Final Thoughts on Taiwan

There's an atomosphere of dreadful anticipation hanging about. We're sitting here in my Grandma/Uncle's place and we've all divided up amongst the small apartment doing our own thing, each one fully aware that this is the last day that me and my parents are going to be in Taiwan for this trip. Grandma, in particular, knows that at 90 years old, there aren't going to be very many more visits in her future.

I don't know what it is about Taiwan that I've grown to love so much in the last several years. Perhaps it's the quaintness of my Uncle's apartment. A family of four (with my older younger cousin in America going to school/working) fits into a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, living room, kitchen, and not-much-else apartment filled to the brim with mementos and memories of the past 70 years.

Perhaps it's the proximity to relatives and family friends nearby. Every place we go to seem to be dinner dates and lunch meetings that act as miniature family reunions, talking with people who time seems to have left behind. There's always laughter and usually tears that accompany attempts of instilling stories of youths lost and wars fought into generations to come by parents and grandparents. I sat wide-eyed this last trip listening to story after story from my dad and Grandpa Wong who told of their harrowing escape from Beijing to Taipei.

Perhaps it's the sense of self that's acheived in a land where you have no social pressures. It's ok to sit on the couch and watch TV, it's ok to not be understandable or to not be sociable, and it's ok to just sit and listen to stories because you represent the colonial escapees, off to search for a better life, willing to give you time and energy to come back to the old country. The language is difficult but rewarding and the relationships are unconditional.

Perhaps it's the atomosphere of the city. Shrouded in a blanket of smog, a result of hurried industrial progress, the cramped streets and sidewalks are filled with people. Food stands litter the roadside spaces and street markets are found down alleyways. For less money than it takes to scratch your nose in America, you can eat a three-course breakfast with a bowl of soy bean soup.

Ultimately though, it's probably because all these things provide a sense of safe comfort. Like a knowledge passed down through strands of DNA, my father and mother's old home; my grandmother's old home; my family's old home; Taiwan trips seem the inherent homecoming to a place that seems easier than home. And this time, like the time before this and the time before that, I leave Taiwan with a sense of melancholy acceptance. Home is America but I could live here.

More stuff from Taiwan

So I thought I'd blog some more from Taiwan, sitting here in the basement at 11:00 pm in the hotel using their wireless Internet to download some podcasts.

(One of the things that's keeping me occupied aurally while I'm walking around and driving around in taxis and when I'm at home on the couch trying to understand Chinese TV is listening to podcasts/radio shows of wrestling news in the US. Wrestlemania is this weekend and it's going to be huge.)

My uncle and his family left this morning to go back to Cali (Goin' back back to Cali Cali). Since it was their "adventurous spirit" that was driving most of the tourist-y stuff, I'm spending more time not going around like a madman trying to see everything Taiwan has to offer, which is good because I think I'm not much of a traveler. I like being comfortable and being in a foreign place for a brief time does not feel the same as being at home. Taiwan is a place that's just in the middle of being foreign and being home. While I have no trouble at all feeling comfortable in my Grandma's place, I do feel uncomfortable with the constant running around being a tourist usually includes. So, when I'm here, I enjoy sitting around, talking to my family members, and spending time with my Grandmother while I can.

That's not to say that I haven't been running around the last few days anyway. Since my uncle and his family (the ppl we came to Taiwan WITH) have not been with us these past few days, me and my parents have chosen these past few days to run around and visit those friends on my father's side of the family that we haven't seen in awhile. So, seeing Grandpa Wong (not actual Grandpa but more of a term of endearment) and his family, namely.

Grandpa Wong's relationship to us was explained to me thusly (I've known him for quite awhile but I was never old enough to realize that I didn't have any clue as to who he was in our family tree/history so I asked and my mom was kind enough to explain it to me). When WWII was going on, my Grandfather (well, both of them really but this is a story about my Dad's side of the family) was fighting for the Chinese. After WWII, he wound up positioned outside of Beijing while Grandpa Wong, who was a friend who was in the same unit as him during WWII, was positioned inside of Beijing. When the Communists and Nationalists were fighting, Grandfather was trapped outside of the city while my Grandmother and her family (my aunt and dad) were inside of Beijing. Since Grandfather wasn't there to take care of them, Grandpa Wong did.

