Friday, May 30, 2008

What are you doing this weekend?

Forecast
Fri: 81°F / 61°F, mostly sunny
Sat: 79°F / 63°F, scattered t-storms
Sun: 78°F / 58°F, mostly sunny

See
Sex and the City (starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall)
Get 'Carried' away! Every other female in this country is seeing the movie this opening weekend, including one half of the Life in Boxes crew. Yuri and Jorge will definitely let you know what they thought of it, in a post to come next week. ;)

The Strangers (starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman)




Events

Seaport Music Festival 2008 (ongoing until the end of summer)
South Street Seaport
Tonight, May 30- DJ Mike Wolf, Die! Die! Die!, Wire

World Science Festival Street Fair Sat, May 31, 10am-6pm
Streets around Washington Sq- interactive exhibitions, experiments, games.

Shakespeare in the Park
Central Park, 8PM, various nights
Hamlet (through June 29)

Cluster Bombs Banned (Don't Get Too Excited)

Countries Agree To Cluster Bomb Ban- CNN

More than 100 countries attending a conference in Dublin, Ireland formally
adopted a treaty Friday to ban cluster bombs -- a large, unreliable and
inaccurate weapon that often affects civilians long after the end of armed
conflict.

Yay! 111 Countries signed this treaty. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, the ones that count didn't. The United States, China, Russia, and Israel were notably absent from this treaty. This is like the NBA saying the Lakers score too much therefore Vladimir Ramanovic can't shoot. Meanwhile, Kobe is killing the other team. For all you non sports fan, this is like Big's marriage to Natasha. Carrie is the one that counts!

Go See London From New York City

As if there weren't enough reasons to go to the city, they've just added another freakin' awesome reason: go to New York to see London (or vice versa).

Artist Paul St. George has created the telectroscope, two giant telescopes, one placed near the Brooklyn bridge and the other near Tower Bridge in London, which allows the viewers to see each other from across the pond in real time, 24 hours a day.

While this crazy Victorian, steampunk'esque telescope looks just like an art piece, the thing that makes it crazy is that it actually works. Instead of using mirrors and somehow making up for the curve of the earth, inside each teletroscope is an HD camera and a screen.

This is the best combination of creative art and technology I've seen in a long time.

The telectroscopes are only going to be around until June 15th, so go get a glimpse while you can. For more info, read more....

Read More...

Photograph of the day

I am a huge photography nerd, so I had to share with you one of my favorite photographers. Joseph O. Holmes is a tremendously talented photographer that has the photoblog, Joe's NYC. He focuses mainly on New York City and shows a unique perspective of the city in every photo he posts.

The above image is from his American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) series. The first time I saw this shot, I was floored. It is both simple and amazingly creative.

Oh yeah, and the craziest thing is that he updates his blog every day. As a fellow photoblogger, I can attest to how difficult that truly is.

Anyway, check out his blog to enjoy his other works.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

30 Things to do Before You're 30 (part 1)

30. Learn Korean.
While I was half asleep in the back of some conference once, I heard some guy say that it will be essential for the future business leaders to know at least one Asian language. Very true Asian dude. Also, if you live in the USA/Western Hemisphere, learn to speak Spanish.

29. Learn French
French is roughly the 10th most spoken language in the world but is number one in helping you get a date. Even faking the accent is good enough sometimes.

28. Drive Stick
My mom thinks that manual is an ancient technology and will slowly go the way of the dinosaurs. Mayhaps, or maybe only the cool kids are doing it. Am I that insecure? YES!

27. Learn to Dance
Yes, I am Latino. No, I do not know how to dance. Thing is, rhythm doesn't come naturally to me (watch me try to clap in rhythm if you ever want to have fun). However, as a young boy I was smitten by the GAP commercial in which everyone is swing dancing. I want to jump and hang in the air for a couple of seconds while the camera does the Matrix effect too!

