*The Haiti situation is tragic. Donate here if you have a few bucks.

*Conan O'Brien's statement (you can read here) made yesterday was funny and how he addressed the subject last night on The Tonight Show was humorous. Sadly, the whole situation really is not that funny. Conan waited five years for Leno to finish then moved his whole family and staff from NYC to Los Angeles just to be told 7 months into his gig that he needs to move time slots. I have not watched any shows on NBC in awhile; their programming is pretty weak and just getting worse. And even when they do have good show they just cancel it. There was a report on NPR about how NBC made a big mistake by canceling the sucessful and well done SouthLAnd show, a cop drama based in Los Angeles, right before it was about to air its second season, then to have TNT pick it up. NBC is a mess.

*Neat that Robert Smith is doing a cover of Very Good Advice for the new Alice in Wonderland soundtrack coming out March 2nd. This should be interesing :)

*Had to work late on Friday but no worries because I did get to meet up with a few friends at the Venice Room after :)

Food: Venice Room 4.5 stars ($13.50 for steak, bread, potato and salad bar ... YES!!)

*On Saturday Darth and I headed over to the Moonlight Rollerway skating rink in Glendale for a good friend's birthday party. I was amazed places like that still existed and how well Darth could roller skate. Sadly, I was not good but really is that even surprising :P Then it was off to the Roost for some cheap booze and dive like settings.

Bar: The Roost 3.5 stars (Stale old popcorn = Yum)

*Watched the Simpson's 20th Anniversary Special tonight hosted by Morgan Spurlock from Super Size Me fame. It was an interesting looking into how much the show has been integrated into not just domestic but international culture. It is impressive that the show has been on as long as it has and still, to me at least, is relevant and entertaining. Here is a review of the show according to the The New York Times.

*Keeping up with the list mode, one of my favorite sites LoveHKFilms posted the following:

TOP 50 Hong Kong Films of the Decade plus 2 Bonus Films

1. Infernal Affairs (2002), 879 points, 35 first place votes
2. In the Mood for Love (2000), 512 points, 25 first place votes
3. Shaolin Soccer (2001), 500 points, 10 first place votes
4. Kung Fu Hustle (2004), 281 points, 1 first place vote
5. Exiled (2006), 276 points, 6 first place votes
6. Election (2005), 267 points, 2 first place votes
7. Hero (2002), 251 points, 3 first place votes
8. One Nite in Mongkok (2004), 232 points, 1 first place vote
9. Infernal Affairs II (2003), 229 points, 4 first place votes
10. Running on Karma (2003), 220 points, 5 first place votes
11. SPL (2005), 218 points, 6 first place votes
12. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), 211 points, 8 first place votes
13. Red Cliff (2008), 202 points
14. PTU (2003), 201 points, 2 first place votes
15. Throwdown (2004), 174 points, 3 first place votes
16. Needing You (2000), 172 points, 3 first place votes
17. Lost in Time (2003), 162 points, 1 first place vote
18. Mad Detective (2007), 157 points, 2 first place votes
19. Ip Man (2008), 144 points, 2 first place votes
20. 2046 (2004), 143 points, 5 first place votes
21. Election 2 (2006), 138 points, 3 first place votes
22. Men Suddenly in Black (2003), 107 points, 2 first place votes
23. Fearless (2006), 100 points, 1 first place vote
24. My Life as McDull (2001), 89 points, 2 first place votes
25. Lust, Caution (2007), 80 points, 3 first place votes
26. My Name is Fame (2006), 77 points, 1 first place vote
27. Chinese Odyssey 2002 (2002), 75 points, 1 first place vote
28. After This, Our Exile (2006), 67 points, 2 first place votes
29. Beast Stalker (2008), 67 points, 1 first place vote
30. Fulltime Killer (2001), 66 points, 1 first place vote
31. Sparrow (2008), 64 points
32. July Rhapsody (2001), 63 points, 1 first place vote
33. Juliet in Love (2000), 62 points, 2 first place votes
34. New Police Story (2004), 61 points
35. My Wife is 18 (2003), 58 points, 2 first place votes
36. Crazy ‘N The City (2005), 53 points
37. Love on a Diet (2001), 51 points
38. Just One Look (2002), 50 points, 1 first place vote
39. Protégé (2007), 48 points
40. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002), 48 points
41. You Shoot I Shoot (2001), 47 points, 1 first place vote
42. Isabella (2006), 46 points
43. Funeral March (2001), 44 points, 1 first place vote
44. Love Battlefield (2004), 44 points
45. Perhaps Love (2005), 41 points
46. Curse of the Golden Flower (2006), 39 points
47. Flash Point (2007), 37 points, 1 first place vote
48. Jiang Hu - The Triad Zone (2000), 37 points
49. Hooked on You (2007), 36 points, 1 first place vote
50. Time and Tide (2000), 36 points

51. The Eye (2002), 29(38) points - bumped up due to late votes
52. Love Undercover (2002), 30(37) points - bumped up due to late votes

How many have you guys seen? I am at 34 but will def. increase this number over the next few weeks :)

Well, I got laid off today. It's definitely a weird feeling, cos for six years, I had my routine down, and today it was: Pack up your desk, and you can go. Bye.

