my mom sent me these text messages tonight:

” thank you for your quick replying take care we are watch movie cloverfield so so scary”

” the movie so scary”

” tell you the truth mom very brave but this movie really scar mom most of time mom closed eyes during movie”

at the sf international asian american film festival opening night gala a few weeks ago.

i know, i know, it’s old news, but it’s still thrilling!
he was in the VIP area chillin with dan the automator and i couldn’t help but (gently) intrude for a photo opp. he was nice about it. i even managed to squeeze three photos out of it (thanks jason!), my crone claws clutching his arm to make sure he couldn’t escape after the second photo. i am so classless.

when i stumbled upon his GR blog about a year ago, i was curious enough to google him. my “research” led me to conclude that he is utterly fascinating, not to mention…well, uniquely gorgeous. when was the last time you’ve seen a profile like that? when i was in china i kept seeing the same l’oreal commercials featuring this megastar, which must’ve imprinted my psyche or something, because i came back fired up with a healthy obsession.

what i know is that he’s a yay area native (went to head-royce high), went to college in oregon (architect major!), has studied wushu all his life, moved to HK after graduating college to pursue modeling, is supportive of the arts, and is a huge celebrity in HK. i could care less about the celebrity part, but it’s the duality of who he is that blows my mind. if you saw him on the street here (as many did during the run of the festival), you may not suspect he’s a bigtime actor in asia. i really recommend checking out his blog. he writes about his dogs, family, friends, wild turkeys in his parent’s backyard, seeing the cure in concert, unbelievable meals, shooting movies and commercials, incredible travels, and so forth, but in a down-to-earth language both literally and figuratively familiar to us. charming too.

i’m pretty sure i’m not making any sense. but let’s be clear that i’m not just going on a maniacal fan girl rant here. the reasons why i admire daniel wu stem from deeper “issues of identity” (grasping for words from my asian american studies 101 grab bag here) and all that baggage, and not just cuz he’s a pretty face (like chang chen).

at the sold out blood brothers san jose screening on sunday, they called him and put him on speaker phone (held up to the microphone) before the movie started. he spoke of how personally important this movie was because his father grew up in the same era (shanghai 1930s) and told him romanticized stories of the time and place, and how he couldn’t be at the screening because he was celebrating his father’s birthday. he also said that san jose has the best pho (it’s true!).

you gotta love that.

being a rabid SFIAAFF fan, i’ve been to a screening every day since the film festival opened last week. it’s exhilarating, but leaves little time for homemade eats. sometimes you have to grab a quick bite, or just settle for popcorn and overpriced hot dogs. other times you can indulge in a relaxing meal.

i’m considering doing a quickie roundup of all the movies i’ve seen, but that would be too daunting for a lazy bum like me, and too tedious and boring for you.

tangent: i’ve been corresponding via email with someone for an eater photo shoot. from the very get go she addressed me as jenny. irksome. ANYWAY…

1300 fillmore. these are orders off the bar/lounge menu. forgettable crabcakes, but addictive fattie fries. their perfect texture and taste must be attributed to double frying. homemade ketchup was sweet and spicy.

here i was decompressing in this handsome, luxe lounge, dressed like a ratty teenager. so i had to compensate by drinking champagne, to feel like an adult. came here after one depressing korean documentary, before heading to another one.

the heritage wall at 1300 fillmore

christina with a milkshake at park chow, before we went to see the anna may wong / long story short double feature.

christina with panchan, gamja tang, and kalbi at pyung chang on telegraph. this was after watching happiness at the PFA.

peg and i did manage to whip up a majestic brunch (“breakfast of champions”) for ourselves before going to see i’m a cyborg. i’m impressed that we did this under such a tight time constraint. she was clever enough to throw some red lobster biscuits into the mix. god bless her.

wow. i feel like dumbass jeffrey when he won last season’s project runway.

“(we) diiid it”

yes, we most certainly did. we got a rental and drove the hell down to los angeles to see stephen chow. live. in person. he was a mere 10 feet away from me while i snapped thousands of photos of him like the crazy stalker that i am (here i am in action).

