Category: silver screen

Go to the Movies by Yourself

March 10th, 2010 · · memory, pursuit of happiness, silver screen 18 comments

There’s something really comforting and cozy about sitting on a couch even by yourself and enjoying a movie. Perhaps under a blanket or while mindlessly munching on popcorn as you vicariously get taken to another world by way of cinema. Particularly when things are tough, watching a movie can quiet and dull all sorts of mind chatter and heartache. I remember after a particularly bad break up several years ago, I kept a movie log (surprise, surprise, I log everything) and my movie count for an entire summer ran over EIGHTY movies. Kym accompanied me once that summer to Blockbuster and to my utter embarrassment, the Blockbuster dude told her to take me out.

All that said, what about going to the movies by yourself? I’ve been doing this for years and cannot remember the first movie I saw by myself. Sporadically, I have opened up about this solo activity of mine and am often reacted to with shock and or involuntary pity and always with curiosity. “Don’t you feel like a loser?” gets asked often. My answer is no. I have only one stipulation I place on myself out of insecurity and that is to avoid Friday and Saturday nights. Those are the only times I feel self-conscious. Otherwise, it feels very indulgent. I even break out date night outfits to make it more of a treat. So there you have it, I’m a proponent for going out to the movies solo every once in a while.


Some advantages of going to the movies on your own

  • Feels just like you’re watching a movie in your living room but with a much, much bigger screen.
  • No awkward reach overs to share popcorn. It’s all yours!
  • If you avoid Friday and Saturday evenings, a movie theatre provides a very quiet haven to just sit and be before your movie starts.
  • You don’t have to have a date to wear a date outfit. (I wore my sparkly headband last night.)


Question: Have you been to the movies by yourself? If so, what have you seen?

P.S. Saw An Education last night. A WONDERFUL film. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Galaxy Cafe

December 22nd, 2009 · · Austin, savory, silver screen No comments - Tags: , ,

4700 West Guadalupe
Austin, TX 78751

(512) 323-9494
www.galaxycafeaustin.com

Friday night, Alan, his friend, and I were going to see Avatar in IMAX (it is really worth it to see this movie in IMAX; you get the ulimate experience). Alan was craving a burger and we wanted to eat somewhere close to the Bob Bullock Museum, where the IMAX is. So we chose Galaxy Cafe. All three of us had been here once before and it was our second time. Alan and I went for lunch once and the place was jam-packed. The atmosphere reminds me of a trendy cafeteria. The set up is easy, upon walking in there are menus for you to grab near the door and up near the cashier. You order and then they take it out to you. I could have gone for a burger too myself, but I was too lazy to wash my hands so I ordered their bow tie pasta with shrimp. It comes with either a salad or soup.


The Mexican lime soup reminds me of this traditional Vietnamese sour soup. It has the same tangy sour broth and tomatoes in the broth. The Vietnamese soup has catfish in it. Yum! Galaxy Cafe’s Mexican soup is tasty and light. The server who brought it out told me it was one of their most popular soups.


The bow tie pasta was tossed in a lemon cilantro butter. Lemon cilantro butter won me over when I was trying to decide what to order. I ordered mine with shrimp. Very comforting, very filling. I think I can make this.


Inside Galaxy. Not as crowded as lunch hour.

Here’s how you should see Avatar:

December 19th, 2009 · · silver screen, still-frames One comment

1. 3-D
2. IMAX
3. Center back row

That’s all. :)

It’s absolutely beautiful and pretty and fantastical. The 3D glasses are smoking hot too!

This is It!

October 29th, 2009 · · music, silver screen No comments

Alan and I watched This is It last night which was also opening night. I was expecting it to be good and interesting but it was much more! I left pretty enthralled. It’s basically the concert that he was going to have in England. I knew he was beyond talented but I had no idea he was so involved and is such a perfectionist. He had the theatre cracking up a few times. It was a real treat. Alan tells me it’s only showing for two weeks so you should hurry and go catch it! Oprah was very timely and opened up her show about This is It today. You know, Oprah gets most of her shit right.



