How could I miss this year's token Asian film?

Memoirs of a Geisha is a fairly good movie. From my two years as a bookseller, it is definitely one of the regularly requested titles (on par with many timeless classics), however I never really appealed to me to actually want to read it.

In brief, Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi) was sold to a geisha house in another village when she was nine, and was treated like how one would think that a slave would be treated. Luckily, teenage Chiyo was later then placed under the mentorship of Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), who would teach her all the fine elements to being a geisha. The trailer seems to suggest that the movie is romantic drama between Ziyi and the Chairman (Ken Watanabe), but seriously I have trouble understanding the love plot in the movie. I will explain this in the spoiler segment.

The film was shot very beautifully-- from the pretty scenic backdrop, to the art demonstrated by the geishas. However, just like Brokeback Mountain as what Bev says, I found myself in a situation where I just couldn't catch what they're saying. Though I must say that I understood Ziyi better than Heath Ledger in Brokeback-- and she doesn't even speak that much English!

But even taking a step back, why is this movie in English? I understand that this is a work of English fiction, but it just seems weird to experience this movie in English dialogue.

I'm also very confused about the role of geishas. On many occasions in the movie, Ziyi says to antsy men who are interested in sex, that it is not the role of a geisha to do these things, but at the same time, she sells her own virginity to the highest bidder. What the fuck? Are they trying to play that whole, "I'm all innocent" thing?

Aside from the fact that Ziyi's dance performance really looks like scenes from The Ring, it was still a pretty good film. Ziyi looked really good in the movie. She was perfect for the part-- as I'm sure she will really capture western audiences. Yes, there are currently some Chinese/Japanese historical and political issues. However I feel that it is a totally different matter, and we should not judge these two elements together.

In short, I recommend it.

Memoirs of a Geisha - [imdb.com]

There's nothing better to spread the Christmas cheer, by heading over to the AMC for the hugely anticipated Brokeback Mountain.

Perhaps that's what happens when a movie is hugely anticipated; you come of the theatre disappointed.

First things first, I'm not sure if it's because (1) the theatre's audio equipment was too quiet, or (2) I'm still too "fob" to grasp unfamiliar accents, but seriously, subtitles would totally make help to get the full movie experience. The character played by Heath Ledger, Ennis, doesn't speak much, but when he does , he just mumbles. If I was Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal), seriously I would slap him and tell him to friggin enunciate.

I came out of the movie with sort of a empty feeling. Perhaps I am a bit more critical on films that smell 'Oscar-winning', but I found the characters to be insufficiently developed. Sure, the movie greatly showed how much Jack loves Ennis and vice versa, but why?

Why do they love each other? I just don't feel convinced about their love; they herded sheep together and spent some time together-- then, when the movie catches me off guard, they just magically fall in love. I recall looking at Eric with my jaw to the ground-- just because it seemed like it happened too quickly. I really didn't know enough about the characters independently to really feel how they were that compelled to each other.

Aside from the lack of character development however, it was a good film. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's performance really resonated with audiences, and for that reason, they definitely deserve Oscar nomimations-- specifically Heath Ledger. Their performances were both compelling and convincing, and really applaud them.

The picture was very serene, and I totally would like to camp there. Though Heath and Jake are not my cup of tea (Mark mentioned that Anne Hathaway was the hottest cast in the film, and I agree), but I wouldn't mind a cowboy keeping me company.

Brokeback Mountain - [imdb.com]

After some long procrastination on working on the Linklog backend, I think it is finally open for business. I decided to keep the Blog and Linklog in separate feeds because (1) you can better choose which content you'd like to read, and (2) I just don't know how to combine the two feeds together anyways.

RSS users can subscribe to my linklog feed through the following links:
RSS 2.0, Atom 0.3.

As always, you can subscribe to my blog: RSS 2.0, Atom 0.3.

I'm currently using Bloglines to aggregate all of my blog content browsing, and I strongly recommend it.

If there are some bugs in the linklog feed, let me know and make me happy.

After Paolo's continuous recommendation-- and the fact that I was in no mood to cook anything, the roommate and I decided to try out Charlie's Lunch Box at the plaza for dinner.

Charlie's is the (almost) new place in town-- if you recall, it now sits right next to Campus Pizza, at the location where Jamaican Jerk used to be. It seems like there has been quite a bit of turnover at that site-- but nevertheless, Charlie's is now operating there, with its mighty orange storefront signage.

Charlie's is a watered-down student-priced Japanese Bento Box--but served in styrofoam-- fast food place, and is pretty good for Waterloo standards. The food is nothing special, but it's something decent to put in the stomach-- just like many of the other places at the plaza-- except for maybe Shandiz.

We were greeted with extreme courtesy. Whoa. This is different. An Asian establishment that really goes out of their way to be nice. This is weird. This is surprising. This is.... refreshing. Anyways, they greeted us with that intriging Japanese courtesy-- with the subtle nod, almost resembling a bow. (Anyways, I think they're Korean though.) The subtle bow reminded me of Tomo from Konja.

Oh yes. Nod, baby.

Anyways, I'm almost fascinated with their great positive service-- it was even better when "Mr. Charlie Sushi" was at the Mr. Sushi. He seemed to have recuited a sidekick-- which is just as jolly as he. They have a policy of unlimited rice with a purchase of a Bento Box. You just ask them to refill your box, and they serve you without hesitation and with a smile. A genuine one. Not McDonald's-like.

Anyways, as I paid for my meal, I recognized that it's Mr. Sushi ringing up my order. I was like "whoa." No wonder I haven't seen him doing his thing at the Sushi joint anymore. I've always loved Mr. Sushi (the man and the restaurant). Anyways, he says that this is his plan to diversify his business-- and good for him!

