Superman Returns

This movie felt right. Thank you Bryan Singer for bringing back Superman to the big screen. I appreciate when a film takes the time to setup the characters and the storyline, and Superman Returns did just that.

I liked the casting in this film. Definetely a good DVD to be collected and rewatched. This movie has the those edge of the seat scenes, quiet reflections, more emotionally revealing bits to what it's like to be Superman besides saving the world, and of course the super human strength and the heat vision.

While watching the movie, esp the more reflective scenes where Superman flies above the planet and watches it from space. It's quiet. You just see this beautiful blue planet below the floating Superman. I watch him watching earth, the absence of sound, and then we get to hear what Superman hears - everything. Conversations, traffic, clink, clunk, sirens, all the noise in emitted the man can hear. Yet, he chooses to go back down there, to do what he can to help a race that he's so immersed in yet feels so detached from at the same time.

This to me is what makes him Superman.

Will I

"Will I loose my dignity? Will someone care erreerr.. ?
Will I wake tomorrow, from this nightmarerrrr??

Will I loose my dignity? Will someone care errrerrr..?
Will I wake tomorrow, from this nightmarerrrr?? "


This has to be my 2nd fav song from Rent, ranked right after Seasons of Love.
The lyric is especially moving to me right now. "Will I loose my dignity? Will someone care?" I think that's a question we've all asked ourselves one time or the other, and hopefully at least one person comes to mind who will care very much.

If grandma can understand English, I'd think she would identify with this song. Lying there not knowing when you can recover gotta be depressing as hell and you got your own children debating who should take care of you, passing you around like a hotcake, yah.. she would've identified.

69 and 29

Before dirty minds starts to flash images of various sex positions, this entry is not even close to that so move on to the next blog avoid dissapointment.

5 AM, I am watching my dad doing his little pre-walk stretch routine from the window. He rolls his head, neck, and shoulders, then swings his arms about to loosen up the waist. Pop is doing that swinging a little too fast. I'll have to remind him when he gets back.

Then he's off. In his khaki shorts and turquois polo, topped with my white EmigrantDirect.com promotional hat. It's still dark out at this hour, but the man is off doing his morning ritual.

Ohh there' he goes again! He lapped past this window 3 times now. Why am I not out there.. .. okie work is not that important. 1 hour won't make a difference in my work.

Here I go.. I am 29, and I want to go walk in the morning with my dad, 69 years old, walking his way back to full recovery, a step at a time.

Screw work.

Melting Pot

Why America is such an attractive country to be in? Anyone can answer that question after taking a train ride into the city.

While I am squished against the inner wall of the train cabin, trying very hard to avoid further contact of legs from the guy across from me, I looked about, uncomfortably aware how it was probably not the best idea to wear short shorts in cramped spaces. I am flanked on my right by one of the Eastern European women, absorbed and animated in their own conversation. The guy across from me, with his leg occasionally bumping into mine bare ones sports the latest gadgets, iPod/T-Mobile SideKick, sunglasses made popular by George Michael - African American. Standing in the aisle of the packed train, we got a burly African American body builder whose bulging biceps and enormous chest kept me fascinated for a while. Down the line we have some blond teenagers, grey haired white father, tan looking guy, red haired lady, freckled woman, tall, skinny, short, wide, extra tall..

This is America, welcome to the melting pot.

A Very Long Day

Reaccounting the day in reverse...

It's Friday 4AM, I just finished helping a friend/ex-coworker work on VBA Excel macro code for his first project at his new job. That dam thing took me a lot longer than it should've have. Loosing my touch. A sign that I am not meant to be a programmer.

8:40pm - 10pm, came back from a nice night walk. I met a dog along the way. It was looking at me and I was looking at him. I don't think either one of us can see much cuz it was rather dark out. I talked to it, but it didn't answer back. So I just told the doggie to go home. It's so nice to see fireflies these days. Blink.. Blink.. Blink... kinda like walking through an air strip with miniaturized airplanes.

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm, hmm dinner, dinner and smoothes.. fruit ones at that.. nice.

9 am - 7:15 pm, right.. those are the typical work hours plus ones at night. lovely.

8 am - 9 am, whohoo.. i finally got a CT Scan. Well it's about time. Been getting those same symptoms again several days ago. Eye sensitive to bright light, esp the right eye, pressure on the top of the eye, mucus discharge at the back of the throat, headaches, and the bumped spot feels weird as well. In couple of days, the doc will probably call me back to notify me everything looked normal in my head so I must just be crazy or paranoid.

Great.

