Beautiful Burbank

The view from my office, looking north over 'the valley' and toward the mountains. In the morning and late afternoon.

Sorry About the Oscar, Eddie

But you'll always have this.

p.s. Is Rick James still alive?

Friday Ramblings

Who stamps your passport if you go to Antarctica? A couple penguins?

Not really interested in the Oscars this year, but I'll watch some of it, as usual. I'm predicting no upsets. I wonder how long the standing ovation will be if Scorsese wins.

We're now three (four?) episodes into Lost 2007 and I'm beginning to lose faith. It started off strong (I liked the episode about Juliet), but now it's officially lame. This week's episode was especially awful. How many more Jack flashbacks do we need to endure. Does anyone care that he got a tattoo in Phuket. I think this third season needs to be the last. Wrap it up!

Have Car, Cell Phone, Skyscrapers, Will Marry

The NYT reports that South Korean men are going to Vietnam and other Asian countries in search of a suitable bride. It seems that South Korean women are more eductated and, with more options, aren't marrying their Korean counterparts. The shortage has sent the men looking elsewhere.

When I was little, my dad had a friend who had a really hard time finding a wife. He was oldish, balding, thrifty. He lived in California, but couldn't find anyone. So he would go on trips to Vietnam, Australia, Hong Kong. Later I learned that the purpose of all these trips was to find a young, Vietnamese woman who would come to America in exchange for being his wife.

Mr. Her

Things might be getting easier for husbands who want to take their wife's last name. The ACLU has filed a gender discrimination suit on behalf of Mike Buday. Right now, in California, he is required to do much more than a wife who wants to change her name. He has to file a petition, pay over $300, take out a public notice in the local newspaper (!) and appear before a judge.

I'm all for guys changing their names. I know three men who've done it. If this catches on (I'm not holding my breath), we'll have to think of a word for the male equivalent of "maiden name" and "Mrs."

Tuesday Already

The relatives came and went and now the house is quiet again. We had over 40 people (including 15 kids) over on Saturday. It was great. The biggest family gathering since my wedding. In fact, it reminded me of my wedding... Once again, I was running around, distracted (but happy), saying quick hellos and thanks for coming, while Mr. Octopus relaxed and had actual conversations with people. Next time we do this, we'll have to swing it so that I get to play and Octopus does more work.

We capped off the long weekend by seeing The Lives of Others. Hands down the best movie I've seen in a long time. I don't want to say too much about it, but here's the basic story. Set in East Germany in the 80s before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Secret Police has put an East German playwright under surveillance to determine whether he's a subversive... Tense, sad, gripping. Definitely go see this one.

Happy New Year!

Chanchow's extended family will be gathering in full force this weekend to celebrate Tết. We'll be celebrating on Saturday because, according to Wiki, Tết is on Saturday, while Chinese New Year is on Sunday (there's a one hour difference between Beijing and VN, which explains the one day difference). We're expecting 40 relatives, which is about as big a gathering as we can muster short of having a wedding.

The older I get, the more I like family gatherings. I used to think they were exhausting and boring, but now that my cousins have kids, they're actually fun again. Kids really make a party. They're like the new alcohol. They make conversation easier. And you can avoid uncomfortable questions from your aunts and uncles by following the little kids around.

annie lennox

From her 1995 Central Park concert. I wish she'd go on tour.

Private Schools

When did everyone start sending their kids to private schools? I hardly knew any private or prep school kids until I moved to NYC. I figured it was mostly an East Coast thing.

Apparently it isn't. I'm finding that a bunch of people in LA are sending their kids to private schools. And these aren't just rich people. These are middle class folks putting all their money into private schools. Was it always this way?

I suppose if you grow up in the public school system, then basically all your friends are from public schools. Same goes for private schools. Two worlds of kids that don't really mix until they go to college (even then, they may not mix).

What really blows my mind is the idea of sending your kid to private school from age 5. Folks in Manhattan are even sending their kids to $20,000/year pre-school. Well, NY is different. But what about the rest of the country?

I can understand sending your kid to private school if your local school is abysmal, but what if your local school is pretty good? What's the value of sending your kids to private school then? What do you lose? I don't have kids, but the idea of sending a kid to private school all their lives is really troubling to me. High school, I can understand, sort of.

Notes on a Scandal

Based on Zoe Heller's novel, this movie wasn't as great as I had hoped, but it was still pretty good (or good enough) It's the story of an art teacher Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) and her affair with her fifteen year old student. Yea, we've heard that before, but there's more. There's also Barbara (Judi Dench), the spinster teacher who becomes Sheba's friend and confidante.

