent and self-confidence, I imagine there would be an attractive quiet confidence about them, someone with a lot to prove and an arrogant demeanor usually means otherwise.

The Future of China

2010-10-26T09:26:00.002-04:00

As much as I loathe Republicans and Teabaggers alike calling their opponents to "man up" and "get their man pants on" to challenge their opponents' masculinity or to imply that they could be gay or using homosexuality as an issue on robocalls to scare their voters to vote their way as if they're telling campfire ghost stories to scare kids, apparently homosexuality is not the only scare tactics.

Joining Blacks, homosexuality, taking old people's meds and medicare away, and illegal immigrants (aka Latinos) is the Chinese!

Gotta love the gong sound and fortune cookie.

This one is way better done.

The bleak black and white room with Chinese propaganda decorations, the evil Chinese professor with the insane laugh. The Chinese is not only here to take your job, they are here to enslave your people!

With a booming economy going on in China and its large population that translate to one of the largest market in the world, their economy is bound to surpass the US. We do still owe the Chinese almost 1 Trillion dollars and it will take time to give that back but it makes little sense to turn on our lendors.

Actually the US should utilize the Chinese economy and invest in it. Since introducing the first Starbucks in China in 1999, the number of stores has increased to 376. Resource-hungry China has Africa's growth by increased trading between the two countries. Via the Wall Street Journal:

In a report released Monday, the International Monetary Fund said that growth for the sub-Saharan region—which typically counts 47 countries excluding North Africa—should reach 5% this year, up from an earlier prediction of 4.5%. The IMF predicted annual growth would rise to 5.5% next year. The organization attributed the increase mainly to strong economic fundamentals, such as high levels of reserves and low inflation. But it also noted a marked shift toward trade with resource-hungry China and developing countries in Asia and Latin America.

Africa's growth acceleration has stirred interest among investors, since it comes as the U.S. and Europe are struggling to recover from the global slump. After China and India, Africa is seen as the next emerging, billion-person market—one that boasts not just mineral wealth but increasingly large pockets of consumer spending power, too.

In fact, the relationship between China and Africa is building so rapidly that one of the news anchor on CCTV, the governmental television channel is from Zimbabwe.

Instead of feeling that China is, somehow, taking advantage of US, we all should think about how we can take advantage of the booming economy of China.

God's Peeing On You

2010-10-25T09:54:00.000-04:00

I wonder if this qualifies as a weather phenomenon. A giant penis shaped storm front going through Texas. At least the weatherman reported with a straight face. I wonder if the people at the station really didn't catch it.

Nothing much else to report. Hope the week will get better.

Coin-Operated Park Bench

2010-10-24T09:46:00.001-04:00

Via 8Asians

When resource-starved communist China was introduced to capitalism, people went all sorts of money-crazy. People were getting rich fast. Starbucks, yoga studios were opened up in every street corners. As long as you have a new idea that sounds foreign which equate to good, people will patronize and get behind it.

I didn't know this is the extend of it:

In Shangdong province eastern China, Yantai Park has installed coin-operated park benches that allows visitors to relax in the park only if they input coins for that privilege, or else metal spikes will ‘encourage’ the park-goer to stand instead. It must deter homeless people, if only they can make the spike sharper and someone could jump up in pain in a comedic way. Or maybe we can see old lady sitting in a stool beside it and use the bench to punch holes in doughnut or something.

It's worth noting that the coin-operated park bench was inspired by German artist Fabian Brunsing where a similar bench was created as a protest against the commercialization of modern life.

Apparently the Chinese doesn't have any concept of public property or relaxation. Anything for a buck, huh? Who knew that extreme capitalism is the next step of communism?

Weekend Meme: Another 50 Questions Meme Pt. 1

2010-10-23T09:38:00.001-04:00

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
That I desperately needed to shave.

2. How much cash do you have on you?
$57

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
Core

4. Favorite planet?
It'll have to be Earth, right?

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
A Mahjong friend

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
It's an existing musical ringtone called "Fall In Love"

7. What shirt are you wearing?
A black tee-shirt from Uniqlo

8. Do you label yourself?
Sure. I'm "Asian" and "Gay".

9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing?
Not wearing any.

10. Bright or Dark Room?
Relatively bright.

11. Did you do anything to celebrate John Lennon's 70th?
Nope.

12. What does your watch look like?
Looks like a G-shock but it's metal.

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Watching TV.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
A friend asking whether I will join him on a hauted house tour expedition.

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
About 4 blocks away.

16. What’s a word that you say a lot?
"I know."

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?
My boyfriend. Yay!

18. Last furry thing you touched?
My boyfriend. Yay!

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
Nothing at all.

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed?
Not a one, who still uses films?

21. Favorite age you have been so far?
Probably 18.

22. Your worst enemy?
Myself.

23. What is your current desktop picture (extra points if you post it.)?
A standard background from the computer manufacturer Asus. With a bunch of blue butterflies flying across a charcoal colored space.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
"Thanks."

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be?
Money sounds pretty good right now, but I always wanted to be able to fly.

The End of An Inspiration

2010-10-22T09:57:00.004-04:00

When he was first elected or even before, The One Who Promised Change has generated much fanfare. Being the very first self-identified Black president, we saw it as some kind of a milestone and a signifier of change. More so than having Will.I.Am writing a campaign song for the candidate, I regard having Obama on the cover of Spiderman an endorsement from the younger generation of the whole nation and it got me fantasizing about the start of a brand new era. Reality will prove that change requires hard work and some sort of headstrongness.

In the past 2 years, Obama has demonstrated that he is willing to work for progress, unfortunately he lacks the willfulness of W. He spent to much efforts on unifying the two parties and bridging the gap but through endless negotiation, the right unified to go against his every notion and due to his skin color, the Tea Party was born to question his origins and motives along with Fox News. Obama seems to be too willing to compromise his goals in order to appear cordial.

Regardless that the accomplishments of the administration is numerous, none of them are big ticket items and none of them are openly publicized perhaps because stamping the Obama name on them will create controversy and conspiracy theories will come out of Fox News. Americans are going on their daily life not knowing what exactly were being done. In a time that most families experience tax cuts, people are marching out in the name of "Tax Enough Already". While Health Care Reform is a major milestone, the independent public option had been chopped through negotiations and the major provisions won't take effect until 2014-16. The right has managed to make "Obamacare" sounds like it's something sinister. Either there's disconnect between the government and the people or the White House needs much better PR people.

On the GLBT issues front, absolutely no progress were made. If due to some reason, the administration has to end tomorrow, nothing would have been accomplished: ENDA is in effect selectively, gay marriage is available in a handful of States, gay adoption is illegal in a handful of States, anti-bullying law is not there. And even Obama has said he is a fierce advocate for the LGBT community and that he strongly opposes DADT, his administration has filed for an appeal and even though DADT has been overturned for 7 days, it is back for being the law of the land. Because if it's not done the "proper way", you rather destroy it and do it over again, which makes his It Gets Better video quite disingenuous.

Not to undermine a semi-heartfelt unofficial address from the president on LGBT issues which is unprecedented, the best it is for us gay folks is still not full equality and he has the power to change things around. How can you tell teenagers that it gets better while keeping DADT in the works? What's more unfortunate is that this ordeal happens right before the election and this whole kerfuffle is bound to make members of LGBT community quite angry. It's not like by preventing gay soldiers to serve in the army, voters from the right will start to vote for the left. All it's going to accomplish now is that the gay and lesbians will be less likely to go to vote. It's bound to be a tough election this year. Don't the Democrats have a strategist? With all the inspiration and enthusiasm squashed out, I wonder if anyone would want to draw the president into comic books anymore.

What Are They Thinking?

2010-10-21T09:22:00.001-04:00

Amidst the wave of LGBT teenage suicide which is still happening, a week or two ago LDS church elder Boyd Packer came out to speak against homosexuality.

On a post on Joe.My.God, I made a sly comment about how unfortunate it is for a religious leader to be named Boyd Packer, I mean come on, a name like that in that setting is practically begging to be ridiculed. Somehow that comment was the first for the post and some random anon who's fervently against the LDS tagged on it so his/her comment can appear near the top of the chain, and then some random LDS defender named Celeste who has misconceptions about gays stated her ignorance on her post.

