This might well be an entry before any update in a long time. For one thing, China has created a "Great FireWall" to block pretty much everything I have been updating: Blogger, Xanga, LiveJournal, and Space. Plus, I cannot access many web sites that I need to make references to. I become really irritating even thinking about internet censorship. Heck, I am not even watching porn! Well, I might just take a true vacation, inlcuding including.
I no longer update very often as I used to be anyway.
It has been a crazy week at work lately. I have been trying to wrap up things so I can take my long vacation at ease. However, I kept getting new bugs. Luckily, all the problems are solved by now, I will keep my fingers crossed.
I also finished three film reviews last few days, so they can be published automatically when these films open in theaters this Friday: "The Last Station" (Germany/Russia/UK 2009 | 112 min.), "44 Inch Chest" (UK 2009 | 95 min.), and "District 13: Ultimatum" (Banlieue 13 - Ultimatum | Frence 2009 | in French | 101 min.).
I feel I am very productive, but I am also totally exhausted with all the stuff going on. I also was another Tony's personal guide touring the City over the weekend, and cooked dinner on Sunday night: 肉饼, 炒油菜, 粥, 咸蛋, 辣白菜.
This is the first time I boiled the salty eggs that I made over a month ago, and I am really happy that they turn out very well, with very oily york.
I just finished packing. In a few hours, I will board the plane to China. I didn't wait till the last minute to pack, I just didn't have time at all to do it. Now, my bag is a few pounds overweight. I hope it will be okay tomorrow when I check in.
I am really nervous about the cold temperature in Beijing and Harbin. The first thing after I arrive might be shopping for clothes, since I hardly brought any with me.
It has been raining, raining, and raining. It looks like the rain will continue for a few more days, if not longer. I don't mind the rain since California has been so dry for years, but I don't appreciate the inconvenience when my pants are all wet after just two blocks from the bus stop to my office building. And, the rain prevents me from going to hike in the mountains on Sundays.
However, once in a while, I enjoy a break between storms when the sky becomes mysteriously magical. I snapped a picture the other day from the window in my office when the sunshine tried to escape the dark clouds.
FORTRUN Magazine published this year's Top 100 companies. It's hard to believe that we made the #1 spot. To celebrate, we are ordering free lunch tomorrow. Sandwiches, nothing fancy.
Last week, I was just having the thought about going to China for a vacation. Well, when I checked the tickets, I found both tickets for direct flights between San Francisco and Beijing on United. Impulsively, I clicked on "Continue" and got my tickets to China. It's a little longer that I originally anticipated—five weeks. I am glad that the management is okay with it. Now I will have to deal with the bitter cold in Beijing and Harbin. Being able to spend the Chinese New Year there for the first time after so many years, it's all worth it to endure the cold.
Thinking about going to China, it makes me homesick already. I made some steamed buns with green onion and sea salt (大花卷儿). To my surprise, they rose tremendously, much larger than the past. When I was steaming them, they looked like about to jump out of the steamer by lifting up the lids themselves. It's the most successful 大花卷儿 I have ever made.
I am thinking to set a table on the street corner tomorrow morning to sell them for breakfast.
Thanks Xuan for introducing me to play a part in this short film. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful to embed this video here, I can only provide this link.
Speaking of films, I just realize that I have been seeing precisely 20% less films each year during the last couple of years. Therefore, my prediction for this year is to see 166 feature films if my model holds. I probably see more than that. This afternoon, I checked out seven films from the library. When I got home, I found out that all of them are subtitled—none speaks of them English!
During the entire calendar year of 2009, I watched 208 feature films, in addition to many shorts. Compared to last year's 260 feature films, I watched preceisely 20% fewer films. It has nothing to do with the economy slowdown. It is a deliberated effort from my part to reduce the bad movies I might otherwise have to suffer.
Even though I still watched a few bad films, there is little merit to focus on them any further. However, it is always a great pleasure to relive the magical movements watching some of the best films in 2009. After this list is completed, I realize a high percentage of Asian films. Not intentional, it is just the way it is I guess.
Although I am instructed to check to see if I need to report for jury duty every day last week, it turns out that I only need to go to the court house on Wednesday. The entire day is jury selection for a civil trial about a wine maker suing a wine distributor, or the other way around. I can't remember who is suing whom, but equally uninteresting.
There are about over 100 people are assembled to be selected as the jury for this trial. I don't know how the 20 some people are called up and sit in the box, then the lawyers from both sides start to ask (sometimes very personal) questions one by one, while the rest of us sitting around listening. The suing attorney is pretty bad, and I think I can do better than he! I wonder why his client has not fired him yet if the client wants to seek five million dollars in damage from the defendant.
What a wasting of time due to some rich people's greed for getting richer by suing some other rich people! Totally absurd. I think even I were called to be among those 20 some people, I would be excused quickly because I already had a strong opinion about it.