After my dad was born, which was shortly after the city was seized and the Communists won, Grandfather wasn't allowed back into the city because they lost the battle and he was taken prisoner. Grandpa Wong took care of Grandma until my dad was 100 days old and, assumably, old enough to travel. Grandma then went to get a license to bring her children to Taiwan, where she grew up and still had an older sister. The excuse was that since they didn't have Grandpa, they needed to go back and be with family in Taiwan. Grandma got the license and she told them that Grandpa Wong was family also and would be traveling with them. Since Grandpa Wong had a different last name, Grandma said that he was her cousin on her mom's side. They managed to leave Beijing and refugeed themselves to Taiwan. Along the way, they ran into an exiled Grandpa and they all went to Taipei as a family. Until Grandma died 8 years ago, she and Grandpa Wong still called each other "cousin" when referring to each other.

Ok, so that was a long story. Anyway, we went to go visit Grandpa Wong and his wife (which would be... Grandma Wong). They were nice and fun to talk to but Grandpa Wong, unfortunately, is showing signs of Alzheimer's. He often got his stories confused and forgot ppl's names, including mine and my dad's real names (when my dad was growing up, Grandpa Wong always referred to him and his sister by their nicknames, even to this day. Him and his family may be the only people left who still call Dad "Xiao An"). But he was still an interesting and charismatic person. Grandma Wong was nice too. She cooked us lunch and we all ate.

Today was lunch with more family friends, altho these ppl I'd met already at Grandma's Birthday lunch. I don't know the complete story about how we know this Grandpa and Grandma (I think it's Grandma and Grandpa Chung?) but I generally know. Grandpa and Grandma lived in the same neighborhood as Grandma and Grandpa Chung in Taiwan as young adults. They were both military families. Since money was tight, their families depended on each other to eat and entertain themselves. My mother and her siblings grew up with Grandpa Chung's kids. Grandpa Chung taught my mom and her siblings how to speak English. Later on, when my mom was going to college and majoring in Math, she taught math to Grandpa Chung's kids (they're younger than my older uncle by 10 years).

Ok, I don't think anybody's interested in reading these random older stories of family friends. They only reason I'm posting these here is to stall for time as I try to remember what the hell else I've been up to. The days are starting to blend together. I do know time here's short. I think I leave in like... 2 days or something like that. 3? Something like that. We're leaving Saturday night at 10-ish Taiwan time and come in Saturday night at 7-ish San Francisco time.

I bought the soundtrack to Dreamgirls two days ago. I loved the movie on the plane but I know that watching it on the plane is the absolute worst way to watch it. I'm going to get the DVD when it comes out (unless it's ALREADY come out, in which case I'll get it when I get back to the States) and watch it on a proper TV at a proper comfort level. Still, the music's fantastic and I want a chance to listen to it over and over again.

I also bought a new watch. My watch here got busted a couple of days ago. Well, not BUSTED. It still works. It's just that the "6" on the watch face came off the face and has been rattling around the watch face. It doesn't bother me except every now and then it'll get itself lodged in between the hour hand and minute hand and jam them so they can't move. When that happens, I have to shake the watch until the 6 gets un-lodged and then reset the time... which is annoying and very un-productive because I have to keep asking what time it really is. My new watch is automatic and works on kinetic energy instead of batteries. Which I find really really cool. I keep staring at the mechanism on the watch face, which is actually kinda bad because it looks like I keep checking my watch for the time because I'm bored. I'm just really enthralled by the mechanism.

Ok, these really really really annoying business men just came in and sat down to work and gossip. They're being loud and obnoxious so I'm going to finish typing and post this and leave.

Taiwan update

Okie dokie. It's Monday morning here in Taiwan. I'm typing this on Notepad because I actually DON'T have wireless in my room. I'm also watching TV. There's a movie on called "Snowboarding Academy." It stars Corey Haim and Jim Varney. So far... it's odd. The dialogue in this movie is... BAD. REALLY BAD. "I kind of like the idea of you winning. IN A PARALLAL UNIVERSE!"

Anyhoo, the last 2 days have been fun. Between the two big ass family lunches we've had, my cousin's managed to take a gig worth of pics. I'll try to sort through them and find 1 or 2 to exemplify the 2 days.

So, Saturday was Grandma's birthday thingie. It turns out it's a lunch, not a dinner like me and my cousin assumed. I guess the idea was that a meal of this size would take a long time and we didn't want to force ppl into staying and talking until midnight, especially with the older generation.

[Movie note: Jim Varney's yodelling is apparently able to make skiers crash at the very noise and ppl seem to have uncanny accuracy with throwing their ski poles like javelins. I'm... this movie is bad. And somebody speaks like Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's for which they put subtitles and the line "What is he saying? Nobody really knows..."]

Sorry, anyway. The thing was a lunch in a fancy hotel's fancy restaurant for 30+ ppl. So, suffice it to say, it was massive. This picture is a good indication of how the room was:











We managed to fill up that table and the second table on the left too. Unfortunately, having this many ppl on a single table (or 2 in this case) meant isolated conversations but it's cool. We managed to keep ourselves entertained.