I would have cared less, since it wasn't toward what I said I would have glazed over this little exchange and move on. But apparently some folks still go back and read the past posts and comments, and Celeste will still defend her position no matter how ill conceived they are, so I put my foot in and asked her to back off. Apparently, Celeste is convinced that gay people can change their orientation at will and of all 10 gays that Celeste knows, all of them seemed to have been molested at some point in their lives and Celeste is convinced that this is why they are gay. She doesn't understand that why gays are forcing churches to marry them, also why gay people are so promiscuous or why some act like women while others are don't act like women. She says "If someone has a deviant behavior it is studied and gets understood by the science and medical community. But with the gay issue all I have ever heard is "they are born with it and it can't be changed."" For all I know Celeste can be a 14 year old girl feeling bored and cruising gay sites to rile things up, or she can be good old Maggie Gallagher trying to incite violence with something as outrageous as this. So I went in to rip her a new one.

At the end, she claimed that we will never see eye-to-eye on the issue, while she can never understand me being gay, she claimed that I will never be able to understand God. Meanwhile, I still pretty sure she's convinced that causes homosexuality. I have never been molested, I don't think any of my ex-boyfriends or close gay friends have ever been molested. All I know is perhaps two acquaintances telling me stories about them getting molested by priests. If anything, there's a larger correlation between religion and homosexuality. Maybe it's the half naked Jesus on the cross?

On the topic of gay teen suicide, AFA's Bryan Fischer as well as NOM' Maggie Gallagher are trying desperately to make themselves feel better by justifying that if it wasn't for the deviant homosexual than maybe gay teens won't be killing themselves. In the video below, Bryan Fischer is arguing that since gays cannot reproduce, we are recruiting students from kindergarten on and forcing them to declare that they are gay from a young age, these confuse young kids killed themselves because they can't handle the pressure of being deviants.

Maggie Gallagher, on the other hand, is discovering that gay teens are killing themselves in Massachusetts even though gay marriage had been legalized in that state 4 years ago. Hence, according to her column in the New York Post, legalizing gay marriage won't help and so she's not responsible for the death of LGBT kids. Her argument is that gay teens are messed up to begin with. According to some CDC studies that she pulled out from thin air, GLBT teens are more likely to have been sexually abused, more likely to use drugs and becoming or making someone else pregnant.

These people are have a preset image of what gays are and whatever facts are presented to them to counter that image are discarded aside. They think we are going to kindergartens and showing them gay porn videos. They think we are marching into their churches and forcing them to marry us. They think we are actively recruiting people to be gay. What impossibly outrageous notions.

Destroying The Value Pack

2010-10-20T09:14:00.000-04:00

I get frustrated when people claim to defend family values or Christian values or traditional values. While I do believe that there are values that is worth upholding, those claimed values defenders only seems to use the term to discriminate.

Being a Christian used to be something to be admired, like Mother Theresa who used to rally people to help people in the third world. In the old days, flocks of Christians will go to underdeveloped countries to teach children how to read and help with horticulture, nutrition and disperse medical care. Those were the Christians I grew up admiring. Nowadays, those causes get delegated to televangelists who claimed to help out while using money from their congregation to buy giant mansions and yachts. If not, it's pedophilic priests and pastors who likes to touch kids and store kiddie porn on their computers. Instead of working on ending poverty and other more meaningful causes like helping out the Tsunami/Earthquake victims, The Pope is busy concealing their pedophilic priests and transferring them to other parts of the world so they can be free to start all over again. Vatican is so laden with useless stunts and bureaucracy that it is still deciding whether they should apologize for issues that had happened decades or even centuries ago.

The average Christian don't even go to church every Sundays. The average Christian have not yet finished the whole Bible and probably won't in their lifetime. The average Christian don't care about passage mentioning prohibiting them to wear clothes of mixed fabrics or eating seafood without fins or scales. The average Christian have never and probably won't initiate or even participate in a stoning of disobedient children or an adulterer. Even though adultery and theft belong in the Ten Commandments, no on out there is condemning, harassing or making them second class citizens. No Family Association comes out with studies claiming adultery as a deviant behavior or a disease, nobody is revoking marriage license for divorcees who had once claimed "Til death do us apart" in front of an altar inside a church in front of god. But on gay marriage, Christians will hold up their bibles and said it's against their values, values that they get to pick and choose.

Teabaggers claimed that they want to take back their country from their Black President and if they don't get their ways, they are threatening to form militias for second amendment remedies. At the same time, other teabaggers are saying that we need to protect the borders from pregnant Mexicans that will drop anchor babies once they land in American soils. People are threatened to not pay taxes, they are crazed and scrambling to maintain their own status quo. United States used to be exemplify a dynamic progressive country. It was the land of opportunity, the land of the free, the land of equality and justice, a pretty picture that got painted by Hollywood and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. These days, we recognize that race is still very much an issue, any kind of minorities are discriminated against. While dumbasses who have never read the constitution gets to run for office and use campaign funds to fund their lifestyle, politicians get elected so they can be swayed and bought by big industries. Protecting American values my ass.

I don't know what they think will happen if they don't defend their values, maybe the whole population will subject to brainwash so everyone will convert to be gays or if they relax that their black president will take away all their possessions. At the end, maybe they are all upset that their world is changing before their eyes and since they are not educated about subject like homosexuality and people of color that they become uneasy. But, clearly treating other people with contempt is not the way to solve any problems.

While having a set of preset values is handy, we all need to re-exam our priorities and see what is it about those values that is truly good and beneficial to the society as a whole. Sure, religion is great for some but if the church you belong to spends more time to condemns people than to help people, then why would you still want to associate yourself with that particular church? We all need to look inwards to see what's really important to us and recognize lies when we hear one.

Spooky Musical Numbers

2010-10-18T09:16:00.001-04:00

Can't believe I haven't shared this with you all before but seeing Silence of the Lamb on TV last night reminded me of this great musical number from Silence! The Musical. The below video is brilliantly in Lego form which is a bonus.

For details of the musical, please visit Jon and Al.

Other than that, I'm sure the witch's face and her words will haunt me forever:

Movie Review: Jackass 3D

2010-10-17T09:44:00.000-04:00

In two years or so, every movie title will be "So & So 3D" which would make 3D redundant and render this argument improbable. Following the upcoming 3D televisions, maybe glasses will come pre-polarized and manufacturers will start producing polarized contacts. A new disease called the 3D Syndrome will surface where people can't tell whether they are watching a 3D graphic or actually watching something happening in real life and actually needs to resort to touching things to differentiate. More accidents will happen with people touching sharp objects and getting ran over by cars. It will be utter chaos.

At least half the movies I saw in theater for the past year were 3D movies; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Big Tits Zombie 3D, Toy Story 3, Piranha 3D. I own numerous pairs of 3D glasses in various stages of 3D technology, but I have never been more excited than when I heard the idea of putting Jackass in 3D. As people who's familiar with the MTV hit knows, there's really no plot to the Jackass franchise. Just a bunch of friends pulling horrible prank on each other. Viewers are tickled pink from extreme disgust and sheer schadenfreude.

Imagine making your friends enacting the worst/most disgusting idea you have in your life. Drink the sweat of a fat man, enrage a bunch of bees by kicking their nest around, crawling through a corridor buzzing with active tasers and cattle prods, spreading crazy glue on your hand and use it to wax your father's belly; disgusting, dangerous and insane stunts that you know you should never do but you're doing it because your friends are cheering you on. In the back of your mind, you clearly know it's stupid but you're making a movie and there's money to be made. Why not, right?

It's not important where they got their motivation from, really. I still enjoyed their insanely creative way to get themselves into situation that I wouldn't would attempt in my life. Sure, some skits are predictable and I'm pretty sure it's the same kind of humor from their TV series or their 2 former installments and I can't say if it's funnier or if they have topped themselves and god knows there are disgusting and puke inducing skits that I rather soon forget, but at the end despite the lack of substance, I still had a blast. Also, props for recognizing the general homoeroticism of the series and screening it at LA's leather gay bar Eagle. C+

Weekend Meme: Crafty 50 Meme Pt. 2

2010-10-16T09:54:00.001-04:00

In the upcoming weeks, there's a couple of rally that is possibly worth participating. This coming Wednesday is LGBT Spirit day which people are encouraged to wear purple in honor of the few gay kids who took their own life recently because of being bullied. I think I only have one purple t-shirt in my closet, so hopefully that day won't be so cold.