26. Learn to Cook
This is more of a survival thing. I kid you not, I did not bring a single utensil or plate to college and I was not on the meal plan. Eating out everyday (HA!) gets expensive. I'd like to think that in the near future I could feed myself without depending on a Pizzeria. I just hope I don't set the house on fire in the process.

Top Chef: Bland Steak (Spoilers Ahead!)

Steak, steak everywhere, let's all have a bite. Once again, straying away from the initial idea of "Wedding Wars" (which I personally think they dropped after seeing the HORRENDOUS wedding cake that Pirate Lisa made .. goodness, talk about ruining a bride's day!) and a bit of a departure from "Restaurant Wars," the remaining four chefs found themselves working with meat. Get your mind out of the gutter, people, we're still talking about steak here!

Read More...

Artist of the Day: Wayne Thiebaud


Wayne Thiebaud is an American painter best known for his paintings of cakes, pastries, lipsticks, candy, and other objects of mass culture. Though he technically precedes Pop Art, his works are often associated with the movement because of the common objects and the style in which he painted. I was recently introduced to his stuff and I fell in love because of his use of exaggerated colors and the whimsical nature of his work. Plus anyone who can make art out of cakes and candy and pies is a winner to me. The above work, titled Cakes (1963), is one of my favorites of his. Yumm!

If you want to read more about the artist, here are 10 things about Thiebaud for your reading pleasure.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Movie: Lars and the Real Girl


Movie Release Date: October 12, 2007
DVD Release Date: April 15, 2008
Genre: Dramedy
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Director: Craig Gillespie
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson

Lars and the Real Girl is an Oscar nominated quirky indie comedy about a painfully shy man named Lars, who brings home a girlfriend one day much to the surprise of his family. The girlfriend, named Bianca, turns out to be a life-sized doll made out of silicon, and the movie is about his family's and their small town's reaction to this interesting development in his life. Instead of being outcast as the weirdo creep with a sex doll, the town begins to embrace Bianca, treating her as a real person, as Lars does. Whoever said love has to be 2-sided?

Read More...

Artist of the Day: The Shanghai Restoration Project


David Liang infuses traditional Chinese instruments with hop hop and trance to create a uniquely intersting mix. Check out The Shanghai Restoration Project.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

[Feature] BitTorrent 101


Remember the golden age of Napster and Kazaa? When they hadn't gone corporate or gotten full of false titles and viruses? When you could very easily download... certain content with little hassle?

Unfortunately, those days are pretty much over. Downloading has become a bit harder these days and BitTorrent has become the best way to get... certain things :x

Today, I'm giving you a quick guide to using BitTorrent....

Read More...

[Weird] Site of the Day


Ever feel the need to pee, but held it in, hoping for a cleaner, more sanitary bathroom? If you could relate, then MizPee is for you!

MizPee finds the closest, cleanest toilets in your area. You can add and review toilets, get some cool deals in your area and challenge your knowledge of toilet trivia.

Found via Popgadget.

Friday, May 23, 2008

What are you doing this weekend?

Forecast
Fri: 73°F / 47°F, sunny to partly cloudy and warmer
Sat: 72°F / 49°F, mostly sunny
Sun: 77°F / 52°F, sunny most of the day and nice
Memorial Day/Mon: 79°F / 61°F, mostly sunny and pleasant

See
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Starring Harrison Ford, Shia LeBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen)

War, Inc. (Starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff, Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley)






Events

Brooklyn Bridge 125th Birthday Bash (May 22nd – 25th)

Friday, May 23rd: Brooklyn Bridge Film Series
Watch 2 short, historic films (Panorama from the Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge (1903) / Manhattan (1921), followed by Walt Disney’s 2007 film, Enchanted. Films begin at 8:30PM, with music preceding the movie screenings.

Memorial BBQs
Go out and get the grill going, ya’ll! There’s pretty much at least one barbeque going on this weekend .. if you haven’t been invited to any, plan out an impromptu bbq!