Oh god.. it's 4 am.. 4 hours of sleep left and I probably won't get even 2.

Fan Error Strikes Again!!!

Fan Error


And the screen goes to black. Not another one!!! So this is the 2nd laptop of mine that fell to the fan error problem. I can't help it if it's hot and my notebook is running huge memory intensive applications.

Calling the tech support dept second time around went much faster. Practice, practice, practice right? I was supprised the tech team didn't question why I am sending in another laptop for repair with the same problem within 2 weeks.

Afraid of getting charged by the dept, I've decided to purchase one of those notebook coolers. Hopefully that'll blow away my problems.. get it blow away.. righhhhhht...

"Positive Feedback Loop"

I find myself really liking this new magazine - Seed. It contains more of science technology infused articles. Today I learned about the surprising affects of global warming on the rain forests.

An excerpt from the article:

"CO2 causes warming which slows growth, which reduces CO2 update, which causes warming." --> "positive feedback loop"

I was quite surprised by the findings. I think majority of us think if we plant more trees now it'll help with the whole global warming issue. But now with this new knowledge, the future doesn't look so green anymore. The concern is that we still do not have the capability to predict when will we finally cross that tipping point. That's when the affects of global warming will be irreversible.

Will 80 degree weather in the winter on the Northeast be considered typical?

Time will tell and it might be soon.

The "Stuff" We Buy

Okay, we as humans are a silly funny race. Case in point, look at some of the things for sale these days.

Exhibit #1: MobiBLU

MP3 Toys for the Hobbits in their infant stages.


Come on now!! Why? I ask why do we need to miniaturize to the point where you would need a magnify glass to find the Play button?


Exhibit #2: Girlfriend Pillow

For those days you can't sleep without her.



I hope for one these things are mainly purchased as gag gifts, but who knows.. there are some really kinky people out there.

*Shudder*

It's Baaaaaaaaaaaack!

@#$!!%#$%#*((&#!~~!!!!!

Is what I said when the eerie feeling of mucus/post nasal drip + headache + eyes sensitivity to light sensation returned.

F@#~ing infections are back. I really don't want to go on Zithromax again, for the fear of building up the resistance of bacterias running around in my body. I must be the perfect host. First it was the intestines, now they've traveled to a new place - up to my head. I ain't no doc.. but I sure hope it's just a simple sinus infection and nothing more.

For all I know, bacteria can be eating my brain. The brain has no feelings, isn't that ironic? For all the amazing things that can be achieved by the human brain, it has no feelings.

Crest White Strips

Finally decided to give Crest White Strips a try. I got the Classic pack, the 14 day treatment. Let's just say those things are nasty. Imagine putting on a wet strip of peroxide soaked thingy onto your teeth and leave that thing there for 30 minutes. Yah, gross. I mean it's not that horrible but not the most pleasant thing I've had in my mouth.

I applied 3 strips so far. Stopped due to the sensitive feeling I am getting from my teeth. You know that feeling you get when you drink something too cold or too hot. I am not sure, but I think my teeth does look a bit whiter. Not much, maybe it's just the lighting.

I'll start back up on the treatment later on, not that my teeth were horrible before! Non smoker here. No tobacco chewing or nothing. Just naturally yellow shaded teeth. Maybe I had too much carrots when I was a babe?

Quiet Moments

I enjoy moments like these. Slight breeze coming through the windows, it's dark out, most creatures are asleep, including the chattery birds and the yelping mini dogs.
Got my muffins with a nice upbeat tune playing. This is nice.


I worked today. Actually worked a lot today. I should be laying in bed now. Soon, soon I'll join you Mr. Bear. He's covered by a nice blankie right now. One of those keepsake things. Mr. Bear will probably be with me until the very raggedly end.

Thought of some rhymes after I stepped out of the shower tonight. Maybe I'll have more after a good night sleep. Haven't wrote a poem in a while.

Good night.

Stuffing & Root

Feeling utterly disgusted with myself right now. Rightly so after consuming, what, a fellow creature from every meat group?

Most of the day was spent on the "grill-a-meat" tradition, widely known as "BBQ". Then came the "stuff your face" phase. Now I am at the "feel utterly disgusted with yourself" stage.

Why do we feel compelled to shove down as much food as we can when it's all laid out infront of us? You know.. you go into a buffet and you count the number of plates you went through, calculating whether you are breaking even with the price of admission.

Sad. Greedy things we are.

