this week is about the good and the lucky….and the bad and the ugly. blind box is sweet and delightful at the start because nearly every box is a winner.

but we knew this day would come. we bought our usual 3 this week and got our first double, fat tony. our boy, justin was visiting us….as a thank you gift, he also got us a few blind box simpsons…we got another new figure but we also got our second double and a third…in the same batch.

so first, the good….we’re still lucky picking up apu, homer and marge between the two batches. it is still cool and magical when we get one we don’t have! and these things are so darn cute!

but now the bad and the ugly. and when its ugly…its really ugly. and really bad. here are our figures in the foreground and their duplicates…getting the two smithers in the same batch was ominous. and this is likely the shape of things to come…imagine collecting baseball cards on steroids. you’re bound to get multiples but this seems to hurt more.

how long will we try to complete the collection? how many doubles, triples or ?? will we waste money on? will we find someone to trade with? will we resort to ebay?

or will we get lucky?

Posted under android dungeon/card shop, kid robot

in college, my groomsman william and i dreamed up a character called third world country guy and we said if third world country guy came to visit us in the states and saw the way we lived….while they ate rocks and bugs….he* would kick our @$$. price club would be an example. owning animals as pets instead of as potential food source is another. here is yet another:

go down the aisles of any supermarket in america…even the ones in the city…and you have multiple choices of anything and everything: toothpaste, mac and cheese, candy, soups, cereal, chips, sodas….options, options, options. now the option disease has been caught by…..flavored coffee creamers.

i am a believer and yet i stand in unbelief.

included in this cultural turn are limited edition flavors….produced in small batches, released only for a short period. the holidays seem to inspire such marketing. so here we have tiramisu(eh. a little too alcoholy for coffee in the morn), italian sweet creme(real good…and fatty tasting)and mocha almond fudge(too good….this is not a creamer! this is a dessert topping or just flat out dessert)

here’s another targeted at young kids drinking coffee? this was tasty too….especially the luxurious custard part.

and there are, literally, dozens more flavors! i will update as i get a chance to taste them.

i am delighted and ashamed to be living in america.

* of course on 9/11, we discovered that third world country guy had a name.

Posted under living in america

the recent buzz on the internet amongst nerds is that barack maybe one of us. it started with a top 50 list of unknown facts about barack. then came the analysis…….

from pwbeat, heidi mcdonald’s comics blog:

This 50 facts about Obama article has spurred considerable hopes that the incoming US president might, at last, be the one to truly represent a long-oppressed minority in the White House. Eight simple words that spell hope for the world:

He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.

Note the use of the present tense. While it’s a well known fact that young Barack was an avid comic book reader, and certainly no stranger to superhero imagery on the campaign trail, this one verb would have us believe that he still keeps a long box, or perhaps some trendy graphic novels, in his reading pile. Something like, CONAN: BORN ON THE BATTLEFIELD by Kurt Busiek and Greg Ruth, maybe? Or maybe he’s more of a Bendis fan?

We’ll leave the parsing of this particular truth to others. What with administrative transitions, and global recession and nukes in Iran, he’s got a lot on his plate, and to expect him to weigh in on the Clone Saga is just a bit much. Frankly we found this factoid just as interesting.

He has read every Harry Potter book
Maybe the president-elect is just, you know, kind of a nerd.

Developing?

*******************

here’s the rest of the list from the telegraph.co.uk

Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as “O’Bomber” at high school for his skill at basketball

• His name means “one who is blessed” in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle’s shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can’t stand ice cream

• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars

• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia

• He can speak Spanish

• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead

• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea

• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn’t

• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name

• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister’s fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived

• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy

• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck

• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date

• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker

• He doesn’t drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol

• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician

• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine

• His daughters’ ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)

• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside

• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal

• His house in Chicago has four fire places

• Daughter Malia’s godmother is Jesse Jackson’s daughter Santita

• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry

• He uses an Apple Mac laptop

• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300

• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits

• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes

• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)

• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire

• He was given the code name “Renegade” by his Secret Service handlers

• He was nicknamed “Bar” by his late grandmother

• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds

• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso

• His speciality as a cook is chilli

• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were “street urchins”

• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life

• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

Posted under comics, politics

when people come into the city, we are always surprised by where they want to visit or to go eat. they are equally surprised that we do not frequent those places or want to go eat there. no. i do not want to eat at ruby tuesdays , bennigans or tgifridays in times square. then they ask where we go……so here are the places we like…not the best or the cheapest or whatever category….just where we go and go on a regular basis:

more chinese in nyc: another favorite of the tsang family and club vision is x/o cafe which is known for cheap chinese fusion and tons of variety on an extensive menu. its a great place for a group of friends and family because there’s something for everyone and you can feed them all for very little. i think all of this was less than $50-$60. there was weiling’s pork/ham with cheesy noodles(yup…that’s the chinese fusion part of the menu). i love the pork chop or chicken or fish version of this dish and get it all the time.

there’s congee that my parents shared with a few people……

short riblets over rice…….pork chops with fried rice and there’s that prized egg again(another favorite of mine)…for 4.99…….!

my sister had beef stew over rice…..blocked by ice water!

jeremy chowing down on chicken and rice wrapped in lotus leaves……

finally debby having a bunch of blurry appetizers….

we bought our own desserts this night including cupcakes from sugar sweet sunshine, pie from little pie co but my dad also ordered some tapioca pudding off the menu.

a festive time every time we come! especially when we see the bill!

Posted under some favorite(NYC)things

john mccain showed a ton of humor and class in his first interview post defeat on jay leno. while the media feeds on the more negative and mind numbingly sensational stories coming out of the palin camp, john mccain’s character and cheer will likely go largely unnoticed.

here are some snapshots of his interview:

In his 14th appearance on “The Tonight Show,” McCain joked about how he’s been holding up since his loss.

“Well, I’ve been sleeping like a baby. Sleep two hours, wake up and cry. Sleep two hours, wake up and cry,” he said.

******

McCain said he and his wife, Cindy, went to get coffee together on the day after the election.

The crowd laughed as McCain said he got coffee and “not the newspaper.”

“I knew what it was going to say,” he joked.

*******

Asked why he thought he lost to Barack Obama, McCain said, “I think personality flaw.”

“Personality flaw?” Leno asked.

“Maybe too many people saw me on the Jay Leno show,” McCain responded.

*******

McCain said he could talk about “a lot of things that we made mistakes on,” but did not go into detail.

“I’m honored by the friends we made. I’m honored to have had the opportunity. I know it sounds a little repetitious, but that’s what I’ll take with me,” he said. “Sen. Obama inspired millions of young people, and I think we inspired some people too. And that’s really what I think was important, that legacy.”

*******

As for his future, McCain said he is excited about returning to the Senate.

“One thing I think Americans don’t want is a sore loser. And I’ve got a great — I get to go back to the United States Senate and work on a lot of issues and continue to serve. That’s been my life,” he said.

*******

i always loved this version of john mccain and was disappointed that this mccain was not seen during the campaign and was heartbroken to see him ridiculed as an out of touch old man….when in fact he is an american hero with a terrific sense of humor. he was always great on snl. i admire his desire to simply serve the country as he humbly returns back to work:

Asked if he’d be up for another presidential run, the 72-year-old senator seemed doubtful.

“I wouldn’t think so, my friend,” he said. “It’s been a great experience, and, you know, we’re going to have another generation of leaders come along, and I’ll hope that I can continue to contribute.”

here are the full interview clips:

Posted under politics

we get the big themes from the trailer without ruining the pleasure of watching this movie: “this is not your family” and yet “this is your family”: it is both joyous and painful to relive how familes work…the unconditional, tender love as well as the hurts we carry and inflict. the other tagline is that this is what heaven will be like…the gathering of beloved friends and family….but the movie also depicts the choices that we make that shreds that reality and possibility.

this movie is like attending someone’s wedding and seeing the ins and outs. the genius is how real this feels. the people are real. they act like how real people would react under joyous and tragic situations. these are regular people portraying regular folk. only anne hathaway feels out of place only because she’s well known but she is getting great reviews for this being the best work of her career. if you didn’t know her, she would be more real too.

