Nyotaimori

if, say, you were creating an art wall of bugs for kids (2-5) and you had to come up with a creative name that was better than “bug wall” what would you call it? please respond.

i went to santa barbara this weekend and spent 11 hours in the library researching the library. the rest of the time i spent on the couch with nuala and garren eating three kinds of meat in one meal. that’s a lot of meat.

i also finished reading nick hornby’s the polysyllabic spree, my new favorite book. there’s a sequel called something about housecleaning which i totally just ordered from amazon. i’ve never read anything by hornby until now (though i did just read about a boy 2 days ago) but TPS is a collection of essays about buying books and reading books. man, i love books…about books.

one of my favorite parts is when hornby quotes this book by gabriel zaid that he just read, so many books: “‘the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more.’ that’s me! and you, probably! that’s us! ‘thousands of unread books’! ‘truly cultured’!”

ha ha ha! i like that he affirms one of my main purposes in life–owning lots and lots of books that i don’t read and will probably never read. thank you, nick hornby (and gabriel zaid), thank you.

seriously, respond on the bug front. i need suggestions for my brother’s girlfriend and i’ve got nothing.

sunshine, food, friends.

this is how i spent my easter saturday.

p.s.:

this entry is about snot. just in case you were thinking of reading it, i warn you well in advance. you can’t claim ignorance now, friends.

after approximately 10 days of varying levels of violent and apathetic illness, i dragged myself to the doctor today. only to learn that i have double ear infections. when later questioned by my mom on the phone, she asked if this meant two in the same ear or one in each. you might think 2 in the same ear is impossible, but no, i’ve had that before. this time it’s more forthright, being one in each ear, and one only marginally worse than the other. how did this come about? well, first i had the flu. then i had a viral throat infection. throughout, i had a cold. a massive quantity of snot appears to exist in my head. i have not yet determined how this is possible, but i am vastly curious. as is the kleenex industry with an eye to profits since i’ve gone thru 3 boxes in a week. and now i have ear infections linked to a sinus infection. stupid snot.

in an attempt to catalog my woes to nuala earlier today, i compared blowing my nose to someone shoving an ice pick repeatedly in my right ear while punching me in the jaw. my left ear has gone round the bend and is basically incommunicado at this point. meaning, if you sit next to me at a dinner party don’t expect me to hear anything you say if you’re on my left.

at a dinner party last night where adam and erin brought together their two respective families to meet and exalt in the coming child, (at olde spaghetti factory), my mom sat on my left. more fool her. but even i–with my snot, my lack of hearing, and my general malaise–could sniff out the awkwardness of that first family gathering.

i am now watching the scifi channel show, eureka. which is weird and confusing and, so far, pretty enjoyable.

last week i hung out with ellie, (her baby filled belly), and tyler. while sitting on her couch i flipped thru a babies r us catalog and eyeballed all the things i wanted to buy. not, of course, for myself since my belly is certainly not full of impregnating sperm, but for my brother who has knocked up his girlfriend. yes, that is right, i am going to be an aunt come october. i know there are not many family-minded individuals on CH. nor are there many people (that i know of) that are aunts/uncles. i’ve told some of my cousins who either are uncles or about to become uncles and we discussed the delights of not being parentals but getting to buy the love of these tiny new relatives. i am so excited to be the absolute best aunt ever to my niece or nephew. sure, i’m going to have to fight for this title with erin’s two sisters, but i don’t admit defeat easily!

my mom and i have already begun stock-piling for this baby explosion. i mean, first john and katherine will have isabella in april. a week later, ellie will have lucas. and then 6 months later, adam and erin will pop out their un-named, unknown gender baby. so far we have books, night-lights, and an antique crib. well, and a turtle whose shell has a constellation map that lights up on the ceiling, but i already gave that to ellie. i want to buy strollers, car seats, tiny baby clothes!, mobiles!, man i want to buy everything!

auntie michele. oh man.

SPOILERS IN HERE

SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS

FOR BATTLESTAR GALACTICA AND STARGATE ATLANTIS

SPOILERS

i’ve become obsessed with SCIFI channel shows. i downloaded and watched almost 3 seasons of battlestar galactica (BSG) and then netflixed season 2 of stargate atlantis and downloaded season 3. i had just started getting over the horror of BSG killing off one of my favorite characters (kara thrace) and was going to finish watching season 3 of it when they killed off carson beckett in SA. WHY must they kill people off? it’s fucking retarded. they are replacing beckett with jewel staite (from firefly) but that’s not healing my sorrow!

i am a sorrowful nerd!

so say we all? GO FRACK YOURSELF, MOTHERFRACKER!

In my library science management class, the teacher’s notes for this week, include a mention of the Theory X/Y debate. She writes, “Process theories consider one’s expectations and preferences. In my view [Theory X/Theory Y discussions] are a bit outdated. I’ve rarely met anyone who wants to admit they embrace Theory X attitudes–perhaps there’s one of you in this class, but I doubt it.” After reading the Theory X and Theory Y outlines, I have to agree that I would never want to embrace the majority of Theory X, however, I do kind of tend towards hating work.

#1 of Theory X is “Work is inherently distasteful to most people,” while the #1 of Theory Y is, “The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest. The average human being does not inherently dislike work; depending on controllable conditions, work may be a source of satisfaction (and will be voluntarily performed) or a punishment (and will be avoided, if possible).”

