(G) En Vogue (26 June 2005) grade: A+

So i found out that the great En Vogue was playing at the San Francisco Gay Pride Festival. so of course, I HAD TO GO. En Vogue has always been my favourite girl group, and who knows when I'd get to see them again (if ever!). So i took the metro downtown and watched me some En Vogue. Their set wasn't that long, about 30 minutes (and i got there late to top it off). As I was walking there they were playing "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It". then they played, of course, "Free Your Mind". Also, "Don't Let Go (Love)" and their first hit, "Hold On". Of course it wasn't the original line up that I grew up on; only two of the original members performed: Terry Ellis & Maxine Jones. There was also the new girl (who was on their last album, released last year, Soulflower). All in all, a great show; I sang and danced my arse off, enjoying the moment, as if i were 11 again (the age I was when En Vogue's first album, Born to Sing, was released)

Please note the last time I wrote up film reviews was June 4th meaning I have only seen these movies over a span of 20 days hence the long review.

(M) Kinsey. (2004, Bill Condon) Grade: B
Thoughts: In the 1940's, Alfred Kinsey took sexual behavior to a whole new level with his book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. The film shows Kinsey's background and discoveries leading up to the release of the book. I found the movie enjoyable but like most biographical stories a bit hollow. Most of the characters were not fully developed and everything was wrapped up too quickly at the end. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney did a great job and I was pleased to see Peter Sarsgaard.

(M) Hei Kek Ji Wong (King of Comedy). (1999, Stephen Chow, Lik-Chi Lee) Grade: C+
Thoughts: Stephen Chow knows how to do parody. He is the man on the subject. King of Comedy is a jab at all those John Woo/Hong Kong action flicks with the gun pointing and doves flying. Granted you have to be familiar with most HK or Asian films to really get it all but still funny and predicatable stuff. Cecilia Cheung is becoming one of my favorite Cantonese actresses.

(M) Cheong Feng (The Mission). (1999, Johnnie To) Grade: B+
Thoughts: Five men are hired by a Triad boss to guard him 24/7 from a hit put out on his life. The film is shot with sharp cinematography and visual framing which uses different angles to show perspective. The scene in the mall where the bodyguards are all focusing on different unseen targets reminds me of a first person shooter video game. As for the acting - top notch with famous HK actors like Francis Ng, Simon Yam, and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang. If you want to start getting into HK films this would be a good intro one.

(M) Saving Face. (2004, Alice Wu) Grade: B-
Thoughts: Hot Asian lesbian sex. Do I really need to say more? This directorial debut from Alice Wu has everything any romantic comedy would have - love, sex, romance, heartbreak ... oh and lesbians. Set in New York City's Flushing area, Wil (Michelle Krusiec) is a surgeon looking for love while avoiding her mother's (Joan Chen) failed attempts at setting her up with nice Chinese men. However things get a bit complexed when Wil's 48-year old mother turns out to be pregant and the father to be is unknown. On top of that Wil just might have met the love of her life Vivian played by Lynn Shen. The relationship between the mother and daughter is sincere and honest and you can't help but cry and laugh with them as they figure out what to do with their lives.

(M) Placard, Le (The Closet). (2001, Francis Veber) Grade: C
Thoughts: I have to say I'm not a huge French film fan. I've seen quite a few countries but France just never clicked with me. Although The Closet was entertaining and slightly funny, I didn't find anything all that memorable about it. Daniel Auteuil plays François Pignon, a man whose wife left him, teenage son won't even talk to him and company about to fire him bascially because he is a bore and a drag. Enter in Belone (Michel Aumont) who gives Pignon the idea of being gay to prevent from getting laid off. The rest of the film is quite preditable but if you have 84 minutes to kill it is worth checking out.