A lot of these ppl are ppl I've never met, actually. Well, haven't seen in over 10 or 20 years in some cases, which is pretty much the same as never met. But it was good meeting them, however briefly.

The food was... massive. They had a ridiculous amount of food which was pre-divided for us (because reaching across the table on a lazy susan 5 feet in diameter would probably hurt). The duck was particularly good. In addition to the food, the restaurant gave us cakes. Yes, there's an "s" on that word. They apparently made a deal that they'd give us a free birthday cake for every 10 person table we had. We ended up with 3 birthday cakes. Very rich creamy chocolate cakes. We also brought a bunch of cakes (it's a birthday, after all) so we gave every family a cake (some families more than one) and also a gift bag. This would come back to haunt us the next day.

[Movie note: this movie's so bad, it makes me wanna buy it and watch it repeatedly.]

So, this lunch ended up taking 4+ hours. We got back to my uncle's and we sat down to play... mah-jong. We played 9 HOURS of mah-jong and ended up going back to the hotel at 1:30 (my parents and my cousin's parents were all peaced out already. My cousin and I got a ride back from our uncle). That was the day Saturday: lunch and Mah-jong.

Sunday morning/noon we had a dimsum lunch that we were invited to by family friends. This time it was only a 15 person lunch.

[Movie note: Ok, I don't understand how sabotaging the skiers/snowboarders competition for control of the ski lodge will help the evil Russian wife and her dimwitted boyfriend stop the insurance agent from re-insuring the ski lodge and cost the owner his lodge. BUT, the ski pole/snowball/catfight duel at the end in the pro shop was slightly entertaining.]




Anyway, after lunch we picked up the glasses we ordered on Monday and then headed home for some dinner (lunch ended up being a 3 hour ordeal and then another hour for picking up glasses meant that by the time we got home, it was after 4). We headed to the night market after that...









and then back home for... you guessed it: MAH-JONG! We only played for a couple of hours (not 9, like marathon-night) but this time, my cousin surreptitiously documented most of the games with his camera. I'll post a couple of mah-jong pics because... frankly, because I find them interesting.





This is my "hm... what do I throw" face.













This is my cousin's "I hate jetlag" face. (She lives in L.A. and flew back for Grandma's birthday as well. She's my uncle's [um... uncle who's house we're in in the pic] oldest daughter and went to California for high school and college. She now works as a kindergarten teacher.)














This is my other cousin's "What the hell am I looking at" face. (also, note my other cousin's tiles and the fact that the numbers are upside down.)





I'd show you a pic of my cousin who's taking the pics but, for some reason =P, he didn't take pictures of himself.

Ok, that's it for now. Today's a new day! and hopefully a day of rest. this vacation's very tiring.

Lotsa stuff on Taiwan

Ok, so I said that I'd blog about Taiwan so I'll blog about Taiwan. I was too lazy to blog the last couple of days (plus I didn't have a readily accessible computer) but today was an interesting day so I thought I'd blog. However, to get to TODAY, I've got to get through everything before today too so, here we go... (sorry if this is really really long)

(Oh, and a note about the pictures. I have no camera still because I lost my camera in the fire at work in December so all the pictures I'll post in this post are courtesy of my cousin.)

I got into Taiwan (Taipei) on Sunday (evening). It was a long flight and I got a little restless towards the end but it was alright. Wasn't too devestating. =P

The movies they showed (because we were sitting coach and they didn't have personal tv screens in the back of the seats... sadness) were:

Night at the Museum (which was better than I thought it'd be. Ben Stiller is pretty good in it as somebody who's funny but not annoying. Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt was pretty inspired also),

Man of the Year (which wasn't as good as I thought it'd be. Also, I tuned out the middle part so I missed some of the crucial plot points especially with the girl and the whole election rigging thingie. I wasn't really looking forward to a whole "this is how politics should be" ad),

Dreamgirls (which was really really good, altho I think there were probably sex scenes or relationship scenes that were cut out because the beginning felt a little abrupt. Jennifer Hudson definitely deserved "Best Supporting Actress" and they were robbed when they didn't win "Best Song."

Mistress of Spices (click the link if you've never heard of this movie.) It's actually really really good, which doesn't really surprise me because it was set-up as a foreign indie darling film, even tho it costarred Dylan McDermott.