CJ7, despite what some may say, was quite enjoyable. i liked it a lot! tony said it was “weak,” but what does he know? he was asleep during most of the screening (bastard). it was better than anticipated, a thoughtful family movie infused with stephen chow’s trademark flavor: rollicking comedy and brilliantly strange insanity. there was a pivotal moment that exercised my lachrymal glands. the entire time during the screening i was squirming with nervousness, thinking, “wow. that’s stephen chow on the big screen. after this he’s going to walk onto that very stage. he’s here. he’s actually HERE!!!” there’s a scene in the movie that perfectly exemplifies stephen chow’s ridiculous charm. it makes my heart soar with adoration. look for it in the beginning of the trailer (which could be much stronger but we all know how american marketing likes to screw up good foreign films). see if you can find it!

it wasn’t just sharing the same air with “grandmaster sing” that was so exciting. like the old saying, “it’s the journey, not the destination.” *chortle*

the deranged, delirious glee i experienced on this 24 hour adventure is personified in my expression here

tony has a thing for clouds. whatever, they’re just like, boring and $hit

haha, the entire trip down and back consisted of my incessant nagging of tony:
“anthony, put your chair back. aren’t you tired? you must be sleepy. take a nap. c’mon, AREN’T YOU TIRED?! PUT YOUR SEAT BACK I SAID!!! sleep…now! don’t you want to put your seat back and get comfy?”

tony wanted to go to the hat, an LA institution famous for its pastrami. so we ended up at the one in simi valley. the first sign of good chili cheese fries? a daunting amount of heaping cheddar. as enticing as this looks, it was a bit disappointing. the chili was bland and lacked any kick

content to do life-shortening damage to our cardiovascular system. but that’s the last of tony’s concerns since he’s built like bruce lee and healthy as jack lalanne

here it is, the notorious pastrami dip. i’ll be honest — it wasn’t that great. disappointingly flavorless, and almost too much meat. adding horseradish to the package certainly helped, as did the side of jus. even i couldn’t finish all of it, a testament to its intimidating size and heart-stopping content

double fisting. it’s how i roll

afterwards tony showed me westlake village, the idyllic town in which he sprouted into a strapping young man. beautiful spacious homes, manicured lawns, and distinguished schools, all surrounded by big, inviting hills. there was even a picturesque creek that traversed a residential part of westlake village. in other words, this was the perfect place to not only raise children, but pedophiles.

afterwards i insisted on popping anthony’s pinkberry cherry. what’s hilarious is that 1) he was stuffed to the gills and had no interest in filling up on more food stuffs and 2) i hesitated to go in because i thought it was a knockoff pinkberry. since it’s such a heavily branded identity, i didn’t think there was any way a pinkberry would allow a renegade sign. i mean, look at that thing! it reeks of strip mall

after driving around and making a very brief visit with tony’s mom and aunties, we made it to harmony gold on time, around sunset and vine. here’s a blurry photo of the long line

and…

…wait for it…

wheeeeeeeeee

i love his salt & pepper. but dang why’d he have to obscure it with that baseball cap?

that little girl, xu jiao, did a stellar job in CJ7 (and played a boy). she was terrific and showed a wide range. i guess stephen chow prides himself on “discovering” many actresses — “chow’s cuties” — who bust out on their own in due time (including cecilia cheung and karen mok), but none this young and adorable. also featured in the film is newcomer zhang yuqi, perhaps another chow cutie

and here he is alluding to his love of dogs, how he used to raise pekingese, and how this breed had a bit of an influence on the design of the alien canine creature in the movie

sigh. because CJ7 was filmed on the mainland, and all of his costars spoke mandarin (it was filmed in ningbo), stephen spoke mandarin too (usually it’s cantonese)

in the lobby with the cheesy americanized poster

as luck would have it, meltdown comics — the socal destination for geeks and nerds — was right across the street. it felt like home, except not really because comic relief is my forever home. i will concede, however, that meltdown was well organized and super clean

what better way to end the night than with a burrito mojado? how it happened: “anthony, are you hungry?” “not really, no” “oh….so, are you like, craving anything to eat?” “no, i’m pretty full” “okay well why don’t we get something to eat?” and of course he totally loved the burrito. it was delish!

can’t you tell by his face how happy he is? no but seriously we loved it

the ride home was nice, since i got to catch up on some ZZZZZs and came to the startling realization that adrianne curry bears an uncanny resemblance to catherine zeta jones

i wish i could wrap up this report with a photo of stephen and myself, beaming and blushing with girly giddiness. but no, they spirited him and xu jiao away immediately after the Q&A. regardless, it was mindblowing seeing him in the flesh. i moved up to the very front row as soon as he took the stage, and the guy next to me was like, “this is so surreal!” indeed

like i said, the real ultimate joy was in the random hysterical laughs that tony and i shared. some great lines spoken by him:

“no you dumb broad, are you stupid?!”