The day before Halloween is Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington D.C., even though I really want to go and participate if not just to spite Fox News, transportation to D.C. is only 4 a day and it takes a bit less than 4 hours one way, so even if I catch the 8:30 down, I won't get there until after noon, missing the opening of the rally. In the back of my mind though, I really want to be there. Why can't Oprah give me plane tickets and hotel accommodations?

Anyhow, today's meme is a continual of last week's. Twenty-five more random questions, let's hit it!

26. What do you normally smell like?
Normally I don't smell like anything, or maybe I'm with myself so much that I got used to my own smell. And when I sweat on some rare occasions, I think I smell like porcinis.

27. Do you like Carrie Underwood?
I just know this song of hers and I quite like it.

28. Been to “The Vegas”?
Nope, but I'd love to.

29. How far away do you live from your parents?
My father, if he's still alive, should be around 2388 miles away, while my grandma and extended family is about 8091 miles away.

30. Are you happy with your job?
Don't have a job right now, but if it's not for needing a source of income, unemployment is rather fun. (I know...)

31. Where do you work and what do you do there?
Again. My main responsibility right now is cooking for the boyfriend. I would rate myself doing pretty good work.

32. What did you get in the mail today?
Junk mail asking me to apply for credit cards.

33. How do you like your steak cooked?
Medium well when I eat out. At home, I mastered pan frying my steak to have a crust outside while being rare and tender inside.

34. Britney Spears …is she back?
Not likely, I mean she was a teenage sex bomb but after having two kids and shaving her own head, it's hard to maintain an innocent image.

35. What do you usually order at Taco Bell?
I don't. I think I've only bought something from Taco Bell twice in my life.

36. Have you ever sat all the way through Gone With the Wind?
I know it's a classic and all but I've never actually seen the film.

37. Have you ever been to Mt Rushmore?
No, never had the pleasure to step foot into South Dakota.

38. Is it just me, or was The Marine (w/John Cena) a really horrible movie?
It's as good/horrible as any Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme films, but then John Cena do look a lot hotter.

39. Are surveys like the cocaine of myspace?
I wouldn't know, haven't been on MySpace for a long time and probably don't plan on doing so anytime soon.

40. Where is your favorite place (that you have actually been to)?
I like traveling, I guess I've to say San Francisco. I always manage to have a good time there.

41. What is your favorite candle scent
Interesting question. I usually don't like scented candles because they are usually very strong smelling. If I do have to pick one, I'll go for the subtler or more familiar ones like sandalwood, lavender or jasmine.

42. Do you believe places can really be haunted?
Maybe, I tend to believe places can have bad designs or bad electrical wiring.

43. Do you smoke cigarettes?
I tried but it didn't stick. I guess me and smoking weren't meant to be.

44. Have you ever been to NYC or LA?
Both. I don't think LA is for me. To that matter, NYC isn't either. LA is too broad and spread out, NYC has too many things going on, too loud and too expensive. I need a place where I can travel to most place on foot and that I can fall asleep at night.

45. How many states have you been to where all you saw was the airport?
The very first time I come to the States, I took a Southwest flight and it stopped in Denver. I think I was highly unconscious then so I don't think I even saw the airport during the stop.

46. Do you think 50 questions is enough?
At one time? It's probably too much.

47. Are you currently planning a trip?
Not really, though maybe I'll stop by New York or Washington D.C. for a day trip.

48. Is Ryan Seacrest gay? Should anyone care?
In 1999 when Ricky Martin first blasted into the music scene years before he came out or people even suspected, a friend told me that he had been spotted in the beach of Phuket with an Asian boyfriend. I used to be excited knowing that Ricky is gay. But it's not like these stars will come to have sex with me or be my boyfriend just because they are gay too, so while it's nice to know, who cares? As for Ryan Seacrest, I could even care less.

49. Do you take anti-depressants? Sleeping pills
Nope, never had the need.

50. What do you think about space travel?
Foreign, boring and possibly unsafe. Too much effort and resource spent on nothing. Go to those anti-gravity chambers and twirl around, it's pretty much the same.

Alright, have a great weekend!

Obama's Promise

2010-10-15T09:46:00.001-04:00

In a completely out of character move, Obama had tweeted this yesterday.

This can almost be interpreted as a promise and not since his campaign days had he made a statement this strong about LGBT issues. In fact, I have no concrete grasp of the president's point of view regarding us gays. There were so much that we expected from he who offered hope, but we were told that LGBT issues are taking a back seat because there were so many other more important things that needs to be processed first. At the same time, we see those more important issues going nowhere; The US unemployment rate is still high and health care reform public option is somewhat lost now. When Obama's approval rate being less than half, Democrats likely to losing the majority and the rise of bat-shit crazy teabaggers, it's understandable that the gays are in a panic; it's unsure that this relatively reasonable president could get a second term.

It isn't until the relentless efforts of Get Equal and the recent wave of gay teenager suicides that bring the subject of equality to the forefront. Meanwhile, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett had called homosexuality a "lifestyle choice", Obama had stated that he is in support of civil union but not gay marriage and at one point in time last night his Department of Justice attorneys were preparing to appeal the federal judge ruling of the overturn of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. We have no idea what Obama's real feeling gay issues, he is after all a heterosexual black male who's culturally more inclined to be homophobic or at least more conservative towards homosexuality, and who knows about the viewpoints of the people surrounding him?

At the end, repealing DADT is but a small step toward equality. Sure, you can openly serve in the military but the other kids will still pick on you. It's just like being in the schoolyard, you can tell people you're gay but you'll get bullied because of it, the sergeant could potentially treat you differently because his beliefs tell him that you're an abomination. It's horrible to say but serving in the military is not very relevant for the majority of gays and lesbians. For now, while the DADT ruling is posed to be appealed, the firing of gay and lesbian soldiers has been halted. Pushing forward, to make every gay and lesbian's life easier would be implementing anti-bullying rules in school and legalizing gay marriage.

And so we wait.

Teabag Vultures

2010-10-14T09:38:00.001-04:00

I know this Rachel Maddow clip is from Monday night and it's 13+ minutes long but I think it's worth watching.

So there's a culture war going on and the Teabagger conservative resurgence are running for office all over the country. In my liberal slightly leftish mind, I see all these folks are highly unelectable but god forbid if they do get into office.

New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino who sent/passed on emails from his government email account to his friends and colleague of a horse fucking a woman and other sexist comments and porn, racist jokes, pictures and other sentiments. The same Carl Paladino who had a child with his mistress, an exstaffer nonetheless, Carl Paladino who has a gay nephew who's helping him to run his campaign, had called the gays not a valid and successful option. Apparently the speech is written by homophobic Rabbi Yehuda Levin and Carl Paladino had issued an apology since but if elected, Carl plans to "utilize emptied New York prisons as dormitories for the poor where they could work in state-sponsored jobs, get employment training and take lessons in "personal hygiene." Imprisoning the homeless, problem solved! Carl has also been caught threatening to take a reporter out, a true old time gangster at heart.

Teabagger darling Delaware gubernatorial candidate "I'm not a witch, I'm you" Christine O'Donnell other than not understanding how evolution works, dabbling into witchcraft and being anti-masturbation (Aren't those values conflicting?) just said that by repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell is like allowing adultery within the military. Apparently Christine O'Donnell has lied about her entire education history, claiming that she attended Oxford, Princeton and Claremont Graduate University while no one has heard of her and she has just obtained her undergraduate from Fairleigh Dickinson last month, so her commercial about never attended Yale was true. Christine O'Donnell has also been accused of misusing campaign funds and living off it instead of paying her campaign staff, While being anti-masturbation because of the lord and spreading rumors that her opponent is gay, unmarried Christine O'Donnell enjoys sex quite a bit according to her neighbor who constantly hear her sex screams.

Nevada Senatorial candidate Sharron Angle is famous to imply a "2nd Amendment solution" if things don't go her teabagger way and when asked what she means by that, she just smile her schmuck smile and say "Anything is possible". Angle also believes that insurance companies should have the right to drop coverage whenever they feel like it and that the U.S. Department of Education should be eliminated. Also Sharron Angle believes that the U.S. should withdraw from the United Nations. Much like Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle enjoys running, especially when she's faced with questions from reporters about her own statements and platform.