Happy Feet (which I didn't watch at all because by this time, I was overloaded on movies. It was well-animated, tho)

So, the first couple of days in Taiwan were fairly uneventful. We got in Sunday night so we pretty much just said hi to Grandma and then went to sleep in the hotel. Monday, we all went to a glasses store that our entire extended family here has been going to for years and got glasses. Apparently, my mom partially equates "going to Taiwan" to "opportunity to buy new glasses." Since I'm off my parents' healthcare plan in America, I'd have to pay a whole helluva lot of money to get glasses on my own so it's been 4 years since I bought new glasses and I needed new ones because I think my eyes are worse now than 4 years ago. ANYWAY, the point is: I bought new glasses. We're picking them up on Sunday.

After a couple of non-descript days of Taiwan fun, my Uncle (Mom's older brother who lives in America) came with his wife and his youngest son (my cousin, also named Chris, who's 2 years younger than me). He's an adventurous person and so is his family so they are intent on doing a buncha stuff and seeing a buncha stuff. Although this runs against my personal philosophy of doing nothing, I figured "What the Hell" and I'd go along with it. Because of that, I've been pretty much too tired to blog or do much online.

So far, we've been to Taipei 101, National Museum of Taiwan, and Chang Kai-Shiek Memorial Hall. Today, however, was the BIG trip day. We went, by way of High Speed Bullet Train, to Gaoxiong.

(Quick Formosa Geography Lesson: Taipei is in Northern Taiwan. It's not quite at the shore but it's fairly North. Gaoxiong [which I KNOW I'm misspelling but I'm tired] is in Southern Taiwan. It IS on the shore and is the second biggest city in Taiwan, making it the largest Port city in Taiwan.)

[ok, i just looked it up. it's spelled Kaohsiung. Gaoxiong was hanyu pinyin method of spelling it.]

So, we bought bullet train tickets for the first train in the morning and return tickets for the last train at night so it was a whole day trip. The train trip takes 2 hours. We had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to get to the train station and catch the first train. So butt-crack, in fact, that we didn't get a chance to eat breakfast of any sort so we ended up eating at the 7-11 at the train station. It was pretty good, especially since the equivalent to taquitos and hot dogs at 7-11 here are steamed buns with meat and vegetables.

At the train station, I saw, up until that point, the best sign "all time all my life":











Yes, that sign says: "Take refuge in the recess area and shout for help if you fall onto the track." I laughed my ass off after seeing that. Most places would say "DON'T FALL ONTO THE TRACK, DUMBASS" but here in the HSR station, THEY HAVE A PLAN!!

Anyway, despite being the second largest city in Taiwan, the bullet train stopped just short of Kaohsiung and we had to take a taxi into the actual Kaohsiung city. Immediately getting into the station, we were followed by a taxi driver who kept asking us where we were going and telling us it would be cheaper if he drove us and more convenient. When he discovered we had 6 ppl and needed to use 2 cabs, he immediately grabbed his cohort who also drove a taxi and together they both followed us.














The dude in the jeans and the red-ish shirt is the sketchy taxi driver. He's standing REALLY REALLY close to me and my parents trying to make a phone call. The dude in the white's his cohort. SKETCHY!!!

We decided on taking cabs and outta principle I wouldn't have taken these 2 guys's cabs but my parents and uncle were fine with it so, whatever. It turned out to be alright and we got in fine.

We were dropped off at the tourist-y harbor area where I immediately bought flip flops because 1.) it was hot and 2.) it was a harbor-beach town. These flip flops are the really cheap sort (cost me 5 bucks [U.S.]) but they're pretty comfy all things considered.

Anyway, we ate lunch and walked around the harbor area. Then we took another taxi to a boat called MV Doulos, which we were told was a floating book store. Apparently they sailed around the world and stopped in harbors and sold books. Sounded cool. We went there and paid NT$10 (which is about... 30 cents American) entrance fee to go aboard the ship and shop at their book fair. Turns out, it's a MISSIONARY ship. The first thing we see are section signs that say "Bibles" and "Christian Living" and "Cooking." I dunno about the cooking but if you have 2 separate sections on Bibles and Christian Living, you're a CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE. We were fooled!! It was still kind of a cool book and definitely a cool concept. I wish there was a secular version tho.

After the Christian book tour debacle, we went (via taxi again) to the British Consulate building. It was the old British Consulate in Taiwan that was built back in the 1800s. It was also the first building built in Taiwan in Western Architecture. Of course, we climbed the massive staircase and the first thing we see is a Buddhist temple and pagoda. After scratching our heads for a few minutes, we realize that they built a temple NEXT to the British Consulate. So, we walked over to the Consulate building and looked around. It looked cool and normal and stuff until me and my cousin saw a sign that said:

Reception ^
Dungeon >
Gift Shop >

We were like "... DUNGEON?!?! Like... A DUNGEON!?!?! WTF!?!?!" So this DEFINITELY warranted an investigation. We grabbed a map and on it was an area marked "The Maze of Jail." We said ".... nooo......" BUT! sure enough, on the basement floor of the building was this sign:














Like... BRITISH JAIL! The Dungeon Maze was a BRITISH JAIL!! We went into the Dungeon Maze and it was seriously the jail for midgets. The thing was like 3 feet tall. We couldn't even go all the way in. We just sat there taking pictures (I'll post more later). It was way crazy. In my opinion, all consulates and embassies should have a DUNGEON MAZE on the basement floor.