Anyways, while whirling the t-shirt above my head mimicking helicopter blades (trying to cool myself down after a shower), I recalled the conversation I had with my mom earlier today. It was a short one, about how neither of us have a real home right now and how without one we feel like we are not rooted. That's a good word, "rooted". So that's the next goal to find a place to grow our roots. Then I went on to explain the whole global warming situation and how we need to pick a place that's not too close to the water or streams so that we won't be flooded and a spot where it's relatively safe from tornados and earthquakes.

That reminds me, there's a good quote in Al Gore's book "An Inconvenient Truth" that rings so true:


"Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood - it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words 'Too late'. There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance in our neglect. .."
- Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Yah, back to the immediate task at hand - turn in code.

Happy Birthday America

Boom! Boom! Boom! SHHHHhh......

Watching fireworks shooting off towards the sky and exploding into hundreds of bright sparkles of light is one of those timeless things. During the spectacular displays you took some quick trips down memory lane. Whether it be a visit back to the first firework show you've ever seen or reminiscing that person(s) you were with at the last event.

This year's display had some new ones that I haven't seen or heard before. It starts up as others, shooting for the stars, then it explodes into that "fireworks" pattern but.. wait..wait.. there's a surprise at the end of each string of light.. another spot of colorful light illuminates and kinda fizzes through the air before disappearing into the night. The other one explodes and it makes this loud shussshhhh.. sound.

Cool. By the end of the show, I have reverted back to 5 years old, and was calling out "Booom! Boom!! Booom!!" with each firework that exploded up in the air.

What tickled me as well was when one of the performer at the town event wanted everyone to pull out their cellphones and wave them in the air as we all sing along with him to the theme song.

Brilliant.. that man is brilliant. And like he wanted, a lot of us in the crowd whipped out our gadgets and proudly displayed our love for the country through the sea of brightly lit, swaying, LED screens.

Happy Birthday - United States of America.

Love At First Sight

Do you believe in love at first sight?

I think it's possibly but extremely rare. Never to commit, that's a good answer right? Well, I should correct myself, not that I don't give out definite answers, but unless you can prove it for certain, it should remain open to what is possible and what is not. It's like winning the lotto. Will I be the lucky winner one day? Highly unlikely but it is plausible.

Anyways, for me, I think I am more like a crock pot. Instant attraction maybe, but, I wouldn't call it love. What's love anyways? With one glance can I tell this is the person I am meant to be with the rest of my life? Nah.. I am too practical and skeptical to let my gut feeling take over. It really sucks being a Virgo + Asian combo sometimes. Practicality rules every decision, well not if I have to pee or not, you know what I mean. By the time I justify my choices, several times, opportunities have slipped away. For example, those nice clothe belts I should've bought in Taiwan, even though the colors weren't the exact ones I was looking for, but darn it! It's good enough, just buy the dam thing! Frivolous example, but ..

Regrets, unfortunate by products of a too practical person.

A sweet movie Imagine Me & You, predictable and somewhat unrealistic, but it's a romantic comedy so one shouldn't concern themselves with those details. The heart of the story is about meeting that one person that you click with and know with a strong degree of certainty that, yup, this is it, this is the person I am meant to be with.

The cast is gorgeous. Very pleasant on the eyes indeed. After watching a British production, I've always end up talking with a British clip, or trying at least for several days. Anyways, another bit of useless info I like to throw out about myself.

Back to the movie... I liked it, I liked it a lot. I read a lot of different books and watch whole array of movies, but always am a sucker for a story with happy endings for all. Piper Perabo's performance was surprisingly pleasant. I've seen her in couple other movies but this one so far showed off her incredibly convincing British accent and her acting! Quite different from her previous dark roles. Lena Headey, I sure would like to see more of her work in the future. After looking up her info, found that Lena Headey was the woman from Brothers Grimm. No wonder she looked a bit familiar. Liked the director later revealed in the commentary, the slight lingering glances said it all.

Together, Piper (Rachel) and Lena's (Luce) characters made a cute couple. They had great on-screen chemistry. Actually, the 4 main characters had pretty good rapport, believable.




Mathew Goode is just down right charmingly handsome. He seemed so tall and upright in the scenes. This is the first time I've actually found a guy's neckline attractive and incredibly sexy? Puzzling to me as well. The region from the base of Mathew Goode's neck to his shoulder is just soo.. soo... good to look at! Casting director -- you did well. Which is what I can't say about the Da Vinci Code's picks.

Imagine Me & You is PG-13 in my books. Which is fine. You don't need much spit trading to tell a sweet story. There are a lot of tender moments in the movie and that's what made this pic a joy to watch.

Love at first sight, although highly unlikely, I sure wouldn't mind getting zapped one day or zap someone.