South Carolina Senatorial candidate Jim DeMint is better known as a homophobe who recently has repeated his running platform in 2004 where he said that gays and sexually active unmarried women should not be teachers. Jim DeMint is also known for praying for the failure of health care reform along with Michelle Bachman, Sam Brownback and evangelical extremist Pastor Lou Engle. Jim Demint is also against net neutrality. Jim DeMint comes fully endorsed by the AFA, NOM and other hateful organization, given how consistently anti-gay he is, I would have put it in the "Thou doth protest too much" category if he wasn't such a loon.

Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer was the cause of why gay people were boycotting Target early this year (Are we still doing that?) Minnesota Target had donated $150K Tom Emmer's Minnesota Forward campaign and Best Buy had donated $100K, while the campaign donated money to the ministry of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International who manages a punk rock band that goes on Minnesota public radio that advocates for the killings of gay and lesbians. Funny, because you would think that teabaggers and bible-thumpers will be against Muslims but in the program the band actually agrees with Muslims in their prosecution of gays. With a history of DWI, Emmer proposed a bill to shorten the license revocation period of DWI and for refusing a sobriety test.

Oregon 4th District Congressional candidate one-time scientist Art Robinson believes that global warming is made up and that we should breakdown and dilute nuclear waste and sprinkle it into the ocean to get rid of it because low radiation is good for us. Also Art Robinson believed AIDS is a myth, a government conspiracy and those gay people died because of exposure to homosexual behavior. Also Art Robinson believes that public education should be abolished.

It's hard to imagine what the country will be like with these people in office but all these people have serious financial backing and they all do have a shot at it. It's a scary world that we're heading to and at the same time, if these people can run for office, why can't I?

OKCupid Report: Straights vs. Gays

2010-10-13T09:47:00.000-04:00

Following the very interesting OKCupid report about the perfect profile pic, OKCupid had produced a report about the difference between gays and straights.

Based on their 3.2 million users, OKCupid had compiled their viewing habits, searching habits, profile contents and answers to some questionnaire and here is what they've found:

1) Homosexuals are not a threat to heterosexuality

- Only 0.6% of gay men have ever searched for straight man profiles.
- Only 0.1% of lesbians have ever searched for straight woman profiles
- Only 0.13% of visitors to straight man's profile are gay men.
- There's not a single gay man who primarily searches for straight men.

2) Gay people aren't any more promiscuous than straight folks

Median number of sex partners of any hetero or gay, male or female is 6.

- 45% of gay people have had 5 or fewer partners (vs. 44% for straights)
- 98% of gay people have had 20 or fewer partners (vs. 99% for straights)
- The two lines are pretty much identical.

3) A lot of straight people have had/would like to have gay sex

- Men seems less open than women (82% of straight men said no and never, 7% said yes and liked it, 6% said yes and didn't like it, 5% said no but would like to. The numbers for straight women are 49%, 26%, 7%, 18% respectively, It's safe to say that it is cultural?)

- The people who responded that they have had gay sex or would like to try are quantified to produce the above map. The are more likely to be from Canada, the US West Coast or New England.

4) Personalities

- By comparing straight men versus gay men, straight men seems to be disproportionally more into sports, they all seems to be more violent, more aggressive, hornier, dorkier and more religious, while gay men are more ambitious, artsier and more compassionate.
- Straight women seems more religious in comparison to lesbians and they also seem more optimistic, while lesbians are more into drugs, kinkier, artsier, more adventurous, more violent, hornier, more romantic and dorkier.
- Heteros regardless of gender seems to be more into sports perhaps it's more frequently a heterosexual topic. Gays and lesbians are understandably less religious, artsier (gay gene?), more compassionate, more literary, more political and more spontaneous.

5) Stuff We Like

Stuff Gay People Like

Stuff Lesbians Like

The higher and bigger the font is, the more it is mentioned in the group's profile. Apparently lesbians really like The L Word and something called Tegan and Sara. Funny the both gays and lesbians like the movie Running With Scissors (I didn't really), Imogen Heap (I like one of her songs), Tori Amos (whom I love), Katy Perry, Drop Dead Gorgeous (What's that?), Lily Allen, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Mean Girls, Kelly Clarkson and cuddling.

Stuff Straight Men Like

Stuff Straight Women Like

Unless I'm missing something, straight men and straight women seems to have nothing in common. How do they find common ground? How could the human race have procreated? Is Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus actually an accurate analogy? At least after seeing the straight men list, I know that I belong to the gay category.

There seems to be little in common between gay men and straight men as well. While hetero people and lesbians had a more significant response that they like to hang out with their friends, friends seems to be less significant to gay men. Also straight people seem to have more activity based answers than gay people.

Anyway, the report is interesting. Go over and see for yourselves.

Music Invasion - Straizians Edition: Wonder Girls and Thelma Aoyama

2010-10-12T09:04:00.002-04:00

In the past year or so, I've met a group of friends that I'm generalizing as the Straizians as in Straight Asians. It's a group of dozen or so people, led by a tiny female ringleader who's outgoing and loves to play, eat and drink while not having an ounce of fat on her. I fit in because our common love for Mahjong and food, plus both her and her husband are great people. Every week there's bound to be one or two gatherings of food and Mahjong and since I'm completely out of touch with the ongoings or Asian culture, I'm happy to get to know the latest TV shows, movies and trends through them... to a point.

This ringleader girl and her female friends are extremely into taking pictures of themselves all made up, with doughy eyes and puffy cheeks, in costumes and blurry foreground looking like Anime characters are crawling up my Facebook wall. It's different, and frankly this inhuman female power is scaring me a little bit. Music-wise other than the random rotating Chinese songs, the ones that are being hammered into my head is the following 3:

Wonder Girls - Nobody

Wonder Girls - 2 Different Tears

One time, we were traveling to a mall about an hour away and all they were playing was the above songs in their various remixed versions. Did you know that "Nobody" has like 7 different remixes and "2 Different Tears" were in like 5 different languages? Did you know that after hearing the same song over and over again a dozen times can overwhelm a brain and causes nausea?

Another song that's heavily in rotation is from a half Japanese, half Afro-Trinidadian called Thelma Aoyama (青山黛瑪/テルマ). Grew up in Japan and spending some years in California, Thelma is everything a J-pop fan could want. Seriously Japanese people love multiracial people, being part Japanese and part something else, she's gonna blow up harder than Mariah Carey, all she's possibly missing is having one blue eye and one green eye. Music-wise, the video below is her debut single, which is a one-time Guinness Record holder for Best Selling Digital Single in Japan with more than 2 millions full downloads. The record keeper as of now is a song name Kiseki (Miracle) by a group called Greeeen.

This song along with the above two were constantly played and they are also featured as ringtones for at least four of the girls there. There is no getting away from it.

Thelma Aoyama ft. SoulJa - Soba Ni Iru Ne (I'm By Your Side)

Jersey Shore RPG

2010-10-10T09:15:00.000-04:00

Need I say more?

Ed Hardy T-Shirt +10 pts Charisma.

Weekend Meme: Crafty 50 Meme

2010-10-09T09:16:00.002-04:00

These few days I've been knitting a haramaki for my Halloween costume and I found out the I'm not really that experienced with knitting designs. I couple time, I've to undo and redo the whole thing just so I can get my designs in exactly the way I want it. I'm getting carpal tunnel in my fingers.

Spent a wonderful night out at a Night Market event where over a thousand people gathered out and have a block party where we got food from food trucks and tables set up by nearby restaurant. The event was so successful that the trucks ran out of food 45 minutes into the event and even though the supermarket was only a block away, they didn't think to run in and restock. They must not watch Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race. Come on people, there's money to be made! Anyway, it has been a blissful week for me since the boyfriend is back. For him however is the exact opposite since there's so much work to catch up with.

This week's Meme is brought to you over at Sunday Stealing. It's a 50-questions two-parter and since there were some questions missing, I have to go to the source over at Creative Bold to retrieve them. Here it goes:

1. Introduce yourself…
Paul here, Asian, 6 foot, 35 years old, Chinese/French/British background.

2. It’s Wednesday at noon, where are you usually?
Most likely at home.

3. What kind of laundry detergent do you use?
Arm & Hammer. Fragrance Free.

4. What brand of shampoo is in your shower right now?
Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat.

5. Did you ever get into a bar and drink before you were 21?
I have been to a hotel bar in Thailand and had a glass of Creme de Menthe when I was 13.

6. What countries have you been to?
Chronologically: China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Philipines, United States, Canada, Mexico. (Layover in Japan and Israel)

7. Do you watch MTV anymore?
Not really. I did watch MTV's music video award and occasionally tuned in on True Life and the historic Snookie Slap on Jersey Shore.