Finally there are 15 some people left as the jury who will go back to the court for about 10 days (we were told this should be a short trial), and I am so glad that I don't have to be part of it.
It's fascinating to see all walks of live come to one court room and subject to the same question and get ready to judge the same people. Although I am not happy about allegations like this which eats away government resources and wastes so many people's time by listening non-sense questions from the lawyers, the process is not always dull without entertainment. Everybody is giggling when one lady says she isn't sure about her son's age, either 37 or 38. Another gentlemen said he only knew his sons have jobs, but not sure what they do.
Isn't it interesting that how little some people know about their own family members?
A New Great Wall on the Internet Will Fail
When I close out my vacation days from last year, I learn that I have too many vacations days left from last year, 34 days. Since only 20 days can be carried over to this year, I must use up 14 days before the end of the March. Otherwise, I will lose them. Therefore, the idea of traveling to China for Chinese New Year gets revived again. Would I be able to find the tickets? Will see.
Speaking of China, I have been annoyed by Chinese government's absurd practice of blocking internet access to many Web domains and contents.
The Great Wall didn't protect China, only helped China to become a closed society and fell behind the rest of the world. In the end, Chinese people suffered from the foreign invasions, and the Great Wall becomes a symbol of human suffering and a tourist sight to remind us the unflattering history.
We are now living in the 21-century and an electronic age. What are these Chinese politicians thinking when they are trying to build a Great Wall around China on the internet? Are they out of their mind? Can they see that will never work? It's a losing battle just like the war on terrorism.
I understand that stability is extremely important to China. It's a fundamental condition for China to prosper and to continue its economical growth. However, stability needs to be achieved from within, not by forced upon from the authority. Otherwise, the society can only become a pressure cooker, and sooner or later, it will explode. When that happens, stability will disappear completely. I am very disappointed that Chinese government doesn't get this and continue to block Web sites around the globe.
I hope Chinese government soon can wake up and lift the ban on Web sites. I have been a supporter for greater freedom for people in China to access information through the internet.
Google's Offensive "Suggestions"
The latest development regarding this issue, as we all already know, is that Google threatens to leave China blaming Chinese government performing cyber attack to Google's service.
I don't buy it. I think this is Google's publicity stunt when they cannot make much progress gaining market share and make more money in China. Isn't Google claiming that it has smart employees working on various products? If whoever can hack into Google's system, that means Google fails. So what? Fix it, and move on. After the Pentagon suffered cyber attack, they didn't leave the internet, did they?
However, besides Google cries like a baby, it tweaks its "search suggestions" to take a cheap shot not to the Chinese government, but to the Chinese people.
If anybody tells me that this is not a human manipulated results, but purely based on internet users' naive search usage, then he should take a break from the internet and gain some senses. But, do I have any proof that Google is behind this? Of course not. However, here is why I think this is done by some "nerds" inside Google.
The behavior fits the "profile" when Google "plays around" on their homepage. Google hides subtle pranks in items that appear normal. You might not notice that it's a prank unless you are observant and diligent.
It's too easy to manipulate the ranks of the list of the suggested items after the phrase "Chinese people." If one can access the data, he can easily pick up a few offensive terms and bump their ranking by various methods, if not directly manipulate the data by hand.
The search frequency of the first item on the suggested list has been steadily flat in the past, until last week in January, which reflect the moment when Google and Chinese government's dispute becomes public. It shows clearly from this graph generated by Google's Insights for Search.
This is simply juvenile and pothetic. If this is all Google can come up with in light of the fight with Chinese government, I must have over-estimated Google entirely. Does Google think providing such an offensive suggestions about Chinese people will help them gaining more market share or any support?
However, supposedly that I am completely wrong about this (I sincerely hope so), supposedly that this is completely done by some morons playing tricks on Google's search engine and nothing to do with Google, then why hasn't Google issue any apology about this yet? If Google can issue an apology to one photo about the First Lady, I think Google can apologize to over one billion Chinese people.
I survived the first week at work after the long break. Actually, I was very productive and engaged last week at work. That's why in Europe, people seem to take vacations all the time, because it helps to make the working hours more efficient. Well, at least we can hope.
I have not posted home cooking photos because I have not been able to put some thoughts on what kind of new dishes to create. Although I enjoy cook many of my favorites, taking and posting repeated photos are not interesting to me.
After reading a post about salty duck, I decided to make a similar dish with chicken wings.
After I stir-fried salt with pepper and spices, I marinated chicken wings with the mixer of seasonings for about two days.
Yesterday, I cooked them and they turned out pretty good. All the flavors from the spices are infused into the meat.
Nevertheless, I need to think about something new to cook.