John Mayer, the Comedian


If When I become a celebrity, I'm going to be a cool one. Celebrities are much more enjoyable when they're funny and self-effacing. I think one guy who personifies this coolness is John Mayer.

Aside from making good music and having a good blog, he makes very
funny videos. His latest (up top) is a video describing his music making process.

Read more to see some more of his classic videos....

Read More...

Thing I Want of the Day

Engraveyourbook.com offers custom laser-etched moleskine notebooks. This is cool for a couple of reasons. First, I am a sucker for those overpriced moleskine notebooks. Second, lasers are cool. Third, the cost of customization isn't that expensive.

You can get a predesigned notebook for either $20 or $32 (depending on the size of the notebook). If you want to upload your own design, you just throw in an extra $5 (oh, and you can get the spine lasered for an extra $5 too).

I really, really want one :x

RIP Laptop

My poor, poor, Toshiba laptop (2004-2008) has succumbed to a myriad of Trojan viruses.

Despite a valiant fight it clearly did not have the strength and will it had in its younger days. She was a good laptop. Given to me as a gift in the first week of January 2004, it began its life as my primary source of Internet during my stay in Florence, Italy. It was the only laptop in our room that was successfully connected to the Internet, and thus became the center of the room not only for me, but for my roommates as well. In its early days, it was used to keep me informed of news happening back in the US, as well as for playing True Poker, Madden 02, and Cossacks. Upon its return to the States, it carried on its responsibilities during my college years. It was there for every paper I had to write, as well as for every song and movie I had to download. In its later years, it encountered a few problems, but nothing a few updates and keyboard replacements couldn't handle. It laid majestically in the middle of my living room as though it owned it. I was beginning to think that my laptop was invincible. Tragically, however, two days ago it was infected and was unable to recover.

What can be said at a time like this? The files will be missed, the memories will be remembered. Not in bytes, but rather in reminiscing anecdotes of a simpler time. I guess what I'm trying to say is, fuck it! I'm getting a Mac.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

It pays to talk to your parents, kids!


After my Stephen Colbert sighting on Tuesday, I must have told, oh I don't know, EVERYONE I KNOW, about my big encounter with an A-list celebrity. What can I say, I highly enjoy celebrity sightings.

On a completely random-yet-kind-of-related note, I ended up watching SNY with my dad for a little bit that night, and he just kind of threw out that he sees Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui sometimes. What. This was random cause a) I hadn't mentioned my own celebrity sighting for him to bring this up (not that he'd know who Colbert is anyway), and b) I hardly ever watch TV with my parents. So I asked him to tell me more, and it turns out that he sees them on 49th all the time "because that's where they live, you know." Hmm. I just got schooled by my dad. That hasn't happened since like the 6th grade.

The kicker? He's like, oh I really like Matsui, he's really quiet and keeps to himself. I was like, wait, what, how do you know that? He just looked at me like I was dumb and was like, well duh, I've gone up to him and said hi. Apparently his exact words were: "Hi, Matsui!" (Omg, I wonder where I get my dorkiness from.) Props to Papa Shin though, I would've been too nervous to say anything. And then this got him talking about how he has also run into Reverend Al Sharpton and how he said, "Hi Reverend!" (dork.) And he got a handshake out of it. Love the Rev or hate him, that's pretty cool.

Read More...

Top Chef: WTFmate (Spoilers Ahead!)

About a week ago, I wrote a mini-rant about my current guilty pleasure: Top Chef. As I rushed home to catch last night's all new episode, my mind ran wildly with theories as to which chef would be packing up their knives to go home. "Please, oh please," I thought to myself. "If any of the judges has a sense of decency, they will send that talentless waste of blob Lisa home! And Dale will end up as one of the final two!" But unfortunately, like most reality TV shows, all of my hopes and dreams were crushed last night, as Chef Dale was sent a-packin' whilst that stupid dirty pirate hooker who can't cook for *!#$ was saved for yet another week.