“are your eardrums punctured like a honeycomb?”

“you’re not a slut, you’re a conqueror”

t: “what’s this song? it’s sexy, i like it.”
me: “it’s fergie”
t: “aww #*!@ that ugly b*#!*. what a $hitty song!’

ps – of all the disturbing things i have or could present on this blog, the following takes the cake. it is vile and nauseating, and horribly offensive. here is stephen on some german talk show where the host is a complete chicken blowhard chode. so blatantly racist, his clueless a$$holeness causes the bile to surge in my throat! now that’s someone who should bite the curb. it’s truly incensing to watch, so if you don’t want to get angry, i wouldn’t click play. observe how stephen tries to navigate his way through this astoundingly stupid absurdity

pps – no but really, how can you not love this man? before him, i had no problem expressing my disdain for “slapstick.” but now i’ll take stephen chow slapstick anyday. and stephen chow anything, for that matter

the following message landed in my inbox this morning, which sealed the deal for me. tomorrow at the buttcrack of dawn, anthony and i will set forth on our little mission impossible. if we live to tell the tale, he shall bore his future grandchildren to tears with it, and i will do the same with you.

ps – i know it’s pathetic to be this thrilled about something. and yes, i know the movie won’t be all that and a bag of chips

////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Thank you for your interest in seeing Stephen Chow’s CJ7! If you are receiving this email, you and your guest are confirmed for our screening on Wednesday night.

Enjoy the show.
GIANT ROBOT

i just found out that next week stephen chow is going to be live in the flesh at a free screening of his latest, CJ7, in los angeles!!! i’m spasming so hard right now with excitement i think my heart might give out.

i would never entertain the idea of 1) skipping work and 2) embarking on a fly-by-night drive to los angeles, only to turn around a few hours later, for a flippin’ celebrity. i rarely even go to shows these days because i’ve become such a jaded, snobby a$$hole; musicians need to earn my devotion and hence my willingness to disrupt a comfortable grandma lifestyle (no craziness on school nights, y’all). but stephen chow is not just a celebrity. he is magic. and i love him.

so far i’ve roped anthony into my suicide mission to attend this screening (but really he’ll look for any excuse to drive). anyone else? i plan on being back at work the next morning.
the movie screens at 7:30 pm, next wednesday, 2/20, at harmony gold on sunset in hollywood.
what an adventure!

(how much do you love his cardigan with the eyes?)

ps – china blog barking at the sun writes about CJ7 re: its portrayal of migrant workers (stephen chow’s character and his son are squatters living in impoverished conditions):
“Could this be that rare popular movie that transcends its normal limits and become serious social commentary?”

probably by now we’ve all seen juno. though i spent the first 20 minutes rolling my eyes to the obnoxious “i’m so cool, counterculture, and edgy” crap, it was entertaining and fun (i’ll admit, one scene activated the lacrymal glands). i was impressed with the performances of juno’s parents. they stole the show with LOLers like “when you move out I’m getting two weimaraners!” and “did you run someone over with the previa?!” what charmers!

of course, you may remember this line:

“you shoulda gone to china. you know, ’cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those T-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events.”

understandably, it offended a lot of folks, like this mother of two adopted daughters from china. hackles are up. one adoptee said,
“…to say that you can get them like iPods, like commodities, it’s speaking to the adoption industry, and it’s said in a really brutalizing way.”

jason reitman, the director, retorts:
“No one could be more sensitive to this idea than myself. My wife and daughter are Chinese, and my sister is adopted,” Reitman says. “While I am connected to this on all levels, I have always felt that it is important that we find humor in which we are most sensitive. It is through comedy that we can begin conversation instead of hiding behind political correctness – a wall that simply divides people and stifles communication.”