I am surprised by how windy today was. When I was standing next to the cliff watching the waves and tides, I kept thinking the images of me being blown into the ocean by the strong wind. Obviously, my GAD was acting up again.
The strong wind really stirs up the ocean big time.
Even in the middle of the vast ocean, there are waves and splashes without the help from rocks and cliffs.
Despite the windy condition, the hike was wonderful as always. I am not sure if it's due to the wind, there are quite a few white clouds floating on top of the hills—normally they are much darker clouds.
After I got back from the hiking, I sweated off toxicants in the steam room before I came home. Thus, I missed the "no pants day" entirely in the subway today. It's okay, since riding subways in undies is no longer a fresh idea any more anyways.
I am called to jury duty next week. Although tomorrow I don't have to go, not sure how many days I will have to sit in a court room the rest of the week. It will be interesting, even it's a civil court.
I am not sure civil court or criminal court this Chinese student will be. He shut down Newark Airport last week because he wanted to be romantic and gave his girlfriend another kiss after she passed the security check point. How did he do that? He sneaked in the terminal when the security guard was not watching.
Awwww! How romantic! Or should I say, how stupid?! For being that stupid alone, he should be put on trial in a criminal court. It's a crime against insanity.
I was going to write an essay about the terrorism in this entry, obviously, I am carried away. Oh well, there is always next time.
Legalizing same-sex marriage will not only grant equal rights to gay and lesbian citizens, it will also have an added bonus—breaking the tradition that men propose to women. Before that happens, especially if you are not gay, the only time for a woman to pop that big question is on February 29 in a leap year, according to an Irish legend described in a cute comedy "Leap Year" (USA 2010 | 97 min.). No matter how much you disbelieve the predictable plot, the film lightens your heart by flashing Hallmark Cards that charming Amy Adams and Matthew Goode appear in every one of them, with the magnificent landscape of Ireland as the backdrop.
Anna (Amy Adams) is a confident and in-control stager, who is expecting her boyfriend of four years to propose to her. When he fails to do so, she decides to go to Dublin and to propose to him on the leap day instead. On her bumpy journey to Dublin, she meets a handsome bar tender Declan (Matthew Goode) who agrees to take her to Dublin, with a price. After numerous arguments and mishaps, Declan and Anna finally arrive Dublin, but her life has been forever changed.
Even Anna and Declan are strangers who are mean to each other at first, it is quite obvious that they are meant to be the true romantic couple in the film, despite the fact that Anna has a long time boyfriend. After Anna and Declan meet, these two characters are perfectly presented at the center of almost every scene in the film. No matter day or night, Anna and Declan always show up together at the perfect spot in front of the breathtaking landscape. Each frame looks like a postcard from the Ireland's Tourisum Bureau or a centerfold in a fashion magazine. When they speak, it sounds like they are reading Hallmark Cards from time to time (remember what the bride stands up and says at her wedding?).
They are simply beautiful to look at, which make the audience to forgive the unconvincing transactions of the story line as well as characters' change of hearts. How can anybody want do doubt such a charming fairy tale? How can anybody not to wish them to be together forever, before they meet a more beautiful and charismatic person?
However, once the same-sex marriage becomes legal, this type of fairy tales will no longer exist, not even once every four years on a leap day. By that time, everybody can propose to anybody, regardless of gender, and Hallmark will sell more cards. The downside is that Anna will never be able to meet Declan, unless she gets a postcard she made for Ireland's Tourisum Bureau and decides to take a road trip.
After acting in the hilarious "Juno," innocent looking Michael Cera becomes a spokesperson for those shy, sex deprived, awkward high adolescents. A few of similar characters have been credited to his name. His latest role is a nerdy teenager virgin in director Miguel Arteta's comedy "Youth in Revolt" (USA 2010 | 90 min.). Even with a French twist, his role gets repetitive and he is unable to repeat the same magic as in "Juno."
Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) is a soft-spoken shy nerdy teenager who thinks about sex all the time, but has never been with a girl sexually. On a family vacation at a trailer park (indeed, that is the location!), he meets and falls for a beautiful girl Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) who lives in a trailer with her super religious and protective parents. Sheeni hints Nick that the only way for him to get her: "You must be bad, Nickie. Be very, very bad." Nick takes the advice seriously and invents a complete different persona—a mustached chain-smoking French named Francois Dillinger (Michael Cera). With the encouragement from Francois, Nick goes on a rebellious rampage that leaves his innocent good boy image forever behind him.
The film is based on C. D. Payne's 1993 novel that has a cult following. Thanks to the book, the film has plenty goofy dialogues that make the audience chuckle. However, while Nick is liberated from being an innocent boy, the film appears to be bond and constrained. It never reaches to the level that makes us laugh out loud. The film would have been funnier if it were as free-spirited as its fantastic music sound track.