Read More...

Sports Recap: Playoffs For Three! (and some...)


NBA PLAYOFFS

How many times can I be wrong about the Spurs? The answer is twice! The Lakers will beat the Spurs in six because no one can stop Kobe Bryant (I know I've said this a thousand times already but it still holds true.) Yes, Bruce Bowen is a phenomenal defender but great offense beats great defense more oft than not. Besides, the Lakers are more than just Kobe. Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in the front court make for some pretty passes in the low post.

Read More...

TV Show of the Day


The Office is over for the season, what's a girl to do? The summer is a particularly awful season when all the networks bombard airwaves with crappy reality shows while scripted shows are are on hiatus. There is a gem to be discovered among the crap, and that show is FOX's very entertaining So You Think You Can Dance. Think American Idol for the dance crowd, but with way more talent to be showcased. My love for TV and in particular dance based reality shows have already been documented on this blog, and you may recall me counting down to this day way back in March. Fellow fans, rejoice with me, and newbies, just check out the 2-hour premiere tonight and thank me later. YAYYY!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Stop Looking Like an Alcohol N00b

As I've mentioned before, drinking causes the classic Asian flush because the body cannot break down ingested alcohol completely.

Basically, your liver is a total n00b at drinking.

While there is no way to make your liver more awesome, there is a way to stop yourself from becoming the Kool-Aid man every time you down a shot.

The cure to the Asian flush is Pepcid AC. If you take this heartburn medicine an hour before drinking, you won't turn red while drinking.

It is not known why ranitidine and famotidine may in some cases, but not all, help reduce the symptoms of the alcohol flush reaction. Alcohol causes an irritation of the lining of the stomach. One possible theory that may explain the effects of famotidine (and similar classed drugs) on the skin erythema or redness secondary to alcohol consumption is because the drugs are H2-antagonists or H2 antihistamines, which are used to treat peptic/gastric ulcers. In essence, if the "Asian flush" is an allergic reaction to the alcohol, then the mechanism of action of H2-antagonists can explain its effects on curtailing or decreasing the redness.

I don't really know what that means, but I don't think it matters. All you need to know, my fellow Asian brethren, is that if you turn red when drinking, then Pepcid AC is your new best friend.

Read More...

Rumor of the Day



One of your favorite hang out spots in Fort Lee - Borders - might be gone as soon as the next year. Rumor has it that the bookstore has been showing sluggish sales numbers and that the overhead is becoming too much to handle. It's also rumored that a Japanese restaurant could be possibly taking its place

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Celebrity Sighting: Stephen T. Colbert

Spotted: Stephen Colbert, Time Warner Center, NY, 12:10PM.

On my way to the gym during lunch, I bumped into the one and only Stephen Colbert. In real life he looks just like he does on TV, except he was more smiley. Actually he looked simultaneously happy and confused (like he didn't really know where he was going), and the ever-so-cool I totally smirked at him. SMIRKED! I make eye contact with him, and I don't smile at him or say a friendly hello, but I smirk. I was simultaneously geeking out and trying to look cool at the same time, as well as trying to mouth 'OMG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.' And so my face got confused and it was all happening so fast, and that's the look I gave him. I might have drooled a little too? I don't know. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

I could've done so many things, like yell out "Truthiness!" or "You're my favorite Korean pop star!" or "Bears are godless killing machines!" or requested a dance-off. UGH, so many things, too little time!!! Stephen, if you're reading this, I LOVE YOU. AND YOU LOOKED UBER HANDSOME AND SMART IN YOUR KHAKIS AND TAN JACKET. AND I'M NOT CREEPY, I SWEAR!

edited to add (4:28PM): I'm currently item #2 on Gawker Stalker!

Read More...

Comic of the Day

(from xkcd.com)

Oh man, now I'm actually looking forward to Chinese takeout days for lunch in the office.

