vitamin water...

so after seeing so many people holding all that colorful bottle saying vitamin water, i was convinced to buy one... it was really hard to choose one though... they are so pretty looking and supposed to have all that yummy fruit taste with all that good stuff... and so many different colors...! and all that names promising to be soooo good for you... what the hell, i rarely remembers to take my vitamins, anyway...
after 2 minutes or so of hard time deciding between balance cran-grapefruit and power c-dragon fruit, i went to the first one just because it didn't sounds as intimidating as dragon fruit, whatever that was...
the first reaction was... it was just too damn sweet...!!! when i looked at the label, it had 12g of sugar per serving which meant i was drinking at least 24g sugar right there... do i need extra 24g sugar in order to take all other good stuff...?
i don't get it...
then later on when i saw more and more people on the street holding that jewel toned vitamin water, i realized we are all suckers here... looking for a fast and easy way to get the nutrition we are missing... to feel little healthier and better about ourselves... just drinking that stuff without looking at the label... and in order to have more of us drink that damn thing, they put so much sugar into it... with all that sleek fancy packaging... and ads everywhere... and probably many parents out there are buying the vitamin water for their kids thinking it'll balance all that bad diet... to make themselves feel better...
fast food, fast vitamin... hey, why not...

just in case... for the cell phone folks...

so... here's the deal...

Sep 18 thereabouts, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS...

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888/382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years.

i already did it and it takes a minute... i'd do it right now if i were you and haven't done it yet...

2046...

ok... if you are interested in watching this movie, i suggest you to watch "in the mood for love" before... my personal impression of this movies is that this movie can be appreciated a lot better as a sequel to "in the mood for love"...
the first 20 minutes or so, i was very confused because i thought i knew about the plot a little bit... but i wasn't aware of this story within the story structure... anyway... after that i started to get into the story development between tony leung and zi-yi zhang... their intense lustful affair was very convincing and appealing... and was so surprised by zi-yi zhang's acting more than ever... she is no more that only one dimensional girl from "crouching tiger, hidden dragon"... she had passion, sorrow, intensity, desire... all different layers of the emotion of the character... so after their part of the story ended, i found myself wanting to know more about their relationship than what came after... the story about the older daughter of the landlord and tony leung... which lasted about half an hour... but then it plays an important role explaining what was going on at the very beginning of the movie... so after that, when the movie finally reveals how tony leung ended up in hong kong at the beginning of the movie, it became so obvious that this movie is a true sequel... with that understanding it made more sense and the movie became very touching and beautiful... and all the dialogues i didn't get at the beginning all made sense... this movie is about the memory... not even about love, but the memory of love... what it felt like, how it changed you and how you cannot run away from it... reminded me of "vertigo" in a sense...
wang kar-wai truly understands broken hearts...

east village food report...

this past week i went to a couple of new spots in east village...
one's called "eemo (korean word for aunt" on 1st avenue between 6 & 7th street... it's a korean restaurant obviously... at first i was a bit disappointed at the fact there were more japanese dishes than korean... when i asked for korean stuff, the waitress said they changed the menu that day... they had been open for about a week but maybe changed the menu since there weren't that many customers...? but then there are millions of other real japanese restaurants all over east village...!!! anyway... we ordered tok-bok-yi which was pretty good... was missing some main ingredients in my opinion... like glass noodle and cabbage... but it was still not bad... then my friend ordered kim-chee stew which turned out to be very good and authentic tasting... then, i know, i'm ashamed but there were only 2 other korean dishes on the menu which i didn't feel for... so i ordered eemo roll which had no description... it had salmon, tuna and egg inside the roll then was deep fried...! but it was actually pretty yummy... enough for me to want to go back...after the meal, we suggested our waitress that there should me more korean dishes... i hope that place survives... be true to who you are and what you are... and be comfortable in your own skin... that's how you can distinguish yourself from the others... that's what i think...
then i went to "pukk", a sleek looking vegetarian thai restaurant on 1st avenue between 4 & 5th street... had thai curry pancake which was chewy and crispy and came with a really yummy curry dipping sauce with fried tofu... then had green corn noodle which was nice but not impressive... then ginger chicken (all the meat are mock ones here of course) which was very tasty... nice ginger and soy sauce flavored thin mock chicken... didn't miss the meat at all... then had lychee rice pudding brulŽe which was really yummy... literally was rice pudding with many pieces of lychee and topped with sugar that was burned... like creme brulŽe... yum...! and the price was right too...
also went to "minca", that japanese noodle place on 5th street between avenue a & b to have their summer special... cold ramen with chilled miso broth... it was very nice... perfect for summer... with all the goodies you'd get with regular ramen... yum... also try their delicious daikon salad with black sesame sauce... crunch, tasty and good for you... i think...
food... yum... hungry again...