(M) Batman Begins. (2005, Christopher Nolan) Grade: A-
Thoughts: I love Batman, always have always will. So you can imagine my excitement about seeing this film; they might actually get the Dark Knight right for a change. Well this movies wasn't fireworks and magic but it was still pretty strong. First you got actors like Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Tom Wilkinson who all gave strong performance but I thought Morgan and Liam were the strongest. I didn't mention Christian Bale because though he was good in the movie he was no where near great. Katie Holmes was forgettable and the whole Tomkat storyline in the public is so tiring. I only have three complaints about the movie - first, why did Christian Bale have to talk so deep when he was Batman? It sounded so forced. Second, why was the Batmobile so ugly and strange looking? Third, what was up with the cheesy "Oh tell me your name?" line between Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) and Batman? Good grief. Overall great film and I can't wait for the next one because the best comic villian of all will be in it and the real question lies ahead - who will play the new Joker?!?

Trying to find a decently priced and conviently located apartment in LA is such a hassle! I hate the whole apt hunting process in the first place, but then mix it with one way streets, pot holes, and shady neighborhoods, I hate it even more.

(M)The Eye (B+): This is an awsome Cantonese horror film. This blind girl gets an eye operation so she can see for the first time in her life. Things are going pretty well until a week after her operation. The girl starts seeing people that aren't there....like dead people. It's very suspenseful...way better than the Ring. A perfect movie for Dorkus.

I think it's been awhile since I've blogged. I'm starting to get death threats from New Wave. So here goes.

(M) Mr and Mrs Smith (Doug Liman, 2005) Grade: A
Now I don't want to hype it up for people who haven't seen it, but I just want to say I really enjoyed this movie. It was funny and entertaining for the whole 2 hours. And with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starring, well, you have something for everybody. Angelina Jolie is sooo flippin hot in this movie. And those of you who know where that (old) IKEA is on the 60 fwy - you might recognize it in the movie.

(O) My cousins' graduation party (My cousins' house, June 18, 05) Grade: A+
Cup O Noodles and I attended my cousins' (joint high school and jr high school) graduation party last Saturday and had sooo much fun. Jousting, obstacle course (totally American Gladiator style), a bouncer, swimming pool, cotton candy machine, slushee machine, bbq, waterballoons, people getting injured on the obstacle course (includes everyone), people getting thrown in the pool, hanging out with fun cousins, Cup O Noodles getting interrogated by my 12 year old cousin...Good times! My cousins are awesome! It was unlike any party I'd ever been to. The quintessential 'end of the school year' party.

Sidenote: I borrowed My Flesh and Blood from Cup O Noodles. Overall, I thought it was really good. Very heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I think within the first ten minutes I wanted to cry; some parts of the documentary are a bit hard to watch. I am grateful for women like Susan Tom, who have such big hearts and the capacity to put others' needs before theirs.

i want to blog but i never have any freaking time. geez. i've watched a few movies and really want to review them. okay okay i'll make sure to do tomorrow. stupid work is keeping me all busy and tired. boooooooo.

(M) Tarnation (2003, Jonathan Caouette) Grade: D
I have tried to get through this movie of self-indulgence and poor me-ism, but I can't do it. The idea really intrigued me... combining video footage of your entire life to create a documentary, but when you make an MTV style documentary of crazy video footage, you seem to be admitting that your own life is so boring that you need fancy visuals to try and keep people interested.

Depeche Mode on tour! I am soooo there. grade: A+

on a side note:
(M) Batman Begins (grade: B)
Definitely not better than the Tim Burton Batman's (Batman Returns being my favourite), but better than the last 2. Christian Bale does not make a good Batman, his face looks weird in the mask and his voice sounds so phony when he's trying to be all hard.

(O) SF Tsunami warning (grade: A); NO tsunami! (grade: FFFFFFFF)

what a rip off! i wanted a tsunami!!! i want to see SF crippled! damn rich white people! (again, not to be racist)
AND THEN....L.A. gets an earthquake! such a double-diss!

(O) People who say they are going to buy your furniture but then back out (Moving out, 2005)
Grade: BIG FAT FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF+++++

DON'T TELL me you're going to buy my furniture if a. you don't have any way to transport it, b. you didn't read my whole email that said i have to move out by THIS weekend or c. you're just not going to buy it b/c you're stupid and didn't think your purchase through.