another idie flick that is not for everyone. it is a direct contrast with anne hathaway’s other wedding movie to come out(video at the end)that one is about the wedding. this one is about marriage and family. the shell and the filling. the image and the reality. the ideal and the actual work needed.

i may watch this again but unlikely to purchase it. i love the music in the film though….and might get the soundtrack. it is world music…and life music…music for art and soul and not merely consumption and sales. the music comes from a place of celebration and having lived and felt. y’know, real music.

a final note on the asian actors who do a great job capturing what western asians are like. the irony is that western asians come across plastic to me. fake smiles. fake small talk. a mind bender that the actors accomplished capturing the reality of fakeness. or were they just being themselves. and why am i repulsed by western asians? is it the spectacle of asians acting white? is it that i think they are only acting?

Posted under at the movies

in the early fall i made some political predictions. i’ve updated once before but let’s see how i’ve done since then.

10) sarah palin will avoid any more interviews correct! for the most part…though she did talk more to the media when she started going “rogue” in the last few days to set up her next political step. now she can’t shut up and wishes she did more interviews during the campaign. i’ve never seen the losing veep get so much attention.

9) colin powell will endorse obama correct!

8)osama bin laden will be captured and/or a major stateside terrorist activity will be averted in time for the election

fail! this was my cynical side thinking that the republicans would unleash something to keep themselves in power. i wonder if al qaeda held back until after the elections to get the hawks out of power. i was also thinking bush wants to get bin laden before he gets out of office. who knows if he will…….

7) whatever lead obama has on election day will shrink resulting in a very tight race.

part correct…part fail. the lead did shrink a bit…it was as high as a double digit lead at one point…but that’s polling. however, it was not a close race at all…when ohio and pennsylvania went to obama, it was over….unless mccain won california!

i was expecting this country to be very very racist and simply not vote for obama because! but maybe that new day has arrived. maybe mlk’s dream has broken through.

6) riots will happen whether obama wins or loses

fail! and i am happy that i was wrong about this. i thought people would not know what to do with themselves in victory. its like philly or detroit or chicago when they won championships……they went nuts and turned over cars and burned things. come to think of it….maybe after winning those titles, they got it out of their systems and didn’t have to act the fool.

5) obama will win the presidency.

correct! in hindsight, these predictions look obvious but nothing’s really certain. even obama would point to new hampshire…and he did during the last few days as a call not to become confident…..

so i was parts prophetic and parts pathetic. 4 more to go! updated when they happen…or don’t happen!

Posted under politics, prophet

these updates will be quicker and quicker since you know the deal from the previous weeks: one, two and three.

the good times continue to roll with three more new figures this week! my sweet t is happy with what we’ve gotten so far(that’s as good of a smile as you’ll get out of her since her smiles usually look like frowns…happy frowns)….

blind box is fun at the start since nearly every figure will be new….but we dread the future of doubles, triples and even…..the reality that we will not speak of. but for this week, we got a few rare ones: duffman and snake with a fairly common one, smithers in the middle.

we know that the ugly side of blind box is just around the corner…but we can hold out hope! see you next week!

Posted under android dungeon/card shop

this is what my sweet t has been saving for. armed with $90 worth of gift certificates, a $10 coupon and my toysrus credit card which gets me 4% off, we headed to times square for the flagship toys r us to pick up guitar hero world tour(the full band game). theresa affirms that i am the master of the deal and laughs at how i accumulate discounts and coupons.

she loves guitar hero but when rock band came out, we resisted the temptation to jump ship to a different franchise. she is an early adopter and i am loyalist….with a common love for nintendo. so that combo left us waiting for guitar hero to catch up and then exceed the current band playing technology. with wifi access to the new guitar hero community, this is an endless box of musical fun. this is the real wii music….as opposed to that title that bears the name.

i wanted to get this early on sunday to avoid the crowds and lugging it around and through those masses; especially around times square…. but the store said they would not have them. i know that they lie and went to see after lunch. i didn’t want to wake up early and find out that they have decided to start telling the truth.

they are liars. they had at least 10 on display just for the wii…and 10 each for the other platforms. we picked out a box that looked pretty decent and the cashier immediately put it on the ground and put on the counter a pre-roped box with easy carry handle.