After the Dungeon Maze, we eventually went out to get dinner. (After a river tour on a boat. Which actually really sucked.) We walked around looking for a place to eat and after my uncle rejected Outback Steakhouse (much to our sadness), we settled on a beef noodle house. They served... beef noodles. It looked like a local dive and had locals in it eating so we felt like we were set on good food. Literally, the minute we walked in and sat down, there were 5 white people that came in and sat down in the table next to ours. We were like "...HUH!?!?!" Like all the tourists came in at the same time. Turns out they were here for a film festival. Still, we were questioning our food choice but thought whatever. We ordered and started eating when the MAYOR OF KAOHSIUNG came in and ate dinner. My parents and uncle were aghast at the unlikelihood of seeing the mayor. Me and my cousin were like "...??" at who this person was. Being the very polite and decent people we were, during her dinner, we asked the mayor if we could take a picture with her. She very politely agreed, despite our being ridiculously rude tourists.
















This was taken by a camera that's not the camera they were posing for... that's why it looks kinda like they're all looking at different cameras.

Anyway, we finally finished everything up and headed home on the High Speed Rail back to Taipei. It's NOW 1:33 am and I'm spent. This was a fun day but some dude just walked into the cafeteria (it's the only room in the hotel that has guaranteed Internet access) and is smoking a cigarette. I'd better get going before I get a headache or something.

Tomorrow's Grandma's birthday bash. Hopefully there'll be some good pictures and I'll blog about it or something tomorrow. =) Until then: BYE!!

Stuff that's happened

I'm going to just make a quick thought dump in this post.

One of the front page stories on NY Times.com was (it's not longer cover story) the lack of confidence Republicans have in getting another Republican elected as president in 2008. It said something like 40% of Republicans believed that no matter how they voted, a Democrat was going to win the Presidency in 2008. I have no idea what the sample size is in that poll but I do know that I'm not going to consider this a large victory for Democrats by any means. First off, it's still 2007. The election's almost 2 years away. Having this polling information this early in the game means that anybody with half a brain can construct a reasonable platform and reasonable campaign. Knowing that 58% of Republicans believe that someone who voted for the Iraqi war would lose the 2008 election means that whoever's going to run the GOP side of the Presidency race will find someone with a liberal slant. Plus, the GOP has proven time and time again that they're at their best when their backs are against the wall. Republicans proved in 2000 and again in 2004 that they have some of the best political minds working for them. This isn't over by a longshot. Hell, it's barely begun.

I bought some shirts off Glarkware just now. They're having their Television Without Pity leftover shirts sale. I bought a Degrassi shirt and a Star Trek (red-)shirt. Too bad Glarkware takes a long time to deliver their shirts. I'd like to have them in my hands sooner rather than later.

So, leaving for Taiwan on Saturday. I'll be there until April 1-ish. Unfortunately, the deal here in Boston is that our lease is up March 31st. Since Mike (my roommate) doesn't want to live in this neighborhood any longer (he got mugged many many months ago), he's found a new apartment for us to live in. So, we're moving closer to Commonwealth Ave. HOWEVER, since I won't PHYSICALLY be HERE at the end of March, I hafta pack all my shit NOW so that it can get moved 2 weeks from NOW. So, I'm PACKING. This sucks.

Andreas is out here in Boston visiting. For those who don't know, Andreas is a friend from college. He's the same year as Mike and is actually really really close friends with Mike (has been referred to as "hetero-lifemate") so he came out to visit. I was friends with him too but not as close. Still, he's a cool guy. He works for Meebo (his job title is "Javascript Cutie" which is apparently a typo because he wanted to be "Javascript Cutty" as in "cutthroat" but the ppl making his business cards thought he wanted to be a cutie. Web 2.0 companies are... odd) and has uber-stock shares available to him soon. Too bad Meebo isn't trading publicly anytime soon tho so those stock shares are pretty much worthless right now. If they get bought or go IPO, however, Andreas is probably going to jump an entire tax bracket in the blink of an eye. Which is really really crazy to think about considering the fact that I knew this kid when he was 18 and a college freshman. Good thing he's a cool guy and not an asshole like some of his friends were in college (not Mike. Other people).

Bubble wrap is expensive, especially considering how shoddy we treat it when we don't need it.