I hate relying on other people! I just wanted to get rid of my stupid furniture so I wouldn't have to get a truck or lift anything---basically laziness; and the fact that there is no room for it at my mom's house. GRRR.

Which leads me to my next review....

(O) Moving 2005
Grade: F+
I hate moving. I've moved 5 times in the past 4 years. OH yeah it's fun stuff. I hate it. You have to freaking pack up, throw away, unpack all your crap. bleh blah bliarilea;jfksaldf;usaiolfj.

Oh and I have another F and then I'll be done bitching.

(O) USMLE board exam(M.D. board exam)
Duration: 8 hours
Questions: 350
Grade for exam: F+ Grade for me: NOT PASSING
This exam was ridiculous. They asked THE most irrelevant, specific, assinine questions. I actually didn't like the fact that it was computerized because I couldn't write notes the way I usually do. They had this special software where you could highlight important parts of the stem or cross out the wrong answers, but then if you accidentally highlighted/crossed out the wrong thing, you couldn't unhighlight/uncross out--which was frustrating more than it was helpful. THANK GOD i don't really have to pass this exam.(see below for why) I felt really rushed because you're constantly being timed--when you're taking the test, when you're peeing, when you eat, when you take a break...the time is ALWAYS ticking.

(O) COMLEX board exam(D.O. board exam)
Duration: 16 hours
Questions: 800
Grade: C Grade for me: I'm pretty sure I passed(cross your fingers)
This exam was a paper exam; and while it was LONG it wasn't as bad as the USMLE for me. I don't know if it was because I was more prepared for the types of questions they asked, or the fact that I took this exam first and so I wasn't as motivated for the USMLE--who knows--but I felt more confident stepping out of that exam. I was also more relaxed during my breaks because we had a set time we had to be there and had a scheduled lunch, whereas in the USMLE you scheduled your own lunch.

The reason why I only have to pass the COMLEX is cuz i'm going to DO school and not an MD school WOOHOO. I have to pass the COMLEX step 1 to advance to 3rd year, and also pass COMLEX step 2 to graduate.

(M) Batman Begins
Grade: A
I really liked this movie. I'm not really going to say much, but alot of what Mac said, I agree with. It's one of the few movies that has surprised me this year.

(M) Batman Begins - A

The scale says that A means life changing, but this movie nor any other movies have changed my life, well except for Star Wars because i'm a Jedi, but other than that no other movies have changed my life.

I am not very good at writing reviews, but I must say that this movie is the one of the better Batman movies ever made, no "Ice to meet you's" and the likes. You pretty much learn the origin of Batman and Bruce Wayne, ergo the title, Batman Begins, but you also learn the past of other important characters as well. So this movie is pretty sweet if I do say so myself, the cast is superb featuring Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Christian Bale, Ken Watanabe, the other guy, and Liam Nieson. The weak link of the cast is Ms. Herpes, but it's okay because she's not too bad either, but I just kept thinking about the herps. Overall it is probably the best Batman movie, but I also liked the first Batman. So it's better than Batman Forever, now go watch it.

(G) Mariah Carey, "We Belong Together", performance on 2005 MTV Movie Awards. Grade: A+

She's back! The Emancipation of Mimi: #1 for the 2nd time. "We Belong Together": 16th #1 single.
This performance proves yet again Mariah's vocal abilities. Definitely should check it out.
Check her out on the BET awards, 28 june.

(O) NOT GUILTY!

not to be racist, but why are white peeps the only ones who think he was guilty? maybe its an over-generalization.
but he's free, and i'm glad. i really believe he is that messed up in the head and thinks he is a child and also believes what he did was in innocent fun.

on a side note: current music > janet - "All For You" :-)
"what about All For You Janet? What about MTV Icon Janet performing All For You?"

