The dish I almost didn't make.

Ken: Hey so you had dinner?
Me: No, I'm thinking of eating out, been cooking for the last five days. Besides I don't think we have anything left to cook. Let's eat out.
Ken: Nah man, I'm too tired. We're all out?
Me: Yea. (opens fridge) Well we have some meat.
Ken: How about spaghetti?
Me: Didn't we just have that the other day with Japanese curry?
Ken: That's different man, look, we have mince.
Me: Well, I do have tomatoes in a can. Maybe I'll use short pasta and the leftover carrot. Ooh, broccoli. I can dice the stalks too...

If we didn't have that conversation I probably wouldn't have cooked the best tomato minced pasta ever.

Arrested cultural development.

This post might be crammed with three concepts now that I only blog once a week. I've been doing that after taking a decent advice from a respected authoritative figure ie., the husband to the woman who gave birth to me. He insisted that the time I spend on blogging could be put on to other constructive use. I took on his advice and spent my extra time finishing the whole three seasons of Arrested Development.



I wanted to write a review about it, but after searching high and low on highly influential websites eg., Wikipedia, I found the most honest review on the Stuff White People Like website:

They love it for a number of reasons. Firstly, since the show was cancelled before it jumped the shark, it’s effectively like a rocker that dies at 27. Also, the show got terrible ratings, meaning that it wasn’t ‘mainstream'.

They also love it because there are a few references to white popular culture, and if there is one thing that white people love, it’s cultural references that they understand (see Garden State, The Onion, and Juno for examples).

Coincidentally to counter the credibility of the website, I found this banner ad at the bottom of the page:


(note: Stuff White People Like #11 Asian Girls.)

SWPL was also published into a book, which I bought for my partner at work for his birthday last year, hinting an irony of a non-white telling a white what he should like:



In fact having read through the list myself I've managed to relate with a lot of stuff that white people like. Maybe they should rename the website Stuff White People Like and Non White People Would Like To Have Too. Then again, it's probably not too catchy. I won't be surprised to see Stuff Asians Like or Stuff Brown People Like to appear in the next 15 years with the exact same content given that's the amount of time the rest of the world needs to catch up with white people. You know, stuff like:



Only non white people buy and carry LV bags nowadays. The only white people you see with LV bags are either the celebrities on the ads, or white people trying to score a beautiful Asian bride. So the couple would look like the ones on the Hot Chicks with Douchebags website, which has also been published into a book recently...



...but the hot chick would be Asian.

So I shall end this post with a revelation I had about wedding photography recently with LV bags: After paying huge amount of money, you end up getting the same *beep* everyone else has.

20th Century Boys.

Simply put, this is THE manga that I think the story, substance and drawing surpasses even American graphic novels. In fact I'd call it a Japanese style graphic novel.
I thought I'd never get emotional again over comics yet today I almost cried over 20th Century Boys.
I really don't know how Naoki Urasawa pulled it off, but his drawing style is a combination of Slam Dunk, One Piece, and Frank Miller.
At first glance, the story is really B grade: A bunch of middle aged men realising that the disaster stories they've written as kids are happening in real life. But the way it was told through three time lines spanning over 50 years from the 1970s to 2015 really adds another dimension.
I can't put my finger on the genre. There's childhood, there's modern Japan, there's conspiracy, cult, biological warfare, religion, mystery, virtual reality, giant robot, politics, all tied together with substantial historic events.
What broke me was probably the loss and mistake you made as a child, and the consequences you face as an adult years later. Everyone is vulnerable and no one wants to be a hero. Come to think of it, the whole manga is about making up for wrong doings in the past. Some take a lifetime to resolve.
This review can't do it justice. Imagine a kid trying to explain Shakesphere with a blog post. I'd recommend you to read it now.

Tribute to Kodakchrome.

Kodak has decided to retire the Kodakchrome film, ending it's 74 year old run. Honestly I've never used, or been able to afford to use the film before, but somehow it's still sad to see another film die. One day it could be the Kodakchrome film, another could possibly mean film all together.

A couple of people have asked me recently the difference between film and digital. I get really annoyed by myself inside because I can't seem to explain or sell my bias towards film. This morning I've managed to relate that to driving a manual or an auto car.

The other day on a pre-shooting meeting I've got a person asking me: so what's a film? I've shot digital since young so I don't really know how it works. She was only probably a year younger than me or two.

It is pretty amazing to think how one day car manufacturers would stop making manual cars. I mean, is it even possible?

Warning.

This may very well be the most heart breaking photo of 2009.
My heart died a little.

Crapmaster.

I met up with a friend of mine in Klang 3 weeks ago. We were junior high school mates and managed to catch up after 10 years of absence.

Inevitably we talked about childhood dreams. High school dreams in fact, so it wasn't THAT distance and ridiculous.

Before doing what she ended up doing in an oxcam uni, she aspired to be a pilot.

However, her dad was pessimistic about that career choice since flying aircraft is primarily an all-dicks industry. He went and spoke to the headmaster, and the headmaster sat my friend down, in her late teens and said (I might've been simplifying the advice session a bit too much but that was pretty much what it got boiled down to):

Why do you want to be a pilot? It's just like a taxi driver but you're in the air.

Ok. I'm alright with sitting teens down and trying to explain what you didn't want them to do to fulfill your own screwed up judgement. But, I'm sure there's a nicer way to ruin someone's dream?

Like, shit, why do you want to be a headmaster? It's like a pimp, just that you're selling education and offering blow jobs to get donations to build a library.

I never realised how much this story had affected me until I started counting the times I'm repeating this to my friends. I very much like to have the headmaster to participate in those games in SAW although I've never seen one yet.

No, really?

I mean, what story is there to talk about? Andy's all grown up. Perhaps there are other new toys like the Wii and HDTV? Wait, isn't Buzz the new toy?
Never the less, 2010 should be a good year.

Pronounced See-nek-doh-kay.

Once in a while, you come across one of these movies which your instinct tells you it's fantastic, yet you just can't give an articulate explanation when your friends ask, 'so what's it about?'
I've had such experience with Donnie Darko, Chungking Express, Lost Highway, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and perhaps the first Matrix.
I think since all his previous success Charlie Kaufman had been given total freedom and budget to do whatever he wants in this movie.
Will it sell? Actually it DIDN'T sell. But like Shawshank Redemption and Donnie Darko, this movie will come back and haunt the top 100 movie list for years if not decades to come.
Attempting to explain the movie would be futile, yet the casting I should add, is perfect. The impact of this movie will haunt me for days.
One of the forums in imdb mentioned 'It says a lot about you if you don't like this movie.' I agree.