Ten Random Rules I Live By

October 8th, 2009 · · lists, love, pursuit of happiness, silver screen 12 comments - Tags:

Alan and I saw Zombieland the other day. It was a pretty funny movie and after you watch it you’ll understand some of the references on your facebook statuses. That’s what happened to me anyway. The main character had a list of rules to help him survive Zombieland which inspired me to blog about some of the rules I live by.



Ten Random Rules I Live By

1. Always say thank you. I once had a conversation with a friend about how one of the girls he dated was upset he didn’t say thank you for the things she did for him. I actually disagreed with him and thought it’s always imperative that you thank people, no matter how often they do whatever it is they’re doing for you. He said they were everyday things and he felt silly saying thank you so often. Sometimes Alan looks at me funny when I still thank him for meals. Every now and then I forget but I always try to tell him later when I remember. I stand by my everyday thank yous. I think routinely telling someone you’re grateful for everything you’re grateful for makes it harder to take them for granted.

2. Tell the people you love, you love them and often. I have this fear of dying or people dying on me and things ending without people knowing how much I care about them. If for some reason I don’t feel safe saying the words then I make sure they know by my actions. My dad used to go “mmhmm” whenever I told him I love him. I’ve thrown many pouty fits and now he says “Love you, baby” after every phone call and it makes my day. I know my dad didn’t have to say it because he’s my dad and my gosh, I’d have to reserve an entire day at a coffee shop to begin to tell you all the ways he shows me he loves me. But I’m daddy’s girl and so I pulled a few daddy’s girl manipulations to get him to actually say the words. If it’s possible, say the words.


Horse Sashimi

3. Never “EW” other people’s food. My parents taught me this one. When you see someone eating something that doesn’t entice you or grosses you out, keep that to yourself because he or she is EATING it which means they find it enticing. It should be pretty obvious but being of a minority culture, I’ve experienced a lot of people “ewing” foods they find strange to them. My dad would bring his lunch to work sometimes and some of the customers would peek over and then say something off putting. It’s just rude, ya’ll.

4. Tell the truth. Some people have AMAZING memory and years from now when the gravity of whatever you’re hiding fades, you’ll slip and the truth will escape you, and you’ll be called out. Plus it takes too much energy to keep track of your lies and cover your trail.

5. Don’t pick your nose in the car. People can see you.

6. Don’t curse at or call names when fighting. I’m a big curser and have a sailor mouth. One time I won’t curse is during a fight. It surprises me how many people I know can curse at people they care about during fights. It doesn’t really get you anywhere. It’s not constructive, it doesn’t tell people how they can go about reaching a solution with you. It also weakens whatever argument you have, takes away from your credibility, and builds resentment. I just don’t do it.

7. Pee after sex. Keeps the UTIs away.

8. Never be bored. I cannot remember the last time I was bored. My philosophy is that there is so much to do, see, eat, learn, experience, etc. There’s really no time to ever be bored. Whenever I go meet up friends or go anywhere where there might be some idle time, I have a book to keep my mind going. If perchance I forgot to pack a book, I take care of errands, return phone calls, delete out old messages on my phone to empty space. I’m not even idle when I pump gas. I use that time to clean out my car! Never be bored. Being bored is an absolute waste of time.

9. I don’t know shit. This is what my dad taught me growing up. I don’t know shit. Never pretend that I do because it’s never true. He said the only way I can learn is to just know I’m not smart. There’s too much to learn in the world to ever settle with being smart. He also taught me that people resent people who think they know their shit. When people resent you they won’t teach you anything and everybody has something to teach.

10. Have a nice firm handshake. Limply shaking hands could destroy your first impression. It makes me shiver when a man gives me a limp-fish-hand. Girls, you shake firmly too! I often get limp hands from girls and oftentimes catch myself already tuning out their introductions.

What are some rules you live by?

Photos taken from and by my talented friend, Thomas.