(A) Sound of White. (Missy Higgins) Grade: B+
Although my current affinity for piano-based music might be the result of my piano lessons, Missy Higgins' album is an impressive debut for this Australian 21-year-old (don't you feel like an underachiever now?). Sound of White is pop music for those who don't think they like pop music. Think more Rachel Yamagata (though not as raspy) and less Vanessa Carlton. Higgins uses basic themes of love, longing and sadness to achieve a simplicity that is surprisingly rich. Other instruments back her piano melodies, but the real star is simply her and the twinkling keys.

- why no blogs?? what gives people?? do i have to start breaking arms and legs??

- i love burger king ... at least for the time being. they have the bestest star wars toys ever. today i got chewbacca and yoda. YAY!

(M) My Flesh and Blood (Documentary, 2003) Grade: A
This is about a single woman in California who after having two male kids of her own adopts a Korean girl because she always wanted a girl. Later she is contacted by the adoption agency about a child with "special needs" and she adopts that child... eventually she has adopted 13 children with "special needs". Some with no legs, some with skin eating diseases, one with cystic fibrosis, a mentally "challenged" child. And she raises all these kids on her own.
Side note: if you saw the movie Palindromes, this is where Todd got the idea for the Christian family who adopts special needs children.

This is only an hour and 20 minutes long but it's trully AMAZING. You get a brief story about each child. Some children are focused on more than others. There are many heart breaking moments in this movie and I think it's the first movie in years upon years upon years to actually cause tears to fall from my eyes.

This movie can be rather depresssing but it's also fascinating. There are good fun times mixed in with the bad, as you can maybe imagine the pressure of rasing a 13 child family of kids who all have problems. Rent it. It's..... A-mazing!

(A) X&Y. (Coldplay) Grade: C
My review can be seen here.

(G) Aqualung. (Troubadour, June 7) Grade: B+
The classic-musician-turned-movie-soundtrack composer put on an enjoyable set that hushed the nearly full-capacity crowd. Although he was not as chatty as he is known to be, he still entertained with an impromptu song about, well, performing at the Troubadour.

(M) Word Wars (Documentary about Scrabble, 200?) Grade: B
The movie seemed to be more about these 4 guys (and more-so 3 guys) who are interesting characters who happen to also play scrabble. There was some interviews with people who play scrabble at a park in New York as well. The movie starts 9 months away from the National Scrabble Associations Tournament in San Diego and builds up through the winning game.
Let me say, these guys are OBSESSED with Scrabble. It is amazing to see the words these guys know and things they do to learn these words. It's also interesting with some of the stories, and effects used to show possible scrabble moves and how many different words can be made out of somebodies rack of letters. I watched this thing twice and will probably end up with my own personal copy of it because now I am being sucked into wanting the word knowledge of these people so I can get good at this game. The documentary is probably only like 80 minutes.
If you like scrabble I would recommend it and if you are like me and hate scrabble because you SUCK at it but know you'd love it if you were good at it... I'd recomend this also, maybe it will motivate you in some way.

Annograms: Britney Spears = Presbyterians = Best In Prayers

(M) Mad Hot Ballroom. (2005, Marilyn Agrelo) Grade: B+
Thoughts: I love ballroom movies. I adore Strictly Ballroom, seen Shall We Dance (Japanese and US version) and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. So when I heard about this film I was quite excited. The documentary was a heart-warming, charming and funny insight into inner school children doing ballroom dancing. I found the kids wise beyond their years, especially due to the circumstances growing up in the inner cities of New York with high crime, drug dealers and poverty. You watch the kids change from problem students into ladies and gentlemen thanks to a uncommon curriculum.

(M) Kicking and Screaming. (2005, Jesse Dylan) Grade: C+
Thoughts: Will Ferrell is the man. There was nothing stunning in this movie, it wasn't rocket science here people. Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) is bullied around by his super competitive dad Buck Weston (Robert Duvall) to a point where all of Phil's anger is repressed back only to come out later on. There were a few times the movie went off on some random tangent like Phil's unhealthly obsession with coffee but if anyone can pull it off without being annoying it is Will Ferrell. The plot is super preditable but if you want a good laugh I would suggest this as a rental. Oh and Mike Ditka was awesome playing himself.