I was thinking that in publishing, the longer a magazine is around, the less likely you think it will die, an inverse relationship to humans and death. I mean, the older a person is, the less shocking it is when they go. But take Gourmet magazine (70 years) or Editor & Publisher (more than 100 years), you just don't think they'll go away.

The magazine I worked for has been around for 30 years, so I guess it is not as established, perhaps less shocking.

*According to the Jan. 8th issue of Entertainment Weekly these are the 25 movies to watch before the Oscars (March 7th):

- Up in the Air
- Avatar
- The Hurt Locker
- Precious
- Inglourious Basterds
- Invictus
- An Education
- Up
- A Serious Man
- The Messenger
- Julie & Julia
- A Single Man
- Crazy Heart
- The Blind Side
- The Last Station
- Nine
- Star Trek
- District 9
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- The Lovely Bones
- (500) Days of Summer
- It's Complicated
- The Young Victoria
- Bright Star
- The Informant!

So how many have you guys seen? I've seen 8 out of the 25. I am not too excited about most of the films listed, it seems like a slow year. (FYI, I wrote the same thing last year but honestly this year I really think there is nothing good.)

On a different note Stephen King listed his favorite movies of 2009 in the same issue; quite interesting:
10. 2012
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
8. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
7. Law Abiding Citizen
6. District 9
5. The Reader
4. Disgrace
3. The Road
2. The Last House on the Left
1. The Hurt Locker

Today I checked my office inbox and received a corporate e-mail that informed me I could look forward to the closure of several magazines and imminent layoffs. Happy new year! This was already expected, as the entire sale process has been a long and difficult one, but most employees were upset that the e-mail was sent the morning of Dec. 31, right before everyone’s New Year’s Eve celebrations. I don’t check my office e-mail outside of work, so I hadn’t heard the news, but that is in pretty poor form. At least it wasn’t Christmas, I guess.

(B) Eating Animals (Jonathan Safran Foer, 2009) Grade: B
Eating Animals is writer Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) trying to decide whether he should become a vegetarian and raise his son that way. It would be called The Omnivore’s Dilemma if that title wasn’t already taken, perhaps. Foer looks at how animals are farmed (almost 99% is on factory farms) and processed. Basically, the low cost of meat is made up for in other ways (abuse of factory farm workers, unregulated pollution and, of course, the inhumane treatment of animals). In the end, Foer believes in animal welfare (people have the right to eat meat, if animals are treated humanely) versus animal rights (the belief that animals should not be consumed at all, believed by folks like Morrissey). It’s an interesting read. And it made me think of the Troy McClure video in The Simpsons.

The Simpsons - 705 Lisa the Vegetarian

*House hunting has to be the worst thing. I use to think trying to buy a new car was bad but house hunting is 1000 times worst. There are too many factors to consider - school district, lot size, commute from work and etc. It does amuse me in a disturbing way all the vacant houses there are out there when people who had no money thought they could buy something.

*American Idol is going to start in a few days and lately I have been listening to the best Idol winner ever ... Kelly Clarkson. She is the best. Her newest album All I Ever Wanted was strong; must better than her My December one. During one of her tour shows last year she performed and previewed some new songs for her new album where a fan recorded it and uploaded them to YouTube. The one I enjoyed was the cover of Taylor Swift's White Horse. Pretty good stuff.

*I feel like I need to nurse this poor blog back to health. I am going to try hard to post as often as I can even if they are lame and pointless. At the very least it will document how my 2010 is going.

*I thought I would start rating places I eat, not that I am a foodie of any sort but I do like consuming food so yea :) Most of my links will either be the actual site link or Yelp since I like to use that site for reviews.

Food: Cobras & Matadors 2.8 stars

*Happy 2010 to all!!

*2010 New Year's Resolutions:
1. Eat better, less meat.
2. Buy property - I would like this to happen this year.
3. Save even MORE money.
4. Travel more to places.
5. Run more.

2009 New Year's Resolutions:
1. Eat better, less meat and run more. (eh didn't really do the less meat part and I tired to run more this yr)
2. Buy property - I would like this to happen this year. (nope to this, still waiting)
3. Save even MORE money. (more or less did)
4. Travel more to places. (just drove up the coast of Calif.)