I bought a book on Taiwanese Literature. It's a Lit theory book so it's really dense and uses a convoluted vocabulary. (Why do Literary experts feel the need to justify their field of study by making the shit they write so ... complex?) Apparently, the field of Taiwanese Literature is a relatively new field that's only recently been opened up for study by Lit circles because of Taiwan's complicated history. The complicated history also serves to make classifying Taiwanese Literature hard. Is it post-colonial? Post-modern? Nationalist? Propaganda? It's really interesting reading but slow-going right now because... well, it's complex writing. Pretentious shits. (I say that with love because I'm one of those "pretentious shits.")

I just noticed a place at the bottom of this post window to put "labels." I'm not falling for that shit. I'm UNCLASSIFIABLE! I defy labels!! EAT ME, Google-Blogger!!

Ok, that was random. I think I had too much caffeine earlier. Or maybe not enough. I seem to have the same reaction to either one.

I made a Get Psyched playlist for my music. It starts with Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" which is blatantly stolen from Barney's Get Psyched mix on How I Met Your Mother. Still, it's a freakin' fantastic song so I don't feel bad at all. I just feel... AWESOME! (The playlist also has a Van Halen song, a David Lee Roth song [anybody who even remotely knows me will know which David Lee Roth song], Scorpions, Billy Idol, and the highlight is Joe Esposito's "You're the Best" from The Karate Kid. It's a LEGENDARY playlist.)

Ok, it's time to put on Billy Idol's Mony Mony and get back to packing. Wish me luck!!

Here she comes now sayin' Mony Mony
Shoot 'em down, turn around, come on Mony
Hey she give me love and I feel all right now
Come on, you gotta toss and turn

Katie Holmes kicked to the curb

Not by Tom. Which would be kinda funny. Well, to me. Because they're both NUTS. No, Katie Holmes will not be reprising her role as "Rachel Dawes" in the next Batman film. Instead, Rachel Dawes will be played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. I'm really excited. I just watched Stranger than Fiction and was reminded just why and how much I loved Maggie Gyllenhaal. She makes me happy ... probably in an unhealthy way. Man, Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Both fantastic. Must be something in the water at that household.

Speaking of TomKat, I just found out that Jason Lee (that actor dude from all them Kevin Smith flicks and from My Name is Earl) is a scientologist. Man, what a let down. =(

A new life for the modern era

Engadget's article about Parker Brothers' Game of LIFE being updated:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/08/the-game-of-life-follows-monopoly-goes-plastic/

I have mixed feelings about this. I am curious to see what Hasbro/Parker Bros. comes up with in terms of what Life is in this day and age. According to the brief blurb in Engadget, they've replaced the ubiquitous number wheel spinner with a "Twists and Turns" life path thingie that offers 4 different "life paths." Fascinating. I'm not a big fan of the fancy calculator as money (because that's essentially what we use nowadays, what with ATMs and credit cards and such) because I like the feeling of having big stacks of brightly colored bills.

However, the fun of Life wasn't realism. The fun of Life was the way it could accurately depict the absurdity of real life! Where your opponent chooses not to go to college and becomes an artist pulling in 80,000 while you go to college, get debt, pay for books, and wind up as a "scientist" making 30,000. Where you're forced to buy a house only to discover that it serves no purpose other than to be damaged by tornadoes. Where you buy stocks without any earthly idea which number will likely appear next. Where you seemed pressured by ubiquitous forces to buy art you don't want, sports tickets for games you don't want to see, and doctor's bills for surgeries you didn't know you needed. Where, toward the end of your "life," you find yourself thinking "...what the hell am I going to do with a minivan full of children? And when the f--- are they going to move outta my Goddamn good-for-nothing house?"


[<--- note about the post about the Geico cavemen show. Turns out it's a sitcom and the reports that it's a drama were a fake. Who called it? Moi? Oh yeah!--->]

Captain America

If you're living under a rock, consider this a SPOILER WARNING




If you haven't been living under a rock, you've probably seen some of the news coverage about the fact that on Wednesday (that's today), Captain America #25 came out in comic book stores where Marvel has made the bold, and certainly controversial, decision to kill Captain America.

Take a minute to let that soak in.

Captain America (Steve Rogers), while being taken in custody to the courthouse, has been shot twice and has fallen. Just to understand the magnitude of this, for those of you who are not comic book fans, here are some mainstream media sources covering this: New York Times, CNN, AP Wire

This is a big deal. And, with the modern day mentality of comic book writing, this will be done better and mean more than Superman's death in 1994, if only because in '94 a death of Superman story was done largely for financial reason as opposed to in '07 where a death of Captain America was done largely for storyline reasons.