8. What do you think about Oprah?
Rich, black woman by I don't know why she's so popular or what got her so rich.

9. What color are your bed sheets?
Mostly some designs of blue and white.

10. You need a new pair of jeans: what store do you go to first?
Lucky Jeans. Ok, I'm really bad at clothes shopping and once I brought a friend there and my friend told me I look good in their jeans, so I thought all I have to do is to go there and get the ones I've gotten before.

11. Did you ever watch The O.C.?
Nope.

12. What kind of car do you drive
I don't drive.

13. Honestly, is that car insured?
I guess not.

14. Do you like sushi?
I love sushi. I crave it all the time.

15. Have you ever been to Tiffany & Co. or Saks 5th Ave?
Yes to both but rarely to buy anything.

16. Did your parents spoil you growing up?
I will say no. I don't get my way very often.

17. Do you like roller coasters?
I thought I did but apparently not. Last time at Six Flags, I compared being on roller coasters as being raped. You grind your teeth and trying to hang tight while praying that it'd be over soon. After you got off, your legs get all wobbly and your butt hurts.

18. What magazine(s) do you buy regularly or subscribe to?
I don't subscribe to any particular magazine. Nowadays the ones I buy is either Out or one of the cooking ones like Gourmet.

19. Do you remember the old WB show “Popular”?
Can't say I ever seen one episode.

20. When you go out do you prefer to go to a dance club or to a bar?
They are both good. Philadelphia has several dance club/bars that are enjoyable because I get to see people dance. The non-dance club have friendlier people.

21. What do you think about gay marriage?
Of course it'd be good to gay marriage legalized, and I think if they want gays less promiscuous or "immoral", there's nothing better than legal gay marriage to stabilize our community.

22. Who do you think will be the next president?
Hopefully Barack Obama will get to serve a second term. I hope to god there won't be a Palin/Beck ticket.

23. Are you registered to vote?
Nope, not a citizen yet.

24. Do you own an iPad?
No and I don't think I'll get one.

25. Is your bathroom filled with beauty stuff?
No. A lot of grooming stuff and cleaning stuff.

Have a great weekend!

Witchy Woman

2010-10-08T09:35:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Bill Maher retrieving his old video footage from his days at Political Incorrect, crazy opportunist loon Christine O'Donnell was caught saying that she had practiced witchcraft during her college years amongst other more outrageous things. Truly, who cares if she "dabbled" into witchcraft when she was a teenager, but the questioning of why monkeys are not transforming into human now amongst other more outrageous things like being anti-masturbation do make her crazy.

Someone at her camp churned out this piece of public relation brilliance:

It actually made her look sane and sincere. Wearing a dark blue power suit and a strand of pearls, Christine O'Donnell is trying to look credible and substantial. "I'm not a witch..." with only a slight hint of incredulity, she dismissed the notion of what she herself has admitted and blown it to smithereens. "I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you. None of us are perfect." Way to level with her audience. She's like a girlfriend, a counselor, someone that people can trust.

But I have to object. She's nothing like me. I masturbate. Other than a year or two where I went through my goth stage wearing black and my fondness of tarot cards, I've never dabbled into witchcraft or seen a sacrifice alter. I believe that evolution is more than a theory and I know that it takes a long, long time for species to evolve. To say that she's just like me is an insult in my left-wing elitist mind. So I'm dismayed to see her commercial airing in my channels probably due to me being so close to the State of Delaware.

Other than the commercial, Christine O'Donnell had bowed out on any national media exposure. No doubt, feeling the heat of her past indiscretion. I mean how embarrassing would it be to be asked about her witchcraft or masturbatory practices. No, like many others I don't want someone who's just like anybody else to be a senator, I want someone high IQ and who's willing to put in hard work to be the leader. Not just some witchy woman.

---

Update:

Here's a new one from the same campaign titled: "I didn't go to Yale". Yale doesn't except crazy people, it should have been "I couldn't go to Yale"

Facebook Pics Perceived

2010-10-07T09:18:00.000-04:00

Following the OKCupid report on taking the perfect profile pic. There's this fun little diagram on how profile pics are perceived.

I just love diagrams!

A-List? Not That Much.

2010-10-06T09:37:00.001-04:00

On Monday night I stumbled into an episode of A-List: New York, the newest Logo TV original reality show programming about wealthy/famous gay people done in the fashion of the famed Real Housewives series.

We follow the lives of reality show star/model Reichen Lehmkuhl and his circle of acquaintances including Reichen's current boyfriend Brazilian model Rodiney Santiago, famed video/photographer Mike Ruiz, salon owner Ryan Nickulas and his Black husband/sugardaddy, former model Austin Armacost and model manager DerekLloyd Saathoff. Each of them have a micromechanism of gays of their own, creating all the melodrama feedback necessary for the show.

In this first episode, we got to know about these people and their claim to fame. Reichen introduced himself as a former contestant and winner of Amazing Race and his subsequent modeling career as well as his dating history with Lance Bass, but no, he doesn't want to be known and label to be the guy who dated Lance Bass. (Then don't mention it. Or am I missing something?) Mike Ruiz convinced us that he is the most sought-after photographer of celebrities while showing us how friendly he is with Kelly Rowland. Former model and celebrity plaything Austin Armacoat defined himself as the former boytoy of Marc Jacobs until he got dumped because he brought some friends to Marc Jacobs apartment and now that he's mildly out of shape, he needs to train his body back to get back into the modeling industry.

All these people are trying very hard to paint New York to be the place where everybody wants to be and they are trying very hard to convince people that they are the "A-List" of Gay New York and so everybody wants to be them. But no. These people are no role models.

I remember watching Reichen and his then partner, Chip, through Amazing Race where they painted a rosy picture of a gay Air Force pilot married a loving partner and then winning the race. But then the couple split up after the show and we see Reichen slowly dating himself to fame with various gay celebrities. No doubt Reichen is a buff good-looking, model quality person, but I don't see a role model in Reichen or someone I want to be. In the first episode we see Reichen struggling with an acting role in a musical called My Big Gay Italian Wedding in which he was hired to be the beefcake walking around in his undies, but in his mind he was an actor even though the producer cut a song from him because he can't sing and from the looks of it, he can't dance either.

Former model Austin had dated Reichen and now that Reichen has a boyfriend, he's using every trick in his bag to devalue the relationship Reichen and Rodiney, from the Brazilian's accent to the period of time they were together. And as the show ends, Reichen blew off his boyfriend and arranged a dinner date with Austin. As if the audience didn't know that gays can be bitchy, racist and all the bad stereotypes, the first episode shown as much. At least 3 of the cast member inspired to find someone so they can be taken care of.

These people try VERY HARD to convince the audience that they are somebody through name dropping of the people they've slept with and the parties they went to and in truth some of them are, but there seems to be a lack of self worth. And the bitchiness in general is very repulsive. So we saw a half-butt from Rodiney, the show does nothing for our youth, it does nothing for the gay movement and if this is being gay, maybe I don't wanna be gay anymore.

Halloween Costume Idea 2010

2010-10-05T09:47:00.000-04:00

For two years in a roll now, I've gone to the Halloween Ball happening here in Philadelphia. For my very first costume party two years ago, I went as a Chinese Vampire, I altered a graduation gown into a Ching Dynasty royal official's robe bought some fabric for the edges, a cap, shoes, make up and all to complete the look and I've to say it looked pretty good. Even the Chinese lady at the Chinatown restaurant was quite spooked when me and some friends left the ball and decide to have some late night food.

I guess I was inspired by Project Runway and despite my bad sewing skills, I spent about a week or two gathering materials and it was not really that hard tacking cloth onto cloth and the result wasn't too horrible.

The second year, I went out with the boyfriend and since he decided to be his sexy Wolverine self, I decided I was going to be X-Men's Colossus, capitalizing on my big forehead and short black hair. At the same time, I was inspired by a site or two about duct tape costume and thought it would be a lot cheaper and easier to do. Boy was I wrong.

Maybe I should have planned ahead like the boyfriend suggested but in making the costume at the last minute, it got us both frustrated. I ruined a good belt, my nicest pair of trunks, and got a mild panic attack being in a duct tape girdle. Plus the whole thing came off looking poorly and smelled pretty bad. Never. Again.