Book Review: Lovely Bones

September 28th, 2009 · · on the nightstand, silver screen 3 comments - Tags:

On my flight to Boston last weekend, I forgot to pack a book and even though I was running on 2 hours of sleep it made my flight a little uncomfortable. Traveling without at least one book makes me feel just as uneasy and naked as how most people feel when they leave their cellphones at home. Usually when I travel I like having lighter books to read. The faster the better for airplane rides. Mary Ellen took me to her favorite used book store in Braintree, Massachusetts and I made sure to find something light in addition to the Sartre and Faulkner. I also picked up an intriguing book called Lucifer Effect, a nonfiction about how good people turn evil. None of these are light. I finally stumbled on Lovely Bones. I’ve been meaning to read this book since it made the Best Seller’s List a couple of years ago? I have even picked it up at libraries before and other used book stores and I vaguely remember not being hooked. I have no idea why. I seriously remember picking up this book at least a handful of times, flipping through, being bored, and putting it back.

I don’t remember why or how I could put it back, The first two sentences really does engage and intrigue you. “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” The rest of the novel is narrated by Susie as she watches over her friends and family and murderer from her heaven. I usually have a hard time with religious imagery but I didn’t find this religiously intrusive at all. (I’ve only read one other book with heaven as a setting and that was over 5 years ago and that is Five People You Meet in Heaven – which I wholeheartedly recommend! )

The reason why I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars is the ending. I didn’t really care too much for it. Also, I made an allowance for heaven in my reading but towards the end there was an incident that I found completely made the book a little hokey. I don’t want to give it away but uh, look for it in chapter 22. That was about where I lost my hardon for this book. The ending was a little anticlimactic for me which was something I was worried about throughout the novel but what I do appreciate about this book is that it was so difficult to put down. Alice Sebold never lost my attention as do many sad fictions go. I didn’t find myself giving up (Time Traveler’s Wife) or being resentful of the time wasted afterwards (Memory Keeper’s Daughter and My Sister’s Keeper ). I felt empathy for all characters except the mother which was a contrast to my feeling NO empathy for anyone in My Sister’s Keeper.

I especially recommend this book to:

Those who enjoyed Five People You Meet in Heaven and To Kill a Mockingbird

P.S. They’re making a movie of this book. I like the cast. I’ll watch it even though I’m not expecting much from the movie.

500 Days of Summer (slight spoilers included) and Alain de Botton

August 3rd, 2009 · · love, on the nightstand, silver screen 19 comments

Two of my favorite books when I’m down on a relationship or trying to move on are both written by Alain de Botton, one is called On Love (I think in Europe it’s called Essays in Love) and the other is called the Romantic Movement. I haven’t read any of his nonfiction. The reason why these two books helped me through break ups is they both have the same plot. Boy and Girl meet, fall in love, break up. In the end, both books end with a new beginning in a new relationship. He presents love as a cycle. They’re not good books to read while you’re happy in love but when you’re feeling blue, it’s a bit uplifting. You will love again and again until you meet that last person. Now I’m sure there are plenty of books with that plot but Alain de Botton peppered On Love with a lot of philosophical references and as a philosophy major, the references were recognized and appreciated by me. Some people may find his writing cynical, but I find it quite matter of fact.

So yesterday I watched 500 Days of Summer with Jamie. As I’m watching, I start to think about Alain de Botton’s two novels about love I read. It had all the Alan de Botton pieces. Boy and Girl meet. Boy falls in love. Boy gets his heart broken. As I’m sitting there, and am thinking about Botton, Boy, also known as Tony much to my utter surprise and delight, gave one of Alain de Botton’s books to Girl (her name is Summer hence 500 Days of Summer). He gave her, Architecture of Happiness. I’ve been meaning to read Botton’s nonfiction. Maybe I will start with Architecture of Happiness.

Anyway. I really recommend this movie. I’m completely taken by it. Very sweet. Kim, watch it. You’ll love it. Also, you Juno lovers would enjoy this movie too. I actually want to watch it again.

If interested in checking out any of the aforementioned books, please consider using my links from this entry.

