Personal Dork Assistant

Movie Times

GF and her sis/cousin wanted to go see Perfume. Not sure exactly how a movie about killing pretty young girls and rendering them for scent appealed to them, but their HSBC credit card offered 2-for-1 tickets on weeknights so I was happy to fill the foursome. The murdering and the extractions were creepy but not particularly gruesome, thankfully. The rendering of pre-Revolutionary Parisian streets was gorgeously disgusting, a slam-dunk contrast with the pastoral Provençal scenes. It must've been a challenge to demonstrate the sense of smell via an audiovisual medium. I think they managed the best they could, but perhaps the novel is really the way to get into the character and story.

Went to see Paris, je t'aime later in the week as a more proper date-movie. It is composed of eighteen short vignettes on Love, each set in a different Parisian arrondissement. Each segment was directed by a different director, including many big names such as the Coen Brothers, Gus van Sant, and many other art-house and Euro names who I'm sure are all fine filmmakers but fall outside of my admittedly limited cultural scope. It is refreshing to have an arty film where if you don't like the quirky methods, in a few minutes you'll be transported to a much different take, skipping from earnest to tragic to romantic to gay to young to old to... mimes?

Paris is the backdrop in name and vision, but the directors tried hard to avoid the cliched scenery. The Coens' segment for the 1st takes place in the Tuileries Metro station rather than the gardens and the Louvre directly above. The 8th takes place at night in Gothic light, with no sight of the namesake Madeleine. In contrast, we see more of the environment in the double-digit districts. Shots of the gray buildings in the 16th to set the contrast between the humble home and the anonymously tony work destination of a nanny. More anonymous apartments and parking lots in the Place des Fêtes for the story of an African immigrant in a rough neighborhood. The dull apartments and storefronts of Parc de Choisy, the Chinatown of Paris, makes for a plain backdrop for the mix of surreal farce and yellow fever. The audience got a big kick out of the Chinese-speaking bits, although the whole hot-Chinese-supermodel hanging off the arm of a decrepit white guy hits a bit too close to the cliché for me. Wes Craven picked Pere Lachaise as his setting, of course. However, he went with a straightforward and rather cutesy romance rather than his usual cinematic approach. Being different is good, but being good is usually better.

LA Trip

Yay, back on the air thanks to an interim Intel build of ecto. Now I can get back to posting via my favorite editor while awaiting the next version.

The necessity for the Intel-architecture upgrade was because dad was using my hand-down Titanium Powerbook with a dying screen and pokey enough to try even his patience. So even though I wasn't in a hurry to upgrade Dad gave the okay for me to hand over my Aluminum Powerbook and get a new computer for myself. With the Core Duos, the Macbook offered enough processor oomph for my usage and I was tired of carrying a 15" computer through airport security. Put most of the savings toward DIY memory and hard disk upgrades, thanks to the easily removed disk caddy in the Macbook.

Playing with the new toy is great fun, and surprisingly painless thanks to the Migration Assistant. Nevertheless, what was to be a nice little vacation turned somber when dad's friend uncle Chiang died a week before I got home. He'd already been slightly impaired by a stroke earlier and was due for a follow-up operation. But another massive stroke took him out. Was already planning to take dad to LA to visit, but unfortunately a fifty-year friendship had to end on a regretful note over a matter of days.

Drove down with mom and dad to stay with auntie Chiang to keep her company along with her visiting relatives during the difficult time. Michael manned up and took care of the details, kept everybody fed, and moved things along. His three-month pregnant wife was so busily helpful she even impressed Mom. Their church conducted a personal but dignified ceremony, and Rose Hills provided the facilities. The memorial service was under a gray and windy day, but the burial day was beautiful with the clouds and smog cleared away by the Santa Anas, perfect as the plot is up in high location with a view all the way to downtown LA.

Also stayed with uncle WN for a couple of days at their new Irvine place, near to UCI. So close that Alan's living at home, despite objections from Sam and I. A bit disappointing that he's living at home and he actually spells out WTF when using the term in speech, but then I was a dork in college, too, and look at how I turned out... Oh, well. Anyway freshman year looks to be a cruise, with general ed humanities and basic chem/bio that he'd already seen in AP. We'll see how he does when he meets O-Chem. Sam thought O-Chem was easy. He wins.

Got dragged to KC for work for a couple of days which wasn't much fun but wasn't too terrible. Didn't have much time to see Abby, et al. since after the de facto separation they live a bit away in San Marino. Had a few minutes to chat with Abby before she was off to run concessions at the Homecoming Game. She's getting her ass kicked in AP Chem and Calculus, which is totally understandable, not to mention AP Spanish's no walk-in-the-park either. Doesn't help her Class Rank that the school is 70% Asian and so nerdy that Final Fantasy was their Homecoming theme. Hopefully she turns it around in time for midterms.

Had an afternoon free and decided to visit the old alma mater and pick up some alumni paraphernalia. Also visited the nearby motel where mom's cousin is the resident manager. They were running a motel of their own until some bad luck wiped out their investments. The first case I've seen where people managed to lose money on California real estate. It's even more awkward when folks down on their luck act as the generous hosts, and mom wanted to avoid the trouble. Kind of a shame, really.

Wanted to bring something for Sam&Michelle that was tasteful, Taiwanese, and cheap. Sam likes cookies, so I got them a box of Starbucks eggrolls, which is happens to be a Taiwan thing, but with the coffee flavor and Starbucks name slapped on the tin to bring it in-line with the Starbucks Aesthetic. Even if we stick to Peets and Blue Bottle and as much as we hate to admit it, we're smack dab in the middle of the demographic. Hey, sometimes a cookie's just a cookie. At least it wasn't another box of 鳳梨酥 pineapple cakes.