While Cap's death is not the only way they could've bailed themselves out of the Civil War storyline, Marvel certainly chose one of the biggest ways. Cap's popularity within the Marvel U at this point is probably debatable at best. During Civil War, the story didn't really run the lines of what the common man is thinking about how the story's been playing out. Think about this in terms of being a regular person in the Marvel Universe: superheroes, commonplace in the world of Marvel, the equivalent of spectacular cops and firemen, are all known by name and costume. "Hey, it's Spider-Man." "Hey, it's the Fantastic Four." etc. Suddenly, there's an announcement by the government: first off, there's a new superhero registration act; secondly, half the world's superheroes are considered outlaws and will be arrested. Leading the way? Cap.

So, what else are people supposed to think in the Marvel U other than Cap being the equivalent of a traitor to the government. The living embodiment of the American flag has become the enemy. So, although Cap surrendered at the end of Civil War ("You think this letter on my head stands for FRANCE!" -classic Cap line from Ultimates), his popularity is thumbs in the middle at best. You can imagine, in a real life situation, the propaganda he'd be combating on top of everything else.

Ok ok, so my first impression was "HOW COULD YOU KILL CAP?!?!?!?!?!!!!" After all, Ol' Winghead is my favorite comic book superhero. His story is complex, his character is layered, his personality and relationships are well-established, etc. He's avoided the silliness of the 60's and managed to remain regal and heroic throughout all endeavors. He's consistently stood for the ideals of human rights and civil liberties, been used to comment on infringements of those rights, and has been on the forefront of Marvel's identity for decades now. If Spider-Man's the spokesman of Marvel Comics, Captain America would be the hero Spider-Man looked up to.

Naturally I'd be devastated that my favorite hero has died. Devastated. However, now that I've had a couple of hours to think about it, I've decided that this could ultimately prove to be a good thing. Well, not necessarily a GOOD thing but at least an interesting thing. Where do we go from here? Well, Jeph Loeb's planning a five-book month-long grieving period for the Marvel Universe. It's going to explore the five-stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance (five stages, five books? Definitely not a coincidence). I'm a big fan of Jeph Loeb and he's a premier storyteller of the modern era (in addition to being one of the best comic book writers, he's also co-creator of Smallville, Lost, and Heroes. Am I exaggerating when I say "premier storyteller"? I think not). On top of that, he (tragically) lost his teenage son a year ago so if there's anybody who knows grief, he's one of them.

Furthermore, there is a chance for this to lead to more in the Marvel Universe as a whole. For one thing, fans are speculating like crazy about who the next Captain America will be. I wholeheartedly believe that Marvel should at least broach the subject. Realistically, there will be an attempt to try to duplicate Cap, if not exactly then as close as possible. Since SHIELD has the resources and abilities, and Tony Stark's both head of SHIELD and in possession of Cap's shield (2 shields!) as well as probably feeling slightly guilty about the death of Cap (he's also the lead character in the acceptance book for the grief stages), I suspect Tony's going to take steps to make a new Cap.

Who should be the new Cap? Well, it's probably not the best idea to use a preexisting character because the character should, by all rights, already be busy being a hero. But, for the sake of argument, let's speculate.

If this was DC, the sidekick would be first choice. This isn't DC but, surprisingly, Cap does have a "sidekick." Ok, not a SIDEKICK per se but there exists in the Marvel U a certain character named Patriot who is the teenage Cap equivalent on the Young Avengers (scroll down to "Eli Bradley" in the Wiki article). So, Patriot's a possibility. He's still young, however, and isn't "approved" by Cap officially so he's not too likely.

There's Bucky, the original sidekick, now known as the Winter Soldier. He was thought dead but he's been resurrected by Brubaker in the past few years. He's confused, still young, but contains a wealth of mad assassin skillz. He'd probably be the obvious choice but would probably feel like he's not worthy, considering the fact that he's still trying to atone for his assassin days with Soviet Russia.

There's Danny Rand, better known as Iron Fist. He has the necessary skills and hook-ups but he recently subbed for Daredevil while Matt Murdock was trying to fix his life recently so I doubt anybody wants to retread that path, especially since Danny's penciled in to be part of the New Avengers with common cohort Luke Cage.

There's Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man. Um.... probably not.

There's Taskmaster. Ok, Taskmaster probably isn't a real choice but he's a possibility as one of the trainers for the next Cap. There are precious few people in the Marvel U who can throw a frisbee like Cap and Taskmaster is certainly one of them.