you get the drift. another somewhat polemical battleground rife with different angles, stories, and philosophies that make my head hurt. i took a race / ethnicity public policy course in college that induced this feeling for an entire semester. it was a good kind of discomfort, meant to strengthen your analytical mind and sharpen your argument skills. mostly though, it reminded me that rarely is anything simply black or white.

because i can’t enjoy this particular experience anymore in the classroom, i now derive it from comment sections accompanying online articles.

i highly suggest that you first read the article, then take a gander at the 152 (and growing) comments. if you ever want to take a pulse on how people really feel, just spend some time with their comments. diving into comment sections of hot topic articles has become a bad habit of mine. it’s mesmerizing yet frightening, and often leaves a bad taste in my mouth. i’m a jaded cynic, and sometimes even i am alarmed and shocked by the undercurrent of hostility and _____. on this topic, an overwhelming amount of people basically had a dismissive, apathetic “get over it” attitude, which quite frankly is a bit disconcerting, even for a non-PC person like me. and there was a handful of folks who took the opposite stance. here are a few salient selections from differing sides, some of which pissed me off:

The comment had some truth to it. Human life doesn’t mean much in China. China is the country that charges the family of the executed the cost of the bullet after they have been shot. I am sure there is a 1000% mark up on the bullet.

Don’t stop at the Olympics – boycott China. I meant it. We can make our own iPods and Wal Mart crap or get it someplace else. Millions of unwanted babies in China aren’t given away but mercilessly slaughtered. But, wait, there’s more. Anyone who talks democracy in that country gets an open-ended prison sentence, torture or a bullet in the back of the head.

Would it have been less offensive if they cracked on your driving abilities… Lighten up!

those of you who don’t get why people are offended… just ADMIT you don’t get why people are offended instead of telling them they have no reason to be offended or to tell them to lighten up. Admit you are ignorant and then this is where the dialogue begins.

People offended by the truth, thats funny.

The can of worms is open. I was in Beijing China last spring. I saw with own eyes a woman screaming at a small child and kicking this child on the back. The woman looked to be in her 50′s and I thought maybe the grandmother. But the child was small, maybe 4 or 5 and crying and scared and crowds of people walked by and went on with their lives and this woman was kicking this small child in the back and yelling at it. I know that if we were in the states at that moment this woman would have been tackled and arrested by complete strangers. I don’t mean to scrutinize the behavior of a stranger on the street, but I know what my eyes saw and it was not good for the chinese baby.

and that’s just the tip o’ the iceberg.

the thing is, i value humor more than anything, so that juno line elicited a chuckle while it simultaneously raised an eyebrow. the analogy of the easy availability of chinese babies to ipods and t-shirt cannons was clever (though false), and i get that it was intended to emphasize juno’s naivete, her know-it-all-but-not-having-lived-life demeanor. but at the same time…a few of these comments reveal how extremely stupid and eager people are to villify china. yes, people in china have no hearts and enjoy killing their babies…?!?!?!

i don’t care how strange it is. i’m excited as all hell!

i love how he yells at the kid. nicknamed “grandmaster sing,” stephen chow always infuses his movies with a gutbustingly funny social/cultural/historical brand of senseless but dead-on humor. it’s hard for me to pick a favorite. the last one i saw was “king of comedy.” peg and i were in seattle and i had bought the dvd in chinatown. i remember laughing my arse off while watching it in our affordable but slightly scary hotel room.

about the new movie, CJ7, the youtube comments for the teaser reveal these things: 1) its release date is february in malaysia and 2) that boy (the little stephen chow in training) is actually a ten year old girl.

judging from the wiki article, it sounds zany, wacky, and hilariously fun, true to dreamy stephen chow form.

man, i forgot how good this sparklehorse album is.

after hearing one of its songs online, i’m jonesin’ to get home, dig up the album, and get reacquainted with it as i crawl under the covers.

also, for some amusing (and somewhat disturbing) reading, check out the comments (49 and going on strong) on this article about the china airlines debacle earlier this week.