(M) A Fei Jing Juen (Days of Being Wild). (1991, Wong Kar Wai) Grade: A-
Thoughts: Wong Kar Wai's first film regarding a 1960's Hong Kong is stunning. This film sets the foundation for all his later works to come like Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love. In addition, it is his first time working with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who goes on to work on many more films with him. The film is loaded with great actors like Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau and Carina Lau who all give amazing performances. I have to admit though it is very "art house"/Hong Kong movie buff and not accessible to all viewers. There is no strong storyline or action and although the movie clocks in a 89 mins I'm sure some will find it slow and dull but those who can take the time to appreciate what Wong Kar Wai is doing and speaking through the characters and environment will be rewarded.

(A) Fijación Oral, Vol. 1. Shakira (2005) grade: B

The first of a two-part series (volume 2 will be the english-language, Oral Fixation, out later this year). I wasn't too impressed with the lead single "La tortura (artista invitado Alejandro Sanz)". When I first heard the album, I also wasn't impressed. But after having listened a few times, I've quickly grown to like and appreciate most of the songs. I was kinda surprised to hear the B-52s-influenced "Escondite inglés" and the Killers-esque "Día especial", but it makes sense following the rather new wave song, "Rules" off of her last album.
Although this album is not as strong as the magnificent Dónde están los ladrones?, it is better than Laundry Service; her voice is much better in spanish than english.
standout tracks: "En tus pupilas", "La pared", "La pared (versión acústica)", "La tortura (Shaketon Remix con Alejandro Sanz)"

a few thoughts:
- dodger are playing so bad right now. man it is depressing to watch :(.

- okay i know darth and hedwig are big big huge lost fans and i really must have missed my flight (get it, huh huh, funny right) when i didn't start watching this show but now this .... a freaking convention for the show. x-files and star trek i can see that but lost. come on people.

- i have not been watching as many movies as usual because i was tired of feeling like a freak. then i got over that and now i'm going to start watching a lot more. june will be the month of 15 movies. oh yea.

(G) Earlimart. (Troubadour, May 21) Grade: A
I always thought this L.A.-based band was nice enough, but when they released Treble and Tremble, I fell in love. Their second LP is an absolutely fantastic record filled with rich detail. Everyone knows Aaron Espinoza's voice isn't v. strong, but at least they work with what they have, which is a lot of ideas and amazing production. This show was a homecoming of sorts that wrapped up their tour, and the crowd welcomed them back with open arms. Bravo.

(G) Architecture in Helsinki. (Spaceland, May 22) Grade: A-
Only two factors made this gig less appealing: the late hour (past midnight) and the ridiculously hot temperature (venue ventilation needed). Otherwise, these Aussies were absolute charmers and New Wave described them best by stating, "They act just like children." That they do. (Do the Whirlwind!) Their music is an interesting amalgamation of sounds that doesn't follow a strict verse/chorus/verse structure. They have the imagination of the now-defunct Unicorns, the stage presence of British Sea Power (complete with foliage) and the size and instrument range of Arcade Fire. Whew! I think I was sweating for more than one reason. My friend Steve did a great interview with them, which you can access here.

(G) Int'l. Noise Conspiracy/Trail of Dead. (Wiltern, May 26) Grade: C
My friend Leslie has always been a fan of INC, and I never could understand exactly why since it all sounded so mediocre and underwhelming. I went. I saw. And I was still sufficiently underwhelmed. The only entertaining part was singer Dennis Lyxzen's political rants mixed with his hilarious posturing. Weird combination to say the least. Oh, and the folks that ran up on stage just to be on stage, then looked completely lost as to what they should do next. Idiots. Get off the stage. Trail of Dead was far less entertaining. All their songs blended into each other and didn't come across v. well. Yawn. Not even those from their noteworthy Source Tags & Codes. Ah well. I got my friend drunk (unintentionally of course ... two drinks!) and that was somewhat amusing.