This year we decided to plan way ahead. The boyfriend already chosen something ethnic that looks amazing on him and strangely fits his personality. Wanting to match the theme, I'd also be something ethnically I'm not - a Japanese Guy. Concept-wise, I drawn it from animes that I've watch when I grew up, something related to Doraemon or Mr. Ajikko. Like a Japanese vegetable or seafood vendor that looks a little bit like Zolo from One Piece but with a handband and not as sexy.

The look evolved a little after I think about it and afraid that the Halloween Ball people would think that I didn't go far enough and charge me full price for a ticket. I modified it a little to make it more out there.

1. A white headband
2. Kabuki Make Up
3. A Japanese Oni/Hannya/Tengu Mask.
4. A Happi Coat
5. A white buttoned undershirt.
6. A green Haramaki.
7. A pair of black pants that is loose on top and skinny in the bottom.
8. White Tabi socks.
9. Black wooden Getas.

During a trip to my mecca giant Japanese supermarket compound Mitsuwa, I've successfully acquired item 4, 5 and 8 at a steep cost. There are certain nice Japanese masks on Ebay but most of them cost an arm and a leg and all I wanted was a red plastic Hannya mask for one night. I end up buying an OK looking one at a relatively affordable cost.

I'm personally knitting my own Haramaki using a tan cotton yarn. In hind sight, I could have just cut up a sweater that I don't use anymore or go to H&M and got some scarf and roll them around my stomach. The yarns and effort don't come cheap. Even though I found the pants I like on Amazon Japan, I'm a bit iffy buying them online without trying them on, they only sell them in Medium and Large, god knows in Japanese standard I'm probably XL, also I don't think they mail those internationally. I got a pair of black cargos to make do. I also can't seem to find a good large pair of Getas for my large feet. There are brilliantly attractive ones that I don't think will fit. Since Zolo wears boots, maybe I'll do that instead, but then I will have to return my tabis.

For a guy with little to no knowledge about applying make up, it'll be quite hard for me to do a kabuki one a la E. Honda. I wonder how many things I've to invest in to achieve the look. Of course an 80s platinum blond rocker wig will also look awesome with it.

Hope it'll all look good by the time I'm done.

Can anyone tell me if I really have to buy a dozen of make up tools to achieve a similar look?

No More Nuggets For Me

2010-10-03T14:11:00.000-04:00

I haven't been into a McDonald's for years and it's not as much as a conscience health decision but more because of a taste issue since their food taste too greasy, there's a slight difference. When I do go a few years back, I like their Big Mac, Filet O Fish, milkshake, fries and chicken nuggets. No, I don't order all those things at once. I also like their Sausage Egg McMuffin, hash browns and sundaes, and they are all as high calories as possible. What? Who in their right mind would go to a fast food chain for salads?

Well, here's a picture that will have me swear off McDonald's for the rest of my life:

The picture above is what's so called Mechanically Separated Chicken and the process of making it goes beyond deboning and grinding. Yeah, if you've seen the movie Food, Inc., you'd probably know that chicken farmers are paid little to no money producing chickens. They are forced to pay and take out giant loans to build chicken camps and forced to keep up with the installation of the newest ventilating units and while the chickens are kept in literal silos that don't see any daylights, germs and virus manifests itself since no one really clean the poops up for months. Chickens are mechanically swept and dumped into trucks after a few months and taken to be processed. Instead of clean individual coop with fresh air, they do it this way to keep the cost low.

There's more: because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.

I guess I won't be eating chicken nuggets anytime soon.

Weekend Meme: Photobucket Meme

2010-10-02T14:48:00.000-04:00

The boyfriend is due to come back from his UK tour this afternoon and I'm eager to see him, if not, the souvenirs that he's bringing back. Haha.

This week's meme is from Kapgar, I'm trying to find some more interesting memes online but it's getting harder and harder but everyone loves a graphic meme, no? It's not until I did this mem that I started to appreciate Flickr more. Photobucket is, shall we say, still developing? I tried to search for bearded Asian and it yields no result. Oh well.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to www.photobucket.com.
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box.
3. Use only the first page.
4. Insert the picture into your blog.

1. What is your relationship status?

2. What is your current mood?

3. Who is your favorite musical artist?

4. What is your favorite movie?

5. What kind of pet do you have?

6. Where do you live?

7. Where do you work?

8. What do you look like?

9. What do you drive?

10. What did you do last night?

11. What is your favorite TV show?

12. Describe yourself.

13. What are you doing today?

14. What is your name?

15. What is your favorite candy?

Have a great weekend!

Post 1200: Best Softcore Porn Ever

2010-10-01T09:06:00.000-04:00

Well I do like hair on a muscle chest so I'm a little against the shaving part, but it is an amazing chest and with that deep frat boy voice narrating the whole action is quite sexy. Yum!

Rest In Peace

2010-09-30T15:20:00.000-04:00

It seems like everyday this week, I hear some kind of gay teen suicides or death because of some bullying at school.

On September 9, 15 years old Billy Lucas hung himself in his mother's barn in Indiana because his classmates thought he was gay telling him he's a piece of crap and didn't deserve to live.

Former student of the Greensburg High School had been bullied for the same reason before and when he complained to the school administrators, they just dismiss his complain, the same student had tried committing suicide. On the video clip below, you'll hear the school principal actually blaming Billy Lucas for his own bullying.

On September 23, Asher Brown shot himself with a pistol. Asher had been harassed for the past 18 months for being smaller in stature, his religion, not wearing name brand clothes and shoes. He has also been labeled as gay by the other bullies. On the day before he died, Asher was intentionally tripped down a flight of stairs and his books were kicked everywhere by his classmates. The next morning, Asher told his parents that he was gay and while his parents did not condemn him, Asher found a pistol in his stepfather's closet and killed himself. He was 13.

Throughout the past 18 months, Asher's parents had called School administration at Hamilton Middle School to complain about their son being bullied and harassed, they have talked to the counselors and assistant principal but they were mainly brushed off. After Asher's death, the school official claimed that no one have ever reported that any bullying have ever gone on at the school, almost calling the parents of the dead child are liars.

In California, 13 years old Seth Walsh hung himself on a tree in his backyard after years of being bullied. On the day that he hung himself, a few kids were taunting him but they said they never expected Seth to hang himself. School administrators said they have an anti-bullying program in place, but schoolmates said staff at Jacobsen Middle School in Tehachapi offered Seth no protection or guidance.

After 9 days of being in a coma, Seth died on Tuesday.

I guess for the kids there, it's hard to start a new school year knowing that for the coming months and perhaps years, they'd have to stay in the same school with those same monsters who would cause them physical and emotional pain. The lack of support or justice from the school officials are at the end, the ones to blame. While I applaud Dan Savage's initiative to tell GLBT teenager that it'll get better once they grow up, I also understand that one year for a young person can feel like an eternity, I don't know by telling them things will get better actually helps. Even after we grew up, we're still facing people who tells us everyday that being gay is a sin. Case and point: an asshole who is telling gay kids that things will get worse and the kids who commit suicide that they will go to hell. It's too vile to post it here but if you're interested, watch it here.

There will always be crazy loons that tries to bully people for myriad reasons. An Assistant Attorney General from Michigan, Andrew Shirvell is harassing the student body president at University of Michigan Chris Armstrong. Shortly after knowing that Chris Armstrong is gay, Mr. Shirvell set up a blog just in the purpose of slandering Chris. He also go out to where Chris lives and videotape what he's doing whenever he can, all in the name of his first amendment right and labeling Chris as a political figure. Sounds more like the guy has unresolved gay issues and Chris is his object of obsession. Anywho, Chris Armstrong has a stalker and he looked semi-retarded. I wonder if a little protest outside the AG office for a few days is not just the appropriate act to get him fired.

On the subject of Tyler Clementi, the 18 years old Rutgers Freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge because of his roommates broadcast his sexual encounter in his dorm room for the world to see. I don't know if this could classify as bullying. Clearly it's invasion of privacy but I don't know if it was done in jest or maybe the roommates just didn't realize the consequence of their actions. The whole thing, along with all the other suicides in this post are just very unfortunate, sad and somewhat infuriating.

Our culture are brewing some kind of self-righteousness for a group of people to treat another group badly. The bullies felt that they can rightfully torment gays and the authority figures are turning a blind eye either because they agree with that point of view or they are just too lazy to deal with kids and providing justice and at least protection. And when the victim kill themselves, everyone is surprised or they claim not to be responsible, and then these people are not punished for what they have done. It gets me angry.