as i carried the box through the city, people gawked, pointed and lusted at our prize.

look at theresa tear into it! she can’t wait! i like making her happy. this year has been about that. more of her year since so much of her life is orbited around my life with the church and my work.

this is a small pleasure in life since i’ll wind up paying $50-$60 bucks out of pocket for the whole set….the price of a regular game.

there’s a lot of stuff here….drums, a guitar, the game, a mike, stickers….and tons of foam and packaging.

i am zero good at these games so theresa made steph play until steph was falling asleep with one eye open.

here’s the down side of early adopting….crappy products out of the box. the first few off the assembly line may not have all the bugs removed. theresa said that two of the drum panels were not responsive. she went online to find that many people had problems from the one theresa experienced to drums being too responsive. luckily, activision responded quickly and will issue tuning kits that will hopefully fix the problem. that seems to have satisfied the rabid fans. for now.

but when we invited people over…..they seemed to have fun just the same. these test drummers play their instruments hard so there were fewer problems with responsiveness. playing together seems to be a big hit. we’ve got all the instruments with the three included in the set and the old guitar from the original game.

so come on over and play in the magical fall with us. with theresa at the very least while i watch and laugh.

Posted under fall, video games

the magical fall is in full swing as we headed to nj and the meadowlands for a coldplay show. i got to see a free show at msg in the spring but coldplay decided not to make a return visit to the city on this leg. i likely will not see them again on this tour if they do wind up playing a full show at msg since their shows are pretty uniform. their sunday and monday shows at izod were nearly identical!

i haven’t been to a show at the meadowlands since i went to see u2 with debby fung two tours ago way back in 2001. i think the arena was named something else but i forget what. its hard to find a sponsor for this place especially since the nets are rumored to be moving to brooklyn in a few years, rendering this a tenant-less arena….not too marketable.

here we are at our pretty decent seats right by the side of the stage….i thought we would be closer to mid arena. norm and steph had tickets in the next section but we were on opposite ends of our sections so it felt like we were two sections apart!

as we waited for things to start, we saw the crowd rise, take pictures and react to gwyneth and her mom blythe danner make their way to their seats across the arena from us. they seemed to enjoy the concert a lot.

my hair is long and floppy these days. no more spiking for a bit. i’m tired of gel….and it being the reason i have to check bags in. $15-$25 per bag!

i didn’t get any good shots of the opening act, duffy….mostly because she played in the dark with minimal lighting effect. she was a treat since i rarely know the opening acts…but duffy has been headlining her own club shows and i have her debut cd after i saw her tear it up on conan. while i enjoyed her, most were waiting for coldplay. she did her best to charm and warm the crowd. she said that this was the largest crowd she had ever played in front of.

coldplay started the concert with new songs from their latest album and then proceeded to forget they had  new material and went into their greatest hits mode. the crowd was into the latter but i want to hear the new tunes. however, it’s nice to hear old favorites. they did play more of their new stuff later.

this was the best coldplay show i’ve seen….they’ve become(even more)polished and create an intimate, light and playful connection with the crowd. they move around a lot and play with fervent energy. i sometimes complain that their shows with the cameras on are better than when they are off. but they brought it tonite!

the other knock on them of course is that they play short shows. they played like 17/18 full songs; they only had a one song encore. and they played under an hour and a half. by contrast, u2(old guys)play 23/24 full songs and go for nearly 2 hours. billy joel(another old guy)played 3 hours at shea over the summer….twice!

but what we got from them was magical. my favorites of the new songs live were lovers in japan, death and all of his friends and viva la vida. of the older stuff, i still love fix you…their most transcendant song. the hardest part and the scientist(acoustic)were also excellent. i wish they would have played longer versions of god put a smile on my face and talk. i could have done without speed of sound.

i joked with justin that most people will sit for the majority of the show waiting and standing only for yellow. that joke became prophecy as the people around me did not really know the new stuff.

i stood, sang and cheered the whole time. i do love you coldplay….but play longer shows! especially since you’ve jacked up the prices.

still a nice little night with my sweet t. she was pretty happy.

Posted under coldplay, concerts, fall