Ok, I think I've made my point. There are a whole plethora of places the story can go from here. How will the Marvel U look without Cap? Who will fill the holes? With the epic underlying storylines that now resonate through Marvel's writing policies, this will definitely continue to live just below the surface of a lot of books. And, with the aftermath of Civil War coming up and the Hulk World War storyline just on the horizon, this will definitely continue.

So, the bottom line is that Cap's dead but it may not be the end of the world yet. There's a world of possibility out there for the character and his influence in comics. So, let's mourn Steve Rogers' passing. He was truly the shining light and epitome of heroism in the Marvel Universe. Beyond that, he was the flagship character for the United States during World War 2, becoming one of the symbols of patriotism and the American spirit. His presence has always been a part of Marvel comics and has been a linchpin, if not catalyst, for a lot of great storylines. Steve Rogers will be missed (for however long he's gone. Let's face it, we're still talking about comics here) but his spirit will persevere. He is, in essence, America.

Thoughts Dump

So it's been like a week since I posted, so I'd better post something quick before I completely let this blogging thing slip off again.

So, what did I learn this week that I can talk about? Well, for one thing, I'll finish my TV 101 posts soon. I haven't been doing those so far but just because I'm not motivated currently.

Next week (Friday? Saturday? I've kinda forgotten), I'm leaving for Taiwan for 2 weeks. My grandmother's turning 90 and our whole family's going back so I'm really looking forward to that. Should be fun!! I'll post pics or something.

Bought some shoes from Kenneth Cole. Can't wait 'til they come.

I watched the first season of Family Ties last weekend. Yes, it came out on DVD. I loved this show a lot. Michael J. Fox always stole the show but Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter-Birney were always good and I loved Justine Bateman... in probably an unhealthy way. So it was really really fun to watch the whole first season. No commentary or behind-the-scenes features but I don't really expect those any more for old TV shows. Let's face it, studios just don't try on those.
At least this had appropriate chapter breaks, like after the theme song.

What would we do, baby, without us?
What would we do, baby, without us?
There ain't no nothing we can't love each other through...
What would we do, baby, without us?
Sha-la-la-la

Ahem... sorry. Love the show. Love.

They're making a show based on the cavemen in the Geico ads. That's just kooky. It's, at best, a one-joke concept. So, it either better be BRILLIANT or it'll fail... REALLY EASILY. (Btw, latest rumors say that the show's going to be a drama, not a sitcom. That'll be a HUGE mistake. I bet it's a joke.)

There was a 7 minute Spider-Man 3 clip on NBC's website today. I'm not sure if it's still there. It was advertised as "one-day-only" but I don't think that's necessarily true. Either way, I'm sure it's somewhere online. It's interesting. It has the usual MJ/Peter romance moment that you'd expect. Then, crazy crazy crazy air-borne battle between Peter (yes, PETER. Not Spidey) and Harry. Way awesome. At the end, it looked like they weren't quite done with the animation stuff yet but it's still really awesome looking.

Bought a bag from Adam's site: www.dyslexicpress.com. He makes some cool shirts and some cool bags. He's also a regular at Zigo and I see him at least twice a day. He's coming out with his Spring line soon, so, check out his stuff.

Pushpinder (our Indian food vendor at Zigo [best chicken tikka masala. EVER. EVER.]) told me he'd teach me how to make the tikka masala before I left Boston, if I leave Boston. So, if all else fails, I will learn how to make kick-ass tikka masala.

Speaking of work, I've been... well, working. I've made a bunch of logos for region-specific foods. Zigo Indian, Zigo Italian, Zigo Sushi, Zigo Comfort Food, etc. They've been pretty ... time-intensive but all fun. I'll post some later or something.

Libby's been convicted. That's kind of a big deal. It definitely calls into question the legality of the stuff that Bush's administration has been pulling for the past 7 years. (Although, to be honest, I think Libby's conviction might be the most legal action that'll ever be taken against the administration.) Hopefully, this'll keep the Republicans in power on their toes and under control. At least, to some extent. The morale of the story, kids? THERE ARE REAL CONSEQUENCES TO YOUR ACTIONS, DIPSHITS!!!

Grey's Anatomy episodes have been shown in a Dallas-area theater on the big screen. That's freakin' awesome. I wish people everywhere will start doing this. They're apparently free and the theater makes its money on people buying food and drink. Which I would do, whole-heartedly because this is probably the best idea... EVER. Apparently they're so popular that they have to have 2 showings to accommodate overflow.

The weather turned wicked cold here today. I dunno what happened. Saturday was almost warm! Like... 50/60 in the sun. It started feeling like Spring. Right now? 8 feels like -9!!! F-in' crazy. I mean, I like the cold weather but the wind chill was ridiculous today.

And.. that's it for now, kids. I'll post again soon, definitely post in Taiwan. See ya guys later!!