The Gay Cruising App Game

2010-09-29T09:06:00.001-04:00

Well, like every good slutty gay guys I do have Grindr on my iPod just so I can seek out every gay guy in my neighborhood. Being in the city and living so close to the gayborhood, there are tons of them nearby and now when I go out on the street, I have an enhanced gaydar. I rarely use it to hook up and usually I don't even initiate conversations.

Other than the famed Grindr, there are also lesser known app like DNR Social which is another version of Grindr, I used this one to scoop out the boys in Henderson Island. There's also Scruff which is a cruising app for bears and their admirers and apparently something called Qrushr which made themselves to be the major competitor of Grindr.

Something surprising got to my attention yesterday. Apparently Qrushr has launched another app called Qrushr Girls which to my knowledge is the first Lesbian oriented iPhone cruising app.

And I thought lesbians or female in general is less raunchy than gay guys, I wonder a cruising app like this would work in a community that is less sex-crazed, but if there's a need to have an app so that lesbians can identify one another on the street then more power to them really.

To show you how much free time the boyfriend and I have and how silly we can be, we invented a little game with our iPods. Through making random people our favorites on the app and blocking others, we were able to manipulate people's profile, so the right pictures will end up on top or side by side to one another, which, allow us to combine some image and create some mishmash of longer torsos or super creatures.

Here's what we got so far:

It's not exactly tons of fun, but it's amusing to us nonetheless.

High School Bullies

2010-09-28T09:07:00.001-04:00

Knowing that I like reading about food, a friend gave me a month old issue of Philadelphia Magazine where on the cover Iron Chef and Philadelphia Restaurateur Jose Garces is holding a baby pig with a shit-faced grin, perversely promoting the suckling pig meal at one of his restaurants. What I didn't expect was a detailed story in the magazine about the racial conflicts amongst Asian and Black students in high schools all over Philadelphia.

No one seems to know how it started, even though some seems to think that it might have something to do with Asians moving into neighborhood and taking over the corner grocery stores and driving up housing prices by acquiring them and remodeling them, though I thought there was always a large Asian community.

All we know is that those Asians who like to keep to themselves are picked on by black students as sources of amusement. Every day 70 to 100 Black students would roam and block off hallways where ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms are located and pick random Asian student targets to beat up and laugh from it. Since the perpetrators are numerous, the victims have a tough time pointing them out. After a while, a culture is created where the Asian students expect to be bullied and the school administration look the other way.

The Asian students tries to boycott the school while others have to drop out altogether just so that they can feel safe, but still nothing happened. In October 2008, thirty Black students chased 5 Asians down a subway station and beat them down which they were later hospitalized. Last December, seventy Black students started beating every Asian students in their path, a few of them suffered head and face injuries, one suffered his nose smashed and broken that he has a nose bleed non-stop. School police and the school sergeant also got pushed around which speak to a non-existing school security.

For the following 8 days, the Asian students gathered in Chinatown where a temporary classroom were put together for them to do classwork and study while a representative go to the school to gather coursework. On December 3rd, the media got hold of the story and placed an enormous pressure on the school and the school district to deal with the problem. 126 new security cameras are put in place, more security staff and counselors are placed to help the students. The principal resigned. As those victims are graduating, their hopes remain to be for the school climate to change for the better for future immigrants but no one could be sure that it will.

Throughout all this I'm shocked that not one student who incite violence had been criminally charged or disciplined in any sense. If that's the case, how could anybody learn from this? If beating up people has no consequences, why would anybody stop? If I were to be young again and attending class in South Philadelphia High, the first thing I'd do is to arm myself. If I were richer and know that this is happening, I would at least buy the students some mace or a folding knife if I can't distribute handguns. How else do you defend yourself against 70 people who all want a piece of you? Regardless of race, people only respond to danger. Since they are beating you up for no reason, how can you reason with them? Unfortunately I don't know how to be tactful when I'm physically threatened.

When I was in high school, we have a system where 3 warnings become a small demeanor, 3 small demeanors become a big demeanor and 3 big demeanors will get you expelled. When even getting late to class deserves a warning, we all strive to be perfect. It was strict, but at least we behaved and nobody ever got sent to the hospital because they were beat up.

I was reminded of Dan Savage's recent video campaign in effort to help gay teens from killing themselves. If anyone get bullied, all they have to know if it'll get better when you get out of high school. Life is not over just because some asshole decides to pick on you. Happiness will come eventually, and the bullying assholes will most likely end up in jail.

Oh McGrath!

2010-09-27T09:08:00.000-04:00

I used to like Sugar Ray, that was when I first come to the States in 1997. And when I say I liked Sugar Ray, I mean I find Mark McGrath really attractive in a Backstreet Boys' Kevin Richardson kinda way (which I found to be the best looking amongst the 5, Brian Littrell comes in a close second) but with a more sunny outgoing personality. Music-wise, Sugar Ray was easy listening enough, very generic, beachy rock ballads. I was sorta happy for Mark McGrath when he gets his TV show gig on Extra! at least there's an afterlife after his music career faded.

But I just saw this clip of him on The Soup and it lost me big time:

Is it me or does he looks like Bruce McCulloch of Kids In The Hall?

I guess the Sugar Ray years were about 12-13 years ago and we can't all age gracefully but it's not just his face. It's mostly that hair. He looked a lot better when he had darker hair, he looked better even with platinum blond tip but that greasy dirty blond hair right now is not doing him any favors. It looked more like a balding guy with a mid-life crisis and bad hair plugs who's trying slightly too hard. Ugh. It's just painful to see a cute guy change into something else.

Weekend Meme: The Movie Meme

2010-09-25T14:08:00.003-04:00

The boyfriend is touring Dublin and London for a week and a half and I'm left to my own device. Seriously, I much rather be traveling myself. Folsom Street Fair is going on right now in San Francisco and I'm sorry that I'll be missing all the debauchery. Especially given how much fun I had last time I was there, it's sort of like Christmas for me and a lot of other more adventurous folks. Speaking of which, Sue is heading to Folsom and attending all the parties, I'm so jealous.

Since I have a lot of time in my hands, I dug up an old meme from kapgar about movies, nothing kills more time than meme and movies.

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.
I don't think I've seen any one single movies more than 10 times. I've never been that obsessive. The most I can think of would be Sister Act, I probably have seen that movie 5-6 times.

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in the theater.
One of the few I can think about is Sister Act 2, I saw it twice in theater. There must be others, but I'm not sure which. (I guess I'm really into the singing back then)

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie.
Seldom is there an actor that makes me want to go to the theater to see a movie. It'll have to be someone who choose consistently good scripts to act on. Woody Harrelson, maybe?

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie.
How many can I list? This is really too many to count. Socialite, talentless singer/actress, lack luster comedians...

5. Name a movie that you can and do quote from.
I'm very bad at this. I have friends who can remember every line no matter how insignificant they might be but I'm really shit at this. Maybe Pulp Fiction.

6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.
Chicago, definitely. I loved the musical before hand and sing the songs all the time, so I can do Chicago. Probably Rent as well.

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.
Well, the musicals above. Dick Tracy is another one.

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.
I loved Beautiful Thing and I'd recommend it to everyone.

9. Name a movie that you own.
I do have a small collection of films. Shelter (2008) is one of them.

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.
Former model Rebecca Romijn was surprisingly good in X-men.

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what?
No, but I'd like to experience that, it seems like a lot of fun but I'll have to get a driver's license and a car first. Also I think the drive-in theaters are hard to find in my neck of the wood and they are a dying breed.

12. Ever made out in a movie?
You know what, no. If you're paying close to $16 for a ticket, you might as well pay attention, no?

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t yet gotten around to it.
Wow, that's another question that require a huge answer. There must be tons. Right now I think it's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I do like my mystery thrillers.

14. Ever walked out of a movie?
Yes, two-three times. One is Bruce Labruce's Otto; Or, Up With Dead People. For me, zombie movies can either be funny or scary. A pretentious zombie movie made to ponder about existence is a bit too much. Another one involves a gay film fest entry with Thai boys doing soft core porn that has a very dumb plot which I deemed to be a waste of time. If they were hairy gentlemen, I might have stayed. And then I think I walked out of Executive Decision because it was a tad boring and my friends just wanted to leave.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.
There are quite a few of them, but I really can't remember. I don't know if I'm getting more jaded or the recent writings and productions are not as great but crying during the movies are happening less and less.

16. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?
Something in 3D... I think it was Piranha 3D. It was fun.

17. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie?
I think it's fantasy/adventure. I like movies that bring me to a place I've never been before. It doesn't hurt if there are magic, special powers or machinery involved.

18. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
The would probably be a Hong Kong comedy called Security Unlimited, not that I can remember much of it. Other than that I've seen Bambi in Paris and another one called La Soupe Aux Choux, I remembered it as a comedy, but then I was 6 then, so everything would be pretty funny to me.

19. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
Every film is an unique experience even the scary, disgusting ones and the bad ones, the worst would be boring ones which are truly wastes of time. The Twilight series would probably qualified as wastes of time.

20. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
Is it horrible that I actually enjoy the Jackass series?

21. What is the scariest movie you've seen?
It was a Japanese vampire movie I saw when I was 7. Nothing is scarier and creepier than Japanese horror films, and nothing is scarier when you're watching a horror film when you were 7.

22. What is the funniest movie you've seen?
Something starring Stephen Chow, probably Kung Fu Hustle.

Chinese People Encountering Fortune Cookies For the First Time

2010-09-24T09:56:00.001-04:00

The first time I ate in a Chinese restaurant in the States for the first time, I think I was baffled at the silly cookie and the bullshit unfounded superstition it spewed, but after knowing the culture associated with it and the "...in bed" gag, I started liking it. I especially like the ones with orange flavoring and the chocolate dipped ones.

It Wasn't Written In The Stars

2010-09-22T09:58:00.000-04:00

So the cloture vote on DADT has failed 56-43 with not one Republican voting "Yes". Even if the 3 Democrats who voted "No" change their votes, I would still have been lost by one, it just reinforce that when it comes to voting Republicans falls in line and don't stray, maybe Tea Partiers will fix that. It's sad and frustrating, it wasn't even the repeal itself but language to follow the study's outcome, but the Republican wouldn't even let us have that. Given this being an election year, no one wants to go on record support a controversial bill lest it would riled up voters in an undesirable manner. It just reminds me that politics is often ugly and rarely constructive.

The main villain of this whole ordeal is John McCain who started the call for filibuster, who despite saying that he'll follow the advice of high ranking military officials and when those officials support the repeal of DADT, McCain stuck to his homophobic guns. And then this:

Of course, I'm also disappointed that we have to resort to Lady Gaga to come out to hold rallies in support of the repeal. Not that she's not doing a great job, anyone who comes out fighting for gay rights should get proper recognition but then while the right is united to go against us, I don't see a lot of effort coming from the left. All we got from the president is a White House statement and other than a short speech from Al Franklin, I don't see any other passionate senators coming out in support. Gay rights is indeed a low priority, hopefully after the elections someone will do something about this. But if more teabaggers get into office, I doubt that we will get what we want anytime soon. I thought by electing someone who promised change and having the house majority, we will have a better shot in getting equal rights, if health care and the economy is not going anywhere, why can't we be next? Unfortunately, there will always be Republicans in this country, who do we need to elect and what perfect condition need there be before we get what we want?

Dancing With The C.H.O.

2010-09-21T09:41:00.002-04:00

I've never been a fan of Dancing with the Stars, because let's face it: most stars can't dance and you're really not dancing with them now, are you? In fact I have never watch a single episode of it. But this season got more interesting, not because of Bristol Palin but because of Margaret Cho. Here's her doing a Viennese Waltz:

Kudos for her to attempt adding some cheesy comedic element to her performance, though the judges didn't respond to that. Fuck'em, Margaret clearly can dance. While I still don't think I'll watch her on TV, there's always YouTube clips available the day after. Though I wonder how long she'll stay on the show since she's sort of a D-list actress herself and how many long sleeve gowns can they find to cover her biker tattoos.

Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow

2010-09-20T09:33:00.001-04:00

Via Technologizer

Back in the mid-1940s, Seagram’s advertised its VO Canadian whiskey with a series of extremely manly magazine ads about “Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow”, comparing their production 6 year old aged whiskey to futuristic thinkers. Though some of these drawings did become true today,

1. Perfected Television & Radio Telephone Combined (February 1943)

Although Americans have been doing videoconferencing for a while, videophones has just reached this country and it's still not very popularized.

2. 3-Dimensional Movies (June 1943)

So the concept started that long ago, huh?

3. Groceries on Wheels (April 1944)

This one speaks to me particularly. I've seen vendors selling produce in the back of a pickup truck or a van, but one with its own butcher? I wonder if it'd work in some suburban/rural community. It looks like a fun job.

4. The Portable Radio-Telephone (October 1944)

Seagram explained that this technology was already in use for armed forces and it'll soon be sold in the market, but that postponed about 50 years.

5. The Office of Tomorrow (March 1945)

In this rendition of a futuristic office, there's a videoconference box and lots of gadgets on the desk. Very much like the desktop and peripherals that we have today.

6. Top Stories & News Events as You Dine (April 1946)

Dining while watching news on TV? What a novel idea? As you can see, there are flatscreen TVs on the wall broadcasting sports as gentlemen are drinking. Too bad sports bar patrons wear more trucker hats than suits nowadays.

7. Traveling Kitchens Deliver Packaged Dinners (June 1947)

Looks pretty much like a food truck. Most people now would rather order delivery.

See more in the original post.

The New Adventures of Old Christine

2010-09-19T09:07:00.002-04:00

Tea Partier Christine O'Donnell has become the new media darling overnight for winning GOP senate primary in Delaware. In fact, you can pretty much name the past Wednesday as "Christine O'Donnell" day. The reason why she got such media focus is probably because she beat out GOP favorite Mike Castle which in itself signify the general migration of Republican to the Tea Party, also people are surprised because O'Donnell is truly unelectable.

Since O'Donnell had won the GOP primary, more and more dirt had come out to indicate that this person is not really all there, it also piece together the profile of a person that's intentionally sensational to gain media attention to run for office, so she can fundraise and live off that fund.

First, there was an early MTV clip of her and her religious friends talking about why people shouldn't masturbate. (Had MTV really been this conservative?)

And then we found out that she's linked to the Ex-Gay movement and that the organization claimed that they have cured a person of homosexuality. Turn around, that cured person made a YouTube video telling people that the ordeal lasted for 6 months, he now has a boyfriend and life for him is a lot happier. O'Donnell has a record of being anti-gay, she also has been on record saying that AIDS patients deserve what they get and that they are getting too much government funding.

Toward the end of the Clinton administration, she protested the appointment of James Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg, a posting the religious right opposed because Hormel was gay. “The SALT was concerned about Hormel’s ties to the pedophile-rights movement,” her website said, though there was not a shred of evidence behind the slur. In 1997, in a clip recently unearthed by Talking Points Memo, she appeared on C-SPAN, where, looking fresh, lovely, and innocent, she objected to AIDS sufferers being called “victims” because the disease is the product of their own actions. In an appearance on Fox in 2000, she exclaimed over the horrors of New York’s gay pride parade: “They’re getting away with nudity! They’re getting away with lasciviousness! They’re getting away with perversion!”

If she was a man, I would have been convinced that she's a closeted homo, I couldn't say that she's a closeted lesbian since I don't know much about them. She does have a lesbian sister though, I wonder if her action has anything to do with her sister being gay.

There is a robocall tape from O'Donnell's past campaign staff saying how O'Donnell would raise fund for her campaign, not pay her staff and then just live off the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just yesterday, a clip from Bill Maher's Real Time show, showing O'Donnell on Political Incorrect claiming that she has tried practicing witchcraft.

The thing that scares me about her is that she's practically Sarah Palin's double. Sure, bundle up her hair and give her a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and she could be a doppelganger for Sarah Palin but Republican voters do respond to these wholesome biblethumping, putting up a moral front loons and she is indeed one. Sure Karl Rove came out criticizing her and the GOP claimed that they will not help with her campaign but at the end if she can generate enough hype and get her crowd rowdy enough, the GOP will want her supporters on their side. After all the GOP is a dinosaur by now, Tea Party is where it is at.

As the left try to brush O'Donnell off as someone unelectable, O'Donnell is becoming the new star of the irrational, unreasonable, pitchfork waving crowd. Since Delaware is a blue state, chances are that she will not be elected, but she still could be. I just hope that whoever runs against her put as much effort to beat her down as possible. This person has no place in any position of power, let's not give her any chance.