Monday, May 19, 2008

[Feature] Moving Out


After graduating from college, it’s understandable that a graduate may miss various aspects of college. Friends from different states, the local campus eateries, taking courses that you actually were interested in…the list can go on. But the one thing that all graduates can say they miss the most is living away from home.

It’s a bit of a bittersweet feeling, actually. The prospect of no longer having to study ever again seems like sweet victory (unless you’ve got plans to head straight away to grad school, law school, or any other variation of further education), but after living away for a good majority of the past four years, the idea of being home for more than the usual stay of summer break is torturous for many. Think of it as Harry Potter, having to move out from Hogwarts, and back to live with his crazy, restrictive guardians FOREVER (or so it seems). Hm. Probably a bit of a stretch for an analogy, but what I'm trying to get to is that being back home for more than three months can strain relationships back at home.

Read More...

Friday, May 16, 2008

What are you doing this weekend?

Forecast
Fri: 58°/48°, Rain
Sat: 72°/52°, Night Showers
Sun: 68°/50°, Mostly Cloudy

See
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Starring Peter Dinklage, Anna Popplewell, Ben Barnes)

(That's the only major movie coming out this weekend. My suggestion: rewatch Iron Man!)







Events

Zootopia's Free Pre-Show
You don't have to have tickets to go enjoy Z100's Zootopia. Tomorrow from noon to six, they're doing a free show in the parking lot of the Izod Center. Metro Station, Flyleaf, Sarah Bareilles and Push Play will all be performing.

Freecycle Freemeet in Park Slope

Everyone's doing their spring cleaning and finding things they no longer need. If you go to JJ Byrne Park tomorrow from noon to four, you can participate in the Freecycle Freemeet, where you can either give away things you no longer need or grab treasure (aka, someone else's trash).

Republican Flip Flop


"As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," he said while speaking to Israel's parliament, the Knesset. He called it a "foolish delusion" to think the U.S. can negotiate with terrorists."

That's right. We do not negotiate with terrorist! Unless it's North Korea or the insurgence in Iraq. Dare I say? Is George Bush turning into a flip flopper? Luckily for the prez, he's not alone. John McCain has joined in on the action, criticizing Barrack Obama as being the Hamas candidate and ridiculing Obama's foreign policy. Slight problem, John. You recorded a video interview two years ago in which you said you were willing to negotiate with Hamas. Doh!

Kids. The lesson here is simple. Negotiate first, kick ass later, but do not try to question our intelligence.

Free music sites

I like listening to music at work, but I don't have iTunes here, I don't have a connector thing that connects my iPod to my computer, and I don't usually have CDs on me. So I have to rely on different sites to get my daily dose of music. Here are the ones I like, and the pros & cons of each. Yes, this is what I do at work.

Read More...

Review: Palisades Park Bakery

Restaurant Bakery Name: Palisades Park Bakery
Cuisine: Desserts, baked goods
Location: Palisades Park, NJ
Price Range: $0.25 - $25
Info:
325 Broad Ave
Palisades Park, NJ 07650
(201) 944-3192

Living in Palisades Park, a town highly populated by Koreans and Korean businesses, I kind of forgot the concept of a small-town bakery. It wasn't until I went to the long-standing Palisades Park Bakery that I saw how much I had really been missing.

While Korean bakeries are fine, they have two major differences compared to American bakeries -- they are generally expensive ($3 for a small pastry) and their pastry style is a Korean/European hybrid.

The Palisades Park Bakery is the exact opposite. They offer cheap, Italian/American style baked goods that are delicious....

Read More...

Song of the Day: Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Coldplay's first single off of their upcoming album was not exactly my favorite song ever. However, they've recently released another song from the album which is much better.

Viva La Vida's title track is a good song. It's catchy and focuses on Chris Martin's vocals (unlike Violet Hill). This song gets me excited about the album's release. Let's hope the rest of the album sounds like this.