Invading the Plaza one location at a time.

I'm digressing again.

I don't know why Asian establishments, not just restaurants, can't all be like this. There are a few that are very good and courteous, but generally, they could use a bit of customer service training. I could understand to an extent that people shouldn't be too picky about the level of service at Asian food establishments, just because of its shear affordability. It's just like you wouldn't expect superior service at a local diner. But still, let's raise the par for Chinese food service, and let the world know how damn good our food is! Because it is!

The same goes for places like Canada Computers. Remember this entry? I hate them with a passion, but they're so damn cheap. I will draw the line that they are fucking asses, but I will put a higher tolerance when I'm desperate and need some computer gear.

Back to restaurants, does anyone remember the Seinfeld episode, when Elaine was trying to order Chinese at some "Lucky Dragon" place? It was funny. Elaine lives on the street where the delivery boundary lies, but because she lived on the wrong side of the street, the Chinese restaurant owner rudely declined to take her order. Elaine decided to walk across the street so that they would take her order.

Anyways, that story is just almost an accurate stereotype of Asian customer service. And it needs to change. Also, what's with Asian restaurants and gross washrooms? Ewwww. Oh gawd. It's just nasty sometimes.

We need a Asian restaurant revolution.

My mother has always told me never to waste any food. A very motherly quote I'm sure, but she engraved that into my head like a gentle drill seargent. She made sure that I shall never leave even one grain of rice in my bowl before I was finished and rushed to watch television.

Some mothers use the whole guilt-trip thing to make sure kids don't waste food (you know, with references to children in impoverished countries), but my mother was a little more creative. When I was just a small innocent Chinese boy, she claimed that any residual items from your bowl after meal completion will be translated to your "wife's" face. Let me give you an example. If three grains of rice are left in your bowl, then there will be three blemishes, moles, and other dots that could appear on your "wife's" face.

Call me pretentious, but I was avid to ensure no residue rice fairy (not me) is going to get between my "wife" and "her" face.

It's funny how things that were instilled as a child are still subconsciously done when you're older.

... which brings me to that period in the term when I stare at the fridge, turn on my thinking caps, and see what dishes I can make with the remaining food that I have.

It's always the worst time of the term for food, because there is usually a reasonable explanation as to why that particular edible item is still in the fridge. It's either:

1. just undesired
2. it's processed, or
3. it's undesired and processed

The following are my latest creations.

Dish 1: Testicular Eggs
Tonight, I managed to make meatball omelettes with frozen vegetables-- and boy was it gross. First of all, I was retarded to not have chopped up the meatballs into to more manageable chucks. Instead, it looked, well, like a man with one too many balls-- very round ones. Second of all, I was retarded enough to buy the crappy Our Compliments brand. It tasted like bad meat-- and my mom also says don't eat bad meat.

Shawn warned me before when we were at the Sobey's but I didn't listen. Suprisingly, the brand's rising crust pizza is magnificent! But now, I know better.

Dish 2: Bread Quiche
Last night, I took my month-old bread from the freeze, and used each slice as the crust for quiche. I used my roomates muffin tray, poured some eggs in, dumped some processed cheedar cheese and peppers and voila! I've got bread quiche. Woo! And it's good too!

I should take over as the Naked Chinese Chef.

Dish 3: Clam Chowder Medley
Put some canned Clam Chowder soup, canned tuna, chopped up broccoli, and you get Matt's specialty Clam Chowder Medley. It's pretty disgusting, you'd think that it's safe to put two fish products together, and again I was wrong. Regardless, it was still edible.

I have some Fried Dace (????) in my kitchen cabinet. I should've put some of that in there too-- every Chinese family's gross staple.

Now for a conclusion to my again long-winded entry:

1. Food experimenting is fun.


2. All this processed food is going to make me fat.

Sometimes, I feel like I'd make a really bad planner. Let me explain.

As many of you know, I'm currently working part-time for the Planning department as an information mangement assistant-- doing mostly rather mundane things such as administrative duties. Nevertheless, I don't mind it, it's a good break from the work I do at school.

Recently, with a lot of the admin work aside, I've been working on some promotional material for the school-- which involves my favourite Photoshop and Illustrator. Oh how I love thee.

Anyways, I presented my work to the planning ladies, only to find suprisingly quite a bit of criticism. Mind you, the comments were constructive, but inside my heart, I was quite disappointed. I went from Gill Sans (My latest favourite font, thanks to Larry-- Sorry Century Gothic, you've served your time), to Arial (GASP). From a trendy green pallate to gold (GASP-- Waterloo and their Gold). From portrait to landscape (not so GASP, but still).

My point is that I hate compromising my designs. As what Limp Bizkit always says (I know, so inspirational, that man), I like it "my way or the [congested] highway."

Call me a design / planning nazi. I don't care. Just don't make me compromise. It think that it is quite sad beacause my little incident is the microcosm of the realities of the Planning field.

We compromise almost everything.

Private consultants compromise by building further unsustainable unsustainable suburban development in the pursuit for money. Policy people compromise their ideas and beliefs from the always demanding public-- not to mention the lack of public funds. Urban designers, you compromise with your team members. Environmental planners compromise... well, because generally people just don't care.

Just as an aside, I refuse to believe that our main objective is to "facilitate." We need to be more than that. Let's move the planning field back closer to the rational-comprehensive model, and give the power back to the Planners! I feel I speak for many planners in that we refuse to compromise.

Now more than ever, I would like to establish my communist island.

Compromise is the devil. Banish compromise with the outside world, and I'll be a happy camper.

Now that we've got that covered, how can we avoid compromise within the planning profession? One can only dream.