*It seems like 2009 was the death of blogs. Not just this one but some other friends of mine all stopped blogging. I think a lot of it had to do with Facebook and Twitter updates so the need to blog was pointless. I am not sure how long I will keep this up but hey we'll see.

*2009 was my lowest year in movie watching, I did not even break 100.

77. Alien Dir: Ridley Scott 5 stars
78. Aliens Dir: James Cameron 5 stars
79. Old Acquaintance Dir: Vincent Sherman 4 stars
80. Michael Jackson's This Is It Dir: Kenny Ortega 4 stars
81. Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces) Dir: Pedro Almodovar 3.8 stars
82. The Road Dir: John Hillcoat 4.2 stars
83. Iron Monkey Dir: Yuen Woo-Ping 3.8 stars
84. The Year of the Yao Dir: Adam Del Deo & James D. Stern 3.5 stars
85. Up Dir: Pete Docter & Bob Peterson 4 stars
86. Step Up Dir: Anne Fletcher 3 stars
87. Julie & Julia Dir: Nora Ephron 3.6 stars
88. Bruno Dir: Larry Charles 2.5 stars
89. Inkheart Dir: Iain Softley 2.8 stars
90. Death on the Nile Dir: John Guillermin 4 stars
91. Rebecca Dir: Alfred Hitchcock 4.5 stars
92. Red Cliff Dir: John Woo 5 stars
93. Avatar Dir: James Cameron 4.2 stars

Topic: fall tv, movies

*Well I did not blog once in October. These are sad blog days we are facing. (sigh). But here we are at November. Yankees won the 2009 World Series. Gross, oh well.

*My fall tv schedule has been pretty good but there have been some disappointments.
Sunday - Simpsons, the Amazing Race (a great great show)
Monday - HIMYM (seriously this show USED to be good), BBT and Castle (needs a stronger story arc)
Tuesday - The Good Wife (a strong show)
Wednesday - Glee - BEST SHOW EVER!!, Modern Family (a surprise for me, super funny)
Thursday - Project Runway (I do not have a favorite designer this yr, take it back to NYC or use LA more), Vampire Diaries (I have like 5 eps I have not even watched, meh)
Friday - Stargate Universe (WOW what a flop, I am not sure how much longer I can keep watching this. I do not like any of the characters and the actors I do like are not used effectively, what a shame)

*67. Joe Versus the Volcano Dir: John Patrick Shanley 2.7 stars
68. Appaloosa Dir: Ed Harris 3.4 stars
69. The Hammer Dir: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld 3 stars
70. Little Children Dir: Todd Field 3.5 stars
71. The Birds Dir: Alfred Hitchcock 3.5 stars
72. The 39 Steps Dir: Alfred Hitchcock 4 stars
73. Adventureland Dir: Greg Mottola 2.5 stars
74. Coraline Dir: Henry Selick 3.6 stars
75. Bright Star Dir: Jane Campion 3.7 stars
76. Precious Dir: Lee Daniels 3.8 stars

Hmmm not sure how many movies I was watching last yr. but in 2007 around this time I was at 100 movies already. I'm not too far off now and considering how much TV I watch ... not bad. Ha ha.

Topic: Fbook games, jogging, no movies

*I have been treating you pretty bad blog :( Sorry!! and September is almost over, then end of the year. Time really does fly.

*So I was trying to figure out why I have not really been blogging and I know one reason why, besides fall TV coming back, it is because of those darn Facebook games. I play WAY too much Farmville and Restaurant City it has become a bit unhealthy. Heck I even play it at work when I know I should not be doing that. It is just that I want to get to the next level and unlock all the good seeds or get more land or a black sheep or ugly duckling. Yea it has become a tad scary.

A picture of my farm :)


*Aside from Facebook games I have been trying to run/jog/walk more cause in about a little under five months I'll be doing the Pasadena half marathon (13.1 miles) for the FIRST time. Yes I blogged about my attempts last year but that was foiled by the fires and bad air. This year will be the year I actually do it. Fingers crossed.


*I have completely dropped off watching movies. I am not sure what it is. I guess I am trying to "enjoy life" and being with someone for the rest of my life takes away from doing things I used to do on my own ... like watch tons and tons of movies. Sometimes I get bummed about it but at the same time movies were starting to bore me. I think I have seen quite a bit that it takes a lot to really entertain me. Who knows. Plus I have TV so yea.

