Dear World,

Last night I finished "The Year of Magical Thinking." Girl26 said it wasn't depressing. It was a good read, but a downer! I mean I feel all depressed now! In the end the author tries to come to terms with the fact that people die, it's a fact of life. In a way, she sees that the world is bigger than our own egos; I would be the first to admit that I'm the type of person who needs to "get over myself," as readers of my blog must have noticed, how I love to wax poetic about my own inner turmoil. But sometimes, in the midst of existential crises, I see what Joan Didion is saying:

"Leis go brown, tectonic plates shift, deep currents move, islands vanish, rooms get forgotten."

And people die. In fact, everyone dies, in the same way that tectonic plates shift, maybe on a different scale, but it's the same darn thing. That's just part of the deal.


[Changing the subject] One time I had a dream I was here. It's not a situation of seeing that pic then dreaming about it, but rather I had that dream first, suspected it was Ireland, and when I google "Ireland" pics, I'm not kidding, this is where I was:

Pics around town

Looking down from the bridge near Soho:

Took this pic for the Olympics story I'm writing, sort of as a backup... yup, the editor (me) at my magazine also writes the stories AND takes the pictures. Or twists someone's arm to give me pictures. Well I kinda like this pic, by the Soho escalators:

Sunset view from my apt:

Took this from a bus. Dunno why someone would find it a good idea (and legal) to hang fish on the railing to dry??:

Love how the moon lights the little bit of clouds above it:

Today my (younger) brother sent me this link, a list of 100 "new classics" (books) from 1983 - 2008. #5 is American Pastoral. Hmm so far so good. #17 Love in the Time of Cholera. Hmm I can live with that. Then, #29, Bel Canto. OMG and OMG. Does this mean I'm actually obliged to finish it? I read about 60%, is it gonna get better? But, but... it's so tedious! And lame!

#33 is the one I'm reading now, The Year of Magical Thinking, which I feel compelled to blog about soon. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (aka the best book ever) is #53. I dunno, this is getting suspicious. Veeery interesting that the Da Vinci Code made it onto the list. OK I get it, it sucks but it's still a classic simply for its insane popularity.

The caged bird sings

Coolest thing ever. Well coolest thing I've seen in HK. A bird and birdcage shop, omg!!! Walked by it today near my office.

Now that's it's raining more than ever...

Ooh ooh, my article has been published here.

Hmm right now I'm reading "The Year of Magical Thinking." I would've gotten it sooner if it wasn't this situation where there are only so many bookstores in HK. Am I wrong about this?? Because I'm not just talking about English-language bookstores. Is there a disproportionately small number of bookstores, you know like, per capita? But anyway, they didn't even have my book at the first English bookstore I went to. And the libraries have like ten copies but all checked out on HK Island, and it seems like the library near my building doesn't have anything.

And wow it rains a lot here. I mean a LOT. I'm in the market for a new umbrella. Requirements are ruffled edge, parasol-like thin handle, ideally floral or polka dot, bonus would be kids size. This one is a nice example but it's Moschino, and I'm not paying US$70 obviously, and not loving the black and pink combo. I actually don't like the curved edge between each rib with it also being black, because it reminds me of the Penguin's umbrella in Batman Returns. Another option I've considered is the 7-eleven umbrella that is the equivalent of "generic" here. If you are in a tall building in a busy area and look outside on a rainy day, there's usually a few 7-eleven umbrellas out there. And sometimes there's something awesome about being generic. It's like, either be all-out stylish or don't bother at all.

Summer movies

Still waiting on the new X-Files movie and the new Batman movie. Since moving back here, the four movies I've gone to see are as follows:

1) Iron Man: liked a lot. I loved everything about this movie except the score. I love Robert Downey Jr. in anything, and overall just a fun movie, comic-book movie made to look somewhat realistic, you know what I mean. However, while I was watching the action-y scenes, I kept thinking, Why does this movie just seem really cheesey at times? It's the score. Harry Knowles, my favorite film critic, agrees with me entirely! (Okay, it's probably just me agreeing with him.) The score, oh so important. Case in point: Batman Begins (as in, good score).