broken flowers...

bill murray... he's an enigma...

watched the movie in almost sold out theater... for wednesday night after 10 pm show, pretty impressive... then my irritation grew as the movie started... for the first half an hour, at every single thing bill murray said, bill murray did, everybody (except me and some other people i'm sure) was laughing... even when he says simple yes or no, people were laughing... why...? because it was "supposed" to be funny...? just because it was bill murray...? i was getting so annoyed that people are not seeing his subtle gestures that convey his loneliness... yes, he's funny doing very very little things... but they are not loud-laughing-funny... they are just funny... makes you smile... makes you feel warm inside... and sad at the same time...
anyway... going back to the movie...
this was another beautiful and subtle movies that only could have come out in america... the kind of movie makes american film making still special... in the same tradition as in lost in translation or girl with a pearl earring or even mysterious skin... they don't sell you what to feel... most times they don't even give you enough clues for you to figure out how to feel or what to feel right away... yet you notice that emotional reaction going on inside you while you are watching the screen... and after you leave the theater, you keep that feeling and maybe one day, you'll be able to put finger on it... and figure out what that might have been...
i didn't grow up watching bill murray (thankfully in this case) so i don't have this urge to laugh at every little thing he does... but i notice how subtle his eyes moves, how he looks at things without saying anything yet be able to make you guess what he might be feeling and how funny he is doing such a little gestures... he is just fantastic... and he definitely know how to play a lonely guy... but not miserable... more of a guy who is aware of his loneliness...
the movie is a road movie filled with many many beautiful shots... and good actors throughout... also the songs are used very nicely... i'm glad that jim jarmusch somehow figured out the way to bring ethiopian jazz music... which many of my friends had turned me on to a few years back...
i might want to go back when there won't be so many people with damn popcorn thinking they are in for a funny-ha-ha-movie...

howl's moving castle...

last night, went to see "howl's moving castle", another great animation film by hayao miyazaki... it was a japanese version with subtitles although was a bit curious about english dub version since it featured christian bale and lauren bacall...
first of all, it looked so beautiful... all the details and characters he created (of course with help of many many other people) were just so fascinating... from the main characters like sophie, howl, calcifer to all that little ornaments in howl's room... very sweet, dark, twisted blend of european exterior from early 20th century around WW I and grimm brothers' dark tale and of course japanese imagination... and so many bizarre, surreal details and twists and development in the story line... which makes it a bit hard to follow... i was pretty much lost for the last 30 minutes of the film but then it didn't really matter... from the scene when howl and sophie meet for the first time, i was hooked... it's crazy but howl was so beautiful looking in that scene, i felt like i was back in my teenage period when i used to have crushes on cartoon characters... yes, he's not even a human being... then throughout i was really moved by the love story between sophie and howl and found myself with teary eyes at the end... and this movie definitely have anti-war theme through out... how useless to have war between anybody... how it destroys and confuses people... nothing is getting solved by throwing a war other than giving some kind of crazy satisfaction to few idiots who actually start the goddamn war...
the music in general is very beautiful, orchestral score... Inspired me to write something "beautiful"...
it was a beautiful experience...