Don't just take my word for it, though. Listen to the song below:

Thursday, May 15, 2008

People I Hate: Top Chef Edition


I'm not really one for reality shows, but the one show that I HAVE TO SEE is Bravo's Top Chef. I've never really watched any of the past seasons as religiously as I have for the current one .. but damn, they've got me good with this one.

Read More...

Freebies of the Day


McDonald's : Free Southern Style Chicken Biscuit Sandwich (in the morning) or Southern Style Chicken Sandwich (lunch-dinner) with a purchase of any medium/large drink.

Dunkin Donuts: Free 16.oz iced coffee from 10am-10pm. No purchase necessary.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Things That I've Learned Through The Internet


The internet is full of information -- useless, fake, information. For example, can you really make Mountain Dew glow with peroxide and baking soda? No, it's impossible.

However, if you look around, you can find some useful and real tips online. Here are a couple of things that I read online, tried, and found that work:

Read More...

Adieu Justine



Suddenly and shockingly, Justine Henin (25), the number one ranked female tennis player, retired from tennis less than two weeks away from the French Open. "I gave the sport all I have and took everything it could give me" said Henin during her press conference in Belgium. Henin retires having won 41 career titles including 7 Grand Slam singles titles. The only Grand Slam title to elude the 5'5'' Belgian was Wimbledon where she finished as the runner up in both 2001 and 2006.

Henin was one of my favorite players to watch. Despite her small and slender frame, she was able to strike a powerful one handed backhand and dash around the court with the tenacity of a bulldog. The tennis world will miss one hell of a competitor.

Show of the Day: American Idol


The American Idol voting results are revealed tonight. Favorites David Archuleta and David Cook look to hold off Syesha Mercado. Can Syesha do it? Probably not. The producers of the show seem to be drooling at the idea of a David vs David final.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Scrubs Is Officially Moving To ABC!


Scrubs is the one hospital-themed show that I can safely say I enjoy, amongst all those other shows such as ER, House, and Grey's Anatomy. I would gladly take a bit of JD, Turk, Dr. Cox, Janitor, and Dr. Kelso over Dr. McDreamy, any day.

So of course, when I initially heard that Scrubs would be in its final season, a little bit of me started to die inside. But to have the "finale" end as a fairytale last week seemed a bit .. abrupt.

But the rumors about Scrubs switching networks (from NBC to ABC) have been officially confirmed by none other than Zach Braff (via MySpace bulletin):

Many of you have been understandably confused by the Fairy Tale episode of Scrubs serving as the series finale. It was not. I was not allowed to say it until today, but Scrubs will be moving to ABC for its final season. We are currently filming the 8th and final season. The true finale of the show will air on ABC in the fall. NBC merely promoted the Fairy Tale episode as the finale, as it was the last episode they owned.

Hopefully the real "final season" of Scrubs will be just as awesome as the rest.

Song of the Day: "The World Has Its Shine" - Cobra Starship



A few months ago, I wrote up a review for Cobra Starship's ¡Viva la Cobra! After a few listens, songs have grown old and have eventually been kicked off of my more recent songs in rotation, but "The World Has Its Shine (But I Would Drop It On a Dime)" has survived the cut. Unfortunately, there aren't any good quality videos of the song online, so here's a cheesy video accompanied by the CD version of the song. Enjoy your song of the day, courtesy of my iPod, jPod (not to be confused with the book!).

Monday, May 12, 2008

[Feature] Korean High Schools: The Korean Parents' Guide to Avoid Spending Time with Their Teenage Children


Its 10PM. Do you know where your children are? I think all of us know this pop culture reference, yeah? The interesting thing is, if you were to ask parents of American high schoolers, youre probably going to get a lot of varied answers. But I can guarantee that youll get an across-the-board, single answer from the parents of Korean high-schoolers: My child is at school. In a country where 15-hour (minimum) school days are the norm for all students, there is little to wonder about what your 16 year-old is doing on a Monday, Thursday, Saturday, or any other night for that matter.