I don’t know if it has to do with my Gen-X apathy, my Gen-Y belief that I’m owed something (I was born on the cusp AND I hate labels), or the way I was raised (spoiled), but I do sort of find work “distasteful”. I still do it, but I mostly try to avoid it out of an inherent laziness. I certainly don’t see work as is “natural as play or rest”–it’s definitely something that I find more taxing than enjoyable. I used to say (along with my best friend) that we just needed to find a job that we loved and then we would like working. However I’ve lost hope in finding something I love doing enough to do it “voluntarily”. My friend still has faith, which I find remarkably deluded at this point (though still endearingly adorable, of course).

In point of fact, I’d say that no one does work just for the satisfaction of doing it. The whole chapter is about motivation and basically it’s motivators which make us do work–not our own free will. Even if someone’s motivation is just a pat on the back at the end of the day–that’s still a motivating factor which indicates a lack of volunteerism. Selfless do-gooders MAYBE treat AIDS in Africa or teach agriculture in South America out of the goodness of their hearts, but they’ve probably got their motivators too.

In the summary at the end of the this week’s chapter, the authors write, “Motivation is inseparable from an individual’s goals, values, psychic needs, and life experiences. What motivates one person may completely fail to strike a responsive chord in another.” Maybe it’s not that I haven’t found my perfect position yet, but that I have yet to discover the motivator which speaks to my individuality. Maybe someday I’ll find it and a job will no longer be just a job. Then again, maybe my current motivator which keeps me looking is to delude myself into believing that.

so maybe i didn’t make it to any of the indie films, but i’m totally hitting some of the asian american offerings. there’s one about a kick ass cheerleader high schooler fighting demons, an anime movie, and two films starring aishwarya rai!

so i hereby present to you, (my potential film buddies), the 4 films i MOST want to see and then all the other ones i kind of want to see.

march 17, Saturday

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, AMC Van Ness, 12:15pm

Wendy is the popular girl in high school and has her heart set on winning the Homecoming Queen title. Her world is turned upside down when a monk from China, Shen, arrives at her front door with news that she is the latest descendant in a line of powerful female warriors. Her mission is to defeat the evil sorcerer Yan Lo, who re-emerges every 90 years with intentions of world domination. Can Wendy put her Homecoming dreams aside long enough to save the world?

amazingly, this is a Disney original movie that they’re playing at the festival. ha ha ha! it’s like my dream come true.

March 17, Saturday

Mistress of Spices, Castro, 3:30pm

From the creative team of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (Opening NIght, SFIAAFF ‘03) comes this magical and heart-warming adaptation of Chitra Divakaruni’s celebrated novel, THE MISTRESS OF SPICES. Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai is Tilo, a beautiful but lonely “Spice Mistress,” one of a secret group of women trained in the healing powers of herbs and roots. From her fragrant spice shop in Oakland, California, broken hearts, strained relations and runs of bad luck can all be contained within the remedying powers of fenugreek, chilies and cinnamon. Tilo is bound, however, by the rules of her craft: she may only use her powers for others, can never leave the spice shop, and must never touch another’s skin.

film #1 with Aishwarya Rai. she’s so pretty that i’m pretty much willing to see anything she’s in. though the addition of dylan mcdermott to this film does make me suspicious. and it’s setting in oakland

March 18, Sunday

Umrao Jaan, Castro, 8:30pm

Director J.P. Dutta remains largely faithful to the novel and earlier film as he retells the life saga of Ameeran, who is kidnapped from her village at age eight and sold to an upscale kotha (brothel) in Lucknow. There, in the sophisticated cultural capital of North India, Ameeran is renamed Umrao, trained in music, dance and social etiquette, and groomed to become a courtesan. Years later, and now a stunning adult, Umrao debuts with a breathtaking solo performance before a local dignitary, Nawab Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan, now Rai’s real-life husband). Against all the rules, they fall for each other. But before long, Umrao’s life takes some dramatic, unexpected turns; Sultan is forced to leave town, another dignitary pursues Umrao and the British invasion looms.

film #2 with Aishwarya Rai and in this one she’s a prostitute in period clothing! with arm bangles and the head jewelery and oh man, that’s some good shit.

March 22, Thursday

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, PFA, 7:30pm

Makoto (the niece of the original heroine) is a vivacious—if klutzy—17-year old tomboy who spends her days playing catch after school with her guy pals Kosuke and Chiaki. Her carefree summer days are literally thrown for a loop when she discovers a mysterious ability to leap back through time. Her trivial temporal maneuvers—undoing little blunders or finding out exam questions in advance—soon lead to complicated wrinkles that have an inevitable impact on those around her. And when Chiaki confesses his love for her one day, she not only finds their delicate friendship triangle crumbling, but also that there are some things time can never change—or prevent.

Hosoda is a remarkable new talent who, together with a stellar creative team including art director Nizou Yamamoto (PRINCESS MONONOKE) and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (NEON GENESIS EVANGELION), has crafted a magical and surprisingly affecting film full of humor, warmth and the bittersweet pangs of first love.

wanna see! wanna see! eeee!

Other films I kind of want to see:

thursday, 3/15: finishing the game (comedy spoof about casting for bruce lee’s last role after he died)

friday, 3/16: big trouble in little china (on the big screen. tempting)

saturday, 3/17: shanghai kiss (oddly, it’s got the cheerleader from ‘heros’, and then kelly hu and the kareoke salesman from ‘keeping the faith’.), the end of the world as we know it (shorts, some of which look hilarious)

sunday, 3/18: american pastime (baseball in concentration camps! who doesn’t see the fun in that?), pavement butterfly (silent film from 1929), footy legends (australian rugby has-beens and a dream), king and the clown (south korean homosexuality and court jesters), Third I South Asian Shorts 2007 (mostly i’m interested in the animated scenes from the ‘Ramayama’).

wednesday, 3/21: exiled (big names from hong kong but it’s a thriller/drama about hit-men)