Chow Down

Bit of a tradition for this moi, but I just realized I still haven't put up the list this year. Without further ado...

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There I was, standing amidst 35 degrees Celsius heat in Disneyland, feeling like (SPOILER ALERT) Mufasa from The Lion King, about to get trampled to death by a stampede -- except in my case, it was a human stampede...of mainlanders.

Truth be told, this phenomenon is not found only during the summer months in Hong Kong -- it's pretty much an all-year feature of our most beloved landmarks and tourist spots. And it's not the best thing we can offer to our foreign friends, no siree. Having done a lot of traveling for my writing research work this summer, I've been having to deal with a lot of possible death scenarios by mainland tourists racing to do the same thing at the same time. Chill, people. Like seriously. I swear I'm not being racist against my own race, but damn. The shoving? Needs to be shut down. As in down. Shut. It. DOWN.

...yeah, I'm doing a little bit of random rambling because you know that job I was talking about in my last post? I got it. This moi will soon be writing full-time for Time Out Hong Kong. YEAH.

Also, still fangirling 24/7 over Ken Watanabe. If anything, I would like to say both Inception and Shanghai did not make enough use of his awesomeness. (Shanghai placed too much emphasis on the totally cliché romance between the spy and the beauty, aka John Cusack and Gong Li, while Inception basically had Ken's character Saito running around going "I'm so rich, I can buy airlines without a second thought.") This weekend, I'm set to actually take a rest from work and watch his 2006 (Japanese) movie, Memories of Tomorrow, which is about a middle-aged man having to deal with the personal and familial problems caused by an early onset of Alzheimer's Disease.

For your viewing pleasure:

     

Click here to download:

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This post was brought to you by Dom and Mal Cobb:

Serious lack of posting these days. I've been having a rather busy schedule these days. Yet I somehow still have time to obsess over Inception, Twitter and Tumblr (sorry, Facebook -- you royally suck now).

This is genius, "genius" being an understatement:

   

Click here to download:

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Watching the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Blu-Ray right now. I feel so proud to be Canadian. Still can't get over how I didn't go and support my own hometown. Blurgh. I blame uni.

In other news, I may have just landed myself an actual job interview next week. I don't even know what to say. Somewhat looking forward to the experience though.

I watched Inception for the second time in the cinema last night and now, I fully understand the whole story. Also, my obsession has reached a point that I keep dreaming within a dream within a dream. Awesomesauce much.

Also, I couldn't NOT make this:

I mean, Christopher Nolan spent like eight years writing this ingenius script and HATERS GOING TO ROTATE HATE, but this is fresh work. Meanwhile, James Cameron actually used existing storylines and adapted them into a space-age concept. (Looking back, I really did not enjoy Avatar.)

Random meme thing under the cut...

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I had to be reminded today that Season 4 of Mad Men has already started airing. And that there's a new episode of Lie to Me. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I still haven't caught up with CSI: NY. The world is coming to an end.

I honestly need to read more. I started reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead since like December 2009 and I'm still only about halfway done. In my defense, I was cramped with schoolwork. And there were a lot of architectural concepts I didn't really get. Sooo.

Forgot to mention a few things earlier:

• Met up with Emily (who I hadn't seen in six years since leaving Vancouver) twice this summer. It was awesome seeing someone from my hometown once more.
• Went to Ocean Park on Saturday and ended up with two blisters on both feet. Sigh.
• Had dinner with a few KGV ~musicians and Mr. Haggarty last week. Fun night...so much lols.

The Watanabe fandom continues. I actually sat through at least half an hour of a non-subtitled, Mandarin version of Shanghai just to see the man grace the screen. Unfortunately, I could have done much more productive things with those 30 minutes, as good ol' Ken barely spoke ten words during the minute of screentime he had. FAIL. At least John Cusack's beautiful face made up for it all. Even though he was "speaking" Mandarin. Erm. (Conclusion: This moi will be running to the cinema on August 26th to see the ENGLISH version of this movie.)

I feel like I now need to dedicate some love to Leo. I mean, I really wasn't just focusing all my attention on Ken during the Inception movie, I swear. :)

     

Click here to download:

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(Note: I really, really, REALLY wouldn't still be awake if I wasn't waiting for stupid Expedia to call me back about my refund request. Long story, but I am fighting a super frustrating case with them over my Prague-London flight cancellations. Never again am I booking with easyJet. NEVER.)

For the past two weeks since coming back to Hong Kong, I had been working with a bunch of incoming Form 1 students at Carmel Secondary School. They brought such pain to my life, it wasn't even funny. I mean, why the heck would a kid claim not to know any English, only to tell me to "drink Red Bull -- Red Bull gives you wings!" in flawless English upon hearing I was sleepy?! Tweens these days... Thank God I am now free from this job.

I finally watched Inception on Friday. It blew my mind...quite literally. I mean, I walked out of the IMAX cinema with a throbbing headache and impending nausea. The flick just made me think so much, I don't know how many LEVELS (pun intended for those who have already seen the movie) of consciousness I went through to figure the whole thing out.

In related news, I have a newfound crush on Mr. Ken Watanabe, who played Saito. I refuse to believe he's 50 because he looks nothing like it. Also because I have already fallen for enough celebs who could totally pass as my dad in terms of age. Life win. I managed to see Memoirs of a Geisha yesterday because I was on a Watanabe film fest mood and I loved it. Yes, the book is a zillion times better and will always be, but that much was expected. Ken was PERFECTION in his role as the Chairman and I got super duper jealous of Zhang Ziyi because you know, I am totally waiting for an older dude to charm me with his kindness someday. Totally. YOU KNOW IT.

     

Click here to download:

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This reminds me: I have my own screenplay to work on. Starting a thriller, but taking suggestions for character names and plot settings. Feel free to voice your ideas.

P.S. This was typed from Watson, my new MacBook Pro. Say hello!

Next stop: Psychobiology. Tomorrow. Sonuvabitch...BURNNN.

I'm a little nervous, but taking it easy. Wishing everyone the best of luck!

And none for you, Rob Green.

(Another England match tomorrow night. Your predictions?)

Must have been influenced by me. YOU ROCK, DAD COCO.

I've decided to separate my personal life from my official site (which I am now intending to use for employment purposes)...hence my blog is now a clean slate. It always feels good to start afresh. I will be re-posting some of my old stuff here just so this place looks less empty.

Oh, and uh, welcome.