*Oh and on the TV note here are some thoughts on shows:
- True Blood S2 started out super strong but really fizzed out at the end. What a shame.
- Warehouse 13 had trouble getting started but it is a pretty good show. I hope Syfy (how lame is that name change) stays with it.
- I liked 10 Things I Hate You but not sure if it will get picked up.
- Vampire Diaries is a bit silly yet strangely I am interested. Kevin Williamson did Dawson's Creek and Scream so this show is like a mash up of both. And man do they love to use the Metric song.
- Is it sad I like Big Bang Theory more than HIMYM now?
- And lastly, Glee has got to be the best show (jazz) hands down!! I love the singing the dancing and the singing :)

Topic: fall tv, movies

*Wow September already. Scary stuff for sure. Nothing much to really repot. Just been working, going out with friends, existing. I have not been watching as many movies as I use to but I have been plowing through some various TV series and with the fall season coming back I am pretty pumped.

*So here is what my fall schedule will most likely look like:
Sunday - Simpsons, maybe the Amazing Race ... I enjoy the show I just have to make time to watch it
Monday - HIMYM, BBT and Castle
Wednesday - Glee ... I think this will be a new favorite show of mine
Thursday - Vampire Diaries ... for fun, The Office
Friday - Stargate Universe ... this should be interesting, no Atlantis but still good I am sure

I am currently watching Warehouse 13 which will end in 3 weeks, True Blood which will end soon and for total fun fluff 10 Things I Hate About You which really is not too bad :P

*62. Burn After Reading Dir: Ethan and Joel Coen 2.8 stars
63. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story Dir: Rob Cohen 3.1 stars
64. Role Models Dir: David Wain 3.3 stars
65. X-Men Origins: Wolverine Dir: Gavin Hood 3 stars
66. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Dir: William Shatner 2.6 stars

Topic: Getty Villa, tired, movies

*This past Sat. I went to the Getty Villa in Malibu with a good friend. I think the last time I went there was in grade school. It was nice with lovely gardens because it was based off an Italian villa look unlike the Getty off the 405 which is more structure. I took a few photos and should post them up on Fbook soon.


*I found out Placebo and Charlatans UK have both canceled their North America tour. One for virus infection, the other for shoulder problems. I'm pretty bummed. I hope they reschedule.

*Dodgers are not doing well. They have lost 8 out of 11 games at home and are now only leading by 3 1/2 games from the Rockies. What is going on??!! (sigh) Oh and I've over my boy Martin. I've moved on to Blake and Kemp, they rule.

*It has been the oddest weather for August ever. It is actually really nice and comfortable and not that nasty humid air or dry heat. I am not sure how long this is going to continue but it is nice.

*Recently I have been dealing with some issues with someone I use to talk to a long time ago. It has taken a bit of toll on me mentally and affecting my sleeping and eating. I would love it if the whole thing would just go away but I know it will take some time. It is just really really annoying and not cool. On the funny side, some people are taking it (from our Fbook postings) as if Darth and I are having problems when in reality we are doing great. Ha ha.

*59. Floating Landscape Dir: Carol Lai Miu-suet 3.5 stars
60. Velvet Goldmine Dir: Todd Haynes 3.3 stars
61. District 9 Dir: Neill Blomkamp 4.6 stars

Topic: Various, movies

*Yikes the blog is coming to a slow death. I only blogged once in July :( sad stuff. July was a good and bad month - the good I got to see Tori Amos; the bad getting my 401K matching cut and getting mugged/robbed in Pasadena. (sigh)

*Apparently they are closing the Chalet, this ski lodge looking bar in Eagle Rock, to make it into an English pub. Darth, Pigern and I went the last weekend it was open and I guess I do not like vodka martinis much (all I wanted was the olives) because I got trashed. It was barf heaven for me. Darth was quite not impressed :)


*Been going to a few Dodger games. Too bad they are struggling and having a tough time. Only 46 more games and the regular season is over but I am wondering how far the Dodgers can go.


*Last Saturday I went to the Huntington Library with Pigern and a few of her buddies. I have not been there in ages so it was nice to walk around the gardens. The Chinese garden they created is pretty good. I mean not like the ones in China but you know it is decent.

*That same Saturday I went to the Ice House in Pasadena for my friend's surprise birthday party. It was my first time at a comedy club and I thought it was pretty good though I doubt I would go again. Our comedian was Bret Ernst and he had all of us laughing pretty hard.

*I'm pretty behind in my movies. To give you an idea around this same time in 2008 and 2007 I was already in the high 70's so I am about 20 behind :P
49. Gary Gardens Dir: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer 3 stars
50. Blazing Saddles Dir: Mel Brooks 3.5 stars
51. Teen Wolf Dir: Rod Daniel 2.8 stars
52. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Dir: David Yates 3.5 stars
53. Charlie Wilson's War Dir: Mike Nichols 3 stars
54. Taken Dir: Pierre Morel 4 stars
55. 500 Days of Summer Dir: Marc Webb 3.3 stars
56. I Love You, Man Dir: John Hamburg 3.3 stars
57. Jezebel Dir: William Wyler 3.8 stars
58. Now, Voyager Dir: Irving Rapper 4.5 stars