saw casino royale last night, FINALLY. the opening song – a piece of anti-harmonious crap by chris cornell (WHY?!) – threw me for a loop and turned me off. however, the movie redeemed itself. also, it made me realize how wrong i was about eva green. there is an indisputable hotness there…one that wasn’t evident in the dreamers.

i’m hella tired today, and my teeth hurt.

this girl is sorta my hero.

interesting news on the art front: the founder of GAP is intent on building a museum in the presidio to house his contemporary art collection. it’s gotten people in the art world all atwitter, kinda…

anyway, it’s been awhile!

even though a couple of weeks have passed us by, i feel like so much has happened.

right now, i have a headache, which is odd. it’s the kind that feels like your eyeball’s about to explode. ever get those?

wow, this post is the perfect example of a terrible blog. sorry!

quick recap:

* sleepover with the san hos in oakland, gorged on huge mexican feast. first encounter with mi pueblo. salsa bar, fresh chicharrones, tamales, pan dulce, etc…glorious! by the time we hit the sack i wanted to die. too much food in the system.

* readjustment of bangs

* adventurous night exploration with anthony. walked through some of the toniest neighborhoods in san francisco en route to the presidio, on the hunt for the national cemetery. it was scary at first, but the lively traffic zipping through the presidio alleviated any fears. we stopped for chili cheese fries and onion rings at the bowling alley in the presidio, and continued till we found the cemetary (locked…i was secretly relieved). down to crissy field, where we saw a skunk and a few cars here and there (“anthony, do you think couples are having sex in those cars?!”). palace of fine arts, where i discovered anthony’d never been to the exploratorium. there was loud music near the pond, to which anthony responded: “what is this, some yelp fecal face bullshit party?” from there we stumbled on home. lots of laughs induced partly by exhaustion, delirium, and aching feet, and partly by anthony. it was fun!
i tortured anthony with an endless barrage of ridiculously inane “what if” questions. poor guy.

we should all go for a night walk. something i’ve been wanting to organize for a long time now is a moonlight hike.

* binged on 10″ cheesesteaks and large curly “twister” fries. YUM.

* house of prime rib. ungh. to my dismay though, they changed their creamed spinach recipe! not feeling it.

* MATCHA. avant garde modern contemporary dance is too sophisticated for me. dancers have nice bodies. the make-your-own-lantern activity was pretty neat. i liked seeing all our visitors walking around with them slung across their shoulders.

* branwyn’s bday festivities in the east bay. happy birthday, biggletron! finally tried rudy’s can’t fail. it didn’t disappoint. then we all saw the ten. WATCH IT. zany hilarity.
it’s random senseless violence, sex, whimsy, and stupidity at its best. “was it a goof?”
“i’m juicing my pecs!”

* thanks to derek, anthony, fran, and hao, i finally got to fulfill my years-long silly ambition of going to a shooting range. after 100 rounds, i, uh, definitely got my fill. initially, i was terrified while we were in the class. as the instructor was going over the basics, i wondered if i could be trusted with something so dangerous. cold feet.

what’s truly scary though, is how quickly i became desensitized after an hour in the shooting lane. as i was loading real bullets into a real .22 semi-automatic, i was quite nervous and began sweating like a hog! after shooting my first “magazine,” the fear and apprehension soon subsided.

firing a .44 magnum revolver was a real thrill. it was explosive, powerful, and LOUD. i don’t know how derek could fire that thing with one hand. (well, i think i know why his right hand might be so strong)

in case you ever need to be reminded of how extremely dangerous and nefarious these things are (if the obvious fact that they kill doesn’t suffice), go to a shooting range! firing one really puts things in perspective.

* had a lovely meal at ristorante ideale. ugly blue/orange decor aside, this place is the real deal. i’m talking the pure definition of al dente. delicious.

* rode caltrain for the first time. two fatalities that day – human on the train tracks, and kitten on 101 northbound.

* at lunch, i had an epiphany that e-fu noodles are one of my all-time favorite things EVER.

* saw 300. HOLY SHIT. a fat grab bag of inside joke references into which i can dip my hand for the next few weeks.

* made lion’s head meatballs, which apparently exude a non-too-pleasant odor that offends people at work. but they taste great, i swear!