2) Indiana Jones 4: I'm not crazy about this film. I know it's supposed to be like the old ones, and that's its charm. But um, that's not going to make me like this film. I have a problem with all of Steven Spielberg's films, in that they always have to have some cutesy scenes. Obviously, a movie like Indiana Jones is gonna be VERY cartoony, but even in serious ones like "War of the Worlds," "Saving Private Ryan," "Schindler's List," there are cutesy, unrealistic scenes that remove me from the moment and think "oh yeah this is Spielberg." For example, in "Minority Report" (which I love), that scene where Tom Cruise has bandages over his eyes, and he reaches into the fridge, and instead of grabbing the cold glass of milk he grabs something disgusting-looking and drinks it, then repeats with the yummy-looking sandwich and disgusting sandwich. Very unrealistic, cartoony, Spielberg.

3) Sex and the City: it was OK. I know loads of people love this movie. I wasn't going to see it, but my mom really wanted to and she had no one to go with, so... anyway, I'm just not a big fan of the TV show. My mom loved it and found it hilarious, but seriously she loves chick comedies (and anything with Drew Barrymore). She loves "The Wedding Singer" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and "Fever Pitch" and stuff like that. In case you haven't noticed, we have very different tastes in movies. The only Drew Barrymore movie she doesn't like is "50 First Dates," and that is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Okay I feel embarrassed even admitting that.

4) The Happening: tragically, this movie sucked even for me. As I've previously blogged, I love M. Night Shyamalan. Like, really really. But nothing about this movie was right. ***SPOILERS AHEAD, stop reading if you don't want to know what happens in this movie. I have a theory about the plot. I truly think I am right about this. So the whole story is about how plants have evolved to give off a chemical that is harmful to humans, as a defense mechanism for nature. One problem with the script is that there is this tangent about a mood ring that the main character gave to his wife on their first date. This whole "mood ring" thing does not AT ALL have anything to do with the rest of the story. My theory is that there was originally an intention of saying that people's anger/hostility or bad moods cause the plants to give off the chemical, but that part of the plot got scrapped. It is evident throughout the movie. There are numerous times in which the disease becomes present when people start to fight/yell. One plant expert even pointed out at one point that plants respond to human stimulus, and more than once do characters start talking to plants to try to soothe them. Then there is this business about a mood ring. Well that's my theory!

Edited to add: I got to thinking about my little "theory" more and more, and I thought, the whole "mood" thing is so obvious, it's probably not even a "scrapped idea," but rather part of the story that viewers are supposed to figure out on their own without having to be told. I looked at imdb and I am definitely not the only one who noticed.

A time to blog

Stealing this from a blog that I read that belongs to someone I don't actually know. She's a friend of a friend of a friend, or rather an ex of a sort-of ex of a friend. Or maybe I'm just stealing it from the Bible.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.

Job(s) / Mags

I am starting my new job on Wednesday. I will be Editor of a magazine. I just hope I like it. Is that asking too much?

I love journalism. I love producing publications. I'm a control freak. I better like it.

I have also been asked to freelance for this other "magazine," the online one that I blogged about previously, the one for which I wrote about Picasso. The editor-in-chief, who interviewed me, also happened to go to Northwestern, and it was funny (to me) because I am guessing she is actually younger than me, but she kept evading the topic (of age) probably to avoid awkwardness of me being interviewed by an alum who is younger. But anyway she liked my Picasso piece and bought it but the best part is I get to not have a life as I work one full-time job and also spend every moment of free time freelancing.

Side note. Let me preface by saying I don't know a whole lot about the magazines published in HK, which I guess is bad. Today I was at the doctor's office (I KNOW, ailing again! This city is not agreeing with me) and there was a hefty, glossy magazine called "Hong Kong Tatler", subtitled "The Spirit of High Society". WTF?! Where do they find a market for this... stuff? The whole thing consists of luxury-brand ads, luxury lifestyle content, and photos photos and more photos of rich people at events.