Related Blog Entries:

April 5, 2008- Romantic Movement excerpts
Mar 24, 2008- Romantic Movement and On Love excerpts

Homeless Experiment

May 29th, 2009 · · in passing, silver screen 3 comments

This is a plug for my friend, Neville who is always up to interesting antics. His current project is the Homeless Experiment. He hasn’t done it yet but I’m waiting with bated breath. Basically, he is going to live on the streets of Austin, Texas for 5 days, 4 nights. He outlines what he wants to learn and research in the aforementioned link.

What I’m curious about is how he’s going to record his field work.

  • Will he bring a camera?
  • Or will it be a pen and paper kind of recording.
  • What is he going to do about safety? Especially if he’s going to bring a camera for recording purposes?
  • I can’t wait to see the bio sketches of the people he meets.
  • I can’t wait to see what he does about food and going to the bathroom

I just chatted him up and he is going to bring his netbook, iPhone, and camera. This makes me very nervous for him. He will explain in a further post.

I guess I’m hyperaware of possible muggings from watching The Soloist last weekend with Kim when she was in town. Trailer follows. Jamie Fox was mugged 14 times as a homeless man in the movie. (We both enjoyed the movie.)

P.S. Neville updated his blog. Check it out to follow him in this experiment.

Imperia

May 26th, 2009 · · Austin, new thing(s) of the week, savory, silver screen One comment - Tags: ,

Neighborhood: Downtown
310 Colorado St
Austin, TX 78701

(512) 472-6770
www.imperia-austin.com

Last weekend we honored Sae’s graduation at Imperia, a trendy sushi restaurant in Austin. So it was extremely experimental which I usually appreciate. They had a whole menu of infused sake, sake infused with various flavors. We got the lemongrass and basil infused sake and the honey sake. Everyone who had a shot of the lemongrass and basil infused sake had a gagging reaction, so I skipped out on the lemongrass. However, the honey infused sake was pretty good. Honey with warm sake sounds good. Alan and I ordered the spicy tuna roll, our usual assortment of nigeri and we branched out with Imperia’s Zebra roll, a hamachi roll with a white chocolate pepper sauce. White chocolate pepper sauce! Intrigued, we went with it.

Imperia Sushi
Zebra roll on top.

YUCK! We had a piece and it tasted like orange chocolate with a white chocolate aftertaste. It passed it along the table and it was like a replay of the lemongrass infused sake. Only one guy liked it, however he likened it to ice cream. So there you have it. If you want sushi that taste like ice cream, order the Zebra from Imperia.

My final impression of Imperia is that may be a little too experimental, which usually isn’t a bad thing for me since I have a pretty adventurous appetite. With such a consistent streak of bad reactions from our big party, I wonder if they test out their concoctions?

Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Book vs Film

February 25th, 2009 · · love, on the nightstand, silver screen No comments

Spoilers ahead.

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I didn’t know F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Did you? I finished this story in about 2 hours tops. I saw the movie a couple of weekends ago with Katambra. We loved it. The movie was ADORABLE, all the way through, adorable. I love the old man C-list character that got struck by lightening 7 times. So I was excited to start reading the book. After reading, I found myself preferring the movie over the book which I rarely ever do.

The book wasn’t very descriptive. It went over 50 plus years of Benjamin Button with a few sentences each for each phase of his life. I guess that is why the movie had so much room to digress and flesh out. In the movie, Benjamin was left on a doorsteps of a cute Black lady who ran a nursing home. She cared for him as if he was her son. In the book the father never gave him up.

What won me over to the movie and turned me off towards the book was that Benjamin met his love in the movie at age 7 with him looking elderly. It was a coming of age story about the two of them with tons of hit and misses. They finally meet in the middle and he eventually leaves her after they have a baby together. He thought it was the best thing for his love since he didn’t want to have her raise her husband as he gets younger and their child at the same time.

In the book however, he meets the girl later and as he grows younger and better looking, he gets embarrassed and turned off from his wife because she gets older and uglier. My heart sank as I read that.

Very original idea though. I liked the the story enough to make me want to reread Great Gatsby. I only remember one scene from Gatsby. It’s where Nick criticizes Daisy for being a bad driver (like I am) and she responds that it only matters if she runs into another bad driver.