Michael Cera is a talented exellent actor and he gives terrific performance in many films, including this one. However, it is time for him to grow out of those sexually frustrated and monotone talking adolescent roles. For one thing, sooner or later, he will have some facial hair like Francois does.
Yup, I agree that 2010 should be pronounced as twenty-ten. It turns out that the last ten years have been all wrong. People have mis-pronounced almost the entire decade as two thousand something.
That's how messy English is. In Chinese, it's precisely called the year of two-zero-one-zero. There is no confusion or inconsistency there.
Everybody thinks 2009 was a lousy year and so happy to see it's gone. I don't have anything particular against 2009, but I also like everything new and refreshing. I am looking forward to a fantastic new year.
Motivated by the new year, I finally finished something that I have been procrastinating forever. For example, two of the six little legs of my marble flour board broke off from the bottom of the board. I finally glued them back on New Year's Eve. I also threw out some of my shoes/clothes that I should have thrown long time ago.
However, as I expected—I know myself so well—I didn't finish many of the projects such as organizing my photos and movies, and backing up my computer files etc during the 10 day long holiday break. Oh well, there is always this brand new year to do all that, and much more. He he...
On New Year's Eve, a few friends got together and we cooked a few dishes at home, and drank a lot (wink wink). However, I was a good boy and didn't waste myself. Our designer of the year created the 2010 logo on his refrigerator door. What a lovely start for the new year!
On my way back home, when I walked by the Fire Station 41, the fire alarm in the building adjacent to the fire station went off. People were on the sidewalks, drinking and chatting. Couple of them open the front door of the fire station, but it seems nobody was there! One guy began to yell into the fire station: "Fire!" But, no response. I thought that was hilarious. You live next to a fire station, only find out that nobody responds to you even you scream "Fire" inside the fire station.
When I woke up in the morning on New Year's Day, I vividly remembered the dream I just had.
I am on an airplane. The airplane suddenly begins to descend. I look out through the window, it is raining and I see streetlights moving along the side. Oh no! The airplane is making an emergency landing on the city street! Then the airplane comes to a complete stop. I roll down the window to check what's going on. As long as I roll down the window, many latino's begin to reach into the window to sell me something.
Okay. That was the first dream I had in 2010, which is pretty weird. I will leave it to some professionals to interpret.
New Year's Day was misty, which was perfect because less people would drive out. How could I start the New Year any better than in the peaceful mountains in Marin Headlands?
It was extremely quiet. All I could hear was my boots stepping on the dirt and birds jumping around along the side of the trail. The moist air was filled with scent from plants and trees, with a hint of the sea. I was disappearing, into the wildness. I made frequent stops and embraced the absolute silence.
By the time I hiked over the hill, I began to hear the sound from the ocean and the deep humming from ship horn. The soothing sound sneaked underneath the fog and broke the silence I had on the other side of the hill.
Then I saw the bus was leaving the bus stop at the bottom of the hill—about 10 minutes away from where I was. Now I would have to wait for another hour for my next bus. Fine! Hike more! I turned around and went to the other direction and see more cliffs. I snapped more pictures from the top.
No matter how many times I go to Marin Headlands, not enough. Today I went there again. The experience is nothing short of feeling vigorous, even it was quite windy.
I really enjoyed the holiday break. However, the reality is that tomorrow I will have to go back to work, like everybody else. I should go to bed now.
Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu's second feature "Police, Adjective" (Poliţist, Adjectiv | Romania 2009 | in Romanian | 115 min.) is very different from his critically acclaimed feature debut "12:08 East of Bucharest." It is much quieter, slow paced, and observant. It requires plenty patience to allow the story to settle in and to allow the characters to develop. The film won the Un Certain Regard jury prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and is selected as Romanian's submission to compete for this year's Oscar, although it might be a very long shot for this film to get nominated.
The story is set in today's post-Communist Romania. Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is a detective who is assigned to investigate a high school student who is a suspect for smoking pot with two other schoolmates. He follows the boy day after day like a CIA agent who is tracking down an international terrorist group. He files hand written reports with great details about his uneventful surveillance. Although he dutifully performs his police work and deals with the bureaucracy, Cristi has doubt whether it is the right thing to do to lock away the school kid for seven years simply because the kid shares a joint with his schoolmate.
During the entire film, the sky is gloomy, the air is cold, and the environment surrounding Cristi is dull. They serve as a metaphor to Cristi's boring, eventless, and depressing job as a law enforcement. Nothing is exciting at his job, or at home. There is no murder to solve, and no robbery to stop. Yet, everybody at the police station is extremely busy on something. His pursuit to the school kid appears to be endless.
Many long takes in the film prolong this type of monotone sentiment as if Tsai Ming-liang were composing those scenes. However, in the end, the patience from the audience is rewarded with a hefty dividend.