(There was also a magazine called "Muse", which I've been wanting to subscribe to, although it's quite like the magazines I work for, except it only covers the arts scene and has a few very serious features in each issue.)

ori-bunnies

I've been sleeping like crap, not because of caffeination or sleeping during the day, it's just plain-old insomnia for no particular reason other than stress, existential crises, etc. So there've been more interesting developments on the job-hunting front, but I'll blog about that around the weekend, once I've accepted that offer.

There's this ad campaign that I've seen in the MTR that features origami rabbits. The rabbits are really cute and attracted my attention, since I used to deal with lots of origami-themed campaigns. However, I never had a clue what the ads were for, even after staring at the rabbits every time I walk by them. So this might be a failing of the campaign. Today I decided to take pictures, and I finally know what they're all about. They seem to be a joint campaign between the Olympics organization and the MTR, promoting good behavior in the MTR, such as no pushing, no eating/drinking (which is illegal anyway), and offering your seat to the elderly. They also have a rabbit mascot for this campaign. My obvious question is why a rabbit. Secondly, why origami? This is all very confounding. But still love the origami:

blog-o-rama

It's been a crazy week. Been a bit overwhelmed. Frustrated. Confused. Same old. Not much to blog about until I decide that I'm feeling crazy enough. Like right now! Been doing job search stuff. Not gonna go into the details, but if I accept this one offer I got I'll be starting work on Monday. My experience so far has been one of speed-hiring. It's weird!!!

I went to an interview yesterday and was asked to write a writing sample on anything I wanted as deemed appropriate for the publication. It's actually an online "lifestyle" magazine that's all very upscale. Oh hmm. Seriously I'm not big on luxury. Like they have articles on there about gallery openings, new spas, fancy cell phones, latest bling, and a possible overuse of the word "glitteratti." I was really racking my brain of how to complete this assignment, which I now saw as some kind of challenge, except part of me wanted to just tell them Hey you know what I can't come up with a single topic so I think that means this job isn't for me. Well I dunno, I'd been stressing about this all last night, and this morning I flip through this other magazine and voila, there's a Picasso exhibit going on right now until mid-July that hasn't been covered by the site. I deemed it just snooty enough. I figured I better actually see the exhibit to write about it, so I made my way to HKU, which I realized is less than 10 min by bus then about 4 blocks on foot. The set of Picasso prints, called "The Vollard Suite," was amazing. First off, I love prints and printmaking. I keep wanting to make prints just for fun (but seem to never get around to it). And it's a set of 100 prints that have a few themes, and some of them tell "stories"... SO COOL. And beautiful. I never really thought of Picasso as beautiful, but these prints are beautiful.

This is probably the most significant one. Most of the prints feature Picasso himself. In a whole bunch of them, he depicts himself as a Minotaur. This one is called Blind Minotaur Guided by a Girl in the Night, in which the artist depicts himself as blind and helpless, following a girl holding a dove:

And this is another awesome Minotaur one:
Lots of them have much lighter themes than these, but I guess no one's really into those happier ones since I couldn't find many images of them online.

cuteness, no exaggeration

I should totally be sleeping right now but wide awake so hmm sounds familiar. Not meaning to sound lame but I'm depressed and confused/frustrated and seriously I think I'm bipolar.

But I just have to say I have the cutest cat ever. He goes wherever I go. I watch TV, he's sleeping on the couch. I lie stomach-down on the bed looking out the window, he's sleeps on the window sill. I'm on the computer in the wee hours, he's sleeping on the desk, same spot every night.

Sometimes he's completely in REM sleep, you can tell because his eyes are like half open but he's definitely asleep, and he sometimes starts twitching like crazy, a hundred tiny twitches in his eyes, mouth, paws, legs, tail, spine, and heavy breathing. He's probably dreaming about his nemeses: all the bugs he has to destroy, the evil movers and strange delivery guys, string, floaty dust, his owners' toes sticking out of the comforter, drops of water.