The movie is nominated for four Oscars (maybe more): actress, supporting actress, original score (Phillip Glass) and adapted screenplay. I would be surprised if it won for any of them. But if you're a fan of either actress, then you'll want to see it.

Monster from the Deep: The Rarely Seen Frilled Shark

Those gills are the scariest things I've ever seen. More on this prehistoric nightmare here and here.

They're in. And They're In to Win.

Hillary and Barack. In happier times.
It's just the beginning. And I hope it doesn't get ugly.

I'm coming out early for Barack Obama. I'm excited about him. Much more excited than I ever was for Gore or Kerry or anyone else. He's smart, well spoken, telegenic and likable. Dems need someone inspiring. Someone new and fresh.

No candidate is perfect, but please let's not go with someone old and worn who nobody can get excited about and who has already let us down. (Read: Gore is not the answer. Same goes for Kerry and Edwards.)

I wonder who's the lucky duck who has signed on with Barack to follow him around and do his campaign documentary.

Note the chanchow poll to the left. Vote for your favorite candidate. This poll has been up pre-Bill Richardson, so his supporters need to vote for 'other.'

In the Market for a New TV

For the last eight years, we've been watching my 27" Toshiba. A regular, perfectly good, twentieth century, 15" thick television set. Even my parents are telling us to get a new TV.

I keep hearing about HD, plasma, LCD. It all makes my head spin. I don't think we need the kind that hangs on the wall, but we want something bigger and not super thick (or super expensive). Any suggestions?

Numero Uno

LA is the hippest city in the world. It's official. With movie folk and beach babes on the westside, indie rockers and hipsters on the eastside, and bourgeois bohemians in between, there really is no doubt. Now with Posh and Becks coming to town, I mean, it's getting embarassing.

On top of all this, Wiki proclaims Eagle Rock as "a center of hipster culture in Los Angeles," which means that Eagle Rock is the coolest place in the entire universe.

Lunchtime Dessert

I stopped at Yummy Cupcakes in Burbank on my lunch break today. I bought five cupcakes (not all for me!). I've had one (chocolate with vanilla frosting) and it was yummy, all right. They are $2.50 a pop, so a bit pricey. Cupcake inflation?

Day 7: New Year's Eve

Our last night in Paris. At 10pm we headed to the Eiffel Tower to ring in the new year. We saw more Parisian hooligans there than we did all trip long. And lots of drunk Brits, too. It was a hokey way to spend New Year's, but it was really fun. The city cancelled the midnight fireworks for security reasons, but tons of people brought their own bottle rockets, so there were plenty sparks aflying.


Check out that rabbit compote.
I kept seeing this sticker everywhere. Who is this guy?

Day 6: Les Egouts (Paris Sewers)

The Sewer Museum was one of the two things I really wanted to visit on this trip (the Catacombs was the other). I was a little disappointed once I finally saw it, but it was still interesting enough.

It wasn't that stinky. I think they took great care to have good air circulation. Hands down the best thing about the sewers was the Christmas tree.





Yay, sewage.

Welcome to LA, Posh and Becks!

Maybe they'll name their next kid Eagle Rock.

Day 5: DaVinci Code Wanderings

I didn't go into the Louvre, but I did take this picture. Mr. Octopus and the brothers Octopus visited and I thought about coming along, until I saw the line to get in. Instead, I roamed around the city (mostly the Left Bank) with my friend, making like the The DaVinci Code. Sort of.

I don't know if the dotted line in this picture is the 'Rose Line' from the book. But I took the picture anyway. Later that afternoon, we went to St. Sulpice and looked for the Rose Line there. No such luck. In the corner of the church, there was a small notice saying that claims in an 'international best seller' about the Rose Line and the Priory of Sion were untrue.

Sidenote: my pageturner for the trip was Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Same protagonist as in The DaVinci Code. Same overall plot, too-- i.e., murder, mysterious codes, secret societies, religion, art history, pretty European girl. DaVinci Code is better, I think.

Routine Maintenance

I'm realizing that I love having a routine. I love knowing when and how I'm going to do things. For example, one of my favorite things in the whole world is Saturday morning. Not only because it's the weekend, but because I wake up, open the curtains in the living room, let the light shine in (pause), and then do the laundry (may favorite chore-- I love my washing machine) and water my plants (also a fave). All by 10am. I really like that.

The rest of my week isn't nearly as predictable, but I'm hoping it will be. I don't mean that I'm going to be on a schedule every day, every hour (8:05 read book, 8:25 put down book and scratch head). I'm not that weird. But having a routine to me means that things are going to happen, that I'm going to be productive. One of my resolutions is to exercise three times a week, so I'm trying to decide which days will be my work out days. I need some sort of schedule or else I'll just procrastinate.