High school education in Korea is a science in of itself, a perfected formula of determination, perseverance, and self-sacrifice that leads to the ultimate desired goal- entrance into the college of ones choice, preferably one of the top ranked universities. To achieve this, all students must put in hours of classroom learning (usually from 7am-5pm) in addition to self-taught study sessions/marathons (usually from 5pm-10pm), in addition to extra hours at private, after-school academies known as hagwons (usually from 10pm-1am). Repeat, everyday. And its not a matter of choice, the education system is set up this way, so that almost every single school and student partake in this rigorous tradition.

But why is it this way? Koreans have a long history of placing the utmost importance on education. Although it is not the case so much anymore, it used to be that where you attended college would be the most important factor in determining your lifes outcome. In theory, this idea is outdated. In reality, not much in the current education system suggests that there has been a change, or that going to college is not important.

Read More...

Friday, May 9, 2008

What are you doing this weekend?

Forecast
Fri: 54°/47°, Rain
Sat: 66°/48°, Few Morning Showers
Sun: 71°/50°, Mostly Cloudy

See
Speed Racer (Starring Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon)
I'm letting you know about it but I don't recommend it.

What Happens in Vegas (Starring Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher)
Ditto for this one.

Redbelt (Starring Chjweter Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Rodrigo Santoro)
Probably your best bet.




Events

My Chemical Romance Concert At Madison Square Garden
When: Friday 8PM
Price:37.50


Mother's Day


Opentable.com lists a variety of places in a variety of locations that offer Mother's Day deals.

FTD Flowers offers Mother's Day deals and same day delivery.

Because dinner and card doesn't cut it anymore, Gifts.com offers plenty of gift ideas.

The Dreaded Mother's Day: Last Minute Gifts

Mothers. They've carried us in their wombs for 9 heavy months. They've birthed us. They've changed our diapers, bandaged our wounds, and made sure we were well-fed and clean. All of this for the glorious one day of the month where they could be appreciated in the form of a gift (well, besides her birthday).

Read More...

To Keep or Not to Keep Old Schoolwork

I recently had to take all my old boxes out of my basement. My goal was to look through all my stuff and find things I could throw out or sell at a garage sale.

As I went through all my useless junk I had amassed through the years, I saw that I kept a lot of old notes and tests. I have notebooks, study guides, and tests that go from senior year of high school and all the way through college.

I know that I will probably never actually look at any of these papers again. What's more, I have a lot of my old essays on file in my computer. But for some reason, I can't seem to get myself to throw out all of these old papers and notebooks. I feel like I'm going to regret it. Like, for some reason, years from now, I'm going to think back and say, "Man, I wish I had my old college notebook full of sloppy notes and drawings."

Unlikely, yes. But still a feeling I can't shake.

So, fellow readers, have you kept your old college notes and tests? Should I stop being crazy and just throw it all away?

I'm curious to see if I'm normal or just a nerdy packrat.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

How you can help Myanmar


Living in an area where the severest weather is like a mild thunderstorm, sometimes I can't get my head around the fact that natural disasters can be deadly. On May 3rd, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar (also known as Burma), the geographically largest country in Southeast Asia, and a country with a really rich and tragic history. In the days following, the death toll from Cyclone Nargis has skyrocketed from an initial number of 22,000, to 50,000, to an estimated 100,000 as of today, May 8. In addition, over 95% of the buildings in the delta region struck by the cyclone were destroyed, over one million people are now homeless, and nearly 2,000 square miles of Myanmar is still left underwater.

There are a lot of complications preventing quick aid to Myanmar, in particular the fact that its military junta has yet to approve travel visas to disaster assessment teams and international relief workers for entry into the country. Needless to say, with the death toll rising, the sheer number of displaced people struggling to survive without food and shelter, and the conditions left behind by the cyclone and decomposing bodies, things are looking grim.

Read More...